ninja surprise

Life pro tip: Don't worry about the runners if you're on a team. Free yourself from feeling you personally have to defeat every last critter. There's up to 7 other people on the team and highly likely at least one of them has ranged attacks. Let them blast the runners. And unless you're on a defeat-all it doesn't matter if a minion runs away. You're a Scrapper! You should be cultivating a severe case of Scrapperlock: The Pursuit of Big Spawns. Go poke the boss in the face! When he's down, claw up the Lieutenants! With all your Spins, Shockwaves, and Eviscerates you'll mow down most of the spawn along with the tough target. Then go find more! If the team has a good Tank or Brute they should be leaving the spawn by the time it's 3/4 defeated, go follow them instead of mopping up the leftovers! Let the squishies clear the runners and leftovers! One thing that's always amused me is how often multiple people attack the same target. Often it's auto-selected for them, but the fewer targets there are, the more people will be attacking it. It doesn't take a team of 8 to defeat the last minion, so you can save endurance and go find more mobs in the next room. Edit: But also take any excuse to make more alts! That's the true joy of the game.

This would be nice, or if it were added to every Trainer and bases already get trainers.

It would be cool if Clear Mind were a PBAoE toggle similar to that in /Elec, /FF, etc. But it's also cool being different.

Not sure if you know this, but the AH displays IOs for sale in whatever category you're looking at them, regardless of how they were posted for sale. So it's not that people are selling attuned purples, they are probably standard level 50 crafted purples, but if you're looking in the Attuned section, that's what you'll see. If you look in the Crafted section you'll see the unattuned ones that you can boost. I agree there's no point in adding Catalysts to them because you keep the bonus while exemp'd anyway. Maybe they should be flagged as not attunable. As far as slotting them earlier, like Winter or AT IOs, I don't really care. It would make build planning & implementation easier if I could slot the final build as I go, but making people waste inf to prevent inflation is a big part of game strategy.

Same with the Assembler Bots, always summoning two Clocks right as I defeat the Assembler, then have to defeat their summons too.

Hopefully Dual Blades or Staff can scratch her itch. DB has a bunch of combos that do bonus side effects. If you set up your trays to group each of the combos of 3 attacks she can pick combos that debuff the enemy then do extra bonus damage. Staff has Stances that give a bonus side effect after doing a combo. So by choosing a Stance and then doing one of two combos they get either a self-buff or a bonus damage and secondary effect. I really like Staff's sound effects. Plus you get a ranged attack that knocks flyers out of the air!

I believe WP and Inv both have minimal FX settings so they don't look obvious. But two other sets that are great on a Scrapper are Super Reflexes and Shield Defense. Shield has an option (I believe it's under Elemental/Energy) that you can color to match your Psi attacks and would look like you're using a Psi shield. SR has an absolutely minimal FX setting where you won't have any visual stuff cluttering your costume and you can role-play it like you're using your psi abilities to deflect attacks. Or you can color it to match your attacks. Plus you get a boost to speed and recharge that brings your attacks back faster. SR and Shield are both easy to maximize your defense as high as a Brute could get. WP and Invuln can't get as high of resist values as a Brute and since Scrappers have less HP they get less regen. Like Gobbledygook says, Scrappers are always at max damage and get crits on top of that. Brutes start every map at the absolute bottom of the damage scale and ramp up as fights go on to do almost match Scrappers, but can do a lot more if they have teammates who buff damage output. I prefer Scrappers because it's always a bummer on a Brute to clobber something with your big punch, run to an elevator and then to the next spawn, punch it with the big punch, and have it barely notice.

I really wish they'd given the new Afterburner a new name because it's a different power. They buffed Fly to be the same speed as old Fly + Afterburner (so combined two toggles into one) and then tacked on this new Afterburner that is a pure but low duration speed boost to make you go even faster. They should have called it "Turbo Boost" or "Nitrous" like that. Old Afterburner could act like a Personal Force Field: Only affect self with high defense for blasting through a map in relative safety. New Afterburner can't do that at all. Evasive Maneuvers does it a little, but not as well as old AB did. (That's what Taboo refers to above) I like being able to run Hover and Fly at the same time for speed and maneuverability, but haven't used Evasive Maneuvers enough yet to see if it's worth taking.

What's this about? I haven't done a respec yet or hit level 40 on a new alt.

Two things I'd love to see, both based on characters interacting with NPCs: Firstly, every single pedestrian can shove any hero or villain out of its path. I'd love to have a sort of "repel" effect on player characters that affects NPCs that scales with level. So maybe a level 1 running through Atlas has to run around pedestrians and cars and stuff, but a level 50 running through PI can shove them out of the way and send 'em flying. Secondly, I'd like powersets that have more interaction with enemies. Currently we have KB/KU/KD, but you never really touch an enemy. Knockout Blow could be the attack that really gets close. I want more grappling attacks where you can pick a sucker up and do a bodyslam or throw them at other badguys and they all take damage. That'd be pretty cool.

That's one of my mains right now too! Lumpy Puncher is a hoot! The big Tank AoE on Shadow Maul has spoiled me. I haven't tried to new Touch of Fear though, does it do decent AoE damage?

Yep, but they just changed it overall in today's patch. It was auto-crit after hiding for 20 seconds, now it's very big chance to crit after 8 seconds -- about how long it takes to run down a hall and find some badguys.

Just dropping in to say HOLY MOLY!

Which primary did you go with? I would have suggested /Nin to go with Titan Weapons, because the +end recovery power saves your hide more often than the heal does. You'll defeat stuff super quick but run out of endurance in the second spawn. Plus, doing a massive AoE from hide with auto-crit is a blast! But if you get good endurance discounts via set bonuses, it's fine. Street Justice / SR is a great combo though. Plus it has the auto power with +speed and +recharge and I love it so much I totally miss it on any other toon.

Like xl8 says it comes down to play style. Dark Melee is indeed great on a Tank because Shadow Maul gets bumped up to 180 degree arc with like 10 targets max and it's amazing. You never have to worry about lining up the cone, just attack whatever you see and it punches everything. But you'll never one-shot something with Midnight Grasp... I still haven't tried the new Touch of Fear out. I didn't like the Stalker version of Elec/Shield because Stalkers have trouble holding aggro. With a Scrapper you can almost herd, but with a Stalker I had to chase down and defeat everything one by one. I like Lighting Clap, I six-slot it with the purple stun and a KB->KD to keep things stunned at my feet. You could try out the Stalker on test, kitting it out for free to see how you like it.

Mebbe, wonder if it got the axe for a faster cast animation.

Am I imagining things, or did Flares previously have an animation where you stand like an X with both hands in the air and Flares shoot out? I can't find that in Power Customization 😞

Congrats on your first 50! Now that you've hit the Big Ding you get to tweak your hero until it's "perfect". Here's some answers for your questions: Now that I am 50, I should slot level 50 IOs rather than attuned ones, is that right? -- Depends on how you play! If you are building for set bonuses and exemp a lot for task forces, trials, and pick-up groups, you'll want Attuned. If you are building for absolute enhancement values, you'll want level 50's and maybe boosted too. The exception being: Purple and PvP IO's give their set bonuses regardless of the IO level, so you can get those at level 50 and still have the set bonuses on a Positron TF. I know most builds go Scorpion Shield but hopefully Charged Armor is in the same ballpark. I quite like Shocking Bolt. -- Go with your heart! People choose Scorpion Shield for the defense, but they build their entire build around that defense. It's totally OK to do the Shocking Bolt instead and will be more fun for you. I am not sure at all about Afterburner, its just a fill the gap choice that can take a LoTG. -- This is fine. Afterburner makes you fly faster right now. When the next patch is released Afterburner will be replaced with a toggle that gives you more maneuverability and defense and your LotG will still fit. I have really enjoyed the Hover blasting playstyle. -- Me too! I'm not really sure what resists / defenses / recharge reduction targets I should be aiming for. -- Basically, you want your big blasts/attacks to recharge quick enough that you can use them in every spawn. Hasten gives 70% recharge bonus, and it's pretty easy to get that via set bonuses without taking Hasten. I rarely take Hasten, I just slot so that my attack gets 2 IO's worth of recharge and I have 2 more IO's worth of set bonus recharge and that cuts every power's recharge time in half. Some people only take 3 attacks and need enough recharge to use them in rotation without pause. But I take almost every attack and use whatever's up because I like the variety. I even six-slot Toxic Grenade because it does as much damage as the T1 blast and I can use it while mezzed. Smoke Grenade was fantastic on live but seems to have been nerfed into oblivion. Is it even worth taking any more? -- Check the Effects tab in Mid's to see what it does. I don't know what the Live stats were but here it makes enemies so they can't see you until you attack them. So you can use it to click a glowie right next to badguys, or turn a Hot door into a Warm door, etc. Up to you. Like I said, I take all the powers because I like clicking buttons 😄 Is 6 slotting my attacks with the same enhancement type the way to go or should I diversify? -- Assuming you mean "slotting with a full set", like putting 6 Decimation in Power Bolt... again, depends on your goal. Frankenslotting is when you take individual pieces from multiple IO sets and it's a great way to maximize your enhanced value and minimize influence cost. For instance, in a power like Rain of Fire I'll put 3 different Dam/Rech in order to maximize damage and recharge since I don't care about anything else. The benefit of slotting full sets is to get a set bonus that requires 5 or 6 pieces. Example: 5 Decimation give 6.25% bonus to global recharge. If you equip 5 sets of 5 Decimation that's 31.25% global recharge bonus, as much as a bonus Recharge IO in every power. Or, Winter sets (like Winter's Bite or Frozen Blast) give a bonus resistance to slow effects when you've equipped 2 or 3 of them, which I love because I hate getting slowed, so I'll get 6 of those and put them in 2 or 3 different powers. Old enhancement practice was 1 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 End, 1 Recharge. With Frankenslotting you can get a better total enhancement values with the same # slots. Hope this helps! And like Flat Line says, you have "alternate builds" you can access by going to a trainer and choosing "switch to an alternate build" or something like that. On each build you can choose different powers and different enhancements. So you can have a pure level 50/incarnate build, and a Positron / low level build, or a max-recharge build, or high defense, etc. Plus you can buy Respec recipes, or do Respec trials, or buy Enhancement Unslotters, and rebuild as often as you want, so you're never locked in if you wind up with a build or enhancement you don't like.

Love how your bad breath knocks down anyone foolish enough to take a whiff. I'm working on the same combo, trying to get it tougher than a scrapper. I have it as a Tank already and it's great, but Tank damage isn't giving me the big grins.

The only thing that's changed in Stone Armor is in the old days you could only run 1 toggle at a time.

Nooooooooooooooo.... The obvious method is Carp Melee! As you slap a chump with a carp, the scales and guts spatter off onto other nearby critters causing minor damage but also temporary blindness, nausea, and choking. Your carp deteriorates over time, resulting in the need to summon a Fresh Fish perodically. Like a "alter density" toggle on Gravity Control that changes all the Gravity control powers so that instead of immobilizing or holding in place, the affected targets are drawn towards each other as if by a gravity well? Or towards the caster, she/he being the Center of Gravity? And the more critters you get into your gravity ball the more crushing damage they take?

Not sure if it's what you mean, but I wish the powersets had a "tweak the damage type" adjuster. Mostly to match the costume creator, but also to add flavor to the powersets. Kinda like the Switch Ammo thing in Dual Pistols. Example: You pick Claws. In the Costume Creator you switch them to one of the energy/glowie skins. Then in Power Customization you move a slider to change your damage to 50% energy, 50% lethal. Or you pick Super Strength, pick a sick bubbly aura, and then adjust your damage type to smashing/toxic. This way you could pick a powerset that looks like what you want and change the damage type to match your concept.

And also, not being able to call the detective on the police radio or cell phone. Traveling like a magnificent super hero and getting stuck on a telephone wire or bush. Or in a building, getting hung up on a chair or the protruding edge of a wall at a corner. Hitting "Mission Teleport" and being sent to the first mission in the list instead of the mission I had selected because I forgot to click "Set Mission" after talking to the contact. If a critter dies while I'm activating an attack/buff, the power fails. When I pick a target for Ion Judgement and the target runs off across the map away from any other critters and the Judgement doesn't Jump 😞

I'm fighting Carnies now and not getting detoggled while held. But I had an oddity where I had Fly and Hover active, turned off Hover, and Hover did a 60 second cooldown. Haven't been able to repeat it though.

Getting back to real Focused Feedback: On Beta, it appears that being held detoggles Hover and Evasive Maneuvers. I'm on a Beast/Kin MM on a Council map and when the Vamps hold me, those two turned off. Trying to do more testing. Otherwise I enjoy the new Hover, Flight and EM. Super Speed is amazing, although it seems random when Momentum builds up. Maybe it's because I'll do a bunch of little jumps while running through a zone to get over fences, bushes, etc. I wish Speed Phase worked for those obstacles! So I might be spending Momentum on little jumps and don't see it build up for a big jump. Speed Phase is fun and it's great not having to worry about half the obstacles in the map.