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For me: It's a balancing act. Blasters have an exceptionable amount of access to enhancement sets from many different types (melee, ranged, AoE, PBAoE) that allow them to leverage just about ALL of the best Enhancement set bonuses the game has to offer: ATO, Purples, Winters, PVPs.. and in multiple... that is, they don't get the (understandable) limitation to pick one (for example) single-target ranged damage set to use... they can easily get multiple choices between the ATO, Purples, Winters, whatever... all without having to even consider Pool power picks. Planning to (again, I write) invest slots for Accuracy and %damage into a level 35 single-target attack seems somewhat sub-optimal, especially when the epic pool in question has later powers that more obviously benefit from slots (certainly they benefit in a less random way). Once we're talking end-game... Melt Armor, with an investment in slots, can increase Blaster-level damage across the area of it's AoE... for all teammates... and can of course also take %damage (and %-Resistance) if that's someone's game, but it needs slots that might otherwise be going into Char. As much as I like Melt Armor, I still only find myself with a single spare slot for this level 41 power, and I have it boosted for Accuracy and Recharge (from Analyze Weakness). I'm not going to pick-apart someone else's choices for what kinds of attacks they want to have in an attack chain, and if they value a high DPA single-target attack over a couple of more modest DPA AoE attacks. For me: just looking at the provided "DPA" table, it looks (to me, as it is not my character) like the faster-recharging single-target Blaze is pretty much doing everything you want the slower-recharging Char to do... and while Blaze isn't up, I'd spam some AoE attacks! I'm not trying yo convince anyone that the Maelwys method of power picks is wrong, just that there exists an alternative set of reasoning to make a different set of choices.

Death from Below is probably the most hand-holded instanced mission in the game... because it is the "new player content". I suppose Drowning in Blood is similar, but there is a little more obvious "popping" between parts of that instanced mission. Neither really feels like a Task Force to me. Even the Cavern of Transcendence requires getting to the mission door in "another zone", that is the only Task Force that is almost as simple as DfB and DiB that I can think of. Generally: Task Forces and story arcs require going to different doors, and often different zones. as @Forager noted above, there are lots of different ways to nearly-insta-travel between zones and missions that are now available to every player. Some options will not be available for some characters at some points in their careers, but most players can have options like Long Range Teleporter, Mission Teleporter, Team Teleporter, Ouroboros, Super Group Base portals at level 1, and the LFG teleport options unlock as a character levels up and qualifies for different content. Using "classic" methods of getting around will introduce a player to other "native" forms of zone travel like tunnels/ferries, TUNNEL, trains, helicopters, etc.

That's by spending slots on a single target Hold. Sure it can be done, but I think the opportunity cost is way too high for a level 35 single-target "attack" on a Blaster. If the character is being fine-tuned for only/mostly high level content, maybe it makes more sense to rely on single-target damage from an Epic Pool. It isn't a wrong choice, except for me.

I'll put this out there: I have a Savage Melee/ Scrapper and a /Dark Armor Scrapper, but not that combination. While each can be made to work reasonably well, in combination (to my eyes) this looks like a challenge... for a Scrapper. My personal feels about my Savage Scrapper was that it would probably have been better at damage as a Brute. It plays quite frenetically, and the damage-over-time aspects are improved by Fury but not Criticals. Dark of course has its own issues, primarily the classic Endurance burn from toggles but more importantly the lack of inherent Knockback resistance. For the latter, I suggest that the /Dark Armor character minimally try to get 3 points of KB protection from the 3xGladiator's Armor set, 3 more from 3x Fury of the Gladiator, and then 2 of the 4-point protection pieces (e.g. Blessing of the Zephyr, Karma, Steadfast Protection). 12 would probably be ok, but you will need 20+ to deal with FREEM! on Dark, but there is a craftable +10 boost available in SG bases. Good luck!

A slightly practical solution for "hoarders" is to add items into a character's Auction House inventory. Identical items can be stored therein in stacks of 10 (salvage, same-level recipes, but not inspirations). The Auction House is available outside of instanced maps (and now I think it is not accessible in PVP zones). The Vault Reserve storage grows as the character levels up, I find it to be a convenient place to store rare salvage, or less rare items I know I will be using. Vault reserve is accessible anywhere.

I greatly prefer an Epic Bonfire over any Epic single-target Hold (e.g. Char). My reasoning follows: At level 35, a Blaster should pretty much be past the point of wanting to Hold a single target, or rely on something like single-target %damage... an AoE "soft" control is much more useful, especially if the spawn size has been turned up (including on teams). The Bonfire has a nice long duration, who knows how long a single-target hold is going to last (because an enemy critter is defeated, or has protection, or whatever). A very personal build-crafting approach I have is to invest slots into the powers one of my builds will have before level 35. Single-target holds need slots to be able to contribute to utility! They do nothing if they miss, and they won't stack Hold without duration. Again, for Blasters... why are you just not HURTING the thing you are trying to hold? In Fire Mastery, I probably want spare slots for Fire Shield (global pieces or other set bonuses), and I almost certainly want at least two slots in Melt Armor... again, because Blasters really do want to HURT enemies, not HOLD them (apologies to Boy George).

I've never played Empathy... but I did accidentally create one on a concept character that was deleted once I realize Pain fit the concept better. I think @Kaika identified what I see as the shortcomings, repeated below in my own words: Most characters don't need what Empathy brings... or rather: Characters can be built to overcome the sorts of issues that Empathy can help with. It is "too busy" for my taste, with a little too heavy on the ST ally buffs for my taste. I think @biostem identified why Empathy itself is unlikely to be reworked: It is practical, but there is no getting around how boring it can be to play. The powers-that-be would have to see Empathy as under-performing AND have a somewhat personal desire to explicitly improve it AND change it in subtle ways that most likely don't involve existing characters being forced to rework their builds. I do encounter a variety of Empathy-using characters "in the wild", but not that many of them.

NuEochai strikes me as tailor-made for Fire Farmers!

I *miss* the original Mercy Island but in my case it is entirely sentimental. I think it has one advantage over Atlas Park in that red-side players only rarely get sent back to Mercy Island, and for a couple of those instances it makes lore-sense. The main thing I'd "fix" with it is that I'd increase the number and frequency of Snake spawns. The first Hunt Snakes mission can be a PITA at low levels, even if you know where they are likely to spawn.

In spoilers is the /Traps slotting of a different Mastermind (primary) of my own: The main advantage of Traps is IMO that it can be easy to skip a lot of powers, allowing picks from the Leadership pool. I don't need Detonator for damage, nor do I need Triage Beacon... but I suspect that Mercs might benefit from both. I'm not a huge fan of "set in place" powers, but Caltrops bring AoE control and Acid Mortar will pick targets. Poison Trap is a very potent power, but it also has to be within ~12 feet of a target, so it gets placed at the feet of enemies more than it gets dropped in advance. I tried to make Seeker Drones work, but they simply aren't worth the investment (as a pick, or for slots) IMO.

Since Live? Only a few things have "changed" (to where they are now) specific to "gimme lots of XP real quick": 2XP boosters are available, there are no longer any "boosters" or settings for "less XP more Inf". Patrol XP and "experienced" temp powers are available. There are is more "league content" available for level 1. For level 50+s, the Incarnate grind is pretty much the same as a PL grind. There are a whole lotta changes related to how IOs can be obtained (for less effort than on LIVE), but that is a parallel discussion topic. I mention this only because it allows a sort of a skip from having "insta-50s" that don't have powers slotted... which is a thing I remember seeing on Live.

Boomtown was getting slight upgrades... the Council Base with its event is something. Perez Park, as a Hazard Zone, does (now) offer nice large low-level groups for badges that contribute to accolade powers. It doesn't need more lore IMO as it is reasonably well-leveraged for older arc content. Crey's Folly seems to be just a dumping place for door missions.... but so does Eden, even though that has a TF.

The Hollows does have the Cavern of Transcendence, but I smell what you are cooking. As for the OP request... I don't think TFs are really the way to go, even as Ouro-gated content. There are a handful of blue-side zones that feel (to me anyway) like they are woefully incomplete from a narrative PoV. Red-side doesn't feel this way to me when I do red-side arcs for content. For example: Terra Volta, despite being the final location of the three TV trials, has got to be the most boring "why bother, except for Numina's TF" zone ever.

I don't PL any of my characters, but I also don't look down my nose at anyone who has. I usually start new characters with P2W/START goodies to make the early levels more enjoyable. For me: There is too much content I want to experience outside of AE (or DFB)... a trivial example is collecting merits from zone exploration badges. Another common feel I try to get is for a new character's costume. There is almost always some tweak/change I find I want to make, so running around maps is a good way to study a new costume. A side effect of 'natural play' for me, and maybe this applies to other players, is that I learn how powers work for a certain AT/primary/secondary, and which ones are valuable at which level. A couple of simple examples that have informed my build choices: Hasten below level 20 (or before the character has any long-recharge powers) seems completely wasteful of a power pick to me. I also see builds cramming in defensive toggles (often including Kick/Tough/Weave) for more than IO mules likely because "MIDS numbers go up"... but on a lot of characters I play through regular content, I find that the builds are doing just fine without +1.75% more Defense. I'm just as guilty of having my own set of preferred build choices(*1), in my defense: I am almost always trying to leverage the powers for the concept, and not be driven by numbers. I get those feels from regular play, and I find the level 50 build to mostly be a reward that can take a character I've been playing to another level. (*1) for me, I like to improve the performance of the blue bar balanced against faster-recharging clicks... and I squeeze-in common globals/uniques for quality-of-life reasons.

This, times a lot. Not getting hit (via defense) is going to be better than getting hit, but it isn't as if for 99% of the game's content one hit causes insta-loss. It isn't fair to judge another player's choices for defense/resistance because I don't know what kind of content they are playing... but I definitely think that chasing a "soft cap" is something of a distraction for most players (especially newer ones) .

Generally: I don't use the auto-complete feature unless a mission is obviously bugged or if it is a timed mission that I simply can't get to in-game. Even "defeat all" missions that are "in my way" to a badge or accolade tend to not bother me. However... I've found myself almost always using auto-complete on Tobias Hansen's Rescue the Scientists from the Council Blue-side Striga mission. the combination of often being a complicated cave map, wandering critters, and 'rescues' often hiding in corners and cubbies means that even though this can be a decent vampyr farm, if I have done a full sweep and a followup, it gets teh auto-complete treatment. Even the later "rescue the friendly Orenbegans from Malta" doesn't bother me like this one. What are some of your "Imma skip this one" missions? I know that quickie patron unlocks are a favorite for some folks.

Rain of Arrows wrote: Checks out.

EDIT: Slight correction.

I don't think an Epic Snipe is cheating! I'm about 50/50 on if I include one or not on Scrappers/Stalkers. The Snipe always makes combat smoother, but sometimes it just doesn't fit my concept.

You can attune boost the non-proc pieces of PVP and Purple sets to improve the individual values. One common Purple piece to boost in the Damage/Endurance reduction piece in attack sets, as that is the only piece in those sets with an Endurance Reduction component, so Enhancement Diversification isn't a factor. You will want to read up Enhancement Diversification too. I often boost pieces when I don't care about the set bonus (Accurate Defense Debuff is a common set for me) and I want both Accuracy and Recharge as high as possible. I often boost pieces when I have "franken-slotted" a power. You can Attune (most) Winter Sets and (all) ATOs. This makes them behave like 50+5 pieces for Enhancement Values and they provide improved set bonuses.

This is pretty much my approach to characters: come up with a concept, pick an AT/primary/secondary that fits the bill, and then try to make it really good at the concept. The CoX (HC) framework means that I can't get *everything*, but I'm also not being driven by min-max thinking out-of-the-box. Other players have a different approach... and that's good for them! I still see quite a few players post build-after-build that are tied to an IMO old-school thinking about "spend two pools and four power picks for Hasten/Kick/Tough/Weave"... that works for those players, but not for me... usually neither in terms of concept nor play-fun. I have taken the Speed pool for when more than one power fits the concept, and the Fighting Synergy can be a lot of fun! Otherwise taking those powers feels to me a lot like "yep, just min-maxing."

When showing a level 50 build, there aren't many (attuned) global enhancement pieces that care "how early" they appear in a build. Most of them will act just like enhancement set bonuses. Obviously when leveling up mileage will vary, as slots and powers will be fewer. I frequently do things subtly differently with global pieces while leveling up, but at level 50 those pieces end up in mule powers or combined with set-mates for other bonuses. EDIT: I meant to add this. The only global pieces which "care" are mostly the "120sec" duration pieces that will only work if slotted in a power that is used (a click or toggle) or in an available auto power (e.g. Health, Stamina). Examples common to my builds are the Kismet +ToHit piece and the Power Transfer %Heal. I meant to add this bit about Kismet above because I think the original build is leaving some damage on the table by not including more reliable sources of +ToHit (not accuracy) for the primary's Snipe. Fast Snipes get a+Damage bonus up to +22% IIRC from +ToHit.

Here is a pic of my take on the Energy/Martial Blaster. sorry no MIDS. Positional defenses are lower (~20%/18%/26% for Melee/Range/AoE) but it is hella fun. Inner Will is on Auto.

By George, he's got it! New sets and new ATs definitely need some time behind the wheel to get a feel for what you can do with the primary and secondary and what you may want from an Epic/Patron set of picks. I definitely remember a couple of early Controllers where it was the Epic/Patron attacks I felt I needed.

I have multiple VEATS, with multiple builds each, with multiple costumes each. I haven't experienced a shortage of costume slots for them. Of course I am not trying to have a rainbow version for each of the three possible builds. Keep in mind that the villain critter versions are available as costume toggle powers.