Ironblade

I'm on Infinity and I have Green Stuff but not Challenge. I'm not on CIT at all, just Badge-Hunter.

FYI, the CJ doesn't need to be running for the -KNB IO to work. The -KNB acts like a set bonus and functions even if the power is turned off.


Addressing your main question, I'll often skip the AoE Sleep powers. I absolutely took the other two and use them regularly. My ice/FF controller is 50 and my plant/cold controller is 45. The END usage on some of those toggles is a bear but they're worth it so I find a way to work around it (generally +recovery set bonuses from IO's).

Previously they would only drop at high level. Now they drop at any level with the caveat that the enemy must be the same level as you or higher.
So, no, not anything that can give drops, but a lot more enemies than it used to be.

Yes, but only once. It happened on my invuln/dark tank when Soul Drain was expiring. I had 6-7 icons from it and the whole bar blinked with it. I have not seen it happen when a single icon is blinking, nor when it's a group of icons on me from a teammate (like Fulcrum Shift).

eh.... I guess some do. But I went to the site and entered. The system I'm typing this on is in an Antec 900 case with an Antec power supply.

You might be thinking of shards. Your level has absolutely no bearing on getting purples. If the enemy can drop a purple recipe, you can get it no matter what level you are. I got my first one on a level 35 character SK'ed to a level 50. 48s and 49s can drop purples.

Now, for SHARDS, the enemy has to be EVEN LEVEL or higher - not even CON. If an enemy is level 50 and conning blue to you, you can get a shard because you are the same LEVEL.

By the way, while doing tips, you can only have one level shift. The other 2 available level shifts only apply in Incarnate Trials.

I've read everything you've said. You keep coming back with comments about how it doesn't have to be done the way it has been done, despite multiple people stating the reasons for it. Well, the 'apparent' reasons. We don't know what the devs are thinking - we have to draw conclusions based on our knowledge of computers and businesses.

And, by the way, this isn't a debate. I'm not espousing any particular position - I'm explaining what I think the devs' reasoning is. The only people it would make sense to debate with is those who have made the decisions regarding maintenance schedules.

For my own purposes, they could schedule it any time during the day since I'm at work. It would have no effect on me at all. I have no personal bias or preference here. *BUT*, because of how businesses operate, I really don't think it's going to be changed.

Nope. We're telling you it DID come with a code. Open the Quick Reference Card (a multipage fold-out) and the code is on the left side. It's labelled "Serial Code". Go to the CoH site, to the area to update your account, and upgrade your existing account with that code.

Whether you buy the retail box, or off the NCSoft store, what you're actually buying is the serial code to apply to your account. The DVD is just a piece of polycarbonate with a pretty picture on it.

The decision is not made on dollars "alone", but dollars are the FIRST consideration. This is correct and proper for a for-profit business.

This entire line of reasoning is fruitless. They *DO* have to piss someone off. This is a GIVEN. There MUST be maintenance on a regular basis.

This is true only on an INDIVIDUAL basis. But NCSoft isn't looking at it on an individual basis; they're looking at a 'customer base'. And, COLLECTIVELY, people in your time slot are NOT paying as much as people in U.S. 'prime time' hours.


While you may disagree with their scheduling, and the reasoning behind it, that doesn't make it an invalid argument.


ahh.... But is that true? Do they stand to lose more subs by regularly hosing people in one time slot than by occasionally hosing a much larger number in another time slot? I think you underestimate how many people would overreact and ragequit if they started putting the shutdowns in prime time even occasionally. Or I could be overestimating. This is one where we (NCSoft) can only find out the hard way.

The fact that the company and the servers are located in the U.S.

Short answer: yes. The work has to be done some time during the day and the time they pick is when it will affect the least people.

Maybe. Given that the work is constrained by U.S. business hours, I don't know how many people are playing at the usual maintenance time vs... say... 3 hours later. That could be a reasonable option.



And the reason is that NCSoft decided to share less information since their competitors were not sharing this information. Now, is that ACTUALLY the reason? I don't know. But you don't know the reason either. I'm just pointing out there is a 'non sinister' and 'non doom' explanation.

You answered your own question in that sentence, before you even finished asking it. Assuming that SOMEONE has to be disadvantaged (and someone most surely does), then they try to make it the smallest number of people possible.

Now, while it is reasonable to ask why they can't spread the pain around, we return to the simple fact that the work has to be done during U.S. business hours since that's where the company is located. Can they pay someone extra to do the work during 'off' hours? Sure, for an emergency. Will they pay that on a regular basis? No. It's nothing personal and 'fairness' isn't a consideration. It's a money decision.

Actually, those personnel aren't at Paragon Studios. They work for NCSoft and are at a different location. The servers are in Texas.

I didn't see anywhere he said that. He said it was "unsavory".


oops... multiple rants later he does say "dishonorable". Never mind.

I have more inf than I know what to do with and the character with the stack of Astrals has 6 powers at Tier 4. So, yeah, the Astrals are pretty useless. I used some to buy an aura for a new toon but most of my toons don't use auras and I actually like the cape mission.

"Fair" has nothing to do with it. It's a business.


They do - for routine stuff. Anything out of the ordinary needs to be done during regular (U.S.) work hours.

Really? I think the Astrals are pretty much useless. I'm SWIMMING in them, after buying everything available from the vendors in Ouroboros. Empyreans are another story, but those Astrals just pile up.

I think you are confusing lemurs with sloths. Or cats.

I do that in the Shards. You can jump over 3/4 mile. I have yet to measure a double jump (using both the GvsE pack and the Steampunk pack, one after the other, on one leap).