Jacke

Whence the Blaster moto: "Blasters! Face down and PROUD!!!" 😺

That's what I remember and matches what's in the HC Wiki here: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Costumes#Extra_Costume_Slots Blueside, the contact for turning in Halloween Salvage for an Extra costume slot was always right by the PTA Station (so low Level Toons could access her). I don't know if there was a name change, but that Croatoa contact is now called Annah and offers a lot more than just an extra costume slot. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Annah That's not quite how I remember things. HC Wiki says saving and loading costume files was added in Issue 13. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Costumes#Saving_and_Loading Soon after I started, for each Toon costume, I would record the Costume Editor's settings for each of my Toons. I still keep this manual record. 😺 Anyhoo, I remember we could get 5 costume slots: 1 Original costume slot. 3 Extra costume slots from running the Icon/Facemaker tailor's missions. 1 Extra costume slots from turning in 1 each of the 4 Halloween Event Salvage. Later, when things changed and we could buy stuff besides the monthly subscription, we could buy 5 more Extra costume slots, giving a max of 10 costume slots. Either with cash or maybe also "Veteran points" or whatever we could earn back then. Can't remember the details. During the years of Issue 25 (AKA in secret), things were changed and we now start with 6 costume slots. And can later add the 3 from tailor missions and the 1 from Halloween salvage.

I remember a lot of of what @Scarlet Shocker remembers from back then, except back then I: Started in the later half of 2005. Didn't get anywhere near that Inf cap. Didn't know the Rikti Crash Site (wasn't high enough Level). Didn't do PvP. This one though, oh wow: I remember Hover'ing through the Hollows to get to a door mission deep in the south of the Zone. Wasn't just the Hollows, but a lot of Zones. By the way, back then, get defeated in the Hollows, go back to the last Zone with a Hospital. Usually the Hospital in Atlas Park. More generally, get to a new Zone, just at the starting Level for that Zone. Very soon a contact's mission sends you deep deep deep into the high Level end of the Zone. And Hover was slooooow. Or not on a Toon. Or you thought it wasn't as bad as the Hollows, so.... I learned to run down the exact centre of streets hoping to avoid aggro from the street mobs. Which didn't always work.... Then after the Invention system was added (but not long after): On my AR/Dev Blaster main ❤️ I had to finish solo the last mission of the OG Positron Task Force set to 3: 3 (including me) on the TF started that last mission. The other 2 quit for reasons I can't remember. Back then, I didn't know about resetting Task Force missions, so it stayed at +?x3 (not sure, may have been +0). Back then, couldn't level over the highest Level for a Task Force. Can't remember what Level I started at, but got to L15. I persevered. Through several Hospital runs from Steel Canyon back to the door in Perez Park (which how it was back then). Including dealing with a wider area of a corridor on the mission map that had 2 mob spawns either side, set for 3. I couldn't figure out how to aggro just 1 of the 2 mob spawns set for 3. So I had to wear them down, including several Hospital runs just for those 2 spawns. But the OG Positron Task Force doesn't have an AV at the end. So with enough Hospital runs: I won the OG Positron Task Force! My award: L15 Celerity Stealth Proc. Put that in Sprint (later with Prestige Sprints, I put the L15 Celerity Stealth Proc in Prestige Power Surge). Running Sprint slotted with a L15 Celerity Stealth Proc gave 30ft of stealth! Which made those long across-Zone runs to the doors of missions much much easier. Got to L20 and added Cloaking Device (long before Field Operative) with 25ft of stealth. Combined I had 55ft of stealth, just over Boss-level perception of 54ft! And forever thereafter I worked to get stealth on more and more Toons, eventually EVERY Toon. I still do this. And this one: Can't remember where I heard this, but for lower Level Toons back then, considering how things were back then. When wanting to change their costume in an unlocked costume slot: The first slot granted at character creation. 1 extra slot from turning in Halloween salvage. Then: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Costumes#Extra_Costume_Slots 3 more slots from doing a mission from the each tailor (Hero or Villain) in the 3 Icons (or in the 3 Facemakers in the Rogue Isles). But if you weren't max Level or higher for a Zone with a tailor, doing that tailor's mission was rather hard if not impossible. And not at max Level for Steel Canyon (may have 1 or 2 costume slots) and wanting to change a costume in those slots, often easiest to: Go to Kings Row. Go to the Gate in Kings Row to Independence Port. Enter that Gate to go to Independence Port. Carefully do a short run to the Icon in IP. Get into the Icon, safe! Edit your costume via another contact in Icon. To get back, do the run from the door of Icon back to the Gate to Kings Row.

Large Language Models have some good uses. As AI, they're very limited in their legitimate applications. I'm expecting the AI bubble to crash. As @Scarlet Shocker says, trying to add them into a 25-year-old game is a good way to completely break the game. Large Language Models likely have a server code base many times larger than City of Heroes, probably several orders of magnitude. Mob AI needs to be as simple as possible, because so many mobs need to independently run some sort of AI to provide a useful opposition to Players.

On Blasters, the Sniper attack (if the Primary Powerset has a Sniper attack) provides a +50% Range enhancement for 10s. As the Snipes can easily have a cycle time under 10s, this Range buff can be perma'ed easily. Also, I have to stand up for my loved Blaster Secondary, Devices. Awesome Powers like: Toxic Web Grenade (slot with Immob enhancement, +3 SO or L50+5 Purple Immob, take at L1 Caltrops (Tempered Readiness Attuned or L50+ Range/Slow, take at L8 or so, as early as possible, great +50 Afraid mez that makes most mobs run away from the Toon) Targeting Drone (ToHit +3 SO or L50+5 IO, must take at L10) Smoke Grenade (early Recharge Reduction +3 SO, later ToHit debuff +3 SO or L50+5 IO, take at some place in the build to handle those mobs that ignore stealth) Which with the awesome +ToHit of Targeting Drone on a single ToHit +3 SO or a L50+5 IO enhancement, can all be single-slotted, leaving more Extra Slots for other Powers. Also, Targeting Drone always gives +20% Damage enhancement. When out-of-combat, the first attack will also get another +60% Damage enhancement. Also also, that big +ToHit from Targeting Drone, over +22%, means even when Snipes are fast, they have maximum Damage. That Damage buff is outside of the Enhancement of Damage and always gives more damage. Also take these 2 amazing Pet Powers, which should be 6-slotted with a combination of IOs that gives ED-capped Accuracy, to get near final 95% ToHit against the usual end-game extreme of +3L mobs (+4 mobs with the Toon having +1 Level due to a T3 or T4 Alpha Boost; the Pet doesn't get any Global buffs from the Castor, but has attacks with Base Accuracy 1.2). Trip Mine (6 slots with ED-capped Acc; don't worry about the KB; also Blaster Devices Trip Mine has no interrupt time) Gun Drone (6 slots with ED-capped Acc; must also slot the Expedient Reinforment special as that boosts the Drone's resistances from 80% to all to 90% to all, a mini-Tanker for the Blaster) And of course, the Blaster sustain Power: Field Operative (must take at L20: I slot with 4 eventually: LotG special, Synapse Shock +EndMod/+Runspeed, and Preventive Medicine duo, Attune Health and a L20 special, which is a Global that gives a Proc, so it works even when Field Operative isn't running, as long as the Toon isn't Exemplared below L15) Don't worry about the stealth (in fact combine it with a stealth proc to have Boss-level stealth). When you hit mobs, that stealth drops to 15ft (from Field Operative), they will pursue you until their aggro on the Toon goes away.

I have 2 FF Toons, a FF/Rad Blast Defender and a FF/Beam Defender, both idling at under L10. I recently changed my slotting of T1 attacks for Assault Rifle and Radiation Blast in my Toon's builds, to improve their DPA and utility. Doesn't affect them now, but as I Level them. I like the new build for the FF/Rad Defender. The FF/Beam Defender doesn't feel right. Force Field has 2 Powers with -Res, Single-Target Repulsion Bolt and Targeted AoE Force Bomb. The Rad Blast Defender takes both, the FF/Beam Defender only has Force Bomb. Beam also has a -Res Power. I've decided to reroll the FF/Beam Defender as a Sonic Resonance/Beam Defender. Made a build for it and it just feels a lot better, moreso that the new FF/Beam build. I'll be doing the reroll in the next few days. So here's all 3 builds, submitting for your examination. Defender FF-RadB.20250424.MuM Stealth TT Weave Tactics GI [i28p1] @Jacke - Jacke Radforce.mbdDefender FF-BR.20250414.MuM Stealth TT Weave Tactics GI [i28p1] @Jacke - Jacke Smyth.mbdDefender SonicR-BR.20250424.MaceM Stealth CJ TT Weave GI [i28p1] @Jacke - Jacke Smyth.mbd

Repeat Offenders had a wonderful Wake for Alty in-game. Details here on the RO forums which should be visible to everyone. https://www.repeat-offenders.net/forum/topic/20499-altys-wake-2025-april-26-saturday/

@Snarky, as for the effect of survivability of the small amount of Defense in Dark Armor, for i7 for Scrappers look at Arcanaville's analysis. It's long and complex, but it was a factor. That still applies. Even when there's no DDR. And the Defense for Tankers is even higher. As someone who stealths on all my Toons, I'm very well aware once you've aggro'ed mobs, they will find you no matter the amount of stealth you have. Not until their aggro expires will stealth prevent them from automatically knowing where to go to attack you. And the Stealth on Dark Armor Tankers does suppress: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=tanker_defense.dark_armor.cloak_of_darkness&at=tanker In both PvP and PvE for the stealth effects, that last icon, red ball with a white horizontal bar, shows under what conditions those effects suppress. They both happen to be the same: Cancel When AttackedOther HitByFoe Stunned Held Slept MissionObjectClick Even without those suppressions, Tanking with stealth works. I've done it. Aggro the mobs with attacks or taunting, they will find you no matter how much stealth.

I am suggesting to invest in Defense, but only so far. Back in Issue 7, Arcanaville compared the at-the-time 4 protection Secondaries on Scrappers and considered Dark Armor the most survivable. https://web.archive.org/web/20120905195532/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=115310 Because Dark Armor had good values of all 3 protections, enough to be more survivable than Invulnerability, Regeneration, and Super Reflexes in Issue 7. Defense Resists Heals and Regen Boosting Defense can help, if it isn't done to the point it hurts other goals for the build too much. Know that without Defense Debuff Resistance (available to most builds only with Ageless Radial Destiny Incarnate Power), some mobs will strip the Toon's Defense away in part or in whole. But also know that the mobs will have to strip more before the Defense is in negative values and the mobs are now at the 95% ToHit cap.

Actually, @Healix, that one's math doesn't scan. Hmmm.... Okay, I can't fix it without losing the humour. Math hard. Comedy hard. Math comedy worse. 😺

So that's how Red Tomax used massive debt to get all those details on all the Blue-side arcs. (Can't remember if Red-side was covered on the original City of Data site.)

Happy Birthday to the game I've loved since I was introduced by a good friend in the Summer of 2005. So say we all!

Pure Globals (a Global without an enhancement aspect) can also be taken at the IO set minimum Level. PvP Globals I also get at minimum Level as they are pure Globals, but they never are disabled. Example Global with an enhancement aspect is the Luck of the Gambler special, Def/Global Recharge +7.5%. The Preventive Medicine special, despite what it's called in the game, is a Global that provides a Proc. The Power it's slotted in doesn't have to be used for it to work.

@Psyonico is mostly correct. While not yet supporting changes after about the middle of 2024, CoD2 is still mostly good and is very useful when checking on these things. Most of the icons on the pages have tooltips that will show up when the mouse hovers over them. The important flag on Power Effects in this case to look for information on disabling are the red circles with a white bar through them. The tooltips will say when the Effects are disabled or suppressed. Examples: If the Effect is shared between team members, there'll be a white-on-blue icon of 3 people with the tooltip saying "Stacking is collective" (like the Achilles Heel -Resist Proc). If there's funking stacking rules, there will be an icon showing that, perhaps a yellow tag icon that provides a link to another CoD2 page. Or for Travel Effects: A green icon with the tooltip "Highest value suppresses others". A white-key-on-blue icon that says in the tooltip "Stacks per / attribute by key / TravelBuff". Here's the Scrapper Powers Energy Cloak and Infiltration (who's internal name is "invisibility" due to the history of the Concealment Pool): https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=scrapper_defense.energy_aura.energy_cloak&at=scrapper https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pool.invisibility.invisibility&at=scrapper In combat, when clicking a glowie, or when mezzed by Hold, Stun, or Sleep, all the Effects of Infiltration are cancelled. I don't have it on many Toons, but I have a keybind set up to stop all Movement Powers and Infiltration is in there, because it's wasting Endurance on a Power doing nothing at the moment. Energy Cloak's Defense is only cancelled when mezzed by Hold, Stun, or Sleep. Its stealth is suppressed by those mezs and when in combat.

It is not that hard to unlock the Patron Pools, even solo. Here's what I commonly do, choosing Black Scorpion as Patron. There's schemes to unlock the others, but I've done this one the most. Make sure in the last 3 days you haven't used the option to Complete a Mission by just talking to the Contact. You will want to do this below to skip a tedious mission. See Null the Gull and set Alignment to Villain or Rogue. Set Notoriety to -1x1, maybe No Bosses, definitely EBs not AVs. Experience is secondary to finishing the arc with reasonable time and effort. If you bring a Team, make sure you're the first one through the Door on Missions. That first person through the Door sets the Mission Notoriety. Careful forming too big a Team as that will cause EBs to become AVs. Talk to Arbiter Rein in Grandville, read the Plaques in Arachnos Tower, then select Black Scorpion as Patron. Do Black Scorpion's first arc, Armor Wars. After the Mission where you see a reply from Black Scorpion going "Dr. Quatrexin? New power armor? NOOOOO! ...." The next Mission will be "Look into Crey Activities" that shows as "Defeat all Scorpinoids and Arachnoids" in it. Accept that Mission and call Black Scorpion again to Complete it. It is rather tedious and long. The last Mission will be "Defeat Dr. Quatrexin". Dr. Quatrexin is the EB at the core of the map (at least two map layouts I've encountered). If you have full Boss stealth (PvE 55ft or more), can stealth to the EB. Use Teleport Target or Assemble the Team to bring in everyone in a safe spot near the final room. Just need to defeat Dr. Quatrexin and any mobs in the final room. Everyone on the Team will get the PPP unlock, which allows choice of any Patron Pool. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Black_Scorpion#Armor_Wars

Radiation Blast's T1 Neutrino Bolt (1.5s Base Recharge) on Defenders and Corruptors has such good DPS that it's immensely better than any other attack. It has slightly less DPA than the T2 X-Ray Beam, but the T1's far faster Base Recharge really matters. Skip the T2 and the T1 with the T5 Snipe Proton Volley (12s Base Recharge) and the T7 Cosmic Burst (10s Base Recharge), that's all that's needed for ST, just add in the AoEs and maybe Aim to boost the T9 Nuke. (The Cone is brutally slow and doesn't fit with the near-Melee Range that Radiation Blast Toons fight at, especially after being used to the best Cone in the game, Assault Rifle's Buckshot.) The problem with the Squid Blasts could be fixed by being a bit more like Defender/Corruptor Radiation Blast. That would need 3 total ST attacks, matching Radiation Blast's Neutrino Bolt, Proton Volley, and Cosmic Burst. That would mean adding another ST Blast, which, as @Psyonico has pointed out, would make Kheldian's slot hunger worse. But adding another ST Blast isn't necessary, as in Issue 25, Kheldian Forms got access to the T1 and T2 from their Blast Powerset if they're taken. The Dwarf gets the Neutrino Bolt equivalent T1 Luminous / Umbral Blast Power, Gleaming / Shadow Bolt (1.5s Base Recharge), good for a Ranged ST taunt and damage. The Nova gets the X-Ray Beam equivalent: T2 Luminous / Umbral Blast Glinting / Ebon Eye (4.0s Base Recharge) Along with the Nova attacks Bright / Dark Nova Bolt (1.5s Base Recharge), Neutrino Bolt equivalent, and Bright / Dark Nova Blast (4.0s Base Recharge) These could make a good 3-Blast set, likely with a ST chain like this: ( Nova Bolt - Eye - Nova Bolt - Nova Blast ), Powers below for a Warshade: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=warshade_offensive.umbral_blast.dark_nova_bolt&at=warshade https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=kheldian_pets.umbral_blast.nova_ebon_eye&at=warshade https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=warshade_offensive.umbral_blast.dark_nova_blast&at=warshade So, the Human-form T2 needs to be slotted as well as the Nova T1 and T2 (the Human-form T1 as many Extra Slots as can be spared...?). But there's only 67 Extra Slots to go around.... The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so this needs testing.. It's been a while since I did anything with Kheldians. May test it out when I get some good Kheldian builds.

You do not want to know what the penalty is for not knowing how the 3 Sea Shells work.

The Wake for Alty, Repeat Offenders' late leader, will be held in Echo: Galaxy City on Everlasting Shard. Timings as above in this post, starting between 22h00 and 22h15 UTC when the Sun rises in Echo: Galaxy City. For those who need guidance to get to Echo: Galaxy City, details in the spoiler. Once in Echo: Galaxy City (like my 2nd Account Fiery Aura Brute Jacke2 Rubra), head to Freedom Court. Look for Jacke2 Rubra as below. Where he is will be where arriving Toons should cluster, waiting for the Wake to start. The Wake will start between 22h00 and 22h15 UTC (see this post for other Time Zones) upon local sunrise in Echo: Galaxy City. When starting, Jacke2 Rubra will move to where Toons should move and wait to speak, along the North Side of Freedom Court, either the larger Lower Plaza or the smaller Upper Plaza, depending on the numbers. I will be on my main Jacke Dark, here with Jacke2 Rubra. During the Wake, due to the size of Freedom Court, we will chat in Broadcast, as Local doesn't have the range to cover the entire Court. This will also mean once late arrivals enter the Zone, they will be able to see the chat. I will speak first on Jacke Dark, briefly chatting on Broadcast about how Alty touched my life. Right before I start chatting, Jacke2 Rubra will start flying to get screenshots of the Wake. Once I finish my brief remarks, then Jacke Dark will move to one of the set of Steps and in silence use the emote /em holdtorch to raise a torch in memory of Alty. In succession, the other Players will then come up to where Jacke Dark stood while chatting, face North-West to face both those Players on the North Side who haven't spoken, as well as those on the Steps holding torches, and then briefly chat on Broadcast about how Alty touched their lives. On finishing, each will move to the steps where Jacke Dark is and join us in silence in /em holdtorch to raise a torch in memory of Alty. Late arrivals should join those waiting on the North Side of Freedom Court. If we are all on the Steps, join us in silence in /em holdtorch to raise a torch in memory of Alty. When all who wish to talk have spoken, any remaining Players who wish to mourn in silence should come to the steps and join us in /em holdtorch to raise a torch in memory of Alty. We will have a time of silent contemplation. Then I will thank everyone who came to the Wake to celebrate the life of Alty. We will then continue. I intend to join other Repeat Offenders in running one or two of the many Task Forces in City, the game and the place that Alty loved and worked to make better for us all.

That's because the Galvanic Sentinel is the only true independent Pet (AKA Entity). Which means it doesn't benefit from the Caster's Global boosts (including Level Shift) (and Mids Reborn is wrong about this, but it's so huge a bug that it's effectively unfixable). https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=defender_buff.shock_therapy.discharge&at=defender Voltaic Sentinel is an extension of the Toon. Doesn't show up on the Pet window and can't be targeted. Any aggro it gets is applied automatically to the Toon. But it does benefit from the Caster's Global boosts. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=defender_ranged.electrical_blast.voltaic_sentinel&at=defender These are the two iconic versions of Pets that I use to demonstrate the difference. Because a Electric/Electric Defender/Corruptor can have both.

Ageless T4 provides a declining Recharge Reduction enhancement over its duration. So it will help with making Domination perma. However, a Dominator build should try to make Domination perma without the effects of the Destiny Incarnate Power. On Advanced Mode at high number of *, often have to balance the Destinies across a Team. (Which is why after getting to all T4, more Destinies are the next thing a Toon you're planning to run on Advanced Mode TFs should do.) Which means your Toon may be without Ageless and miss getting hit by someone else's Ageless during a mission on an Advanced Mode TF.

Procs: Need the Power they're slotted in to be used for them to take effect. If that Power can be used, the Proc will take effect (perhaps after rolling for % chance). Globals are separate from but act like a Single Enhancement with an Enhancement Set bonuses: Take effect whether the Power they're slotted in is used or not. Are disabled if the Toon is Exemplared lower than 3 Levels below: The Level of the Enhancement if not Attuned. The Minimum Level of the Enhancement Set if Attuned. The Preventive Medicine Special is weird: It's a Global that provides a Proc. This page identifies whether an Enhancement is a Proc or a Global. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Set_Enhancements_with_Special_Effects

So they don't. But the enhancement sets bonuses for WO enhancements are never disabled by Exemplar Effects, same as with Purple, PvP, ATO, and Universal Damage sets.

The current Kheldian Powers do scale up as the Level of a Kheldian increases. Sure, they're still T1-T4 attacks, but that can be adjusted as well as these tables (looking at the Kheldian column). https://cod.uberguy.net/html/modifiers-table.html?mod=melee_damage https://cod.uberguy.net/html/modifiers-table.html?mod=ranged_damage

Also, like the click-mez-protection Powers on Super Reflexes, Shield Defense, and Ninjitsu, for good performance when Exemplared, Hasten needs to have 2 Extra Slots for 3 Slots total. Else with Exemplaring down to lower Levels, the reduction of Recharge Reduction enhancement by: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Exemplar_Effects_on_Enhancements hits those Powers hard. 3 Slots total is needed for the click-mez-protection to keep them perma. Hasten is harder to perma, but with only 2 Slots, the downtime gets significant.

@Sovera goes for a Graniteless Stone Armor builds, as Granite has so many drawbacks and suppresses all the cool other protections in Stone Armor. Covered in this topic here: