SlyGuyMcFly

Excellent two guidelines. I tend to run along the same lines and rarely run into teaming troubles, save the occasional wierdness I don't understand. Like the "Don't use Seeds of Confusion!" when I was on my Plant/Storm or the "Let X (a tank) herd up before going in" when I was on my own Tank.

I usually just go along with it.

I might be messing up my math, but I think it takes about 140% global rech to perma double-stack Active Defence... Strikes me as less "magically" and more "for a very large amount of inf"

*shrugs* My stalkers' M.O. against (solo) bosses and up is to placate -> BU -> AS whenever possible. That is stopping at regular intervals to get the most offence, as placate effectively stops the fight, albeit briefly.

In teams I play all three AT's in pretty much the same way: Jump in and flip out. Helping squishies optional yet encouraged.

I was gonna suggest that. Those f*king things terrify me.

Couldn't agree more.

Purple recipes are not intended for those who play the game as intended.


Or more accurately: Purples are not intended for casual players. Purples are designed to reward those who put an unusual amount of time and effort into the game.

Edit: Unless you are reffering to non-purple recipes. In that case, barring a handful of sets (Kin combat, Numina's) you can get anything you want playing normally.

I've done this more times than I'd like to admit

I for one, am glad that most people can't look like that


@Uberguy: Barring the purpling part, my approach to characters is rather similar. However, I like to dabble in the market on all toons because I find it an entertaining minigame of sorts*. I usually get my characters to 20-24 and then decide whether to keep them or not. If I do I frankenslot them up, grab the more useful uniques (steadfast +def for /SRs or the Perf shifter for end hogs, for instance) and then play them to the high 30s. After that I usually have enough saved up to go for mid-range IO sets like Crushing Impacts or Thunderstrikes. After that they continue on to 50 and get further tweaks if I still like them enough.

I do make a horrible amount of alts, though.


*I'm currently working on hitting the billion inf mark. I don't care for purples and all my alts are self-sufficient. The only reason I'm doing it is because I find it a fun excercise, much like getting badges. I honestly have no idea what I'm going to do with the money once I get there.

FFG offers Stun, Hold and Immob protection. Of course, the Lost would have bypassed that with their AoE sleep. Traps still gets you protection from the two most deadly mezzes, though.

.... Are there any words in American English that are not pejorative slang for black people?

Wrong. The Market is currently the easiest way to get Ultra-rare IOs. Nothing more. By saying "adn currently the ONLY part of the game that can ensure regular progress to IO's" you are intentionally misrepresenting the issue, making it look like that the only way to get IO's at all is by marketeering. Please stop.

Actually they would. Provided these Gold Sets loudly informed anyone and everyone that said character had a Gold Set. If you want proof of this, look at what happened when the Costume Recipes first came out: They where expensive. Then the devs upped the drop rate, more and more people started getting the previously super-rare costume pieces and now nobody gives two ***** about them.

Sure, mechanical benefits are part of the appeal, but it is not all of it. The thing is, most people feel that if they spend more time and effort playing a game, they should be rewarded in some way for it. Some people like mechanical rewards and other people like rewards that improve their social status (badges, costume pieces). Purple sets, by virtue of rarity and power are designed to satisfy both camps.

I would be delighted to hear your reasonings on the matter.



Actually, this is a true statement for each and every single MMO designed. EVER. I've played a fair few and know this well.

Exactly. The market is just a shortcut to wealth.

Rubbish. I IO'd a DB/SR Scrapper to the softcap, with 15% global rech bunuses and around 1700 HP. This was my first toon and she had all that before hitting 50. I did this exclusively on drops. No marketeering, no flipping, no buying recipes and crafting them, no nothing. Just selling whatever drops I got. I consider this "serious progress".

I did the same with my Thugs/Traps MM and my SS/WP Brute.

So unless by "serious progress" you mean purpling-out a toon, selling drops intelligently is a sufficient source of income.

They are. Only those players who do not sell drops on the market at all will be unable to have anything better than SO's. Unless of course you consider any IO set that costs less that a few dozen million worthless. In that case you should re-adjust your expectations.



Why? What's the point of making top-end sets easily available?


You don't get shinies for free. That's why they're shinies. That's what makes them shiny, above and beyond any mechanical benefits they offer. (have you ever wondered why people work their behinds off to get nigh-impossible badges? Because you have to work for 'em. And that makes 'em shiny.) There are 3 ways to get shinies:

1) Play normally. Takes too long for many.
2) Farm. Too boring for many.
3) Market. Too... ebil? for many.

I repeat: The point of shinies is that most other people don't have those shinies. The way one makes few people have shinies is by making shinies hard to get. So if you want shinies you have to work for them. Simple as that.

True. Most players are not willing to use the Market to make money. Thus, most players never make money off the Market. It follows that most players don't get their IO's from the Market. What it does do is make IO's readily available to anyone willing to use the Market.

Fixed that for you. Hardly a bad thing in any case. Farming concentrates wealth, including INF and top-tier IO's to those players able to farm at all.

Playing the game for extended periods concentrates wealth, including INF and top-tier IO's to those players able to play the game for extended periods of time at all. Note that I mean "play their 50 for 4 normal gaming weeks" and not "play their fifty for twenty consecutive hours."

See my point on why shinies are shiny as to why top-tier IO's should only be available to those who work for them.

Wrong. You can get the IO sets you want by, and I know this may blow your mind, playing the game, then you take the drops you got by playing the damned game and sell them on the market. Then you use the money you made by playing the goddamned game and use it to buy the IO sets you want.

Not. A. Hard. Concept.