Neiska

I wouldn't bother with Moonsheep, Shardwarrior. I suspect he's just trolling at this point, as they only ask questions and never address counterpoints. That's not a discussion, that's just fishing for a reaction.

Fair, but I don't run trials. I run AE. Which is more or less the crux of the issue - not everyone uses AE, and not everyone runs trials either. Which more or less the entire nature of the argument. One side saying the other is invalid play or wrong or exploiting. It isn't the farmers saying nerf trials, it's the people who don't run AE's saying to nerf them. So I would say the burden of proof would be on them, since they are the ones pushing for change, or saying farming is "too efficient" without numbers to back it up. And even requesting data seems to provoke a reaction from some. I am not saying you specifically. I only bring it up to highlight that a "happy medium" is growing smaller and smaller. So, I guess it's true what they say, a good compromise leaves everyone unhappy.

That's precisely my point. AE balanced to "What?" Should it be balanced to Street Patrolling? PI farming? Trials? What activity should it be "equal" to? And without those numbers, its more or less a shot in the dark balance-wise. How much inf or experience/hour should people be capable of?

No, its more - Me -"Has anyone done data?" Flea - *Posts some data* Moon - "See! There's data." Me - "Okay. So where's the data about the other side? The nonfarming stuff?" Ghost - "Oh you want complete data? For a side-by-side comparison? Thats funny."

I made a post asking if people have done a comparison. Flea then responded with his numbers. Then you point out the fact he did so. So not sure what the point you are trying to make is aside from pointing out the obvious post he made. And we have yet to see what people get from running other activities such as trials and so on. So why highlight his reply to my original post?

Wow. @Bionic_Flea Did what I suggested, after I asked if anyone has actually done a comparison. You aren't the brightest spoon in the drawer, are you? Bless your heart.

No. Street sweeping should not give the same. My point is that people are just assuming things without doing the math or work to figure out where the figures actually are, which leads to assumptions. Honestly, if you include the time spent playing, as well as invested per character into consideration, I don't think the "wealth gap" is where people believe it is. As an example, some of the richest people I know are level 5's who play the AH monopoly game while they roleplay, and have done so for 2+ years now, without ever having stepped foot into either AE or an Itrial. What I "expect" is people to have actual data or references before making arguments for changes, especially when it's about an activity they don't do themselves. Because, since they don't actually do it themselves, then they wouldn't know the exact details of what they are talking about. It's much easier to go "They have more money than I do. Farming BAD" than do a side-by-side comparison.

Ok, then kindly show me a breakdown of inf gained doing different activities during the same amount of time that has been calculated by the community. Go on, I'll wait. Or, you know, keep making passive aggressive insinuations without actual data or proof. That works too.

Then do it? Instead of assuming every farmer is INF capped, exploiters, cheaters, mustache twirling villains set out to destroy the game, maybe sit down and do a legitimate side by side comparison free of bias and assumption? Or perhaps quit losing sleep over what other people choose to do in their own personal time perhaps? 😋

So its too much to ask for people to actually know something before having an opinion on it, or before discussing removing something? 😆

Finding and using the most efficient method to level or get money is not an "exploit," it's smart use of your playtime. It is not against any game rule to farm. That is like offering a multipurpose tool and then getting upset when people use it in a way you don't like. And you could apply that logic to multiple other activities. "Running only trials? That's exploiting them for incarnate materials." "Buying and flipping on the auction house for a profit? That's cheating! Someone has to actually use what they buy; they aren't allowed to profit!" "Repeating the same activates to get merits? It wasn't designed for that! Thats exploitation!" AE gives the map creator's control over what spawns - their attacks, their features, so forth. Using it, is not an "exploit," it's quite literally using it for what it was made to do. Now, if they made level 54 elite bosses with 1 hitpoint, then yes, that would be total exploiting. But making creating a map for whatever reason, and then running said map, is not "exploiting," it's playing the game. And, for the record, many of us DO use the AE to challenge ourselves. We experiment with builds. We go outside of assumed wisdom and experiment. Come up with brand new things or builds in a game over decades old. And there are some AE maps that are just as hard if not harder than open world content. I am genuinely curious as to what "built in exploits" in maps you are referring to. You don't want to farm, then fine. Go do story arcs to level. But you are deciding not to use a tool available to everyone, getting butthurt and crying about it, and calling everyone who uses it in a way you don't personally prescribe to as cheaters or exploiters, like you were the sole arbitrary authority on the matter, without even firsthand knowledge of what people actually are DOING in their missions in AE.

Oh for sure. Always open to tweak more. Largely my slotting was for Def and Resists, getting what other things I could pick up on the way, and using the odd slotting such as Channelgun, Injection, and Boxing to help make up the other numbers I was missing. But you are right and I could fine tune it further for certain. This is what I have so far and it's working fantastically.

Right, but I meant if we in the community have done such a thing, to the best of our ability with the knowledge and information we have available, and so on.

Asking earnestly here. But has anyone ever actually sat down and done an actual comparison as to what different activities give for rewards? I know that is a pretty big thing to try and compare, given the sheer number of variables. Time, activity, so on. Like, what 1 "average" farmer might make in an hour of "active" farming, what they might make "afk" farming, and what 1 person might make running ITFS or what have you in the same amount of time, or even what a full team might get? I mean, have people actually done such a thing, or is this all just people assuming here? I hasten to add that I am not suggesting that farming DOESNT make money, but my point is that I don't think it is as much as some people might think, or that "outside activities" are as far behind either. I also wonder if the time involved/required doing each activity is more of a hidden factor as well. If you spent an hour farming, what could you accomplish elsewhere in the same amount of time, and so on. And I don't mean just raw inf gained either. Take things like merits into account as well. The drops might have to be omitted because, well, they are random after all. So unless someone has a formula for that it might be better to ignore unless someone has a better idea. So a comparison such as - The average "active" farmer can make between X and Y in an hour. The average "afk" farmer can make between X and Y The average "solo" player can make X and Y The average "teamer" can make X and Y The merit "speed runner" could make X and Y etc... Just asking for an honest and unbiased comparison is all. If the big brains here can manage that, it might move the needle to a place where we can all agree is a good spot and be a good compromise for everyone? And to be honest, I am not sure if a comparison would be possible. That would take smarter heads than mine to really dive into. I am not even sure how much you might earn if you run nonstop trials/incarnate content/endgame stuff. I know some have rewards as well, such as an automatic purple the first time you do it or have your choice of rewards. But even those picks of rewards might be the faster option, as I have gone 5-6 days without seeing a purple recipe drop when "hardcore farming." When farming you really are at the mercy of RNG, and she might love you one day and hate you the next morning.

Hello fellow Arachnos, After a lot of tinkering and experimenting, I made a very well-balanced Crabber that I thought I would share. With Crabbies, it always seemed you had to pick and choose your priority. Either having decent pets, or good defenses yourself, or were very tight on END use. I always wanted to melee next to my pets, but that always seemed difficult before. Build Highlights - 1.) It is extremely durable, and self-sufficient, with both ranged attacks, some of the melee attacks, pets, and very good survivability. It hits the 45% melee defense, and is capped to Smashing, Lethal, Fire, and Cold resistances. With respectable numbers in the rest, the lowest being Psionic at 48%. Without any incarnates whatsoever. There may be a few slotting choices that strike people as odd, but I will go into those. This build is fully +4/8 capable. 2.) It has both Serum and Aid Self. Why Aid self? Because it has the END upgrade, meaning you can refill 25% of your END every 9 seconds or so. On my Crabbers it always seems to be hard on the END, and there is no other END tool available, and I dislike having to rely on Ageless to solve END problems. As slotted this build is easy on the END, but Aid Self will be available for a backup tool as well for emergencies and you are out of blue pills, and I hate having to rely on Ageless and Blue inspirations to make a build "flow" or be playable. I know Aid Self is rarely a power taken, but I feel on some ATs its a worthwhile choice. 3.) As presented, this build doesn't have any incarnates picked. This means there is a lot of room for choice there. People can take Agility to boost their recharge, or Musculature to increase their damage, and so on. 4.) The build has all the usual procs, specifically debuffing such as Fury of the Gladiator, Annihilation, and so on. I tried to fit Achillies in as well, but there wasn't room. But it has multiple ways to apply -DEF, -RES, Immobilize, and even Knockdown. Special note goes to Frenzy which often knocks things down frequently, which gives you just the time you need to use Aid Self to boost your END if you need it. 5.) It has some ranged attacks, as well as some melee attacks, some ranged, and a few single target attacks as well. Now for the downsides - 1.) The Pets and Serum are not Perma, but they are close. The spiderlings are down to 237 recharge with a 240 duration, but Call Reinforcements is only down to 304 with a 240 duration. They are not heavily slotted either, being just slotted for recharge and a chance to knockdown. They are fire and forget. But I don't consider this a great loss, because even if you focus on making pets as strong as possible, they get clobbered on max difficulty, (at least when soloing.) So, this build relies less on them, but they are available to help. 2.) Sadly, there is no Aim. It was that or super speed, but if people would rather have Aim rather than a movement power, they certainly can swap them. But doing so will cost you a bit of knockdown protection. Another option is to drop the Medicine Pool for Aim and a few other powers of your choice. But this build has a full rotation as it is and doesn't particularly benefit greatly from Aim. 3.) There is no Frag Grenade in this build. It was that or Venom Grenade, and Venom Grenade is better for the -resist, and you can slot it with knockdown as well. I usually take Frag Grenade with Crabbers, but there was no space for it in this build. So your attack rotation will be - Venom Grenade, Suppression, Arm Lash, Frenzy, and Shatter Armor. Arm Lash is very quick to refresh, with only 3.4 seconds, so you shouldn't need to use Channelgun, but it is there if needed for another ranged attack. There is also Web Grenade available as well to help stop runners. Here is a snip of its stats, without any incarnates - --------------------------------------------------------------- This Villain build was built using Mids Reborn 3.1.2.5 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 49 Technology Arachnos Soldier Primary Power Set: Crab Spider Soldier Secondary Power Set: Crab Spider Training Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Medicine Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Channelgun -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(39) Level 1: Crab Spider Armor Upgrade -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(3), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(3), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(5), ImpArm-ResPsi(5), UnbGrd-Max HP%(7) Level 2: Wolf Spider Armor -- ImpArm-ResPsi(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(37), StdPrt-ResKB(40) Level 4: Boxing -- CrsImp-Acc/Dmg(A), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx(46) Level 6: Injection -- CldSns-Acc/ToHitDeb(A), CldSns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(7) Level 8: Suppression -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx(9), SprFrzBls-Rchg/ImmobProc(9), Bmbdmt-Dam(11), Bmbdmt-Dam/Rech(11), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(17) Level 10: Tactical Training: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(25), Rct-Def/EndRdx(25), Rct-Def/Rchg(31), Rct-ResDam%(36) Level 12: Arm Lash -- SprSpdBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprSpdBit-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprSpdBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprSpdBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(15), FuroftheG-Acc/Dmg(17) Level 14: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(31), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(33), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Ags-Psi/Status(33), ImpArm-ResPsi(48) Level 16: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(19), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(21), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(21), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(23), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(45) Level 18: Venom Grenade -- SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), SprFrzBls-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(23), SprFrzBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Ann-ResDeb%(36), SprSpdBit-Rchg/Global Toxic(48), Rgn-Knock%(49) Level 20: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A) Level 22: Tactical Training: Leadership -- AdjTrg-ToHit(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(39), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(40), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(40), AdjTrg-Rchg(43), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(47) Level 24: Fortification -- TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(37), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(37), ImpArm-ResPsi(39), GldArm-3defTpProc(45), TtnCtn-ResDam(46) Level 26: Frenzy -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(29) Level 28: Serum -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(34), Prv-Heal/Rchg(34), Prv-Absorb%(36) Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31) Level 32: Aid Self -- IntRdx-I(A) Level 35: Summon Spiderlings -- RechRdx-I(A), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(49) Level 38: Web Envelope -- GrvAnc-Immob(A), GrvAnc-Immob/Rchg(43), GrvAnc-Acc/Immob/Rchg(46) Level 41: Shatter Armor -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(42), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43) Level 44: Call Reinforcements -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45) Level 47: Field Medic -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 49: Mental Training -- Run-I(A) Level 1: Conditioning | Hidden Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(47) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(19) Level 20: Speed Phase ------------ ------------ ----------------------------------------------------------- I hope this build/style might help some other players! I always wanted to be tough, self sufficient, and still have pets available, but not be entirely reliant on them. So if you want a tough nut to crack, that has ways to both heal itself and refill its own endurance, with lots of AoE and debuffs and still keeps the pets to help then you might enjoy this build.

100% this. Skill matters a ton as well, as well as game knowledge and practice. A bad player will make any build fall flat, and a really skilled player might be able to make an AT do things that can surprise people. Personally, I also consider someone's skill at builds a factor. You can't just copy/paste someone's build from here or elsewhere and expect the exact same results. I consider myself a skilled Mastermind and Crabber player, and a passable Tanker player. I have experimented on other ATs, but not as much as those three. Some AT's I have yet to try out or even play one fully in action. I generally favor Pet classes or Tanky/Durable classes in games/MMOs. But that's why I was musing over Controllers and Dominators too. They aren't really "pet" classes per say, but they do have them, which still counts in my book.

First off, thank you for the fair and what seems to be a good breakdown. But I would argue that trying to moderate farming for that specific reason, isn't a solution. Because people will always "farm", only the "how" will change. If AE was gone tomorrow, people would just figure out the next most economically expedient thing to do, and repeat that into oblivion, and we will be right back where we are now. People saying "nerf that new thing" until it eventually is. Then it repeats, and so on and so forth. If you want to put a dent in the amount of currency, it would be far better to have money sinks. I don't mean the Auction House either, because as you said that only moves money around, it doesn't "remove" it. And short of buying things on AH, there is very little else to do with money. Even the costume fees and things of that nature is a drop in the ocean. Live was before my time, but I do seem to remember reading somewhere, that base "upkeep" was a thing at one time. Now I doubt such a system would be embraced any more than any other suggestion. To be fair, that might make things worse and create new problems - such as people suddenly "having" to farm in order to pay for their giant sprawling bases, which could widen the gap between those with wealth and those without. And I can't claim the economic experience to offer any alternatives. And speaking as a farmer, personally the majority of my money doesn't come from turning EMPs into merits. It's mostly by selling the giant stacks of white recipes i get for 100k a piece to an NPC and selling the occasional rare salvage or purple recipe I get. It's certainly not the most financially gainful method I am sure, but as long as I can "break even" on the cost it takes to build up a character, vs what I make with it, I have no complaints. But I do worry about them "over-nerfing" farming, particularly with regards to Veteran exp/materials, because as a largely solo player, there is little other choice, short of being forced to jump into the horror show that is itrials and the like. If it comes to that, I would make fewer alts, and thus spend less money, and have even more excess wealth. And I doubt I would be the only one. The only reason why I keep making alts, is to try out new things because it isn't particularly laborious to do so. The moment it becomes more of a cost than a gain to me, as in enjoyment vs effort/cost, then I will stop. At that point I won't "need" money, or merits, or incarnate materials. And assuming the game continues to hold my interest, I would only continue to stockpile more that which I already have. Just my thoughts on it. I do see the problem and the concern is a legitimate one. But I see little effort at a compromise from the anti-farmers. It feels very much "my way or the high way" or being flat out insinuated farmers are bad/evil/whatever ill term they choose. Which to me, speaks volumes about them moreso than it does the farmers.

But that is suggesting that Player A didn't put time in as well. Or that there needs be only one way to advance a character. And where does it say that it's a contest? Player A has a character that can outperform player B? Well, so what? I would be more interested in how long that character has been played, more than "how." Character is over a year old? It "should" have fully slotted incarnated T4's, in my opinion, so long as they put in the time and work to do it. And no, I don't mean "ran itrials till they got them" as the only valid means.

That is a fair assessment. But I don't think the "have's" and "have-not's" are necessarily who people think they might be. I mean, there are people who sit in the D for hours far richer than I, who play the AH market game while they roleplay. Some of the richest folks I know are like, level 5? If you want to prune that wealth gap, its not the farmers who are the "have's" in that scenario, its the people who play the in game monopoly market.

I agree, it's fine to respectfully disagree. But first, I saw such things in LFG just last night. A discussion happened where some rather colorfully expressed their disfavor of law enforcement. Another player, claiming to be law enforcement, retorted. And it went from there. Next, that tool that circumvented that "small inconvenience" is what enabled some people to play the game in the first place. Without it, my two friends were unable to really play, without someone on auto follow to move around from zone to zone, mission to mission. Once that was gone, well, so was their ability to play open world content, and neither cared to play AE. My point was what is a small matter to "you" doesn't make it a small matter/petty excuse to "everyone." And that's just one example. And yes, there is a difference. A rather large one. The difference is, you don't hear the farmers calling to nerf all non-farm or power leveling content, which quite regularly from those who don't like farming. It isn't both sides dictating to each other, its one side (nonfarmers) lecturing/dictating to the other (farmers). The farmers aren't pushing for a change that would affect everyone, that's just one side. Right now? It's "if you don't like the AE, fine, then don't use it." But over the past few years we have seen everything from nerfing AE (again), to removing exp from it entirely, to removing money, or drops, to removing it completely. You will never hear anyone saying "remove everything that isn't AE content." So, I have to disagree there. The "farmer's" aren't pushing their play on anyone, while some who don't farm are for some reason so massively butthurt by how others choose to spend their time, they want to see it removed or gutted completely. I wouldn't call that "equal opposition" by any stretch.

Awesome feedback everyone, thank you. Is much appreciated! The build that Mekomancer is definitely better than my initial one. May take that one and make some tinker-changes, such as the Ragnarok KD into howling twilight, or Frozen Blast Immob as Carnifax suggested.

Right then, First off, not your "bud." A. I also said "in-game." If you don't know what I mean by this, then you are likely part of the problem. Such as kicking people from teams for their power choice, or for still learning their AT/the mission/the game, and rather than try to teach or help you rather just boot them and get the next person angling to get their weekly done. B. It's not "only" chat. It's in local. It's in LFG. It's in team. It's where-ever it cares to pop up. C. Ah yes, I shall be sure to tell my military friend who used to play with only one hand, or my other friend who was so nearsighted she is legally blind, that the difficulties they face are mere small inconveniences. To you, they might be "excuses." To other's those are certainly "reasons." The fact that people push for AE/Incarnate changes "of old," and not other things such as, oh, I dunno, Removal of the Gull, paying upkeep on bases, locking some clothing behind achievements or badges, or removal of power updates/changes/new sets, tells me that it isn't about balance at all, but more about people just wanting to be Elitist Karen Gatekeepers and feel they have the right to dictate to others on how to play. Especially if they claim "for the good of the community" while ignoring the loss in players such proposed changes might have on that community. If you want to "take your ball and go home," you will more and more find yourself playing alone. And I can't say such persons don't deserve to. I respect your opinion, as well as everyone else's. But yours is not the "live and let live" option.

Turn about fair play I say, considering you "stomped" on my posts that more or less said "what about solo players too" first, and no, I was "correct" - His point is that he wants to go back to how it "originally" was designed, even stating it was more than a year and a half before they added solo-capability, despite that being over TEN years ago. So, I would say there has been SOLO capability, for far longer than there has not. "Oh, I disagree, but I respect your opinion" There you go, that wasn't so hard, was it? 😋

I am starting to wonder if I am the only one who saves EMP merits for alts to make their initial Incarnate slotting easier. I don't think I have ever changed an EMP merit into a normal merit, ever. They are like gold to me. Merits I can get easy peasy by speed running whatever. But EMP merits? Precious few ways to get those, especially for those of us who mainly solo. My main use for EMP merits is to save up 50 of them, turn them into a Tran Merit and mail it to myself, so my new fresh 50 (often mastermind) can get that initial level shift which is quite important for a Mastermind, due to how the pet scaling works. A fresh 50 non-level shifted MM can be quite rough, depending on the powers and build. I mean, I wouldn't even know what to buy with merits to sell on the AH for money. But now I am wondering. I am sitting on 10,000 threads on my main character alone that I have absolutely zero use for. I don't even know how many candy canes, costume parts, merits, or whatever else currency there happens to be. On my Farming Masterminds I usually like to keep 600 or so EMP merits in the mail, plus whatever else I believe I need to hold onto. The bulk of my money comes from selling white 50 recipes to npc vendors, some of them are 100k a pop and I might end a farming run with 40-50 of them. Plus the raw inf I got from the kills, plus whatever recipes and salvage I found that I can make and/or sell. Honestly I have never even considered EMP worthy of selling, as I value them more than INF, at least as far as gearing up an alt goes. I have piles of money aplenty. But EMP merits? Those take time to gain.

Funny, I find the exact opposite. The majority of my friends have left as well, the main complaints being A.) The overall attitude in the community both ingame and on the forums in particular. B.) The ongoing insertion of politics and other real life issues into an escapism hobby. But the big one is C.) The removal of things and tools we once had, such as the teleport command. Now instead of being able to move zones, one must collect badges to unlock them. I wouldn't call removing something we once had and having to "earn" it again, progress. Particularly when it serves no other purpose than something new and artificial to have to do, in order to enjoy something we all once had. You say the game is too easy? A fair opinion, and I respect your right to have it. Personally I say the Trials and Endgame content are overpopulated by a growing number of persons that the rest of the community don't want to interact with, no matter what form of carrot on a stick is tied to it. If I want endgame content, I will hunt AVs/GMs alone, or go solo trials and arcs by myself or with friends whose company I enjoy. And artificially trying to encourage/force different groups of people to interact will rarely end well for anyone involved. As an example, the last Incarnate Trial I tried to join randomly was not explained in any detail. I had never done it before, and did not know where to go or what to do, or even what the story was. When the leader got angry with me for lagging behind, I tried to explain that I was deaf and was trying to understand what the mission was. His response? "Then why are you here?" and I got removed from the group. Rather than take the 2 minutes to explain things, he was in such a hurry that he would rather boot me and find someone else. That is what the "public endgame" is like for some of us, and why we choose to avoid it. It actually has little to do with the rewards from AE at all. Its simply that there is a group of, well, shall we call them Elitists that are genuinely unpleasant to be around. Now I will add that this is hardly a problem unique to Homecoming. It is the internet and gaming in general. However, at least City of Heroes has options for me to advance to the same level, power, and wealth that they are, without me having to be forced to play in such an environment. Not all games are so blessed. And frankly, I think that's what upsets many of them. That we poor "scrubs" have options, and don't "have" to do it like "ye olde golden years of 2010" and nor would many of us even want to, if that was the only option available. Food for thought.