Sandolphan

Two ways you can make powertray buttons:

1. Open your pet menu and drag a button icon to the tray. Right click the button to edit what it does.

2. The /macro command will create a button with the label and function you assign. The command syntax is:

/macro label "command"

-Sandolphan

First, I recommend reading through Red_Zero's MM Guide here.

But to give some fast answers:

The third minion of the mercenary set is a Medic. He is obtained at level 18 (when the third minion is acquired...remember at level 6 when you got two minions instead of one). Medics will apply heals and stimulants to pets (similar to the Medicine power pool). They have to be set to aggressive or defensive stance though to do this.

You can drag and drop your own inspirations onto a pet in the pet window. They will use the inspiration immediately if able.

You might have a look at my own guide below for controlling pets too.

-Sandolphan

There's no really good way for one macro/bind to summon and buff in one keypress (let alone activating multiple targeting powers).

You could toggle bind a key to do one thing, load the next thing in a series, then on the next press it does that and load the third, etc. Very cumbersome, prone to getting out of synch, and essentially you are still pressing keys over and over.

I'm afraid it's just part of being the Mastermind. Setup usually takes under a minute, including all upgrades. While it may seem tedious to do it each mission, remember other people are pressing their keys an awful lot too for buffs, toggles, etc.

-Sandolphan

Please add Villain-side Hamidon Raid Guide to the Hamidon raiding section (i9). Thanks!

-Sandolphan

[ QUOTE ]
What about initial setup time? Seems even though it is said to start at 8pm the group does not start clearing monsters until 8:30 and then attack Hami at 9pm.

[/ QUOTE ]

True. Pre-raid EOE farming (if any), arrival in the Hive, formation of groups, and monster clearing/Hami spawning are all separate activites from the actual conduct of the assault on Hami. They are dependent more on random factors and player participation, rather than task performance and efficient execution of the raid strategy (which is really all I was really interested in).

It's true that the greater bulk of the time actually committed to the event is taken up by waiting for people to arrive so that groups can be formed, and the random element of how long it takes to spawn Hami. All of this (except maybe Hami spawning) could be improved on as well, but a lot of that is the social cost of raiding.

-Sandolphan

Tonight's raid went very well. For a summary:

<ul type="square">[*]First mito phase was 12 mins, plus hami to 75% taking 1 min. Reset was 15 mins. [*]Second mito phase 10 mins, plus hami to 50% taking 3 mins. Reset was 15 mins.[*]Third mito phase was 7 mins, plus hami to 25% taking 3 mins. Reset was 10 mins.[*]Final mito phase was 5 mins and the final hami kill took 3 mins.[/list]Clearly, we improved with the practice. A 5 min mito phase is within reason, as is a 5 min reset. I see no reason the villain-side Hami's can't get under the 40 minute mark, where the hero-side ones are headed.

Villains have a slightly different set of tools to utilize, but in the end are just as effective at doing the raid as heroes. In fact, I find the villains to be a more robust group, as during the mito phases there were several rough spots that likely would have wiped a hero raid...but the villains kept on going. Good job to all those who held it together with tenaciousness and skill; you did a great job!

-Sandolphan

After tallying up the times from the last raid, I realized something interesting:

[u]phase........last....best[u]

mito.........4min...3min
hami75.....1min...2min
reset........7min...4min

mito.........5min...3min
hami50.....12min..2min
reset........7min...4min

mito.........4min...3min
hami25......3min...2min
reset........4min...4min

mito.........3min...3min
hami0.......2min...2min

Totals....52mins...30mins

The raid took 52 minutes. That's about 10 minutes longer than we've been averaging, obviously because of the error on the first Hami nucleus attack (too many were gunshy about the bloom, but was subsequently corrected). Overall, there were no wipes, and resets went extremely smoothly.

We're not that far off our best times currently. Importantly, if we implemented each phase flawlessly, we'd have a thirty minute Hami raid on our hands!

-Sandolphan

Invention system and all that goes with it get a big MEH from me. They're a sideshow and not 'real' content. Kind of like a drug high rather than a performance high.

STF and Hamidon were the big wins for me. More actual GAME CONTENT!

Oh and as always, more costumes (to look good while doing the content of course)!

-Sandolphan

Gratz to all attending the Hero-side Hami tonight!

It was our smoothest and quickest one yet. All of the mito phases went like clockwork. The one I timed (which seemed typical) was a 4 minute reset from previous mito bloom, 3 minute mito phase, 3 minute hami attack. Yellows were down in 90 seconds, greens soon after and blues followed.

All four mito phases went this well, making a 40-minute Hami raid doable! The only thing pushing us higher on the time was forming up teams as people slowly arrived in the Hive. That, and the unpredictability of how long it takes to spawn Hami.

Great job again all who attended!

*Note: I placed a post in the suggestion forum about changing the goo-effect from superjump to hover, since we have many people commenting on the near necessity of flight to perform their jobs in an enjoyable way...the last thing we want is any kind of exclusion to affect whether people feel they can contribute.

-Sandolphan

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, but every other guide I've read - and (by and large failed) test I'd been to on Test, Guardian and Triumph

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of those guides were written based upon the test server trials and the 100% resistance EOE's used to give. EOE's only offer capped resistance now (ie at the resistance caps by AT type). Hence the modified tank tactics needed to compensate for the lowered resistance.

-Sandolphan

(edited the guide to reflect tonight's raid experience and changes)

-Sandolphan

We have been experimenting with a modified version of the Hero-side Hami-strat for villains. In the interest of sharing what we've found about completing a villain-side Hamidon raid on Virtue, here is an overview of the strategy we're employing:


Hamidon Raid Strategy: Villain-side Adaptations

Teams and Team Instructions

Mastermind Pet Stream
6 Masterminds and 2 Kinetics (no EOE's required)
<ul type="square">The team should set up behind a rock pillar near the north outcrop area, and as close to Hamidon as possible. Nobody on the team should be exposed to direct line of sight to Hamidon or the mitos, as they will have agro transferred to them and be within range of the Hami/mito blasts, drawing them to the team (also don't recall any pets back to the rock for the same reason).

When the signal is given for the pet stream to start, Masterminds will summon their pets, starting with minions, and send them in to attack Hamidon. They should try to keep up a constant stream of pets heading into the goo. To do this, they should alternate and stagger their summons among them, taking turns but keeping the stream constant. After a minute or so, the stream should be spread enough that there are always pets heading into the goo. With the help of the kinetics Speed Boosting, minions should recharge in roughly 20 secs, lieutenants in 40 secs, and bosses in 60 secs. No upgrade buffs need be applied; the purpose is to distract Hami and whatever else they can before they die.[/list]
Brute Agro Squad
2 teams of: 3-5 brutes and 3 support heal/rez/buffers (brutes will need EOE's: 2+ each x 4 blooms, 48 minimum raid total)
<ul type="square">Each team will be in charge of controlling the agro from 3 yellow mitos. The teams should set up on opposite sides of Hamidon (the east main staging area, and opposite on the west side of hami). Communication between the brute team leaders, and among their own brutes, is essential! Each brute must know precisely which mito they are responsible for. Recommend that the team leaders decide which 2 mitos are their 'center' ones, and assign brutes to center, right and left from that. If setting up at the east and west rock outcroppings it is quite easy to locate these two 'center' mitos, as they are the ones directly in front of the area. Each mito should also assigned a buffer to look after the health and status resist buffs of the brutes attacking it. Extra brutes should be assigned around to the mitos to help kill them. Two brutes on a yellow should have no problem SMASHing it down. Note: Brutes with any form of flight are highly preferred.

On their start signal, the brutes will eat an EOE and rush to their assigned yellow mitos and engage them. The supporters will follow the brutes at a distance, keeping them healed and spammed with stacked mez resist. The support AT's need to remain outside of the aoe splash effect of the mito attack, but within range of their powers. Brutes can assist with this by keeping to the outside edge of the goo and remaining as stationary as possible while attacking. When a yellow mito is killed, move to the next nearest one and help to kill it as well.[/list]
Assault Teams
Everyone else at the raid in balanced teams of damage and support (no EOE's required)
<ul type="square">Special attention should be given to having enough Dominators, as the first targets are the green mitos which must be held to kill (mag 100!). Flight and Group Flight for the teams is a bonus. Dark Miasma AT's are also desired for Fear resists. Stalkers should avoid trying to AS and use their biggest normal attacks with crits instead. Masterminds in the assault teams should refrain from summoning pets at this time, as they can interfere with the pet streams trying to hold Hami agro.

The assault teams all follow a single raid targeter, who will engage the green mitos first. Green mitos have a force field which must first be dropped by applying holds to it. Dominators should use Domination as soon as it's available! Everyone else with a hold should be using it. Once held and the green's field is dropped, damage will quickly kill it, and the targeter will move on to the next green. When all greens are down, clear the blues. Spam healing aoe's, and keep any aoe buffs on (Shadow Fall, bubbles, etc).[/list]

Strategy

It is highly recommended that the raid leader conduct the raid from a 'spotter' location above Hamidon. Looking down like this on the action really helps to get an idea how the raid is progressing and when to issue instructions.

The raid leader will announce the start of the mito phase by telling the MM Pet team to begin sending their pets at Hamidon (staggered as described above). The raid leader will watch as this takes shape, and once stable (ie there is a constant presence of pets inside the goo) will announce the start of the buffing cycle and attack phases in Request channel:

[ QUOTE ]

MASTERMIND PETS ARE STABLE!
MITO ATTACK BEGINNING IN 1 MINUTE…BEGIN BUFFING YOUR TEAMS (STACK MEZ RESISTS, ETC)!
.
30 SECONDS...BRUTE SQUADS GET READY!
.
20 SECONDS...BRUTE SQUADS ENGAGE YELLOW MITOS NOW!!!
.
10 SECONDS...ASSAULT TEAMS READY!
.
0...ASSAULT TEAMS FOLLOW THE TARGET IN...GO!!!


[/ QUOTE ]

It is very important to make sure at each phase that the proper dynamic is working. MM pet stream must be stable before sending in brutes. Brutes must be stable and holding the yellow mitos' attention while remaining alive before sending in the assault teams. If the pets are all dead, or if the brutes have lost a single yellow mito agro, don't proceed with the next phase. Abort and reset...it'll save you time in the long run.

With the MM pets keeping Hamidon agro and loose mitos on them, brutes keeping the attention of the yellow mitos and SMASHing them down, and the assault teams killing off the healing greens, the mitos should be overwhelmed in just a few minutes. Once the mitos are all down, everyone will turn their attention to Hamidon.

At this point, the raiders should move to Hami to kill it. Keep to the opposite side of the group of MM pets to avoid splash damage. A taunt squad of brutes can also move to the side to help draw off Hami blasts away from the rest of the attackers.

When Hami nears the mito bloom percentages (75%, 50%, 25% once each), a recaller from each team (preferably with rez) should return to the east staging area and be ready to pull their team out to rez and regroup. Get everyone back up and into position for the next mito run.


Issues Remaining

The key to successfully pulling this off is a well-run set of Brute teams. They must know their jobs, and their support must keep them going, to allow the rest of the raid to succeed. Brutes are taking the brunt of the assault, and the success of the raid is anchored on them. Unlike the hero-side though, there are not two types of teams that need strict coordination (tankers and scrappers). The Mastermind pet stream is relatively cheap and easy to maintain compared to the tank team. But lack of empathy buffs available on villains means brutes are in a more tenuous position. Better and faster recovery between blooms is another area that needs attention. Even hero-side, regrouping and recovery is a big time-sink to the raid.

-Sandolphan

Might I suggest something a little more compact? Here's what I use:

sonic1.txt
[ QUOTE ]
NUMPAD1 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 1$$powexec_name Sonic Barrier$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic2.txt"
NUMPAD2 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 2$$powexec_name Sonic Barrier$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic2.txt"
NUMPAD3 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 3$$powexec_name Sonic Barrier$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic2.txt"
NUMPAD4 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 4$$powexec_name Sonic Barrier$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic2.txt"
NUMPAD5 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 5$$powexec_name Sonic Barrier$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic2.txt"
NUMPAD6 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 6$$powexec_name Sonic Barrier$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic2.txt"
NUMPAD7 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 7$$powexec_name Sonic Barrier$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic2.txt"
NUMPAD8 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 8$$powexec_name Sonic Barrier$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic2.txt"


[/ QUOTE ]

sonic2.txt
[ QUOTE ]
NUMPAD1 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 1$$powexec_name Sonic Haven$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic1.txt"
NUMPAD2 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 2$$powexec_name Sonic Haven$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic1.txt"
NUMPAD3 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 3$$powexec_name Sonic Haven$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic1.txt"
NUMPAD4 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 4$$powexec_name Sonic Haven$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic1.txt"
NUMPAD5 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 5$$powexec_name Sonic Haven$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic1.txt"
NUMPAD6 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 6$$powexec_name Sonic Haven$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic1.txt"
NUMPAD7 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 7$$powexec_name Sonic Haven$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic1.txt"
NUMPAD8 "+down$$-down$$teamselect 8$$powexec_name Sonic Haven$$bind_load_file d:\CovBinds\Sonic1.txt"


[/ QUOTE ]

There's no need to have sixteen different one-line text files, when they can all be placed into two that swap each other in.

-Sandolphan

[ QUOTE ]
Not to specifically contradict Sandy but rather to highlight the flexibility of the approach as it exists.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not a contradiction, just an extension Eis.

As you say, flexibility from the central idea as exemplified by the standard AT powersets in their basic roles. It's smoothest with the listed powersets, but it's also possible with substitutes.

-Sandolphan

[ QUOTE ]
Not alot of room for Defenders of any other kind besides /Kin/ and /Emp/.

Blasters don't appear to have a major part.
Controllers are missing as well.

Tanks, Scrappers, and healers.

[/ QUOTE ]

On the contrary:

Controllers are key for holding the green mitos, since greens have a force field (mag 100 I'm told) that mitigates most damage until it is held and the FF drops.

Blasters are key for killing both the greens once held, and the blue mitos with ranged damage only.

Defenders are needed in all types for their primaries and secondaries. Dropping Hamidon after the mitos are gone takes almost everything the raid attendees can throw at it. There are issues when too many people pull out early in anticipation of the mito blooms. Defender damage is well-appreciated.

Yes, 7 empaths, 6 flying scrappers (any kind), 1 kinetic, and 5-6 tanks (any kind) are needed as a core group. But everything else needs to be mixes of blasters, controller, defenders, (and scrappers and tankers) of any kind.

The thing that might be misleading is the time and discussion spent on the coordination of the Hami-agro tank team, and the two yellow-mito scrapper teams. These three teams are just the anchors that allow the rest of the raid to function and do their jobs. While important to the overall success of the raid, they are less than half the people present.

When the guide says that the assault teams go in and take down the greens/blues, it's pretty much assumed everyone else knows their job (hold, shoot, kill). Rest assured, the other people are quite active and vital to a successful raid. It's much easier for them to do their jobs if the anchor teams have paved the way for them; the anchor teams just need more detailed descriptions of what is required from them, since it's highly coordinated and exacting, and not something everyone is used to initially.

-Sandolphan

[ QUOTE ]
I think so and it is in the Guides section now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I posted a guide to the strategy and setup of our version of Hami-raids, which forms that section of Newyorican's guide. However, his guide also includes a lot more information on the numbers and such than my guide contained (by design of course).

I had originally posted mine in the Virtue forums, but asked Lighthouse to move it to the Guides section so everyone in general could see and comment on it. At the time, I thought more interest needed to be generated in Hami-raid discussion across all the forum population.

Newyorican clearly wanted to have a guide posted in Virtue forums pertaining to (and directly commented by) the Virtue community for our own raids. This is a good idea, as more Virtuites will likely see a discussion here first. Well done on the additional info, NY.

(Any additional notes that develop as we continue to refine our strategy I will post onto the guide in the Guides forum...at least until such time it becomes too unwieldy and I am forced to repost with all the revisions.)

-Sandolphan

About 1.5 to 2 hours...really depends upon having enough people and getting setup. Once it's rolling, it goes pretty well.

-Sandolphan

*** ATTENTION ***

STRATEGY UPDATES:

Eliminating EOE Training Wheels:
We tried a variation on the agro team launch strategy to incorporate massive aura buffs in place of using EOE’s. Scrappers on both teams pre-target their mitos from the south saferock (main staging area with everyone). At the 30 sec timer announcement, all aura buffs are applied to the entire raid at that time. The tanks and scrappers launch on their signals, and the rest of the raid follows as normal.

The effect of this is to eliminate EOE use by the scrapper teams completely. Scrappers are kept going by the 6-7 regeneration and recovery auras applied to them for the first minute or so, which is enough time to get a few of the yellows down and numbers on our side. After RA’s drop, Adrenalin Boost and spot healing keeps them going through the rest of the clearing.

One step closer to an EOE-less raid.

-Sandolphan

Might you add the Guide to the Hamidon Raiding Experience i9 to the Hami Raid section. Thanks!

-Sandolphan

Thanks Lighthouse for moving this into the guides forums!

-Sandolphan

[ QUOTE ]
It must have taken you qutie a while to organize alll this and put it to paper

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually about an hour or so. Once I started typing, it all sort of just spilled out. The harder part was getting it organized for readability on the forums.

-Sandolphan

Dinah, I changed what you suggested concerning a note about the scrapper teams. Since we're still working out how we want to utilize extra scrappers to spike down yellow mitos, I put it at the end under the Issues section (rather than further add to the details of the scrapper team info).

I'm still partial to the bonus scrapper method, rather than a full side team of scrapper+buffer, since it's less manpower and better integrated. We'll see in practice which works the best.

I also didn't mention the HowlingFulcrumSlick trick with it's near-legendary status (OIL SLICK! WTH?), as I fully expect it to be nerfed as unintended at some point.

-Sandolphan

Hamidon the Raid Experience i9 (Hero-side):

The goal of this write-up is to spend more time describing the actual conduct of the Hami raid, what someone on a team can expect, and advice for leaders who want to run it. It's based upon several trials on the Test server, practice runs conducted with the core groups prior to full raids, and successful raids on Virtue. Other guides have given more detail on the numbers and such, but the advice given here is drawn from the experiences of those participating and leading each element of the raid.

The general strategy employed below is adapted from the successful Test server strat several of us attended to before i9 went live. It's been used successfully twice now on Virtue hero-side without a hitch (both times taking about 1.5 hours to complete). Unlike the old (boring) auto-raids, everyone on the new raids needs to contribute and plays an active role.

Hopefully, it will help as many people as want to get familiar with the new improved Hamidon i9, and Hami-raids will become regular fun server events again.

Pre-raid EOE Farming:
EOE's are Essence of Earth, special inspiration drops from Devouring Earth giant monsters. They provide capped resists to the special damage Hami and the yellow mitos do (similar to Ambrosia from the Eden Trial).

It is recommended that EOE's are farmed in PI prior to the raid time. Gather them a day before, or earlier on raid day itself, but allow an hour or so to collect enough. Roughly, we're talking about 80 for all the tanks, and 50 for all the scrappers. (It sounds like a lot, and it is. One of the problems to be addressed is reducing dependence on EOE's.)

Setting up in the Hive:
Whether the raid is private or public, the key factor is getting the core groups in and set up. If the raid does not have the key people on hand to anchor the strategy, there's little point in raiding. This aspect, coupled with the 50-person zone cap, means if the zone fills up with people interested in raiding before the core group members can get in and established, people will either have to give up their spot and leave or no raid will happen. This can lead to bad feelings and drama, so however the leaders decide to handle announcement of the raid, take this into consideration.

Overview to the New Hamidon:
The new Hamidon must be spawned in the Hive by defeating a random number of devouring earth giant monsters. This will also pad out your EOE count. Importantly, everyone fighting GM's must have two inspiration slots open, as EOE's are dropped in addition to a normal inspiration (two for one). Once Hami spawns, the zone empties of giant monsters, so you are left free to fight Hami without interference.

Hami’s new layout consists of 3 rings of 6 mitos each, from outside to in colored: yellow, blue, and green. Each color performs a different function, and they all overlap to make Hami a tough onion to peel. (I'm not posting hard numbers here, Iakona has already done that in another thread. Just giving some rough idea what to expect.)

Yellow mitos shoot an area of effect blast for roughly 500 damage that will also stun. The stun is high magnitude and will break through scrapper resists quickly. Hence the need to maintain Clear Mind-type powers on the teams exposed to the blast. Yellows need to be melee’d, as they resist ranged attacks heavily.

Blue mitos have a fear attack and endurance drain. The fear effect means anyone on the assault teams should be protected as much as possible by status resists, especially Shadow Fall. Blues are weak to ranged attacks, and will endurance drain anything in melee range quickly.

Green mitos have a –heal attack which will practically cancel out all healing after only a few hits. This is the reason tanks cannot be kept alive by healing, and must hand off their roles to other tanks and be ported out to be patched up. Greens also have a powerful force field that must be dropped by holding them prior to all out attacks. Hence the need for controllers on the assault teams. Green mitos also have a tremendous targeted heal that will regen a mito to full heal within seconds. Their weakness is they heal the closest damaged target first, so by assaulting the greens directly, they will focus on healing each other rather than the yellows.

Hamidon’s aoe attack also has a –heal effect, which further complicates the tanks’ job.

Mito Blooms (full mito respawns) occur when Hamidon reaches 75%, 50% and 25% health. Each bloom only happens once at the specific percentages. When this occurs, the raid must immediately withdraw to safety to heal, rez and clear them again (mito bloom). Thus a full raid will be:

[ QUOTE ]
Spawn Hami
Clear initial mitos
Fight Hami to 75%
1st mito bloom
Clear mitos
Fight Hami to 50%
2nd mito bloom
Clear mitos
Fight Hami to 25%
3rd mito bloom
Clear mitos
Kill Hami


[/ QUOTE ]
Mitos must be cleared 4 times total. This is by design; the devs have stated the mito blooms are designed to pace the encounter out to their liking.

Teams and Roles:
There are three primary roles that teams will play in the raid:

<ul type="square">[*]The Tanker team controls Hami agro[*]Two Scrapper/Empath teams control yellow mito agro[*]The rest of the raid forms a large Assault team to directly attack the green mitos then the blues.[/list]
The composition of these teams is:

[ QUOTE ]

Tanker team - 1 kinetic, 1-2 empaths, 5-6 tanks. One of the non-tankers needs Recall Friend. Any tank type will suffice. Tanks will need about 4 EOE's each per bloom (16+ each).


[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Scrapper teams - TWO teams consisting of 3 flying scrappers, 3 empaths (preferably flying). Scrappers should have about 2 EOE's each per bloom (8+ each), and having a few Breakfrees on hand wouldn’t hurt for both scrappers and emps.


[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Assault teams - all the rest of the raid in balanced teams, meaning damagers and support to keep everyone going. Controllers are key since the green mitos must be held before they can be taken down. No EOE's are needed for these teams.


[/ QUOTE ]

The Strategy:
Tanker Team - The tanker team sets up in a safe area just outside of Hami agro, behind a rock and out of line of sight. Typically, we have setup the tanker team at the north saferock (away from the rest of the raid). Here, the empath and kinetic will buff each tank with everything they have. Status resists are vital, even for tanks. Hold the aoe aura buffs until just before the tanks engage. On the signal buff with auras, and tanks will rush into the goo to grab Hamidon's nucleus agro. Some communication among the tanks is necessary, as they must transfer agro to each other as the current target tank nears death. The empath will port out the damaged tank and patch him up with the kinetic's help, while another tank takes over the taunting. Continue this agro swapping throughout the entire mito bloom phase. The kinetic's Speed Boost greatly helps the empath get buffs and rezzes back quickly.

Scrapper/Empath Teams – Each empath should be pre-assigned a specific scrapper to look after. Each scrapper should be pre-assigned a specific yellow mito to be their target. As with the tanks, the scrappers must have full buffs on them, including Clear Mind. CM should be spammed on them as much as possible, as well the empaths should CM each other initially. Save RA’s for just before the teams launch.

The team leader should be in contact with their sister team’s leader, to be clear precisely which yellow mitos each team is responsible for. Typically, one scrapper team sets up at the south saferock, and the other team sets up at the north saferock. The team leader will specifically assign each scrapper to a yellow mito and verify their target, then report the team ready to the raid leader. This step is vital, as one missed assignment can wipe the entire raid. In practice, it’s best for the raid leader to identify the center mito for each scrapper team leader, and the team leaders then assign left/center/right to their scrappers off of this.

On the start signal, scrappers (with their empaths following) will fly to their assigned yellow mito and attempt to kill it. Their primary goal is to stay alive and keep the mito’s attention, but they should try to kill it as well. Once the green mitos' attentions are drawn away from healing the yellows, most scrappers have a good chance at defeating their yellow solo. If the scrapper kills their mito, immediately move to the next closest yellow mito on the team and assist in killing it (empaths follow your scrapper). In this way, a cascade of damage follows around as the scrappers double- and triple-up over time.

To assist in keeping their empaths alive, scrappers should approach and attack their yellow mito from the outside edge of the goo, and try to remain stationary once in place. This way, the empaths can remain at max range without taking as much splash damage or getting stunned. Empaths must remain outside the mito aoe blast but within heal and CM range. It’s a tricky dance that takes practice.

Assault teams – As with old Hami raids, have a designated targeter that everyone targets off of (either friend them or make a macro/hotkey). Someone on each team with Group Fly is also helpful. After the tanks and scrappers have anchored the dangerous agro and are stable, the assault teams all plunge in together to take down the green mitos first. Controllers and anyone else with a hold will spam the target green mito until the force field drops. Then kill the mito with all out damage as fast as possible. Move around to the next green and repeat. Once the greens are down, do the same with the blue mitos. The targeter and teams should remain at range to kill the blues, as their endurance drains are powerful in melee range. Any aoe mez resists (especially fear resist) are very important to the assault teams (dark defenders are highly desired). Keep away from the outer yellow mito aoe blasts and the tankers holding Hami’s attention below.

Countdown to Start:
It is highly recommended that the raid leader keep everyone informed to the expectations of each person and their role by teams. The scrapper and tanker teams hopefully will be experienced and know what to expect. Try to pick team leaders for these teams who can teach newcomers what is needed and give advice. Delegation and communication are key.

When ready to begin, the raid leader should use Request channel to announce timer countdown messages as follows:

[ QUOTE ]
MITO ATTACK BEGINNING IN 1 MINUTE…BEGIN BUFFING YOUR TEAMS (CM, ID, ETC)!
.
30 SECONDS…USE RA’S NOW…TANKERS GET READY!
.
20 SECONDS…TANKERS GO!!!
.
10 SECONDS…SCRAPPERS GO!!!
.
0…ASSAULT TEAMS FOLLOW THE TARGETER IN...GO!!!


[/ QUOTE ]

This timing has worked out quite well, and gives everyone a heads up when to expect to go.

Results of a Mito Attack Phase:
Past experience has varied, but typically the greens start to fall first, followed quickly by a yellow or two. A full mito clearing with nothing too extreme probably should take 4-8 minutes. Getting the first couple of mitos down takes a minute or so, and after that it snowballs faster and steadier. The opening couple of minutes are the most intense.

After Mito Clearing:
Once all mitos are down, the raid should gather around Hamidon and beat it down. Keep away from where the tanks are taunting and give them plenty of room to work (they will typically be spread out to avoid having too many taking damage from each blast). Also, do not use Phantom Army at any point on a Hami raid, as the decoys have a strong taunt and can cause the tanks to momentarily lose Hami agro (blasting the attacking raid force instead).

As Hami approaches each of the mito bloom percentages, have each team send a non-damager with Recall out to the saferock, to pull rezzers and recover bodies after the bloom. But don't let your damagers get gun-shy about dying in the mito bloom! Hami's regen is severe and the raid will need everyone that can do significant damage to stay until the last second to drop it. Pulling the recallers/rezzers is just to speed up the post-bloom recovery.

When the bloom spawns, the recaller should try to grab as many people to safety as possible, starting with rezzers. Everyone else should RUN FASTER to safety. Safety in this case is: over 600yrds from Hami and behind a rock out of line of sight. Do NOT run to the south staging saferock however! This will be where triage teams are rezzing the fallen and you will draw Hami-blasts onto them. Run to the east and west sides behind spires and wait for a port or make your way wide around to the saferock.

Practice the Hard Part:
I would recommend gathering people to form the core agro control teams (tanker and scrapper/empath teams) and try some practice runs before a full raid. Since the timing and requirements for controlling the entire situation are crucial, having the tanks, scrappers, and buffers experience their roles and work together is vital. Also, it allows the raid leader and team leaders to gain experience communicating with each other and with their teams. Multiple mito practice runs can then be made without making the rest of the raid wait around. Once a core group is trained, more people can be shown the ropes and soon there will be a large number of people to draw from with raid experience.

Issues and Other Strategies:
Spiking down the yellows is an area that needs a little more attention. Having a separate roaming team of scrappers with a buff/healer, to directly attack a yellow to kill it faster and move on to the next, would be a good addition. We have also tried adding 2 extra scrappers to the yellow mito teams to assist in taking yellow mitos down faster. Either way, the spike team/bonus scrappers will need buffs and support (especially CM).

Some other strats posted list tankers on the yellow mitos instead of scrappers. There are two good reasons to go with scrappers though: scrappers can withstand the assault of the yellow fine with empathy support, and scrappers can more easily kill their yellow. Also, scrappers are usually more abundant than tankers, who most likely will be needed on the Hami team.

Other problems with the existing strategy include dependence on having specific minimum numbers of specific AT’s: 6 flying scrappers, 7 empaths (also preferably flying), and 4+ tanks to anchor the raid. Without this core group, the strategy can’t be implemented (you can substitute some tanks or warshades for the scrappers, but they are usually more rare than scrappers). There isn’t really a good substitute for the empaths. In a setting where ideally any AT powerset should be sufficient to swap in, it seems empaths are still singularly required.

Finally, the large number of EOE’s used needs to be addressed. The devs have said the EOE’s are ‘training wheels’, and I’d be very interested in finding a way to limit (or remove) them from being a requirement to raids.


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I realize this is a lot of info, and much of it is repeated from other strategy posts, but I’ve had several people inquiring about more specifics and advice from our raids. Our goals were to 1. Get it done, and 2. Share with everyone, to make raids happen more often again for the server. Hopefully having accomplished the first goal, now we can achieve the second!

-Sandolphan



Oh ok, I know I said I wasn’t going to post hard numbers, but here are Iakona’s numbers from the test post:

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Each mito has a PBAoE auto power and a targeted power, in addition to their standard "Resistance" and "Fly" powers.
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Yellow mitos have a 45 foot PBAoE damage/stun power that activates every 4 seconds. Their targeted power is a 45 foot AoE damage/stun with 600 ft range, 0 CastTime, and 4 second recharge.
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Blue mitos have a 15 foot PBAoE fear/debuff power that activates every 2 seconds. Their targeted power is a single-target damage/mez with 300 ft range, 1.87 CastTime, and 6 second recharge.
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Green Mitos have a 150 foot PBAoE damage/debuff power that activates every 6 seconds but can only affect one target per activation; they also have a 70 foot PBAoE heal power that activates every 7 seconds, healing all allies within the radius for 321 HP. Their targeted power is a single-target heal for 1205 HP with 300 ft range, 1.0 CastTime, and 5 second recharge. They have an additional self-affecting auto power called "Regenerative Aura" that activates every 10 seconds and appears to grant capped regeneration (500% HP/minute) and high resistance to damage; the effects of this power seem to have a conditional statement attached to deactivate the effects while held. The base "Held" attribute protection for Boss_Mito class entities is -100.


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No offense to anyone but is it me or is Stateman's speech sounding something along the lines of what President Bush gave to the public before invading Iraq.

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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

-Sandolphan

Since Black Scorpion is generally considered a 'pushover', it might be nice if the devs gave him something to give pause to teams, like they do for GW or Mako. Scirocco has his big electric nuke and dust devils...that's enough to wipe a team's squishies if they're not paying attention, or drain out some of the heavier targets too.

Granted, it seems everyone complains that Mako has too strong of a power and needs a slight toning down. I don't think GW's is really so much about the power as the tactics, so I really wouldn't complain too much about her. Mako...ya maybe.

But my point was to give BS a little something something. Not sure what, just pondering...

-Sandolphan