Ukase
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Posts posted by Ukase
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Someone made a post that confused me. I wasn't going to ask for elaboration, but leave the confused emoji - but the only option was a thumbs up.
People give me pizza, pineapples and thumbs down from time to time, and the confuse emoji too - why can't I do this for certain other posts?-
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I used to be in your camp about pylons, as it really doesn't matter if my blaster can defeat the pylon in 90 seconds, when it wasn't attacked once. The answer to the question of "How much dps does your character do while taking damage" gives more relevant information.
But the more I play and see others play, the more convinced I am that many of us, because of the way we're wired are just over-thinking this stuff. This isn't NASCAR where I need to eke out the very best speed I can and still keep the car on the track and the driver safe. But some players, they really enjoy the nuance of the numbers and winning the qualifying lap time. And I suspect, in part, it's due to the fat loot that awaits them at the conclusion of 4* TFs. If they know they're not being carried on these runs, I'm sure it's a lot more fun for them. But it could just be folks just want to do something the best of their ability, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
The only goal I have is to play my character as best I can, and try to contribute as much as the next player. I'm more than willing to follow a specific build if someone wants me to, for a specific purpose. But I'm not going to not have frigid protection on my ice blaster because I expect to have a couple of Kins on my team to give me endurance. I can't rely on a kin to be on my team, nor can I rely on their skills to give me the endurance when I need it. Anything can happen in those settings. I'd have to really know the team well before I could grow to trust them in that regard. Even then, it would be a special build just for that TF. (as I understand it, that's fairly normal to make a build specifically for 4* TFs. )
But, in order for them to trust that I can carry my weight, I don't think it's unreasonable for them to ask for a pylon time below some threshold. 1 minute or so, seems to be the desired value, but that might be nuts to say out loud.-
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I love the passion all sides have on the issue!
I think what's needed is the tedious, unfun stuff, like numbers.
Take an SS tank, and have rage, show it does in a given mission, and then analyze the results vs no rage, double rage, each of the different primaries.
Then repeat with the other ATs that can get SS.
Then comes the counterpoints: how is rage slotted? How is the rest of the build slotted?
Some of you are so clever with your play, and your builds, you could clear a map 90 seconds faster than I could with my best character. And I also suspect that when one player says "X is fine", that maybe they play a certain way and when a player says "X needs work", they play differently.
Sadly we need to find time to do the missions and get the numbers - which even then will be suspect because some folks have a great attack chain and don't use a t-9 when they only need a t-3 or a t-1. It's really easy to say things are messed up when often it's user operation resulting in less than optimal results.
Lord help us, I suppose a pylon could work too, as we're not testing survivability. But I find when I'm not "recovering" between mobs, my end runs down, which slows the dps. (as it should I guess) It's just that with pylons, there's a tendency to go whole hog, put on your fog effect, and use the START buffs, etc. -
Below is the macro I use to spawn Spirit Tree with my plant/cold controller. And up to now, it's worked perfectly.
/macro TREE "powexecname Spirit Tree$$powexec_location target Spirit Tree"
I'm in the first mission of Maria Jenkin's portal jockey arc, where I'll have to clobber Chimera.
When I'm solo, I typically use the macro to place the spirit tree in the midst of a group. Then I'll use the same formatted macro for Carrion Creepers. Again - no issues with this macro until this mission.
There's a Greater Devoured 39 feet away. And I'm getting an out of range message when I try to use them.
I can click on the power, and place the reticle at the target no problem, so the issue is with the macro, I guess.
It is an older game, and it's bound to have issues. And ultimately, if it's just in this mission, or just in watery environments, not a big deal.
But maybe some of you know macros better and there might be a solution that will always work.
Edited: After placing the reticle on the group, I dispatch those npcs, and the next groups, the macro worked fine and continued to do so.
I can only guess there was something under the water that prevented the placement via macro. Just not sure why the "out of range" error message.
//begin mini-rant
I don't know why the original developers thought placing a reticle in a specific spot when a target could be used was a good thing. They had their reasons, and some of you may appreciate the flexibility. It's all good, but man, I'd really just prefer to mash a button and have the attack fire at the target.//end mini-rant
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On 12/19/2025 at 11:10 AM, Norcane said:
After making 267 alts, training a primary and secondary just like normal, I decided too try a different type of character. He is a corrupter with Fire Blast and Pain Domination, but he's not a healer. He has his self heal (Nullify Pain) just like several other types of characters. And uses Soothing Aura to help maintain his health.
If a DPS character has healing powers, how do they cast blasts and heal others too? You really can't do both well. So I did it this way. He's currently 25 and doing quite well as a DPS character. I will train "World of Pain" because it does increase my defense as well as others on the team. Will also train "Anguishing Cry" as it increases my ability to do more damage (especially with my AoE's). All of the other powers will be skipped.
Have you ever made such a bizarre character?
My second character on retail was very much like this.
My first character was an elec/elec blaster. I was so clueless, I had no idea how clueless I was. Didn't know there were forums. I'd just gotten the game, punched in the 16 digit code, made a couple of characters, and the elec/elec blaster seemed the more fun of the few I'd tried out.
I'd noticed on a hunt into Terra Volta that Tank bosses would stun me, or one of the others would sleep me, and then I'd be defeated in short order. This happened to me ....10? 15 times? All trying to take out the same Freaks in TV. I didn't know what a pull was, let alone how to do it. I didn't know break frees existed, or if I did, I didn't have any. And there was no /AH to get some. And I was probably pretty broke, too. If there had been an AH my guess is they would have cost 1M or something.
So, my inexperienced naive brain said, "I need a blaster with heals". CoV didn't exist, so a corruptor or MM wasn't an option. I made an emp/elec defender.
I didn't take heal other until I'd taken all my attacks from the secondary that I could. I never took absorb pain. I read the description and was like "Why would I want to weaken myself? What idiot would take that power?"
I have a clear memory of seeing Adrenaline Boost and Clear Mind and wondering why I couldn't use these on ME. I needed them more than anyone else!
It was around level 30 or so I discovered the forums and realized how ignorant I was. (still hold on to a part of that ignorance!)
So, yeah, I've done the bizarre. And that was by sheer accident of inexperience.Took me 540, or 570 hours to get to level 50. I can't remember. It was a LONG time. My first 50. I think when the doors shut, I had maybe 8 50s. The others went much, much faster. I think my spines/regen scrapper got there in 39 hours or something.
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Any chance we could get some garlic and/or cross invention salvage? Asking for a friend...
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So, this has happened a couple of times now.
Scenario: Janet Kellum's story arc.
I'll leave my base to go to the next mission and I'll get ambushed. The first time it happened, since it was Malta, and not Crey, I just figured it was someone else's ambush (level 43 malta don't normally hang out in Talos).
This next time, in IP, more Malta.
So, I was expecting the ambush, but I was expecting Crey, not Malta again.
No idea if this is repeatable, as I haven't outleveled the contact to try it again. And it's really not a big deal - just reporting it. -
I love how in the initial post you were monitoring Gravity. I still have some characters that find themselves monitoring this after an update. -
9 hours ago, Forager said:
Wait... you think that your teammates are reading that? And that they appreciate the order in which they read it?
I think the assumption is for the -res to fire before the teammate's attacks register in those circumstances where the teammate fires at such a time where the -resist is registered, then the teammate attack registers.
But, if I'm understanding, when player A uses their proc'd attack, all of those procs and the -res register in one "server tick". So either the teammate's attack hits before any of the Player A procs, or after all of Player A's procs.
Of course, me understanding is a large assumption. -
On 12/20/2025 at 4:50 PM, Zahnee said:
I’ll die on this hill, because no one has proven me otherwise with objective current game data.
So, that emphasis of yours. What current game data would you like to see?
I guess what I'm asking is, do I take my tank and find some mission, clear it with unchained might, and then take that same tank, the only difference being I have rage instead and compare the times?
So, I'm a bit puzzled by this - if that's what you're asking - because it's an apples and oranges comparison.
You seem to be saying that the tank dps with UM is less than it is with Rage. This doesn't surprise me. And I'm okay with it. The reason is - I don't have to watch my endurance bar and ensure I've got at least 50% before it crashes. I don't have to make sure I time my heavier hits until after the crash. To me, the sacrifice is worth it. But that's just me. I don't dare speak for anyone else.
If I only played a character that dealt a minimal threshold of damage, there's a lot of characters I wouldn't play. And no matter what change they did to Super Strength on a tank, I wouldn't play it. Because even if it's good, it's still pretty lame when I compare it to my blasters.
While I don't think damage should be discarded as a factor in the change, I don't think it should get as heavy a weight as you think it should get. Just my opinion. I solo a lot, so sure, I'd love it if it got more. But I think the idea is you have less dps because you don't have the crash. Maybe the number is too low in your mind - that's fair. Maybe I've completely misconstrued what they're after. That's certainly possible. I just know I played it and didn't notice the dps was weaker than it should be. (Bear in mind, I didn't do math, I just played some content and it took about as long as I would have expected it to.)
And if I've misunderstood, or misread your post, I apologize. I'm just looking for clarity and trying to be helpful.-
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For me, it just seems odd the range is short, but I appreciate the info!
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Short version: Fissure range should be 2x to 3x the current 20 foot range.
Longer:
I'm not in the loop enough to know the reasoning for a 20 foot range on Fissure. I'm curious as to what that reason is, though. My feedback is that while I'm grateful my controller will have access to seismic smash, I'm finding that the 20 foot range is insufficient for my needs. I don't think I've encountered a power with such limited range, except maybe on a Sentinel. Even then I recall the ranges being 40 feet, maybe 60 feet. Never 20 feet.
Was this a mistake? By design? Why? Just to have something different? -
24 minutes ago, Ghostcub said:
I would love to see a genuine buff or a new mechanic for Super Strength, but Unleashed Might feels like a step backward into a 'passive stat stick' playstyle.
I appreciate the math you did, and your perspective. But for me - passive stats are what I like! I don't want to manage a rage crash.
I thought my tank on Brainstorm was doing just fine with Unleashed might. And I didn't do any math. I didn't need to. I was having fun with it, and to me that's the only test that I was concerned with. The damage was nice. I didn't try to tackle a pylon or Trapdoor or anything. I just played content the way I normally would. It's fine the way it is. Would I like more? Sure. But I don't have any evidence to suggest it needs more.
Now your math may say something different, which is fine. But I don't see why they can't add it, and change it later. It's not like that hasn't been done before.-
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1 hour ago, Sovera said:
Once in a while I come back
This is you. You can only speak for yourself. I know plenty of folks that play all day, every day. And I don't even get out much.
The game is getting better with age.-
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That's a damn shame. I liked Unchained might, and would take it over rage because of the dps I get from hand clap through unchained might. No unchained might, no handclap.
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4 hours ago, tidge said:
I don't understand this comment, or how it supports favoring a GM marker.
Yeah, I shouldn't have used Adamastor.
My point was that someone who would want to solo a GM (regardless of GM) might have a problem doing so if a map marker pointed out where the GM was to other folks.
Scenario:
I want to solo Kraken. (I don't really want to) I see the message in Hero Event channel and find him before anyone else. I pop an inspiration or two, and I've got him about 1/3 of the way down, and then someone else shows up and "helps" even though I don't want or need their help (at least I don't know that I do, but the point of soloing the GM is to find out if I can, I guess)
With a map marker - that's the only scenario where I see someone might have an issue. The only real foul is the first player didn't find out of they could solo the gm or not. Everyone gets paid, so it's ultimately not a big deal (to me), but might be to the first player.
ME - I'm in favor of it. I'm just trying to look at all sides of the issue. -
18 hours ago, Rudra said:
That player can just turn on the marker and beeline to the GM to take down every time.
Have you ever tried to solo Adamastor? Ya gotta wake up pretty early in the morning to do this, so to speak. It may not be a league of 30, but invariably someone comes by and wants to get at least a hit in for merits.
The lesser rewarding GMs like Babbage or Kraken which can be a little tougher to find might give that player a chance to solo it. But with the marker...odds are some merit hungry person (like me!) is going to come along. Some players will respect a player trying to solo, others won't. Both are fair play, but it would have an impact on the solo hunter in this context. I've been the solo player, and it's not like I was beating the GM like a level 7 Hellion with my level 15 blaster. It was more how you might expect an ill/rad to fare against Adamastor. Slowly. Too slowly.
I do think the pros of having the marker outweigh the cons. But so far, I'd say the last 20-30 characters I've made have gotten all the GMs without this proposed change - but I've been playing a long time and have the maps to see their likely spawn points.-
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20 hours ago, JCServant said:
Ehhhh...I think you're being a bit overly negative. I don't think of those vets as trolls...just a bit stuck in their ways.
Um..actually, I was trolling. A bit. So completely a fair comment.
It's a bit of a peeve of mine to see players give advice to newer players that is clearly missing what I consider required caveats. So, your suggestion would certainly help those new players who fall victim to incomplete advice. -
On 12/12/2025 at 4:47 PM, Rudra said:
Ah, the new player argument. Because the Broadcast, General, Help, and LFG channels are just so difficult to access and use, and experienced players are just so unwilling to answer questions or help newer players learn.
I use these channels, except for General where I disable that just on principal. The same dialogue that goes on there SHOULD be going on in Help and LFG, but people are hypersensitive to off-topic chat. But I digress.
New players often get shut down and simply referred to the forums or discord to learn about the game.
There's no question I use Vidiotmaps, and the badgesetlist pop menu. But in the same way the Fast Travel pop menu is now an inherent part of the game, I'd love it if the badgesetlist were also an established inherent, with a nice macro icon, as well as vidiotmaps. A radio button to show badges or not could be toggled. Off by default.
I dislike the idea of suggesting a new player stop playing and tab out or log out to read about how to download a couple of add-ons just to improve their playing experience. Could they muddle about without these things? Sure. It's debatable if they will enjoy the game more or less ignoring the suggestions or heeding them. People are different. Some folks will have more fun going right to a GM than others, and I'm sure the opposite is also true.
Anytime a player is advised to use Mids, to visit the forums, or leave the game to learn about the game - the game has failed the player. This information should be easily discoverable within the context of the help menu. Now - we know that would be a HUGE undertaking, a likely huge pain in the butt. And I wouldn't ever expect all of that to happen. But this addition is interesting in that the only player that might be negatively impacted would be a player that wants to solo a GM for whatever reason.
You make a little radio button that a player selects - off by default - "Show location of GM". The folks that like the hunt can hunt. The folks that don't can go right there. Now, that adds an element of "will the hunter get there in time" risk, but if it's just a matter of visiting spawn points, they should have plenty of time to get a hit in.
The hard part comes for an NPC like Caleb or Paladin when they are on the move. And Babbage and Kronos when they're spawning in response to ambush. I don't know that Babbage or Kronos should be advertised, as both are in response to a player's specific actions, and that should be left up to the players running that content to decide if they want help or not. But given some of the crazy game mechanics I've seen added, I'm confident they could add this if they wanted to.
And that's the rub.
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I was grabbing the explorations on a level 30 controller in Indy port, and happened to see the Ghost ship about to exit. It left behind, as it is designed to do - ghosts. That are level 25.
This doesn't make much sense to me. It seems like these should be unleveled, the way the snowmen that spawn from Christmas presents are. The badger in me hates the idea, because it means I'd need help, most likely, to get this badge on my controller, if I wanted to get it quickly.
But damn, I was 1 bar from 31. Might have been nice to knock those 50 ghosts out, get the badge, and maybe get the next level.
Is there a reason these are level 25 npcs instead of unleveled? Or have our brilliant devs just not gotten around to it yet?-
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On 12/18/2025 at 8:05 AM, JCServant said:
However, many experienced players advise new players to level through Radio (Hero) or Newspaper (Villain) missions because they are fast, flavorful, and convenient. The issue is that after completing 5 missions and the subsequent Safeguard or Bank Heist, the reward is usually just a temporary power and a pat on the back. (And a nice accolade, eventually, if you're playing Redside 🙂 )
A player who levels primarily through these missions will hit level 50 with almost zero Merits, leaving them unable to afford the basic IO sets needed for endgame content.
This is true. And this is why none of my characters do this content, and I would never, ever advise any player to ever do these unless they just want a specific temp power or badge. Nobody who thinks about merits does these. And most experienced players, unless they have reached a point where they aren't concerned with merits, don't do these, nor do they ever advise anyone to do them. They're a time sink created for badgers, really. And I suppose, the jetpack you could conceivably get at level 5 was a nice carrot for a population that had to wait until level 14 to get their first travel power. And, for some, I guess the idea of actually committing larceny via robbing a bank in a mayhem mission does have an appeal. (and vice-versa for the do-gooders in the safeguards)
I don't mind the idea of reward merits being added to anything. But I've never seen any experienced player ever suggest this. If I had, I would certainly interject that they're a waste of time unless you are looking only for some xp and a badge or a temp.
Please out these players for the clear trolls they are, or alternatively - inexperienced players making less than optimal recommendations.-
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1 hour ago, Rudra said:
Why would a panhandler attack someone giving them money and insult them for it?
Because folks that are homeless are generally unpredictable. Certainly that's a generalization. But it's just (to me) a fun way to interact with the world around my characters. Give them too much, they may very well feel insulted.
And as I said, it'd be random. No amount of inf would be the wrong amount every time. Or maybe there is no wrong amount; kind of have it work the way secondary mutation works. Every so often. And I'm not suggesting they become an NPC to fight; the pan upside the head would be akin to the baseball bat or the snowball.
It could even be as simple as the panhandler swinging his pan and missing, and then saying, "Oh, sorry. Rikti War flashback." -
On 12/7/2025 at 11:15 AM, Mystoc said:
is there any preferred Task Force or badge channel people use to recruit players interested in doing these badge runs, I play on Excelsior thanks!
So, two suggestions.
First, /chanjoin TaskforceJunkies
The channel is fairly large, though not overly active. There was a time when it was super active, and not public. Stitch, Scat, Ripper, Con? and DaCrusha come to mind as some of the players that I'd see doing things routinely. Most of my master runs I got with Stitch, who sadly got divorced, remarried, and from what I hear doesn't game anymore. Good for him, I guess. Bad for me.
Still, the people that are on that channel are mostly very capable and competent players.
The second thing you might try is joining Justice Superteamers on Friday and/or Sunday nights for the theme team they have - and then some of those folks might also need the particular master badges on their characters. Look in the Excelsior section of these forums to get the lowdown on them.
Now, it's not really a suggestion, and something you likely already know, but there are a number of half-decent SGs that have a core of really good players. You don't see them recruiting because it's a members only type deal.
Different SGs do things differently. With Cosmic, back in the day, we did Master runs once a week, and we did them fast. And if you weren't used to going fast, you just sat at the door, or cleared mobs as you were able. To help players feel more confident, there were builds shared and compared, and nitpicked, and in some cases, subsidized. I can't believe Cosmic is the only SG that would do this. I imagine Elysian Guardians and at least one of those Sovereign off-shoots does it.
And, again, not a suggestion, but I guess a common sense tip most might not think about. Talk about how you want this badge. You're certainly not the only one. Even Voltor has alts number 28-50 that he's probably working on, and at least one of them will need those badges. Attend Hamidon raids to not only get the loot, but to network and chat with other players. The folks on team 1 are generally pretty skilled, and if you can get on friendly terms with them, if the timing is convenient, they're likely to join, or even better, toss you an invite if they run a master on their alts.-
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Just a thought.
I see this npc. I click on him to "help out", and there's no dialogue or method to help them out.
My suggestion:
Randomly allow the player to donate some paltry amount of influence. Not for a badge (although I guess it'd be easy enough, but anyone who has multiple badgers might resent the suggestion because who wants to log in 100 characters for a badge?)
But upon donation (or choosing not to donate) would elicit a response from the panhandler that would be completely random.
They may have a traumatic brain injury they haven't recovered from, or have resorted to drugs to deal with their issues of returning from a war.
So, if you had a ton of inf, and chose to just give 100 inf, (a suggested option) the panhandler gets upset and smacks you with his bucket of change, doing untyped damage, stunning you. (mez protection or not).
And maybe he insults you for being cheap.
And of course, it could also be gratitude, a blessing where he drops a random inspiration on you (presumably one of his "pills".)
A total waste of dev time, but it seems like a fun idea.-
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Confused!
in General Discussion
Posted
Something odd...I rechecked - and now I can use all of them. Now I'm really confused!