TwilightSinger

Ok, using iTunes shuffle mode, these are the first 10 songs it came up with in order:

1: James Iha - See the Sun
2: Sigur Rós - Samskeyti
3: The Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
4: Super Furry Animals - Ohio Heat
5: Laurent Garnier - The Man with the Red Face
6: Boards of Canada - Melissa Juice
7: Simian - The Wisp
8: Max Romeo & Lee 'Scratch' Perry - Chase the Devil
9: Orbital - Out There Somewhere?
10: Grandaddy - Jed the Humanoid

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...Huh, my hero got "Kaolin Legacy of Earth" when she logged in today. Anyone know what triggers this, now that its fixed? (Didn't even know heros could get it...)

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The trigger is the 25 badges collected badge. Both sides get it.

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These badges are bugged currently. You have to spend a total of 5 hours in the zones without zoning or going into mission. You can only log out but your toon must remain in that zone until you have a total of 5 hours. Then log out and back in to earn it. If you leave the zone for any reason at all you reset the timer back to zero. I have Bloody Bay and Siren's Call badges on 3 toons, trust me I have tested it quite a bit. First time was unintentional which is why the same toon ended up spending 10+ hours in Bloody Bay over the course of 2 days. I would suggest that if you want the badge find a safe hiding spot, easier for heroes then villains since the hospitals are not the same and heroes have advantage. Go do laundry, watch tv, read a book, or kill heroes or villains for a bit. Come back every 20 minutes to move around so you don't get booted for being afk. Also if you get a map server disconnect this also seems to reset the timer. Happened to a few when everyone in Siren's Call got the boot.

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Ok, what happened is I spent 7 hours + in Bloody Bay PvP'ing, PvE'ing and so forth, pretty much non-stop action. I didn't zone, take a mission or log once - when I was ready for a break, I zoned back into Cap Au Diable and logged. When I logged back in, I saw the badge still hadn't appeared, so I zoned back into Bloody Bay - still no badge. I'm going to try logging in and out of Bloody Bay and see if that triggers it - if not, I'm going to be pretty annoyed. For me to stay in game without crashing in that time period is a rare thing.

Just want to see if anyone else has had the same problem - I spent 7 hours in Bloody Bay earlier, no zoning, no log outs - the Irradiated 5 hour timed badge is nowhere to be seen. Have the requirements changed at all recently or are CoH/V hours half an hour longer than normal? Kind of annoying, spent a long time working on badges there to have the 'dead cert' fail to show up...

Anyone know if there are any problems/bugs with the Toy Collector badge?

I got it fine yesterday afternoon on my main (about an hour in Founder's Falls), but last night, when I was helping a friend out (she was having trouble with the level range of the spawns, so I Sidekicked her with my L33 Illusion/Stormie and we chose an efficient 6 present route in Talos to work on), she opened somewhere in the region of 300 or more presents while teamed with me (I was the hired muscle, didn't touch any presents), but absolutely no joy - and she'd opened plenty the night before and before I offered to help, debt notwithstanding.

So what's the deal? Was it not working because of the sidekicking? Was it because she was flying while opening the boxes? We spent 3 hours present hunting last night, and no result. That's pretty terrible.

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Avoid escort (kidnap) missions from newspapers. You'll be forced to clear a path to the victim and defeat several waves of foes. Too much xp for too little content.

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Actually, though I generally favour Defeat Boss/Take Goods missions, Kidnap missions are just as easy to do and frequently yield less exp than either of the other two mission types.

You do not have to clear a path through the mobs to get in and out. So long as you don't hurt a mob, they will lose interest in you almost instantly as you run through. Just run past them, totally ignoring them. You might get shot by the quick thinking ones occasionally, but so long as you've lost aggro by the time you find your kidnapee, you can simply run back through them all with the objective in tow. You can even ignore the ambushes - use sprint. They'll chase, unlike the native mobs in the mission, but you'll outrun them with ease (the only time you have to fight ambushes is when you're escorting a 'pet' NPC who will die without your assistance). I used this tactic consistently with a Brute AND a Dominator, rarely ever having to defeat more than the LT + friend guarding the objective. Of course, Stalkers have it even easier going in, but still need to deactivate Hide and take a shot or two on the way out.

Just did the Gremlin/Electrician badge slaughter, and recieved both badges at around the 120th Gremlin defeated, so the '100' description is off or the badge is slightly bugged but it's still doable, I'm pleased to say.

I didn't touch Deathsurge, waiting till he's unbugged to bother with him.

1st off: although no one says you have to take the fitness pool, you are going to encounter endurance troubles in the 20's and up, especially with the AoE and 'pet' skills like Vines and Carrion Creepers. I'm personally taking the fitness route, as I do with all my chars, because even though Stamina's effectiveness has been reduced by half, it's still an enormous benefit to have double end regen. And while Stamina has effectively been halved, the bright side is you can add two more slots to Health and more than double your natural HP regen. Couple that with Spirit Tree's regen and your self 'healing' potential is pretty substantial.

2ndly, ditch all the slots you put in Combat Jumping. 5% is pretty much unregisterable in difference as opposed to the unslotted 2.5% defense, and it's generally a waste of slots. Also, it's a 0.06 endurance drain per tic, and therefore completely unneccesary to add a end reduction enhancer to it. Slap a +jump (or +def if you must) in the slot it comes with and be done with it. We're not meant to have personal defense on any level with melee chars, we're priveledged to melee because of our control.

Add a spare slot to Super Jump (2 slots pretty much maxes it's range, I've tried 3 slots and noticed no real difference worth using a slot) and another slot to spirit tree to double it's output. Drop the Slow and End reduction from Impale and Thorny Darts respectively. Add the slots to Seeds of Confusion. The power's so much better if you add another +conf and +recharge.

One last thing: Invisibility can wait. Carrion Creepers is too cool to pass up at 26. Swap those powers over in the build.


My working build (up to Carrion Creepers, whereupon I will consider my future options):

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Exported from Ver: 1.7.0.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Teasle
Level: 28
Archetype: Dominator
Primary: Plant Control
Secondary: Thorny Assault
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Strangler==> Acc(1)Hold(3)Hold(9)Hold(17)
01) --> Thorny Darts==> Acc(1)Dmg(3)Dmg(7)Dmg(15)
02) --> Roots==> Acc(2)Immob(5)Immob(9)
04) --> Fling Thorns==> Acc(4)Dmg(5)Dmg(7)Dmg(17)
06) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(6)
08) --> Seeds of Confusion==> Acc(8)ConfDur(13)ConfDur(13)
10) --> Impale==> Acc(10)Dmg(11)Dmg(11)Dmg(15)
12) --> Hurdle==> Jump(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16)Heal(23)
18) --> Vines==> Acc(18)Hold(19)Hold(19)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20)EndMod(21)EndMod(21)
22) --> Aim==> Rechg(22)Rechg(23)
24) --> Spirit Tree==> Heal(24)Heal(25)Heal(25)
26) --> Carrion Creepers==> Acc(26)Immob(27)Immob(27)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Domination==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------


As I level further, more slots will be added to Seeds of Confusion & Roots as they've currently fallen by the wayside in order to increase damage output for the mid 20's.
Many +recharge slots to go in

Erupt, Fire/Fire. It was a predetermined choice as I liked the idea of a Fire/Fire Tanker but found the actual game play seriously dull. Brute is so much more fun it's hard to describe. It's that surfing the edge feeling, when the rage bar is over halfway, you're starting to one-shot minions and you know yourself that the moment you run out of green pills or the next Healing Flames recharges too late, you're for it unless you can get those massive angry hits in.

SMASH & BURN.

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• Isolator - There should be some way for those who would like to get this badge a chance to go back and get it. My main was created prior to I2 and would love the opportunity to get it.

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This I can agree with, it seemed odd to me at the time when they announced there would be a badge no older character had a hope of attaining. Maybe have a few of the outbreak mobs dotted around Atlas Park etc.

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• Monster badges need to be looked at. They can’t be soloed. So when someone spots one they call for help. By that time there can be 30 heroes trying to do the most damage to get the badge. Recommendations - Fix spawn rate or allow all that assist in the killing to get the badge.

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I've been away for a while so I'm guessing that all Monster class mobs are now pretty much unsoloable no matter what level you are? Or not, thinking about that, it doesn't seem possible... I know I've soloed all the sub L40 monsters before any changes.

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• I agree with monkeys and illusions kill count to be dropped slightly. Illusions the most do to the rarity of spawns. I think right now the kill rate for all other badges is good as is.

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Monkeys needs to stay as-is. Killing monkeys is not a challenge. Killing that many monkeys is. I fought a long time for that badge and felt a sense of elation and relief when I finally earned it. Call this a 'I did it, everyone else should too' vote if you will, but I believe the lack of challenge the monkeys represent (putting aside other risks if you choose to hunt them in high level areas) should mean the high death toll the badge requires.

The Illusions needed, however, should definately be lowered. The means to get it are unpredictable and dangerous, involving keeping the casting mob alive for as long as possible. Very silly indeed.

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Besides, the witches were the cutest ever!

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I'm going to be very put out if those ladies don't get their own little space in the Hollows to witch out in. Those fuddy old Thorns fellas could do with an estrogen injection. Too much time spent poring over necromancy sites in their mothers' basements.

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I like the whole event, for the most part. But what I can't figure out is why the halloween badges are listed first in your list there. The badges otherwise seemed to be listed most general to most specific before and I would imagine that these are hyperspecific, being restricted to baddies that are seldom around. Instead I'm going to have to scroll past them every time to get to something else. What's up with that? (Maybe their position on the list will change after the event. Search me.)

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Youre kidding right?

You have to scroll past 6 badges??? OH THE HUMANITY!!!!

Maybe we should send someone over to your home, to hook up a catheder, install a fridge right next to your chair, and hire someone to do all your grocery shopping for you, so that you will never have a reason to leave the position you are in right now. Once a month we'll make sure someone comes over and hoses you down, too, so that the stench doesnt buildup too bad.

Lazy [censored].

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You know, instead of giving a willfully petulant answer to what's actually a reasonable question you could engage your brain and think about it a bit more.

Now, I've no problem with scrolling past the new badges, but I DO think they're in the wrong place.

At the very least they should go either above or below all the other 'Defeat' badges, since that's what they are - but better yet, a new badge section should be opened up - label it 'Event' and have all event-based badges go into that specific section - imo a far tidier and more fulfilling solution.

Thanks for the guide, Spinning Top. Wish the Eden Trial team I was in on Sunday had seen it, though we did many things right (we spanked Quarry before we attacked the Rock Wall for a start), we were just utterly scuppered by the Fungal Wall. We wiped when it was at 1/10 HP - we just couldn't keep up the defense against the constant spawns of sleep-frenzy Fungoids or big hitting Greater Devoureds (for the record, we left the Lichen snipers alone - they didn't seem to do much when we were actually at the door - if somehow they were causing us trouble, it'd be good to know how/why...). The team attempted to redo the wall 2 times but each time we were ready to engage, another 30+ strong spawn of Greater Devoureds and Fungoids unearthed beneath us and caused another wipe. Rinse, repeat, ugh, gave up.

My advice, after getting the wrong end of the pointy stick on this trial?

Do NOT do this trial without a controller. AE/PBAE control is essential. Without it, you're just asking to be totally overwhelmed. I also wouldn't want to do it without a decent tanker.

Not the best arc for action, as per se, or build up - that one goes to the 30+ CoT arc 'Library of Souls' where you find out just how creepy those buggers are...

...but hands down, Ubelmann has the best souvenir in the game. Spine tingling.

Thankyou very much for showing we're not being ignored, Cuppa.

I guess since I'm an Illusionist I'll put my 2 inf forward about the current changes on test.

While I understand PA is easy to perceive as overpowered, many people never take into consideration the balancing factors of those heavy damage hits (and not all Illusionists slot PA for damage alone).

-- The biggest factor is illusory damage. The damage PA does simply does not STAY as big as the numbers that fly above a target's head. A substantial portion (90% un-enhanced) is regenerated/healed back by the target within 4-5 seconds, thus making PA a constant race to defeat targets before the damage done heals back too much. Now PA does 50% less damage, this has become a race impossible to win, furthered problematically by another point.

-- PA casts tend to favor 2's, then 3's, then very rarely, 4's.
2 Decoys struggle. 3 Decoys do a decent job. 4 Decoys tend to be a frightening force. With the change on test, 2 Decoys are an embarrasment (I cast on 2 white con minions and a yellow LT and PA didn't defeat a single one in their lifespan), 3 struggle now and the ultra rare 4 barely get the job done on small groups.

--PA's lifespan is the shortest of all pets. 45 seconds is a very small window to achieve results in and it's never a case of sit back and watch. An Illusionist is in with his PA and working to cover the targets PA ignores or defeat the targets PA has grown bored of. Even on live servers, PA's Attention Deficit Disorder can turn a straightforward fight into a problematic one. Add to this the 4 minute base recharge and with the changes on test, we've now got the shortest lifespanned, poorest damaging, highest end-cost to result pets in the game.
It's almost a case of 'is it worth it?' now

--Nature of 'pet' AI dictates that we have no control over PA and cannot tell them to target specifics. This means we're always fighting to cover mobs they don't, or in a group involving a boss, we might want them to concentrate on the big target but they're only interested in playing 'miss the minion'.


The fixes to the change affect only Fire imps in terms of an HP increase. Decoys are invulnerable, they have no HP to increase, so this change does nothing for PA. The 25% accuracy increase is not enough to sacrifice an accuracy SO (33%) since PA are myopic and need all the help they can get.
The aggro increase is just not needed. Solo, it's almost impossible to catch much aggro while PA is doing it's thing, and grouped, the AE from blasters and the aggro from tanks is already making any aggro a decoy can generate a moot point.

Most illusionists just can't see why we've taken such a huge shot in damage stakes for absolutely zero tangible benefit, and have had no increase in our sub-par CC skills.

Illusion was a true hybrid class, almost a unique identity in the game - the proper pet class, reliant on our pets because of the synergy between us. We've lost a large portion of that now because the pets just can't do what we need them to. The factors I illustrated above balanced things as they are in the live game. On test, they cripple us now.

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Huh? .cohdemo files ARE text files.

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Yup. However, if you save them as text files (the default save option in windows as it recognizes them as such), they won't play.
You must select 'all files' from the dropdown file window or they save as notepad icons and neither the Launcher nor manual updater will recognize them.

Got them working. Didn't even need to download the .NETfx thing, though I did and now sort of wish I didn't seeing as it's more stuff cluttering my system, but eh.

My PC had converted all the demos I'd been d/l'ing into .txt files, regardless of me renaming them .cohdemo. Hence not working. Deleting all my old demo files now and replacing them with properly d/l'ed ones

*sighs* thanks for the help anyway.

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It isn't finding the demos. Your demo file MUST be in the client_demos directory.

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The .cohdemo files are in the client_demos directory. Nowhere else.

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For the viewer, the DLL error probably means you didn't get the NetFX thing installed. You'll need to get it from Microsoft and install it.

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I'll give that a spin and get back if things change/stay the same.

I'm having trouble viewing demos.

I've downloaded the Launcher.exe but sadly it errors and never starts, something about not finding some library.dll thing.

So, I go via the manual route - I've shortcutted both the updater and standard .exe of the game and set their target parameters to display -demoplay demo.cohdemo etc, and start up. They start up just fine, both of them, but then I get shown a slowly moving night sky with a black void beneath it. Nothing else happens.

Where am I going wrong?