FourSpeed

Ok, you guys got me digging thru the archives (Thanks Michiyo for packaging those!). I'd honestly forgotten how much fun we had in the 88's, not to mention the amount of Ebil perpetrated... 😁😁😁 Here's another archive thread detailing some of the hijinks going forward after my earlier screenies (the *first* time we took over Virtue). Enjoy! .... and, unless I'm mistaken, this thread is the genesis of the group, which started on Virtue and Guardian, and then later went to Freedom (though I bowed out of that particular jump -- ie. "been there, done that" on Virtue and didn't particularly feel a need to repeat it on Freedom). Additionally, a nod to Yomo who was also in the original thread (assuming the names are the same here now as they were there on Live) 👍 Cheers, 4

I'm pretty sure that the main chapter of the group was on Virtue (with another on Guardian, iirc). Fulmens and Nethergoat were (I think?) the founders, or at least movers and shakers in the group, and I definitely recall that we had a big push to be #1 on Virtue, which, we achieved and, as I recall, really annoyed the American Legion folks. I'll attach a few screenies that I took (I think I have some more squirreled away somewhere, but these are what I could find). My character (Granny Warbucks) was made specifically for the 88's, and she was level capped at 2... 😉😁 Regards, 4 PS> Ahhh, I was just able to locate a post from Live (way back when) using Michiyo's archive of Live Forum posts) --> here <--

Hi. Sorry you're having trouble loading the builds. These builds were loaded with --> Version 2.23 of Pine's Hero Designer I've no idea what "mid's" is current these days (last I recall it was Mid's Reborn, I think), or whether it's backward compatible at all, but if you can find that version out there, they should load just fine Keep in mind, that this guide was written nearly 4 years ago (in 2019)), and a LOT can change in that amount of time. Additionally, I haven't played, or even looked at this stuff in a couple years now, so my initial answer is: "I don't know"... That said, the build concept was designed and intended to be completely self-funding, primarily thru AE tickets and rare salvage sales. I would expect that if prices for general set IO's are so high, then sales prices for the things you'd be selling would also have risen substantially. It may take a bit more time, but I'd be surprised if this build stops being self-fundable entirely. Regards, 4

To swipe a Star Trek line for my purposes ... "I have been, and always shall be -- FourSpeed..." Cheers, 4 (Though, in my advancing years, I play a lot less often than I used to....)

Beauty, eh? 😄

They're listed in the guide itself (under a couple of the "spoiler" tabs). Additionally, just a few posts up from yours is an alternate set of binds posted by another player who modified mine somewhat to suit his particular approach. Regards, 4

Back in Live, my friend and I had a couple Burn Tankers (representing Firebats) that were on vacation from Starcraft space and spending their time in Paragon. Battle Cries: "Need a Light?" & "Let's Burn" 😉 Cheers, 4

Glad you found the guide helpful. In the original guide, I documented the INF/hr rates somewhat. However, there have been a number of game changes, and additionally, I haven't run (or needed to) my own LBFF's for more than a year now. Consequently, I'd have no meaningful idea on what current earning rates might be. At this point, you probably have a better idea on those than I do... 😉😁 Regards, 4

Really intriguing post, dynafireca. I'm glad you found the original guide helpful, and I'm even more pleased that you've added the benefit of your own experiences to help improve the knowledge pool. It's been quite awhile since I've been in CoH (life intrudes at times 🙂), so I've not yet had a chance to look at the detail of your adjustments and build, but improving the low level experience would likely be much appreciated by newer farming initiates, and having more options is rarely a bad idea. Thanks for your reply. Regards, 4

You Cad! You've ruined everything! 😉 I always thought (until now) it was "Philosophers and Lawmen". Learned something new today... 🙂 Cheers, 4

Not as far as I know. Keep in mind that you only get merits for running the Morality Mission. The Alignment missions just give you normal xp, and alignment "credit" -- ie. after 10 "credits", you'll get a morality mission. When you run that one, you'll get 40 merits, it will affirm your alignment, reset the alignment "credits" and the process starts over again. You can find more info --> here (PS> Bear in mind that info was for "Live" and is a bit outdated now, but the basics are correct) Hope that helps. Regards, 4

Thanks - glad you found it helpful. If your "alterations" prove effective, it would be great to see the build posted here for other folks to see as well. As mentioned in the earlier conversation with Robopop, I find it interesting to see how other folks approach some of the various trade-offs involved (and there were plenty with the LBFF build). Of course, if those changes are primarily involved with adding Purple, ATO, and Procs enhancements, then, sure, we know that will help effectiveness, but it would also put the build more in line with Warlawk's uber farm thread as those items go well beyond the intended purpose of "LB"ff. 😉 That's still interesting mind you, and a great next step for a personal LBFF build once they can afford it, but I'd be much more interested in power picks or slotting changes that stay within the low budget focus of this guide while still improving the overall performance of the build. In any case, thanks for the shoutout, and best wishes on your LBFF going forward! Cheers, 4

Super. I'm glad you found the guide helpful. 🙂 Cheers, 4

The most frustrating AT that I ever managed to get to 50 was a Rad/Elec Defender back on Live. How I hated that toon by the time he finally got there. The meh damage output of Elec as a Defender secondary coupled with the hit or miss rad anchoring mechanic (ie. cast on one guy in the middle of the pile and (hope to) keep the rest of the guys in it while I killed them with the equivalent of 1000 9V shocks on the tongue) was ... brutal, and usually pretty dicey. Oddly enough, when it *did* work, it seemed like I could kill red-con mobs with impunity, but when it didn't (much more often), even green-cob mobs would faceplant him sometimes. For me, the entire crapshoot roller coaster was utterly hateful. By contrast, I absolutely loved my BiForm PB, because he was so steady, and knew what he could handle, and that was *always* consistent. That defender? - roll a d8 ... 1-5 is a faceplant , 6 & 7 are OK, 8 was a god-mode encounter. Yuck! Give me a Blaster, any blaster any day, and I'd be much happier, and a *lot* safer as well... 😉 I did try a Sonic something or other, and after about 3 levels of the wretched sound effects, I deleted it, and have never even looked at a sonic anything ever again... Nails on a chalkboard - pure awful. YMMV 🙂 Fun Topic! Cheers, 4

I hear that. I tried out several A/C during the recent free month-long trial and ended up picking up a couple more of them myself... 🙂 As for my setup, it's barebones simple -- a Logitech Extreme 3D flight stick (with twist handle for rudder), and a homemade headtracking ballcap using FreeTrack (similar functionality to the commercial TrackIR product). Across the various simulators that I enjoy, that setup works well enough for me to "fly" pretty much anything from WWI bi-planes in RoF all the way up to modern jets (AV8B, F-15, F-16 & F-18) and helicopters (UH-1, S342 Gazelle) in DCS. In FSX, I occasionally fly airliners (primarily 737), GA planes (Cessna 152 & 172, and the Mooney Bravo), and their F-18 and Jetranger Helo, along with a few other freebie planes downloaded from the internet. Fun Stuff! Cheers, 4

When I'm not here, I'm usually a flight sim kinda guy --> Rise of Flight, DCS, and even FSX now and then. Cheers, 4

Well, one way to start would be ... check out the guide in my signature... (you are *exactly* the sort of player I wrote it for...) 😉 Cheers, 4

Gratz! I'm glad you found the guide helpful for you. Thanks for the update on earning levels. I haven't revisited these since the Dbl Inf / Exemplar patch occurred a while back (got sidetracked with DCS lately, so my CoX characters are languishing a bit currently 😉). The Higher End builds are beyond the scope of this guide, as mentioned from the get-go, so the only advice I'd have on that topic is to delve into Warlawk's thread (linked in the OP post), and involve yourself in that discussion. Personally, the LBFF build is the only farmer I have (one on each of my accts) as it can handle anything I'd need a farm build to do for me. Unfortunately, I also don't have any insight on Rad/Fire as I've never built one -- sorry. Again, I suspect you'd find more info on those in Warlawk's thread, or in the Brute forum. Once again, though, congratulations on your new farmer - glad to have helped in some small way. Cheers, 4

I'm with Hyperstrike on this one. It's a definite Maybe. To be sure, it's almost never worth it "financially". At 3 converters per RM, and assuming ~85K per converter on the AH, the 100 RM's you'd spend for many IO's is too expensive. Those RM's exchanged for converters and sold on the AH would net appx. 25.5 Million. Very little is worth that amount of inf, even in the AH. So, in that regard, I agree with you. However, and this is the rub, most folks don't do the math. Marketeers, like myself, and many others know we can do it better (ie. more effieciently, more cost effectively) using the AH, but I don't believe the playerbase, as a whole thinks that way. They certainly did not back in Live. The vitriol surrounding the AH there was nearly legendary. Here, it's much less so, but I believe there is still a substantial number of players that will avoid the AH like the plague. They avoid AH, don't know the relative pricing exchanges, and largely, seem to be ok with that. Mathematically, we can tell them they're overpaying, but emotionally, they really aren't. Avoiding a perceived hassle (AH Marketing) covers that price difference for them (if they're even aware there is one). Additionally, for some players, it is easier for them to earn / use RM's than it is to spend time in the AH. That's especially true in cases where they're looking for LotG's, Steadfasts, and several other desirable IO's they might want. Those RM costs are significantly lower (20-30 RM's iirc). Sure, 25 merits still translates to roughly ~6 million to you and I, but for some players, 20-60 merits is a Theoden/Alastor run + some Tips. That may well be more convenient (and possibly even quicker for them). Emotionally, too, that may be a pretty fair trade for avoiding "Ebil Marketeering". Additionally, in some of those cases the net price difference is only a million or two, even compared to converters, and if they're anti-AH, they might not even be aware of that -- and even if they were, the convenience of using RM's in that case is actually probably "cheaper" in their minds - despite the actual AH price differential. 😉 Mathematically, you're probably right, but for a significant number of players, I think "Maybe" is a much likelier answer. YMMV. Regards, 4

Well, having written the Guide that the OP is following (Thanks! Hope you're enjoying it 🙂 ), I have somewhat mixed feelings on farming, oddly enough. First, I did that guide, mostly, because I'm a marketeer (in Live, and now, here), so, the *fun* part for me was actually, *** "how cheaply can I build a viable farmer?" ***. For me, it was never about drops, shinies, or inf gain - the AH already covers that for me. Rather, the simple build challenge, and then seeing how it stacked up with the "Mega-Builds" (much better than I ever imagined, actually) was the primary motivation. It was only after I'd started with the build that it occurred to me that it might also serve as a simple, self-funded, introductory primer into the playstyle that farming offers, for other players who might otherwise shy away from the idea (mostly due to the expense of the High-End builds that are commonly used for farming, for example). That said, it also had a secondary purpose for me, which was to PL some fondly recalled characters from Live, on HC. Since I'm a 95% solo player, it conveniently provided a nice way to get some of my favorite characters rebuilt here, using a 2nd account, without having to run those toons from scratch again. Interestingly though, as folks responded to Borderline's post, I too found that I DO actually enjoy it ... on an occasional basis. It's sort of like an MSR, in the sense of the chaos, particle effects and general explosions, etc. but on a single player level. You can kinda tune out strategizing (which most of my squishy toons usually need), and just enjoy the pretty light show. 😉 In fact, with that point in mind, it's mostly, just a bit of a tactical break for me, so I've *never* afk farmed, but intentionally do it as a no brainer, change of pace. 😉 In that regard, it's actually somewhat relaxing. Also, it's a short-term run, if you only have a few minutes to play around. I rarely run a 5-part mission (like @Grigg's #2915) more than once in a session, but if time is short, or I have nothing special I want to do with the current alt I'm leveling, it's a fun little break. Otoh, farming isn't something I do often, or even regularly - usually, I'm much more focused on the solo toons I'm dabbling with. I probably only ever run my farmers (one on each account) once a month or so, just for a bit of mindless chaos. The inf and drops are useful, and I realized that those rewards might actually be a priority for some of the folks following my guide, but amusingly, my own farming toons are substantially less affluent than my primary characters (on either account). Go Figure. 😄 To conclude, I think farming is a viable playstyle that offers several benefits, but like most other activities in the game, it's not one that I'd consider doing exclusively. Each of those pursuits can be fun and rewarding, and for me, the most fun is when I can dabble in any of them as the mood strikes me during a gaming session. Regards, 4

Sorry, I missed this one earlier. No, origin is pretty meaningless. Way back in the early days of the game, it had a bit more impact (it affected which contacts / stories you'd get, and it affected prices of TO/DO/SO shinies), but even then it was never a big deal. About the only meaningful point these days is the P2W store. When you first start out, a couple of the free attacks (Nemesis Staff and Blackwand) offer a small bonus depending on your origin. So, in that case, when you pick those powers up after you leave the Outbreak Tutorial, you'll want to make sure you grab the correct version of those for your particular origin. Other than that though, Origin is not a factor in the build at all. Regards, 4

The combine macros simply remap your attack buttons (1-9, and 0). Normally, by default, without any "other" macros they look like this: 1 "powexec_slot 1" 2 "powexec_slot 2" 3 "powexec_slot 3" 4 "powexec_slot 4" 5 "powexec_slot 5" 6 "powexec_slot 6" 7 "powexec_slot 7" 8 "powexec_slot 8" 9 "powexec_slot 9" 0 "powexec_slot 0" So, that simply means, when you push the 1 key, it "does" whatever power is your first slot. The same happens for the other keys. If your LBFF (or Scrapper, in your case) is leaving the AE, this is what you want those keys to be. When he's IN the AE farming, you want the attacks to ALSO use red inspies, and combine other inspies, so in that case, those same keys are defined like this instead: 1 "powexec_slot 1$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" 2 "powexec_slot 2$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" 3 "powexec_slot 3$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" 4 "powexec_slot 4$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" 5 "powexec_slot 5$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" 6 "powexec_slot 6$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" 7 "powexec_slot 7$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" 8 "powexec_slot 8$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" 9 "powexec_slot 9$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" 0 "powexec_slot 0$$powexec_tray 2 4$$powexec_tray 3 4$$powexec_tray 1 4" That means when you push the 1 key, it tries to do the commands in power tray 4, slots 1, 2, and 3, which are your "use red inspies / combine other inspies" macros. If any One of those works, it's done (it used, or combined some inspies). If none of the tray 4 powers worked, (no inspies to use / combine), THEN, it does the normal attack. This is also why you sometimes have to press attack keys multiple times before the attack will happen. Unfortunately, that's the way BIND is implemented in the game. You can only do one "action" per press (to prevent botting, iirc). So, the easiest way I know (and what I recommended) to flip-flop these definitions when you want to is to put these sets of bind commands into two text files, and then you make a pair of macros to simply "load" the correct set of key binds for the situation you're wanting (AE or Regular Content). Hopefully, that explanation will help clarify what we're doing, so you can go back to that section of the guide and get it working properly for you. Regards, 4

I've remade several of my favorite characters from the Legacy days as close to exact as I was able (from Mid's build plans and screenshots), so in those cases the answer to #1 is definitely Yes. However, after that handful of toons, any others I've made on HC were completely different (for instance, I'm currently leveling an Ice/Ice Sentinel, which obviously, wasn't possible in Ye Olde Dayes 😉 For #2, apart from the carryovers from Legacy, none of my characters look alike, and none of the carryovers look like each other at all either. I'm not by any means a costume creator, but every single one of my toons has a (semi-plausible) reason to exist in-game, and therefore a sort of mental concept of who they are, and what they look like. Also, every single one of my characters gets a "bio" at creation time. So, when it comes to creating their costume, I will oftentimes just push the Random button (a lot of times) until something pops up that I feel is "on the right track" for that character. At that point, I'll adjust the details and colors and such to refine that into the look I feel most fits that character, and voila! So, usually, apart from (usually) being humanoid 😉 they look unique and different for each. Regards, 4

Just for the sake of clarification. As noted, Signature Arcs (the "Who Will Die" series) are 20 Merits per week, or a lesser number (5?) if run more often than once a week successively. Alignment Missions / Tips are zero merits for the Alignment missions themselves, but when you've amassed 10 of those, the Morality Mission is worth 40 merits. You can do these as often as you can get them (alignment missions are handed out randomly for killing mobs L20 & higher). You can have 3 normal alignment missions available at any one time. ...and iirc, there's also a thread around here somewhere about "farming merits" that covers many of the better Ouros missions, tfs and story arcs. Also, killing a GM (Giant Monster - not Game Master -- I'm not sure what they're worth... 🙂 😄 ) nets you 6 merits each time. There are also some merits awarded for collecting certain Location Badges as well. I've not checked, but I imagine Paragonwiki probably has a list. Regards, 4

You might also want to take a look at the Guide on Fire Farming in my signature for a fully self-funded, lower-end build as well. Cheers, 4