Grindingsucks

@First Player Dude, that costume is wicked cool! 😎 👍

@Coyotedancer Gotcha. There are six other perfectly good days of the wee., I'm sure we can work it into one of those. 😉 Good hunting to the Wolf Pack. 😆👍 @Six-Six You can join with any character of lvl 38 or lower. I'm fine with alts- I have plenty of my own (though only one that I've brought into the team, at his point). I don't know if we will pursue Steampunkettes suggestion, or not. Right now I'm focusing on lvl 38 play, but I'm open to the idea of doing lower level stuff. It really depends on the interest from the rest of the team. Glad I could get you into the team yesterday. Welcome aboard! @_Kai_ That's fair enough. If you want help levelling up your character, many of us (including myself) have lvl 50 characters that we could use to get you there in a relatively short amount of time. Some people prefer to get there gradually, and that's okay too. I'm just throwing the offer out there if you want it. Also, if anyone needs an influence boost for slotting enhancements, I can probably help with that, to some extent.

Well, unfortunately for me, my preferences are somewhat more complex than that, I'm afraid. I've started my own super group to try to address the issue, though. Hopefully, it will pan out. 🙂

*Hides nearby and waits for the power-gaming savages to chase down Galaxy Brain with their metaphorical torches and pitchforks*

I understand. I'm actually fine with setting up outside, so no sweat. Booth spots ought to be reserved in order of application, anyway. That's only fair. 👍

Hilarious.

SOP is primarily why I don't lead teams. I don't generally want to play a character with lvl 50 power, or with other characters that are lvl 50. I'm looking to have (and share) a very particular kind of team combat experience and I don't think I can really convey what it is that I'm looking for (or, what I'm offering- if you want to think of it that way) in a 3 sentence LFG soundbite. Besides which, 99% of the people cruising for a PUG (those being the SOP'ers) wouldn't be interested in what I'm offering, anyway, so what's the point? While I generally agree with your points, I don't agree that they are "common sense", at least where the new player is concerned. This is why being a leader requires a certain amount of patience, diplomacy, and the ability to explain/teach concepts (including SOP, if you subscribe to such) that are second nature to the veteran player. If one hasn't got those qualities, it's probably best not to be in the leadership position, anyway.

If you still have room, may I request a spot for the .38 Specials? We are an RP-focused group of vigilantes and rogues (think good guys that work outside the bounds of the law and/or mercenaries with a heart of gold) that concentrate on bounded, lvl 38 play (Characters are all lvl 38, with xp turned off at that level). We only slot SO (or standard IO's equivalent in strength to lvl 41 SO's) enhancements and single copies of any global or proc. We do not use enhancement "sets" (or Incarnate abilities, of course, due to the level limitation). Our goal is to combine fun, balanced, challenging team play in a Roleplay environment through self-imposed limitations. Our hope is that this will put more focus on playing the game for story and adventure, as opposed to grinding for enhancements and levels. We're brand new, but hoping to grow! You can also send me a PM on the forums or shoot me a tell in-game if you're interested. My Global: @Razorshrike My Characters: Thug Thrasher (WP/StJ Tanker) and Pennance (Spines/Fire Brute).

Derp. Thanks. 😛 EDIT: Okay, tossed our collective hats into the ring for a spot at the faire. We'll see what happens! 👍

@TemporalVileTerror linky? 😁 EDIT: Also, whenever you can find time to log on I can probably shoot you an invite. I'm typically able to log on from 9am to 4pm CST and often, up until 10pm in the evening (barring eating dinner and what not).

Just type rikti into the base item search field. It'll pop up everything (for the most part) that has rikti in the name- including those dummies.

I'm fine with confusion. Also Knockback. Yes, even when I'm tanking. Ideally, I would like the team to try and coordinate with one another to use these powers to best effect, but obviously some confused critters are going to run amok and a knocked mob will bounce around "somewhat" randomly, depending on the angle of attack. If a massive knockback blast blows a lot of mobs at once, out of my Aggro sphere, the cool visual effect is worth it to me. Just don't bust my chops for failing to tank properly. At that point, it's totally on whoever did the knockbacking. 😛

Cool. Felt bad that I missed you. I also renamed a character recently- twice! I had an old toon I wanted to redo for the .38's. I decided for a more humorous, over-the-top concept, but the name I chose was a little iffy with regard to the code of conduct rules for homecoming, so I changed him again. But I've finally got one of my alts in the group, now (if you see Thug Thrasher on, that's me 😉). I'm gonna comb through the AE for some interesting story missions. I'd like to find one (or a series) to run for us IC'ly as a group. With that in mind, I was curious about what days/times/zones you guys would most likely be available for something like that. I'd like to try to set it up to get at least two or three of us online at the same time for some group play. Also... is anyone here familiar with setting up a discord? I was thinking of doing one for our team- maybe get a little more exposure. I've only ever used discord as player, though. Anyway, just curious. Still don't have a lot of peeps looking to join, so I'm thinking of ways to make us more visible, etc.

@Diephoon https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Supercollider https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Mystic_Crucible

Ha, ha. No worries, mang. I get it. 😁👍

Also, @Rathulfr , thanks for posting the screenshot of the table to your post to illustrate your point. I understand what you were getting at now. Apologies if I was being a hard-ass about it. I was just jittery about moving the bar every time a new player requested to bend the build rules. Really though, as TemporalVileTerror rightly points out, the system is invisible and, anyway, it's not like I'm going to personally inspect everyone's character before inviting them, even if it wasn't. Who's got time for that? 😛 When I stop to think about it, it makes more sense just to trust members to play by the rules until they demonstrate that they're unwilling to do so. After all, why would anyone join the group in the first place, if they aren't interested in our particular schtick? 🤷‍♂️

FYI: Just thought I'd mention that everyone that has been invited into the Supergroup has permission to invite others into the group (Yes, I have the SG settings adjusted so you can do this). So if you know anyone that you feel would be a good fit for us, then feel free to invite them. I don't need to vet them, or anything. I trust current members to understand what the group is about and evaluate others for similar play preferences.

This is possibly my own problem with the set, at least in part. I have the same difficulty with Bio b/c of this.

Well, when you put it like that... 😛 I'll be honest, I never played the set back before the most recent nerf. It does feel lackluster compared to the other armor sets (though, perhaps not quite as bad as some make it out to be). I wouldn't be opposed to bumping it back up to the 200% in Beta, to see how it impacts play.

Nerfing/Buffing any given power is likely the most difficult task to undertake as a dev. You know that out of all the changes you can make, this is the one that will make some members of the player base howl the most; most usually, when you choose to nerf a power. There are several pool powers that are too potent by comparison with other pool powers of the same tier- or even by comparison with Primary and Secondary powers of equal and higher tiers. Additionally, many of the prerequisites for choosing those highly potent pool abilities are so weak or uninspiring that you would almost never choose them, except that they are a requirement to get the particular power in question. Haste, of course, is the number one offender here, in terms of overclocked pool powers. You don't even need any prereqisites in the pool to choose it, so it's only costing you 1 power pick. Take the power, get yourself five Luck of the Gambler +recharge globals, then slot it with two 50 +5 boosted recharge reductions and multiply your DPS by an order of magnitude. Will you ever use any other powers in the pool? Flurry is cool, conceptually, but lackluster in play. The animation takes forever to fire, does poor damage, and looks goofy when you miss. Superspeed is probably the one other power that finds frequent use, but then most all of the travel powers are QoL picks for moving around the environment that are going to get some use, regardless of the combat bonuses they lack or provide. Whirlwind I find quite satisfying on certain characters, thematically, but it's endurance intensive and of situational use. Burnout causes endurance crash and is rendered redundant by your tricked out Haste, in the first place. But, oooh how the powergamers will scream, if you so much as suggest touching haste. I don't blame the devs for shying away from that potential can of worms and focusing on something else instead. They perhaps though the (reasonable, IMO- particularly by comparison with other powers in the tier) duration tweak to RoP would cause less of an uproar. But, alas, no. Yes, the devs have asked for feedback. Yes, you should be firm and honest- even when the feedback is critical. However, I do recommend evaluating your own emotional state before you post. If you're feeling particularly angry and/or disgruntled about a certain change, take some deep breaths, relax, then thoughtfully consider how your feelings might be coloring the tenor of the critique you're about to post. Sometimes your anger can unintentionally bleed out into the critique and make it feel less like a piece of objective feedback and more like a personal attack. In terms of buffing/nerfing pool powers, my own opinions are thus: Sorcery Pool: I'll start with this one, since it's directly relevant to the topic at hand. That way you can skip over everything below if you want to. I love mystic flight and Arcane bolt. Fun, flavorful, and well-balanced powers. Rune of Protection is having the duration nerfed to come in line with other pool powers of the same tier. That's fine. My problems with this set are actually Spirit Ward and Enflame. Enflame is quite unsatisfactory. Either the damage needs to be buffed significantly, or else make it a lvl 4 power and make Spirit Ward (which is more useful) lvl 14. If you switch them, I think Spirit Ward should then be an AOE able to affect the team. But, really, probably buffing the dmg on enflame would be sufficient. All travel powers: These are being tweaked to my satisfaction in the next game update. Concealment Pool: This pool is pretty well balanced, IMO, except for grant invisibility. I feel this should be an AOE effect that can target the whole team. Fighting Pool: A popular pool, thanks to Tough and Weave. I actually think this pool is fairly well balanced. I might argue for the resist on Tough to be ever so slightly nerfed and the damage on Cross Punch to be ever so slightly buffed. Flight Pool: This one is almost entirely about the travel powers which are receiving some very cool tweaks and I'm very satisfied with the proposed changes. Air Superiority is a wonderful attack power. I take it a great deal of the time, even on characters that don't fly, due to the very reliable knockdown. I don't know if I would change it, but I do think it's possibly more of a lvl 14 pick, than a lvl 4 pick, to be honest. It's just that much more useful. Leadership Pool: I like this pool. It has, of course, Maneuvers and Tactics, some very useful and popular powers. I also enjoy Assault as a damage buff and for dealing with those annoying Bane Spider Scouts and their Placates. Victory rush... I dunno. The good buffs only come when you put down a boss or arch villain, but by then the need is probably past. It's flavorful and thematic, but I would probably make it a lvl 4 power and bump Maneuvers up to lvl 14. Teleport Pool: Man, I love this pool. One of my faves. The powers all feel pretty useful and cool (maybe with the singe exception of team teleport- not sure what to do with that one) and I get more mileage out of combat teleport than any other movement power. This power is sufficiently potent that it probably needs to be moved to lvl 14. I would switch it with Team teleport (which I would move to lvl 4. It seems counter-intuitive, I know- but Team teleport is just not as powerful/useful). Leaping Pool: I'm actually pretty satisfied with this one. The powers are useful, but not overpowered. The upcoming tweaks provide some nice changes that don't unbalance the set compared to other power pools. Good as-is, I guess. Medicine Pool: I'll be honest, I don't really have enough experience with this set to offer constructive criticism. The pool just doesn't fit, thematically, with the kinds of characters that I make to really have had any reason to take it, so I'll decline to opine on this one. Presence Pool: A cool, flavorful set. I would take this on a lot of characters, except for one thing: The duration of intimidate and invoke panic. These need a duration buff to make them desirable. Obviously, primary and secondary fear effect powers should be better, but not quite THAT much better. I need a little more, here. Other than that, I think the set is fine. Experimentation Pool: I'm wary of commenting on this one, as outside of Toxic Dart and Sonic Speed, I haven't used the powers much. I love Toxic Dart. I like to slot it with a hold proc and make a combination taser/tranq dart out of it. Force of Will Pool: It's fine, except for one thing: Project Will and Wall of Force need their animation times reduced very badly. They just fire too slowly to be useful picks.

Sentinels, in general, are probably the most well balanced and versatile AT's in the game. They LOOK terrible, compared to the OP'ed AT's around them, but they offer the role of a pure ranged attacker that a lot of players wish the Blaster was. If I have one complaint about Sentinels, it isn't that they do lackluster damage (the most usual complaint about them- along with their special ability), but rather that their range is so restricted. I don't expect to be able to snipe something from 120ft away, like a Blaster, but I don't think that buffing their range by 10 or 20 feet would be out of order. If I'm going to be shooting things from a distance most of the time, I'd like a little more room between myself and the target. 😛

Anything that allows me to avoid those hideous cave maps jumps to the top of my "I want" list. I don't care how similar it is to AE (but to make a counterargument to that, sometimes you don't want to have to go into an AE building, browse the AE list, etc. Just using a dropdown menu from the radio/newspaper would be much more convenient if you want to quickly jump into a mission.).

Yes, that's true enough. In the end, it's essentially an honor system, I suppose. 🤷‍♂️

At the present, I would like to stick with the parameters we have established, although I'm willing to bump them up or down based on feedback, after we have ran enough group content to get a feel for whether or not we're satisfied with the team play experience. SO's are relatively cheap (47k max, for an accuracy- more often closer to 35k for most other enhancement types). If you need it, I'm happy to give you a couple of million influence to cover your expenses, after you join. P.S. In reply to your Edit, you are certainly welcome to join the group. Honestly we're still just getting off the ground.

Here's a labelled map of the Base, with completed (for the most part- I'm always tweaking things) parts labelled in green. I'll update the labels as more areas are finished/ready for use...