Jacke

You're quite right. Players can decide to combine Martial Combat with whichever Blaster Primary they want. I run an Assault Rifle/Devices main. For many years, the only direct buff Devices gave AR was a lot of +ToHit and a weird special case boosting the AR Sniper Rifle Power (and only that Snipe Power, a weird case that was eventually removed). It was a combo thought to be underperforming for Blasters. I love AR/Devices. I loved it back then and I love it now. And after a relatively recent change, Targeting Drone now provides a base +20% Damage and for the first attack when out-of-combat, another +60% Damage. But that's just icing on a particular sweet cake. On the flip side, if anyone wants to make a Psychic Blast Blaster, I strongly suggest looking at Martial Combat to see if that works for them. 😺

Welp, let me check. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=blaster_support.energy_manipulation.power_boost&at=blaster It may. "+78.672% ..., Endurance, .... for 15s". There are several key things to know about Toon sapping: Need both -End Powers to take away mobs' Endurance and -Rec Powers to stop them recovering Endurance for a while. Tough mobs cannot be sapped successfully. Even other mobs who are sapped, if they get back what seems to be a sliver of Endurance, they will attack. I run a Kinetics/Electrical Blast Defender. Kinetics Power Transference applies good -End on one target. Electrical Blast Power Short Circuit applies good -End and -Rec to all its targets. But because of Purple Patch (which cuts down effects on higher Level targets) and Endurance and Recovery Debuff Resistance (which reduces those effects on mobs with them), I need both to hit to sap out one target. Maybe. If I can sap a target, I can usually keep that one target at 0 Endurance. But not if it's a special Lt like a Sapper, or most Bosses, EBs, AVs, Monsters, and GMs. Sapping can help. But it's very much a binary tactic: Either works well on weaker targets, but not at all on tough ones. I'd also never depend on sapping to deal with a build on a Toon that doesn't have sufficient net Recovery to keep fighting. Fix that by improving the build. The whole point of a Blapper is using the standard tool to deal with the mobs: Thump them enough to be defeated. Melee Powers have higher damage.

As the stealth expert, I have to point out while Super Speed does provide stealth, it only provides it in PvE. Super Speed itself contributes no PvP stealth. https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pool.speed.super_speed I don't know if the mobs in PvP Zones are affected by this.

I'd not take Martial Combat as a Blaster Secondary except in a particular build. As its Build Up variant is taking the L4 Power Reach for the Limit, which allows all attacks to potentially proc (0.67PPM) a short-term +ToHit (+15% ToHit) +Damage (35%) enhancement buff (15s). That +Damage is doubled (+70%) for Toxic and Psionic Damage. Now Toxic Damage is very rare, outside of other Blaster Secondaries only found in the Blaster Patron Pool Leviathan Mastery and just its attack Bile Spray. And it's rare to have a proc come before just one attack. I'd make a Psychic Blast/Martial Combat Blaster to get a lot more out of Reach for the Limit. But I'd not play that as a Blapper. Storm Blast is a different sort of Blast Powerset. It's somewhat slow to set up and get the most out of. Kind of clashes with the usual rush-rush style of a lot of Teaming in City as it is now (and often was in the past too). Also not that great for the edge-of-the-knife play that is a Blapper. The traditional Blaster Secondaries for a Blapper are Energy Manipulation and Electrical Manipulation. A number of Blaster Secondaries have short-range or melee attacks and a traditional Build Up (+20% ToHit +100% Damage for 10s, base recharge 90s), which can be controlled to precede hard hitting attacks. Those Secondaries are: Atomic Manipulation Earth Manipulation Electricity Manipulation Energy Manipulation Fire Manipulation Ice Manipulation Mental Manipulation Plant Manipulation As @Doomguide2005 mentions, having a lot of PBAoE attacks helps too. The other important features of Blaster Secondaries are the Sustain Power, which adds +Regen and +Recovery, which is sometimes a toggle Power or other times another sort of Power. And many more recent Blaster Secondaries have a special mechanic that can provide a benefit, but can make things a bit more complex. Like Atomic Manipulation and Earth Manipulation. Long ago, I'd made a Sonic Attack/Energy Manipulation Blapper, to have Sonic Attack's -Res to increase the damage of all. It's fun. Blappers live on the edge even more than other Blasters. 😺

What @Rudra, @Psyonico, and @tidge said. And this one is for @battlewraith and @arcane. Keep it weird, dudes! Anyway, once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more! Or close the wall up with our.... Wait, this isn't Harfleur. Wrong context. Anyhoo. Thanks especially to @Rudra, as I didn't know that some maps in AE are flagged to allow GMs. Good to know. Some day, AE, some day. 😺 But there are a few things most Players seem unaware of. Now.... Hmmm? Sigh. Herm.... Ah, yes, thank you, again, @Rudra, let me borrow something. 🚔 🚨 👮‍♀️ 😎 Now, where do I start.... Economics. There are many Schools of Economics. Some of them are, well, let's be generous and say they're touting ideas that are a bit weak at least. But there is much good, even vital, in Economics. Like this principle: People can't do everything. In fact, economics is all about how people decide on what to do and what influences those decisions and what are the consequences of those decisions. There's also this great term from Economics: Opportunity Cost. Actions have a cost. What could that cost have supported if some other action(s) were taken? A way way open-ended question, but at least some other actions can be thought of. Also something else: Anedotes often don't include context. Let me add the context: Just because a GM can do something for a special occasion, doesn't mean it is a good idea to allow it to go into AE. Here's another Principle, of MMOs: If it can be farmed, it will be farmed. This is true for City as much as any other MMO. Some things are awkward to get. Or people want them in volume or quick and easy. (Herm, Badge idea, "Quick & Easy". There's already "Strong & Pretty", why not? 😺 ) Example: The Apex and Tin Plex II Task Forces are locked to +4 Notoriety, else they'd pay out much less Reward Merits. The Devs and a lot of us do really care about some sort of Balance in City. (Where we often disagree is on some of the fiddly details, but such is the nature of working together.) As @Rudra pointed out, you can include GMs into AE on some maps (likely to avoid clipping, as @Psyonico noted, or other reasons, like limiting the payout, as @tidge noted (which aren't that great for GMs because, yes, they were farmed too, still are)). Wonder if that includes Monsters as well. I do need to find some time for AE. Should learn to make my own. There are good arcs there. Like these... @Linea's 801 arcs. Sure. They'll be "Quick & Easy". Trust me. 😺

Exactly. And it's usually even cheaper to buy the L10 Recipe (the lowest Level, the cheapest to craft, and able to slot it as early as possible, there's no need to Market Attune this IO) and the Invention Salvage to craft it yourself.

I love Disco. But dang, I didn't like that one the first time 'round. EDIT: Don't like it as a song to dance to. Kind of like it as an instrumental piece. Get something that has some spirit! That gets the blood pumping! (No, not for you, @Snarky.) Anything by ABBA! Here's what'll get the fire started.

Now that I think of it, Issue 8 seems more right to me too. And looking in the HC forums article I linked above, it says Issue 8 as well. Looks like another HC Wiki bug to report. EDIT: I've searched and I can't find where I got the wrong impression that the Faultline Zone change was in Issue 6. I also vaguely remember Issue 6 well, because that was just about the time I got my own account in Retail City of Heroes. And that wasn't when Faultline changed, it was later. Don't even remember Pre-Issue 8 Faultline except as an Ouroboros Echo, but that's just because of the content I was running at the time.

I'm surprised when I searched that a lot of people are asking if Lemons and Lemon Juice burn. (I assume burn well.) Apparently Cave Johnson had a bigger impact that realised.

I plan to have one Mastermind for each Mastermind Primary some day. So far, Robotics and Thugs, but not very high Level. .... Maybe that wasn't on-topic. Okay, here's a little macro that is great for those times the colour bleeding on the screen is starting to make your eyes look the same. /macro FX "++noparticles" Toggles particles off and on.

Psy, looks like they're circling 'round the long way. I suggest we cut them off at the pass.

Here's two good sources. An HC forum article that has a lot of info on when changes in City came out. https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/1609-the-guide-to-issues-aka-when-did-they-addchange-that/ And the Unofficial Homecoming Wiki's article on Issues allows changing those Issue and Page numbers into date. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Issues Ah, Retail City. Back pre-Shutdown, I made a number of Toons Magic Origin, even if it wasn't quite what I would probably pick for whatever sketchy backstory existed for them. Because Yin-Os existed. Well before Death From Below, SOs below L25. Get a Toon through the 2nd Faultline Arc and unlock Yiin's Market. https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Mr._Yin And then they (likely pushing L20), could then visit Yin's Market. And buy Yin-Os. Level 13, 17, and 21 Enhancements the same value as SO's (but only able to combine with other identical Yin-Os), but particular Enhancement types for particular Origins. And like SOs, a Toon could only use what was available for their Origin. Magic: Talisman of the Owl's Eye Accuracy Mutant: Talisman of the Altered Offspring Damage Natural: Talisman of the Ogre's Might Damage Science: Talisman of the Quickening EndRed Technology: Talisman of the Sleeping Lion RechRed The original unlocker could benefit from those L21 Yin-Os, getting some for what fit into their build. But with planning for the administrative details, they could buy the L13, L17, and L21 Yin-Os for Alts. Who could benefit from SO-values--in a limited case--at L10, well before L22, which were farther apart in play time back then as well. At the same, Peacebringers were fixed as Natural Origin and Warshades were fixed as Technology Origin. Having SO-valued Enhancements for Warshades from L10 was great. But why Magic? Why Accuracy? Because if you can't hit the targets, nothing good happens. The Faultline changes, including Yin's Market, came in Issue 8, released 2006 November 28th. Issue 6, released 2005 Oct 27th, the same time as City of Villains was released as a somewhat-connected game but still separated from City of Heroes. Those was the days of slotting Toons with TOs from L1 to L11, DOs from L12 to L21, and SOs from L22 up. But full use of DOs and SOs was expensive. And those were also the days when there were few ways to make Influence. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Enhancements#Enhancement_Types Then Inventions, IOs, Invention Salvage, and Wentworths and the Black Market were added in Issue 9, released 2007 May 1st. Eventually, Players found ways like @Psyonico above to make some Inf. Because Common Luck Salvage (used to make L10 to L25 Accuracy IOs) were priced in the millions of Inf. And when PvP Recipes showed up, they were traded off-market for billions. (Wentworths and the Black Market were separate until Issue 18, released 2010 Aug 18, when the Praetorian Trading House introduced at the same time was also part of the linked Auction House. And a closer connection was established between all parts of City with Alignment changing. Before that, the lower population Redside was even harder to get by in with little on its Black Market.) Was also partly before "Beginner's Luck", introduced in Issue 12, released 2008 May 20th. That gave Toons under L20 a scaling ToHit bonus that decreased from L1 to gone at L20. Definitely made things better, but it was still rough hitting often enough at times. Helped that I mained an AR/Devices Blaster, with Targeting Drone. https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Attack_Mechanics#Beginner.27s_Luck So various schemes generated more Inf, allowing DOs and SOs to be more generally bought. General advice at the time was the only TOs really worth slotting were Accuracy, because you had to hit. And sell all other TOs to stockpile Inf for DOs at L12. Even with "Beginner's Luck", still much the same. But between Issue 8 Issue 6 and Issue 9, I became more aware of Yin-Os. And how much they could help Magic Toons have effective Accuracy SOs at L10, with a bit of admin work. This was well before Death From Below made low Level SOs more common, in Issue 21, released 2011 September 13th. (Less than a year before Shutdown was announced.)

Looking at a Toon's Badge list will be able to tell if they've done ONLY the OG Positron's TF and at most just one of Posi 1 or Posi 2. Because they won't have both the Rule of 3 and Dam Hero Accomplishment Badges, but will have Positron's Ally Badge. If they've done both Posi 1 and Posi 2 TFs, they'll have all 3 Badges. In this case, the only way to tell whether they've ran the OG Positron TF or not is to check for its Souvenir, Dam piece. Which was in what I showed.

Spot on about Sister Psyche's TF via Flashback and Penelope Yin's TF, @Rudra. Do not concede Positron! Doing the original Positron TF by Flashback--the Team Exemplared to L15--yields: Positron's Ally Accomplishment Badge 60 Reward Merits (I wonder if this is included when "Positron's Task Force" is WST...?) Souvenir Dam piece Also the defeat of CoT Mage Rollister for a prerequisite for another Badge. While doing Positron TF Part One--the Team Exemplared to L15--yields: Rule of 3 Accomplishment Badge 11 Reward Merits (when not doubled as first WST) Souvenir Azuria's Thank You Card. And then doing Positron TF Part Two--the Team Exemplared to L16--yields: Temporary Power Jet Pack (probably with 120 minutes available) Dam Hero Accomplishment Badge 15 Reward Merits (when not doubled as first WST) Souvenir Paragon Times Photograph. Also the defeat of CoT Mage Rollister and Dr. Vahzilok for another Badge. And having both Positron TF Part One and Positron TF Part Two together (may internally check for the Badges or the Souvenirs from them, don't know which for sure) yields the Positron's Ally Accomplishment Badge! Completely equivalent! .... NOT quite! I took a bit of effort to detail above just the very obvious details. Many of them not the same on both paths. The only equivalency is both paths yield Positron's Ally, which is part of unlocking the Task Force Commander Accolade Badge and its passive Accolade Power granting +5% MaxHP. Which is what most Players are thinking about when getting them. Oh, that and the Reward Merits. But the Reward Merits aren't the same on both paths.... And those Reward Merits are based upon the rough amount of time each TF requires to be completed. Which are different. (And how many people do Posi 1 first when it's WST.... Really should lead at least with Posi 2. Because you only get WST bonuses for the first WST completed.) (And both parts of the revised Posi TF earn fewer Reward Merits than the Penelope Yin's TF's yield of 20 RMs! Just barely beat it combined! And if both run when Posi TF is WST, can get at most 37 RMs or 41 RMs, depending which is run first. While Penelope's TF when WST is 40 RMs!) Also, Posi TF Part One has the Team's Doppelgangers to go up against. While Posi TF Part Two, run Exemplared to L16, has Dr. Vahzilok at the finalé, an AV. While the OG Posi TF (via Flashback) doesn't have anything worse than L15 Bosses in it (unless the Notoriety is turned up). (A lot of them, though.) Not even an EB (which hadn't been created at the time the OG Posi TF was originally created). And if you're going after all the Badges.... Or the Souvenirs and the sweet Badges from the count of Souvenirs earned.... Well, you just have to do it both ways! 😺

Wow. This has gone on...let me check...23 minus 15...8 days. Just onto 7 pages of replies. But @Troo on the first reply referred to something on May 13th...okay, that means this goes deeper...hey! @shortguy on indom finally has selected a combination of typeface and size that is almost legible! Rejoice! Okay, where was I...? Adding to this...whatever it is. My bad. (Better add 2 blank lines, so if I have to edit, it looks better.)

Wow, what a lot of...discussion. Anyhoo, I've mostly moved away from using Common IOs since the addition of L5+ SOs and on top of that the Upgrade button on the Enhancement display. Still use Common IOs at L47+ for their large enhancement values. May cost more Influence over all, but I generate more Influence than I consume, so I do it for the convenience. I still only get the Portable Workbench by crafting all the needed IOs. On some Toons, like @tidge, I only get the Badges that buff the Toon salvage and recipe storage. Mind you, getting the L45+L50 Invention Badges for buffing the recipe storage does not contribute to gaining the Portable Workbench. But I also have a few Toons I've gotten all the Invention Badges on. Don't craft at all with them after that, but craft on another Toon where that contributes to their Invention Badges. Now, if the Portable Workbench was changed to also incorporate a Base Empowerment Station's crafting abilities, I might buy the Portable Workbench on some Toons. Already carry Invention Salvage on some Toons for using Empowerment Stations. As for @Alverant's original idea, it's interesting. But other games almost always add that to give players a source of those breakdown products. Usually a slow source too. While City years ago added the much simpler solution of seeding of lots of cheap Invention salvage on the Auction House. Solves both the supply issue and another from the Retail days: overpriced Invention salvage. (Ah, the days of multi-million Influence costs for Luck Charms.... 😺 ) But to add an IO breakdown method to the game would require and consume: Serious time to think about it to make sure of the true consequences of introducing such a system. Because don't want to find out about bad consequences the hard way. Volunteer time to develop, implement, test, and release. It's unlikely it'll be done unless it solves another problem, doesn't introduce problems, and is thought to be worth the time required. So, yeah, there's a lot of IOs that can be crafted and most of them are effectively near useless. And nothing can be done with them except delete them.

The wheel is almost certainly 3 buttons in one. Push down for the middle button. Roll back for another. Roll forward for the third.

Absolutely true. @Dev Unitas, I think that the First Option is the best for changing the requirements for the Protector of Paragon City Badge, swapping the need for the Shauna Braun Badge Beyond Reasonable Doubt for the Roy Cooling Badge Helping Hands,. Simpler. For those running "True Blue" Heroes, it satisfies their need to avoid changing from Hero Alignment. Some of the Badge choices for the Second Option require non-Hero Alignment. Beyond Reasonable Doubt (Shauna Braun) Toon has to be a Vigilante. Pollster (John Houston) Toon has to be a Rogue Badges with complex and variable options can be confusing. Like avoiding either the Shauna Braun Badge or the John Houston Badge for "True Blue" Heroes. Unlocking the Protector of Paragon City Badge is already rather complex. An Accolade Badge depending on having another Accolade Badge requiring many Safeguard mission runs, besdies the many other Badges needed. The options being considered increase the complexity of both implementing the Badge in the Game and unlocking the Badge on a Toon. Such complexity leads to higher chances of error in both. An example complexity that some Players might miss: The Tarnished Star Badge requires, before running the arc to get it, the Toon has already completed a lot of other content. To fill the cells of the Zig with a whole host of villains. Two of those villains are the CoT Mage Rollister and Dr. Vahzilok. At the top of this post, I replied to @Rudra about the equivalence of doing Posi 1 + Posi 2 or the Original Posi TF by Flashback for the Task Force Commander Accolade Badge. BUT they are not equivalent for the purposes of the Tarnished Star Badge. Either Posi 1 + Posi 2 or the Original Posi TF will put Rollister in the Zig. But only Posi 2 does that for Dr. Vahzilok. Too bad completing the L15-19 Arc "The Vahzilok Plague" doesn't count for Dr. Vahzilok. There are so many contacts for it, too. 😺 Such was the way of the original City of Heroes Contacts. ❤️ I think it would be better to keep the change to unlocking Protector of Paragon City, as well as the complete requirements, as simple as possible. While still being right.

Wow. I get by on the keyboard and a 3-button mouse with a middle-button-wheel (+2 buttons) and 2 left-side buttons (+2 buttons = 7) (which I've bound but almost never use). I adapted more with the game keybindings and other settings (like BadgeReporter and my Commands Popmenus). Following the article linked below long ago (it came out in 2011 and was just updated this week!), I changed over to WERD movement keys to give me more keys around them. Rebound those. And S and F keys trigger the macros in Tray 3 Slots 9 and 10, where each Toon has its tailored toggle-turnon macros for S=add stealth (I love love love stealth, have it on all Toons) and F=add fighting protection. I use WERD in a few games that it really helps (at least in SWTOR, which I've not played for a long time now). https://taugrim.com/2011/04/07/guide-to-strafing-movement-and-keybindings/

> Snarky recommends Tartarus. > "All that tormenting and suffering, after a while, it's not so bad. And some of the Titans are really good conversationalists. Not that good at card games too!"

Maybe they are made of cardboard !?! Lowest bidder, am I right? (Just because it's a Nemesis Plot doesn't exclude it could be a Corporate Plot! As well....) 😺

What @Psyonico said. As well.... Rune also provides enhanceable Resist to all. What's also important is what Rune doesn't deal with: Fear, Confuse, Repel, Taunt, and Placate. Still need to carry some Break Free-type Inspirations, which will provide Protection to Fear and Confuse and Resistances to Repel, Taunt, and Placate. The Inspirations also cover when Rune is down and still recharging.

May not have woken all of the dead, but at least @Snarky's paid a visit (one of the more lively undead 😺). If you hover your mouse pointer over @Sir Myshkin's avatar, you'll see they haven't logged in since 2024 Oct 24. Others in the original discussion are thankfully still active, but some have gone walkabout as well. It may take a while to get a reply.

Everyone here has good advice. " I went in, and did what I usually do. " That's that root cause of your problems. You assumed your standard method of steamrolling mobs would work everywhere. Instead of being careful and reacting to what was happening at the moment and adjusting, at worse running away until you dropped off their aggro lists. You were bound to eventually come up against a more difficult enemy and aggro'ed too many and they thumped you good. It's good to have more options. Like things that will shape the enemy's reaction like Caltrops or a hallway corner. It's also good to have emergency Powers, whether in the build or Temp Powers from S.T.A.R.T. or other sources to handle these emergencies, like Shivans, Backup Radio, or Signature Summons for the worse cases. You have to know how your tools work and what the counters are. I love love love stealth. I also know there are mobs with greater perception (Snipers, Turrets, GMs), Leadership Powers (a Boss with Tactics will see farther than their standard 54ft, as will their companions they buff), and some mobs with standard perceptions that ignore stealth (Rikti Drones, Rularuu Sentries (the floating eyes), and Knives of Artemis). On Devices Blasters, I take Smoke Grenade at high Level because that allows me to blind some of problem mobs. I also know a key factor of stealth is the reduction of a Toon's Threat. I can often work with under-55ft stealth by moving fast and not being in vision of mobs for too long. I also know that if I screw up, I'll pay. I also know when stealth doesn't work due to aggro. If my Toon or my Toon's Pet is on a mob's aggro list (or the Pet automatically passes the aggro to the Toon), also some ambushes, those mobs will find my Toon no matter how much stealth it's packing. I also use Confuse Powers. I know much of what @MTeague mentioned above. I know if I get some damage on any given mob, my small fraction of the XP from that mob will be much greater than my fraction of damage, so whenever safe, I try to tag all the mobs with a bit of damage. I know that damaging a mob will notify other mobs nearby. I make sure my Confuse Powers have no source of damage, because that will aggro a Toon even if I'm stealthed; either immediately if the application of Confuse didn't confuse the mob, or after it wears off, they will attack me. And I work at Confusing one mob and make sure it's confused and attacking other mobs. Because some mob have extra Confuse Protection and Resistance, either inherently or from a nearby Lt or Boss, like the Leadership Powers or Cimeroran's Shout of Command. Also, those Powers that protect against Mez can often be cast even if the mob is Mezzed. If things aren't going wrong and there's enough Confuse duration in one application to do the job, I can try to Confuse more. I try to eventually enhance the Confuse duration in the build to help here. Know your tools. Know the enemy and how they react to and how they can counter those tools. If not absolutely sure, work slowly and carefully on the enemy, especially those not known or worse known to be tough. Adjust your tactics. Have emergency Powers for when things go wrong.

Claws-Ninjitsu can be done on both a Scrapper and a Stalker. Ninjitsu isn't available for either Brutes or Tankers. But neither a Claws-Stone Brute nor a Stone-Claws Tanker is possible right now. Mids Reborn allows Stone-Claws Tankers, but that's a MRB bug I've just reported. https://discord.com/channels/593336669004890113/1373119671246520381/1373119671246520381 I searched for MRB mistakenly allowing combinations in the HC database of Sentinels, Stalkers, Scrappers, Brutes, and Tanker weapons Powersets with Shield Defense or Stone Armor. Sentinels don't have access to Shield Defense. But I did find and report these four unallowed combinations as an MRB bug above. Tanker Shield-Spines Stone-Claws Brute Spines-Shield Stalker Spines-Shield