Ukase

And got waxed, quickly, even with what I would consider wise use of inspirations (the lowly 1st tier insps from the vendor, as shown.) So, now that I've been through this, this is all my brute could do before defeat - with that map, those settings. So, to be as helpful as I can be, there is no bug that you're not aware of. But, there is something I remembered that you may not be aware of. In your first post, @Diantane, you mentioned buffing up your defense to 130%. You can take all the purples you want outside of AE, once you enter the map, even if there are still 50 seconds left, the buffs from inspirations are immediately removed. So, if that's how you got your buffs, they disappeared immediately. I will re-try with the purples within the map, and see how it goes. I was successful in clearing the map at -1/4, without being defeated, but it had a lot to do with the rng on inspiration drops. Without the use of the inspiration macros, it would have ended quite quickly. Even with them, there were a couple of instances where the inspirations wore off, and I didn't have any more purples to use, but with a robust (orange) and getting a timely health insp drop, I had just enough to get a couple more kills and a couple more insp drops. So, it can be done, but if you do what I think you did - gobble the insps before you entered, none of those purples did you any good. If you took them upon entry, monitor your fire resistance and your melee defense. (monitor fire defense at level 50) but for this purpose, take 4 purples immediately upon entry, with 4 in reserve. As new insps drop, like heals, damage, rugged, you can use those as the defense buffs drop. They drop quickly if you took them quickly. Wait a couple seconds between each one, so you have more reaction time to move around and combine insps. If you can afford it, it's quite worth it to buy the p2w Return to battle, just for the insp buffs when you use it. They'll likely carry you through to getting a full insp tray to get you through a few more groups. If you can start off with supers, or even large insps, they will do you even better.

About to pop in the same arc. Same settings, -1/4.

So. because I wanted to really see if I could give some feedback that would be more helpful, I've made a spines/fire brute, specifically to see how mine might fare, with just SOs. I haven't spent the usual inf on the temps that I might normally do (Teleports, plasmatic tasers, haven't even gone to p2w for sands of mu, which I may regret) Here's what I have slotted: Here are my combat stats (the ones I'm monitoring, anyway) So, level 7, with SOs. I wouldn't ordinarily get Temperature Protection on a fire brute or fire tank - unless I'm using it for a set mule, it's going to give more fire resistance than I would need. But, in the early levels, it can be worth getting. But it's not available to choose on a brute prior to level 7. So, with 2 SOs in Fire armor, 32.72% is all the resistance I have.

So, you're a level 7 brute. At this level, you don't have Quills, one of your AoE damage toggles. You don't have burn. The only AoE damage you have at this point is blazing aura. You might have lunge & barb, and perhaps Spine Burst and Healing Flames. And that's if you had neglected to take a travel power. There are AE maps that you can handle, but you'll not be wanting to tackle AoE-centric maps when you only have one AoE attack aside of a passive damage aura. SOs at level 7 are great, but you don't have enough slots to really do much of note. So, now you leave me wanting to make a spines/fire, get to level 7, use SOs and see what this map is like (as I've no idea). But my gut says, farming as a level 7 can be done, but it has to be the right map. No idea which it is, but there's one with just ONE elite boss per group to tackle, and it worked pretty well for my low level character. Try a search for low level farming. Generally, when you interact with the kiosk, in the mission description there will be information about what to expect, as well as what stats would be required.

Although I'd never want to date Mez's avatar, I can't think of anyone who I'd rather have on my team play a mind dom. I saw what his character could do in TPN, and went out and made one for myself. And deleted it after realizing that there are things Mez can do that I cannot. I say that to say this: Good team composition is great to have, but I'll take good players with less than optimal team composition over average players with great team composition. Every time. When you're only slightly better than mediocre like myself, ya need all the help you can get.

I swear I remember Matt (Positron) saying that the trays are stuck at 70, and any more would "break the game". But, it was a long time ago, and I could be misremembering. And yeah, repopulating the tray is annoying, but /cleartray is a great start for me. Good tip on taking the screenshot of the power tray before hand!

You should probably keep in mind that, sometimes, when you're dealing with a pick-up group, (folks you're not very familiar with), if the whole team agrees to leave, it's possible for someone to return and simply finish it without you. Ordinarily, the AV can be a pain point for most folks, but consider Katie Hannon TF. After the first mission, there's no more AVs.

Heh, someone dumped about 600 on the AH (as I could tell, anyway). The bid finally went through. I should have cancelled it!

None of my characters on any accounts are selling converters. I have the standing bid for 300k and that's it. Which is darn fishy. It's not like I need one converter, lol. I get mine from emp merits nowadays.

I did,(know those things) but I don't sell or buy converters typically. Well, I might sell some now, lol. Still, I placed a bid for grins for 300k, and it hasn't been processed. I find that odd.

For kicks and grins..I did this: It's still there! 515 converters in the AH...listed for more than 300k? I think this must be one of those extra zero errors, only instead of buying something with one too many zeroes, they've listed it with one too many zeros. I can't recall, but I think the highest I've ever seen a converter go for is maybe 110k, other than today. A couple of hours, in another thread, I noticed this: So, 11 more converters were put on sale for more than 300K? Something is fishy! And I'm phishing! What's going on here?!

Oh my. Someone's been paying a fortune for converters, or the display glitch is impacting them. 200K, nestled in amongst 100k, 101k...they were 70k most of yesterday. Only 504 left. Get 'em while they're hot. (I don't mean buy 'em. Sell 'em! That seems like a pretty good price for something so easily obtained. )

There was a time when I pugged routinely. I stumbled across a similar situation. Now, I avoid pugs if I can. So, I no longer see such things. When solo, the only KB that might irritate me comes from Fusionette. And candidly, if I do see it, it doesn't bother me any more than an AoE immob or hold that was cast too soon for maximum dps. In short, it doesn't bother me at all. Because I can't fuss at someone's KB any more than I can fuss at someone who uses their Judgement nuke a second before I use mine, or uses their stupid, stupid, stupid damned Fold Space just as I'm about to hit my own AoE. The very invention of Fold Space alone reveals the HC Devs hatred for me and my playstyle....wait. That just slipped out. I meant to repress that, honestly! If KB is the biggest problem we have, it's a good day. Now, how about upping that inf cap to 100 Billion already?

They say time heals all wounds. And to call this a wound would be, and IS quite over-dramatizing the situation. I appreciate everyone's feedback, and respect everyone's right to their opinion even if it's different than mine. It means your wrong, of course, but I'm sure you'll learn the error of your ways in time. That was a feeble joke, there. It's early. I'm sure I'll get over it sooner, than later. I have vented properly, and the thread didn't get locked down, (yet), and so far as I know, nobody got banned. I call it a win. Now, about that inf cap...can we raise that thing to 100Billion yet? (and that's only half joking. 50 Billion would be just fine, too.)

I've given one a try so far. Still a work in progress. But it met with failure because I couldn't tab over to the other account in time for a self heal. Maybe I used bad strategy. In retrospect, I probably did. But, with no incarnates, and no temps, that means either a lot of slogging through, or respecing TP into characters that I've played a certain way for quite some time. I can always make a second build for this, but then there's the cool down of all the powers, it just makes a long affair even longer. Those notes in the beta - they make it super clear about the new content, and proliferation...but somehow, I'd caught on about the no-incarnates on the Market Crash, Abandoned Sewer Trial, Eden Trial - but missed that they had made that a sweeping change across the board. I would have put money on that it wasn't in there, but when I checked back, it was there, but I'd missed it. Or I'd have not spent the time I did on Beta, but spent the time soloing those tfs on the remaining characters that still needed/wanted them before the patch hit. Just like I'm doing now with the ouro badges on a couple of characters. Before they mess that up, too. 5 merits as a threshold to give a badge? Have they ever run something solo without enhancements? That ain't fun for one mission, let alone 3-4 of them. But, you want the badges, you put up with it. But nobody says I have to like it, lol.

Just an FYI - I would never consider trying to solo an incarnate trial. Yet, I do try to get the "master of" badges for all of them. And have gotten all of them on at least a half a dozen characters that I enjoy playing. And when you lead these trials, you can get those mentoring badges rather easily. And of course, there's always the option to dual box and mentor the alt. As for the rest of your post, I appreciate your thoughts.

Understand that your views here are not shared by me. At least, not all of them. If I were playing an AT like yours, that does basically no damage at all...well, I probably would work with the build as best I could until it could at least hit it's way out of a wet paper sack. But, I might benefit a lot more from a team. Sit back, spam holds and buffs/debuffs as best I can and let the other ATs do the damage, pitching in when I can, what little I can. Currently, I'm more of a dps player with as much balance as I can get between resist and defense. I remember when I first played, back in live. I was on an emp/elec defender. That wasn't so much my main, as it was just the only character I had. That was back when my character was called Confidence, which I subsequently changed to Ukase Rex, following a reading of Marvel's Secret Wars. (Dr. Doom to Ultron 5) Back then, as an emp, I never had a moment to do anything solo! I'm serious, too. I'd log in, get an invite within seconds, literally. I finally hit 50, thinking my character was unstoppable. I rarely died. Tanks took the aggro, and I kept them upright to the best of my ability. And then, my bubble burst. I tried to solo Unai Kemen's Banished Pantheon mission - the first one he gives. I got waxed, I went to the hospital, went back, got waxed again. And then I figured it out. The tank was taking the heat, so my character never really got tested. I'd leveled to 50 and had no idea what my character could do. That's when I learned that teaming just hides your weaknesses. It makes you soft. Just like in real life, if you're no good alone, then you're not good for the group. While it's true that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, it's upon me to make my character as strong as I can, so that I bring more to the table. That's the background behind my characters. Be as good as I know to make them and play them. So while I don't mind teaming, it covers up flaws. You never know where you stand when you're grouped. That's why I try to get as many Master of TF/SFs solo if I can. If I can't, I juggle some things in real life and try to team with a couple of groups that somehow manage to tolerate my atrocious puns and awkward pronunciation of various words over Discord. If I'm using Discord with you, then you know you're something special. I won't talk with just anyone. So, yeah, it's simple, if I want to get those master badges, I have to team. But now, not only can a mistake by another player cost me the badge (after all, I'm investing my time, going for this badge) but in a fashion, the badge is now easier to get because of team synergy. It's definitely harder alone. It always has been. But now - because, as YOU say " The Devs are righting things to what it should be", I don't have the opportunity to earn the badges by myself. I'd like to think I'm slightly better than mediocre as a player. I'm certainly capable of building very good characters with a good blend of order & chaos. (Order is defense/resistance, and Chaos is DPS) But now I've got to do it with a greater handicap than before. I may yet find the right build that can do it. But I shouldn't have to do so when I already did. The bar has risen when it was perfectly fine where it was -- for a solo player. I don't think the " The Devs are righting things to what it should be". I think they are conceding to those who want to, and enjoy teaming at the expense of those who can't always commit to teaming for 2 hours to run Aeon SF at Relentless, for example. They've decided that those that want to solo can just do without the glory and honor of a master badge. Hey - it's their game. They've been super kind to allow me to play here, and all they ask is that I'm civil, if not polite and kind. (and that's asking a lot from a grumpy geezer like me!) All I'm saying is they've made a mistake. It's just my opinion. They've stepped on my fun. Fun I wouldn't be able to have if they weren't so gracious. All these folks saying things are too easy...well, damn, try soloing a master run. Granted, it's not practically impossible (like it is now), but it is challenging, you have to use strategy and pay attention. Teaming is too damned simple, really. It can be more entertaining, with the right folks, I give you that. And it can be faster, sure. But it's not the same challenge, and there is no badge for it now. And it's not that I want there to be one. I just want things to go back the way they were. But hey, I can't always get what I want. But, I am allowed to express my dismay, and my bewilderment at what I believe to be is a step in the wrong direction. But, if I don't say anything when I disagree with the change, how am I adding anything to the community? Shall I just provide an echo chamber and resonate with what you say, and what they say? I don't think they're after that. And if they are, then much like I am trying to do now, we must learn to live with disappointment.

The ability to earn the badge in game by myself has been taken away. In October, I was good enough. Now, I'm not. So yeah, @Faultline, I can run it with no defeats, no temps - but I don't get anything for it, other than useless merits. No flashy badge title. There's no more motivation. You've taken the carrots away from this ass. You can beat me all you like, but if the carrot isn't close enough, I'm not gonna budge. It's 7:30 am,(my time) I'm up for Worthy Opponent, but the usual suspects won't be on until 5-8pm my time. During which I'll be hit or miss as to my availability. Will I ever understand why this game that was so cleverly adapted for a smaller player-base and solo-friendly, now takes such a turn to make it not solo friendly (with regards to MO badges) ? Anyone can say, "Well you can still do X, you just can't get the badge for it now." That doesn't make it right. It just happens to be the way it is now. And I dislike it, as it takes away the motivation to do the content by myself as I did before. Was it so horrible that I preferred the convenience, no-stress, no expectations to consider, other than my own? Apparently. Now, if I want to be an effective badger, now I have to be a good teammate that can drop real life to play when it's convenient for other folks who want the same badges I do. It would be one thing if the servers were highly populated, and one could find reliable players at any hour, but that is not the case. Not for all of us. I understand that it's impossible to make us all happy. I get it. I think when you changed the rules, you made a mistake. Just my opinion. I do get that it's possible these changes are made with long-term perspectives in mind. Imagining legitimacy as a server, and who knows what else. I hope that happens. But for now, I'm just an ass looking for a carrot.

So, I should just shrug it off, say nothing as if it's quite alright? I don't think that's the best idea. I think when they change something that has an impact on how you play, you owe it to the community to ask why.

In my case, I level my characters up through content, typically. So, none of them rely on any buffs, only the IO set bonuses, really. And what you state about fewer people pursuing the hard content is part of the reason for my post. A solid player, Mezmera - I saw them recruiting for a ..I think it was relentless or vicious, but in prime time, it took them over 20 minutes, maybe 30 to finally fill it. In fairness, a few that might have joined Mez were teamed with me at the time, doing a malicious run for Master of Aeon. See, I'm hearing "so many people wanted this harder content" and yet, I don't see much evidence of this in practice. I just don't think it's the case. Just a vocal minority. I don't wish to imply in any sense that Aeon isn't a good SF. It is. The advancement of difficulty through the various challenge settings IS clever, and I think well done. And hopefully it will lay the framework for future new content. But it IS long, and needlessly so. They also dropped the ball on the rewards. The higher difficulties should reward a lot more than they do currently, but that's just my opinion.

I appreciate the perspective. I think, in a nutshell, I'll just have to trust "them", even though I don't fully appreciate the outcome at this instant in time. I hope my position will change for my own future enjoyment and that I read more, see more, play more, learn more and will "get" what they are after. You raise a solid point about "reading through the public posts". There's a ton on these forums I haven't even looked at, some I've only glanced at. I've skipped past anything costume or rp related, as neither of those are my cup of tea - though I think I'd be good at RP. My problem is I'm such an egotistical jerk, I don't want to share the stage with other RPers! I should probably read more and type less, at least for now.

I think this is part of my issue. Not an issue with the game, but my own personal issue I have to come to grips with. "they" complained. "they" got what they wanted. I think "they" are a vocal minority. Why did "they" get what they wanted? I guess I'm just pissed because now, a LOT of the stuff I used to be able to solo with my lore pet, now I don't have the option anymore. My lore pet is disallowed because "they" didn't like it. Screw "them". I liked it, and I want it back. There, I said it. I only wish it made me feel better. I'm intelligent enough to recognize this is my own issue. I fully realize the world doesn't revolve around me, least of all a free game that's come back after being shut down, at no cost to me. I am grateful. I am just concerned that these folks that tested this stuff are not a broad cross-section of the player base, but consists of a more narrow cross-section. It's not easy testing this stuff. Takes time, and I can appreciate the efforts involved by these folks, whomever they are. I just wish they'd thought about the folks that like to solo stuff. I much preferred soloing MoITF, making wise use of Lore pets and super inspirations. It was fun. But now, I can't do that option. I can do it regular style, without the MoTF challenge and still challenge myself, but now apparently though I was a master, now I'm not. Now I'm just another wannabe. Not very super at all, it turns out. I guess that's why it's called City of Heroes instead of City of Super Heroes.

This is a fair point, and I appreciate the history reminder. I'd forgotten about this as well as a couple of others.

Good points, I appreciate it.

A lot has changed for me in since the latest patch hit. I've been angry, delighted, wrong, right, against something, only to be persuaded to look at things differently. I am truly puzzled sometimes at what goes through the minds of those that are running this game. Fact or fiction: Only 10% of the player base reads and posts on the forums. Fact or fiction: The game is too easy. For everybody. At all levels. Only at incarnate levels. Fact or fiction: The new Master of TF/SF settings are good for the game. I could go on. And on. I'm really trying to have an open mind, but I'm old, and it's difficult. I've been trained to not be easily swayed and skeptical. I was toilet-trained at gunpoint, what can I say? Hidden in gigantic letters and a picture in the patch notes that I somehow overlooked, turns out a Master of Kahn or Barracuda disallows incarnate powers. Never mind that I have 5 characters that got the Master of Kahn and Master of Barracuda (more properly known as Master of the 5th Column Task Force and Master of the 5th Column Strike Force, respectively). And they got to use incarnate powers. So are those characters to be stripped of this badge and forced to re-earn it? That doesn't seem to be the case. Yet, as far as I know, there's no distinction between the badges, whether earned pre or post patch. Is that right? Is it proper? Am I making too much fuss out of nothing? I've been fairly isolated due to the pandemic, and remain so, and as a result, I can hardly tell when I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. I already know some are for, and some are against any issue presented. It made sense that with the 3 new Master trials - Eden, ASN, and MC that they might be set up differently, as they're trials and not task forces. Not at all sure why they have two terms for the same type of experience. What's the difference, anyway? So, when I saw that incarnates were disabled for these new master trials, I didn't think much of it. But to modify the requirements for badges that are already earned in game goes against the grain of how this game has been run. I encourage the HC devs to think about this a bit more. This inability to use incarnates during a master TF/SF is a new requirement for badges other folks have already earned much more easily. I don't think this is the right way. In fact, I KNOW it's not the right or fair thing to do. But I'm not paying a penny, so all I have is this forum to encourage you to rethink your position on this. For new badges, go nuts if you must. But for badges that are already in game...that's not right. At least, I don't think it's right. Opinions will vary, as they often do. I'm sure there are people that play this game and enjoy such challenges. I like some challenges, but I like challenges that let me use my character's powers to it's full effect. Like in Really Hard Way, in the Magisterium. Even the disallowing of buffs I'd already paid 8 hours for that are now wasted, because they're not a toggle as was earlier suggested they would become is okay, because I can still use the powers that I earned, as opposed the ones I paid for from p2w. Now, a master run is more like an ouroboros challenge mission. None of this, none of that. Forget those countless runs of BAF and Heather Townsend. Those powers you earned mean nothing to anyone now. If you want to use them, you'll have to do non-master run activities. No badges for you. I don't think I'm alone in stating that while some of us like challenges, we want to use our powers, too. All of them.