GastlyGibus

A lot of different answers depending on your archetype, build, and powers, but off the top of my head... The Storm Palace in the Shadow Shard has some particularly tough enemies. The Storm Elementals aren't bad, aside from high protection to mez effects, but the Rularuu also in the zone are tough customers. The sentries have +perception, which allows them to see even stalkers using hide, +to hit, and their attacks have -def as well. The brutes also have -def in their attacks, and the wisps all do psionic damage, which is hard to resist unless your powers specifically include it. The Rikti War Zone has lots of level 54 spawns near the mothership, including elite bosses. The Rikti aren't particularly challenging, but being level 54 makes them much harder. Also, the Rikti pylons have an absurd attack range and will do extreme damage if they happen to see you. Cimerora can be a brutal place depending on the character. Inside the main palace walls in the center of the map are huge mobs of level 54 enemies, and all Cimerorans have -def in their attacks, which makes them pretty difficult to deal with. Dark Astoria has the new and improved Banished Pantheon, which all have some pretty nasty debuffs with their attacks, in addition to buffing their allies. The whole zone is meant for incarnates, so it's a strictly level 50 and above zone. Eden, as well as the villain version, the Abyss, has nothing but Devouring Earth giant monsters roaming the area. Giant monsters usually require teams to take down, so defeating one while solo would be a particularly difficult task, especially since they're rarely alone and like to clump together. Going into either of these zones unprepared will have you taking dirt naps quite frequently. On the subject of difficult enemies, while not confined to any one zone, there's a few enemy groups that can be pretty devastating to players. Malta have their sappers, gunslingers, and giant robots. The Carnival of Shadows likes to suck all of your endurance away with every defeat, and the bosses do some pretty nasty psionic damage and debuffs. Vanguard, while very rarely fought, are nasty pieces of work, stacking -res in all of their attacks, and having an absolutely sadistic debuff called "Curse of Weariness" which cuts your maximum endurance in half for a significant amount of time. Those are all the really tough challenges I can think of at the moment. I'm sure there's more, and different groups can be more or less challenging depending on your build and playstyle, but that's my personal experience with difficult zones and enemies.

He doesn't have Excalibur anymore, and I doubt Ms. Liberty would be willing to give it back considering the circumstances, so while he's super powerful, I wouldn't call him the most powerful, considering his circumstances and what's happened to him.

Um, ackshually... puts on nerd glasses... Number Six mission spoilers ahead: As for the question, the most powerful hero and/or villain is supposed to be you, the player. The original developers were kind of building up to that point, gradually making your character more and more powerful and having it to where you were supposed to the best. Spoiler alert for endgame content you might want to play yourself. All the stuff you as the player do. But if you want the standard answer of NPCs, the strongest hero is most likely either Positron or Ms. Liberty at this point. The most powerful villain is undoubtedly Lord Recluse. They never meet or fight each other directly in-game, though, so you'd have to use Mission Architect to set up that dream scenario.

Download link is sending me to a "404 Not Found" error page. Anybody have an updated link to use?

I always use the converter method for some good starter cash on a new character. Recipes don't start dropping until level 10, and even then, crafting them can be costly if you don't have the money for salvage, so on new toons I usually run most of the starter arcs (Habashy, Twinshot, et al.) to get some easy merits, turn those merits into converters, sell those for a cool 1-3 million, and there's my starter cash for future endeavors. Stuff I wish I knew when I started? Craft all of your set IOs. Even if you personally cannot use them, just craft them. Not only does it count for badge credit towards the Field Crafter accolade, almost every set IO in the game sells for at least 100,000 INF, if not far more, and you can make yourself a decent chunk of change from just selling your unwanted recipes. I just rolled a new Blaster on redside, took her solo to level 20, and she already has a cool 20M just from selling random stuff that dropped while playing the game. Also, use your merits. Stop hoarding merits. They're not hard to get and you can use them for all kinds of cool goodies, either to sell on the market for more cash, or for your own personal use. If you've got more than 100 merits in your inventory, go buy yourself something nice. That's what they're for, and they really are not hard to get. Just running one weekly task force usually gets you around 40-70 merits depending on what the target is. All giant monsters give 6 merits each, story arcs give merits upon completion. Simply playing the game and doing stuff will have you sitting on a pile of merits. I used to be one of those players who felt like I was missing out because I wasn't filthy rich like every other player, but with merits in the game, you don't have to be rich at all. My main character, my Defender I run with the most, only has like 150M to his name, and yet I have him kitted out with purple sets, ATO enhancements (all superior with catalysts), and pretty much anything he could ever want, and I got it all by just... playing the game, using merits for stuff, selling recipes I didn't want, and all the rest. It's not difficult to build the character you want if you utilize all of the methods at your disposal.

Yeah, I zap my little sentinel buddy for extra buffs. It's very handy in a pinch, but that's not quite what I'm asking about here. I apologize if it's a bit confusing. I'm not complaining about endurance problems. Those are easy enough to solve with slotting and set bonuses. What I'm asking about here is this: for some reason I cannot decipher, I seem to get these random bursts of endurance out of nowhere. What I notice is that, usually, while I'm fighting, my endurance drains as normal (as I have Voltaic Sentinel and two leadership toggles running at the same time) but sometimes, with no pattern that I can see, I'll suddenly have boatloads of endurance and sit comfortably around 90% for an entire fight. I want to figure out if that's something I can make happen more reliably, as it would be a huge boon for my Defender, not having to worry about endurance issues quite as much. Just now, I was cleaning up some mobs in the RWZ, and I suddenly jumped from 50% endurance to 100%, and I have no earthly idea where it's coming from. I suspect it might have something to do with one of my sentinels (either Voltaic, Galvanized, or both) and being in close proximity to either the sentinels or the targets they're hitting, but neither of the sentinels mention any kind of endurance boosting effect in their power info. Playing around with it, I can't figure out how to make it happen more reliably. It just seems to happen whenever it feels like it.

Apologies if this isn't the right forum, but I figured since it's a Defender, I'd ask here. I recently rolled an elec/elec Defender, and so far, I'm having a blast. However, I've noticed something odd with endurance while playing solo. During some fights, sometimes even between fights on the same mission, my endurance bar struggles a bit, and I need to pop a blue or use Energizing Circuit on my little zap buddy to give me a quick boost, but during other fights, my endurance bar sits nice and comfortable around 90% endurance and never seems to go down, no matter how many attacks I'm throwing out. I'm not sure what causes the inconsistency. My typical attack chain is to open up a fight with Zapp, then Shock to debuff, then just cycle between Charged Bolt, Lightning Bolt, and Ball Lightning as they become available, with the occasional Nemesis Staff against tougher enemies. I try to make sure both Galvanic and Voltaic Sentinel are both up for the extra oomph, but that's about the extent of my attacks. I have the Performance Shifter: Chance for +End slotted in Stamina, but that's the only proc I have slotted so far. This happens a lot when I'm playing solo, so there's no buffs from teammates to worry about. It happens against pretty much every enemy group, even enemies that have no -end attacks (most recently I noticed it when fighting the Red Caps in Croatoa). I know electric blast has a chance to give +end on some attacks, but if that were the cause, I would expect it to be more evenly spread. Instead, like I described above, some fights have me low on endurance, and other fights I have no issues at all, even with no changes between mob types or attacks. Any idea what the reason could be?

The wiki strategy hasn't been updated. Cavern of Transcendence was changed with the Issue 27, Page 3 patch so that Koago is now required to be defeated for completion, among other changes.

That's what I'm saying. Farming in this game is already easy, so there's no real demand for bot accounts. You could use one to auto-cast buffs on your farmer, but it would be a lot of effort for minimal returns. Outside of that, I can't think of any other reason to have a bot account.

That's what I was thinking. I do recall some gold-farming accounts on live, but since this game is even less popular now than on live, and, well, is a private server and not a live game, our currency is virtually worthless outside of the game. The only conceivable reason I can think of for making a bot account is to make farming easier so people can power-level a little bit faster.

Yeah, can't say I've ever seen bots in this game. I've heard of them, but never seen them myself. I assume any bots that exist would be solely relegated to farming, as there's virtually no reason at all to take bots into regular content, especially something as easy as the ITF. Sounds like the leader was just being paranoid and having a bad day. /e shrug

The wiki links posted here give good explanations of each inspiration and what they do, but there are some other important things to note regarding inspirations that might not be immediately clear from the wiki alone. Firstly, small (tier 1) inspirations are very common drops, so feel free to use them often. I know people tend to hoard booster items in most games, but with how often they drop in this game, it's not necessary. This is especially true at higher levels, where you have more slots for inspirations. Use them whenever you need them, as they can be easily found, and if you need a particular inspiration, hospitals sell every kind of small inspiration for 50 INF (awakens are 150 INF). Secondly, you can combine 3 of the same type of inspiration for 1 of another type, but they all have to be the same tier and type. For example, I can combine three "enrage" inspirations for one "sturdy" inspiration, but I cannot combine 2 enrage and 1 focused rage, because while they're both of the same type, they are not the same tier. Be advised that, in group play, they are typically referred to by color, not by the actual name. If a player says "I need 2 small reds" they're asking for two enrage inspirations. The only exceptions are Break Free and Awaken inspirations (commonly called "wakies"), which are referred to by name. Finally, some things to be aware of that aren't explained by the inspiration page on the wiki. Yellow inspirations (insight) boost To-Hit and perception. Perception helps you see stealthy enemies, like ghosts who suddenly disappear in the middle of combat. It's very important to note that some enemies can blind you, and the word "blinded" will appear in red under your status bar. While blinded, your perception is basically set to 0, and you won't be able to see or target enemies. Despite what you may think, "blinded" is not a status effect, so using a Break Free inspiration will do nothing in this case. If you ever wind up blinded, yellow inspirations can temporarily let you see again, since being blinded lowers your perception, and yellow inspirations boost perception. If you're fighting on a team and suddenly all of the enemies disappear, but your teammates are still visible and fighting, then most likely you've been blinded. Hope this helps!

I was thinking maybe some kind of merit timeout similar to TF's where you get reduced rewards for doing the same content multiple times in one 20-hour period, but then I also feel like that would discourage players from summoning him more than once a day. Maybe the rules could be changed just for Adamastor, to make it so you need to contribute at least XX% of the damage, either alone or on a team, to qualify for merits. This change would only affect Adamastor; other giant monsters would follow the same rules as before. Barring that, maybe they can try shuffling his spawn around so he's not always spawning in the same spot. Make it random but also clearly advertised, so players can know where it is but bots can't predict where he'll be.

I was not saying that, so you can rest easy there. I would never advocate for dismantling incarnates and recipe bonuses completely. That would be utter madness, I agree. I'm simply pointing out that balance is indeed a problem. I understand that it's a complicated issue, and it cannot be fixed by a single change or patch. I'm not a game designer, I don't even know where you would begin to address a problem like that, much less how to completely fix it. I was asked what my most pressing concern with the game is, and I gave my answer. I have my own ideas for how you could fix it, but again, I'm no game designer, so whether they're any good or not, I have no clue. My own suggestions, from my uneducated opinion, would be smaller things. Not removing set bonuses completely, but maybe scaling them back just a tad. If you don't want to touch set bonuses, maybe giving enemies more "oomph" so that you're not breezing through them. I don't mean simply giving them more HP and making them damage sponges, but rather giving them more abilities that could counteract such kitted-out characters. Give bosses leadership buffs, for instance, so your 45% defense doesn't make you invulnerable anymore but still gives you a significant edge, and even adds some tactics in who to target first in a group. Maybe add new enemies that are incredibly dangerous but susceptible to status effects, so Controllers and Dominators don't feel quite so useless. That's the kind of stuff I think about when I bring up balance issues. Obviously, it would be a very difficult balancing act (pun absolutely intended), as you'd want to make things more challenging, but not so challenging that you lock new or inexperienced players out of the game completely. While I don't want god-tier characters who can just nuke the entire map at will, I also don't want "gear checks" like in other MMOs, where you'll be booted from the team because your stats aren't up to snuff. It'd be difficult, for sure, but regardless, it's an issue in the game, and I wish people were more open to talking about it.

My most pressing issue is game balance and difficulty. It is the epitome of unfun when I join a team and some tricked-out IO'd Blaster is able to just solo the entire mission all by themselves even at +4/x8. It makes the overwhelming majority of the content, especially towards the end-game, feel trivial and boring, and it makes the rest of the team feel useless. I think most of you know what I mean. The game desperately needs a balance overhaul, and it needs it yesterday.

So I took this mission to go and arrest this DJ named Amanda Gates who has stolen an artifact called the "Dirge of Chaos." It's some kind of haunted cassette-tape player that makes people go crazy. I go to stop her, and she's a hostage being guarded by a big spooky ghost. I defeat the ghost, and then she says this... I'm sorry, you what?! EDIT: I am only just now realizing she says "IT ate it," and not "I ate it" and now I feel dumb. I can't delete posts so now I'll just have this testament to my inability to read forever posted here. 😄

While not a alignment-specific list, HCWiki has a list of every EB in the game, and clicking on them tells you where they can be found. Category:Elite Boss - Unofficial Homecoming Wiki

That's interesting. Thanks for the link. So it seems proximity is indeed a factor in aggro, though to what extent and how it works is still dubious. Sadly, the "aggro" hyperlink in that article only leads to a page giving a definition of the term, and nothing more. Would love to see a full breakdown of how aggro itself works.

Something I've noticed for a long time but never really thought to ask about: how, exactly, does enemy aggro work in this game? Has anybody ever done a deep dive into the enemy's AI to see how it works? What makes them decide to attack, when to chase, when to run away? It seems kind of simple at first glance. Enemy sees player, enemy attacks player. It's not always so simple, though. For example, if I jump right into an enemy's face, more often than not he'll instantly attack me. If I attack an enemy, they'll usually retaliate immediately. However, I've noticed that if you creep up close to an enemy, and stand just within his perception radius, he'll turn to face you, but will do nothing. He definitely sees me, he'll turn to follow my movements, but he won't attack, he won't chase, he'll just stare at me. We'll have an intense staring contest for a few seconds, until eventually he decides to attack me. What is he doing? Is he debating whether or not to attack me? Is he assessing the risk? Is he just petrified with fear and soiling himself right then and there? Other things in that same vein seem odd to me as well. For example, why does pulling work? We're all familiar with this. Sometimes with a large group of enemies, you can snipe one of them, and that one enemy will come after you, but the rest of the group is completely oblivious and won't even move. Sometimes that pull will fail, and you'll get the entire group's attention. Sometimes you'll only attract part of the group, while the others remain unaware. What is the determining factor, if any, that causes the group to attack or not? Teleporting enemies are also very strange. Sometimes they'll teleport away and then... just forget you exist. They return to a passive state and just calmly walk back to their spawn point. Freakshow who resurrect themselves will sometimes immediately bolt away and run without engaging, even when you attack them. There's a lot of oddities with enemy aggro and it's gotten me really curious to know if anybody has ever looked into this. So tell me, how does enemy aggro work?

Don't the Knives of Artemis kind of fill in that role? Sure, they're not explicit, true ninjas from Japanese history, but they still fit the niche pretty well. Focus on stealth and subterfuge, throwing stars, caltrops, katanas, masks, the whole deal. I do wish they got more screentime and story arcs, though. Right now they're just "those assassins that Malta hires sometimes."

I don't mind Council/5th from a lore perspective. I really like the idea that they're an ever-present threat from level 1 all the way to 50, a para-military organization that has a foothold in nearly every city in Paragon, built on nothing but their own tenacity and force of will (with maybe a dash of mind control sprinkled in). That being said, though, there are a few things I think are odd about them that could stand to be changed or altered. First and foremost, from a lore perspective, the Council doesn't really seem to have any major distinctions like most other enemy groups. Virtually every other villain group in the game has a niche, a hook, something that makes them distinct from all the other villain groups. Hellions are fire-wielding demon worshippers, Outcasts are elemental mutants, Circle of Thorns are evil wizards with spooky ghosts, Malta are tactical secret agents trained to neutralize supers, you get the idea. Council, on the other hand, are all over the place in terms of theme. I know that technically their theme is forbidden science, but it doesn't really show, and it doesn't make a lot of sense. The warwolves and vampyri are supposed to be scientifically created, but I never understood that. Werewolves and vampires bring to mind magic and mystical forces, not genetic experimentation. The Nictus angle works really well for this, but it's not really utilized as effectively as it should be. Galaxy soldiers all look exactly the same, and they never really grow and evolve into anything more than "soldiers in tights with shadow blasts." If I were in charge of rewriting them, I'd probably ditch the warwolf/vampyri angle and lean heavily into the Nictus and science angle. Instead of werewolves, give us genetically altered soldiers bolstered by cybernetics and super serums. The description of some Council soldiers already mentions that they're scientifically enhanced to be incredibly powerful, so show us the absolute pinnacle of that. Imagine a Council soldier, hopped up on some unholy super serum, shrugging off bullets and grenades like they were nerf darts, and running in to punch some poor hero right in the face. Imagine if the Galaxy soldiers behaved more like the PPD Awakened, and utilized far more powerful Nictus powers, like transforming and crowd control. Imagine the Ascendants being far more present instead of the extremely rare, scripted encounters they are, leading their soldiers into battle and bolstering them with powerful force fields and military acumen. Right now, they don't really give off that vibe. In the later game they're just very random and disorganized. Soldiers with guns, mixed with some werewolves, some vampires, some killer robots, and some alien people. It's too eclectic to me and it kind of makes the Council a bit disappointing, especially considering that they're heavily present in the end-game, plotting for world domination and total control. The second issue, and one that others have already mentioned, is that they're... just too easy. They don't pack any real punch that most villain groups have at the 40-50 range. The Carnival has their illusionists and endurance sapping; Nemesis has their leadership buffs and force fields; Malta has their crowd control; Circle of Thorns has their elemental magic and debuffs. The Council are just kind of... guys with guns. And werewolves, sometimes. I'd love to see the Council buffed with the things I mentioned above. Give me super soldiers! Deadly aliens controlling the powers of darkness! Leadership buffs and tactics! Make them interesting and threatening. Give them a niche, because they desperately need one. Finally, to put an end to this long-winded rant of mine, can the 5th Column and Council stop killing each other in the streets? It makes the "Defeat XX Council" missions damn-near impossible to complete because the Council troops are usually dead before I even get a chance to fire a shot.

Ran the Eden trial again today for the WST, and I realized just how much has changed from the old days. I started playing this game right around the time Inventions were added, so I'm not a veteran, I wasn't around from the beginning, and I don't know exactly what the game was like when it was first released. So, anybody here who was around during those days, tell me about it. Was it good? Bad? Neutral? What do you miss? What are you glad was changed?

This one is absolutely brilliant. Well done! I have more to share here. Needed some inspiration, so I went and asked the costume request thread for help. I was provided a wonderful costume by the generous @biostem and they delivered! So, we had this guy, Vraxxes, an Invul/DB Tanker. A warlord and world-ruling emperor who was banished from his home dimension and sent to primal Earth, where he now seeks to build a new empire and regain his lost power. This was his original costume: Then Biostem provided a lovely source of inspiration in the costume request thread and made this. Only changes I made the color and the belt/gloves: Then I took that inspiration and ran with it, creating two new additional costumes for our inter-dimensional warlord:

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! It's awesome!

Coming here yet again. Got a new villain I'm having fun with. A Tanker, natural origin, Inv/DB. His backstory is that he was a powerful warlord from another dimension who couldn't be defeated, but was instead banished from his home dimension to primal earth. Now he's here with us, robbed of his empire and his resources, but still with his power, trying to rebuild a new empire in our dimension. I've got a good general costume going (gee, I wonder what he was inspired by?) but I'm at a loss for alternate costume ideas. I'm thinking of a a villainous, but regal and powerful kind of look. A look that says "I'm the lord of darkness, bow before me, peasant!" Just so you know kind of what I'm going for, here's his current costume. Any ideas or inspiration would be much appreciated!