Zombie Man

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Me too! And i'm a reveler! QUick, everyone grab your thesaurus and find more synonyms for "Celebrant" for the 3rd anniversary!

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Merrymaker
Observer
Whoopier
Rejoicer
Wassailer
Exulter
Jubilarian
Partisan
Cheerer
fete champetre
Acclamant
Glorifier
Socializer
Galateer
Raver
Festivaler (or, Fiestant)
Showerer
Bandwagoneer
Carouser
Affairant
Jamboreen
Open Houseguest
Receptioneer
Bachanalian (or, Bachant)
Bingeist
Cookouter
Barbequer
High Tean
Roisterer
Rioter
Blowouter
Shindigger
Soireeaire
Holidayer
Saturnaliant
Argenteer (silver anniversary)

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I’ll take D&D 1st edition to demonstrate...

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Nevermind that several decades later AD&D 3.5 now allows fighter mages; only shortly after D&D 1st Ed. you had other RPGs that eschewed the class system, such as GURPS. Powers and skills were bought with points. Complete customization. A fighter mage may not have been as good a swordsmen or wizard as a fighter or magic user specialists, but one could still have a fighter mage.

Now, I understand how with a MMP, a class system is needed for underlying balance... but there still might have been room for a wider range of choices. Some MMs want more pets... you don't allow that, instead you lock MMs into what you think they should have, and States... haven't you heard this one before? You have an idea of what's fun *to you* and think that that will be fun for everyone?



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Our powers guys felt that Chum was just too campy.

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Your power guys? Your *power guys*? You let power guys take over look and feel of the game? We're shooting spirit sharks at people. *SPIRIT* *SHARKS* at... *PEOPLE*!! And you're worried about camp? Sheesh. Tell the power guys that they're not designing powers for Sir Alistair Cooke and turn it back into Chum Spray.

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Character Texture Quality: Very High
Character Detail: 200%

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Character texture makes characters look very good up close. The higher the more realistic. Very high can cause a noticeable fps hit if there are lots of toons to draw (Hami Raids, over 3 Masteminds...).

Character detail is how well defined any character looks like from a distance. I've found that once you get a certain distance away from a character, they are so small, that drawing them well is no longer important. I've found 90% to be passable.




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Max Particle Count: 50000 (You can lower this for some performance gain)

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If pushed up high, one can be blinded by the special effects of particles in dense fights, especially if you have disabled 'suppress other players effects.'

If pushed too low, you miss certain effects like the flashing floor rings around contacts. About 1,000 is sufficient for personal and nearby effects if one is looking to squeeze out a few more fps.




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FSAA: 4X (This is changed from the prior guide. It was brought to my attention that lockups and/or graphical anomalies were occurring with alt-tabbing when letting the Catalyst Control Center manage FSAA and AF rather than allowing the Application decide.)
Anisotropic Filtering: 8X

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I'm still using 6.1 ('cause 6.3 kept crashing me... ATI Radeon X800). And letting the program run FSAA and AF did nothing to stop the alt-tabbing crashes. (And it's not just the 'alt-tab'; even minimizing one program and opening the other will cause a crash about 25% of the time.)




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Shader Quality: High (It has been brought to my attention that older cards have serious FPS hits with this setting on high, so play around with it.)

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Shader quality is wonky. In Pocket D with shader on Low, the floor is transparent (as it was meant to be); however, on medium, the floor is opaque. In CoV, with shader on Low or High, I don't see the revolving red lights on the black copters that I see when this is set on medium.




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Water Effects: None (Water on Low does NOT break FSAA, as it is not going through the P-Buffer, but it WILL cause a heavy FPS hit when in cave or sewer maps.)

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In sewers, with water effects on high, the water looks great, and I get rippling refractions, however, the mirror image on the water is still broke... I don't see my reflection between the camera and me... I see it beyond me. Needless to say, I leave this off.




BTW... thanks for all your work into this!

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Oceanborn: I don't think that's credible proof.
Credible proof would be multiple Deathsruges on a screenshot.

I would like to think all the monsters are able to be summoned, but when I tried it, many times now, it still hasn't worked for me.

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Ok, Doubting Thomas, here is a screenshot of two Deathsurges. Notice the size of the player characters in comparison lest you think they were Gremlins.

In fact, here's two Deathsurges with a Gremlin for size comparisons.

Now, I and several posters on the boards have said that there have been multiple Deathsurges, yet you refused to believe. Now, seeing the evidence, will you believe us when we say the CoV monsters are spawnable? Afterall, I had to kill 240 freakin' gremlins to get that screenshot.

(And, coincidentally, after I saw a Ghost of Scrapyard get zapped by a drone last night in Sharkhead, I had pity on the crew trying to kill it for the badge and went around massacring scrapyarders so as to respawn GoS for them, which I did within 15 minutes time.)

Remember: All CoV monsters are player-spawnable. No CoH monster is player-spawnable.

And if someone wants to make the claim that Croatoa monsters are player-spawnable, do a forum search first for the explanation of why you think they are, but they're not really.

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All giant monsters are cake if you have atleast 3 damage dealing ATs there.

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Any two ATs, if one of them is the right debuffer (esp. Rad/Dark/Poison).

Giant Monsters do indeed have levels. Check their info file. Damage to them and from them scales based on the level of the player, but they do have level indicating how many powers and resistances they have.

Deathsurge is spawned by killing 120 Gremlins. Exactly. Verified many times by several people who summoned him several times in a row.

It was claimed that Ghost of Scrapyard spawned with 180 scrapyarder deaths. Still waiting for a team to confirm this with multiple consecutive spawns.

You can have multiple Calebs and Deathsurges, but only one Ghost of Scrapyard.

The scrapyarders that follow GoS are actually his minions (set on aggressive/follow). If you attack one of them (or GoS himself), almost all of them are alerted and will retaliate. Ghost of Scrapyard is the ultimate Mastermind (excepting the fact that he himself is a Giant Monster and not a squishie).

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wait... will defensive mode work now?

For those of us that have melee henchman and have used defensive in the past, this sounds like another excuse to have bouncing minions. I get shot, all my minions run at the enemy who then shoots mm for full damage.

So now the tactic is going to be... Weak long range shot, watch minions run at you, Aim, BU, one shot.

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Mental note: set self to autofollow my Lich (which is constantly self-healing) so as not to get out of bodyguard range by the above tactic.

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Group TP. If you're taking group travel anyway, Group TP is decent when slotted 3 range, 3 end. It's not perfect, but it's all we've got. And as cool as GF is (and decent-ish when slotted 3 end redux), it doesn't pack the speed of GTP.

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Group Fly is taken in conjunction with Group TP to act as a 'group hover' so that the minions don't fall out, because, as we all know, that when it comes to Group TP...

GROUP TP IS STILL BROKEN!!


Ahem, where was I? Oh yes, Group Fly. While GTP is faster than GFly, you'll still need GFly for aerial combat in PvP. And the good thing about GFly is... no suppression (Tactics will make up for the -ACC.)

Let's see.. Necro has seven henchmen, not six (the ghost from Soul Extraction is a true henchmen, whereas Dark Miasma's Dark Servant is an old-school pet that can't be set on defensive/follow, like real henchmen).

So, if they're all on bodyguard, that's seven shares, plus my two... nine shares of damage. I'll be resisting damage at 78% (2/9 of damage). Then with Twilight Grasp, and the ability of every henchmen to self heal.... looks good to me.

Then, I'll be testing out a PvP build which combines Group Fly (three slotted with EndRedux) and Group TP (three slotted with EndRedux and 3 Range Increase) to get around the lack of travel power for the minions.

There's a few flying blasters I'd like to talk to....

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Can't find the exact post, but I'm pretty sure one of the devs followed up saying that, if they can figure out how to flag Kora Fruit to not be allowed in the storage containers, that they would likely restore the fruit to it's tier 3 status.

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So... I can store 'inspirations' in a container. *Inspirations.* *In a container.*

"Look, I've got a box of 'break free'!"

But, if that flag is found, I won't be able to put *fruit* in a container.

Which leaves us a container that can hold abstractions, but not a concrete item.

Hmmmm.... interesting.

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Can someone rationalize the 'chat spam ban' stuff for me? I mean I'm just not getting the reason for wasting resources and programming time on something /ignore can fix instantaneously.

Or, are they suggesting that the problem is so prevalent that ignore lists cannot handle it?

Because I rarely see any kind of spamming on Virtue other than combat spam. Sure, now and then some idiot will try to take over broadcast or local in AP or some such, but I find the solution is just to /ignore and continue on my way.

Later, I clear the list if I need to.

So, why all the drama on chatspam all of a sudden?

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No Dev would respond to the discussion of this in the Test Server (Training Room) forum, so, we don't know the extent of the problem or why they chose this fix.

We do know that this includes separate lines of /emotes, which will cause problems for many non-spamming players who have /macro'd and /binded emotes to powers. However, the devs have said that /emotes won't be counted anymore in some future patch.


----


WRT Costume Tokens: The purpose of the costume tokens, as I understand it, is to allow us to take the costume options of the opposing faction (heroes with villainous costume pieces and vice versa) which will be unlocked in I7 (for those who own both factional cities) if we wish. However, I7 isn't out yet. The patch notes don't mention the new costume options. So why are we getting the costume token now? Won't this tick off people who go to the tailor for some minor reason and wind up using up the token, and then, when I7 comes out, they're out of luck for the big costume change?

Before this thread becomes justifiably locked....


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Although that's a rather extreme example. Dark Defenders have always been best against AVs, where they can pile all their debuffs onto a single target.

A Dark Defender can't provide protection that good against anything else.

I think it's also worthwhile to note that no other set can even come close to matching this sort of thing.

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Actually, the Necro/Dark MM comes awfully close. While the Dark Miasma of the MM is weaker than the Dark Miasma of the Defender (because it's a secondary for the MM), that is made up for by all the -ACC that is inherent in almost every attack of all the minions. When you have eight pets with -ACC secondary effects... it tends to stack a bit.

My D3 is able to stand toe to toe with a Giant Monster or AV because of all the debuffing, but can't kill it, for lack of attacks and END. My N/D MM can also stand toe to toe with a Giant Monster or AV, and in some cases kill it, because the pets provide ENDless, non-stop attacks in addition to all the debuffing.

If the currently planned nerf hurt only my MM and not my Defender, I wouldn't complain; but the Defender doesn't have anywhere the amount of damage and mez mitigation that the MMs' pets provide. The Defender is severely gimped WRT soloing as compared to all the other ATs.

On top of that, the Defender's inherent power is unusable soloing. OK, Ok, we get it Statesman, you don't think its fun to play a Defender unless your defending anyone but yourself.

Not to mention Dark Miasma's previous nerfs to Petrifying Gaze (a hold that did no damage, thus already weaker to any controller's hold), Fearsome Stare, and Dark Servant. All because these primary powers somehow were too much like controller powers and therefore had to be weaker.

Yes, load up a primary of one AT with the types of powers from another AT and then weaken them precisely for that reason. It all makes sense!

Then, on top of that, make Dark Miasma a secondary set for other ATs and then weaken those powers even further!

Do us all a favor, reclassify Dark Miasma as a Controller set and then stop nerfing it because it's not a controller set. That would be a lot better than realizing how badly you screwed up with AT design and trying to 'fix it' by crippling it to death.

The new buff to MMs will come in the form of a new costume part: Body Glitter!

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Interesting analysis. I would change the topic title to include the word "analysis" but, I also don't bother writing guides. Your post does raise a question of how extensive your experience with MM's is, though. I'm not saying this to be mean or critical, but as a previous poster pointed out, attacking mobs is by no means a debt warrant for the clever MM. Heck, I'm not "clever" and I have all three merc attacks and spam them regularly in a futile attempt to keep up with bots damage. Sure, if the first thing I do is toss a grenade and *then* have my minions attack, I'll be setting down a triage beacon and hope it and my medic can keep me alive. But, the only time I do that is when my pets are standing by in a choke-point ambush and I just want to draw an entire spawn into it and am certain I can duck before taking return fire. In general, I can use good judgement regarding when I can and can't safely throw a grenade. And honestly... it's very fulfilling to see mobs drop from *my* attack and not just my minions. I'll be looking more closely at the aoe attacks and not the cones, as I am always in the air with that toon. (Which, admittedly, is a significant factor in survivability - if the Tank Swiper can't swipe at ya cause he can't jump two feet, your minions can handle the rest.)

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You make good points, but I believe they bolster my points.

You say you wouldn't lead with grenade, *unless* you were pulling and had a way to immediately undo the agro. Well, that's going to be the same with all AoEs, especially the attack that does moderate damage. And that makes the AoE attack a situational power. If that attack had been given to a pet (or came with a brand new pet), then we wouldn't have to worry about the agro of it. As I mentioned, the AoE attack will most likely be a situational attack for things such as pulls or finishing moves (although, pets can also be used to pull or provide a fan-out scourge).

A better designed set of powers for a MM would have included agro management with an AoE attack, e.g, group confuse, disorient, sleep, or stun. The Mace set with its knockback is the only set with a power that provides agro management. Instead of agro management, we get cone immobilizations, which only increases agro. I'm not looking for an uber "i win" power, just a more synergystically designed set. After all, they customized the Pool explicitly for MMs. I and many MMs here are saying that its not as good a fit for MMs as it could have been.

I can 'tank' on teams becuase the pets are grabbing all the agro and I'm flying under the radar. If I decide to throw my AoE attack, I'll wind up running for cover and losing my pet management.

Again, we'll have to see how agro-vating the AoE attack is on mobs.

I said comments welcome, even negative ones.

I'm certainly going to test on Test the amount of agro that a primary AoE attack will have and how much the pets can cover it.

While MMs may have experience overcoming agro of AoE immobs and powers that do *minor* damage over time, it's going to be different when you're doing *moderate* DoT and it's you doing it, not a pet or device.

And yes, this is version beta, and I did disclaim we don't have hard numbers, and I do want other input. Don't know why there's all the heat for a draft version of a guide. Lots of guides started out as drafts.

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The last thing masterminds need are more attacks, did they get to us last and fall alseep or something? I am debating skipping the PP alltogether.

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See my guide below.

ZOMBIE MAN’S GUIDE TO MASTERMIND PPP

[Note: Right now, we only have general descriptions of the powers, no hard numbers, which will be forthcoming from within the game itself. So, we’ll have to wait until Issue #7 (I7) hits the Test Server. I’m assuming the powers are generally the same as similar powers in the game, just like Hero Epic Power Pools powers are similar to the powers in the regular power sets.]



Here is the description of the Patron Power Pools (PPPs) for the MasterMind:


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Ghost Widow - Soul Mastery

Night Fall: Unleashes a cone-shaped burst of particles from the Netherworld. All targets within the modest range of this power take Negative Energy damage and have a reduced Accuracy.

Dark Embrace: You tap into the energy of the Netherworld to protect yourself from damage. This Dark Embrace shrouds you and grants resistance to Lethal, Smashing, Negative Energy, and Toxic damage.

Soul Tentacles: You can create a cone-shaped rift to the Netherworld that allows the souls of the damned to slip into our reality. These Soul Tentacles will snare all foes within range, Immobilizing them while their drain their life. You must have one other Soul Mastery power before selecting this power.

Soul Storm: Like Ghost Widow, you will be able to summon the souls of your victims to do your bidding. Soul Storm enraptures a single target, Holding them while their life-force is drained from their body. You must have two other Soul Mastery powers before selecting this power.


Black Scorpion - Mace Mastery

Web Envelope: The Nullifier Mace can lob a modified Web Grenade. Upon impact, the Web Grenade expels a strong, tenuous, and very sticky substance that can Immobilize most targets in a wide area. This non-lethal device deals no damage and does not prevent targets from attacking, although their attack rate is Slowed. The Web can bring down flying entities and halts jumping.

Scorpion Shield: Black Scorpion’s technologies are impressive indeed. This energy shield grants you Defense to Lethal, Smashing and Energy attacks, as well as improves your Damage Resistance to Toxic damage.

Mace Beam Volley: Fires a volley of multiple kinetic energy blasts from your Nullifier Mace. These blasts spread out in a wide cone and are powerful enough to knock down some foes. You must have one other Mace Mastery power before selecting this power.

Web Cocoon: The Bane Mace can fire a more powerful version of the common web grenade. The sinewy fibers of this grenade are strong enough to completely Hold one target. Targets able to resist the Hold are still likely to have their attack and movement speed dramatically Slowed. Web Cocoon can also bring down flying targets and prevent foes from jumping. You must have two other Mace Mastery powers before selecting this power.


Captain Mako - Leviathan Mastery

School of Sharks: You can call forth a school of vicious Shark Spirits that will swim out in a cone formation and will encircle your foes, draining their spirit energy. The encircling Shark Spirits will immobilize most foes while they deal Negative Energy damage over time. Both you and the target must be near the ground for this power to activate.

Chum Spray: Sharks will eat anything, so their stomach acid must be powerful indeed. You can regurgitate this acid and spew a corrosive spray of bile at a foe. Affected foes in the cone will take Toxic damage over time.

Shark Skin: The power of the Leviathan Mako has shown you seems to have no end. Shark Skin improves your Damage Resistance to Lethal, Smashing and Cold damage. You must have one other Leviathan Mastery power before selecting this power.

Spirit Shark Jaws: You can summon a massive Spirit Shark that will attack your foe from below. The Shark will grip your foe with its massive jaws and attempt to Hold the target while he mauls it, dealing Lethal damage over time. Flying targets will likely be pulled to the ground. You must have two other Leviathan Mastery powers before selecting this power.


Scirocco - Mu Mastery

Static Discharge: Hurls multiple bolts of Mu electricity in an arc that deals damage and drains Endurance from all affected foes in the area.

Charged Armor: When you toggle on this power, you are surrounded by a charged field that makes you highly resistant to Smashing, Lethal, and Energy damage.

Electrifying Fences: Electrifying Fences attempts to Immobilize a group of foes in an area. This power deals some Energy damage over time as it slowly drains some Endurance. You must have one other Mu Mastery power before selecting this power.

Electric Shackles: Electric Shackles binds a foe’s limbs, leaving the target Held and helpless. The target is drained of some Endurance and some of that Endurance may be transferred back to you. You must have two other Mu Mastery powers before selecting this power.

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And here is a summary of the powers


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Soul
Att(DoT(cone, mod, neg)), -ACC
+Res(Leth/Smash/Neg)
Immob(cone, DoT(min, neg), -ACC?
Hold(DoT(min, neg))

Mace
Immob(AoE), -speed, -fly, - jump
Def(Leth/Smash/Enrg), Res(Tox)
Att(DoT(cone, mod, smash?,energ?), knockback
Hold/-speed/-recharge/-fly/-jump

Leviathan
Immob(DoT(cone, min, neg)) (grounded)
Att(DoT(cone, mod, toxic)
Res(Leth/Smash/cold)
Hold(DoT(min, lethal) -fly

Mu
Att(DoT(cone, mod, elec) -END
Res(Leth/Smash/Enrg)
Immob(AoE) -END
Hold, -END, +END


DoT=Damage over Time
damage level is minor (min) or moderate (mod)
AoE = Area of Effect (circular or spherical radius)

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Brief Comparisons

The four sets are pretty similar. they all have:

1. A single target Hold in the fourth slot
2. An AoE (cone or radius) immobilization (the foe can’t travel, except for teleport, but they can attack)
3. A ranged, cone attack that does damage over time.
4. A defensive toggle (shield).

Note that the attack, immobilization, and defensive toggle are mixed up in the order that they come depending on the set… seemingly randomly.

Which set you choose (if any) will depend on three things:

1. Character concept.
2. Usefulness of the powers as powers.
3. Usefulness of the powers for their secondary effects.





Character Concept

I’m not going to say much on this except for three things.

1. Yes, given the rather narrow focus of the four PPPs, it will be hard for many a character to find a Patron or PPP that ‘goes with’ their character concept, though for MMs, it should be a little easier than some of the other ATs. Necro obviously has Ghost Widow. Bots has Mace. Mercs and Thugs will work for anybody. Ninja has Mu.

2. It’s a disappointment that none of the sets give a new pet to MMs. I guess a lack of a gift is better than a nerf. However, keep in mind that you can take Leviathan and pretend the spirit sharks are new pets!

3. You don’t have to take any of the powers in the PPP. Even if you do a Patron’s arc for the respec, you don’t have to take any of the powers. You can pretend the badge from the arc is just a regular accomplishment badge.





Usefulness of the Powers as Powers

Imagine this ideal scenario: You toggle on a shield for better defense, you throw a cone immobilization on a group of foes, you then hit them with a cone shaped attack. Great, eh? Unfortunately, some of these PPPs don’t allow you to do that all too well.

First of all, with Leviathan, you can’t take the shield power first. You have to take first the immobilization or attack, both of which generates agro for which you need the shield. Secondly, Mu and Mace have AoE immobilizations (i.e., a spherical or circular radius), and not cone, which doesn’t work too synergistically with the cone attack.

And thirdly, we are left asking the Developers what they were thinking in giving MMs AoE attacks and immobilizations in the first place. These powers generate agro onto the MM and not the minions. MMs have the least amount of hp and almost no defense (the sheild toggle of the PPP will not be enough to protect the MM).

And lots of agro at that. Unlike the agro that AoE debuffs draw, attack agro can not be easily gotten rid of -- it generates much more hate in the foes. A MM will be forced to have the minions free-for-all attack all the foes at once instead of concentrating attacks on one foe at time.

[Side Note: The reason that focused, one-foe-at-a-time attacks is a good tactic is to take this example: If you're fighting ten foes and you're now half-way through the battle, would you rather have ten foes all at half health standing and attacking you at full strength; or would you rather have five foes left with full health attacking you at full strength?]

The only way that an AoE attack or immobilization would be beneficial to a MM is if that attack did heavy damage (which will be unlikely) and quickly dispatched a large number of the foes at once. Otherwise, this is, at best, a situational power for a group of low level foes that are already near death.

Where are we? Oh, yeah, fourthly: So, the only really useful powers in these PPPs are the single target hold and the shield toggle. But some MM sets already have a hold (though, you can try to become a hold specialist and see if you can hold an Elite Boss). And to get to the Hold, you have to take two of the other powers in the set, only one of which is really beneficial to the MM, the shield.

For MMs, this is a very poorly thought out set of powers. Sorry, devs.





Usefulness of Powers for their Secondary Effect

As a general rule, secondary effects that are debuffs are very weak. And so, the -ACC of Soul, the -END of Mu, and the -speed and -recharge of Mace are pretty useless, unless you're stacking them on top of other powers that you already have. The -ACC of Soul will stack with the -ACC found in the Necro, Dark, Trick Arrow, and Poison sets. The same for the -recharge and -speed of Mace for those sets that already have those debuffs. Since no MM set has -END, then the -END of Mu is totally and completely worthless as a secondary effect for MMs.

Secondary effects that are mezzes or status inducers are much more effective... they're either on or they're not. And so, the knockback of Mace will have a noticeable effect, namely, delaying the return fire of the group of foes you just attacked. That should buy you enough time to hide and to get your pets to grab agro back from you.

Only one power has a buff: the Hold of the Mu set. It gives you +END. So, this might be worth it if you're a toggle hog and you don't have Stamina.






Anything Good?

Some, it's a mixed bag:

1. Soul Mastery has a good synergy with the -ACC sets. If your foes' accuracy is floored, then you don't have to worry too much about return fire from all the agro that the AoE powers cause. (The description for the immobilization power, Soul Tentacles, doesn't mention -ACC, though, I'm sure that's just an oversight.) The cones (attack and immobilization) match. You can get the powers in the right order (shield, immobilization, attack). There's no drawing of a weapon.

2. Mace Mastery seems to be the best all-around generic set. It's very much a control and disable set with the -fly, -jump, -speed, -recharge, and knockback. The knockback will help a little in mitigating agro. However, you have to draw a weapon which takes time (hopefully, there will be the usual +5% accuracy for a drawn weapon). The AoEs of the immobilization and attack don't mach (radius v. cone). The shield toggle has a resist (toxic) in addition to the defense (which doesn't make sense character-wise, but it's a small boon <shrug&gt. You can get the powers in the right order (shield, immobilization, attack).

3. Leviathan Mastery is the most original powerset yet. It might be the coolest or the silliest thing you've ever seen. It can be played as an extra pet set. However, it has almost no secondary effects. It has no inherent way to mitigate agro from the AoE attacks, in fact, you can't take the shield toggle first. The immobilization can only be used on the ground (!). At least the attack and immobilization are both cones. There's no drawing of a weapon.

4. Mu Mastery has the useless -END debuff (for a MM), but it does have the useful +END buff. The AoEs don't match (cone v. radius). It has no inherent means to mitigate the agro that the AoEs will draw. You can get the powers in the right order (shield, immobilization, attack). There's no drawing of a weapon.



[Note: comments and addenda are welcome.]

Just keep asking for arena modules to be installed in Pocket-D. Then you can arrange FC rather easily with heroes and villains.

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You know, that's all well and good, and certainly possible. However, you DO realize that it means going from 41-49 without taking a single new power? Then at 49, you can copy to Test, and see which powers you would have enjoyed on those previous levels, but now are pretty much just useless tchotchke (except for that level...yay)?

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My hopeful assumption is that the PPP works like this:

1. Choose a Patron trial (one of four).

2. Get the badge from completing the arc.

3. Badge unlocks that Patron's PPP.

4. Powers from the PPP are added, or not, just like the epic PPs, i.e., as you train up, you can take them if you're high enough level and have the right prerequisites.




And so, even at level 49, after taking all my regular powers, I can still do a Patron trial and unlock that PPP. I do this (each trial) on Test four times (one for each Patron) and then respec into the PPP (in place of my ordinary powers). If I dig Ghost Widow, in the end, e.g., then I'll do her trial on Live and then respec into her PPPs.

The most shaky assumption here, as you've mentioned, is that the Patron trial may be outleveled at 45. I hope not. But... <looking around at certain individuals in this thread> I'm not going to whine and scream 'doom,' until I know for sure.

HOW TO ENJOY ALL OF PATRON CONTENT AND POWER ON ONE TOON

This post contains assumptions which may or may not wind up being fact, but, nevertheless, I believe they're sound.



Seeing the Content of Each Patron Arc

This is for:

1. If you're concerned about the right story fitting in with your character concept.

2. You just want to see the content of each arc.

Then do this: Copy your toon to the Test Server four times. Run through each arc. Now you know them all and can take you main toon on a live server through the one you want, if you want any of them at all in the end.




Seeing or Trying Out the Powers of Each Patron

This is for:

1. If you want to see if the powers of the patron 'fits' with your character concept (would my villain really carry a mace?).

2. If you want to try out all the powers and test them (especially to see what will make you uber in PvP).

Then do this:

1. On a Live Server, bring your toon up to level 49 without any of the Patron powers (don't do their arcs). Make sure you do the level 44 respec or save a free respec if it comes.

2. Copy your toon to Test four times. With each copy, run through each of the arcs.

3. On Test, respec each of your four toons into taking all the powers of your Patron. (Yes, I'm assuming that you can respec powers in the powerset, even though you can't change which Patron Powerset you have... just like AT powersets.)

4. Now that you know how your toon would be with each of the four Patron Powersets and without, decide which one you want.

5. If you choose no Patron Powerset for your main toon, do nothing. If you choose one of the Patron Powersets, then run your toon on live through that Patron's arc and then respec into those powers.




Seeing the Content and Powers of Each Patron Arc During the Test Period

When I7 goes to Test before it goes live, you will not have the option of copying over a level 49 toon to Test, because, at the moment, you can't have a level 49 toon to copy to Test. So, do this:

1. Before I7 hits Test, copy your toon to Test *five* times.

2. With four of the copies, run through each of the arcs.

3. Hope that the devs will give us a level bump somewhere along the way. You will then have five 50-ish toons on Test: one without Patron Powers, and four with one each of the Patron Powers. Take all the Patron Powers available and test them out.




That Won't Work Because You're Assuming X, When I'm Assuming Y

I told you I was making some assumptions. I simply hope I'm right.




I Wouldn't Want Them To Do It the Way You Assume!!

Yes, I'm sure you've already made that clear. I'm not arguing they should do it this way, I'm just guessing this is what's going down whether you, I, or anyone else likes it or not.

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This thread is barely 24 hrs old and is already 34 pages long......you'd think this would send a message to the devs.

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What message? That's there's a small group of players who get hysterical over incomplete information and post multiple times?

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Feeble attempt at Trolling---specious and disingenuous backbiting.

Cal2

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Trolling? How am I trying to elicit more responses when I'm ridiculing the overreaction already present?

Specious and disingenuous? What's false about the fact that there are hysterical responses to incomplete information? (And stop being redundant.)

Backbiting? Behind who's back am I saying mean things? I'm saying it to all your faces.

Throw a dictionary in the shopping cart when you're picking up a clue.

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This thread is barely 24 hrs old and is already 34 pages long......you'd think this would send a message to the devs.

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What message? That's there's a small group of players who get hysterical over incomplete information and post multiple times?

We can always rename this thread to: Guide for Getting /loc to Display

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Seer Marino is a bit special. Once you get to level 15 you can simply go to her and she will start handing you missions, no introduction needed. Can you also be introduced to her?

Back in beta I talked to her before I was level 15 and she became a contact but wouldn't give me missions until I got to level 15. She sure acts like a badge-locked contact.

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She was introduced to me by Operative Marshall. I'm guessing any contact will introduce you to her once you hit the right level. It was the same kind of introduction that one gets to the contact in the Hollows or a PvP zone: you get a mission to talk to them without being obliged to take their missions.

But I can definitely say she is *not* an unlockable contact. She's just a somewhat regular contact, not the kind of contact in the usual progression, but an optional branch.



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I got the Pirate badge today and did BOTH arcs at level 14 with my Corrupter. They were very short, and I soloed both. The second arc had two Elite Bosses in it, (The same one twice) but the first arc didnt have anything higher than a leiutenant.

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My mistake. The second arc had the two EBs. I did the arcs back to back and thought the first EB was a the end of the first arc instead of actually being near the beginning of the second arc.