Without_Pause

Can't recall when I started dual boxing, but I have been doing so on prime time Excel without issue. I didn't do it when the server was red, but if it is even at medium, you should be fine. I've checked server numbers and they don't come close to the limit.

Kept bumping my goal until I thought 100 was maybe too high. I went all in in terms of crafting what I could and selling purples that I had stored away "just in case" although I think some where low on the to actually be used list, or it would be some time before they were. I should cakewalk 100 this weekend. Honestly not sure where to go from there. Not sure I care enough to try and get something like 125. I might just stop at 100, and get back to refilling. I already have 5 builds done. The fact that I can grab 100 Winter Packs makes me think I'm good with not needing to get 100 Winter Packs during a sale as what I have been doing works fine. I added a couple recipes for more diversity and better return so I'm actually in a better position now outside of the 100 Winter Packs.

The only reason I'm here is in the year that WoW won Game of the Year CoH won MMO of the Year in a PC gaming magazine. CoH had been running for years and was still profitable even when it was shutdown. CoH could have cakewalked to be being around for a decade. With it switching to F2P, it could have gone on even up to today. Add in it being a new IP and nothing Marvel, DC, or even Image related, I would think that qualifies as being overly successful.

I can see a Regen performing better at base difficulty settings, but I'm also not sure why an Invul would struggle that much. I would be curious to see the Invul's build. I haven't done an Invul, but I don't recall any Brute I have leveled struggling at base diff settings when soloing. For one of the best known armor sets for how sturdy it is struggling just feels off. <Y only experience with Regen was on a Scrapper on live. 40-45 things got harder. I never switched beyond common IOs so I don't have a good estimate for how high the diff setting would get to. Regen doesn't like alpha strike so +4/x8 is going to be an issue. Certainly based on the map.

SoH won for Best Indie MMO and it isn't even out. Granted it is 4th in the people's voting. https://massivelyop.com/2021/12/19/massively-ops-2021-awards-indie-mmo-of-the-year/

There are plenty of cases where a business were popular and then were sold.

A simple one time cost similar to GW2 would work wonders. It could be on Steam, the cost be reasonable, and it would get pushed during sales. You may not like Steam or other places, but the marketing would be important.

A single release of a credible Torchlight would cover a good chunk of that cost.

The thing which strikes me the most is the cost of 125 million. For game companies and one which has access to Torchlight and other assets seems insanely small.

WP was out when I was around, but I never tried it maybe since I had taken regen to 50. When I rerolled Without Pause here, I switched to a WP brute, and it is a much better build. It is interesting how a power or even an IO these days can really transform a build, see Theft of Essence +End for Radiation Therapy. End hasn't been an issue since I slotted it outside of specific mobs and hardly at that. Added Performance Shifters at 17 and end has been a cakewalk to deal with. I popped some occasional inspirs for mitigation and health, but I never touched blues out of need when taking down the +4/+5s Slag Golems. Those fights were long too, so I think I could sat there essentially forever without needing to pop a blue. Things will obviously change come Tough/Weave and later attacks, but I also have lesser IOs and set bonuses.

While on a Tank mind you, been soloing red side with a Rad/ice tank and got a hunt mission. The issue being I was a shade away from 22 and the lowest level mobs where in the level 24-25 area. 20 of them down and zero deaths. The point? Ice Patch absolutely neutered whatever I faced. I even finished off the mission taking on a couple +5s with one being an LT. Took forever, but I never felt like I was in trouble. IOs were used but vastly uncommons and ones which might have all of three of them in a set. Frost has Air Burst and its crappy Acc in it. The first bonus helps your KB for crying out loud. Rolled an Ice/stone Stalker. Just waiting for Winter Event to end and go at it.

I had a Claws/regen Scrapper on live, and to be honest it took until the 40-45 range before I started to see cracks in Regen but that was also with common IOs. I also used Shockwave for alpha strike a lot.

Also, getting the memorization badges for level 25-30 adds on to your personal salvage storage by one for each recipe. Getting the badges for 45-50 adds one to your personal storage of recipes by one. Note, I've never come close to needing to expand any storage even on my farmer. Pretty much anything not rare gets straight up crafted or sold. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Invention_Badges

A lot of the uncommon recipes are sold for peanuts on the market though. It will be pretty obvious which ones are worth something according to the player base. Just start looking at builds here and you'll see some commonly used IOs across them.

You gain currency at 50 because you can turn off the 2x xp booster which means you are getting a full influx of currency. You are also getting level 50 common IO recipes which sell for roughly 80k to +100k per each one. A Enhancement Catalyst is what coverts an IO to being attuned. They also convert IOs which can become superior version of them once you hit level 50, see ATOs. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Enhancement_Catalyst_Salvage

And three level 45 IOs of the same type will be well over the ED cap so I only find them useful in cases of slotting 1-2 of them. Honestly, I would just slot 50s anyway as I have the crafting badges for them.

I consider a build complete when I have done three things. IO out a build, get the four stat boosting accolades for HP and End, and then T4 all of the Incarnates. Personally speaking, the IOs are the biggest jump. I was doing +2/x8 on level 25 commons when I was level 50. I went +4/x8 after adding in the budget build previously linked. The other two is just making things easier/faster. First time run through of going all in on Incarnates will take you 30+ vet levels to do so. If you ever build up Empyrean merits, you can convert 50 over to a Transcendent Merit which can be transferred between your characters so the next one to go and get incarnated can have an easier time. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Hero_Accolade_Powers

Correct. Do a respec. Load all of the IOs you want to keep into the 7 trays you get so non are deleted. Store the ones you want to. You can reslot ones if there are some, but I think that would be a rare case. If I use 1-2 common IOs for a power, see Hasten, I can see slotting level 50s in it. In short, the game kind of holds your hand 1-20. This is why by 22 I start slotting level 25 IOs and only slot something different if I am going all in on IOs. I have leveled many builds to 50 using nothing but level 25 commons. One advantage of getting a character to level 50 is using catalyst drops so you can take a non-common IO and make it attuned. This means the IO is the level that you are up to any level limit it has. It also can be slotted at the minimum level for its range. A level 13 IO can suddenly be slotted at level 7 and go to level 25+.

For brutes, min/max picks would be EM for ST or Rad for AoE. I know it is better on a Stalker, but I still love how StJ flows so that's up there for me. Claws is always good outside of a Stalker. Again, not as good on a Stalker, but Ice is really solid. Adding Ice Patch to EA's defenses just makes it a really sturdy build. Dark offers perma Soul Drain and two ways for end recovery and to heal.

You can earn crafting badges for the common IOs. This means you won't need the recipe and the crafting cost goes down. You ultimately are looking at 2-3 pieces of common salvage which can be had on the market for cheap and the reduced crafting cost. There was a decent market for getting the badges and selling the IOs on live but not so here.

Curious, have you teamed with them? I have. It is why at no point have I flat out said they are a troll. They have built in ideas of how games like CoH should be played. Unfortunately CoH doesn't play in those ways. They are also fundamentally ignorant of various aspects of the game. See them asking about the recharge time on an auto power. They have also responded to posts in General and in AT specific ones. You know this because you even gave a reaction to a post in which the OP was adding replies to one of their threads. Said thread was created even before this one which makes your comment about them finally responding to replies being a bit odd. They also don't directly respond to claims of them being a troll. Even in this very thread they quoted you about their finally responding to people and they mentioned getting back to the topic at hand. You may think whatever you will of them, but they do actually want to talk about the game and learn about it. FYI, trolls don't respond positively to helpful information which the OP has. They also don't tend to come back and report updates of using said advise.

Also, City of Data. https://cod.uberguy.net/

I can see a case for Kin even if I still take Hasten on it. Savage/rad I can see not using it simply due to have much recharge the build has by default.

Level 25 common IOs can be done for dirt cheap and don't need to be switched out. Once you are done with a build, you can do a respec on the build and store those IOs for the next character. At some point, you shouldn't have to really buy anything.* * The same can be said if you use the rarer IOs, but that's a much larger task.