f13.net

Since CoV goes on sale for $9.98 this month a couple friends and I are going to be picking it up and playing. What server do you all play on if you still do? Also, is there a guild setup?

I'm playing CoH on Victory (I have CoV as well but don't play it). I resubbed to try out I7 but RV is pretty lame and of course my character got nerfed some more so I don't know if I'll stay past the month.

Heroes on Victory, Villians on Virtue, when I play.  Which I'm not, at the moment.

I was thinking of picking it up for a test run, so I'll go and create a toon just on the off chance I can torment Feet.

I'm still alive. Still on Virtue.

Not all that active though.  Been busy lately.

You couldn't possibly torment me or whoever that Feet person is.  You are much too adorable.

Still playing. Mostly with my themed SG on Triumph and VG on Protector.

To humor my pathetic delusions of grandeur, I'll arrange for invites if anybody wants to PM me.

--GF

We're still on Freedom, but the sad state of PVP and lack of base raids is pretty depressing. Since the dev's added debt to the PVP zones, its been a ghost town.

Debt? PVP? Those two don't mix!

Debt is, basically, "free money". I have one character who I'm soloing (minimal XP/spawn) one level above the standard difficulty level, and WITH permadebt I still have to finish up my storyarcs one level beyond when the contacts should technically by giving me missions.

I'm not exactly sure what else they could have done, though. The signature NPCs don't do debt in Recluse's Victory, but for everything else, what's to prevent people from going off to some quiet corner and grinding things with their buddy from the other side watching over them and giving them a tap every so often so they count as "player killed"?

--GF

Remove debt entirely from the game, then give players a slider bar that allows them to choose between experience and influence as a ratio?

Regarding them "adding debt" to the PvP zones.

Not exactly.

How it USED to work:

Whatever got the last hit on you determined whether or not you got debt.  You could be damaged for all but 1 hit point by a player, then get tapped by a mob, and you'd get full debt.  Similarly, you could get owned by mobs but barely escape, but a player breathes on you and you die without debt.

How it works NOW:

Let's say for instance a player does 95% of your health, a mob does 5%,  you'd only get 5% the normal amount of debt.  Whatever the mob did, that's what your debt is.

So unless you were REALLY getting your ass handed to you by mobs, the new system really cuts into potential debt in PvP zones.  I know I've gone from assuming I'm going to cap my debt every time I go in to getting maybe a bar's worth if I'm unlucky.

Also,  there is a substantial experience bonus for defeating mobs in PvP zones, so if they had this AND no debt, it'd be jam packed with people who freak out every time a player attacks cause they're "just here to PvE!"

You work for IGE, I take it.

--GF

I don't get your reference.  I just don't really understand the point of debt, never have.

As I understand it, high level characters generally have a lot of influence and not much to spend it on, or at least it used to be that way.

I started the other night and catassed my way up to a 10 blaster on victory. I dig it, it's fun in a sort of retarded, "get your rocks off beating heads together" way.

And yeah, the costume designer is a slice of fried gold.

I'm still happily playing on Vritue, CoX is still one of the best games for those of us with time consuming RL things and can only play in short bursts.

If people could choose between experience and influence all the time, wouldn't a lot of people max out experience and buy their influence?

--GF

Influence doesn't matter much.  I had more than I would ever need for all my characters by the time I reached 40.

My 40 is almost broke, actually, because I've been funding the rest of my supergroup, trying to get them all suited up with SOs and such.

Being that I'm the highest level in the SG because we're all very casual players exacerbates that problem to a level most others won't experience, though.

So what?  What difference does it make to me if someone else decides to spend money on in game material that doesn't compete at all with me in any way?

Trouble is, the company is then rewarding people for buying influence with real money.

Which would be seen as punishing people who don't buy influence with real money.  Justifiably so.

It's a bad idea.  Influence rewards need to be examined, and the grind needs to be lowered.  Encouraging people to buy it through IGE isn't such a great idea.

Huh?  Right now, you can do that.  The thing is, almost nobody bothers because it is EASY to get influence, to the point where once you reach the mid-game, you can rake it in far faster than you can spend it.

Not only that, but there's already a method by which influence earned can be converted to prestiege for SG bases, and THAT didn't cause a huge amount of people to buy influence with real money.

I just simply don't see the problem with this, IGE will exist as long as there is a demand.  As long as there are players who aren't content with the game and have some strange delusion that getting to 50 will make everything better there will be a demand.

The point is there are severall "flat spots" in infamy earning in CoV. It's hard to get by unless you cap debt or malefactor down a lot. That tends to clear up by the mid-30s, but if you throw in base development or subsidizing the younger members of your VG, then infamy can get very tight indeed.

Hero-side it's not quite as bad, especially if you have pre-I5 heroes around (and mine do have way more influence than they know what to do with). Still, heavy base development can even burn up these old, bloated nesteggs in a hurry, since the influence to prestige exchange rate is truly obscene.

To wander back to the original subject matter, I'm still around on Virtue (villian-side) and--occasionally--on Victory hero-side. I've cut play time down quite a bit since I7. It slammed my machine pretty hard and I'm on semi-hiatus until the new box is done sometime in early August (gogo AMD price cuts!).

My point exactly.

If they let you shut off influence gain and instead get a big fat experience bonus, they're essentially saying "level faster by spending moeny at IGE!"

Again, so what?  There's no end game to get to, no epics to acquire, and the gameplay doesn't really change all that much as you get to 50.  What would be the point?  Furthermore, without debt and with a funnel from xp>influence or influence>xp, you could set your own pace. 

By the way, I'm still not seeing the big deal here.  If someone wants to blow their money on influence, why should I or anyone else care?

You really do work for IGE, I take it.

And frankly, debt has been so marginalized at this point in the game that it's almost ridiculous to complain about it.  But I do think something needs to be there, because I want a motivation to try not to die in any given fight.  Given how fast travel speeds are, running back to the mission isn't really a problem except at low levels, for which debt has been largely eliminated anyways.

This would especially create a problem in missions with jails, basically making it a spawn point from which players can become an endless hero zerg.

Want to get rid of debt, I'm listening, but come up with a better solution.  The influence/experience option just makes the grind longer, and there's no reason to do that.

Huh? What in the WORLD makes you think that?  Because I don't see a problem with purchasing influence/whatever with real money?  I've never done it myself, and never would.   And in case you are really that paranoid, no, I do not work for IGE.  Nor for any company like it.


Hey maybe you want extra motivation not to die.  For me, not dying is enough of a motivation.  I personally find debt to be pretty meaningless in CoX. 


Huh?  Like, say, at the beginning of the mission? 


Why in the world would an influence/experience sliding scale make the grind LONGER, especially if you remove debt?  That's just the most bizarre thing I've ever heard.  If you had lots of influence and wanted to get to the next level more quickly, you'd just change the slider to all experience.  If the other way around, slide it to all influence.  Or, you could set it at a level where you are happy with your XP and influence ratio yourself. 

I'm being snarky.  Relax.


No.  Totally unlike that.  Because you still have to run back to the mission.  I mean literally you die, click release, and you respawn 20 feet away with no debt or penalty.  That's how jails would work.


Because you force people to not only grind experience, but to grind influence.  You split the existing grind into two.  That doesn't help.

And if you just respawn the cell door after the defeat?  It's really not that different.


It's no different than what it is RIGHT NOW, except that you get to choose to get more experience at the expense of less influence or vice versa.  With the removal of debt, I can't see how you could possibly say this would LENGTHEN any grinding.

I signed up last night for both CoH and CoV on Victory, I think, or wherever one of the 2 server that have a medium load

FWIW, I was able to buy CoH and get CoV free at the same time from EB.  I was buying TitanQuest at the time.

CoV looks slicker than CoH.  Will play and get the gf involved.  Seems straightfoward beat-em-up grind.

Getting back to topic...

My account is still open (Heroes on Pinnacle, Villains on Virtue), but I haven't logged in since shortly after I7 went live.

Most toons on Freedom with one or two on Victory. Main is Redd Death (Necro/Poison MM) on Freedom. I love my pukin' zombies. Main heroes are Retro Rockette, Star Kross, and Sylver Starr though to be honest I've been mostly a bad person for the last year or so.  I need to dust off the CoH side of things.

I'm not playing right now, but I imagine I'll be back on Pinnacle one day.  If you ever pass Jersey Girl, say 'hi'.

Hey there, I'm one of the new CoV players lured in by the $10 retail box price and I'm *really* enjoying my first 3 days in-game.

I have a level 8 Brute on Freedom, who has made it to Port Oakes. He's very powerful but frankly, I think I'll get bored playing him after a while. Next I am going to make a Corruptor which is the closest thing to a "cleric" type job in this game and much more my style.

I would like to meet up with some F13 folks in game and maybe join a Super Group (or start our own!). Is there any "official" F13 group?

Where did you wind up NiX? Freedom is definitely hopping with players (and friendly ones at that) but I have been lag booted off the Mapserver a few times and I'm wondering if some other servers are maybe a little more stable.

Hey NiX, I'm also a new CoV player lured in by the $10 retail box price and I'm *really* enjoying my first 3 days in-game. Don't know how long I'll stay around but after 15 months on Guild Wars (still my primary MMO) this is a wonderful change of pace.

I have a level 8 Brute on Freedom, who has made it to Port Oakes. He's very powerful but frankly, I think I'll get bored playing him after a while. Next I am going to make a Corruptor which is the closest thing to a "cleric" type job in this game and much more my style (I play Elementalist and Monk a lot in Guild Wars).

I would like to meet up with some F13 folks in game and maybe join a Super Group (or start our own!). Is there any "official" F13 group?

Where did you wind up NiX? Freedom is definitely hopping with players (and friendly ones at that) but I have been lag booted off the Mapserver a few times :( and I'm wondering if some other servers are maybe a little more stable.

There has been 2 f13 supergroups me thinks. Also, there's an f13 chat channel I think.

I think.

Also, the first 3 days are awesome.

Yes, the first three days do indeed rock you like the proverbial hurricane.

So how do I join the batnet global talk thing? Or is that the channel name?

Select a chat window, right-click (as far as I remember) -> Edit
Join channel, enter channel name...
should appear in one of the list
Add it to your chat window by adding it (arrow going from right to left)
Done

Chat by using
/send <channame> <message>

Yes - that is technically how one does it.

Now. That. Still. Leaves. My. Question. Unanswered.

It is Batnet but last time I looked it was gone.  I made it again, though.  Maybe it's still there.  There was never anyone on it.  If that doesn't answer your question and if dEOS didn't answer your question then I don't know what your question is, you silly girl, you.   :-P

Thank you Signe...

that does answer the question.

And anyone have a good supervillian group I can join?

I need one too. The Mighty Truckules don't roll without a posse.

I'm in now. Played CoH for some free weekend lovin' and quickly decided I needed to install CoV. Rolled up a Corrupter, because I played a blaster as my main and I could switch my alt defender's powerset around to play him the way I wanted to (rad/rad). That was cool until I rolled up my mastermind. Holy crap masterminds kick ass.

I'm thinking of rerolling because I named him when I was drunk and unable to think of a name and Croaker was taken, so he's Cpt Croaker. Mercenaries and Traps, your basic military-type (Pvt Otto and Pvt Hagop for pets). My corrupter died once on the way to level 6, with a few risky battles besides that. The mastermind has yet to die at level 8 and he was in danger once because I got sloppy (ok I was still drunk) and took on a massive battle while the game was scripting in waves of attackers I hadn't anticipated (who woulda thunk cops would show up at a bank robbery!). A web grenade later, that stupid kung fu hero was eating lead! Die, kung fu hero, die.

My only problem is travel powers, none of them really fit my 'non-superpower' character. He's got a temp flying power from that first mayhem mission, I wish there were a more tech flying power like that. My man is just an old grunt, not some tights-wearing supergoof.

I rolled him on Virtue because I always pick roleplay servers when I can....and my Victory character slots were already full  :-o Since all my characters were on ice, I lost a few names :( .

Concept-wise, I find that teleport can be used as a decent travel power for tech types.  Manticore uses it, the Sky Raiders use it, and the Malta Group uses it.

It's rather easily explained away by saying you've hacked into the teleportation system in Paragon/The Rogue Isles.

Hmm. There's that raptor pack from the first mayhem, the superjump pack from the 10-15 mayhem, the Goldbricker pack from the first mission you run for Marshall Brass, and a Skyraider pack from Lt. Chalmers, who you get introduced to by Captain Petrovich in Sharkhead, assuming you haven't gone past 25 when you finish the captain's missions.

I think added all up you've got like six hours of flight time and two hours of jump time, and if you got the RMT jump jet (which serves as a turbo booster for flight powers) that'll help you get more distance out of your time.

You may not even need a travel power at all, but Recall Friend -> Teleport isn't bad, especially since you can haul around your own minions and some of your traps with Recall Friend.

Also, something you may have noticed - ambushes in mayhem missions don't stop shooting you. Minions on bodyguard is a good way to handle this; so is immobilizing/slowing part of the ambush and ducking out of LOS. They'll run across caltrops while your soldiers gun 'em down.

--GF

I already want to respec. The game should make it easier :)

I went too deep into my guns, wish I had taken caltrops. Webby is great for rooting, at least. I've slotted out the triage beacon and it's a nice little addition to a fight.

I wasn't sure what applies to my minions, what buffs or things like recall friend. I was taking a long look at that and leadership when I hit 10 last night.

Right now I'm set up with (iirc, I'm at work):

Soldier (4dam. 1heal)
Burst (1dam.)
Buff Soldiers (no good slot options?)
Slug (1dam.)
Mwhatever Grenade (1dam. - rarely use it)

Web Grenade (1hold dur. - enough to be a big difference)
Triage Beacon (3 recharge red. 2 heal)

I miss fly, which both my CoH guys had. It's probably my favorite power (I'm conserving my jetpack). And as I said, I'm too deep into my personal gun, though I like having burst (for general damage, cleaning up, etc) and slug (for pulling and helping on tough mobs + knockback rocks). Web grenade is crucial and I really could use caltrops. Also took a long look at the acid mortar, dropping one of those and caltrops could be cool.

Overall I'm really digging the character, so when I hit a respec I'll be golden.

Right now I'm mostly playing on the Hero side of Virtue.  I'm thinking I'll roll my Villains up on Freedom because I'm liable to piss off a lot of players on the other side in the PvP, so I might as well keep my grudges on seperate dimensions.  Would that I had thought that before leveling level 20ish Masterminds on Virtue and Victory (which I avoid due to low population).

My personal preference with a Mastermind is to get the slow single target attack (for finishing off persistant foes) and the AOE/Cone attack.  The AOE/Cone attack used to be a death wish for a Mastermind to use, but with the inclusion of bodyguard mode, it can actually be quite handy for both AOE damage and getting the bodyguards interested in the fight.

Hmm. I've got to figure out how to do that. I don't know squat about running pets in CoV, I'm just running on my old experience as a necro in EQ :)

For instance, how can I put all the commands on my alt-menu? I have the 'easy' commands (attack, follow, heel), but I'd like to have more granularity. And when I tell them to stay via rt-click (so they can heal at the triage beacon), they still come and defend me when I pull something back to them. More 'heel' mashing than even EQ required.

Putting commands on alt menu is done with the happy-fun /macro command.
/macro "hotkey text goes here","command text goes here"

Command text should not have a / in front of the first command because it assumes one is already there, and seperate commands can be parsed in with a semicolon delimiter.  For example, "me boombox;/petsay_all <em dance>" is one of my favorites and would be created with:

/macro "dance!","me boombox;/petsay_all <em dance>"

I could be slighty off since I haven't done it in awhile, but if so, it's easy enough to fix.  If you want to edit the macro, just right click on the hot button and select 'edit' - it's even easier than the initial making it through the command line.  Incidentally, drag the existing 'attack' and 'follow' buttons from your powers window and edit them so you can keep that the picture instead of having the ugly hotkey text, which is limited to only a few visible characters.

To put your pets in bodyguard mode, just make sure they're set to both 'defensive' mode and commanded to 'follow' you.  You'll take 2 portions of the damage, and the bodyguard pets will each take 1.  Thus, if you've three pets to take your damage, you're taking 2/5th of the damage and the pets are each taking 1/5th.  AOE attacks that are hitting you are problematic, though, as the bodyguards take damage from attacks to themselves normally on top of your bodyguard damage.  With a phat AOE heal, though, you're very hard to kill - my Thugs/Dark Miasma Mastermind can attest to that.

While I might not be recommending swapping out your Grenade, I am feeling some respec pain.  I'm currently dabbling with a Spines/Dark Armor Scrapper who is running around at level 22 without a travel power due to decisions made when I last played it some months ago.  Dark Armor needs Combat Jumping and Super Jump in order to bridge the way to Acrobatics.  Without Combat Jumping they have no immobilization resistance.  Without Acrobatics, they have no knockback resistance.  Throw in that Spines/Dark Armor is somewhat PBAOE related and you can see why being immobilized and knocked back is such a probem for me.  I've gotta slog my way to level 24 before I even have the opportunity to earn a respec via the Terra Volta trial.

Still, at I can see this mostly AOE-damaged focused Scrapper to have extremely hardcore potental at higher levels.  Thus, I'm waffling between him and the level 29 Illusions/Storm Summoning Controller I've been working on lately.  Alt-A-Holicism, thou art an ever-screeching bitch in my brain.

Thanks, I remember about macros now. I also used google-fu: http://cov.coldfront.net/Guides/Mastermind/Mastermind_Notes.html

If you are interested I can give you my numpad binds for pet control.  They are easy enough to modify if you want to change the layout.  The nice thing about them is they leave my toolbars free for powers.

I have used some variation of these in SWG, WoW, and CoH so they hold up well with most pet-based characters.

The link I mentioned has a good pet control scheme for the numpad. I'm just not sure how much I'd like it as it seems it would be bothersome to always have to take my hand off the mouse during battles. I dunno, I'll have a better idea once I actually set aside time to set up my macros instead of playing the game. Just having the Goto macro has made it a hell of a lot better. I'll mostly need the granularity when I get my upgraded henchmen.

I guess I've been a pet player quite a bit, too. I was a hunter in WoW to 58 and a necro in EQ to 54.

Call me crazy, I don't use any binds.

I find with 3 rows of hotbars available to be displayed at all times, I really don't need to.  I keep the commands I use frequently on the first bar and the ones I use less frequently (passive mode, aggressive mode, goto) on the third bar, so if I need them they're just a click away.

But a lot of things about my setup drive people nuts.  For instance, A nd D are for strafing, Q and E are for turning.

It must not be too weird because that's exactly what I do, including the turning keys. 

It's default behaviour. I use the mouse to turn, but Q&E are good in a beerswilling situation.

Btw, there's a Bat Country on Virtue now.

I also almost always use the mouse to turn.  It's easier because you can look up and down, too.

Virtue is where I keep all my villians. 

I was going to say, aren't A and D usually strafe?  I always have to bind Q and E in games to strafe, and I do not need a turn because I use mouse look.  (AWD is extremely painful for my hand after a bit.)

I have to use keybinds though.  I lose my mouse cursor a lot, then I lose focus on the action while I try to find the cursor, then more time while I glide it to the proper spot.  By the time I accomplish all that several seconds have gone past.  I am not very good at fast-paced games.

Oh shit.

A and D are usually strafe in FPSes these days because it's easier to circle strafe that way -- it's easier to reach up to the W if your fingers are resting on ASD than to reach down to S if they are resting on QWE. Many MMORPGs have A and D as turn left and right by default since it's easier for people new to 3D PC games -- i.e. it's more important for them to be able to turn easily than to strafe easily.

Hey!  What are you implying?

Try being left handed.  I have a hard time configuring keyboard layouts that I like.  For CoX I used to use the numpad for movement and flight controls (up and down) and I'd just click every power as it was needed.  I haven't ever figured out a good way to also bind macros to fire off powers, largely because my right hand just isn't dextrous enough and I hate using the mouse in my off-hand.

I'm lefthanded, but for some reason, feel better using the mouse with my right.

Oddly enough, I've never flipped the buttons so that my index finger left clicks and my middle right clicks.  I keep the buttons in right handed config and just hold the sucker in my left.

For some reason this works out better for me.

And it should drive people nuts. Because everyone knows that the truly enlightened use S and F for strafe, E and D for forward and back, then it's 3 and 4 for travel powers, mouselook for turning, and 1,2 & 5 for the most important powers to be able to use quickly (normally support and heal powers), attack chains on the second hot bar - you can queue them just fine with a mouse.

ESDF ftw etc.
 :-D

Aren't custom keybindings just so gingerpeacheroonereechykeen?

FWIW:

I kept with the defaults for running around. Tab grabs the nearest target, shift-tab and control-tab move through the target list. Tilde (with shift and control) grabs friendly targets.

I use the keyboard's number keys to activate an appropriately trayed power where mouse targeting is useful. Location-based powers mostly. The rest of the powers I keep in my trays are there more so I have an idea when they're coming back, because just about everything else is on the numpad. Main attacks on straight pad, inspirations on alt-pad, support powers on ctrl-pad. Travel powers on the operation buttons, special long-duration stuff (aim, buildup, hasten, dull pain) on 0 and decimal.

In combat I move around and pan my view with QWASDE, grab targets with tab, and fire off stuff with the numpad and shift-ctrl-alt keys.

Again I say: I would probably not be playing CoX if I didn't have these custom keybinds going.

--GF

I have to admit I've become a debtard to flesh out story arcs :| Still think I lost one contact in Cap from hitting 15 last night. I was even dodging mobs in missions and just trying to hit the objectives without gaining exp. Ah, well. Still a great game, even better if it stays this non-grindy, but I'll reserve judgement until I hit the mid-20s, where my hero stalled. But I do like an mmo where I'm not concerned about gaining exp.

You've got the same powers my main villain (41) has. I didn't take the grenade, though.

Buff Soldiers - at higher levels, when you're equipping six minions at the start of every instance, you might want to put end reduction on it. Possibly also recharge reduction, for those boss fights where the enemy has a special attack that can one-shot all three of them (and yes, there are several of these).

Slug - I have 2 Dam, 2 Acc, and 2 Range. It's an obsolete setup now - I used to to snipe-pull. Now I have TP Foe, and should replace the Range with Knockback. Occasionally useful as-is for killing off fleeing enemies.

Serum - Not as useful as I'd hoped it would be. Extremely long recharge, and it rarely lasts for more than 20% of a boss fight (after which you have to pump the guy up with end inspirations). I'd probably drop it if I ever bothered to respec.

Web Grenade - one of my bread-and-butter powers. 2 Hold, 2 Acc, and 2 Recharge Reduction for those hard-to-root enemies. Works well in tandem with Black Scorpions AoE web root. Nobody moves until I say so.

Caltrops - incredibly useful in PvE. The AI will run out of it, so you can use it as a "soft" barrier.

Acid Mortar - I love this thing. Just pump it up with defense reduction enchancments. As a bonus...

TP Friend - I don't have this, but a fellow Mercs/Traps guy does. You can target the acid mortar and move it around with you.

Seeker Drones - The way I use them (pulling them out for tough fights), they're useless. Very low chance of blinding lieutenant, no chance at against bosses. YMMV. Again, I'd probably lose it if I respecced.

I've since taken Caltrops and indeed use it as a soft barrier. Throw it down if it's a big pull or there are tough melee mobs. I was thinking of slotting up web grenade, I use it a bit (though the specops guy is pretty good with his, he usually uses his just as I toss mine). I've found the m90 grenade is decent for cheesy crowd control, so I'd probably drop burst.

I think the recall friend on the acid mortar is getting the nerf with this next Issue (I8?).

Just throwing out a feeble, baseless wish, but: I wish Auto-Turrets were in the Traps power set.  'Twould be sooo kewl.

My Mastermind experience is with a Robots/Traps Mastermind up to level 20-something, and a Thugs/Dark Miasma Mastermind up to 24.  The Thugs/Dark Miasma Mastermind is extremely hardcore in terms of being able to soak damage.  Throw down a Darkest Night (a foe anchored AOE debuff) and a group of foes' ability to hit you and do damage both go down by 25-33% (I forget which it is for a secondary).  Note I said "both go down", which improves your durability somewhat explonentially.  However, the real thing that makes Dark Miasma so damn powerful is the Twilight Grasp, an AOE heal.  Stick all your pets in Bodyguard mode and keep them nearby, and you're nearly unkillable.  AOE attacks do screw you over somewhat, however.

But that was just a "potent" character. Often "fun" characters beat out "potent" in the long run, I think.  To these ends I, too, have found a certain appreciation towards Ninja/Trick Arrow.

Ninja/Poison rocks PvP, I'm telling you.  Few and far between are the enemies who can defeat me in a one on one fight.  Many Stone Tankers have scoffed at my challenge, then suddenly changed their tune when they're at 20% health and still haven't hit me.

I'm trick or treating on Virtue with Queen Maleficent.  You might also find me as Trouble, Lucretia Rotten, Creepy Ivy or Superfreak, depending on what I feel like being.  Invite me to BC, if you dare. 

So far all the doors I've knocked on have given me tricks.   :cry:  I think they forget to put in treats.   :-(

Not so! I tried exactly one door at lunch today, and got a Treat. I think it was an enhancement... a_random_person_05 was talking at me while I was playing.

Random stuff I think you can get are costume pieces (which will be unlocked in tailors), and enchants. Not sure if you get influence.
BUT when teamed with high lvl chars, be very careful they spawn trick mobs at their lvl.  :evil:

I finally got a few treats.  All were inspirations except one which was that brawler guy's rubber gloves.  It's considered salvage.  Yay, I think.  I have to take it someplace I've never heard of  but I don't know why.

You get big inspirations and sometimes a piece of costume salvage, four total. Take a full set of costume salvage to Granny (something) in Nerva, near a hut on an island north of the arbiter/natural shop. Open a costume slot so you'll have five total (so I've heard, I've never opened that many :)). No enhancements, though they drop normally from the Trick mobs.

Yeah, I get the big inspirations.  Meh.  I'd rather have fluffy costume bits.  I'm hoping to get the full rubber outfit.   :-)

When I got Lord Recluse's Mask as salvage I thought it was cool they were giving out costume pieces. Apparently not :(

The rewards for the event include the 5th costume slot (as explained,  collect all 4 pieces of salvage which include Statesman Mask, Lord Recluse's Helmet, Back Alley Brawler's Gloves, and a Hamidon Costume) and 8 different badges.

For the badges you've got:
Iron Warrior- Defeat Jack In Irons, a Giant Monster that spawns in any zone.
Hallow Spirit- Defeat Eochai, a Giant Monster that spawns in any zone.
Buster- Defeat 50 Spirits
Shifter- Defeat 15 Werewolves
Hunter- Defeat 20 Vampires
Dead Head- Defeat 50 Zombies
Malleus- Defeat 75 Sorceresses
Ghost Touch- Defeat 100 Unseelie Spirits (these spawns around the aforementioned Giant Monsters, not from doors)

Most of the badges are easy.  Just ask for a Trick or Treating group and you should have 'em within a half hour or so.  I've got all but the Ghost Touch so far, that one looks to be tricky cause I can't find any around my level.  It seems like the ones in Sharkhead spawn at level 25 and the ones in Nerva spawn at 35, though I'm not 100% on that.  With me at roughly 30, I'm in a rough spot.

I have Statesman, Recluse and 2 Brawler Rubber Gloves.  Want a Rubber Glove?  I've not brought them to Granny yet, so I don't know what happens.  I hope I get to make a costume but I think I just get a present.   :-(

I shudder to think what that would look like.

It's made of colored seran wrap with action figures of heroes stuck on the inside.

I laughed when I read that description the first time I got one of those Hamidon costumes, then I wondered how someone would breathe after wrapping themselves up in colored plastic wrap...  >.>

Super powers.

I'm a sucker.  I'm going to give CoV another month of my time.  It's a great game to hop in and out of and the combat is quite fun when done well.  I'm planning to play a dominator or a corrupter and would like to be a pure dps class with some cc (holds) and maybe dots. 

Any recommendations for solid primary and secondary powersets?

Try an Ice/Dark Corruptor.  That should be what you're looking for.

Dark/Ice also works well, but your CC won't come in the form of Holds.

Thanks Llava.  I'll give it a try tonight. 

What about Fire?  Any serious downside?  The dots used to be very nice.

Fire works fine, but doesn't offer CC.

Ice/Dark Corruptors are known for having control abilities to nearly rival a Dominator and doing way more damage.  Freeze Ray, Bitter Freeze Ray and Petrifying Gaze are all single target holds.

I'll give it a shot tonight. 

Thanks for being nice to me Llava.  I know I've been hard on the game lately. 

Two corrections.

First, it's only 20 Unseelie for the badge. I got it after dropping INFERNOVA on the escorts of about three giant monsters in PI. (The ones that spawn on Monster Island are fun. And by fun I mean OH GOD I GOT PIERCED WITH A THORN BIGGER THAN ME)

Second, there's one giant monster up at a time in any zone. Usually it'd be Eochai the pumpkin king, but in zones intended for levels 20 and up there's a 10 to 20 percent chance Jack-In-Irons will come out instead.

--GF

Ice/Dark is an excellent combo.  I'd avoid Bitter Freeze Ray like the plague, though.  It's activation time is reeeeeeeaaaaaally sloooooooooow.  Freeze Ray and Petrifying Gaze are all you need to hold a boss.  One must-have power Llava didn't mention is Fearsome Stare.  It's the true gem from /Dark; it's a huge cone Fear and it's what really makes you feel controllery.

Thanks for chiming in, I've never played the combo myself.  I just know its rep.

And I want more people to like the game, thus trying to help you play something you'll enjoy.

I find playing a Dominator is very much an acquired taste.  While it's not the beer-chugging damage of the Brute or the sweet, sweet Apple Cider pet ownage of a Mastermind, it, like a deeply acidic wine, can be enjoyed on more levels than an unrefined palette would suspect.  It's not a good place to start, it's a place to end up.

(And the award for gayest analogy goes to.....)

I don't know - I think you could probably enjoy a Dominator drunk.

I just received the biggest incentive yet to stick with my Controller.   It seems, as a Scrapper, you're prone to get invited to groups run by idiots who think a party built entirely of Blasters, Scrappers, and Tanks is a good build.  The funny thing is, as a Controller, I could probably make that work.

Controllers and Defenders: Lubrication of Paragon.

That is the #1 benefit of being a defender- you're never in a team without a defender.

And, for that matter, about the point where you hit level 20, you're never out of a team in a Defender.   Unless you're a lot more patient than me.

So is everyone on Victory or what?

My heroes are on Victory but I haven't played them for ages.  My villians are all on Virtue, which is what I'm currently playing.

wow man i just levelled zombie MM to 10...pretty terrible. I'm guessing their AI is still in need of fixing..they gltiched in the most innocent of places. I thought missions with closed corridors are bad, so I brought them outside to grind a bit...and they still get stuck on slopes  :-o Aint touching it till they fix that.

LIberty
Lv 30 MM Merc
Lv 10 MM Undead
Lv 9 Brute Earth <----Currently playing.