tidge

Here is a MM peeve I can't believe I forgot to include: Henchmen getting in the way of clicking on doors/contact/objectives. This is especially annoying in places where there is a tightly constrained clickable area. I think I use the "goto" function more often in Ouroborous and Hazard Zone gates more than any other situations.

In my head canon, the First Ward on Praetorian Earth is located where Justin Sinclair's mansion is located on Primal Earth; Primal characters never see the outside. Mother Mayhem's "hospital" is inside the Praetorian version of Manticore's mansion.

In the Grim Vale, they certainly don't have Rules 4 or 5, but some of the rest checks out.

Generally, for MMs, I find there are competing considerations about %damage in personal (primary) attacks. The MM damage scale is terrible, so %damage will boost damage of individual attacks MMs can get some of their best set bonuses from slotting their attacks (henchmen tend to be franken-slotted) If attacks are going to be slotted: I lean towards going for set bonuses, especially for Endurance effects. Keep in mind: %damage requires making ToHit rolls MM attacks also have a high Endurance cost If going for a %proc in an MM attack, I prefer using "damage multiplier" %procs that do %-Resistance.... assuming there will be henchmen making attacks.

My memories of Rescue the Fortune Teller as a mission were these: When debt was burdensome, it wasn't that hard to end up with that mission, but... If you played with buddies (no SGs!) and avoided debt it was possible to miss it. I'm also remembering that since actual travel powers weren't available until level 14 (and Fitness wasn't inherent) so there was a lot of motivation to play relatively low-risk content (with PUGs) to level up fast enough to get that precious travel power. Specific to this mission, it used to be a very painful one to do... especially without a travel power navigating Perez Park. On Homecoming (and all my memories of using Flashback on Live), I'm always sent to Perez Park. I feel like on Live I may have had a single instance where the cave door wasn't in Perez Park. Here is a place where my memory is foggy: I want to say that prior to badges being a thing, the game was somehow keeping track of some completed arcs/missions. I feel like several of my Issue 0 slow/grind characters didn't have to redo certain arcs/missions.

This sentiment is basically why I am comfortable with no longer including a MM secondary like Dark in my stable: On Live, I felt that AoE healing the henchmen was somewhat game-changing. I don't feel that way on Homecoming.

You get "ambushed" by Frostfire's Imps, but that's about it beyond whatever spawns get aggroed.

I have found that Robotics really benefits from the primary attacks, at least after the recent revamp... for the high HP targets, because of -Regen. I'm sure much of the content can be done without those attacks. I might not take them early while leveling up, but they would probably be early choices in a level 50 build. My own post-revamp experience has been that the only GMs the upgraded henchmen can handle without my MM using the rifle attacks are the very low-level zone instances. They were more self-sufficient against GMs before; now they perform better across all content.

I try to avoid having a character that only does exclusively (or almost exclusively) one type of damage; to my thinking this is the best reason to try to have some %damage powers on certain high DPS AT characters. There are a handful of Giant Monsters that give my GM-hunters slightly more trouble because of their resistances (above and beyond their MaxHP); I usually try to have a Lore slotted that can help against these (beyond debuffs and extra DPS). Flipping this around: Generally I prefer to try to shoot for positional defenses, and as for specific damage type resistances... it is more-or-less catch-as-catch-can... especially with the more-recent changes to damage typing. I don't specifically build characters to 'farm' but I can understand easy-to-get resistance builds for S/L or F/C.

I've been experimenting with this problem. Since I almost always have the problem with the T3 (upgraded) henchman, I am starting to believe it is because (after the upgrade) it is almost always attacking... and so I think the game isn't allowing the asynchronous drag of the Inspiration from my (the player's) tray to the henchman to 'stick' because the hench is either attacking or has a queued attack at the server. I rarely see this issue with henchmen/pets that have fewer attacks. I have had more luck dragging the inspiration to the T3 when it is in 'idle' mode, such as when having the henchmen go to 'follow' bringing them in close before they start to recognize targets.

I think a lot of the classic appeal of Thugs was Gang War. I took a Thugs MM to 50+ and I was really unimpressed. I went with a combo that is strong on offense and debuffs, with just a little bit of support for the Henchmen: Robotics/Traps/Mace. I understand the appeal of Necromancy as a primary, and I don't think it is at all weak... my opinion is that it offers a lot of different cool things that MMs don't really need and that those things can be a distraction. Please don't think I hate on Necromancy! My only complaint about the Time secondary is this: Time doesn't have that many skipable powers! I voted Traps because with just four powers from the secondary (Caltrops, Acid Mortar, Force Field Generator, Posion Trap) it is possible to get almost all the debuffs and buffs needed to make the MM and the Henchmen capable of facing almost every challenge in the game.

I'm going to offer my (personal, internal) perspectives on the whole Tanker/Brute ruckus. On Live: Whatever debate/discussion folks have about TvB... I remember almost the exact argument being had about Tankers v. Scrappers ... long before Brutes were even in the game. Among Tankers;, there was an extraordinary imbalance in favor of Fire Tankers, because of enemy AI (and to some extent the aggro rules). At certain points, there were many loud voices proclaiming "Tankers are irrelevant", with exceptions made for "map herding". Many of us will be able to think of both specific and general content where a Tanker was preferred to relying only on Scrappers; my point is there were many loud voices making the earlier comment. Some changes (noticeably the AI changes, then the aggro cap) had a big effect on what those loud voices though "Tankers were good at"... so cumulative changes (CoV, Blueside Brutes, AE) resulted in (my PoV both of Live and early Homecoming) loud voices proclaiming "Brutes are superior to Tankers in every way". As near as I can tell: this "Superiority" was being measured in x8 map clearing times. Again: my point is not to argue that, it's just that this always appeared to be a cornerstone of loud arguments of players who really wanted to confidently say "Brutes are superior to Tankers". I don't personally believe Brutes ever got nerfed. I am bracing myself for a long litany of follow-up posts informing the world how wrong my perception is. I can see how some power set changes affected HC AE Fire Farms. I can see how AI changes "slow down" farming. I can see how altering XP (and Empyrian merit) rewards affects the Inf-building bottom line for some activities. I can understand how the revision to defense/resistance attack typing can have altered the performance (and perception) of specific defense/resist builds. None of these changes were targeted at Brutes IMO. Boosting the AoE radii of Tankers was not a swing of the nerf bat at another AT. Full disclosure: I generally do not enjoy ATs (or builds) that require constant button mashing or enemy engagement in missions. During play I try to pay some attention to General chat, and who knows what I might be doing with open inventory/auction house windows. Dominators I can tolerate once "perma-domination" is achieved... all discussion about that can be found elsewhere... but Brutes and the Fury bar mechanic has never really appealed to me. This player (points to self) is far more likely to roll a melee concept as a Scrapper, Tanker, or Stalker sacrificing what the Fury bar can do, simply because I don't enjoy building/maintaining Fury. Fundamentally, my perception of the combat part of the game comes down to "how many button mashes do I need to clear this spawn/enemy?"... so requiring two attacks instead of three attacks is obviously fewer clicks, but I start to lose interest in min-maxing when the difference is seven clicks instead of eight.

There was a spreadsheet showing the relative differences in expected performance for the Panacea %+HP and the Power Transfer %+HP (after the "fix"); it isn't that hard to figure out how much HP will be healed via Regeneration (and at what 'tick' rate). My search-fu isn't turning it up maybe @Bopper recalls the keywords/author?

No disagreement from me... although more than two instances of it seems like overkill, at least to me. The large HP AT might be better suited looking at what is going on with their Regeneration numbers, even if it is just from slotting Health.

Anything will work. If you really intend to cruise on -1x0 I would avoid (for play reasons, not because they are weak): Brutes: The Fury mechanic is something you are unlikely to notice. Dominators: As with Fury, you will be unlikely to notice it, until it Domination is up and then you will want to have Domination up all the time which requires build choices. Hero Epics (HEAT): These offer different play-styles, but mastering swapping between forms (and making slotting choices) may be confusing. VEATs: You should have a plan going in, as you will have to respec and make some choices. Masterminds: You'll be rolling over -1x0 content and probably not pickup on the different considerations.

The Power Transfer %Heal piece should work just fine in a toggle. I don't think this one relies on having any enemies to hit; that is... I feel like it should do its thing "on cast". This piece did/does have a few things odd about it. It may be possible to test by standing in some lava/fire and monitor Healing Received. I often make the "mistake" of slotting this piece into a long recharge power (as a mule) forgetting that it isn't a global. If it was going to require its own slot (in a power that wouldn't otherwise be active or part of a set bonus) I'll put the slot in Stamina.

I had missed that I was tagged on this thread... I found that on my favorite Fortunata, the biggest issue (not really a "hole") was Endurance. I addressed it through Cardiac (Core, for MOAR). Players who simplify their attack strategy can probably go another route. For the Crabs/Hunstmen I will simply Alpha = Musculature. I usually don't put much thought into the other Incarnate abilities. Of them, I usually craft multiple options for Destiny and just switch depending on content. Ageless is probably the best choice (for Debuff resistance) but I have several "panic buttons" so my Fortunata doesn't usually have this slotted. Judgement is almost always Ionic, because it is relatively easy to use and there are only a handful of enemies that can "defeat" it (e.g. Intangible Carnies) Interface is almost always Degenerative (Radial), simply because I *like* the %-HP more than other effects but I don't really need it (so I take the %75 DoT Radial path) Lore is whatever I feel like. I treat Hybrid like Destiny... I usually craft multiples and alternate among them. Crabberminds start with Support, everyone else starts with Assault (for simplicity). I rather like combining the Support Destiny in addition to the other "Leadership" types of powers on VEATs to further buff teammates.

I've only played Energy Melee (from all eras, Day 1 thru Homecoming today) on a Tanker... on Homecoming, I find Energy Melee to be a very satisfying offensive set. There is always a possibility of "corpse punching", but the fast/focused attacks mitigate this rather well. The Total Focus mechanic/ i27 revamp isn't what I wanted, but it was a good set of changes. Any HP cost from Energy Transfer is rather meaningless IMO. Have the Reactive Defenses %Scaling Damage Resistance piece slotted (in addition to %+HP pieces) and you will never notice.

I believe it is still possible to enter the RWZ from Crey's Folly (as well as through the Vanguard Base). I feel like some fraction of my exploration badge runs progress directly from that corner of CF to the RWZ.

I've observed this: the Maintenance Drone appears to sometimes be "stunned/held" or "knocked back". Occasionally my Robotics MM ends up behaving the same, and it is always when under some status effect (while Hovering). FWIW The Maintenance Drone is a LOT better about staying close to the MM than the Force Field Generator.

A rando observation. Gathering Prismatic Aether Particles favor speedy conclusion to as many missions as possible in as short a period as possible; (Recipe) Drops favor as many defeats as possible... so these two types of rewards. It does seem like the current devs are implementing something. I do like the TFs that offer opportunities to defeat more "named" NPCs, particularly those that lead to badges(*1)... and I like when it is possible to collect extra rewards "inside" a TF/SF. Complete aside: (*1) I wish that more "villains" in blue side missions offered progress on Villain Disruptor; I'm always peeved when I have to keep repeating the PI Bank/PD station to complete that one. I'm less bothered by Hero Slayer because of the ease at picking up Bloody Hands... although it would make some sense for those badges be similarly easier for Villains to collect organically.

With %damage in the AoE Confuse, the Controller gets in the drop pool for every hit enemy. The XP is worth far less than the drops, and the "cost" of losing XP from a confused enemy is much less than one might naively think.

For my Corruptors, I usually have done this slotting(*1): Malice of the Corruptor: 6-slot in the attack taken at Level 1 Scourging Blast: I split this into two 3-slots, occasionally this is a single 6-slot.. depending on what other set bonuses the build will have. The three pieces with Recharge tend to go into a lower-level power, unless a long base-recharge AoE is a better fit(*2) . The other three non-Recharge pieces tend to go into an AoE power that I will add %damage procs to. (*1) This is at final build, often I do things sightly differently with the ATO while leveling up. (*2) Long base recharge is inherently better for %damage, as are AoE attacks. The early attacks tend to have high base recharge, so slotting pieces that grant set bonuses while boosting the recharge component of an already fast power makes those early powers a "good fit" for more complete enhancement sets IMO. The Corruptor melee/ranged damage scales are IIRC only at 0.75, so I tend to consider the larger AoE powers first when considering %damage on Corrs. Mileage varies depending on available powers, other build choices, etc. The Scourging Blast's %+End is more important early than it will (probably be) later... I try to keep that in an attack I will have relatively early, but I don't specifically try to include that in a long-recharge power. I take the hit on %proc rates, because I'd rather have a low chance in an already low-damage attack I am likely to be spamming.

This is probably the best "late game" reason to have/use a single-target immobilize. I almost never take ST-immobs (if I have the choice); AVs and GMs are pretty much the only content where I miss having such a power. As an aside: I think ST-immobilize is one of the most useful (for certain fights, see above) powers that isn't available from P2W. There are a handful of temp attacks that can be earned through various missions but AFAIK that is it. I'm always somewhat amazed that we can buy Envenomed Daggers but not Web Grenades from P2W. Flooring an GM's regeneration doesn't strike me as being radically different than getting them to stay in place (even for a short time). I wouldn't try to get DPS out of a ST-immobilize. The damage scale is not kind to Controllers. I definitely would not slot for %damage, as @Uun notes the high-base-recharge powers have pretty bad %proc rates. I'd dedicate no more than 2 slots (Acc and Mezz) and then switch to a single Boosted or HamiO piece in a final build.