Maelwys

http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Mystic_Fortune

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perhaps an extra hamster is needed

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Or another hamster trainer with a chair and whip...

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I get the impression they have several hundred trainers with whips, but only one rather elderly hamster.

("Can't do anything at our end", "There is a routing problem with Broadband Company X", "Talking with ISPs to resolve issues", "Not any alternative providers", "Servers are more than powerful enough" etc, etc.)

We very nearly wiped several times on a Statesman Task Force team due to repeated mapservers earlier on, and I'm just off a Shadow Shard TF team that was also plagued with lag (not mapservers, but power lag).

Neither one produced anything odd on the netgraph, though we had a few D/Cs on the STF team (including one just as we got Lord Recluse to 5%. On the plus side I discovered that my Sonic Blaster can tank the Flier...)

So whose turn is it to change the hamster this time?

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Now to see that on an Elec/Fire for the PBAoE goodness....... that would just be beautiful

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Like this[/b][u][/color]?

Can drop Burn for Ball lightning if you can grab one of those new PvP +3% Defence IOs for Frozen Armor - use the extra slot from Combat Jumping. You'll probably also need to slot a KB Protection IO into Super Jump.

Thought I'd post this as an update - this is the final build of my newly-50'ed Sonic/Elec Blaster.

Notables include 45.1% Defence to S/L, plus 35% Global +Recharge and 56% Global +Accuracy.

Currently it's just missing the Miracle Unique in Health, the three Numinas in Aid Self (has 2x Common Heal IOs and a Doctored Wounds Heal/End/Rech in there currently) and the HOs in Amplify (has 3x Common Recharge IOs there currently), and I'm not in any great rush for them. Fairly cheap for an IO build, region of 500 million.

Initially I was a little wary of just how well S/L Defence would protect me from PBAoE/AoE attacks, but it seems that the majority of them have a S or L component. Vengenced Nemesis and the Preatorian robots are about the only thing that give him any trouble, and he's gone toe-to-toe with all the Preatorian EBs.

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Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Sonic Attack
Secondary Power Set: Electricity Manipulation
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Scream -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(7), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9)
Level 1: Electric Fence -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(23), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(23), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(46)
Level 2: Shriek -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(7), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9)
Level 4: Charged Brawl -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A), Jump-I(43)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(43), Ksmt-ToHit+(50), Krma-ResKB(50)
Level 10: Havoc Punch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17)
Level 12: Amplify -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(13), HO:Membr(13)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 18: Sirens Song -- FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg(A), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(19), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg(19), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(40), FtnHyp-Plct%(40)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), Efficacy-EndMod(21), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(21)
Level 22: Stimulant -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 24: Aid Self -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal(25), Numna-Heal/Rchg(25)
Level 26: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(27), Rec'dRet-Pcptn(37)
Level 28: Thunder Strike -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(29), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(29), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Oblit-%Dam(31)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(34), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 32: Dreadful Wail -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 35: Power Sink -- Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(36), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(37)
Level 38: Shocking Grasp -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(39), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40)
Level 41: Snow Storm -- P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(A), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(42), ImpSwft-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(42), Slow-I(42), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 44: Frozen Armor -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(45), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), LkGmblr-Def(45), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(46)
Level 47: Hibernate -- Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Rchg(48), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Super Speed -- Run-I(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(48), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Defiance

Finally got the aforementioned Sonic/Elec blapper to 50 today (has been parked in the 30s/40s for ages... Hurrah for Easter holidays! )

Respecced out of Elec mastery to the Ice Pool to softcap his S/L defence. Combined with Snow Storm, so far he's soloed all the Preatorian Elite Bosses toe-to-toe. I think he might even be able to go toe-to-toe with one or two of them as AVs. Spent about 500 Million on him altogether to get him IO'ed out, including 2x LOTG 7.5s.

The general idea behind it is to use the -resist from the ranged blasts to soften the enemy up, then slap it with a high damage Melee attack. Given that he's in melee range a lot, the S/L defence comes in handy.

As a Softcapped Blapper he's definately turned out to be a fun ST damage toon, although his AoE output (just the Nuke, plus Siren's Song and Thunder Strike) is decidedly pants. Standard attacks are Shriek/Scream + Charged Brawl/Havoc Punch/Thunder Strike/Shocking Grasp, with Electric Fence slotted for mez rather than damage. Skipped Shout in favour of Shocking Grasp and haven't missed it in the slightest.

6 Obliterations is the usual way to go.

Or if you're not fussed about the defence bonus, 5 Obliterations (skipping the damage proc) + a Common Recharge IO in the Nuke, and ditto but with a Force Feedback End/Rech IO in Thunderstrike.

Alternatively, frankenslotting Multi Strikes/Cleaving Blows is a much cheaper option, and is a decent enough method of boosting your raw enhancement percentages (just as long as you don't care about set bonuses).

Have a look here

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guys would you suggest katana/regen is the best build 4 a AV killer

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Nope. Katana is far better than Broadsword for sustained damage output, but Regen will struggle against AVs unless you're stacking Divine Avalanche (which impacts your DPS, even if you have it perfectly slotted).

Fire/SR is the best Scrapper AV killer if you're on a budget (softcapped defense plus Aid self - SR being easier to cap than Shields). DM/Shields is the best if you're wealthy (>1000 million influence)

Or you could just roll an Ill/Rad and solo AVs with SOs...

For AV killing you really want softcapped defence, which means /SR, /Shields or /WP (INV can work too but it's very expensive to softcap and doesn't bring any extra benefit) plus a high DPS primary (Fire/DM/Claws/Katana tend to be the best here, but most of the others except for Spines can work if they're built right)

You don't need to register on the US boards to view posts.

Sounds like you're talking about one of Ultimus's old videos. He was one of the most vocal "melee" AV soloers on the US boards, but most of his antics were back before IOs came out.

BS/WP is really not an ideal combo if you're looking at soloing AVs. Broadsword is the third-worst DPS primary after Spines and Dual Blades, and whilst Willpower can be defence-softcapped it really doesn't provide anything to help you hit harder or more often (unlike Fire, Shields or SR). You might be able to stack Parry for defence, but you'll probably struggle to kill anything that's got Smashing/Lethal resistance.

If you're willing to use inspirations and temporary Powers such as Shivans or Warburg nukes, then you should be able to solo any AV in the game (short of the final Lord Recluse on the STF) even with a SO'ed build. If not, then you'll probably need to aim at a build that's considerably more expensive like this[/b][u][/color].

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Woudnt claws actually deal more dps overall on an AV then? Follow up has a base recharge of 12 seconds and build up has a base recharge of 90 seconds.

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More DPS compared to what?

Followup's damage buff lasts for 10 seconds, but the animation for it takes up nearly a second on its own. You'll need to use it once every five seconds to get the full benefit of it (double-stacked), and even when slotted for damage it isn't one of Claws' best DPA attacks. In fact it comes in a distant 4th (at 208 DPA if you're double-buffed by followup) after Focus (279 DPA), Swipe (242 DPA) then Shock (227 DPA).

Dark Melee's +damage buff (Soul Drain) is nearly perma with sufficient recharge, and Fire's damage type is far less resisted than Claws (and therefore more damaging versus AVs) even without factoring in "Build Up".

Katana is fairly close to Claws' output whenever Build Up is down, but even then, the ability to slot more Damage Procs (the Defence Debuff set's Negative energy ones) and the Achille's Heel -Resist Proc pushes the advantage slightly into Katana's favour.

Claws will beat the sustained damage output of Martial Arts, Broadsword and Spines hands-down though.

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In addition you noted Katana deals more dps with an Acchilles: Res Debuff IO, but did you also count in with claws that you can also slot one of them in Slash for the claws powerset?

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Yes I did... unfortunately Slash itself is one of Claw's least damaging attacks over time - it comes in 5th at 207 DPA (assuming 2x buffs from followup as with the above attacks... for reference, Eviscerate is in 6th and last place at 183 DPA). It's usually not worth using Slash in an optimised Claws attack chain unless you have it heavilly procced up.

Conversely, all of Katanas attacks except for Divine Avalanche can slot that Debuff IO. And you can get away with only slotting it into Gambler's Cut and still having it "permanently activated" on a foe, due to the extremely high DPA (299 with Build Up, 212 without), low animation time and low recharge time of that attack.

I dunno... even though PvP has been through the ringer a few times, I still like this one...

(+5 Camera Spin FTW!!!!)

DM/Shields is a little faster and safer than a DM/SR, due to shields' extra damage and resistances. Fire/Shields with Aid Self could also be a contender. Or possibly even a well-built "Fire Armor" toon (for "Burn" abuse).

Heroside, an Ill/Rad with Perma PA can solo pretty much anything short of Hamidon. A few /Thermal builds and Rad/ Defender builds will come close to that too. But there are a few builds that'll solo much faster depending on the AV in question (Burn in particular is quite handy versus AVs if you can leverage it properly, and -regen is much better against GMs than AVs so raw DPS builds will find it easier to compete against debuffing builds).

Redside, a few of the /Stone Brute builds or softcapped /Traps MMs are tough to beat. The Smart money'd probably be on a Bot/Traps for the extra Regeneration debuffs and the spammable immobilise.

See above - you can stack the debuff 4 times with just SOs depending on your Transfusion slotting. And more with Hasten and IO Set Bonuses.

Yup. Lasts for 20 seconds, and has a base recharge of 8 seconds with a 1.17 second cast time. The regen debuff is only 50% and is pretty heavily resisted by Archvillains (85% ish at level 50) but not by GMs.

No worries!

The reason why I included the 7x SD buff is because it's quite possible to be able to jump out of battle into the middle of a mob to buff up and then back to the AV/GM again... or just keep a few weaker mobs around you whilst fighting (INV tanks tend to do this - keeping a few weaker mobs in range of Invincibility).

Killing off the weaker mobs accidentally shouldn't be a problem - aside from Soul Drain you'll only be using single target attacks anyway (Shadow Maul is a narrow cone but is not one of the attacks used in the cycle!)

If you're fighting a AV then it caps out at 6 extra mobs - it's kind of tricky to get them all within range, but it is doable. Anything above one mob is going to give you a little bit of a buff. If you go for the "keep the extra mobs within melee range whilst fighting" route then they'll also add to Against All Odds (which in theory caps out at ten foes, but you'll never get that many in range!! )

Having said all that, my Favourite Toon for fighting tough targets (in a scrapper-buffer duo) is actually an Earth/Kin. Stoney with the two +10% Resistance Aura Procs plus "Increase Density" can tank virtually anything, and the two Siphons plus Fulcrum decreases the target's damage output further. The -regen from Transfusion plus Speed Boost, Siphon Power and Fulcrum make your duo buddy's damage output stupidly strong...

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DM/Shield Scrappers can hit the Defence soft cap and output over 300DPS against a single target.
It takes a little over 100DPS to beat the regeneration rate of an AV, and over 350DPS for a GM.

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That seems wrong to me, else anyone could easily duo any GM with a granite plus blaster.

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Blasters don't do particularly high DPA (Damage Per Activation time) on Single Targets. The only real exceptions to this are 'Blaze', 'Bitter Ice Blast', 'Energy Punch' and 'Charged Brawl'. It might be doable if the Blaster was /Mental and abused Drain Psyche.

Scrapper plus Granite might also be doable if the Granite was contributing. I have a Stone/Stone Build that does around 120 DPS whilst in Granite. That'd leave only 240 DPS for the Scrapper to make up - which could be achieved quite comfortably with any of the builds I listed above (assuming the AV doesn't resist the damage type, and that the Fire/Fire and Katana/Regen make use of 'Build Up' and 'Firey Embrace' occasionally).

Scrapper DPA Comparison:

These are a few high-DPS Single-Target builds that I've bothered to optimise and compare.
Optimised chains taken over roughly a 10 second period (to allow for "Build Up" powers)

[u]Katana/Regen[u] (with Build Up) - 2960 damage (3552 including -20% Resistance Proc)
[u]Katana/Regen[u] (without Build Up) - 2073 damage (2488 including -20% Resistance Proc)

[u]Claws/SR[u] (with Double-Stacked Follow Up) - 2608 damage

[u]DM/Shield[u] (with one mob in range of both Soul Drain and Against All Odds) - 2806 damage
[u]DM/Shield[u] (7 mobs in range of Soul Drain and 1 in range of Against All Odds) - 3368 damage

[u]Fire/Fire[u] (with Firey Embrace and Build Up) - 4461 damage
[u]Fire/Fire[u] (without Firey Embrace or Build Up) - 2251 damage


The highest spike damage output is obviously Fire/Fire, with the Katana/Regen a rather distant second. The highest sustained output is by far the DM/Shield (Soul Drain can be made very close to perma - when activated every 30 seconds it all depends on how many mobs there are nearby to leech from).

Mob resistances play a part too, so the Fire and DM builds will tend to do better than the rest in actual gameplay (though the Katana build's Proc is effectively perma versus one target and comes in very handy).

For reference, I've duoed Jack and Eochai on the Katana/Regen with my second account's Sonic/Elec Defender. No temp powers or -regen, just "Assault" plus the Sonic's two -resistance debuffs. They both fell in less than ten minutes. The same Scrapper can comfortably solo a RWZ Pylon in less than ten minutes.

I can post the full attack chains and stat numbers if you want. Essentially after building each character to my liking with Set IOs, I ranked the attacks in terms of DPA and then squeezed as many as I could into the ten second, "Build Up" window (allowing for each attack's recharge and animation times).

DM/Shield Scrappers can hit the Defence soft cap and output over 300DPS against a single target.
It takes a little over 100DPS to beat the regeneration rate of an AV, and over 350DPS for a GM.

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I drink loads of cider. Like tonight! I SO want to do stuff of a naughty sexual nature to GG. And BlueRabbit. Don;t tell him that though, I don't wanna scare him off before I've learn Portugese.

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Someone's going to have a doozy of a hangover this morning.
(and I suspect it'll be that poor impressionable bunny...)

NVIDIA drivers should install in theory... have you plugged the monitor into the new card, or is it still into the on-board socket? When you boot up you should get an "unknown video device" show up in control panel.

Try the "Vista 86" install. I imagine that's short for "8086", which will be the 32-bit version.

You shouldn't need to remove the drivers from the old card, but disabling it might be an idea if it's still not picking up the new one (right-click on the old video device in control panel and "disable" it). The new card should work before you install any drivers, albeit with very basic resolution/colours.

If it's still not picking up the new card, I'd try disabling the on-board video card within your BIOS (this is the "setup" screen you can choose to go into when you first turn on your PC). It could be that your on-board video card is using resources that your new card needs (The PCI Express slot that you've plugged the card into could "already be used" by the on-board video card).

Since the NVidia Utility is claiming it can't see any compatible hardware, I'd probably try disabling your on-board card within the BIOS first. It's easy to turn it back on again if it turns out not to be the culprit. Once that's done, plug your monitor cable into the new card, boot into windows and see what happens. The proper NVidia drivers (or at least your installation CD) should get it going.

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OK it sounds like the old Geforce 8 series card you have from the Advent was a plug and play....but your new PC doesn't support plug and play cards.

Nearly all graphics cards ( besides the plug and play format ) plug directly into the motherboard so it does look like you do need a new card.

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????

Virtually every Mainstream Graphics card you can buy since the "Windows 95" Era has been "Plug and Play"... "Plug and Play" is just a protocol used by the Windows Operating System to detect if a new piece of hardware has been attached. It's got nothing to do with Graphics rendering issues.

The problem is nothing to do with "plug and play". The problem's to do with a poor on-board (integrated into the motherboard) graphics chipset. Dell's bog-standard line of PCs are notoriously poor at Gaming. Great for MS Office, but shockingly bad whenever you ask them to do anything that requires 3d Acceleration.

Take the old card from the old PC and bung it into the new one. The Dell site lists available ports for that model as 2x PCI, 1x PCIe and 1x PCIe x16. So unless it's an AGP card in the older PC it should fit OK.

The graphics card being "at the front" rather than "at the back" suggests your old motherboard used an extra circuit board as a "bracket" to physically shift the graphics port around. This is fairly common in some of the more compact pre-built PCs, but if you give us a make/model number of the PC we can likely narrow it down for you. The card itself should likely be an industry-standard PCI-E or AGP card (depending on the age of the PC - if it's a NVidia 8 series it'll likely be PCI-E).

http://www.pchardware.co.uk/install-...card-guide.php

Once physically installed, you'll need to install a set of Vista-compatible drivers for it. Once that's done, it should pick up both the on-board video card and the plugged-in video card and use both concurrently. I'd just disable the on-board one via the Device Manager in Windows' Control Panel (to avoid any wierd conflicts - having two different graphics adaptors running at once can cause wierd rendering issues).

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As an aside, I strongly suspect that WoW is using Software Rendering if it's playable on that PC.

CoH doesn't use software rendering unless you specifically tell it to (I think Safe Mode might use it in addition to setting all the graphics/sound sliders at minimum levels, can't remember offhand).

What "Software Rendering" does is use your computer's CPU to do all the heavy graphics work rather than your computer's video card. The CPU on that Dell PC is pretty decent, but the Video Card (the one that's "on-board", integrated into the motherboard) is pants. Software Rendering is usually OK for low-to-moderate graphics settings in games, but it bogs down the CPU a lot which slows your game down. It's usually just used for compatibility purposes since it's normally far faster to let the video card do the work.

Glad you're having fun!

To chime in; the most I found I could squeeze out of my own Illusion/Empath (whilst still keeping all the useful powers enhanced to reasonable levels) was 165% recharge (with Hasten) on [u]this[u] build.

It's worth noting that Phantom Army don't all disappear at once - they despawn one at a time. You can thus actually get "perma PA" with a bit less recharge than you might think. The 165% in the above build is more than enough for Perma-Adrenalin-Boost, which is what I was aiming for (and am really hoping does not get nerfed when applied to my Phantasm in the upcoming patch!!). The PA downtime of less than ten seconds was simply a nice bonus.

It was my first toon with just SuperSpeed for a travel power, but hasn't been as bad as I was expecting it to be (thanks mostly to the GVE jumppack!). I'd have gone Superjump if not for the attraction of an Empath with "Full PvE Invisibility" via [SuperSpeed + a Stealth IO].

I'm sure I've left out stuff from the above shortlist, but hopefully I've covered the main PVE bits...

Regarding Tankers, They're all rather decent these days. Thanks to the difference between Typed and Positional Defence, The "Shield Defence" set does not actually have a hole against Psionic damage. INV, Fire and Ice Armor still do, but Stone Armor, Dark Armor and Willpower don't.

There is a bit of a problem regarding Willpower tankers in that their Taunt Aura only lasts for around 2 seconds compared to other tankers which last around 14 seconds. This is "working as intended" and is one of Willpower's few weaknesses. If you're going for a Willpower tanker then it's best to pair it with a secondary that has a good few AoE attacks to keep aggro.

If you want a tool to help you plan out a character (or are just confused over the whole invention/set bonuses thing) then download Mid's builder. It's one of the few that're still regularly updated, and is pretty much a de-facto standard these days on the forums when discussing builds. Sherksilver's builder and the old CoH Hero Planner are way, way out of date.

Lots of raw numbers for powers are available here if you're into browsing through statistics!

Four Years will leave a little "Required Reading" to get up to speed again I'm afraid!


1. Enhancement Diversification (AKA "ED")

Short Version: Slotting lots of the same type of enhancement into a power will begin to drastically lose effectiveness once you go over a certain limit. (this is the equivalent of 3 same-type even-level SO enhancements - 100% for accuracy/damage/recharge/etc. and 60% for range/defence/tohit/etc.).

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/E...iversification

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2. Global Defence Nerf (AKA "GDN")

Short Version: Defensive armor effectiveness got drastically reduced.

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/GDN

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3. Aggro Cap

Short Version: You can only get the attention of up to 17 enemies at a time. If you attempt to aggro more mobs than this, you will start losing the attention of already-aggroed mobs.

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Limits#Aggro

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4. Issue 7's Defence Scaling Update

Short Version: Defence based armors become effective again. In i7, all mobs got set to 50% ToHit, plus +accuracy depending on level/rank... in other words, things like bosses and AVs don't virtually "automatically" hit you anymore.

Mobs always have at least a 5% chance and at most a 95% chance to hit you.
You always have at least a 5% chance and at most a 95% chance to hit mobs.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...Number=5759413

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5. Invention Origin Enhancements

Starting with Issue 9, inventions were introduced.

Short Version: These are a bit like "mini Hami-Os" in that they enhance more than one aspect of a power at a time (like accuracy and damage). They're broken up into different sets - some for melee attacks, others for ranged attacks, some for healing powers, etc.

The primary benefit of using these is that you can cram in more enhancement numbers into fewer slots. For Example, [three level 50 Accuracy/Damage IOs] equate to more raw enhancement than [3 damage SOs plus 3 accuracy SOs]. This makes it possible to properly outfit a character using far fewer slots than with SOs alone.

The secondary benefit of using these is that using more than one invention in a "set" grants extra bonuses which are always on (as long as you're not exemplared - then there are extra rules which cover this). These extra bonuses each stack up to five times. So you can have five "+3% damage" bonuses adding up to +15% damage. etc.

Some inventions don't actually add raw enhancement numbers to a power, but instead add another special buff... like the "Luck of the Gambler" Defence set IO which grants +7.5% global recharge, or the "Miracle" Healing set IO which grants +15% recovery (like a "mini-stamina").

Inventions are craftable at special stations, and use salvage plus a recipe.

Salvage drops fairly randomly from defeated mobs. Certain recipes drop from mobs, others are awarded upon mission completion, others need to be redeemed for earnable "merits" at vendors.

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Inventions

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6. The Market

Short Version:

Wentworths (Heroside) or the Black Market (Villainside).
The Hero and Villain markets are not interlinked.
The EU Hero market is linked to the US Hero market.
The EU Villain market is linked to the US Villain market.

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Market

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7. Merits

Short Version: Complete trials or task forces (including Ouroboros Task Forces), or defeat GMs to earn merits. Can redeem these later for stuff at vendors.

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Merit_Rewards

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8. Ouroboros "Flashback" system

Short Version: Can revisit old mission arcs in the form of flashbacks.

Whilst on a flashback, it's treated as a Task Force. You get auto-examplared to the maximum level of that arc. You can do arcs that your character has "missed" or never been on before.

http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Flashback