ImpousVileTerror

One of my favourite encounters in Port Oakes and Nerva!

Hear-hear! Buckets and seeds were the best thing to happen to the market yet. I think it would be great to have them expand further, branching out of the market even!

Well done, @Jawbreaker. Much better than the nun I tried to make. . . . YOINK!

And what level was the character? Any settings regarding Earning Experience versus Disabled? Anything you can think of that might have mattered?

Thanks, though for clarity, it's not the IOs themselves that I need info on. That part is really well documented! Rather, I just need the info on their recipes, and procurement / drop rates thereof.

Alright, fine, @Sakura Tenshi. You asked for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzPpWInAiOg NO MERCY!

So, I don't know if I'm just failing at my Search-Fu here, but I'm having a helluva time trying to get the complete and comprehensive guide to PvP IO Set Enhancement Recipes. I've heard they drop from PvE content now. I see on the Wiki that they have a 5 minute cooldown on them in PvP. But what's the whole story? What are all the conditions where PvP Recipes drop? Are they a "50 Only" thing now? Which doesn't make much sense, since I don't have -any- 50s, but I've had a tiny spattering of PvP Recipes in my inventory from the past year-and-change of play on very few of my characters. Is there a guide or wiki page somewhere that I'm just completely missing in my search? Thank you, folks, for any assistance in getting the details on this.

Bone Dust would -definitely- deal Toxic Damage.

Good point, @Auroxis. I didn't really want to touch on the "fairness" argument, because I know that a lot of people already don't view it as reasonable and it would be an uphill battle with little gain . . . BUT you do bring up the potential "payola" concern. Even if it's not the conscious and express intent of anyone involved, a "paid early access server" raises some additional concerns.

Simply; a potential lack of diversity in the testing pool. One of the reasons that systemic testing was often conducted the way it was with for-profit products that I've been attached to in the past was that there was a drive toward making sure that development received a healthy variety in the points of view. And when it comes to a game like City of Heroes, ESPECIALLY on Homecoming with the express mission statement . . . well, more than ever, a diverse testing pool will naturally provide a better reflection of critical reception. There is a risk, particularly with less experienced development teams*, that when inviting close friends and family to play-test that the developers get a skewed perspective on the work they're doing. They accidentally interpret the small, insular sample size as something demonstrating a collective and more objective point of view. I've been a part of small projects where "but my best friend loved it" was expressed in genuine shock when an aspect of the game was harshly rejected from the players upon release. I'd point to the Double Inf Feature's removal as a prime example of this . . . EXCEPT that (once again) obfuscation of the development here with Homecoming makes it very difficult to come to a precise conclusion on how that came to pass. * I have no idea what level of experience Homecoming actually has, since it's something else obscured by the level of privacy and secrecy we have here. There are clearly talented individuals on the Team, and I would not want to undervalue them! I just know that I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing what level of experience they genuinely have. Past work history. Past successes to build off of. Past failures to learn from. That sort of thing.

Just burn your cloths and slip in to some paper bags instead. It's cheaper that way.

So, I just did another Adamaster in Dark Astoria. Very simple, that one. Also very predictable. Always in the same place; on the altar. Got me to thinking . . . could we potentially make it a little more . . . interesting? How about giving Adamaster a self-revive Power a la Soul Transfer? Perhaps give Adamaster a 10% chance to spawn a localized horde of Zone Event Levelless Zombies when defeated? Maybe Adamaster could be upgraded to an Avatar of one of the Banished deities if players use special recipes to summon Adamaster instead, making Adamaster an Incarnate-level Giant Monster? You know; the ACTUAL Banished Pantheon: M'Teru, Tomdala, Ullutay, Rambetu, and Lughebu. With Lughebu's Avatar's Ritual being the most rare/difficult to complete? That'd be sweet . . .

Oh, yes. Sorry. I should have stipulated that my suggestion would be a jury-rigged spring-loaded trap that could go off with scarcely any cause. Such is the nature of development on this scale that has had so many, many hands on it.

Hmm, yes. The SCoRE thing. That is a bit of a prickly pear . . . I have also heard that SCoRE is now essentially a test bed for Homecoming, but I've not seen any corroborating evidence. Full transparency would obviously be ideal, and while there are some definite elements supporting secrecy as a protective measure in regard to liability and litigation . . . yeah. There's a lot more being obscured than seems strictly necessary. It might just be overly cautious behaviour, or there could be something nefarious; we just don't know. For now, we have Homecoming, the good mixed with the bad. Encouraging the policy makers to be more open and to promote healthy community engagement is probably our best avenue right now. We could hope for another whistle-blower if there are things untoward going on, but at our level down here . . . we're powerless to invoke any sort of meaningful change beyond supportive encouragement to do the right thing(s) when and where possible.

I mean . . . if it's baked deep in to the code (haven't tracked it down myself, so I'm not sure), what if we coded -around- it? Like they did with Alignments. "Just" largely suppress the original Origin code at each call function, and build a new truly-cosmetic one over top. The first Origin you select also doubles as your now-hidden original-Origin, but the superficial Origin would be rerollable. What's the over-under on something like that being workable and worthwhile? How feasible?

I advocate for the use of everything at your disposal. . . . Except Inspirations. Screw Inspirations! Only good for tossing on the market and grinding up in to powder!

"Internal Testing" usually means only the Devs themselves and maybe the GMs. "Closed Beta" is when it's a matter of inviting players. . . . usually. Not sure if the Homecoming Team is using different definitions, though, @Auroxis. They can kind of play fast-and-loose with a lot of stuff and make it up as they go along. Futher; in most development, Closed Betas are usually conducted with players who either align to the developers' vision, or have demonstrated a capacity for critical review and analysis of the content that is being tested. From my experience here, Homecoming is a bit of a mixed bag, skewing toward critical analysis within the scope of the presumed vision. Granted, there's been no shortage of closed betas where P.R. turned them in to a sweepstakes to try and drum up hype, but I tend to lump that in to marketing more than the actual development cycle, even if helpful (even crucial) information is generated from the testing process.

Time with your face in the pavement even moreso, though.

Looks like someone's been playing Altered Beast, @She-Wolf! Nice stuff!

I do hope the Homecoming Team consider fleshing out Tips even further! There's a lot of potential to be had there, and they don't need to mess with established lore to do it either (which, as I understand it, is still a thorny issue for some players who don't want to see anyone but Sean Fish continue the writing. *shrugs*).

"Run away." A solid tactic which is seemingly lost to many. If a battle turns against a player, there's no shame in popping around a corner and getting some distance from the mob of angry enemies. "Pulling" is still valid too. One doesn't need to soak an alpha strike if the enemies are lining up one at a time to boop the player-character.

I do miss the old Paladin events. Would be nifty to have something like that make a return!

. . . did that happen on Everlasting, Valia? . . . do you still want those ATOs?

I mean . . . I want Natural-themed Controls Sets first, but I could totally support this being added as well!

I was actually planning to do a poster/flier campaign around my local schools . . . but then pandemic lockdown kicked all the kids out of the schools in my area. Curses! I should have mobilized last year!