AspieAnarchy

I just tried playing for the first time since The Big Upgrade...and I can't. I get as far as the load-in screen, then it keeps crashing and telling me there isn't enough RAM. This is new; anyone else having this problem, or know what I should do? Also, in case it's significant, the sound effects (but not the music) were unexpectedly quiet as a mouse; maybe that's my hardware, but my other games don't sound any different - nor did the Windows error-crash "bonk" sound. To be precise, here's a (crappy) screenshot:

* = Could be more, could be less; we'll just have to see! 1. Skulls and Hellions replaced with Jets and Sharks. 2. Trainers replaced with Fake Nemeses. 3. Civilian NPCs replaced with Rikti, say whatever they normally would when clicked, but in Riktispeak. Denial: Anything out of the ordinary. Recommendation: Go about your day.... 4. All PCs level 10 and over attract civilian groupies who follow them around and occasionally say sycophantic things from lists tailored to the PC's Archetype/Origin. 5. Travel powers make silly noises while in use. 6. Highly unpredictable appearances of phenomena from *other* seasonal events. 7. All civilian NPC models replaced with Statesman (in Paragon), Lord Recluse (in the Isles), and Tyrant (in Praetoria), otherwise behave normally. 8. A single article of your costume randomly changes every 10 minutes (one segment at a time, previous change reverts to normal). 9. Monkeys. Everywhere. 10. CHAAANGE PLACES! Arachnos and Longbow swap places/roles in all zones and instances, as do Praetorian PD and Resistance. 11. Amish Freakshow. 12. All NPCs become "photographic negatives" of themselves. 13. Random "unscripted cameos" in missions. The floor is open!

PLANT ARMOR (Defense) Available to: Tankers, Brutes, Scrappers, Stalkers, Sentinels Set Color: Henna-on-Green You ate your veggies as a kid, and it’s paid off – or perhaps you ARE a veggie to begin with. Perhaps one followed from the other. Whatever the case, you enjoy the immense protective, restorative, and strengthening power of the plant kingdom. Plant Armor is one of the less endurance-intensive Defense powersets, and can sometimes even offer side-benefits for your teammates, or cause surprising problems for your foes; it offers decent protection from all damage types with the exception of Fire and Negative Energy, against which it is weaker. 1) Cellular Walls (Tanker, Brute, Scrapper, Sentinel) – You form cellular walls in your body like a those of a plant, granting you increased Smashing, Lethal, and Toxic resistance so long as this power is active. Recharge: Fast OR Hide (Stalker) 2) Bark – You grow a permanent coating of rough bark that protects you from weapons and the elements; this is a passive ability that increases your resistance to Smashing, Lethal, Fire, and Cold damage. 3) Photosynthesis (Tanker, Brute, Scrapper, Sentinel) – You have the power to directly metabolize light and heat. This is a passive ability that increases both your rates of health regeneration and endurance recovery; furthermore, any time you take Fire or Energy damage, these bonuses actually increase further for a short time thereafter, but also suffer temporary reduction after taking Cold or Negative Energy damage; the degree of both increase and reduction is determined, within limits, by how much of such damage was taken. OR Cellular Walls (Stalker) 4) Resin Armor – You coat yourself in syrupy resin, enabling you to slip free of or ward off most control effects, as well as providing insulation against cold and trapping such things as bullets and blades, thus increasing your defense versus both Lethal and Cold damage so long as this ability is active. Recharge: Fast 5) Gather Moss (Tanker) – Rolling stones don’t know what they’re missing; by gathering a dense coating of moss, you temporarily gain both strong damage absorption, and resistance to Energy and Negative Energy damage. Recharge: Slow OR Ravening Roots (Brute) – You generate parasitic roots that reduce the regeneration rate of nearby foes; for each foe so affected, you gain a small cumulative increase to your own regeneration rate. Recharge: Moderate OR Taproot (Scrapper) – You extend a single, slender, prehensile taproot to probe the ground around you for both nutrients and dangers. While this power is active, you suffer a modest reduction to your movement speed, suffer a more severe penalty to your ability to jump or teleport, and lose the ability to fly, but in exchange you not only gain increased regeneration and recovery, there is also a sporadic chance for nearby enemies to be knocked down by your taproot’s aggressive flailing. Recharge: Slow OR Wallflower (Stalker) – You can learn a lot of things from the flowers – among them the surprising benefits of being silent, still, and unobtrusive. This is a passive ability that grants you a bonus to stealth and defense so long as you’re standing still, as well as a small global endurance discount at all times. OR Take Root (Sentinel) – You sink thick roots deep into the ground beneath you; while this power is active, it reduces your movement speed to almost nothing and makes you unable to jump, fly, or teleport, but you enjoy greatly increased regeneration and recovery as your roots plumb the earth for nourishing water and minerals, and you become nearly impervious to knockdown, knockback, and hostile teleportation effects. Recharge: Slow 6) Season’s Bounty (Tanker) – grants access to 4 toggle powers: - Spring Blossom: increases your regeneration and recovery rates, and grants a small ‘flat’ discount to all recharge times (i.e. all your powers benefit from reduced recharge, but those that were quick to begin with benefit far more than those that take longer); this discount only applies to powers activated while Spring Blossom is active - Summer Might: increases your damage, resistance to all damage except Cold and Negative Energy, and the amount of aggro you generate - Autumn Harvest: boosts your accuracy and adds a small but cumulative resistance debuff effect to all your attacks - Winter Quiescence: strengthens all your control effects, grants you a small global endurance discount, and increases your defense against all damage except Fire and Energy OR Gather Moss (Brute, Scrapper, Stalker, Sentinel) 7) Pain Pollen (Tanker) – While this power is active, you emit a short-range haze of severely irritating pollen, causing enemies in range to be mildly taunted and also suffer slightly lowered accuracy and damage resistance. Recharge: Moderate OR Toxic Pollen (Brute) – While this power is active, you emit a close-range haze of poisonous pollen that deals ongoing Toxic damage over time to enemies in range. Damage: Minor Toxic (DoT) Recharge: Fast OR Power Pollen (Scrapper) – While this power is active, you emit a moderate-range haze of invigorating pollen that increases regeneration rate and damage of all allies within range. You gain similar, but weaker, benefits. Recharge: Slow OR Narcotic Pollen (Stalker) – Like the opium poppy, you emit a large-range haze of intoxicating pollen while this power is active, which weakens the resistances of enemies in range to control effects of all sorts, as well as having a slim chance itself of briefly putting enemies to sleep. Recharge: Medium OR Psychedelic Pollen (Sentinel) – Like the mescaline cactus, you emit a short-range haze of mind-altering pollen while this power is active, which may briefly slow, disorient, or even confuse enemies in range. Recharge: Slow 😎 Aromatic Armor – By infusing yourself with aromatic herbs, resins, and such, you not only increase your own Psionic resistance, but also help allies within a limited area around you recover from status effects more quickly; furthermore, the mind-steadying effects of this aura will reduce the interrupt times of any interruptable powers you or nearby allies may have. Recharge: Moderate 9) Might of the Redwood (Tanker) – You have embraced the secrets of some of the greatest and oldest of trees, and manifest their strength. This is a passive ability that substantially increases your maximum hit points, and your resistance to: All damage but Negative Energy; to control effects other than hold, immobilize, and placate; and to debuffs to your accuracy, defense, regeneration, recovery, and maximum hit points and Endurance. You also gain a minor bonus to damage. OR Grow like a Weed (Brute) – You have mastered the aggressive secrets of bamboo, kudzu, and other such weeds. Activating this power causes you to briefly surge with virility, growing larger and gaining an enormous bonus to your regeneration rate and damage, as well as moderately increasing your movement speed, resistance to control effects, maximum endurance, and the range of your attacks; when the effect ends, you will briefly suffer a substantial penalty to recovery, accuracy, and damage resistance. Recharge: Long OR Bloom of the Lotus (Scrapper) – You have learned the gentle, but powerful, secrets of the lotus and other plants that endure for ages in the earth, blooming only when the time is right. If defeated, you can resurrect yourself, regaining most of your health and endurance, and briefly gaining a large bonus to regeneration, recovery, accuracy, and resistance to control effects. Recharge: Very Long OR Strangler (Stalker) – You have taken for your own the dire secrets of the strangler fig and other patiently predatory plants. So long as this power is active, all of your single-target Assassination (and Sniper, if you have any) attacks deal more damage, are more accurate, and impose a slowing and possibly immobilization effect on their target. Recharge: Slow OR Bounty of the Grove (Sentinel) – You have discovered the secrets behind the beneficent power of the olive and pine trees, and other such plants that give so much and endure for so long. Upon activating this power, you bring forth 2-6 stationary fruit trees, each with 1-2 fruits that can be picked and used with effects similar to that of a random Team-Inspiration. These trees last several minutes before wilting away, grow 1-2 new fruits every minute, and while they are vulnerable to damage, they have pretty strong resistances to all damage except Fire and Negative Energy, and can be healed and buffed. Recharge: Very Long Example Character Concept: The Civic-Minded Woodshop! (Heroic Plant Armor/Fiery Melee Technology Tanker)

You jest, but...*coughs politely*....

"Buttstroke."

For what it's worth (and I hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew in bringing this up), I happen to have an actual, hard-earned college degree in psychology and certain related fields, as well as a unique position of insight into the current zeitgeist; I could potentially be of help with regards to navigating, adjudicating, and maintaining your integrity through what's to come. Ever since I got said degree, it seems, Big SocMed has been trying to position itself as a global 'classroom' in the very fields I've studied, and what's horrifying is how practically all of what it disseminates is wrong. The "real" world today feels like a combination of 'Praetoria without the healthcare' and 'the Rogue Isles without the Hobbesian-state-of-nature element of fairness'.

Fair enough; you're right. Maybe I should've done that - OTOH, I really wasn't around long enough to know for certain how it started, and luckily, other people were holding their own against them, so in this case, it's probably right that I didn't do that this time.

I just want to mention: I just logged onto an utterly bottom-shelf, metastasized-from-Twitter, crybully shitshow; I was going to play some tonight, but I guess not. I bring this up because it was an example of what I really hope does not become more common with the game opening up. Granted, it's not as if I'd never seen such a thing before, and there were some of the known bad actors on my shard involved so I'm guessing that's how it started, but what worries me is they'll get stronger, and aforementioned bad actors will look like leaders to noobs with similar opinions, and from there you could get a whole Hobbesian Leviathan that is vastly worse than the sum of its parts. Social Media culture definitely ruined the MMO enviroment the first time around (the timing was right on the nose, I remember it all too well), and it's taken this long, plus banishment to the Netherworld, to get more-good-than-bad again. I'm just hoping what I saw remains an aberration; there's already too much of it. I won't name names, but it does make me wish some folks would STFU at long last.

Nothing against what you're saying otherwise, BUT it has been pretty well proven to me by this point in my life that those who need/depend on an external code of rules of conduct are themselves exactly the sorts whom you don't want involved in your activity; those communities which took the bold, commonly-denounced (by those who are themselves the problem they fear since they can't fathom anyone else getting along without it) step of telling participants 'we're going to treat you like you're mature, if you're honest with yourself you know right from wrong, Don't Be A Jerk' have always proved to be the friendliest; a built-in benefit was that this rules-averse, individually-empowering policy itself helped scare off those who'd otherwise have become bad actors. I've seen some retract from that stance out of panic into something more litigious, and it accomplished nothing good. Order, I believe, is like an addictive drug that too many people are hooked on from birth (think Star Trek: TNG episode "Symbiosis"), and most of the worst behaviors one sees in the world are analogous to withdrawal; the Code of Conduct's always been there, of course (the game itself being a product of the Internet's 'First High Litigious Era'), I'm just saying why it's a bad idea to overemphasize it. “What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.” ― Baruch Spinoza

You want MOOSE-PIZZA, and you know it!!!

Yeah, this all worries me, come to think of it; I really don't want the next step to be "history repeats itself in the most miserably predictable ways". Somebody mentioned MYST earlier; PYST, I'm afraid, had a prescient lesson to teach. In my experience, people who accuse others of "elitism", especially in the MMO context where that's really pretty overdramatic to start with, are crybullies - sometimes motivated by badly-handled inferiority complexes, other times by genuine "entitlement"- who DO wind up ruining the game environment. Different things do attract different personalities, there are inevitably limits to who can be satisfied without expense to anyone else, and those limits inevitably lead to "drama" that nice people don't like to deal with, and so relegate to people who aren't as nice, and so on. This is all EXACTLY what has happened before, but for some reason there's been this incredible taboo against acknowledging that the "conservative" (meant literally, without the conventional American politics connotations) faction could possibly have valid points; I've always wanted to attribute this to the fact that the games were owned by profiteering corporations who cared about nothing but next quarter's bottom-line, so I'm really hoping that, since this is a nonprofit run by amateurs (again, meant literally, sans the colloquial connotations that make a good thing sound bad), that will be different this time around. Sorry that this is bigger than it needs to be, but just to (literally) illustrate the point: The central problem is groupthink, which social media has 'roided up and, I believe in hindsight, was responsible for the lasting paradigm-shift that changed MMO culture for the dramatically worse starting in 2006. After sticking around World of Warcraft for too long after that (until 2009, in my case) and for a little longer on Live, I never thought I'd come back to MMOs, and I was SO refreshed by how the culture on Homecoming, while still not what it was pre-2006, was far closer to THAT than after. I am now genuinely concerned that it all may happen again. May I be the first to suggest, then, a means of attempting to divert both this and technical problems that would arise from "the rush": A controlled, limited queue (the proper term isn't quite coming to me atm) of new applicants, by no means permanently but maybe for a year or two? Making history, as others have observed is indeed being done here, is normally something done with caution.

So, can we finally expect

Yeah, so that's problem #1: I cannot seem to find my "CoH folder". I use Windows 7, I don't know if that's good enough to count as "Modern Windows"? I'm not getting any "errors", per se, at least none the computer itself labels as such. I'll try to DM/PM/"/t"/whatever those are called around here you where I'm stuck. Sorry for the lagging reply, BTW.

So. I just tried installing this, and am not having much success; I have no self-confidence that I know what I'm doing, and I am terrified I will FUBAR everything if I keep trying to do it on my own. Could someone please walk me through this? So far, I've downloaded the thing from OP, Unzipped it to its own subfolder in my Downloads folder, tried to run COHModdingTool.exe, and...that's where I'm now stuck, as it has ceased to resemble what OP's instructions say ought to happen.

Forgive my Perpetual-N00b Syndrome (PNS, consider donating at your local hospital), but I could use some help. I recall there being a change from the correct/best way to install Homecoming since I joined in 2018. I am still using Tequila. I have recently acquired a brand-new laptop and will soon be taking it on a long trip overseas, so of course I need to install this on it. How do I do that these days? Also, if it's not too much trouble/heresy, I'd be interested in knowing more about how to install other servers (including, perhaps especially, some of the weirder ones I've heard about)!

GRAVITIC ASSAULT (Assault) Available to: Dominators Set Color: Neon Turquoise-on-Black One of the most fundamental forces of the universe rests in the palm of your hand; make your foes kneel before you as they are crushed beneath your power, cast them away like puny motes of stardust, or destroy them from within. This set is slower, on the whole, compared to most other Assault sets, but it offers both great power and considerable versatility; gravity is a force not easily resisted. 1) Gravitic Pulse – You blast your target with the sheer force of concentrated gravity, dealing damage and weighing it down so greatly that its movement is slowed and its ability to jump or fly is severely inhibited. Damage: Minor Smashing/Energy Recharge: Fast 2) Repulse – You blast your target with antigravity in melee, sending it hurtling backwards. Damage: Moderate Negative Energy Recharge: Fast 3) Gravitic Blast – As with Gravitic Pulse, you damage, slow, and weigh down your target with concentrated gravity, save that this power places more emphasis on damage than on secondary effects. Damage: High Smashing/Energy Recharge: Moderate 4) Gravitic Grasp – You concentrate gravity within your target in melee, harming it and temporarily rooting it where it stands. Damage: High Energy Recharge: Moderate 5) Assert Gravity – All enemies in a wide area around you are abruptly knocked to the ground, including those in the air. Those affected will briefly thereafter lose much of their ability to fly, or even to jump. Damage: Minor Smashing Recharge: Slow 6) Newton’s Apple – A fleeting epiphany into the workings of the cosmos by which the accuracy, damage, and secondary effects of all your powers are all briefly increased. Recharge: Long 7) Antigravity Pulse – An antigravity shockwave propels all enemies near you backward. Damage: Moderate Negative Energy Recharge: Slow 😎 Micro-Singularity – You concentrate gravity at a nearby point in space, creating a dreadful stationary trap; enemies that come too close will start to get sucked toward it, and the first unlucky body to get there will suffer both extraordinary damage and repeated knockdowns over a short period; this warp lasts a long time on its own, but once it is thus ‘sated’, it ceases to be, and local space regains its normal curvature. Damage: Superior Smashing/Energy (DoT) Recharge: Slow 9) Implosion – You concentrate gravity within a single target at medium range, causing it to collapse in on itself. Regular enemies (Pets, Underlings, Minions, Lieutenants, and to a lesser extent, Bosses) suffer a high chance of being destroyed outright even if they withstand the damage, special enemies (Elite Bosses, Heroes, amd Arch-Villains) have a sizable chance of taking double damage, and Giant Monsters and other rare, powerful enemies face a further chance for triple damage. Implosion is staggeringly powerful, but costs a lot of endurance. Damage: Extreme Energy Recharge: Long Example Character Concept: The Chaotic Nucleus! (Roguish Fire Control/Gravitic Assault Magic Dominator)

Not too shabby, thanks.

I agree that's something that it would be great to change (what with my character gallery including robots, gods, a potato, and more). If you'd like to help, I'd be interested if you could help me reword the text for that power while keeping the concept I outlined in my previous reply. I had a bunch more to say, but apparently it all disappeared while I got distracted.

Sorry for the late reply: My 'human'-specific reasoning was twofold: - Even among organic life (such as is presented in this game), hominids tend to be just a little more vulnerable, wouldn't you say? - The Rune of Purification power indicates that 'human' is an already-existing designation; I figure, why not utilize it? I admit, I hadn't thought about this (to my own surprise); I suppose it would follow whatever pattern Rune of Purification does. My idea was more like 'you're hacking reality itself and handling enemies like an antivirus program'; I did struggle with the wording to make it clear that the 'interface with reality' problem is one-way.

TECH CONTROL (Control) Available to: Controllers, Dominators Set Color: Electric Green-on-Silver You use a panoply of advanced technology to harass, contain, and subdue your foes. You might be a devious engineer, a special agent trained and equipped by some shadowy military-industrial agency, a crazed former toymaker, a mutant with the power of ‘machine empathy’, or even a ‘technomancer’ who fulfills both Clarke’s Law and Pratchett’s Corollary. This set has a somewhat greater than typical reliance on long-recharge abilities and stationary AoE effects, and some of its effects can be quirky and unreliable, but it excels at besting technological foes, and offers a more diverse array of damage types and more secondary debuffs than many other Control sets. 1) Filaments – You immobilize an opponent in a writhing mass of semi-autonomous, razor-edged techno-filaments. Human enemies will take a small amount of extra damage. Damage: Moderate Lethal (DoT) Recharge: Fast 2) Electromagnet – You paralyze and electrocute an opponent within the field of a powerful electromagnet; robots, machines, and other metal-heavy beings will also suffer a significant decrease to endurance recovery even after being released. Damage: Moderate Energy Recharge: Moderate 3) Computer Virus – Infects an electronic or robotic target with a vicious computer virus with random deleterious effects, potentially including 2-4 of the following: Slowing, to-hit debuff, defense debuff, reduced recovery, disorientation, immobilization, paralysis, Energy damage, blindness, and/or confusion; some organic enemies, particularly cyborgs, have been known to suffer weaker versions of its effects. Recharge: Moderate 4) Cables – You raise a field of thick, electrified, semi-autonomous cables to thrash about in an area centered on a targeted opponent; it and enemies in a radius around it will randomly be knocked down, immobilized, or held. Damage: Minor Smashing/Energy (DoT) Recharge: Slow 5) Laser-Grid – Sets a network of computer-guided lasers and tracking sensors in a broad targeted area; enemies that pass through must contend with the blazing lights, which are sure to impose a nasty penalty to their perception and accuracy, are also likely to reduce their defense to a lesser degree via illumination of their vulnerable spots, and may possibly misdirect them into attacking each other. Recharge: Long 6) Filament Engine – Summons a stationary Filament Engine, which independently uses the Filaments power on foes in range, at double the normal speed; it can be neither healed nor buffed, but is very hard to destroy and lasts for a long time. Recharge: Very Long 7) Quarantine – Using technology so advanced it bends the very parameters of reality as we know it, you temporarily dimension-lock enemies in an area. This pseudo-dimension strips those within of their ability to ‘interface’ with the universe beyond them, while still allowing them to be affected by those without. Even after this acute effect wears off, targets may still suffer a lingering to-hit debuff. Both the hold and debuff are more severe when used on mechanical, robotic, and to a lesser degree cyborg, targets. Recharge: Very Long 😎 Teleportation Field – You create a fairly wide area in which enemies are frequently subjected to random short-range teleportation, and also face a chance to suffer a strong but brief stun each time it happens. Recharge: Long 9) Mechazoid – Creates a mighty Mechazoid! This sleek, state-of-the-art robot fights with powerful blades and laser-blast attacks, can be buffed like any teammate, and while it cannot be healed, it does have good self-repair capabilities of its own, is nearly immune to Psionic and Toxic damage, has good resistance to other forms of damage as well (with the exception of Fire and Cold), is very resistant to stun and confusion effects, and is totally immune to fear, taunt, and placate effects. Mechazoid: Blade Slash – melee Lethal attack Blade Lunge – as Blade Slash, but slower and stronger Laser Blast – strong Energy/Fire ranged attack Laser Fusillade – strong Energy/Fire ranged attack in long, narrow cone Fast Healing Reconstruction Flight Evasive Maneuvers Recharge: Very Long Example Character Concept: The Innocent Cybersoul! (Heroic Tech Control/Psionic Assault Mutant Dominator)

Hardly - it's a "Power Pool" set, just for starters (and you'd only have one knife in your hand at any one time). It was sort of meant with ATs like Controllers, Masterminds, Defenders, etc in mind, and meant to emphasize melee (in deliberate contrast with my previous submission); it might be unbalanced if you could get a ranged attack right off the bat, I'm not sure.

KNIFEPLAY (Pool) Set Color: Steel White-on-Blood Red You carry one or more fighting-knives, and have exceptional, if not ‘super’, proficiency in their use; this is a good pick if you want a few more close-ranged attacks, or find you need an extra ‘edge’ to counter enemy mobility and defenses. 1) Simple Stab – a simple attack with your knife that will also cause bleeding for additional damage over time. Damage: Minor Lethal Recharge: Fast 2) Side-Slash – a long slash with your knife damages and reduces the defense of enemies in an arc in front of you. Damage: Minor Lethal Recharge: Moderate 3) Toss Knife – tossing one of your knives at a foe will deal decent damage and might knock it down. Damage: Moderate Lethal Recharge: Moderate 4) Underhanded Feint – with a quick swap to your offhand, you make an attack that exposes your enemy, greatly reducing its defense. Damage: Moderate Lethal Recharge: Medium 5) Mumblety-Peg – You forcefully toss a knife at a close-by target’s foot (or other locomotive appendage), pinning it where it stands and causing enough acute pain to reduce its resistance to further damage. Damage: Moderate Lethal Recharge: Medium Example Character Concept: The Wily Taipan-Girl! (Rogueish Mind Control/Poison/Knifeplay Mutant Controller)

Shall I just bring a proper military authority in here...?

This is interesting; I'd be willing to replace Aim with a Sniper attack. I guess I thought sniper rifles were supposed to be kinda special.

RE the (surprising, to me!) "Single Shot" controversy: All I know for sure is Arachnos guns can do it. Surely that's justification enough?