tidge

For me: It's NOT the dissonance that a player is upset about loosing a reward, it's the dissonance about what is that reward actually being used for? There already exist rewards that only come from PVP, and I have not observed any outcry from players that this is unfair.

The "lying trolls" may be too harsh, but the cognitive dissonance comment resonates with me. I have answers to the title question of the thread... thanks to @astral for a nice title question, and a genuinely sincere-reading OP.... and I've read other player's sincere answers to that question in many threads, but I don't always grok if many responders (again, NOT the OP here) are reacting to either: A genuine question about "What am I going to do with Empyrian Merits past a certain point?" An alternate question about "What am I going to do when I can no longer get what I was getting from the conversion of Empyrian Mertis to Reward Merits?" The answer to the 2nd question is pretty easy: If the player isn't going to do anything differently, than they won't get what they were getting. To my eyes, the cognitive dissonance manifests itself when the many alternate methods of getting Reward Merits (and/or Inf) are brought up, and the response is predicated on some variant of "but I don't want to play any other content" is stated explicitly, yet the "even though the rewards (Incarnate powers, Inf-purchased enhancements) derived from my preferred playstyle/content would be most manifest in that alternate content" is rather clearly assumed but unstated. Now, to try to sincerely answer the OP question (#1) here is some of what I do with my extra Empyrian Merits: I craft alternate Destiny slot powers. One example: I find it pretty embarrassing (for us as a player base) when there is a Hamidon Raid (or Hallowe'en event) and only one player in the league has Incandescence. Incandescence is not my favorite Destiny power, but it is a no-brainer of a second choice if you ever intend to play with a team. Another example is during Incarnate Content (not a favorite type of mission), but there are certain enemies that can be best mitigated by alternate Destiny powers that a SOLOGAWD my not have as a first pick. Try them out. I craft alternate Lore pets. If I am being honest, I kinda hate the Lore summons. Many of my Incarnate Path characters stay at a +2 level shift for a long time because I dislike the Lore summons so much, and would rather play around with alternate Incarnate powers. I won't deny that they are useful in soloing GMs and AVs, but I have to go out of my way to face such things. Go ahead and craft the Cryonic Judgement for fire-fighting in Steel Canyon. OK, this is just dumb, but I've done it and so can you.

"I hop these email find you well. I am Cimeroran prince with access to great funds that requires only particular amount of Inf to get Nictus to release funds. PLease leav Inf at front desk of MIDNIGHTER CLUB and your generosity will be REWARDED."

This advice (similarly made by @Yomo Kimyata) is IMO worth paying attention to, if you find yourself with few slots and a desire to maximize certain attributes. The only twist I will add to the advice is that occasionally I find myself looking at not just PVP and HOs, but also (Superior) Winter and ATO when I want to enhance some sort of peculiar combination of attributes. Nothing is immediately coming to mind, but I recall times when I had only a single slot in a power and I know I ended up going in a direction other than PVP or HO/DO.

My account's self-emails usually have one of two subject lines: Live Again! (for resurrection inspirations) Start Spending, Start Earning (for influence bootstrapping)

I believe that @Luminara that hit on the most likely explanation for what is being observed in terms of Endurance expenses while leveling. Missing enemies (and making now necessary followup attacks) is in my experience the largest cost of Endurance at low levels (after keeping Sprint on during door missions). As for myself: I almost never slot more than 1 "Endurance Modification" (dark blue) enhancement in Stamina (even if the first is the second piece of Performance Shifter), and especially not at low levels... the net enhancement in Recovery just never seems to pay off as much as working Endurance Reduction (light blue) into the powers I will actually be using. The SG Base can provide a temporary (but long-lasting) boost to Recovery, if that is what is needed. At low levels, I usually buy the P2W boosts as well (cost scales with level)... I forget if the Survival one helps with Recovery, but I would be surprised if it does not.

I truly dislike the retcon aspect of the Incarnate Lore. The only "incarnate" arc that I really enjoy from a story PoV is the one offered by Mortimer Kal... there is something vaguely satisfying about pwning Positron when I know he's destined to jabber at me in the Mender Remiel arc.

Beyond Exemplaring (and the effect of enhancements within the power itself; e.g. there is no reason to eschew recharge on a single-target confuse slotted with a complete Coercive Persuasion set) there is a subtle secondary benefit from slotting %damage in the slow AoE confuse powers. Any amount of damage you do to an enemy offers you the chance to get a reward drop when that enemy is defeated; the trade off is that those enemies now have aggro. I am well aware that there are some players who prefer to have a non-aggro spawn subject to confusion, but I prefer to have my mission clear times improved AND keep my chances at Purple/PVP drops as high as possible(*1). When I can, and I am not particular about getting a set bonus, I slot the slow AoE confuse with the two %damage procs, Recharge, and if necessary Accuracy... because %procs still require a ToHit check. The main argument against my proposal (that is, slot Contagious Confusion in the slow AoE) is the hope to increase magnitude on bosses in the spawn... but Dominators with PermaDom need not worry about that. (*1) Purple drops not guaranteed.

I see things I would do differently, but the only one I feel compelled to speak to is that I would swap the sets in Confuse and Mass Confusion. The %Contagious Confusion %proc is better in the single-target power, and the AoE power is a better spot for %damage.

My Plant/Electric was able to get (at level 50, with Superiors) perma-Domination without Hasten (or Force Feedback %+Recharge). I didn't think it was too much of a compromise, as I was able to include all the powers I wanted, with the slotting I wanted. I even was able to %proc a cone attack from the secondary (that is: negligible set bonuses, if any). The Primary/Secondary powers I wanted just happened to offer lots of opportunity to get Global Recharge bonuses. That build includes two different travel pools.... one of them is Speed, and it includes Hasten (as a level 30 choice) which I suppose I could have swapped in at a lower level, but I simply prefer having Super Speed available for low level TFs... as opposed to try for perma-Dom at lower levels. The only "compromise" I feel like I made for that character is that by sacrificing a LotG %Recharge (mule) power pick, and/or sacrificing some slots (contributing to Global Recharge) I could make the character slightly more durable... but I prefer having perma-dom on true auto-pilot (zero extra key-presses, including movement binds).

I understand the sentiment, but as someone who has played for "more than an hour a day" (by almost any means of measurement) I'm reasonably dispassionate about almost proposed/hypothetical/upcoming changes. I certainly am capable of taking advantages of disproportionate circumstances, but most of the time I am pretty zen about... whatever. If there is an axis I have any passion about, it is the ability to play the game solo. Yet for me, this doesn't mean I have to be able to solo all content, nor does it mean that I'd have to be able to practically insta-level any new character and be able to nigh-instantly accumulate game wealth (in any currency). For example: I'd be annoyed if 2XP from P2W went away, but it wouldn't ruin the game for me. I'm drawn to the marketplace forum because more than any other aspect of Homecoming, this is the part of the game that I feel allows me to be a very effective solo player. Well... this and "everybody gets the Fitness pool". In Homecoming: I certainly enjoy PUGs and other socialization, but I also enjoy(ed) dive bars, blind pigs, and pickup sports. (self-eyeroll at the listed order!) The "being able to solo" is more of a recognition/acceptance of my own personal non-need to measure my own enjoyment (or worth, or disappointment) against others.

I cannot offer any (past) developer insight into the (non-lore) rationale for the forcespec, but as a player on Live my recollection is that the Hero-EATs leveled much better if the player did a (voluntary) respec after unlocking the third form. From memory: by the time HEATs existed, the respecs allowed placement of enhancement slots after re-picking powers, so it became possible to shift more slots into something like the Dwarf powers for Peacebringers (as an example) earlier than would be possible if the player was leveling up without using a respec. Since VEATs explicitly have different primary/secondary trees from the start, the forcespec is a somewhat obvious requirement, even if occasionally it feels very tedious... it always bugs the heck out of me when developing a second (or third) build! I'm not saying that this was the rationale for the forcespec, as VEATs are a different twist on the "multi-form" model of HEATs, but when leveling up the first VEAT build (and not rushing via some form of power-leveling) it is a really convenient opportunity to re-jigger enhancement slots. In the current (Homecoming) era this can be quite useful considering that the level of the forcespec/specialization is commensurate with the level that almost all of the (non-superior) enhancement bonuses will work, so shuffling slots to work as mules for Global bonuses can be quite a help. Obviously: Respecs are plentiful for every character, but writing only for myself I find the ability to shuffle slots early on VEATs (when we aren't quite yet swimming in extra Enhancement slots) to be very valuable to improve their performance... typically on extra Endurance/Recovery and %debuffs, in addition to chasing Global Recharge, Defenses, Regeneration.

This attribute is always at the top of my attribute monitoring, for the same reasoning. Below it will be three positional defenses, simply because those offer a quick look if I'm likely to see things go pear-shaped, and how quickly (even on characters that don't rely on positional defenses). Occasionally I will also monitor a particular travel speed, sometime ToHit bonus (if the character uses fast snipes). The number I WANT to be able to monitor is whatever the game thinks the LAST ATTACK ROLL was. Streakbreaker and I exist in an uneasy state of peace; I'd just like to keep my eye on that little bugger.

You forgot: "proselytize on the forums".

We need a poll of the best use of multiple accounts: a) skewing polls b) skewing farm rewards

Please, can we all just give our likes and lock the thread so I know who won?

Rune of Protection is in the Sorcery pool, what are you referring to?

For many (half?) of the ATs the effects of Rune of Protection were a selectable Primary/Secondary power. It isn't as if Rune of Protection is really nerfed, it just can't be (near-) perma. The AE Veteran Level Empyreans? Those are different than things like random drops for a group of 8... put 7 characters in an AFK farm run by an 8th, those 7 are all getting equal Empyrean merit rewards at the same time. If the player is really greedy (or abides the 3-box rule) they can respin the dedicated farmer as well. I've no doubt there are some folks who've do this and also have personal ideas about when to actually level characters (to get more slots for insps perhaps).

From memory: The second(?) VEAT mission offers the Shady/Shrouded badge, if that is somethig you want to collect ASAP for a (blueside) accolade. I wish I could remember the details, but on my first HC VEAT I was surprised how early I got the badge. If you aren't power-levelling (even by accident) I do recommend doing them in an level-appropriate way... as I recall, the final VEAT arc feels a little better that way... at least it did to me.

I don't think there is a precise equivalence between those two (pool) powers. Some comments from a player who was mostly ignorant/unaffected by the Rune of Protection nerf. It was my belief that the "nerf" was due to the disproportionate benefit the click power was providing as a Pool power (compared to other clicks available within Primary/Secondaries). At the risk of playing too much into whataboutism: Hasten is a different animal, as so few AT even have anything like a way to enhance global recharge, it it is a little difficult (for me, but I have blind spots) to imagine what my answer would be to a question like "which AT inherently (as a primary/secondary power choice) ought to be able to have more global recharge?" without already knowing which ATs currently have something like that. I am not ignorant on what Hasten can do, nor am I ignorant why it is such a common build choice. I have some awareness that the dev team is considering (for some possibly arbitrarily small values of "consideration") changes to other game effects that may be skewed because of beaucoup (Global) recharge (e.g. "%proc changes").

This made me flash back to trying to use Combat Jumping to get on top of the roofs of building in King's Row to complete that accursed "Defeat 10 Circle of Thorns" after out-leveling Galaxy City. I spent hours after reaching level 14 just using Super Jump.

The 'slow travel' is something I am nostalgic for, but I don't miss it. When the game and zones were all new, and so much was still unknown about the geometry and the lore, this was just one more (big) element of exploration. I can recapture this feel with restrictions on travel in Ouroboros missions. I still occasionally feel a little twinge when I encounter the 'new' architectures in certain zones (Steel Canyon, Founder Falls) where the Universities and Auction houses were put up. I completely miss Galaxy City as a starting zone. Quantums and Voids should really make a default comeback, at least on Council Radio Missions above level 30, even without Kheldian team members. Players may consider Council Radio missions to be a joke, but I'm not sure that everyone appreciates that these spawns were one of the early "hard mode" challenges.