Lady Arete

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  1. Woa... Not quite what I expected to see in the post. So I'll start by saying my intent.
    No, no no nonononono noway am I trying to dispose of Lawrence or kick him out of the game of leadership.

    If Lawrence wanted to host more raids (and I hope he will do so in the future) then I would be happy to be under his lead (again ).
    I'm thinking strategic though.
    My reasons for trying to "host" a raid are as follows.
    (These are my feelings and observations)

    1. At the end of the last raid, Lawrence said that He did not want to lead another (i assumed) hero side raid. Having the experience myself of one raid attempt (not successful, but that is not important) I can understand why. Cause it is stressful. It becomes less stress if you have good team leaders with you, but it is stressful anyway. So that the stress will not only fall on one player it would be better if there existed more raid leaders.

    2. I did promise to host a Hamidon Raid, indeed My hope for the server is that there will be a multitude of Hamidon Raids in the future. How great would it not be if we had regular Hamidon Raids as we heard about pre issue 9? Successful and all that.
    Now we got the method and with a lot of experimenting from Lawrence, research into other guides and adaption of this to our server... as I said we now have the method we have capable team leaders, we got the fire (so to speak) on our server for Hami raids. We just have to continue to work on the fundation that Lawrence mostly have laid infront of us. (Thank you Lawrence)

    3. If the coordination job falls to only one man or woman then it will be stressful (see 1). I believe it is better to have many potensial coordinators then just one. Less stress on one person and we educate and let others test their abilities in leading the raid. My strategem for the future would be to keep adding to the team leaders (so more get the experience) and who knows we could have raids more often then each fourthnight?

    In the end the Hamidon Raid is not one players effort. There is one who leads the team leaders and the team leaders lead their fellow players. Hamidon is a shared effort (as I have stated elsewhere).
    Nobody can take the glory from Lawrence from having been the tenacious ponderer and executioner of raids for Union. He has had several attempts where he has tested and honed his skills. He has two successful Raids already on his belt (so to speak).
    Thus I go back to the initial opinion of mine and my answer to Seph:
    NO, I'm not trying to kick Lawrence out of the game.

    When I have had my share of a few raids (as leader) then I hope others will also step up, being inspired by Lawrence and host raids.
    Cause I hope to see regular raids on Union. In the end it do not matter who leads them, only that it gets done and we have success. We have the method, we have the achivement of two successful within 2 weeks. I dont want it to stop there, do you?

    After the raid was over (Lawrence had logged at that time I believe in having a well deserved toast to himself ) I talked to the few Raid Team leaders that was still online and proposed a date for a new raid.

    Well that is my thoughts (or defense) about this issue. Hope it cleared things up. And that we can have a raid the 27'th?
    Good luck on the rugby Lawrence (I'll definitly miss ya that evening).
    Soo... I hope I have a few team leaders to help me? Seph?
  2. Like Alexander the great, when he saw that there where no more worlds for him to conqueror... I too weep, for there are now no more badges left for me to get on my main badger.
    Got a nice little collection of 683 (with 36month badge). Without them impossible ones: Power liberator, Celebrant, Pursuer, Reveler (anniversary ones), 5th column gladiator and Passport.
    Without the near-to-impossible one to get: bug-hunter.
    Cannot do anything about them Vet badges as they will come when they come. Heh.
    So, looking forward to what Issue 17 and later what GR has in store for me.
    My last Dayjob badge was Clubber and Socialite.

    Was lucky with two of my villains to have all dayjob badges 2-3 weeks ago (meh).
  3. Thought that we might use this thread for hamidon raids. Maybe sort of a "calender". But lets see how it goes.

    We have now gotten 2 successful raids led by Lawrence, flanked with team leaders who are in the know.
    Now raid leading is stressful, so its best to spread this leadership around.
    Thus Next Hamidon raid will be led by yours truly.

    I would love having the same team leaders with me in this (or if another player wants the experience of leadership I'll grab you).
    Lets keep the big jello beaten down and continue on our fine victory streak.
    Thus Next Hamidon Raid, for blue side is

    27.th February
    We might need to do a few EoE farms before that, but those will be made the same week of the Raid.
    I'll be following the plan that I've given in the guide.
    With one little difference:
    We might be a bit more coordinated when the 75%, 50% and 25% bloom hits for the guide to work. So I think that during the 27th feb we will simply RUN, Retreat etc back to retreat point. Rebuff and start our attack run.
  4. Hmm, my panic buttons.
    Well on my fire blaster... I have none. I just do as much damage that I can then well, press my Rise of the Phoenix. I don't mind using it as part of an attack chain.
    But if I manage to hit any button outside an attack button, I guess Eye of the Magus. It may delay me using Rise of the Phoenix.

    On my emp/sonic defender, well I guess its Dreadful wail. Just got to get into the habit of using it or any of the temp powers like Eye og the Magus aswell.
  5. Lady Arete

    Monday down time

    Well the fact that we are getting que messages, means that one feature that Positron wanted is soon upon us.
    Hopefully we will not return to the login menu when we are logging out, but instead we come to the character menu/server menu.
    Else... lets see, when the Devs release the information.
  6. Welcome to the forums and to the game ChrisC.
    I hope you will enjoy your time in the game. Do ask here if you have any questions about the game, we do not bite... well the few vampires we do have do, but that is another story.
    Again, welcome to the game, may your time here be long and enjoyable.

    Edit (A few things that popped up in my head)
    A few things you might want to know. You might see few players, this is because the game uses instances for missions. If you want to make a team or see players here is a few commands.
    /sea
    This command gives you up the /search window so you can see other players. If they are greyed out that means they are mostlikely in a mission or otherwise occupied.
    Since Valentine event starts soon (in a few days) there will be plenty of people in Pocket D. (The zone Port Oakes do have a pocket D entrance, just look at the map.) (Press M key for map)
  7. For Union Hamidon Raids:
    Disclaimer etc: This is not the only way to take down Hamidon, there are others. I've written this after talking to fellow players, like Sgt MP Lawrence and Hana Li, and it builds on the information gained through other guides. As said later, for full details of Hamidon, there are other guides that give greater information. Technically I know this should have been in the Player Guide section, but these words are for Union in particular.

    What follows is the plan we used and will continue to use in future raids. Best thing really is to learn one method that works and continue on that and later improve it. The reason, simple! We have not had many successful raids on Union, now though with a success I hope we will get many more and that a Hamidon Raid can be a server event again. After all Hamidon is the toughest challenge in the game and requires team effort and coordination. The guide is for all us on Union who is unsure on their role in the raid.
    What follows is the strategy that several of us will try to follow. This was the strategy that was successfully used, so it works and thus will work again. I may be bold to give a “guide” and decide what to use etc, but my hope is to get one working method into our blood (well fingers) so that we can get a lot of successful raids in the future. Then when we do have a series of successes behind us, well then we can try a different strategy.
    This guide is thus divided into info about our enemy, Team make up and tasks, The raid itself and a few hints and tips.

    First up is information about Hamidon itself. Now other guides will tell you more of him, so I’ll keep the basic info we must know. This info is with Heroes in mind.
    The Hamidon raid takes place in the zone called the Hive. To get there take the Train to Founders Falls, enter Eden and travel to the other side. There you will find the Hive.
    When you enter the zone you will see giant Devouring Earth roaming around so stand next to the entrance, we usually form up there. You may have seen some of these before in Peregrine Island, cause Northwards in PI is Monster Island.

    To spawn Hamidon, teams should start killing off these Giant Devouring Earth GM’s. Remember to have a lot of room in your inspiration inventory, for the GM’s here will drop a inspiration that will be very useful in the raid. These are called “Essence of Earth” and they give resistance to damage given by Hamidon and they last for a minute. Convenient eh? I’ll get back to these.
    Keep killing the GM’s until they suddenly run and the zone seems empty and void of them. Till this day we do not know how many are required to spawn Hamidon so keep doing it until they are no more. Just be careful in going to the middle of the zone, cause there in the middle on the field you will find in the end the biggest baddest Blob (or gello) known to man. You may have fought it in the Lady Grey taskforce, but that one is NOTHING to this, cause this is the REAL deal.

    The Battlefield and our Enemy/ Target:

    Instead of the crude drawing I made, thank you Hyperstrike for this:


    As you see Hamidon is in the center, the green surrounds it, then the blues and on the outskirts are the yellow. The battlefield takes place in the center of the Hive.

    Right first up: A little info (for more info other guides will tell you more) The main target: Hamidon itself. It is located in the center of the Hive.


    In the middle is Hamidon. On the Left side is W (West side) and E (East side) and S (South side, containing what we call “Cowards Hill”).
    West, East and South will be the staging points for the teams.
    As said Hamidon is the middle and surrounding it are 18 various mini blobs. I’ll just say the short word for them here; Mitos. The Mitos come in 3 colors; Green, Blue and Yellow. You have noticed in the sketch I did make “Y’s”, well they are to mark where the Yellow Mitos are. Every Mito is stationary (as is Hamidon), all but the one Yellow that is closest to South. It will sometimes be found on a different spot (but near the West and south).
    The Mitos have their different roles in what will come, so lets get to know our enemy.

    Hamidon:
    The main target is the big blob in the middle. It has a huge range and if it targets you well, pray you got enough hitpoints or that someone else takes the agro before you die. Cause die you will if you are not equipped to handle lots of damage. Lets just say that if you get aggro from Hamidon and is not the main tank, die gracefully (meaning do not take others with you). Rezzing is easy. In short, do not approach until the Raid Leader tells you to (well your team really, not you personally).
    Now we cannot just simply go and kill Hamidon, that would be too easy. Remember the Mitos? They will protect Hamidon and as long as several of them are around, we got no chance so they are also on our list for destruction.
    All in all they are 6 of each color; Green, blue and Yellow. Thus positioned approximately 3 on each side (west and east if we see it like that)..

    The Green Mitos will heal any nearby damaged Mito (any color). They have a range of 300 feet which means they can heal any Mito. They can be damaged by melee and ranged, BUT they must be held for them to take any damage.
    The Blue Mitos will basically terrorize those heroes nearby and suck the endurance out of us. They can only be damaged by ranged attacks. Just stay 15 feet away (as in Not in melee range, so any tanks should take care NOT standing too close. However any damage ANY Mito will give is halved if it has to do so ranged. (Remember that for the next Mitos)
    The Yellow Mitos are those that damage any player that comes near with a strong PbAoE attack. They have a high resistance against ranged attacks, so the best way is Melee supported with Auto-Hit Debuffs.

    Our first step in the raid is to fight the Mitos and kill them and do so as fast as possible. The first targets that must be killed are the Yellow Mitos. Taking these out IS the priority no matter what!
    When all the Yellows are dead, its to kill the Blue Mitos then the Green, before we start attacking Hamidon. Now there is something that you must know, which could make the raid very, very, very messy. At certain times of Hamidons health any Mito we killed will reappear in what we call a “Bloom”. These blooms happen at 75%, 50% and 25%. So all in all we have to kill off the Mitos 4 times. Do not worry if Hamidon regenerates, cause the bloom will only happen those 3 times (phew).
    When all the Mitoes are dead after the 25% Bloom, EVERY Raid participant (yes you) should, no matter if you only have 1 attack, attack the Hamidon and do a little damage. If you do not, you do not get any reward.
    If you feel you want more information and read more about Hamidon, then there are a lot of guides out there with more information then what I have given. Feel free to read those.

    Next is Teams.
    Yes, you cannot solo Hamidon, so do keep your scrapperlock in check. These raids are after all a community effort and we all have our roles in this raid.

    A little tidbit of information though, before I go into the teams, I did mention the Inspiration Essence of Earth (EoE). Every player should have some in their inventory (even if they are not going to use them). These will be needed specially by our tanks and our scrapper team(s). They will take the brunt of the attacks so they need everything that could help them survive. Also do not be too quick to exit the zone if you die (aka hospital) or leave to base to pick up more EoE’s. The zone cannot take more then 50 players and if we get to that number, well there is a chance that you cannot enter when you get back. So holding the EoE’s for those that needs them the most is very good. The EoE's should only be used as long as the Yellow Mitoes are alive. This will save us from depleting the EoE stocks on our server as the damage from this moment on is survivable with conventional methods.
    With Issue 17 a player can now hold 40 Inspirations, instead of the 20. So if you have EoE's to spare, make certain you have e-mailed them to yourself.

    New: With Going Rogue as a possibility a host of new AT's will no doubt find their way to the Hive (or Abyss).
    So I should specify who can take various roles:
    Tanker: is an AT usually/preferably With TAUNT that can take damage. I'd categorize Tankers, Brutes, Khelds (Dwarfs) here.
    Healer: Ouch, me using this word. (Sad part I have to). There are several AT's that can aid in this role: Emps, Pain Domination, Thermal.
    Melee damage: Single Target Melee. Scrappers, Brutes, Stalkers, widows to mention some.
    Ranged damage: Mostly Single Target Damage. Blasters, Dominators, Khelds (squids), corruptors, some Veats etc.
    Holds: If your char excels in holds, this is the right term. Usually Controllers and dominators.
    Debuffers: This would mostly be Rad or dark.

    Remember you know how you have slotted and how to play your character. The list above may not apply to your characters, I've just added it to help clarify a little. (And I have not played every AT/powerset so I may not know what your char can)

    TEAMS:
    There are 6 main teams with Ancillary teams as extra teams for more firepower. Each of the main teams have their role and they are:
    Hamidon Tank team, Taunt (Assault) team West, Taunt (Assault) team East, Melee Damage (strike) team, Ranged Damage team, Team Lockdown (HOLDER team), Ancillary team.

    Hamidon Taunt Team:
    Their Job is to keep Hamidon attention to them so the other teams can do their job.
    Team make up: Minimum 2 tanks (we had 2 granites, but I believe an ice/ would do well (Hibernate)), 1 Emp and 1 kin (with ID). Additionally they can use a /ice troller/defender (for the nice hp buff) and a third tank is good if things go badly.
    New: Since Issue 19 is here and there is a chance of Shards dropping from Mitos. This team should have a melee or ranged Damage dealer. This damage dealer will follow the main damage team(s) around and do damage to the Mitos. The rest of the team will do their task. With Luck Shards will drop for all members in the team.

    They attack from Cowards hill, south of Hamidon. Rushing down the hill they will have a nice hill there that the buffers can use out of sight from Hamidon.
    The only ones that enters the presence of the Hamidon are the Tanks. The support stays out of sight near that little hill. The first tank uses an EoE, teleport/jumps into Hamidon, taunts, get the aggro, then before the EoE is gone, the secondary tank pops an EoE and starts taunting Hamidon. While the first one returns to the rest of the team and gets buffed, healed and waits until the –regen/-heal debuff from Hamidon is not more (and if the tank did get hit by it).
    The Tanks should get buffed by SB, ID, AB and CM as primary buffs. In the end its all about regenerative power and hitpoints, the more of both, the longer you will survive as a tank.

    Edit: Another way to do this would be for the Main tank to pop an EoE, [enter travelpower here] into Hamidon, taunt and hit Hami. In any case the main tank must regardless of tactic be able to survive Hamidon and the Mitos attack. After the Main tank has taunted Hami, the Main tank can go back behind the little hill, then return and taunt Hami (as often as the Tanks Taunt recharge allows). Some that could be 20 sec... This will make the little hill a dangerous place to stand, but it will reduce the chance of a wrong placement (splash Hami-damage to rest of raid force in near vicinity) Since the main tank thus is outside that blue field there might even be less chance of dying to the dreaded Debuff.

    Yellow Taunt Team West & Yellow Taunt Team East:
    These two teams job are to keep the 6 Yellow Mitos taunted, so the other teams can do their jobs.
    Team make-up: Each team need 4 tankers or lobsters, if there are too few tankers.
    Three of each team gets assigned their yellow Mito which they have a responsibility to keep taunted for the rest of the raid. Do remember where your Mito was last floating. Tank nr 4 is the back up.
    4 healers (preferably defenders, but trollers work too) the best buff you can get is Ice. It gives you bonus hit points. The important buffs are + hitpoints +regen and resist fear/stun. (clear mind on the other defenders = win)
    Tactics:
    The three taunters, have each their assigned healer (Some times we will have a shortage so the healers will have more tanks to look out for). Healer nr 4 is back up and heals when needed (and it will be). And remember taunt from the ground and outside the blue field. I say again. Do not enter the Blue field, taunt from the ground so all damage from the yellow hits the ground do NOT stay in melee range of your yellow target. (If you do, you take full damage, not half damage as ranged would.)
    I've said taunt from the ground, the only reason for this is, because most of the raid force will be up in the air doing their thing. If aggro and attacks from Hami/Mitos happens on the ground, we will avoid casualties. But as long as mito damage do not hit the rest of the raid force, do what you have to do.
    The Yellows attack with a nasty PBAoE, so anyone near the tank will feel the pain, so support stay some distance from your taunter. If the Taunter does the job correctly he/she will be hit by the pbaoe, so again, support do not stay too close to the one you heal.
    When the yellow are down, help the other taunters with their yellows. When your teams mitos are down, help the other team with their yellows.
    When all the yellows are down, help with the blue and green (you will not do much damage, but you will hopefully help distracting the healing given by the greens on the real target. If you got buffs and debuffs that help too.
    When all mitos are down, it is the Raid leaders call on what to do. (I’ll get back to that later, but for now I do mention the Bloom).

    To the Lobster Tankers: Your Taunt is not Auto-hit, so make certain that you get the Yellow ones attention by quickly slapping it first (then leave the blue field like normal).
    New: Since Issue 19 is here and there is a chance of Shards dropping from Mitos. This team should have a melee or ranged Damage dealer. This damage dealer will follow the main damage team(s) around and do damage to the Mitos. The rest of the team will do their task. With Luck Shards will drop for all members in the team.

    Melee Damage Team (Old title Yellow Strike team, Scrapper team):
    Their Task = Simple Take out the 6 Yellow Mito as quickly as possible, then focus on the Green Mitos.
    Team make up: 7 Single Melee Target Scrappers and 1 rad or sonic debuffer. As long as the debuffs are Auto-Hit they are good . Their task is to go from one yellow Mito to another and kill them as quickly as possible. This will be done in a clockwise direction. It is important that every team member have fly or a flight temp power pack (I can recommend the Flight pack you can buy in the Shadow Shards or see tips at the bottom) Group flight can do work here. When the yellow are gone, they can help fight the green. However they should be careful about the bloom times.

    Ranged Damage Team (old title Blaster Team):
    Their Task: Make certain the Green Mitos do not heal the Yellow, by attacking and defeating the 6 Blue Mitos. Then destroy the Greens.
    Team make up: Mainly blasters, but any char with seriouse RANGED attacks. A warshade in squid would I believe thrive here since they get a 20% damage bonus for each blaster in the team. A debuffer like Radiation is also good here. A kin, might (and I say might) be good since the blue are suspectible to ranged attacks and they do drain endurance. Having a Kin would mean transfusion to those nearby but also a debuff on that blue (and the damage buff to those near the kin).
    Main job is to damage the blue mitoes so much that the green mitos heals the blue and not the yellow. Go in and attack the mitos closest to the one the strike team attacks. (Clockwise direction) If you can take down a blue that is good, hopefully any nearby Green mito will heal yours and not the yellow. When all blue are down, help with the green. Do not stay too close to a blue, the end drain is not good for you. Hopefully a friendly tank will taunt the blue so they do not target you.

    Holder/Lock Down Team (old title Troller Team):
    Your task is to hold the greens, hold everything really. See a friendly player being hacked on, heal that person, buff that person. But keep the greens shut-down. If the green are held, they cannot heal, if they are held they can be damaged. Enter at the same time as the Ranged team/blasters in the clockwise direction.
    New: Since Issue 19 is here and there is a chance of Shards dropping from Mitos. This team should have a melee or ranged Damage dealer. This damage dealer will follow the main damage team(s) around and do damage to the Mitos. The rest of the team will do their task. With Luck Shards will drop for all members in the team.

    Ancillary team ("Aux -Team"):
    The Team leader of the Aux Team is the most versetile. This team is also the one that is created last, so the Aux Team leader can help the recruitment of the core teams by looking at the non grouped players and send them to the right Core Leader. (Then when all teams are assembled he or she can recruit the rest of the players and direct their strengths towards helping the core groups)
    Since their team make up will consist of different AT’s from time to time their job will vary. Depending upon their AT they should help where they are needed the most. Ranged can help Ranged teams with distracting/killing blue or green. Melee can help with killing the yellow (the faster these are down, the better). Support chars keep a lookout for your fellow raiders.

    New What about Masterminds and Hamidon?
    Good question, as I see it the Mastermind is a Joker in the shuffle of cards. Again this comes down to what your character can do through their powersets.
    If the MM is going to use their pets, then I'd advice one pet or two. Mostly due to the possibility of alot of mms, 50 players, graphic cards, pc etc. Would not risk getting players lagging out. BUT
    every player with a Pet, MUST have control over their pets. I guess I would see the MM having his/her pets on passive, run around with the raid force and target and give the pets the orders to attack same target.
    Secondary powersets:
    They might get to use their secondary powersets far more in the raid then their pets though.
    MM's have access to Pain Domination and Thermal. Those MM's with these powers would be able to fill the role of the "Healer" task in the Yellow Mito or Tank team. Or maybe even as the extra damage dealer for this team so the team gets an added chance of shards. PROVIDED they have full control over their pets.
    The Dark or Poison would be able to be debuffers.
    Traps and Shields buffers. (Ok I simplify things, but you get the drift hopefully.)

    Redsided Hamidon Raids (Yes I do think about it), would most likely have a lot of MM's in the Aux team (maybe renamed to MM team) Running around debuffing the targets, while offering support/damage to the rest of the raid force.

    In short though the Mastermind in question must play on their strength and the need of the Raid.

    So, I’ve read the above, how does a Hamidon Raid look like?
    In essence it contains the following 6 phases.
    There is ONE rule though. *Does a Jedi mind trick* I will listen to the RAID Leader. I will do as he or she says. *Drops the Jedi mind trick* The Raid Leader will give the orders, he or she will give you updates on what to do, when you shall do it. When the Raid leader says Retreat or any similar wording, do SO. If the Tank Team Leader says RUN, Do So. (And no, Raid leader is not the same as Tank team leader). Its just if Tank team is dead (it could happen) Hamidon will suddenly notice a lot of players and it will be shooting rats in a barrel (ouch the carnage).
    So seriously, listen to the Raid Leader and your Team leaders and we all will get our rewards (bought hopefully with only a few deaths).
    Right… the phases:
    Phase 1: Spawning Hamidon. Unless Hamidon has been spawned previously, the first step is to team up and kill the Devouring Earth GM’s. And get a few more EoE’s in doing so. (The more in the team the more EoE’s we are likely to get by each GM killed.)
    Phase 2: Raid Teams Creation and positioning. We disband the previous team into the Teams I mentioned above. Most of the teams will begin near the Cowards Hill location. The Taunt team West and East will begin closely to where I put them in the sketch.
    Phase 3: The Raid Leader will give orders when to buff. First out will be single target buffs (like fort and AB, CM’s etc etc) Then the order for AoE buffs (like RA and Regen boosts) so stay hugged and you get many buffs. The Raid Leader has a countdown to do this.
    Phase 4: Hami tank insertion: It speaks for itself really. Now it begins, as the Hami tank teleports/jumps/travels/Ss’s into Hamidon and taunts it.
    Phase 5: Taunt Teams Insertion: Shortly after (approx between 5-10 seconds later) the West and East Taunt teams are given the order to start taunting their yellow targets.
    Phase 6: Its one word here really, which Lawrence used and it speaks for itself; “Chaos” begins. The word Chaos is used cause now a lot of things happen at the same time. See chapter about Teams.

    During the Raid:
    Now when we have beaten the Mitos and started pummeling on the Hamidon it is important that the support characters begin to take a few steps back (on the Raid Leaders orders) a little closer to their start point. Well atleast if you’re the only Rezzer or teleporter in the team (if the team is that lucky). Cause when the bloom hits the odds are that we will have a lot of casualities. Once again the bloom hits us when Hamidon reaches health of 75%, 50% and 25% on his healthbar.

    Edit: So make certain you keep an eye out on the Hamidons health, when it gets near the mark the Raid Leader will give out warnings, but you'd better be quick to Travel to safety (Cowards Hill) when you start seeing them Reappearing Mitos. (You got 4 seconds to get out of there)

    Edit: Until we get efficient we will put the following idea on hold. To prevent a lot of fallen heroes we Raidleaders and Teamleaders will try the following.
    [The Taunt teams (east and west) will have already taken a few steps back, buffed themselves and the taunters must stand where they Yellow Mito was. Well near it enough to Taunt it. When the bloom hits we have around 4 seconds before there will be a lot of dead bodies. (And the words of a little boy springs to mind “I see dead people”) ]
    If the Taunters are successful it will buy the time which the other teams needs to recover and find their targets again and start their team job.
    If we get this working it will be a time saver as we will not need to retreat, get status reports, wait until all are rezzed and in position. And the rebuffing begins.
    If the Taunters seem unsuccessful in this the Raid Leader will give the Retreat order. We then return to our buffing spots and follows the order of the Raid leader again. Rinse and Repeat.


    Hints and Tips:
    Tips specified to AT:
    Kinetics and Dark trollers/defenders that want to buff/heal are advised to use the blue mitos and not the yellow as targets. Reason: Unless your power is auto-hit there is a big chance that you will miss (and thus not contribute).

    NEW: This little fact should be evident. Use only EoE's as long as the yellow Mitos are alive. After that save them for the next Mito Run. After all they give resistance to Hami damage and with the Yellows killed, there are far less danger of dying from the Hmaidon. This will prevent waste of a good EoE.

    Tips for Everyone:
    1. Sometimes you just wish you could Rez or heal someone, even if your not a defender/troller. Or you wished like me that your Rez where recharged. There is a nice temp power that you can get to do this... All you need to do is to get the Dayjob accolade badge from Hospital (Caregiver) and the University (Professor), you can get up to 10 uses of Raise other. If you also get the accolade Alchemist (Caregiver + Midnigher from Midnighters club) you get the possibility for a Heal other. Staying in a hospital will recharge these two temp powers.
    2. It is not obligatory more of a friendly gesture. Your computer may be in great shape and able to handle a lot, however other players may not be that fortunate. So if you, when raiding, can use a costume that do not have a lot of detail (like aura’s and capes) it would be good. This might reduce the amount of DC’s that could occur.
    3. If you know that you lag during events like Rikti Mothership or invasions I would advice to turn the graphics down.
    4. Stay in the zone. Do NOT leave just to get something. The zone can only take 50 people (Thank you Devs…. Grrr (not) ) so if you leave there is a chance that you cannot come back.
    5. Bring extra EoE’s with you, they will most likely be needed by our Tanks and Scrappers (mostly).
    6. If you do not have a flight power there are various Dayjob badges that will let you refresh a temp power. Get the Accolade “Traveler” by getting the Dimensional Explorer (Shadowshard dayjob) and Commuter (Train station). Just recharge this Accolade Traveler and you get a little flightpower.
    7. You can also buy a flight power for 10.000 inf in the Shadowshard from the Jet pack supplier in Cascade Archipelago, with 2 hours flighttime.
    8. With Issue 17 you might want to be careful of graphics (aka turn them down) unless you might go DC. If your going to run with the Ultra settings I'd reccomend that you did try them out on a mothership raid first. If you lived through a non-dc in that, odds are you will not get a Dc in the Hamidon Raid.
    9. Wrote this under EoE, but it is a good feature. With Issue 17 we now can E-mail stuff to ourselves. If you got plenty of EoE's, make certain you have e-mailed a few to yourself. A player can then hold up to 40 inspirations.

    MACRO:
    To maximize the attack potencial of the raid force there are a bind/macro that will help us. Cause just think if everyone can attack the same target, by just a click of a button... There is such a trick. Its a Macro.
    The following Macro will allow players to attack the same target THROUGH another player, just remember these players may vary from raid to raid.
    The Macros syntacs is this:

    /macro [nameofmacro_that_will show_on_tray] "targetcustomfar [nameofPlayer]"

    Example, lets say I was to lead a ranged team with my primary character named Lady Arete. The macro would then be looking like this:
    /macro RANGE "targetcustomfar" Lady Arete"
    This would make a new button appear in an empty Tray slot, named Range (or Ran or something) When you would click it you would see me in the battle BUT most importantly you will also be able to ATTACK the target that I attack.
    In each raid then those players that has intent of attacking anything should have 1 (or preferably 2) such macros; One for MELEE and One for RANGED.

    Rewards:
    This is what you get to do a Hamidon Raid. The possibility to congratulate yourself and your team mates for a job well done and to have been part and succeeding in the toughest challange in City of Heroes. (Based on amount of players in one zone, there are other challanges naturally, but this was intended to be the supreme challange from the Devs.) Except for those memories, you will also have a choice: To recive a (random) Hamidon Enchantment or a reward of 53 merits.

    New: With Issue 19 there is now a possibility of getting 4 incarnate shards instead of the merits or enchantment.

    Coordinator -Raid Leader
    First rule, to quote a wise man: "Do not Panic!"
    I should probably write this little section to any future Raid Leaders. What Is our role?
    Our role is to Announce, Get the team leaders to the following Raid, Make certain every team member know their role and what their team shall do. When the teams are assembling you must know what the teams need and announce/beg/shout out in channels to get the needed AT's. You will have to make certain the Tanks have their EoE and during the Raid, lead it. So I say again, "DO NOT PANIC!"

    You are not going to do everything. Remember your staunch allies; The Team Leaders? They will take some of the burden away. After you have told them the battle plan, they will do what they must. You just have to make certain they get what they need. You must not micromanage, it is not your task to say "Player you go there or there", in this one Team Leader will be very useful:
    The AUX Team leader. This team is the last team that is formed (usually). This Leader if it is the right player can direct other players to their proper team.

    During the Raid (have your binds ready! AND THIS is the MOST fun part.):
    I have binds written for the several stages of the Raid. Buffing (Single target & AoE), Hami Taunt, Yellow Mito Taunt and The Rest of the raid force attack. And the Retreat Bind. You will have to make other binds aswell, but those are a must.
    You must remember that like the general on the battle field you need to see the battle field, so your place is usually up above Hamidon and looking down. This way you will have focus on what happens and can respond in kind. If you where down there fighting you would be less effective (sure the Mitos will get some damage, this usually comes at the cost of lesser response time. You might fail to see that a team is down and another one follows, because your focus is on the Mito infront of you). You have the choice of being 20-40% effective or 100% effective.

    So are you going to fly around solo? I would not advice it. The best team to be in is in the Main Hamidon Tank team (Main tank leads it, your just there and focus on your role). Should you fall you will hopefully get a quick tp/rez. Also this gives you a quick way to see the status of the main tanks.

    During battle keep your eyes on the Yellow and the Blue Mitos that are targeted and when they fall announce it. Nothing is as good for the Raid Force moral then hearing "Yellow Mito is down/Blue Mito is down" in rapid succession
    Hope you found this information useful and I look forward to Raid with you (as Coordinator/ Raid Leader, Team Leader or normal team member).

    So Union assemble and Let the Hamidon Raids begin! Good luck and may we be victorious in every raid.
  8. OP = Channel Operator (another word is mod).
    A person that can set a Message Of The Day (Motd) and silence people. Together with a few others we try to keep the wackyness, sillyness to a minimum and the hostile mood and the overboard non-badge talk (Since it is the badgehunter channel) silenced into a corner.
    That does not say that you cannot have some non-badgy or taskforce talk going, but that talk has priority.
  9. Welcome back Shady (I'll say it here).

    Oh yes, we plan to have regular Hamidon Raids. We had a late bloom, now though we are back in the game. After the 13'th we will have more.

    Also if you want to do shadowshard, do tell an Op about a date that you can and well I or another OP can put it up on the motd (date, which Shadowshard taskforce and global name) with the relevant info that that people can contact you upon
  10. The Pro:
    Nice to see the event continuing. Cause it means that new players will be able to do the event.
    But the Con:
    Nothing new (as others have said), means that I have little or no need to log in, cause I've done this event alot during the previous years. Every character I have (and that I care for) have gotten the badges/temp powers etc.

    I had hoped that the Devs had added just a tinsy bitsy new thing, like they did (yeay Warwitch) for the winter event.
    Like hey being errend runner for Manticore &Sister Psyche. Finding a ring/flower something nice since something happened and Manticore needs some help in fixing it.
    Being hired by an ncp to well break the relationship of said couple (or any other).
    Giving various presents to another player (some form of inspiration) (or npc) and get a temp power. Being rewarded by some form of badge (anything really... just not use Snaptooth, he is very overused).
    Or help a poor bloke that fell in love with a mafia daughter (she loves him aswell), sort of Romeo and Juliet thing?
  11. ((Same, I looked forward to continue on this thread. And letting the Lady at the same time get to go through her emotions. Specially since she has not been properly in a church since well... before her early teens. I will miss you Pious, so Good luck in what you will do now. Pity that the community now will loose a starter of events. ))
  12. Have a char around lvl 10 and one a little past 25. If my memory serves me well you should be able to farm the Terrigol Mission and get them two... well 4 badges.
    Each of them gives a gladiator. Thus 4 badges.
    Coldblooded, Weedwacker, Hellfrost gladiator and Hoardeling Lasher.
    I have forgotten which gladiator is rewarded by which badge.
    Edit: Been some time since I've last did the farming for these and noticing Ironblades fine reply.
  13. She gave a quiet nod to the Reverend and entered the church. She felt nothing as she stood at the entrance. But she knew that if there was any detection against magic of any kind, she would light up like a beacon.
    She let her eyes wander, she hoped for... well that the serenity that she felt here would not be disturbed.
    From old habit she let her eyes and senses wander, from the glasspaintings, the cealing, the model ship that hanged over their heads as people would walk towards the alter itself. This she knew represented the church sailing towards the eternal kingdom. Lastly her eyes rested on the coffin.
    Back in her mind the mage in her hoped he would be cremated, it would be too easy for mages to use his remains. That hope though was not what she as a woman was hit with.
    Her eyes was fixed on the coffin for several moments and she was reminded again of her own loss. Her own funeral of her husband and... seemingly so long ago, yet so fresh in her memory.
    She held her tears in a way that she only could. Cold and serene. She did not want to cry, not here, not in this place. No. Out of respect she did a short curtsey and nod towards the coffin, before taking a seat near the back of the left side. She sat lost in her thoughts while her senses looked back and forth on the people present.
    Her comlink she had put on mute, but she would know if Hal would try and contact her or warn her.
    Thus she sat, lone, lost for a moment in her own grief before remembering, she was here to honor Pious and maybe get to know him more now, after his passing.
  14. *chuckles*
    Anxious are we Steelclaw?
    I would not be surprised if marketing did consider this...
    Evil, evil...

    (Just joking really, but Marketing if you are reading this... Allow the Devs to be a bit more free with the information, please, pretty please with sugar on top?.. no? Darnit)
  15. "Come on in dear, have a programme and find yourself a seat, er... who were you to the deceased?"
    She looked at the Reverend.
    '... I did not know him personally, so I believe none important personally? He was however a friend to the city and thus a friend to a band of heroes I know... so... so I..'
    The Lady was struggling with her words. She was filled with doubts if she at all should come, she who had believed in her youth, until her parents had seperated. Would she be like Xyistal and not being able to enter the church? Would she be seen as an anathema amongst these people since she was a sorceress, and a female reverend? That was new. Many thoughts went through her mind and again filled with doubts and the should I really be here? What am I doing? she looked at the Reverend as she continued.
    '...I came to pay my respect. Unless this is a closed cermony?'
  16. The woman known as Lady Arete arrived outside the church in a taxi and stepped out. She was dressed in black as a lady like her should. Her long dark red hair flowing freely as always. As she stepped out of the taxi she found herself at a loss. Why on earth was she here, dressed like this for a man she barely new? She could not tell at the moment.
    The last months she had buried herself in her work. Researched in magical tomes, reading grimoars, made various potions, fought beings of magic with magic. She had almost not been a part of the community, yet she had seen the notice. She had held the invitation the New Heroes Union had been given in her hand.
    She had barely exchanged words with The Priest and in some way he was... had been something that she had both resented and admired.
    So why was she here? Now?
    Paying her respect to a man who had been a Priest and named himself that. Who she might easily believe had seen magic as an anathema as another man she had lo... yes she had loved him. She asserted herself in that belief.
    Maybe she thought, this was a reason and maybe it was not.
    She walked up the stairs with the intent on sitting at the back on the left side. It then struck her, it had been a long time since she last had been in a church.
  17. Doh Effy. Well plot down the next date: 13'th February (approx same time) 7 gmt.
    Looking forward to see you and those who missed it.
  18. And congratulations Union.
    We are back in the game. Hamidon was defeated. Thank you to my fellow leaders and our coordinator Sgt MP Lawrence. Thank you for all who participated in the battle
  19. Gratulations on getting the dayjob badges.
    Still lack them all on my char Lady A... weirdly though, my two villains did get them this week. But I know which dayjob badge will be my last on her... Socialite
  20. No idea Mathis. Sounds very weird.
    As you say you got 7 gladiators both on hero and villain. The only question to that was are they all within range of the three healing gladiators. I assume they are. Thus each gladiator are able to area heal the other gladiators on the team.
    Now I'm not a numbercrusher, but I do know that there is a certain % chance that the healing done to the gladiators will apply towards the badge. Thus Not all healing will be applied towards badge progress.
    This means that the vills could have been very unlucky or heroes very lucky.

    I would have tried once more and see if there was any difference there aswell. Also before you leave your characters logged in for the night: Make certain that you do get a little progress on the progress bar (love the numbers). If you still get "just" 300 and.. thus 50% less then heroes that is weeird.

    Oh and if you do have a sg/vg, remember to be in sgmode when doing them gladiator healing farms (for progress there aswell). I wish you both good luck on the healing and hope you get more progress the next time you run it.
  21. Lots of nice suggestions here.
    The origin is up to you to decide and play. I know of one player that used guns. Well magic origin, due to her trying a special costume and somehow the costume stayed. A nice side effect though, infinite pocket space (how else are you going to run around with lots of big guns?)

    Myself, i got a fire/fire blaster sorceress. She has now focused on fire spells, but through game terms well she can cast teleportation spells etc. Now the spells she casts are instinctive, so i do not mumble words of power to throw fire at or around people. That would be more when I rp with rituals etc.

    I got say a dark/dark defender (low lvl for now) who say... is an ol' man using Voodoo and be speak'ing with a jamaican accent (well in my head anyway).

    The only power I know of so far that remotly gives any "magic" in them is a temp power given around 20-25 in Croatoa. Glyph of Warding. That does extra damage to fay creatures. (sooo want that power as a vet reward)
    But as said by posters before me, there is no primary/secondary powersets that are "magical" with graphics like in co.

    In short: Decide about powersets, customize your look and powersets. Make your char look as magical as possible (magic pack do give some magic looking costume pieces), write the bio.
    Oh and welcome to the game. May your stay here be a long and happy one.
  22. Missed it aswell as I was far away from the computer.
    Was there lots of spawning of rikti? Destroyed parts of the town... Huge Rikti bosses?
    Do tell please
  23. I got two chars that come easy and alive for me.
    I first made Lady Arete on the US forum on a trial. After fighting various villains (including Circle of thorns) I began weaving her story (took a few years) even if I did not continue with the trial subscription.
    When I returned a year or so later her background story was there.
    For me though she became properly alive when I joined a roleplaying group and began rping with her.

    My other char is Cyrene. She was my first real roleplaying character in Coh. For I had two choices really of char types (had to wait with the Lady) that first could enter the roleplaying group. It was either a storm/elec defender or an emp/son defender (cause they where both around same level). I had to choose one of them as a primary rp char that was going to be fleshed out as it were.
    Through the rp, the small situations, errors in writing, decision to give her an accent... it all gave her a life.
    Where the Lady can be all about redemption, hard, seriousminded and Lady like
    Cyrene can be the spirit of fun, the innocent yet determined and not broken spirit that speaks with a southern accent, having a Statesman hero crush etc...
  24. Quote:
    Originally Posted by War Witch View Post
    I kind of figured I'd bask in the love while I still have it.

    WW
    While...? You mean you might loose it...
    nope.

    Congratulations War Witch (Eu loves you). Welcome Doc Delilah and The Television.
    Well empulse did say we where starved (not in those words but..) so... could you please toss us some hints, updates (update the GR page for instance)...
    and or tell us what we have next around the corner.
    After all its a new year with new things (and shineys)...

    Good Luck and keep being creative Positron New end game content eh?... sounds like fun. Looking forward to see what your project is about.
  25. Quote:
    Originally Posted by BlueRaptor View Post
    Just out of curiosity,
    How was it?
    Was different then any other i've been on, mostly due to me taking over on the spur (of the moment) really. Began with me saying the plan then what do you know, i've become the Raid leader.
    For me it was a little eyeopener (being first time i've led it), next hami will be led by Lawrence (look at the union forum as the post is there).
    That one will be a little more coordinated
    So if we the team & raid leader are coordinated and
    the rest of the raidforce completes the "orders" given (and stays for the x4 Mito attacks), I think we should get some nice jello.