Zolgar

In general, -4 is plenty, -8 is pointless, -9+ is solid. That seems counter-intuitive, I know, but there is a reason: MOST KB in PVE, is mag 4 or below, so if you have -4 kb, you will be protected from most KB you'll face. Most KB that is above mag 4 is also above mag 8. So there is very little benefit of slotting 2 -4 KB IOs. -9 will protect you from just about anything in the game, aside from a few things that have cheater magnitude KB that will even throw around a level 50 tank. As a controller, you really don't need more than the -4 from one of the IOs, if you can find another power for more benefit than Acrobatics. When I am slotting like a /fire brute (also no inherent KB protection), I usually shoot for -10 or -11, in form of either Steadfast, Karma, and a -3 bonus from a PVP set, or Steadfast OR Karma, and 2 of the -3 set bonuses. (Fury of the Gladiator and Gladiator's Armor both give -3 at 3 slots.)

Yes indeed, I truly believe CoH was a happy mistake for the most part. A lot of the later mobs are just.. over designed. Too many debuffs, way too many buffs... NightWard is a friggin nightmare depending on which mobs you are up against. Feels like the mobs are designed for level 50+ content, not 20-30. Same with Preatoria. Huge ambushes, tough mobs with mezzes and debuffs you generally wouldn't see until the late 20s at the very earliest (and iirc they were on *minions* not LT or bosses). It feels like what you get when players make AE maps with custom mobs and try to make things overly difficult by giving them too many good powers. Now if a player enjoys this stuff, more power to them. But zoning through a portal on level 30ish x8 team, only for nearly the entire team to instantly wipe because the devs decided to make a faction full of mini-masterminds who cast Darkest Nights, mezzes and res debuffs *and* have them camp the portal, not my idea of fun.. To be fair, around that time, people were complaining about how trivial the content was, how there was no challenge in the game anymore, how a good team could just rofflestomp everything without even thinking about it. So the devs took those complaints to heart and made content that was challenging, they made content that you had to use tactics to beat, that a team just trying to wrecking ball through it would run in to trouble. The problem with this is that in so doing, they made it excessively hard for people to solo or run with less optimized teams. Regarding the OP: Enemy: Carnies Master Illusionists. Enemy group: Honestly? Vahzilok. Some groups, Carnies, Malta, Circle of Thorns, etc. can be problematic, but for the most part by the time you face the worst parts of them you have the tools to deal with it. Vahzilok are a low level enemy group that, in the time you face them, you are almost guaranteed to not have the tools you need to face them since they deal one of the two least resisted damage types in the game (toxic), and have pretty intense recharge slows, at a level when you have so few attacks you might not even have a full chain without recharge debuffs. Map: Oof, this is a tough call. I would have to say any Council map with the water room, closely followed by anything in Orangabangatangofoxtrotdafuqidk.

Just to note, quotations are required when you're making a macro do multiple commands. See, if I do /macro Blah powexecname smite$$say DOOM! It will create a macro named Blah that will execute the power Smite, and I will say DOOM! If I do /macro blah "powexecname smite$$say DOOM!" then I will create a macro named blah that will execute Smite and make me say DOOM! There were no quotations used in the macro I made you because it was only a single command.

Rewards for them cease entirely at 100 and beyond. So far I have seen someone in the 150 range on Everlasting. So, while I'm sure there is some theoretic maximum, I doubt it is low enough any of us ever have to worry about hitting it.

You make a thread titled, literally, "When using Lore goes wrong." The body of the first message can be summed up to: *self aggrandizing statement about lore knowledge* "This guy had the lore wrong, and wouldn't change his character so I ignored him." Then you're surprised when people respond saying that the way to avoid such conflicts is to chill, instead you double down, and imply that people who don't RP the same way you do don't love the game as much as you do, while insisting that you don't have to roleplay with anyone you don't want to. (Not that anyone said you did.) You are also claiming to not be elitist, while very clearly advertising that if someone doesn't live up to your standards, you will just ignore them and be done with it. This doesn't sound to me so much like you wanted a discussion as you wanted to say "my way is the right way, so do it my way or don't do it (with me) at all."

Yes and no. People will still open them because 1) they don't know better, and 2) blind packs are fun to open.

Yes, especially in combat. I don't really see there being much need to change it more than once a mission, definitely not on the fly in the middle of combat.

You COULD dirty hack it. /macro target "bind tab target_custom_next enemy alive sapper" >.>

Was he like a /fire scrapper without Healing Flames? That might do it.

It takes like 10 seconds to edit the macro, just when you're doing a mission where you have a type of foe you need to target. Doesn't really count as 'a lot of work' to me, but YMMV. I do really wish that target_enemy_rank was a thing, too. That would be super useful for several characters I play. I'd probably bind tab to target_enemy_near$$target_enemy_lt$$target_enemy_boss which, if the command worked, would try to target a boss, if there was no boss it would try to target a lt. if there was no lt, then it would target the nearest enemy.

We've all been there. Facing Malta and not seeing the Sapper, running an ITF and trying to pick all of the Surgeons out of the crowd, flying over a huge open world map looking for the uniquely named boss. These are just some of the cases where being able to click a button to auto-target something of a certain name would be useful. That's where this little button comes in to play! /macro PT target_custom_next enemy alive <name> Whenever you click that it will target the next closest enemy that is alive and has the name you selected. When you're doing content with a priority target, simply right click the macro and select 'edit' which will pop up a text box with the macro's current command line, and change the name in it. Doing an ITF make it target_custom_next enemy alive Surgeon Malta? target_custom_next enemy alive sapper Freakshow? target_custom_next enemy alive stunner What if you always want to target the closest such enemy? That would be target_custom_near enemy alive <name> While this macro is obviously super beneficial for strong single target killers, it can be great for just about anyone. In the thick of a melee sometimes it's hard to pick out your targets. Debuffers with anchor'd debuffs (Rad and Dark for example) can use it to pick the strongest foe out of a crowd every time An interesting thing you can do, is even make it look for multiple types of foes with one click: /macro PT "target_custom_next enemy alive Surgeon$$target_custom_next enemy alive Sapper$$target_custom_next enemy alive Stunner" or whatever you may like. You could even open the macro up with target_enemy_next which would then make the macro target the next enemy if there were nothing within range with any of those names.

I keep joking about "DFB, must have T3+ Alpha slotted." >.>

This. So much this. Poorly used knockback isn't just an annoyance to the melee, depending on the party makeup it can be detrimental to the entire team. That's NOT to say knockback is bad, it's not- knockback is a great mechanic and amazing for survival at times, but when you use it poorly on a team the best case scenario is that your fun is hindering the fun of others.

Your other points are valid, but here on homecoming wealth and SGs are factionless. I have a personal SG, I have villains in it. I send those villains money all the time. Even Praetorians can access it and be twinked, if I feel like rolling a Praetorian.

Another one for you, Electric/Rad controller. It's a little outside of the FotD Ill/Rad and FotM Fire/Rad, I've actually seen very few others run this combo, but it is wickedly effective. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ R34ctor: Level 50 Magic Controller Primary Power Set: Electric Control Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery Hero Profile: ------------ Level 1: Tesla Cage (A) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage (9) Unbreakable Constraint - Endurance/Hold (11) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Recharge (11) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge (40) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold/Recharge Level 1: Radiant Aura (A) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb (3) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (3) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime (5) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime (7) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance (7) Preventive Medicine - Heal Level 2: Chain Fences (A) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff (9) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (13) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (13) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (15) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage Level 4: Radiation Infection (A) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff (5) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff/Endurance Level 6: Accelerate Metabolism (A) Recharge Reduction IO (37) Performance Shifter - EndMod (40) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge Level 8: Jolting Chain (A) Superior Winter's Bite - Recharge/Chance for -Speed & -Recharge (31) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (34) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (34) Superior Winter's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (37) Superior Winter's Bite - Damage/RechargeTime Level 10: Conductive Aura (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy (25) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (31) Miracle - +Recovery (46) Miracle - Heal Level 12: Static Field (A) Superior Overpowering Presence - RechargeTime/Energy Font (17) Superior Overpowering Presence - Confused/Hold/Immobilized/Sleep/Stunned/Terrorized/RechargeTime (21) Fortunata Hypnosis - Sleep/Recharge (23) Fortunata Hypnosis - Chance for Placate Level 14: Enervating Field (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 16: Mutation (A) Recharge Reduction IO Level 18: Paralyzing Blast (A) Superior Will of the Controller - Recharge/Chance for Psionic Damage (19) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized/Endurance/Recharge (19) Superior Will of the Controller - Accuracy/Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized/Endurance (21) Superior Will of the Controller - Endurance/Recharge (25) Superior Will of the Controller - Confused/Hold/Immobilize/Sleep/Stun/Terrorized/Recharge Level 20: Lingering Radiation (A) Pacing of the Turtle - Accuracy/Slow (40) Pacing of the Turtle - Endurance/Recharge/Slow Level 22: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (23) Recharge Reduction IO Level 24: Super Speed (A) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%) Level 26: Synaptic Overload (A) Coercive Persuasion - Contagious Confusion (27) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Endurance (27) Coercive Persuasion - Accuracy/Recharge (39) Coercive Persuasion - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge (43) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Recharge Level 28: Choking Cloud (A) Superior Entomb - Recharge/Chance for +Absorb (29) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold/Endurance/Recharge (29) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold/Endurance (31) Superior Entomb - Endurance/Recharge (43) Superior Entomb - Accuracy/Hold (46) Superior Entomb - Hold/Recharge Level 30: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (39) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (39) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Level 32: Gremlins (A) Soulbound Allegiance - Chance for Build Up (33) Soulbound Allegiance - Damage/Endurance (33) Soulbound Allegiance - Accuracy/Recharge (33) Soulbound Allegiance - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (34) Soulbound Allegiance - Damage/Recharge Level 35: Fire Ball (A) Ragnarok - Chance for Knockdown (36) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance (36) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge (36) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (37) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge Level 38: Kick (A) Empty Level 41: Fire Shield (A) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (42) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (42) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (42) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance (43) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% Level 44: Consume (A) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (45) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance (45) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (45) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (46) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge Level 47: Tough (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (48) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (48) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime (48) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance (50) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) Level 49: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Celerity - +Stealth Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Run Speed IO Level 2: Health (A) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery (17) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance Level 2: Hurdle (A) Jumping IO Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (15) Performance Shifter - EndMod Level 0: Task Force Commander Level 0: The Atlas Medallion Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon Level 50: Ion Core Final Judgement Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Robotic Drones Radial Superior Ally Level 50: Clarion Core Epiphany Level 50: Control Core Embodiment ------------

Sitting on Maggie's Rock and feeling nostalgic.

Especially because there were what.. 7 itrials? Pre-Dark Astoria, the only option for getting past Alpha was running those trials CONSTANTLY. Run BAF and Lambda enough to unlock Judgement and Interface, and you were lucky if you had enough resources to tier 1 both of them, and the higher level ones were built as 'gear checks', some of which if a large portion of the team wasn't at least +2 in trials you basically couldn't finish it. It's nice here on Homecoming the itrials being a thing because people WANT to do them, not because they (feel like they) NEED to do them.

Status resist functions kind of like recharge, in that the % is how many extra seconds each second of the mez duration counts as. So if you have +100% status resist, each second of the mez counts as 2 so its duration is halved. Therefor the Aegis 20% status resist will stack on top of any other status resists you have.

To be fair, it is more about boredom than frustration. Take a classic platformer as an example: If I hit a certain level that I cannot pass, if I seem to be unable to even make progress on it, it will eventually hit a point where I am just mindlessly going through the motions until the point I continually fail. Not only am I frustrated at it, but I am not even engaged anymore- make people fail constantly while keeping them engaged, and they will constantly come back for more though.

There's a gauge on archetype selection that gives a general idea of this, but honestly? It's not about archetypes, it's about power sets and builds. I have a scrapper that can out survive some tanks. I have a controller who when she is done will be able to tank basically anything outside of soaking the alpha strike. A well built Mastermind is as tank, if not tankier than most tanks. A survival focused blaster will out survive a dps focused scrapper (usually). A debuff focused corr can out damage a blaster. A well built defender can solo AVs. A clever tank can crowd control better than some controllers. Some controllers can soak alpha strikes better than even tanks. The listing for City of Heroes would either be highly convoluted and heavily disputed, or so generic that most of the information would be no better than the gauge already on character creation.

THIS! The way the game is designed, properly villainous content is really hard to do. You, as a villain, are almost always someone else's lackey all the way up to 50. Even when you're a borderline deific level entity, capable of wading through endless swaths of goons.. you're still doing someone else's dirty work.

Yeah, I forgot to put the button name in the macro, I knew it needed a name. >.> Also, I always put the macro right next to the actual power so I can see that. Sometimes I'll also use a slightly different power image just to differentiate the macro from the original.

Even though it doesn't actually do anything special: Caltrops+anything with knockdown. Just.. think about that for a moment.

If you want something big and smashy, Titan/Bio scrappers are a lot of fun, this is my build for soloing GMs: Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Titan: Level 50 Magic Scrapper Primary Power Set: Titan Weapons Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Ancillary Pool: Weapon Mastery Hero Profile: ------------ Level 1: Defensive Sweep (A) Superior Avalanche - Recharge/Chance for Knockdown (3) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (3) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (5) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (5) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage (48) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 1: Hardened Carapace (A) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (15) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (15) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (17) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance Level 2: Inexhaustible (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (34) Performance Shifter - EndMod (50) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge Level 4: Environmental Modification (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (17) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (34) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance (50) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage Level 6: Crushing Blow (A) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative) (7) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance (7) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge (9) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (9) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge (46) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff Level 8: Follow Through (A) Superior Blistering Cold - Recharge/Chance for Hold (11) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (11) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (13) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (13) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage Level 10: Adaptation Level 12: Build Momentum (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up (36) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge Level 14: Kick (A) Empty Level 16: Ablative Carapace (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance (36) Panacea - Heal/Endurance (36) Panacea - Endurance/Recharge (37) Panacea - Hea/Recharge (37) Panacea - Heal/Endurance/Recharge Level 18: Rend Armor (A) Superior Critical Strikes - RechargeTime/+50% Crit Proc (19) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (19) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (21) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (21) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/RechargeTime (48) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage Level 20: Evolving Armor (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (43) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (43) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance (45) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime Level 22: Tough (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (23) Gladiator's Armor - Resistance (23) Gladiator's Armor - End/Resist (31) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% Level 24: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (25) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (25) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 26: Whirling Smash (A) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus (27) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (27) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (29) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (29) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Recharge (50) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage Level 28: DNA Siphon (A) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage (45) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (45) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration (46) Touch of the Nictus - Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration/Recharge Level 30: Hover (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (31) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (31) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 32: Arc of Destruction (A) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (33) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance (33) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (33) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (34) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge Level 35: Genetic Contamination (A) Fury of the Gladiator - Chance for Res Debuff (37) Fury of the Gladiator - Accuracy/Damage/End/Rech (39) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (39) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage Level 38: Parasitic Aura (A) Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb (39) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance (40) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime (40) Preventive Medicine - Endurance/RechargeTime (40) Preventive Medicine - Heal/Endurance (46) Preventive Medicine - Heal Level 41: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (42) Recharge Reduction IO Level 44: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 47: Caltrops (A) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy) (48) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff Level 49: Fly (A) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%) Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Critical Hit Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Run Speed IO Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Flight Speed IO Level 2: Health (A) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery (43) Numina's Convalesence - Heal Level 2: Hurdle (A) Jumping IO Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (42) Performance Shifter - EndMod (42) Endurance Modification IO Level 10: Defensive Adaptation Level 10: Efficient Adaptation Level 10: Offensive Adaptation Level 1: Momentum Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon Level 50: Mighty Core Final Judgement Level 50: Degenerative Core Flawless Interface Level 50: Vanguard Radial Superior Ally Level 50: Assault Core Embodiment Level 50: Ageless Radial Epiphany ------------

Alpha shows up when you mouse over a power in the enhancement window. Basically your Alpha power acts as a special enhancer in every power you have capable of taking whatever bonuses it offers.