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I wouldn't read too much into the default settings, as they always seemed to me to be a quasi random assignment of what is enabled/disabled by default. Those feel a lot like "someone wanted it that way" and we can come up with rationalizations for whatever default settings. The inverted mouse? I always use the "inverted" mode, it is my preference from other games of the original CoH generation.

I thought Spider-Man was a Crabbermind?

I'm guessing that aside from random objective placement and that first map (I feel like my solo times vary +-90 seconds due to these) the biggest effect will be how/if enemies scatter once engaged. I find the Knives of Vengeance to be the worst, both due to flight and their durability/RNG versus AoE. Even the Tsoo (with teleportation, flight and kin) don't grief me as much as those angry ladies! The second (office) map also has opportunities for them to run/hide as well as trick a player into aggroing a group that isn't required to engage with.

Why give an extra badge just for the sake of already getting other badges? This sounds like a "can I get two badges for the price of one?"... I know there ARE badges like this, but why this in this instance? AFAIK there are extra/different badges to be had by completing both original Positron, as well as Posi 1 and Posi 2, and the Sister Psyche TF and/or Penny Yin. This is ignoring the contribution of those older arcs towards Ouroboros badges upon completion. I kinda see what the idea is behind "Above and Beyond", but it feels more like that would be a more appropriate add-on for completing ALL of the blue side TFs (Hollows, Croatoa, Respecs, whatever) rather than just being tied to TF Commander. I don't think this isn't a terrible/evil suggestion, but it just feels like "one more badge please".

I can't really disagree with the above take re: the Ninjitsu T9 Kuj-In Retsu. It is one of the better armor T9s IMO, but it still occupies a similar sort of space in my own head(*1) as those older variants... by the time I *can* take this power, and fit it into a build, the build is likely to be in a really good place for 95% of the content I'm going to play. Even so, it fills a niche that I'd be considering something like Unleash Potential so I lean towards "no skip" on this one. On my own DB/Ninitsu Scrapper, I only took two power picks outside of my primary/secondary up to level 30 (Combat Teleport, and a Travel power) and Kuj-In Restu wasn't the level 30 pick, or the level 32 pick (Maneuvers), or the level 35 pick (an Epic pool pick)... so I didn't even add it to the build until level 38. With a really finely tuned set of attacks (which I suppose would allow me to skip at least one primary attack) I could have it earlier. I ended up using it as a mule for the Winter's Gift Slow Resist piece, so it isn't as if I'm even trying to have it available ASAP. (*1) The T9 armor picks are IMO generally inferior to just using inspirations... for most of the sets I think *I* would rather just have a self-rez as the T9, as those powers generally require a deep investment in a power set and I'm probably more likely to want a self-rez than an emergency clicky. Mileage varies.

Never suggest a new set and NOT include a ---/Endurance Reduction piece! (Preferably Accuracy/Endurance Reduction)

That's the one! Thanks!

Help a player out: What is the name / command to resize the vendor window. I have trouble reading the size of the (level) numbers on recipes. Everything else is ok, it is pretty much that window that causes most of the eye strain for me.

I don't think I've yet chimed in with this (in this thread): I kinda hate what the Live Devs did to Praetoria. I am naturally averse to content that isn't "evergreen"... I can tolerate some little bits of Lore being odd if content is done "out of (level) order", but aside from Praetoria (including Incarnate content) and the Signature Story Arcs... the content I enjoy involves the PC's story and not the PC only mentioned like some sir-only-appearing-in-the-appendices-of-LotR. I mean... how many times can Statesman die or Praetoria be annihilated before it looks like "why bother?" First Ward was IMO a triumph of evergreen story-telling... because after finishing the arcs I can almost believe that everything is put back in place for the next character to experience the exact same content. Watching Hamidon eat Praetoria makes it a little harder to be motivated to suppress the protestors, if ya smell what I'm cooking. That being said... I don't know why we couldn't have Praetorian content 35-50. Devouring Earth certainly exist at these levels, and Clockwork/IDF/Seers/Vanguard all exist at 40+. It would be I think somewhat cool to have a Gold mission arc that parallels (some of) the Tina MacIntyre arc: Capture Positron, destroy/steal dimensional macguffins, subdue a population for Praetor Berry... whatever.

Having Hasten at level 49 (or at any level 41+) seems a LOT like not having Hasten. The "end result" of this suggestion is pretty much my build, but with Hasten and fewer set bonuses. My ideal choice to take Hasten is either just before or just after the first power that has a base recharge time of greater than 90 seconds... obviously this thinking is slightly complicated for Dominators because of Domination being available at level 1! I get it. You want Hasten, no matter what. I have Dominators with Hasten, even if they already have 'enough' global recharge from set bonuses. But even then, it really isn't necessary to have perma-Hasten via two 50+5 slots (in my experience), that's just one more thing to chase. It would be (by my crude math) about 12 seconds off the AoE Hold and 17 seconds off Link Minds... not insignificant, but ultimately not earth shattering for me. I suppose if I was the only control on a team and it was my controls that were going to make-or-break the encounter... those 12 seconds might make a difference. +20 seconds on Domination... that is more impressive, but it is basically a wash (considering endurance burn/refill is the only difference, AFAIK everything else is 'replace existing effect') unless some radical slows come into play.... and all this is with my build that already has +136% global recharge from set bonuses. I haven't forgotten that the argument was predicated (on some level) to "take Hasten instead of chasing set bonuses"... so dropping even more recharge set bonuses and/or compromising on control duration... for (at best IMO, more) defense... I don't think the argument in favor of one choice over the other is as crystal clear.

Think of it this way: I came for the control aspect of the Dominator, not the ability to drop %damage in the hold. 5- or 6-slotting the AoE Hold with a hold set it is NOT resulting in the AoE hold being available less frequently.

Do you mean "cut scene"-like dialogue? I think so.

I'm struggling to think of any specific suggestion from the forum that was implemented... I want to say that there was at least one relatively minor quality-of-life addition that came from the forum bu I'm blanking on it ATM.... something like a minor interface or a vendor-purchased item? Did anybody actually suggest giving everyone "Athletic Run" (a good idea, but also a no-brainer)? I wouldn't count the revamps to power sets (e.g. fast Snipes, Energy Melee, Mastermind Primaries, two secondary choices at L1) as coming from the suggestions forum... even if some of those might have been tangentially suggested. Specific to the power sets... what we got was clearly somebody's idea, but I think (prior to the revisions) I saw many different suggestions that were at least as-balanced and in some cases would have been preferable to what we got. (I'm not trying to knock any specific update, just saying that some of these look like someone's idea that maybe wasn't shared with a wide group before the change was rolled out.)

I hear what you're saying, but a lot of time including Hasten (and chasing perma-Hasten), with or without Dominator context) feels to me more like become a goal, in and of itself, than it is to pickup a wider variety of powers slotted how I'd like. This is informed by my play experience: There aren't that many powers in any single build that would greatly benefit from 60% more global recharge above 136%. I'm not saying there are NONE, just that for a control+attack active chain, that much more recharge does relatively little. We can parse the effects of a few seconds faster recharge times on something like Link Minds or Unleash Potential, but these are, to me, marginal. Once we're trying to parse those sorts of powers, I question whether or not it would be necessary to also try for perma-Hasten... like I wrote, it often feels like *that* is the goal, and if so there are only so many places to make changes in sets... see below(*1)... I disagree about the 'more flexibility'. Yes the build I shared has mule powers, but they are piled into the last power picks... so shifting (or skipping) any of the power picks before level 30 to take Hasten makes the build less flexible IMO. If the goal is "different set bonuses"... aside from (positional) Defenses, I don't think there is that much more life-changing to "chase" beyond the Recharge/Accuracy/Recovery in the Purple sets. Slightly more range and resistances are a thing... but *I* haven't found them to be particularyy life-changing on squishies. As for moar %damage... there aren't that many reliable candidate powers in the build to try for %damage IMO. As I wrote above... I'm not interested in the AoE hold having some chances for %damage every 50 seconds or so when the build actually has an attack primary. (*1) In a final build, I think the one thing Hasten would allow (that would be valuable to me, YMMV) would be to add a handful of Winter sets... *if* I could six slot each of them... for Defensive reasons. As things stand now... almost no power in the build has all 6 slots, so that approach (which I considered!) was going to cause me to pull slots from somewhere, which IMO would have hurt the performance. For full disclosure, se (superior) Winter sets I'd be looking at are (likely a "pick any three" situation) Entomb, Frozen Blast, Winter's Bite, and possibly Avalanche. Some of those can go into sets with (currently) 'inferior' sets, but I'd still have to scratch up 6th slots for those.

I don't know that I'd turn down the difficulty (e.g. -1) because at some point many ATs will be causing knockback. Otherwise the idea is fine (if not using Ouroboros for non-multi-boxers). The real advantage I think would be in the second and third missions, because multiple objectives could be done (mostly) simultaneously. The second mission can have the necessary spawns (including the final) attacked in any order, and the third only requires one spawn to be defeated.

Even Diantane doesn't respond to EVERY post in one of their threads.

I feel like part of the trick is to put yourself in Rest, or some such.

I like the comparison between VEATs and HEATs. For performance (solo, teams) I prefer VEATs... although I think they also have a somewhat stinky Inherent, all things considered. I think the reasons for my preference are manifold: VEATs get more offense that scales more like other ATs (that is, a natural progression of potential attacks at typical levels) VEATs get more defensive/resistance options... and more ability to tailor the choices and slotting than HEATs VEATs have a wider variety of powers from which to customize their build for their playstyle... and have access to all those powers in their 'one form', obviously HEATs feel pretty locked into a single playstyle with a little bit of variation around the edges... but even in the cases where I (maybe?) see variation I don't see that much. I suppose folks could make a similar argument about VEATs, but even within a chosen path (e.g. "Crabbermind") there can be room for variation without skimping on performance.

Yes. There is a subtle point about the DA arcs... which isn't unique to them, but still worth mentioning. Any incarnate can join in starting the final mission of a DA arc and get the extra Incarnate rewards if the mission holder has it "naturally". Obviously for Ouro, everyone has to be on the team at the start. I mention this because if a DA team has a bunch of incarnate who haven't run an arc, they can all choose to count the earlier missions as 'you just completed a mission you already have, want to consider it done?' but then NOT do that for the final mission to reap the final rewards multiple times (once for each player in the group). It isn't trivial to set this up, but if you have a cadre of buddies all on thr same page it works.

I've certainly sped through Heather's arc. It can also be a pretty good 'farm' for XP and drops if turned up to x8. I had several different characters that could complete it at x8, and by clearing every map I had a pretty reliable 50-50 chance of a level 50 PVP or Purple recipe from those 30 minutes of play. It also doesn't take much of that to get a handful of specific defeat badges.

In fairness, the tit-for-tat posting *is* one of the behaviors that I think often leads to the more toxic types of behavior, including brigading. It is somewhat common for someone making their Nth post (especially in a suggestion thread) to eventually include something insulting... likely because they've run out of other things to write... and at that point there is just a pile-on. Or, as happened here *in this thread*, someone brings up a personal sore spot tangential to the actual thread to start that process.

This is an interesting question, and one I've never tested (for reasons I'll explain later). Years ago, I would have said "%damage breaks the Placate, no matter what", based on how other powers (like Sleeps) used to work. IIRC a short delay was added to Sleeps, so that the %damage didn't prevent a critter from being put to sleep. The handful of different Placate-like powers I looked at in City of Data don't appear to have a delayed effect to Placate, even after the more recent reconsideration of Threat. Keep in mind, there are different sorts of powers which Placate. For example: a primary power set's version behaves differently for Stalkers and Banes/Widows than Pacify from the Presence pool. The primary reason why I've never tested this: Generally I've found that particular %damage piece to be underwhelming in Taunt/Provoke/Confront-only "attacks" such that I almost exclusively use the Mocking Beratement set in Threat powers (when seeking set bonuses). Part of the issue is the ToHit check required for the %damage (even in 'auto-hit' powers), part of the issue is that for the types of powers where it can be the only %damage, it has ended up having a very marginal impact on clear times. To my way of thinking: If I need to placate an enemy, I'm unlikely to really benefit from a little extra damage anyway! If I don't need to placate them, just hit them! The calculus of others may be different.

Thanks for the reply. I am aware that GMs can 'see' hidden players, and while I personally don't want to go around 'narc'-ing(*1), it can be very difficult (for a non-GM) to see the names of players in the open-world when players are hidden (from other players). I'm not particularly sensitive to griefing(*2), but I recognize there is a spectrum of behavior and acceptance. (*1) I have a short list of players who I often (but not always!) see skirting the multi-box rule... but those name are only in my notes because the player wasn't particularly creative about the account names *and* I happened to stroll across them frequently enough that I could "catch" the names with a mouse-click. (*2) for example, I've seen some teammates have a meltdown on something like triggering a spawn... it isn't my call to say if such a thing is griefing or not as beyond whatever circumstances there may be it is impossible to know the feels of all players.

I do often open with Sweeping Strike, but as noted... it takes a little bit of discipline. It somewhat depends which target I am actually opening against, enemy positions, etc. Some enemies just don't want to stand within 7' of each other! Overall... I am not a fan of the combo mechanics in any set. I *think* I understand what the power devs are trying for when they do this, but I'd rather be able to find synergies between attacks (and enjoy animations) without feeling shoe-horned into specific power picks or attack chains.