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

Much like Bass, I try to stay in the habit of keeping a reserve of "crisis" inspirations but then hitting whatever drops in the last slot or two. It almost doesn't matter what effect I have on me at any given time, the constant damage buff or defense buff or shot of health just makes everything that much easier and I, ironically, use my crisis inspirations less than when I try to horde every single slot.

Semi-related as it's about temporary enhancements, but I've recently discovered the love of the SG Base enhancement station thingie... the one that grants temporary boosts. For the price of three cheapo pieces of lvl 50 salvage, I can have an hour long endurance recharge boost or attack speed boost. Not a huge deal on my 50's but it can make the lower levels so much easier and more enjoyable.

Dechs, dear, I can't tell if this is an april fool's troll or not. Considering I've heard you go "pfeh, inspirations? Don't need em!" previously...

Inspirations are beautiful. Sometimes I use my whole tray just cause it's getting full. They do rain from the sky, after all.

I use Inspirations like they're candy. Crunch all you want! You'll find more!

I used to hoard them and almost never use them. Oddly enough, it was when I was levelling my Ice/Ice tanker than got me out of that habit. Post-ED and Pre-IO's, they were a godsend in staying alive.

I do have a common insp tray layout on all my toons though:


(this is from my Stone/Fire scranker, hence all the large insps, he burns a fair few bosses)

F1 is always Greens, smallest at the bottom, largest at the top

F2 is always Blues.

F3 is always Purples.

F4 is either Purples or Oranges, depending on the toon

F5 is always an Awaken and Breakfree in the lower two slots, then a Tier 3 Red, kept from Breakout/Outbreak to test my willpower (I've never yet managed to keep the Tier 3 Green from Outbreak all the way to 50 ). The top slot is either kept free by burning anything that appears, or another Breakfree on non mez-protected toons.

I always try to pop a non tier 3 before engaging a boss, to make space for any Tier 3's that they may drop. If I'm full on Tier 3's already, then I email one to myself to make a space.

I used to stockpile inspirations but as well but eventually broke the habit. Now I try to use them at least slightly faster than they come in (my general rule is to keep at least 3 slots free for new drops). I tend to hold a few wakies and break frees on most of my characters but anything else gets converted or used as soon as possible. When I solo my Blaster I'll quite often have 3 or 4 red inspirations running at once simply because I'm getting them almost as fast as I can use them.

I regard a full inspiration tray at the end of a mission as a badge of shame. As for rezzes, I email them to myself, I normally have five or so for those occasions that warrant it and they don't take up space in my tray.

I have always tended to be a hoarder of *everything* in video games. In CoH, for example, I almost *never* use any runtime/charge limited temp powers since they can't easily be replaced - on my 50s I tend to have a couple dozen temp powers I've picked up along the way gathering dust, they're not even usually on my trays.

For a long time this extended to insps. Especially if I had higher tier insps, they were 'too valuable' to use, *especially* once I had obtained the 'perfect' set and had them all neatly arranged in my tray. Unless I *knew* I was going to *have* to use them (i.e. purples for a dom/blaster against an EB), they were being perpetually saved for a rainy day that almost never came. However, both through reading on the forums and occasionally seeing someone who played with the 'insp spamming' style in game, I gradually realized just how much power I was passing up by having my insp tray almost always full and not recieving or burning any drops. Once I had tried this for myself a few times, I knew I had to rearrange things to make it the default.

Nowadays I still have my stash of 'rainy day' insps, but I force myself to only allow those to take up 4 columns - one each of greens, blues, purples, and 'whatever this character needs' (like reds, breakfrees, etc), plus usually a wakie at the top of a column. This way, I have my entire f1 stack empty - anything that drops there is either immediately burned, or transferred to one of the other columns if there's a vacancy that needs filling or it's a higher tier version of an insp I already have. Now on my higher killspeed characters I can frequently go entire missions with at least one insp up most of the time. As well, between getting into the habit of using insps and the continual subconscious reminder of just how often they drop, I've become much less reticent in using my 'rainy day' insps as well.

It's still not a perfect system - for example, it doesn't work below level 25 as I don't have enough slots to have both a free column and an adequate stash - but it's far better than hardly ever using them at all.

The few times I've tried to play with them as 'skittles for the chewing as soon as they show up', I invariably burn through them faster than I get them and end facing some situation where I'm sorely missing having them, like when I'm face planted and have two dissimilar ones, neither of which is a wakie. Then again, that's often a time when I'm on some crazy PUG that's really probably playing at a level too high.

I'm terrible about using consumables in any RPG. In this game, I regularly use Blues and Greens - though more often BETWEEN battles than during. Indeed, the best use I've found overall for Inspirations is to alleviate Endurance issues.

I'll use yellows and reds if they're piling up, though I prefer to use yellows when faced with To-Hit debuffs or the ever-irritating Blind status.

Oranges never seem that beneficial, so I combine or use them just to get them out of my tray.

Purples I'll use in an emergency, and then I'll get hit several times even if I popped a full tray of them and be defeated.

I try to keep one or two Cyans around just in case.

And Breakfrees are never around when I need them, but are useless the rest of the time.

You fell into the 'Too Awesome To Use' trope. It's even mentioned in the trope page.

That is one wacky texture pack you've got there. I love it.

It drives me nuts when a teammmate dies, and I try to pass the1 a wakie, and I get the message that their inspiration tray is full. No wonder you're dead!

Not that I haven't had that happen to me ever, but still...

When a friend and I duo, which is often enough, we're often flinging ourselves at mobs that should be too big for us with the attitude that if we die we die.

We need insps.

Corva's texture pack.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

The only thing inspirations are good for is playing inspiration Tetris, where by combining three of the same kind into one your objective is to be left with only one inspirations. Game Over if your tray goes full and you can't combine your way out of it (at which point you delete/use/pass everything and start again).

Insp usage is something I've been working on lately. I've always been pretty terrible at using them, but I'm getting better. Blues and Greens I habitually chomp between spawns as a substitute for Rest, and purps and reds I'll munch on if I have a few spares to make things a little easier.

I usually have my tray clogged with oranges and yellows, both of which are pretty useless most of the time.