Ukase

1. It is NOT incumbent upon me to do anything. Why would you say that? Some folks have a clear idea of the math behind the data. I could spend a lot of time on it and find a way to express it so others could understand it, but that's not how I wish to spend my time. (at least, I'd like to think I could do it.) 2. I said a farm, because I may have mistakenly assumed that the comment about 90% resist was in reference to a farmer. My mistake. We cannot expect everyone with an issue to "bring the receipts", because most have no idea what a valid "receipt" would look like. I suspect most folks are told what the desired defensive and resistance stats are, perhaps copy a build from the forums or a friend, and generally have never even looked at the combat log. To expect someone who's actually coming to the boards to ask questions to "bring the receipts" because they don't understand the changes is a bit silly. If they have the knowledge to "bring the receipt", they would have looked at the receipts in the first place and either explained the discrepancy between what was supposed to be changed, and what actually changed or resolve the problem by their own analysis. We are not all Arcana, capable of such things. Nor should anyone expect it of any player.

I think it's worth mentioning - it's said only about 10% of the player base visits the forums after the initial account creation. For reasons which escape me, they just don't. And if they don't, then they genuinely have no idea what's going on, unless someone specifically tells them. I remember back in issue 3, when I'd first bought the game. A forum account wasn't required. It never occurred to me there would be a forum! But, I had never played this "MMO" type of game before, and honestly wasn't really clear on what MMO meant. I seriously thought Massive Multiplayer meant that millions of people were playing the game online - not that they were playing it together. I thought it was a marketing gimmick to encourage people to buy. It was around issue 6 that someone figured they'd teach me how to fish, rather than give me a fish, figuratively speaking. I spent a good two days on the forums, just reading everything. To say I was ignorant would be a massive understatement. For several issues, I could never figure out why Pickle was so damned mean, telling me my blasters Freeze Ray wasn't any good against Hamidon. I had no idea that a controller's hold had more "mag" than a blasters. (All before set inventions and the nifty bonuses) I just thought she was being a bitch, making stuff up to prevent me from doing what I wanted to do. I was one of those ignorant people, who was so clueless, I wasn't even aware of what I didn't know. We have a lot of players like that now. They are blissfully ignorant and genuinely have no idea that they don't know what they're doing. It's not their fault. There's nothing to drive them to the forums. There's nothing to encourage them to spend a bit of a time making a shortcut or two to the homecoming wiki or other out-of-game sources of information, like the forums. So, sure, repetitive questions are going to happen, and we should expect them! Belittling these folks won't do anything to improve anybody's experience playing the game.

I ran the the new arc...Sister Valeria's, yesterday, on my fire/fire blaster. Since I still needed Legatus for 100 incarnate Cim traitors and 100 of these Ravenna npcs, I ran it at 0/8. I really didn't notice any changes to aggro at all, but between judgement and inferno, nothing lasted very long, except the EBs. But, I am prone to being quite obtuse. I wasn't really looking for aggro changes. I just wanted to get the silly badges. Now, I'm just waiting for some lowball bids on the PAPs, and my character can rest again until the next patch.

I read this in one of the channels I belong to: "4.5 Billion for an hour. Not bad." The comment refers to the Prismatic Aether Particles, the new currency. Last night, I saw one in inventory, the last 5 was at 150M or so. This morning 127 in inventory, just under 5000 bids, and the last 5 shows 61-62M. Fact: if you're a badger, you'll need 150 of these to get a badge for unlocking one of the fancy new hologram costume things, which requires 10 PAPs. a 2nd badge for unlocking 5 hologram costumes, which requires a total of 50 PAPs. a 3rd badge for unlocking 10 hologram costumes, which requires a total of 100 PAPs. and a 4th badge which seems to unlock them all from the description given, which requires 50 PAPs. So, each player that badges will need 150 of these. Aeon SF seems to be the fastest way to acquire them, as on a good team, you can complete the 4 star Aeon in about an hour. The HM ITF will take a bit longer, at least until folks get used to the various challenges. There will be a number of strategies used, I suspect. Some folks will just earn them as they go. Some folks will pay outrageous sums to get them as fast as possible. Some folks will lowball bid, and relist for higher. The question is - who among you are going to sell now, and repurchase at what I would expect to be a lower price in the near future?

I suppose it would depend on what you are trying to demonstrate. Sitting in an AE fire farm without armor isn't going to show much at all, because without the armor, you will certainly be defeated within seconds. And that wouldn't tell me what I want to know. From what I understand, there's an issue with players understanding how damage is coming in with the latest patch. The only anecdotal difference I see is taking in more ranged attacks from the mobs that used to ignore my farmer. And in some of those cave maps, with patrols....that can add up to quite a bit of ranged damage coming in. It's funny; it kind of reminds me of the "skittles" look the DE has in the Eden trial. Just missing the flavor. But, it's hard for me to tell if they're using fire blast, or fire ball. But, there's no way (for me) to analyze the combat log in action, and there's no way to save the combat log to a file. Again, someone mentioned you could, but I haven't been able to do it. I can log chat..there's an option for that, but logging the combat log...it's a bit scary, because so much information goes through that in just a few minutes, if I'm not careful, I could see my hard drive filling up pretty quick. In any event, I haven't found a way to do it. Edit: I found this just now, a follow up on one of my posts before the patch hits. I will have to try it out, see if it works. I used Snip & Sketch to copy this over from that post: It looks like I wrote it, but it's an actual pic copied over - which is why Black Spectre's name shows in it. ************************************* *************************************************************

I understand where you're coming from, but you're asking too much. As far as I know, I can scroll through my combat log, but there is no way to actually log it into a text file. If there is, I'd love to know how to do that. When in combat, that data flies by too fast to get a grasp of anything.

For an active farmer, any decent build will not have to do a thing. Absolutely nothing. Yes, they may have to use their healing flames, but if they're an active farmer, that's not an issue. AFK farmers will definitely need to tweak some things - hit points, regen are great places to start.

Not a big deal, but when I check to see what zones I have unlocked in the LRTP - Fort Trident doesn't appear (although my character is able to get there using LRTP)

"Lost Motivation", in pursuit of Pecking Order badge...well, something is fishy. I am exemplared to level 29. Fine. But check this out: My difficulty, clearly set to 0/1, but the mobs are +5? So, recognizing that before I report it, I should probably quit the arc, and retry. So, I did. Better, only +2. But why? Something is amiss. It's partially my own fault for not being aware this was even to be tested. Or is it? Too much stuff in one patch. Break 'em down into smaller parts for better testing - but that's just my own humble thought on the matter. Oh, if it's useful, I was vigilante alignment. Edit: Maybe this is by design? I saw a level 29 in the next room, as well as a level 33! In a fashion, probably all the missions in game should be this way, maybe. Was this by design? Go ahead and say so, I'll feel better. Will all the arcs now be this way? Second Edit: This is curious. There was a couple of +5 holding a hostage. I used no inspirations, but braced myself for some difficulty. I pretty much three shot them. That seems ...odd to me. I know I'm awesome and all, but I expected a lot more trouble - it's almost as if they only appeared to be +5, but had the characteristics of an even con or +1 mob. Should a level 34 Lieutenant Anathema have only 670 hit points? The level 34 minion had about half that. And a snipe probably shouldn't take a +5 minion down to less than half hp, should it? I two shot him. That seems...off. Oh well. If it's by design, disregard. If not - something is strange. Sorry, not sorry. Having to visit the contact to close out the mission after completing the arc. That's just bad form. Very bad form. Not desired nor required.

I guess I take my knowledge of the AH and such for granted. I start all my characters with zip. They all end up with a billion, just playing the game, crafting, converting drops, with some ...investments along the way. I keep trying to share what I know, but often folks can't be bothered.

Just so I can understand - is this because you want things to be more challenging? You don't have the influence? You're leveling up too fast to make the expense worth it? You're always teamed, so you're getting various buffs to help you along the way? I thought about playing that way..but when I miss several times in a row, it's quite maddening, so I'm in the habit of slotting a kismet Accuracy, and accuracy SOs in all my attacks as soon as I possibly can - which is level 7. Life is too short to miss. Wait...I mean, when you miss, life is shorter. Just trying to understand. Fun fact, while SOs seem pricy, below level 25, they're cheaper and better than common IOs, as far as the % boost. I like to use attuned sets, but I also tend to put this off until the 20's because the SO boost is so much better until level 25-30.

I will have to try and teleport a foe from the street to the top of a building - and then tp him to the air beside the building and see how much dps it takes. and then finish him off and see if the xp is scaled down. I think it would be..but I want to confirm this. If not, I may have a new challenge...

The thing is...there are challenges, where a character has a fair chance. And then there's something like this suggestion...lol, I'll pass.

In the past I suggested that team leads get extra rewards for the hassle. Unfortunately, nothing came of it. Add to that, even if it were implemented, I can imagine if a team lead got disconnected, logged back in and was no longer the team lead, they'd probably not get credit, and that might cause some issue.

Well, seeing your sample, that's actually the kind of drivel I used to see in General chat, which is why I left it. None of that is amusing to me, and I'm sorry I wasn't on to back you up in a fashion. Okie, you're a good sort, and you're the kind of chap that makes the game better, even if you do roleplay. Some folks like it, and that's perfectly okay with me; I just lack the imagination. (and the desire, if I'm being honest.) But, as I said, you're one of those folks that makes the game better, so I'll do what I can, when I'm on, and ask those fools to keep it to a minimum, for all the good that might do.

Master_of_Underground1.mnu Master_of_Underground2.mnu Master_of_Lambda.mnu Mothership_Raid.mnu

Since someone woke this thread up, and you mentioned YouTube, I literally just watched a dead hippo fart in a lion's face. It was hilarious. It seriously sounded like a gun shot.

I don't disagree with you, but general chat is clearly misnamed, and should be called "Adults only" chat. Some of the discussions that I used to see in there were gross. I've been in the military. There was a time when profanity was just another adjective used to get your point across. But, those days are over. I have a vocabulary large enough to come up with alternative words to "pig-fucker" and the like. I have a profanity filter on. Yet, I see some of these idiots in general either deliberately or ignorantly misspell these words, and they get by my filter. And they're not angry at anyone. They're just conversing. And sometimes, (at least during the Trump/Clinton race) some of them got political. And I would have loved to have expressed my opinions clearly and specifically, but our community doesn't give a crap, and folks that disagree tend to have thin skin and take things personally, when it's just the specific cases I might take issue with. (Example: Should we (or not) do such and such) So, I avoid General chat. Even if I didn't, toggling from one chat to the next is annoying, and I will not do it. I will not be told what to do by any other player, either. I am an adult. I will do my best to behave that way. But respect doesn't just flow to you freely. I will stop using the "wrong" channel for banal commentary - but only if reminded respectfully. If you TELL me to, I will get right back in your face, figuratively. That's just my way. I will not be pushed around by anyone. If anything I say is that bad, just report me without a word. The GMs will do what they deem appropriate. And I'm sure that I will stop myself before anyone has to stop me - unless you're being extremely belligerent to me or someone else. Even then I'm sure I'd take that to tells, rather than bring it to a public channel. For the purpose of trying to keep the peace, I will try to avoid the really stupid comments. But if I think they're brief and funny, I'm going to share.

Okay, so you got your rant in. No hate from me. But - this is a community. There's a number of us that find the General chat a little ...well, unsavory, for various reasons. If someone cares to know, I can get into the specifics of why I don't use it in a DM. The community wants to crack a joke because someone typing isn't typing very well, so what? It hurts nothing. In fact, I welcome some of those stupid jokes. It's not like you weren't going to put out your recruiting message in another 10-20 seconds anyway, so what's the harm? You're using a macro, so it's not like you have to do anything other than mash a macro button. (or find it in your pop-menu) Now I can understand the frustration when someone else replies to the bad jokester, and then someone else chimes in. If it's not funny, well, I can overlook it. It's not like they go on and on. Generally someone gets on their high horse and tells them to put a sock in it. Usually most will stop chatting at that point, unless it's suggested in an aggressive manner, some folks will rebel and tell them to kick rocks. Business as usual. I think it's a good problem to have. It shows life. I'd be more concerned if we didn't have that kind of problem from time to time.

That's fair. But like others, my vote is on more arcs. Red side, blue side, gold side, every level range.

I just think there are other questions to ask. Granted, I can ask them myself. So fair point. But I don't need you to point it out. The poll makes it clear that the Hard mode stuff is hit or miss for 85% of the player base that participated in the poll. For 50% it's a complete miss. A complete miss by half the players! Again, there are better questions to ask. My answer is don't spend time on making a level 50 tf a hard mode tf, because only 12% (as of this writing) would run it routinely. About 35% are maybe, maybe not. And over 50% are a clear "No". So, why ask the question as "which level 50 tf/sf", but instead, "Do you want to see more level 50 tf/sf adapted for hard mode?" Maybe better put, survey first. Then ask the question based on survey results.

I think this is the wrong question. What I'd like to see are all zones with mobs like event mobs - unleveled, or the same level as your character. I'd like to see posi 1, if led by a 50, get played at level 50 against level 50 characters. But, if I'm to answer your question, for me, the easiest, most boring TF at level 50 are the shard tfs. Rularuu at level 54 aren't always a cake walk, but because the tfs have so many missions, most players would rather watch Marie Osmond singing "Paper Roses" on repeat than play a shard tf at 54. I'm not sure if the TF just needs to be revamped (shortened) so folks would run it at 54, or if a hard mode version should be implemented. Miss Lib and LRSF, while simple when sped with a team of competent players, is quite nerve-wracking on certain pugs. I think if you look at the poll, a hard mode version of any TF only really serves about 15% of the player base, and another 35% "sometimes". I just am not sure if that's the best use of time, all this hard mode stuff. I could certainly be wrong.

At the risk of being labeled as only slightly better than a mediocre player, YOU may not need a "Super pimped out build" for the higher level difficulty, but I tend to think I do. If I don't see a minimum of 40% defense in several categories on my blasters, I get quite antsy and nervous in routine play, let alone the harder stuff. I realize that may be just me, but I loathe the taste of defeat. I can't think of any worse experience in this game than seeing my character slump to the ground. It's almost physically painful for me to see it. This, and my aversion to turning toggles on are what lead me to slot for as much layered defense and resistance as I can without giving up too much dps. So, yeah, you NEED the best build you can afford for the hard mode stuff, unless you really have a fantastic team that you trust with timely heals/buffs/debuffs and aggro management.

I like the idea. But, the biggest issue will be that only a fraction of the players visit the forums. You can lead them here with a URL in the help chat, but will they actually take the time? I think most folks won't. It's just easier for many folks to wait for someone else to do it. I still think you should do it. But here's what I would consider the dilemma: You have a new team lead, and perhaps you've taught him via video how to make a pop menu, how to edit it, if needed. And, let's say the player actually places the pop menu in the right directory and shuts down the game, reloads it, and has it at the ready. Will they know when to give the instruction? Some will pick up on it, I'd hope, but others might not. I know the underground trial as well as anyone, except those who know how to pigg dive, and I still have to scroll through my pop menu to be sure I'm giving the right instruction at the right time. In other words, yes, better for them to have the tools, but I just hope they'll know when to use them. But I don't think it would hurt to have something like that available.

Contact: Phillipa Meraux Story Arc: Corporate Culture (not through Ouro), 30-34 Mission: Second to last of the arc; Rescue the Kellermans before Giacomo enters their minds In this mission, I'd already rescued Ken, led him out. The mission objective changed to rescue Kimberly. When I defeated the mobs, and began to lead her out, I noticed the objective changed to lead Ken out. Ken is already out, I'm leading Kimberly. Certainly not a big deal, just a minor thing, but if you guys can find it in the code, should be an easy fix. (but I really wouldn't know)