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I'm thoroughly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ on the suggestion. I understand that "All Incarnate T4" can feel 'grindy', but it is not even in the same ballpark as it was on Live. My first instinct on the suggestion is that this sort of idea is one that would make alternate forms of 'grind' on Homecoming easier.(*1) I wouldn't use Empyrian merits for T1 or T2 components, I didn't even realize that was a a thing! I've always used Threads if I don't have components on hand. I typically don't even bother slotting Incarnates until a character joins a team doing some content that benefits from/requires having any. The Alpha slot is one of the few Incarnate branches I try to at least slot to a single T3, just to 'get moar performance', and even then I typically do enough TFs/Flashbacks that I'll have more than enough Shards to craft at least a T2 or T1 just from those.(*1) As mentioned earlier in the thread: There is so little content that would even require a T4 over a T3, and a majority of the game's content (everything below level 45) doesn't even allow the use of Incarnates at all. (*1) There is plenty of content that can grind Incarnate components as well as everything else the game has to offer (XP, Inf, drops, blah blah blah fishcakes)... and if you only want the Incarnate components (plus Empyrian merits!) entire Dark Astoria arcs can be run in about 10 minutes for pretty much all ATs.

I had heard that the plan (this was me reading the past-shutdown AMA) was to revamp Perez, and not the Hollows. The Hollows had already been revisited once... it also already has an entire zone below it, so maybe symmetry? The Hollows is more self-contained than Perez, certainly (as far as missions that are directed to which zone).

The Homecoming version of CoX is almost entirely divorced from requiring specific types of characters, power choices, or even play styles (including: solo v. teaming) to achieve most everything in the game. Ethics has nothing to do with these. A player would pretty much have to work really hard at griefing other players for ethics to come into the conversation, IMO.

The teams I'm on seem to be paying attention to each other, but it is impossible to know. There are lots of different ways to "pay attention": Monitoring blue/green bars Monitoring icons for buffs/debuffs Keeping an eye on visual effects (for debuffs and buffs) Watching the map (or team zone indicator) Listening for powers (like Taunts) If there is one area of the game that I'd wager only a minority of players pay attention to, I'd say it is when someone on the team gets a PBAoE debuff applied to them and folks end up clustering inside that AoE. The most obvious example is Clamor's Radiation Infection. I freely admit that if I am paying attention and think the team can handle more spawns, I'll aggro other spawns to speed things up. I've been accused of not paying attention when I've done this, but it is almost always the complete opposite.

I miss Galaxy City, as it was, the Shining Stars map of the destroyed "Galaxy City" has never felt like it was the original zone. The starter area is small enough that I can ignore it. As a Hazard zone? I suppose there isn't anything to really oppose, but Hazard Zones were an idea that may have looked good on paper, but didn't really gel. The early days of Live, with minimal travel powers and lots of possible debt probably had them fulfill the mission of keeping players grinding, but these days it is relatively easy to ignore them. I suppose the idea sort of got revamped with the Praetorian Underground, and it always bugged me that Red Side didn't get an "Undermountain" Hazard Zone(s) between Port Oakes and Cap Au Diable, similar to the (Abandoned) Sewer Network on Blue. I am still wondering why the Live Team ever wanted to revamp Perez Park. That effort (from memory, make it a level 50 zone, similar to Dark Astoria, with vertical movement required) seemed like it was a plan to incorporate all the worst ideas for maps (Shadow Shard, Grandville), add some more masturbatory lore changes (Dark Astoria, Galaxy City), and completely change the one Hazard Zone that almost all Blue Siders will have experienced from the heart of Paragon City. I consider it bad form to remove elements from the game in the service of adding elements. I prefer the game to stay "evergreen"; simply add new material without removing old content.

No real surprise here, except that neither DC nor Marvel filed a response, and that there was a default judgement.

I've been waiting for @Gravitus to suggest a change to the Flight Pool to make Group Fly something you can cast on enemies.

I feel like a better research project would involve "post hoc rationalizations for being a ****."

This is where I am. I think the game is in a really good place with respect to how balanced rewards can be reaped for different ATs, with one exception*(1). Even for the 1% of content that cannot be "solo-ed" by every AT, my personal experience is that some fraction of that can be "handled" by changing tactics, even if it is painful for a player to alter their mental model of "how my character should play (in all content)." Performance from individual primary/secondary powers choices should vary of course! (*1) The one exception is, I think Kheldians... but I think the issue with them is very subtle. Kheldians can survive pretty much all content (typically by leveraging Dwarf form), but aside from a game exploit, Kheldians can't quite sustain damage at higher levels... and the floor for what I consider to be a "higher level" is around level 30. An even level Kheldian simply playing their arcs can run into con-red Council bosses that may not be able to survive or defeat without leveraging extreme tricks.

Agree. With a Storm/Storm character, the big addition to the weather arsenal is Category Five, which for non-Blasters will chew through x8 spawns relatively quickly (when it is available). The other powers aren't slouches, as they offer good powers for set-slotting and/or %procs. Don't sleep on slotting %-Resistance from the Annihilation set. One piece of advice if you are considering leveraging %damage. Gale can take several %damage pieces, but it has a very low base Accuracy. I ended up slotting this with 2x Accuracy 50+5 IOs, and only two %damage pieces (%Lethal, %Fire) on my final build. I had experimented with boosting both Accuracy and Range on it, but I didn't need extra range because the storm powers work best if you draw enemies towards you. As I wrote above, I don't really sweat the Knockback in large spawns, and usually I have something to followup with if need to do so. There is no real reason to take O2 Boost at level 1, so it is likely your build will have Gale in it at some point. I delayed O2 Boost until level 14 on my Storm/Storm, and have it slotted with just a single Heal IO. If you opt for a Controller, I almost always skip the single-target Hold available at level 1. Single target Holds do offer some options for slotting, but my general attitude is that they are an inferior source of control/damage compared to what else you could do with the slots and power choice. If one of my builds has a T1/T2 single-target hold, it is usually because: I wanted a set bonus from a Fold enhancement set (4xBasilisk's Gaze, or 3xGaldiator's Net) I have a strategy to try to get stacking holds on some single-targets (combined with another Hold) There is no other option for damage for the character, so I might accuracy + %damage in a ST Hold.

I want to make the following comment on the topic of "The Immobilize (of Evasive Maneuvers, currently a level 14 pick) would be too strong to make it an auto power". Mystic Flight (a level 4 pick) has a built-in anti-Immobilize measure, Translocation.

FWIW Storm Cell recharges kinda quick (I only have the Vigilant Assault set 2-slotted: Recharge/%Absorb and Damage/Recharge). My teammates don't seem to care, and it doesn't really affect me. We casually/accidentally(?) got Valet on a +4 Market Crash, I don't know that any of us had Incarnates (I don't recall seeing any Lore pets). As a Defender, there isn't much of an onus to provide most of the damage... debuff and "control" is pretty good by itself. I think my slotting is just fine for damage and -resistance. The one compromise *I* make with my Storm/Storm (on teams) is that I try to limit how much Knockback I'll do. My usually teammates and I are all pretty chill about knockback, but I think it is reasonable to pay attention to what other players are doing. For Blasters, I think Storm Blast gets knocked because it needs the Storm Cell to maximize DPS in ways that other Blaster primaries do not.

In PvP zones, I fully expect that PvP can happen. Personally: I'd only "worry" about being defeated 1-on-1 in Recluse's Victory, in the other zones most at-level ATs should be able to make an escape if things are too annoying. It's been years since I saw teams in anything other than RV.

As near as I can tell, I clicked the glowie first. I was running at +1x8 and Silver Mantis was killed by an AoE before I 'rescued' her, I think that jinxed the mission. Clearing all enemies left it hung.

Plant Control is a little OP because of Seeds of Confusion. Carrion Creepers can also be made very powerful. The latter is a serious "fire-and-forget" type power. I want to add this: A Storm/Storm Defender offers very "Controller-like" play style that will get you all of the "storm" feels. Obviously it depends on slotting, but I accidentally took a level 30 Storm/Storm Defender into a level 30 radio mission solo at x8, and it had no trouble, but it was slow. If you have never played Controllers, there are a few things to be aware of. Damage is quite mediocre. Pets don't really overcome this (they help), except at very small (i.e. default x1) content. Controllers can mitigate this by exploring how %damage can be used successfully in some of the primary/secondary powers. Controls themselves can be a mixed bag, because they are single-target or AoE, and enemy critters may have resistance and/or protection.

I do think there are different drop rates for different tiers of inspirations, but I don't think there are different drop rates among inspirations in a tier (other than the 0% Iron Wills+)... at least not by "feel". I want to disclose that I always "reject resurrection" inspirations (I just keep some in email), and I am 50-50 on if I have team inspiration drops turned on (Tankers, MMs almost always; Blasters, Scrappers almost never, other ATs depend on other factors). I often have a "special tray" set up with macros to combine reds/yellows/blues into either heals or resist effects; I find that I can typically build characters that don't "need" red/yellow/blue for most content, but enemies can cause me to "need" greens/pinks. MMV based on AT and content of course.

*) Go online to find a 1+ year-old thread to offer some necromantic advice.

It's hard to follow some of the alt-radio ramblings, but if CoX required players to "solve puzzles" by moving boxes and flipping levers (a la Half-Life, or gawd help us Myst) I think I'd check out. I'm also not looking for 372 hours of potential dialogue from clicking on every NPC in the game, a la Deus Ex.

For the Blaster's Epic Dark Mastery, I think a Tar Patch probably be either OP (on a Blaster). If someone was looking for powers (for an Epic Blaster) to replace those last two powers, I feel like the choices would be something more like: Black Hole -> Haunts (Mu gets a pet summon at 38) Soul Consumption -> maybe a PBAoE aura toggle that does minor damage and provides a minor heal? To Compliment Dark Consumption/Soul Drain? A replacement for Soul Consumption is, at least in my cranium, a little difficult to parse. I feel like in order to really channel the complete Dark experience it should be a toggle. Most Blasters have a sustain that really ought to be meeting their needs in either/both Endurance and Health... so a long recharge PBAoE click that requires an accuracy check is highly inferior... even with the enemy-affecting features. I think Black Hole makes enough sense (*1) as an Epic Dark power for Blasters, so maybe just Soul Consumption -> Haunts? (*1) As long a such a power exists in the game, I think Black Hole is exactly where it should be (for Blasters), even if tactically it is of limited use.

I'd knock down the Hero "Cloud of Odorous Smoke", because this mission can become impossible to complete, yet not fail.

I often try to run content organically (that is, at level) but if I was committed to that and tried to recruit teammates, it is an almost certain guarantee that I'd out-level some fraction of the content I intend to run. Like others, I have disabled earning XP to get the "organic" feel, but often I'm just going through Ouroboros (or Schweinzer/Haskell) to get to specific content. An improved set of rewards for going through Ouroboros, or organic play-thru, isn't something I need. Often when I am running low-level Ouroboros content I can turn up the spawn sizes to get more rewards (XP, Inf, drops) that way. IIRC, there are some rewards (e.g. temp powers like Peebles' Ring?) that are better if achieved through organic play, which always struck a sour note with me. I am tempted to write something like: "Learning the Lore is its own reward"... but because of choices the Live Devs made, much of the Lore is a hot mess. I do think that solo missions at-level can help players learn many things about their own powers, and how certain enemies behave (AI, special resistances, and with powers like debuffs) but I don't know that such knowledge can actually be learned, or if learned how useful it could be (see the bold reactions to FREEM! for example)

From my PoV, the non-Patron Blaster pools appear to have a rather odd assortment of powers that don't quite overlap (with each other), and somewhat echo primaries/secondaries which inspire them.... avoiding certain types of powers. Despite my crack offering side-eye to the hugely improved Blaster nukes, Defiance, etc, I'm not actively trying to make Blaster's Dark Mastery be bad, it is more (from my PoV) that there isn't much else to work with given the constraints without making Dark Mastery more like another pool. I see it sort of like the Presence Pool, for which it makes very little sense (to me) to generally want two of those first three powers (which have anti-synergy, for the most part), except to get access to the last two.