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This is similar to my approach, with a big exception being in page 5 I swapped out Triage Beacon for Maintenance Drone (in my Robotics/Traps, obviously not available for other primaries), and I was unimpressed by the %damage in Poison Trap. On almost all my builds, if a Hold is going to have more than 4 slots, I opt for 5x Gladiator's Net over 5x Unbreakable Constraint (of course, the %damage piece from Unbreakable Constraint is golden... see note below). If I want to %proc a Hold, I will minimally use 2x Gladiator's Net but try for 3x to get the +MaxEndurance. Some of the pieces from that set can be boosted to +5 without affecting %proc rates, many Hold powers have such long recharge times that boosting all the pieces has very little effect on rates. Note: The slotting below has 6x Gladiator's Net. I tested Poison Trap against the even-level Clockwork spawns (Kings Row) and Prisoner spawns (Brickstown) and I simply was not observing very much of an effect when the 5th piece was Unbreakable Constraint %Smashing ... I also tested it with Lockdown's %+2 Mag Hold (easier to visualize without having to scrub logs). I never take Trip Mine. I really like Seeker Drones, but I don't have it in my "all tiers of Henchmen" build. Details from my /Traps choices are here. Please note that the levels taken reflect my "one big robot" build, but the slotting is similar to my full-suite of Henchmen. One last comment about %damage... I believe that there is both a ToHit check and a "ToProc" check for each %proc, so slotted Accuracy in a power with %procs is also important. I'm not sure how this works with pseudo-pets.

I was never dissatisfied with this character prior to page 5, I finally did the respec only to move the marquee powers earlier in the build. The new build offers more offense across lower levels, with the sacrifice essentially that team buffs I once had available for low level content have been (long delayed)... I guess this is essentially a nostalgic sentiment, but even if my PUGs rarely needed them my choice to delay certain powers is a melancholic compromise. Sacrificing/Delaying the team buffs (and Snow Storm) left me with one major choice (or a series of moderate choices that sum to a major choice): do I take Rune of Protection at level 20 or not? The build previously had it at level 30, so ultimately I kept it there. Even nerfed, RoP is a very useful power for a squishy with no inherent Mez protection... but I didn't want to delay personal (toggled) Defenses (from Weave, Arctic Fog) and I felt that the Dual Pistols primary (T8, T9) and Cold Domination secondary (T7, T8) were too important to delay. This build does not include Hasten, I don't think it needs it. If I was only focused on level 50-ish content, it ought to be possible to make a smooth (but more limited) attack chain with perma-Hasten (without Force Feedback %recharge) via some alternate power choices and set bonuses. This build may look like it is skimping on some Accuracy, but I slipped a Kismet +ToHit into Weave, now taken at level 16.

Both. Lord Recluse will eventually hit, so the heal is probably more important. However, hitting the ceiling on Health (for Tankers and Brutes) is what make Regeneration more important for those ATs than it does for other classes. In my own (admittedly sloppy, but I've done this on successful "Master of" runs) tanking of Lord Recluse, my Inv Tanker shuffles between Rebirth (Destiny) and Dull Pain. The Crimson Prototype in Market Crash is another niche villain that those two powers can come into play. I'm not at all critiquing your build, it's more that the (perfectly valid) choice of powers and slotting may not cause any issues except in some limited cases. I have only just revisited this character as part of page 5, he's been chilling since before the general resistance changes... but his two builds (one for solo, one for teams) never really relied on S/L being capped for his survivability. It made the build slightly less of an AWEZOMB tanker than was theoretically possible, but for almost all of my play style those choices didn't even really register.

As part of a page 5 respec, I recently dropped Hasten completely from my (solo build) Inv/EM tanker. IMO There is one (sort of?) important reason to keep it, which I will mention but it looks as if you are going in a different direction, so YMMV: 6-slotting Dull Pain with Preventive Maintenance and having Hasten available to further improve (Global) Recharge ought to make a difference when tanking certain "end game" content. I fully admit that I run a sloppy tank on PUGs, but the combo of Dull Pain and Hasten has been very helpful with Lord Recluse (for example). I can understand using Dull Pain as a mule, there is a lot of content where I never use it... but then again I often don't bother turning on several of the toggles either. For your specific theme, there is another power pool you may want to explore: Force of Will. I'm not going to twist your arm, but consider: Weaken Resolve (doesn't really fit the classic theme, but it is a useful ranged attack that accepts %damage) Mighty Leap (OG Superman travel power, plus Takeoff that does PBAoE Knockdown) Wall of Force (animation is like a "Hand Clap") Unleashed Potential (a decent mule, ought to be even better with high-HP ATs for certain occasions)

Those two red zones are obviously on the same island. There is a collapsed tunnel on the western edge of Port Oakes, and Dr. Aeon has got his tunnels and the PTS system. The lore of both zones definitely implies a significant amount of history. Personally, I don't think red side needs a (low) level appropriate "trial zone", but I'd be up for either: A (low) level appropriate "hazard zone" connecting Port Oakes and Cap Au Diable, similar to the Sewer Network blue-side or better (IMO) a high level zone that offers a combination of Arachnos patrols, (scaled) Cap au Diable Demons, (scaled) Coralax, et al. I'm not terribly fond of the Sewer Network's (or Faultline's) "cramped tunnels", but some combination of (wide, 2.0) tunnels and (very) large open-ish areas (I don't want to call these "rooms", but effectively that is what they would be) would be an interesting bit of design space, I think. The Praetorian Underground does a good job of having (linked!) underground zones, I feel like something similar could be done here.

Here is the (mouse) bind I use for characters with Mystic Flight: /bind shift+lbutton "powexec_name translocation" For characters that use the Teleport pool, I use a similar mouse bind, plus a pair of macrosI keep in the tray: /bind shift+lbutton "powexec_name Combat Teleport $$ powexec_name Teleport" /macro_image "DevouringEarthSeed_Hematic_Seedbuff" "BAMF" "powexec_location target Combat Teleport" /macro_image "DevouringEarthSeed_Hematic_seedblood" "Back" "powexec_location Back:25 Combat Teleport" Obviously the images and names of macros can be tweaked as desired. I rarely take Teleport itself as a power, but I think that is the right construction to favor its use. I find myself using the short range teleports all the time when my character gets snagged on a piece of map geometry. The other most useful times are in missions where a spawn of enemy mobs is blocking a door/path (Mortimer Kal's 1st mission is notorious for this). Combat Teleport is also incredibly useful on the Terra Volta respec reactor room missions.

More like "mime fishing", but you get the idea .

Spring-boarding, in a semi-serious way off of... I find the Homecoming forums refreshing. I am a member of a "professional" forum that has a very different sort of attitude,. Over the years (decades, really), it has become weirdly cliquish, such that the same group of moderators (and fanbois) like and echo all the same posts... which I wouldn't have expected because that forum covers an incredibly wide variety of industries, and solicits (or used to solicit) precise input. The posts that keep appearing, being quoted, and getting likes? Practically meaningless questions directed to the person asking an original question! On a good day about 50% of that crew's questions are necessary for a precise answer, but It's like watching a bunch of elementary grade people play at the Socratic method... because it would kill them to not write anything.

Can we please have the "under-mountain" zone between Port Oakes and Cap Au Diable first?

If a PUG doesn't engage every group, and doesn't have the difficult set such that ToHit chances are miserable, 14 mins is pretty reasonable. I have solo times that are below that... and some of those runs included travel time from the second Freakshow mission to the helicopter (because fast transport options had not recharged). I love a clear all, and I also don't mind a speed run. When I join a group that advertises speed, I know by the second Freakshow spawn if they are actually trying for speed or if they mean something else.... because the second Freak spawn after the crashed helicopter can be skipped. I just roll with it, but I will also troll with it on "speed runs" when the leader asks "why are you running ahead?" (and even more ridiculous "wait for me while I destroy the jail cell doors") or on "kill all" where someone asks "Why are you opening all the doors?". One bit of trolling-not-trolling on the Yin TF that I actually put thought into to is whether or not the team can handle having all the computers clicked to resummon Clamor simultaneous with the waves of attacking Freaks. If the team has been steamrolling, bring her back ASAP (and go ahead and open all the doors to the reactor room). If the team is really struggling and has had multiple deaths... by all means hold off on the resummon. By this point in the TF, everyone on the team should know what the team can handle. Lest anyone think I've maximize "trolling" on the Yin TF, the one thing I've never (yet) done is use Fold Space to bring Freaks into the reactor room when they are otherwise piling up behind a closed door (that has been kept closed at the insistence of the leader). I'll just Combat Teleport into the adjacent room to not just fight the enemies but also to inspire the hopes that my character will fall in an embarrassing way, earning an "I told you so".

I'm aware of the market display bug, but two of my characters were winning with lower bids than an outstanding bid on the third character. The third character had accumulated a lot of personal inf, but it isn't one I'm crazy about playing (because of the necessary playstyle... it's a Dom with a Hasten-assisted permadom, yes I know the tricks, yes it still bothers me) so it has bids for items I know will use. Let's say it had bids for a D-Scync at 28M... a couple other characters I enjoy scrapping with also have some inf, so on a whim I put in a lower bid at 25M and win... I go back to the semi-hemi-permadom and it still has 4x outstanding bids at 28M, he bids 28.1M and wins one. There is no theoretical reason why none of the 28M bids should have gone unfulfilled. As implemented, I can totally believe that the database for the AH is capable of screwing with bids just as it can screw with display. I've never seen the AH deliver something that wasn't bid on, but without being able to run queries against the system, it is impossible to know how the transactions were being handled, and if it was something like an error trap that was preventing those bids to be filled... because taking inf for stuff the player doesn't want would probably be the worst transactional error the code could possibly allow.

Maybe because of ToT, I didn't end up joining many PUGs for the (weekly) Yin TF... just one with a (page 5 respec) Controller. The leader didn't have the difficulty turned way up. I did not notice that the PUG was clearing spawns any faster.... with one caveat specific to me and this particular character. It was designed to be a bit a goofball, with enemies being subjected to mish-mash of controls (including Takeoff knockdown) and also tossing %damage AoE into the mix. On this one PUG (maybe one blaster?) it felt like my Controller was doing a lot more "AoE" damage, which I attribute to the respecced levels at which certain powers were taken. The only trouble I felt that this PUG had was the final fight, as the Tanker (which had done a great job) couldn't quite keep the aggro from all the spawns, which proved challenging for some of the team. I don't know if anyone else on that PUG felt this way, but I think they should be grateful that the Tank was keeping as much of the final room as occupied while two controllers were keeping the aggro from Clamor (away from the rest of the PUG). This has nothing to do with page 5 per se, it's just that if she puts the debuff on you, you don't want to be huddled up with your teammates or a huge swarm of freaks! I did take multiple (exemplared) level 50s through Yin (even level, x1) in an effort at "speed" (for merits, Prsimatics). More of my roster was generally more successful than prior to page 5, but it still wasn't a cakewalk for my Controller or Dominator. I hadn't respec-ed any Blasters or Tanks yet so I simply didn't have a go with them, but a page 5 respec Stalker finished it PDQ with no deaths, and a non-respec Scrapper was about the same (slightly longer AV fight, and took a little more guff from Clamor). The respec Mastermind did have one death, but that was a little bit due to sloppy henchmen management on my part when fighting Clamor. When I run Yin PUGs, I always prefer to max out difficulties. Teams with Level 50s rarely took more than 30 minutes (depending on ToHit chances) and lower levels took longer, but benefited from more XP. I don't expect page 5 to really change this, except that having more "attacks" available to click ought to speed things up a little.

Freaks are fine. As for game mechanics, I have no issues with them. If anything, I'd like to see more stuns added to their arsenal. Similar to Freak, I like the challenges that Arachnos brings. More annoying: Carnies that phase shift. These bother me much more that Council Ascendants (predictable) or Tsoo Sorcerers (predictable, reasonably quick to return, can be chased) or Fake Nemesis (predictable). One of the things I dislike about the Carnies is that it always feels like they trigger their phase shift cycling in a very 'meta' way that pulls me out of the game. Part of the issue for me is that this is so clearly an effort to be a different mechanic to deal with in combat, but it is NOT a mechanic that offers any real chance of success if it were to be used by a player (in PvE or PvP); it's simply griefing The Nemesis Comets are another class of enemy that takes me out of the game. I have NO issue with the concept or implementation of their nigh-infinite perception, nor with the attack... I just find it absurd that they will start sniping from across the map but their allies in the spawn won't also start engaging. This bothered me slightly less before the range of (fast) snipes was reduced, because at least then I felt like I could engage in a sort of duel with them. Mechanically, I grok them... it's just that in actual play they feel quite jarring.

Mmmm... maybe? I didn't change my (multi-bot) strategy in solo against against the Halloween GMs, and they definitely fell faster than in the previous season. Against typical PvE opponents, regeneration shouldn't matter... except up course for the generally pitiful MM damage scale! On a team with DPS mates, the -regen is unlikely to matter for almost all content. One of the reasons my -1x8 map clear times were so bad, enemies took to the hills! Thanks debuff (and the no longer using KB->KD pieces in the robot).

Let us know how it goes. I felt like the "One Big Robot" (with a lot of traps) would have been a fine roleplay character. For standard PUGs, I wonder if anyone would notice just the one hench. Bodyguard mode is a big missing piece, YMMV. I will also note that this build was a second build on a character that had already hit level 50, so it had access to more slots and set bonuses than it would have had while leveling up. Endurance wasn't really an issue unless I kept the travel powers on.

Not a "Pet-less (sic) Mastermind" but this build is my MM w/ one big henchman (a robot) leveraging page 5. If there are lessons from this effort (I tried low-level content without access to any henchmen, pseudo pets are another matter) it is this: even with respectable %damage in AoE attacks, it is painfully slow to run content without the henchmen. I'd never consider playing /traps without the pseudopets or FFG. %damage is pretty much the way to go, although global Accuracy and/or +ToHit will be important to make the %procs more reliable. Playing this (Robotics primary) was better than it was prior to page 5, but I still felt it to be too slow to finish missions. I didn't have any problems with +1/x8 at 50 (Alpha shift in play) except for very slow map clear times. I didn't do any PUGs with this build, but I feel like (modulo the lack of henchmen to absorb damage) this would be a "contributor" on PUGs. If I was to consider a true, no henchmen-summons-being-used build, I'd probably still pick henchmen powers to leverage ATO bonuses (IIRC, the MM ATO can only go into the primary summoning powers) although I think could skimp on a few slots...it depends on if I want to mule enhancements using the summonses/upgrades as well (e.g. Defense pieces in Protector Bots) or any other sets. I'd probably add another attack at a low level, because waiting for a decent Epic pool attack (with moar %proc AoE) would be a PITA for the content I like to play. The only obvious change in primary power choices to this build for solo would be replacing Repair Drone with Triage Beacon. I think I could mule everything else.

Years ago, I perceived (perhaps incorrectly) that set pieces with %procs and globals had "stupid large" numbers of unsold pieces, no matter how useful those pieces would be in play(*1). The specific set under discussion is much newer than the pieces I am thinking of, but part of me still thinks that a potential seller sees the extra effects listed in a piece name and inflates the value (in their mind) when listing it on the AH. (*1) I'm not talking about utility of some %procs in corner cases or experimental use, I'm thinking of the %procs that have two orders-of-magnitude more pieces for sale than there are bids, and the number of outstanding bids are in the few-dozen range.

You are only getting the Defense and To Hit enhancements from the Membrane HO slotted in Mind Link, not the recharge, unless Homecoming (recently) changed it. You can do this experiment: click Mind Link with your current slotting and note the recharge time. After the power has recharged, use unslotters (I suspect you can afford them if you have 3 Membranes slotted) to pull out the Membranes and repeat the experiment. As long as all other things are equal (keep Hasten from being on auto, don't have temporary Global Recharge buffs that are different) you should see the recharge times are the same. The HOs (and presumably D-Syncs) don't enhance those attributes of a power for which you cannot slot an IO. Mind Link doesn't take Recharge IOs; the recharge aspect from a Membrane isn't doing anything for Recharge time of the power. There was a period on Live when an HO could buff an otherwise unenhanceable attribute of a power, but that was changed prior to sunset IIRC. This is different than it is for non-IO enhancement sets of a particular type (e.g. "Defense" or "To Hit" enhancement sets), which is why slotting something like the Adjusted Targeting Recharge piece works to reduce recharge time of Mind Link. I should note: In the year+ since I've posted the optimal (minimal) slotting, on most of my solo Widow/Fortunata builds I no longer use the three-slotting in Mind Link because those builds typically were dedicating 6 slots elsewhere to get the Reactive Defenses set bonuses. I decided that it was a slightly more optimal situation to shift the diminishing returns from the other power and move it into Mind Link. Diminishing returns are still returns! I still can't bring myself to boost the ToHit portion of Mind Link, even for my team-friendly builds, the only content I ever ran where I felt like I missed that was lower level TFs at max difficulty in which I witnessed teammates missing a lot of attacks because of level shifts.

Henchmen, not pets.

Here is a followup on a few scattered hours of play. The TLDR version is: This is a tedious way to play, but it is not as bad as it was previous to page 5. I did have a level boost from Alpha, where applicable. The Aaron Thiery arc (even level, x1) wasn't that bad, but the recharge times on attacks, and having no henchmen summoned (by choice, even though the Battle Drones power was picked as a mule at Level 1) made this drag. The SSA1 arc in Skyway City (even level x1) was not record-setting, but it wasn't as bad as I had feared. I never had a Mastermind complete this as quickly as other characters, so this build was an improvement over previous 'all bot builds'. An interesting note of comparison, when I played the arc (page 5) with all bots, I had 3 Battle Drones, 1 Protector Bot and 1 Assault Bot. The Level 50 Rikti Negotiator Arc (+1, x1) was very typical for a non-DPS character. I had no problems at all with any spawns. I ran a lvl 50 Tip missions against DE at +1x8... I had no trouble but defeat times were slow... but not nearly as bad as pre-page 5. They really did not offer much of a challenge. The Assault Bot is roughly 30% defense (without any incarnates) except for AoE which is about 45%. My defenses are lower, but with Acid Mortar as an opening "attack" to start aggro I kept defensive posture the entire time. I really can't recommend this style of play (only the Tier 3 henchman) unless you want to have a weird old-school sense of trudging through missions as a "duo". It would be perfectly usable for role-play. The %damage in the attacks helps a LOT, but it is nothing compared to applying -Res/-Def as an AoE and allowing henchemen to clean up. Having playing only even-level content, I don't think tactics is making that much of a difference for this build with the even-level henchman. As slotted, it is only adding 7.5% (no Hami-O, just Endurance Reduction) bringing the big guy to 92.5% ToHit. The power helps the MM a bit, but I wasn't really paying attention. I'll have to run higher level settings to see how the build does and how important the power is.

Words cannot express how disappointed I am that this is not a thread complaining about changes impacting farming.

There are a few confused topics here. First, as mentioned above by @RobotLove there are special arcs & contacts that are only available to specific alignments. "Tips" that allow you an option of two different 'paths' will drop in non-AE content (no sure if they drop during AE missions) until you have 3 per 'side' (if you are playing a character that can switch sides. If you change alignment (via Null, or via completing an 'alignment change' mission which also must drop) all outstanding missions of these types vanish. I want to say that they vanish when crossing at 30 and 40. These are different than newspaper/scanner missions which offer a chance for a new contact. IIRC you can only have three of these TIPS 'per side'. I know that you can 'fill up' more than one alignment slider, but I don't know what happens if you fill up two (per side) and then don't do the alignment change/reinforce mission. If you aren't getting any more tips and have an alignment bar filled up, do the mission to reinforce as it rewards merits. I typically will do those sorts of missions at level 50 to get certain enemy types to spawn.

Even if level 50 slotting allows for set bonuses which grant Accuracy, I will always think of Hide as the home for the Kismet +ToHit piece.

One of the niche MM builds that I experimented with prior to page 5 was running a Mastermind with only one henchman on my Robotics/Traps. This was... problematic... prior to page 5, for many reasons: The "big hench" wasn't available until level 26 (for Robotics, certainly) the damage output was... inferior. Besides power availability at lower levels and improved damage output, the Robotics revamp offered a few other neat tricks like: Maintenance Drone (The MM doesn't have to cast Repair, or stand still and rely on Triage Beacon) Some new opportunities for Enhancement Mule slotting Some thoughts on the build philosophy: This is a level 50 build. I don't recommend trying to level up with it! I wanted to have three personal attacks as soon as possible, with an emphasis on AoE %damage from procs (to overcome the MM damage scale). I don't mind using P2W attacks, but they also scale! I settled on: Weaken Resolve (@6) Photon Burst (@8) Wall of Force (@14) I wanted Wall Of Force as a cone AoE which meant 2 picks from the Force of Will pool. I didn't quite have the slots for Project Will, and I didn't quite like its %proc rates and the faster cycling power is a higher burn through Endurance than I would prefer. I didn't have the slots for Pulse Rifle Blast either, which is why Web Grenade is still in this build. Pre-page 5, I would take AoE attacks (Primary, Epic) starting in the 30s... I found this to help a lot with defeat times at x8 (mainly by drawing aggro, but also controls and debuffs)... so fitting some into the build earlier was an easy choice for me. The Battle Drones and Protector Bots are simply mules for enhancement sets, including Global Accuracy and Global Recharge... both key for %proc builds. It is possible to get more defense by summoning Protector Bots and despawning them after the shield up, but that seemed like too much work and would compromise on getting other powers I want earlier in the build. I don't mind having ancillary bots joining me, so Maintenance Drone, Force Field Generator and Seeker Drones are all part of the build. IMO the build would be crippled without the FFG. The Page 5 shift in the levels of power availability mean that Kick/Tough/Weave had to be delayed, which is dangerous for squishies. Maneuvers is trying to provide some coverage early. The lack of T1, T2 henchmen also means Tankerminding is not really as possible. Acid Mortar has to take a lot of the aggro! I knew that Photon Grenade was going to be one of my attacks, but an alternate melee-based build could skip the Force of Will pool, sacrifice Photon Grenade, and lean into the Fighting pool for attacks. I've done some experimenting with the build at the level of the first SSA arc (and solo ToT at that level) and I am satisfied with it. I have a lot more testing to try, plans include: Aaron Thiery's Atlas Park arc (no robot available) Montague's introductory Midnighter's Club arc (will be @50, with Rikti mezzers and 'protect item' objectives) The build does burn through Endurance a LOT faster than my main build does. There are two main factors: The MM is much more active with casting attacks The build has far less slotting for Global Endurance discounts and +MaxEnd (1) should be obvious, (2) is much more subtle... it is a direct consequence of slotting attacks with %proc instead of a larger suite of Annihilation or Sudden Acceleration enhancements in the attacks. I should also note that I didn't lean as hard into %-Resistance with this build as I did with the main build, except for the 2-piece Annihilation set. With the MM carrying more of the burden for damage (here %damage) I wanted to see damage numbers more than I wanted to see colored triangles... plus, without as large a "force" I felt the force-multiplier of -Res was not going to offer as high a return on the slots. Apologies in advance for formatting, the build is documented in plain text. I think I got the level choices and enhancement slots correct.

Of course. I only casually mentioned Panacea because of the potential stand in for multi-bonuses if the Endurance actually did anything.