Amygdala

Bring whatever character you want the badges on.

If you don't have a preference, things that can provide Confuse protection would be preferred, be it through Tactics, Clarion, Clear Mind, etc.

I tend to bug my global friends to join my teams.

Broadcast is probably the most limiting way to find a team since it is zone specific and will not reach people inside missions in that zone. People are also using Search less and less on Champion because the vast majority use global channels. It is far easier to advertise an activity in a channel than it is to send individual tells to people on Search. Thus, people will go to the channels first when looking for people and check Search second. Most of the time teams will fill up from the global channels alone, meaning sending tells to people on Search becomes unnecessary. For people who are not a part of a channel, this can give the impression that it is difficult to find teams on Champion because they are not receiving tells like they may on other servers. However, this does not mean that there are no teams.

BMT of Champion and Champions United are probably our most active global channels. Unfortunately all channels these days will have some degree of unrelated chatter. However, it sounds like you could benefit from reorganizing your chat. If you find there is too much chatter in one window, make use of the spare windows, or customize your chat tabs. For example, I have different channels on different tabs. This allows me to tune in and tune out as needed without removing channels entirely.

Apologies if you've already done this, since it sounds like you have experimented a bit with the chat windows. I just wanted to stress that there are tons of teams and TFs/SFs that form up on a daily basis on Champion and global channels are hands down the best way to get involved.

May I ask how you are going about finding teams? There are lots of teams running on Champion. So if you enjoy the server, it seems like a waste if you are not experiencing them.

Just wanted to clarify that when I say we decided 'as a group' I meant the league I was running it with that day. I carried forward what we learned to subsequent groups that were not necessarily the same people.

Have you tried posting scheduled runs? I find that posting a schedule on the forums and having people sign up attracts more dedicated players and less who are just 'along for the ride'. It also gives them advanced notice, so you may have better luck with numbers, and tends to draw a more consistent group of people. Chances are you'll have some new people in the mix, but a lot of familiar faces.

Regardless, I cannot dispute your personal experiences. I understand that the badge runs can be frustrating. What I am trying to show is that although you may experience these frustrations on Triumph, there are other servers who are managing to get PuG style groups to complete these badges and are not using anything other than in game communications and occasionally the forums. These servers are not necessarily Virtue or Freedom. The examples I gave were based on my home server, Champion.

If someone honestly refuses to listen to badge instructions or purposely fails your badge run, you can take them out of the equation by not inviting them back. Not everyone cares about getting the badges and some folks might join badge runs just to get on a trial. It makes more sense, in my opinion, to remove them myself than to criticize the badge design for allowing one person to potentially ruin everything.

Also, I keep stumbling across this notion of yours that you require a well engineered SG to get the more difficult Keyes badges. I've gotten the Master of Keyes 3 times over, and not once was it as part of a large SG. Each and every time it was as a part of a PuG with 18-24 people using League Chat as our only communication (i.e., no Vent). The first 2 times I scheduled badge runs on the forums where anyone was allowed to come so long as they had done the trial at least once (i.e., knew enough about the trial to know what I meant by 'Obliteration Beam'). I also hosted runs for first timers during the week and one directly before hand. The third time I got the Master of Keyes badge was with someone else leading, who themselves was a part of a one-man SG as far as I could tell, that simply ran Keyes each evening at around the same time while trying for the badges. It took them about a week and a half to get them all, Avoids the Green Stuff taking the longest. The rest of the badges were earned in the first couple nights.

I am OK with the fact that there are badges for different types of challenges in this game. A lot of badges you can get solo, but some will require you to work closely with other people. Sometimes that means the challenge is other people. These types of badges are often the most frustrating, but are also the most rewarding. I am willing to work with others so long as they're willing to give the badge an honest effort. If something goes wrong, I'll ask for feedback on what happened and if there is anything that can be done to make it easier. For example, for Avoids the Green Stuff, people changed the colour of their Rebirth to anything but green. Pets that blocked visibility (Storm Elementals with Hurricane) were dismissed. We also decided as a group to leave the terminals alone, whether or not we were going for Loves a Challenge, due to the tendency for people to get caught in the beam in those corners. One person had difficulty seeing the Obliteration Beam graphically, so instead of having them avoid it, I designated a 'safe person' for them to follow at each Beam warning. Sometimes teamwork goes beyond telling people what to do over and over again, and instead investigating the problem areas and thinking of some practical solutions. And no, practical solutions does not necessarily mean telling people to stand in the hospital.

I defeated the Seed of Hamidon today and did not receive Germinator Terminator. Others on my league also experienced this issue.

Agreed.

I've actually started explaining how the hospital TPer works as one of the first things I mention when I'm leading an Underground Trial. All too often people will die, get lost and spend 5 minutes asking for a TP. I also make sure to identify the spawn point in front of the elevator leading to the Self-Regenerating War Walker and Lichen-Infested War Walker so that people will know to turn around.

Clarion isn't needed, but it helps a lot. As far as I could determine, the mag of the Confuse is 20. Things that can help mitigate it, other than Clarion, include:

Team Buffs

• Steamy Mist

• Tactics (Leadership)

• Tactical Training: Leadership (Arachnos Widow, Arachnos Soldier)

• CM, Clarity, Thaw, EM, etc.

Self Mez Protection

• Indomitable Will (Will Power, Psionic Mastery, Arachnos Widow Teamwork)

• Active Defense (Shield Defense)

• Kuji-In Rin (Ninjitsu)

• Foresight (Confuse resistance only, Arachnos Widow Teamwork)

What I normally try to do is put a player with Tactics on each team, since this is the most common form of Confuse protection across all the ATs. I will also try to spread out the buffers with a mez protection buff (Emps, Thermals, Pain Doms, etc). After that it's a matter of Clarion or Break Frees and whatever base protection individuals might have.

As long as the team leaders are a part of the SG hosting the trial, there is no need to join an SG just to participate in a CoP.

Might want to add the 'Friends' in there.

For the Self-Repairing War Walker, you should be using the Glowing Lichen temp powers. The Lichen-Infested War Walker will spawn directly after defeating it, and will regenerate substantially if it is near Regenerative Lichen (appear as the same object you clicked on to get the glowies).

What seems to work best is to pull the Lichen-Infested War Walker to a corner of the room where only 1 or 2 Regenerating Lichen are affecting it. These Lichen must be defeated ASAP. Designate a couple people to take them out ASAP and have the rest of the league focus on the AV.

I don't think the difficulty level will turn people off. If anything, it will be the length of the trial if I were to guess. But I wouldn't be worried about people giving up just yet.

As for the final fight, I basically found that the biggest priority was to mitigate the Confuse (as opposed to following all the prompts). At first we tried to follow the prompts (which are far too large and very difficult to read still), but we weren't getting anywhere. At around 2-3 minutes to go, I advised everyone to fill up on BFs (popping as many as necessary), turn on Tactics, spam Clarion and dog pile him. Our league was extremely low on buffs and debuffs. I think it was 90% melee and maybe 2 Kins or so. We managed to beat him with just a few seconds to go.

I'm sure there's probably a better, more effective way to do this, but I'd have to run it a few more times. This is just what worked for us at the time.

Same here. Can't say I'm thrilled.