Crysys

Hey, don't feel bad. I was gone for years and came back and had to learn the IO system and Incarnates both at the same time. It can be overwhelming because you haven't been 'slowly' learning the more complex stuff but instead get it like a fire hose all at once.

As for "are incarnate powers noticeable," its very noticeable. Not just due to the level shifts either. The increase in power you get from the Alpha and Interface slots can take the place of "global enhancements" in major ways. For example, with a Tier 4 slotted Alpha/Spiritual, you will find a major recharge buff that is very noticeable, especially if you already have been building your character out for high +Recharge via Hasten and IO +RCHGE sets.

The Lore Pets are noticeable if you solo a bunch, otherwise, I don't use them all that much other than for fun. The Judgment powers are like defender-level nukes and are very noticeable. The Destiny powers are nice buffs as well. But the real thing is when these powers start to STACK with other players who also have Incarnate powers slotted. You'll find yourself feeling "less powerful" when playing with others who have them and you don't. And this is, to some extent, the intent behind Incarnates from the COH dev team....they want you to be Jonesing to have what the other guy has. So you play your 50's, you experience the new content....yes, you'll grind it too.

Nonetheless, I'd highly recommend you get Incarnates on at least one of your lvl 50's. You may (like me) want to pimp out several of your 50's but that will take a substantial amount of your time. But you should have at least one just so you can experience all the new end-game content that is being thrown our way.

Eeek, great post. I agree with all your points on soloing the Vig and Villain Tips. And like you I was horrified at how vile and dark they were. I was expecting "dastardly deeds" and instead got missions where I would intentionally kill a young kid that was trying to use me as a role model. Its some dark stuff...good storytelling, but given my hero status, it really was hard to see myself doing some of these things. You "arrest" blue side. Red side, you kill and abuse. But the missions weren't hard....just set difficulty low if you want to do them quickly. Good advice to ignore the text....not for us goody-two-shoes.

On your point I quoted, here's the thing with Scorp Shield (or Shadow Meld which is a PPP I took for my scrapper when I went redside). Those are great powers available without a lot of trash powers as pre-req's. For a min-maxer, you likely want zero useless pre-req's and the best power you can get, even if it doesn't quite match thematically. But there's a limit to how far you'll go. Throwing Ice Armor onto a sword-and-board crusading time traveling knight isn't likely going to win anyone over. In PVP maybe, but not when you are working a tight build and need to min/max your powers and slots both.

So I just concocted a "I was temporarily possessed by the debil" story and worked it into my character for why I went redside for the power. BTW...Shadowmeld is a GREAT +DEF power. Highly recommended, especially for regenners who are going after incarnates. MOG>Shadowmeld>Shadowmeld>Barrier>MOG>Shadowmeld>Shadowmeld.....fantastic defense, lets you really focus your IO's on recharge instead.

Why bother? So many maps I can clear in 8 mins and net max tickets at AE that are FA friendly. Challenges are for PVE/PVP. Farms are utilitarian.

I have an account filled with nothing but farm-oriented toons. Its been around for several years. I only turn it on/off when I want to bypass the first 32 levels on a new build that looks promising.

In that account I've got a Fire/Dev blaster (man that goes WAAAAY back to PL'ing via street sweeping when the powerset had some serious glitches), a Fire/Fire tanker, a Fire/Ice tanker, a Fire/Kin 'troller, a SS/Fire Brute, an Elec/Fire brute and now (thanks to this thread) a Claws/Fire Brute. Wow, just realized typing that list that Fire is the key ingredient to a farmer, going allll the way back to Issue 1.

You don't HAVE to have IO's to build a capable farmer. It sure helps, and to maximize the speed/durability of the farmer it REALLY helps. But given how quick inspirations drop and how useful they are, you don't NEED IO's. You may want them, but right now the only one of those farming builds I have on that account that is IO'd out is the SS/Fire brute.

I just pay for the account one month here, one month there and otherwise let it go dormant. Once you PL up a new crop of toons for yourself, you don't have much time for farming anyways as you are busy leveling the new kids with PVE missions.

This is what I think so many anti-farmers don't understand. Only a small percentage are farming for profit. Most of us do it for ourselves or our close friends. Its every bit as social as standing around in Atlas under the globe doing a CC or emoting. Its just a different way to pass the time.

Yeah, I was just going to refer to "them" by their character names. Not like I'm going to write a manifesto targeted specifically at "them" in the first place.