Egos_Shadow

Q13: How do I get to my base?
A13: There are now "base portals" in most zones. These look like swirling blue columns of energy, and teleport you to your base (if you have a base). You can also use these portals to enter the bases of Coalition members (if they let you) or the base of the leader of your team (if they let you).

Q14: How do I edit my base?
A14: Once you enter your base, you will be in the "entry room", in front of another column of blue light (you can click this to leave). If you have base editing priveledges, you will see a popup with several options: Edit Base, Place Personal Item, and Change Base Plot. The "Edit Base" option will take you to the base editor.

Q15: How do I control what members can edit?
A15: There is a "Base Editing" priveledge that can be granted or withheld from SG ranks in the SG permission editing screen. It is all or nothing; you cannot give someone editing priveledges in just one room.

Q16: How do I place a room when base editing?
A16: You will enter the base editor in "Create Room" mode. The menus at the bottom of the screen will display possible rooms you can build. To build a room, click on it and then move the mouse over the grid. You will see the outline of the room appear, blue if you can place it, red if the place is invalid. Rooms must be placed one square apart (to allow room for a doorway) and there must be a valid path to that doorway.

Q17: Why do doorways automatically open like that?
A17: The base editor does not have a "clipboard". Any changes are made immediately to the actual base. So it requires that a valid path exist for all rooms at all times. Any newly placed room will automatically be connected to every adjacent room where the editor can fit a doorway in. You can delete some of these doorways afterwards, so long as there's a valid path to every room.

Q18: How do I delete a room?
A18: Select the room (click on it in Create Room mode). In the upper-left corner you will see a menu appear describing that room. Select the "Delete Room" button. You cannot delete the room if it's the entry room (the one with the blue column) or if deleting it would break the valid path criteria.

Q19: How do I put stuff in my rooms?
A19: Select the "Place Item" button in the lower left. The view in the editor will zoom in and the "pallette" will change to items that can be placed in the room. In general, the items in the first tabs will be the items which have a functional use, the rest are decorative.

Q20: How do I place a 'crafted' item?
A20: Those are placed through the "Place Personal Item" menu. Exit the base editor, and you should find yourself back in the entry room. Now select "Place Personal Item" to place items you've crafted into the base. If this button is greyed out, you don't have anything placeable. Crafted items have a Prestige cost for placement, just like other items.

Q21: Do I lose Prestige by deleting items?
A21: No. The purchase and sell price are the same for all items. You are free to buy and sell anything to your heart's content. Crafted items, however, only refund the Prestige used for placement. It's not clear as of this writing wether the salvage used to construct those items is lost. Use caution when deleting crafted items!

Q22: When I'm placing decorations, how do I put things on top of other things?
A22: Practice.

(continued)

These are questions about base building which may or may not have obvious answers in game.

Q1: How do I get a base?
A1: Generally you talk to the same person you talk to to register an SG in the first place. You have to be a member of an SG to have a base; you can be the only member if you want, but this will place severe size and functionality limits on your base.

Q2: What's this "Prestige" thing?
A2: It's Influence for bases. You use Prestige to pay for almost everything you add to your base. You also use Prestige to pay your base rent.

Q3: How do I earn Prestige?
A3: You earn Prestige by playing in Supergroup Mode. You can turn Supergroup Mode on by opening the 'SG' tab and clicking 'Enter Supergroup Mode'. At low levels, you earn Prestige and Influence in equal amounts. However, the closer you get to level 35, the less influence you earn, until after level 35, you earn NO influence for playing in Supergroup mode. The amount of Prestige earned per enemy/per mission does not increase by level like influence does.

Q4: Do I start with any Prestige?
A4: All supergroups get a "kicker" of 20,000 Prestige per member up to 15, for a total of 300,000 possible "free" Prestige. If you have gotten this free Prestige and your supergroup membership drops BELOW 15, you will lose 20,000 Prestige for each member that departs. If your membership increases again, you regain the 20,000.

Q5: What's the most efficient way to earn Prestige?
A5: Bosses and Lts give more Prestige per enemy. Mission doors in PvP zones give more Prestige for completion. Enemies at +con seem to give more Prestige. Due to the way rewards are split up, running a team with other SG members who are also in SG mode will result in more Prestige being earned collectively. So the most efficient way would obviously be a large team of SG members running PvP zone door missions at a boosted difficulty.

Q6: Can I take my Prestige with me to another SG?
A6: No. Prestige is a Supergroup resource. It is tied only to that supergroup. If your supergroup disbands for any reason, ALL EARNED PRESTIGE IS LOST.

Q7: How does Rent work?
A7: Rent is a regressive "tax" on the total value of assets belonging to your supergroup. Once bases are enabled, your group will face a regular (as of this writing, it's not clear wether it's biweekly or monthly) tax on your assets. This tax must be paid at the same contact you used to register your supergroup. The assets used for calculating this tax include not just what you own in your base, but also "banked" Prestige as well! The tax rate begins at 1%, and increases to a maximum of around 3.5% at a gross amount of Prestige (170million).

Q8: What happens if I don't/can't pay rent on my base?
A8: Some of your functional items will stop working until you cough up the rent. There is no "item decay", so your base will not go away if rent isn't paid. You can even continue crafting and building in your base. It's not clear as of this writing precisely what parts of the base stop working when rent is not paid, but it almost certainly includes all raiding functionality.

Q9: How deep in debt can I get with rent?
A9: Rent is "capped" at one rent cycle. In other words, if you miss a rent bill, you will not continue to get bills. It is not known as of this writing wether rent is recalculated every month (ie, wether, when you have a rent bill due and don't pay it for several months while continuing to earn Prestige, wether the bill will be recalculated to tax that new income).

Q10: How can my SG pay rent?
A10: You pay rent at the same place that you used to register the SG and get the base in the first place. Any member of your SG with sufficient priveledges can pay rent - it doesn't come from their personal assets, but from the SG's Prestige. You must physically meet that contact to pay.

Q11: Isn't that kind of annoying?
A11: Yes.

Q12: Why can't some of my SG members pay rent when it's due?
A12: "Pay rent" is a priveledge that can be granted or withheld under the new supergroup priveledge management screen. It's recommended that you enable "pay rent" for all supergroup ranks and be done with it, unless you are planning on not paying rent for a while for strategic reasons.

(continued)

[ QUOTE ]
If there was a mention somewhere of prestige, we could easily have use SG mode with our own colours AND emblem, but the fact is there was no mention of it before yesterday, and there will be datamining.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I had to hazard a guess, it probably won't be so much "datamining" as "Prestige is already being awarded, we just turned off the code that tells you about it".

At least, that's how I would do it.

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the suggestions...we'll definitely revisit the Shard to add new content (badges, missions, etc.), reformat current TF's (a little less grindy), make the teleporters fit the zone better, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yay!

Is that something we can expect to see in (or shortly after the escape of) I5, or will it have to wait for I6 or beyond?

I finally made it to the Shadow Shard on Test and I have to say I was extremely disappointed in the slapped-on teleporters. They're completely out of place with the theme of the rest of the zone and the Mole Point idea. They feel like what they are - a cheap fix.

Please remove them until such time as you can spare someone to actually implement new Mole Points.

Quick and easy transport won't get people into the Shadow Shard. Content will. Things to learn, badges and plaques to get. If content is there, people will be there, regardless of how easy it is to get around. If there's no content, nobody will be there, regardless of how easy it is to get around.

Appreciate the thought, but I'd rather see it done right.

[ QUOTE ]
with all the lvl 50s, it will last 5 seconds.
they need another full scale Rikti Invasion. Including destructable Rikti Ships, but make them HARD to take down, that way the lvl 50s have something to do instead of PWN THE RIKTI TILL KINGDOM COME.

[/ QUOTE ]

Make the Rikti spawn at level 56.

Scalable upwards for your team difficulty level.

Oh, and they teleport.

Five feet away from you.

In waves.

Personally, I want to see waves of Rikti fighter craft surrounded by drones flying around carpet bombing everyone, too.

And a pony.

A pony ridden by a Rikti Monkey.

[ QUOTE ]
But, don't forget: significant rebalancing among ATs is coming to issue 5.

[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed. Everyone who is jealous of controllers getting sonic and bows should realize that they likely wouldn't be adding in new secondaries unless they had already completed their analysis of controllers and what they want to alter. Controller ner-- erh, I mean 'love' will likely feature prominently in I5.

[ QUOTE ]
I personally would rather see speical villian teams ( tanker busting teams) that target tankers above other ATs and have speical attacks to try to take them down. It would be more fun and more comic bookish but also more work for the Devs.

[/ QUOTE ]

What, you mean like Sappers? Everyone loves Sappers.

If the resistance debuff from sonic weapons were more noticable, that might fit. If you can program it so that if the tank complains, hoards of Kheldians come and laugh at them, then you even get bonus points!

[ QUOTE ]
As far as having access to creating bases without purchasing CoV, there's been a lot of conflicting info on this. It's not a lock that CoH-only subscribers will be able to make bases. Perhaps visit them or be part of an SG that has one, but maybe not be able to create/design a base or participate in raids.

[/ QUOTE ]

It would make sense, at least, for the base designer to be part of CoV even if the gameplay and "use" of a base is part of CoH. So everyone can take part in base raids, but if your hero group wants to build a base, you'd better have a member who also owns CoV.

Though I'm sure there will be Mercenary Architects who will take care of this sort of thing for a modest fee.

Though you had best be careful to get one whose idea of interior decorating matches yours.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Couple of things...

We're fixing the DE spawns in Eden so no more 41's with 30's.

And we're making a few changes to make Shadow Shard and Crash Site more accessible. For instance - putting a teleporter in Peregrine Island so that player 40's can get to and from easily.

[/ QUOTE ] Was this supposed to be something new or just the standard portal inside portal corp to reach FBZ?

[/ QUOTE ]

One assumes that this meant more Mole Points in the Shard, and some kind of teleport gate system similar to them in Peregrine to access the RCS.

Presumably it'll still get implemented someday.

Thanks for putting up with the Test Serverites without going mad and killing us all. I know I would have.

Good luck in L2!

[ QUOTE ]
EDIT: Btw, you can have teleport...after watching Ghost Widow work her voodoo (that she do), I believe Phase Shift is in my villainess's future.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's no reason you can't have both...

Recall Ally (REAL villains don't take Recall *FRIEND*... why, the very IDEA...) plus Phase Shift is a handy set of talents in PvE missions, and if it works anything the same in PvP, it'll be quite handy for base raids as well.

Personally I plan to redo my teleportin', phase shiftin' controller from CoH in CoV.

[ QUOTE ]
From what I've heard, Some costume options will be exclusive to CoV, and some exclusive to CoH- If you only own one game, you'll only get one or the other.

However, if you own *both* games, *all* costume options, Hero and Villian alike, will be available for the creation of heros *or* villians.

[/ QUOTE ]

That wasn't my understanding at all. Let's face it, those are some pretty evil-lookin' costume options. New _technologies_ (flowing skirts, digitigrade legs) would probably be available to both, but I think that the specific villain and hero costume options will probably be seperate...

The last thing any of us needs is a burning-skull guy covered in spikes named Lord Darkity-Skullfire begging for inf under the Atlas globe.

[ QUOTE ]
But I have an important questions! Will the powersets and/or costume options be available in both CoV and CoH?

I REALLY hope so, but somehow suspect that there will be exclusive sets/options to both.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd suspect that anything you're seeing in the CoV screenshots will be CoV only, but it's unlikely that a full breakdown will be available until release.

While PVP may have that kind of dramatic timing when the Devs play, if the scene in that video had been played by the regular player base...

...it might go something more like this:

[Lord Recluse] ...we shall see which one of us is truly cursed! ATTACK!
<Manticore shoots Black Scorpion and Captain Mako>
[Black Scorpion] We're totally going to pwn ywwwsssdddd11133
[Captain Mako] rofl
[Manticore] lol
[Synapse] lag
<Captain Mako proceeds to wail on Manticore>
[Manticore] heal plz
[Positron] Dammit I told you I'm NOT THAT KIND OF DEF--
<Ghost Widow holds Foreshadow and Positron>
[Foreshadow] zzz
[Positron] And what do you expect me to do about it?
[Captain Mako] rofl
[Manticore] lol
[Synapse] lag
<Positron pops a Break Free and blasts... through Ghost Widow>
[Positron] [censored]?! Phase shift is cheating!
[Ghost Widow] /em boombox
[Positron] That ability so needs to be nerfed.
[Ghost Widow] what?? [censored] noob
[Positron] Don't call me a noob!
[Ghost Widow] noob noob noob noob
[Positron] Stop that!
[Ghost Widow] /em dance
[Manticore] fort plz
[Positron] AAAGH
[Synapse] lag
<Scirocco tries to slice-and-dice Statesman, gets pwned>
[Scirocco] epics need to be nerfed
[Ghost Widow] noob noob noob
[Positron] I'm petitioning you
[Lord Recluse] Now we--
[Ghost Widow] noob noob noob noob
[Lord Recluse] Okay, that's it. You guys suck. I'm out.
<Lord Recluse disconnecting in 30... 29...>
[Statesman] Dammit. ... This sucks. I'm going to go herd my Dreck mission some more.
[Captain Mako] rofl
[Manticore] lol
[Synapse] [censored]?! when did I die?!

The percentage of damage that you resist is the same regardless of the level of your attacker. Their DAMAGE scales up, so you take more damage, but you RESIST the same percentage of that damage.

So, say you have 90% smash/lethal resistance (the cap).

A grey Warrior hits you for 10 points... you take 1 (10%).
A red Freak Tank hits you for 1000 points... you take 100 (10%).

Try it for yourself with your toggles on and off.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Now, c'mon. Having almost gotten mine up to 50, I wouldn't rate it any worse than 'poke in the eye with a sharp stick'. Maybe ordinary root canal. Root canal without anaesthetic? I think you're selling Mind/Empathy short.

[/ QUOTE ]
Lol. Near the end of her levels I felt sorry enough for her that I was providing her DPS.

When you have a Grav/Storm controller running around with you as your DPS you have serious issues. I killed more Death mages in the parking lot at Portal Corp for her in one day than most people ever want to think of seeing. aahahhaha

[/ QUOTE ]

Well... yes. As a Mind/Empath, your DPS is other people. It's probably the closest you can come to the platonic ideal of the support class.

*waits to get flamed by a Mind/Empath with the fighting pool*

No matter how 'gimped' Kheldians may be, at least you can eventually do triple digits of damage to even cons. Shameless luxury!

[ QUOTE ]
Good lord, we even have had a player who played a Mind/Empath for 50 levels who has moved back an to original AT and that combo was like having a root canal with no anesthesia until the past few months.

[/ QUOTE ]

Now, c'mon. Having almost gotten mine up to 50, I wouldn't rate it any worse than 'poke in the eye with a sharp stick'. Maybe ordinary root canal. Root canal without anaesthetic? I think you're selling Mind/Empathy short.

The Kheldians can't be that bad.

[ QUOTE ]
I am curious what does this mean? What's a -30% debuff and how does it effect us?

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Imagine you've got Enervating Field on you.

All the time.

Now, Kheldians will no longer have Enervating Field put on them by the server when in human form. Rejoice!

[ QUOTE ]
there is more than one comic character with retractable claws that come out of their hands... but only ONE with three claws that come out the top and go snikt... hence the obvious similarity between CoH's claws and Marvels. (I maintain that if cryptic would only increase or decrease the number of claws on the hand by 1, there would be no more problems.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Whereupon Marvel would amend the complaint to mention X-23 (the 'female Wolverine', a character with double instead of triple claw blades) instead.

You can't win.

[ QUOTE ]
One thing I've noticed lately, people seem to be avoiding a lot of TFs more. It's been tough to find TFs for Sister Psyche and Bastion especially. I think the changes are not encouraging grouping too much. With the current game, duo's are the safest option for missions. If you add a third person, he/she better be a darn good tanker or people are in trouble.

[/ QUOTE ]

While I don't disagree with your conclusion about team size limits, I think another factor for those is that there are 2 new Task Forces in that level range - the 2 Striga ones.

Bastion: Fight council in identical underground bases, for an eternity.
Burkholder: Fight council in a SECRET VOLCANO BASE for a couple hours.

It's like someone is asking you wether you would like a delicious chocolate cake or a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

[ QUOTE ]
The only reason most people can't solo is because they choose not to be able to. If you pick a set like Empathy, powers that don't support solo play or you refuse to learn any strategies for dealing with encounters then you have no place complaining that you can't solo. The tools are there if you don't want to use them don't blame the game.

Blasters have a legitimate gripe since most can't control mobs much but on the other hand being able to 2 shot bosses is ridiculous. Up to the devs to deal with that one.

[/ QUOTE ]

An excellent attempt at the classic "straw man" arguement tactic, sir! I applaud you!

Nobody's talking about being unable to solo bosses with, say, a Mind/Empath controller. That was virtually impossible in the first place.

And bringing up the old "blasters 2-shot anything" fallacy is a stroke of genius. It makes your arguement seem almost reasonable when, in fact, it is not.

Excellent work!

[ QUOTE ]
And even if it WAS 1% of the content numerically, those are often where the most innovative content in the game is found. You just can't compare the Tsoo Shenanigans story arc (much less the Kill X missions, which are glorified street sweeping) with the Eden Trial for spectacle or fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tsoo Shenanigans is a work of art compared to the Tsoo Coup. Nothing says fun like five warehouses full of ninja in one chain.

Team content (such as the Trials, or even some of the tougher story arcs) is already superior to solo content in a lot of ways.

It's the carrot versus the stick. "Group and you can do Cool Thing X" instead of "Group otherwise you can only do Suck Thing Y".

I don't think the latter was what most of us signed up for.

Grouping is fun! Anyone who _wasn't_ having fun grouped certainly isn't going to enjoy being forced to do so.

[ QUOTE ]
Again Bull

The new bosses are still soloable by almost every power set of every AT with the correct power selection and tactics. The only real concern is the lucky one hit that can put many AT’s in the hospital and statsman has already indicated he is working on that.

[/ QUOTE ]

"The correct build" is the key quote in there. If you haven't maximized your build, you're in for a rough ride, assuming you can solo bosses at all, which is not nearly as common as you seem to be assuming.

I gather that Statesman had some measure of disappointment with the number of people taking Hasten and Stamina. I can't imagine that making it impossible to *not* min-max your build with powers such as that to get by was in fitting with his design ideals. But perhaps I am mistaken in that.

There are plenty of games which cater to experienced players and people who spend days studying guides on which skills to take to optimize their characters. Nothing I've read has ever led me to believe this was supposed to be one of them.

Someone who slotted one attack instead of another and who doesn't have access to high-level friends to feed him the influence to keep his enhancements constantly topped should not find themselves unable to solo the generic bosses that appear in virtually every one of their missions.

The arrogant inaccuracy of your statement stands on its own, a shining pillar of wrongness in a wasteland of the ego.

[ QUOTE ]
To heck with the design. Make everyone happy by rolling back boss-damage and have people who like more of a challenge put their slider on 'you have got to be f-ing kidding me'.

[/ QUOTE ]

The 40% boss boost does seem to be preventing a lot of people who would like to use the mission slider from using it, since that makes missions quite insane for non-optimal builds. Crunchier minions and Lts would be nice, bosses that are effectively +5s, not so much.