dual inspiration opinions welcome

[Jacke]

16 hours ago, Akisan said:

I generally stick to the normal inspirations, with 2 exceptions:

• Medium team break frees last for 180 seconds.  Super regular break frees last for only 120.  Well worth it against mez-happy groups, even if you only use them on yourself.
• On low defense builds, a single large purple doesn't quite hit the softcap, and 2 of them is way over.  I usually stock both large purples and large dual def/resist inspirations on those builds, as 1 of each puts me to a little over the softcap, with some bonus resistance for whatever does hit.

 

The second point is very interesting.  In a similar case, I'd likely carry Large Dual Def+Resist Inspirations and pop 2 of them.  But your point about keeping Def over softcap to allow for Def Debuffing (especially without Defence Debuff Resistance) is very important too.

 

However, the duration values for break frees in some of the in-game and external documentation do not match what is current in the game.  I've just tested all of them in the last 2 days and submitted a text bug report for the /linkinfo Info tab, which is in-game and at the top of their pages in CoD2.  I submitted a similar typo report to the HC Wiki and it has already been fixed.

 

There are 3 durations for Break Frees:

• 30s for the Small Break Frees available from Nurse and Contact stores, which also drop frequently
• 60s for the Medium Break Frees (Emerge)
• 90s for all other Break Frees: Large and Super, as well as all Team (Medium, Large, Super)

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Inspirations

 

 

Edited April 7 by Jacke

[Chance Jackson]

I like them alot probably more than regular inspirations

[Scarlet Shocker]

I'd not really thought of this much until @Snarky posted the thread, but it has made me consider them in greater depth and the more I think about it, the more I dislike them.

 

My reasoning is quite simple and I'll try to explain as concisely as possible.

 

Let's assume for the moment that my character is running out of End and also needs Healing. At the same time. I can pop a blue in green and all's right with the world. Everything is fixed and we can continue with the mayhem.

 

Except that almost never happens exactly when... so suddenly I'm either needing some blue, or some green, and I pop one because it's all I've got - I have buyer's remorse because I've literally just wasted half that precious insp's value.

 

A similar scenario is the red/yellows. I remember many years ago on live, Arcana explained why popping a single yellow was pointless. The details of why and wherefore are forgotten to me but I remember that it was usually necessary to pop two small yellows to be effective otherwise a single one gave you pretty well nothing. So popping a red/yellow seems like you'd need to pop two anyhow. Pointless! If the small red/yellows have the same values as a standard red or standard yellow, then to gain any benefit from them you'd need to pop 4. That's not viable.

 

Orange/Purples: I am playing a character that is usually either defence or resistance focused. If I'm over 50 my build is probably there, or thereabouts, as good as I want it to be. So if I've got a strong res build, then the purple element is likely to have minimal effect. So it's wasted, and vice versa.

 

There's clearly a caveat here in that I'm oversimplifying for the sake of example and I've never probed their values in depth but my core point is that when I use an Insp, I use it because I need that component, not the other thing - and so I don't experience the value of it, rather I see it more as a loss. That's a phenomena known well in Economics. I don't think these things add much value to my playing experience. See Richard Thaler for more on behavioural economics if you are interested.

 

But one good thing I've learned from this thread is that I can turn them off at the START so I'm giving serious consideration to that or vending them

 

[Snarky]

20 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

I'd not really thought of this much until @Snarky posted the thread, but it has made me consider them in greater depth and the more I think about it, the more I dislike them.

 

My reasoning is quite simple and I'll try to explain as concisely as possible.

 

Let's assume for the moment that my character is running out of End and also needs Healing. At the same time. I can pop a blue in green and all's right with the world. Everything is fixed and we can continue with the mayhem.

 

Except that almost never happens exactly when... so suddenly I'm either needing some blue, or some green, and I pop one because it's all I've got - I have buyer's remorse because I've literally just wasted half that precious insp's value.

 

A similar scenario is the red/yellows. I remember many years ago on live, Arcana explained why popping a single yellow was pointless. The details of why and wherefore are forgotten to me but I remember that it was usually necessary to pop two small yellows to be effective otherwise a single one gave you pretty well nothing. So popping a red/yellow seems like you'd need to pop two anyhow. Pointless! If the small red/yellows have the same values as a standard red or standard yellow, then to gain any benefit from them you'd need to pop 4. That's not viable.

 

Orange/Purples: I am playing a character that is usually either defence or resistance focused. If I'm over 50 my build is probably there, or thereabouts, as good as I want it to be. So if I've got a strong res build, then the purple element is likely to have minimal effect. So it's wasted, and vice versa.

 

There's clearly a caveat here in that I'm oversimplifying for the sake of example and I've never probed their values in depth but my core point is that when I use an Insp, I use it because I need that component, not the other thing - and so I don't experience the value of it, rather I see it more as a loss. That's a phenomena known well in Economics. I don't think these things add much value to my playing experience. See Richard Thaler for more on behavioural economics if you are interested.

 

But one good thing I've learned from this thread is that I can turn them off at the START so I'm giving serious consideration to that or vending them

 

I never overmath the CoH game.  This despite some studies I have done through multi variable calculus.  Which, for me, was extremely difficult.   I enjoyed normal calculus and it’s simple beauty. 
 

Every toon and every player is different.  I tend to run high accuracy builds with kismet+to hit and leadership accuracy or equivalent.  So a small yellow might help me.  But….  More than likely if you are screwed into needing accuracy your entire strategy in the fight has gone toilet mode.  As a Dark Dark player, approaching a tough fight the first things i will do is debuff as much accuracy on my enemies as possible.  I call this “making them fight uphill”. If they have done that to you….   Oof.  
 

In the end I agree with everything you have said.  For me, it is by “feel” and common sense.  The damn duals cannot be combined, so they “clog” your tray waiting for the “perfect” time to use them. Not using inspirations is like hording powers… so much that if you are not using them, or using them much less to “save” them, you might as well have picked a power you would use. 
 

Team inspiration are gold, in that you can use them as individual when needed (only carry them if you are willing to burn them) or they can prop up a team to keep pushing forward.  
 

regular inspirations are great in that they are flexible with the combination strategy, especially with a large tray.  Creating a purple, wakie, or break free can really change things.  
 

but Duals?   Neat idea that is garbage in a CoH/V actual fight/TF/SF/Trial.  
 

in my opinion…

Edited April 11 by Snarky

[KillerShrike]

I don't use them on most toons, but I do find some value on specific toons. I like that its a selective option, and turn it on for the toons that benefit.

 

Another consideration aside from specific utility of the different flavors, the action economy on "busy" click-heavy toons in clutch situations can be tight and having a 1-click for two boosts has some benefit.

 

Some of my toons are primarily solo, and team inspirs are consequently of less use.

 

On toons that do use them, as a general heuristic:

• I don't hoard duals, I use them liberally as they drop.
• I like red/yellow the best and think this combo is the most broadly useful. I never mind popping one.
• I like purple/orange on characters with hybrid damage mitigation like invincibility and willpower or on characters with coverage gaps.
• I'm ambivalent about green/blue...they are good in clutch situations but otherwise I just pop them if I need either health or end and don't worry about wastage.
• If I feel like my inspirs are clogging, I've got no problem popping excess to make space. They drop like candy from heaven, so no need to gollum them.

 

tl;dr:
I like that they exist, I turn them on for toons that particularly benefit from the feature, and leave it off by default.

[shortguy on indom]

•  

[High_Beam]

I've used them once or twice total ever in CoH.  I am not an inspiration hoarder, I use them when i need them and sometimes burn the ones i don't need (even have the P2W Vendor set not to drop smalls and certain types so I get zee badges).  Normally on a toon, i know what I am most often going to burn through so its rarely two items except when I take a catastrophic hit, but I have those too.