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Not technical. but Best Buy does have a generous return/refund policy for most of their inventory. I'm in the hunt for a low-cost TV set (online reviews don't cover much of what I want, and the smaller displays aren't always on the floor to play with) while I try to debug the flaky behavior of my older set... I've ended up returning the first TV (good picture, but other issues, mostly audio) and I'm now trying the second. (better audio, still working on picture calibration, different compromises on other items of importance).

Feels good, doesn't it? Aside from risk of physical damage, the main thing on my mind about extending the lives of the rescued laptops is battery life expectancy. The added memory was "just a thing", but between the extra memory and the SSDs (and dividing the functions between the SSDs) the laptop has become my preferred tool for audio processing (at the hobby level).

Not a blaster, but on a (Dark Miasma) Defender, I recently changed my slotting of Howling Twilight to use 2x slotting of two different Very Rares (Absolute Amazement, Ragnarok) to get twice the Recovery bonus. Previously, I was getting an additional resists (a 3x bonus, which helped) and an extra %proc, but I wanted just a little moar recovery from a power I was 6-slotting anyway. Either of those (2x, 3x) bonuses can be essentially had by SG buffs, so this is one of those choices that can be overthought. Generally, equivalence to the 4-piece (and higher) buffs can't really be achieved via SG self-buffs. FWIW: I still haven't figured out what the game is referring to in terms of "healing boosts" from Howling Twilight when damage is slotted, the current best theory is that it is extra debuffing of enemy regeneration rates, but I haven't played with analyzers to really check. EDIT: Oh, I realized I did a little bit on ANTI-Frankenslotting to get an additional 2x Set bonus... on that same character I had planned to use some (lvl 53) Hami-O for Accuracy/Damageto support Franken-slotting... but what I ended up doing in one power was to use a (50+5) PVP's Accuracy/Damage piece (Gladiator's Javelin) to get a (PvE) Recovery increase. In favor of MOAR frankenslotting, another power that originally had a (lvl 53) Accuracy/Damage Hami-O, was instead replaced with Superior Avalanche, because that was the best way I found to get Accuracy/Damage/Endurance in a spammable power that really needed help on the Endurance front. In (near) incanate-level content I have other tools (Cardiac) but at low level the power (Irradiate) was too much of a hog (and frankly too important to not spam).

A few random thoughts for the old(er) thread... no real advice, just some observations. I recently upgraded an older Lenovo laptop with a GTX 1050TI video card, it plays CoH fine, but with a 15" screen. The upgrade was to install two SSD and max out the memory to 32 GB (not really necessary, but while I was in there, and before any supply chain issues crept in) The upgrade cost was $200, which would have been much less if I passed on the memory. I did not find the disassembly to be particularly easy, but once the case was apart the installs were quick. The only real issue is that I needed to scrounge one extra metric screw to mount one of the SSD. This was not to get a gaming laptop per se, it was mostly as an exercise to avoid generating e-waste and to keep a working laptop in the family pool. I also did not need two SSD, but they were relatively cheap. I didn't configure the system for any sort of redundancy if one should fail, but that was in the back of my mind as something to possibly play with. After that experience... I definitely would eyeball cases slightly more seriously than in the past. I don't like the trend of low-profile/thin/minimal connectors on laptops. I regularly use a more modern Lenovo think pad (not for gaming). It only offers 2 USB ports (not together), only accepts power through a single USB-C connector, and has a low-profile ethernet port that requires an adapter to use. I'm surprised it still has a 3.5MM jack (as well as an HDMI port, but that's presumably because they don't want it to be too hard to connect to an external monitor)! The earlier advice from @Techwright regarding I/O is worth paying attention to. The USB placement is problematic, as any external drive that requires power from multiple USB ports (e.g. an external Blu-Ray drive) will need some serious rigging to make work on such a laptop. On the subject of "office employees" requesting "gaming laptops" from their corporate IT departments... years ago I would have always rolled my eyes at such a request, but no longer. There are a wide variety of business applications that otherwise "casual" PC users will find become much easier for them if they have laptops with healthy amounts of video resources typically associated with "gaming laptops". I'm not simply referring to applications like CAD design or video editing... there are many commercial browser-based applications that rely on raw video-processing power to display information in a browser. I don't get a voice in what sort of laptops we contract at work, but I've got applications that work MUCH better in systems with higher-end video resources than with more typical "business model" laptops.

I almost always default to some sort of Flight, but I enjoy Super Jump the best. I enjoy seeing the city/isles/utopia too much to NOT take a travel power like (Mystic) Flight or Super Jump. The travel powers with a combo teleport are incredibly useful for those times when enemies/PUGmates simply are in the way of getting into the action (or out of a certain area. I only have one character that uses Combat Teleport for PBAoE positioning, and also for a Fast Snipe +ToHit bonus, plus the aforementioned "get past the enemies cluttering the doorways" problem. I typically have 1 mouse bind (TP to clickable location) and 2 macros (TP to just short of target, TP backwards a short distance to use ranged cones) to make combat go smoother. I will freely admit that I recently finished leveling my first character without a "dedicated" travel power, because of P2W options. The main thing I miss about NOT having a dedicated Pool Travel power is that this character is slower crossing zones than I sometimes prefer. Personally, I find that the Sorcery Pool, compared to other "travel" pools, is simply too convenient as far as covering a wide variety of gaps in certain builds (requiring minimal slots, but accepting more if desired). Is there another pool with a (combined) travel power that with three picks allows a character to slot a universal travel global (ok, all travel powers allow this), a global health Enhancement, and a global Resistance Enhancement... and happens to have a single-target ranged attack? I find myself purposely avoiding it on some builds because it feels a little too min-max when compared to other power pools. I have a few characters with both Flight (taken first as a travel power) and Hover (as a mule), and I will use them together, except that I typically delay the pick of Hover until level 49, so it is rather limited content where I have both. My MMs take Group Fly, and my squad outnumbers you so see no complaining... you know where Null the Gull is!

If the henchmen have not changed (a non offensive) stance, if an enemy is not attacking then the henchmen will ignore nearby enemies. I have observed this with Thugs/thermal but not Robotics/traps.

One subtle point about the Luck of the Gambler Global +Recharge piece: it also enhances defense, so it can be boosted and provide extra value. Most folks don't recommend it, because they notice the loss of +Recharge much more than than notice the loss of the extra Defense (in content below lvl 47). I expect the general recommendation to use an attuned LotG +Recharge piece is ingrained in most of us by now.

I find myself really only reaching for Hasten on characters dedicated to DPS, as it is often necessary to smooth out attack chains using only later (higher-level) attacks... and for me, the practical effect is really only with large spawns (I want the AoEs up) or for single hard targets. If a build will have lower level attacks that can fill-in and finish off a boss (after a big single-target hit), there is no practical difference between attack chains that require two attacks to finish off a critter. GM/AV are another matter of course. I have a ranged-damage/control hybrid Fortunata that does not include Hasten and there is almost no noticeable difference in play style. The only real difference is that Mind Link (and Hasten) would be "perma". It doesn't improve solo times for clearing maps. My favorite Mastermind (Robotics/Traps) doesn't include Hasten. With it: I could get more Acid Mortars out... yet that build already has so many debuffs and soft controls I am not at all tempted to be able to spawn more MM actions that already cost significant amounts of Endurance. I rarely plan for Hasten in Defenders/Controllers/Corruptors. This choice is primarily motivated by wanting to have diverse powers, so there is plenty to do without cycling the same few actions repeatedly.

Unfortunately, (The Dastardly) "Marquette Manipulator" (an Ice Dom? Insect Summoning?) is one character too many for a name in the character creator.

I definitely agree about this, yet there is an adjacent behavior that looks like this, yet isn't this: sometimes an early-in-mission player gets into the last mission, stealths to the final (or starts at the beginning) and begins fighting "scrub" mobs... all without engaging the final boss. A common example of an end-arc boss where this happens is in the Manticore TF because: The final mission is often in Independence Port (a big zone), after a "Defeat X" in Crey's Folly (team is probably scattered, zones don't directly connect) Final door map is often big Final boss spawn point may not be all that far from non-AV spawn points (e.g. clear for Assemble the Team) Players may not know what is going on in the other end of the map (I've been on both sides of this), so I only mention it to suggest that there be some communication to avoid jumping to conclusions.

That was "next to joining a SG, raiding the loot, and then quitting" (which probably the worst thing a player could do in-game, without using the chat function)

I don't think I've unlocked all incarnate slots at such a low veteran level... I don't vary up my playstyles, so I can't attest that there may not be some combination of play that grants Incarnate XP so fast relative to regular XP.

The Chronologist day job is (I think) the one that grants a recipe drop bonus. You can also ask the P2W vendor to deactivate common recipe drops (to avoid clutter, it doesn't improve drop rates otherwise).

There has definitely been observed elements (and admittance!) of market manipulation(*1) over since the launch of Homecoming... but the manipulation goes both ways (in terms of prices) and malice (or greed, or boredom) isn't necessarily the reason. Uncommon Salvage essentially comes out of nowhere, and the fungibility of salvage (plus seeding, at just about any price) helps what would otherwise be a really uncomfortable marketplace. It's the tremendous utility of uncommon salvage (uncommon, rare, very rare recipes, plus some SG base buffs) that put that category in a unique position of interest. (*1) Semi-recently: take a look at certain "trash" uncommon recipes, as well as certain Hami-O and D-Synchs (blah blah lvl 53s blah blah fishcakes). Periodically, the price of Essence of the Earth has fluctuated wildly, Enhancement converters regularly jump in price.... I've had many "lowball" bids fill, but none in the past several months. Why I can't get excited about 10K Inf prices for uncommon salvage: It takes more converters to turn an otherwise "trash" recipe into something "worth" putting on the market than it takes uncommon salvage, and the average price of converters has jumped by more than 10K Inf.

When farmers are dumping all salvage in the market for 1 inf, are you g-d upset that they are manipulating the market? EDIT: My quote of you and the link was to avoid having to repost my specific thoughts from LAST time relevant to the @Omega-202 "hollow-ringing" tipping point specific to yellow salvage. Read that g-d thread. For the TLDR crowd, the tipping point argument is that the ratio of seeded prices (1: 100 : 1000) don't align with the (rarity) ratio of salvage drops (22/28 : 5/28 : 1/28), especially given the high utility of uncommon salvage mosty due to enhancement converters. 2xEDIT: To be clear(er): If the seeded market price was set only based on the rate of salvage drops, the ratio of seeded priced for (fungible) salvage would be more like 1 : 9 : 22.

I appreciate this, but one thing I considered was the 2xRecharge... but even boosted, the net difference between using 2 boosted 50+5 as opposed to a Purple set with (boosted) /recharge was ultimately quite minimal. The short duration (non -Resistance) %debuffs seemed somewhat marginal: There is already -ToHit from the rest of the primary) , see also -Recharge (I can note that I'm also tossing Fearsome Stare to slow down enemy actions). I don't mind the knock-about, but for this defender it felt like more (soft) control than was really needed, whereas the %damage is helping clear speeds.

The Healing enhancement appears in Detailed Info when slotted with Damage enhancements.

I can understand not adding %proc to Howling Twilight. With it's long inherent recharge time, proc rates tolerate slotting for recharge, and the power will need some Accuracy to make sure the %procs hit. With just some moderate recharge from set bonuses/globals the power is ready at around 65 seconds, which ends up pretty close to the recharge time other "nukes"... with Howling Twilight available at level 6! (I also like being able to mix up damage types, even if E/N from the rest of the build is a pretty good damage type for a lot of content) The primary element of using Howling Twilight as a "nuke" that I find problematic is the Endurance cost. Even though this power has my only Annihilation %-Resistance proc (I'm trying to keep the similar Resistance debuff near-constant from the Achilles Heel, in other powers... it could be overkill, but it seems to be working on large spawns) so I am considering pulling that piece out of the power and switching to: Javelin Volley %Lethal Bombardment %Fire Absolute Amazement Stun/Recharge (+5) Absolute Amazement Accuracy/Stun/Recharge (+5) Ragnarok Accuracy/Recharge (+5) Ragnarok Damage/Endurance (+5) This costs me the 3-set purple bonus, but it adds some extra Recovery and sneaks in a little of whatever the Damage effect is.

Aha...so would that mean for "hard targets" where the regeneration debuff is important (AVs, GMS) Slotting for Damage is a better option? As I wrote above, I am willing to mix 2/1 of the purple sets. -500% Regen is already quite a bit... I assume that the debuff is magnitude and not duration.

Thanks for the feedback so far. I like the (over)Stun approach enough that I may dedicate a second build(*1) to MOAR STAGGER. In some ways, this build was an attempt to test out a slightly different playstyle for me... primarily Combat Teleport and a handful of targeting macros (for CT and other powers). I've been pleased with how the character plays on sub-incarnate PUGs... but I (re)learned a harsh lesson w.r.t. just how much the Enhancements contribute to the build when I (by mistake?) ran a Ouroboros mission at level 50 with "no enhancement bonuses"... no deaths but it was slooooow. (*1) It is of course tempting to rejigger the build to be "more capable" of being a solo build that has less to worry about (e.g. Rune of Protecttion is NOT in the build) but I find it refreshingly familiar to have to worry about certain game elements. Does anyone have any idea what the (enhanceable) Healing portion of Howling Twilight does?

I have not really been paying attention to the AH for a while except as part of an effort to equip a new character that was leveling up. I did my major marketing a long time ago, so while I no longer accumulate Inf as before, I do market with new characters to be able to afford the next characters' build(s). I did notice that some 'mid tier' enhancements we're at higher (stable) prices than they had been 6 months ago... But nothing too crazy. I never noticed uncommon salvage, but converter prices have held steady at a higher (but not unreasonable) price than I expected. Some very rare and HO pieces have jumped (in my eyes). As we discussed long ago, uncommon salvage is a unique (potential) pinch-point because of the very many different ways to use it, the relative infrequency of drops (it isn't an order of magnitude more rare than common) and the seed price (which is orders of magnitude higher than the relative rarity would otherwise indicate.)

I've been playing with a Dark/Rad/Dark Defender and it's recently got to level 50... so now the final enhancements go in. All along, I've been using Howling Twilight as an AoE %damage attack, along with its "0# $#!+, that's a LOT of minions" potential. My build is a traditional "Offender"-type build (lots of %damage) albeit without Hasten (global +Recharge should be about 65%). I currently have Howling Twilight slotted as: Javelin Volley %Lethal Annihilation %-Resistance Bombardment %Fire Absolute Amazement Stun/Recharge (+5) Absolute Amazement Accuracy/Recharge (+5) Absolute Amazement Accuracy/Stun/Recharge (+5) I want Accuracy in the power, because as I understand the mechanics of %damage, there is still a To Hit Check, and the long inherent recharge time means that the power tolerates slotted recharge... so the triple slots of a purple seem like a better choice than anything else (including IO/HO/DO). Boosting Stun duration also seems like a no-brainer. My question is: If Ragnarok is used instead (i.e. Damage not Stun) the power tool tip shows a % boost to Healing (and Damage, as opposed to Stun), so what does this healing represent? My solo testing doesn't seem to show it affecting my character The 3-piece bonus to Mez resist is nice, but I could easily swap out one of the Absolute Amazement for the complimentary Ragnarok piece... if that extra healing means anything. Another question that perhaps deserves a separate topic, re: Epic Pool choices. Right now the build uses the Dark Mastery epic: Oppressive Gloom with HO+3 Acc/Mez (often, this is the only other toggle I run besides Shadow Fall) Dark Embrace w/ 2x Unbreakable Guard (+MaxHP, +MaxEndurance from the set) Soul Drain (see below) I didn't search the City of Data, but is the higher level Soul Drain from Dark Mastery different than the Soul Drain of Soul Mastery in any way, but specifically in terms of base recharge time? I only have one extra slot to spare for it anyway, so right now it is slotted with: Armageddon Accuracy/Damage/Recharge +5 Invention Recharge 50+5 Advice is welcome... Oppressive Gloom isn't that great of a toggle, but it is fun to use with Combat Teleport and the other (PB)AoE... and I kinda like that it will "wake up" enemies that I might otherwise miss because I walked past them and they didn't notice me because of Shadow Fall. Yet... it is a power I probably wouldn't have taken if I didn't need it for the Epic Dark power.

As you start to look through the wiki, a couple of general points: "Set bonuses" and (most, all?) "Global bonuses" will shut off if you exemplar more than 3 levels below the level of the Enhancement piece... this is why many (most?) recommend using attuned enhancements (same cost on market, or use a catalyzer on a slotted piece). Don't use catalyzers on Purple/very rare pieces, and PVP pieces work better if boosted to 50+5 (PVPs that are below level 50 may as well be attuned IMO) as the enhancement set bonuses will work as if attuned. Winters and ATOs are always attuned; catalyzers make them "Superior" when slotted in level 50 characters. Classic "Global" pieces that all ATO can use: Luck of the Gambler Def/+Recharge (global): The power does not need to be available (or toggled, or clicked) to give the +7.5% Global recharge (down to level 22, IIRC) You can benefit (in terms of the +Recharge) up to five different powers. Panacea (%+HP/%+End), Miracle (+Recovery), Numina (+Regeneration/+Recovery): All need to be in an "active" (or a "click") power, Health counts. Preventive Medicine (+Absorb): Will "always" work even if the power is never clicked/active. Performance Shifter (+End): I've only ever used it in Stamina Power Transfer (%Heal): YMMV, I mostly only include this on "high" HP characters. (Tankers, Brutes, Masterminds) who will also have... Reactive Defenses (Scaling damage resistance) Shield Wall (+5% Resist) Gladiator's Armor (+3% Defense) Steadfast Protection (+3% Defense) some sort of Magnitude 4 Knockback protection (Universal Travel, or Steadfast Protection) I also try to include Kismet +6% Accuracy (it is really +To Hit, which makes it MUCH better) if: The build has an Auto power that can take it, or The build has a toggle power that can take it... at a low enough level, that will almost always be used (Stalker's Hide for example, or something like Shadow Fall) The Kismet Bonus is a HUGE help before you start slotting Accuracy, and any character with a Snipe will get a damage bonus from it during Fast Sniping. I'll let others explain %procs (especially in attacks), but I will say that generally %damage procs are more useful in low damage scale AT (attacks), see: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Damage_Scale