Ukase

I was working on laying out an efficient path for someone to get all the badges, for the most part, in an organic fashion, without turning xp off, and minimal hunting/farming. My reasoning was to make a long term event for my SG, thinking that, given the large number of badgers we have in our group, it would be a successful event. It suddenly dawned on me that we have a lot of badges that can only be acquired solo. Solo (personal) missions, like the one when you've done Heather Townsend's arc. Certain AE badges Explorations History A number of achievement badges - debt, mez, healing dished out, damage taken/dealt, invention, consignment But there are also very particular badges that many folks have trouble with and need to revisit in ouro - countless times. Like Honorary Bro, and No One Left Behind. I've only ever pursued these badges solo. I've no idea if they can be had with a team leader doing the talking (as in the case with Honorary Bro) to Dean MacArthur at the right time. The Dark Astoria arcs - it makes sense to do these as a team and collaboratively complete, except the final mission. But when you consider the badges, you'd collaborate, for example, only on the first of Heather Townsend's missions. On the second, the mission holder will have to speak with Hopp in order to get Buddy Cop in the future. And then the third, the mission holder will have to "rescue" Madame Bellerose to get Incarnate Rival later on in Dream Doctor's arc. And of course, unless everyone has all the incarnate stuff they can stand, you'd not collaborate on the last one, either. I seem to recall there being a badge for telling Sister Solaris to keep her crew in Cim and go it alone. But I'm unclear if this badge is only for the mission holder, or would the whole team get it. I would ask that if any of you definitively know with 100% certainty what badges are mission holder only to please share those. Additionally, if any of you have already laid out an efficient path to getting all badges - either as a level 1, or starting as a level 50, to please share that path.

No, my version of Vidiot maps is the latest version. But, in the sense that the HC devs moved the map to align with Paragon City/Rogue Isles maps, in that context, I suppose it's the map overlay that's borked, and not the in-game map. For some reason, I thought the devs were going to switch it back so it would make more sense to the large portion of us that use vidiotmaps, and those that don't really wouldn't know the difference anyway. My mistake. I've downloaded a new siren's map overlay and once I filter through the dozen pages in that thread to ensure I've got the best copy of it, I'll make the switch.

Siren's call map is still not properly aligned. I thought the notes said this was fixed. Is this not considered a geometry error?

I prefer currency that folds..more portable. 😛

I have waited a bit before I ranted or raved. My biggest rant is having to redisplay my combat attributes. I get why, that doesn't make it less annoying. I don't necessarily mind the visit to null to lose that speed phase thing. Seems so useless to me. I can think of a couple of occasions where it might be useful - certain sewer maps where you're trying to stealth and an npc blocks the path, those doorways in certain office maps. But the damn torches in CoT maps that stick out at an angle? I can zip through npc "flesh", but I can't zip through an inanimate object? I'm either intangible or I'm not. But...no idea how I'd stop myself from sinking into the map, or floating out of it. So, I have to give a pass on that argument. Can't have everything. I do like the new boosting method. Much faster/easier. Same with catalysts. Slotting 6 slots at ...level 40, I think it was...that was interesting. I was hoping it was 3 EXTRA slots, but no such luck. My biggest beef is the time sink this has created with respecs and/or having to go to test server to see what the fuss is about with double jump. None of my characters have SJ, simply because it wasn't as fast as SS. But if I can skip getting a jet pack...then just maybe. But I need to see how far it will jump first. More time spent trying things or making a respec instead of being productive in game. There are badges to be had. Influence to be gained from the market. Who has time for all these extra chores? And lastly, to make it a true ranting of a mad man, why must our HC devs take a game we all loved and alter it? Surely we can fix the problems before we make people respec yet again because we can't leave well enough alone. And yeah, I'm kidding. But only a little bit. I hate change.

While 15000 converters would be a lot to click and drag into the AH interface, that's a lot different than 30 sets of 10 for one pvp recipe. But, you did help me realize that if someone is inclined to slot one pvp IO, they're quite likely to slot 3 at least, which makes it 90 sets. So, yeah, I get it. The more inf we have, the less likely we're gonna take that time.

I have always used power slide over sprint. The way these characters run is so...well, it looks like they have a full diaper. It's just ridiculous to see. The slide is vastly better for me. I will never use sprint if I can help it. I initially settled out of sprint because of the ridiculous ninja run stance for levels 1-3. Slide/sprint are too slow. Ninja Run is faster, but stacked with slide, it's slightly better. So I stack them for extra speed, and to avoid that stupid look from Ninja run. (before the previous patch that lets you change it) There's not much in the game that looks...well more stupid than ninja run - to me. I get that we're all different and some folks hate on the prestige power slide, Knock yourselves out, I'm still going to use it.

There is a running joke for some prisoners. "I got 10 years!", as if they actually possess 10 years, like they have them in their pocket, or accumulated them.

That would indeed be tedious. Some days, the recipes come in faster than I care to craft and convert. I made the mistake of making an overflow bin, which had 96 IOs in it. Today, I was determined to get through it - which meant loading up the farmer with 70 of them, and I would convert while I burned. It didn't take as long as I expected, but it took longer than I wanted - and that was less than 100. I can't fathom 1k IOs. And that wouldn't even involve buying them - just plucking them from overflow bins...yeesh. It would likely take me 3-4 hours. Time is a precious resource. I can accumulate funds. I cannot accumulate time. (I guess if I were in prison, I might, lol) So, we have to market within our limits.

Okay...I think I get where you're coming from. This is my immediate thought about it: The SG meets up for what I would deem a "stealthable" mission. We enter, and all but one ignore all the mobs in pursuit of the glowie, or the room with the boss. This one sg mate, even though he has a celerity:stealth in sprint, he doesn't have super speed, nor stealth/invis, and didn't think to hit the buff station in the sg base. He simply cannot get through without getting aggro and dying. Here's my point: I'm playing the same AT, same powersets. I have no issues at all doing this. Moreover, I can actually go back (and do, and clear those mobs that killed him solo, with ease.) I always feel badly, in a way, for not just sticking with him in the first place, but I keep on hoping he'll figure out how to get through, but he's just slow to move. So, whenever I read that someone thinks a given powerset or AT needs improvement, this scenario comes into my mind. I'm certainly not going to suggest you're not good at playing the AT/powerset in question. But there are players who are likely better at it than I am, better at it than you are, just as I'm sure there are players that fare worse, with all other factors being the same. If we raise the baseline abilities of an entire group, it may very well be that we remove what challenge there is for those who are playing with greater knowledge, skills and abilities. So, while we may improve the enjoyment for those with lesser KSAs, we remove it for the former. Seems like a zero sum solution. So what is the solution? I can't come up with one, because I don't really understand the problem. Truth be told, even if I did, the solution would likely be beyond my knowledge, skills and abilities.

I think a better question is, why do you think they need help?

So, my character is level 40. At the Smuggler ship in PI, I can go to Monster Island a 45-50 zone...but can't go the Abyss, also a level 45-50 zone. Doesn't make sense to me.

There's one thing that inhibits my encouraging farmer friends from marketing. Competition. And it's not my fear of them competing with me, or vice-versa, but the competition from other players. Consider this scenario. It is by no means ...common knowledge that I buy level 10 pvp IO recipes, craft and convert for sale. Nor have I kept this is a secret. Let us say I share this strategy with my sg. (I have) Now, let us further assume only 3 of the sg members actually try this strategy. Only one of them actually gets the lion's share of the recipes, because they placed higher bids. The other two...logging in to see only a few recipes are bought, and that was only because the first person didn't have enough bids in. The third player may not get any recipes at all and think I'm a jerk for sharing such a horrible strategy. Then...turns out there's another player or five that have noticed that there are a large number of pvp ios that are not procs and will often sell for less than 5M, while the procs in the big three (as of this writing) sell fairly routinely for 8m to even 15M. This player is patient and probably only checks in once a day or three. Then they simply convert, with no crafting...and undercut the other players. They could even go so far as to be prepared to take a loss for a month just to drive others out of the niche! Or maybe only 1M profit is all they seek. Or maybe it's only 1 inf. Or even no inf. They could be planning and wanting to take a loss just for kicks to torture the ebil marketers. This is why I don't encourage in game friends to try marketing until they have the time and inclination to sit through a competitive period with patience - and to never put all the eggs in one basket. And, even worse, we all must realize that at any time, the HC devs could seed the market with pvp IOs because some are complaining that they are too expensive. One could rebut and say, well, anyone can spend 100 merits for one, so they'll never do that. Wrong answer! The merit vendor can issue rare salvage randomly, and it didn't stop the devs from seeding salvage. We never know with certainty what impact upcoming changes will have. Rumors are about changes in how procs work. Will their value tank, or skyrocket? Stay the same? Who knows, until we find out more about the prospective changes. It is for these reasons that I'm not convinced that goosing the farming with some marketing here or there is worthwhile. It certainly CAN be, but there will come times when it's not. And the folks that only dabble in the market won't likely know when to hold, retract and relist or pour it on.

The thing is - what you're asking for defeats the purpose of 1000 slots. You're not supposed to have someone analyze each combo of primary and secondary for each AT to determine what you'll play. You're supposed to pick an AT based off the actual description in the creator - where the sliders show you survivability, support, damage, etc. While it makes no sense to me to have a petless MM, there are some that exist. Having ATs categorized would just reduce the creativity of the player. 1000 slots. Make 'em until you find that one you seek.

Have you ever bothered to look? Have you ever bothered to ask? If not, why not?

Always a fun topic, this "fear of the star" issue. When HC first came up, I led a fair number of iTrials, tfs. Even some tips missions along the way. The more I led...the less I liked it. Here's why: People are different. I say "Forming a Synapse, as speedy as we can get through it". I get a number of "invite" tells, and I invite. Soon, the team fills. I generally will TT to first mission. Most of the Synapse tf is in Steel, and then there's a mission in Boomtown and back to Steel, and then eventually, Skyway for the last three. There's usually one in the crowd that didn't see me chat "TT upon exit" before the mission completed, and they miss it. It's not that big of a deal, but when you couple that with the afk times, and <gasp> a role player, and someone that clearly doesn't know how to play their character or isn't slotted because they die, lay there, they don't hosp it and expect me to give them a wakie. And they don't ask for a wakie - they just lay there, expecting the fairy godmother to rez them. And then there's the guy who sends you a tell that he's going to switch, but he doesn't tell you who he's going to switch to, and when he comes back on, he says something in broadcast, help or lfg "I'm back". Like I know who that is, lol. Sometimes, if the tells aren't coming in fast, I will have time to determine the global name from the first tell, then get the global name from the one who stated they were back. But often, I miss them and they get mad because they switched, but didn't tell me who they were switching to. And of course, there's always one guy who's the wrong alignment, and takes forever to go to pocket D and switch. Unless you just came back last week, I expect most everyone to have lrtp access or at least be able to use the lfg tp shortcut. Drives me crazy having to wait for people! I certainly cut newer players some slack, and I don't exactly like thinking people are lazy. I try to remind myself that a lot of people are busy in real life. They don't want to be busy when they play a game for fun. But, it still bugs me that I have to wait because they haven't bothered to get a mission tp or lrtp, or even a base tp. I'd love it if everyone got team tp, too, but they are kind of pricy for some players who couldn't be bothered to make 100 million on the market in an hour or less like everyone else does who knows the market. Mind you - for every two groups like that I get, I get one group that has their act together, where I'm probably the one they're shaking their head at. Some of these folks are so fast, they are half way through the map before zone into it, and I consider myself pretty fast for zoning/load times and arriving to the mission. It's not like I've opted for ninja run instead of superspeed, either. I find the biggest thing that prevents me from using lfg to form a team is that people are so slow. Why would I want to spend 20 minutes forming an MoUGT when undoubtedly there's one who doesn't understand or didn't notice my clear instructions of "Don't pass me, there's a bomb ahead"? I used to have confidence in the players from lfg. I just don't anymore. Now that I've been an SG member for 8 months, I've seen how much more simple the challenging tasks can be - like Master of Keyes. There are still a few goofs, but they are far fewer with the sg than with the pug. So why play with the pug? The crazy thing is - we will invite anyone who wants an invitation, so there's still an element of pugness to various SG events. But we use discord, which makes explanations a lot easier. I've led hamidon raids before, but after about 4000 merits, it just got old and boring. It's too simple, and pretty dull. I used to like the chatter, but that got old, too. So, now, aside from the sg stuff I lead, I won't lead unless it's something I want to do and can't fit it into the sg schedule.

My farmer. It should be higher, but I take breaks from farming. The afk is easy enough, I just get weary of converting. Takes time away from the badging and playing.

I seriously question the truth of your conclusion here. It is true in some circumstances. But I don't know about all circumstances, or even most circumstances. Maybe half the time. Less dps? Less survivability? The only advantage a scrapper has over a blaster is mez resistance. With the number of tactics to mitigate that, scrappers would be hard pressed to out-dps a finely tuned blaster. But, that brings up a second point...the point of being finely tuned. You may be a genius in slotting your scrappers and playing out optimal attack chains for maximum dps, while the blasters you may have seen or played weren't quite that well played or well made. It's just impossible to compare the two with numbers, because each person is going to play one AT better than the other, simpy due to experience, preference and who knows what other factors.

That may be what it means to you - but that's not what it would mean to me. It means to me, and I imagine most other folks, you're likely to play in melee range. There's no implication that things are going to die any faster - at least, not when I hear blapper. Now...an attitude...I suppose it could mean that, but I'd be hard pressed to differentiate that attitude from my own when I play my blaster. In melee when inferno's up and there are a cluster of mobs, but in range when there's just one or two. Just depends. They die every bit as fast no matter how you play, assuming you're slotted for that style. So, I don't necessarily buy the "make things die stupid fast". I expect that from any blaster, be they ranged, melee or what usually is a mix of both. For a fire/fire blaster, of course: FSC, inferno, burn, hotfeet. You should be in melee more often than not. But you're still a blaster. Other blaster powersets don't lend themselves so much being in melee. Doesn't mean things don't die stupid fast. So, while I kind of see what you're trying to say by saying Blapper, you say the same thing by saying blaster. And, since that is the name of the AT, makes sense to me to use it.

A valid point, given the efficiencies discovered and implemented when doing repetitive things. I'd once thought running a map for tickets, as opposed to drops was better - because the 125 map, without even clearing it, like - maybe 1 minute into it gives enough tickets that the completion bonus of tickets maxes you out. And at 60-70 tickets per recipe in the random roll section...you get a ton of recipes - a lot more than you would organically, but you'd get no very rares or pvps. Nor the salvage to craft them. I thought it might be worth doing one run every so often, but it took me out of the pattern/routine I'd established so I let it go. There is one thing I remember from playing video poker - and that's if you're going to play for the Progressive Royal, you have to let go of winners to keep the edge, as that edge is very, very small, and it requires perfect play. And you have to definitively know it. For if you have to take your time, the phrase "Study long, study wrong" comes to mind. The whole idea in this specific instance is to make a profit doing what you enjoy. But that profit should exceed what you would make in any safer job you could get and keep. But, I digress. Simply put, once you've found a path that makes you the influence you need, you stick to it - until you learn a path that will help you increase that influence with less effort, or less time, or more fun. Or some combo of all three.

A fair question, Andreah. That opportunity cost of TIME has made me question the wisdom of the crafting/converting/selling vs simply vendoring all but the very rare and pvp drops. And that's the rub in my motivation to test it. No idea really what the active non-market farmer is doing with their drops, not a clear idea anyway. When they say they sell it - are they selling them on the AH, only saving crafting time? or are they simply vendoring the red fortune recipes for 5k? instead of crafting and converting and getting at least 5M? Some might be, some might not. It's a difficult thing to measure, because there's probably a lot of variation in this loosely called "strategy". 1. Vendor the salvage when full. Vendor all but purples when full. 2. Vendor some salvage. Vendor some recipes, Sell rare salvage and pvp and very rare recipes on AH. 3. Vendor unneeded common salvage after crafting Red Fortunes, Titanium Coatings and Doctored Wounds (and other specific rare, very rare and pvp recipes that may drop ) The pure farmer who doesn't market may be laughing at all of the marketers all the way to the inf bank. But I doubt it. I think the afk farmers with multiple accounts that craft, convert and sell the drops fare better from an inf perspective. I would even venture the more successful of us have even taken a step back from aggressively afk farming. Maybe one or two accounts run in the background while we actively play on the other one - leading SG hamidon raids and having the sheer stupidity of tanking hamidon but forgetting to take an EoE before entering the goo. Leading various traditional leveling teams, trials, etc. I know one fellow made me jealous for a moment when I heard he had 8 accounts. He doesn't play in an office, it's more like a lair. He's got an array of monitors, and multiple PCs. At this scale, you could make the case that just the passive influence from simply going in, clearing for the most part on #125 (Asteroid), exiting, vendoring when full, resetting would outpace the afk-farmarketer, but then there are afk-farmarketers who may have a similar crazy set up that are must be a bit more of a slave to their farmer, as they must craft, and convert. There was a time - and still is, when I would simply clear, exit, SELL ON AH, then enter, begin to clear, craft, and convert within the mission, and sell upon exit after clearing. When you stash a few of each rare salvage in your /vault, you can pluck the rares needed. Or, just not craft those and wait until the required salvage drops. The problem is - while I'm clearing while I'm crafting and converting, it takes time away from badging and playing, and trying to be at least a semi-good citizen for our community. Helping folks with answers to questions, avoiding heated discussions in help channel over the whole use shards vs. threads debate, helping folks beat up on difficult EBs and AVs, and actually starting and completing story arcs. And the latter is why we all wondering into the area of farming and marketing in the first place, right? I don't think there is an optimal solution that would fit everyone. You just have to find the balance of optimal paths that works best for you, whomever you may be. I know someone who LOVES to farm. They venture out into the rest of the game only rarely. They're in my sg, and they don't want to reveal their lack of experience in the rest of the game. I'm still surprised that some folks have no idea where Firebase Zulu, and The Cascades are, nor how to get there. So much is behind the curtain left to explore for them, I'm a bit envious. But, they do know farming. I saw them with three accounts, two following the first, alternating judgements and destinies and when not recharged, using the one to throw fireballs and such. They like it. To me, it's interesting, but I could never do this for more than 30 minutes or so. Too dull for me. But, I've been there, when the inf gains and the drops would raise my dopamine levels and give me the motivation to continue. We're all going to do things differently for different reasons. If I can be helpful, let me know. I won't give you a large chunk of influence. But, if I'm ever asked how, I will share my methods. If I keep a secret, it's only because it may be something I've learned from someone else who told me not to share that secret, so I respect it.

So...I would encourage anyone reading this part to do some math. Or perhaps my reading comprehension needs work. Most anyone who's ever asked the question, "What do I do with reward merits?" has heard the stock reply. A. "Build a bridge out of them!" B. "Throw them into a pond!" C. "Go to a merit vendor, and type /ah into your chat bar. Look under Salvage, then Special. Within the top 6 choices are Enhancement Booster, Catalyst, Converter and Unslotter. See what they are selling for. Then check the merit vendor again and see what the exchange rate is. Do the math and see which nets you the most money." Short rebuttal is - it would be incredibly foolish to use merits for a pvp recipe. Converters are cheap, if not free! Even if you sold 300 converters (what 100 reward merits would get you from the merit vendor) for 50k each, you'd still have 15M. You can easily buy 4 pvp recipes with that. At 70k, which is pretty much the going rate, you'll get 21M. Anyone that tells you otherwise doesn't like math, or doesn't know math, or perhaps they are just in a hurry and don't care to bid creep and wait a few minutes for a sale to go through. Love people like that, because that's more market for me. Hopefully, I misunderstood, and made some baseless assumption. If not - it's a heinous thing to see such a thing written in the market forum.

You're entitled to your opinion, but I hope most will recognize this as such. You can be a dps beast and not a glass cannon.

As someone who plays blasters more often than not, I cringe whenever I read/hear the term "Blapper". Sure, it just implies the specified blaster plays more in melee, but that's a ridiculous distinction to make. Spines scrappers have Impale and a cone called...throw spines, if I recall correctly. Do they call themselves Scrasters? No. A blaster (any given player that makes one) can play their character any way they choose. Melee, ranged. Makes no difference as long as the opposing foes are defeated. They are still a blaster. If you play at range, you're a blaster. If you play in melee, you're still a blaster. There's no need to make the ludicrous distinction. Why would you? It's like introducing yourself as being left-handed instead of right-handed.

There are a number of missions where we rescue an NPC - Fusionette, the ones in Provost Marchand's arc, etc...and while their survival doesn't seem to impact much (except with the Fortune Teller in Spelunker), I'd do better at keeping them alive if I could tell at a glance how they were faring, without having to stop attacking and click on them to see. Maybe make them a pet? Certainly not controllable, but give some sort of status bar. Maybe like Desdemona in UGT?