Pax__

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I haven't a problem with repeatable rewards. Though I do have concerns about the 4 SF to 13 TF disparity between CoV and CoH.


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Not to neglect you valid concerns. The farmers will pick the easiest and repeat it anyway, so there isnt really that much difference herosdie and villanside in accessibility.

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Variety of choice is a difference. Many people loathe and despise repating the same content over and over and over and over and over and ... well, you get the picture, yes?

That's ... a remarkably elegant solution, generally speaking.

Still, we don't need new brokers. Just make the Recipe drop an option when completing a Mayhem or Safeguard - when you go back and talk to teh broker / detective. Get a contact or a recipe drop, IOW.

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But even just once, in one power, not only does that power work better, but several OTHER powers get small benefits, too.

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I agree it's mouth watering. But you wouldn't be able to achieve this kind of effectiveness if you have a low level +20% regen IO from another set in each of those powers.

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Um, how would putting one +20% Regen into Fast Healing, prevent me from putting those four NuCon IOs into Dull Pain ...??

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If the base value is 2% or more, you're getting less by keeping your level 30 +regen IO. For a /Regen scrapper I can see that easily happening in Reconstruction, Dull Pain, Integration, and Instant Healing. For my money, I'm aiming at using at least four slots from Numina's in all four of those on my Regen. That gives me the +Regen (300%), +HP (250%), and Increased Heal (300%) set bonus on each of those.

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If you have enough of the set and feel you will lose nothing by slotting your power with it.

A Dull Pain slotted with any four of Numina's Convalesence looks to be meaningfully weaker either as a +HP power or it will come back significantly less often than a Dull Pain slotted 3/3 with SOs.

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Hmm. SOs at roughly 38% per single effect. Four slots of NuCon, presume six-slotted power.

3xHeal and 3xRech, from SOs, is ... about 97.2% to each.

To Min/Max four of NuCon's offerings? Heal (+40%), Heal/Recharge (25%/25%), and End/Heal/Recharge (+20%/+20%/+20%). And the "special" one, of course. That gives 85% Heal, 85% Recharge, and 25% Endurance Discount - as well as 15% +regen and 9.4% +recovery.

Set Bonusses, assuming the base values are 1% where applicable, are:

+5% Regen, +4% total hp, +5% to all heals used on you.

Well, the final, net benefit seems to be:
[*] +85% self-Heal[*] +85% recharge[*] -25% Endurance cost[*] +15% Regeneration[*] +9.4% Recovery[*] +4% Hitpoints[*] +5% to effect of all heals used on you (i.e., Reconstruction, Dull Pain itself, and Instant Healing)

... at a cost of ...
[*] 7% self-Heal[*] 12% recharge speed

And oh, hey, think of this: we're comparing to SIX-slotted, right? So, what about those other two slots? Let's throw SOs in there, yes? Probably get about +10% to +15% for Heal and Recharge in both cases. So now, we're at
[*] +100% self-Heal[*] +100% recharge[*] -25% Endurance cost

That's 3% better Heal and Recharge.

And you know what? Let's put the same four IOs into those other click-heals - Reconstruction and Instant Healing. The Set Bonusses become:
[*] +45% Regeneration[*] +28.2% Recovery[*] +12% Hitpoints[*] +15% to effect of all heals used on you (i.e., Reconstruction and Instant Healing)

And with that +15% to all Heals? All three powers become:
[*] +115% self-Heal[*] +100% recharge[*] -25% Endurance cost

... still convinced straight SOs are such a better deal? Of course, getting three copies of those exact four NuCon IOs will not be at all easy, nro cheap; it'll be a stone cold [euphemism for female canine] to do it.

But even just once, in one power, not only does that power work better, but several OTHER powers get small benefits, too.

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I've a DM/Regen scrapper. I plan on getting Health and Fitness ... yeah, for the Overkill Factor. Iwon't need to even ponder the +recovery from Numina's set ... but hot DAMN, if I can slot five or six of those +Regen(20%) IOs ...?

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Opinions will differ, and time will tell how it works out in the end, but I still don't see high level characters begging for a level 30 or lower IO when a level 30-53 IO plus any other from Numina's Convalesence could provide the same benefit with an additional 9.4% recovery on top of it.

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Triple-slot Health for +Heal. You get about 78%. Now, add a foruth slot - with that +Regen in it. POOF, you're effectively sidestepping ED, to bring yourself up to 98%. You simply cannot achieve that with more +Health enhancements.

Or, leave Health with the basic slot it comes with. Even with a 40% generic +Health IO/50, you get +16%. Or, you can slot that +Regen(20%, and get more.

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Currently, ParagonWiki shows the +regen set bonus for two IOs in Numina's as a level five bonus, which means it's 300% of the base value. If the base value of the set bonus is +1%, then you're getting +18% regen and +9.4% recovery from the +Regen/+Recovery IO and any other IO from Numina's set.

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Two slots, not one. That could be a key difference, yes?

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Exactly. Why would [...]

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... choice.

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I take back the VR idea.

I just occured to me that you just keep rolling new toons and milk them for recipes and delete and repeat.

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However, if they conducted that reward ONCE ONLY, during maintenance when they push I9 to Live? Then you wouldn't have the abuse-ability factor.

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I want a '57 Chevy. GM decided they wanted to limit the availablility of '57 Chevies by stopping production. I now have to decide if my desire for a '57 Chevy can overcome the financial burden of obtaining one.

Sounds like Pool B

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Flawed analogy: Pool B isn't being discontinued.

Instead, hwo about this: you want that '57 Chevy, and GM is producign them again - but they don't sell them to people who live in your country, nor the immediately-adjacent nations. In fact, they've made it a matter of contract for every liscensed GM dealer ... they can't even do business in second-hand sales, or they lose that liscense.

So now, you have to cruise eBay ... and the nonavailability of the 57 Chevy in your region is a matter of public knowledge. To compound the issue is the still very limited evailability of 57' Chevys anywhere they ARE sold.

What do you expect to happen to the prices you see while shopping at the, er, "auction hall" ...?

I'll give you a hint: neither "bargain" nor "firesale prices" would be an accurate description.

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"I normally don't slot SJ, but if I put 3 slots there I can get a 1% HP bonus. Hmm, do really need 3 damages slotted in any attack?"

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Unbounded Leap, keyed to L53, provides good +Stealth, +80% Jump, and -40% Endurance Cost. That's better than two Jumps and one EndRed, and the stealth is thrown on for free. Then the set bonusses kick in; more Jumping speed, and a few more hitpoints.

And, by the way? SJ comes with the first of those three slots. It's only TWO slots being moved from somewhere else, not all three.

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Are there any others I'm forgetting?

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Healing set: Regenerative Tissue. +20% Regen Rate from one of it's IOs.

Confuse set: Cacophony. PROC for energy damage.

Sleep set: Induced coma. PROC for recharge slow.

Slow set: Impeded Swiftness. PROC for Smashing damage.

Hold sets: Neuronic Shutdown. PROC for Psionic DOT.

... and several others.

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I would surmise the +regen IO in Regenerative Tissue will be trumped by the +regen/+recovery IO in Numina's Convalesence, which conveniently opens up at level 30. Especially since the first set bonus for Numina's Convalesence is yet more +regen.

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IYO. Others may differ - for example, I do. My g/f does, too; she's happy with her Hurdle/Health/Stamina, and good End-red slotting, so she never has to think about Endurance - her blue bar only drops if she's facing End-Drainers. So she wouldn't care about extra +Recovery ... but her GREEN bar still drops, sometimes precipitously ... so that +20% Regen, if it can be slotted in powers like Health, she will want. LOTS.

I've a DM/Regen scrapper. I plan on getting Health and Fitness ... yeah, for the Overkill Factor. Iwon't need to even ponder the +recovery from Numina's set ... but hot DAMN, if I can slot five or six of those +Regen(20%) IOs ...?

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I didn't mention the Chance of [X] procedures because I wouldn't put much faith in them unless you can stack several of the same kind.

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No, as I understand it, you can only put one of those into any given power - or else they'd be too good, and owuld have to be nerfed anyway.

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So really, what low level IOs are really going to be coveted by higher level characters?

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See above. There are at least a few I am truly and seriously wanting for my MM, who at 32 has (just) outlevelled them. I don't see my desire for them waning as his level rises, either.

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Because it's likely that you're going to need a good amount of specialized IOs to provide the same effect that the corresponding power would, and slotting those takes away from the effectiveness of the power you slot it into.

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Health (unslotted) is +40% regen. It's about 79% when three-slotted. Getting that requires two power choices, and two additional slots.

Alternately, you could just spend four slots (for certain sets - Empathy and Regen, in particular, are good candidates; Thermal might pull it off, too) and have +80% regen. That's four slots and ZERO powers; two slots more, but two powers less.

What's more valuable to you - two slots, or two power choices? Unless you're a Kheldian, I'm willing to bet that the answer is "the powers".

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There will be a balancing act in trying to shoehorn enough +recovery effects between IOs and sets to be able to avoid taking Stamina.

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Nah. The sets are heavy with -End already, so your costs will decline, an consumption will meet recovery in the middle. Plenty of people will still take Stamina anyway (guilty as charged, at least on my /regen), but not EVERYone will.

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Are there any others I'm forgetting?

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Healing set: Regenerative Tissue. +20% Regen Rate from one of it's IOs.

Confuse set: Cacophony. PROC for energy damage.

Sleep set: Induced coma. PROC for recharge slow.

Slow set: Impeded Swiftness. PROC for Smashing damage.

Hold sets: Neuronic Shutdown. PROC for Psionic DOT.

... and several others.

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What if TF/SF rewards were "No Drop?" Simply put these rewards could not be traded. World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs do this on a lot of instanced items.

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Consider how hard it is for MOST builds, and players, to get a TF or Trial done.

Consider that the Developers consider the AH to be the solution to "but I can't get ____ anymore/ever/etc".

And then ... well, I'm sure you can figure out how they go together.

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People might want to reconsider complaints about 50s not being capable or rerunning level 1-25 content. It is unlikely a level 50 would utilize a level 15 recipe considering the %enhancement. It is more likely that established 50s would place this material on low level alts. The devs have not been very encouraging of 50s bank rolling lowbies in the past. I don't see that changing.

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People might want to reconsider wether or not some 31+ characters might want to use a 10-30 SET, irrespective of having the most Uber bonusses possible for IOs ... BECAUSE OF THE SET BONUSSES, and some of the not-percentage-based enhancements available.

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My question is what salvage will I need to make my security blanket...?

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Two units of Hamidon Goo, a scrap of Statesman's Cape, one dram of Hero-1's blood, and an ounce of Lord Recluse' toenail-clippings. Fresh ones, mind.

...

OH, and a recipe that only drops from a level 61-65 story arc.

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I understand being upset if you can't get your rare cause they don't back date drops....but I seem to recall a method to get old contacts to give you story arcs you missed.

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... the problem for me being, what about the ones I didn't miss?

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I am listening to your ideas, but a Flashback system is simply not something we can implement in a timeframe you would all be happy with.


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Maybe I'm missing something here, but when the rubber actually hits the road, how much difference is there between a story arc and a task force? They are both nothing more or less than a sequence of missions.

The presentation is different, but the content is close to identical.

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Task Force: Every participant gets the end-of-series reward.

Story Arc: only the mission owner gets the end-of-series reward.

... fundamental difference number one.

Task Force: fully repeatable content.

Story Arc: once and once only per character.

... fundamental difference number two (and the one that most screws higher-level characters over).

Task Force: auto-Exemplar/Malefactor all participants, as needed.

Story Arc: once you outlevel 'em, they're gone forever.

... fundamental difference number three (and a pretty hefty one it is, too).

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Sting of the Manticore, for example, only works in Snipe or Assassin Strike powers (which I believe makes Stalkers the only AT that can slot it TWICE ).

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I hate to disappoint Stalkers out there, but Sting of the Manticore can only be slotted into Sniper powers, not Assassin Strikes. I don't know where that rumor started.

Assassin Strikes can slot in sets that are made for Single Target Melee powers.

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I believe that came from Iakona. See this post.

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Warmaster has it exactly right for the source of this factoid on ParagonWiki (speaking as the person who assembled most of that article.)

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You and Iakona share my thanks for the information and presentation - I'm already using that as a wish-list of sorts. ^_^

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Hence why my version of this suggestion - and I think that means, the ORIGINAL version, because I honestly do believe I posted the idea first - was to have that reward cost as much as a brand-new DO or SO purchase (levelled appropriately to teh arc in question), when you claimed it.

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There's no equivalent mechanism to make up for people that teamed for other people's tasks that'll make it by 9. Which makes it a touch non-fair. I say we give everyone the same amount of nothing to start with and tweak the recipe drop pools to include some of the outleveled recipes, at least for the first few months.

That, and Unspecified Repeatable Content That Awards Story Arc Recipes should give everyone a chance to get the stuff they want.

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There is no way any solution is going to be perfect.

However, I would far rather an IMPERFECT solution, than NO solution at all.

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I think that the suggestion to allow a click to accept repice reward button to the souvenirs would be fantastic. It would allow a retroactive reward without people having to worry that they may not have room in inventory for all the available rewards.

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But since we've all already had our DO/SO rewards for the arcs that we got souvenirs for, it would mean that we got rewarded twice.

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Hence why my version of this suggestion - and I think that means, the ORIGINAL version, because I honestly do believe I posted the idea first - was to have that rewardcost as much as a brand-new DO or SO purchase (levelled appropriately to teh arc in question), when you claimed it.

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One thing many people are not considering:

Unless you have made a very conscious effort to complete all your story arcs,

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That's me. Not only that, but I chase story arcs down ... and use off-site resources like the ParagonWIKI to choose new contacts based on the story arcs I can get from them.

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Lets say that the "Aura 10% Defence Buff for Pets" enhancement from the Pet set "Edict of the Master" is one of the enhacements on the B (Story Arc) list. You have a MM in his 30s who would really like to slot that into three of his powers; add one more if he's either a Necromancer or /Dark. Because this enhancement caps out at level 40 he's already got a timer on when he can get this enhacement -- after he hits 41, he can't possibly get it on his own anymore. If he's in his high 30s, that leaves about 10 story arcs that he can even possibly try to earn this enhacement. If there are only 30 items on the 35-40 SA list, that's a one in three chance you'll pull even *one* of these, and that's if you haven't already run an arc, mostly solo (so you won't easily outlevel any other arc), and devote the rest of your time to just running SAs.

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Replace "a MM" with "Pax_Arcana's Main". Seriously, that's one of the sets I'm drooling over, and I want at LEAST one iteration of it. Maybe more.

I think your assessment of pobable prices is a bit high - I'd say "milions of infamy", rather than "tens of millions" - but that still allows for prices like, say, 8,000,000 ... which is well mroe than FOURTY times what my MM has on-hand right now.

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There are no guarantees that the things tied to story arcs will be something you need.

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And there are no guarantees that they won't be. Some of us prefer no to gamble on which way that particular point will fall.

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...I have witnessed a team of 2 MMs defeat a mob of 3 AVs in Recluse Victory. Properly built, an MM can unleash more pain than any other AT. That is the reason MMs have the least amount of HP in the game...

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O.O What powersets? I mean I just came from fighting the LR and all his buddies adn it took 20 people and shivans. I would like to know how 2 MMs could take out 3 AVs.

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/Poison is the single-target debuff. So two well-slotted /Poisons, or a /Poison and a /Dark, could probably debuff an AV or two into "mewling puppy" status. Especially if they've done the LRSF a lot of times, and have more SHOES than Imelda Marcos' closet ever held ...

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Properly done ambushes can be very dangerous. And a proper -travel penalty WILL suppress ALL travel enahncement, even the speed in swift.

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Uh, no.

Not unless you're taling about a SLOW effect - which will have non-swift-ers getting outright screwed, chugging along at stupidly slow speeds, less than non-sprint walking!

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Disable travel powers while carrying meteorite samples.

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Oh, that's good ... it's wonderful. It means my Swift+Sprint+Hurdle+CombatJump characters will absolutely PWN at that mission.

Seriously. Noone will be able to keep up, unless they are also one of that very specific and rare breed of "Un-Travel Power" character.

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Pool B, however, is nonrepeatable. If you've already done it when I9 goes live, then you have LOST that chance to get whatyou want. If you've done ALL of the story arcs you're able to access, you will NEVER get anything from Pool B. EVER ...!


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Unless you buy it at the Consignment House...

I am almost certain the Developers considered that the solution to the issue you raise.

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If you assume that characters of all levels above 15-ish have an infinite supply of INF, sure, that works. But, my MM-32 has already outlevelled a Pet-specific set that I very much want for him. The whole set. And he's perpetually broke, Infamy-wise: he hasn't hit the "big money" levels quite yet.

And meanwhile, I've been compelled, yes compelled, to stop playing COH until I9 goes live - because every story arc I complete or outlevel, is yet ANOTHER draw at Pool B that I can't have.

As a result, I've unsubscribed - after all, why pay for a game you're not playing?

Now tell me how that's a good scenario for Cryptic to have designed the game to produce?

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Look at the posted sets.

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Sure, let's. I'll pick Positron's Blast, a Ranged-attack set keyed to levels 20-53. We'll go with level 50 IOs in all cases; all are Schedule A effects (except the PROC, of course), so all have a base value of 38.29% before
[*] Acc/Dam ... dual-IO modifier is 0.625, so this gives roughly +24% to eachg[*] Dam/End ... same, roughly +24% to each[*] Dam/Rech ... same, roughly +24% to each[*] Dam/Range ... same, roughly +24% to each[*] Dam/Acc/End ... triple-IO modifier is 0.500, so, roughly +19% each.[*] Chance for Energy damage ... a PROC, whose numbers are as yet unknown.

This totals to ... well, let's see ... Accuracy gets (24%, 19%) ... 43%; Damage gets (24%, 24%, 24%, 24%, 19%) ... 111%, certainly getting hit by ED, so call it 100%; Endurance is discounted by (24%, 19%) ... 43%; Range is boosted by 24%; Recharge is improved by 24%.

So, +43% accuracy, -43% Endurance cost, +100%-ish Damage, +24% range, +24% Recharge speed, and a PROC to cause extra Energy damage.

That comes to ... 1.3 SOs of Accuracy, 1.3 SOs of Endurance Reduction, 3.5 SOs worth of Damage, 0.7 SOs worth of Range, and 0.7 SOs worth of Recharge. Oh, and that PROC, still.

That's about 8.5SO's wqorth of "stuff" ... and we haven't looked at the set bonusses yet! Those will boost overall accuracy (for ALL attacks, not just that one!), Endurance recovery, and overall Recharge time (for all powers, of all sorts). Oh, also, you'll get a small amount of resistance to Fire, Cold, and Toxic damage.

Even if those set bonusses are only 10% ... heck, if the Accuracy and Recharge are each only 5%, instead ... 10% Recovery, 10% resistance to Fire/Cold/Toxic, and 5% universal boost to Accuracy and Recharge?

SIGN. ME. UP ...!!!

Put stuff like that into enough of your sets, and your Accuracy should be through the roof. Not to mention Recharge and Recovery!

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Can you imagine the anguish a PLer will suffer trying to rationalize having only 1 or 2 damage enhancements in a power just to pick up a 1% HP increase? Or double slot flight with end redux?

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Let's look at those Flight Sets, next, yes? I suspect PvPers will prefer Freebird, of the two.

It's three enhancements, all single purpose. So ... ~38% Flight speed, ~38% Endurance Reduction, and Stelath - granted, only about 40 feet in PvP, but that's in addition to any stealth-producing toggles you're running. And then there's the set bonusses - more hitpoints, and faster regeneration. Throw another IO in there for Flight Speed, and you should be near the cap anyway.

Sounds fine to ME, really!

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[...] this system is going to have shockwaves on PLing that reach to the moon.

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Good. PLing sucks, generally speaking. It's one thing to PL in order to skip stuff you've done a zillion times already, but to PL solely for PvP ...? Meh.

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I can't wait to see what brilliant strategies the PL crowd will counter with.

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It's called Wentworths. Heroside, anyway.