Mystic_Cross

Hi Matt! I have a couple of questions for you that hopefully you'll be able to answer..

Do you have plans in the pipeline for new systems in supergroups and bases? like the ability to promote/demote offline members, SG invites via email or any other means to invite an offline character... maybe a command like "/sginvite playername" where it will show up to that character the next time they log in? the latter would be similar to how the /gfriend command works now, I'm thinking.

Also, anything that may come along in the near future (read: within the next 6mo.-1yr) to help improve base systems, like a new/improved editor for example... or some enhancement to how we can place items, i.e. the ability to place a floating lamp in the middle of a room without "stacking", for example.

I'd also like to have the ability to seperate rooms in the base and have them linked with a sort of inner-base "portal" to transport between rooms, rather than running through a long hallway... and maybe have the ability to set rank permissions for said portal to specific areas, which could allow for things like setting up personal quarters for different ranks, and many other things. would something like this be possible in the current game engine?

Disappointing as it is that the path to Incarnates will no longer be released with GR, it's still something to look forward to soon(tm) once all the kinks are worked out.

I presume this also means that the GR expansion *possibly* won't be required in order to access the incarnate system when it does come out, so this delay could be a good thing for everyone instead of just a bad thing for some.

That said, the Incarnate system was one of the main selling points of GR for me, mostly because I want my 50s to do something other than collect dust... and they collect dust because they can't really do anything that I can't do from 1-49... from 1-49 I can get stronger, I feel as though I'm going somewhere...

Once you're 50 there's nowhere to go short of grinding the same stuff over & over to get IOs... (if you don't already have them by then)... which gets progressively easier as you go. I was looking forward to the Incarnate system in GR to start changing that... but, I concede to the point that it's not WAI yet.

At the very least I guess the delay will give me time to get my Electric Control Dominator to 50 (after GR comes out, of course ) so he can become an incarnate too.

I can haz moar GR info nao? ... I think I need it after this announcement

One simple way to get stuff you want and still make money is if you get a drop that you want on your character, don't craft it and slot it... craft it and sell it.

When it sells, you can use the money you made off the crafted sale to buy the recipe and salvage off the market (which is always cheaper than the crafted price, with exception to a few select items)... now you have the IO you want, slotted, and you made a bit of profit in the process while not costing you anything for the IO itself. Doing this alone throughout your levelling process will net you quite a good portion of free IO's while building your bank at the same time. That bank will later allow you to buy the recipes you want that can't be turned over this way.

In addition to this, when you have the bank to purchase other IO recipes for your build, you can do nearly the same thing... buy a recipe and craft/sell it for profit, use some of that profit to craft another one for use. This should work for at least 70% of IOs on the market. You could also buy two of the same recipe at once and just craft one for sale while slotting the other. personally I like to have money-in-hand before getting my 2nd.

This is, of course, probably the slowest method to getting yourself both reasonably wealthy and well-slotted if it's the only thing you're doing. But you can also do this throughout normal play without really taking any extra time, and in addition to any other marketing/farming/whatever you may be doing to build your inf bank.

Fury's guide that Stargeek posted above is also a great Example of how money can be made on the market. It's not a "copy this and you'll be rich"... but more of a "this is one way to make money with little time investment". Using the market properly is (IMO) the #1 fastest way to build inf.

QR:

Does restarting the game make it go away completely until the next time you start the game up? next time you load MA? send a tell? does it ONLY happen when you're playing CoX?

having never experienced or heard of this type of bug in the game (and no one else is experiencing it to my knowledge), I'd first guess that it's being caused by something on your computer, either something like a stuck backspace key... or a virus/malware. Though somewhat hard to make an educated guess without more info. perhaps update anti-virus definitions and run a scan to see if it catches anything and then go from there.

I'm sorry but, was that a pvp battle taking place outside of a pvp zone at 3:02? or possibly a praetorian pvp zone/new arena map? or was it just an npc killing a player?

everything looks pretty awesome so far, can't wait to see it firsthand!

All zones have level ranges where you can run into enemies a fair bit higher than your current level, but only in certain "neighborhoods" of each zone. Zone "Neighborhoods" are outlined by a color border that will show on your map... but you may not always be able to see the neighborhood borders before uncovering the "fog of war" on the map.

Depending on the zone, there can be a greater disparity in enemy levels depending on the border color, but here is a small breakdown of Atlas Park and it's neighborhood border colors as an example:

Argosy Industrial Park (Red – Level 5-6)
Atlas Plaza (Green – Level 1-2) <-- This is where the large Atlas statue is, and where you first start if you chose atlas park from the tutorial.
Downside (Red – Level 5-6)
Hyperion Way (Orange – Level 3-6)
The Promenade (Yellow – Level 3-4)
Prometheus Park (Yellow – Level 1-4)

Atlas isn't too bad, but as you travel into higher zones, the level range can be higher also. Hazard Zones, for example, can have a HUGE level range in comparison to regular zones.

One of the first zones you'll be introduced to from Atlas Park or Galaxy City (which are both "starting" zones) is a Hazard Zone called "The Hollows", your first contact will send you to talk to Lt. David Wincott (who will also give you missions) when you reach the appropriate level to enter the zone.

The Hollows is considered a "Hazard Zone" because you can come across enemies considerably higher in level than yourself. The Hollows is the ONLY hazard zone that has a hospital, a store and a trainer. The Hollows level range is 5-15 and its neighborhood border colors/levels are as follows:

Cherry Hills (Green - Level 5-7)
Eastgate Heights (Red - Level 13-15)
Eastgate Park (Orange - Level 10-12)
Four Seasons (Yellow - Level 8-10)
Grendel's Gulch (Red - Level 13-15)
Red River (Yellow - Level 8-10)

As you can see, travelling into the wrong neighborhood, without being careful, could be very dangerous... especially if you're on the low-end of the level range. Enemies aren't too difficult to avoid if you keep an eye out, but if you don't watch where you're going you could get into trouble! I highly suggest going to King's Row and getting your Raptor Pack around level 5-6 first (Decorum gave good instructions how to do this a few posts above) before doing the hollows missions, it will make travelling there (and in general) much more pleasant, and you should be around level 8 or so by the time you get the Raptor, which will also make things a bit easier on you travelling in the hollows.

Some Useful Tools

Paragon Wiki

Info for the neighborhood levels and border colors here was taken from the Paragon Wiki at : http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page

Paragon Wiki is an invaluable resource to information on City of Heroes and City of Villains. Check the Table of Contents on the left navigation bar for a sectional listing of all the information available, and for fun, try typing the name of your first contact (or any contact) into the search and it will tell you everything about them, including their level range and who they'll introduce you to next, as well as a breakdown of the missions they give and more!

Vidiotmaps

Vidiotmaps will help you get familiar with the different zones and zone connections in the game, so you don't need to memorize things right away. They also have a downloadable map overlay that lists neighborhood enemy types and levels right on your in-game map, which is extremely useful for outdoor "hunt" missions where you need to beat a certain number of a specific enemy type on the world map (i.e. defeat 20 hellions, etc.).

here's a link to the vidiotmaps site: http://www.badge-hunter.com/index.php?/page/maps.php


Mids Hero Designer

Mids Hero Designer is a downloadable application that can help you plan the development of your character, get detailed power info for every powerset, and familiarize yourself with all the different types of enhancements, temporary powers and accolade powers available in the game.

visit http://www.cohplanner.com/ to download Mids Hero Designer!

Have fun and good luck!

Well done Fury, and congrats to Ghoulslayer!

aww, what the heck... one final bid for me on day 7: 1,078,000,000 (1.078 B)

It's been an entertaining thread Fury, thanks for putting it up!

guess for day 6: 1,312,000,000 (1.312B)

guess for day 5: 1,192,000,000 (1.192B)

guess for day 4: 878,000,000 (878M)

guess for day 3: 512,000,000 (512M)

ON TOPIC (and sorry for being a part of massively derailing the thread topic):

Powers that only affect teammates do it for me. like in force field and sonic resonance, etc... especially force field. I have so much trouble getting into them, and I come out of it being bored playing them.

Sam, I apologize for offending you, It wasn't my intention to insult your intelligence or imply you're an idiot. I had a bad day yesterday and inadvertently took some of it out on you, so, I'm sorry.

Without multi-quoting through your entire response, I'll just try to answer the questions you put up as best I can... Mind you, I'm answering (and have been answering) your questions based on only MY personal playstyle and experience rather than on behalf of all blasters.

What build am I using? in most things I'll be referring to my Electric/Electric/Electric Blaster. I have others throughout the level ranges, but the E3 is currently my only level 50 blaster.

The damage aura in electric is the 3rd power pick, for fire they are 6th and 9th. In melee sets they are more or less all the 2nd power pick in the secondary.

Yes, you counted shocking grasp as an attack at one point, although you also said (as my interpretation was) that you don't take it.

I would agree with you that you don't have to stay in melee range in order to use all your powers, provided your attack chain doesn't consist of just melee powers, even damage auras have a decent range for the most part (discounting blazing aura). The attack chain on my E3 consists of all melee powers and 1 ranged TAoE, which I use in melee. I can also keep a fairly steady attack chain going with my T1/2/3 blasts if needed, though I'd be doing far less damage.

How do I define melee powers? Well, I agree powers with a 7ft range are melee, and I doubt anyone would say otherwise. But melee powers can also extend to 10ft, 15ft, and in extreme cases (like with Claws>Shockwave) 30ft... and still be considered melee powers. I personally consider any PBAoE's and damage auras as melee powers, along with all the standard punch/kick/slash attacks.

I agree, you don't NEED to use Ice Patch at the foot of your enemies. If I was using it, I would most likely use it in the way I described. That's not to say it's the Only way to use it. So no, I don't disagree with you.

I don't want to convert you to my way of thinking, I simply want you to acknowledge the fact that blasters can hang in melee for more than a few seconds, even on SOs. albeit not at any difficulty, but certainly at more than +0/x0. I'm also not disputing whether or not they can do it as well as scrappers, they can't, but they can do it none the less. I don't play every blaster in melee all the time, my psi/psi often hangs at range and goes in occasionally for things like Drain Psyche. My E3 on the other hand, spends virtually ALL his time in melee, unless there's a runner or I'm pulling.

I'd be happy to try and help you learn how to blap, PM me and let me know what server(s) you're on and hopefully I'll have something useful there. I moved my E3 to Victory (i think) during the free server transfer period, but I have some other blasters I've been attempting to set up for blapping, mainly a fire/electric, sonic/energy and a fire/energy at 12, 18 and 24, respectively... I haven't played them in a while (alt-a-holic by nature), but I'd be willing to dust them off, or even make a new one somewhere to try and help you out.

My "modus operandi" is basically just to have fun when I'm playing. If i need to use a power that makes stuff run away in order to survive and keep playing, then I'd rather do that than eat dirt. I don't really have a problem with dying or debt, but I really hate running back from the hospital

I don't spend all my time worrying about whether or not I'm in melee either, I just play, if I need to be in melee then I am, it's really not an active consideration most times for me, it just happens. Even on toons I'm raising as blappers, I'll sometimes go a number of missions going into melee maybe 40-50% of the time. My E3 is in melee nearly all the time, and thats just the way he plays because I don't have many ranged attacks on him, so I pretty much play him like a scrapper with a few blast powers. he was, of course, a bit different before I respecced and added IO sets on him, but still spent quite a good bit of time in melee, probably at least 55-75% of time, as opposed to 85-95% now.

I will admit that on brutes and other "built specifically for melee" AT's enemies running away can be annoying at times, but the reason it's annoying is that I don't have anything to blast them with, I HAVE to run to them, on a blaster I don't.

I classify Stun as a melee attack, but it's purpose isn't damage, it's mitigation. Also, no, I wouldn't slot it for damage.

I don't believe I said you only play a fire blaster, if I did, sorry, I must have been in a daze.

I don't talk about Ice patch because I don't really have any personal experience with it. I do have experience with Electric, Fire, Energy and Mental, even a bit of Devices. I made a /Ice blaster some time ago, but It's still sitting around level 6 on one of the servers because I got swept up with something else and never went back, yet.

I'm also quite certain I never said blaster control mods were the same, or even similar to controllers... only that they get powers in the secondary that originally belonged to controllers' primary.

In order for Burn to be effective with Hot Feet, you really need to slot HF with a good amount of slows. I can probably agree with you that it's certainly not the most effective use of it, and most people hate Burn anyway... I personally find it most useful in conjunction with knockdown. My SS/FA brute uses it constantly along with foot stomp, or with KO Blow on bosses and it works quite well. It also works pretty well with Rain/Hail of Bullets using lethal ammo.

YRMV but WoC tends to confuse minions quite often on my Psi/Psi blaster when I choose to sit in melee with her, so yes, I count it as mitigation. As far as the stun component goes in Psychic Shockwave, I'll withdraw the statement, for now, as I borrowed the information from my Dom and hadn't thought of whether or not Domination has any effect on its duration.

Saying you don't use mitigation was my interpretation of your statements regarding powers like Shocking Grasp and Hot Feet not being "worth it" and was mostly just an observational guess, apologies if I stated it as a fact.

What I said regarding your use of Fire Sword Circle was more of an "if you're doing it this way, you're probably not hitting anything" and wasn't my intention to say that you DO use it that way... In comparison, My wife actually used to use it at 30-40-50ft away until I told her she had to be close... She isn't stupid, but sometimes people don't have to be stupid to do stupid things.

By "survive perfectly fine in melee" I'm not suggesting that blasters have the same durability as scrappers or stalkers. I realize that most posts regarding "blappers" make it seem like they never die, or die very rarely. I believe it's possible, and may even be the case for some, but in my experience that extrapolation is false. in some cases you're going to die and die often, and in others you're going to survive well for long periods of time through many missions, and others still, survive just barely.

You can combine other inspirations in order to make break-frees, I usually keep at least 2 handy.

I never said "don't fight mez-heavy enemy groups"... I personally just don't like Malta and Carnie Illusionists in particular, those aren't the only two mezzing groups in the game, by far, and in fact, I don't really have a problem fighting carnies, for the most part I just really, really hate the Illusionists because their phase is super annoying to me. Malta have tons of KB, and I have to constantly keep running back into melee range. On the other hand, rikti and more-so Lost have plenty of mez, so do CoT and Banished Pantheon (as well as some heavy debuffs).

I see SOs as a waste of money (and time) since IOs were introduced, I hate needing to re-enhance every 3 levels. however I'd gladly go through the trouble of making a second build on my E3 using Common IOs, if you're willing to pay for them. Honestly though, there's no way I could guarantee I could do those missions at that difficulty on SOs or Commons. As I said, I was dual-boxing with my emp when I did them, and further, I never claimed a solo blaster on SOs could do them at that difficulty... but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be willing to try

Guesstimating, I'd say it would probably be more do-able at +0/x3 or +1/x2, which I believe is the equivalent of the old "rugged" difficulty, but could be mistaken. I spent the majority of my levelling career on the E3 at "rugged" difficulty, but I'm not exactly sure what that equates to with the new difficulty settings. Currently my common difficulty for most of my alts is +0/x3 no bosses, and I believe that generates slightly larger spawns than "rugged" used to.