Neiska

Oh, I agree. I have left other games for the same reasons. But the difference here is that much of that is actually against the rules, but I see no effort whatsoever to curtail the behavior, aside from people reporting. But as far as I can tell, that does little good. Because it just keeps happening. Frequently. So either - A) They don't care. (I doubt this is the case.) B) They take action, but said people just remake new free accounts and continue the behavior. Or C) They do police it, but it does little good. Because it is no exaggeration that anytime I get in the mood to do PUG activity, not a day goes by where something like that isn't said if not in Team or League chat, than in General chat.

Lunar had it right, Everlasting. Not all of these happened in the last two weeks mind you, but they all happened in TFs and Raids. But yes, every one of those topics were openly discussed with all the casual conversation of "what is your favorite kind of cake?" If you ask me, people are focused on the wrong "problems", but that's just me.

And now for my rebuttal, and I think I am going to remove my filter for this one. 1. New players rushing is wrong! -No, it isn't. Not if said new players "choose" it. Sure, you can offer guidance and your opinion, but unless your name has a "Homecoming Staff" besides it, then what you have to say is just that, your opinion. Not a rule. Not a must-do. It is at best, a bias suggestion. And I find it amusing that on one hand, CoH likes to go "AE/farming BAD" but in the same breath goes "hey, here is unlimited EXP boosters!" Not only that, but Where is it written "what" to do? Pray Tell, show me what rule says one MUST play a certain way? If a new player wants to hang out at pocket D at level 10, that's their business. If a player wants to not play superhero at all, and play investment simulator with the auction house, then that's their business. Who are you (not anyone in particular, speaking rhetorically here) to tell another person what activity is and is not allowed, good, or right? My only two questions are "did YOU have fun?" and "did THEY have fun?" should be the only two metrics of what "correct play" is. Because what "you" find fun, might be the part of the game someone else hates the most. 2. Why don't some people (new and old alike) like doing PUG things? - Speaking only for myself here, but not everyone likes or enjoys the PUG community here. For me there are a few reasons why, so I will break it down. 2a - The chat/commentary - I have been playing since 2019. I have done a total of five, FIVE mothership raids, and ONE Hami raid, all of them in the last two weeks. And I doubt I will do so again. Because every single time without fail, the chat has turned into the worst of various reddit threads, many of which I can't even repeat here. Here are a few examples - -NSFW Furry commentary. -Controversial topics such as BLM, "my body my choice", etc. -How some people of a particular political opinion should be arrested. -How terrible incels are, and why they are to blame for every ill in society. -How great communism is, and how bad capitalism is. -LGBTQ dating, most of which I cannot repeat here. -The current situation in Gaza, and how X side is wrong. -Religion. -Subscribe to my (adult content) - The adult orientation of X fictional character. etc etc. Now, I don't care what people's opinions are on any of these topics. I don't care what your intimate orientation is. I don't care who you support politically. I don't care who or what you worship or consider sacred. That is none of my concern, nor my business. If anyone is interested in any of these things, there are reputable platforms to discuss such things. CoH is a lot of things, but a pillar of fair intellectual debate, the general or team channel is not. And I don't care to see any of it. Normally, I would just ignore and press on. But it is so wild, common, and rampant that ignoring people 1 by 1 isn't any help. Its whack-a-mole. You ignore one, 2 more pop up. This is especially bad on the raids. And on two occasions, it was the leader themselves as a source of it. And I find it a bit illuminating that the some of the HC community seems more concerned with things like AE farming, than things like these being widely and openly discussed. Because Priorities? 2b - The behavior -As an example, just last week I was on a Manticore TF. One person sped ahead as fast as they possibly could, running through spawns in an effort to complete missions as fast as possible, even finding the elevator before the entire team was on the map. I spoke out, as did two other people. To which I was told to go fornicate myself. So, I left. Immediately after I left, another person (NOT the speed runner) began to lecture me on how "I had no right" to abandon my group like that, which turned into a 20-minute tirade of me being "selfish" because of not wanting to indulge in the speedster's behavior, and how my leaving caused the two others to also leave. I strongly dislike speed-running things. Unless I am with a group of friends, I pretty much clear every group of enemies. Because its money, drops, kind of the point of the TF in the first place, and whatnot. I dislike this gameplay so much that I have left other games because of it, namely ESO. Where "speeding" content is so bad that people are utterly unwilling to Tank it, which in turn leads to a shortage of tanks for high end content, where you can't just skip or bull rush things. The tank cues are so bad, its 4 hours or longer. When to me, it's a problem of their own creation. I have done TFs that I still don't know the story of. Even after almost 5 years of playing the game, I still don't know who the guy is on the Dam. I don't know the whole "its a nemesis plot!" thing. Many, many stories I have done several times, I have YET to get the context of. And at this point, I don't expect to get it. 2c - The unsolicited opinions and EPEEN - "Oh, you took THAT power? THAT pool? What a scrub!" etc. "My pixels are so much better than YOUR pixels! Now bare witness to my GLORY! Watch, in AWE of my might! I beat that Elite boss .023 seconds faster than you did! Get with the META, scrub! Cold Domination or get out!" etc etc. And yes, in some cases, it truly is that bad. Theme builds, are a thing. Builds "just for fun" are a thing. Taking powers you simply like, are a thing. Not everyone chases the META. Not everyone even CARES about the META. And I don't remember asking for the opinion of random pug player #0248592 for all the mathematical reasons of why I should not take powers like Enflame. So, to address the Elephant in the room, let's NOT pretend that Pugging is a land of Milk and Honey, of Unicorns and Rainbows, where everything is GREAT and everyone gets along. To many of us, it is quite Toxic. Not everyone is toxic mind you, but "enough" of it is that if I was given no option to PUG or uninstall, I would immediately uninstall, because my dislike of the PUG community outweighs my like for the game. I would simply rather play alone, or with my friends. Both in AE and in open world content. And the more the narrative of "PUG TEAMING" is pushed/baited/bribed on me, the more I resent it. And if I want "story", I will just run Ouros, again, either alone or with friends. Perhaps, just perhaps mind you, if people stopped focusing on what OTHER people are doing and focus on themselves and their own fun and enjoyment, things might calm down. But I wouldn't bet on that. Lastly, new players, being confused even at maximum level, is HARDLY unique to CoH. It exists in nearly every game, even games without "rushing" or "power leveling." It's normal. To be expected. And if someone wants to rush-rush-rush to level 50, and THEN do content, then it is their prerogative to do so. And you can't FORCE them otherwise. You can't "force" people to play with you, YOUR way. And the more you try to MAKE them, the more they will resent it. if you want more people to play YOUR way, the way YOU do, then give them options, and let them CHOOSE to do so. Rant over.

Boy oh boy, I foresee absolutely no way that this topic might run off the rails. Gee, I sure hope people will refrain from being judgmental of how other people enjoy hobbies and understand that not everyone likes the same things. What can possibly go wrong? Here is an unrelated image.

...But I didn't bash anyone? And even said its fine to use things for inspiration...? Pretty harsh reply to something that was trying to be supportive of originality here.

My two cents - Honestly? One of the amazing things about COH to me is what people create, from the characters, builds, costumes, etc. Way, WAY better than most of what's coming out of Marvel/Hollywood these days if you ask me, most of which isn't an original idea or character in quite some time now. Just over the weekend I saw a character called "Pocket D Janitor" that had me laughing. Poor slob was in a hazmat suit, gas mask, and was muttering something about don't trust any of the spilled liquids. My current project - Litzy, the Inventor. A Robot/FF MM. Pretty much a Cyberpunk Goblin who loves Grape Crush soda. Even made some AI art for her! So ya, don't chase other people's characters. It's fine to use them as inspiration and the like, but you never know what you can make yourself!

@Caios Not all MM setups can perform at +4/8 solo. Some can but do require practice and knowledge. MMs are a support class but are capable of it. Here are a few tips - 1. Try to pick a Primary and Secondary with synergies - Like a pet set with DEF and a DEF secondary, or a RES secondary. Examples - Bots/FF, Bots/Time, Demons/Electric, Demons/Cold, Necro/Dark, Thugs/Time. But even some unexpected combinations can perform quite well, such as Necro/FF, or Robots/Dark. 2. You won't be able to jump right into +4 right at 50. This is because of how level shifts work. MMs benefit from that first alpha level shift more than anyone else. I cannot stress enough how much of a boost it is to you and pets, because pets are below your level to begin with, and on +4 that means your t1 pets are 7 levels below the enemy. 3. Make sure you have all of your pet auras. And pet control is a large part of your pets survivability, as well as yours. Keeping pets within supremacy range keeps them alive via your auras that boost them and keep you alive as well via bodyguard mode. Keeping pets close also prevents aggroing excess groups. Not everyone knows but MM pets have their own threat tables, which means MMs can fight more mobs than anyone else, even if on accident. If you let a pet wander off, you can quickly get in over your head if you aren't paying attention. 4. While not necessary, secondaries with aoe healing are fantastic for pets due to bodyguard interactions. 5. Various tricks - there are various tricks MMs can do. -Power Boost + Farsight from time - pretty much softcaps everyone's DEF, which is fantastic to juggle with something like Barrier. When Barrier wears off, pop Power Boost + Farsight, and when that DEF boost wears off, your Barrier will be ready yo use again. -Burnout + Gangwar/Hell on Earth - While END intensive, this is a MMs version of "burning." It lets you immediately reuse the powers but is fairly harsh on the END. -Even if some pets aren't good for damage, they may have other uses - damage or debuff procs, Knockdown Unique, and so on. -Group Fly - with Robots and Mercs only, you can use Group fly to great advantage. Your pets will stick close, and since they are all ranged, they will pew-pew the enemy. And few enemies have a full attack chain of ranged attacks, and even fewer have -fly. This is not a fix-all however, as some enemy types such as Arachnos has many ranged attacks, and some maps such as Caves have low ceilings. But Group Fly can make some maps and enemy types very easy. This also applies to things like Web Grenade, Tar Pit, or Distortion Field - slows and immobilize can greatly change how well your pets do if they are flying, because that is even "less" attacks that your pets are facing, before anything like DEF or RES even come into play. -Some pet sets such as Necro you can slot unique's into the upgrade powers, and the effects will apply to pets. (But not you if you do this.) You can stack actually good regen on them, which goes a good way to help with some sets that lack healing, such as Cold. -Some secondaries are very good at keeping Incarnate Lore pets alive, and some even benefit from Group Fly as well, such as Longbow. The giant robot is all ranged and is actually one of the better single target lore pets. This is all off the top of my head, but I am sure there are things I am missing. Not all MMs can solo +4/8, so if that is important to you then you may have to build for that specifically. Some MMs certainly can do it, but not all of them will be able to. Lastly, don't forget the Mastermind channel of the Discord. Not all of us agree on different ways of doing things, but if you are having a specific problem there are many vets that can give you some guidance. Hope this helps!

You know what? ......Fair! A Very fair observation! Does dying a little inside or loosing a bit of faith in humanity count?

Hi forums, So, I finally have my own @Snarky pug story to share. I finally decided to do my very first mothership raid. The leader did a good job at organizing and explaining things. Mentioned in League chat there were a few first timers, explained the pylons and bombs, the bowl, to stay with the murderball, etc. And everything went great. I only died once due to the bombs, but that's because I wasn't sure where I was going and was lagging behind the group to follow them. So, I think that's not bad for my first time. Once we got to the bowl, things went smoothly. The War Priests went down fast, and we chipped away at the GM. Things went well until the GM went down. Then suddenly the League chat went from normal Raid chatter and took a wild left and suddenly out of nowhere three people began to rant about Incels, and essentially how they are to blame for all of society's woes. I won't repeat what was said here, but it's no exaggeration to say it read like the worst of Reddit. And their diatribe rant continued during the rest of the mothership raid, for the full 20-25ish minutes of "farming" the spawns, almost constantly. Post after post after post, sounding very much like the worst of a certain stereotype, essentially treating the league chat like their very own personal soapbox to rant to the masses from. For the record, I don't personally care about the opinions of random strangers on the internet. I just don't care to see it in a hobby or entertainment. I always question if they are trolling or seeking a platform simply for attention. If people wish to discuss things, then fine. Discuss it with people who share your views or opinions. But throwing out into a public forum, and then ranting when some disagree, just reeks of baiting or a complex. Anyway, that's my pug story. My first Mothership Raid included some loudly toxic self-proclaimed dictators of morality. I just hope this isn't normal for Raids. If it is my Ignore list will grow larger. Speaking of which - is the ignore tool character or account specific? Not sure on that one. I think to date I have only ignored 2 people a few years ago? Now, by the accumulated power of Greyskull, Friendship, and 1000 crazy cat ladies combined, I summon Snarky! Nosferatu! I choose You! Lets hear what you think! Included is a live pic of Snarky's last PUG.

@Linea Agree with most of your points, respect the ones that are personal like disliking crab legs. About my accuracy comment, if you click the misc buffs tab it will show your total bonuses, such as Tohit, Accuracy, Damage, etc. You have a bit of ToHit but zero accuracy, so yes Global Accuracy. Not a build-breaker, just something I wanted to point out in case you overlooked it. Much as I like the pets, they don't survive well on +4/8 solo. They do okay on teams to lessen the pressure on them, but alone they just aren't durable enough. Personally, I tend to have 2 builds on my crabbers - one for solo and one for teams. Like I said, good build! I just have other things I like too.

@Snarky

Looked at your latest build you posted, and some thoughts. First, you have a PSI hole, but that isn't uncommon for ATs. Not a make or break by any means, just pointing it out. Second, you picked Soldier attacks over Crabber, which is fine. But your damage output is, well, lacking, even for a Crabber. You have - Single Shot, Burst, Heavy Burst, Venom Grenade, Frag Grenade, and Web grenade. None of them hit particularly hard. I know this is a theme build, but I think you may struggle solo with higher difficulties. But it should perform just fine on +2/8. But if that's your goal, you hardly need 55% Melee/Ranged/AoE DEF. I just think you might be putting too much into just DEF, especially with your resists being so-so. While your DEF is impressive, you are giving up quite a bit to get it. If you pushed DEF so hard because you lack DDR, there's always Ageless. Your END looks good, which is always nice to have on a Crabber. I expect you will be popping a blue now and then, but again, not a build-breaker. Oh, and just noticed - you actually don't have the shield wall Unique, so that's an easy 5% all resist. The last thing I noticed, is that you have 27% ToHit, but 0% Accuracy, which might cause some issues vs some enemies. One thing you might try is adding in Bile Spray and Artic Breath from Levithan Pool. They interact wonderfully with Venom Grenade, due to all the -toxic res debuff stacking, which does more damage than indicated in MIDs. I only just started pushing with them and its been fantastic. Overall it looks pretty good! Just a bit too many "eggs in one basket" for my taste. I like to build my crabbys to be tough and durable too, but I also like to include other things like damage, buffs/debuffs, resists, so on. Here's a snip of my latest build if you want to compare - So side by side, You have more DEF than I, but I have DDR to compensate. I am running double assault toggles and have both spiderlings and reinforcements. But my Resists are much higher than yours, and not just during a RoP but constantly. And I should do much better damage, with the Venom Grenade - Arctic Breath - Bile Spray combo. I will likely take out Spirit Shark (at least the slots) and move them elsewhere, as I am not personally impressed by it. It feels clunky, and it takes quite a bit to get the full 5 stacks of Hunger, where one stack of Arcane Power for Arcane Bolt does almost the same damage, and you might get 3 or 4 empowered Arcane Bolts off in the time it takes to get 1 fully charged Spirit Shark off. So, still making fine-tuning adjustments there. But yea! Great Build Linea! You may not kill stuff fast but you are one tough cookie!

Wish Granted. Here is a 100% Authentic picture of @Snarky's Exalibonk.

One thing to keep in mind @Snarky is that like any other activity, different people will have different approaches to hardmodes. Some people will want to complete with the character they enjoy, even if it isn't minmaxed to the umpteenth degree. Others will want the easiest, smoothest ride possible. I was in one pug where one person threw a tantrum when it wasn't a "flawless" run. Different people have different priorities. Personally, I would rather run things with people whom I enjoy playing with, even if its more difficult to complete the activity. We have yet to come across something we haven't completed or finished. Sure, people may die a lot, and we may have to step back and regroup. But honestly, how often does a team fail and everyone quit and leave? I am hard pressed to think of when that has happened to me. I can likely count on one hand how many times that has happened to me in 4 years of HC gameplay. If you aren't a minmaxer, then don't team with minmaxers. I am sure you will find people who don't mind you being a dark/dark tank or something else. Though to be fair here, I have yet to finish a 4 star with my crabber. I've done 2 star stuff, but most pugs who do 4 star want "only the best" ATs and powersets. So perhaps find a group of friends or SG mates who share the same approach to activities?

Average male height in the US is 5 feet 9 inches. The whole "short" topic makes me more concerned that people who are typical or average, are suddenly considered sub-bar or below, despite being average by definition. The sort of thinking that if something isn't exceptional, than it's trivial.

Every Hardmode I have been on included at least 2 cold corruptors to stack debuffs, and half had Ageless for the debuff protection, the other half had Barrier. Both would be juggled. -Tanks varied, but they were either absorb tanks like Rad or Bio, or tanks with inherent -def debuff protection like Shield. - Ice/Ice corruptors were popular. -Someone with Nature affinity for +dam and absorb. The rest varies, but those were the trends. I run with a SG where there's a signup for them. And once the must-haves are filled, there is wiggle room for other things. But it also sort of depends on the difficulty. The harder the content the less wiggle-room there was. My biggest gripe about Hardmode is it kind of screws over a few ATs, like VEATS and HEATS. I don't see many Controllers, Dominators either, or Masterminds. I see a lot of Tankers, Defenders, and Corruptors. Honestly my favorite playstyle is crabber, but I have yet to bring one to any hardmode, 2 star or no. Simply because anything I could do, someone else could do better, and also bring more, be it Debuffs or whatever. And most groups I have been a part of that tried to be "meta" seem to favor high DPS with strong Debuffs as a focus. I am not against there being a "meta", there will always be a "meta." I just wish the "meta" changed from TF to TF, so the same setups aren't the top-dogs for all of them. They all seem to revolve around DPS and -Def protection. I hope the Dev's make TFs that have like, -Resistance as a thing, or -tohit, or other mechanics that aren't similar to the TF hardmodes we already have. Just to mix it up a bit. Maybe have a TF where hard CC is required. Or where its not a question of surviving bursts of damage, but a long duration fight where the waves don't stop and you have to constantly fight on the move, or something. Or maybe HUGE burst damage, where maybe even a team of 2 or 3 healers are needed to heal through it. And so on. This is just my personal experience mind you, I am sure others will vary.

There's an "Add-Infinitum" joke to be made here, but my wit fails me. My ancestors look on in shame. Forgive me.

Thank you for the feedback and input. Was unaware how much they changed soul extraction, may have to see if i can slot it for damage. The rest of it looks great, i just wasnt sure what was worth slotting for damage, and where the strange interaction of both nature and necros healing-proc or effects should go, or even what all applies to pets and so on.

I foresee absolutely no way this could possibly backfire. 🍿

Just so you know, Power Boost from Mace epic pool boosts Farsight significantly. Its actually fairly easy to softcap DEF with a time MM, but especially a Robots/Time MM. FYI and such. So if you have Power Boost you might have even more slots to spare.

Hello Forums, I made a Necro/Nature to play with a friend. I have never had a fully kitted out Necro or Nature before, so both are new to me. And I know slotting for both can be different than usual. This is my first pass, please feel free to correct any incorrect unique/proc slotting. I remember seeing discussions about slotting Necro and Nature here on the forums, but I couldn't find them, so I'm not sure what all Necro pets will/will not benefit from unique-wise from Dark Empowerment and Enchant Undead. Included screenie for convivence. As far as overall slotting goes, I tried to focus on +recharge bonuses to get Overgrowth up as much as possible. It's not perma, but its down to 77s recast. Sorcery pool is mostly for Enflame and RoP. Gloom and Arcane bolt are both obligatory power picks. And all this is without any incarnates, as I have no idea which Alpha and such I should go for as a Necro/Nature MM. I could take Agility for recharge, Muscled for damage, even Spiritual Core with 45% recharge and 33% healing looks good. Input and feedback from someone with experience in these two powersets would be appreciated! Thanks bunches in advance. NecroFlora - Mastermind (Necromancy - Nature Affinity).mbd

MM pets can have the same DEF and Resists as Tankers do, but have far fewer hitpoints and no aggro tools. You "can" tank or swarm with them, but its a lot of work for dubious returns doing something that other ATs can do better and do it far easier. If you try to tank on a MM you have only provoke as an aggro tool, where even a Bio Scrapper will peel enemies off you, much less a brute or tanker, or even a blaster going full burn. And that's not talking about pets and AoE's either, which is the MMs big weakness. But some MMs can be made fantastically durable, equal to many brutes or tankers in terms of what they can endure damage wise. But I wouldn't recommend trying to hold aggro with a MM in a standard group setup no. Your pets simply won't keep the mobs attention. But I wouldn't call MM pets paper thin either. Honestly it really depends on what you are fighting and the difficulty, but I have MMs that can skip through +4/8 with ease, far easier than my Widow or Scrapper.

I started with robots, but I dislike the changes done to them. These days I tend to favor Demons. I am leveling up a Necro/Nature MM now, but its not to farm with, its to play with a friend as well as check out the new Necromancy. But I don't play robots much anymore, because my robot farms actually take measurably longer than they did before. They were 4 or so minutes before, now they are around 7 or 8. I tend to favor Meteor maps for MM farming. But if I want a more relaxed MM farm I do city map too. I did write a guide on MM farming. I am not sure if I "invented" the idea, as I imagine it may have been done on live, well before my time. But when I invite others I'm often told people never seen MMs farm before.