Ukase

Mark and Recall for the win.

A few years ago, there were whispers in dark corners of very dark alleys that I was afraid to go into that mentioned procs were going to get a major overhaul. No idea if that was fear-mongering by someone, or if there ever was something to it. The craziest part of the proc game is the rules that apply (per Bopper's PPM spreadsheet) for Ranged AoE, Cones, and PBAoE are crazy. I say that because, particularly with most cones and Ranged AoE, the sets will have a chance to fire proc in them - and when you plug the numbers in, you get something like an 11% chance to fire, if you slot the rest of the set. If you limit the recharge to one or two pieces of the set, then maybe your odds lift to 30% or so. Why even have the proc in the set if using the set renders the proc practically inert? Granted, that example isn't for every cone, ranged AoE or PBAoE. Some of them have such lengthy base recharges, it doesn't matter, the proc will fire. But many of them don't. I think the suggestion is a great idea. What new player wants to make a character, and gets really immersed into that character - then suddenly has to tab out and dive deep into the proc rabbit hole to see if the darn thing will actually do their character any good? None of them. Or at least, very few of them. I know I don't enjoy plugging numbers into Bopper's spreadsheet to find out. Half the time, I just figure a Damage IO is guaranteed to do damage, even if it will be diminished, it's still a little extra damage.

Short version: Revisit the drop rate of the D-Syncs and Hamidon enhancements (as well as the Hydra/Titan-Os for the Abandoned Sewer trial and Eden Trial) so the AH can at least have enough to satisfy more characters than just me. My suggestion is to have them all evenly distributed. No idea what the current drop rate for each is - but some of them need to be increased a smidge. Longer version:

No doubt fire is very good for blasters. As for fire/ice? Not as good until the later levels, but a lot depends on how you slot and how you play. I've teamed with folks who would make a fire blaster look comparatively like a kinetic melee scrapper - just not that good. So much depends on you as a player. Some folks can make any build look magical. And some folks can take a magical build and make it look sad and weak. Me, I like ice/fire a bit better than fire/fire, even though it doesn't have a snipe. Blizzard is better for me than inferno due to the reduced risk. But the ice secondary...cauterize and frigid protection are practically interchangeable as far as a sustain goes. But your question was about the secondary. I like Atomic Manipulation because of the sustain being one of the better ones (for me). Sure, I get held, but only for a very short time. By the time I move to click on the inspiration, I'm generally no longer held. It's got a hold with a decently quick activation time to help mitigate some of the NPCs trying to clobber you. And Beta Decay boosts your recharge, and decreases their toHit. For me, it's one of the better blaster secondary sets. Opinions can and do vary. We get a ton of slots, why not try 'em all out, and tell us?

So, this thought occurred to me. I was in The Abyss, awaiting invite to a hamidon raid league. Typically, at least on Excelsior, there is some silly banter. For whatever reason, there's a certain player whom I won't publicly name - those that are there know who I'm talking about. Anyways, there are other players that state that this player is Hamidon. This same player insists he is not. Repeatedly. It's kind of funny to read it. But if I were a Dev, I think I'd sneak in there and literally give this player's character a Hamidon makeover, and make his character look just like Hamidon. Which would be an odd look for a scrapper, but it would be hilarious. For a moment, anyway. But yeah, I'd do that. I'd also make domination automatically fire when the bar fills without clicking being required. I'm sure there's a few folks that like to time that for reasons of their own, but if I'm a dev, I'm thinking about how I play, not how they play.

Because of the game's inability or unwillingness to allow us to "CTRL+Click" more than one power, when I'm on a shield armor character, I tend to not take hasten, because then I have to manually click hasten to keep the status protection active. Or vice-versa. It's annoying. On a dom, which I just dinged 50 on, I have perma dom on it, which is super nice because the endurance usage on a dom is just nuts. And I don't really have perma dom, because I almost always forget to use hasten until I realize I lost domination. I've thought about those fancy binds where you try to use it when you move, but when a power isn't recharged, it makes that funny sound which I'd rather not hear. And I like to hear most of the games other sounds. So, for me - yeah, get hasten. There's absolutely no downside other then a slight drop in end and maybe the sound or look of it. To be transparent, most of my characters get hasten after level 20 because faster recharge means more end use. That miracle proc helps a lot.

Again?

I have a water/fire blaster that took Rune of Protection before they changed the recharge timer on it. I still haven't respec'd it. When I think about it, I log it in and help with Adamastor. And I've apparently thought about 6 times, as it has 96 reward merits. It's my opinion that the rule should be nothing about cottages, but more about measuring twice and cutting once. If, indeed, Rune of Protection was universally thought to be "OP", then why release it? Why let it arrive into our greedy paws? Because, clearly, they didn't think so when they did release it. Then, things changed. The people in charge changed. And then the change occurs and now a number of us are faced with this choice of "respec" or play something that just might have a few inert slots. Or worse. Rather than respec the fire/water blaster, I've already made another one. I just haven't gotten around to deleting this one yet. Invariably, if I'm going to deal with more enhancements than I have room in my trays, I might as well just respec twice and delete the character. Unless it has all the passive accolades already, then I might just relegate it to the back page. It's been slow, but I've cleaned up a couple of pages worth of characters I hadn't played in over a year. Again - my firm belief is to not release powers that are OP and subject to change. Just don't do it. And all the rationalization that people are using it in ways the devs didn't consider doesn't hold water with me. Every page/patch, instead of leaving things in Brainstorm for months, they push it because people are so eager to suck up new content, invariably mistakes get through. Well...if you'd waited, we wouldn't be in this position. Now, it's fair to say that they could leave some stuff on brainstorm and it might never get discovered because there's just not that many people testing. Totally fair. But, I never claimed to be completely logical or sane. Respecs are just not fun. One of my biggest problems is I'll be doing a respec and get a tell, but can't see the tell. If they could find a way around that...that would be cool. Being able to move a single slot would often times allow me to forgo doing a respec. That would be cool, too. But, in the meantime, getting to 50 is super easy, and it is fun, so why not just re-roll? That's the way I see it.

I have released the name "Master Bladder" (deleted my water/atomic blaster) Enjoy!

I'm curious. I know you're not the only one. But how many forgo the end game for reasons of their own? Maybe 10%? Is it more? I know some make a choice to avoid 50, just stopping at some level prior for their own reasons. Some don't make it to 50 because of what I call powerset/AT envy, where they'll team with someone and think, "I want to do THAT!" and finish that task/mission and immediately set out to make a new alt after spending immeasurable time trying to come up with a catchy name and costume to fit some theme. I play my 50's, but other than Hami or the labyrinth, I don't do much with them once I get them t-4'd. Hopefully, the next patch will provide more to do with them without making it seem like a grind.

That's the Sister Solaris arc, done after unlocking Alpha. I don't always enjoy the maps - but for me the worst map is the one for the last mission of Renault SF when you take out the eyeball. I recognize the intent behind them, to create a bit of geographical challenge for the player. It's all good.

Nah, it was the cop's last two missions. I'd already solo'd the arc. I had in fact just completed Flux's arc to reach level 9 and was headed to Kings Row. I've certainly been on teams of 8 before, and was well aware of the xp bonus for a team of 8 and all that - but even with 2xp, I don't recall getting fat xp like that previously, except during the mapserver event. And the mobs we were tackling weren't purple. They were mostly even or +1. It just took me by surprise.

This is super minor. The Disciple History badge no longer requires Monument 4. I have no idea when they changed it.

Yesterday, I made a dominator for the first time in a couple of years. I was in high spirits, led a dfb, got the badges. All fairly routine. I joined a Hollows team, which is something I've only done rarely on HC, as I tend to solo that stuff due to work. But yesterday, I managed to get on a team and went from level 9 to 16 in about 30 minutes. Just two missions, I think. Maybe it was three. I did have the 2xp buff, but I don't have any memory of getting xp that quickly as a lower level character outside of a farm. Is that normal for a team of 8? I might have to rethink how I do things. If I can take a 30 minute break and get 7 levels...instead of playing for 10 minutes here and there...I might come out ahead.

Looks fine to me. I took my badger there from copying it about a year or so ago, or whenever the lab came out. Currently third. I saw the badges I was missing, so that was nice - and of particular worth was the category.

You're not wrong. Depression, the kind that comes not from the results of bad decisions, but from out of whack hormones in the body - that can lead to so many illnesses, some debilitating.

I spent 30 minutes giving a lecture at my 35th high school reunion on things we can do to keep our parents healthier longer. So many of us, even as we cross over 50 years, we tend to be super efficient in real life, minimizing our movement. And most of us think 30 minutes on a treadmill is exercise. It's better than nothing, of course, but it's not nearly as good as resistance training. Short version: look for ways to install safety bars in their showers, and hand rails on any steps in and out of your house. When older people fall and are left in bed for a week, they can lose 6-10 pounds of muscle. And if you're a little old lady who only weighs 110 pounds, you need all the muscle you can get! And for those of you approaching old age - work on your core strength and balance. It's those falls that break hips that often lead to massive muscle loss and eventual death.

Edit: Please take this feedback with a grain of salt or three. It's been a long time since I played a dominator. I made two yesterday on Excelsior - one to reserve a name for the pending update, and the other just to relearn how to play one so I could give a better sense of what's good and what's not. Given what I've seen my earth/psionic dom do on excelsior, I might have to rethink the dom's abilities to dish out dps. I was convinced they were just short of trash for a long time. Clearly, that was me, not the AT. In fact, I think my inexperience with the AT should probably make null any observations I might have other than "this is cool" or "This was not". So, trying to get a feel for this as an inexperienced player. And that's fair, because I might have 2 dominators among my over 300 characters. I made a pyro/psionic assault dom. At level 10, this thing is just bananas on the very limited "pop into perez park and tackle a mob of level 10 hellions" test. The glittering column is good as an opener, but better as an "oh crap, I'm in over my head" power. The duration of the taunt could be a couple of seconds longer to suit me, but given the damage portion, it's quite acceptable to me. Just a tohit debuff, recharge and damage SO in it now, will be interesting to see how it fares in 30+, if it has much utility at all. I suspect on higher level teams the utility will decrease. Brilliant Barrage - minor typo: Should be "bombarded". Hypnotizing Lights: There needs to be more information here. I'm not a genuine noob, and I'm not the least bit clear what this "deep sleep" is. Some clarity on this would be helpful. Also, from all my experiences, npcs that are slept wake up when damaged. Definitely need more detailed info. Like - how is "deep sleep" applied, and what's the difference between deep sleep and normal sleep? Does deep sleep let them sleep through damage? So, bumped up to level 20. This combo is going to be a LOT of fun, and likely OP. Is a dom supposed to get drain psyche? I didn't see any other sustains in the the secondary options, which is why I went with Psionic. With just the one slot, I hop into a group of about 8 +2's, and a boss...and whittle them down like level 4 hellions. It wasn't easy..I did need to use a green and a purple insp, but it was managed easily enough. I don't think many of my blasters at level 20 would have the ability to do that as easily. If/when I get drain psych recharge lower, this is going to be a ton of fun - I think. I don't have time to try the level 30 range yet. Will edit this post when I finish.

Well, as they say, I'm going to have to get used to disappointment. I don't have it in me to make a build around a power that I'm only going to use in the latter portion of the labyrinth. I thought about a second build, but after reflection and hearing various opinions, the pay-off just isn't there for me. As for speed running, I like zipping through as fast as I can - but fold space doesn't save enough time there. ATT? Team Teleport? Sure. Fold space just brings mobs a little closer to you, maybe saves a few seconds here and there that certainly add up. But a 15 minute ITF is just as nice as a 9 minute ITF for me. I just don't want the 40 minute ITF, ya know? I grasp the delight and joy you must feel using it - but the tradeoff for me is just too high. In about 6 months, I'll probably be up to speed on the new changes. I'm just not going to make a point to learn all these new changes for a character, even if I want to - it's too much on top of real life stuff. There's only so much time in a day. I appreciate your thoughts and insights, though.

That explains that mystery. Thanks!

I would echo this. Not that I have any issue with anyone farming. I've done it. I still do it - but it's usually to get a character over some hurdle that I'm too impatient to wait for. I would also echo this.

This is the build I anticipate respec-ing into when I reach 50. I initially wanted to work the teleport pool into it - but the tradeoffs are too steep in my opinion to make it worth it. This is probably the first character I've made that doesn't have the fight pool, and well..probably one that could benefit from it. But nature has many must have powers, I'd say. Rebirth is questionable; I often wonder if a controller's time is best spent using vengeance, then rebirth - because that's about 5 seconds one could be doing something else. And particularly in the labyrinth - the range of both rebirth and vengeance is often too short to use because of the distance between the mythic fog and the center where those not anchored got sucked into and lay defeated. I thought about adding some range, either through set bonuses, but ultimately opted to go for Intuition Radial for Alpha. Now, my mind isn't made up, it's just my best guess for what's best for the character at this time. I thought about going with scorpion shield and that would allow me to get the fight pool. The survivability would certainly be higher, I'd think. But...how does one pass up Seismic Smash? I don't know that the heal with the absorb, Earth's Embrace is really that important for a natty. But it certainly can't hurt, unless it's at the cost of something like tough and weave. I'm sure there are better approaches to this. And to be fair, once I get the three temp pets out of the labyrinth, I probably won't play it that much. Anyway, just figured I'd ask for some different insights to give me some other things to think about. Like Earth Quake and Spore Cloud. I don't have them slotted terribly well, because I needed/wanted the slots somewhere else. As for the animate stone - I might get rid of it. It's useful in msrs and such to target through. It helps with the dps when solo, sure. But post 50, I don't think it's worth 6 slots. Maybe when the changes in the new patch come? Or should I just table it and wait for the new patch? Mother Mojo - Controller (Earth Control - Nature Affinity).mbd

I have been beating my head into a wall trying to incorporate fold space and earth mastery into an earth/natty build. It can be done...but not by keeping my usual duo power pools of speed for hasten and superspeed, and leaping for combat jumping. I don't enjoy tp as a travel power. It's fine for wide open zones like the shard, or nerva or IP, but for zones like grandville, it's trash. (for me) Also, I can't find a way to get fight or leadership into the build with Earth Mastery requiring fissure. I just don't think it's worth the effort to incorporate Fold Space into a build, particularly if you're going to be soloing. If you're teaming, you'd be relying heavily on team buffs to keep you upright, I think, depending on the difficulty of the content. Not saying it can't be done, but I don't think it's worth the tradeoffs. Fold space really wastes about as much time as it saves on some teams, because the blaster that was going to nuke loses the targets to the scrapper who used fold space. Circumstances vary, of course.

I read that article. I thought their perspective was not aligned with mine very much. I like "speed". I just wish I were better at it! I still have issues moving through a map as fast as folks like Raze and Bloodom, and so many other folks who are in my opinion some of the more competent players. I'm probably a 3rd tier speeder at best - mainly because most of my characters are generally self-sustaining and not relying on team buffs - so I tend to leave a lot of dps on the table. I have an earth/natty controller. It needs an Aeon SF to get the Sheer Will accolade. I see a lot of "speed" runs being recruited for, but just don't feel confident trying to speed with a character that has a dumb pet that spends more time tackling psionic crystals than the AV. (I know, that's not Aeon, that's another SF). I think most team leads for these speed runs are okay carrying a few slower folks, just not too many. I don't think most players give a crap whether it's 10 minutes or 20 minutes. They just don't want it to be an hour when it doesn't have to be. I have been hanging out with the Justice Superteamers on Friday nights. (shameless plug for them) They have this odd bloodlust thing where they like to kill all or most. 90 minutes to do a Renault. It's what I signed up for, so not complaining. But I tell you, you go broke quick doing kill most. Your merit intake is lower, everything is lower. And the xp gains aren't that much better, really. Is it more fun? For some folks who are just getting off work and don't want to sit on the edge of their keyboard and push their character to the limits - yeah, it is more fun. And that's great. They're not forcing you to join them, nor are the speeders forcing the kill all/most crowd to join them. There's room for all of us here. Now, I think the game has plenty of incentives to speed, but even though the pay is reduced by kill all/most, it's still enough to keep playing. And really, that's what marketing is for, to eke out a little extra to fund your alt-itis. Lord only know how deep the pockets are of people who play one solitary character. I am continuing to try and liquidate my many characters that are 50 that I haven't played in over a year. It's damned tedious getting those enhancements out. And selling them cheaply is killing my soul. 5M for a pvp IO? Heresy. But that's another topic. The people who are making changes to the game are doing what they think is best. I don't think they want to play in a ghost town anymore than the rest of us. They'll figure things out. Or they won't. It's that simple. No use getting upset about things beyond our control. Just try things out, keep an open mind, take notes, and report back. That's all we can really do.

I remember when I joined CoH in issue 3. A couple of weeks later, issue 4 dropped, and there were some changes. It seemed kind of bait and switch to me, as I'd never played any MMO before. Folks see a game in the store. They buy it. They keep playing. And then *poof*, for whatever reason, they change the way things work. Is it still the same game? That's a question better answered by a couple of lawyers and a judge in a court of law. It'll never be answered there, because it's too expensive to answer such a silly question. It's probably covered in the terms of service somewhere that the game's publisher can make any changes they like with little or no notice. So, yeah, I can see where "it's not the same game" disappointment comes from. But, so far, there's enough to keep me playing rather then sending me elsewhere in bitter rage or sadness. Now, certainly there have been some people who have demonstrated clearly some real behavioral issues that have often persuaded me to just log off because I can't slap them in real life. But - wait - that says more about me than them, right? So yeah. Leave if you need to or aren't enjoying yourself. You can always come back. But if you're sure you're never coming back, have your characters quit every sg they're in, and delete all your characters, and then quit. That way you're not taking up names that other folks might like to use.