Wing_Leader

It is interesting to me how different trials are hated by different people. Some folks hate Keyes but tolerate Lambda. I kinda hate Lambda and don't mind Keyes. Mostly it comes down to the acids and grenades and how much the sabotage phase relies on people (a) knowing where the chambers/crates are, and (b) attacking said chambers/crates in enough numbers to avoid continuous trips to the hospital, and then how despite having all 10 acids and all 10 grenades, we still can't manage to blow all ten reinforcement doors or keep Marauder pacified in the final fight. There is clearly so vast a disconnect between the sabotage phase and the final fight (where the temps acquired actually get used) that I dread the prospect of going on a Lamda run every time it comes up. Keyes, on the other hand, is a cakewalk in comparison, at least in my experience on Virtue.

It feels like we're going around and around on this subject, trying to figure out who is dropping the ball: the devs, league leaders, or inept newbies. Clearly it is a combination of all three, but not in equal proportions IMO. I think inept newbies are the least of the problems and the easiest to solve. But the solution requires a strong, well-populated leader community willing and able to teach the newbies properly and with patience. Not always an easy thing to do for trials with intense time pressures. The devs could help us a lot by designing these trials so that they are easily learnable, reducing the need for heavy doses of instruction from leaders and vets.

Ultimately I think we all need to do our part, newbies, veterans, and devs alike.

Hmm. These may show up under /cmdlist, but I'm not sure they are implemented. When I try to execute:

/incarnate_equip Judgement Pyronic Final Radial Judgement

I get "Unknown command: incarnate_equip" in my chat window.

Thanks guys! Can't wait to try these.

Is the Core smashing damage lower than the Radial smashing damage to compensate for the fact that additional lethal damage will (likely) follow? Or is it the same in both versions?

One thing I find annoying about my tier 4 Pyronic Judgement is that there seems to be what I consider a "cheat" mechanism in place in which even-level minions are left with a sliver of health after my Pyronic attack, even if the 428+ damage would, if delivered by any other attack, defeat them instantly. It's like there is some sort of lame anti-one-shot code running, but just for Judgement attacks against minions of even level (or higher). Would the Lethal DoT help in finishing them off?

Which version of Vorpal Judgement do you like best, and why?

I have both Radial and Core built up to tier 3 so I can try them out for myself to see which I like better before committing to one of them for tier 4. But I am interested in hearing from players who have experience with both and chose one over the other for a reason.

Core gives you a high chance lethal DoT, while Radial gives you 10 extra targets and a brief +30% DEF buff instead. My gut tells me I would prefer Radial, but maybe that DoT turns out to be far more impactful in actual practice than it seems just on the surface of it.

Thoughts and opinions?

Keyes isn't the only trial with unintuitive mechanics that you won't find anywhere else in the game. Pretty much all of the trials are afflicted with gimmicks of one kind or another. The lack of truly useful in-game explanation is trial-wide, IMO, and the only working cure is the passing of knowledge from player to player. In effect, the Incarnate system has become dependent on the willingness and effectiveness of qualified league leaders.

The most organized and well-explained and coordinated trial run I've been on so far was a Master of Underground Trial led by a toon called Crux Enigma. From what I can tell, Crux has made doing these Master-of runs something of a second career. She (the toon is female, so please indulge that choice of personal pronoun, if you would) made it abundantly clear from the beginning, and throughout the trial itself as well, that not following orders would get you kicked from the league. This wasn't just a veteran with a schoolmarm complex, this was essentially a military commander laying down the law so that the trial succeeded and everyone got what they came for. It went amazingly smoothly, despite a moment here or there of heart-pounding uncertainty when the wrong thing almost happened once or twice.

Now imagine if every trial was run this way. Sure they would take a little longer (and for a UG run to take even longer due to lengthy and repeated explanations/instruction, you have to have players dedicated to the task), but I assure you that no noob would get left behind. And every noob would know how the trial works and what to do and why by the end of it; invaluable knowledge for all future runs. It is a shame that there is no organic incentive for existing leaders to cultivate the next generation of leaders; the whole process is simply left to each player to arrive at on his or her own through osmosis.

I know it is just human nature to form PUGs and run through the content like tourists, but I think that attitude does a disservice to newcomers and does little to institute a culture of discipline and informed action during the trials. There are a handful of really good leaders out there, but I wonder sometimes if the grind has gotten to most of them at this point and they just don't bother with it anymore. "Let someone else lead," seems to be the prevailing attitude, at least on Virtue, where the number of people LFT vastly outnumbers the people willing to form and lead them.

Despite the number of times I've done some of these trials, there are still things about each that I am learning, so I am not yet in a position where I feel I can shoulder the role of league leader without disappointing everyone. Plus, it simply isn't in my nature to lead; I think really good leaders want to lead, almost like it is a calling, and that just ain't me. Besides, leading a trial league is like herding cats, which is even less fun than it sounds (even for cat lovers).

I think it is a Good Thing that so many players are willing to run BAF and Lambda so much these days because it gives newly minted Incarnates a chance to build up their slots like the rest of us +3's did. When I got started with the whole Incarnate system a month or so ago, I was a little frustrated by the prevalence of speed runs which do little but make most newbies turn away from the Incarnate system as being "not for them." The sad thing is that has little to do with the system itself and more to do with the been-there-done-that position of most veteran Incarnates. I am grateful for the handful of league leaders out there who make a point of leading these trials for newbies, explaining everything along the way, rather than just assuming everyone knows what to do (which is a dumb assumption given that most of the gimmicky mechanics are seen nowhere else in the game, so familiarity with them is unattainable before reaching the iTrials).

BAF and Lam are the easiest and quickest for the rewards they give. Keyes has perhaps the best balance of time-vs-reward of all the trials. UG has excellent rewards but takes a long time and is easily failed unless the league is totally on the ball. MoM is almost a waste of time, IMO, because its rewards are slightly below that of Keyes but is riddled with gimmick mechanics that I suspect annoy most players. It has gotten to the point where I see more notifications of "Nightmare farming for badge in MoM" runs than actual MoM trial runs.

I think the popularity of any given trial will always, ultimately, correspond to the perceived cost-vs-reward ratio (cost is usually measured in terms of playing time). Right now BAF, Lam, and even Keyes yield the highest ratios, and it shows in the number of trial runs you see.

Are there any /commands for changing out which ability is currently slotted in an Incarnate slot? The equivalent to the "Slot Power" right-click command from the Incarnate Abilities window?

I want to create a popmenu macro that lets me change what is slotted, so that I don't have to open up the Incarnate Abilities window every time.

Thanks!

There are so many power sets now; we truly have an embarrassment of riches. I am a player who started back in 2004 (with a few years off in the middle), and I would estimate that I have tried fewer than 20% of the available power sets, and actively play less than 1% of them. I would say that no more than 1 in 5 new power sets interest me enough to try them out at all, much less pay for them. I save myself a lot of PP in the process by not being a power set collector. I am simply not curious enough to try them out just for the hell of it; frankly, I really don't have that kind of playing time at my disposal anyway.

I have paid for only one power set: Street Justice. And that's only because I've had numerous character concepts in the past that would have been based on a non-kick-oriented version of Martial Arts had such a power set been available. Now such a set is available and I absolutely love it. It is my favorite power set ever. The animations along with the simple combo mechanic are pure win for me. Sure, it is Yet Another Smashing set, but ohmygawd I can't tell you how addicted I am to Spinning Strike.

None of the other for-pay power sets call to me. Even Titan Weapons and Staff Fighting, as neat as they look, fail to connect deeply with me because I just don't have any characters I want to create based on those power concepts. It makes me wonder: for the folks who really, really, really want a power set like Staff Fighting (as in, they've been waiting years for such a thing), is PP800 really such a high price to pay? Street Justice was worth every Paragon Point I paid for it. But if these power sets are just curiosities, then maybe simple curiosity is just too expensive a vice for you if you're kvetching about having to pay $5 every couple of months for it.