Seldom

Amongst others, here are some recent names I acquired: Watchman, Cremator, Red Guard, Dr. Scourge, Captain Nimbus, the Ionaut. (The many others were more obscure, or 'name names.')

There are names out there you wouldn't think would be, just try them, and stay flexible. I personally find I prefer more unique names anyway, they just need more work. 'Fire Boy' is meh. 'Child of the Inferno' has more character. (Don't judge me too harshly on that one, that's of the top of my head. )

I'd question thugs. To be honest, most masterminds who solo AV's focus on defense, as that allows the somewhat fragile pets to survive. When they have low health, not getting hit at all helps a lot more than being a bit tougher but getting hit all the time. Bots supply defense and healing, which would help with your shields, but the big bot's ray bursts decrease regeneration. This makes the AV lifetime shorter, which will help you take an AV down.

I would invest in pet +defense and pet +resistance IO's as well, if possible. Makes those pets last longer.

Just my two bits.

....And just to note, bodyguarding as a /thermal is rough. You have one self heal. That is all. Your boss pets will be tougher with all your shields, they may be better taking the brunt. (Of course patron and fighting shields would help you be tougher, but it's starting at a bit of a disadvantage compared to sets like traps, forcefields, and dark miasma that have constant ways of decreasing the damage you'd take. )

Sorry, on topic.

My picks: (By 'theme,' not function)
Brute: Claws/Willpower: As you attack or get attacked, you tear through foes with your bare hands, with almost feral ferocity. You are also tough enough to take it, within limits.

Blaster: Energy/energy: Blast foes with devastating energy, sending enemies flying with your pure, destructive justice.

Controller:Mind/FF: Control the minds of your foes, and protect your team.

Corruptor: Rad/Dark: Prey on the weak, weakening them even more, then finishing them off. Infect foes with deadly energy, and steal their life away.

Defender: Tricky, as there are so many way to go at it. I'd have to go Empathy/Psi, with a FULL empathy build (Not just heals) Looking out for the team, and using attacks to weaken your foes in many ways.

Dominator: Mind/Fire Make your foes helpless, then destoy them. (And nothing say 'destroy' like burning someone whose mind you just shut down.)

Scrapper: Martial Arts/Super Reflexes: Able to beat down the toughest bossses with your fighting skills, and a fighter's reflexses to stay alive.

Stalker: Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu. Sneak, then kill. Or just kill. But sneakily.

Mastermind: Thugs/Traps-An army of witless minions at your beck and call while you devise way to weaken enemies and protect yourself

Tanker: Invulnerability/Superstrength- Unkillable except against those that prey on the mind, and able to shake the earth with your bare hands.

I had a kind of exasperating run on the Barracuda SF, and was unable to beat the big bad at the end because the black scorpion power on the mastermind did not 'break' Reichsman's phased status.

Well, color me ig'nant, but I found out this morning from Castle the power disables his phase shifting power. As such, it has to be used before the guy goes unaffected, so he can't do so. (As the temp thing is slow to recharge, I assume it might have to be timed well as well) Just thought I'd put that out there as an FYI, to spare others frustration.

-Seldom

I'd be all for this. To be honest, the times I've used the difficulty setting most all have to do with teaming. As such, the team must wait outside the door or wait for another member to reach their contact, then go to the field analyst/fateweaver...it's nothing big, but it does inconvenience the team. If there were an easy way to do this, I'd be for it.

The only downside is that 'calling' is usually a contact thing, so if these were contacts, they may have accessibility issues on a sf/tf. Perhaps if there were a mission you could do for a press agent, and once he/she becomes a contact, you have a phone number for them and their services? That way fateweaver/field analyst would be open, but there would be a remote way of accessing services akin to theirs.

We have:
ranged damage
melee damae
PbAoE damage
AoE damage
holds
stuns
sleeps
confuses

Just about every archetype has a way of easily using some of the first four, and possibly the first six. The latter two are less common, and are much cheaper. The problem with new sets is that they use the same 'pool,' so if too many are added, it risks diluting what is perceived to be a valuable commodity with what then becomes 'dross' of a sort.

I could definitely see these added:

healing
resistance
defense

That's three. other possibilities are tohit debuffs, fear, defense debuffs, endmods, and to hit buffs. The issue? Many characters could not use all of these. (and certainly most wouldn't six slot most of these.) If you look at the way current bonuses for purple sets work, the strength they offer is in their stacking bonuses. If new sets are added, it will be, as stated, in areas less used. If they then have new bonuses attached, these will by extension be less useful, just because few builds could put them together for the same dramatic effect seen in present purple sets.

It would be nice, though, if they did give effects not found presently in any significance. +resistance is all but gone from bonuses, and there is no +mez protection io that I can think of. With all mez armor in PvP changed to resistance, I don't see how some minor protection vs. PvE mez would change things, especially when you must have topped off at 50 to get it. (For instance, a defense +2 mez protection and a resistance+2 mez protection.)

Hm. I have a couple, but all are strong in their own ways.

Mind/psi dominator: she can control just about everything the game comes up with, locking down/confusing masses of elite bosses without a sweat. Her AoE is pretty decent, especially after soul drain, but her true strength is her control. The entire snoozing freedom phalanx told you so. (note, this is partly due to io bonuses making those big control come back twice per fight.)

Bots/ff mastermind: not the offensive powerhouse bots/traps is, but tougher. I fought silver mantis as an av and never had to re-summon, no bot ever went below half health. The only limit was endurance.

Energy melee/dark armor brute.: an odd thing, as he has enough control to shut down 3 bosses and their spawns continually,(near him) enough damage to take out AV's, and enough toughness to take a team's worth of aggro. He doesn't fare well against damage spikes, though, but a self-rez and full 1% to 100% health heal helps this.

Broadsword/regen scrapper: a character that was on invincible as soon as he get his DO's. Defense+healing+regen=win.

archery/energy melee blaster: sans all but the first melee, this is my 'sniper' build, with a permanent boosted range, she is able to wipe out entire mobs from sniper range. anything tough enough to survive the rain of arrows and explosive arrow dies by subsequent shots before reaching me.

Kinetics/electric defender: not much damage on its own, but it can neuter an entire spawn's ability to fight back all the while damage capping my team. I'd call that strong.

For 'pure how it is now'

I'd ask for these:

1. Half wall/full wall objects (both glass, metal, stone and wood. Half walls are like railing, then there are some like dividers, then full ceiling to floor versions)

2. wardrobe objects (acts like a tailor contact)

3. Targetable dummies (as seen in vanguard base)

For 'pie in the sky:'

1. Training console in a training room: spawns enemies in a training room that can be customized and fought for high scores. Possible rewards given in prestige.

2. Windows: in different forms, with possible outside options including: city, (paragon) city, (rogue isles) outer space, underwater, rome, orenbega, caves, sewers, and so on.

3. Mini-jets/sky skiffs: (in a hanger room) selecting these works like selecting a helicopter, you 'run inside,' and are delivered directly to your mission. (works like a mission teleporter.) In the base, the vehicle goes forward, flying out through a 'window' in the wall corresponding to the object. If the mission is out doors, you see the vehicle fly away once you zone, vanishing high in the sky. This would represent a significant coding trouble, I'd hard-code it to use the rikti invasion code, so that it could only spawn if there were clear sky, and not under a bridge.

I definitely agree with the need for new thematic pools to fit proliferations. That said, there's no way they are giving blasters confuse, a hold, and an AoE sleep to go along with some of the many controls available in their primaries/secondaries.

I certainly agree with the overall pool suggestions, however.

Hm. I could've sworn that when you go into edit a published arc, even if it isn't local, and the "save as" function saves a local copy back to your computer.

If you cannot edit a published arc, there may be another issue, as published arcs are saved on a server, not your computer.

pssst....'rouge' is a cosmetic. This may lead your post to be misinterpreted.

I can only guess as to your question, but I would think that those who buy the expansion could start in a more 'side-neutral' way, (just as villain expansions allowed for new villains to be made) and what's I've heard about going rogue leads me to believe it'll be a long process, probably with a system where a moral value is assigned to different task choices, your morality following what choices you make. I don't think it'lll be quick, and I haven't heard much about limits, leading me to believe it won't be some odd 50+ only kinda thing.

But more info will come in time. They just let Issue 16 out, it'll be some time before they start working up the excitement for the expansion.

Hint.....the OP is a joke.(This to those who seemed serious.)

To the 50 thing, I did it when they were testing recluse's victory. I had no attachment to the character, compared to those I spent playing over two years on to get to 50. Leveling may not be ALL there is to this game, but it's a big part of what keeps people here for hours, and years, keeping this business afoot.