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Which link(s) are you checking?

Traps has some of the best debuffs in the game, and the -Regen from Mastermind Robotic attacks is golden. The FFG is a team Defense (all) with a base of +10%. Henchmen (not Pet) Builds are incredibly tanky, and can also be used to chase down runners, soak alpha strikes, or draw more enemies to a kill zone.

Water Jet is only "fast (immediate re-) cast" when Tidal Power is accumulated (for the first cast, and it hits). Assuming both casts of Water Jet hit, on paper this is a theoretic doubling of damage... subject to the inherent recharge of the initial cast of course. In contrast the (Blaster) Snipes I am most familiar with: Are a much earlier attack choice in the Primary Can get a constant +6% damage increase (for Fast) by having the Kismet +6% ToHit piece active Are more reliable %proc damage (usually there is good choice of some enhancement set that includes a %damage piece) power For me, I always feel like I am getting more (and steadier) damage output from a Snipe. Part of what turned me off from Water Jet (I tried it, for a good while!) was that it felt like "I waited until level 18 for this?" Even with slotting, I was unimpressed. As I was growing disenchanted with Water Jet, I started paying close attention to other Water Blast characters on PUGs, looking for "ENHANCED WATER JET!" and even those characters who had the power (I love the animation!) I wasn't seeing it that often... and it was making much less of a splash (pun intended) than the AoEs. As I wrote, Water Jet "feels" like it is reasonably balanced if: Tidal Power is always accumulated when casted BOTH Water Jet attacks hit Those conditions are almost enough a deal breaker by themselves (hi RNG!), but it doesn't offer enough synergy with the rest of the set for me, in terms of DoT or AoE.

Acid Mortar could be a reasonably easy power to test (against even/higher level enemies): Don't bring out pets Take the SG Invisibility Buff, run with +Stealth so that the MM is not a target Drop the Acid Mortar near enemies, let it do its thing. Don't attack, allow the enemies to attack the Acid Mortar Review the combat logs. Change slotting, repeat. The main confounding factor will be how many potential targets the Acid Mortar has, but many enemies should group around it for melee attacks.

RNG says "Hi". I'm a no-sell on Water Jet because it takes both a power pick and slots just to sometimes get a second cast of a single-target attack (that may or may not hit). For my blasters, the take Water Blast primary breaks down as: Aqua Bolt / Hydro Blast : Two single-target attacks. Pick one and slot it with the Defiant Barrage ATO, skip the other. Water Burst: The first AoE, and an important one. Take it. Whirlpool: an AoE Debuff, that includes -Speed. Take it, unless you are completely giving up on AoE. Tidal Forces: The set's Build-up, easily delayed (or even skipped) if the secondary has a better Build-Up. Dehydrate: Single target attack, self-heal, debuff. Take it. Water Jet: Sometimes fast-cast single target attack. It's on the bubble as it isn't radically different than other powers... and it is the only attack that needs Tidal Power to stand out. Steam Spray: A decent cone, with off-brand damage type. Take it. Geyser: The AoE Nuke. Take it. I suppose that if no attacks are being taken from the secondary, Water Jet could fit into an attack chain. Running through a no-gap attack chain is pretty important! Usually I'm doing something with the secondary in the course of making attacks (including blapping, which can also be single-target!). Build-wise, I'm usually trying to balance choices of enhancements to slot for set bonuses; one more single-target ranged attack on a Blaster doesn't excite me. I'd feel very differently if this was a Snipe. I see what the set is doing differently (as opposed to it being a Snipe). It's just that for my taste, the specific mechanics of getting the most out of Water Jet are a lot more convoluted and conditional than Snipes, and using Tidal Power for Water Jet means I'm not using Tidal Power for another attack power. For Snipes, I can run fast or slow, I can boost damage on Snipes with passive (or active) +ToHit bonuses, and Snipes can take a greater variety of Enhancement sets. The recent fix to not auto-burn Tidal Power on a miss has improved Water Jet, but its still not teh choice for me. Frankly: I'd sooner pick the other single-target ranged attack available at level 1 first and slot it before I'd take Water Jet, since then I'd have a second attack that could be cast when mezzed. I wouldn't need to rely on Tidal Power to improve its performance. As things stand, I have better used for not just the power pick that would go to Water Jet but also any slots I would dedicate to it.

There are a LOT of AT that can tackle almost all the content in the game; if you want leisurely, I think Robotics/Traps is probably the path you want to take. My reasoning: Robot henchmen attacks are almost entirely ranged, which makes them a lot less frenetic than other henchmen The Robotics primary's recent rework is quite good (especially with Maintenance Drone, a no-think henchman heal), Triage Beacon is not required. The Traps secondary is a solid debuff set, and FFG is a great no-think buff power The Traps secondary's last three powers are entirely skippable, which allows for team buffs (Leadership pool) or travel options (Group Fly for rocket boots!) Mastermind henchmen do suffer level shifts, and AoE can be a shock... but no one is obligated to run +3 content if they don't want to. The most "active" that a Robotics/Traps MM has to be in my experience is: Against most Giant Monsters and AVs, the MM will have to make attacks to apply -Regen Against large spawns, especially those that apply -Resistance, you may have to be respawning the henchmen.

Why does the Paragon City department of roads use names like "Dark Astoria" on road signs, but "Woodvale", "Baumtown", and "Overbrook" on others? And why does the Hazard sign in Steel Canyon read "Boomtown", but the hazard gate in Atlas Park for the Hollows reads "Eastgate"?

The AH itself relies on a database; it is very likely that the different views/ways-into the database aren't entirely 'robust'. The mechanism Homecoming uses to 'bucket' items could certainly be contributing, although I suspect the problem is more fundamental.

IIRC, every %proc in an attack requires a ToHit, which is why I have the Accuracy piece slotted, and why I often with look for combination pieces that include Accuracy on powers that I slot with %procs Originally, I had a second %-Resistance debuff in Acid Mortar, when I swapped in the Accuracy piece I felt like I was seeing a much more even application of the %-Resistance. I was almost never seeing both %-Resistances.

I want to say there is only one attack (from the robots) that still does Knockback. Otherwise they now do Knockdown. Acid Mortar is pretty bad for %procs. I have the Annihilation %-Res piece in it only because several of my other AoE attacks include the same piece and I'm hoping for an extension of the -Resistance. Caltrops isn't a particularly good %proc power, but it has a larger area of effect than Acid Mortar (although IIRC it has a max target cap of fewer enemies) so the MM has more control where the power lands. I spent a long time fiddling with different choices of slotting (mostly testing to see how %proc helps); the slotting of each power I landed on is: Level 1: Caltrops (A) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime (*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Damage/Recharge (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance for Damage(Cold) (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal) Level 14: Acid Mortar (A) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff (*) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff/Recharge (*) Undermined Defenses - Recharge/Endurance (*) Undermined Defenses - Recharge (*) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff (*) Accuracy: Level 50+5 Personally: Recharge is the most important for each, followed by Accuracy (especially if %procs are being leveraged!) The Damage slotting is simply because of what pieces were available in a given set; I treat these as primarily debuff powers. I wouldn't fault anyone for substituting 4 pieces of Shield Breaker in place of Undermined Defenses in Acid Mortar; in my build positional defenses are soft-capped without that set bonus. Since Shield Breaker has a max level of 30, the final Accuracy IO would probably be something like a boosted Ragnarok Accuracy/Recharge piece instead.

I don't play either of those sets, but per CityofData it looks like Buckshot is still a 30° cone; Full Auto is 20°.

For Robotics, DPS went up. The straight-up changes to the henchmen were easy to notice when I took the "one big robot" build for a spin. Prior to the changes, it was painfully slow to defeat large spawns. It is better now, but still not recommended! Higher-order effects have also improved defeat times, as it is no longer strictly necessary to slot the robotic henchmen for KB->KD. Defeat times for (open-world zone) Giant Monsters has mostly improved. The caveat is a little tricky to explain, so bear with me. With the -regen portion of the henchmen attacks being moved to the Mastermind's attacks, it means that the Mastermind has to be attacking (more-or-less) constantly. Prior to this change, it was possible for a Mastermind to go AFK and eventually (some) GMs would be defeated simply by the Robots. This is not (regularly) the case; eventually even the weakest of the GMs will score some good rolls and then the 'bots won't be able to finish them off. Maintenance Drone is a HUGE improvement for Robotics, but it won't keep henchmen alive if the boss is AFK. The one type of GM that now gives me MUCH more trouble are the level 50 Peregrine/Monster Island/Hive GMs. Previously, I found it straightforward to floor their Regen, apply resistances and do enough damage to defeat them solo. Now, even with the improved damage on the henchmen they can usually run "for help" and overcome damage being dealt from just regenerating. I suppose I could make some different build choices to handle these, but solo-fighting random PI GMs is not the type of content that I find particularly rewarding. I see the same type of trouble when soloing some "event" GMs in high-level zones (Nemesis, April's Fool). Was this a big change? It wasn't for my Robotics build or playstyle... I had all along been using the primary (and epic) attacks for grabbing aggro, soft control via knockdown, and %debuffing. I think I moved up one of the attacks earlier in the build, and added Maintenance Drone, and some changes in slotting... the performance was improved and my build choices were not radically different. For players that had made different choices (like skipping all primary attacks), I can imagine them feeling some changes for some content like AVs and GMs.

Bah, I should go back and edit the post above, but this is more of general comment: I usually don't recommend to try to put %damage pieces in Mastermind attacks, unless: They are part of a set that will be slotted anyway They are AoE Masterminds have a terrible damage scale, so the %damage will improve the damage output of (only) the Mastermind... but it is IMO far better to improve the DPS of the Henchmen (and Pets). When looking at my proposed slotting for Howling Twilight, I think I would recommend swapping out the Positron's %damage piece for the Annihilation %-resistance. The +MaxEnd from Annihilation is something I consider valuable enough, I might swap out the other %damage piece for another Annihilation piece for some more Endurance and or Recharge improvements.

Not bad advice, but MOST of the Robotic attacks now do Knockdown, not Knockback. I put the Soulbound Allegiance %BuildUp in the Battle Drones. I haven't looked at the proposed build (sorry no MIDS) Here is my (page 5) Robotics/Traps build for reference: /Traps has more skippable powers than /Dark Miasma IMO, so choices would have to be made. The Traps secondary changes that come to mind immediately are: Caltrops ->Tar Patch, slotted with only 2x 50+5Recharge IOs (saves 4 slots, but costs some set bonuses) Acid Mortar -> Howling Twilight (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy): Level 50 (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50 (*) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50+5 Force Field Generator -> Darkest Night, with similar slotting (as a baseline) (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50 (*) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50 (*) Defense Buff IO: Level 50+5 EDIT: I overlooked that Darkest Night is a toggle, so it should get some Defense/Endurance slotting, certainly in that third slot. Poison Trap seems like a simple swap to Petrifying Gaze, but I would replace it with Fearsome Stare, that will double as a type of AoE immob: (A) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 30 (*) Glimpse of the Abyss - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 50 Now: The new powers from /Dark Miasma that I would want are: Dark Servant (A) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - ToHit Debuff: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 30 Twlight Grasp (A) Theft of Essence - Chance for +Endurance: Level 30 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 50 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing: Level 50 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 Normally I only include the %+Endurance while leveling, but MMs can burn Endurance at a rather high clip. I want to note that the Robotics new Maintenance Drone is absolutely fine for the henchmen, so skipping this Dark power would seem odd, but I think for the Robotics Primary it is justifiable (sorry teammates!) Petrifying Gaze (A) Gladiator's Net - Accuracy/Hold: Level 50+5 (*) Gladiator's Net - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 50+5 (*) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50 (*) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50 (*) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 50 (*) Neuronic Shutdown - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 30 The important differences between the /Traps Poison Trap and the /Dark Petrifying Gaze are that Poison Trap is AoE and provides -Regen, making it IMO superior for almost all content. I am not sure I would dedicate as many slots to this power (on Dark) in a final build. I would probably want it for solo play. To fit three new powers in the build, my initial thoughts on what to probably sacrifice: Mace Beam Volley (even though it gives up a %-Resistance chance). Rather than give this up... ....I would probably have to NOT go into the Flight travel pool, giving up Hover, Fly, Group Fly, Evasive Manuevers, and using either Infiltration (Concealment pool) as my travel power, or... knowing myself... I might just make these choices (not saying what level to take them, just the power swaps) Hover -> Mighty Leap (Experimentation) Fly -> Twilight Grasp Group Fly -> Dark Servant Evasive Maneuvers -> Weaken Resolve (Experimentation) Mace Bean Volley -> Wall of Force (Experimentation) I have found a key to success with Robots is the application of -Regen (for hard targets) and -Resistance (for both large spawns and single hard targets). Tar Patch will go a long way to cover the -Resistance, yet I would still try to work the same %-resistance piece (I use Annihilation in ranged damage AoE) to help the henchmen stack damage. The experimentation pool helps with this. I also like the AoE cone of Wall of Force to keep aggro on the user (here, Mastermind). I also appreciate that Wall of Force can be taken at a much lower level than an Epic attack! The single-target Hold is not considered for the reasons I outline above. Again, about me: on a Mastermind I don't think I would be able to leverage the single-target attack to as great an effect as I would by picking a different power. If you are down to a single target, I imagine it is better to debuff it for the henchmen than try to control (or even %damage) it myself.

The Disavowed.

It's hard to tell from the video, what I *think* I saw was: A patron pet was out/summoned (i.e. 'not dead') The summon power recharged while the pet was still alive The summon power was clicked while the pet was still alive The pet died when its original timer (from previous summons) expired, frustrating the player because now they have to wait the whole cooldown period again. If this is what happened: It's not a bug, as it is the default way many pet (not henchmen) powers work. This is particularly noticeable with Crabberminds: if you have summoned 3 Spiderlings (*1), 1 dies and you resummon to get the full roster of 3 again, all three will expire when the original batch go kablooey. This is different than how henchmen work, and obviously this is not observed on other pets that don't have an inherent self-destruct timer. If the new summons destroyed all of the (remaining) original pets (like how respawning a FFG before the old one blows up gets you a brand new one) then we wouldn't see this. A potential workaround is that the controlling player could create a macro to toggle between destroying the old patron pet and summoning a new one. (of course, macros won't show cooldown timers) I suppose it is fair to make a suggestion that this be changed (to force destruct then summons), but I don't think it is a bug. As a practical matter: this is only observed for players that have an embarrassingly huge amount of global recharge... and whose patron pets don't get defeated before they would naturally expire... so it feels like a 'first-world problem' to me. YMMV. Without considered potential (enemy) slows; whenever I have a patron pet in the build I try to have just enough global recharge so that the patron pet summon power is a couple of seconds shy of (what might be called) 'perma'... specifically to avoid this potential frustration. (*1) I suggest Spiderlings is the easiest to observe this phenomenon because the cooldown for Spiderlings is inherently short enough that slotted recharge plus global recharge bonuses can easily have the power recharged before the Spiderlings self-destruct by themselves. IIRC the Disruptors have the same timers as the Patron pets.

I agree with @Maris; Water Blast is crazy good for AoE damage. I'd go so far to write that putting Water Jet in a build is probably hurting total DPS against anything except single, high-HP targets (which is a small fraction of gameplay for most circumstances)... for most ATs and pimary/secondary powerset choices, I can always find a better power to take in its place... and that is certainly true for the slots I would otherwise put in Water Jet. Furthermore: The Homecoming Devs recently implemented a further improvement to Water Blast in that Tidal Power isn't wasted on a miss. For me, this was a previously a relatively minor annoyance (and was the biggest reason to skip Water Jet, IMO), but after this change I find myself paying slightly more attention to Tidal Power.

I always use (key/mouse) binds for things like: target nearest (alive) enemy (within view, obviously) quickchats teleportation type powers (to get to someplace close by that I can see) Rarely: I will set up keybinds for combining Inspirations, or for Mastermind controls. I used to set up keybinds to target teammates (for support), but in the current Homecoming such a trick yields only marginal benefits and varies too much between 'support' powers and classes for me to optimize. I always use macros for things like: location-target (powers, pseudopets); the default is almost always 'my selected target' with the non-select backup being 'at my feet' Teleportation powers (always a 'TP to selected target', characters with ranged cone attacks also get a 'backwards ~20') Kheldian form switching I will occasionally add macros for emotes, tells based only on whimsy. As I wrote above: Many quality-of-life changes have either eliminated the needs for macros, or marginalized whatever play improvement I used to get from them.

I don't ever remember using Placate (or its equivalent) on AVs, but in a different era of the game (when it was harder to have set bonuses) I would definitely use Placate when solo against Elie Bosses, just to get a breather. This was typically for lowish level characters that burned through their Inspirations. It's a perfectly fine power to have when leveling, kudos to those who keep and use it in their finished builds.

All the ongoing factors were accounted for, except for the past sales on Winter packs (no longer going to happen), I think. The only other 'one-offs' that I think have broadly affected the market have involved what I would characterize as "farmers 'vocal quitting' farming", as a result of some game change. The Vanguard Merit Change, the double-Inf/noXP change, the Empyrean Merit Change all had some 'vocal quitting' (no judgement, honest!), and I saw some market fluctuations (both up and down) in Recipes, Salvage, Converters. I couldn't begin to guess (or predict!) what any of those changes actually had on the market, if any. The only on-going (upward) fluctuation I have noticed is that Enhancement Converter prices on the AH are holding steady above where they had been. Since Emp Merits -> Converters -> Inf was probably the simplest raw conversion for Farmers, I want to believe that the Emp Merit change is partially responsible. There may be occasional fluctuations in holiday salvage, or Prismatic Aethers... but I haven't noticed. EoE are at rock-bottom prices (as they should be). Maybe Ambrosia when the Eden Trial is the Weekly?

If you do DFB only for the boosts (i.e. XP off) I think the defensive boosts will be something like 2% at level 15. Without looking at the build, I think at levels 16 and 17 your fortunes should be able to shift, courtesy of Global Enhancements that can be slotted in Shadow Fall, specifically Gladiator's Armor and Steadfast Protection pieces that give Global Defense boosts, and (eventually) the Shield Wall 5% Global Resistance piece. My Rad/Dark Corruptor (also still below level 20) occasionally runs into problems, mostly because of two effects: The attacks are somewhat slow, and usually require three casts to defeat a single even-level The secondary (Dark) powers are also somewhat slow The first bullet point is mitigated by visiting P2W and getting some prestige attacks. I wouldn't over-slot the primary attacks (three each, Accuracy, Endurance, Damage... if using sets, feel free to sprinkle in recharge). Aside from PVP sets most common %damage procs won't be available until level 20. The P2W %damage are only 2 PPM. Not nothing, and they boost damage IIRC, but not worth holding onto. The second bullet is really only best addressed by 2-lotting Tar Patch for recharge. At low levels you could put a 3rd slot in Tar Patch (for more Recharge) but I'd just get used to it's timer as you level.

I mocked up the following radiation Blast/Dark Miasma level build. I've been playing a Rad/Dark Corruptor Red-side through all of the available content (with XP mostly off, as necessary) to get a feel for how this set does without many slots, and without access to many of the bonuses a higher-level character will have. I am always surprised just how fast it is to level without using XP boosters. I did invest in some P2W Amplifiers, and did some DFB to get some further pre-level 22 boosts. Offense is lowish, so P2W attacks (prestige, temporary) are necessary. No surprises: Like just about every other AT, it is pretty easy to work through +0, x1 content starting from scratch. "Defeat All" missions are of course tedious, especially with XP off. Again no surprises: There are a handful of factions that were problematic before level 15: Snakes were surprising annoying (with their speed) and Vahzilok are not chumps for any low-level character. A few missions spawn higher (and more aggressive) enemies. Slow recharge powers (at low levels) like Tar Patch and Howling Twilight help, but they are not as reliable as on a finished build. As with most characters: I'm not strictly using the same slotting choices as I level. Obviously Very Rare and Superior sets can't be used, and there are some Enhancements that need inclusion earlier for Quality-of-Life reasons. I am experimenting (pun intended) with Speed of Sound as a travel power, as this was the recommendation made regarding the Defender build I posted above which used Combat Teleport instead. For this build: the biggest jump in QoL/play experience is at level 16 and 17. Shadow Fall is an excellent mule for survivability, level 17 provides two more slots in which can be slotted enhancement pieces with a minimum level 20 requirement. The OP asked for the "quintessential" Corruptor... I'm not sure that this build delivers on that promise, not because of any deficiency in what a build like this should be able to do (as a Corruptor)... but more that the chosen primary/secondary sets (Rad/Dark) have effects on combat very similar to what many other ATs can experience... so would a Rad/Dark Corr really stand out? Part of the reason for me taking this through the Red Side is that I want to see how it does when the Heroes of Paragon start appearing as regular enemies.

Assassin's Strikes and Snipes have a couple of things in common: AS and (Slow) Snipes are interruptable AS and Snipes have variable damage that depends on different conditions, including: Hidden/Not Hidden, Slow/Fast, +ToHit I mostly notice AS hitting and not doing damage from Hidden (because it is really obvious), but I can't swear that I haven't had it happen when a Stalker wasn't hidden. Similarly with Slow Snipes, although I feel like (at least on Blasters) I have observed a Fast Snip hit and do no damage (except possibly via a %proc). Since the %proc damage is registered, the game absolutely "knows" that the attack hit, so I think that rules out server/client miscommunication. It "feels" more that the game simply didn't enter any function to apply damage from the power itself. It is as if the game has an unhandled CASE for the 'native' damage. I suppose the CASE could be confused by server/client issues, but frankly there should just be a default CASE rather than allowing NO damage.

IIRC, at launch Positron also had a costume that used the circuitry-looking overlay to his costume. I had picked the same for my launch-day character and I was slightly non-plussed to find an NPC with the similar costume.

I used to do the same with the Achilles' Heel piece (in Weaken Resolve), but it felt like a waste of a slot considering that it is still a %proc (on top of needing the underlying attack to hit) and the %proc only lasts a maximum 10 seconds (on the single-target). That is 2/3 the time of the native debuff, yet I felt it was pushing the limit on how much (in terms of slots) I wanted to invest in a another resistance debuff that is itself resistible. Solo: if the %debuff lands, I've only got 10 seconds to capitalize. I feel like this is along the lines of what @Sovera is hinting at when saying some tests skew perceptions of how much %-resistance affects gameplay. For me, it comes down to "How much extra expense (in build slots) do I really want to put into potentially improving team damage (on a single target)?" There is also a high-order complication on the net value of %-Resistance on teams depending on how many different players have the same %-Resistance piece in play. I simply landed on: If I take (and cast) Weaken Resolve, at least my teammates can see me doing that... how much more debuffing can they really expect me to be doing with that power?