Conker

Hi,

I just played through a CoT arc done by Crash Cage. It left me feeling less villainous than I would like. It was going okay until Crash started acting weird and tries to lure me into a trap, at which point I risk myself to get her a crystal so she can escape the CoTs mind control.

My more natural villainous reaction would be to just drop it and walk away, or if I am feeling particularly tidy, close up the loose end and shoot Crash in the head.

I know there are some MA arcs that try to be more villainous, but what good developer arcs are there that make you villains feel more ebil?

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

Your character levelling up is of interest to you, and you alone. However, the side effects of that levelling up are felt by a wider audience.

If you get up to level 50 and start playing with a character you have no experience of, you will have lower skill with that toon. This affects the people you team with.

But you only solo or play with your SG who also PL and know what to expect. Fine.

But if you have an SG who competes with other SGs to be the "best" if you use low risk methods to get high rewards, you force the people who you are competing with to either lose or use the same techniques you are using to remain competitive. This affects their gameplay experience.

But you don't compete with other SGs anyway. Fine.

All you do is use low risk high reward methods to level up characters to play, and maybe to get a bit of extra inf to buy the good loot. Which affects everyone who uses the in game economy to buy things, forcing them to do the same high reward low risk dull as ditchwater (in their opinion) content in order to compete for the enhancements they want.

The way I see it, its a balance issue. If there is a way for you to get xp, and influence, and tickets that is significantly better than any other way it reduces the overall pool of players who will play non-optimal content because it is fun. You doing the power levelling affects the entire game whether you like it or not.

By balancing risk vs reward across all content in the game, the developers seek to encourage people to play a wide variety of content. That is what the MA is about, more content and more diversity. By abusing the system to break the risk vs reward balance you end up unintentionally messing it up for another large group of people who also pay money every month.

That is why some people, get annoyed at PLers and the explosion of PLing the MA seems to have brought.

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

I loaded up my arc in progress and noticed the final mission no longer spawns in a nice toasty forest inferno, but instead in the middle of a city block.

Is there a place where changes like maps being removed are mentioned so that I have a bit of warning?

Any word on whether the map will come back anytime soon? It was kind of integral to the arc. I can rework but it requires more thought.

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

To get a lieutenant to spawn consistently in a boss objective:

Add an existing lieutenant enemy to its own custom group, all by itself. Save that group with its own name and set the enemy type in the boss spawn to be your custom group instead of the main group.

I do this to get a particular non-human shaped spawn in one of my maps. It will also force the map to be constrained to the level range of the mob type.

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

<pedant>
Make the AE icon on the map round and outlined with black like every other location indicator.
</pedant>

This is such a trivial thing that I amaze myself that I'm posting about it but for some reason it really bugs me.

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

I was on a mission and I got some allies on my way to fight the big bad guy at the end. They buffed me when I freed them, but not after that. Is that a known problem or is there a way to set up allies so they will consistently buff you? I was enjoying looking like I was set on fire with all the thermal buffs.

Cheers,
Conker

Hmmm, thanks, I guess they were just set up to be difficult. I will have to continue trying arcs.

Hi,

Do all the custom critters with defense/resist/regen sets have status protection, and do they toggle up as soon as you meet them? This seemed to be happening with the missions I was running but I'm not sure if that is just the way it always is or a deliberate intention of the arc builders.

Can you create custom critters that have "basic" behaviours like existing mobs?

If I make an arc I don't want to make controllers cry too much.

Cheers,
Conker

"Johnny wasnt sure what his buddies had drawn on his head after he passed out at the party, but he knew they wouldn't do it again."

He's got the whole world in his hands in my pants


Hmmm.....

[ QUOTE ]

Singing Bow by Conker - Great tattoos, but not a fan of the pants.


[/ QUOTE ]

I know, I wasn't totally happy with them either. I really wanted a big loin cloth or thinking about it now, maybe I could have gone with a battle kilt (with primary and secondary colours the same) but it didnt seem right either.

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

No Forum log in for her I'm afraid, I haven't converted her yet. She often uses Katherine as a username, so you can use that to identify her.

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

So, I thought I would give it a go this week, and my GF also wanted in on the action.

My Contribution:

Singing Bow
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2150/...f0b83a34_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2178/...0916b6e5_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2068/...47359008_o.jpg

My Girlfriends:

Hicarumbi
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/...94b43b0c_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2351/...4edb3c9d_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2411/...4971204e_o.jpg

Cheers!

Conker

Okay, not as epic or grand as some of you rich folks, but its home.

Base Overview

Entrance Hall
View along teleporter corridor

Teleporters
Teleporter Steps
I have to make the important parts of the base accessible to my vertically challenged stone/stone tanker.

Control Room
Our newest piece of research
Control Room 2

Infirmary
Infirmary 2
The doc says the water feature is bad for the patients, but we haven't managed to fix all the leaks in the roof yet.

First Worshop
First Workshop 2
Second Workshop
Second Workshop 2
I'm pleased with the number of things I've managed to squeeze into the workshops, not quite 9...yet.

Generator Room
Generator Room 2
Still unpacking some of the heavy equipment, but we are up and running.

It was really nice to get that extra boost of prestige to let me do some decorating, though we are still moving and modernising the place.

Hope you like it!

Cheers,
Conker

[ QUOTE ]

After you put out the guide... I wasn't lazy. There were no Thunderstrike RECIPES for sale... only million-infl crafted IOs.


[/ QUOTE ]

I noticed this same phenomenon (doo-doo-do-do-do), when I was looking for crushing impact IOs the other day. It seems that many people are trying to do the same thing which reduces the supply for little old me who actually wants to craft the stuff themselves.

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

Good guide. Easy to implement. Works well. Free money FTW!

I havent even been trying to maximise profits, just put it up for something that looks reasonable based on previous bids and wait a while. Don't be too greedy, as you said. It is even quite fun, though I can't quite believe the amounts that people are essentially paying me to craft enhancements for them.

Oh well, make hay while the sun shines.

Have you noticed any change in the speed you are acquiring money on your characters since writing the guide?

Educating the market is obviously a risk.

Anyway, once again, good guide, keep up the good work.

Cheers,
Conker

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks, it actually does help a lot. One question i have though is i thought that TFs and trials were linked in the same drop pool but you have Devastation and Entropic listed as trial and the other as a TF pool. Was that just a brain fart or did i miss somethwere that they are indeed separated.

[/ QUOTE ]

This page on paragonwiki indicates that Task forces drop in Pool C and TFs drop in Pool D, different pools.

Cheers,
Conker

[ QUOTE ]
And just to add, myself and lots of people i talk to START at 2 accuracies, and not going below those, so 2acc/3dam on attacks. If your a regen 2acc/3dam/1rech, for anything else 2acc/3dam/1end. And work from there with Ios without losing the acc and damage. Not quite sure its possible without forfeiting accuracy. I mean, if your a multibillionare in the game and can 50 IO slot everything for all those acc bonuses maybe, otherwise im just not sure if its possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is my previous example:

[ QUOTE ]

Acc/Dam/Rech :Crushing Impact
Acc/Dam/End :Crushing Impact
Dam/End/Rech :Crushing Impact
Acc/Dam/Rech :Focused Smite
Dam/End/Rech :Smashing Haymaker
Acc/Dam/Rech :Pulverising Fisticuffs

3xDamage
2.5xRecharge
2xAccuracy
1.5xEndurance


[/ QUOTE ]

It uses uncommon and 1 rare drop from mobs. No TF/Trial/Mission drops.

It is only for Melee damage but as you can see it gives you your 2xAcc 3xDam along with 2.5 Recharge AND 1.5 End.

It also gives an Immob Resist and +health from crushing impact, but I was discounting them.

PBAOE You cant do as well because it doesnt have the same number of sets.

How about:

Dam/Acc/End :Multi-Strike
Dam/End/Rech :Multi-Strike
Acc/Dam :Multi-Strike
Acc/End :Multi-Strike
Acc/Dam :Cleaving Blow
Dam/Rech :Cleaving Blow

Looking at it in slightly more detail:

Scaling is 0.5 For the triples and 0.625 for the doubles

Dam 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.625 + 0.625 + 0.625 = 2.875 IOs
Acc 0.5 + 0.625 + 0.625 + 0.625 = 2.375 IOs
End 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.625 = 1.625 IOs
Rech 0.5 + 0.625 = 1.125 IOs

You even have some leeway to switch around the duos to get them from other sets. That is again using uncommons. The two sets go all the way up to 53.

Ranged has more options if you are willing to try and get one IO from the rarer sets, but if not you can still do:

Acc/Dam :Thunderstrike
Dam/End/Rech :Thunderstrike
Acc/Dam/Rech :Thunderstrike
Acc/Dam/End :Thunderstrike
Acc/Dam/Rech :Ruin
Acc/Dam :Ruin

Dam 0.625 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.625 = 3.25 IOs
Acc 0.625 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.625 = 2.75 IOs
End 0.5 + 0.5 = 1.0 IOs
Rech 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 1.5 IOs

Not too bad. You have your 3Dam/2Acc. Plus some bonuses from Thunderstrike which goes up to 53 and Ruin that goes up to 40. Again all uncommon salvage so once the craziness has settled, they should be relatively straightforward to acquire.

Now that doesnt get you your regen, but there are plenty of cheap ways to get the damage and accuracy you want.

For those two sets you have to spend influence because they are rare:

Acc/Dam : Devastation (Rare)
Acc/Dam/Rech : Devastation (Trial Pool)
Acc/Dam :Entropic Chaos (Uncommon)
Dam/End/Rech :Entropic Chaos (TF Pool)
Acc/Dam/Rech :Thunderstrike (Uncommon)
Acc/Dam/End :Thunderstrike (Uncommon)

This gives:
Dam 0.625 + 0.5 + 0.625 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 3.25 IOs
Acc 0.625 + 0.5 + 0.625 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 2.75 IOs
End 0.5 = 0.5 IOs
Rech 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 1.5 IOs

Thats not too bad and is half uncommons. You get your 22% regen, plus a recovery bonus from Thunderstrike.

Hope that helps muddy the waters some more

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

Overall I like the number of possibilities that inventions open up.

I would say this though. You have given us percentages on how much enhancements affect powers, told us the exact amount set bonuses will give to our characters, but I still cant make an informed choice from in game about which power I should choose.

At this point any concept of hiding numbers from the players is pretty much gone given the amount of information available, but with the aditional numbers in I9 it seems pretty weak to have to go to an external website to get the numbers I need to make fairly basic choices about my character.

More work on documenting the new invention system would also have been good. For instance, what does +10% regen for 120 seconds mean in a passive?

Overall I'm very pleased with the invention system, it is a good balance, providing opportunities without requiring people to pay it much attention. It also gives people much more flexibility in how they go about building their character. I look forward to greater diversity in the builds.

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

The only one below SO strength is pulverising fisticuffs, so you should be able to cancel out the slightly lower percentage by taking higher level IOs from the other sets. There are other options for Dam/*/* triples in the melee set with higher level caps, but I wanted an example that had things you could get from uncommon/rare drops only without having to dip into the mission/TF/Trial pools.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Conker

Hi,

Great guide, pitched at a very good level to tell people how to benefit from the dual/triple/quad IOs without gimping themselves worrying about the set bonuses.

Comments:

Not all builds and play styles want 1Acc/3Dam in their attacks.

Also, sometimes you would like that extra End or Rech bonus, but not for the sake of losing an entire Dam Enhancement. In those cases losing 0.5 Damage and gaining 0.5 End and 0.5 Rech can be great.

If you use triples 4 slotted you get 6 IO equivalents, if you are 6 slotting triples you have more wiggle room to get your 3Dam while gaining a whole 3 IOs worth of gravy.

Acc/Dam/Rech :Crushing Impact
Acc/Dam/End :Crushing Impact
Dam/End/Rech :Crushing Impact
Acc/Dam/Rech :Focused Smite
Dam/End/Rech :Smashing Haymaker
Acc/Dam/Rech :Pulverising Fisticuffs

3xDamage
2.5xRecharge
2xAccuracy
1.5xEndurance

Giving a total of 9 IOs worth. Not too shabby.

I think that if people examine the IOs from this perspective and perhaps look for a couple of set bonuses that make sense for their AT, I'm a stoner so +runspeed is what I'm looking for, then they can get a lot of benefit without much maths (except adding halfs up).

I'll say it again. Well pitched guide, very useful.

Cheers,
Conker