Ukaserex

I originally wanted to put the proc in blazing aura, but it won't go there. The Tier 1 attack seems like the best place to put it, because of bruising, it's a standard part of the attack chain. I typically see my fire/stone tanks resist numbers cap with no extra effort.

I can tell you that as of a month ago, if you transfer a character to a server where that characters name is taken, it does indeed get the number 1 added to its name. But, when you load that character in, you have the option to rename that toon.

Monitor size is a factor that I hadn't considered - which is shameful, because I used to play on a 15 inch monitor - in safe mode, no less - and my power tray and inspirations easily took up almost a full quarter of my screen. So, thanks for that reminder.

You're absolutely right - not every toon needs to be soft-capped for defense. My point was that every player should know the mechanics of defense. - A point I obviously failed to make.

Different players are indeed going to have different skills and abilities. I just want to find a way to allow those that don't know an easier way to find out.

You raise an interesting point. But, the one thing I've seen on speed runs is that those who are comfortable with speeding are the ones least likely to face plant on an Mo.

However, there is some merit to this philisophical argument when considered in trial context. I've seen plenty of speed tf folks "blow" preservation specialist attempts -but I had always considered these failures a passive-aggressive attempt to speed things up, not an inability to be a good team member. But, perhaps I was wrong.

I do know that I far prefer to speed the tfs -because they are far longer than I'd like them to be. I want the reward at the end, and I consider the tf to be a bitter pill to be swallowed - not an opportunity for fun.

For me, there are only 2 things in this game that provide any amusement, and that's UGT and MoM. The rest is just a means to an end.

I know that there are a larger number of players that would prefer the speed runs to be reserved for special occasions, because their toons are not equipped with super-speed and stealth procs. I know that I found speed runs to be absolutely horrible, until I could afford my own stealth procs.

All that being said, a person tping to the end where the boss is surely wouldn't make a player less likely to read chat.

Although, I suspect, trying to speed a Positron TF surely demonstrates the foolishness of a speed run, as it certainly will reveal a lack of teamwork if there is some to be found. Whereas, in level 50 tfs, with incarnate powers, players are not so dependant on buffs/debuffs from their teammates.

Another factor might be the F2P player, who only recently has been able to ask questions here on the forums.

Even so, I think a player who doesn't know how to set up their UI is going to be a burden to a league or team, no matter how well they play. Someone who's inclined to follow directions can't follow them if they don't see them. (and they may have league or request chat enabled - but if they have system rewards in the same box, one judgement or nuke can eclipse instructions given.

Ah, just the title makes me feel silly.

"Thanks for the cat herding, Rex!"

This phrase puzzled me initially. I've mentioned this to more than a few friends. After a UGT, inevitably, I'd get a comment like this one.

Slow, obtuse fellow that I am, I initially just thought they were referring to the IDF and DE, although none of them made me think of cats.

Then, a light finally dawned, and I realized that this comment was referring to the league.

The players - who, for the most part, I've teamed with many times doing this very trial (ugt).
So, there was a hami raid yesterday. I was very late, as I had other plans that early evening. I was quite surprised to see folks on my global list still in the hive.

The first response I got back when I asked what would be most useful, was to "please bring a toon that will make people follow simple instructions."

Sadly, Macro Man isn't ready for the hive just yet. So, I brought an emp. I suspect most of the suffering was over, as things seemed to be going fine.

Yet, I think Tax E's reference to following instructions in the latest Hamidon Raid thread has merit. I'm quite sure some were not standing in the right spots, and mistargeting, and having pets out at inopportune times.

So, I thought to myself: What are the reasons that most people don't follow simple instructions?

Sadly, I came up with a really long list. And those of us that know better can't do anything about people that consume alcohol and/or drugs and play.

We can't do anything to guess what foreign language some players actually understand.

We can't discipline a 15 year old kid who just wants to do what he wants to do because he's already spent 7 hours at school doing what "They" wanted him to do.

BUT!!! It occurred to me - perhaps there is a small contingent of people who have no idea how to set up their screen.

Since I don't feel like following the instructions on how to put a picture in here, here's a url of how most of my screens are set up.

http://warshade.weebly.com/screenshot.html


Obviously, that screen shot doesn't do much, but it does show a way to have a screen set up.

This could be a complete waste of time, but I think it might help one or two people if we could get a guide together on how to set up combat attributes, league chat, request chat, basic inspiration combining macros, etc.

That may be too ambitious for a single guide. <shrug>

But I do know for a fact that when I tell people to monitor their confusion protection, even though I gave them the slash command, 10 UGTs later, they have no idea how to cut and paste this command in their chat bar, or they think just using clarion when they're confused is good enough. (not thinking about the folks that may have to retarget and/or locate their initial target in the league roster) I recall clearly telling someone with t4 clarion to spam their clarion when protection dropped to 21. I got a "How do I know when it's at 21?" Talk about your /em facepalm!

There's no wrong way to have your chat set up, of course, unless you can't read what you should be reading. (i.e. league, request, team)

I've been told point blank that if my directions are longer than one line, most people won't read them. This stuns me, but I have to realize that my audience is not filled with college grad students who can read 950 words a minute. Some are parents, who for some reason or another play with small children nearby. Some are people with lives that demand attention away from the screen on occasion.

Still, I know that some just don't know how to set their screen up. They're returning after a long hiatus and had no idea that the league invite they accepted would require them to do a little tweaking so that they could actually read league chat, and communicate with other folks in the league without having to send tells. They don't know how to cut and paste a url from a browser into a chat text field. They don't even know these forums exist!

And, please, note my signature - People that have no idea what they are doing generally lack the skill to recognize the fact that they have no idea what they are doing. This is a large part of why bad players have no idea that they are bad players. (It doesn't mean that they are bad people, or evil. It just means that they simply don't know what they are doing wrong, nor why it's wrong.) They pay their money and try to have fun. They've little inclination to realize or learn the difference between a pull and a taunt.

SG leaders - I challenge you to make sure your people at least know how to monitor their combat attributes. Teach them what soft cap defense is, and why they should choose to try for this goal or not.
Don't give them a fish a day, teach them to fish!

If you're an SG leader and you don't know these things yourself, ask someone, learn it, and pass it on to your group.

How many times have I come across would be badgers who seriously want an MoTF - but have no idea that not being softcapped places a tremendous burden on the team. If you have no defenses, you get hit a lot more. Common sense to almost everyone who will read this.

Yet, there are some that want those badges, but feel like it's too much work to respec their toons, but then complain because they can't get the MoTF they want. But there are others who had no idea that there are methods for boosting positional or typed defense.

I understand. They play two hours a week. Heck, it's Friday morning, I've already played two hours today, and will likely play at least another 4 before I log.

Some players while trials are forming, or waiting for that last person to switch are using the auction house, or changing their costumes, chatting on ventrillo or any number of other things. I basically assume that no one is paying attention until they demonstrate that they are.


Well, that's a lot to digest. If I can ever figure out a coherent, easy to read guide on setting up the screen for success, I will. But in the meantime, if any of you already have one off the top of your head, please share. The MoTF you save could be yours!

What I'd really like is for a red name to come out and say - Yes, we do actually take some of your ideas and tweak them to fit. Otherwise, this all seems a little pointless.

I know they read them from time to time. What I don't know is if they ever actually implement an idea from the playerbase. (with changes for balance and what not)

That's no squirrel, that's my wife.

Rock -

I hope you know that I want to be there. However, a friend of mine did something absolutely crazy this weekend. He took 10 bucks and a change of clothes this past Friday morning and pretended to be homeless. No cell phone, no atm, no checks, etc. (No, his wife did not throw him out, I asked!)

I just found out that there will be a dinner tonight for him an hour before the raid starts. I know there would be virtual brownies in the Hive, but real food beats out virtual food. Hopefully, I'll be able to make a graceful exit and get back in an hour, but I'm not thinking that's likely.

http://www.ransomcafe.com/

To the OP:

Thanks for asking this question. It's been something I was curious about myself, but kept forgetting to ask.

I'm using the tank set and love it! It's perfect for my fire tank - with the extra 2+% resistance and the proc - my fire/fire tank is at the s/l cap and my fire/stone tank reaches the cap every so often.

The recharge is nothing to sneeze at, either.

Please understand - I mean this constructively.

Trapdoor begins the incarnate on a challenging path. The "Bifurcation" begins a mechanic that's not entirely new to the game, but one that most players are unfamiliar with. The 20 dollar word doesn't help much, either.

For 50 levels, assuming you didn't PL yourself in AE, you're used to clicking on glowies, beating down bosses and a few clear alls. There's been little special or different from that on your journey.

Now that you're on your way to being an incarnate, it's time to start thinking outside of the box. Not everything is going to be a simple tank and spank.

Coming to the forums was a smart move. Look around - there's a lot more to learn about this crazy game.

What were you trying to email? and was it to your global, or someone else?

I understand what you're saying now.

I have herded my share of kittens, that's for sure. You recruit for an incarnate trial or a dfb, and it seems like 8 to 24 players soloing on the same map, depending on the trial in question.

There are some choices to make, things you can do to minimize those that "guard the door" afk, or aggro or attack things that are supposed to be left alone for badges.

You can grade them, make a note. If the pattern of behavior persists, just don't allow them in your trials. Mind you, on some servers, this is a tough policy, because you'll be running into these players frequently. Some of your global friends will be global friends with them -possibly.

The more you play, the more friends you make - then you can just use tells to your friends to invite them. You pick and choose who comes to the party.

As someone who has no experience in PvP other than in CoH, I gotta say, there was really nothing wrong with it when Siren's Call and Bloody Bay were patched in.

Recluse's Victory was a blast, despite different SGs competing over pill boxes with very few villains to contend with them because Grandville had just been patched in.

You almost have me tempted to try PvP in another game. But, since I don't know what I'm missing, the only things that I see that are wrong are the changes from PvE to PvP. That's just ridiculous and unnecessary. Travel Suppression seems okay - but it's too long.

In a nutshell, Zone PvP should only be for teams of 4 or more. A single player should not be allowed access to a PvP zone.

For 1 on 1 up to 3 vs 3, take to the arena.

That's just my opinion, but I'm by no means an expert.

Still, it is entirely possible that the folks that say PvP is broken are comparing it to another game - which I don't think is comparing apples to apples.

Again, that's just my opinion.

Liberty!

Rath -

I know that you're a good dude.

That being said, understand that I wouldn't spend game time writing this out if you weren't.

If, in fact, what you're trying to do is fund your alts - trust me, I know how tedious it can be, making sure that your toon has the tools it needs to succeed, and to give it every chance you can to help the team out. Most players probably don't put in half that thought, just tossing in whatever they've heard or read about. Very few will use mids' and scan the forums looking at different builds and peruse the marketing forums to provide different insight on how to more efficiently fund your alts.

Here's a heads up. Most of the players that want PvP IOs generally PvP a fair amount. The panacea set and the glad proc and shield wall proc are probably the most used for PvE players.

These new ATOs, they are far cheaper, and with the tank set gives over 2% res to s/l as opposed to the almost 2 billion 3% res (all) for a fraction of the price. (for now)

There are a slew of ways to generate more funds in a very short time. I realize that work keeps you away and you're trying to make the loot while your not able to play.

The market right now is what I would call a scared market. Most have little clue about how the enhancement converter will impact the market. In fact, most probably have no idea that for a token number of merits, they can take a 90 million inf Fortunata Sleep purple and possibly change it into a 750 million inf apocalypse.

That being said, with all the super packs being bought (just look at how many ATO enhancements are listed for sale - that gives a rough estimate of how many if someone wanted to reason it out and make some deductions.) I would guess that the players with real life money have about 1000 reward merits to be obtained by any character on that account. Some maybe more. The folks are not going to be paying inf for much of anything. If I were you, I'd craft as many level 10,20 and 30 accuracy IOs and level 25 and 30 Lotg 7.5% as I could.

Double XP weekend is coming up, and the market will be ripe for the picking if a savvy player (or 10) is in position to take advantage.

The Lotg 7.5% is still on sale - but most will have already spent their allowance on the superpack. Look for that price to return to normal within a couple weeks of 2XP weekend.

It's all speculation, but I think it makes sense, at least to me.

Don't get yourself banned and then your account will have all that stuff, and you won't be able to give any of it to me when/if you rage quit.

Do the SSAs and hero tips for free alignment merits.
Do the weekly tfs for more merits.
Convert those merits to alignment merits.
Get random rolls at level 30 or 32 or 33 or 35. They sell slower, but they sell for a lot more. For faster sales, sell them cheaper. No one will complain except evil marketers who like to buy up all the Platinums for 2 million and resell them 3,000,001. And who cares what they complain about?

Doing this is how I have accumulated the ability to put 2 to 4 billion worth of IOs (at the time of slotting them) in most of my 50s.

Since you can't play that often, your need for inf is not that pressing. At least, that's the logic behind my suggestion.

Oh, and here's another pattern I've seen. I've gotten more purples doing level 50 tfs and MSRs and iTrials than I've ever gotten farming at */8 with my tank or brute since the first of the year.

I have mentioned this before.

The very best way to start an argument on the internet is to express an opinion and then wait.