Greycat

From day 1, they didn't require you to form a team. You talk to an arbiter, look at the plaques, pick a patron to do arcs for. Much like any other story arc you can run solo. As opposed to - well, any TF or SF. You *were* around on live? Or no? Because that seems like a rather ... misinformed question. If you're used to "I can go to LFG and pick Posi and start it solo" (something ELSE you'll notice is not a Patron arc option, as unlike task/strike forces it's ... not a task/strike force, but a story arc) then you may well not know the difference. Positron: Task force. Meant for groups, no matter what it has. Posi 1 was also (as you'll notice from the 1) part of what was a LONGER TF, the original Posi TF (available in Ouro.) Patron arc: Story arc. Meant to be able to be soloed. No workaround to start solo, not listed in LFG. Just talk to a contact and go. Of course, there's also just that it's called the "Positron Task Force (Part 1)" too... There's also Paragonwiki, which lists: Patron Power Pools, which require completing a Story Arc from Arbiter Rein

Since I'm standing in another CC delayed for sunlight... just reminding folks about this base! (And taking suggestions. I'm not a super base builder, but tweaks are appreciated.)

Ramiel's arc is completely soloable on SOs. Just don't jump into it on +4x8. And generally you can ignore the bifurcations. Just rush up to trapdoor and start beating him down. I don't think I've ever had more than 2 show up at most since... geez... not long after it was introduced. Other things - if you ignore that pile of glowy "debris" in the Honoree mission, you can clear the room before the holtz/honoree room. If you're a traps or devices, you can lay down all sorts of trip mines where the front portals spawn, too, then run back and click it. The portals (which can be ignored,) Holz and Honoree won't spawn until then, so you have a big, clear room to pull them to (one at a time of course) and fight them. Pay attention to NPC chat. The Rikti will start throwing 5 ambush waves about the time you start fighting Crey. (I forget the wording, I think the NPC chat starts with "invaders:crey?" and the last one spawns with "Mercy: show none." You can ambush them at the end of the tunnel which goes into the crey hallway - or just fight them where they spawn at the end of that first bridge near where you come in. Yeah, have the curse breaker handy for Holz. 50% END being taken for 5 minutes is annoying. Honoree is... mostly "chew purples." Maybe some reds depending on how much damage you do.

Work them down with non-KB powers. Then knock them down and finish them off. If they still pop PFF, head to the next mob, since that boss will be nearly dead when they drop out anyway.

COH is a pretty casual game overall. Fortunately, even "casual" players can get purples dropping. Seriously. Saying anything that smacks of "I am more hardcore than you and deserve this more" is like bragging that you're the best at teeball. In your 30s.

*shrug* I don't mind when they pop that. Finish off the other stuff that might be around them, have a drink, waiting a few seconds won't kill me. Now, if you want an annoying PFF/intangible, we can talk about Diabolique...

Functionally, by the time we got to live, nothing. The Hive and (possibly) RWZ are the closest we have to trial zones - and the RWZ is maybe 1/3 of one at best. Basically the zone was designed with an overarching, multi-team (yep, before leagues - I don't recall if that was part of the problem they had) push to get to and defeat some overarching goal. You'd fight to the dam, pass through (which you couldn't do on the live version - unless you could find a map glitch - so Echo got tweaked a bit) and save the generators or whatever it was on the far side of the dam. The entire zone would have functionality around that. Hazard zones are basically "There are bigger, nastier spawns. Have fun!" Actually found a Prima guide on ebay cheap, I'll see if I can find the description there again. Not digging through all my boxes in storage 🙂

Pfft. It's called preventing burnout. You can jump around all sorts of levels and deal with different content.

You can do anything. Incarnate content (trials, DA missions) will give other bonus Incarnate rewards, though. (So will the SSAs.)

To be really nitpicky, old Faultline was supposed to be a trial zone, not a hazard zone. I *believe* the range was something like 17-25 - if anyone has the old (old old) "strategy guide" (not the binder) for it, it had details on it. Trial never got into the game, of course. I think the most use I got out of Faultline was with the original Defiance. Lots of tall buildings to drop off of for that damage boost. 🙂 Granted, the blaster I was doing that with had outleveled the zone ANYWAY, but still.

Start the quest as an Earth/FF or Ice/Emp 'troller and say that. 😉

Welcome back. As for the ideas, 1. I have hasten on very few builds. Those I do have it on, I have few I put it on auto on. I'd rather have control over that END hit. 2. Tough and Weave are not that universal - another "have it on very few builds" here, myself - and I'd like to avoid power creep, thanks. 3. More slots for Khelds would probably break things, given how the code is 🙂 Also, note that sets slotted into forms *still have their bonuses in effect* even while not in that form - that could be "just too much." I'm not necessarily *against* it, I'm just half wondering what all would break.

Posi 1 and 2 weren't designed to be soloed. The patron arcs were.

Gesundheit.

So as I was browsing through Hold IO sets, I noticed something - None of them have a damage component. Some have procs, sure, for extra mag and such, but there are no hold sets with (say) Acc/Dmg/Hold or Dmg/Hold in them. Now, yes, holds typically have some secondary set type they accept - typically ranged or melee damage. And yes, *typically* Holds don't do a lot of damage (though one of a Warshade's highest damage melee attacks is a hold, and several other melee "slams" have a Hold component to them.) However, you're then either frankenslotting and not getting some nice higher end set bonuses or you're not enhancing the hold itself as a hold. Currently, the only way of getting damage and mez in the same slot is through Titan/Hami-os. Also checking in Immobilizes, they have the same issue - no sets that will do an immob/damage. So, I'd like to suggest two sets with each combination - one that leans more towards damage with a little hold (or mez,) one that does more mez (with a bit of damage enhancement.) Given these are mostly focused on controllers and doms, they'd likely want bonuses leaning towards (small-to-mid) recharge, end reduction and accuracy, among whatever else would be in there. No, I don't actually have example sets in mind 🙂 I just noticed the lack and wanted to throw the idea out there for future IO sets. If people want to try to figure out a set or three, hey, go nuts.

MM, true, I was reading it more as "you'll need that for repeated runs." Then again, IK've also seen people just base (or other) teleport out of there. Of course, if you're going after the Igneous bosses badge, you can get at least one of *those* defeated per run, too. 🙂

You don't even need reveal for this. (Depending on the character and level, I'm averaging between 7-12 minutes.)

Not to mention Mu, redside. I hate dealing with packs of them on a lowbie. Which is part of the issue with looking for these bonuses - when I could *really* use them, they're not there. By the time you get up to where sets would have end drain resistance, you've probably got enough going on - even on basic builds - that you can mitigate the effect in most instances. (Not really against the idea, just not really sold on it either.)

He's not actually there "all the time." I often run through Boomtown (easy 5 merits for zone badges, after all) and flat out do not run across him. He *is,* however, part of the task force. He is supposed to come after the task force as an ambush. *Not* having him do that doesn't make the taskforce unable to be completed, no, but it does remove some of the story and rewards (6 fewer merits for a "hard reward," not to mention just standing around waiting for an ambush - which several see as a fun part of the TF, not to mention other people dropping what they're doing to help, only to stand around until its determined Babbage isn't coming for some reason.) While I don't think he should be immune to police drones, reviewing pathing and guaranteeing a Babbage for the TF I wouldn't see as hurting anything.

Isn't that basically the recovery bonus?

What does it matter? If the argument is "This is immersion breaking," well, more meta-information has *always* been given for quite a few characters. Since, well, before IOs were a thing and SOs were what were sold for most of a character's career.

Also this, yes. Friendly fire is one thing when you're in something like a first person shooter, where it's you (and/or a small team) dealing with things as they come along. It's another when you have powers that will affect 36 targets (I think that's the upper limit of Judgement?) in a certain area, and people *must* be by the enemies for powers to work. Then what about things like Clarion? Or Howling Twilight? Are you now suddenly giving mez protection or rezzing all the enemies in a specific area? We can't *pick* who to affect with AOEs (it's part of why the AOE buff "buff" irks me - I can't skip people who don't want a certain buff.) I could see controllers and doms suddenly becoming MUCH less welcome as a result of something like this. Force Field becomeing even LESS played because you're also buffing enemies... No, I don't think I'd like this at all.

It may not have kept the TF from being completed, but it does remove some of the fun and challenge from said TF.

As someone who likes control sets, especially with confuse, I can pretty much guarantee *that* won't happen. Just like anchor targets, they seem to get killed immediately before they can help the team at all.

Wow. Serious hostility here on both sides for such a ... well, "fluff" idea. Yes, the information can be looked up online. No, that's not a good argument against it. Honestly, neither is "My immersion" - and I'm saying that as an RPer. I mean, really, how different is it from "I can introduce you to Fred, who deals with Freakshow and Crey and sells these enhancements, or I can introduce you to Susan, who deals with Circle of Thorns and sells these enhancements?" Do you normally introduce people that way in real life? "Well, I can introduce you to this person, who does this and sells that, or that person, who does that and sells this!" If the way contacts are introduced *now* isn't immersion breaking, neither is this idea. Especially with the thought you can hide the information (just click on "more info" to get specifics.) If being told which SOs they sell isn't immersion breaking, frankly, neither is this. Personally, I'm solidly in the "meh" camp. I don't care one way or the other about it. I probably wouldn't notice it if it were put in, and wouldn't be bothered if it weren't. Oh, and I do have to add... post an idea here, *deal with* the fact that people are going to have their own ideas, pros, cons, etc. You want just the devs to see it, email them. Otherwise, you're getting feedback, and you may not like it.