Ukase

Have you made this alt yet?

So, I have played here on Homecoming, but I've also got accounts on Rebirth server. The thing about the Rebirth server is that it's just as CoH was at shutdown, for the most part. There are a number of what I would call "stark" differences when it comes to the cost of enhancements. The first is converters. Converters are available on HC here via a random drop (ya might get 20 from leveling 1 to 50), and from the AH, and from the merit vendor at a cost of 3 converters for 1 reward merit. Back on live, this cost was 10 reward merits for 1 converter. They are not tradeable. Not accessible on the AH. But they will drop randomly at about the same rate as on HC. Another big difference is the cost of enhancement on the AH. On Rebirth, the population of their single server is..well, pretty low. Last I looked, the most players on during a weekend evening were about 60-70 players. As such, most folks don't even use the AH for big ticket items. They have a thread on their forums to trade for items in game. Here on HC - all invention salvage is seeded with a max cost for each tier. All rares cap at 1M. Back on live (and on Rebirth) there was no cap. Someone could buy all of a specific rare at whatever the cost, and repost it for 2-5x and if you weren't inclined to earn 540 tickets at AE for that specific salvage, you either had to burn merits at a merit vendor for a random rare, or pay the price, whatever it was. Would you like to pay 10M for a Chronal Skip? Purples/Very Rare recipes on HC - in the AH, I usually see them at 11.5 to 14M. Crafted, they might go for 14 to 20M. On Rebirth, or Live, they'd go for 150M to 275M, depending on your patience level. Just like here on HC, the sleeps, holds, immobs, confuses - they go for less than the melee, ranged & AoE damage ones. Leveling on HC is easier, even without the 2xp buff, because XP is awarded at a higher rate. On Rebirth, as back on live, there was no 2xp buff. Builds - stuff like ATOs, Winter-Os, Overwhelming Force...those also came from merits like here on HC. But on live, it was 400 merits for 1 ATO. Same with Winter-Os. They are not the inexpensive 100 merits like they are on HC. Now, one thing they did have - was they allowed you to get pvp IOs with emp merits and astral merits. Luna and her fabulous inspirations were not available in live. But they did have Astral Christy and Empyrean Mike. And you could get a number of recipes from them for 60 to 75 Emp merits. Even so - HC is far, far cheaper. We don't have Emp Mike, but we do get vet levels for threads and emp merits. That didn't happen on live, nor does it happen on Rebirth. Suffice it to say - things are about 10X cheaper on HC than on live. No exaggeration.

Sorry - I just realized how insane my post was and just hid it. It's not worth the mental energy to bicker back and forth.

Ha! At my age, anyone under 30 is a kid!

So, I wrote about 8 paragraphs explaining that I see your point, but then realized it would come across the wrong way, and wouldn't adequately explain why I don't appreciate another player's "friendly suggestions". It's all about relationship. A very wise man told me, "Rules, without relationship, reap rebellion." It should stand on it's own, but to break it down, it means that the player base has a relationship of sorts with any and all game GMs. Because the game wouldn't be here without the HC devs, and the HC devs have appointed these GMs (or in some cases are the GMs) we respect their authority. If Bionic Flea were to tell me I was off-topic, I might listen to him because I know him from within the game, and he's a good chap. I have a relationship of sort with him. I respect him. Even though all of his characters are super tiny and make my dog itch. But if a player I don't know is trying to suggest I do anything in game - even if they're 100% right, I'm going to be defensive and rebel. Why? (In addition to the odds that I'm immature - I'm playing a game meant for children, after all, just like everyone else.) Because I don't know them. I don't respect them. Why should I heed their suggestion? If I were to drive through your neighborhood and tell you that you brought your trash can to the curb too soon, take it back to your garage and bring it out in the morning - even though you know those are the HOA's rules, my best guess is you're going to look at me like I'm crazy, say, "Sorry, but I ain't waking up at 5am to take the trash out." But, it's a different answer if it's your spouse, or the HOA rep. Gotta have those relationships to make those suggestions. But that's just my opinion and where I'm coming from. I don't expect anyone to change on account of me. Odds are, I'm the one that will have to change. Oh - as for General chat - you don't know, but I hate it. On new characters where I've forgotten to disable it, I always see things that irritate me. Nothing volatile, but the conversations there are just annoying to me. They just put me in a foul mood, so I disable it when I remember. That's why when someone says, "Take it to General", I refuse.

You're not wrong. But sometimes, information transitions into other dialogue. I just don't see why it's so hard to keep track of the other chatter you're interested in. But, there is a policy, and I'll try to follow it. I would just prefer other players not assume they're the chat police and let the folks who've gotten off-topic police themselves.

This generally happens for me in the range of vet level 9 to 12. The best I've done is Vet Level 7. The key for me, I believe, is to pursue badges in incarnate trials. Consider the UGT. It can be darn long, particularly if the league leader wants to snipe the bombs, particularly if there are only a couple of characters with a sufficiently ranged snipe. But, with the zerg method, it really isn't that long. A bit nerve-wracking, but it goes faster, keeping the entire league engaged. So why badges? Usually, only an avid badger will notice, but with each badge in an incarnate trial, you get a free random uncommon drop, in addition to the reward table. That's 60 threads of savings there. Additionally, if you were to get the master of badge, not only do you get the random uncommon for each of the 4 badges, you also get a random rare. And, the reason I bring up the Underground Trial - take a look at this table, particularly the Incarnate Salvage column: As you can see, the Underground is the ONLY trial that guarantees a rare or very rare. MoM, Keyes, TPN, Magi - give an increased chance. Another tactic I have used is with my three accounts using collaborative mission completion until the last mission of the arc - for those Dark Astoria arcs. Completing any of the DA arcs gets you the reward table, plus a random common and an emp merit - most of us know this. But, when you have a team who collaboratively completes all but the last mission - and then the team completes each character's final mission of the arc, you get more reward tables, more emp merits, more random commons. The larger the team, the more fruitful. Another fun fact that not many seem to know is that shards ARE useful. So many folks treat shards with disdain, with the primary reason being - they don't get many. Well, with shards, you don't need that many. A number of the high level tfs give you an option to forgo merits for a shard component. I seldom do this, because in an MSR and a hami raid, shards drop routinely. In fact, on a fire farm, shards drop routinely. And of course, doing the weekly gets you a notice, making the t-3 alpha super simple and fast, if you are letting the game steer you into the right content by chasing the shard carrots. Using shards for Alpha saves you a fair number of threads that can be used for the other 5 incarnate slots. Granted, you can only work with what the rng gives you. But, if you realize that shards don't drop during incarnate content, until you get your t-3 alpha, it can pay to avoid the incarnate stuff - at least until those slots are unlocked. On a team of 8 where you're killing through or killing most, you will get a ton of shards. They don't drop like threads, but you need a lot fewer shards than threads. So, if you get 'em, use 'em. And if you don't get 'em...well, use threads if you must. Can only work with what you get. But you can steer your character to more shard friendly content. Again, MSRs, Hami Raids (the buds always drop a couple) and any mission where you're killing a bunch of stuff that's not in DA.

No idea. I saw it as I was en route to a mission.

I really don't expect or anticipate any changes. I'd be just fine with no changes at all. Ever. There's a line in Guys and Dolls, where ....maybe it was Nathan Detroit or Sky Masterson...I can't recall. He says, "You dames. As soon as you find a guy you like, you try to take him in for alterations." (or something like that). I would much prefer they come up with a new zone, a new faction of npcs, new arcs rather than a new powerset - but that is just me, and I'm sure there are many who'd love a new powerset or ten. But, if we do get one, I hope it is something along the lines of Bio armor - which is fairly unique - unlike something like Katana and Broadsword which are just about identical, but with different dps on differently named attacks.

It's a 3m IO, ya cheapskate! But what the heck do I know. I've never bought one. I just sell 'em.

Is there something wrong with this picture? My character is level 34. Why is a +3 conning purple? (I'm not exemped or on a tf or anything). I can't find anything in the wiki..is there some reason the conscript is conning purple instead of red? I think there is...but I can't recall.

Fair enough. It's always interesting to hear the objective, and to gain different perspectives in various farming methodologies.

I'm sure I'm in the minority. I see folks sometimes let their conversation meander a bit away from LFG, and get closer to a "help" kind of topic from time to time. Sometimes more of a "General" conversation instead of specifically LFG. Usually, left on their own, these conversations fizzle out after a few comments. But, many times, these folks are not left to police themselves. Invariably, someone well-meaning will chime in: "take it to Help" or "Plz take it to General Chat". Sometimes, I'm a bit contrary. And I'll chime in - "But I don't like General Chat! They talk crazy there." Obviously, I'm being silly - but if I were to really say what I want to say, I might get a touch of the ol' ban hammer. I will never understand why some players want to be the chat police. Well, maybe I get it. I like to tell folks there's no such thing as a guild or a quest here. And there are certainly no Luck of the Gambler enchantments as far as I know - but then I'm just poking fun. I usually add a 😛, so that makes it okay, right?! I mean, I can get it if it's something that's been going on for more than 2 minutes. But seriously, folks - what's the real harm? So someone asked a question in the wrong channel. Or said something in the wrong channel. It happens. It makes no sense for the offending party to re-ask their question in help when everyone saw the question in LFG. And if the question gets answered in LFG, I really don't see the harm. But, man, some of you are darn touchy about your chat channels. I wonder if maybe some folks have their channels set up a certain way - where too much chatter makes the recruiting calls scroll up too quickly? Is that it? That's the only thing I can think of. But, as we all know - the way I think and play - and the way others think and play sure isn't going to be the same. Am I missing something? Should I have been toilet trained at gunpoint? I dunno. Chat in whatever channel is open. Let people be. Ya don't like what they say, the /gignore works.

Sorry @Boyce. That question was for @Tellos. I should've been more careful.

If you're afk, why care about dps? I mean, beyond a certain point. Obviously, if it's too low, they kill you before you kill them. If they hit you, that is.

When my grandfather passed away, I was bequeathed a very nice ivory (and I suppose ebony) chess set. Really a beautiful set. The only problem was that the board had become horribly discolored and damaged. So, I bought some Maple and Mahogany and measured out the slats that would make my new chess set. I found the process of making the set quite interesting. A chess set is 8 x 8, and given the size of the chess pieces, I felt 2 inch squares would be the best way to go, and it would make the math easier than 1.75 inches. 4 slats of maple, each 2 inches wide, and 4 slats of Mahogany, also each 2 inches wide. Then, I'd just take slats 2, 4, 6 and 8, flip them over so the colors alternate as they should - then just glue it together. My big mistake was to not account for the width of the damn saw blade. I had this perfect straight line on the 2" mark...but after the blade when through it, it was closer to 1 and 7/8ths. My square board was no longer square! It came out "good enough", but it certainly didn't look right, playing on a board where the "squares" on the board weren't truly square.

Not the first post of it's kind - but we can all see the extra zero on the top. If it was anyone who reads this, reach out via PM... So I know what kind of cheapskate you are and can mock you with derisive laughter! How dare you try to lowball me? I slaved over a rusted out workbench just to get the people of paragon the IOs they need...and you would try to lowball me? Some nerve!

In the interest of providing more information than just what was asked, in my own effort to bring all of you horses to good drinking water, let me elaborate a smidge. Example: You have placed a bid for 10 identical items at the identical bid price, and for the sake of this example, let's say your bids were all 1,111,111. When someone places their item identical to the one you've bid on, the AH is expected to scan all the bids at that time and release that other players identical item to whomever has the highest bid out for that item. Lowest post price goes to the highest bid price. Is it possible that we've misunderstood how the AH rules process? Could it be this lowball price was in place before your bids and was processed at the time you were placing your bid, but the display didn't refresh in order for you to see it? It's a bit of a mystery. I think the easiest conclusion is probably the right one - AH glitch. I don't think there's a way that so many of us marketers have gotten it wrong all this time. Of course....maybe you also placed the lowball bid by accident? maybe you didn't put as many 1's as you thought?

I learned back on live to simply NEVER choose FA as a power simply because of the endurance. It's a great power - except for that end usage.

I'll say this: part of the end problem - at least with my level 50 widow that's weaker than a level 7 hellion - is the numerous toggles that are running to provide the incredible defense. Mask Presence: .14/s Tactical Training: .12/s Tactical Training Assault: .15/s Indomitable Will: .21/s Tactical Training Maneuvers: .14/s Combat Jumping: .06/s Personally, despite running .79/s of end - with my end recovery of 3.05/s, I don't worry about endurance unless I leave Super Speed and Sprint on - which I often do - because I like playing with them on. It's nice to "stick and move" when fighting. But, that's only possible with IO set bonuses. I don't think 2.54/s is quite enough for full attack chain button mashing. Generally, I find I need to have 2.00/s more than what my toggles cost to run. Mind you - this character doesn't have ANY of the accolades, as it leveled up on red side only and all we did was story arcs; not many tfs. Still, my issue with them is they can't punch their way out of a paper bag. They just suck. At least, mine did.

Well...I've had the reverse happen. I had a specific question about a badge and did a search and found I'd asked the same question a year or so earlier. Does that count?

The truth is - opinions can, and do vary. For good reasons. Some folks have preferences, and the difference between my optimal and someone else's optimal could be 5 seconds clear time difference, or it could be 5 hours. (I afk-farm. If my brute finished faster than an active farmer, I think the active farmer is smoking some pretty bad stuff.) Why use dropbox when you can just post the build directly? Anyways - I looked at it. I suppose I need to know one thing. Is this for an afk build? Do you anticipate doing anything else with this character? ApacheFog - Brute (Spines).mxdYour fire defense is high enough for +4/8, (well, it should be higher. I would sooner use the Unrelenting Fury set than mocking beratement, it will give you more recharge than that taunt set.) Your fire resistance is capped. Just park the darn thing with burn on auto and go play the game on another account. Craft/convert/sell/reset/repeat. If you find yourself dying, it may be that you need to get the accolades to boost your hp a bit. Seems to make a difference to me on farm brutes I've got that don't have melee hybrid for the regen boost - but that could just be perception bias. I wouldn't take that feeble thing outside the farm though. I hope you get it power-leveled, because playing that thing up to 50 is gonna be super painful. You'll be sorely reliant on consume and ageless. Below is my all-purpose afk farm build. At +4/8, the only scary groups are Banished Pantheons (Ageless doesn't give enough DDR protection), Arachnos, and Malta (cuz, well, sappers) It can clear the 125 map in 2 minutes or so, using a lot of reds. Less than 4 minutes not using any. I am pretty pleased with it. Is it going to out dps a legit true farm brute? No. Not a good one, anyway. But for afk-farming, it's quite fantastic. And it helps me with the first two missions of Moonfire, it easily unlocked Schweinzer in Port Oakes for invader runs. It can solo all the TFC task forces on blue side. To be fair, any character in game can solo the tfc task forces, tho. But, it makes it sound really good, tho, right?

I use the term "Dumping" to avoid offending folks - but take a look you might see what I mean. My character is Humdinger...and immediately above.. a HUGE DUMP TAKER. Is it a coincidence they joined the SG the exact same day I did? I think not!

The benefit for the alt account for me goes beyond having a farmer to PL my alts if need be. It's the joy of not having to sift through page, after page, after page to find an empty slot to start a new character. I really should just delete the ones I haven't played in 100 days...but when I see the names, and think about what I invested in them to get various badges...just can't do it. There's always a redeeming quality to them. And - for those that lack them, I have already deleted those.

By and large, with common IOs (No set bonuses), badge players will sell these at a very low price simply because the amount of enhancements required to craft exceed the number of AH slots. And, well, frankly, there are a lot of folks who are badge enthusiasts. Some crazy folks have more than one character intended to collect all 1549 badges. 51 of them require crafting, and it's well over 600 common enhancements, not to mention the 2k worth of any enhancement. Add to that, there's a badge for selling 7000 items on the AH. And then there's the lazy crafter and the market manipulator. The lazy crafter just wants to be rid of whatever it was and can't be bothered to determine the going price, despite it being listed in the history for all to see (when it's accurate, lol). These silly people list items and want them gone immediately; however, if they ever try to sell confuse or hold common IOs at even 1 inf - those can take a while to sell! Nobody wants that trash. (well, very, very few people, and they tend to bit like 2 inf or even 1 inf - and they get the IO, too. The poor seller had to pay 5 inf to collect their 1 inf asking price. That's what laziness gets you. Some market manipulators might try to lower the price of certain IOs because they ...well, motivations will vary - but invariably, the smarter, more greedy marketers are wise to this foolishness and have had 100's of low ball bids in place that they check on every few days to re-bid for the same low ball price and relist the ones they got for cheap. Thanks lazy people/market manipulators. I appreciate the help! (Maybe my gloating will get these silly people to actually list items for the going price, but I doubt it)