Amish_Justice

Hey, I'm new to water spout, and I was considering throwing a proc in there. I'm not sure how well the knockback procs will work. How often do those fire off?
I was thinking the chance for smashing damage might happen per tick, but that might be wishful thinking.

Would love some clarification, and suggestions.

I'm realizing that you have certain expectations regarding a range indicator, showing where you can and can't get to.
That's a whole other ball game. I can't help you on that one.

This can be accomplished with a couple simple text files.
Make a folder called keybinds in your primary directory, and put a text file in there with the following line

Shift+lbutton "powexec_name Shield Charge$bindloadfile c:\keybinds\Lightning.txt"

Name that file Shield.txt

Then make a second file with the following text
Shift+lbutton "powexec_name Lightning Rod$bindloadfile c:\keybinds\Shield.txt"

name that one lightning.txt

Then load one of them in game by typing
bindloadfile c:\\keybinds\shiled.txt

From then on, holding down shift and clicking somewhere will activate one of the two powers, and will also load the next keybinding, making it so that holding shift and clicking somewhere else fires that power.
The only problem is that if you try to use a power before it's recharged, it'll set you up to use the second power. This isn't an issue, if your powers recharge at similar speeds. I can't speak to that.

Personally, I think the more elegant solution is to have Shift+lbutton fire off one of them, and ctrl+lbutton fire off the other, so you've got more control over which you're using.

So, it looks like the same trick works when activating a shield toggle. With Deflection, if I activate the Costume change emote just after activating the deflection power, it will do the costume change emote.

Solid.

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That's interesting, I'll have to mess around some with my shieldl characters. Does the shield stay out after/during the costume change?

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Yes it does. That's kind of the whole point. It's a costume change that you can do with a shield out.

I am finding that it doesn't 100% of the time though. Sometimes the animation gets cut off, and then the costume change happens a few seconds later.
I think it's something to do with the point of activation. It can't be too soon after the attack.

The odd thing is that the emote which follows Storm Kick apparently has dominance over that combat stance, and for some reason it still allows activation of the ccemotes, before the combat mode kicks back in.

An odd, but happy discovery.

So the original question stands. Is there anything else like this in game.
Put differently, are there any other attacks or powers which leave characters in a decidedly different emote for a longer period of time? Anything which results in characters standing differently upon completion?

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/bind key "emote none$$cce 1 ccspin"

"emote none" clears any current emote, including combat stance (important for shieldies).

You don't need to do anything more fancy than that.

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Nope. Fraid that doesn't work at all.
Not if you've got a toggle running. If you have the shield out because of Active Defense, then emote none will put the shield away, and you will change costume, but you won't perform the Costume Change emote.

It seems like you actually stop the emote halfway through, so you begin to spin, and then stop, and then a few seconds later your costume changes.

Looks like Storm Kick is the best option so far.

I purchased the Magic Booster pack, and I've been really enjoying the Costume Change Emotes included within. I was disappointed to find that, like most emotes, these were unavailable to characters employing a shield.
Now, there are ways around this -- turn off shield toggles, do any basic emote (to change stance) and then activate Costume Change -- but I was looking for something more fluid, that I could use in game.

My most recent hero, a MA/Shield scrapper, discovered something kinda wonderful.
After attacking with Storm Kick, the character takes up an uncommon stance, putting weight on his back foot and presumably preparing for another attack.
Looks like this.
http://getctu.com/6/769/Rigel_Sentinel_1.jpg

From that position, I've found that I can activate a Costume Change Emote WITHOUT putting away my shield.

I'm wondering if anyone has found any other similar stances or animations which allow for completion of costume change emotes without turning off shield toggles?

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--- each build is like having a separate character...you might not need the macros on the "new" "character"...the game does not make assumptions.

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Except for the Assumptions that you won't want them. It's easier to delete or modify wrong Macros than it is to recreate them.

I'm new to the world of active builds.
Tried it for the first time, in order to get my martial artist some stamina, and found that the process also did away with all my macros.
I realize that there's nothing I can do about it right now, but is there any way to save those for use later?
Additionally, if I return to my previous active build, do my old macros (and power layout) return?

Finally, why does it remove those macros? I mean, what purpose does it serve?

Wow, you guys are still talking about this?

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Anyone notice how the OP is avoiding the fact that we have the ability to turn off xp and we could use that feature to keep our characters at level 49.

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I wasn't avoiding the fact. I was going to work.
The truth is, I wasn't aware of the fact. And yes, that fact does make my concept impossible. There's no way around it. if you can stop the steady progression of your experience, then you could thwart exactly what I was hoping to achieve.

Personally, I think being able to turn off experience is a inane idea. What sort of sense does that make? Experience can never be turned off. You can never lose experience (unless you get your Mind Wiped). I like the notion that Heroes, like anyone else, might age, or move on, or just die.

But see, for me, the joy of the game is in the process. I'm not looking to make a Uber-hero who's got every badge, and who's got ever power tweaked to the ultimate level of efficiency -- because ultimately, what then?

But, I am willing to concede this whole thing, because clearly I am in the minority here. You guys win.
I'll go back to doing what I normally do. Seeking those few people who are interested in exploring the game world more.

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How in heaven's name did this even come about? What possible worth could taking people's 50s away from them serve, other than to irritate? I mean, sure, if people want to give up their 50s and say they ascended, good for them. Let them. Why take MY stuff?

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The OP has stated in another thread that the only reason he can't find people to team with is because they're all SK'd to 50's who are farming. The obvious solution in his mind is to delete everyone elses 50's. That way people will finally play with him.

That's some truly interesting entitlement issues in my opinion.

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Well, this is really the heart of the matter.

You are absolutely astute in your perceptions. I do feel farming is a problem. I do feel that removal of level 50 characters would essentially make farming obsolete.
I have to admit, I had no idea that you could turn off experience (the idea seems ridiculous to me) and that really throws a snag in my concept.
I felt that if players saw that their character had a limited life-span, they'd choose to make the most of that time by doing something more diverse and enjoyable. Like our own lives, they'd seize the opportunities out there, and explore more.

I did post that before, because I feel that the game has dramatically changed from the first few years I played it. It has become VERY difficult for casual players to find teams that are not Farm based. This was not always the case. Finding pick-up-teams used to be a very easy task.
You'd set your LFT option, create a bind expressing your interest, and look for similarly leveled heroes, offering your services. Or you'd form a team of your own, and pick up other stragglers and make a group.

That doesn't really happen any more. The majority of players, especially in the heart of the game (levels 20-40) where there's the most options for content are unavailable for teaming. They're on existing farming teams, invested in supergroups, or soloing.

From my perspective, the only way to play in a team format, is to have an existing group of people you team with (and that's become my only recourse, teaming with a group of real life friends). I miss meeting new people, seeing their heroes, managing a new balance of powers, and hitting the streets.

So yeah, I'm sorry if I feel that I'm entitled to that. I guess I got used to it.

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I'm amused at how Amish_Justice seems to be completely skipping over all of the comments that CoH is like a comic-book. Sort of smacks of cherry picking, doesn't it...?

Says a lot about the defensibility of the OP if it can't hold up to that particular analogy.

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I actually did respond directly to your comment about comics. I suggested that farming the same mission was like reading the same comic book over and over again, but you misinterpreted me, and though I was condemning you for reading the same comic book series over and over again...so I decided to stop responding to you.

I can't respond to every post here...there's 20 of you and one of me.

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...there are still plenty of teams out there that play through non-farm content.

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I'd ask you to prove exactly that. Log in with a character in the 20's or 20's, on any server, and see how many teams you can find around your level. Give it a shot right now...see how many you can find that aren't rolling AE missions.

The only ulterior motive I had was that I thought it would be a really cool way for players to show off their level 50's instead of having them languish around unused, or have them resort to becoming babysitters for other players.

I have no problem with people playing 50's, running missions with them, but I wish the players who were playing those high level characters, were spending more time playing heroes of a lower level, and teaming with players like myself.
Is that selfish? Sure. Would it also revitalize the game...absolutely.

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No. CoH is NOT a novel.

CoH is a "Choose Your Own Adventure".

Stop crying because people choose an adventure other than the one YOU would choose for them!

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Ah ha. But even in a choose your adventure book, you still don't read the same page over and over. You look for alternate paths -- something you could do differently to achieve a different ending....and Choose your own adventure books have beginnings, middles, and ends.

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I am so sorry to hear you have never encountered a literary passage that plunges itself so deeply into your soul that you feel compelled to read it again - perhaps even again and again.

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If you are suggesting that running farming the same mission is anything akin to reading a particularly vivid piece of literature, then I think it's you I'm sorry for.

I only made the analogy only because I felt that the play of my characters in CoH is akin to a story. Sure, I've run Frostfire twice with the same toon, because I enjoy the mission. I've followed the same arc multiple times. I've don't the same TF multiple times. I've nothing against that. What I dislike is the banal running of the same mission, ad nauseum, with no end in sight.
I've joined teams, and played through an AE mission once, only to have the team leader yell, "Again!" -- at which point I politely take my leave. Problem is, that sometime later in the week (logging in at around the same hour) I got an invite to team -- turns out it's the same guy, the same mission, the same AE, but he was 25 levels higher (His friend was the 50 in question who was setting the mission).
This kind of thing is happening so much, it's practically the only action you can find online if you're not part of a supergroup. I can't find pick-up-groups anymore that are not running AE farms.

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Be that as it may, in this analogy, CoH IS a novel. It's a story that has a beginning, middle, and end -- an arc defined by a characters level.

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But why do we need to have an END?

Your view of the game is that it's a novel with a beginning, middle and end. My view of the game is that it's a collection of stories, with more being added all the time.
It's more like the City is a comic book series.

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Well, if you're running the same missions over and over, it ceases to even be like a comic. It's actually the same comic, over and over again.

Playing City of heroes is just like writing the story of your hero -- it is a novel, even if it's told in fragmented, often unrelated pieces.

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Once again, your suggestion would do absolutely NOTHING to stop PLing and Farming. It would AT MOST slow it down temporarily until people with level 50s got a new level 49 up to level, and then would turn off the XP and continue doing what they are doing.

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I'm not familiar with the possibility of turning off XP. How's this achieved, and for what reason?

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One of my other hobbies is building models. There are a few aircraft that, due to history and variety of users, I build quite a few of. Therefore, I *do* refer to specific pages over and over again without regard to the rest of the book. "What serial numbers were in range, where's that color chart," and the like. It's what those books were designed for.

Not all books are novels.

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Be that as it may, in this analogy, CoH IS a novel. It's a story that has a beginning, middle, and end -- an arc defined by a characters level. It is not a reference book. There are methods for players to replay moments from their past, essentially referring back to early pages in our analogy (Ourboros), but these are still stories.

My proposal merely suggests that they have an end.

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Farming has a negative effect on the game for one very simple reason. It encourages players to do the same thing over and over.

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Okay, now explain why THAT is a bad thing in and of itself. This game, whether you like it or not, is mainly doing the same thing over and over again, with little actual variation, except visually.

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The best way to explain this is with an analogy.
If you're reading a book, and you come to a page that you really like, and you choose to read that page over and over again, that's fine. It's a little banal, but it's fine. However, if you read that page over and over, you're opting not to actually read the book. No one can argue that you are still reading, cause you are, but you're missing out on the intention of the book.
Power leveling (and to a lesser extent, all farming) is even worse than this, because it's essentially reading the same page over and over again, and then claiming you've read the book. Plus, since this is a group activity, it's almost like ripping the pages out of the book, since the majority of the game content is best played as part of a team.

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The rewards for repeating the same mission are greater, and the risks less, than for exploring the game as a whole.

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No, it's really not. It depends on the particular mission, but the rewards and risks are EXACTLY the same if you're doing that mission once or if you're doing it 100 times.

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Players who join a power leveling farm can often level up without landing a single blow, or offering a single buff or debuff. They can repeat the same mission over and over, ad nauseum, without having to negotiate the non-mission game world (an often dangerous place). The advent of AE farming means that players can get everything they need in one place, and even get mission-end bonuses to boot.
All the leveling and stuff of the actual game, but with none of the dangers.

Look, I realize that the nature of the forums is that someone suggests something, and then all the old guard show up to shoot down the idea.

What if level 50 characters were moved to a separate serve, filled with exclusive level 50 content. What if they were given a place where they could really explore their potential? Would that be enough of a carrot to lure you away from the mundane, repetitive nature of farming?

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now give me proof that "farming" has a negative affect on the game.

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Well, if you want to hi-jack the thread and turn it into a Anti-farming conversation, I'm game.

Farming has a negative effect on the game for one very simple reason. It encourages players to do the same thing over and over. The rewards for repeating the same mission are greater, and the risks less, than for exploring the game as a whole. That's negative because it's unsustainable. If you're not actually experiencing the game itself, you're just playing that one mission over and over, what's the point in having the rest of the game at all?

As far as I'm concerned, all the proof you need is a level 31 Warshade asking other players where Striga Island is. But, if you want additional "proof"? Just read some of the stories in this thread.
https://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat...;gonew=1#UNREAD

All your precious level 50's cease to have meaning when players who've been in the game for less than a month, and who've only explored 1% of the game content, have multiple characters of that level.

But, I repeat, this was never meant to be a discussion of whether farming is good or bad. I'm presupposing that it IS bad, and based on that assumption, I'm suggesting a possible resolution.
Of course, if you like farming, then you're gonna hate the solution. You don't want to lose the ability to level characters up fast without work.

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how about you respond to some of the other posters in here. and while your at it get it through your head that there is no amount of anything that will encourage people to do this.

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If someone offered you $5,000 for your level 50, would you really reject them? How bout $50,000? Don't tell me there's nothing which would encourage you to do this...cause if that's the case you're not thinking straight.
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like i said in one of my posts in here, this is an anti-farming thread in disguise. please take it to the appropriate thread in the City Life section.

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And, like I said earlier, this was never meant as an anti-farming thread. It was a suggestion based on the presupposition that farming is a negative aspect of the game. If you didn't think that was the case, then you should have stopped reading once you found yourself disagreeing with the initial assumptions. That is, after all, why they were included.

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Well this is nothing more than an anti farming thread in disguise. The OP could have just said that from the beginning instead of lying. I understand two wrongs don't make a right, but the OP brought this upon himself.

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I hardly Lied. The VERY first part of my post lays out certain presuppositions. They overtly describe the assumption that farming is generally outside of the best interests of the game. And then I lay out a dramatic suggestion to solve the problems I laid out.
If you don't agree with the assumptions I laid out at the beginning of the OP, then there's no way you'll be interested in the possible solutions.