Yomo Kimyata

In Rod we trust.

Hmm, how about requiring a payment of white salvage before any contact gives you a mission? "I'm glad you want to help me save Steel Canyon, but I'm going to need, oh, 80 inanimate carbon rods before we can go any further on this."

Lots of things from the P2W vendor. XP boosters on command, for example.

My philosophy with the CS proc with War Mace (and Battle Axe, and Broadsword) is to put it in the high end small-number-of-targets AoE like Shatter/Cleave/Headsplitter and to try to make sure that the attack hits at least two opponents if there are at least two left. Yes, that means you are not going to get increased critical chances for that power. But Shatter is in my single-target rotation as well as my AoE rotation so I don't have to actively think about my attack selection, and the proc has a chance to go off for each enemy hit (no stacking!) so your overall chances of activation per attack are generally superior.

I'd amend that to "at least 4 of them" since there is a chance for failure if the levels aren't the same. 85.5% of the time generally works for my purposes. Although, there was someone on the forum a long while ago who wanted to avoid that chance for failure and so would use eight lvl 50 HOs to boost to lvl 53 and seemed to think that was the most cost effective way of going about it. My memory might be hazy on that.

Like I said, playing around! Scrappers and blasters get the most damage out of it, and I see no reason to not get as much damage and endurance reduction (and sufficient accuracy) out of it. It's a ranged AoE, and not a lot of quality set bonuses in that category (which is why I look to put HOs in those powers). Two piece Ragnarok (d/e +5 and proc) gets you improved recovery and it's very amusing when the proc knocks everyone down.

The only advantage a D/E lvl 53 HO would have over a purple 50+5 D/E IO is being able to slot two or more of them. Enflame comes to mind, since I've been playing around with that recently.

I hear you, but in my head this comes down to what is currently intended versus what is an exploit, and that’s largely a matter of opinion. Should a tanker be able to hold aggro on an entire +4/x8 spawn and keep everyone safe? Sure! But the blasters are blasting the next two spawns. Should a tanker be able to hold aggro on two or three spawns? Maybe? I think no, you think yes. But at the extreme you get tankers aggroing entire Dreck maps into a dumpster, and we know that the former powers that been didn’t like that so stopped it. What will the current powers that be want? I don’t know. It’s a mystery, so I don’t know if my personal vision is any more appropriate than yours. Not much transparency from these overlords!

I hear what you are saying, but one of the things that make me fury ous with the current devs is their policy of “let’s make basic game mechanics work differently (and markedly better) for tankers than any other AT). I’m happy to play around with how taunt works, but HC powers that be should not (and should not have since they have already done so) change game mechanics for a single AT. In my opinion. I don’t mind giving some classes better range for their ranged powers, but I would not like it if they just eliminated range for corrupters while keeping it the same for every other AT. and I realize the original safety/damage balance of the game is askew for damage and armor ATs but I look at this like some sort of risk/reward chart. Do you want an average 10% return with high risk or a 5% return with low risk? That’s an individual choice. Scrappers are a 10% return with high risk. Tankers are a 5% return with no risk. Brutes are a 5% return with high risk and thus are not on the efficient frontier and in finance terms would never be played by a rational investor. On the other hand, none of us chuckleheads are all that rational.

This is one of the few aspects of the game where applied knowledge of basic math really pays off.

Well, let's be honest, the problem isn't the ATOs, it's the ATO procs. Scrapper ATO procs make you do a bit more damage, or more than a bit more if you are able to apply some knowledge (that's one reason I really like scrappers). Tanker ATO procs give you a significant amount of resistance and absorb, which enables you to skimp on your defenses and put slots towards damage procs. Brute ATO procs aren't that good and the good that they are are not very noticeable. The Fury one is nonsense -- if you play a brute for even five minutes total you are going to see that you are going to be running at about 80% fury consistently with or without this proc slotted. It takes you seconds to reach 80%, and getting above that is difficult and marginally ineffective (which is why I would like to see fury be a slower builder and have a wider damage range, but I guess people used to exploit that so whatever). And the regeneration/end reduction one isn't as noticeable -- if they switched it from rates of healing regeneration/endurance recovery to outright heals/endurance gains, people would probably notice it more.

Whenever the topic of converting HOs comes up, my first instinct is to think that it sounds a little Veruca Salt-y. I want to win the jackpot every time!!! I mean, in theory it should put equalization pressure on differences in prices across HO types, but it's basically a rounding error for many/most players. One idea is for HO-producing events to reward HO credits rather than RNG rolls. One credit from a Hami raid or an Eden run gets you 2 Perixosomes, or ten credits gets you a Cyto. Not fair, I want a Cyto every time, says Veruca. Personally, I consider this a "happiness hedge." If for some reasons the devs are actually able to make this happen, I will be unhappy because I think it's only to appease the Verucas of this gaming system, but I will be happy because I will then flood the market with thousands of converted HOs. *shrug*

I rebooted my system and the End Mod/Rech DSO disappeared from the new character and the D/E DSO showed up in the first character's inventory. So no problems, but strange stuff.

I find it difficult to believe it is the former, since this is so incredibly niche. And as for un-convertability, I just printed a bug report because I created a lvl 53 D/E DSO on one character from lvl 50s, emailed it to myself, pulled it off email and suddenly it is a lvl 53 End Mod/Rech DSO. Definitely not human error, mainly because I had specifically double checked it because I had deliberately decided to use the email system rather than trade it to myself on the /AH. So maybe you can make Provocation DSOs after all! EDIT: Interestingly the End Mod/Rech DSO disappeared and the D/E showed up on original character after rebooting. Odd stuff.

I double checked this both before and after sending it. I created a level 53 D/E DSO out of 4 lvl 50s (slotted it in Brawl on one of my 50s, combined, removed with unslotter). Replied to myself on email and dragged the level 53 D/E DSO into the email interface. Switched characters and pulled out the DSO from the email and to my wonder it was now a lvl 53 End Mod/Recharge DSO. Not the end of the world by any means, but there is a zero chance that this is human error on my end. I deliberately used email rather than sell it to myself through the /AH interface since I did not want to print a trade, but now this has me questioning all kinds of things about DSOs and email.

Things that are great about HOs: lvl 53 gives you 38.3% enhancement (schedule A) in every category. Whether that's a double or a triple. That enhancement scales down to level 1 if you exempt. You can slot as many of each one in a build or even in a specific power as you have room and/or budget for. Things that aren't so great about HOs: no set bonuses. On the surface, this may not be a big deal, but there are a lot of really good set bonuses, and there are often really cheap or easy replacements for HOs that imo provide better overall characteristics. I stopped using Mids a while ago, and I'm currently only mentally categorizing HOs and DSOs as which came first (I accept that there are Empowerment DSOs, but they will always be Nucleolus HOs to me; vice versa with Stereolabcilia HOs and Deceleration DSOs -- the second is the standard to me even though they are bucketed as the same thing in the /AH). I always want to make something work with some of the unpopular HOs, but meh it often doesn't seem worth it. There are definitely some exceptions, but maybe one out of a few dozen of my characters? not enough for me to make a living on.

An interesting thing that I personally keep forgetting is that this is not a business. The GMs and devs aren't getting paid, have no interest in player retention, have zero responsibility to keep the greatest number of players happiest the greatest amount of the time. This game was a secret underground poker game for seven years, and frankly I think a few of the decision makers wish it was still that way! Heck, I don't even know who in the game or on these forums is a decision maker or just some clown like me who likes to tell other people why their stupid ideas are stupid and why their good ideas are good. Personally, when I post a suggestion I don't give a flying goose caboose about when someone says they don't like it because they don't like it, unless they've got a big bolded name as a decision maker. I'd like to see more feedback from them about whether or not they think an idea is worth their time or not than from some chucklehead in a basement in Sheboygan. No Wisconsinites were harmed in the writing of the previous sentence.

This is a part of it that doesn't get a lot of discussion, but it's dead on. If you look through city of data, every kinetic melee power has an extended animation time before effect. It's very annoying in a fast paced environment and you'll see a lot of anecdotes of people saying that their opponent is killed by someone else while they are still winding up. Even solo, it's annoying in a psychological manner: if you are locked down for three seconds for a power, it's much more satisfying damaging your opponent after half a second then waiting for 2.5 seconds than waiting 2.5 seconds before your damage hits and then only being locked down for a half second. It was an odd stylistic choice by the original creators of the power set.

Yes! That would be a great name for it. We could keep a different forum for arguments and disagreements in playstyle and such. At the risk of over-repeating myself, I want to be clear that my issue/objective here is to be able to give suggestions and feedback to the developers, ideally without having to run the gauntlet of running it past dozens of rabid gamers who want nothing better to kill all my pets just because they think someone on the internet is wrong. Pie in the sky, I know.

I guess now I'm wondering if anyone else has found the magic slot machine in St. Martial that gives out discounted Winter Packs...

I didn't even know what I didn't know!!! Although I did know these. The thing that was life changing for me when I eventually found it was was that when you have items in your Character Items menu (from opening packs) the default order is useless, but if you click once on the title, it alphabetizes it for you. Mind blown.

When I think of the name Suggestions Forum, I think of a Suggestions Box where people anonymously suggest ideas that are examined by management. Sometimes the slot in the box leads directly to a shredder, but at least the people who post feel some level of agency. The current Suggestions Forum is, in my opinion, not working for me. It's a great way to enflame people and stir up the pot if I want to get some stranger's blood pressure on the rise, but it is terrible for making suggestions that are intended to improve the game, either for my own personal play or for the population as a whole. What I would really love is some sort of input or direction from those who command. If someone makes a suggestion that is blatantly self-serving, some sort of comment like, "We will take that under advisement, but it doesn't seem to advance our goals at this time." If it's a really good interesting idea, how about, "That is an interesting idea." If it is technologically unfeasible, how about, "That is currently technically unfeasible." Or even a plain /jranger from a bolded name, so we know it's a non-starter and we can move on with our lives. Also, unless we can work in some sort of feedback mechanism, how about changing the name of the Forum to Opinions Forum? Nobody expects feedback on our opinions, and that way we know we are walking into an interweb fight when we post. I'm just spitballing here, and I'm trying not to be snarky or Snarky. And maybe I'm in a tiny minority of feeling unheard (and I understand that Discord might address some of this, but I cannot use Discord for various physiological reasons, and if Discord is to be the be all and end all, maybe we should shut down these forums to keep things fair and consistent?)

I found this worth reading for a couple of reasons. I cannot disagree with you here, and the irony of the curators moving it to Suggestions within a few hours is sharp. This subforum is generally a morass, and seems almost always to lead to more conflicts among players. What it does not ever have is any dev input -- not one lick or it. This will soon lead to a Suggestion forum post of mine that will probably be ignored and will almost certainly lead to more conflicts among players. And here I like to ask myself "why?" you made the suggestion and "how?" it might be implemented. Your suggestions seem to make sense to me on the surface to an extent, and I don't see it as you asking/begging "Give me more than what I already have". If you have a character without stealth and with no aggro powers active and walk past a purple, it will attack and kill you, but that same character can stand in a pack of greys and tell jokes with the bat-flipping Hellions for hours. Why shouldn't some of your powers not affect them if they are coded to completely ignore you? They are not giving you any rewards in terms of inf or xp. I can see blowback from people who want to get easy defeat badges, and maybe that's reason enough to say no. And then I like to ask myself "why?" we are where we are. When CoH sunset, and this game was played and evolved for seven years before re-emerging, one of the things that has been consistent is that the developers like MORE (and especially more for tankers). Aggro cap? Screw that noise, let's change powers so that it's easier to attract/distract enemies, do more damage to higher numbers of enemies, make gathering them together and defeating them quicker and easier, presumably to get more shiny rewards more quickly. And frankly a very vocal part of the player base likes it exactly like that and would painfully kill every pet you've ever had just because you suggest otherwise. I don't see anything getting instituted that will *reduce* any sort of aggro, even against greys. Would it be better for the overall game either way? I don't really see a compelling argument one way or another.

I'm totally down with that. Heck, I keep Kick in the rotation because sometimes it is satisfying to finish off an enemy while keeping on truckin'. I'm not advocating for the smallest amount of spells/powers, not by any means. However, for me, who partly finds beauty in efficiency, I look at my powers like: hmm, I've got two single target damage powers and I'm ok with the animation of both (I still mostly avoid fire/frost swords unless they really mean the character concept) and I can alternate between them with no down time and there are three other single target damage powers and none of them are superior in terms of dpx or aesthetics, so I'm good not taking any of those other powers because they simply aren't doing me any good. Me. Not doing ME any good. You play how you want, because I am certainly not the one trying to enforce a most optimal path on anyone except for me.

Sometimes I feel I'm playing a different game. Why wouldn't you only use your best rotation? My most effective scrappers are those that only *have* to take maybe 5-6 from their primary, tops. Those power picks and slots get funneled into other powers that make them more survivable and deadly.