[Is it worth it to blow a ton of converters on a big sell?]

On 6/28/2020 at 11:23 PM, Neogumbercules said:

Also who's buying up Lethargic Repose recipes for 60 million influence? I see you out there! 

 

Occasionally, I will bid/pay an outrageous sum just to help some random stranger out. In this case, though, the 60 million pay wasn't mine. 

[Is it worth it to blow a ton of converters on a big sell?]

On 6/27/2020 at 3:52 PM, Neogumbercules said:

 

 

I know I shouldn't be using level 50 recipes for this because of the 490k crafting cost but I'm really just screwing around at the moment.

 

 

Actually - if the level 50 recipes you're getting are from drops, or random rolls - you're fine using them. 

Here's why: 

If I want a level 20 Preventative Medicine Absorb Proc - you can list your level 50 absorb proc, and when I buy it, the AH puts all the level 20 through level 50 absorb procs in the same bucket, and I can actually get yours. The level 50 Absorb Proc you put in AH automatically changes to the level 20 absorb proc.  The only advantage in using the level 20 recipe is the cheaper crafting cost. 

This is why I buy level 10 pvp IO recipes - they are cheaper to craft than level 50 recipes. (like 5k compared to 500k) 

So don't sweat that. 

If the potential customer wants attuned, those are also coming out of the same bucket. So, if I'm level 24, want the Heal IO to go with the absorb proc, I can get it attuned, but it's in the same "bucket" as the level 50 crafted IO you put for sale. 

[I don't get why this is so much better than CO]

4 hours ago, ForeverLaxx said:

The vast majority of my PC gaming before MMOs were isometric RTS games and FPS games, which meant a lot of mouse work. WASD is just the "classic" setting for right-handed people that played FPSs and it carried over to just about every other game that allowed for direct character movement, first person or otherwise. WASD to move, Space to jump, Shift to run, Ctrl to crouch. It actually bugs me when people make changes to that system (like C to crouch or Shift to crouch) and don't offer a way to fix them with keymapping though I'll usually adjust if I like the game otherwise.

 

With MMOs, I do (or did) so much PvP that you could never get me to be a "keyboard turner" like how you seem to prefer. It's much less important in CoH due to how the game doesn't check facing, but in WoW or other MMOs, you often never took any damage from players that relied on the keyboard to turn their character and never touched the mouse. You'd run circles around them all day.

This is probably why I settled in with arrow keys for movement - because I never played any other MMOs besides CoH, except to try them out after CoH shut down. It was always Leisure Suit Larry, Centurion: Defenders of Rome, Sims 4 or Madden NFL, and occasionally a game called Billionaire II. 

 

When I got CoH, I thought I would be playing some pre-fabricated hero character against NPCs. Had no idea there would be other folks playing characters in the same game. I didn't even realize internet service would be required, nor did I realize I'd have to pay $15 a month to play it! Good thing the first month was included in the price, lol. 

 

When the game shut down, I did think CO was the closest to CoH. Didn't really dawn on me that Cryptic had made both games, so it makes sense they were similar, to a degree. I think if I'd figured out what the equivalent to slotting was in CO, I might have kept playing. 

[I don't get why this is so much better than CO]

5 hours ago, Charistoph said:

 

As to why I use WASD to move my character?  Because I am right-handed and use my mouse with my right hand.  This let's my left hand be in a good typing position as well as use basic keybinds for abilities using Shift, Alt, and Ctrl.  Part of it also is training from FPS like Half-Life and Quake (which uses mouse view), which I had to learn completely different from using the arrow keys in Wolfenstein and Doom (which didn't really need any mouse view).  If I was left-handed, the situation may be quite different.

Because I'm right handed, my right hand is on the arrow keys to move my character, with my left on the number row atop the keyboard for attacks. I only use the mouse to click open a door or a glowie. It just seemed intuitive to me - and when those other games didn't have that option, I just uninstalled them. 

[Phobophobia: A contest!]

Love the costume, Yomo!  And that's probably the first time I've ever said/written that. I hate the tailor!

 

 

What's really amusing to me is Yomo probably has more inf. than ALL of us put together, lol. Pay it forward, even though you earned it! 

[Talks with NCSoft take over a year?]

11 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

It isn't.  As part of the contingent that was attempting to purchase it before closure, I don't think we can expect to see it EVER sold.
Their asking price was outrageous, and even when attempts were made to get into that ballpark, they clammed up and stopped negotiating.

I don't recall ever hearing that NCSoft stopped negotiating. I did hear they were asking a fortune. 

And, given that the code is in the wind, the code is now worthless, because whomever would buy it would have to play legal whack-a-mole to protect the IP, which would be more trouble than the game is worth, as is. 

The game *could* increase in value, if a dev team were hired and developed new content - and a lot of it. As it stands, the volunteer HC team, and teams on other private servers may make small contributions, but even still, the game has no value without a skilled full-time development team to make the game worth playing for a lot more people. 

But, even if someone were crazy enough to buy it, and developed more iTrials, added on to the incarnate power system, added a few new co-op and red-side and blue zones, with another half dozen or so task forces and another 40 story arcs distributed through all levels, only a small percentage would be willing to pay to play it with these other private servers not charging anything. 

That's all just my opinion, though. I don't know anything. 

[Rewards Beyond Vet 99+ (Relates to Inf Nerf - but not)]

Seems to me that given there's no incentive to turn xp off at vet level 99, you're arguing there should be? As in, you don't see a reason to earn xp and tout high vet levels that give no badges, or emps or threads? 

I get it, see your perspective, but what did you have in mind? You already have your character t-4'd, I'm sure. You probably even  have multiple Lores & Destinies t-4'd. 

So...you don't need inf because you already have your character slotted...

You don't need IO recipes because you already have your character slotted. 
You don't need reward merits. 
You no longer need emps or astrals. 
Then again, you don't need XP either. 
The way I see it - there's no need for any rewards because they'd just take up space. Your character is 50+; it'd be useless. Play it for fun, or make a new character. 

 

 

[Dark Astoria Story Arc Repeatable]

There is a contact - Ephram Sha - where you can do repeatable content. No arcs, just single missions. 

For the rest, there's Ouroboros.  

It really is annoying that we can't redo them though, outside of ouro. I really don't like being halfway through an arc, and then I see someone needs a hand with something, but my character is mid-arc, and I can't invite or be invited. Or, an MSR starts, but I'm in the middle of an arc. 

It kind of makes sense for content that was out-leveled, but at level 50, how have I outleveled level 50 stuff? Seems like I ought to be able to redo it, without it being through ouro. 

[Remove/recreate purple caves]

Well...I understand the frustration, sure. 

But, every now and then, I'm actually in the mood for such maps. In many ways, my experience playing this game takes out some of the fun, because I already have an understanding of where I can expect mobs to be "hiding". 

If I let myself actually pretend that I'm my own avatar in the game - I'm in this oddly colored cavern, and I certainly wouldn't have any clue where the mobs are, and I'd have to be very careful to watch my step, lest I fall below and possibly be noticed without being ready to be noticed. 

So, I get it, but I think there are far many other things to work on before this should be given a moments thought. 

[I don't get why this is so much better than CO]

For me, I always felt like you couldn't serve "two masters". Every minute you spent playing one game was opportunity to play another game that you missed. 

I could never understand why anyone would play Star Wars or WoW,  and then come back to CoH and say they "took a break" and came back right before the game shut down. I always blamed those people for the closure. If they'd remained subscribers, just maybe, the game would have stayed open. 

So, when the game finally shut down, I looked for a substitute. I tried Perfect World, WoW, Ryft, and CO. CO was close, but I simply couldn't fathom how to boost my character's abilities - as in, I was trying to figure out how to "slot" a given attack to make it more accurate, dish out more damage, etc. I couldn't figure out where to find out how to do this. There certainly wasn't a tutorial in game that explained it - or if there was, my character never came across it. So, for me, it was a dud. I think I stopped at level 12 or so, because I couldn't figure out how to improve my character. 

That's probably more telling about me than about CO, though. But, that's my reason for thinking CoH was better. Things were more clearly explained. There's a help channel for things that you're not clear about. I certainly never noticed anything like that in CO. It may have been there, but I didn't notice it. CoH makes the help channel very noticeable, in my opinion. 

As for the other games, I can't fathom why anyone would use WASD or a mouse to move their character. The arrow keys are far more intuitive, and easier for me to use. CoH has the ability to rig up different keys to do just about anything - macros, binds, - whatever you like. I really wanted to play Marvel, but with click to move or whatever it was, I couldn't get into it. 

 

 

[Sometimes the Game is Just Really Generous]

I once got four very rare recipes in less than 11 minutes. I thought I found an exploit by accident. Just the rng showing me some love, which it routinely does. 

[2 Auto powers]

I'll say this - HC's "flavor" of CoH may not technically allow "botting", but I will openly admit that my spines/fire brutes can simply Auto-fire Burn, without me doing a thing, and clear the silly Comic-Con AE map. 

If I were so inclined, I could take the same brute and clear the Dreck map of Freaks as well, I'd just have to tab back in and move the character to the next mob. It would take a while, of course, but other than moving the character, I wouldn't have to do a thing. 

 

Is this any different than "botting"? I would say no. 

I am fairly certain that the original devs, if they'd implemented the spines/fire combination, they'd have nerfed something to make this improbable, if not impossible. Granted, it wouldn't be popular to introduce figurative candy and then take it away, which is why we have beta testing. The problem is beta testing takes time, and sometimes, while no glitches may be found, impact on the game economy wouldn't likely make itself present on beta. 

All that said, I see absolutely no reason why we couldn't allow for Auto-firing of Domination & Hasten, or Hasten and Rune of Protection or any other power that would be useful. 

Obviously, a full attack chain would just remove the need to pay attention to the game at all - and while that wouldn't make sense to most of us - some folks really want to kit out their alts and see these types of farming as a legitimate way to do so. My only beef would be that HC has already made it pathetically easy to kit out a character! How hard is it to explore for badges, get about 20 merits at level 4 with a travel power  (or a jet pack from p2w for 5k) sell the converters from exchanging those merits, and then proceding to use AH to increase funds even more? It's not unheard of to make a billion day! Rare, but not unheard of. 

 

But two auto powers would be less "game-breaking" than the notion of trading merits for converters at a vendor, which is currently being done routinely. 

[Difficulty Settings]

Bonkleberry - you'll drive yourself crazy trying to saddle other people with your logic. It makes sense to them - even if it doesn't to you (or me). 

There are some that play at -1/1 to zip through content ASAP for the rewards at the end, all the way to those who play at +4/8 and clear every map. 

I'm just glad we have the option! 

[Homecoming Server Update (June 13th): Dev Choice, Hardware, and a Stress Test!]

57 minutes ago, HyperAi said:

When I first bought this game I didn't know what a MMO was.

I can say the same thing. The only reason I played after I found out was the box included a code for the first month's fee. After that, it was easy to justify. So many learning lessons about slotting, powersets & tactics. I kind of wish I could go back in time and see it brand new (to me) again. Joined a couple weeks before issue 4 hit. 

What kills me is a girlfriend of mine had told me about the beta when it came out - and I passed at the opportunity because of grad school. I kind of regret that. 

[Best toon to pair with an ice/ice blaster?]

9 hours ago, Haijinx said:

Double down...

 

Make an Ice/Ice Blaster to team with the Ice/Ice Blaster 

Genius!

[Best toon to pair with an ice/ice blaster?]

5 hours ago, Six Six said:

She might get frustrated with a blaster faceplanting most of the time. But if that's what she wants then you do might want an AT that can take aggro off of her, or something that heals or a controller/dom that ends the fight before it starts 😃

Ice blast and Ice manipulation focuses on slowing things down, but not locking them in place most of the time. You can play supplementary (another Ice, Grav, Time) or opposite/complementary like Fire, Rad, or Dark -- which lessens they're chance to hit. Storm might be a nice pair thematically, but not sure how it will perform in tandem with Ice.

😃 I hope you two enjoy... in case she does get frustrated with a blaster, she can go Ice Sentinel which is more survivable, but less punch.

I seriously disagree with your statements about "faceplanting most of the time" and "focuses on slowing things down". 

I have played my ice/ice blaster for thousands of hours -during live, and on HC and other private servers. The "slowing things down" is not a focus for the player. It's just something ice does. The player need not slot any Slow IOs - primarily because the bonuses aren't very good and the dps is so good, it's unnecessary. Once Frigid Protection  is six-slotted, along with Bitter Ice blast and Freeze Ray - there's really no looking back. And when you get Blizzard...well, that's just more gravy. 

Ice Sentinel is a BIG mistake, because the freeze ray isn't a hold. It's low damage and needs work, in my opinion. With Rune of Protection on perma, the ice blaster will have all the status protection a Sentinel would have and do far more damage. 

Blasters really don't faceplant. Players do. 
It reminds me of a phone call I got recently: 

Me: Hello
Caller: Hi, may I speak with Miss Gradenko? (name changed)
Me: Nobody here by that name. 

Caller: Oh, I'm sorry, this must be a wrong number. 
Me: There's nothing wrong with my number. You are the one who is wrong. 


Snarky - but the point is - there's almost nothing finer than an ice/ice blaster. DPS, Damage mitigation, why it's just about the most perfect combination you can ask for. 

[Pirate Badge issue (ParagonWiki says trap 10/ In game progress says trap 100)]

On 6/5/2019 at 8:55 AM, TameDragon said:

 

Ingame it still states Pirate badge is required so if the requirements have been changed this needs updating ingame as well as wiki

As stated earlier, Paragon Wiki is aiming to preserve content as it was before shut down. Additionally, we have to realize there are other private servers that haven't made nearly as many changes. 

You're more than welcome to adjust THIS wiki: https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Main_Page

 

[I'll still never understand....]

If I'm honest, I've done this to a degree myself...but it's generally because the team lead doesn't give any guidance about strategy. If I'm on a character that can solo just about anything, and we're a large team with some folks slow to arrive...unless I hear instruction or guidance/request to the contrary, I'm going to race for the mission objective. 

It just makes sense to me. XP is prevalent to gain throughout the game, so I never "clear all" or "kill most" unless it's a mission objective, or the team lead (or team) wants to do this and states such ahead of time. My reason behind this is primarily due to having realized the story arc completion bonuses when leveling. 

Way back when, I had a fire tank that I often solo'd with. I'd compete with a friend who was in a different SG. Me, solo, running X8, her running with her SG on a team of 8. By the half hour, she would probably be half a level ahead, but every time I completed a story arc, I'd get 2-5 bars of xp as a bonus and surpass her. So, that tends to be how I still do things. Post 50, the habit just continued. 

Every now and then, on a very fun character to play, I'll kill all. Like my Dual Blades/Invuln scrapper, or my Broadsword/Willpower stalker - I'll kill all, simply for the crunch of the blade going through the npcs. Otherwise, It's all about the mission objective. 

 

When recruiting, to me, the team lead needs to communicate what playstyle is desired, otherwise, most folks will do what's fun for them. 

[Are Player Defenses too high]

Many of you make some fine arguments for different changes on different sides of the issue. 

I'll be very candid. To me, there are several aspects of CoH that are fairly simple to someone who's leveled a character to t-4 incarnate a few times (or more). 

For a newer, less-experienced player, those aspects aren't as simple. A small learning curve for those folks. I envy them, a bit. 

 

It's very easy to say, "If the game is too easy, don't use IOs, or turn off all your inspirations at p2w."  (or other suggestions along those lines.) 

Yet, someone pointed out that there's no true incentive to do this - you still get the same rewards, regardless of how simple/difficult you have things set at. 

Yet, isn't playing it the way you like it reward enough? For some, maybe, but certainly not for everyone, or we wouldn't be having the debate. 


CoH was missing for most of us for ...8 years? I forget. A long time. HC had made a lot of changes that I imagine most of us were unaware of to make things a lot easier, as they were accustomed to a much smaller player base than HC now enjoys.  Because of these changes, it's much easier for folks to establish solid builds, and the "ease" of the game is more noticeable for more people. 

 

 

I would suggest if you find HC's version too easy, head to another private server and try out the different flavors. I'm NOT suggesting you leave HC altogether, but just try them out, and see if you're suffering from palate fatigue. Maybe another flavor would be better? I don't see any sense in suggesting HC devs spend time changing things in game that already work just fine. 

I am afraid that with things the way they are now - if HC were to try to put things back in "pandora's box", most of the players would rebel and rage quit. I could certainly be wrong, though. Still, nothing wrong with a discussion about how things could be, I suppose. 

[I love this game but nobody teams anymore..]

It's an interesting question. There's a lot of teaming that goes on - but there is also a lot of soloing. 

And the OP - is absolutely correct - this game was designed from the start to be team-focused content. 


Fortunately, the HC team of Devs realized that it wasn't everyone's cup of tea, and it's now City of Options. 

I think how you're looking for team may be the issue. 

Simply find the mission you want to do, broadcast in LFG, something like , "Level XX Hollows Mission team forming, PST for invite. Level 5 minimum to get in the hollows." 
Wait one minute, and re-state the same thing, but add "Last call for" to the beginning. 

If you get no requests, simply proceed solo, and invite if the tells come later. No sense wasting time. 


I suggest you recruit using Excelsior first, then Excelsior Badges, then the LFG, in that order. 


It's just my own curmudgeon perspective - but if you're no good solo, you're no good on a team. So, play solo while you're looking for a team. But, you do you. I'm kind of fussy that way. 

 

[Weekly Discussion 55: Power Pools!]

From a thematic perspective...power pools never made much sense to me. 

I never understood why, in the old days, we would have to pick one power before we got to choose the power we actually wanted. 

I always thought it would have been better to have chosen your method of travel during character creation, with the complementary powers being chosen as you level like normal. HC has fixed that in part, as we can now go right to the travel power if we choose. 

There are some passionate perspectives about Hasten and the glowing hands, the Super Speed and Combat Jumping combo, perhaps to a lesser degree the limit of only 4 pools. 


So...the Experimentation Pool...seriously? It is appropriately named, for sure. I haven't compared the speed from Speed of Sound with Super Speed, but I suspect they are identical. 

The rest of the set:
Experimental Injection -- a buff for an ally. 
Toxic Dart - minor damage, followed by High Toxic DoT. 
Corrosive Vial - High Toxic DoT AoE, defense debuff

Adrenal Booster - +ToHit, Damage, Recharge & "Special"  

I'm never quite clear what they mean by "special". Doesn't matter, it's a 5 minute base recharge, with a 1 minute duration for Adrenal Booster, yet you have to choose two other powers prior to getting it. 

So much is interesting about the set, but it just seems that if a little more time was invested, they could have made an entire power set with these choices. 



The Leaping pool has one power that needs some adjustment, in my mind. Acrobatics. The idea of Hold "resistance" as opposed to protection just rubs me the wrong way. 
I realize that there is a term "magnitude" which dictates how strong a hold or hold resistance is. What's not overly clear without some diligence is how much resistance is needed per different ATs. Further, with certain unique IOs, the power isn't really a great choice for most ATs. If it had hold protection, similar to Unyielding or Plasma Shield, then it would certainly be worth the choice for most ATs that don't get status protection. 


There are probably more I could discuss, but I've already written more than most folks want to read. 

[Praetorian SG]

Yeah, I get that we can just use the SG TP Macro to use the base, along with /altinvite as you suggest. 

Given the upcoming change where we'll get access to SOs by level 5, it just seemed to me more folks might be willing to do gold content; and possibly form a group to do said content together. But, it was curious to me that there are currently no SG portals, nor registrars in Praetoria - at least, not that I know of. 


It makes me wonder why the original devs didn't allow for that, and thought perhaps the HC devs might make the change. 

[Praetorian SG]

Given the lack of population of players in Praetoria, this certainly isn't something that needs attention now - but there really should be a way to form an SG in Praetoria. 

[Your start up working capital needs]

Mine get 100M to start - covers the workbench, the teleports, a summon pet, jet pack, and other miscellaneous temps. 

They all have to earn 1.1 Billion by 50. 1 Billion to hold, and 100 million for the next alt. 

[The AT Just Doesn't Have IT]

15 hours ago, Hexquisite said:

So, anyone else? Is there an AT that simply doesn't do it for you? And if so, have you figured out why? 

 

And most importantly, have any amusing anecdotes of your efforts?

For me - the AT I just don't "get" is the dominator. 

I think, the primary reason is because supposedly, Dominators, like Khelds, are designed to perform better on teams. I recall reading something about them reaching Domination faster when teaming. I solo far more often than I team up, so that may be part of it, but even when I team up:

Damage output is minimal. Candidly, this notion that an AT is "support" is pure rubbish in my mind. I want to be the boxer in the ring, not the guy in the corner helping the champ by holding a bucket for him to spit and rinse in. 

If you can't kill a minion in 3 attacks, you delete it, and maybe try a different powerset or slotting combo. If that doesn't work, you simply never play it again. 


That said, I've found controllers to be more enjoyable, if slightly more difficult to play well. You have aggro/alpha management, with a secondary to help out your pets or a team, depending on powers/ powersets chosen. They are painfully slow to level up to high 20's, particularly when solo. Obviously, if you team up regularly, with the 2xp buff, leveling is ridiculously easy and fast. Solo - not so much. But, once you get pets, it's a smoother ride. 

And, honestly, although I've taken the time on some of my preferred characters to write "an origin", my "concepts" are more about self-induced challenges, not thematic power selections. Never cared a bit about that.