So what has Petoria/side changed the way level/choose characters?

Well yes, Stalkers are a class really designed with PVP in mind- problem is that the game has only limited PVP so what do you do with a Stalker?

It's a conundrum.

Personally, I've found Stalkers to be excellent cleanup killers in group and missions. The stalker either can systematically eliminate lower mobs that spawn in or act as burst DPS to finish off the boss. They have to be careful though not to draw boss aggro off the tank. A good ranged AOE works fine for cleanup, but too much aggro can kill them too quickly.

As for missions, stalkers REALLY can do them fast. Load up a bunch of red inspirations, fly to the end and one hit the boss. I used set the difficulty really high and do that and level super fast. You can one or two hit purple bosses or elites (not STF elites) this way.

A good stalker tactic in missions, and one I use, is actually keeping a boss controlled through states. For instance, if you rotate your Flying dragon, Butterfly and then add in Air Superiority (and stack for knockback/down/up) you can keep a boss flying up in the air and off their feet for some time before they can hit you.

It really works pretty well in PVP too against multiple targets that maybe aren't properly specced for defense- take out your first target with the two shot shuffle, then keep your second target flying around on their ar-se as you erode their HP.

Anyway, you're right about stalkers not being a first choice on many group efforts, but as far as most missions go, stalkers are the best as it.

Except kidnap missions. Ugh.

I'm not going to get into an argument about what types are still underpowered / overpowered / easy / hard to level. You like what you like, and if you don't like what you're playing, then don't play it.

What I will say is that having played the game as long as I have, I see no reason to start a character red / blue anymore. There is no new content at the lower levels that is not Gold side, so that's where I start my new characters. And as soon as they produce gold side content higher than level 20, that is where I will keep my characters - until they run out of Gold side stuff to do, then I'll come over to wherever I choose.

I appreciate the gray classes - few of the "heroes" I have made would be considered "heroes" in real life - they would be considered vigilantes at best. Despite what the game allows due to its own limitations - Onus Vox, were he and Paragon City real - would spend every waking second in the Rikti War Zone killing as many Rikti as he could until he himself was killed. And if Statesman and the rest of the "heroes" of Paragon City didn't help him, he'd probably try to find a way to kill them as well. I even wrote a short piece of long since trashed fan fic where Onus captures Positron, takes him into the Rikti Crash Site, and tears open his armor just on the hope that the resultant explosion would destroy the ship there. Never did finish it though, as fanfic is self serving at its best and really really CRAP on average.

I think there is some fun playing 'old' content with a new AT. I can see stop 30 fir bog (or whatever that mission is called) actually being somewhat fun on a MM.

I still will say the only AT that needs a reworking is stalkers. Everything else has its own niche. Ok wait, that is a lie, PB/WS they need reworking as well.

Meh, I can always join those TFs after I've out-leveled them... and I can do the Fautline content through flashbacks. I've just done all the 1-20 stuff too much to really care about running it again. Heck, the only reason I came back to the game was to do the new Praetoria stuff and try out side switching.

Not really a question of exemping; was more thinking of each of team forming. Friend is running a team in his 30's/20's? You can join with your level 15. You want to run Synapse or Posi? You can get tons of people to join regardless of their level.

But level 15 in Petoria? You just have access to whomever is level 20 and below that haven't left the zone yet.

HEAVILY agree with you on side switching, however. I've had a dominator and two corruptors going now on blue side because of this. I'm up in the air on a blaster, however; go right into blue or go gold first.

I haven't been able to play too much, but I'm honestly going to be less inclined to make Controllers in the future. I like Dominators that much more that I see little point in Controllers now. I'm also glad I got my Stalker to 50 before this happened, because I think they're currently outshined by the other melee classes. (Although Energy Melee stalkers are still pretty awesome.) The problem is now just about everybody is going to have access to Focused Accuracy, which pretty well nullifies any advantage a Stalker would have.

And don't get me wrong, I can still have fun with my Stalker, but I still have other characters I like more.

Leveling up yellow side is interesting. On one hand, everything is much better written, and everything has that nice new car smell to it that makes it more appealing.

On the other hand, there are some missions that are truly unbalanced and difficult as hell to complete without incurring mountains of debt (the You vs. 100 mission where you get no XP or inspiration drops, the you vs. 12 Vanessa DeVores mission, etc.). A few of these were pointed out in beta but the feedback obviously fell on deaf ears. Throw in better designed (i.e. tougher) MOB groups and yellow side can be frustrating at time. I'm all for a game that provides something of a challenge, but there's a difference between "challenge" and "beating your head against a wall." Still, I probably like yellow better so far.