Ad Astra

Do a radio mission in PI that has them. Or drop the mission.

If you haven't found him yet - he's across the street from the Vanguard depot, near the tram.

I vote for the combo of Kinetics & Dark Blast, either as a defender (kin/dark) or a corruptor (dark/kin). Kinetics to me can represent the sucking of life forces, especially Siphon Power & Siphon Speed.

I also have a Dark/Regen Scrapper, with the Regen representing vampiric fast healing.

Really?

Have you joined your servers TF/Badging/Teaming global channels? Because I see those channels putting together TFs all the time.

Or checked your server forum below to see who is putting together stuff there? I know that at least on infinity there are regular Saturday TF groups that are open to any comers who sign up on the forum - although they are sponsored by a particular SG, anyone is welcome. And if there are spot open at start time, any bystanders are also welcome.

So I have to support Justaris that you are starting from a bit of a flawed premise.

BTW. just because people are doing a TF "for a badge" doesn't mean that they are not interested in story.

In-game there is a message that the on-line store is down right now.

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But... its always midnight somewhere!

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The clear solution is to not let Power eat anything ever.

Not so much a Power Myth as an Archetype Myth: "Blasters can't solo!" Really? Because I seem to have soloed one to Level 44. How did that happen?

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Of course, neither can Defenders or Tankers....

I mostly soloed my blaster to about the same level before getting on a string of AV teams. I would have taken her all the way to 50 without them as a soloer.

My favorite is still making people turn off Steamy Mist et al because the Rikti Heavies won't spawn if characters are stealthed in any way, even after Dark Watcher specifically said that wasn't true.

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Ad-Astra (I think it was in your post); I hate to say this but to get a fully fuctional blueside base is closer to 4-6 mill. I know because I am in the middle of building my blue side base. This is taking into account the plot size and rooms for everything, placing all telliporters and becons, the power and control. Unless someone else has a better way for power I am having to save for the next step up in a generator and after I craft the darn thing it will cost me 1 mill prestege. Having a small SG this can be hard to get your hands on.

I have been paying atttention to this thread though and I have to agree with SwellGuy, I can see the devs trying to control the "ebil marketeers" as he defined and my quesiton would be how many of those "ebil marketeers" would build a base just for themselves to hoard there things....it would seem that they are more interested in getting money at the market than taking time to learn how to putiing together a functional storage base.

Your thoughts?

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I think some of us have different meanings for fully functional bases too.

I have one on Triumph I made a few months ago I consider fully functional.

I have my Pillar of Flame and Ice, 2 teleporters, 1 med bay, 2 Salvage bins, 3 or 4 enhancement bins, 3rd level empowerment station, crafting table and the personal salavage vault.

I consider it fully funtional but I know there was no way I had 4 million prestige to build it. It is padded with my alts for the 300k base plus they have earned just slightly over 1M combined.

I even have a villain base which has only earned 62k and only has 9 members (so only 180k from that) and it has 5 enhancement tables, 1 salvage bin, 3rd level empowerment station, 1 inspiration bin, the storage vault and crafting table.

So don't underestimate how little a motivated marketeer would need and they might be willing to do the horrible conversion especially the ones I've seen post who have many billions of inf.

Edit: Oh the reason my little villain has so many bins is Field Crafter. I've been storing all the IOs for the possibility I might play the alts on that server someday. I'd hate to delete them.

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My definition of a fully functional base is closer to SwellGuy's.

My number was an estimate because I know that my groups got the prestige grant, but have certainly not earned lots of prestige since then (split up among servers as they are) and I looked at how much prestige was left.

From a Marketeer's viewpoint (and taking into account the use of Ouro, etc.) my definition of functional had fewer teleporters and much more storage.

Upgrading past the first level of energy & control provided by the Combo Unit is a big jump, and then another big jump to the next level of control if you want 'porters to every zone blueside. That's the 2 big hurdles for a solo/small SG.

I'm glad that Part_Troll has started posting his PuG disasters again - I missed those.

<QR>

Yep, "RUN AWAY!!" should be the battlecry for this one.

I think I've made it back to the door a couple times, but usually I just die horribly & head to the hospital.

Looking at the team roster for Team 1 - it's looking more like I'm bringing Agoniste, the fire/rad troller.

I would consider adding a bit about taking advantage of the secondary effects of the powersets, i.e., you mentioned KB, but a quick discussion of taking advantage of *all* the secondary effects such as the slows from Ice, -Res from Sonic, etc.

I think that it can be easy for a newbie to look at things and decide to go with Fire because that's damage with a side of damage without seeing that each primary/secondary has something else to recommend it depending on playstyle.

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is there a guide that explains everything i need or am i just supposed to know this stuff?

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Yes

Essentially, once you outgrow the combo unit, you have to switch over to dedicated control and power units, each necessitating their own room.

Base Power items

Base Control items

So you're looking at:

Basic Generator/Power Crystal: 200,000 Prestige
Mainframe: 50,000 Prestige
Database (Probably at least two of them to exceed control of the Combo Unit): 50,000 Prestige each
Control Room 1: 100,000 Prestige
Energy Termina 1: 100,000 Prestige

Total: 550,000 Prestige

Essentially this is the entire prestige output of a single toon levelled 1-50 running missions on Heroic.

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And to my mind this is the big bottleneck to getting the small SG/solo base up to speed. The repricing helped some, but as I pointed out in a different thread, it sure would be nice if we had some way to get prestige (a la the way to get added Inf* my selling stuff at the CH) that could help small base builders out. Note that I do NOT consider the current ridiculous conversion rate as worth doing at all.

Thanks for the catch on the Magic Axis, CaptA. I get one and the second tier Arcane Control item mixed up.

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Now as I said, I have never seen an actual red name post on this topic, because other than a small flurry of posts from LH and then Sunstorm when he was first allowed to post, Base Construction does not see red names. The market impact reasoning is just what we have come up with as our "best guess".

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Actually that information was given to players during (mainly) closed betas. Some was repeated with open betas, but even those sections get eliminated with an Issue going live.

So the "paper trail" doesn't exist.

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Well, that's unfortunate.

I've never been in any of the closed betas, so I've never had a chance to read through what was posted then.

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3) i have everything open to every toon to be able to edit the base whenever needed. i'd hate to coaltion with people that could just come in and do whatever, ya know.

what i'm running into atm is that it seems like im going to need a larger plot or something. i don't have the room for a 2nd oversight room for another Combo Power unit and don't have the room for an Energy AND Control room. i tried to get just one, with the recommended power/energy item but it alone didn't fire up my 2nd tp'er.

again, thanks for all the replies.

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You can't have a second Oversight Room & Combo Unit, sorry.

You will need to have a Control Room and an Energy Room with a Mainframe/Orbits of Control andGenerator/Energy Crystal added to you base. Depending upon your room layout, you may have to upgrade the plot, but you can put all that plus Workshop & 2 Teleporter Rooms on an 8X8 plot.

Don't be concerned about coalition members coming in an taking your stuff - they can't. Only SG members can take from the base storage and then only the ranks that you set (per bin now, yay!). That can't be changed in the Base Editor either. Also, coalition members can't edit you base.

So, your wife has caught the base building bug, eh? Welcome her to the club. Most of us will give tours at the drop of a hat if you or she is interested, BTW.

Thanks for the olive branch.

Some of the base Building community has the impression that there are are some long-requested items that we can't have in bases because there would be an adverse impact on The Market - mostly around increased storage and storage items for recipes. The speculation (I've never actually seen a red name post with this answer) is that to give bases that would encourage hoarding rather than moving items on the market.

Now as I said, I have never seen an actual red name post on this topic, because other than a small flurry of posts from LH and then Sunstorm when he was first allowed to post, Base Construction does not see red names. The market impact reasoning is just what we have come up with as our "best guess".

We also have a couple of posters who are rabidly anti-market, and this best guess has not made the situation any better.

I like to think that I build bases that are much like what you are seeking COTCaveHater. Perhaps I should write up a guide. I will say that the cost of making a base that is maxed on storage (mainly enhancements and to a lesser extent salvage) with full teleporters blueside will cost you at least a million prestige or so, once you pay for the energy & control upgrades, required rooms, etc. Under the current conversion, that's a lot of Inf*, even for an ebil marketeer.

The other disconnect between the market/nf* and bases/prestige is that other than the really crappy conversion, there isn't any other way to generate prestige other than playing a character in SG mode. There isn't some way to generate prestige by buying/selling on the market, there isn't even a way to flip a switch to earn only prestige (no inf* or recipe/salvage drops, which can generate additional inf*).

The devs even got rid of one "currency" base builders alones used (base salvage) in favor of using the currency of invention salvage for base items and empowerments. The Devs gave us some cockamamie reason that "base salvage is too confusing" for doing so. But when they did that, that meant that SG members no longer got drops of something that can only be used in a base, so then they had to start making the chioce of whether to share Inv Salvage drops with the SG or keep them to improve their own characters.

I think that you are right to some extent. The market and Base Building are both communities that have not gotten lots of Dev attention over the years once each was implemented. We get tweaks in some issues - I noticed that they are finally correcting some spelling errors in names of IO sets that have been wrong since introduction, about time. Bases got a major tweak when raid pathing was removed, but we are now waiting for the other shoe to drop - what will happen when it comes back?

I'm a big fan of communities looking out for each other's backs and I like the idea of at a minimum getting an answer to the question of whether there are some types of storage in bases that are as they are to encourage the market. That could maybe remve some of the poisonois atmosphere (although people who at best regard the market as a "necessary evil" will still be unlikely to change their opinions, but ebul marketeers should already know that).

DISCLAIMER: I use the market every time I play. I read the market forum for tips & pointers. I do not marketeer to any great extent, although I do have a couple of characters with healthy bank balances and the aggregate total for all my alts (60+) is over 100 million, which is a drop in the bucket for marketeering. At the same time, I consider myself very much a part of the Base Building community, in the subgroup of small/solo base building.

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Ok. That's what i was afraid of. lol. I'm putting up a Rag and an Arma to sell and trade up prestige for the base. I know, it's not worth it but it's just a small family SG with really only me getting prestige. lol.

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eryq2 - I can offer coalitions on a couple of servers to get you the TP access. There are others here who will also be offering. I have all TPs on Liberty, Infinity, Pinnacle & Guardian (all blueside) and most of them on Triumph (redside) if you want the coalition.

Alternatively - although it's a bit of a PITA, since it's just you playing, do this while you save up:

Give all members of the SG Base Editing rights. Switch out the beacons on the working TP to the one needed at that moment.

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Thanks for all the replies everyone, I hear yall loud and clear. TonyV, you make great points. Honestly my "SG" is more of a glorified personal apartment (which hello, is something we frakking need here...plus mail to move things between characters) so I might just delete it. Less pain that way I guess.

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Wait - how did you get destroy it all, never mind the other members, from TonyV's advice to communicate with them and let them know what's happening?

Without knowing you and the other members, we can't really advise you whether making someone else the SL in your absence and having them give it back on your return will work or not. If everyone has played nicely together so far, it should work.

But jumping to the conclusion that we advised you to delete the SG instead of any other solution just feels wrong. And as I said upthread, it's not a very good way to treat your "friends" (I'm using quotations here because I have begun to doubt you really think of them as friends).

Now you got me curious - why would you want to do that?

The books are much better than the TV series (as usual for adaptations).

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The notion that all heroes age and retire is silly. Some may. Many do not. In fact, to assume a hero would eventually step down and retire after reaching the pinnacle of his power, or indeed EVER, is false. On the contrary, for a hero to retire, I would personally require a VERY good reason. Such has not been provided, beyond "because that's what I want," which doesn't really cut it.

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For a good example of "once a hero, always a hero" in game lore, please see the statue of Cyrus Oliver Thompson in Kings Rw by the tram.

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Cyrus_Thompson

Thanks for the story, Troy Hickman!

IIRC, the only difference is the Arcane cape from the Magic booster.

I do agree with Sam here, that the idea of wand-waving seems wrong in this game. I don't care for the mechanic at all.

Powersets with mixed damage types seems intriguing, although I must imagine it would be a bear to balance and determine in what order you got the various damage types.

But to be honest, I do have to point out to Sam that there is at least one popular series of books out right now where a modern day younger man is out waving a wand (albeit a "blasting stick" similar to a hockey stick) using verbal trigger words. I recommend reading Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden novels to anyone who has even a slight interest in modern fantasy.

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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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OOOhhhh,

So this is a "nobody will team with me thread"!

That explains a bit. People playing their 50s aren't playing alts so they can play with you (since you refuse to play a level 50 character after getting there).

OK, now we can answer this better. I know you don't feel that you can get a team, but there are tons of threads already out there about how to do that and that the servers aren't dead, there are teams out there, yada, yada, yada....

My SGs are *only* 2 players groups, but I can get teams when I want them. I also enjoy soloing quite a bit.

Still - just "no".

EDIT to add: I'm an altoholic. I run characters from brand new up to my sole level 50, with most of them in the 20s to 30s right now. Please don't tell me I can't get teams, because you are wrong. But you have espoused such a narrow view of the "right" way to play the game, that I don't think I would enjoy playing with you.....

I can help you out on Infinity if you want me to.

I was just going to do Base Maintenance tonight anyway.

Global @AdAstra.

EDIT - I just remembered an infrequently played alt on Justice blueside if you want me to help there as well.

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This could be power customization, where you can change the appearance, colour, or animation of a power in use. Power customization is on a lot of player's wish lists, for certain.

You've got some very evocative names there, and probably some really good ideas on what the animation would look like.

Unfortunately, the staff have limited time and resources, so they cannot do everything, and have to pick the best return on their investment. They've already said that power customization would be very difficult to do.

Creating another fire-themed set would probably be lower priority than proliferating existing ones, or creating a completely new powerset with minimal thematic overlap with existing ones.

"Everytime I get a good idea, someone brings up the budget!"

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Champions online will have power customization, so it may not be that its too hard.

Its that now adding it 5 years after the release it would be like taking pong and adding lazer guns into it. You have to learn all over again, and they don't want to make you learn all over again another menu.

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Actually you may want to check this post from BaB about how hard power customization would be before you make statements on that.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat....part=1&vc=1