biostem

This is going to sound weird, but give Warhammer 40K; Mechanicus a try. The point of view is different, and it is blatantly turn-based, but you have a somewhat related upgrade/progression system and you have a lot of flexibility in how you build your squad. You could also give Champions Online a try - it's a little newer than CoH, and is F2P. Without knowing the specific features you're looking for, it's harder to recommend more games. Best of luck to you!

Honestly, some sort of check *before* you slot beyond the 5th version of a particular set would be a better tool, since if you've already slotted more than 5 of a particular set bonus, you;ve already made a pretty costly mistake...

I'm not against this per se, but I wonder how well the advice would age and how much of that advice it would provide would be objective vs subjective - like slotting a stealth jump IO into sprint. I also wonder how much work would be required to do such an analysis. Maybe it could just give the basic info, like having more than 5 of the same IO set bonus provides no additional benefit, or how slotting more than 3 of the same SO or higher of a particular type in a single power tends to suffer severe diminishing returns...

The chest detail & belt almost look like a turtle shell. Really nice!

I meant "mass" as in like 2 or more controllers/dominators just toggling this hypothetical power on against an AV or something, to keep it locked down forever...

You could forego the boosts and just run the tunnel farm - they help, but aren't absolutely crucial.

Do you mean some sort of "temporal armor" set? If so, what would be its schtick? Would it focus on a lot of slows? Self-buffs, (recharge reduction, +movement speed)? Would you see this as a resist set, a defense set, or some hybrid?

Thank you!

If you've done it at least once and/or are familiar with MMOs in general, then you can skip it. You are forced to level up to level 2 in it, IIRC, which will mess with the pricing for the boosts, so it would be advisable to skip it if you are already familiar with the basic controls and game systems/interface...

So I ended up using a slightly modified version of a previous costume I posted, but I like it so much that I felt it needed to be shared - "The Flux Mage":

First, let me start off by stating that this guide isn't about obtaining extreme levels of power or becoming an inf billionaire. What is *is* about is getting almost any build up to the point where it can function on its own, and eventually achieve that end-game level of performance you're looking for. I'm also writing this guide with the assumption that you aren't in a rush, that you are at least relatively familiar with the game, and that you'll be starting as a hero. 1. Create your character. For best results, choose something that can have 2-3 attacks by level 6, (I'll explain why later). 2. Go to the P2W vendor and get the prestige enhancements, the jump pack/steam jump device, athletic run/ninja run/beast run, blackwand/Nemesis Staff, and Inner Inspiration temp powers. Do NOT get the 2X XP buff just yet. 3. Use the inner inspiration power and store the 3 medium or large inspirations you get in the Auction House. This is also a good time to check how much the ones you got are worth, and whether you should sell or combine them, (we'll come back to this later). 4. Slot the prestige enhancements in your 1st attack or 2 that you have, (any damaging power should be able to benefit from them). I like to slot the one that gives a chance at knocking down your target in my fastest firing power, to make the most of that effect. 5. Go kill some enemies near Ms. Liberty until you level up. Store any medium or large enhancements you get in the Auction House, as per #3 above, (unlikely to occur, but still). 6. Do NOT level up just yet. Sell off any enhancements you got to one of the vendors near Ms. Liberty. 7. See what the value is of those inspirations you stored earlier - we're looking to have at least 24,000 inf before moving onto the next step, but 8,000 should suffice if you're in a hurry. Sell them using the little bit of "seed money" you earned from your first few kills. You can list them at 1 inf each. 8. Buy the offense amplifier, (8 hours worth), and the others if you can afford it. Then buy the 2X XP buff, (also 8 hours worth). 9. You can then train up, select a 2nd or 3rd attack if one is available, and slot the other prestige enhancements in them. I do, however, suggest putting your 1st 2 enhancement slots into stamina. 10. I'd then use the jump pack or steam jump powers to head up to the top of the Atlas statue globe for the badge, then go to the flag on top of city hall, and finally to the Hero Corps contact just behind and to the left of city hall, for 3 badges and some additional XP, (may even get you another level at this early stage). 11. Just to the right of city hall there's a box truck, (marked on the map as Pocket D). Go to it then click on the back of said truck to be taken there. 12. Once in Pocket D, find the hall with the elevator and take it down to the main level. There, go to the hero/blue side and go to the Architect Entertainment area. You should get another badge and some XP as you're heading over. 13. From this point, you are basically going to run a simple "Tunnel Farm", (shameless plug for my version: "Biostem's Underground Culling"). I suggest doing this until you reach level 22. It shouldn't take too too long, but the exact time will vary based upon your AT and powersets. The 1st run is critical, as you'll be very limited in what powers you have available, so don't be afraid to use those prestige powers you picked up earlier, as well as brawl, (you can slot one of the prestige enhancements in brawl if you need or want to). I would stick to +0, 1 character for this initial run as well. After completing it, you should be level 6 or 7. 14. After you complete the 1st run, go to War Witch in Pocket D, and train up. Another attack or 2 will help greatly here and speed things along. Slot the remaining prestige enhancements into those attacks, as each 1 increases damage and makes the power recharge faster. 15. The Tunnel Farm will cap your character at level 2, but you'll still have access to your powers that were chosen at levels 6 and below. You should earn a few hundred Architect Tickets from each run, but don't spend them yet. 16. Once you reach level 25, turn in some of those AE tickets for rare level 41-50 salvage. Sell those pieces of salvage on the Auction House, where you should receive about 400,000 - 500,000 inf each. You'll want about 2-3 million inf but you'll also want about 1200 AE tickets left. Once you have a good amount of inf, you the 1200 AE tickets remaining to buy 75 each of common tech and common arcane salvage. This should fill your invention salvage storage. Feel free to transfer some of this to the Vault Reserve, (little button on the main salvage window to bring up another window), if you want to buy more of the common salvage at this point. 17. Once you have a sufficient amount of inf and salvage, either head back up through the elevators or use the back of the box truck in the main Pocket D are to travel to Echo Plaza, and then eventually to Steel Canyon, (South). 18. Go to the University that's not too far from the tram station, (look for the little graduation cap icon), and use the inf and salvage you acquired to outfit yourself with level 25 Invention-Origin enhancements. You should be able to craft everything you need, or very close to it. Just note that salvage in your Vault Reserve cannot be directly used in crafting, so you'll have to move it manually. 19. Once outfitted, you are pretty much set for your "leveling build" - this is just to get you to 50, (or whatever level you desire). You will get respecs and other build slots as you level up, so don't be too concerned about crafting the perfect build. The goal is to get you powered up and slotted with enhancements that will never expire. You can repeat the process or run the farm as much as you like. I hope this guide is useful to some of you. Have fun!

I wonder if it was envisioned that many players/characters simply wouldn't take a travel power at all, and would instead wholly rely on teammates...

Not all content is equally appealing to all people - be it due to difficulty, time commitment, the zones or enemy factions involved, or simple unfamiliarity with the content. It's not about "fault" insomuch as it is about what is recognizable and what people are ready or willing to flock to. I, for once, often pass on announcements for "SPEED X" or "RUSH Y", as I prefer a more leisurely pace, but I'm glad those options are out there...

A lot of the initial game decisions seem to have been based off of the assumption that players would have the same kind of tight-knit/fully trusting relationship, completely devoid of bad actors, as would a tabletop gaming group, not the kind of PUG/random stranger culture we have online nowadays...

I certainly could, but "dirty cops" are also a staple of the genre.

They're one of the cooler groups, IMHO. With the shells/hardsuit units,psi-cops, ones merged with Kheldians, and their various robots, they offer a lot of different enemy types - it would be cool if there was a group of "Rogue PPD" units that heroes could fight - maybe just have them draw a red slash through the PPD logo/badge and employ darker colors to differentiate them...

If the option already exists, then please enlighten me, but I'd love to have an option while browsing the forums to "lock" the top banner/menu so the various links and notifications stay in place, (this would probably require having the actual forums in their own pane). Your thoughts? Thanks for reading!

I play at very weird hours, so I neither have the desire or the need to be talking to my computer or don a headset at like 3AM. Almost none of my IRL friends play MMOs anymore, much less at the hours I mentioned above. Some of us like to RP, and hearing the voice of the actual player behind a character severely breaks that immersion for me. Wanting to play the game instead of holding voice conversations is also not my idea of a relaxing experience. I have to talk on the phone a lot for my day job, so going home to basically do the same is not my idea of a way to unwind/relax. Do what you like, but don't act like others not doing things the way you prefer is "nonsensicle"...

As an aside, I play Fallout 76 a lot, and the complete lack of any text chat makes things quite annoying - you're stuck to using in-game emotes or voice ONLY...

But what is the basis for your belief that, even if everyone was on Discord, that there'd suddenly be interest in the TFs/SFs/Trials you wanted to run? I mean, LFG and such are visible by default in CoH, so if you're being met with silence, it probably means that there isn't interest in general. I can hop on with one of my 50s at virtually any hour, advertise I'm going to run some 54 Council missions in PI, and get flooded with tells asking to join, so I don't think it's because there aren't any eyes on what you're putting out there...

I wonder if it could simply be a toggle-hold power that raises the enemy into the air and deals continuous DoT. Maybe have the end cost escalate over time, so a bunch of mind control folks couldn't just mass-TK an AV forever...

It also doesn't translate to who's actually online at any given time - I *know* that the person that replied to in-game chat is actually there. I have no idea if a person who expressed interest in Discord will actually come. How long should we wait around for said person? It just seems like a bunch of unnecessary steps for little gain...

To each their own, but it sounds a lot like you're adding a layer of "bookkeeping" that moves things further and further from actually playing the game. It also doesn't help to come here and start your suggestion by calling people "close minded"...

Why should I have to rely on a completely different program/resource/community simply to play a game? I don't like having to constantly leave the game just to play the game... I mean, do whatever you like, but don't expect a game's community to be big into going outside of said game, and for that activity to become commonplace, (while actually playing the game, I mean). FYI, CoH and WoW launched around the same time.

Frankly, I wouldn't want to see MM sets that were specifically from existing enemy groups, but "off-brand" ones could be cool. For instance, a "movie monster" set with werewolves, vampires, and perhaps a mummy or Frankenstein's monster. And instead of a Carnival of Shadows set, do something like a "Big Top" one, with jugglers, a fire breather, a strongman, an animal tamer, and a ring master.