Obscure things you may not know about playing the game

Can thread this please be sticked?

Let's see, other nifty fun facts...

- Merc Masterminds' Tier 2 pets (Spec Ops) get Sniper attacks once upgraded... useful for setting them to Defensive, selecting your target, and then telling a Spec Op "Attack My Target." They'll snipe from long range.

- When doing the aura mission, the easiest place to find all three groups in one zone is Crey's Folly. Rikti monkeys, DE swarms, and then Freakshow. Voila, done.

- Of all the heroside Ouro setdown points, Founders Falls' is the closest to a) a tram and b) a Vanguard base.

- There are two ICON reps in the RWZ - one near the base portal, one near the Merit Vendor.

- There's a Crey holding facility under Agincourt in Nerva.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

There is a secret Black Market in Port Oaks not visible on the map.

Edit: First after Dark_Respite!

This is meta-game information, but still...

- You can take lossless screenshots by using the /screenshot_tga command. The file size is larger, but such screenshots won't have jpeg-compression "artifacts" that are particularly noisome if you're trying to capture clean images of UI elements.

As part of my base binds, I have the following:

/bind SYSRQ "screenshot 0$$screenshot"
/bind SHIFT+SYSRQ "screenshot 1$$screenshot"
/bind P "screenshot 0$$screenshot_tga"
/bind SHIFT+P "screenshot 1$$screenshot_tga"

SYSRQ is the Print Screen key. Using those binds, I can take screenshots with or without the UI, lossy (jpg) or lossless (tga), all with just a single key press. (Or two, if you count the shift key.)

- If you want to say $target in a channel (while, for example, describing what "$target" does to someone), just hit the escape key to deselect everything. With nothing selected, nothing will be substituted for $target.

- The semicolon (;) is synonymous with the /e command and will trigger the chat command line. You can save yourself a couple keystrokes when doing emotes by typing, for example, ;dance2 instead of /e dance2.

- Speaking of emotes, you can cancel any emote by typing ;none and hitting enter. This includes running emotes after, for example, someone hits you with a snowball, someone tells your fortune, etc.

- Another set of popular binds I use to quickly do something very common:
/bind Y "dialog_yes$$dialog_answer Accept"
/bind N "dialog_no$$dialog_answer Decline"

This will allow you to do things such as accept or decline teleports, accept or decline trade invites, dismiss mission intro text popups, etc. with a single keystroke and without having to hunt for the button with your mouse.

- Last bind hint to avoid making this a "useful binds" thread, I promise! But this one really does come in handy. You can bind keys to send messages to your global channels as follows. Just substitute the name of your global channel where it says Global Channel Name (and the key you want to bind it to, of course):

/bind PERIOD begin_chat "Global Channel Name"

Note that there's a space at the end of the line after the last quotation mark!

For aura missions to the non solo AT's. Rikti monkeys can be found on the roof immediately to the right when you enter crey's folly. Freaks can be found in Talos city and DE in IP near Terra Volta. Painless aura mission hunting. No snipers, no purple opponents. Quick, fast and easy.

Ps. Warwitch trains both heroes and villains in Pocket D. Is she a secret Arbiter as well?

In the villain tutorial, you can skip the contacts and activities inside the prison and go directly to the first contact outside who will give you the two hunt missions. Complete those, then proceed to Arachnos Pilot and drop his mission to exit in about 3 mins.

You can see a player's local name in a global channel by left clicking on his global handle (which makes people with a bind showing their local name obsolete and redundant). A chatbind showing $level and $archetype is about all the pertinent information you can include without being overly spammy (unless you're an Arachnos Soldier/Widow)

The Jump Pack from the Good vs Evil Edition in-game items is a duration-toggle. That means it will function like a toggle for 30 sec (unless deactivated earlier) and then has a 2.5 min recharge. However, if you zone before the duration expires, the timer will reset and you will have a full 30 sec of buff time again. To maximize the boost you get from the Jump Pack, activate it just under the maximum distance from a train/ferry/etc you can travel in the 30 sec duration, zone before it expires, and then continue on your way with the buff refreshed and still active in your destination area.


All of the various Phase Shift powers in the game are also duration toggles, Except for the Ethereal Shift craftable temp power. Unlike the others, Ethereal Shift is a five-use Click power that will give you a full thirty seconds of Phase time once activated.

What this means is (and I have no idea why this is still obscure information after it's been in the game so many years =P) that the Phase effect will stay up even if you have no Endurance in your bar...such as after an Unstoppable Crash . Even if you're in heavy combat and likely won't clear all enemies in three minutes, you can use one of the crashing super-armor powers without fear if you have that Temp. When you notice the Tier-9 icon blinking, you can smack the Ethereal Shift button and you now have 19-29 seconds to get your trousers back up before re-entering the fight.

-If you haven't yet acquired an Ouro portal by level 30 blueside, Holsten Armitage's mission (Science store) will grant it to you.

Took me a while to figure out why my level 50 Science origin toon had it but no one else did. He had it the day Ouro went live.

If you just ask when you're level 25 blueside for someone to drop an Ouro Portal, you can run right to the top of the area and get the badge and the Portal power without using a mission drop.

Once you get the badge you get Entrusted with the Secret and the Portal power.

• If you enter the opposite faction's Vault Reserve in Pocket D, the receptionist won't say anything.
• There are low-level Freakshow in the north of Faultline for the hero aura mission hunt.
• Faultline is the only blueside zone with Arachnos street mobs.
• The Rogue Islands Ferry and the one in Peregrine Island are the same boat.

• When you get an introduction mission, you do not have to take a mission from the person you're introduced to ie. Wincott in the Hollows or Peebles in Striga. Simply click on them to complete the introduction and return to your original contact for further missions, without asking them about missions.
  
  If you ask about missions from one of the new zone contacts, they'll immediately open a story arc that stays open until you complete it. This can come back to haunt you later as there is a limit to the number of open story arcs you can have at one time and story arcs are level capped, so doing the arc at later levels often means fighting greys.
  
  
• The only heroside Giant Monster that does not reward a badge is the Clockwork Paladin in Kings Row. You earn this badge by preventing his creation. If you fail, then he spawns and rewards inf, xp, and merits for his defeat...no badge.
  
  Sadly, the only reward for preventing his creation IS the badge, which is why he's often seen stomping around High Park with a couple duplicate buddies.
  
  
• In the university tutorial you can earn a free Luck Charm salvage (easy Inf on the market) by choosing to craft the Accuracy IO and either dropping the mission to craft it or crafting a different item that you have the recipe & cheaper salvage for.
  
  
• You can earn credit for the Gravedigger badge if you do any amount of damage to an Embalmed Vahz before he blows himself up. This also counts towards "defeat X Vazhilok" missions.
  
  
• Easy DE to find & defeat for the Aura mission are Swarms in Crey's Folly. Found close to the entrance and away from most other groups.
  
  
• Circle of Thorns spawn in higher numbers on the rooftops at night in Kings Row.
  
  
• Vazhilok spawn in higher numbers at night in Faultline.

You can't summon a veteran buff pet while flying. You have to land first.

You also can't use rest while flying.

You can, however, activate Hover or Fly while resting.

This one thanks to Pheona:

Legacy chain mobs can be found hero-side in the forest grove in the Southeast corner of the Hollows.