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It never occurred to me that there would be any Ouroboros arcs that don't give merits! Perhaps the odd badge missions don't? If you are explicitly trying a 24-hour challenge specificaly to raise Inf on a brand new lvl 1, running Ouro missions may interfere with time spent in the market house. There is a balance-point between mission difficulty/length and reward for 'level-appropriate' arcs. If the toon has already achieved higher level and wants to run lower-level content I have a few suggestions for lower-level characters: Signature Story Arc (SSA) 1: Who Will Die? (Skyway or Cap Au Diable) - claims to be levels 10-20, I don't think I've every run it lower than lvl 20. The first time a toon runs any SSA mission it is worth 20 merits. Additionally, after running an SSA mission the first time, once a week any one SSA mission can be repeated to get you another 20 merits. Each side has 3 missions in the arc. Blue side requires four fights, Red side allows you to skip all fighting in the first mission, but the final mission has more required fighting. DPS toons should be able to finish in about 5 minutes, non-DPS toons (including Masterminds) should be able to finish in 10-11 minutes. Aaron Thiery (Atlas Park): You will run this one with only a few powers, but if they are well-slotted and you have the P2W prestige attacks you should have enough offense to finish this without problems. All of the missions are close to one another, but they do require 'defeats', and you must travel back to city hall to finish the arc. This is a 5 merit reward that includes a rare recipe drop at the end. There are other arcs that give more merits, but those are at a higher level and will require somewhat decent builds. The only thing a low level player really could use on the two arcs I posted would be Stealth (such as an IO in a travel power).

Evil: EbilTM:

T3s are more than enough for Incarnate content. Depending on what your AT is, you may not really be able to tell the difference between T3 and T4 Lore. The Destiny T4 is a little more noticeable than the T3 because of Duration and Range. YMMV of course. There are so many different ways to play with Incarnate content (and power choices) that I'm reluctant to offer specific advice. I will write this: There is no need to wait for Incarnate Shards (or the other Incarnate salvage that drops from specific TFs or from Vanguard conversions) to slot up your Alpha, as it can also use the Threads and other drops. I hoard the Alpha-specific stuff until I'm at a point where I can actually use them, this allows me to experiment with different Alphas.... but my first Alpha T3 is almost always from Threads and Empyrian Merits.

This may only be (mostly) a problem for level 47-50 players of privilege, but would it be possible to allow for a new Enhancement booster that adds +5 in one shot, in addition to those that increment by +1? I realize that there would have to be level checks to verify that the +5 could be applied (that is, it shouldn't work if an Enhancment has any +N boost already applied to it). I also realize that the existence of such things would at best only be saving about a minute per IO. I will add this: I have several toons into which I would sink both INF and merits to have a pure Level 50+5 build for almost all of the IOs (watching Recharge on the proc powers, naturally) if it was less time-consuming to apply the Enhancement boosts. I recognize that not every player bothers with the boosts, and that a fraction of us number-crunchers don't automatically want +5 boosts on every IO... but every so often on a new high-level build I find myself burning time slowly boosting those IOs I want to push to the limit.

The T3/T4 Alpha is what makes a character level "50+1" in all content down to level 45. The T3/T4 Lore and Destiny each add another +1 to your level, but only in Incarnate Content. These shifts can't be self-seen except on your 'Combat Attributes' page. Other players can see yours (for instance, in the Dark Astoria zone) and vice versa. If your toon doesn't have the Incarnate Level shifts, you are likely to struggle in Incarnate TFs, because you will be fighting with effectively a lower level against the mobs. This is why I don't really recommend Incarnate Trials as a source of Salvage for 'farming' Incarnate salvage, unless you are content to be a lackey. BAF can generate several Astral Merits, but to do so it needs mostly multi-level-shiffted toons. YMMV.

One positive of Group Fly: The 'caster' gets an awesome level of control with flight speed not seen in the rest of the pool. I have witnessed players who go ballistic because of Group Fly, and ultimately if a player plays in PUG and has that sort of reaction... it really should be on the player to hit Null the Gull as soon as they are aware of their 'allergy' to the power. Group Fly is a power that is very likely to be chosen at later levels, so it isn't as if PUG players are being griefed at the lowest levels. The most commonly witnessed use of Group Fly is with pets, although I have played with a few PUG where players used it (usually in caves). It surprised me, but as I play with all the travel powers across many toons, I recognized what was happening and adapted pretty quickly. No griefing necessary. Since anti-griefing appears to be the entire motivation of the original post: The individual single-target granting of flight seems on its face to be reasonable... but that could lead to even more griefing. A better approach is to look at the behavior of the power, and not the behavior of the players.

It's not just 30 for the Very Rare, but 2x8 for each Rare as well! Keep in mind that the Incarnate trials often require that the character have "Incarnate level shifts" in order to contribute. Three of the incarnate powers (Alpha, Lore, Destiny) provide Incarnate level shifts when slotting a T3. The Alpha shift will apply outside of Incarnate content at lvl 50 (and exemplared down a little bit). The Dark Astoria arcs don't require such shifts. Planning to accept the salvage drops in the DA Arcs is a good way to get experience (for the XP levels and unlocking Incarnate levels) to build up the T3 at your pace.

I gave this mission a try and I enjoyed it (playing lvl 50+). The custom characters were very well done and I won't spoil any of them. The 'allies' will be welcomed by many players I am sure. The only issue I had was in episode 2, one of the mobs (a Lt.) ran off and was hard to find on the chosen map making it hard to finish the mission. This isn't really under your control, and it made it feel like a 'real' mission!

This has been my experience, at least with successful runs. The other towers are rarely necessary. I've been on a few MsLib TFs where someone INSISTED that we not take out the flier first? Can anyone explain why this would be a good idea, and why someone would be so adamant against it? Edit: The only thing I can think of is there is some peculiar desire to 'complete' the TF in less time, but that seems like very poor reasoning.

Is it Friday yet?

Perhaps it is no surprise to the logarithmically minded, but the influence/debt/damage badges roll in as you reach the highest level of content. The Damage-received/dealt badges depend on you build and AT, but once you are a higher level it is 'easier' to take/deal a lot of damage (and accumulate debt). If you want to accelerate these badges, increase the number of spawns in a mission. You will have to find the balance point for your particular build.

That's a great suggestion! Those three(?) trucks are a good candidate spot for a multi-AoE Blaster to attack first. In the case I mentioned, I was able to wipe out every freak except for the Bosses with just a couple of clicks and then the Bosses (and rezzed Super Stunners) stayed with me as I went to help other players. I think the trucks are a little tougher than the cars, but they are so close together that a a few AoE and a Judgement can clean those areas out.

You are purposely missing a potential way to troll the market, because we are Ebil, not Evil.

Run my Widow as a dual build, with one focusing on AoE/range and the other focusing on the melee. Generally I prefer to run with the (PB)AoE build for ease in targeting, with the only issue being that the single target ranged attacks can be slow against some targets (if they resist Psi), if it ever becomes a real problem Weaken Resolve starts to get used. The first two attacks could be swapped into the Training pool if there is a desire to mix things up. The Patron pool was chosen to have a different type of damage and more AoE. I think it is interesting to compare the different approaches to slotting between Gulbasaur and myself. I generally tried to avoid going past the point of diminishing-(ED)-returns and opted for fewer set bonuses (from Defense) but I think the builds are comparible: The builds have similar defenses with some mix/match in the resists. You can also probably imagine how this build leverages the Presence pool AoE and self-buff. The Build The code: I don't run her with either Mind Link (~15 seconds of perma) or Combat Jumping except in particularly dangerous situations. AoE is the only positional defense below the (non-Incarnate) softcap with neither power running. Weaken Resolve took a bit of a hit with the recent Tanker fixes, so I am sometime tempted to swap in Hasten or TT:Assault at lvl 47 instead. I'm reasonably certain that 2 50(+5) recharge IO in Hasten would be perma without +Recharge procs or Incarnate consideration. Hasten would be my go-to choice, as it makes Mind Link perma, brings Unstoppable down by about 30 seconds, and improves the recharge of Psychic Wail by about 10 seconds. Dropping Weaken Resolve would also allow the Sorcery pool's Mystic Flight to come into play. If a player wants to leverage some of my build ideas, I have no issues. I know that the Presence Pool isn't for everybody but I LOVE the PBAoE Invoke Panic and Unrelenting on this build. I had Total Domination at some point, but with the intent to have Unrelenting and the relatively fast kill times, the PBAoE fear was a better fit (especially for the choice of what level to have the power). Single-target Confuse at level 28 isn't actively used that often, but I LOVE those set bonuses. Even though I use Aura of Confusion more often, I kept the slots in the single-target because the Contagious Confusion Proc works better as a concept in the single-target power. If you want more raw damage, replacing Confuse with Lunge (ST) or Psionic Tornado (AoE) would be easy swaps. (forgive the formatting weirdness)

It could be even weirder if folks could use the alternate builds to do this very thing. The closest experience the game can offer the OP is AFAIK using alternate builds for VEAT. The Fortunata and Night Widow can play very differently; I've got one where each build has a different body type and costume as well. It isn't the same thing as radically changing primaries, but the Night Widow can easily be seen as 'scrappery' while the Fortunata can opt for Blappery Control options. The Spider offers some variety,, but if any of your builds take the crabpack, all of your costumes will have to display it... this is more immersion-breaking IMO. I feel like there is less real variety here, as the most varied build is the Crabbermind but that is only really an option at high levels. The Melee approach has very slow animating attacks which make it quite the slog to play.... much more boring than any other melee class IMO.

I use 2 of the Rifle attacks (and a Mace) on my Bots/Traps MM to add another source of -Res and Knockdown (plus grabaggro) to keep enemies where my Bots want them (in the fire patch). I didn't take these until after hitting level 50 and using a respec into them. The attacks aren't contributing massive direct damage, but they are damage multipliers for me. I don't think I'm playing "wrong". If was going to be judgemental I'd write that it is more 'wrong' to take an MM attack for use at low levels because the prestige attacks are available and effective at those levels. The attacks also allow for the slotting of IO sets, even if they aren't used. It's not like each of the MM pets has 12 slots to fill. Crabbermind pets scale just like MM pets: 3 Spiderlings at -2, 2 Disruptors at -1, 1 Patron pet at even level. The poor Damage scaling and the increased Endurance costs feels like a double-tax to me. I'd prefer that the endurance situation be improved, if only to allow for a more varied amount of playstyles ("right" or "wrong"). The lower levels of pets is really only an issue in Incarnate Content, or if you insist on a self-challenge (but then want a buff to the pets to help with your challenge I guess?) During Incarnate TFs I do think that the level penalty ("purple patch") for pets should be revisited.

One thing I have noticed when quickly changing characters: certain UI elements are preserved across characters. For example, if I was searching for an IO in the AH on character 1, then switch to character 2 the AH interface 'remembers' what I was looking for. There may be some similar 'memory' on the server side that is interfering with the purchase?

Sadly I didn't slot it, but I assume no.

My only complaint with the base-jumping is that I haven't figured out a way to have a combined macro that lets me... emote local tell base jump ...so that I don't break the immersion of other players. Right now: I do the first two as one macro and then base-jump with a second.

Have you investigated Popmenus? If the macros filling the trays are for commonly used 'tells', emotes, base-jumping, temp powers, it may be that creating layered menus for some things might work for you. I haven't developed any of my own, but I've used a few that others have developed.

I was on a PUG that recently got Valet from the Market Crash, and I have a word of caution: As near as I can tell, the Freaks don't start damaging vehicles until they are engaged. As this mission starts from a train station, it isn't guaranteed that everyone will get to the mission at the same time, to say nothing about the delay from different gaming rigs/connections. The first 5 of us in the zone waited patiently by the mission entrance... the tank entered 6th with no communication and didn't bother to wait for players 7 and 8 before leaping like a madman to the first group of Freaks. Luckily a couple of us had several powerful AoE (point blank and targeted) and knew where the scattered vehicles were. We were able to wipe out several groups quickly (and keep aggro from the survivors) but that was a little too rando for my taste, as five players had to scramble immediately after seeing what the tank was doing. There are too many Freaks for a single tank to hold the aggro and I don't think the tank had any idea of what was ahead.

Don't worry about trying to maximize the proc potential, because as was written they stop working (as procs) above lvl 22. I usually just drop them into the first couple of attacks as soon as I have slots. If you want to 'move' them, I assume you can just overwrite the original ones with some other drop and pick up a new one from P2W.

I have several strategies for getting attuned pieces. Prior to lvl 50, almost everything is attuned except for low level or PVP procs/globals. These methods aren't going to be helpful to most (many? any?) other players but here goes: If the piece is under 2 MInf, I just buy it attuned, assuming I don't have one in the SG base already. For more expensive IO pieces that I use in most of my builds, I save crafted versions in the SG base. When I respec a character I will en masse swap out attuned versions for level-appropriate pieces and then attune them (if necessary). This burns up catalysts (THE HORROR!) but it means having certain things available for use by other characters. This works out well for PVP sets, since they can be slotted very early in a career and then be replaced with (boosted) lvl 50s at the end of a career. You can use unslotters (cheap) and catalysts (not cheap) if you don't do it during a full respec, it's just that for me my lvl 50 concepts often use Very Rare sets and reconfigured powers so it is a convenient time to pull out attuned pieces. I have occasionally bought an attuned piece from the market first and then put the non-attuned piece on the market. This requires you to have the Inf up front, but doing it this way allows you to understand the margins involved. Here is something I didn't know could happen, but I have observed. You can boost lvl 50 PVPs, but not the procs. You can however convert a boosted PVP into a (boosted) proc!