Ukase

Character? I had about 486 of them, but I've whittled it down to about 435 over the past months... No worries here.

Because I hate to put toggles back on. It seems to take forever. So annoying. Cowardice doesn't enter into it. Laziness does! Damn toggles. If I thought I could get done with objectives without them as fast as I do now, I wouldn't even take those powers, lol. But experience has taught me I need them.

Thanks for the tip.

Comes in handy on the morty kal SF. Might save someone a full 30 seconds, as opposed to clicking the glowies to take down the forcefields. So, it's not totally useless. I just wish SS were faster. Seems like it could be faster. On Brainstorm it IS noticeably faster for whatever reason.

Just conjecture, but it's probably a familiarity thing. I'm closing in on 60 faster than I'd like. Before HC opened the doors, there are two things I'd never heard of before. Reddit and Discord. If they were using Discord before, stands to reason they might just see Discord as a practical tool that solves a couple of problems. Fast notifications (that can be disabled) and who knows what else. I barely can get my mike and headphones to work on it. Not an expert in all the facets of it.

So, I'm not clear at all on how my post could be construed as making any kind of joke about you, or anyone else. I was just trying to suggest you make a suggestion to your friends to visit the forums. There was nothing sinister or mocking about it, at least, that was never my intent. I did stretch an analogy suggesting folks who don't visit the forums are missing out on things - like information. But you shouldn't take that as any kind of disrespect towards you, or anyone else. It's just a fact. They miss out on information. Not just from the HC team, but from players who have been on beta and know things about game mechanics that most of us can't be bothered to learn. I pick up new tips and tricks for slotting various builds that I would NEVER get in game.

That's awful. If I got a debuff like that, I would just stand in my base until it expired. I'm all for some kind of challenging monster, but the mechanics in play need to be where the player has to learn from the mistake made. Not just hide in a base until time elapses. And I don't think brand new characters need a new challenging monster. Let it happen in PI. Or Grandville.

Here's a snippet from Discord: Hope that helps.

So, we all know about the upcoming name release, which impacts characters that are not level 50. I have had a number of characters on the back burner, and frankly, while I'll be kicking myself in the future if some dramatic change occurs with how certain ATs and powersets will play, it seems like it would just be easier to come up with some new name if that should occur. I have no idea if anyone would even want these, but just in case: Comic Ozzy is now available. For those who've not had coffee, it's a bit of a play on the word Kamikaze. The character is was a blaster, of course. Optical Aleutian - hard to let this one go, but I think it would be better served for someone who can make more sense out of it than I can. The back story was an Alaskan Optometrist (ill/ice dominator), but while I never gave the character a real chance (only level 26 at time of deletion), I just don't foresee ever giving it a chance, at least not in the next couple of years. So, maybe someone else might like to use the name. I frankly couldn't believe it was available. Maybe I spelled Aleutian wrong, but pretty sure I got it right (google agrees). I will try to update this list as more names that aren't part of my naming conventions become available. (who's gonna want Ukase Burns anyway?) Grin and Beer it - a very ironic name for a character that often led me more into a pit of despair than a grin. I just do not play scrappers well. No matter where I place those ATOs, the crits don't occur as often as I think they should. Not a fan of gimmicks, and the critical hit is too unreliable for me. If you like 'em, great! Here's a silly name for you to use.

I did not know this, so thanks for the heads up!

This has got to be one of the most helpful posts I've ever read. Since I first heard of Netgraph, I have never understood what any of it specifically meant, other than green was probably good.

When did we vote? I was never told about this vote.

Look, I kind of get it. Folks are busy, and when they're not, they'd rather play than read about playing. But candidly, the information in the forums can certainly help make the best use of limited time. I suggest you encourage your friends to visit the forums and skim through things like the patch notes, and the various guides on making influence if they're not flush with inf. Playing the game and not reading the forums is kind of like getting in your car and taking a road trip with no destination. You might enjoy yourself, but you might also miss the turn into the forest because you couldn't see it with all the trees in your way. Like now, pending maintenance is a great time to visit the forums and read stuff.

<doh!> This never even occurred to me. Excellent point!

I'm stretching my brain to think of where this could be at. What UGT really needs is a big sign on the ENTRANCE door that we just came through, as newer players are often clicking on it and exiting the trial.

You know, other than on my first character...I don't think I've ever visited costume vendor in Croatoa. but 50 of each Halloween salvage? I don't even want to think how many doors that would take. So glad we can buy that stuff. (and sell it) Appreciate the info. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

See, if this is what happened, this would be for the best, would it not? If the zone is filling sooner and sooner, it would seem the players would like to start earlier than later. No? Or is it just greed and impatience? I dunno. I appreciate the time writing out your answers, though!

I made no secret about milking the ToT event for prismatics. And in another post, someone was lamenting about the lack of folks doing ToT as a league in KW. I mentioned that in order to change behaviors, something must address the motivation for players. I've never been good at costumes. So, going through the labyrinth to get the motes and turn them in for a costume (free!) has been something I've been doing lately. So, I thought, the price for prismatics has dropped. Which means that the motivation for some folks to do advanced mode tfs has somewhat decreased. At least for some of them, I imagine. So, I thought also - why not promote ToT and the hard mode stuff by adding a free costume toggle with the defeat of 50, or 100 EBs of the same type? Couldn't we see Snarky as an Ancient Vampire? Now, with regards to "promoting" ToT...it doesn't really need promoting, but towards the end, it seems to me that there are a lot fewer 50's participating, leaving the lowbies a bit put out because the fun has stopped for them. If there were a free costume toggle for clobbering 50 or 100 of them, I suspect there would be some costume lovers pursuing these and remain doing ToT for longer. Maybe the number is too low? Not sure. I just throw it out there arbitrarily. But so far as I know, those costumes are not available at benovolabs.

I felt I should be transparent. I took a new level 32 ice/MA corruptor to ToT in Croatoa, solo. And the EBs were not a cake walk like they were with my 50s. A lot more difficult. Not impossible, but a challenge. One of them did defeat me - the crone, because I didn't have any yellows and I was debuffed like crazy. But, once I returned to battle, took care of it without too much trouble - which just tells you if you have the proper inspirations, they are not that bad. Yes, it can be a little tougher when you're not 50 and decked out. But shouldn't they pose a challenge? That is why they give prismatics after you beat 10 of them. EBs are a bit streaky for me anecdotally. 10 doors without, than 3 doors in a row with. I wouldn't want to pursue the EB badges without a team/league. It would seem like it was taking too long to suit me.

This is so very true. And, if I'm being honest, I am egocentric enough to dare sometimes think the high salvage prices are my fault. Not because I'm doing anything, but because I'm NOT doing anything. I used to afk farm with two other accounts while playing the third. Now, I just play the one account. I might occasionally PL an alt to get over a level bump, but that's pretty much it. Instead of buying converters, I'm hoarding them. And my farmers are not selling surplus uncommon salvage. As a result of me not doing what I have been doing for 4 years, uncommon salvage is up. Converters are much cheaper. Everything is cheaper. You're welcome. Of course, this may have nothing at all to do with me and everything to do with Yomo telling all our secrets to the world in his insidious guides teaching people how to make their own influence! It's all your fault, Yomo!

I'm not sure how much analysis you want. Players are motivated by different things from ToT. 1. Prismatics 2. Event badges 3. XP 4. Reward Merits 5. The team experience? For folks like me who are primarily after 1,2 and 4, Once I get 1&2, I can get more RMs outside of ToT. Certainly more fun ways to get reward merits than waiting for an incan to a GM and then back to the doors. A lot of lower level players certainly don't mind the 1,2 and 4, but are really after the XP. Because the EBs give extra xp, all those badge and prismatic hounds are really helping the lower level players out! And, as you point out, the lower level players are helping to up the mobs that spawn from the doors. Win/win, sort of. But - when the group that's after the prismatics and the event badges get them, that leaves folks who might have dinged 50 and feel like they need to re-pay, or pay the favors forward with their new 50's to lead teams, or those few players who've been waiting for this lag people reference to die down. And the problem is, there's just not that many 50's willing to be a team lead when the only thing they get are slow vet levels and a few threads and shards. They already have the badges, they already have the prismatics. If they are stuck as an anchor to incan the league back to the doors, they don't even get the reward merits. Kind of thankless, really. I list "the team experience" because as a kid, I always went ToTing with friends. It was always somewhat interesting/fun to compare candy/loot after a house. Pro-tip: if you can make a friend with someone who has peanut allergies, you can trade the lame hard candy for the candy bars which are all made in a manufacturing facility that used peanuts. Sometimes, they just hand over all the candy because peanut allergies are no joke. But I digress. Some players log in and they don't care about loot, they don't care about lore. They just want some company. But, often ToT leaves them alone in a crowd. In short, if you want KW to get more people for ToT, then the rewards have to be increased or varied. Suppose defeating an EB 20 times resulted in an incarnate shard (not a thread). Something like that might change up the whole trite threads vs. shard debate. Or, let's say that debate is too trite, defeat the same Hallowe'en event EB 25 times and earn a costume toggle identical to the EB you just defeated. Or make it 50. That would keep the events a little more popular for the 50s. Until our HC devs tap into what motivates various players, I don't see the behaviors changing.

The question posed by the OP had me reviewing just what were the factions one encountered 1-20. For blue side, there's Clockwork, Council, Hellions, Trolls, Vahzilok, Lost, Skulls, Coralax (though no contact has blue siders interacting with these for street hunts or missions that I'm aware of - yet they are found in The Hollows.) CoT, Arachnos through Aaron Thiery's & Twinshot's arcs, Igneous, Hydra, Family...I think that's it for blue side. Since I can't be sure I can provide an exhaustive list, I can only state the ones I recall. Longbow, Snakes, Legacy Chain, Arachnos, Coralax, Family, Council, Spectral Pirates, and CoT. I'm sure the list isn't exhaustive. The most fun for me: Trolls, simply because of the way they talk, when they talk. The most frustrating: CoT - because of the spectral ghosts always running off when they have a sliver of health. And they don't just run off, they phase and become invisible, so you're left with a choice of sticking around until they return (if it's a defeat all, and it usually is) or trying to find them after you've handled the rest of the map.

Only the first 132 times. After that, I kind of got over it.

That's what I recall, too. Just need to run it to make sure. So, the Troubled Times arc, Stribbling. Roughing up the hacker to get him to talk awards 1 vigilante point. Letting Thystle go earns a heroic point, and arresting her awards a villain point. Doesn't seem to be any middle rogue/vigilante ground with that discussion. Arresting Marcus awards 1 villain point and...5 heroic points? This can't be accurate, because I now only have 4 heroic points. Letting Marcus go awards a heroic point. Returning Marcus awards 1 villain point. Defeating Marcus awards 1 villain point. It's puzzling to me. I've run this 4x, a different decision each time. No vigilante points were awarded in chat or on screen in words, yet, my tips bar, which showed 9 vigilante points after roughing up the hacker, somehow filled up. It wasn't Thystle, and surely it wasn't defeating Marcus. Well, time to do a morality for 40 merits, I guess.

The primary reason Jack Emmert drove people into teaming in this game is because he recognized the power of relationship. If you do not have some kind of positive relationship (or enjoy having negative relationships - some people are like that) anyone is likely to leave the game. After all, while I think there's probably a lot of different ways to do the same things in game, most of us are wired a certain way, and while we could get through it, only parts of it are going to be fun/interesting enough to keep our attention. And even then, without relationships with others who enjoy the same thing, boredom is a certainty. It's just a question of when. Diantane, I have teamed with you before. Your style of play does not align with what I enjoy. Your opinions on the forums rarely align with mine. That doesn't make me right and you wrong, nor vice-versa. It just means we're different. If you find the 40-50 "grinding", you might try a quick transfer to Indom, use the 2xp buff from Start vendor, and I'm sure it will seem less grindy. 2xp from Start vendor stacks with the 2xp for playing on Indom. It's worth a shot.