Riverdusk

I always slot my PA with the 4 exp reinf as you have it, but for the last 2 slots go with a soulbound Dam/Rech and soulbound BU proc. It gets you to 95%+ damage and recharge, about 74% accuracy, as well as that amazing BU proc (which fires a ton in PA). Also a bit of free +regen for the heck of it. Phantom army is already taunting what they hit and they are invincible, so agree they don't really need the kd chance. By the time the taunt wears off the enemy has probably long ago already stood back up, so it isn't protecting anything but the PA, which doesn't need protecting. MUCH better to put that in phantasm that has the annoying knockback energy torrent cone. In phantasm I use 4 exp rein, the overwhelming KB to KD (as mentioned above), and an explosive strike proc. RI I usually just throw 2 HO enzyme exposures in, they seem custom made as all 3 parts of the enhancement it gives are used. I then use those slots elsewhere (to probably find better +rech opportunities). Edit: And agree on Flash. I never take it on an illusion unless I really need it more as an IO set mule than finding it actually useful. It is literally the worst AoE hold power in the game. It is PBAoE and with an over 3 second animation time. It is also unneeded with choking cloud on this particular build anyway. Choking cloud usually holds most things about the same time flash finishes animating (not exaggerating since choking cloud tics every 2 seconds vs flash's 3 seconds animation).

Not just /MA. I have plenty of /cold, /dark, and /time combo's where it isn't especially true either. Usually people that complain about how squishy MM pets are I find are trying to play them on a team where they are underleveled and are trying to send their pets against level 54's as a sidekicked level 49. Of course pets trying to fight +7's are going to be squishy, doubly so if you aren't built for it yet. Take that same MM in as a level 50+1 and it is night and day. And I find the problem with speedrun teams are just that the pets can't keep up. Everything is dead by the time they get there. That's a more real issue I find, sometimes even on "normal" teams.

Personally I just run all my new characters through Hollows, Faultline, and Striga zone arcs (yes I tend to do hero to start). Lot of merits there to get a new character started.

Yeah, the biggest 'boost' I think it provides to you is defense (through -tohit) from flash arrow. Since half of it is unresistable it is even a decent chunk of 'defense' against an AV, unlike most tohit debuffs. Also unlike most tohit debuffs it doesn't aggro so you can be pretty sure to start every fight with it. It is as close to defense as you can get through a tohit debuff. Poison gas arrow is also overlooked as well a bit. I think more important than its sleep is that it has a huge damage debuff (also half of which is unresistable). Unless I'm reading it wrong Mids is also only showing half of it. From what I can see in game and from City of Data it is -40% for a corruptor and mids only shows it as -20%. You are right about EMP Arrow. It is hard to even use it as status protection either because even with some good recharge and hasten you are realistically only looking at being able to 'move' it once every 90 seconds or so once you plunk it down. It is definitely not like the similar Faraday Cage from electrical affinity that you can pretty much recast and move at will. You do get oil slick arrow of course which is almost like having a second nuke (or on a controller a first nuke). That and the multiple -resistance debuffs are the big draw for the set's damage.

Yes, not even a real consideration imo. My illusion/TA controller has never had an issue (and I definitely don't depend on my phantasm being smart enough to light it when I want). I just set up a macro that targets the slick and throws my starting origin power at it. Works great.

My first thoughts were fire/kin or fire/storm. Was surprised at the small number of Storm responses.

Soothing Wave is basically a clone of Nature's Regrowth. It works the same way in that you have to manually "aim" it. There is no target except what's in front of you. So, pretty sure it is working as intended and it does have a precedent.

I honestly wouldn't mind the MoG timer be shortened a wee bit, but not too short as it is nice to have mezzes, knockdowns, and endurance drains have a purpose. Can be a boon to stalkers too and gives strategy to using a well placed assassin strike. I'm against limiting the number per spawn. Bosses are fairly limited per spawn already and the only time PP in particular come in great numbers is during two missions of the Gordon Stacey arc. I tend to run that arc once per character specifically to get the badge for them, so I actually want a lot of them to spawn. During those missions you also get a lot of non-boss versions of PP and those tend to be a lot easier to deal with, even if they do MoG. I think the only time they've done a specific limit to spawn numbers is with sappers. They are minion level though so it could get a bit crazy with how many could spawn of them, so that one was understandable.

Speaking of healing sets, I think it'd be cool if they added a purple healing set.

Diagmagnetic's -regen unfortunately is so low it is virtually worthless (-15% up to 4 times, so -60% max). That is then 85% resisted by a level 50 AV so you are down to, at best, -9% regen. Degen does -1,000 hp vs. an AV, again up to x 4 is -4,000 hp. The wiki doesn't list -hp as one of the resistances that AV's have, so I'm thinking they don't resist it? I don't have it handy, but some have posted the actual calculations and not surprisingly given the above numbers, degen is much more useful. I know people have done tests as well and degen gives much faster AV kill times. Part of that is the damage dot, but I think that should be considered as Diag doesn't have extra damage. Only reason I ever take Diagmagnetic myself is if I can find use from its tohit debuff (-5% and up to 4 times is -20%). That is a decent tohit debuff. The regen debuff isn't even a consideration to me, it is so pitifully weak. For -regen, just buy envenomed daggers from START to easily get -250% to -500% of a regen debuff instead, an actual useful amount. Can see the info on them here: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Interface_Slot_Abilities

Don't forget you can also use a SG buff table to get +20% recharge for 90 mins at a time for 3 cheap pieces of salvage. I find it makes building for perma hasten a lot easier to say the least (or perma dom). Popping into a SG base once every 90 mins or so I find pretty easy (don't think it even has to be a SG base you have any special permissions for as long as they have a buff table).

Yep, only heard second hand about having to roll for drops in other MMO's and the arguments people would get into about "need vs. greed", etc. and was so happy none of that was ever a part of CoH.

My current character being a dark melee scrapper I know if someone on the team has fold space I'm going to be trying to soul drain a group that is no longer there at least occasionally. It is annoying as it directly affects my killing ability, but I think I'm past the point of getting too upset about anything like that. It's just a game and I know they aren't doing it intentionally. I just go with the flow.

Finally agree (sorta) with D on a topic. At least until they got to the point of saying no to one joining a team. I think petless MM are crazy, but I'd usually have no problem having them on a team with me. Same with no travel powers, and who uses just sprint now? Everyone gets athletic run. Combined with the ton of free teleport powers and base teleports, even just sprint+athletic run and as long as you know where you are going no one is going to be waiting long for anyone to get to the next mission. Usually the holdup is people wanting to train up or shop between missions, and I don't begrudge anyone doing that either.

I consider Necro a "mixed" set myself just because of how much tohit debuffing they throw around. It doesn't take long for them to softcap themselves against most things (AV's excluded but even against them it can add up). Throw some defense on them and they are safe that much faster. My necro/cold end up not getting hit much at all even though I still end up a bit short of softcapping them even with the ice shields, arctic fog, maneauvers, and IO's. It is close enough that one aoe debuff from the lich and they are usually there and quickly. The arctic fog also helps shore up two of their resistance weaknesses (fire and energy). Also, that tohit debuffing helps protect you as well (sort of like bots and demons shielding their owners). Add in the sheer number of pets necro can throw at a problem and that they are the only MM that has a pet that actually taunts (specters), and I'm a big fan of necro now. I also have a merc/dark that I find very good and I can imagine merc/marine would also work well. I also had good luck with both bot/cold and bot/time and even beast/cold. I tried thug/marine and was underwhelmed. I agree with you and finally discovered for myself by closely monitoring their defense stats while in action as I wondered why they often didn't seem as tough as I thought they should be. It was exactly the reason you said, all too often some of them would get out of range (or be blocked from line of sight) of the enforcers and that critical defense would disappear. I found I had to keep a VERY tight leash on thugs to keep them alive in the tougher stuff. For those that are really good at keeping them tight I'm sure they are great, but I found them more hassle than it was worth due to that issue. I do think demon/marine should be a good pick and one I'm thinking of trying at some point. And demon's shield has a 60 foot radius compared to thug enforcers 30 foot, so a lot more forgiving. Will also have to try ninja at some point, it is the only MM primary I haven't yet to a decent level.

We have another free option as well now. If you do get bothered and really want to do PvP zone stuff right then without being bothered, temp transfer to another server (Reunion is probably a good choice).

The only time I even consider broadsword is if I want to play a sword set with shield. It is the one advantage BS has over katana since for some reason in this universe you can hold a much bigger broadsword with only your right hand, but a katana takes both hands. I know it is an animation issue, but I find it amusing. Edit: I do think it works best on a stalker. Considering stalkers are at least partly more about the front loaded damage vs. dps over time, the extra bit of extra base damage that broadsword gives is sometimes more useful. And stalkers can't get battle axe or mace.

Only thing I'd say should be looked at is the balance between orange resistance and purple defense inspirations. It has always seemed off. I'd buff orange ones a bit and nerf purple ones a bit. Doubt it'd ever happen though. Oh, and being able to store inspirations in email and grab them during missions is a bit cheesy, but not sure if anything can be done about that. Otherwise, they are fine imo.

Very interesting. The one time I tried beam sent it felt kind of slow and clunky. The difference between feel and actual numbers I guess. Might have to give it another try. Thanks for the work on this.

Easiest time I ever have with this is with a plant dom. Save dom for that fight and hit them all with seeds. Fight is over baring a situation like above where they have a chance to buff up with crazy defense or something. Also actually often easier and faster to solo this one than doing it in a group. But of course, where is the fun in that?

Necro is especially adept at it now with the addition of the specters, considering they have a taunt. Just like illusion controllers, having a taunting pet really helps take the heat off of you (and your more valuable pets in necro's case), to safely take out the big targets. Necro doesn't even need crazy recharge to pull it off like illusion does, as the specters just spawn and quickly respawn if defeated. All you need to do is keep blasting.

2 months? I think I remember back in the day on live it took me like 9 months before I finally made it to 50 for the first time. Yes, after many characters. Sounds like you are doing fine.

Running tactics should increase that a bit, but point taken.

You'd be surprised. This is far from the first time triage/spirit tree have been suggested for an update. Usually been a couple of vocal critics of the idea of it being changed in any way that show up. Surprised we haven't seen them yet (hides).

Supremacy is a 60 foot radius. That is pretty big. I've never really noticed getting out of range of it a lot. It is the same as the leadership powers (which most MM's tend to take). So, that would be another way to monitor it, if you are within range of maneuvers/assault/tactics, then you are within range of supremacy. Nothing against the suggestion though if it is an easy thing to do.