Memphis_Bill

*snort*

OK, everyone's doing flight shots, but I like how this shot turned out.

An interesting look at the University...

And just the few I8 screenshots I've taken so far and put up on photobucket.

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"...just ask the Repeat Offenders - Pinball Wizards, FFoF and the like - how many tanks *they* need... Brutes are not tanks... not all Controllers are Stormies. Very few, in fact." -- Memphis_Bill

Bill, teaming's a very broad topic. I'm not sure it's possible to create a one-sentence summary of, say, a controller's function in a group that will satisfy everyone. And going into more detail is simply outside the subject.

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I'd argue quite the opposite. Understanding what's possible *in general* by being given more information is far preferrable to, say, "Defender = Healer," an exceptionally frustrating mindset to run into. Or, as I think I pointed out, some comment about Controllers using storms. It is (IMHO) worse villainside, as people try to shoehorn COV ATs into COH molds.

Honestly, if I had to write brief, general descriptions of the ATs?
Heroside:
TANKER: The tanker's role is aggro management. They give up a degree of offense for high defense and hit points. They are here to get the attention of the enemy and focus it on themselves.

SCRAPPER: Melee damage and secondary aggro management. Along with blasters, their job is to eliminate mobs. Scrappers have status protection to go after problematic mobs before they cause problems for the rest of the team and eliminate them.

BLASTER - Ranged damge, some high melee damage and control. Blasters weaken or eliminate priority targets at range before they become a bigger threat, as well as (in most instances) large groups. Most have high Melee damage, but with no status protection this is not typically where a blaster will want to stay for long periods.

DEFENDER- Team defense, as the name implies, through buffing allies, reducing or eliminating status effects, and/or debuffing foes. Defenders can do a degree of ranged damage as well, but not as well as blasters (thus the secondary powerset) yet have access to the longest ranged snipes in the game (Moonbeam and Psi Lance.) Despite lower damage and defense for themselves, they can often bring a team to the damage and/or defense caps - or floor the same for the enemy.

CONTROLLERS - Direct the flow of the battle. They do have access to many of the same buffs and debuffs as Defenders, but this is not their primary purpose (nor do they typically perform as well, thus being secondary sets.) Controllers perform a sort of aggro management as well, holding off enemies, reducing numbers by temporarily removing them from a fight, and slowing or eliminating unexpected side aggro (such as patrols.)

Villainside takes a bit of thought, as well.

BRUTE: Not a tank, not a scrapper, the brute's called on for a degree of aggro management as well. Built for a sustained fight, but taken down more easily than a tank, its damage increases as the fight goes on. Highest *direct* HP villainside.

MASTERMIND - Where the Brute has the highest direct HP, the Mastermind has one of the lowest - yet indirectly, through its minions, the MM can also be said to have one of the highest. Through sacrificing and resummoning minions and creative minion control, the mastermind directs enemy aggro away from themselves and back to their pets. They also perform a degree of buffing and debuffing.

STALKER - While having much lower hit points than a Brute, a Stalker can have decent defenses - the sets being a pared down version of Scrapper defensive sets. Stalkers are sent in to rapidly reduce the threat of a LT, Boss, or other key mob by killing or severely wounding that mob, making it easier to eliminate. They can also "de-aggro" single mobs using Placate - though this will often turn the mob's attention to the stalker's teammates. While they can stand and scrap many times, it's best to think of them as a melee-range blaster, as they have few HP behind their defenses.

Corruptors - a Defender turned on its head. Geared towards ranged damage as well as team buffing/enemy debuffing. Pairs nicely with a Stalker to take out high-HP key mobs, as the Stalker's massive burst damage brings a mob quickly into the Corruptor's Scourge range.

Dominators - Where a Corruptor is "a defender turned on its head," the Dominator is - in an odd place. They have the capacity to help direct the battle much like a Controller, by holding, slowing, or otherwise affecting groups of enemies, but follow up with often close-range damage - without the HP to stay there. Where a Stalker or Brute relies on their defenses, the Dominator's defense is in their holds and debuffs.

... that, at least, is how I'd describe them. (Doms are odd to write about. I like them, but they're still odd.)

*sings*
I'm looking for a partner,
someone who gets things fixed
Ask yourself this question:
Do you want to be rich?

*runs*

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so it's everytime you do it, you get a chance to get the item (flight for AP, SJ for KR, ect...) but you only get it the first time you COMPLETE the mish. If you fail 5 times, and get it on the 6th, you still get it.

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Correct. Theres no real need to do the Mayhem over and over once you get the special item unless you want the badge for completing x arsons, x cars and trucks destroyed, x vault doors destroyed, etc, etc.

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Not quite.

Side missions can give temp powers as well. I know I have a rock, a shotgun, cryo bracers and something else from them on one character.

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As for playing the stalker, I have hide, stealth, and invis. If there is a defender around,


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"Empath." Not "Defender," Empath. And CM isn't a long-duration buff.


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Now as you noticed, I only talked about PvP. As for PvE, stalkers are becoming obsolete. Watch the next time a RSF is forming.

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One instance does not = obsolete AT. It's like saying "look at all the sports cars on the roads, semis are becoming obsolete." Yes, Stalkers and Doms have a harder time with the RSF - but there's a lot more to the game than that SF.

Eh...

The one thing I can agree with without question is the "core" of a team. If you and one or two others get used to how you play, you can add others and the team is generally more effective - or the mistakes by others have less impact.

FOTM builds are "FOTM" because they're *effective.* And people stumble on them without PLing, reading guides or the like. I don't dismiss people using certain powersets - an effective Ice/Energy is an effective Ice/Energy, and I'd rather have them than an Empath who does nothing but fire off Healing Aura and follow the team around, or a Kinetic who has no idea how to use Repel but has it on anyway.

"Ideal" team makeups? They change by missions. Get what you need - and think more in line of what's needed to complete the mission, not some mythical powerset lineup. (Or just ask the Repeat Offenders - Pinball Wizards, FFoF and the like - how many tanks *they* need.)

Brutes are not tanks. They do not serve the same purpose. The "tanking" role is split between them and MMs usually.

Scrappers don't need to be a "second line of defense." If the Controller's doing their thing, the Scrapper watching them will be bored. The big thing with Scrappers is to be sure they don't get into "Scrapperlock."

Not all Controllers are Stormies. Very few, in fact. Unless you'd like to tell my Earth/FF, Grav/Kin, Fire/Rad, Ill/Emp or the like how to use their storms...

I have character views of some of mine...

All, though? Nope... don't feel like taking 100+ screenshots...

Bit in th eknockback section... "Knockback is bad" is a bit too broad. What's bad is *uncontrolled* Knockback.

Knockback's gotten a bad rap, in general. Why? Bad planning. When's knockback good?

- Fire into a corner or into a wall. Keep the bad guy away, or otherwise cornered. (Even better with Repel, even though this is a blaster guide ) You do damage, the Scrapper doesn't have to run and chase, everyone's happy but the bad guy.

- With ragdoll, take advantage of terrain. A quick knockback can turn into a several-second pseudo-hold going down a mountain. Two words for this.... don't chase.

- If firing into a controller's Ice Slick, Earthquake, Volcanic Gasses and the like - fire *into* it. Don't aim at the guy on the far side. Aim at the guy at the edge closest to you and push him farther into the area of effect.

- With energy, PLAN knockback. Torrent - short range - snipe can keep someone from getting too close, and keep pushing them away while doing damage. Starting with snipe... they have to get close again.

And last but not least

- Hover and Fly turn Knockback into knockDOWN. Enemies knocked onto their butts spend time they *could* be shooting at you getting up instead.

Y'know... just from the title...

I expected the Ninjas to be, like, backup singers.

Hmmm.... who would be interesting....

Here we go. Chloropsychosis. Former psychiatrist, who dabbled in plants - especially exotics. His dabbling led him farther and farther afield, looking for more potent drugs (of legal, questionable, and illegal natures) for himself and his patients. His experiments had been slowly changing him, until finally one combination went too far, driving him somewhat insane and very feral. With his (somewhat) recovery, he's found he has psychic abilities... and the plants have augmented him in other ways as well.

Patlabrowr?

(And I had something in mind for a 20s Rowr from another thread, but apparently work has gotten my drawing skills to regress a bit... frustrating :P )

FWIW, I use binds, not macros, for the same effect - saves four slots on the power tray.

Yes, four - the binds to get INTO Nova and Dwarf form are the same as the macros listed.
Dropping into human, just combine powexectoggleoff white (or dark) dwarf and nova.
My fourth drops me into whatever my phase is - Quantum Flight for a PB, Nebulous Form for a WS. QFly is instant, where Nebform is not. (Typical 4 second phase.)

Yeah, I'd skip all the deleting.... Two accounts, 125 or so characters, three of which have gotten to 50. One of them was a fluke. (As an a "what the heck," unplanned, not an invertibrate.)

What gets you to 50? A good group you like playing with.

What helps you keep going? Being able to switch once in a while. Yes, alts help. But when the level 34 Scrapper, 36 Blaster, 35 Kheldian you play with are on... you want to haul along your level 33 or so Controller. (as a for instance.) It's just more *fun* that way. (says the person who joined an Infernal group some SG mates were running... with a lvl 6 stone tank.)

Rowrsie hit it on the nose...

... then batted it around a little, chased it down the hall...

... er, looks good!

Hmm...

Glad I made my signature 2nd account character over there... not fancy, but I like the costume...

Downloading and Reinstalling COx.

So, you've played City of Heroes since beta. You love the game. And you just got a shiny new computer. You go to install COH on it and... *gasp* the dog chewed up the disks. Or they're on vacation in Hawaii. For whatever reason, you no longer have a viable hard copy of the game.

Or, maybe you still *have* the original disks, and really don't look forward to a multi-gigabyte download every time, you just want to reinstall.

Well, in these and other situations - there's a solution.

Downloading the client:

First, something *not* to do.

If you go to http://www.plaync.com's account management page and check your City of Heroes account, you'll see a link that says "Download game client." Sounds convenient, right?

Don't do it.

This leads to an 875 Mb download from 7/5/05 - an older version of the software. Big deal? Well, after that download, you'll have to redownload over a gig, *again.* (I hear amounts from a gig and a half to two gig. Either way, frustrating when you want to play.)

What's good about this link, though, is that it gives you the address of the COH FTP site. Most (I'd say all, but someone'll point out an oddball) browsers will open up FTP sites inside and let you download. So - go to ftp://client.coh.com.

Inside, you'll see several files and two folders. Ignore everything but the folders. The folders you'll see are EU and US. Click on US. Inside, at time of writing, you'll see five files. (The European folder only has one, the updater. Click and save.)
COH.zip - 876,532 KB. Ignore this one, it's the same outdated client.
CohUpdater.exe - You want this. Click and save. 992 Kb.
CohUpdater.zip - A zipped version of the updater. 308 KB.
COH_CD1.zip and COH_CD2.zip. Ignore these as well.

(Before someone says "I have City of Villains!" the COHUpdater is for City of Villains, as well. They share the same files.)

When you get this file, double click it. You'll see the update window, then a small dialog box will pop up - "Coh will be installed to C:\Program FIles\City of Heroes. Select NO to choose a different folder." Just hit yes, it will start downloading (let this go overnight, it's still a long download.) When it's done, City of Heroes will be installed.

Transferring or copying the folder - DVD or CD

But what if you already have City of * installed already? Either on a current system, or you have an old system you want to transfer it from?

City of Heroes is not like a single player game. There's no license that says you can only have it installed on one system. THe reason is that the game's "guts" run on the NCSoft servers. You log in with an account, and if you try to log in a second time on the same account, at the same time, it'll log the first instance off. You could compare it to a web browser, honestly - the "content" is on the servers, not on your machine. So copying and moving the client around is not a big deal.

If you've newly installed City of *, and have a DVD RW drive, just copy the City of Heroes folder onto a DVD. You do NOT need the following:
Screenshots folder
Client_Logs folder (chat logs.)
coh.checksum file (in fact, you *don't* want that.)
If you see a file that says "Crash_description.txt," you don't need that.

You do want every other file, as well as the /data and /piggs folders.

You *can* also do this onto CD, but it will take several CDs. Make sure you know what's going where.

You may want to do this after major patches or issues, as well, to keep your archive copy up to date.

When you restore it, put it back to the same place - by default, a City of Heroes folder inside /Program Files. Then right click that City of Heroes folder. If "Read Only" is selected (has a dot in it,) click that to clear it. It'll ask if you want to do the same to all subfolders and files - say yes.

If it starts redownloading when you try to run - cancel and make sure you don't have a checksum, lock, or manifest file listed. If you see any of those, delete them and try again.

Now, this *will not* make a Start Menu entry for the game. You can do that manually, or just go to the folder, right click "COHUpdater.exe" (or COVUpdater.exe for City of Villains) and select "Send to desktop (shortcut.)" On your desktop, you'll have a file called Shortcut to COHUpdater.exe. Right click, pick REname, call it "City of Heroes."

You can also drag this right to the start button and it'll make a shortcut on the initial Start menu.

Transferring or copying - Network
If you don't have a DVD burner (hey, $30 or so these days, but still) but want to transfer from another system - say an older one to a new, shiny gaming system - just make sure they're networked. I'm not going to get into setting up a network here - there are plenty of sites out there that can get you through the basics. Or you can pay someone to do it, as well.

Once your systems are networked and can see each other, you do much the same as the DVD instructions - browse to the other system's /Program Files directory, and just copy the City of Heroes folder into there. (Just copy the folder, everything inside will go in.) Again, there won't be a start menu icon for it, as you just copied the program itself over. The same instructions about making a desktop shortcut and start menu item apply.

Start menu
OK, ok, so you REALLY want a City of Heroes or City of Villains folder showing in your start menu. This is purely optional.

RIGHT click the "Start" menu. You have a decision to make. If it's a single user computer, either will work. If multiple people use the computer, you have to decide if you want everyone to see it or not (assuming everyone has their own login name.) You'll see a choice to "Explore" near the top, or "Explore all users" near the bottom. The bottom one will set this for everyone, not just you.

Once you make that decision, you'll see a "Programs" folder. Double click.

You'll see folders - not everything that's on the start menu is in here (some install for single users, some for everyone.) Right click a blank space and select "New > Folder." A new folder called "new folder" will come up. Rename it "City of Heroes" or "City of Villains." When you're finished, double click it - it will be blank inside.

If you have the City of Heroes or City of Villains icon on the destkop, you can right click it and drag it into here, giving you a choice to move or copy it. If you don't want it on the desktop, move. If you do, copy.

When you're finished, close the window, then click on Start - All Programs, and you should see City Of Heroes (or City of Villains) there with your icon inside.

Now go play.

And... well, everyone else said it already

Yes, it's biased. It *is* also amusing... but yeah, the nitpicky things could use fixing. (Starting with you can get into SC at 20, not 25... it's pretty much hanging a "Kick me" sign on your back, but you can do it.)

Though I still think the villain base is worse - I've had a troller on the top of the door, a spiney at the side, just waiting. Can't really get *that* close to the heroside. You can TP, yes... but it's a little more work than "Step out and stick someone."

In any case, though... it was entertaining

I like it

Heh, thanks Pep.

I figured, what the heck, add a "Soloing the firebase" bit:
Addendum
Bloody Bay minigame, collect ore samples - How to do this solo.

OK. You have your nice stealth power. Time to get yourself a Shivan.

Head over to Vidiotmaps bloody bay map to take a look at the layout. The main island is in a (general) "U" shape, with forests in the east, city in the west. The hero base is to the north, the villain base in the southeast.

Scattered along the island are the two things you need to work with for this mission:
- Meteor fragments (shown as green dots) and
- Firebases (red and white rectangles.)

The first thing I do before going *anywhere* is scout the firebases. I look at the ones closest to my base - southwest for the hero base, northwest and west for the villain base.

Firebases have a bunker in the middle (with four popup antipersonnel guns) and four turrets that surround them. The turrets are what you want to pay attention to. There will be a mix of three types of turrets:
- Minion (Dual Artillery gun)
- Lieutenant (Quad Artillery Gun)
- Boss (Missile turret.)

*USUALLY* the ones nearest the base don't have Boss turrets, but that's not always the case. Look for one that's all minion, or minion and lieutenant, preferrably white and yellow - the faster you can do this, the better.

There are two key points to remember when dealing with firebases:
- The turrets don't regenerate, and
- The turrets respawn on a timer - but ONLY destroyed ones, and all at once. Damaged turrets are left as is.

Once you find a suitable base, start attacking. Take all the turrets down to a sliver of health - do NOT defeat any of them. Try not to use attacks that have a damage-over-time component to them when they get low on health. Once they're all low... go grab meteor fragments.

If you look at the map I linked to above and go to the right (forested) side, you'll see one meteor smack dab in the middle of a bunch of trees. Hello, Meteor Panch. Regardless of what you do after this, I suggest getting this one first. Why? It's the most enclosed, dangerous one to get. There are mobs around it (Banished Pantheon - some of which will pop up from the ground - and Circle of Thorns, typically.) Plus, there's a canopy above, so you can't just fly up and out of the way (or teleport, or SJ.) Enemy players can ambush you here, as well.

As I mentioned in the guide - pick up inspirations. Pop a pair of lucks as you get close - primarily to avoid NPC attacks, especially Shivans, as the "ore collection" is interruptable. Once you get this, get out of there.

For the rest of the meteors - I love having Fly, or at least Hover, and some sort of stealth. Coming at the meteors from ground level, you have to get *close,* and the Shivans will aggro on you as you get close. I've gotten "Out of Range" at 30 feet and less. If you can fly, though, you can come down, even unstealthed, and at 59 feet directly above the meteor you can collect the ore sample. The shivans sometimes wont' aggro *at all,* and if they do, it's usually too late to do anything about you having a sample.

Yes, remember, 59 feet, not yards.

The order you get the other meteors is purely up to you - I like to work my way from those farthest from my base to those closest. The Heroes have another potential trap to worry about - the Water Street meteor (Ek) is inside a scaffold-work, and it's somewhat easy to get hung up inside or have someone try to box you in.

At five meteors - find your firebase, and destroy one of the outer turrets. Since you want this to be quick, destroy a minion turret. Leave the others alone. Get your sixth meteor, and go back to the firebase... then wait.

Watch the turret you destroyed. Sometime within five minutes, it'll respawn. Destroy it again - you have five minutes from the time it respawns to destroy the other seven turrets (three outer, four machine gun on the bunker) and get into the bunker. When there, click the ore converter and book to your scientist. (Make sure it actually *converts* the ore - you'll go from a set of six samples to a single one.)

THe bunker, as you see, is another great place to be ambushed - just two single-character-sized exits. Don't waste time. Convert and go. If you click on something that says "Firebase defenses inactive," go around the pillair in the middle and click on the ore converter instead.

When you meet the scientist, he'll take the sample and give you a Shivan Shard. You now have your own pet Elite Boss Jello-tank.

Well, given before COH, my attitude was "WHY would anyone pay for a game... then KEEP paying for it month after month?"

Issue 3, Feb 2005... and here continually since. And same thing - pretty much every shot I take.

But if you want a shot, I'll put this in for no particular reason.

The PVEer's PVP zone survival guide

So, there you are. Level 15, and being sent to someone called a "Warzone liason." He tells you all about the existance of this thing called a "PVP zone." For whatever reason - you don't feel like PVPing, but decide to check it out. Can you do it?

Yep.

Contrary to popular belief, not everyone gets a team of stalkers (if you're a hero) or ice/energy blappers (if you're a villain) assigned to them as soon as they enter the zones. The zones can be fun, and they can give some useful boosts - they can also be chaotic, and quite a shock to the unprepared player.

This guide is here to help you get in and out - though who knows, you might decide to stick around and play. Yes, there are other PVP guides here, but this is really aimed more at the PVE oriented crowd who just want to get in and out. (And yes, you should try PVP anyway...)

Who the heck are you to tell me this?

Memphis Bill. Nice to meet you. Been here since I3, played every AT to some extent. Yes, I PVP. No, I'm not one of the hardcore PVPers, and I'm reasonably sure I lose more than I win - on the other hand, I have fun, and can avoid notice if so desired the majority of the time.

As far as PVP and my attitude toward it?

I started PVPing waaay back in the 90s, playing Netmech/DOS over a modem - first with one other person, then with a group in the Registry (raises a glass of 'schlager to the Black Sheep.) Yep. Predated Win95. I had a *blast* then - when you take out an "uber" gunboat 'mech with a little thing half its size loaded with machineguns, or take out a 100 ton Clan Omnimech with your 1 ton Elemental (ok, by making the player shoot their own legs out trying to get to you, or falling on them from a mile or two up... but I still won,) it's amusing.

Unfortunately, Diablo soured me on PVP - not least because it wasn't "true" PVP, but a collection of hacks allowing people to kill and loot you in town. Diablo II didn't improve matters, and I came to see PVP as something I flat out did not want in any game I played. I refused to see PVPers as anything more than a bunch of immature brats I didn't want to deal with, figuring the group I'd played with was the exception.

Then along came City of Heroes. I'll admit, the lack of PVP was a draw for me. As much as the lack of loot, not needing the Uber Armor of Uberness to be useful, the costume creator, the story arcs, and last but certainly not least, the community. The arena got introduced to yawns...

Then came City of Villains beta. And they wanted people to test out the PVP zones... And there I was, in lag city, battling it out, hunting one of my best friends, trying to make tactical decisions (find the defender that's healing everyone) without getting killed myself. I was interested. When it went live, I took my lvl 15 brute into Bloody bay, and had a great time... then had a horrible time due to one group of people. I nearly swore off PVP... but I recalled, I *had* been having a good time. I went back in and, to be honest? I've had *far* more good experiences with good people than bad experiences with jerks.

And that's part of why I'm writing this. I want to help you have a good experience in the PVP zones.

OK, ok, fine. So what's all this about PVP?

PVP. Player versus Player. The enemies you've fought in-game so far are PVE - Player versus Environment. They don't hold a grudge. They aren't all that skilled. You get used to their routines and figure out how to take them out, and you level.

People... don't have that weakness, usually. They *will* see you, remember you killed them last week, and set out to even the score. They'll get angry. They'll get cocky. They'll laugh as they die, they'll chat to see what happened. They'll be a challenge.

There's something you must remember going into the zones, though. PVP is not "Fair." Five villains kill you and ignore the tank? Of course they do! You've got fewer defenses, and buff that tank! Take it as a lesson, or a compliment... you're a bigger threat than that walking bag of hit points.

"Fair" exists (to the extent it can) in the arena. In the PVP zones, it's "Do what you have to to survive." Sound cutthroat? Perhaps it is - but it's not that bad, at the same time.

The zones

There are four PVP zones for four level ranges. Bloody Bay, Siren's Call, Warburg and Recluse's Victory. I'm not going into Arena PVP because it's a different animal entirely. We'll hit each of the zones and tell you what to expect.

In ALL the zones, though, there are some features:
- They all have exploration and time badges some people want. It's a means of attracting people to try it out.
- They all offer some sort of reward for being there.
- They all have a "mini game."
- They all have NPCs you can fight - or draw your enemies into.
- They all have a base for your faction.
- Most offer missions. (Recluse's Victory does not.)

About the base. Don't *ever* make the mistake of thinking it's a safe zone. It isn't. It's a FORTIFIED zone, yes - but as with any fortification, someone will find a way around it. It's not foolproof. Never assume you're completely safe.

I mentioned time badges. For spending a total of 5 hours (not, thank $deity, consecutive hours any more) in any PVP zone, you get a PVP time badge. Being in one of the missions in the zone does not count towards these - you have to be in the zone itself, and at risk. (REmember, the bases aren't safe, just fortified.)

Finally, if you outlevel the first two PVP zones, you'll no longer be offered missions there. You CAN, however, still go in. The zone will automatically exemplar you down to the highest level allowed - yes, you'll lose powers, but you'll be able to work off debt and earn INF and Prestige.

Now, the individual zones:

Bloody Bay
Level: 15-25
Minigame: Collect ore samples
Reward: A Shivan Shard (5 uses, summon Shivan Devestator elite boss. Re-obtainable.)
Mobs: Arachnos, Longbow, Freakshow, Shivans, Circle of Thorns, Banished Pantheon, sometimes Ghosts.
Other temp powers: Hyper Stealth for completing the patrol mission
Special notes: Only PVP zone you can freely buy inspirations in.

This and Warburg have the "goodie" powers most folks go after. The Shivan Shard is very useful. As a squishie, it's extra damage and distraction. It's nice having a pocket tank - and if you use it up, you can go get another one.

Before doing anything, talk to the Longbow or Arachnos liason there. Get the Patrol mission. (I know, "I don't want to PVP." You've done PVE patrols where you click on callboxes, right? Same thing.) Why do I stress doing this? Stealth without taking a pool. 30 minutes, and it's able to be obtained up to five times. It'll make a difference, and you should be able to finish the mission in three minutes or less. Stealth is *big* here - very few people will have Tactics or other +Perception powers.

Hit the callboxes, see the operative - boom, you have stealth! It does use END like any other power. (It does also stack with Hide, by the way.) Why do you want this? Because you WANT the Shivan. Go ahead, you don't have to hide it, I know you do... even if you don't yet.

No, don't go out yet. This is the only zone you can freely purchase inspirations in. Some people complain about them - so what. Use them. Pick up some purples (for fending off Shivan attacks at the meteors,) at least one Sturdy (TP Foe protection,) and you'll probably want some CABs and Respites if you do take damage. And never forget the Breakfree.

Now, look at your map (hit "M.") You'll see green dots scattered throughout it. Those are the locations of the meteors. Talk to the scientist/evil scientist. He'll give you another temp power (ooh, shiny.) That's your ore collector... no, don't go out yet.

Look out from your base. What do you see? (Other than perhaps the other side running around.) If you answered water, go get a cookie. For all people complain about Stalkers, especially in here, all that blue stuff is a *big* bonus against them. Why?

In a PVP zone, you must be aware of your surroundings. Including two things:
- THe sound of a weapon being unsheathed (depending on the powerset) and
- the water rippling.

Yes, the water will *ripple* if someone's moving in it. Three travel powers - Superjump, Superspeed, and Teleport - will still give themselves away no matter how well they're hidden. If you play in first person or the default view... learn to zoom out a little. It'll save your neck.

I won't get into how to do the meteor mission - it's easy, even solo, and it's been handled on the boards many times. The rundown is:"
- Get a sample from each meteor
- Go defeat a firebase
- Use the ore processor inside to make a sample
- Return to the (evil) scientist for your reward.

If a PLAYER defeats you at any point that you have samples, they'll get your sample and you'll have to start over. If you die to a PVE mob, you won't. How will they know you have samples?

You'll glow green.

Aren't you glad I mentioned grabbing that hyper stealth power first....

Siren's Call
Level: 20-30
Minigame: Control the Zone
Reward: Depending on control level, temp powers are available to purchase.
Mobs: Arachnos, Longbow, Warriors, Tsoo, Sky Raiders. (Vaguely recall grey Clockwork too.)
Other temp powers: Combat Invisibility
Zone notes: SOs at 20!

Hey, look at you! Level 20. Nice cape and new duds, too. Congrats. Guess what else you get?

You get another nice shiny... well, ok, not shiny, partially destroyed PVP zone to play in. Lucky you! Yes, from levels 20-25, you can get into two PVP zones and get XP for PVE kills and missions. Thing is... you probably *don't* want to spend a lot of time in Siren's right at 20, unless you're with a good team. Why?

You can get SOs for 6k of bounty. But you're still using DOs and TOs... and should assume everyone else is fully SO'd up. You're going to be at a bit of a disadvantage. Still, if you're up for the risk, go for it. Someone will be designated "Bounty" on the other side, and you'll see an amount for them. Kill them solo, get the full amount - yes, you need to get the "kill shot." Kill them as part of a team, you'll get the bounty split among the team.

So, you should solo, right?

Not on your life. At least not with most characters. You'll generally be safer, get more kills, and get bounty faster if you're teamed. Solo, with a few exceptions, you're going to be swarmed by someone else who *is* on a team. Typical solists will be Stalkers, some Brutes, Tanks, Scrappers, and honestly I've done decently with my Peacebringer here. Even they will fall to a team, though.

Also - ANYONE eligible gives bounty (eligible meaning you haven't fought them for a bit - just look in your PVP tab in your info box for who won't give you bounty and for how long. Yes, that tab actually does something.) Not just your "designated bounty."

Unlike bloody bay, you cannot buy inspirations here. You *CAN* earn medium size ones though - though you don't get breakfrees, you get willpower, an older inspiration that has to be used ahead of time.

Now, look at the nav bar. You'll see a divided red and blue line, and some note about "Zone control." If you control the zone (it HAS to say your faction, don't rely on the bar,) you can go to the merchant on your side and buy temp powers - temporary travel powers that last for 30 minutes from purchase (not of use,) web grenades, poison grenades, and if your side wins control twice in a row, other goodies (IR glasses for heroes, Arachnos mace for villains, as well as others.)

How do you get control?

Look at your map again. See the bright red "flash" there? That's the hotspot. There are four of them. At those hotspots, you'll see Arachnos and Longbow staring at each other... yes, they're a bit buggy at the moment. They'll stare at each other for what seems like ages (at least in the center hotspot,) then finally fight. When they do, whichever side wins moves the control a bit more to their side. Want to speed things up? Pick a fight. Go over and give a five knuckled "HI" to one of the guys on the other side, then run back, drawing them to your forces... yes, it's a risk. And yeah, players love picking on you as you're wounded... oh well... but if you get control, you get 100 bounty per battle you win (if you're at the battle.)

Honestly, though, most people seem to ignore it and hunt other players. Bounty and SOs are king here.

By the way, be sure to cash out before leaving the zone, logging, or entering a mission. You WILL lose your bounty you've collected otherwise. From my experience, this tends to be the zone you'll see the most battles in consistently.

Warburg
Level: 30-38
Minigame: Get the missile codes
Reward: Three types of nuke (one per type.)
Mobs: Longbow, Arachnos, Rogue Arachnos, Malta titans, Arachnoids
Other temp powers: Hyper Phase
Special notes: <xfiles>Trust no one. </xfiles> Missions available past level cap.

Warburg. Home of tier 9s. You have grown stronger...

But so has everyone else.

And if you're not teamed with them, you're a target. Even if they're on your "side." Warburg is a Free for All zone. Outside of a small radius near your entrance, you can be attacked by anyone you're not teamed with, even your own side. (The other side, obviously, doesn't get turned off.)

Two big plusses here:
- The nukes. Go, fight Arachnoids. Get three scientists, they'll give you their codes when you get to the bunker. Pick a type of nuke (Bio, Chemical Burn, Nuclear - they all have different effects, and AOE damage) and convert the codes, then turn up your graphics and launch the rocket. It helps vs AVs/Heroes. You can have one of each - a total of three nukes - at one time (though you have to get the codes for each and launch each, you don't get them all at once. And you can't mix and match - say, two bios and a nuke.)

- Hyper Phase. Why bother with the now-gutted (IMHO) pool power, when you can save a power choice and get this... which does the exact same thing? They both last for only 30 seconds. You have a total of two hours time using the temp power. That's 240 times... even WITH the pool power, I don't think I used it that much. It has the same four second activation, though.

Other than that, if you don't want to go to the arena, this is where you can fight others of your side using all the primary and secondary powers at your disposal.

Last but not least... the missions here continue all the way through level 50. You're exemped down to 38 in the zone (as my 39 brute remembered the other day...) but you'll fight at full level inside the missions.

Recluse's Victory
Level: 40-50
Minigame: Zone control!
Reward: Temporary mini-mech
Mobs: Lots and lots of Longbow and Arachnos.
Other temp powers: None
Special notes: Hi Ghost Widow! Can I get your autograph? No... dont' put that tentacle there, it's ok...

Epic powersets. Signature Characters. Heavies. All things that people think of with Recluse's Victory.

The spiel is this - it's an alternate dimension. There are six fortified dimensional anchors - neutral at first - that you have to defeat, then control, to control the timeline. The zone changes from Atlas Park to an Arachnos-ified Atlas Park (watch the statue of Atlas and the surrounding environment) if the villains gain control.

Once zone control is taken over, you get a bonus for villains killed, and temporal points. 1000 temporal points before the zone converts gives you a (one use) mini-Heavy.

What's a heavy? A big, walking pile of ouch. Arachnos blasters or Longbow heavies put out a lot of damage - there are three of each in the zone. Take control of one an dgo hunting. They're slow, but pack a wallop. The minis don't do as much damage, but are still rather interesting...

What's more interesting, though, is that once your side controls four pillboxes, the OTHER side gets reinforcements. *BIG* reinforcements. Namely, signature heroes or villains - States, Manti, Posi, Lord Recluse, GW, Mako (super-staker with sharks,) and more. They take some serious pounding to take down.

There's no concealment power for doing a patrol - in fact, there are no missions in the zone at all, though there are exploration badges and badges for doing PVP related things (controlling heavies, pillboxes, etc.) Go in ready to fight.

OK, OK, so four zones. SO what do I do if I just want to peek in?

Be prepared. Seriously. Go get some inspriations. People will call you ten kinds of names for using them, but if you're running in to grab badges or whatnot, go get 'em. If they don't want to fight someone using them, they can set up an arena match and ban them. Always go in with breakfrees, and if you can fit an orange in there, grab it for TP FOe protection.

If the "Trash talk" bothers you - turn off broadcast. I'd suggest against it in most cases, actually, as it gives you an idea of who's out there. Take a look, laugh at some of the stuff that comes over... oh, but don't say anything if you don't want to get noticed. Seriously - I find it amusing that someone will say "Any (other side) in here?" If I'm grabbing powers, hittin gmissions or whatnot, I'm NOT ANSWERING.

In addition... as you step in, do a /whoall. Just type /whoall into the chat box. It WON'T show people who are hidden, or in missions. But it can give you an idea of how many folks are out there...

By the same token, use /hide. If they don't know you're there, they won't be hunting you from the outset.

Go in *prepared.* Think of it this way. You know an AV's coming up in a PVE battle, you don't go in empty handed. Player characters are *really nasty AVs.* Go in prepared to fight.

If you REALLY want to avoid PVP... don't go at the busiest times of day. The zones aren't always populated. Go in at odd times, and it may be a walk in the park for you.

In the Zone

Use /whoall and /hide as mentioned.

And ignore broadcast. People will say all sorts of things - remember, they are PEOPLE behind there. They get frustrated and angry, too. Or they taunt you, and can say some really - sometimes odd, sometimes foul things. They're trying to goad you... don't let them. Dont' answer. If it gets too bad, just minimize the chat window.

The biggest thing... keep moving. You can admire scenery all you want... as it goes past. If you want to stand still, remember - an assassin strike only takes three seconds. Bubbler? A few yellows gets a hit through. Don't stand still longer than you need to. Use your inspirations against NPCs and PCs.

Also, while moving, don't be *predictable.* Don't stand on a badge and figure where the next one is. Go to vidiotmaps, take a look, and run from badge to badge. WHy? If you're obviously "hunting something," you can be ambushed at the next whatever it is.

For instance, when I'm in Bloody Bay getting meteor samples, I'll often start flying/jumping/running toward a meteor I've been at already - then when Iv'e gone up a ways, switch direction to where I really want to go. Or go up in a spiral and let them guess where I'm going. Don't give the other side free information - make it hard for them... and use those temp stealth powers.

Finally, if someone does corner you - fight. Have fun with it. You might lose - first few times in, you probably *will.* So what - you don't get debt from player caused deaths. Don't complain on broadcast (you're trying not to be noticed, remember?) Give them a local "GJ" or "ow" or something (No, "ow" doesnt' stand for anything. Ow is just "that hurt." You know... Ow.) Some people will talk to you, give you ideas, etc. Others will try to brag... ignore them. And don't rez right there - go to the hospital. Why leave yourself vulnerable?

Conclusion

Yes, that seems like a lot. But contrary to the picture painted by many, PVP zones aren't "filled" with people just waiting to kill you, talk trash, insult your parentage and the like. Yes, there are some jerks - but there are in any group. Remember, the worst they can do to you is remove a bunch of red pixels for a little bit. You CAN get through PVP zones... and even have fun there.

Oh, absolutely... I'll have to make room for them as well, but as nuts as Oceanborn was about Coralax... I'm as eager (just not as vocal) for Avilans.

By the way, after a slightly confused exchange with Cricket about Avilans, all she could say is "I haven't heard anything about that recently, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. There are a lot of things planned down the road."

*sigh* Those are the ones I'm really looking forward to, too