Riverdusk

I'd think Energy and Electric would be the secondaries to take if you want to maximize the endurance drain. All depends what you want to do.

With the stone armor changes making it much more endurance (and non-granite) friendly, a spine/stone combo is looking good, although haven't tried it yet myself. Double damage aura, and both spines and mud pots have slows (so even a scrapper with no taunt might be okay in not having to deal so much with runners). Should be both sturdy and have some good damage.

Procs in pets work the same way, although pets are immune to recharge so their proc rate is based on whatever their attack's base recharge rate is. Also, the proc has to be part of the actual attack. So, if your pet has one hold attack, but 5 other attacks that don't have hold as part of the attack, and you slot a proc from a hold set, the proc will only trigger when they use their hold, not any of their other powers. For instance, it is why a cloud senses damage proc is popular in dark servant or necro's Lich, rather than trying to load them up with procs from a hold set. They do a lot of things with tohit debuffing, but they only have one hold.

With how cheap, quick, and easy it is to resummon MM pets now I really don't see the need for this for them. For the rest, you'd have to look at potentially rebalancing a lot of them in exchange for a very niche benefit. Don't see it worth the time it'd take.

Have to say I sometimes do go with Diamagnetic with my MM's, especially the ones that might need an extra bit of defensive help. They can stack the extra tohit debuff pretty quick. Necro probably best example as then a lot of their hits are stacking 10% or more tohit debuff per hit.

Infiltration has generally replaced SS for me for when I want a decent travel power with stealth built in. I usually end up with my infiltration at about 80mph run/jump speed (which I feel is plenty), it is more maneuverable since it does have a nice jump height/speed to it, and cherry on top, you can slot a LoTG into it. Cons are it takes up one more of your 4 power pool choices since most are picking up hasten anyway, and it can take an extra slot or two to get its speed to where you want it. I typically end up 3 slotting it (2 Winter Gift (Move speed, slow resist), and a LoTG). You could slot it with just the LoTG though if tight on slots and its base speed is still slightly faster than the prestige ninja run type powers.

Also want to say I find it interesting that when people farm/powerlevel through the early levels in a couple hours that is argued by many: "that's their choice and they have the right to play the game the way they want!" Or, "the early level is boring/a slog/I've done it so many times. I should be able to just get powerleveled through it, don't you dare nerf farming/powerleveling!" But an option to make the early game slightly easier (and at a cost) for people that don't just want to just powerlevel through in couple of hours, And arguably, at least for some, make them less likely to just powerlevel through it. "That's not needed and that's a balance issue!" Not saying they are the same people making both arguments, just an interesting observation.

And I'd say the far bigger balance issue is that level 50's have access to it for so cheap, and this change actually makes that worse.

I don't think a single person here has argued they are "needed". I've seen several people say they are "nice".

Mine is either that or if they do, keep the scaling but raise the scaling prices. They will tend to last longer with them pausing so a price increase for everyone (not just under level 50's), seems appropriate. If they are worried about lower levels "hoarding" them by buying cheap and then power leveling to 50, then reduce the amount of hours you can buy at a time. Say from the 8 hours max it is now down to say 2 hours max.

Actually they are making those pause as well. Read the patch notes under "empowerment buffs"

Well, he makes a good point to me about how powerful inspirations are and how cheap. I've actually said in the past I think purple inspirations are out of whack and their values should be cut in half. 😀 But, I know that'll never happen.

Considering it takes me on average about 50 hours of playtime to get a character from 1 to 50 the way I play the game, and the amps only last 8 max, I can say for a fact you are completely wrong about that, in my case at least. And yes, I've tracked that across many characters by talking to an NPC who's name starts with an M (who'll tell you your playttime) once I hit 50. And an easy way to address that particular issue would be to just limit the number of hours you can buy at a time. Heck, could make it max 1 hour even instead of 8.

Yep, if they'd just said "we feel they are OP and unneeded and we're getting rid of them" I could at least understand that logic and I can understand the point of those advocating that position. The change proposed here, I'm not understanding its logic.

Potentially they could end up less of an inf sink as they will last longer with this change. All depends on if enough more people find them more attractive with the change at level 50 vs. the loss of influence drain from having to renew them less often.

They aren't cheaper (the exact same 2.5mil at 50 now, 2.5mil at 50 with this change), but they can potentially last a lot longer since they can be basically be turned off and on at will with a "no powers" temp, thus saving the "time" for actual combat situations.

So you like that they are "more attractive" at level 50 with this change. That isn't power creep?

Depends on your definition of "new". Why I specifically said in my example someone absolutely brand new to the game probably wouldn't know. Someone who's played a few hours/days and wants to roll a new alt to go along with his first character that got up to level 15 or 20? I'd still consider that player "new" and by that point I'd expect them to know a few basic things. At the very least, how to email 24,000 inf to that new alt or sell things using /ah. Honestly even a player who has played for a few weeks and has several characters into the 30's or 40's I'd still consider "new" personally. Alts are big part of this game (to most people). Regardless, besides the point to me. My main issue is still how this actually makes these cheaper for level 50's (by being able to make them last longer at the same price) and more expensive for everyone pre-50. Those that are against "power creep" shouldn't be happy with these things being even cheaper (relatively) for the characters that are already the most powerful. As I said, I have nothing against the prices being raised, but I prefer just the scale increased so that it actually hits level 50's as well. Overall for what they do, these buffs are cheap even currently imo, for every level. No need to make them even cheaper for level 50's.

Run the tutorial, sell the two big inspirations you get for free on the AH, and you are pretty much on the way to the whole 24,000 inf you need at level 1. At the least you'll tend to get the 8k you need for 8 hours of the most important amp (the defensive one). I'd hardly call that a marketeering tactic. You basically just have to know the AH exists. Someone absolutely new to the game maybe wouldn't know, but it hardly takes long to learn /ah or to get together enough inf at low levels to afford them.

If that is the real reasoning then I find it egregious on two fronts. One, it is a change made due to powerlevelers/farmers which hurts those of us that don't do that much more than the powergamers themselves. Two, it ironically encourages more powerleveling/farming in order to afford/ignore the raised prices for pre level 50's.

I have no problem with the P2W buffs costing more, but with this change they cost exactly the same as before if you are level 50. The price increase is only for those under level 50. So, this change seems to be, lets punish the newbies/alts?

Can find some of the numbers/info on the wiki as well: https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Incarnate_System Although can't always be 100% sure of the info, for instance the wiki says Diamagnetic does -15% regen per application and above someone pointed to City of Data where it says -10%? Either way, still really bad values when the AV you need it for resists about 85% of it.

Yeah, trying not to get too excited by it. Afraid they might realize they finally made a good sentinel set and have to do something about that. 😉

After testing I can see one other thing that is going to prevent me from running this set. The noise of it. Unlike most other toggles now a days, the sound effects of the stone armor toggles never seem to fade. Running crystal armor, minerals, and brimstone all together is quite the cacophony. Tested on both a scrapper and a brute and tested several different versions (normal, minimal, color tinted) and they are all noisy that eventually drives me crazy listening to it. Can we get the sound fx on the toggles to fade after a few seconds?

Same. Keep them ticking down then would be my vote. As a matter of fact, the logic of this change makes no real sense as the top price is staying the same. If they are so much better now and can last so much longer, they actually should cost a lot more than 2.5 million per hour shouldn't they? You are literally only punishing lower level characters using them while buffing them for level 50's using them. Maybe just double the price and keep the scaling so that it scales from 2,000 at level 1 up to 5 million per hour at 50?