SupaFreak

Milestone 4 - Only Level 50 Arcs Remain Moved: old Hero Arcs that are no longer active in the game to an Archive category. Moved: both Hero & Villain versions of Who Will Die into Special Arcs category. Reasoning: I don't think it's fair to factor their numbers into the Merit distribution charts below. Note: Numbers in parentheses are one-time (bonus merits) awarded for either completing mission first time or series of arcs and are not factored into the averages. LEVELS 1-9 Hero Villain Total Arcs 6 13 Total Merits 12 (+20) 81 Avg. Merits per Arc 2 6 Approximate Minutes 60 184 Avg. Minutes per Arc 10 14 Avg. Merits per Minute & Hour 0.2 / 12 0.43 / 26 Total Door Missions 10 31 Avg. Doors per Arc 1.7 2.4 Avg. Merits per Door 1.2 2.6 LEVELS 10-14 Hero Villain Praetorian Total Arcs 6 13 16 Total Merits 71 (+20) 116 64 Avg. Merits per Arc 12 9 4 Approximate Minutes 92 184 154 Avg. Minutes per Arc 15 14 10 Avg. Merits per Minute & Hour 0.8 / 48 0.6 / 36 0.4 / 24 Total Door Missions 16 38 47 Avg. Doors per Arc 2.6 2.9 2.9 Avg. Merits per Door 4.4 3.1 1.4 LEVELS 15-19 Hero Villain Praetorian Total Arcs 10 8 20 Total Merits 168 (+20) 124 (+20) 148 Avg. Merits per Arc 17 16 7 Approximate Minutes 183 156 226 Avg. Minutes per Arc 18 20 11 Avg. Merits per Minute & Hour 0.9 / 54 0.8 / 48 0.7 / 42 Total Door Missions 36 34 70 Avg. Doors per Arc 3.6 4.3 3.5 Avg. Merits per Door 4.7 3.6 2.1 LEVELS 20-24 Hero Villain Praetorian Total Arcs 13 16 16 Total Merits 176 (+20) 154 112 Avg. Merits per Arc 14 10 7 Approximate Minutes 164 157 202 Avg. Minutes per Arc 13 10 13 Avg. Merits per Minute & Hour 0.9 / 54 1.0 / 60 0.6 / 36 Total Door Missions 48 55 67 Avg. Doors per Arc 3.7 3.4 4.2 Avg. Merits per Door 3.7 2.8 1.7 LEVELS 25-29 Hero Villain Praetorian Total Arcs 20 17 8 Total Merits 345 (+40) 184 (+20) 72 Avg. Merits per Arc 17 11 9 Approximate Minutes 401 238 150 Avg. Minutes per Arc 20 14 19 Avg. Merits per Minute & Hour 0.9 / 54 0.8 / 48 0.5 / 30 Total Door Missions 95 72 30 Avg. Doors per Arc 4.8 4.2 3.8 Avg. Merits per Door 3.6 2.6 2.4 LEVELS 30-34 Hero Villain Total Arcs 12 14 Total Merits 306 (+20) 156 Avg. Merits per Arc 26 11 Approximate Minutes 281 190 Avg. Minutes per Arc 23 14 Avg. Merits per Minute & Hour 1.1 / 66 0.8 / 48 Total Door Missions 58 48 Avg. Doors per Arc 4.8 3.4 Avg. Merits per Door 5.3 3.3 LEVELS 35-39 Hero Villain Either Praetorian Total Arcs 10 16 1 5 Total Merits 233 168 17 45 Avg. Merits per Arc 23 11 17 9 Approximate Minutes 252 193 16 99 Avg. Minutes per Arc 25 12 16 20 Avg. Merits per Minute & Hour 0.9 / 54 0.9 / 54 1.0 / 60 0.5 /30 Total Door Missions 50 55 4 26 Avg. Doors per Arc 5 3.4 4 5.2 Avg. Merits per Door 4.7 3.1 4.3 1.7 LEVELS 40-49 Hero Villain Total Arcs 8 17 Total Merits 333 151 Avg. Merits per Arc 42 9 Approximate Minutes 301 177 Avg. Minutes per Arc 38 11 Avg. Merits per Minute & Hour 1.1 / 55 0.9 / 54 Total Door Missions 77 52 Avg. Doors per Arc 9.6 3.1 Avg. Merits per Door 4.3 2.9 PRE-LEVEL 50 TOTALS Hero Villain Praetorian Total Arcs 85 114 65 Total Merits 1644 (+140) 1279 (+40) 441 Avg. Merits per Arc 19 11 7 Approximate Minutes 1734 1479 831 Avg. Minutes per Arc 20 13 13 Avg. Merits per Minute & Hour 0.9 / 54 0.9 / 54 0.5 / 30 Total Door Missions 390 385 240 Avg. Doors per Arc 4.6 3.3 3.7 Avg. Merits per Door 4.2 3.3 1.8 Factoring in the Special & Archived Arcs - that is a total of 278 Story Arcs & 4,365 minutes (72.75 hours) of playing said Arcs since February 1st when I started this endeavor. That being said, I'm going to be taking a small break before casually continuing on with the massive list of level 50 Arcs to track. PEACE!

Issue 27, Page 7 - Villain Arcs added for 20-24 & 25-29 Note: In-Game Flashback does not include the ( parentheses ) or notify they are part of the whole Striga experience... maybe that'll change.

I'm just recently visiting Redside for the first time since Live and was coming to report 2 instances this happened. Guess it's been a known issue for 3.5+ years now. Don't have these problems Blueside. Problems like this don't help Redside's playability much.

Pulled from Homecoming Wiki ---> Veteran Levels - Unofficial Homecoming Wiki Level Range Merits Granted 3-24 20 27-48 15 51-69 10 72-99 5 Other than that, as stated Heather Townsend's arc is IMO the best way to attain as a Solo Player and build up your Incarnate Abilities

Personal Tracking ===> Total Time (including old TFs) = 2852 minutes / 47.53 hours Levels 25-34 Stats Hero - old Psyche & Scott TFs Villain Praetorian Total Arcs 33 30 8 Total Merits 656 398 72 Total Minutes 667 409 130 Avg Merits per Arc 19.87 13.26 9 Avg Mins per Arc 20.21 13.63 16.25 Avg Merits per Min & Hour 0.98 / 58.8 0.97 / 58.2 0.55 / 33 Levels 1-34 Stats Hero -old TFs Villain Praetorian Total Arcs 69 78 60 Total Merits 1181 868 440 Total Minutes 1112 885 712 Avg Merits per Arc 17.11 11.12 7.33 Avg Mins per Arc 16.11 11.34 11.86 Avg Merits per Min & Hour 1.06 / 63.6 0.98 / 58.8 0.61 / 36.6

Milestone 3 - 200 Story Arcs Completed / Tracked "Lost and Found" marked the 200th Arc I've completed in this task I've taken on, but currently sitting at 204 with hopes of finishing Villain Arcs for 30-34 after work today. Once I do complete the Villain Arcs for that range, I will post another chart for everything up to that point with a chart similar to my previous Milestone update. On the original post at the top is now a chart showcasing the Top 10 Rewarding Arcs up to this point in case anyone is interested in testing my results out against theirs. PEACE!

On the second door mission in which Marauder as a pure Arch-Villain ambushes at the end, I have had 2 instances in which I was not teleported out by Savage Noble. I do not know if this is attributed to having Hide and/or Super Speed active, but I could run around for hours and never have the mission complete itself. Standard Settings +0 / x1 / No Bosses / No AVs I tried after the ambush to turn off both Hide and Super Speed AND Zoning Out / Zoning In to no avail. Had to log out / in and restart mission to get the teleport to take on second attempt. This happened on 2 attempts of the arc. Thanks in advance

I personally like everything but the "Merciful Plea" on this. Always considered Empathy to be a set to NOT affect enemies, instead all about taking care of self and teammates/others. Personally, some sort of equivalent to "Soothing Aura" from Pain Domination but with a pulsing minor Heal + Absorb. Even if the pulse took longer but Heal & Absorb were better. Dunno, just off the top of my head without deep thought into it. But yea, the Revitalizing Aura combining the 2 Auras would be sweet and not out of the concept of Empathy by any means.

Milestone 2 - Level 25 Okay, number crunchers - here's the data for each alignment up to level 25 as performed by Stalker character mentioned in OP Hero (- old Posi TF) Villain Praetorian Total Arcs 36 48 52 Total Merits 525 470 368 Total Minutes 445 476 582 Avg Merits per Arc 14.58 9.79 7.07 Avg Merits per Min & Hour 1.18 / 70.8 0.99 / 58.8 0.63 / 37.8 So, not only do Heroes have a lot more teaming options for TFs, etc but they're already way ahead in Merit acquisition for their time spent doing Story Arcs. 1 Merit buys 2 Enhancement Unslotters which currently sells for @100k each on the AH - therefore each Merit is technically worth @200k AH value According to my math, that would mean Heroes doing exclusively Story Arcs at this point have an average of: 2.4 million INF per hour advantage over Villains 6.6 million INF per hour advantage over Praetorians. Am I doing my math wrong? Is it past time to re-evaluate Merit Distribution to help spread out the player population some? *shrug* I'll keep on pumping the speed Arcs out in the meantime and see how the second half goes. PEACE!

This whole project is just me trying to showcase the imbalance of Merit distribution in today's City of Heroes using 1 Stalker character doing them all solo on minimum settings. Went with minimum settings since Merit rewards don't change due to difficulty settings. Ultimately, I would like to see the Story Arcs balanced better using some sort of guideline - be it in-game method or raw focused feedback method such as this. There are soooo many factors to determine the time put into playing through any given arc. Time it takes to travel to mission or "fed ex / talk to", the size of the map, the types and amount of objectives required, cut-scenes, etc. Can't really go off enemy difficulty too much because some builds are going to have no trouble surviving their damage while others are. As of right now, no encounter in a mission I've done has been able to drop me below 50% health - so none of the AVs I'm fighting as EBs are all that challenging to warrant being a factor in Reward Merits... YET. And to be honest, at minimum settings... I doubt any will be.

Milestone 1 - 100 Story Arcs Completed TOPIC: When did Paragon Studios stop balancing Merits properly back on Live? OBSERVATION: Issue 13 (Power and Responsibility) is when Reward Merits were introduced. I'm about 1/3 through 20-24 and it still appears the target was 60 M/H with modern day "teleporter" abilities. At least for Heroes. For Villains it appears to be down to @35 or so and for Praetorians it's even worse. I have yet to do numbers tracking for Villains or Praetorians 20-24, but hopefully will have those done over the weekend. After Issue 13, it seems that any research into how fast a Story Arc could be done went out the window and a flat "6 for all arcs" - "9 for all arcs" - "3 for all arcs" approach was taken. Got to thinking after posting this reply.... the Villain numbers on Reward Merits pre-Going Rogue are likely skewed due to the fact Stalkers weren't present on Hero-side at the time and the Hero arcs were actually closer to Villain numbers before then. Most likely Scrapper / Blaster capabilities to speed Stealth/Kill Arcs aren't on par with Stalkers and their numbers were comparable. Of course, there's been the introduction of LRT and TT since Live to help speed up the legacy Hero arcs as well. CONCERN: As a player of almost exclusively Hero characters, I can't help but wonder if Villain & Praetorian players know subconsciously that something is off on their ability to "fund their builds" there by doing Story Arcs or not. The numbers aren't lying and both are disadvantaged in the Story Arc category compared to Heroes. I gladly welcome any player to see if the ratio of Merits/Hour when comparing the Moralities that I've posted are off or are pretty close to accurate. FEEDBACK: It seems a partial guideline for Merit distribution was done back in Issue 13 and quickly abandoned. The blanket "X merits for all arcs this Issue" is a flawed approach. Taking the "average time players do this arc in" IMO would also be flawed. An arc's numbers could be greatly skewed by players taking the time to read the story details or AFK making pineapple pizza while playing, etc, Then you set the Merits too high and along come the speedsters raking in the Merits. If an in-game system can't be created easily or just isn't possible - you may have to fall back on a consistent AT built for speed/stealth/DPS such as I'm doing to set the standard per arc. That way when I log on my pokey Controller who can only earn 40/hr vs Stalker's 60/hr - at least my Controller's 40/hr should stay reliable. It's not that different than what the A/E Fire Def/Res builds do and the advantage those characters have over other builds in "fire farms".

It's just a suggestion for 4 to be the baseline. I mean... why bother showering every day when you're just gonna get dirty again? So many puzzling questions. If Role Diversity can be fulfilled with 2, then why not make Archetype Duplication only require 2? Just asking. Maybe it's a dumb question but mama always said questions are like a box of chocolates. You never know what answer you're gonna get.

Right on. Well there's always the option to make a team of 4 a requirement: Role Diversity: Complete the content on a team of 4 or more with Archetypes that fulfill all five roles listed below: I mean, I'm fine with people being able to get away with only 2 person teams but I'd also be cool with it if a team of 4 was the minimum.

How about the possibly a Role Duplication in addition to the other 2? Like 4x from Tank Role, 4x from Support Role, etc? <--- team would have to consist of at least 2, possibly 3 different ATs in that scenario though ---and / or--- Archetype Diversity - meaning 5 ( preferably 8 ) different Archetypes ( yea, very commonplace - but IMO so is 5 different roles from my experience ) That would bring Team Badges up to 8 - giving more options and sending a message to newcomers to "Play What You Enjoy!" ALSO: If the Role Diversity requires 5 - shouldn't Archetype (and Role if considered) Duplication also require 5? Just food (or snack) for thought. I ALSO SECOND THE MOTION Of awarding 1 (or 2) Prismatic Aether being tied to acquiring a Team Badge.

TOPIC: Hero Arcs 21.09 thru 21.12 & Villain Arcs 21.12 thru 21.14 OBSERVATION: Both "The Shining Stars" & "The Hearts of Darkness" arcs are both severely imbalanced in regard to the time required to playthrough vs. Reward Merits compared to a vast majority of other arcs. The argument can be made you get 20 Bonus Merits for completing all 3, but I counter-argue that with a comparison to The Hollows which also awards 20 for completing all 4 of its arcs in approximately the same 60-70 minute time-frame if they are sped through. The Hollows (@65 mins) The Shining Stars (@63 mins) The Hearts of Darkness (@67 mins) 7 3 3 18 3 3 10 3 3 30 Total = 65 Total = 9 Total = 9 Then, I came across this over the weekend of a player returning to the game and casually playing through some of the arcs/missions mentioned up to this point... Observed at the following Timestamps of the video: Timestamp Merits 43 mins - enters game 1 hr 14 min - finishes "What Was Lost" 3 1 hr 47 min - finishes "No More Fears" 0 1 hr 49 min - introduced to Twinshot 1 hr 56 min - finishes first mission of "A New Day Dawning" So after 1 hour and 13 minutes of casually playing, he has a total of 3 Reward Merits. Will he return back to finish the trilogy to get those Bonus Merits from first arc that awarded 0 Merits? He'll likely reach level 9 before receiving the 3 Merits from "A New Day Dawning" if he finishes that. At that point, he's eligible for Positron Task Force with 6 Reward Merits (my guess). CONCERN: As stated in my original posting of main list - the argument be HC Devs for "Role Diversity Challenge" and the Prismatic Aether in Issue 27, Page 7 was hopefully to help new & returning players in funding their builds. I would think if Reward Merits were more balanced across all levels, that challenge wouldn't be necessary. FEEDBACK: A loose example of what a balanced Merit Reward system IF Story Arcs based on a 60/hr (on speed runs) would look like in the above scenario: Timestamp Merits 43 mins - enters game 1 hr 14 min - finishes "What Was Lost" 7 1 hr 47 min - finishes "No More Fears" 6 1 hr 49 min - introduced to Twinshot 1 hr 56 min - finishes first mission of "A New Day Dawning" So after 1 hour and 13 minutes of casually playing, he would have a total of 13 Reward Merits. It would not matter as much if he did not return to get the Bonus Merits from the first arc over three contacts. If he were to receive @22 Merits for "A New Day Dawning", he would then be at 39 Merits and well on his way to funding his build with the ability to purchase 1 (nearly 2) of the 20 Reward Merit Recipes. And if Reward Merits are ever rebalanced in this manner, I would think the cost for Recipes, etc would need to increase to offset the new influx with the first Recipe tier costing @30-40 instead. Anyways, there's no real suggestion from me with this Topic - mainly showcasing the disparity in Reward Merits for story arcs. I don't blame the disparity on HC & what (if anything) is ever done about this huge endeavor is not in my hands. I'll continue updating the main post as time allows. PEACE!

Then you buy the one you want first (after careful bidding) and list yours for about same price... right? May be out that money for a while but should come close to nearly evening out.

Yea, was fighting against Legacy Chain this evening and was thinking - jeez, that sure is a lot like Energy attacks just recolored differently. I guess if ever there were to be a set the only real difference would be in mechanics of the Status Effect. Meaning instead of KB on Energy Blast it may be -Perception or -ToHit Debuff. Still Energy/Smashing damage for the most part. Unless there's some creative way to differentiate it besides just hueing existing sets and adding a different sound effect, guess not really worth it.

To the best of my knowledge, the AH doesn't know the difference between Attuned and un-Attuned or the enhancement's level. Just sell the one you have and buy it back unAttuned for near the same price you sold it for. It's like AH provides the service for a small fee. Example: Cacophony: Accuracy / Recharge has the same amount for sale in Crafted: All level ranges & Attuned

I'm totally down for Light-Based powerset

Condensed intro information to be pure bullet-point Updated layout of main post to have 1 Spoiler per Morality/Range instead of per Story Arc

TOPIC: Villain Arcs 21.05 & 21.06 OBSERVATION: The two arcs appear to be linked to an overall arc that's broken up through 2 contacts - still culminating to @14 minutes+ for 3 Merits. I do not recall being awarded any bonus upon completion of the two as Hero arcs 21.02 -> 21.04 did. CONCERN: The need to do 21.06 to be rewarded for 21.05, especially this early in the game for a new player. FEEDBACK: Same as feedback for Hero arcs 21.02 -> 21.04. Merits should be awarded at the end of each segment of the 2-part arc.

TOPIC: Villain Arc 21.12 OBSERVATION: The amount of travel time required within this arc. CONCERN: Sure, travel powers are available at level 4 now but having played all Hero & Villain 1-9 Arc in 48 hours, the travel time commitment required this early in the game is likely not very pleasant for a newcomer. FEEDBACK: I really feel the doors for missions 6 & 12 should have no chance of being on the opposite side of the Mercy Island map.

TOPIC: Hero Arcs 21.02 -> 21.04 OBSERVATION: The three arcs appear to all be linked to an overall arc that's broken up through 3 contacts - still culminating to @25 minutes+ for 3 Merits. I do believe there's a 20 Reward Merit bonus at the end for first time doing it which through normal gameplay is good but makes all 3 terrible for Ouroboros replay value. As intended? *shrug* CONCERN: Is it possible for the player to out level the 2nd or 3rd contact through doing other contacts? If so, then player is to never receive any Merits from first contact unless they finish the arc via Ouroboros. FEEDBACK: I think it would be better to award 21.02 with 6 Merits / 21.03 with 6 Merits / 21.04 with 12 Merits if the target max M/H is to be @60. Whether or not the bonus was to stay is irrelevant, because it's only awarded once. Dream Doctor's arc (50) is broken into two sections with a Reward Table at the mid-point, so it's not like this is unheard of.

Highest Rewarding Arcs as of 08/01/2024 CHARACTER USED & SETTINGS IN TEST RESULTS (BELOW) Level 50 (+3) Claws/Super Reflexes Stalker - finished IO & Incarnate build +0/x1 - No Bosses - No AV Super Speed available after Level 15 Flashbacks KEYMAP <C> = Able to call Contact once mission acquired Zone Changes marked in Orange >BASE< = Used Zone's Base Portal >MONO< = Used Monorail >FERRY< = Used Ferry >SUB< = Used Submarine >GATE< = Used Zone Gate <O> = Ouroboros Portal used to access Pillar of Ice & Flame for Contact's Location - often within mission upon completion <B> = Base Transport / Supergroup Portal / Monitor Duty Teleporter / Rapid Response Portal used <O> or <B> or >BASE< = Ouroboros or Base used to access Pillar of Ice & Flame for Contact's Location <MT> = Mission Transporter used <TT> = Team Transport used <LRT> = Long Range Teleporter used M/H = Merits/Hour NOTES All Story Arcs started from SG Base using Pillar for ease of getting to 1st mission in different zone than Contact Rescues in Defeat Alls are not listed due to the fact they will be rescued fulfilling the Defeat All requirement. Enemies that spawn as Boss are counted as Elite Boss - may not be the case on teams or increased difficulty. Enemies that spawn as Elite Boss are counted as Archvillains - may not be the case on teams or increased difficulty. Dark Astoria & Personal Story Arcs will not be tracked since they do NOT award Reward Merits. LEVELS 1 - 9 HERO (6 Arcs) VILLAIN (13 Arcs) LEVELS 10 - 14 HERO (6 Arcs) VILLAIN (13 Arcs) EITHER (16 Arcs) LEVELS 15 - 19 HERO (10 Arcs) VILLAIN (8 Arcs) EITHER (20 Arcs) LEVELS 20 - 24 HERO (13 Arcs) VILLAIN (16 Arcs) EITHER (16 Arcs) LEVELS 25 - 29 HERO (20 Arcs) VILLAIN (17 Arcs) EITHER (8 Arcs) LEVELS 30 - 34 HERO (13 Arcs) VILLAIN (14 Arcs) LEVELS 35 - 39 HERO (10 Arcs) VILLAIN (16 Arcs) EITHER (6 Arcs) LEVELS 40 - 49 HERO (9 Arcs) VILLAIN (17 Arcs) LEVEL 50 HERO (14 Arcs) VILLAIN (39 Arcs) EITHER (7 Arcs) *** SPECIAL ARCS *** HERO (11 Arcs) VILLAIN (11 Arcs) EITHER (1 Arcs) ***** ARCHIVED ARCS ***** HERO (12 Arcs)

Yea, I'd venture to say the code would break my brain. Aside from Null the Gull following you around vouching for you - I got nothing else at this time.