Yomo Kimyata

Blue Horseshoe loves Legacy Salvage.

I think of it as a function of population maintenance and replayability. When this was a subscription-based game, it was in the devs' best economic interests to maintain as large a population as possible for as long a time as possible. MMOs eventually moved away from that business model, but the subscription-based model has become more and more prevalent in other arenas (software, toothbrushes). Without that economic motive, it becomes more of an issue of behavioral economics. People like choice (but not too much choice) and people like diversity (but not too much diversity). And people frame on best-possible outcomes and worst-possible outcomes, so anything new needs to be "better" than the previous best. And when people get bored, of course, they leave. If this were a single-player RPG, then balance wouldn't matter at all. You buy the game, play it once, play it a thousand times a thousand ways. Doesn't matter to anyone else. I *mostly* play solo, but when I don't, I would like other people around. I *need* other people around to continue to get enjoyment from the AH. In my opinion, balance is what keeps people around, keeps people trying new alts for concept that are not 10% as effective as the optimal ones but maybe 80% as effective, attracts new people who just want to make *their* superhero rather than build the strongest class.

EDIT 30 September 2022: Yes, this is an old post, but yes, I am still giving inf away. Also, if you are a new player, hit me up for some get-started inf:

Staff/Bio is marvelous on a stalker. You have enough AoE for x8 if you want, and you have enough ST for AVs.

I do find a respec to be cathartic though. It’s a great time to clean house and put the build away for a few days.

How sinister. “Sinister Nipple”. You’re welcome.

Selective quoting, to be sure, but I wanted to observe that the reason PvE is incredibly easy is because the devs, both on Live and on HC, have continually worked to make the game easier. I presume that was because there has been overwhelming desire from the player base to make it easier. This continues to this day. The Suggestions and Feedback forum is full of ideas to make the game even easier. My personal stance is that this is absolutely ridiculous. If I had my druthers, sufficient programming knowledge, and the willingness to do so, I'd nerf most aspects of this game from orbit. But I don't and I'm lazy, so instead I'll sit on my porch and shake my cane at these kids today.

Faultline is the best. Great entertaining story arc. Good rewards in terms of merits/time, including the bonus for finishing all content. Very few if any pointless "kill 50 rats" type missions. Opens up Entrusted with the Secret at level 20 through Doc Delilah's arc. Easily soloable on any AT when set to elite boss, and enough AVs to engage a team when not. I wish they would make something similar for Eden!

I really enjoy my Staff/Bio stalker; he's my AV killer. I've thought about pairing staff with dark armor, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I don't think I would go with a stalker though, since the only staff form you get is Body. Don't get me wrong, Body is great, but with Dark Armor I'd like to use Soul in order to help out with endurance early on. If you don't like the animations, well, that's something we can't do much of anything about. Fortunately for me I like them! My only complaint with Staff Fighting is that I am not fond of Sky Splitter.

I *do* like playing online games with old friends, especially in today's environment, and we will usually set up a Zoom meeting. But we're almost exclusively BS-ing, and there is nothing that is so complex that it needs to be coordinated in real time in audio. The idea of running missions with voice seems unnecessary to me, and I'd rather BS with CoX people through pithy (and occasionally witty) chats.

I periodically run stats on numbers, levels, ATs, inf, etc. None of my 50s are "finished", but I generally get them at least to their alpha slot. I just don't find 50+ content interesting or difficult enough to keep playing once I've unlocked incarnate stuff. Maybe I should try harder, but I'd rather put a level or two on one of my lowbies to figure out whether or not I like Kinetic Melee, for example! Some stats: Number of alts: 104 Number of 50s: 13 Number of 1s: 6 (These are generally place holders for names I liked. Some may get deleted.) Mean level: 26.2 Most populous server: Excelsior (30) Heroes: 82 Villains: 21 Praetorians: 1

I've got 8 staffers right now, and I get the least satisfaction from the scrappers, but it's still pretty satisfying. Early on, you can work on any endurance issues with Form of the Soul, but most of the game you're going to be in Form of the Body. Keep in mind, you don't HAVE to execute the combo move with Eye of the Storm. If you have three levels of Body, you are doing extra damage until you execute either Eye or Sky Splitter. It's easy to build it up again, but once I get Innocuous Strikes I sometimes will put off Eye of the Storm for that extra damage oomph until and unless I want to apply some -resist on the baddies. I also always slot the Fury of the Gladiator -res in EotS. No idea if that's optimal, but I'm a sucker for stacking -resist. I really dislike Sky Splitter, to be honest. That DPA is pretty poor, and I also don't like how the damage is split into two pieces with a big lag. I may end up skipping it on some experimental builds.

Yes, that is exactly the question I'm asking! I am a problem solver by nature, and when people are trying to get more people to PvP, I'm trying to figure out why. Is it because you can't find *anyone* to PvP with? Is it because you can't find anyone good enough to give you a challenge? Is it because you can't find enough noobs to gank? There's all kinds of answers here. Believe you me, I understand that it's difficult sometimes to get other players to do exactly what you want when you want, but for me I always have the option to solo. I get it you can't PvP if there is only one P. I think a constructive way to get more people to participate in PvP is to explain why you personally enjoy it so much, and why other people without extensive skills or expensive builds would also like it enough to give it a shot so that they would also enjoy it. I'm certainly not going to try something if I don't think I'm going to enjoy it, no matter how much *you* might enjoy it. Expand the pie! PvP recipes used to be a good bribe on Live, but that ship has sailed.

I want to come back to the very first question. You* ask how could we get some of the anti crowd to try it. My follow on question is why do you want some of the anti crowd to try it? I'm trying to figure out why people *want* a bigger PvP population. I can think of a few reasons, and I'm sure there are a lot more: - you think PvP will add longevity to the game. - you think people will change their mind and really enjoy PvP if they try it (again). - you want a higher population doing the things that you want to do. - you want more skilled competition from a wider number of opponents. - you are concerned with the reputation PvPers may have and you want to dispel that misconception. - you want to gank noobs and add to your kill count. - other? Like I said, I may come back to PvP at some point, but if I don't, I don't understand why it is any skin off anyone's nose. * "You" is not referring to @RageusQuitus2or anyone in particular.

I still don't know what this is, but it looks like some sort of skin disease from my worst nightmares:

I'm with you. I never use Mid's until either I've hit 50 or it's otherwise virtually unplayable. When I do "optimize", it's usually for a marginal improvement in defense or recharge speed and invariably is not nearly as fun as the random ass powers I usually pick up on the way.

He's one hell of a cat.

Breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, supper.

Detectives Miller and Fish may actually predate Matt Miller:

Gex X may have no pull in today's economic or political arenas, but we rule the school when it comes to nostalgia.

More options! But a true min fx option for every armor, please!

Don't ruin this for me. I still think Luck of the Gamblers are blackberries.

Definitely requires a Confuse power.

Der, General Discussion! Now I need a concept...