Ukase

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

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.