Android_5Point9

Well, congrats, you sold me on this one. Looks awesome!

Pretty sure it's still team based. I believe merits drop from mothership Rikti 100% of the time even if you just do damage to it and it's defeated by anyone else who happens to be there. With the addition of incarnate pets, a good deal of people having Judgement abilities, or just larger and tougher groups fighting/hitting more Rikti with aoes, you're likely to notice more drops. Obviously that's not exactly scientific, but there haven't been any documented changes that I can recall.

I think (read: hope) that i22's coming this week, and think (read: really really really hope) that at least one of the new powersets will be out before double xp too. I don't think they'd tease us with patch notes only to have it be over a week away.

What, no votes for Nuditron?

Fair enough. To that end, I'd recommend stocking up on small purples (Lucks) for missions. 4 of them at a time will give you a 5% chance to be hit, meaning you could probably stand in the middle of a group and wait the 8 seconds to get put back into Hide, and pull off another AS. Might require less depending on your secondary. I realize it's not exactly feasible to keep that many specific inspirations in reserve at all times, but not getting hit can make a world of difference, especially if you utilize the terrorize component of AS as well.

Nope! They're the same. Orange and purple on the cards are rarities, just like rare (orange) and very rare (purple) IOs.

edit: Meaning, each pack rolls to see what cards you'll get. The orange cards and purple cards both can give you the same ATOs, though the purple cards also give other rewards that the orange ones don't. ie, 100 reward merits instead of 75, a very slim chance at a Black Wolf vanity pet, etc.

You can upgrade the orange ATOs to purple status if you use an Enhancement Catalyst though, and it turns into a Superior set with a bunch of upgraded bonuses and enhancement values, about the equivalent to existing purple sets. Once you upgrade them though, you can't trade them or auction them.

There are a few methods. Obviously, playing on a team with a Brute or Tanker will greatly reduce the odds of you getting picked on, since they'll be automatically taunting a good deal of the enemies you're fighting. All of the Stalker primaries have Placate in them, which is a reverse taunt. It makes an enemy unable to attack you, and the Stalker Placate will put you into Hidden status so that you can pull off a crit (provided you're not hit immediately afterwards). There are a few temp powers that also placate enemies, and a power in the /Ninjitsu secondary that does an aoe placate, but those don't put you into Hidden status, just prevent incoming attacks. The other option is, yeah, running away. Provided you don't stumble into a new group of enemies, the ones you've engaged should back off after a while. I'm sure there's a Paragon Wiki article somewhere that would give you the exact numbers of specific behaviors if you're interested in those.

With the i22 changes though, Stalkers are exceptionally potent in combat and running away or avoiding enemies isn't exactly a top priority. Even now in i21, you should have enough damage and survivability to handle most situations - if not, I'd consider adjusting your difficulty. Disengaging and making frequent use of a hidden Assassin's Strike isn't exactly an optimal playstyle.

From strange inter-dimensional seagulls, to ustreams and whiteboard dinosaurs, and even those impromptu Pocket D dance parties, it's been a real pleasure.

VGS, Beastyle. VGS.

The way it worked for me when I did this a few days ago proved was pretty simple:

I had a character named Bob on Oldserver, and a character named Bob on Newserver. I transferred Bob off of Oldserver, and he became Bob1 once he got to Newserver. I could either log in to Bob1 now, or at the top of the screen (near the transfer remaining count) I had a rename token for Bob1. Provided the name isn't taken on the server by you or anyone else, you're free to rename Bob1 into whatever you'd like.

The transfer was done in the time it took to switch servers as well.

In your case, you could just delete the name Steve once the Bob from Oldserver arrives and becomes Bob1, and change Bob1 to Steve. The only potential trouble lies with Steve being a very old character that had their name made before a copyright exception was made, or if someone snags it within the 10 seconds it takes to delete him and rename Bob1. Both are exceptionally unlikely, though.

Twitter Teases Tantalize Tarantulas (tm)!

A few people have held some issues with the exact usefulness of the ATOs, mainly their procs. So, when it comes down to it, what would you give to the next round of archetype sets?

I've had a few ideas, but I'll try to keep it to one per AT. Things I've tried to keep in mind are what the ATs received in their first archetype sets, and to remember that these are benefits gained from 1 slot.

Blaster
* Adds a stackable smashing/lethal/energy defense proc (5%/7%) to one power. Stacks twice, lasts 15 seconds, and procs an average of 4/5 times per minute.

Defender
* Reduces the damage loss of Vigilance per teammate to 3%/2.5%.

Controller
* Increases the frequency of the Overpower effect by 5%/10%.

Tanker
* Adds a splash effect to the Tanker's Bruising power, turning it into a pbaoe. Enemies hit by the splash suffer a -10%/-12.5% resistance effect.

Scrapper
* Adds an unresistable -regen and minor energy damage proc to the slotted power. The target suffers a non-stacking -10%/-20% health regen, and takes 30/55 energy damage. Procs an average of 5/6 times per minute.

Brute
* Adds a mag 2 pbaoe immobilize effect, as well as a minor fire damage proc to the slotted power. The immobilize lasts 10/15 seconds, the target suffers 30/55 fire damage, and the proc occurs an average of 5/6 times per minute.

Stalker
* Reduces the time it takes to re-enter Hide from combat to 5/4 seconds. Also increases the Stalker's critical hit chance against held targets by 2%/3%, and sleeping targets by 10%/15% even in PvE.

Corruptor
* Increases the amount of base health a target can have before Scourge takes effect to 55%/60%. This will also increase the chances of Scourge occurring 100% of the time once the target's base health reaches 12%/14%.

Dominator
* Adds a 3.5%/6% damage boost to all secondary powers when Domination is active.

Mastermind
* The Mastermind's henchmen will heal their owner for 4.5%/7.5% of the damage they do. This effect is applied to the Supremacy inherent, and will only affect pets in range.

Kheldian
* Reduces the cast time of the Bright Nova, Bright Dwarf, Dark Nova, and Dark Dwarf powers to 1.5/0.75 seconds.

Soldiers of Arachnos
* Increases the benefit of their Tactical Training abilities on nearby teammates or pets (not themselves) by 15%/25%. This bonus is multiplicative.

So, hopefully a little more well rounded than the current set. I was struggling to come up with something for Masterminds that wasn't just a mitigation aura, and health vampirism isn't something that's really in the game right now.

So, do you like this list, or do you have better ideas that aren't as overpowered/underpowered as mine?

For a Staff character in particular, /da is a nice choice on a Broot. The damage aura is fury boosted (scrapper damage auras don't crit), and conveniently functions as a taunt aura as well. /DA is notoriously tough on endurance as well, so the Staff form that gives an end discount buff will be very helpful and make leveling way easier.