Ukase

Allow me to shed a little more light. LotG 7.5% have been selling for 5.7M to 6M for the past couple of months. Very rarely, they will creep to 7m. They have been selling at this price since the noXP/Double inf nerf. So, if you are trying to sell them at 6M, it's not a surprise to me yours aren't selling. Try 5.7M, and you will likely get the 6m you want. If something is selling at 5M, consider listing at 4.6, or 4.7. Most players will bid in even millions. Occasionally, someone will bid creep - which is bidding at some lowball figure like 100k and increasing the bid in increments that are quite small and increase until they get it for as cheap as they can. Some folks are aware of the "undercut" pricing strategy I just recommended and will bid in 200K or 300k increments above a price that's 1 million below the latest 5 sales. For example, if they've sold for 5M, 5M, 5M, 6M and 5.5M, they might start with 4M, increase to 4.2 or 4.3M and increase in a 200 to 300k increase until they get it. People are odd sometimes.

So...something is amiss in the ouro arc/mission list. We all know that when you reach level 20, you leave praetoria through the rift mission. So, why are there praetorian arcs (Neutropolis/Imperial City) that are in the 20-24 section of Ouro? They should be in the range below, 15-19, shouldn't they? That's when a player would run them organically.

It's my understanding that you CAN miss a badge. Pither is unavailable through Ouro to my knowledge. I do apologize if I'm mistaken, but I don't believe I am. Granted, he's available at level 50, but if you don't complete his missions within the allotted time frame, I don't think there's a way to retry those. I suppose it could depend on what's meant by missing a badge.

Longbow used to be the go-to pet for the Tyrant fight in Magisterium, in particular for Really Hard Way badge. But some folks did some testing and made it known that the -res from the BP is a better tool to use against Tyrant than -regen. Apparently Tyrant has massive -regen resistance, so -res is better.

Hey, I like badges too!

lol, now all the scammers will come up with a rip-off sob story!

You are refunded, with a little extra for your frustration. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. We have a lot of filthy rich, nice players. And most of them lurk, but rarely, if ever post. Please keep in mind, again, it wasn't me. I only rarely sell uncommon salvage.

Interesting. For me, it's the complete opposite. I solo for a more laid back time because I can stop, speed, kill through, kill all, stealth - whatever I want to do. On a team, I find myself torn between finding the boss at the end and helping the inf-poor teammate who somehow has never managed to slot a celerity:stealth despite them being quite affordable for a level 50. But not everyone does things the way I would. But, I digress. Solo content is as easy as it can get for me. Teamplay is far more difficult for me, as it requires I pay a lot more attention to teammates, rather than just my avatar. Not only that, because my builds are as good as I know how to get them, and some of my teammates lack the time/resources/inclination/knowledge to make a solid build, I find myself having to do more than I would if I were solo. Should all archetypes be able to solo? All AT's and powerset can and do solo. All of them. Some are more efficient. Some are more survivable. But they all do. Should all archetypes be able to solo at +4/8? They don't? The only folks I know that don't are chasing merits and doing speed runs, so they reduce difficulty for more efficiency. Not saying a level 12 Controller can do this; or any AT at that level. I'm assuming level 50, but at that level each AT/powerset has all the tools they need to do +4/8, if they're inclined to take that amount of trouble. Not saying it's easy. Not saying some aren't defeated more often than other AT/Powersets. But they can all do it. Is there a difference in performance expectations for content below level 50 versus level 50+? Of course there is. Why would anyone expect the same performance expectations with fewer powers and slots? Should players be using Invention Origin enhancements by a specific level or range? While it's optional, I see no reason why anyone would use SOs after level 30. The only reasons would be 1. Challenge concept characters 2. Reluctance(or inability) to take time to earn inf through the market/farming. Yeah, they're expensive for these folks. For the rest of us who market/farm, we can buy anything in game we want, anytime we want. 3. Inability to understand or general apathy towards a somewhat convoluted IO system. I know it now - but when it came out, it was confusing. There's a learning curve. Some folks just don't care that much. They know the SOs, the SOs worked in live, they work now. No sense fussing over the IOs in their minds. Do players who can solo +4/8 at level 50 have an outsized impact on teams or other players? Maybe this is as intended? This varies. When you have a team of folks who can solo +4/8 --- which is pretty much everyone who uses IOs and has incarnates slotted - it's a basic steamroll, with the only real slowing down is for AVs. But when you have someone without IOs, it's certain they're likely to be defeated more often and dish out less damage and rely on team buffs more than those with Set bonuses. As intended? yes and no. I suspect the original devs knew that the community was large enough for folks who didn't want to fuss with IOs to find each other over time, or rely on the community to carry them to an extent. It's really not that big of an issue in my mind. I'd love it if all were IO'd to the gills, but I completely understand why some are not. They may not have the time. They may not care. They may lack the resources or the knowledge. It's a game. What they do doesn't really impact my fun that much at all. Play how you like, slot how you like. Go. Hunt. Kil Skulls.

Interesting. To my knowledge, there is no badge for defeating 200 crey, and, since PP are crey, they just might count. Just kill the PP first and see.

Strife, you'll need to elaborate. This doesn't sound like a matter of an extra trailing zero or two. An uncommon should pretty much be an instant purchase at 2k. If you bought 10 at a time (the max) that's 20k. Let's say you went 4k each, for 40k. That's 4 extra zeros? I'll say this - I look at uncommons as trash, and vendor them if I don't use the ones that drop to craft. So I didn't get your influence. The person that did could be on any server. The AH is linked across all shards. That said, what's your in game global? There's no way to give it back if we don't know who you are. (Forum handles are often different than in game)

I did a test batch of winter-o's, selling 10 of them for pre-sale price. It took 9 days, but they all sold for more than my asking price at 26M (superiors). They all came from the 10M winter packs, so it was a nice, warm & fuzzy feeling. And the display suggested that someone had listed some for far less. I couldn't even see the ones I sold in the history. Also, I didn't make a note today, but for 3 days, I did. Winter pack count 3-Feb-21 3498 Winter pack bids 3-Feb-21 2479 Avg. Price 19.5M Winter pack count 2/4/2021 3269 Winter pack bids 2/4/2021 2480 Avg. Price 19.5M Winter pack count 2/5/2021 3203 Winter pack bids 2/5/2021 2470 Avg. Price 15.3M Thought some of you might find that interesting. The "count" doesn't include the seeded 10M packs the devs seeded. Those are player packs listed for resale.

Interesting. It's like that on the test server, and it remains largely empty. Granted, they may wipe characters from there on a whim, but if you get insta-50 and everything's free...only the badgers would be overly concerned, right? I'd be curious how that would play out, but my suspicions are that 90% of the folks would quit after a week or two because there'd be fewer carrots to chase. But, again, I could certainly be wrong.

I agree, to each their own. But let me share a few anecdotes about giving influence away. Friend: Yeah, would love to find time to do some more hami raids. I need another winter set to finish this build. Me: I can help you with that. What winter set you need? Friend: The Avalanche set..they're so expensive! Me: I got you, check your email. Friend: What?! Thanks! You didn't have to do that! Me: Small thing to a giant, lol. So...a few days go by...he stops logging in. Been over a year now, he comes back in for issue 27. I ask him what happened, he tells me that he didn't have any more reason to play. Once I set him up with the winter set, he lost his motivation to play. He no longer needed merits. He no longer needed influence. He'd "finished" in his mind. Now, sure, people are different. They stop playing for any number of reasons that may or may not have anything to do with getting a pile of inf or some expensive sets. I can count on two hands in game friends who I've given 100M to 1B to that have stopped playing since I gave them influence. Yet, I can only think of two players I've given inf to that have continued to play, and one of them paid me back after 4 months. I've thought about giving away my influence to various SG mates, etc - but I don't want to take away the reason for them to play. Sure, I can hear it now, "I won't quit, give me a billion or two!". But, I don't know that with any certainty, particularly if I don't know you now. The idea of crafting things to sell them at a loss to reduce the cost for newer players, I get it. The SG I belong to has a base FILLED with Purples, ATOs, Winter-Os, and various pricy IOs. A few pick them out, replace them with various goods when they can. Some folks just dump dozens of purples because they have them. But most of the SG never touch them. I ask 'em, they tell me they'd feel funny taking things from the SG bin. I get it. Nobody wants to be seen as a leech. Your way let's them feel like they might have finally caught a break. The thing is - you have no idea who's getting the break. I can almost guarantee you that it's not the newer/poor player that's getting your bargain, but an "ebil marketer". You're subsidizing and enabling the very greed you're against. True - there might be one to two players out of every 50 or so items you put up that go where you'd like them. But if you've read through this section of the forums, there are dozen of players with low-ball bids on the goods you're selling. So, by all means, carry on! Just maybe think about it - I know it would take more time, but maybe if you sold the items for what most people seem to be willing to sell them for - you could help your friends/sg mates, etc even MORE. I also grasp that if players like you don't sell cheap, the prices may creep upward. So - maybe I'm wrong. Certainly possible. Just thought I'd share a different perspective.

Opinions will certainly vary. Some builds lend themselves to aiming for max recharge for a permanent power, like Dull Pain, Hasten, Domination or Overgrowth, etc. But I'm inclined to agree with Yomo's comment above. When you first start your character, clearly you "need" everything - more hitpoints (health), more recovery, more damage, more defense, etc. As I play, with the attacks I have, I notice when I want to start my attack chain if a power isn't recharged. I make a note to get more recharge. I notice if I'm running out of endurance, I make a note to find a way to either reduce the endurance I use (end reduction enhancement in a power that uses the most, or pursue a set bonus that will either increase endurance points or increase recovery, or gives an endurance discount) If I notice I'm dying or taking more damage than I think I should (it is rarely the case early on. Only when you get greedy by setting the difficulty too high, too soon, or are on a team with a team that isn't playing well together should this happen in the early levels) then I think about defense. Or, if not defense, then something that debuffs ToHit on the npcs, so I get hit less, which is the same as defense. Mids is an excellent tool. But often a newer player sees a build and wants to try it - but the build is meant for a level 50, complete with incarnate powers. And it may be an excellent build at level 50 +3, but at level 16, it may truly suck, because the player that made the build had no intention of ever playing it at lower levels. Perhaps they didn't take a travel power until level 49, and it was an afterthought even then. What's worse, is some builds on these forums are for someone's unconventional playstyle and may be great for them, but for most other players, they're not so good. I've a buddy in the sg - he uses recovery serum from p2w during his character's entire career. Even at 50+3, he uses that temp power. He doesn't want to waste a slot in stamina. That's him. But if others were to use his build and not use the temp, they'd be suffering and likely not having much fun. He's not wrong to do this. Nor does my not doing it wrong. It's just different. There's no wrong way, but there are agreed on optimal ways to build a character - but those ways vary greatly. Some make it a rule of thumb to always fit a Glad armor 3% def (all), a steadfast Protection 3% def (all), a shield wall 5% res (all), an unbreakable guard 7.5% max hp, kismet 6% accuracy (really it's a toHit bonus) and a perf shifter +end, Numina +regen/recovery, Miracle + recovery and Panacea +HP/Endurance. Some aim for all of those and at least one winter set. Some aim for all of those and 5 purple sets, and 5 luck of the gambler 7.5% global recharge. There's a zillion ways to make the same character! Make one organically, and adjust your slots as you go. Respecs are fairly easy to get. For free every 10 levels. Can buy them from the AH for 1 million, or possibly less. Experiment. Enjoy the puzzle.

I have never seen a hamidon reward table with 4 shards. I've seen 3 choices - random Hami-O, 4 Emp Merits, 80 reward merits (the first time, 40 each time after) I get why a lot of folks don't "get" shards. For me, the game drops them, I want to use them. Get probably about 4 shards for every 20 threads from the RNG. Seems about the same drop rate for what's needed as the thread stuff - and since I can only use them in Alpha, it makes sense to use them. I can easily t-4 a fresh 50 with influence to unlock all slots and burn through 400 emps to complete a characters incarnate path. But that wouldn't be much fun. I see absolutely no reason to waste a perfectly good collection of Emp Merits on the t-3 and t-4 when I have plenty of shards to use. I rotate my characters a good bit, so it's not a headache for me to wait until the next weekly to get the next notice. So, the shard system for Alpha works for me and is far more efficient and practical than using threads which are best served by being saved for the other incarnate slots. You'll fill those much faster not using parts for the alpha, be assured. Once you get a t-3 in Alpha, it just doesn't make any sense at all to use threads - unless all you do is incarnate content. Not the case with me. Other than a few badge iTrials, I try to avoid it. It's just dull to me. Boring. Done it so many times already, I can't bare to do it that often unless doing a favor for someone. There's a lot more tf variety than iTrial. But thanks for the list. Curious as to where you got it.

There are a number of components that can be crafted from shards. Without getting into the overdone debate on shards vs. threads, I'd like to determine which tfs grant which shard component. For example, I know I can get an Ancient Nictus Fragment from an ITF. Ancient Nictus Fragment - ITF Dimensional Keystone - ? Essence of the Incarnate - ? Gr'ai Matter - Vanguard Merit purchase (once per 18 hours) Hero 1 DNA Sample - ? Penumbra of Rularuu - ? My guess is I can get a Hero 1 from completing the Lady Grey TF..but it's been so long since I've done one of those...and never really paid attention to any other reward besides merits..if there even is a table that pops up like after the ITF. My "Search-fu" has proven inadequate. For all I know, this was just something in live that didn't make it to HC. Anyone with insight?

Well...I'm not sure who thinks it costs anything to stash items in the AH. It doesn't. You aren't charged anything for placing items in the AH. We are charged a token fee for placing an item up for bid. If we priced it to high, we can remove it, place it for a lower price and pay a fee yet again. That's the whole point behind the fee - to encourage the seller to place the item at a price it will sell. (in other words - reasonably priced or cheaper) So..what's to be gained by removing the fee? Struggling players wouldn't have to earn a certain amount before selling a generous gift. So that's useful. Well-off players would become more well-off because they wouldn't pay fees. Eh, for me, 6 in one hand, half dozen in the other. Doesn't matter to me. I would prefer not to pay the fees myself. But I'm sure everyone would prefer to not pay the fees. But, I'd rather pay the fees than find some buyer outside the market, so it's worth it to me.

Soo...how do I put this... Sometimes, I want a story arc from a contact. Sometimes, I don't want the arc. Case in point - Maria Jenkins or Tina MacIntyre. I might want Multi-Dimensional from Tina at level 41, but she is sure gonna have me take on some psychic Clockwork EB - no matter what. Fine. But the next mission - if you wanted multi-dimensional, there's a chance she may offer it. Or, she may offer something else. Or - she offers the arc. I accept, then abandon, ask again, and 20 times, always the arc. So I go and do it. Maria Jenkins is the same. Infernal is first, regardless. That's fine. But when I ask "what else is going on" - why can't she cycle through the missions? She'll do that - but once she offers the arc - there is no choice but to do a patrol, or the arc. I don't want the arc, I want the shrouded mission. I know I can do the arc, and she'll eventually offer it. But what's the point of asking what else is going on, if she never does anything different? Mind you - I'm fully aware I can get these missions through ouro. But on occasion, our SG does Accolade runs, and if they are too low, they can't participate. Also, if you're doing an ouro arc, and something like a Rikti raid happens, you're locked into the team you're on and it's a bit awkward trying to do miscellaneous things like that while in an ouro arc. Would love it if there was a way to get these two contacts to yes, offer the arcs - but also offer the other missions, much the same way the two mayhem and safeguard mission holders offer theirs. Give us a list, please.

I want you to know I do appreciate your perspective. When making decisions in the real world, I try to think of what the best choice is not only for me, but for my family. And not only for today, but next month, next year and so on. As someone who's an officer in an SG, I completely understand that our community has a relatively large number of people who really, really want to team up doing...well, just about anything. They are almost thirsting for it. The pandemic may have some small measure of responsibility for that, but by and large, I think many people enjoy teaming with others more than doing content solo. If you have some amusing teammates, they can certainly make things more amusing than going the solo route. But, I have to ask myself how I would feel if soloing were no longer as viable. But, ultimately, I have to cede the point that it doesn't matter how I would feel. What matters is the health of the game and the community as a whole. I'm afraid I don't have a solution beyond me not really seeing a tremendous need for any changes. I do recognize there's a large spread between our speed runners and our "noob" or "newb" players. Heck, even a casual player is light years away from some of our speed runners who seem to flawlessly navigate through "cake rooms" (those bluish/gray cave maps) without muss or fuss. Some can't be bothered to improve to that level. Some can't approach that level due to just slow eye/hand coordination, and some lack the computer system to load pages fast enough to even think about speeding. And some just have fun hopping/flying/speeding/teleporting all over town and don't even try to kill anything. They take a free farm to get high enough to travel and are quite content to stay in Atlas and chatter for hours. I just don't see how changing anything with IOs will change that gap, because it seems to be that mindset of the players is what's responsible for that gap, not the IOs they're slotted with. But what the heck do I know? Not much!

You had me right up to this statement. HC CoH IS a solo game with an option to team. And that has made the game better. Better for people who may have to stop without warning. Better simply because it's an option.

You do not need to have ANY heals for healing badges. A rebirth destiny can handle those, either in an MSR, getting the badges organically, or camping on the marching soldiers in Mercy, effectively farming the badges. In fact, you don't need any specific AT for badges. None of them are going to fare better than another for every badge. While something like a fire brute might be great for something like Tankbuster, most defeat badges aren't so easy to herd up and burn down. I have an ice/ice blaster with all of them. I have a fire/fire blaster that will have all of them, once Luna starts selling the anniversary badges in May. I have a shield/mace tank that will have all of them in May as well. My best advice is to find the AT powerset combo you like playing the most. Because you will have to play it a lot to get all the badges.

Why?

I have a thought about this and feel it's worth sharing. Let us assume (because we can) that HC had the resources to invest in the game and "balance" the game around IOs. What does that even look like? Does it assume everyone has IOs? Which IOs? It's common knowledge that there are multiple options for slotting most of the powers with various IO sets. Some franken-slot, taking 2 IOs of one set, 2-3 of another, etc. Some IOs are available at level 7, others not until 32 or even 50. So what does "balance" mean in this context? All players shall be able to handle 3 NPCs at +0 difficulty? I think some are forgetting the human part of this equation: Player skill level. Yes, we all know there's the guy who takes a blaster that's kitted out and solo's ITF at +4/8 in some reasonable time frame with no temp powers or inspirations. But have you thought about the guy who despite having the most optimum build he can get who can't get out of his own way? There are players who play this game so badly...it just boggles my mind how these folks are able to function in society - if they even do function. Maybe that's why they play this game, because if they go outside they might die from not looking both ways when they cross the road. Yes, and we also have players who may be quite smart, but lack the manual dexterity, the reaction time to mash their heal in a timely fashion. They lose the mouse cursor and can't execute the power fast enough. Some people use fingers on the number keys, others use a mouse. Boggles my mind how many options there are! We could have the most balanced game in the world, across all levels, across all ATs - (because we'd all play Spines/fire brutes, with identical builds because nothing would drop again and all powers would be automatically slotted with the same thing in the same order.) Even if this happened and people kept playing for some reason, there would still be some players that could solo at +4/8 and others who would die at -1/1 in the same map and mission. Some play this game better than I do. I play this game better than others. How are you going to balance that?

My framerate is usually about 60 fps...nothing spectacular, but certainly not worth complaining about in MSR. I know most everyone plays on different systems, and every system bottlenecks somewhere...but my guess would be this is a user-side issue. But with that many people having an issue...I dunno.

There is a command on beta to get you to 50 instantly. But a button or power to click on, instead of a user having to sift through the forums and finding the macro to do so would be useful. And, candidly, it would be useful on regular servers as well. So many players just PL past 1-50 for whatever reason. I see no reason to not just let them do so. That would certainly remove a lot of characters out of the AE, and if need be, free up those resources that I hear AE uses up. I don't think I'd use it that often, but it would certainly be useful to a lot of players.