tidge

The AI was slightly different, recall the Fire Tankers who would level by simply walking around zones with DE Swarms. and of course the Invulnerability who couldn't move at all.

Part of why I ask: The collective mind-set of "give Tankers more %damage procs" to lean into larger AoE target caps will likely imply that those same AoE attacks won't be slotted near the 500% damage cap for level 50 Tankers (even with Build Up in play). Assault Radial is essentially "another %damage" that bypasses damage (buff) caps, but I'm starting to wonder if the larger AoE are offering more opportunities to keep the Hybrid Core stacked at +5. I consider %Energy to still be a pretty nice %damage proc, for many Tanker secondaries.

When will the nerfing of Brutes end??!?!?!!

I agree with everything in the quoted post, and offer my congratulations on it, yet I think the OP has a wee bit of wiggle room to offer a very specific complaint about Issue 27 page 5 and "power creep". I don't think the OP specifically identifies the single straw that has caused his pro-fun(?) back injury, but I do think it is fair to identify the Quality-of-Life changes specific to level ability of powers as a form of 'power creep'. Personally: I don't know what would motivate this as a complaint (assuming the complainer isn't an in-game NPC enemy). Nor do I think this is a bad change at all... as a player from Live (from the era when you had to take the Fitness pool, yeesh!), even when the level cap was raised I never like the waiting, then cramming, of marquee powers into a relatively tight span of levels. Of course, like much in Homecoming: no one is obligated to take powers per the new availability structure.

I have a question about the Hybrid recommendation: Assault Radial is the %double hit (Energy), which is a more obvious recommendation when the Tanker Damage Scales were Melee=0.8 and Range=0.5. Is it still the obvious choice when the Tanker Damage Scales were increased to Melee=0.95 and Range=0.8 in Issue 26 page 4?

Homecoming offers me plenty of options on a variety of axes, ranging from slow solo to rapid promotions, and gentle pummeling to "hard mode". I don't think I'd want to go back to the "live" environment.

I went Shield Defense/Battle Axe to do "pretty much" what you ask. I did not want to sacrifice completely on survivability, but there are slots that could be pulled (some Impervium Armor Psi Resists, possibly a Healing IO from True Grit, I know others don't mind skimping on Taunt slotting) without compromising too much on Endurance or Recharge bonuses (necessary to keep up the AoE attacks, including Shield Charge). For MAXIMUM DAMAGE, those slots should go into Build Up (to improve recharge... I don't think anything boosts a solo Tanker's Damage output as much as always using Build Up) This build does not include Hasten, nor does it include Epic/Patron pools. If the intent is only to play end-game content, I suppose some compromises (alternative choices) could be made on low-level attack slotting, but I think it would be necessary to sacrifice multiple powers and slots to leverage into more AoE attacks (such as from Leviathan Mastery). I briefly looked into Epic resistance debuffs but I didn't see anything that I felt would be up quickly enough to increase damage dealt. For me, I like having almost all my offense available for the the Penny Yin TF My current build: EDIT: I should remark, my attempts to "do as much damage as possible" should be interpreted (for this Tanker) as "fewest button mashes to defeat as many mobs as possible".

I suppose I can offer my own approaches (for level 50+ builds, not considering Incarnates). I will admit that I am not specifically min-maxing the total numbers (Accuracy in a power considering both slotting of that power, global Accuracy/ToHit boosts, toggle effects from other powers (Tactics, Invincibility, Link Minds, Mind Link, etc.). I mention this caveat because (1) My approach will lead to mathematically greater than 95% final ToHit for a lot of content, (2) I try to approach each "attack" in isolation mostly because I enjoy running low-level content with PUGmates at increased enemy difficulties. I should note: Some specific builds for some AT can make compromises on Accuracy slotting depending on playstyle and power choices. Thinking about my own roster: an Invulnerability/Energy Melee Tanker with ToHit slotting in Invincibility (e.g. a boosted 53 Hami-O: Cytoskeleton) who can keep itself surrounded with enemies may not have to worry too much about accuracy slotting for melee AoE. I do recommend having Build Up for those solo fights! I typically try to have a minimum of 125% 'accuracy' in the "%proctastic attacks". Most of this is typically coming from 50+ enhancement set slotting bonuses, most enhancement sets I slot include accuracy components, so they will typically have much higher than 125% at 50%. The purple sets I like often include a 15% global accuracy boost with 4 pieces. I will (almost) always have (boosted) Accuracy as the first choice of enhancement in a %damage proctastic AoE "attack", what I combine it with afterwards, "depends"... For melee, if the AT has a damage scale 1 or above, I generally use (boosted) Accuracy/Damage For melee, if the AT has a damage scale below 1, I generally use (boosted) Accuracy/Endurance (all praise to Rularuu for Multi-Strike Accuracy/Endurance existing!) For ranged cones, I start with (boosted) Accuracy/Range... unless the range of the cone would be wildly longer than other ranged powers. Special Note: many of my characters get a boosted Hami-O Accuracy/Range and a boosted D-Sync Damage/Range in their cones. If it is an AoE absorb type power, I try to use the Accuracy/Absorb... but those stay attuned because of set bonuses. If it otherwise doesn't matter and there is no benefit from Accuracy/recharge, I just use a common Invention Accuracy piece. In proctastic AoE "attacks" (quotes used because of powers like DNA Siphon) I generally find myself using a PVP set to get a secondary enhancement, as Purple sets generally don't offer Accuracy/Endurance combination. High-damage scale AT just lean into strait (not %proc) Damage Enhancement via Purple sets, except for ranged cones on Stalkers/Scrappers. Also there is an option to monitor ToHit bonus; i am usually monitoring that stat for debuffs.

I was going to use the Kismet piece as an example of misbranding/false (in-game) advertising in a recent "copyright infringement" thread, but because that Enhancement's title had been fixed it had to go onto the pile of never-to-be-used (counter) examples. I guess I'm stuck complaining that Icon won't outfit my characters with a "clanket". Seriously, can the city hall rep give me a clanket mission?

Ah, I was thinking of Mace Beam Volley. I should mention: I have KB->KD (via Overwhelming Force or Sudden Acceleration) in Pulse Rifle Blast, Photon Grenade, and Mace Beam Volley. My particular pre-page 5 build had (and used) each of these attacks to support the henchmen, the only change I made with those three powers (for Page 5) is to take them earlier in the build. They are still supporting the henchmen, just now the support is more necessary against AVs and GMs.

I can't speak to the /time portion, but a big part of the current Homecoming Robotics primary changes is that the -regen is now in the MM attacks and not in the Robots. If a Robotics MM isn't using their attacks, the fights will last longer. IIRC, each of the MM attacks can be slotted with some sort of %-res as well, which will also speed up (most) fights. EDIT: Fights against enemies with LOTS of HP will go on longer. You may not notice with scrubs.

@Troo Perhaps I imagined it (or more likely misremembered), but I am currently under the impression that the %damage (and %mezz) procs have some sort of reliance on Accuracy independent of base ToHit chance of the power cast at them (in addition to the %proc chance)... this is (from my memory) part of the reason was so a %damage proc in an "autohit power" would not be guaranteed to "hit" (beside factoring in the %proc rate). My Whirling Hands (tanker) slotting is much like your second choice. I like your choice of %-Restance, but I actually have the Superior Gauntleted Fist %Absorb in place of the %-Res (Invuln Tanker)

This just dropped, thanks WotC!

Interface is probably the Incarnate Slot that I craft the most different abilities for (on any given character), but I have to admit I don't really pay enough attention to what I'm doing. Even though I am a fan of adding -Res whenever possible, the "Resistance resists resistable resistance debuffs" always confuses me. I usually have Reactive on characters with AoE that don't have (easily) boostable damage, just to try to speed up defeats of scrubs. For characters that I take against GMs and AVs, I usually have Degenerative slotted for the MaxHP debuff. I could be wrong, but I have a vague memory that the -MaxHP is better (solo) against big sacks of HP than the -Regen from Diamagnetic. Maybe I leaned into it because teammates were typically using the other? After those, I usually just fool around with the other ones. Since interface is "always on", I usually craft more of those.

I appreciate the confirmation that the logical fallacy this current line of argument rests on is tu quoque.

I think folks ignore the analysis offered by @Krimson at their peril. I am generally seeing people back into comfortable(?) corners that are, from my PoV, indistinguishable from "somebody is doing something better than me, something needs to be done about that!" Even ignoring the variability from choices of primaries and secondaries, and the variability of power picks from those, and the variability of enhancement slotting options, the game offers beaucoup different types of "pummel AI-controlled spawns into pixels". I get the sense that folks are focused on some specific types of content while not considering all the other types of content the game offers, across a wide-variety of player levels. I appreciate that @Krimson explicitly called out fighting GMs with a Tanker, and all the extra effort that has to go into such an activity for a Tanker. Folks complaining about Tanker AoEs are essentially complaining about Tankers defeating minion-level scrubs. Is there more to the complaints than this?

I'm not sure that SG names are the obvious place to look for IP infringements (see also "character bios" or "SG bases"), but hey... if you want the Team to look at those as well, I say let them have at it. These feels like complaining that drivers are speeding on another road so their shouldn't be enforcement on this road. EDIT: I think this is an example of a tu quoque logical fallacy, I'll defer to those with degrees from Google University and those with post-graduate experience at Wikipedia to pass judgement.

I can almost believe this, but for the December 2022 level of activity, this hypothetical person had to have a some (but by no measure extreme) amount of inf (roughly 15 MInf by my estimate) to sink into this effort. To have gotten to the point where a homecoming player had enough inf (and auction house slots!) to try to buy 20K worth of common salvage seems to have really high levels of ignorance about how the Homecoming system works. It's not impossible, but it would take a LOT of tunnel vision, stubbornness, and ignorance to get to such a point, IMO.

A repeated reminder about certain zone events: It is necessary to defeat the event spawns or the next event will not have a chance of spawning (until the zone resets, usually during a server reset... but enough players can force a new instance of the zone). In the case of the Croatoa zone, until you see the global "Monster Activity has returned to normal levels" message, there is still at least one spawned mob(ile) that needs to be defeated. Brickstown has the burn-down list near the zig (or in the police station). The no-level clocks in Kings Row are more painful, as they will chase players (such as ones that end up at the hospital) and so will end up far from their typical routes used from spawn-points to the High Park gathering zone. Use /optionset showvillainname 1 to spot the even-level mobs. I have also observed what I think is an event-lock that will prevent Jurassik from spawning in Crey's Folly: If the Rubble (or grand-Rubble) that come from defeating Jurassik are not destroyed, I think Jurassik will not respawn. This is based on a long weekend of no Jurassik spawns, so I spent time scouring the zone... after defeating some lonely grand-Rubbles, Jurassik respawned the next hour. Those spawns will con at zone-level (grey for 50s), so are not easy to find. As near as I can tell, Jurassik and the Kraken have a chance to spawn based on Player entries into the respective zone. Hazard zones aren't that popular (although enough different contacts send players to Perez Park and Crey's Folly to make them well-visited) such that I commonly get the "____ has appeared in..." message right after I zone in to one of them (on a GM hunt, usually). Red-side, things are generally better, with the most annoying GM being Caleb. I typically buy a SG perception boost to try to find that guy (who may be spawned and no one knows!)

Your example is about misbranding, and has nothing at all to do with issues of copyright/intellectual property.

This may be obvious, and it may or may not apply: make sure you actually have room on the character's recipe inventory to hold a drop, should you get one.

That would run afoul of Pharma/Biologic regulations in the USA and Europe.

I enjoy Brickstown's Zig Escape, except that players will leave that event "unfinished", and the Freaks really like to hide, which locks the event. Similarly, I like the Kings Row event, because it is slightly easier to find the spawned clockworks that need to be defeated in order to allow the event to respawn.

My opinion only: I appreciate living in a Homecoming era in which there are a relatively small number of voices complaining that "Tankers are over-powered" as compared to the days when there were more (possibly the same number just louder) voices that "Tankers are obviously inferior to Brutes and no one should play them." The rest of this post is informed by the solo play experience. The Homecoming decisions (which affect all AT) such as lowering level requirements for powers, and also NOT touching %damage procs, have done a LOT for smoothing the play experience (in my experience) across ATs (not just Brutes/Tankers) for both: "Casual" leveling and experiencing of content organically Full-kit, post-level 50 builds with full slots/enhancements and Incarnates Fundamentally, across a majority of content, the mechanics of the game reward players for the most enemy defeats in the shortest period of time. Once any AT is in the second bullet category (full-kit), it really should not be preordained that some AT must take an order of magnitude more time to complete typical content(*1). Yes, there will be some difference due to the inherent damage scales (which is why I hope %procs remain untouched), but it isn't worth being upset that across primary/secondaries one AT clears a x8 spawn map on average 5% faster than another specific AT takes to clear the same map. (*2) (*1) Specific to recent improvements to Tankers, the increased AoE is pretty much just improving the ability of Tankers to clean up groups of scrubs faster than before the change. Because of how Fury can benefit from a large spawn attacking a Brute, I casually wonder if some of the Brute angst is because a Tanker's wider AoE means that the tanker isn't simply sitting in a large spawn only slowly defeating the entire spawn (modulo the use of Build Up) like the Tankers used to have to do. (*2) Prior to City of Villains, there was a near-constant chatter about how Scrappers made Tankers irrelevant!