Yoru-Hime

Cool to see new sets, but even cooler that existing sets that have long been vendor fodder might actually become things that people want to slot.

Very interesting. New 30-50 content specific to both sides makes me very happy.

Does the new Incarnate arc offer Advanced iXP?

I'm not sure that just controlling or even removing the crash would be enough to get me taking my Tier 9s (though the latter would certainly help). These powers all need some serious rethinking. They are, on paper, some of the most powerful abilities in the game, yet they rarely appear in any builds posted on the forums. This implies that the benefit isn't worth the cost, either in reality or perception.

Why?

1) We all seem to prefer reliable defensive powers. If we can survive when the power is down, why spend a slot on it? If we can't, then the power probably isn't going to last long enough for our needs, so we have to back off anyway.

2) The crash. This ensures that we're locked into that three minute time frame. If I even suspect that my team can't get that AV down in three minutes, I'm not going to risk hitting the Tier 9. If I do and the clock runs out, my toggles drop, I go splat, and my team may go with me.

3) They don't exist in a vacuum. Once the rest of the set is taken into account, the power may not provide much advantage. It either has the same gaping hole as the rest of the set (Unstoppable) or provides more of something we already have in plenty (Elude, Retsu). For a soft-capped SR free from defense debuffs, Elude does pretty much nothing to enhance survivability.

So, the summer event had me dusting off a lot of characters, and one of them was my DB/WP Stalker. Her survival in the arena was, to put it mildly, disappointing. I'm planning a rebuild and would like some feedback.

Goals: Softcapped to the main 6 damage types
High Regen and Max HP
Minimal endurance issues
Decent DPS

I threw in Spring Attack for at least a little more AoE, when needed.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can take a look and let me know if I'm making any mistakes or have any place I can tighten the build up a bit.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.96
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Stalker
Primary Power Set: Dual Blades
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Nimble Slash -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5)
Level 1: Hide -- DefBuff-I(A)
Level 2: Power Slice -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7)
Level 4: Reconstruction -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 6: Assassin's Blades -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(11), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Mako-Dam%(15)
Level 8: Build Up -- Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit(15), AdjTgt-Rchg(17), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 10: Mind Over Body -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Aegis-ResDam(19), GA-3defTpProc(42)
Level 12: High Pain Tolerance -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-Psi/Status(19), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(21)
Level 14: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(46)
Level 16: Indomitable Will -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Vengeful Slice -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(23), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Mako-Dam%(25)
Level 20: Heightened Senses -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(27), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(27), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 22: Kick -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(29), Aegis-ResDam(31), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(31)
Level 26: Sweeping Strike -- SStalkersG-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SStalkersG-Rchg/Hide%(31), SStalkersG-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Erad-%Dam(34)
Level 28: Fast Healing -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg(34), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(34)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36), LkGmblr-Def(36)
Level 32: One Thousand Cuts -- SStalkersG-Acc/Dmg(A), SStalkersG-Dmg/Rchg(37), SStalkersG-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Erad-%Dam(39)
Level 35: Superior Conditioning -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(39), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(46)
Level 38: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(40), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(40)
Level 41: Super Jump -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
Level 44: Spring Attack -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(45), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(45), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50), Oblit-%Dam(50)
Level 47: Strength of Will -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), RctvArm-ResDam(48), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(50)
Level 1: Assassination
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(43), Mrcl-Heal(43), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(45), RgnTis-Regen+(46)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(42), EndMod-I(43)
Level 0: Marshal
Level 0: Born In Battle
Level 0: High Pain Threshold
Level 0: Invader
Level 50: Vorpal Core Final Judgement
Level 50: Degenerative Radial Flawless Interface
Level 50: Ageless Radial Epiphany
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon
------------

If I'm picking, redside needs the love more.

New 40-50 Zone
New 10-20 Task Force
New 30-40 Story Arc

As for the Shadow Shard, revamping and co-oping it seems to be low-hanging fruit for new content, but this might be a case where it's just as hard to fix a bad zone as it is to make a new one. I like the ambiance and there's a lot of story potential, but I never actually enjoy spending time in the Shadow Shard. The landscape is a nuisance, at best. The enemies are either annoying or brokenly hard, depending on the powerset I'm playing.

I like some of these ideas, but I LOVE the sea change this would represent in the Rogue Isles. We go from wannabes, hired guns and lackeys scurrying around for scraps while trying to keep from getting stomped by big bad Arachnos into uncontrollable free agents in an area on the edge of anarchy, more than willing to work with or against anyone to get what we want. Arachnos is still the biggest fish in the pond, but they're not the entire pond.

Better yet, Project Destiny actually starts making some sort of sense. (Besides the hand-waving "the Fortunatas said this would work" explanation) It goes from just a crackpot scheme by an established power that seems from the outset to be more trouble than it's worth into a rather desperate gamble by Recluse to shake things up and reclaim an advantage that is slipping away, even it means unleashing a lot of new potential rivals, troublemakers and chaos into the Isles.

If the dev team is serious about revitalizing redside, most of this seems pretty reasonable in terms of time, but the unspoken effort here is that the arcs themselves need work. It's going to take more than find and replace to create a fun, engaging story that fits into the new Isles and is centered around the player from the older, uninspired redside arcs.

Here's hoping that one day we see something like this get done.

Wow. defining "evil" in quantifiable terms is really, really hard.

What matters more, the means or the end?

If you do bad things with a goal that you, at least, consider noble in mind (Maelstrom), is it better or worse than doing the same bad things knowing that you're wrong, but doing it anyway just for kicks (Drek)?

What matters more, evil intent or the ability to bring those intents to fruition?

Who is really worse? Tyrant, who has done, or at least sponsored, lots of awful things on a large scale, but could probably do a lot worse if he tried, and at heart seems to just want a peaceful, orderly world, or Phipps, who really hasn't hurt THAT many people by comparison, but only for lack of means? Give him Tyrant's power and authority who knows how much damage he'd do.

And where do demigods like Rularuu and Mot fall into it all?

Tough question.

No issue with it whatsoever.

I've got just about all of them that are worth having and some that aren't (I have costume codes I've never bothered to turn on in game, even once), and you know what, that's NOT what makes me cool, special and unique. I'm with most of the others here, I hate it when I have to tell others who ask that the nifty costume part they ask about is no longer available by any means. It actually detracts from me having them. I feel like some sort of show-off elitist just using them sometimes. For every pancake who gets off on telling others or thinking "I have it, you don't, and you never EVER will, haha!", there are people like me who feel a low every time the same situation arises.

I say keep things exclusive for a while to give the winners a chance to enjoy, then throw them up for sale. After a while, the giveaway guys want to move on to their next shiny anyway.

I always wondered why they didn't do more with HeroCorps. It sounded like an interesting concept during the first few months of the game, but nothing ever came of it.

I like those suggestions, though I'd throw in one more for redside.

4) Don't be afraid to let the bad guy win.

I absolutely HATE the high level Villain Morality mission, because it basically says, "Villains suck and even if you win, you're going to lose. Haha." It implies that for my efforts I get to spend the rest of eternity in an empty universe holding the divine Idiot Ball, regretting not going blueside when I had the chance.

There are some things that we obviously can't do for story reasons. We can't nuke Paragon City back to the stone age. We can't permanently kill off a signature character (Unless created by a specific former dev). We can't overthrow Recluse and take over Arachnos (or can we...). We can't gain infinite power or invincibility. However, our efforts to do so should result in more than us feeling stupid for having wasted our time trying. With most everything we do, we should still feel a sense of achievement, that we are one step closer to achieving our master plan. We've gained wealth or power, or come closer to sweeping aside the opposition once and for all. Now and then that can include having narrowly escaped an ambush, a plan gone bad or a double-cross, but not too often. We're the villains here. We're not victims, we make victims out of others.

Again, the devs are getting better at this. While the curbstomping of Legacy Chain and heroes at the end of Vincent Ross' arc goes too long and gets a little tedious, the idea behind it is right on track. For at least a while, we're reveling in the power that we've claimed and crushing anyone foolish enough to oppose us.

Sam,

You raise a lot of good points about what makes a good hero, but it seems to me that a lot of that needs to be provided by the player, not the devs. Backstories, internal motivations, they're critical to a great hero or villain, but these aren't things that the devs can or should provide. Murdered parent(s), inter-dimensional wanderer, sentient machine, hardened mercenary, personal vendetta, these are the player's choice. If the devs start telling us these things then we're playing their character, not our own. They only get to handle the story side of content. Providing the character to fill the starring role is up to us. We, the players, make them as interesting and detailed or flat and generic as we choose.

The fatal flaw in most villain content is that no matter what you do, you don't feel like the star. You're the flunky, hired-help, patsy or sycophant. The devs are getting better about this, though. I love the ideas about changing the nature of the Rogue Isles from militaristic dictatorship to a more free-wheeling land of lawless opportunities. You're no longer Arachnos' pawn, but a free agent in a world full of lucrative possibilities, limited only by your strength and rather flimsy moral code.

The challenge is to make content that engages that star character in meaningful ways (beyond just 'go here and fight'), without limiting the players' imaginations as to what their character is. It isn't easy for the devs to do without stomping all over our own concepts of who our characters are. We already get irked if the dialogue choices don't fit our concepts. How do you see the devs changing what they're doing to better encourage the sort of storytelling you're describing?

I think it is possible to write good villain content, as noted elsewhere, and the dev team is getting a lot better at it, but it is substantially harder than writing heroic content.

Why?

Heroes are reactive characters. Bad things happen and they respond. Having someone bring them a problem and ask them to solve it is natural. The whole contact system revolves around this interaction, really.

Villains are proactive characters. Left to their own devices, they naturally do awful things without being told to. The contact system doesn't fit well around the concept of the villain. I'm the bad guy, the one that people see coming and cross the street to avoid. NO ONE wants to see me, talk to me or ask me to take care of their Wailer/Arachnoid/whatever issue. It's not worth the risk of what I'll do if I decide I don't like them. I'm the one making the plans, and if I need someone, I'll tell them what they're going to do for me or else. When the smoke settles, I'm the one doing the double-crossing, not playing patsy to my nitwit contact. The devs are starting to learn how to use the contact system to create this feel, but it's been a long, slow process getting there.

It's also not that hard to write basic hero content. "X bad guy is plotting X evil deed, we need you to stop him!" Fill in the blanks with whatever you like (Nemesis, Mot, Penny Preston, the Rikti, etc), add in some engaging writing, throw in a plot twist or two, publish. At their core, every hero has, at least as part of their mindset "Help people". That's not too hard to leverage.

It's not that easy redside. Villains, as noted, some in all shapes, sizes and motivations. Some do the "personal gain" thing. They're leaning a bit more towards roguishness and really don't care about much besides a nice fat bank account, personal power or whatever they consider to be "getting ahead". Some are out to take down some particular target or set of targets as part of a vendetta. Others just want to do damage and hurt people. The ones that Freakshow ran off for being too violent and out of control. It's hard to write content that would appeal to your generic villain because he/she just doesn't exist. Rather than helping others, the villain is all about doing whatever they see fit and that's a lot harder to make use of in a generic way. Some will think Phipps is right up their alley. Others would still pitch him off the Grandville tower in a heartbeat. Some don't mind being Daos' strong-arm if the pay is right, others would rather chew off their right arm than take orders from anyone in a place of authority. Some will put aside differences for the "greater good" now and then (though not nearly as often as the dev team likes to invoke it), others would rather see the world burn. They were planning to burn it themselves anyway. It's very hard to put words into the mouth of a villain. By nature they're unpredictable and often irrational.

I'm not saying it's an impossible task, or that it's been done well in the past (particularly the earliest villain content) but I do think it is a lot harder than writing blueside.

While just tossing a new statue into the game environment isn't trivial, it would be nice if, during already planned zone revamps, some thought was given to statues and other monuments. It's a little strange that I can read some placards by statues and learn more about them, but not others.

Common sense also says that sooner or later we're going to see a statue of Statesman and/or Psyche somewhere in Paragon City. Not sure if real world dev politics will allow, but it seems logical within the lore.

Events:

Good: Halloween/Summer Mini-Trials (small team, quick and engaging, lots to do)
Good: Halloween Tips (soloable)
Bad: Lord Winter/Banners (needs an army)
Bad: Nemesis/Zombie Invasions (endless repetitive fighting, over-spawned during event time periods)

TFs:

Good: Yin/new Positron (Short, mixes up enemy groups)
Bad: Synapse, Citadel, Manticore (Fight the same group over and over in bland missions)
Awful: Dr Q

SFs:

Good: Mortimer Kal (I start a plan, carry it out and have something to show for it at the end.)
Bad: Ice Mistral (I'm at least level 35. I'm no one's lackey anymore and people should know better than to talk to me like this)

Ice Control - Too little immediate mitigation, too little synergy, too much endurance for too little return.

Empathy - Definitely showing its age. Grows increasingly irrelevant as level increases. Perhaps the Injection/Arrows of Jealousy dual function power-definitions could help. Adrenalin Boost sends a teammate's Regen, Recharge and Recovery through the roof, or it can knock down an opponent's Regen, Recharge and Damage.

Gravity Control - To be saddled with Wormhole's awkward mechanics AND an intangibility power is just unfair.

You've built a healer, not a defender.

Look, early on you can play like this. Other mitigation methods haven't fully matured, so there's generally need for healing in most every situation. In the mid to late game, this won't always be true.

What do you plan to do when the Force Fielder has the team's defense soft-capped and then some or the Dark/Dark Corruptor has rendered the foe incapable of hitting the broad side of the proverbial barn? What are you going to offer the team if no one needs healing or endurance at the moment? Fortitude and the pitiful damage of an under-slotted Snap Shot? Witty one-liners? You've gutted your entire secondary and really haven't gotten much in return.

Obliteration needs a caveat that there really isn't much Endurance Reduction in the set. It can turn into a real problem for some Endurance-heavy PBAoEs.

Kinetic Combat - Low cap but HUGE S/L bonus for 4 slots

Scirocco's Dervish - As an alternative to Obliteration, provides AoE and Psi Defense and more even enhancement.

Gaze of the Basilisk - Caps at 30, but 7.5% recharge for 4 slots.

Sting of the Manticore - Not many powers get to use it, but that 5 slot +7.5 recharge is nice.

The Health Procs are obvious (Miracle, Numina, Regenerative, Panacea)

Of the original 6 TFs, Manticore is probably my favorite to play. My complaint with Manticore isn't the game play, it's the story. The game play is generally fast moving, with just enough defeat alls to net everyone some XP while many of the missions are still very stealthable.

The story, on the other hand, is rather underwhelming. The whole thing is a general fishing expedition by Manticore that ends with you beating up Countess Crey's favorite flunky. There are plenty of clues that Crey is dastardly and bad, but there's no imminent evil plot to thwart. Storywise, besides an even grumpier Manticore, is the world any better or worse off if you pack it in before the last mission rather than finish? Not really. Let's face it, the last boss is an AV level Field Agent who would be hard pressed to take down Dr. Vahzilok in a straight fight. Getting him off the streets means that you've possibly finally succeeded in personally annoying the real villain. Congratulations?

I know story doesn't matter much to some people on TFs since it's only delivered to the leader (Another I24 fix, maybe?), but besides a surly contact, there's just nothing all that memorable about this one.

EDIT: Y'know, with Manticore being upgraded with even MORE dark and angst is SSA1, perhaps this should become a true Vigilante TF. Forget evidence, you're shutting this operation down.

Some of my favorite defenders have been:

Dark/Dark - My absolute favorite, has good crowd control and strong debuffs. Provides a lot of survivability on teams and solo. There are a lot of ways to build a Dark/Dark (heavy control, heavy debuff, etc), but Fearsome Stare is going to be a core power however you go. I built for recharge and went Soul Mastery, so I have a permanent Fortunata Mistress working alongside my Dark Servant to up my damage.

Traps/Dual Pistols - As close as you'll get to a pistols scrapper. The FFG provides good defense and a lot of status protection that most defenders just don't get. I soft-capped mine to positions for normal content. The set also has a good variety of debuffs to go with it. Trip Mine and Time Bomb are still situational to the point of lousy, but the set is great without them. Dual Pistols is a little underwhelming at the moment (too much flash, too little bang), but it does have a hold (with Swap Ammo) and is getting some animation time love in the very near future.

In addition to the usual core powers (FFG, Acid Mortar, Poison Trap, Seeker Drones), right now, I consider Web Grenade almost mandatory because some of your debuffs cause heavy avoidance and you need to keep that AV in your debuff range. Hopefully this gets a fix in the near future.

Rad/Ice - Powerful debuffer that can pretty easily hit Perma Hasten/Accelerate Metabolism and has a good hold to go with it. Not nearly as safe as the Dark/Dark solo, but can churn out more damage and is even better at crippling hard targets. For Rad, you'll need the heal, Accelerate Metabolism and the big 3 debuffs, minimum. The others are personal preference.

10) Full-scale grammar, spelling check for the existing writing.

9) Scale down the number of zone events so that people will actually take notice and consider participating when they happen. (Banners, I'm looking at you)

8) First Ward scaled down Possessed bosses summon full boss level Apparitions when defeated.

7) A way to place bids on recipes/enhancements over a level range (28-30, for instance).

6) Location of the missing suggestion #6

5) I somewhat approve of the use of thermonuclear weapons to deal with the Shadow Shard problem, though I am concerned about the possibility of breaking lots of little rock islands into lots MORE even smaller rock islands.

4) Continued existing content revamp.

3) EATs need re-examination, PBs in particular. QOL fixes are long overdue.

2) Paragon Market. The list of missing functionality is substantial and a hindrance to both players and Paragon staff alike. Finding the original coders and utilizing Carp Melee techniques on them until they go back and do it right would be considered an acceptable response.

1) Cross-server teaming via Team-Up Teleporter. It's going to be a technical nightmare, but the value really can't be overstated.

I gave this a shot, just to see how it'd go. I see that you've slotted very heavily for Endurance, so I kept it that way for the most part, but I did swap out the Cardiac for an Agility. The only thing the Cardiac was giving you was End Reduction and with your slotting, you really shouldn't need it. The Agility gives you Defense, Recharge, and Endurance Mod to make up much of what the Cardiac was doing.

I did add a Gladiator's Armor +3% Def. It's not nearly as expensive as it used to be. I just buy the cheapest PvP recipe I can find then use Enhancement Converters to get what I need. It takes a while sometimes, but it's worked so far.

I also dropped Super Speed in favor of Combat Jumping to help cover those last few percentage points of defense.

The build is Incarnate Softcapped to Melee and AoE and just short on Ranged. Shift a slot from Stamina to Evasion and you can cover that last bit of Ranged easily, though.

Hasten lost a slot, so it's not perma without the Incarnate power, but it's only a few seconds off. Again, if you wanted to steal a slot for this, you could get it to full perma.

I also shifted around some powers so that you'd be getting Practiced Brawler and Soaring Dragon at first chance.

The pros can probably do better than me, but here's what I came up with.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.959
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- Hectmb-Dam%(A), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(3), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(5), Hectmb-Dmg(5), Achilles-ResDeb%(7)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- RedFtn-EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def(7), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(9), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(9), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(11), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 2: Flashing Steel -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(13), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(15), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Sciroc-Dam%(17)
Level 4: Focused Senses -- RedFtn-EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def(17), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(19), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(19), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 6: Build Up -- AdjTgt-Rchg(A), AdjTgt-EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 8: Agile -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(23)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(42)
Level 14: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Dodge -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(31)
Level 18: The Lotus Drops -- Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Oblit-%Dam(23), Oblit-Dmg(25), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(25), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(27), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27)
Level 20: Quickness -- Run-I(A)
Level 22: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 24: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GA-3defTpProc(29), S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(43), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(45)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- SScrappersS-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SScrappersS-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), SScrappersS-Rchg/+Crit(40), SScrappersS-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), SScrappersS-Acc/Dmg(42)
Level 28: Lucky -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(29)
Level 30: Tactics -- GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(31), GSFC-ToHit(31), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(43), GSFC-Build%(43), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(45)
Level 32: Golden Dragonfly -- Armgdn-Dam%(A), Armgdn-Dmg(33), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Evasion -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-EndRdx(36), RedFtn-Def(36), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(36), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 38: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(46), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46), RedFtn-EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(A), P'Shift-End%(48), P'Shift-EndMod(48), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(48), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(50), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 4: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(34), Mrcl-Heal(34)
Level 4: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), Efficacy-EndMod(37), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(37), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(39), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(39), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(39)
Level 50: Rebirth Partial Radial Invocation
Level 50: Ion Total Core Judgement
Level 50: Diamagnetic Total Radial Conversion
Level 50: Warworks Total Core Improved Ally
Level 50: Agility Partial Core Revamp
Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve
Level 0: Portal Jockey
Level 0: Task Force Commander
Level 0: The Atlas Medallion
------------

I'll pass.

I get that what you did last week just isn't sustainable. I'm not some villainous ogre that wants you all manually sending codes until your hands bleed and Twitter itself cries uncle (I'm not black-hearted enough for marketing, it seems). Your time is more valuable than that.

I appreciate that you're ramping things up to try to get even more codes out there, but code rushes just aren't fun. You can dress them up, put a goofy hat on them, make more codes or whatever and I'll still pass.

You guys went all out last week and I am appreciative. It's really disappointing that your best intentions are continually hampered by lack of support on the technical side of things. I hope this entire conversation can serve as ammunition for you in going back to the higher ups and petitioning for better support for your endeavors.

Oedipus and Fritzy hit my feelings right on the head. My VIP status is counting down largely because of how disappointing the Incarnate experience turned out to be. DA was supposed to fix it, but it just replaced the forced teaming with a double helping of repetitive grinding.

As for my answers
1) Zero. I have one character with 5 T4s (back when I was still trying to learn to enjoy trials), but none with 6.
2) Eleven. Most of those have only gone as far as Alpha, though.
3) This is a little vague. I put Incarnate slots into my Mids builds in the hopes that someday there will be a way to get them there that I'll actually want to use. As of right now, though, I generally go in knowing that I won't be bothering with anything past Alpha and design planning for the day when I go Premium and won't have that either.
4) Right now I have one character that I am running through the DA grind out of morbid curiosity. (15 commons in a row and counting) Otherwise I'm not really that interested at this point.