tidge

Recovery rate shortens the 'time between' +Endurance refills. Every player has a base value (of Recovery), Stamina gives you even more (Recovery), even without specifically slotting it. +End from Performance Shifter is a straight-forward 'Have some more Endurance!' boost, unrelated to Recovery. There is a point of diminishing returns (on Recovery), so it is often the case that bonuses to Recovery do far less than you might expect. IMO It is far better to work on Slotting for Endurance Reduction (directly, or indirectly via Incarnates) Increasing Maximum Endurance (accolades, set bonuses) Getting Global Endurance Discounts (set bonuses) leveraging temp powers The same goes for Health and Regeneration, but because different ATs have different Maximum Health/HP, the break-even point comes at different spots for different ATs.

I didn't ask. I try not to be critical of any player's play style, power choices, costumes, etc. so I sincerely just took them on face value. I don't want to reduce this little story to an ad hominem argument. I wanted to share only that I recently encountered a new (-ish?) player that was having an appropriate (IMHO, YMMV) level of frustration because of game content. I explained that the difficulty setting was almost certainly too high (just as I indicated in my post) but that is what he wanted to run with. The last several pages have had a whiff of 'the game is too easy' to them... but this player did not self-gimp, they simply didn't take full advantage of everything the game has to offer (as has been described by others, above). I don't think my PUGmate was a 'black swan'. I just wanted to share teh story of a player who would (likely) end up even further behind the curve if the game was 'rebalanced around IOs' (which I take to overlap significantly with 'made harder'... certainly not in all cases, but in a majority of them, I suspect) I didn't tell the play that I've done that arc with a fresh level 50 at the same (or harder) settings, but the times I didn't do it by mistake (Unai Kemen can lull you into a false sense of security!) it was after my post-50 respec into... wait for it.... enhancement sets! I don't level up my characters without MOST of my final power/enhancement choices in place, but some of my fresh level 50s have had serious trouble solo-ing that particular arc even with (non-superior) Enhancement sets that I think most character builders would agree were 'efficient enough'.

Apropos of (almost) nothing: I spent some time recently helping a (new?) player complete Mender Ramiel's arc (to unlock the Alpha slot). Just to provide an idea of what I observed about the character in question: Fresh level 50 Spines/Fire Brute Difficulty set to +1/x6 No enhancement set bonuses By itself, the primary reason the character was having problems was the difficulty setting... but the lack enhancement bonuses was certainly not helping. I don't play brutes, but I have observed with many other ATs that this arc is relatively easy with a kitted level 50... but much more of a struggle with less-optimized builds. Without arguing about the specific ATs, or specific play-styles of players that face that arc... my opinion that the game should be 'rebalanced for IOs' remains NO, otherwise players like the one I was helping are going to end up even further behind the curve.

That is the exact behavior of the spiderlings, unless all of the initial spiderlings have been defeated, the ones from the latest recast will expire when/along with ones from the initial cast would have expired.

Minor Quibble: I don't think it is entirely fair to think of a Dominator as a nukeless Blaster without a sustain. Domination is a form of "sustain" for its AT. (yadda yadda unmotivating 'change domination' arguments to follow) I am trying to understand the subtle, shifting headspace that exists between this thread ("Doms can't compete with Blasters") and the "Should Set be Balanced around IOs" ("non-Blaster ATs are doing too much damage")... but I'm having trouble following these two different threads to know what the motivation for each of them is.

I'm in agreement that the Patron pets are pretty much working as intended. There may be (unrealistic) expectations for them: They aren't "henchmen" (as from a Mastermind), so the player won't have the same level of control. They will require attention, as they aren't a fully-kitted second player. You can only have 1 of them, even if you can get the power to recharge faster than the pet expires <- not verified, but I assume the power behaves like spiderling pets I agree that there are two features of them that can be frustrating, but I don't think these are worth changing: The long recharge times. Assuming that you can keep the pet alive (and this is on the PLAYER, not the PET) you can have the pet available 100% of the time. This requires some investment in slots, but there are dedicated "Recharge Intensive Pet" IOs (plus common IOs) that can help with this. The power is only available at very high levels (level 44 is the earliest, IIRC) Personally, I don't expect a 'crowning' power from an Epic/Patron pool to be available at lower levels, even if such a pet power would be helpful the (lower) levels where many solo players could use some extra help (if they want to face challenging content). One of the balance features of the game that I experience (playing solo content at 40+, without exemplar) is how high to turn up the number of enemies (*1)... and a (long recharge) pet will need some attention to handle large spawns. The player either needs to focus on keeping the aggro, or buffing the defenses of the pet. Most ATs can do this, but it does require some active choices on the part of the player, either in power choices or play style. (*1) When leveling, and post-50, I prefer to keep content at even level but to face larger spawns. I find certain content to be a boring 'war of attrition', and I prefer 'drops' over 'pure Inf'. YMMV.

I think that castrating the damage slotting options of entire classes because the masculinity of damage dealing by other classes feels threatened is lot more radical and can only be viewed as rewarded by some peculiar sense of "but this should be better" logic. I'm reading that players simultaneously don't want to occasionally run an arc without enhancement bonuses but instead want other players to have less access to enhancements.

*IF* the perceived imbalance is coming from Enhancements (which is, I believe the stated point of this thread), then it should not be considered *self-gimping* to have an option to play without the source of the perceived imbalance.

Don't most Ouroborous and SF/TF arcs allow the person starting the arc to allow missions to be played by characters without enhancement bonuses? I don't see the need to 'rebalance' the entire game when players who want a different 'balance' that is identical to what is being suggested above already have that option.

Most muscle: Most abused: Most over-rated: Most market-friendly:

You are about to miss out on all the cool arcs in Sharkhead Isle!

Nerf fusion.

Those aren't %procs, those are Global bonuses (for the most part), and they will work: without having the power (e.g. Tough) toggled on down to the lowest active level of the Enhancement piece, even if you don't have access to the power (because of Exemplar) The only *sly* enhancement (that I use semi-regularly) that can be slotted in a Defense slot is the Kismet +Accuracy; it is necessary to be slotted in a power that will be toggled on (or is always on) in order to contribute 6% to ToHit. If it was not clear from my post above, by "mule" I mean that I am leveraging the Globals, but I am not necessarily using the power (via toggle) to get the Enhancement bonus(es).

I definitely will take the Fighting pool on a majority of my characters, but MOST of the time it is to get a power to use as an enhancement mule. I have a /SR (Stalker, not Scrapper) that took Kick/Tough and 47/49 just to mule the extra +Defense pieces. For most of the game's content she doesn't even have access to a damage reducer (except for the Shield Wall global). My other squishies (with neither Defenses or Resists) tend to dip into the Fighting pool earlier but i don't kid myself that they are able to soak damage!

Aid Other vs. Triage Beacon I have two MM that I've taken through 50+. One is Robots/Traps and one is Thugs/Thermal. There may be subtle combinations when trying to speak to Thugs/Traps, so I just wanted to explicitly write about the place of my perspective. I should note that the 'Bots MM went to 50+ before the henchmen AI changes. I found Aid Other to be useful when leveling, but swapped it for Triage Beacon. The downsides of Aid Other, from my PoV It breaks up whatever else you are doing, both in terms of clicky powers and attention. Some henchmen just aren't worth chasing down to heal // only rarely is it absolutely neccesary to heal a henchmen dragging a green inspiration will also heal a henchmen body guard mode needs as many henchmen as possible Aid Other was useful while leveling, because with very few other powers and only a few henchmen it is useful to keep them ready for the next fight. For example: it is possible to street sweep Perez Park at appropriate levels if you can keep your very few available henchmen healed. The dynamics of a MM with 3 henchmen (and only 2 at -1) is very different than a MM of 6 henchmen where only 1 is at even level. Triage Beacon has an obvious downside: In highly mobile play, there won't be as many opportunities to get much benefit from it, but in HARD fights it will be much more useful than a single target interruptible Aid Other. Triage Beacon is also not a true heal, of course. Now about Thugs. Thugs are not as well behaved as Robots, as Thugs rely on a few melee attacks. It's pretty much the Bruiser that is the candidate for Aid Other, as he'll scamper all over creation and occasionally get quite far from you... but I don't think it is a good tactical choice to run after the Bruiser to give up your position (with Acid Mortar, Caltrops, Poison Trap) where your Enforcers and Arsonist will be (I have found the Enforcers to be the laggards). Once the Posse is in play, you can rely on your pet window (or targeting macros) for targeting the true Henchmen, but visually the combat zone is going to be crazy. Thermal has a single-target (non-interruptible) buff that I try to apply to the Enforcer, but quite frankly I find it to be a PITA to stay close enough to him to do that... I can only imagine how painful it would be to try to apply Aid Other to him. Of course, you could do without either power. But... Triage Beacon is a power that makes a BIG difference on low-level task/strike forces (even if the slotted enhancements are above the level of the TF) because a TF PUG of 8 will likely be close together and will appreciate the Triage Beacon boosts a LOT more than one-off casts of Aid Other. Also the set bonuses from Healing sets are pretty nice.

I only put uncommons on the AH about once a month, so I doubt it was any of my characters. And even then, it only the uncommons not used in my own crafting on recipes or SG boosts. I also don't check the final sale prices on salvage so it is unlikely I would even notice. I can almost imagine the scenario that could lead to lots of lost Inf, but it involves not paying attention. Place some ~10MInf bids on many (ten at a time?) specific (Very Rare? PVP?) Recipes Jump to the salvage area and start placing bids on salvage (ten at a time) but not updating the bid price. I've done something similar, but it is immediately noticeable because the "bought" items tab in the AH increments while the total Inf decrements. When SERIOUSLY overbidding I think you have a little bit of time to cancel (part of the) bids for ten-at-a-time.

That particular proc only works for the character with the power, and it will fire even if you never drop a Triage Beacon. (assuming level ranges, damage taken, blah blah blah fishcakes)

I think it might depend on your primary. My /Traps build doesn't have too many procs, because I don't really need to do extra damage as much as I want to help the henchmen do extra damage. There is a subtle point that any one given %-res source won't 'stack' with itself, but the duration length will be increased if it was re-applied (such as from the Achilles Heel %proc) I want to say that Pseudopets (like most traps) have a slightly different (inferior) way that they work than in character powers. The only other caveat is that the Endurance cost of attacks for MMs is quite steep, so there is a real balancing act when deciding to try to provide your own offense (via %damage) and letting the henchmen do their thing. I can share the slotting of my Bots/Traps/Mace (level 50, leveling was different) Web Grenade is not really worth slotting, IMO: Level 1: Web Grenade (A) HamiO:Endoplasm Exposure I like the slow from Caltrops, I have a sort of compromise slotting that uses one lower-level set and one higher level (both attuned). I can't quite remember the math, but I think the %smashing is close to the ceiling while the %-Res should be about 70% of whatever the %damage is. Level 2: Caltrops (A) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime: Level 50 (7) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 50 (9) Impeded Swiftness - Damage/Slow: Level 30 (9) Impeded Swiftness - Range/Slow: Level 30 (11) Impeded Swiftness - Endurance/Recharge/Slow: Level 30 (11) Impeded Swiftness - Chance of Damage(Smashing): Level 30 Triage Beacon holds a 6-piece set for bonuses: Level 10: Triage Beacon (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal: Level 50 (17) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance: Level 50 (19) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime: Level 50 (19) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime: Level 50 (21) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance: Level 50 (21) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb: Level 50 Acid Mortar has two %-Res in it. It should be more %proc friendly because of the longer recharge time. Level 14: Acid Mortar (A) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 50 (34) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff: Level 20 (34) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff: Level 50 (36) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff/Recharge: Level 50 (36) Undermined Defenses - Recharge/Endurance: Level 50 (36) Undermined Defenses - Recharge: Level 50 FFG is included for completeness. No %procs. Level 16: Force Field Generator (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50 (46) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50 (46) Defense Buff IO: Level 50 Poison Trap is another compromise between set bonuses, %proc, and actually doing the job of holding enemies. Level 22: Poison Trap (A) Gladiator's Net - Accuracy/Hold: Level 50 (23) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50 (23) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50 (25) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Endurance/Hold: Level 50 (25) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 50 (34) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 50 I have the attacks designed to grab some aggro, knockdown and %-Res enemies with AoE; Photon Grenade, Mace Beam Volley.

Sounds like a respec into a different travel pool!

I've never tried to %proc the Scrapper/Stalker Snipes, except as a 5-piece set (with a %proc, almost always Sting of the Manticore) and then a 6th %proc from another set (Apocalypse %negative, at lvl 50). YMMV, but for my Inf there are 5-piece set bonuses worth chasing for what will be the only (or one of very few) ranged attacks for these AT. With the Homecoming changes to Snipes, these can become reliable parts of your offense. As to the OP, the powers are practically identical in terms of numbers. I typically go with Moonbeam because of the ability to add a LotG mule via Shadow Meld.

My StJ/WP Scrapper also has Shadow Meld but it isn't a power I use regularly (except as a LotG Mule, of course). It's use is limited to: activating (during the run towards a group), after I have used a (long range) Moonbeam (Snipe), as I close into the range of their alpha-strike during a 'lull' in my attack chain, where 'lull' is defined as waiting for a specific power to be available to make use of a StJ 'combo' For giggle, when facing difficult enough targets and the opponents' BIG ATTACK is coming up (and my teammates aren't somehow already boosting my Defense). I wouldn't say I'm 'tired of it', but if I was trying to use Shadow Meld all the time I certainly would be.

What is the current breakdown of Defenders at level 50 versus Blasters at level 50?

I was thinking that the hypothetical AFK Mastermind Farmer would be possible (even if not lucrative) by turning down the difficulty on enemies. Exposing my ignorance, but I'm not sure if a 50(+1) character still gets Inf from a level 47 enemy or not. I do know that it is necessary to earn XP from a defeat in order to get a recipe/salvage/enhancement drop. I'm pretty sure the lowest level character I had that got a purple recipe drop was lvl 47, doing Unai Kemen missions at standard (enemy level +0) difficulty.

While I agree 100% that MMs would make terrible AFK farmers if the reason for farming is recipe drops and not Inf, it makes no difference between lvl 50 and lvl 53 enemies. As far as very rare (purple, not PVP) recipe drops, you might be able to run a farm as low as level 48 and still get one but I don't know that to be true (I have no experience with farming such content).

Perhaps not... exactly... the only way to come close to the OP request. We have seen in several missions that 'duplicates' of the player (or entire team) at mission instancing appear as enemies, perhaps a slight step in the requested direction would be to have a mission where the duplicate of the mission holder (or team) appear as Pets/Allies instead? It certainly isn't going to pull characters from the database that aren't in the mission (upon instance) but it would a nice change of pace. I'll add this: on some of the missions where a duplicate of your character appears, I've changed (mid-mission) my build and costume to take them down with the alternate build... which is why this feels a little bit like getting other characters from my own personal roster.