Jacke

I was very careful and figured out that using the Upgrade button is most often more expensive than getting individual SOs from a vendor and doing it manually. The only case where I think it would be cheaper to use the Upgrade button would be moving from slotting SOs of Level 5N-1 to 5N, e.g. going from L9 SOs to L10 SOs, ie. going from the Toon L6 to L7. (What, you don't spend the Inf to keep a Levelling Toon slotted with SOs at Level+3 to get the best out of them?) That's because you'd pay for a full L10 SO as opposed to the difference between L9 and L10, increased for the convenience.

I first saw Rob Reiner 55 years ago. I knew his characters more than who he was. But Rob and Michele seemed the best of people. Now gone forever.

Have you ever heard what other vampires say about @Snarky?

<Snarky> In Window that Bill Z Bubba has up, push big button with "Repair Associations" in it. </Snarky> That fixes the problem that Bill Z Bubba thought was the problem. I'm not sure that's it and suggest following my longer process I posted before. As for making a Lightsaber: Install Star Wars: The Old Republic. Create a Jedi Knight or Jedi Consular Character. I'd recommend the Jedi Knight as it is a fun Arc. Do the First Part of their Original Arc on Typhon (the long lost ancient Jedi world). Get to the end of that, you make your Lightsaber and learn a bit about it. After City, SWTOR is the game that's drawn me back more times than any other. Have a number of characters across all 8 Classes, but have only taken the very good launch story arcs to that first completion on the Republic Trooper. And they've added a lot after those 8 Arcs. So there's a lot for me to still experience there. City will always be my main love.

@snarky is right. To run The Hollows Trial, the contact Karsis needs to be unlocked by running the arc from Talshak the Mystic. In the Pillar of Ice and Flame, it's in the Hero Level Range 10-14 and called "The Heart of the Hollows (The Hollows, Ch. 4)" and have Arc Number 2.04 (Contact added in Issue 2, 4th Arc).

Current MRB properly installed should be the program under the OS File Associations used to run all .mxd and .mdb files. What that means is if you launch a file that isn't a program, those File Associations should be used to find the Program to open those files. The MRB Options Window (Options > Configuration...) is used to fix this as fixing it was added to MRB itself. Go to the Updates & Paths Tab and look at the middle left pane labelled "File Associations". For @Bill Z Bubba install it says File Associations is valid here, so I think his explanation wasn't quite what happened. For some reason, something causing things to go wrong. Bill says he's got the HCDB from April. I won't bother walking you through changing File Associations in the OS directly, as I don't think it's that and there are other ways to fix this. There are sometimes legitimate reasons to keep multiple versions of some programs installed, but it is advanced and needs to be done very carefully. I'd not suggest anyone do so for Mids as it easily gets messy (at least partly due to those File Associations). Whenever a recipe you're following says deinstall MRB, remove all versions of Mids. With old Mids files, if they can't be loaded by MRB, use a good text editor to open the .mxd file. Besides a data chunk at the end, the rest of the file is a text dump of the build and can be used to remake the build with modern MRB, at least as much as it is possible considering the changes in the game. See if following my recipe from earlier in this topic helps fixes the install. https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/59716-mids-continues-its-years-long-downhill-slide/page/5/#findComment-765964

This is usually only true if it's a file that the OS has locked or opened yet an update wants to replace the file. It's comment for OS updates to do this, sometimes another application can get into this state when its own restart doesn't released a file its updater wants to change. Restarting usually can't hurt. There's also restarting everything else in a known state that can remove some weird glitches.

Following @Snarky's advice can be beneficial. But also leads to things some consider...unnatural.

@Maelwys, do Henchmen get the Incarnate Level Shifts the Mastermind gets?

In the real early days of CoH the Devs ACTIVELY tried to obscure Devs understanding things. They sure didn't even have the understanding of the impact of numbers on an RPG that Pen+Paper RPG Players and Devs had. It's only when Players like Arcanaville worked to understand the Game by careful testing that what was really going was begun to be understood.

I don't even recognise the game. But I've not played many games over my long life.

Standard Dark Melee chain is: Smite - Midnight Grasp - Smite - Siphon Life but you need a bit of Global Recharge I believe. Final choice in Powers needs to adjust to what the Secondary needs, as well as what Pool Powers are desired. Soul Drain is a good Damage Buff, but it's best done jumping into a big mob. Really needs a good final ToHit, good Recharge, and almost certainly Hasten. I'd like to have Shadow Punch, but it's unused at high Levels. At low Levels when exemplared, Brawl can substitute for it. I like using Shadow Maul and Touch of Fear as alternating AoEs. Touch of Fear drops a Mag 3 Fear on the main target. To get the most out of Shadow Maul, it's needed to position the Toon well against the mobs to hit more of them. It's good to practice this. With a good build, Dark Consumption will only be needed as an emergency Power. When there's room, I take it and 3 or 4-slot it with Eradication. On Scrappers, most skip Confront. On Brutes and Tankers, should take Taunt, because it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Important note about City of Data 2: It's not been updated for i28 Page 3. It's currently giving information for 2025 June. You may now return to your regularly scheduled discussion.

@Maelwys, I was wondering what the usual Slotting should be for Mastermind Henchmen now, after the i28 Page 3 changes. Especially for Accuracy. Thanks!

🙀 You're now bound to get phone calls attempting to contact you about your coffin's extended warranty.

Previous Devs did it for Propel, so I'd say the current ones could change Hurl to that as well. Propel was even improved so that all Players see the same oddball item thrown.

I took some time to understand Master Brawler on Sentinels as it is now on Live. Adding Master Brawler to a build adds Mez Protections and Resistances effects to Focused Fighting and Focused Senses Toggles. Master Brawler itself is a Click Power that gives a variable Absorb Shield. Okay. Now, that's a bit complex, so why was it done that way? Because it was a solution that worked. Master Brawler gives two groups of effects: Mez Protections and Resistances on Toggle(s). A variable Absorb on a Click. Doing it the way the current Master Brawler works on Sentinels means Master Brawler itself is the Click, while the existing Toggles carry the Mez Protecitons and Resistances. Could have Master Brawler give 2 Powers, a Toggle and a Click for the respective groups of effects? Yes. But unless that Toggle is 0 End cost, there's more End cost to using Master Brawler over Practiced Brawler. Now, the Devs are worried that too many Players don't understand this complexity and are trying to simplify it while proliferating it to other ATs' Super Reflexes. Except that Master Brawler no longer gets the Absorb, Practiced Brawler does. And that Absorb Shield doesn't last until PB is recharged. Which means there's a conflict between using PB for Mez Protections and Resistances and using PB for the Absorb Shield. Old way = Complexity New way = Conflict There's a lot of Complexity all over City. We learn enough to get by. We learn it in more detail when that's needed. What we don't need is a Powerset Power that has Conflict between the timing of its effects. And why should Master Brawler lose its Absorb Shield? There's a few ways to fix this. The one certainty is the above changed version of Super Reflexes should not be released. I think there's a real simple solution that I like: Keep the current Master Brawler as in Sentinels, including the conditional effects in Focused Fighting and Focused Senses. Proliferate that Master Brawler setup, including the conditional effects in Focused Fighting and Focused Senses, to other ATs' Super Reflexes. Give Practiced Brawler an Absorb Shield that lasts as long as its Mez Protections and Resistances. Make the effect replace so the Absorb doesn't self-stack. Any other proper workable solution is more complex.

Cones only really work well as a proper Melee Cone (wide and brutal) or on a Ranged Toon with a number of Cone Attacks. Throwing in one as an afterthought is just sad. Especially when the Power's numbers are bad too (Electron Haze, I'm looking at you).

Similar pain for Devices Blasters. Field Operative is not just a Sustain, it's also got stealth. Have to turn it off for an NPC Escort to follow me.

And when a Guardian shows up, jump on it and defeat it pronto. Keeping the Crystals clear means the +50% Winter Essence from the Guardian doesn't hit 100%. Defeating it quickly means as its HP drops, that +50% bonus drops too. And quickly getting back to beating on Lord Winter and making sure the Crystals are clear of mobs.

The Powers as changed are radically different from the current Live versions, to the point where the use cases are almost completely disjoint. I skipped nearly all of them in my builds, but other players make good use of them, and I may have adopted them in some builds of Toons to come. But the changed T9s are different. Whether I or others make use of them, it won't be for the same reasons as the current Live T9s.

Now that I think of it, it was likely only the Tiki Lounge Bartenders (either the human, the Mask, or both)) who sold inspirations. I've notice Pollux in the AE Bar do fancy gesturing, but he does that all the time. And others are supposed to dance? But only when we're not around. Sort of a Schrödinger's bartender. 😺

When I redid my KM/Ninjitsu Scrapper build back in August, I dropped Concentrated Strike for Cross Punch, because CP had better DPA, cost less Endurance, and was a Melee Cone attack to boot. Not sure about the impacts of the Kinetic Melee and Ninjitsu changes, as the Toon was low Level. I'd previously ran it up to around L22, but for other reasons, I rerolled it and it's under L10. I've got more Ninjitsu Toons, with this one 2 Scrappers, 1 Stalker, and 1 Sentinel. I haven't had time to test these and likely won't before however they are rolled out, so I depend on the good Players I know bringing up issues. As for my Toons, I'll wait for the Pane to come out, then I'll see what builds I can make from what's there.

I don't know. Can't remember when things changed.

The only bartender that is an Inspiration Vendor who takes all sales is in the Pocket D AE, Pollux. It used to be all upper floors bartenders as well as one in the Tiki Lounge. I'd like to see more, especially in the Ski Lodge and the Tiki Lounge.