Sanguinesun

Uh, power leveling on live before even IO's existed and certainly before AE existed was most certainly a common thing. It was so common back in the day that people used to list pay-for pleveling on Ebay, before Ebay squelched that. People used to let kins ride free or let them run their kin then get same amount of time free for an alt of theirs from a tank farmer(ole burn tanks even then), using the mish to herd werewolves into the shipping container as just one example(there were others). So yeah, sorry, but you're wrong on that point.

I'd retool your considerations to take the pet and your nuke. Remember less is more in some cases, if you're taking a zillion attacks or conversely zillions of the controls or conversely a too many in the mix, its not necessarily going to make your toon better because if you've attacks/control/mix just sit idle because you're able to fire off a simple set of attacks in a chain that can be up constantly(as long as your endurance lasts), then you've overall likely not got options to change powers around to benefit the build better. Remember too you're also spend lots of time healing with this typically(as teams will expect it) so that also factors. Due to your heal and your pbaoes for end/dam/buildup you're going to likely be spending alot of time in melee range so you'll need to consider shoring up your resistances/defense. While oppressive gloom is a damage mitigation tool of course, remember it only affects those in pbaoe range and those outside of it (ie doing range damage) arent affected. Also remember if you're relying on thinking your defenses are high due to having evasive maneuvers up, all its defense goes to zero when you've activated powers, done damage etc, so its damage mitigation capabilies are less effective. Build making is like doing logic puzzles, especially when factoring specific player goals in addition to the powers in a set dictating how you play out those goals.

1. The game's required knowledge to play, even fundamentally is a steep learning curve due to both the live and HC feature creep that has occurred for 2 decades now., that neither Live nor the HC devs have devoted extensive resources to improving that QoL aspect of the game. This has of course lead to retention issues and will in the future. Some who dip their toes into elitist thinking expect everyone's knowledge should be high at all time(lets remember some folks here arent youngin's anymore and forgetting things happens too. This is also feeding into this sort of every few months complaints(rant) threads about x person not knowing how to play. 2. Players spend more time collectively just playing the game vs mentoring/teaching others how to play or doing so consistently. Not everyone is wiling or capable of helping others play. This isnt a condemnation of their participation with the community either. Its just that some just arent. But to be clear, Im also not referring to those who willfully and intentionally avoid/refuse/condemn helping others know how to play the game either.... 3. "You can lead a horse to water but you cant make them drink". Not everyone is willing to make informed choices either. Over the years when I've offered for example to explain things to help someone, they've turned it down for a myriad of reasons. 4. Not everyone one learns the same way is another factor and that affects point 3 too(ie they refuse because of the type/manner the information is presented to them). Some learn well from reading, others from vids(someone mentioned they felt it to be important to make how-to vids for trials and task force vids to help others for example), 5. There's no time limit to learning. Some again who dip their toes into elitist thinking have expectations that if something hasnt been learned by XYZ point in play progression that they are then entitled to be reprimanded by said elitists and their ilk vs giving compassion to help them to learn. Then those elitists come to the forums to make a rant about it with an agenda to justify removing/nerfing/condemning forms of play that do not conform to their feelings on how the game should be played. Basically, there's no right way for em to defend the wrong then then when they do that nonsense. To those individuals (dare I also say groups really...), their frustrations stem more from those folks they dont deem "good people" to not have been filtered out sooner from playing they game. So all these points and more conspire to create the situation that people are both complaining on and seeking "solutions" to. But until the game undergoes a fundamental change, oversimplification, and more to where the content creep of 2 decades would change(ie likely never), just help individuals who wish to learn, make your guides, your videos, and more as you feel may help. People have been doing that again for 2 decades now and that too should also bridge the knowledge gap that then, as now, there still will be concerns voiced on the forums about it all. Im not saying that from a futility standpoint. Im saying it from the stand point of the challenge of it being due to a game that essentially continues on and requires more learned/understood and with the constant dynamics of people engaging with it..

You could always post it as a suggestion to be a task force in the suggestion/feedback section of the forums but I'd not hold my breath on that getting implemented.

Not a damn thing if someone enjoys it. The contentiousness comes from others who simply wish to impose their frat-style expected.. nay demanded initiation of how to join in in playing the game their way and filtering out those that dont match their "good people".

I use mids to consider builds for both general power considerations but also for -IF- I decide to post-50 fully set enhancement a toon. Rarely though to I do so anymore as I've enough toons already done that way. I more prefer usually to make new toons to play different combinations of sets or sometimes just for thematics. Leveling 1-50: 1. I never use SOs. Waste of money especially for new players. I only use standard IO's. 2. I never spend for IO sets before 50 either. Also a waste of money. One because Id replace much of it anyway post 50, and two because I'd not likely bother fleshing it out post 50 anyway so it'd just be parked with influence needlessly spent. If I decide to post 50 use sets, then I simply remove the standard IO's and recyle to the next toon to use(saving money). 3. I use method where I solo to the teens to get to where I can do the first 3 task forces and then from there I do group content mixes of task forces, MSRs, Radios, giant monster callouts, etc but with the emphasis on task forces. The solo part to the teens earns me the millions to fund the toon for just regular IO's to 50 and then the rest of the content focuses on of course decent exp but also with the goals of tons of merits, monsterous aether to convert to prismatics for even more influence, and more. 4. At 50 if I decide I dont want to continue post 50 fleshing out the toon, I park it, mail the influence and merits etc to my global account and park the toon to make/do another toon. That said, yes, the vast majority of builds you see on the forums are for post 50 min/max considerations and virtually never will you see ones for 1-50 leveling considerations with affordable standard IO's or similar. This is simply and quite frankly because in most cases, most builds are going to have mild to severe struggle points in their 1-50 leveling progress. Once players understand this it helps change their mindset to better accommodate those challenges and just roll with it or play a different toon that better suits them. Only caveat then some may find concern with is if someone exclusively solos. The above method gets toons to 50 in 4 days to a week depending on play time but soloing exclusively would take longer due to some ATs/power set combos having to set their missions much lower (thus much less exp) but still reasonable for a few weeks or so if someone is adamant about soloing only. They'll also typically earn less merits but of course get them through arcs etc as rewards if they focus exclusively on arcs and only do radios or non arc missions otherwise. There's a little more involved with the above stuffs but overall, I've banked thousands of merits and tons of influence to be used for those toons I decide I'll flesh out later. So all in all I dont make leveling builds because I really just dont need to with how I level up toons. Also Mids can be a distraction of little more than theory crafting but end of the day most never flesh out all their toons with all the mids builds they'd likely consider/make themselves. And then there's the mess that Mids is with regards to all manner of issues that it has that is increasingly turning off people to using it.

I recognize the same style of response as with that of your previous post used in this one... along with the irony of inane assumptions as well.

If you really want to be a glutton for punishment, head to their discord to give feedback. 🤢 Honestly, I wish someone would come up with and maintain a better planner, if just to simply to make the situation less complacent by the ones running mids now. Right now its more or less the feeling of the South Park episode where they were dealing with the cable company.

I get you frustrations for other community servers or the fact that literally anyone can download the old server code to make their own CoH (yes anyone still) and not have participation in what transpired to an extent; but Im trying to explain that you're having an unrealistic expectation that those server communities would have their situations relevant on the HC forums when they're not the HC community nor official licenses(ie live devs may be adamant/(OR allowed...) to publicly comment about such other servers. Again I recognize your wants but its just a bit strange to expect such wants where they're not applicable. Worse you're not endearing any future potential for any of those live devs who responded to necessarily feel comfortable to mention/comment about such community servers either. As for division of the CoH community, you act like this is something only now to exist. All the rogue servers existed for years and people simply played where they wished to and still do. Its a choice of course but its also no an invalidation of any of those other communities efforts for their server's developments over the years in and of itself either. If you do not wish to create contentiousness and animosity between different server communities, focusing on those divisions resentfully with such a comment may not be a prudent approach.

1. You're posting on the Homecoming server forums. 2. The Questions were made by HC players and the live team devs were approached by and agreed to respond to said questions by the HC powers that be and the community(of which some of those live devs have spent years here playing on as well vs other community run servers). 3. HC is also the only official licensed community run set of servers, the live devs would perhaps also not be willing/capable of addressing or answering feelings regarding things implemented on other community run servers. All in all expectations/wants for them to comment about the circumstances with other community run servers when questions were either pertaining to their live days or the specifics of HC doesnt really match the purpose/function of the Q&A to begin with.

Point was that the change was just to be a time sink/deterence and as was mentioned by folks much earlier in the thread. The purpose is because a segment of the people implementing these things wishes exp to take longer and to deter certain types of common play(like paper/radio mish use in this manner and more.). Zeleski accurately sums up how the effort just turned the mobs into being annoying vs actually being meaningful with the changes and the changes really didnt need to occur to begin with.

Problem with the "times" especially with task force ones is that it doesnt factor many variables: 1. Dynamics of the team in relation to AT's powersets, strengths/weaknesses of the drivers etc. 2. Difficulty settings of the tf 3. Down times by players (afk's, running off to level, etc). 4. Recipe of the above and other variables. All those things can heavily skew times and make averages harder to calculate for. So if the goal is to answer someone asking "how long" and that's the only agenda for such a thread like that, then its really going to be difficult with more or less answers needing to favor the longer vs an average time given so as to have a player make a decision that factors those ever present potential variables that can occur.

Like when a stop sign goes from being a stop sign to a partner logo laden multi colored mess with pictures and other nonsense to where the whole point to stop pretty much no longer matters 😛

1. This is a veiled "stop power leveling" thread/post and really just stirring up this nonsense again that crops up every so often. 2. Real villain for new players is the various information gaps that are presented by the game, lack of transparency to understand, and a segment of the player base that treats understanding the game like a filter/initiation. One of the more nefarious examples of this is attaining influence where people intentionally provide inefficient ways to try to attain influence in the game. Worse intentionally even causing those players to have to struggle/lose more in the long run. 3. Not everyone benefits from raw experiential learning. Not everyone enjoys playing the game like others. Helping new players invariably means making "help" be subordinate to the individual's needs without assuming -you- know what they need without ego or other agenda laden reasons. That's not always going to be as smooth or even attainable for everyone to help nor to benefit from.

Dont forget higher level council archons and their damage rez's either, especially if more than one rez at the same time when more than one are in a group.

Let's not stick to that patronization as what you stated is a bit of a disingenuous misdirect and a bit of a backhand to Zeleski at the same time that almost sounds intentional. That said, the lack of transparency that you've pretty much eluded to in and of itself also doesnt exactly lend to your take on this either. We've seen over the years how decisions have been made that were unfavorable and, like the thread here's contentions against them, did at times lead to the community having those things changed. Then again some do not and still remain unfavorable to some folks. Also just because there is "a reason" doesnt mean that its always a sound one either or one not laden with an agenda incongruent to the community either. One could speculate it is because a segment of the devs desire for a return to increasing the time sink in fights/leveling, etc. Again, assumptions in any directing wouldn't have to be there if there was more transparency to the community as -a whole-. And its also not like the entirety of the HC team's feelings are universal either. Some get out weighed by others in their considerations but publically they'll be more apt to look more unified in decisions than they necessarily are of course.

If I understand your goals for play correctly, you're wanting to provide damage, while also providing team support, and as well being decently defense set up. Your build then could benefit from other considerations with how you've slotted and chosen powers to attain those goals in my opinion. Without really knowing more succinctly what is a priority with those goals above, you could go in various directions with a build for these power sets. However if you're just wanting to rp thematically something, then advice really becomes very anemic for what you may want if its not congruent to that as a potential priority for you. As an example, if you're wanting to have more team benefice, your not having taken howling twilight(also btw a good offensive control power too) nor dark servant(which has all manner of creative slotting options) would be not recommended. If you're wanting to be more defense oriented as remember your -tohit actually has to hit all mobs for that benefit to you to stack with your 20% or less defense(soft cap is 45% and arguably best in the positional defenses, especially range if you wish to be more on the fringe of the fights or more melee if in the thick of it. Point all being you're not as protected as you may be assuming you are. And with offensive considerations, having skipped Aim also is a guaranteed dps loss for a simple power choice. Sometimes less is more so having more attacks doesnt mean you're actually capable of doing overall more damage in fights, especially on teams that are ROFL stomping through a mission where you may only contributed 1-2 attacks to a mob group before its downed and the team's moving on to the next set. Point of all this is that making a build is a puzzle based on being more succinct with one's goals, and in cases where people make a build that "tries to do it all" your build then suffers becoming not as good as it potentially could've been. You've to me, overslotted and set come enhancement sets in some powers that really do not make your potential play better but reflect conflicts of your attempting to make a character trying to straddle conflicts in you goals. Im not conveying this in this manner to frustrate you(as I suspect your frustrated already as well due to the fact you're looking for feedback on your build as it doesnt sit right completely with you). Im saying make your goals for your play more clear to yourself and then build around those goals or goal even. Then it becomes easier to provide more critique of what you're trying to build for. As it stands, again, there are just too many ways to say "x" doesnt have much viability because the build reflects goals sort of being all over the place.

Its also important to point out that if there are instances where the proc didnt occur from one power on a mob, but you also had it in another power, that you could get it a chance to proc from that to the mob but once applied to the mob it wont stack like Uun iterated. However putting them in multiple powers likely is not going to be overall efficient for a build where putting other enhancements in it for bonuses or even damage procs would be better off for the entirety of the build. I would speculate that many favor having at least one some where in their build in a power that can hit multiple targets at once vs a single target consideration, per your concerns with teams and how fast they move through missions. It may not be a significant impact overall per se in some cases based on kill speeds but it can contribute. But as I iterated above, its not something to over slot with on multiple powers where there's benefice to use other enhancements more. Builds are puzzles you piece together for your specific play goals though so everything is qualified on that alone.

Phil "Synapse" Zeleski's response concerning the changes poorly done for higher level Council / CoT on Homecoming were spot on. Some of the HC dev team are just trying to change things that never really needed to be changed in the manner they did in the first place. HC devs who pushed for those changes in that context unfortunately probably dont care though, which is a shame. But thank you Phil for what you said on that.

In the recent Original Devs Q&A, Phil "Synapse" Zeleski was asked: For anyone who's interested in answering, be it gameplay, story, etc: What parts of Homecoming's development of City of Heroes do you approve of? Which do you not, or would do differently if it was you in charge? And regarding the revamps to the mobs, he mirrored my thoughts on all this perfectly: I think the only parts of Homecoming that I am not a big fan of are the revamps of some of the endgame enemy groups. The Council and Circle of Thorns really stand out as just annoying to fight. They aren't tricky or require counterplay, they just take longer to defeat due to resistances, revives and debuffs.

There is no cookie cutter build that will answer your wants because play goals vary. That said, what are your play goals beyond the damage defense( ie what many would of course want)? solo? groups? highest challenging post 50 content? Casual? etc. Also this is a simplification as some build for even very specific content only too. There have been various builds here and on the mids discord for both power sets and of course you can use mids as well to play around with what you may want to have. Since you best know your wants, coming up with a build yourself, posting here on the forums for feedback, and specifying your play goals specifically can help. That all said, Infinitum has a whole thread dedicated to tank builds for your to read all the pages through for insights as well:

That sounds like the npc is encountering a terrain mesh collision and triggering the /stuck mechanics which would port it to a spot where such a conflict doesnt occur. On maps with lots of uneven terrain or maps with lots of asset clutter, that can happen sometimes. Then again it could be some other terrain mesh issue.

Around the mapserve week in april, the price was around 3mil and in just 2 months its already dropped to 2.2-2.5, obviously activity generating more to be sold drives prices but also I think there's been a factor of people who have also been hoarding them have started to sell them, likely because either their expectations of use stopped or because they had speculated the would've remained better in value than they have. Monsterous aether is actually much easier to consistently obtain for even the non 50+ crowd and since 3 convert to 1 prismatic, that is generating probably the most likely continued source of dropping the prices of them. Also the blind auction system and people's tendency to list something for the lowest rate of the previous 5 sale prices also helps drive it down if volume out paces demand on an item like aethers do. I always tell people, especially the new and returnee folks, to sell asap their aethers due to this trend as well(which feeds it really). Quite frankly (and likely much to the chagrin of the person(s) who pushed for these currencies to be implemented) Im all for their prices dropping like a rock.

Your build is more group suited than solo suited unless you intend to drop difficulty on em. Are you wanting to build for defense/resistance first? Damage first? control/hold first? Team support first? Solo first? That also factors with the above. Your secondary is heavily group centric and focused on resistances for your team and defuffing so keep that in mind with what you're choosing. Did you intentionally choose to not take one of your ATO sets? Did you intentionally choose to not take haste? What are your incarnate considerations(keeping in mind the goals you intend)? You didnt click them for the build either.

1. Prismatics pretty much if sold at the market going rate instantly sell. The price consistently has been going down year after year since its inception. It will continue to drop in prices as time goes on. There are just simply more ways now than ever to produce primsatics(especially because of the frequency of monsterous aether that people convert. 2. Remember the AH is a blind system for all servers connected. That blind aspect to the system has helped obscure alot more than some actually realize. 3. Summer seasonally may create an uptick in price demand but I doubt it currently. And 1000% guaranteed once Halloween rolls around and people take all their alts over the last year to run through to get their guaranteed 10 aethers, well, that's going to see another downspike in prices too. 4. Unless more popular items are introduced to cause prismatics to be more in demand to balance/imbalance things, sale prices of them on the AH will continue to drop. I predict 1-1.5mil range by october at the current expected trends.