Zubenelgenubi

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I just had a thought.

"Kill X" badges - they normally count the efforts of ALL team-members, yes?

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Has anyoen considered rolling a new hero, doing the whole tutorial EXCEPT THE LAST MEETING WITH THE FINAL CONTACT ... and then teamign with a friend's L50 main ... before happily heading off to bash Contaminated skulls?

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Might that be a workable way to get those badges, without requiring a change in code ...? Or are my fears of "different zone, doesn't count" all too true ...??

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This post is a few days old, but the correct response to it wasn’t given, so I’ll step up to the plate:

As things currently work in the game, this is not possible. You must be in the same zone as a teammate in order for you to get credit for kills he makes.

But this was not always the case. There was a very short period of time (like a couple of days or so) after a new patch when it was possible to get credit for kill badges from teammates in other zones. And yes, there were a very few people who took advantage of this at the time to get Isolator on their pre-I2 toons. Alas, not understanding the implications or the short time window, I was not one of these people.



Personally, I very much want the Isolator badge on my main character, the only pre-I2 toon I have. Liquid-X and Celtic’s opposition to the contrary, I see no good reason to deny it to us “old timers.” And the overall nastiness they both have spewed in this thread really, really undermine their own positions.

The best reasons against it that I’ve seen are that it would be a “waste” of time for the devs to allow it, and that the text of the badge description would now be “wrong.” The villains required could easily be inserted into another oddball mission. (Pocket D anyone?) Heck, the Snaptooth mission already has dueling monkeys in the water off in one corner. It would be trivial to code in contaminated rather than monkeys. Changing the text of the badge would be equally trivial. Or just leave it alone. So what?

In favor of making it possible to get the badge we have two basic arguements: It would make customers happy, and it would be more fair to said customers who were playing the game before badges existed. Fairness and customer service. Both seem like very good reasons to me.

I can't believe this one hasn't been covered:

DO NOT turn on invisibility/stealth/phase shift in a mission, run to the end where the boss is located, and then say "here."

NOT everyone can run past a couple dozen mobs to get to you! NOT everyone WANTS to run past all the mobs to get to you. (Some of us might actually want XP from those mobs.) NOT every mission will be over if you kill the boss at the end.

And as a corillary:

If it's an outdoor mission and you simply MUST invisibly run to the end where the AV is, DO NOT say "here" while standing within normal aggro range of the mobs! If I TP to your location as a non-invisible blaster, what is likely to happen to me?

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Suffice it to say that earning the Toothbreaker badge will get you a unique gladiator for your stable.

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It's a CAVITY CREEP!!

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I have to ask, just what DOES an invisible badge look like?

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EXACTLY like all the other invisible things! Duh!

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Have you taken your placebo today Carban?

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Hmmm... I have heard of this new wonder drug "pla-see-bo." Where can I get some? WHERE?? I must know!!

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Ummm... anyhow there is a certain class of movie that people do fast forward through...

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Of course... p0rnography.

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Big Tanker, there is trouble in Oaktree Lane! The Outcasts have been tormenting kittens in the area! They've chased them up trees! Locked them in cars without windows rolled down! They've even cemented them into walls! Get to Oakktree lane and smash those kittens free!!

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"Ooooooohhh..... Big Tanker smash too hard.... "

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I assume this means you're going with the Cat Stuck in Tree Missions ...

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That would be amusing. You're running through a zone and see some poor schmuck tanker holding a tree that's been pulled out by the roots, trying to shake loose some terrified cat...

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But I suppose some will always find something to complain about.

Person 1: This glass is half full
Person 2: This glasss is half empty!!!!1!!1111!!!!




Person 3: Hey! This isn't what I ordered!

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Person 4: ALLRIGHT!! I'M GONNA FIND THE MUTHA-[censored] WHO DRANK HALF MY JUICE AND MAKE HIM PAY!!!

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Well to be honest, he did say the truth.

A: You do not lose items. Nothing disappears.
B: Nothing does change about your base.
C: Base rent does not incure past the 1st due (will not stack).

So all in all, what was said is true. Just not the whole truth. You are correct that they never stated that we could be locked out of our bases after soo much time.

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Exactly.

And Statesman (the living oxymoron) told us after i5 that "We are done making major changes to powers." Of course, he didn't SPECIFICALLY SAY that ENHANCEMENTS wouldn't get nerfed later! So, of course, he was just telling us the truth. Sure he was. But at least his later apology for the “confusion” made it all better. Sure it did.

Now, it seems, Recluse is feeding us the same load of double-talk and misinformation that we've all grown accustomed to. These guys ought to go work for the Bush Administration!

And the devs wonder why they get so many angry customers.


Seriously, I never planned to NOT pay the base rent, but this latest bit just burns my oatmeal. I don't like the thought of base rent in the first place (too much RL for a game played to escape from RL, thank you.) Everything in the base costs either 100 or 1500000 with little in between. Hideously expensive plot sizes stifle any thought of creative layout design. I'm drowning in salvage that I can't use because after two months I still can't afford to place a medium-sized crafted item! (It costs 1.5 million to place, and if I had the prestige to buy it then it won't fit in the existing room, which would cost 450k to buy, and if I could afford that it would have to be fitted into a larger plot that costs 1.65 million to buy.)

And now Recluse has the gall to say that those of us complaining about the base lockout are just “misremembering” something he said.

Male Bovine Fecal Material!


Oh yeah, and let’s not forget: The devs are going to disregard this post and my legitimate complaints completely, simply because I’m expressing my true feelings and not pulling punches.

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Just wanted everyone to know that we are planning changes to reduce hospital camping. I'm not going to say it will never happen, but we should be able to cut it way down.


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Excellent idea.

And I assume that you will also take steps to prevent villains in Siren's Call from standing next to Mama Drone for hours at a time? While you're at it, how about making a change so that once the villains rez in their hospital they have a set amount of time to exit the now-secured building or else be forcefilly ejected?

The only time I ever invaded the villain hospital in Siren's was to get at a bounty who kept on running back inside at the first hint of danger. Once there, I quickly learned how to camp it. Without the cowardly actions of one villain player refusing to actually FIGHT in a PvP zone, I'd have never learned how to camp.

This does go both ways you know.

BTW, Taser, what is the status of Longbow Sec-Ops?

I have an Excel file with the new badges listed, and I've marked every one either Hero, Villain, Both, or Bugged. But this one isn't marked at the moment.

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The Guardian Mu is working as intended, though, we just haven't found out how to get him yet.

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If it's "kill 100 Mu" then I give up on this one!

I tried killing 300 Rogue Mu in Warberg, but no badge. Took me two days of hunting and they're quite common. Siren's Call has some Mu... I've seen three of them, all conning purple, circling the villain base. No others.

It would take a dedicated team of heroes quite a bit of time and effort to get 100 of these, even discounting villainous attacks and stalker hijinks.

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My understanding is that multiple Robotic Fabricators stack- so you build 8 RFs, you get +40%. Do they stack with the arcane versions?

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Let's see, if I remember right, a robot fabricator is the thing that gives +5% chance of repairing an item if it is destroyed in a base raid. Yes?

If so, then I personally built 3 of them for the base I created in beta. But each one must be "attached" to a workbench. If you want more than 3, you'll need more than 3 workbenches (and the associated costs of each).

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I know there are some items that are supposed to help increase the chance that an item is repaired after a raid so I would assume if it fails that chance you loose it lock stock and salvage.

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Yup. I built some of these items in beta. They increase the chance of repairing a destroyed item by a WHOPPING 5%. And you can have only one per workbench, so I assume that only one will work for any given crafted item (the one attached to the workbench that created the item).

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The sleeveless biker jacket would finally give me a good reason to use my blaster's 4th costume slot.

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Err... Can't you already use the sleveless biker's jacket?

SO YOU WANT TO HUNT EVIL FLOATING TIKI MASKS?
A guide to the Banisher Badge - version 1.0
by Zubenelgenubi (Champion Server)

Of all the killin’ villain badges, few are more difficult or more frustrating to obtain than that for the Banished Pantheon. Those vile hovering bits of ectoplasmic lumber can be difficult to find, if not kill. Few door missions give more than a couple of these bosses before a character outlevels their Banished Pantheon contact. Many heroes hang out in the southeast corner of Talos Island, hoping to bag a few of the timid timbers in the middle of the night. However, competition can be fierce and night doesn’t last all that long in Paragon City.

So what’s a Heroic Badge [censored] to do? Why, read Zubenelgenubi’s Complete Guide to Hunting Loathsome Flying Fetishes, that’s what!

As it turns out, there is a circuit you can run inside Dark Astoria that is very productive at churning out spirit masks. Understand that “very productive” is a relative thing. It’s still gonna take awhile. But running this circuit will seriously cut down the frustration of hunting to no avail. As an extra bonus, it re-spawns very quickly AND it can be run day or night!

The circuit roughly follows the north-south line of the eastern Romero Heights boundary. Each spawn point can sometimes spawn two masks, but usually you’ll only get one. Also keep in mind that sometimes the spawns are a few feet away from the locations stated here.

(1) Start at 4889.5, 42.0, 2911.5, the southeastern corner of Romero Heights. This is in a parking lot overlooking a small park to the south. It’s right next to a large free-standing Crey Corp billboard. This location almost always gives a spirit mask or two.

(2) Next, travel about 100 yards north and slightly east (just a quick TP away) to 4814.5, 52.0, 2624.5. You’ll be looking down on a pair of tennis courts. One or two mobs will be here, and one or both of them may have spirits. (I think the masks are trying to organize a pick-up basketball tournament, but the zombies just don’t got game.)

(3) Next, turn due east and just jump over the edge of the wall to land on the road below. You’ll be standing next to a couple of wrecked cars in a curve of the road (4691.5, -42.5, 2614.0). This is another potential mask spawn point.

(4) Now travel 300 yards due north to 4660.5, 41.5, 1744.5. (Go above the highway, not below.) Here is another curve in the road in front of an L-shaped building. This location is not a frequent mask spawner, but you’ll be passing by anyway so go ahead and check it out.

(5 & 6) Now move just a few yards to the west and go around the corner of the building, veering north. There’s a mob there that never spawns masks. Move past them and down into a lower level area full of dirt. Two potential mask spawn points are close together here at 4796.5, -42.0, 1326.5 and 4699.5, -42.0, 1435.0. One of these locations will usually have a mask or two.

(7) Next move 200 yards north (go under the road) to 4792.0, -39.0, 789.0. This spawn point infrequently gives masks but it marks the northernmost location in the circuit.

(8) At this point you’ll head back south to the beginning spawn location beneath the Crey billboard. On the way back, however, you’ll want to hit two other spawn points. Move southwest at an angle for 275 yards to 5441.0, 43.0, 1322.0. (You’ll need to hop over top of some buildings.) This spawn point is like the first in that you’ll almost always find a mask here.

(9) Next, scoot on south at a fast pace. There are no mask spawn locations until you get all the way back down to the little park just south of the Romero Heights boundary. At 5222.5, 22.0, 3028.5 you’ll find a large, round, flat rock. The top of this rock is an infrequent mask spawn point, but since you’ll be passing by anyway go ahead and check it out.

Now just move due east to your start location under the Crey billboard. By this time the repulsive zombie hordes should have re-spawned and you’ll be ready to run the circuit again!

Don’t worry about all the precise locations too much. Once you’ve run it once or twice, it’s pretty easy to continue.

Someone once asked me how I knew about this circuit. Honestly, I don’t like to think about it. Many, many hours were spent running around in the dense fog of Dark Astoria looking for a tiny flicker of colored light off in the distance indicating a spirit mask in da house. If anyone knows of similar circuits, or of specific spawn locations close by that could be incorporated into this circuit, by all means please speak up!

…and now… it’s time for PIE!

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July Calendar is up. It's a little sparse at the moment, but there are more things on the way as info becomes available.

-M

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No Hamidon raids. Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!

I'll say it again:
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!

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AUGH! Noooo!!

My pron collection! Up in flames!!!! NOOOOOO DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!

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But Sxxxy.... You ARE a porn collection!

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Uhm, well, the fact that you have 1 slot in build up, but 6 in power thrust tells me this is a concept build; anything I say is very likely going to miss the point entirely.

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Why do you say that?

With my HO's, I'm at the damage cap for my entire primary power set except for Nova and Explosive Blast. I only need build up on those. Power Thrust is very useful in PvP. For PvE it's not that great, but I'm lvl 50 now... so the Arena seems to be it.

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I guess, since you only have 50 HOs, I could recommend getting the other 20 and making a complete set.

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Working on it. That's why I'm looking for comments on this build. So I know what else to trade for.



Mostly I'm interested in how many slots I'll need for TP Foe and Repulsion Field, given that these will be used almost entirely for PvP.

ZUBENELGENUBI’S BUILD

Here is my plan for the next iteration of the Mighty Mighty Zubenelgenubi (currently at level 50). From the 4-slotted Hasten one might infer that he’s heavy on the HO’s. One would be correct. There’s about 50 in him now.

6 - POWER BOLT
6 - POWER BLAST
6 - ENERGY TORRENT
6 - POWER BLAST
6 - SNIPER BLAST
1 - AIM
3 - EXPLOSIVE BLAST
4 - NOVA

6 - POWER THRUST
1 - BUILD UP
6 - BONE SMASHER
6 - TOTAL FOCUS

3 - HOVER
1 - FLY

1 - SWIFT
3 - HEALTH
6 - STAMINA

4 - HASTEN

1 - RECALL FRIEND
3 - TP FOE
1 - TELEPORT

3 - REPULSION FIELD
5 - TEMP INVULNERABILITY
6 - FORCE OF NATURE

This build is somewhat optimized for PvP, but allows for usefulness in PvE. I refuse to go against character concept, so the concealment power pool is out. Flight and TP are required.

Repulsion Field is intended almost solely for PvP. (If I want villain mobs to move away from me, I’ll just Nova them) Are there too many slots in Repulsion Field? Do I need more?

Are there enough slots in TP Foe? What slotting works well for this in PvP?
Explosive Blast will need Aim & Build Up to reach the damage cap.
FoN: If it’s loaded with Membranes, what will be its down time?
How many resistance SO’s do I really need in Temporary Invulnerability?

Many people say that Health should not get additional slots. However, I’ve found it quite useful with 3 or 4 slots while I’m soloing. I might be willing to trim a slot here, but 2 would be minimum, I think. I’d rather take one or two from Power Thrust or Bone Smasher if I’m really pressed.

Thanks in advance!

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It would be nice NOT to be able to blame people.. but its difficult when I see a hero facing completely away from the current mitos target and shooting randomly (his excuse:" I can't see the target so I'm just shooting at what I can see") AND a spines scrapper using Quills (his reasoning: 1) "Quills are NOT AOE" 2) "the cone range of Quills is so small it really doesn't matter" 3) "I like Quills") and last night I saw several ice blasts coming out of the blanket heading DIRECTLY for Hami.

I also see folks using shadowfall, invincibility, and other toggles. I would like to imagine they genuinely think they are helping. I don't know if they are deliberately trying to grief the raid or if noone has gone over what IS and ISN'T helpful in the raid. (example: an invised blaster coming up behind me during the holding phase and throwing caltrops and web grenades) I also have witnessed people joining a critical team and then phase shifting and just wandering around Hami. Its one thing to Leech from a distance, but to pretend to actually be on a team in the blanket is quite another.

I am also suprised at the number of people who don't understand the concept that our biggest enemy is LAG (followed closely by Hami, of course). The use of each power must be weighed on the benefit (damage/hold/buff/debuff) vs the lag created. I heard a non-controller complaining in the last raid :"why wasn't his hold good enough" for the holding phase. The concept that the MORE heroes in one area using powers creates MORE lag didn't register with him (or her). As the guides explain, if the controllers aren't cutting it, then other AT's with holds are called in as the benefit of their hold vs lag has now gone up.

To be honest, I credit our experienced and organized raid leaders for getting us through each night, despite people's best intentions that have resulted in garnering a LOT of Hami aggro the past few raids.



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I think that a lot of the problem here is education (that and idiots reaching high levels through power leveling and not having a CLUE how to run their own characters… but that's a different topic). If the new Hami Raider isn't following the plan, whose fault is that, really? His, of course, but also the fault of the raid leaders.

The guy blasting away at random Mitos just DIDN'T KNOW that they regenerate too fast for any one or two players to kill them. Thus, what he was doing was useless. Perhaps nobody explained to him about how the targeting system works.

I've done about 20 raids now, and only RECENTLY did I understand exactly WHY toggles are useless against Hami. (He does untyped damage, so all the toggles in the world won't reduce it by as much as a single point.) I turned my toggles off because I understand about lag, but I thought lag was the real reason. The real reason is that TOGGLES DO NOT HELP AT ALL!

Not everyone will come here and read the boards. I didn't until after my 15 th raid, I think. Team leaders should probably ASK if there are new raiders around and give specific guidance relevant to their AT.

Now, once someone has everything explained to him, and he STILL doesn't follow the program… that's a different issue.

Regarding the use of Membranes for making Hasten perma-on with just 4 slots:

I believe that only 3 HO Membranes are required for this. My assumption is that currently, an SO gives +30% Recharge Rate increase.

6-slotting Hasten with SO’s should therefore give 30% x 6 = +180% Recharge Rate Increase.

4-slotting Hasten with HO’s should give 50% x 4 = +200% Recharge Rate Increase. (i.e. more than is needed for perma-hasten).

But 3 HO’s and one SO gives (50% x 3) + (30%) = 180% Recharge Rate Increase. (i.e. identical to that given by 6 SO’s).

Comments?

I’m having problems with this table, which seems to be the agreed upon list of HO’s and what they do:

Name ..................... Bonus Given .................... Best in:

Nucleolus ----- 50% DAM + 50% ACC ----- Any attack
Centriole ------ 50% DAM + 30% Range --- Any ranged attack
Peroxisome --- 50% DAM + 50% "Mez" ---- Total Focus, etc.
Endoplasm ---- 50% ACC + 50% "Mez" --- Controllers, Total Focus
Golgi ---------- 50% HEAL + 50% END ---- Regen Scrappers, Empathy
Ribosome ----- 30% RES + 50% END ----- Unyielding, etc.
Microfilament - 50% Travel + 50% END --- Fly, Super Speed
Lysosome --- 30% -ToHit + 30% -Def + 50% ACC -- Smoke Grenade
Enzyme ----- 30% -ToHit + 30% -Def + 50% END -- Radiation Infection
Membrane --- 50% ToHit + 30% DEF + 50% RCH ---- Fortitude
Cytoskeleton- 50% ToHit + 30% DEF + 50% END ----Invincibility, Ice Tanks


To me, parts of this is confusing.

Where it says “-ToHit” should I take that as meaning it’s an Accuracy DeBuff? I would prefer that phrase be used, as it’s easy to miss the little “-” sign.

For Membrane and Cytoskeleton, it says “50% ToHit”. How is this different from just saying “50% ACC” like it says earlier in the table? If it is not different, then it should be consistent, I would think, so the thick-headed ones like me find it easier to grasp.

Finally, I’m not entirely sure I can trust this list. Many people seem to confuse RES with DEF. Someone said that Membrane would be good for Force of Nature, but FoN uses RESISTANCE buffs, not DEFENSE buffs. Only the recharge component would be useful in FoN.

Comments anyone?