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I happen to find the red-side missions better written than the blue side ones; some of this is certainly due to the latter launch of CoV. One thing I especially like about red side is that villains get to face off against blue side TFs and Trainers... as well as red side patrons+... throughout regular mission arcs. The closest heroes get are the Praetorian arcs and occasionally turned-up Safeguard missions. Heroes get a taste of this in the revamped Faultline arcs, but otherwise it seems like a blue sider has to go out of their way to face off against the A-tier.

There are a couple of things that I believe are unique to Homecoming, and at least one thing I am not certain of... all of which can make debt even less of an issue than it was at the start of Live The things that I believe are HC specific are the way Patrol XP and Exploration XP now accumulates. IIRC, if you have debt these get burned "first"... that is, I am pretty sure that I've had a 10+ level character with patrol XP take a dirt nap and then after they've been rezzed don't have any debt. The thing I am not certain about is Life Insurance... the kind you can get from Safeguard/Mayhem missions in the 40-45 range. The wiki implies a reduction in debt, but I feel like that it may actually prevent debt accumulation (directly, or in concert with something else). The reason why I'm somewhat confused about Life Insurance are related to specific choices I make with most of my characters. I try to do all the Safeguard/Mayhem missions at the inherent levels, and generally at level 40 it is easy to get them without missing other level-appropriate content. Also by level 40, I feel like it is time to collect the debt badges for High Pain Threshold (as it is so much more straightforward than getting Freedom Phalanx Reserve member for a solo player). after I get Life Insurance I go to Dark Astoria to get clobbered (also easier at level 40) to pick up the debt without "capping" the amount of debt I accumulate. Occasionally I haven't had any debt by the time I get the Unbroken Spirit badge.

TL;DR: I certainly hope there are no swings of the nerf bat at %procs, damage or otherwise. My reasoning follows. 1) Using %procs (damage or otherwise) is a build choice. It is not something that automatically makes someone who doesn't use them a bad player. Using %damage can improve performance, but it does it in a rather uneven way. Just like all the other build choices a player can make. The current use of %procs (including %damage) offers a wide variety of build options to a wide variety of player choices (in AT, in powers). Allowing players to slot %procs (including %damage) isn't destroying other players' fun... and if it is, please show me how. 2) %damage smooths out critter defeat times; critter defeats are nearly 100% tied to almost all of the rewards in the game. I *know* it upsets some players that some DPS classes can finish something like a "+4x8 Trapdoor Test" 30 seconds faster than some other DPS class. This sort of argument doesn't sway me, as for MOST content I don't want non-DPS ATs finishing missions with the same-size spawns taking an order of magnitude longer to complete. 3) If the %damage part of the game is seen as unbalanced, surely it is not more unbalanced than critters only having a 5% chance to even hit players (the "softcap") or the significant number of ways that players can achieve enormous +Recharge bonuses. See also the ability to completely bring Endurance management under control. I like both %damage, significant +Recharge, and even if I don't actively pursue "softcap" numbers... I think the game is more fun with these as they are.

Warwolves are there own kind of problem, not exactly fixed with single target Web Grenades.

This is the limited case where Web Grenade is useful... but then it has to be slotted to actually work against AVs and GMs. This is such a corner case (Diabolique, a few others) that I feel it is hardly worth having that power for the entirety of your build. Caltrops, by contrast, is an excellent AoE Slow, that also does DoT and simultaneously (slowly) keeps swarms from attacking and drawing aggro from the henchmen. It is also not a terrible source of %damage when cast into a large spawn. It doesn't need %damage, it just needs to keep as many critters occupied as possible to maximize aggro. Here is my /Traps slotting for it: 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) ... in 4 minutes. It's nice that you find value in it. My non-Hasten non-Force Feedback /Traps build has 2 Acid Mortars out without the SG base buff, and 3 with it. I'm still experimenting with Necro, my Soul Extraction (again non-Hasten, non-Force Feedback) in on a 60 second recharge.

I agree with @Laucianna... It would feel wrong to me to not lean into the design of multiple forms for Kheldians when considering any future rework. I wouldn't want to see Kheldians shifted towards Sentinel territory (i.e. Blasters with Armor & Mezz protection) or whatever. The oddest thing about the inherent boosts (from my PoV) is that it made the most sense (again, to me) when Cysts were likely to show up in team content... but now that these don't spawn in typical "leveling" content, it is quite rare to notice when a Kheldian is benefiting from Cosmic balance orDark Sustenance. The content where I notice these doing something are on PUGs for thinks like the Penelope Yin TF or the Caverns of Transcendence trial... mid-to-low-ish level content that can be prone to "team wipes". One thing I (points to self) like about Kheldians is that (modulo slotting) they can have all their (unique to AT) power picks by level 32 without having to rely on Epic/Power pool choices to flush them out. I can understand how this can be seen as a defect for players focused on high-level content. Maybe there could be something like a couple of Epic level pools available only to Kheldians that could satisfy certain player cravings? I'm thinking of a couple of typical 5-power sets that might allow Kheldian players to lean a little harder into a player's preferred play style without changing the At for everybody.

This has been my "steady state" approach to the market for... 2+ years, maybe? There is very little I feel I need Inf for, except when starting characters. As I play characters I will convert to Build up the next batch of Inf for future characters. Stockpile particular enhancements(*1) that I suspect I will use and don't want to buy off the market. Generally these are items that are 3M+ or otherwise in short supply. During the Mapserver event, I took a grand total of two characters to level 50. Both of them were fully kitted only using pieces and recipes I had in storage. (*1) I do have some clutter: enhancements I stockpiled but never got around to using. This includes a significant number of PVP pieces that I'd been meaning to roulette into pieces more likely to be used on future characters.

With /Traps, I recommend only: T1 Caltrops T4 Acid Mortar T5 FFG T6 Poison Trap Web Grenade is of limited utility. Triage Beacon is ok, but generally you will be moving. I like Seeker Drones, but they are also of limited utility. Trip Mine slows you down too much. I have not tried the "new" Detonator, but generally I prefer my henchmen to be doing damage via their attacks. One problem with Necro/Traps is that you will have to take 3 of the following 5 powers: T1 Dark Blast T2 Zombie Horde T3 Gloom T1 Web Grenade T2 Caltrops I've highlighted the ones I recommend, Gloom is picked because it is a DoT, and generally ranged sets are better than immobilize sets for bonuses. Even with just two slots Gloom will be useful in ways that Web Grenade is not. You won't need Concealment pool powers until late, and then as mules for LotG. Making henchmen invisible is quite marginal in the scheme of things. I suppose you can use an invisible henchmen to Detonate, but that seems to be somewhat time consuming to set up. Likewise with Fold Space.... but it seems like you have an idea of how you want to play, so run with it.

My first "nastygram" tell recently came because I explicitly declined to join a league that was forming to fight the Grim Vale duo. I tried to explain that all I cared about was the merit drops, but for some reason that player was extremely upset. It's not as if that solo 50 of mine was going to kill steal the GMs. But yes... I've been on zone leagues that were being run by a player that was not doing a good job making sure that teams were being led by players who were at least at the level of Croatoa... so there may have been that to deal with as well. There are two ways I know of to get a team star to a desired player: The league leader keeps shuffling players (on the "weak team") with the star to another team, until the player they want to be the team lead is #1 The team leader passes the star (to someone already on their team) Level 50s don't have much of a reason to whine about being at level 45, as Incarnates should work down to that level. Slotting should only matter if players are not using attuned/winter/ATO or PVP/Purple enhancements.

I've been playing a /Plant blaster. My instincts are always to plan to Blap, but I found that paired with my primary (Assault Rifle) I didn't have the synergy with close-quarters combat. I suspect that Energy Blast is much the same (ranged attacks, knockback). The biggest difference I see between the Energy and Assault Rifle primaries is that the Energy T9 nuke (Nova) is a PBAoE, whereas the Assault Rifle nuke is a Cone... so you will have to be smarter about positioning than my Assault Rifle Blaster is. From the secondary, I took: Skewer: Holding a melee set, this does get used more often than the single-target immobilize would be used. Toxins: Picked just before choosing the Snipe, I only put 2 slots in it for this character. Spore Cloud: Single slot HO Enzyme Wild Fortress: Preventive Medicine (%Absorb, Heal), EndMod 50+5, 2x Resistance Mules Vines: Gladiator's Net (Acc/Hold, Acc/Rech, %Lethal), Unbreakable Constraint %Smash, Superior Entomb Recharge/%Absorb, Ghost Widow %Psi From my primary, I took seven attacks... this is a lot (I didn't pick Hasten), but there are many useful sets to slot and the AoE offer some places to slot %damage that is "off brand" (for Energy, this would be be %damage that is not Energy or Smashing). If you want fewer attacks (and this will likely be the case) one of the early attacks could be swapped for Hasten (but I wouldn't take Hasten before level 20, unless that is the way the power choices fall) and you could go with a simpler attack chain. Because Nova will be somewhat situational, I'm not sure the build would really need Hasten. My 7 primary picks plus the 5 secondary picks meant that I had 4 power pool picks to make before level 28... that is IMO a lot of freedom in a character's design space. Many players could probably even delay the choice of Spore Cloud. You will want it for AVs/GMs. It also acts as a decent way to get aggro... I took it early for my character, but it just depends on what levels of content you want it for. Regarding Energy Blast Primary: I would not worry about converting Knockback to Knockdown, except possibly for Nova, as it is a PBAoE with a very large KB value. I also (almost) never slot the Force Feedback %+Recharge piece in Knockback powers. It has a 2 PPM chance for a 5 second +Recharge boost... and IIRC it also has a self-lockout period. I believe whatever slots would be invested in that piece are almost always better invested in something else.

I sort of feel what @KaizenSoze is feeling, but I think it is less about the nature of the (Blaster) nukes and more about how Blasters have some "easy mode" features on top of their nukes that don't really apply to other AT. In no particular order: 1) It is easy to bump up defenses (this applies even more to Fortunata) In addition to having enhancement bonuses, Blasters, because of the raw power of the nukes, can be a little more liberal about swapping out single-target attacks for power pool choices to improve defense and resistance. 2) It is relatively easy to sidestep mezz effects from critters (in response to a cast nuke that may have missed). Not only does the first point apply (Rune of Protection is rather trivial to pick up for Blasters), but there is also Defiance. Every time I have a Controller cast an AoE control and it immediately gets mezzed... I am wee bit jealous that a similarly mezzed Blasters can still have up to three different powers to use. 3) It is rather easy to manage both global recharge and Endurance, such that the nukes are often available and there is very little practical cost to working them into an attack chain. This is so deeply baked into the game that I wouldn't want it any other way.

Here are the ones I typically use (I swap out the images). The first 'ports me into melee, the second one 'ports me backwards for cones/range. /macro_image "StaffFighting_StaffMastery" "BAMF" "powexec_location target Combat Teleport" /macro_image "StaffFighting_AssassinsStaff" "BACK" "powexec_location Back:25 Combat Teleport" and /bind shift+lbutton "powexec_name Combat Teleport" The mouse bind is for those times when I get stuck on a map.

Apologies for no screenshot. Missing textures for Weapons >> Munitions Rifle Observed on Male body. Specifically, the "bottom three" choices: Weapons >> Munitions Rifle >> Devastator Weapons >> Munitions Rifle >> Shock Rifle Weapons >> Munitions Rifle >> Shard Cannon

I recommend Combat Teleport (with Macros) to support the Atomic Blapping/PBAoE. It should be possible to build up a fun sort of synergy with the knockback of the Energy primary with the close-combat of Atomic.

It's almost as bad as waiting/hoping for the Force Feedback %proc to fire.

I think the VEAT inherents are worse than the HEAT inherents, but it is hard to see the HEAT inherent working well until the Kheldian is on a PUG... and the PUG gets in over its head, as often a well-build Kheldian can go to town against large, nasty spawns. I am of the opinions that the Kheldians should get some advantages in any form that carries over from other chosen forms... this is sort of what the ATO piece does, so I'm thinking of something like the compliment of having the T1/T2 blasts available in Nova/Dwarf form... so that one of the "signature" powers from Nova/Dwarf was available in Human form. This would allow Human forms to have access to more powers, which could preserve slots. I'm not really liking this idea, since Kheldians are a nice build-puzzle. Frankly I'd be satisfied if the "toggle slotting" of Nova/Dwarf carried over to each form for ToHit Buffs and Resistance (even if not toggled on)... that is not to say that a Nova would get full Dwarf resistance, just that any resistance enhancement slotting would be applied to both human and nova forms base resistances. I am 100% fine with Knockback in the ranged attacks. KB is one of those mechanics that can frustrate some players, but IMO It's a tool that players need to learn to use (it is a "soft control") It allows for more slotting options Having it teaches players more awareness of the game's enemies and environment It is not a "grief" effect If you personally don't like it, it can be mitigated with a couple of easily available enhancement pieces for teammates who don't like it: many Immobilize powers eliminate/restrict knockback I dislike the general lack of mezz resistance, but that is a feature of the game. Kheldians have all the same tricks available to other ATs, plus Dwarf form.

It was nice to be recognized by @Yomo Kimyata, but that's the player/forum presence I think has done the most to smooth things out for players willing to listen, and willing to ask.

I'm not a fan of the Fury bar, and the Domination bar is best ignored via perma-Domination. I tolerate the Sentinel's Opportunity bar, but even that was revamped. Let's not add a similar mechanic to Kheldians.

IMO: /Atomic is not a great choice of secondary for staying at range. I find it to be one of the better "Blappy" choices, so picking range is IMO "crippling damage". I suppose the secondary choices would be something like: T1 (level 1, mandatory): Electron Shackles, probably just a single slot with Acc/Mezz T3 (available level 4, but could delay): Positron Cell, could take as few as 4 slots for a Recharge bonus, or could eventually be a better source of set bonuses. Probably not worth investing %damage since it i a single target. T4 (available level 10): Ionize, take after picking up Sniper Blast, take instead of Aim. Invest as few as 2 slots or better 6 slots of Gaussians'. T6 (level 20): Metabolic Acceleration, slot as needed. If you don't intend to Melee... there isn't much reason to prioritize the other powers. The T1/T9 combo is pretty great, and while in melee the T8 is golden, as is the T7. The T5 Beta Decay is also surprisingly useful. On my /Atomic, I use all except Electron Shackles and Positron Cell.

The last three choices in "arsenal mastery" do not appear in the characters' hands, even if those options do exist for Assault Rifle Blasters.

I didn't think to recheck weapons customization after I choose that pool. Unfortunately, the weapon I had chosen was available as a choice for Arsenal Mastery but it was invisible! (it was one of the last three choices).

I have an Assault Rifle / Plant / Arsenal Mastery Blaster. For this purposes of this post, the Plant Manipulation secondary isn't that critical for me: After playing around with the powers, I am only taking 5 of them, because I wanted to lean into "rifle action" of the primary I was initially committed to the secondary melee (Blapperlock?) but in practice I found I wasn't using the melee and they didn't synergize well with my use of the primary. This had the result that I ended up with plenty of extra slots to use in (Epic) pool powers, so I felt like adding more options to the Assault Rifle. My build also worked out that the power picks I wanted made it so that by the time the Epic pool was available (at level 35), I could drop each of the powers I wanted in as consecutive power picks. That is: these choices felt like extensions of my original abilities, and I wasn't "waiting" until level 49 to "finish" my build's offense. Note: I typically do not add Hasten to builds (I rely on Global +Recharge to smooth out or minimalize attack chains), so my final build has an absurdly large number of attacks: 7 from the primary, 3 from the epic, 2 from the secondary, on top of a few debuffs to apply to enemies. FWIW: the build has 71% Global Recharge and a 20% Global Range boost, plus a Global +60% Accuracy and a toggled +6% ToHit. Question: Is there a way to get the Epic Arsenal Mastery weapon to exactly match my custom choice of Primary Assault Rifle? I'll share my full build later, but for now I want to noodle on the Epic Arsenal Mastery. Here are my current choices: Level 35: Body Armor with 4x Unbreakable Guard. This is my go-to slotting for Epic Armors. an earlier power pick is muling the other globals. Level 38: Cryo Freeze Ray. I originally had Strangler (Plant Secondary) in the build, but I was dissatisfied with its performance, and choosing Strangler messed with my desired power pool picks from Force of Will (which will come back, keep reading). I am completely satisfied with picking up a rifle-cast single-target hold at this level. My slotting is: level 53 Cytoplasm Exposure (Accuracy/Mezz), and 5x %damage pieces. The recharge time is 15 seconds, which is about twice as fast as my AoE Hold Vines (from the Plant Secondary). There are only marginally available bonuses from slotting multiple set pieces, so %damage seems to work best: this attack "finishes" many targets and stacks Holds. I debated adding the %+2 Mag Hold, but for much of what I play I don't need that bonus. (I keep one available to swap-slot for harder team content). Level 41: Sleep Grenade slotted with 5x Fortunata Hypnosis. The recharge time here is 34 seconds. This is an odd power choice for me. I picked it because I found that the AoE, despite being smallish, was adding a little bit of extra Survival and AoE control that I wanted. I have this slotted for a Very Rare Enhancement set bonus as I didn't need more AoE %damage even though it is a reliable %proc power. If I had a 6th slot, I would probably add Annihilation %-Resistance to it, as I have observed that the application of %-Res does not wake up enemies. I turned out that at level 41 I didn't have a power that I was likely to use (after experimenting) so Sleep Grenade was the last power added to the build. I could replace it with all sorts of other powers, possibly redirecting some of its slots, but for me it feels like a good addition. Level 44: LRM Rocket slotted with a 50+5 Accuracy/Recharge from Ragnarok, and 4x %damage. The recharge time on the "fast" version is 16 seconds; I try to only use it while "engaged". I experimented with using the Force Feedback %+Recharge in it, but the 2 PPM proc chance wasn't occurring enough to help with my other powers. I end up using this for mixed reasons: sometimes I have a surviving cluster that deserves an attack, often it is used for runners (because of the long range). I didn't take Surveillance, even though I like the power. My build has Weaken Resolve (from Force of Will, one of two steps to Unleash Potential) at level 8; generally I find that this sort of power is more useful in the low-to-mid level content, and I don't think it is as useful in place of any of the other power picks, given my ability to dedicate slots to them. Any thoughts, or anyone care to share their experiences with the set?

Buffing Tankers was not a swing of the nerf bat at Brutes. I agree that Fury, which is the defining characteristic of Brutes, is almost certainly where any changes could be made. I don't know that some players will be satisfied with anything less than solo Brutes clearing maps faster than any other AT, no matter how that is achieved.

I start with a concept, and then try to find an AT that will allow me to leverage the concept. Depending on the AT, I expect to get a feel for the character between levels 12 and 22. Prior to level 14, my experience has been that most AT play very similar... by level 14 I have good feel for the strengths and weaknesses. By level 22 I can do some creative slotting. I like to experiment with different powers, especially how they can affect play style (mostly solo)... by level 30 I can see how most of those powers play with teams. ^ The above are reasons why I try not to "rush to 50" ^ - I miss the opportunity to see how my choices play, and I miss the opportunity to respec at low/mid levels to try new things. I like to have my characters "solved" by level 32; occasionally I will need (or want) some Epic/Patron/Pool powers at the higher levels, but rarely do those radically change my perception of my concept. If the character doesn't "play right" before level 50, incarnates are not going to make a difference for me.