Wicked_Wendy

Not quite as bad on Virtue but early tonight there was actually a lengthy discussion on the latest exploit on the TASK FORCE global channel. And of course there is always someone looking for or forming an AE team in Atlas(Blue side) or Cap (Red side). I wouldn't say its constant but often enough that it is noticeable.

Aett Thorn is absolutely correct. The main idea behind Buff Sets is to make you attractive and a huge asset to a team. If you want to solo get away from Buff sets and go with ones that Debuff.. RAD or DM.. you still get a heal and rez which can come in handy on a team but the primary focus is making it easier to take down the villains in front of you... Always popular on teams and still just as effective if you are solo.

Yes you can tell. Click on the team member's name, bring up his profile and the very bottom entry under the listing of his powers should be his Alpha slot. If there is nothing there, an it is marked as Alpha, then that person has not slotted yet.

No you can sell them or the shards. You can't trade them and as far as I know the only element you can BUY is the Gr'ai Matter once every 18 hours by using 150 Vanguard Merits on the Vanguard Crafting tables in their base. Shards, elements and the enhancemenst they create belong solely to YOU and you are the only one that can use them. Think about it .. supposedly your achieving the same level of power as Statesman or Recluse. Does a near god sell away his immortality? LOL

You are STILL a 50 level and while you'd earn Influence for defeating a level 54 it would be at the normal rate associated with a 50 defeating a 54 NOT a 46 level. You haven't lost any levels your just debuffed to the point where your attacks react like you are 4 levels lower. SO no doing a Tin Mage or Apex unslotted will not add to your fortune only your frustration as you hit nothing and take damage like a one level in PI. Sorry LOL

Okay here is the point the Desmodos is trying to make.. Run a Lady Grey TF and you will be awarded a Hero 1 DNA sample at the end in addition to whatever shards you earn. Run and ITF and you will get an Ancient Nictus Fragment plus whatever shards you earn. You now have X number of shards plus 2 of the three elements needed to craft a Cardiac Boost. IF you have 150 Vanguard Merits you can then use them to buy the third a Gr'ai Matter and without using ANY of your shards you just crafted the Cardiac Boost. If not after running those two TFs you have enough shards to build a Gr'ai Matter and you are slotted.

Take note: Speed runs on these TFs defeat the purpose since the more minons, lieutenants, bosses, EBs and AVs you defeat the better chance you have of getting shards. I ran an ITF that was KILL ALL and in 1:40 minutes we finished and I left with 11 shards.. That's enough to craft 2 common elements with three more left over. That same day I did a LGFT and while we skipped some mobs I emerged with 8 more shards. In one day, and in about 3 hours of game time I had created Muscular Boost and a Muscualr Radial Boost on my Tanker. So I was not only slotted but had already reached the second level. And that was without using Vanguard merits to purchase anything.

I strongly recommend NOT trying an Apex or Tin Mage TF without your Alpha slotted. As mentioned you will basically be trying to battle with an 8 level disadvantage. You'll be lucky if any attack you have hits and when it does the damage will be very minor. From chat I have seen in Beta many players are already forming the opinion that if they are team leaders they won't allow anyone on their team if it not slotted and if they aren't the leader they won't join a team that has anyone on board that isn't slotted. So if you don't want to stand around for an hour trying to recruit only to flail away helplessly at level 54s attacking you.. SLOT your Alpha before you try the TF. :-D

Yep Forbin pretty much says it all. Plus keep in mind while the events occur around those holidays NC Soft is always very careful to be PC (Ploically Correct). The event in December is never referred to as "The Christmas Event" its the Winter Event. The Valentine's Day event is offically referred to as The SPRING Event and I guess since Halloween is not really associated with any poarticular Religous group or nationality the lawyers have no issue with just calling that "The Halloween Event".

We have players from all around the globe and a number of severs in Europe so setting an event that targets a specific US holiday was probably ruled out long ago. There is also the fact that it would create a situation where you'd have back to back to back events from October to December. Then after a short break in January a forth followed by absolutely nothing until October rolled around again. I have always wondered why they didn't come up with some sort of summer event to round out the seasons:

Halloween = Fall Event

Winter event (Xmas) = Winter ((DUH))

Valentine's event = Spring (although a tad early in February)

So where is our summer event? When all the College and High School aged players are off from classes and have more time to play. Of course the Forth of July aside there really is no holiday to base an event on and since the 4th is definately a US holliday.. that sort of explains why they don't use that! Maybe we could get another addition to Pocket D.. a Summer time beach area and run some Summer Event missions against the Coralax? :-D

There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking absob pain.. that being said I don't have it on most of my empaths. LOL Heal Others does a tremendous job of solo healing and recharges quickly and, JUST MY OWN FEELINGS BUT..., I didnt take Absob Pain because anything that describes its process of operating by saying "uses some of MY hit points to heal others" I tend to avoid. Nothing wrong with it but I always felt.. "If I use MY Hit points to heal you and then I die because of it.. who is left to heal everyone else after i am down? LOL

Putting you Healing Aura on Auto is okay but it has developed the reputation of being a Noob tactic or one used by "bad empaths" only. That reputation sadly was earned as a lot of players that never should have ever rolled an empath to begin with would get inside a mission, put Healing Aura on Auto, and do absolutely nothing else but trail along behind the team glowing green. Realistically whle its not a horrible thing as long as you are doing other things to help the team it's not necessary. If the team is all at full health all you are doing is wasting end you could be using to provide team mates with Fort, Clear mind, or firing off your attacks to add to the damage. It's your character so play the way you like but I personally use Heal Other to bring back those that need it badly and fire off my aura when the team is in mid combat and its better to keep people at 100% health with a quick green glow than to wait and have to try and get to them before they face plant cause they are in the red.

Fort is best used.. however you see fit. It does take some time to recharge and I have 2 recharge enhancements in mine and it still takes about 31 or 32 seconds. I generally start with Scrappers since they are in direct melle contact and have less HP than a tank, I'll do Blasters next, High damage but little defense so every little bit helps, and then depending on the powersets involved I'll do the tank or move to the Defenders and Controllers. It's not possible to keep an entire 8 man team buffed so I do what I can and then skip back to the Scrappers and start over.

As long as you do the best you can to help the team very few players with criticize you. The big thing that people hated about those empaths with healing aura on auto was they weren't doing anything else most of the time. I even played on a team where the leader kicked the Empath Defender because he was trailing along behind the team while we battled mob after mob and was so far back that the only person he was healing was himself. He never fired off a single attack, never used Fort of CM once (and had both) and the one thing he was using wasn't helping anyone but himself. Basically he was letting us earn him XP while he watched.. As long as you aren't doing THAT.. no one is going to complain. Remember it is YOUR build so if you want Absorb Pain in it for emergencies and your not hurting yourself or your team by having it.. then your fine. If someone is telling you HOW to build your character and complaining about your build .. maybe you don't want to team with them anyway. I tell folks all the time there are a thousand ways to play this game and as long as your not hurting anyone else or breaking any TOS rules none of them are wrong. :-D

so exactly when do we see the two new TFs and get stamina? I have many, many respecs to complete before the Winter Event begins. LOL

SIX waves? See now I am jealous Forbin. When I discovered the "You know what" attacking I wanted the defeat badge. I never got more than five 3 man spawns on any solo mission. I have run a few of them on teams and its sort of hard to judge how many there were mainly because with that many we got lieutenants and bosses along with minions and of course those take the place of several minions.

Anyway I am enjoying the mission. I do have a question though. I helped Beta test Preatoria and have taken a few characters through there since it went live. We do see Longbow and Arachnos during contact missions but I don't recall a single mission involving Circle of Thorns. Supposedly there is almost no magic in Praetoria and since canon usually explains their presence in a zone as them searching for new magic they can steal (which is how they explain them showing up in the Shadow Shard).. Exactly why are they suddenly setting up shop in the underground? My guess.. It's Halloween and they are the "SPOOKY" villian group. As to why the YOU KNOW WHAT are there.. the Devs gave us all a chance to earn a Praetorian badge without starting a character in Praetoria.. HAPPY HALLOWEEN :-D

To answer your question.. Yes there are Hundreds, maybe thousands, of doors in PI BUT the whole idea of putting together a 7 or 8 man ToT team is not having to run all over creation to spawn mobs. On a double set of doors each person on that team can click twice before the door shuts down to them for a few moments. That means an eight man team can click 16 times before the door stops working and by the time they battle all the mobs that will spawn the door has reset and the first person to click can go again. The OP created a team and they weren't botheing anyone just playing the game for the badges, salvage, ect.

Using your logic the culprets here are the 3 man team that felt the need to push their way in and try to take over that ONE set of doors in PI when.. as you said ... there were plenty of other ones they could have used. These events have always managed to bring out the JERKS in game and anyone that has been around a while can testify to the fact that 50 levels used to ToT in places like Mercy and Atlas park. They were only interested in the Halloween Salvage and drops so they'd click on doors and if a mob actually spawned they'd just move off and leave it there for some poor 3 or 4 level to discover and get one shotted .. This prompted the Devs to alter code so no one could ToT in zones not appropriate for their level unless they exempt down.

There is no TOS that says that door belongs to THAT team but its common courtesy to respect the fact that a team is using that door and use one of the many others in zone rather than being a A** and forcing your way in. The team that insisted on pushing in to use THAT door and then resorted to name calling in public chat were rude and OP has every right to be upset.