Ukase

I think the scrapper & stalker are the most balanced across all levels of play. Often, with brutes, once a certain resist and/or defense threshold is reached, the difficulty can be increased and you can go nuts. With scrappers and stalkers and their comparatively lower HP (and thus regen), and their random crits...they seem to average out more consistently in the mid levels. Brutes are always great early, due to Fury. But in the middle levels, before 30, they are lacking, and pick back up in the mid-30's are then can do whatever you like with them, just about. The scrapper/stalker is more slow and steady. Less effective AoE due to a lack of taunt aura, so just not as effective - but still, with the crits and such, it's more consistent across all the levels - at least, that's my perception. I still would make a brute over a scrapper. Much better damage (anecdotally). Scrapper Crits often happen on the killing blow with only a sliver left, anecdotally. Combined with lower HP, they're not worth it to me. Fury is far more consistent. But that's another topic.

Sorry, Snarky. The RNG likes me more than you. If you want some let me know, I have over a thousand of them stashed. I'm only holding on to them in the event farming gets nerfed and the price of purples go up due to less supply.

You could be right. On Tequila, initially I assumed we couldn't, as the default setting had the "Close Tequila after start of the game" checked off, so it closed. I'm typically obtuse, so never noticed there were options, let alone click the tab and take a look. It wasn't until HC had issues with the manifest and had instructions on where to put the link to the temporary manifest did I notice that. The HC launcher had a similar setting that wasn't obvious to me, but I knew enough then to look for it. But, if that is the case, when folks like myself suggest dual boxing, I don't see follow up questions on how dual boxing is done, so I just assume they don't want to, for reasons that escape me.

My apologies then. That's just crazy to me. Kill one AV for xp? We used to do that with Mender Silo's arc - we'd just pop in, kill Recluse, exit and reset. We got like 4-5 bars of XP just for recluse. Dinged my 2nd level 50 on HC that way. Never thought to do it with a pissant like Quatrexin. He's usually just an EB when I do the arc.

I think this is probably the biggest disconnect here. "Unless they have two accounts"....why in the world doesn't everyone have two accounts? Or three? Three is the limit per shard. This game is ancient and just about every computer system alive can handle running three accounts. Why wouldn't you make more than one account? The reasons can be a multitude, I suppose. Ultimately, you don't have a second account because you don't want one. It's not worth it to you to do the work to make the 2nd account, to make the farmer so you can PL yourself when you want to. That's fine. But any cries in any channel for "New character looking for AE" will be met by me with silence. I think it was in the marketing section, I was analyzing the time it took to get from level 50 to vet level 48 vs the time it took to get from level 1 to vet level 27. (for the emp merits) The alt that was being PL'd got 2-3 purples recipes. Now, it was my alt, so I was fine with it. But if I'm doing the farming, and some person is getting the benefit of my farmer, I'll never know the purples they get off my effort. But when I see this happen, it just reinforces my own rule, never pl anyone. It's not like I need the purples. I have literally over 1000 in my base. 100 of each kind and then some. But, what I do need is for other players to need purples. Every purple they get decreases the demand for them slightly. That's not good for business. So, I keep mine. All of 'em.

So, I've done these patron arcs countless times. And it seems that there are a number of folks that jump in to join the last mission of BS - not for the xp levels, but for the access to patron powers so they don't have to do the unlock themselves. There are 4 patron arc options. Most of us do Black Scorpion because it's the fastest/easiest. If folks can skip it altogether, most will. I can almost guarantee you that it would likely not be run nearly as often, except by badge enthusiasts and those who simply love red side content if the patron pools were no longer unlocked, but available without the unlock. Nobody is doing these specifically for XP. They won't turn down the XP in most cases, but that's not why they're there. They're there for the unlock. Personally, I want Scorpion Shield as soon as I can get it. I don't want to be level 35 and then do the unlock, because then I can't get the Shield until level 38. I have, in some cases, had a PL'd alt be the initiating contact and while it was unslotted, my level 34 would be doing all the work. Not a super big deal, but I do detest red side content. All the stories I hear about not having to hunt, not having to zone hop for story arcs, that's patently false. It's the same deal on red side as it is blue. What's worse, the npcs are simply ugly. Who wants to look at bugs and snakes? Not me. But, I digress. I only endure it for the ability to only select the armor and forgo the other powers of the pool.

Oh me. Oh my. Forgive them, lord, they know not what they do. On a more serious tone, I get it with the brainstorm ideas. More clicking, right? First ya got to click each damn set of 20 into your inventory. Then you have to go to a crafting table and make the salvage at no cost. When you have the tons you have - you will get each salvage piece, several of them. You can avoid your fellow marketer's shenanigans and not over-pay for salvage for starters. Or, you can dump yours for sale cheaply, and still make over 500k per rare. That adds up! I should add - my strategy with brainstorms is far more about my attitude towards the market than profit. I was raised with this credo: "Every dollar you save multiplies to the bottom line." For every 4 rare salvage I don't have to buy, that's one damn IO I don't have to craft, convert and sell to get that 2m. And, best of all, those other marketers, essentially my competition, I suppose, I'm not putting any inf in their pockets, either. But that's just my old-curmudgeon way of looking at things, I suppose.

Oh..winter packs. I still have a vast number left to open! I have yet to relist any winter packs. Ever. That's a waste of good inf. I get that you don't have to actually open the pack and you pocket 15M (assuming at 25M sale) less AH fees. But within the packs is a lot more influence than 25M. The reward merits, the boosters, converters, the catalysts, the unslotters, and the "average 1.2 winter-Os" and those wonderful amplifiers, candy canes....I place each pack at a value of 40M, easy. Why? Because of the wonderful people who never read these forums and genuinely have no idea how easy it is to make a winter-O superior. Despite Yomo's fantastic guides, an incredible help channel where there's a number of folks like me who will take an hour to explain to anyone that wants to know more about the accumulation of inf, they are still out there, overspending. Catalysts are essentially free to anyone who plays a level 50 character. And if you have a farmer, you'll likely amass hundreds of them in short order. Take the winter-O, catalyze and make 30M just for that one IO. Never mind the rest of the goodies within the packs. Don't sell yourselves short!

Have you made this alt yet?

So, I have played here on Homecoming, but I've also got accounts on Rebirth server. The thing about the Rebirth server is that it's just as CoH was at shutdown, for the most part. There are a number of what I would call "stark" differences when it comes to the cost of enhancements. The first is converters. Converters are available on HC here via a random drop (ya might get 20 from leveling 1 to 50), and from the AH, and from the merit vendor at a cost of 3 converters for 1 reward merit. Back on live, this cost was 10 reward merits for 1 converter. They are not tradeable. Not accessible on the AH. But they will drop randomly at about the same rate as on HC. Another big difference is the cost of enhancement on the AH. On Rebirth, the population of their single server is..well, pretty low. Last I looked, the most players on during a weekend evening were about 60-70 players. As such, most folks don't even use the AH for big ticket items. They have a thread on their forums to trade for items in game. Here on HC - all invention salvage is seeded with a max cost for each tier. All rares cap at 1M. Back on live (and on Rebirth) there was no cap. Someone could buy all of a specific rare at whatever the cost, and repost it for 2-5x and if you weren't inclined to earn 540 tickets at AE for that specific salvage, you either had to burn merits at a merit vendor for a random rare, or pay the price, whatever it was. Would you like to pay 10M for a Chronal Skip? Purples/Very Rare recipes on HC - in the AH, I usually see them at 11.5 to 14M. Crafted, they might go for 14 to 20M. On Rebirth, or Live, they'd go for 150M to 275M, depending on your patience level. Just like here on HC, the sleeps, holds, immobs, confuses - they go for less than the melee, ranged & AoE damage ones. Leveling on HC is easier, even without the 2xp buff, because XP is awarded at a higher rate. On Rebirth, as back on live, there was no 2xp buff. Builds - stuff like ATOs, Winter-Os, Overwhelming Force...those also came from merits like here on HC. But on live, it was 400 merits for 1 ATO. Same with Winter-Os. They are not the inexpensive 100 merits like they are on HC. Now, one thing they did have - was they allowed you to get pvp IOs with emp merits and astral merits. Luna and her fabulous inspirations were not available in live. But they did have Astral Christy and Empyrean Mike. And you could get a number of recipes from them for 60 to 75 Emp merits. Even so - HC is far, far cheaper. We don't have Emp Mike, but we do get vet levels for threads and emp merits. That didn't happen on live, nor does it happen on Rebirth. Suffice it to say - things are about 10X cheaper on HC than on live. No exaggeration.

Sorry - I just realized how insane my post was and just hid it. It's not worth the mental energy to bicker back and forth.

Ha! At my age, anyone under 30 is a kid!

So, I wrote about 8 paragraphs explaining that I see your point, but then realized it would come across the wrong way, and wouldn't adequately explain why I don't appreciate another player's "friendly suggestions". It's all about relationship. A very wise man told me, "Rules, without relationship, reap rebellion." It should stand on it's own, but to break it down, it means that the player base has a relationship of sorts with any and all game GMs. Because the game wouldn't be here without the HC devs, and the HC devs have appointed these GMs (or in some cases are the GMs) we respect their authority. If Bionic Flea were to tell me I was off-topic, I might listen to him because I know him from within the game, and he's a good chap. I have a relationship of sort with him. I respect him. Even though all of his characters are super tiny and make my dog itch. But if a player I don't know is trying to suggest I do anything in game - even if they're 100% right, I'm going to be defensive and rebel. Why? (In addition to the odds that I'm immature - I'm playing a game meant for children, after all, just like everyone else.) Because I don't know them. I don't respect them. Why should I heed their suggestion? If I were to drive through your neighborhood and tell you that you brought your trash can to the curb too soon, take it back to your garage and bring it out in the morning - even though you know those are the HOA's rules, my best guess is you're going to look at me like I'm crazy, say, "Sorry, but I ain't waking up at 5am to take the trash out." But, it's a different answer if it's your spouse, or the HOA rep. Gotta have those relationships to make those suggestions. But that's just my opinion and where I'm coming from. I don't expect anyone to change on account of me. Odds are, I'm the one that will have to change. Oh - as for General chat - you don't know, but I hate it. On new characters where I've forgotten to disable it, I always see things that irritate me. Nothing volatile, but the conversations there are just annoying to me. They just put me in a foul mood, so I disable it when I remember. That's why when someone says, "Take it to General", I refuse.

You're not wrong. But sometimes, information transitions into other dialogue. I just don't see why it's so hard to keep track of the other chatter you're interested in. But, there is a policy, and I'll try to follow it. I would just prefer other players not assume they're the chat police and let the folks who've gotten off-topic police themselves.

This generally happens for me in the range of vet level 9 to 12. The best I've done is Vet Level 7. The key for me, I believe, is to pursue badges in incarnate trials. Consider the UGT. It can be darn long, particularly if the league leader wants to snipe the bombs, particularly if there are only a couple of characters with a sufficiently ranged snipe. But, with the zerg method, it really isn't that long. A bit nerve-wracking, but it goes faster, keeping the entire league engaged. So why badges? Usually, only an avid badger will notice, but with each badge in an incarnate trial, you get a free random uncommon drop, in addition to the reward table. That's 60 threads of savings there. Additionally, if you were to get the master of badge, not only do you get the random uncommon for each of the 4 badges, you also get a random rare. And, the reason I bring up the Underground Trial - take a look at this table, particularly the Incarnate Salvage column: As you can see, the Underground is the ONLY trial that guarantees a rare or very rare. MoM, Keyes, TPN, Magi - give an increased chance. Another tactic I have used is with my three accounts using collaborative mission completion until the last mission of the arc - for those Dark Astoria arcs. Completing any of the DA arcs gets you the reward table, plus a random common and an emp merit - most of us know this. But, when you have a team who collaboratively completes all but the last mission - and then the team completes each character's final mission of the arc, you get more reward tables, more emp merits, more random commons. The larger the team, the more fruitful. Another fun fact that not many seem to know is that shards ARE useful. So many folks treat shards with disdain, with the primary reason being - they don't get many. Well, with shards, you don't need that many. A number of the high level tfs give you an option to forgo merits for a shard component. I seldom do this, because in an MSR and a hami raid, shards drop routinely. In fact, on a fire farm, shards drop routinely. And of course, doing the weekly gets you a notice, making the t-3 alpha super simple and fast, if you are letting the game steer you into the right content by chasing the shard carrots. Using shards for Alpha saves you a fair number of threads that can be used for the other 5 incarnate slots. Granted, you can only work with what the rng gives you. But, if you realize that shards don't drop during incarnate content, until you get your t-3 alpha, it can pay to avoid the incarnate stuff - at least until those slots are unlocked. On a team of 8 where you're killing through or killing most, you will get a ton of shards. They don't drop like threads, but you need a lot fewer shards than threads. So, if you get 'em, use 'em. And if you don't get 'em...well, use threads if you must. Can only work with what you get. But you can steer your character to more shard friendly content. Again, MSRs, Hami Raids (the buds always drop a couple) and any mission where you're killing a bunch of stuff that's not in DA.

No idea. I saw it as I was en route to a mission.

I really don't expect or anticipate any changes. I'd be just fine with no changes at all. Ever. There's a line in Guys and Dolls, where ....maybe it was Nathan Detroit or Sky Masterson...I can't recall. He says, "You dames. As soon as you find a guy you like, you try to take him in for alterations." (or something like that). I would much prefer they come up with a new zone, a new faction of npcs, new arcs rather than a new powerset - but that is just me, and I'm sure there are many who'd love a new powerset or ten. But, if we do get one, I hope it is something along the lines of Bio armor - which is fairly unique - unlike something like Katana and Broadsword which are just about identical, but with different dps on differently named attacks.

It's a 3m IO, ya cheapskate! But what the heck do I know. I've never bought one. I just sell 'em.

Is there something wrong with this picture? My character is level 34. Why is a +3 conning purple? (I'm not exemped or on a tf or anything). I can't find anything in the wiki..is there some reason the conscript is conning purple instead of red? I think there is...but I can't recall.

Fair enough. It's always interesting to hear the objective, and to gain different perspectives in various farming methodologies.

I'm sure I'm in the minority. I see folks sometimes let their conversation meander a bit away from LFG, and get closer to a "help" kind of topic from time to time. Sometimes more of a "General" conversation instead of specifically LFG. Usually, left on their own, these conversations fizzle out after a few comments. But, many times, these folks are not left to police themselves. Invariably, someone well-meaning will chime in: "take it to Help" or "Plz take it to General Chat". Sometimes, I'm a bit contrary. And I'll chime in - "But I don't like General Chat! They talk crazy there." Obviously, I'm being silly - but if I were to really say what I want to say, I might get a touch of the ol' ban hammer. I will never understand why some players want to be the chat police. Well, maybe I get it. I like to tell folks there's no such thing as a guild or a quest here. And there are certainly no Luck of the Gambler enchantments as far as I know - but then I'm just poking fun. I usually add a 😛, so that makes it okay, right?! I mean, I can get it if it's something that's been going on for more than 2 minutes. But seriously, folks - what's the real harm? So someone asked a question in the wrong channel. Or said something in the wrong channel. It happens. It makes no sense for the offending party to re-ask their question in help when everyone saw the question in LFG. And if the question gets answered in LFG, I really don't see the harm. But, man, some of you are darn touchy about your chat channels. I wonder if maybe some folks have their channels set up a certain way - where too much chatter makes the recruiting calls scroll up too quickly? Is that it? That's the only thing I can think of. But, as we all know - the way I think and play - and the way others think and play sure isn't going to be the same. Am I missing something? Should I have been toilet trained at gunpoint? I dunno. Chat in whatever channel is open. Let people be. Ya don't like what they say, the /gignore works.

Sorry @Boyce. That question was for @Tellos. I should've been more careful.

If you're afk, why care about dps? I mean, beyond a certain point. Obviously, if it's too low, they kill you before you kill them. If they hit you, that is.

When my grandfather passed away, I was bequeathed a very nice ivory (and I suppose ebony) chess set. Really a beautiful set. The only problem was that the board had become horribly discolored and damaged. So, I bought some Maple and Mahogany and measured out the slats that would make my new chess set. I found the process of making the set quite interesting. A chess set is 8 x 8, and given the size of the chess pieces, I felt 2 inch squares would be the best way to go, and it would make the math easier than 1.75 inches. 4 slats of maple, each 2 inches wide, and 4 slats of Mahogany, also each 2 inches wide. Then, I'd just take slats 2, 4, 6 and 8, flip them over so the colors alternate as they should - then just glue it together. My big mistake was to not account for the width of the damn saw blade. I had this perfect straight line on the 2" mark...but after the blade when through it, it was closer to 1 and 7/8ths. My square board was no longer square! It came out "good enough", but it certainly didn't look right, playing on a board where the "squares" on the board weren't truly square.

Not the first post of it's kind - but we can all see the extra zero on the top. If it was anyone who reads this, reach out via PM... So I know what kind of cheapskate you are and can mock you with derisive laughter! How dare you try to lowball me? I slaved over a rusted out workbench just to get the people of paragon the IOs they need...and you would try to lowball me? Some nerve!