Yomo Kimyata

A number of my character stories revolve around a master criminal who they once worked for before they went out on their own. I think of him as a faction leader and I’d like to create him in game. The problem I’m having is that conceptually he works as a mastermind, specifically thugs, but I’m having a hard time justifying a super-DUPER villain that is a MM. I want to build something that feels conceptually overpowered, but my experience with MM has been underwhelming. Any advice? Thanks in advance!

I wanted to make a lumbering oaf of a Bio/energy melee tanker (sort of Swamp Thing meets Solomon Grundy) villain and was crushed, CRUSHED that Lummox was already taken. So I went to Archon Roget’s thesaurus. And I’m so much happier with: Stumblebum

Ha, no offense taken! I have to imagine that managing a project like Homecoming, with no economic incentive and with few/no big backers to please, is like trying to manage a long-term series of dinner parties. You want to invite a lot of interesting people, you want to hear what they want to eat and drink, you want to have a good time yourself. That's the key here -- it's not a democracy. The people making the rules want a playing environment that at the end of the day works for them. They may listen to the belligerent drunks who yell throughout dinner how they are vegan and how everyone else has to be vegan as well, but they aren't going to institute their guests' rules just because they are loud and outspoken. And frankly, the drunks may not get invited back.

I was trying to read through this thread and got stuck on this. It was like a bolt of lightning clarifying something that I didn't quite grasp before since I left Live before they went to RMT. OF COURSE! I thought that the newer powers were overtuned just because of power creep over time, but trying to maximize revenue would obviously lead to more powerful sets available for cash to avoid the disgruntled "I PAID REAL MONEY" players leaving. To me (and you may not agree), this absolutely explains why all the overtuned sets are legacy RMT sets. And to me, in a completely free to play environment, this makes it clear as to what I would do personally in response to balance. I would tear down every overpowered RMT set to put it on par with the rank and file sets. Yes, not every RMT set is overpowered. Yes, you *could* overpower all the other sets too, but I think we have hit the limit when you can (literally?) solo an ITF on every AT and powerset combos as it is. This is merely my opinion, yours may vary, yadda yadda yadda. But I suddenly understood WHY and now I have a new appreciation for the current devs who want to balance based on a one-tier system when they inherited a two tier free/pay system. You may now return to your scheduled programming. Happy hunting!

Thank you both!

I have been informed that damage procs do scale by level, i.e., a level 10 Gladiator's Strike +smashing will do more damage on a level 50 character than on a level 10 character. Does anyone have any specifics on this scaling (or can anyone either verify or refute it)? Also, I assume that an attuned pure damage proc would have the same scaling? And that non-damage procs (like Fury of the Glad -res, for example) do not scale? Inquiring minds want to know. @Sir Myshkinand @Bopper, I'm looking maybe not straight at you but certainly sending meaningful glances in your approximate direction.

So our current winners are @Healixat "older than @Jacktar" which under the Milton Berle rules of "only pull out enough to win" will count as 72 unless otherwise stated and @Zeraphiaat barely 20. If you two could PM me your global here on the HC forums, I will disperse your hard-earned inf for having existed for an arbitrarily long or short period of time.

Thanks to this thread, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time on my 50s. My conclusion is that I’m “complete” as soon as I unlock and slot the Destiny incarnate. That’s my “I win” button.

In Soviet Force, The One carries you!

I think you have to report it, but then if they tell you "working as intended," feel free to exploit the crap out of it.

I don't think you'd be very successful at +4/x8, but this is very doable at something like +1/x3 for any solo friendly build. I'd focus on the purple inspirations over anything else, since I don't recall the AVs from the first handful of TFs are particularly fiendish AVs.

I see you for what you really are. You are a force multiplier. Many will not see that, but you and I know it. Thank you!

I do this every single time with every single alt for this mission and one or two others in Croatoa.

Villain side aesthetics. EDIT: between the color scheme and the dimness, it is visually unpleasant for me to play redside, especially Arachnos base missions. An option to change colors or increase brightness would go a long way.

These are both true. Only one shows up in each spawn but it is easy to aggro nearby spawns if you are not careful.

So, @DoctorDitko, when and where do I disperse prize moneys?

Aw, I like Beanbag! Ignite, on the other hand, could use a larger radius.

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.