Seldom

My updated post-ToT Alt tracker spreadsheet! (Names redacted) AT Primary Secondary Level Fully Incarnated Finished build Page # Alignment Dominator Mind Control Psionic Assault 50 ✓ ✓ 1 Rogue Dominator Fire Control Fiery Assault 50 ✓ ✓ 1 Vigilante Dominator Plant Control Martial Assault 50 ✓ ✓ 1 Vigilante Dominator Gravity Control Dark Assault 50 ✓ ✓ 1 Rogue Dominator Illusion Control Earth Assault 50 ✓ ✓ 1 Vigilante Dominator Ice Control Savage Assault 47 X X 1 Vigilante Dominator Symphony Control Sonic Assault 50 ✓ ✓ 1 Vigilante Dominator Arsenal Control Psionic Assault 29 X X 1 Hero Dominator Earth Control Electric assault 25 X X 1 Hero Controller Illusion Control Time Manipulation 50 ✓ ✓ 2 Vigilante Controller Electric Control Kinetics 50 ✓ ✓ 2 Vigilante Controller Fire Control Radiation Emission 50 ✓ ✓ 2 Villain Controller Darkness Control Empathy 50 ✓ ✓ 2 Vigilante Controller Symphony Control Electrical Affinity 50 X X 2 Villain Tanker Bio Armor Radiation Melee 50 ✓ ✓ 3 Hero Tanker Ice Armor Staff Fighting 50 ✓ ✓ 3 Hero Tanker Radiation Armor Street Justice 50 ✓ ✓ 3 Rogue Tanker Willpower War Mace 50 ✓ ✓ 3 Hero Tanker Super reflexes Super Strength 32 X X 3 Hero Tanker Invulnerability Stone Melee 25 X X 3 Vigilante Corruptor Radiation Blast Radiation Emission 50 ✓ ✓ 4 Hero Corruptor Sonic Attack Poison 50 ✓ ✓ 4 Villain Corruptor Pain Domination Assault Rifle 50 ✓ ✓ 4 Vigilante Corruptor Radiation Blast Electrical Affinity 35 X X 4 Rogue Corruptor Energy Blast Trick arrow 25 X X 4 Villain Corruptor Seismic Blast Trick arrow 25 X X 4 Vigilante Corruptor Psychic Blast Sonic Resonance 25 X X 4 Hero Corruptor Fire Blast Marine Affinity 29 X X 4 Vigilante Brute Electrical Melee Regeneration 50 ✓ ✓ 5 Vigilante Brute Broadsward Dark Armor 50 ✓ ✓ 5 Vigilante Brute Titan Weapons Energy Aura 50 ✓ ✓ 5 Villain Brute Psychic Melee Shield Defense 38 X X 5 Vigilante Brute Spines Stone Armor 32 X X 5 Hero Defender Force Field Electrical Blast 50 ✓ ✓ 6 Villain Defender Traps Sonic Attack 50 ✓ ✓ 6 Hero Defender Nature Affinity Ice Blast 50 ✓ ✓ 6 Hero Defender Dark Miasma Psychic Blast 50 ✓ ✓ 6 Hero Defender Poison Water Blast 40 ✓ ✓ 6 Hero Defender Thermal Radiation Beam Rifle 28 X X 6 Rogue Blaster Dual Pistols Devices 50 ✓ ✓ 7 Hero Blaster Psychic Blast Plant Manipulation 50 ✓ ✓ 7 Vigilante Blaster Archery Energy Manipulation 50 ✓ ✓ 7 Hero Blaster Sonic Attack Sonic Manipulation 40 X X 7 Villain Blaster Archery Tactical Arrow 36 X X 7 Rogue Blaster Water Blast Temporal Manipulation 25 X X 7 Vigilante Blaster Seismic Blast Fire Manipulation 30 X X 7 Vigilante Arachnos soldier/Bane Bane Spider Soldier Bane Spider Training 50 ✓ ✓ 8 Villain Arachnos soldier/Crab Crab Spider Soldier Crab Spider Training 50 ✓ ✓ 8 Vigilante Arachnos widow/Fortunata Fortunata Training Fortunata Teamwork 50 ✓ ✓ 8 Rogue Warshade Umbral Blast Umbral Aura 50 ✓ ✓ 8 Hero Peacebringer Luminous Blast Luminous Aura 50 ✓ ✓ 8 Hero Arachnos widow/Night widow Night Widow Training Widow Teamwork 27 X X 8 Rogue Arachnos soldier/Crab Crab Spider Soldier Crab Spider Training 28 X X 8 Vigilante Sentinel Fire Blast Radiation Armor 50 ✓ ✓ 9 Hero Sentinel Storm Blast Electrical Armor 50 ✓ ✓ 9 Vigilante Sentinel Dark Blast Dark Armor 50 ✓ ✓ 9 Villain Sentinel Water Blast Bio Armor 37 X X 9 Hero Scrapper Energy Melee Darl Armor 50 ✓ ✓ 10 Vigilante Scrapper Fire Melee Electrical Armor 50 X ✓ 10 Rogue Scrapper Ice Melee Stone Armor 29 X X 10 Vigilante Scrapper Battle Axe Shield defense 26 X X 10 Hero Scrapper Street Justice Radiation Armor 25 X X 10 Vigilante Scrapper electrical melee Super reflexes 30 X X 10 Hero Mastermind Demon Summoning Cold Domination 50 ✓ ✓ 11 Hero Mastermind Necromancy Nature Affinity 50 ✓ ✓ 11 Villain Mastermind Robotics Dark Miasma 50 ✓ ✓ 11 Rogue Mastermind Beast Mastery Sonic Resonance 50 X X 11 Vigilante Mastermind Thugs Time Manipulation 38 X X 11 Villain Mastermind Beast Mastery Kinetics 28 X X 11 Villain Stalker Dual Blades Ninjitsu 50 ✓ ✓ 12 Hero Stalker Savage Melee Fire Armor 50 ✓ ✓ 12 Rogue Stalker Martial Arts Super Reflexes 26 X X 12 Vigilante Stalker Energy melee Invulnerability 25 X X 12 Vigilante Stalker Dark Melee Bio Armor 25 X X 12 Rogue

At first, it was all about one character, I just wanted to get them to 50. (That was back on live.) This with life, though, led to burnout. So I'd have one 'Main,' and one backup character who was very different. This was usually when playing PuGs and solo. Then I started playing with a regular SG, so I started making characters to play along with them, and wanted to try something new each time, and something that would complement what others were bringing. Then I got my first character to 50, the character I played most. They were 'shelved' for some time, the focus being to catch my other characters up to them. ...But badges would still bring my 'main' character out again Then I noticed I had most archetypes to 50, why not ALL of them? Then inventions were introduced, why not have a full IO build for all of them? My main came out again, as did my 'runner up' 50's. The INCARNATES were introduced, so, why not get every 50 to be fully incarnated? This brought out my 'Main' again, as did badges. Then new powers were introduced, so why not have not just every AT to 50, why not a 50 for every power set? Now...I have so many 50's, of all AT's, of so many powersets... I just like to play my 'Main,' and certain characters who have their own stories and characteristics that I like, while the rest gather dust on the shelf, and the occasional almost-50 of a power set I haven't 'finished' yet. Before, a character was 'done' when they hit 50 with inventions and incarnates. Now, that's well-trodden ground. Most characters are 'Done' when I just don't care about them anymore. Woo! Wet blanket answer!

'Downtrodden" Is totally the Lost already. Things I can think of: 'Heroic' mercs: (super-squads that are purely in it for profits) these could be grey area, sometimes helping, sometimes at odds. Not associated with a giant organization like crey or Malta, but more like the 'Rogue island villains' that show up. Named hero bosses and their support crew in spandex but doing everything for the Benjamins. You could see them both in the city fighting crime, and threatening store owners who hadn't paid their monthly protection fees.

I don't disagree. I'm just talking about the existing constantly available anti-mez powers available right now. Those won't help your solo blaster right now, but will if you team with a empathy/thermal/poison/etc. friendo. That same friendo who has to re-apply the same buff every 60-90 seconds, but it's spammable every 4 seconds. It's the latter part I don't get. I'd be fine if the things had a 12+ second recharge if they lasted 240 seconds, or didn't require me to select every player in a large team every minute to keep the things up. This isn't a skill issue, this is a clicks per minute tax, something I can't think of any other buffs needing. I've heard it said that the sign of a good support is how many players have their Clear mind-type buffs are kept up. I disagree, since most sets have way more useful attacks/buffs/debuffs they could be using their time and attention on, but even selecting this power makes me want to keep the anti-mez up, because as mentioned, it does have value to my blaster/defender/mastermind/controller type teammates. So the game seems to reward a player who takes anti-mez powers with busywork, (ESPECIALLY on big teams) sometimes to the detriment of their other abilities. No other buff powers currently seem to balance around just making the player tired of using the power they picked.. TLDR: Short recharge, short duration buffs are 'Permanent' in all but name. If taken that way, can they be applied more conveniently to make using these pseudo-permanent buffs in a less intrusive way to the rest of my support character's powers and play experience? Longer duration? More targets hit per buff? I'm not sure I care HOW, I'd just like the power I picked to be both effective and NOT unfun to use.

Call me nutso, but isn't that the perfect place to make these powers work better? Make often-skipped powers a place to shine? Anti-mez just lets the few that are vulnerable to have a chance to react, it doesn't do anything but that. It doesn't make them untouchablle or something. (*cough*likeBARRIER*cough*) There's no issues with defense buffs making damage spike power miss, debuffs making bosses die faster, but somehow anti-control weakening control is where the game breaks? If these usually skipped, spammy to use powers need balance, please do so, but make them also fun and rewarding to use. Balance by annoyance in a game meant to be fun is NOT good balance. If Nukes were overperforming, would it make sense for them to be balanced via (A) endurance cost, recharge, or damage values, or (B) a button mashing mini-game?

I had a similar idea I posted a while back. In today's game granting flight, particularly when they are literally handing out jet-packs, is passé. That said, it's still a favorite for my masterminds, especially post 'minions never drop' patch. I love it, but it's still the only power I have to warn folks about, and one of the 2 that people will tell others to turn off. I get it, not everyone likes to fly, and it does mess with some powers, but BOY is it fun to see flying demons/zombies/robots/doggos/hoodlums. I am in favor of anything to make it less intrusive, and also more pet-friendly!

double post

I get the thought but....look at the list in the OP. Most of the powers do one thing, add anti-mez. That's all they're meant to do. Forcefield/sonic don't invalidate Barrier, nor does Regen aura/healing aura invalidate rebirth. Clarion still protects from more stuff than many anti-mez buffs, and is available from way more than empathy/thermal/poison/pain/kin/sonic/storm buffs. It also affects the caster, unlike these sets.

Lol. I guess, but if it's powerful, why not make it a limited use thing via longer recharge, only let them work on already mezzed allies, give them limited 'charges,' stuff like that? Treating anti-mez as both very powerful but constantly spammable seems to be at cross-purposes. 'Click heavy busy work' isn't a balance means used for most other effects. Ironically, this was the exact argument used for FF/Sonic/Thermal/Cold shields being single target back in the day, and yet they 'fixed' all those buffs. Buffs which are way more powerful than anti-mez.

I get that but...they gave us these powers that literally do just that. In most cases, literally just that. 90/60 secs duration with 4 sec recharges isn't 'hard' to solve, it's just inconvenient. And in a lot of cases, worse for the team because I'm spamming the usually pointless effects rather than damage/debuffs/buffs that help the team every time. I can take these anti-mez for cases where we are facing tricky enemies, or just wanting to be a good team buddy, but even then an inspiration or just good defense invalidates the need for the power pick. High defense already 'solves' much of mez by just making the whole powers just with mez effects just miss, and defense is all over the place. Blargh. Sorry, now I'm ranting because I talked myself into taking antidote on my poisoner, and the rare times I saw somebody mezzed, the person was already out of the mez before I dropped the thing on them. I was like 'what's the point of this?' and also 'why is this so finicky to keep up?' It literally has pretty much one job. ...and it seems to deliberately make doing that well annoying instead of easy and helpful.

Back in my day as I walked to Atlas/Mercy uphill both ways during snowstorms on live, many folks complained about how bad force-field was, or the annoyance of speed boosting a whole team, or spending half their time keeping fire shield on each and every mastermind minion. Jump ahead, and most of the 'busy work' buff powers have long lasting effects and/or apply to a whole team. Except for one particular buff type: anti-mez powers. They're all single target, with a shorter duration. The easiest comparison: Sonic resonance. Power 1: Sonic Barrier, resistance to smashing, lethal, and toxic. Max targets: 255, 240s duration, 2 sec recharge Power 2: Clarity, mag -12.975 mez to all, 216% sleep resistance. +Perception. Max target: 1, 90 sec duration, 4 sec recharge. Neither power helps the caster, both only help buddies. Both require the sacrifice of a power choice to do a specific task. One works on the same duration/application/recharge as most of the set's other buffs and is relevant across most of the game. The other offers super specialized protection that requires a specific target, has a shorter duration, and recharges slower. I greatly appreciate that the ease of playing shielders/buffers/etc. has vastly improved. But what's up with anti-mez powers? Mez, outside of malta is often short-lived if present at all, and many powersets offer full protection against it. Yet the anti-mez buffs seem to exist in this weird legacy state, as though it's a scary thought that a power meant to protect from mez would do that too easily. I know, I'm a lazy, bad support dude, 'cuz half the time I even have one of these powers, I've neglected to keep it up across the team between clicks/toggles, and attacks, notice a friendo has FINALLY gotten mezzed (I can use that -mez power!) ...and by then they just chomped a break free and gotten back to it. The single target/lower duration protection is a thing across the board: Clarity: -12.975 mez to all, 216% sleep resistance, +perception. Single target, 90 sec duration, 4 sec recharge Enforce morale: -12.975 mez to all, 216% sleep resistance, +5% recharge, +move speed, minor damage. Single target, 90 sec duration, 4 sec recharge Clear mind: -12.975 mez to all, 216% sleep resistance, +perception. Single target, 90 sec duration, 4 sec recharge Antidote: -12.975 mez to all, 216% sleep resistance, +toxic/cold resistance, +50% -run/-recharge protection. Single target, 90 sec duration, 4 sec recharge 02 Boost: Heal, +end/recovery protection, -10.8 mez to Stunned, Sleep, Single target, 60 sec duration, 4 sec recharge. Increase density: +smashing/energy resistance (AoE, max targets 255), -12.975 mez to Held, Immobilized, Stunned, -KB, -jump: Single target, 60 sec duration, 3 sec recharge (Side note: why is this both a single target power with one set of effects, with a minor but different AoE effect that all use the same buff icon? It's super confusing to keep up!) Thaw: -12.975 mez to all, 216% sleep resistance, +10% cold resistance, +80% -run/-recharge protection. Single target, 90 sec duration, 4 sec recharge My knee-jerk reaction would to be to go in one of two directions: Double down on these being specialized single target buffs, making them last longer and do more since they're hard to keep up. Give them more than a -mez, since few enemies use mez, and many players bring their own -mez protection. Heck, I'd be fine if they got a longer recharge if they LASTED longer. Some of the above list do more than -mez, but most are still super-specialized, with the exception of O2 boost. (Which is partial -mez anyways) Just make the anti-mez powers easily 'splash' across the entire team to make them easier to keep up so I don't have to find that one guy snoozing in a crowd team members and enemies the exact way the other team buffs do. Am I nuts here? What am I missing? Why, of all the buffs, do anti-mez effects across a team need so much busy work?

Just going to keep asking for NPC civilian models as Aether shop costumes. Why? Almost all my characters that are human-like end up with civilian outfits, especially those with 'secret identities.' Yet the costume creator has very few truly civilian-looking options, and even using them you'll end up with superhero proportions. I don't think I'm alone in wanting a true zero to hero transformation, or true civilian alternate identity look. On the other end, for monstrous, alien, and obvious villain in Paragon/Heroes in the Rogue isles having a truly mundane disguise would be awesome to avoid alarm when traveling about. Finally, having a truly drab look for some of the crazier powers would be super fun and hilarious. I'd love to sport the pot-gut civilian look while doing martial art flipkicks, or an old lady calling down storm and fire. (Get off my lawn!)

Request: Pretty please can we have generic civilian models for the Aether shop rewards? Some of us need convincing secret identities, or a reason why our rogue Arachnos are going unmolested while sporting very obvious Arachnos hardware!

This is actually why the fortunata/mind control confuse is a favorite of mine..it takes sappers from being one of the most annoying mobs in the game to being a handy sapping buddy, and if it misses it doesn't aggro, so you can just wait for it to work before going in.

Control protection: All melee archetypes, Sentinels, Arachnos widows/soldiers, Traps/Force field/Sonic resonance Corruptors/Defenders/Controllers, and Dominators with enough +recharge to keep domination up, 'Light form' peacebringers, and 'dwarf form' peacebringers/warshades. (The latter can use the dwark forms as a 'break free' but don't have permanent status protection outside of this & peacebringer light form.) Sap protections: Arachnos Fortunatas have a long duration click defense, Washades have an easily permanent almost capped resistance via eclipse, and light form is also a click that lasts a while for peacebringers. Warshades also have unparalleled endurance recovery when fighting groups, as they can heal/gain endurance for every dead enemy. Electric armor (tanks, brutes, scrappers, stalkers, sentinels) is the premier endurance protection set, as not only does it protect from -end/-recovery, it also gives reliable +endurance powers for whatever minor drain still sneaks through. Dark armor (again tanks, brutes, scrappers, stalkers, sentinels) also gives good sap protections via 'murky cloud' which was recently proliferated to dark mastery for dominators/controllers/blasters. Trap Corruptors/Defenders/Controllers get both their control protection and defense from an external pet, which can't be turned off via a sap. Alternative: high burst damage (via a snipe/or assassin strike) or good ranged control can both deal with sappers handily. (Stalkers/Banes/Night widows being best bets for one-shotting sappers, dominators/fortunatas being the best at control) AV-level damage: All melee can sort of do this, though tanks will struggle and take a while. Sentinels are excellent at this due to having both focused damage and a constant, unresisted debuff. Night widows/bane spiders are great for boss killing, fortunatas a little less, crabs struggle. (They're best against crowds.) Peacebringers are good vs. bosses, warshades struggle as they need many foes to buff up from. Traps/Sonic resonance corruptors/defenders/controllers not only have damage, but have great debuffs to make their damage go further. Corruptors EXCEL versus bosses, the higher the health pool, the higher their damage. (They 'scourge' against foes at half health, and the chances for scourge go up as health goes down) Dominators can struggle as though they have high damage, they don't have a lot of attacks and need to split time damaging with controls. Durable: All melee/sentinels/arachnos/kheldians are sturdy to varying levels. Sentinels are the worst of the above, as many of their armor sets have survival tools removed in favor of utility and auto powers, but still have more inherent tools than the support sets. At level 35 when patron/epic pools become usable, Corruptors/Defenders/Controllers get access to armors which make them hardier, and with the fighting pool and set bonuses they can even outclass sentinels, but you'll have to build for it. Tanks and Brutes are the top here, Peacebringers can be up there with perma-lightform, which is also perma status protection.