Neiska

Currently Mercs are better at group fly setups.

I have been accused of being a Botter, to cheating, exploiting, and more, when all I am doing is playing multiple accounts, with follow and 1 power on autocast that ISN'T haste. (Some people seem genuinely shocked that you can put almost any power on autocast, even PBAOEs.) Personally, I put it down to people being mistaken, unimaginative, or simply have very loose definitions for what is botting. I use no keylogger, no multiple screens, no automated programs, etc. I have never used those things and wouldn't know how to even begin. (I'm actually not very computer savvy.) But honestly, you can multibox in CoH without much trouble at all, just making 2-3 accounts, put your main character on follow, and pick your autopower. Seriously, that's it. All I alt tab to do is refresh buff or pop an incarnate power. I can think of only one legitimate time I suspected of another player actually botting, and that was when I encountered 1 person playing 5 Crabberminds, and they all acted in unison. They all turned at the same time, flew up and down at the same time, all used the same powers, at the same time. Like it was synchronized dancing. When I multibox, its always the same power on auto, and there is always a bit of lag, like when I travel for instance. My boxed characters are 2-3 seconds behind me to catch up, they don't move or do the same thing at the exact same time. And for those wondering, synchronized characters vs multiboxing is kind of blatantly obvious to spot, but I can understand how some might get confused if all they have seen are multiboxers vs an actual Botter.

I can +1 to Shield/Dark Melee, or even Shield/Rad Melee both being quite good. Both have strong DEF and debuff resists, help out the team both with Cover and have self-healing. Both secondary's pair wonderfully with Shield even into incarnate levels. But I personally have found Bio Armor to be quite strong as well. Other sets will certainly shine in some circumstances, and Bio rarely places first in any situation, but often places very high in many. And has tools that some other sets don't, namely stacking regen and absorb, with respectable levels of other layers of defenses. So it doesn't rely on any single thing. Which mean's it's flexible. Personal preference and tastes applies of course, but so far my best results were with Bio Armor, focusing on Recharge, especially when using Melee Hybrid and Rune of Power to shore up the sets lack of other features. This is often so good together that most often I end up slotting DNA siphon for END, not for heals. Essentially I focus on Juggling both Parasite Aura and Carapace (Often Carapace first on the pull to dampen alpha hits), and then juggling Melee Hybrid and Rune of Protection. All for rolling effects together are absolutely fantastic, and this isn't even using DNA to clutch-heal or relying on your Destiny slot. Often this is so fantastic that I don't even have to change out of Offensive Mode, even as a tanker. But it will be awhile before you reach this point. The downsides about Bio is, is that until you hit a certain point of recharge, it feels more like a moped than a tank. You will rely on just Carapace at first, then DNA to help manage damage. But once you hit that certain point of recharge where you can keep rolling the next buff as the last one wears off you can become quite powerful. Another downside to Bio Armor while it uses multiple tools, they often depend on a stacking buff that is dependent on how many targets are hit. Which means against single targets your buffs are not as potent. Another downside for some people are the visuals. Yes, you can turn them down to minimum VFX but some still don't like it, even then. Your experience may vary of course. But for me, Bio is a solid win. It may not have the flat out DEF or RES that other sets have, but it can absorb and heal so much more than the others that its lower DEF and RES is a moot point. But I would like to point out that perhaps the most important part of builds isn't numbers at all, but wither you personally enjoy it. If you have to "force" yourself to play a certain AT or powerset then what's the point? I have seen people take powers or sets that conventional wisdom said was bad and do some amazing things. And taking the current meta won't magically make you auto-stomp everything you encounter either. It helps, certainly. But player skill and game knowledge plays into the equation just as much. So if you like your Invulnerable tanker, then stick with it. Or if you want to try something new, like a Shield or Bio Armor then I say go for it. Each armor set definitely has a different "feel" to it. Some you may like. Some you may dislike. Regardless of the math. Others you might absolutely fall in love with, even if its just a matter of keeping the same primary power, but trying it with a different secondary. That alone can also make quite a bit of difference. Hope this helps!

True, AE and normal missions are pretty close now. The only upside to AE is convenience and no travel time. Well, that and being able to pick map types. (Personally I hate cave maps and similar.) The upside to other missions is that 2% chance at an Aether, so there is that. So it's personal taste really. Personally I tend to favor AE as something I can do alone, at my own pace and convenience, and doesn't involve a lot of travel when multiboxing.

A Wizard did it!

Perhaps you hit them so incredibly hard it causes their molecules to collapse and create a black hole a mere Quark in size, creating not only its on gravitational field but also causing a momentary "absolute zero" which we observe as them being held in the mid-air as a frozen iceblock? Science can be both awesome and scary sometimes.

My suggestion is to find a mission that uses either the Asteroid or Large Cityscape map. The large cityscape is massive with tons of enemies. The Asteroid is smaller with more densely pact enemies, and is a series of 5 missions so there will be load times. As far as updates and changes, they changed how AI works. Before if you were at target cap, enemies would just walk right by you and not aggro. But enemies no longer meekly wait their turn to get beat up anymore. Now if you are at target cap and aggro beyond that, they will stand at range and use any ranged powers they have. This means you can no longer just build for Melee DEF and RES and call it a day, You have to take Ranged DEF and ways to heal/passive regen into account as well. Or you can do what I do - multibox 3 farmers at a time. That way rarely are all 3 at aggro cap so the ranged attacks aren't an issue. And you get more INF and EMP merits anyway. And multiboxing lets you use traditionally non-farm ATs as well, such as a SoA's, Scrappers, Stalkers, or whatever you like to play. Just park your 1-2 tankers/brutes with an AoE power on autocast, and play your main AT like you were on a team. PS - As far as the INF and EXP rates, yes they have gone through a few changes. It is slower now, but still worth doing if you enjoy Farming or prefer to play alone.

People are free to color their powers whatever they like. It is a bit silly to expect an entire community to base their choices around what is a personal situation. And I say this as a deaf player. My advice, would be to join a SG or form a group of friends to run content with, who know and understand your situation and circumstances. In my case, I simply tell my friends if I have ears on or ears off. (I have a Cochlear implant, but I don't wear it all the time.) They all know if it's off, I won't hear glowies and the like. But it's rarely proven to be a problem. Now if you are teaming with random people, it is a bit silly to expect complete random strangers to know, or even have a costume with different colored powers ready to be changed on the fly. You can ask people to not use powers, certainly. But understand that they are free to say no. And depending on the set or power, not using a certain power might be detrimental to the team. I guess what I am saying is, "know the pool you are about to swim in." It is unfortunate to have your circumstances, but it is just as silly to expect everyone to adapt to your circumstance. Some people will, but just as many, possibly more, won't. As far as what you can do about it on your side, I am unsure. I am afraid I am not very tech savy. Possibly you might be able to change your monitor or computer settings outside the game so it's not an issue? Others have mentioned things you can do ingame already, but I am uncertain what else you can do personally. As much as it sucks, it really is a sort of "them's the breaks" when gaming with a lot of random people through the internet.

I think it really depends on if you are solo or on a team. But it's 100% fine to like something that isn't kiss-your-elbow mathematically superior too. I have only tried 1-2 controllers, and just couldn't get into them. I may try again sometime, but for me it just led to frustration.

Thank you. I will make a few adjustments. I really like RoP, and it is heavy slotted but that was mostly for the 6pc bonus, but i can certainly move that elsewhere, I do like the set for the melee defense bonus. I can move some slotting around.

Hello Forums, I wanted to make a new mastermind, namely to solo harder content and difficulties. And I decided to try /Dark out. So this is my first attempt, on initial pass I think it looks pretty good, but do worry a bit about END use. I did make her on the tougher side, with tough/weave/RoP and so on. Feedback appreciated! [/img] View This Build In MRB Neiska (Demon Summoning - Dark Miasma) Mk 1.mbd

Proc procity-proc proc proc!

I would like to go on record and say I have used Group Fly on my Crabber and found the spiderbots vaguely horrifying when flying. Their bodies float in the air, but their legs hang straight down like they were some kind of robotic space tics. In seriousness though, it wasn't as useful on them as it is on MMs, as they shoot once then swoop into melee. So there isn't much point. Personally I take group fly on some MMs, depending on the primary. Its good for robots and mercs, dubious usefulness on other primaries outside of certain circumstances like Hami. But outside of situations like that I consider Group Fly to be a power best used when solo, regardless of primary.

Doesn't the "average lifespan" during that period of history really vary country to country, and perhaps more importantly, class to class? IE the nobles and such had cleaner homes, better food, cleaner water vs those living in poorer conditions and the like?

Personally I think its pretty presumptious to assume individual ownership of a GM in a public area, in a public game. You want to fight a GM solo? Make an AE for it, or go do some of the missions that has one. Sure, you can "ask" others to let you solo it. But just as you are free to ask, others are free to go "lolno."

Want to see the Fun Manager?

I haven’t checked in a week or so but when I did it was 2-2.5 or so. But I would expect some fluctuations as normal.

You are kind of proving my point... If all you do is reroll new alts over and over, (and I have nothing against you if that's how you enjoy the game), then how do you expect to earn Prisims? Here is a link to the wiki - https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Prismatic_Aether_Particle_Salvage But here is the short of it - 1.) Each mission at any level has a 2% chance to earn an Aether. 2.) Dr Aeon and Imprious TFs grant Aethers, depending on difficulty, with an 18 hour lockout. 1 star = 2 Aethers. 2 stars = 7 Aethers. 3 stars = 13 Aethers. 4 stars = 20 Aethers. 3.) Incarnate Trials grant 1, 2, or 3 Aethers, depending on the Teir, with 18 hour lockouts. 4.) Weekly strike targets - the first time each week a character completes will earn you 1-2 Aethers, depending on the length of content. 5.) Halloween event - each halloween badge grants 2 Aethers. 6.) Lastly, you can buy them. Currently they are 2 million a pop. So farming inf and buying them, are actually one of the worst ways to earn them. (Well, that depends how fast you earn INF but I digress.) But keep in mind, these lockouts are per character. In theory you could run a 2-star TF, weekly strike target, and an incarnate trial in the same weekend and earn 10-12 Aethers. You simply aren't doing the content that awards Aethers, and that is your choice to do so. But since you constantly reroll new characters, the only other option for you is to farm. So I would say the system is working as intended?

Because the game needs money sinks. Think about it. Once you are level 50 completely slotted out with all the purples, there is little if any cost you have to keep paying. You can play that character however long you want and you will only ever spend inf if you want to on things like costumes and things. Other games like WoW have repair costs. Or you lose money when you die like Diablo. But CoH has virtually no "maintenance" or "upkeep" costs. Pretty much the only thing you have to do to make money is get a level 50, get them kitted out, and simply play it. Anything you get is a net gain, no matter what you do. And you can make over a billion even with casual play on a 50 that you don't spend money on. When it comes down to it, if you make fewer alts, you have more money. But making alts is a big part of the attraction in CoH. I mean, the alternative thing is that they offered actual power/special enhancements for money, but that's more or less pay to win, trading money for actual "power" which I hope everyone involved agrees is a bad idea. To get a full purple 6 piece set at 20m apiece that's already 120,000,000 or more, assuming you are just buying them from the auction house. Finally, the dev's don't actually set prices on things, barring situations where they seed winter sets in the AH. (I have no idea if they actually do that or not, but that's the rumor.) As far as I am aware, the player market has set the prices on Aethers. The devs just put how many are needed for X teir costume, but its the community who decides how much each Aether costs to buy. "That's" why they cost just over a billion. And they are a cosmetic luxury item. There is no difference in gameplay between someone with or without them. And as silly as it sounds, cosmetics can be BIG in some games. Wings, pets, auras, special armors etc can all be big money, both ingame money and real life money. People will pay to look pretty. No one is twisting your arm to have the special auras. Not having an aura has zero impact on your characters power or abilities. Its just something you can work for and enjoy having. And honestly I wish we had more of them. Personally the only one I want is the mini-me one. But I am not willing to fork over the inf and just buy the Aethers for them, I am just taking my time doing weekly hardmodes with my supergroup until I get enough Aethers for them. So technically, these auras are free, if you are patient and do the content that rewards them.

Ah, "There" it is. You know, I was wondering how long it would take for the "I hate farmers!" complaint to rear its head. Honestly, I am surprised it took 4 pages. In light of how the discussion has progressed, I wish to change my answer. My new answer is - Other - Self-appointed Dictators of fun who have the self obsessed narcissism to feel they have not only the authority but the right to police others gameplay and activites. I honestly cannot fathom the mindset a person must possess to think that their personal narrow scope of preferred playstyle is the golden measuring stick to base not only the entire game around, but all other activities as well, even those activities they themselves dislike. Unless you are a Staff member, then your opinion on the matter is just that, your opinion. Not scripture or a server rule for everyone to abide by. You enjoy an activity? Great! Go have fun. You dislike an activity? Great! No one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to do it. You dislike others enjoying an activity? Well, that's not really your business. Don't like it? That's too bad. The game, the Devs, and other players do not revolve around what you personally approve or disapprove of. Long as its an entirely legal activity to do, (which AE and farming is), you can watch from the sidelines. For the record, most farmers are content to "live and let live." You do your thing, I'll do mine. But I will also point out that out of every activity a player might enjoy doing, none have been so changed/edited as much as the AE. The INF/EXP has been adjusted several times now, as well as the NPC behavior. I will also point out that every change has been one direction - to make farming more tedious and time consuming, despite it being an entirely 100% allowed and legal activity to do. Ironically, this has not reduced farming as a whole, only made it more necessary for those players who enjoy that activity. So the measures taken to "reduce" farming, actually only made it more necessary. But lets play hypothetical here. Lets say that the AE vanished overnight. POOF! Pixies stole it in the night. What do you think would happen? Well, I don't know for certain, but I can take a very good guess - 1. The first reaction, would be anger and resentment. Followed by some whoops and cheers from a small part of the community but who is also the loudest in their complaining. 2. There won't be a sudden influx of players teaming or doing those activates you enjoy. The big brains in the farming community have already identified the next most expedient methods of EXP and INF, and those would simply become the new farm. Builds have already been configured for it in fact. 3. The game wont suddenly become a paradise of rainbows and everyone getting along. I expect the rifts that already exist, will widen further. Currently, the various people I team with already resent some others to the extent that if those people show up to a team activity, they will simply leave. (Myself included in some cases, if a select few people show up to it.) Simply because I don't care what the activity happens to be, I absolutely refuse to partake in it with those people. And this? Will only make that worse. You can't bribe, coerce, or force people to enjoy things. That's human nature. And you have to accept that some of those very same activities that you are so passionate about - (making a new character, slow-crawling over weeks to 50, and doing it again, or whatever) are the same actions that other people despise, just as much as you might hate AE. And trying to "the beatings will continue until morale improves" angle will only make things worse. Speaking entirely for myself, I might spend hours in the costume creator, making a look, then even more hours in MIDS, planning out a character. And if I want to rush them to 50 to play with my other friends who are 50? Then that's my business. You can't "force" me to enjoy the game with you, doing "your" activity. This is not that game. This is a sandbox. Where we all can play and do what we enjoy. And if you are not on my friends list, or if we don't go out and do things together, then it is no exaggeration to say that I personally don't give a leaky sack of wet rat farts what you like or dislike. "But new people are 50 without a clue!" - Yes? And? First, I would love to see the citation and source of this tidal wave of new players. Secondly, if they are learning, isn't that the point? Not everyone has memorized every mission in a game old enough to vote. Thirdly, you speak as if this isn't a fixable situation. People aren't sure what to do? Then take the time to mentor and teach them. You know, part of that whole "community" thing you claim to speak for and represent. And honestly? You should be happy we are getting newbies at all in a game this old, in the age of mobile games and short attention spans. And even if someone who is 50 shows up and doesn't know what to do, I must say it is mighty presumptuous of you to immediately assume they don't know the game. Not everyone runs weekly TFs. Not everyone runs Raids. Not everyone runs hard mode. I have played HC since shortly after it was made public, and I have YET to do a Hami, Mothership Raid, or anything like that. I have run Aeon and Imperious a few times, 2 star I think? And I have "several" level 50s on multiple accounts, fully incarnated t4's. And I do not consider myself a "newb." I simply dislike large activities with random people, and the attitude of "new 50s are clueless!" does play a part of that. Why would I choose to be lectured to and berated by some self-appointed judge, when I can just go do my own thing or play with friends? "But people can AFK and earn money!" - And? So can you. We don't have any sort of advantage. We all have the same tools and access. You simply choose not to do it, and somehow, that is other peoples fault? "I'm tired of the AE in LFG channel!" - That's... the point of the channel? LFG is LFG. Nothing stipulates that LFG is only for TF, or that AE groups are not allowed to use it either. Or that PI/Radio missions isn't. I mean if someone wanted to post "looking for roleplay!" in LFG, then by all rights they could. Looking for GROUP is looking for GROUP, as in groups of people to enjoy an activity with. You aren't mad that they are looking for group, you are just mad they are looking for a group for an activity that you dislike. And to that I say that sounds suspiciously like your problem. "But the economy!" - I hate to break it to you, but an economy, any economy, is never a stable thing. There are ups, there are downs. Ebbs and flow. At times, there will be too much money. Others, not enough to go around. As an example, let's look at Aethers. When they were first added, they were selling for 15 million each. Now? Down to 2 mil last time I checked. It's stabilized. And I have a bit more bad news. In any game economy where money gain outpaces money-sinks, well, no matter what you do the only thing that changes is time. How long it will take before everything is absurdly expensive. You can slow it down, sure. But it can't be stopped, at least not without money-sinks to compensate. And for all those points of "we get too much inf!" I have yet to see actual points of conversation to balance the scale. You know, the other things that no one wants to think about. Things like - -increasing AH cuts in sales. -increasing costume costs. -making a weekly/monthly upkeep on bases. -increasing costs of recipe creation. -increasing vendor prices. Any of those things will have a far greater impact on balancing the economy, than "punish those darned farmers!" ever would. But since that would affect "everyone" and not just "them," no one wants to have that conversation. The easiest solution to any problem is making someone else do it, right? /Rant over.

I do agree with the idea that if the new set is better or worse might hinge greatly on secondary, playstyle, and activity. As for me personally, my main Robotics are /EA, /Time, and /Dark. And my main activities are TFs (with friends) where I can't really notice any difference, soloing AE's, GMs, AVs, and +4/8 tasks where times are almost universally worse, and Ouro tasks which seem to be roughly equal, but with improved gameplay.

Other. My main concern? Forum PVP. My main concern in-game? Unbalanced ATs/Powersets, and I am not referring only to DPS. Some of them are so far behind that they were left back on live. At least some are seeing updates though which is nice.

Perhaps I should further elaborate my point. I mentioned that on "teams" you could use just a T3 pet and it wouldn't severely impact you, as most MMs on teams take the role of support or debuffer rather than DPS. The additional sub-par DPS from having the other pets often wasn't worth it. Now alone, I do agree you should use all your pets in nearly all circumstances. I have heard of "1 big robot" setups but I doubt it would be efficient. Overall I like the MM primary updates, only the Robotics do I dislike. To me they took what made the set unique and fun, with different ways to use and made it like the other sets, as with the lateral move of the -regen. They say the DPS was improved, but in all of my personal tests its been worse. Every test I did from before/after is over 2 minutes difference, and not a single test were the new robots "faster." So I suspect what they really mean is the T1 and T2 pets damage was improved, but the T3 pet was reduced or changed. Not that I expect them to make any reversions or updates to Robotics again anytime in the near future.

Robots had the best AOE and inherent -regen. They had weak ST though (and still do), but the biggest complaint was how back-loaded the set was. The T3 pet did roughly 80% of your total net damage, which made doing things like Ouro or side-kicking down a pain. But there were also ways to take advantage of that was well. Having so much damage on one pet made ST buffs like Forge much more useful, and it was easier to drop a red inspiration onto your big T3 and boost your damage as well. It was also a mixed blessing when it came to teams, as you could get by with just your T3 pet and it wouldn't impact you very much. But now you can't really do that anymore and have to bring all the pets, the same as every other MM set.