JMacClear

INF ebbs and flows - at least for me - through all the missions. The offer is very generous thanks... however I am 'a little OCD' determined to learn the lore / tactics / mechanics of the game. I am at heart a slower methodical player and I fully realize my builds are sub optimal. However the satisfaction is in the journey. 🙂

Yes - perfectly understood and in agreement. As I say "nice to have" and pricey given other priorities. There are of course a few P2W items that I do consider 'essential' and hence important tools in the Super Hero bag of tricks - the Nemesis Staff / Blackwand / Defensive drone pet / Mu Fighting as allowed in your archetype allocation. - Ghost Slaying axe - really good situationally - never regret having it. - I personally love the Prismatic Taser as nice little back up.. its worth the few grand to keep it charged up. Handy in a swarm rush. Hence I think I want to understand about the "Back up Police" and / or the premium pet summons. They are a big step up price wise - I wonder if the quality is equivalent but if they are really just situationally handy.... the above comments like 'meh' make more sense.

Minor Spoilers and Disclaimer: Newish Player. I am running a Robotic Mastermind - currently Level 14 (only) .... So my 'Lead Scrapper' / Pathfinder Hero recently completed a quest : "Corrupt Police Talos Island". Scrapper at the time was say Level 23 give or take. Part of the quest includes a squad of 3 SWAT joining the Hero in the final confrontation. Man those SWAT NPCs guys shot the H - E - Double Hockey Sticks - out of everything that moved! I was solo but the warehouse crawl included at least 3 oranges / 1 red / and the mobs were approx half yellow. My Scrapper hardly broke a sweat through the whole mission. Charge in and clean up a bunch of swiss cheese opponents. One SWAT became slightly injured but the other two were hardly scratched... despite various levels and climbs etc etc. They also followed quite smartly in order behind me with no Micro Management. Questions: 1) Are these the same as the PtW 'Back up Police Radio summons ? I know its fairly pricey for a nice to have but..... 2) Now there were no PSI damage opponents - but there was at least one shocker blaster as I recall - and they never broke a sweat. Do the 'Back Up Police Radio Squad' stand up well to various damage types ? 3) Do they scale to encounter level ? ie Are they good for Mid 20s but obsolete by say 30 ? Like I say pricey and 'nice to have' I suppose but honestly if you are going solo on a number of missions ( 75% of us do I think ) - and they stand up - they may be worth an investment for " Quest Chapter 4 " in some of these missions...

** Doctor Tau Ceti / Hero / Astrophysicist is thought to possess the last artifacts / inventions of this Civilization -designs broadcast by disjointed HFR (High Frequency Radio Bursts) 20 and more years ago. Beings of Tau Ceti Name: Unknown - Intelligent Life of the Planet Tau Ceti (4) some 21 light years from Earth Status: (active? extinct?): Presumed EXTINCT - destroyed by the Shiva Entity on its path towards Earth - years before the events of 1989 Location: (planet, star, galaxy, cluster). Tau Ceti 4 - A rocky Super Earth planet in the Tau Ceti Solar System / Milky Way. 150% Earth Mass with liquid water but higher liquid methane content. Their planet appears dormant currently with a 20 odd year time dilation - however disjointed HFR bursts of low intensity still occasionally transmit from satellites / etc Physical Description: (include any extra-human traits like psionics, etc). Unknown. However their broadcast of HFR bursts describes the weapon systems fit for bi-pedal Humanistic purposes - that can be crafted that offer Super Strength / Regenerative Healing / Anti gravity flight among other abilities. It is thought these weapons were their hope to defeat the Shiva Entity. It would superficially appear their society was Relativistic in Technology - that is not capable of FTL (faster than light) technology or communication. However given time dilation of 20 years in communication etc their society would be / have been some one to two centuries advanced of Earth Standards. Affiliation: (galactic organizations are the new economic blocks). Unknown Idiosyncracies and way of life: Speculated : The super earth mass infers higher gravity forces - so the race may be / have been extra strong and muscular comparatively to earth forms if they were bi-pedal upright / non aquatic species. Most remarkable tech hallmark: (the Rikti's all-pervasive gravity technology, Batallion's biotech, Praetoria was fully rebuilt on metatechnology for metas by metas, Kheldians not needing tech at all, etc). : Universally Compassionate (?) / Survival Instinct (?) : An attempt to universally broadcast and share their best warrior technology to face an external threat. Again noted that the communication and time dilation infers an advanced technological society some one to two centuries in advance of Earth Standards; however not galactic / quantum / in scope and capability. Cultural Progress Level: (in an ideal universe, societies reaching intergalactic travel would first reach post-scarcity... but it's comicbooks and it would be boring if they were all like that). Unknown History: Unknown Current Agenda: Unknown

1) The single most deadly foe in the game is Major Overconfidence ! Nonspecifically associated with any faction he has whipped my arse multiple times 🙂 2) The probability that an Orange (or higher) foe is successfully hidden in a niche / around a corner/ at the top of stairs is directly proportionate to: (i) how squishy your character is (Blaster Defender etc) (ii) or how low your Endurance has slipped 🙂 3) The number / type of 'shiny' clues / objects required in a mission is determined by a special game engine photo-electric cells that measure direct sunlight / spotlight on your screen 🙂 4) When you reach mid 20's and dive down the 'rabbit hole' that is Invention Origin and Enhancements Sets it is strongly recommended that you: (i) carefully read the descriptions of the type / results and (ii) use the Auction House to estimate what the total cost in INF will be. In the latter case - double the estimated cost at a minimum to allow for dumb arse mistakes - often caused by the Psionic Attacks if aforementioned Major Overconfidence 🙂

A Giant Boxing Glove on a spring ?? "Keeping alive the spirit of the Dynamic Duo 1967" .... well alright alright alright 🙂

Construction Day Job: Great Suggestion. Again with the sole purpose of trying to make things easy for the Devs.... ie lifting existing assets in the engine and minimize re-invention 🙂 Usually in those areas with construction there are sites of "destroyed buildings" or potentially even a "little construction office" thingy in the area. If its possible to create simple 'one room' Construction Offices in those locations - as a place to rest /log off - that could work. The Office Room assets could easily be lifted from a Warehouse Office - 1 door - windows optional. The Construction Day Job Accolade could be something like: Civic Planner : Construction Job + City Hall : Reward: Earn Temp Damage Resistance Smashing / Lethal for x minutes after sign on...

@Frozen Burn Thanks so much ! This is exactly the type of "concise advice" I was seeking. Again my goal was 'not to ratchet up EXP' although I accept(ed) that may be part of the answer. As you note I didn't want less drops - rather I was wondering if there were 'levers' to pull to increase quality from "more rare / less common" drops of any and all kind. Inspirations / Salvage/Recipes/Enhancements. I was very very reluctant to use the PtW Merchant "reject powers" as my option but I was at the point of toying with that too. Further as you note I am trying to play all the quest lines short / long / old / new as I want to learn it and the lore. Perhaps I am a little too OCD and trying to micromanage. 🙂 I mean have 6 heroes all in the 15-25 range and they already probably need to get "Vault accounts" because I am reluctant to part with anything / even upgraded SO enhancments I held on to till level 25 (when I went whole hog into Crafting) Cheers

Thank you both for the reply.... @mistagoat Its not so much the "rate of drops" as the "quality of drops" I am trying to achieve. However I understand your point - that if the engine dictates "a random percentage of each drop has a chance to be X or Y or Z quality"- then more would be better. Anecdotally (based on observation not fact) I fiddled around with Level +1 Level +2 - but that earned me much more EXP than improved / uncommon / rare type drops. It appeared to me to be an almost pure EXP lever. Party Size 2 / 3 - but generally the same I think... More mobs more drops over all - but the quality was no better. However it was improved from the above ( I think ) So far "I think" - Fight Bosses while solo - and likely Fight Arch Villains' while solo (though I have not played with this setting yet) - drop better / rarer / higher quality. There is increased EXP as well but its a few (1 / 2 / 3 opponents) per dungeon crawl at Level 20 - 25 compared to additional mobs of dozens. The best quality drops appear to come just before and in tandem with "Mission Complete" However this is all speculation on my part - hence I was wondering if there is an informed answer. Thanks

Hail All: I looked through the wiki and did a search on the forums but I could not find a concise answer clarification. I fully understand 'how' the Notoriety works in terms of Effective Level / Party Size equivalent / Bosses and Arch Villains'. Note: My objective is NOT to level up fast. I am the sort of slow methodical player that really enjoys learning both the Lore and Mechanics of the game. Question: Does Notoriety impact "reward drops" or whatever they are properly referred to as. Does it affect the random mathematical (etc) chance? That is will I 'achieve' better Salvage / Recipes / Enchantment drops or rewards by adjusting my Notoriety ? Or should I simply pay the PtW vendor to fine tune my relative richness ? Addendum : Which would be the most effective setting if Notoriety does impact reward chance: (1) I am 'hopeful' (understanding a random factor) for better drops while (2) Not trying to accelerate EXP too much that I miss out on area/quests/lore Current: Effective Level 0 / Party Size 1 / Face Bosses Solo / Do not face Arch Villain's solo

Perhaps issuing new or using more of the Pay to Win Vendor is the answer then... Vanity Pets , Police Back Up Radio, Premium Summons pets, St Louis Slugger, Revolver, etc etc . As I say existing assets. I "don't" have the answer - merely another suggestion which I hope is easy simple and fin for the devs, 🙂 Based on the number of posts and "large scope ask" - of this volunteer team - something simple, fun, and low priority for them may be nice.

Fair point Rudra However these are merely suggestions. The actual accolades could be swapped / substituted for whatever was felt useful. My "objective" was to suggest the additional Day Job Accolades - where possible - utilize Existing Assets in the game engine. I am no expert in these matters however I do believe that using existing assets would make such a technical update "easy" to implement. Since it would be such a 'small job' it would not strain the Devs time... it would /could actually be a fun little side project. A few badge artworks / a little write up / existing reward and power assets / no changes to game balance or mechanics / etc Further since this would be exclusive to Homecoming - the Devs could exercise a little personal 'cheeky humour' in writing up the Accolade description. I kind of hint that in some of my write ups such as - Reward Travelers Jet Pack (the knowledgeable know how to avoid rush hour) ** warning the "cheeky humour" below in spoiler below may be slightly offensive to some

Addendum: It would also be "thematically" neat if there were a few scattered offices / 1 floor (ie The Vault) of the Paragon Times Newspaper to earn a Day Job Badge. "City Beat Reporter" - earn Patrol XP It could be a substitute eligible in all Day Job Accolades. After all Clark Kent and Peter Parkers were 🙂

Hail all. Firstly I recognize (and thank) the development team has limited time / resources... so really this is low priority 'a nice to have'. Additionally I am influenced by some RP motivations. Secondly being new to the game perhaps I am working off incomplete info - I used the wiki.... and a forum search so please ignore me if this is well documented and I missed it. 🙂 However if it is a small incremental change - then perhaps its 'easy' (?) and could make the cut ? Playing the game / reading in depth / trying to build my characters - a number of ' low hanging fruit ' Day Job Badge Accolades occurred to me as being obvious. Good for RP potential and expands access to some of the existing accolade rewards: Accolade Requirement Benefit First Responder : Law Enforcer (Police) + Caregiver (Hospital) : Reward mimic Physician / Perhaps a defibrillator etc Urban Planner: City Official (City Hall ) + Commuter (Monorail) : Reward Travelers Jet Pack (the knowledgeable know how to avoid rush hour) Public Health Official : Caregiver ( Hospital ) + Clubber ( Pocket D) : Reward Vitalize Ally Heal ( Has learned to never abandon their drink at the bar) Animal Control Warden: Survivalist (Compound) + City Official (City Hall) : Free Vanity Pet or even perhaps 1 premium summon 50 charges Ecologist : Survivalist (Compound) + Professor (University) : Rune of Purification ( always boil the water before you drink it ) --- a little more work / streamlining: Politically Active : City Official ( City Hall ) + Freedom Corps * Or Monitor Duty ( SH HQ) : Reward could be a Placate Skill Baton ie diplomacy. Separates time in Freedom Corps HQ into its own separate badge (Heroic Socializer). I am certain there are other that occur to experienced players... this was just a small list / attempt to add flavor in a quick easy fashion without unbalancing the game / changing powersets etc Regards

Hail Friends. (Thx by the way for all the valuable advice hither so far.) The Pay to Win Vendor sells a number of "premium pets" if I can use that terminology. Perhaps they are properly called something else - I am just too new. These Pets cost about 1MM Influence and there are a number of selections : Wolf / Shadow Wolf / Panther spring to mind as potential RP choices... however the selection is fairly extensive. I went to the Homecoming Wiki to read / learn / study them. However these pets seem to have Red Links - ie. no further information. Questions: 1) Are they as durable as other pets based on archetypes that have power sets to summon ? 2) Given that a archetype I am playing may not have a power set to heal / buff them - are they quickly 'fodder' in a battle? By extrapolation would a Blaster / Defender / Sentinel or some such type benefit from them or are they simply best to 'add quantity / quality' to a Mastermind ? 3) Do 'complimentary' powersets work to heal or buff them. ie. Say I have a Rad / Rad Defender - does the party buff powers of my Defender also aid my pet as if I was my 'own task force' ? 4) Do they affect the challenge rating of a mission ? Am I effectively a 'hero / sidekick of two' with such a pet? I may choose to experiment with it for RP - character concept - in any event however, I am reluctant to spend 1MM influence for a 'nice to have' as all my Superheroes are in the 15 - 25 range. I have a lot of Crafting expenses planned and facing me 🙂 Is there an info link I have overlooked ? I could not find anything specific in the forums here. Thank you once again for all your sage wisdom.