ForeverLaxx

All this back-and-forth about Ignite vs Incinerate and I'm wondering if it's possible to roll them into a single power that makes both parties happy: summon an Ignite patch that damages enemies standing in it on top of hitting them with a non-self-stacking Incinerate DoT that gets its duration reset if they continue to stand in the Ignite. Obviously damage numbers would have to be modified for this and the Incinerate DoT would end up outlasting the Ignite patch duration, but that can be sorted out later. No, this doesn't "fix" the Terror problem with Ignite but it at least would still apply the current implementation of Incinerate to them while also further rewarding players who do manage to keep an enemy inside the Ignite patch. That said, I don't even know if such a thing is possible in the game code. I know there are patches that do more than one thing to the target inside. I know there are patches that hit enemies with a lingering effect that lasts even after they leave a patch or it despawns. I just don't know if the ability exists for a zone patch power to provide two different sources of damage to an enemy at the same time.

I wish I knew why UA always seems to twist any change he isn't in favor of to one that's caused by PLing so he can rail against PLing again. It's weird to me. Sounds like one of my suspicions was correct, then.

I will always hold the opinion that active accounts should be the deciding factor for a name release policy; however, I'm pretty sure that HC doesn't have (claims it doesn't have) the ability to tell a "dead" account from an active one. How this is the case I'm not sure, but for now, I'm going to just assume it's the case so I don't keep rehashing the same points over and over regarding the account vs character debate. What I will say on the matter though is that everyone's definition of what constitutes a character you "care" about is going to be different. You're not really going to make progress on this front either because of that. Someone can love a character concept more than someone else's "only made for PvP" machine, but log into them far less. Who is anyone else to say they don't care about that character? It's a pointless battle best avoided. What it comes down is figuring out the best compromise for all parties involved. No system is going to please everyone, and honestly, I think 50s being exempt with a 1 year timer on everything above a certain level is the closest we're going to get to an "active account" check. Yes, it's a pain in the neck for people with multiple pages on multiple accounts to log in to their RP or Concept characters that aren't level 50 to avoid losing one of the defining features of their character's identity, but if the devs are dead set on releasing names, it's probably the most fair way to do it. As far as it being worthwhile in the long run? I don't believe it will be. Not only did Live's active population dwarf ours, but the amount of names released for reuse far outstrip the number of active accounts/names we have. Even in that situation, almost none of those names were reused and something like 90% of them were just random keyboard smashing or nonsense words/phrases. Of the actual "usable" names, the majority of those weren't even considered desirable and were never reclaimed by anyone. I think everyone who clambers for names to be released believes they're going to get that "really cool name" they found was taken on creation when in reality, that's almost never going to happen in practice. Just like they learned on the Live servers, I foresee many of these names staying unclaimed if released (assuming certain parties aren't privy to which names are free and fully intend to grab them the second Phase 2 is turned on).

Strawman: The Post. I expressed my utter disdain for Reddit. This thread is about Reddit. It's bad enough that people here and the devs expect people to be in Discord if they want to be "the most up-to-date." Every community I've seen that starts trying to drum up more users to "check out Reddit" eventually transitions into news/updates being nearly exclusively uploaded to Reddit and nowhere else. My post was about how I hate Reddit, which is directly related to my above point. What was yours about, besides being belligerent for belligerent's sake? You've had that account for 4 years but your only 2 posts in all that time are in this thread, one in response to my own? I don't know if I should feel honored that my words moved you to action after such a long time, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this account is merely the alternate of someone else here that doesn't want their shit-flinging to be associated with their primary account. But please, do go on.

Rob Liefeld, is that you?

My only personal experiences with Reddit involve generic google-searches for build ideas and min/max numbers related to other IPs, and even in that scenario, I notice a trend of "only popular opinions allowed" with innocuous things like the aforementioned. That doesn't even begin to describe the kind of screenshots and "discussions" I've seen posted elsewhere where that trend is turned up to 11 so hard that anything less than that is drowned out entirely or outright banned. Beyond that, I'm tired of the "it was posted to Reddit/Twitter/Discord" when the question where information could be found when the answer should be "it's on the official forums." They're our forums, you're required to make an account to even launch the Homecoming server, and at the very least, all information/announcements should be cross-posted to here. I don't use social media, I don't use Reddit, I don't go into Discord channels. I come to the official boards for info and the last thing I want to see is "Update is now LIVE: Details on REDDIT!" with a hyperlink I'll never click on.

Don't worry, Rep is still there. It's just not displayed by default and requires an extra step (or two, depending on how accurate you want those numbers to be). In my experience, most Rep systems just get "farmed" by people posting nonsense in off-topic sections of the boards (or posting off-topic nonsense in on-topic sections). That will continue to happen and is the primary reason I put zero stock in a Rep value. I'd rather it just be hidden wholesale, if not disabled entirely, but oh well.

My only issue with Cones is the Dark Blast set. I like the set overall, but I do not like how every cone attack is a different range and cone angle. Having to do the Dark Blast Shuffle for efficiency is annoying.

This almost sounds like a "lets give the devs ideas for new AVs" thread.

Whatever gets my tohit chances to around 95 or slightly more to account for buffs/debuffs, based on the value on an adjusted Mids. Honestly, the "too much/not enough" accuracy debate comes down to what you're fighting, at what level, and how many misses you find acceptable for your personal playstyle. I'm not trying to speedrun anything, but I don't like missing so I build to offset that as much as possible without impacting other factors important to the overall build. If you don't mind missing 2 or 3 times in a row, you'll be able to handle lower accuracy thresholds better unless those misses result in you getting defeated I suppose.

You can adjust the display settings in Mids to simulate your numbers against +4 enemies if you want to know if you have "enough" accuracy/to-hit to reliably land hits against them, assuming no enemy buffs/player debuffs are in play. This makes it easier to plan builds without having to look up values and do manual math. I might like numbers, but if the system can do it all for me it's a lot nicer.

If they aren't asking, I'm not offering. I got sick of being "lectured" by people who thought they knew better way back in the day (generally they were the ones getting everyone killed). If someone is too afraid to ask for help, that's their problem. I'll find a new team if it becomes a problem or just run solo.

Nah. Like I said, if things are running smoothly, who cares? If they aren't running smoothly, I'll look for a different team or just run solo. I'm not interested in trying to hold someone's hand when they aren't asking for it.

No, but I don't concern myself with the way others are playing unless they're being actively/intentionally detrimental or griefing. If the missions are going relatively smoothly, what do I care if Johnny Two Toes is using Flares instead of Fire Blast or is keeping Fly active during combat? I never give advice either unless asked to. The only thing worse than bad advice is unsolicited advice, no matter how "tactfully" you may think it's being delivered.

Only UA would take the side of the judgemental teammate who asked to be on the guy's farm and then told the guy he quit before the farm even got started because of a "constellation of red flags." Your hatred of farmers runs deep.

Posting in a Diantane thread.

Was ChromatiCat taken?

You'd think so, but I know 100% for a fact that it happens because I've been sent messages I wasn't supposed to receive by contest holders and "potential" winners. I didn't say it made much sense. I said it happens.

In my experience, if the CC isn't just being held as a way to hand off a bunch of influence/prizes to their friends and drum up some PR in the process (for whatever reason this is actually a thing), most of the winners I've seen are either super-basic costumes (which do have their own appeal) or they happen to fill some particular fetish of the person holding the CC. I still remember a contest where the winner was just a white tiger girl in the standard schoolgirl uniform colored pink/purple. You can't tell me that particular costume was actually worthy of any prize, but it got the grand prize. For reasons. Truthfully, the only costumes I ever wondered the reasoning for how they win are the costumes built entirely out of pieces already designed (and often bundled in a preset) to go together. We're talking stuff like the full Samurai outfit or most of the robotic stuff. I know that a lot of the time, the way some of the parts are designed, they only really fit and look right if you match them together but you can create some really interesting looks if you mix/match certain pieces. You can even get around the poor seams some of them have with the proper belt or shoulder pieces. I spend way too much time in the character creator doing this so I know it's possible. I've never managed to win any CCs on any Homecoming server, though I did win a bunch (and ran a fair few) on the Live servers. I do still get the random "nice costume" message from time to time when running DFB and that's good enough for me these days.

If it helps you deal with them, you don't have to defeat them before the FFG is summoned. That summon is interruptable, meaning all you have to do is land an attack on them while they're kneeling and it stops the summon. This is especially useful if there's more than one Engineer in a spawn, since you don't know which one is going to summon in order to alpha strike it. Just aggro the group and throw out an AoE (or damage aura) to stop them. Damage zones are especially effective since you can deploy them preemptively and any tic from that zone will stop them. Caltrops, Rain of Fire, anything. I'm almost positive even non-damage powers will work like Quicksand and Tar Patch, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

@Mezmera See for reference: And that's the last you'll get from me tonight. It's bad enough you had a hanger-on. I don't much feel like banging my head against a second wall tonight.

No you didn't, but I'm glad you decided to chime in so I can remind you (again) that what you actually said was: Bolded for emphasis. There is no "separate rule" and suggesting there is implies other things might follow their own special rules. It's all the same rule; they aren't special. Thumbdown me all you want but the truth is the truth. You were misleading in your information and it's good to correct it, particularly for the benefit of players who obviously don't know the ins and outs of the system. I don't care if you were "trying to save time" because it was incorrect information. Deal with the correction or don't; I don't particularly care what your opinion is regarding said correction. But please, by all means, keep being indignant about being called out for being misleading. It's no skin off my nose.

It's also strange that my correcting of misleading information somehow made me the "bad guy." But I'm glad he decided to insert his foot in his mouth since it gave me a good laugh.

My post was to clarify misinformation. Pretending it's not incorrect when it's demonstrably false is a disservice to a player who doesn't understand why things work the way they do. Even if it was "shorthand" it was butchered shorthand that suggested one set of enhancements were unique with a special rule unique to them. They aren't unique and there isn't some special rule. It's important to be clear and precise when describing how a system works to a player who clearly doesn't know how it works. Considering other posters came in after the fact who were thankful for my clarification and how it impacted their future builds, I think it was warranted. Speaking of, in the future, don't try to correct someone when you're just adding false information in an attempt to be a smart-ass. I tire of forum PvP. If you absolutely must get the last word, feel free to reply. My posts have served their purpose.

This is the only thing I agree with when it comes to farmers and how to "deal with" them. Players shouldn't be rewarded for intentional disengagement and honestly, a lot of the changes to the AI and powers do facilitate increasing difficulty for AFK farmers while only being an inconvenience to current builds/maps for active farmers. Enemies that are mostly (or all) ranged with the AI code change letting mobs outside the aggro cap fire at you from range while adding -Defense to fire sword attacks (which, by the way, is a player buff too) told me they were trying to limit the ease of AFK farming without truly impacting active players/farmers. I personally think they succeeded in that aim. There are a lot of resources available, in particular those posted by Angel, that show how simple it is to adjust your character/maps to continue farming under the new system. Can you still AFK farm even after these adjustments? Sure, but it's a more involved process than it used to be and that's a step in the right direction IMO. I was going to avoid posting in this thread since it just seems like it's a hotbed of disgruntled players who believe they're being targeted with nerfs butting heads with the usual suspects pretending that I don't have actual evidence of what they claim isn't happening (no, I'm not posting it because it was given to me in confidence; feel free to dismiss it for that reason alone). That said, I'd like to think we can all agree that AFK Farming specifically is something that shouldn't be encouraged, yes?