tidge

I believe what you are observing is the in-zone version of someone running Aaron Thiery's arc in AP. While his arc is being run, the Hellions are replaced by Arachnos and their Pylons appear. BTW, this is a good low-level arc to be re-run in Ouroboros is people are looking for Doorbuster badges, or if you simply want to run against the street Hellions in Perez Park while exemplared. My first Homecoming toon ran this mission quite a bit to accumulate inf and drops; those became the basis of all later wealth for all my toons.

I don't know if this is the 'best', but I will minimally use: Health: Panacea +HP/+End Stamina: Performance Shifter +End If I have a healing power, I will usually multi-slot Preventative Medicine (including Chance for +Absorb) Of the other Recovery or Regeneration procs: I will at most consider Numina: +Regen/+Recovery. The Miracle proc simply doesn't offer enough and I don't think it is any build. I can almost always use that slot elsewhere for a minor Endurance bonus (End cost discount, Recovery, or +End) or I could just multi-slot Stamina for set bonuses, or simply slot another power with Endurance discount. Like others, I am superstitious about the Endurance bar in a way I am not about my Health bar. Both exist to be used, and for almost all builds I would rather have the chance for additive Health/Endurance rather than a minor amount of extra Regeneration/Recovery.

There go the debt badges....

I appreciate the incarnate system as is, because it gives just about every toon the tools necessary to run XTREME CONTENT. I rather enjoy running 50 (and 50+) content at x8 for merits, drops, catharsis, etc. Judgement and Lore really help out the DPS issues with several builds. Lately I've been playing with different Incarnate choices just for kicks. One of the new (to me) choices has been alpha: vigor and destiny: rebirth... Along with pets (lore or otherwise) the healing badges have been rolling in. I encourage folks to step out of their comfort zone in the incarnate space.

Duplicate post

There are circumstances when attuning PVPs is reasonable. For example, an attuned PVP can be slotted as low as lvl 10 (they will work to lvl 7, but for some reason I feel like some IOs can't be slotted until lvl 10) and will scale with the character. A lower (than 50+) level PVP will max out at it's level. Almost one year into Homecoming and I've recycled quite a few attuned PVP sets while levelling up. There aren't many PVP sets that stay in my lvl 50 builds, which contributes to the recycling. The purple (Superior) sets can't be slotted until lvl 50. I've never tried to attune one and unslot it to see if a lower level toon could use one, but I suspect it wouldn't be slottable. In any case, unless a toon is PLed to 50 and has a big bankroll there shouldn't even be a temptation to attune Purple IOs.

I'm reminded of the threads in which some players express disgust about using the AH at all. Some folks are just going to do what they want.

You literally wrote three sentences, all of which were quoted. Your second sentence is a restatement of the fix. The third sentence implies that players (by ignorance or choice) are falling into traps (again, possibly by choice) that you don't want them to fall into. I'm not assuming that you are the type of player who thinks other players are making mistakes with their power choices, attack chains, or slotting choices and want them to do better... however those could also be seen as "traps" for the uninitiated which require explicit guardrails to avoid. The OP solution should have been to give the SGmate several million Inf, because that is what would have eased the mind of the offended party.

There is a bit of an Eden story arc, but it is redside and it is entirely instanced. It is given by the Mad Doctor (Verner von?) In the Grandville citadel. I do like this idea, primarily because I crave an in-game explanation for the different groups fighting each other in zones like Boomtown and Eden.

Purples (the lvl 50 Superiors) do not need to be attuned.

I feel like you are offended that there are different ways to play the game and spend the in-game rewards. Kudos to those folks who help explain things to others. We aren't stingy with advice. This seems like a solution in search of a problem. Not everyone does things in a way that others think is efficient.

I don't grok the problem as described nor does the proposed solution appear to address the problem. As near as I can tell the problem is that a player used merits to convert to recipes, but an SGmate felt she should have just used Inf instead? And that making Inf via the AH (where the recipes and IOs are for sale) was too complicated so the proposal is to send the SGmate to a vendor to get Inf to use in the AH instead? Why didn't you just give the SGmate 24M Inf and direct her to the forums? I've given away at least as much to PUGmates who don't have Team Transport. I suppose I'm bad because I don't check up on them if they spent the Inf wisely or not!

I love Mu on my Fortunata, she uses all three DPS attacks to cut through large groups of enemies. On my Crab, I'm sticking with Mace for now. I'm using a total of 16 slots on the Immob, Shatter Armor, and the pet. The pet was the main driver, but I also need a strong single-target attack and Shatter Armor meets that need. The other motivator for my build is that those three powers allow me to slot for extra Global Recharge. I very rarely need the Immob, but the SG base has all the Purple pieces just taking up space...

I have turned this behavior into a game: see how far on a map an enemy will run. The Knives of Vengeance in the Heather Townshend arc in particular are good examples of enemies who will go to extreme distances to escape my toons. Specific to that arc: in the second mission the villains spawn just beyond a narrow doorway which is their preferred escape route. I now try to block the doorway and it is hilarious to see them trying to squeeze past.

In case it hasn't been mentioned: the protection from Endurance Drain buff can be built at a SG base with salvage.

I agree that I don't like having to take four powers from Presence to get the two I *really* want. For several of my toons it's because I want to 5-slot Invoke Panic and 6-slot Unrelenting. I find the PBAoE fear is a great control for defense-based characters that are going to be in the middle of a group of baddies. The single-target is less useful, although I did use it against (Elite) Bosses while leveling up to keep them out of fights. Pacify/Provoke serve different needs. While leveling solo, Pacify can buy precious time against big bads that are wearing you down. At the end-game, characters don't wear down as much (usually End costs are under control in attacks) and so if you have a toon that can take the heat, an AoE Taunt can help when teaming. I usually respec into Provoke once my toons can handle the heat. I find the choice of Pacify/Provoke to be an interesting one. If I had to pick a power from the Presence pool to skip (and I didn't have to take both Pacify and Provoke) it would be the single-target fear. That one feels too much like a T1 power to me. Now if only the Fear powers had a Purple (or PVP) set...

You must visit the vendor in Echo: Mercy Island to convert /threads to /jrangers.

Maybe those powers don't fit the character concept?

Perhaps you weren't clear, but to get the PBAoE fear, you don't need to take both the taunt and placate, you can choose the single-target fear as your second power. My complaint about the Presence pool is that both the PBAoE fear and Unrelenting are very good powers, and to get them both it is 4 picks into the pool.

I want to make a separate post about the aesthetics of red v. blue, without specifically quoting or comment any of the posts so far in this thread. B1) Blue side had IMO one thematic advantage in its original design (prior to quicky teleport options) in that the for the most part the zones are laid out per the original map/poster that came with the game and that you literally can walk/sprint/fly from one zone to a neighboring zone. I remain non-plussed that the one area of the Rogue Isles where you could potentially do that (Port Oakes and CapAu Diable) you cannot. I understand it is a compromise between War Walls and water. Blue side has two other items which could be seen as advantages or disadvantages, depending on you PoV and personal PC situation. B2) Blue side offers both Hazard zones and PvP zones. Personally: the only Hazard zone I actually enjoy playing in is Perez Park (for teh memories) but even there I hate the maze. I'm glad that Perez Park was never remade per the dev plans. Boomtown is dull, even with the potential event. I've been on Numina TFs where people didn't even know there was a Terra Volta zone. Being sent on a mission to a Hazard Zone feels like a punishment. B3) Blue side geometry is for the most part simple and boring. This is a potential advantage for players with lower end graphics systems (from 10+ years ago!) because the more complicated red side geometry used to include (not sure if it still does) drawing many things that are invisible to the players. I'm referring to skyscrapers that extend deep into the ground: Port Oakes used to be the number one culprit here. I actually prefer the Red Side zone design. Here is why: R1) The zones are all uniformly scaled appropriately to get to where you want to go, with the only possible exception being parts of Nerva. Blue side has some freaking huge zones with many areas that are flat out time consuming to get to: Talos Island, Independence Port and Boomtown are the zones which often have missions in extremely out-of-the-way places. R2) In terms of enemy presence: the villain zones feel more organic about which enemies exist in which parts of the zones. Running through the streets of Paragon City just feels like 'this is where the lvl 10-15 enemies are, up north is where the lvl 15-20 enemies are'. The only blue side zones that avoid this IMO are Croatoa and Striga. On the red side every villain group has a specific reason (or two!) for being where they are located. R3) With the noticeable exception of Grandville, the villain zones are straightforward to get around in. I actually miss the original Mercy Island, and while I recognize that the current design offers vertical challenges.. I've never had a problem getting between missions without a travel power. Paragon City offers plenty of trouble. I already mentioned the mazes of Perez Park. Faultine (even redesigned) and Terra Volta are not picnics for non-fliers (especially when the villain groups are in the air). Skyway City is as much a challenge for the uninitiated non-flier as Mercy Island. Woe to the grounded speedster who takes the wrong route in Steel Canyon or Boomtown! R4) The choices of map design are a big part of the narrative. Sharkhead Isle's unique areas all serve (many) different stories. The same with Cap Au Diable and St. Martial. The other zones also have these tie-ins, but most of my toons quickly outlevel much of the content! The closest we get to tying arcs and zone layout together on the Blue Side is Striga, and even that is just a fixed series of sequential arcs along with an unrelated TF and a concluding TF. Blue side there is the Atlas accolade, and I challenge anyone to explain how all the elements of *that* story make sense in terms of the narrative layout of the zones you need to hit to get the accolade.

Be sure to play TIP missions to reinforce your villainy (or not, your choice)...these missions offer more 'narrative agency' and they are generally more fun.

The P2W offers 'free' IOs that can be slotted at level 1; I usually grab those to drop into attack powers in the early levels. At level 10, I will drop an attuned Panacea proc into health. The little extra oomph always helps, so I try to add it ASAP. Similarly: the Performance Shifter proc +End is ready for Stamina at level 17/20. I never skip on a travel power, and whatever power (usually Fly or Mystic Flight) is usually chosen at or before level 10. On most toons, that power gets a Universal Travel Blessing of the Zephyr: Knockback Protection (+4) ASAP. The enemies with KB/KD as controls (hard or soft) start showing up at this level and they never really go away. Now about sets: My SG base has a significant number of Overwhelming Force and PVP IOs (a mix of Attuned and 50+) in storage so the attuned ones start filling out attack powers at level 10 (I honestly can't recall if you can slot these before 10, but they work down to lvl 7), even if they aren't part of the end-game build. There are some assorted attuned leftovers from other sets as well. Respecs are easy to come by, so that's how these are recycled. At level 22, attuned Luck of the Gambler Global Recharge will be slotted in the powers that take it (most toons want Global Recharge). Again, the SG base has these at the ready from converter roulette but they are also on the market. I will pay attention to certain set bonuses that I want and try to plan out the slot placement when leveling up. For example, there are a couple of defense and healing sets which give desirable (to me) bonuses at 6-slots. While leveling up, attack powers may stay at 4-slots so that I can get the full set bonuses from the healing/defense/fear powers as IMO many of the 'optimal' (for me) attack set bonuses are for higher level IOs and can wait for slots & respecs at 40+.

I'm running a toon through redside right now, I think this is the third (of about 7 toons with serious play time) on Homecoming to do so. I read a lot about the 'lack of agency of being a villain' reside being an issue for some players, but I am not sensitive to it... or it feels pretty much like the heroside. There are quite a lot of villain arcs and missions (especially the tip missions) which are quite villainous IMO. Once the villains start doing missions in Grandville, those feel perfectly fine for me... maybe because that's when you can really start beating down big name heroes from Paragon. Aside from the general lack of villain teammates, the primary issue I have redside is the need to unlock many contacts via newspaper missions. Contacts will eventually recommend someone else, but the choices are generally much more limited than on blueside. Heroes often get multiple choices whereas I feel like my villains keep getting the same contacts. Ouroborous here I come for the missed arcs! There is a subtle advantage to redside missions: There are a handful of important badges (e.g. Shady) which can be gotten much earlier in a career for redside than blueside. In the case of Shady, I've always gotten in in one of the mid-level VEAT missions. I mention this because... Eventually, all my villains will go blue/rogue to participate in the TFs (and get exploration badges) which make accolades easier. The Valentine's day events also forced some alignment changes to (mis)deliver Valentine's day messages.

My first toon one Homecoming had to expend some effort to make his first million, but that was without using the AH at all. Then I recognized AH as both the source of things to buy as well as a place to sell things I don't want or need and I've never looked back. I can barely consider myself a serious marketeer, yet the billions of Inf on hand almost entirely came from the AH, just like almost all of the IOs I slot. If I was waiting for Purple drops there might only be a few toons kitted with them, and only then because merits can also buy recipes.

You can take your revenge on Blue Steel in the Dark Astoria arc from Max.