Ukase

Huh? You've got to be kidding me. I've taken this on several blasters, brutes...I can't tell the difference with or without it. If there is a difference, I can't discern it.

I can only presume our moderation team is censoring us again and a thread was removed simply because it was popular. Folks, this is an error you're making. There's no harm in lively debate. Secrets are bad. Let it out. You'll feel better. @Glacier Peak took the time to reply to my post - and now I can't see it. If you're going to hide an entire thread, take away the notifications, too. Then I can be blissfully ignorant and have no idea what you did. Now this fine person will think at best he got the last word in and I agreed, or at worst, I was rude to not reply or answer a question. Closing threads is one thing. Removing posts altogether is just rude. What are you afraid of? Rebellion? We're gonna egg your sg base or cover it with rolls of toilet paper?

I tried to make one of these just a week ago and I couldn't. I know it's got something to do with holding both blades and the shield being a no-go...but ...what if someone was able to make it? And play it? Or was that just on Brainstorm? Someone PLs their new tank to 50, goes through some incarnate trials...logs in to find half the characters powers are wiped out and replaced with...what?

You won't see it from me. I was pretty vocal verbal about the proposed change in page 4 where vet levels wouldn't be earned in AE. Then they changed it to remove the emp->reward merit conversion. I specifically made a point to laud the fact that I felt like I was listened to and my opinion felt like it mattered. Some of these forum folks - they reply to my comments as if I'm completely in error in my thinking because their thinking is accurate. They really bring out the worst in me sometimes.

And there was much rejoicing!

See...I read this...and I just don't see it. I am obtuse, mind you. Sometimes painfully slow. I've an ex-wife that can attest to that. If it is truly "US" and not "US vs. Them", then why do they not share the direction and rationale behind changes before they get to Brainstorm to test? I can read all day about "Well, consulting the people that actually play the game is a slippery slope, and it's just not done in industry. Those players have no idea how to run a game." They are the ones that have made this dividing line by not being transparent. They are their own worst enemy by labeling something a "Feedback" thread - but they don't want feedback. They don't care what we think. They just want to know if it works. I can't get to the part "Does it work" until I get to the part "why the changes?" and "Why this specific change?" First things first. I'll try to illustrate. Girlfriend makes a dish with chicken in it. I ask, "what's the occasion?" I also ask, "what's in it?" If she tells me to just eat it and doesn't share the ingredients, I'm not going to eat it. She doesn't know me well enough to know what I like and what I don't. Now you may say, "She's not cooking for just you." And I'll say, "But she's still asking me to eat it!" Now, of course, I can simply choose not to eat. I have that right. But I like chicken. I just want to know why the recipe changed! I want to know what's in it. Why did she decide to take it out early? Raw chicken is dangerous! So anyway, yeah, I guess I'm hungry again. To sum up, I have an understanding why now, but I don't have to like it.

This may be a fair point. My testing was brief. I hopped in the map amid the usual +4/8, Unai Kemen freak map. I went about my attack chain and stood there after FE, Burn, Frost, Frozen Aura and had to wait for Burn to recharge. Normally I do not. So, for me, it's too slow. I worked hard on that build, making it just so. So, now, my time invested thus far is gone, can't get it back. Additionally more time will need to be spent trying to recoup the recharge at risk of other attributes, and hoping I can find a balance between them all. All because of some nefarious evil doers and some vocal minority that despises farming. I guess they want to pay more for IOs. Fine with me. In fairness, I did not test a leveling character; the character was already 50 when I copied it over there. My character is already 50, so I didn't see a need to test it leveling up. And let's be very clear - there won't be nearly enough time to level a character up normally on Brainstorm to determine how good or bad it would be. I tried that with Stone blast. Made it to level 13 when the patch hit. I don't know what they expected of us in that kind of testing. I wanted to run a mission at level 5, 8, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25 to determine how end recovery from the sustain held up. How damage seemed to scale at the various levels. But, they didn't leave things on Brainstorm long enough. The pushed it out as if some publisher was looking over their shoulder. There's only so much time I can devote to it in a given week. If this change in burn proceeds as offered, what will likely happen is the cost of all the goods sold will increase. Most of the fun had by the fiery aura characters will be diminished - at least for most people. Perhaps my complaints will land on an ear that hears and possibly understands. Or maybe the other cries that 45 seconds is too long, and 32 might be better will get to the powers that be. I've no idea. I just know it's the wrong way to the wrong direction for me. As I've digested the reasons for the last page changes, I can better accept this undesired change. But I will not like it. If it goes through in any form, it will be a headache at best, mainly because respecs are a headache. If it goes through with the 45 second, I'm going to play less and market more. And I don't think anyone wants that.

So, after having some much needed food, I've thought about this. It irks me a bit that I had to do that, when they could have just stated it from the outset. But, I suppose my acting like a small child, lashing out at what I do not understand does not inspire them with confidence. So, I apologize to anyone I insulted or outright offended, either by accident or on purpose. And given my obtuse nature, that could be just about any and everyone. It would seem that the reason behind this "proposed" change is simply the next step in an aim to prevent afk farming. It's not entirely that they detest afk-farmers - it's there are a bad apple or two that are using the option for sinister purposes, or they might. I'm not really sure. They didn't do it last patch because if they did, there would have been even more screams and cries - as if 40 some-odd pages of pissed off people weren't enough. I am still irritated. I still feel the powers developers should chime in once a month on what they're thinking and which way they're going. It IS owed to us. That is not entitlement, that is getting what we paid for. What would be the harm? A lot of verbiage, sure. But also a lot of ideas that they may have never considered. Many counsels assure victory.

You're certainly right - my post does scream entitlement. But their lack of a post screams it louder. They accept the donation and do whatever they want. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this is poor form. You seem to think not a single soul is entitled to a thing. I vehemently disagree. I believe we are OWED transparency. Remember, we aren't getting paid either! How much time have all of us invested in various characters and then suddenly, we may find our characters changed to the point where they're not as they were. The more time a player puts into a character, the more you can expect that player to be irritated, if not outraged. To think any other way is to be shortsighted of human nature. I remember when Jimmy use to write paragraphs explaining where things were at and where they were going. Now...we get no explanations, no musings, no details about a direction of any kind. Why are you okay with that? I completely get I'm a guest here. But my money has helped pay for that. I certainly do feel entitled to know why they're trying to change the way I play and suddenly, what I play. Pardon me. Why they're proposing to change the way I play, and if the change goes through, what I play, if I even continue to play. Perhaps many of you are okay with sailing blindly to some unknown destination. I want to know where things are headed.

You've missed the point. Why is this proposed change on the test server? Because "they" decided, without any consultation from any of the player that are paying for the servers that it should be changed. That is my bone of contention. They didn't ask for insights. They didn't share why they felt the need to propose the change. What is the end goal? They just code it and expect us to determine if something bad happens. The change itself is bad. I tested it. My recharge when from 8 seconds to 13. That is a bad result of a proposed change. I am pissed because they wasted time on this, choosing some arbitrary value for a greater recharge time when the time could have been spent doing things that needed changing. This did not. You do what you like. But I'm not giving anything until they explain their rationale behind these proposed changes that they've invested time into coding. And you can bet there was some testing before it hit Brainstorm. They've known about this since before page 4 hit. They could have asked then, but they chose not to because you seem to think the opinions of the players aren't worth considering. We will have to disagree on that. My opinion is every bit as valid as yours.

You cannot see the forest with the trees in the way. My FA/Ice tank is durable NOW. It didn't need to be improved in that regard. Fiery Aura is not the most durable of tanks, sure. and the debuffs may be helpful in a small, unnoticeable way. But to reduce burn from a base of 25 to 45 is entirely too long. I now have 5 seconds where I'm literally sitting in this mob of npcs able to do nothing because of the slower recharge. This was an unnecessary change. Not desired, nor required. They want us to test - but they don't tell us what it's supposed to be like, what we're testing for. It's not like I can see the combat log stats after the session is over in a text file for easy reading. I went on test - and I was disappointed. I saw nothing that said I got anything in return for the slower recharge. I didn't notice any more damage. I didn't notice any more survivability. All I noticed was slower recharge. If they're going to do that, they need to do something for that tradeoff. Make burn do more damage. Something noticeable. But there's nothing. The patch change for Fiery Aura is a complete slap in the face to anyone who routinely plays Fiery Aura. It will require a respec for anyone who cares about their characters. That's a lot of damned time they would have us WASTE on top of their time that they already wasted with this needless nerf. If they want us to go along with this, they NEED to explain what they're trying to do, and why they're trying to do it. Then we can read that and let them know if it's something we can get behind. Maybe they just want to go back to playing all by themselves again. I've no idea. But changing things that aren't broken isn't the way. Nobody ever said "I want to do less damage!" Instead, what we hear/read are comments from people who do not play those powersets that chime in "They do too much damage!". They are jealous because we play them, and are happy enough on our own, and they are mad because they play something that isn't doing much damage. They don't say, "Hey, we should be doing more damage". Instead, they cry out, "Fire is too OP!". We tell them the reason it does all the damage it does is because it doesn't have kb protection, and 1 pt that it will now have is not enough. Try 12 pts, just for a start. Then add in some defense debuff resistance, then we can handle the 45 second recharge. But this pissant defense debuff is unnoticeable. 1 pt of kb protection is all but useless. Nemesis, yellow mitos and certain other NPCs are still going to toss us around like popcorn unless we specifically devote slots to it that other tanks don't have to spend on it. This is poorly thought out. We are not presented with any rationale behind this change. These Power Devs must not be playing this game. If they are, they aren't playing a fire tank or a fire brute. And if they are, what is it that they are trying to do? They need to explain where this 45 second number comes from. What is making that the perfect number over 25? Over 30? Who decided on this value and why? And why didn't they bring this up before they waste time coding it? Because they KNEW most of us wouldn't like it. And they don't give a shit. They have literally told us all to leave if we don't like it. Me, I'd rather try to hold them accountable. I want answers. I keep hearing "They're not getting paid". The hell they're not. They get donations every month. It may not go in their pockets, but some of us ARE paying to keep the game going. So it is completely fair for us to ask for this kind of information. They do OWE us the answers. If not, they can pay that money out of their own pocket and do whatever they like. Until then, time to stop with these damned changes until you present the proposed changes before you code them. With the rationale behind the changes. I can accept nerfs to my characters that will cause me to waste hours, even if I'd rather not, if there's a reason. And just because some fans of the HC Devs or the HC devs think burn is "broken" or "overpowered" isn't a good enough reason. Burn is the way it is because the armor is so weak compared to the other armors. You muck with that, then the Fire Shield needs to protect against Toxic, and against Negative Energy as well. There also needs to be some DDR thrown in for good measure. Hell, there's millions of different ways to improve FA without mucking with burn. But they don't ask us. They just do what they want to do. Until they stop taking money, they need to explain what they're doing and why.

Yeah, our HC devs love to cram this stuff down our throats whether it's good for the game or not. Very disappointed with the direction they're taking this game. Nerfing burn from my current 8 second recharge to 13 seconds, with nothing to compensate for it. Doesn't make any sense to me at all.

My mother used to say, "It's protein. It's good for you." Should have seen the look on her face when I got her a cricket protein bar.

Yeah, per the wiki, once you have the badge, you have to spend 1.4 hours logged off for a one minute duration, with a 2 hour cap. So, that's 168 hours, or a week after you get the badge. And, suppose you hit the 100 hour mark at noon on Wednesday, but log in at 1PM. I don't think we get credit for that hour towards the 2 hour cap. I think the counter for the buff starts when the badge is awarded, not when it's earned, but I could be wrong.

So, I have the day job for Wentworth's. And for another 37 minutes, if the wiki is to be trusted, I'm supposed to get a Brain Storm Idea for each mission completed. I've only gotten one, after completing Habashy's story arc. You can see the mission completion message, and I got some common salvage, but no brain storm idea. I'm getting the idea that I might have forgotten why I never paid attention to Day Job temps. The game owes me 5 more brain storm ideas, because I haven't been getting paid. Maybe I should use the acronym BS idea, right?

So, new character. Doing Matthew Habashy's stuff. Tells me to clear out the park. Experience tells me I need to defeat 5 - but the mission objective in the nav bar gives no number. It used to do so. Same with the Hellion Lieuts, in Prometheus park. I know to kill 5, but mission objective gives no indication. Fast Forward to Sondra Costel's arc. I know there are 3 glowies in one of the parks to click on. But neither the map, nor the nav bar tell me where to go. I know enough to figure it out, I think - but our newer players will have no idea. ne o

The best I can offer is to start an ouro TF with master midnight; he's the closest contact to there, but you still have to hoof it a good bit. Thanks, @Uun I went to that page, and I just figured if I clicked on the links, I'd be taken to some page that shared info about that topic, and not the charge rate of the temps. I really should change my global from Ukase to Obtuse. So, it looks like I need to leave the characters in question in that position an additional full week for the 2 hour buff. Sheesh, that's annoying, but I get why. Can't have some fool like me getting all the buffs for more than 2 hours. No telling what kind of crazy stuff I might do.

Day jobs have never really been anything I've thought about, beyond just logging off in certain spots to get the badges. I never really worried about the temporary buffs or their duration. It occurs to me that some of you do, indeed, pursue some of these and aim to keep them running as long as you can. The Wiki seems to be missing this info, or I wasn't smart enough to find it. Let us use the monitor badge (logging out next to sg portal) as an example. How long does one need to stay logged out to get one charge? Is it one per day? I'm thinking that 30 is the max, so it would make sense if that's the case. And in Dark Astoria, there are some nifty buffs, but I'm not clear how many hours I need to be logged out there, once my character has acquired the badge and keep the buff running. One day (after getting the badge) gives me a buff for how many hours? One hour? 5? Anyone know, or know where to point me in the right direction to find out?

I am curious. If I recall, the last time I tried to ToT in Atlas, last year, I was able to do so. But this year, I can't. I don't see that in these patch notes. Did I miss something?

Oh, I want to earn it - but I want to earn it by finding a bug on the live servers, not Brainstorm.

At first, when I only had a few level 50's, I went with backstory first. Some were revamps using old names/stories from live, some were new. After a couple dozen level 50's, with new powersets coming out, backstory became irrelevant, as how would you know what backstory to create if you don't know about the powerset? Eventually, you realize that the backstory you make is for yourself. And they only give us so many characters to create that story. For some characters, it's just not enough - particularly given how verbose I am. Words are necessary to convey specific information without misunderstandings. Further, it's not like anyone reads that stuff, either. Or if they do, they don't often comment on it enough to make it worth investing the time. Ultimately, it's not game knowledge that drives it for me - but a lack of knowledge. I still haven't made any character with storm powerset.

We all know Praetoria is pretty much a ghost town, despite a few enthusiasts who enjoy it. For me, one of the things that prevents me from leveling that path more often is the lack of zones to grab the explorations from for the reward merits. At level 15, assuming you have SS, there's not a whole lot of zones you can't get to, praetoria included for those merits. But the goldsiders are literally stuck there. They'll never get more than 40 reward merits from the 8 zones until they hit 20 and decide to leave. So...what about some GMs? Like an Avatar of Hamidon coming out to have some fun? Or even some DE GMs that could spawn Hami in the middle of the zone?

With this macro, using the attached popmenu file, you can see at a glance what you need for each badge, and each accolade. I believe @AboveTheChemist is the chap that came up with this very useful popmenu, and has been kind enough to update in good time after each patch. Not to discount your efforts - but I think this does what you want. Here's an example: I can see at a glance that my level 46 brute just needs to finish with the AVs to complete Portal Jockey. Post edited to remove an outdated file.

As someone who solos a lot, and on any AT or powerset combo, not all choices will be enjoyable. But, it's all subjective. When leveling, I found Dominators and Controllers to be just miserable. Their DPS is pitiful, woefully so - again, that's while leveling in the lower levels. When you get enough recharge on the Dom for perma-dom, and you keep that alignment status for Frenzy, it can be fun. As for the controller, it's hard to beat ill/dark for soloing, but even then, you have to wait until the 30's to feel "super" in any sense of the word. An MM...you can solo easily with, but it requires you to pay attention. You can't just blindly mash buttons and hope for success. Playing an MM and playing an MM well are two different things. The latter requires paying attention, and generally involves the use of a lot of macros and/or keybinds. The Sentinel...it can be fun, but frankly, if you have the budget, a blaster will survive every bit as well and certainly dish out more damage. The Corruptor...is also solo friendly, because the secondary can buff/debuff, depending on your choice and either make your attacks hit harder, or make the npc attacks hit less frequently or not as hard. Depending on your power selections, there's a case to be made, in some circumstances that a corruptor is just as good as a blaster. Just depends on your playstyle. When it comes to DPS, that is a messy stat. Powersets with AoE tend to be thought of as the kings of DPS, as they whittle down groups, as opposed to single target specialists which can take down bosses much faster, but can only do so one at a time. Blasters often are disregarded due to the woefully inaccurate label of "glass-cannon". I would submit it's the player that is the glass-cannon, not the AT. On live, that case could be made, but on HC, the blaster is quite sturdy with boosted HP over the live version. 1847 Hit points at cap and when you slap on a defensive amplifier to prevent low-mag stuns/holds/sleeps, you're a killing machine, nigh unstoppable unless you're just careless or get easily distracted, or just don't care and enjoy pushing things to the edge. The thing about blasters, though, is many of their secondary attacks have you in melee. And the damage from those secondary attacks are less powerful than the primary attacks. So, in some sense, it makes sense to prioritize the primary. But, melee IS ranged. It's just a shorter range. So, there's no reason to avoid melee attacking at all. Now, I understand that some folks want to stay at range. Usually, this aversion comes from getting hammered when in melee. And, let's be candid, the melee defense or resistance of a blaster is nothing to scream about, particularly in lower levels. Fortunately, there are plenty of useful power choices in the power pools that can let you avoid melee if you really want to - and those power selections can increase your survival at range and in melee - like the fight pool and leadership. If forced to choose, I always choose fight pool over leadership because Weave gives more bang for the buck than Maneuvers. When you toss in an epic armor at level 35, it's not unreasonable to expect melee/ranged defense of 30% without sacrificing a ton of recharge. Then a small purple luck inspiration, and you can go just about anywhere you want and kill 'em all pretty quickly, whether melee or ranged. Now, if you're a newer player, or can't afford or determine how to build for survivability with a blaster - go with a Sentinel. The recharge of the nuke for a Sentinel is comparatively fast! And you can have a lot of fun with one. In short, there's no wrong way. I'd go blaster, but that's my preference. And specifically, I'd go ice/ice, ice/fire, fire/ice or water/fire, or fire/fire. Water and ice primary are both great for increased survivability at lower levels.

At level 1, I enter this keybind for all my characters. /bind z "dialog_yes$$dialog_answer Accept" No, it doesn't get rid of them, but I am able to get rid of the box quickly with the mash of my z button. Edit: I really should read through the entire thread before giving a response. I see Tiger Shadow just gave a more useful solution, with yes or no.