Xason

VirtueAE is the channel for getting help with building AE arcs--has been around since the launch of I-14, but is not meant for advertising

Virtue Publishing fills that gap--it's for advertising arcs and teaming in AE on the Virtue server

Party Clown,

For players on Virtue, I've added the in-game channel "Virtue Publishing" for promoting arcs and seeking MA teams. Obviously a global channel is great for promoting, but I feel each server should have their own so that teaming is made simpler.

Hope that helps!

-- Xason

I really have to agree with just about everything that's been posted to this point. While it may have been intended, the numbers are not very even.

Given the number of glowies and destructables in created MA arcs, I've found it ridiculously easy to get the 5th tier badges on these, whereas (as already stated) the test lines are unrealistically high. How about this for a measuring stick: it takes half as many tickets collected to earn the final ticket badge than virtual defeats. With each enemy having a chance (30%? 50% even?) to drop tickets somewhere in the range of 4-30 for one (just an estimate of what i've seen minion thru boss)... do the math. Even if it's just 5 tickets for every 3 enemies, that puts you at 15,000 enemies needed to gain said badge. Basically 70% less than virtual victor. And that's being conservative with the numbers.

We're talking as bad (or worse) than the illusionist decoys, and I'm sure everyone here knows what I'm talking about. In other words, there's nothing wrong with a badge that takes some time to acquire over normal play, but one that almost *must* be farmed in order to complete is bad for the game. Badgers will still attempt to get it, but won't enjoy the time they're spending.

This is all "subjective feedback" of course, but I suspect it's very widely echoed.

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glade that you asked, i am hoping for the truth about Mender Silos, oh and sugar.

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you know, someone once told me that the letters in Mender Silos rearrange to form "Lord Nemesis"... it kind of reminded me of the Harry Potter books...

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Well they should add a new time...ECT, eastern CURRENT time, instead of having to guess what damn time it is. It is April, and it is 12:40 pm on the east coast.

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<--in full agreement

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So when is i15 coming out?

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lol i14 is like Santa Claus--it won't come out until you're asleep

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No it said 6 to 11am central.... almost positive on that one.

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It did in fact say 6-11 central. Important to note: it said "CST" a.k.a. Central standard time. For most of the US on daylight savings, that's 7-12 central.

Bummer for me, just got off a graveyard shift, rarin' to go... and I gotta wait another hour. Darn you, daylight savings!!!

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If that's true.... why would they say "we expect it to last the whole 5 hours" instead of the 6?

I think it's just taking longer than expected.

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Um, because that's still a 5 hour block of time. It just starts and ends later than we would have expected.


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Well it is almost 12:30 EST and it still shows servers are down!! *sigh*

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It's not 12:30 EST right now, it's 12:30 EDT. lol, this is why I hate daylight savings time! It screws everyone up.

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Hmm.. it -almost- let me on a moment ago; sign-on, server & character selection, then it said I wasn't allowed on while the server was in testing, or such. Soon.

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Got that same one a moment ago myself. I just need to find some morning activity to occupy myself in the meantime... hmmm... breakfast?

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really.... CST.... hmmm ok now i am bugged... I am sick and trying to stay awake for this... ugh

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Seriously, maybe I should move to Arizona O.o

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No it said 6 to 11am central.... almost positive on that one.

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It did in fact say 6-11 central. Important to note: it said "CST" a.k.a. Central standard time. For most of the US on daylight savings, that's 7-12 central.

Bummer for me, just got off a graveyard shift, rarin' to go... and I gotta wait another hour. Darn you, daylight savings!!!

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We do not want people to spend days making a great story only to find it shuffled into a list of missions with titles like "Get your Rikti Monkey badge here", "10 badges in 5 minutes", "Down on the AV Farm", etc. etc.

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"Down on the AV Farm" lol. Best quote I've read today!

Almost forgot: Badges.

I see two solutions here. One is simple. Don't allow heroes to collect villain badges and vice versa. After all, why do I want a badge saying I helped break up the dockworkers strike? Or defeated a Hero?

On the other hand, I will admit it would be cool to say I left my footprint on the Isles... or in Paragon as a villain. So now that badges are categorized in the dropdown (quite handy, given the ridiculous amount that are available), perhaps exploration badges should be available, and a category could be added like "badges of shame" or "dishonorable" or whatnot, where mission accomplishments could go, to wear like a scarlet letter.

Definitely no accolades though--they are basically mirror images of the opposite faction's accolades anyhow.

I hope this hasn't already been brought up--as my eyes are a bit buggy from all the posts (though I did read the orig in its entirety)...

I think one of the biggest counterarguments to this idea is the thematic element. That, and, "we already have too much co-op!". Here's a tack-on solution to the first (and maybe the second):

It would make sense to me to only allow ONE hero/villain in a team of the opposite faction at a time, and maybe having a minimum of 2 or 3 for the team size before taking the member under duress/probation. That also, I think, goes along with the original intent behind the sk/lk idea. Thematically, now you have a hero that obviously isn't going to take on 3-7 villains, so he's going to go along with their evil plot until he has an opportunity for backup or escape. Or maybe he's undercover. Never mind that said hero is probably shouting out "woot! grats on ur lvl!" or "sb pls!" lol.

I think it's a great idea overall. Not to mention, how awesome would it be to go hand-in-hand with architect?

Kudos!
Xason

Overall, I think this is a great guide. If I had seen this prior to starting my katana/regen I probably would have levelled up much faster. As it stands, he was still my first toon and first 50. And in the 2.5 years that I've had him, I've only felt the need to respec once.

The differences in my build:
I don't use Divine Avalanche, Build Up, or Hasten

I have considered putting DA back in, since my lvl 49 slot is just a bonus for me (Heal Other, which is fun to run around low level zones and heal squishy lowbies when you're 50).

If you solo a lot, I feel that Stealth is must. For soloers, no matter how much dps you put out, glowie missions and defeat boss mob missions will net you more xp in the long run, as you can speed to the end and pick up your mission bonus, and eventually story arc bonus. Add to that the recent developments such as merits and day jobs (the ones with end of mish bonuses) and you'll find that playing a bit like a twitchy stalker can be both profitable and fun.

Your choice of Body Mastery is commendable--FA and CP are excellent additions to the build, and, honestly, make more thematic sense.

I'm not a big fan of super speed, especially as a scrapper. With swift (two- or even one-slotted for speed), and having sprint on (between stamina and QR the end drain shouldn't be an issue), in-mission you will move as fast as you need to. I even leave Stealth on most of the time, and hardly notice the slowdown. This leaves you open to take a more 3-dimensial travel. I'm partial to Super Jump, as it gives me the best mix of speed and control. Fly is good, but slower for commuting and rarely worth turning on in-mish. TP I find too "digital", forcing my destinations, but then again, you can't beat it for speed (except in Steel Canyon and DA) and if you team a lot, Recall Friend will make you popular. This all does assume that you choose the fitness set, which I personally feel is a good addition to ANY AT build.

I DO think Tough would be a great addition to the build. Although more res to smash/lethal is not totally necessary.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to explain the things I differ on instead of making it sound like "my build is better than yours". Perhaps in some ways, but not overall.

What I'd like to add for someone who hasn't played a katana/regen and is trying to figure out if it's worth it, my advice is this: consider your play style.

My description of the KR build is "Boss Killer". If I'm on a team, it's my job to damage the biggest, baddest mofos first. The tank has enough on his plate trying to keep the aggro from 30 mins/lts off of people. You can help out immensely by downing the more dangerous targets.

Solo, I tear through missions, and if it's not a defeat all, I may stealth it or just kill lt's/bosses along the way because it's more economical and efficient.

And for the record, I've soloed almost every Elite Boss on invincible and won (There are 3 that elude me: Ghost Widow, Nosferatu, and the Madame of Mystery--and if you've ever fought them you know why), and can stand against an AV by myself, though I need a buffer/debuffer with me in order to overcome their regen and high hp.

Also, I should point out, this build has impenetrable resistance to knockdown, and requires stacked mezzes to hold/stun you etc. And not having to carry around rez insp is nice.

If you like blowing things up and having a lot of AOE's, this build is not for you. Obviously if you like to assist others directly then it's not for you.

But if you like going toe-to-toe with bosses and watching the awe among your teammates as you land a critical hit and down a lieutenant in one hit, then this build is for you.

One final note: After lots of play with this build, I can point out two holes in it--basically, just things to watch out for.

1. The obvious. Psychic powers. However, I'm hoping to overcome this with the IO system, as there are unique enh that can offer a little def/res to psy powers.

2. Slow. And perhaps this is why Amberyl chooses SS. Of course, slow powers usually affect recharge rate as well, which can be frustrating since you're used to firing off your attacks in combo.

3. I know I didn't say 3, but you should also watch out for Sappers and Carnival Mistresses. They are really the 2 enemies in the game that steal so much endurance that you will panic.

Best Wishes,
Xason

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Well there are several things villains do need, as it is easily seeable that villains still are not up to where heroes are, and parity is still needed for those things that are lacking.

<ul type="square">[*]Parity for the Hero Revamps
It sould of been done when the changes were/are being made to update those unused zones, but whether because of lack of resources, time, or foresight, they haven't. When the hero zone revamps were being designed, villain equivalent content should be added to tell the villain side of the story, either in one or two new contacts, or a complete Strike Force. I would prefer Strike Forces, since that would kill several birds with one stone; Filling in the Strike Force holes we have, parity with the new story or zone updates, letting villains affect Paragon City, ect.

For the Faultline revamp, I would of had Arbiter Sands added as a Strike Force contact in the 20 to 25 range, to parity the upper level range of Faultline. This would tell the story of what Sands is really trying to do, and let the villains try to get the PCM for themselves, or whoever.

For the now Hollows revamp, though minor, I would add a 10 to 15 Strike Force contact in Port Oakes dealing with instigating the war between the Outcasts and Trolls, as well as several other things. This would help fix the problem of getting the troll and outcast badge for starters and also introduce villains to Strike Force content sooner, like for heroes. The contact could be one of the Family, trying to keep the war going so they can keep pushing their Dyne and weapons on both the Outcasts and the Trolls since it is big bucks and the heroes are interfering with that.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Zone Parity
This will require a bit more work, and it's something I would only expect to happen gradually. Zone parity for Striga and Croatoa, Croatoa being an excellent source of lower level magic salvage, something villains lack. Considering the also exceptionally difficult task of getting red caps badge, which is required if you want the red caps dagger, villains have to wait for either the Winter Event, which is a very long time, or hope someone has the valentines event and is willing to suffer constant mission resets with that, which both are, quite frankly, unnacceptable. Since we still have four islands that are unused and uncharted, one of those could be opened up for this, complete with missions and strike force content.

A parity of Striga zone, a villain version, would also be nice. Considering Striga's relative distance from Paragon, and it's in international waters, American law would basically have n sway over it anyways, as Striga is pretty much isolated. Giving Council contacts to help the Council succeed, going against all the hero contacts would be a good start, with possibly one of the top Council guys handing out a Strike Force to help insure Burkholder's robot see's completion.

Then comes the Shadow Shard, which is for all points of fact, should be aco-op zone, since Rularuu presents a bigger threat than even the Rikti present, since Rularuu is City of's version of Galactus, except he devours whole dimensions, not worlds.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]Villain Zone Setup and Aesthetics
I dunno why it was decided, I can understand small portions, but every single section of each island? Clean up some of the villain zone areas. Not every place should be dirty and in ill-repair. The beach along the north end of Villa Montrose? I doubt the Family or Mooks would care if there is fighting going on between them. They wouldn't let a tourist trap and a source of funds go into disrepair like that.

Grandville needs a complete rework, I think the devs admitted that much, but finding the time to do it is another problem.

Another point of contention on villain aesthetics are the fact that all villain stores and trainers are Arachnos. Get rid of them. Put in real villain trainers, ones with faces and names, and move the origin stores into buildings with real sellers and faces, helping with the pleasing sense, and also to avoid being griefed while shopping. I can't even begin to say how many times I got griefed going to the magic or mutant store in Sharkhead while shopping because someone thought it was cute to lure the warwolves over to me. Arachnos should only run generic stores, just like Longbow does for heroes, and certain villains should be trainers, like Olivia Darque, High Roller, and the like, it makes the game feel more alive and less impersonal when you got a face you can go to. Arachnos tries to put up a face, it doesn't help their face when their operatives can physically be seen training villains, so instead having real villain faces would not only help make the game more immersive, it makes the face Arachnos tries to put up more believable.

This also applies to the respec trainer in Nerva. Move him into the coffee shop as well, because many people have died trying to respec because he is right there next to a bunch of large spawns.

And speaking of in doors, put some of the brokers in doors to, to give more life to the isles. Brokers like Drea the Hook should be inside places like Blackbeard's Pub. We should be making shadey deals in dark bars and such, not out in the open where any two-bit hero or Longbow agent can see us.[/list]
<ul type="square">[*]The Black Helicopter Line and Others
Great idea, at first, but with one major problem. Their placement being so close to the ferries make them useless for starters. What's the point in having them at all if you can just use the boat, with more zone choices, right next to them? The Black Helicopter Line should be moved away from the Ferry and offer zone choices from differing zones from the Ferry, and also help in getting to different points in especially larger zones.

For instance, in Nerva, the Black Helicopter should be placed towards the northern end of the zone, near Primeva somewhere, which would fit much better than it being in the south near the Ferry, considering the Arachnos soldiers on Primeva. The Grandville Line should be towards the northern end as well, and St. Martial one should be in the Flop. All the Black Helicopter Lines should be connected, so one can jump a copter to go to Mercy, Cap, Grandville, Nerva, or Martial. It makes little sense for them to be there otherwise.

Also on a point of contention, the tunnel between Cap and Oakes needs to be opened up and aesthetics of the cars driving through should be added. I see little reason the tunnel is closed and it would add another go to point for villains and make the islands feel more alive.[/list]
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So I may never get through this whole thread! But this was excellently said.

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Now that we've had this Day Jobs thing for awhile, is anyone else getting the feeling that the real reason why they did this was to get people to stop logging just anywhere? Anyone know if maybe there's a server resources reason to be doing this? Most of the locations for Day Job badges involve leaving the major city zones for a store or hospital or other place out of the way of where mobs spawn.


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You didn't mention WW/BM. As for that little message that so-and-so is logging out for 30sec... relatively small amount of resources to display a little text over a static character vs track their movements across your screen.

Nonetheless, I'm not bashing your theory. I do have an alternate one: although I don't know that it has any positive effect to the devs or the system, I see the change as a cause for people to spread their time around alts a little more especially with patrol xp thrown in the mix.

Of course, maybe there's no big reason other than the devs wanted to implement something new that they hoped would be well-recieved. And, like the invention system, you don't really have to pay attention to it if you choose not to.
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So my hope is that with i14, perhaps we'll get to see a couple added day jobs. I think reporter and college student ("professor"? seriously, how many professors can we have in this freakin city??) should definitely be added.

And on a less serious note: am I the only one who sees an opoortunity for a badge by logging out at the trainers? GROUPIE!!!! After all, as it's been pointed out "Clubber" isn't exactly a job, so that whole money-making thing becomes a bit irrelevant.

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Mwahahaha my Defender will soon amass 14 costume tokens and she no longer has to use them!!! Mwhahaha! My plans for world domination... *cough*

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Because mere mortal... this apartment...

...IS RENT CONTROLLED!

And... water's included.

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After reading through the thread, I'm not sure if anyone else got this. lol, kudos for the reference!

It seems to me that apparent "problem" here has nothing to do with the devs at all. NOR the players. The fundamental issue is that being a villain and being a hero require entirely different motives and personalities. Let's break it down:

Sure, a mission structure is nice. But let's be honest, as a villain, you're working toward your OWN agenda, not that of your "contacts".

In fact, to truly be a villain-based game, all zones should be PvP. While villains may occasionally team up to further their own ends, generally speaking, they fly solo by nature. So the very idea of a villain "MMO" is problematic.

Infamy? Give me a break. Where's the cash? Influence may suffice for do-gooders, but villains aren't going to buy ALL their technological (biological etc.) upgrades on reputation alone. Unless maybe they went on a mission to STEAL it??

And while I realize that the villains in the Isles are actually "supervillains", not the small-time evildoers that make Paragon their home, why the heck are they settling for these decrepit islands? Siren's Call, you say? I'm pretty sure I could find another way to immigrate illegally. TRUST me.

Anyhow, the point is not that CoV is crappy or needs more attention. The point is that we have to accept it for what it is: an extension of a pre-existing game, City of Heroes. It will, therefore, use the same contact/mission/influence/teaming format because it is straightforward and easy to play. Sure, it would be "cool" if all CoV were PvP to keep the realism. But without the story content, I might get pretty bored.

I'm a fan of both CoH and CoV, and will continue to hit up both the red or the blue on any given day, depending on my mood. At least, either way, I'm gonna smash some heads in.