Wicked_Wendy
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Posts
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Joined
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Awww that just sucks I loved my Staff/Wp Brute on Beta... guess I will just have to settle for a new Beast Master MM until it launches.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Intussusceptor
I actually think the opposite, that only people who want weak/gimped characters would use low physique. Nearly all females melees would use the top quarter of the physique slider, in its current configuration.
Really? Back when I first started on COV every single Brute I saw was a HUGE... so I decided to drive them all crazy and created BAM BEE .. she was about 5' 0" tall, thin and very cute. Then she'd show up and pound the crap out of mobs. hehehe None of my characters are really big .. at some point here on the forums someone suggested that a smaller character could move through caves and tight spots easier .. No idea if that is actually true or not but I sort of adopted it as a standard and none of my characters are reallt HUGE. -
Quote:LOL agreed but then to be totally honest.. How many Synapse TFs do you think you need to hit 20?Originally Posted by Chad Gulzow-Man
Since Death From Below was added in Issue 21, you can level entirely from 1-50 using only trials and TFs, yes. (Prior to i21, you had to get to at least level 10 before you could do any trials or TFs blueside, or 15 redside.)
The only real problem is that you're pretty certain to be repeating content quite a bit... how many Synapse TFs do you think you can stomach in between 15 and 20?
1. Do at least 4 DFB Trials .. this should get your character to around 14 or 14 and gets you all 4 of the buffs available. They do help out until you hit 22.
2. POSI One and POSI Two .. Just finsihing these after hitting 15 will get you close to 20 depending on how much you attack or how much you skip.
3. Okay NOW do a Synapse... One Synapse just to ensure you eventually wind up with TF commander.. hey may as well get the bonus from that right?
By now you are definately 20 level.
4. Sister Psyche even with stealth should easily get you to around or above level 22.
5. Moonfire has a number of defeat alls and between it and Sister P you should be at or close to level 25.
6. Citadel is now available and and has a number of defeat alls as well so that should get you close to 30.
Your above level 24 so just to add some XP and potential levels why not head to IP and run a First Respec mission? Okay TECHNICALLY not a TF but then neither is DFB.
7. By 30 you can run Mantcore now it starts to get a little tougher cause most people stealth a good bit of that and you need a lot more XP to gain levels in the thirties.. BUT now you can always go back and do Posi 1, Pos 2, Sister P, Moonfire, Hess (if anyone can open it and runs one), and even repeat Citadel and Manticore.. I'd suggest spacing these to ensure you get the full Merit bonuses from each.
One other suggestion.. as long as you have access.. technically all of the SSA arcs are considered TFs so why not join teams running those and again gain more reward merits etc.
8. At 35 run Numina.. frankly its probably only going to get you half a level since way too many of the missions involve defeating 10 or 20 villains that give up no XP at all. So if you truly intend to level by TF only plan to do a LOT more of the lower level TFs to get you through the 30s.
NOW..here is where you get into a grey area... at 35 you can start doing ITFs and they can get you a couple of levels easy BUT you need access to the Midnighter's club. It used to be this could be as easy as joining a "TEAM" when a player finished the arc and was about to chat with the latin Student (so you still wouldn't have actively participated in the arc) but from what I hear they are changing that so you HAVE to participate in the arc to earn the badge and entrance. YOU may need to, if this is true, actually do that one non TF arc to get access to a lot of easy TF XP.
9. hit 45 and run STF, LGTF and just keep doin ITFs until you ding 50.
Don't forget that as of March 6 we get the new DIB Trial that starts at 15 and can be run all the way to 50 so you can easily do that to fill in any gaps.
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I'd be happy if they just cut down on their perception.. I don't know how many times I have seen General Aarons, from Serpant Drummer, just blow past me and start attacking anything that moves.. and I have yet to get into range with characters that have RANGED attacks.
My worst memory of this was on my SoA Crab. We entered the chamber with the 2 Fake Nemesis and I was stand back trying to decide how to attack knowing as soon as I got close he'd rush in. Next thing I knew he's chasing CHASING the two Fakes around the chamber and aggroing every single mob. At that point I assumed the mission was doomed to fail so I just launched into the 2 Fakes with all my pets out hoping to get as much XP as possible before the giant mission failed notice appeared. To this day I still don't know how I managed to kill everything in that room before the idiot could get himself killed. Now as mentioned I had all my spider pets out and while not one of them attacked anything until I moved forward AARONS was after everything in the room???? Just how far does their aggro range extend?
I've taken to developing my own, soloing, strategy for many of these missions. On the Aarons mission once I find him I will mark the spot and then go clear out the entire rest of the map before I rescue him. With Lady Jane, when possible, I will run past the COT that are gaurding her and then taunt them away. Kill them and then clear out the cave before I go back to guide her to the end.. at worst that way she only has to survive 1-2 ambushes. Its actually been quite a while since I even bothered with JIm Tambor arc but I use the same plan.. kill anythng standing between me and the entrance before I rescue her and then at worst I have to try to take out the ambushes before they take out her.
I LIKE your idea Quinch just not sure they have the means or the desire to do it.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Snow Globe
Well, it is no longer 5 minutes for the queue. It is now 90 seconds.
As to the non-VIP, a few patches ago the game did give an error message, but that seems to have disappeared.
The best you can do at this point is to click on every player in the league, if they show as +1, that person is a VIP. I know that it isn't a solution, but at least it narrows who it could possibly be.
In addition the game mechanics won't allow the league leader to actually put the league into Queue if a player is non -Vip or under level 50.. there eroor message appears and then its simply a matter of asking in league chat. Not sure what server your on but I'm on Virtue and I think we've only had a handful of non VIPs on trials .. now players with no clue they can't be mentored ? .. We had a 6 level join a league one night. LOL
As for the player (s) taking forever, if ever, to click .. It all depends on how long it took te league to form. Players get bored and start taking unannounced Bio breaks, running to the kitchen for food/drink, etc. If your forming a league in the early afternoon DURING the week and trying desperately to fill all 24 slots for a BAF or whatever.. it can take longer to recruit than to run the trial. People are going to get bored and wander on you. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Mister Rik
Hey, can some of y'all mention the names of the characters instead of just posting screenshots? Some of us haven't been in the game long enough to know every NPC on sight. I have no idea who those are in posts #87 and #105.
Anyway, as far as in-game models I have to add another vote for Mirror Spirit, simply because she's got the best model of the NPCs I've encountered so far. Most of the female signature characters I've encountered, at least in their "stand in one spot because they're contacts" versions, are just way too skinny, which leaves even Twinshot and Flambeaux beating most of them.
Also, I'm a big fan of one particular Longbow model:
I first encountered this model while playing a villain, and it was hard to get a good screenshot while fighting, so I was happy to find this lady standing in one place talking to a civilian in Faultline
Okay Rik even I am not 100% sure who that is in 105 and I have been her going on 7 years but 87 is Silver Mantis .. really nasty villain with a definate thing for pain. Unless you play both COH and COV you may have never run across her since she rarely leaves the Rogue Isles.. okay she NEVER leaves the Rogue Isles. Easiest place to find her outside of a Strike Force or mission is near the Ferry in Sharkshead.. she is the contact for a Strike Force. She also shows up at higher levels in the Statesman Task Force.. At some point during that TF you battle just about every Arachnos Av there is. -
SSA 7 begins and at the end of the last mission a door opens and Statesman and Sister Psyche pop out and yell.. SUPRISE! ... cut to a digruntled Penelope Yin storming away grumbling about being tired of being treated like a kid as she boards a ferry to the Rogue Isles.
Anti Matter's cut scene dialogue is changed and he explains he is in therapy now and the drugs are really helping a lot. He invites you to take over the Island and even shows you how to work the controls.
Lord Recluse and the Red Widow announce that they are getting married and after a lot of soul searching they realize they need to change their ways. Grandville will be renovated and become the newest Disney Amusement park.
An Pop up message on log in instructs you to get to Boomtown as fast as possible. Apparently the 5th column has driven out the outcast, trolls, clockwork and council and a massive construction project is underway... You arrive and discover the entire zone is now a waterslide park
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I'd pick Swan .. come on boys she wears pratically nothing and what she does is almost see through [tramp]
I agree with War Witch always did like her look
and my third would be Sister Solaris .. then again that may just be because I WANT that outfit so bad!
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Quote:Originally Posted by Satanic_Hamster
All 31 level 50's are now at +3. Woooo.
Well, though I have a scrapper I was thinking of taking to 50 over the next two weeks. Then it starts over again. :0
You do realize that at this point none of us have more than half the incarnate powers they plan to release? So unless you are fine with having 5 less powers than the rest of us will have eventually saying you NEVER need to trial again is a bit premature.
YES I know i-22 offers up ways to earn threads and merits solo but the rate is much slower.. I can do 1 TPN trial and earn enough threads to slot a power to t1 (60 threads for defeating Maelstrom outside the first time) without even touching whatever component I receieve. It takes maybe 30-45 minutes to complete a TPN.... how many DAYS/WEEKS depending on the amount of time you have to spend on line will it take to do the same in the new Dark Astoria when it goes live? Gratz on you accomplishment but it seems to me we are far from done mining trials for stuff yet.
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Quote:Originally Posted by EU_Damz
If this happened to me i would have petitioned him and refused him entry to any and all trials that i would be part of for X time.
I have zero time for griefers in any form [i've given people 1 star in a costume contest for constantly trying to spam up the local chat even after asking politely not to] and from what you've said, he only had one intention on his mind.
Now with lambda i can somewhat understand people not liking the collecting the glowies stage, i always ask if i can go in the labs team as the warehouses do destroy my computer to unplayable levels [thus im useless there].
I didnt bother to petition.. to be honest I don't think the guy was purposely trying to cause the trial to fail. It was more a case of just being a complete idiot and not even thinking that his pets MIGHT pull the AV outside.
Yeah I know what you mean about the warehouse .. doesnt bother me too badly but I have seen team mates ask to be on the acid team because not only can't the move in there.. the lag gets so bad it crashes them.
Oh .. another example of Cut Scene bombing that backfired.. And this one I have seen several times. There is a brief period right after the cut scene ends before Maurader becomes aware of what is around him .. the main reason folks can pose beside him and not end up dead. However I have been on several teams where the dancing fools lingered and when they finally decided to move away they pulled the AV and all the support troops right onto the team while we were still waiting to start throwing acids. Team members died and had to hosp and before long the adds simply over ran us. On one particular Lambda, and this was a LONG time ago, we never did recover because the leader couldn't get the players to hold up and re group so as fast as they'd come back from the hospital they'd die again. We never managed to close a single door and eventually as time was running out people started to quit. last thing I recall seeing from the leader was "Lets head back to the RWZ and reorganize and try to figure out what went wrong!" DUH your dancing team mates reversed things so that instead of us ambushing the AV and troops they ambushed US! BTW .. no I didn't stay around to reorganize I went and found another team.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, children of all ages (lol sorry I couldn't resist) ... Once more we are attempting to tie Real Life/Time to a game/comic. In SSA arc # 5 Statesman died at the hands of Darrin Wade and yet the same day I completed that arc I was in IP and waved at STATESMAN standing around on the deck of that ship ready to send heroes off to battle Lord Recluse. In SSA # 6 we now know that Sister Psyche also perishes but last I checked she is still outside the hospital in IP sending heroes off to battle Freakshow and Claymor.
The explanation... those events (the TF) occurred in a time before the SSAs cause their demise. Now I haven't seen anything, then again I wasn't looking, that states that Penny is now 23 and was or wasn't 18 back when Faultline was revamped and she appeared.. yeah I wouldn't have guessed she 18 either. But we are dealing with a fanatsy game here and how many movies, TV shows, etc have you seen where in one scene an actor is a small child and in the very next one 20 years have gone by and they are a full grown adult? So five years have passed since Penelope Yin appeared in Faultline and began asking us to rescue her dad.. where exactly is it written in stone that now (5 year of rl later) she can't be 23, 33 or even 103?
Now frankly if the Devs are saying she was 18 in 2009 and is 23 now they are grasping at straws.. would have been easier to just say time has passed and she's an adult now. Her character still looks fairly youthful in the SSA arc and until grey hairs and wrinkle start to appear if anyone works out, watches their diet and takes care of themselves can you really tell if someone is 20 or 35 without taking to them and getting a feel for their level of maturity? LOL frankly with some of the people I have worked with/for over the years I know 40 year old males that still act like they are 15 most of the time. -
Quote:Hate to burst your bubble Bill but I have.. and exactly as described. We had an MM that first refused to even try to help out with the glowies phase because as he put it.. "All I do in there is die" This struct a raw nerve as my defender headed back inside from the hospital for the third time and ran past him. We finally competed the glowie phase .. and as I waited for the door to the hospital to release (death #4) the cut scene began and our hero had summoned all his pets and was dancing behind Maurader. The cut scene ended and before anyone had a chance to do anything TRIAL FAILED MAUARDER HAS LEFT THE COMPOUND. Our mastermind had allowed his pets to taunt the AV OUT the door and the trial failed. He was kicked from the league and I am pretty sure I wasn;t the only one to rate him with one star to ensure I never team with the jerk again.Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba
Maybe he means after emoting they aggro Maruader and run out the door? I've also never seen a trial fail because of those that want to dance during the cutscene.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Snow Globe
The Minds of Mayhem trial has no such reward structure. I've finally been able to get on successful MoM trials and have had common rewards most of the time from it.
Agreed.. The only Guarentees you have on trials are 60 threads for defeating Maelstrom outside the first time(TPN), 60 threads for defeating the Lichen healed Warworks(UG), and a rare or very rare for completing the UG itself. Aside from reward drops for Master of runs all the other trials can and do reward anything from a common to a VR. My own personal results seem to show that Keyes has a horrible drop rate ... After all that rushing around, and on squishier characters more than a death or tow if not very careful, I can not recall the last time I got anything from that trial but a common or Uncommon. I run most if not all the trials every night normally staring with Keyes so I am not talking about what I see from running one keyes a week. -
I tend to agree now I don't track things like salvage drops or recipes but I do have a spread sheet I use to keep track of my incarnates. When we first got access to BAF and LAM it was not uncommon to get between 5-7 threads on a run .. Now its 2-3.
I have also noticed a decilne in the number of Purple drops.. I have several characters worth billions mainly from sellling off unwanted or unneeded purple recipes back when we all scrambled from TF to TF after shards, components and then NoTWs. I think I have managed one purple drop on all of my 47 and up level characters in the past two months. Operative Tessa, my badger, had so many of them while she was doing TFs to open and slot Alpha she was actually emailing influence to other characters because she wasn't able to carry any more.
Come to think of it, and I have no data on this, but recipe drops seem to be down as well .. at least in the incarnate trials. I tend to sell and craft between trials when I can abd I have characters that haven't sold off much besides the useless temp powers the OP discussed recently. Now those characters don't do much else these days besides the trials and perhaps the drop rate for other things lowered do to thread and merit drops but then (see first paragraph) thread rates are way down as well so overall everything is dropping less. Of course its hard to judge from Incarnate trials because it appears the slow or stop almost everythig since we gain threads and merits... I have characters that literally live in the Vanguard base in the RWZ these days so anytime they log on they have accumulated time where "supposedly" they get vanguard merits for completing ANY missin(???) .. well trials don't seem to count as missions becuase I never get a thing from them as far as vanguard merits are concerned. Go out and run one of the SSA arcs and yeah I get them but not a single V-merit in a trial.
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Sure you are level 36 so you have access to the ouroborus portal and time travel. Just go get the badge mission as a time travel and do it that way. Badge missions generally are at the bottom of the list of available missions per level. Now Gordon is a level 35-39 contact so if you don't want to wait until level 39 or 40 find a friend that has a character high enough and do the mission together.
also I think you will find there are other contacts that will offer him as a contact...
http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Gordon_Stacy
I am not sure it may even be possible to be introduced to him by running 5 radio missions and a safeguard... I can't remember one way or the other so don't assume that's true! -
Quote:/signed Now granted I ackowledge that even the easy trials, BAF amd LAM, took a little time to learn the ins and outs of but it is very rare to actually fail one of those these days as long as the players actually do what they are supposed to do.Originally Posted by Major_T
All of the trials are "easy" if the league is prepared for them. That includes TPN, MoM, and Underground. The reason why many players have found them difficult is because they are forming/joining leagues that aren't prepared for the challenges of the trial either through ignorance, lack of leadership and teamwork, hubris, or stupidity. When the league isn't prepared completing the trial will be range anywhere from difficult to impossible.
On an almost nightly basis the group I run with does Keyes, MoM, TPN and the UG and our success rate is outstanding. We have a core group of players that know what to do, when to do it and have the tools needed to succeed.. in other words most of us have available Clarion, Barrier, Rebirth and Ageless to help us through the tough spots.
As mentioned the TPN is, in my opinion, the BAF of the newer trials. Ignore the telepaths outside and just rush from one building to the next taking down the technicians until you score both of the Public Opinion victories required to let you pound Maelstrom for the third and final time and you are done!
Keyes was harder before they nerfed the constant pulse ray but now every team out there uses the same strategy on the Reactors... get at least one power glowie into 6 terminals before Anti Matter even arrives and then simply ignore him completely until the final battle.
MOM and the UG do require something that the Lambda and BAf showed us is a little hard to find at time .. players that actually PAY ATTENTION to instructions and then do what you tell them instead of what they feel like doing.
The first phase of MOM is just a game of avoid the pink cloud and damage the AVs. Biggest thing is getting players used to the idea that it is NOT okay to take the rez that Dez offers since it cuts the time you have to complete the mission... Making sure you have a few players with Barrier, the one with 1 or 2 rezzes, helps cut down on the need for that along with a player of two that has a power that rezzes as well. Phase two requires you to actually TAUNT the AV to the right place so the voids float by and can be destroyed making her vulnerable. SPECIAL NOTE: this is a LOT easier than trying to taunt the voids themselves. Actually after that its much easier as far as I am concerned. Freeing Aurora is pretty simple and I have even seen teams do it without sending a single person into the portal to protect Aurora. In the final battle(s) the biggest things are.. avoid the pink clouds again and always pull the monsters to Tillman, defeat one and that allows you to hold or immob her while you destroy her. The final fight in Tillman's mind is easy.. hold youe lore pets for that and then just summon everything and unleash it all on her.. In most cases a decent league can defeat her in a minute or less. our personal record is 29 seconds.
Aside for being the longest trial there are only 2 spots where the Underground takes much effort at all aside from "just keep killing till nothing is moving" You NEED to pull the Lichen healed Warworks to a spot where only ONE Lichen can heal it and then .. assign players to quickly destroy that lichen as soonas it appears. EVERYONE else can just pound on the AV. Also be sure your team collects enough of the glowies enroute to that chamber and uses them to debuff the warworks the first time you battle it. After that half the rest is just a race through the spore halls to avoid death by spores (a personal annoyance since there is NO way to prevent this . you cant attack the spores all you can do is RUN fast and use green inspirations). As for the final battle if you did a little survey prior to starting the trial and made sure you had 3-4-or 5 players with Clarion and at least 1 or 2 of those with a T4 you can avoid the Hamidon's confuse and take it down with little difficulty. Oh there is one more thing required for success someone to babysit Dez and keep her alive. This is best done by a player with heals and a certain amount of intelligence ... "If Dez dies before you reach the final chamber the trial fails so if I am leading her around its probably best for me not to be the first person jumping into a mob of Devouring Erath elite bosses" DUH
There is not a single trial out there I won't run with people I know and trust. Now there are several I won't even consider with a group of strangers.. MOM, UG and even the TPN can be iffy .. get a group that can't understand "dont attack civilains" and/or "Pull the mobs away from the terminals before attacking and dont use holds or immobs on them while they are there" and it can be a disaster.
See it isn't the trials that are all that hard its finding players that don't think they can just run in and start smashing and win that makes them seem that way.
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ways around those annoying "go Talk to missions" now exist fellow heores! After laving what was once known as Galaxy City I run back to back to back to back DFB trials .. to earn the 4 buffs available. This usually allows me to leave Atlas Park a 14 level (almost 15 last time). I hop over to Steel Canyon and do the Inventor Badge missions (to get my free IO) and then do Monty's arc for access to the midnight club which usually gets me to around 17 level... Then I find a Posi 1 and 2 and by that time I am level 20 and off to Talos and didn't talk to anyone I didn't want to. LOL Remember those tak missions come from "talking" to contacts so if you skip them you miss the annoying orientation missions completely. Want to continue to ensure you never talk to one ? After Posi do Synapse TF, The Sister Psyche, Moonfire Citadel and Manticore. timed right and by adding in some radio and tip missions (take your pick between hero or vigilante) and you can easily be at level 35 without ever actually talking to a single contact that wanted to send you off to learn above PvP in any zone or how to hange the settings the battle at! Now do an ITF or so, run the RWZ story Arcs, and repeat a TF or two for added reward merits and you can be level 40 without being oriented ONCE!
Yeah I hate those things too. May I add one? As a dedicated Incarnate Trial participant.. I suggested this a while ago and NOTHING. AT this point I have no idea how many times I have had to watch the cut scene for the BAF but I do know I have 23 incarnates so the fact that anyone had to endure it has been MY fault 23 times. Can we PLEASE get that set so that GLOBALLY if I have watched it with 1 character I never have to again (unless someone on the team/league is viewing it with their very first incarnate). I also fully support the idea of making any and all orientation missions a global issue. Yes I realize THIS character is brand new but I have been playing for 6 and a half years now and have had to go see the Freedom Corp rep in Kings Row 50 times now I think I know how to change the level I fight at, to select how many heroes I can fight like, and if I want to fight AVs or EB when i solo.
Let the madness end now LOL -
Quote:Agreed .. Come on where do we draw a line here? I don't care if it costs 800 ar 8000 points. I can do 5 missons for 2 days and go from hero to vigilante or villain to rogue. Two more days and the swicth is complete. If we are talking about a 20 level character that we want to convert what makes the difference if they earn XP required to get to 21 and beyond doing tip missions or anything else? If we are talking a 50 level that someone decided to switch well .. suck it up and take a few hours away from the incarnate trials to switch over.Originally Posted by EvilGeko
I have to say that the alignment change token rubs me the wrong way too. At some point you have to wonder if there's any limit to what's for sale in the market.
I wonder how long before we get the.. Instant level one to level 50 token so you can just create a character and then POOF .. start running trials with them for incarnate powers? -
Quote:Welcome to the game and the wonderful world of Hero Epic Ats. Any way to answer your question yes it takes a while but eventually your abilities get strong enough to allow you to battle a Void without constantly dying. Sounds like you are a ways off yet but I have a 50 level Warshade that is +3 with all incarnate powers at tier 4. She is primarily a Human/Dwarf and on some trials I actually use both forms depending on the situation:Originally Posted by RogerWilco
Hey,
I've started playing this game around Christmas and find it's a great game. I've upgraded to VIP and tried a Warshade.
I found that any time I encounter a group with a Quantum, it's multiple trips to the hospital.
I'm only level 4, but I looked at the Paragon Wiki and it doesn't seem Warshades get much more to combat these guys. They're specifically designed to make my life miserable.
Am I missing something? I often only get 2-3 shots in before I'm at the hospital. I'm only level 6 now, and not looking forward to level 10+.
I've got a Brute, Scrapper, Blaster and Widow and none are such a PITA to play.
BAF prisoner phase.. human form is perfect with tons of ranged attacks to deal with prisoners attaempting to escape
BAF AV battles... When no tank is available I have pulled Nightstar and Siege so the league can attack them.
LAM .. Outside in the courtyard Human form is great for damaging mobs. Inside when hunting glowies Dwarf allows me to survive and grab them quick.
Keyes .. Again on the Reactor phases Dwarf mode allows me to taunt mobs away from terminals so team mates can activate them and for the final battle with Anti Matter human form adds a lot of damage.
TPN ... I can whatever the league needs. if there are enough taunters I stay in human form and attack technicians IF Not I go dwarf and pull mobs away from terminals
MOM ... Mostly just stay in human form on this for the damage but if required I can go dwarf to hold aggro on AVs or the monsters in the final battle that need to be pulled.
UG .. I can switch back and forth. Human to deal damage and then Swarf, if needed, to taunt AVs.
Admittedly it took me a while to warm up to my WS, and she is the ONLY one I have, but I enjoy playing her now. It will be tough for a few levels yet and NO the Voids never go away and when you team any time a Crystal shows up in a mission YEAH that would be your fault! LOL
Now I don't know if you ever visit the DARK (Red) side and play villains but if so Try out the Soldiers of Arachnos. I have three 50 level incarnates all +3 and all powers tier 4. Just MY opinion but they did a much better job on the VEATs that the HEATs. But try both and HAVE FUN. Again welcome to COH/V... our motto on Virtue is .."You don;t have to be crazy to play here but you will be soon enough!"
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Yeah I agree! This was a really "FUN" [please PLEASE realize this is being totally sarcastic] arc where I got to run around collecting parts so I could perform a botched ritual (which debuffed my character). Then when I finally get it right, THANKS Mz. liberty for those detailed instruction, I bring back to life an Arachnos Assassin. Next I discover my life is now somehow tied to this insane female I resurrected and I need to STEAL Cupid's Bow and Arrows. Hmm Okay so fact Countess Crey and the carnies probably obtained them illegally but when did I go from hero to thief? Then as the crowning moment arrives I battle my way into Grandville so I can .. serve as Recluse's pimp? Setting him up with his old girlfriend?? In what Bizarre world does the entire plot even remotely serve Longbow or any other law enforcement agency by giving Recluse back a skilled assassin and as we discover .. a renewed commitment to use his forces to force HIS will on the world?
Now on the Villain side this whole thing makes perfect sense. I reserrected Recluse's girl friend and at the same time gave him back a valuable weapon.. Now the guy owes me ... AGAIN.
This would have been bad no matter who the contact was hero side but I do agree that using Ms Liberty was crazy. So let's see in the past month or so my Mom and Grandfather have been killed at the hands of villains and hey I JUST found this ritual that MAY bring the dead back to life. So of course instead of using it to revive either of my loved ones, including the #1 super hero in Paragon City, I think I'll use it to revive an Arachnos Assassin. If I were Positron, since he seems the logical choice to fill Statesman's shoes as THE leader of the supers, I'd have to seriously consider contacted Tillman in Praetoria and reserving a room for Miss Duncan because she has gone totally insane.
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I'd go with a combination of 5 and 6. More is always better.. the more choices available the more interest the game generates not only for me but for everyone.. I love to team so finding new ways, any new ways, to bring old players back and interest new players is great. Then add the possibility of themes that work for what I personally want in a hero or villain. I love Street Justice because it combines a bit of martial arts with some plain old brawling.. I created a heroic Brute whose bio show him, yeah one of a very small number of male characters I have, as a soldier with special powers that returns home from the war and discovers his brother has been bullied into joining a gang. Using his powers and military training the guy shows up at the gangs hide out and "convinces" them they don't need any new members LOL
I am really looking forward to both Beast Mastery and Staff fighting. Already have a theme selected for both and have enjoyed testing them on Beta.
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Most of mine mirror what I have already seen here..
1. HAVE FUN .. sure no one likes to die and we all hate a failed trial or whatever but at the end of the day its a game. When it gets to a point where it has become life or death its time for a LONG break.
2. Be polite ... I always try to treat people well. Sort of the old rule If you can't say something nice..don't say anything at all. Now reverting back to rule 1 that doesn't mean I don't have fun joking and kidding with friends but I KNOW those players and know they will get the joke and not be offended.
3. No I don't have the profanity filter on but NO that doesn't mean I have to use ever four letter word ever created in every post. I turned off the filter a LONG time ago because frankly the Politically correct BS that led to the word G O D being lumped with, as they described it at the academy awards, the F-bomb is sheer insanity. Statesman drank from the Well of the Furies and was endowed with God like powers but I can't say GOD in a chat post without it coming out %$# ???
4. Pay Attention and follow instructions .. For me this is not an issue that began when the Incarnate trials brought into serious focus just how many players out there have NO clue how to be a good team mate .. I was doing it 6 years ago.
5. When all else fails.. refer to rule # 1 If you aren't having fun go watch TV
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Quote:Exactly! the game is so cluttered with various forms of currency it is getting hard to keep trak.Originally Posted by Xzero45
Anything to help clean up the clutter of having so many currencies. Shards and the Notice of the Well are old news, now. I wouldn't mind if they got swept away like Base Salvage was, and were replaced with Threads/Astrals.
1. Influence(Blue), Infamy(Red), and Information(Gold) are the original currency we earn doing just anything an we use to buy ehnacements, inspirations, etc While three different types exist at LEAST the auto convert if you switch alignments and a Rogue can buy enhancements blue side with no problem.
2. Reward merits ... Salvage, recipes, enhancers and high tier inspirations
3. Vangaurd Merits ... Mostly used for Vanguard costume parts but also can buy the one form of older incarnate component, temp powers etc.
4. AE Tickets .. again enhancements, recipes along with access to added stuff to use making AE stories
5. Shards and NotW .. used to purchase components required for the Alpha slot of the incarnate system
6. Threads. Astrals and Empyreans .. use to purcahse components for the ALPHA, Judgement, Interface, Destiny and Lore incarnate slots. Astrals and Emp can now also be used to buy the ALPHA slot, convert to threads that can transfer to other characters via mail, purchase costume pieces, emotes and auras not to mention rare recipes (astrals) and very rare (emps).
7. Salvage and recipes .. Sold at the Black market/Wentworths and depending on the rarity or current desire by players to obtain can easily net a player millions in INF.
8. Paragon Points ... VIP reward that can be used at the on line store to purchase.. Almost anything these days. PPs are awarded to VIPs for each month they subscribe or can be BOUGHT with your credit card
9. enhancements and inspirations ... every missions has X number of drops in it and if you have absolutely no use for the enhancemenets you get head to any store and sell the for added INF. While they seldom sell for a lot tier 2 or 3 inspirations can also be sold on the Market for INF.
10 Hero or Villain Merits .. awarded by comleting 1o alignment missions and a Morality Mission and can be use to purcase rare and very rare recipes that can either be used to enhance your character or sold at the Markets for INF.
Confused yet? And I for one am holding my breath and hoping when the FINALLY get around to adding any or all of the final 5 incarnate powers we don't wind up with yet another new set of stuff to sift through. Supposedly Positron at one point said that would not be the case but the fact is it has been so long since a new power was offered up many dedictaed trailers have a TON of salvage, threads astrals and emps available and could easily have any new power slotted to teir 2 or even 3 within hours of it being available.
Now Stormbird I never said absolutely no one EVER did Ramiel's arc these days but I see players all the time now on trials opening their alpha running trials without ever bothering to do it. The only thing in game that required an open ALPHA was the Tin Mage and Apex TFs.
As for your suggestion to offer a chioice.. I considered that but then it just adds to the clutter of an end of TF reward table. Look at the one you get now for the SSA .. do i want 10 threads, do i want 4 X the reward merits, do i want a hero merit, do I want an astral etc? So we are going to take most of THAT and then add Do I want shards? Do I want a NotW? It could get to a point where a player spends as much time trying to decide what they want as a reward as they took to complete the TF (kidding lol). The point of the revamp was why do we even NEED shards or the notice anymore? Sure you can use those to open and craft enhancers for your ALPHA slot but now you can do that same thing with threads, astrals and emps and those allow youo to also open and slot the other FOUR incarnate powers. AND if we replace them with threads and Astrals/emps we eliminate the need to convert shards to threads once our Alpha is filled and we WANT to work the other 4.
I have friends that are 7 + year Vets that have NEVER taken a break from the game and look to me, just over 6 years, to explain some of that stuff to them. It can get confusing and who knows if we could seee even more forms of cuirrency in the future. This is just one small method to cut back on it a bit. -
I think it is time to take a good gard look at this and come up with a set up that actually appeals to more players.
Remember WAY back when it first began, back when we were all doing every 45-50 level TF to get shards, and players were rushing from TF contact to TF contact to get their Alpah slotted. Then the WST arrived and we were overjoyed to be able to finally gain those top two tiers. Okay now how many of you ever even bother to go talk to Mender Ramiel? I can buy a token that auto opens the Alpha slot for any 50 level I own for 5 Astrals. Heck I have been playing so long and have so many 50 (+3) levels with astrals to spare I have actually
1. Opened the Alpha with a token
2. Emailed my self enough threads, bought with Astals, to open all 4 other powers
3. Emailed myself additional thread to slot all 5 powers to Tier 2.
So that the first time a new 50 level incarnate steps into a trial it already has Alpha, Judegement, Interface, Destiny and Lore open and available. Even without a level shift those characters were able to contribute and quickly started getting shifts The point is why bother doing a WST when you don't need the Notice of the well, don't need shards and certainly don't need the old components the trials awarded. Sure I can turn everything into shards and then turn those into threads at a rate of 10 a day... I can earn 10 threads runing any one of the SSA arcs and doing it solo normally takes me under an hour depending on the character and its AT powers.
So here is my suggestion(s)
1. Stop rewarding 50 levels that participate in any other mission , including TF, Sf etc, with shards and start awarding threads. We have five powers and only ONE of them even allows us to use threads without the whole conversion process. It would give 50s another way to earn threads away from the trials.. something many have been begging for anyway and the whole reason Dark Astoria is getting a transformation.
2. Change the reward set up on the 45-50 trials or even on ALL trials to give a 50 level choices.
2a. Pick 10 threads
2b. Pick 2 Astrals
2c. Access the same reward table mission arcs in the new DA have and allow them to take a chance on a pick between any common, uncommon, rare or very rare bit of salvage
3. Do away with the NoTW entirely and offer up EMPS instead. SInce its a once a week reward perhaps as many as 2 .. or just make it 1. Its another way a player can earn 1 EMPa week without doing a trial. And keep in mind again that same player can earn 1 emp per week doing any of the SSA arcs which take much less time tha the majority of all the TFs, SF, etc.
Now lets get to the very heart of the matter. Revising the wst.
Create two seperate ones .. ONE for 50 levels .. completing any of the TF/SFs that currently award shards, components etc
and a second for 2-49 levels that awards double reward merits once a week.
IF you really want to be stingy set it up so a 50 can ONLY participate in the wstrewards for those that offer threads, astral, ect . They can do the other WST but get no double bonus. Or allow them to do both.
WHY? because it will stir more interest in doing all of the existing TFs, SFs, and Trials. WHY? Because it MAY actually allow the dev team to stop the current trend of WST is Posi 1 or 3 , WST is Sister P, WST is the Eden trial and WST is a RESPEC. Now please do not think I want to see the WST suddenly spend an entire month assigned to shadow shard TFS blue side but when it was first announced we were given the impression it could be ANY TF. When exactly was the last time it was Synapse? Or Citadel? Or Moonfire? There ARE still players out there working on Task Force Commander the thing cold spend 6-7 week just going through Posi 1, Posi2, Synapse, Sister P, Manticore, and Nunmina. Add in Moonfire since most love to do that for the badges it helps get so they can add the Atlas Medallion to their power listings and you could easily go almost 2 months without ever repeating yourself. YES I AM WELL AWARE the same is not true Red side I play there too but with less SFs to deal cycle trough they do seem to manage to select most of the red side Sfs much quicker than blue side TFs.
The fact is now the wst has devolved into just a way for 1-49 levels to get double merits once a week.. while not all a LOT of the 50 levels doing incarnate stuff are not even bothering. I can do a BAF in well under an hour and gain 4-6 threads, 6-7 Astrals an EMP and the potential for even a VR bit of salvage. I do an ITF, and when was the last time that even was the WST?, and I get 5-6 shards and 1 component I can cash in for 10 shards. Then I can spend 1 million in INF to convert 10 shard to 10 thread. On that BAF I may have made close to 1 million in INF and there was/is the chance for a rare salvage drop I can seel at the market for a million or more... Play 40 minutes and EARN 2 miliion in INF or Play 60-90 minutes and spend a million to convert shards to threads? Can anyone not see why so many stopped even caring what the WST is?
Okay so its just an idea But its another that has the potential to asist those that want incarnate powers but lothe the idea of the incarnate trials. Personally I enjoy both but this could help get more players involved and happy.
So what do you think.. Yeah i know she's nuts. LOL
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OMG folks come on! Okay you want to strictly PUG constantly then do only the following:
LAM, BAF, KEYES, TPN
The Lambda and BAf are to the point where everyone KNOWS the strategy and even a 50 +0 can handle things so they provide an easy Emp per day along with Astrals and a few threads. Keyes strategy has emerged to the point where almost no one ever has to lead Anti Matter around from Terminal to Terminal anymore... about the only time you deal with him is the final fight. That's 2 emps a day, astrals and threads and the TPN, when the bug doesn't strike, is a smiple matter of running from building to building repeatly taunting troops away so you can defeat a tech. And thats 2 emps, 60+ threads ( with the reward), and astrals.
If you can't get a decent success rate on those four then you are hooking up with either the worst group of players with NO ability to follow instructions at all OR the absolute worst league leader in game that has no clue how to succeed and no ability to give instructions.
Now MOM and the UG are tougher and require some preparation and some thought but even those can be completed with a PUG if people listen to instructions.
Keys to MOM:
phase one: Make sure everyone knows to TRY to stay out of the pink stuff and emphasize NOT taking a bunch of Dez Rezzes .. or time run out
One pre trial tip is do a Destiny check and have players slot what you need. Make sure you have several clarions to counter the massive PSI you WILL encounter, a few Barrier (with Rez[es]) so players don't NEED to lay around dead or take the DEZ REZ as often and Rebirth to heal and avoid dying as much to begin with.
phase two: IMO this is the most challenging portion of the trail and as mentioned don't TRY to taunt voids. Get Penny to the middle of the room where the voids will float past her and fight there. It's a good idea to assign void kills to a small group of players to ensure they are killed where and when needed.. the rest just concentrate of defeating Penny and spamming buffs, debuffs, and heals till she is down.
phase three: rescuing Aurora isn't that hard. Assign a few players to protect Aurora by accessing the portals and the rest simply pound on Mother till she goes down. Remember if you see RED = RUN away if you see Blue + huddle for added buff.
phase four A : back to avoiding the pink stuff and battling Malaise. Each time his health drops to 50% Tillman will appear.. PULL at least one of the nightmares close to her and kill it.. then hit her with holds and immobs while you defeat her (rinse and repeat 3 times .. then battle Malaise down to 0%)
phase four B: rez every lore pet available, buff up in the short prep time available and just pour on the debuffs and damage until Tillman drops. Yeah you only get 3 minutes. I have seen her drop in under 45 seconds.
Okay arguably the hardest portion of the Underground is the Liken Healed WarWarker:
1. Assign a team to collect lichens while getting to the final battle with it to ensure as many as possible are available.
2. That same team has the job of destroying lichen during the final battle with the thing so it doesn't heal.
3. After the initial defeat, where players need to use all those glowies they colllected, PULL the Av to the North East corner (or anywhere available that ensures only 1 single lichen exists to heal it.. makes the lichen teams job very easy). Then pour on the debuffs and damage until it drops.
Yes there are battles before and after that but the place where I have seen the most failures is during that battle .. after it half of the rest is a simple race through the spore halls to avoid dying from infection before the final battle with the AV.
Again on the UG a small amount of PRE trial inventory can make a huge difference... "So exactly who has clarion and what level?" If you can't find a single tier 4 clarion and only a few t3s.. you may want to consider doing a TPN cause you will spned more time in that final chamber attacking each other than the AV. Make sure someone with a small amount of common sense has Dez so she survies to the end.. or trial is over. Best case is someone that has a heal .. worst case the TANKER you planned to have taunt the AV. Remember there are ways to pass DEZ off.. so how many of you still have self destuct floating around in your inventory and NEVER use it anymore? POOF I died and the MM with heals just HAPPENS to be the only player near me. lol Don't have Self Destruct? Okay are you aware that you can log OFF and back on and rejoin the trial? Or when all else fails .. run ahead of the league and let a mob kill you (least desireable since Dez will be following you)
I do trials with 4 different league leaders that all use these same strategies and we almost never fail ANY trial.. and most nights we run Keyes, then TPN, then MOM and finally UG .. the order sometimes varies depending on who leaves or stays.. obviously we don't want to kick people off a team just to run MOM and then have to re - recruit to do the UG. Now we have a core group of 8-10 players that gather nightly to do these things and then grab who ever is available for the rest but we don't have 16-24 man pre- determined team that has done all the trials so often we know our jobs in our sleep. We don't turn any AT away and while the last thing you want is a 21 man UG with 12 players at 50+0 we don't turn away a few at that level. I personally have had several brand new 50 levels that SUCCESSFULLY completed a UG, MOM and TPN before they even did a BAF or LAM.
The trails are a challenge, sure they are harder than other things.. You have as many as 5 powers more than you did at level 49. You are suppose to be tougher and able to handle more. Think of it this way.. remember back BEFORE we all had incarnate powers and players wanted to do an STF or LRSF? Did the team leader just grab a few players and charge into the thing or did they advertise for a good strong TANk on the STF to keep Recluse occupied? Did they advertise for RAD, DM or whatever to debuff Recluses lieutenants? Prior to it becoming almost a joke, it so easy NOW, did players spend huge amounts of time organizing an ITF? Ever try to complete a LGTF with no one that had a single hold? Its not like this is anything new. We HAD to do a little planning and figure out strategies that worked to succeed on those task forces way back when our characters were totally helpless 45-49 levels (note the total sarcasm involved in last statement) so what in heavens name made you think that the incarnate trials would be EASIER?