ZacKing

That depends on your build and how you're playing it. Hand clap works great during a rage crash to prevent mobs from attacking you and knocking them away. I don't think SS sucks at all. I have it on a bunch of brutes and tanks. From my experience, most people who say it sucks don't know what they're talking about or feel that way because it's all smashing damage, which is the most resisted damage type in game. It can, but that's where strategic use of Hand Clap and Footstomp come in.

I gave this a try yesterday on three separate characters and noticed the same thing. If you stay in the general area of the hill next to the tram, he never shows up. He's spawning in the hospital parking lot where he's getting droned almost immediately. As said above, he used to spawn right at the bottom of the hill, so looks like the spawn point was moved.

I'd be shocked if it's worse than Secret Invasion, The Marvels or Iron Fist. If so, that's an accomplishment.

No, I'm not trying to dictate to you what you can or can't say. I'm just letting you know that coming into threads where people are asking for specific advice or strategies about farming merits to say "you don't need to farm merits" isn't helpful to the discussion. You're also assuming a new account is a new player. They may very well be a vet who is just coming back now and already knows the basics. Again, coming into a thread where people are asking how to best earn merits and saying "you don't need them" isn't answering their question. They know they don't "need" them. They would like them for goals they have in mind. There's a difference. Coming in and saying "you don't need that" isn't helping them toward their goal. I guess I have a different view of this. If people are asking for specific builds for stuff and I don't have those particular builds, I just won't join that team. There are plenty of other teams forming to do the same content or I'll form my own team. My "negative response" to your "advice" is just letting you know you aren't contributing anything helpful to a discussion about farming merits by saying "you don't need to farm merits." Again, everyone knows they don't have to do it, they want to do it. As far as getting push back on "play what power sets you want", were you making that comment in threads where people were asking for specific AT/Build advice? If so, then yeah, I can see why you'd be getting that. Also, here again you're assuming a new forum account is some new player who's never played the game before. If you actually read the OP, they said they've been farming Adamastor for weeks (at least). The OP would have to be at an appropriate level range and power level to solo Adamastor, know how to get to Echo DA and how and when to summon him and know what the merit rewards were for defeating him. None of that sounds like a brand new player to me. Sure, make all the suggestions you want. Just be aware others can respond and let you know your suggestions are or aren't helpful. You're making quite a lot of assumptions about what others want, their play styles and goals, and how they should or shouldn't play the game here. I know of a lot of people that I team with regularly who like to farm to 50 then trick out their characters before going back and running the content via Oro to avoid the whole DO/SO thing. There are quite a lot of people I know who just want to run TFs and Incarnate trials and skip the story content all together. There are people creating characters just to PvP and don't care about story or "the journey" at all. I assure, just as you believe there are people rushing to 50 who get bored and leave, there are plenty of people out there who have tried the game "the right way" and within the first 20 to 30 levels, got bored because of the "repetitive, stale and boring" content. I know because I've talked to them. Trying to corral people like that into doing content they don't like isn't good for the game either, so why not let people play as they like? That's better for everyone.

Coming into a thread where people are discussing and sharing ideas on efficient ways to farm merits and telling everyone "you don't need to farm merits" is a non-starter, isn't helpful and isn't lending anything to the topic. There are a lot of things you don't need to do in this game, but people do them anyway because it's what they enjoy doing. You don't need to participate in PvP or RP or play the market either, but people still do those things. Let them because that's what they enjoy. As far as "pressure" to create cookie cutter builds and such, I don't know about that. I've never seen it and I think it's an extreme exaggeration of a minority of edge cases. My experience is that people asking for build advice or efficient ways of farming aren't wanting to hear "don't worry about builds or farming. Play story content, stop and smell the roses and enjoy the journey." It isn't helpful advice for them and isn't what they're asking for. The more you try and deter farming, the more you're creating the environment for it to not only grow, but thrive. Different people have different goals. If they want to rush to the level cap because that's how they do it in other games and what they enjoy, let them. There's always Oro for them to go back and play all the content. If people enjoy farming, let them. If people enjoy RPing, PvP, playing the market or taking the slow road to level up, let them. More power to all of them in finding things they enjoy. Good stuff!

She just seems like such an awful person. I don't know what the casting agent saw in her to be honest. Her personality has ruined any chance for this character to be successful.

I agree with those suggesting Hami Raids if they fit your schedule. Fastest way to earn a chunk of merits every day. Everyone knows this already. No need to keep repeating it. If people are looking for advice and suggestions for various ways to farm merits to improve their characters, let them. They're going to do it anyway regardless if you tell them they don't need to.

Hmmm I wonder if everyone exiting the mission too close together is the case then. We'll give it another try this weekend and try staggering them out a bit more. Thanks.

I can't stand Brie Larson, so I'll pass on seeing this. She was ok in the first one, but just lacks any kind of character or charisma that most of the other actors in the MCU have.

This weekend my mates and I tried to do a series of multi-Babbage and multi-Kronos Titan spawns. We were split into 5 teams and were able to get 2 Babbages at once in Skyway, but no dice on spawning the Kronos in Talos. Most we were able to get was the one Kronos to show up. We used the Ouro portal from the mission to Talos, so we were beaming in onto the hill in Talos and not near any drones. Is it no longer possible to spawn groups of GMs like this? I seem to remember some spawn points changing due to base portals moving and such. Any one else able to get multiple giant monsters to show up? Kind of bummed this isn't working like it used to. Used to be a lot of fun to get an army of giant robots going.

Does anyone else hear Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice when they read the thread title?

STO and Champions were built using the upgraded version of the engine CoH was built on, so they were able to correct the issue with names there. As @lemming mentioned, it's been talked about here over the years. It's technically possible, but would require a lot of work and not something a small volunteer team will want to take on. I hope they can at some point in the future though.

Yup same here. But it was also very nice to convert EMP merits to help with rare recipes and such every so often. It was a nice bonus.

This is what I usually do. Side note - I really miss being able to convert EMP merits to Reward Merits. That was a dumb change IMO. But whatever, it is what it is now.

Gentle Reminder - please don't turn this into another farming is PURE EVIL! vs farming is fun debate.

Right. And he and others like him won anyway.

Well no, you're the one arguing that this happens in theatre all the time and that "Shakespeare nerds are ahead of the curve". You're also criticizing others for asking the same question - what's the rationale for it? That's literally what you said lol. Yes, they are in fact rules. Please educate yourself. From the linked article - See, here's where you're wrong and really very ignorant. You're stupidly lumping anyone who questions casting choices and how a message is being delivered into the "deplorables" or white evangelical conservative pile. That speaks volumes to your ignorance and intolerance. For your information, I don't listen to the Daily Wire or any of that other crap. You're way, way off base there. I could also take a page out of Brie Larson's book and say the same thing right back at you. You don't like that the Disney princesses were all white? Ok, well there's other options out there for you now. They weren't made for you. Go watch something else. Of FFS are you honestly going to say that movies that are financial successes aren't considered to be of good enough quality that people went to see them and spent money on them? Like I said before, I didn't like Titanic at all. I think it's a stupid movie. That's not changing it's financial success at all. Of course I think filet mignon from a 5 star Michelin restaurant is a better quality meal than a Big Mac from McDonalds. That doesn't change the fact that McDonalds is financially successful. Opinions are great, but they're subjective. Numbers are facts. What you're trying to do is suggest people are saying that filet mignon is bad and a Big Mac is superior because McDonalds sells more. That's not at all true and not what anyone is saying at all. You're just arguing to argue at this point.

See, now I know you're disingenuous and being contrarian just to argue. On one hand, you're saying you don't care because it's done in theatre all the time, while at the same time trying to say it "depends on the context". Which is it? You either care or you don't. What context are you going by? Pure talent and charisma? Ok, then let's put Leonardo DiCaprio as T'Challa in Black Panther III. Let's replace Simu Liu with Christian Bale in the next Shang Chi. They're both very talented and more than qualified, so putting them into those roles should be fine according to you. How about casting Denzel Washington as Amon Goth in a remake of Schindler's List? Or Margot Robbie as Cellie Harris-Johnson in The Color Purple? Unless you don't think they're talented enough to pull off the roles? That recasting happens in theatre all the time, so you shouldn't care. That's exactly correct AND he did it without any "inclusivity requirements" or other such rules. That's a testament to his talent, and for you to be suggesting he and others only win these awards because of their skin color and "inclusivity requirements" is quite frankly disgusting. We all get it just fine. You've given plenty of examples based on opinion. You can't provide any measure that's based on facts. See, you still don't get it. If the hotdogs there are selling more than the steak, then that means a lot of people like them enough to spend money for that meal, which means that hotdog meal is a success by the objective measure of money made. Here again, you're analogy doesn't work. You're attempting to say that McDonald's isn't a success because there are five star Michelin restaurants out there. That's not even a remotely close comparison and I think you know that, but you're just desperate to try and prove that your opinions are facts. They aren't. And guess what? Both McDonalds AND the five star Michelin restaurant can be successful.

^Exactly.

You're using subjective opinions for excuses which is ok, but it's not a real measure of success or failure. Box office receipts and profits are the objective measure because numbers don't lie. Films that rake in big profits are successful which means most paying customers found them to be well written and well produced. That's a fact, whether you personally liked the movie or not. I didn't like "Titanic", but it raked in billions, so it's a success whether I think it was a good movie or not.

This is really, really ignorant. Maybe I'm wrong, but I get the impression reading your post here that anyone who disagrees with you is somehow a far right evangelical radical. That's just not true. It seems to me you haven't done any research on your own and looked into why people rail against "the message". First, it's not "the message", it's how it's being conveyed. A message of tolerance and acceptance of everyone regardless of race or gender or orientation is a good thing and a wonderful message to have. @Ghost is exactly right though, it's the preachy way it's being conveyed, along with studios and actors using it as an excuse for poor ticket sales on bad films. For example, did you see "Bros"? If not, then according to the actor, you're a homophobe. Did you go and see "The Woman King"? If not, then according to the studio and actors, you're a racist misogynist. How should people react when they're being accused of being something they aren't like that? Maybe they just don't like romantic comedies or pseudo-historical period dramas. The Hobbit films raked in billions. What's your point? And Peter Jackson didn't want to do another trilogy. The studio basically forced him into it. Ezra Miller is an awful actor. He's a huge part of the problem as he's not leading man material and can't carry a film on his own, which is why Keaton was brought back to try and salvage the movie with the nostalgia factor. He's totally miscast as The Flash and a solo movie for him never should have been greenlit in my opinion. Well sure, there's idiots everywhere but they're easily identified and just as easily ignored. Being foreign made has nothing to do with it. It was a successful movie made on a budget that's a fraction of what Hollywood spends on movies of that type. Yes, it speaks exactly to the point I was making about budgets. This is just flat out wrong. Movie studios are businesses who don't have limitless funds. They're in the business of making as much money as they can for their shareholders.

I don't agree with this at all and if you'd listen to what those "pissy YouTube critics" are saying, they're right on the money. What they're saying is it's the studios hiring shit writers who don't know how to write or don't respect or understand the source material. It's the studios spending literal shit tons of money on and way over relying on visual effects and spectacle of big action set pieces to compensate for a crap story. It's the studios hiring and way overpaying untalented "actors" who can't act and aren't capable of leading a film (see Ezra Miller and "The Flash"). The whole pushing of the "message" is a crutch for the studios to complain that audiences are xenophobes or homophobes or racists or misogynists or whatever other isms there are when people don't pay to go see their shit movies that wind up flopping at the box office and losing millions. As an example, take Godzilla: Minus One. It's budget was around 10 to 15 mil and brought in 10 times that in worldwide box office. Were that made in Hollywood instead, it would have easily topped 150 or 200 million budget, if not more. The Marvels had a near 300 million dollar budget. That's around the same budget for all 3 LoTR movies combined and the LoTR trilogy raked in billions. Why? Because it's a well crafted story with interesting characters. Where did that money go on the Marvels? Spending all that didn't make the story any better or the film more successful. It stunk and the studio knew it was going to stink from the get go, but they're more about pushing out quantity over quality to have content for their failing streaming services to try and compete with Netflix. Write a good movie with well thought out characters and well crafted story arc and people will go see it.

This series made Iron Fist look good and that's saying something.

This will probably be the only good Marvel movie to make any money in the next 10 to 15 years, if the MCU even lasts that long.

Nope. I'm out.