Six-Six

The best solution I've found for cave runs is to team with at least 1 demon MM. The fiery demon butt in your face will take your mind off of the caves.

Here's a quick tip on making inf for the IOs you need. IOs suck early in the game, so the acc/dmg or def/end you want to slot will pale in comparison to a regular SO at the same level. however, they do lose efficacy as you level. Off the top of my head, it probably costs around 2-5m just to keep upgrading the SOs. IOs overtake SOs at around level 35. I just slot the procs as early as I can if I have them. otherwise, unless it's a set bonus I'm chasing (blessing of the zephyr's 3pc set bonus is really good aoe def + kb protection) then I'm not in any rush to procure IO sets. 1) peruse the AH for cheap yellow recipes of crappy IOs such as annoyance. if you're lucky, you can buy those recipes for 1 or 10inf. Then it costs >20k to craft them. 2) as you do missions, you earn merits, trade merits for converters. You can either sell converters for like 50-60k for a quick buck. Or use the converters to randomise crappy IOs to in-demand ones. Sell those and one pop could net you 3-6m. 3) craft, convert, sell. If you have crafted level-locked IOs slotted, just do a respec to unslot them periodically for free. Then sell the level-locked IOs on the AH and then buy the exact same IO, but attuned. saves on catalysts. in no time, you'll have enough inf to fund your toon. *run the summer blockbuster. it will reward you with an Overwhelming Force IO, which you can convert to get a free KB-KD IO. Market Crash will reward you with a free purple recipe.

Totally doable. I have both a WS and PB reach incarnates on the cheap. Both are human only because my feeble brain can't handle controlling tri-forms. Both are also failed Hardcore Permadeath toons, meaning they should've been deleted once they died; but they were so fun to play and they died in the high 40s (just a wee bit more) that I continued playing them. I was pretty much a hover blaster cycling through the first 3 primaries. I then built up res/def with the secondaries and pool powers. once those were in a comfortable range (do note that I'm used to playing Blasters and Doms, so a comfortable def/res for me is a rather low number) then I took the melee powers and mixed up the fighting style blinking to and from melee and ranged using combat TP. Also as a Blaster veteran, I know my way around mez. self heal, max hp and self recovery are nice. I don't team so I don't need to heal others. other powers pretty much depend on your playing style. I suggest you give each a go for a few levels. there's always a respec if you want to change your mind. Slotting, I just use SOs levelling up, only switching to IOs around 35, by which time I had made enough inf to get the ones I need. I also just loaded the attack powers with whatever procs I could fit in them, and very minimal ATOs. Of course, all of my toons slot the important PVP ones (Panacea +hp/regen, Shield Wall +res, Glad Armour +def) as well as the Miracle, Numina, Steadfast, etc. Note that if you plan to team even a little, it would be wise to slot a kb-kd where appropriate, as most teams hate kb.

Also if you're really jonesing for crafting while in GV, you can head over an island near the ferry which takes you to the Vanguard Main Base

There's also an abandoned lab in St. Martial. And you can TP to the Crucible.

Hover-Blasting is a good way to get your feet wet, especially if you're coming from an armoured AT. A blaster might feel naked. But once you get used to it, you'll realise that def and res are over rated when you can murder your way through a mob. I myself learned the game through a Sentinel, and it took me a while to gather the nerve to try a blaster. Flight gives you an automatic anti-melee def. You can concentrate your little def and res opportunities on ranged def/res. You'll need to get into the habit of chasing set bonuses. Incidentally, ranged def/res will also prevent mez, because that's how mez gets to you. of course, a tray of purple skittles is a nice thing to have in case mez gets through. Once you get the hang of the different play style of Blasters, you should feel comfortable dishing out pain up close and personal. A lot of Blaster secondaries will have some sort of soft control powers like immobilise and holds... even KB can be treated as a soft control -- knocking back one foe renders it unable to attack while you pound on another. Blasters are quite capable solo, in fact my first successful hardcore permadeath toon was a blaster. As for powers and power combinations, it's totally up to what floats your goat. I personally make my choices based on toon concept and power animations. That said, I've never met a blaster I didn't like. One of my all time favourites is Dual Pistol/Ninja Training. Just pick one... or better yet, pick them all. the important thing is enjoy.

Yes. Although ranged minions make the most sense. Flight offers another layer of defence against melee dmg, so having group flight while you hold position and attack removes you from melee range. Also alleviates the minions' penchant for running up to engage in melee. I usually get into postion, command the troops to hold position, fire off a defence bubble and set to attack my target or attack at will. Of course, with melee minions, the advantage is negated, so it's only good for travel. speaking of which, bots get rockets on their feet to make the group flight that much more attractive. other minions don't look as good while flying.

It's a tie between Doggos and Bots. Bots with group fly is just awesome. And I just like dogs. 😃 I've been going petless past few months. without pets, my favourites are Necro because of the spirits that pop up with the 3 primary attacks. Demons for the iconic whip. And Thugs for the more down to earth wielding of dual pistols. Secondaries, I'm partial to Time, Traps and Poison... because who doesn't like spitting powers.

My take is that it's less of trying out new directions, but more of the chaotic rush of headless chickens. The entire decade of MCU's success from Capt. America First Avenger to Endgame in my opinion is solely due to the Russo Brothers. They had a story to tell, and they told it well. Are they the best writers, probably not; but they did a dang good job at telling the story they wanted to tell. (Incidentally they wrote a few more non-superhero movies after Endgame which were quite good, proving their knack telling a story they want to tell. I think they did such a good job with the MCU that they made it look easy. With its success, novice writers and suits/management though they could do the same or better. They couldn't. On top of that, some "agenda" was stuffed in or made to be the core message which inevitably cursed their projects from the start. A more evident example of this is Star Wars, the prequels, and the latter books + spin offs. The MCU is experiencing the same, though a bit more convoluted and less visible. What bugs me is that movies based on comic book characters already have a wealth of material just awaiting screenplay adaptation. Yes, there are bad story arcs in each title, but there are also good ones. Writers need not make stuff up, much less inject current politics. Just pick the good ones and re-tell it in movie/TV form. A good example is Dare Devil. A bad one is Rings of Power. haha.

nope Go with rocket boots 😃

definitely. my first successful permadeath toon was a beam/devices blaster. more followed, and soon found the blasters too stronk to be challenging. petless mms (aka gimped corruptors) are now my passion.

I prefer Combat TP over Jaunt for the to hit aspect. some characters have keys bound to CTP to every direction, at varying distances. I even bound a key to TP in place while hovering to increase my to hit for harder foes. Jaunt kinda throws me off because my fighting style jumps in and out of range. Jaunt always faces in the direction of you're facing, so the time to turn around to face your enemy is rather cumbersome. Also, to activate Jaunt, SoS needs to be on, which entails added end drain. I only use it and the experimentation pool when the character theme calls for it.

Really??? which one. You got a screen shot for me? I haven't had the time to play in over a month or so. Real life has a tendency to get in way of villain work. 😃

hardcore mode rules dictate that I raise difficulty a notch every 10 levels starting at 20, ending at +4 for 50 onwards. mob sizes differs on AT, but most permadeath toons stay at x1. on non-hardcore toons, I've found that +4x2, +3x5/6, or +2x8 (depending on the AT/powers) are my sweet spots for gaining the best XP for effort put in. anything higher eats up too much time. However, the recent extra XP gain has screwed that formula up and I end up out-levelling a lot of contacts or favourite arcs.

I load it with procs to give it more utility. I've found that Overwhelming's KD procs a lot. two fear procs (+disorient and Neg Psi Dmg), Cloud Sense's Neg Dmg, and Trap of the hunter's Lethal Dmg to give it more of a bite. I mule the pet def and res on Haunt. The Umbra Doggy's res is sufficient enough to be survivable in most tangles. Sometimes I coat it with Spirit Ward for extra absorb and a bit of regen. I like the theme of it, yes even the howling. the way it reacts to the colour palate can be challenging, but it does fit most of my character bios. It's not an integral part of the build as I can run missions without it, but it adds a fun factor and staves off a bit of loneliness since I tend to solo most of the time. I do wish the devs would implement pass-through like MM pets as I get blocked by my own pet sometimes. That plus superjump like MM pets. it tends to have trouble following me when I bounce off as it has to find a walkable path towards me, unless I'm far enough then it just ports to my side. maybe a bit of better leashing would be nice. It tends to get trapped specially in stairs. Some toons, I can't pick tp friend/foe which would solve that. I do find that it's a little less rando than 'lings and spider blasters which go all over the place. The doggo tends to be more obedient... sometimes a little too obedient as it sits behind you not attacking what you're attacking if it's a considerable distance away (70ft???).

I only played when HC went public (2019???). Also old only in body, not balding, not overweight, and all (not mostly) male.

I experienced a minor glitch just now. Running Kristoff's final mission, Rescue Prof Vines, I was leading him out of the ship to the extraction point. Out on the deck, I lost leashing for a second, triggering his NPC dialogue, which also alerted me to go back for him a few steps. However, he sank to his knees and refused to budge even after his name had turned back to green (prompting leashing is back). I've run this arc countless times and this was the first time something like this has happened. I don't know if it helps but sometimes I clear all the longbow on the ship, and sometimes I don't--just getting rid of certain ones on the path to the exit. This time it was the latter. Other than that, I don't think I did anything different. He did get back on his feet after a few minutes.

I have the exact opposite reaction. After 3 years or so, I decide to play blue again. Couldn't stand it. everything was too bright: the atmosphere, the lighting, the attitude of the players and even some NPCs. Anyone who regained consciousness in a red side hospital should understand the importance of atmosphere. Gold side, I don't mind as much. It's just as bright, but there's a hint of tyranny oppression and fascism to even things out. Red side is still the best side for me. And until they release an Oranbega expansion with all the zones as endless Circle of Thorns temples (stoopid torches!!!) that's where I'll live out my days.

is it too late to request for Troller and Dom pets be pass-through like MMs?

I have an opposite experience. After the forced shutdown, I found 5 duplicate IOs in my AH Stored window. these were the 5 IOs that I removed from the AH Stored space right before the emergency maintenance. I suppose I'll just leave them there until the Devs resolve them.

Ninja is one of my favourite secondaries on a blaster. I like to compliment the blade attacks with combat teleport... so pew pew with primaries, then blink to your target and slash. the wasp and butterfly have a satisfying crunch to them... the lotus, not so much so sometimes I skip it. The others Nin powers do come in handy and I take most of them depending on the toon's bio. Nin on Sents does have stealth... the same value as Blasters. And yes, sentinels lack the Sniper power most blasters have. but it's not a deal breaker for me. you just have do adjust your mindset that you're NOT a blaster.

Do a search for @Solarverse. He's got one as well as other cool sound mods.

I just noticed a slight bug with weapons. On an Arch/Nin blaster, choosing Knives of Artemis Blade for katana overlaps with any bow so when you use an archery power, you're holding both the bow and blade at the same time. Using a /Nin power doesn't show the bow, though.

All of them, including my current toon. I just happen to live in a very dusty corner of this flat earth.

After 3 years of playing, I have still yet to feel any semblance of slowing down or deteriorating interest. One factor is how I treat missions. I like to be anal with mission directives. "Steal" missions means stealthing and trying to avoid enemy contact... being detected even if I need to get rid of a guard to access an object, I feel the mission wasn't a perfect success. Defeat "_____" means minimal contact, usually just the target and his boo or the immediate ones in the room. Kidnap so-and-so, you need to carve out an escape route, preferably through as few guards as possible. So unless it states defeat all, I try to strictly follow this rule. stick to the mission objectives, no more no less. The only downside of this is less drops; I don't mind the less XP from not killing foes as I try to control the levelling up speed anyway as to not out-level certain contacts. Speaking of contacts, I try to get through every contact within a zone for a particular level. In Mercy for example, I do Kuzmin, Burke, Firewire, Creed, Kalinda, Harris, Mongoose, Graves and Marino, (leaving just Weber as a Pillar mission... for the Agent of Chaos badge) in a certain order since half of the buggers are level-locked. Other than that, I also believe concept is king. After the first few toons to learn the ropes, I too tried the meta build (aka Winter-PvP-Purple-soft cap), but I found it boring. I instead preferred D-list villains who would shake in their boots if they bumped into a red-conned Lt.. Costume, power sets/power picks and play style are dictated by the toon's concept. Just because a certain power is open doesn't mean you should take it if it doesn't jive with the overall character concept (i.e. an AssRifle toon that takes only submachine gun powers and not buck or flamethrower). Similar to @Glacier Peak's blue bar, I have a /dark miasma toon whose concept is blood (yes, red+maroon power colours with red slime aura) so using his own blood for his powers is taxing on him. As such, I didn't go meta with his recovery and purposefully left it a notch below comfortable. This means he has to choose/plan his altercations because he can't handle a prolonged tangle. Toons that don't have a Magic origin have no right to take the Sorcery pool; similarly toons with no business flying don't and those with no rationale to be able to use super speed or super jump just have to foot it. So I treat getting to a mission in one piece part of the fun. Navigating through Oakes' Family-friendly streets as a lowbie or infliltrating Agincourt's purple-conning guards and turrets is fun in and of itself. Finally, I've realised the what gives me the most fun is the fear of death. For well over 2 years now, all my toons have been hard core hobo: you pay your own way up and you die you delete. The current toon I'm playing has been "regressed" back to breaking out of the Zig more than half a dozen times already over the last few months.