srmalloy

So the critical issue with enterbasefrompasscode is an "exploits of a mom" problem? Given some of the shortcuts the devs took to address problems, I'm not surprised that there is no input validation on the command, although it doesn't seem on its own to make it 'unfixable' as others have alluded to (and leads to wondering what bad input actually does). Still, we're not going to get details on it until after the closed loophole gets pushed to live, so speculation is sort of pointless.

It does seem odd, though, that if enterbasefrompasscode had an 'unfixable' exploit incorporated in it, the 'fix' incorporating all of these new base teleport powers still has an enterbasefrompasscode command, presumably rewritten to prevent this gross exploit, albeit limited to within 45 feet of a base portal. Without knowing what this exploit is/was, though, it's difficult to see how it was fixable by shackling it to a base portal, but not by simply disabling it in combat/PvP without having to have a new constellation of base teleport powers. It will be interesting to see what information gets released after the revised beta (betas rarely if ever make it through entirely unchanged) pushes to the live servers.

Giving us an inch and our wanting a mile? Now: Level 1, go to base, go to Echo: Galaxy City, then to Ouroboros. Bang, Ouro portal. Beta: All the Echo zone beacons are gone. But if you still want an Ouro portal at level 1, you can: Take your level 1 to an area with a zero-time logout, switch to an alt with the Ouro portal, go to where you parked your level 1, drop an Ouro portal, log out, switch back to your level 1, click on the Ouro portal you left behind, then to Ouroboros and up the gnomon to get the exploration badge. Bang, Ouro portal. Or, Take your level 1 to the Atlas tram, enter the TUNNEL portal to Night Ward, go up the path to the Midnighter mansion, enter the door to get the badge, exit the building, run back down to the TUNNEL portal, return to Atlas Park, take the tram to Steel Canyon (south), run the width of the zone with its +9 mobs to get to the Midnighter Club, enter the club, go back to the back to the Pillar of Ice and Fire, use it to enter Cimerora, go to the exploration badge in front of Marcus Valerius, you're exposed to time travel. Bang, Ouro portal. Or, Stand around in some well-populated zone spamming local/broadcast with requests for someone to drop an Ouro portal so you can use it to travel to Ouroboros and up the gnomon to get the exploration badge. Bang, Ouro portal. But since the portals only last 90 seconds now, you're less likely to find one already up to relieve you of having to ask for it. What it feels like is, if that's giving us an inch, they've grabbed back the mile we had before to do it. "You can still do it if you really want to, but you'll have to jump through a bunch of pointless hoops to do it." Ouroboros' primary function as a tool to go back and do content you missed has, over time, taken a secondary position to its use as a travel hub. As a boost to travel, players are going to want to get it as quickly as possible, regardless of what the original intent of the zone was. Since the easiest way of the three is to beg in AP (Mercy, etc.) for someone to drop a portal, then I suspect that portal request spam is likely to drown out DFB spam.

So "TUNNEL to Night Ward, get the Midnighter badge, enter the Midnighter Club, go to Cimerora, get one of its badges, get an Ouro portal" is an acceptable way to get an Ouro portal at level 1, but the Echo: Galaxy City beacon has to be removed to isolate it (along with echo:DA) as only accessible from Ouroborus to prevent low-level characters from going there and either getting the badges/plaques there or just going straight to Ouro to get an Ouro Portal. I don't really see the need to put up a barrier like that (or for why Echo:GC and Echo:DA had beacons, but Echo:Faultline and Echo:RCS didn't, but that's a separate discussion); funneling people through a single arbitrary hoop while taking away an option that had previously existed seems a little pointless.

The issue wasn't getting the Midnighter badge; it was getting the Midnighter badge so you could enter the Midnighter Club, travel to Cimerora, get one of the two exploration badges, which would give you the 'exposure to time travel' that would award you the Ouroboros Portal power. The 'travel to Cimerora' part is level-locked, which means that although you would be able to get and use the Ouro portal at level 1, you have no way to do it on your own, and have to have someone drop an Ouro portal for you so you can go there and get the exploration badge there to get your own portal. Your second point, though, is well-taken; one of the things I normally do with my new characters, once they get their travel power, is to make sure they have the badges in AP, then go to Echo: Galaxy City, get the badges and plaques there, then to Echo: Atlas Park for its badges (giving me a total of 15 merits for the three exploration accolades), then to Ouro for its badge and the Ouro Portal, and back to Atlas. Removing the Echo: Galaxy City beacon means joining all the new characters begging for an Ouro Portal drop before doing this, adding a layer of inconvenience for no visible benefit. Similarly, removing the beacon for Echo: Dark Astoria alters the process for getting there to join a group for defeating Adamastor; you could jump to your base and then to Echo:DA from anywhere at any time. Now, you have to go to Ouro to get to Echo:DA -- the cooldown on the Ouro portal is reduced, but it's there, and the emptiness of my base is much easier to navigate than arriving in Ouroboros and finding a couple of dozen people all standing right next to the exit portal keeping me from moving until I can squeeze my way out to get around to the back where the portal to the Echo zones are. And I just had a thought that I haven't tested, so I'll toss it out here: If the Ouro Portal stays around even if you've zoned out, does it persist if you log out, too? If it does, then that gives you a way to pass Ouro Portals to yourself, albeit requiring some setup work -- move your lowbie to a 'safe' location (i.e., City Hall, Icon, or the hospital in AP), log out, switch to a character with an Ouro Portal, go to where you logged out your lowbie, drop your Ouro Portal, immediately log out and switch to your lowbie, then use the Ouro portal you dropped on your alt. That would at least alleviate some of the clustering in AP for portals.

And it's got a merit vending machine just across the street east of the tram. Where it loses out, though, is that it doesn't have a vendor in the area. I've picked up the habit of exiting my base to Kings Row, because I can go right up to the corner of the tram platform to the vendor there and open her window, the auction house window, and go through my accumulated recipes to see which ones have decent prices on the AH, dumping the ones no one wants on the vendor for the better price (or keeping the ones that have a really good price to craft and get an even better price), putting salvage on the AH, and then the tram's right there to go to another zone. In fact, this is a good example of the functionality of being able to use the /enterbasefrompasscode command at will -- when I find I've got recipes that would pay better crafted, I can jump to my base, make sure I've got any rare salvage the recipe needs, jump back to KR to use the auction house to buy any salvage I'm missing to craft it, back to my base to craft it, then back to KR to put it up on the AH. With the base portal up on top of the police station, it's inconveniently far away to have to use that, and the base teleporter has way too long a cooldown. With the announced move of the KR base portal, it would depend on where it was moved to -- in the middle of the plaza in front of the tram makes it convenient for this, but just moving it down into the plaza in front of the police station leaves it a distance away, forcing the use of one of the base portal powers and being stuck with their cooldowns.

I have to agree; this seems like a baroque and rococo way to address the problem. So enterbasefrompasscode was supposed to be a GM-only command, but it got out and people are using it to speed their travel. Okay, but it's not in and of itself game-breaking. People are using enterbasefrompasscode to skip out on defeat in PvP and 'Master of' runs. This is a problem, because it does break the way the game is supposed to work. Making a change to the use of enterbasefrompasscode so that it is disabled if your character is in combat addresses that; problem solved. But 'you can still use enterbasefrompasscode, but only when you're close enough to a base portal that going to it and clicking on it is just as easy' removes the existing 'usable from anywhere' functionality, so that required creating a P2W power and altering the day job reward to give you a power to drop a temporary base portal anywhere, which you could then use with the code -- but again, you have to be close enough you might as well click on the portal. Yes, a simple, smooth, and elegant solution. You can do that now; the changes just make it more complicated to use, since you either have to be near one of the fixed base portals or use one of the portal-drop powers beforehand. Nope; that method doesn't work. You can get access to the Midnighter Club at level 1 by going to Night Ward and getting the badge, but you come up hard against the "You must be level 35 to use this crystal" block at the Pillar of Ice and Fire in the back of the Midnighter Club when you try to go to Cimerora. So we're going to see more begging for Ouro portals in AP, and with the new 90-second duration, they'll need to be refreshed more than 3x as often to keep one up for use.

It's just a recordkeeping thing, but all the way back to live when we got access to the Reveal power, I would wait to use Reveal on a zone map until I'd collected all the badges and plaques in the zone. That way, I had a visual indicator when I entered a zone whether or not I'd collected all of them, so I wouldn't spend time rerunning the zone loops (and it's funny how many of them I remembered without having to refer to the maps).

This. One of the things that made using /enterbasefrompasscode to jump to your base to transit to another zone (in addition to not having to find the tram or base portal in that zone, which the new base portal powers address) was that if you set up your base right, you had a trainer and vendor right there so you could dump excess inventory and train up on your way to the other zone. Teleporting straight to the zone gets you there faster, but doesn't give you the opportunity to take care of housekeeping functions on the way.

True, but I could have sworn it was screaming. I couldn't hear anything, but my dogs were running around like there was something setting them off, though...

If you're just extending your SG to another server, rather than abandoning it to move entirely to another server, then you would want to keep your base as it is. In which case, you'll likely be muling salvage, enhancements, and inspirations across to spread them between the two bases, so you wouldn't be moving everything.

Given that, in the entire live run of CoH, I'm the only one who complained about the gross violation of the IALA Maritime Buoyage Standard in Paragon City, and Positron didn't know it existed at all, I wouldn't be surprised if it were just the devs not doing their research and making what they thought looked okay. Amusing anecdote: At the last meet&greet that Paragon Studios held at the San Diego Comic-Con, I was talking to Positron and happened to bring up the buoys being wrong, and he said that they would have to start thinking about changing it, since I was the second person to bring it up. I had to admit that I was the 'other person' to bring it up, since I had presented the devs with a copy of the IALA's pages on the standard several years earlier at SDCC, and we both had a laugh about it being such an 'obscure' issue that no one else had commented on it. I suppose that, even among the Navy personnel that I knew played CoH, navigation-related knowledge like that wasn't common outside a few rates and the officers.

From playing with my own builds, three level-50 common IOs will push you into ED, netting you +95.9% for either Healing or Endurance Modification. Replacing three level-50 IOs with two boosted 50+5 IOs will net you 91.9%, saving you two slots while only losing 4% increase, something that can be made up with set bonuses. Or you can go for a hybrid approach if you're not using a Numina Regen/Recovery IO elsewhere and slot it with two 50+5 End Mod IOs, one 50+5 Heal IO, the Numina Heal, and the Numina Regen/Recovery (both attuned). That gives you the Numina 2-piece set bonus of 12% Regeneration on top of the straight enhancement bonuses.

Or have a flag that you set when you export the base, so you can choose to export all the storage items 'empty', or choose to clear all the storage items in the base you're copying -- so you can either leave all the items in storage in the 'old' base, or move them all to the 'new' base. Trying to do any sort of pick-and-choose for what to move would be more complication than we could expect to get.

I think that Praetoria was the first baby steps toward that, where you still had zones, but they overlaid each other at the edges without the War Walls to force distinct separations.

It would be an annoying bit to code, but removing the shoulder pets from the costume editor and changing the way that the noncombat pets worked to give them a defined 'place' relative to the character, so you could, say, get a parrot as a pet that would sit on your shoulder if you were standing, but flew after you if you were running, flying, etc., or a kitten that sat on your shoulder that would get knocked off if you went down (kb/defeat/etc.), and would run back to jump up to your shoulder again when you got up, would make for a much wider variability in pets. There's a bunch of places where something like that would have to tie into the code, and I don't know how much work it would take to find them all.

The problem is that the vast majority of the architecture is heavily Brutalist, which was a popular architectural style in the 1950s through the late '60s, and was largely over by the late 1970s and early '80s, so it wouldn't have been featured so heavily in a post-Rikti reconstruction. However, Brutalism has had influences on high-tech construction, which Paragon Studios adapted neatly with the revamped buildings in Atlas Park and similar buildings in Kallisti Wharf.

There is always taking the slower route of building a Tier 1 Cardiac Alpha and slotting it while you build up Agility alphas to the tier you want, and replacing the Cardiac with the Agility when it does more for you than the Cardiac does. True, you're 'wasting' 12 shards or 60 threads, but you can get the threads back just by joining a Hami raid for the once-per-day reward of four Empyrean merits.

For Moonbeam and Gloom, they were originally slotted with Thunderstrike as well before I accumulated the influence to buy the Blaster ATO sets, and then catalyze them at 50, so that gives you a less-expensive development build (and with unslotters, you can pass the Thunderstrikes to other characters to help them out on the cheap).

Updating the Mid's plan for the character; it was badly out of date... The character is not yet fully tweaked out, but it still plays quite well. With two ST holds, a targeted AoE hold, a ST immob, and a cone immob, it's got enough control to lock down mobs while you shred them, enough direct damage to do the shredding, and a self heal that contributes to your damage. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.7.2.10 https://github.com/Crytilis/mids-reborn-hero-designer Toksichniy Podlesok: Level 50 Science Blaster Primary Power Set: Dark Blast Secondary Power Set: Plant Manipulation Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Teleportation Hero Profile: Level 1: Dark Blast -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 1: Entangle -- HO:Endo(A), HO:Endo(5), Dmg-I(50) Level 2: Gloom -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(7), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 4: Strangler -- Dvs-Acc/Dmg(A), Dvs-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Lck-Acc/Hold(9), Lck-Rchg/Hold(9), Lck-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(11), Lck-%Hold(50) Level 6: Mystic Flight -- Flight-I(A) Level 8: Moonbeam -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(11), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50) Level 10: Toxins -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 12: Umbral Torrent -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(13), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(15), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(50), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50) Level 14: Tenebrous Tentacles -- HO:Endo(A), HO:Endo(50), Dmg-I(50) Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50), RechRdx-I(50) Level 18: Abyssal Gaze -- Dvs-Acc/Dmg(A), Dvs-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Lck-Acc/Hold(19), Lck-Rchg/Hold(40), Lck-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(50), Lck-%Hold(50) Level 20: Wild Fortress -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(21), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(23), Heal-I(23) Level 22: Thorn Burst -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(25), Dmg-I(25) Level 24: Boxing -- Acc-I(A) Level 26: Tough -- StdPrt-ResKB(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(27), TtnCtn-EndRdx/Rchg(27), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29), TtnCtn-ResDam(29), TtnCtn-EndRdx(39) Level 28: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(31), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), LucoftheG-Def(31), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(33) Level 30: Life Drain -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), TchoftheN-Heal(34), TchoftheN-Acc/Heal(34), TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen(34) Level 32: Blackstar -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(36), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37) Level 35: Vines -- Lck-Acc/Hold(A), Lck-Acc/Rchg(37), Lck-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(37), Lck-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), Empty(39) Level 38: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 41: Spore Cloud -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(42), HO:Cyto(42) Level 44: Arcane Bolt -- Acc-I(A) Level 47: Rune of Protection -- TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(48), TtnCtn-EndRdx/Rchg(48), TtnCtn-ResDam(48) Level 49: Recall Friend -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Defiance Level 1: Quick Form Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- EndMod-I(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(3), EndMod-I(3) Level 50: Intuition Radial Paragon Level 50: Ion Core Judgement Level 50: Diamagnetic Core Interface Level 50: Banished Pantheon Partial Core Improved Ally Level 50: Barrier Partial Core Invocation Level 50: Support Total Radial Graft ------------ Click this DataLink to open the build!

I'll have to save out the build I have for Токсичный Подлесок (Toksichniy Podlesok, 'Toxic Undergrowth'), my Dark/Plant Blaster. The two powersets synergize nicely, with a solid blastroller playstyle (an ice/plant build is less so, being much heavier on controls and limited non-control attacks, feeling more like a straight-up controller without the advantage of the controller inherent).

Not just that, but to establish the feeling that Paragon City didn't have each zone built all at once -- there needs to be some alleviation of the endless Brutalist architecture. Compare Echo:Atlas Park to Atlas Park, and you'll see what was done to update it, butiif you look at Imperial City in Praetoria, it looks much more as if the buildings were constructed over time, rather than being all constructed at the same time, the way the zones in Paragon City look. The zones other than Atlas Park don't need updating so much as they need backdating -- showing that the city grew up over time.

I try to have a bio for my characters by around level 10, but I've let it slide on a couple; one I just added was for a level 41 character. Sometimes a coherent idea for a background just doesn't want to gel.

For #1, that's a limitation of the character models, and they'd have to be completely redone to allow flood-filling a costume part with a color or pattern. #2 I believe is impractical, because stance is baked into all of the animations, so creating alternate stances, even if only for the idle poses, would require new transitions to the other animations for each stance variation. #3 I believe is being played with, at least for NPCs, and may find its way to PCs. #4, #5, and #6, more costume options are always good, but the HC staff has limited resources for artwork and animations for the foreseeable future, so you're probably going to have to wait on these.

The same problem has been seen in MSRs, where someone invited to the league doesn't get SK'ed to the team leader; one of the things that the raid leader asks before starting is to have everyone check to make sure they're 49 if lower, and he'll kick and reinvite them to force a reset of their status.