BellaStrega

Hahaha, win.

This is a false dilemma. 1. is false because whatever the criminals are doing, they can't just crack the fobs which are external to your computer. Most of what they're doing to break into your account is focused on invading your computer, not your keychain.

You're manufacturing something here that I did not argue.

I thought that trial zones had larger spawns (like hazard was 5 player, trial 8 player, or some such thing?) Has that changed?

I mapped all of Faultline with super jump.

I kinda miss old Faultline. As far as zones went, it was pretty creepy and non-Euclidian.

It is fine as-is. Four toggles that are fairly cheap, one that is practically free, and one that saves you end over time, despite its cost. And one that has a high end cost for what it does, and what it does sucks.

You know what, though? There was a time I ran six toggles - CoF instead of OG - tough, weave, acrobatics, combat jumping, and focused accuracy, pre-IOs, and I was able to manage.

Give that said option is blatantly false, though...

What I mean is, I've seen all kinds of people lose their accounts - people who screw up, people who lock their machines down as much as possible, people who may very well be stupid, people who are quite intelligent. The fact is that the people who steal accounts are working very hard at it, and they're not all stupid. Aggelakis' story is one I've heard way too many times.

It'll probably only prevent <your favorite tactics>, and leave everything else untouched. You'll be fine!

Account stealers are becoming more aggressive and clever all the time. It's way too simplistic to just say that everyone whose account is stolen is stupid.

And yet, adding the authenticator is added security, given the methods typically used to steal accounts. Keyloggers can't beat authenticators. Someone who wants to get into such an account needs to have access to more information and a technical support or billing guy who will buy their story when they call.

Are you seriously going to argue otherwise, or will the generalities continue?

DA doesn't require that much babysitting. It did from launch to early issue 3, with unstackable armor. Then, you'd get serious benefit from someone willing to keep status protection or bubbles on you. Now? It's a benefit to hang out with anyone who can buff you, but it's not a requirement.

And seriously, toggle juggling is not necessary. You don't need to swap any of the four basic toggles on or off. The only toggle you should be watching is Death Shroud, because it's a waste of endurance to use it on one or two mobs.

I played to 50 in issue 3, when /DA had serious end issues.

I also played to the 30s in CoV beta with a Fire/Dark brute, and didn't have serious end issues. In 8 brute teams, I also found myself the last one standing on occasion, and didn't die that frequently.

... I never had this problem. Sounds like ToE: +End is the crutch.

The value of a second accuracy is fighting +2 or higher and still hitting frequently.

I set up an e-mail address that I use for literally nothing else (and never log into) for my battle.net account.

I'm sure the infrastructure was quite affordable, given that it uses a system that a gazillion other businesses use internally and externally (PayPal offers similar authenticators, for example). I doubt it cost much at all, and the investment is probably worth keeping customers whose accounts are subsequently not hacked.

It's not as if adding authenticators is all Blizzard's done to improve security.

And seriously, my hostility comes from people in this very thread claiming that an added layer of security adds no security at all. I feel like I've walked into a physics class and had someone earnestly explain how sometimes apples will fall into the sky.

You really need two accuracies, but one accuracy SO at 30 against +1 mobs gives you an 89.775% chance to hit, and against even-level, you should have 95% chance to hit, which means you shouldn't be missing that frequently.

Sorry, this is just too pat an explanation. It's more likely to me that things are more complex than you think, and my own experiences and observations tend to support that over your overly simplistic assumptions.

Using one's e-mail as your username in WoW only happened in the past few months, when the battle.net revamp was implemented. Long before that, people created their own usernames. So no, that is not half the reason so many people are hacked.

I also want to point out that CoH also uses the same username and password for the forum and the game.

The fobs aren't stupid or expensive. They're actually rather cheap (although Blizzard sells them at a loss).

********. No amount of phishing or keyloggers can crack the authenticator. At that point, it would require live technical support to fail by not requesting sufficient confirmation of someone's identity before removing the authenticator for the account.

Seriously, are you listening to yourself? You're honestly claiming that effectively requiring two passwords - one of which is newly generated each time you log in - doesn't really add more security than a single static password? Do you really believe this?

Jesus christ, no wonder so many people get hacked.

I like to track WoW's customer service forum to see what people say when their accounts are hacked, and I think that collapsing people to these two groups is a bit simplistic - I've seen people who appear to be in the first category get hacked again and again, and I've seen people who appear to be in the second category never lose a thing. I've also seen many people in Guild Wars get hacked, and I'm kind of past the assumption that everyone who is hacked is an idiotic noob who can't handle computer security.

To be honest, I simply don't believe that the first category can block everything that can get to you. It might only take one moment of inattention while googling for information, or it might only take five minutes of someone else using your computer to look at pr0n or something stupid. I don't think CoH is at risk to the same degree that WoW or Guild Wars is, and it's pretty easy to dismiss that risk if it's not something you're subjected to.

My greatest regret is that I was not subscribed and reading the forums when the EM nerf finally came down.

Yeah, I totally agree with this. I know CO was never going to kill CoH, but you know how people get invested. The person in question was also wedded to the idea that CoH subscriptions had dropped to 50k or less, and that all the rest of the money was made up of microtransactions. I'm pretty sure subs are still in the 100k range, though.

I agree with this, too.

DA used to be really harsh on end usage, back in early 2005 when stacking armors were first added. The end costs were reduced two or three times since then and just running the resist toggles and CoD wasn't all that bad. Running OG didn't have any effect end-wise.

Somehow, it's maintained that reputation for being end-heavy even though it isn't hasn't been for ages. Dark Regeneration is the worst part of the set as far as endurance goes, but again, slotting it properly makes a big difference.

Seriously, if you're having this much trouble with endurance on your /da characters, the problem is you, not the set. Given that you already said you couldn't even slot accuracy because of all the end reduction on attacks, I submit that's where your problem is. When you miss more frequently, you use more end to defeat mobs, simply because you have to use more attacks to finish them off. At low levels, with training enhancements, try putting 3-4 accuracy enhancements in every attack and don't bother slotting defenses until the teens or 20s, since you won't get much out of slots until you get SOs anyway. You'll find it makes a fairly large difference.

Assuming you ever give the powerset a try again.

Try this:

Two accuracy per attack, 1 end red, the rest in damage (but aim for six-slotting attacks).

You only need three resist and one end red in toggles, if that.

Hitting more equals spending less endurance. Your attacks eat more end than your toggles. Aside from dark regeneration (which should have three end reducers), /DA isn't exceptionally end hungry.