Yomo Kimyata

It sounds like you are asking this from a min-max perspective: if I want to maximize experience/leveling speed and inf generation, at what point do I shift from one to another? That's a very individualistic preference, and I'm not going to hit you with the "that depends" bat, but it does in fact depend on your preferences. RE: inf generation, I don't have a lot to say on that. There are plenty of ways to get inf, some of which are associated with just playing the game. I have found that once a character hits around 35 or so, they start generating plenty of inf cash through regular play to maintain their spending needs, so if you want a level number that would be my vote. RE: experience, I have found that I tend towards certain "sweet spots" in level play that I find most enjoyable, and certain "dead spots" that I do not enjoy. If you are just running to 50, which is fine, keep double xp going all the way. Shoot, I use a lot of Experienced temp powers post-50 because it gets the emp merits faster. But remember you can always cancel a double xp power. Nowadays, I tend to play at old school normal xp/inf ratios, and if I get bored with the character's progression, I'll either try to fast track a few levels to see if that helps. Going back to my first sentence on min-max (which I do in spades), I'm going to pull out an old economic concept I vaguely recall. When I was in college we looked at a fabrication called "utils" which is a hypothetical unit of satisfaction. In theory, you could create an equation that would maximize utils by putting everything else in context of satisfaction: level, inf, time spent, etc. Maximize your happiness, that's my motto. ("But I can't!" "Neither can I, that's my trouble.")

I'm the opposite -- I use them with reckless abandon. For melee characters, I'm almost always looking for more melee defense, so Blistering Cold usually gets 5 slotted, usually in my first attack. Slow defense is important to me, and I can see builds where splitting up the set 2-2-2 works. The proc is also great in powers that also have a hold aspect to trigger a hold on a boss. Avalanche usually makes its way into most of my builds as well, since AoE melee is pretty common and the proc is just too much fun to pass up. Winter's Bite and Frozen Avalanche are less useful to me. The former often makes it into a build with a lot of single target ranged characters, but the slow resistance is less useful since the bonus comes with three slots rather than two. Frozen Avalanche is a meh set, but I'll often frankenslot two pieces here or there for the slow resist. Entomb is probably the least used set, and although absorb is nice, I generally reroll any Entomb into something more immediately useful.

My answer is: no they are all worthwhile, but then again there are a lot of ATs I don't play very much. Also, I don't think that 8mm inf or even 100 merits is a lot to pay, so there is that as well. (Generally you are better off buying them on the /AH rather than spending 100 merits for them. You are probably better off buying a random Hero pack, getting one or two random ATOs, and converting them directly to the one you want as well.) They fit in many AT powers, have good bonuses (sometimes even good 2 or 3 bonuses) in comparison to other IOs, and they are purty.

Well, if you are dead set against balance, why not replace fire imps with a summonable Baphomet? Since there is only one they have no justification to make it at -1 level to you, and that should amp up your damage nicely.

I'd like to hear more about this. My personal conjecture is that prices of items have dropped because items are being supplied faster than items are being demanded, not because there is a decrease in available money supply, but my mind is open.

I don't think so. There are plenty of rare recipes that don't require rare salvage, just like there are plenty of uncommon recipes that do require rare salvage. In terms of "what is unfair or dangerous to the theoretical new player?" I think this ranks somewhere below 1 on a scale of 0 to 10. New recipes for new sets introduced by Homecoming were simplified. I assume that was by choice. Pointing it out is fine, but probably irrelevant to anyone who isn't particularly concerned with mass crafting and probably well known to those who are. It's hardly a secret. Not like the secret magic slot machine in St. Martial. Don't know; more, but it's marginal; minorly bad, but that's just like my opinion man; nope.

Well, as it stands now, every character gets a total of 24 powers and 67 additional slots, and to be honest I think that's a pretty good limit. So would you like that 67 to be upped to 70 or 75? What about that 24?

My view is that tanks get a ton of resistance from their ATO, so giving them sets with great defense and giving them great resistance reinforces their status as HC devs favorite tank mage class. That said, balance went out the window back when this was still a secret server. But sure, give it to brutes. Give them everything!

Lord Recluse should get out more often. Touch some grass.

I bid 5bn for Bug Hunter! As for the original suggestion, if it is a buyable badge, it makes sense to me to allow it to be buyable all year round.

A few more thoughts as I am trying to come up with reasons to not do other things I don't particularly feel like doing: "Rich" is a label, either for you or for how others perceive you. On the one hand, if you are able to meet all your character wants and needs in a timely manner*, you are rich. If you have more inf than someone else you are comparing yourself to, than you are richer than them. If you have some arbitrary goal like I want to make a billion in a day, or I want to accumulate a trillion inf, then if you accomplish your goal you are rich and if you don't, you are a pathetic loser. In a perfect self-aware world, the first one would lead us all to live in perfect harmony, while the last two are a little more venal and more demonstrative of human nature and the oft held desire to keep score and to win regardless of the consequences. *in a timely manner: Let's say I'm making a new character, and I just dinged 10 and want to equip a whole set of ATOs. Maybe (probably) I have that in storage somewhere, but then I'd have to hunt it down and transfer them to my new character, which is for the birds. Maybe I can buy those 12 enhancements on the market for, say, 100mm, but then I have to get 100mm on this character somehow, and what if someone else hasn't already listed the items I want at the price I want. I ain't paying no fifty cents for no Coke! Also for the birds. Maybe I can spend 100mm on hero packs and then open them and convert all the ATOs I get into the ATOs I need that will probably save me a few shekels but will cost me time and lots of clicking. For the freaking birds. I'm an economist by nature and I look at inf, time, and enjoyment as three commodities and I generally try to come up with a path that minimizes the first two while maximizing the last. My effective discount rate for time/effort is relatively high, so yes I am going to buy someone's expensive ATO on the market right NAO rather than find the one I already have, email it, claim it, and slot it. My time is certainly better spent ranting on the forums than saving myself a few inf.

If two or more activate, they will cause knockBACK rather than knockDown. Knock is additive, and two or more applications of +0.67 knock gets you over +0.75 knock which causes knockback. Even with the KB to KD, since the mechanic that seems to use is divide the inherent KB value of the power by 10, and then the additives of the procs get you over the limit. I tested similar things a while back, and I honestly don't remember if the order of the procs in the power matter or not. And the "proper" way to look at it is to look at the probability that NONE of them trigger, and use 1 - that probability to see your chances that one, two, or three knock triggers will occur. Also, according to City of Data (all hail @Uberguy) the OF proc is 2.5PPM. The 20% straight probability is a bad label.

Steadfast Protection gives +def as well as level-dependent resistance, and LOTG gives +recharge as well as level-dependent defense, so higher level is better. It's minor, but I'd always make sure these are attuned so that you will get more out of them. I never even considered whether or not I could boost them, but I don't think so because of the proc component.

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Set_Enhancements_with_Special_Effects

Fear and Confuse are a real thing, at least for me at scrapper end game. It's the only reason I'll ever get Leadership/Tactics, but mostly it's the reason I carry a column of break frees.