AlwaysAPrice

A 1/8 x 1/8 grid setting in the base editor would be really helpful for working with Tiny letters, particularly the Motiva font. The extra degree of precision would of course be useful in all other editing contexts, but that's the particular use case that prompts the post.

SG Leader's Global: @AlwaysAPrice Discord handle: alwaysaprice Base or SG Name: Blue's Shard: Everlasting Passcode: DABADEE-29445

Convert the reward merits into Hero or Villain Merits, you can email those to yourself then decide what to spend them on later.

My basic binds: ~: Sprint or Prestige Sprint/Slide as suits the character G: Beast/Athletic/Ninja until a proper travel power is acquired and takes over the bind shift+G: favored temp/prestige travel power such as Rocket Board, or if I plan to keep using the Run I'll move it here and use ctrl+T if I pick up a temp; for teleport, bound to shoot me in the direction I'm looking shift+click: precision Teleport H: Combat Jumping or Hover, unless the character has SJ & SS in which case those will be on G & H and the def toggle will probably be shift+H T: Aim or Build Up shift+T: If I have a second damage/power self-buff it goes here (T for Aim, shift+T for Soul Drain on my rad/dark/dark for example) ctrl+T: Destiny - usually only for characters that take Clarion for the mez protection where I want to hit it the second I can, the rest I'll either put on a bar or click when I need them Y: Hasten U: T9 Armor, Shadow Meld, or other oshit button shift or ctrl + U: as above if more than one shift+1: combine T1 insps into reds shift+2: combine T2 insps into reds just T1 & T2, I turn off larges along with BFs & rezzes Macros I've never used much other than /macro base "editbase 1" on anyone I build on, and on one of my more recent characters who's the only one I've got that uses all three builds, has a couple costumes suited to each, and switches with my whim. I set up a macro button using the Mutation SO's Vitruvian symbol graphic for my Base Teleporter once on my characters in a Mutation-themed group that uses the Vitruvian symbol. I used a "deploy my epic's ice storm centered on myself" macro for my Ice/SJ/Cold tank whose concept didn't allow for her to summon phenomena at a distance, but eventually stopped bothering with it just because it was a little fiddly to keep track of as I still had to keep the power somewhere on my bar so I could see when I could fire it. That's the one thing macros need for me to want to bother with them more: a command that links the macro to one of my powers so the macro button can reflect that power's recharge status, which would let me remove the actual power from my bar. As it is, their convenience comes with a clutter cost.

Just before the quoted bit I mentioned I was talking about a different build that still has all the Stalker tricks, that response was about why I prefer Stalker DB combo implementation to Other DB in general, not in the context of the gimmick build - I acknowledged the main factor in any underperformance for that build is the lack of Assassin's in the OP.

Was just musing to a friend the other day that I'd like to separate the powers from Morality, make them a separate choice called Methods or something and make them either a Prestige Power pick at P2W or use the Field Analysts/Fateweavers to grant/swap them. So you can be labeled as Inspiring (Call to Justice), Intimidating (vigi Fear), Mischievous (rogue Confuse), or Violent (Frenzy) independent of whatever your Morality is, allowing for Inspiring Villains, Mischievous Heroes, Violent Vigilantes, Intimidating Rogues, etc., whatever combination suits you.

For me it's just the opposite, I think Stalker is the best implementation of DB's combo mechanic (attack vitals does suck tho). Before this gimmick respec I routinely used Empower, Sweep, and Weaken and still have all of them on AoE-focused build 3 though I don't often bother with Weaken. Empower & Sweep in particular see a lot more frequent use with Superior Assassin's Mark in play (Empower becomes virtually perma because it's rare to go 20 seconds without proccing a BU refresh; also continuous Sweep may not be reliable but it is not infrequent and can be outright hilarious). Meanwhile, with the DB Scrappers I've played, the performance I got just cycling a handful of attacks in an order that didn't line up with any combo felt way better than anything the combos could do for me. With a Scrapper if the build has room for it I might try to keep one or two combos at least available for situational use but they don't seem integral to the playstyle. On Stalkers they all just flow way more naturally into what I want to be doing. Dual chainsaws/fiery aura for the least hidden hideless stalker possible.

I really enjoy the EBs, they look cool and put up a decent fight, but I've only been ToTing either solo on tricked out 50s who can handle them or in PI/GV leagues. The couple times I have run into them on lowbies have not been so fun and as a result I end up only ToTing in teams/leagues on anything lower level. My hope is, rather than disabling the EBs for soloists altogether, maybe in future they can tie it to the Solo EB/AV difficulty toggle so those who can handle them alone can switch that on to continue to encounter them solo and everyone leaving it at default doesn't have to worry about it on their own.

A "Ninja Assault" mixing a few katana attacks with archery ranged powers could work.

It sure does, makes you Hidden when it procs whether or not you have the Hide power. Honestly, Hide becoming optional made me reconsider just how necessary it is as anything more than a LotG mule, and I'm not convinced it is. It's probably semi-vital for levelling up and obviously from-Hide AS is great burst damage, but aside from quickly eliminating one nuisance minion or lieutenant or jumpstarting the only slightly longer elimination of a boss, I find I don't really *need* that burst very often at all and can just chew through things with my normal ST or AoE attack chains (with fastfire AS that is, not in the AS-less case describbed in my 'Stapper' thread posted earlier) as fast or faster than factoring in the interrupt period allows.

Almost the first thing I did when Page 5 launched was rebuild my recent favorite stalker's (DB/Bio) default build to drop Hide just because I could, then decided to go a step further and ruled out both Assassin's Blades and Placate - no stalker-specific powers allowed unless you count Build Up since DB/ uses a Follow Up type power on other ATs iirc. (For additional context, the character has all 3 builds fully slotted out with different epics to represent different flavors of power she can access with accompanying shifts in offensive/defensive priority, along with various costume slots assigned to build swap macros; I decided her "most human" base build could get away with leaving the supernaturally effective stealth of Hide to her 'powered up' forms). And uhhhhh it's really not bad? As DB/, it gives me an opportunity to play with the combos I passed over on her other builds, and with the ATOs I still have a way to become Hidden. Like I don't proc the Hide as reliably without having it on AS but I still get a hidden crit here and there and even, if I luck out on the proc when finishing the last enemy of a spawn, a period of usable travel stealth now and again. My overall killspeed is down, especially when it comes to cleaning up stragglers that didn't get AoE'd down, since I don't have those quick clean AS crits to mop up with, but really not by that much! It still functions well, it's just a scrapper that uses Stalker ATOs. Anybody else having dumb fun with hideless stalkers yet?

Yeah that's something you have to do to some extent, not really something that can be automated (at least not within the terms of service). Most likely want to dual-box the announcement character on a second account if you want to keep playing normally on your main one at the same time, then just alt-tab over once every 10 minutes or so to send the announcement to whatever channels are appropriate. As mentioned above you can put them on a TF/Ouro/AE arc to disable AFKing out as well, then just leave them whereever you want them with the information in their bio. Use either the character name or an /afk message like "/afk Read my bio for event details!" for something above their head to draw attention.

As Spectral Wounds is not a part of this powerset, recommend changing its mention in Phantasm's description to Phantom Army, which is and explains illusory damage in its own description.

Another aspect particular to RP communities is that we are often intermingling with people who RP for different reasons from ourselves. For some, roleplaying is just part of the game, a natural outgrowth of creating a character or a fun way to flavor up their activities in-game without a great deal of personal investment or attachment. For others, it can be a more personal exercise, either as a form of creative expression or as a way to safely experiment with and explore their own identity, and which lens a player views their own RP through informs their read on the intentions and motivations of others. So you get situations where the first kind of RPer quips about a comic book trope someone else's character reminds them of, but the mocked character's player being one of the other sorts may receive that as unwelcome criticism on their writing or creativity, or as a personal attack on a trait of their own they've invested in their character. Coupled with the just plain "it's roleplay", which as an activity generally encourages and rewards emotional investment in and identifying with one's character, even for the less invested type of player, it's easy for small-time disagreements and minor slights to add up into simmering resentments until each next one seems more and more like an intentional attack. Plus people just seem to get more satisfaction out of kvetching about their annoyances amongst their friends than discussing any problems with the person they have them with, usually and ironically out of fear of it turning into drama.

Was just going to suggest this. While another obstacle might just be that the "Focused" is likely initially interpreted by many as not meaning "focused testing" so much as "focus your feedback on this particular topic and not all the other ones", having some threads dedicated to tester-to-tester interaction where people interested in the changes can freely discuss with each other - not the people creating those changes - their thoughts and experiences with what they're testing, to refine their thoughts before submitting their actual test feedback, could help. Or instead of Focused/Unfocused, Focused Testing and Focused Feedback per topic and just let Feedback be feedback and accept that some of it will come from those seeing the proposed changes here for the first time who just want to have their say as participants in this community who will be affected by them, then use Focused Testing as the "I've been on Brainstorm and tested this topic's feature and this is what I observed or think about that experience"-only threads.

If this is something you're noticing on sub-50s with XP Boosters going, or on 50s with Patrol XP since it was functioning the same way, the first set of beta patch notes for the new Page included this note: The note was removed in subsequent patch notes and isn't in the ones that accompanied the page launch, but at least on Beta it remained in effect after the note was removed. Haven't been on to play since the page went live to check for myself but if it remained in through to launch, it would probably explain the amount of XP reduction you're seeing better than the AE powerset reward changes. Edit I was about to add after rereading what I quoted before my keyboard fell clean off the desk and managed to trigger posting: this would explain it if you meant you were seeing 75% of what you used to, anyway. 75% LESS would be something way beyond explaining through these changes.

Given it already has Taunt & Placate resistance as a nod to the idea of focusing on assault making one more resistant to distraction, I wouldn't mind a (very) tiny amount of Psi Resistance being added just to bring it into parity with Tactics & Maneuvers as a potential set/unique-IO mule. I don't really think Assault itself needs improvement, but my one gripe that gets it left out of many builds I'd like it on is that I can't do anything interesting with it slotwise.

Only reason I've been able to think of is that offensive toggles generally work on 'ticks', reapplying (or rolling tohit to apply) their power's effects every second or two, and it's probably easier to suppress the ticking of the toggle than to notify each instance of the effects they've placed whether or not the caster is mezzed. So a small suppression period could be warranted just for the sake of ensuring that blink-and-you'll-miss-it mez, like a sleep that hits you in the middle of a bunch of other attacks that wake you right back up, has any meaningful effect by giving the toggle's effect a chance to actually wear off before it can start ticking again. Aside from that, I would really rather offensive toggles just be given the same QoL/buff-style treatment defensive toggles received; defensive toggles come right back into effect when the mez breaks even though they also have recharge and animation times that are fully bypassed by the process. My hunch is offensive suppression was implemented because maybe there's something in advanced difficulty content forcing melee to contend with mez for the first time since Ghost Widow? Certain tanks getting their taunt/damage/debuff/control auras shut down could have bad ramifications for the rest of the team if they have to stop generating aggro for 10-12 seconds toggling everything back on. If that's what led to this it's a pretty good compromise for that specific circumstance, it just comes as a bit of a sideswipe to several support sets in other circumstances.

As I mentioned a couple days ago on the AE thread (where the note was in build 1), the patch note on that change is missing from the Build 2 notes (but is still in effect), and the previous patch note didn't mention that the change is also being applied to Patrol XP.

Really minor note from checking out its Info, the new currency has a "salvage class" identical to its name: Looking through what I had on hand on a 50, this seems to otherwise be the case only for enhancement-modifying salvage (Boosters/Catalysts/Enhancements/Unslotters), while anything that's a currency ( ___ Merits, Brainstorm Ideas) is normally classed as "Special Salvage". Very entertained by the small chance for any mission completion to drop Aether, because I just got my first at level 5 from...meeting the Shining Stars. I can totally see myself making decisions about what lore elements and enemy groups to tie my character's story to based on what content ends up randomly dropping Aether for them as they level, marking those as fateful moments.

For each X number of names they want to camp, which gets more tedious to track the lower X is. Tedium can be a deterrent, enough to reduce casual camp-and-forget name squatting if not dedicated hoarders at least. Future account creation could also be limited.

This really would be a meaningful follow-up to the name release system, if it's possible to do for future accounts only (or with some means of grandfathering in existing accounts). Nothing is as likely to prompt future name camping by the new players HC looks like it wants to attract as the sight that they have 1000 slots to work with, so every passing half-formed idea they might have can be claimed now and fleshed out later (which isn't something I think is actually a bad thing in need of discouraging but it is how a lot of names get taken out of circulation, "I can totally do something with that after I finish the thirty characters I'm already working on")

Regarding both this and the Mercy AE removal, some light but not wholly insignificant content has been removed by this change. In both locations is the Architect Studio Manager NPC who stands next to the elevator on the ground floor and provides a short quest to introduce new players to Architect Entertainment and the instructor NPCs that have more detailed information about how to use it, as well as the ticket vendor and AE hospital. There's also a handful of other NPCs used in that intro quest that were unique to the Atlas/Mercy AEs. Checked Kings Row and Port Oakes on Brainstorm and doesn't look like they were moved to the next most accessible AEs.

Just reporting that the patch note about the change to XP Boosters (previously in the AE changes section) is missing altogether from the Build 2 notes but is still in effect when tested.

While I wasn't stressed enough about the vet XP removal to post on that particular topic, I greatly appreciate that the feedback on it was considered and a less broad method of addressing the infinite merit fountain of AFK-farming new alts is being tested. I love having the option to farm my Alpha level shift out of the way in a few levels, but if the change had gone through I'd be fine doing that via the many other perfectly sufficient methods of grinding out XP solo or teamed that already exist; I have almost never used Empyreans for Merits, the ability to stockpile the remainder of a character's vet level Empyreans after they T3 or T4 everything through a mix of farming and trialing and other play to jumpstart the next build's incarnates is far far more valuable to me. That said I definitely understand people's concern for those who may have been stockpiling merits with the option to convert them if they had no other use for them in mind and who may miss this change coming down. One idea I have for that would be the granting of a special one-use power to all existing characters via the Character Mail inbox when this goes live that, when claimed with a confirmation message, converts all Empyreans in the player's inventory to Reward Merits (at the 1:10 exchange rate of course). Could even keep that around, add a version as a Super Pack drop that can convert 10 Emps to 100 Merits with each charge. There's also the option of just slowing the influx of Reward Merits and allowing those with stockpiles to continue to convert by putting Emp-to-Merit conversions on a daily timer like the full value Shard:Thread conversion. Straying into suggestion territory I realize but just musing on how the change could be made with the least disruption possible to those it might affect adversely. Otherwise I welcome the change.