Andreah

We could just call it scrapper-locking. Even on non-scrappers.

That's right. Many attack powers can't be set up that way. You would think you can set up a macro to do melee power 1, or melee power 2, based on which one is ready to go, but the one on the right will just get queued to go again, and the one on the left in the macro won't get activated. The developer's intention is that you are able to do one action per keystroke, and that you can't trivially automate combat. For example, imagine if you could set your entire attack rotation up onto one key, that you just press over and over? I suppose some folks might really want that, but automated play or even semi-automated play wasn't a design goal of the original devs, and that's still true today. Even the ability to autofire a power is limited strictly to one power at a time. (There's are some clever ways to make it seem like there's more, but they all involve a key being pressed.)

I use Fold Space (FS) a lot. I have it on most of my recent characters, including the kin/fire defender who is my current main. I use FS as the generic "clean-up, on aisle six" power to keep the mobs clustered on our AoE focal point / team center of combat power (anchor). I use FS to steal mobs away from people who are trying to fight them in tactically poor spots, even from Tankers. Then I teleport the tankers to a better spot. Not every tanker is smart about where they fight, or even seems to pay any attention to the map/spawn geometry or team status. I use FS to gather mobs onto the team anchor to Fulcrum Shift off them and maximally damage buff my team. If my team is up to the challenge, I herd distant mobs into the anchor point, and use FS to bring them the last distance they might ordinarily stop to take ranged shots at us from. I use FS to undo the lock-down roadblocks controllers/coms/etc sometimes make when they think they're helping the team by stopping the incoming herd with controls before they get to our kill zone. I use FS to generate aggro for herding -- teleport to distant mobs, FS them into a clump, Fireball the clump, and then teleport back to the team. By the time they arrive, FS will be up again to clump them together. Fold Space is a tactical cornucopia of effective uses. I'm hardly perfect, and I sometimes mess up with it. Yes, it can be used badly. But as time goes on, I see more people using it smartly, too.

Yes, some of the recently updated council enemies will do this to you.

As a team activity, the group together is more than the sum of its individual parts. I don't like lone-wolves on the teams I run. I usually ask them to return, or teleport them back. If they still insist on lone-wolfing, I'll at least one-star them and might kick them if it's obvious they're really trying to solo. It's not the worst of the behaviors I see, but it's bad enough I won't put up with it for long.

The horror!

Correct. You could make one macro that would turn on one of them at a time, though. Like this: /macro FlySprint "powexectoggleon Sprint$$powexectoggleon Fly" Working from the right, it will first turn on fly, and then the next time you click it, it will skip over fly because it is already on and toggle it ON again will fail. So it moves to the next one to the left and turns on Sprint. Now, the macro: /macro FlySprintOff "powexectoggleoff Sprint$$powexectoggleoff Fly" will turn both off in one click, because you can deactivate as many things at once as you like, but only activate one at a time.

I could see those giving a merit if you defeated the main bank robber villain and at least one side mission.

For my story content, I play custom AE arcs along with my RP supergroup. These are new and unique every time, and fit into a larger arc out storytellers craft and create specifically for us in our shared canon. I almost never play solo. If I am playing alone, I'm specifically after a badge, testing mechanics, or something of that nature.

I prefer radios over story/contact content by a huge margin. The story writing is always the same too. The few that are new each time are new only once; and if they have variant mechanics, I don't find those mechanics interesting-- in fact, I find them a hinderance to enjoyment. In regard to radios, I feel they strip away the irrelevancies the game layers on things and offers me a more blank slate for my play time -- we're doing the everyday work for the police to keep the city functioning; I can do a lot with that in my personal RP, and especially when my teams are RP (I run about half and half open and RP teams). The mechanical interest I have is better suited to radios as well, because it has very little to do with the content, the maps, the story elements, or even the enemy -- it's about how my team, usually a mixed level pick-up group, can approach and solve the combat challenge. This is fresh to me, every time, even in every radio. For the people who join my radio teams, they're getting a (I hope) competently run team experience, combatting enemies at a challenge level that suits the group, and at a speed in-map and between maps that feels satisfying for those who're seeking drops or experience. They can drop in at any point, stay as long as they want, and there's nothing left undone or unfinished, or for that matter, spoiled, if they intend to do stories themselves. Players who join sometimes tell me afterwards it was one of the most fun experiences they've had in the game. IMO, no story content compares.

I used to run a lot of PI council steamrolling teams. The big reason to run council was also they don't show up in cave maps, which people don't like. Secondarily, they were bland and fairly "lowbie friendly" for teams heavy on lowbies. CoT were just as easy, but less lowbie-friendly. Now, I mix in Council with CoT and Arachnos; based on which one I find that isn't on a cave map. They're all about the same difficulty-wise. Of the three, I'd say Arachnos are the best overall They may be slightly more difficult, but they don't rez and it's hard to keep a pick-up team focused on steamrolling when they get scrapperlocked (regardless of their AT) on fighting some lone rezzer boss who is not xp/drop-worth the time to defeat by itself.

Sometimes as a solo we have to pull out tricks (like an HVAS, Amy, or Signature Summon) to finish a mission, sure. If the OP is willing to do that I think even a surprise Boss in a mission should be manageable. However, if the solo-settings the OP set included "No Bosses" and a Boss spawned as part of an enemy rez, that's, imo, a bug, and should be fixed.

Not only that, but unless your league has the space for you, the league leader, to empty a team out to force a 50 into he team lead position and then refill it, the whole thing collapses when a lowbie gets into the top spot instead of the fifty and it turns out they're afk or playing with chat windows off. That's when a league leader has to consider using the boot.

Corrupters are great too. So are MM's. Any support would have helped them, tbh.

I had a suspicion.

Good attitude and making the best (comedy) out of a bad situation is worth its weight.

I'd like to know their mix of AT's. Regardless, if it had a few more Defenders, it would have gone better.

The league leader position itself can wear you out. There's a lot of effort to doing a really good job of it, and a lot of people who're more than happy to complain.

Has the market price crashed yet?

I have nearly unlimited tolerance for weak builds, poor slotting, etc., in normal content, Be an emp that only uses heals, be a petless MM! I don't care. Just be fun to play with, that's all I ask!

At the risk of being silly again, I would have fun with a kin/kin defen-ruptor.

You win!!

So true! When it would have been far better for the game if when side-switching or make-any-archetype-anywhere was released, they just turned all the brutes into scrappers, and removed the brute archetype. And then maybe let scrappers choose between either a critical hits or fury oriented inherent.

My list of potential powers isn't the best, I admit. I think it would be cool if each successive badge offered another useful power. Ideally, the powers should be useful but not overpowered. They should be related to making teams and missions run more smoothly, even more efficiently, but not being overpowered. I wouldn't mind if they duplicate other powers (like ATT) if they offer an extra charge or an instant recharge of it, and so on.

... I was just about to go try that myself! Go ahead :)