Yomo Kimyata

I have given up trying to figure out why the devs do what they do (except for buffing tanks, that's because they like them!), but if I were to guess this was a way of trying to make a "sleeper" mez more relevant. I can applaud that, and I'd like to see fear be worked on as well. The problem is, of course, is that holds are still the gold standard in mez, just like defense is the gold standard in protection. What else can be done? I would personally like to see new sleep and fear sets with interesting effects be introduced. Maybe make some enemies immune to certain types of mez, but then you run the risk of people gatekeeping their teams (MUST HAVE SLEEP, pst)l Sleep is killer for solo players. One thing I always do is slot a Call of the Sandman proc into AoE Sleep powers. A 15% heal that goes off nearly every time in saturated environments? Yes please. This is one of the reasons why I like Ice Melee so much...

I usually level organically, and an attack from the Fighting Pool really does help in levels 4 or 6 to 10 or 12 (throw an accuracy in it). I choose Kick mostly because I like the looks of it. There are so many punching animations that are boring, and the kick animation actually seems to have your leg elongate slightly. The chance for knockdown is not insignificant while this is in the rotation. And even at higher levels (when I sometimes put the knockback proc +recharge in it) there is a certain satisfaction to killing an AV with a kick.

In real life, I have Brawl 6-slotted with the Overwhelming Force set. True story.

Both. I played almost nothing but scrappers for a long time, and every one ended up more or less the same. Like Ukase, every one had: Combat Jumping, Kick (so much better than Boxing!), Tough, Weave, Hasten. Those were just the best powers I could put together for a +4/x8 solo build. And they all did well, but some a little better than others.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, and special thanks for those of you who listed pluses and minuses -- you are truly diamonds in the rough. Everyone else? The rough! I was trying to look at what would be best for the system and the community, regardless of what mini-games I specifically like to play in this sandbox. I mostly like the current system, but I do hear occasional complaints about people having a hard time funding their first character or their stable of characters that are below critical inf earning mass. And although I have mostly gotten bored with accumulating inf for inf's sake, it seems that there are still people who are willing to crank out supply of goodies. But my opinions are superfluous, because what will be will be:

15bn here, 15bn there. Pretty soon you're talking about real money.

I slot Panaceas partly for the reasons you mention but also because I 50+5 the set for that tiny incremental enhancement.

I appreciate both of these posts. I'm personally sunsetting if not sunset on this game, but I've generally been unhappy at how HC deals (or does not deal) with feedback. It certainly does feel as if whatever has been planned is going to happen, and it does not feel as if contrasting opinions are solicited or even respected. That's why I don't bother beta testing because at this point I don't feel as if I have any influence over the process and I'm just going to see what hits the live servers a week or so after it hits live beta because that's what is going to happen. We are at war with Eastasia. We have always been at war with Eastasia. That said, I don't spend any time on the Gold discord server (or even know if I'm able to log in there) since I detest discord so much, so really I can only blame myself

Unless it recharges or unless I can buy as many as I need from the P2W vendor, I never use it. It's a sickness of mine.

oops i forgot.

the problem I see with the “get all the free stuff you want on beta” is that no one is playing consistently on beta. You’re not having fabulously effed up pugs. Unless maybe you’re Snarky

Ugh, alt-building is so much worse than respeccing, imo.

I'm not going to say I LIKE them, but I do use them a lot. Takes me five minutes (practice!) and I'm playing a better character. It's also vaguely satisfying to clean house every now and again.

The tree of Homecoming must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of respecs.

I would also make the argument (it's not a strong one, but it's an argument nonetheless) that tankers and brutes (post fury nerfs) are fundamentally the same AT with the same powers and epics pools, so that buffs to one and not the other make one of them comparatively weaker.

Sets don’t need to be homogenized across ATs, but when people (minmaxxers) gravitate towards specific sets, that should be a warning sign. I also doubt the HC developers have the data or the inclination to test out their changes on a fairness basis, so it will be what will be. Also, fairness changes over time. Sets like Dark Melee and Kinetic Melee were designed as trade off sets — a little less damage, a little more protection. Protection is no longer relevant, and the moar damage mob has spoken.

Farming and necromancy: what's up with that?

Last night I was the only melee (and therefore tank) on a 54 ITF with a lvl 44 Radiation Melee/Regeneration scrapper, and it was just fine. Regeneration is great as it is, but I also understand that people don't want to have to build around Oh No! buttons. I regret that the devs felt a need to dumb down the set and I lament that we are about to enter the age of City of Regen/SS tanks.

Just you wait until they migrate it to tankers

You could try this: but the problem is that you can do it with x8 numbers of enemies. I don't know of a way to get +5/6 without that multiple.

I feel that the offering of SOs starting at level 5 (so character can slot them at 2) was one of the most egregious errors that Homecoming made. However, I can support the idea of offering free training enhancements (which they got rid of and really don't add much value but hey better than nothing) at levels 5 and 10, free DOs at levels 15 and 20, and free SOs at levels 25+. Being able to play with +3 SOs constantly is fine at a certain point, but I also wouldn't want to make the upgrades free.

This is a serious question, and I'm asking it in this forum rather than Suggestions since I'd like reasoned plusses and minuses rather than fire. Also, I'm not sure a topic has ever been locked on this subforum! The thing is, it's easy to make inf, but a lot of people just don't want to. And I understand that in concept. And those of us who know how and enjoy it, well, there's really no point any more once you can buy everything you want instantly for hundreds of characters. What do you see as plusses and minuses if the devs, for example, made items available as they currently do on Beta? And ... fight!

I don't love the set, but it serves the purpose. What defines the set for me is Psi Blade, Concentration (build Up), Greater Psi Blade, Mass Levitation. I don't love Insight, since minmaxing that mechanic might shave a few seconds off a pylon time, but otherwise things die quickly enough. I have found that Mass Levitation changes my gameplay so dramatically that everything revolves around it after a certain point. Boggle is a bit of a trick, but really not very useful. Foe -recharge can be useful, but when things die quickly at +4/x8 it's pretty much irrelevant. If I make another alt (and let me be honest with myself, I probably will), I'd look at regeneration as a secondary. With mass levitation knocking everyone up every 5-10 seconds, I'd expect to have close to a full green bar constantly.

What? We were gonna get there anyway.

By 41, I would think that your highest character should be throwing off more inf than you need, even keeping up with SOs every few levels. As it levels that will increase more and retailing salvage and SO drops and common IO recipes will generate a fair amount of inf. Then you can either email that to your alts or set up a common SG or whatever and pass on the goodness to your lowbies. It is not difficult to use the /AH to make and sell things (psst, converters!) but if you don't want to, that's cool. But it's a lot easier.