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I'm not going to rehash arguments about how I don't see solo pylon or trapdoor runs as offering a large amount of insight about utility of certain build choices for most of the game. When I'm playing the game, I'm stopping to chat, do some inventory management, whatever... and AFAIK none of the Ston tests include anything like social interaction. There is more to Quality of Life than trying to have fastest solo times... literally no one know how a solo times compares unless someone comes to brag or goes looking to complain about performance.. which is certainly valid, but not for sub-60 second times IMO. What am I doing with an extra slot? Could be almost anything! Tanks and Brutes can benefit a lot from a second %Heal. Low-DPS characters can use an Explosive Strike instead of %+Recharge. Most characters can benefit from Slow Resists. For level 50 characters, that is pretty much my attitude with respect to DPS. When you can add non-changeling Kheldians, VEATS and Controllers to that list, let me know... otherwise complaining about mere percentages in different times and trying to make grand pronouncements about how any of those ATs are under-/over-performing is IMO silly.

I pretty much never take Triage Beacon. There are a small number of circumstances when I think it can be useful, but the calculus comes down to the cost (as a power pick, plus slots, plus not picking a different power) outweighs the benefit (faction of 'viable content' is small, teammates rarely need what it brings). As noted in the thread: it really needs a lot of slots to be useful, and even then you've got a stationary item. I *like* the health sets, but it takes a LOT of self-sacrifice to put the Panacea %proc in a power other than Health (or another auto-power, or in a power I will always be able to cast on demand). The two main circumstances when I think Triage Beacon shines are: Low-level content where players haven't really become self-sufficient or otherwise tend to get in over their heads. Higher-level content where there will be relatively long, stationary fights (so... maybe +N with several MM Henchmen/pets) I think "low-level" is key, because better players will be leveraging inspirations when they get in over their heads, even if they have sub-optimal slotting of powers (and lack set bonuses). Extra rows of inspirations go a long way in low-level content.

I have no desire for such transfers to be trivial, but given how "easy" Homecoming is otherwise (compared to Live) I suspect that this is simply one area of the game where the Dev team isn't interested in making the game any easier. Disclosure: I'm mentally biased against the Incarnate system from the days of Live. I realize that there are players who don't feel like their characters have reached full potential without Incarnates, but I can't see it as anything(*1) but a tacked-on system to the core game. This isn't me writing that the Incarnate content is inferior/boring/pointless... the most negative feels I have about 50+ is that (from my PoV) it reinforces attitudes that the game requires level 50 characters and builds to be played. (*1) There was a short time on Live when I had a more positive opinion of the Incarnate system, focused entirely on: "Wow, I can fix this build problem with the Alpha slot!", or "Wow, now I can have powers that other ATs have!" I haven't come to see these previous reactions of mine as invalid, but I do think they were simplistic.

You aren't even trying without the S.T.A.R.T. temp powers of Plasmatic Taser and Hand Grenade.

The pet window can be made to reappear via opening a TEAM window and clicking the bubble for PETS Even if you cannot control them via the window, the pet window is useful for all sorts of things, such as seeing what buffs/debuffs are applied to your pets.

FWIW, I find the Synapse TF one of the easiest to solo with a sub-50 character... although some ATs will benefit from a summons like a Shivan. As for the content, I agree that it is a hot mess. I'll suggest some of the following: 1) Reduce the number of "defeat alls" These really don't contribute to the story-telling IMO. I'd keep the first "Station is over-run!", and then leverage some combination of defeat named bosses and glowies to allow for some speed. In particular, I think the Clockwork King should have one mission where he has created a number of named bosses that mirror Chess pieces, basically showing off that he's a geek at heart. 2) Replace all the open-world (Steel Canyon) stuff with an instanced map of Steel Canyon. This can include requiring specific defeats, and "search"... and can spawn Bertha in mission. 3) Bring in Blue Steel as an NPC It isn't real obvious what the link is between Blue Steel and Clockwork King, so I kinda would like a mission in the TF that shows the animosity between them

As noted by others, Wormhole is a great power. as it both positions enemies and Stuns them. I typically 5-slot for Stun and put a KB->KD piece in it. Absolute Amazement is my choice at level 50, with each piece boosted. Singularity is not a power that does 'tricks' particularly well... I've tried a LOT of different combinations of sets, extra control, %procs. KB->KD is practically unobservable(*1). I have two suggestions, depending on # of slots available: 4x Expedient Reinforcement (skip the global) 6x Cupid's Crush I've been opting for Cupid's Crush in Controller Pets: I prefer its set bonuses (and the fact that the bonuses scale across more content than the level 35 set). (*1) The current version of Singularity simply doesn't reliably do much with KB->KD in my experience. It is far less useful than putting such a piece in a patch. I'd say this is because its AoE effects %proc like toggles, and its single-target attacks don't need it.

I find %+Recharge to be unreliable, so there are only limited circumstances when I include it: I have a Dominator that has exceeded perma-dom without Hasten, and it is in the zone where an unfortunate combination of a Slow and an animation might delay domination A character has relatively few attacks, such that a little bit of +Recharge gets something else ready I can see how it can shave some time off certain content, but generally I've found that any slot dedicated to that piece is better suited for something else (or somewhere else) that serves the character across a wider range of content (via set bonus, or even something like a Defense mule, slow resist, whatever).

I'd craft a bind that on button press Locals that I'm using Fold Space (at my $loc) and on release triggers it. Temmates can target the [loc] (or me) with a single click. Of course, I know how to bind, so I'd just use Combat Teleport and never bother with Fold Space.

By all accounts, Scrappers without the "overpowered" ATO would underperform Brutes.

I haven't found any version of Controller that I couldn't solo with. I typically don't turn up difficulty past 'eve level', but even without Incarnates as I approach 50 I can usually handle +0x8 with little problem. At low levels, it is important to pick up prestige attacks from S.T.A.R.T. also... the temp attacks (particularly Plasmatic Taser and Hand Grenade) I am almost always using one of the prestige attacks through the entire career of any Controller because my 'attack chain' will otherwise have a gap. By mid levels+ (16+) it can really help to have at least one reliable power pool attack. I also try to leverage %damage from procs, where possible. Procs are pretty much the only reason I can get Controllers to complete typical missions within an order of magnitude of other ATs.

I was initially excited about Glittering Column, but after playing the rest of the Pyro powers and watching some other Pyros try to make use of Glittering Column, I'm unconvinced that it is more effective than just using the other powers in the primary and (whatever) secondary.

Disclosure: I had gotten as much fun out of Plant Control as I wanted long before the i28p2 changes, so I only did a little bit of revisiting of that set with the i28p2 changes, My take, w.r.t Carrion Creepers, was that the part of the power that made replication/extra-spawning of the creepers work was essentially responsible for the incredibly reliable %proc chances (upon each extra-spawn). I do believe that some on the dev team have a little more sensitivity to %damage from procs than I do, so while they aren't wholesale nerfing %procs, they have been tweaking powers and effects that have been extraordinarily good at getting more damage from %procs. There are some pseudopets that are still pretty good (and not really lopsided, IMO), some that are mediocre, and some that can take %procs but won't ever trigger the procs they can take. I feel that Carrion Creepers was in the 'lopsided' category and now it is closer to the piss-poor end of the 'mediocre' category. If a player experiments with different types of (pseudopet) powers and consults City of Data to see the power coding, it is possible for the player to get a sense of what effects can trigger %procs, if they need accuracy, areas of affect, etc. In the specific case of Carrion Creepers it looks like the change to tamp down %damage is also responsible for (my) general feeling that I'm just not getting as many Creepers as I used to get. Certainly the damage is far less, and given that more damage led to more Creepers, it isn't easy for me to say if any one change is producing more of an effect than another. I'm not anywhere close to being as worked up as some others about the changes to Plant Control, but among the changes that were made I feel like final effect of the sum total of changes to Carrion Creepers was the most brutal. For me... it was a power that I felt offered a lot of options when it came to slotting, now it just feels like another power to drop a 5-or-6-piece set in (I'd probably got with 6xCupid's Crush) for set bonuses.

Slot 1 (or 2) Acc/Range, and take your pick of %procs from Knockback sets (the attack does Knockdown) and/or Ranged AoE damage sets. You can have the power at 14, as a melee character. 6x Preventive Medicine, or 6x Reactive Defenses, or franken-slot with a smaller number of Defense pieces e.g. 3xShield Wall) and a Health/Recharge for only 4 slots... leaving 2 slots for some defense global (like LotG, etc.) Again... If I am playing a melee character, I can typically make use of Unleash Potential via one of those three ways.

From a dusty corner of my memory, I want to say that long ago one of the primary reasons 'performance time' measures focused on Scrappers over Stalkers was that the optimization of the Stalker ATOs (to yield increased DPS) was both narrower (in terms of choices) and more difficult than leveraging the Scrapper ATOs. I believe it was Brutes (with Fury) and Scrappers (leveraging ATOs) simply have more design space (in attack chains) to work with. And FWIW, this doesn't mean I think the Scrapper Superior ATOs are over-powered.

I don't like any of these suggestions, specifically because I personally find Force of Will to be one of the best constructed pools, and it rivals Sorcery as the top travel set IMO. The travel power is top tier; both in speed and utility The single-target debuff requires no extra slotting, but also well tolerates extra slotting for extra (%debuffs/%damage) The single-target ranged attack is a typical no-pre-req pool attack. For me I usually only choose this if I want to slot a ranged-damage set or the AT has a specific gap in a chain that could use a ST ranged attack (some Controllers, for example... but also a few melee characters) The ranged cone is ballers. Unleash Potential is also ballers, especially considering it well-uses both Defense and Health sets.

The base 2 minutes demands some recharge, and the ToHit mechanics demand some Accuracy. Even on high recharge builds, for most mission content my experimentation with Fold Space has led me to believe that there is always a better use of both slots and power picks... because it requires 2 additional power picks from Teleport pool, and Combat Teleport does everything, and more(*1), that I want on the characters that would use Fold Space. It is (to me) a little like a sunk cost fallacy.. I was making very specific build choices to get Fold Space to work (or to optimize it) and I found that the builds (and clear times) improved when I redirected teh slots and power choices elsewhere in each build. I understand the appeal of the power, but it's never going to work on those +4 bosses, and RNG will cause you to miss some fraction of the ones you could otherwise effect. (*1) such as being able to BAMF directly to a teammate.

Step away from the totality of your perception of Plant Control. OTHER control sets were getting their AoE lockdowns at much later levels (typically 18, note that Plant also got an AoE hold at level 18) than Seeds of Confusion's AoE at level 8. If one set has a top tier AoE Control at level 8, future control sets will have to have something similar or otherwise they have to be radically different in mechanics(*1) or otherwise any new control set ends up being inferior out of the gate. Having nearly similar powers, with the objectively better one available 18 levels sooner, completely limits the design space for future sets. My agruement isn't that "boo hoo, Mass Confusion *sucks*", it's that Seeds was literally put at the wrong tier for what it did. (*1) so, something like Symphony's mechanics... and I think there is a case to be made that a set like Symphony is somewhat mediocre. I digress, but I've played both Symphony and Arsenal and I've found them to be middle of the road... no other control set allowed players to dominate something like a Synapse TF as Plant Control, because of Seeds of Confusion.

Combat Teleport is base 100' and the range of the teleport can be enhanced.

I'd like to add: By level 50, the player ought to have some experience with how to play this character with other characters.

It's been a while since I played my Storm/Storm, but my recollection of Freezing Rain is that it is one of those powers that reliably %procs on enemies in the radius on cast, but when it ticks it has the usual poor %proc chances. If the %proc chances were really bad on cast (MMV on what that means to individuals) I probably wouldn't have left all those pieces in my build. It is possible that the lack of Accuracy slotting in the power was hurting your chances. In my experience: %-Res is IMO a generally a worse choice than %damage, especially solo. Setting aside "damage resistance resists resistance debuffs" a player needs to be applying damage from other sources during the period of time the debuff is in play. This is best with teams, or with henchmen... it works for pets/pseudopets too, but henchmen are designed to do damage (and there are typically more of them) than with pets. There is also a subtle issue that a critter can only have one debuff applied per %-Res proc from whatever source, but they can take as many %damage applications as get applied...durations of the debuff get extended for (let's say) Achilles' Heel but magnitude of that debuff is not increased.... there is a lot there that I'm glossing over... I'm glad that you did test it, as there are some builds and circumstances where such a debuff can be noticeable... but my experience has been that they are (at best) a wash except for single targets with a LOT of HP.

I dislike the conversations that are so intensely focused on some version of "Knockback is ruining the game for me, and for players who think like me". I don't mind knockback, and I think how it shows up in the game makes the game feel more like a comic book universe. I have no empathy for players who feel that their peak efficiency is being destroyed because OMG they found themselves teamed with someone who does KB/repel/Fold Space/AoE Immob/fishcakes. Having written the above... there are limited circumstances involving KB that I think the game is obligated to address instead of players... and it is when critters end up being 'off map' because of KB. This is very rare, but it does happen... and it can happen even when KB is "converted" to KD. I don't expect the game to actually be modified to prevent (or mitigate) this, but it is the ONLY example of Knockback is actually preventing completion of missions/arc/whatever. 99.9% of all other complaints basically boil down to "other people ruining my game". I will add that there are a small handful of specific content when poorly controlled KB can make the content a LOT harder than it needs to be... but this is true of a lot of playstyles that have nothing to do with KB and everything to do with player awareness. For example, the conclusion of Positron 2 can require a lot more effort if certain critters get knocked back into other critters (especially in the final fight)... and since this is a low-level TF in which higher-level characters will not have access to most of their powers (and likely not have all set bonuses either), I can see why some players get even more frustrated... but again... it's not like the game is so hard that something like an Energy Blast attack is physically hurting players.

Mass Confusion is a level 26 T9 power; Seeds of Confusion is a level 8 T5 power. In no world where balance is respected should these two powers have been comparable.

I think in the last six years I've seen more PUG requests that (non-Grav, non-Kheldian) players stop using Fold Space than I've seen requests to neuter Knockback (from Energy Blast, Ki Push, blah, blah, fishcakes).... and I haven't seen many of those. It often feels like there is a triad of powers that can set off certain players: 1) Fold Space 2) AoE Immobilizes/Holds 3) AoE knockback ...and let's not forget Group Fly, because who has time to stop at Null the Gull on the way to the START vendor for 2XP/Pocket D exploration Badges/Alignment change? Some players get RABID about anything and everything that disrupts their mental model of peak efficiency/fun/team composition. Specific to knockback... surely players have already recognized that the critter AI already has enemies self-scattering, let alone that pretty much every mission in the game has enemy spawns in different rooms (that players have to move to).

Reading this post makes me feel like I walked into the punchline "....it's called 'The Aristocrats'!!" without any build up.