McNum

Yeah, "Life" just got redefined. All livings being require phosphorous is a basic rule of biology. That has been proven wrong today. That's awesome.

I flew up under the rafters in Pocket D, but usually I just find somewhere a little out of the way to respec.

By the way, am I the only one thinking that the word "astrobiology" sounds pretty awesome?

I didn't read it like that, but now that you mention it, it is pretty funny.

Still, I'd probably do the quick way once on one character, if only to get to speak in big golden letters once in a while.

Ran a Shard-run ITF for the Ancient Nictus Fragment, but had bad luck with the drops. Got only 5 shards. Ran a speed-Khan for the Dimensional Keystone and crafted my Nerve Boost.

That took about an evening, and I've got a Dimensional Keystone to spare since the Khan was very generous with drops for a speedrun. 15 more shards, or 11 and an STF and I've got my Uncommon as well.

Wait, THREE powers to match Sleet? I count two. First you use Oil Slick Arrow for Slow, -Def, and knockdown. Then you use Disruption Arrow for -Res. And we still haven't lit the Oil Slick. Do that and you've surpassed Sleet in damage. For extra credit, add Acid Arrow for more of both -Def and -Res, but aim for a hard target since the oil likely has defeated the rest by now.

Really, TA has two phases: Pre-oil and post-oil. Oil Slick Arrow is just that good.

Doesn't the Complete Collection include CoH and CoV? Hence the word "complete"?

Don't you just love how the message is "We're shutting down the servers for four hours tomorrow." and the community response is "YAY!"?

Not that I'm much different, mind you. I believe my train of thoughts went something like this: "WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Issue 19 is coming! Incarnates! Fitness! YAY!"

What? That's too bad, I like some of his films. The Naked Gun movies were some of my favorites when I was younger. He'll be missed.

There's a part of me that wonders if shutting AE down when exploits like this are discovered and not reopening it until they're fixed is a viable option. I mean, it's like first aid. The very first thing to do, is to make sure the problem doesn't get worse. Then you start fixing it, if you can. Same here. Shut down the AE server access, fix exploit, restore AE. That's the way to cause the least "damage" to the game, although PR wise it might not be the smartest idea.

There'd be rage over this, of course, both from those who make and play stories and for those who farm, both normally and exploitive. However, if the Devs are up-front about the reason "Closed down to fix exploit", it could create a new environment in AE pretty fast. Because if you find any exploit and want to keep using it, you don't share it with anyone. If you do, AE shuts down until it's fixed and you lose at least an arc slot. Because while one or two people using an exploit isn't really that big a deal, looking at the game as a whole, it's when the exploit becomes the standard that it's a problem. And by then it's too late to prevent it from damaging the game, mostly though even more inflation, not to mention the risk of burning out new players before they get to know how to actually play the game.

It seems a little excessive, I'll admit, but it's also getting pretty clear that the current approach doesn't work. Alternatively, they could just shut off XP in AE temporarily, but I'd guess it's easier to just sever the server connection, and it sends a stronger message, too.

I suspect that part of the Inherent Fitness reason is actually to get Swift and Hurdle onto low level characters. Praetorians, to be exact. Remember we got a boost in travel speed with GR because of the huge-ish 1-20 zones in Praetoria? This might just have been the tipping point that turned Inherent Fitness from "Maybe later." to "Let's do it."

You might be tripping some security measure, especially if you've tried repeatedly to buy after the first failed transaction. Try this:

1. Stop trying to buy GR, for now.
2. Contact NCSoft Support and ask them if they can see why you're being refused.

Most times, this solves the problem. Or at least it can point you in the right direction.

Yeah, there are several ways to approach a fight with TA.

The standard is using Glue, Acid, and Oil Slick to melt a spawn away, pretty much literally. Add Disruption Arrow for even more -Res and use the Archery AoEs for cleanup. That's pretty much the bread and butter of TA. You can also use your hold in Ice Arrow to keep annoying minions and lieutenants out of the fight (and doused in burning oil, while frozen) or Glue and Entangling to keep them from running.

Then there are the alternative openings, like Flash Arrow. Got any kind of Stealth and you're invisible to that spawn. Flash doesn't miss in PvE. And when you absolutely, positively has to neutralize a spawn, you have EMP Arrow. Which is one of the best, if not the best ranged AoE Hold in the game. Then you douse them in oil and set them on fire while they spend the next half minute not doing anything.

Basically, TA is awesome for versatility, but you need to think on your feet. Some enemies and groups require Poison Gas Arrow to lower the incoming damage, some don't. Some teams you can't get Disruption Arrow set up before the spawn is dead, some need all the -res they can get. Know your arrows and pick the best one fo the situation and you'll have a lot of fun with TA.

Sadly, there's no boxing glove arrow.

I like it. You get to horribly debuff lots of enemies, and then you douse them in oil and set them on fire. It's the simple things in life that makes it fun.

One thing to note about TA/A is that it's surprisingly light on Endurance. While this advice is obsolete in a week or so, it means that you could postpone or even skip Stamina in exchange for getting the good arrows in your quiver that much earlier. Also, TA is one of the few powersets where your origin can make a noticeable difference. Oil Slick can be lighted with Fire or Energy damage, even a single point is enough. The Magic and Technology Origin powers do energy damage. That and turning Apprentice Charm into a spawn clearing AoE with Oil Slick is just too much fun.

Okay, fair enough. I kind of had a feeling it was more complicated than it seemed. I mean, otherwise it'd already been there, considering how thorough the program already is.

Well this is a handy little program. Pulled out the build for one of my characters and it worked perfectly. This is going to make the I19 respec-a-thon a lot easier, I think, since I can get the characters as-is exported now.

One question: Can you make it catch Accolades in the build export, too?