Buckets of Spoilers! Lore Galore!

[Aeroprism]

Shameful admitance: though I have played hundreds and hundreds of hours, most of the story I have never seen.  (I clicked ONE spoiler and immediately regretted, SO MUCH I don't know yet.)

 

So quick question: can I view most of this fantastic story/universe AFTER my character out-levelled it?  After all this time, it is still my sincere hope that one of my alts will strike a chord in my heart where I will say "That one.  THAT is the character through which I want to live ALL of the story." But that decision can't be made with a level 1 character."

 

So, tl;dr version: Can I do all of this once I reach cap and feel like a real superhero?

[Glacier Peak]

  On 8/11/2021 at 2:55 PM, Aeroprism said:

Shameful admitance: though I have played hundreds and hundreds of hours, most of the story I have never seen.  (I clicked ONE spoiler and immediately regretted, SO MUCH I don't know yet.)

 

So quick question: can I view most of this fantastic story/universe AFTER my character out-levelled it?  After all this time, it is still my sincere hope that one of my alts will strike a chord in my heart where I will say "That one.  THAT is the character through which I want to live ALL of the story." But that decision can't be made with a level 1 character."

 

So, tl;dr version: Can I do all of this once I reach cap and feel like a real superhero?

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That is a great question - all of the content in the game is replayable in some form or another. All of the major and minor story arcs in the game are available through Ouroboros. All of the strikeforces, taskforces, trials, and incarnate trials/content can be replayed as well. And you can replay it if you outleveled the content - the only thing that happens is the character is exemplared down to the appropriate level.

[Aeroprism]

I can absolutely live with that.

 

So the build must be planned appropriately so exemping doesn't feel like punishment.

[Glacier Peak]

  On 8/11/2021 at 2:59 PM, Aeroprism said:

I can absolutely live with that.

 

So the build must be planned appropriately so exemping doesn't feel like punishment.

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Yeah its an interesting decision, I've played content at level and I have also played the same content exemplared down. I didn't notice much of a difference to be honest.

[A Cat]

  On 8/11/2021 at 2:59 PM, Aeroprism said:

I can absolutely live with that.

 

So the build must be planned appropriately so exemping doesn't feel like punishment.

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Make your alt build a lower level friendly one and you can leave your main build alone. 

[Aeroprism]

  On 8/11/2021 at 3:01 PM, A Cat said:

Make your alt build a lower level friendly one and you can leave your main build alone. 

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True, we have two build options.  Smart!!

[Glacier Peak]

  On 8/11/2021 at 3:19 PM, Aeroprism said:

True, we have two build options.  Smart!!

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I only ever switch between two, but there is actually three builds you can choose from on your character. You can also change the build on the fly using /selectbuild #, where # is either 1, 2, or 3.

 

Check out this topic on the HC Wiki: Multiple Builds

[srmalloy]

  On 8/11/2021 at 3:56 PM, Glacier Peak said:

You can also change the build on the fly using /selectbuild #, where # is either 1, 2, or 3.

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With the constraint that all of your abilities go into cooldown when you switch builds. This isn't an issue with fast-recharge powers like most armors, but switching builds isn't something you want to do in the middle of combat.

[Glacier Peak]

  On 8/11/2021 at 5:11 PM, srmalloy said:

With the constraint that all of your abilities go into cooldown when you switch builds. This isn't an issue with fast-recharge powers like most armors, but switching builds isn't something you want to do in the middle of combat.

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Yeah, I figured the wiki page I linked would give the poster enough info on stuff like what said. That is on that page, though I don't think its on a 30 minute cooldown, I feel like its closer to 30 seconds or a minute.

[srmalloy]

  On 8/11/2021 at 5:46 PM, Glacier Peak said:

though I don't think its on a 30 minute cooldown, I feel like its closer to 30 seconds or a minute.

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All your powers go on cooldown, just as if you'd used them (or turned them off, in the case of toggles), so each of them had to recharge normally before they are available. This is (aside from activation time) not much of a problem for most armor toggles, or for the first few tiers of powers, but some of them can have significant recharge timers.

[Glacier Peak]

  On 8/11/2021 at 9:47 PM, srmalloy said:

All your powers go on cooldown, just as if you'd used them (or turned them off, in the case of toggles), so each of them had to recharge normally before they are available. This is (aside from activation time) not much of a problem for most armor toggles, or for the first few tiers of powers, but some of them can have significant recharge timers.

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No, not the powers themselves - the ability to switch between builds. So say I wanted to change from my current build to /selectbuild 2 and then wanted to switch to /selectbuild 3 instead, I would need to wait a set period of time. 

 

Hopefully that clears it up and we can steer it back to Spoilers and Lore!

[GastlyGibus]

  On 8/4/2021 at 3:23 AM, Glacier Peak said:

After completing the Rikti War Zone story arcs and the final task force from Lady Grey, I understand the following:

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• The Rikti are from another dimension and are descendants of humans - They were a peaceful race that did not worship any deities (because they exterminated them all in their dimension). They were mislead by the Lineage of War Hro'Dtohtz, who was aided in some way by the nefarious Nemesis, to invade Primal Earth. The Omega Team closed off the portal that the invasion was using through magic force. After the war, there were two distinct factions; 'the Traditionalists' and 'the Restructurists'. The former are pacifists and are open to other cultures and people (think the Lost), and the latter are the militant portion of their society and are led by the Lineage of War.
• The Hydra were kidnapped by the Rikti from their home dimension to guard underground bases after the first Rikti Invasion. You can learn more about this in Tina MacIntyre's missions (even through the Ouroboros options, from the mission chain that gives the Multidimensional badge, though you don't actually have to finish the chain to get the badge, so many people don't) (Credit to @Lazarillo)
• The Lost are human that were imbued with Rikti DNA. There has been a cure discovered and players provide it in the early portion of the game to Lost enemies.

 

 

 

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I will make one correction this bit about the the RWZ. You're partially correct, but the main bit you got wrong is this:

 

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Hroh'Dtohz wasn't aided by Nemesis. Rather, Nemesis sent automaton replicas of the Freedom Phalanx to Rikti Earth to cause havoc and destruction and provoke a war between the Rikti and humanity, with the intention of stopping them and being the savior of earth. Nemesis didn't realize how powerful the Rikti counter-attack would be, though, and the mission was a massive failure that Nemesis hid from even his own soldiers.

Hroh'Dtohz learns of the deception, but is too invested in the war effort to just give it up. He leads the Restructurist faction who, presumably, want to turn Rikti society from a largely peaceful path to one of imperialism and conquest. His goal is to conquer earth and wipe away the truth of the war so he can return to the Rikti homeworld as a hero who saved his society.

 

While I'm here, I'll give a brief summary of the Faultline lore, because that's one of my favorite storylines in the game, and it's available as early as level 15.

 

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The story we're given on both the wiki and in-game is that Faultline was originally known as the Overbrook Dam, until the evil villain Faultline destroyed the entire area with his nefarious earthquake devices, causing the area to be renamed Faultline in memory of the event.

 

You go to Faultline to talk to a man named Jim Temblor, who is looking for an old VHS tape of the final battle with the villain Faultline. You find out the Lost have it, and Arachnos is mixed up in it as well, for reasons unknown. You fight a Lost leader simply named "Kurse," you get the tape and find out Jim Temblor is the son of Faultline, trying to make peace with the past, being too young to have known of his father's evil.

 

You talk to Penelope Yin (before her induction to the Freedom Phalanx) to help save her dad. The Lost have kidnapped her dad for control over Penelope, and you find out she's an immensely powerful psychic who draws both the Lost and Clockwork to Faultline. What the Lost want with her is a mystery.

You then go to Doc Delilah, an archeologist trying to piece together everything, and she helps you find an old supergroup base with a better quality recording of the final battle. In it, you learn the truth: Faultline wasn't a villain, he was a hero who fell victim to another villain named Psi-Kurse, who used a special gadget called the "PsychoChronoMetron" to effectively rewrite history, using his psychic power to turn Faultline into a villain. The way the game describes it, the "PsychoChronoMetron" can "turn psychic energy into temporal energy," and with a powerful psychic, can be used to rewrite history as one sees fit. Whatever the wielder envisions will become reality, and so the villain Psi-Kurse used it to rewrite history and make it so that Faultline, his former nemesis, was his villain ally the whole time. Faultline, now a villain, then destroyed Overbrook, and since the event was "rewritten" by Psi-Kurse, Faultline's heroic deeds were nearly forgotten by everyone who didn't know him personally. Faultline went down in history as the evil villain who destroyed Overbrook, when in reality he was always a hero who fell victim to an evil scheme and was forced to become a villain in his last moments.

 

Finally, you learn the PsychoChronoMetron wasn't destroyed, and it's still out there. Arbiter Sands is in Faultline looking for it to deliver to Lord Recluse; "Kurse" is actually a Rikti-fied Psi-Kurse, who presumably wants to use it to bring about the Lost's vision of utopia; an Arachnos Night Widow named Nocturne is there, who wants the device for her own goals; Finally, the Sky Raiders are there too, who want it simply because it's valuable. You finally track down the device, beat all four groups, and save Penelope Yin one last time, who then uses her psychic powers to "rewrite" the history of the device so that it can never work or be built ever again.

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by GastlyGibus

[Glacier Peak]

Looks like I may have to update my lore post.... soonTM

 

[Techwright]

  On 8/11/2021 at 3:56 PM, Glacier Peak said:

I only ever switch between two, but there is actually three builds you can choose from on your character. You can also change the build on the fly using /selectbuild #, where # is either 1, 2, or 3.

 

Check out this topic on the HC Wiki: Multiple Builds

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AAAarrrrggh!  How have I never known this?  I never hear anyone talking about it.  I actually went looking for it a year ago as I'd had multiple builds in other MMOs and thought surely CoH would have this. I searched for a while in fact.   But either I never searched on the right term or in the right corners, I guess.  This is a game changer!  Now I can build solo and team builds, especially for my energy/energy blapper.  Unleash the knockback!

 

Thank you soooo much for linking that @Glacier Peak!

[Glacier Peak]

  On 9/22/2021 at 2:16 AM, Techwright said:

AAAarrrrggh!  How have I never known this?  I never hear anyone talking about it.  I actually went looking for it a year ago as I'd had multiple builds in other MMOs and thought surely CoH would have this. I searched for a while in fact.   But either I never searched on the right term or in the right corners, I guess.  This is a game changer!  Now I can build solo and team builds, especially for my energy/energy blapper.  Unleash the knockback!

 

Thank you soooo much for linking that @Glacier Peak!

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Sure thing, though I'm pretty sure there is supposed to be a space in between the words. Not in game to test at the moment, but if it's not working try /select_build #.

 

Take a look at this list for other wild ideas:

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/List_of_Slash_Commands#S

Edited September 22, 2021 by Glacier Peak