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The (Homecoming) lowering of the levels for primary/secondary choices has been great for players who want to explore (and min/max!) Patron/Epic power pools; prior to this change, I found myself clustering up secondary power choices versus Epic/Patron versus powers available earlier that I hadn't yet fit into the build... now I find myself with a lot more options... I still have several characters that didn't respec to take certain powers 'earlier' because I am perfectly satisfied with those builds! While I don't feel like we need more Epic/Patron, I do think that there are a couple of options (synthesizing what was written by @FupDup and @Scarlet Shocker😞 "Patron Pools" for power sets used by the (Praetorian) Heroes, paralleling what we have for Red Side Players get a taste of what Synapse can do with his powers (in the Red Side "Who Will Die?"), and also see what powers Deadlock has access to when he takes his serum (in Eagle Eye's arc)... so I sort of feel that some mechanism for allowing players to pick some variant of "signature powers" could be make viable. I imagine there are a LOT of players who would like to have Penny Yin's Psionic Nexus as a recharge-intensive pet! "Epic Pools" that leverage some of the kewler (more useful) temporary powers There are a handful of "temp" powers that run out (or otherwise have very limited charges) that it would be nice to have available as actual powers. Something to mimic how existing Epic/Patron pools offer what the Ring of Peebles does. Sticking with a Praetorian theme, I still want to be able to have characters that have been partially transmorgrified by the Devouring Earth, so they have access to ("Patron") powers like: Summoning Bees, summoning Eminators, AoE attacks, bio-like armors, etc.

I've had surprisingly few on Homecoming as opposed to Live. I've never had a Mastermind with no henchmen, but I have run a "one-T3-only" build. I have a VEAT Crab that is mostly debuffs, for the lulz I suppose. I wanted to make a character that was making enemies fall down, or otherwise keeping composure, but avoiding Energy Blast, Ice and Fire. The resulting Mind/Poison Controller turned out to be very effective and it is probably hard to tell from the outside he is supposed to be a silly, ineffective character.

I haven't tried it, but with Prismatic Aethers you should be able to run a completely different skin.

Welcome Back! I won't repeat the links (thanks @TygerDarkstorm); I do recommend you read them. I used to use keybinds for henchmen control, but for the MM primaries I play (as well as my chosen content), and with many of the ongoing changes (faster recharge times on summons, the way most buffs work, the availability of all enhancements) a level 50 build doesn't get that much advantage from them. I'm not knocking them, it's more that just having a handful of macros in a power tray gets me 98% of what I would use the keybinds for, even in the content that would most matter. As for "which content", I'm thinking its mostly +N and/or x8, where the henchmen will be at a level disadvantage and/or likely to fall quickly and you need to position them (mostly for Supremacy/Unique Enhancement bonuses) and/or direct their fire. I'm almost never specifically sending a henchmen to go get aggro and bring it back, which is near-trivial to do with the macros. TL;DR: get comfortable with the henchman before diving into the keybinds. (IIRC you can drag the default henchman macro icons from the "pet window" into a power bar, from "all" or individuals) Re: Slotting... the spawned henchmen are your damage, so they need to be slotted with accuracy and damage, just like any attack. The recharge intensive pet summons also benefit from recharge (slotted and global), depending on how long they last. The global unique enhancements which help pet Defenses and Resistance should eventually be added to them. I don't recommend trying to add %damage via "procs" to henchmen, except in very special circumstances: The henchmen (or pet) has to trigger the %proc on almost every attack (because of the nature of the attack), otherwise it wastes a slot The henchmen (or pet) has to have decent ToHit/Accuracy, otherwise the %damage won't even have a chance to trigger One unique piece I think is a game changer for most classes Henchmen is the Overwhelming Force %Knockdown (and KB->KD) from the Summer Blockbuster, as if it is slotted in the first tier of henchmen, you will (eventually) have 3 attackers exercising soft-control of Knockdown on every attack. Tier 2 Henchmen often have some other effect that is worth enhancing (with a single slot) besides damage, just sayin'. Don't try to do damage with the personal attacks from MMs: The damage scale is terrible and the Endurance cost is astronomical. Use the attacks for Enhancement set bonuses and to leverage some other effect from them which make your henchment more effective.

I thought this was the thread for the OP to lament how everyone else (i.e. those players using both ends of the market) isn't playing the way the OP wants them to play.

I have been a super-lazy marketeer for at least two years, and I was barely that engaged before then... and despite never starting a new character with less than 200 MInf(*1), by the time the character enters onto the roster of "gosh, is it time to rotate where it is parked for Day Jobs?" I've never had a character go out to pasture this way with less than 400 MInf, just by casually crafting, converting and selling drops.... and usually the character has lots of catalysts, and relatively large stashes of merits (which I never convert to put on the market, which should offer some idea of how lazy I am as a marketeer). The Homecoming Market is friendly to both buyers and sellers. P2W offers some universal enhancement for nothing, crafted IOs are always available cheap because of badges. The one thing a player really ought to have (but could do without) is a SG base with storage space and a crafting table. You can /respec at a base and recycle enhancements if for some reason you want to completely unslot a character. (*1) 200 MInf seed money is over-kill, it just happens to be the number I settled on.

It is as if someone brought a knight to a fun fight.

Level 50 IO recipes sell at vendors for an average of 100K Inf.

Erm... the P2W powers are available for villains of all levels.

The two "signature" characters that confuse me the most are Positron and Lord Recluse. My general dislike for the 'evolving lore' is that comic book universes work best when there is practically zero evolution of the universe. Call it crossover (or 'reboot') fatigue, but I enjoy simple things best when they aren't made needlessly complicated. The appeal of CoH for me was that I could start any new character and take them through a world on paths pretty much of my choosing. I don't want to play someone else's story. Frankly: I haven't like Positron (NPC) since the days when he could choose to stop wearing his armor. For me, this was the first evidence that the game wasn't going to let new characters onto a static canvas, and that story content was going to shift underneath us. Squeezing Positron into the Incarnate system feels like such a joke, especially since he was literally the first TF contact a hero could make. I take every chance I can to punk him red side. I feel that the Praetorian version explains a lot about what I don't like about Positon. I have zero animosity towards Lord Recluse... it's more like I have to make up a lot of 'head canon' to rationalize his actions and relationships across all his appearances. Of all the NPCs in the game, I choose to believe that Lord Recluse is literally the only character who realizes he is in a game, and that all his actions are to keep the game viable for all the players.

Dr. Quartfield is a TF that I will generally solo, here is what I find to be the most annoying about it: The open-zunt hunts within the Shard itself The final mission Orenbega map (1) is annoying, mostly because at least one of the necessary hunts is in part of the zone where the necessary enemies don't always spawn, and partially because of the nature of the enemies: Rularu fly away, Crey and Nemesis become nigh-immune to attacks. I'm not a fan of the in-zone travel, but that is the schtick of the zone and can live with it. Simply NOT restricting the defeats to "Point Zulu" (or wherever) would improve this part of the TF, as it is the most annoying pure-grind IMO. (2) is simply personal, but I hate "rescue the hostages" on that map with a passion. When solo, if the TF goes over two hours, it is usually because I've spent 30+ minutes on that final map trying to find the last objective.

Villains looking for the citizen defeat badge from Mayhem Missions should consider inverting in the AoE attacks from P2W.

These are all good reasons to have an in-mission teleport, even if you are not playing a Tanker. Red Side seems to have more in-mission "choke points" for mobs; On the Blue Side there are almost always opportunities to use something like Combat Teleport, but the main map that seems to favor it because of mob dog-piles is the Terra Volta Reactor map.

Ok, closer to my builds... here is how I have my Blaster slotted (regarding the current discussion on healing sets and Endurance pieces). Level 12: Dehydrate (A) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration: Level 50 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 50 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing: Level 50 (*) Gladiator's Javelin - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50+5 (*) Gladiator's Javelin - Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (*) Gladiator's Javelin - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 Level 2: Health (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40 Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50 (*) Performance Shifter - EndMod: Level 50 (*) Synapse’s Shock – EndMod/Increased Run speed: Level 50 Preventive Medicine is slotted (6-pieces) in the level 20 secondary sustain. Prior to level 50, I had the Theft of Essence %+End in Dehydrate. As I mentioned in another thread on endurance management, I also lean into set bonuses to grant +MaxEnd, Global endurance discounts, and prefer more Recovery than more Regeneration (on every AT except Tankers). This character has absolutely no endurance issues (without Incarnates) unless something goes very wrong with enemies which drain endurance. I'm tempted to pull one slot from one of these powers, but I don't really have a great place in the build to use an extra slot.. it would basically just be used for %damage in some already fast-charging power.

Without knowing your precise slotting for comparison, at level 45+ the boosted Preventive Medicine pieces are also providing a small Health bonus. If the AT is a Tanker or Brute, this could be noticeable. The three pieces you listed each are contributing to the Heal/Absorb, you are probably already past the ED cap.

How many pieces of the Preventive Medicine set do you have slotted? EDIT: I should add that boosting an enhancement to +5 should increase the base enhancement of the piece by 25%, not considering Enhancement Diversification.

Every character gets: Envenomed Daggers (sooner or later, you will face an AV) Plasmatic Taser (sooner or later, you will be on a Synapse TF) Jump Pack (because it increases travel speed while active) Self-Destruct (because sometimes you have timed out on all the other travel powers) The timer-base travel to mission powers When I can, everyone gets: Shivans, they are simply too handy. Not every character needs them (at level 50), but every character can use them Depending on power choices, I will occasionally buy jetpacks. I don't like NOT having a travel power, but I have at least one build that I felt I couldn't slip one in for the concept, so he has a Magic Carpet. The temp power I wish I could buy (please someone tell me this is true!) is something that does a mag 3 Immobilize. I find it weird I can diminish GMs Regeneration with Envenomed Daggers but I can't buy something to single-target immobilize. The damage scale for P2W attacks appear to follow the AT scale, which seems kinda sad to me.

I don't like this slotting: Level 16: Dehydrate (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage (27) Devastation - Damage/Endurance (29) Devastation - Damage/Recharge (29) Devastation - Chance of Hold (31) Numina's Convalesence - Heal (31) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery First: Those two Numina's pieces are better in Health... the regen bonus(es) from the set nicely play with what Health will do with slotting (less so for a Corruptor than a Tank/Brute, but if more regen is what you want...) I slot Dehydrate with 3xJavelin Volley (boosted) and 3xTouch of the Nictus. I don't find it to be a great %proc power, but I do keep the %Negative in it. You probably want the Miracle +Recovery piece, as well as the Performance Shifter %+End, Panacea %+HP/%+End and an EndMod piece in Stamina (to boost recovery) I also try to slot sets that will give Endurance reductions, global Endurance Discounts, +MaxEnd, or all of them. Annihilation is good choice. You should probably experiment with your toggles, and figure out which ones you rely on that could take some Endurance reduction. I also encourage you to experiment by not using Hasten. Hasten has an endurance cost, and it causes you to use more endurance (if casting).

I'm in agreement. Because of the nature of this particular %proc, I have a small supply stashed at the SG base, but the typical price (attuned, on the market) is perfectly reasonable. It's not a trivial set/piece to roulette into, but the supply I keep is entirely from RNG. The extras go into the AH, and if someone is pulling a slight profit off of what I dump, more power to them. I suspect this individual is also helping keep the prices of the less interesting EndMod sets afloat. The new HC sets aren't bad, but a player has to lean pretty hard into certain power sets for 5/6-piece sets of them to be really good options. I think I've only got two characters that do so.

You can get the Caregiver Day Job badge in Outbreak.

On the topic of slows, I have a couple of characters that as-built, appear to be completely immune to the effects of slows in non-incarnate content (a lot of incarnate content to, but I don't tend to play that as much). And then while leveling a character I ran afoul of x8 Knives of Artemis... oh yeah, I remember!

I almost always have that badge unlocked from Mayhem Missions. IIRC the 45-50 mission set in PI will be chock full of Paragon Police if set to x8. They will be kheldians, so fun times. There are large spawns of them hovering above the skyscrapers.

The group I was thinking would offer the most consistent opportunity to be clustered are Praetorian Clockwork. In the Blueside missions that face them (in large spawns), they strike me as almost always being "too spread out".

I'm here too. I will say, using the Teleport Pool to help teammates keep up, and to grab runners making a mad dash, is VERY appreciated.