Greystar

Try running toggles on an */invuln scrapper, especially a higher-lvl one. Your tune will change. I've shelved mine for this very reason.

In base-editing mode, click on "Upgrade Plot," select your CURRENT plot size (presumably 8x8), then move the grid to whichever position you prefer relative to the existing rooms.

If you'd simply fix the insane base costs, you wouldn't need to come up with something entirely new for smaller SGs. Even a very large, very active SG would require something like 12 years (not exaggerating) to afford the largest base plot. That seems a tad harsh. The prices are absurd. Fix those, and the rest takes care of itself.

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One suggestion: Add unlimited missions, (a feature like a police radio that tells of random acts of vandalism you can stop through the city) and keep raising the level limit each issue, add new epic archtypes that you can only get at level 60, 70, 80, etc. Ofcourse I see the counter argument in that you eventually STILL do hit a wall.

But not with unlimited missions. Have the missions give presitge on the level of the way influence is given out now or maybe even at half of the level that influence is given now. One advantage of this is that people might stop complaining about base building costs and would be more inclined to make PVP raidable bases.

Just some suggestions. What do ya'll think?

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I think this has nothing to do with Endurance Discount, which is what this thread concerns.

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Not to mention HEALTH, they did absolutely nothing to counteract the loss of health regen with ED. Everyone made a big deal about Stamina, but Health matters too.

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You say this as if it's an oversight or a consequence of ED that the devs didn't foresee. Trust me, they were/are fully aware of the effect of ED on various regen skills (health, fast healing, quick recovery, instant healing, dull pain, integration....). Regens have been nerfed and nerfed again with every single issue. It's fully intentional.

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I somehow don't believe they're "fully aware." Every issue everything has been "working as intended" and every issue we still see "re-balancing." And the re-balancing is STILL not done yet.

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Except that, as regen goes, "re-balancing" has meant new nerfs with each new issue, without exception. Given the devs' clear indications that they think regen is overpowered, I highly doubt they're going to start buffing it in the name of re-balancing.

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Not to mention HEALTH, they did absolutely nothing to counteract the loss of health regen with ED. Everyone made a big deal about Stamina, but Health matters too.

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You say this as if it's an oversight or a consequence of ED that the devs didn't foresee. Trust me, they were/are fully aware of the effect of ED on various regen skills (health, fast healing, quick recovery, instant healing, dull pain, integration....). Regens have been nerfed and nerfed again with every single issue. It's fully intentional.

My MA/invuln scrapper is shelved. He had endurance problems even with stamina six-slotted, and this piddly 13% global end redux does NOTHING to offset the mega-nerfs created by ED. Not only is my end recovery severly cut, but so is my damage, which means I have to execute my attacks even more frequently, thereby using even more end. The 13% and end-redux enhs are not enough to compensate.

(And of course, all my /invuln resists have been massively nerfed AGAIN, as if the earlier nerfs weren't bad enough.)

ED is absolutely the most ridiculous thing ever to occur in this game. This 13% global end redux is meaningless. You've drained the reservoir and given us a glass of water. And you expect us to be happy with the glass of water.

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Is Hover the ONLY 'combat movement' power that gives you a +DEF?

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Combat Jumping also has a +DEF bonus.

Thanks, that's exactly the info I wanted. I'm sure it's elsewhere on the forums, but it seems fitting to have the info included on this Guide thread.

Two things. First, another tip for a good use of Lysosome: Laser Beam Eyes. Because the dmg isn't phenomenal, I slot it for DefDebuff anyway, so adding the acc buff from the hami is nice.

Second, I'd like to see a discussion of the relative benefits of using a L50 Hami versus a L53 SO. Seems like you're sacrificing some effectiveness of one trait in order to have the dual trait bonus (e.g., giving up some dmg so that you can have both dmg and acc). What's the tradeoff value? When is it better to use a Hami, when is it better to use a SO?

Yes, people can set SG mode to be the same as normal mode, but people's concerns center around the datamining. If the devs are going to go back and award prestige for time spent in SG mode over the last 6-12 months, then this will not catch people who have spent 6-12 months of playing with their SGs constantly but with a standardized SG costume slot (which doesn't require being in SG mode). All that retroactive actual SG time will go unrecognized.

I posted about this in the Technical Issues and Bugs forum, so you may want to read the full post there.

After being held for 5+ hours and not getting the Imprisoned badge, I petitioned it and was eventually told by a GM: "Please note, that the requirement for this badge according to our information is 10 hours."

Not sure how this will be resolved, as every other reference web site has it listed as 5 hours as well, but functionally, it's 10 hours. (I got the badge after 10 hrs, not 5.)

Another tip for those planning to host costume contests: Please do not have your contestants line up in an area that has NPC pedestrian traffic. I was in a couple of contests last night that were irritating because pedestrians kept coming through and either nudging people aside or actually pushing them down an entire flight of stairs.

This is yet another reason why I think the Atlas platform is an ideal venue for costume (and/or bio) contests.

I considered adding a section in my guide on whether to award prizes to higher-level characters, but I know that people have mixed opinions on this issue, so it didn't seem like something I should put in a semi-official guide.

That said, here's my opinion. Level 35 players need influence too. The SOs get pricier and pricier. I have no objection to having a level 35 player win if his/her costume is the best one. Everyone has equal access to the costume generator. Now, before people burst blood vessels about the fact that higher levels have access to capes and auras that the lowbies do not, I'm well aware of this. As the judge, you can take this into account. Is the glowy-eye aura what makes the costume click? Is it the cape? If so, you can factor that in and rate the costume accordingly lower.

My other rule of thumb is to balance character level with contest prize. If the prize is 100k, I might be more willing to limit it to lowbies. But if the prize is a million, that's of genuine use to higher level characters, especially if they suffer from altoholism as I do.

So you’ve got some spare influence burning a hole in your spandex, and you’re considering holding a costume contest to get rid of it. Well here’s the post for you. ... Or maybe you just heard on broadcast that someone’s hosting a costume contest shortly, and you’re hoping to win some influence. What should you do?

First, some brief background... Recently (ish), someone posted a thread titled “Guide to costume contests” and then proceeded to declare all such contests fake. In that thread, I posted some real guidelines, but I decided to make a legit post out of it, as well as tweak some of the first-draft content I had before. I’ve broken this into two sections: one for contest HOSTS, one for CONTESTANTS.

And no, I do not claim to be the end-all authority on costume contests, not by a longshot. What you’re about to read are my thoughts on how I personally think contests should be run. Feel free to reply with your own ideas as well.


GUIDELINES FOR HOSTING A COSTUME CONTEST

1. In-game time-of-day. I know this seems like an odd way to start these guidelines, but if you’re thinking of running a contest, consider waiting for the right time of day in-game. I don’t mean whether it’s 9:00 p.m. EDT. I mean, in Atlas Park, is it full daylight? Night? Is the sun beginning to set? Generally, contests are best when they’re held in full daylight. So if the sun is setting over Paragon City, consider waiting for the sun to come up again. I know that can throw your own timing off, but the stage of the sun in-game affects how costumes look. The setting sun especially tends to add a pink/red tint to people’s costumes, which can turn some very attractive costumes into rather odd and unattractive ones. I have this one character with the veiny costume, green with tan veins (spine scrapper). That tan turns pure pink at dusk. Very unsettling. Broad daylight is best. Shoot for that if possible.

2. Broadcast that you are going to host a contest. If you’re feeling generous, you could broadcast in multiple zones. Generally, the lowest-level zones are best. Atlas, Galaxy, Hollows.

3. State/broadcast the contest location. Most contests are held under the Atlas statue in Atlas Park, and I’m of the opinion that it’s a good spot for them. You generally want to have the contestants line up on the north edge of the plaza platform, their backs to City Hall. The line can wrap around the edge of the platform as needed. Alternative locations usually involve having people assemble behind City Hall (Atlas) or the Freedom Corps Bldg (Galaxy). Typically if you just say “under Atlas,” people know where to line up and will do so spontaneously. Inquiring newbies may need direction.

4. Give people time to get there. Remember, you're doing this in Atlas/Galaxy, and many/most of the people there don't have travel powers yet. I'd suggest giving a minimum of 5 minutes advance warning. Minimum. Ten minutes would be even better. You probably don’t need any more than 10 minutes warning, unless you’ve broadcast in the Hollows too. Remember, no travel power means it’s going to take people a while to get there. Or perhaps they need to wrap up what they’re doing so they can load a different character.

5. State/broadcast the prize(s) in advance. If the 1st place prize is 10k, most people won't bother attending unless they're very very new to the game. Even if it's 100k, some people won't bother. The point is, give your prospective contestants this information from the start so they can decide whether to attend. It’s customary to give prizes for first, second, and third place. State all three prize amounts in advance.

6. Powers off. I'll admit this is personal preference, but I'm of the opinion that costume contests should always be conducted with the "powers OFF" rule. It's a costume contest, not a "who has the sparkliest power" contest. You're awarding good costume design. Don't penalize the level 4 player who simply hasn't reached the sparkly-power level yet. Plus it avoids chaotic power-spamming (healing, Freezing Rain, Rain of Fire, etc.). And there are plenty of powers out there that affect how other people look (e.g., Steamy Mist, Accelerate Metabolism, Shadow Fall, etc.). I know that when I’m a contestant, I get perturbed when Captain Inconsiderate next to me makes me glow green with AM or puts hideous black ink at my feet. Ruins my look. Discourage this. Generally if you say “powers off,” 99% of people comply. If there are some rebels in the crowd, you can warn them that powers = disqualification. Usually this isn’t necessary, but be prepared to give (and enforce) the warning if needed.

7. Don't take forever. Once the contest starts, make your selection(s) of the winner(s) in a timely manner. Five minutes is good. Ten is okay. Try not to go past that. Having people stand around for half an hour while you continually broadcast, "Gee, you're all so good, I can't decide" is a waste of people's time. Typically, only 1-3 people get prizes, so the other 20-40 people stand there for nothing. Let them stand there for 5 minutes, not 25.

8. Announce your winners publicly. This serves two purposes. First, it lets the people who didn’t win know that the contest is over. Second, it lets the contest winners enjoy their moment in the spotlight.
. . . Some contest hosts prefer to choose 3 to 6-ish finalists, from whom the final winners are chosen. If you select finalists first, announce those publicly, and then announce your final rankings once you've (promptly) decided them. Do not just say, “I’ve chosen my finalists. If you didn’t get picked, you didn’t win.” Ugh! Annoying! Take the ten seconds and tell everyone the 3 to 6 finalists’ names. As a contestant, it's very irritating to stand through an entire contest and never hear who the finalists and winners were. As contest host, if you prefer to have finalists join your team and/or move into City Hall for the final decision phase, fine. But if you DO go into City Hall for the end phase, then (a) don’t forget to announce who your finalists are, and (b) don't forget to broadcast your final winner(s). Again, though, I prefer everything to remain out on the Atlas plaza so everyone can see the action from beginning to end.

9. Thank all the participants and politely send them on their way, explicitly letting them know that the contest is over.


That’s the chronology. Some other things to consider...

(A) Ignore the beggars and whiners. I’ve yet to be in a contest where people weren’t saying some variations of: “I never win these things!” “I’m poor, please pick me!” “His costume sucks! How could you pick him? Mine is way better!” You can’t please everyone. Don’t bother trying and don’t let the inevitable sniping bother you.

(B) Some of the guidelines above can be adjusted in special cases.
. . . (1) If you’re holding a major contest, with huge prizes. With a first-place prize of a million or several million, you should extend some of the time limits I listed. Give people more time to show up, at least 15 minutes advance warning. You can take longer than the proscribed ten minutes to decide, and this may in fact be necessary if you have hordes of people showing up. Still, though, try to make your decisions as soon as you can.
. . . (2) If there are multiple judges. Usually this involves SG-mates as co-judges, and this typically takes longer to coordinate and decide on winners. However, if you and your SG decide to do this kind of a multi-judge contest, only do so with a major prize offering. Don’t make a huge production of it and take all day just to hand out 250k.
. . . (3) If you’re including bios in the judgement. This will obviously take longer since you have to read each person’s bio. Please announce in advance if bios are being factored in. Don’t spring this fact on them halfway through the contest, or even worse, at the end.

C) Don’t overlap with a contest already in progress. If somebody is hosting a contest, let him/her completely finish before you even announce that you’ll be hosting one. Be sure to wait for the current host to announce his/her winners (not just the finalists). Then give your 5- or 10-minute pre-warning.


GUIDELINES FOR CONTESTANTS.

Hopefully you read the above guidelines for hosts. If not, please do so. If you’re a contestant in costume contest, you should do the following.

1. Be patient. Don’t say things, especially repeatedly, like: “Is this over yet?” “What’s taking so long?” This is just annoying. And you are very likely disqualifying yourself by doing this. Annoying the host is not the best strategy for winning a contest.

2. Be relatively quiet. Some banter is perfectly fine, and I’m all for it. This should be a fun atmosphere. But please don’t clog up the airwaves with pointless spam, especially if the host is trying to announce finalists or winners. And keep the banter in the Local channel, not Broadcast.

3. Don’t turn your powers on. Read why in the host section (6) above.

4. Be polite. Congratulate the winners. Don’t chastise the host for picking a costume that (a) wasn’t you, and/or (b) you thought was ugly or boring. Regarding (a), you can’t win every contest you enter. It’s silly to expect to. Regarding (b), everybody has different taste and preferences. When you’re the host giving out your hard-earned influence, then you can hold your own contest. Until then, behave.

Prior to the contest beginning, there are a couple of warning flags that you can pay attention to that may reveal that the particular contest you just heard advertised might be a hoax, which is relatively rare but unfortunately does happen sometimes.

Warning flag #1: A low HostLevel-to-Prize ratio. If your host is a level 6 player offering 500k to a million infl, this could be a hoax. It's entirely possible that this level 6 player (a) has transferred the infl onto this character previously from his higher-level chars, (b) has received the infl from higher-level friends, or (c) will do the judging while a high-level friend gives out the prize. However, the smaller that Host-to-Prize ratio is, the higher the odds that it's a newbie trying to entertain him/herself at the expense of everyone else.

Warning flag #2: The host refuses to state the prize up front. When a host announces a contest and doesn't state the prize, I'll usually send him/her a /t and ask what the prize is. Usually the person will respond privately and then broadcast the prize amount now that I've pointed out the omission. But I've had conversations that go like: "Greystar: What's the prize?" "Host: Influence." "Greystar: How much?" "......" No reply. Those are usually hoaxes, where the host just announces a "contest" and gets people to show up, and then the "winners" are announced and learn that they've just won 173 influence. -- Now, sometimes I've had hosts say, legitimately, that they're going to decide on the prize depending on the quality of costumes that arrive, and I can understand that. I'd hate to offer a million influence and then end up with a batch of generica for costumes to choose from. But usually the host will ballpark it if it's legit. Flat refusal to state any prize range should set off alarm bells.


Ok, there you have it. I’ve tried to be as complete as possible, and I commend you if you actually read through this entire post. I’m sure there are things I forgot to mention, or if you have any other tips or guidelines to add, fire away.

Costume contests are not fake. I have a raging case of altitis, and the only way I keep myself fully funded for SOs is through costume (and occasionally bio) contests. I take some pride in the fact that I've not had to ask for or accept infl gifts from higher-level friends, and this is almost solely because of these contests. They are very real. Indeed, because of my success in these contests, I've held a few of my own.

Now, what the OP describes is ONE way that contests are held, but they are not how they SHOULD be held. Since this thread was titled "Guide to costume contests," let me offer some real tips on how to conduct one properly. (Or what you should look for in a well-run contest.)

1. Broadcast that you are going to host a contest.

2. Give people time to get there. Remember, you're doing this in Atlas/Galaxy, and many/most of the people there don't have travel powers yet. I'd suggest giving a minimum of 5 minutes advance warning.

3. State the prize in advance. If the 1st place prize is 10k, most people won't bother attending unless they're very very new to the game. Even If it's 100k, some people won't bother. The point is, give your prospective contestants this information from the start so they can decide whether to attend.

4. I'll admit this is personal preference, but I'm of the opinion that costume contests should always be conducted with the "powers OFF" rule. It's a costume contest, not a "who has the sparkliest power" contest. You're awarding good costume design. Don't penalize the level 4 player who simply hasn't reached the sparkly-power level yet. Plus it avoids chaotic power-spamming.

5. Don't take forever. Once the contest starts, make your selection(s) of the winner(s) in a timely manner. Five minutes is good. Ten is pushing it. Having people stand around for half an hour while you continually broadcast, "Gee, you're all so good, I can't decide" is a waste of people's time. Typically, only 1-3 people get prizes, so the other 20-40 people stand there for nothing. Let them stand there for 5 minutes, not 25.

6. Announce your winners publicly. If you select finalists first, announce those publicly, and then announce your final rankings once you've (promptly) decided them. -- I will agree with the OP in this respect that it's very irritating to stand through an entire contest and never hear who the winners were. Without public announcement of finalists/winners, the other contestants may not even be aware that the contest is over, and you again have them standing there for no reason. As the contest giver, if you prefer to have finalists join your team and/or move into City Hall for the final decision phase, fine (though personally I prefer all the action to remain right there on the Atlas plaza). But if you DO go into City Hall for the end phase, don't forget to broadcast your final winner(s).

7. Thank all the participants and politely send them on their way, explicitly letting them know that the contest is over.


Now, this is how I think a contest should be conducted. This said, there are a couple of warning flags that you can pay attention to that may reveal that the particular contest you just heard advertised might be a hoax, which unfortunately does happen and is perhaps responsible for the OP's rather jaded post.

Warning flag #1: A low HostLevel-to-Prize ratio. If your host is a level 6 player offering 500k to a million infl, this could be a hoax. It's entirely possible that this level 6 player (a) has transferred the infl onto this character previously from his higher-level chars, (b) has received the infl from higher-level friends, or (c) will do the judging while a high-level friend gives out the prize. However, the smaller that Host-to-Prize ratio is, the higher the odds that it's a newbie trying to entertain him/herself at the expense of everyone else.

Warning flag #2: The host refuses to state the prize up front. When a host announces a contest and doesn't state the prize, I'll usually send him/her a /t and ask what the prize is. Usually the person will respond privately and then broadcast the prize now that I've pointed out the omission. But I've had conversations that go like: "Greystar: What's the prize?" "Host: Influence." "Greystar: How much?" "......" No reply. Those are usually hoaxes, where the host just announces a "contest" and gets people to show up, and then the "winners" are announced and learn that they've just won 173 influence. -- Now, sometimes I've had hosts say, legitimately, that they're going to decide on the prize depending on the quality of costumes that arrive, and I can understand that. I'd hate to offer a million influence and then end up with a batch of generica for costumes to choose from. But usually the host will ballpark it if it's legit. Flat refusal to state any prize range should set off alarm bells.