Ukase
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Posts posted by Ukase
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On 8/18/2021 at 3:59 PM, Bionic_Flea said:
You're a kind and funny cowboy.
Do you have a text parser or are you willing to run a few and check the combat spam to see who or what is killing the AVs? Knowing who or what is doing the killing would be key to solving the issue, IMO. Is it a certain player that keeps doing it? Pets? Blasters? Whatever. You have to know what the real problem is before you can fix it.
There are a few long animating attacks that might be started just before the stop command that can't be cancelled once started. And many of those are hard hitting - like KO Blow and Bitter Freeze Ray. So perhaps telling folks to use quick attacks only after 10 or 5%?
This is an excellent point. Long animation attacks that tend to do high dps can certainly ruin things. -
So..you're asking for constructive ideas, which would hopefully be somewhat helpful. First, understand that you are not alone in getting frustrated with player's getting antsy and acting too fast.
Triple Threat is a challenge primarily because of the combination of Regen AND the porting nonsense of Chimera relocating - AND folks not even assigned to base Chimera getting ported as well, which can really muck things up, as you're no doubt aware.
So what's the solution aside from discord? There is an easy solution, but the implementation of that solution is not so easy, if that makes any sense. You need 2 team leaders that use macros efficiently, as you do.
Covering each scenario, "Hold on Chimera", "Chimera ported", "Damn Shield is up", etc.
So..what does a league leader with a reputation for accepting anyone who meets the minimal criteria to do when players do jump the gun? You have choices. You can make comments in player notes - which sadly do not seem to carry over to your alts. Make a mental note that these players, for any number of reasons, some lame, some valid, just can't be trusted because of a lack of literacy.
When you run these things as often as you do, I would venture to guess there's a "core group" of players you're accustomed to seeing in your leagues. You should be getting a feel for their overall competency. Maybe invest some time and share with them the wonders of the pop-menu, which I presume you've mastered, if they don't know it already. I think, if you just get a couple of team leaders that are savvy enough, that type fast enough, or use macros well enough, it can make a huge difference in communicating the relevant information in the 5%-2%-Kill to 0 range.
Below are just some of my opinions, and suggestions - not to be confused with actual facts:
Some players will NEVER join any Magi Badge effort without being t-4'd in all. They're out for the badges, mainly. My personal rule of thumb is, if they have the 4 passive stat boosting accolades or a high badge count - like over 500, preferably over 1000, they are going to understand what's going on. Not guaranteed, of course, but it increases the odds that they have a clue.
Some folks are trying to get t-4 and likely recognize that if they're not t-4 and get Master of Magi...that's a free random rare drop, plus all the yummy astrals and emps, and the usual reward table. You're one of the few that will accept these players into your trials, and if they don't know this, they should. There's not a huge difference between t-3 and t-4, but it's enough to notice when facing Tyrant, if not going for Triple Threat.
With regards to the trial itself, I think it's worth explaining to non-savvy/inexperienced players how to determine that the shield is up. Some with weaker graphic settings may never even notice it.
Definitely explain that when the words "chimera ported" are used that they should wait to hear from you for any kill call.
Taunters with the psi damage proc, and other players with damage auras should also be aware that these do damage and are not encouraged at the 2% point, even though most are thinking that there's no way they could kill the AV themselves with a taunt proc. And they likely can't...but why leave things to chance? There's server lag, where the player sees at 2% value in the trial box, but the actual % is 1% - that was actually less than 1%, but rounded up. With 24 players in one instance, there's really no telling what's really going on sometimes, with 100% certainty.
Certainly ALL MMs, Controllers, Doms, ANY AND ALL PETS should have been dismissed at 5% remaining damage at the latest. Some say uncontrollable pets, but there are a number of MM players that simply do not control their pets. It's entirely possible they got PL'd to 50, and haven't learned the first thing about controlling the pets beyond dancing and silly emotes. Your team leads can certainly help with this, too.
As for the biggest problem to overcome - the lack of attentive reading - that's tough.
My best constructive advice is to type things ahead of time to determine who's paying attention, and who's not. If they're not, you simply boot them, sending them a tell, "Sorry, this badge requires paying full attention to chat. Sorry to say, you weren't. Catch us next time!"Have several of these before the trial begins. And maybe even have one after Dream Doctor ports you into the "Kill 250 IDF" portion.
People will respond to the audio cue more quickly than the typed word. The primary reason, at least for me, is I'm focused on what my character is doing. I'm looking at my health bar, I'm looking at my target. I'm usually looking for a tank with some type of a herd for me to nuke. But in the context of Triple Threat, I am seriously checking my power tray for recharge times, checking my health, the health of the team, the hp of the AV I'm assigned to, the other two AVs -- there's a lot of info in the trial box to keep track of, to keep from screwing up. Having to read chat, too - and sift out the silly, useless comments - which may have caused instructions to scroll up outside of my small chat pane...it just increases the chance of my taking the eyes off the ball.
I am not a fan of discord, but it's an incredible tool. I have ZERO desire to chat with other players and crack jokes or get to know anyone. I'm here to play a game and pass some time. If I wanted to be social, I'd call or visit friends. Still, when the server hiccups during a Master of Underground, where we just finish taking down the last bomb without incident, and I'm able to relay how folks can get back into the trial and not lose progress - where I'd have to find some way to remember all those names on the league without having used discord - it would have been a loss. That's when you can really appreciate Discord. (although it's seriously a stupid name, even though it's usually quite appropriate with folks always talking over each other. )
But I get it. You may have family or roommates that may not appreciate the required jabbering that Discord would require. And it is annoying, particularly when someone tells you, "I can hear u breathing! Stop that!" as if you're breathing just to annoy them. Or someone says they can't hear you. Now what the heck can you do about that? It's not like Discord has a clear help section. It's much easier to type what solution you're looking for in Google than using Discord's help. I don't hate it as much as you, but I'm not a fan. It's a tool, nothing more.
That's a lot - I know. Hope it's at least somewhat helpful.
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1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:
I couldn't care any less what you or anyone's opinion about what they think the Terms of Service, Code of Conduct, or Privacy Policy should or shouldn't say. It says what it says. Unless someone from the volunteer Homecoming staff says it has changed, players will still need to agree to it or they don't play.
Apparently, you do. Or you wouldn't keep sharing it. In the context of In-game, there is no such thing as gambling, so there would be no violation of TOS.
I can completely understand simply not liking the idea for a number of reasons. Throwing a TOS violation where it doesn't exist is just ...well, silly to me.
You don't like the idea. That's perfectly okay. But as I understand the rules, it would be perfectly legit. And I would welcome it.-
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33 minutes ago, PeregrineFalcon said:
You really think that? You know who else probably thought that? Police Chief Wilie Lovett.
Former Savannah police chief Willie Lovett to be released from federal prison "...was convicted and sentenced to 7.5 years behind bars..."
And it isn't just the US Federal Government that has a hate-on for gambling. A little googling will show you a list of people around the world who have received lengthy prison sentences for gambling.
Still think it doesn't matter?
In the context of the CoH digital world, gambling truly doesn't matter - because it's impossible to exist in game, unless they start accepting actual currency. They don't. So what are you really worried about? It's very clear that there's no actual money changing hands. So why are you guys so freaked out about a very decent suggestion?
I get that ACTUAL gambling in the real world isn't welcome in a lot of areas. But I'm not sure many of you are aware that gambling is quite legal in many areas of the US. I don't assume for a moment that in the real world that gambling hasn't ruined thousands of people's lives, due to addiction to gambling. But in a game like this - there's no currency involved. Nobody can lose their pension, or gamble their mortgage in game.
So, no, it doesn't matter one bit, because I'm talking about in-game. Not using my actual money from my real world pockets. I'm talking about influence in a world where each player generates more than any of us can spend. It's would be completely harmless. No victims, other than in-game. (depending on how it would be implemented, of course)-
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9 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:
Gambling is legally restricted, in some capacity or another in the United States, unless the state authorizes special regulatory entities to enforce or restrict different types of gaming at (usually) the local government or tribal level. Wikipedia says it best... Gambling in the United States. One huge caveat is online gambling - the Federal Wire Act of 1961 outlawed interstate wagering on sports, but it hasn't been modified to address the modern conveniences of the internet or virtual reality. The 'Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006' also didn't explicitly outlaw online gambling, however, it did outlaw financial transactions involving online gambling service providers.
All of this is moot though, as the Code of Conduct is one of the three explicit documents (ToS, CoC, Privacy Policy) which players MUST agree to if they want to log in and play. These are the 'rules of the house' aka the Homecoming servers.
You restate that like it means something. It doesn't. If they want to, they could certainly make a silly video game within this game of CoH inside Giza. Silly anti-gaming rule aside. It makes absolutely no difference to anyone. It's not like it's real money. If it were - then there would be some ground to stand on. How can you call it gambling when there's no actual currency?
It would certainly satisfy the criteria of "inf sink". And it would not be illegal at all - because even though our avatars might encounter risk of losing influence - the players in real life are not encountering any risk at all.
The same terms of service you mention regarding Terrorism, crimes of violence...what do you think all of our characters are doing when we "Go, hunt, kill skulls"? I take this large broad sword and jump down slamming it into the head of a pixilated gang member. That's not violence? That's not a crime? No, because it's in the construct of a silly game. The same rules apply to risking influence. It's not gambling. It's just a time sink. So please, stop spouting rules we are already familiar with because they do not apply in this instance. That is - unless the HC Devs deem them to apply. It's their house, I'm just a visitor. If they say no, then it's no. But the notion that "it's gambling" being why - no, that won't be the reason, because there is no creation of actual risk for the player.-
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I think this should be soothing, lol
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1 hour ago, Glacier Peak said:
Content Guidelines
The following is considered prohibited content:
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Anything illegal in the real world:
- This includes anything related to gambling, child pornography, terrorism, illegal controlled substances, and any real world criminal activity (yes, we know City of Villains exists)
Gambling is NOT illegal. Take one look at Las Vegas, Biloxi, and a slew of Indian-owned properties.
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Anything illegal in the real world:
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On 4/3/2020 at 11:24 AM, Obus Form said:
Like real casinos, make it 70/30. Return 70% of all influence gambled, in medium and large jackpot-type winnings.
Devs, make it so!
Modern day casinos won't make it on a 70/30. Currently, casinos are giving back about 93% of all wagers. Almost nobody would gamble a dollar with odds that poor. Video poker is famous for returning 96.1% on the standard Jacks or Better 6/9 payout schedules. (with perfect play)
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On 4/3/2020 at 10:38 AM, Llewellyn Blackwell said:
Uhm guys influence is not money in any way shape or form in the game world. It should not be able to be gambled with like money can be in RL. Just breaks the immersion imo. Now if they wanted to create a new form of actual in game world currency, perhaps attached to day jobs( how people actually earn money) or for villains as part of bank heists that could be used, Id be all for it. What would this currency be useful for? Id say nothing game impacting, like for costume changes at Icons,
Um...you are very incorrect. Influence/information/infamy IS the in-game currency.
Want an IO? You buy it with inf. Want a p2w summons pet? You buy it with inf. It is in-game currency.
And, candidly, it might be an incredibly immersive experience for a rogue or villain to rob a bank and take the proceeds and try to make a good haul even better. Comps for various betting patterns over a certain period of time could result in certain character buffs, or other quality of play improvements, like free mission teleporters, free ally teleports, etc. There's a lot of room for fun with this idea! -
If my feeble memory serves, I have a vague recollection of one of the old Paragon Studio devs say that it would break the game to increase the number of trays beyond 7. I would have to see the code - and that's not an option for me because I wouldn't know where to find it. I would suspect it would be an easy fix...but not having seen it, no telling how it was implemented.
As for a work around...simply don't use common IOs at level 30. Use attuned set IOs, ATOs, Winter-Os, Overwhelming Force. They're superior when combined with the set bonuses and they level with you. Are they more expensive? yes. But, they are easily affordable if you have one level 50. One ITF will net you at least 15-20M. You can easily parlay that into all the influence you need with clever use of the recipes that drop while you play.
I realize my solution is not eloquent and requires time spent figuring out which IO sets to use..but once you dig into it, it's fairly simple, not remotely like rocket science. Remember, influence in this game is ever-increasing. The more folks play, the more influence there is. All you have to do is craft, convert some of those recipes that drop, sell them at the going rate, and you'll be looking at hundreds of millions before you know it. And that's just a few minutes at the beginning or end of a play session, not a full time job. It may not be something you enjoy - but ask yourself what's more fun - a second respec, burning 30 unslotters each level 50, or crafting and converting your recipe drops once a day? -
2 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:
I did the unthinkable: I looked it up in the wiki.
According to that source (which may not be correct):
- it takes 39,149,119 xp to go from 1-50.
- it takes 4,973,400 xp to go from 49-50.
- every veteran level takes the same amount of xp as 49-50.
So however long it takes you to run 1-50 (A in my example above), it should take you about 4.05x as long to run from 1 to vet level 24 (A+B), and about 7.10x as long to run to vet level 48 (A+B+C). You are very slightly better off running to vet level 24 than vet level 48, but it's so close that it's pretty much a wash.
Math: the other white meat.
I wonder if I can remember math enough to take into account the 2xp buff that's active in levels 1-50.
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On 8/15/2021 at 11:33 PM, Cyrickain13 said:
Hey all long time CoH player. Looking for any builds that anyone has played that has not seemed enjoyable or extremely hard. I will be able to level any build but want to see if anyone has any challenging builds out there?
IE: I have a Broad Sword - Shield Scrapper that I am not particualrly fond of.
Well...have you considered relying solely on the rng to slot your character, avoiding the use of merits and the AH? That will make even the best of AT/powerset combos weep uncontrollably.
But, thinking back, my reliance on set bonus IOs has made most characters fairly simple to play. But there was a poison/ice defender that I deleted at level 11; it was horrible. Granted, I only solo'd with it, but it was not enjoyable. The DPS was ...well, instead of DPS, I had to go with DPH, because there wasn't enough damage to make the per second part of the stat count. Surviving for even a minute was difficult at +1.
That and dominators. I did manage to enjoy a grav/earth dom, and an earth/earth dom - and am trying to play a plant/earth, but my experience with mind/psi dom was just brutal. I swore off of them, and it took me a year to give myself permission to retry the AT. Could be a playstyle thing, tho. I much prefer ranged characters.
A fire scrapper will test your patience, too. Nice dps, but there's no taunt aura; you have to waste a power on provoke, and it's got a stupid animation. So, you spend some time chasing the odd mob down, unless you've worked in the new teleport pool. And even then, the fact that you have to waste a power pool on that is annoying because you can only have 4 power pools. -
@Yomo Kimyata In all seriousness - my reason for stopping at 48, for whatever reason - only anecdotally, it takes me longer to get from vet level 48 to vet level 54 (for 20 emp merits) than it does for me to PL from level 1 to 50 vet level 3. (20 emp merits)
See, as you're most likely aware, 1-50 in a farm is quick. About 2 hours. Each vet level though, takes the same time. And the vet levels required to get 20 emps at that vet level is 6 vet levels. Levels 1-50 plus 3 vet levels is faster than 6 vet levels. So, that's why. (or 1-50 is faster than 3 vet levels.)
How much faster? I dunno. I didn't look at a clock. And candidly, it's mostly afk time. But it's faster.
Edit: After a night's sleep, it occurred to me I didn't represent my reasoning clearly. Because if it is faster to go 1-50 plus 3 vet levels to get 20 emps, why proceed past the point where you only get 15 emp merits? As stated, I used no clocks, and it's afk time. The 15 emps from 3 vet levels in the vet level 27 to vet level 48 range is more than 10, obviously. So, if I proceed, I'll have 30 emps in 6 vet levels, a slightly better pay off than just the 20 from vet levels 1-3. It may be all in my head, as perception is often reality for most of us. But because that's my perception, I think I'm saving some time - even if it is afk-time.
I should try it with active farming to get an actual guage, but that would be torture, and I'm called away so often during the day, that I couldn't give it the time it deserves. I'm sure someone has already done this, anyway.
Apologies for any derailing of the thread. -
Meanwhile, the poor farmer, slaving away only got one purple.
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3 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:
This is not a path I follow, but next time you do this @Ukase, try getting a rough split on times: A. from 1 to 50; B. from veteran level 1-24; and C. from veteran level 25-48.
I suspect that you may get a better overall rate of emp merits per hour by running a new alt to vet level 24 (160 emp merits for A + B) rather than to run it to 48 (280 emp merits for A + B + C). But then again, I've been wrong before!
Testing it out now, for kicks and grins.
And take a look, lol
This is the stalker alt - at level 32 after the first 44 minutes (2xp, afk farmer). This is why I never let someone else's alts in my farms! 3 purples in 44 minutes...just sitting at the door looking pretty.-
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5 minutes ago, Blackbird71 said:
A bit, perhaps. But when someone asks specifically for resources to read up on the basics of slotting and what Enhancement shorthand means, and people reply with links to Inf-making guides and specific IOs to use, I do begin to wonder if people read with the intent to understand.
That's fair.
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I think 99% of all my builds have these.
Or in hover, if not Combat Jumping. The enhancements are: Shield Wall 5% resist (all), Kismet Accuracy (6% toHit buff) and LotG 7.5%/Defense
Two of them may be slotted at level 7, the other at level 22.
In Health is the Panacea +hitpoints/Endurance, the Miracle +recovery, Numina's +regen/+recovery. Should be all you need for extra endurance.
In Stamina, I've got the perf shifter +end, and end mod.
In my armor, or a resist buff power, I'll have the Glad Armor 3% def (All) and the Steadfast Protection 3% def(all)/Resistance. Because the Steadfast gives resistance, too, I'll use attuned so my characters can still get the benefit as I level up. I exemp a good bit, so using the actual level is a disadvantage, unless I use two builds. (which I don't like to do) Lastly is the 7.5% HP from Unbreakable Guard.
I try to fit these in every build I make. Some builds...it may not fit, but for the most part, I make them work. Recently, I've also been trying to fit a full set of Reactive Defenses as well.-
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I think you'll encounter some different perspectives. Most players don't "grind" the same thing repeatedly for incarnate salvage. Some do, of course. Of those that do, by and large:
Speed Lambdas. The most inept concept in my mind, but while it is crude, it is effective. Just don't look for much incarnate XP. Just an emp merit, maybe a couple astrals and a random reward table.
Heather Townsend's arc, out of Dark Astoria, or through Ouro.
This arc is 4 missions, and when you speed through them, you can get the rewards fairly quickly. Maybe once every 10 minutes or so. (faster or slower speeds depend on your team, your character's ability) What you get is a random common, an emp merit, and the random reward table for incarnate salvage.
Hamidon Raids: Most of the time, at least on Excelsior, these are run three raids, back to back. After each successful raid, you get a reward table that will offer your choice of 3:
80 reward merits for the first run on that specific character
1 random hamidon enhancement
4 empyrean merits.
you can only choose one of those three. Once you pick the 4 emps on that character, you can swap characters and choose 4 emps again (and email them to the first alt if you wish) or you can choose 80 merits or a random hamidon enhancement on the first character.
Once you pick 80 merits, the next time, the merits reduce to 40.
So, one character can get the 4 emp merits, and 120 merits in three runs, or 3 characters could get 240 merits, or 3 characters could get 12 emp merits.
Apex/Tin Mage also award an incarnate reward table, and on the right team, these can be run very quickly, maybe 20 minutes for both if your team is very competent and experienced.
Fire Farm - PL an unslotted alt to vet level 48. This will get you 280 emp merits. Levels 1-50 take about 2 hours, give or take a bit. The next vet levels though - they can take quite some time. I do mine AFK because I'd just get bored to tears actively doing it. This way - I can have this alt send transcendent merits to the character I'm actually leveling and playing. And I delete the alt with the 48 vet levels, as it was unslotted and just sitting in the farm. It's a nice thing to not have to sweat the same BAF and Lambda ad nauseum. I can just send over the emp merits in form of a transcendant merit and +3 them in short order if I choose. Or I can reload my farmer with converters, Nothing like options.-
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This is a hold-over from the old devs. For whatever their reasons, there are some contacts - Tina Mac, Maria Jenkins, for example, who give you one mission to do before they'll let you start on the arc.
I realize that half our player base PL's beyond all the lower level stuff and can just do the arcs directly through ouro. But I don't always do that.
But I am getting really tired of these "busy" work missions that don't give merits. And I can only auto-complete one mission per three days.
It would be quite a welcome change to approach a new contact and instead of seeing the "Security Chief" or doing some useless non-story arc mission, or non-badge mission, but get directly to the story arc. I have selected, accepted and abandoned over a dozen times in an attempt to get Jenny Firkens and Jose Escalante, and Allison King to give me their story arc - but none of them will, despite their being in my active contact list and not having any other arcs in progress. (nor any other missions in the queue. )
How hard could it be to have each contact offer the entire list of missions the way the Mayhem/Safeguard contacts do? -
I've never bought one. But I have used thousands that I've gotten from Winter packs when they're on sale. I don't even count them as something to negate the cost of packs. One Winter-O plus a catalyst recoups the investment of the pack at full price. And, since I've gotten the packs on sale, for me, the boosters are basically free.
That said, I only use them on characters that will get a lot of play time. -
I'm still wondering about these npcs that tote lumber from zone to zone...with no rest. Just always carrying around those boards..who pays for that?
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As a work-around, I will cut and paste the entire email that has too many characters onto notepad, wordpad or something. Then I'll just cut it in half and send two emails. Yes, it's annoying. Unfortunately, that's my only solution.
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On 8/10/2021 at 5:36 PM, Arbegla said:
Why are these things so expensive? Is it because they can only be bought via merits? Are they in super packs?
Expensive? They're cheap! They're free, really. Just buy the winter packs, you'll have more than you know what to do with. They were burning a hole in my character email until I finally decided to use a fraction of mine on my badge characters. So tedious, so annoying the boosting. And the payoff for them is marginal. But, marginal gains add up.
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I can't believe I've never gotten one of these before, but I've never noticed any non-purple requiring three rares to craft. Three rare salvage required? I can still profit off it - but damn, this is insane. The IO isn't even that good. More often than not, a standard Heal IO will give more regen than this proc - though it will depend on what power it's used in.
Or in hover, if not Combat Jumping. The enhancements are: Shield Wall 5% resist (all), Kismet Accuracy (6% toHit buff) and LotG 7.5%/Defense 
Lastly is the 7.5% HP from Unbreakable Guard. 
HELP NEEDED: Magisterium Triple Threat
in Guides
Posted
One thing to remember though - you might kill the AVs within the prescribed window of time to get the badge - but you still have to beat Tyrant - AND not do it so quickly where he bugs out. Because this badge won't award unless you complete the trial.