Neiska

Hey Flea, sorry for the late reply but came across this while musing about making a necro/FF myself. But why Power Boost? What power in FF does it boost? I have very little experience with FF, and the only power I see that it might boost is Dispersion Bubble? And that's a Toggle? Unless I am missing something which is likely. Thanks Flea!

Not quite what I had imagine you would use on a Speed run Snarky. I expected some pimped up hearse with your coffin in back, or a Dragula. Not a 75mm mounted on a disposable scooter. But then again, I wouldn't be shocked in the least to see you ride into battle on a Moped while listening to "Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner.

It depends, but unless I am teamed with friends specifically for the purpose of speed-running it such as a Patron Arc for the Epic Pools, I generally dislike it. All too often when speed running, nothing is explained. I have done ITFs that I have absolutely zero idea what the story is, who the big bad guy is, what their evil plot was or anything. I have played off and on shortly after HC went public, and I have a few 600+ veteran level characters. And there are still ITFs I have yet to ever do or experience because all too often it is "go-go-go," at least when around strangers or random teams. When among friends things are explained and our goal generally is to have fun or to help someone, not speed through as fast as possible. Now I typically only do ITFs, Hardmodes and the like with friends, not random players. No. Sometimes I do things fast, sometimes I slow it down and enjoy the décor, story, enemies and so on. It all depends, if I am by myself, with friends, or with random people. It also depends on the specific mission or activity too. But I more often "don't" speedrun than I "do" speedrun. A few reasons. Firstly, I generally dislike the whole "go-go-go" mentality. Even more so when it's automatically expected, or when team members complain it isn't fast enough. to my mind, if a team is going to be speed running, it should be advertised as such when forming it, not assumed to be the standard or norm. The norm speed should be restricted to the slowest member, but that is my mere opinion. If I join a team, and it heads off as fast as possible, if I am not feeling it I will leave. Secondly, it comes off as elitist, or a flex which is typically something I take a dim view of. It fosters the entire mentality of "if you aren't doing X, Y, or Z you are a casual" or that anything that isn't kiss-your-elbow mathematically the best META then you are a poor player. You see this in the Discord at times, particularly in the AT discussion channels. Some vocal people tend to look down on you if you don't take something that is kiss-your-elbow best, or just want to try something new, experiment, or heaven forbid take something because its just fun or something you like the look of. Some people take their CoH pixels, numbers, and speeds and builds "quite" seriously. But this is hardly a problem only CoH has. ESO had similar community issues. In a since there were the "haves" and the "have not's." The Haves were busy people with things to do, they can and would blaze off through dungeons/missions at breakneck speed, often leaving the healer and tank trudging behind only to arrive at the fight nearly done, or even get locked out of it. This in turn led to a large shortage of Healers and Tanks where they are mandatory for high end content. WoW also had similar issues for awhile now, with Tanks specifically. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly to me, if everything is boiled down to just a DPS race, it waters down everything else not oriented around DPS. Things like Buffs, Debuffs, status effects, and more. Many ATs specialize in non-DPS roles. But if only DPS matters, then it can leave players whose focus isn't DPS feeling like hey aren't contributing or as meaningful. If all the team does is steamroll content as fast as possible, then what's the point of Controllers and the like? I do want to add that this attitude also is not the "norm" but it can be quite frequent. And the more this kind of argument is presented, the more I resent it. TLDR - I generally dislike it unless I am alone or teamed with friends where the planned activity is speed running. Just my thoughts on Speed Running.

The only Barbies I would play with would be the doll heads that hung from my rear view mirror as I sped around in my war rig full on Furyosa style. I detested them, even when I was little. I don't care about the movie. I certainly won't be seeing it, but there are undoubtedly worse things in theatres and on TV these days. If I played one in CoH it would likely be Zombie Barbie, Crash Test Dummy Barbie, or Crimes Against Humanity Barbie.

From a building standpoint, having a mixed of ranged and melee powers can be good as it can let you slot different sets for different set bonuses. If you don't want the assault/melee I think you can always skip them, but from my personal preference and building philosophy more options are always nice to have.

Oddly enough, it was single MM farming that led me to this entire concept in the first place. Farming with a single MM isn't terribly efficient, they just don't hold up alone. At least to contend with Brutes, Tankers, or any of the other ATs capable of farming. And it was actually the pet threat tables/getting swarmed by 4-5 groups all at once that led me to this concept. If you dislike multi-boxing (and its completely fine if you do!), then your options are limited to actually "farm" with an MM. But multi-boxing MMs/pet swarming is very much a thing, or at least it was when I was actively playing. I have been on a bit of a hiatus but I still regularly check the forums. And a note on MM farming - its possible to be largely hands-free. With my setup at most I was alt-tabbing to pop a buff or incarnate power, and alt tabbing back. The inherent pet AI and MM class itself does the majority of the work. Again, is totally fine if you dislike multi-boxing. It definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea. But for many people it was something new, fresh, another way to farm that can be interesting or even exciting and enjoyable, rather than AFK farming with a Brute which can be mind-numbingly tedious or too repetitive for others. There is no "right" way to enjoy the game after all, but if you are expecting a single MM to be able to keep up with a brute on speed, survivability, damage, inf/minute and everything else, I think you would be hard pressed to do so 1 on 1. 3 on 3 though, the more enemies you fight at a time the more it favors the MM, due to expanded targets allowed. If you fight enough enemies at a time, you can actually surpass a brute. But I doubt a single MM by themselves would be able to do so. I am not saying its impossible, only that I have never found such in the 30 or so MM's I have experimented with.

It should still work. And while I have no current builds I can list there were no major changes to the powers that I did use. If anything, it would likely be better, but that is just me musing. I have not kept my builds publicly current and I am not actively playing much these days.

Seeing what manner of objects I can throw at AVs. Air Conditioners, Stop Signs, Pipes, Kitchen Sinks, etc. Lord Recluse: "Puny Heroes! You shall.. ACK!" Me: "Ya ya ya..." *flings toilet* I silently mourn that the power set isn't available for MMs.

For me, it depends on my mood and goals. Sometimes, I'll just make something new to try it, and just play it to see what happens. Sometimes, I'll do a hardcore(if i die, i delete the toon), self-found only, zero p2w abilities and see how far I can push it. Sometimes, I will have a sudden idea for a character that I can't wait to try, power-level it up to 50, fully kit it out fo 600-800m, go full t4's, and play it, all in the same day or weekend. I really like to experiment, try new things, and push a character to see just how far it can go in various situations. I am by no means an expert in CoH game mechanics, but to me the discovery and learning is part of the fun. Also, I have found that by doing it yourself, sometimes what works best for you as often as not, goes against conventional wisdom. Most of the time, I enjoy 3 boxing Masterminds. At this point I have mailed so much INF and EMP merits to myself, that funds are no longer a concern of mine. On a good day, I might walk out of the AE with 4-6 purple recipes. I used to take the time to craft them and sell them, but juggling 3 accounts to craft with is quite a bother, and often enough I just sell the raw recipes quickly just to get back to doing what I like doing, playing. So, there really is no one thing. After I started farming or semi-playing the market, it really isn't an issue. I don't even focus on getting MORE money, I just earn far more than I spend. And so long as my 3 main Masterminds are inf capped, I am quite happy. The rest just goes into the mailbox for alts and experiments. One thing I say is, is that it does seem that having money in the first place does make it easier to make more money. IE - having a character already fully kitted out, any INF gain they make from that point on, is a net positive. So I do think "time playing a character" once it's "done" is also a factor people might forget. If you are constantly just making new characters, then you are constantly spending money. If you wait a few weeks/month/etc between making new characters, then you will/could have a much bigger pile of excess money to spend on your next one, if you so choose. Just my two cents.

Jasperstone is quite correct. Aggro the things. ALL the things. And bring them to the Snarky.

If I ever found myself on a team with Snarky, I would endeavor, indeed, labor, to go out of my way to give him the PUG story to end all PUG stories. I would strap him into his coffin like a jet pilot, attach rocket boosters to it, outfit it with twin-linked belt fed tactical nuke launchers, close-proximity void plasma flamethrowers to keep the grabbers off, put a giant spinning harvester blade on the front (with side scoops to collect his preferred beverage), install an automated Blood Pudding dispenser, put on some spinning rims just because, with a pair of fuzzy dice and Ride of The Valkyries playing on Loudspeakers just to attract our enemies, and ride through every mission at break-neck speed like some sort of Santa's Sleigh of pure Snarky death. It would be cataclysmically epic, and near orgasmic in the sheer levels of shenanigans and hijinked tom-foolery that would ensure.

For me, in-game channel drama is the easiest to deal with. Either drop channels, or put people on ignore. One and done. Easy. I just use the tools already in place. I only report things that are egregious. However, for me the Discord and Beta dramas were far worse. As an example, just last night I spoke up for the first time in months in the mastermind channel, and immediately the person I commonly but heads with just had to be passive aggressive. The odd thing is I agree with them on a number of things. They do know their game knowledge. Where we tend to disagree is I go by live and let live, and try to help people who play what they want to play, to the maximum they are able to. The person I disagree with, tends to think if you don't play the meta, then you are trash. As an example they speak against Masterminds who use secondary with healing, and considers it a crutch. And if you have a different opinion, they are quite vocal about it. Insultingly so. And I am dubious if it's worth my time to try and help people, due to the spam of "user blocked" lines in the discord channel. My one and only experience in the beta was quite unpleasant. I won't go over details or bring up arguments long buried, suffice to say it was enough that I will never participate in another one again. I only will say that it wasn't the specifics of the disagreement itself, but the manner in which that disagreement took place. It was disrespectful, heated, got personal a few times, and not everyone's input was equally valued. But I do want to add that I doubt very much that has been everyone's experience. But for me I am currently leery about participating in discord discussions and I most certainly will not be participating in any beta ever again.

For me it depends on what AT I am playing and what I am doing. On a Tanker? Gobble everything like candy. On my Crabber? I tend to like to save things like breakout and blues for emergency END. On my Mastermind? I tend to use reds on pets. (For those unaware, you can drag and drop inspirations on pets. If you are close enough to them the pet will "use" it.)

For me that would be Dullahana, a Duel Blade/Dark Armor/Fire Tanker. All over the place, I know. But it was a theme build I did just for fun. And she turned out.... ...rather good. And bonus points for Style I guess?

This thread is just Tsoo much.

I would like to highlight that some of us who use the AE almost exclusively, it isn't always about the money or drops, its about the kind and scale of combat. Some AEs you can have a small map with 100 enemies, or a massive map with 100s of enemies. Some people just like to have a big huge battle without gimicky mechanics or things like purple patches that 1 shot you. And taking my 3 MMs and fighting several groups and fighting them all at the same time is pretty awesome fun. So I finish the 4-5 minute long nonstop battle, reload the map, and do it again. And I will try different builds and strategies in that situation. To me, that is much more fun and rewarding than ITFs, contacts, story missions, and the like. I just wish there were scenarios you could setup, well, as an example nonstop waves of nemesis or something. You kill some, more swarm in, kill a few more, and more pop in again, and it never ends. Even if there was zero EXP, drops, and INF, there are some that would enjoy it. I might spend an entire afternoon in there, seeing how long I could hold out.

Hello OP @crimson72, Quite a bit to break down here. But I have some time to kill at work here, so here we go! I am an avid farmer and a Mastermind main, so hopefully I can help. 1. Masterminds themselves as an AT won't win any DPS races. What they are good at, is a very customizable support class. More than any other AT, your primary/secondary pairing can affect how you play. You can build offensively, defensively, buffs, debuffs, melee, ranged, even specialize in flying combat if you like. To me the real strength of Masterminds is this flexibility that not many other ATs can offer. Thugs is one of the best primaries, and can go with any secondary. Poison however is, well... I won't say it's "bad", only that on a limited budget starting out the odds are not in your favor. I have seen some /Poison Masterminds do some pretty neat things though, but that's pretty top-heavy investment to get there. But if you like the journey and that is what you have your heart set at, then don't let anyone tell you differently, numbers be darned. But Masterminds are a fantastic class if you put the time in to learn all the nuisances, styles, and mechanics in play. Its a very complex class, which is why I personally love them. 2. Farming. Well, that is a can of worms here on the forums. You essentially have 5 groups of people - A. Pro-farmers - people who farm for various reasons, in any number of styles. B. Anti-farmers - people who consider farming to be.. ..not good. I have even been called a "cheater" or worse just for farming. Many feel it is not really a part of the game. But it exists, and has remained for a number of years now. I scoff at any insinuation that it's not a part of the game. C. The majority of people who largely mind their own business, and don't particularly have an opinion on the matter. D. The people who don't use the forums. E. @Snarky, who is by all rights a person who deserves to be in their own group, and I think it would be cruel, even possibly a violation of human rights, to stick any poor soul in the same box as him. The point is, if you even mention farming, in any context, you are more or less waving a big flag. People are going to have opinions about it. Personally, I go by live and let live. You do your thing, I'll do mine, and we will meet in the middle somewhere. Also, (just my opinion here), I think it speaks volumes of someone who believes they have a right to lecture others on what they can and cannot do when not a staff member. Additionally, I have to restrain myself when they attempt to "flex" by comparing farming to non-farming, when playing the market easily beats them both combined. But that's getting off topic here. Anyway, if you mention farming, just be aware that you are opening yourself to peoples opinions. But that's all they are. Opinions. Opinions aren't right, and they aren't wrong. They are just opinions. And some people here whom have a pretty high opinion of themselves, seem to think their mere opinions carry far more weight than they actually do, or think their opinions are official Homecoming policy. They do not. There are farming communities, however. I won't name them here for obvious reasons. But I will describe that we have a discord with a list of maps, farming builds for every AT, inf earnings calculators, compare strategies, mechanics breakdowns, voice chat, team farming, and more. And there is just as much co-operation in our little community as others. We even have "farm events" where we time ourselves in things like how long to get to 50, how long to make X, how long to fully slot out a specific build, and so on. It's just like any other Supergroup that does similar activities, just based on Discord and focused on Farming/AE as the activity. But, given the nature of the activity that is severely frowned on others, it is sort of underground. People just want to do their own thing and enjoy the game in a way they enjoy. Not be hounded with drama, opinions, and disapproval when they weren't asked for, as is often the case. 3. Running multiple accounts is allowed. They just ask us to be mindful of server population. Personally I 3 box 3 Masterminds. And when you multi-box, it completely changes many of the dynamics and figures in play. Such as how much inf/hour you earn, how many drops you find, and so on. I won't go into specific details and numbers, but what I will say is that what some people think is "a lot of inf", is chump change to others. And with an added bonus that if you have multiple farmers on different accounts, you can make alts quite easily. And that if you do manage to make a team that can, you won't be sorry. So, if farming is the activity you enjoy doing, than do it. And I hope you have all the fun you want and it rains money from the sky for you. And don't be like others who try to turn enjoying a game in different ways into a competition or comparison, like many do here. Having "fun" isn't a contest. Just my two cents on the matter. Personally I ignore people with specific haircuts and interjecting opinions. They are welcome to them, and their mere opinion doesn't affect me one way or another. And life is far too short to fret about some random voice on the internet who disagrees with me over pixels in a video game that is old enough to vote. Best wishes, and happy farming.

If I was going to make a /Kin MM today, I would go Mercs/Kin, and plan my build around Group Fly to help minimize pet damage taken. It wouldn't fix it all, but it would go a long way to make up for /Kins lack of defenses, and only Robots or Mercs have the option to fight completely at ranged.

Sometimes I will run a theme build. Just for funs. It doesn't have to be the best, or the strongest, or the fastest. I had one vampire attempt, the build was Beasts/Dark MM, went "classical." Almost went beasts/storm, but I had never had a fully slotted /dark MM before that. Sure, she was one of my worst MMs, but she was a lot of fun to play. One friend I know picks ATs/Powers for an entirely different reason. They host roleplay events, and pick powers with visuals he can use to help his storytelling. I think he has a few full lvl 50s, just for the powers. I dont think he actually gears/slots those characters, he just gets the levels for access to everything. I am not sure if that counts as a theme, or even a build, more of a "for the special effects" kind of option. Which I haven't really seen a lot of.

@Snarky I think we can all agree what needs to be done.

He's ignored me for far less. It involved me insinuating they were the type with a specific hairstyle who gets their jollies off policing others, even though it isn't their place to enforce the rules. No skin lost there, take my word for it.

Yes, that should stir the pot nicely. Inb4threadlocked.

I have a solution. It's not a good solution, but a solution nonetheless. I say we put @Snarky in office, against his will if necessary. He doesn't care enough to be bribed, he can't be intimidated, and no one can claim he is particularly favors anyone over another. It would be the best "Pug group" story of all time out of any MMO anywhere, and he should be kept busy enough we won't have to keep putting up with his undead self lurking here on the forums. (A long shot, I know. But we can hope.) And as a bonus, his cabinet picks should be very interesting, if not highly entertaining. Not to mention the meetings with other world leaders, interviews, and news conferences. I even have a few campaign slogans to submit for his consideration - "The Nosferatu cares about you! Vote Snarky 2024!" "Don't settle for a lesser evil. Snarky 2024!" "Why vote differently? Most politicians are almost dead anyway. Vote Undead to see a change!" "Tired of the tax bite? Wait till you get a load of this nominee!" "Snarky. Guaranteed minimum effort. Still better than the rest!"

I use different costume slots for such a theme. You could use different slots to make entirely different looks and swap between them when needed. Powers are another matter though, as you can only have one AT, one primary and one secondary. The only option for that is to make different versions of the same character, using different powersets and so on, and swap to whichever version you were in the mood for. I have done similar with a tech/cyberware based character, where i wanted to try new powers and builds, but wanted to keep my roleplay and friends, so i just explained it icly as "trying a new loadout" or "cyberware upgrade" etc. But doing all of that on one character? Not really possible I'm afraid. You are talking Superstrength, Flight (that ones easy), Mace, Sword, Archery, and im not sure what powers you would use to represent observation. But with SS, Mace, Sword, Archery you are talking 4 different versions of the character at least, on 2 different ATs.

No, if they are aggressive they will/can run off, unless you tell them to remain in place on aggressive, then they are kind of like turrets. I found for most MM setups staying in bodyguard mode works the best, unless you are on a team. Depends on the setup though. I have always had the best results if i dont try to micromanage my pets too much, but some builds do benifit from that. But yes, if you set them to aggressive and leave them that way they will chase enemies down, and can/will aggro the next group so you will have to follow them to keep them in range, or tell them to come back. PS - This also all depends if you are on standard or advanced mode for pet controls, there are actually 2 different variations. One is more detailed than the other, which is what I prefer to use.