CFIndustries

Stygian Cat (Claws/DA scrapper) will always have a special place in my stable. HC will be like the 5th time to 50 with him (one of those was Claws/DA stalker when CoV launched). I've played through every buff and nerf, remember the looping/DA sounds, etc. Not sure why, it really is a masochistic combo even fully IO'd and incarnated, but…he really is a "scrappy" guy. I also love the look of the tiny, creepy, black fluffball with red, glowing eyes and the PBAoE auras. After Styg, Polly's Revenge (Mind/Psi permadom) is my other huge favorite. I just love his costume, concept, and reception amongst teammates and friends. --"POLLY. HATES. CRACKERS." If you were to ask my regular teammates, they'd go with Barium Bunny (Rad/Rad defender). I definitely play him "offender" style and it's amazing how indestructible he can be. He's wearing body armor, but I guess a tiny, male, white-n-green rabbit just screams "cute." --"Hello everybunny!"

If this happened in this community, or IRL, I think I'd wonder what planet I was on. Or throw a party. Or move to wherever these people live. Been reading your posts @TemporalVileTerror, and I find them refreshing. Though I really wish a tickle at the back of my brain didn't also say "naïve." But maybe that sense of unjaded hope is a good thing the world needs a bit more of. Lots more. Having done my small share of volunteer work—including work in supporting state legislation and lesser things like being on an HOA board—I can say that in my experience most people aren't wired this way (this open-minded, rational, self-reflective way you expect) anymore, at least not in the USA. And for that reason, I don't blame the devs at all for not doing anything remotely like giving roadmaps or hints or even a smidge of a promise for something that is part-time and volunteer-based. At least not outside of some small core group. I've all but stopped volunteering because I find it toxic, by-and-large. I give it a go every so often when my hope returns and…am rarely disappointed by the bad taste it leaves. I give kudos to people who do it, and who can get past or gloss over all the bad parts. Or find like minds to make it happen coherently. I enjoy playing here on HC, and just treat it like a game made by Etsy…it happens when it happens, it gets here when it gets here, and if they nerf/boost I can take it or leave it, play or walk away. World has enough drama; USA has more than enough drama. Kudos to the devs for even bothering, and in my limited experience with them, for taking the time and caring. Expecting anything more is being presumptuous on my part and…I just shouldn't. Let the devs have their peace if they choose. In the end I agree with you @TemporalVileTerror about wishing the Devs felt comfortable giving more insight at risk of disappointing us every so often. But I have observed that the internet in almost any form, including forums like this, is sadly not the place to do it.

In addition to duos mentioned by @Grouchybeast, a 6–8 person team of casual players with basic SO or crafted IO builds is nice too. I found such a group and we play +0 to +2 and rely on everyone "doing their job" to pull through, but don't play so hard that we can't drag someone's lowbie alt along to join the fun (or just turn down the difficulty…). When I first joined HC I really felt I had to grind out getting a fully kitted alt to enjoy the rarified air such builds bring to a PI radio ROFLstomp. I felt kinda "dragged along for the ride" on an SO/IO-equipped 50. Now that I've found a group of more casual players where I can feel bad*** without spending billions of influence I'm having more fun, by and large.

Playing 0–50 is my endgame, on boring crafted IOs and maybe the odd tricky pony IO (like +Stealth in Sprint). No farms, no shortcuts. Don't even do DFBs, rarely do TFs. I can't wrap my head around "set IO" builds even using MIDS. Just a mental investment I can't be bothered with. Doesn't bother me at all though, I now have a good group of friends who play the same way with zero interest in the 50+ content. Altaholics all and by no means power gamers. But all my alts get to 50 eventually because I am invested in their concept, which is where the fun is. Then I retire them…I know better than to try playing with incarnates without a really nice set IO-based build. And I'm okay with that. The biggest exception is this: on Live I met a very generous player who complemented me on my ability to play even a sub-par build very well (since I play on concept I often skip powers or take powers and combos that min/max players don't). Since he "liked a challenge" he started making builds tailored just to my odd concepts and wants. He just liked watching me go nuts in higher content with one of his builds. So I have about two dozen of his builds from Live that I am re-building on HC and I enjoy using those 50+ builds to play incarnate missions or just roflstomping Level 50 content. And I have to say, he made me some NICE builds; I am forever grateful. And these will likely forever be my only 50+ builds. One huge exception is my "baby" fire farmer. Due to the changes in the economy on HC vs. Live, in order to afford to make these fancy IO Set builds again, I have resorted to farming. He was farmed from 0–50+ (doorsitting) and is based on a cookie-cutter forum build and played with efficiency in mind. Didn't need to do this on Live, but after a couple months on HC it became obvious it was either farm or give-up on doing any 50+ content ever. I missed my überalts, so… *shrug* Two other exceptions are a permadom built by a different friend on Live, and a defender I leveled to 50 and really wanted to make better and got lucky and found a forum build that matched my existing build mindset. Those two are "kitted" and enjoying 50+ content as well.

Does anyone know of a guide to the visuals associated with the various Incarnate powers? For example, Interface powers don't appear to allow customization, so if I'm picking based on colors/theme, how would I know what they look like? I have an Ice Dragon that I have been sticking to ice/white/blue theme, so Reactive is a bad choice (stuck with in-game orange flames). So either I need a visual guide/reference, or I need to know if any of the Interface have a white/blue or simply "inconspicuous" appearance. Was trying Spectral but with 10% chance of an immob is either really tough to see, or I can't get it to proc while I'm watching. That's when I realized I can't keep burning threads just blindly trying T1 Interface powers. 😜 Are there any other Incarnate powers that don't have visual customization? Would like to know about those in advance…

More content is my vote, specifically pre-50. More DA mission content would be nice for incarnates. I mean even the DA repeatables could use a couple dozen more variations. There are what now, 6 distinct repeatable "radio-like" missions in DA right now? Throw those of us who don't pound-out iTrials (or enjoy them) a bone, eh? And make it interesting. Redside or Goldside interesting, nunanced, clever, etc.

Any chance the Winter Forest could remain on Tunnel in some "de-Christmased" version year-round? I like having my winter-based alts hang out here. It's quite a lovely little mini-map. I'd go a step further and love if there was a base teleport beacon to get there. 🙂

Every alt gets a bio. The bio drives whether it's a hero, villain, or Praetorian. It drives what powers I pick, how I justify them, and how I slot them to a degree. It drives my mindset and playstyle, I involve myself in them as characters. All about the concept for me. All but one of my alt's bios are quite serious, like they are real creatures. All fit the lore (insofar as I keep CoX's lore straight in my memory), or more precisely, they don't outright conflict with the in-game lore. And no, I'm not an RPer. 😉 I used to "RP light" back on Live, but folks on Torch are kinda no fun in that department, so I spare them the oddness. I don't get involved in the full-blown RP scene; not my thing.

Well, you've probably seen the other shoe finally drop for the Apple laptops and Mini. What bothers me is this: I have a mid-2012 Mac Pro (the last of the "cheesegrater Macs") and an upgraded Metal-capable video card so…I can get as far as Mojave. I had been looking at one of the new Mac Pros, but the $10,000 cost was bit of a heart-attack (I'm a designer, classic gamer, and run multiple virtual machines via Parallels…the low-end gear isn't enough). I had just settled into the idea of being able to use a Mac laptop with a GPU (I need three non-Apple displays and this was really the only good way to do this on a laptop). But the horsepower seemed there, so that was my idea. This also seemed the best way to manage having literally dozens of USB devices (plug them into the GPU instead of the laptop). But the new laptops have on-die RAM as part of the stack, and only 16 GB. Not upgradable as near as I can tell. WTF? I need 20 at least, and really 32+ is what I need. And the new Apple silicone only has one Thunderbolt channel (not the TWO on current laptops and I have no idea how many on the Pro). And what does Apple Silicone mean for virtual machines? I run my basic PC needs that way, and some web QA work this way. I guess I'm back to the big $10,000 beastie? Or are those going to go to Apple Silicone too? If so, they need ALOT more RAM and more Thunderbolt channels. Glad I can survive on Mojave for a while, and use my work Mac laptop for anything I need Catalina+ for. Going to be putting off new Mac purchasing for home as long as possible to see how this all pans out. Windows really isn't in the cards due to my profession; though I might have to build another dedicated PC again if virtual machines become too difficult or performance isn't there. The next 2–5 years is going to be interesting…

I've rarely like the choices in Titles, they rarely fit my concepts. All my alts are animal/creatures and self-aggrandizing isn't in their nature. I don't badge hunt, but if I get an appropriate badge at random that is suitable to the alt's story or behavior, I'll use those. Heck, I don't even bother to change the colors on my name/title/badge or my thought bubbles anymore. I still write bios though; mostly for me, since few others ever read them.

Well, at least once ED hit on Live. Before that, skilled "pure empathy" defenders were well regarded by a large population of average/typical players. I cut my CoH teeth on such an alt and the inspiration of PCSAR. And not all of us had the Medicine pool, we took Leadership, Flight, and the Teleport pool. I recall having more than one attack (though poorly slotted, I was the popular Emp/Elec) I burned my pure empathy defender once ED hit; that alt was basically invalidated and I didn't feel like respec'ing him since he was a 50 and it wouldn't be the same experience. I haven't played empathy since, to be honest. The memories of what it once was just make me cranky.

I rebuilt my DB/WP scrapper from Live, was just as much fun as I remember. I am rebuilding my Claws/DA scrapper build from Live. Requires a certain level of masochism but this will be the…fourth? fifth?…time I've played 0–50 with a Claws/DA scrapper. I first did this combo back with the looping DA sounds and no IOs…we were a very rare breed back then…

@Blackfeather It does, thank you. But it's unfortunate. It still means using the power(s) very sparingly and generally if I have to concentrate too much on how stingy I have to be before using an optional power, I just don't bother. If it's not reliable, I don't want to count on it. If I have to try earning a bunch of different powers to make it work, it's too complicated. If I have to exit a mission and spend time deciding if I should use a teleport power (or which one!) or run to the transit…I just stop looking and run to the transit. That's just me and likely NOT the majority of players as I see it on Homecoming. Also unfortunate. It was a fun run, we were told not to rely on the slash command. Point taken; I'm not allowed to consider this a nerf. I was just hoping for…something closer to the convenience of the dev command, that's all. I've played this game since i3 and will survive going back to transit/tunnel/ferry/Ouro/fixed SG Portals. Maybe I'll luck out and tailgate through someone else's dropped portal now and again as an added side effect. 😉

Even one of those would do it, yes. THANKS @Blackfeather. Since I don't usually go looking for the Day Job powers (I just park where it's handy), how are these two earned? Is it still 10 days worth of logged out (so more practically probably 12–15 calendar days depending on your daily game time)? So basically unavailable to new alts? Are the day jobs the ones that rely on "charges"? If so, how many charges would build up over the course of 20–24 hours logged out in the proper location? Would it be the max of 30 charges? Depending on the circumstances I've been known to use the base macro now a dozen or more times in a 2–4 hour session either solo or farming (it's just convenient to go to the base for most transportation needs, bop into base for recipe pieces, bop out to use auction house, bop back in because I forgot something…).

I tried reading entirely through this but my eyes and brain started to hurt. Overlapping options, expensive P2W stuff, long recharges…can someone just clarify: Is there ONE power, that is free (or nearly so…I don't marketeer or farm at a level where 10m is remotely "affordable"), that has a sub 5m cooldown, that replaces the current base-slash-command-we-shouldn't-have? Okay maybe TWO powers...use one while the other is cooling down. SYNOPSIS. My brain needs *easy*. Otherwise, this all loosely translates to "welp, buck up and use the oldschool transit options unless you happen to be near a base portal." I mean that sucks, but whatever…just give me the Cliff Notes version. I tend to like options, but this change needs an Excel spreadsheet and detailed instructions…

For folks like me, a "great bio" is all you need to do to put a huge smile on my face for that day's play session.

That's no excuse! Even my cookie-cutter "inexpensive" fire-farmer has a bio. Granted, it's creative sarcasm about the confusion of farming and auctioneering in a super hero game, but…still has a creative bio told as a very basic origin story… 🤪 Back to the OP…I'm okay with the current length. Sure I'd like a tad longer, but that's straight-up selfishness, mostly. I agree too much longer and it wouldn't get read by non-RP players. Back on Live there were special purpose wikis for full character stories and people would write a synopsis with a URL for the in-game bio, which is better for RPers anyway (you can include pics, lots of details, formatting, etc.). So if the devs threw another 250–500 or so characters that probably wouldn't be the end of the world. But as much as I like bios, I'm not pining away in dismay over the current limit. As @Zepp said, it just forces more creativity.

Color me confused on this a little, maybe my memory is fuzzy since live was so long ago: Doesn't dom build faster on Homecoming than it did on Live? The second alt I rebuilt here was my Mind/Psi dom, but I was too broke to use his MIDS build into permadom until after he hit 50. But my one surprise was that I could have dom up for almost every fight in mid-level play. I had this memory for Live that dom seemed like it took forever to build and yes, that was tedious. But on HC, it hasn't felt like a big deal. So either HC has already made it easier or I got alot more aggressive in my playstyle (because I'd done it once and knew how it worked) and build dom quicker because of it. Either way, playing without permadom was quite fun (and team-useful). I plan to rebuild an Earth dom and he won't have permadom, and I expect to have fun with him. On a side note, I'll also argue against "CC being useless in the higher levels" Just because the team didn't notice you saved them from themselves doesn't mean it didn't happen and had the effect of making play faster and safer. 🙂

My first drafts go over limit almost every single time. I write bios for all my alts. I even have all sorts of side Lore and headcanon in many cases. Normally I'm only over a couple hundred characters (have a decent feel for the synopsis length). I got used to Live where a large percentage of players had bios, and they were alot of fun. It's super-rare here on HC (at least on Torchbearer), but I keep looking for them since they are fun reading when they exist. SIDE NOTE: A request for all you bio writers: use paragraphs please! It makes it so much easier to read than a solid wall of text.

Back on live when I was playing CoH far too much, and destroying $100 office chairs in 12 or less months, I invested in a Herman Miller Aeron. I'm well past my 12 year warranty and no issues whatsoever, and I can sit in this chair all day long (which is good because like so many others, I work from home now). My girlfriend debated, delayed, balked, and then after 3-years of going back and forth between wanting an Aeron or a Steelcase; she finally got an Aeron a couple months ago. We both agree that any chair that has padding/cushions is destined to be uncomfortable in 1–2 years. A high-quality mesh/suspended chair (Herman Miller, Steelcase, etc.) is your best friend. Quite fiddly to set-up and get perfect, but once you do you will tear the limbs off anyone who touches your precious adjustments. 😜

This. I am a bit stubborn in my refusal to PL my alts; I feel I learn my power combos better being forced to level oldschool. But so help me I wish Veles would just stay dead. I'm also odd that I find I really enjoy the Twinshot arc…it has less of the annoying "go to Perez/KR and hunt purple mobs" that all the low level arcs seem to have. Even the Hollows are more interesting than the all the "hunt" missions every lowbie arc has. So…more missions would be my biggest ask. I'm okay if the maps are a tad boring if we could just get new content. ATs are cool but…meh.

+1 to this. Even if they weren't trying for an agreement with NCSoft, I'd still +1 this for the other reasons.

Having dipped my toes in the farming pool out of frustration, I can make a number of observations: Even with an a not-too-expensive farmer and a decent farming mission, Influence and XP comes faster for me than any missions I've ever been on, including PI Council Radio roflstomps and Ephram DA mission endlessness. I can't speak to the influence/XP generated on TFs or iTrials as that is content I don't usually participate in. In the hands of an experienced farmer with a wicked-expensive build, this effect only intensifies. In the hands of the above experienced farmer and one or more support buddies, multibox mules, or multibox helper alts, influence and experience go off the charts. I have see truly insane farming setups that blow my mind. Being the farmer and doing some types of farm missions is no less exciting than silent chat during endless Council PI Radios (some of the farms are actually quite clever and interesting). Actually, farming is more fun in alot of ways than Council/DA roflstomps. I'm going to have to take back alot of bad things I've said about farmers in the past (*stares at feet in shame*). So honestly, for XP and influence: farming wins. The vehemently anti-farming part of me can't argue with that; I've seen it for myself now. At least this is the experience for me, anyway; YMMV. Mind you, except for this one farming alt of mine, fairly new, all my other alts go 1-50+ "the hard" way; no farms (I find I learn my alt and powersets better and the teaming is more fun). I built my farmer to generate a extra funds for my altitis. So my farmer is a practical matter; a way to make a necessary chore more fun. For my other alts, I'll see you on one of those teams, woohoo!

I did try looking for a set of inspiration macros and the search engine wasn't as helpful as I'd hope. Anyone have a link for a good set of binds for inspiration management? Thanks @Krazie Ivan for the Incarnate power tips!

For a "budget" Brute like this, what would you recommend for the six Incarnate powers?