Ukase

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

I have been trying to play in Indom more often than not. Mainly because of the 2xp, and partially because I know most of the players I have run into have been at a minimum, competent. This slightly better than mediocre player needs all the competence around him he can get! First - absolute props for not splitting after pylon 4 between Pylons 5 and 7! On Excelsior, all these MSR leagues split there, and it is annoying to think I might miss out on those extra, tiny, all but useless 3 vg merits. And I'm being serious - I am that greedy! I try to go for personal bests, so I always want to get about 1400-1500 vg merits. I knew this was unlikely to happen due to the poor turnout. But, I digress. Last night during the MSR, particularly in the forming up and the initial moments, it's clear to me that you folks do things your own way - and that's fine, but I'm wondering why do you start at Pylon 17? Leader's privilege? Or is it just what you folks have always done?

You are absolutely correct. I wasn't looking at the context. Thanks.

HeadKase would be more accurate.

Hah, I was sure I deleted that post. I guess the title made the cut.

Well, I don't know the movie/book, but I remember this being stated in a German accent: "We have ways of making you talk!" I always thought it was about specific torture methods to encourage someone to reveal secrets. Turns out, it was a method to make you talk differently.

As long as your civil about it, I would try to be more strategic about it, if it were me. But I do wonder, even if you ask politely how you handle a negative response. You kick 'em? Just for some kb? I remember being on an ITF with at least 6 other players. Only one that I know of is still playing. An SG leader (not my sg, but a coalie SG), myself, another player who is very competent and has led countless iTrials, and a fire blaster (I was on an ice blaster) and a scrapper, and a brute. The fire blaster was getting chastised by the scrapper because the fire blasters Rain of Fire would cause the mobs to scatter, making things more difficult. The fire blaster apologized and said he'd try to time the fire better, so it would be to clean up, rather than drop on a fresh group. Five minutes later, I guess I was the one who dropped a rain. Now, I have an ice storm myself, which is basically the same thing as rain of fire, just a different element. Only they run away maybe a smidge more slowly. Scrapper begins to yell at me. I tell him - hey F that. He gets mad. I explain, the F is for follow, no need to get mad. Well, long story short, we only finished the TF because of the player who had led countless itrials got tired of all the whining and said let's just get this TF over with. Or words to that effect. I'm kind of lucky I wasn't kicked. But if anyone thinks I'm going to not drop damage because some scrapper wants to have his own tiny herd, that's hilarious. And if I get kicked, I get kicked. That was maybe 4 years ago? I have probably only done 5 ITFs since then. It just brings up bad memories of how some people can think what they want is more important that what anyone else wants. Now in this case - I was to blame, mainly for being thoughtless. It just never occurred to me to think about rain scattering mobs from a scrapper despite the argument that occurred 5 minutes earlier that didn't involve me. That's also why I think if you want to keep mobs near you - you make a tank or a brute. If you're on a scrapper, and you have that expectation, you're just not that experienced in this game. Or, you're accustomed to living with disappointment. Or you take fold space. I guess my ultimate point is - there are all kinds of powers that will have some kind of annoying factor for other players. Who doesn't love the sound of an MM's demons? O/ This guy here. I will never understand why MM owners don't dismiss their pets (like I did) as soon as they exit their missions. Not like they serve a purpose in Ouro. Lose them. They make too much noise! I don't avoid teaming with MMs because of their demon pets. I just turn my sound down. I don't avoid teaming with scrappers just because they tend to be so resolutely focused on one thing, they're oblivious to everything else. I don't avoid teaming with Snarky just because he pronounces melee very strangely over discord. (and you can bet he will chime in on how I pronounce hover, lol) Instead of us all thinking of annoying things, perhaps we could focus on the good stuff. Like the timely joy of an absorb pain from an empath. Or a timely ice patch from a slightly better than mediocre blaster which leads that freak tank that was going to rip your head off to bounce on the ice instead. There's all kind of good stuff to focus on.

I am unsure how to measure this. Do I count my time afk while the character sits in base, or in the mission? If I do count that time, it's generally 5 days or so. Sometimes 3. Melee characters, like my recent stone/electric Brute can run +4/8 in the 40's fairly easily, and quickly. The xp comes fast. My ranged characters could do that - but not as fast, nor as easily. So, it takes them longer. I try to avoid doing tfs, particularly the blue side ones. Sure, the merits are nice, but story arc content also offers merits, and I can go at my pace instead of the pace of a team. And it's not like I haven't done the tfs hundreds of times. With the story arcs, I can choose a different contact for a leveling path. If I just count the time I'm actively playing my character, it's probably about 12-15 hours.

I also saw Kaizen's builds - but while Kaizen is brilliant with numbers, I went with my gut on this. If I was lacking in endurance, I would seek out sets to address it. (or break the usual path of the 4 passive accolades and pursue them early. The biggest influence for me when it comes to any build is @Nemu. I don't generally copy his builds, but look for his out of the box thinking - because I don't really play the same way others play. At least, I don't think I do. And one big take away was using Arctic Breath from Leviathan Mastery - a patron I have never chosen before - but will now take any time it's available as long as procs continue to work the way they do now. It's really helped quite a bit. The mace satisfies that "crunch" that I might try to find in a bag of chips, so it probably saves me 300 calories every time I play it! Here is the build. I make no assertions that this is some uber fantastic build. It's just been fun to play, no matter what I was fighting - and that is unusual. Typically, there will be one faction or another that I get a lesson in humility, but Yogurt Justice seems to have a very good blends of resists/defense/dps - at least good enough to suit me. Aside from deliberate suicides for High Pain Threshold, and I want to say a couple of missions in Mr. G's arc, and one pug team, it's never been defeated. And that was pushing the envelope on difficulty as I leveled. By the time I got to the mid-30's, I was on +4/8. The biggest weakness seems to be a tendency to get slammed by -tohit buffs. Now, that could just be the factions I was facing, but that's what I recall as the most annoying. That was part of the reason for Resilient Alpha, to try and mitigate that a bit. I went with Judgement: Pyronic for the speed of the burst of damage, and a more controlled nuke. I went with Hybrid: Melee Core for a bit more resistance. There's more resistance to get if I toy around with the build, most likely, but I'm not sure I want to do that. Seems fun enough as it is. I went Destiny: Radial Rebirth mainly because I attend a few hami raids, and Hami couldn't care less about resist/defense, so barrier isn't that useful, and besides, barrier is what most people go for if they don't get incan. And I don't find incan that useful to me outside of maybe 5% of content. Went Alpha: Resilient Core for the ToHit buffs and extra damage resistance again. Interface was the usual Degenerative Core. The lore was just something different. Cadd and Cosmic are no longer doing The Really Hard Way, so there's no real reason to always go Banished Pantheon, so might as well pick something different, went with Knives of Artemis. Yogurt Justice - Arachnos Soldier (Bane Spider Soldier - Bane Spider Training).mbd

Personally, the sewers with the flies and the noises....that's enough realism. I do not need to see a cut scene with dialogue from an NPC who has some pressing matter to attend to, and it's not a Task Force arresting everyone within the building.

I am rude. Just ask anyone. I do try to be polite, but my default is rude. Nothing personal, I am just too obtuse to realize it most of the time. Or I'm too self-absorbed to pay full attention. Either way, I mean nothing sinister. But - the thing is - your fun is more important to you than it is to me. And the reverse is also true. I already wrote way too much on what's basically a "Why can't we all get along?" type thread. Now, if my fun is actually more important to you, or even on the same level of importance, then why have you not carried me through a 4*lgtf so I can have that useless ego sword trophy? I mean, it wouldn't actually be that much fun for me...because the rewards aren't that great...but still. It's about me, right? Did I mention I want it on my MM that I haven't played since it dinged 50? Yeah, that's really silly. Forget I said anything.

If you team often, the case can be made that the set bonuses you lose for slapping this IO in a given power can be made up with team buffs/debuffs. But if you just team every so often, I'm not sure it's worth it. At least, not in every case. But isn't that why we can solo? I like the overwhelming force damage/kb->kd. I use it often. But the other one? The set itself isn't horrible, but it's usually not what I'm looking for. While I don't actively seek to annoy my teammates (aside from bad jokes - those are quite deliberate), they usually aren't people I team with for more than a mission or three. Maybe a TF. But even so, if I can deal with the folks who Fold Space mobs away from me, then they can deal with KB. Again, if I have a character with KB, I generally know when/where to use it so it creates less work, instead of more work. (and I also sometimes avoid KB powersets to avoid these types of discussions. But, I am not someone to tell someone else to slot a given IO, even it makes great sense to me. I'll think it, of course. I might even buy it for them and gift it, if I don't think it would be an insult. But the truth of it is simply, as rude as it is - your fun IS more important to you than my fun. If you tell me anything else, I think you're being disingenuous. And my fun is more important to me. And that's perfectly okay. We're human, most of us. It's only natural that we look out for ourselves. Part of the beauty of this game is that so many of us with different ways of thinking and living can find a common goal and pursue it. It won't always be pretty. Some of you love a good team wipe. I hate turning on toggles. I wish they all worked like Temperature Protection - always on. I do think the onus of using powers properly is on the person with the power. If you have KB, then you should be proactive in using them so as to not cause your teammates to swear at you. (either to themselves or in-game) If you can determine the proper angles - great, kb away. If not - then maybe one of the IOs suggest could be the right move. If not, then I dunno what to tell you. I'll team with you, if we have the same goal. I can adapt. It might annoy me, but I can handle it for a tf, sure.

As Pete's uncle used to drill into young Parker's noggin, "With great power comes great responsibility". If you're going to use KB, I personally seldom care where the npc started, nor where they end up - until it impacts me somehow. And I'm not talking about being too lazy to use the F key. In my case, lately I've been on some characters that rely on the npcs being in my AoE to get some benefit to my character - whether it's Drain Psyche boosting my regen/recovery, or I'm using Fault on my stone brute to boost my recharge 100% for 10 seconds. Or maybe it's Consume for my fire tank. Regardless of what it is - when someone uses an ill-timed KB or Fold Space, it can have a negative impact on my character's ability to perform at the level I wish it were accustomed to. It's not the end of the world, because I've played energy blasters before. And - even on this stone brute that I just finished incarnating to t-4, when I'd reduce the difficulty just to get through certain missions for the reward tables, despite having zero problems with KB, suddenly, because I'm +1 or +2 or even +3, some of those mobs are flying. Even with my fairly recent bane, some of the mace attacks send lower level npcs flying. I was solo in these examples, so it's not the end of the world, but I can certainly understand why this annoys people. So, you just have to imagine your Peter Parker aka webhead and imagine how you're going to manage your great power. Don't knock them down the hall, knock them into the closest wall. Or - attack from above and have them kb'd into the ground. Or - simply take this approach with those who would presume to lecture you on how to manage your power: "Sorry - but I'm not sorry. Part of my fun is watching these npcs fly across the room. I'm not going to waste a slot just so you aren't bothered." Granted, that approach isn't going to win you any friends, but it certainly makes it clear that you're there to have fun. If they don't like it, that's just too sad. After all, KB is is damage mitigation. When they're flying where ever, they aren't doing any damage to you or anyone else. It can slow teams down, particularly those who aren't used to dealing with it. But we'll all live and be fine if the a given TF takes 2 minutes longer than expected.

You should see my thumbs. Not sure I can articulate how many times I miss that damn nail.

The concern then, and now is that if a gift takes away motivation to grab the carrot, then they may simply quit. It's kind of like giving your kids a fat inheritance. Are they going to withdraw from opportunities to grow because now they are wealthy? It's not that I insist they farm or I insist they don't farm. Or insist on anything. I just wanted to be helpful; but if it's more of a hand out than a hand up, it might be too much.

ApacheFog is a spines/fire brute I leveled up organically - outside of a farm. It can still farm, but I know there are better builds with higher dps than this one. And, because it has winter sets, it's not cheap. The 2nd build is a marked improvement for afk-farming, but would not fare as well outside of the farm. You can take a peek at either/both and keep what you like, get rid of the rest, or just get some ideas. ApacheFog - Brute (Spines).mxd SpinesfireBrute - Brute (Spines - Fiery Aura).mbd

One thing I learned recently from @Projector other than using a zero to confuse people when they type your name in game, and that's a strategic use of psi-damage procs. Nemesis, Paragon Protectors and Cyclops and Minotaurs are no longer an issue.

I just did this arc yesterday on three characters. (and yeah, the population was below 1200, so I did collaboratively complete all BUT the finale) So, the OP is correct in the sense the tentacles seem to be a bit of a waste of time. The final mission...well, if you're not a fan of KB, just run forward to the front of the map and work back. I've heard it said "The same thing that will make you laugh can make you cry." This is quite true when it comes to Imperious and, I think Daedalus, too. They think I'm doing so well, they clap their hands and the npcs all go flying. Well, something like that. I do kind of like the smoked over Cim map, because it demonstrates the carnage that has taken place, compared to how it looks normally. I tend to use a target macro to find the Cims, the minotaurs and Cyclops. I pretty much trip over Marcus the first couple of steps. It's kind of nice to get a break from Dark Astoria. I know they got rid of the fog, but there's still some crazy noises in that zone. If I were Excellent programmer for a day who could change ONLY one thing, I am not sure what it would be. But if I could change 5 things, I don't think this would be on that list. Heck, I don't even think I have a list, but I should probably make one. I mean, all that influence should lead to influencing someone, right? Can I do away with the zone hunts in Croatoa? Please? Those Fir Bolg are never in the proper zone when you need to clear them from the zone. I literally have to pull them or teleport them in to advance the arc.

Then how do you know I'm even there?

I'll be transparent, I never even thought about those folks. I imagine I'd be the best (Inf paid on time and in full) and the worst customer ever (doesn't know what he wants, but will know it when he sees it) I have seen the work of some of those folks and they're fairly fancy. I appreciate you reminding me. I never want to step on anyone's hustle - unless it's my hustle first, then watch your toes, cuz I'm gonna stomp!