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You will need some Inf, but I want to second what @Yomo Kimyata wrote: Play 1 hour at level 50+0x8 with each level 50, and put in some low bids on attuned pieces. Swap to the next character. In addition to 1 catalyst per 24 hours, after 1 hour of such (more-or-less constant) play you should have a 50% chance at a level 50 PVP or Purple Recipe as well. You don't need to do them all at once, and once you have seen what it takes for this bunch, future characters should go smoother.

There isn't a Mastermind (or a Dominator, or Brute, or Peacbringer, etc...) "tutorial", so learning these are all on a curve. If I am teamed with a MM on a PUG and I notice them dying a lot, I suggest that they consider using Bodyguard ("blue", or even "green") mode. Occasionally on a hectic PUG, I notice if a MMs henchmen are doing something likely to be unintended... henchmen not following, henchmen stuck, henchmen not attacking (often because the way aggro is distributed) I may say something, but otherwise I generally expect that people seek out advice on how to maximize their potential, as with all other things in life. The pet window can "do it all" from one mode (advanced/basic) or another. I typically click/drag the green/blue/red/command buttons from the pet window down to a tray... then they look like macros. I make sure to edit the macros to make sure they do what I want. IIRC until all the henchmen are in the window, I think the macros added this way may only cover the existing henchmen. IIRC it is necessary to switch between the basic/advanced modes in the pet window to see all the ones I want. The only macro I go out of my way to add is the one to dismiss them all, which I put out of the way so I don't accidentally click it. I usually have one tray with these commands (for all henchmen): "go to", "follow me", "stay", "blue", "green", "red", "attack my target" I understand the appeal of the various MM keybinds, but for the types of content I play, and my preferred MMs, when I want to direct the henchmen in multiple, different ways... I just use the pet window. This is just my experience: with the faster resummons and the ability to buff the henchmen at the same time, plus the low barrier to having whatever enhancement sets I want, I just don't need to micromanage henchmen so much.

I haven't dug through all of the melee cones, but my immediate reaction is: At low levels, with small spawn sizes... it is annoying that the melee cones rarely hit more than one enemy (at +Nx1) without subtly adjusting my character's positioning. Two things happen: I learn to adjust my position and/or I turn up the spawn size... at higher spawn sizes even my low-level melee cones will hit more enemies. I make no claims to how "balanced" this is, just that this is my experience. Some of the melee cones have control secondary effects, I don't know how 'balanced' this is in aggregate. Historically I always got the impression that the (Live) devs over-valued enemy controls (especially stuns) as opposed to things like enemy debuffs. I certainly don't object to a review of melee cones, but my suspicion is that some of them (particularly those available as very early power choices) probably don't need any improvement.

In addition to have mousebinds for quicky teleports, I often have a couple of macros to TP to a target location, or backwards (to use cone attacks) Some examples, sub in the name of the power you want to use: /macro_image "DevouringEarthSeed_Respiring_Seedbuff" "BAMF" "powexec_location target Shield Charge" /macro_image "StaffFighting_StaffMastery" "BAMF" "powexec_location target Combat Teleport" /macro_image "StaffFighting_AssassinsStaff" "BACK" "powexec_location Back:25 Combat Teleport" /macro_image "Gadgets_TargetingDrone" "BAMF" "powexec_location target Jaunt" /macro_image "DevouringEarthSeed_Hematic_Seedbuff" "BAMF" "powexec_location target Burst of Speed" /macro_image "DevouringEarthSeed_Hematic_seedblood" "Back" "powexec_location Back:25 Burst of Speed"

I did not get the impression that this thread was started by a new player, although it could have been started by someone with a very narrow perspective and a somewhat hostile opening line. Specific to Blasters... I think there is a case to be made that Blasters are the AT that has received the most TLC over the development of the game. Jibber-jabber follows. Setting aside the entire concept of how in-game rewards are biased toward as many defeats as possible in as little amount of time, Blasters have an inherent mitigation for enemy controls, they can work towards defense "soft caps" just like every other non-armor AT, and they pretty much all have a way of not worrying about Endurance consumption through the "sustains". Blasters can get debuffs through Pool choices, and can get pet summons though at least one Patron pool (Mu, at level 38! Mac, at level 41... other AT need to be level 44 to get a summons!) Did I mention the controls and/or debuffs that are in the Blaster secondaries? All of the above is available without thinking about enhancement slotting for set bonuses. This is my experience when planning Blaster builds, YMMV: Because Blasters have easy access to so many different types of attacks (ST range, ST melee, AoE Range, AoE Melee) and all those types of attacks have enhancement sets with an excellent selection of set bonuses, I find it pretty easy to take Blasters in a multiple number of different ways that I don't usually have (or must work harder at to get that variety) for other AT. For example: not every AT has the option to be able to slot ATO in both (or even most) Primary and Secondary powers! The point I'm trying to make here is that Blasters are among the most flexible AT in the game, and it is pretty trivial to make them effective, no matter what direction they are taken in.

If you only have the one level 50, I recommend that you pick some level 50 content you can handle(*1) at +0x8 (solo) and run through it collecting level 50 recipe drops (and whatever else). You can vendor level 50 recipes for an average of 100 KInf. Use the Influence to buy catalysts (they should be 1 MInf or less). This will save you a lot of bother, especially if you don't need to respec. If you have more than one level 50, do this on each of them; you should get a Catalyst drop for each of them once per 24 hours. (*1) I'm going to suggest some content. Don't turn up the difficulty +N, because it is the drops you want more than a little more XP for each individual defeat. You want to be solo, because the drops otherwise get divided up. If your character needs Incarnate components, run Heather Townshend's Dark Astoria Arc, If you have incarnate level shifts you can up +N, it just depends on how your build handles the content. If you don't care about the Incarnate stuff, you could just run Alignment (and then Morality) missions. The Alignment tips are fun, and pretty easy. Every 10 you can do a morality mission for 40 merits. You can of course just run arcs... but I don't like being pinned down in an arc if I am trying to make a buck.

As I am sure I wrote in at least one of the threads linked to by @Glacier Peak , and if not in a thread unlinked to: The only goofy practice pre-aggro cap that gave me anything like a rush of endorphins was collecting up the Rikti Monkeys and bringing them to Portal Corps (after PI opened up). This was a very different time in the game. I have never missed the pre-aggro cap days.

I end up with mostly attuned pieces on just about every build. 1) I buy/slot attuned pieces when they first go into the build. 2) I use enhancement catalysts to attune a crafted piece already slotted. Because I don't have a large roster of characters, and I tend to craft/convert a lot, I tend to end up with un-catalyzed pieces I am sure I will use eventually, and lots of catalysts, so I do the following... 2b) When I respec, I often swap in non-attuned pieces for attuned pieces, so that the attuned pieces are available for another build. Then I attune the slotted pieces after the respec.... unless I have swapped in the 50 PVP/Very Rare pieces that I intend to boost. When the market prices for enhancements are low, this is a waste of Inf. But for many pieces (Steadfast Protection, LotG, sub-50 PVPs) it is extremely convenient to have extras in the base.

I LOLed because the OP couldn't help but to toss a thumbs down on a post that literally expressed no opinion on their suggestion; I wonder if there are some aggro issues IRL.

FWIW: The Ouroboros version of the original Positron arc can be done instead of doing both parts of the "new" Positron arc, for a similar reward. The original arc is a bit of a slog, but I have found it to be relatively easy to solo on level-appropriate characters that haven't been tricked-out. IIRC it doesn't feature an AV to defeat.

What is it with OPs that hit thumbs down every post that expresses disagreement with the suggestion? I feel like such people would "thumbs up" their own posts if they could. Often an original suggestion is crafted in such a way that a thumbs up/down seems completely neutral, and a followup post expressing why someone disagrees often express pretty politely the reasons for their disagreement with the original premise. The OP hitting thumbs down in these cases strikes me as rather immature.

I want to say that I've noticed two... but since they don't do anything I long ago stopped paying attention to them.

Specific to the Gaussian's set: The prices on this set fluctuate quite a bit in my experience. 3 MInf seems high to me, but buy-it-now is a thing. Specific to me: I used to keep extras of this set for alts to eventually use, but then I noticed that the prices were under 2 MInf. In practice, I am either using 1 piece (the %BuildUp) or 6 pieces (for full set bonuses) with no. middle ground. More generally, about attuning via the AH: Catalysts drop freely, and are often less than 1 MInf on the AH. This means that I pretty much only attune via the AH if the character doesn't have access to a Catalyst or the market price is above 2 MInf. There is a range between 1MInf and 2MInf where I suppose it can make financial sense to use the AH to attune, but this is firmly in the "why bother?" zone for me.

My guess is... FREEM!!, with a side of Umbral Shield.

Diantane, is that you? [sarcasm] Here are some possible fixes to help out the suffering Blasters: Allow them to make attacks while mezzed? Dial down the recharge time of the nukes? Give them some sort of power to help with endurance burn? Allow them to slot ATO in both primary and secondary powers? [/sarcasm]

I went with Fire. It isn't my favorite Blaster, but it is perfectly fine. Seismic is a nice primary, but I don't think it synergizes particularly well with certain sets.... Fire is 50-50 on the synergy IMO. I think this is my level 50 build. The leveling build was roughly the same, with the sort of standard slotting choices made for sub-50 play (different sets, mules may be different, etc.). I don't run all the toggles.

I can almost understand this point, but I disagree with cutting the Endurance cost of MM powers. Bluntly: I disagree that MMs have to be attacking. My primary MM (Robotics) performs better (against lots of content) when the MM is cycling between Pulse Rifle Burst, Photon Grenade and Mace Beam Volley... but I've got those powers slotted with sets to improve Endurance cost and (outside of big sacks of HP) the primary reason those attacks are used is to grab aggro (and maybe apply %-Res)... not to do damage. It does take some effort and choices to run a MM that is constantly spamming its own powers, running toggles, etc. I don't think the Endurance costs are out-of-line with the performance of the AT. This may just be my feeling, but I think if the MM didn't have the Endurance tax, it is likely that they'd either end up being played as a different sort of AT, or being even better in some content. On my primary MM, the Endurance tax is one of the few design limits it has... I can otherwise carry the level-shifted henchmen through a LOT of content without worry.

I don't play "sappers", at best I will have some sort of power that happens to drain enemy Endurance and/or apply -Recovery. I can understand the appeal: "Malta Sappers give me so much trouble, just imagine what I could do with it!"... but my personal bias is that there are so few PVE critters that it would be worthwhile to 'sap' (as opposed to debuffing/damaging) and are relatively easy to 'sap'. Kudos to those who make the strategy work, but even as I make and play niche characters, I've never been tempted to make a 'Sapper'. As a secondary effect for a set I want to otherwise play... that's a different matter, yet it is still not a secondary effect I think I'd lean into.

The Kheldian 'origin arcs' are slightly different, as the same contact will give mission arcs at appropriate levels. The original blue contacts point players to new level-appropriate contacts. Red contacts are different, the VEATs have an arc, and the closest a red-sider can get to keeping the same contact across multiple level ranges are with the patrons.

Non-player perspective on how range is not under-rated: If the grim vale event is allowed to commence, it is almost always Team Pumpkin that will be left standing. This is true of every wave. The Witches hover-blast (and run away fast), the Pumpkins attack almost exclusively at range and/or have ranged AoE attacks. When the GMs come out, the auto-hit PBAoE from Eochai makes short work of any of Jack's minions. Eventually Jack's cone/melee can eliminate the scrubs of team Eochai, but how quickly depends on random pathing.

Like @Riverdusk, 40-50 hours of play (over however many sessions that takes) is about how long it takes me to get a character to 50, because my playstyle is: There is a LOT of content I like doing "at level", and some that can only be done at certain levels I'm not thrilled with much of the 50+ content, some of this is a personal dislike from the Incarnate system rollout of Live I can easily "afford" things (enhancements, buffs, temp powers, etc.) to smooth out the play experience I enjoy seeing how sets/ATs play across levels.... trying new powers, new slotting choices, I respec/unslot quite a bit. Now that zone exploration badges yield Patrol XP, I never buy 2XP and I generally avoid team-ups (like DFB, but also early TFs) until I find myself at a relative slow point. Often 2XP isn't even considered until something like 30+, depending on what I am doing. If I'm not crazy about a build, there is a 50-50 coin flip between setting it aside or rushing to 50 to see if set bonuses make it come together (usually they don't). This is just a personal attitude: When I do content in a less rushed way, I feel like I have more personal agency in how I approach the game. Eventually my characters will want certain accolades and temp powers, it isn't that much harder to get most of them "along the way" than circling back to them as a level 50+. I'm perfectly happy to be challenged by playing a sub-50 build on TFs that have had the difficulty turned up. I don't need 50+ builds to seek out "challenges".

There are many satisfying moments to be had in the City of Heroes. One of them I never tire often of occurs on a Penny Yin TF when my Energy/Martial can Burst of Speed next to the Super Stunner (engaged in melee with something like a Scrapper or MM henchmen), execute a Ki Push and follow up with a Sniper Blast to deny the Freakshow Resurrection.

Talking to Null the Gull is a suggestion made to others, just as asking other players to slot KB->KD into their powers or taking Immobilizes. some may see this as a wide spectrum, but they are all on the same spectrum. Tanker Taunts also have a large baseline duration, as well as an inherently fast recharge time. It is pretty basic for a Tanker with Taunt, even without having it slotted, to keep attention at the aggro cap. If a Tanker sees enemies being knocked back... they should be treated no differently than any other critters that happen to be at a distance.

Like I said: If a player is THAT ANNOYED by knockback from another player... that player can pick a power to deal with their annoyance. I'm not asking players to modify their builds to suit my tastes and tolerances, I am asking them to modify their builds to suit their tastes and tolerances. I still encounter players that won't go to Pocket D to change the way Group Fly affects them... and those players will still ##### about it.

Not an issue: A player that uses KB certainly encounters enemy spawns that haven't yet been knocked back, and immobilized spawn would be no different to that player.