tidge

Why does the Paragon City department of roads use names like "Dark Astoria" on road signs, but "Woodvale", "Baumtown", and "Overbrook" on others? And why does the Hazard sign in Steel Canyon read "Boomtown", but the hazard gate in Atlas Park for the Hollows reads "Eastgate"?

The AH itself relies on a database; it is very likely that the different views/ways-into the database aren't entirely 'robust'. The mechanism Homecoming uses to 'bucket' items could certainly be contributing, although I suspect the problem is more fundamental.

IIRC, every %proc in an attack requires a ToHit, which is why I have the Accuracy piece slotted, and why I often with look for combination pieces that include Accuracy on powers that I slot with %procs Originally, I had a second %-Resistance debuff in Acid Mortar, when I swapped in the Accuracy piece I felt like I was seeing a much more even application of the %-Resistance. I was almost never seeing both %-Resistances.

I want to say there is only one attack (from the robots) that still does Knockback. Otherwise they now do Knockdown. Acid Mortar is pretty bad for %procs. I have the Annihilation %-Res piece in it only because several of my other AoE attacks include the same piece and I'm hoping for an extension of the -Resistance. Caltrops isn't a particularly good %proc power, but it has a larger area of effect than Acid Mortar (although IIRC it has a max target cap of fewer enemies) so the MM has more control where the power lands. I spent a long time fiddling with different choices of slotting (mostly testing to see how %proc helps); the slotting of each power I landed on is: Level 1: Caltrops (A) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime (*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Damage/Recharge (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance for Damage(Cold) (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal) Level 14: Acid Mortar (A) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff (*) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff/Recharge (*) Undermined Defenses - Recharge/Endurance (*) Undermined Defenses - Recharge (*) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff (*) Accuracy: Level 50+5 Personally: Recharge is the most important for each, followed by Accuracy (especially if %procs are being leveraged!) The Damage slotting is simply because of what pieces were available in a given set; I treat these as primarily debuff powers. I wouldn't fault anyone for substituting 4 pieces of Shield Breaker in place of Undermined Defenses in Acid Mortar; in my build positional defenses are soft-capped without that set bonus. Since Shield Breaker has a max level of 30, the final Accuracy IO would probably be something like a boosted Ragnarok Accuracy/Recharge piece instead.

I don't play either of those sets, but per CityofData it looks like Buckshot is still a 30° cone; Full Auto is 20°.

For Robotics, DPS went up. The straight-up changes to the henchmen were easy to notice when I took the "one big robot" build for a spin. Prior to the changes, it was painfully slow to defeat large spawns. It is better now, but still not recommended! Higher-order effects have also improved defeat times, as it is no longer strictly necessary to slot the robotic henchmen for KB->KD. Defeat times for (open-world zone) Giant Monsters has mostly improved. The caveat is a little tricky to explain, so bear with me. With the -regen portion of the henchmen attacks being moved to the Mastermind's attacks, it means that the Mastermind has to be attacking (more-or-less) constantly. Prior to this change, it was possible for a Mastermind to go AFK and eventually (some) GMs would be defeated simply by the Robots. This is not (regularly) the case; eventually even the weakest of the GMs will score some good rolls and then the 'bots won't be able to finish them off. Maintenance Drone is a HUGE improvement for Robotics, but it won't keep henchmen alive if the boss is AFK. The one type of GM that now gives me MUCH more trouble are the level 50 Peregrine/Monster Island/Hive GMs. Previously, I found it straightforward to floor their Regen, apply resistances and do enough damage to defeat them solo. Now, even with the improved damage on the henchmen they can usually run "for help" and overcome damage being dealt from just regenerating. I suppose I could make some different build choices to handle these, but solo-fighting random PI GMs is not the type of content that I find particularly rewarding. I see the same type of trouble when soloing some "event" GMs in high-level zones (Nemesis, April's Fool). Was this a big change? It wasn't for my Robotics build or playstyle... I had all along been using the primary (and epic) attacks for grabbing aggro, soft control via knockdown, and %debuffing. I think I moved up one of the attacks earlier in the build, and added Maintenance Drone, and some changes in slotting... the performance was improved and my build choices were not radically different. For players that had made different choices (like skipping all primary attacks), I can imagine them feeling some changes for some content like AVs and GMs.

Bah, I should go back and edit the post above, but this is more of general comment: I usually don't recommend to try to put %damage pieces in Mastermind attacks, unless: They are part of a set that will be slotted anyway They are AoE Masterminds have a terrible damage scale, so the %damage will improve the damage output of (only) the Mastermind... but it is IMO far better to improve the DPS of the Henchmen (and Pets). When looking at my proposed slotting for Howling Twilight, I think I would recommend swapping out the Positron's %damage piece for the Annihilation %-resistance. The +MaxEnd from Annihilation is something I consider valuable enough, I might swap out the other %damage piece for another Annihilation piece for some more Endurance and or Recharge improvements.

Not bad advice, but MOST of the Robotic attacks now do Knockdown, not Knockback. I put the Soulbound Allegiance %BuildUp in the Battle Drones. I haven't looked at the proposed build (sorry no MIDS) Here is my (page 5) Robotics/Traps build for reference: /Traps has more skippable powers than /Dark Miasma IMO, so choices would have to be made. The Traps secondary changes that come to mind immediately are: Caltrops ->Tar Patch, slotted with only 2x 50+5Recharge IOs (saves 4 slots, but costs some set bonuses) Acid Mortar -> Howling Twilight (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy): Level 50 (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50 (*) 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 Force Field Generator -> Darkest Night, with similar slotting (as a baseline) (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50 (*) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50 (*) Defense Buff IO: Level 50+5 EDIT: I overlooked that Darkest Night is a toggle, so it should get some Defense/Endurance slotting, certainly in that third slot. Poison Trap seems like a simple swap to Petrifying Gaze, but I would replace it with Fearsome Stare, that will double as a type of AoE immob: (A) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 30 (*) Glimpse of the Abyss - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 50 Now: The new powers from /Dark Miasma that I would want are: Dark Servant (A) Cloud Senses - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - ToHit Debuff: Level 30 (*) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 30 Twlight Grasp (A) Theft of Essence - Chance for +Endurance: Level 30 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 50 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing: Level 50 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 Normally I only include the %+Endurance while leveling, but MMs can burn Endurance at a rather high clip. I want to note that the Robotics new Maintenance Drone is absolutely fine for the henchmen, so skipping this Dark power would seem odd, but I think for the Robotics Primary it is justifiable (sorry teammates!) Petrifying Gaze (A) Gladiator's Net - Accuracy/Hold: Level 50+5 (*) Gladiator's Net - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge/Hold: Level 50+5 (*) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 50 (*) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage: Level 50 (*) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 50 (*) Neuronic Shutdown - Chance of Damage(Psionic): Level 30 The important differences between the /Traps Poison Trap and the /Dark Petrifying Gaze are that Poison Trap is AoE and provides -Regen, making it IMO superior for almost all content. I am not sure I would dedicate as many slots to this power (on Dark) in a final build. I would probably want it for solo play. To fit three new powers in the build, my initial thoughts on what to probably sacrifice: Mace Beam Volley (even though it gives up a %-Resistance chance). Rather than give this up... ....I would probably have to NOT go into the Flight travel pool, giving up Hover, Fly, Group Fly, Evasive Manuevers, and using either Infiltration (Concealment pool) as my travel power, or... knowing myself... I might just make these choices (not saying what level to take them, just the power swaps) Hover -> Mighty Leap (Experimentation) Fly -> Twilight Grasp Group Fly -> Dark Servant Evasive Maneuvers -> Weaken Resolve (Experimentation) Mace Bean Volley -> Wall of Force (Experimentation) I have found a key to success with Robots is the application of -Regen (for hard targets) and -Resistance (for both large spawns and single hard targets). Tar Patch will go a long way to cover the -Resistance, yet I would still try to work the same %-resistance piece (I use Annihilation in ranged damage AoE) to help the henchmen stack damage. The experimentation pool helps with this. I also like the AoE cone of Wall of Force to keep aggro on the user (here, Mastermind). I also appreciate that Wall of Force can be taken at a much lower level than an Epic attack! The single-target Hold is not considered for the reasons I outline above. Again, about me: on a Mastermind I don't think I would be able to leverage the single-target attack to as great an effect as I would by picking a different power. If you are down to a single target, I imagine it is better to debuff it for the henchmen than try to control (or even %damage) it myself.

The Disavowed.

It's hard to tell from the video, what I *think* I saw was: A patron pet was out/summoned (i.e. 'not dead') The summon power recharged while the pet was still alive The summon power was clicked while the pet was still alive The pet died when its original timer (from previous summons) expired, frustrating the player because now they have to wait the whole cooldown period again. If this is what happened: It's not a bug, as it is the default way many pet (not henchmen) powers work. This is particularly noticeable with Crabberminds: if you have summoned 3 Spiderlings (*1), 1 dies and you resummon to get the full roster of 3 again, all three will expire when the original batch go kablooey. This is different than how henchmen work, and obviously this is not observed on other pets that don't have an inherent self-destruct timer. If the new summons destroyed all of the (remaining) original pets (like how respawning a FFG before the old one blows up gets you a brand new one) then we wouldn't see this. A potential workaround is that the controlling player could create a macro to toggle between destroying the old patron pet and summoning a new one. (of course, macros won't show cooldown timers) I suppose it is fair to make a suggestion that this be changed (to force destruct then summons), but I don't think it is a bug. As a practical matter: this is only observed for players that have an embarrassingly huge amount of global recharge... and whose patron pets don't get defeated before they would naturally expire... so it feels like a 'first-world problem' to me. YMMV. Without considered potential (enemy) slows; whenever I have a patron pet in the build I try to have just enough global recharge so that the patron pet summon power is a couple of seconds shy of (what might be called) 'perma'... specifically to avoid this potential frustration. (*1) I suggest Spiderlings is the easiest to observe this phenomenon because the cooldown for Spiderlings is inherently short enough that slotted recharge plus global recharge bonuses can easily have the power recharged before the Spiderlings self-destruct by themselves. IIRC the Disruptors have the same timers as the Patron pets.

I agree with @Maris; Water Blast is crazy good for AoE damage. I'd go so far to write that putting Water Jet in a build is probably hurting total DPS against anything except single, high-HP targets (which is a small fraction of gameplay for most circumstances)... for most ATs and pimary/secondary powerset choices, I can always find a better power to take in its place... and that is certainly true for the slots I would otherwise put in Water Jet. Furthermore: The Homecoming Devs recently implemented a further improvement to Water Blast in that Tidal Power isn't wasted on a miss. For me, this was a previously a relatively minor annoyance (and was the biggest reason to skip Water Jet, IMO), but after this change I find myself paying slightly more attention to Tidal Power.

I always use (key/mouse) binds for things like: target nearest (alive) enemy (within view, obviously) quickchats teleportation type powers (to get to someplace close by that I can see) Rarely: I will set up keybinds for combining Inspirations, or for Mastermind controls. I used to set up keybinds to target teammates (for support), but in the current Homecoming such a trick yields only marginal benefits and varies too much between 'support' powers and classes for me to optimize. I always use macros for things like: location-target (powers, pseudopets); the default is almost always 'my selected target' with the non-select backup being 'at my feet' Teleportation powers (always a 'TP to selected target', characters with ranged cone attacks also get a 'backwards ~20') Kheldian form switching I will occasionally add macros for emotes, tells based only on whimsy. As I wrote above: Many quality-of-life changes have either eliminated the needs for macros, or marginalized whatever play improvement I used to get from them.

I don't ever remember using Placate (or its equivalent) on AVs, but in a different era of the game (when it was harder to have set bonuses) I would definitely use Placate when solo against Elie Bosses, just to get a breather. This was typically for lowish level characters that burned through their Inspirations. It's a perfectly fine power to have when leveling, kudos to those who keep and use it in their finished builds.

All the ongoing factors were accounted for, except for the past sales on Winter packs (no longer going to happen), I think. The only other 'one-offs' that I think have broadly affected the market have involved what I would characterize as "farmers 'vocal quitting' farming", as a result of some game change. The Vanguard Merit Change, the double-Inf/noXP change, the Empyrean Merit Change all had some 'vocal quitting' (no judgement, honest!), and I saw some market fluctuations (both up and down) in Recipes, Salvage, Converters. I couldn't begin to guess (or predict!) what any of those changes actually had on the market, if any. The only on-going (upward) fluctuation I have noticed is that Enhancement Converter prices on the AH are holding steady above where they had been. Since Emp Merits -> Converters -> Inf was probably the simplest raw conversion for Farmers, I want to believe that the Emp Merit change is partially responsible. There may be occasional fluctuations in holiday salvage, or Prismatic Aethers... but I haven't noticed. EoE are at rock-bottom prices (as they should be). Maybe Ambrosia when the Eden Trial is the Weekly?

If you do DFB only for the boosts (i.e. XP off) I think the defensive boosts will be something like 2% at level 15. Without looking at the build, I think at levels 16 and 17 your fortunes should be able to shift, courtesy of Global Enhancements that can be slotted in Shadow Fall, specifically Gladiator's Armor and Steadfast Protection pieces that give Global Defense boosts, and (eventually) the Shield Wall 5% Global Resistance piece. My Rad/Dark Corruptor (also still below level 20) occasionally runs into problems, mostly because of two effects: The attacks are somewhat slow, and usually require three casts to defeat a single even-level The secondary (Dark) powers are also somewhat slow The first bullet point is mitigated by visiting P2W and getting some prestige attacks. I wouldn't over-slot the primary attacks (three each, Accuracy, Endurance, Damage... if using sets, feel free to sprinkle in recharge). Aside from PVP sets most common %damage procs won't be available until level 20. The P2W %damage are only 2 PPM. Not nothing, and they boost damage IIRC, but not worth holding onto. The second bullet is really only best addressed by 2-lotting Tar Patch for recharge. At low levels you could put a 3rd slot in Tar Patch (for more Recharge) but I'd just get used to it's timer as you level.

I mocked up the following radiation Blast/Dark Miasma level build. I've been playing a Rad/Dark Corruptor Red-side through all of the available content (with XP mostly off, as necessary) to get a feel for how this set does without many slots, and without access to many of the bonuses a higher-level character will have. I am always surprised just how fast it is to level without using XP boosters. I did invest in some P2W Amplifiers, and did some DFB to get some further pre-level 22 boosts. Offense is lowish, so P2W attacks (prestige, temporary) are necessary. No surprises: Like just about every other AT, it is pretty easy to work through +0, x1 content starting from scratch. "Defeat All" missions are of course tedious, especially with XP off. Again no surprises: There are a handful of factions that were problematic before level 15: Snakes were surprising annoying (with their speed) and Vahzilok are not chumps for any low-level character. A few missions spawn higher (and more aggressive) enemies. Slow recharge powers (at low levels) like Tar Patch and Howling Twilight help, but they are not as reliable as on a finished build. As with most characters: I'm not strictly using the same slotting choices as I level. Obviously Very Rare and Superior sets can't be used, and there are some Enhancements that need inclusion earlier for Quality-of-Life reasons. I am experimenting (pun intended) with Speed of Sound as a travel power, as this was the recommendation made regarding the Defender build I posted above which used Combat Teleport instead. For this build: the biggest jump in QoL/play experience is at level 16 and 17. Shadow Fall is an excellent mule for survivability, level 17 provides two more slots in which can be slotted enhancement pieces with a minimum level 20 requirement. The OP asked for the "quintessential" Corruptor... I'm not sure that this build delivers on that promise, not because of any deficiency in what a build like this should be able to do (as a Corruptor)... but more that the chosen primary/secondary sets (Rad/Dark) have effects on combat very similar to what many other ATs can experience... so would a Rad/Dark Corr really stand out? Part of the reason for me taking this through the Red Side is that I want to see how it does when the Heroes of Paragon start appearing as regular enemies.

Assassin's Strikes and Snipes have a couple of things in common: AS and (Slow) Snipes are interruptable AS and Snipes have variable damage that depends on different conditions, including: Hidden/Not Hidden, Slow/Fast, +ToHit I mostly notice AS hitting and not doing damage from Hidden (because it is really obvious), but I can't swear that I haven't had it happen when a Stalker wasn't hidden. Similarly with Slow Snipes, although I feel like (at least on Blasters) I have observed a Fast Snip hit and do no damage (except possibly via a %proc). Since the %proc damage is registered, the game absolutely "knows" that the attack hit, so I think that rules out server/client miscommunication. It "feels" more that the game simply didn't enter any function to apply damage from the power itself. It is as if the game has an unhandled CASE for the 'native' damage. I suppose the CASE could be confused by server/client issues, but frankly there should just be a default CASE rather than allowing NO damage.

IIRC, at launch Positron also had a costume that used the circuitry-looking overlay to his costume. I had picked the same for my launch-day character and I was slightly non-plussed to find an NPC with the similar costume.

I used to do the same with the Achilles' Heel piece (in Weaken Resolve), but it felt like a waste of a slot considering that it is still a %proc (on top of needing the underlying attack to hit) and the %proc only lasts a maximum 10 seconds (on the single-target). That is 2/3 the time of the native debuff, yet I felt it was pushing the limit on how much (in terms of slots) I wanted to invest in a another resistance debuff that is itself resistible. Solo: if the %debuff lands, I've only got 10 seconds to capitalize. I feel like this is along the lines of what @Sovera is hinting at when saying some tests skew perceptions of how much %-resistance affects gameplay. For me, it comes down to "How much extra expense (in build slots) do I really want to put into potentially improving team damage (on a single target)?" There is also a high-order complication on the net value of %-Resistance on teams depending on how many different players have the same %-Resistance piece in play. I simply landed on: If I take (and cast) Weaken Resolve, at least my teammates can see me doing that... how much more debuffing can they really expect me to be doing with that power?

I don't like the %proc in Beta Decay. The final %proc rate is not going to be very good. I have the power much earlier in my build and run it (at 50+) with a single Hami-O Enzyme. For every AT except Masterminds and Crabberminds (and possibly control characters with a LOT of pets), I prefer to have the Gaussian's %BuildUp in an on-demand power (i.e. a click) rather than in an aura (which relies on teammates/henchmen/pets), but I don't feel obligated to rehash that discussion. Is the Reactive Defenses Scaling Resistance global in the build? I feel like that is necessary for any character trying to be 'Tanky". Sincere question: How does the build play if you DON'T use Hasten? I have a Water Blast/Atomic Manipulation blaster that has enough things to do (buttons to match)that I don't feel the need to include Hasten in its build. Another point about me: I almost never take Stealth as anything but a mule, so it wouldn't appear so early if I was building the character. If you wanted such a power this early, I prefer Infiltration. It takes the same mules, and if run toggled on it improves running/jumping (which I consider a Quality-of-Life improvement). On the Blaster I mentioned, Infiltration is that character's travel power (Blessing of the Zephyr – Endurance Reduction/Travel can be used in place of the Hami-O). On other builds I will include a Kismet +ToHit piece here, as I almost always keep the power toggled on. Taking the power early allows more mule slotting as I level up. (subject of course to level requirements of enhancements) Level 4: Infiltration (A) HO Microfilament – Endurance Reduction/Travel: Level 51 (*) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (*) Luck of the Gambler – Defense/Recharge Speed Final, subtle point about the choices in Health. Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(42), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(43) I see what the approach is with the three globals, but it is rare (for my level 50 builds) that adding only (i.e. not as part of a set) the Numina's Convalescence global +Regen/+Recovery piece has a noticeable effect. For this character, it is likely that the extra Recovery is having the largest effect on play... but it is possible that simply moving that slot to a high-Endurance cost toggle (and slotting with some Endurance reduction, possibly in combination with another attribute) would end up offering an improved profile for the blue bar. A simple way to test this is to use an unslotter to pull the piece our of the slot and play for a day with it unslotted. FWIW on high-HP Tankers I would (at least) 2x slot Numina's in Health with the second piece being a straight Heal/Absorb, but Blasters are a different beast.

I can believe the above quote from 'personal feels' from the (random) variation in defeat times I will see against zone Giant Monsters. I'm not referring to variation between a Grim Vale spawned Iron Jack and a wandering Iron Jack (for example), or zone-to-zone variation between a KR Paladin and a CF Jurassik. As I wrote above, I have a Robotics/Traps Mastermind that has the same %-Resistance slotting in his attacks (I'd forgotten: I also still have one slotted in Acid Mortar from the secondary to support the primary/patron attacks); I observe a small but noticeable random variation in defeat times for the same GM (using the same number of henchmen) that I attribute (partially) to the %-Resistance proc. I suppose I could unslot those pieces and do more testing, but I'd be breaking up Annihilation set bonuses. I'm not just unmotivated about doing any specific testing... I have the very rare Soulbound Allegiance %BuildUp piece in the Battle Drones as well doing its random thing. To repeat myself: The choice of (AoE) %-Resistance on a Mastermind is (for me, YMMV) something of a no-brainer, assuming that I will be running with Henchmen. a little extra %damage from a proc simply doesn't measure up against effectively boosting the damage of all the henchmen. For players who don't have access to a -Resistance debuff, but desperately want one, Weaken Resolve (from the Force of Will pool) when slotted with nothing but Accuracy is IMO a pretty good choice... it is 100% of the time one of my picks when I want to go deep into that pool. Yes, it takes a power pick (as opposed to a slot for a %proc) but: Weaken Resolve is a 15 second duration, as opposed to 10 seconds The -Resistance is applied on hit, without relying on %proc chance Allows other pieces to go into the slot that would have had the %-Resistance piece, blah blah blah fishcakes There are a couple of %damage procs that can also go into Weaken Resolve. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that option for all ATs, but if a build of mine is (A) going to take the power early and (B) an AT that typically does low damage against single targets, I will almost always try to slot the power for Accuracy plus at least one %damage piece. If nothing else, it then feels like I'm not completely sacrificing an attack to apply a debuff. Most builds end up with enough global +Recharge that this power's recharge time ends up being pretty close to the 15 second duration.

When I am considering slotting a %-resistance instead of %damage, I consider the following: %-Resistance from the same source won't stack with itself, but will extend the duration of the -Resistance. The %-Resistance procs, all have relatively short durations. Attacks have to land in the short duration of a %-Resistance to benefit from the proc. For a great majority of my characters. I don't end up slotting %-Resistance, because for most content I'm (individually, solo) not going to get enough benefit from %-Resistance. Personal exceptions listed below: If a character has a relatively low-damage AoE (with a reliable %proc rate) which immediately can be followed by another AoE in the attack chain that does more damage (than the preceding attack), then the first attack may get a %-resistance piece. My thinking is that a one-two combo like this can soften up a large spawn and then finish a large number of mobs in the spawn. If my character is a Mastermind, I try to add the same %-Resistance piece to multiple attacks, praying that RNGesus keeps the -Resistance going to help my henchmen do slightly more damage. The lower tier henchmen need as much help as can be mustered. My most reliable GM killer is Robotics/Traps; it has 2 Annihilation %-Resistance pieces slotted in 2 different (primary/patron) MM attacks. The hope is that my henchmen are making attacks while the -Resistance is in play, and that spreading the AoE -Res will land on enemies they have chosen to attack (while in bodyguard mode). The Mastermind exception applies to characters that will be playing with large teams. Of course it is possible to use enhancement unslotters to change out at any time. I occasionally do this in AoE attacks on some Tankers if it looks like a team isn't finishing enemy spawns 'quickly enough'. The idea is that if I'm not getting teh attacks in during the %-Resistance period, then my teammates will be.

I can't speak specifically to the original recommendations (builds or playstyles), but I think for the Robotics primary, S/L (non-AFK) farming is probably better. The Maintenance Drone alone should provide more reliable healing for the henchmen. The movement of the debuffs from the Robotic henchmen will have a small effect to be sure, but as a practical matter the main performance I have observed relative to that specific change is that the Robotics MM has to be more active in attacking (most) Giant Monsters/AVs than before... but that the net defeat times of those big-sacks-of-HP are quicker than before the change. (I always was active with MM attacks anyway, so I feel qualified to write the previous statement) The other big change specific to Robotics is that almost all of the henchmen attacks do Knockdown instead of Knockback, this frees up slots. Prior to this change, Knockdown globals were necessary to keep enemy swarms clustered. Yet one more minor improvement, but not specific to Robotics is that being able to skip the T1 power in the secondary allows more freedom of builds. I run a Robotics/Traps and the original forced secondary T1 pick of a single-target immobilize was NOT as good for 'farming' as the T2 Caltrops.

My Water Blast/Atomic Manipulation has positionals of Melee 20%+, Ranged 19%+ and AoE 29%+ from just toggles, Globals, and set bonuses. He also went Epic Flame Mastery, and has Rise of the Phoenix *wink*

Some very reasonable calls on slotting choices. I can definitely see reducing the number of slots used, and the set bonuses are smart. Specific to my Corruptor choices, I feel I can only speak directly to one of these choices: Originally, I was going to slot 2x IO Recharge 50+5 in Chrono Shift. As I was leveling (that is: I didn't have the uber set bonuses yet, nor boosters) I was noticing that the base Endurance cost (something like 20 End) was keeping it from firing (either on demand, or on auto), which has a complicated cascading effect on Recovery (and Recharge) and was affecting the Quality-of-Life in a noticeable enough way that I started to investigate Endurance Cost reduction + Recharge options. This investigation came around the same time I noticed my very bad decision to try to use Distortion Field as an AoE %damage source, so one of the slots that would have been in Distortion Field ended up being re-purposed for Chrono Shift. I ended up doing number-crunching with HO, D-Syncs, power sets, and 3x End/Recharge (at 50+5) was so deep into Enhancement Diversification I went looking at increasing either the Heal or the Recovery. It came down to Preemptive Optimization (End Mod/Endurance/Recharge) or the second Panacea piece (Healing/Endurance/Recharge). Panacea offered me a 'forever' +2.5% Recovery, so that was the deciding factor. If the +15% Endurance boost was Enhanceable, I very likely would have gone the other way! Pretty much ^this^. Those extra 2 HP of AoE damage at level 50 must be helping, amiright? I have some (economically) wasteful habits that I freely admit to: Because of the content I play, the merit-rich characters almost always just merit-buy ATOs for newish characters I like... if I haven't already bought them and low low prices (and can remember which character has bought them). Similarly, the Catalyst supply is deep. The level 50 respec cycles between catalyzed and non-catalyzed pieces for SG storage (burning up Catalysts rather than using the market to catalyze)...I'm not sure I have ever bought a Luck of the Gambler! The one thing I "make" new level 50s do for themselves is buy (via merits) their own boosters. Usually a new level 50 won't have that much Inf on hand, but will have enough merits. Economically wasteful, but it isn't like saving the Inf is doing that much for me. At some point the only thing I am doing with Inf is buying Envenomed Daggers.