Ukase

Accidents can certainly happen to anyone. Even accidental keystrokes. I think if we're just careful before we send things that are important, we should be fine.

Why would you test this in this fashion? Just curious. Now I know to not have a global name with a backslash at the end of the name. So..thanks, I guess.

This is what I usually see. I remember when I was irritated they weren't selling at 7m, now I'm happy to get 5m. Mind you - there is one outlier - a lowballer for 4.8. But, I'll take it, lol.

So this is a topic that caught my eye. I have never used merits to buy a recipe. And never will. It will never be worth it to me. I have sort of used AE tickets to buy recipes, but only when I had all but very rare and pvp recipes set to be rejected for a badge. So odd to spend 60 tickets on a recipe, not get the recipe and get badge credit, but that certainly sped up the process. There was a time when I'd run a couple of asteroid maps for tickets, get some random recipe rolls, then run the asteroid map with standard rewards to get the salvage to craft them. But I just think standard rewards gives better drops with less effort, as well as the salvage needed to craft them. Currently, I get my recipes two ways - from afk farming, and from actively playing. Other than using tickets for random rolls, and the aforementioned farming and playing, if there are other ways, I am unaware of them.

So much of a build for a blaster hinges on playstyle. Solo or team. Kill most or stealth when you can For example, my builds tend to focus on defense and HP. And really, more HP than defense. I figure the higher the HP I have, the more hits I can take. Now, I'd love to have 60% positional defenses, but in order to blast my way out of a difficult spot, I can't just put 6 slots in weave and maneuvers and an epic/patron armor and expect to get there. With freeze ray being such a fast power, it can really help get you out of a jam if you're on top of your game. Some folks might slot freeze ray for damage, some for holds, and I have 3 builds, and each one is slotted differently. It's fair to say almost all my characters take Super Speed and Combat Jumping. Most take Hasten, too - but hasten is pushed off until I have the endurance to handle it. But SS is taken at level 4. How am I going to go around and grab the explorations in all those zones without it? Combat Jumping is taken at level 6. And there's a reason for that. For one - If I don't get it out of the way, there are so many great powers to pick, I'd never get to pick it. I just love the control I get when hopping around as I SS to get this mission or badge. It's also a fantastic set mule for a number of powers. Super Speed lets me slap in a Blessing of the Zephyr. Combat Jump lets me slap in first - a kismet 6% accuracy, then a shield wall 5% resist (all). I have them both slotted at level 7. I take the Shield Wall out and slap it in maneuvers if/when I get it - mainly because on blasters, maneuvers doesn't provide enough protection. A very lousy 3.51% defense with my usual slotting The Steadfast is only 3M, and costs a fraction of the price of the 3 Shield Walls and the LotG. But - the lotg gives recharge, so worth it. The shield walls give a tiny 2.25% HP boost. It isn't much, but it adds up if I pursue it. Just as a rough starting point - this may be worth a look. I could literally spend hours on it, change my mind and start over from scratch, because what's good for me may not be good for someone else. But take a look at how early I have some powers. I take build up and aim pretty soon. If this were a pure dps build, I'd double or triple slot them. I definitely take combat jumping at level 6, as mentioned earlier. I took char and proc'd it, because it does well with procs - and the base recharge is 24 seconds, so I KNOW the procs will fire 90% of the time (max proc chance) I chose not to proc out bitter ice blast, Freeze ray because the procs will only fire about 60% of the time. Those are poor odds to me. The stat numbers are not the best you're ever going to see. I usually go with unbreakable guard for more melee defense, but I don't know how you play. Most blasters these days seem to shy away from melee (for good reason - that's where most of the stuns and then defeat occur!). On my build I'd take the ice sword, but I'd also take ice patch for the early levels, and respec out for 40+. Again, this is just a build that is going to have enough endurance once you get frigid protection with a couple of end mod SOs. And if you slot the Panacea and the miracle instead of that trashy numina, you should be fine with endurance. (I say the numina is trashy, because as IOs that boost endurance go, it's the worst one) I didn't use the show all powers and enhancements because if you download the build you can see all that, and the numbers. Take note that the endurance use increases as you level - which is why you want to get Atlas Medallion at 23. Get your Task Force Commander anytime between level 1 and 20 by getting Invader. You can do it the long way if you want to, but I like the hit points earlier, as opposed to waiting until level 36 after Numina. I also get the High Pain Threshold on redside at level 35, and Portal Jockey at 45. These passive accolades, particularly the ones with the endurance boost help drive the engine. If the defense values are too slow - take out the hecatombs, and add a 5 piece superior blistering cold. You can also pick a different epic/patron, maybe find one with a melee AoE and slap a superior avalanche for more defense. It's all up to you. There's hundreds of ways to do this - and almost all of them are just fine. Only some of them will be right for you. Demo - Blaster (Ice Blast - Ice Manipulation).mbd

For my inf, one of the better series of story arcs is for the vig/hero - Provost Marchand. Here's what you get - and how you do these is open to your own creative feel. First arc, open to hero/vig level 30-50: A New Dimension, A New Team First mission is the same map as the rogue/vig intro to Mr. G - only instead of Arachnos spread out helping you dispatch of the praetorian forces, you have Marchand's group of seriously tough allies. There was a time when I'd use this map to give myself more than a few bars of XP in the late 30's, early 40's when the XP seems to go quite slowly, compared to other levels. I'd set this to +4/8 and let the allies do the work mostly just for this first mission. Or, you can skip all of it, and go directly for efficiency and complete it by going to the waypoint on the map (if you have stealth) The next couple of missions - which is great for solo'ers, you have 3 allies. They will take a knee if you set the difficulty too high and can't heal them. There's no way to target them aside from just using your mouse and clicking on them. Team inspirations do work if they are close enough (20 feet). If your difficulty is 0/1 - you won't even need them really. Just depends on your build and your skills. Eventually, the arc ends with clobbering Silver Mantis. Not gonna lie - she can be tough, depending on your build and your AT. Bring some inspirations if you have any doubts. During this arc, you learn that you've been made famous; there are action figures being produced in your image! It has nothing to do with the story, but it's a nice touch by the author of the arc. The next arc is interesting in that it gives you options, and it has some "Easter Eggs", in that if you know about the badge, you can do various things that most folks don't ever do. It also lets YOU decide how you want to delegate allies. Some choices may give you a badge. Others will not. The third arc allows you to battle various villains/rogues that will give you badge credit towards the defeat badge that allows you access to the Detective in Steel Canyon that has all the Safeguard missions. All three arcs are as short or as long as you want to make them, almost. What I mean is, if you take a team of 8, some of the missions are going to take some time to clear. If you go solo, maybe not as long - just depends on your difficulty level. It's my opinion that these 3 arcs are the right size for an arc. Not 20 missions long. Not 2 missions long. Just the right length. And the objectives are not all the same kind of snooze fest where you beat the big boss at the end of the map. It's "Do this before THAT GUY does XYZ" kind of thing, as an example of one mission.

Just use teleport-self to move, and you never have to even walk, let alone sprint.

Pretty sure if you can see the player on your team roster, they're "in zone". Beyond that, other than the occasional player having a real life issue, I've never encountered someone not participating. I used to worry about it during the master of ugt runs when a league leader would impose "snipers only" for the bomb portion. But it was never an issue. I do recall on retail getting the 10 threads once, but I can't remember why. I'm sure it had something to do with escorting desdemona, but that was a long time ago, and details in my mind are fuzzy.

That looks a bit like one of the questions on Patton Oswald's new "1% Club".

This has been the case for me on the past...300 or so alts. I have this mission from Maria Jenkins saved on 5 characters across several accounts so it doesn't matter which alt is needing it. As stated - enter, Ouro or base tp out, badge is awarded. I have known a player here and there that claim the badge didn't award. I can't see their screen, but I know it has always worked for me.

My understanding is this "meta", where you have tank, ice/cold corrs, a kin and some other dps, are for the speedy runs of the Advanced modes. For the 2 hour Advanced Modes, I don't know that you need complex builds that give up fight pool in exchange for max HP and recharge. I'm certain they help, tho. The difference in something like Freeze Ray when it's proc'd vs when it's not is noticeable - if all the procs actually fire in the same shot. They won't always fire. The math doesn't support it. Bitter Freeze Ray? Every time. Burn from a fire blaster's secondary - every time. (assuming no recharges slotted in the power) The marginal differences will add up. And really - the build isn't as important as the player behind the build. If you kill adds without needing to and you have a kin on your team - have you hurt your team because of a weaker fulcrum shift? Perhaps! It's at least the 3rd time I've mentioned this specific example because it floors me that @loc thinks about stuff like that. I'm still stunned. I am the guy that will kill those adds with a blizzard (or try to) without thinking about such things. At least, I was. A bit more careful about it now. From where I sit, if you have the team discipline to keep the barriers and clarion staggered, (and don't have a team of optimized builds) you'll probably do okay. Not speedy, but okay. And by okay, you and your team will die a LOT. In normal content, a blaster is considered by some to be a glass cannon. Not my style, but okay. Some play real close to the edge of defeat. Others, like me, not so close. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. The same way people learn to play their ATs and powersets, they'll pick up things as they run the advanced mode tfs more often. Practice may not make perfect, but it will improve things. I think the advanced modes, in some fashion are going to go through some changes in tactics as more people try more things. Some will stick with what's worked for them, of course. Others may try to improve upon the times, and others might try an all MM advanced mode TF for the kicks and grins of it. (and they really should!) I am unconvinced that the current meta will stay the meta in the long run.

See, I could accept the "previously damaged" scenario, but they were both at full health. I didn't ding in between the clobbering of the two supa-trolls. All were the same level - 15. Certainly, it's not a big deal at all, and I suspect that it's just an anomaly. Perhaps what I should do is grab an alt that's level 15 on Excelsior with the standard xp rate, no 2xp buff and try again and see what result I get. Surely somewhere within the 7 pages of alts, there's one that's level 15, or close enough for this purpose.

Well, I don't think it's nonsense now that I grasp the why. But when I didn't, I was a bit like a brat who mocked what he didn't understand. If I'd just thought about the zone cap, that would have been enough. Now that Lady Grey is a bit more popular, stands to reason the cap is going to get reached sooner, preventing folks from getting there. It's just not something I thought about.

Yeah, I am guilty of being overly obtuse. I now see the flaws in my thinking.

"hidden level variance"? Can't say I've seen that term before. They were all at 100% health. Not a big deal, just curious.

Well, it is apparently repeatable - I gained a level, so the xp is a little lower - but both were level 15 lieutenants. (as were the two previous) Seems odd. I wonder if it has something to do with the rank of the troll that goes into the rave, even though they all come out the same.

Was in Skyway; (Indom, that's why the xp is so high) But my character is level 12. The Supa Trolls appear to be uniformly all level 15 lieutenants. I was the only one there, killed both solo. Why the difference in XP?

I agree. Any of you read through the Q & A from the Paragon Studio devs? One of them quoted/paraphrased Positron (Matt) as saying players are always going to find a way to get as much as they can with as little time investment as possible. Something like that. Lower level players are always going to find a way to get more/faster xp. Higher level players are always going to find a way to get more/faster rewards. If the lower level player with speed boost can help the higher level stone tank who loves granite, then they're going to team up. What's that 10 dollar word...symbiotic? Now, I was in one of the fancy, schmancy Instanced MSRs the other day. And a level 2!!!! was in it. My greedy for VG Merits mind said, "Glad they're not on my team!" But, you know what - they died at least half a dozen times -which tells me they were trying, at least. (tho, I'm still glad they weren't on my team) If I want to run an MSR that's 35 and up, which I've done...the result is you only get about 20-30 players interested. It's enough, but the rewards aren't as good when you have a full league. So, there is an element of symbiosis there in allowing the lower level players, not so much leaching. And in the case of MSR - don't kid yourself - there's a number of level 50 players who openly (and proudly) confess to dropping their HVAS, targeting their HVAS and putting an attack on auto fire and coming back 29 minutes later. Are they leaching too? There are some ideas in this thread worth looking at and considering. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. First - we need to make a choice - do we want to be "City of Options", or "City of Equitable Contribution"? (truth be told, we're really City of Procs & Fold Space. Anyone not using both is just doing it poorly. Not wrong, just poorly. I AM KIDDING. I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT. Just a joke, folks)

Damn, I already had one cup, now I want another!

In all seriousness, this term you use "well built combat-focused AT" that can carry a team on a +4/8 ITF. What do you mean by "carry" ? Are you essentially taking out all the surgeons and managing aggro at the same time? And dispatching with all the npcs while the other 7 are spamming you with Adrenaline Boost, speed boost and fort and overgrowth and fulcrum shift? You're right in one respect, if you can't do it, recruit more wisely. But, I like to think my characters are well built and combat focused - but I cannot carry 7 other players in +4/8 ITF - not that I've ever tried. That would so be out of character for me to even do an ITF in the first place at any setting. (I intensely dislike the yelling, but I love the crunch of my mace knocking heads, so turning off the volume isn't an option. I should really use the city modder!) Can you humor me and just elaborate what you mean by carry, so I don't suffer from inadequacy issues?

Fair enough. On retail, MSRs would from in RWZ. iTrials would form up in Pocket D and Dark Astoria. They only started forming up in Ouro because of Luna. (that's my thinking anyway) In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. I was just curious (and a bit annoyed at having to type out someone's code to participate when they could have easily gone to some other co-op zone.)

I don't disagree. But I am eagerly awaiting a day when there is more information readily available within the game. Granted, for most of us, it seems kind of silly that someone interesting in finding out more wouldn't just hit the url links we give them when they ask. But one thing is clear to me: Relying on external sites for information is problematic. Eventually, the people running those sites will find something better to do. Then what? Go the HC Wiki that hasn't been updated in X years? (that's an example of what might be in the future - no reflection on current state) The forums here are also a treasure trove. It's just a shame the search feature is so quirky. It's probably just me, but I have better luck using Google than the forum search function.

There's just a tiny problem - or huge problem, depending on variables. Tackling a 4* cannot be done just willy nilly. For players that leveled up through content, this will almost certainly mean doing a respec and pursuing max recharge and max HP. It means blasters can't just AoE as they please - they have to exercise target control because we wouldn't want the kin's Fulcrum Shift to be any less than it could be, right? It means flight isn't really an option - because those that do this kind of content use the Teleport Pool. Because they kind of have to. If a null field is between you and your team and you're using teams of barrier casting, you can't just SS through the null field, but you can tp through it. And problems may occur if someone isn't arriving in the mission in time for barrier. Or for the incan to the spot for the next fight. SS is just too slow in some cases. SS is relegated for short trips within the mission, usually. It boggles my mind to think teams are now completing the 4* in less than 30 minutes, with under 5 defeats. (the duration is more impressive than the minimal defeats to me) These players are getting exceptional at getting the most out of team synergy with some of the crappiest builds for general content. A blaster with no fight pool; less than 10% defense, and only 5% resistance. A ton of damage. Capped HP, maybe. Proc'd to the gills. Damn near perma hasten. Fold space. All the good stuff. But that same character by themselves, they'd likely be dead against a level 7 hellion if exemplared. (I just made that up - no idea if it's true, just saying the builds I see succeeding in 4* are pure trash outside of incarnate buffs) It's ridiculous how they make it work. And I'm guilty of doing the respec to make my character pure trash, too. I'm looking forward to the next attempt at a 4*. But, no, the idea of revisiting...people are doing this now - in 3 months, those same people may have moved on to a different game or there may be a new patch with an advanced Atta mission where you have to clear the map before the tunnels collapse on top of you and that begins to get everyone's attention. Gotta strike while the iron is hot.

So, just to be 100 clear - Combat Attributes showed the defense boost from Maneuvers at 3.96% in one of my level 50 characters. In Maneuvers, I had an lotg 7.5%, and 3 pieces of a Shield Wall set. I took the level 50 def/recharge out, and replaced with a level 10 def/recharge in, and defense boost from maneuvers dropped from 3.96 to 3.92. So, they do not level up with you, sadly. This is why I use attuned for my level 7 characters, and then remove and replace with level 50's when they reach level 47.

Anyone beside me notice the strange sales of the pvp sector? I think it has something to do with the Advanced mode TFs - as Panacea, Shield Wall and Glad Armor sets share a common stat boost - +HP. The Glad Armor 5 piece gives 2.25%, as does a 3 piece of Shield Wall. The Panacea is a bit smaller, but also offers up some regen to go with it, not to mention the unique and it's goodness by itself. The supply seems to be less than 10 for more than a few of them. But they aren't selling instantly when offered cheaply. It has the look of a player who wants to "buy now!". What I can't make sense of is the player that is buying all the +HP/End Panaceas for 7.1M. Instant sales, those. I mean, it certainly seems like the same player, unless multiple people are offering the bid at the same odd number. What does one do with over 100 of these? I've done this myself before, just stashed the LotG 7.5% in my base, but I can use 5 of those at a time. Not just one, like the panacea unique. They don't seem to be relisting at a higher price. Eh, maybe they are just hoarding them. Fine by me. I'll keep selling.