Wulfman

I'm very sorry about tonight. I had intended to be on, but was late arriving due to some technical issues. When I logged on about 9:45, it appeared that there were only 24 or so folks there, which is not enough to raid, so I logged back out.

I am planning to be there next week, barring anything unforeseen. So I hope to see you at 9:30 EST next Wednesday.

I had planned to be in attendance to run a Hamidon Raid this week. However, with today's announcement that i13 will release tomorrow, I think it wise for us to go ahead and cancel this week's scheduled raid. If there are enough folks that want to raid, then by all means help yourselves. But there's enough to explore in i13 that I will not be in attendance.

Barring something completely unknown at this time, I will lead a regularly scheduled raid next Wednesday.

Thanks to all who came out tonight to take down the jell-o. We had a slow start, but were flowing pretty smoothly at the end. Special thanks to my team leaders: Waldo the Great, Donnie Dane, Nuclear Target, and Super Robster. Also, an extra thank you to those empaths who were all over the place getting it done tonight. You know who you are!

I will not be there for the raid next week, as I will be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. Donnie Dane has agreed to lead a raid if there are enough folks in attendance, so if you're planning to be around, go get some jell-o, and I'll see you all in two weeks.

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Gah! What kind of tank wouldn't have taunt??
Sorry off topic.


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In beta when we were messing around with the new Hamidon with Back Alley Brawler in the zone (he tanks Hami real good when he uses GM commands to become invincible), someone noticed that he didn't have taunt...

He replied "well it was either taunt or the purple triangles".

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Hey, if BAB is willing to give my tank the Purple Triangles, I'll drop taunt too...

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I have good news!...sorta

Shadow Ravenwolf is about 1/4 of the way done getting his sets for the build that will bring back his Taunt.

Today is his 3rd birthday as his current incarnation. He is still specced for Pre-I9 Hami and you all have been very patient with him being a Tauntless Tank on the Scrapper Team. Thank You.

I do have some others, like my Fire/Kin and a DB/WP Scrapper and such. I feel it's time to exclude Shadow from the Jello for now and am thinking about bringing others. All except the fire/kin are Non-Flyers presently, so they will need a GF'er on the team.

Any recommendations of what you guys see a lack of or need for especially?

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Honestly, it depends on the build of the toon. A scrapper is going to be able to serve on the melee damage team as much as Shadow did, so that's always an option. GF is a nice power to have on that team, but is not mandatory. (If I can get you one, however, I definitely will, as it speeds up that team considerably.)

Last week, we had a full blaster team, a full tank team, and a quickly filling melee damage team. But we were very short on controllers--and without them, we can't hold the greens which means we can't raid. So from that standpoint, the controller would be nice. And I doubt there's anyone on the team that wouldn't enjoy having a speed boost on them to combat end drain and have their holds recharge faster. If your toon has ID (and a lot of fire/kin builds don't), that's even more helpful, as you can help deflect some of the mez that the green mito team gets from nearby blues.

So of the toons mentioned, that's how they can help. We'll make it work regardless of toons if we have sufficient numbers.

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I'd love to come, never been on a Hami raid before. Just wondering, on what days does this run?

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Wednesday Night.. 930 EST 630 PST...ive updated the lvl 50 MOTD to try and get the word out!

WULF: im just going to assume that every Wednesday is a GO and will change the MOTD on Mondays to advertise.

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Yes, it's safe to assume this is an every week thing. I won't personally be able to lead them all, as I have other commitments from time to time. But I will be there as often as possible.

It would be worthwhile if some of the regulars would be willing to lead on occasion. While I don't mind doing it, it would allow for effective raiding in my absence. To best handle this, I'd suggest that anyone interested contact me either on these forums or in-game. I can pass on the macros that I use, along with the minimum numbers in each group, restrictions for who can effectively contribute on what team, etc. That way, the instructions and set-up from the leader can be the same no matter who it is.

I will also comment that Coldmed's statement is correct. Tankers are needed in this strategy to hold aggro, which they CANNOT effectively do without taunt. And no offense, but I don't want to hear from every tanker out there who thinks they can keep aggro without it. I know tankers, having played five of them up to level 50, and I know there are ways to control aggro in normal PvE without taunt. The rules are different for hami, however, so you need taunt if you're going to tank. If you show up on a tanker without taunt, you will be placed on the scrapper/melee damage team and NOT the tanker aggro team.

I know that a part of the problem for some of the tankers who show up is that they are PvP builds (at least, that's what those tankers have been telling me.) One way to get around this that will be possible with i13 is to use the multi-build function to create an alternate build that has taunt and the more "normal" PvE build. Even if you only use it for raiding, it will make you a lot more viable--you would even potentially be able to switch builds to either do aggro control OR melee damage, depending on what's needed. Just food for thought.

Having said all of that, I plan to be there tomorrow night, so I hope to see everyone there.

Well, I didn't see everyone there. At least, I didn't see enough there.

We waited until about 15 minutes after scheduled raid time, and didn't have the numbers necessary for raiding. We were close, and had a full team of blasters and tanks. But we were very short on controllers, and it just wasn't worth wasting an inordinate amount of everyone's time for a 2-hour (or more) raid.

Hopefully, it was just one of those nights where people couldn't be there, and we'll have the necessary numbers next week. Thanks to all who did come out, and I hope to see you then.

Yup. See everyone there at 9:30 EST.

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Thanks to all who came out tonight for another successful raid. Special thanks to Cranky Rad, Wizona Fyre, Nemo, Dash Bleu, and DevilsWill for leading the teams.

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Thanks to everyone for another fun & successful raid. Wulf, I just wanted to give credit where credit is due: Blade Mistress was the leader of Yellow Damage Team #2. Dash Bleu merely followed her lead and tried to keep an eye out for teamless new arrivals to The Hive in order to help her fill out our team's ranks.

--Chris

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Noted. Thanks to Blade Mistress, then....and no thanks for you!

Thanks to all who came out tonight for another successful raid. Special thanks to Cranky Rad, Wizona Fyre, Nemo, Dash Bleu, and DevilsWill for leading the teams.

The raid tonight did take us a little longer than some we've done recently (about an hour and 5 minutes). There were three primary reasons for this.

1) There were people who weren't listening to those leading the raid, whether myself or their designated team leader. As such, they were trying to do their own thing, and working against the rest of us in the process.

2) People assumed that, because they had raided before, they knew how to do it. Anyone who has raided recently will tell you that not only is raiding Hami very different from the pre-i9 version, but the strat we use now has evolved significantly from the one used immediately after the i9 version was introduced. This is one of the reasons everyone needs to listen to the raid leaders (see #1, above). If you want to make sure you know what you're doing, read the strategy that is posted at the beginning of this thread. If it doesn't make sense, or you don't know why a change was made, feel free to message me here or in-game, and I'll be glad to chat about it with you.

3) The leechers have started showing up again. There were a handful of folks who simply stood to one side and refused invites to teams or to participate other than to get a hit at the end. Those who are guilty of this need to find something else to do so there's room for more people who want to help (there were people trying to get into the zone who couldn't) or start contributing. I doubt we'll ever get to a point where we can have "closed" raids to ensure that leechers don't hurt everyone else's effort....but it certainly would be nice.

Still, despite these things, the raid was successful, and most of the folks there seemed to have some fun and get a decent reward in the process. And with the merit system that is coming with i13, these may be popular enough to run an extra time each week (whether another night or back-to-back), as a successful raid will award 40 merits.

Yup. 9:30 EST the DE start falling.

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Hey Wulf,

This a go this week? If so, ill change the MOTD for ya..

Vix

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Barring anything unforeseen, I'll be there ready to go.

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The unforeseen has happened. I'm suffering from a migraine, so I won't be on tonight. Sorry for the late notice all. Hopefully, someone else will step up to lead the raid tonight, and I'll be back next week.

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Hey Wulf,

This a go this week? If so, ill change the MOTD for ya..

Vix

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Barring anything unforeseen, I'll be there ready to go.

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About that trouble... next week I'd like to see if we can put my blaster in the green mito team, cuz I think that MIGHT help. She's got 2 single target holds, hold procs in two single target powers, and the Vanguard accolade, so while she wouldn't be as good as another controller for holds, she would be able to help stack the holds on.

Anyway, I for one am fully planning to be there next week!

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We actually had another team that was responsible for helping with geen mito damage, so it wasn't a big deal. We might do this if we are running short on people, but otherwise we'd put blasters on the blue mito team first.

Thanks to those who came out tonight. Hami took a little while to spawn, and the conbination of some folks new to raiding and not having the best combination of toons meant for a slightly longer raid.

But when all was said and done, we had another successful raid under our belts. Nice work to all, and hope to see you there next week at 9:30 EST!

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You make a very important point that I failed to take into consideration; just how much time do you want to put into this guide.

As for redoing the whole thing, my intent was to just have that portion on part IV 2 & 3 changed, as that's the only case where the teams really have different things to do; after that it becomes 'beat on Hami' and 'run!'

Also, I thought color coding parts would make it easier to spot what you were looking for.

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I'll look at it and see if there's a way to upgrade the info without significantly altering the structure. I will say that, while color-coding helps, I find that if you use more than 3 colors it becomes more confusing than helpful at times. We'll see...

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*finally gets around to reading the first post in the thread*
That was well written. You might want to edit section IV a bit though... instead of presenting it step-by-step for the raid as a whole, I think team-specific explanations would be more helpful.

Something like...
Hami Taunt Team: Go in, taunt the core, etc
Yellow Mito Taunt Team: Taunt from etc.
Yellow Kill Team: Watch the taunt teams go in, then go kill on the signal etc
Blue Kill Team: On signal, go blast stuff etc.
Green Kill Team: On signal, blah blah

Basically, what I'd like to see is something that if anyone is unsure on their role they can quickly glance at, find their responsibility.

ANYWAY. Tonight I'll be bringing my Blaster again, and hopefully a friend.

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Just what makes you an expert?? OO my.... : eats fists so fingers wont type:

[/ QUOTE ]The fact that my degree and my job are all about clearly conveying information. =D I never claimed to be an expert in Hamidon Raids, I just think that the information could be displayed in a way such that it's easier for first time raiders. "Ok, I;m on a yellow Mito Kill Team.... what am I supposed to be doing now?"

I will admit that "listen carefully to the guy running the raid" can work well, but I've always felt that if you understand your role you can perform it more efficiently, without having to ask about every little thing.

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Actually, to publish a guide for a process, which is what I was intending, the kind of structure you've suggested doesn't work as well as a step-by-step instruction manual in most cases.

However, I agree that folks who are only looking for their particular task can sometimes find it easier for the information to be laid out in a "if this is me, this is what I do" format. Because of that, I will ask anyone who is unsure of his or her task to get that information from their respective team leaders while we are getting formed up. This is easy enough, as I try not to have any team leaders who don't know the primary task(s) of their teams.

I may also look to add a bit of information to the guide, describing in the "Set-Up" section not only who is on each team, but what that team's primary responsability is. Do you think this will answer the need you've identified without restructuring the entire guide?

Here's hoping we have enough to raid tonight (with the Halloween Event ongoing). I will make a call no later than 9:45 if we have enough to start farming DE. By 10 EST, we will 1) have enough to raid and continue farming, 2) spawn the Hamidon and have enough to raid, or 3) not have enough to raid or continue farming DE (in which case I will tell everyone to have a nice night and come back next week).

Hope to see folks there!

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Erk. (looks through characters) Then... Other than the Ice/Fire/Elec blaster I brought last time, I think... The Kinetics/Radiation Defender might see the most value, but she'd take a lot of leveling.
Or my mostly retired MC/Emp troller; but I don't know if I want to put that much more effort into her; I've rerolled the character as an Illusion/Trick Arrow.

Does Hami do toxic damage? If so, that'd be a reason for FF; one of the shields adds toxic resistance.

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The blaster is a good enough toon to bring, given a lack of other alternatives. The emp would have been a good choice, but no sense in going to a lot of work to re-level the toon again.

As for the toxic damage, you are quite right. FF's deflection shield provides Toxic resistance, and insulation shield adds end drain resistance. Add in the AoE mez prtection, and bubblers are never turned away.

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But the next time we sponsor the raid (since the zone seems to fill pretty quickly on those occasions), we may, indeed, plan to run back-to-back raids to accomodate some of the folks who arrive late. Stay tuned!

[/ QUOTE ]I like the sound of this... Oh, and thanks for hosting a great event! I'm glad my first Hami raid went so extremely well. If the next goes as well I'd be more than willing to help with a second raid.
I should level my Defender up so I can take part with her; I'm sure the extra defense will be appreciated.

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Honestly, it depends on the powerset combo of the defender. All defenders can be used, of course, but some are more useful than others. Stormers, for example, are of very little use, as O2 Boost is about the only thing that is usable. Likewise, Trick Arrows have some decent holds/debuffs, but are of minimum use. Empaths and Rads, of course, are always of great use.

As for defense, in and of itself it's useless. Hami is autohit, so it's not going to help. However, if it's defense from a FF, then the AoE bubble not only helps with mez protection, but the Insulation Shield provides some end drain resistance, which is helpful.

If anyone has questions about which of their toons will be of greatest assistance in the raid, feel free to ask here or send me a PM in-game.

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Bah, I mapserved on the way into Eden. When I hit the Hive Gate, the last few people popped in and I saw it spawn a fresh "Hive 2" for me.

Oh well, I'll try to get there next week.

Gratz on the new speed record and successful raid everyone!



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Next time that happens hop on in Abyss2 and hold the zone open for 45 mins so Abyss can join you in 45 mins and kill ugly jello TWICE in an evening!!! Wouldn't that be fun??

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Well, not in the Abyss, since that's villain-side, and TA doesn't have their villains on this server. But the next time we sponsor the raid (since the zone seems to fill pretty quickly on those occasions), we may, indeed, plan to run back-to-back raids to accomodate some of the folks who arrive late. Stay tuned!

Thanks to all who came out tonight. Not only did we have a full Hive, but it was full 10 minutes before raid time.

As such, while it did take Hami 20 minutes or so to spawn, we were able to set a new speed record for a public raid by taking him down in 34 minutes. Outstanding work everyone!

Hope to see the same kind of attendance next week at 9:30 EST!

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Uh.... Should I get my self checked then? Don't know what that is, but it doesn't sound good. *Thinks about it.* Oh... Goo make me jump high. Got it.

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Again, though, jumping is not the best way to go about taking down the mitos. It significantly slows down the burst melee damage output, allowing for the yellow mitos to either be healed or regen while being taken down.

If at all possible, always try to have a toon with group fly on this team.

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Wulf i am off work on wends now and would like to aid in the fight against the hami i have a spines/reg (my best toon) a grave/rad kins/arch and fire/thermal let me know what one would be ideal for the raid

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Either the spines/regen or the grav/rad would be fine, although we have recently been short on the controllers more than anything else. For that reason, and because of the healing and mez protection of the secondary, the fire/thermal could also be of use. Having alternative toons is nice as it gives you the flexibility to play whatever is needed most...and that kind of flexibility is sometimes hard to find at public raids.

Look forward to seeing you in the Hive on Wed at 9:30 EST!

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Some one told me at tonight's raid that + Jump is added to everyone in the Jello. Don't know if it's true or not, but in some cases though, the Yellow Mitos can be easily reached by using a normal jump.

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Not sure of the accuracy of this, although I know many of them can be reached with hurdle. If they're slightly higher, likely toggling sprint will make the difference. And you really only need to worry about it on the yellow mitos, since both ranged attacks and holds have enough range to attack blues and greens, respectively, from the ground.

But even on the yellows, jump should only be used if absolutely necessary. Fly is much more effective for the mito teams, and group fly is best case scenario.

Shadow, if that's the only toon you have to bring, then bring it, and we'll make it work. No one gets left out.

Tonight's raid took quite awhile, as we had a large number of new folks or those that hadn't done a post-i9 hami raid. But the waves got faster as we went along, so thanks to everyone for sticking it out, and to the team leaders for keeping things coordinated.

Next week, the Twilight Avengers will be officially hosting, so we'll have the numbers guaranteed. We'll start farming DE promptly at 9:30 EST, so please plan accordingly.

Hope to see you there!