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I stopped being EbilTM quite some time ago. There have been far fewer PUGmates that didn't have the 10M prestige powers, so I haven't been giving nearly as much away. I definitely stopped playing the market after the this happened on the third character (I play characters through content): Pull 200 MInf out of email, spend something like 30% at P2W. Somewhere around level 7, go to the SG base and start pulling out attuned PVP and ATO pieces to use Somewhere around level 20, go to the SG base and start crafting the non-common recipe drops. Use merits for converters. Put the converted pieces on the market. Profit! Somewhere around level 25-30, start pulling spare attuned pieces from the SG base, or buying the missing pieces. Somewhere around level 40, the character is back past 200 MInf By now, I'm usually ready to play some of my level 50s... so I go play them and collect more (now level 50) PVPs and Purples and Catalysts and Merits...these go into SG storage. Then I come back to the level 40, convert the drops to prep for the level 50 respec, buy some 10M packs to convert to (or fund purchase of) last few ATO pieces I need. Play up to level 47... by now on most AT I can play 0x8 content without trouble, so the drops start rolling in. At level 50, buy the missing Superiors, Swap out attuned PVPs to level 50 PVPs, catalyze pieces as needed. Buy boosters with merits. Put 200 M Inf in email for the next character. My builds end up with some pricey pieces... but it feels like I did it all by effectively starting with 100 M Inf (I start with 200M to be able to give away early). The worst side effect of my now "meh" attitude is that I can't take anyone seriously whenever a "500M Inf build" is mentioned.

Since this is explicitly a "revamp" thread, I will limit myself to my thoughts on the the TFs (SFs are generally ok, IMO) that need rework: Synapse and Citadel. It is my belief that these two are most in need of rework because they occur at lower levels, and many "defeat all" missions spread all over the city can be extremely tedious for characters in the level range of the Task Forces. I will sidestep the 'appropriateness' of the TF contacts. I agree that it seems very odd to have Synapse dealing with Clockwork. Synapse: I feel like this should be split (roughly evenly) between missions in only two zones. It would seem that Steel Canyon and Skyway City would be the obvious choices, but I wouldn't automatically rule out either Boomtown or Kings Row. Boomtown doesn't have a trainer, but leveraging a Hazard Zone could be fun. It might be too much trouble for this level range. I'll come back to this. Kings Row has the ability to leverage the presence of Blue Steel. The (current) first half should consider revising the "defeat all". I personally don't object to there being a "run between objectives" in a single zone, but it doesn't really scream "Task Force" as much as "Forced Tasks". I don't like that the entire team gets scattered by this activity. Just spitballing, but I like the way The revised Yin TF flows: Rescue (in an instanced part of a city zone) Objectives (behind a door) Multiple specific defeats (behind a door) Boss fight with "summoned groups" I find the "summoning spawns" to be fun, as long as there is not a terribly long delay between spawns (ehem, Terra Volta trial). The proposed second arc seems natural to keep the Skyway warehouses, the GM spawn and the AV. To spice this one up, I'd beef up the "Court" (requiring a defeat of multiple specific members of the court: Queen, Prince, Knave, Bishop, Knight) add a pseudo-pet enemy combat effect to one of the missions... similar to Battle Maiden's fields of death... but slightly less deadly.... some Psy damage, or Endurance drain. I'd like the back half of this arc to feel like it was designed by a kid really into chess (or D&D). I'll hold off on my suggestions for Citadel... but I think that putting the first half of all of his missions in Boomtown would be slightly less annoying than traveling to the far corners of Independence Port and Talos Island.

Frankly, I barely pay that much attention to that piece from the Numina set but its nice to know that the recipe is (slowly) selling at a better price than the piece itself, should I get the recipe drop. A 2M Inf sale (of the crafted enhancement) allows for a profit in most cases, but I dislike niches where there are 500+ for sale, especially with so many unfilled bids. To me it just looks like people aren't paying attention to that piece, and that it isn't all that important for a majority of builds.

Amen. I want to note that I often will invest more slots in Defense and/or Resistance powers to use as mules for IO uniques, especially if the AT's primary/secondary/APP pools don't naturally have slots to put those pieces. Certain pieces will "work" even if you don't have the power on (or avialable!), provided that you are not playing content below the level where the piece could have been slotted. I'm sidestepping details on attuning IO pieces and/or PVP pieces. The first global IO pieces you should consider adding are: (Resistance) Steadfast Protection Resistance/+3% Global Defense (Resistance, PVP) Gladiator's Armor TP Protect/+3% Global Defense (Defense, PVP) Shield Wall TP Protect/+5% Global Resistance After those three, it is important (IMO) for a MM to increase it's own survivibility while in Bodyguard mode, so I suggest: (Defense) Reactive Defenses Scaling Damage Resistance (Healing) Preventive Medicine +Absorb (Resistance) Unbreakable Guard +MaxHP I will also typically slot a (4 points of) Knockback protection unique. 4 points is enough for almost all situations. IIRC you need MUCH more (12 points?) for the specific enemies which will use extreme knockback/knockdown, and your henchmen won't get it so don't go overboard here. (Travel) Blessing of the Zephyr (4 points) Knockback Protection OR (Resistance) Steadfast Protection (4 points) Knockback Protection A personal disclosures: I will note that the first of the IO sets that I will 'overslot' to get the 5- and 6-piece set bonuses is Reactive Defenses. The 5th piece will contribute an Endurance discount to all powers, which can be important for very active MM builds. A note about PVP IO sets that also applies to Universal Travel sets: The enhancement values from PVP set pieces will contribute (at a scaled value) at levels below their identified value, just like a common IO piece. This means that if you slot a lvl 50 piece and boost it to 50+5 you can eek out more enhancement from it. Note that a character stills need to be at a high enough level to be able to slot the piece, and that the "global" pieces can't be boosted (although they can be converted into, but a 'boosted' global piece has no extra effect. I mention this only because if (for example) you have a Resistance toggle with a Gladiator's Armor global Resistance piece and intend to also enhance resistance/endurance reduction in that power, then a 50+5 piece from the Gladiator's Armor is going to offer the most benefit, plus give you a set bonus (for this set: a small Recovery boost). Typically, I will slot attuned versions of PVP pieces while leveling and then switch to level 50 pieces when my character is high enough for them. The PVP recipes drop across all level ranges (10+), and catalysts drop 1 per day (for each level 50 character) so some converter roulette can get me the pieces I want from those sets with very little effort. The Global PVP pieces don't need to be attuned, but I often find myself eventually attuning them anyway since an attuned PVP piece can be unslotted and donated to a lower level character. I should note that with a large stable of level 50s, I consider myself 'catalyst rich' but the auction house can be leveraged to get attuned (and level 50) versions of particular PVP pieces.

I'll add that I find it almost as important that Domination will refill the Endurance bar. My (perma) Dominator runs much hotter with less concern for Endurance management that my other ATs.

Maximum Endurance determines "how much Endurance you get per tick". You can increase MaxEnd through accolades, set bonuses. Recovery determines the "time between ticks". You will eventually hit the point of diminishing returns on Recovery; this point can be reached faster than you might expect, especially now that Stamina is inherent to all characters. You can increase Recovery by slotting Stamina, set bonuses, unique pieces, (temp) powers, SG crafted buffs, etc. Endurance +End "occasional boosts" are rarer: Two IO pieces (Panacea, Performance Shifter) are the ones everyone focuses on. Some game effects will also refill the Endurance bar (e.g. Domination). Endurance savings can come in two flavors: reducing the Endurance cost of individual; powers with Enhancements, certain powers, or getting global endurance discounts from IO set bonuses. I am ignoring Incarnate powers for the purposes of this discussion. (1) I will always slot the +End boosts: Health: Panacea %+HP/End (default slot) Stamina: Performance Shifter %+End (default slot) (2) After those two, especially at high levels, the best investment for Recovery is in a second Stamina slot, using a 50+5. While leveling, I'll typically use an attuned Performance Shifter End Mod piece, just to not have to think about it. (3) If that extra slot in Stamina isn't enough to help out with Endurance management (and often it is NOT enough while leveling, usually because I'm running too many toggles or using temp power attacks) I will invest a second slot in Health, and add the Miracle +Recovery unique there. (4) That is pretty much where I stop (*1) because the time "between ticks" (from Recovery) is far less noticeable than Slotting "Endurance Hogs" with an Endurance reducer IO (common or set piece) Waiting a tiny amount of time before mashing each button Turning off a toggle (usually Sprint or something like Ninja/Athletic Run) Even without 'unlocking' the Prestige Sprints, you will have two to choose from... slot the second sprint with an Endurance reducer if you want Sprint on during combat. You can always toggle it with the other Sprint if you want that power to have a different configuration of Enhancements. (4b) All other things being equal, if I have another slot available it goes to in Health it would be for the Preventive Medicine %Absorb piece. in Stamina it would be for the Power Transfer %+HP piece. See discussion elsewhere for the relative effectiveness of Panacea v. Power Transfer +HP. TL;DR: Generally, you will get a much bigger bang for your buck by increasing MaxEnd and decreasing Endurance costs. (*1) I think I may have a Crab VEAT build with a 3rd slot in Stamina with a second End Mod piece... and I feel like I have another build (an aggressive Mastermind?) without so many set bonuses to help with Endurance management that may dig deeper into Recovery because he just can't help himself.

Like most of my characters, this one has a 'concept'; To use a hand-held weapon in melee and not have obvious defenses. I also was fighting the urge to make another Stalker or Tanker, and wanted a secondary set that I didn't have to worry too much about. I also chose to NOT include Hasten in the build, but to get a decent amount of Global +Recharge from set bonuses and LoTG. The lvl 50+ build I'm noodling with is below. I'm looking for advice on the choice and placement of the IO sets. With the exception of the (possibly odd) franken-slotting of Whirling Mace (current slotting: I'm not sold on), the chosen sets are typically 6-slotted to eek out some extra Defense/Resistance, so in some circumstances they can be painlessly swapped between powers. I want to note that my first concept for the build included Spring Attack and not Cross Punch, but Spring Attack is essentially "immune to improvement" via slotting, so I opted to drop in Cross Punch. I'm not thrilled with the narrow cone, and Obliteration isn't one of my favorite sets (because of 27+ level range)... but I have grown accustomed to using as a fast-recharging attack to break up the monotony. Cross Punch and Invincibility have a nice synergy with (Fast) Moonbeam because of the ToHit boosts they both offer. The last 3 powers (Shadow Meld, Weave, Maneuvers) are more-or-less LoTG mules until I start running into seriously difficult content (and get some Alpha-level Endurance assistance). I miss not having a dedicated taunt (Confront or Provoke) to slot but it would have come late enough in the build without available slots to do what I wanted with it. The Build:

Confuse the Surgeons.

Because my build can look pricey, I want to respond to this: I haven't spent 500+ Minf on any Homecoming build. There are a LOT of guides in the Market forum but even if you ONLY want to use the market to sell and buy specific items, it is pretty easy to run solo content to slowly build up a massive supply of merits that can get you on your way. It can seem pretty "grindy" but most lvl 50 AT can run the Dark Astoria missions to build up their supply of Incarnate Salvage (and Empyrian Merits); when you want to quickly unlock the slots themselves join PUG TF/SF to also earn merits. Don't overlook quick-and-easy merits from things like the Signature Story arcs; even the low level Atlas Park/Mercy Island arcs can drop 7-10 merits in a single run.

Players can click Hasten (or rely on movement toggle/binds) without having to go street sweeping between missions. Writing only for myself: I do eventually click Hasten to maintain perma-dom, but such a thing is trivial when compared to hoping for encountering enough enemy mobs to refill a Domination bar. I routinely play my lvl 50+ Dominator at x8 lvl 45+ content, but at lower levels I'm not sure I'd even be facing enough in-mission mobs (outside of PUGs) to maintain Domination. This suggestion feels like it has a LOT of underlying assumptions that wouldn't apply uniformly to all players. Some folks may not like having to build towards Global +Recharge with powers/IO slots, but at least that is a goal shared by all Dominators with all play styles.

I run a Fire/Psi/Psi Dominator. I'll post my build below, it can look expensive, but it really isn't that difficult to acquire the pricier pieces in the build. Running an hour of x8 level 50 content should get you a catalyst, a PVP/Superior recipe drop plus lots of other goodies. With perma-Link Minds, the defenses are respectable for a controller class. (+20% across the board) This is an end-game build. During leveling I needed to take Endurance management slightly more seriously, but I also had Drain Psyche slotted differently. Contrary to certain opinions, I find that I cannot clear content faster by trying to leverage single-target melee attacks. I play this as an AoE/PBAoE attacker. Note: The empty slot in Psychic Scream (lvl 18) holds a Bombardment %Fire damage proc. Villain Plan by Hero Villain Designer 2.23 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Fire Psi Dom Built 3.1: Level 50 Science Dominator Primary Power Set: Fire Control Secondary Power Set: Psionic Assault Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Char -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold:30(A), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(3), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold:30(3), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(5) Level 1: Psionic Dart -- HO:Nucle(A), Dmg-I:50(50) Level 2: Fire Cages -- SprDmnGrs-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear:50(A), SprDmnGrs-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg:50(5), SprDmnGrs-EndRdx/Rchg:50(7), SprDmnGrs-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg:50(7), SprDmnGrs-Rchg/Fiery Orb:50(9) Level 4: Telekinetic Thrust -- Hct-Dmg:50(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg:50(9), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(11), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx:50(11), Hct-Dam%:50(13) Level 6: Mystic Flight -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB:50(A) Level 8: Hot Feet -- Arm-Dmg:50(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg:50(13), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(15), Arm-Acc/Rchg:50(15), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx:50(17) Level 10: Mental Blast -- Apc-Dmg:50(A), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(17), Apc-Acc/Rchg:50(19), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(19), Apc-Dam%:50(21) Level 12: Flashfire -- SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear:50(A), SprAscoft-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg:50(21), SprAscoft-EndRdx/Rchg:50(23), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx:50(23), SprAscoft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg:50(25), SprAscoft-Rchg/+Dmg%:50(25) Level 14: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%:50(A) Level 16: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(A), UnbGrd-Max HP%:50(27), GldArm-3defTpProc:50(48) Level 18: Psychic Scream -- HO:Centri(A), HO:Centri(27), PstBls-Dam%:50(29), Empty(29), Rgn-Knock%:50(31), JvlVll-Dam%:50(31) Level 20: Drain Psyche -- ThfofEss-+End%:30(A), TchoftheN-%Dam:50(31), Prv-Absorb%:50(33), TchoftheN-Acc/Heal:50(33), TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:50(33), Prv-Heal:50(34) Level 22: Cinders -- UnbCns-Hold:50(A), UnbCns-Acc/Hold/Rchg:50(34), UnbCns-Acc/Rchg:50(34), UnbCns-Hold/Rchg:50(36), UnbCns-Dam%:50(36), GldNet-Dam%:50(36) Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), Rct-ResDam%:50(37), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP:50(37), ShlWal-Def/EndRdx:50(50) Level 26: Bonfire -- FrcFdb-Rechg%:50(A), OvrFrc-Dam/KB:50(37), JvlVll-Dam%:50(39), PstBls-Dam%:50(39), ExpStr-Dam%:20(39) Level 28: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A) Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(40) Level 32: Fire Imps -- ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg:50(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg:50(40), ExpRnf-Dmg/EndRdx:50(40), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42), SlbAll-Build%:50(42) Level 35: Psionic Lance -- StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg:50(A), StnoftheM-Acc/ActRdx/Rng:50(42), StnoftheM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg:50(43), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(43), StnoftheM-Dam%:50(43), GldJvl-Dam%:50(45) Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Obl-Dmg:50(A), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Obl-Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(46), Obl-%Dam:50(46), Arm-Dam%:50(46) Level 41: Link Minds -- AdjTrg-Rchg:50(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(48), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg:50(50) Level 44: Tactics -- GssSynFr--Build%:50(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx:50(48) Level 47: Indomitable Will -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A) Level 49: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Domination Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- UnbLea-Stlth:50(A) Level 2: Rest -- IntRdx-I:50(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I:50(A) Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End:50(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%:50(A) Level 0: Born In Battle Level 0: Marshal Level 0: High Pain Threshold Level 0: Invader ------------

I will never like this idea, because it means that a player can't "take a break" from fighting to maintain Domination. No thanks, but I don't want to have to desperately attacking every mob I encounter as a travel between missions.

Modern video cards may have something to do with improved performance. When CoV launched I had what at the time would have been considered a "mid-range" rig, but my video card struggled with drawing the architecture of the Rogue Isles. Much of the time in the zones was spent drawing resources that would not normally be visible to the players, such as building extending deep underground into hills or otherwise below street level.

In this season of winter joy, there is the "Golden Rings" temp power as well. This is not to single out one character on the TF, but if the Dominator only had one hold (single-target) on a LGTF... poor build choices may have something to do the struggle. Many attacks across AT include an element of 'hard' control, and several AT explicitly include hard controls in the primary/secondary.

Tip missions IMO are among the better written content for both Red and Blue. As described above, I have also found myself leveraging Tips more often in the Rogue Isles at certain points in a villain's career than I would Blue side... partially because quick/easy XP from TF/SF isn't as readily available and partially because there are a few arcs/contacts that I don't want to bother with. I'll add this little bit about my own head-canon: I can appreciate the Redside contacts sending characters off to certain missions (because they subconsciously recognize that your character will pwn them!) but I can't understand why the Freedom Phalanx would simply stand around not doing much of anything in Paragon city.

At first I found the Street Justice "AoE" to be slightly deceptive in that Spinning Strike is a melee-targeted AoE (I was expecting a PBAoE) and Sweeping Cross is a classic melee cone that requires repositioning... unless you are running content with a lot of enemy mobs where they will line themselves up to some extent. Until you level up and can handle large groups, these two attacks will seem rather "meh". To the OP: I have experimented with an AoE-focused Stalker, leveraging the Primary (Spines) and Secondary (Bio Armor). I enjoy playing the AoE character more with teams, because for much of the content in any given mission/arc (at default settings), there aren't enough hard targets in mass combat to occupy the entire team. I can stay relatively close to the team, or I can wander off. My single-target Stalkers pretty much have to wander off in order to increase clear times. With Spines/Bio, I leverage all of the Primary except the T1 (Barb Swipe) and T6 (Placate). The T3 (Spine Burst) is mostly just holding a set bonus, I don't use it all that often because of the long cast time... but it is a PBAoE. The T8 (Ripper) is a classic melee cone. the T9 Throw Spines is a classic AoE ranged cone; I have it franken-slotted on my character for Damage/Range plus 4 %damage procs. I have all the secondary powers from Bio Armor except the T8 PBAoE Genetic Corruption. I would have tried to work it in the build, but it comes too late (as a power pick) as it runs into Epic Pool territory, and I want every one of my Stalkers to have a Snipe. The T7 DNA Siphon can be made a very good PBAoE; I also have this franken-slotted with 4 %damage procs. I would have tried to leverage the T9 Parasitic Aura with some PBAoE %damage, but it is another power that comes late in the build (I could only squeeze it in at lvl 44 without making some serious compromises) and I don't have enough slots to dedicate to it for the somewhat marginal extra damage I could get from it. TL; DR - I have found that it is not necessary to have AoE on Stalkers, but that my method of dealing (Stalker) damage does change my play style.

This isn't a bad (gameplay) strategy at all; I do the same thing with Overwhelming Force and pieces of catalyzed PVP recipes. In practice, I'm unlikely to follow that advice for Winter pieces since I will usually use the ATO first, and then there aren't a lot of slots to invest in the Winters. As far as market strategy: I'm staying out of the Winter pack market, except to buy up some packs for alts that (may) eventually want Winter pieces buy up cheap converters from the market The converters are my long-term strategy: that's usually how I get 80% of the specific ATO, Very Rare and PVP pieces I want for builds, plus normal market-play of course.

I run my Fortunata with very few resists (~10% baseline, with ~30% Fire/Cold and ~40% Psi). I keep Mind Link available as a Defense recovery mechanism (on my ranged Fortunata it is almost perma, but not quite). There is a Scaling Resistance that will kick in as you take damage. I personally don't recommend investing in the Fighting pool as I think you sacrifice too much (powers, slots) to leverage it, but if you are only focused on ITF the extra Lethal Resistances will help, but not so much when being dogpiled. My ranged Fortunata leverages controls as much as attacks. As part of this strategy I use the Presence pool for PBAoE Invoke Panic and Unrelenting as a self-Heal for troublesome content or as a boost when I am unlikely to need the heal. Incarnates are also available for emergencies; most folks run ITF with Incarnates available. You should also investigate 'soft' controls in your AoE such as the %Terrorize ATO and Knockdowns. Confuse (and Aura of Confusion) are your friends in ITF. There is no denying that you may have to run slower... I can't just jump in and take alpha-strikes in ITF or against x8 Rularuu as fast as I do in other content. Getting the Cimeroran Surgeons to buff/heal you is very helpful. I write all this without consideration of your teammates. Many folks run ITF as a rather disorganized team, but that approach works against Fortunata.

Not as bad as the petless Mastermind, but for a short while in the MM sub-forum there were a few of us who experimented with the "Boy and his One Big Robot" meme. The concept should be obvious, but it was to have a Robotics/ Mastermind where you only had the Assault Bot out helping you. I have a lvl 50 Robots/Traps with a lot of INF, so I rolled an alternate build into this. Robotics is essentially an AoE attack primary, so performance is terrible. As part of the build, I did take the other pets to hold unique IO pieces and for set bonuses. I tried to squeeze out as much -Res and -Def as I could, but simply clearing missions with only the one henchman was painful. The only thing I didn't do with that build that might have helped a little was that I didn't try to convert the MM attacks into using as many %damage procs as possible. As for the Maximum Knockback: I have a Controller concept that was intended to pursue victory and demonstrate his own ineptitude by: making people fall down/up paralyze folks with shock confuse friends into fighting each other This was the origin of my Mind/Posion/Primal Controller. In practice: I was sad to see that (Primal) Energy Torrent was only Knockdown, as opposed to the temp Plasmatic Taser attack which causes Knockback. This build does allow for a whole lotta %procs (2 cones, 3 Holds plus a Hold trap, debuffs) and has become a reasonably effective offensive character.

I did some playing with my /Psi Dom trying to leverage Telekinetic Thrust, and I'm not changing my opinion of it. One aspect of the attack I had forgotten is that it's a single-target melee attack with Knockback. On a non-control AT, this would immediately drive me towards slotting to mitigate the Knockback, but slots (for +Recharge set bonuses) are precious on Dominators! To be fair: I want to note that dropping the Hecatomb IO set for Sudden Acceleration would not necessarily be the end of the world in terms of Global +Recharge bonuses, as Dominators can pretty easily find five other IO sets to get the +10% Recharge bonus. The Primary controls can mitigate the effects of Knockback, but those are not guaranteed to be working as necessary to be making a melee stand against targets... it's not a major issue, but I consider this to be another one of those marginal issues that will come up enough (especially in x8 content) to be one more source of annoyance. I appreciate this discussion, but in this case I'm not persuaded to try to leverage this power into being a regular part of my attack chain. In my case, any mathematical superiority from the raw numbers is cancelled by the build and in-play compromises I would have to make to use this attack successfully as part of a regular attack chain. YMMV. For the record, I'm perfectly happy with single-target ranged attacks that cause Knockback. On such attacks I almost never try to convert the Knockback to Knockdown, because such attacks aren't breaking up my attack chain.

Add me to the list of players that will be doing a respec out of Spring Attack. I had hoped to use this as a thematic attack on a particular character, but since that character is a Scrapper, this now feels like a waste. EDIT: I was disappointed with the power in use... but now I understand why!

Congratulations, and I echo your sentiments. Before this thread attracts the weird comments that "I just want to say I never play Redside because ____", I want to write that I have also taken characters through red-only content and that I feel as if there is a more natural progression of villainy on the Red side than hero progression on the Blue. I can't quite put my finger on it, but 'defeating' Countess Crey in Paragon City rings hollow as a hero whereas beating down Synapse and Mynx (for example) on your villainous path seems like an accomplishment because they never step foot in the Rogue Isles again (without taking another beatdown)!

As of this day, Peacebringers have edged out Masterminds for the number 2 spot. I can't say I completely disagree with either of those two being ranked highly. This is just my own take: each takes some serious effort to understand, and each requires a change in play-thought to get the most out of... and then the "most" may still fall short of other ATs. I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around why Dominators and Soldiers of Arachnos are ranked so high. With Dominators, I suppose it could be that some folks view 'perma-Domination' with some sort of disgust (or are just jealous Controllers?), and maybe it is the backpack (or slow mace attacks?) that turns folks away from Soldier VEATs?

It's been decades since I've slung dice with a table-based RPG. My own 'PnP' gaming started with table-top games (think early Avalon Hill, Star Fleet Battles) and I was introduced to D&D during the early mass market "box" era (red/blue, Gamma World, Boot Hill) and dove into AD&D and later Star Frontiers. My engagement with TSR ended at the initial Dragonlance era, pre-second edition D&D. I remember the lesson of Boot Hill as basically "never start a fight"! I never got into TSR's Marvel Superheroes; instead we were a Villains & Vigilantes group that morphed into the revised Champions (mid-late 1980s). We definitely tried out other RPGs: FASA's Star Trek & Doctor Who (both good for fanfic, neither so good for play), GURPS (excellent as an excuse to explore different source material, not a game system I enjoyed playing) come to mind immediately. The Fantasy setting I had the most fun playing in: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (the 1st go 'round). I enjoyed that characters didn't start with a lot of agency (i.e. you aren't a blessed or chosen one) but that you could improve your lot (and stats!) in a very dangerous world that could be both funny and horrific. The WFRP adventuring groups definitely had that feel of being an oddball cast of characters that had to find a reason to work together: working around the diverse character roles tended to stifle over-the-top roleplay that I'd seen weirdly injected into more 'basic' archetypes. I am less impressed by the golden-haired elf-child who ascends to demigod status than I am by a Rat Catcher who works his way into the ranks of Highwaymen!

You are correct, but in the build I referenced I have the Panacea %proc in Health. The %Absorb Preventive Medicine will (potentially, depending on HP) fire even if you never click the power as long as you aren't exemplared below the minimum active level of the set. I could move the slot to Health, but why not keep it in Drain Psyche where I can get a small set bonus? TL;DR I don't really have an extra slot I want to put in Health simply to move a piece that is providing a tiny bit of S/L resistance.