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I think "sour attitude" is a good descriptor. In some ways it Fold Space similar to how folks view Knockback. In Solo play, nobody really cares. In team play, everyone else has to adapt to it. I can imagine when Fold Space might make sense to use, but it's the required ToHit check (and RNG) on top of the long Recharge time that contribute to my own attitude of it as a sub-optimal power. I've played with plenty of Tankers/Brutes that would on 8-player teams (eventually, randomly) get around to casting Fold Space yet would not Taunt. One of these powers has a base 2 minute recharge and requires a ToHit check for possible 16 targets; the other has a base 10 second recharge and is an auto-hit of 5 targets... of course the -Range debuff in Taunt doesn't actually position enemies but neither does a missed enemy with Fold Space. I'm guessing that Fold Space doesn't work on bosses above a certain level?

I am not a fan of Fold Space. I see it as a niche power. I don't like it on my builds, nor do I appreciate teammates who use it. For the former point... it's easier to build such that ANY character can teleport in an out of enemies. Common options I use include Combat Teleport and/or Speed of Sound... each with appropriate macro/mousebind support. For the latter complaint: Moving (some of) the mobs in a spawn does mess up location powers... not just controls but also AoE attacks. The cooldown (and choice of targets) of a teammates' Fold Space is also completely unpredictable, which makes for clumsy team play, YMMV. My hot take: In almost every circumstance where Fold Space might be a good choice, I think some other power pick would probably have been just as good in that circumstance, as well as being a more useful power in other circumstances. I already mentioned self-teleports (for aggro, offense or PBAoE shenanigans) but since Fold Space requires a ToHit check, why not pick a pool attack like Wall of Force instead? Teleport is usually the power pick that gets the least amount of forum love. It's my least favorite travel option... I do love Combat Teleport! Homecoming has plenty of options for travel powers: There are the classic four (Flight, Leaping, Speed, Teleport), three mutually exclusive Specialized pools (Sorcery, Experimentation, Force of Will), P2W powers, not to mention that Infiltration (Concealment pool) can be a respectable "running" travel power thanks to slotting options and travel speed bonuses from Enhancement sets.

I'm not criticizing, simply spring-boarding off of this post: I know Staff gets a lot of attention as an (PB)AoE secondary for Tankers... but is it really the most OP of the Tanker secondaries for AoE? This is a legit question... I haven't played a Staff Fighting Tanker, so I don't have a baseline for comparison. Is there increased radius or range specific to Staff Fighting? I rolled up a /Electrical Melee Tanker, and not counting the primary (or pools), this character has four damaging "hits multiple enemies" attacks, plus Lightning Clap (not slotted for %damage on my build, but could be). I think Staff Fighting looks cooler than some of the Electrical Melee.

I rather like Sentinel's Mace Mastery options, certainly for a build that has only a small number of slots 'left over' at the high levels. ToHit is never bad (especially if %damage is part of the build)... do any Sentinel primaries get an actual Snipe that could get a damage boost from +ToHit (when Fast)? For 'minimal' slotting, I'd probably go with: Web Envelope (@35) with Acc/Immobilize at 50+5 or HO Endoplasm at 53 Coordinated Training (@41) probably just IO Endurance Reduction Summon Tarantula (@44) probably just IO Recharge Reduction I'm not a great fan of the Patron pets, but sometimes I don't have a particularly good option... and with the standard sort of global Recharge I end up with the 'downtime' on them is on the order of just over 1 minute with no extra slotting.

I was surprised to see Sentinels with a Melee Damage Scale of 1.1, only to realize that I'd be leveraging Epic/Patron/Power pools to get them. I have a love/hate relationship with %damage in single-target Holds... tending more to "hate" than "love" for characters that have damage scales of 1.0 (or better) with actual damaging attacks. I was eyeing Psi for Link Minds... but looking how it compares to the Dominator Epic Mastery version (it isn't just raw values being worse, but also that Dominators can take it at level 35 as a first pick in the pool) makes me somewhat meh on it. At least the target cap on the Sentinel's Psychic Shockwave is 16 (per City of Data). That's the power from the set that I would leverage for %damage.

I'm still noodling around with the order of taking powers, slotting options, etc... I am mildly annoyed at the reduced target caps for Sentinels, particularly Cutting Beam. On one hand I feel like this cone attack became a terrible power to try to leverage %damage, on the other hand it simplifies some of my eventual slotting choices. Because of my (silly? definitely not min-max) approach to my Beam Rifle project... I will have 8 of the 9 powers from the primary... at this point I'm not even sure I'll be taking an Epic/Patron pool. I've gone this route on other characters when the Primary/Secondary is satisfying all the flavor needs, I don't have any obvious gaps in the build (aside from some min-max I suppose) that hold me back from the content I'll play, and I won't really have slots/power choices to go hard into an Epic pool. The work is in progress, as I level into that range I will probably pick one anyway to see what I can do with it. I can see why Psi would be a common choice.

I was initially somewhat meh on the ATO special effects, but I can't argue against the actual bonuses. I suspect that I will end up with a 6-slot Sentinel's Ward and 2x3-slot Opportunity Strikes.

I used to do this, but now I just remind Heroes that they can visit Atlas Park City Hall / RV and get trusted with a secret themselves. Red side has it slightly harder for lower level characters. The main thing that I do is that when I am playing solo, I try to keep a TAB open that has Help/General/LFG messages. Sometimes a low level character needs help with a mission (like against the Honoree 😉 )

Let me get this out of the way: I've previously never considered a Sentinel. This personal bias is almost entirely due to a mild feeling of "did the game really need these?" with tiny bits of "but what do they do?". There have also been a LOT of things I wanted to try with the more "classic" ATs as well. I overcame my hesitancy because I've been on entirely silly project involving Beam Rifle. I was satisfied with my Beam Rifle / FF Defender, and was looking at the next possible AT and decided to pass on both Blasters and Corruptors (for now), basically because I'm too comfortable with those AT. So... my first Sentinel is a Beam Rifle / Energy Aura character. The secondary set is also new to me, and is more-or-less a concept-driven choice. I've been playing it through 'normal' content (with XP boost) and it feels fine. I'm up to level 18 and I can see why this AT would be appealing... certainly in an earlier iteration of the game with fewer of the bells-and-whistles we have now, especially for covering shortcomings in other ATs. I feel like I'm damning with faint praise, as I rather like (at these low levels) being able to just stand in place and dish out the damage. I also like the inherent ability to toss a mild debuff. I am somewhat surprised I haven't seen this used more often when teamed with Sentinels.... could be perception bias I suppose. I'm committed to seeing this character through to 50+... I don't have any reason not to do so. What do I have to look forward to? I'm not exactly intending to "tank mage at a distance" (as I enjoy melee), but I wouldn't be at all surprised that this is how the character develops. Any and all cheerleading would be appreciated, as well as any advice on the Epic/Patron/Ancillary pools I should be considering.

This is the eternal mystery. *If* the player putting in all these bids on uncommons has complete knowledge(*1) of how the market works, how salvage is fungible, etc. then I tend to believe that there is an irrational motivation... something along the lines of "I did it for the lulz". 12 Kinf is roughly the vendor price of a level 50 SO enhancement (or one-eight the average vendor price of a level 50 IO recipe)... so this price isn't exactly hurting folks that only want a handful of yellow salvage at a time. (*1) and inf. They also need inf.... and characters with AH slots. I have a hard time quantifying my own assessment of how much value (lulz?) someone could actually get from this sort of exercise. I find it easier to believe (also without evidence!) that this sort of market behavior is being driven by player(s) with incomplete market house knowledge and a willingness to basically follow some "fire-and-forget" strategies for generating income. For example: if someone had a "classic AE farm character" they could generate a lot of Inf across several characters, and then might simply use that kitty to place bids on recipes and salvage in an effort to "generate" more Inf. I have to say: I haven't noticed radical price swings on any fungible commodities (i.e. Enhancements, Recipes).... except that the period of really cheap Very Rare recipes seems to have passed! There are enhancement pieces I simply don't buy on the AH, mostly because I've stockpiled (from converter roulette) the types of pieces that go into most of my builds, and I am merit/catalyst rich. Converter prices are more-or-less at the low end of what I would consider to be "historically typical"... without converters it isn't really possible to leverage the AH to bring in a lot of Inf. The only other dimension that I can think of is that there may have been a radical change on the supply side. I don't want to speculate (out of ignorance) on this because I have no idea about the relative numbers on either side (supply/demand) of the equation.

I'll springboard off of what others have written. The Warriors: I think this faction suffers from two things. The first is that the levels they occupy are easy to shoot past, and don't offer much in the way to motivate players to revisit them... with the exception being Stephanie Peebles arc (the first one) in Striga. The second problem IMO is that as potential spawns they don't offer enough variety/challenge in the current game. Historically, the Warriors always struck me as being primarily "resistant melee" types... they can provide problems to some (blueside, where they mostly appear) AT... but otherwise they are cannon fodder. I would upgrade them to include some new mobs that are doing things like Taunting or Confronting players, and also add mobs that are leveraging "artefacts"...sort of how Vanguard can be a PITA when they are using their "powers". The Warriors could also use an actual TF that is easier to revisit than just scrolling through Oroborous (and/or Mortimer Kal). The Family: Like the Warriors, I think the suffer for being the level at which they (mostly) exist. I like the energy weapons they get for higher levels. I really wouldn't make any changes to them, although I'd like to actually get some Nathaniel Frost missions. AFAIK he's only mentioned on the exploration stuff. In my head canon, he's some combination of Walt Disney (is body being cryogenically preserved) and/or a CoT-adjacent Cold Demon seeking immortality. The Lore implies that Mayor Spanky and the Frost Family had some inkling about what the banished Pantheon was up to... I could see them making deals with the Circle of Thorns. Knives of Artemis: I rather like these as high-level (pre-Incarnate) enemies. I like that Indigo was one of them. I dislike that we never get a (non-incarnate) IMO satisfactory explanation of their organization and how they could possible stand apart from the Malta Group. Is it wrong that I think the TIP missions featuring them are generally better than any of the contact missions using them? The one obvious upgrade I would give this group would be to introduce some mobs that can benefit from things like Assassin's Strike and/or use Placate. I also think that it wouldn't be unreasonable to add at least one additional trap to their arsenal. I have mixed feelings about the Council. Part of me dislikes that they are the default blueside punching bags for level 50.... but this role has to be somebody. If this really bothered me, and I really wanted to add a challenge for players, I'd put Void Hunters, Quantums, Cysts, and/or Ascendents in the mix for Radio missions at level 50. There is the one blueside Tip Mission that features Void Hunters, but AFAIK that's it for non-Kheldians.

Per City of Data, there are some powers that have these sorts of possible extra pieces of damage (link provided for Toxic Dart as an example)... I haven't specifically checked for any immobilize powers.

I may or may not have written out my thoughts about the specialized pool powers (avec travel) on Homecoming... But I am quite impressed with each of them. Sorcery: Mystic Flight is a perfectly suitable flying power... importantly it allows teleportation (err... Translocation) in situations when I've really needed it. There isn't a stinker power in the pool, although not every AT leverages each power the same. If this set has a drawback, it is the lack of "minimal" effects on all the powers. Often the set fits my builds' need perfectly, but the animations often do not. Force of Will: I actually prefer Mighty Leap (and Takeoff) to Super Jump... Super Jump is somewhat gimped IMO because it is barely (in my play) superior to the jump Pack P2W power. If I want any of the other powers in this pool, I never flinch about taking Mighty Leap as a travel power. Experimentation: With Jaunt a part of Speed of Sound, this is a great set for melee characters. The only power in this pool I haven't tried to make work is Toxic Dart... and that's because I haven't been able to think of a build where I'd want that power before (or instead of) any of the other powers in the pool. I'm mentally ok with it, it's just that it is so dull compared to Arcane Bolt or Project Will... maybe if it had an immobilize (or -Regen) effect I'd feel tempted to take it? Otherwise it just feels like an inferior attack (for most AT). For the classic travel pools: The only one I haven't taken (and respeced out of) for travel since the revamps is Teleportation. In earlier times (especially at the end of Live, and the early days of public Homecoming) I went deep into it to get the ability to transport across zones. This is now available for every player, more-or-less as early as they want it, without investing in that pool. I appreciate the players who take the powers early enough to help teams move between missions and across zones/maps. I love Combat Teleport, I just haven't taken any other powers from the pool. Personally, I think that Fold Space is over-rated... I can almost see the reasons to take it, but if I'm already taking Combat Teleport to unlock Fold Space... and I have to slot Accuracy to hit the targets... I kinda feel like I should maybe just teleport myself instead. Mileage varies obviously. Eventually I will come up with a build that wants to do exactly this.

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/44242-still-take-a-travel-power/

IIRC The Scaling Damage Resistance unique in the Reactive Defenses set is flagged as a Global. The power doesn't need to be on to get its effect; attuned it should work from levels 17+ when exemplared. Kismet's unique definitely needs to be activated by a power; I've only used in in toggles. The only circumstances I will turn off Hide is for escorts/kidnaps and to show off costumes. I feel like there may have been one mission where I was having trouble finding some enemies so I may have turned Hide off for that reason too.

Here is a memory from not-the-earliest-days-but-maybe-you-can-figure-out-when times: I remember being part of an somewhat active supervillain group (when those first went live), and then the leader basically gave up on the game. That left a whole bunch of us stuck with a group and base that we couldn't do anything with. By the time I came back to that character and actually found myself "Leader" (and it was a long time, partially due to my own disgruntlement) the SG base was filled with all sorts of salvage in the storage racks we couldn't even use... and the interface wasn't quite working to be able to clean out all that now unnecessary salvage. what a PITA!

Here is my first (current) build of my FF/Beam Rifle Defender. This is a slightly selfish build; more about that later. I'm a little uncertain about the last slot in Stamina: The character still has several long-duration buffs affecting both Health/Regeneration and Endurance/Recovery from missions. If those buffs were not in play I would easily do something different with that slot. The advice on slotting (End Mod / Recharge) in Power Sink has me not fretting about endurance at all for content when Power Sink is available. Besides whatever I do with Stamina, I think the next place I might pull slots are the %damage pieces from Charged Shot. By my calculations the %proc chances are in the low 40%... better than Repulsion Bolt's rate in the high 30%, but Charged Shot is the attack I use the least (above a certain level). If I was committed to only playing 21+ content I could easily drop the Kismet piece from Dispersion Bubble. I join/run a lot of +Nx8 lower level content, so I am generally reluctant to not have the +6% ToHit bonus. I was originally going to do something slightly different with the Vigilant Assault ATO (split them 4x, 2x) and use a 5x Ragnarok set in Overcharge... but while leveling up (and not having access to the Very Rare sets) I found the %damage rates to be too good to pass up. Re: Selfishness. I know I could do better for my teammates by adding slots to Deflection Shield, Insulation Shield and Damping Bubble. I could also "do better" by leveraging boosted Defense IOs and/or Hami-Os in different locations. I wanted to use a (combined) Membrane Exposure in Damping Bubble, but I ended up not having the slots. It turns out that with the build's global +Recharge Damping Bubble is essentially "perma" when slotted as-is. I'm not totally selfish, as I could pull one of the slots currently in Deflection Shield or Insulation Shield to improve recharge time on Summon Adept. I can easily see myself making a second "less selfish" build, starting with pulling %damage slots (from single-target attacks) and moving the slots to the team-oriented powers. I would probably drop Single Shot and shuffle the ATOs among Charged Shot and Repulsion Bolt, to get Tactics and Assault earlier in the build. This approach would probably invite Force Bomb into the build for the extra-Resistance, despite my misgivings)

I want to say I tried this on a Blaster (using an Epic Force Mastery) and I was similarly unimpressed. Toggles are generally bad places to put anything like a %proc, because the chance to proc are usually not good. There are a handful of exceptions. It is possible that this is one of those cases where you might need to also slot some Accuracy, from a Knockback set (because that is the only set the power takes IIRC), in the power in order to improve knockdown. Even if true, this is one of those cases where you will probably have to invest in more slots than you want, in order to make it work... something like a couple of boosted 50+5 Knockback/Accuracy pieces (Kinetic Crash, Sudden Acceleration) to be useful against the enemies you want it to work against.

Oh, that is nice to know... I may change up some of my thinking on slotting that power. I don't think "sapping" is a good strategy, but recharging myself is peachy keen!

Oh, that's good to know about the KD... my past experience has been with the similar power from Epic pools that scattered enemies. I still won't go with Force Bomb on a primary build. There are too many things about the power that don't appeal to me. Number one being that I'm sour on the animation; number one-point-five being that this build is already wielding nine attacks. Keep in mind: I'm not trying for a min-max build as much as I was an angry laser-gun-wielding character. Does anyone know what End Mod does in Power Sink? I'm guessing that it increases the drain on enemies and not on the Endurance granted to the caster?

Rune of Protection is the mule for the two pieces that give me +6% Defenses. Don't overlook that it is a hefty +Resistance (All) as well! Dispersion Bubble is not protecting me from all mezzes (e.g. Sleeps, Confuses). Force Bomb: I've used this power on other characters. Generally, even though this is a fine %damage power... I don't like having to slot it with KB->KD (to keep enemies grouped) AND have to slot it with Accuracy (to help the) also slotted %damage pieces. It simply too much of a slot investment in a power I won't use in this build. I am aware of the extra -Resistance, but I have two powers (from Beam Rifle) that (a) I have slotted anyway and (b) have the Annihilation %-Resistance piece in them. I am also sour on the animation of Force Bomb! I purposely skipped Aim. I wanted 6x Gaussian's for Defense bonuses, and I simply decided that (as a Defender) I would rather keep Tactics up all the time (sacrificing a 90% ceiling %Build Up, I know) and so leverage all the enhancements to Endurance reduction and +ToHit from Gaussians. If this was a Blaster, I'd keep Aim, but as a Defender I felt that Tactics was the better of the two choices... It helps my team plus my (Fast) Snipes get the extra damage boost from Tactics. When I'm playing solo, my sense is that an occasionally used Aim (plus %Build Up) isn't going to make a significant difference in the "number of attacks of I have to click" to defeat enemies in a spawn. That sort of thing does make a difference for my Blasters, but I'm just not convinced that for the Defender (remember: Beam Rifle) I'm going to save myself (m)any clicks but have a short duration boost to damage. I could be wrong of course. I'm not quite ready to take on +0x8 content yet to test. As I wrote above, I've been using the first two powers from Mu Mastery Patron pool (Power Sink, Charged Armor) and liking them. Victory Rush is going to be replaced with a Concealment pool power as my 5th LotG global +Recharge mule as I need to make a slight compromise on slotting to get the Power Sink's recharge times to where I want. My concept is essentially driven by wanting to have all the Beam Rifle attacks. Usually I would never recommend such an approach, but here I am. There is one interesting 'meta' side effect: I have three single-target powers that I usually open with against hard targets when solo: Repulsion Bolt / Disintegrate / Lancer Shot. My Accuracy is such that I never miss two these three attacks (streakbreaker for class +95%)... any two of them have me in set up pretty good shape against that target. None of these are the tier one attacks of course. I realize I could do without one of the two initial secondary attacks and free up a power choice (and some slots) but I haven't worked myself to that yet. I need to see what the attack options look like in the level 50 build.... if I am never casting one of the first two attacks, I will probably make some changes.

The Power Transfer %heal appears to be tagged as "on cast", which was the big reason for changing my mind on Patron pools. I have been playing with Mu's Power Sink and I rather like it for my button-mashing-pew-pew Defender. I don't have the character at its level 50 build yet, so Endurance management is currently "ok", with a forecast of being "even better". If that is correct: think the only other "global" I could drop in would be the Synapse Shock Run Speed piece. I have the Preventive Medicine %Absorb into Spirit Ward, so I'm not doing without it. If I didn't have that power I agree that its a good option for a high-level mule power.

The default slot get the Kismet +6% ToHit. I think every one of my Stalkers has (eventually) added a second slot for the LotG global +Recharge piece.