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I'm not particularly engaged with winter events, but I think they are fine as-is. As mentioned, it would be a horrible idea to change the presents to only be level-appropriate. As of now, if players want to grind opening presents (and also, defeat winter horde in open world) using lower level zones that are mostly ignored is incredibly convenient and has minimal impact on other badgers. That's been an attitude since forever. There is a wide spectrum of attitudes on this point! Early in the Homecoming era I had a level 47 fighting fires in Steel Canyon that endured no shortage of nasty chat from a level 50 who insisted I pass him the star, because "I'm level 50". What a maroon that guy was. This is just my personal experience: If I've leveled/chosen power picks for a character in something like an organic way, exemplaring down to the mid 20s on a level 50+ to fight a zone-appropriate Giant Monster with a team is usually not a big deal, with the primary exception being that Lore pets can add beaucoup extra damage, which is probably the most important non-debuff for giant sacks of HP. There is a subtle point about Masterminds who will lose all their henchmen upon getting exemplared down, so the best thing to do with MMs is IMO to invite them to a league first, and then make sure they don't end up on a team lead by a lower level.

Does Storm Cell inherit the movement modifiers of the player that created it? To my shame I can't recall if it moves slower than Carrion Creepers... I've noticed that Storm Cell doesn't move that slowly (for my non Blaster). I'm well aware that any amount of wait/setup can feel crippling to a player that wants to clear whole rooms PDQ. My thoughts on Storm Blast are pretty much those of Beam Rifle. Each is a perfectly fine blast set for Blasters, but I think each shines best when used by other ATs. In my experience: if a couple of nuke-'em types are getting out of sync on a mission, the one that is 'behind' can try to leapfrog to the next enemy spawn. Otherwise, @biostem advice about slotting it for recharge is probably a good idea. I have it 2-slotted with ATOs, but 2x D-Sync Optimization (Damage/Recharge) should also work.

In my experience, all enemies that survive long enough in a fight will eventually run. Practically, I think I've only seen this after they've taken damage (of some amount). I've read speculation that it is the AI responding to one or more of the following: The enemy missing a certain number of attacks The enemy being debuffed The enemy taking enough damage relative to its HP All of the enemy powers are still on "cooldown" At one point, the analysis was that some majority of AVs and GMs were susceptible to Immob, or didn't haven't any special protection from it. There are some enemies that are not susceptible to Immob (or slows), and there are many enemies that fly, and of course Immob has to hit, so there are some enemies that can shrug off even those tricks. The only thing I've observed to stop something from running away (tested up through Elite Bosses) is a Placate (when solo). I've observed this with my Bane, I can't remember if I've tested it with a Stalker. Sadly for MMs, Pacify from the Presence pool doesn't really duplicate all the effects of Placate, so I have no reason to believe it would work the same. The pool version also requires a ToHit check. Casual observation against the zone giant monsters: Eventually, everyone of them (except for the Arachnos flier, while vulnerable) has been observed to "run", but they never run very far before making an attack. This is in contrast for the DE "Monsters" of the Hive/PI/etc. I suspect the "monsters" run further than Jurassik partially because the monsters have fewer attacks. Without an immon, my MM has much more of a problem finishing off the DE "monsters" than it does Jurassik.

One of the things I generally dislike about Hasten, Hasten, Eggs, Bacon and Hasten is that builds often include it and then get pigeon-holed into making other decisions to attempt to make it "perma". I used to do this! I stopped after experimenting with playing content without putting Hasten on auto, and found that I either didn't need Hasten at all, or that I really only needed it for very limited circumstances. For Tankers, that could be some sort of self-heal or long-recharge defensive boost for face-engaging certain AVs. I definitely wouldn't rely on the FF +Recharge to make Hasten "perma", any attack that can take a FF +Recharge can take at least one %damage piece, or a soft-control KB->KD piece, or something else that will improve damage/survival. When I do take Hasten, it's usually just before or just after taking the power that I feel needs it, or if it is exclusively for 50+ content it can come really late in the build and have no practical impact by taking it so late. MIDS of course can show what the cycle time on powers will be with-or-without using Hasten. Generally I find in the time reduction is on the order of the Arcana time I won't bother with Hasten.

Some minor suggestion about Tanker builds that I try to incorporate: Health: *if* the Numina's Convalescence +Recovery piece is going in Health (which is often an excellent spot for it), I usually try to include another slot for the Numina Healing/Absorb piece as well. Normally I'm cold on extra Regeneration, but for Tankers' large HP pool I think this is a good choice. Build Up: I almost never 1-slot this. If the slotting is going to be minimal, I'll add a second slot (behind the %BuildUp piece) for a Recharge IO. Hasten: I occasionally do take this on Tankers, also late, but considering where it ends up in my builds I usually don't bother adding a second slot to it. Depending on teh content you intend to play, a mule power for a LotG Global Recharge piece might end up helping the build play smoother. Unbreakable Guard: I usually don't slot this set with more than 4 pieces. Power Transfer: I *believe* there was a slight patch that made it such that the %Heal piece can be in more than one power and each of them has a chance to fire. For Tankers, the %Heal from Power Transfer is IIRC providing more +HP than the Panacea piece (but don't skip the Panacea unique) I don't MIDS so I can't see what is in Gamma Boost and Stamina, so I don't know if this is applicable, but only one Performance Shifter +End does anything, and any singleton EndMod piece may as well be a (boosted) EndMod IO. I didn't notice the Reactive Defenses Scaling Damage Resistance piece in the build. I'd include that before adding any of the Impervium Armor globals.

The Robots revamp was quite a gift, since IMO they got a lot more than they lost. Losing almost all of the Knockback AND being able to slot the first upgrade power with enhancement sets really contributed to saving slots on a build. The henchmen weren't slouches before when having to "burn" one slot each for a KB->KD enhancement, but there is so much more freedom of build choices without having to do that. Maintenance Drone is also crazy good. Mileage varies for how players reacted to the move of the -Regen from the henchmen attacks into the primary rifle powers, but for me it ended up making essentially no difference: I use two of the rifle powers to debuff/soft control as well as keeping aggro. The main difference (for me) was that with the henchmen not doing -Regen, I can't AFK defeat Giant Monsters... which seems like a decent change. Another change that radically improved MMs (across the board) was the lowering of the level limit for higher-tier powers. It makes a huge difference for improving the MM experience at mid-levels (or when exemplaring to certain content).

War Mace is one of those sets that (to me) feels really clunky while leveling up, but with an investment in Global Recharge becomes more smooth-flowing. This is *not* a defense of how it plays without Global Recharge, more of an observation. The case of War Mace w/ Recharge is different (again, to me) than simply chasing Global Recharge for a relatively small number of powers in a build that have 90+ second recharge times. Battle Axe is in a really good place after the remake IMO. I have a sort of side-issue with War Mace, in that the Bane Arachnos Soldier attacks, as well as the Patron pool powers, which use the Bane Mace feel exceptionally slow no matter what, I think this bothers *me* more because for those circumstances (Bane Spider Soldier, Mace Mastery) when I'm using those sets there is some combination of weapon redraws and/or swapping between range and melee... so the animations feel extra clumsy (on top of mostly weak attacks).

Force of Will should probably be A-tier (if Hasten pool, ehem Superspeed is S-Tier). It has four solid powers, and many ATs can leverage it in crazy good ways. Mighty Leap is awesome. It is one of the fastest travel powers once zone geometry is included in the gameplay experience. Weaken Resolve is a good second pick for getting higher tier choices. It is a perfectly good one-slot wonder (Accuracy should be part of it) and it is NOT a niche scenario to apply Weaken Resolve's own debuff. This is a pretty good choice for Tankers who team. Project Will is a weak attack. The animation time is painful! Wall of Force is bonkers good. Slot it with accuracy, range and %damage (and/or another %-Resistance) and a character is knocking down and damaging enemies all over the room. Unleash Potential is an ultra-handy power that can be 6-slotted with either Defense or Health sets... or franken-slotted as well.

I had a LOT of fun soling up my Widow... as I was leveling (past 24) I had TWO builds, one Fortunata one Night Widow with different costumes, I'd flip between them when I felt like it.

What I do for the level 50 respec: Empty out my character's inventory of unslotted enhancements. Put the pieces I don't yet have slotted but want in the level 50 build in the character's inventory. Respec and load the enhancements I want Dispose of the now unused enhancements via whatever means. As for point 4, usually for me the now unused pieces are some sort of attuned piece being replaced by a Very Rare or Hami-O. Some playing in MIDS (toggle between attuned an 50+5) should demonstrate to you what the effect of boosting would have on whatever power. You will see a difference, but in many cases it will be miniscule.

These are the head-scratchers for me. The OP reads to me something like: they got a character to level 50, the character doesn't have the inf to make a very specific sort of change to their character that they have been playing, and wants to play "hard mode" but not unless that very specific change is made. Minimally, the player could try the "hard mode" with the build that was used to get to level 50... of course I'd suggest they not start with "hard mode" and play some incarnate content (with that build that got them to level 50) first. I can guarantee that teammates will notice a lack of Incarnate power (ehem, Tinpex without Alpha) before they notice if a build is using attuned enhancements or not. +1

I'm not sure this is true. As a player that (a) will have attuned pieces in a build while leveling up, (b) always respecs at level 50, (c) does replace some attuned pieces with level-50s that will get boosted... this is not even close to being an "often" circumstance, and I don't even think it is a problem. This feels (to me) like the "problem" of having to combine five +1 boosters when for certain pieces I *always* want +5 on certain pieces. This is literally something I'll do once for each each level 50 build then pretty much never think about it for that build again. Both respecs and unslotters are dirt cheap, and the auction house vig for any single piece that may have been used while leveling is going to be small potatoes, unless there are some very poor choices and/or buy-it-nao also happening.

So... now that my latest Bane/Huntsman is in the 40s, I remember what it is I find painful/frustrating about this AT: 1) The RNG is the RNG, but for reasons, every MISS on this character is extra painful. It has the typical "different STREAKBREAKER for singe-target and AoE" of course, and with an even mix of both types of attacks, it is trivial to end up with two misses in a row when cycling through attacks. I find it REALLY painful on this character (with an emphasis on +Accuracy as well as +ToHit, plus slotting choices), because for many levels I've been sitting at 95% ToHit chance (and there should be no toggles running making ToHit checks). It also has the pain felt by Stalkers when an attack with a chance to Critical misses after either Placate or Surveillance. Of course, missing with what should be a hard-hitting melee mace attack to finish off an enemy is painful. 2) The wind up on the Mace attacks, especially when trying to get a runner. Of course I expected Wide Area Web Grenade to help, but see the above point about RNG. It's not a BAD choice of AT by any means, but I think it is the lack of having TWO (reliable, so not %proc) hard-hitting attacks, either of single-target or AoE) that can follow one-another upon a MISS (to use STREAKBREAKER) that makes *my* build feel weirdly clunky in combat. Mileage varies of course.

I don't slot the Gaussian's piece in henchmen, but I regularly observe henches that have the Soulbound Allegiance %Build Up piece to have multiple instances of its effect (by watching their power icons).

I feel like this would make Giant Monsters *too* easy to find and defeat. There are already plenty of multi-boxers who do things like camp in Echo: Dark Astoria, or who sweep through zones after Giant Monster announcements, bringing their alts... there is no reason to take ALL the skill of "hunting" out of the game. Many players already don't "clean up" after Giant Monsters, leaving Rubbles, Clockworks, Croatoan extras, etc.... putting an indicator of the GM presence would almost certainly contribute to keeping monsters from eventually respawing, as who will patrol a zone looking for a GM that they "know" isn't there? The only Giant Monster I feel that this request would make any sort of sense for is the Arachnos Flier, and even requesting for it I have mixed feeling. The reasons I feel it might make sense for the Arachnos Flier: There are four different Fliers, each is invulnerable when flying on the (different, non-random) paths The Flier will "despawn" in a very mobile way. AFAIK the only other open-world "zone" GM that will despawn is the summoned Adamastor timer. All the other GM will stay in the zone until defeated, some will move, some will not.

Some speculation on my part about players that use only (level 25) IOs, and I suppose SO/DOs. I know these players exist; some of them even use the forum! I highly suspect that these players are some combination of: Players with low/incomplete information about Homecoming Self-imposed build/play restrictions, possibly through nostalgia or stubbornness Adding new aspects to Homecoming isn't going to help with point 1 (when the game already includes what the player wants), and won't make a difference for point 2. Specifically about level 25 IOs (which I agree are perfectly viable to use for huge amounts of content)... because of crafting badges with specific character rewards for 25/30 and 45/50 IO recipes, the market has large numbers of these for sale at any given time. Personally: I usually craft my own (for the rewards), but I have to believe that outfitting a level 22 character with level 25 IOs (purched from the Market) has got to be cheaper that trying to keep upgrading SOs or following some other enhancement-upgrading path that isn't using attuned pieces from sets in a range that goes up to level 50. As for the request to somehow turn slotted, catalyzed pieces into level 50 (or whatever) pieces that can later be boosted... this is a niche request that can already be done in-game, just not via some magical new piece of salvage. I would use it (very rarely) but even I recognize that this is highly niche(*1). Pretty much every non-PVP or non-Very Rare enhancement set piece I've ever wanted to boost to 50+ has been a relatively cheap uncommon (to buy or craft) or something I happened to have in storage or have the level 50 recipe anyway (because those are what drop for level 50s). Writing only for myself: I've been playing long enough and know my build preferences well enough that I save specific recipes, the market is a perfectly fine (and often cheaper) source for 90% of my needs I can't just fill from SG storage. I suspect that once the OP plays more (both with the newly minted 50s, and with more characters that either play organically or get power-leveled), they will find that pretty much all they need is a SG base with storage racks, a merit vendor, and an invention table.

The Atlas Park exits is labeled "Mercy Island". The Steel Canyon Exit is labeled 'Cap Au Diable". The Kings Row exit is labeled 'Port Oakes'. Skyway City and Boomtown exits are correctly labeled.

I want to say that I tried all combinations of %damage in it, and it was the hold piece for the Pets.Liquefy and Liquefy.Shock that was the most reliable. The Targeted AoE %procs go off on-cast, and are incredibly reliable. IIRC everything else was acting as a pseudo-pet, so "bad %proc" chances.

I think this idea *is* exploitable, but not on the market, since the market doesn't care what level a piece is when it is sold. This is why the whole idea of a de-attuner doesn't need to exist. It is exploitable in this sense: I could buy (or get from drops) low-crafting-cost recipes and burn a bunch of stuff/effort to make the 50s, and then boost them. It would essentially become a method to "sink" merits and/or inf. We don't need this. It smacks of a passing idea that someone had with one of their first level 50s.

I very rarely ever take Patron pets (or a Psi Nexus) on any character. I've done it for theme, and when I had a character that was already taking a Patron pool and I happened to have at least 3 extra slots to spare for them. I think a Crabbermind is the only character i have where I knew going into the build that I'd have one. Anywho, when I have them, I pretty much just summon one whenever it is available. I don't put any more thought into it than that... except on one of my defenders, who will usually try to remember to buff it. My guess is that for a Scrapper, there isn't much that the Scrapper can do to help keep a Patron/Epic pet alive, except to keep on scrappin!

I often find that PUGs for Positron, Synapse go smoother without a non-exemplared Tanker or Brute. Of course, exemplared characters can pretty much carry anyone for a lot of this low level content. Yin is a different sort of kettle of Freaks, because the one point I wanted to make about Clamor was that her Radiation Infection is going to end up on somebody, and that somebody shouldn't be adjacent to teammates. A Tanker's Taunt is the most reliable way to get it and not have to stand adjacent to here (and any melee friends). As a practical matter, whichever of my characters gets the toggle I move away from my teammates... even if I'm playing something like a Scrapper (unless the rest of the team is staying out of melee range of Clamor... but that is rarely the case in my experience). A Tanker/Brute that relies on punchvoke and/or auras for aggro is often staying toe-to-toe with Clamor, and any other melee types. The Radiation Infection debuff is probably bears more responsibility for player defeats in the reactor room than anything else.

I'd really have to see which powers, and what is slotted in them, before I'd believe that boosting an entire (non-VR, non-PVP) set makes much of a difference in Hard Mode. I can believe it for 2-slot only powers, or Franken-slotted powers, but only to a point. I don't do much 'hard mode', but I have to believe that team buffs (i.e. actual power choices) being layered on top of individual builds is more important than 50 vs. 50+5 enhancements in a set.

Are you sure they weren't talking about Incarnate powers? In many cases the extra effects of boosting sets of 3 or more Enhancements is extremely marginal. At two-or-fewer enhancements it is barely a set, and a pair of Hami-O might do the trick even better. Besides, by the time a character is level 50, it can have up to 20 inspirations on hand at any given time.

Writing only for myself: I find it pretty crazy what some characters can produce in terms of raw damage in a limited period of time if I push them well into the red and don't mind "burning green" (i.e. Health). Having a self-rez available on the order of every 90 seconds (because of Global recharge, and what-not) beyond things like Barrier, Rune of Protection, Inspirations, blah blah blah fishcakes is just one more piece of a puzzle to make playing certain characters more enjoyable. My only regret is that if it is Rise of the Phoenix from an Epic pool, the self-rez comes pretty late for my tastes. Unrelenting can be had much earlier, but its power pool is much less satisfactory and is something of an acquired taste.