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I'm guessing that in this context there is a 50+ character trying to PL a lower level character? You can get Council Missions via the newspaper, but traveling between them may be problematic. IIRC St. Martial newspapers can be set up to run between two nearby doors, and many Tip missions in Nerva are almost all at the same door. By cranking up the difficulty, you can get a lot of mobs in missions... but the issues for Power Leveling will be (a) moving the low level between missions, (b) handling the right mix of opponents. There are plenty of Red Side missions for good XP, but I don't know if the high-level toon would feel comfortable trying to speed PL against Crey, Malta, Arachnos. If you can drag them to Dark Astoria, low level toons can door sit in all those missions.

I'm a great fan of Redside. I just finished getting a villain up to level 47 and decided to 'go rogue' for the purposes of collecting a few pelts in the blue areas. My experience Red Side has always been this: The arcs are generally tight. There are a few that will send you between zones, but nothing like the Blue Side arcs. Many arcs are finished in a handful of missions. There are enough arcs (with diversity) that it is easy to replay Red side with different content. This is especially true if you find yourself teaming up with other villains. This can happen Blue side as well... but we had YEARS of playing most of the (low-level) Blue content... I think the idea of 'speed leveling' is commensurate with Blue side. A few characters ago, a few of us had trouble recruiting a large 'Red DFB', so we just ran missions instead. We missed the bonuses, but we ended up with more merits and plenty of XP by just playing a 3-man team through the Mercy Island and Port Oakes arcs. The TIP missions are hilarious. Every one of them offers 'agency'. Even while playing a nasty villain I found myself sometimes taking the Rogue choice because I preferred that option. Mayhem Missions are fun. I think the title question could be 'How to get more players in Boomtown' and we'd be reading almost the same reactions from contributors: Too drab. Lack of Agency. Dull opposition. On the Blue side, I see very few players in Boomtown (Scrapyard's Ghost gets more bites than a Babbage in Boomtown), Faultline, Sewer Network(s), or Skyway City for that matter. I find arguments (not the folks making the arguments) about 'player agency' disingenuous. Why do the Blue side contacts only offer me a choice between two missions? Don't thy know I'm hunting badges and want to face down Siege RIGHT NAO! Why am I being dispatched to 'Defeat 15 Hellions' when I should be going after the big bosses?! I'm a HERO not a flunky for the Perez Park Security Chief. And those RWZ contacts... UGH. The payoff Red Side (for me) comes at around level 40: you start getting missions where you face off against individual members of the Freedom Phalanx, Vindicators, et al. Prior to taking out the BIG BLUE NAMES I found myself taking out the 'Rogues Gallery' of my potential competitors as well. I don't care who the contact is Red Side... It's MY VILLAIN who is taking them down. I don't think if you go to Red side with Blue side thinking you are setting yourself up for a good time. I understand that players may not want to change their 'head canon', and that's ok. That doesn't mean that there is anything WRONG with Red side. I do have a small list of things that I'd like to see Red Side, as 'Quality of Life' improvements. The 'Defeat 200 ____' badges (for the accolade powers and unlockable contacts) should be as easy to get (through missions) as the 'Defeat 200 Wolf Spiders'. That is to say: there are so many Arachnos missions that I got this one quite early, but 'counting coup' against factions (for example) like the Family is less straightforward, despite them appearing in so many zones. I'd like an(other) contact in each applicable zone who gives missions that organically allow players to collect defeats. Alternatively, maybe some more could be made available by Street Sweeping? Right now Hellfrosts are the only boss type I can think of that are easier to get Redside (aside from Scrapyarders, Cage Consortium, and the like). I think there are areas of the existing zones that are under-used: Villa Requin in Sharkshead, Primeva in Nerva, The Hard Way in St. Martial. I'd really appreciate a 'Tunnel System' map like Paragon City's Sewer Network beneath Cap Au Diable and Port Oakes. This could be the equivalent of a Trial Zone Red Side. The temporary powers (as mission rewards) are already quite abundant, my only complaint about these is that some have such a low number of uses I don't find it worthwhile to add them to my trays. Boost the number of uses on the TEMP POWERS please. I find the Merit Rewards to be pretty good already, but I wouldn't object to a(nother) slight boost in rewards. Villains should be able to collect 'named villain' defeat badges as easily as they collect 'named hero' defeat badges (from TIP missions, for example). Writing that, there are a few instances (Vincent Ross' finale) where defeating the named characters should count for something. That final mission, although easy, is TEDIOUS. On the subject of badges and unlockable content: Rogue Toxic Tarantula in Warburg should count towards the Toxic Tarantula badge. I don't find it (Red Side) natural to have defeated enough Toxic Tarantula by level 44 in order too unlock Number 204. I suppose I could crank up difficulty in Arachnos missions, but still...

I find that exemplaring low enough (KR Skulls arc, Posi 1) can cause significant trouble for a solo player against large numbers of enemies. Purples, Winters, and ATOs of course scale down, but losing attack powers and any set bonuses (many which lick in at lvl 17, or lvl 22). If playing as part of a balanced team, a large number of enemies is less of a problem. I enjoy throwing my characters against large numbers of enemies pell-mell, but more than once I've earned some debt as my reward (Rularuu!)

This is good advice; I think it applies to more than just Controllers. With resists close to nil a 30% Defense is reducing the amount of potential damage by ~18%. If I have a caveat it is that if the incoming attacks are Mez, then a Controller could be in trouble (again, solo). The most trouble my Controller has ever had on teams was from large enemy spawns which Mez. My share of the blame is that I'm quick with my (AoE) controls; the teams' share of the blame is allowing the Controller to be faster than a Hovering Controller. 'Soft Capping' Defenses is obviously good, but primarily for x8 content because it is unlikely that player AoE will be able to defeat/control the enemies before they can strike back. Player builds that can otherwise defeat/control (or resist/heal) enemies will be fine for a majority of game content. Corner cases like solo GM/AV fights are a different matter, of course.

My experience has been that there is usually a LOT of lvl 45-50 content still to be done before venturing into Incarnate content. Obviously unlocking Alpha and slotting it with a T3 makes it all that much easier, but I've had some 50+ toons unlock the final Incarnate slot before I bothered to go back and craft incarnate powers. YMMV. Mender Ramiel's arc can be a PITA for the uninitiated. I've never had a problem with Trapdoor, but the 'weakened' Honoree and Captain Holtz can be a source of grief to my toons (oh my poor Controller). I have found that if I do a level 50 respec and slot out with my final (or near-final) IO sets the arc is *much* easier to solo.

IIRC: 12 seconds / Regen Rate = time between 'healing tics' (HP Total) / 20 = HP regained per 'healing tic' Once you have a significantly large Regeneration rate, IO Global bonuses for Regeneration can quickly run into a case of diminishing returns (once a build starts getting significant slots). The Panacea proc delivers actual Health and Endurance, which is different than Regeneration (for Health) or Recovery (for Endurance). Panacea is always first for me. As I am leveling, I may invest a second slot in Health, but if so it will usually be for the Miracle +Recovery, no matter the AT. The best advice IMO so far is: Being able to self-heal is quite important!

I wouldn't ignore the Incarnate Shards; rather it is better to say that you shouldn't plan on using them very much. You can use Incarnate Shards (and oddball rewards that can be bought with Vanguard merits, and Notice of the Wells) as part of crafting your Alpha Incarnate slot. This is the direct use of them. You will be able to slot your Alpha quicker using threads and Empyrean Merits. Counter advice about just converting the shards coming in three... two... one...

My advice is to not worry about this one early game. Low level toons don't accumulate that much debt (if any). It is much easier to collect the debt badges at a higher level (more debt, and more tools to defeat enemies at high levels). Just mail your global account Revive insps instead. Also in the category of "not worth it until level 50" trying to accumulate 'IO crafting discount' tokens via day job badges. IIRC the most you can 'save' using such a token is 150 kInf (level 50 Very Rare), which coincidentally is almost exactly the lowest sell-to-vendor price for the cheapest two level 50 common IOs.

Are there any candidates for which sets would get this hypothetical bonus? I am willing to wager that few players are willing to give up existing Defense, Damage Resistance or Global Recharge bonuses. Would players really chase a '6th-piece' bonus if it provided Endurance Drain Resistance? Are players going to 5-slot Control sets to get an Endurance drain resistance?

/agree. This is where I end (no pun intended) up in almost all my builds. The 'functional relevance' of more regen is diminished by the ability to increase Defenses (and Resistances)...not to mention 'speed of defeating enemies', as opposed to Recovery which is (for the most part) completely determined by the player's style of play. (e.g. toggle choices, rapid button mashing) IIRC, the way Regen and Health interact: 12 seconds / Regen Rate = time between 'healing tics' (HP Total) / 20 = HP regained per 'healing tic' I believe that (unslotted) Health is already providing a 1.4 regen rate, so in the absence of any other regeneration bonuses the time between ticks provided by the Numina proc is reduced by about 0.6 seconds. Regeneration bonuses from non-heal sets are not uncommon LotG, Shield Wall both give 10% after only 2 pieces. Full disclosure: With IO sets, procs, accolades and power slotting I typically (end-game) plan to only have 2 extra slots planned to be used in Health and Stamina combined. If there is a power pick that provides Health/Regeneration or Endurance/Recovery I'm usually able to run with just 1 extra slot (almost always in Stamina).

Stop the presses! New Headline! CoX gamer wants specific change for narrow class of enemies without taking advantage of in-game preventive measures!

Add me to the pool of players that very rarely use the Numina proc, primarily for the reason identified. I encourage folks to review the effects either using MIDS or by the in-game mechanisms (and some unslotters/respecs if necessary).

It is possible to 'buy' (create with salvage) two different buffs from a SG Base Empowerment Station: Endurance Drain Resistance Increase Recovery