Ukase

Yes, I did...well, that's part of the mystery solved. Thanks. Now...why is "legacy salvage" still a thing? And who's buying it? Or is it just a reflection of something else in the bucket?

So, I got this odd drop on my new controller. So, I consult the HC Wiki. An obsolete piece of salvage. Yet, the HC devs seeded this for some reason. Why? Or was it just one of those things where all salvage in the list was seeded. Probably. And, further, I'd guess that history was for something else in this "bucket". Because, I get that some folks might want some obsolete salvage that doesn't seem to take up space in the salvage "inventory" for nostalgic reasons. But surely not 43,682 pieces of it..surely not. Any guesses what I'm looking at? What bucket is this?

There was a time when I agreed with this position. Even now, I tend to give a measure of respect to players with a badge count over 500. Yet, my anecdotal experience contradicts with my own premise. It's tough for me to admit I'm wrong, but in this context, I clearly was. On paper, it looks like a good idea. But even in the Army, you recognize pretty quickly that most officers don't have a damn clue how to win a war. They just know there are too many dandelions in the courtyard, so they pull a mechanic off his current job of maintaining the armored vehicles to pull dandelions.

Influence trading? I'm sorry...but who trades influence? Lately, when I do dfb, and we get that Cadaver Cleanser badge, I'll announce to the team that I will give starter inf after the trial is over. All they need to do is walk up to my character and open a trade window. And then I give them 200M. I guess because I say starter inf, only a few folks take me up on it. Now this might rile your feathers, me giving away my influence. But they earned it. They had to cooperate with a player like me. That's almost as challenging as a posi with Snarky. Almost. I give stuff away all the time, when it's my idea. Now, if you ask me straight out, the answer is usually no. Some folks love to grind and earn what they get. I respect that. But some folks just don't have the time to do that. or they lack the knowledge. Some of the ebil marketeering is darned tedious. It's not for everyone. If I want to help someone out, at least they'll be able to have some decent enhancements, and hopefully, they bought a team teleport.

That's just it. The way it's implemented, unless you definitely know what level IOs you've crafted previously (if you have), You're going to guess. You'll be right, and you're fine. Or you guess wrong, and you have to make one more. Take the guessing out of it. Either we, as players, choose to not craft any common IOs until we know if we're going for those badges or not, or we continue to guess, or a tool tip or some other method tells us what else we need to craft for a given badge. Alternatively - they could just not ask for the one extra.

I can just see the clown with a bucket filled with confetti, blinding the eyes of the opposing npcs...

So, let me just share an anecdote. I'm level 32...and I see Eochai in tree form. I broadcast their location, and I form a league. I tell myself, I already have the badge, so I just need to get my hit in for the merits. So, I'm league lead on team 1, solo. And there's like 6 players, one or two are level 50, the others between 20 and 35. A player not on my league, a level 50 decides to not wait until I can explain to a 50 that I want to pass star to them and have them put me on the team so I'm not solo - and there I am at level 32 and suddenly there's a lot of level 50 fir bolg around Eochai. I had to be very careful to not aggro them lest I get clobbered. Fortunately, they didn't last long, but they were still a concern for me. Now, I know to avoid them - have to avoid that pumpkin patch anyway. But not every player is going to see this in time. Is it just supposed to be a learning experience? Maybe. But I do agree with the OP that this should get looked at and addressed.

I think this is the crux of the minor annoyance. When I pursue these badges, I have my closest to completion tab open. Sadly, I'll have made some of these as I leveled up. And I won't have any notes or memory of which ones I might have bought or got from a bin in my base, or which ones I might have crafted. So, I see my closest to completion, and for example, it shows 3 of 17 in the hitman category. I think if the game could show which were made before, that'd be great. Because at the moment, I've no idea which levels I've crafted on this character. Now, is it really that important though? I've no idea how much time it would take to change as per the suggestion. It might be easier to just up the requirements to 9 of each instead of 8 and one more of either.

Do you mean like a server tray, like we have for the travel powers (like speed phase for SS and Afterburner for Fly)?

And suddenly, my ignorance is bliss. It's been a year or so since I've done the Anton Sampson or Christopher Maxwell arcs. Might have to see if I can squeeze one in through ouro. I don't recall ever having any real problems with Nemesis, other than the 2nd mission of that Jaeger's SSA in steel. Those ambushes are awesome! (if you've got good AoE, fast recharge and a lot of luck) Mind you, many of my characters run through this stuff at 0/1 because I want the badge and/or merits, not the XP. But I am playing newer character at +2/8 for the XP, so I'll have to see if I notice any of this.

This is probably a case of a player being inexperienced and lashing out at something they don't quite grasp. When they figure it out, I'm sure they'll feel bad enough without us piling on.

Ah...I recall the clamoring for CoH2 back in retail. So, in order for me to reply, I have to know what you mean by CoH2. Is it just a copy of CoH, only no lag during Mapserver events? Do the human characters look more "real", and less cartoonish? What exactly do you mean when you say CoH2? Instead of Paragon City, is it New Orleans? Whatever it is, if you want it - you make it. Look at how many people play the game now when it's free. If our volunteers were working 40 hours a week on the game and getting a competitive salary + perks/benefits, how many more people would the game need to pay to play routinely? And once you add that price...how many won't play because the economy is pretty rough for some folks? So, no, we're not going to get a CoH2, whatever that actually means. The cost of starting it up could be manageable for a proper game publisher, but it's already been proven that the demand just isn't there to sustain it at a profitable enough level. Yes, it could make money, but it wouldn't make enough money. Given the risks of investing all that capital, there are less risky ways of procuring a better ROI. Oh, let's not forget Missing Worlds Media. I remember contributing a small amount way back. They're still working on things, also on a volunteer basis. I have to think HC getting the license kind of took the wind out of their sails a bit, but maybe not. Maybe that can be a CoH2.

Short version: triple red is the cut-off for multi-boxing. If it's triple red, can only play one. So, I was minding my own business, looking through the HC discord - which I rarely do. And there, I saw a player had extended me and others a great courtesy. I read the CoC a long time ago. And it clearly stated that 1500 was the limit at which you could no longer multi-box. Since I don't multi-box much anymore, it's not at all a big concern for me. But - this player linked to Here So, there I was, all ready to explain to this nice player that the limit was 1500, not "triple red", or 1100. But there it was in...well blue and white on my computer. I don't know when this changed. But apparently it has. Most of you already knew this, but I didn't. So if any of you were or are as obtuse as me - you now know!

This is a complex question. Define "as intended". I say that, because the Paragon Devs when led by Jack were of the mindset that the only reason to log in was to team up. So, they were never intended to be solo. But if I take your question with a broad range, I think the worst with me as the player would have to be a mind dom. I made a mind/psionic assault dom once. It basically had me swearing off Dominators forever. (I later revisited..3 years later) For one, when you're a solo dominator, it takes a LOT longer to reach domination. No idea why, but it does. Now, I know a number of folks that play Mind doms flawlessly; or at least very well. But me...this would be the worst. I'm sure something like Mind/Sonic would have me logging off for good. Two horrible sets for ME. Others may shine with these sets. I don't see how..but they might.

I was literally thinking, "I wonder if there's any merit to that". Then an instant later, I almost laughed. There was a time when I'd retire the afk farm brutes and recycle the IOs so they could reach vet level 48; The time to get to Vet level 48 was maybe 2 hours longer than it takes to get to vet level 99 if you're not afk. If you are...well, who cares how long it takes? But given that these are probably characters you play outside of the farm, makes good sense.

I think this number is much higher. I could certainly be wrong, of course.

Cosmic Council did something in the arena maybe 3 years ago, where you brought level 4? I think. Maybe it was level 5. No higher than 5. And they'd pvp in the arena using various maps. I never did, because it was too late at night, and not really my thing. As for open zone kind of thing - you have to be kind of careful. If you post it - odds are someone is going to use their optimized build and lay waste to your rp builds. So, if you kept it quiet, and had each person use /ghide and hide from SGs, Friends, Searches (and remember to unhide when you're done) you might have a better time of things.

I remember asking my dad a question when I was a kid. I'd screwed up, and asked him when faced with the bad options I had, what would he have done. He said, "I don't know. But I do know I wouldn't have put myself in that position" So, if an AT I have isn't doing the AoE I wanted -I roll a character that does. Sometimes I'll shelve the character lacking, as things can change. Sometimes, I'll just strip it of the loot and delete it.

When you can spend 1 billion inf on each character you create and still have inf left over, I think that qualifies as being rich. Me, I qualify. But I still live like a poor person. Usually.

Any NPC that phases are the most annoying to me. Master Illusionists..and that darn phantasm decoy which doesn't phase, but can't kill it.

Only the ones that won't fit on the bottom tray - unless they're toggles; no need to macro those. And targeted AoEs. Having to select where to place the reticle takes a couple more seconds than I'd like.

Would you believe that I created the macro incorrectly? The description of it says I tend to copy macros and change the names of the powers. And I had the macro wrong and only just figured it out in the last mission! So, I now see more utility for this tree. User error. Darn it. I always thought the P stood for player, but in this case it stands for Plant, or Spirit Tree. My fault.

Seeds of Confusion. Sure, why not slap the purple set in there? Nice recharge, and I could be remembering incorrectly, but I think the only very rare set that actually gives some defensive stats if you slot the 6th one. The thing is, having only played 43 levels so far...I've never used it. I figured I'd take it as an "oh crap" kind of power. I just don't see the utility. I thought, use it when clicking glowies. But, there are always too many mobs for that, unless I reduce the settings. For a squish, the character has no fight pool, no leadership...and at 38 got Charged Armor. Seems like that's enough for +1/8. Not quite enough for +2/8. And while the confuse did buy me a little time, (to be fair, there was only one slot in it) it really didn't help. Anyway, Spirit Tree...why is this a PBAoE? I cast this - it has a taunt...so I get splash damage? Who thought that was a good idea? What a turd power. If it were ranged AoE, it would make more sense. The regen isn't even that good. Now, I say these things because it's the first time I've played plant control. I can see some utility for spirit tree, but not as a PBAoE with taunt. Maybe ranged, but not PBAoE. If it didn't have taunt and followed me..then it would be good. But it won't even take a teleport. Makes sense. It is a tree after all. Albeit a "spirit" tree. Can some of you who like these powers provide some utility for them? Like, 6 slots for a "set mule"...that seems a bit much. Is the contagious confusion proc in the very rare set really that good? Do I need to copy to brainstorm to get a better look at it? And fold space...is there utility there? Fold space, Vines, Creepers and whittle them down from there... Curious to know how others consider these two powers.

Statistics are useful, so is math. I dig into the numbers because I my reflexes are somewhat slower some days. I figure my poor character needs all the help it can get. The idea that someone who knows slope b regression analysis should be able to squeeze out more damage than someone who doesn't is not a good idea. We want transparency; not calculus or algebra. At least, I do. I could almost go with careful scrutiny. I think most people do that just by playing. Now, I don't want to take anything away from players that painstakingly look at the recharge times of their attacks, and somehow are able to have an attack chain with no downtime, using nothing but their harder hitting attacks, and further, have eked out enough endurance recovery to continue the chain, and the defense/resists high enough to survive long enough to complete the battle and go on to the next encounter. Those players undoubtedly have a desire to play as well as they possibly can. Most of us do - but I think most of us, when we log off don't want to pore over the various combat stats on a given character and eke out a few more points of damage for this or that. Fortunately, we don't have to. Now, I've stated that great players can take a trash build and still play well with it. And bad players can take a great build and still reek with it. The good players who I would rate high on game knowledge AND skill, those players are already a tier above the players with just good skill or just good game knowledge. Isn't that reward enough?

So, while I don't think the OP's solution to a first world problem isn't my concern...most of us cannot type fast enough to do this - and even over discord, because of the nature of people, you'd end up having multiple people talk at once, even if using push to talk options. There's just not enough time to discuss and coordinate unless you slow things down to a crawl. Now, for various badge efforts, or maybe certain hardmode TFs, folks might be willing to slow down, but for things like the labyrinth..that's just silly to expect people to coordinate when they're going to use their nukes. Last night, it was abundantly clear I didn't need to use Barrier at all from watching my stats. I don't think I went below 100% resistance in any category, and I was on a blaster, the entire time. So, I just didn't. And yeah, a couple of times another player used theirs at roughly the same time. Big deal, so what. And a lot of times, the same thing happens with Ion judgement. Big deal, so what. It's a good problem to have. I barely use judgements now anyway. But I do know I'm not slotting Ionic judgements anymore because the activation times are too slow. Pyronic is faster, but does have lower accuracy for some reason. So funny to use that on even con mobs and miss. Still, I've been picking it over Ion lately because of the faster animation.