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Here is a hopefully helpful hint: If there a significant number of bids on the item but it has sold less than 5 copies on today's date with dozens of bids, there are almost certainly 'lowball' bids. That doesn't mean that there won't be more favorable (to seller) bids. I have some toons with outstanding IO bids far below the 'buy it now' price, but well above what the crafting cost would be at max level that remain unfulfilled. In some sense, those are lowball bids... but if I see that those IOs aren't selling in 24 hours, I have a sense that the posted prices are also probably too high. Also, look at how many of the item are for sale. I'm always surprised when I drop an IO in the AH and see 2000+ already for sale, and the last 5 sale prices are 2M or less. I suppose this could be the AH database issue, but more likely is that players honestly think (or thought when they listed) that the value of certain IOs is more than the market does.

For players, I recommend recoloring your primary/secondary as appropriate and updating your I.D. to explain your powers. As a 'victim' (or is it supposed to be 'beneficiary'?) of streakbreaker, I don't want to see any more 'luck' powers in the game. Seriously, how is it possible that every 20th of my 95% ToHit attacks is courtesy of streakbreaker? Where is the top-tier RNG love when it comes to Purple drops?

I have a both a Crab and a Bane (same character, using first two build slots). I like the Crab just fine, as using the backpack attacks comes across as a very fluid attack chain. I am less impressed with the Bane, as the Mace attacks are extremely slow, and switching between the rifle and the mace isn't what I want to do. Other can put up the numbers (they've been in the Archetype subforum), the activation and redraw times are painful. I was able to make the Bane incredible Defensive and Resistant, but with the slow attacks it feels much worse than any Tank. I suppose I should use the third build slot for more of Hunstman and give it a whirl... except that I'd like to *not* have the backpack.

On the surface, this is a wonderful suggestion. Unfortunately it would almost certainly have the side-effect of bypassing cooldown timers on powers which would be abusive.

I also participated in the Kickstarter, but I've yet to be impressed by anything I've seen. Honestly at this point I'm more interested in the development narrative (project management and software development) than I am interested in the game.

Go to Grandville last. It may be possible that you could hit level 2(*) by accumulating XP from the exploration badges. (*) assuming that you skipped the exploration badge and necessary missions in "Breakout".

Not good advice, and it doesn't particularly address the potential issue that the player may want to 'buy attuned IO sets' while in their SG base. The OP's request is a very natural one and it is unfortunate that this simple request can't be met because of technical limitations. It is also possible that some players are using the AH for storage. More inf can be made by crafting and converting dropped recipes (especially those below lvl 50) than by simply 'liquidating merits'. You certainly can just buy ingredients on the AH, but using some storage racks (and a vault, and a free crafting workstation) in a SG base to accumulate them is perfectly natural and viable thing to do. Writing only for myself: I find that my Purple/PVP recipe drops tend to go in cycles about which rare ingredients are needed; 2 racks for rares is all I need to keep the supply chain going. My SG base also has the racks for common/uncommon salvage just to make life easier. As described, my SG storage tables are storing some hand-me-down attuned sets, but for the most part they hold crafted Purple or PVP IOs. Inf isn't an issue for my toons, but it is so much nicer to have the pieces I want for lvl 50 builds just waiting for them.

Very unlikely to happen. The bases are 'instanced' just like door missions (and public zones); I seem to recall there was an explanation of how using the /AH has to be constructed for each instanced map it is used in, and that there simply aren't the resources to do this for every map. I'm not sure why AH doesn't work in the PVP zones,

I took a Dark Blast/Temporal Manipulation to 50. I was charmed by the power displays and animations! It is relatively weak on defenses, but was explicitly trying to build a toon with a different play style than most of my other ATs. I tried for plenty of Global Recharge, with the nice side effect that Chronos is an auto, providing a Build Up (via Gaussian's proc) every trigger. Slotting Chronos this way allowed me to delay picking Aim. Visible drawbacks: The %Toxic procs in Gloom, Arcane Bolt, and Moonbeam feel to be somewhat wasted slots, given the Recharge of the powers. The only other place I can think to recycle those slots would be to 6-slot Time Stop (w/ Gladiator's Net) instead of the 4-slot Basilisk's Gaze... or maybe a 2-Slot Aim with Adjusting Targeting (for 2% Damage buff?) The choice of Pool attacks (Arcane Bolt, Repulsion Bomb) was made to bring some variety to the damage types. Force Mastery is definitely not a top choice, but my concept of the character didn't lend itself to other pools. Repulsion Bomb is slow (on top of an already slow set), but I saw it as some more AoE (w/ Knockdown, Disorient and % -Res). I tried Time Shift while leveling, but I found it to be uneven. The build has more Recharge than I *really* need. Hasten is Perma (even without Chronos) but with Chronos on Auto, I need the extra time to remember to click Hasten. I'm not sure the "w" binds that keep cexecuting Hasten to are right for me. I dislike skipping both the T6 and T7 primaries, but I'm not sure if I'm missing much. I don't really want two single-target holds, and the short range of the Tentacles doesn't seem like so much fun, compared to Umbral Torrent's ability to seemingly knockdown enemies up to two rooms away! Here is what the build looks like at lvl 50. The leveling-up build was nearly identical to the final build, with the differences being using PVP and Overwhelming Force IOs in place of the Purples. Hero Plan by Hero Hero Designer 2.23 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Dark / Time: Level 50 Magic Blaster Primary Power Set: Dark Blast Secondary Power Set: Temporal Manipulation Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Force Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Gloom (A) Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage (3) Defiant Barrage - Damage/RechargeTime (3) Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (5) Defiant Barrage - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (5) Defiant Barrage - RechargeTime/+Status (40) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic) Level 1: Time Wall (A) Impeded Swiftness - Chance of Damage(Smashing) Level 2: Umbral Torrent (A) Ragnarok - Damage (37) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge (46) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (48) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge (48) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance (46) Overwhelming Force - Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown Level 4: Mystic Flight (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points) Level 6: Time Stop (A) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Hold (7) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Recharge (7) Basilisk's Gaze - Endurance/Recharge/Hold (9) Basilisk's Gaze - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold Level 8: Moonbeam (A) Sting of the Manticore - Accuracy/Damage (9) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance (11) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Interrupt/Recharge (13) Sting of the Manticore - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (13) Sting of the Manticore - Chance of Damage(Toxic) (39) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic) Level 10: Chronos (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff (11) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge (15) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance (43) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance (43) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance (45) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up Level 12: Arcane Bolt (A) Apocalypse - Damage (15) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge (40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (40) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance (42) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative) (43) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic) Level 14: Kick (A) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 16: End of Time (A) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage (17) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Damage/Recharge (17) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (19) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (19) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (27) Superior Blaster's Wrath - Recharge/Chance for Fire Damage Level 18: Tough (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (42) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance Level 20: Temporal Healing (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal (21) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance (21) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime (23) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime (23) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (25) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb Level 22: Weave (A) Reactive Defenses - Defense (25) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance (27) Reactive Defenses - Endurance/RechargeTime (34) Reactive Defenses - Defense/RechargeTime (36) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance/RechargeTime (36) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Level 24: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (45) Recharge Reduction IO Level 26: Life Drain (A) Gladiator's Javelin - Accuracy/Damage (29) Gladiator's Javelin - Damage/Recharge (29) Gladiator's Javelin - Accuracy/Damage/End/Rech (31) Gladiator's Javelin - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (31) Gladiator's Javelin - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (31) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic) Level 28: Future Pain (A) Hecatomb - Damage (37) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge (37) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (39) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance (39) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative) Level 30: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 32: Blackstar (A) Armageddon - Damage (33) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (33) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (33) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (34) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (34) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage Level 35: Personal Force Field (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (36) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 38: Time Lord (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) Level 41: Rune of Protection (A) Recharge Reduction IO (42) Recharge Reduction IO Level 44: Repulsion Bomb (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage (45) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance (48) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge (50) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range (50) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy) (50) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff Level 47: Aim (A) Recharge Reduction IO Level 49: Temp Invulnerability (A) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Defiance Level 1: Prestige Power Dash Data link:

If I'm not giving Inf to PUGmates who lack mission teleport powers, I'm equipping alts (either new characters, or 2nd/3rd builds) with (often) 'pricey' (**) IOs to try out new concepts. Many times my concepts are somewhat far from maximum efficiency, but with the right sets they become quite enjoyable. These days: my market efforts barely qualify as such. The SG base has tables of the commonly used IOs, as well as a generous supply of catalysts, PVP and Purple pieces. When I'm starting a new concept, one of the alts will fund/buy/convert the ATO (and rarely Winter) pieces I want for the new toon and then drop 200M inf to the toon to use as it levels up. By the time that new toon has hit 50, it will have plenty of Inf to support the next one in the cycle. I've found that 200M has been enough 'seed money' to buy the desired P2W powers and also be immune to concerns about auxiliary costs like the AH listing costs, crafting fees, costume updates. It is certainly possible to start with much less and AH yourself to much more, although the increase in uncommon salvage prices (by 10x) has slowed down efforts on new toons to craft their way to wealth. (**) 'Pricey' is a relative term. Converters (as well as Auction House attuning/pooling, merit/recipe/salvage drops, etc.) have made it very easy to acquire pieces which were far out-of-reach on Live.

I'll chime in on this point: Once you get to level 47+ you should only go with 2 slots in Hasten, each with a lvl 50 IO Recharge, boosted. I believe you only have to boost each of them to 50+4 to get as much self-slotted recharge in Hasten as mathematically possible (barring planning for Slow/-Recharge effects, I suppose) given Enhancement Diversification. I have two approaches to (perma) Hasten. I either go for it, or I don't. 😛 Given the ATs I play, it is actually somewhat rare that I build for perma-Hasten. Dominators are the AT that have benefited the most (for perma-Dom), with a Crabbermind (for spawning pets and attacks) the next AT that benefit from perma-Hasten. Any toon that spams a lot of attacks certainly can appreciate more (global) Recharge. If I'm close to Perma-Hasten, I will try to get past the point of Perma just to avoid the Endurance crash...assuming that the build can re-trigger Hasten before the crash. Mileage varies of course.

I'll add my perspective. I generally use the mouse to select powers other than my primary attack chain. I occasionally find myself dragging powers unexpectedly or 'upvoting' a tray because I hit the selector arrow. I avoid 'locking the trays' for the following reasons: I intentionally 'upvote/downvote' trays because I keep specific powers in certain trays, These are powers that I only seldomly use such as Rest, or Summons (portable workbench, temporary Pets). I intentionally drag certain powers depending on circumstances. The most-dragged power in my builds is P2W Envenomed Daggers. There are a few classes of enemies who need that power spammed in order to counter their +Regen, and I want that power as part of my attack chain in those limited circumstances. Other P2W powers that fall into a 'backup' tray include the Prestige attacks (useful at low levels or during extreme -Recharge circumstances, but otherwise unloved for builds which don't need them) I play Kheldians, and I explicitly rely on tray swapping macros for multi-form builds. My default setup is to have four trays. The first three are generally: Row 3: Defenses / Resists / Travel Row 2: Controls / Specials / (Sprint/Ninja Run) Row 1: Attacks (and Incarnate clicks) One extra tray is used for the quicky travel options (Teleport to mission, Assemble the Team, Ouro, Base Jumping), Reveal, and P2W Self/Ally buffs. Masterminds use the 4th visible tray for the pet command macros, and have another dedicated 'standby' tray for click versions of the summons and buffs (when I forget the binds).

Imma no. All about me: It is rare that I find myself looking for a 6th (Power + Epic/Patron) Pool choice. The only circumstances I can think of when I seriously felt frustrated would have been Mastermind builds in which I feel like skipping the Primary attacks and am tempted to dip into (even more) Power pools for (even more) play variety. There have been times of less serious frustration when I felt like I wanted "just a little more" Global Recharge/Positional Defense and longingly eyed one or more powers to mule IOs. I simply adapted my builds to live without the "moar betta" and had fun playing the character AT I chose. The Homecoming team has opened up a large variety of temp powers via P2W, including boosts (including defense), travel (including Assemble the Team, 2 teleport to mission, jumping, flight, running) as well as a variety of attacks. It is possible to craft temporary bonuses (including Recharge, Recovery and Resists) using salvage. Playing the game gets temporary powers as well. The Incarnate system allows 6 extra bonuses/powers, including an AoE attack and Pets. Life is full of choices, I believe the Homecoming environment has given us plenty... even without considering the 1000 alternate character slots per account.

I just checked Support Total Core Hybrid and it adds 8.00% Defense to everything except Ranged & Psionic (as advertised). It is also boosting Damage and Accuracy. My build is really tight with both slots and powers, but I am tempted to respec out of my lvl 49 power (Invisibility, with a LotG +Recharge mule) for pool Tactics to boost the ToHit of the pets by another 13%. I like having Invisibility on demand, but aside from some occasional sneaking I'm not convinced it is getting me much.

I don't have to do any more testing, as I ran Crimson's arc(s) and got the Monkeywrencher from all the Herc's that combined for me!

I don't think there is anything wrong with the Hercules -> Zeus. As near as I can tell, the following have to happen for them to combine: Both Hercules must be in the same spawn group. I think this requires a x3 setting, not sure. You can't drag one Herc to another and get them to combine. The Hercs AI has to be at the correct part of the algorithm. Hercs will always open with their long-range missiles. Don't kill them too fast. If they aren't close (because one is running away, or trying to run towards players) there will not be a merger. At least one Herc must have 'significant' damage. Unverified: I believe the second Herc must have some damage (i.e. not 100% Health). I was trying to see if I could trigger a merging this past weekend (using snipes, and single-target attacks) but I was being sloppy. I saw at least one merger where the second Herc had miniscule damage. I'm happy with the badge system. I enjoy the badges that just sort of crop up during play, such as healing, dealing damage, etc. I think the exploration badges are fine, with the only caveat being those that require Echos/Ouroboros to collect seem odd. There are a few villain groups/types which don't have 'defeat X' badges, but seem like they should (Hydra). My biggest complaint about the badge system involves the badges with misleading (or missing) text describing how to get the badges. The "Defeat 100 Circle of Thorn bosses" is the one that comes to mind.

I always slot the Soulbound Alliegence Build Up Purple proc in pet powers which spawn 3 pets (the lowest tier). Each of the pets will trigger the proc, and (as it triggers) it helps them hit the higher level mobs more reliably. Obviously for VEAT this advice only applies to Crabs. For my Fortunata / Widow I don't bother with the Patron pet. Those toons move so fast (and are self-defense capped) that the Pet has trouble keeping up. My Bane has the T2 pets, but despite all my build efforts (including Provoke, and AoE) without true MM commands it is extremely difficult to get the pets to focus fire where needed (and thus allow me to keep aggro). My Crab went Mace Mastery for a full suite of Arachnobots. The Patrol Arachnobot Blaster is somewhat better behaved (i.e. stays close to me) and thus stays alive for the entire 3 minutes. I should note that my Crab has perma-hasten and I have timed the recharge of the T2 and T3 Arachnobots to expire shortly before 3 minutes is up. This allows me to monitor how much life I still have on them. The T1 recharge much faster than that. Final thoughts: Ultimately you need to decide what the pet is going to do for you. If you run x1 or x2 content the pet(s) will be focusing fire, so you can run higher (+N) missions. If you are running x8 content, the VEAT pets will essentially be grabbing aggro that you would otherwise have focused on you. Respecs are easy to get, so I encourage you to try different approaches.

I am really curious: what Purple IO recipe were you trying to list? 50 million strikes me as being far too much for any Purple recipe.

According to your sense of morality: What is the correct price to bid?

I have a great appreciation for the Presence pool, even though only three (different) powers from the pool will be useful for most of my toons. My complaint is that in order to get both the final two powers it is necessary to pick up two other powers. If my toons can take aggro, the AoE Provoke is better than some primary/secondary taunts. Alternatively the Pacify works wonders in tough 1-on-1 fights when toons that aren't so tough need a breather. The PBAoE Invoke Panic is a great control for toons in the middle of large groups. Unrelenting is crazy good, especially for characters with high +Recharge. The sad choice is the single-target Intimidate... it isn't terrible when leveling up, but by end game (like many single target immobs) it is generally a waste of slots (and clicks). In addition to the drawback of having to pick 2 of Pacify/Provoke/Intimidate in order to get Invoke Panic and/or Unrelenting, none of the first three power choices offer good IO mules or even particularly great set choices. The lack of good IO choices for the first three powers is one of the reasons I wish we could get a PVP or Purple IO sets for Taunt and Fear which include some sort of proc other than "% Damage". I will say that 5-slotting the Fear sets isn't bad, but the real gem is 6-slotting Preventive Maintenance is Unrelenting. Zepp's suggestion (allowing the 4th pick with only 1 previous power, and the 5th pick with only 2 previous powers) is music to my ears.

My thoughts about Pool powers vary depending on the character I am designing. Often, I am looking for a supplemental power that fits the need or concept. Occasionally I am looking for an extra attack. Many times I'm simply looking for powers to act as mules for IOs. I can't decide what I want (in general) from the pools, but I know what I like when I see it. The only coherent thought I can muster is this: I like that the Pools (including Epic and Patron) offer a 'taste' of other AT power choices to builds that would otherwise (for most characters) not get that taste. A bonus incoherent thought: The biggest outlier (right now) for the power pools is IMO Teleportation. Long Range Teleport had become worthless *before* instant access to SG bases, and Team Teleport would probably more disliked than Group Fly (if possible)... if I ever saw anyone use it. What really makes it an outlier IMO is that the sole PvE power of Teleport Foe is so... (at best, depending on the situation) blah. It has a relatively long animation time (with a To Hit check) with no extra effect whatsoever.

As I wrote, it seems more likely that farming habits have changed. But is there a better point? We have seen the price of yellow salvage going up by a factor of 10x (or more). Salvage is one of the few areas where you can neither make the exact one you want or easily convert into one you want. (I suppose some folks are sitting on loads of Brainstorm Ideas?)

Perhaps ironic, perhaps not... but I didn't opt to take the AoE hold on my Fire Dom until the lvl 50 respec. I agree with the logic presented above, but when I'm running my Dominator through the early Dark Astoria arcs, I will throw out Cinders to shutdown the army of healing Tsoo Sorcerers at the points in my attack chain when I can't out-damage them.

I agree. The ONLY time I missed having actual resistance is when I (foolishly) try to TANK(*) an AV or a GM. My Fortunata can stand being swarmed by groups of Minions, LTs, Bosses and even a couple of Elite Bosses (because of Defense values, Scaling Resistances, and Unrelenting) but against foes with BIG HARD HITS (ehem, Lord Recluse in Ms. Liberty TF) she'll fold. (*) IMO Tanking also includes grabbing and keeping aggro. With the Presence pool and AoE controls my Fortunata can grab a lot of initial aggro, and can rescue a few other squishies that are focusing fire, but I would never consider that Tanking.

If I were trying to understand ebil, while wearing a tin-foil hat: If I remove the tin-foil hat (never ascribe to ebil, that which is adequately explained by farming):