Adeon Hawkwood

This isn't directed at the OP in particular but he is expressing a sentiment that I've seen a few times in regard to the Blaster sustain changes, specifically: "why are you adding the buff to a power that I don't want to use?" I've seen this complaint made about pretty much EVERY Blaster secondary.

Frankly I find this sentiment really, really illogical. Of course the devs are going to add the buffs to unpopular powers. While the sustain mechanic is primarily intended as a general buff for Blasters the devs are also taking advantage of this to make some of the less useful Blaster powers useful. Adding the sustain buffs to powers that people are already using (such as Targeting Drone) effectively reinforces the notion that Blaster secondaries are a waste and that Blasters can get away with almost skipping them entirely.

So yeah, the sustain changes are buffing powers a lot of people don't like because buffing powers that everyone already uses would be stupid from a balance perspective. That being said there are two secondaries where I think the powers should change, Electrical where I think the knockback should be changed to knockdown (or at least give a non-damage set KB suppressor IO) and Mental which I think should be rebalanced to work better on SOs.

Speaking for myself I'm psyched to see the buff added to Cloaking Device, I already run the power all the time (for looks as much as anything) and one of my long-standing grievances with Devices is that it has a glorified pool-power in it. So now Cloaking Device is no longer a glorified pool power which makes me really happy.

PvPing is a different beast. From what I understand you do need a pretty high-end IO build to do well there. Also most PvE builds aren't really suitable for PvP which has different requirements.

Well if you want to give it a go the wiki has a lot of good info:
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Incarnate_System

What do you want to do?

If you want to start on the incarnate path that's one option. Talk to Mender Ramiel to unlock your Alpha slot and then go to DA to do some trials or story arcs (depending on your preferences). Even if you don't want to focus on Incarnate content, I'd run Ramiel's arc so you earn shard in regular content, you'll eventually be able to make an Alpha slot boost that way.

Alternatively you could start IO'ing your character and make him more powerful that way.

Or you could just run old content, plenty of stuff to do there.

Something to keep in mind is that in Incarnate content (both trials and DA) Supremacy applies and additional +2 level shift to your T1 pets and +1 to your T2 pets making them all even level with you (of course they still have lower damage modifiers than your other pets).

Well on the subject of the RIP sets I'd accept a compromise where the standard MM Pets are allowed to slot RIP sets even though they don't specifically need the recharge. That would solve the imbalance without letting attacks slot them. Personally though I don't see an issue with MM primary attacks being able to slot them (or possibly just the single target MM attacks?). Thematically it encourages the idea that a MM's personal attacks are there to support his pets. Power-wise it gives the MM effectively one extra set that has good set bonuses an so-so itemization (compare Expedient Reinforcement to Thunderstrike and Decimation). I do see your point about it being a kludge but I think it would be a kludge that worked out int he long run. If the devs did expand the RIP sets (a move I think is unlikely but not impossible) they would need to keep the effect on MMs in mind but they have to do that anyway.

That being said I'd also advocate not adding any more "aura" IOs with any future sets of any category. I do like the Aura IOs since it provides a way for MMs to really benefit from the Invention system since in many ways they benefit a lot less than other ATs (although they start form a higher level which helps to balance it out). That being said I think we're reaching a saturation point where the benefits a Mastermind provides his pets through Aura IOs are almost outweighing the benefits he can provide them through his secondary in many cases. Admittedly the auras are all defensive but look at the list above and then compare that to the bonuses from secondaries.

So I'd say definitely no more defensive Aura IOs. There is some room for Offensive Aura IOs but I don't think that Masterminds in general really need a damage buff (some MM primaries could use one but I'd rather see them buffed individually).

I guess there is some room for RIP sets with a special IO that isn't a pet Aura but I have difficulty imagining one that would work for pets but not regular attacks. Things like damage or self buff procs are already slottable in MM attacks using standard sets. For what it's worth I don't think that the devs would let MMs slot RIP sets in thier attacks but I do think it would be a neat idea.

EDIT: Ok, I just had another brainwave but this one is a little weird (and probably MUCH harder to implement). What if Supremacy was made slottable? It wouldn't have any native slots (to avoid directly buffing MMs) but MMs could put slots in it that could take any MM ATEs, Pet Sets or RIP sets? This would provide a location for MMs to slot Aura IOs that applies equally to all MM sets. Essentially allow MMs to spend slots on Aura IOs without needing to pull slots from their pets.

Well you're going to be expecting it in vain. The fifth power in the medicine pool will be Field Medic a power that will enhance any heals you cast (unless they also have an enhanceable resistance component since such powers are immune to global buffs) and give you a negative healing resistance buff which will increase the effectiveness of any heals used on you (except for ones that are tagged as unresistable).

For more details on the announced changes to power pools in I24 see this page:
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Issue_24

I disagree. The problem I see is not with VIPs spending their PRT from their subscription on it but with them buying Paragon Points and spending the reward tokens form that on it.

Using the middle rate suggested (400 points) that means you could spend $15 dollars on Paragon Points and get a total of 1720 points in return (1320 from the cash + 400 from the token). That works out to about 0.87 cents per point which is a pretty hefty discount over the base price of 1.25 cents per point or even the current best deal of 1.04 cents per point (not to mention that spending $100 dollars on points and then tossing all 8 PRTs into points would give a price of 0.78 cnets per point).

So with the release of Command of the Mastermind and the upcoming release of Mark of Supremacy Masterminds are getting more and more "Aura" IOs to boost their pets (who, for the most part, gain little benefit from IOs). Now while this is generally a good thing it is causing a problem in that it can be somewhat tricky to fit in all of the IOs. With the release of Mark of Supremacy there will be a total of 6 Aura IOs (although not all MMs can slot all 6) which is making it somewhat tricky for Masterminds to fit them all in and given the power of these IOs fitting as many as possible is a pretty big deal for most IO'd MMs (since it's the only way to make your pets directly tougher with IOs).

A MM with all six auras would be giving his pets:
+25% AoE Defense
+10% All Other Typed and Positional Defenses
+35% Resistance
+150% Regeneration

So in order to alleviate the slot crunch I have a suggestion: allow the blast attacks in Mastermind Primaries (but not secondaries or epic pools) to slot both Mastermind Archtype Sets and Recharge Intensive Pet Damage Sets. This will solve three problems, it will provide more slotting options for MMs, it will make the MM attack powers more interesting (as set mules if nothing else) and it will fix an IO-balance issue between Mastermind power sets.

Now I suspect a lot of people will have one or two questions about this proposal, in particular:
1. Isn't the slot limitation a balance factor for these IOs?
2. Why should Mastermind Attacks get to slot Recharge Intensive Pet Sets since they are attacks, not pets?

Well the answer to both of these questions is effectively the same. As I mentioned above not all Masterminds are equal when it comes to slotting Pet buffing Auras. The majority of MMs cannot actually slot two of the auras since they don't have any recharge intensive pet powers. Four Mastermind powersets (Thugs, Demons, Necromancy and the Storm secondary) do which gives them a strong advantage. Not only can they slot 6 aura IOs instead fo four but they have an additional power to slot them in which helps with the slot crunch for fitting them in. Allowing MMs to slot both ATE sets and RIP sets in their personal attacks would fix this imbalance by allowing ALL MMs to more easily access the six aura IOs.

As for slotting RIP sets in attacks. From a systems point of view there isn't anything against it. There's no functional difference between a Ranged Damage set and a RIP set excpet for which powers can take it. RIP sets aren't perfectly optimized for blast attacks but they are close enough providing reasonable enhancement to the key attributes of Damage, Accuracy, Endurance Reduction and Recharge.

Yes Attuned IOs (including Overwhelming Force and the ATEs) can be used by free players. As can Hamidon Enhancements.

Well... you are more useful than the "pure-healer Empaths" that sometimes turn up so you've got that going for you. Otherwise... not so much.

As Yogi said Traps or Storm is the way to go since they at least deal some damage (don't bother slotting Caltrops or Acid Mortar for damage, they do very, very little, Trip Mine however does the same damage as the Blaster version).

Well I would think the main argument against it is that the devs probably don't WANT us to be able to effectively have unlimited Large inspirations.