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Two big issues stand out to me: One bit of the Lore that has always bothered me is the weird hint in the Scholastic history badge about the link between Superadine and dimensional research. This especially bothers me because of the supposed manufacture and distribution of Superadine via the Skulls/Family. Given that we never see anything like a "recruitment drive" for Trolls (even their raves are simply all Trolls!), nor anything like the recruitment/hangers-on we see with Skulls, Hellions, or Council, I always assumed that the Trolls are actually extra-dimensional creatures... contrary to whatever the Midnighters and the Regulators would have us believe about Trolls being mutants. The later Praetorian arc that involves Malaise bringing drugs to Primal Earth almost feels like a loose end that is supposed to be tied with this, but as we see absolutely nothing like Trolls red/gold side, and they are pretty much ignored after level 20 I feel like this was just something that was walked away from. I would have preferred that the Praetorian story didn't progress to its end. It never made sense to me that the Praetoria zones we so good looking and well-designed, but would fall to Hamidon... the Rikti, Nemesis and Devouring Earth are constantly doing things like taking down Paragon City's War Walls and invading, so I just didn't want that story to go the way it did. I blame Incarnate content. I would have preferred that Gold-siders got their own Epic ATs ("PEATs"). My rough concept was that (like VEATs) you are nominally loyal to Cole, with one path being an Assault Trooper who could go either the "Heavy Trooper" router or become a Hybrid Devouring Earth Soldier, or another class that could opt to go the Seer route or have your mind placed into one of the Praetorian Robots (shades of Malta, with a suitable nasty twist like Nightstar). Basically instead of letting Praetoria crash and burn, Cole has leveraged even more desperate measures for his devotees. They'd get their own arcs like HEATs and VEATS.

There is supposed to be a cool down period when swapping builds, someone cross-post in the bugs forum.

Super Jump

I'll do the same trick if I am soloing Synapse's TF and feel like I want Babbage merits.

Those OG blue side contacts (level 1-4, 5-9)... starting with the ones in city hall, don't have story arcs that offer merits. Players who leverage the contacts introduced later (Matthew Hasby, Sondra Costel, et al.) can get story arcs without dilly-dallying with an "introductory" mission. It is trivial to outlevel these, especially with 2XP of course. Redside, IIRC, every one of the initial contacts immediately offers a new player an arc with merit rewards.

I have suggestions: 1) For leveling characters, run arcs. My recollection is that red-side arcs (from contacts) give merits (and at a better rate) whereas the blue-side OG contacts don't really start offering merit-rewards until later... and only if you get to the point where they offer them to you. I want to note that if you run with XP boosts (and to some extent, with XP on!) a red-sider will out-level content quickly and have to turn to Newspaper missions to get new contacts, so it can be something like a merit-defeating feedback loop. 2) Leveling red-siders should consider tip/morality missions, especially to reinforce the feel of villainy. It takes 10 to get the 40(?)-merit morality mission. I suspect that very few players who complain about the "total lack of agency" in the Rogue Isles have regularly done this content. There are different tips at 20-29, 30-39, 40-50. 3) For level 50+, as mentioned (while I was typing this up!) The Ghost of Scrapyard is the easiest of the GMs to spawn (and find). This will be a bit of a grind, and it is not easy for solo characters below 50. Level 50s can also do #1 through Ouroboros, and can cycle through the same batch of Tips at level 50. Special extra: the Signature Story Arcs exist on red-side as well, the first one in "Who Will Die?" is a fast one to re-run (faster than Ghost of Scrapyard, for sure). The first time you run a SSA you earn 20 merits, and you can earn an additional 20 merits each week by running it. It offers 5 merits while the rewards timer is active.

This is definitely not-a-bug, but I wasn't sure where to post. TPTB should feel free to move this thread. Why does the page for Mind Control include a note on Levitate that the knockup is on Dominators only? I have had a Controller for a long time and the power has been sending single-targets up into the air. Is it because of the different coding between Controllers and Dominators?

My preferred way to address the OP would be to replace the Unbreakable Constraint set with Gladiator's Net; this set can also be boosted to 50+5). This will get you 7.5% global recharge. If you want the Hold to be slightly more %proctastic, you could opt for 4 pieces of Basilisk's Gaze (a level 10-30 set), leaving room for two (more) %procs but getting the same 7.5% bonus. Knowing nothing else except that this character has the epic Psi, I would not be using World of Confusion even as a place to slot Coercive Persuasion or Ragnarok. World of Confusion has a miserable radius, and a terrible %proc rate. The %Contagious Confusion is (almost entirely) wasted in an AoE. It is much more useful in a single-target power (hopefully the set is in the single-target Confuse) Better to put the slots into Link Minds and slot 5 Pieces of Adjusted Targeting for 5% more global recharge for a good power (this wouldn't be my first choice, but you can get lots of recharge and still squeeze in a LotG)

Roots is the power where my Plant Dom has Superior Ascendency of the Dominator - Recharge/Chance for +Damage (along with 5 other pieces of that set) slotted.

I've been experimenting with it on a level 20 Blaster (I have XP off most of the time; the character has been played for almost 2 weeks, so I am logging time with this power), specifically for the -Resist Damage. I have not seen particularly promising results with it. Some could be because of level, but it is a long-recharge power which requires a ToHit check, and requires two early power picks (I chose Infiltration and also Grant Invisibility as a mule). I plan to respec out of it at either level 24 or 26. It simply feels like it has cost me too much in terms of opportunity of other power choices for the little yield it offers. I want to disclose that I have been playing this character as a "Blapper", so this isn't a case where I have specifically chosen a PBAoE power on a character that isn't close to enemies.

Those should still be in your powers, although you will have to add them manually back to your tray. (Timers reset when switching builds, FWIW)

I use them, generally up until I can slot level 25 IOs, or there is some set bonus I really want before that time (e.g. an ATO, or from a PVP set). If nothing else, they speed up getting the Isolator badge on new heroes.

I dunno, those defenses look paper thin.

At this moment in time, I'm playing a /Atomic Blaster that is level-locked below 20 specifically to revisit more of the 'classic content'. This means my current experiences with the power don't have a lot of extra slots (for anything, let alone FF +Recharge!), or exemplared effects from global pieces, etc. My own attitude will of course be different for a full-kit character exemplaring down (which was the subject of the OP, I know). As an aside, I have a personal peculiarity with respect to almost every toggle power: I often find myself running content without them on at all. Often I'm forgetting to put them on, sometimes I just want to see how the characters perform without them (generally worse, ehem Sustains and Hide) but some toggles have very little noticeable effect, I can easily imagine that Beta Decay can fall into that category for certain content and play styles.

Fold Space is always something I consider taking on a Tanker, but I have never taken it, because: I don't want to slot it for Accuracy, Recharge, or Range to make it more available. Tankers already have large AoE, so more positioning of enemies is less necessary It doesn't work on level 54 bosses, AFAIK With Combat Teleport, I can get to that problematic spawn (or single mob) just as easily as tossing out a Fold Space I am trying to keep an eye on the larger battlefield, but if I observed something I'd want to engage, I'll either toss Taunt, a ranged attack, or my Tanker at them. I have played in PUG with a Tanker who uses it, and while I can adjust, frankly it feels like it is (at best) simply breaking up what I am trying to do, at worst it reminds me of "wait here while I gather the map" (except that it doesn't grab the map faster than the rest of us can deal with it). Hasten is one of those powers that I find works well on some characters, but generally play is smoother if I just build for recharge from LotG and set bonuses (this is true for Dominators too, which want to hit perma-dom without relying on Hasten or Force Feedback). My simple calculus is if it takes 2 clicks of two different powers to defeat a mob (or a spawn of mobs) it takes a long time for the benefit of the extra global recharge to manifest itself... again, assuming 25%-65% from sets plus whatever I can scrounge from LotG. I recognize that if an attack chain is min-maxxed such that the character has the minimum number of attacks which generate an uninterruptable attack chain exists as a possibility for narrow ranges of content is something that can be pursued, but that is not for me.

With only a couple of power picks, I usually opt for Enhancement mules, although if I am going to lean into a power pool (typically because it offers travel, an attack, and even more!) the decision becomes easier. The Specialized pools (Sorcery, Experimentation, Force of Will) are good for "going at least 3-deep" because they each offer attacks, travel and mule power(s)... and almost no choice in them is a "stinker". Concealment is an easy pick for LotG mules; if one of the self-affecting powers is chosen early I find it to be a good spot for the Kismet +ToHit piece as long as that power is toggled on (similar to how a Stalker's Hide is a good place for that enhancement). With a Dominator: being able to slot as much global recharge is really quite important... and you are unlikely to have many extra slots available (because, set bonuses for global recharge) so Concealment/Recharge may be the way to go. Any power that can take a Healing enhancement is a good choice for the Preventive Maintenance %+Absorb piece. The power doesn't need to be used (or available!) for that piece to kick in. Combat Teleport is simply FUN, I think the Stalker subforum has the BMAF MELEE discussion.

Oh a get this, but blasters have a melee damage scale of 1.000, which is better than many other AT, I suppose it's the "survivability" thing... and it seems like such a waste of a secondary to avoid melee powers. Full disclaimer: I've done exactly this with other Blasters, so my headspace is more occupied ATM with developing unique styles of play for new character builds rather than simply regressing to a mean (that is optimized in a particular way). Beta Decay (on my current level 18 Blaster, so few slots) is an interesting toggle that I think is helping with recharge rates of the limited number of attacks I have at this level. For the Water/Atomic Blaster, I was considering the Presence pool to add some soft-ish controls (the Fears) to contribute to "aggressive survivability", but aside from the IMO miserable options to get the PBAoE Fear by level 14, I felt like I was going to be leaning a little too much into the control aspect, especially for the low-level content where controls just don't matter that much (in my experience).

I did some experimenting with a power progression like this (albeit different primary - Water Blast, same secondary) to test out Misdirection at level 14 (Infiltration at level 4, Grant Invisibility at level 8 ) on a character doing a lot of solo content below 20. XP was turned off, so this was not an exemplared build. I was disappointed with Misdirection as it was never buying any breathing room when the aura Ionize was used, and I barely noticed the short duration Resistance debuff... certainly not worth the recharge times. I am actually happy with Infiltration, (at a low level) as it serves double duty as a mule for Defense pieces (such as Kismet +ToHit) in addition to letting me stealth to the end of missions; this is good for an XP-is-off experience, as I don't need to defeat all. Grant Invisibility is simply a mule that can be pushed off if I am going to drop Misdirection. I haven't quite figured out what to do with the four "free choices" below level 20 if two of them are Infiltration and Combat Teleport. The 'obvious' picks are Boxing and Tough, as that will give me one more melee attack at low levels and also mule for Resistance enhancements. Combat Teleport is a power simply too useful to not take: it works wonderfully for characters that have a mix of melee and range, plus it offers utility for navigating maps that otherwise require more synchronization between synapses and fingers. I've made my peace about not having a low level travel power (aside from P2W + Infiltration) as many of my characters are already 'fast' and I don't need to beat PUGmates to doors/objectives on every character. I also dislike Teleport as a (zone) Travel power.

Can I just say this? I like it when the office building maps start on "floor five", so I know exactly what to expect.

One of my least favorite maps is the Orangeban massive complex that is used as a "Rescue 8/12 whatevers from the Circle of Thorns/Malta". There are simply too many hiding places for the folks in need of rescuing, such that I find it difficult to even clear the map such that the 'red triangles' will appear. It is a combination of map size, geograpy, and hidey-holes that I find extremely frustrating.

I was noodling around with the primary/secondary choices are here is my initial assessment, based on my own style. 1 Power Blast 1 Negatron Slam 2 Energy Torrent 4 --- 6 Power Burst 8 Sniper Blast 10 Ionize 12 --- 14 --- 16 Beta Decay 18 --- 20 Metabolic Acceleration 22 Explosive Blast 24 Atom Smasher 26 Nova 28 --- 30 Positronic Fist The "empty" power picks are "free choices", designed to allow me to pick a level 14 pool power that requires 2 earlier picks from the same pool. This is a LOT of offense, but I wanted something like an attack chain for low-level TFs. I was thinking Concealment pool at 4, 12, 14 (to play with the debuff aspect of Misdirection... as I have never used it... recharge times may be to long) and slip in Combat Teleport at level 18 to BAMF into spawns for (PB)AoE and BAMF back for cones/blasts. I really like Combat Teleport, but I don't think it is well-used at lower levels. The 4 slots lend themselves to Boxing/Tough/Weave + Travel if so desired. I don't mind being squishy, so I had planned to delay the Fighting pool until later, but either it (or Sorcery) could be put into those early free choices for mules/beefing. If Hasten is desired, I would put it at level 28 (certainly not before 18) because that's when the longer recharge powers are part of the build. I would probably have Ionize on auto, but I can understand keeping that power as the click (if Hasten is on auto/perma). See my later hot take on the Epic pool... with mule powers from other sets, and a willingness to NOT shoot for soft cap defenses and live life dangerously, I think this sort of build could actually skip the Fighting pool. I had considered delaying (or not taking) Power Burst, but I could not convince myself that there was a better option. I think Arcane Bolt would be a decent alternate choice if you were leaning into the Sorcery pool. I would try to fit in Electron Shackles for AVs who run (it doesn't need much slotting thanks to cheap Hami-Os) but such a power isn't really as important at low levels IMO. Aim is typically (for me) slipped into the build at a higher level as a backup boost for powers like Ionize. If Rune of Protection is seen as the necessary power, I would take it at level 20 and delay the picks of powers I listed by one power pick, I think if you decide you need it you need it sooner than you need those other power picks, YMMV. I hadn't thought too much about Epic pools. My "hot take" (pun intended) would be Flame Mastery: Bonfire for minimal slotting but some Knockdown control potential, Fire Shield as the Resistance/Defense toggle, Melt Armor to debuff when needed. My choice to be squishy and play aggressive makes me think there is a place in the build for Rise of the Phoenix as well.

My Shield Defense Tanker does end up dragging(*1) the scraps from one fight into the next spawn(*2), or timing things such that Build Up is ready for the last few enemies. (*1) Aside from Taunt (power, effects), Axe Cyclone (this is a Battle Axe secondary) helps keeps enemies close. (*2) via Shield Charge and Combat Teleport. I didn't try to fit Fold Space into the build.

I want to pile on the recommendation to do the red side arcs. Even without using 2XP, there is too much content to experience without turning off XP completely. Arguments about "I have no agency!" are pretty bogus IMO as the progression redside literally builds you into a villain who outplays, and puts down Lord Recluse... and along the way you face off against the best Paragon City has to offer. Something I finally did (blue side) was to turn off XP (at level 5) and do all the classic level 1-5 missions in Atlas Park, just to remind myself of all the different variations of those initial arcs. Did I "waste" a couple of hours spend just hopping around Atlas Park that could have gotten me to level 22 (solo) instead? Nobody cares but me.

Grind? or STRUT?

And while we are at it, can I upload a list of item drops that I am just going vendor anyway? My inventory keeps filling up and I feel like I am missing out on some inf by getting too many recipes and salvage.