Robotech_Master

Gotta say, this is the easiest possible way to get to Cimerora if you're wanting to get in on an ITF. I don't think they make base porders for Cimerora, or at least I don't recall seeing any. But you just select "Time's Arrow," lock for your group, submit, and queue, and boom, there you are right next to Impy. This is particularly handy given that the ITF is the Weekly Strike Target at the moment. :)

Did this with five other people who hadn't done the mission yet. We had autocomplete set to "always ask," but it didn't even bother asking us at the end of the last mission, it just acted as if it was turned off and only completed the mission of the one running it. (Highlights included the mission owner on one run "accidentally" choosing to tell them to kill the hostages rather than saving them both ("Oops!"), and we then had to fight a monster and some mobs that showed up to kill them. But we still got the Incarnate component choice at the end.) I only got 3 Commons and 3 Uncommons out of it, though. Meh. :P

As someone pointed out in another thread, nearly all the content in the game is "endgame content" now, thanks to Ouroboros. We can, at any time we wish, go back and experience any content we missed--with characters who, thanks to Attuned IO sets and the +5 level differential, are much more capable of handling that content than we would have been on the way up. (There are a few exceptions, like safeguard missions from particular zones, but you can always go to the zone and beg for a team to tag along with to get those.) So I don't see any real reason to slow my roll. I'll happily level up as fast as I can, which thanks to 2XP is just a few days, even without any overt farming. Once my character is "finished," I'll happily run them through any arcs I'm nostalgic for, at any time I feel like.

If you're looking for the old Gnarly's Speed On Demand bindkit, someone's put it up here on a file locker site: https://mega.nz/#F!4HB2kAoC!Hy1m4EXbcyrPXxPPMCSb8w The program is a bit user-unfriendly, but it does work. Some folks prefer it to CityBinder, as it seems to make fewer files and use them a bit more efficiently. When you run it, you get a window that asks you a series of questions, then asks for a subdirectory to output the binds to. You can make multiple sets of binds, for characters who fly or just run, for characters with and without superspeed, for characters who have or don't have drawn weapons, etc., in any combination, as long as you direct them to different subdirectories. The only problem with the binds it produces are that the program was created before the command /bindloadfilesilent was added to the game, so using its output results in a constant bind load spam to the System channel every time you press a key. (Unless, of course, you go through every one of a zillion different files and hand-edit the bindloadfile command to bindloadfilesilent.) I wonder if there's any way to tweak it to use that silent command instead of the non-silent one it uses now, without having recourse to the source code?

It seems to be a thing lately, at least on Torchbearer, that I see people advertising in the /LFG channel for Task Force formation, but adding, "...but no Warshades!" Why is this? I mean, I do remember back on live, teaming with Kheldians would bring you Quantums, Void Hunters, and Shadow Cysts behind every bush. But I've teamed with Peacebringers and Warshades in the new game, and not seen a single one of them to my recollection--kind of to my disappointment, actually, as I wanted the extra challenge on my Tanker and Brute characters. But even if quantums and cysts are still around, why single out Warshades? Shouldn't teaming up with Peacebringers be just as bad?

As nearly as I've been able to make out, Heroes and Villains is the same as Rogues and Vigilantes, just with different card backs on them.

If you get the timing exactly right, you can actually plant two bombs on a raid--one at the beginning, and one exactly 30 minutes later. Raids last just slightly longer than 30 minutes, so the opportunity is there if you plant really early and really late. Apparently it doesn't actually extend the length of the raid, oh well, but that's still two bombs' worth of credit toward the badge, I think. Also, on the raids I've been on, I've nearly never had people call out specific pylons in specific order. People generally just sweep counter-clockwise and head to the nearest one next, and it seems to work out fine. I'm not sure that level of micromanagement is really necessary when most people already know what they're doing.

I keep discovering new tricks and things to craft. For example, there are categories that just have 1 uncommon and 1 rare set at levels 31 to 50, so any uncommon you craft is guaranteed a one-jump conversion to rare, which then for one more converter you can change to some random other rare. But I recently discovered the same is true for some categories at levels 10-14, too--and that's the range where Karma and Steadfast Protection live. So I could convert uncommons to other uncommons hoping for one of those, then convert the uncommons to rares--or else convert the uncommons to rares and randomly convert them, then if I hit a defense or damage resist set, convert them back.

Glad I could help!

Haven't you ever gone grocery shopping? Seasonal stuff always costs more out of season. :)

When I convert LotGs, I generally just sell whatever they turn into unless their selling price is really low, like 2 to 3 million. In which case I might convert-in-set once to something else. But converting in set enough times for that 1 in 5 chance to come up can require enough conversions to eat up any profit out of the difference in price. Unless, of course, they were selling at 12 million. Then it might actually be worth it.

I have Dark Grasp six-slotted with Basilisk's Gaze. It has some pretty decent set bonuses, including hefty bonuses to recharge rate and regeneration. I'm vaguely considering replacing it with Entomb, as it's about the only hold power I have that I don't have something unique in, but I really don't wanna lose that recharge rate bump. Shadowy Binds and Living Shadows, you really don't need to bother slotting for immobilization. As a controller, your Immob is going to last a good long time even unslotted (especially if you add sets that include mez bonuses as part of their set bonuses). Go with damage instead. I have Thunderstrike in my Shadowy Binds, which includes a nice bump to overall accuracy and another to travel power speed. Might switch it up to Apocalypse or Winter's Bite, down the road. In Living Shadows, I have Overwhelming Force, from the Summer Blockbuster trial. It provides a decent regeneration bump, and 4 points of knockback protection which is sufficient to protect from most in-game knockback, and it means I don't have to find another defense, resist, or travel power slot somewhere to cram in a KB protection IO. (It wouldn't work with my travel powers anyway because my Dark/Dark 'troller teleports.) Plus, the knockdown proc is nice in a cone AoE attack. I have Superior Overwhelming Presence in my Fearsome Stare, and Superior Will of the Controller in my Heart of Darkness, both of them sixed out. Both of them increase the duration of all mez effects, plus they include very nice recharge rate, recovery, etc. And every tiime I fire Fearsome Stare, there's a good chance I get an Energy Font. Yay, another pet! Shadow Field has six-slotted 50+5 Unbreakable Constraint. Before I was able to move up to that, I had Basilisk's Gaze in it, too. More accuracy, recharge rate, and recovery boosts, among others. Good stuff. I couldn't six everything. I have Haunt 4-slotted with Call to Arms (another recharge rate bump), and Umbra Beast 4-slotted with Edict of the Master (another travel power speed bump). On the Defender side, Howling Twilight and Tar Patch are both good enough without much slotting needed that I just have one and two 50+5 Recharge Rate Common IOs in them, respectively. Twilight Grasp is six-slotted with Touch of the Nictus (another hefty accuracy bump). Dark Servant is sixed with Cloud Senses (more recharge rate and travel speed buffs). Darkest Night has four of Dark Watcher's Despair (another recharge rate bump). Shadow Fall has four of Luck of the Gambler (including the global recharge rate), Fade has two of Luck of the Gambler plus a 50+5 recharge rate common. Soul Absorption has two of Performance Shifter plus the Numina's Convalescence regen/recovery proc. (My Health has the Regenerative Tissue regen proc in it.) I took Maneuvers with three of LotG in it, including recharge proc, and Indomitable Will with just the LOTG recharge proc. Mind Over Body just has the Aegis psi/mez resist IO in it. Psionic Tornado has four of Force Feedback. And, finally, I've got Combat Jumping, with yet another LotG proc. Oh, and my Stamina has two of Performance Shifter in it, including the end rec proc, plus a 50+5 EndMod common IO. I've got Recall Friend with a 50+5 range IO, and Teleport with two 50+5 range and one 50+5 end reduc IO. Between the procs and all the IO set recharge bonuses, and two 50+5 recharge IOs in it, I basically have perma-Hasten. With all the accuracy and mez duration set bonuses, I don't worry too much that a lot of my sets cap out well below 50. Also, everything except Unbreakable Constraint is Attuned. I'm pretty happy with this character's build.

Now, I understand what "Overpowered!" means, that being when your Controller inherent kicks in and you amp your mez on someone up by +1 magnitude. But what do the floating words "Controlled!" and "Waylaid!" mean? I've been seeing some of those lately, too. Would appreciate some clarification.

Added a bit to that section to try to make it clearer. The game will let you take the origin-bonus version that doesn't match your origin...but you won't actually get the damage bonus on it.

I think the transparency effect is a relic of the power's original nature--it was originally group intangibility, which a lot of players found annoying because it meant that if the Controller panicked, suddenly everyone found themselves intangible and unable to hit anything. Since it no longer actually is intangibility, I agree--that transparency effect should go.

There are about a zillion jet packs in the P2W store, but the super jump jet pack seems to be missing--not the free "jump pack" that just lets you go straight up, but the jet pack from the Mayhem/Safeguard missions that uses the Malta Sapper model, that simulates the Super Jump power. If it wouldn't be too unbalancing, I'd kind of like to be able to buy time for that particular pack.

If everyone gets 5 free slots they can use for knockback protection, that means that knockback protection simply becomes irrelevant. Everyone will put KB protection in those slots, and not anywhere else. That means they'll have extra slots available to put elsewhere, and they won't have to take Acrobatics at all (unless they need it for hold protection). That's a pretty big PVE implication right there. People wouldn't have to choose whether to suffer knockback or reduce the effectiveness of their build in other ways. It's not even a question--you have these free slots that you can't use for much else; you might just as well throw KB protect in. And hence, knockback in PVE becomes entirely irrelevant, because no one ever needs to experience it, or to go out of their way to protect against it. That's simply unbalanced.

The base buff runs out, so you'd need to be running back there all the time to get it.

Well, if we want equivalent protection to Acrobatic's mag 11 Knockback protection, you need three mag 4 KB protects--Karma, Steadfast Protection, that universal travel power, or a set like Overwhelming Force that provides mag 4 KB protection as a set bonus. I have that many slots in there on both my Tanker and my Brute, who don't want to have to run yet another toggle but don't want to get knocked on their keister all the time. Letting the Prestige Sprints take Knockback protects would immediately free up those 2 or 3 slots even in PvE builds. Which seems to me like it would make Acrobatics effectively worthless--no one would take it if KB protection was effectively free. (Or a few million Inf, which might as well be free as easy as it is to make.) That seems a little unbalancing to me.

All right, causing the TF to fail would probably be a bad idea, but I feel like there needs to be some kind of penalty to keep killing hostages from being attractive. Having to do a mission that takes longer than rescuing the hostage would have, or just having to repeat that one mission until you do it right maybe.

You know, the state of your Influential finances really need not be a concern...

I've modified the quick-start section on starting up from zero to use a slightly better, not to mention simpler, method.

Which may not actually be convenient at the moment. In any case, one of the best things about CoH is that there are just so darned many ways to get from place to place. Transit, TUNNEL, Ouro, Pocket D, Paragon Dance Party, base teleporters, etc. It's nice to learn about another, that can be used immediately from wherever you are, without any cooldown or other prerequisites beyond unlocking the contact and being the right level.

A nice, well-written guide. Simple and to the point. I like it!

If you've planned out your build and know that you're going to end up with particular sets when it's all done, it can be worthwhile to start slotting Attuned versions of those sets as soon as you're able to. But not everyone plans out that far ahead. So, if you don't know what sets you plan to slot, you might as well start using IOs in the early to mid 20s. Level 25 IOs are almost as good as SOs, and level 30 and 35 are about on the order of white or green SOs. And they won't expire, so you can take your time about replacing them if you need to. (Really, that's one of the best things about IOs. No more "Eek, I've gone red, gimme 10 minutes to spend buying thirty or forty green SOs.")