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At the end of Live, we were getting new power sets, with animations that were not trivial and benefited players across all levels (not just Incarnate content). We were also getting new emotes and costumes. There were some Lore-related things that fell flat for me, and I absolutely despised the Incarnate system on Live, but there was obviously dev time being put into zone/mission geometry as well as story arcs. I find the original blue-side zones (and then the Hollows) are not particularly fun to travel/explore/play in... later zones like Striga, Croatoa, Redside (mileage varies on Grandville as an experiment in zone design... Shadow Shard is the true failed experiment in zone design IMO) and event the Dark Astoria revamp show how different design teams can work together to make an "open world" really work. My specific griefs about the paragraph above: Some of the actual graphics used Redside was lazy, specifically the buildings which exist fully drawn below the 'solid' ground. Out of respect for graphic cards of the original era, those elements should have been eliminated such that out cards didn't have to render things we'd never see. Also: I'll never be a true fan of the linear arcs that don't leave the world in (effectively) the same state as when the arc started. Just as "every comic is somebodies first comic", every new character should be able to experience the same comic-book world as every other player.

The original Deus Ex had the water fountains and vending machines for tiny refreshment bonuses.

I don't write this to be contrarian, but on a merit-rich character that ran multiple weekly ITF recently that also didn't have a tricked-out set of Alpha powers, I chose the alpha salvage reward once (which I knew I could use) in place of more merits to get one of the alpha powers over the T3->T4 speed-bump. Every once in a blue moon when similar circumstances arise I will occasionally make the (generally poor) choice of Empyrean Merits as a Hamidon reward. Generally: I agree that the Alpha-slot Incarnate salvage is a poor choice for a reward. It's not as bad a choice as a random Single Origin Enhancement from the signature Story arcs!

MMs are among the most versatile of solo builds, especially one at level 50+. It's solo MMs that I always see sweeping zones for GM hunts (except in Peregrine Island, I never see other MMs hunting here). A Robotics build is perfectly fine for Smashing/Lethal farms if AE farming is your jam. If there is 'one stupid trick' to quickly finish a S/L farm, it is to funnel the enemy spawns towards the henchmen while keeping the 'bots buffed (and stationary) and the enemy in the kill zone. It's definitely not AFK farming. MMs can grind low level Oroborous missions quickly if players want quick Merits instead of Inf/drops. The only type of content I've found that MMs are not good at are missions that (for some reason) the player wants to move quickly through a map to get to objectives... and this is because of henchmen AI for travel routing. MMs builds can be made for Stealth and easier group travel (I've used the Concealment, Flight and/or Teleport pools on MMs that don't have a primary/secondary that could help with these, so this approach isn't forbidden to any MM). I'd casually estimate that 99% of content where a player goes a long way on a map very quickly is due to player choice and not because of a game mechanic. My exemplared MMs can complete the first SSA1 arc in very short times (especially now with powers available at lower levels) and the first two-thirds of that arc have timed/travel components. The main example I can think of where a fast-moving solo MM that doesn't want to fight every group would be likely to take longer would be something like the Dark Astoria arcs. For example, in the first arc there are objectives scattered through the maps with occasional necessary fights, A MM will need the henchmen for those fights even if they've stealthed to them. Honestly... the DA arcs make great farms, so I wouldn't even bother trying to stealth them as a MM. For the @Heatstroke: I don't have experience with Bots/FF, I would worry that Force Field doesn't bring enough debuffs for the hardest targets (AV, GM). Robotics is a pretty easy primary to make very strong, a lot of this is due to the ranged attacks of the fully upgraded henchmen. The MM attacks from Robotics can include %debuffs; I wouldn't take more than 2 (plus a Patron AoE of some sort). I run a Robotics/Traps, with the FFG, Supremacy, the Protector Bot bubble, Maneuvers and some Enhancement uniques I know that the MM is above the Defense softcap, and it feels like even the T1 henchmen aren't getting hit at much.

While leveling: I will always ramp up spawn size before ramping up difficulty.... exactly when depends on the character and how I've been slotting its powers. In solo play, I almost never ramp up difficulty except in the following cases: For Incarnate content, I will minimally increase difficulty to match Incarnate shifts. For level 45+ content, if I have an Alpha shift, I will increase difficulty to account for that. If I'm facing enemies that take a LOT of knockback without me doing anything differently, I will turn up difficulty to keep them from scattering too much. There are two reasons for this personal behavior: I don't enjoy endless slugfests As near as I can tell there is no difference in recipe/salvage drop rates between +0 vs. +3 Generally: XP/Inf is better for more defeats in less time.. The only exception is when I know I will be facing an AV in a mission and for some reason I want the AV to be more powerful, I have turned the settings to +3x1. I don't do this often.

There will be cases where a single piece from an enhancement set is what is needed to maximize one (or more) aspects of a power (for the chosen slotting). If that Enhancement isn't providing a global effect or some sort of %proc, it is probably best to acquire the piece at its maximum level and boost it to +5, as the set bonuses won't be a factor to consider.

A note of caution, regarding 'unslotting' at low levels (below 20). The non-set (i.e. inherent) bonuses from enhancements at low levels are not particularly strong, and can be somewhat obscured by Beginner's Luck and/or any bonuses from early mission arcs like Death from Below. I usually only use unslotters on characters below level 25 when: The Enhancement is 'valuable' (a very subjective adjective) and I want to keep it (that is, not clobber it with a new slotting choice) It is a piece that provides some sort of global (e.g. Kismet +ToHit) that is simply in a 'wrong power' (e.g. moving it from a Click/Toggle to an Auto power) It is some sort of %proc that isn't 'paying off' in the power (many %proc don't offer as much 'bang-for-the-slot' at lower levels, many powers are simply bad choices for %procs) Often I'll find it is useful to do a respec in the mid-20s, just to move slots around in powers. All the enhancements become unslotted during the respec.

The (Homecoming) lowering of the levels for primary/secondary choices has been great for players who want to explore (and min/max!) Patron/Epic power pools; prior to this change, I found myself clustering up secondary power choices versus Epic/Patron versus powers available earlier that I hadn't yet fit into the build... now I find myself with a lot more options... I still have several characters that didn't respec to take certain powers 'earlier' because I am perfectly satisfied with those builds! While I don't feel like we need more Epic/Patron, I do think that there are a couple of options (synthesizing what was written by @FupDup and @Scarlet Shocker😞 "Patron Pools" for power sets used by the (Praetorian) Heroes, paralleling what we have for Red Side Players get a taste of what Synapse can do with his powers (in the Red Side "Who Will Die?"), and also see what powers Deadlock has access to when he takes his serum (in Eagle Eye's arc)... so I sort of feel that some mechanism for allowing players to pick some variant of "signature powers" could be make viable. I imagine there are a LOT of players who would like to have Penny Yin's Psionic Nexus as a recharge-intensive pet! "Epic Pools" that leverage some of the kewler (more useful) temporary powers There are a handful of "temp" powers that run out (or otherwise have very limited charges) that it would be nice to have available as actual powers. Something to mimic how existing Epic/Patron pools offer what the Ring of Peebles does. Sticking with a Praetorian theme, I still want to be able to have characters that have been partially transmorgrified by the Devouring Earth, so they have access to ("Patron") powers like: Summoning Bees, summoning Eminators, AoE attacks, bio-like armors, etc.

I've had surprisingly few on Homecoming as opposed to Live. I've never had a Mastermind with no henchmen, but I have run a "one-T3-only" build. I have a VEAT Crab that is mostly debuffs, for the lulz I suppose. I wanted to make a character that was making enemies fall down, or otherwise keeping composure, but avoiding Energy Blast, Ice and Fire. The resulting Mind/Poison Controller turned out to be very effective and it is probably hard to tell from the outside he is supposed to be a silly, ineffective character.

I haven't tried it, but with Prismatic Aethers you should be able to run a completely different skin.

Welcome Back! I won't repeat the links (thanks @TygerDarkstorm); I do recommend you read them. I used to use keybinds for henchmen control, but for the MM primaries I play (as well as my chosen content), and with many of the ongoing changes (faster recharge times on summons, the way most buffs work, the availability of all enhancements) a level 50 build doesn't get that much advantage from them. I'm not knocking them, it's more that just having a handful of macros in a power tray gets me 98% of what I would use the keybinds for, even in the content that would most matter. As for "which content", I'm thinking its mostly +N and/or x8, where the henchmen will be at a level disadvantage and/or likely to fall quickly and you need to position them (mostly for Supremacy/Unique Enhancement bonuses) and/or direct their fire. I'm almost never specifically sending a henchmen to go get aggro and bring it back, which is near-trivial to do with the macros. TL;DR: get comfortable with the henchman before diving into the keybinds. (IIRC you can drag the default henchman macro icons from the "pet window" into a power bar, from "all" or individuals) Re: Slotting... the spawned henchmen are your damage, so they need to be slotted with accuracy and damage, just like any attack. The recharge intensive pet summons also benefit from recharge (slotted and global), depending on how long they last. The global unique enhancements which help pet Defenses and Resistance should eventually be added to them. I don't recommend trying to add %damage via "procs" to henchmen, except in very special circumstances: The henchmen (or pet) has to trigger the %proc on almost every attack (because of the nature of the attack), otherwise it wastes a slot The henchmen (or pet) has to have decent ToHit/Accuracy, otherwise the %damage won't even have a chance to trigger One unique piece I think is a game changer for most classes Henchmen is the Overwhelming Force %Knockdown (and KB->KD) from the Summer Blockbuster, as if it is slotted in the first tier of henchmen, you will (eventually) have 3 attackers exercising soft-control of Knockdown on every attack. Tier 2 Henchmen often have some other effect that is worth enhancing (with a single slot) besides damage, just sayin'. Don't try to do damage with the personal attacks from MMs: The damage scale is terrible and the Endurance cost is astronomical. Use the attacks for Enhancement set bonuses and to leverage some other effect from them which make your henchment more effective.

I thought this was the thread for the OP to lament how everyone else (i.e. those players using both ends of the market) isn't playing the way the OP wants them to play.

I have been a super-lazy marketeer for at least two years, and I was barely that engaged before then... and despite never starting a new character with less than 200 MInf(*1), by the time the character enters onto the roster of "gosh, is it time to rotate where it is parked for Day Jobs?" I've never had a character go out to pasture this way with less than 400 MInf, just by casually crafting, converting and selling drops.... and usually the character has lots of catalysts, and relatively large stashes of merits (which I never convert to put on the market, which should offer some idea of how lazy I am as a marketeer). The Homecoming Market is friendly to both buyers and sellers. P2W offers some universal enhancement for nothing, crafted IOs are always available cheap because of badges. The one thing a player really ought to have (but could do without) is a SG base with storage space and a crafting table. You can /respec at a base and recycle enhancements if for some reason you want to completely unslot a character. (*1) 200 MInf seed money is over-kill, it just happens to be the number I settled on.

It is as if someone brought a knight to a fun fight.

Level 50 IO recipes sell at vendors for an average of 100K Inf.

Erm... the P2W powers are available for villains of all levels.

The two "signature" characters that confuse me the most are Positron and Lord Recluse. My general dislike for the 'evolving lore' is that comic book universes work best when there is practically zero evolution of the universe. Call it crossover (or 'reboot') fatigue, but I enjoy simple things best when they aren't made needlessly complicated. The appeal of CoH for me was that I could start any new character and take them through a world on paths pretty much of my choosing. I don't want to play someone else's story. Frankly: I haven't like Positron (NPC) since the days when he could choose to stop wearing his armor. For me, this was the first evidence that the game wasn't going to let new characters onto a static canvas, and that story content was going to shift underneath us. Squeezing Positron into the Incarnate system feels like such a joke, especially since he was literally the first TF contact a hero could make. I take every chance I can to punk him red side. I feel that the Praetorian version explains a lot about what I don't like about Positon. I have zero animosity towards Lord Recluse... it's more like I have to make up a lot of 'head canon' to rationalize his actions and relationships across all his appearances. Of all the NPCs in the game, I choose to believe that Lord Recluse is literally the only character who realizes he is in a game, and that all his actions are to keep the game viable for all the players.

Dr. Quartfield is a TF that I will generally solo, here is what I find to be the most annoying about it: The open-zunt hunts within the Shard itself The final mission Orenbega map (1) is annoying, mostly because at least one of the necessary hunts is in part of the zone where the necessary enemies don't always spawn, and partially because of the nature of the enemies: Rularu fly away, Crey and Nemesis become nigh-immune to attacks. I'm not a fan of the in-zone travel, but that is the schtick of the zone and can live with it. Simply NOT restricting the defeats to "Point Zulu" (or wherever) would improve this part of the TF, as it is the most annoying pure-grind IMO. (2) is simply personal, but I hate "rescue the hostages" on that map with a passion. When solo, if the TF goes over two hours, it is usually because I've spent 30+ minutes on that final map trying to find the last objective.

Villains looking for the citizen defeat badge from Mayhem Missions should consider inverting in the AoE attacks from P2W.

These are all good reasons to have an in-mission teleport, even if you are not playing a Tanker. Red Side seems to have more in-mission "choke points" for mobs; On the Blue Side there are almost always opportunities to use something like Combat Teleport, but the main map that seems to favor it because of mob dog-piles is the Terra Volta Reactor map.

Ok, closer to my builds... here is how I have my Blaster slotted (regarding the current discussion on healing sets and Endurance pieces). Level 12: Dehydrate (A) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration: Level 50 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage: Level 50 (*) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing: Level 50 (*) Gladiator's Javelin - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50+5 (*) Gladiator's Javelin - Damage/Recharge: Level 50 (*) Gladiator's Javelin - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50 Level 2: Health (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance: Level 50 (*) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40 Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50 (*) Performance Shifter - EndMod: Level 50 (*) Synapse’s Shock – EndMod/Increased Run speed: Level 50 Preventive Medicine is slotted (6-pieces) in the level 20 secondary sustain. Prior to level 50, I had the Theft of Essence %+End in Dehydrate. As I mentioned in another thread on endurance management, I also lean into set bonuses to grant +MaxEnd, Global endurance discounts, and prefer more Recovery than more Regeneration (on every AT except Tankers). This character has absolutely no endurance issues (without Incarnates) unless something goes very wrong with enemies which drain endurance. I'm tempted to pull one slot from one of these powers, but I don't really have a great place in the build to use an extra slot.. it would basically just be used for %damage in some already fast-charging power.

Without knowing your precise slotting for comparison, at level 45+ the boosted Preventive Medicine pieces are also providing a small Health bonus. If the AT is a Tanker or Brute, this could be noticeable. The three pieces you listed each are contributing to the Heal/Absorb, you are probably already past the ED cap.

How many pieces of the Preventive Medicine set do you have slotted? EDIT: I should add that boosting an enhancement to +5 should increase the base enhancement of the piece by 25%, not considering Enhancement Diversification.