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I almost never dedicate 'extra' slots (beyond Endurance Reduction, and possibly a secondary effect if it relates directly to surviving) to Damage Auras, I can offer my personal thinking: #1: %procs in auras still rely on a successful ToHit check , and there are some Auras with poor ToHit chances (especially against +N) #2: I almost always have a more optimal (to my eyes) place to put extra slots, either for more damage in attacks, set bonuses, Q-o-L, whatever. For example: a Travel power can usually take something useful to my builds (slow resist, KB protection, faster travel) #3: As noted in passing above, sometimes a secondary effect can offer value. Buffs/Debuffs are on a lower enhancement scale, so franken-slotting may not offer much... but if I'm already hitting the ED cap for Endurance Reduction I may re-jigger to use Boosted/HO pieces to get a little something extra out of the aura. As for the pieces mentioned in the OP... I have (with minimal testing on a couple of characters) yet to find a place where I think the Cupid's Crush %proc is really helping by itself. The short-duration, relatively low magnitude, and lowish PPM simply doesn't sing to me sweetly. It is of course a straight-up Damage enhancement, so it has that going for it. Of the Options in the OP, I would go Overwhelming Force Damage/%KB. %-Resistance is IMO best used with teams, I'm aware of how they can perform in something like a Pylon test, but aside from bags of HP I think straight %damage is probably better for most characters (not sitting at the damage cap) for most content.

Like @Camel , I often only worry about suppressing KB on Nova, because PBAoE, and maybe one of the other AoE. I like it paired with Martial Combat, which also has KB from Ki Push as well as Burst of Speed to get in close for melee. You get more practice with KB and a tool to help you reposition after KB affects enemies. EDIT: while I still like my pairing (for Blasters).... it probably isn't helping Corruptors! Combat Teleport can work as a substitute for Burst of Speed I suppose!

Bluntly: it sounds to me like the "I canna control my explosive nature" pretty much sounds like an Energy Blast Primary (or Secondary) with Knockback Enhancements. There is zero reason to have to wait for Nova in order to demonstrate 'poor control' in game.

There seems to be a peculiar reliance on rather childish "go-to" metaphors that perhaps belies the level of critical thinking in the original idea. This isn't a tea party, this is a well-established MMORPG that has a pretty clear connection between character powers/impact and content... by level. If there is a perception that someone has reacted like "the sky is falling", perhaps it is because someone is inviting an asteroid strike onto a well-established ecosystem. If there is some sort of sub-20 content that you stridently feel demands players have access to nukes,a player has the personal freedom to try to alleviate whatever suspected boredom might exist because players lack T9 primary powers below level 20 by constructing similar missions in AE using Skulls, Hellions, Snakes, whatever... and then just playing that content. If *this* is too much effort for a true believer in the "gotta have a nuke to get (rewards from) those Hellions" cause., even as a proof-of-concept... it is probably too much of an ask for the dev team to implement and a large majority of players to get behind.

How is the current game actually preventing you from playing Deity Man? At best, the current game prevents can't street sweeping level 1-15 zones with primary T8s and T9s for XP. Most of the zones can give radio/Newspaper missions in them, at level. Many of the zones have contacts that will auto-exemplar to the highest level of the zone. This ask has no functional difference than the ask to have all the power pool powers unlocked instantly. It isn't my fault or gatekeeping that is making players "bored" with low level content because they don't have "I Win" buttons. The game is configured to have the powers unlock at certain levels, sometimes with prerequisites. It sounds like you want a radically different game. the game is not Level 50+ characters herp-derping their way through level 1-15 zones/content. Frankly: If ->you<- (points at @battlewraith ) are so bored that you must toss out the pre-level 30 content, I question how long before it would be before you get bored with this suggestion, and ask for another radical change to a game design that has worked well for a majority of players for decades.

The "unlock" wouldn't matter, because either it is going to be ridiculously tedious (every character in the account has unlocked all the mission badges, and then it has to relock again... because that 'new character' won't have 'enjoyed all the low level content' yet) or ridiculously easy (have a level 50 character on the account). This dance around game balance where the argument in favor of the ask to toss out the established power progression is IMO revealing. The prestige and temp attacks existed for a LONG time before HC, and they helped to improve the low-level experience. Those *were* and *are* balanced against the low level content, because the lack of attacks (for some AT) was a grind mechanism (intended or not) that was holding some ATs back from getting to the 'good stuff' that can define the ATs. If nukes become available at lower levels... then the nukes will be scaled down, very much like how Kheldian Nova form attacks are... and if a player has truly experienced "all the content and is bored" they probably know just how poorly those Nova form attacks play out above levels 20, 30, 40. The game isn't going to have multiple scales for powers based on a player's boredom quotient. There is no convincing me that this isn't an ask for "gimme the good stuff, NOW, when I want it." The very peculiar reason "um, concept is the character is a literal god with no control over its power" CAN be worked into the existing lore for any character... Deity Man the 'not having the power yet' is the first level of 'lack of control', unlocking the power but not having it slotted is the next level of 'lack of control', and where Deity Man goes next is up to the player. My heart is not going to break because a character doesn't have a x-minute recharging nuke before level 20.

I can't tell that you actually understand your own mindset, let alone my mindset. If a player wants an AoE at level 2, pick up some Fragmentation Grenades or a Plasmatic Taser from START. The game is not going to keep a player at low levels very long, and the Blaster 'nukes' can be had at levels 22/26, which exemplar down -5 levels. The OP ask is for an overhaul to the established (and working) power progression tiers for either: A desire to simply skip lower damage attacks A desire to have higher damage attacks much earlier Trying to rationalize this via some personal character concept is either narrow-sighted and/or a willingness to toss all semblance of game balance across all the game's content and zones out the window. If this is REALLY what you want, I'll sign the petition for a version of Echo Atlas Park that works like the temporal warriors for Recluse's Victory with insta level 50s that can street sweep to their hearts' delight and can't leave that zone.

A strength of the player is that they can use their own imagination to self-explain their wide plethora of power choices within a necessarily balance, by character level, set of necessary restrictions. If I saw level two characters throwing nukes around on a DFB, my thoughts would be more likely to be "there goes somebody looking for an 'easy win' button" than "what a powerfully clever decision to take a nuke at level 2."

Setting aside "closed beta" private discussions... what are examples of "toxic positivity" about HC dev decisions? I am aware that the changes to certain types of farming (e.g. level 49s and XP, Empyrian Merit spigot being turned off, Vanguard merit rate conversions) resulted in a relatively small number of players being very vocally opposed to all of those changes (which were not all simultaneous)... and I am aware that some players were vocally in-favor of those changes. Does this mean that one side is exhibiting"toxic negativity" and another is exhibiting "toxic positivity" for expressing an opinion on the change? I'd like to see some examples of what are considered "sins" by the HC Dev team, rather than just having a small number of users self-identify as being insulting and/or feeling insulted. That sort of behavior is toxic (with varying degress of toxicity)... I don't see what the purpose of calling it "toxic positivity" or "toxic negativity" serves. From my PoV this is just an exercise in othering, here: "I judge that group of people to be toxic/dirty/stoopid, and I am superior to that other group by putting a label on them." I know that the high-level Council update was poorly received by folks, but I think it was well explained. I had to make some changes in build philosophy but I don't think this was a "sin", as it was pretty well explained what the reason for that change was. Is the N-star content a sin? Are D-syncs a sin? Is not allowing henchmen customization a sin? Lowering the levels at which higher tier powers are available was sinful? Not eliminating all knockback across the board is a sin? Not granting requests for 'tribute NPCs' is a sin? The quote without context is meaningless at best, with a high likelihood of simply being absurd. Was there something that was actually done that is an undefined sin, or is this just sour grapes?

On one hand, I appreciate the effort to prop up a (IMO, very weak) "breathe new life into old content" argument, but ^this^ is isn't helping IMO. Reasons? #1. This example is almost certainly the same AT with the exact same choice of primary and/or secondary. If a player is going to roll up nothing but these sorts of characters (i.e. duplicates of what they have already played), I don't think it is the game that is unreasonably limiting the player choices. #2 This argument is entirely focused on a level range (level 1-3) before power pools become unlocked at level 4, when all that in-game diversity becomes available to builds. Is this hypothetical player really seeking more build diversity solely to "breathe more life" into City Hall contacts? You can't even get a newspaper or radio contact at these levels, never mind that players at these levels can't accumulate debt.

I don't think the suggestion is a good one for this game: #1 I don't know what the OP is considering "lower level content", I'm going to proceed with teh assumption that the 'upper limit' on "lower level" is far below level 49. I'm a veteran player who plays with lower level content. I find it all completely palatable, no matter if I am encountering it organically via leveling up, or revisiting via exemplar/Ouro/TF/whatever. #1b At most, I end up with one power I am not going to use/use minimally in a Level 50 build. My hot take is: if there are more than one of the first four powers (T1, T2 from primary and secondary) that are completely useless for a player... the player has likely picked the wrong AT and almost certainly isn't really interested in low level content... which is easily handled by low tier powers and/or START vendor freebies. The most reliable case when *I* end up with a T1/T2 power that is nigh-but-useless is on perma-Dominators, because the one of the first three power choices ends up being a poor choice (for me, MMV) for dedicating many slots towards as I chase sufficient +Recharge set bonuses. #2 Build's can already be pretty diverse (suggestion: Skip Hasten and the Fighting pool). #2b The sort of 'exoctic builds' implied by a "lemme have T6, T7, T8, T9, powers with no prerequisites" would pretty much imbalance the game for content in which the enemies don't also have access to such tier powers, e.g. at "low levels". #3 This appears to be a rationalization for #2 that really wouldn't be born out by the game. The reason a level 4 Blaster "doesn't have control of their nuke" is, like-it-or-not, narratively explained by not having a nuke. IIRC "Every couple of minutes" was the pre-sunset timing on Blaster nukes!

I found it (non-Nemesis) to be pretty easy to run with level 50s, with better performance from support-oriented characters (because allies). I didn't run it as a farm (across alts), but if I was doing something else with a level 50, I'd try to run it for the rewards (and to unlock the Safeguard/Mayhem contacts). As for the Nemesis event: probably only about 20 times. The (personal) problem I had with the Nemesis event was that I had one (semi-retired) level 50 character that really wanted to complete it, but she kept ending up on either under-powered teams or teams with less-skilled players or players with a radically different (and IMO, inefficient) approach(*1) to tackling the Nemesis event. I'd guess that 10 of those 20 runs were evenly divided between (five runs of) the character I wanted (to complete) being on a team that failed, followed by a run with a different character that rejoined the team to help the others get their completion. (*1) There isn't much to be done when defeated players won't go to the hospital (waiting 2+ minutes for a rez), or the team has a whole lotta level 20s and 30s for Nemesis, but I found that a resistance based Scrapper with some self-heals was generally capable of both standing toe-to-toe with the wAVes *and* doing enough damage such that focused fire from the team could drop targets without too much fuss. A Scrapper with a Patron Snipe and a willingness to drag another bunch of AVs was also useful. As for "inefficieny",... anybody who successfully completed more than one of the Nemesis event is likely to have some idea of "what works", but I did have a few runs where an otherwise good player with a good build was calling out targets that made no sense to me... except in the context of that character maybe had a weakness (or annoyance) to something like holds, or defense debuffs, or whatever and didn't realize which of the AVs was actually making the fight hard.

Some characters would ask for a Dark roast coffe blend. Others may just stick with Ice Water. I've sure the submarine sandwiches are a new popular item on the menu.

My attitude and comments on this topic (henchmen upgrades) aren't really any different since the last round of MM upgrades: I agree that the first upgrade should be baked in, it make no sense to me that it should have to be applied because both (a) it comes so early and (b) it comes before the T2 and T3 henchmen are available as power picks. I disagree that the second upgrade should be automatic, because the level is is available at is necessary for the content that begins to appear at that level; it really is a "level up" for earlier level "powers" (the henchmen) necessary to scale MM performance at the higher levels. (This sort of level scaling is IMO observable from an AT that gets appropriate low-level attacks but lacks a similar sort of "power up": Kheldians. It's why the Nova forms are great at lower levels but kinda weak at higher levels... but I digress) I am satisfied with the current implementation of the first upgrade. Aside from all the post-live MM improvements (summon times/times, group buffing, map->map travel, opening up T2 secondary power choice, etc.) the ability to slot certain useful enhancement sets in those first (and in some cases, second) upgrades was a boon to MM builds that choose to take advantage of them. This implementation would not have been my choice; I think the (my words) "ya gots to apply the first upgrade as an intended cost of getting better performance" argument is somewhat weak(*1) but I don't feel obligated to try to analyze/prove/disprove that hypothesis when the final choice of auto/non-auto first upgrade will make no measureable difference (to me). It is obvious (at least to me) that reworking the primaries by replacing multiple powers and trying to come up with something else would involve analysis/effort for both balance and code... and the payoff would be of questionable value (IMO). (*2) (*1) The argument about the first upgrade being auto/non-auto feels "goopy"... or at least more "theoretical" than "empirical"... but as noted in my text above, players did get an improved set of enhancement slotting options, so minimally (from my PoV) there was a buff to those powers that I appreciate. (*2) Having played MMs for long enough on HC (also live, but that is irrelevant for this point)... buffs/upgrades applied to henchmen are 'flaky' in both expected and (somewhat) unexpected ways. The primary upgrades almost always 'stick' (when the henches are fully summoned and clustered) but I frequently observed some applied buffs (mostly Incarnate buffs) don't 'stick' to all henchmen... and others may have discovered that a non-upgraded henchmen will usually 'get a free upgrade' when changing zones/maps. I only mention this because there is more going on 'under the hood' to give us the IMO good state of affairs MM enjoy today.

I am still of the opinion that trying to make "fetch toxic positivity" a thing in place of using a less charged word/phrase like "blind advocacy" or "cheerleading" ... or even a potentially more charged, but in-vernacular use of something like "drank the flavor aid" or "the emperor has no clothes" or "rightthink" is an obvious (and somewhat lazy) attempt to equate some folks support of something that somebody else doesn't like as being inherently poisonous. The workplace examples cited about? Not cool, but they sound more like cult-like behavior with an emphasis on "othering", or at least an attempt at dividing people into in-group and out-group categories of rightthink. It is a real stretch to call out "positivity" as being toxic... it sounds like a term an edgelord would come up with after being called out for "toxic" behavior that was self-recognized as being "non-positive". If person A insults person B... that isn't "positivity" of any sort. If an individual feels they are being poisoned by (or having an allergic reaction to) more than one person disagreeing with them in the same way... that individual should probably disclose their allergy and not simply toss out wild accusations of being poisoned. The blog quote accusing the HC devs of "sins" also strikes me as extremely judgemental, with zero context provided. It is easy for me to imagine that the "positivity" related to the "sin" was that the devs implemented a change that guy didn't like, and some non-dev agreed with the devs approach.

I think the choice of "toxic" as the adjective for "positivity" reveals a lot about both preconceived beliefs and the limited vocabulary of the (blog) author. If the source of the quote was turned off by forum discussion (and not the HC game itself)... they must be incredibly sensitive and likely don't recognize very much autonomy in other people. The author of the article is almost certainly just doing a lazy drive-by 'both sides' piece. Here (forums) I observe a lot of non-dev-team folks explaining why certain things are the way they are, and the potential consequences of certain "drive by asks" in the suggestion forum, but for the most part these are pretty neutral (up to the point of someone posting in a petulant manner, very often the OP)... and the non-OP responses often show more evidence of critical thinking than the original post. Then of course, are the suggestions that are almost certain never to be implemented for which many of us can explain the dev's stated reasoning. I don't think that is "toxic positivity". It strikes me as rather pathetic for a blogger to equate "choice I don't like" with "sin". Pope wolfeyes must have a pretty wild heaven he's trying to get into.

Now I want to see this Ice/Ice/Ice Build that is 'broken' because of the current Epic power pool.

Sure! This was the page 5 build... I may have tweaked it a little since then, but it will be substantially the same. FWIW, I don't think I'd add the new Cupid's Damage/%Confuse to it, as the PPM isn't great and the duration of the confuse is too short (especially considering all the control & KB present). Mass Confusion has %damage to improve drop rates.

I know that @Maltese_Knight isn't the OP, but of all the powers in a Tanker's Invulnerability primary... I never would have guessed that Invincibility would be a power that players would choose to take without adding any additional slots.... especially if playing against +4s. The 'singleton' buff may not look that good, when holding the aggro of a large number of enemies in melee range (yay Tanker PBAoEs) the extra slotting pays dividends in my experience.

I don't like the exploit myself (and don't bother with it)... yet I think there is likely a conjunction of different possible reasons why it hasn't been addressed, including: It may not be straightforward to directly stop the changeling exploit without mucking something else up about the Kheldians. There is probably not consensus on how to improve performance of the Kheldians in the absence of the exploit. I can't speak to #1, but even without using the exploit I often get glitchy results when trying to change forms! As for #2, I think that 'performance' is somewhat subjective. Personally, I find the Nova form to be great up until about level 16, and not long after it becomes a drag. The Dwarf form is a solid tanker, but IMO miserable in terms of clear times. Pure human forms have their own issues, presumably 'for balance'. <- I don't think any of this is news, but it is how I feel about the Kheldians. I understand the suggestions to make the 'human forms' more resilient and/or do more damage... but those suggestion (my opinion) seem to go against the idea that tri-forms are the core identity of the HEATs. Personally, my suggestion to 'improve Kheldians' would lean towards better (i.e. more complicated) scaling of the damage powers in the (especially) Nova and Dwarf forms. The Nova attacks are essentially low-tier attacks that never really get any better (even with slots) than equivalent low-tier Blaster attacks, but the Nova's never get anything else (unlike Blasters). The Dwarfs (available at level 20) are a little better, but their melee attacks are very much low-tier Tanker attacks, they never get the equivalent of a T6+ melee attack (without exploiting changeling). I'm not suggesting new attacks get added to the Nova/Dwarf forms, more that the attacks could maybe be given different (scaling higher) base damage values at higher levels (of the character) for those forms, in such a way that exemplaring down gets the 'correct scale'. They should maybe not be as powerful as the higher-tier human-form attacks, but there ought to be a reason to NOT default to changeling exploits to clear and survive enemies.

I suggest learning how to blast without relying on the epic pool powers to keep you alive. /s Less sarcasticly: the epics/patron pools aren't uniform by design. The dev team isn't keeping a defense or resistance toggle out of player's build until level 41, the game offers pools with different power choices in them, available at different levels, that scale with the level of availability. The utility of that scaling will be different for different players, I don't know why anyone would insist on making all the sets the same.

My comments are not about "totally overpowering". My personal opinion is that a Blaster shouldn't need an epic toggle, yet if they somehow do, there is no content between levels 30 and 36 that require one. Player's (edit) not should ask for 'pure buffs' without proposing a rebalance. The need to take a pre-req choice, and an availability at a later level are part of the factors that make Frozen Armor better (IMO) than other 'toggles' that don't require those things (or a Patron unlock).

The non-patron Epic Pools don't all get a def/res toggle at level 35, nor do the available toggles all take the same sets. (I'll ignore the actual effects of the toggle, except in one case). Arsenal's Body Armor, level 35 Auto power Resistance sets only Dark's Murky Cloud, level 35 toggle power Resistance sets only Electric's Charged Armor, level 38 toggle power, Resistance sets only Fire's Fire Shield, level 38 toggle power, Resistance sets only Force Mastery's Temp Invulnerability, level 38 toggle Resistance sets only (PFF is a level 35 defensive toggle, but it doesn't allow players to make attacks) Ice's Frozen Armor, level 41 toggle that allows both Resistance and Defense sets. At level 41... Frozen Armor looks like an outlier, but it provides better options than the other Epics, and IMO even Scorpion Shield's (level 35) options. An enhanceable 10% S/L defense is excellent! The only similar options for Blasters come from long-recharge pool powers that require even more pre-requisites (e.g. Unleash Potential) If you want to propose shuffling the order of the power picks, there does need to be an accompanying proposal as to how to rebalance the set. Based on the non-Patron sets, it would be far more likely that the "toggle" would end up at level 38 across-the-board, which would still require a pre-requisite power pick. The toggle powers currently available only above level 38 would have to sacrifice some things.