Jacke

Something like this has been done before. From the Mists of Time.... (Not my Toon, but one I learned of.) Brawling Humiliator Motto Mamma said knock you out! Description A concept character. Calvin Stanton is a former boxer, no longer relevant in that sport. But he just feels the need to... go punch people. Probably too many blows to the head. But that's why he has a helmet, right? He goes out and punches the bad guys now... for JUSTICE. And glory. And... stuff. (Dude only uses Brawl, Build Up, and Hasten, plus the occasional inspiration or two, and a Red Wisp vet pet, if it sticks around. That's it for damage. Sweeper only, no teams, no missions, no contacts.) That's a War Mace/Willpower/Energy Mastery Brute that someone played with just Brawl, Build Up, and Hasten to L50. Street Sweeping all the way. Now that's dedication.

I listen for and scout out ATs and Powerset Combos that could be interesting. For a Toon I'm going to create, I always have: A name (but it always has "Jacke" or "Jacques" in the name) recorded in my Toon spreadsheet. A costume (usually very simple) written out (which I've done since the start) and saved as a costume file; also any customized powers are saved. A build with MRB. That build gets tweaked a lot as I level and learn the Toon. I've got a lot of Toons idling at low levels. Got a complete scheme to cycle them through the Day Job Badges until I really get to playing them. Many get all but the Vanguard Day Job Badge (unlocks at L35) before they're L5 or certainly L10. I started this including recording on my Toon spreadsheet where each Toon was parked on logout back pre-Shutdown when earning a Day Job Badge took 21 days and I needed to be careful to minimize the time. Now it takes 100 hours (4 days 4 hours) to earn them and it goes faster. Hospital; University; Midnighter Club; charge powers in Hospital; Vault; Auction House. Get those 5 to ensure I get Accolades that include them when I get Redside and Blueside exclusive Day Job Badges. At the same time as that, via Null the Gull, I'm rotating through being each alignment for 10 days to get those Badges: Hero, Vigilante, Villain, Rogue. About the time the Toon goes Villain, maybe Rogue, progress to Redside exclusive Day Job Badges: Pilot in Port Oakes; Nerva Crey Bldg; Grandville Arachnos Tower; Sharkhead Arachnos Base or Mercy Arachnos Bldg; Port Oakes East Docks; Port Oakes Arachnos Bldg. As I get those Badges, I get an Exploration Badge in each Rogue Isles Zone for the LRTP. Switch back to Vigilante and get the Blueside exclusive Day Job Badges. Atlas Park City Hall; Atlas Park PPD Station; charge powers in PPD Station; Atlas Park PTA Station; Steel Canyon Tech Store; charge to get 10 Invention Discount Coupons; Firebase Zulu; Peregrine Portal Corp; Remaining Day Job Badges can get with any alignment. Stay as Vigilante or swap to Rogue for some Toons and work through them. Always using the Badge Report Popmenu as my guide through this (see the link in my signature below). Right now, because of so many toons, I'm in the midst of a major re-build series, doing Toon after Toon. Many haven't had a good build for years. And HC is putting out new Powersets faster than I get Toons to L50. 😺

I find myself in the odd position of at least partly defending Jack Emmert and Castle, flawed men and developers though they be. The good that both did is still somewhere in the game, despite their obvious faults. I figure Castle earned his posting to Recluse's Victory. (But Stateman killed by a punk like Darrin Wade...?!? That's just wrong...evil.) Castle thinking Masterminds were going to be the Red-side Tanker...? Must have been thinking there were like Illusion Controllers with their Phantom Army. Then MMs were pre-nerfed by having their Tier 1 and Tier 2 Henchmen downlevelled from the MM. Nothing like kicking out the feet from under their new "Redside Tanker". No wonder Brutes were seen as taking that role. If side-switching was never added to City, Red-side would be even more of a ghost-town than it is now. And making all ATs available Blueside, Redside, and Goldside, and having side-switching just makes sense, as does Powerset proliferation, especially considering Comics source material. And it makes it possible to properly compare ATs and Powersets and see the issues and flaws that were always there. Thus, this topic. 😺

EDIT: Note that I'm not a Dev nor a GM nor any sort of HC staff. Here @tidge gives a good example where Damage Procs can do good work, allowing the different ATs to reach a better balance in Game rewards. Thank you so much for posting that. But that's not the whole picture on Procs. Also replying to @Wavicle's post I quote above, @Haijinx said: The current usage of Procs--despite having good effects, as @tidge points out--is hurting the Game. And this does bear strongly on the balance between Brutes and Tankers. Take a look at the City of Data 2 entries for Dual Pistols' Suppressive Fire, here for Defenders: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=defender_ranged.dual_pistols.suppressive_fire&at=defender Dig into all the branching parts of the Power. City of Data 2 reflects how the Powers are set up in the Game. I see the signs of an Open Beta fight that left parts of the code here not used because of overlapping changes. Suppressive Fire with one of DP's Swap Ammo settings toggled on is now a short recharge power with different Holds, an improvement. But Suppressive Fire without any Swap Ammo settings running is the old traditional 20s Base Recharge Stun power. Because I imagine those who Proc-Bombed the Power complained when the Devs tried to improve it for everyone else. Because I always hear those complaints when certain Powers are going to have their Base Recharge reduced. I know that the best Farming builds, the best Tanker builds, are Proc-Bombed massively. I'm like @Infinitum, I don't lean heavily on Procs of any sort. Most of the Powers in my builds are slotted with 1 Proc, sometimes 2, very rarely 3 was considered, and never more. I am sick about hearing about Proc-Bombing, Proc-Bombing builds. I know it's just people being people, leveraging what they can in a game. But that still has negative impacts. But it doesn't matter what I think. Because I know that one major change, an improvement to a major flaw in an AT, was put on hold because Procs have to be dealt with first before that change could be considered for advancement to release consideration. There are likely other changes, fixes, that can't be done at the moment, because of how they will interact with Procs as they are now. @Haijinx isn't right about their first line. The APROCALYPSE is coming. Search for that term, it exists in posts on these forums. It may even come in a Page released this year, as about 3 more Pages are planned for this year. I've heard next to nothing about how the Aprocalypse will change Procs. One person who knows more mentioned that at least some Proc rates will increase. But I suspect it will fundamentally change Procs. Thinking on the one fix that I know is being held up by the current state of Procs, I figure to allow that to go forward, Procs will need to change a lot. Thanks to @tidge's post I linked above and others here, I also know that when the Aprocalypse does come, I will need to raise concerns about the good effects of Damage Procs in helping lower performing ATs improve themselves. That AT balance should be addressed as well when the Aprocalypse looms. For it is coming.

Lots of interesting discussion in this topic and I only went back to somewhere in 2023. I agree with some points and disagree with others. Some of these below are off-topic for a Brute-v-Tanker debate, except as more examples that being something different can be hard to balance. This post by @ShinMagmus. I disagree with the opening paragraph, but I think both of the fixes to Brutes should be done: Increase the Base Defenses, Resists, and Healing to lie between Scrappers and Tankers, as well as improve Base Damage to lie between Tankers and Scrappers. Brutes should be between Tankers and Scrappers overall. This is a major issue and not just with Tankers and Brutes. The "same" Powerset is often very different on different ATs and not for good reasons it seems, as some have radical differences. Another example is the Ninjitsu Protection Powerset. I've got a Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu Stalker but I'll not make another Ninjitsu Stalker as it lacks the +End Power, Seishinteki Kyoyo, that Scrappers get (two Ninjitsu Scrappers and counting). (And having Caltrops available on the Ninjitsu Stalker is good but not the same importance.) It's possible that this difference could be designed out in builds to not matter, but Scrappers don't need it completely designed out, thus allowing them to put more resources to other build goals. Thanks to @Erratic1 posting the Trap Door clearance values and to @tidge for drawing attention to the actual absolute differences here. Which by my calculation is the worst cases have about 73% the clearance rates of the best. The differences matter but only to a degree. Thanks to @ShinMagmus drawing my attention to Ice Melee here. I've not considered that Powerset sufficiently and this helps me think about putting it on a future build. (I am missing so many different Powersets and combinations.) But even more.... Nothing should be moved towards where Sentinels are at the moment. Especially Sentinels, who need to be moved away from that, soon. I know, I know, they're not nerfed Blasters, they're ranged Scrappers. But so many things aren't right with Sentinels. I need to play my one Sentinel more to better understand them. (It's an Assault Rifle (I main an Assault Rifle / Devices Blaster before it was cool 😺) / Ninjitsu Sentinel. And it gets Seishinteki Kyoyo! 😺) One more thing....

There you go! 7ft range when tagging a mob! Most people would be hard-pressed to head a soccer ball on the ground 7ft away. I've played an AR/Devices Blaster as me main since 2006. I've had various powers from Devices in the build for the toon. One power I never had in it was Time Bomb. Even just looking at the numbers, I saw the power wasn't worth it compared to the awesomeness that is Trip Mine, even back when it was interruptible. During the Beta of Page 7, I tried out Remote Bomb. Definitely an improvement over Time Bomb. Over the years, I've fiddled with the AR/Devices build a lot, had most of the Devices powers in at least one build, except Time Bomb. (Also just tested Taser once and dropped it; giving it 20ft of range didn't change my thoughts on it.) After Page 7 released, I had 3 builds for my AR/Devices Blaster to updated, one each for Munitions Arsenal Mastery, Force Mastery, and Mace Mastery. Biggest change was replacing the Mace Mastery build with a Mu Mastery build. Tweaked all the builds, which are all identical except for 3 powers each (from the respective Epic Pool except for the Mu Mastery build which takes Charged Armor, Spirit Ward, and Rune of Protection). From Devices, I have all the powers except Taser. And Remote Bomb. It's better than Time Bomb. But it doesn't make the cut. What place has Time Bomb in the ranged Devices set? An easily skipped power. 😺

You're welcome! As I mentioned, I wanted to get more good Warshade build examples for the time when I work on a Warshade build meself. All I know for sure at the moment is that it will be Tri-From. Your build depends heavily on a lot of Damage Procs.... First, I'm not a Dev, I'm a part-time volunteer tester. I personally do not use heavily Proc'ed builds. I prefer to pursue IO set bonuses. In my builds, I most often have 1, maybe 2, very rarely 3 Procs in a Power. Search for the term "Aprocalypse". It will come some day. Some major improvements, need it to happen before they can be completed. Another thing I've recently discovered is this post from 2019 October by @Galaxy Brain, Tester and Data Extractor Extraordinaire! Galaxy Brain's Common Resist Breakdown Amongst the mobs, at least as they were in 2019 October, on average, Negative Energy Damage is the least resisted. There may be a few cases of strong N Resists, and the overall state of affairs may have changed, But this is welcome news to Dark Powerset lovers like meself. 😺

MRB is a vital tool figuring out the balancing of which Powers to pick, where to put the extra Slots, what IO sets to slot where. But be careful expecting MRB to be correct in all its details. It has several bugs in its database (many I've reported) and in other ways can't represent the variations that are present in the game (eg. a single power having both autohit and non-autohit effects). Some of them are very serious and so widespread, it's beyond the ability of the 2 supporters to fix. The guard against this is looking in City of Data 2, which @UberGuy works very hard to keep up-to-date, and draws its information from the game. And of course, in-game testing is a more certain judgement on builds. MRB will eventually be replaced by another tool, likely like CoD2 drawing on the game information more directly, but there's no forecast of when that will be done. It's 2 volunteers doing this in their spare time, so it will be ready when it's ready. An example of such an unfixable bug in MRB is that in-game, nearly all Pets do not benefit from their caster's Global buffs, some of them not even from buff auras like Assault, Maneuvers, or Tactics. Yet in MRB they do. To give Pets the best performance against tough content (+4L, which to Pets is actually +4L as they don't get the +1L boost from a Alpha T3 or T4), I've got a 2-part workaround for Pets along with checking them out in CoD2 (and this applies to Mastermind's Henchmen too): Slot Pet Summons powers with ED-capped Accuracy: ideally 94-96%, at least 91-92%. Check out the Pets' powers in CoD2, especially their Base Accuracy. If all important Pets' powers have at least 1.2 Base Accuracy, ED-capped Accuracy should get them to about 91% final ToHit. Fire Control's Imps have 1 attack, Brawl, with 1.2 Base Accuracy. Dark Miasma/Darkness Affinity's Dark Servant has 2 autohit powers and Twilight Grasp ST debuff PBAoE Heal with 1.2 Base Accuracy. But if some important Pets' Powers have under 1.2 Base Accuracy, then Tactics on any AT even just the base Slot will massively improve their final ToHit. Ice Control's Jack Frost has several attacks, all with 1.0 Base Accuracy. Dark Servant has 2 other powers with 1.0 Base Accuracy, Tenebrous Tentacles cone Mag3 Immob and Petrifying Gaze ST Mag3 Hold. Mastermind Henchmen have a mix of 1.0 and 1.1 Base Accuracy powers. Someday there will be a better build tool. Until then, we must be vigilant!

@tidge, I put together an MRB file for your build above. Interesting build. Will eventually need a good Warshade Tri-Form build, but doing that is a ways off, with many more builds for other toons needing attention before that. Discovered 1 odd thing, L12 Dark Detonation had 2x Positron's Blast Change of Damage (Energy). Replaced the second one with a Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance of Damage (Cold). Warshade.20240323.Tri-Form [i27p7] @tidge - Tri-Form Warshade.mbd

I have a KM/Ninjitsu Scrapper winding his way through Goldside. I think @Luminara covered the issues with Kinetic Melee quite well. One thing that could be done is having the use of an attack while Power Siphon is running giving its +Damage whether it hits or not. Similar changes have been done to other Melee Powersets like Dual Blades' Combos. I take it you've never played a certain game family....

Go to the HC forums main page. Scroll down until you see the HC Launcher section.

Normally I sometimes run at -1 Notoriety to get some missions/arcs done quickly and easily where I'm not that concerned about the XP but just getting it done. Things like the Mender Ramiel arc to unlock Incarnate powers, many Flashbacks to get Badges, etc. One thing to speed up XP gathering is to street sweep Green and Blue conning mobs in Zones. That can be a slightly faster XP rate, but as usual, YMMV.

Not sure about the DDR (and you can never have too much DDR), but the 3 SR Passives give the scaling Resists (against all but Psionic and Toxic) as the SR toon loses HP. Those scaling Resists are vital for an SR toon not falling to some big damage getting past Defense. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/powerset.html?pset=tanker_defense.super_reflexes&at=tanker In short, for a SR toon, you want to take at least 8 of the 9 SR powers, usually skipping the T9 Elude.

There's always Mathematics. Often very simple, but it's always there.

I think Burnout indeed has a place in discussion about power balancing, because it pushes any balance to the limit and makes that balance much harder. I almost wish I'd not mentioned Burnout in that post, as it overwhelmed (burned out) my questions at the top of the post. Care to give them a consideration, @Glacier Peak? 😺 Following is a repost (with a bit of editing): I think there are some simple questions with difficult answers. I'd also say ignore the history. What's Past is Prologue. How things are changed (or not changed) needs justification in the Present. Why is Freezing Rain on a given AT better than Sleet on the same AT? There are many similar issues, example some Protection powersets on Melee ATs having fewer armour toggles and lower End/s costs. There can be arguments about other parts of the Storm Summoning and Cold Domination powersets balancing out Freezing Rain being better than Sleet. Without going into details, I'd say Storm Summoning has powerful pets/pseudopets and more damage with the top-of-the-line -Res in one power. And Cold Domination is better at direct Team support and has its -Res separated into 3 powers (who also have other effects). Cold Domination also gets important powers like its stealth+def+res aura and -Res patch at later Levels, which is still painful when Exemplaring. I'd say Storm Summoning is definitely better for solo play and could even be better for Team play, especially considering Exemplaring for WSTs. So why does the better powerset get the better -Res patch? Why wasn't Sleet made exactly the same as Freezing Rain for each AT? Even if this required reducing or removing the -Res from Benumb and Heat Loss. -Res was moved around when Trick Arrow was changed (one of the best powerset rebalances ever). Why is Arctic Fog at a higher Tier than Steamy Mist? Why is Sleet at a higher Tier than Freezing Rain? We don't want all the differences between powersets all homogenized away. But maybe some equalization could help.

I've read a lot of different viewpoints here. I think there are some simple questions with difficult answers. I'd also say ignore the history. What's Past is Prologue. How things are changed (or not changed) needs justification in the Present. Why is Freezing Rain on a given AT better than Sleet on the same AT? There are many similar issues, example some Protection powersets on Melee ATs having fewer armour toggles and lower End/s costs. There can be arguments about other parts of the Storm Summoning and Cold Domination powersets balancing out Freezing Rain being better than Sleet. Without going into details, I'd say Storm Summoning has powerful pets/pseudopets and more damage with the top-of-the-line -Res in one power. And Cold Domination is better at direct Team support and has its -Res separated into 3 powers (who also have other effects). Cold Domination also gets important powers like its stealth+def+res aura and -Res patch at later Levels, which is still painful when Exemplaring. I'd say Storm Summoning is definitely better for solo play and could even be better for Team play, especially considered Exemplaring for WSTs. So why does the better powerset get the better -Res patch? Why wasn't Sleet made exactly the same as Freezing Rain? Even if this required reducing or removing the -Res from Benumb and Heat Loss. -Res was moved around when Trick Arrow was changed (one of the best powersets rebalances ever). Why is Arctic Fog at a higher Tier than Steamy Mist? Why is Sleet at a higher Tier than Freezing Rain? We don't want all the differences between powersets all homogenized away. But maybe some equalization could help. And the big big question: Why isn't BURNOUT being considered for rebalancing? Sure, it's 3 powers deep in the Speed Pool. Rune of Protection is 3 powers deep in the Sorcery Pool, was in my opinion less of a balancing issue than Burnout, yet was rebalanced. I'm not a powers dev. But I've handled complex systems. Studied RPGs for decades. Tinkered with them. Learned to understand the numbers. I look at Burnout and think "WTF were they thinking?!?" Completely throws away the Recharge System. Makes other balancing so much harder. Because there's always the question "But what if the new/rebalanced power is in this sequence of powers? And then Burnout is used to do that twice?" And were all the critical doubled sequences thought of? Because powers immediately doubled are a lot harder to balance that in usual use. Burnout gets to break the game every 30 minutes. For the low low price of 48.75 Endurance and -25 MaxEnd for 60s. If it was up to me, I wouldn't replace Burnout. I'd make it live up to its name. My proposal would need testing and balancing itself, but would work with the Recharge system, not break it. "The Mad Minute" Burnout keeps fixed 1800s Recharge. 50 Endurance cost. For 60s -25 MaxEnd -0.5 End/s +200% Recharge Every 6s for 54s (Count goes from 0 to 9) Chance for Mag500 Confuse Self for 10.5s, replace: Count x 5% (increasing chance) +Res Heal on Self for 10.5s, replace: Count x 20% (increasing resistance to being healed) PBAoE Fire Damage 20ft radius, damages Self, Teammates, Mobs Damage to Mobs and Teammates BaseValue x Count (increasing damage to others) Damages Mobs (max 16) Damages Teammates (max 255) Damages Self for 10% of BaseHP After 60s -50 MaxEnd for 10.5s -50 End -1000% Recovery for 10.5s Mag500 Confuse Self for 10.5s, replace +200% Res Heal on Self for 10.5s, replace PBAoE Fire Damage 20ft radius, damages Self, Teammates, Mobs Damage to Mobs and Teammates BaseValue x 40 Damages Mobs (max 16) Damages Teammates (max 255) Damages Self for 40% of BaseHP If the toon is defeated during Burnout, including at the end, like Self-Destruct will leave no body to be rezzed. All burned away. Now that's a Burnout! 😺

All of them. 😺 Says the guy who's mained an Assault Rifle/Devices Blaster since late 2005 and loved every minute of it. For good combos, start with @Psyonico's selections: Traps/AR and Dark Miasma/AR, both Primaries are powerful and flexible. I'd also add Nature Affinity/AR and Sonic Resonance/AR, again two powerful flexible Primaries. Mind you, I think Trick Arrow/AR is kind of silly, juggling a Rifle and a Bow. To me the only powerset to pair with Trick Arrow is Archery. But Trick Arrow is very powerful. But the rest, all possible. Not all of them would be good. Ideally wants a powerset good at range.

Got the Valentine Tip "From Mysterious Napkin Writer", "To Belladona Vetrano from Mysterious Napkin Writer...": Deliver to Belladona Vetrano. Misdeliver to Praetor Sinclair. Can't deliver to Belladona Ventrano. Guidance given to Underground Neutropolis where Belladona Ventrano is in the Resistance Hub. If not a Praetorian of Resistance Alignment, can't enter the Hub to deliver the Valentine. Couldn't figure another way to deliver it. As a Night Ward contact, Belladona Vetrano is by phone only. Tried to deliver it to the Primal version, Ghost Widow in Grandville, who said "Don't you know that you should not disturb the dead? Leave."

I think those /linkinfo panels have some display bugs in certain contexts. One I know of is the "Show Detailed Info Here" in the Enhancement Management screen: it shows "<Recharge Value> (<Recharge Value without enhancement>)" but both values show are the same; really need to report that. I recreated your visual, which appears to be another "Show Detailed Info Here" in the Enhancement Management screen. That definitely has a display bug. Here's two ways to get a better view of that power with the 2 other ways to bring up a /linkinfo window. Enter this command: "/linkinfo Brawl" That shows the info on Brawl without enhancement (but it will have any buffs from having certain Fighting Pool powers). And sometimes gets the wrong variant power.... "5th Column Brawl" ?!? Seems to be the right values.... In the 3-column Powers display, scroll the right-hand column down to the Inherent section, right-click on Brawl, and select Info. Well damn, that one has display bugs too, maybe even worse. Just goes to show, "Them thar's bugs in them thar hills!" Gotta get to reporting these....

Oh, so it's a competition.... First to get all 6 Debt Badges wins!!! 😺 Finally, a use for bad PUG experiences. Nothing like having the Team recruit the mobs to voice their opinion. 😸

Ah, that's not the way -Res works. First, there's the Purple Patch. Even irresistible debuffs are changed by the Purple Patch (as @Captain Powerhouse once mentioned). For -Res, look at the Combat Modifier table and it's the strength of debuffs that changes, depending on the relative Levels between the toon and the target. For the common case of +4 non-Incarnate-content missions with Incarnated toons with a T3 or T4 Alpha boost, it's +3. So the value of the -Res will be reduced by a factor of 0.65. That means the Achilles Heel special will have its base 20% -Res reduced to 13% -Res in that case. And it's resistible -Res. Then you don't need to know the Resistances of the target. Because of way resistible -Res is resisted by Resistance to Damage: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Resistance_(Mechanics)#Resistance_to_Resistance_Debuffs that 13% -Res (or whatever the -Res value is after Purple Patch) in all cases becomes 13% extra Damage outside of Damage Enhancement.

Blaster's AoE attacks are taunts. What do you think happens just before the Blaster's moto: Face-down and proud! I think having goals is admirable. I also think it's important to enjoy the journey, even focus on the journey, while heading towards those goals. Both are important. My experience is the opposite; I often hear these requests for help. This is also a game that can easily present obstacles. If players don't know how to reset a mission via swapping to another mission, or logging out, or for Task Forces the longer log out needed for reset, then it's very easy to have issues here. With the new auto-exemplar feature for old missions, it may become more common. And at least for general game missions, someone can get help by adding others to the Team. Not possible on Ouro arcs or Task Forces without restarting. Which is often the solution too. Excellent points! As @Troo noted, also so @tidge. 😺 The Blaster's moto: Face-down and proud! It's not just for Blasters, everyone can do it! Once you get the basics and intermediates of the game down pat, pushing the envelop in a smart way is how to test builds, test tactics, test your playing. And have fun! If it's not a no-defeat case like a no-defeat Master's run or other no-defeat, getting sent to the floor by the mobs is just your opportunity to say in Team chat: "Oops." 😺 At risk of being accused of treating the humour like pushing the marshmallow through the screen (gets through but something is lost in the process).... All the talk about "Wet" is from a feature that was added, then later dropped during Page 7's Open Beta. To boost the effects of some powers, a "Wet" status was added by using other powers. I imagine it was dropped due to just adding too much complexity and another fiddly thing to remember. Barely recall it. Except for all the "Wet" jokes. (Which goes back to at least "The Rocky Horror Show" and one of it's songs. 😺) You should have responded "A gentleman never tells. And should never acknowledge such impertinent questions. Good day, sir!"

Research away! If you want to spend time on figuring out these things, have at it. Some new knowledge could come from it. As for levelling not supporting the cost of adding SOs.... That one is also old. In the recent era, I've done a bit of testing and determined that using the "Upgrade" button on the Enhancement display is slightly more expensive than buying the SOs and slotting them or using to upgrade (with a chance of failure at times). But much more convenient. Which is the theme of options for slotting during levelling: a spectrum of options from inexpensive and time-consuming to expensive and convenient. I remember reading advice long ago on how to get through the TO and DO levels. That nearly the only TO worth slotting was Accuracy (especially before Beginner's Luck was added in Issue 12), rarely some of the others. And most TOs should be sold for Influence to save for later. (And Jack Emmert though players would stick with TOs into the L30s, which is why some stores sold them well into those levels. Another example of how the original devs largely didn't understand numbers in RPGs period.) Then it got more expensive once DOs were available, even though slotting got better. Once SOs were available at L22, keeping that slotting up got very expensive, especially into the L30s and L40s. I think that was part of the driver behind the changes to levelling done a long while ago across the late L30s and the L40s, to ease that burden and make that slog a bit easier. But as in the past, as it is now. To level toons and pay for the enhancements, it helps to have a L50 or another source of Influence. Currently the devs say it's intended for players to convert and sell some of the loot they gain while levelling, like Reward Merits, to support their toons' levelling. Once Invention was added to the game, it was one of the benefits of going with Common IOs: enhancements that didn't expire. Also added in some other benefits, higher values at later Levels and of course, the massive complex improvement of IO sets. Some players followed a minimal IO plan, example slotting some IOs at L22, then more at L32, then waited until L47 to slot L50 Common IOs and then IO sets. Other slotted some sets as they levelled. But crafting those IOs takes time, or costs buying them at the AH. Again, another trade off of convenience and cost versus time. Now we have come full circle. SOs are available from L2 up. But for levelling a toon, needs extra Influence to pay for those SOs. As was always the case.

I prefer the term "pre-Shutdown", others call it "Retail". Because we have Live Shards now, 5 of them. I don't think there were recent changes just before Shutdown, but from my recollection, going back further, there were many tweaks to the Levelling XP, especially in the L40's, to smooth out progress. From what I've heard, that's not likely at all. I have heard that 2XP and lesser XP boosts were available. There may have been some adjustments for some mobs, much as what was always happening pre-Shutdown and likely continues. Grinding is the past of City and is still very much present. And out-levelling contacts, I remember that from 2006. This is not something new. Out-levelling contacts has been a problem with City since long ago, only recently made easier to control with turning off XP. Way back many years before Shutdown, I found @RedTomax's site, with lots of information on City, the contacts, the arcs, and the powers, including the original City of Data. Best way to see it now is by this copy via the Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20140625145706/http://tomax.cohtitan.com/ @RedTomax, writing on how he gathered all that information, said he had to resort to massive accumulation of debt to avoid out-levelling contacts. Besides the common feelings of nostalgia and connection to the past, there can also be strong feelings of new, different, sometimes in an unsettling way. This can happen for all sorts of reasons. That the game is changing, evolving, improving, that's always going on. Yet wander through most zones and they've barely changed. Then compare Atlas Park to Echo: Atlas Park and the sense of WTF looms. There will always be these competing senses of good similarity to the past and good and not-so-good sense of change (as are our judgements of those changes as they happen). If there's a change in the XP rates and levelling, that's going to need good data from the past as well as recently to be certain about. Is it worth it, really? Or is it better to just enjoy the game.

Okay, more seriously. People are people. If you want better than what's the standard issue, then what's needed is: Better common schooling ('cause schooling is often effectively weak for a broad selection of reasons that often vary). Standard training designed for true competency (it works for all good Armed Forces around the world). Here at Muppet Labs Homecoming City of Heroes, we don't get either. So it's people are people, a lot of On-the-Job-Training (OJT), and strap in, 'cause it's going to be a bumpy ride! 😺 What's Past is Prologue. Some of my history that connects with the topic. Started playing City of Heroes in 2005. Been with Repeat Offenders since 2006. RO is good to great at learning the game, making the builds, and running Team content. I've learned a lot with them and become better at playing, making builds, even leading Teams. Since 2019 Apr 24th, RO repeated that here on Homecoming, mostly on the Everlasting Shard. Where also dwells and operates Everlasting TFs, with several players leading all sorts of content every day. They're fantastic at running large, complex, and hard content, guiding all sorts of players through them. My main Badging toon now has all Masters-of Badges on all content thanks to them. Thanks to this, I even understand my Nemesis now. Not the Prussian Prince of Automatons. The Keyes iTrial. Other large and complex content I eventually sort-of understood after a few runs. The Keyes iTrial confused the heck out of me despite being dragged through it several times. Then I went with Everlasting TFs on the Keyes. And the League Leader explained EVERYTHING before each part of the iTrial. Going through the iTrial, it all made sense to me now. I could even do critical roles successfully. OOOOOOOMMMMMMMMHHHHHHHHHH Enlightenment dawns. As in every human task, Leadership and Training is key. Failures are usually failures in Leadership, if only failure of Leadership to ensure proper Training. This is true but weakly applicable to City of Heroes. Playing City is very much supposed to be a social, informal, and relaxing gaming experience. This includes its Leadership and Training. What do I see in City play? The sames things as in Real Life but in the nature of City of Heroes: People are people. Everyone learns the most about City as OJT, soaking it all up during play. Takes a while, very variable. This includes how to lead Teams and Leagues in City content, also mostly OJT and very variable. This is very much social Leadership, more informal, less systematic. As is any Training. Some players take extra time to learn some things better. Also read and post on the Forums. Sometimes that pays off. A lot of City off-line conversation talks about making better builds and some better tactics, especially for harder content. The absolute "best" builds are not necessary. "Best" pursues some goals at the cost of weakening others, which can hurt them. "Best" is tricky and often a moving target due to City game changes. Builds good enough in critical ways makes play more enjoyable and reduces frustrations. Good harder-content Team and League pre-TF and in-TF chat talks about what to expect and vital tactics. The best Leaders of that harder content get most of those chats from a crafted Info Popmenu. The best Info Popmenus get improved from experience. That knowledge and better tactics delivered to the players is required for better experiences of the harder content. Some of the hardest content requires very careful knowledge, teaming, and tactics. Eventually needs coordinated balancing of Incarnate Destiny powers across the Team during most of the content. Going to play that content on a toon, extra Destiny powers to T3 and eventually T4 should be a long-term consideration. There's good players who sometimes figure they can push the envelop, split the Team, etc. Sometimes they judge it right. Sometimes they don't. The better players judge this correctly more often, especially when to slow down, team up, and be careful. A lot of the times on PUG Teams, I see a lot of low Endurance bars. Having a build with enough net recovery and adjusting play to aid recovery are basic core skills vital to good City play. Always have charges of Recovery Serum because most content allows temp powers. Have those issues solved in the build and tactics before playing the content not allowing temp powers. I wonder what other weaknesses the players and their toons' builds have. I've heard more bad PUG stories from my guild mates than I've personally experienced. All sorts of bad PUG stories. Including poor PUG Teams going for harder Notoriety than they can possibly handle. People are people. Accept that things will sometimes go wrong (it happens on the best of teams too). Perhaps gently make some helpful comments. Be prepared for them to be ignored. There's reasons why there was a focus on improving the New Player Experience in Page 7's changes. This is a game with multiple steep learning curves.