Forager

Thank you, Dacy. Your videos were very helpful. Here's two other things I made... a robot triceratops and a uh... whatever that is.

The nightclub is definitely not photosensitive friendly. I used an obscene amount of effects in there but I thought the mirrored ceiling was cool.

I'm still trying to get the hang of lighting things. I finished the entire base before I even understood how lighting worked and recently went back to do it. That's an area I would definitely love some pointers on.

The Apparatus Excelsior Passcode: H2H-18887 I am not done, but it's finally suitable for visitors. This is The Apparatus.. The theme is a commercialized training center and pro shop for natural origin heroes. The actual base itself feels done-ish... but it's still a work-in-progress. The motorcycle needs cleaning up and there is a danger room and dojo that are not finished. There is a bit of a psychedelic experience hidden in the office. It's technically done, but it's just chapter 1. If you do go down there, the teleporter back is on the old version of the ship above you (it's the way out of what will eventually be a series... which is the end so I guess I have the last chapter too). I won't bore you with (or spoil) the plot, but it should be obvious that Forager is dabbling in things he shouldn't be. There are some things I am very proud of. The MMA cage was the first original thing I ever built out of parts and the nightclub came out exactly the way I wanted it to (flashing light warning). I tried to make the storage, trainers and workshop stuff integrate with the base in a way that made sense. The travel is a bit kooky, but only I use the place so it makes sense to me. I went a little crazy with the Ouroboros set, but it was fun and I couldn't stop. As far as the actual functional aspect of it, it feels pretty complete. This is my first one so let me know if I didn't think of something. There are a couple of secret-ish things... more like just my attempts at being clever. Make sure you exit through the gift shop and pick up your copy of When Life Cons Purple. Any legacy assault rifle or book purchase comes with a free Red Potion! Made and bottled right here in Paragon!

Dacy I got one from one of your videos recently: I wish I had thought to attach surface towers to ceiling the ceiling instead of shift-dragging it down a million times. That's one of those simple ones that would have saved me a lot of time and energy. I'm mad I didn't think of it.

F2 for and angle and F5 for attachment, but yeah. I also didn't know there was a redo command for way too long. I knew undo because CTRL-Z is a habit, but didn't know CTRL-Y was redo. Super handy when you miss a click-drag and you're not sure what, if anything, you actually grabbed and moved or where it went.

That's a great one! I would add to the list that teleport points within a base face you whatever direction you were facing originally (which I also just figured out this week).

What's a piece of advice a beginner can use, but it took you a long time to figure it out? It didn't take too long to figure out exactly how to accurately move things that are attached to the floor, but not actually on the floor. It's a bit how you use the shadow of a finger to point in a display case. But what I didn't fully grasp was how powerful moving the camera instead of your character is. You can put it at crazy angles, move through things, get very close and find clipped things. I've been working on a base for quite awhile, and I just figured out how to really make the camera work for me.

Went through this myself and posted recently. The majority of the level 50 playerbase is not helpful to real new players. They don't realize it, of course... they will generally say they are happy to answer any questions, but their perspective is generally so far removed from a true newbie they don't realize what being a newbie really means. They take things for granted. You're not alone, but you are VASTLY outnumbered.

Just a blanket reply to all of the "yOu ShOuLd AsK qUeStIoNs!" responses: this is a pretty illogical view. Teaching special, outstanding and very interested people a leadership skill is a much higher yield solution than demanding that an enormous pile of average folks become special, outstanding and very interested. It just doesn't make any sense. If everyone was willing and capable to suddenly become more knowledgeable and competent... then we wouldn't really need leaders would we? Everyone would just be awesome. This also ignores my overall message... in that the people who you are blaming for a failure may not even know what questions they should have asked... or that there are any questions to be asked. I'll put it another way... none of the people screwing things up are regularly checking and reading a forum about City of Heroes. Your perspective is that of a competent and interested player who would ask questions and do research. When I join a trial I always open up the wiki entry on it because I'm trying NOT to be "that guy." I'm also competent and interested. The big problem here is you want a bunch of incompetent and uninterested people to do things.

This is why you are most likely a very good leader. Most of the arguments against it being the leader's fault are still based around assuming a certain level of understanding and familiarity. I've seen leaders flip out and cuss and insult a guy for griefing a run including accusations that the guy knew exactly what he did... and the guy will chat back indicating he honestly had no idea. And if you go back to the instructions, it often wasn't explained well.

You can keep repeating that I'm wrong if you want, but it doesn't make it true or even compelling. I think it's a little odd that you think people don't like to be told why they are doing something when they are told to do something. I've never, ever heard anyone argue that before.

Right. Those are the ones I'm talking about. I've been on plenty of trials with seasoned, universally respected leaders who explained everything very thoroughly and at each step said what we are supposed to do. That's who I'm talking to. They almost never explain why... and I've only ever seen one guy explain what a "Master Of" run meant. I'm saying that explanations of the "why" will increase compliance. You will probably still get people who don't get it... that's why I said that.

It's definitely easier to teach a very small group of competent, interested people a leadership skill then to teach everyone everywhere at all times to "ask questions" when they might not even know that they have questions.

My point was that a some of the people joining these trials do not in fact know what Master Of means... or that it means anything.

It's the leader's fault almost every time. This is an observation of every single trial, task force or raid team I have ever been a part of... but other than Master Of runs, it usually doesn't matter as you're still going to finish even though leaders are making this pretty significant mistake. The end game content is almost ALL new to me. Sometimes when I'm on these, it's the very first time I've done the trial, let alone tried to do it in a specific way. The leaders of these are typically so well versed in the trial that they take for granted how little people know about it. In fact, many of the people joining your trials might not even know what "master of..." means or why anyone wants it. They may not even know that things they do keep the entire team from getting the badge. This is hard for people who are very competent and knowledgeable to wrap their brain around but it is common in nearly every field. The more advanced you are in a skill or subject, the further your perspective shifts away from the beginner's... until you become an experienced teacher of that discipline. People like to be told WHY they are doing something. If we are not supposed to kill a certain person, or if we are supposed to stay in a certain area... it helps to be told why. "If anyone leaves this spot, we won't get credit for X." is a pretty simple way to cover things like this. If you're confused by this because "Duh... everyone knows why we're doing this" then you need to go back to the previous paragraph. People still might run ahead or lag behind or do the wrong thing, but I bet you would see a significant increase in compliance if you were just more thorough in your explanations instead of just assuming everyone already knows the play.

Just finished up in there. One of your live actors legitimately jump scared me... like his timing was perfect. I won't spoil anything by saying who or what, but he knew exactly when I would be turning around. I maaaay have turned off walk for that one. Do yourselves a favor and go in there with walk turned on! It is well worth it and really makes the whole experience. I even did some of it in first person which was like playing an entirely different game. It's very obvious how much time and energy you put into this. I am beyond impressed. You were telling the truth when you said making an alt (and I'll add leveling until you get walk) is worth it. P.S. I did find the secret room... not sure if I found it the correct way though.

The biggest blow I think is a little ego, because "back in my day" I was the MAN. I was regarded as a really good team leader and ran a full team all day every day, and this was when everybody was new so you actually had to lead by explaining and coaching. I think once I spend some more time in the game and feel more confident, I'll adapt. I'm trying to figure out this fire-farming craze now lol.

Wow it seems like a lot of you get exactly what I was saying, which is awesome because I wasn't sure myself. I did learn that "tt" thing the hard way yesterday lol... I took off running and they were halfway through the map by the time I got to the mission. I think it's just that most people are doing things they've done plenty of times before so they take it for granted. I've gotten to level 46 on one character, almost exclusively solo except for a few task forces and one raid. I do love this idea of a secret society of "regular" players. I don't begrudge guys who want to blow through things and level level level... I mean I probably would to if I knew how. Thank you for all the advice, support and "welcome home" messages.

Here's what is probably yet another "I played 15 years ago and I don't understand what's going on" thread. The pace everyone is operating at is disheartening to me. I can't get around as fast as everyone... I don't know any of the acronyms... also a ton of this content and task forces are new to me. I feel like Captain America waking up. Does anyone else just play the game at a sub optimal pace? I'm laughing at the LFG chats with a long list of character build requirements to join a team. "Back in my day" we had to pull and herd to get through stuff... are there still strategies and teamwork required anywhere? Do I just need to give it time? Am I the only person that still actually runs around doing regular missions?