I really don't understand what all the fuss about... first off, if you're not in the 45-50 range, no one's going to have Hami's anyway, so you don't have to worry about it.
If you are at the level Hami's become possible, why don't you have any yourself? If you're so concerned about becoming #1 in the Arena, then do the training necessary to be number 1. Part of that might involve running a lot of Hami raids. If you're not willing to put in the time to get some Hami enhancements, what makes you think you'll have the time to dominate the Arena ladder rankings?
I believe an analogy can be made to athletics. Even if you have a lot of talent, you're not going to be a professional athlete without a lot of often repetive, grueling training. If that's what you want to be, that's what you do. If you don't want to train, then you'll find plenty of people to play with at the local club leagues.
For the record, I don't have a character high enough to even get to Hami's zone. I just think it's silly to complain about something that everyone has equal access to. Everyone is playing the exact same game, with the exact same access to enhancements. All it takes to get them is time. People who are able/willing to put in that time shouldn't be penalized because others aren't.
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Just to prevent people from quoting me inaccurately...
Hamidon Enhancements boost either TWO aspects of a power by 50% or THREE aspects of a power by 30%.
If you battle in the Arena another hero in a weight class below you (weight classes are five level bands), you will be auto-exemplared to that weight class.
This also means that the effectiveness of your Enhancements are capped to the level of effectiveness of that weight classes' Enhancements. That means that your Hamidon Enhancement is considered at an S.O. or lower level, rather than +50%. You'll still have the advantage because two or three aspects are being boosted, but you won't have the overwhelming % advantage.
This, however, does not occur when fighting within your "weight" class. If you're in your weight class, Hamidon Enhancements are killer.
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Thank you for clarifying that for us, states 
Sounds like a good system to me.
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We have a number of options available. For example, "No Travel Powers".
Can "No Hamidon Enhancements" be one? Will Hydra Enhancements and such be negative factors to PvP players as well?
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A "No Hamidon Enhancement" option wouldn't work at all because Hamihancers buff more than one stat of the power its slotted into... If it were just one stat, an option like that could just cap the Hamihancer buff to that of a lvl53 SO, however this isn't the case...
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the option would not only work it is going to be essential to even out the 45-50 pvp fights.
In the no hami enhancement option you simply count hami enhancements as a SO of the first type that they are, a 50/50 acc damage becomes a 32 acc, a 30 dmg/def/acc would become a 32 dam etc...
also im affraid your exemping down % reduction on hamis doesnt balance out either, they still end up having extra enhancements effectively (2 or 3 in 1 slot instead of 1) meaning people with hami enhancements exemplered down will rule every division.
The exemping down needs tro do the same thing as this no hami idea. Count them as SOs, DOs, Training depending on divisions of the first type only.
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To suggest that any success I should have is somehow lessened or tainted because I chose to work hard at being successful seems very strange to me.
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All there is to be respected is skill. You've illustrated your view, let me illustrate mine. What I'm about to relate happens in many areas in the US on any given day.
You and I both agree to fight over the grapes comment. (Folks will fight over nasty comments.) We're both known as decent brawlers so this should be good. You have shorts, a t-shirt and some boots. I have a nice padded jacket and from my pockets I pull out nickel rolls and brass knuckles. ( I worked hard to get them. You just didn't know I had them. Kind of like HOs.) Tell me, how much respect from my win should I garner?
I'm sure the next time you see me you'll be prepared. So this time you have a knife and heavy coat. Tough guy! That's fine. I've got 2 Desert Eagles. You still have a chance to beat me, but not much. What ensues is an arms race. The bigger gun is most likely to win. How can I respect the outcome of combat when skill has been marginalized? A lopsided win isn't respectable, if so then I should shoot some unarmed people.
In the context of this game, if both players have an equal number of HOs or full HOs, then it's a game of skill and thus respectable. But the chances of that are slim as most will have a varying number of HOs. HOs are also not guaranteed at this point due to griefers. Do you think those griefers will stop because the devs said so? That's another issue I won't get into.
The good thing is we don't have to get involved in the arms race. That was my other point.
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If you're in your weight class, Hamidon Enhancements are killer.
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Oh...no...you...DIDN'T!!!! woo! it's on! 
interesting ... the people without HOs are the elitest's ?
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If a group of "Heroes" are using tactics to collect large numbers of Hamidon Enhancements and thus keeping others who should rightfully be receiving the enhancements from doing so - this is considered griefing.
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I don't see the words 'trip mine' there either,
What i do see is a fairly out and out request that players report anyone/group who is using ANY tactics to grab more then their fair share of HOs.
For starters,
if you are using whatever tactics to destroy your own bud/s without impacting other people ... game on.
If you have a prior agreement with a group/person .... game on.
If your doing something away from anyone else (could be a rave for all i care) ... game on.
If you are a [censored] and attempt to nova the main group or spam trip mines around hammy expect 400 petitions with your name on it.
In other, unrelated news (yeah, right), the first offers of sale of Hamidon enhancements for real world money have appeared. I wonder how long it will take for the professional farmers to show up.
CoH up till now had avoided a lot of the unpleasantness of other mmog by being essentially loot free. Introducing "must have" loot at this point is a very bad idea on a lot of levels. PvP is one, but only one, of the aspects of the game that will be negatively affected by it.
The fact that said loot is awarded in only one encounter in the game, and that its method of distribution is ridiculously easy to abuse makes things even worse.
Hey is it just me or did Hammie seem to give a lot of drops tonight..It looked like a pinata, and no complaints of not getting one. Maybe they uped the amount?
Anyways all this means is don't invade the Hamidon Death Squad Base and think your getting out alive.
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In other, unrelated news (yeah, right), the first offers of sale of Hamidon enhancements for real world money have appeared. I wonder how long it will take for the professional farmers to show up.
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Probably a while. Unless Freedom is unique in its approach, Hamidon is a server wide, inclusive thing. There is no way to stop people from showing up. The only problem are those that get greedy, and that can be mitigated. So, even if the pros try it, I'll just join the fun, and grab one or two for free(Depending on how many of my sings are around me), and devalue the HO even further.
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The fact that said loot is awarded in only one encounter in the game, and that its method of distribution is ridiculously easy to abuse makes things even worse.
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While I agree the distrubtion system is abusable, I honestly don't think the nature of the encounter is a problem.
I don't really like the auto-exemplar feature. At least give the option to either exemp. or sk if a hero is in another weight class. The reason being, that I can see this as a reason some players will try to respec into a build of their hero that is more powerful than they originally were at that lvl specifically for the arena. For example, if a player had distributed their enhancement slots evenly as they were leveling up, now that it would mainly be for the arena, they might just 6 slot a few powers that wouldn't have worked as they leveled.
This of course would give an advantage compared to a hero who isn't "optimized" to being exemplared. Or calls for more free respecs.
Btw, two questions, how does the "weight" class system function with teams? Does the lowest lvl hero decide the lvl, or is it the lowest of an avg. of each team competing? Or something else?
And when a hero is lowered to a "weight" class, if it has a 5 lvl span, which lvl are they set at? The same as their opponent, the top of the class, the middle, etc?
What blows me away about all this battlecry on the boards "unfair". As far as we know, duping is not happening in this game. Not like billions of credits being duped in SWG. Nothing like duped items in diablo 2. And nothing like the uber hex's from diablo 2. All the uber loot in this game is very straight forward.
I think people should complain less and play more.
Feh, I don't see why people are really complaining, it's not like you have an 'unfair' advantage. Hammy Enhancers are available to everyone and if you have them and someone else doesn't, then that's the way it is. It's no different to me being able to 50++ everything I have at 50, but someone else not being able to and having all Yellows.
I'm going to go into the Arena and kick [censored] against people with the enhancements or not. Until it hits test no-one has any actual proof that having those enhancements will make them unstoppable and I'll pit my tactics against someone with a bunch of extra enhancements any day. Yeah, that's a challenge and with my balls being that big, I might just win 
But to the point (and before you explode), for me the real issue is the *availability* of Hammy enhancements. If only a handful cropped up ever in the game or if you could get them by a mega trial which could be done by any pickup group, that would be fair enough. Basically, I should stand a chance of getting them by virtue of the fact I am level 50.
Unfortunately because I may not be able to get them due to repeatedly getting the cold shoulder by hammy-farming SG's (not knocking any SG's on Victory, just speaking generally), I might be denied something my level char should be allowed to attempt. THAT's what needs to be looked at by the devs, not the fact the enhancements are powerful or not.
If the devs plan to support open and fair raiding of Hammy then that chance won't be denied to everyone, however I read far too many horror stories of regular players never getting the chance to get near it and I believe that'll get worse now so therefore should be looked at.
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This, however, does not occur when fighting within your "weight" class. If you're in your weight class, Hamidon Enhancements are killer.
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That being the case, can we have some way of knowing whether our prospective opponents have them or not?
As far as I can see, this taps right into the whole 'making an INFORMED decision' aspect of CoH which rocks so very hard - case in point, the boss changes.
I have no problem at all with the idea of duelling with someone who has a Hamidon enhancement; they earned it fair and square (let's hope!) There's challenge in fighting someone who has an advantage you don't. But there is the challenge of fighting someone who is bigger and tougher with only your wits to help you, and then there is the challenge of fighting someone with brass knuckles hidden under his boxing glove.
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As far as I can see, this taps right into the whole 'making an INFORMED decision' aspect of CoH which rocks so very hard - case in point, the boss changes.
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Except when you're fighting the Council. "Oh look, that lieutentant just turned into a Warwolf boss! Oh look ,there goes my head rolling along the floor. Good job, devs!"
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There's challenge in fighting someone who has an advantage you don't. But there is the challenge of fighting someone who is bigger and tougher with only your wits to help you, and then there is the challenge of fighting someone with brass knuckles hidden under his boxing glove
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That's really well put.
I think we should be able to see other player's enhancment page. *hides her 9 Hammie Enh..
Also we are all fighting to be number one, so if you don't fight someone who has them, then you are just going to let them be undisputed king of the arena?
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Just to clarify, this means that the official stance is that from levels 45-50, COH changes from being a loot-free game, to being a loot-based game. I'm not sure why the devs want this, but it's their game. Shame, some of us liked COH because it wasn't like other mmos.
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It's 5 levels, get over it...
People in the high end game really have very little to do with their main character. Of course those who go on Hami Raids should get better enhancements then those who just go to the nearest store and buy em. Also, dont be thinking that just because you got Hami enhancements and your opponent doesnt, that he/she is easy meat. Tactics is gonna be a big part of PVP. Those who play their characters smart will be on top. While I've never been a big fan of PVP. I went 46 and 1 in Everquest in the arena. And alot of those fights were 1 on 1 tag team duels. I look forward to seeing if I can knock heads in this game the way I did in that one.
'If Champions Online is what "CoH was supposed to be", I'm glad that I have what I have rather than "what it was supposed to be".' - The Alt oholic
"I solo'd Hamidon...but I also totally cheated." - Back Alley Brawler
"It is still early. Someone is going to get stabbed tonight I can feel it." - Ishmael (said in Jello Shooters chat)
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Also we are all fighting to be number one, so if you don't fight someone who has them, then you are just going to let them be undisputed king of the arena?
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They won't be undisputed king of the arena unless they fight other people. It's a chess-like system.
If other people want to fight them in the full knowledge that they have Hamidon Enhancements, then let them. However, if nobody wants to fight you because you have Hamidon enhancements, then you won't be the king or queen of anything. The other people in that weight class will be fighting each other.
Personally, I think it would be fairest to let a challenger see what enhancements you have but not where you have put them. That allows a measure of tactical surprise, while cancelling the brass knuckles effect.
Maybe I'm oblivious.. or just plain missed something... but Hamidon has only been beaten 3 times on the Infinity server. Somehow, I just don't think our server is going to experience this problem.
kind of an aside here, but;
Well, seeing as I work night shifts, and thus never have time for a Hamidon raid (and not like I really want to go...SR scrapper = watermouse)
Hamidon as it's set up now is just..garbage. Should have been a trial, as what it is now is just a drama-magnet of the worst kind.
and I can't wait for boylove, girllove1, girllove2, 3, 4 etc to begins showing up and stealing buds while shouting RANG RANG
I would like to issue a plea on behalf of Paragon's diminutive protectors, please watch where you step. We're four feet tall in a six foot tall world, we've been cast adrift in a sea of butts. -Pillbug
for all those complaining about people Farming Hamidon, its pretty ridiculous sayins that he will be getting farmed, he is still pretty uber to fight, and still takes time, concentration and teamwork to beat.
His "Hami-O's" are killer, but i dont think he will be getting farmed enough for people to fully slot all there powers with his enhances.
Plus, i'll put a Mill Inf in the pot to say that Hami will be getting a tweak in the near future.
How are SOs capped when I'm in the 16-20 weight class?
It's possible that my level 20 character has some SOs from the Positron TF, and Dr Vazilok is known to drop SOs. Do they get capped when I move into the arena against other L20 characters who may not have these?
Do you see how HOs are similar to SOs at level 20?
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It's 5 levels, get over it...
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It's actually ALL levels. It's not just the fights between 46-50's. If a 50 drops down in weight class, their HO is capped in magnitude but they still get an advantage by the dual nature of the HO.
Compare: a 25 with 6 Damage. a 50 capped to 25 with one HO Acc/Damage and 5 Damage. We both have the same damage, but the HOs give an advantage of an "extra slot" worth of accuracy. I'm thinking no one will want to fight a 46+ at all... not a very good reward for getting up there in level.
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While I agree the distrubtion system is abusable, I honestly don't think the nature of the encounter is a problem.
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The nature of the encounter excludes people with poor connections, or people with computers unable to handle the number of people around them in a Hamidon raid, or people with non-standard playtimes, or people who, simply, find large scale PvE raids unfun. Since nothing else in the game currently has value (influence is essentially worthless), those will be left without any in-game mean of obtaining Hamidon enhancement.
Furthermore, pointing out to the low number of Hamidon raids that have happened recently or the number of people currently needed for one is beside the point in the long run. Since Hami raids have been proven to be feasible, the number of raids organized has exploded. That number will continue to grow for a while. Meanwhile, tactics will get refined, and the number of people needed will drop. I probably won't drop much below 50 or so people however, which still will exclude a lot of players.
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Just to prevent people from quoting me inaccurately...
Hamidon Enhancements boost either TWO aspects of a power by 50% or THREE aspects of a power by 30%.
If you battle in the Arena another hero in a weight class below you (weight classes are five level bands), you will be auto-exemplared to that weight class.
This also means that the effectiveness of your Enhancements are capped to the level of effectiveness of that weight classes' Enhancements. That means that your Hamidon Enhancement is considered at an S.O. or lower level, rather than +50%. You'll still have the advantage because two or three aspects are being boosted, but you won't have the overwhelming % advantage.
This, however, does not occur when fighting within your "weight" class. If you're in your weight class, Hamidon Enhancements are killer.
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Read NEVER fight in arena if you dont have hami-o's and are level 45+
Boycott Ncsoft if they close down Coh.