Ukase

I have to agree. My biggest problem with this issue so far has been a lack of transparency. I'm left to connect the dots, as it were. Being told by this player or that, but no word from an HC dev as to why this, or why that. Perhaps I'm unrealistic to want to know the whys and wherefores. Volunteer staff, etc. I did finally get one word from a GM about something rather sinister that I had no idea about, but I would have thought they would have led with it, instead of me feeling like I had to kick and drag someone screaming to get some explanation about it. I think there's a number of players who have names I recognize as just players that are GMs on the sly - that is, it's not common knowledge, or not known by me that they're GMs. And they state things and others know they're GMs, so the other players back what they say, but I'm here not knowing they're GMs, and I occasionally call to question certain things I don't understand - and attract some negative attention because of it. On the one hand, I completely understand why some folks hate the idea of AFK farming. But on the other hand, so what? Anyone can do it if they want to, so there's no advantage anyone has over anyone else. The barrier to entry is the same barrier we all have/had. We're all different people and have found different ways to enjoy the game. But they've clearly put afk farming in the crosshairs - at least temporarily. It won't be long now until a build comes up that will allow afk-ers to do what they did before. I remember when they seeded salvage. GM Jimmy or some other GM wrote a post about why. And it made sense. But a lot of the changes I've seen don't make sense to me. To be fair, some changes in the past made no sense to me then, but they make sense now. So, I'm hoping that time will make some of these things make more sense. Like the prismatic Aethers. I think they're a wasted currency, but the jury is still out. Maybe it was a good move. We'll see, I guess.

I think this is on topic. If not, apologies. Seems like I've spent more time on test server after the patch than before it! I have made a map to test my builds on brainstorm, but I think I'm screwing something up. When folks are saying "adjusted for Page 4", I am assuming they have moved the slider so that the mobs award 100% XP. But on test, my builds did fine, but on the "real world", they don't do fine. They suck. But that's because I'm using two different maps. I like Bloodom's maps, due to the silly dialogue. But he doesn't have one updated on Brainstorm. Do we know of a map on Brainstorm that is properly adjusted for page 4? It's been a real eye-opener as to how much I did not know about farming maps. I always assumed they all gave the same XP, but this is not even close to reality. I tried one by @darkfirebrutetest (I swear, that's the global name the AE said made the mission!) but it seemed much rougher than Bloodom's, and gave more xp per kill, so I think it may be ramped up, but I can't be sure. And, if so, is there an identical version on the live server?

Anyone remember @verdigris ? They played on Liberty. I remember having a lengthy chat where I learned they were going through a lot of struggles, the game providing a necessary release of sorts. Wondering if they ever came through it alright.

How could anyone forget you? You're constantly bleating about your "legendary" status at every turn. I remember you for all the wrong reasons, sad to say.

I can't speak for these people you've looked to for advice that are no longer playing or scaling back, but often this has little or nothing to do with the game. Most of us are older, with families and responsibilities. This is still a game, and as time goes by, I know I recognize that I cannot get that time back. The only instance where I've ever been able to accumulate time was in prison. That's why it's more precious than money. I can save money for future use. I can be efficient, but still - the minutes or hours I save with this efficiency cannot be stuffed in my pocket and pulled out when I'm behind schedule later on. Time spent is gone forever. So, it's probably a good thing folks scale back or stop playing. Presumably, they're getting things done in real life, which actually matters far more. That aside, I can see your perspective. And you're entitled to feel the way you do. And nothing wrong with your opinion. I don't agree 100%. I think you have some good points, though. I do think that the Paragon devs have made some mistakes and the HC devs are left to make things work if/how they can. When CoV came out, I thought it was an insanely stupid thing to do. A game that is struggling to get really massive (compared to other games), decides to split it's talent and create a new world, with totally new ATs and powersets. A number of players stop paying for one game, and begin to play the new game. Then they realize how stupid of an idea that was, and try to merge the worlds so heroes can play with villains. Then, they didn't learn from it and create yet a third world, only to discover that while many appreciate the complexities of the stories, the inability to go to and fro with other players that aren't praetorian left a lot of the players that did like to play the content unhappy due to the loneliness of that world. It's why I believe there should be no alignments at all. But, if they do that - then what to do about all those alignment badges? I'm sure it would be a bloody mess to remove alignments anyway, but it's just a dream of mine. I don't really see the ATs with these generalities that you do. Too many people I know play petless MMs, and play blasters as if they can only blast from a distance, and other blasters as if they have no ranged attacks. I've seen too many brutes that play like tanks, and tanks that play like blind scrappers. Most folks don't want to fit into a given mold when they play, so they do things the way it pleases them at that moment. And that's usually fine. Folks wanted their incarnate powers to mean something, and now, with the hard mode stuff, they do. Still seems like a bit too much. How does one enjoy oneself when they are so focused on spamming barrier at the right moment? "Oh noes! We only have 4 barriers on this team, so we must use them every 30 seconds in rotation, so be sure you're in range!" I completely get that for some, this is just the kind of coordination and strategy they've been wanting! And both Aeon and the HM ITF are really well done, except both are just too damned long to suit me. I'd rather have each broken into 2 task forces, rather than sit that long for one. But, it is what it is, and eventually the time to complete won't take as long.

When you ding 50, there's still a lot of things to do, outside of the incarnate path. You've read it already - ouroboros and badges. Just because you've dinged 50 doesn't mean you can't revisit arcs you've not done on any given character. And do I need to open up the HC Wiki and search for level 50 contacts? Nah, you can do that. Off the top of my head, Crimson, Unai Kemen, Maria Jenkins, Harvey Meylor, and that's just on blue side. There's also more than a few Sig Story Arcs that have broad level ranges that are good for teaming or solo play. There's also the shadow shard. It's an area most of us overlook; we tend to only think of Dr. Q and the other shard TFs. But there's three contacts in FBZ, and pretty sure there's more in the other shadow shard zones. The only down side is there are no story arcs. Just repeatable missions. No badge missions, either. But, plenty of Rularuu to tackle for some defeat badges, if that becomes an interest. RWZ has several arcs that can keep you busy for a little while. Much depends on what content you did while leveling. If you're like me and you do Maria Jenkins' arc at level 45, then when you ding 50, she's not going to give you any more story arcs. Same with some of the contacts in RWZ; if you leveled up doing Gaussian's arc, then when you're 50, no more arcs from him. Obviously, even with Ouro, there is a limit to how many story arcs you can do at 50 before you're repeating content. But, for the most part, there are dozens of vet levels of play left before that happens.

Blasphemer! If there isn't 12 pounds of sugar in it, you cannot consider it a pop tart! If this were the place for it, I would bore 99.9% of you with thousands of confusing data points on non-nutritive sweeteners. T

Pizza, peanuts, pretzels. I'd include pasta, but when you eat that with your hands...that keyboard turns into a real mess!

Pop-Tarts? Yeah? But do you toast the cinnamon and brown sugar ones, then add butter and more cinnamon-sugar to them? If not, you keep trying! In all honesty, I have not had a pop-tart since the game closed down! I no longer eat food out of a box.

Unfortunately (for me) - there is one thing the farmer can do better than the marketer - and that's acquire emp merits that your alts can use. I can market until I get to a trillion, but I cannot buy any emp merits. I can't earn them by marketing, no matter how well I do it. But the lovely farmer - that guy has it made, because he can farm, he can sell the loot that drops, or craft it, convert it and sell, and essentially be a marketeer as well as a farmer. You keep farming. You may not be able to use emp merits the way you wish, but you'll make plenty of inf anyway.

I appreciate the info. I got a DM telling me that my time was off by a considerable margin also. I can only go off my own experience and what I'd heard from others. I guess the jury is still out. No doubt, times will improve as folks run it more often.

It could be, but I don't think so. I mean...how could it be? Someone had to trigger them to drop upon the defeat of Hero 1, right? I mean, otherwise, they might just drop for any old thing. If it were just one, sure, I could blame it on the RNG, but it's 10 of them. But, hey, who knows? Not me.

I am by no means an expert, or heck, even a novice in what it would take to do this. But, I do feel safe making these assumptions: 1. Creating a contact identical to the contact you (or whomever has an arc deemed worthy) made should be easy, particularly if you send the HC Devs the file the mission is stored on. 2. The mission need not be "Ported", if that's the right word, just reproduced with the tools they use to make the other new arcs they've created. Or heck, hand over the keys and let the original author create the arc - if it's as easy to use as the MA system. If not, maybe they can just use the same dialogue from the original arc - so it's not like they have to write anything new, just copy the dialogue and such. It may be quite a large headache, though. That's certainly possible. But, not sure I see the harm in asking they look into the viability of it.

My thoughts are a bit jumbled. I'd like to think I play this game to relax, but sometimes, doing the more challenging content, it's anything but relaxing. I lean forward in my seat, pay closer attention to where teammates are at, looking for threats...it's interesting. I couldn't possibly call it relaxing in any sense of the word. Fun is subjective. Parts of the game are fun. Parts of the game make me wish I'd never discovered it. While the journey is essentially the destination, like water, most of us are inclined to take the path of least resistance. Some folks would never imagine running at 0/1. It's too easy, and boring for them. They ramp it up to an appropriate level that challenges them. Sometimes, in lieu of ramping up the difficulty, they handicap their characters. Or both. Me, it's all depending on my mood. I remember when CoH first shut down. It was bittersweet. I was playing this game way too much. I'd gained a lot of weight, just sitting on my ass, and instead of cooking an actual meal, it was pizza, pop tarts, all manner of foods starting with P. But if I could grab it with one hand and shove it into the gaping maw that was my mouth, that was the preferred food. When it shut down, I started moving around, found rowing as an exercise, and turned it into a sport where I'm one of the top 100 rowers in the world in my age group. I used to be in the top 10, but a hernia repair slowed me down a bit. So, now, when I play, I don't want to waste time smelling any digital roses, usually. I want to reach my objective for the day, and log off. This game can suck 14 hours a day out of your life if you let it. I cannot really grasp how people can just "do nothing". I struggle to find the amusement in RP, but hey, whatever's fun/interesting for you, go for it. I certainly like a cool looking costume in the costume creator as much as the next player, but in game, you can't really even see the costumes with the same detail unless you zoom in. And I don't play zoomed in, so costumes are kind of a waste of time for me. I can't see yours, I can't see mine, so what difference does it make for me? Zip! But, some of you can waste/spend/invest HOURS in a costume creation session. Makes me wonder how long some of you take to get dressed in the morning, lol. So, yeah, I can see where some folks really enjoy the routine or process of starting at level 1 and playing through. I do that myself, but I don't just mill about and do nothing. I get things done; I accomplish as much as I can in the 60 or 90 minutes I give myself to play. I just don't have the time (and even if I did, I don't want to spend that time!) doing nothing. When the game last shut down, I thought about how many hours I'd spent playing...and I had nothing to show for all that time. Some memories? Like that's going to do anything for me. Sure, I have some boxes the game's CDs came in. That does nothing for me. It's not nostalgic like the Amazing Spider Man comics. I place no value on these things, because I can't sell them. This is why I'm always vocal on these board about anything that will cause me to spend more time to reach a goal. If it's a new fun thing, okay, but other than that, why are they trying to waste my time? As it stands now, I can only consider one session a week "relaxing", where I lead a few folks into various content at a snail's pace. I'd rather go faster, but there's more than a couple of folks in this group that don't enjoy speeding through and would rather just go from mob to mob. And that's fine. I'm just in it for the bad puns.

Shall we get into semantics? If so, the list of procs is probably not as long as you'd think. Most of us probably think of procs as any IO that doesn't automatically boost a given attribute or more. Like the Perf Shifter: Chance for + endurance. Proc or not? The Preventative Medicine: Absorb Proc...well, duh, obviously, that's a proc. The various "Chance for X type of damage" IOs, procs, or not procs? In my head, I call of those chance for this or that, the glad armor 3% def (all)...all of those uniques, I label them all procs in my head. Which proc or procs are you specifically referring to, and why should they be nerfed? They seem to be working as intended.

I don't know how many folks run this that aren't focused on killing fakes, etc, in pursuit of badges. But, I am curious about something. Each time I run this, the Freedom Phalanx Reserve heroes...it's not even a couple of mobs before they all claim they can't go on. Citadel is usually the first to go, followed by Back Alley Brawler. Penny Yin is usually the last to leave. But Positron...he's like a pet that does nothing. He seems to take whatever splash damage that comes towards my characters, but does nothing. The dialog as you complete the objectives in the mission shows him speaking, but I really don't understand what his role is this first mission. He's useless. Is this non-performance on his part intended, or a glitch?

Then how do you explain my earning 30 prismatics each time I've completed a 4* Aeon SF? But we only earn 20 for completing the 4*ITF? I did this on Tuesday and Wednesday of this previous week, post patch. Each time, after we fought Incandescence, Serpent Drummer, Levantera, Borea, Dark Watcher, Lady Grey and Hero One, when Hero One was the last to go down, we got 10 Prismatics. No idea if that's by design or not, but since it's not that hard to do, (relative to the rest of the challenges in the SF), may as well do it. Get the combat dummy and 10 prismatics. Then got 20 when we completed the SF. 30 for about 70 minutes vs 20 for about 2 hours. (to be fair, the time to complete the 4* ITF can certainly be shorter, team composition, players, etc. ) But, I'm convinced the HM ITF should reward more due to the longer time requirement. Admittedly, over time, the prismatics won't be selling for that much, and won't be much of an issue. But, right now, the difference of 10 PAPs is about 200M, give or take a smidge.

For an afk-farmer, in particular with the new changes, some -threat wouldn't be a bad thing, I wouldn't think. Plus the inherent stealth might be protective, in a sense from mobs that wander by - which the afk-er may not be able to handle. All depends on the map and the build, of course. And opinions will vary.

Thanks, but I went and knocked out the accolades this afternoon; had a character I was leveling up and needed to knock out Maria Jenkin's arc anyway, so I just collaboratively completed them. The Atlas Medallion just boosts endurance, and with burn on auto, there's really not a strong need for more endurance. It seems so strange to devote so many slots just for set bonuses, lol. I can say one thing, it didn't take very long at all to get the first 24 vet levels. I burned a ton of threads to make the alpha t-3, rather than use emp merits or bother with a weekly tf. Just quicker and easier to do that, and I won't miss the inf for the crafting fee. Now, when I need to do some farming, I'm ready. I almost made a fire/spines tank....that might be interesting. The dps would be much poorer, but with some procs, and higher hp, I wouldn't have to waste so many slots on regen. Might keep me out of trouble for a minute.

First - I can appreciate the effort in making & sharing the builds. The afk seems well thought out. Interesting, too. But here's what I don't know, and my thoughts are all over the place. Different maps will tend to have different custom mobs. So, while this afk build you're kindly sharing may do perfectly well on the map you suggest, it may do horribly on a different map. I went to Brainstorm to test that build you shared a couple of weeks ago, got the passive accolades, and the build did great. So, I made the build here, and don't have the accolades yet. But, I got the amplifiers, and threw it into Bloodom's "XP adjusted" map, and after a few minutes, it died. (I couldn't test it in the same map/mission, as it wasn't available on Brainstorm.) I'm not complaining. I learned, or rather, was reminded that not all farm maps are the same. There's that slider that determines how much XP you get, and none of us really know what we're going to get until we enter it. As it stands now, I could get the passive accolades on the new farm brute...but ugh...I've done this so many times on so many characters...ugh. I don't even need to farm right now, so I'm going to wait until I need to, I think. Heh, for a lark, I'm the Abyss, with all my toggles off and three gms hitting me, doing a little damage, but not killing me. Good thing the build has taunt, I can gather some more. Different solutions: Don't stand in the center of the asteroid. Stand to the left or right. Use the tunnel and follow an npc around. This mitigates some damage, because as you move, they don't chase you with that ranged damage, so it's not that bad. Might come back to a dead farmer at the choke points, might not. Depends on the rng of mob movement. Consider a different primary and use Foot Stomp in lieu of burn.

So...after about a week, my thoughts on the changes have changed, a bit. First, the new HM ITF is not rewarding enough for the time involved. Compare the 4* ITF, you earn 20 Prismatics, with the 4* Aeon, where you can earn 30, in a little bit more than half the time invested. (assuming you talk to lady gray and do that fight where you earn the combat dummy.) Other than the novelty or the challenge, why would anyone run the 4* ITF? In time, most folks will not run that, when they could run the Aeon and get 50% more. With regards to afk-farming...I had to face all kinds of delusion in the forums here regarding that. Some folks swear the change isn't impacting their farming. And I would question my build. Then, I realize that not all AE maps have the same XP. Some farms are just easier. They give less XP. The newer farms that have been "adjusted" for page 4, there's still no way to know how the XP will be, until you step in a map, kill a minion, lieut, and boss (and elite boss, if that's your thing) and track it. I'd step in one farm, think other people must not know what they're doing, then step in another farm and think I don't know what I'm doing. I made a rad/fire brute based on America's Angel's build. Went to test and copied it exactly. it did fine. Made it on Excelsior, and slapped that puppy in an "adjusted for XP" farm, and it lasted about 2 minutes before it died. Tried out my buddy Stitch's build, it died. Turns out, that farm I was trying ... I still don't know if that was adjusted for 100% or 125%, because until last night, it never occurred to me the xp in those would be different. I think it did occur, but it just wasn't something I ever thought about, because I never worried about the xp. I farmed for drops, not XP. The characters are already 50, already t-4'd, XP is meaningless. I just want the emp merits now, which leads me back to XP. Now, it doesn't matter to me how long it takes, to be honest, but I am looking at it like it's a problem to be solved. So, given that the amplifiers aren't useful in Master runs, nor in Magisterium and other iTrials, these amplifiers now have a clear use - in the farms. Since I already paid for them with the zillions of packs I've bought over the years, I'll use those in the farm, without having to respec my builds. In the meantime, I'm at the drawing board, checking which maps give which XP and then seeing how my characters fare in them. And trying to get them to function as before, without using defensive amplifiers. Honestly, without them, I am thinking it's just not possible to afk farm as before - but it can be done. By not standing in the center of the asteroid map - but standing to the left or right. And just moving to the other side after a period of time. Or use one of those, follow the rescued NPC maps. Or, just make my own map, and have xp not be adjusted for 100%, but find the right % for my farmers. Who cares how long it takes? It's afk, right? Time is meaningless. Still, in the meantime, it's a problem to solve, so I'll beat my head against this wall and try to solve it for a while. It'll give me something to do - something I didn't have to do before. That's kind of a pro and a con, as far as my thoughts go. With regards to the prismatic aether, this new "currency". Just really a stupid idea. Absolutely stupid. They should have used 20 reward merits for each costume and called it a day. In fact, I think it was so stupid, I'll call it stupid again. Stupid! Stupid! It's like this: "We made this new hard mode stuff, and by golly, they will play that content!" The only way they can get certain players to do these things is to put a badge or a costume unlock, or both, to motivate certain players to do these things. Truth: If there weren't a badge with the new HM ITF, I would have never run it. Truth: If there weren't 150 PAPs required for 4 badges, I wouldn't have done the 4* Aeon a number of times. (and really, I did that more to hang out with Stitch & co, I already bought 143 of those PAPs at 55M to get those badges.) But, I've done it, and now, I'll only do those kinds of things when I want to, not because I need/want a badge. And I will likely never want to. Just depends on who I'd be teamed with. The 4*HMITF is going to take a good team over an hour. If the team isn't that good, or it's a PUG, it will take 2 hours or more. Sorry, but that's not good for anyone. Two hours? I don't have time for bullshit like that. If you do, great. I'll never, ever, knowingly commit to 2 hours of playtime.

So, one of my strategies has been to leave the allies behind ASAP. They try to follow, but give up and remain in position once they lose sight of you. In Penny Yin's arc, I'm to rescue Doc Delilah. She's right at the front of the map. So, I leave her there, un-rescued. I enter the building, complete the objective in there, and rescue Doc last. It all depends. Fusionette and I think it's Temblor in the Levantera arc, after you become a member of the Vanguard - I rescue Fusionette last, and before her, Temblor. The roughest for me is Provost Marchand's arc. The second or third mission has a number of allies that are somewhat durable when I run at 0/1, but if I'm on a brute or scrapper that runs at a higher difficulty, they end up taking a knee fairly quickly. I used to use team inspirations to keep them going, but it's damned tedious because they don't have a pet window to track their HP.

First, I applaud many of you for trying to create interesting content. You're telling a story, which can be tough to do using the MA system. My very best suggestion/advice is to plead with the HC staff to allow the better stories/content to be moved out of AE and into the wild, so to speak. The reason many do not run your stories is because: 1. No idea it exists. 2. The XP is 1/2 what it is in the wild. 3. There are no reward merits. 4. The defeats, debt, influence earned - so many different badges that are tracked by the game - they do not count in AE maps. If the "dev choice" winners, say, every quarter, were to have their missions/story arcs moved outside of AE, then people WOULD run it. Perhaps not as often as a Yin or other task forces and story arcs, but when something "new" drops, people will run it.

So...I can kind of see how you might think the game is catering to a certain group. The earlier page, when they took away temp powers (like my jetpack) when in a pvp zone, it certainly seemed like there was some effort put in to appease the folks that liked to pvp. And they are either a rare bunch, or a very quiet bunch. I only know of a handful of players that will tolerate pvp, (as in think it's okay) whereas the rest are decidedly anti-pvp, and you could remove those zones, and they would never know. As they are a volunteer staff, it also stands to reason they'd work on things that capture their interest. So, I guess I'd just say be patient. Empty words, I know, but it's all I got.

Guess I'm just as ignorant. I remember where The Fab is in Grandville, but only because of the badge there. Thing is, when I get invited, I can see from the team window what zone they're in. Once I get in zone, if I am not real clear where the contact is, I can just head over to where the leader is. We don't really have to know, for example, where the Hyperion neighborhood marker is in Atlas. Nor do we need to know where the Grim Vale is in Croatoa, if we join a GM kill team. All we need to know is where the train is, or an sg portal, take one or the other, and once in zone, head towards the team leader.