Ukase

It's not my intent to defend "mr first post ever", but when they state "balanced around level 25 enhancements" (I took the liberty of correcting the spelling/word choice. No idea what an enchancement is), my guess is they are still working with level 25 enhancements. Hopefully basic IOs and not level 25 SOs that are now red and inert. No idea what their build is, but I'm guessing they're not using any sets or procs. It is a different game, really. Playing with just SOs requires more knowledge and experience, I believe, to have a similar experience as a player with IOs and Set bonuses.

Last night, a gladiator mentioned they got their power from the motes...6 motes, I think. Possibly 7. And that "even you might be able to siphon some of the power". I suppose that mystery will be revealed when the time is right. (Side note: mote is a particularly obscure word. I haven't seen it anywhere outside of the Bible, in reference to something in the eye. Kudos for using it.) I've been trying to keep an eye out for the gladiators and the malevolent fogs. Figured if I saved up 4-5, I might be able to get out of the fog...but even with the insp active, that utility is very brief. Maybe 5-6 seconds. And it was a bit saddening that I couldn't speed-phase through the maze. I need to take one of my tp characters in there and see how that plays out.

The level shifts inside the labyrinth are interesting. As I understand it - the level shifts I have at one moment are earned by other players in the zone, in addition to the ones I earn for defeating a malevolent fog. I was thrown off by my first experience with the shifts, because I started at 10 shifts. It seemed odd that a 54+6 (or so) boss was surrounded by level 54+1 mobs. Typically, if I'm 5 levels above a minion, I can one shot them. That doesn't seem to be the case here for whatever reason. I'm relying on color, rather than the level ranks, because I don't want to take off my socks to do the math required. Entering the labyrinth earlier yesterday, I had no shifts. I look around for fogs to earn more shifts. But they are only temporary. 5 minutes if I'm recalling correctly. So, time of day (and the resulting population and objectives/goals of those other players) is going to factor in the shifts and how much fun/interest there is going to be for anyone that's there. I think an experience like this, if people want to get the most out of it - they're going to need to rely on groups. The lower populations are going to struggle with this, I think. I have no idea what a solution could be or would be, and I could certainly be wrong, but I don't see this getting a lot of play on those servers. The Malevolent Fogs (pinatas) seem to be randomly placed, which is fine, as it encourages explorations. Same with the gladiators. The problem with the gladiators is they are also randomly placed and the ability to fight them is also somewhat random. I think if you're within a 2-3 shifts of what they are, the potential to fight them should be a higher percentage. I only say that because I'm thinking of the badge. Anecdotally, I've had poor luck getting the option to fight them. I might rethink that if they spawn at 54+10 while I'm 50+1. I guess what I'm hoping for is more of a chance to tackle them while having somewhat of a challenge, but not a level playing field. I am thinking it might be better to increase the duration of earned shifts while the population of the zone is less than X, whatever fair value X might be. Maybe it's 8, or 10. Or 5. But if you're in a low population labyrinth, it might be helpful to have a little more duration.

Change is scary. But as much as I usually hate adapting to change, I reluctantly recognize that to change nothing will result in tedium and boredom for everyone, eventually. So, I appreciate the sacrifice of time, even if I don't always appreciate each change. The one thing about the labyrinth - a word that I rely heavily upon spell check to type out accurately - the place is interesting. I've never had the same experience there. Each time it's a little different.

No idea if it needed confirming, but I did confirm Just to add my perception of this peculiar zone: I've been here 4 times on 3 characters. Each time the experience has been different. Some times it's easier to find the gladiators..at least, anecdotally, my blasters seemed to have a radar for them. My brute and tank...not so much. No matter what door my brute or tank took, I could NOT find myself in the foggy maze. I found this odd, when the first time I was in there, it seemed like every other door led to the foggy maze. I did recognize that the click area is not the portal itself, but the platform it's on - at least, that's how it looks on my screen. So no further worries there, thanks for the tip. I also found this! Thank you! No idea if it was there the whole time and this is the first time I noticed it, but it's so useful to just port there instead of going there through the zones to get the club.

I have also come Down with the Cygnus. It was such a strange thing. I like to look out for league leaders; so I gave them a free PL. (I rarely allow anyone on my farm maps. But, If I know they know what they're doing, I don't mind so much) Then the next day, they're leading me (and others) on an MoUGT. (successful)

This will be a somewhat incomplete assessment. Trying to test the warriors while assessing the MA secondary on an ice primary corruptor. So, my first pass, the character will only be level 25 - possibly 26 if I ouro won't give me the option to do a specific arc at 25. My first thoughts are about the animation for Toroidal Bubble. I have no idea how good or bad the power may be - but the animation is enough to skip the power. It looks pretty weird. Tide pool...well not sure what to think. If I were using a male avatar, I'd be looking for a urinal. It could just be the costume creator and my system having some lag or latency issues. A lot going on with my machine now. As I read another's post - I should be more clear - the only thing I see is a splash of water from the waist of my avatar. Brine...I'm older. I'm not the only one who's older. The icons for Brine and Tide Pool look a lot alike. I can just barely tell the difference. The larger white area at the bottom.., the circular arc over the top of the "explosion" vs the arc under in the other one...Maybe a different icon for one of them? White cap...this power took me by surprise. I used Tide Pool, and placed the reticle at the warriors feet - maybe 60 feet away. Then used white cap and I was instantly there, or they were where I was...pretty neat. I hadn't realized it was a self-teleport. The thing is - it automatically goes to where the target is - which I loved! I don't have to make ANOTHER macro to execute it. That is - I just target and mash the button, it fires. This self-teleport doesn't work like Shield Charge or Lightning Rod, nor Savage Leap. Nor Spring Attack. It's the only one that just ports you and knocks them down and does damage. It's awesome! That said, I don't think everyone will see that as a feature. But I do. If the stats for the debuffs go unchecked...this will likely replace ice/cold as the next meta corruptor. Or maybe they shouldn't stack? I dunno. They seem strong.

It's no secret I type too many words. This will be a bit incomplete due to my own time constraints. I went about this a few different ways. With a 50, exemplared, doing Crown of Glory, on my fire/fire brute at 0/8, because if I were exemped, that's how I'd likely run it. First - no real surprises here challenge wise. A level 50 exemplared (and a fire brute at that) will never have much trouble with warriors - but they did floor my defenses by more than 50%! I am capped at 90% s/l, (even at level 25), so I can type this with burn on auto. I did enjoy the different look. It's nice to see the npcs dressed in something different, where they don't all look like they shop at the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Not that there's anything wrong with vintage clothing, but they are different people. They wouldn't likely all be wearing the same thread-worn pants. So, the new look is nice. Next, to try and be efficient, I'm going to take a level 26 ice/marina (also through ouro) and run it the way I think a "beginner" or inexperienced player might if they were to do it solo. I didn't use sets. Just basic IOs. Level 26 (so I could use Ouro instead of doing the first arc of Mercedes) I think my primary was more to blame than the secondary. Having blizzard at level 26 is a bit nuts. I like it - but since I'm not using any special IOs, I am gasping for breath. To be expected, I suppose. I will know more with some more slots. Frankly, I noticed from combat stats that my defense gets floored a lot more quickly. (referenced above - probably noticed it more because of running at 0/8 instead of +1/2 ) But, if I'm not monitoring that, I really don't notice much. It's hard to tell if it's because I'm playing with just basic IOs, or any changes in the mobs. Still, it's easy enough to get through without much risk. It's worth mentioning at level 26 - there's like a smidge of defense from Combat Jumping...but other than that, there's nothing. No resists either. Kind of like being in a 4*lgtf. Reliant on buffs...but there are no buffs, lol. This is really hardly worth posting, but it's worth seeing how the set runs at lower levels instead of just 50. Still, while it would take some getting used to - I like the set. I will make one when it hits. I don't know what the primary will be, or even the AT, but I will be making one. One note - may be worth mentioning. A lot of ambushes with this arc I'm doing. I do think a newer player would struggle with some of what seem to be harder hitting lieutenants and bosses. If I had done fire, I'd have done a lot worse. The mitigation ice brings to the table is useful and something I'm comfortable with. I would anticipate some newer players expressing some dismay if they're accustomed to easy mode. Not a lot of players, mind you, just a few. As for me, I'm probably too obtuse to see anything change.

So...I think it's worth typing this out - because some folks read the patch notes, and have brilliant minds and remember what they read an hour ago. Others...not so much. I had to do a fair amount of tabbing in/out to see if I could figure some things out. First - folks need to be aware that the place is going to be different every time. Go down a hall, take the first door on the left, you might come out at place "X". The next day - take that same door, you might come out at place "Y". At least, that's how it worked for me. I wanted to get back to fog, armed with my ghosts of draught inspirations and I couldn't even find the fog. Also much different from yesterday, my level shift was at 1, not 10 like most of last night. In fact, I don't think it changed at all last night. Whereas, this afternoon, it went from 1 to 6. And the minotaur was stalking me for most of it, while I was trying to clobber the malevolent fogs. Thankfully, he doesn't hit too hard. But while 8 incarnates were hitting him, he took almost zero damage. He's like a Tyrant level AV, being 54+6 and we didn't have any ultimates. We were 50+3 at the time, I think. I guess I should be grateful I hit him at all. My next time, I'm going to try and see how/if the xp in there stacks when you're not level 50. Or at least try to. Those npcs are hard to kill if you're solo. At least, they were hard for me to kill and survive.

A minor thing - in the "safe" area of the lobby, I hop up on the pedestal to click on the portal to enter..and I'm not close enough. I have to get closer still. It just seems like the distance shouldn't need to be that close to click on it. There is another thing I'd like to see - another path to get to the content. The midnighter club locations - Steel, Croatoa, Founders and Cap... The locations themselves..nothing wrong with them, but there's no path to get there quickly. LRTP to Steel, half the zone to the club. Founders is a little better. Cap is better still. But it would be nice if additional transfer points were also in Pocket D, Grandville and Peregrine Island. And...just maybe...not sure right now if this would be more annoying than funny. I entered a van in the labyrinth that looked suspiciously like one of the two vans in Pocket D. I thought, "Could it be?" I don't see any fliers promoting it...but I wouldn't have been surprised at all to find myself in Pocket D or Echo Plaza.

I want to give these a look today. I see the changes, but it's not super clear to me what a bullet point like this actually means: Warriors with Crossbow levels 20-39 replaced with Crystal Arrow at 40+. Does this mean a Crossbow Warrior that's level 25 is going to have access to the Crystal Arrow that previously wasn't available to them until 40+? I am thinking of auto-leveling a corr with marine affinity to look at that at the same time - and doing the Mercedes Sheldon arc with that huge map (the atta map is what I call it in my head). The arc is called Crown of Glory, and it's a 20-24 arc. Would it be best if I just ran through it as I normally would and just report what I liked, didn't like, or something else?

There's a number of reasons - most already listed - for this drought of success on Master runs. The biggest is simply an absence of knowledge. My father, who taught all manner of business courses - Economics, Investments, Real Estate, Finance...etc. shared with me this: The only way to really learn something is to teach it. It stands to reason people fail at Master runs because they haven't run the content enough to have mastered it. That's not to say that even the best players can't make a mistake and get defeated. It happens. Just not very often. Experience is a great teacher. Some say the best teacher. This is why I tend to look at the badges potential teammates have before things start. True, some folks with 47 badges at vet level 50 can be better players than someone who has a 600 badge count. But generally - the 4 passive accolades are likely indicators of a player who has invested in their character and may prove to be more prepared than someone who hasn't invested in their character. Please understand - it's not cast in stone. Some folks with a high badge count are carried along by a strong SG. Nobody with a badge count over 1200 gets there solo. The community has helped them at some point. But, it's my opinion that high badge counts lead to higher badge counts. When people are willing to invest that time in their characters, it tends to suggest they will do what they can to get the same badge you also want. But, you may have to do a cheap imitation of Cadd and recruit, and explain to succeed.

So, when I heard this voice, flashbacks of Advanced Mode LGTF came to mind. So, that was fun/interesting. I never did see the Minotaur. Probably for the best. I was trying to orient myself. I noticed the elevators have labels - gamma, epsilon, etc. So that could potentially be a way to orient one's self. I did talk to three gladiators. One said something that didn't make any sense to me. The 2nd one attacked me, and I summarily dispatched him. The 3rd one gave me some kind of a warning. I got this badge by sheer accident - and if I didn't get it by accident the first time, I'd have gotten it a second time. I found one of those ??? spots, but couldn't get out without ending up in the fog again. I am guessing there is a way out of there - you just have to wait for those white or black lines to show you the path. But, I haven't figured that out yet, if that's even correct. As for just looking around, I kept expecting the mobs to see past my token 65 feet of stealth. I was able to zip around with no issues - except once. An Ancestral Spirit saw me, I guess. Now, I've read what's in the patch notes, and I recognize this is best experienced with a team. But what I haven't determined yet is what exactly am I supposed to experience? I'm looking for this minotaur, and he's looking for me, presumably - odd that after an hour, never even saw him. Seems like he should be hanging out in the fog. Bound to run into him there. But I guess if I ran into him, there wouldn't be much point in going back. Got a couple of these from clobbering....a pinata? Can't recall the name of it. Just seemed like a punching bug - and I guess the whole purpose of it is to get these inspirations. Seems like it should hit back or something? It didn't do anything. Maybe it was stuck in the storage racks. I'll take a look again tomorrow, see if I can't find something else to "test". I don't think I tested anything though; I just experienced a fraction of it.

I like the idea, but if they're in the midst of a story arc, that kind of puts them in a situation where they lose out on time investment if they don't finish. Maybe at the start of an arc. if applicable.

When you wrote "in order", I can only hope this is a figure of speech, and not that we have to collect the badges in the order listed. Dare I assume that if you already have these badges, you don't need to re-earn them?

I have an embarrassing memory of being on Champion and hosting an MSR, with support from @amygdala and her friends. And I was telling people to start at pylon 11, and apparently, they were accustomed to starting at 17. I suffered some temporary confusion. Some of which is apparently persistent.

I have got to train myself to look at post count. It's just not something I normally do. That has to change.

There's some meat on this bone. (merit to the argument) Unfortunately, it's obscured by a vile barbeque sauce. (you're not being specific enough - and you're letting your frustration cloud your writing.) So, I know what the OP is referring to. And - in a small way, he is accurate. There are a number of players that struggle with these changes. Now, most of these players are latching on to teams to carry them through these now, more challenging missions. Some of them don't feel comfortable teaming for whatever reason and whether it's poor build, or not enough practice. the changes are hard for some of the more fragile ATs to overcome. This below is more a theory of mine. I have no "proof". It's just what I think based on what I've read and experienced in game. ************** It's not a mystery to me this is by design. I continually have to remind myself "I'm a guest here". And sometimes, when I get heated, I forget. But, the powers that be - even though HC is funded by donations from the players, the direction is being controlled by a few who know more code than the rest of us - or at least, are willing to put the time in writing that code. Those players clearly want afk-farmers to become extinct. They want radio missions to be more difficult. They want people to team more often than not. And they want the content as a whole to require some sort of thought before we just slap any old enhancement into our powers. The theory they're working with is if it is too easy, people will get bored and do something else. And they also recognize that not everyone want's things super challenging. So, they allow us to change notoriety settings with ease, by using the tiny chat balloon by the text field where we type in chat. And of course, we can always get help if things are too challenging. ********************** I have stated before that some of these folks are very good at gaming in general. Fast reflexes, fast machines. Skilled, you might say. Able to think outside the box. Know the math behind procs and other game mechanics to create very viable characters for whatever the specific goal is. Some literally respec before specific TFs to cater their builds specifically for that effort. Most rely on a kin or a cold in some fashion; some are the kin or cold. Either way, when they create new stuff, it is with their own experience in mind. And then the folks that join them on the alpha, and then beta, try (and sometimes succeed) to get them to broaden or further refine certain parameters so the more of us might have more enjoyment. I look at CoH like a soft drink. Cryptic CoH was Coca-Cola Paragon was New Coke. The secret server was a foray into a home brew version of Root Beer that only people who were invited got to try. HC is a healthy person's Soda Stream. One day it's Grape. The next day it might be Banana. Thunderspy is kind of like Stone Cold's IPA. With alcohol! Or maybe just a home brew beer. Rebirth is a blend of New Coke and old Coke, and maybe some Pepsi. One thing is constant - it's all carbonated, and it's all liquid refreshment. Some of us drink too much of it for our own good. Another thing is also always going to be true. Some people love it. Some people like it, but say it has an after-taste. I think that's me. I like it, but it has an after-taste. And some hate it. I think our OP is probably not enjoying the last sip.

I never claimed 20-20 vision. I did expect many to disagree. But - as you said, there's life between 1-50 (non-incarnate). I specifically mentioned levels 1-20 for that reason. As for character concepts, if this is your thing, go for it. The closest thing I get to concept is spending 250 prismatics to make Mammoth Man as small as I can. And writing stale jokes in a macro. And since someone reading is curious: Situation: leveled "Oh, you really got to hand it to me. I mean, you really got to hand it to me. I can't reach." Situation: someone tries to be funny "Your jokes are going over my head."

Frankly, I don't want to see ANY new powersets until we have a lot more incarnate content (not to be confused with Advanced mode TFs), and a lot more level 1-20 content for both red and blue. Reason being - what good does a new set do if you can't do something new with it? Just my opinion, and nobody is obligated to agree or disagree.

1%? I would say you were very lucky indeed!

I haven't seen such truth on these forums since I made this reply. I can't speak for everyone else, but I just sent you 1 million influence!

People talk. I hear things. Something about a 10% chance of Incandescence spawning in RWZ. And other "Easter Eggs". I suppose putting these things in the patch notes would remove the Easter Egg status. Well, someone was bound to say something.

I completely get it. The forced respec is totally ridiculous design. It's like the original devs knew the AT was trash, but instead of reworking it from level 1, they just threw in the free, mandatory respec as an afterthought. The good news is - if you have transfers available, you can create it on Indom, and you'll get to level 24 probably within the first couple of hours of active play, or in 5 minutes on a farm.

I appreciate the advice. Didn't realize Power Sink was autohit. As for assault being wasted...interesting. I'll have to think about that some more. Focused Accuracy is a power I have been wanting to use, but the end cost is so high, I've been reluctant, as I think it would drive me right to cardiac for the alpha. I'll consider it, maybe try it on Brain Storm to see if it can breathe with it. Thanks