Captain Fabulous

I don't think it would be possible to effectively do high-level IO set builds without Mids. Do you need it for "regular" characters you're leveling up and only using SOs or common IOs? Probably not. Is it essential if you're going for a fully tricked-out IO set build? I would say yes. Could you do it without Mids? Yeah. Would it be a lot more difficult and time consuming? Also yeah. There's a reason it (and others that preceded it) are still popular. If it weren't, no one would be using it and there would be no incentive to keep it up-to-date and functional.

Sounds to me like you should again offer your services. You could create something like an AutoHotKey script that will press the button at whatever frequency you choose. It's not going to make the process go any faster, but at least you won't have to do it by hand.

There is a significant IO investment to get enough recharge to make it happen, so maybe try it out on the test server and see for yourself.

Good analysis, but I don't agree with your assessment that these things aren't useful. Mezzing bosses on one hit is very useful. Having your AoE hold up ASAP is very useful (not a function of Domination itself, but if you have enough recharge for permadom it's gonna come back pretty quickly). Ditto with filling the endurance bar. And while you can mitigate being mezzed in various ways, why waste powers or slots to do it when you have a built-in power that will do it for you? Full-time mez protection is pretty darned good to have. As others have said, teaming will make the bar fill faster. But I also seem to remember that your primary powers will fill the bar faster than secondary and pool powers. The difference between playing a permadom and non-permadom Dominator is like night and day. It's totally next level.

While I don't disagree with any of your statements here, none of them were the point. If anything they only affirmed the assertion that was made -- that many GM encounters have been trivialized due to power creep. This doesn't mean all, or that they still can't be fun. Just means that they are often a lot easier to fight than they used to be, not because they've gotten weaker but because we have (collectively) gotten much stronger. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. YMMV.

Exactly. There was a reason why they took it out. So many nice things we can't have because people insist on abusing them. Some people just can't help themselves.

Yeah, they should be able to see thru stealth and invis powers. I mean, I get why it was done this way, but it's more a hindrance than anything else, especially if you're a Stalker. Being able to teleport them would be great too.

There is a visual effects mod in city modder that greatly tones down visual FX across the game. You can also try /noparticles 1 (/noparticles 0 to switch it back). Not exactly what you're looking for but might make things more tolerable for now.

Open a support ticket https://forums.homecomingservers.com/support/

I seem to recall they once had a tentative plan to have Shia LaBeouf take the mantle and continue as Indy's son. But obviously that never happened. The less said about that movie the better.

Hmmm, not sure if my main tank could take down a GM solo. I'm sure I'd survive, just not sure I could do enough damage. I'd need Daggers for sure. Don't often find one wandering around without people already wailing on it or announcing its presence. Unless you go to Monster Island or the Hive or something. But I feel like those are "lesser" GMs.

I blame @Krimson 😂

Illusion for sure. Between Phantom Army and Phantasm you do a ton of damage. Pair with a secondary with -defense, -resistance, and player buffs/shields and you're good. Stuff in as much +recharge as you can to have PA up as much as possible. My Illusion/Time Controller is a beast with just common IOs.

All you would need to do is give GMs a scaling buff based upon the number of player entities within something like a 200 foot radius. The buff could be anything really (or even a combination of), +defense, +resistance, +HP, +regen, +damage, etc. Plenty of player powers do this, should be pretty easy giving it to GMs and adjusting as necessary. Tho I'm sure people will find some way to game it. They always do.

You're really missing the point here.

I very rarely see Stone Melee or Earth Control. Both are great sets. Also very rarely see Energy Aura or Ice Armor, also great sets.

Just don't forget to turn off XP or you'll outlevel a whole zone.

They do glow, but you have to be looking at them to see it.

It's good to at least get the prestige enhancements, the 5000 INF flight pack, Athletic or Ninja Run, and the three temp powers - Sands of Mu, Nemesis Staff, and Blackwand. Just make sure you get the bonus one based on your origin. The 3 temp buffs are really cheap at level 1 but the price ramps up really fast as you level. Each stack is an hour and you can have up to 8 stacks each. The mission teleporters are nice to have if you have the INF. And you definitely want to unlock the fast travel thingy and set up a Cosmic Transport base teleporter.

Right, which is why I'm doing it with one character each for blue, red, and gold. I'm not trying to do all 3 factions on one character. That way madness lies! The goal for me is to do every mission while in range and read all the text. It doesn't all have to be on one character. You already can't do both training missions red/blue, so that will have to be done via Oro. No way around it that I know of.

The goal is to not have to go back and do anything I missed via Oro. I want to go thru all the missions while I'm in the correct level range and read/understand all the lore that after 20 years I still don't fully know. It dawned on me the other day I already f*cked up on the blue side. I forgot to do all the starter contacts inside City Hall. But I've already put something like 15 hours into it and I'm not starting again LOL. Currently doing missions in KR, Steel, and Hollows, I think I'm level 10. So I probably missed some contacts in KR which are given by the Atlas contacts, which I will try to get before fully moving to Steel, even if it means having to do bank missions to get the contacts from the Detective. So far the most difficult part is being sent to street sweep in a particular area where they are all 3+ levels higher than I am. That's when I fire up an alt account and call for high-level backup LOL. Or ask someone much higher to sidekick me for a few mins.

I'm doing this myself on a two newly-created Stalkers, one blue and one red. I'll probably do a gold at some point too (have to figure out if it's possible to do all on one character, not entirely sure). I find Stalkers work really well because I can easily stealth missions that aren't kill alls, just to move things along faster. Also good for being able to run thru zone areas with higher level critters without getting ganked. Definitely have to keep toggling XP on and off to ensure you don't outlevel contacts. And yeah, you gotta use the forum to see who all the available contacts are to ensure you don't miss anyone. It really blows my mind how much content this game has. I do have to say I miss the Galaxy City arcs, kinda annoyed they're gone. Lots of great memories starting out there. @Snarky I wouldn't mind seeing that spreadsheet.

Everyone needs a snack now and again, amirite?