_eeek_

Sets for most IO's are cheap. Some of the damage, health and stamina sets tend to be pricey at mid-levels. And in short supply, too, because they are universally needed. But why on earth would I slot SO's or common IO's in a hold/slow/confuse/taunt/etc., etc. when I can get recipes for the less desirable sets for like 5-10 thousand? Even the less desirable AoE sets are dirt cheap.

I tend to frankenslot with whatever is cheap. But usually, whatever is cheap also has 5 brothers and sisters who are also inexpensive, which is where you'd be seeing a long list of set bonuses on my lvl 30 toons. What you can't see, is that they are all CRAPPY set bonuses.

So, do I WANT these sets when I'm 50? Heck no! But if they're cheaper than SO's or common IO's, they give me a LOT more oomph in my powers... why would I NOT do this?

I don't understand the idea of neglecting ones gaming experience playing lower-level toons. 50's are fun, sure, but they're not the end-all, be-all, either. Wherever you are in the journey up to 50 should be just as much fun, and you really ought to be as competent as you reasonably can be, too.

I didn't crunch any numbers or anything, but it looks really good. Interesting strategy with the punchvoke thing, I've never tried that. Here are a couple of suggestions...

*Deflection and Battle Agility have no end. reductions in them. That's going to hurt, and if you fight Malta and Carnies, it's gonna hurt a lot. A def/end Hami will take care of it, but they were pretty pricey last time I checked. Or just common end. reduction IO is fine (I put a full set of Perf. Shifters in stamina, and I was still hurting end-wise until I had the equivalent of a 25 lvl. end. reduction IO in all the armors that took end. reduction).

*Weave is pretty end heavy, and you've only got 1/2 an IO's worth of end. reduction in it. I'd try to get more here, too.

*I tried Melt Armor, and even heavily slotted and IO'd out, it seemed to do nothing at all. I later read in the forums that indeed, this power is all but worthless. So, unless this has been changed recently (and I haven't seen anything to indicate this), I'd go for the single-target fire blast. I took that on a tank (mostly just to get the fire ball) and to my surprise I use it constantly to get the attention of pesky foes who aren't paying me the proper attention. That tank has taunt and fire ball, but it's the fire blast that's always up, and always in use.

*see if you can find a slot for the Lockdown proc - it's a beast! Char is a beautiful thing when used on a dark ring mistress...

It's funny to read this, because I was just bemoaning to a friend that the ONLY armor I have figured out how to slot is SD! LOL.

/SD is very easy. Trust me, I'm idiotically math challenged, and *I* can do it. Therefore, I must assume that ANYONE can do it. I truly understand your confusion about a mixed def/resist set, since I am utterly lost trying to figure out how to cap my WP brute. (Cap for S/L? Why??! S/L's the only stuff that ISN'T hurting me! Aarrggh!) However, you are lucky, because /SD is really easy, once you figure out that True Grit and Active Defense are merely the alien adopted children of what is otherwise a hard-core defense set.

As best I can remember:
*get your armors (all powers up to Phalanx and Grant Cover, which are both optional - though Phalanx is helpful to get that last little bit to your soft-cap. I also do try to get Grant Cover, on the off chance that someone squishy might fall into my lap and thus be assisted by my really, really short-range defensive ability!). Slot 1 end reducer (or get that much mileage out of whatever set you opt for), as well as defense.
*Get Tough and Weave.
*Active Defense needs 1) end reducer, and 1-2) rech only.
*True Grit can be slotted for a set of Numinas (heal) or Aegis (resist) - I've done both, and choose based on which set bonuses I need on the toon - because honestly, I haven't noticed much difference between slotting for heal or resist (anyone else?).
*Shield Charge works very well with Obliteration set, because it's not up fast enough that its lack of end reduction is going to have much effect, and its set bonuses are wonderful.

My /SD's (I have a bunch /SD's of various AT's) are all soft-capped for Melee, AoE and Ranged, and they all solo at 0/x8, because I have found nothing in this game more fun than Shield Charging into a huge army of Rikti Drones and seeing/hearing every last one of them explode on contact, as I giggle like a 6 year old. The AoE heavy of these toons go through stuff fast, almost half the time of my single-target-based Broadsword/SD scrapper, sometimes. She has no survivability issues, btw, it just takes her longer to move through a spawn. Obviously, I could set missions tougher, but ... why? Flying through missions fast is more fun to me, but YMMV.

Hope there is something useful to you in all this, especially since I realize my techie-speak skill lags somewhere behind my (nonexistent) math skills. But this also should illustrate the point that /SD it is NOT tough to figure out. So good luck, and have fun!

PS I also do the Steadfast +3 Def IO. Plus Combat Jumping for the extra def., as well as ability to jump up a floor and look all cool and stuff.

Most Fear powers work MUCH better if you slot for To-Hit Debuffs, not Fear enhancements.

Back in the day, I got to where I usually avoided taking Fear powers. The sets seemed pointless (except for acc or end, etc.) and even felt pointless. Then I got a dark defender and slotted all her Fear-inducing powers with only the Debuff sets. Wow! Put a whole new twist on Specters and Cloaks and the like for me - wish I'd figured this out years ago!

I have been wishing for a long time now, that there was a "no effects" option for a number of powers where we already have customization. I can see a need for only a few effects to be deemed rather necessary/important, to allow teammates to see what's going on (like a healing aura, or the skulls when a fear power is on), or even to show you at a quick glance when a buff is still working, or if it's worn off.

I would LOVE to be able to get rid of ALL the effects on my dark armor tank. I find them really intrusive and, well... stupid. 'Course I love it on the dark scrapper, where it actually works with her theme. So I don't want to lose options, I'd just like to gain a few, and really be able to customize my look properly, to fit with thematically and conceptually.

To be able to customize pool and epic powers, now THAT would be a great and wonderful thing, even if done as customization is currently - I really shudder at all that ghastly pink on my psi epic-taking corruptor, who is an all-white ice/kin demon. But really, REALLY wish they'd allow an option for "no effects" with these as well. 'Cause honestly? I'd really like to see the boots on my super speed toons some day....

If you don't want another Ill/Rad. which will be problematic on the damage side of things for a long time, even when you get all your pets, I'd suggest another Knockback king (or queen). Energy blast, or a Storm anything.

Some friends and I ended up with some of our most beloved (by us) and despised (by teammates, who were also sometimes also us, if you follow...) and we had the GREATEST TIME! Crap was flying EVERYWHERE! Nothing could touch us, being in constant motion at all times - don't think I needed to use my healing aura even once. We could just let loose with all the powers we usually have to use judiciously. It was ridiculously fun, and I'd strongly recommend it!

{+Acc, +Dam, +Status effects are all pretty meh}

My 50 tanks are already soft-capped, like probably most of the people going after the incarnate stuff (I am projecting this, anyway).... But my tanks are going to be all over anything that gives them more damage!

I don't farm per se, but I do bump my foe size up to /x8, so I can get more drops. If I, who abhors the drudgery of farming, reacts to the prospect of doing more damage with great enthusiasm, imagine how the legions of farming tanks are going to react?

The buffs (AM + Healing Aura for Rad, and Speed Boost + Inertial Reduction for kin) usually don't intrude on my control ability (though I will forgo IR on big teams, unless specifically asked - Speed Boost alone keeps you pretty busy).

Whoops, I meant Increase Density, not Inertial Reduction, as I said above. I didn't care for IR at all. DOH!

I have alot of trollers and I'd say my earth/rad provides the best control. Nothing gets a chance to hit you, downside is that it does not do a great deal of damage. I have 19 damage procs in my build to make it a bit more of a killer. Damage aside this is a very fun toon to play. Ice/rad is similar but earth beats it out a bit.

My earth is rad also. I always end up taking the fire epics, so I can do damage. I always say "this time, I'll try something different!". And invariably, after 41 lvls of doing no damage whatsoever, I get fire again. However, once you DO have whatever attacks you may want (especially when they end up being fire), you do the kind of damage that makes my scrappers want to slink away in utter shame.

While not an expert, I've tried all the controller primaries, and played most of them to 50. So any advice is based on my experience, which is a subjective thing, and has a fair amount to do with play styles, as well as your powerset.

So, with that disclaimer, I think the best AoE control is Earth, hands down. The least control is Fire (However, Fire does the best AoE damage because of Hot Feet). Something that has strong control and decent damage is Plant, because of Carrion Creepers.

The one that is almost anti-control, to me, is Illusion. I say this, because the powers are sort of a grab bag of stuff that seems mostly unrelated. So, in play, I face off on some huge group (because I solo my Illusionist at +0/x8), I fire off my Confuse power, then Phantom Army, and suddenly stuff is flying EVERYWHERE. In a minor panic, I fire off holds and fears and whatever crap I can pull out of my hat, as I pray my death is a quick and painless one. Then, before I've fired off half of my tricks, I look up and everything is dead, and I have no idea why.

YMMV

For secondary, I can't really give the best advice - I almost always end up with a debuffer, Rad or Kin for preferrence. You absolutely cannot go wrong with rad or with kin, whatever flavor primary you have. In my case, I really disliked playing my empathy secondary toon, as it was so labor intensive, I often couldn't actually control much of anything to prevent all that damage I spent all my time healing! A frustration of grrrrr-worthy proportions! This has soured me on buff secondaries, perhaps irrationally so. The buffs (AM + Healing Aura for Rad, and Speed Boost + Inertial Reduction for kin) usually don't intrude on my control ability (though I will forgo IR on big teams, unless specifically asked - Speed Boost alone keeps you pretty busy).

I have found Choking Cloud to be an amazing tool for any toon who is in melee range. It's also PASSIVE control, which is a lovely thing, since controllers are busy, busy people.

For toons not in melee range, it might or might not be useful. I think you have to analyze what's going on when you play to best answer the question.

EXAMPLES: My arch/rad corruptor seems to pull a fair amount of aggro from the toggles on small-to-medium sized teams. She never goes into melee range, but a recent respec into CC has been a Godsend. She's low 30's, however - I don't remember the toggles pulling much aggro at high levels, and she may well respec out of it later. Conversely, my ill/rad respec'd out of it, since her pets do personal tanking duty and stuff almost never gets to her - what little does can be very easily handled with a single target hold.

So, in short, if foes are getting in your face, for whatever reason, get it, 6 slot it, I really think you will love it. If nothing much is on you, don't bother.

TWO free respecs?!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Just played the new stuff, and ... WOW! You guys outdo yourselves at Halloween, but this one tops 'em all! People were BROADCASTING in zone what a great job you did!

I can't believe you made a NEW TIP mission, just for Halloween! We had a blast! A bug or two showed up, nothing that made it any less fun, though - it was a wild, manic slugfest of a race to get it done under the clock. (We did it with literally - no exaggeration! - one second left! *sigh* It just does not get any better than that!)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! GREAT, GREAT JOB! Thank you!

PS Sorry if the exclamation points are excessive. But... WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

$10 is not that a big deal. Cost of a movie. I've gotten all the booster packs (except goofy emotes - that one doesn't count), and no regrets, except when I flip through the gloves and see the rubber lab ones - ew! Ya gotta love having options that are unique! Like cloaks. (First toon I ever created years ago I wanted a cloak for, and was floored there wasn't anything like it. How could this game NOT have a cloak?!) And what did I ever do before I had the female tuxedo from the wedding pack? I can work that on almost any toon, sexy half-demon with fish nets, to goofy kid with shorts and oversized top hat. Heck, I even like the mutant pack, and according to the forums NO one likes the mutant pack! (But all those swirly bits in white on an ice toon? Red on a fire toon? It's great stuff!)

But then... THIS pack. Seriously? It's got a couple cute things (steam jets out of the elbows!), but it's just the same ol', same ol'. It's capes and auras. *yawn* With nothing new or different about any of them, except those magic aura ones, which, honestly, I want to see with maybe a dark armor and dual pistols toon, teamed with a sonic defender, so I can watch my computer screen melt in front of my eyes (for which I will be grateful, as personal eyes melting would surely be next).

So, this will be the first booster pack I pass on. I never, ever criticize (till now), but honestly, in all the discussions and 50+ pages of ideas people have posted the various threads of All Things Art, I do not recall seeing anyone say "I'd love to see a cape that looks pretty much like the feathers one, but with leaves and bit of texture. THIS and THIS ALONE would make ALL my costume dreams come true!" Or, "Please, oh, please, give me elbow poots, please?" (And the leaf cape and elbow poots are the only pieces I like in this booster) This is stuff I can find a half dozen other things to use that I already have, to produce the exact same effect. Well, maybe not the poots....

Guys, you say you are listening. Then toss us a butt cape! Thigh high boots with texture! Aloha shirts! A belt with a scabbard! A shirt with poofy sleeves! Heck, at this point, a shoulder parrot would make me faint with joy! (*sob* You DO care! A parrot I have nowhere to use! It's so... *sniff* BEAUTIFUL!")

I'm in the same boat you are, seebs. I am new to brutes, due to not caring for the unrelenting grim of villianside. Have no idea how one is supposed to play a brute, other than you are supposed to hit stuff a lot, so go for the crappy-but-fast attacks for high dps.

I chose WP - it has the taunt aura in its armor (RTTC), which I though would be nifty for a brute. Found that what I actually enjoyed for attacks was to take all the cones/pbaoe things I could, along with taunt power. Getting a whole bunch of foes around attacking fuels my fury nicely without using the annoying lower damage attacks, and mashing a half dozen or so at a pop gives me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Plus, am surprised to find I'm one-shotting minions when fury is full, though am usually far too busy to notice I even have a fury bar, much less how it's doing.

So far, am having a blast with it. Have now conferred all "knowledge" (I use the term loosely) and all experience with you, so am off to go mash more. Hope you have as much fun as I've had with whatever you end up with!

Thunderstrike, thunderstrike, thunderstrike.

Unless, of course, you want to try thunderstrike.

If you want a "chance to hold" remember your next power pick you can get a real hold, not just the crummy chance of one!

It's been fun reading all the replies to this thread - it's great to hear everyone's experiences with different combination's, and get new ideas. Just wanted to add a couple things, and apologies in advance if you already know...

An empath defender is the most team-dependent toon I've ever played. A scrapper is just about the least team-dependent. It's not necessary to run with the far ends of the spectrum like this, unless that's what you especially enjoy, in which case, try a melee damage AT and a dark/dark defender - you'll never want to be on a team without a dark ever again. It will spoil you for life!

Few "support" toons require a tank, or much of anything else for defense - they ARE the defense. What they need is someone to do the damage. A tank probably isn't your best choice there, imo, since they are also defense/support. There are some higher damage tanks out there, sure, but a brute, scrapper, blaster, or stalker would do a fair amount more. If it were me, I'd want to pair a tank - even a damage one - with any of the above damage dealers (though a blaster might be a bit painful until the tank can really hold aggro well). A dom or a corruptor would also do quite well - their damage is more moderate, but they have lots of mitigation.

Trollers work well with ANYTHING at all that does some damage. Plus, when they get high enough level to get some epic attacks, the tables get turned, and they turn out to be the damage, and everyone else on the team is supporting them. Anything/kin or rad will be uber. (Earth primary has arguably the most control, with fire the least. But any will be fine)

My husband and I, like the previous poster, have been having a high old time finding combination's to run all the new arcs in Praetoria, and found dominator duos have worked very well, since they have the controller primary, but damage secondary. We've also worked well with a troller/dom combo, and as well as troller/scrapper and brute combos.

If any of the art staff really want to know what players really like from the NPC stuff, why not listen in zone broadcasts during ToT? Lots of people tend to holler out when they get a costume they like.

As I recall from previous ToT's, people liked Knives, Pirate, and most especially Carnies (that one tends to get the call out "I'm HAWT!" ...though it seems to me if you have to tell anyone you're "hawt" you probably aren't). Can anyone else remember what costumes everyone was trying to get?

In specific:
Carnie stuff!
-Corsets
-Boots
-Top with the poofy sleeves
-Female shoe (moderately high-heeled mary janes w/button strap)
(with carnies, it's the harlequin patterns and textures which are really signature. A generalized version of any of the above would be wonderful)

Robes
-CoT
-Tsoo
(if full floor length robe is problematic, open-front robe - like a long coat with patterns and/or textures - would be just fine)

Dark Watcher trench coat (coat sans goofy lapel, possibly options other than leather?)

Roman sandals that go up the calf to the knee.

Sashes. (any!)

Hats/headpieces
-CoT
-Tsoo

In general:
I don't actually WANT any groups' signature pieces. I want pieces that allow flexibility in creating much more varied characters. Most responders here, and most people I know in the game, have been playing for years. Years! I, like almost everyone I know, am getting really stuck figuring out how to make a new toon look different from any one of a dozen I already have. Anything outside the bajillion spandex and armor options we now have I'd be truly grateful to have!

Thanks so much for this thread, as well as the others. So good to know someone out there is listening!

I used to craft Efficacy Adapters for quite some time. Initially, I just went with the flow for pricing. The prices occasionally skyrocketed, and I'd think "whee - riches galore!" However, as I continued and checked weekly profits, I noticed profits were much, much lower when prices fluctuated, even though it seemed like I should be making more. Why? Well (obvious in retrospect) it's because the prices also went back down, so I'd be stuck with these now over-priced buggers, having to relist them, which would take a day of profits from me. The entire point of Eff. Adapt's is that you can buy and sell FAST, making a tidy profit off the sheer volume of sales.

After a couple months of this, I quit thinking of myself as a victim of 'The Market', and set my own prices (this was a quantum leap in thinking, trust me!). This had NOTHING to do with what anyone else was doing - it was to keep prices consistent and reasonable for those buying my stuff, thus keeping the sales moving rapidly. So regardless of what the recipes were going for, I listed my stuff to sell for 5 million. Period. Didn't take long for recipe prices to stabilize, and all of us making 'em were turning over nice profits, and - more importantly - consistent profits. I crafted 10 at a time, twice a day, and could have done more, but I was doing this on like 15 toons (different recipes) and there was a limit to how much time I was going to sink into it.

Something like Eff. Adapt's might occasionally soar in price due to a very temporary dearth of them up for sale. This might last a few days, continuing because most people consider the "long-term prices" to be only what the last 7 sales were. However, nothing that is dropped as commonly as these are are EVER going to stay inflated. They can't. They drop like crazy.

Are you all excited because you made an extra 20 mil when the prices inflated? Are you checking the profits weekly? Did you notice you lost 80 mil right after that, because you lost a day plus of sales? Rather than look at "profits of the moment," I'd strongly - STRONGLY - recommend anyone crafting any uncommons to set a reasonable price and stick to it. The profits are MUCH higher.

Damage.

After the defender damage buff, I tried soloing my dark/dark defender, and while I could do so, it was slow going, and consequently, really boring. I just started toying around with soloing my dark/fire corruptor this morning, who has a pretty team-oriented build, and was surprised to find I could solo at 0/x6 without a problem, and will try it out at 0/x8 next time.

I've been playing for almost 3 years, but am really new to corruptors, so I don't know if this is typical or expected, or wussy or what (don't care for redside, so only started on villian AT's when side-switching was announced). To my (limited) experience, I'd describe the damage as feeling like "Blaster Lite."

It has to have balance, remembering that solo players, or small teams, need to be able to have a shot at defeating the enemy. People get upset when their small team of squishies can't complete a mish when they're set at -1/0. And they have a very good point! I think that's why the devs wisely gave people an option to fight AV's, or no AV's. If it is actually impossible for you to complete a mission with the team you have, and you're set ultra-low, it builds resentment that the game is being geared to hard-core players with lots of money for an uber build. That criticism might be totally unjust, but I can guarantee that a whole bunch of people will feel that the game is being biased against them and their playstyle. Why? Because I know a lot of people who already feel this way.

Even if some think they should quit fussing and suck it up, I think their feelings matter as much as those seeking more of a challenge. It's their 15 bucks, too, plus lots of them are nice folks just looking for some casual fun, with other nice people. So maybe there could be a "challenge" level on some of these missions, not unlike flashback missions? One where you can opt for the tough beasties some people enjoy soloing. Toss in a badge, or a badge for defeating X number of Challenge EB's. That will exclude no one.

Regular contact missions should have the ability to be completed by casual players. However, if you're looking for a really challenging EB, try Ghost Widow. Took me almost half an hour (at +3/X4, I think?) of blood, sweat and tears with a scrapper, thinking, just like you, that I'd beat it in a minute like all the other EB's I'd run across. It's one of the first missions in one of the Cimerora arcs, but don't remember which one, I'm afraid.

If the purpose of this thread is to speak to the issue of affordable ways to get high recharge, it should be pointed out (and I'm kind of shocked no one has pointed it out) that almost all the purple sets which can be used in control side of a dominator, are almost all cheaper than the typical "good-but-not-great" sets used in the blast side of things.

Hasn't anyone here ever gotten a purple confuse, sleep, stun or immob recipe, run to the auction house with dreams of riches beyond avarice, only to find out that it's worth appx the same thing as a good Doctored Wounds?

DAMAGE purples cost the earth. Most of the others do not. Some are even cheap. I know. I keep getting those as drops.

You might consider a dark/dark defender. With everything slotted for to-hit debuffs except the higher damage attacks, nothing to speak of hits your team after the alpha strike (which is when you are applying said debuffs). There is an amazing heal, a hold,a roving pet that heals and debuffs on top of the debuffs ... you really don't get better for team defense and support. You are limited by the fact that you don't do much damage, however, even with the new damage buff 'fenders got. You can solo safely... but you may pass out from boredom before you finish your mission.

I remain, after all, a scrapper at heart. I prefer to team, but if I can't find a team when I feel like playing, then I want the option to still play. The rad and kin 'fenders rarely get played for just this reason. But you asked about team play...

Another alternative would be a rad or kin controller, with any flavor primary control set you like (imo, earth has the best control, fire has the weakest, and I could never get a mind past lvl 22, since it does absolutely no damage whatsoever.). Sonic is ok, but I thought it paled behind rad and kin, though that might just be me and the fact that it's on a 'fender. Trollers are pretty team dependent at lower levels, but with all the control you have, you can solo just fine once you've got SO's, when your holds/stuns have some staying power. And, when you get the epic powers with actual attacks, you completely rule the CoX world. Seriously. As you've probably heard, a team of trollers simply steamroll through everything. I bristle when I hear 50 controllers referred to as "support" - solo, they can wipe out any big map in much less time than my scrappers, even my pimped-out EM/SD scrapper.

If you want to support the team with the dark/kin/rad buffs and debuffs, yet still do decent damage all the way through all levels, try a corruptor. You trade that consistent effectiveness for a lack of sheer uberness of the 42+ troller, so there is a trade-off for that option, I think - but my highest corruptor is only 45, so uberness might be right around the corner, who knows?

Any way, good luck, and have fun finding something you really enjoy!