Ironblade

Is he putting out bad vibes, Oddball?

Because the change in exploration badges occurred today and Vidiot Maps needs to be updated. So, *currently*, it's wrong. I don't know if they have updated it for the new badges yet, but you would then need to update. As for your video, you did *NOT* get the eight exploration badges.

It proves that the guy making the video isn't paying attention at all. Go to full screen and read the badges. He counts off eight badges but one of them is 'TIpped Off', which you receive for getting a tip mission. So he does NOT have all eight exploration badges. Edit: Okay, I came off a little harsh there. I didn't realize that was your video. But my point stands.

Back again to comment that this is a horribly slow way to earn merits. Probably the best way to get merits - but which depends on other people's schedule - is Hamidon raids. On Everlasting, they do Hami raids 2-3 times every day and each time they summon him twice. You can get 120 merits in about 15 minutes. This is per character, per day. They run them at 7PM EST, 10PM and midnight (not sure if the midnight one is every single day). Plus one in the Abyss on Saturday afternoon. If you're willing to deal with the tedious grind you described, instead transfer a character to Everlasting (or any shard with scheduled raids) and get some easy merits.

Pretty much the same way I deal with beggars in Pocket D when I'm on my fire/fire brute. "Hi, any chance you can PL me?" "No." Except that, since this was an email, I would just delete it and act like it was never there.

No, it doesn't. You get the merits by getting all 8 badges in the zone. Nothing changes and you do not need to go to a different zone. So, no, you DON'T know why it was changed.

A durable, high damage character can earn 20 merits in 5 minutes by doing the Signature Story Arc 1, chapter 1. This amount can be earned once per week on each character. Run a bunch of different characters through that and it's serious merits.

Unless they're in the public domain and from somewhere like Project Gutenberg. Over 70,000 free books available at gutenberg.org Plenty of classics like Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allen Poe.

The RPG version of 'first world problems'.

My guess would be that they are restricted from doing so in the licensing agreement they have with NCSoft. I don't imagine the IP owner would want a newer, updated version of the game being released 'into the wild'.

Yikes. I had a Lady Grey on Thursday that was exactly the opposite. Everybody followed the few instructions I gave and our 'tank' was a brute that knew the missions and maps at least as well as me, if not better. Super smooth.

Well, if you're willing to go hardcore.... On Everlasting, they do Hamidon raids at least twice per day (7PM EST and 10PM, sometimes also midnight). At each time, they actually do it twice and you can get 120 merits in about 15 minutes. The devs have said they're fine with this since it requires massive teamwork (we're talking 40+ people). The reward has diminishing returns for each extra raid on the same day so if you brought a different character to each raid, they could each get 120 merits. You could get two full ATO sets in under a week. A more efficient way is to use the merits to buy converters. Sell those and buy the items off the market and you'll come out slightly ahead. Even more efficient is to use the converters to convert trash IO's to useful ones. This takes more time and research but is REALLY big bucks. The way I get merits is that I do whatever task force is the 'weekly strike target' at least once each week. Each character can get a bonus of double merits once each week. The lowest task force starts at level EIGHT so I'm sure you have many characters that could do this. The weeklies for the coming week (starting at midnight UTC) are Manticore, Mortimer Kal and Admiral Sutter. The minimum levels to join are 30, 20 and 20 respectively. I enjoy the task forces and do them for the XP since I have over 52,000 merits.

Hold on a second. I think you might be misusing a term. A proc is very specific sub-category of IO's (Invention Origin enhancements). If you really meant IO's in general, then that's a different story. You really do need at least some IO's for a good performing build. Having said that, you can put together a good build, that makes the character DRAMATICALLY more effective, for maybe . . . . between 50 and 100 million for most characters. I wrote in another thread how I made a tank incredibly tough (with 350% regen rate) for around 20 million back on live. Could do it for maybe half that now.

The first sentence is flat-out false. I would agree that you do need procs in order to min-max your character to do the absolute best possible damage. But to "successfully deal damage"? That's total nonsense. And I think I understand 'late game' reasonably well. I just checked and I have 28 characters that are fully tier 4 incarnate. As for spending billions on a build.... is that even possible? It was common back on live, but everything is so much cheaper now. A full purple set is around 120 million for the GOOD sets. I've never seen a build that could have more than six purple sets. Add the ATO's and every useful unique and I honestly don't know that you can shoehorn more than ONE billion into a single build. I guess you could spend more if you're a 'buy it now' person, but that's on the person with no patience.

Um.... no opinion? They're all good. I've taken SR to level 50 on a tank and a scrapper, regen to 50 on a scrapper and sentinel and I've taken willpower to 50 on a tank. Personally, I like regen because I like having something to click (besides inspirations) in an emergency. Also, I'll say Erratic1 isn't wrong about bio. I never change the stance and it's a really good set too. You have the OPTION of some management with the stance, but I never do. It's like my dual pistols blaster can change ammo types but never does.

Well, I would definitely try a sentinel, then. I have a water/regen sentinel and regen is better on a sentinel than a scrapper since the sentinel version gets an absorption shield.

Not me. If I find or craft any extras, I hoard them.

Most task forces get advertised on the Looking For Group channel and often also a shard-specific channel. For example, Everlasting has a channel called Everlasting TFs. Indomitable has one also, but I don't recall the exact name. On any shard, I would say search for a global channel with the name of the shard in it and see what's there. There's a lot less organized supergroup activity since every who wants can simply make their own SG with a fully-equipped base. (The prestige cost for base items has been removed.)

Googly's editing and ban-hammer are fully IO'ed.

I observe the one factor that all these "odd" task forces had in common - you. 😛

I think it was supposed to be "extremely limited" since it's a free power. Believe me, if I had to use a power pick for it, I would never take it.

Those are definitely sound choices. I would say any AT that gets a defensive set secondary, so: sentinel, brute, scrapper, stalker would my top suggestions. After that, I would ask about your play style. Do you prefer ranged combat? Is maximum damage output your goal? In this game, you can easily solo with a defender; it's just slower.

Why is it important to level 'efficiently'? If you're having fun, just play the game and you'll level when you level. If you specifically want a level 50 (to generate influence, for example), just make a fire farmer. That's the most efficient way to get XP. Of course, playing the market is the most efficient way to get influence.

I don't know that I've ever actually used it. All my characters with Superspeed also have a stealth IO in one of the prestige sprint powers.

Some stealth effects stack and some don't. For example, Superspeed plus a stealth IO in a sprint power stack just fine and give full invisibility. Annoyingly (to me), Superspeed grants "stealth", which just makes you harder to see and is useless once you get within 15-20 feet of the enemy. It just reduces their perception range. Meanwhile, the pool power 'Stealth' grants full invisibility - you can walk right up to the enemy and bump into them and they won't notice you (unless they're a sniper, Rikti drone or someone else with enhanced perception). So, in the situation you described (being right next to the enemy), the stealth from Superspeed does nothing. All the stealth powers work that way (except the one called 'Stealth', which actually grants full invisibility).