Yomo Kimyata

Debuff powers that ignore resistance. Boy, would that be terrible, if someone or someones had something like Enervating Field that ignored player resistance...

What is true is that once upon a time, you could slot it for range. Headsplitter with a few Centrioles in it was pretty ridiculous!

I do solo a lot. On the one hand, when you are solo you won't bump into other players as you spend a half second lining up your shot. On the flip side, if you are on a team, then it doesn't really matter how many enemies you get in your cone, since whoever you don't hit will be taken down in short order by someone else on your team.

My purpose is not to be pedantic, but it is not "unreliable". It works as described, 20 degree cone with 10 foot length. If I am playing a katana/ninja blade or broadsword, and I am fighting more than one opponent in melee range, I generally will take that fraction of a second to move slightly and get two or three opponents in the cone. I would hate, HATE to see golden butterfly/headsplitter get the Shadow Maul treatment, where the cone is widened and the damage is reduced. If you choose not to get your opponents in the cone, that's up to you, but I really hope they do not change the power.

Back in the good old days, a luck charm was actually worth something!

I’m away from any planner, but I will tell you this: I would put a knockdown proc (Avalanche and Overwhelming Power) in both Radiation Therapy and Ground Zero. With those and Mass Levitate and plenty of recharge, it’s gonna be a bouncy castle!

PSA: Always remember that the last 5 merely prints where the last five *purchases* were made. It doesn't say a lot about where the goods are being offered. If you buy a pack of gum with a $100 bill and tell the bodega to keep the change, that doesn't mean gum is selling at $100 a pack. Inflation isn't that bad! Yet.

Allowing SOs at level 2 was a conscious decision by the devs to make low level recipes and enhancements irrelevant except as converter fodder. It's a wrinkle like the Grand Canyon is a hole in the ground.

This is a great topic for a thread, and I'll get around to adding my own thoughts. A few I particularly agree with so far:

Conversely, you don’t need to survive anything if you defeat it first, which is why the devs’ most favorite ATs are blaster and tanker.

The current damage to survivability meta strongly favors the tanker. It is significantly easier for a tanker to add brute damage in the form of damage procs than it is for a brute to add tanker survivability.

Oh no, I'm not going to be re-reading a three year old thread! What's up with that?

An additional reason to respec: When you respec, you get to put slots wherever you want them, and are not restricted like you are in normal leveling. If you pick a power at lvl 49, it comes with the base slot and you can add up to three slots when you ding 50. But if you respec, you can put up to five there. Note: to the best of my knowledge, Mids will not let you model this. This also comes in useful at lower levels. You can now pick your primary T9 at lvl 26 (*cough cough power creep*), but you can’t normally have it 6-slotted until you ding lvl 31. But if you respec at 26, you can add five slots there (of course, you are losing slots from other powers).

and huges

To me, this summarizes to where to put the Critical Strikes proc (and maybe how many pieces of Critical Strikes to slot with it). I like to approach that question with 1: what attack is going to be a part of my rotation that will have a good chance to activate; and 2: which/how many attacks can I expect to get off that will benefit from the proc if activated. For a pure single target rotation, you'll get the best proc chances from Midnight Grasp, but that means of course you can't get the proc bonus on Midnight Grasp which is a big hitter. Since most of my melee is fighting as many critters as possible, I generally put it in Shadow Maul. If you are hitting five minions, you have five chances for the proc to activate, which means that the chances of the proc NOT activating is minimal. The problem here is when you are down to one hard target your overall activation chances will drop. Next, sadly, it helps to understand the mechanics of the combat system and the proc. When it activates, there is a 3.25 second period when the bonus is in play. But understanding when that bonus activates is important. Example: Midnight Grasp has a 2.244 second Arcanatime, which means it takes a total of 2.244 seconds to activate and execute fully. It also has 0.533 second Animation Time before Effect, which is when it checks for things like does the power hit and damage and proc effects. (All of these numbers are from City of Data (all hail Uberguy)). So if you have the proc in Midnight Grasp and you activate it, after 0.533 seconds it checks to see if the proc activates, and then you have 1.711 seconds of what I call dead time as the power finishes animations and such. This cuts into the 3.25 seconds of active proc bonus, which leaves you with 1.539 seconds of active time. Now, in order for the proc bonus to work for the next power you activate, it needs to have less than 1.539 seconds Animation Time Before Effect. All powers in Dark Melee except Soul Drain do. In fact, what you could do is get off two attacks if the Arcanatime of the first attack plus the Animation Time Before Effect of the second power < 1.539 seconds. Shadow Punch then Shadow Maul should work. In general, I assume that I will be able to get one attack off after/if the proc activates, but I check to see if certain powers will not work.

I want empathy melee and empathy armor.

For a long while I did not, but nowadays if I am using Sorcery, Force of Will, or Experimentation I will take whatever travel power is there.

Also, blasters now get "Contra Cheat Code" levels of recovery and regeneration

Everyone knows birds aren't real! https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/26/science/birds-birdwatching-nemesis.html?unlocked_article_code=ptj6q31Qhr6MjVBXeGRLtsNLj2_Zw6ctNDFLGcZvpy5SMaoicqsyEQbvZ2poY6wizhae-BNdjfSxsSg9-LFHWUKE4jkXAY60uMd-Vo-laSKmbBwY9XZ9AakOZkJrbzpkjqslm-WmJ683duvlFSdXgYxi3EvfghDbO8eSMfjk9eGUc1ltgGVLrNbcxKJy66a6eCCKobQmnCLCm0uiTdwaQnh0K4FGuP5qpPwLrv4rxJ2zpzLJFjhtQfcdTJjEYQYuH3nw_F_deoU89hb_3p1qbQDkDW1ipCznzfNBnUozhl1lQarQ4OIzmtk_JanhgyBBDvIml6sS-67_c_QCEx_s_KYq_j0&smid=url-share

Iron Will, that’s where it’s at!

Not to be flip, but what about break-frees? Alternatively, ranged defense.

Here's my current favorite. I laugh every time I see "Oh no! A Brazilian Monkey!!!"