Seldom

I'm not sure, but I can now enjoy playing my /DA stalker. Manythanks for Castle's CoF/OG hide suppression fix.

Releasing "Lord Dead."

He seemed a fun necro mastermind, but then I relised I was nut really up to running yet another necro mastermind.

And not to derail too much, but as has been suggested elsewhere: also replace 'origin' and the origin icons with 'faction' and faction icons. So You know who can go where, and join who.

But yes, a legend/sort function on the colors would be very handy. re-optimizing the search window in a multiplayer game is always an excellent plan.

I'd be interested. My schedule gets wierd, but have more time on weekend, should life/guests/family not interfere. I'd be using a mind/psy dom (villain, at present.) I could turn her rogue if needed.

My global is @chicagodoodler

Dominators have always been closer to blasters/blappers than controllers in playstyle. The straight-up damage boost Solidified this. You can turn stuff to statues, but most of the time you're expected to kill them before they unfreeze. it is similar to the 'kill it before it kills you' theme except will lower stakes. You can stop damage, but you also don't have all the burst for fast defeats. So it's more about killing and freezing stuff before it damages much. death should come far less often.

Oh and FYI, the dominator damage mods are this: melee: 1.05/ ranged: .95. They're under blaster numbers for ranged attacks, but not by far. A melee dom's attacks will actually pack more punch than a blaster's. (Too bad most melee-slanted assault sets don't have a damage boost.)

Didn't they mention something about getting NPC parts to players for costumes? If so, I could see how they'd knock off a coupl eof buck and downgrade it just to asuage the 'you're having us pay for something already in-game!" crowd.

An NPC Booster would be nice. Other 'Thematic' booster possibilities:

Military: Many had hoped for, and vocalized, their desire for the 'natural' (ninja) to be more military/mecenary-ish, as that's the usual bent of many natural characters.

Monster/Scary: many people had hoped for more monsters in the mutant pack: this one would be an obvious booster to release in time for Halloween.

Powersuit (See: Gundam inspired) There was a hint at costume bits in this direction by Noble Savage. I could see it as an extra pack.

Winter pack: I don't think it would be released immediately, but I could see this being announced for around the next biggish themed holiday, Christmas.

Other, that I hope never sees the light of day but may very well happen:

"Furry" pack. This was a big expectation for the mutant pack as well. I'm not sure how it directly relates to a superhero game, put people want their catgirls, bunny chicks, and fox-boys.

Hm. One of my issues with villain missions was that often times the contacts would use/abuse/talk down to the very dangerous and obviously superior in skill player characters. They'd treat the villain that just desimated an entire police/military force single handedly like a flunky. In worse situations they'd outright betray you.

In the future I could see this tech being used for villains, as an optional ending. "follow to alley," "submit recording of contact doing stuff to so-and-so," "Bash contact over the head." Basically even if the villain didn't kill their contact, they could scare them away, send them to the hospital permanently, or turn in something that would make the back biting contact in question lose their position due to ill favor from their bosses.

I won't go into detail, but mine stemmed from a timed +5 defeat all malta team that invited me. (As a tank.) I've since learned my lesson: if a team leader asks you to join because "they need a tank," that's usually code for "We've all been dying a lot, we need something that can survive! You'll fix it!" The difficulty was bad, but doable. Except when the team members split off aggroing new enemies alone, starting fights then retreating past resting team members, and taking alphas as a squishy characters.

Tough missions don't need tougher AT's, they need better coordination. Getting a new AT won't help you if you're dying due to uncooperative team members and bad choices.

Hm. The funny thing with such definitions in real life:

A real life 'hero' would be beholden to societal rules and authorities, to the point that such obligations would almost inevitably either force them to commit wrongful actions for a corrupt/selfish authority, or stand by in inaction due, resigning from hero duties when 'forced' into the former.

A hero that did not stick to the guidlines of the authority, even if the guidlines were unjust, would become a vigilante. Likewise, anything the 'hero' did without authorization would make them a 'vigilante.'

The only allowed 'heroes' then, would have to be in positions correct in the civil structure. To fight crime, you'd have to be a cop pretty much. Even then, there would be times you couldn't do the right thing due to red tape/restrictions.

I think reality would in the end restrict a super-powered individual to being a vigilante, rogue, or villain. Now the spectrum of that is definetly far broader in real circumstances, from the socially conscious vigilante back to the genocidal maniac villain obsessed with all the deviations we see people serving time for.

I'd like to think I'd be a socially conscious vigilante, but I'm sure that with power I'd become guilty of roguish activities, human nature being what it is.

Sounds like you may enjoy something that starts off strong.

If you like the early game, some good primary powers to use are mind control or plant control. Mind control has a lot of early controls, especially single target, that let you shut down enemies. Plant is excellent once you get and slot its seeds of confusion.

For secondaries, energy is an early blooming set with some good mitigation, and some melee attacks not too far from scrappers. Earth gives good mitigation, but is a bit slower. Fire gives you some good range and damage as well, but does nothing but hurt people.

For an easy starter, I'd recommend a Mind/energy to get your powers started early; it'll bloom later into a control monster.

If you like attacking groups, plant/fire might indeed be good. Confused enemies don't care if they're on fire.

*edit*
here's the rundown on the primaries:
Mind control: lots of AoE mitigation, can use just about every mez in the book. Safe, but not damage focused directly. (Confused enemies, however, help soften each other up for you to kill.)
Stone Control: Lots of mitigation, not so much damage. A lot of its controls are placed.
Ice control: good lockdown, less damage. Relies on ice slick a lot, fyi.
Plant control: good damage, crowd control. Less single target control, relies heavily on seeds of confusion.
Fire control: high damage, less mitigation. You can set lots of things on fire, just be careful as they don't take kindly to this.
Gravity control: funky control set that uses its final pet for a lot of mitigation.
Electric control: Not so sure yet, but it seems a set all about doing lots of mitigation at once to become safe, rather than putting one big AoE down for safety.

Secondaries:
Earth assault: melee focused, knockback/down mitigation. needs you to be on the ground often. Has powerboost for more control.
Psi assault: has melee,aoe, and range. A jock of all trades, with drain psyche to help your regen/recovery. It debuffs archvillains well too.
Fire assault: Good ranged damage, AoE. Has fiery embrace to make you hit harder.
Electric assault: Good ranged damage, not much AoE, some melee. Has buildup to boost damage.
Ice assault: has a mix of melee, ranged, and AoE, leaning toward range. Has powerboost for better control.
Energy assault: ranged/melee focus, with good mitigation. Not much AoE. Has powerboost for better control.
Thorny assault: leans toward AoE/close combat. Has aim for a bit of damage, a lot more accuracy.

Hm. Are you asking for pointers on a duo for you and your friend?

I enjoy a duo where it's a bots/ff mastermind and a bots/traps mastermind. The forcefielder is kind of bot support, the trapper goes nuts. It's defense overkill, but works thematically. (Two high tech people conquering the world.) Plus all those lasers/napalm makes for good times.

Another combo is a sonic/sonic corruptor and a sonic/dark corruptor. Sonic blast pairs perfectly with scourge, all the -res stacks up just as you hit a final, brutal scourge. The /sonic is all about safety, but still has some fun debuffs. The /dark has some great tricks. They have great fun screaming at things together.

The last combo is a spines/regen and a rad/rad defender. The defender makes things sick with his auras, the scrapper injures with his mutant spikes. Together they have a great 'science gone wrong' vibe.

Hm. I do get that AoE, especially AoE abilities that mess with other players, can be a pain. I do try turning things off there that I won't need. I try my best not to infringe on other people's experiences...but there is a certain line.

I guess the 'line' comes to this: how much will one player demand of another in a multiplayer environment? If my robotics/forcefield mastermind has 2 bug bubbles+3 leadership toggles+5 bots, no she won't hang at the market with all running-just the pets. Player 2 with a low-end machine, however, may desire the pets be killed...yet the robots AND toggles are a part of the game, a piece that their computer is expected to be able to handle.

Yes, I know this goes into the 'manners' area. I can get invited to a team, enter a mission, ask for the star and then kick the mission-holder and team from the group. The Game mechanics allow it. But it's still not cool. The game mechanics lets power spamming, toggles, and all sorts of craziness at almost all times. For people to be happy in this case, there has to be compromise derived from some thoughtfulness for others. Hence why I turn off the helpful toggles, but still keep the bots. My mastermind doesn't 'need' the toggles, but she survives on her bots. (Which take time to recharge/resummon)

I guess it's the lack of compromise in the whole "turn off people's powers/pets in Went's/the BM" comments that bothers me when this subject comes up. I get it...people rocking the aura are being thoughtless jerks. But seems equally self-centric to wish other people lose necessary powers for your sake, just because they wish to use the same environment as you. (Even for just a quick stop-off)

You'll find masterminds play far better in groups if you have some quick binds set up to control them. The biggest things that wil cause your team to dislike your pets:

Pets in the way (especially in small doorways)
Pets that over-aggro (Usually when pursuing/in aggressive mode)

I have shift+left click on the mouse bound to "goto" so it's easy to shuffle the guys out of people's ways, or tell the guys where to stand before letting loose AoE's. I use WASD to move, so I have "alt+w" bound as 'attack target,' (moves pets forward) "alt+s" is 'stay,' "alt+d" defensive, "alt+a" passive, then "alt+q" as agressive. Aggressive mode is rarely good on teams, or solo, so I steer clear of it usualy.

Bleah. I often run through the markets for a quick drop off of things between missions. I'm usually there for no more than 30 seconds. Please don't turn off my stuff just for that...my toggled presence won't kill your computer in that time. (Most of my characters don't have too many, and only run their survival/travel toggles.)

To those with compy performance issues: I do run a reasonably recent machine, though not cranked to the hilt. Does one guy flying in/out or running several armors really ruin your game?

I will be delayed, if not entirely taken out of any of this by a sudden onset of unexpected house guests. (again!) I have no idea how long it will take for that to clear up...

Best of luck to all playin'.

Io's and bonuses never go OLD, they just don't exemplar down.

So a level 32 set is still good at 50...but a 50 set only enhances, no bonuses, at level 32.

Also, it doesn't hurt to start your purple bids too, should you have the capitol. That was you can patiently snag the lower end bids, rather than ponying up the weekend high prices.

One more note: if you're going for +recharge, you will certainly encounter luck of the gambler: +rech. The +recharge is an enhancement that functions like a global BONUS, so if you can snag it @ level 25, it'll be good for a long time. (The bonus doesn't change, so the earlier on that the better.) Note: These are easy to get if you do tip missions, and reinforce your morality. Villains that choose to be villainous (rather than rogue) get a villain merit, good for one rare of the level of their choosing, heroes same. Also, villain/hero merits can be purchased by 'pure' villains/heroes for 20 mil+50 merits. Villains/heroes will find these things in in the crucible/fort trident off of cap/?? As you used to have to pay 250ish merits for a level 25 LotG+rech, this is actually pretty good.

Another reason to start early on sets is simply that your +recharge makes you defense (controls) more available, so even if you're not at perma-dom soon, you'll still get your AoE mez up faster. Plus the limited Assault powers flow better with recharge.

Also- it's far more frustrating waiting for 50 to start on the perma-route. +Rech sets are often high-demand, and trying to get them in a short period will mean paying high prices often times. It's far better to plan ahead, set some lower bids a long time in advance, and patiently wait for them to fill.

As far as IO sets go- bonuses (with the exception of permanent ones) don't exemplar dawn past 5 levels, so it's handy to slot non-purples in the 32-35 range. You'll then get to enjoy your bonuses for many a SF/TF, and still have decent enhancement values. The 32-35 range is tricky at times, so these are another case of 'bid ahead.'

This is 4pm est on the 22nd?

I've needed this one, but haven't found the right team so far. Also, my life has a way of messing with my schedule. But if I can, may I submit my Mind/Psi dom for the backup list?

@chicagodoodler