Sandolphan

Tactical Challenges.

Humanity's highest achievement so far.

I'm only glad I was old enough to have seen and remember it. Sad though that forty years on, we've not exceeded it.

Well done Victory! It's great to hear your dropship raid was a success!

Congratulations on your Dropship Raid, Justice! A job well done to everyone!

Another excellent event, Virtue!

I'm very proud of everyone who pulled together to take on this challenge. The coordination between teams was top-notch, especially with that many teams running. There was a goal of 50 ships this year (beating 41 from last year in a nice round number), but we exceeded expectations and got 60! Finishing in Atlas fighting around the globe was just a bonus.

I shudder think of it, but next year we should shoot for 75. With as many people as we had tonight, we could split into two assault divisions and take on both waves simultaneously, doubling our performance. But that will be for another time...

Tonight, we can celebrate our victory!

BRAVO CHAMPION!!!

A great job and an EXCELLENT video!

Great job tonight, villains!

Now for the heroes to show you all how it's truly done...we're going for over 50!

Happy Birthday Ara!

Few know how much better Virtue is for having you here, but your tireless efforts on behalf of the people here are greatly appreciated. The events you have organized and been the driving force behind, your quiet assistance of those in need, your general support for the community at large, have all increased the fun and enjoyment we share.

Thank you Ara and I hope you have a great birthday!

I'll be there again of course!

*runs off to plan, arms full of maps and notes*

(Oh I'll lead a team again too as needed of course )

Just have to give up on that one. PVP is an arms race, and everyone will simply move to whatever level of advantage is available.

I agree with you, invisibility should be something special that a few toons you meet might have (for example Illusionists with supposedly superior invisibility). But the nature of PVP means everyone will build for it if it's an advantage, or everyone will see through it if otherwise available.

Min/max is the level playing field. If you aren't there, you're fodder.

Although I like all of my many characters, these are some that others have told me they liked:

Dr. Ava Godro
Freezy Rider
Snow Wonder
Priscilla Quills
Action Angel
Sister Sol
Wrecking Belle
Heinemacherfrau
Cinder Kitten (everyone on Virtue has to have a catgirl...some sorta rule or something)

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I miss seeing the good old Forklift To The Kisser FTW

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He triiiiied to kill me with a forklift!

Suggestion: Allow the super-leader (red star) to toggle automatic base upkeep. Initially toggled off. This would be a QOL feature.

Gratz!

Sorry to hear your initial attempt failed, but glad you'll be trying again!

If I could offer some advice...

1. Yellow Mitos: While some servers employ a tank taunt team on hero-side to lock the yellow agro down, you might be better served by just sending two brute teams out to kill the mitos directly (and as a matter of killing them, holding their attention). A pair of brutes can often kill a yellow themselves, as long as the greens are distracted (by damaging the nearby blues).

Two teams consisting of 6 brutes plus 1 kin and 1 heal/rez is good. Assign two brutes on each team to each of three yellows (front/back, left/right...however you want to divide them). Extra brutes, stalkers and melee VEATs can form one or more spike teams to assist in the yellow take-down. Like hero-side, it should take between 40 and 80 secs to take down all the yellows.

2. EOE's: Typically only the yellow anchor brutes need EOE's, and usually only one per run. Extras for the spike teams is good too. The rest of the raid shouldn't require any. This will keep the EOE count down to just four for each melee engaging the yellows.

3. Blue Mitos: I mentioned that a pair of brutes can kill a yellow IF the greens are distracted from healing it. This can be accomplished by having the rest of the raid (ranged attackers) split up and assault the blue mitos. Greens heal the closest damaged component, and that will be a blue over a yellow.

If the raid isn't comfortable splitting up to cover all the blues, have them follow a targeter who will shadow the spike teams and keep the blue nearest their yellow damaged.

4. Bio-Nukes: Since villains lack the empathy regen auras, you might consider using a temp power. The Warburg bio-nuke solves this minor problem quite nicely. While certainly not required to succeed, it does increase the margin for error and makes for a smoother mito phase. It has a 5-minute duration and a target cap of 20, so prioritize the yellow melee teams (have the brutes and spike teams stand together apart from the rest of the raid; then a designated nuker can hit just them, and a second nuker can hit the ranged teams if you have enough for all).

Good luck and I look forward to seeing how you do!

Range taunting keeps her from using her big self-heal (three targets hit will almost heal her full). However, you said when the PTOD dropped and she was held, the taunt tank ran into melee. This was likely your problem.

The PTOD would drop, she'd unhold and activate her self-heal immediately. She needed to be kept in range attack mode. So your taunt tank should have remained at range the entire time.

Here is a link to my guide to the Hami-nuke Raid.

(and regarding the OP, I'm always interested in new ideas or challenges to try)

Flash, like all aoe hard holds, was mega-nerfed for max targets (capped), duration (halved), and recharge (doubled). Recharge is the key one though. With a 4-minute base recharge, it requires fully six-slotting it to get it up to speed for anything other than very rare or emergency use.

Thus, the usual advice now is to put off Flash until mid-build (say 30+) when slots become more plentiful and most of your core powers have been taken care of.

Many people decide to skip the nerfed aoe holds altogether (other sets have stun/immobilize aoe combos that recharge every spawn and can fill in for the aoe hold.)

Illusion has PA and Spectral Terror to handle aoe control duties, and liberal use of Deceive and Blind will suffice for most control duties on key mobs.

Happy Birthday, Kegi!

Hope your day is frosted pink and filled with cupcakes!

Your best bet is to Passive stance them then issue a Stay (or Goto). Wiping their agro buffer first, then anchoring them works well.

Long ago in Beta, this was asked for by many: To make Stay into a true anchor that the pets would not move from at all, that could be safely combined with stances without losing the anchor.

This might have been considered too easy for ranged pets, since you're basically creating turrets that wouldn't get themselves into trouble...instead of the MM having to keep tabs on them when they do stupid things.

It might also have something to do with pets not keeping a location stored to return to, after attempting to carry out actions in non-passive stance or after porting. They revert to follow in such cases, since the MM is the one tether they always have.

(The weakness of Stay is also a reason I didn't use it in the numpad binds...Goto is basically a targeted Stay and the more versatile choice.)

"All of our Ara's are currently unavailable or helping other customers. Please stay on the line and an Ara will be with you as soon as possible. We value your business greatly and appreciate your patience."

*cues muzak*

I'll concur. It was messier and less efficient to clear the blues first (since the full green complement is working against you the entire time), but the @#$% chains from the blues can make life miserable for the squishies trying to get the greens held/attacked.

It's something to consider on raids where the overkill percentage is low or borderline (ie too many people are being 'chained' at any particular moment that the remaining group can't get the holds/damage done).

With a normal raid setup (or when the chains are patched), the greens-first method is still preferred and more efficient.

Perhaps after these several years, it was slightly misleading to label these 'numpad' binds, even though they are assigned in their basic form in the guide to the numpad, and the numpad was the original inspiration for the layout. I've referenced them more properly as a system or a design, for addressing the pet commands with a mind towards separation and completeness. However, as I also made mention in the guide itself, they don't have to be bound strictly to the numpad.

Essentially, the layout can be assigned to any keyset desired. There are some examples in the guide of this. The goal in doing this is obviously is to minimize hand-off-mouse time, or accommodate any other preferences the user may require.

In the end, whatever works for an individual is still probably best. Good luck!

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The Fool - Synapse

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"Synapse, scout the building!"

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Very prolific, Alex! Excellent finish and wrap-up (and thank you for a Sandy sketch too!)