FNG

BUMP! Click the link, damn it!

Hello. Since I have no other venue to make my opinions known to NCSoft, I'm making a vain attempt to do so here. Up until now, I have been a loyal customer of NCSoft for many years. I played Lineage II, City of Heroes, City of Villains (I got it when you had to buy them seperately), Guild Wars, Exteel, and I was a tester for Aion (on that game I was active enough to be regularly quoted by the company and usually got information out to the community before the reps did as well as writing guides to help players with the numerous problems they encountered) but, after seeing this announcement http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/n.../thank_you.php that says City of Heroes is being closed due to "A realingment in focus and publishing support" I will be boycotting all NCSoft products as soon as it happens. This has by far been the best game they've ever owned with the most dedicated fan base. Shutting it down like this is an insult to all the people that have been loyal customers for longer than many MMOs last and while the people of Paragon Studios have my best wishes and my thanks for the years of great game playing and the opportunities to make countless friends, NCSoft will never get my support or my money again.

Thank you to all the developers that made this game as great as it is. Thank you to all the players for the fun times. Hopefully we'll run into each other again.

If you want any hope of keeping this game going, click the following link

http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes

Hi! Not sure if this is the spot for threads like this or not but, I see threads where people talk about spending billions of inf on stuff in this section so you're the people with the big bucks and that's what matters!

I am trying to sell a Level 10 Shield Wall +teleport resist/+3% damage resist IO. If one of you wants to buy one, I would be very happy to sell one. I also have a level 10 Panacea proc but, kinda want to hold onto that. I am willing to part with it if no one at all wants the shield wall though.

I ran three DA arcs with two friends today. We were at +4/x8 dif the entire time (I don't know if that makes a difference or not but, thought it should be mentioned). In running three arcs, and doing some farming while waiting for them to get to DA so we could team, I ended up with a grand total of 15 threads, 1 emp from the completion reward, and 2 astrals from getting a second completion reward. One friend got a piece of common incarnate salvage the first time and 2 astrals the second. The other got two pieces of common salvage. All three of us agreed that while the iXP rate was just fine, the drop rate for threads was terrible and even think that it'd be reasonable if they decreased the iXP rate if they'd also increase the drop rate of threads. As it stands though, we all thought the solo arcs aren't really very good for anything aside from getting an empyrean.

I have an elec/elec tanker that I was running at x8 dif since the early 20s on and, until I got to 50, the only set IOs I used were the healing procs and a stun proc in it's PBAoE. I know it's not a scrapper but, if an elec tanker can do that then an elec scrapper should have no trouble running at x4 without having to slot for defense.

I've got two builds for my bane. One ranged, and one melee. I don't know if I'll use the proc on my melee build but, I'm using the whole set on my ranged one and plan to slot it in venom grenade. A ranged AoE that does damage, debuffs resistance, and keeps them all feared so I can keep hitting them with AoEs? Yes please.

This thread reminds me of a conversation I had with someone when I first started playing. I was on an emp at the time and one member of the time I was with was giving me all kinds of advice on what powers to take to be better at keeping the team alive. One thing they were pretty insistent on was that I drop hover and fly for recall friend and teleport since I'd be able to get to the team even if immobilized and teleport others to me to rez them.

My response to that was, "But I like to actually look at the game while playing. If I took teleport there's parts I'd have trouble reaching to check out or might not notice at all since I'd be teleporting instead of flying."

They told me that was the best reason they'd ever heard for taking a power and to ignore everything they'd said.

Do whatever is fun to you. That's why we're all playing after all.

Hi! Got a real simple request for a costume piece.

For female characters there's two pieces called Victorian Steampunk 1 and 2 in the Detail 2 section of faces. What I really, really, REALLY want is for there to be versions of those two costume pieces that don't have the frilly lace going around them so they would just look like a simple choker or a choker with a pendant attached to it. I saw the thread about how Dink had some spare time to port over costume pieces and thought this might be a pretty easy thing for one of the costume piece designers to do if any of the others have some spare time? One can always hope at least.

I just read the OP and thanks! I already told some friends and everyone I know is very happy about this.

Initially I wasn't going to post any of my character bios on this thread, in part because I personally don't think they're all that great and partially because I didn't feel like having them critiqued but, I'll post this one that's been accused of being god modey and let others decide. All I can say is that I was seriously considering deleting the character until the day I got what I think is the ultimate compliment when I was told by another player that if there were novels about this toon that they'd read every single one.

In the time before we were not alone.
In the time before there were those that bore great gifts.
Fear.
Hunger.
Death.
Destruction.
A decision was made.
Seven were born.
Seven were left in the darkest of places with the foulest of beings.
Seven were made to love pain so completely that nothing could hurt them.
Seven were taught the beauty of lies so perfectly that nothing could decieve them.
Seven were forced to die so nothing could kill them.
Seven were unleashed.
Afterwards those that made the seven looked upon their champions.
Afterwards those that made the seven were afraid.
A decision was made.
Seven were stripped of their power.
Seven were locked away.
Seven were forgotten.
With old eyes made new, seven now bear witness to that which they sacraficed their very being for.
Fear.
Hunger.
Death.
Destruction.
Those from the time before were right to fear the seven.
Seven are not pleased.

God modey? Maybe. I didn't think so when I wrote it. I'll leave that up to others to decide and apologies for taking up a chunk of space on the page. I just thought it was important to present the bio the way it's written in game. Oh, and to clarify. I didn't intend to have the character be some sort of super ultimate unbeatable character. I rarely play it actually and mostly just try to engage other characters in small talk to learn about other people's backstories when on this one.

[QUOTE=Demetrios Vasilikos;4114526]

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of invented enhancements. With them, you will be able to push your character's capabilities to the limit and beyond by doing such simple things as increasing your recharge to the point where hasten is always on, softcapping defense on toons that have no defense powers in their primary or secondary, or increasing your damage output to the point that you too are able to destroy Rikti pylons in mere minutes with no outside aid.

Having said that, I've looked over your questions and, rather than read through all the other posts to see what has and hasn't been said, will try to answer all your questions to the best of my abilities. Okay? Okay!

Say hello to the incoming wall of text!

Question 1- Getting Recipes and Salvage

Recipes, and the salvage needed to craft them, can be collected in a variety of ways. While random drops are the slowest method of getting exactly what you want, it shouldn't be dismissed out of hand and it seems like the random rewards have been improving as of late.

By doing regular content, such as story arcs and task forces, you also gain a merits which can be used to buy recipes or can be convereted into Villain/Hero Merits at a ratio of 50 merits and 20 million infuence for 1 V/HM. I know this sounds expensive but, there are times when you can gain a recipe much quicker through converting merits than if you saved them up to buy that same recipe with regular merits. V/HMs are also awarded for doing the tips missions which you get through random drops. Personally, I like to do regular missions to work towards completing arcs for regular merits and then doing the tips that dropped while running those arcs.

In addition to this, you can earn tickets by going through missions at AE which can also be traded in for recipes but, the recipes you get from AE will be at random rather than ones you select to trade our tickets for, unlike the other rewards already mentioned.

There are also Astral and Empyrean merits which are earned in incarnate trials. Most recipes can be pruchased for about 32 Astral merits and PvP and purple recipes can be bought for around 40 Empyrean merits.

Many people will try to tell you that various methods are superior to others but, I like to use a combination of all the available methods depending on what it is I'm trying to get.

For example, I rarely pay more than 10 million influence for a recipe now thanks to merits and V/HMs since you can get almost any recipe for just 1 or 2 V/HMs (please note that purple recipes and PvP recipes cost much more and are 25 V/HMs or more for a single recipe) and the ones I can't get with a V/HM are available for purchase with regular merits. They usually don't cost too many regular merits either.

The cost of some salvage can get pretty high as well and rather than pay a couple hundred thousand influence for a single piece of common salvage, I like to go to AE and try to get what I'm looking for with tickets. The recipes and salvage earned this way is random but, you can earn 1,500 tickets in a single mission which is enough for 187 common salvage and around 20 recipes if you're rolling on the bronze table (the cost for recipes does vary based on if you're rolling for gold, silver, or bronze and the level range you choose to make ticket rolls on). Results at AE vary but, I personally have made over 2.2 billion influence at AE in just two days (I think I spent about 4 hours of actual farming over the course of those two days) so I know for a fact that it's possible to make a lot of influence there very quickly if you're lucky.

Question 2- Enhancement Levels

If you want, you can use only level 50 enhancements in your character's build but, here are a few things to keep in mind before you start crafting and slotting...

Not all sets go up to level 50 and there may be times when you want to use those sets for their bonuses. Kinetic Combat is a good example of that as it gives a sizable bonus to your smashing and lethal damage which is very useful for people trying to softcap against those damage types. Because of this, Kinetic Combat is a popular set that is somewhat expensive on the market though.

If you exemplar or malefactor and go more than three (it might be five now. I'm not sure) levels below the level of the set you have slotted you will lose the bonuses from that set. Some people will use a lower level version of a set if they think they'll be exemplaring a lot. I personally think the base percentages you get from invented enhancements is more than enough to carry you through and use the highest level I can find when slotting enhancements with one exception which leads us to my next point.

Some enhancements, like the one from Luck of the Gambler that increases your global recharge, the procs from the sets for heals, and the knockback resistance enhancement from Blessing of the Zephyr, give a static bonus that never changes no matter which level the enhancement is. The +3% Defense enhancement from Steadfast Protection always gives 3% defense whether you use a level 10 or level 30 version of it. In these cases, I like to use the lowest level version of that enhancement that I can find so I still get the bonus from it when exemplared.

Question 3- Cost

What is expensive and what is cheap is dependant on what you think is cheap or costly. In terms of the combined market value of the enhancements I slot on a character, anything with a total influence cost below 1 or 2 billion influence is cheap to me. You may think spending 500 million influence is expensive. I don't know. It's entirely subjective. The only other way I can think of to determine the cost is the amount of time spent on gathering what's needed to complete a build and since I regularly alt multiple times during a single gaming session, I don't really even notice how much time I spend finishing a single character's build.

Question 4- Builds Part 1

No. You are not required to try to increase your character's defense. On many characters it's a good idea to if you believe you can get a substantial amount on your character but, there are times when it's not needed or even disadvantagous to do so because you may end up with your character performing poorly in other aspects of it's build or they may already have a rather high rating in whatever stat it is you're trying to increase in which case you may be better off trying to improve your character in some other area.

If you don't have it, I highly recommend downloading Mids Hero Designer and spending some time just playing with it to see what kinds of builds you can come up with for your toons before you start respeccing and reslotting. Once you get a feel for it you'll find yourself coming up with character builds that you would have thought impossible before. I've gotten so bad that I don't even make a character now until I've come up with a build for it on Mids. I also refuse to make one until I've come up with a name I like and a costume to go with it but, that's outside the realm of this discussion.

Question 5- Builds Part 2

This is part of why I recommend downloading Mids. Once you get a feel for that program, you'll be able to come up with character designs rather quickly since you'll already have a fairly good idea of what you'll be attempting to create and how to go about making it.

One example of this is what I consider my generic method of slotting toggle powers that give defense. I usually put a level 25 Luck of the Gambler (LotG) +7.5 global recharge/defense, a level 50 LotG defense, level 50 LotG defense/end reduction, level 50 Red Fortune defense, and a level 50 Red Fortune defense/end reduction on all my defensive toggles. Doing it that way allows me to focus the slotting entirely on defense and endurance reduction (the two stats that matter most on a defense toggle) while letting me hold onto the global recharge bonus as long as I don't exemplar below level 22. With 3 enhancements from LotG I also get extra hit points and regeneration while playing at level 50.

Question 6- Effort

Just like the cost, how much work it takes is entirely subjective and is also greatly subject to what build you intend to use. If you're asking how long it takes, I could completely slot out a level 50 character in an afternoon if I had 2 billion or so influence and just went to Wentworths and bought up all the recipes and salvage with little concern about the prices I was paying to get the enhancements right then and there.

As I said earlier, I tend to be a little alty and stretch out building my characters over a period of time. While it does take longer to do it this way, it has it's advantages as well. If I were to try and slot out just one toon all at once I'd probably burn through a lot of influence in the process. Instead, I'm always earning things I need for one character or another no matter which one I'm on and thanks to being able to mail items to yourself it's no trouble at all to get the enhancements I've crafted to whichever toon it's needed on.

For example, right now I have two level 50 blasters and a level 50 tanker that I'm trying to finish slotting out. If I tried to complete any of their builds just with what's earned on those individual characters I'd use up all their influence and get pretty sick of forcing myself to play them constantly. Instead of doing that I'll do something like run tips on a lowbie and use the V/HMs earned to buy low level procs for my higher level toons before grabbing a 50 to do a high level TF or some incarnate trials and if I get recipes as drops on my level 50s that I know I'll be using down the road, I craft them and throw them into storage to save for another character when it's higher level.

There you go! That's about the best I can answer the questions you asked. Hopefully, I managed to give some advice that hadn't been brought up by previous posters so this is more than just a wall of text that wastes people's time without actually helping. Good luck with IOs!