Laevateinn

Those are all from Pool C/D. Buying them directly with Merits is horribly inefficient, and the vast majority of random rolls take place at level 50, so if you want them at anything besides max level you're in for a long wait or a bad deal at the Merit vendor.

I also noticed that three of your examples are ToHitBuff, EndMod and Snipe sets. Don't forget that random rolls are now weighted, too, so it's no surprise they've become rare.

A little note - the Gladiator's Armor unique is Chance for Teleport Res/+Def (all), not +Resistance/+Def all. Unlike the Steadfast Protection one, it doesn't boost resistance.

I stand corrected.

In addition to what the others said, remember that IO set bonuses can let you enhance your character in aspects that are normally difficult to do so (e.g. +Defense for a Blaster) and they're not bound by the ED cap, so even small values can be significant.

Fire Manipulation is weird.

Much of the set consists of weak PBAoE DoT powers that have various problems or are outright broken - Blazing Aura's endurance cost (it has the same DS as the Fiery Aura version, but a much higher endurance cost), Combustion's animation time, and Burn scaring enemies out of the range of your other PBAoEs. It also lacks a hard-hitting ST blap equivalent to Thunder Strike or Total Focus.

On the other hand, Fire Sword and FSC are really good attacks on their own, Consume and Hot Feet have a massive 20' radius and the damage auras add DPS that doesn't eat up precious animation time.

It can be terrible or pretty good, I guess, depending on how you make it work with your primary and playstyle.

Maybe it's coincidence, maybe not, but over the last week or so I also witnessed level 50 players drop from TFs after lasting a mission or two. Twice. One was a Brute and the only melee AT on our LGTF. (Not to be deterred, the squishy brigade zerged yellow mitoes with vet attacks.)

Don't all KB effects radiate from the character, except for those spawned by pets and pseudopets (e.g. Bonfire)?

I'm quite certain that AR and Archery's TAoE powers, which also cause KB, knock enemies away from the character rather than the point of impact.

I always thought sets with crashless nukes overperformed. An extra heavy-hitting AoE attack with no downside makes a large difference to your damage output. That both of them are ranged and one comes in a set that has three AoEs only adds to the disparity. I would take crashless Inferno over the current one in a heartbeat.

Two Mammoth Tanks.

The only cost a little extra, too.

I have no idea what you people are talking about. Being level 50 and full of purple (and now PvP) IOs isn't the end. It's barely the beginning.

Superrrrrb.

As of i13, I believe you receive a reward if:

a) You have been in the final mission long enough to qualify for the end-of-mission bonus in a regular mission.
b) You are present when the merits are actually awarded.

I have been on at least one Task Force where I was around up to the very last battle, crashed during the fight and logged in to find the TF completed and no Merits in my pocket.

Same. Mine crashes once I click on an item to see the bids.

Presence, of course. A giant, 7-foot tall, obscenely muscled green woman should look pretty intimidating.

The Leaping pool is another nice option if you've not taken a travel power yet. A super strong character would be able to jump over buildings easily.

Mechanically, the powergamer in me would take Fighting, since it's nice stacked on top of Invuln's defenses, or Fitness, which is useful for obvious reasons.

Great guide! Do the menu options accept commands that aren't emotes or speech, e.g. pow_exec_name?

Looking through my screenshots, I found this gem.

A phoenix who, returning from the dead at the end of its thousand-year life cycle, managed to screw up (nobody's perfect!) and get itself rebirthed inside a normal girl who's been envious of supers her whole life. They merged and she gained partial access to its powers - which she's only too happy to apply liberally, never mind where they came from or the angry voice she occasionally hears in her head...

Now I just have to find a way to portray a suffering, desperate legendary creature trapped inside a hormonal, trigger-happy teenager and make it funny.