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I have a Thugs/Thermal/Heat at 50+ and I don't enjoy the combination. I find it to be too much effort to keep the Henchmen alive (especially when they are on offense), and the pet AI/behavior isn't as smooth for pure Bodyguard mode. YMMV. I can totally understand why a Thugs/Traps or Thugs/Time pairing could be recommended. I've played Masterminds (including Ninjas!) and Crabberminds, so it isn't as if I'm a noobie.

Traps is fine without having to pursue huge amounts of Global Recharge. Frankly: I find Acid Mortar to be the key offensive power from the secondary for Masterminds. The thing that Traps helps Bobots with is keeping the enemies in particular AoE patches and further debuffing of them. You have to turn the Robot's Konockback into Knockdown first.

OK, so aside the from the change to the recharge.... 75% of the change is to make it a mule?

I usually always "design" a build for level 50, but my leveling up experience never looks like the level 50 build. An easy difference is that while leveling: I almost always need more Recovery while leveling than I will after I have full set bonuses (and accolades). I'm also a lot 'sloppier' with some enhancement sets; as an example I will typically use Overwhelming Force and (attuned) PVP pieces in powers so I can 'slot and forget'... and I often forget until level 50! A respec at level 50 allows me to clean up all these pieces/choices for the next character. I am also somewhat liberal about trying out different powers (including pool powers) while leveling up. Often the utility of some powers could be predicted but I have found a few 'hidden' gems!

I haven't had much opportunity to play with the latest updates, but after some play time I did decide to respec a character that had Invisibility changed to Infiltration (I didn't like it, it felt like I lost too much) and that character also had the Sorcery Pool's Rune of Protection. For the record: I'm neutral on the change to the recharge time. I was caught off guard but not being able to slot straight recharge enhancements, Q1: For characters with previous Rune of Protection slotting, are recharge-only enhancements doing anything? That is, does a non-respec/'grand-fathered' build get a recharge bonus from them? Normally I'd quickly unslot to test, but in this case I wouldn't be able to reslot. I haven't had the chance to play around with alternate slotting to test, so forgive this question as well: Q2: Does the recharge in Defense set pieces contribute to the recharge time of Rune of Protection? (I'm not asking about Hami-Os, I assume that Membrane Exposures won't contribute to Recharge, if they even could be slotted.)

Damage over Time takes some getting used to. A couple of rando comments; There is no such thing as "over kill" when a Paragon Protector goes Moment of Glory. Switch targets frequently. As my Dark Blaster became more able to tackle/survive large spawns, he barely minds the overkills. I also don't take Tenebrous Tentacles. I could slot it into my build nicely (at level 44) and I have often considered it over the Knockback power (Repulsion Bomb) that I have there... but I sort of like the "get the H3!! away from me' aspect of Repulsion Bomb. My slotting of Life Drain is: Level 26: Life Drain -- TchoftheN-Heal:50(A), TchoftheN-Acc/Heal:50(29), TchoftheN-%Dam:50(29), GldJvl-Acc/Dmg:50(31), GldJvl-Dam%:30(31), CldSns-%Dam:30(31) For me, this struck the right balance between: Accuracy (including a Global boost), Recovery and Damage (via %procs) My Dark Blaster build only has two powers trying to leverage %damage procs: Umbral Torrent (it is a cone, so consider boosting the range in this!) and Life Drain. Other powers get a %damage proc as part of a set, and two powers (Moonbeam and Blackstar) have a 6th piece using a %damage proc. My Secondary is Temporal, so I can't comment on the secondary. I would be skeptical on trying to turn the hold (Abyssal Gaze) into a %damage proc monster on a Blaster. My opinion only: The HOLD is probably going to provide more utility than the extra %damage. Hold sets offer some pretty nice set bonuses. I especially like Gladiator's Net for Blasters.

I'm also not surprised; the ranged version of my Fortunata (no melee at all, Mu instead of Soul) plays very much like the linked video shows. I am also happy to see a sweet sister showing the scrappers a thing or two 🙂 The only thing that surprised me (but just a little) in the linked video was that the build included perma-Hasten. From my experience it only cuts a few seconds from some of the long recharge powers, although for speed runs I can see how it could make the precious difference between keeping something like Mind Link permanent for the Fortunata. I play my Fortunata much more 'on the edge' with a couple of other tricks in the rotation including Invoke Panic and Unrelenting.

Blueside: I'll grab the first 8 hours, but after that point it is essentially random if I use them. I don't think the levels below 12 provide much of a feel for the uniqueness of a character. I think the Gold and Red side flavor is much better at low levels, so it is possible for me to enjoy the 'mission text' more by not out-leveling it.

Looking back at my Spines/Bio build I feel like I should explain some things about my thinking: Except for DNA Siphon, I am avoiding franken-slotting powers with %damage procs. I feel like the Stalker benefits more from set bonuses (especially +Accuracy) and constant attacking (Global Recharge). The only attack I would consider adding a %damage proc to would be Throw Spines (as a sixth slot), because Ranged Cone. However: This power has a relatively fast recharge, a relatively small (range) cone. I suspect adding a simple Range IO would improve the damage output (against large/distant spawns, not pylons) more than hoping for %damage. (This may be the most relevant comment for this AoE thread) I don't use Shadow Meld all that often, so the second slot could be redistributed. I use it primarily to time against certain AV/GM attacks as well as a OH $#%+ button. The Kismet piece in Hide is IMO a no-brainer, but it could be considered over-kill. For builds that include a Snipe, I always consider adding that Kismet piece since the fast snipes get a damage bonus from ToHit bonuses (up to +22%) Obviously, the defenses/resists can be adjusted to taste. /Bio has Adaptation (3 different flavors) and Ablative Carapace available for most content, if you standard/slow level up with those powers you will get a sense of just how they contribute to survival (as opposed to raw Defense/Resist values). I don't always remember to toggle on Tough.

This is a pretty straightforward set of choices. I don't try to 'cap' anything except fun. I like having Weave available ASAP, but the build would be more fun IMO if DNA Siphon was taken earlier in the build. This is one of my rare builds where I think Hasten is important, mostly because of the secondary. I don't use MIDS, and exporting has 'gone sour' for me, here goes: Level 50 Mutation Stalker Primary Power Set: Spines Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Lunge -- SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprAssMar-Dmg/Rchg:50(3), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(3), SprAssMar-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(5), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(5), SprAssMar-Rchg/Rchg Build Up:50(7) Level 1: Hide -- Ksm-ToHit+:30(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(7) Level 2: Hardened Carapace -- UnbGrd-Max HP%:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam:50(9), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(36), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam:50(36) Level 4: Boundless Energy -- Pnc-Heal/EndRedux:50(A), Pnc-Heal/Rchg:50(9), Pnc-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg:50(11), Pnc-Heal:50(11), Pnc-Heal/+End:50(13), EndMod-I:50(50) Level 6: Assassin's Impaler -- SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprStlGl-Dmg/Rchg:50(13), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(15), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15), SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%:50(17), Hct-Dam%:50(17) Level 8: Build Up -- GssSynFr--ToHit:50(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg:50(19), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx:50(19), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx:50(21), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx:50(21), GssSynFr--Build%:50(23) Level 10: Environmental Modification -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP:50(A), ShlWal-Def:50(23), LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(25) Level 12: Spine Burst -- FuroftheG-ResDeb%:50(A), Arm-Dam%:50(25), Arm-Dmg:50(27), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx:50(27), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(29), Arm-Dmg/Rchg:50(29) Level 14: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow:50(A) Level 16: Adaptation Level 18: Impale -- Apc-Dmg:50(A), Apc-Dmg/Rchg:50(31), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(31), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(31), Apc-Dam%:50(33) Level 20: Ablative Carapace -- Prv-Heal:50(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx:50(33), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg:50(33), Prv-Heal/Rchg:50(34), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx:50(34), Prv-Absorb%:50(34) Level 22: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%:50(A) Level 24: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc:50(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(36) Level 26: Ripper -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg:50(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx:50(37), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(37), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(37), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(39), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc:50(39) Level 28: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(39) Level 30: Weave -- Rct-Def:50(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx:50(40), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg:50(40), Rct-Def/Rchg:50(40), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(42), Rct-ResDam%:50(42) Level 32: Throw Spines -- Rgn-Dmg:50(A), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(43), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), Rgn-Knock%:50(43) Level 35: Moonbeam -- StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg:50(A), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), StnoftheM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg:50(45), StnoftheM-Acc/ActRdx/Rng:50(45), StnoftheM-Dam%:50(46), GldJvl-Dam%:40(46) Level 38: DNA Siphon -- TchoftheN-Heal:50(A), TchoftheN-Acc/Heal:30(46), Erd-%Dam:30(48), Obl-%Dam:50(48), ScrDrv-Dam%:50(48), TchoftheN-%Dam:50(50) Level 41: Shadow Meld -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(50) Level 44: Parasitic Aura -- RechRdx-I:50(A) Level 47: Hover -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A) Level 49: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A) Level 1: Assassination Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) 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 -- Mrc-Rcvry+:40(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%:50(A) Level 16: Defensive Adaptation Level 16: Efficient Adaptation Level 16: Offensive Adaptation ------------

Have you tried looking for a sensible pair of women's shoes in Paragon City that didn't have a heel? Options are limited!

You can always delay taking the arc... I think all of the enemies in instanced missions will scale with your level. Frankly: The whole arc seems like an excuse to show off different 'mission mechanics'. Generally I think it works.

The Dark Primary has a LOT of -ToHit, so capped defenses may not be as strictly important. I am well aware of compromises that go into builds. The most important thing is to have fun with it!

I have a Dark/Temp/Force, I can offer a few points of comparison, with some advice sprinked in. No real advice for slotting the ATOs, I have Defiant Barrage in the Level 1 attack (Gloom) for the +Status, and Blaster's Wrath in End of Time. Keep in mind you can always fire the T1 and T2 primary when under control. Time Wall: I also have this single slotted, but I have a level 53 Hami-O Endoplasm (Acc/Mez). This power helps trigger "TIME STOP' so I think it needs both accuracy and duration. Umbral Torrent: I have this franken-slotted with range and %damage Level 2: Umbral Torrent (A) HamiO:Centriole Exposure (37) HamiO:Nucleolus Exposure (46) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30 (48) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy): Level 50 (48) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50 (46) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown: Level 50 I delayed the choice of Aim until level 47; with Chronos it isn't needed/doesn't help as much. I have the same slotting on Chronos. My Aim is one-slotted (recharge) I have Moonbeam 5-slotted with Sting of the Manticore and the Gladiator's Javelin %Toxic. This is a tricky power to slot, as the level range for Sting of the Manticore is 35-50, but the power is a key attack at lower levels. The set bonus is too good to pass up IMO. This is a strong motivation for as many Accuracy bonuses as possible. I have Preventive Medicine as the 6-lot choice for Temporal Healing. I have Life Drain franken-slotted as a backup attack, there are many options for this power: Level 26: Life Drain (A)Touch of the Nictus - Healing: Level 50 (29) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing: Level 50 (29) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 50 (31) Gladiator's Javelin - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (31) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic): Level 30 (31) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30 IMO Blackstar merits a 6th slot with a %damage proc, since it is the AoE Nuke. I passed on Abyssal Gaze. Time Stop (at level 6, I have 6xGladiator's Net) synergizes much better with the rest of the powers (certainly the Secondary) than a single-target Fear. YMMV. It looks like you aren't leaning too hard into the secondary, so I can understand what I think you are going for. I found that once I hit level 50 (no Incarnates, just bonuses and accolades) I only needed 1 slot in Health and Stamina. This is somewhat common for most of my builds, I seem to write it every time 🙂 My advice is to use an unslotter on those powers to see how much you really need the non-global Performance Shifter. You will probably need it leveling up, of course.

1) I almost always use my lvl 50 respec before taking the mission. 2) I make sure I have the "Member of Vanguard" badge to be able to collect Vanguard merits. 3) I always run at x8, but I slide the difficulty depending if I have DPS or Debuffs 4a) I try to get the Ambushes to trigger before 100% engagement with the big bads. 4b) I try to take out the end-room portals first. 5) If I remember, I have SG buffs and big Inspirations. Once, with a very low DPS Controller, I used a signature summons along with Shivans.

While not precisely the same experience as LRSF / MLTF, I've had a few of my freshly-minted level 50 characters experience a similar reaction to Mender Ramiel's arc while solo. I find it to be a nice reminder that not all level 50s are created equal, and that just because a character was soloing x8/+4 Unai Kemen content that they may not be ready to do the same with incarnate content. It was some time ago that I helped a fresh-faced lvl 50 "fire farmer" finish that arc. I tried to explain what was happening and how to shift not just tactics but to also consider difficulty settings... I am not sure that either piece of my advice was considered.

I enjoy running +4 on PUGs for content down to ~lvl 25, but allow me to write why before dismissing my opinion: I've got nothing BETTER to do in the game. I've played most of the content and I want to see how I and other players handle adversity. The enemies require a LOT more team effort. There is far less of people dashing off by themselves. Those that do can either handle it, or not. I'm sensitive to players who struggle with "To Hit" against +4 enemies... but with "soft caps" on defense... this is basically what many players subject the enemies to! The AoE holds not working so well? Maybe don't slot 5 %damage procs? That rez power might actually come in handy! I'm not in favor of just turning missions into boring slogfests (ehem, no +4 Synapse TF thank you) or watching other players suffer... but seeing players come together as a team is AWESOME. I recently started a rather extreme Pinny Yin TF in which most of the members of the PUG were not full kits of exemplared level 50s, but I was running a character that could seriously debuff enemies and after a few scares (and an honest request to watch how we did at +4) we ended up completing the TF in about an hour (quite long for a Penny Yin IMO) but the XP rewards for the team were extremely generous and we had a lot of fun banter. YMMV.

I feel for you on the subject of Windows 10 rollbacks/restores. My son's W10 laptop ended up in a mode where it required a complete restoration and it was not a pleasant experience. Windows did allow for a rather 'complete' archiving of all his data, and the post-mortem did not leave any clues for any of the sort of things that could be assigned blame (e.g. external threat actors, hardware failures). As I wrote earlier: I really am not interested in understanding my own specific circumstances (since I think I recovered from the wound and I never plan to go anywhere near that again). I definitely got the sense that the the NVidia/GeForce software was brute-forcing (or should I say, "naively handling") elements of display in a manner that it shouldn't have. After all, I expect the Video Card to be doing 100% of "the work" as far as presenting the information on my screen, but when that application was running there was a clear disconnect between simple IO commands from the keyboard/mouse (e.g. stuttering and delay) as well as CPU (window processes killed/stopped but the window still displayed) and the video card (what I see on the monitor screen). I don't know enough about the raw basics of how a video card translates the graphical requirements for things like "move an icon", "close a window", or "redraw a screen"... but I got the sense that the software as implemented didn't have a full understanding of these basics either. I might have had some basic idea back in the mid 1980s, but this is an aspect of PC design and architecture that blessedly hasn't required much (if any) deep technical expertise to enjoy.

I've been revisiting my Tanker with the explicit intention of playing different styles with different PUG, just to see how the players react. I don't do this as some sort of grand social experiment, its more along the lines of exploring different corners of gameplay. The main thing that gets me to STOP experimenting this way and settle into a more commonly recognized play style is if one or more members of the PUG are in over their heads; as much fun as I may get from my squishy characters pushing far past the limits of what they can handle I don't assume that other players feel that way.

Frankly: I turned aware from the software so I can't offer details on what it was doing. I had intended to use a mode where I would pick when it started to record. My suspicion is that the software was always passing some small (a few seconds?) duration of the displayed screen through some sort of buffer in anticipation of the user asking it to begin recording. While the software was running, what was finally being displayed on the screen was IMO "obviously" not the immediate video output I expected (or had experienced) prior to activating that part of the code. The effects it introduced was a a "delay" (almost to the point of hysteresis, but not quite) in simply moving icons/windows on the desktop, and certain closed windows kept an "afterimage" on the screen. Task Manager would no longer show the programs as running, but the last images from them would be preserved. The first effect was highly annoying, but I can imagine that per the software implementation it was "working as expected". The second effect was a clear software defect. In either case, the program did not meet the needs of my intended use and significantly affected my quality of life. I'm not going back to it, and the experience was painful enough that I'm simply relieved to have recovered from the experience; I have no intention of going back to it... even to help better understand what happened.

I have the Gaussian's %Build Up slotted as mention, and I see it up often... but I question if it is really the optimal choice (for the rest of the MM build) only because I don't usually see the T2 Henchmen making attacks in the short window when it is active. This is the sort of thing that I think is objectively hard to assess because it depends on a certain amount of asynchronous syncrhonicity involving the positioning of the henchmen, available targets, etc. I think I keep it because I just like seeing the little violet fist appear next to the henchmen.

Good advice in the OP, but with a couple of minor sour notes (to my eyes, YMMV) that prevent me from applying a "like". Nothing worth starting a discussion over. Story time, just for discussion. I recently joined a Ms Liberty TF with my Tank that was being run by another Tank. No big deal, my casual observation is that we were roughly equal in terms of survivability but it did result in some odd (team) behavior that I hadn't witnessed before. When we ended up 'in the future' as part of Doc Aeon's trap, the other tank went through the effort to round up 3 of the 4 AVs while I held down the first... and then did the same sort of thing with the "big four" in the final mission. This struck me as a a reasonable way to demonstrate "I'm Tough", by my clock it actually made the TF missions go longer than they otherwise would have if we had 100% of the team focused on 1 (or 2) AVs at a time. The ONLY complaint I have about having two tanks on that TF was that when it came time to take down Lord Recluse, he ended up being 'pinned' at the top of a tower, which made focusing fire from the team difficult. (I think opinions can vary if this was good or not vis-a-vis LR's specific attacks). The Dominators can take some of this blame, but I feel like the competing tanks made it hard to get him to move. On a completely different tangent: I have grown to LOVE "Tanker Stealth" on missions in arcs such a Manticore's TF. I'm specifically thinking about the magic combination of missions where the team doesn't NEED a tank, and there is a desire to 'get to the glowie' ASAP, and the tank is the fastest toon on the map... the trick is to get past the early mobs (who will be aggro-triggered, but will eventually focus on the non-sprinters)... and then hit the aggro cap with some completely OTHER spawn (that won't lose interest in you) and get to the glowie without upsetting the nearby baddies. 95% of the time I just keep my Tank near the door mowing down baddies, but every once in a while it is fun to take a different approach.

Had you recently changed your costume? Was the arrangement of inspirations in your Insp trays different?

Here are some contributing factors why such things could me missed: At low levels, folks don't have many slots to put into powers At low levels, P2W offers free %damage enhancements that can be slotted at level 1 It is relatively easy to get through levels 1-12 very quickly