Nyghtmaire

There is lots of good advice here. Jumping on the brute bandwagon. Another solid, self-sufficient starting AT is the sentinel. A little less damage, but mainly a ranged focus (if that is your kind of thing). That said, there are many, many, MANY character slots - much more than were available on Live. I recommend staying 3-4 characters of different play styles and begin leveling them slowly so you can compare and contrast the experience. All the ATs have changed a fair amount since Live. However, the core of each is mostly the same. For example, blasters still blast; they tend to be more survivable now with far better endurance management (and the nukes don’t drain all of your end). Hero vs. Villain - not sure when you last played, but there are 3 starting choices now: 1) hero (blue side), 2) villain (red side), and 3) Praetoria (gold). Generally, blue is more populated than red, and gold is nearly always an exclusively solo experience. Gold side is also considered a bit more challenging to start, but the writing is improved, and the missions take you through a story where your choices have an impact on the narrative you play through. For starters, here is a link to the Homecoming Wiki. Lots of foundational information here if you need a quick resource: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Main_Page Good luck and welcome back to the game!

Great idea! Was there a pairing with which you were most disappointed and didn’t make the cut?

Ever since I became a parent (almost 26 years now? Sheesh…), I’ve played the game on mute. Now I’m accustomed to playing without sound. Also means that this is never a consideration! I suppose I should apologize now to all past, present, and future teammates for all my sonic (and symphony?) characters. P.S. would include demons but I can’t stand those pets.

Earwigs in my fridge at midnight puts me in a dancing mood…

I see FF as a flexible primary that goes with everything. Because there are so few must-have powers, and the slot requirements are so slow for the primary, there is a lot of flexibility. Hell, the ally shields can be 2-slotted with an LOTG and boosted Shield Wall Defense. That’s kind of bonkers. That said, these 3 come to mind: * Water and Dark both have a self heal. Dark’s -ToHit stacks with the defensive bubbles, and water’s KD’s add additional mitigation. *storm (oh so new) is busy with dividends being paid when powers are spammed into the mobs engulfed in Storm Cell. No FF casts to get in the way of that. However, wishful NG for a little more debuffing in that combo. I had a FF/Water before the changes. It got a little boring, but I built it before I understood the proc mechanics (operating under a Live model). It was very safe, could solo fine, and did well with the players who all seemed absolutely drunk. Wish I had not deleted it. For storm, I’m probably going to make one soon, but I’m leveling a TA/storm now to get a feel for the secondary. Sadly, I don’t participate in beta since I got a new job. It’s a little intense, asking more than I initially anticipated. But otherwise rewarding.

No worries about buffing eating up your time here. FF (along with Sonic) is likely the slackest of the primaries for action economy in relation to buffs. Roughly 5 seconds to cast both shields every 4 minutes (add ~1.3 seconds if you took Power Boost). Each cast of Deflection/Insulation Shield covers the entire team if in range. If they’re not in range because they split apart from the group, they missed the bus and will need to get on at the next stop. Anyone who splits presumably knows they can survive without your buffs. And if they don’t know, they’ll learn very quickly what they need when they bite off more than they can chew. Dampening Bubble could be seen as a buff, but it helps you too. Another ~1.3 seconds every 45 seconds. Otherwise you’re blasting and KB/KDing critters. And if you don’t take Heal Other (Medicine pool), you can safely ignore the demands that Defenders heal.

Doh! I missed that. Please ignore my question above.

Thank you for more of this painstaking work! Question: does this data reflect the most recent balancing that was pushed through in the last update (for example, lowering the recharge in Abyssal Gaze and the cast time of Gloom for Dark Blast; all the changes to Psychic Blast)?

Would do this if there was a suitable hat option.

Oh man, you’re speaking my language. To the OP, there’s lots of info on the forums for getting influence in-game. Most hands-off is selling enhancement converters (after converting merits to converters: every merit = 3). Highly recommend spending 10-15 minutes reading through the various guides and getting up to speed. I can tell you that, anecdotally at least, once I did that all my characters went to a self-funding model, had sufficient influence to get the main uniques (Panacea, Miracle, Numina, Kismet, PvP def and resistance, Steadfast, KB when needed, stealth IOs when needed), fund either level 25 or 30 IOs, and have at least a good cushion for adding sets while leveling. And because of this, each character became drastically more survivable and able to handle higher difficulty levels solo. (The first character I did this with was an Earth/Sonic Controller - NOT known as a strong solo character with lots of damage). If you enjoy building in Mids, this facet of the game may well bring a lot of enjoyment. Good luck!

I’m getting a real Rudy Giuliani vibe from this. Bu I could only watch for about 10 seconds…

That’s about half of the set’s attacks, including half of its AOEs. Skipping the blades would really limit what you could do with the other primary powers. Psi Blade Sweep does more damage single target than does Mental Strike. And Greater Psi Blade is your strongest hitting attack, especially with Insight up. I think you would be significantly reducing the damage potential of the character. All that said, welcome to the game! And skipping those powers would allow you to make many other power selections. Might want to check out the fighting pool. If you take kick, boxing, and cross punch, all those powers are buffed when taken together. You could leverage Boggle more often to turn an enemy into a damage source. And once you open Patron pools (level 35), you’ll have access to another pool of powers, for example a ranged snipe and AOE. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Scrapper https://cod.uberguy.net/html/archetype.html?at=scrapper There are many ways to build characters, and many players stress theme and concept over ideal design. Rule of Cool. And you have many, many character slots. Go nuts and see what happens.

Hmmm… first thought is either a storm/stone sentinel (ATLAB inspired) or TA/Storm defender (apparently along with @KaizenSoze). But these characters need to get in the back of the line. So many alts, so very many alts… edit - were a stormX2 in the cards, would go defender for the variety (I have so few). But now I’m wondering what DARK to pair it with.

Now is the time to level before the next issue (and power reordering). Shockingly true and *always* a great choice. A re-worked classic the changes of which brought the pairing into the modern game. So @Ted, what did you settle on?

Hotfeet is a slow and damage toggle. (I slot A/D/E and KD proc from Avalanche for the 15 slow resists, A/D/E, S/E from Ice Mistrals - really wish for 2 more slots for another 10 slow resist). Maxes slow to cap, good endurance reduction, decent accuracy with global bonuses, and max damage with Incarantes. Cinders is the PBAoE hold; Char the single target hold. Get a spawn bunched up -> Flashfire for stun -> bonfire with KD proc -> Fire Cages to keep ‘em in place -> run in and let Hot Feet (and Imps if you took them) eat the minions and lieutenants, Consume to boost recovery and refuel endurance while AoEing and targeting bosses. Cinders is more an emergency power if Flashfire misses too many or if adds come before Flashfire recharges. Fire really leans on Flashfire as its “every spawn” hard control. Smoke is skippable. Has a use, like if two groups are close together. Smoke group 2 while taking care of group 1. I have taken it before to exemplar (currently also going back and forth on phase shift and rise of the phoenix) so I have another out of sticky situations, but it’s hardly a must-have power. It’s a fun combo. This was my first dom Live (though only made it to the mid teens) and first here. Certainly stick with it!

Troll? Or serious? Can’t tell. If your definition is a fire farm, the perspective is a joke. Try again.

Wut?!? MMs are the ultimate solo class. Nothing has changed with leveling since Live to change that calculus (except more easily accessible inventions - which only improves all ATs’ abilities experience across the board). And the recent issue has brought greater functionality, survivability, and damage to four of the primaries. Two (demons and thugs) were already baller level before the issue. There are plenty of challenges with the AT, but soloing has never been one of them. What *are* you talking about?!?!

This is the way.

You could start here:

Bio has 2 sources of -dam in defensive mode: Parasitic Aura and Genetic Contamination. Also has -res in the armor set. Agree with combining Darkest Night (which is the heftiest reduction) and layering with Paralytic Radial Interface (stacks up to 4 of 5% -dam).

Here you go. All your peeps are crunching the numbers here:

Sheesh. It’s stories like these that keep me building for worst case scenarios. Only thing remotely close to this I’ve had lately is a Brickstown mission leveling team advertised only as “any level welcome”. Leader was level appropriate for zone. Join with the team already in mission. Zone in - everyone’s on the floor, +4s all around, each bitching at each other to port to hospital with no one leaving. Scan leader - no set bonuses. *backs out slowly, whistling* Momma didn’t raise a quitter and it ain’t quittin’ if you don’t start.

I’ve taken to monitoring stealth radius for these characters, but this would be a nice quality of life improvement.

Sad to have missed this week’s Everlasting TT tour. Still one of the highlights of this game.

@TygerDarkstorm is steering you right. For slotting pets, recharge isn’t necessary (or really beneficial). Summoning times have been reduced from Live so the powers themselves are up fairly quickly. Recharge continues to be pretty great for the recharge (level 18) intensive pets, like Soul Extraction (Necro) and Gang War (Thugs). Accuracy and Damage are still very, very important (generally). So is endurance reduction. The pace of play in groups is a bit faster, so pets burn through their endurance faster. Tier 1 pets need more accuracy as the level shifts are the same as Live generally (-2 tier 1, -1 tier 2, same level for the 3rd). The main change is incarnate content where the pets are all boosted now. Homecoming and procs are different. Here is a guide: However, the core pets ignore recharge so the sections linked regarding slotted recharge and impact on proc rates is inapplicable here. Many players tend to slot procs in pets in which the proc has a chance to fire on multiple attacks. It varies from primary to primary what’s available, but you can check pet powers here: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/archetype.html?at=mastermind There are many theories as to how to slot personal attacks. Mostly, it hinges on what your other build goals are. For Necro/Ninja/Bots/Thugs, a single Accuracy in the base slot can cover you if the goal is merely to trigger the secondary effect (ghouls for Necro, crit bonus for Ninjas for example). Anything more is icing on the cake. IOs are cheaper now, and purpled builds are within reach. If you want all the pet uniques, for example, they are readily attainable. Lastly, there is far less disparity between the MM primaries. If you were a Necro fan on Live, you’ll likely be blown away by the changes. If you have not seen, Mids has a version for this server. Welcome back; welcome home!