Ouroboros Possibilities

OK, last night was a blast. Even with Rob's random disconnection issues, I had a great time. Honestly, it's the most fun I've had with those characters since we hit Level 50 with them. The Ouroboros missions were entertaining and the commentary from the Menders was hilarious. Like "Just like old times, eh?" the first time you meet him in-mission. Great stuff. I had some ideas about the possibilities that Ouroboros opens up now...

Firstly, we have the chance to go back and hit some content we missed the first time around. Stuff bypassed for other missions, because we didn't know about them, or because the content wasn't released yet (i.e. Faultline). I'd be happy going back and revisiting some of those older mission arcs, since hey, we're not missing out on any XP anyway. We really ought to think about what missions/story arcs we should go back and do (Envoy of Shadow springs to mind, that was a blast).

Secondly, it's a good opportunity to go back and do the Storyteller mission with some of our characters that don't have the Spelunker badge. That's a key one that opens up the Atlas Medallion accolade and has a nice perk associated with it.

There's a great guide out there by InfamousBrad on the forums that answers a lot of Ouroboros questions. Link is here.

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DB/SR Scrapper: Naga Teot

Just like every other damned person online last night, I went in and created a dual-blade Scrapper. Rather than trying the Willpower set though, I went with Super-Reflexes, as it fit the character concept. Overall, the animations for the new set are exceptionally smooth and well-choreographed. The power selections I picked are also QUICK. The starting attack, unenhanced, recharges slightly slower than Brawl. That's fast. The new chained attack power combos look interesting as well, although since I'm only Level 2, I don't have the full 3-set combo yet. Very nice overall.
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Cacaphony Rename Question

Okay, for the first time since I created the character years ago, the correct spelling of Cacaphony (Cacophony) was available today. Who thinks I should get it changed?
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Issue 11 Live Nov. 28th

Per moderator LightHouse on the CoH Forums:

We are pleased to announce that Issue 11: A Stitch In Time will be made available on the Live City of Heroes servers on Wednesday, November 28th. All servers will be coming down for extended maintenance starting at 7 AM Eastern (4 AM Pacific) and we estimate they will be back up by 1 PM Eastern (10 AM Pacific).

Free Costume TokenGiven the debut of Weapon Customization in Issue 11, a free costume token will be granted to all characters on Wednesday, November 28th with the launch of the Issue.
Free RespecAdditionally, with the many changes to powers included in Issue 11, we will be making a Free Respec available to all characters on Friday, December 7th. Read the full announcement of that here.If you are not familiar with the many features included in the 11th free expansion to City of Heroes, click here to read the highlights!
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Lighthouse Community Relations Manager If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
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POLL: What's fun in CoH?

So… Put simply, what do you like about City of Heroes?

° What keeps the "fun" factor up for you?
° What elements of the game/experience are the most rewarding for you?
° What activities are the most enjoyable?
° What character types and/or power selections have been the most fun?
° What are you still looking forward to that looks exciting?

Inquiring minds want to know...
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Ater in the Abandoned Sewers

Great news. I took Ater Custos into the Abandoned Sewer system last night again, and surprise surprise, he's doing OK against the CoT spawns there. The only spawns that give me trouble are the ones with four +0 (even-con) Death Mages. Their stacking debuffs and -Acc effects wreak havok with my attack chain. Plus, they AoE heal each other, which is frustrating when trying to whittle them down. Now that some of my attacks are running over 70% Accuracy, their accuracy debuffs hurt a lot less. (expanded text below)

The other spawns that con Green to Yellow are quick now, though. Oppressive Gloom keeps the minions staggering while I focus on taking out the bosses in the groups. I filled up on arcane salvage (no Rares, dammit) prior to leaving the sewer complex. Now I know where the CoT hang out, so I can see going back in the future to plumb those depths. Salvage/recipe drop rates are high in those spawns due to the high concentrations of bosses and lieutenants in the spawns. IIRC, drop rates are: minions 8% chance, lieutenants and snipers 10.64% chance, bosses and elite bosses 25.00% chance. So, for a spawn of 4 minions, 2 lieutenants, and 4 bosses, odds are VERY high you'll get at least on salvage drop, likely 2 or maybe 3 per spawn.

Now, salvage prices on the market, for better or worse, are much lower for arcane salvage now. Several of the common Tier 3 Arcane salvage (Ruby, Regenerating Flesh, etc.) are selling for 250 influence or so. Not a lot of profit there, but the Rare Arcanes (for the most part) are still running decent cash for the desirable items (see below for last salvage market status, blue side):

"Code" below is a 3 letter identifier:
Rarity (Common, Uncommon, Rare)
Level (Low, Mid, High)
Origin (Arcane, Tech).
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Code..Name.....................Avg Price Change
CMA...Alchemical Silver............4,227 -31%
CLA...Ancient Artifact.............7,588 -3%
RMA...Black Blood of the Earth...141,405 -1%
CLA...Clockwork Winder.............5,636 -30%
RMA...Deific Weapon............2,178,078 +14%
RHA...Diamond.....................88,225 +11%
RMA...Empowered Sigil..........1,333,434 +5%
RMA...Enchanted Impervium......1,848,088 +22%
RHA...Essence of the Furies......748,505 +16%
RHA...Hamidon Goo..............1,147,593 -6%
RMT...Impervium...................21,589 +15%
RLA...Lament Box..................10,902 +21%
CLA...Luck Charm..................30,874 +19%
RHA...Magical Conspiracy.........684,944 +25%
CMA...Masterwork Weapon............6,385 +94%
RMT...Military Cybernetic.........16,201 -9%
RMA...Mu Vestment............... 830,343 -1%
RLA...Page from the Malleus Mundi..5,955 -12%
RHA...Pangean Soil.............2,778,108 -1%
RHT...Platinum.....................5,426 -71%
RHA...Prophecy.................3,398,058 +21%
RLA...Psionicly Charged Brass.....12,071 +57%
CLA...Runebound Armor..............6,676 -3%
RMA...Soul Trapped Gem.........1,354,609 +13%
CLA...Spell Scroll................10,679 +101%
CLA...Spiritual Essence...........10,485 +30%
RLA...Strand of Fate..............10,159 -47%

Good recipe drops are still the money makers in the market now. That's good, though, as recipes drop in missions and from spawns on teams pretty regularly.

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Thoughts on Spines/Dark

So, I've been regularly playing Ater Custos on Triumph (my Spines/Dark Armor Scrapper) and I figured I'd relate some observations that I have collected. See below for more info.

Firstly, the combination of Spines/Dark Armor is often reputed to be one of the "Kings of AoE". Most people (myself included) look at the set and say "A-Ha. That's because it's the only combo with an AoE damage toggle in both the Primary and the Secondary powersets..." Well, that's true, but only half the story.

Starting at a relatively low level, it's a hard choice between single-target attacks and AoE attacks. I went with a decidedly heavy AoE slotting, leaving the single-target attacks unslotted and picking up Impale later than most do. The trade off was the extra slotting in Spine Burst and Death Shroud, the two early AoEs that you have access to. In teams, this was fine, since I was using the AoEs to good effect and the single target attacks (Lunge, Sands of Mu, Brawl) as fillers. Soloing anything higher than even-level spawns with any numbers to them was VERY tough. Other Scrapper sets with a stronger single-target focus (Broadsword, Katana, Claws, etc.) are easier this way, particularly Kat/BS since Parry is a monster buff to your melee defense that can self-stack. You also pick up your nice Mez/Status effect protection (which doubles as your Psi resist) with Obsidian Shield.

In the late teens and early 20's, life improves quite a bit. You pick up your big self-heal (Dark Regeneration), which is huge in terms of surviving big spawns. You also get access to Quills, which slows and puts out almost twice the damage that Death Shroud does. It's awesome. And lastly, you get Stamina, which means you finally can stop puffing after every fight like a chain-smoking asthmatic super-hero. Stamina makes a huge difference. Also at this point you're dabbling in IO sets, mostly for the enhancement bonuses, and partially for the set bonuses. Sets like Tempered Readiness are great since they give +Recovery bonuses for 2-slotting them.

In the mid-20's to early 30's, life gets better. You pick up Ripper and Throw Spines, both awesome AoE cones… One melee (Ripper) and one ranged (Throw Spines). Throw Spines also slows the crap out of whatever it hits, everything moves in slow motion and their attack rate is GREATLY reduced. This is where you begin to turn into an AoE Monster in groups. Spawn diving and lighting off AoEs becomes a non-stop love affair on the right teams. You also NEED knockback protection by now, either in terms of -KB IOs or by picking up Acrobatics.

Mid-30s to late 30s are a joy. While squishy, the sheer amount of pain you deal out in teams is staggering. While other scrappers are taking out one or two opponents, you've leveled the entire spawn and the Tank is moving on. Oppressive Gloom is the other game-changer here. Once you pick that up you have a rediculously inexpensive PbAoE Stun toggle that makes minions around you stagger aimlessly while they get mowed down by your attacks. It's gorgeous. You start to fall into a role where you are wiping the minions out and other ATs are free to take down the Lieutenants and Bosses. Even in Arch-Villain fights, your slow effects make all the difference, as their attack rate drops wayyyy down, giving the team more time to hammer them.

All-in-all, an enjoyable but very different experience from the other Scrappers I have played.
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Plan for 11/29/07 Tight Night...?

OK, so what's the plan for this coming Thursday? I'm jones'n to get back to our Silver Age heroes on Triumph.

Oh, and what's the Scoop with Matt? Is he still out of the loop here (i.e. we should count him out)?
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Triumph Remodeling - UPDATE

The Triumph SG base is "done" for now, within the current power and control limitations for the base. I may do some cosmetic touch-ups, but it's pretty solid now. More info below.

The base of operations for the Incredible Squad now has:
- Entryway
- Multi-purpose room housing combo control/power generator
- Med bay with medical teleport pad
- Workshop with salvage rack, enhancement table, IO salvage vault, IO crafting station, and basic arcane workbench
- Teleport bay with single arcane teleport pad, beacons to King's Row and Steel Canyon

With all that stuff, we are at both the Power and Control limit (maxed on both) for what the "startup" combo generator can put out. To expand the base further will require separate Power and Control rooms with a Generator and Mainframe, respectively. In essence, the base is not expandable further without more Prestige (LOTS of prestige). Ater Custos is still chewing away at that, as he's L39 right now and is approaching 500K of earned prestige for our new fledgling SG.

Oh, and I selected King's Row and Steel Canyon for their accessibility. King's has access to Pocket D and a Wentworth's right next to the Trainer within spitting distance of the train. Steel has access to both Yellow and Green train lines and has a Wentworths and University right next to each other. Also, both are zones in the level range (for the near future) for Galvanic/Cadabara/Eclipse/(Troy's PB) to aid in traveling to missions and zoning. We can open up more beacons and swap them out as needed for flexibility in the mean time.

Things are looking up. It's no Bat-Cave, but then again, it's got better lighting.
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Let's PVP Pre-Debt Wipe

It's interesting that the debt wipe, while a great reward to launch yet another issue, is one not fundamentally functional for guys like us who play so often we are always working off our own debt anyway, not to mention the fact that we work so well together that we get so much less debt to begin with.

Anybody up for taking our level 50 toons out en masse and hitting some appropriately leveled PVP zones for a while, since we have the debt wipe coming anyway? Or, since debt doesn't quite matter to lvl 50s, perhaps our middling Freedom toons? I know we won't be on Thanksgiving, but let's look at what such time we have to play with.
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