Ukase

This was wonderfully done. I appreciate it very much! It just never occurred to me to stash the new stuff up top. I was so concerned about putting each one in the proper category and screwing up the formatting somehow. For others that may be also awaiting an update, I wasn't sure if the popmenu from CityModder would conflict, as the title of the popmenu is the same. So I uninstalled ATCs outdated one from citymodder, and placed this one in the usual spot (data/text/English/menu) and this one works perfectly!

My understanding is ATC is fairly occupied with real life and when he gets around to it, he'll get around to it. I know I'm not alone in waiting for that moment, however. I've thought about grabbing his older pop-menu, before the pigg file version and just updating it myself. But..one look at the formatting kind of scared me off. I also thought about just making a smaller one just for the newest badges. But so far, my needs for it haven't been heavy enough to take the time. And really, this is why I often look at things like our Fast Travel pop menu and wonder why HC doesn't just come up with HC's version of a badger pop-menu. On the one hand, I get that it's completely a volunteer staff. On the other, I'm thinking QoL stuff like this is probably in higher demand that many things they are working on.

Well, I certainly see the issue. I just now went to the Mids Reborn discord and just asked them to have an option to toggle the UI to look like it does in-game. Whether that will do anything, who knows. But, doesn't hurt to ask.

In an effort to have an alt take a look around, I set out to visit all the motes. I wasn't writing anything down, just using one of the popmenus to find them. I noticed that as I visited each one, there was an icon in my buffs bar, which I hadn't noticed before. Cool! But when I visited Indigo, I didn't get one. It's not that big of a deal, but I'm thinking this is bug, albeit a minor one. I'm not real clear if I got the buff, and the icon just didn't show in my power tray or buff bar, or the mote itself is inert for me. Just figured I'd report the experience.

So, much to my surprise, I dusted off a character I hadn't played in 4 years or so. At least, it was created 4 years ago. Not sure how long it was dormant. At least 3 years, I'd guess. And it's an ice/cold corr. So, due to the absolutely crap decision by whatever bully in the powers division decided to nerf burnout, I respec'd that power out. (and yeah, that's a little rant/vent. There was absolutely no reason acceptable to me to do that. And that's my only litmus test for power nerfs. If my character has that power, and they change it, it is woefully unacceptable) And, realized it was missing a lot of things I now do with all characters beyond the 4 passive accolades. So, I've been doing all kinds of stuff with it, including the labyrinth. I don't think it's quite as useful as my fire/natty in the Mino/Achylus fights. But I guess when people run into the center, there's only so much an ice shield is going to do for them. The new respec seems to work well. Or at least, well enough. The HP has got to be the lowest of any corruptor I've got, but it doesn't take many hits, so it's not that much of a concern. Yet. Just a few more characters to move to the front page...and then about 200 or so to find something to do with.

Just a guess here. I'm not privy to the specifics of your mind, or life. But what I think what keeps people in this game is not the content or the powers or the loot or any of that. It's the other people they team with and get to know. If I hadn't run into really interesting people on retail like an SG called "The Debt Junkies", who considered a dirt nap as evidence you were actually playing and doing something, I might never have played as long as I did. On retail we had a ridiculous global channel just for our shard, Liberty. There were some bozos, to be sure, but there was always someone who could answer a question if the help channel came up dry. And you'd see the same names cracking the same lame kind of jokes. Most of them were inside jokes that you might not have been privy to, but the silliness was there. I could be wrong of course. It could be the game itself, outside of figuring out what powers do what just doesn't hold your interest. And that's fine too. Maybe just don't be in such a hurry to figure it all out. You could literally spend your whole life in this game and not figure it all out. Just make a list, and work towards it.

If you are in Excelsior, I recommend trying to get on a labyrinth team. Most are calling it speedy - but the only way to do it slowly would be to limit your movement - which might be bad, as the minotaur might catch you! There's a lot of information to absorb in the Labyrinth of Fog, but the rewards: 25% more xp than anywhere else in game ( which would certainly help you unlock your incarnate slots relatively quickly) When you defeat the mino, you get an incarnate award table, in addition to a choice of 5 Prismatics and 10 Monstrous Aethers ( you can sell the first one, and get a pet with the latter, or exchange the MAs for more prismatics - which you can also get a Costume toggle with) 3 Ultimate Inspirations (which give you a level shift for a minute) or 4 emp merits, which will certainly be useful in your incarnate journey. Various defeat badges, if your leader takes you to this Orange Font of Malevolence room. And, 75 merits if the Avatar of Achylus appears and gets defeated. I can't speak for the other servers. I suspect the others are also doing this as well, but can't be sure.

So, a lot depends on what you enjoy in game. There's one guy, and his wife who make a character, and do Frostfire. After Frostfire is done, they log off, make a new character. I think they've done this over 200 times. The claim I heard was they did level a character to the 40's, but they just didn't like the game at those levels. And that's fine! There's no rule that says you have to play one character until you've done every bit of content available! You can do what's fun, and log off or stop what you're doing when it's not. My solution (so far) has been to set a goal of 100 Hero merits. That's 5000 reward merits for the math-challenged. It's not even close to what a lot of folks earn in a week. But, Most of the day, other than hopping on and killing a GM or two, I'm not doing much. Maybe I can squeeze in a labyrinth run. I never know. So, goals, I guess are a way to keep you focused. Maybe you'd like to hop past level 10 and get to 20 before you start over. It might be helpful to identify why you stop playing the current character. In my case, it's often what I call "alt-envy". I'll see someone just destroying a mob with a series of attacks and then I'll wish I was on the kind of character they were playing. (I've never felt this way about MMs or Doms. Every now and then I'll be impressed with a Warshade, but those khelds are kind of creepy, and there's a dire shortage of slots, in my opinion (like every other build of mine, lol) I know when I first started to play on retail, I think my first character was a tank. And then I got stone armor, and it looked like someone crapped all over my character! (The costume options, and the options to reduce FX from various auras and such were not as they are now) So, I logged that one off, and never played it ever again. It eventually got deleted, because back then we only had 10 slots per shard. I think at some point VIP got another 10? But I could be remembering wrong. In any event, try to figure out why you're discontinuing playing the current character. Is it the content? Is it some confusion about what to do next? are there struggles with your character missing a lot, or being defeated? Once you share that with us, we may be able to help reduce this alt-ism you're concerned about. Just be clear on one thing, if nothing else: Making alts in normal! We have 1000 slots for a reason!

I just hop around using the aforementioned macro. Unteamed, this will take me about 6-8 events, teamed, maybe 2-3. Just depends how good your teammates are at spotting and destroying the bombs. When you spot them, it may be difficult to notice, but the longer the red line is, the closer the bomb is to blowing up! So, be sure to prioritize those if you happen to have multiple bombs dropping in the same proximity.

So, I've had discussions with others before about "alt bloat", wherein you have made a lot of different alts - usually in a very short span of time, and for any number of reasons, some or all lay dormant. Here's an example: Somewhere around 167 days ago, I had done something with the uncommon salvage they possessed, probably because I refuse to ever pay more than 2k for uncommon salvage. I've since taken steps to ensure I'll never have to log in to so many characters, but it should be pretty evident, just on this page alone, other than the one character that did a spur of the moment hami almost a week ago, these characters have gotten no play. Some of them will likely never get played again. So, what I've been trying to do is do a respec on those - unslot everything, and stash what's useful, and sell what's not. The dilemma is the value of some enhancements are not that great. Hardly worth the burning of converters, to be honest. And there's no way I'm going to just dump them for 100 inf or something ridiculous. So, in many cases, I'll dump the enhancements into a bin, where the next alt will pick and choose in that pile and use what would be best for that alt. And, candidly, I'm running out of room. Sometimes, a dormant alt is as good a place as any to stash enhancements. From the super/winter packs, I have so many unslotters in my character email, that any one of these dormant characters can just unslot what's useful. Eventually, the goal is to delete all but 10 of my preferred characters on each account. That would still leave me with 40 characters, lol. But I think it would free up some names, and when I want to make a new alt, a new name is easy enough, although I might not get my first choice. Some of them will get played again. Like if they're at vet level 14 or something, and t-4'd, I'll undoubtedly start playing each one of these until I get them all a certain amount of merits or badges. If they were enjoyable enough to get to t-4, I'll have fun with them again, I suspect. It's just kind of annoying to log in, and sift through 10 pages of level 50s to figure out what you're going to play. So, lately, I've been trying to increase the goals before I retire the alts. I think 100 hero merits is a good point to stop. But I may just pursue 1k badges. Or just whatever feels right in that moment. I just wish I could have another 5 storage bins or 50 more in my base. But until then, there's the 2nd and 3rd sg bases. Fixed that for you. And, I strongly suspect there are about 10-20 players with more than yomo or me. I think there's a number of players who look at Yomo and think, "Is that all you have?" I can't imagine how much inf I would have if I marketed half the day with an afk farm running for days on end, only stopping for maintenance and to vendor the stuff not worth crafting. Mind you, I'll have a day or so like that, and I used to have quite a few of those days back to back before page 4. But I'm kind of enjoying gathering the prismatics and monstrous aethers while playing. And the cheaper the IOs get, the farther my lil stack of inf will go.

@Water certainly nailed what I was referring to. It's a shame the temp is no longer available. I have a clear memory of being Recluse's Victory, and needing only to defeat Positron to complete all the PvP badges. I was reluctant to recruit, because...well, no telling who might want to actually PvP. So, I figured I'd try to solo Positron. It was totally ridiculous the number of times Posi killed me. I finally just said "screw it", and got the big pet Spider from one of those 3 spots in zone, my HVAS, my Shivan, a Summons from p2w, heck, I even released the stupid gears from penny yin, the werewolf, the Amy temp from katie hannon...every npc temp ally I could - including the knight errant. I finally killed posi, and that knight errant was the only pet remaining. Too chaotic for me to see why - could have been sheer luck. But I had been trying to get one for a while. Didn't realize it just wasn't possible any more.

Elitism...can I just say that if someone calls you an elitist, (referencing to in-game), that's pretty high praise. I would never consider that a negative. The folks that do the "meta" (I really hate that word. Game within a game? It's all the same game!) on advanced mode are people who have learned a lot about mechanics, builds and the specific content. I kind of envy their ability to enjoy the harder stuff in game. And I don't think for a second these folks didn't spend time on their builds and learning the content. I'd guess some folks put more time in learning this than any homework assignment they might have done as kids in school. I have a lot of respect for players like Projector, Makerian, Ammonia, and the lady from Wales with the nice voice...Parr? Para? (Weirdo me, I can remember she's from Wales, but not her character's name) who can just pop into any of the hard mode stuff and finish it as fast or faster than a pug can the standard version of the same TF. To me, that's a beautiful thing - to be able to do that. Thankfully, they carried me in one of their 1* runs so I can observe from the sidelines. The only way I'd run one again is if I knew the players and enjoyed their chatter over discord or team chat.

This is a LOT of information packed into a popmenu! Just the utility of the motes is super handy! I appreciate your going to the trouble. Thanks for sharing it.

I have never thought about the half way mark. I'm all about "Step-wise refinement". Take a big problem, make it smaller. Want an accolade? determine the badges required, take the steps to get one, then the next, and so on. I've never looked at leveling as a journey. I've always looked at my "play" as a series of goals. In some cases, it's accolades or badges, some cases it's reward merits. I rarely even consider XP, because we get it doing just about any fighting anything close to our level.

In Grandville, Fly is faster than everything. Not in most other zones. Certainly not in PI. Certainly not in mission maps. Fly is slow.

So, anecdotally, before they "fixed"/"changed" the Paladin event to what it is now, it used to be, we'd defeat Paladin and the bosses (can't recall what they were called) and get this knight errant temp power. I know I've clobbered Paladin and not gotten this temp. And I just helped to prevent Paladin's construction, got the knight errant badge - but no temp. How are we earning this temp power nowadays?

I have no idea what the answers to these questions are, but it would be nice to get some insights that made sense. The afterburner power makes it obvious that fly can certainly be faster. Why afterburner isn't the default speed of fly...I have no idea. I see no reason why it isn't. I would probably take fly more often if it were. But afterburner shutting off...I have no idea who thought that was a good idea. I'm sure there's a reason. And probably a good one. Just no idea what it is.

You must hurry and make an alt named "Uncle Touchy". Funny stuff.

Have I mentioned that I can be obtuse? 2 months later, and I finally get it.

Thanks - I had been in that thread, but once I saw a bunch of uses, I stopped checking in - and that's when Voltor posted about this TF specifically. I'm all too horrible in that regard. I'll have an interest in something, and then I'll get distracted.

For most of you, this is not going to be a surprise. For me, it kind of was. I did a Katie Hannon TF a day or so ago, and I thought, this would be a good use for the new Mark & Recall accolade. A teammate said it would only work with allies that fight, like Dr. Todd in Moonfire, or (proven to me, by me, the Rescue the Fortune Teller mission). Well, while planning on getting the Sheer Will accolade, because...for red side requirements, they're all merits, so why not? I had done a Tarikoss the other day, and a Renault last night. So, next on the list was Silver Mantis. I'm technically at work. And I was curious if Mark & Recall would work on the first mission. I started it solo - just to test it out, not planning on finishing it. Much to my surprise, and in contrast to what I was told by a well-intentioned teammate - it does work! The tattoo artists do not fight. They're not allies. Just a couple of Tsoo ink artists. But here's where the real surprise to me was: A fire/natty corruptor solo'd Duray like he was a weak Elite Boss, not an AV. Maybe I'm misremembering how strong AVs are? I know not all AVs are the same. I would have much more thought into tactics against Ghost Widow or Lord Recluse. But I mean, Duray ran more than he fought. To be real clear, I didn't use any super inspirations. I didn't use my envenomed daggers, or summons (I had both in case I needed them, but I really didn't realize how effective this character would be solo. I made this character specifically to maximize my merit earning. I have one that sits in the abyss, but as you all know, you get 80 the first time, and 40 the next (in an 18 hour window). So, I thought to just remake one, to get 80 on an initial run. More useful for weekends on Okie's overflow raids, or when he does an earlier raid. Now, it did take me 2 hours to complete the TF. But 60 minutes of it, I was outside in my garage on the rower. Gotta get my workout in before it gets too hot, and work calls cause too much distraction. And the mark& recall probably saved me 5 minutes or so. I know many characters can solo AVs. I just assumed they were doing what I did - use supers, summons and envenomed daggers. I guess the natty debuffs are stronger than I give them credit for - or, I think more likely, lower level AVs just aren't as hard for an exemplared 50. Is my being super impressed with this AT and power combo an over-reaction? Recognize, I've been playing this game since issue 3. I'm 3rd rate speeder at best, but I wouldn't say I was highly skilled. Just better than mediocre. Maybe better than average at blasting. But overall, better than mediocre. Why was this so, well...easy? (and of course, I was running at 0/1, as it started as just a test.)

It is true the thread was about an anecdote/incident in a TF. And while somethings might be "entirely possible", that doesn't necessarily make it enjoyable or optimal. I've played a couple of MMs to 50. They're not my thing. I think I just let my thugs and beasts follow behind me during the pylon phase. None of them made it, but I didn't care. It was an MSR. But - I was on Excelsior where it used to be fairly common for folks to put an attack on auto-fire and come back 25-30 minutes later. It may still well be common. Lunar is on Indom. They wait (to my impatient perspective) FOREVER just to get 4-5 teams. So, one player's solution may not fit all players. I suspect they would miss the damage, although I could be wrong. Still, while I cede the point that MSR and Hami raids are distinctively different than a TF, it does illustrate at a minimum why someone would use the power and be perfectly in their rights to do so. Even if it does take my fire tank in the air where I can't use burn. It'd be my own fault. Mind you - it wouldn't make me any happier. But, as mentioned, there is a solution for that. I take the side of the leader in the OP's post to a point. But kicking over a playstyle thing is a bit silly to me. The only power that really drives me nuts is that distortion field, or whatever it's called where you can't damage the npcs (and they can't damage you). I can totally get why a squish might activate it in certain situations, but not in an MSR, lol. (although I've seen it done!) I would say half of the problems most of us have in this game with other people is communication. Sometimes, too much communication. Sometimes, not enough.

If I say it in the right place, at the proper time...it's a possibility.

Just feedback - I like it! I was seeing a few folks wanting to do the Labyrinth, but with diminishing returns, I was reluctant to return in the same day. No more excuses!

I was grabbing some explorations for the merits in Echo: Rikti War Zone before maintenance. And I looked/skimmed through, and used CTRL+F and types in Echo: to see if /when this became a thing. My search-fu came up empty. Do we know when they did this? And why?