Neiska

Here we go again!

Hope I don't loose my fight club membership for this but, from what I gather from the "channels that don't exist", there have been things that are, well, rediscovered, or adapted. And those that know aren't giving details, because then those too will end up here as a "Nerf X thing" topic. I am sure things will get out eventually, but the things I am referring to people are being rather tight lipped on right now. First rule of fight club and all that.

Build looks unfinished, and I wince imagining having to sidekick that one down. 😆But impressive numbers nontheless.

Masterminds sort of already can. Each pet has its own aggro table, plus the original mobs for the MM themselves. Thats kind of how MM farming works, "en masse." Your dps per mob isn't anywhere near a brutes but you fight so much more at a time that it's a moot point. The trick is surviving so many mobs, which not every MM is capable of doing.

Oh, sorry. I never played Mercs. Main MMs are Robots and Demons. I can't speak on Mercs. 😆

Im not sure if I understand your question correctly. For my 3 box robot team I use both upgrades. My farming style is different from most. The only time I use the 2nd upgrade is if I am fighting with group fly on. Most times I don't, but it's an option. Hope that helps?

Huh.. that is interesting as well. I knew you could boost like, the t2 demons resist buffs, or robots def bubbles, but didn't think you could put more unique into them and have them benefit further. Now that has me wondering.

Well, whatever they changed shaved about 30 seconds off my 3 box mm farming team. They come to me more now, so I don't have to waste time chasing them down. Not a terrible amount of time, but it is easier to get big, massive groups now. Have seen a few dead outside the AE though, I mean, moreso than usual.

I run two builds on my SoA. Build 1 - Typical Crabbermind, used for teaming. Full double set of toggles, ranged debuffer/AoE damage. Build 2 - Resistance/Def focused crabber. Has pets but they aren't perma, and aren't focused for pet survivability. This is the build I use for solo +4/8 content, as pets can't survive on that setting. Defense capped, with several resists are at 85%, her lowest being psi which is 60 or so. Quite tanky, especially for a hover character. Awesome to solo with. I swap between the builds as needed, solo or teaming. I can play as a normal crabber with pets and all the toggle buffs, or I can go supercrab mode and be extra tough when I am running my own missions.

Thank you for that. I am not sure what Bopper's formula is. But if I am understanding correctly, this means the Performance Shifter has a 1.4% chance, the Energy Manipulator has a 1.9% chance, the Power Transfer heal and Panacea both have a 2.9% chance? Because I have the Panacea actually slotted now, and it seems to fire pretty regularly, at least once per spawn encounter.

Hello Forums, Recently I had rolled a Demons/Nature alt, and had asked how to best slot Living Spores, for healing or for END since it looks a little wonky in MIDS. Someone in discord pointed out that Panacea + hp/end while having a lower proc chance (18% vs 50%) does give it an area effect, meaning it can then proc on pets and teammates. So I started to tinker with it and wondered what else was possible. You can slot it for a few other proc effects, Preventative Medicine +Aborb, Performance Shifter + END, and Power Transfer + heal self. But I don't know how to calculate the proc chances and all that. So, has anyone tried "proc bombing" Living Spores like this? And do they all affect pets/teammates, or just Panacea? Something like this? It's hard to tell if that will work in MIDS, this is what I get from it - Was just wondering, it's something new I haven't tried before or seen much discussion about. But if it works, it might end up being quite good, especially if it can proc END and more Absorbs on pets. Thoughts? Or does anyone know how to figure out the % to proc on a power like this?

It's a low proc chance, like 15% or something, not sure how to calculate that. But as a bonus it does seem to benefit from the Bloom effect from nature as well. Nothing build-breaking by any means, but still something neat to keep in mind.

Actually @The_Warpact I just found something neat out, that /Nature can slot Living Spores with Panacea +hp/end proc and it will carry over to Pets and Teammates. I do agree that this is likely an exception to the rule, but it does make me wonder if there are others.

I wasn't sure I was going to add to this thread. But after some thought I thought it might help posting why I "don't." These are my own personal reasons, and don't reflect on anyone else. 1. First off, I mainly solo, or play with friends. I do very few random teams, and when I do it's usually something like DFB's. But I never "start" them in any case. 2. I often have to go AFK. I am not 16 any more. I have to respond to emails, chores, or step away for a few minutes for any one of the 1000 of reasons required of an adult. When I am solo I can pause whatever I am doing and take those few moments, and continue on when I can. I prefer to think of this as doing others a favor actually, as someone who has to afk often is more of a detriment on teams than a help. And I would sooner avoid having a "leech" reputation and so on. 3. I am actually deaf IRL. I do have a cochlear implant, but I don't wear it all the time. In fact I prefer not to. This means that I miss a lot of the sounds like glowies or even story narrative during cutscenes. Unless I have time to read then I won't fully understand what is going on. I have done story missions with others that I didn't even know what the plot was, or who even the big bad guy is. When I do team with friends, they understand the situation and most times they explain things or the story before we go in, or someone will tell me if there is info I need to know as we go. But expecting this on random teams I think is unrealistic. I also hasten to add that this is nobody's fault, it's just how it is. 4. Not all teams have been positive experiences. I would say it's been about 50/50. Some teams have been fantastic, but others have been terrible. Again, nobody's fault, it's just how it goes sometimes. I have been called names for not noticing a glowie behind me, or suggested that I am unskilled in rather colorful terms. And while I think that is part of the MMO experience these days, I do want to highlight that teaming isn't all sunshine and rainbows either. People can be offensive, or get political, or bring up any number of other hot topics of discussion. Or for me its how most teams assume everyone has done this 1000 times before, so just speed through as fast as possible. I might get lost, or not understand what the changes in mission are. If I even stop to just admire a map, I might get yelled at. Again, not blaming anyone, or even saying this is normal, only that it happens. And it happens often enough that unless there is a badge or something I want, rolling those dice are a dim prospect for me. I would just sooner wait for my friends or SG to do it, than join a random team, much less try to host something that I have little knowledge or experience doing. And yes, some of the forceful/negative attitude here on the forums does bleed over into the game sometimes. The whole "We do it this way, my way, and no other way. Now GOGOGOGOGO." Again, not always, but it is certainly felt. The basic TLDR on "why not?" for me personally is - either it is cumbersome to do with random strangers, or the risk of it actually being more "unfun" than "fun" makes me rather just do my own thing where I am sure I will enjoy myself. So at least for me, it doesn't matter what carrot you try. The stars pretty much have to align for me to join a random team to begin with. To lead one? You might want to buy a lottery ticket. To put that into perspective, I have quite a few characters over vet level 100. A few over 200. One over 400. And I have never done a spaceship raid, or a Hami, or any of those giant teams that others do. I wouldn't even know what the Spaceship looked like if I was standing in front of it. That's now little I do random teaming. Pretty much the only random teaming I do, is as I said before, random DFBs on a new alt for the badges. That's really just about it, aside from opening my AE farm to other random people, should they choose to join me. And I am not trying to derail the conversation here. I only hope that me explaining the "why not" might illuminate things. But yes it is a case of "lead a horse to water" as mentioned before. To put it simply, I would rather spend an hour in the costume editor, or hanging at the pocket D roleplaying, or going down the ski slope, or tinkering in MIDs, actively farming, passively farming, soloing story content, or any other kind of action possible before doing team-only content. Even more so if its with random people. If I was "forced" to join a team, as in that was the only activity I was allowed to do, and I "had" to do it in order to advance fully on my character, incarnate powers and the like, then I would find another game. Not everyone likes or even enjoys teaming. No matter what the reward might be. For any number of reasons. It's really just that simple.

So going by your logic ITFs are over tuned because people are ostracized or strongly encouraged into playing them. Not that I actually believe this is true, just pointing out the fallacy here. And I have yet to see anything that encourages AE. If anything, this thread and others like it discourages its use by the "nerf it" crowd at large. Energy Melee is good for ST, and ST only. The rest? middle of the pack I would say, not so good that they are OP. VS things like, oh I don't know, the RoP, TW, sentinel max target reduction, loss of the teleport code, and so on. Meanwhile, there are sets like Dark Armor that are almost unplayable without Incarnates. Doable? Yes. But it requires popping blue inspirations like candy. And I wouldn't call having to rely on outside tools or measures a good way to "balance" a set. This is doubly true when you assume someone is "old world leveling" their way up entirely through story arc's and contact missions. I would call many sets quite difficult to level in that circumstance. And I hope you and I would both agree that many sets are subpar, only until the very end of character development. I mean, how many builds here on the forums are "once you have Ageless you will be fine"? And yet I have never heard calls to nerf, oh I don't know, Fire Blast, Time Manipulation, Invulnerability, Illusion, Domination, or even the before mentioned Energy Melee. Funny that. Seems to me that some things are perfectly fine to be permitted to be overturned to the point where other builds are (achm) discouraged, by your definition. Lastly, what precisely do you mean by "overtuned?" I mean there are many, many powersets that are capable of things that sets like TW never could do, yet they remain untouched. I mean if we are going by "anyone who can solo an AV/GM" as the goalpost here, TW was hardly unique in that capability and only doable in certain situations. And I am sorry, but I had to laugh when you highlighted TW and said "this deserves commendation" when very few play it now. In your mind, that is a noteworthy feat? To make a set undesirable to play? That's the goal here? Call me skeptical.

I would first like to say normally I agree with you on a lot of things Bill, but I think the active population thing isn't so simple and clear cut as that. 1. First off, COVID. For a year most of the planet was locked indoors, which I suspect led to a lot of people playing computer games more than normal. Now that life has returned to normal, at least in some parts of the world, that might be easing up and people doing other things. 2. The "omg its back!" factor has worn off. HC has been around for a little bit now and the zerg rush to enjoy nolstalga has worn off for most I suspect. Some came back, played, had a good time, and moved on. Some might return, some may be gone for good. Normal activity I'd say. 3. More games have come out, such as Elden Ring that had something like 12 million copies sold in its initial quarter or something like that. I would wager that a good chunk of the players who were here are now moving onto other things, whatever new game attracts them. 4. I do agree with what I believe your general point has been, more nerfs than buffs. And it would be disingenuous for someone to claim that won't affect player population. Some can go "it's for balance purposes" which to me the "why" is irrelevant, when you speak about people leaving. I do hasten to add we can't prove this, it's just a hunch or theory. But I would bet that over-correction has played a part, even if a smaller (or larger) role than some might think. I mean, look at titan weapons - once the most popular set. Now? I rarely see one at all. I have not the head to claim if it is balanced now or not, but I do think it's pretty telling when a set goes from the most popular, to one of the least played with a single change. So, it's kind of a multi-sided issue to my mind. But from where I sit, we have lost more than we have gained. True, we did get a new electrical set, and several updates and changes. But I think we lost more than we gained overall. And these tests of further removing inf gain, or tweaking the merit system, certainly doesn't help matters. Personally, I go by "if it's not broke, don't fix it." So what if some things are over-tuned? Game balance? In CoH? Kind of a moot point to my mind. And we have far more things that "underperform" than "overperform." And we aren't playing for money, titles, championships, so on. For good or bad, changes for the sake of change rarely has a positive effect on a community. And I for one wish they would do their "balancing" in the other direction, as in propping up the weaker sets/ats/powers, instead of bringing down the top things. That doesn't balance anything, that just changes what the next OP thing is. I mean, I can't recall where they took a set that was bad, like mercs, and turned them into something not necessarily the new top pick, but at least viable or competitive. My thoughts about it.

Funny, I find the same handful of people going "Nerf X thing!" Except I don't just casually consider those whose stance I happen to disagree with as trolls, even though some of them have yet to post any actual data, citation, or sources to support their points. I am not saying you, just some among the Nerf crowd are just as likely to make claims without proof. At least I post examples and sources.

The most important bits are the Pet Aura enhancements, which makes your pets tougher. And the Knockback to Knockdown Sudden Acceleration, without it your robot will be pushing things out of your own AoE, which is your primary damaging attack.

@provoked Hello again, Here is a SO build as cheap as I could make, I kept only the "must haves" which is the KB to KD for your T3, and all the Pet Aura enhancements. Here are the highlights - You still hit the DEF numbers. You will have over 45% Def to everything, but this will take using Power Boost and then Foresight. Your Foresight will also have 100% uptime, which will leave you room to take Ageless for END issues you may have. But your resists will be low, but you have bodyguard to compensate. You will also have group fly which is fantastic for robots if you want to have your own team of hover-blasters. You will also have web grenade, in order to trap things in your t3 robots fire pools. Another upside is that you could use this build and just upgrade your slots as you go, no rebuild really required. As far as what difficulty this could do, it's hard to say. You have the defense certainly, but the resists I am not sure about. But I imagine it can do +3/8. But you will definitely need your first Level shift for your pets before you do +4/8 I hope this suits your needs. Again, this is "far" from optimized, but it's the best I could put together when on a very strict budget. Here is a snip of the values. Please note that it is missing 9% def from your T2 pets bubbles. 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 50 Technology Mastermind Primary Power Set: Robotics Secondary Power Set: Time Manipulation Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Battle Drones -- CaltoArm-+Def(Pets)(A), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(3), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(5), Acc-I(5), SprCmmoft-Rchg/PetAoEDef(7) Level 1: Time Crawl -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(11) Level 2: Temporal Mending -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(11), EndRdx-I(43), EndRdx-I(46), RechRdx-I(48), RechRdx-I(48) Level 4: Time's Juncture -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(37), EndRdx-I(48), Slow-I(50), Slow-I(50) Level 6: Equip Robot -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 8: Hover -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(34), EndRdx-I(37), EndRdx-I(47) Level 10: Kick -- Empty(A) Level 12: Protector Bots -- DefBuff-I(A), EdcoftheM-PetDef(13), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(13), ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(15), SvrRgh-PetResDam(15), SprMarofS-EndRdx/+Resist/+Regen(17) Level 14: Tough -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(23), ResDam-I(23), EndRdx-I(25), EndRdx-I(34) Level 16: Distortion Field -- Slow-I(A), Slow-I(17), Slow-I(19), EndRdx-I(19), EndRdx-I(21), EndRdx-I(21) Level 18: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43) Level 20: Maneuvers -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(40), EndRdx-I(40), EndRdx-I(40) Level 22: Weave -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(34), EndRdx-I(39), EndRdx-I(39) Level 24: Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A) Level 26: Assault Bot -- SuddAcc--KB/+KD(A), SlbAll-Build%(27), Acc-I(27), Dmg-I(29), Dmg-I(29), SprMarofS-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31) Level 28: Farsight -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(31), DefBuff-I(31), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(33), EndRdx-I(33) Level 30: Group Fly -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A) Level 32: Upgrade Robot -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 35: Web Envelope -- Immob-I(A), Immob-I(36), Immob-I(36), EndRdx-I(36), EndRdx-I(37) Level 38: Scorpion Shield -- DefBuff-I(A), EndRdx-I(39) Level 41: Chrono Shift -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(42), Heal-I(42), RechRdx-I(42), RechRdx-I(43) Level 44: Photon Grenade -- Dmg-I(A), Dmg-I(45), EndRdx-I(45), EndRdx-I(45), Acc-I(46), Acc-I(46) Level 47: Tactics -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(47) Level 49: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 1: Supremacy Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(7), Heal-I(9) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(9) Level 50: Musculature Total Core Revamp Level 50: Ion Total Core Judgement Level 50: Ageless Total Core Invocation Level 50: Support Total Core Graft Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface Level 1: Battle Drone Level 26: Assault Bot Level 12: Protector Bot Level 24: Afterburner ------------

Speak for yourself. I still had to shelve my hover blaster who relied on RoP and Barrier to survive. And my Widow. And my Stalker. The enflame update was nice for MMs though.

Funny, because I shown your comments to my co worker who has a masters in finance and he laughed too. Here, its actually pretty easy to prove you wrong - Lets say you and bill gates both are buying a hamburger. He has vastly more wealth than you do, yet pays the same price. How does your bank account balance affect the price? It doesn't. They are going to charge based on the market, which is supply and demand. We do agree that Supply chases demand, which determines the price, which has been my point this entire time. Glad to see we finally agree on something. But here, I will do you one even better. Show me one real life example where a government cut wages to stop inflation. Go ahead. Tell me a government that has done that. Oh, You can't? Want to know why? Because it's never been done before. Some governments have set fixed prices for things, but that is not the same as lowering peoples wages, which is what you are suggesting. Here, I will even cite a source for you. Here is a snip from the WEF (World Economic Forum) And that would be check and mate. Moreover, I find it funny you keep using ad hominem statements rather than addressing my points. Not once have you presented math, proof, or anything that supports your point aside from "trust me."

Sure, and I got no issue with that. But the how/way some "ask" is worse than people conversating in the lfg channel in the first place. I have seen some rather aggressive "requests" that I will not repeat here. "How" you communicate is just as important as the "what" you communicate. But someone going "ZOMG STOP TALKING IN LFG" or worse makes me eyeroll more than 2 people chatting about something in the channel.

Hello @provoked I will be happy to help you but I am at work right now and can't post a build, but here's a few tidbits to help you out. The good news - Robots/Time can be quite strong even on a budget. Especially if you take Mace epic pool and get power boost, as using that before Farsight adds roughly 16% to your DEF. The bad news - Robots is a late bloomer, you will feel hobbled until 32, when you get your t3 robots missile attack which counts for roughly 80% of your total damage. So expect to play defensively until then. My other personal complaint about /Time is the lack of any END tools, but that's not a dealbraker. /Time is still top teir for MMs, it just means you are more reliant on blue inspirations or ageless. But I will make a SO build for you when I get home, so stay tuned.

Yes, that's precisely how a closed/contained system works. Because we don't have things such as EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), GAAP, EPS. Moreover, you are using a form of Amalgamation to suggest artificial outside depreciation of net revenue, in order to combat a hypothetical inflation that hasn't even happened. The closest thing we have would be a Bull Market, that is effectively a stock market that can be applied to anything that can be traded. You are posing a correlation coefficient where there is none. For example, you suggest an artificial ceiling where there isn't one. A person can earn as much money as they desire, the only pacing mechanism is time. The only "ceiling" that exists, is the limit cap on individual prices, but not a character's net worth. They might be able to hold only a certain amount but keep unlimited in supply in unopened mail to themselves. Moreover, there is a key factor in inflation that you neglect to even mention - interest. There is "zero" interest in the game market, which with time, is one of the fundamental pillars that control both inflation and deflation. And without interest, that pretty much blows your entire argument out of the water. What we have is stock, supply, and the amount of money people have. No, it costs 7 million, because that is the lowest price someone is willing to sell them for at the time you pulled that from the air. Tomorrow someone might decide to sell for 3 million, or 2 million. There is wide variance. But here is a real-world example - If people are paying higher prices, then you increase the supply to compensate. You don't cut everyone's wages, which is what you are effectively suggesting. You increase the supply until the demand and supply reach an equilibrium. You need "more" farmers and producers, not "less." Another real-world example would be new technology. Something brand new and off the market is expensive, because there are only so many of them. The amount of money in the market where they are doesn't matter, 10 million or 100 billion, the company is going to charge whatever it likes for that new thing that only they can provide, and if people want it, then they "have" to pay it. Until the supply catches up to where everyone can afford one, assuming no one holds a monopoly on them. Such as when the PS5's first came out. I can guarantee you if all farming stopped, that in a matter of time prices would reach sky high because the amount that people find patrolling, doing normal actives, would be woefully inadequate to meet the demand. Though I do suppose that some demand would go down as some players would quit over such a drastic decision, so there is that. And what you are suggesting, lowering the amount of that people earn, would not cause prices to go down as that would not change the supply, nor the demand. It would in fact simply increase the amount of time/farming required to buy the same things they did before, which would compound the problem. Moreover, it would only widen the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" as the "haves" can already likely afford whatever they wish already, and the "have nots" who can't currently afford things now, will be in even worse straights and have to earn more effective buying power to purchase what they need. "That's" how actual markets work, Dunning Kruger.

You know, the only response to that would be "no you are" but that would give you more credit than you merit. Regarding your other post. That isn't how economies work at all. You are only taking one side into account - the demand. You aren't even considering supply into account, or the rate of consumption, or the withdraw of currency from the market, and several other factors. You are trying to make it sound as if - less currency = good, to keep prices down. No, that isn't what keeps pricing down, regardless of how much money is there, is irrelevant. It's how much stock there is, vs the need for it. In our case, it's how much is being put up for auction, vs how much demand for it. Here, a screenshot of an IO used on very nearly every build - I would say that is sitting at a pretty good price. Now on live, others said that was going for 10 times that. NOT a good price I would say. And for example, you remove the supply out of the equation, in this case farmers, being the main supply, the number of these on the market will drop sharply, leading to an increase in price, regardless of how much money is in the market or how much people have. It wouldn't matter if someone has 10 million or 2 billion, the rarity of materials goods or services balanced against the demand for them, is what controls pricing. NOT the amount of money in the pool. If there is only one of these? Lots of money to buy. If there is a lot of them? Not much money to buy. Too many of them? Very cheap to buy. Its Supply vs Demand. The "rate of earnings" you describe is used to calculate things like Interest, not pricing. Thanks for playing though.