Perfidy

Just conjecture on my part, this bit with the purples. While afk farming has probably dropped off due to recent changes, active farming has picked up. As a result, more purples may be available. Is it possible some folks are exchanging reward merits for purples? Some folks recognize that inf isn't real world cash, so they don't care what they spend, but go for what's easy. If memory serves, you have to craft those AFTER you spend 100 reward merits, so that adds even more to the opportunity cost using converters in such a fashion. But some folks will still do that. Market Crash was the weekly...two weeks ago? That probably put a few more purples into the market, too. I am anticipating the price of purples going up. If you also consider that illusion was ...what's that 10 dollar word?...proliferated to dominators, then it stands to reason folks playing that new powerset will be looking for 30 to 50 purple IOs to aid in perma-dom. So, perhaps demand will go up a bit. Further, while I think active farming has picked up, I believe afk farming has gone down, with a net loss of farming activity, but I've no real way to know that. If it is the case that overall farming activity has declined, I'm thinking that would reduce the purple drops a bit. I've read about folks with hundreds of them stashed in their bases, so maybe folks are downsizing. But that's just speculation. The last, and probably the most obvious is the decline in player base, which results in decline in demand. It's very evident. Sure, folks can still get a good group up without too much waiting, depending on when they try, but overall, when I see an SG of about 70 folks drop down to about 25 just since page 4 dropped, that's pretty telling. That's not to suggest page 4 has anything to do with that. I've no idea. Summer took more than a few folks out of the game simply because the pandemic restrictions were lifted in most areas of the US. And I'm sure there are other non-game change related reasons as well. And, of course, I'm sure some stopped because of game change reasons. Gotta figure all those threads filled with distrust and contempt would have some kind of an impact.

So, this is just my first thought. There are probably multiple players who see items such as this that sell somewhat cheaply compared to other sets. There are only 10 at the moment. So, it would be super easy for one or more of the players with those super deep pockets to buy those 10 with patient bids of 1M to 1.5M and then relist them at a higher price. My second thought: Personally, I think it has a lot to do with server issues. I have no evidence of this. It's just a gut hunch of mine, given my own experiences. I'll have an alt list a specific level IO for a set price, and then my alt account will be unable to buy it attuned a price 1 inf higher than the list price until maybe 30-45 seconds goes by. So, the term bid creep is often used for situations like these, with an emphasis on the word creep. You bid, and you wait 30-45 seconds. In your case, it seems like you waited plenty of time. So my suggestion is to look here: Pick up one of these for 500k, and use some converters to get what you want. It will be a bit more tedious, but if you allot 70k for the price of each converter, it might cost you 2 converters, or if the rng hates you maybe another 20-30. And yes - possibly a zillion more, but that's really unlikely. 30 converters x 70K +500k = 2.6M So, that's about as much as I see that costing you. Certainly less than 3.1M. And since there's only 3 in the set, probably less than that.

I can't clearly recall the last time I did a radio. I tend to pursue story arcs and the xp bonus and reward merits at the end. If I could wave a magic wand and change/improve something, it would be focused entirely on new content and adapted older content. For example: Gold side has no task forces, no methods of acquiring the 4 passive accolades. Or any other click power accolades. Positron 1 & 2 are short and pleasant enough tfs. But, when you're 50, exemplaring isn't that exciting. It would be nice if we could face the level 50 version or the incarnate version of Clockwork, Vahzilok and CoT. That goes for any sub 50 task force. I have no idea what an incarnate clockwork or CoT might look like, and if that's too big of a rewrite, just being able to run it at 50 would be nice. Or even if they took the form of the event npcs where they're unleveled, but appropriate to your level, whatever that might be, and coincide with the team leader's notoriety settings.

And it's not even the new year yet....

I have been waiting for 67 days for 10 bids of Chronal skip at 500K. How long do I have to wait? How long is this "bit"? The truth is, either one or several marketers are taking advantage of the deep pockets of impatient people. Fortunately, the rare salvage is seeded at 1M, so there's a limit to how much the greedy can gouge the rest of us. I encourage all of you to not play into the hands of the marketing folks that do this. Take your old farmers that you don't use because of the new changes, and load up one of Brigg's older maps that haven't been adjusted for page 4 or 5, and take the crappy xp but still get your capped 750 tickets or whatever it is in 2 minutes, and get your rare salvage that way. Never mind that you could make a lot more from random drops. Don't reward cheesy market manipulation and be self-sufficient. Yes, no question it's annoying and much easier to fork over the extra 100 to 300K for the rare piece you need - but using the AE tickets will let you get precisely the salvage you want and then you know you haven't been a party to lining the pockets of the greedy marketer. Or just send an email to the richer folks and don't ask for inf - ask them for rare salvage. It'll be cute. They'll probably send you one.

I cannot speak for what others do, but there are a few ways to mitigate the high prices in the AH. This is what I did. I made multiple level 1 characters. I parked them in various day job badges that give temporary buffs to key areas. Example: Brain storm ideas are tedious to gain running missions. It's just ridiculous to try and use those for anything, because the buff isn't long enough to get you more than maybe 20 to 30 on your journey to 50, unless you are a real alt-aholic. But, the chronologist badge in Ouro, for recipes, the professor job by logging off in the university, or whatever it's called for logging off in the midnighter club, both of those latter two give a rare salvage upon mission completion. There are two of the whispered rumor tips that will give a level appropriate random rare (one tech, the other arcane) for two free drops. You could try AE tickets if you need a specific one, (And level 50 with the spare threads), but even then the inspirations from Luna would probably make that a bad deal the exchange is so bad. I'm sure most folks with the deep pockets just pay the 800k or whatevs for the rare salvage and absorb the increase. Over time, it probably adds up, but once you're at a billion or so, who cares?

I don't like doing respecs. So I don't do them unless the character is really fantastic and it needs a respec. The changes to fiery melee are interesting, but I don't see any benefit to actually slotting for defense debuff. The base they're letting us have is so small, that I don't think we can even get it to 5% if we tried. (I haven't - waiting for Mids to update and see) I do wonder why the added it.

I understand your perception. At least, I think I do. I am wondering if what might be going on is how the increasing age of a number of players may have something to do with this. I dunno. I might be totally off. I wonder if I'm just getting more bored because I'm no longer a teenager. When I was a teen, I loved comic books. But if you told me I had to read my favorite comics now, I'm sure I'd be very easily distracted. I got on a character and took it for ToT, for the prismatics and for the badges. When doing it solo, there was a bit more interest on my part, but the efficiency is definitely with a league. But, in the league, it was dull. I'd see "Trick"...and they always seemed to come out of different doors. Seemed like a number of folks had the afk bubble over their character's head. I just wonder if maybe it's not so much the changes that are bothering me, but the idea that I'm just not into the game as much as I was when I was younger. I dunno.

So...I opted to do a Mercedes Sheldon arc, called "The Crown of Glory". I finished the first mission, and I'm supposed to return to contact. Now, I'm aware that since I'm using Ouro to do this arc, I can just go to ouro and click on the crystal - but I had my sg base portal handy, and exited in Croatoa to look for Sally while I was there. Went in the midnighter club - she's not there. I suspect I'll find her in the Steel Canyon version of the Midnighter's Club, but it seems to me there should be multiple instances of her in each instance of the MC, in Croatoa, Steel and Founders. I've played enough to know the different ways of finding her - but the return to contact info just says she's in the midnighter club, and if a rookie uses the wrong club, they may get lost/confused.

Sorry, I don't see a reason to look at Minecraft. I've never played it. Same thing. Not only have I not played, I've never heard of it. We'll have to disagree a bit on this. While a number of folks find CoH to be a social game, I certainly do not. I play this game in spite of other people being here, not because of them. I simply don't know any of you. I play the game solo, because I have no idea who you are. Why would I want to team with you? You're not going to add anything to my enjoyment, so what would be the point? Not like you're going to like it if I have to leave the keyboard to change a diaper. (baby's diaper, not mine, lol) The problem with this is the way the characters level. Some have an easier time of it than others. Someone with a boatload of inf can get the nifty IO procs and such to make leveling easier, faster. Someone without those resources will either have to learn to market and/or farm, or play an awful lot more than they otherwise would, in pursuit of loot. Some folks absolutely struggle with Dr. Vahzilok, while others have no problems with him. Sometimes, this difference is in knowledge, skills and abilities (of the player behind the avatar) and sometimes it's in the AT's inherent weaknesses. The only way to fix this is to make all Hitpoints the same, all recovery/regen stats the same, and all damage and recharge, defense and resistances the same, across all ATs and powersets. So...that's a bit crazy to suggest. This is where people talk about "balance", as if such a thing were possible. Jack and the gang, they didn't care so much about balance. They figured in their infinite wisdom, or lack thereof, that if folks want things harder, they can go with a bubble defender. If they want things easier, they can go with a scrapper. The early levels needn't be necessarily hard - but each character should spend enough time in each level to learn about their recovery, their ability to handle incoming attacks, how to deal with foes that knock you around, or mez/stun/sleep you, and how to deal with the mission objectives. In this game, you're technically not "always a rookie". You're basically always a junior. You have just enough tools to graduate, but when you do graduate, you're in the next school and become a junior again, trying to get to be a senior, and then graduate. There's always a "power" carrot to pursue - until you're t-4 in the incarnate stuff. And, once you reach that, you can pursue various challenges, or roll another alt. I appreciate your opinion, but the powers I choose have nothing to do with any narrative arc. I pick them because they are helping me "graduate" faster. It's got absolutely nothing to do with any story that I'm aware of. But I do agree that the progression doesn't need to be changed. I am pretty sure this has been suggested as an inf sink. Like - 1 billion, here's your insta 50. No need to farm up, just get your enhancements and enjoy. The problem is, there are always people that are telling us what's fun and what's not. And some people that work for/with the HC Devs either believe them, or are them. They only think teaming in really hard content is fun. They can't imagine someone like me running through Gold Side by myself is any fun. They can't imagine why I'd spend 30 minutes trying to find a fit for the name Militia Etheridge. I can't seem to make the right character for it. The name's available, have at it. No charge. They also can't imagine why people want to skip the lower level stuff in its entirety. They can't imagine why someone would want to run a positron at level 50 instead of level 15. I don't even know who "they" are, but on the basis of the last page and the one that's coming, they're a pretty dense bunch. I believe we should all play how we want to, provided it doesn't infringe on anyone else's game. I don't think a guy should solo a GM if there's another player that's wanting to get those merits. The solo player has a right to ask, of course, but it's an open field in that context, so anyone can get their merits, if you ask me. I also think a player has a right to farm all they want, afk or otherwise. It's a victimless crime. All it does is drive prices down with more supply. Win/Win. I also think folks should be able to roleplay anyone they want, provided they aren't getting gross in a public chat channel. I mean, not every character is appealing or fun to listen to. Keep that NSFW stuff private, please. Just let folks be. Treat them like bees. Necessary for food, but if you don't bug them, they won't bug you. Unless you're a flower or something, lol.

In vivo scenario: Fire/Ice/energy tank. Level 50. Fire res : 90% S/L res: 81.25% Took a trip to Unai Kemen's freak map. Set to +4/8 Burn recharge goes from 7 seconds to 13 seconds, if I can trust the timer thingies that show the recharge times. Sorry, but that's leaving a gap in my attack chain. So, you can see I use Fiery Embrace before burn, when it's up. And, I've got the healing flames at the end there, which I usually only need against Banished Pantheons and Arachnos, and the Rularuu at +4. Frost is great on the tank - a nice cone, particularly with the range hami-Os I'm using. But - this isn't about that. You're taking a lot of dps from my build with this recharge nerf. What am I getting in return? I don't use procs in burn, because well, I like guaranteed damage. If you're gonna raise the recharge time in burn you should at least leave the proc odds alone. I mean, what you trying to do? I've got a lot of stuff left to do, but I don't want to respec. I don't want to have to figure out anything new with this character. The time for changes is before folks start to play it, not after. I get you guys are coming in after the fact, but it's been good enough as is for ...20 issues? Can't recall when they fixed that stupid fear out of fire, but screwing with burn, a perfectly good power then was a mistake. And it's a mistake now. Again, what do I get in return for this reduced recharge for burn? I don't see any trade-offs. I was in Unai Kemen's mission and all I saw was a much slower recharge in burn. I'm not looking for numbers as an answer. I'm wanting to know what was I supposed to see on Brainstorm that would make me go, "Oh, that's fair." Not one of you geeky science math types. I work with my back for a living. But, I don't see where I got anything out of this rim job you're planting on my tank.

So, yesterday, on Excelsior, there was some chatter on the Help channel about the Corona Virus. No big surprise, I'm sure. To make a long story short, a few folks didn't want to hear about it. One person went so far as to spam something to the effect of "The Help Channel is for those who need help" repeatedly. Like 10 times in 20 seconds, maybe more, but not much more. I chimed in that this person should get over themselves because they aren't a mod and really have no place telling anyone what they can say or not say. Granted, they had a point, as the Corona Virus has nothing to do with CoH info. But apparently, me telling someone they lacked the authority was apparently a lie. I got silenced from using Chat for 48 hours. My suggestion: if you're going to silence people for a given period of time - wouldn't a warning from a GM be the first step? Secondly - wouldn't it also be better to not spam the message "you are banned from chatting for X hours and yy minutes" every time I use an attack, pull something from character email, go to ouro - essentially driving me insane with these system tells. I make no apologies. I found it odd to be silenced without so much as a warning - or even a message in my email to let me know why I was silenced - because I'm kind of guessing at it now. I never used profanity, never told anyone to shut up. Just said that I'm not going to shut up just because some person I don't know says to. Not like I had a lot to say. I said one thing in response to spam chat. And that's all I have to say about that.