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Ukase

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Posts posted by Ukase

    Ice doing extra damage?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Puns are the highest form of humor, as far as I'm concerned. Pun away. 

    True story: I once was using puns so often, my mother got tired of it. So, she tricked me into walking into my parent's walk-in closet. She screamed through the door, "Pun your way out of this!" 
    I calmly said, "Mom, just o-pun the door." 

    She let me out. 

    Okay, it's not true, but what if it was? 
    I'd still be in the closet? Sorry, low hanging fruit. 

    Is that because I'm old? 

    Probably. 

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    Caveat Emptor!

    in The Market

    Posted

    10 hours ago, Black_Assassin said:

    So is it a worthwhile investment still in your opinion? I am considering burning my total net of 40B into them just for lolz (i don't actively play so it doesn't matter if I dont get crazy returns, just breaking even is the minimum requirement really).

    I wouldn't sink my total worth in them, no. But, I need to stay somewhat liquid to get my bids in and handle the usual marketing stuff. If you're someone who's able to WAIT until maybe next August, September, for folks to start working their way through their inventory, then yes, I think you can recoup your investment. 

    The only time I've seen the RNG treat me so shamelessly is while converting...maybe 2 times out of 1000 IOs. Like, a really, really low fraction of the time. I was sure the devs broke it, or deliberately altered it in some way. And why? Because of this not-so-subtle push towards teaming. With a player having 1000's of merits from the packs...then why team? Players don't need to team to get those merits any more. Now, if they nerf the amount of merits, players may still solo to get them, but at least some of those people will team more often to get them. 

    Hunting locations for i27-3 badges

    in Badges

    Posted

    50 minutes ago, KaizenSoze said:

    I think any 5th column lt now has a chance to transform. I have definitely seen non vampyri transform.

    Thanks, cleared the first map of Kahn, set to 0/8..got 6. Given the other badges in Aeon - Fort Knox (Gold brickers), Smelt it dealt it (smelters), rearguard (Vanguard Shield or Sword), Cool Customer (Cryo) Totally Radical (Gamma) - I think it's just smarter to tackle Aeon, even if I burn through a few temps to get past some AVs on the characters that lack the dps to do it alone. and, I can do it at my own pace and afk when I need to during the day. 

    Hunting locations for i27-3 badges

    in Badges

    Posted

    With regards to Beast Within, defeating 50 lycanthropes after they transform, I'm told that Kahn is probably a little better for this than Aeon. 

    In Aeon, it's pretty clear the Dark Vampyri are the ones that transform. Which mobs in Kahn are the ones that transform? Any LT? Specific LTs or bosses? Only Dark Vampyri? I checked the Wiki, and couldn't gain any insights there. 

    Finally!

    in The Market

    Posted

    16 minutes ago, Andreah said:

    It leads me to wonder how winter packs would normally be bought in a years' time, and if we're risking having supply outstrip demand?

     

    From looking at the auction screen just now, at least 50K packs have been sold already. Will there be cutthroat competition to unload these over the next year? Will it get so bad people feel a need to dump them at no profit? Could it get so bad that late next year, we start seeing them being sold at a loss just to get something back?

    It could, and it may, to a point, but the folks with the deeper pockets probably recognize the packs for what they are. Opportunity. 

    Bear in mind, the patch notes strongly hint that they won't be going on sale next year, if ever again. So, even if demand is satisfied by a large supply - the next week brings more alts who have needs that must be satisfied. As does the next week, and the next week. 

    So...if I buy 10k packs on each account...which is an idea in my head, I can open 500 hundred a month, and they'll last a couple years. The goodies within - probably not as long. Certainly, I'll have a surplus of Winter-Os. I'll probably have 10,000 snow beasts. Couple hundred respecs, who knows how many tailor tokens. But the brain storm ideas, the merits, the converters, catalysts & boosters, I can certainly use those. And next Winter, I'll start to sell a few winter-Os, and slowly get some of those billions back. 

    Winter Pack strategy

    in The Market

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, Troo said:

     

    ... 30M could be more hopefully than actual.

    There will be relatively no upward trend on the individual rewards provided by the packs. (expect increased packs purchases to actually depress prices)

    as long as you don't need the capital elsewhere you could break even sometime late next summer. 

    No; I'm quite confident a Superior Winter-O will be selling for about 27M on average beginning next September. Granted, I won't be the only player in this area, but I wasn't the only player in this area this year, either. I still made over 25-30M per Superior Winter-O. Like, on every single one that I listed. Sold about 20 a day from October until the last week of November. And if not...no worries. Plenty more where that came from. 

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    Caveat Emptor!

    in The Market

    Posted · Edited by Ukase
    Jumped to false conclusions.

    This top part, I've just added in my own spirit of transparency - which probably makes me look a lot like an ignoramus, and one with a tendency to over-react. I can't figure out why the first 50 packs were so horrible. But, on another character, I figured I would just write everything down, and be absolutely certain. 

    So while opening the next set of 50..and I'm only on 19 packs..I've already gotten 300 reward merits. It should be closer to 190, based on my own estimate. So it appears that things will "even out", and I look more than a bit foolish with my speculation. 

    But, I share it - rather than delete in case someone else is as impulsive as I am. 

    Measure twice, cut once! 

     

     

     

     

     

    *********************************

     

     

     

    Now, I have nothing to prove this, but anecdotal evidence. I opened 50 packs. Now, aside from the XP boosters that they've stated they'll revert back during a next "non-critical" patch, there is something else that seems to be afoot. 

    50 Winter Packs opened. Only 3x25 reward merits. I was expecting much, much better than that. Like an average of 10 merits per pack. If the RNG continues this way, that leaves me to wonder if I've been tricked with a bait and switch. 

    And before anyone thinks I'm getting feeble and have mis-remembered - I refer you to this post: 


    In this post, I continued to open these packs and while it's not an even 10 merits per pack average, it's fairly close. Granted, 50 packs isn't as large a number as 735 packs, but it's 2x as many as the initial 25 sample size. 

    I cannot state any of the below with 100% certainty. It's speculation. Speculation based on a good bit of experience with these packs, but still speculation. And I'm not a statistical wizard. But I do know some statistics; I can determine within a 95% degree of certainty what's "likely" to occur, if I have a large enough sample size. 

    So, it certainly seems like the HC Devs have fooled around with the packs! And jacked the previous sale price by 50%. So now they cost more, and have fewer merits, which were the best part about them, in my opinion. 

    Glad I stopped buying when I did. Now I have to reconfigure things and ask the Devs why this wasn't in the patch notes. I do not accept "RNG" as the reason for my luck being particularly good last year, or particularly bad, this year. There's too much of a discrepancy in my estimation. I hate the idea of doing the math to determine the standard deviations away from the norm. 

    Am I the only person that thinks this should have been disclosed in the patch notes? I can't imagine how hurt I would feel if I were a player that only had the price of a dozen packs and learned that what used to be in a pack has been adjusted. I mean, I can afford it, I'll never miss it, but that's bad form in my opinion. 

    MASSIVELY: Has Homecoming torched the plans of City of Heroes successors?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm someone who has spoken with Casey over the phone, briefly - he's the CEO and President at Heroic Games, a videogame development company focused on a single title, Ship of Heroes. This one will be completed regardless of what happens with HC CoH. How will it do? That's anybody's guess. But, make no mistake - his operation is not a fly-by-night operation. He's legit. He's got experience in game development. Whereas, the same can't really be said of CoT. But, they did have a lot of volunteers who were/are quite knowledgeable about game development, and I'm pretty sure they're going to keep the customer in mind when they finally get going. As to them getting going...I'm also someone who contributed to City of Titans. They're making progress, but man, it has been a looooong time. I thought that it would be unrealistic to expect anything before 5 years. But, I also thought it would have beaten HC; in the sense it would be working before HC opened their servers. They have woefully missed that mark. And it may very well cost them. Suppose they had been going for 2 years before HC opened their servers? A lot of us would have signed up, and have time invested in a number of characters and may not have even given a look at HC or the other servers. 

    I cannot speak for everyone, but I don't think I'll play City of Titans, even if it finishes tomorrow. Why? Because I'd have to learn an entirely new system. How to get the requisite gear to make the character "super", how to acquire, earn all the stuff that may be equivalent to accolades and badges & such. The novelty might be interesting in the beginning, but I hate change, and I know how things work in CoH. I can't say that about CoT.  I can see myself loading the game, hopping in, checking things out, but unless I'm completely compelled due to content or other features, I can't see sticking around for long. They'll really have to make things compelling. 

     

    But, that's just my opinion, and if there's one thing I've learned on these forums, my thinking is rarely like anyone else's. 

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    New Badges for things I was going to do anyway

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 12/5/2021 at 2:17 PM, JasperStone said:

    Chatterbox - 1,000 hrs spent in chat

    All about Dat Base - 1,000 hrs in base edit mode

    Chatterbox is a badge already in game, for talking with several NPCs within one of Provost Marchand's (primal) story arcs. Maybe "I hate dead air" ?  (Dead air refers to disk jockey fears of there being any silence over the air. Even today, any radio station will either have dialogue, music or an ad of some kind playing. There's very rarely any time with no sound. ) 

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    Is it my imagination or did they add xp bonus powers to Hero Packs?

    in The Market

    Posted

    19 minutes ago, KeepDistance said:

     

    I came to the conclusion that they had replaced amplifiers, as I opened a bunch of winter packs today and got zero amplifier drops. Can anyone confirm that amplifiers are still awarded?

    I don't have the time to open any packs just yet - spent too much time grabbing and rebidding as I grabbed more inf from my email. 
    I'll try to open a hundred during lunch and report back. 

    Finally!

    in The Market

    Posted

    So...I'm no longer truly inf rich. Asset rich, perhaps. Over 20K winter packs have been bought, of which, I've gotten over 2k of those. I plan to get many, many more...but it's like I'm driving a true gas guzzler, a 69 Plymouth Fury, with cement in the doors for the demo derby. I'm just not comfortable unless I have a full tank or darn close to it. So, I'm gonna wait a week, see what shakes in the market. I expect the price of rare salvage to plummet to 375k again, and hover around 400k for "buy it now!" for the next 6 months. 

    • Confused 1

    Winter Pack strategy

    in The Market

    Posted

    I noticed just yesterday that the few hundred of player listed packs had finally sold, and the seeded ones had dropped to a couple hundred below the 10M available. (quantity, not price)

    Now, as the patch goes on, I am wondering if the packs will go on sale. I was thinking they'd be "hot-fixed" over the weekend, not actually getting patched in. But, we'll soon see. I have literally billions in bids in place already. 

    On one account, I plan to sink all the available inf into these packs - just to keep them in inventory, unopened, as a store of value, as my email is full of 999.999.999 stacks. Of course, perhaps smarter money would have just stashed them in bids of 10M or 14M on the AH. Still, I think every 15M pack on average will be worth over 30M, easily, in the long run. A tedious run, but profitable. 

     

    Question About Seasonal Content Contacts

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 12/2/2021 at 1:17 PM, Annwn Un Rama said:

    Do seasonal contacts disappear from your list of contacts after a seasonal event is over? The thought of Father Time haunting my contacts list, unfinished, for an entire year is sending me into apoplexy.

    Actually, in my anecdotal experience, DJ Zero, Father Time...their missions stay in my queue until completed. I know that before Winter event hit, I ran valentines for DJ Zero, and knocked out Snaptooth. I try to keep those missions in case a badge character of mine needs them and doesn't want to wait until the next year. But, I do keep them on a lesser played alt that might sit idle for months. It would probably annoy me to see the mission in my queue on a character I play routinely. 

    New Badges for things I was going to do anyway

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 12/4/2021 at 10:55 PM, Ashington said:

    Sisyphean: Do 500 Enhancement conversions

    Actually...as Yomo states, this is something I would do anyway. But, I have to wonder why even 1 single conversion isn't added to the Invention Tutorial system. I realize the tutorial was on the server before conversions were a thing, but I have to think adding it to the tutorial wouldn't be terribly hard. 

    Fifty Billion Worth of Chaos: A Market Thought Experiment

    in The Market

    Posted

    The problem is that any chaos we might be able to cause is only for a short while. 

    I think, with 50B the first thing I'd go for would be first - Hamidon Enhancements.  Understand that HOs, Titan-Os, Hydra'Os and now D-Syncs are all in the same bucket, if they share the same attributes and level. The reason is because these cannot be bought with merits. And, they are random as to what drops for the reward. So, it could be quite annoying for someone looking for a microfiliament. 

    Then, I'd buy all the recipes and IOs for Celerity and Quickfoot - and leave standing bids to try to keep the supply as low as possible. 

    If it weren't Winter event time, I'd get all the Winter's Gift and Blessing of the Zephyr's. So many folks I know put a KB protecting proc in a travel power, to remove the ability to get these, outside of paying merits for them..that might get annoying. (To be fully transparent, if this happened to me, I'd just craft any old enhancement into what I needed, I've plenty of converters. But, it is winter time, and folks can swap candy canes and some inf for Winter's Gift recipe and then convert if they wish and were willing to do the work - and they knew about it. 

    Also, Overwhelming Force. Granted, SBB can be run to get these (random reward table) or they can fork over merits for them. But, I imagine a lot of folks, if they want to use one or even a set are going to find running 5-6 SBB's more than a bit annoying. 

    There are probably too many farmers to really do much with purples for any meaningful amount of time, but it would be interesting to simply buy all of the enhancements and all of the recipes in the market at a given point in time. No idea what I'd do with them all, but if I got all the recipes and all the enhancements, even with all the farmers we have, it would certainly drive the price up, way up, before it settled back to it's normal price. 

    I've joked with friends that my last act in game will be to liquidate all my billions by buying EVERYTHING that's for sale, and then just log off forever. The problem is the clicking alone would take over a week, if I went without sleep. The salvage alone would take about several hours for one category. 

    Clearly, buying all the rare salvage, at least, all the salvage that's less than a million could be fun. It's just an awful lot of clicking, so I can't really be bothered. 

    I might also buy all the ambrosia, even at it's inflated 2M price tag. 

    Those are just the thoughts I have at the moment. 

    What foes use the confuse debuff against players?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    As has been mentioned, there is a confuse effect in the final room of the Underground Trial, when fighting the Avatar of Hamidon.  The 10 dollar label for the source of this confuse effect in this room are Discordant Spores. It's a PBAoE confuse with a whopping 600 foot radius, mag 20. It spawns every 20 seconds, lasts for 10 seconds. 

    Without Clarion, or enough stacked tactics, or a tier 3 break free, you will be literally confused half of the time. 

    I have often thought about making a macro to target these things, to see if they are in fact, targetable, but it's typically quite chaotic during the final fight, and I'm often too distracted in that moment to do this. But I digress. Just figured I'd share a fun fact about the Underground confuse situation. 

    Being Kind to One Another

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    True story here, bear with me. 

    I once teamed with someone who was knowledgeable (about the game), a bit sarcastic, but quite funny, It was just a pug thing, I made a note, and left on my merry way. 
     

    Fast Forward, another friend asked me to an Apex/Tin Mage combo. I get there, and I see this chap again, and I see a couple of other players I had teamed with before and had a good experience with. One of these other players starts just talking like crap to the others. I mean, if someone said that kind of thing to me, I'd have found some way to meet them in person and slap the taste out of their mouth. 

    So, in an effort to try to keep the tfs drama free, I sent the offender a tell, espousing the virtues of the other player. Turns out, they are friends and have been gaming with each other a very long time, and are always talking smack to each other. 

    Sometimes, I'll see disparaging remarks in help, and then...I wonder...maybe those two know each other and are just ribbing each other. For the most part, that's usually the case. The exceptions are when someone asks an off-topic question that should be in help channel, but they ask in LFG, or an lfg request in Help. 

    There is one thing that tends to be met with abuse in either channel, and that's the requesting of PL in a repetitious fashion. Like, every 20-30 seconds for several minutes. 

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