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I didn't mean to cause sticker shock! There are different strategies for ATO/Very Rare/Winter ownership. I used to simply market to get them but I have a glut of merits so they are often used. My SG base has accumulated plenty of catalysts as well as attuned PVP and other commonly used pieces that came as drops or converter roulette. I typically use the attuned PVP pieces until I can swap in level 50s (which get boosted). If you play enough content you will accumulate PVP recipes and merits long before level 50. If you keep playing at level 50, you will accumulate Catalysts. I usually force the new character to pay for its own boosters and common IOs. I'm all over the place when it comes to "where do HamiO/DSyncs come from?" in any given build... could be I earned and kept them, could be I bought them. My market habits have become "wasteful" in terms of Inf and Merits, but that's me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Generally: before level 50 I am using leftover Overwhelming Force or attuned PVP sets until I lean into the Very Rare pieces. I see the main advantages of the Very Rare sets as being the (commonly occurring 4- and 5-piece) global bonuses to Accuracy and Recharge... plus they way they exemplar down. Almost all AT play better with these Global bonuses, but I can only think of one character in my stable (a War Mace Scrapper) that felt like it has painfully slow until the Very Rare Global Recharge helped the attack chain.... most ATs can play just fine without them. Just repeating myself: PVP recipes will drop at all levels, so I typically craft and attune these at whatever level. The attuned ones can be slotted very early in a career and will level up with the character, as @Frozen Burn wrote. It is easy to pull those out of a build during a respec or simply with unslotters. As was written above, the Auction House can be used to 'convert' to/from attuned, for a price.

Here is my Water/Nature Corruptor. I wouldn't say it is the greatest possible build, but I found myself trying to thread many different needles with respect to enhancement set choices and power picks.

I'm extremely far down the list of believing that there is a single play style for any AT (or player). I personally play a very engaged MM, I witness other MM players who are clearly not AFK but play very differently. For some content, my "most active" MM will become rather passive (zone invasions, mothership raids) because the henchmen AI is better at targeting enemies than I am! Those characters (multi-boxing?) would have gotten better XP and drops by simply going into the AE and running a farm. Even with a single MM's 6 henchmen getting kill credits from Murder Motel spawns, they aren't getting most (or even very much) of the XP... assuming that the players clicking on doors are actually doing damage to the TRICK spawns. The Bosses/Elite Bosses may or may not affect the XP math (compared to a straight AE farm) but I doubt that henchmen from an "AFK MM" are specifically shifting attention to focus fire on elite bosses. This past season I anchored a few teams at the PI motel, and occasionally the XP-per-unit-time was carp... even with everyone on my team clicking doors. I don't think it is possible to demonstrate regular "XP harm", even if it is possible to imagine "hypothetical XP harm." When I regularly see multiple characters in the league gaining 20+ levels in a sitting, I am having a hard time seeing how much any non-league player is actually hurting league players. I understand the feeling that someone else appears to be taking advantage of a situation that some "in-group" of people are already taking advantage of... and so this feels to me like a "get away from my always-restocked fishing hole" situation.

If a players is truly AFK, they will get logged out from the open world zone. Otherwise it can be very hard to tell if the player really is AFK or just playing their MM in a very disengaged way. The MM subforum has no shortage of players recommending against MM powers that require active play. That is: very few attacks, spamming things like Twilight Grasp, etc. My point stands: A disengaged Mastermind is, at best, insta-killing the minions. They won't be directly engaging with the 'highest reward' enemies, certainly not at the level of more active players. XP and Inf is proportional to the amount of damage done. The only thing I see a disengaged (again, can't really call them AFK in an open zone) MM's squad of henchmen impacting might be is the reward drop rate, but AFAIK who gets drops is affected by teams... again AFAIK, drop rates for defeating spawns are spread among team members not by rando damage by a solo player. This hypothetical 'AFK MM' is missing out on GM Merits and TREAT rewards. I don't see this as something to get that upset about. If anything, multiple henchmen have a bigger effect on FPS than on XP. EDIT: Let's not kid ourselves that Murder Motel in Peregrine was chosen because it adds some arbitrary level of difficulty or 'extra engagement' that makes it more deserving of a certain style of play. It's literally the easiest place for teams (with a level 50) to ToT: many doors, with easy lines-of-sight hospital is right across the street it's in a zone that allows 50s (with or without Incarnate powers) to click doors It's close to zone travel options (helipad, base portal, to some extent travel from TUNNEL, Ferry, Ouroboros can all be risk free) At some level this feels to me like a complaint that 'someone else is taking advantage of the thing I want to take advantage of'. If the MM really wants to defeat mobs (for better rewards, XP and INF) and be truly AFK the AE is literally just behind the PI motel. Obviously the answer is to move ToTing to a PVP zone, and allow player kills of those who are judged to be playing in a completely inactive way.

This is the (level 50) slotting I like for Howling Twilight (which should be spammed). The %Energy could be %Fire, depending on taste. Howling Twilight (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy) (*) 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 A note about %damage: You will need Accuracy and ToHit to get the most out of %procs. I try to get a mix of Global Accuracy as well as slotting Accuracy in the %proc the powers as well. I use Shadow Fall to get the Kismet +ToHit piece slotted too, because it is almost always toggled on. Here is my typical slotting: Shadow Fall (A) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (*) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance: Level 50+5 (*) Kismet - Accuracy +6% (*) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection (*) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (*) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50 I slot Fearsome Stare as follows, to get more %damage in it. Dark Servant just gets the four pieces of Cloud Senses. Fearsome Stare (A) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Recharge (*) Glimpse of the Abyss - Chance of Damage(Psionic)

I have my own peeve about calling henchmen (which can be controlled) pets (which cannot be controlled like henchmen) 🙂 I'm dropping traps, debuffing the hard targets, and casting AoE at those x8 spawns, or to draw more aggro to me. Basically: I'm usually facing so many different enemies at once that directing the henchmen at specific targets would be inefficient. My MMs will leave bodyguard mode, but only when: An enemy has run away and I want it chased down... 'attack my target' (either the T1s or T2s get this job) I'm fighting large spawns of even-con scrubs... because I am so far past the 'defense softcap'.... 'aggressive mode' I need some fraction of the henchmen to take the alpha strike... 'attack my target' When I'm facing multiple AV/GMs at once, I will usually try to make sure that fire is being focused on only one of the enemies at a time. Often I have to do this through repositioning the henchmen, because dropping out of bodyguard mode can be dangerous... 'goto' or directing the T3 only to focus on 'attack my target'.

Here is the build I use for my 'enemies seem to be having a lot of trouble pulling themselves together' build I mentioned above. I definitely wanted an 'enemies seem to fall down a lot', but I felt there was only so far I could go with that without picking a set full of attacks that do knockback... hence the choice of a Mind/Poison/Primal Controller with some Force of Will for extra knockdown. There are of course P2W Grenades and Plasmatic Tasers. This is possibly my most %proc-tastic build; which is important to being able to solo large spawns. IIRC, the leveling up build roughly followed what the final build was. Folks experienced with the control powers and debuffs can probably figure out which ones don't need to be heavily slotted while leveling.

I held off commenting in this thread until after the event. I'm going to springboard from a recent post, but what I write is not directed at any individual player. I think the tenor of this thread is akin to "someone else is playing in a way I don't like", and while I don't mind folks venting about a set of peeves I don't think there is an actual problem here that needs to be fixed. Bluntly: "XP Leeching", "Kill Stealing", "Drop Stealing", "Door Stealing" barely rise to the level of a thing. It reminds me too much of the early live days of "someone kill stole my 10th 5th Column while I was patrolling Steel Canyon!" complaints. I'll post my own Halloween playstyle preferences later so folks can take shots directly at me. I think there is a case to be made that every character below level 40 that is side-kicked in PI is "XP Leeching" (if anyone believes that is a thing). It's not like those unslotted attacks are doing much for the league, and it is rare that I witnessed freshly-minted characters training up and taking powers from the Leadership or Teleportation pool to improve the QoL of the higher-level characters who are doing most of the work. I think I had one freshly-minted (i.e. sub-level-50) character this year, but when I am accumulating levels quickly I try to take pool powers to benefit the league/team, because respecs are a thing. I don't AFK while on a league... yet I have trouble imagining that some non-league "AFK Mastermind" is really 'stealing' anything from a league. As an aside: there are any number of shared builds in the MM subforum such that it would be legitimately hard for me to tell if the MM player isn't playing the game differently from how they normally play... especially if the MM player doesn't need or want anything specific from clicking on doors. Any MM that can AFK solo the level 54s at 'Murder Hotel' can do much better (in terms of XP, reward drops, Inf) from other content... so as far as I'm concerned such a player is basically gimping themselves more than they are possibly hurting a league. Is it a MM soloing the minions for badges that has got everyone upset? I know that TRICK spawns can also drop event salvage, but that is already somewhat rare and anyone who damages an enemy gets in the pool for a potential drop. Is it this low-level drops and defeat badges that folks are sweating? My Halloween playstyle: I join PI league with 'fresh' level 50s. I want the prismatic aether badges. I also want a costume so I can get the tip mission. I don't mind anchoring a team and try to make sure when I drop that the team has another level 50. Once I have the badges I want... I don't need a league to get the tip mission (or XP, or drops, or costumes), but if I feel like leaguing I switch to GM hunting. As was written above: it is trivial to have Incadescence once the slot is unlocked. I feel like I was teleporting leagues around PI for the first two weeks of the event! I definitely league for zone events. I've been on banner teams that either weren't capable of doing damage or were otherwise disengaged such that I missed out on banner badges. Most of the time I solo for tip missions. I find it to be too much effort to get a ToT team all on the same page for running the tip (for salvage, badges) and coordinating how to play the mission... if everyone even wants to play it. Depending on the character, when I am soloing doors at x1 I may or may not fight the enemies that result from 'TRICK!'... eventually I'll have enough of them around to want to deal with. I prefer to solo the GMs outside of the high-level zones. I am often finding leftover Unseelie Court in places where I think there is no reason for them to be left behind... but the spawn times are fast enough that (until now) I haven't publicly complained about this level of sloppiness. AFAIK, there is only one commonly used spot that is particularly easy to never aggro an Unseelie spawn, so I don't judge folks on that spot. In order to make sure the entire spawn is cleared: all you have to do is "count to seven" to make sure they are all defeated, and if that is too much effort the pumpkins are a dead giveaway that there is probably a leftover spawn to be dealt with... eventually they come back. As an aside: IIRC, a league member who is on GM patrol can still get credit for "defeat X" (e.g. for prismatic aethers) but won't get XP or reward drops... so are they "leeching" or are they being taken advantage of?

Ma'am, this is a Wendy's.

This is the theme of my Mind/Poison/Primal Controller. Everyone who crosses paths with him ends up fumbling and bumbling.

What is the total Regeneration rate with a level 50 Heal IO?

Until someone tests and reports back... I'm reluctant to believe that the +Regeneration piece actually works that way. I'm not saying anyone is wrong as the Necromancy upgrade power seems to work that way, but we know that the Robotics upgrade power (that takes heal sets) does not. The Miracle piece is a +15% Recovery... which maybe the Ninja need and maybe they don't... but I think I'd rather have the Preventive Maintenance %Absorb slotted in it, even if it only works for the MM. If that also works for the henchmen... bonus for them! The main point I want to make is that the henchmen need slotted accuracy to even have a chance to %proc. The slotting for Oni seems to be leaving a LOT of Damage Enhancement potential unused. Minimally: Edict of the Master caps at level 40... sometimes that compromise makes sense, I don't think it does on the T3. The use of %proc on the T2 looks like a bade tradeoff: two (-1) hench with 4(?) powers that might trigger one %damage and a 10(?) second -Resistance debuff as opposed to always boosting the accuracy and damage of 7 attacks of the T3 Oni. As an aside: if the player had the recharge times of powers like Sting of the Wasp and Gambler's Cut... each under 7 seconds... I'd never sacrifice a set bonus for what the %proc rates would be if they were player attacks. Are the %proc chance that much improved for (two) Jounin? Disclaimer: I am a believer in trying to get resistance debuffs into play via %proc, but my preference for Masterminds is to have multiple powers (preferably not toggles or pseudo-pets) slotted with the same %-Resistance piece, because each successful re-application of that %-Res will extend the duration of the debuff... and it is IMO pretty much only in long duration fights with a lot of allies (or henchmen) that %-Resistance debuffs have a chance at shaving times. Otherwise I think it is better to simply slot a reliable %damage piece of an different sort of damage type. (because Resistance resists resistable resistance debuffs, and damage is damage.) I prefer to try to do this sort of debuffing with AoE attacks from the MM using the Annihilation piece, which I think could also be slotted in Howling Twilight. This is just me: I won't trust henchmen defense numbers until I see them in game, specifically because of Level shifts, proximity to the MM (for Supremacy, if nothing else) and enemy debuffs. The good news is that with unslotters, it is trivial to test alternate slotting for henchmen. For Ninja, I suggest: T1: (A) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Damage: Level 50 (*) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Overwhelming Force – Damage/Knockback-to-Knockdown (*) Expedient Reinforcement - Resist Bonus Aura for Pets (*) Sovereign Right – Accuracy/Damage (*) Sovereign Right - Resistance Bonus T2: (A) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Superior Mark of Supremacy - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Soulbound Allegiance – Chance for Build Up: Level 50 (*) Edict of the Master: Defense Bonus (*) Call to Arms: Defense Aura for Pets (*) Call to Arms: Accuracy/Damage T3: (A) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (*) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Damage/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 (*) Superior Command of the Mastermind - Recharge/Pet +AoE Defense Aura: Level 50 (*) Superior Mark of Supremacy: Accuracy/Damage: Level 50 (*) Superior Mark of Supremacy: Endurance, +Resist (All) +Regen(Pets): Level 50

I disagree with this advice: Unless a MM build has someplace other than the T1/T2/T3 henchmen to slot the Reisstance/Defense Aura Enhancements... 4 of which don't come from the ATO sets... these will need to go into the henchmen powers. The MM ATOs are worth using 10 of the 18 possible slots. This leave 4 slots across 3 henchmen to play with. I typically have those 4 slots split between the T1 and T2. For %proc to work in the henchmen, the henchmen will need to have Accuracy/ToHit... keeping in mind that for most of the game content the T1 and T2 will suffer a (negative) level shift against all enemies even-level and above to the MM. You also have to pick a %damage piece that can possibly trigger off of a majority of attacks made by the henchmen. This is why I like the KB->KD and the %Buildup. My own preference is to make sure to use the Very Rare %BuildUp... preferably in the T1, but Genin are nuts with the KB->KD piece... so their last slot will almost certainly be an Accuracy/Damage piece. The T2 Jouninstill will need an Accuracy boost, so there isn't a lot of room there. I might consider a Boosted 50+5 Fury of the Gladiator Accuracy/Damage plus the Fury of the Gladiator %-Res, but honestly I think I'd just go 2x Soulbound Allegiance Acc/Dam 50+5 plus %Build Up. EDIT: My bad, Soulbound Allegiance doesn't have a Accuracy/Damage piece! Sovereign Right (Attuned will probably be my choice)

I didn't put the build into Mids, but I saw some approaches I wouldn't take: Call Genin T1 has the slotting I would use for the T3 Oni. Generally, I find enhancing the T3 is better than slotting the uniques in the T3 I'd put an Overwhelming Force KB->KD and the Soulbound Allegiance %BuildUp pieces in the T1 henchmen. With those choices, I want 2x Superior Mark of Supremacy in each henchmen, and then fill with the uniques. If possible, add Acc/Damage pieces from sets to boost henchmen stats and get the some set bonuses. As for /Dark.... my attitude depends on the slots available. Tar Patch: Generally I go simple with 2xRecharge IO. It isn't a great %proc power, but it is a great -Resistance Power. Enhancing Slow is not really necessary IMO. I am dumbfounded why in this build the 6th slot isn't the last Ice Mistral's piece, as it would give a pretty big boost to AoE defense. Twilight Grasp is IMO over-slotted, and it is using the wrong set. I would lean to this slotting, with or without the %+Endurance (there may be a better power for it, I'd have to experiment): (A) Theft of Essence - Chance for +Endurance (*) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge Darkest Night is almost certainly over-slotted for my taste. Until I can drop a single Hami-O Enzyme in it, I will just slot for Endurance Cost. YMMV, but I don't take debuff powers so early in a build if I have better choices. Howling Twilight: This isn't a terrible choice of slotting, but I prefer the following... this threads the needle for me on Recharge, Accuracy, Endurance, Stun and Damage... with more viable set bonuses. YMMV. (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy) OR 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 Shadow Fall is an odd duck of a power, in that it can leverage useful uniques and/or go for set bonuses. MMY depeding on henchman protection. I would probably go with: (A) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (*) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance: Level 50+5 (*) Kismet - Accuracy +6% (*) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection (*) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (*) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Fearsome Stare: I would replace the Siphon Insight piece with the %Psionic piece from Glimpse of the Abyss. Dark Servant: I tend to only 4-slot Cloud Senses, because I don't think there is a better %proc option. Charged Armor: 2-slot or 4-slot (or more) Unbreakable Guard... 3-slotting this set seems like a waste of a slot to me. Tactics: On a Mastermind, once I am past one or two slots (going for +ToHit and Endurance) I think I would always go for the 6-slots of Gaussian's in order to get the extra Defense bonuses. My opinion is that I like extra global +Accuracy and +Recharge from Adjusted Targeting, but I like +Movement, +HP, +Recovery and +Defense MORE. I haven't played Ninjas, but I have thoughts on the other powers: I don't know how Kuji In Zen is working for the henchmen, but I generally don't trust a %proc piece in such a power. I suspect it is only working for the MM and only for 120 seconds after cast. If it also works for the Henchmen, I suppose recasting it over-and-over isn't a terrible strategy. I would have to monitor attributes of the henchmen before deciding if this is better than just slotting a Preventive Medicine %Absorb (or IO Health) I can't speak for Train Ninja options. I wouldn't recommend skipping all the Primary MM attacks. I would give up Electrifying Fences... with Tar Patch I don't think the Immobilize is that necessary (and the power comes way late in the build). Taking the MM AoE attack (Fistful of Arrows) as early as possible does the following: It will draw aggro to the MM It offers a chance for a good set bonus (I like 6xAnnihilation), mileage varies. It offers a chance for %proc, if that is how you want to roll. I would absolutely include a %-Resistance piece (again, see Annihilation) Keep in mind that even with %damage, most of the damage is coming from the Henchmen. Also don't forget the stiff Endurance tax that MMs pay for making attacks. All the extra Global Recharge is just helping the MM burn through Endurance faster. What would you be doing with all that Global recharge? I didn't crunch the sets, but it looks as if the goal is simply to get (close to or beyond) perma-Hasten. As can be seen by some of my suggestions, I wouldn't chase after all that recharge... in fact I'd drop Hasten as well. I may have missed something but I didn't see any powers that really benefit from it, except possibly improved spamming of Howling Twilight.

I rarely bother with trying to make beaucoup inf these days, which means I'm not actively hunting recipes to craft... but this is exactly what I do with my recipe drops. I happen to be Catalyst-rich (I play enough with a small stable of characters) so crafted recipes I will use get added to characters, generally at the the level 50 respec, or earlier if appropriate. The AH can attune them for the cost of the vig as well, depending on supply. Sidebar about my SG base storage: My SG base stores: Super-Inspirations (1 bin) 4x Enhancements: Mostly the crafted 'useful' Enhancements (attuned or not), I have a few ATO/Winter still in there IIRC 1x oddball (Catalysts, Warburg pieces, occasionally Prismatics and some holiday pieces) The rest are salvage This lets me casually craft my recipe drops, allows me to quickly craft any PVP level 10 (or 50) PVP recipes, refill on SG boosts if I am missing salvage. Characters (and their Vault and AH storage) can also act as storage racks, up to a point. There are a few Enhancement sets and recipes I especially like for certain builds that are kept with some level 50s, but are otherwise ones I don't generally use. (+1) I don't think I've ever made x MInf in y minutes... because I am lazy and/or patient. When I had my first 5 characters on Homecoming, I dedicated one of them to earning merits, playing level 50 x8 content (for Inf and Drops), crafting/converting for the market and leveraging the Winter pack sales (no longer available). This one character by itself primed the SG base with everything I needed for future characters... including 'starting funds' for P2W goodies. New characters replenish the Inf they spend for future characters (vendors, AH), and they have replenished the stock of attuned enhancements. I write (and repeat) the above because since I've been doing the above, I think the most actual Inf I ever spent on a single character is probably on the order of 200 Minf (because D-Syncs, and BIN fever). I certainly have spent an amount greater than that if imagining that the Merits, Catalysts, Boosters used on characters were converted to Inf.... but my point is that Inf itself isn't that necessary, but of course having a cushion isn't a bad thing. I simply question the size of that cushion. I can imagine that there are players who really want to power-level to 50+, and then want to have full-kits. My advice for such a player that does this and has almost no Inf... craft some of the workbench IO drops, slot those, and run lower-level content like crazy. Simply having powers slotted will make such a character pretty powerful for low-level content. Use merits and drops from the low-level content to start the AH journey.

I'd make a pair of Praetorian Epic Archetypes (PEAT), modeled somewhat after the VEATs. There would be two starting points with two (diverging) paths. I'm lazy so I'll explain them based on male/female, but there are only slightly canonical reasons for this. Female Path: Starts with a "Resistance/Teamwork" path (like Arachnos Widows), and starts with "Underground" contacts. At level 24, hard choices (i.e. respec) occurs and there are two divergent paths: A "Seer" path <- the character is given some autonomy, obviously A "Carnival of Light" path Male path: Starts with a "Police/Training" path (akin to Arachnos Soldiers), and starts with "PPD" contacts. At level 24 is when the "hard choices" happen, with two different options: An "IDF" path A "Devoured/Infected" path <- this would be a slight change to canon in which the Praetorian mad science is experimenting with hybridized Devouring Earth/IDF soldiers to combat Hamidon

I think it is a greater logical flaw to make guesses that players know about one aspect of the game (Auction House Salvage) and not about other aspect of the games. I include in this "I want that specific dope enhancement" aspect. I seriously doubt there exits a new player who knows about a PVP Panacea piece and only knows about yellow salvage prices in the AH as some means of getting that piece. I am aware that folks can compartmentalize what they want to know... but I am highly skeptical that any lone player would somehow discover they want certain specific enhancement pieces and remain ignorant about so much of the rest of the game. Organically, players will get a pop-up about "first piece of salvage" and "first merit reward" but (from memory) the in-game explanation for the auction house comes only at the completion of the University crafting arc.

This isn't applicable to low-level characters, but level 50 Recipes sell to vendors for an average of of 100K Inf. SO Enhancement drops vendor for an average of 12K Inf. (+1) I personally find it odd that folks do weird things on the yellow salvage market... it is something of a 'choke point' for set enhancements (and some SG base buffs), but trying to buy so much (for self-crafting or market manipulation) strikes me as highly inefficient. If there are "new players" who are being injured by the AH price of (fungible) yellow salvage... I have to believe that those players now know enough to not really be affected by it because they presumably know how to earn merits and what can be done with those merits. To echo @SwitchFade... it's incredibly straightforward to collect a significant number of merits by simply exploring and playing content. I have trouble imagining that a "new player" is attuned to recipe crafting (and wants to jump into it) but is ignorant about other aspects of the game. For example: A newly minted blue-side character can immediately go to Atlas Park -> Recluse's Victory to be "Entrusted with a Secret"... and after leveling up (almost trivial with AP contacts) can be in a position to run the lowest Ouro arcs (in Atlas Park) for merits. IIRC Red side low-level arcs are slightly more rewarding for merits, but getting the Ouro badge on a starting red-sider is not as trivial... and the travel around Mercy Island can be frustrating. If the players literally don't know about Ouroboros, they can run arcs as usual and get clued in via contacts.

Stupid level 7 market tricks: those 100-merit PVP recipes are incredibly cheap to craft at the lowest levels! Level 7's should be making a killing.

I'm ok with sets having niche powers. I agree that for most content, and for (what I imagine is) a majority of playstyles, Confront isn't really needed on Scrappers/Widows to handle pretty much all the content the game can throw at a team/player. Having written the above: I have used Confront while leveling, I did find it useful for set bonuses and for content when teaming with other players that had no aggro-management (beyond auras and simply casting AoE). I'd like to use this thread to once again remind folks that the enhancement set choices for Threat are particularly thin and not really that imaginative. If we had something like a Very Rare enhancement set for Threat I know I would more seriously consider slotting certain Threat powers. In particular, I'd like to see the following pieces exist in a hypothetical Very Rare Threat set: Accuracy/Threat <- Not all threat powers are auto-hit! This type of enhancement combo does not exist (except as a D-Sync!) "Contagious Taunt" <- Similar to Contagious Confusion, to make single-target 'taunts' slightly more effective Accuracy/Endurance <- primarily for the classes that can slot Threat pieces into toggles The other three pieces can be combinations of Threat, Range, Recharge... but I'd avoid flat-out mimicking Mocking Beratement and Perfect Zinger. I recommend this as a Very Rare set so that the pieces are unique... so presumably there would be fewer concerns about balance issues. I can believe that a PVP/Very Rare "Taunt" set was never previously added because of PVP balance concerns... but that's because I remember (or imagine I remember) an era of Live PVP where game effects like Taunt really surprised PVPers (since Taunts were so uncommonly used by enemies in PvE).... but I think we are way past worrying about how upsetting this could possibly be in PVP.

I agree that a color-coded shading in the team/pets tab would be good for STATUS effects (because I don't like to keep the Ally power icons visible... sometimes there are too many!), but I think it would be important to avoid going overboard with both different types of indications and the number of different effects that would be indicated. For example: It is common for Accuracy/ToHit/Defenses to be debuffed... occasionally it is nice to know when this has happened to an ally, but this is different IMO than an ally being slept/held. This being written: when I am playing a support character, I explicitly try to keep allies that I can assist in my field of vision so as to keep an eye on visual clues for their character.

My Defender priority list is similar: Team Buffs (Defense, Status, Resistance... roughly in that order, but I don't always have a choice) Personal Accuracy/ToHit and Endurance Managment Enemy Debuffs (-Regen, -Res are priorities) I like to solo (although not +4x8) so all my characters will have an attack chain for all level ranges. EDIT: I should clarify... this is roughly my priority through all levels, but for "level 54" or Incarnate Content: Debuffing the hardest targets is something I find really important for teams, and pushing teams well-beyond the "Incarnate softcap" is usually critical fro team success. Most players will have figured out how to deal with Status effects, but it doesn't hurt to layer extra help on them.

I played with /Dark on Live... in the Homecoming era I don't think the Dark secondary is as dominant. The PBAoE Heal of Twilight Grasp, plus the Dark Servant Pet were game-changing in the Live era. I don't have a /Dark MM on Homecoming, but here is what I would definitely get: Tar Patch, because of Slow (some good set options, and helps keep henchmen alive by delaying enemy offense) but mostly for AoE -Resistance Twilight Grasp, although PBAoE heals are wonderful... this is a power I'd probably mostly want for -Regeneration Howling Twilight, because it is a crazy good AoE stun Shadow Fall for MOAR Defense Dark Servant (see other threads for slotting options) I would probably try to include: Fearsome Stare, provided I could have 4xCloud Senses + %Psi from Glimpse (i like Fear and I like cones) Darkest Night, but this would probably be a mid/late-build power pick without extra slots. I am not keen on single-target holds, so Petrifying Gaze would not be a high priority. I like the set options and I like the %proc options, but as spawn sizes increase single-target holds become less important for my play style. YMMV. Black Hole is a niche power for me. My opinion of /Cold is that it has fewer obvious skippable powers. I would also want to maximize global Recharge to reduce the recharge times of Benumb and Heat Loss. I like the many options for slotting global Defense/Resistance pieces. I don't like Snow Storm as much as a slow. Frostwork is a sly power... many good set choices could go in this, but planning to use this all the time on a henchman (which would be its best default use for a solo player) seems like a sort of mental trap that closes off different options the MM may have (to improve offense). I might skip Infrigidate: Yes it is a great candidate for %damage (but add Accuracy and the Achille's Heel %-Res first!), however the real appeal to me (for a MM) is the incredible raw Defense Debuff. If the henchmen have enough Accuracy/ToHit, this aspect is less important. I'd certainly have it while leveling; I'm just not sure if I'd use it in a 50 build, no matter how much I'd want to. YMMV. My attitude to MMs is that the multi-hench MM shouldn't be trying to damage enemies with their own attacks, especially not against single-targets. Single target debuffs are better than single-target MM attacks IMO.I wouldn't fault anyone for 6-slotting Infrigidate, I'm just putting my cards on the table as far as my own slotting priorities. TLDR: I like Dark for the relative simplicity, /Cold looks to me to require a more active playstyle that requires chasing Global recharge.

A suggestion for players that cannot handle, or otherwise don't feel like defeating Hallowe'en elite boss monsters: ToT near something that has police drones. Run to the drones and et the drones zap them. I will admit that I have some characters that aren't threatened by the bosses, yet defeating the elite bosses takes significant effort. I'll just drag the EBs from door-to-door until I want them drones to clean them up.

I've quoted what I consider to be the TLDR concluding statement, and bolded what I think the key feature is for Regeneration. At first order, my thinking is "If don't plan on continual, regular spending of HP... I won't go out of my way to plan to improve the passive refilling of the HP bar." I contrast with the Endurance bar, which all of my characters are constantly spending Endurance... and I will admit to occasionally leaning too hard into Recovery. But this is why we have unslotters to test! There are some circumstances where MOAR passive HP refill is worthwhile (for a wide variety of AT), but often there are other mitigation options that offer more utility across a wider amount of content.