tidge

I am very glad so many folks jumped on the "LotG Def/+Recharge segment is being manipulated" crowd. I don't market in that niche, but I often visit it... and I see no signs of manipulation relative to the utility of that piece. The only times that I have observed anything with a passing semblance of manipulation in that sector are the times when I see beaucoup bids on other Defense set pieces (e.g. Red Fortune or Reactive Defenses) or even other 'unloved' Luck of the Gambler pieces because those can be converted into the LotG +recharge piece (easier than other pieces). BUT... ...this is indistinguishable from just supply/demand, because there is a demand for pieces to convert them into something else (with a nigher value). Intent can only be divined not proved, but I can easily believe (but not prove) that the intent behind many of the bids on those pieces are either: bargain shoppers (e.g. maybe I can get one for cheap), or folks willing to invest converters to flip within the set/type to try make a profit. How much profit could someone make? Each spin of the converter wheel (within a set) is roughly 210KInf (based on historical market prices for converters) or roughly 1MInf for 5 spins (in a set)... Paging Dr. Poisson... Dr. Fine... Dr. Howard... The Average Defensive IO pieces have roughly got this conversion price baked into their current market prices. In other words, it is reasonable to guess that there could be several thousand bids for LoTG +recharge at under 3MInf, because it would be possible to (eventually) make a profit on them... but this wouldn't be signs of market manipulation, it would be a sign that there is a market for those pieces. If I am being frugal and I see an IO piece I want and the sale price in the AH looks "inflated" to me I will do the following instead: Buy the available recipe, if the price is less than the extra cost of crafting and ingredients (and catalyst, if player is catalyst-poor) Buy another (crafted) piece that can be 'rolled' into the piece I want (if I can save more than 2 MInf this way, it's almost a no-brainer) Both of these options are available because of the current AH policies. A market manipulator would have to overcome the seeded items, the merit-converter ceiling, and invest in almost every area of the market (because of fungibility and converters) to close these avenues.

Interesting. Attuning really shouldn't cost anything extra in the Homecoming system... at most it would be the purchase/listing fee of an un-attuned piece. Of course, once you start playinglvl 50s, each can get a single catalyst drop per day, so avoiding the market is possible. Since my Bots/Traps doesn't really need recharge, and I have the Leadership pool for the pets (for +ToHit), I didn't find the Very Rare (Purple) or Winter IO pieces to be that important. In general, I see the Very Rares set bonuses as a source of global +Accuracy and Recharge and the Winter ATOs as sources of Resistances (and occasionally Defenses, if I dedicate enough slots)... but I'm not trying to play the MM as the source of steady damage, so without a recharge-intensive pet power in the build I just don't fret Recharge. For similar reasons, the only (non-common) boosted pieces I think I have in the build may be: A Gladiator's Net Recharge/Hold (may actually be Acc/End/Rech/Hold) in Poison Trap Blessing of the Zephyr Fly/End in Fly As for set bonus choices: Instead I opted to go heavier for +MaxEnd, Endurance Discounts, and +HP set bonuses. Three big (10%) global +Recharge bonuses are available if you spread out one of the ATOs. This has resulted in several IO set choices that I would never make on other characters, including: Limited franken-slotting the Poison Trap with Gladiator's Net (x2) and Ghost Widow's Embrace (x4)... I'd rather have the set bonuses than any more %damage from procs (it has two, I know it could have more) Four instances of the Annihilation %-Res piece (3 of them get the x2 set bonus and 2 instances get the x5 set bonuses)... I know they don't stack (by themselves), but they do extend the debuff times, which I find very valuable with the otherwise low damage (DoT) Bots. Extremely limited use of %damage procs in the MM's powers. Instead I leverage them all to make it easier for the Bots to clean up: I lean heavily into the debuffs (including %-Resistance) or control (Knockdown). I'm well aware that the terrible damage scale for MM attacks makes them a prime candidate to leverage %damage procs, but my build is focused on using those powers as force-multipliers for the hench-bots rather than trying to make my own character (slightly) more offensive. The endurance costs of the MM attacks are quite nasty, so even using them without more global recharge (from Hasten) makes my build run hot... which was one of the main drivers of my initial reaction. (The above describes my standard Bots/Traps MM build... let's not discuss the disappointment that is a "One Big Robot" or "Petless" builds).

Without Incarnates, no Hasten, and no +Recharge procs: Acid Mortar is 36.37 sec, Poison Trap is 39.34 sec. Caltrops is 22.62 sec. At some point there is diminishing returns, I don't see an advantage to cutting those seconds off of the recharge times for those powers. When not setting Traps, I'm using Photon Grenade, Mace Beam Volley, and Pulse Rifle Burst with Knockdowns and -Res (2 AoE, 1 ST) (on top of -Res from the Acid Mortar and its procs) to draw aggro and keep large groups of enemies in one place for the Bots. I could have opted for Web Envelope for an AoE Immbolize instead of Pulse Rifle Burst, but I prefer to have the enemies to come running to me. My build only has 1 Purple piece (Soulbound Allegience %Build up) so it isn't like I broke the bank on Very Rare bonuses.

I checked in-game (on a Blaster) with all other +ToHit sources turned off, and a Kismet +ToHit in Maneuvers (as an easy toggle). The +ToHit bonuses mean nothing for +Damage to Slow Snipes, but a +ToHit will increase Fast Snipe damage, as described above.

I didn't open the build, but what is the vision for having Hasten in Bots/Time? I run Bots/Traps and don't need it... is there some long recharge /Time power that is crucial? I can understand shooting for something like rapid-recharging Gang War, but otherwise I suspect too much Global recharge would turn into an Endurance sink for MMs.

Maybe Montgomery Scott was fiddling with the transwarp drive?

I want to offer some folks the benefit of doubt when it comes to a stated inability to self-fund through drops; but I can't picture how this is true, even with a marginal build an a low-DPS AT. I've tried to think about different corner cases I've experienced, so here are my thoughts on approaches I have taken with different characters. At level 50, there are essentially two extremes of play: The first is to have a well-equipped character that can run x8 content and get beaucoup drops. I'll ignore that. The other extreme is to run x1 content... you will get fewer drops, but you should still be getting merits for completing arcs. The merits by themselves can self-fund... yes it is going to take a while if you insist on buying 100 merit recipes, but if you choose to avoid less expensive methods, that's on you not the game. At low levels (say 25, when set IOs really start to matter and powers have slots) it is trivial to run Ouroboros content that is both fast and rewards you well. I ran a self-funded character through the Aaron Thiery Atlas Park mission hella-many times, and each time before the final mission I would take a detour through Perez Park to street sweep Hellions. The LTs and Bosses will con Yellow/Orange so you get both good XP and good drops from them. With the extra slots in powers, it is much easier than facing them at the true level. That arc concludes with a rare recipe drop, plus merits. It's not the best return in the game, but it is very straightforward. Another low-level arc that is near-trivial to 'flashback' into is the first Signature Story arc (either red or blue). This can be run for 20 merits each week (plus another 20 for running it immediately after the first time you run it). Even the lowest DPS characters can complete this solo in 10 minutes. You don't even have to visit Oroboros to run this mission. I will also echo that spreadsheets are not necessary to use the market... but you will need to have some understanding of what folks will buy. Generally, looking at builds in the forum should give you a simple idea of what sort of pieces interest folks. Looking at the for sale/bidding ratio will also give you an idea (hint: just because it is a %proc doesn't mean anyone wants to buy it)

I used to think so, but I believe the +ToHit -> +damage for all snipes (in Homecoming) fast or slow as a result of the Snipe changes.

I sell the level 50 common IOs (on average, they are 100KInf each) to the vendor to fund crafting (and posting fees) for the other lvl 50 recipes, the most expensive of which are 600KInf (without discount). With the relative drop rate of commons to others, and the fungibility of recipes in the marketplace I don't see a reason to change costs.

It should be noted that if your character uses snipes (e.g. Blasters, Patron Scrappers/Stalkers) the ToHit bonus contributes extra damage (up to +22% ToHit).

I am no HC dev, but this appears to be more an issue with the underlying AH database , and not so much the code. I am still occasionally getting surprised by (what I think are) display oddities (as opposed to simply odd winning bids/sales). The easiest way to have a clue that the prices displayed may not apply to the item displayed is to look at the for sale/bidding ratio (those appear to be unique to the displayed item). I agree that the display bug is a barrier to entry, but it is not insurmountable. Both seeding and making the salvage fungible across rarities work against market manipulation.

Beyond the beautiful history of the game of backgammon, there are some (possibly) interesting parallels to the implementation of the (modern) market on Homecoming: Backgammon was a rather straightforward game relying on random elements, complete knowledge and skilled positioning for all of its ~5000 year history... until some crafty Americans added the doubling cube to the game (approximately 100 years ago) which added a completely new dimension to the game, making it possible to do so much more (including making money easier!) than without the doubling cube. Playing backgammon without the doubling die is like playing Homecoming and ignoring the market.

The above quote touches on the foundation of a couple of my beliefs about the game (and how well the market works). Because of the plentiful amount of recipe drops, and the existence of converters & catalysts... no player "needs" to go to the market if they don't want to. It's more expensive to get things like ATO, Very Rare or PVP pieces without using the market, but from my PoV the market is saving us orders of magnitude of both time and "currency" compared with not using it. A side effect of the above, is that (aside from simply accumulating them in bulk for a possible crafting badge run) there is no reason to hoard recipes in storage container. If you absolutely must hoard them outside of email, that's a perfectly fine use of the auction house... where you could just buy them when you want them, anyway.

Hard NO. I like having a merit vendor in my SG base, and we can't have AH in SG bases for the reasons posted above.

It's not called Influence Redside or Goldside. Aside from the user interface to the market, I'm satisfied with it. The fungible market (and converter roulette) has allowed me the freedom to update new characters with IO set pieces on a scale that would have never been available on Live. The most annoying bit of the interface (for me) is that the AH often won't display the most recent sales data (right or wrong!) without me placing a bid and checking my bid. The display delay even shows up when trying to sell, which also is annoying... but eventually it will show. The lag has occasionally led me to buy copies of things I was trying to sell. No big deal, but it is annoying when it (rarely) happens. I believe the cause of a couple issues has been explained; I'll repeat my understanding. "Last 5 sales" bug seems to be caused by one or more database indexing issues. This may required a different sort of 'bug fix' than other code changes. These can be extremely tricky to track down. Not being able to open the Auction House in missions or SG bases: As has been written in this thread, the entire AH needs to be instanced in the map at least once when a player connects to it. This is resource intensive and somewhat wasteful.

I finally thought of something I'd change about Dominators: I'd like them to be able to customize the visual appearance from the ATO and Winter IO sets. Not every Dominator wants a Fiery Orb, and not every AT wants to see Ice effects. This is extremely low priority for me.

As I wrote at length in one of the weekly threads: I'm perfectly happy with where Crab VEATS are, and this include the way pets function. I don't want to rehash all of those posts, but I will try to summarize my opinion as: The pet powers play different roles for the different ATs; any desire to standardize the behavior of pets across classes (MM, "Controllers", Crabs, as well as ATO-spawned, Epic and Incarnate pets) is deprioritizing the different roles those pets play. Personally: I don't like the Fury mechanic, so I don't play Brutes. I'm not asking for the mechanic to be changed to be more like the ATs that don't have it... I'll play those ATs. The VEATs are all really quite strong across almost all content, and that includes leveraging the Crab pets. The only part of the ban against making public videos is that we can't obviously demonstrate such things to disbelievers.

This is where I land as well. Crabbermind pets require a different sort of thinking than that of Masterminds or Controllers/Dominators/Defenders/Corruptors. The OP's immediate concern appears to be on the pet survivability, but I believe that sort of thinking is backing the OP into a cramped, dark corner. There is plenty of advice in this sub-forum that can guide the OP away from there. Now, if anyone wants to propose that the Spiderlings get a third attack (preferably ranged)... I'll be behind that with no other changes. It presumably wouldn't radically change the AI behavior but it should help... unfortunately I think the side effect of such a change would be that more folks would simply want them to become MM pets.

There is a lot to digest there... but I will say that my Crabs have never felt the need to have any kind of Taunt, despite my personal appreciation of the Presence pool. (I skip Presence on my Crabs because of Serum.) Provoke is IMO better than any non-aura Taunt, except that of Tanks, for 98% of content.... the VEATs already have a beefy Threat factor. I have a very different opinion of the pets (which are all "recharge intensive"). I'm mostly satisfied with them (including a Patron pet).

Just my opinion, but on a Tank resistances and defenses really ought to be prioritized for slot placement. I don't (edit: "feel the need" to) dedicate all that many slots to those anyway. Again, only for myself: once uniques/global pieces are slotted, and the ED/bonus cap is effectively 'pushed' I will only add slots for specific set bonuses. For example, I don't have extra slots invested in Resist Elements... some may consider it blasphemy but I don't sweat that little bit of extra typed damage because the defenses to those types is reasonably high (solo).

I have an Invuln Tank and I don't consider the Psi hole do be all that painful. There are plenty of places to slot 5xImpervium Armor Psi Resistance plus an Aegis; so while you aren't going to get 90% resistance on Psi, with Taunt affecting enemy range, Invincibility boosting positional defenses, and a perma Dull Pain, it doesn't have to be that bad.

I'm not interested in new content specifically for "Hard Mode". I don't feel the need to have more Incarnate levels. I don't object to adding settings to disable (mission/arc-wide) Incarnate powers (& level shifts) to make current content 'harder'. If there is to be an investment of priorities, I would deprioritize all of the above. If I had to pick a priority, I would prefer to see mission arcs/content that focus either on: "Hazard Zones" (Boomtown, Terra Volta, Eden, Crey's Folly, Monster Island) at appropriate levels Instanced missions (like Summer Blockbuster, Halloween, Winter)

Much of my attitude on the choices comes from my specific playstyle for this character, as well as the levels I play at. I'm also extremely comfortable with cone attacks (that character has two, each with 4 %damage procs), and since all my other attack options (aside from Poison Trap @ level 35) are ranged attacks... I simply wasn't getting as much benefit from the -ToHit aura as I hoped. The %proc rate of Auras is not good, and I didn't see Venomous Gas helping me against EB/AV.... and I ran with it through the 40+ into Praetoria arcs. Against everyone else, the controls do a better job protecting me... against EB/AV, I still found myself relying on controls to win fights, with or without the toggle. I should note that while leveling up, I didn't include Terrify in my build. My mistake.

I just wanted to quote a key piece of information: I used to avoid the Leadership pool on Tankers, but with the Homecoming buffs for Tankers it is now a very worthwhile investment. If you intend to be a team-based Tanker, I would go so far to say that the Leadership pool will be more useful for the team (boosts) than the Fighting pool's self-boosts. (Yes, I am aware of how Tankers use the Fighting Pool to address 'holes' and close certain 'gaps'... but I'm specifically thinking about teams which include others players an ATs that look out for each other and don't a priori want/need the 'toughest' solo tank for the team)

I also have a Mind/Poison controller. It's probably my favorite "proc monster" (note: I only try to leverage procs in specific ways) which can be seen in the Controller sub-forum: My Mind/Poison went with Epic Force Mastery to get a %proc-ful Energy Torrent and a Resistance set IO mule. I will note in this thread that I did not find the T9 Venomous Gas to be particularly useful, despite having it from level 38-50 while leveling. The short version of the story is that the Aura did not mesh well with my positioning/attack style. Comments on my build are in the linked post.