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I'd add another tab only for drops, if "drops" could be separated from "rewards". I also find it sometime annoying to lose track of a drop in a spray of defeat notices. As a practical matter, I usually am only interested in seeing the Recipe drops... mostly because the PVP ones can "hide" as rares when I pop open the recipe tab.

I'd vote: Leave the Story arcs out of the WST rotation, because: They already offer "weekly rewards", even for non-50s. The merit haul is 4x normal, which is twice better than the WST merit bonus Most of them are "solo focused" as opposed to being "team focused" Some of them can be soloed in incredibly short periods of time On the last point, the merits-per-unit time isn't exploitive (IMO, *1) but it is a convenient way to build up a small reservoir of merits at relatively low levels... if the player decides to invest the time and effort. (*1) There is other Ouro/TF/SF content that can be run for similar/better merits-per-unit-time, which is why I don't consider the story arcs to be exploitive. I like that these can be played as "bite-sized" content to get a small number of merits per run.

Enemies affected by it should get the debuff graphic applied to them... of course it can be hard to see if there are multiple debuffs flying around. I like he benefits of the Annihilation set... but IIRC the duration of the %-Res (should it fire/hit) is only 10 seconds which under most circumstances makes it a somewhat unreliable way to try to increase damage dealt... and I think it ends up being a generally inferior choice when compared to the other %procs (including multiple different ranged damage ones to simply apply more damage) that could go into it instead. There are several circumstances when I'll use that piece, but they almost always come down to: "Will enough other things being doing damage in the 10sec window that my choice becomes a force multiplier?"

I usually slot Mind Link one of two ways: 6x Reactive Defenses Adjusted Targeting Recharge, 2xLotG (Global Recharge. Def/Recharge) I favor #1 because (a) I want those bonuses and (b) I don't think there is a better power for Fortunata to slot 6x of that set. Other powers can take it, but I think hitting the caps (Defense, Recharge) on Mind Link is better than hitting the caps on any of the other Fortunata powers. (Generally the alternate choices are only possibly boosting Defense, but YYMV)

I like Street Justice... but I find it to be one of those sets that when I build a new character using it, it never feels particularly different to me. That is: whatever my concept is for a new SJ character, they all end up feeling very much the same. I also have an uneasy feeling that Street Justice has one of the clunkiest combo mechanics, and possibly the worst of them... so often it just ends up getting ignored. What I don't like about it: The combo builders only +1 on attacks (minus Build Up) that land, and RNG is no one's friend Any combo built up can evaporate rather quickly The attack chains (especially at low level) are painful to get to +3, and at high-level they builders be mostly ignored Even though I like Dual Blades less that SJ, I find it's combo system to be slightly better (as a combo system), even though it is more confusing. Energy Melee's "combo" is practically a no-brainer in comparison with those two.

Are the characters from different HC game eras such that you may have different world visualization options set between the characters?

I went with: Shoal Rush: Accuracy/Endurance Reduction w/ 4x%damage. I find it to be a reliable on-cast source of damage Toroidal Bubble: I only have it holding one Resistance piece as a mule. I needed the slots elsewhere, and IIRC the resistance can't be enhanced... so 3x Gladiator's would (mostly) be a waste of slots in that case (unless boosting recharge maybe?) Whitecap gets boosted Accuracy/Endurance (x2) and 4x %damage Tide Pool just gets an Endurance Reduction Brine: I went with 2x Accuracy/Healing Shifting Tides got 2x Accuracy/Damage/Endurance and 3x %damage Barrier Reef is holding 6x Reactive Defenses Power of the Depths is holding 6x Preventive Medicine

4 < KB protection <=7 is a somewhat narrow range... and with two extra slots it is possible to net +5 (2x +4, minus 3) for a total of 12 points. If you add +10 from the SG base buff you surpass the 20 points from FREEM!. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Knockback/Enemies_with_Knockback_Powers (sort by magnitude to see who does what)

I'll add this about /Traps builds: It is possible to slot two of the Pet IOs in Seeker Drones, which can either add them (if the build doesn't have them) or free up a couple of slots from the actual henchmen (if that is where those pieces are slotted) As for the build above, my instincts tell me that Tough isn't slotted that well: the set bonuses from 3x Gladiator's Armor aren't that useful for a MM IMO (my MM doesn't even toggle Tough on), and the +ToHit Kismet piece in Combat Jumping is probably not necessary (because of other slotting in the MM attacks).

The good news about Thugs: Gang War is a good spot to slot (some of) the Henchmen-affecting survival pieces, this allows for more "traditional" slotting of powers (for Accuracy, etc.) in the henchmen. I usually go into the Leadership pool to get Tactics, I find it doesn't need much more than Endurance reduction on a final build. The base +ToHit is something like +7.5% and ToHit enhancements are on the 20% scale IIRC so with henchmen slotting they shouldn't need too much more (for most content). I like to put the level 50 %BuildUp piece from Soulbound Allegience in the T1 henchmen, it will trigger a LOT for significant bonuses to hit (and damage). The Soulbound Allegiance set is a good one to split 3-ways (or 2-ways), the non-proc pieces can be boosted to 50+5.

I think a time-limited Ignore feature would be a good thing, and it is something I would use. The limited number of players on my ignore list are a mix of folks who had public meltdowns of hateful talk or just an endless sort of jibber-jabber across channels or for some reason got into public spats in open channels with each other. Some of these just needed to be off my radar for a short period of time.

I have no real comments on Necro/Thermal, except that I took a Thugs/Thermal past 50 and I didn't like what Thermal was bringing. This echoes my feels about %damage in pets, particularly the Achilles' Heel piece. I get serious Jim Cramer "Mad Money" vibes whenever I see it being recommended across the board. I *do* add procs to henchmen/pets, but I've kinda landed on the following circumstances for MM, *if* there are spots to spare, and things like ToHit chances and Endurance sustain are ok: I like %Buildup (Very Rare) in the T1s, as each of them will be benefiting from it, often with multiple instances I like %knockdown for a soft form of control, since it triggers on all damage I'll add %damage on T1 henches, if most of their attacks can trigger it If a henchmen or pet won't be triggering a %damage piece from most of its attacks, I end to not use a slot for %damage. %-Resistance in (most) pets and (pretty much all) henchmen is pretty marginal when compared to other options... mostly because of the relatively short time to try to have a favorable sequence of events to leverage the period of %-Resistance. I prefer to add %-Resistance to MM AoE attacks instead, if that debuffing strategy is desired. For pets (not henchmen), I give those a slightly more detailed look at %damage... usually because they are available for AT that don't otherwise do a lot of damage (without %damage). Again, it depends on how many of their attacks/controls can trigger a possible proc. For example, Dark Servant leverages the Cloud Senses piece best IMO.

I enjoyed my FF/Beam Rifle Defender a LOT. When I was on my BR kick, Corruptor was the only AT I didn't try. Part of the reason was I had just played a bunch of different Corruptors up to 50, and part was that the Defender worked out really well. From my PoV, the advantages of this combo on the Defender was: I could delay taking primary powers in favor of more beam attack early I could leverage %damage to slightly more overall benefit in terms of DPS When I did take the buffs (and debuffs), they had Defender base values I feel obligated to write (again): I'm still not a fan of Force Bomb. Yes I know people swear by it, but the animation takes me out of almost every character concept. In the case of the BR, having an 'extra' Beam Rifle attack was more appealing than Force Bomb (because realistically, it would probably make most 'math sense' to have taken one fewer to have room for Force Bomb). I don't care that "it is a good %damage attack with a debuff"!

nekkid aliens

I don't have an unending stream of alts, and I only have a limited number of multi-builds... I write this because it means that I don't need that much Inf. As I play a lot of content that rewards Merits, I usually end up spending the merits on things like ATO or Winter pieces, Purple recipes, and converters or unslotters when I'm out of them (or forget to claim them from email). This isn't me trying to keep Inf out of the market, it is more like me not wanting to bother with the market (to get specific items) at certain times. There are certain things I buy with merits that I know I could get for less (inf, assuming I convert merits->converters and sell those) and I'll keep an eye on some of those... but mostly by using outstanding bids at the prices I've pre-judged to be worth my time and effort.

Any of these sorts of decisions are like half-full/half-empty discussions. There is no foolproof way to avoid potential problems, most instances of leagues (and teams on leagues) having issues are the leaders simply not paying attention, as well as an assumption that players aren't going to grief others (even accidentally) by doing things like making multiple level 50s suddenly lower level (by passing stars, being moved to a different team, whatever).

I just popped in to echo long-past sentiments about how annoying I find it when Microsoft rolls out OS based on calendars and motivated by sales pitches. I understand the business model, but I don't like it. My more recent annoyances with them are varied: I really don't like the UI for Windows 11. To me, it looks like a feeble attempt to an attempt to back off from the tablet/phone idea by about 10%. I've long been annoyed by the default permission structure and near-hidden (and very unclear) approach to the services and processes that run on Windows OS. I can't trust that the Windows team won't just cripple my machines because of the incredibly bad assumptions they make about the hardware being used. The recent flub with the hardware-specific updates for 11, and the not-long-ago 10 update that required more space in a partition than the W10 default come to mind. Seriously, how can they have deployed an update that required more space in a partition that windows sets up by default? I avoid Edge as much as possible. I wish it was possible to completely do without it. As far as underlying hardware goes: I was something of an early adopter of x64 OS... but if I'm being honest, except for some gaming choices (and a single math-intensive application) I think I'd be just fine with x32, assuming x32 apps. My experience with a wide variety of apps used in business, it is almost always the graphics handling (for web display of info) that ends up as the limiting factor.

Terra Volta as a zone has always bothered me... initially because of the internal geography and the sort of random nature of the enemy groups(*1) (even considering the first two respecs)... it just feels like whatever ideas to make it make sense were only considered at the 5% level. The history plaques make less sense to me than almost any other Hazard Zone. There is so little apparent connection between what appears in TV versus what appears in IP that I've always been bothered by it. (*1) Sky Raiders make some sense to me... but only if they are somehow leveraging manufacturing within the zone. I like them in Striga much more. Freaks/Lost/DE just feel like random "who'd appreciate a destroyed zone?" add-ins.

For my Inf, the biggest issue with Speed of Sound is that it does nothing for Jump Height. There are ways to mitigate this, but I find them to be very clumsy for my build preferences. There is simply too much vertical travel, even at smallish distances, such that I always end up regretting taking Speed of Sound as a travel power.

I've had more fun with a Shield Tanker, because of Shield Charge. SR becomes crazy good at surviving. Willpower is fine, but I prefer to use that on other ATs. I can see using it, but other Tanker primaries just do more IMO.

I know this came up in the original thread, so I'm not going to revisit that point here. I get that a point is trying to be made about potential inconsistency, but... Swift https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pool.fitness.quick&at=blaster only increases FlyingSpeed and RunningSpeed, it doesn't need to have reduced Endurance, so as a power it has no need to accept sets, unless someone specifically wants to mule a piece from a set... which you've explained that you want to do. Other sets that take such enhancement pieces have an endurance cost (and must be toggled on). Hurdle behaves the same as Swift. We are amazingly lucky that we can slot Invention sets in Health and Stamina... this is a sort of exploit, but because Green and Blue bars are so critical to game play, I'll read between the lines and write: This is the sort of loophole (to get +HP/+End, etc.) that the dev team is ok with. Maybe they'd be ok allowing more exploits in Swift and Hurdle, but the "prestige" toggles (and Sprint) also can't take Universal Travel sets... but I think it is unlikely. The entire inherent Fitness pool is a weird leftover, with Enhancement sets it is really useful, but the game never really should have such low ceilings on things like travel/green/blue in the first place.

I think this would be an example of the sort of enhancement piece that, if allowed in an inherent power, would devalue power picks. It's maybe not the *best* example of such a piece (see Stealth, KB protection) but it is in that category. Also: Swift doesn't grant flight, so that particular piece should probably just be slotted in an actual power that grants flight.

What pieces do you want to slot in them?

Ah, like the OG Deus Ex?