Ukase

I like the sentiment behind the idea. If there were a way (for me) to know with certainty which characters were actually a new account, rather than an alt, or an alt account, I would be giving away inf more often. There are a lot of players who already have big stacks of inf who have no problem putting their hand out for free loot to get more - just to hoard it. But, there's no way for us to know who's brand new, aside from asking them. And given my experience with more than a few players - they'll lie to you to get your inf. I guess they feel like if I have enough to give it away, and they only have 20 billion to my trillion larger stack, then I won't miss it. And while that's true, I'd rather give it away to someone who only has 200M or less. And really, if someone has a level 50 and 200M, that's really all the inf they'll ever need - unless they start making alts. It's the alts that sap the stacks of influence. And there are players who make a ton of alts. Some folks make a new 50 every day. No idea how they get a real feel for the character that quickly, but they're gonna do what they're gonna do. I'm just glad I don't have to fund them. Now, if the HC gms want to mark new players with some kind of burlap cloth, or barrel held up by suspenders, I'll be able to recognize who could use a donation, and gladly make it. But, I imagine for the same reason they ridiculously hid the "date of creation" date, making me have to toggle that on, instead of the other way around, they'll never make a new account stand out like that. And, heck, even if they did, given Snarky's affinity for panhandling, who's to say he wouldn't make a new account just to see what might end up being donated. Well, I'm saying he wouldn't...but the option would be there, and I know there are players that would do just this - make a new account and hope they get some free influence.

So, I replied like crazy. I wrote about 200 lines, and then I said, "Self, nobody cares about this." So, I deleted it. You're welcome.

I think it's worth saying that a lot of players are looking for "best". And that term requires follow up questions, like "best for what"? Best for Nemu, Maelwys and Snarky isn't always going to be best for me. The idea that DPS is going to solve most of the game for a given player is true to a point. But - let's all keep in mind the attacks have to land before they do dps. The character has to remain upright to keep laying out that damage. There's a balance to all of it, and where that bubble is on the figurative level is going to be a little different for most of us, especially since the buffs we get, and the debuffs on the npcs are very likely going to be different, because while we may play a lot of the same content, the buffs, the timing of those buffs, the strength of those buffs - they're different.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the first one to consider this question, particularly with a lot of the better "signature" powers being available to take earlier in the build. I often use an alt to assist with the defeat requirements for the atlas medallion - specifically the vampyri and the wolves, or more commonly referred to as vamps and pups. Moonfire tf has the first two missions which are filled with these specifically, and respectfully - first one vamps, 2nd one pups. Any of my tanks can get in there and handle this at 0/8. But - obviously, some are going to be better at one or the other, and certainly some will be faster. Right now, I've got a fire/ice tank that generally does this. But, in some cases, those vamps load the -toHit to the point where I've got to gobble multiple yellows to overcome it. So, I got to thinking. And I'm still thinking. I thought, dark or psionic armor would certainly be better suited for this task. And Moonfire caps at 28, so footstomp at level 30 would be available. But, the resisting of damage isn't the issue, but the -tohit that is bugging me. Tactics is a thought, but that's just a 15% boost. All those vamps floor my tohit to about 60%. I read all the time about DDR, but that's usually in reference to defense reductions, not toHit reduction. Granted, if my defense stays high, I'm not as likely to get hit by the -toHit. I can certainly respec the fire/ice tank to load up on more accuracy set bonuses, and more defense, etc..but what would you folks suggest would be a more suitable armor to deal with the -tohit, given the character is exemplared to 28, and can't use any powers chosen after level 33? I can always just continue to use yellows; it works. Just annoying to deal with. I'd rather think my way out of this. I'm thinking dark/SS or psionic/SS at the moment.

There was a player I met in the Hive back when HC opened the doors called @Profit and that's where I got this preconception from. If the IO isn't cooperating by converting to what you want after 7 tries - stop. Find something else to do for a couple of minutes. Then return. There's nothing scientific about this. It's all perception bias. And like you, MC, I used to just slot the def or def/end and lose the extra million or whatever. Despite what many people say, I know that influence in this game is harder to make now through marketing than it was a couple of years ago. And each of us is to credit/blame for that, for revealing what goes on behind the curtain - even though we haven't shown all of it. There's so much competition in the various niches, that it's just harder. Sure, I can easily amass influence by marketing, but I'm not getting the margins I used to. It's wise of you to ask the question. When I do the PvP niche, with the shield walls and the panaceas, it's never worth it to me to spend converters looking for the procs. Other marketers and otherwise savvy customers are looking for the non-procs to convert into procs to save themselves a million inf or so. More in some cases. I sometimes found my pvp marketing character with 40-50 glad armor recipes. Spend 3 converters to pursue the proc...or convert out of set? It's just about a 30% chance converting out of the glad armor set. I could painstakingly go over the potential outcomes, but if you assume I want any of the panaceas and shield walls or any of the other "procs" of each set, the odds are getting any of those are better than 1/5. In summary, I think you have to the math for each time this question comes up. After a time, you kind of know what's the best play. Just anecdotally, I am recently inclined to not market. The margins aren't as good as they used to be. If I still were hungry for inf, I'd keep at it. But I'm not, so there's no real motivation to spend the time for the slim margins. Now, I'm sure there are some larger margins, and I think they're in the HO/D-Sync area. And that's why I'm trying to be a better player, to get in on that action. It's certainly bound to be more fun than clicking and converting ad nauseum.

I was just regurgitating what the HC wiki said.

And you're 100% correct. I've had the RNG tell me to go kick rocks many times. I once spent 58 converters trying to get what I wanted. And it wasn't even to sell something, but to slot a proc! I just didn't want to give any of you my influence so you can use that to make things even harder for me to "wet my beak". (Godfather tribute) I ended up making shy of 200 of those miracle's. Most of them sold for 2,500,000. Strangely, a few began to sell for 2,505,000. Or maybe it was 2,550,000. There was a 2nd 5 in there somewhere. I figured somebody wanted one and couldn't get in less than 2.5, so they had to bid creep. Not sure why they bought the odd few they did, instead of just one. But, didn't matter to me. My challenge character was delighted. The hitch was earning the merits to get the converters. I don't mind opportunity cost, but as mentioned, I don't like to put money in the AH - only taking it out is my goal. So, instead of buying the converters from the AH, I had it buy them from one of my hami corruptors that hold hundreds of Hero merits. And it paid the full 60K, not the patient lower price of 52,500. All said and done, I made about 125M. (paying an alt 90m for converters..gross. But it beats paying the market.) I'm sure there's much better opportunities, but for a level 12 brute, there's only so many merits you can earn, and I didn't want to wait for the more profitable recipe bids to be accepted. Soon, though. Soon.

It actually happened again - same recipe. Thinking about leaving this niche, as it became apparent someone was obviously flipping, as the last 30 or so have sold for the exact same price - and cheaper than the price I'd originally been getting of 4M, to just a dinky 2.5M. Still profitable, but I don't like to contribute folks who are just too lazy to craft their own loot. But, I thought ...you know, I'm still making inf, they're making inf - but my inf is faster. Theirs is slower. And if I keep pushing it - perhaps I end up filling all their bids - leaving them with a ton of miracles they'll have to unload at a higher price to recoup their investment...and then if I never leave the niche - they are a bit stuck. The silly thing is anyone that wants a miracle unique can just get one easily and far more cheaply by just doing what I'm doing. We share how to do it - and because it's fake money, they can't be bothered.

Didn't want to post this until I'd sold what I'd made...never can tell how folks will respond when they see what someone is dabbling in. Ever have this kind of good fortune when converting? Three in a row. My challenge character is delighted. Delighted enough to dip back into the same recipe, and even raise the bid to get more because they all sold instantly for at least 2x the investment of materials and the opportunity cost of the converters. Some days, it pays to get up early.

Oh, Snarky. So many opinions of Mystic Flight, and the Sorcery pool. Have you not forgotten the changes they made to sorcery pool about 4 years ago? Nobody should ever take sorcery pool as a travel power as a matter of solidarity. The people must let the tyrants that let us play for donations know that making it necessary for me to respec dozens of characters because of the change of Rune of Protection to Prune of Protection...wait...you didn't ask about that did you? Sorry. Got carried away. But let me try to be helpful, even though I consider fly to be woefully slow and cumbersome having to make a key bind to use the afterburner, (with standard fly, not Mystic Flight) and even that is too short of duration to be very useful in the shard. Flight Speed Cap since issue 18 is 58.63 mph. I know from discord that you would likely be familiar with a rev limiter - something in IC engines to limit rpms. Essentially, Afterburner is like taking the rev limiter out. With Afterburner, the misnomer speed cap of 58.63 is tossed out, and you have a new flight speed cap of 73mph. Now, technically, per the HC Wiki - it's very interesting. So, with Afterburner, technically, there is no cap. But - there is a limit, in that with diminishing returns, movement set bonuses, etc (all described above in the copied snip) that's essentially the cap with Afterburner. At least, that's my takeaway after reading it. Please read it yourself, because I'm obtuse and could have missed something. So, here's the link: Click here. After reading it, it further justifies my choice of SS and TP (if I can fit the pool in) as a better choice. But, I hold a grudge and cannot ever take Sorcery pool, just as a matter of rebellion against "the man" who changed Rune to be unable to be recharged faster than the new default hour and a half recharge time (yeah, it's not 90 minutes, I know, lol) So take what I say with a very large grain of salt.

I could never do that. I slot SS at 4 and CJ at 6 on probably 90% of my characters - mainly because with DFB or a posi, or heck, even soloing the hollows, I'm way past those levels to be concerned about my attack chain needing a filler. And, if I exemp with the character to 20, I'll still have CJ and all the nifty stuff I slot in it - like the reactive defenses and lotg. The kismet and Shield wall are level 10, so those would work anyway, but the other two, I want them in a power that's available when I exemp. Of course, below 20, they're not, but other than the positrons, they are. But yeah, I see what you're saying about the "good" powers being available earlier, and if it's a case of taking something like Rage or CJ, I'd take Rage, too.

How fast ya gonna be with no travel power? I guess you're relying on Lightning Reflexes to get you around? We all have our play styles, and I've yet to figure out how to get TW to work to suit mine, so glad you found something to work. The way I play, using 6 slots to squeeze out the extra defense (in brawl and boxing) is interesting, but I couldn't leave it on the table. Maybe if you took cross punch, leave brawl empty, and put the slots in kick...but then there's another power that's got to go. And since I'd insist on SS, that's two powers I'd have to sacrifice. Yeah, an interesting build, but by the time I put in what I'd insist on having, it'd be fairly different. Still, I think I'm going to make one, and try to make it work. I thought about TW/Bio scrapper, but all that silly math to play a scrapper well, eh, I'm just a button masher at heart, I guess.

Yeah, made a new character and poof, just like that, a tray full of macros for the gms I hunt, and my combat attributes on display.

For those that do know that they do not know what the Dunning-Kruger effect is, (and would like to know without looking it up) it's essentially someone having with limited competence in an area without being aware that they're lacking competence in the area. When HC first opened up, my first character was a fire/rad Sentinel. It could be argued I was suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect because I had no idea at the time Sentinels were doing sub-par DPS. (I was having fun with it, and just really never noticed. Probably because I was teaming a lot back then and things were getting dropped pretty quickly - just not by me, I guess. I dunno.) And really, the only reason I know about this at all is because of John Cleese.

The disappointing reality for those who level organically is that some of the more interesting builds seen posted are by players who farm to 50, and then began to play the character all kitted out. It always tickles me when I see Hasten or Combat Jumping taken at level 49 in Mids. Like, seriously? No, lol. They're just slapping the powers and the slots in the build. When you'd take those powers is entirely up to whomever is going to try that build.

The good news is except in the case of Advanced mode taskforces, almost nobody is going to care what you have slotted. I think the folks that just use common IOs (and maybe reuse them for alts) have about the same amount of fun as those folks who use invention IOs. (and maybe reuse them) It really doesn't matter that much. Now, there are some IOs that I would suggest are worth focusing on, but they can be AT and powerset dependent to a degree. I personally think the Panacea +hitpoints/endurance,(PvP heal category) the Shield Wall Res (all) - which is a defense pvp category and the Glad armor 3% defense (all) and chance of teleportation protection (PvP resist category) are worth squeezing into your build if you can. The Performance Shifter +endurance is roughly equal to an end mod IO. But, that infusion of endurance can work when your end recovery is debuffed, so that makes it an interesting thing to have, and in most cases, worth having. (Opinions may vary) The Kismet 6% ToHit is a really nice one. The Miracle +recovery is also nice to have. I'm not the greatest fan of Numina +hitpoints/endurance, but if you have the slot to spare, it can be useful. There are a few others, like the Blessing of the Zephyr 4pts of KB protection that I slap into Super speed, and the Celerity Stealth that I put into sprint, but you might be playing a stalker - you wouldn't need either of those in most cases.

Snarky is currently doing all contacts, not just story arcs from 1-50, and he's at level 44 now. So, yeah. Most every badger with all the badges has been on the edge of this kind of silliness.

Why would you allow anyone the opportunity to get an item substantially cheaper than what YOU would have to pay for it if you needed it? Is it really just laziness? Or is it boredom? Something else maybe. Back to the topic of flippers. I like flippers. They see these low listers and swoop in and return the price to the reasonable price point. Someone - please start flipping the Preventative Medicine Absorb Proc. I have no idea what possesses someone to list these for less than 500k. The salvage and the crafting cost at 20 was more than that. And yet, dozens, if not more were recently listed at a ridiculously low price. I thought about buying them all and re-listing them. But - that's not my role. I try to add value. If things remain very cheap, my big stack looks even bigger. And it is nice when I need a PM absorb proc to be able to get one at 488K instead of 3M. So yeah, keep it up low-lister.

Hey, so Mr. Obtuse here had a few questions, but instead of asking them..I looked at the info, then looked again. And then it dawned on me, and I figured it out. And then I had another question, and figured that out, too. And I'm ashamed to say it was just there, out in the open, not hiding, and I could have been using this for years, if I'd just taken the time to look and think. Now, I do have a headache now, and I do think I developed an aneurism from thinking, but I got it sorted out. So thanks to all of you!

So, I'm sure I'm in the minority, but before they even consider new incarnate powers, or adding options to the ones we have - what about bridging the gap between the math wizards and the the rest of us? I was playing an EM/EA scrapper. And I learned there was math and timing involved in playing it well. To me - that divide between just button mashing and playing a character at a high level is just too great of a divide. Something should be done to close the gap at least a little bit. I'm already slightly better than mediocre when playing a blaster. I don't want to play a scrapper and do math to be better than mediocre. Now, that is a "me" problem, but that's not just me that has it. There's a lot of intangible little things that HC could and should pay attention to before they look at the incarnate evolution. But, hey, that's just my opinion.

For brevity's sake, if I just wanted to monitor Influence, I would create a new text file? or am I sifting through the CoH game files and editing the file from there and not making a new file? I add $$monitorattribute Influence in the text file. I save the text file as keybinds.txt in the same spot it was. And if it's a new file, instead of an pre-existing one, where do I save this new file? And if I accurately figure out the file questions, Then every character I create will have the influence stat already monitored once I load the file through menu-options? Sorry, but to this user, it seems like there's some things missing in my brain to properly use your good idea.

This is probably hitting the nail on the head. I was talking about it with the Justice Superteamers last night. A character literally created out of a stale dad joke. A secondary benefit is just playing something different where I can learn a bit more.

I think the reason it seems underwhelming is the damage isn't (at least not that I can tell) on the same level as my controller was. Locking down a boss is fine and all, but I'm not really scared of bosses. They still attack slowly, and are fairly predictable. I should probably get my accuracy and to-hit up, and bump the difficulty so they pay off more. But right now, I'm more pro-controller than pro-dom. I'll give it time. I do appreciate the concise reply though. It was and is helpful. I thank you for taking the time.

It's a fair question. I don't know the answer. I suppose it's to cater a bit to both playstyles, ranged and melee.

One cannot be angry at a snake for being a snake, anymore than I can take issue with Snarky for being snarky. 🤣