Ukase

I have no doubt your heart is in the right place, but I have to disagree. Here's why: The dilemma presented by the OP as I understand it is, the sets are now attuned. They would like to boost them. Clearly, we know we cannot boost attuned IOs. Nor can we remove the catalysts. (I'm sure folks that mistakenly catalyzed a purple would love to have one of these "detuners"! ) As mentioned previously, if you're going to have non-sets in your build, then using common IOs leaves you without set bonuses. Depending on content, the AT/powersets, sure, you can make a viable character with common IOs. But they're not likely to be that super, at least, not compared to a build with set bonuses. All those marginal gains add up. Since the OP's sets are attuned, I would imagine they began to slot them when they could afford them. Some in the 20's, some in the 30's, etc. So, it could be they didn't get used to playing in "god mode" quite so early. But not having any set bonuses? At all? I would surely die a lot more if it were me. And that is not a good time. Far better to market a bit, pony up the inf and go with sets. A "Detuner" could be a viable solution to the OP's dilemma. Certainly easier than unslotting and replacing with a level 50, and then finally boosting it. I could never in good conscious affirm or recommend generic IOs to anyone. It's too easy to market and make 100's of millions overnight. The sad part is probably the potential merit cost per detuner. No idea what a "fair" price would be. Somewhere between a catalyst and 5 boosters, I guess. My main concern - how would the system prevent an accidental "detuning"? I look at where the boosters are next to the catalysts in the enhancement management screen, and I'm always making darn sure I use the one I want to use and don't mis-click. I get so nervous about this, I sometimes will stash my unused boosters or catalysts (depending on which I want to use) in the AH to prevent their accidental misuse.

Because you would then have a sub-par build. You already know the stats from the set bonuses add up. Common IOs are fine for something like hasten, but I'm NEVER using a common IO in an attack or an armor at ANY level. It's a waste of influence. Below level 30, the IOs don't have the value of SOs. Above level 30, you might as well use an attuned set and let it level up with you.

I do like some of the idea. Instead of seeing "The Winter Lord is causing havoc" messages, it could be akin the the rikti or nem invasions. The GM could be the same Winter Lord that spawns, only instead of spawning alone, he'll send the minions ahead. The only problem I have is the trigger. Right now, I have the liberty of killing a Winter Lord in the wild if I choose. But if we have a trigger, I do not, unless I want to do one of these events. And well...I'd rather not have the Winter Lord limited in that fashion. I don't want to be forced to do the Lord Winter's trial just to get a GM.

That clears that up, thanks!

Yes, I'm not clear why a Crey PP, (or at least dressed like one) defeated other Crey in this room.

It's a fair tip, at least for the Tuatha. Anecdotally, if I am pursuing the Geas accolade, Tuatha are ones I'll need to hunt a bit, because my ranged characters don't usually ramp up the spawn size, although my melee characters might. Red Caps, anecdotally, I generally get in Katie Hannon in combination with the red cap missions in the story arcs. Still, anytime you get a tip like this from Voltor - take note. He's done this at least once, lol. He might know something!

So, I gave some feedback on this arc when it was in Beta. I seem to have caught the badge bug, so this has a badge, and I'm doing it on my latest fire/natty corr, Naughty Zoot. In the 2nd mission, "Investigate Bein Lab 4", I get to the room with the lab manager - one of the objectives to "defeat". I see this, and I apologize for the clutter; it took me a second to bring up the Snip & Sketch. What you're seeing is just prior to this: I am not one who reads or even skims when I'm just trying to through something, particularly an arc I've done before. But I don't recall seeing this when it was on Beta. I would have mentioned it, because the purpose of my post now is to ask, is this WAI? If this should be moved to General or something, feel free. Wasn't real sure where to ask.

I can understand an event not meeting expectations. I can understand real life getting in the way and preventing enjoyment of the game. (or even just getting to log in) And, I can kind of understand the frustration of being bored with the same old thing. We got a new badge, but other than that, there's nothing new to the event if you've been here for a year or more. I've stated in these forums somewhere, 2 things lead to disappointment: unrealized expectations and unrealistic expectations. I'm not very clear on what the OP was expecting. There's never been any kind of promise, nor even a responsibility of the HC devs to provide new content. At least, not to my knowledge. I have never expected new content. It's awesome when it happens, even if that new content isn't something I'd choose to do frequently. (Cobalt has done amazing stuff with the Labyrinth, by the way. By far my current favorite thing to do in game) Should I be expecting more? I don't think so. Nobody's getting paid. And, in my experience, money isn't a motivator. It's only the lack of it that gets people moving. Kitsch is close enough, but the reference that everyone else is an idiot for participating is a bit too much to be taken seriously. Although, having just clicked on 200 glowies for a silly badge...maybe the OP isn't too far off the mark, lol.

So, I've apparently relapsed and gotten the badge bug again. These /locs were super helpful. But, while the boss names vary, it would seem that most of these boss prisoners have henchmen. So I've taken to using a target macro for henchman, and I've been seeing 2-3 more that I wasn't seeing before. As many of you have already experienced, they may or may not re-spawn every circuit.

Unlike the OP, I got them all in a couple of hours. And the toy collector...those presents. It really is tedious. The other post about Kitsch and cuteness and stupidity...well, it's not a pleasant post, but he's not entirely wrong - clicking on 200 glowies isn't very fun. I'm trying to consider how Voltor must feel with ...25? that have all the badges. Multi-boxing or teaming doesn't help with this one. 25 hours, give or take a bit to get those on all those characters. I'm sure they weren't all in the same year, but I have 4 more characters (well, really 6) that I'd like to get these badges on, but there's just no way I'm gonna willingly suffer through that for 4-6 more characters. The Winter Lord, Lady Winter and Baby New Year - at least there's some level of combat to distract you. The presents, click, fireball, next present.

Agreed - but let's go a bit further. Make these holiday badges (like Hypothermia, this years badge) a global badge. One character logs in, they all have it. I've deleted about 20 of my level 50 characters that I haven't played this year. I still have over a hundred to determine if they make the cut. Even if I only had 10 characters I wanted to keep, it's a bit tedious to have to log them all in. And yes, I heard you! I know full well there's no law that says each character must get that badge. There's no law that says you needed to state the obvious, either.

So, the biggest problem with these rascals is they all have different names, so using a target macro isn't helpful. But, if you pay attention to the npc chatter, the bosses will expose themselves if you pass by their area. Might not see them, but you can "hear" them and take a closer look. Oh, if you have an alt account or a friend to join you, they seem to have more spawn; like you might get 3-4 per pass solo, and maybe 5-7 if you have someone on your team. (or if there's some other team doing tips or whatever in the zone) So, anytime manticore is the weekly, anecdotally - that'd be the time to look. No concrete evidence, just anecdotal.

I did this very thing. The only hitch was waiting the 9 minutes for it to recharge. But, since I was tabbing in and out for work, a simple thing. This mark & recall accolade has been worth the effort 10x over - especially as I'm working my way through Praetoria which has more than few escorts and "find mission exit" maps.

I came in the middle of issue 3. I started out as probably the single worst player you could ever have on your team, mainly due to my ignorance about slotting. People would complain about endurance issues, but I never had any because I had always placed an end reduction in each power - because the details below the power listed what they could take - I thought it was required. I remember the anger from the ED change. I remember a lot of confusion about how things would work, as I had just figured out I was supposed to be slotting 1 acc, 3 dam and 1-2 recharge! I might get nostalgic on occasion, but I'll pass on going back to those days.

This is not a big deal - at all. I am not complaining. I am a bit pleased, actually, because getting to do these at a higher level makes them easier. EDIT: Still capped at level 15, at least for the next on the list. I don't recall these being in this level range the last time I did them through ouro, but it's possible. But why are mission contacts that are typically done from 16-20 (or 15-19, however that works) in the 20-24 range in ouro? As you can see, I've a long way to go. I think I came here just for a quick intermission. I was saying to myself in the 15-19 range.."Where are my badges? I've done all the praetorian stuff..." But no. It's in the next tier. Why? Do we know? Just curious.

I can't even get "hover" right from what I hear on the Discord. Nor Striga, Cimerora, Croatoa or Eochai. And never ask Snarky how he pronounces "melee". You can't unhear it.

Why? It's long been established that pre-ED characters would drop in a puddle if they had to contend with our current stable of characters. You want to be weaker?

So, my best recommendations are Shield/mace. A truly satisfying crunch from mace, and a few built in mules for lotg, and Shield Charge which is a hoot. Now, for leveling...the journey of the fire/MA or fire/ice tank are delightful. Fire isn't as weak as a lot of folks make it out to be. You can build for capped resist in s/l/e/fire. You could even squeeze cold in there, if that was worth it to you. and you'd still have burn. And it's super fun, compared to other sets which are ...well, it's all in the player's perspective, I suppose. Bio/SS can also be quite a thrill if you manage the rage crash well - which isn't that hard to do. I would begin with Shield/Mace. Then try Fire/MA and/or Fire/ice. Then Bio/SS, in that order.

We get 1000 slots, so make them all - and then come back and tell us which is the way to go!

What you folks need is to look at influence like it's real cash. I promise you, you would never be so careless with actual cash. I've sent 1 inf shy of billions to my alts and others...well, hundreds of times. It's never gone to the wrong person. The only time I ever took any particular care was when I was trying to help some noob who, as noobs like to do, created a global name with numbers that look like letters. Foolish people. Not only is "leet" speak silly, it also inhibits the senders of inf to your global. I see names like HO0ver, and in game, I'll have a rough time determining which is the capital o and which is a zero. It's my big strike against folks trying to be creative with their global names. Remember folks - treat inf like it's real cash, and then you can wisely decide if you really need that microfilament, or just use +5 run/end quickfoot.

I will say this for folks who may be unaware of various email glitches. Sometimes, for whatever reason, I'll notice an email I sent an alt didn't arrive. So, I'll send an email from the alt to the initial sending account, and that WILL arrive. So, I'll wonder if I made a mistake. So, I'll be real careful, and I'll send another email to the alt I sent the first one to; and that one doesn't arrive either. And then, 15-20 minutes later, the "lost" emails prove themselves delayed, not lost. This did happen. Only put in an email what you'd be prepared to lose if the gremlins get hungry. Before the snafu about a year ago, (when some folks were missing stuff from their email) for me, email had a perfect record. Never had any issues. I still haven't had any permanent issues. Just some temporary glitches. I can't find it now - because I'm too lazy to look, but way back when HC first opened the servers, I read something to the effect of [ email may or may not be reliable]. I've been taking the risk for at least 4 years and have never lost one (permanently).

Good news, Snarky. I found it. I sent it back to you.

I play just about the full spectrum of this game to one degree or another. I might PL a given character to 50, but more often than not, I level them organically. I stop and smell the figurative roses. I think a heroic alignment point would be an excellent idea - but only if they don't drop from Agent Hassell, if that makes any sense. Not sure if they can make the distinction, though. As for your commentary about the community pushing players to 50...I disagree, but that's kind of a distraction from your suggestion for me to reply in full to that.

I see no reason why not. But I don't see any reason why. You want to lock a player into a set of missions that offer no reward, aside from a badge (if they go to the proper /loc) and maybe a temp power if they complete a certain side mission. And most of us can just go to Agent Hassell and get that without the buy-in of 3-5 routine missions.

In all seriousness, at least you're using enhancements. There's more than a few who can't be bothered to blow some inf on any enhancements until...I have no idea. I think I read one guy didn't use them at all until 22. The game changes when you start using Set IOs. Things get a little easier, but they can also get more confusing. There's no rule of 5 with a damage SO. Fortunately, our community has some super smart people who break the mysteries down so most folks who have the patience to literally read the posts can figure it out. But if you skim...you're likely to get lost. The skimmers today! Why can't they read my big page of text?