Fire/Kin Controller returning after 3 years

My husband and I have returned to the game after a long absence. Some of his friends returned to their villains and asked us to join them. Most of my bookmarks and the information I collected are obsolete. I am hoping that you all can answer a few questions and help with a request.

My husband has a Fire/Axe/Fire Tank and I have a Fire/Kin Controller. I found the information explaining how to switch sides to a Villain. However, I want to make sure we do our research before we make the move.

I can not find any information concerning the epic pools if you switch sides. I assume a Tank can take the Brutes. If it is allowed of course. Does a Controller get a choice of the Dominator or Mastermind ones? Has anyone had any experience with the Villain epics?

Our chars are equipped with SOs. The architect expansion is completely new to us. I found out yesterday that Stamina is inherent now so I know I have a lot of reading to do. I haven't changed by build so I am not asking for a critique yet. I do not mind doing the research but I have been coming up short trying to find current information. Could someone please post any links that would help me or answer any of my questions.

Thanks!

Thank you! I have stumbled over many new aspects of the game. A lot more has changed than I thought. I will bookmark your links for future reference.

Has anyone tried and liked or disliked the patron pools on a Fire/Kin Controller or any Controller?

Welcome Back! We have been seeing a lot of old friends returning in recent months.

In addition to Hyperstrike's good advice and excellent links . . .

I just finished taking a Defender from Hero to Villain, then through the Patron Power Pool arc, and then back from Villain to Hero. You first have to get Tip Missions -- they can drop from any foe who is level 20 or higher, even if they are much lower level than you. My level 50 characters usually do Tip Missions in Talos because if I run out, I can hunt low level foes and defeat them quickly to get more tips. Some tips will send to you other zones, however.

When you choose a Tip mission (as a hero), you can choose to reinforce your Hero status or go towards Vigilante. You are limited to 5 Tip Missions per day -- any more don't count. After completing 5 one day and 5 the next, you then have to get a new type of Tip for a "Morality Mission." Complete that mission and you become a Vigilante. You still have access to your Hero base, but you can go to the Rogue Isles through Pocket D, the Midnight Club, Vangard Base and a couple of submarines. So it takes two days to go Vigilante.

Go to the Rogue Isles, and do 5 more tip missions per day. After two days, you can get the Morality Mission to become a full-fledged villain. Note that you lose access to your Hero-side base and the Ourobourus portal will take you to the villain side only. You also will not be able to go back to Paragon City as a Villain. Then choose a Patron in Grandville and do the Patron arc. Once complete, you will have access to the Patron Power Pools . . . even if you go back Hero, the PPP is unlocked on the character. It will take you 4 days to go back Hero. Then if you want access to the Rogue Isles while still having access to your hero-side base, you will have to go Vigilante again.

The Mission Architect has been a mixed blessing. Many people found ways to make missions that let people farm low level characters and gain levels stupidly fast . . . and some people were leveling up to 50 only running AE missions. As a result, there were a lot of "AE Babies" who were level 50 but knew nothing about how to play the game. Most of these exploits have been closed. Many of the experienced players kind of soured on AE as a result.

Some of the AE missions are very good . . . most aren't. AE missions award Tickets, a different form of reward, that can be cashed in for various things including random recipes, or you can buy specific Invention Salvage items. When prices get out of hand on the market, I will usually run over to AE to buy some salvage items that I need without having to spend too much.

Some other new things in the game include the ability to e-mail items between characters . . . which make it much easier to make characters by consolidating your stuff.

The newest stuff in the game is mostly incarnate content, so a LOT of people are working on their level 50 characters rather than lower level characters. You'll see a lot of folks hanging out in Rikti War Zone's Vangard Base (or Pocket D on some servers) waiting to get into one of the new Trials. But there are new Task Forces for level 20-40. Keep an eye out for the "Weekly Strike Target," as it awards extra bonus XP and Merits for characters leveling up and an extra incarnate salvage item for Incarnates.

Thanks, we have been back playing for a few days. Both of us plan on respecting but our eyes go crossed as soon as we look at all the changes. We are going to work on changing to Villain then pick a patron. After that, we hope to look into the architect and incarnate add ons.

I really do appreciate the help and advice. It is a lot to take in. I am a newbie again.

Welcome back!!!

Hey Mental! LTNS. I hope everything is going well for you. The husband & I are not sure where we are heading yet. He wants to move his tank from Liberty to Freedom. We will see.