roleki

If I am reading this correctly, the reason why Hami-Os are super expensive is because farmers have an abundance of resources? It has nothing to do with the fact that almost nobody bothers to do Hamidon raids anymore, let alone successful raids that yield such rewards? How, exactly, are farmers driving up prices of HOs? You have to look DEEP into the farm builds thread to find anyone who slots even one, so it's probably not farmers that are demanding them. I've got 20-odd alts cooked up to 50, and of the ~1400 enhancement slots that represents, the only HO I've slotted is one I earned on a raid, and honestly I would be better served with an IO there but I kept it because it was novel. Maybe I'm completely wrong and people are just slotting HOs like mad and not sharing their actual working builds, but so far the only builds *I* have seen that slot HOs are theorycraft marvels. When I am looking at an alt, even with 2BN in my pocket, I would rather pay ~13M to boost a rare IO that hits where HOs do than pay 35M for the real thing, esp when the resulting boosted IO gives better buffs AND lends itself to bonuses. By and large, MOST farmers aren't out there spending their inf like drunken sailors, especially in a market capped by the Reward Merit system, and the only truly expensive items are those that aren't produced by either Merits or farming. Do people really think farmers spend hour after hour clearing thousands of mobs out of caves just so they can go blow it all paying crazy rates for stuff nobody wants anyway?

Can you say that with 100% certainty, considering there was exactly such a thing on Live?

Clearly, the people at fault for everything being so expensive are the people who dramatically increase the supply of those items. The only way to fix this is to reduce the supply to a trickle, then the prices will drop!

As someone else said, the mechanics are what keep me glued to the executable. While I happen to prefer THIS game setting/universe, I would probably play any game that was built on this framework, provided it was done with the same level of commitment to the bit.

When I first heard about CoH's return, I made the (innocent) mistake of navigating to a deserted server. I played on a completely empty server for 6 hours, and that was all I could take, even while drowning in nostalgia and running amok seeing the sights. If HC etc went away, I would roll my own to tide me over while (hopefully) another team got a 'live' public server going.

I wanted to try that crazy Seismic Smash slotting out for myself. I just whomped an orange-con Death Mage with it. The results were... extreme. I mean, even if that second 188.76 is an error (I don't think containment applies to pool powers??) , I just smacked an orange for 632 damage with one punch.

My memory is fuzzy on this point, but I want to say the change was made to highlight their successful implementation of PhysX.

While I sympathize with your overall message, I have to point out that Knockback has been frowned on in teams from the moment people figured out that's what they called the effect that sent mobs flying out of their FoV. As for the state of balance in the game... as much as I miss that feeling you'd get when the PUG you joined had *just* the right mix of DPS/control/buffs, I do NOT miss the feeling you'd get when the team was 'off' by one of those elements and your team had literally no chance of finishing the mission in front of them until you plugged that hole. YMMV, but I do not miss the days when there was a very real chance your evening would be spent either standing around while the star recruited, or rushing into the mission with a lopsided team that would wipe repeatedly and really drive home the point that you should have stood around recruiting some more. Power creep may have undercut those sporadic bursts of serendipitous efficiency, but to me the game as it is today offers a more consistently productive experience. Put it another way, if I'm going to traumatize my kids by ignoring their pitiable cries for an hour, I want to spend that time IN the cave, not standing around outside of it.

I'm pretty sure that Earth/TA is actually a "yo dawg, I heard you like controllers" meme.

I really miss Ciry of Data 😞 Best as I can tell from the visual cues, the Fonts do some minor damage; it would appear to be two different types, one of which I assume is smashing or lethal because the first number is always a tad smaller than the second. As for duration, I have had trouble tracking that; some seem to die as soon as the target of the attack that spawned them dies, and others seem... longer-lived. I've had numerous occasions where Energy Font #2 outlived two instances of Energy Font #1. They must be doing something more than just spamming minor damage, because I've seen mobs forget all about me and start attacking the Font, but maybe that's more a statement to the poor DPS of the character than any mechanic of the Font.

I know what you mean; while it's great that virtually any team of any mix of ATs (or no mix at all) can steamroll these days, I do miss the dark times when a PUG could transform from horrible to godmode just by adding the right toon or two. But of course, those were also the days where teams often stood around doing nothing while the star looked for healz and tankz, ignoring what other builds could do.

If Ice/TA is your introduction to controllers, I can see why you don't like them! Actually, Ice/TA is one of my favorite controller builds; it may not make a blip on the DPS charts but soloing is extremely safe (if a little slow) and on teams, you can stifle the mob you're standing in AND clamp down on chaos hotspots 95' in any direction. Put it this way, if I get on a team that is having trouble surviving, I would grab my Ice/TA before a healer or buffer, because when an Ice/TA is around, you really only need to weather the alpha, and sometimes not even that.

I had been sticking that set into AoE immobilize powers and while that does churn out the fonts... the fonts don't seem to do a whole lot.

Is there a particular thread HC players go to when they want to bash other CoX dev teams? Because honestly and for true, I am all over these boards and the next time I see an HC player bashing a non-HC dev team will be the very first time. Meanwhile, I see plenty of people on these boards bashing the HC team and/or deriding their player base as being nothing more than submissive sheep, while accusing the HC dev team and player base of doing the same. It all seems like so much projection.

So true. I took my tw/bio on an ITF, and found myself fighting Romulus/Nictus. I assumed everyone else was cleaning up the other minotaurs and letting me hold the AV's attention, but when I beat him so bad he turned into a fart cloud, I found I was still alone. Yeah, everyone behind me had died. There were whole conversations in chat about it and everything.

I loved my Fire/FF on Live so much that a Fire/FF was the first thing I rolled when I found out about HC. Now that I have him properly equipped, I find I am loving Fire/FF even more in i25 Dude's a little steamroller, knocking mobs down just as they are swarmed by near-immortal Fire Imps, then wading into the midst of the chaos and melting all the faces. As far as attack sequences go, it's one of the most satisfying click->result chains in the game. As far as buffs/debuffs go... the various stuns, knockX, -ToHit, and +Def effects combine to form a nice little survivability package, with the added bonus of only having to look for flashing bubbles every ~4 minutes. Bottom line is, by not having to spam out of my secondary, I have more time/endurance to knock things down and go melt their faces. So I do. Viva Fire/FF!

I don't always have time to team/farm, so sometimes I'll just log on and take an alt through one of the hoops to get The Atlas Medallion, or other badge grabs. If I'm killing time between teams, I'll just float around PI or whatever, beating folks up in the parking lots until I see an LFG that looks promising. Also spend a lot of time crafting/selling. I'll often just hop on test and monkey around with different builds/Incarnate mixes. Suffice to say, there's always something to do.

This is the build my En/En/Fire has been running lately; it started off as a team-oriented alternate build but I liked it enough that I have been using it solo as well. Highlights here are +98.75 recharge, +14.85% Endurance, +30% Regeneration, +325HP and a 6.25 Endurance discount. In practice what this means is I have perma Hasten (168.75 global recharge) near-perma Power Boost, perma-Energize, perma Boost Range, perma-Aim and near-perma Build Up. The numbers in practice: with the Atlas Medallion giving me+5, I run around at 119 endurance; Panacea gives me 8.99 end 3x a minute, Performance Shifter gives 11.99 end 1.5x a minute. With the slotting I have, I recover 3.70 end a second, and run at a constant 55.63 discount to endurance. In short, I have endurance wrapped up. When I tap Energize (which is available every 14s, or 2x as often as I need it) I get healed for 333, to go along with the random +65 Panacea gives me 3x a minute, and the Preventive Medicine proc lying in wait should I need it. The extra 325 HP have me sitting at 1530 HP, regenerating 35.04HP a second. I can take a punch or three if I have to. When Boosted, I am sitting at 31.93 Ranged and 23.81 Melee defense. Not spectacular, but Barrier gets me where I need to go if something is actually able to fire off an attack, because Bonfire, Energy Torrent and Explosive Blast tend to pin stuff to the ground below me. Meanwhile, I run at a capped 200.5 ToHit bonus and spend plenty of time at the 400% damage cap BEFORE reaching for a Red. All attacks have ridiculous availability; I can snipe 3x in 10s, and fire off Nova every 31. I don't have DPS numbers, but I can say I have a pretty good formula for blowing through targets quickly: my attacks are always available, my buffs are always up, I never run out of endurance, and most mobs are too busy flopping around on the ground to do anything about it. Weaknesses are very large mobs throwing multiple mezzes, and running into a lot of things that resist the smashing damage component of my ranged attacks. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.5 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! lolenen x2: Level 50 Technology Blaster Primary Power Set: Energy Blast Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Flame Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Power Blast -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(7) Level 1: Power Thrust -- Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A) Level 2: Energy Torrent -- SuddAcc-KB/Rech(A), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/Rech(7), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/End(9), SuddAcc-KB/Acc/Dmg(9), SuddAcc-KB/Acc(11), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(11) Level 4: Fly -- Flight-I(A) Level 6: Energy Punch -- AbsAmz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(A) Level 8: Build Up -- AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 10: Power Burst -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(17) Level 12: Bone Smasher -- AbsAmz-Acc/Rchg(A) Level 14: Sniper Blast -- ExpMarks-Dmg/End/Int(A), ExpMarks-Acc/End/Rech(25), ExpMarks-Rng/FSnp(31), ExpMarks-Acc/Dmg(34), ExpMarks-Dmg/Rech(37), ExpMarks-Dmg/Int/Rng/Rech(39) Level 16: Aim -- GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(39), GssSynFr--ToHit(39), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(40), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(40), GssSynFr--Build%(50) Level 18: Energize -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(40), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(43), Prv-Heal/Rchg(46), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(48), Prv-Absorb%(48) Level 20: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21) Level 22: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(23), BlsoftheZ-Travel(23), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(25) Level 24: Boxing -- Acc-I(A) Level 26: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(27), UnbGrd-Max HP%(27), UnbGrd-ResDam(31) Level 28: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(29), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29), LucoftheG-Def(31) Level 30: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 32: Nova -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(33), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Arm-Acc/Rchg(33), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Arm-Dam%(34) Level 35: Bonfire -- SuddAcc-KB/Rech(A), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/Rech(36), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/End(36), SuddAcc-KB/Acc/Dmg(36), SuddAcc-KB/Acc(37), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(37) Level 38: Boost Range -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 41: Power Bolt -- SuddAcc-KB/Rech(A), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/Rech(42), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/End(42), SuddAcc-KB/Acc/Dmg(42), SuddAcc-KB/Acc(43), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(43) Level 44: Explosive Blast -- SuddAcc-KB/Rech(A), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/Rech(45), SuddAcc-KB/Dmg/End(45), SuddAcc-KB/Acc/Dmg(45), SuddAcc-KB/Acc(46), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(46) Level 47: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(48), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 49: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Defiance Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(17), Pnc-Heal/+End(19) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(19), PrfShf-End%(21) Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Seers Radial Superior Ally Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Ion Core Final Judgement Level 50: Agility Core Paragon ------------ ------------ Set Bonus Totals: 25% DamageBuff(Smashing) 25% DamageBuff(Lethal) 25% DamageBuff(Fire) 25% DamageBuff(Cold) 25% DamageBuff(Energy) 25% DamageBuff(Negative) 25% DamageBuff(Toxic) 25% DamageBuff(Psionic) 2.81% Defense(Smashing) 2.81% Defense(Lethal) 1.25% Defense(Fire) 1.25% Defense(Cold) 10.63% Defense(Energy) 10.63% Defense(Negative) 5.63% Defense(Melee) 13.75% Defense(Ranged) 2.5% Defense(AoE) 14.85% Max End 6.25% Enhancement(Max EnduranceDiscount) -3.4 Enhancement(Knockback) 39% Enhancement(Accuracy) 15% Enhancement(Range) 98.75% Enhancement(RechargeTime) 37.5% SpeedFlying GrantPower Preventive Medicine (10% chance, if Scourge) 325.3 HP (26.99%) HitPoints 37.5% JumpHeight 37.5% SpeedJumping MezResist(Confused) 32.5% MezResist(Held) 32.5% MezResist(Immobilized) 32.5% MezResist(Sleep) 32.5% MezResist(Stunned) 32.5% MezResist(Terrorized) 32.5% 6.5% (0.11 End/sec) Recovery 30% (1.51 HP/sec) Regeneration 2.25% Resistance(Smashing) 2.25% Resistance(Lethal) 9% Resistance(Fire) 9% Resistance(Cold) 2.25% Resistance(Energy) 2.25% Resistance(Negative) 6% Resistance(Toxic) 6% Resistance(Psionic) 37.5% SpeedRunning

I think what they are getting at is, the HC team had no idea how many people would storm their server, or how they would pay for the sudden surge in resource requirements, so there was good reason to be careful aside from the legal aspect.

Well, you are better at exporting than I am, so you're off to a great start. As for the build, it looks solid, but, here are some observations I had, maybe want to try it on test and see how it 'runs' - I would suggest putting the Superior Defiant Barrage in Power Bolt (preferrably) or Power Blast; that way if you do get mezzed, you have a way of blasting your way out of it. Along the same lines, I would recommend taking the other Blaster ATO out of Nova and slotting it in Power Burst; you only use Nova so often, but Power Burst is fired almost repeatedly. YMMV, but I *love* the PVP set in Sniper Blast; damage is a little off and there's no proc, but with enough recharge and the Fast Snipe unique, I can actually incorporate Sniper Blast into my attack chain, like, Snipe -> Burst -> Blast -> Snipe -> repeat. You might want to 6-slot Aim and lean more into Recharge on Build Up (Aim is a +50% to hit, Build Up is 20) but your slotting now is fine. Overall, it looks like you have a pretty balanced build, ranged vs. melee. If that suits your style, nothing to change, but lately I have been finding my En/En playing exclusively at range even when solo. The thing is, while the /en melee attacks do awesome damage, I have found them to be a little slow in the i25 world. In the time it takes me to fire off Total Focus, I could have fired off almost my entire attack chain out of my primary. On small teams, this is not a big deal, but on full teams, you end up swinging at dead things a lot. Again, that's just my experience, and I am speaking as someone who has already experienced 120-130 levels of the joy of straight-up punching things off the face of the planet, so I can 'afford' not to slot them like crazy and beat stuff to a pulp with them in i25. All that said, I think you will enjoy En/En as you have it drawn up, regardless of anything I said.

If those are the kinds of things @Abraxusis doing, then yeah, that is petty. But, the gap between "keeping an ear out" and "lying, making stuff up about them or attempting to orchestrate their downfall" requires a bigger leap than context would suggest.

And yet, here you are, apparently with strong opinions based on what must have been exhaustive observation of HC's forums. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, the fact that you expressed disdain for someone else doing practically the same thing... well, it doesn't exactly say "Now THIS is the opinion of a rational fellow!"

Same process as applying a Catalyst; you acquire a Booster, click into your Enhancement Management screen, click into the power you want to modify, then click the enhancement itself. It should drop into the 'combination' section of the screen, and if you have a Booster available, that will appear in the upper left corner of the screen. Click that, then combine, and voila: your enhancement is now 50+1 or whatever it was before. Note you cannot boost Attuned IOs.

If I only have one generic IO in a power, I'll usually +5 that if the resulting effect has any kind of benefit I can point to; as for whether the gains are noticeable or worth it... eh, it depends what you're going for. Just as an example, my 50.4 En/En/Fire blaster has a global recharge of +98.75 and Perma-Hasten which brings that up to 168.75. I have one generic 50 Recharge IO in Power Boost; before +5, the recharge on that was ~16.9s, and after +5 it's ~16.0 seconds. Ostensibly, ~1s is not a big gain, but the duration of Power Boost's effect is about 15s, so I am *that* close to perma Power Boost. As it stands, the 16s recharge works out to about one extra Power Boost every 4.5 minutes, and the way that character is set up, that means an extra 15s of boosted defense, an extra 20s at the ToHit cap, an extra 333 heals from Energize and so on. So in that instance, it was worth it to ME to go for +5. If the recharge was only sitting at 30s with a generic IO and +5 would only get me to 26 or something, I wouldn't have bothered.

I disagree with the notion that nothing 'feels earned' in this game. Even farming an alt to 50 takes ~5 hours, and then there's whatever time and effort you put into planning that alt, executing the build, and however much time actually using the alt in-game. In the time it took me to do that for just one alt, I could have completed ALL the content of MANY other games. Put it this way, I finished Half-Life faster than it took me to plot/test/farm/fund/shop/build my Fire/FF, and I've thrown HOURS into it since going through THAT process. Now someone's going to tell me on top of that, I should have to go grind out every stupid temporary power and costume piece - for each alt - because THEY don't feel like they are accomplishing much in-game? You want an appreciation for how much you CAN 'earn' in game, go roll a 50 on test. It takes about 6 minutes for all the badge notifications to tick by, then you look and see you have like 30-odd accolades and 5 trays worth of powers before you even select your Level 2 power. Point being, it's ridiculous how much optional stuff there is to do in this game that ISN'T just handed to you on character creation; maybe the people who mistakenly think everyone's time is equally worthless should grind THOSE out.