tidge

I almost never build to be a 'proc monster' (*1) but at high enough levels I almost always have multiple sets with a proc, and I absolutely want that proc firing as much as possible... and Global Recharge does help with that. Otherwise this is not the primary reason for me to chase Global Recharge (with or without Hasten). For me, its one of two reasons: 1) Having the long-recharge powers available more often. Could be attacks, could be pet summons, could be heals. Those powers are usually key to my character concept, and I want them available ASAP! As was expressed by others, there are many builds (in my mind) don't need that much Global recharge to match the play with the concept. 2) As an extension of the above, on a few of my toons I want certain Buffs to auto-fire on a reliable schedule (often incorporating a proc, as was mentioned). Tuning the amount of Global Recharge has been key for those toons, with or without Hasten. (*1) I was going to make some observations about 'proc monster builds' but those are unnecessary.

On its face, it isn't unreasonable to ask for new Enhancement sets with improved procs, but I don't think Global Recharge is the place to look. As was pointed out, unless the name exactly the same as LotG, players will just add those new pieces to builds with NxLotG pieces (where N =< 5). I'd prefer that new IO sets be considered for types that currently don't have PVP or Purple versions. I don't think that adding Global Recharge pieces to hypothetically new sets would be my first choice. For example: Fear: I think Fear and Slow are the only Mez/Control set that don't have a fifth choice (either PVP or Purple). I want a Purple set with a sixth piece proc for "Contagious Fear" similar to the Coercive Persuasion set... In my experience one of the big advantages of the Contagious Confusion proc is that it keeps the single-target Confuses as a viable control when facing larger groups of enemies. Tight now, the single-target Fear attacks lose almost all of their viability against larger groups. Purple set bonuses for Fear would also be appreciated, not just for the improvement to stats, but to have a set that scales to all levels. Taunt: Also only has 2-pairs of sets (uncommon/rare in 2 level ranges). There is no reason to not have a fifth set with "Purple-ish" set bonuses. My personal preference would be that one of the multi-slot bonuses from such a set would include bonuses to Ranged/AoE defense, to synergize with the role of Taunting. I know the mechanics of Taunt are subtly different than other effects, so a "contagious taunt" is probably not viable, but a 6th piece with something like %Knockdown might be fun, keeping in mind that "6th piece procs" are often considered to be slotted in other powers (attacks) to improve certain aspects of those powers. I wouldn't want to open any cans of worms by considering a PvP Taunt set. As with Fear, it would be nice to have a set whose bonuses scale across all (level) content. Slow: The existing Slow IO sets offer variety in the bonuses that I don't see in the Fear set, so I am less personally invested in seeing a 5th set... but I am open to one. I will say that the market has pretty much identified a single piece (%Smashing Damage) as being much more desirable than all other Slow IO pieces, which is an indication that we probably deserve more choices. As with Fear and Taunt, I'd like a set that scales across all levels (as Slows are often very low tier powers). I'm not sure what kind of '6th piece proc' I'd want from such a set, but another choice of %Damage might be an option for those ATs that don't get a lot of raw damage. I don't have strong opinions on adding to the Buff/Debuff sets, except that the ability to cross-slot Accurate/Non-Accurate sets is appreciated.

Which (club) foot is the shoe on? If a player enjoys 'mindlessly killing lots of mooks' what does the amount of Inf gained through that activity have to do with the source of enjoyment? The amount of 'mindless killing' doesn't scale with accumulated Inf; if it scale with anything it is with crafted IO pieces. I appreciate the contribution of raw materials on the market from all players (especially farmers), but it is the Ebil MarketeersTM who are generating the largest number of specifically desired IO pieces. The ONLY measurable barrier to entry to becoming an Ebil MarketeerTM is the Auction House's Vig when posting items for sale.

Assemble the team and warm up the shredders. They are on to us.

Not a senator, but

I am completely unfamiliar with the code and the databases, but at some point in the last year there was talk that if characters started "Gold", that there were limited circumstances (Khallisti Wharf costume contests?) that they could not join. I never heard anything more than that, but from memory it had something to do with the fact that the character never officially started as a hero or a villain. The game keeps track of certain choices and behaviors (for example, the questions that come up at the end of SSA1 depend on alignment during earlier missions, and in NPC reactions in DA arcs) but I don't know if this is related.

I think the point of the Flambeaux dialogue is to make you that much more excited when she shows up in Tip missions... and 'interact' with her in those missions.

I think you are looking for the Dark Watcher arc, with the particular mission being "Investigate the Nemesis Base".

In general, I find the redside content to be written much better. I realize that there is a vocal contingent of players who express dislike for 'being a lacky', but I don't feel that way. Later missions when you are going after the Freedom Phalanx and/or beating down Patrons certainly feel villainous enough to me. Most of the Grandville missions have villainy to spare. For contrast, I don't why the blue-side should feel any better about being heroes, as the streets of Atlas Park are still filled with villains and I can't imagine why anyone still lives in Founder's Falls! I also want to shout out to the TIP missions. They are always fun, and it is great to always have a choice of approaches and results. Classic Blue: I always though Madeleine Casey's "To Save a Soul" was a fun concept, and I run that one just to read her dialogue. More Blue-side Nostalgia: I like that the Icon Tailors, City Representative and Brickstown/Founder's Falls/PI vendors still give out missions. I wish I could run Ghost Falcon's mission through Ouroboros, because it is a straightforward map to collect Rikti defeats. Cross-over fun: I like seeing the connection between the Devouring Earth missions Blue Side with Vernon Von Grun redside. I especially like that Von Grun share temp powers with you, unlike many other contacts! Getting rewarded with temp powers, especially for the mission (rather than after), was always a favorite feature of missions for me. I haven't gone back to Goldside to start characters since live (because of the later restrictions those toons will face) but I appreciate the content there. About 10% of my characters try to run the First Ward arcs; I like that the story there is rather circular... if you run the entire arc you can almost understand why it is ready to be run again with another character. I have mixed feelings about the (blue-side) newer zone-contained arcs (Striga, Hollows, Croatoa, Faultline). I think they are pretty good, and good for the game. My only caveat is that in our current era, unless XP is turned off I find it hard to run the complete arcs in the low level zones. I like the story progression, but I always feel like I'm missing out on content. I use Ouroboros for these, but it isn't the same as finding a PUG like in the old days. I will admit that I get bored by the 'defeat all villains on the ship' missions in Striga. The revamped Rikti War Zone missions bore me, although I like the challenge of Vanguard. Blueside, I am very thankful for the lvl 45-50+ arcs like Unai Kemen's "To Save a Thousand Worlds" and Heather Townsend's "Burden of the Past". I run these to farm without using AE. Suggestions, hopes and wishes: Hazard Zones: I've always been a little peeved that the Hazard Zones (Perez Park, Boomtown, Eden) don't have any sort of mission arc. I completely understand why they exist historically (and quite frankly I am glad the Perez Park revamp never occurred) but aside from odd one-offs and GMs (blue side) or some instanced missions (red side) they feel weirdly devoid of meaning. Now that travel is wide-open to more players (and earlier than ever) even a simple arc explaining what some of the groups in these zones are doing could be fun. Alternate enemies: I'd like to have some contacts (also available though Ouroboros) that expose some of the enemy groups that are otherwise limited in their appearances. I always like seeing the high-level family, I think they only appear in a Johnny Sonata SSA and in some extra-dimensional missions. I'd like to see Hydra in a mission that didn't explicitly include Rikti (or the Sewer Zones). I'm curious what high-level Vahzilok (maybe using Paragon Protector corpses?) would look like.

Malta are cold, cold bastiches.

IIRC, one of the VEAT arcs (pretty sure it is one way below lvl 40) awards the Shady/Shrouded badge (for the particular map). All my VEATs get that badge much earlier than any other toon. I don't think this is advertised in any of the wiki, but it has never failed for me.

Ideally, the inf sinks should be (A) things players *want*, (B) things players can *use*, and (C) things that don't change the underlying mechanics of the Homecoming marketplace. I suppose we should have some consideration for things like badge-collectors as well; I seem to recall blowback against 'buying badges' (not sure why, but some folks are more crazy about badges than things like set balance). The only things that come immediately to mind: 1) Mission monitor missions cost a single merit, I suppose they could accept Inf directly. This is about as close to the underlying marketplace mechanics as I'd want to see, since merits can be bought directly elsewhere. I don't think many people use this method of sinking merits. 2) The temporary SG buffs consume salvage. I frequently use mine, but this is a pure salvage sink and not an Inf sink. With seeded salvage at a ceiling price, there is no mathematical reason why these can't accept Inf directly. I rarely am in a PUG where I notice players with any of these buffs, despite how much they help with certain content. P2W is already a pretty good Inf sink, I'm not sure how many players use the 're-occuring costs' aside from temp travel and Envenomed Daggers.

After the recent patch, I went back to some older toons and decided to try out alternate builds. This was a little like respecing, but without getting to reuse IOs. These were level 50s, but neither had that much Inf (between 150M and 250M on each)... my characters basically invest in newer ones, so what wealth I have is usually in new characters... anywho, I used the market to get most of the build for each of them. It took roughly three days to get the Inf and the pieces I wanted. I didn't notice any particular trends, except what you might think based on an influx of new characters and the new EndMod sets. The only real standout trends (from the perspective of a player who stop seriously marketing 6 months ago): 1) The Performance Shifter proc and EndMod looked like they were selling higher than pre-patch. No doubt partially due to decreased converter roulette odds and partial due to lots of new empty Stamina slots. I was able to get into a few of the new sets w/ procs before the market was flooded (as with so many other procs). 2) A couple sets were in relatively short supply: Gaussian's ToHit set and the Mocking Beratement Taunt sets. Prices weren't terrible, but supply was low. 3) Melee Damage sets were doing better than I remember. I used to convert past these almost all the time, but the market wasn't terrible to me. I'm sensitive to the number of conversions in order to preserve margins. 4) Healing and Resistance sets were a good place to sell, but Healing had started to deflate near the end of my efforts. 5) The LotG set was more 'lopsided' than I remembered, with 2 of the 6 pieces going for much less than the others. Some Ebil-wiggle room existed at times. On the high end (Purple, PVP, Winter, ATO) I didn't notice much difference, except that I had no trouble getting what I needed at the cost I could afford to spend (or convert from). I did dump some SG-crafted PVP IOs that were below lvl 50, converting where necessary. I did buy a few recipes because the price was much better than the crafted piece. I didn't see many bargains to be had in the recipe side, but I didn't look too deeply. (Your Ebil niches are safe from me!) I never buy Superior ATOs unless the market prices are inverted (which wasn't the case where I looked).

"Marketeers" are not contributing to inflation. Buying and selling on the market SINKS inf. Besides, if such a plan was put in place, "marketeers" would make almost all of it back pretty quickly, if desired. I recently respec-ed two 'older' lvl 50 toons which had much less INF than 1.75B. I spent a couple of days 'on the market' and each of them is equipped as planned, including w/ boosters. Self-reporting perhaps, but this market action was pretty low grade Ebil.

/agree. I use the beta server to specifically test lvl 50 builds (& respecs). It's nice to see how attack chains work in addition to testing powers. I've burned my fair share of respecs, but sometimes I want to see the plan in action. It looks like the AE missions are also available on the test servers, in case anyone feels more comfortable farming there.

I won't make predictions (maybe one), or try to rationalize my own behavior (maybe a little). I'll just explain what I've done in the past (and am likely to keep doing). All my level 50s have the rare recipe drops turned off. Because of certain day jobs and mission rewards, I still get rares... the recipes just stick around until I have a critical mass. With such few rare drops the rare salvage accumulates. I vendor the common drops to finance the crafting costs of the uncommons (which get converted and sold) and the PVP/Purples. I tend to craft/keep PVPs (usually selling the sub-50s, unless they are procs) and Purples. The return on the PVPs I sell has always looked to be far better than I would get from the recipes. Sidebar: The base usually has a few sets of certain attuned (gasp!) PVP sets. These get recycled among characters as they level. Most of the pieces came from the AH, but I will admit to having attuned and unslotted some (pre-attuned sub-50) pieces because I had the raw materials otherwise going to waste. When I had fewer PVPs cluttering up the base, I would often just buy the (lvl 50) recipe I wanted if the difference between the recipe and the crafted IO was large enough. I suspect that with new powersets and the new characters being rolled up there are a quite a few folks making purchases across the board right now. My one prediction is that any spike we see will be due to the new characters being kitted out, once folks are running x8 content again the PVP market supply will return. I only sell PVPs when the base gets a little too cluttered, and the ones I sell are usually in the level range 23ish-49. Below 23ish I usually don't have slots for (or need to slot) PVPs (except for the Panacea proc... even Shield Wall, Gladiator's Armor need powers to go in!) and the P2W damage IOs turn off around this point. By 25 I'm looking for set bonuses, and I want them to level with me, so I'll sell them to buy attuned versions.

I rank the game's difficulty as 'just right'. I understand that it is possible to 'breeze through' the 'end-game' content with investment in certain builds, but that doesn't make me think the game is too easy. After all, we have many players asking for improvements in certain powersets and ATs! I think the challenge is where you look for it. When I'm feeling like one of my builds is having too easy of a time with certain missions, I will mix things up by using Ouroboros to solo some low-level missions with a large team size. Even without increasing difficulty or adding enemy buffs, low level content can be challenging without all the lvl 50 powers and the bonuses from the 20+ IO sets. There is more to the difficulty than just having tougher fights. It isn't easy to get folks on PUGs to coordinate for certain badges. I am also not a fan of simply making enemies more frustrating to defeat. I get bored with AV/GM fights that go on for 15+ minutes. I appreciate that such a challenge exists, but it isn't really for me.

I snipped a lot from this post, and decided to quote those two paragraphs because they remind me that there is a very wide spectrum of attitude towards the game, the rewards, the style of play and the 'market'. I appreciate the folks describing their play style and attitudes; I'm less impressed by the posts taking (and giving) offense and those predicting total meltdown for the game and its 'economy'. I suppose Page 5 is making both profits and prophets!

It could well be gone to the americans.

On my Crabbermind, none of the pets (Patron spider Blaster included) have a better perception than my toon (75 feet, running only a single TT:Leadership). That is to say, they only run away from me if I'm the enemies get close enough... usually because I have already opened fire on them. I don't think it is fair to say that the "pets are leading the charge". The enemies who primarily have short ranged attacks are ones that the Spiderlings will go for, because they have melee attacks. If the Spiderlings don't close for melee, you will be losing half of the damage (literally!) that they should be doing... and you are still going to have to account for AoE attacks against their lower (-2) level defenses. For those who want suggestion on keeping pets around longer, we have this thread in the sub-forums. Some of the performance issues may be with the build, some may be with play style. For example, if you outrun your pets, they will get straggler-aggro in addition to be far from any defensive bonuses you may provide. This is true of even MM pets (unless of course you planted them in a particular spot and intended to leave them in that spot). Boosting the Crab pet levels in iTrials doesn't seem outrageous to me. FWIW, the Spiderlings (at -2 levels to you) are always going to have problems avoiding being hit. The thread I linked discusses ways to boost the defensive and offensive attributes of the pets.

I grok your point, but my experience with Fire Imps (on a Dominator) is that the Fire Imps behave exactly the same way as the Spiderlings (and Fiery Orb). The suicidal behavior is simply less noticeable because the Dominator is explicitly running like crazy in-and-out of mobs and spamming controls left-and-right. If I played the Dom like a (ranged attach) Crab (with far less control) the pets would die just as quickly. I will grant that the recharge time for Fire Imps is much improved over Disruptors, but once PermaDom is achieved I almost never respawn Fire Imps in a mission except at the extreme levels of content. On large teams I seldom even worry about keeping 3 Imps out. The Crab pets don't appear to behave all that different than several Lore pets, or Patron pets. If a player takes on too big of a group, the melee pets will get in over their heads. The Disruptors (because of their ranged focus) are much better "behaved", but that is primarily because of their attack set. I don't doubt that (all) pets could be made better (Why won't the portable workbench follow me?! It's supposed to be portable!) I simply question if players recognize that these AT pets are supposed to fill a different role than other type of pets for different ATs. If you want to do more to help the (2-attack) Spiderlings survive, try looking at changing your behavior/build before asking the (lower level) Spiderlings to change! It is possible to roll up a Crabbermind with some semblance of control to help the pets survive (more like how Dominators do it): (AoE) powers can be slotted for Knockdown. Frag Grenade takes Sudden Acceleration. The Overwhelming Force %KD proc goes almost anywhere. (I gave it to the Spiderlings) The %Fear ATO (Soldier) proc added to an AoE can prevent enemies from taking action during combat The Winter ATOs all offer control options: Avalanche gives Knockdown (plus recharge, if you want it in the 15-minute-recharge critters) , others give Hold, Immobilize, etc. The Patron pools all offer a control attack, as an AoE attack. Although I don't recommend it for Crabs, the Presence pool has a ST and a PBAoE fear (and you can throw the %Disorient proc into Provoke) If you take the Mu Mastery Patron, you can add %Stun to all of the attacks, IIRC. My Crabbermind is only using options 1 (2x KD), 2 and (when I bother) 4. Yes the Spiderlings sometimes get in over their head, but a couple minutes later I get them all back. These aren't even the only offensive options, as the Melee attacks (Crab or Pet) can also be slotted with KD, Disorient, etc. It's not that hard to boost defenses/resists of the pets once you've unlocked incarnate content (which is probably when you will be facing the situations that kill your pets quickly, sure it happens at lower levels but how godly do you expect your Spiderlings to be at level 32?). I don't know if I've beaten the horse to death yet, but I think the Soldiers have bigger problems (sloooow Bane attacks) that could be addressed within only this AT without overstepping into a primary feature of other classes (Masterminds, plus Controllers, Dominators, Defenders, etc.)

No strong agreement or disagreement from me on the above point, but I wanted to mention that in the character AT chooser, the Arachnos Soldiers are the lowest rated of the "pet" Archetypes. I wouldn't want them to necessarily get advantages over the other pet ATs. My experience with the other ATs: Masterminds: Obviously the 'gold standard'. It should be obvious that the Arachnos Soldiers get greatly improved damage scaling relative to MMs (not sure about the pet's scaling) so bringing Crab pets up to the level of MMs (via control options) seems unbalancing. The Crab pets are obviously meant to fulfill a different role than MM pets; trying to make them more like MM pets seems to miss the point. Controllers: I have less experience with controller (and Defender) pets (Singularity, Fluffy), but I think the Dominator experience scales... Dominators: I've found the Dominator pets, even without MM control mechanisms, to generally be strong... but I think that is almost entirely due to controls being brought by the Dominator (or Controller). These AT are squishy, so the pets taking aggro/damage is a natural part of the utility. Crabs generally don't need the pets to take the aggro, and as was mentioned above Crabs lack an easy way to grab aggro. (*1 see note below) I am a fan of bringing Control to a fight, but the Soldier VEATs are not a class for which I find this style of play productive. I've run various toons with Lore and Temporary power pets, but so have others. I don't think I have any special insights to share... but I bet if we took a poll, folks would want them to recharge faster and to also be subject to MM controls! ----- I built my Crab specifically to be a Crabbermind, but it only recently occurred to me (thank you, this thread) that I could easily reconfigure the power selections to beef up his own offensive potential without the pets. I already play all my VEATs as multi-builds so using the (third, in this case) to try out a non-pet variant of the Crab appeals to me. (What's another 300 million Infamy for except to be spent on IOs?) For reference. My Crab's (three) pet slotting is simple: each gets 4 slots of Expedient Reinforcement emphasizing Recharge; one (the T3 patron) gets the Resist Aura. The T1 (Spiderlings) also get the Overwhelming Force (+Damage, %KD) and Soulbound Allegiance (%Build Up) procs for slots 5 and 6. The T2 (Disruptors) get a 5th slot for the Edict of the Master Defense Aura. As you may have gleaned from my responses in this thread, I'm not super committed to keeping my little soldiers alive. I do find that this slotting (along with the VEAT's ally-boosting powers) is all I need to get the performance I want from them. I can understand if folks are investing more slots into them that they expect bigger returns; my mileage varies. ----- *1 (note on aggro) Let's not speak of Omega Maneuver. Of course Crabs have their AoE attacks, and there is Provoke (as a T1 power pool pick). AoE (Crab) attacks as a means of getting aggro are literally hit-or-miss. I am a huge fan of the Presence pool for many ATs, but the Crab is one that (aside from Provoke) don't benefit from the controls (Intimidate, invoke Panic), and can't really use Pacify (because of the pets & AoE focus) and don't need Unrelenting (because of Serum, unless they want to double up). It's been my experience with many builds (but especially VEATs) that all four non-patron power pool choices are already spoken for... taking Provoke but having to give up a Defensive power mule may strike many as counter-productive. One thing I've written that I'd like to see in the (Homecoming) game are some new PVP (or Purple) IO sets for powers like Fear or Taunt... but I think that many different builds could benefit from a new damage set which has a 6th piece proc specifically for % Taunt, just like we have damage set procs that knockdown/immobilize/hold/disorient (assuming code is possible). It would be a hard choice for many characters to sacrifice a -Res or %Damage proc from an AoE, but in the specific case of a Crabbermind trying to keep pets alive (from single-target attacks anyway) I think I'd be tempted make the switch. EDIT: It suddenly occurs to me that one of the Spiderlings' purposes may actually be to take aggro from the Disruptors (and Patron) pets. One more reason to love the little scamps!

"Sorry bud, ya gotta call 'Nork the Stork' for all returns!"

A couple of (perhaps unremarkable) observations: Team play is different than solo play. Without true MM controls or Supremacy, a Crabbermind isn't going to be able to match a Mastermind in terms of team play w/ pets. If you expect the recharge to be like Dominator or Controller pets I can see how you can be disappointed, but I don't expect Crabs to be exactly where Masterminds (or Dominators, or Controllers) to be with the pet situation . I appreciate the damage (and control, with the right slotting) the pets add but I don't think they are meant to be 'perma' additions to Crab firepower given that they are in secondary power sets and aren't even available until lvl 35 (Spiderlings) and 38 (Disruptors)... and if you take them at that level, I think the earliest you can choose a Patron pet is level 47. This is very different (in several ways) than the situtation with other pet spawning ATs. The pets aren't going to easily survive +4 content. The Spiderlings IIRC only have two attacks (one melee, one range) so again, without MM controls they will do what they want. IIRC a Crab's Tactics will improve their perception as well, so if you are in the thick of it, they will be all over the place. You can buff them quite a bit (including with Incarnate powers), but they won't stay close, especially if you run at x8. I run even level x8, and I usually lose a few Spiderlings and all but one Disruptor/Patron before the recharge is up. My Mastermind has much more control but even he has to respawn pets on roughly the same cycle... the difference is that my Crab can take out those enemies by himself whereas the MM can barely do that.

With investment, it is possible to get the pet summons under 3 minutes. My only complaint about the summon is that IIRC any pets summoned (as a replacement for a fallen Spiderling) will expire with the original remaining pets.