MTeague

Same with Doc Graves on the Redside counterpoint. About half my characters run it each go round. But I really don't see it as a good tutorial series. Case in point, a efw missions you're up against a few bosses in a row, or multiple bosses at once. If you know what you're doing and you have a strong set or a bunch of inspirations that you saved just for it, you can probably overpower it. But if you're a low-level dominator? fighitng multiple bosses in a row? can't kill fast enough to maintain domination for all of them, and there's no trash between them to build up Domination between them... it can be nasty. Or on Twinshot, the final confrontation mission, I wouldn't want to try that on certain AT / Powerset combo's, let's say. I wiped completely on my Controller (Mind/Kin), but good news was I'd run far enough away before they killed me that I could safely use an Awaken... and then I just chain-confused Riptide and had him maul down the others.... and then could take down Riptide solo by keeping him Confused as I gradually nibbled him to death with Mezmerize and Dominate. I do like the mission arcs, but I do not consider them good ideas for actual new folks.

I rarely buy rare salvage anyway. Every few weeks I'll shazam out 60 rare salvage from Brain Storm Ideas, along with those that dropped and got stuffed in my SG base. And I'm only crafting the rare recipes that drop, I never buy a rare recipe.... I'm all about the Attuned enhancements anyway. I do sometimes buy Purples recipes and craft them, but not that often. I've only got two lvl 50 characters right now, after most of a year of playing. But I enjoy levelling slow and levelling up many characters a few levels at a time instead of rushing any one of them to 50. (yes, OCD man, for every hero I make, I have a villian to mirror them, and I have a whole headcanon of "okay, in the inevitable confrontation, this is how it'll all play out, who beats who by teaming up with who....")

I solo'd that flashback just last night on my Mind/Kin. I got only 1-3 DE when the crystals got low. What were your notoriety settings at?

I've had an idea like this for an AE Story Mission, I've been loosely planning to name "The Good of the Many..." Where there is simply not going to be a "and everyone lives happily every after" possibility. However...um.... yea, I don't really know how to use AE and it's more of an "I should do this someday" than sitting down and really figuring it out.

Anyone who's ever stepped on legos barefoot in the middle of the night can attest that they are a viable alternative to caltrops. Also, a d4 for all you past-and-maybe-present tabletop gamers out there. @Williwaw beat me to it on the dice.

1) Before the Invention System, there was no such thing as "Loot". With the Invention System, all loot is handed directly from the game to each individual player's inventory. There are no "loot rolls", no instances where the players themselves need to decide "who gets what" with 1-99 rolls, no loot council, no need-before-greed, nothing. And there are not specific places you have to go to get certain pieces of loot. It's not "oh, you want Kinetic Combat Acc/DAm? it only drops from this one boss at the end of the third mission on this taskforce and it's only a 20% chance to drop at all, and if one drops, you're competing against 18+ other people who also want it." In CoH, anything can drop anywhere. Only real exception is purple recipes and they can drop from any 47+ content. One of the biggest sources of drama / epeen conflicts in any MMO has been who "Deserves" what loot. City of Heroes bypasses all of that. It's highly improbable you'll even NOTICE what drops your teammates get, and if you covet a piece of it, too bad, it's assigned, ain't nothing you can do. 2) "Guilds" are not needed. This goes right up there with #1, as one of the biggest sources of drama in guilds is the perception (be it accurate or not) of favoritism when it comes to loot drops, or in choices of what instances the guild would focus on for progression. Super Groups exist, sure. They can be fun, sure. But because nobody absolutely NEEDS a constant pre-set group of 25 raiders to do any endgame content with, week after week, month after month, year after year, you don't have the same seeds of resentment forming over time like you might in WoW guidls or EverQuest guilds. 3) There is no Holy Trinity. Meaning no disrespect to anyone's religious beliefs lol. Here I'm talking about Tank/Healer/DPS concepts. Sure, archtypes exist. But you're not funnelled into pre-set configs of "This Raid requires 2 tanks, 6 healers, and 17 DPS, and at least 8 DPS better be Ranged DPS". You can slap together ANY combination and get damn near ANY content done in this game. The ONLY possible exception is some Incarnate Trials, and I'm not 100% sure of even those, really. 8 Controllers? Sure, go to town on ANY TF. Lockdown City, and you'll all be buffed out the wazoo from the each other's secondary support trees, and there's gonna be so much containment damage going around it ain't funny. 8 Blasters? Some of you may take a dirt-nap at some point on the TF, but the Kills to Faceplant ratio will be verrrrrry high. And if it's a high level TF, probably no one will even die if people are rocking enough set bonuses and making a passing effort to watch each others backs. 8 Defenders? Try it sometime. No, seriously. Put together an All-Defender-Task-Force sometime. Lulz as the "low DPS" class, banded together with force multipliers, steamroll over absolutely everything. 8 Tankers? Sure. It might be a bit of a slog as damage output isn't the best but ain't no one gonna die except the enemy. Nobody NEEDS anybody. This keeps people from feeling chains of obligation or "I have to put up with Bob's crap because he's our main tank / best DPS / best heals" and if he de-guilds we won't make it through the instances and then I'll never get those shiny pieces of loot I want. Instead, people can focus on what's FUN. A good character concept. A stylin' costume. A good backstory. Finding people you like teaming with. Rolling in and overpowering the enemy Biff Bam POW style.

I admit, part of me wants the Haley Starshine battlecry for my stalker. https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0396.html

Converters In a Nutshell: can be bought for merits at a rate of 3 converters per merit. can only buy 3 for 1 merit, or 30 for 10 merits. no higher quantities available. though you can just click "Buy" more times. if you have piles of influence, often worth buying converters from influence instead of merits. Your milage may vary. Converters only work on Enhancements, NOT on Recipes. Craft, THEN convert. There are several types of Conversions. NOTE: If you are converting a levelled (Non-Attuned) IO, the result will be an IO of the same level. This means if you're converting a level 15 IO, it can never ever ever ever become a Luck of the Gambler, because LotG has a minimum level of 25. Know the high / low ranges of your sets. If you have no patience to DO the converting and selling of converted results, you can always post the Converters for sale directly. Someone will always buy them. Conversion Types: IN SET CONVERSIONS: what it says. the thing you convert will become a different IO in the same set. Costs 3 Converters per In Set Conversion, the most expensive mode. But if you get a Luck of the Gambler Endurance/Recharge, you can use this mode until you get the shiny +7.5% Global Recharge that you really want. Same with Steadfast Protection Resistance/Endurance to shazam it into the Res/+3% Defense piece. OUT-OF-SET CONVERSIONS: also what it says. the thing you convert will become an IO from a completely different set. Exact cost here can vary. Once you choose the "Out of Set Conversions" radio button, there is a dropdown next to it that gives the sub-type of conversion. Some methods you can choose, some are locked in. OUT-OF-SET (BY RARITY): The result will be an IO of any set of the same rarity. Rares stay Rares, Uncommons stay Uncommons. But HIbernation (Uncommon Sleep) could become Steadfast Protection (Uncommon Resistance), and Ghost Widow's Embrace (Rare Hold) could become Kinetic Combat (Rare Melee). These cost 1 converter per roll. OUT-OF-SET (BY TYPE): the result will be an IO of the same TYPE, but not necessarily the same rarity. Defense will stay Defense, but Serendipity (End/Res) could become Reactive Defenses Scaling Damage Resistance. Immobilize will remain Immobilize but Enfeebled Operations (uncommon) could become Trap of the Hunter (rare). This costs 2 converters per roll. to the best of my knowledge it is impossible to turn a yellow or an orange into a purple by this conversion type. to the best of my knowledge it is impossible to turn a non-pvp into a pvp by this conversion type. to the best of my knowledge it is impossible to turn a non-ATO into an ATO by this type. to the best of my knowledge it is impossible to turn a non-Winter-O into a Winter-O by this type. PVP: can convert any PvP IO into another PvP IO. MUST start with a PvP IO. But Gladiator's Net could become Panacea, or Javelin Volley could become Gladiator's Armor, etc. ATO: can convert any ATO into another ATO. MUST start with an ATO. Call of the Mastermind could become Critical Strikes. Will of the Dominator could become Kheldian's Grace. Winter: can convert atny Winter-O inst another Winter-O. MUST start with a Winter-O. But Avalanche could become Entomb, etc. Purple: can convert a Purple to a Purple. I believe only "classic" purples count for this. Not "Superior" versions of ATO's, etc. But Fortunata Hypnosis can become Ragnarok or Hecatomb, etc. Most commonly, I buy lots of uncommon recipes, craft them, convert by Type into rare, then convert by rarity to valuable rares, then post the rares for sale. I spend a fair amount of up-front influence for this... I have to get the recipes, get the salvage, pay the crafting cost, buy the converters, etc.... but I typically earn far more than I spend when all is said and done. Just keep in mind it's not instant money. You may post your converted results and maybe they'll sell instantly, or maybe they'll take 4 days to sell. Depends how much you price to move and how much you say "there's not many for sale, SOMEONE will pay large for this...". I find this works best if you bounce around on lots of alts. If I post things for sale on my scrapper, but then spend the next three days on different alts, it's fire-and-forget sales and I just collect the proceeds next time I log the character that posted them.

I'm also levelling a Human-Dwarf Peacebringer. I get that Nova is strong. Really. I do. I do not dispute the numbers or efficaciousness. But I **hate** the look of it, and will not use it. This is a self-imposed limitation, and does restrict my options somewhat, esp at lower levels. (Currently lvl 12). I also do missions that are at *least* +1/x1 with bosses and possibilty of EB's, no exceptions. And I don't use Nemesis Staff or Blackwand, unless my characters backstory can reasonably make them make sense. Which, neither one does for my PB. (yes, apparently I like making things unnecessarily difficult for myself. It would seem something in the back of my head believes that whole "it builds character" crud) Quants do suck. And one of Sunstorm's missions had no less than EIGHT of the fool things in it. How I've managed it so far. Never charge blindly into a group when soloing. Stop, tab through every mob. If you don't have excellent line of sight, try to get another angle. Even if it means leaving a door as-is and exploring he the rest of the map and only coming back when you have exhausted everything else that you DO have good sight on. Keep your shields up. Be prepared to run. Evaluate terrain. Very often, I LOS pull. tag the Quantum with my fastest animating distannce attack and go around a corner, through a door, at least behind a pillar. Keep him targetted. When he gets close, unload. Inner Light / Radiant Strike is likely to put him on his butt. Charge forward and use everything else you have until he's dead. Nothign wrong with popping reds if you have them to spare. Depending, if the Quantum is next to a pillar, you may be able to charge him keeping the pillar between him and you. Then open up with Radiant Strike. I wouldn't use Incandescent Strike as an opener, because of the animation time. Radiant Strike is quick, drops him on his butt. THEN hit him with Incandescent. The PB is my least favorite character to level because of this. Even my Earth / Poison Controller finishes solo missions faster. But I tell myself this should be a passing thing, and once I have better slotting and Dwarf I won't have to be so paranoid soloing on him. That may be simply a comforting lie. But it's what I tell myself.

Obscure 1987 movie, John Ritter, Jim Belushi. "Real Men"

This is why I have a Fire/Fire Sentinel instead of a Fire/Fire Scrapper or Brute.

Not sure about Stalker. Pistols of any kind is firmly into the "Ranged Attack" group of AT's. Yes, there's a handful of melee range attacks... Spines has Impale, Claws has Focus, Staff has Serpent's Reach. But those aren't for a set-defining iconic attack like an Assassin's Strike. I think you'd be better off with a Dual Pistols / Ninja Training Blaster. Which you can do right now.

Sleeps and Immobs are two types of control that EB's and AV's aren't immune to. If you want to put more effects into Mezmerize and Mass Hyp, I won't entirely object. But DON'T leave a Mind Controller with NO WAY to park something that needs parking, Purple Triangles or not. And soloing, I'm quite happy using the Non-Aggroing Sleep nature of Mass Hyp to bypass mob that I dont' want to deal with. And as Greycat says, shutting down various armors is very handy as well. And an Immob ain't gonna do that, nor is a stun. If you can add something in without taking something away, I"m willing to talk turkey. But don't hamstring powers I rely on in the name of making them better. There's a bunch of Control Sets and no one who rolls a mind controller is going into it blind, you can see what hte powers are as you create your character. If sleeps were a major deal breaker for someone they just wouldn't pick the set. And I'm fine with that. I'd rather have some actual variation among control sets, even if some are pronounced better than others, than have everything overly homogenized.

One of my fav moments from live was joining a random PUG squad on my Controller. I think it was Peregrine Island. I know I was *right next* to them when they invited me. I joined, said "Heyo". The tank (In Granite Armor) then said "oh god ANOTHER controller? that's too many" I speed boosted him. "KIN!!!!!!!!!! HE CAN STAY! HE CAN STAY!!!" 🙂

.... and here I thought I was giving mez protection to the squishies. Aight, good to know. Maybe it should do a different color animation on primary vs secondary target then to clue us in that not everyone got all the effects. I guess from here on out, I cast ID on the blasters/other controllers/defenders instead of assuming one cast on the tank is enough.

Not gonna lie, most MM pets I don't care about, but I'm all "Noooooooooooo!" when I see a Beast MM's pets all yelp and flop down dead at once.

Although a Redside, "Sure Johnny, lets go watch Dad beat the snot out of the Paragon City Police and rob a bank", has a certain kind of #FloridaMan appeal....

I think a "Take Your Kid to Work" even event can be done well, with some kind of OPTIONAL quest line. key word "optional". If a player doesnt' want to start it by not going to City Hall / whatever place, let them opt out. let the player choose if it's "thier kid" or an orphan from the Rikti Wars / Praetorian Invasion / Something that they're taking under their wing. maybe turn the kid into a mini-contact, asking to be shown around to various places. You the player choose which places you want to take him to, you the player can say "Sure, Warburg? No Problem" or "Um... no, I'd like to keep you alive, thank you very much". Maybe a Hellion Golf Mission so you can show off for the kid in a controlled environment. Maybe a few Patrol Missions, etc. Maybe introduce him to other NPCs (Faultline and Fusionette would work well Blueside, redside umm....I dunno lol. Redside is not very kid-friendly, lets just say.)

No joke. It is in fact real. the screeny @Idiotfool posted is legit. The minature titan appears when you log in on any character. seems to be visual only. cannot be targetted or selected, and follows you around no matter what. Also, there is a Toy Bat temp power you can use to bonk people over the head with.

Never mind, even if you had a non-robotic character capable of even HAVING offspring, "okay, kiddo, lets go to the Shadow Shard!! Oh. You fell down into the infinite abyss. What you can't fly? not even Hover?". Or "Here's my kid, who I'm super-responsible for as a parent. Let's take him deep into Oranbanga to fight literal demons from literal hell, or into Dark Astoria to put him within 10 feet of lovecraftian elder horrors of the time before time...." Never mind if I were to somehow fall, the kid is TOAST. If you enjoy it, if you find it hilarious, hey, all power to you. I'm with Snarky. "immersion breaking" doesn't begin to cover it. However, since it's a short term thing, I'm not angry about it or anything. It's just a mental nails-on-chalkboard jarring that I can't simply ignore. So, tonight, I play Civ 4 Beyond the Sword. I'll be back in a day or two, no worse for the wear, no harm done from where I'm sitting.

I am told, this is just for April Fool's Day, and we got it a day early because that's how patches work. I suspect it will be gone Thursday. We shall see. [EDIT: It *does* look far more like a minature adult than a child.]

Increase Density (Kinetics) does buff all teammates (but not you) in a single cast, if they're in range. Just like Speed Boost. I main a Mind/Kin, really sure on this one.

Admittedly, this isnt' a voting matter as such, it's a decision for the GM's / Developers to make. But if it were a voting matter, I would say hard no on a pre-emptive change. First lets see how it all pans out. We don't actually KNOW that there's going to be a massive shortage yet. I can commonly buy 50 or more uncommon recipes (frequently Taunt or Stun or Pet Damage) for 3,500 to 5,000 inf (each) on a given night, craft them, convert them, and post enhancements that sell well.

I'm fine with getting notifications to go to the Hollows, or Faultline, or Striga, or Croatoa, or any place with an actual QUEST CHAIN. Do not send me to Perez Park or Boomtown or Crey's Folly or Eden. Once a contact has "Talk to the Security Chief" as an option I exit out and don't talk to them again. The very last "Security Chief" mission I did sent me to the Abandoned Sewer Network to defeat 40 Rikti. Never again. Never.

My Orc Prot Warrior, in Naxxramus. Good times man. Serious nostalgia with guild runs, and crossing that threshold from "we barely know what we're doing" to "aw yea, we got this". Oh, you mean tank powerset combo in City of Heroes? 🙂 Probably my Invul / SS. Total Tank-Classic, not a giant in terms of AE damage, but extrordinarily durable. Can sit there and take punishment for days without his hp's moving much. And with the IO's, he doesn't have a hole for Psi anymore, and has very high resist vs several types of damage. He just feels like the tank that you can smash concrete beams over his head, and he'll just smile at you and say "Bro, do you even lift?". Or fling anything at him ... fire, cold, negative, whatever... and you'll just make him mad.