Sir Hextor

Very visually busy set. It still looks mighty pretty. If I'm still stalled on my Dark/Emp troller by the time this rolls around, he'll definitely be getting rerolled into this. Then I can pair super busy animations with an annoying pup and get kicked from every team evar :P

I really like the visuals, actually. Definitely have to take it into account on your costuming choices, but I can't wait until it's live.

Depends on your secondary, but it's hard to argue with moar recharge (and Def and better End Mod).

Well, my favorite is Dark Armor. Layered mitigation with status effect toggles. End use can be a problem lvling if you try and toggle up and forget, but with proper slotting and smart toggle use, the set is a beast. If something can't kill you in the time it takes for your Dark Regeneration to recharge, you almost can't be killed. And when you do die, you get to inflict a mag 30 stun on surrounding enemies. The nerve of them KOing you! The lack of KB protection is mildly annoying, but a single IO fixes 90% of that and for three you can have almost all of it negated. And then there's the status effect toggles. You can either stun or fear all the minions aroung you and if you combine it with a set that inflicts those effects, you get to hit lts and bosses (EBs if you're lucky).

As for sets to pair it with, my favorite are sets that stack with one of the status effect auras. Kinetic (I took it to 50 on a tank & loved her), Stone (cause fault is stupid good), Energy (if you hate AoE), War Mace (because hitting things with bats is fun), & MA (cause you want to look super awesome while cloaked in darkness) to stack with Opressive Gloom. Dark Melee or Stalker Assassin strike from hide for stacking with Cloak of Fear (which has a stupidly BA animation). Being able to take out problem bosses or LTs is awesome. Really, as long as you're smart about your blue bar, you will be awesome with the set. IOs fix the issues with the set like they were taylor made for it. If you add some extra defence from IOs, you are now stupid survivable and for when you do faceplant, you just get back up and make them do it again.

Though of course, Dark Armor sucks...

I've got a Spines/Electic at 50. Are you really going to need Body Mastery with WP? I can't load up your build in Mids cause I'm at work, but that seems a little overkill. I'd think strongly about going Redside and picking up Soul Mastery for delicious Shadowmeld and you can grab a ST blast for a little ST damage. My build leans pretty heavily on Power Sink to help manage my end, but it'll get a little better when I finish getting him Agility in his Alpha slot. But that huge boost to Def for the Alpha makes a huge difference. Plus with the huge regen in WP hitting softcap for a few seconds can make a huge difference in survivability. Just beware the animation time.

Completely anecdotal; when I started my DA/KM tank, I had only 2 other characters under my belt (ElM/Invuln Brute and Kin/Dark Def) so I was still learning. I didn't have IOs to put in her and I was still learning the system (still am, really). I was having a helluva time playing her, but it wasn't so much Dark Regeneration that was the problem (which was 6 slotted early on with 2 ACC, 2 END RED and 2 RECH SOs). I was such a noob that I didn't have my attacks slotted with END RED. My biggest problem were my attacks. Sure, DR still supped at the blue bar, but that's a small price to pay when you're going from 10 HP to full. You just have to be more choosy about it's use on a SO build than when IOed. The other big thing is the lack of -KB, especially on a tank, but I'd prolly feel the same on a scrapper. To me, that's actually a bigger issue with the set on SOs than the END costs. Truthfully, I still have her on Common IOs/SOs, save for the ToE proc, 2 Perf Shifter Procs, Steadfast +Def and 3 -KB IOs and she's a beast. I've added Cardiac Tier 2 and her blue bar barely moves and when she uses DR, she usually gets an END increase. And this is in +2/x6 DA content (which I think you can pretty much stop the SOs discussion once you get past +1/x2 since you're starting to get way outside 'normal' play parameters which is the whole balanced around SOs discussion).

Your gut is right.

You could probably appease it with a cookie but doesn't it deserve pie?

Stone/FA is pretty sick. Fault+Burn more than makes up for Tremor having the same animation as Thunderstrike, but then Burn does that for every other set too, so if you're really worried about DPA/S efficiency, it's probably not the set for you. I'm clearly not since I took Tremor and use it. I figure I don't have a problem with Thunderstrike on my ElM/Invuln Brute, Tremor should just be a little better since it has a massive radius and as a Brute more radius is more targets taunted which is more fury.

Cold/Water...mostly cause I don't see enough Cold Dom Defenders running around and it is an awesome set.

Ummm, a RES set with no holes and a heap of heals/absorb. Yes please!

EDIT - Also, horray Scrappers getting another taunt aura set!

There are a lot of stuns in KM. Dark Armor has a PBAoE stun aura in Oppressive Gloom. Stacking stuns on bosses is a beautiful thing...

I speculate there will be a minor change and that those who think that blasters are lagging behind will be unsatisifed with and those that think blasters are fine will be just fine with. I further speculate that this assumption on my part can pretty much be translated to any AT change and the subsequent response.

In serious though, I'm happy the AT is getting a look over, even if it may just be a (possible) buff to ranged sets in general. I mean, Blasters do more damage with said sets so a buff to them would mean more moar damage for blasters

Shield and to some extent Energy Armor are 'better' on Scrappers. Both have taunt auras for scrappers and scrappers tend to get the most benefit out of the armors buffs (+DAM and +RECH respectively). Shield Charge is also better on Scrappers because it's a pseudopet power.

Electric and Invulnerabilty are 'better' on Brutes(and to some extent Tankers, but typically Tanks don't have the melt faces feeling). Brutes can take fulll advantage of the over 75% resistance these sets achieve to their respective strong resists and damage auras are 'better' on Brutes.

But 'better' does not mean that they are unplayable on any other AT, or even that they aren't really good on each AT with access to them. It's just that certain sets play the the strength of certain ATs a little better.

Honestly, I never feel more powerful than when I play my Electric Melee/Invulnerability/Soul Brute. Plentiful AoE, Gloom helps fill in my ST, my resists are near capped to S/L and Invincibilty + set bonuses Softcaps my S/L/E/N def with Darkest Night taking some of their ot hit and damage from them. I can hit Unstoppable and for 2 minutes I am that, with full capped resists (though a lot of people hate the crash, and you have to be prepared to deal with it or faceplant). Just can't be quite as in your face when fighting Psi enemies.

Then again, my Spines/Electric Scrapper is pretty nasty and when he's finished up Soul Mastery and picked up Shadowmeld he'll be be a beast. And I can't forget about how survivable my Dark Armor/Kinetic Melee Tank is...

Yeah, assuming you're a VIP, make a few alts and play em a bit. If you don't like them lvling up, banish them to another server until you decide to give em another try.

I must say on trials, this bar is awesome. I wouldn't mind much if they took the kheld powers out of them, since they aren't really temp powers, but it sure is nice not having to hunt down nades, quills or acids through mountains of temp powers I'm sure a lot of us have. I really think it ought to be a setting you can remove though through options on a per character basis. That way those with their keybinds can forego the change and those who prefer to clicky powers (the minority on the forums, but likely the majority of newer players, since you know the tutorial tells you that's how you use powers) can still use the new tray. I tend to agree it'll likely see more players trying out khelds which isn't a bad thing since we can all concur they are supremely awesome.

And my shade sure ain't inefficient

I'm not a fan of locking any powers behind other powers, especially unrelated powers. I'd much rather there just be level minimums and the 4 pool limit. I feel the same way about Epic and Patron pools. Of course, it's been this way since far before I started playing, but it just seems counterintuitive to me and contrary to how all other powersets work, where the only power choice you are forced to make is the TIER 1 power in your secondary.

I rather like it, since I don't use keybinds like at all. I click on all my powers to use them. Terribly inefficient and it prolly makes me a bad player, but I like to play that way. I do wish it were more customizable and agree that it ought to be something that can be enabled/disabled from options.

Edit - And I know this wasn't directed at me, but before this change, I had two free floating trays with each forms respective powers. Now I just have the shift powers in my main tray and when I hit them, I have the new tray full of form powers

Blasters' primaries should outperform in Ranged Damage all other ATs with exceptions being made for damage outliers (Debuffs, Criticals, Containment, etc.). AoE and ST should be significant and sustainable (recharge and END).

Their secondary should provide mitigation, nowhere near the level of Controller or Dominator primaries or even support sets, but enough that through adequately leveraging their secondaries, they can better perform their primary role of damaging things at range. Some of those secondaries should allow players to stay in melee range, with good melee attacks and melee based mitigation. Some should support a more ranged playstyle. All should be more or less balanced. This is the area I see needing the most dev attention with an eye to seriously bending the cottage rule to make the sets that are outliers in their performance perhaps toned down a little and the rest of the underperforming sets brought up more in line with the overachievers.

Of course, I'm pretty limited in my Blaster experience since they are such a pain to play (one 50 Blaster [DP/MM] and one stalled out in the mid 20s [Fire/Ice]) but the lack of mitigation makes me instead choose to play another Ranged AT, and that's with two of the arguably most mitigating secondaries offered. The secondaries need some real help. Perhaps the primaries could stand to have their numbers tuned up a little bit, but the secondaries are really sucking wind imo.

Also, all my opinions are based on play with SOs. IOs should turn the game up to 11 (like they do). Balance should be around SO numbers and play (one of the reasons I don't see anything wrong with Drain Psyche is because without +recharge you can't have it anywhere near perma or even 50% up time).

EDIT - Forgot to add one thing to Primary discussion. I really feel like Nukes ought to be crashless across the board, but especially so Blaster nukes. They really ought to be able to nuke and keep on kicking butt.

Defense. Resist bonuses are often rather trivial ammounts and really aren't worth chasing. If I happen to have the spare slots, I'll sometimes try to fit the +Resist uniques (Shield Wall, Aegis, Impervium Armor) because that can give you around ~25% resist to Psi and ~20% to everything else for 3 slots and decent slotting on Resilience, but even that is really a "I have nothing better to do with these slots so I might as well..."

For reals, just proliferate everything to the respective ATs. Some sets will be better on one AT or another, but that doesn't make them unplayable on the other ATs, just suboptimal.

Of course, SS on scrappers will be broken like no one's business, but prolly not so much more than Spines on brutes or TW on Stalkers :P

Todd, I want your insps, give them nao please

At work so no mids to see exactly what the Accuracy is on it, but I'd really want some Accuracy in Eclipse. I want to make sure it hits as many targets as possible as consistently as possible. Maybe pull out some slots from hasten, stamina, or health to put some Acc/Rech or just a plain ole Acc IO boosted if you got em. Also, just one KB IO. I'd like 3 personally to make sure that I only get KBed by the cheaty face crap, not the 3 KBstacking alphas of some mobs. But outside of that it looks solidly playable monoform.

I would certainly join any/all of these I could. Unfortunately, I can't make the times you posted since I have to work until 3 EST each of those days, but I would be happy to be a late addition if you have the space. I'd prefer 5/19 over 5/20, but truthfully I can swing either, just late.

@Sir Hextor

As said, Manuevers and Steamy Mist ought to be run, thus need more slots and those slots should be for defense and endurance reduction and hover should have Defense slotting and end red. I'd also be worried about accuracy if you want to run anything beyond +1 because with only minimal accuracy slotting you're not going to hit many tougher subjects, which may explain why your having issues with bosses. I typically slot 2 Acc and 1 Dam in attacks, with End red and Rech as needed. If you're going for sets, it's hard to go wrong with Thunderstrike and if you can get a few more slotted in lift, crush and distortion, you'll get some nice Def bonuses as well as a bit of an increase in recovery and at 4 slots a nice accuracy boost. I'm not sure why you're 6 slotting Bas Gaze, 4 slot it and move the other slots to other powers or put some higher lvl Acc/Rec IOs in it if you want to keep it 6 slotted (lose the proc and whichever other one you want). If you do a few of these you should see a nice boost to Ranged Def which will help a good bit against things not hit by hurricane. As for running out of end, don't forget that while toggles are constant end drainers, attacks represent a far bigger drain on your blue bar, with AoEs taking more of it than STs. Make sure to get some End reducers in your attacks.

EDIT - I forgot I wanted to take a look at FR slotting. The slow on FR is really not that important. I'd keep the Acc/End and the Proc in there, pull out the rest and replace it with a couple Recharge Enhancements for now. Eventually, you'll want it 6 slotted for Acc (minimal, you want it to hit, but it's already got a nice accuracy in it for an AoE)/End/Rech and as many procs as you can, but for now, 3-4 slots should get you to 50 without too many bumps.

I'd rebuild it for ya, but unfortunately at work so no mids.

To say nothing of the OP's what I can only assume is satire...

I will say that there is some suffering to my altitis. I have 7 50s with 5 more knocking on the door to 50. Most of my characters are strictly on Common IO/SO builds and their potential suffers for it. I have 2 almost fully IOed characters that are +3 incarnated, one of which is full tier 4s, and one character on an IO/SO mix at +3 (my MFin WS). The rest of the 50s are only just scratching the surface of the incarnate experience or have only unlocked their alpha slot. I suffer because I continually want to get my other characters to the level of my IOed 50s (and I'm not talking 6 billion inf builds either). Every character in my stable has a Mids final build for them that I want to see them achieve because I see on paper how effective that can be. I ought to spend my somewhat limited playtime farming SSAs and tips to get hard to buy recipes and farm a bit on my ElM/Inv brute for tickets to get salvage. If I did that, I'd have the inf to finish my 2 mains and start IOing my other 50s. But I look at my character list and think, "Oooo, I haven't played him and he's got a bunch of patrol xp and is only a level or two from a new power." So I fire up an alt, try to scrounge up a team and run something, maybe a TF since those are good bang for your buck. But oftentimes I'll be on one alt and the call for a WST or a BAF/LAM/Keyes will go out and I'll remember I have that other alt sitting on the cusp of greatness too and is in the lvl range for it so I'll jump over there and run that with a group...and have a great time mind you. Meanwhile, one of my alts languishes in some day job spot with max patrol and so much potential yet unlocked.

That's how I suffer, but in truth I don't mind. I enjoy playing all my characters and like has been mentioned, when someone asks about a powerset for a potential alt, I've generally played it to the 30s at least. I can give real answers because I know how the set plays and what it's strengths and weaknesses are. I've also made some personal ground rules to help my altitis. I haven't repeated powersets yet and I'm on an alt hiatus until I get a dozen 50s. Once I've played all the sets, I'm sure I'll go back and replay ones, heck I've got Mids builds for a couple sets. I'm just taking it in since I intend to be here until the game isn't fun anymore and I only foresee that happening when I've played out all my alts to full incarnate, IOed powerhouses I've got a long way to go, but the journey looks like fun, and that's why I play games as I'm sure most of us do.