Ukase

Oh my. Here's something I've been known to do. I will log in with 2 of my accounts and essentially converse with myself about the efficacy of a specific IO set on the help channel, and why it's a no-brainer. My alt will chime in with "Brilliant!" or some such. It is quite amazing how well it works. But, as you know, only for a short time. But then, I don't market it more than once, because I'm not in the habit of ever selling more than a few of any one item.

A lot of folks dislike Croatoa for the reasons you cite - but I actually like those arcs, particularly with Red Caps. Their dialogue is a hoot. Sure, I can do without the long intervals of waiting with some characters, but on other characters, I need all the time I can get. And, of course, there's always "auto-complete" if I'm in a yank.

A little update - and probably my last. I've seen enough to determine that there seems to be no real rhyme or reason to these XP bonus amounts. Contact Start level Finish Level 2XP? Ouro? XP Gained XP needed Merits Wincott 6 8 Yes No 1440 Level 8 to 9 2680 7 5.3 Bars Flux 8 11 Yes No 800 9 to 10 3125 18 11 to 12 4995 1.6 Bars Julius 11 13 Yes No 800 12 to 13 6405 10 1.25 Bars 13 to 14 7400 Talshek 13 15 Yes No 1000 14 to 15 9093 30 .89 Bars 15 to 16 11184 Shauna Stockwell 15 16 Yes No 1800 16 to 17 13000 6 1.38 Bars Clearly, there's not a correlation between reward merits and XP bonus. The Stockwell arc is quick; if motivated, one could speed this for mission objectives and probably complete it in less than 10 minutes. (assuming not through ouro - if through ouro, even faster). If XP gain through "normal content" is the goal, Wincott's arc, followed by Shauna Stockwell's arc are two great ways to go, comparatively. Of course, if you're after merits..there are 20 merits for grabs if you complete all 4 chapters in the hollows. (same for Croatoa, Striga, Faultline and RWZ, and Mercy for Red-siders) I'll be re-visiting these at different levels to see if the percentages (XP bars filled) are greater or less. It'll be interesting to see if the percentages change with level.

For me, it's no question - ice/ice blast. There was a chap named @olepi who wrote a guide to ice blasting back on the old forums, and it sold me. I made one, and played that damn thing until I got all the badges I could possibly get. I'd missed out on some anniversary badges on live because I didn't know about the game until issue 3. Did the same thing here, too. Played it and got all the badges and again, enjoyed playing it. When I would team, I would see my blaster live while other blasters died. Because my skills were better? Certainly not. I'm only a touch better than mediocre. Because my build is better? Who can say? I dunno what they had under the trunk. But because of ice patch and blizzard? And Freeze Ray? You bet! Nothing better in a chaotic mob feeding frenzy than an ice blaster! And with the changes to HP, and Frigid Protection? Yowza! I honestly don't recall Frigid Protection from live. But I'm ancient, maybe I'm senile and forgot about it. But I know it's awesome now!

Whoa, cowboy! Nobody said there were any issues. The OP said he didn't like using discord. I can relate. It isn't always fun. I've heard profanity, perversion, all manner of things on discord that wasn't game related which I didn't want to hear. I've had people complain because I had noise in the background. I've had people complain because they couldn't hear me. I've had people complain because they could hear me breathing. I've had it where 3 people could hear me, but I was "garbled" and the other 4 folks heard me loud and clear. Yet none of these folks had a clue how to address these issues. Or if they did, they kept them to themselves, as if it was my problem. You hear noise in the background, that's a shame. Too damn bad. You deal with it in whatever way suits you. See? Discord is aptly named! It can be a great tool, but it also can cause issues because not everyone understands everything there is to know about microphones, sound drivers, etc. I sure don't. Why? Because it's not important to me. Don't get me wrong - I'll use it because it makes things easier. I have a lot of macros, which I will and do use in addition to discord for those that can't stand discord or can't hear or have other issues. But only if there's something like a master run do I use macros. It's just easier to do the chat than to type. But that doesn't mean I enjoy hearing the comments that one person thinks is funny and I think is just stupid. There's funny, and there's so stupid I can't help but chuckle. I much prefer the former.

That's something I can look into - have one character do all 4 arcs, and have another just do three, having one of those three be the last one. The daunting part, in a fashion, is how much being X level bears on the bonus. For example, if you complete chapter 4 (of 4) story arc in The Hollows at level 16, would you get the same bonus as a level 17 character from a percentage of xp required to reach the next level? Contact Start level Finish Level 2XP? Ouro? XP Gained Merits Wincott 6 8 Yes No 1440 level 8 to 9 ---> 2680 7 5.3 Bars Flux 8 11 Yes No 800 Level 11 to 12 ---> 4995 18 1.6 bars Had to get my row in, so I stopped. I can't see using up a bunch of forum space, but these are the kind of details I'm after. I want to revisit Wincott's arc as a level 5, and as a level 7, and see if there's any difference, all other things the same. 1440 XP is the bonus just for checking in with Wincott after completing the mission. It takes 2680 XP to get to level 9, and I'd reached 8 just before I completed the mission that completed the arc. I leveled up then spoke with Wincott. 53.73% of the entire level, or 1440 XP. Nice! Why not just 50%? Why such a strange value? (well, 25% if no 2xp) I am thinking because I trained to 8, the bonus was slightly more than if I hadn't trained to 8. It's the only rational thing I can think of. As for Flux...only 1.6 bars. What's up with that? Such a disparity. It just doesn't make sense. It could be because I started the mission at level 10 and didn't train to 11 before calling Flux. Maybe? I dunno.

I've made the spreadsheet...I can't say I will endure all the excruciating detail, but for this character I'm on, I intend to go through the hollows, and another character, same level, will go through the Kings Row arcs. My suspicion is that Kings Row arcs, being newer will give more XP. In fact, it's my suspicion that all of the newer arcs reward more than the older arcs - but so far, that's just perception bias.

Another stat I can track along with that, thanks!

This is purely anecdotal, and I'm ashamed of myself for not paying closer attention. So, figured I'd ask here. Is it just my fuzzy perception, or do some story arcs give better XP bonuses than others? Do we know how this is tabulated? I would swear some story arcs give me darn near 5 bars of xp, while others maybe 1/2 a bar or a bar. Some a couple. Unfortunately, I haven't been paying any real close attention. So, figured I'd ask - maybe someone here is more observant.

I should have mentioned this...there's a badge for maintaining each alignment for a week. It may be worth just moving on to another day job, until your week is up.

@MikeSol I could be wrong, but as Glacier Peak alluded to, it's likely you're a vigilante. Go see Null the Gull, turn to a villain and you should get that day job badge.

The benefit of the X/8 updates is often, I'll find myself in a mission when these are announced. It lets me know if I have time to wrap it up, or just forget about it. As an example: not that I often do an ITF, but if I were to do one, I'd only bother replying if they were 1/8 or 2/8. Those fill up quickly. But for something like a Dr. Q, I'm likely not to say a word until they're at 6/8. Who's got time to sit around and wait for these to fill up? Well...I do have the time, but I'm not going to piss it away waiting, sorry. It's why I haven't done an iTrial in maybe 6-7 weeks. I am just over all the waiting to fill a league.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that when someone has an...over-reaction to something in game, it's often more a reflection of the person over-reacting, than what/who they're over-reacting to/about. Our world is in a bit of a mess right now. And it's bound to impact some folks more than others. And some folks have a hard time with mess. No sooner did a lot of folks in the world think the Covid fiasco was behind us, now we have the Delta variant to contend with. To mask or not to mask. To vaccinate or not to vaccinate. To trust this news source or that one. It's going to be harder for some of us than others, but we should all try to consider that we have no idea what's going on with the folks on the other side of the keyboard. I say this more to myself than anyone else. But, some of you also would benefit from considering the other side of the keyboard along with me. Patience is a virtue. Anyone know where I can get some?

Yeah, even the proc rarely sells for more than 3m. It's basically a trash set. Hardly worthy of note.

The way I did it was take them from top to bottom. I just started on the top and worked my way down until I was done. I knew there were a number of defeat badges for various types of mobs, so I figured I might as well clobber them in the missions, rather than hunt for them. There's one faction - the Failed Experiments that you may want to farm/milk, as I did the zone event first - and after the mission, I still needed some more. Depends on your settings, I suppose.

In general, a fire farm brute is the most expensive build due to winter sets that give nice fire defense bonuses. In general, the builds that are the cheapest are the ones that don't use the AH. For example, you can forgo the 2xp buff and slot what drops, and in a pinch, visit the store and buy the enhancements that haven't dropped until level 25 or 30. Then start using the common IO recipes, and craft those as you get the salvage needed. Buy SOs for recipes that didn't drop on you. Keep doing that, you may never need the AH at all - but you won't have any set bonuses. But, you'll have the cheapest build because you will be buying very little and relying on the RNG a lot. Anecdotally, I've made countless characters that started with zero influence, got nothing from my alts or my storage bins, but self-funded every build by using converters wisely. Some folks hate marketing. I don't, so I use the market to fund my characters. In fact, none of my builds have EVER cost me anything. They're all free, made with influence from sales of items I've crafted, or catalyzed. But, if you're looking for a budget AT/Powerset combo, one isn't going to be any cheaper than another. You could make the case for a soldier of arachnos, or maybe a kheldian, simply because their ATOs are generally cheaper than other ATOs. But, if you're using ATOs, you're probably using Purples and perhaps winter-Os when you reach 50 as well, and other IO sets. And since all ATs that use IOs tend to all use a heal set, maybe a defense or resist set (or three), some damage sets, etc...they're all gonna run about the same.

You might try heading to Croatoa at 25, or at 30. No freaks there. And when you hit 35, head to RWZ and then you can get sick of Rikti.

So, does anyone care to hear about my pet peeve for folks who recruit and then you send them a tell - as asked - and they never invite, and then moments later - 2-3 minutes, think they are good with saying in LFG "Sorry all, too many tells to reply - we're full". I mean, they could have simply hit backspace and said "full" or "Full, sorry" or "Hey, I'm gonna keep you on the line for a bit, cuz I'm not sure if this one scrapper is going to make it. So, I'll just keep spamming for more folks, k, thx." If you ask for a tell and get a tell, respond to that tell. Simple. Sheesh. Oh, wait...that's not what this post is about. Darn it.

Well, truth be told, you'd already done me a solid with MoTPN. When I know a player is competent, knows what they're doing, I can develop all kinds of patience. Especially in the context of MoUnderground. Even non-Master runs of this can take a while. Going for bombs...that adds more than a few minutes unless most know what they're doing. Heck, even then, it's the longest iTrial by far.

I can see the utility in a few instances. On a Minds of Mayhem, bringing a Storm Void in to clobber is one of them. On an MSR - if folks are using this (and using an ultimate to do it), I wonder if these means the incorrect myth about stealth impacting taunt can finally be put to rest. When I do zone hunts in Croatoa, and invariably see that the Fir Bolg aren't in the area where I get credit for clobbering them, I can port them into the area and get proper credit. (Zone hunts really should all be removed from every contacts story arcs!) On Lady Gray TF, it can be quite nice to port weakened Hamidon out of the goo. Makes things a lot easier. There are probably other situational uses. But to me - the loss of a power pool like Fighting or Leadership isn't worth it to me. I've gotten this far without it, so why use it? It doesn't make my life any easier. But if teammates want to use it - that's fine, provided they don't take my group that I'm using AoE on. And this happens a lot, to the point where I find it annoying and will tell them to stop using it on the mobs I've already gathered. (to be fair - most mobs don't need to be herded or gathered. They're already in good size groups.) Otherwise, I'll just start using brawl.

If you took more than two years away on live - you would deserve to lose your names. There! I said it - what we were all thinking but too polite to say. If you take a break from the game for two years - I don't care if you were behind enemy lines, fighting for my right to utter things like I often do in this very forum - you should lose your name. You're already putting your real life in the line of fire, losing a character name is a small thing. There's more than one player in my SG that is in the military. They all have found times to log in. Sporadically, but they do check in. Two years? I was in the military. I served. Got 30 days of leave per year. Granted - family gets pissy if you spend too much time gaming, but it only takes a minute to log in. You take that much time away - yes, you lose your name. But that's just my opinion. I don't make the rules, so relax. Pardon my while I shine these boots up.

Yeah, I'm on record as stating that folks who think they're doing the "little guy" a favor by buying up all of a certain IO, then relisting for 1 inf isn't doing anyone any favors except certain marketers. But hey, if that's how they want to spend their time, have at it.

Have you made this suggestion? I get the devs turned it off, based on their perception of a gap growing between the farmers and those who don't, but a temp power that didn't work in AE might be okay with the HC dev team.

Well...unfortunately, you DO need a little bit of luck. Let us, for the sake of argument, assume that you have 24 grizzled veterans who all have done this trial and gotten this badge on numerous alts. You're in command of the league, and you've gotten all three whittled down to 2%. Chimera ports, but your savvy team 3 leader mashes a macro in time sharing this critical info to you in time to prevent you from saying "kill 'em all!" Team 3 (the team on Chimera) gets back in position, teams 1 and 2 are ready. You're ready to give the kill command. One of two things happens - and your anecdote in one of your three runs makes this clear: you can do everything right and properly, and that regen tick can come after you give the kill command, and it's simply too late for your league to stop killing them. Or, there is no tick and you get the job done. It really is a 50/50 proposal, even WITH Discord. So, I would take these attempts with a grain of salt, and still hold your head up. You're doing something most simply won't try to do. This one thought occurs to me, though. Have ONE player (or maybe 2) with incan be far from all three AVs and their job is to monitor the hp of the three AVs once they're at 5%. They are to have incan selected and ready to fire, where all they have to do is click for the incan to pop. (and all players need to have tp prompt disabled) They click ONLY if they see a regen tick after you give the kill command. But they have to be really attentive. It's such a narrow window of time - it may not work, as powers that are activated but not landed, will still land and do damage, even if you've been ported 300 feet away. But it may be worth a try.

This isn't what I generally do. This is what other folks do. I don't like doing it because it makes things more difficult for newer players. And while there's technically nothing wrong with it, it doesn't pass my smell test. But, as long as people are anti-market and in a rush and are willing to take whatever they get by selling for 1 inf, this will continue to happen. I was just giving a vocabulary lesson on the distinction between flipping and value-added converting/marketing.