Darkaiser

The base has been sold.

I have just returned from a long hiatus only to find the Arachnos-themed SG I belonged to, and their base, has fallen to me by attrition. I would rather sell the base than see all the hard work go to waste. The ID# is 1591 I believe because it was built in the early days after HC launched. The base is fully stocked with storage, teleporters, etc. There are also a few Enhancements and some salvage to be had I'm sure. Everything is included. Please let me know if you're interested or send a tel @Darkaiser.

One bit of advice that I haven't seen above yet: Think about what YOU want to play. What sort of heroes do YOU see yourself as in the comics or the movies? Think about the last time you thought to yourself 'Now THAT would be cool!' and see if anything resembles that, even a little. The goal is to have fun. It's going to sound boring but mouse over the various Archetypes and read what they say. Even though they're both melee fighters, Wolverine fights VERY differently than Batman. Storm is nothing like The Human Torch, and so on. Think about how you like to play your games. If you like being able to solo, stay away from Blasters for a while because their survivability solo isn't very good for a new player. If you prefer to team with others, any sort of ranged character works well and will be an asset to the team. Good luck and welcome back!

I would love to join you if I am free. What would be the best way to contact you when I'm on?

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for the recent MM changes. When I first started on CoV way back when, it was my favorite AT. The lackluster performance in the higher levels made me slack off some. Now, I feel like I'm spending more time playing and less time replacing losses. I know that a lot of 'feedback' is negative, so I thought I'd say something positive for a change. Others can feel free to chime in also if they like.

I could go for 'same AT, new Powersets' all day. It provides the 'new' feeling but it doesn't promote the idea that all ATs play alike. And I don't think that this would be abused as much as people think. I can see each player, and not even every player, trading in an old toon when a new powerset comes out.

I don't think anyone would bother posting something at a huge markup because then someone else might undercut them by a few percent. Then the next person does the same and soon we have balance again because the Market is working the way Markets are supposed to work. TBH the last idea was only a last-minute thing anyway. If the first 2 were adopted, I wouldn't cry if the last one were not.

During ToT leagues in particular, I have witnessed on several occasions where the League Leader will go AFK without appointing a replacement. Members leave and others request an invite and the Leader is nowhere to be found. The team leads do what they can but they are unable to replace the Leader through any means short of breaking the entire League and reforming which is tedious to say the least. IMHO any Leader should be able to be replaced with another leader somehow.

My Blaster has 14 attacks on his power bars, all with at least 3 slots. My MM has three attacks...two fully slotted and one as an attack/taunt with 2 slots. All of my bots together don't make up the other 11 attacks. "MM's may suck in post 50 play..." We agree on this at least. How about we fix the obviously broken stuff before we worry about MMs rising a handful of percent in the 'who's the most powerful' standings?

Even if the RP aspects of the game are brought up, they're pointless because there have been MANY characters in the comics (and let's face it, that's where all of this comes from) that had zero powers one day and many powers the next. Sure, you could say that they picked up more contacts, more money, or more gadgets during their career but their core character didn't change. Luke Cage didn't study fighting or grow measurably tougher during his career. Cyclops of the X-men learned some mental defense tricks and leadership skills but his primary power, his optic blast, has not grown more powerful over time. Spider-Man is still Spider-Man. Most of the changes to that character come from his personal life, not his powers. So, there is comic book canon that points to people having no powers in the morning and many if not all of their powers that night.

Considering how poorly MMs perform in the high-end content, I have no problem with them having some power creep. The idea that even-level pets would equate to a team is nuts given that they have limited attacks, even more limited defenses, and despite all of the brave attempts to improve them their AI is still roughly the level of a brain-damaged football player during the off-season. As a matter of balance, how many Brutes, Tanks, Doms, or Controllers have soloed the ITF or a Rikti Pylon? Quite a few, I'd wager. how many MMs have done it? Show me some footage and the build and we can talk. I'd LOVE to see a MM build for less than a half a billion that can contribute in an Incarnate Trial or a Hamidon. PLEASE stop worrying about one of the least-potent ATs in the game (post-50 anyway) actually getting to the point where they're fun to play. OP is not going to be a factor.

I have a couple of wild suggestions: 1) Fix the listings so I don't have to bid 1 and then look to see the bid history. 2) Keep the history at 5 but make the window expandable to 10 or 20 instead of 5. Helps people to see outliers instead of thinking that the last 5 is the new trend. 3) Set the market so that there is ALWAYS at least one of everything for sale. If an item goes to zero, the Market populates that item with one but at an insane price. That way, if someone REALLY wants it they can buy it. Might be useful as an Inf sick if those are even still a thing.

A lot of things have been said and I'm typing with sore fingers so rather than try to quote everything, I'm going to generalize: 1) I understand why some people don't want a 'Free 50' button, whether it's once a month or whatever. We've likely all played with characters that were farmed up but then the players had no idea how to run them. With our current farming situation, this isn't going to go away. About an hour after the changes were made to the AE Fire Farms, the mission creators were fixing their maps. You can tell which ones have been edited by how much xp they drop. I see no difference between a limited number of free 50s and people both asking for farms and offering their farming services. At least with the free 50 on a limited basis, you might attract new players and I consider that a good thing. 2) The idea that a free 50, of any kind, is a slap in the face to those that leveled the traditional way is the same argument that some people are currently making against student loan forgiveness. 'I paid mine off so if they get theirs paid for them it's a slap in the face to me' or some such rot. Just because you did something the traditional way (some would say the 'hard way') doesn't mean that you have the right to force everyone else to endure what you did out of some misguided sense of fairness. I nearly died of an illness back in 2006 so what...everyone who DIDN'T got a free ride? I should feel bitter that I had to do things 'the hard way?' It's a ridiculous line of thinking. Just because you soloed an AR/Devices Blaster on Live doesn't mean that everyone else has to share your pain. Stop acting like a martyr. 3) Back on Live you had to get to a 50 to unlock Khelds and the VEATs. So why is this a bad benchmark for the idea of swapping (or trading in or whatever term you want to use) a 50 for another 50? Rather than having a whole stable full of 50s that you may or may not play, I like the idea of being able to recycle them (good term for it IMHO). Sure, some people will still farm to 50 but they're going to do that anyway so what's the harm?

Because I like the Devs and don't want to make them say No all the time, I'd settle for being able to reskin pets as other mobs in the game. My Thugs MM Family Man would love to have all of his minions dressed in suits and hats. There are many other types of Robots in the game. Any human NPC not in a supersuit qualifies as a Mercenary IMHO. How many flavors of demons and cultists are there in the game?

As a long-time MM player and fan (still a strong contender for my favorite AT), it pleases me to see a sensible discussion on this topic. That being said, I wish to make a few points: 1) The changes Uun listed above will help with targeting and with the minions getting hit, but the survivability won't change by much IMHO (I'm going to be testing this right after I post). As has been discussed, the issues with MMs are many and varied so while simply raising their effective level is a good start (and praise to the idea of making small changes that we can scale rather than sweeping one that then have to be nerfed), the level-shift will only fix some issues. 2) MMs are a homogenized collection of powers to say the least. Most of their damage comes from their pets but the MMs can have attacks as well. The secondaries are mostly of the buffing/debuffing type so they're sort of like Defenders who bring their own team with them. But this makes them somewhat difficult to play (learning pet control can be daunting) and the Diff and level plateaus seem to hit them harder because at some point, more enemies start to get AoEs and now you're spending more time summoning new pets than you are keeping the existing ones from rabbiting off down the hall after that one runner. Sadly, this means that there won't be one easy fix. 3) Something that has been discussed is power creep and making sure MMs aren't OP. No offense but considering that squishies can be built that can solo every boss and GM in the game I don't think that making MMs MORE powerful should be a concern. After years of watching my pets get melted in every Incarnate Trial and MSR and just plain not using them during Hami raids, I WANT a bit of power creep. I think that MMs are entitled to it. I see nothing wrong with the idea that a MM who is played decently should be able to do 3/4s of what more specialized ATs do. They'll never be full-on Controllers or Blasters or Tanks but they should be able to play second-string in these roles if built and played well. MMs are so far off the beaten path of ATs in this game that I don't think we'll ever have to worry about 'OMG MMs are SO OP everyone wants to make one NOW!' 4) I think that a good start would be raising all boats as it were. Dial up the effects of Supremacy a bit. Have the two Pet Training powers also grant extra HP. Raise the Leadership buff numbers, but only for the pets (if that's possible) so massed MMs stacking their Leadership won't be too gross. Level the playing field a bit with regards to the popular sets vs the unpopular (personally I love Mercs but everyone says they need love and I can only report what I see so I'll bend to the majority). MMs also need some help in their power pools. They get little to no change to mitigate End costs (and with Leadership running they NEED End mitigation). I know that this will be a struggle, but I enjoy the AT so much that I feel that it's worth the effort.

I tried this last night with a PUG with an experienced leader. Despite quite a few deaths, we soldiered on until we got to Rom and fell short. It was fun despite not being able to finish. I won't try this again at +4 Hard Mode. I play to relax and have fun, not to have my Tanker who has survived +4/x8 mobs while I was called AFK get 2-shotted by the bad guys. I'll do it at +1/+2 Hard Mode to see the difference and the ITF is still by far my fave TF of all time but I don't want badges and accolades badly enough to suffer through an hour or more of digital abuse lol.

I believe that many of the TFs need the 'Posi' treatment. Break them up into shorter bits, scrub the 'kill all' parts completely (ESPECIALLY the ones where you're hunting gray con targets), and try to make them less grindy. The ITF is my all-time go-to ever for several reasons: 1) No blue tunnels. Even underground doesn't feel too cramped. 2) All in one zone. 3) That zone isn't in a city. The scenery outside looks really nice. 4) You can do a 'defeat all' for max Inf and XP or skip most of the mobs for a speed run. Play how you want. 5) With the new Diff settings even jaded players with overtuned builds can find a challenge.

I recently created a Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu Stalker named Sinister Mall Ninja (open account at Bud K). My Merc/Traps MM named Major M.E.N.A.C.E. (MENACE is also the name of his Villain SG and stands for Mean, Evil, Nasty, And Cruel to Everyone) I used to play tons of Starcraft so now I have an AR/Bio Sent named Infested Marine (wins quite a few CCs actually) I also have a Merc/Poison MM named Viper Commander (NO relation to a certain snake-themed villain from a popular cartoon and toy line)

Given the current state of the various comic book, movie, and game industries lately, I'd say that we're going to be here for a good long while. Comics suck lately. American comics are being outsold by Manga right now. Movies suck, at least most of the things in the superhero genre do. The same goes for the streaming services. Between them, DC and Marvel couldn't navigate their way to a good superhero film with a road map, a GPS with Morgan Freeman's voice, and a crabby aunt in the back seat giving directions. How many superhero games are there right now that are doing well? Even the non-hero AAA titles are waning because the developers decided to tell their own stories instead of giving the fans (with the money) what they want. CoH had a small but solid playerbase and HC is no different. I'm not worried.

Sadly, there will always be situations where your character feels left out of the fun. I won't bring Melee characters into high-level PUGs unless I'm leading the team. Past about 35 or so, my melee toons hits the mob right about the time the mass of Controllers, Blasters, and debuffers is making them paper thin for the hyper-built Brute or Scrapper to shatter them. No fun for me. Might as well door sit and be PL'd IMHO. Masterminds on almost any Incarnate content, the Hami raid, or the MSR. The pets are still too squishy in these circumstances and the MM turns into a second-hand Defender buffing their team and resummoning pets. I deliberately put the long-animation powers at the far end of my power bar because in many situations they simply won't be necessary or useful. Many Blasters will do fine with their 2-3 single-target blasts, their explosive AoE, and their Snipe if they have one. Anything with a 2-3 second animation will be hitting a dead target. Many of my buffers feel like benchwarmers on high-level teams. Most of the teammates never die and my buffs don't feel like they're making us move any faster so why bother? I feel your pain, believe me.

After reading 2 of the 4 pages of this thread I feel that I have the gist of the conversation enough to comment. 1) I'm not sure about any of the rest of you, but I play this game to have fun. We remember fun, right? I'm trying to live out my (way too) numerous superhero fantasies and interact with people socially even if it's from a distance. I build and play my characters to have fun, not to adhere to the build restrictions of another player. 2) Unless you run with a regular group, you'd better get used to the idea that MOST people won't have Leadership powers. That's because many players are more casual about their builds (there's that Fun thing again) and aren't building to fill some perceived gap in the team. 3) Many of the reasons cited for having Leadership powers won't apply to many PUGs. The bonus to hitting even-con mobs was mentioned but when was the last time you saw a team fighting even-con mobs? I've been on teams where the levels were all over the place and so many of the powers were totally unslotted and we STILL smoked +1 and +2 without thinking about it. Blind? Most of the PI teams simply avoid Arachnos and Malta (or anything other than Council, really). The benefits being cited for half the team or more having Leadership powers only come into their own at higher levels of play (which many players never reach), against specific enemies (which many players avoid), or in niche situations. 4) Not every player has a dedicated Farmer or plays the Market for Inf. Personally, I would LOVE to have the half a billion Inf that some players say that they spent on ONE build. Asking everyone to 'mitigate the End issues' that come from taking Leadership powers is pompous and arrogant IMHO. The OP sounds like he wants everyone to build their toons to help HIM or HER to play which is the height of selfishness. So what if the team is having trouble hitting at +3? They either move slower or turn the Diff down. If that's too slow for you, find another team instead of asking everyone to build so they can keep up to the pace YOU want. 5) I'll take Leadership on all of my toons if you promise to shadow me with your End buffs to pay for the cost or buy me the Procs to keep me from sucking wind because I'm running powers that YOU wanted me to bring.

As much as I like to test different powersets and combinations, my 'main' characters all come from superhero tabletop games I've played in the past. If any of you are familiar with Champions, you know what I'm talking about. My first character ever was a SS/Invul Brute named Total Violence. CoH was my first MMO ever so I wanted something simple. Now, he has a lengthy backstory including some fanfiction. I like Masterminds and I also like a humorous backstory, so I have several including Centurion Commander, a Bot/Time MM who is short because Central Processing was trying to design a unit to scout the Earth for future invasion and they mistook their units of measurement. He still complains about it in his weekly reports. Then there's Viper Commander, named after a certain snake-themed head of an unnamed snake-themed villain organization. He and his Mercenaries are determined to take over Paragon City...and sign copies of his book.

I tried it but even though I had two that were fun, it wasn't to my taste unless I was in a certain mood.

AH, I knew that I needed to download something from somewhere. With luck, soon my Minions of Evil will be loose again! Thanks!

Okay...I was as pleased as anyone to find out that a server was up. I have my 'Homecoming' account all set and ready to go. Now...where do we start? How do we generate characters and actually PLAY the game? Sorry if I missed something obvious but I'm medicated, hence the free time lol Thanks in advance...