What are these and when did they get added to CoH/V?!

Holy crap, I think I stumbled on something amazing here. I mean, the completely game changing kind of amazing. I have no idea when these things became part of the City, but I've been around since about the beginning and have never seen them until this week. The discovery of this item has utterly revolutionized the way I play.

Inspirations!

I'm really not kidding. I used to never use them. Never. I'd hoard them and save them for the times I "really needed" them, but those times never came. Even though I did need them, I might need them more later, and then where would I be? For some reason, I would rather go to the hospital than eat a single inspiration.

Not until this week, when something strange happened.

So there I was, running my low level brute through villain tip missions. Now, I had set my difficulty for -1/x3, it seemed to make things easier while also providing decent rewards. More enemies to build fury, but they were weaker than me so I didn't run into too much trouble. That's all well and good in most normal content, but these tip missions include some rather unsightly uncertainties. Long story short, I got in over my head and just barely defeated the boss of the map with about 10% of my health left and even less endurance. I was briefly relieved, but suddenly horrified to find that the mission was not over. I could see the ambush text bubble coming right for me, what was I going to do?

I thought quickly. "I could rest. No, that would take too long and they'd probably kill me before it even started working. Maybe I could use my saved inspirations. No, I might really need them later! I could take my lumps and just come back from the hospital. Oh, better yet, I could self destruct on them, and then come back from the hospital. Oh crap, they're here, what do I do?"

I mashed F1-F4 several times and blasted through four small purples, three small blues and a small green. I dove in and started shredding enemies with the failing hope that I had not wasted my precious inspirations for nothing. I don't really know what happened next, it's all a blur at this point, but I saw "Mission Complete" and I was still alive. More than that, though, I got most of my inspirations back!

"Holy crap, are they really that easy to come by?"

Yes. Yes, indeed they are.

I broke through the wall. I've recovered from insanity. Whatever you want to call it, I can use inspirations.

Thank you for your time. You may now return to your regular daily activities.

Insps are one of the main reasons its generally easier to run solo against lots of weaker enemies compared to a few tougher ones.

I learnt this via my Fire/Rad controller when he was doing his levelling in the Hollows, Perez and Boomtown.

It's also the reason it tends to be a good idea to have Insp combining binds for turning those yellow Insps into tasty purple, blue or red ones.

For each of my main characters, I have setup binds that turn the ones they don't need into ones they do.

Every time I see my inspirations fills, I smash the binds to make the ones it looks like I have fewest of and then when things go bad like you describe, I just eat 'em up.

I have been the last man standing, handing out wakies and what not that I made from the inspirations I got back from killing off the ambush that wiped the party more time than I can count.

My regular buddies have all learned this now as well.

When the you-know-what hits the rotary, we all take a big taste of the rainbow, and mop up the floor. (We call them skittles)

It's the eternal quandary of "...but what if I need them *more* for the next group?"

My 'Main' is a regen and very rarely has a use for them. when I alt. its a task to remember that they are there.

Play a hardcore character and ignore your inspirs. I dare you.

FYI for those not in the know, hardcore means you delete the character if you die. There is even an SG for it on Justice and we generally play 8pm-10pm eastern on Thursdays.

I like Inspirations. They're this game's potions only they don't need crafting, they're abundant, and they fit this game's theme.

I keep trying to do this but then my OCD kicks in and I always end up with column 1 all greens, column 2 all blues, 3 is purples, 4 is reds and 5 is always break-free's and a wakey.

Then I just leave them like that because if I use them it'll just bug me until they're all "right" again

Think of it this way: if you don't have an empty inspiration slot, you're losing drops. After keeping a certain minimum number of specific one for crises, I try to have 1-3 slots open any time an enemy is defeated so I can vacuum up new inspires.

I have come to think of the open slots as a strength, not as something missing -- those open slots represent inspirations actually in play on my character during combat. If you keep using them as they drop, it's kind of like a toggle power that costs no end* and randomly rotates between various effects.

*Note that it does cost some clicks, some animation time, and some of your decision cycles.

I feel your pain. I just recently started actually using inspirations and was amazed at what they do for my survivability.

I run level 50(+1) fire/dark corruptor at +0/x8 and have a full tray of break frees. I eat them constantly and never worry about being mezzed any more!

Insp....Inspirations...?

MORE MF'ING BODIES!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

i love insps..... they helped me a lot in my newb solo blaster days... i am spending millions inf every week to refill my trays with large ones....

i found out about them back in the early days of Architect - there were badges for using inspirations (not just the single badge we have now) and i started popping them like candy in AE missions. It was then i finally realized how plentiful they are. Now, besides keeping two greens and a blue for emergencies, i use them when they drop.

Back in the day when COV was new, I ran with a static group and we'd always pass the same type of inspiration to the same person. I always got the reds and, when fighting AVs, the purples.

It's pretty amazing how plentiful they drop when you're solo, but it's even more amazing when you're fighting more enemies and killing them faster and eight people have empty slots to catch the drops with.

Those were the days :<

I try to always have an Inspiration in effect when fighting. They just come so easy. On my Main Brute, I'll convert almost everything to Reds. When soloing, it's not uncommon for me to have 3,4, or 5 Red Insps in effect at one time (major Damage Bonuses). They drop so fast, it's like I have an extra Rage toggle or two up all the time... and of course I keep a few Purps and Blues (and always one BF) for emergencies, but the Reds are there to be Burned

Another thing you can do to help with having inspirations when you need them: send them to yourself as attachments on an email. If you are in a bad situation (like the OP's ambush at the end of the mission) and you are low on inspirations, just open your email and grab some extras. It's also good for a teamwipe where nobody has any awakens or the right colors/sizes for combining. Just grab a few from your email.

It ticks me off to no end to try to pass a wakie to a 'dead' teammate but can't because their inspiration tray is full.

YOU DIED WITH A FULL INSPIRATION TRAY? DO YOU KNOW IF YOU USED THE INSPIRATIONS, YOU MAY BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW??!

grrrrr