radsmash

OK, I'm trying to make sense of the charts and numbers in these posts.

Was City of Heroes making $10M-$12M/year in revenues or profits?

Revenues being all the money taken in, but doesn't account for costs the company has to pay - salaries, benefits, payroll taxes, office space, utilities etc.

Profits being the money left over after the costs are paid or Revenues-Costs.

The MBA definitions may be more complicated but lets use these Econ 101 definitions.

For an 80 employee company, revenues of $10M/year aren't really all that great. Ballpark each employee at $100,000 /year cost in salary, benefits, cubicle space, etc and you get a cost of $8M. Add in the cost of the servers, then the game was actually generating little profit.

Or does the $10M /year number represents NCSoft's cut after Paragon Studios pays all the costs? If that's the case, then we're back to a number representing more the profit of CoX to NCSoft.

@healix Brutal pic, especially since I'm a vet.

I haven't logged into CoH for a while. Always felt comfortable my toons were waiting for me. I did spend some Paragon Points back when Controllers were on sale. I had one character slot left on Virtue and wanted to roll a troller, but couldn't decide which kind would be good for SO only. But that's not to be anymore.

As for other games, I had been playing Star Wars:The Old Republic. I enjoyed it a great deal - four hours every night. The class quests are good stories. Leaping into battle as a jedi knight is fun. PvP is fun when the game is close. The general feel of the game, seemed like 'WoW with lightsabers.' Like others here, I found the post-50 grind less than enjoyable. Playing in alt was a little dull, because, aside from your class quests, you tend to do the same quests on the same planets. Never did play operations, but I heard they were pretty fun. The flashpoints (similar to WoW dungeon instances) are enjoyable, but they need a few more of them. Try it free till 15 so how you like it. Trooper class is easy - you get a healer companion before any other class. Scoundrels are fun too. Nice to send your companions off to do the crafting and you could go do fun stuff - PvP, questing, or log off entirely.

I've been playing World of Tanks recently. Its free to play, with the option to buy stuff (upgraded crew, more tank slots in your garage, etc). The first few days is really fun, then you hit the grind from Tier III to Tier IV tanks. But its fun to log on and play a few battles every now and then. Its all PvP, 15 tanks vs 15 tanks. The tanks are grouped into Tiers of roughly equivalent ability, and the random battles group tanks of similar Tiers into two teams. Its fun, but somewhat grindy.

GW2 looked interesting, but of course never going to play an NCSoft game. Haven't played TSW. The genre looks interesting, but don't want to pay for it.

Hmm, I went over the Dominator list and found a similar thread with the statement from JuliusSeizure that the proc would not fire.

My earlier statement is an assumption, since I couldn't think a reason the proc would not fire. Sorry if I led you astray.

Ok, so it appears the power does not actually have a -to hit debuff but will take enhancements for it. Sort of odd, but OK. A Fear power without a -to hit debuff seems much less useful than something like fearsome stare that has a -to hit debuff.

At least Terrify does damage or there'd be little reason to take it. You can use it to carve away part of a spawn or lock down an ambush, but kind of useless (except for the damage) fired into the main fray.

Thanks for all the responses!

Hi,

Is the LFG tool working like its supposed to?

Last night I was trying to find a DFB team blueside and not having much luck. Lots of people standing around Ms Liberty, but no one issuing invites. (I was on a F2P account, so I could not start a team.)

I tried the LFG tool (average wait time : 5 minutes) and after about ten minutes I posted in the help channel and got a private tell that the LFG tool was broken.

So is the code actually not working as intended and not forming groups?

Or do people simply not queue any more so no groups get formed?

Hi,

Does Terrify in the Dominator Mind Control set have a -to hit debuff? One guide says it does, but the Redtomax entry does not mention one. Mids does not show a -to hit debuff either, but the power does take To hit Debuff enhancements.

I don't get blasters either. The label says ranged damage dealer, but most of the secondary powers are melee or melee range.

Corruptors are much more pure ranged characters. Normally I'd recommend fire/dark, but with the restriction of > 60 ft, idk. Blaze and Fire Breath are only 40 ft range. Fire/dark corr is a great combo, tho.

Archery, Psi blast (corr) have some pretty long range powers, but I've never played them.

I don't know how the dps works out if blaster's forgo their melee attacks.

Corruptors are usually much more survivable, and have access to Dark Consumption or Power Sink (elec APP) to recover end after the nuke-induced crash (which is melee range tho). Several secondaries give blasters an end recovery tool, but otherwise blasters seem limited in recovering end after the nuke. AFAIK, the only epic pool with end recover is Cold Mastery's Hibernate. Hmmm, Surge of Power from Electricity Mastery doubles recovery for 120s, but that's not an instant refill of end.

I came to CoH from WoW and for a long time did not really understand the concept of mitigation.

Basically, in CoH, preventing damage is much better than healing it after the fact. Disorients (stuns), reducing the chance to hit ( called -to hit), knockdowns (because if somebody falls down they lose an attack while they stand back up) and other techniques are all very important ways to stay alive and accomplish the mission.

Go with a concept you like. The powersets are mostly close enough that you won't gimp yourself. Well except maybe Energy Melee...

Also, ditto on the comment(s) about DPS/Tank/healer paradigm. Many archetypes and powersets have the ability to perform different tasks. This will be apparent when you're in a group where the main tank is a scrapper.

Note there no real "healers" in the game. Only two powersets, IIRC, actually have multiple healing powers. Most other support sets have one. But they can stun, reduce hit chance, and other techniques to help out the group.

CORRECTION: There are three powersets with multiple heals - see post below.

I would say most, not all, groups, can handle any challenge in the game. I've been in some melee only PUGs that got their ***** kicked by things like Longbow or Arachnos. So occasionally groups meet some they can't handle, but its rare.


Some recommendations:

Ditto on Katana/Willpower recommendation.

I liked my Shield/Warmace tanker but may it have some endurance issues as Free to play. Warmace/Shield brute is a higher damage version.

I like Dark Melee/Invulnerability (two self heals!), but haven't tried it free to play.

Primary: G
Secondary: H

both premium accounts.

Thanks for all the replies.

Choking Cloud and the Tanker epic Ice storm break the rule that if a power doesn't take Accuracy enhancements, it is auto hit. So that is a very loose guideline that has at least two exceptions.

It appears Mids and City of Data are the best places to determine if a power is autohit.

In Mids, the autohit powers will not have an accuracy value.

In City of Data, the power will show "Entities Autohit Foes" for autohit powers.


Energy Drain in energy aura is now auto hit. google found this post by Infini:

"Energy Drain was originally autohit, just like powersink. When they added in the heal component, it came with a to hit check. Now that ED is changing into a clone of EA from Ice/ it won't have a tohit check, again.

Energy Absorption is autohit, too. "

Mids though, indicates Energy Absorption has both an autohit portion and to-hit portion. Mids does not further explain. The message in City of Data-somewhat cryptic- is as follows (Tanker Defense/Ice) :

• 13.6s Taunt (mag 4)
  If target.HasTag?(Raid) and (@ToHitRoll + 0.2 < @ToHit)

which seems to indicate in a raid, the taunt needs a to-hit roll.

Thanks again.

Hi all,

Is Power Sink in the Corruptor Electrical Mastery Epic Pool auto Hit?

To help me "learn to fish":

In general if the power cannot take Accuracy enchancements is it auto hit?

And/or

If Mids does not show an Accuracy value, then the power is auto hit?

You might try posting the long form (so people at work can read it) and the datachunk - so people who like to load the build to mids can do so.

Thanks all for your replies. Now I know what to expect.

Going to miss my trollers.

So some real life issues have me seriously considered downgrading from VIP. I have some questions though.

I started playing in April 2011 and bought the CoH/GR/CoV combo pack.

So I understand I retain anything I paid for from the Paragon Market or unlocked with Veteran Rewards.

So I will retain my access to the trenchcoat costume piece.

Will I lose my access to the controller/MM AT since I didn't specifically buy them with Paragon points?

Since I purchased GR, I keep access to the GR alignment system, praetoria, and the power sets eg Dual pistol? If I unlock MM, I still have access to Demon Summoning?

What about character slots? I have 2, and seemed to unlock 2 more, so I'll have access to four toons?

Is there a UI that allows me to pick which toons are active? The character creator shows something about 3 global unlocks, so are those more slots I have for some reason? Should I allot them before downgrading or will they still be available afterwards? I've never purchased character slots separately.

I have 2 (or is it 3?) server transfers. Will I retain those after I downgrade?

What happens to IOs slotted in characters I keep playing? Are they grayed out and inactive until I buy the IO license? I probably will buy the IO license, but just want to know what would happen if I didn't.

I'm just curious about what its involved here and how to maximize my premium experience.

I was there and didn't see anybody. How did I miss you guys? 3pm EST right?

I'll try to be there also.

So, no comments at all? I found the perfect low budget plant/time/ice build?

Hi all,

OK, I wasn't going to mess with the new time power, but the power of a pun in the name caused me to roll a plant/time. She's pretty fun to play, actually. Below is the build I worked out for her.

comments and questions:

Not sure about some power choices. Plants seems more ranged, but I have Time's Juncture, mostly because I couldn't think of anything else to take at lvl 18. Fighting? No. Leadership? Maybe, but those toggles are end hungry.

Spirit Tree at 30 was another, what do I take here choice? I don't really like Triage on my thugs/traps MM (is it really doing anything? I can't tell) so I didn't slot it much.

Ice ancillary is partly for frozen armor and ice storm, partly because I have so many fire toons I was hoping to stay away from it.

Ran into Rule of 5 with ice storm so only 4 slotted Posi and stuck in the Pacing of the Turtle. Maybe I could send that slot somewhere else.

Does Temporal selection need some slots? Not used to ST buffs.

Does Seeds need six slots? Maybe Malaise doesn't need the sixth IO. THe def is nice, but only have like 9% ranged def isn't going to help much. I'm marketplace challenged, so putting the purple confuse set here is a low probability option.

Oedipus_Tex's IO list and classification is awesome. I wish I'd had it earlier.


Though, I would add, many people seem to have a good idea what their recipes are worth. I find it difficult to buy cheap recipes that sell well.


A couple of comments on the list:


I would add Kismet +6% accuracy to one of the more expensive categories, though not sure which one. Maybe Mid-cost, mid turnover? 30-50M is the price I recall, though I haven't checked recently.


Pacing of the Turtle, a slow set, could be added to the Cheap category, though the two I sold took a while to sell (about 5M each).


A couple of quibbles:


When I was buying Malaise's Confusion, they were pretty pricey. (Maybe a bunch of people had just read Local_Man's guide and were kitting out our new ill/rads?)


Eradication seems to be less expensive than Scirocco's Dervish.


The above two comments may just mean the marketplace is fluid, changing all the time, so check frequently. Heck I seen Rubies sell for 500 inf and then a few weeks later they were 100,000 inf.




Some thoughts on marketing:

1. look at dates


Even if they have high prices listed, if the last IO sold two weeks ago, and the one before that a month before that, and so on, the IO will sell slowly. Consider moving on to another recipe.
2. post cheap prices

If the last five IOs sold for 10 million, post yours for 5 M. It'll sell faster. If somebody bids 8M, your IO will sell before the one listed at 7M, if I understand the market correctly. If you can't make a profit selling at 5 M, consider another IO.

3. for non-procs, sell the 50s.

For some reason, the non-procs 50 IOs seem to sell faster. When you are buying, check prices down into the 30s, because the change in bonuses is fairly trivial. But when selling, the 50's seem to have the advantage. Use caution when buying non-proc, lower than 50 recipes for crafting/reselling purposes.


Following these rules helped me go from making practically nothing in the marketplace to being able to make dozens of millions in inf. I still haven't cracked the hundreds of millions of inf barrier. Not quite sure what I'm doing wrong...maybe I just don't like marketing and don't focus on it enough.