Ukase

I wish we had a way to toggle these to not drop. They clog up my tip mission list. I know there are some newer players who've never heard of vidiotmaps or ATCs pop menu (and others), but I've never had to use these. By now, I have most zones memorized. A clever idea for the new or rust-laden returning player, but I would venture a guess that most folks don't use them.

So, this took me by surprise. Belladonna Vetrano, one of those "incarnate story arc" contacts has a personal mission. Was doing it to get "Embodiment of Law" badge. For those that don't know, in this mission, you take on the form of Tyrant, or Marcus Cole. And you completely annihilate all the forces of Lord Recluse, much like any level 50 fire blaster would annihilate a mob of level 8 Skulls in Perez Park. Easy. And then, suddenly, I get a gladiator badge from defeating Fortunatas. I can't recall how many I needed. It wasn't many...but there were at least a couple of Toxic Tarantulas in here, as well as a number of Mu Guardian bosses. Historically, I would do 2 things for Mu Guardian bosses - camp out near the villain base, as there's always a couple near there. Or, I'd tackle the first mission of MLTF, and just target the toxics, the forts, and the Mu Bosses. Now - that still might be more efficient from a numbers perspective, but this map is super simple. Click a glowie, do a little sprint, then lay the smack down. I already had the Heat Seeker badge, so unsure if I'd have gotten credit for the Flyer, but odds would be against that anyway. Someone would have milked that for all it was worth if that was the case, and it would have been fixed, for sure. Just thought I'd share a very simple way to get forts and Mu bosses and Toxic Tarantulas, particularly if you're a squish, or you just like the feeling of laying waste to grey conning mobs.

I wanted to mention: the Family Bosses badge...after our "Tango Tuesday", where we were clobbering mobs until the Mino reset, if Family Bosses counted in there, I'm 100% certain my character would have more than the 1 it has now, because I got the kill shot on at least 3. I just assumed they didn't count because they were Elite Bosses, and not standard bosses. I can confirm I got the Hell Bane badge for defeating Caleb, and Heat Seeker, for the Arachnos Flyer.

Depends on the character. But I suspect, my higher end use toggles would finally get the end cost IO they'd been asking for. I don't often pursue damage procs because the math often doesn't support their use in the powers I'd want to use them in. I might squeeze in the +regen from that lower level health power...that I believe is called Regenerative Tissue. Or the Reactive Defenses: scaling damage resistance. I often struggle to fit that one in. Just depends.

So, if you're an active farmer, using AE is really more of a convenience thing, I'd say. Consider this: XP in AE is ...1/2 of what XP is outside of AE. The big advantage I've had using AE is the salvage drops, for whatever reason, are both arcane and tech. So, if I choose to farm outside AE (since I generally see no reason to farm for xp, but for the drops to craft and convert) I'd have to get Harvey Meylor's demon mission as well as one of Unai Kemen "dreck" maps, or that other-worldly council empire map, so I can get arcane and tech salvage. But, if you're afk-farming, while I've done that on the dreck map, I have to check back in very often, because it doesn't take that long to clear a group of freaks. Not really worth the inconvenience for what I've after.

The first thing I do on every character is turn off General Chat. Every once and I while, I turn it on - say something completely silly, like, "Wow, the Lusca mini-pet is so interesting!" and then turn it back off. In my marketing days, I would say something like "Sorry, I think the Miracle +Recovery is much better than the Numina +regen/end" and then say, "MT". Invariably, the miracles I had for sale would seemingly sell faster. I'm sure that's just a perception bias, but it didn't stop me from doing it, lol. Please, though, let's not discuss anyone's rage, unless it's in the context of a super-strength powerset power. Or Snarky's rage at the behavior of one of his random pug teams.

First, I want to commend the OP for asking the question. It's not easy to open such floodgates where people freely tell you how wonderful or evil you are. Second, grats on the drop. Whether you craft it or not, the folks that will understand the expense will be the nosy and/or greedy people like me, and what I like to fondly refer to as the enthusiasts - who endeavor to collect all of them. So, here's an alt of mine: When I am in the Abyss waiting for things to kick off, I'll be nosy and click on players whose names are unknown to me and see what there is to see. Sometimes, it's an interesting bio, and sometimes, I'm kind of surprised to see "out of the box" builds - like a blaster that doesn't take an epic armor. Like - it would never have occurred to me to not take one, so that's pretty interesting to me. But I also see these vanity pets. This alt of mine doesn't have a complete collection..and it may never get them. Time will tell. I am hoping to wait until crafting pet recipes counts toward the crafting badge. I'm afraid I was already through a lot of them before I noticed the counter wasn't counting. (supposedly marked to be fixed next patch) I initially assumed anyone that spent inf on these was either too flush with inf/merits/prismatics for their own good, or they genuinely find the pets rewarding. I don't know that anyone will think you're an awesome player for having them, but ultimately we each have to please ourselves, right? So, for this goofy character of mine - I've been doing things I rarely ever do. Piss away inf (opportunity cost) on various things like pets for starters. So, I say craft it or not, do what you like. But I think if you craft a lot of them, that might be something folks notice more...

An excellent question! I wish I had an accurate answer.

There's something to be said about a secondary that often tends to outshine the primary. This same dilemma the OP has slaps me in the face on corruptors, from time to time. You get on a team, or even recruit a team, and for whatever reason, they seem to require your buffs/debuffs more than the skills your primary provides. (I'm thinking of you, Natural Affinity) You have choices. You can just suck it up and let those lengthy activations take their time and buff/debuff the first 15 seconds, or you can alternate between primary and secondary. All up to you. Or you can just let those teammates potentially suffer while you attempt to take control. If you do it right, they'll never even know you made a choice. Easy to say, sometimes not so easy to do, depending on the level difference and your corresponding tohit/accuracy. As you dabble around with controllers, you recognize how challenging it can be to play one in the early levels, particularly if solo. But eventually, they become super powerful when played with a creative flair and a decent build.

I have so many insights and experiences to share, but rather than flood you with 12 and a half pages of my rambling pearls of wisdom, I'll just say this: Market conditions can vary. Not every bit of advice is accurate today as it was 12 months ago. Pay attention to the market if you want to play the market. Various methods for influence gain: ( I was going to rank them, but results vary with different players because of patience, knowledge and skills) Just play a level 50 Convert merits into tradeable loot - boosters, converters generally get the most inf. But look at catalysts and unslotters too, just in case the market shifts. Farming. But, it's not that great because you're not really playing a variety of things when you're farming. Just the same old thing. AFK-Farming - tends to require a lot of up-front investment for the better enhancements, but there's a case to be made for having a buff character on a 2nd account follow your primary around with buffs on auto-fire. Never tried this myself, not sure how it works. Or maybe you do this for regular farming if your build can't hang without buffs. Market - so many different ways to do this. Some are super clever. Some require a lot of patience. Some require a fair amount of risk. Within the market, so many ways: Buy cheap level 10 recipes, cheaper to craft. Convert, sell Buy packs, sell the contents. Packs tend to average 1.2 enhancements per pack. Generally, you can make a little influence if you can afford to buy a fair number of packs. Improve ATOs and Winter-Os. Requires patience and risk, but you can really make bank. A hero pack costs 10M. A superior ATO can go for anywhere from 10M to 20M, depending on who's doing the buying and the competition in that particular area. If you buy 10 packs and get 12 ATOs, slot, add a catalyst, then unslot and then sell them for 12-14M, you can recoup what you paid for the packs. And usually have an assortment of amplifiers, Experienced, and reward merits for your troubles. Convert merits into converters and/or boosters, or some other items depending on market conditions (already mentioned above) That's not even the half of it, there's a lot of other ways to make bank in this game. My best advice is to play a character you enjoy and let the inf roll in. Don't worry about it stacking up, because it will as you keep playing a character you like to play. When you come up with a clever idea for an alt, determine the build you want first. Accumulate the materials and have those ready before you even create the character. If you're like me, the mood passes and you keep playing the first one. Until the mood doesn't pass, lol.

A thousand apologies, sir. I have hidden the post!

I'm not real clear on what the rules are, but it seems to me if I'm at a crafting table and crafting a recipe, I should get some progress towards the crafting badges - assuming I haven't already gotten all that could be gotten. And on this character, I still need to craft another 1200 or so recipes. So, I had accumulated a fair number of these pet recipes from various gms - and they don't move the counter. I'm thinking they should, as I'm at a crafting table and crafting recipes. But, then again, it's an invention badge, and little Lusca certainly isn't an enhancement. But, I'm thinking they should..so figured I'd report it. Maybe it should be moved to suggestions? Not real clear on where it should go, or even if I should just take the loss and carry on.

Just on the very tiny chance the OP doesn't know - the "just load your character in and get 2x xp on Indom" - yes, that is over. But you can still get 2xp from START vendor.

So, this comment makes a lot of sense to me. And I guess it has to make me rethink my position. I was wrong. I do learn a lot from this particular part of the forum, on the "why" or "why not" something wouldn't work. Some of you are excellent at providing data which can allow me to independently reach the same conclusion.

I agree with your final conclusion, but not for the reasons you state.

Tabasco, please. I have more to say, but most of it is just opinion and may not belong here, so I hid it in a spoiler.

I have zero problem interacting with others. But I don't think your opinion or mine is relevant when it comes to the suggestions or feedback of other players. Context matters. If the idea reeks, I'm sure our dev team doesn't need us to tell them that. Maybe they do. It's just my feedback that we shouldn't give feedback. Because that leads to what we have here. You give feedback. I give feedback on feedback in general. I don't see any positives in giving folks a thumbs down, unless they're asking for reasons why we couldn't have something. Changes do not necessarily need to be in line with the style/previous content found in-game.

One of these days, this sub-forum will allow posts by players, with no replies from other players. At least, that's my dream. The OP makes a suggestion, and then others chime in about why it should or shouldn't change/occur. I'm not real clear on why we step in here and give our opinions that support or reject someone else's suggestions. I'm just as guilty as the next person, but it doesn't make sense. No matter how much logic is used, in more than a few cases, there's got to be some cases where a decent idea is tossed out because of negative responses, without getting any actual consideration by the people in a position to actually make the changes. Unfortunately, I think the nay-sayers make some interesting points. The idea that Fire and Dark armor don't have KB protection...yeah, that's a thing. Easily remedied, though. Well, sometimes easily remedied. Using a number of slots to increase kb protection to over 12...that's not so easy all the time. But there is no enhancement I'm aware of that protects against Fear. Maybe that could be a new d-sync? How many millions might that cost? Just a thought there. If I had my way, I'd give Protector the "I-win" button 'cause he's such a good guy. Have you seen his YouTube videos? He's not Logan Paul or anything, but that content!

I might play around with the animations, but the idea of someone else proposing that I spend my time tinkering with the color and hue of powers that I don't even know if I'm going to take strikes me as an unreasonable expectation. If you don't want to see the color of vengeance, stop with the needless defeats!

A while back, this post asked the question about if it was okay to not play well. Opinions varied there, as we would expect. Is farming in some circumstances resulting in rude play? Perhaps. Or perhaps we're all being a little too self-absorbed. Or maybe it's just me. I do think that players who play well tend to discover who else plays well. And who doesn't. And they find themselves teaming to together more often than not. And not teaming with those they deem rude, and/or not playing that well. And the players that don't play well, they still find Snarky, right? So, ultimately, other than becoming famous in Snarky's wonderful posts, there really isn't a downside other than a lost Master's badge every now and then.

Such a colorful way with words, as ever. lol I still think the msrs are a bit...well, routine. But given how many have been done by now, it should be routine. It's not that things can't go badly if you're not prepared with an adequate group. They can. Usually when there aren't enough 50s. Still, if you're not really doing anything else, it's decent way to get a vet level, perhaps. Or if you're below 50, it's a great way to get a fairly good chunk of progress. Myself, if there's no vanguard merits, it's a waste of time. I would just feel bad going there with a character under 35. Not sure why. Some folks have no problems joining at level 1. Just anecdotally, characters of mine that get too much XP too fast...I just don't have that much invested in them, so I don't play them as often. I can add, and confirm something I did not know, or if I knew, I forget. Your teammates clicking on the bombs gives you badge credit. So, I just focus on as many reds as I have until I hit the damage cap.

Mark & Recall accolade power is fantastic. When this new accolade power got released, I wasn't terribly impressed, as I didn't see much utility for it. But, let me tell you, this is a MUST-HAVE for all of my characters that intend to play any kind of content beyond simple marketing or farming. I am going to steal the requirements from @Bludgeoner. For mysterious reasons, his post was tossed into Feedback & Suggestions - and frankly, I don't think many people got to see it there. The requirements, which is basically Bludgeoner's entire post is behind this spoiler: So - now that you can see how to get it, maybe your next question is "why?" To save yourself the annoyance of escort missions. To save a little time. The what/how: For most of these situations, you have to ensure: 1) your stealth is off when you rescue the npcs. If they can't see you, they won't follow you. 2)That you are the one that did the rescuing, not your teammate who didn't use Mark & Recall. If your teammate rescues them - sometimes, it's just easier to forget about it, particularly if you're a slow typer, and they seem pretty new or obtuse. Some folks just won't understand what you're trying to do (or don't like the idea of it) But, if you have a "team player", tell them to move as fast as they can, stealthed, out of view, and hopefully you can pick them up and use the accolade to finish that objective/mission. 3) With some NPCs, like Katie Hannon, she's got pretty good vision. Turn your tactics off before you rescue her. It may be worthwhile to clear around the area a bit before you free her. 4) Most importantly, be sure you set the mark where you need to set it. It's not always at the entrance! Tarikoss SF: In the 5th mission, you have to free and escort a technician to a portal computer. You find the portal computer. Click on your Mark & Recall accolade. It will place a mark on your map, and it will spin, like a toggle does. Then you free the technician, and press the accolade power again, and you and the tech are instantly ported to the portal computer. Mission Complete! Silver Mantis SF: Use the Mark & Recall at the mission entrance. The first mission has you defeating 2 captains, Li and Lee. You're on your own with those guys. But the tattoo artists to bring to the entrance are in the back room. One is on the left as you enter the big room, and the other is just below him. Rescue both, then use your Mark & Recall to go back to the entrance. That objective is met. Operative Renault Strike Force: The first mission has you rescuing Barracuda and leading her to a portal. Use the Mark & Recall at the portal FIRST. Then rescue her, and make sure she's following you, (turn your stealth off) and use your Mark & Recall accolade to port to the portal. She will come with you. Jim Temblor (Faultline) Arc: The Rumblings of the Past: Fusionette can be a bit of an aggro magnet and a bit annoying for some players. Mark your spot at the entrance, free her, and port back. She comes with you. Mission Complete! Penelope Yin (Faultline) Arc: I lost my Daddy: In the last mission, you're to free Yin's dad and walk him back to the entrance. This saves you the walk. Moonfire TF: In the 7th mission, the objective is to free Dr. Todd and escort her to the entrance. Free her, and use ATT, or if nobody has that, or it's on cool down, you can use Mark & Recall to bring her back. John Houston (Independence Port, Rogue contact) The first mission has you rescuing Tunnel Rat and bringing her to the entrance. Place your mark, and rescue her, mash that button, mission complete. Crimson (Peregrine Island, Badge mission, Rikti Negotiator) Sadly, this one has you running to Founders to talk to Indigo for the sake of the story. But, once you get there, you can mission tp to 2nd mission, kill the boss, free the npc. (No escort required) The third mission is set for you immediately. They give you 2 hours and 30 minutes to finish it. Rescue the oddly named Rikti, and use the accolade to port both of you the mission entrance. (I Just complete this myself in 5 minutes, solo at 0/1 on my new level 50, fire/natty corruptor. Your times may vary. Got 7 merits for it, too. Seems kind of easy for 7 merits. ) Katie Hannon TF: I mentioned this above as an example, but when you rescue Amy, despite best efforts, sometimes Amy will get stuck. If you set your mark at the entrance, free her and then port back with the accolade, as promised in each example above, she'll come with you! You can also use it with Katie in the last mission. A little bit faster and less chance of aggro if you're sure she's following you. Again - make sure stealth is off. I know there are a number of other NPCs to escort in game - thinking of some of those safeguard missions, and one particular mission in Praetoria (you'd have to do this through ouro, can only get tip missions at level 20 and higher) comes to mind where you have to escort a very slow, injured person above ground. This npc moves slower than any npc I've ever escorted. I've repressed the memory and can't recall it. Sadly, the accolade doesn't work in PvP. I know I'd have a few more nukes if I could speed the process up with it. One other category I didn't mention is tip missions. There's a few that come to mind where the Mark & Recall would be handy. But I was doing those 25 tip missions to earn it and couldn't use it. But, if you find yourself doing some tip missions, the accolade may be more useful than you think.

I approve this message. As if it mattered whether I approved it or not, lol.

Is the name "Lead Head" already taken?

Interesting. Still, I'd say it's worth a look. My character Naughty Zoot is showing too much leg.