DawL

But if that's the way they want to play, what makes it "wrong"? I think that's the point Puma is trying to make - no one is saying EVERY player should be FORCED to do AE content, but there are plenty of people wanting to force the AE fans to do "regular" content. I personally think there's some awesome content in this game. Some I enjoy more than others - like Frostfire and most of the Hollows story. now that I don't have to try to walk/hover to the missions, LOL. Some content I think gets overdone -- Aeon, milked for D-Syncs, a few TFs that I hate because they are grindy and frustrating (Synapse, I'm looking at you, doing your TF with a meager few powers and enemies that kill your already weak endurance at that level). But overall there's a lot of good content. I don't *just* farm. I have severe altitis, and had several characters that I've played up through the regular content. But I do love me some fire-farming. It's something mindless I can do that lets me feel like a "superhero". I can do it solo, and I can do it while I am doing other things that require me to not stay at my desk (which is kind of an expectation if you are on a team doing missions).

I not sure I understand the statement about the original experience going the way of the dodo. Yes, the game has gotten easier (as most games do, through natural progression aka leveling). In addition to the usual mechanics, the CoX devs gave us Incarnates and IO sets, allowing for diverse and complicated builds that can often become quite uber. Are you referring to the fact that there are lots of QoL improvements here on Homecoming? Personally, that original grind on the NC Soft servers was rough and I am SO GLAD that Homecoming has made the game to require MUCH less of a time sink because my free time at this stage of my life is FAR more limited than it was back when the game first came out. Here's something to consider.... What if someone who longed for moderation and balance just simply didn't go for that uber build, or just didn't max out all their incarnates. That would allow them to feel challenged, right? I play with folks that have great builds and we have lots of fun playing together on very diverse teams with excellent dynamics but we play mostly for the camaraderie. We play to have fun with each other. No one in our group of friends really cares what level of awesome overpowered-ness (or not) you bring to the team. It's all about playing with characters we have FUN playing. Good example: I know there are a few folks who think Empathy is a dead, useless set - one person (not part of our regular group) actually said "Anyone who has an emp should just delete them" on voice comms - but I play empathy, I enjoy it, and my teammates enjoy the support enough that I actually get requests to bring one of my emps on many nights. I guess what I am trying to say is there are ways you can introduce challenge and difficulty from the player side, without getting EVERYONE ELSE'S experience modified by having the game itself changed. Want the original experience? Build a toon without a travel until level 14. Do all the lowbie content at +2 or +3. Don't get the Ouro portal, Team Transport, or mish port options. There are ways to "go back" to the way things were. I personally wouldn't, but hey - if hard mode is your thing, then that's awesome. In the end, offering the MOST choices of how to play is going to benefit the MOST people. Folks who like hard mode can run the ITF and ASF on the highest difficulty and feel challenged. But folks who like a more laid-back experience can do it on a low setting and get that "I can kick butt! I AM a superhero!" feeling from their character - even when they don't have the time or inf to super-respec into the latest and greatest ultimate build. It's all about time. If you have hours and hours to spend in Paragon City, that's awesome! But if you have limited time and want to get the most fun out of what little time you can spend, then priorities are different. As for me, I live real life in hard-mode. When I have a precious bit of free time to play, sometimes I just want to throat-punch villains in Paragon City because I can't throat punch the real life villains.

No match found on live servers. Okay, found it on test server. Ran 2 maps, clearing all enemies, just as I did on Brigg's map. Total was less than 6 mil for 2 runs (5,809,397). I noticed there are no boss critters. Is this why you earn so much less? Low total on Brigg's map for 2 clear-all runs was 7,717,439 from the test server. Same exact map on Indomitable, 2 clear-all runs was 11,047,050. I will say there was zero danger on the #23785 map of dying. But a lot less gained. I should also add - on ALL maps I actively avoid "helpers" so all XP on the map is earned by the farmer, no NPC damage is dealt, so as not to effect totals.

Hmm. I wondered why sometimes it was different. That makes sense.

So I used to play with a guy on live, that said he kept one of his characters on every server, only for the fact that he didn't want someone making a copy, pretending to be him, and potentially doing bad things to make him look bad. Being somewhat socially naive at the time, I'd never thought of this. Years later and wiser, I've seen this happen in other online communities. This is a HUGE PROBLEM on Facebook because duplicate names are okay on that platform, allowing bad actors and scammers to spoof your real friends. I could see a bad actor in CoH wanting to "get back" at someone and using a duplicated character to misbehave, so that the original player is blamed and loses friends. I know someone FB who had someone spoof their account (very easy to do) and then make hateful comments on a post using that duplicate profile. Because this person ran a business also, it caused a lot of problems for their business - which was very likely the intent of the person who spoofed them. Now, granted we have the "get global name" feature in CoH, but how many people might not bother to check that when they see someone being rude or disruptive? Or how many people would just assume that character - as well as the real player behind the original one - was guilty? Just something to think about, more so that just being "triggered" by someone having the same name on a totally different character.

Oh, well that makes sense. :( Is there a way to flag all characters on a shard when the account is logged in? I'm thinking like the mechanic that gives "known names" in Notes, btw.

Could it be possible to give a 0 sec logout timer when choosing "Quit to Character Selection"? That would help A LOT. The loading screen is fast (for me, anyway). The countdown is often 19 seconds. Three characters is nearly a minute spent staring a timer. Getting rid of that countdown would definitely be a help. Not even sure why it's there, to be honest.

Well said, and my thoughts exactly.

Maybe I am a bit confused, but are we talking about using things like "Experienced" in combo with Double XP? Or is the Double XP buff what you are calling the "boosters"? I thought because the game lets you use both, it was supposed to combine the benefits. (Double XP + however much "Experienced" boosts). So are you saying that it should have only been one or the other? Or am I looking at the wrong things? I am terribly bad at math but noticed a lot of times the values earned in AE seem to fluctuate anyway. This confusion may be why no one reported this.

Diversity of content is already there. Every farmer I personally know (self included) does more than just farming. Not with our farmers, per se, but with our other characters.

While farming, I was crafting while fighting and went to hit judgement (Ion) and didn't realize my "target" was still the workbench. The judgement successfully fired and hit the surrounding mobs. Not sure how a critter that doesn't draw aggro and isn't "seen" by them can target them but I tried this repeatedly and it indeed is targeting the nearest group and it works with all AoE attacks. It also worked in AP on a group of Hellions so it's not an AE thing.

I think there should definitely be some perk to doing the mastery at higher levels. The extra level of challenge should be recognized in some fashion.

* best begging pose * Oh PLLLLLLEEEAAASSE!!!! Pretty please. Ultra-pretty please. With sugar on top. No, wait, not just sugar! Unlimited toppings (except boba, there's evidently a world-wide shortage of boba). I would LOVE to check out the inside of that beautiful building.

Oh yeah, I forget her. That's the kinda mouthy broad. Yeah, she doesn't seem like the type that'd be easy to hold.

Apparently the link has already expired. 😞 I'd definitely be interested!

The Haunt on Torchbearer will be manned from 8PM to 12PM Eastern time for sure, maybe later if folks are still stopping by!

Years ago I was a "sysop" (Systems Operator - what they called their GMs) on what used to be called the Microsoft MSN Gaming Zone for a game called Fighter Ace, and that was their policy as well. I chose not because my "style" was pretty easy to pick out anyway, but most of the sysops did choose to keep their playing identity secret. He never let on that he was a GM to me, but I will always remember his kindness and willingness to help. He made a huge impression on me and even though I played the game before shutdown, I learned more from his guides than I ever knew back then. I teamed with him a few times, and found him to be one of the nicest players I have ever met. He will definitely be missed.

Thanks for adding the Haunt! Ghoulie will be there on Halloween and maybe a few others! We may need volunteers to "haunt" some rooms, and maybe a volunteer "Donator" to hand out goodies!

That was how I met him, though he never mentioned being a GM. He was holding a "hide and seek" and was in the atrium atop a building in AP. Gave me a Superpack, but even more important, a link to his guides, which totally changed the game for me. Such a nice, generous person. Deepest condolences to his family and his friends.

Ahh. I was on Liberty. Wasn't ever a serious PvPer. But good on the folks of Freedom for not putting up with him.

That could apply to just the Internet at large.

Wow! I did a quick search and yeah, this Twixt guy fits the definition of toxic. I daresay his calling his behaviour "research" or "experiments" is about the weakest excuse I have ever heard anyone use for being a complete and utter jerk (and griefing). I don't know how I missed this back then, as I was a pretty hardcore player at that time. Anyone know what server he played on? I played a lot in Warburg on my ill/emp (loved launching those rockets!). I have a lot of screenshots of her (Azazela) and my main, DawL, having fun in Siren's Call as well. Yeah, we did chat a lot with the villains, and team with them. I remember a certain stalker who was getting jumped repeatedly by a small group of heroes (I don't recall anyone named Twixt though) and Az promptly TP-Foe'd him into the hero hospital next to the rezzers, and told him to wait....after all, revenge is best served cold... *evil grin*. (Somewhere I have screenshots of a group of villains throwing a party in the hero hospital in Siren's, LOL.) But it was all in fun and we were never mean about it. From what the Reddit thread (of 11 years ago) shows, the guy knew what he was doing and talked smack to those he was doing it to. 😞 The bottom line was, we KNEW we weren't really HEROES, and we also understood that those we played *with* weren't really VILLAINS. Repeatedly feeding someone to the drones, or the NPCs is frustrating and NOT good for the community and thus the game. The goal is for players to enjoy playing together and keep coming back, not rage-quit and uninstall the game. I think that's why this game has for YEARS had the best gaming community I have ever witnessed - because most of the players are more into teaming than anything and we enjoy helping each other. And that just feels good! I am really surprised that this person's "research" was published (if indeed it was published as actual research) when he apparently didn't bother to let his subjects know they were participating. At least in medicine and psych, informed consent is a requirement. Highly unethical to do otherwise. I can't imagine going online and agitating people on purpose then authoring a paper on how they reacted. Bad form, bad ethics, and IMHO, bad person. I guess I am glad I either didn't know or don't remember this guy.

Thanks, that may have been it. I don't have anything memorized, but I may have had the table open.

She really fits the "Corruptor" concept so well. Very interesting story, and the screenshots are awesome!