wei yau

I'm enjoying leveling up my lowbies in Mercy (on Virtue) with quick PuGs. There's no shortage of villains sick to death of killing snakes on Kalinda's and Burke's say-so.

Also, it's pretty easy to synchronize arcs with the PuG, so that we can all clear those contacts together and efficiently.

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I even wrote a story about her meeting one of the other Taxis a long time back, and I still get choked up every time I read it. She really likes it too, and if you know Belle and check next time you see her, you'll see that she still wears that badge all the time.

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A story like that can't go uncommented. Great writing and I really enjoyed it. A short story, with a lot to say.

If it's alright, I think I'm starting to love Taxi Belle a little myself.

Learn something new everyday. All this time I've been playing with some really good tanks and never knew that "herding" was the term for what they do so well.

I've not had the experience of waiting for the tank to lead the herd to the rest of the team. Instead, most times the tank is way out ahead of the team and pretty much does exactly as Umbral described.

As a matter of fact, this seems to be fit in with the tactics I've seen in both my SG teams and PuG teams. We basically just steamroll the opposition.

Sweltri is indeed a well-designed character. She looks good and certainly deserve the kudos she's gotten.

I love the use of the veil for djinn or djinn-influenced characters. I've done just that with Spydraa. She was cursed by a djinn (or more accurately by a djinn commanded by its master).

Perhaps it was Sweltri?

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We all know that snipes suck, but that was the closest the game came to making me want to take Blazing Bolt since I respecced out of it last year.

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Wait, what? Snipes suck?

I use 'em as an alpha strike and that's pretty much it. By the time the whole mob aggros and comes at me, the snipe never recharges in time.

Definitely a power of limited utility, but suck? How so?

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A few characters later and now I'm in love again. She has hair of shimmering gold (yes, another blonde), eyes of striking sapphires (young face 2, should see the eyes in the night), and curves that would make a grandprix racer have fits. She's a DB/Willpower scrapper. I even made a page for her on the Virtueverse website. I get lots of good comments about her main costume and description.


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Please share her VirtueVerse page with us, your description has me intrigued.

First, thanks for the tips and kind words. Nice to know I'm doing something right.

Just finished a session in Steel Canyon with a 12-ish PuG. Started out as a team running radio missions broadcasting for members. They were kind enough to invite me. After a few missions, the leader had to drop for a bit and handed me the star.

I noticed that just about everyone had about to start or were in the middle of Monty's Midnighter arc. So, we decided to run them. I sent out a broadcast for anyone else interested in running the arc, got a couple of people interested. Including a Level 50 who hadn't gotten around to the arc yet.

We had to wait a bit since one member was having technical difficulties, but it wasn't too bad of a wait. Just as we were about to start, we picked up a Scrapper by the mission door.

Had a great time, there was some concern that we might need a tank. But, the Spines/Fire Scrapper proved that wrong pretty readily. Eventually the original team leader came back, was a tank, and he was re-invited and we rolled.

If I didn't have to go to bed, I'd still be playing with that team. That was an awful lot of fun. I'm glad to see that this teaming thing works blueside, too.

This was especially gratifying since I was playing my Ill/Kin controller, who I've not played with in a good while. I'm not used to playing 'trollers and I've parked my Mind/Psy Dom out of frustration.

I'm trying to play with more PuGs these days, though the entire thing is new to me. So, this is what I do and I'd like to know if I'm doing it right or if you all have any pointers.

Usually, what I'll do is start inviting people in the same range as me and broadcasting "LFT". I'll also go through the Search and pick up the few who actually have themselves set to "Looking for Any" or whatever.

If no one's broadcasting, then I'll do a broadcast and either start or complete a team that way.

Rarely, I'll have to resort to blind tells. I know some think it's rude, so I try to be as polite as possible.

Once the team is formed, I'll go through the missions everyone has and pick one. Or I'll ask if anybody has missions that they want help in finishing. Or I'll focus on those arcs that will let the majority of the team finish simultaneously.

Once we get rolling, I'll try to offer some leadership, such as suggesting Brutes taking point (I'm teaming mostly in lowbie Redsider missions). Though, if it's an experienced enough team, we'll just roll without any cues from anyone.

Now that I've done it a few times, I wonder why I was ever so hesitant to lead a team. I watched one team fall apart because I had to go and no one wanted the star. I guess I used to be like that and it really was nothing more than being nervous at something new. But, now that I've done it, I don't think I had cause to be so nervous.

Maybe it's just the fact that I'm running lowbie missions, but there doesn't seem to be a huge leadership requirement. I imagine that higher-level missions or TFs are a different story, though.

As much as I enjoy reading threads like this, I always do so with some trepidation. I've recently decided to play more PuGs and even form up teams when I can't find one to join.

I've been doing this mostly with lowbie villains, since I've got a ton of alts and I'm dreadfully bored with killing snakes all by my lonesome.

So, what I fear is that I'll someday read this thread or one like it and recognize that I'm the bad player. I try not to be a bad player, but I'm only a six month vet, so I've got lots to learn. Though I probably know Mercy pretty well by now, what with all the times I've repeated both Kalinda and Burke arcs.

Here's what I try to do:

- Determine if the team members are RPers or not. If not, then just go on and play. If so, then enjoy a little RP.

- When team members are new, though I never remember to check their badges. I just get that sense by the questions they ask. I try to help them, but if I truly do not know the answer, I'll defer to a senior member on the team, if there is one. Failing that, I suggest Paragon Wiki.

- If there's a senior vet on the team, I'll offer or pass on the star. I had to do this once for a Mayhem missions, since I'm not very good at those. Never know whether to head straight for the bank or make mayhem or find side missions.

- I try to lead, but I need more work at it. Too often, I think I try to poll the team members, which either results in "whatever is fine" or no answers at all.

- I'll do things like suggest that the Brute takes point, but I don't want to come off like i'm telling someone how to play.

- Often, I'll charge in and take the alpha when it seems like everyone else is hanging back. This does results in more than a few faceplants on my part.

- I don't compete for point position. If another player is also taking point because we're both playing Brutes or we both just feel like it, then I'll defer to the other player. This does result in us getting split up sometimes and I'll run towards the other point man, only to pass him as he's running towards me. This usually happens in caves.

- Finally, I'm a member of a good SG with regular teaming nights. I do what I can to learn from them, though many of them are multi-year vets, so they work together without needing to communicate each step. I try to ask questions, but am often too caught up in combat to remember.

Well, I play on Virtue, under a ton of alts. I'm hoping that none of you ever have a bad exeprience with any of them and if you do, then I hope I'm self-aware enough to take your advice in the spirit in which it's given and not be a jerk about it.

BTW: I also learn a lot of "what not to do" from threads like this one. Thanks!

Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but I've joined VU2009, but cannot send messages through it (lack of permission). What do I need to do to get the necessary permission?

I've got 32 on Virtue and banking four new slots for HEATs and VEATs.

I've got 12 alts each on Liberty, Triumph, Guardian and Justice. These poor guys get neglected because I'm always playing on Virtue.

Now, if I got 48 more character slots on Virtue, I could move the whole gang on over.

That would be nice, 'cause I bet I'd like playing with these neglected alts.

Hmm, if I were you and felt as strongly as you, I would've invited "Voivode Zavid" to team and start building a PuG team.

I might even start broadcasting a message saying that you're putting together a lowbie mission team.

If you felt that your message would get lost in Broadcast, then use the search functions to identify lowbie alts in your zone and send 'em a blind tell (as long as they haven't specified they didn't want one).

And if that team worked out well, then I would invite them to add me to their Friends list, so that we can team again some other time.

Once I did this often enough, I'd probably build up enough of a group for regular teamage. Hell, I might go so far as to ask them to recommend some MA arcs that they might have played and enjoyed.

Yeah, I'd probably do all that. But, you know what I wouldn't do?

Waste my time with self-righteous nonsense posts instead of playing the game and having a good time.

/em shrug

But that's me. I'm certainly not going to tell you how to play.

Wow, Morgenstern, that's really nice.

You know, it's weird. I'm only a six month vet and originally found the anti-farmer arguments to be convincing.

However, recent events and threads like this one have put me firmly in the camp of the farmers.

I just fail to see the harm in what they do (barring exploits like the Rikti comm officers, which I believe should've been fixed without any retroactive punishment, now).

More than anything else, the vehemence and vitriol displayed by certain "anti-farmers" have changed my mind.

I play my game for the fun I have in it. I've no problem teaming with either my SG mates or a PuG. Thanks to the MA Arc feedback in this forum and the MA tags, I've no problem finding MA arcs I want to play.

Now if a six-month old can do this, then surely more senior vets can do this, as well.

Good morning, all.

Don't know about this bobby sox thing. I remember in junior high school, we had this 1950s Dance Night or something. My friend and I decided to dress up as American and Chinese soldiers from the Korean War.

Yeah, we were geeky losers like that...

Here's hoping you'll share your creation with us, Mashuguna (love the handle, btw)

Here's mine: Thundercloud Eagle

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I have never seen it work Samuel. I think it is actually intended not to work to prevent speed ITFs by exemping down 4 50s pre missions and then having them unexmp during the missions.

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I just ran my first ITF ever this weekend and this is what we did. We had some 50s, which we exemped down before accepting the TF. The ITF was then set to the highest level (post-exemp), which was somewhere in the mid-30s.

Things ended up getting ugly when one of our 40s (who was exemped) got DC'd and had to re-join. When they rejoined, the ITF was set to 41/42, even though we re-exemped the returning character.

After several team wipes against Rommie, we had to un-exemp the 50s to finish the ITF.

I'd have to be a Wandering RP'er (definitely not MRP or ERP, though)

Thanks B_I, all the information I was waiting for...now I can go home!

Great stuff! Thanks for the guide.

Best thing about this guide is the combination of "common sense" advice, as well as some insightful comments about the relationship between the player and MA.

I'd probably re-roll my existing alts for these new powersets. I've got nothing for Demon Summoning, but I'd probably re-roll Rayzorbach into a Dual Pistol corruptor.

On the question of grinding, isn't that just a simple fact of playing the same game over and over again?

Granted, I'm new to the MMO scene (six month vet reward by the end of the weekend), but essentially each instance is the same, no?

Enter the combat area. Fight baddies. Get some rewards. Repeat.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but isn't grinding kinda the point of any conventional MMO?

I used to play RTS games a lot, but lost interest after it became gather resources, build army, attack, repeat.

Yes, obviously there are tactics involved, just as there are in this game. But, the fundamental mechanics remain the same. I can't imagine that any other conventional MMO out there
right now is any different.

As far as PL'ng goes, I simply can't see it as a way to avoid the grind. It is simply what it appears to be, an effort to achieve the rewards as quickly as possible, with as little risk as possible.

I can't imagine that the goal is to get a Level 50 for the end game content, since it's simply the same game again, but at a higher setting. Maybe it's to get a fully tricked out PvP alt, but does this imply that PvP is reduced to simply who has the bestest and highest level powers. Seems to me that's more math than game. But, I don't PvP, so I might be off on that score.

I guess all I'm saying is that I don't see PL'ng as a means to achieve a goal, I think it is the goal itself.

That being said, I really don't see anything wrong with it. I am capable of ignoring Broadcast requests for AE farms. The market fluctuates and self-corrects, just as I'm sure it did before AE.

The only problem I see with PL'ng and farming (never sure how to distinguish the two) is that the Devs specifically indicated that they did not want such things to happen with AE. I don't have to agree with them, I don't have to like it, but in the end I do have to go along with it.

Whoa, that samurai Menpo looks great! I'm only a soon-to-be six month vet, so I never got to see the samurai vet reward. It'll be another year before I can use it on an alt, though I suppose I can make custom baddies in MA for the time being.

Does suck that it works only with half-helmets, though. Removing that restriction for a lot of the face-cover pieces would be a welcome change.

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The Message is perfect for BABs or of course this.

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I like the LL Cool J pick. Good one!