Jacke

The only windows that can dock are those that are designed connected and can be detached, like the many off the Compass, Chat window, and the main 3 Trays. The Combat Attributes window used to be a bit unstable way in the past if it was filled to the full 10 entries on some toons. You'd zone the toon and you look up and two entries in it are vibrating and bouncing back-and-forth and both are impossible to read. I had to limit it to 9 entries to prevent that. And sometime in the past 8 years, that one got fixed and now it can display 10 entries without problem. There's another feature of Customwindows that also is a bit buggy. You can drag Macros from your trays to a Customwindow. You can edit the name and command of the Customwindow. And you can drag a button out of a Customwindow back to the Trays as a Macro icon. The bugs are that a button dragged out of a Customwindow isn't deleted from the file and will show up again when the toon zones. Also, it's very easy to accidentally grab a button out of a Customwindow. It just needs a good description of the problem, be entered as a bug, then the devs will eventually allocate time to address it as part of future UI work. I'll get some screenshots of my single Customwindow today. Maybe think about setting it up two of them to see how they interact. Then put in a bug report on it later in the week.

That's actually a Customwindow, a slightly different beastie used to store Macros. Those Macros can invoke Popmenus. Very little documentation on Customwindows, best is lower down in this Wiki article on Paragon Chat. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Paragon_Chat I use one to store Macros to enter bases. And I'm familiar with them being a pain because whether in its collapsed form as a little grey box or an expanded window like in your screenshot, when you zone, move, look at them funny, they bounce around. Or the little grey box will pop open to the window. And if you try to resize them vertically, they jump across your UI down and to the right. Here's my workarounds. I'll put in a bug report about them when I get some time, but until then, these should help. In little grey box form, click on the box to open the window. In window form, click on the title to shrink it to the little grey box. Don't use a Customwindow for combat commands. They are just too unstable for that. I'm not familiar with running 2 or more Customwindows. It could get worse, so I suggest avoiding that. Whether closed as the little grey box or open as the window, keep the Customwindow in the upper left of the UI, as that seems to be a more stable location for them. They move, put them back. Pops open, close it. They may even play nice for a while. This may mean you have to adapt the rest of the UI. I have my Pet Window up there and they usually get along. You can resize the window horizontally to make it more or less wide, but.... When you resize the window vertically, it changes vertical size and jumps down and to the right. So, just grab the window and drag it all the way to the lower right corner, it'll get there eventually anyway. While there, resize the window to the vertical size you want, then drag the window back to the upper left corner and either leave it open or close it.

In keeping with the Issue 0 spirit but in a round-a-bought way, we should do the old Positron Task Force (L10-15) and the Sister Psyche Task Force (L20-25). Both are only available via Ouroboros. Or a Pillar of Ice and Flame in a SG Base. My SG Bases has them. 🙂 This note on the old Positron Task Force probably applies to both. Which means I'd better get cracking on Jacke Shadowclaw. He's still Level 4. 🙂

MUH HAH HAH HAH HAAA!!! I can stop any time! Whoops! That's the door bell! Pizza time! WITH PINEAPPLE!!! 😄

MUH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH--<COUGH! COUGH> [ Need to get out more, more exercise, practice my menacing laugh, breath that fresh air--carefully, still dang cold outside.... ] Coup d'état! HAH! You, poor, poor Hero. [ Heroing don't pay the bills that well if your Superpower ain't being immensely rich. Come over to the Villain side for that cool cool cash-flow increase! ] You probably still think Time Travel is possible. HAH! Time is Real and it flows, maybe at different rates, but no going back upstream that River. Moving Hand and all, it's gone on already! If you only knew what you were really experiencing when you think you were travelling in Time! Walls of Reality! HAH! Forget about collapsing! What about the CORNERS! You've not filled in your corners, have you! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT COMES OUT OF THOSE CORNERS!?!?! Cubicle! You think I care about a Cubicle or even a Corner Office with a nice view of Kallisti Wharf and tastefully decorated with sculpture and--BAH! Well, if you've visited "my" Cubicle, you'll soon enough realise.... Hmmm. You thought you'd learn of my nefarious plots by having me rattle on about.... Oh, oh my. That one is rather good. Can hardly keep it to meself. The struggle is real. But I'm winning, @Luminara. You think I worry about that pittance that goes for "severance pay" in Paragon City? Whether it's Countess Crey or Justin Sinclair at the top, you think they got that rich with a good benefits package for the peons beneath them? Speaking of money, checked your accounts recently? 😄 Dang! Let that one slip out. Or maybe I meant to let it slip out. You'll never know! MUH HAH HAH HAH MUH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH Whoops! Gotta run, my Monorail is here! TTFN! 🙂

[ @Jackeand @Bionic_Fleamake completely reasonable statements about pizza. ] Hah! While you were shooting sharp pointy sticks, maybe watching Tod Cutler videos with all those arrows and armour and arrows shot at armour and smithing and artificering and all (I gotta catch up on them).... I've taken control! I am now...The PIZZA Mastermind! Beware my Cheese! And Pineapples! And Garlic Sauce! And Extra Thick NUCLEAR Crust!

I see your Edlin and raise you QEDX! Obscure ancient mainframe tools with ALL CAPS NAMES FTW! 🙂

Probably because no one has dared entered the minefields that are Emacs vs Vi. X Window vs Windows vs Mac. 🙂 Marvel vs DC ? 😄

It's actually more mind bogglingly complex than this. I can't remember where, but I once heard a description of the different variations of flowers and flower structures plants use to make a package around seeds.

My vote is as it was then. In fact, I'll think I get a pizza with pineapple tonight. Because it's AWESOME! 🙂

This is the most important question you will answer, today. [ Poll question, answers, and that lead-in line copied word-for-word from @Obsidian Light's post below. Because they're perfect. ] [ Queue Training Montage Music Prior to the Dragged-Out Beat-Down Grudge Rematch ] Late last night I rediscovered a poll covering the most fundamental yet understated debate that rocks these forums. There's very few topics about it. 2 to be exact. @Obsidian Light's poll. And something about a pair of Shards? But it's been over a year since the poll. There must be a rematch! And who to press-gang recruit to champion the two sides? None other than the greatest supporters of both. @Bionic_Flea, @Jimmy, take your corners!

Speaking of the higher level store contacts.... I was on another toon last night, my AR/Dev Blaster Jacke Dark, Level 40. Had 5 missions outstanding from Level 35. Which just happened to be the unlock missions for the 5 Levels 30-40 Store Contacts, the original source of SOs for those Levels in Issue 0. Screenshots and Wiki links in the spoiler.

Because the Wiki is only slowly catching up with the changes over the past year and more, and as @AboveTheChemist said, there's already new Badges being added. He's being thorough and up-to-date, as he should be. I don't have "Avenger", but I have its companion Badge "Beyond Reasonable Doubt" on a toon. They're rewarded for the two completion options of Independence Port's Shawna Brown's Level 25-29 Vigilante arc "Dirty Work", added in i26p3. "Avenger" is also one of 18 Achievement Badges awarded for arcs and challenges that should be Accomplishment Badges. I'll be putting in a suggestion that arcs and challenges should be united under either Accomplishments or Achievements. "Beta Tester" sounds related to "Bug Hunter". I would think it would be handled the same: it's not earned in game but to players working to improve the game, it will likely be at the top of the in-game Accolades listing, and it won't be included in the total Badge count.

It's understandable. TOs are now only available from SG Base Quartermasters. If you want to use TOs, only one Accuracy per attack and maybe base slot End Reduction on toggles are worth it, everything else just don't buy and sell the drops until level 12. And a lot of the drops won't be usable by your Origin (with the current system, the drops can't be restricted in Origin without other unwanted effects, just can't remember them at the moment). If you don't have access to any other SG Base, you can use mine. I have 5 NPCs including a Quartermaster right at the entrance to my simple SG Base. When within 45ft of a Base Portal, here's a macro to enter my SG Base, a base on every Shard (gives 4 error messages but the one that works has you enter). /macro "JACKE" "enterbasefrompasscode JACKE-459$$enterbasefrompasscode JACKE-83$$enterbasefrompasscode JACKE-439$$enterbasefrompasscode JACKE-673$$enterbasefrompasscode JACKE-53" Supergroup Bases weren't available until Issue 6, but a minimal use of a Base to get access to TOs for more of the Issue 0 experience is worth it, I think.

Ah, but special IOs behave differently whether they're a Proc or a Global. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Invention_Origin_Enhancements#Special_IOs_from_Sets Globals are like IO set bonuses. The power doesn't need to be activated to receive the IO's special bonus. The power can even be unavailable due to being exemplared more than 5 Levels below the Level at which the power was added to the build. But if exemplared more than 3 Levels below that of the IO, the benefit of the Global isn't available. If the IO is a pure Global, like the Preventive Medicine special IO, it's best to have an IO at its lowest Level, in this case 20, so it's available for as deep an exemplar as possible, that minimum Level less 3. If the IO is a Global with another aspect that scales up with Level, like the Luck of the Gambler special IO (Global +7.5% Recharge Reduction buff + Defense enhancement ) or the Steadfast Protection special IO (Global +3% Defense + Resist Damage enhancement), it's best to get them as an Attuned Enhancement, so they scale with the toon's Combat Level. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Level The bonus will be available from -3 Levels below the IO's minimum Level and up, while the other enhancement aspect will scale up to the IO's maximum level. Procs are a procedure that has a chance to occur ever time the power the IO is slotted into is used. So, if the power is unavailable (exemplared more than 5 levels below that at which the power was added to the build), the benefit of the proc is unavailable. If the power is available and can be activated, the proc is checked, no matter the level of the IO. So a toon with a L50 Proc120s like Celerity: Stealth can slot it in Sprint and even if exemplared down to Level 1 (as happens in a special mission), they will still be able to activate Sprint and thus gain its benefit. There are Procs with other aspects, example the one in the Summer Blockbuster special Enhancement Set, Overwhelming Force,, which are natively Attuned. The special IO also has a Damage enhancement aspect. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Overwhelming_Force:_Damage/Chance_for_Knockdown/Knockback_to_Knockdown Recent added IO sets with special IOs often have another enhancement aspect, so they're like the Luck of the Gambler, best to have Attuned. This list isn't quite updated with all the special IOs, but it has a lot of them. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Set_Enhancements_with_Special_Effects NOTE: PvP and Purple IO sets keep their IO set bonuses no matter what Level the toon is exemplared to. And I think all their special IOs are true Procs without other aspects. So for PvP IOs, the special IOs should be at the lowest Level, 10, just to allow them to be slotted as soon as possible. Once a toon is 47, the PvP IOs should be Level 50 and if wanted, can be boosted up to +5. Same applies to Purple IOs, the specials are procs, the other IOs can be boosted up to +5 without restricting their function while exemplared.

The channel only shows up in the Tab menus once it's joined. To test, I've just left the channel. Then rejoined the channel using this slash command. /chanjoin "Launch Re-enactors" If you're already in the channel, doing the join again will just get this error message in the Error channel. You already belong to channel 'Launch Re-enactors'

Thanks, @CaptainLupis and @Stygus. I'm assuming that's Savage Melee and not Stone Melee. So many powersets.... 🙂

The funny thing about the Preventive Medicine special IO, despite its name "Absorb Proc", is it isn't a proc, it's a global. It doesn't need the power to be activated to work, which true procs require, as I often put it in powers like Sorcery's Spirit Ward that I don't use solo, yet the IO still works. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Preventive_Medicine:_Absorb_Proc I think the confusion comes from its global benefit being to provide a power that procs every 5 seconds with the above conditions to provide its absorb barrier.

I've yet to do either of the new arcs, didn't look at them during the beta wanting to experience them once they were polished. This is a rather large spread of experiences, especially troubling on the bad end. @CaptainLupis, @Stygus, could you both tell us more about your respective runs with more details, like what toons did you bring, teamed or not, etc. I'll have to find time to run it meself as well.

I remember Debt being harder. Also reading Red Tomax's site where he put together all that information. Gathering it for the arcs needed a lot of Debt to play through else the content was easily outleveled until I think the 30's. I can't remember when and if there was a time that massive hits like falling damage on a full-HP toon was changed to always leave at least 1hp (which is still true). I think the big AV hits (think Marauder enraged on a Lambda iTrial) can still one-shot, but that may be due to toons being less than full-HP. There was a SG in the pre-Shutdown Repeat Offenders Coalition called Death From Above. One of their tools was with Blaster Defiance 1.0 (i5), they'd drop from great height onto mobs, go to 1hp and massive amounts of +Dam enhancement to wipe them. I think Rest originally had a 180s recharge and you always slotted it with a Recharge Reduction and some people (like Blasters 🙂 ) added slots. Now it's a 30s recharge and the base slot, maybe with an Interrupt Reduction (base 6s) or a Heal SO or IO, is more than enough. Brawl going to no endurance was in Issue 16, same as this clue for the conspiratorial: "All references to ‘Talsorian’ in-game changed to ‘Vanguard’" I still vaguely remember the first time taking the tunnel from Atlas Park to Steel Canyon, probably in Issue 5, maybe 6, thinking the worst it could be would be like the Hollows (which was definitely the first zone I tried after Atlas Park) or Perez Park. More open, sure, also mobs with 3 more levels, at least. Combining Enhancements is still mostly silly but become less so. Once read advice saying it was always faster once the 'Combine' button was clicked to exit the screen before the result showed and select the power again. Still have problems with Clockwork and others. I've been running a lot of low level toons through all the Zones, rotating them through the Day Job Badges. Even with the Base Buff Grant Invisibility and 25ft PvE stealth, there's a lot of dying. And the suicide express to the nearest Hospital, or to my Base. And sometimes the Base Buff doesn't survive, but mostly it does. Back to the present, did the first Azuria mission to take down 5 Hellions, which leads onto a door mission. Just Level 2, so I decided to do a bit more street sweeping. Finding Lts to be significantly tougher. No wonder @ineffablebob had to use all his skills on Bosses...which reminds me, need to adjust the Difficulty to enable solo Bosses and AVs...done! And then I got in over my head. Level 2, Atlas Park by Wentworths, a few too many Hellions (I think 4 with at least one Lt). Then 3 Winter Horde Frostlings from behind me joined in. I think some were conning more than Yellow.... But I'd taken Death Shroud over Slash as it was better damage when facing 3 or more targets. And I had a full 4 Inspirations, 2 of them being the large ones from the Tutorial. Here I am, having just finished off the Winter Horde after doing in the Hellion Minions, eyeing the remained Hellion Lt. We're both on a sliver of health. (Quick screenshot, forgot to hold CTRL with F12 to get the interface.) After this, I ran over and finished him off. Jacke Shadowclaw has yet to be defeated! 🙂 Still level 2 though....

Oh I remember using /stuck, even recently. 🙂 Wow, @wjrasmussen, you were there on Release Day? Cool! 1) Do you remember what level you ran out of missions? 2) It's supposed to be Run Away! first, then Rest. 🙂 And Resting near mobs--or where some mobs will be running past in a moment (painful memory from last month)--is still a good way to eat floor no matter how you play City, what with its big debuffs while running. Like running down the middle of the street to avoid overlevel mobs when you've got a mission door in the red part of a Zone. And Perez Park runs through the forest.... Which is why I started going with Stealth on every toon. No Grant Invisibility Base Buff or Celerity: Stealth at Level 12 for Jacke Shadowclaw, it's get to Level 20 and Cloak of Darkness. 🙂 3) You're right, Debt was worse. From Issue 5 "Debt reduced inside mission maps and no debt is earned until level 10" Issue 6 "Debt Cap reduced" Issue 11 "Debt lowered by 20%" And https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Debt 4) In PvE right now, you get mezzed, attacking toggles drop, defending toggles suppress, which I think is a good compromise. As I remember, still frustrating for my old Fire Control / Radiation Emission Controller with both Hot Feet and Choking Cloud, one I will get around to recreating on Homecoming. And completely off-topic, but I found where Shadowstar hangs out, in the back of the S.E.R.A.P.H. office. Not surprising, as Warshades were traditionally Science origin, though that got opened up, I think. I just had to check with a test Warshade. Can make them any origin, they don't get the Tutorial, Shadowstar is the initial contact, and can talk to all the contacts. That first one is just wrong. Peacebringers (and Arachnos Soldiers and Arachnos Widows) are Natural origin, Warshades are Science! There's also a LOT of contacts in City Hall's basement, many saying not until Level 35 or 40 or something strange. The things you find when you go exploring. 🙂

Anyone have any idea when selling Inspirations to vendors and stores was added? I think it wasn't in game Issue 5/Issue 6 when I started. Hospital nurses selling Inspirations was added in Issue 19. Before then and still after, even when other contacts were added to the game, I always wanted to unlock the traditional contacts just to have more places to buy Inspirations around the Zones. That was tricky as originally contacts wouldn't sell to you unless you did a mission or more. Managed to luck out and used an O-Portal to get to Ouroboros and now have the power. But only for those sweet Issue-0-like Echos, maybe. Anyhoo, off to Azuria to started grinding through the Hellions. Dodging Badge locations and taking the front doors to City Hall, as the back ones were added in the Atlas Park/Mercy Island makeovers in Issue 21.

Got through the standard bit of the Outbreak Tutorial https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Outbreak (slowed because I was taking notes to review the Tutorials for future revision). Here I am back at Coyote. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Coyote But there's still the Isolator Badge! https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Isolator_Badge Defeats Badges doesn't show progress on Isolator until it gets up in number, but I'd say I've got about 12 so far. Even with L1 Contaminated took at least 3 hits from Brawl and Claws T2 Strike from my L1 toon, worse for the Lieutenants. Imagine this without Beginner's Luck giving base 90% ToHit at L1, 89% at L2, but 75%.... Not using the 2 L1 Talisman of the Initiate (Damage) SOs (AKA the new Yin Damage SO, all Origins). But I am L2--which was always advice even back in the day, get Isolater after hitting L2. So it's off to get another 88 or so Contaminated, with just Brawl and Strike. 🙂 EDIT: Still took 3 hits to put down each Contaminated, at least one being Strike. When Strike missed, Brawl even when it kept hitting didn't finish them off before I could put in another Strike. With my A key bound to "targetenemynext$$follow", I moved from pair to pair of mobs quickly, so it was down to the recharge of Brawl, as though it did less damage, it did the most hits. (Thinking back to the famous toon Brawling Humiliator, a War Mace/Willpower Brute who only used Brawl, Build Up, Hasten, Inspirations, and a Red Wisp Pet to street sweep from Levels 1 to 50, getting Outbreak's Isolator Badge, even as a Brute, would take a while. 🙂 ) A bit slow on getting a screenshot, but here's the finale defeat and the Badge.

My approach to ineffablebob's Classic Hero Challenge: I'm going with a Claws/Dark Armor Scrapper Hero, Jacke Shadowclaw. Most of this costume is from a design of mine from early City, with the head features more recent. Side note: I've almost always used Outbreak and always gone after the Isolator Badge. But without P2W powers... How I'm going to approach Issue 0. I have two major departures from what was the game in Issue 0 and what others are doing for this challenge. I'm not leaving power pick spaces in the build approximating old Pool Fitness. I really hate that Builds are so tight and it's too much for me to go back to effectively losing 3 or 4 power picks. Assumes the original devs suddenly realised that Fitness should be Inherent and made it so for Issue 0 launch, but not all at Level 2 but through Levels 12 to 20. Not as hardcore as the rest of you, but it's my way to approach Issue 0. What I'll do in compensation: I won't enhance Swift or Hurdle before Level 12, Health before Level 16, and Stamina before level 20. I'm not using Hurdle to avoid taking a Travel power (pioneered by @Luminara) as I'm planning for Combat Jumping at Level 12 and Super Jump at Level 14. I'm taking Dark Armor, AKA no Knockback Protection, and won't be taking Acrobatics to change that nor Hover (although after its bug was fixed, it doesn't stop the time loss of knockback). Hilarity will ensue. Dark Armor may be the most survivable of the original Scrapper protection powersets, but but a big part of that is using Dark Regeneration on enemy mobs. It is also the most Endurance hunger. In a toon without IOs or other Endurance management beyond power usage, Endurance Reduction Enhancements, and Stamina. Leave Sprint running and not slot nor enhance it. I will use my usual UI, with extra icon trays, my WERD Binds, Toggle Turn-on Macros, and Tab Targetting Macros. Most of it could have been done in Issue 0. Now the stuff more in line with the rest of you. No Epic Powers (i3, i21 available Level 35), no Respecs (i2), no Tailors (i1). Notoriety at default +0x1 (adjustment i3). Ignore single-armour-at-a-time, despite it being present until i3. What were the original devs thinking?!? That thinking still has its marks on Stone Armor. Don't use Origin powers (i6, i7 permanent) or P2W powers (i25). Not even Prestige Sprints (which were pre-order specials and equivalent to Sprint). And fortunately the Inspiration Drops by default have Dual and Team Inspirations turned off. Accept that Sprint was later buffed with a extra unenhanceable +Running Speed buff equivalent to a 75% enhancement of the previous base +Running Speed buff. Leave the power unenhanced. Accept other unavoidable changes, examples current Super-Sidekicking (i16) and Beginner's Luck (i12, boosts base ToHit from Levels 1 to 20). Ignore Pocket D (i6), The Hollows (i2), Faultine (i8), Striga Island (i3), Croatoa (i5), Shadow Shard (i2), Peregrine Island (i1), Kallisti Wharf (i25), Incarnate Dark Astoria (i22), TUNNEL (i23), PvP Zones (i6), The Rogue Isles (i6), and Praetoria (i18 on). Not planning to go to higher Level Zones early, but not sweating where Hazard Zones lost minimum Levels to enter. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Zone_Overview Use the Paragon City Monorail as in Issue 0: Yellow Line and Green Line (i19 linked), transfer on foot in Steel Canyon, no Skyway City South or Founders' Falls stops (i9). https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Paragon_City_Monorail Don't pursue Exploration Badges (i2) primarily to avoid the extra Influence as much as possible. Only street sweep, run the classic contacts for Missions, and Task Forces with the Launch Re-enactors. No other contacts including for Respec Trials (i2) or the Abandoned Sewer Trial (i1, available Level 38+, and likely a lost cause for non-IOed non-50 toons). Inspirations: don't combine (i12) nor use Breakfree while mezzed (i4) except Immobilized. Enhancements: sell drops at vendors, only use and buy TOs from SG Base Quartermasters, DOs from Level 12 up, and SOs from Level 22 up. Salvage drops: store Rares and some Recipes for the future, else sell for 1 Inf on the AH or dispose via email. Don't take items from email (Global email i17); only use email to dispose can't-use items. Only enter my SG Base at Zone SG Portals, only to buy TOs, to run the Original Positron Task Force from the Pillar of Ice and Flame, or to drop off Salvage or Enhancements, no pickups. Avoid Day Job (i13) locations on logout due to the buffs they provide. Temporarily break these rules to get the Ouroboros Portal Power (SG Base to Night Ward to Midnight Mansion to SG Base to Croatoa to Midnighter Club to Cimerora then back to Atlas Park). Only use Ouroboros to possibily access and streep sweep Echo Zones for Atlas Park, Galaxy City, Faultline, and Dark Astoria more like they were in Issue 0, but not the Rikti Crash Site (i1). Ignore Zone Events including Giant Monsters (i3 on). Everything not Issue 0 or unavoidable or mentioned here or explicitly later, ignore.

@Bopper, I'm getting the same thing, Shadow Recall showing up on non-Warshades. By hovering the mouse pointer over "Shadow Recall", it's actually Sprint (3-column) or Rest (2-column) but displaying wrong. Changing the number of visible columns just changes how the display is mangled. 4-column seems okay, but it's also kind of awkwardly wide. Loading old builds tend to be stuck showing Shadow Recall. New builds seem to have the power pop back to Sprint or Rest when the mouse moves over the power. EDIT: Finished a new build and found that "Shadow Recall" is now stuck and won't show Sprint. Work-around is to switch to 4-column mode temporarily to slot Sprint and put it either stopped or running, then switch back to preferred column display.