Standoff

Hmmm - thanks for all the responses, folks - that leaves an interesting set of toons to choose from:

Standoff (45 Blaster)
Doulos (1 off) (42 Blaster)
The Dark Watchman (45 Blaster)
Yellow Feather (42 Blaster)
Raylin/Midevil Diamond (35/13 Defender)
Double Shade (50 WS)
Byte (21 Blaster)
Tech Tower (50 Tank)
Deluge (38 Blaster)

Prawnee (50 Scrapper)
Lord Phil (33 PB)
Nefarious (1 off) (39 WS)

...the the final group of 3 being in the "happy to help if needed" category, and the first lot those that showed a definite interest. And even then that's 9 (single counting Doulos and Nefarious), although a few of those may not be able to make it if better halves object.

Trying to narrow it down, and rationalise things a bit this leads me to this crowd as the A team:

Standoff (45 Blaster) - well, duh
Tech Tower (50 Tank) - we really need a tank!
Raylin/Midevil Diamond (35/13 Defender) - and a defender, against AVs!
Doulos (1 off) (42 Blaster) - close to mission range for SK/exemping
The Dark Watchman (45 Blaster) - ditto
Yellow Feather (42 Blaster) - also ditto
Double Shade (50 WS) - backup tank, plus versatile
Byte (21 Blaster) - directly promised a place

So, Deluge is top of the reserve list, and Prawnee, Lord P and Nef are on there too.

Sorting out SKs and exemps so that everyone gets decent xp could be a challenge given the new rules, but as that's going to be very dependent on who's able to make it on the day I won't even try to organise it ahead of time.

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If I hit 22 beforehand, I'll slot 2 acc, which may help a teeny bit.

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More importantly, you can ask one of the 50s to buy you a nice full set of shiny SOs

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Indeed.

Duckdee, SOs would make a significant difference, so PM me if you want a bit of sponsorship to get kitted out. (The 50s have changed all their millions to Prest, so I might be better off than them at the moment... )

Byte seemed to be doing well enough against the low 40s the other day, and I don't think any of the missions are in level-restricted areas, so you're welcome Duckdee!

Double, you're also welcome in any event, but how do you think your lobster will do against an AV? Both in terms of staying upright (assuming some support) and holding aggro? This isn't a situation I've come across before, so I have no idea if it's something you'd find easy, impossible, or somewhere in between...

G, I have limited experience of Kinetics - I know they have some sweet powers, but in a long AV fight do you think a Kin or an Empath would be better?

All are welcome, and SKing's no problem either, although it's looking like we might have to limit it to just the one of the Doulos Brothers (wives permitting).

Awesome as us blasters are, I more than suspect we'll need a tank/tankable scrapper and defender of some flavour too, to keep the AVs off our heads...

OK, that's 4 on the team - me and the Doulos triplets. Anyone else?

It worked for my main - dropped Hasten and now all my "damaging" attacks (everything except Power Push, basically) are slotted 1 Acc/3 Dam/2 RecRed.

Seems to work well enough, with fire rate close enough to the old 1/5 + Hasten build that I can't really tell the difference.

That's with En primary, mind, so I'm "lucky" enough not to have any useful slottable secondary effects that might otherwise compete for enh slots...

Kept 3 slotted Stamina, and with the occasional strategic use of Conserve Power I don't have any end problems to speak of.

For the last month or so my main's mission list has been clogged up with the Tina MacIntyre story arc. Well, not that clogged up as I've been spending most of my time in the Isles anyway, but you get the idea.

These are the missions that take you through the first batch of Praetorian AVs (at least one AV in most of the remainder of the arc's missions, two in some) so not something I can clear with the occasional bit of soloing I've been doing. Given that Paragon's been a bit quiet lately I'm reluctant to risk wasting time by logging on and trying to assemble an anti-AV team on the fly.

So - anyone up for a more planned get together this coming weekend, time as in the subject line? The idea would be to tear through the missions in sequence, with breaks for selling/insps/bio as required.

Base mob levels should be 44-46, plus any team size boost and can be upped a bit more by setting myself Invincible if need be. As well as the xp and fun of taking the Praetorians down, the AV arrests will also help qualify for the Dimensional Warder badge, which in turn is needed for the Portal Jockey accolade.

P.S. Meeting place: The Portal Corp tumble dryer.

Scrappy Burpday Scrape!

And just to get it in the thread, level range is 20-25.

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Well, we had a get together of sorts last night.

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Sorry I missed it guys - had to work last sunday (new server's going in) and I did'nt get finished till 7.30 (boo !)

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Stupid dumb work! (Does that sort of thing to me occasionally, too )

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If Quick and Illum (or an Illum alt - anything on the way up?) can make it, how about a full-blown outing next weekend?

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No alts at any kind of decent level i'm afraid (seriously standoff dunno how the heck you do it ) - but if RL don't get in the way again I'll be there.

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Not having kids to distract me helps a lot. Anyway, you've made it to 50 which I'm still significantly short from...and my play time is falling off a bit from early days, so I don't think all the alts will continue rocketing up the way they used to.

Would be great to see you Sunday evening if you are able to make it!

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And in case anyone had doubts...

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Oh come on - you can't tease us with that - more details

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I would if I could...Kin joined the team some way off in Talos, and by the time Ditz or I had chance to do more than boggle it was all over. Only Kin himself know what actually happened...

Yep, happy birthday!

(Is it only your birthday on Union, then? )

Gratz and cookies to Electrify - nice one on dinging 50, and thanks for the heals you threw my way on the way up!

Well, we had a get together of sorts last night.

Pursel, Ditz (hurrah!) and various Kin alts got together and teamed a bit, with valuable help from a new scrapper whose name I'm afraid has completely escaped me.

With level combinations along the lines of:
5, 31, 36
14, 31, 36
31, 36, 50
31, 33, 36, 50 (actually this one worked, doing a lvl 36 mission!)

it was a bit tricky to get decent xp for all, but as we were mainly in it for the fun - and trying out post-ED builds - that didn't really matter.

If Quick and Illum (or an Illum alt - anything on the way up?) can make it, how about a full-blown outing next weekend?

And in case anyone had doubts - reaching 50 hasn't lost Kin any of his face-planting specialness. Ditz and I were waiting for him to join us in Talos after he'd switched away from one of his alts, I got the "Hi" tell and added him to the team, with him several hundred yards away from us...then as we watched his health started from full, dropped in fits and starts down to red over 3-4 seconds, then he died. A level 50, just logged in, in a level 20-30 zone. How Kin, how?

(The old "TP over Kin's corpse, do the rez" sequence brought the memories flooding back, though )

Hmmm - difficult one. I could probably take Purs on either of those; he hasn't done Katie Hannon at all, so would be in it for the badge, and while he's done Manti a few times already he still hasn't quite got his quota of PPs for the Accolade. (And let's face it, he isn't going to be bagging any PPs solo!)

If we find another empath for either of these and Purs would be a bit spare, I'll switch to Sushi as he's the only other one I've got in the right level range.

Time-wise Sunday afternoon or evening would be best for me.

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I now seem to be the only survivng member of Team Whole Bee still in my 30s!

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Apart from Persil/Pursel and Quick, that is.

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Yeah I'm pretty much lamenting that fact, but at least I'm not the only one

I have just realised that I haven't levelled up since before S4 - Wasn't that like 6 months ago?

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Right, thats it! Ditzy, Blade and Persil, out on the streets together again! We must level. I've only gone up one since I4!
Can't do saturday but what about sunday? Get a few new Bees involved and hit a TF?
If Kin can do it anyone can surely?

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Hee hee - that'd be an experience; 3 grizzled old veterans gaping at the changes in the post-ED world and muttering about how things were better back in The Day.

Should be able to make Sunday, so I guess that just leaves the small matter of deciding what to do. What levels are you and Quick?

I'll spend Saturday trying to find a viable ED build for Purs...

Happy Birthday D! Remembered to bring the cake, then?

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I now seem to be the only survivng member of Team Whole Bee still in my 30s!

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Apart from Persil/Pursel and Quick, that is.

Way to go Kin! Gratz on finally reaching the big 5-0!

Edit: Picture of the event here.

Way to go Kid! Big gratz, and see you at 50 soon[1]!

[1] Before 2007, anyway. Probably.

I think my heroic defender, Captain Pedant, may have found his nemesis...

Although we might discover there's only 10 actual players across the entire coalition, each with an awful, awful lot of alts...

D, I don't know how many of the other Alt Rangers play regularly (because <cough> I don't, as Shafty) but I'd have no problems at all about moving him into another SG.

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If you decide on Saturday I'm in. As a scrapper I'm an excellent sniper-er-er.

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Excellent - as I'm teh Melee King with my 6-slotted Brawl we should fit together like hand and sock.

If there's space I'd like to take my main on this - hurrah for new badges!

If you want your Ectoplasmic badge, go arrest those ghosts now before the Devs catch on!