malleable1

Thanks again guys. Thanks for the turn off XP option. I figure I will use that to ensure I stay pretty close should they keep diverging. Mal

Thanks very much for this information Coyote! Groups that advance at a different pace always cause issues. So I definitely need to ensure we all stay the same. Mal

Thanks very much KageYume! This sounds exactly like what I'm going for. Websites databases are fine to a point, but for me nothing beats being able to put it all in a spreadsheet and do my own calculations, sort and filter, and add my own categories. Best, Mal

Thanks Crisis. I'll just let the Team Leader select and direct us on missions. He is already a half level ahead of the rest of the group. It would be nice if all the characters stayed the same level. Mal

Thanks for the responses guys. All the characters have the Collaborative Missions options selected, though one character always has to click the button in the popup box to "...accept...you can change this in Options" though he has this option enabled. So this doesn't appear to be the reason. One other thing, since sometimes new contacts vary between characters and some missions are only given if you have the contact. Does this mean that only the character with the contact can do the mission? Or complete the mission? Or can all members of the group enter and do any other members mission? Thanks, Mal

So I run in a 4 person group all the time. I've recently come back to the game after many years, and am having trouble completing Missions. My group will enter a building, clear it out and attempt to gain whatever clue/intelligence/investigation is part of the mission. The group leader normally clicks on the table/computer/box etc. and will get the bar showing that he is searching and receiving the required information. The remainder of the group tries clicking on the item but will 'normally' NOT get the bar. And in some cases the mission is still completed successfully, but most of the time not able to complete the mission. In other cases the remainder of the group will find other boxes in the warehouse and receive the bar showing information, but only if there are multiple boxes, and only once per character for each box. In some cases the mission completes, in other cases it does not. To clarify I will normally get a Mission Completed notification, and the Exit button. BUT after I leave the building only the group leader has the mission updated and actually completed. The rest of the group still has the mission in their logs, the mission is not really finished, the contact still tells you to complete the mission, AND you can't reenter the building. I guess because the leader clicked on the item first is why he is the only one who has really completed the mission. If it were just a mission or two I would just click the "Complete the mission automatically..." but one of my characters now has four of these missions I can't complete, and have attempted to redo some of these twice with the same result (uncompleted). And of course I get the "You have reached the maximum number of auto-complete missions...Please contact customer support." Can anyone provide suggestions on what I am doing wrong? Is there some proper order to doing things so that everyone in my group can complete missions? Thanks, Mal

So I'm boxing x4 Robotics/Radiation Emmission MMs. I got Accelerated Metabolism at 6th and was completely amazed. Since I have x4 AM up at once my recharge is pretty fast, but I can't quite keep it up all the time. I'm hoping if I get Hasten (from Speed) and Unrelenting (from Presence) I can have it up all the time. Or maybe I'd be better taking Burnout (from Speed) - but that has some negative side effects, and maybe Unrelenting would be enough and provide +DMG, +Rec, HOT and self-resurrect as well. From Presence, Pacify and Intimidate might be useful. From Flight, Flying, Hover and Group Flight (you need group flight with Robots for raining death from above, right?). Maybe from Leadership I'll take Maneuvers, Assault, Tactics, and Victory Rush. From Radiation I'm only looking at taking AM and Mutation. From Robotics I'll take the normal stuff (no Pulse RIfle, Photon Grendade, or Repair). Does this make sense? Does taking Hasten and Unrelenting (combined with x4 AM) sound like I can keep AM up all the time (or close to it)? Thanks, Mal

Thanks MTeague, I went with Radiation, and am super happy with how its going. I took Accelerate Metabolism at 6th, and its fantastic. I wanted +Recharge, and I know my spells were coming off timers REALLY fast. Granted I have x4 MM all casting AM at the same time, but I was getting bored with waiting for spells to refresh and that is gone now. I also opened up a couple more slots in AM and put in +Recharge in the AM so I can keep it up most the time. So now I just need to figure out how to farm enhancements or influence to keep my slots up. Mal

I swear, these forums are by far the best of any MMORPG for helpful replies. You guys are great. I kind of decided to go with Radiation Emmission. I want to maximize my AoE damage, buffs and debuffs - and realize there is no way I could keep up with single target buffing all my robots. Radiation easily has the most AoE powers, and the early team buff looks nice. If I need stealth I'll just go with the concealment power pool at some point in the future. Thanks, Mal

So I initially thought Empathy was a lock for my group of MMs, as I ALWAYS want resurrection on all my guys. As long as one guy is standing I can bring back the rest. I was under the assumption that Empathy was the resurrecting power - but now that I know Dark, Nature, Radiation, Thermal Radiation, and Poison have resurrect as well I am open to these secondaries. So I tend to prefer buffing over debuffs, and the Empathy description says that while it doesn't have any offensive powers its buffs are more powerful than other secondaries (or words to that effect). Are Empathy's buffs better than other secondaries? I'm not completely sure how healing works, but I don't expect to cast targeted heals - I have trouble managing pet health and prefer to just cast PBAE/team heals, so buffs are really what I care about in Empathy besides the first PBAE heal. And my second question is about Darkness toggle group stealth. In other games having stealth has always been a blast. Moving through trash content and avoiding fights was always great. In this game it seems most of the missions have you clearing out places, so avoiding trash mobs doesn't seem possible in most cases. If stealth is important, does stacking the Concealment stealth with Darkness stealth work better? Is there a need to stack stealth to make it effective? I'd hate to take a secondary for group stealth only to find out that its doesn't provide enough stealth to be effective. If I have to take both concealment and darkness for stealth to make it always work, I'm cool with that, but kinda want to know before going down that path. What are your thoughts on Empathy versus the other secondaries? What about Darkness and stealth and Concealment and their usefulness for MM in COH? Thanks very much for your comments, Mal

Neiska, Thanks very much for the detailed descriptions. You've sold me on Robots. I did dig them, and wasn't completely satisfied with playing Thugs from an roleplaying viewpoint. Demons and Robots have the best theme for me. Can you explain how stacking works with buffs and debuffs? From what I've read everything seems to stack (except only one toggle of an ability at a time). So four MM all using the same buff provides x4 that of a single buffer. I play with four keyboards and four mice, so I find it easier to play the same primaries and secondarys. Not always, but most the time. I also like to play x4 Rezzers; so Nature, Dark, Poison, Thermal or Empathy for Secondarys. I tend to prefer buffing pets to debuffing enemies because I kills stuff pretty fast if I'm doing it right. I do like the idea of Darks group Stealth though, even though dark is more of a debuffer. Mal

Thanks guys. Also, for the 'characters' in the party I don't like cones or location AoE. For thugs/bots I guess any type of AoE should be fine. So if I'm running in a group of 4 Masterminds, maybe I should have each choose a different Secondary? Or what which of Nature, Thermal, Dark, Poison and Pain do the best AoE damage? And for secondaries, do you guys think that buffs or debuffs are the better way to go? As for buffs, do they stack with the same secondary? I would guess they stack if each character has a different secondary buffing the same stat (e.g. +dmg). Also, do heals from Empathy repair bots? I would think so just for game consistency, but figured I better ask. Thanks again guys, Mal

I've been reading through many of the posts that compare MM pets, but I can't seem to find which one is best with AoE damage. I guess Bots get their AoE late in game, and it sounds nice then. But what about purely the best AoE regardless of when they get it? Also, is Empathy the only power set that can resurrect a group member? Thanks, Mal

Ohhh, that changes everything . So stacking Leadership with say x4 Masterminds and their pets would be significant. Thanks again guys, Mal

Ohhh. And here's a question on Leadership. Does it make sense that only one group member has Leadership? Can that member keep up all four group buffs, or is it necessary to have multiple group members have Leadership so that each person keeps up one buff? I'm not sure how much of a drain each ablility has or if its possible to have up multiple buffs. Thanks, Mal

Thanks very much for all the replies and advice. I gotta say this game and forum have a great player base. You guys are quick to respond and really helpful. Best, Mal

HI guys. I played COH when it first came out, but never got too far. I just restarted with Homecoming, have forgotten everything and seems things have changed. I just dinged 4th level so I can choose a new power pool, and pretty confused on what is useful. I like playing Controller, or Mastermind. Ranged damage. I always play with a group of 4 with similar if not the same builds. I don't think I'd like superspeed. I guess Flight is nice for Hover. Sorcery sounds great as I'd get mystic flight and teleport - but its somehow weaker than taking Flight or Teleportation separately, right? Big question how does Flight work with the Follow command? Any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks, Mal

Ohhh. Thanks guys. I got the Complete completely wrong. Mal

Ohhh. I'm doing it the normal way. I click on the "Complete this mission" line when talking to a contact. But the error message pops up and the mission won't complete, so I don't get to the point to my next mission. Mal

When I attempt to turn in missions I am getting "You've reached the maximum number of auto-complete missions..." and I can't complete missions and move on to the next. I just started yesterday and my first character got in several missions before this happened. I started another character and got couldn't complete the very first mission. Started a third character and could complete the first mission but not the second mission. The error message includes "If you have reached this message in error contact customer support." I'm guessing that something is wrong. Any suggestions on how to fix this and keep playing the game? Thanks, Mal

So I like having a spreadsheet I can sort and compare powers (skills, spells, etc.) in every MMORPGs I play. It 'seems' like this is available given the extensive number of topics that something like this is available. I see the API thread with JSON files, but I'm not familiar with them. And sites like City of Data seem to have all the info, but not available in one file I can mess around with. I can work with SAS datasets, or various other data formats if I can read them into SAS. Can someone point me to what I'm looking for, or suggest how I can accomplish this? Thanks, Mal