Ukase

So, like many of you, I try to see what the weeklies are. I found this google doc link - shared by @Ura Hero. It seems to have the weeklies laid out for the next decade or so. Don't ask me where I found it, but here's the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15qwbS67DmKU6A7eaIVb2ghU10CpsFBsLjDd7PHo8dVs/edit?usp=sharing

How did I miss this in the notes? I really do need to slow down and read everything.

So, I do agree about the badge. Atta is one of those Epic encounters every character should consider having. But the story arc gives 30 merits, so not sure what you're referencing there. I'd be perfectly okay with the level ranges for all the contacts being stretched a bit, too.

So, I'm not sure what I expected from the title, but I was pleasantly surprised. As another pointed out - highly creative/imaginative! It could certainly raise demand for some prismatics, lol. That said, I've got a lot of characters; about 5 of them I have agonized over respecs to keep them relevant with some of the changes to various powers and game mechanics. The very last thing I want is to see a tailor to make adjustments. This would be like going for a voluntary root canal. Doing anything at the tailor is painful for me, so I tend to use the random costume and adjust a few things - like the tail and the animal head. More often than not, the random costume gives you a tail and an animal head. Or something that's not a standard human head. As much as I love the idea if we'd all started with it, my own laziness says Please - no.

I have suddenly realized that many market mistakes happen...only the other way. Let me elaborate: In my efforts to collect the inf from my tedious conversions, I have placed my items for sale too cheaply. It's apparent to me that every one of you who has ever purchased a pvp IO owes me at least 1 million inf. And that's just the market niche I talk about! Some of you owe me 10's of millions!

There have been some fairly sharp people giving opinions on this matter, and as I read the OP, I say carry on with what's working for you. It sounds like something I do from time to time when I'm solo, but not anything I'd gear my build around. I find that no matter what character you're on, going into melee is usually a risk, but pays off by faster XP. The key is knowing when to go on, and when to stay out. If I'm on a blaster for a master run, unless it's a mental secondary, I don't really have much reason to go into melee and risk the higher chance of splash damage or a stun, etc. But if it's just casual play, I like getting into melee. The only blaster I don't normally do that with is my ice blaster, because there's no real AoE damage to be done in melee - at least, not compared to something like fire. (talking mainly about primary here) So, for me, range is underrated, in the sense the only time I'm concerned about range is if I'm on a Master of Underground trial and the lead wants snipers for the hallway with the bombs set up at alternating sides of the hallway, 75 feet apart. (as opposed to spaceballs/zerg method)

I will take issue with this characterization. Complain - yes. Quit? I've never seen this. Can't say it hasn't happened, but it seems cruel to say so. Oh - I came in to just say - that sounds like a very fun game, and the screen shots show some amazing skill with the base editor!

You can slot one Glad Armor 3%, and one Steadfast Protection 3%. Two slots, 6%. What's crazy to me - is the Steadfast also gives Resistance that scales up as you level up, if it's attuned. The Glad Armor only gives you that 3% and some fairly useless 20% chance of teleportation protection. And the reason that's fairly useless is you won't know if you were about to be teleported. It could work great; I just have no way to know. I know it doesn't stop me from being tele-swapped in Advanced Mode Lady Gray. And yet, the Steadfast sells for 3-4M, and the Glad 3% sells for 7-8M. (always buy a level 10 recipe - cheaper to craft, and since the 3% is locked in no matter what level it is, it makes sense to craft the level 10, rather than a 50. The pricing should be the other way around.

I really wish I could help you. I have tried more than once to make ice armor work - meeting with failure at every turn. In my case, I went tank, figuring the defense soft caps might be easier to reach. The only soft cap my tank can find is the figurative night cap around Christmas time. Some of it is probably poor slotting on my part. But I think Without_pause makes a valid point. Using mitigation tactics - the same way Super Strength has Hand Clap, and Stone melee has Tremor and Fault, they might be something I should reconsider for my own ice tank.

Interesting...sort of. There's a ton of writing in game where npcs will say things that I wouldn't think a normal person would say. But then, Paragon City isn't a normal world, is it? But, let me just say this: Regardless, if the dialogue in certain content disturbs your inner grammar nazi, (or whatever), please feel free to run the new story arc on Brainstorm and go over that before it becomes published. I tested it for content and such, and it never occurred to me to use Grammarly to ensure everything was proper. I didn't see anything blatant that stuck with me, but as we all know, I'm prone to be obtuse.

Well, one reason why you may not see it happening is, for me, when I do crazy stuff like this, I do it solo. Why should others suffer with me? And explaining it over and over again to each new team...it gets old. So, it's just easier not to bother anyone. Not that I play like that all the time, but when I do, it's solo.

Talk about great endings. Well done. lol

That's just when I see a cucumber sneak up on me.

Regarding the Underground Trial, so much depends on if you're in pursuit of badges - and the method used in pursuit of Preservation Specialist. If you "speed" the UGT - which can be problematic, as we're "supposed" to escort Desdemona, and you know a safe place to stash her, and incan/tp the escort away from Des, a strong team that doesn't need a lot of instruction can zip through this trial in 25-30 minutes. There are 4 badges required for Master, and it can be done in one run, easily. Even if you zerg all the bombs as a league, this can slow things down. If the league is inexperienced, or the league leader isn't effectively communicating, (or league isn't reading chat ) this trial can fail, or more likely, take about 45-50 minutes. I would think 40 minutes is a fair answer if asked how long it takes, tho. Just add another 15 minutes if you expect to snipe the bombs in the long hallway. If you're ultra conservative and try to snipe ALL the bombs, add 45 minutes, for a total time of about 80-90 minutes. I don't think anyone does it like this anymore; but maybe 4-5 years ago, when HC first opened up, some of us were still rusty and super conservative. With any UGT, unless the leader is fairly well known like Okie, Cygnus or LB3K, (there are others, of course - these are just the ones that come to mind) recruiting can be problematic. I have had occasions where I'm ready to cancel it because recruitment was taking over 20 minutes. For Master runs, recruitment can take even longer. Most folks just don't care about that bomb badge. There are faster/easier ways to get that random rare drop the master badge provides.

I must have forgotten what I was going to say. A simple case of typing something, then changing my mind - but I never hit enter. Still not sure how/why it posted.

I was ignorant of this function. Thanks.

I sent a million and all I got was an lolol.

While tinkering around in mids, I notice that Consume accepts Heal enhancements. I've played ...maybe a dozen fire tanks since retail, and I never noticed consume would accept heal IOs, nor did I notice that it would boost HP, albeit only for 2 minutes. Still, it's super easy to get this recharge below 2 minutes. I know the answer is really, "It depends", but I'm wondering how many use consume more for an HP boost (not to be confused with a heal) than for more endurance.

I'm too obtuse to grasp this. For me - the extra one means they're going to accidentally spend a billion and 1 inf if they mash an extra zero in there. Or a billion and 10.

I would play a lot less, that's for sure. But I've met some very interesting and well, "fun" people while playing. Snarky comes to mind. I mention him mainly because of the fun people, he's probably known more on the forums than the others. Unfortunately, a fair number of the other amusing people have gone on to other games. One player actually got a divorce and remarried and no longer plays any games anymore. Happy for them, sad for the rest of us. But, as some folks leave, other folks arrive. Just have to give them a chance to be silly. (or not, as the case may be) The thing about teaming is simply - if you have a good team, it's slightly easier to have fun. But, I define a good team as two or more players who can not only play somewhat better than mediocre and can crack a joke or two while they play. Unless it's a master run where defeats aren't allowed. Then, cracking jokes is okay, only if you don't screw up the badge.

"Common listing breakpoints". So, I can understand if you're looking for, say, an LotG, bidding 5.1M instead of 5M if you're in a rush. But I do not understand going even the 1 inf above 10M for something that is seeded at that price - unless you're just unaware it is seeded at that price. Unless it's somehow just a typo. But that seems highly unlikely to me. But I only say that based on how I do things. No idea how others enter numbers into text fields.

I saw a few things at first glance, and typed out some stuff, and then I just downloaded it and started tinkering with it. Giving feedback on a build is easy. Giving it and still letting the build be close to what it was before can be problematic. I have no idea about your play style or anything, other than your build suggests you like to hover blast. I've no idea how you capitalize on Drain psyche from a hovering position, but more power to you if you have that figured out. I'm more of a SS & CJ type - I zip in, press drain psyche and then inferno. But - that's me. Based on some of the set bonuses I see - like the 3 stack of LotG, it looks like you value HP a bit. Which is good. I try to get as much as I can on most of my characters, without sacrificing the real goal - which is the balance between survivability and dps. One players balance point is going to differ from another's, based on solo vs. team, and the composition of that team, and the knowledge, skills and abilities of that player. So, in trying to keep in spirit of the build you already have - without gutting it and making it the way I would play it - I have this, and a second look has me changing even more things. There's a lot left on the table here. A build is like playing a game of chess. If you look to control the center 4 squares, that still leaves 60 other squares that need attention. The pursuit of S/L, and HP was apparent. I tried to keep that, but I also know there's a fair bit of Energy/Negative Energy, too. And for a blaster, your recharge is fairly low. Even if I give you all the passive accolades, I still see you gasping for endurance if you don't get Drain Psyche off. So, this is by no means a finished product, But, it does give you some other things to look at, and maybe a different perspective. If it were my character, there's a fair number of powers I wouldn't take. So, here's a 3rd look. See the difference your patron/epic armor can make? To me, it seems more balanced. But - I have no idea if you really love bonfire, or wanted to keep fire armor for thematic purposes. Stompy Blaster Fire-Mental-Fire build.mbd 2ndlookStompy Blaster Fire-Mental-Fire build.mbd take3Stompy Blaster Fire-Mental-Fire build.mbd

I have to second this; at least in most cases. I tend to also avoid power pool toggles until after level 20, too.

Don't get me started. Oops. Too late. When I bought this game, sometime around Christmas, 2003, I think. It was mid-issue 3, that much I know. Certainly before Issue 4. I was clueless. I didn't know what MMO meant. I knew what the acronym stood for, but I just thought it meant a lot of people played it - not that we all shared an instance and would be playing together. After having played this game countless hours, I now understand what Jack Emmert meant when he stated there was no real reason to play if you weren't going to team up. When you have teammates, you have more options. But - as mentioned previously above by someone else, that's not always an option. Some teammates don't communicate. Some teammates communicate too much. Some teammates, like me, will try to find an opportunity to punish the rest of the team with putrid jokes, if they can even be called that. Snarky hates them. He's still mad at a couple of SG members for laughing at one of them. Armed with positive feedback, I told more putrid jokes. Now I won't stop. Poor Snarky. He doesn't like the jokes, but as an undead, he doesn't have the right to say they stink, at least. When I'm in a situation like the OP describes, I first load my inspiration tray - with large or super inspirations. Mainly lucks and robusts. A break-free if I don't have status protection. A few greens. And as many damages as I can hold. If Mr. G attacks me as I enter, before I have a chance to get set up. I'll hosp it back to my base and visit the base buff station and grab some invis, too. Maybe I can upgrade my stealth. I'll take every buff I have salvage to get. If I still can't get him - I will log off, and restart the mission and this time, not betray him and see if that goes any better.

There isn't - but there probably should be.