Shenanigunner

This. Even for players that don't muck around with the UI much, I recommend loading your most-optimized alt and running these four commands: /chatsave /wdwsave /optionsave /bindsave (Repeat the process from time to time as you re-tweak and optimize.) You can then load your optimized settings on any other alt (and do things like recover the above screwup... and we've all done it!) with: /chatload /wdwload /optionload /bindload If you tweak keys for your alts, you might want to skip the last one, but in that case I recommend you save each alt's keybind settings individually: /bindsavefile MYALTNAME-binds.txt ...which will let you reload your binds if you screw them up, and also transfer them to any compatible alt with ease. Or you can go whole hog and run individual saves of all these settings for each alt, so that things like different window settings, different chat channel lists, different window colors etc. are preserved. It's a little bit of work when you roll up each new alt, but it brings a lot of convenience and un-uckfupping ability. (Lots on this in the Guide, BTW.)

It wasn't worth drawing up my own Venn-o-matic. That, say, 90% of the population might have tried redside and that some steeply declining curve plays a villain on any continuing basis isn't really in question, but your diagram only represents that first statement. My suggestion from the OP, which has been interpreted and argued about six different ways, is simple: "Hey! Let's all go play redside for a while! Bring your buds!"

Obviously not familiar with the "timetable" paradox, nor with illustrations that fail to give weight to the values involved. Allow me to post a counter-illustration: 🙂

And we have a new record for "grim, humorless player mindset." You even quoted the funny bits and then sternly thumped the table over them. Sheesh.

I'm not. I've played every AT and most powersets since launch, and while some of them are anything but dumb point-and-shoots (MM's, healer/buffers on large teams, squids) I am honestly puzzled why V finds squids impossibly, frustratingly hard to play... especially as his method seems to involve some large number of custom macros that obscure the actual power icons and create the cooldown problem. I guess it's perfectly okay if someone chooses to play... with so much difficulty. My interest here is (1) why/what and (2) with the grasp of UI customization I have, is the problem fixable? But never mind, I guess. I'm having a perfectly good time with my squid, using next to no UI customization at all. Also, to the OP's point: macros are so badly implemented, flat out broken in most ways, that having them show cooldown timers is just one of a dozen important fixes that aren't likely to happen. It's a feature that's badly pasted onto the game/UI, barely integrated at all. I suspect a lot of bare-metal code would be needed to change it, for this or any other feature. Would all this be nice? Sure.

I confess that I completely fail to grasp the problem here. Just how many macro substitutes for the actual power icons do you need/use, and why? It sounds like you're using a very convoluted play style that multiplies all the issues.

I'm in with some 20's on Excelsior and would be happy to run up newbies with a team of same. (As long as no one reads that to mean I expect all heroes to stay home that night. 😄 😄 😄 )

Coming back around to this now that I've built a squid and run it up a ways. I am not finding any problem with managing the power set, even for two modes. It was trivial to put the Human powers in Tray 1 and the Squid powers in Tray 9, and then use the following commands... [COMMAND] "powexectoggleon Dark Nova$$goto_tray 9" [COMMAND] "powexectoggleoff Dark Nova$$goto_tray 1" ...to toggle both form and primary power arrangement. I've bound these commands to a pair of macros, a pair of binds and a pair of mouse buttons and haven't settled on which option I prefer. (Mostly mouse, with the macros a good way to fix things like resetting to Human form after a defeat, or when I have time to consider which form I want to be.) I am reminded/astounded at how powerful squids are... by low levels, powers are just raining from the sky and builds are way ahead of most other ATs. The only real limitation is that slots are in short supply for so many attacks; made up for by the number, damage and fast recycle of the squid set. So... @Vooded, could you give a few examples of the things you found "frustrating" and "unwieldy"?

Just noticed this. My biggest reason for leaning away from macros and tutoring players on binds and UI tweaks instead is that macros are completely "glued on" to the overall user experience. There's zero support for them in the game or interface. Can't save them, can barely edit them, can't manage them as a unit, can't load them except by clumsy cut and paste. Can only give them distinctive icons with a very crude lookup-and-paste system. They are useful elements, but the sheer mountain of hassles involved with creating and managing them make them a distant option when I need to customize my UI. A more integrated system of some kind, what you suggest or just some way to save/load them as with binds, windows, options, chat... that would be huge.

Good answer. There's also a more complete way to control the way the game shows both self, other-player and foe HUD info. Although most of these features are buried in the menu above, it's a bit overwhelming and can be hard to switch around on the fly. Using /setoption can be quicker, especially with a few binds or macros to make the switching easy. You can even set some alternatives the menus don't offer. The complete page from the Guide is attached for those who want to tinker with it. CoX-Technical-Guide-v3-10p34.pdf The basic usage is /setoption optionname value, where value is a constructed binary number that sets options by bit. Give it a shot.

"How about a beer?" does not invite a long discourse about how you're allergic to gluten. Most of the responses were not to my "How's about" but to why Red side sucks or why they can't be dragged there again. I'm sure the difference will be apparent with a few moment's thought, or a beer.

The English, she lack a good general second-person pronoun. NOT targeted at you-you.

That's part of the reason I'm a bit bummed that the fog gets reset; I use the fog tracks to tell if I've been to various parts of the zone with each alt. And I am always tickled by the dot-dot-dot pattern from TP'ing somewhere.

This, more or less. Now that all ATs are available in all alignments, there's less draw to play Redside just to get a Brute or Stalker. I have always had and maintained a few reds/crossovers in my lineup but I still tend to spend most time over in the Blue zones...

All very reasonable, 'Cat. I just don't think the discussion went (1) where originally directed or (2) in any useful direction. You tried Redside and don't like it? Fine. No one's going to force you over there (and that's kinda-sorta implied in some of the other posts). You hate Redside so much nothing can drag you back there? Fine. You tried Redside, didn't like it because of the low player population, or it didn't grab you, or you didn't find any reason to like it, or you've just listened to all the trash talk and never tried it at all? So gosh, golly and holey rusted metal, Batman... how about we mob the place and give it a mass shot, so that maybe some players will find they do like it, or at least rummage around in some different missions for a change, or just spend a session or two confirming why you really, really don't like the Redside vibe? But naah, just spend the same amount of time and effort explaining why it's a stupid idea not just for you, but for any player who's not you. Sigh. And for the record, I'm totally meh about Redside. Run around it occasionally with a Villain or Rogue, like some of it, tend to leave partly because it's so deserted, like those years of using Icon to run around the deserted maps. But I'd like to roll up a pop and a few teams for all the reasons I first listed.

Probably a new PC since this alt explored those zones. No big deal in any case, I was just puzzled.

I am (as almost always) puzzled by the number of people who read a suggestion as some kind of enforced activity, as if I'd suggested shutting down Blueside for a week or month, or requiring players to play only Redside, or something. This is the third or fourth time I've posted something like, "Hey, why don't we..." as a suggestion and been severely taken to task for trying to tell players they have to do something they don't wanna. As much as I love this community, some of its members have... reading comprehension as narrow as the phone screen they're probably reading it on.

Does zone fog return... over time, on major upgrades, because of a temp change in the server farm? I'm doing a little badge collecting, and I keep visiting zones where I have several or most of the badges... but many are located out in the zone fog, as if I've never been there. Que pasa? Also: do Portal Corporation employees walk through walls because it's a joke, or just a mapping glitch?

Sorry, maybe it's all too-too in-group fannish, but it tickled me. I first called it BadgeHunter, then BadgeRadar, then (being a sometime-and-again Battlestar Galactica fan) BadgeDRADIS after the name of the radar system used in that show. (It either stands for Direction-RAnge-DIStance, which is redundant, or Direction-Right Ascension-DIStance.)

I just kinda wonder how many players have never really tried it, because of all the trash talk and (talk about ouroboros) the low player population. But I'd sure hate to kick anyone out of their blue-tights comfort zone. 😄 😄 😄

I see a lot of plaintive posts about the lack of players Redside, and I think it's a shame. CoV has some great maps, missions and lore. It's just sort of... abandoned in Live status. So how about a Red week or month, where all the heroes hang up their capes for a vacation and as we get as much of the community as possible to get their Villain ya-yas out? Can we all pledge to go do a little harm? Contribute to the need for heroes and policing and Vanguard troops? How about "Be Bad Week," from Miller time on Friday the 23rd until we all come to our senses Sunday night the 1st? Or... hell with it... how about "August Is Evil Month"?

Updated version, archive and post. Massive improvements and complete user guide now.

Completely rewrote and updated original post. Not a usual thing to do, but there was too much confusion from my hasty write-up. BadgeDRADIS has been completely updated, not the least with highly accurate badge locations, thanks to @AboveTheChemist's kind input. Complete guide and complete archive linked in first post. Updates, if any, will be on the website (www.Shenanigunner.com). PS- if anyone knows how to get rid of that extraneous final image in the first post, please PM me (or mods, delete it, thanks). I can't figure out how to remove uploaded images from posts or keep them from auto-appearing...

Eh. I've been writing software and equipment docs too long to allow such passive assumptions to stand. The wiki entry (admittedly one of the esoteric and technical, and frankly not very useful any more to most players) is as terse as it can get, and the link to the text file of badge names doesn't even have column headers. If someone stumbling on this (even less useful) game feature sees a list like this (an actual snippet from the file): Cruiserweight: Cruiserweight Champion Crystallized: Crystallized DarkAstoriaTour1: Dark Mystic DarkAstoriaTour2: Seeker of the Unknown DarkAstoriaTour3: Cairn Warder DeadHead: Dead Head Deathless: Deathless DeathSurge: Electrician ...there's not really much that says you should only use the internal name before the colon... but NOT the colon, space or game-name. Just sayin' this, like a lot of technical writeups by folks who "just know," tend to have invisible walls and cliffs that don't need to be there. But all good now, and I don't think there are any other game tech areas I haven't already explored, sorted out and covered. Onward.

And yep, that did it. Thanks again. Off to re-edit the Guide. 🙂