GuyPerfect

The Degenerative -Max HP debuff will stack up to 4 times total, even from multiple casters. Its normal debuff is 2%, meaning no more than -8% for most targets.

Brute Claws was recognized immediately as a particularly powerful set for the class; especially with Fury factored in. In practice, I believe it and Scrapper are rougly equivalent, though I might be missing out on some key information. I'm not sure you'd see much of a difference either way.

I had a Claws Scrapper once upon a time, at level 50, and re-rolled as Spines since the attacks are so similar but it has Quills and the tier-9 doesn't do knockback. As a Brute, however, you'll be taunting everything you hit, which is a MAJOR bonus because things won't keep fleeing after you kill off all their friends.

I have an Ice3 Dominator, which is -Recharge to begin with, who has a -recharge proc in every attack (Basilisk's Gaze, Pacing of the Turtle). When I get around to it, there will be a Gravitic Interface as well. This is all on top of Arctic Air, Shiver and Chilling Embrace. I've fought arch-villains with it; didn't have enough DPS to beat them, but they didn't have enough DPS to beat me either, if you catch my drift.

If there's a lesson here, though, it's that while -Recharge builds can be very effective, it's one of those things where you have to know what you're doing or you're not going to see a lot of success. Per-Enhancement, you'll likely see greater benefits slotting for other things like Defense or, as is the case with Time Manipulation, -Regeneration (besides, Diamagnetic Interface is quite handy on Masterminds).

If -Recharge is what you want, then go for it and you won't be disappointed. If "utmost effectiveness" is what you want, even not from a min/maxing perspective, you may want to reconsider how you allocate your Enhancement slots.

I sold four of the level 25 Gambler globals overnight and got more than I posted for each of them. Them and the level 20 Miracle globals sell like hotcakes, and I'm glad they continue to do so even during sales in the real-money market.

Having said that, despite my overabundant source of low-level recipes, I keep hoping that the people who dish out the big bucks will eventually just move onto spending real money on these things so the demand in the in-game market goes down and drags the prices right along with it. Here's keeping my fingers crossed!

We've successfully fixed the webservice issue with CIT. A new Build Manifest is available for Sentinel, and characters can once again be tracked.

Not sure we can do almost. The current design spec calls for better. Will that do?

Definitely think it's your computer. These images are all uniform in size.

Round 2 for Hide replacements! I think what I previously suggested for Dark Armor, Electric Armor and Ice Armor are fine, so I'll just touch on the others.


Energy Aura

With the change from Repulse to Disrupt, along with Energy Drain, the set works pretty well for returning to Hide mid-combat as it is. Sure, only the minions are affected by Disrupt, but it keeps them busy not attacking you while you're in melee range. On a Defense-oriented set, that's important because of that 5% minimum hit chance clamp. The fewer total incoming attack attempts, the less likely you are to be interrupted.

Energy Drain grants +Defense for each enemy now in addition to its Endurance Drain. In a group of mixed enemies, this manifests itself as a reduced chance to hit, and minions are out of the picture. In fact, the more minions there are to get stunned by Disrupt, the more targets there are to get Defense from Energy Drain off of. But the one problem I've had with Oppressive Gloom is that enemies tend to wander away in a stupor, which is all too often not within range of the power.

So what I'm thinking, since the set already favors Hide on paper, is a countermeasure to the wandering effects of stun so that the minions in range of Disrupt stay there. It shouldn't be a super-awesome power, but it should mesh with Energy Drain and Disrupt, while at the same time preferably working on bosses, whatever it is. I think a momentary, strong debuff to speed might be just the ticket, and reducing recharge would also help reduce the total number of attack attempts during that time. So kinda like a short-duration, PBAoE version of Shiver. It's distinct from Chilling Embrace in that it's a one-off debuff, and its effect is much stronger.

Energy Aura's concept theme pertains to atomic matter and energy, so maybe write it off as some sort of molecular friction that slows everything down. So with that, I present to you:

Interference - Click PBAoE - Foe -Speed -Recharge


Ninjitsu

This set just rocks hard from all angles if you forget about Caltrops. It's positional Defense like Super Reflexes, but it also comes with an AoE Placate and a self Heal for when things get rough. Blinding Powder is something you'd generally only see in a Control set, so Ninjitsu in general really doesn't need any help. Finding a power to replace Hide isn't an easy thing to do.

Because of Smoke Flash in particular, I don't think the new power should have anything to do with returning to Hide. Instead, it should find something Ninjitsu doesn't already do and do it. That's the rationale I used with the auto power that grants resistance to Endurance Drain and Slow. I don't want anything too awesome, else we risk making Ninjitsu overpowered compared to the other secondary sets available.

One thing that ninjas do that Ninjitsu doesn't accommodate is that they jump around a lot, doing triangle kicks off of walls and stuff. Sure, there's Kuji-In Retsu, but that's only there because it's an Elude clone. So I think, in addition to the End Drain and Slow resists, something that gives the movement benefits of Combat Jumping without the Defense boost would fit thematically and work functionally. I can see people stacking it with Ninja Run for some displays of fancy footwork...

So what the hey, let's go for it:

Ninja Leaping - Auto - Self +Jump +Res(Slow, Endurance Drain)


Regeneration

Quick Recovery was the original WTF moment for Stalkers. Of all the powers to remove, why that one? Well, who knows? Point is, it's gone, and adding it back won't help you hide any more than a random dance emote will. Can't really give a mega Defense buff because of doubling up on Shadow Dweller... Can't grant insta-Hide because of the offensive advantage that'd give the set... Don't really want to do another PBAoE Placate for risk of it getting overabundant...

The only thing that really comes to mind is Invincibility. I don't know if an explanation was ever offered for that power, but I imagine your enemies are so determined to defeat you that they just start swinging wildly and begin to miss. For Regeneration, that works because the more you heal, the more reckless your enemies will get to try and wear you down; and the more likely they are to miss... or something.

Invincibility may promote a playstyle where being in the middle of the action is preferred, but it's better than Quick Recovery, so I'm going with it for now until a better idea comes along:

Invincibility - Toggle PBAoE - Self +Def +ToHit, Foe -ToHit


Super Reflexes

Super Reflexes doesn't exactly need help returning to Hide, since it's all about being dodgy anyway. My beef with the set is that it's entirely about being dodgy and doesn't have any support powers. And it doesn't really matter how you look at it--being dodgy won't much do anything to your foes. But it doesn't need help returning to Hide mid-combat... So it presents a pickle.

The only thing I can think of, which others have suggested, is that moving around so fast can be bewildering to your foes, causing them to strike where maybe they think you are and not only missing, but maybe hitting their own allies by accident. So you could thematically perform a gesture so quick and disorienting that it becomes a PBAoE version of Blinding Powder:

Astonish - Click PBAoE - Foe -ToHit -Perception Confuse


Willpower

Willpower's another one of those purely-defensive sets in the same boat as Regeneration and Super Reflexes. Unlike those two, it offers some moderate Resistance and Defense to all attacks and grants protection to Terrorize and Confuse. Its only real weakness is that it can't take sudden alpha strikes and, you guessed it, it does squat to help you return to Hide mid-combat.

I really like Vanden's suggestion about damage-less knock down. It's something that fits the Willpower theme of grit and determination, and gets the job done without being an attack. However, rather than be a cone, I think targeted AoE would be better. For a cone to be of best value, you'd have to jump back out of a group to use it, which means you have to partly run away before charging back in, and it'd be a power to help you get out of sticky situations from the outset, so AoE makes more sense to me.

Incidentally, the exact same logic was used for Shield Charge. In Issue 12 closed beta, the power WAS a cone teleport and it was changed to a targeted AoE because the cone wasn't as versatile for characters already in the thick of it who only cared to use the power for its offensive benefits.

So anyway, a ranged teleport knockdown that doesn't do any damage. Rather than "tackle," which suggests knock back, I opted for "bull rush" which, humorously, suggests knock up:

Bull Rush - Ranged AoE - Self Teleport, Foe Knock Up

EDIT:
Oh yeah, Bull Rush here requires a target, not a location like the other teleport powers.

Well, tonight I got tagged with Disintegration. And while disintegrating, halted by a time freeze. And while time frozen, targeted by the Obliteration beam. It was really quite a spectacle. (-:

I was not defeated, nor was I hit by the Obliteration Beam. It raises some questions that I'll have to mull over.

I only know of one place where the wild can be found... You should definitely be playing redside to avoid stuff like this. (-: