Plasma

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[ QUOTE ]
Dear Positron,

Good afternoon. Thank you for responding to our questions for more information about Issue 13.

And on a side note. Please fix the store so that I can purchase Booster Packs for other players as gifts. I'd like to purchase 10 or so of these for my friends that also play. Plus I'd like to give you my money to help with the development of my favorite game. However, since I only have 1 account and I can't very well purchase 10 Cyborg Packs for 1 account then I guess that I'll have to keep the money that I would have liked to have given to your company.

P.S. Rocket Pack costume items please.

Thank You.

- Peregrine Falcon

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Dear Peregrine Falcon,

Thank you for your feedback. We would LOVE to come up with a way for players to "gift" our Super Boosters to other players. The real problem with this lies in credit card fraud. It may seem like a simple problem, but it's really very complex. Once we have a workable solution that Billing and Customer Service can sign off on, we will allow players to gift Microtransactions post haste.

Yes, yes, Rocket Packs are on Sexy Jay's todo list, I just am not exactly clear on when they will be done.

Hope this clears things up for you a little bit.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dear Positron,

Salutations. I have some experience in handling web-based credit card processing for digital goods. Allow me to suggest:

* Gifts can only be purchased with a card which has a history of being used for subscriptions. (ie, it is attached currently to a subscription, has been for 60 or 90 days, and has had no problems).
* The purchaser is required to re-enter the card number, or at least the CVV2 code from the back of the card. (Which you cannot store due to PCI/CISP requirements anyhow)

My experience is that a card number attached to an account that has been "in use" paying for a subscription for upwards of 90 days is "safe". Almost all the fraud encountered in my experience is from stolen cards that the thief often has no idea which one even works. (They'll often return to your site repeatedly to try different cards, looking for one not yet disabled)

90 days is sufficient for them to see their bill, protest a charge, and you to receive a chargeback notice, so if it is still there after 90 days, odds are good it belongs to that person.

You could use geolocation on the connecting IP address as a fraud screen. This is not 100% reliable, but when someone is using a card with a cardholder address in Iowa, and the IP address belongs to Vietnam, that's a good sign something is wrong.

I'm available for a limited amount of consulting. Although I'm expensive. I will add that one site I did the full credit card processing design for (everything from architecture, storage, PCI/CISP compliance, fraud screening, etc) has incredibly low fraud rates - as in under 0.1%, and that's for instantly-delivered digital goods. (Obviously very tricky, since if you catch them 2 hours after the charge, they already have their ill-gotten gains)

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Last question (I hope)

Is the bug that lets you slot your forms before you get them reliable? I heard it causes failed respecs?

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Reliability is something I think I could only disprove, not prove. I have used it, and it seems to work fine. I have not seen reports in the past year of it causing problems reported to the forums.

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Oh, also, I was referring to the fact that Heal was from Doctored Wounds and not Numina's. That +regen looks always tasty, more than some fear res, or am I wrong?

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I may have originally had Doctored 5-slotted there and then gave up on that; I'll have to review and see if I should switch. But yeah, I think regen>fear resist for sure.

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I tend to think of DPA as per Activation Second.

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Then quite possibly, yes.

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1) Why "Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(37), Dct'dW-Heal:50(37), Numna-Heal/Rchg:30(50)" in Black Dwarf Drain? "Good enough"?

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If you mean the levels, that's an error. As a rule, I tend to slot either L50s (or 49s), or 41s if I plan to exemp. If I really don't need the main enhancement piece, I'll slot 33s occasionally.

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2) How do the Warshade and Peacebringer fare when exemplared down?


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If we're talking the purple builds I just posted, amazingly good. First, Nova form exemps very well. It has the high base damage and the +45% enhancement inherent that works the same whether you are L6 or L50. With the purples, you have the +40% or +50% bonus good at every level which helps a lot with the long-recharge powers.

One thing that's tough when levelling either Kheldian up is the general lack of slots. Since by L50 you finally have all those slots loaded up, making you fairly potent, if you're exemplaring to a level where most of your enhancement power is active (ie, 30+), you are extremely strong vs what a native Kheldian would be at that level. When exemplaring down into the low 20s, the penalty for exemping on your enhancements hurts that. But one thing I've really enjoyed is romping as an exemplar with my PB's white dwarf form. You can't afford all those slots at lower levels unless you're focusing on dwarf form, but having the proc-lobster 4xChanceForDamage procs in the weak attack raises its output significantly.

So, in summary, they're usually great to exemplar. Last night I was playing my PB through story arcs for flashback badges, and was having no problem shredding them. (I accidentally left myself on invincible, and did the Troll arc from the Hollows with No Travel Powers, Zero Deaths, 30 minute time limit, on invincible... no problem.)

[ QUOTE ]

3) Will the guide v.2 comment on DPA values? Like the fact two of the Nova's attacks (Blast and Scatter) have better DPA than the other two?

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean DPA or DPAS? I think of DPA as Damage Per Activation, or what Real Numbers calls "Average Damage". I think of DPAS as Damage Per Activation Second, or, basically, Damage/Activation Time. I may address it, along with possibly addressing the issue of "real" activation time versus "stated" activation time, since as we know from Arcanaville's work, "real" activation time varies because of the speed between pulses in the game, but because of the way the engine flags a player as "eligible to use another power", also has a 1-tick penalty that is added to everything, making all activation times slightly longer than stated. (Which, relatively speaking, is a penalty in terms of DPAS to powers with short activation times)

Fabulously useful. Bravo!

Warshade:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.4006
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Shadow Force: Level 50 Science Warshade
Primary Power Set: Umbral Blast
Secondary Power Set: Umbral Aura
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Concealment

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Bolt -- Decim-Build%:40(A)
Level 1: Absorption -- S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(A)
Level 2: Gravimetric Snare -- Acc-I:50(A)
Level 4: Gravity Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(A)
Level 6: Dark Nova -- P'Shift-End%:40(A)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(11)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 12: Sunless Mire -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(15)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 16: Shadow Cloak -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:41(A), Ksmt-ToHit+:30(25)
Level 18: Gravity Well -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:41(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:41(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:41(19), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:41(43), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:41(45)
Level 20: Black Dwarf -- ResDam-I:50(A), ResDam-I:50(21), Aegis-Psi/Status:31(21), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(23), P'Shift-End%:50(46)
Level 22: Stygian Circle -- Efficacy-EndMod:50(A), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx:40(45)
Level 24: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 26: Gravitic Emanation -- Amaze-Stun:50(A), Amaze-Stun/Rchg:50(27), Amaze-Acc/Stun/Rchg:50(27), Amaze-Acc/Rchg:50(50), Amaze-ToHitDeb%:50(50)
Level 28: Unchain Essence -- Ragnrk-Dmg:50(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(43), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg:50(46)
Level 30: Inky Aspect -- HO:Endo(A)
Level 32: Dark Extraction -- S'bndAl-Dmg:50(A), S'bndAl-Dmg/Rchg:50(33), S'bndAl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(33), S'bndAl-Acc/Rchg:50(33), S'bndAl-Build%:50(34)
Level 35: Quasar -- Armgdn-Dam%:50(A), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg:50(36), Armgdn-Dmg:50(36), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(36), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg:50(45)
Level 38: Eclipse -- Aegis-ResDam/Rchg:50(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg:50(39), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(39), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(39)
Level 41: Grant Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 44: Stygian Return -- Heal-I:40(A)
Level 47: Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:41(A)
Level 49: Nebulous Form -- Jump-I:50(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Dark Sustenance
Level 1: Shadow Step -- Range-I:40(A)
Level 10: Shadow Recall -- Range-I:40(A)
------------
Level 6: Dark Nova Bolt -- Dmg-I:50(A), Dmg-I:50(11), ImpSwft-Dmg/Slow:30(17)
Level 6: Dark Nova Blast -- Apoc-Dmg:50(A), ImpSwft-Dam%:30(5), Apoc-Dam%:50(13), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg:50(17), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(48), Apoc-Acc/Rchg:50(48)
Level 6: Dark Nova Emanation -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:41(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:41(7), Posi-Dmg/Rng:41(9), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:41(13), ImpSwft-Dam%:30(34), Posi-Dam%:41(40)
Level 6: Dark Nova Detonation -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:41(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:41(7), Posi-Dmg/Rng:41(9), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:41(15), ImpSwft-Dam%:30(46), Posi-Dam%:41(48)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Strike -- Hectmb-Dam%:50(A), ImpSwft-Dam%:30(3), Hectmb-Dmg:50(29), Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg:50(40), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg:50(42)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Smite -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:41(A), ImpSwft-Dam%:30(3), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:41(29), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:41(31), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:41(34), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:41(37)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Mire -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(23)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Drain -- Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx:50(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx:50(31), Dmg-I:50(31), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(37), Dct'dW-Heal:50(37), Numna-Heal/Rchg:30(50)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Step -- Range-I:50(A)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Antagonize -- Zinger-Taunt:41(A), Zinger-Acc/Rchg:50(5), Zinger-Dam%:41(25), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg:41(40)



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So. Badass. Aside from the Mez issue, this build feels like cheating. Damage comparable to a purpled-out fire/en blaster or a fire/kin controller; survivability like a tank. (And in some circumstances, much better than a tank). No stamina, and no need.

I could see swapping things around if I could slot a 6th LotG, so that I could drop the Crushing set from smite, put the purples from strike into it, and slot strike like I slotted the PB version - more procs. The proc-lobster thing that my PB build does is quite fun.

All the recharge I pack in makes these dwarf forms MUCH more playable (especially with procs). They're much more scrankeriffic and less... slow. Much more survivable too, thanks to the faster heals. (In tough fights, my Black Dwarf uses strike-smite-strike-drain as an attack chain)

Ok, I've been asked about these a few times, and I keep having to put them in PMs or point to the last place I posted them.

A full guide update is coming, but in the meantime, I'm going to post my current builds here for those who are asking. All the caveats from the original guide apply - building a Kheldian is a personal experience, and while I may argue about effectiveness, prefer this power or that, Kheldians are an AT where there are ultimately going to be a lot of choices, even in a very optimized build. (Things like Glowing Touch vs. Pulsar, for example, may come up even in a super-optimized build.)

And slotting, of course, is now amazingly complex.

All that aside, here are my current PB/WS builds, for reference.

SLOT LEVELS CANNOT BE TRUSTED

The level of most IOs is correct, but the level at which they are slotted is all wrong. (ie, there's no way I would wait until L42 before adding a slot to the Nova blasts. L7.)

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.4006
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Solar Surfer - Purple: Level 50 Natural Peacebringer
Primary Power Set: Luminous Blast
Secondary Power Set: Luminous Aura
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Concealment
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fitness

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gleaming Bolt -- Apoc-Dam%:50(A), LdyGrey-%Dam:41(3), Dmg-I:50(5), Dmg-I:50(7)
Level 1: Incandescence -- S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(A)
Level 2: Shining Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResKB:30(A)
Level 4: Essence Boost -- Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(7), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(11), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg:40(11), H'zdH-Heal/Rchg:40(13), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(13)
Level 6: Bright Nova -- P'Shift-End%:40(A)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(15)
Level 10: Radiant Strike -- Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(17), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg:50(19), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx:50(19), Hectmb-Dam%:50(21)
Level 12: Build Up -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(21)
Level 14: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 16: Grant Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 18: Incandescent Strike -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:41(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:41(23), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:41(25), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:41(25), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:41(27)
Level 20: White Dwarf -- ResDam-I:50(A), P'Shift-End%:50(23), ResDam-I:50(27), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(29)
Level 22: Reform Essence -- Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(31), H'zdH-Heal/Rchg:40(31), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg:40(31)
Level 24: Conserve Energy -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 26: Solar Flare -- Armgdn-Dmg:50(A), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg:50(33), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(34), Armgdn-Dam%:50(34), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg:50(34)
Level 28: Quantum Flight -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 32: Dawn Strike -- M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(33), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg:50(37), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:50(37)
Level 35: Photon Seekers -- S'bndAl-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), S'bndAl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(39), S'bndAl-Dmg/EndRdx:50(40), S'bndAl-Acc/Rchg:50(40)
Level 38: Light Form -- Aegis-ResDam/Rchg:50(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(40), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg:50(42)
Level 41: Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 44: Glowing Touch -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(48)
Level 47: Restore Essence -- Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(A)
Level 49: Swift -- HO:Micro(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- ULeap-Stlth:41(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Cosmic Balance
Level 1: Energy Flight -- Flight-I:40(A)
Level 10: Combat Flight -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), Ksmt-ToHit+:30(15)
------------
Level 6: Bright Nova Bolt -- Dmg-I:50(A)
Level 6: Bright Nova Blast -- Apoc-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Apoc-Acc/Rchg:50(43), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(43), Apoc-Dmg:50(43)
Level 6: Bright Nova Scatter -- Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Ragnrk-Knock%:50(45), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg:50(45), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx:50(46)
Level 6: Bright Nova Detonation -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:41(A), Posi-Dam%:50(42), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:41(46), Posi-Dmg/Rng:41(46), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:41(48)
Level 20: White Dwarf Strike -- Hectmb-Dmg:50(A), Mako-Dam%:50(36), T'Death-Dam%:40(36), LdyGrey-%Dam:50(17), Dmg-I:50(9), ExStrk-Dam%:20(5)
Level 20: White Dwarf Smite -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:41(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:41(36), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:41(37), LdyGrey-%Dam:50(48), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:41(50), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:41(50)
Level 20: White Dwarf Flare -- Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx:50(A), Dmg-I:50(39), ExStrk-Dam%:20(39), Sciroc-Dam%:50(9), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:50(3)
Level 20: White Dwarf Sublimation -- Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:50(29), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg:40(33), H'zdH-Heal/Rchg:40(50)
Level 20: White Dwarf Antagonize -- Zinger-Dam%:50(A)
Level 20: White Dwarf Step -- Range-I:50(A)



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Note: I took swift at 49, because I was missing the high-speed-combat-flight bug, but there just isn't enough +fly in the build to make it worth it. I have heard rumors that you can slot 6 LotGs and get the full bonus (ie, the rule of 5 does not apply). I plan to test and, if that's true, replace it with Combat Jumping to add another LotG.

[ QUOTE ]
Plasma,

Love your Kheld guide and found it useful. I did find a nitpick you might want to take care of when you do the next build.

In your "Triform-PB Gold Standard with Stamina"-Build you have Health and Stamina, but no Swift or Hurdle. You have Hasten, which I'm assuming you have confused with Swift.

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It looks to me like Hurdle is taken at Level 14.

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I'd like to try this, but I don't have an iPhone, I have a HTC TyTN. It's a Windows Mobile 5 device with a 240x320 display.

What's the display resolution on an iPhone? Will this work similarly to an iPhone on my device, or will resizing cause too much distortion?

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iPhone is 320x480. Not sure if it'll work well or not, but only takes a few minutes to try.

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I haven't tried using CoH on it, but I will say that the MochaVNC client lets you clip parts of the screen; so you don't need to map your entire screen onto the phone; if you go landscape and are at 480x320, for example, you can view a 480x320 piece of your desktop, or pinch/pull to resize what portion you are seeing.

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I went back and checked eveyrthing you suggested. They are 2 lines in notepad. I did fix the file path error. I had changed so many things trying to get it to work, it must have gotten messed up during that.

After making all the changes, it still didnt work. BUT...then i typed /bind_load_file_pb_humanform.txt and it said it loaded it, from then on every time i used one of the form bind keys it worked perfectly. I am still new to this whole keybind thing, so maybe i just had to load one of the 3 files first to get it to work.

Thanks a ton for the help Plasma, your guide really helped/helps me to understand the PB and play one effectively

FMJ

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Oh, yeah. My bad. That has come up multiple times - I'm not sure if it's in the guide thread or the Kheldian forum, but yeah, I forgot in the guide to explicitly mention how to initially load the binds.

Nice job!

The next revision will have that, of course, but I'm waiting for Castle to tip his hand about Kheldian changes so I don't go having to write rev 3 right away.

I'd guess offhand that you need to fix whitespace.

If you copy/paste my binds into a text file, for example, then this:

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e "powexec_toggleon White Dwarf$$bind SHIFT+LBUTTON powexec_name White Dwarf Step$$goto_tray 3$$bind_load_file d:\binds\pb_whitedwarf.txt"
q "powexec_toggleon Bright Nova$$goto_tray 4$$bind_load_file d:\binds\pb_nova.txt"

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Should only be taking up two lines of text in your file, not 3 (or more).

I suggest doing the editing with notepad, and under one of the menus ("view"?) turn word wrap OFF. Make sure both those binds only take up one line each.

Carefully check your quote marks to make sure one is not missing, also. I see yours are the PB binds, but one of my original black dwarf binds was missing a " mark at the end of the bind. Obviously the ones you pasted here have the quote marks, but be sure the real file does!

And finally, your pathing is wrong. Your binds have: d:\games\city of heroes\pb_whitedwarf.txt for at least one, and d:\Binds for others. Make sure the path is consistent for all of them.

Failing that, post a thread in the Kheldian forum. Someone there may spot something else I haven't noticed.

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Great guide!
what would be the bind to let me TP by just holding and clicking?

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You'll notice in the "binds" section of the guide, the bind is included with the forms, because it is remapped. (Because a warshade uses a different power depending on form)

For a PB, it is:

/bind SHIFT+LBUTTON powexec_name White Dwarf Step

The others are similar, but I'd include the binding of them in your formchange binds so you have the right one for your form.

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If the myriad ways of getting respecs currently - free, WWs, earned in Trial, Vet Rewards - are insufficient for players (which I find hard to imagine), then some sort of repeatable Trial should have been put in place, ie, making a respec an option for the STF/LRSF, that's chooseable every 30 days or something.

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Believe me, there are plenty of players out there who kept fidgeting with their character builds and have no respecs left. They used all three trial respecs, all their vet respecs, and used up their most recent freespec. So right now they have two choices, grind the inf to get one from from ww/bm, or pay $9.99 and get one right away.

The real question is what's worth more, your time or your money?

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That exact same question could apply to permitting you to directly purchase influence or recipes/salvage using Real-World Money. When you can buy a set of Armageddon recipes, fully crafted, for $19.99 from the login screen, will that be okay?

(Obviously, I realize this is not truly a slippery slope the devs will go down; but in principle, I believe they are equivalent. This is the first thing we've seen where there is now way to acquire the exact same thing with either influence in game or real money out of game.)

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We all pay money every month 15 bucks on up. that money needs to be spent on developing content and fixes for the game as it is now. seem that they just used our money and developed a way to make more money by charging 9.99 for a respec.

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Your monthly fee is going towards development of the game, paying salaries, paying for servers (power, bandwidth, maintenance, maintenance staff), etc. And I believe the money from the sales of "extras" goes towards increased development too (recall the wedding pack sales let them do the VEAT's a whole issue early).

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Technically, your monthly fee is paying for access to the game servers. That's it.

What NCSoft as a company chooses to do with the revenues from subscriptions or micro-transactions is really a different matter all together.

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But really, since money is Fungible, Psyte is right. Our payments for access pays salaries, power, bandwidth, etc... see the quoted quote. The Wedding Pack pack is a prime example as was admitted to by the Devs: the costume and emote access we paid for went for future development.

But really, who would play this game for more than a few months if the subscription did not have such benefits. Obviously, we pay for access, but there is a HECK of a lot more to that access than simply access to a server (anyone can have access to 'a' server ).

Think of a magazine subscription, if all our subscription paid for was server access, then it would be like paying a monthly fee for the same print of a magazine over and over again. The payments, obviously are for more than mere access.

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Ultimately, the payments are for whatever NCSoft wants to keep them for. You pay the fee for access to the servers - there is no express guarantee of anything else (even uptime!). In practice, NCSoft and all the players know that if NCSoft doesn't update the game enough to hold our interest, we'll go elsewhere. We don't owe them anything. If they provide enough fun to make it worth our while, we'll keep paying. MMOs have an interesting value curve, because as time goes by, the games get better - all the development that continues to improve them is available for the same monthly fee. Those who remember what we got for our $12-15/mo back at launch know what I mean. There were no respecs, only 40 levels, no epic ATs, no ancillary pools, no hollows/shard/PI/croatoa/pvp/striga, or villains. The graphics were not as good, tons of powersets were not done yet. There were no capes. You only got one costume slot, and you couldn't redo your costume, at all. (No Tailor). The list goes on and on. Only 8 character slots per server, no add-ons. No renames. No transfers. No inventions. Heck, you could only buy 10 types of SOs without access to a special store (you want a To-Hit buff SO? Tough.) No bases. And we paid $50 to start! Nowadays, you can get into the game for $20, and your payout includes massively larger amounts of content and hordes of QoL features. It felt amazing when it came out, but looking back at launch, the original game seems like it was unfinished.

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- Allow us to purchase these in-game options through the website


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Lots of trouble for no real reason, imo.

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- Allow us to do character transfers between accounts (I have 4 and would love to shuffle them up).

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/signed. Those of us with multiple accounts I think are likely the ones who will be most free tossing around cash on extras. IIRC, a friend told me that a certain other MMO permits inter-account transfers as long as the billing info is the same on both.

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- Allow us to purchase in-game things like transfers, renames, etc with in-game currency.

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For the same reason I think NCSoft selling a wad of influence directly would violate the integrity of the game, I don't believe ANYTHING should be both acquirable in game AND sold for cash. This is why I object to respecs being sold. To me, respecs have a value in WWs. Selling them for cash is a hair's breadth away from just selling wads of influence for cash - you are taking something with an established in game value, and selling people the right to bypass it. Basically, NCSoft just dipped their toe into being a gold seller, direct to customers. Yes, they're only respecs, and no, you can't sell them for influence - but if you were thinking of buying a recipe from WW for 20m, and spend $9.99 instead, you have effectively just purchased 20m infl for $9.99.

To me, this is charging money for something that should be in game. A respec is something characters earn, in game. It's also purchasable in store. To me, this crosses the line in the same way that offering a 100,000,000 influence purchase for $9.99 from the character selection screen would cross the line. If the myriad ways of getting respecs currently - free, WWs, earned in Trial, Vet Rewards - are insufficient for players (which I find hard to imagine), then some sort of repeatable Trial should have been put in place, ie, making a respec an option for the STF/LRSF, that's chooseable every 30 days or something.

It's not about money - I was excited for extra character slots at a theoretical $10/slot price. I thought the wedding outfit was fine. Buying renames and server transfers; no problem.

To me, this is about the integrity of the game, and I think selling a respec which people have traditionally earned and must continue to if they don't want to pay for it, is an error. And I'm sure I'll never need one, due to vast amount of influence I could buy from WWs with, vet rewards coming out my wazoo... I don't think I've even bothered doing the respec trials in like 30+ months. So this has nothing to do with me, except insofar as I see this as a breach of integrity of the game.

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And just as a general FYI excessive use of the notify moderator button can get you in trouble as well. Even if it's reporting valid infractions of the forum rules.

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It can get you in trouble?
Is that your expereince or suspion?
~

Unrelated: I'm assuming posts that [u]just[u] say 'can i have your stuff', 'cry moar' and the like going to counted as non constructive?

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Whatever. If moderators start taking "cry moar plz your tears they are delicious" out of the market forum, I'm setting up alternative forums for the cool kids

Your forum rules make it illegitimate for a user to repost a technical solution received from support. Disallowing /signed is lame, as there are legitimate reasons to simply say "I agree" that aren't bumping.

tl;dr but 2 things:

(1) Yay for vet rewards done in advance rather than as an afterthought. You love us, you really really love us.

(2) The screenshot for the blackwand is wrong. The new one is considerably cooler looking.

Yes. Read one of the guides to Frankenslotting IOs, and use 'em. The info attached to the power, and the SO/HO slotting examples should give you an idea of what to slot.

I have a full guide update in the works, but I'm waiting to see what Castle does to the Kheldians so it isn't outdated again immediately.

A few comments:

(1) With respect to Kheldian forms, while they do have 15% base recovery, remember the forms themselves are toggles, and they consume all that they produce. So without any slots, Nova and Dwarf have a "net" recovery of 0. If 3-slotted, they provide not-quite 15% recovery, net. (I like perf shifter in the forms)

(2) For PBs, Regen, Invuln, Stone Armor, Ice Armor, and any other sets which have a +hp dull pain-type power, if you have enough +rech that you have perma-DP, you can slot numina +r/+r and miracle: +recovery into that power. On my peacebringer, for example, I use:

L40 Miracle: Heal/Rech
L40 Harmonized Healing: Heal/Rech
L50 Numina: Heal/Rech
L50 Doctored Wounds: Heal/Rech
Miracle: +Recovery
Numina: +recovery/+regen

And since I have enough global bonuses to keep my Essence Boost (that's Dull Pain for PBs) up perma, and it happens to last 2 minutes, that means I get the recovery bonuses all the time too, since THOSE last 2 minutes.

This is convenient for me, since I don't use the Fitness pool on my PB, as I find it both unnecessary with all the set bonuses and unique bonuses to recovery, and because Fitness powers don't function in Nova or Dwarf form, limiting their usefulness. (And I don't like using 3 powers for that)

Is the longbow anchored aoe -res sonic thing unresistable? It used to make my stone brute noticeably weaker, but I had fully slotted stone skin + granite + tough running, so I'd have thought my resistance to res debuffs would have been high. I'm fairly sure that I recently ran a mission with my elec brute, and the -res number worked out to some perfectly even number, which wouldn't really happen if I were resisting it.

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I&amp;#8217;m going to guess it&amp;#8217;s the former.

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You'd be correct. In fact, the game doesn't really (in general) know the difference between a "buff" and a "debuff" - a debuff is really just a buff with the opposite sign (i.e. negative). So the game wouldn't even know when to do the latter type equation: its really just all adding up of buffs, some of which happen to be negative.

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Someone once claimed this was untrue for resists. They claimed a 50% buff and 50% resist debuff effectively resulted in 75% net damage. (ie, 100 pts became 50, then the debuff raised it to 75).

Can I get a denial?

I think someone working on the payment system may have made an epic fail. I've built payment systems that process more in payments that CoH's entire revenue stream. Feel free to contact me for some high-priced but quality consulting