The changes to GMs happened quite a while ago (I think at least a year and a half). I have noticed I can't solo GMs on my Beam/traps anymore, or at least the ones I've tried to, but I think you're being a bit hyperbolic when you say a 5 man team can't take them down. I've duo-pugged Adamastor and Scrapyarder still.
I like gloom, it's fast activating and does decent damage over time.
IMO it is better than Soul Tentacles just because ST is a cone, so you have to do some repositioning to get it to be effective.
I think I first noticed "begone" when I tried to solo him on my beam/traps Corr when the GM changes were only on test. I got a giggle out of it as well.
That's interesting. Darkest Night is autohit, so I'm not sure why it has a type and vector defense.
The -to hit and -damage are for all damage types/vectors.
Knockback enhancements increase the magnitude of the power slotted, not the chance to knock back. Magnitude increases how far something gets knocked back/up.
So, if you slot knock back into a power that does knockdown, you'll turn it into actual knockback, and knockup will cause enemies to go higher into the air.
I really can't speak to the procing of the power, but because its a series of short duration holds, it really does need some decent hold duration slotting in it or mobs will be able to attack semi-regularly.
I don't think I've seen much hatred toward the characters other than Statesman, which I agree, is probably tied to Jack.
Now actually fighting them... That I've seen hatred for, but that's due to mechanics/powers they have.
I've got a TA/Dark defender, it's a great pairing. Your debuffs make the team very study and the self heal is just *chef's kiss*
You can always use the magic or tech origin powers to light OSA, and since you can swap out origin powers at START, you can be whatever origin fits your theme and still have a power to light it.
I think Force Field and Sonic Resonance are good choices for Defenders/Corrupters/Controllers. There's not very much micromanagement to those two sets, so you really can focus on damage/controls.
I feel like this was just brought up a week or two ago.
Regardless, I support diversification in Radios/Papers.
In the mean time, you can get more diversity by doing tips.
My understanding is the /whereami command will tell you which instance of a zone you are in, I would think that detection method could be extrapolated to the zone event messages.