tidge

I think if you spend some more time experiencing what Homecoming has implemented, you will find that you enjoy the game much more without prestige.

For my 2 Inf, if I wanted a Blaster that was going to lean into Melee, I would take /Atomic or /Martial before /Energy. From the previous discussion, I was left with the impression that /Energy was typically recommended for characters that were going to mostly stay at range and/or lean into secondary effects from attacks. This comment is not included as a blanket statement of attitudes, just that as a player that uses Energy Melee but wouldn't specifically consider Energy Manipulation(*1) for performance. My recollection is based on what I recall other folks advocating it for. Concept is a different kettle of fish. (*1) I happen to like Stuns/Disorients... my hesitation to /Energy is emphasis on single-target attacks (for a Blaster). Other secondaries mix-up the offensive potential more to my taste.

The if the copycat toon wasn't a Stalker, the copycat wasn't really trying.

I have a feeling it would the former, but it could provide the breathing room/opportunity for a Stalker's extra damage to make a difference. Even prior to the Homecoming changes to Threat, I would often rely on Placate when fighting the "hero" EBs/AVs in redside missions. None of those have the "omniscience", but getting the breathing room was important. For missions where spawns "hunt down" the player, my strategy is pretty much to only be in one fight at a time. This means not starting something else, and finishing one ambush before the next one spawns.

Does Placate help with ambushes?

What I mean is that in order for me to leverage Venomous Gas I have to gad all-in hard on picking and slotting defense powers, at the expense of using slots and power picks elsewhere. What do your power pools and defenses look like?

Knockback has 5 different sets, Threat and Fear only have 4 sets each, so threat and fear deserve priority over Knockback IMO. Knockback's level 20-50 sets include 4 pieces that boost Accuracy and five pieces that boost Endurance, whereas the 20-50 sets for Threat have only two pieces that boost Accuracy, and none that boost Endurance reduction, so Threat has priority over Knockback IMO. If some combination of KB slotting is missing that could satisfied by a new set, I'm all for it... but Threat and Fear are just about in the worse case.. If anyone wants to play "whaddabout" :I recognize that "Accurate ____" sets are fewer, but those are IMO only really missing Acc/End pieces, but those powers that require ToHit checks don't have tremendous Endurance costs and the 20-50 sets generally provide lots of Accuracy boosts. I can't think of a PBAoE Heal or ToHit buff attack that I couldn't slot with some other set's Acc/---.

Late to this thread... because I have a Mind/poison not a Ice/Poison... but this jumped out at me: My experience with Poison (on Defender and Controller) is that Venomous Gas isn't worth taking, and I think the OP hits on why... It is IMO too hard (read this as "the player has to give up too much else") to make Venomous Gas (and other PBAoE toggles) work... unless the players is pretty much exclusively fighting very small spawns at even-con level the hits will keep on coming! It is of course possible to dedicate slots to a toggle PBAoe and also try to increase (positional) defenses, but this is an example of throwing good after bad, YMMV, the debuffs and delays aren't enough to overcome large spawns (which still need to be defeated of course). If the spawns are +4, things become that much harder.

At-level (that is, characters not at 'full kit' and exemplaring down) SF/TF was designed as a solo activity, as mentioned by @Rudra... and even then, there are some low-level TF/SF that can be soloed, by using temporary powers (particularly 'summons') as suggested by @Glacier Peak. I'll also add this: if two players have well-complimented characters... chances are very good that with experience those two players can complete most SF/TFs. I mention this only because it is rarely necessary to have teams of eight for sub-50 content. Would I advocate for the OP change... probably not, but mostly because the (merit) rewards for TF/SF are essentially mapped to the time investment, whereas the non-merit rewards are "flat" (setting aside consideration of hard mode).. I grok that this was not the intent of the OP, but making the SF/TF more easily soloable for everyone means that the bar for effort is even lower for people who can already solo it.

See also: more options for Accuracy and Endurance reduction in fears/threats, thanks!

There was a short period of time when I would do exactly this, but it wasn't long before I realized this shared stragetgy... ...And if I had a level 50 PVP piece that I wasn't going to use, I'd spin the Enhancement Converter roulette wheel to see if I got something I almost certainly would use and want a set bonus.... like a Shield Wall or Gladiator's Armor Defense/Resistance/Endurance Reduction (among others). The %procs of course can be slotted too, but I usually spin/convert PVP pieces below level 50 for those. Mileage varies on how much a character can get from a 50+5 boost, but generally if there are only 2-or-3 of pieces being used from a set, the boosted pieces are yielding returns untouched by Enhancement Diversification.

The one about how the designer had trouble staying within the lines?

You are correct about the 67 being "extra" slots, and I neglected to account for Fitness. As for how it affects the costs, I usually start my characters with 60 Minf and by the time they are ready for the level 50 respec (when the "good" slotting becomes "D*** GOOD" slotting, they typically have around 100 Minf. Not enough to BIN Purples, but I wasn't using purples on the "good" build. I 100% agree that there are more efficient ways to use the market to convert Merits to other things... but some people will resist using the market house, so I thought it was worth mentioning. Even if someone buys recipes via Merits, they are still likely to need the market house to get some of the ingredients.

I'll repeat: As near as I can tell, The period of time between when a henchman model appears on the field/pet window and when the player can actively select the henchman as a target appears to only be a combination of "animation lockout" (*1) and "server-client delay"(*2). I really don't think this is a "configurable" element... if this is make-or-break, it is pretty much only the players' wetware that can be modified. (*1) I've observed this with henchmen (and pets): if the thing is in the middle of an animation, it is possible that the client (i.e. player) can't take certain actions. Specific to MMs and their henchmen: I can never drag an inspiration onto my T3 Assault Bot once it is engaged in battle, as it is constantly ycling through its attacks. Every other henchman (and pets!) on that mastermind can take an inspiration drop (unless the pet is forbidden, like a green insp on a Maintenance Drone). (*2) Players can AoE/PBAoE enemies bore they can be targeted. (oh hai Super Stunner!) During a league event like a Rikti Invasion Henchmen and pets can target enemies before players can via the client.

Welcome HOME!

It's a reasonable argument to make that "my view is that controllers aren't about doing damage", but it ignores that 99% of the game's rewards are directly correlated with doing damage. If damage-dealing ATs required a controller to mezz EVERY critter before critters could be defeated, that would be a TERRIBLE game. Even in-game circumstances that explicitly require controls (e.g. Hamidon raids) have been done without Controllers (the 8-man Stalker runs).

I have a minor quibble about character builds, depending on personal values of "good". With 67 slots on a level 50, I think a "good" character can be built spending an average of no more than 2 Minf per slot for attuned IOs. Common IOs can be bought for much less... so I'd put the cap closer to 134 MInf than 500 Minf. The rest of the @Jacke advice is fine, although it ignores the ability of players to directly convert merits into ATO/Winter enhancements and/or recipes for PVP/Very Rare Enhancements, for players that don't *want* to bother with the AH (because "tutorials", or whatever) It's rather trivial for a level 50 character to be able to accumulate 600 merits (convertable to a full set of ATO) in one weeks' play, but the player has to make some choices to do that.

Well... this thread does have at least one player that self-admits that they may have missed the difference. It's ok to not like the FREEM! popup, but it offers some value explaining the mechanics. I'm guessing there exists a player that feels the same about damage number popups. Take a Tank with a Taunt Aura into a PVP zone sometime... it is possible to get used to the mechanics popups.

If nothing else, the FREEM! popup lets players know if they'be been hit by a high-magnitude KB, and if they don't see the pop-text it almost certainly means that the KB they are experiencing is something they explicitly forgot to account for in their build. It wouldn't surprise me if some fraction of players shocked to find themselves suffering KB have been skating by on nothing more than high (positional) defenses. If someone took a Tanker without an Alpha slot on Apex/Tin Mage, I can completely believe that the character was "ragdolled".

I've often observed teams of players fighting nuAdamastor ignore the warning to back away just to watch it heal back up to full health. Most of the time this simply delays its defeat... but every so often I'll be with a team that is clearly struggling to make damage stick to it and the play behavior is indistinguishable from "facerolling on keyboard". Soloing Giant Monsters isn't IMO one of the things that should be common for most builds. I dare say that most builds can't tackle GMs solo without Incarnates and/or temp powers, and if we are talking about Defenders, I think those are probably among the least likely to be able to solo a non-Holiday Giant Monster... maybe Kheldians would be worse?

Please share the Tanker's primary/secondary, because... FREEM! (IIRC Magnitude 20KB) can catch everyone by surprise, especially resistance-based ATs that have no meaningful KB resistance or KB protection. I haven't played a Fire Armor set, but with Dark I typically build for 14 points of KB, as it is easy to get 2 x +3 (set bonuses) and 2x +4 from unique enhancements. 3x +4 is pretty much as viable from 3 uniques... I just feel like I get more mileage from the PVP sets that offer 3-piece +3 KB protection, and usually want that 3rd unique mule slot for something else. With 12 or 14 points, the SG base buff can put me at 22 or 24 points, which takes FREEM! off the table. IMO It's crucial for Dark to build for KB because of the PBAoE powers, including the self-heals. This is IMO just one of those lessons that has to be learned, it isn't the Homecoming Devs being out to get players!

There is quite a bit of mental-modelling in Homecoming that relies on half-formed memories of Live and/or "player guides" from (different eras of) Live. I can believe that the pre-crashless nukes may still be affecting certain players' thoughts. Just to pick something different but tangentially related to this topic: "hoverblasting" still gets a surprising (to me) amount of advocacy.

Vigilantes can solo/lead the Synapse TF.. so they presumably can exit the mission into a Red (or Gold) Side. I typically spawn the Ambush Babbage in Steel Canyon, as there can be three NPCs to help right near the base portal. Usually I use LRT, but in the past it has worked by exiting the mission to a SG base and then zoning into Steel Canyon.

FWIW: The ambush Babbage from the Synapse TF can also be spawned in other zones. I keep meaning to see if I can get one to spawn red-side.

No thanks to the suggestion. Catalysts are a direct reward for playing, and can be earned via Merit conversion or purchased via the AH. Anyone who would be "happy" to pay more for an attuned can buy a Catalyst from the AH, often for less than 1 MInf.