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I also can't tell what the thinking will be. I also "play up" my characters, although if the sets and ATs are ones that I've played before I might go a faster-than-usual DFB+TF XP route. As I wrote elsewhere, I try to achieve perma-dom via +Recharge from set bonuses and use neither Hasten nor %+recharge... so as a practical matter I don't have it until end-build, and lose it below level 23, but this isn't a deal-breaker for me. A side effect for my preferred approach (to Doms) is that (without Hasten) my builds have very little room for %damage slotting. For Plant, I would absolutely install %damage in Carrion Creepers, my slotting would be: (A) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire) (*) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage (Energy) (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance of Damage (Ice) (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal) I want to note the following: Despite my deep appreciation for 6xCoercive Persuasion (for the extra positional Range defense) for Seeds of Confusion I sometimes make an exception to only 5-slot it, using the %Energy from Cacophany in the 6th slot. The reason being that dropping any amount of damage on an enemy will result in your character getting on the "drop" table when that critter is defeated, even if by its confused/former allies.

One caveat about trying to leverage Time Shift as a %damage attack: It has a base accuracy of 0.8. This is among the lowest of the base accuracies in the game. The extra possible damage, even as AoE, may not be yielding as much for a Blaster as simply making more attacks. It would be IMO a somewhat heavy investment in slots to try to capitalize on %damage, as opposed to slotting something like 5x Absolute Amazement. YMMV. I like AoE stuns, but I left it out of my /Temporal Blaster.

I'm in agreement that the Fighting pool being chosen for Tough/Weave is something of old-school thinking, at least for me. In the Homecoming era, now that enhancement sets (of all types) are easy to get (via Inf, via Merits) I look for opportunities to mule(*1) the +3% Defense pieces, the +5% Resistance piece, the Scaling Damage Resistance piece, etc... and having to take a pre-req power (Boxing, Kick) that I'm unlikely to use seems like such a waste of a power pick to me. I certainly have characters that have taken this path, but it is almost never my first choice. Tough in particular is something I find to be weak sauce when used as a toggle. The changes to damage typing have made the old-school approach to "maximize Smashing/Lethal" much less important than they once were. I'm not swayed by the casual "but most enemies do Smashing/Lethal" arguments... that sort of thinking can serve someone who only plays specific content I suppose, but nobody gets XP/Inf/Drops from just reducing incoming damage. (*1) Some Epic/Patron pools (for Doms) require a pre-requisite before being able to choose a "mule" Defense/Resistance powers, some do not. The two non-Patron pools that I particularly like for Dominators are: Fire Mastery: <- I am not crazy about either of the level 35 picks, but either can be used to hold an enhancement set (for recharge bonuses) and neither is embarassing... my complaint is simply that level 35 is a long time to wait for such a power! The final three picks are excellent, and IMO Rise of the Phoenix will be more useful than Tough/Weave (for a Dom). Psionic Mastery: Because the first three powers are good mules in addition to being good powers. Link Minds at 35 is sooo much better than Tough/Weave! I like the powers in Ice Mastery, but I've never taken it on a Dominator. The other sets have things to offer, but I have that bias against waiting until level 35+ to get (more) offense, so sets heavy with attacks are less appealing to me.

This is a question with not much of a (general) "right answer", IMO. For me, it mostly depends on the primary and secondary I want to play (for concept) and which powers I want to take from each. Folded into the answers to those questions, I'll think about which enhancement sets I intend to slot, and what levels the powers will be taken. Personally? I lean slightly more towards Defenders, but I don't have an allergy to Corruptors. The reasons for the slight preference are subtle: I don't like when all the damage (from attacks, what not) is of the same type, so I lean into %damage from procs... and the final yield is a bigger deal for Defenders (relatively) I feel like I can stretch the buffs/debuffs from Defenders more than I can with Corruptors. I agree that for some content, with well-tuned (and smart) allies, the final effect of buffs may not matter that much... but the same is often true about damage dealing! One key consideration for me is to make sure that if my build has a strong debuff to make sure that it is as available and reliable as possible.

I don't really go out of my way to play that game, but I think there is often more going on than some players using a 'taunt aura' realize... it could be that many auras require ToHit checks, for example. These sorts of things are hard to observe in solo play, certainly in terms of 'keeping aggro', so my opinion is that some players overestimate how good their semi-passive aggro management actually is on teams.

The attributes I watch are 99% common for my characters; To Hit Bonus <- Mostly to look for debuffs, but also to keep an eye on if I have all my toggles up Last Hit Chance <- This is the giveaway to "maybe stop swinging" 3x Positional Defenses <- Again, to look for debuffs, and to see if a toggle is not up or otherwise not available Positional defenses are typically easier to build for across ATs and Power picks, so I monitor those by habit. If I am playing a character with explicitly typed defenses I may monitor the "worst" of those. I have occasionally monitored other attributes like travel speeds, endurance/recovery but those are usually for short-term testing.

I meant to add something else about choosing Provoke instead of Taunt (for the path towards Unrelenting), because of the non-autohit Provoke. Taunt, because it is an auto-hit in PvE, can be used with minimal slotting and have no direct effect (AFAIK) on streakbreaker. Provoke, which requires a ToHit check, ought to be subject to all the standard rules around streakbreaker. Minimally, this implies (to me, YMMV) slotting Provoke for Accuracy. The same goes for other powers (ehem, Brawl, Kick, whatever) that players may be tempted to toss into an attack rotation. Personal preference: on characters with a threat power, I try to 6-slot with the Mocking Beratement set, although I have a few characters with "threat" powers that have used as few as three and two pieces of that set. EDIT: and another thing... regarding the potential choice of Provoke or Pacify when already planning to take Taunt... For characters with a Placate (Stalkers, Banes) using Placate will, in most cases, stop an enemy from running away from you in a way that Taunt will not. I believe this is because Placate effectively causes the critter to 'refresh', while Taunt is just applying more aggro math on top of a critter that has already decided to run for the hills. I also think that I've observed Placate (on a Bane) to get enemies like Clamor to drop debuff toggles as well... can't be sure here, this fight is a little frenetic solo. Because Pacify is not the same as Placate, I can't be certain that it would work the same w.r.t. getting enemies to stop running away... but if dipping into the Presence pool it might be a valuable tool for that purpose, even if only in solo play.

^This^ also explains why it isn't difficult to strip aggro away from a character only relying on a 'taunt aura'.

Whenever a player thinks they are being debuffed to the point that they begin to feel that something is wrong, monitoring specific combat attributes is a really good idea. Up to 10 may be monitored at any one time (without keeping the large window open). In my own experience, most debuffs (especially -Recharge) are pretty short in duration, so a glance at my attribute monitor is usually enough to clue me in for cases when I don't recognize a visual clue on my character. As for the OP... I've convinced myself that there had to have been some sort of engagement/flyby of a Winter Lord that isn't being shared. There is very little in the open world that will cause the massive amount of -Recharge described, and certainly none by grey con enemies. Winter Lords are pretty much the only thing I encounter in open world con-grey zone that can be just standing around (that is, they don't self de-rezz) that can have that effect.

Taunt is an auto-hit in PvE, Provoke is not. Typically I don't recommend Provoke for this reason. I agree about the utility of Unrelenting. However, if the build is tight I suppose Provoke can sub in for Taunt.

Without being too critical: pull the 6th slot from Sniper Blast, get the full x6 set of Coercive Persuasion.... the extra defense from the 6th piece is quite nice. Seeds of Confusion doesn't really need the enhancement, but this is not a set to stop at 5 IMO

Lord Schweinzer is IMO somewhat trivial to unlock, but it involves swapping to blue side and doing the Dakota Berg (Brickstown) entry in "Who Will Die?" arc at a something like x3 (I'm not sure if x2 will be enough) to get "Bloody Hands". Some recent-ish updates have made it easier to get Agent Hassell unlocked via Villain Disruptor, but I haven't found a single mission (either side) that can get it for me. The least painful, but still grindy, way for me is to run the first SSA 1 arc repeatedly, now that the final mission's enemy counts. There is quite a bit of red side content (including patron arcs) that provides both heroes and villains (for both badges), but these aren't quick. See also some villains in higher level TFs (Kahn, etc.) Finally: I believe the 20-29 Frostfire Vigilante morality (alignment changing/confirming) mission offers more than one potential villain to count towards the badge. I used to run the PI radio missions to get the safeguard and fight the bank robber and the jail breaker, but that is also somewhat grindy.

I also mix them up: The advantages of contact missions are (IMO, in no particular order): Badges, Merit rewards (for certain arcs) "Newer" contact missions are often all in the same zone (think blueside Hollows, Faultline, Striga, Croatoa, etc.) Most of the game's lore is exposed through these The advantages of newspaper/radio mission (again, MMV) With only a few exceptions, they will be in the zone you pick them up They can (mostly) be completed quickly There is a little bit of player agency for choosing enemies The eventually unlock Mayhem/Safeguard missions The advantages of Safeguard/Mayhem missions Badges, and progress towards badges Temp powers The advantages of Tip missions Progress on alignment, badges unlocking 40-merit Morality missions some minor (sometimes funny!) lore potential exposure to more varied enemy types Of these, the biggest drawbacks are IMO: Tip missions can be 'buggy'; they often have multiple triggering things that can get real screwy Contact missions can have some pretty lame objectives (e.g. find 12 special mobs, plus defeat alls) Newspaper/Radio can have escort missions, one of the villain Mayhem objectives can be a kidnap The ONLY thing that players can miss out on by "leveling too quickly" are: Tip Missions can be out-leveled and cannot be done for lower level ranges (20-29, 30-39) Certain non-badge, non-merit contact missions can be out-leveled Neither of these affects 'badge hunters' AFAIK.

I've been thinking about this one a lot recently. Mostly because I've been playing a Scrapper recently, a little bit because of another thread I don't feel like mentioning. There were plenty of times when I'd watch a solo runner, on the ground, go more than 250 feet away before slowly coming back. Fliers did the same, just much faster. This is not a problem on my ranged attackers or control types. I couldn't think of a a good solution to propose. This behavior was seen as some important part of critter AI, implementing it *did* eliminate trivial gaining of XP. I looked a little at the potential implications of scaling up some damage sets, but that was misguided I think. I think the "fairest" idea that crossed my mind was this: What if enemy critters that went into "escape mode" got a movement debuff/penalty, so that there was a slightly better chance for melee types to get them before they high-tail it? I don't know if that is a very elegant solution, and it would spoil some of the game I think.

I can't speak to all toggles, but AFAIK for many (if not most) the answer is "yes, the toggle will be available sooner with a Recharge enhancement than without." The times may be short enough that it is barely noticeable. As a practical matter, I am rather certain *I* only observe this on powers where I end up slotting pieces of a set which includes /Recharge Time components... such as Maneuvers or powers that are Resistance toggles.

I find myself looking at Epic/Patron pools (for each AT) with one of two perspectives: The build has some gaps that the pool can help to fill, There is a power (or two) in the pool that I feel especially compliments the concept In my stable of characters, it runs roughly 4-to-1 in favor of the first. This is mostly because I like my characters to feel 'complete' by level 30, with a little bit of my 'character concept' drives AT/Primary/Secondary more than anything else. Part of this "completeness" feeling extends into picking up (explicit) ranged attacks at level 35+. Mileage varies of course. My thinking specific to Controllers follows: Usually I've sunk so many slots into the primary and secondary that I don't have many spare slots to dedicate to epic/patron pool powers. Especially when I look at a "level 50" build, Controllers generally have fewer opportunities (in terms of power choices) where to slot their ATO... and if I want some ranged attacks, there isn't anything stopping me from picking them up from 'regular' power pools earlier than level 35. As a practical matter, when there isn't a specific power I want at level 35+ from a pool, I tend to lean into pools that allow me to mule Resistance and/or Defense Enhancement sets. Psionic is one choice, and IIRC each of the Patron pools allows for a Resistance toggle at level 35 with no pre-requisites (beyond having opened the Patron pools).

Sometimes, finding objectives is like...

Domination offers three benefits: The Controls are more powerful <- see comments above about which sets this makes a big difference for It offers resistance to controls It refills the Blue Bar Perma-dom is getting domination again, before it expires. If Domination expires, you must refill the domination bar to use it again. You probably know all this but I thought I'd mention it. To get the global recharge necessary for perma-dom, I believe the minimal value is 123%, rounded up, but because it is easy to get 'stuck' in an animation, every little bit above this is useful. Hasten IIRC offers 95% global recharge. Hasten doesn't need to be 'perma' for Dominators. I prefer to achieve perma-dom without Hasten, and also without FF +Recharge pieces, but mileage varies. The disadvantage of my approach is that the slots and set bonuses required to get global recharge for perma-dom aren't feasible until level 50... so taking Hasten while leveling is a reasonable compromise for me. One sly effect of getting high global recharge will be that it becomes easier to spam attacks/controls, which will burn the blue bar faster. Dominators tend to live on the edge of a knife.

^this^ is sort of my point about how the Kheldian non-human forms are effectively channeling and old-school manner of thinking. Specific to Dwarf form: my recollection from Live was that in some place like Bloody Bay, with the old/Live level requirements for power picks, was that a reasonably slotted (but not particularly heavily slotted) Dwarf could hold off entire teams in PVP... sort of like how a level 50 Tanker could do it in RV, but much easier. This is one of the memories that reminds me that for the level at which the forms unlock, the Kheldians are quite impressive. Dwarfs, with minimal (PB)AoE are never going to be as good at spawn-clearing as other ATs.... but the tricks they have in Dwarf form make them good (old-school) pocket tanks. My thinking is that the primary reason to leave the "changeling exploit" in place is to allow players who want to use it to feel like their Kheldians are keeping pace with other ATs to do so. Any potential revamp would be a LOT of effort, and whatever direction chosen to revamp isn't likely to be the one a majority of players are asking for.

Alternative read: ppl tried it and found it to be of relatively low value.

Is there a technical reason why the F10 Battle Cry is limited to 32 characters? I'm not asking for even as many as 64, but 32 is often too short to write a simple sentence.

I pass no judgement! I usually bridge those low levels with temporary attacks from START. They are also endurance hogs, but I feel like I have more agency. My comment was made more of a general observation on enemy-affecting PBAoE toggles. There are some that work for me, many more that do not (especially on squishier characters). Minimally I find that they need to be slotted for both Accuracy and Endurance Reduction before even considering whatever the actual effect of them is supposed to be!

w.r.t. Hot Feet... this is one of those PBAoE toggles that initially looks appealing to me, but in practice is something I find very hard to make work without a lot of slots (for the entire build, if not the PBAoE toggle itself). These sorts of powers have lots of theoretical uses, but in practice don't pan out well for me. YMMV. Once of the competing issues I've found with such powers is that enemy critters are often too spread out (by their nature and/or by application of controls) that their isn't as much return for the (Endurance, slots) choice to use the PBAoE toggle as opposed to investing in some other power. I've taken it, but it was never something I used semi-regularly until near end-build... by then I have the slots and I can turn up spawn sizes.