tidge

I went with this slotting for Carrion Creepers (on a Dominator) (A) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire) (*) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage (Energy) (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance of Damage (Ice) (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

I agree with the above more than I disagree, however I don't think 'stealthing missions' is completely useless. It is true that I usually don't care if enemies see me or not, but I can think of lots of times when I've just wanted to get to a part of a map unmolested.

@The Volt has identified the symbol, I believe it is used for all the "Build Up" type effects (some powers that can trigger a build up via use, also powers with %proc pieces, etc.) It also shows up in the Pet window's icons if the henchmen/pets have a way to trigger the effect on themselves.

Laura Lockhart (Blue, Steel Canyon) offers a mission with junk minions, the only real challenge is to not run out of endurance and die from boredom. To an extent The Honoree room in Mender Ramiel's arc has a mission with mass spawns. Incarnates can run their own +3 against enemies of -1 in all sorts of missions. I don't see any TPKs and precious little enjoyment coming from this... but hey, design something in AE and I'll give it a try.

I do not recommend MMs take the Presence pool, even for Provoke. Provoke has a max target cap of 5, and requires a ToHit roll. Most MM AoE attacks have a larger maximum number of targets... if you want the attention of critters, just use a properly-slotted AoE attack to get the attention of the critters. Any of the ranged AoEs can be slotted with a %-Resistance piece, or a Knockdown piece as well.

I am having trouble understanding why we are spitballing changes to the game on the basis of a minority (possibly unique) experience of a relatively new (or simply uninformed) player's in-game choices.

I just finished getting a SR/MA Tanker to 50. I don't have the build in a share-able format, but I wanted to share that I found myself looking at a couple of "extra" slots, trying to decide what do do with them "defensively"... and I found my thinking somewhat aligned with the advice @Infinitum gave. My own circumstances and hot takes follow: I took Boxing / Tough / Weave as the final three powers in the build, even while leveling up FWIW. I mention this only because I wasn't "missing not having" them as mules. Tough is the only Resistance mule in the build. Without Weave, and not counting any effects from Storm Kick, I am above the non-incarnate Defensive "soft cap" on all positional defenses... without a heavy investment in defensive slots or boosters or HOs. Other build choices have ok Resistance numbers at 100% Health (for a non-resistance Tanker, IMO)... obviously these get better with Scaling Resistances. Other build choices gives the build a healthy amount of Regeneration, on top of the typical +HP choices for Tankers. The build includes Unleash Potential (at level 32, not perma of course, slotted with 6xPreventive Maintenance) I decided to not worry about toggling on Tough (although I did put 2xUnbreakable Guard in it for Endurance help), because I felt like any content where I was desperate for more S/L Resistance (beyond the base values of Tough), I would probably want more Defenses (from Weave)... because Cimerora. Of the two "floating" slots I felt had, one became a second slot in Weave (more Defense, a small LotG Regen boost), the other became a 5th slot in Tough (the Aegis Unique). I almost feel like...if I could rely on Storm Kick... I could swap out Weave (at 49) for Manuevers (at the same level), but with Weave on (and no other effects in play) the positional defenses are Melee = 60.21%, Ranged = 53.15% and AoE = 56.86%... so if I was going to make that choice I would almost certainly rethink one other power choice freeing up some slots for shuffling among several other powers, at the cost of a favored set bonus.

This sort of thinking (apply game effects based on a primary choice that affect other player's primary choices etc.) definitely feels like a peculiar spiral that the game doesn't exactly need.... This strikes me as a "big squeeze, little juice" situation.

IIRC, those missions, once selected, will have a "book" icon next to them. Most of the mission arcs are named (with bold text) when talking to a contact prior to selecting them.

Some of us have been pointing out that the CoT had also gotten "harder", yet I think it is very telling that it has been the Council that got most of the attention. Again, I suspect it is because the Council spawns were the preferred easy punching bags prior to their updates. Similar to the Council's powers... the CoT updates make sense to my head canon. Their new tricks are IMO essentially a doubling-down of tricks that the CoT use at low levels: debuffing players. Anyone who has played lower level content (e.g. a Positron, Synapse or Penny Yin task force) at a +4 setting realizes how important "ToHiT" (via Accuracy slotting, +ToHit, whatever) is important to clearing spawns. I have the feeling that some fraction of players don't always keep this in mind... writing only for myself, once I have some set bonuses, I occasionally don't pay attention to that sort of thing myself.

I can appreciate the effort to try to buff a different set (Arsenal Control) by leveraging tags from other sets (Water Blasts, Storm, whatever), but the identified sets that could (hypothetically, or otherwise) apply a +Wet tag are IMO already pretty well-performing and don't really need buffing or an additional reason to play them. Trying to synergize attacks across different primary/secondary choices seems dangerous to me. For example: uf the +Wet tag suddenly granted enemy critters +20% Resistance to Fire damage... I suspect players would become pretty upset.

Also: no one seems to know how to use the search function.

"Henchmen", not "pets". While my MMs certainly do get summoned and buffed, and occasionally get defeated... I have to be playing some rather extreme content or playing in a very sloppy way that this happens. Without focusing on specific primary/secondary choices, or making specific enhancement slotting choices, here is some general advice for all masterminds: Stay close to the henchmen, for Supremacy reasons. Let the henchmen do the fighting, but from Bodyguard mode. If the henchmen are taking huge amounts of AoE+bodyguard damage, you (the player) have probably picked the wrong fight. The spawn sizes may be too big (most enemies concentrate on single-target attacks) or the enemy is an AV/GM with a fast-charging AoE attack. I think it is rather important to, for most content, avoid the temptation to direct the henchmen to attack specific enemies. It takes them out of Bodyguard mode and for melee henchmen they will run all over the place to get to their target. It is also important to realize that while the Henchmen are the source of a MMs offense and hit points... but that they are intended to be defeated. It's not particularly different than a Blaster's or Scrapper's Health bar. The trick is to be playing content where you manage such things.

I rather like Infiltration, and use it as a travel power. Typically my Blasters end up taking 4+1 pool choices for power variety... I find the Concealment pool to be a good choice for end-build power choices for muling Defensive enhancements, so taking Infiltration early gets me a zippy, useful, travel power (that can be slotted with travel sets) that can also hold a Defensive enhancement (e.g. Kistmet, Shield Wall, Reactive Defenses) at early levels to give a character a little more oomph in lower-level content. I find that when Infiltration is slotted with a single Endurance/Travel piece I may not be the first player on a group to get to the cross-zone mission door, but I am usually in the first half of players to get to the door. I can understand other players feeling like all the other travel options/pools offer more of what those players find useful... I have plenty of characters that take more obviously recognizable "travel powers"... but I don't think Infiltration deserves any trash talk. For me, the "concealment" aspect of the power is not even one of the top three reasons why I take Infiltration.

"When the discussion on page 1 degenerates to an argument about how to have a discussion, then it is very likely that either it was a bad suggestion or the OP didn't really want a discussion." As for the OP suggestion, The game already has different instances of something this(*1), but maybe not in the way suggested. (*1) Aside from the common "in mission" things that spawn "extras" mentioned by @Rudra (who read my mind, BTW), several of the "Giant Monster" class will spawn a (usually relatively small) number of associated critters. The most annoying thing about these (to me, YMMV) is that without a targeting bind... they kinda get in the way of quickly targeting the GM. Otherwise, they are barely a threat. I don't see how this suggestion would play out any differently.

Did you have teammates? Running at 0x8 is turning up the difficulty.

What is the difficulty setting (team size and level) you have for the Council content you are struggling with, and what is the content (and level) at which you are having this trouble?

Don't forget: "As early a level as I want." I encounter enough players in-game who quickly admit that they have bitten off more than they can chew, because they adjusted some setting upwards... could be difficulty was boosted, could be enabling AVs. I never hear such players saying the game is too hard or unfair.

HO Membranes (+ToHit / +Defense / Recharge) CAN be slotted in Mind Link, but the Recharge portion of the Membrane Exposure isn't doing anything for the Recharge part of the power. The HO Membranes are only boosting +Defense and +ToHit. I recommend looking at Adjusted Targeting 50+5 Recharge as well as Boosted Defense/Recharge or ToHit/recharge pieces if you want to franken-slot. I've gotten into the habit of just dropping 6xReactive Defenses in Mind Link.

Older threads have been (recently) pulled from the soil in which they rest! I think @Pleonast comment was the best one, rephrasing: If you want a Tank that exemplars well, it is necessary to think about what levels which powers are taken. For my Tankers, this essential comes down to: Can this character run through Positron 2 or Synapse on a team of eight and still be Tanking and not lagging? (Lower level Red Side content has less of an obvious need for "Tankers", since CoV didn't launch with Tankers available.) Practically, this means: Having a Travel power of some sort before level 16 Having at least 2, preferably 3, attacks... plus the Taunt. Temporary attacks can supplement, but they won't be slotted (obviously) Having enough Defense/Resistance/Healing/Regeneration, whether or not I actual use them is another matter (i.e. not all toggles need to be used for all content, *1) Never taking Hasten below level 20, because it yields so little for lower level/exemplared content. I'll add some comments related to my bullet point about Hasten. Hasten is a power that only affects the Tanker. By level 50, there may be one-or-more powers in a Tanker's build that are yielding net positives to a team which benefit from that extra recharge, but IMO it is unnecessary (and somewhat selfish) to put it in a build so early. Obviously if no other desired power "fits" in the level range final build and it gets dropped in, that is a different conversation. I sort of feel the same about Tankers' Build Up powers... they are good for solo play, but before certain enemies appear (ehem, MoG Paragon Protectors) I don't think a Tanker really needs a Build Up for team play. (*1) In addition to often running on low level TFs without toggles, I often make one other peculiar(?) choice to NOT try to take the Fighting pool early on a final/level 50 build that exemplars down. I am aware of the advantages for many Tankers to add the Fighting pool powers, but as a practical matter I don't find any of the toggles activated to make much of a difference for most content. Having them for Enhancement mules is probably 98% of what my Tankers take them for... but even most leveling tankers should be able to Tank level-appropriate content without +6% Defense/+5% Resist/+MaxHP/whatever.

AFAIK: Any %procs in an AutoHit power require a ToHit check (in addition to the %proc chance), when I add %procs to Howling Twilight, I don't ignore Accuracy slotting. For example: Howling Twilight (A) Bombardment - Chance of Damage (Fire) (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal) (*) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5 (*) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50+5

I get mixed results from my Defenders. The best ones are those that offer both solid team buffs and impressive enemy debuffs. FWIW: In this era of CoX don't find enemy -Defense to be the end-all-be-all that it was in the early days of Live. A well-built, well-played Defender can make a huge impact on team performance. I have several Defenders I really like; my least favorite Defender uses the Poison primary. It is IMO too clumsy to use to assist teammates, and too single-target oriented to contribute much except against single hard-targets. It really feels like it is from a completely different era of the game. I like Poison just fine as a secondary, it is as a primary that I find it to be weak sauce.

I'm struggling to think of any CoX content that explicitly calls for "trinity design"... we've even had the Hamidon defeated by a team of 8 stalkers. One of the at-launch features of the game is Inspirations; these specifically allow players to not have to rely so much on "trinity thinking".