Ukase

You restate that like it means something. It doesn't. If they want to, they could certainly make a silly video game within this game of CoH inside Giza. Silly anti-gaming rule aside. It makes absolutely no difference to anyone. It's not like it's real money. If it were - then there would be some ground to stand on. How can you call it gambling when there's no actual currency? It would certainly satisfy the criteria of "inf sink". And it would not be illegal at all - because even though our avatars might encounter risk of losing influence - the players in real life are not encountering any risk at all. The same terms of service you mention regarding Terrorism, crimes of violence...what do you think all of our characters are doing when we "Go, hunt, kill skulls"? I take this large broad sword and jump down slamming it into the head of a pixilated gang member. That's not violence? That's not a crime? No, because it's in the construct of a silly game. The same rules apply to risking influence. It's not gambling. It's just a time sink. So please, stop spouting rules we are already familiar with because they do not apply in this instance. That is - unless the HC Devs deem them to apply. It's their house, I'm just a visitor. If they say no, then it's no. But the notion that "it's gambling" being why - no, that won't be the reason, because there is no creation of actual risk for the player.

I think this should be soothing, lol

Gambling is NOT illegal. Take one look at Las Vegas, Biloxi, and a slew of Indian-owned properties.

Modern day casinos won't make it on a 70/30. Currently, casinos are giving back about 93% of all wagers. Almost nobody would gamble a dollar with odds that poor. Video poker is famous for returning 96.1% on the standard Jacks or Better 6/9 payout schedules. (with perfect play)

Um...you are very incorrect. Influence/information/infamy IS the in-game currency. Want an IO? You buy it with inf. Want a p2w summons pet? You buy it with inf. It is in-game currency. And, candidly, it might be an incredibly immersive experience for a rogue or villain to rob a bank and take the proceeds and try to make a good haul even better. Comps for various betting patterns over a certain period of time could result in certain character buffs, or other quality of play improvements, like free mission teleporters, free ally teleports, etc. There's a lot of room for fun with this idea!

If my feeble memory serves, I have a vague recollection of one of the old Paragon Studio devs say that it would break the game to increase the number of trays beyond 7. I would have to see the code - and that's not an option for me because I wouldn't know where to find it. I would suspect it would be an easy fix...but not having seen it, no telling how it was implemented. As for a work around...simply don't use common IOs at level 30. Use attuned set IOs, ATOs, Winter-Os, Overwhelming Force. They're superior when combined with the set bonuses and they level with you. Are they more expensive? yes. But, they are easily affordable if you have one level 50. One ITF will net you at least 15-20M. You can easily parlay that into all the influence you need with clever use of the recipes that drop while you play. I realize my solution is not eloquent and requires time spent figuring out which IO sets to use..but once you dig into it, it's fairly simple, not remotely like rocket science. Remember, influence in this game is ever-increasing. The more folks play, the more influence there is. All you have to do is craft, convert some of those recipes that drop, sell them at the going rate, and you'll be looking at hundreds of millions before you know it. And that's just a few minutes at the beginning or end of a play session, not a full time job. It may not be something you enjoy - but ask yourself what's more fun - a second respec, burning 30 unslotters each level 50, or crafting and converting your recipe drops once a day?

I wonder if I can remember math enough to take into account the 2xp buff that's active in levels 1-50.

Well...have you considered relying solely on the rng to slot your character, avoiding the use of merits and the AH? That will make even the best of AT/powerset combos weep uncontrollably. But, thinking back, my reliance on set bonus IOs has made most characters fairly simple to play. But there was a poison/ice defender that I deleted at level 11; it was horrible. Granted, I only solo'd with it, but it was not enjoyable. The DPS was ...well, instead of DPS, I had to go with DPH, because there wasn't enough damage to make the per second part of the stat count. Surviving for even a minute was difficult at +1. That and dominators. I did manage to enjoy a grav/earth dom, and an earth/earth dom - and am trying to play a plant/earth, but my experience with mind/psi dom was just brutal. I swore off of them, and it took me a year to give myself permission to retry the AT. Could be a playstyle thing, tho. I much prefer ranged characters. A fire scrapper will test your patience, too. Nice dps, but there's no taunt aura; you have to waste a power on provoke, and it's got a stupid animation. So, you spend some time chasing the odd mob down, unless you've worked in the new teleport pool. And even then, the fact that you have to waste a power pool on that is annoying because you can only have 4 power pools.

@Yomo Kimyata In all seriousness - my reason for stopping at 48, for whatever reason - only anecdotally, it takes me longer to get from vet level 48 to vet level 54 (for 20 emp merits) than it does for me to PL from level 1 to 50 vet level 3. (20 emp merits) See, as you're most likely aware, 1-50 in a farm is quick. About 2 hours. Each vet level though, takes the same time. And the vet levels required to get 20 emps at that vet level is 6 vet levels. Levels 1-50 plus 3 vet levels is faster than 6 vet levels. So, that's why. (or 1-50 is faster than 3 vet levels.) How much faster? I dunno. I didn't look at a clock. And candidly, it's mostly afk time. But it's faster. Edit: After a night's sleep, it occurred to me I didn't represent my reasoning clearly. Because if it is faster to go 1-50 plus 3 vet levels to get 20 emps, why proceed past the point where you only get 15 emp merits? As stated, I used no clocks, and it's afk time. The 15 emps from 3 vet levels in the vet level 27 to vet level 48 range is more than 10, obviously. So, if I proceed, I'll have 30 emps in 6 vet levels, a slightly better pay off than just the 20 from vet levels 1-3. It may be all in my head, as perception is often reality for most of us. But because that's my perception, I think I'm saving some time - even if it is afk-time. I should try it with active farming to get an actual guage, but that would be torture, and I'm called away so often during the day, that I couldn't give it the time it deserves. I'm sure someone has already done this, anyway. Apologies for any derailing of the thread.

Meanwhile, the poor farmer, slaving away only got one purple.

Testing it out now, for kicks and grins. And take a look, lol This is the stalker alt - at level 32 after the first 44 minutes (2xp, afk farmer). This is why I never let someone else's alts in my farms! 3 purples in 44 minutes...just sitting at the door looking pretty.

That's fair.

I think 99% of all my builds have these. Or in hover, if not Combat Jumping. The enhancements are: Shield Wall 5% resist (all), Kismet Accuracy (6% toHit buff) and LotG 7.5%/Defense Two of them may be slotted at level 7, the other at level 22. In Health is the Panacea +hitpoints/Endurance, the Miracle +recovery, Numina's +regen/+recovery. Should be all you need for extra endurance. In Stamina, I've got the perf shifter +end, and end mod. In my armor, or a resist buff power, I'll have the Glad Armor 3% def (All) and the Steadfast Protection 3% def(all)/Resistance. Because the Steadfast gives resistance, too, I'll use attuned so my characters can still get the benefit as I level up. I exemp a good bit, so using the actual level is a disadvantage, unless I use two builds. (which I don't like to do) Lastly is the 7.5% HP from Unbreakable Guard. I try to fit these in every build I make. Some builds...it may not fit, but for the most part, I make them work. Recently, I've also been trying to fit a full set of Reactive Defenses as well.

I think you'll encounter some different perspectives. Most players don't "grind" the same thing repeatedly for incarnate salvage. Some do, of course. Of those that do, by and large: Speed Lambdas. The most inept concept in my mind, but while it is crude, it is effective. Just don't look for much incarnate XP. Just an emp merit, maybe a couple astrals and a random reward table. Heather Townsend's arc, out of Dark Astoria, or through Ouro. This arc is 4 missions, and when you speed through them, you can get the rewards fairly quickly. Maybe once every 10 minutes or so. (faster or slower speeds depend on your team, your character's ability) What you get is a random common, an emp merit, and the random reward table for incarnate salvage. Hamidon Raids: Most of the time, at least on Excelsior, these are run three raids, back to back. After each successful raid, you get a reward table that will offer your choice of 3: 80 reward merits for the first run on that specific character 1 random hamidon enhancement 4 empyrean merits. you can only choose one of those three. Once you pick the 4 emps on that character, you can swap characters and choose 4 emps again (and email them to the first alt if you wish) or you can choose 80 merits or a random hamidon enhancement on the first character. Once you pick 80 merits, the next time, the merits reduce to 40. So, one character can get the 4 emp merits, and 120 merits in three runs, or 3 characters could get 240 merits, or 3 characters could get 12 emp merits. Apex/Tin Mage also award an incarnate reward table, and on the right team, these can be run very quickly, maybe 20 minutes for both if your team is very competent and experienced. Fire Farm - PL an unslotted alt to vet level 48. This will get you 280 emp merits. Levels 1-50 take about 2 hours, give or take a bit. The next vet levels though - they can take quite some time. I do mine AFK because I'd just get bored to tears actively doing it. This way - I can have this alt send transcendent merits to the character I'm actually leveling and playing. And I delete the alt with the 48 vet levels, as it was unslotted and just sitting in the farm. It's a nice thing to not have to sweat the same BAF and Lambda ad nauseum. I can just send over the emp merits in form of a transcendant merit and +3 them in short order if I choose. Or I can reload my farmer with converters, Nothing like options.

This is a hold-over from the old devs. For whatever their reasons, there are some contacts - Tina Mac, Maria Jenkins, for example, who give you one mission to do before they'll let you start on the arc. I realize that half our player base PL's beyond all the lower level stuff and can just do the arcs directly through ouro. But I don't always do that. But I am getting really tired of these "busy" work missions that don't give merits. And I can only auto-complete one mission per three days. It would be quite a welcome change to approach a new contact and instead of seeing the "Security Chief" or doing some useless non-story arc mission, or non-badge mission, but get directly to the story arc. I have selected, accepted and abandoned over a dozen times in an attempt to get Jenny Firkens and Jose Escalante, and Allison King to give me their story arc - but none of them will, despite their being in my active contact list and not having any other arcs in progress. (nor any other missions in the queue. ) How hard could it be to have each contact offer the entire list of missions the way the Mayhem/Safeguard contacts do?

I've never bought one. But I have used thousands that I've gotten from Winter packs when they're on sale. I don't even count them as something to negate the cost of packs. One Winter-O plus a catalyst recoups the investment of the pack at full price. And, since I've gotten the packs on sale, for me, the boosters are basically free. That said, I only use them on characters that will get a lot of play time.

I'm still wondering about these npcs that tote lumber from zone to zone...with no rest. Just always carrying around those boards..who pays for that?

As a work-around, I will cut and paste the entire email that has too many characters onto notepad, wordpad or something. Then I'll just cut it in half and send two emails. Yes, it's annoying. Unfortunately, that's my only solution.

Expensive? They're cheap! They're free, really. Just buy the winter packs, you'll have more than you know what to do with. They were burning a hole in my character email until I finally decided to use a fraction of mine on my badge characters. So tedious, so annoying the boosting. And the payoff for them is marginal. But, marginal gains add up.

I can't believe I've never gotten one of these before, but I've never noticed any non-purple requiring three rares to craft. Three rare salvage required? I can still profit off it - but damn, this is insane. The IO isn't even that good. More often than not, a standard Heal IO will give more regen than this proc - though it will depend on what power it's used in.

Ahem. Just my opinion, and opinions will vary. LRSF, Ms Lib (aka the ol' StatesTF) - IF what you are after is the hami, these are really a waste of time. Do the Speed Eden, get the Titan-O. It can be combined with the hami, and/or Titan-O, if they boost the same attributes. And a Speed Eden takes less than 5 minutes, compared to the boring drudgery of LRSF/MsLib. (yeah, I can't stand those two tfs. They are so dull, and the cut scenes are awful unless someone on discord has a helium filled balloon and does a voice-over) There was a time when a hami raid used to be more fun just reading the the silly comments in zone, but for whatever reason, things stopped being amusing for me. I guess 8000 merits worth was enough repetition for me.

Um..let's be careful of what we ask for, okay? I can just imagine having to wait for some arbitrary unit of time to sell something. I think I'd rage quit. I hate to wait, lol.

Oh, I should add...as one of my duties in the SG, I host an event or two each week. Lately, these events have been a more traditional, old-school crawl. I never look forward to these, as I'm often busy doing something else and have to stop what I'm doing to lead these. But - every time I do, I enjoy myself. Part of the reason for that is Snarky is usually there. It's quite delightful to hear Snarky mock my pronunciation of a word, only to consistently mispronounce a word or two himself. And we both grew up speaking English...well, what we consider English. Yes folks - Snarky wants you to think he's a grumpy curmudgeon with the occasional clever use of sarcasm. And he is - but he's also pretty amusing in Discord.

Ahem. It's early, still in the midst of coffee. But, I've reread the replies, and believe some clarification is in order. There is a distinction between Hallowe'en Zombies and the "Zombie Apocalypse/Invasion". https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Zombie_Apocalypse During the Hallowe'en event, there are Zombies that may answer the door if you get "Trick", rather than "treat". Those are a different badge. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Halloween_Event/Trick_or_Treat As to why you didn't see progress...I can't say definitively. The game has SOOOOO many badges. Like, 1549/1550, depending on whether you count Bug Hunter. (which doesn't seem to count in your badge total if you have it) It's difficult to outline a pattern of how each badge progress is displayed. As a rule of thumb, if you have zero progress towards a badge, usually, the game doesn't show any reference to the badge at all. However, in some cases, like certain accolades, the game may show something like this: So, it makes it clear that this character hasn't done any of the Freedom Phalanx task forces. But more often than not, you won't see any reference to most badges. I would guess, in reference to Zombies, the progress would only be displayed in one or two places: Closest to Completion or Events. It's possible that they might show up in Defeats, too, I suppose. I don't know what size team you had when you encountered the zombies. Anecdotally, I've learned to try and get these with multiple teams, all huddled close together so the spawns will drop near the league in sufficient number to get the badges. A small team will often not trigger enough spawns to get the badges. But as to progress...you could be looking in the wrong place, or the game just may not be showing you the progress - but it will award the badge when you satisfy the amount required.

This. When HC first came back on, there was no HC Wiki, but we still have the original Paragon Wiki to reference. Slowly, over time, the HC wiki is editing, adapting and updating. Still, the wiki will answer 80-90% of any question any player would have. I can't endorse it strongly enough. Be empowered. Use the wiki. Bookmark it. Have the tab open while you play. Unless you're just killing time in a fire farm, you'll undoubtedly use it routinely.