Rathulfr

It seems to me that the nut of the problem lay in the fact that players no longer "unlock" Incarnate content/powers via the Mender Ramiel arc. All the Incarnate stuff just starts happening automatically when one hits 50, regardless of whether or not you ever meet or talk to Ramiel. It sounds like the OP is just asking for an option to disable that automatic unlock, perhaps as something that can be acquired at the P2W vendor. And that doesn't seem too unreasonable a request to make. Whether or not that's a request that can be fulfilled without a lot of work is a different question. On most of my characters, I prefer automatic Incarnation. But I could definitely see where I might also enjoy playing without automatic Incarnation, for a variety of reasons. The thematic reasons stated by the OP are the most obvious, and have merit. But I suggest that nostalgic reasons might also have merit: I'd love to return to the simpler times before Incarnates became a thing. I kind of do that already, as I usually maintain an "SO's only" alternate build on many of my characters. But as others have already pointed out, that's most easily accomplished by simply ignoring the Incarnate stuff: don't craft/equip anything for the Incarnate slots, and you're basically not Incarnate, as I don't believe there's any inherent benefit to them when they're not slotted. I'm not saying that's the best or only answer: it's just a good one, for the moment.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I already get enough crap for actually liking and playing Sentinels (I have a half-dozen or so), because "everybody knows" that Sentinels suck at both damage and defense, and contribute nothing to a team that isn't done better by other ATs. Sentinels are the red-headed step-child of Homecoming, and creating a melee-focused twin may instigate (see what I did there?) only more mockery and derision. Do we really need another melee AT? Why not just proliferate the assault sets to the existing melee ATs, instead? I'm not trying to be malicious, really: I'm all for more diversity of builds. But given all the psychic damage I've taken (ibid) for playing Sentinels, I'm not sure I'd wish that on anyone else who dares to love Instigators.

I played a Water/Poison Corruptor named "Duff-Man", whose power effects were colored gold and white like beer. I found Envenom and Weaken to be a bit underwhelming. But Alkaloid is a thematic treat, as its animation perfectly simulates the underhanded toss of a cold beer can. I've got it macro'ed with witty comments, like "Oh YEAH! Get DUFFED!"

Are we still doing +1, or are we simply using the Heart button to +1? If the former, then +1. If the latter, I clicked on that, too.

No. I must kill all the things, all the time. No kills for you.

Bom dia! Como vai, tudo bem? Eu sou meio Brasileiro, but my Portuguese is pretty rusty. That's pretty much all of it. ☺️ @Rathstar, Indomitable

My main villain, Wrongbow (A/TA Blaster, natch), impersonates Longbow in order to infiltrate and disrupt their operations. She's completely decked out in the Freedom Corps costume set, with the correct red and white color scheme. More than once on Longbow missions, team mates will say, "crap, I thought you were one of them" or "you startled me" or "I tried to target you". It always makes me smile when that happens.

This. And because of the high endurance cost of Sprint and the tightness of slotting, I usually use Sprint+Stealth IO sparingly. I usually only use it for ghosting glowie missions or solo play, and even then I turn it off when I start fighting. Without an additional slot or two for End Redux, Sprint just costs too much to leave on all the time, even with the Stealth IO.

/jranger -- For the love of God, man, don't change Propel's client-side randomness! If you do that, you'll ruin my favorite CoH drinking game! 😭

"Need" is entirely subjective. In my leveling build (above), I probably depend too much on Aim, Upshot, and Tactics. You might prefer to add a few +Acc, instead.

Uncle. I give up. You win.

I happily stand corrected.

You said otherwise! You said that Homecoming could not become a non-profit if they reach a licensing agreement with NCSoft. I disagree with you, because non-profits routinely use licensing agreements to provide services. The acquisition of a licensing agreement doesn't change a non-profit organization into a for-profit organization. That's what I was calling you out on.

And ultimately, I think that's what the Homecoming team is trying to negotiate with NCSoft. The lawyers on both sides are trying to hammer out a licensing agreement that works properly. None of that changes the status of Homecoming as an entity: it just changes the legal status of the services they provide.

What difference does it make it the non-profit is providing a video game or some other kind of service? What if the video game is the service it provides? There's nothing in non-profit law that prevents a non-profit organization from hosting video games. That's not what defines the nature of the non-profit organization. I'll give you an example: Homecoming's City of Heroes is allowing people outside of the license entity permission to use their licensed software, SQL Server. Every time you logon and play, you're using SQL Server. Another example is this BBS software we're using to communicate. Homecoming licenses that for this kind of usage, too. Everything anyone does on the web involves some kind of licensing somewhere, regardless of whether or not they're non-profit or for-profit. There's lots of different kinds of licenses and usages.

The only snag is that this would change Homecoming from a non-profit to a for-profit, which I don't think they want to do -- see other replies from them above. I think that the HC team is trying to avoid the whole microtransaction nonsense entirely. It's a hassle they don't need, and they know it would turn off a lot of people. So it's probably better just to avoid it entirely.

You're making a lot of assumptions there that don't make any sense. Licenses are not always limited to specific numbers of users -- it depends on the license, and the devil is in the details. Also, if you're using a web app, you're a user, period. Using an app doesn't imply or guarantee a transfer of the license: it just means the license is exercised, as intended. By licensing the software from NCSoft, Homecoming would no more be an "agent" of NCSoft than they would be an "agent" of Microsoft by licensing SQL Server. I'm beginning to think you don't really understand how software licenses or non-profits work.

Uh, what? I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. There's no "sharing" with a "license". The whole point of a license is that you're paying a fee for the privilege of using something you don't own. Homecoming pays for licenses to use Windows Server and SQL Server, and they probably pay other vendors for licenses to use their software, too. All of that software is used to provide services that are "shared" with Homecoming's clients/patrons. Pick any other non-profit organization that provides online services, e.g.: The United Way or The Salvation Army. They all pay for software licensing agreements for their operations, their websites, their web-based apps, etc. They're "sharing" their services, too. None of that changes them from a non-profit to a for-profit. Or am I misunderstanding something?

That's not right at all. Non-profit organizations license software all the time: it's part and parcel of their routine operating expenses. Paying for software licenses doesn't change a non-profit to for-profit. It simply means the amount of operating costs go up every month, for which they'll need to ask for additional donations to cover those costs. They're already paying other vendors for software licenses: e.g.: they're paying Microsoft for SQL Server. And Microsoft isn't demanding any subscriptions or microtransactions or creative control over the game. They simply want a check every month, just like all the other vendors. How would a licensing agreement with NCSoft be any different? And if it were, why would HC choose to agree to that in the first place?

Thanks, @oldskool. At least it's a starting point. I appreciate the help.

Where can I find documented references for Sentinel damage numbers? Ideally, I'd like to see a table that compares the base numbers against those of the other ATs. Yes, I know there's a lot of other factors besides base DPA/DPS, but one needs to start somewhere. TIA.

How would you build the toughest Scrapper? That's basically the same thing, given that Sentinel secondaries are essentially almost the same as Scrapper secondaries*. (*: yes, we all know they're not exactly the same, but same enough to answer this question, i think) (edit) My vote goes to either Willpower or Invulnerability, but that's only because they seem pretty tough to me. Heck, even my Regen is fairly "tough", after a fashion. I don't really pseudotank with my Regen like I do with my WP or SR Sents, though. I haven't yet played Bio or Rad, but what I've read about them indicates that they're probably even tougher.

I edited my post above with more information to answer this question.

No: any IO that offers set bonuses can be attuned, so that you benefit from the bonuses whenever sidekicked up or exemplared down (to the min/max levels of the IO set). The generic Invention IOs cannot be attuned (they already are, basically), only boosted. For example, the minimum level of Numina's Convalescence is 30, and the maximum is 50. If you slot a level 50 Numina's +Heal, its effect is +42.4% when you're level 47-50, but if you go below 47, its effect is 0%. By attuning that IO, you make it fully effective all the way down to level 27, but that effects scales down to +34.8% (the value of the level 30 equivalent). So if you exemplar a lot (I know I do), and know how you're going to build your character, it's a good idea to get/buy the attuned versions of your desired enhancements at the minimum level required (e.g., 30 is still the minimum level require for equipping the Numina's IOs). But if you don't exemplar a lot, or are planning to play at the highest levels most of the time, you're better off boosting the IOs, instead. For example, you can boost that Numina's +Heal to 50+5, and increase its benefit to +53%. But it will only work that way while you're levels 47-50. (edit) This is not the case with generic Invention IOs, where the benefit -- and the boosts -- are effective at all levels. If you boost a level 50 +Recharge five times to 50+5, it goes from +42.4% to +53%, and remains that way all the way down to level 1. If you boost two of them to 50+5, you'll cap out to the ED maximum of +95.9%, effectively freeing up a slot for something else. This is what I've done with Hasten: I put two 50+5 Recharges in it, to replace the three 30+ Recharges that would've been necessary to cap it previously. (edit) Note: this has no effect on the IOs with global procs, which always provide the same benefit regardless of level/attunement. For example, the Luck of the Gambler +7.5% global recharge is always effective, even though its minor +defense bonus may not be (depending on level or attunement).

Oh yes, I know: I love my Fire/Regen Sent. I was just surprised by how easy it was to do with WP. I hadn't expected that.