Ukase

I notice my scrappers and stalkers tend to take all primary and secondary. Occasionally, I'll skip the secondary t-9, but I've usually taken them to use as an IO mule. Broadsword/invuln, Dual blades/invuln off the top of my head.

When I was trying to amass influence, this is how I did it, but keep in mind, the market is fluid; the opportunities I took advantage of may not exist anymore. After about 3 months of playing, I made a 2nd account. Primary account lent the secondary just enough to get SOs. I planned on doing certain things for accolades, and the rest through a fire farm. But - before that - I would take merits and get catalysts. Sell the catalysts for 5m. (Well, 4,777,777, but I'd routinely get 5m.) This is just not going to happen now. Too much competition in the market, unless some crazy person wants to buy them all up - but even then, with all the farmers, they drop routinely, so any hike in price wouldn't last long. Then, I noticed that Superior Brute ATOs were selling for 20m to even 30m! So, as many hero packs as I could afford, I bought. I converted them from whatever the ATO was into a brute ATO. Unslotted my superior ATO, slotted the new ATO, catalyzed it, making it superior, then listed the superior I had unslotted to the AH. I did this to the tune of several billion over the course of a month. I had never paid much attention to Winter-Os until I had made the farmer on the second account. Before I learned, I was running everything at +1/8, and had heal on auto instead of burn. I did look on the forums for fire farm builds, but those builds didn't look like they'd survive in non-game content. My farmers do; and they can handle the afk-farm at +4/8. They may not clear an asteroid map in a minute, but two minutes if I'm paying attention is plenty fast enough. The other thing I do - and it's where I've made probably the majority of my influence has been in pvp IOs. I started with just active bidding - which means, I'd creep my bid upward until I bought something, as I was eager to make the inf! I'd open up the AH, bid on level 10 PvP recipes, mostly Javelin Volley. For whatever reason, folks listed those more cheaply than others. I'd get them for about 4m usually. Then I'd craft and convert to a pvp proc (glad armor 3%, Panacea +HP/End, Shield Wall 5% res) and list them for 9.7m, when everyone else seemed to be posting them high enough to get 11-12m. To me - 10M was a nice starting number, nice and round, which made the math easy for me. A level 10 pvp IO recipe will craft for about 6k. The level 50...around 500k. So each one, given the odd way the HC devs have the market configured into various buckets, I saved close to 500k for each one I made. On the salvage, I started just buying what I needed. No sense in having inventory taking up space or influence. I wasn't sure how this would go, but it certainly seemed like a good way to make some inf. The procs (unlike now) sold instantly. 4m, plus 6k crafting cost, plus 500-600k for a rare salvage piece, 4-10k for two uncommons, and 600 inf for 2 common salvage. All in, just less than 5m, selling for 10m. Double my inf. Once I saw how fast those went, I got a bit bolder, and began passive bidding, in lieu of active bidding. I still had plenty of badges to get on the primary account, the active bidding took too much time. So, I began first to bid on 5 of each type of common salvage in the lower level tiers, 5 of each of the uncommons, and 5 of each of the rare salvage, and would leave them in the AH, with 5 of each in my inventory on my character. Then I bid 4m on each and every level 10 pvp IO. I was able to check in twice a day, craft, convert, sell. I soon realized that I was losing money by not checking in more often, as there were never any that hadn't sold. No sooner had I opted to check back in 3x a day, I found that none of my passive bids had gone through. As you know - marketers are ebil. They will see past history of 4,000,000 winning the recipes, and they will come behind you and place a bid for 4,000,001. Gradually, winning bids on recipes rose from about 4, to close to 6m. Then the price of the procs rose to about 12-14m. This went on for a bit, but after the higher prices seemed to hold, bidding 6m and getting 12-14m was even better. So, I then put passive bids of 5 of each pvp IO recipe. I then went and started low-balling attuned PvP IOs on another character that I would check on only once a week. Oddly - some folks pay the recipe prices no mind, and craft them and sell them as cheap as some recipes. Maybe they lacked the inf to get full value, or just listed at 1 inf like a foolish person who only cares about playing the game and not the market at all. Their loss was my gain. Buy at 5m, convert, sell at 10.7m Then it happened. I added up all the inf I had across the accounts and exceeded 100 Billion, which I'm learning lately is more than enough - but not even close to what some of you have amassed. Like not even close. I suspect that some of you more focused folks have closer to 1 trillion than 100 Billion. But that's just conjecture. When I'm spending a lot of time getting badges, many of you are laughing at how foolish I am and making serious bank. So...that's a LOT of damn words, but the question HOW was asked. And this was how.

Seriously? Thank you for that correction! I guess I have to admit that I can not read, nor do math very well anymore, if I ever could at all. That isn't the way I remember it at all, but I'll take your word for it.

Redacted reply on account of my being an ignoramus in this post.

The problem I see with this set as being a reward is that it's only going to be useful to a few folks. But it could be there are more than a few powers that I'm unfamiliar with. Resistance / Heal Okay, maybe a few folks can use this one. Healing flames was mentioned earlier. Defense / Resistance / Heal What power is going to boost all three of these facets? Off the top, I can't think of any. I don't know every power, but I'm going to say very few. Defense / Heal / Recharge I can benefit from Def/rec and heal/rec.... but def and heal? I'm probably coming off as presumptuous, and revealing my ignorance - but what power would use these three attributes? Resistance / Heal / Recharge This one could go into healing flames, I suppose, like the first one. Defense / Resistance / Heal / Endurance Same argument as the 2nd and 3rd Defense / 15% Run Speed Buff - We already have two run speed uniques, one in the new end mod set, and the other in Gift of Ancients, I think it's called, a defensive set. But this one is unique in that it boosts defense, too. So, I like it...until I think about escort missions, having to go, stop, go, stop. I like the idea of a new set, but I wonder if it's worth making a set that isn't very rewarding for the majority of the player base. Before I slot anything, regardless of set bonus, I need to know it's going to do something to make my character better in combat. Not just one attribute, but all attributes should be used, unless you've decided you like the set bonuses so much, you can call it a mule. That wouldn't be the case for me with this set.

That's a nice stash! Silly me, I've been using my merits to help my farmers convert so they don't have to spend any inf on them. They're much too busy to actually do content, silly farmers. I am curious about one thing - that I'm too sissy to experiment with. If you have a hero merit and go rogue or villain..does it convert? or does it disappear?

Eh, I feel it's a bit much to intrude upon a volunteer staff when I can just wait until Tuesday. Besides...then I'd be sitting in Bricks..not really having any idea how long it would take for them to show up to do whatever it is they do. 5 minutes? 10 minutes? 30 minutes... I'd go a bit crazy just standing around, not knowing how long to wait.

ah...the ones with no level given at all...those..man, that's gonna be like a needle in a haystack. I think I can wait until server reset. But thanks!

Hmm...just taunted a -1 freak into the area...and no dice after clobbering him within that area. My dilemma I guess is that there are no level 40 Freaks in bricks. (even level)

What else would you spend them on? Just keep them forever? I know you're not going to buy recipes, given the value converters offer which give a greater return. That's all I spend my merits on, is converters. Now, if my farm character is out of merits, and I can't be bothered to trade them between alts & accounts, then I'll buy them. But otherwise, use the merits. That seems to be the best value to me.

That is truly brilliant. Even if it ended up not working, it was quite clever to think of it.

The issue for the transporter is the destination is the train. If it weren't the train, it'd work fine, regardless of alignment variation within the group. I always ouro out of the mission, take FF and hop to the train. (Don't think I've ever done MC on a villain, so dunno what I'd do. ) I don't know why the TT has an issue with the train as a destination...nor why the original Devs uses trains as destination points - we couldn't just go to a given zone or portal? <shrug>

The prevailing wisdom as I remember it was that if you needed to use the t-9, you were just putting off the inevitable, so forgo the pick and get something that will be more helpful so you won't need the t-9.

I knew you used the same mission, but I didn't see anything about you using judgement of any kind. Yet, I look at it now, and there it is. Sorry about that. One thing - maybe gather more than 7 if you can. Another thing..when you find a power is doing too much dps to let the avs regen, you have options - which you hinted at using a second build, but you can also simply unslot a given power's enhancements, and leave 'em in your tray for when you're done. As you've no doubt discovered, if you dish out too much dps, the AV's die. While I can't say there are no better methods, when I look through the badge forum, this seems to be the one most people use for farming damage. If you get it done in 111 hours, that's like 5-6 days. Which is fine. Just play on your alt account in the meantime. We get to have 3 accounts, may as well enjoy the game while the primary account does the grunt work.

The "View your future memory" - the first alpha unlock mission from Mender Remiel is a good way to go. I think the issue is you're using the wrong power to dish out the damage. Use Judgement. What I did with my blaster, was blast each AV with ice blast, and do my best to get them to follow me, and group them. I was able to get most of them to the entrance of the building, and just put judgement on Auto. It really didn't take that long compared to the damage taken badges.

If their enjoyment of the game is to play their character in such a way to as prevent the completion of the task force, then I will certainly point out that their method doesn't work. In context, from my original post - I tried it the leader's way, even though I knew it was wrong. Thus my reasoning for the initial post - when do you step in and suggest corrective action. And I never said that you'd say you would quit. "I play to entertain myself. If I'm not being entertained, no amount of arguing with the person causing that lack of enjoyment will make it more entertining." You are responsible for making your words understood, if you want to deliver a clear message. The way I read it, it was clear that if someone isn't leading the tf/trial in a way that's fun for you, you won't argue because it's not going to make things more entertaining, you'll just bail. Perhaps I was wrong. A lot gets missed in textual commentary. What is clear is you think I was telling someone how to play. I wasn't. I was telling someone the mechanics of the trial. They can use their attacks anyway they see fit. But there's a time and a place for the attacks.

That may be true, but I don't want to make work for the HC team. If it's something in place, like our character's rename tokens, or server transfers, that's something else entirely. But, given the number of people I've run into who I'd make a base for, it could be a hassle for them.

That would seem to be the case. Fine with me, too. Just don't team with anyone for a tf or trial if you're that nonchalant about the commitment.

If I had a nickel for every player I ran into who didn't belong to an SG, but seemed to be at a loss as to where to stash enhancements, but didn't want to take the time to build an SG base...I'd have at least a dollar, I'm sure. But- if SG's could be renamed, I could build them and just give them away. Nothing fancy, just a base with TP beacons to all zones, tailor, trainer, workbench, insp storage, enhancement storage bin and empowerment buff stations.

For a time, I would level a character of to 50+3, t-4, and then start again. While in the hive, a friend who led the raid would explain his very minor annoyance in having no idea this new tank in the hive had tanked Hami repeatedly before, but he hadn't bothered to check the global. So, I opted to start making some of my characters more recognizable: Ukase Fire Ukase Max Ukase Frost etc, you get the idea. Ukase is an old Russian term, an edict from the government or a king. I stole it from Doctor Doom in the Secret Wars series. (Doom to Ultron 5 "Ukase Rex!") An alt account does the same thing, name stolen from a race horse an old girlfriend owns. Apache Fog Apache Mist Apache Fire I'll still look for names that are a bit silly - like Zombo, my ill/rad controller, or Patmos Pete, a dual blade/invuln scrapper. In my head, I see a civilian exclaiming, "Look, it's (hero name here)!" And if the name I come up with doesn't sound right, I don't use it. It's annoying that we can't use "The" as part of a character's name, but it is what it is. So, if you're global is fairly unique, you can simply add a word to take some of the burden off the naming difficulty.

There's not much that irks me more than being in a battle and not having enough end to execute an attack. I monitor end recovery and end usage, and aim for a net of 3. I don't always get it, but it's what I'm aiming for. About the only time I run out of end is in the underground iTrial and someone gets confused and drains my end. Sappers barely make a dent, Mu are ineffective and I don't even notice Freaks and clocks with their minor sapping attacks. Because of this - 95% of all my 50's will go Agility, and half of them get Ageless. Some will get the other destinies as well, but Ageless is usually made first. While leveling, I tend to be sure I've got the end mod IOs & procs slotted before I go too toggle heavy with fight and leadership.

You do know that when you start a trial or task force, that although you can quit, you shouldn't, right? When you start something, you finish it, and there's no exceptions to this when it comes to task forces or trials. You don't just quit because someone isn't playing your way, even if it's wrong. At least, I don't. If you do - well, that's not my problem. Just don't team with me - like, ever. When you're on the task force in question, yes, you make a note to not team with them again if they're obtuse, dense, or just a jerk. But - it's too late when you're on the trial or task force. You're committed. There definitely is a cost to failure. Lost time. Can't get that back, ever. Not even in ouroboros. Granted, things in real life happen - elderly parent or small child takes a bad fall, an urgent phone call, etc. But in the literally hundreds of task forces I've done since I started playing CoH, I've only had 2 people beg off because of something out of their control.

I like part of this idea. How about making it only available once you have all badges available in game? (not counting bug hunter - if a lot of folks had that, the game would have to be seriously infested). And, only by character, not account. This way - nobody's doing a Master of TF or PvP for badges - they're doing it for fun/challenge and wouldn't likely use it as an exploit. Granted, this raises the bar for a lot of folks who aren't into badging...

I think there's still room for some disclosure, but I haven't read the NDA, nor do I understand the reason behind having one for these "talks". For now, I'm just going to take the stance that it's none of my business. If it were, I wouldn't see the harm in saying "We met today for a few minutes and only have a few more obstacles to overcome"

It's an indication of something, but it's certainly not proof of NCSoft negotiating. I don't know anymore that we need proof, although I don't see the harm in coverage of the process. To this point, as far as I can tell, HC has been transparent in every area, except this one - which is probably due to reasons I know next to nothing about. Still, what's the harm in saying, "We spoke to NCSoft Rep. Joe Blowhard, and he said, "Blah, blah" So, we have to do X and Y, then see where we're at." I just see no reason, other than an aversion to typing why we're not seeing it. Perhaps it's none of my business. I'd just like to know.