Ukase

I think the same can be said for a lot of things in game. Some players simply do not struggle with this game, in any fashion, nor at any level. At least, that's the way it APPEARS to me. While I am only a 3rd tier speeder, I was fortunate enough to be in an SG just about a week or so after the doors opened, on Torchbearer. I am proud to say I was on the league with the first league to get Really Hard Way since HC opened. Now, take that with a grain of salt, because I'm only assuming that because at that time - Torchbearer was the only server. At least, that's how my brain remembers it. I know it was before Excelsior was created. I simply took it for granted that the SG leader/League leader was telling the truth. He was always super nice to me, but like me, he didn't quite use a filter with a GM (I think that's why, not real sure and don't really want to know, none of my business and all that) and got himself indefinitely banned. As far as I know, he plays on Rebirth, and dabbles a bit on his own homemade server. (which gives 3 extra slots!) So, I say all that to share this: Now - to be super clear - I wasn't on ANY of these teams. But let me shed some light. (most of these times are from 2019-2020, before a lot of the macro base tp changes, when you could zip out of a mission to base quickly) Each one of these TF/SF/Trials has certain nuances that smart folks can grasp and take advantage of. They literally would do a respec before some or most of these TFs to utilize as many tricks as they know how to go as fast as they could. And that's the rub. They made it look super easy, but each of those guys would craft the build in mids, share it on their discord and tweak, adjust, suggest, revamp, modify - all kinds of changes to eke out what they could for each specific character. When you add that level of preparation to TF/SF/Trial knowledge & experience (when to use Ouro to exit, when to slap down an SG portal, for example) and the honed eye/hand skill of what I would refer to as very skilled gamers, it's not a surprise they made things look easy. This was the one team I was on. It was more corruptors than anything else. I was on my ice/ice blaster. I'm sure I was carried. Sorry, I am a bit proud of these guys, even if they are pretty crude on the discord. But I think the point I make is pretty clear - difficult things might look easy, but spending hours on a build, constantly tweaking and revising it - that's not easy at all. It's why folks are always sharing builds, because it's so easy to miss stuff. (at least, it's not easy for me) Behind every player who makes things look easy is probably a lot of time spent struggling, learning. This is why I am almost always against changes to the game. The new player has SO much to digest and absorb already. Adding new loot, new ways of doing things - without changing the in-game documentation - it just leads to a lot of head scratching and frustration for that new player. The game is supposed to be fun, and getting frustrated due to obsolete or incomplete information ain't fun. And that's not really HC's fault. Paragon had a LOT of incomplete information. To this day, I'm unclear how I made my account for retail and never realized there were forums. I think I played for 6 issues before someone suggested I visit them and learned they existed. Probably because I had the unlimited play code in the box and never had to register on the forums? I dunno. Either way, just felt I'd add that sometimes difficult things look easy, but they're not.

A new feature? Apologies, @lemming When I looked at your post, I didn't see the link for whatever reason. Given what I don't see on the wiki about donations, I might need to invest in new memory.

I suspect this is a display glitch. I'll elaborate. I could most certainly be wrong, but if I use the market on Character 1, and finish my business, log off, and then log in Character 2, when I open the AH - I see the exact same things I saw for character 1. But only for about 5-20 seconds. If after a fair 20 seconds all your icons were just as they were before you respec'd, I would open the enhancement management screen and see if the server actually registered your final "Finished/Done" click at the end. If you don't click that - it's like the respec never happened. I suspect it's one of those 2 scenarios: 1. Display delay or 2. Respec never finalized.

The first thing I would do is a respec. I used mids to open the build, and you've forgotten, or never know about the diminishing returns. If I assume you don't have unlimited funds, the first thing I'd do during the respec is take the 6 slots in stamina and reduce it to 3 if you continue to use common IOs. I might keep 4 slots if you use Set IOs - which would be Perf Shifter +end, Perf Shifter End Mod, Power Transfer End Mod and Power Transfer: Chance for Heal. Maneuvers is another area where you have 3.5 enhancements that are doing next to nothing for you because of Diminishing Returns. I would take away one of those slots and put it in Lingering Radiation. An end reduction in that power would serve you well. I'd also slap another end reduction in Dark Embrace. (and if you were to use sets, I'd just go with a 4 pc of Unbreakable Guard, or perhaps 3 Ribosome Hami-Os. Fairly cheap, and it would be like keeping the same 3 resists you have, and adding 3 more end reductions. (that's probably more than needed for this power though.) Let's look at Radiation Infection: it costs you .52/s of endurance. That is a humongous cost and your build doesn't have a single thing in it to reduce that cost. Take one of the defense debuffs out, one of the tohit debuffs out, and add 2 end reductions. Alternatively, the D-Sync Marginalizations would be perfect for you here. Place only two of them and call it a day, and have 4 slots to put somewhere else. The strange thing about this build is it still has 5 more slots that can be placed. So, I don't have a lot of confidence that the build I'm looking at is the actual build. Just at a glance, the biggest problem is not slotting with diminishing returns in mind. The second issue is not slotting any end reducers in your biggest endurance hog powers. Making this assumption, I would have to know your budget. This build looks as if you're not loaded with influence. See, if it were me, I would use invention sets to 1) automatically deal with diminishing returns without thinking about it and 2) pursue those sets that specifically deal with increasing your endurance recovery and endurance points, and reducing your endurance costs. I would also automatically pursue the 4 passive accolades, even though only two of them add a small amount to the endurance points. Portal Jockey and Atlas Medallion both add 5%. But, since you probably don't have the resources I do, I would certainly be trying to get those accolades, and also trying to plot a build that didn't use more than 3 of the same type of enhancement in the same power.

I know this is a stupid question. I certainly feel stupid asking it. But how would one use this? We have the pop-menu - which is incredibly useful. Not updated as yet for the new "accolades" Mark&Recall and Sheer Willpower, but since the reqs allow for retroactive acquisition, I've already got them on the characters that count. Is this where the smart folks come and use this master list to update their own badge tracking apps?

Aeon....I dunno. It's really a nice "story", but even if you zip past the ripples, it SEEMS long, to me. Just when I think it should be over, there's yet another mission to do. If it weren't for Cosmic Council walking some of us through it when it came out, I wouldn't have much of a clue as to what's going on, as far as the whole brickernauts doing the explode-y thing, and where to go during the final mission. Still, it's profitable, even if you just take the merits (which I normally do). An acc/threat/rec would be nice, but it's one out of ....a dozen? 2 dozen? possibilities. Odds of getting it are low, quite low. The more you run it, the less confusing it gets, like anything else in game, or in life.

It hasn't ever loaded up when I've used it. I even clicked on Contributions, but that's something different.

Many TFs be like that. And yes, Snarky. You have failed this city with your stupid new job. Now we have to wait until you have free time AND get sucky team experiences and the inclination to write about them.

So, I have nothing against this line of thinking. If those responsible for the upkeep of this site are also unopposed, I would encourage them to make visible some sort of donation link via paypal or some other secure funds transfer service. Someone asked me if I would promote the link, but I looked and didn't see the option to do so. I was genuinely surprised and super pleased to see the page 8 labyrinth tips and /locs were listed for most everything. That was the motivation behind my post. Once again, the wiki makes my life a little easier! It seemed only proper to give them thanks - but there's no way to do so that I'm aware of on the site itself.

Some folks play one character. Or mainly one. Maybe they have 1 level 50, several alts ranging from 1-49, but only one "Main", and they play that character more than any other. Some folks make a new alt daily. Whether they farm it up to 50 + 3-9 vet levels and get to 50+3 before they begin "playing" it. They do a certain amount of things with the character, or just try it on for size. Usually they park it, and then start over. Depending on free time to play, this could be a daily thing or a monthly thing. Some folks play only seldom. Maybe a mission or two a day. Some folks don't even do missions, but RP in some fashion or another. My question is directed mainly to folks that alt a fair amount, but typically reach 50 with most characters. When do you start a new one? Is there some objective like t-4 in all? All the accolades? All the badges? I've played enough characters where I know what I like. But I haven't played enough to know what else I would like. I've gotten a lot of utility out of my current character, a fire/atomic blaster. I don't usually keep playing a character to vet level 33. I usually stop after I get t-4. For whatever reason, I've kept playing this one a little longer. I can't seem to settle on a new one, so I'll keep playing this one for now. I actually leveled this one up in a farm, and began playing it at 50. I haven't done this for a character in a few years. There's pros and cons to doing things this way. It's certainly faster to get the accolades at 50 then organically as you level up. But, when you're doing content through Ouro, you can't really stop and join for a gm or hami raid without losing your progress. (thankfully, I have alts for such things, but still, I'd like the character I'm on to get those merits, too) When do you park it and start over? Is it just a "feel"? Or is there some goal you've reached?

The primary with mental manipulation can make all the difference. Just my own style of play being referenced ice/mental isn't as synergistic as fire/mental. I played a dark/mental, and if I'm being real, they weren't that synergistic. When you get drain psyche off on a group of 4 or so, it's incredible. better than regen on a regen scrapper. (seems better. May or may not be numerically better - hit points have a lot to do with this, because the 75% regeneration of the buff is going to look at your HP to do the math. It's fairly easy to get Drain Psyche perma with liberal pursuit of global recharge. Here's the rub - or at least it was for me. A lot of my attacks on a blaster are ranged. Only a couple are melee. I can get in melee when they're up, and open with drain psyche. Because if I open with the nuke, I don't get much utility cuz most are dead, or tossed out of range until I get the kb -kd proc in there. (depends on the nuke, of course) Fire, in my opinon, with fire sword circle, and the other PBAoEs is a better, synergistic fit than ice or dark, or really most of the other powersets. Drain Psyche is also a recovery and regen debuff, so it's useful against AVs, too. But...honestly, it can be fun, but it's not as fun as something you don't have to time properly and think about like frigid protection or caustic aura. But that's just me. If my role is dps, trying to ensure I'm in the mob first to get the most out of DP...in this age of people using judgements and fold space...nah, I don't think it's a great set. Really good in the right hands in the right circumstances. But I just don't see myself as the right hands, and the right circumstances are not that common.

I've mentioned this before. As games go - other than Chess and Risk, this is really the only game I've ever played against/with other people (on a computer). That inexperience with other games - WoW, SWTO, Guild Wars, LotRO, etc - it can reveal itself when people use terms like "Quest" instead of "Mission". Or, "Dungeon". And my favorite, "enchantments", when they refer to enhancements. CoH can be as hard as you want to make it. But, in some circumstances, you can't make it super easy. The Labyrinth is a great example. I do not believe that it is possible to solo the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. You could probably try - with a league of players buffing you while you're solo, but that wouldn't really be solo. You could have the best made AT, and I just don't think it's going to happen. Not without some bug, like an apprentice charm doing some ungodly damage or locking the minotaur in place like a malevolent fog. If I want to make things hard on myself - I don't make the npcs more difficult. I make my character weaker. Occasionally, I might do both, but that's fairly uncommon. I did a "drop challenge" with a number of characters where I can't use the AH, I can't use a merit vendor, all I can slot is what drops. If I get some converters that drop, I can use those, but I can't exchange merits for boosters or catalysts or anything. And let me tell you - it's possible to get to 50 without being defeated, but it's really tedious. The only time I get excited is when an end mod enhancement or recipe drops. Those are more rare than very rares! The hardest part of CoH is not in the playing of the character. It's in the understanding of the terminology and the methods of outfitting your character, and understanding the non-combat parts of the game. The combat is super easy. You mash the buttons until they're dead or you're dead. It's the rest of it that makes the game interesting to me. I don't care about XP. I don't care about challenging encounters. I enjoy more of the management of the character and the resources. What to do with the salvage - stash/hoard vs sell/vendor. Craft/convert? Craft/Stash? Do I actually play this character to 50? Or table it until they change kinetic melee to be something worthwhile? Or just delete it? It's all the other things - not combat - that makes the game hard. Do I explain to people that mention global channels I should join that I have 4 accounts? That some accounts may or may not be afk-farming, and I'm actively playing on one? Do I join someone else's SG just because it seems to be the largest? And these guys can't ever seem to fill their teams, as large as they are? And your alts can't communicate with the SG unless they also join the SG? Which would make my own storage SG kind of useless and difficult to use? All that interplay between me and other players makes the game super hard for me. On one level, I really need these folks for GM kills and iTrials and some TFs. And on another level, they really slow things down with their wanting to kill everything. And that bunch of speeders always make me feel inadequate with their instant load times and ability to teleport through walls. (which was explained to me how to do this - but that's too much for my clumsy fingers) The people are the best and worst parts of the game. They make it super easy or super hard. As alluded to by Monty, playing is easy. Playing well or mastering it (which I really haven't, despite having all the badges) is very time-consuming and difficult, in my opinion. Nothing is so difficult that any one thing couldn't be done when properly explained. But by mastery, I refer to knowing when to use ouro to exit a map to make things more efficient, as opposed to hitting the exit button and seeing what the next objective is. Knowing to not use your TT because the next mission is a chat, not a mission door. Knowing not to use 7 lotg 7.5% because of the rule of 5. Knowing not to use 5 purple sets and your superior ATOs because of the same rule of 5. All of that stuff is a lot harder than button mashing and positioning of your character in a challenging fight.

There's a distinction between the two - at least in my head, if nowhere else. The alignment tip missions are where you're choosing which alignment you're heading towards. Hero, Vig, Rogue, Vill. The Morality is where you make the choice to trigger the change from one to the other. The game refers to the tip missions - in your contact/tip tab - as alignment missions. It refers to the Morality Mission, awarded after you complete 10 alignment missions from the rng, or your SG computer as a Morality mission. Although in our lazy American way of talking, the two can easily be used interchangeably and most will know what you mean, the distinction is in the game. Morality is the last one that awards 40 reward merits. Alignment missions are the ones you complete to get to the morality. For whatever reason, whether bug or WAI, the Morality counts as one of the 25 missions for the badge.

The morality missions also count towards the 25 for the new badge.

Interesting. Allow me to share an embarrassing moment. I was on a Numina with @blapperella a couple of days ago. For whatever reason, despite the team being level 50, they wanted to run it at +2. No big deal to me. Maybe they want to unlock some incarnates or whatever. But it was a speedy run. They clearly wrote in chat while doing a chat task in another zone - "Don't enter mission until I zone in, or the mission will bug low". (words to that effect, they were probably more clear) I read the words. But sure enough, when the mission posted, I entered. It was a speedy run is my only defense. And I really didn't save the team that much time with my ATT to the back room. I was ridiculed, mocked, fussed at for being illiterate and who knows what else. I thought it was a bit of a fuss over nothing - because who cares? It's a speedy run, and in speed runs, one doesn't wait around for everyone to enter zone. Still - it wasn't my speed run, and I should have heeded the request. For whatever reason, even though I read it - by the time the mission posted, I had forgotten it in those 90 seconds or so and didn't follow the instructions. So, that's on me. Days later, I'm still wondering why/how it happened. I can only conclude it was a combination of things. The scariest part is aging. Even though I'm in better physical shape now than I've ever been in my life. My dad died of a brain tumor. Maybe I have one? It would be a bit paranoid to get that checked out for something so innocuous. There are a lot of things that make new and/or new(returning) players do things that we might never think of. The chat window being closed. I remember about 3 years being on a baf with a guy who wouldn't pass the star to the league lead. On the surface, not that big of a deal. Not like we don't all know what to do in a BAF. But the league leader wanted that star back, and Siege was dead before we were able to get this guy to open his chat screen and see the messages before he finally passed the star. I know on retail - I would very often close my chat screen when solo, but never teamed. And I closed it because I was playing on a laptop and the screen was way smaller than what I have now. And I want to say I was playing 600X800, so everything was super big. Opening the chat screen just cluttered things up. So, as much as it amazes me, there are still people playing on machines as old as this game is. Why they don't upgrade...that's anyone's guess. Some folks feel like they can do the big computing on their phone, so a computer is now a luxury they needn't spend cash on. Silly casuals. I like the idea of a league/team leader being able to flash words across our screen if they can only do so a couple of times in a 30 second window or something like that. I dunno if such a feature would ever come to pass, though. I personally feel like any player that doesn't have their chat window up when teamed is simply an idiot. There's just no rational reason for it that I can think of. Maybe I'm the idiot, but I just don't grasp why anyone would do that. I do know that it's fairly easy for the chat windows to get messed up. On retail, I used to mess it up all the time. I don't know why it doesn't happen any more. Maybe my typing has gotten better. <shrug> I wish I had a solution, but I'm afraid the easiest solution for me is using stars and notes. I'll 2 star a player like this with a note like "non-responsive".

If you are one of those that has recently updated the HC wiki - thank you! Give yourself a pat on the back!

So...someone either cannot do math, or they want to spend 1M per rare salvage. Never mind. Don't let what just happened to my brain happen to yours. The more logical play at work here is to obscure the price of the last 5.

I would think now the labyrinth would be the go-to for such things, with the 25% xp buff.

Just anecdotally, if you have a fairly reliable group of friends that log in around the same time - you will earn more doing an ITF than you will clearing a farm. Now, if you're just relaxing, and inf isn't your purpose, it probably won't matter if you run it at +3 or +4 - the powers used are the same.

My reply to this is a bit off-topic, but...<shrug> Depends on what you mean by weak. Slow, I'll reluctantly grant you. Slow is not necessarily weak. A player can still proc their character to the gills with very high global recharge and still have a rough time getting from point A to point B. I would argue the biggest factor in speedy runs is being familiar with the content. When it would be faster to Ouro out of the mission, as opposed to exiting and then realizing you have to board transit for the next mission. The duration within the missions are rarely going to vary much if the team's intent is just the mission objectives. Except for efficiency expert badge, there are very few circumstances where speed is required in any fashion. I like speedy. I'm just not great at it. Tiki torches in Orenbegan maps, having to go through the sewers where the original devs deliberately make me have to zig from left to right and try not get caught on those door frames...that's so humbling trying to zip through those as fast as I can.

HA! That's why you gave most of us a thumbs down. We were too polite and didn't spell it out.

You're missing the same thing I missed for quite some time - so don't feel badly. It's what yomo mentions - crafting costs. As an example: Obliteration:Chance for Smashing Damage, a level 50 recipe. (I actually used this example in another thread in this sub-forum, somewhere) The crafting cost, as you see, not counting for salvage is 490,400 for a level 50 rare recipe. At level 41, the recipe would require the same pieces of salvage, but the crafting costs are much cheaper: I use level 41, simply because if I'm to craft and convert, this level range is better for me to get the IOs that I want. There are many players who would simply sell the level 50 recipe on the AH for whatever they can get, or vendor it, if the bids aren't that good. Then, they may purchase the same recipe, only at a lower level to save on the crafting costs. This is a small part of the reason why marketers make so much more inf than farmers. The farmers are generally level 50, taking advantage of all the slots and set bonuses a 50 can get, to be as efficient at clearing maps as they can. But the drops they get, as I've learned, cost a lot more to craft. If the inclination is to craft and convert recipe drops, you're better off simply forgoing that at level 50, vendor it or sell it on the AH, and either purchasing lower level recipes and crafting/converting those, or just let your lower level characters do this, while your farmer does their own thing, which is clear maps and pray for purple rain. As for turning off these recipes, I don't do that, because I've never been full of recipes before, as I manage all my inventory frequently. And uncommons, rares - they still have value. And disabling them doesn't cause more commons or very rares to drop in their place. So, it's a loss. A small loss, but still a loss. May as well keep getting them and vendoring/selling them on AH - but that's me. Not everyone has the inclination to process their inventory so often.

I am super curious about this. Way back in maybe 2019, I probably earned close to 8K Reward Merits either taking turns leading the raids in the Hive or taunting hami. And then I just got kind of weirded out by some of the strange commentary by other folks in the league, so just figured I'd stop attending. Back then, a lot of the decisions on who would lead the raids was discussed either in chat on the Excelsior Discord (not run by anyone official as far as I know.) I want to say it was @foxfyre who started the discord, or some other former Justice player. Not sure how I squeezed into the rotation, but I did. It's not clear to me who the cool kids are now, calling these shots. And I guess my one big question is - why are we clearing mitos when it's clearly proven it's not necessary? One part of me likes it, because I always get some shards for my characters, which save me from having to use threads. And while it only takes another 2 minutes - it's time enough where we could squeeze in another round instead of just 3. Back then, the story went that folks were concerned about a nerf bat for us, or a buff to Hami, so we should play it slow. Well, I dunno. Okie & the Goddess and Maiden have been zerging hami for months on end. So why not zerg in the hive, too? Just wondering the why, more than anything else.

I think, your feet first approach into the deep end is a proper one. Even though you may not know much now - your teammates will likely teach you a lot, just from your observation. Now, it could be an observation of what not to do, but either way, you should learn quite a bit. I don't know very much at all about marine, but water is a very good set for blasters and corruptors. Water has a lot of knockdown; as such, it present an opportunity, if you're inclined, to tackle harder foes. It is probably the most survivable of all the blast sets, with ice being a close 2nd. (although, skill levels vary, and it could be vice-versa for some) I would encourage you to consider your approach to this character. Are you going to play it like a blaster, and consider buffs/debuffs as a secondary thing? If so, you may not wish to heed all the advice about not skipping any of the marine secondary. Since you're going to be teamed, I would suggest considering the leadership pool once you have the endurance to sustain it. Any/all but the Victory Rush. (I have nothing against it, I just have never used it, and can't speak to the utility) With a theme team, I suspect the fight pool will be largely unnecessary. Things will likely die before you're in a threating situation. But it may be useful as a mule here and there. That's your call. I already know you're going to have hover or some form of flight. Undead people don't change! Play the rest by ear. Your endurance bar and hitpoints bar will tell you what you need to slot if you pay attention. The only thing I would encourage you to strongly consider is six-slotting dehydrate. 5 procs and 1 acc/dam Hami-O. It's great for procs! You can rely on the base heal and not enhance the heal part at all, or you can do half and half, whatever you like. I just used damage procs and the HO. It has a funky sound when executed, but it works quite well.

I confess, I've not played a mastermind very often. I've got a couple at level 50, and they sit idle because there's too much work in way of pet management for me to have any real fun. I guess something must have changed. It makes perfect sense to me to use endurance for each pet spawned.