Alpha-One

Just a friendly reminder that our next run is Friday September 17th @ 9:00pm EST start time (form up @ 8:30pm) hosted by The Arbitrators. Anyone interested in signing up pls let me know soonest so I can fit you in.

Team 1

1) Main Tank: Ullikumis (Stone tank)
2) Tank Support: VixenHealer (Empath def) [Team Lead]
3) Buffer: Alpha-One (FF MM) [Raid Lead]
4) Buffer: High on Irony (Cold corr)
5) Debuffer: Willow21 (Rad troller)
6) Damage: Armeros (Blaster)
7) Damage: Savannah Nightwolf (Scrapper)
8) Damage: Capa Devans (???)

Team 2

1) Team Tank:
2) Buffer:
3) Buffer:
4) Debuffer: Dragun (Dark MM)
5) Damage: SinnerSaint (Blaster)
6) Damage:
7) Damage:
8) Damage:

Team 3

1) Team Tank: Shadow Ravenwolf (Fire tank)
2) Buffer:
3) Buffer:
4) Debuffer: Stinkerbelle (Rad def) [Team Lead]
5) Damage:
6) Damage:
7) Damage:
8) Damage:

Not a Superman expert here, but I don't think it's something unique to our sun that powers him. I thought it had something to do with the color or wavelength it emits and there are many more stars out there similar to the one we orbit that could provide the power he needs. And without atmospheric attenuation, maybe he gets even more power when in space.

I remember it being a Tuesday, my first day back to work (aboard a Canadian warship) after a few weeks of leave. I walked into the Main Cave (Jr Ranks Mess) in time to watch the 2nd plane hit. I asked a fellow what movie this is and he responded "This is live, man!" I hastily arranged to pick up my kitbags at home before the ship went on lock-down and 10 minutes notice to sail. Two months later I was in the Arabian Sea, MP5 in hand, doing Leadership Interdiction Ops (aka Osama Hunting) with our boarding party.

Next attempt is Friday 17-Sep @ 9pm EST. Couldn't fit one in this weekend due to RL interference. See the stickied Guardian CoP Trials thread for more info.

Vancouver is not "Canada" anymore than San Francisco is "America". One city is trying this out in a suburb on one street for one week. It's a stupid idea IMO, and I certainly don't expect any other place to try this afterwards.

OK our next attempt will be Friday September 17th @ 9:00pm EST start time (forum up @ 8:30pm). Next weekend both myself and Vixen are unavailable so we could not fit one in.

After some discussion with Stargazer regarding -regen and debuff mechanics I've slightly revised team layouts to bring more damage to the fore. Those who are interested please sign up in this thread or e-mail or msg me in-game @Alpha-One.

Note: One member of each team should be a Controller or Dominator with AoE -fly Immob.

Team 1

1) Main Tank (Stone or WP Tank or Brute)
--- Ullikummis (Stone Tank)
2) Tank Assist (Pain, Thermal or Empathy Corruptor or Defender)
--- VixenHealer (Empathy Defender)
3) Debuffer (Rad, Cold, Dark, TA Corruptor, Defender or MM)
--- Cold Poison (Cold/Rad Controller)
4) Buffer (Cold, Forcefield, Thermal, Sonic, Kinetic Corruptor, Defender or MM)
--- Alpha-One (Mercs/FF MM) Raid Leader
5) Buffer (Cold, Forcefield, Thermal, Sonic, Kinetic Corruptor, Defender or MM)
--- High on Irony (Fire/Cold Corr)
6) Damage (Melee)
--- Savannah Nightwolf (Scrapper)
7) Damage (Melee)
---
8) Damage (Ranged)
--- Armeros (Blaster)


Team 2

1) Team Tank (Tank or Brute)
---
2) Debuffer (Rad, Cold, Dark, TA Corruptor, Defender or MM)
---
3) Buffer (Cold, Forcefield, Thermal, Sonic, Kinetic Corruptor, Defender or MM)
---
4) Buffer (Cold, Forcefield, Thermal, Sonic, Kinetic Corruptor, Defender or MM)
---
5) Damage (Melee)
---
6) Damage (Melee)
---
7) Damage (Ranged)
--- Gamesman (Blaster)
8) Damage (Ranged)
--- Pink Ice Princess (Blaster)


Team 3

1) Team Tank (Tank or Brute)
--- Shadow Ravenwolf (Fire Tank)
2) Debuffer (Rad, Cold, Dark, TA Corruptor, Defender or MM)
--- Stinkerbelle (Rad/Rad Def) Team 3 Lead
3) Buffer (Cold, Forcefield, Thermal, Sonic, Kinetic Corruptor, Defender or MM)
---
4) Buffer (Cold, Forcefield, Thermal, Sonic, Kinetic Corruptor, Defender or MM)
---
5) Damage (Melee)
---
6) Damage (Melee)
---
7) Damage (Ranged)
---
8) Damage (Ranged)
---


See you all soon!

Ok, tonight's attempt went really well. Some initial confusion because another group was running a CoP Trial at exactly the same start-time, but we got the teams filled only a few minutes later than planned. Had a hiccup during the initial obelisk charge, but after pulling back and setting up again, we blew thru them on the first pass. No point in holding at 20-30%, just keep attacking and they'll all go down within 30 seconds of each other, as long as the teams are decently balanced.

Once in the Cathedral things went pretty much as planned. We got Lanaruu instead of Ruladak (had only seen Ruladak so far). We buffed at the entrance, did the 2 pronged attack and cleared the spawns very quickly (note to self: use stop watch to time progress). Once we attacked Rularuu, we hit a brick wall. Despite more nukes than I could count and pets from wall to wall, we still could not kill him before his barrier returned. I used a Power Analyzer Mk III and his regen was still at 200hp/sec despite well over -2000% in regen debuffs. I called it a scrub after the 2nd attempt on Rularuu.

My analysis: there's a hard -regen floor that we hit, so I need to balance the teams more towards damage than debuff. Buffs seemed to be adequate.

Here's the team layouts for this run:

Team 1
Alpha-One (Forcefields MM)
Ullikumis (Stone Tank)
LadyWillow (Empath Defender)
High on Irony (Cold Corruptor)
Arctic Gloom (Cold Defender)
SSenogard Citenik (Kinetics Defender)
Midnite Maiden (Dark Defender)
Armeros (Blaster)

Team 2
Busta Move (Tank)
Princess Starletta (Empath)
Psicana (Rad Controller)
Frara Moonpelt (Rad Controller)
SinnerSaint (Blaster)
Shawkhath Parsaw (Scrapper)
Savannah Nightwolf (Scrapper)
Brakeneck (Scrapper)

Team 3
Shadow Stranger (Tank)
Teagie (Sonic Controller)
Eabha (Thermal Controller)
Stinkerbelle (Rad Defender)
Raydianne (Rad Corruptor)
Weapon Mistress (Scrapper)
Pink Ice Princess (Blaster)
Gameman (Blaster)

So, any thoughts, comments, criticisms on how things went? Feel free to discuss here.

I regret to announce the Junior League of Sidekicks have cancelled their raid and will no longer be hosting CoP trials. I apologize for the inconvenience to those who have signed up for it. The Arbitrators' raid is still on for tonight and I hope to see you all there.

Semper Fi and Good Hunting

Ok, crunch time...

The Arbitrators' raid is still scheduled as planned.
The Junior League of Sidekicks' has been moved to Saturday @ 11:30am EST and will be held Redside.
Those who have signed up should ensure they have a fresh Shivan Shard, Vanguard HVAS and Bio and Chem nukes if possible.

And Hurricane Earl is scheduled to arrive in my part of Nova Scotia sometime around 9am EST. Which means I may be without electricity for one or both of these raids. I sincerely apologize if I'm unable to make it, but at least I have the game-plan laid out for you all and the team leaders should still be able to run the show in my absence.

Semper Fi and Good Hunting

A quick reply to Capa,

First off, I'm not banning any AT or powersets, I've just listed off how I would prefer the teams look like. I'll take what I get and fill roles appropriately, and maybe ask for some to alt if I see things are unbalanced. Also, the "Main Assist" being a pointless role (ZING! gotcha) I've had two raid leaders ASK that I take on this role and I volunteered to do this for them. The team leads are provided by the SGs that will be hosting the raids. When I start them on redside it will be 3 members of RIMC leading the teams, at which point the MA (me) will also be a team lead.

As for your plan, thanks for the suggestions, I'll be writing up binds to explain things and give orders beforehand. I don't expect everyone to read these forums, but I do expect them to read instructions given to them right before the trial starts. I'd like to suggest you run your own raids too, I'd actually prefer someone else run these raids simply because of my military duties and the obvious chance that I am unavailable for a raid.

While I am Blueside I am baseless, so Vixen has volunteered The Arbitrators base along with Slacker who has volunteered The Junior League of Sidekicks'. They will be providing Team Leads for our attempts.

Next attempts are slated for Saturday 4-Sep @ 7:30pm EST (assemble for 8pm start) and Sunday 5-Sep @ 11:30am EST (assemble for Noon start).

The kink for this weekend is the approach of Hurricane Earl, who will be visiting my house sometime Saturday morning, so with any luck my power won't be down too long. If the s**t hits the fan then we'll reschedule for the following weekend.

The Game Plan:

Phase 1: The Obelisks

1) 30 minutes prior to start, everyone assembles in Pocket D and reports their AT and powersets in the Guardian CoP Trial channel. They will then be assigned a position on one of the 3 teams or on standy.
2) Once all 3 teams are full, the game plan will be briefed to all players by the Main Assist in the Guardian CoP Trial channel.
3) Once the briefing is completed, everyone enters the starting base for the raid and groups around the Raid Teleporter. Team leads meet at the Mission Computer to begin the Trial.
4) Once the Trial is initiated, everyone enters thru the Raid Teleporter and groups in a safe position near an Obelisk. Team 1 goes Center, Team 2 Left, Team 3 Right. Once in position team leads will call “Team X in position”.
5) Once all 3 teams have reported in position, Main Assist will call “Buff up”. All team members with buffs will buff their teammates, using only powerset buffs, no Temporary Powers. Once a team has completed buffing team leads will report “Team X ready”.
6) Main Assist will call “Go!” Team tanks take point and all 3 teams charge and defeat their respective spawns. Once the barrier shatters teams will attack the Obelisks and reduce them to 30% and hold and wait. If the barrier returns Team lead will report “Barrier X up”.
7) Once the slowest team brings their obelisk down to 30% all teams continue attacking until all 3 obelisks are destroyed. If any team’s barrier returns all teams are to stop attacking and hold until NPCs respawn. Once NPCs have respawned defeated all but one and hold. Try to keep that NPC alive. Team leads report “Team X ready”. Main Assist will call “Go” and the final NPC is killed and each Obelisk is attacked and destroyed.

Phase 2: The Cathedral

1) Everyone enters the Cathedral and remains at the door. Once all teammates are inside team leads will report “Team X ready”. (Shield buffers [FF, Cold, Sonic] can start applying shields now).
2) Main Assist will call “Summon pets”. All pets, including temporary, are summoned. Once all pets are summoned team leads will report “Team X ready”. (If possible, purchase a Vanguard Heavy Power Cell (250 Vanguard Merits) and acquire a Shivan Shard (Bloody Bay) before the trial.)
3) Main Assist will call “Buff up”. All AOE and ST buffs are to be applied. Team leads will call “Team X ready”.
4) Main Assist will call “Nukes”. Anyone who currently has a Biological Mutagens temporary power (acquired in Warburg) applies it.
5) Main Assist will call “Go”. From this point on speed is of the essence. Main Tank runs for Rularuu and taunts, with Tank Support for assistance. Teams 1 and 2 go left and attack the left Cube spawn. Team 3 goes right and attacks the right Cube spawn. Once those are clear each team proceeds immediately to the Center cube spawn.
6) The moment “Barrier Shattered” is displayed everyone is to attack Rularuu. It is imperative that any –Regen debuffs are applied as quickly as possible. Damage buffs should be reapplied as soon as possible. All three teams must remain close together to overlap buffs as much as possible.
7) Rularuu dies, we all get a shiny badge and a random temporary power. In the event he does not and his shield returns, Teams 1 and 2 will once again attack the left Cube spawn, Team 3 attacks the right Cube spawn and both meet at the Center. Main Tank continues tanking Rularuu.
8) Same as #6. If Rularuu fails to die on this 2nd attempt, the raid is considered a failure. Hopefully this does not happen.

That concludes my analysis and plan for the Cathedral of Pain Trial. Please feel free to discuss things and bring forth suggestions and criticism.

Semper Fi and Good Hunting

Team Composition

A few things seem to be working well in the attempts I’ve run in so I will stick with the composition other raid leaders have come up with, with only slight modifications.

Team 1:
1) Main Assist (for now my Mercs/FF MM blueside, my Huntsman redside)
2) Main Tank/Brute (Stone seems to fare well, reports of Willpower faring well also)
3) Tank Assist (Corruptor or Defender with directed heal [Empathy, Thermal, Pain])
4) Buffer 1 (Corruptor or Defender with Defense or Resistance buffs [FF, Cold, Sonic, Pain])
5) Buffer 2 (Corruptor or Defender with similar buffs to Buffer 1)
6) Debuffer 1 (Corruptor or Defender with –Regen debuffs [Rad, Dark, Cold])
7) Debuffer 2 (Corruptor or Defender with –Regen debuffs [Rad, Dark, Cold])
8) Damage/Badger (Preferably a high-DPS AT)

Team 2:
1) Team Tank/Brute (any powerset)
2) Buffer 1 (Corruptor or Defender with Defense or Resistance buffs [FF, Cold, Sonic, Pain])
3) Buffer 2 (Corruptor or Defender with similar buffs to Buffer 1)
4) Debuffer 1 (Corruptor or Defender with –Regen debuffs [Rad, Dark, Cold])
5) Debuffer 2 (Corruptor or Defender with –Regen debuffs [Rad, Dark, Cold])
6) Damage 1 (Brute, VEAT, Scrapper, Stalker, Blaster)
7) Damage 2 (Brute, VEAT, Scrapper, Stalker, Blaster)
8) Damage/Badger (Any AT)

Team 3:
1) Team Tank/Brute (any powerset)
2) Buffer 1 (Corruptor or Defender with Defense or Resistance buffs [FF, Cold, Sonic, Pain])
3) Buffer 2 (Corruptor or Defender with similar buffs to Buffer 1)
4) Debuffer 1 (Corruptor or Defender with –Regen debuffs [Rad, Dark, Cold])
5) Debuffer 2 (Corruptor or Defender with –Regen debuffs [Rad, Dark, Cold])
6) Damage 1 (Brute, VEAT, Scrapper, Stalker, Blaster)
7) Damage 2 (Brute, VEAT, Scrapper, Stalker, Blaster)
8) Damage/Badger (Any AT)

Some reasonings:

Buffers: One Bubbler does eff-all to a team’s overall defense (I’ve learned this the hard way). However 2 Buffers using the same or similar powersets (2x FF, FF+Cold, 2x Cold) are able to greatly increase team survival. Cold Domination brings typed Defense shields and a Def/Res aura along with a huge advantage: -500% regen in Benumb. If you have a /Cold corruptor, I want it in this raid.

Debuffers: Debuffing in this raid means one thing: -Regen. To that effect the best debuffers are Rads (Lingering Radiation -500%), Colds (Benumb -500%), Darks (Howling Twilight -500%), Thermals (Heat Exhaustion -500%) and Trick Arrow (EMP Arrow, -1000%). Traps has Poison Gas Trap (-1000% regen), however I do not recommend using traps because it requires putting a very squishy character in melee range of Rularuu.

Tanking: The main tank’s job is to keep Rularuu off everyone else. Team 1 also has a Tank Supporter whose job is to make sure the Main Tank stays alive. The Team Tanks however, are there to control aggro from Cube spawns and help keep his team of squishies alive. The 4 buff/debuff characters should provide more than ample survival buffs to the Team Tank to keep him alive. Rule #1 is stay together, buffs multiply when everyone is close by.

Damage: Damage is balanced by survivability. You don’t do any if you’re dead, so Blasters are unfortunately at the bottom of the barrel, despite having highest DPS. Damage slots are best taken by melee characters, simply since they have their own mez protection and survival tools and allow the buffers and debuffers to contribute maximum damage instead of buffing and rezzing during the blitz on Rularuu.

Greetings Guardianites! I’ve taken on the mantle of “Main Assist” for Cathedral of Pain trials on Guardian. Not all of them, but at least two of them. I’ve sat in on a few failed ones now but have been doing lots of observing, analyzing and formulating, and I’m going to present my findings in the form of a plan of attack and am open to discussing with others who have attempted to see if we can find a winning solution.

First off, a quick description of the trial.

Phase 1: The Obelisks

Three Obelisks stand in our way, named Woe, Gloom and Despair. They each have a spawn attached to them. Once that spawn is clear the barrier protecting the Obelisk is shattered and it becomes vulnerable. At that moment Natterlings will spawn to repair the Obelisk and there is a window of 30 seconds before the barrier returns and the Obelisk becomes invulnerable until the next spawn is cleared. If the Obelisk is destroyed it will instantly return to full health when the barrier is raised. The point of this phase is that all three Obelisks must be destroyed in a 30 second window to open the portal into the Cathedral.

Phase 2: The Cathedral

Once inside the Cathedral there are 3 Forges (aka Cubes) surrounded by a spawn of NPCs, and Rularuu himself waits in the center, protected by his own barrier. Once all three Cube spawns are defeated Rularuu’s barrier drops and he becomes vulnerable to attack. After a short while the barrier rises again and he becomes invulnerable, and the Cubes summon a spawn each, at which point the process is to be repeated.

Observation #1: A successful team MUST defeat Rularuu on the first pass. If the 3 teams are not able to take him down with combined temp buffs and pets in one pass, each following pass is progressively weaker (less AOE buffs, nukes and pets) and chance of success is nullified. Note: There are a couple reported exceptions: one team on Protector used a slightly different version of my plan and defeated Rularuu in 17 minutes on the 2nd pass.

Observation #2: Communication is key! All three team leaders must have full control of their teammates and knowledge of the plan of attack. Having a “Main Assist” relieves the burden from the team leaders and allows a single person to give Hold and Go commands. I have volunteered for this role. Vixen created the “Guardian CoP Trial” channel for this explicit purpose. Everyone participating in an attempt should have joined it and have it visible, but only the Main Assist and Team Leaders should use it for communications.

Observation #3: Rularuu’s barrier appears to rise based on the Cubes’ respawning. The timing mechanic still isn’t quite understood. There are reports of a flat 30, 45 or 60 seconds from barrier drop, and also of 1 to 2 minutes from first Cube spawn killed. More observation is needed at this point to identify the underlying mechanic. Suffice to say the downtime of the barrier is very short and inordinately large amounts of debuffage and damage must be done.

Observation #4: Villains rule, Heroes drool. With the “walls” between alignments now shattered, this may sound silly, but Villain ATs have a huge advantage over their heroic counterparts. Brutes have the tanking ability of Tanks, and the potential damage output of Scrappers. Corruptors, long considered weaker than Blasters and Defenders, at both their primary (damage) and secondary (buff/debuff), bring a mathematical multiplier to the game. Because of the limited amount of team space on the trial, 8 Corruptors bring the damage output of 6 Blasters and the buff/debuffage of 6 Defenders, so they hold the value of 12 Heroes. They also bring Scourge, which increases their damage output even more once Rularuu’s HP is down to less than half. VEATs (aka Banes, Crabs, Widows and Forts) bring the high damage output of Scrappers along with large amounts of Defense, ToHit and Damage buffs applied to their whole team, coupled with –regen in their attacks.

Observation #5: Control gets the shaft. The whole point of this trial seems to be “kill fast and kill faster”. Controllers bring Corruptor level buff/debuffage with very little damage output while Dominators bring more damage than Controllers but the least damage of the Villain ATs. Controls seem to have no effect on Rularuu, though I’ve wondered if locking him down might cause his barrier to remain down longer. Input from Controllers and Dominators who have attempted the trial would be greatly appreciated.

Observation #6: You’re not helping if you’re dead. One complaint I got from a fellow Rad corr after a trial is that he spent most of his time rezzing fallen teammates and not enough time doing his job: debuffing and attacking. Teams need more survival buffs in the form of Defense and/or Resistance to keep the squishies alive and in the fight.

Observation #7: -Regen is key. Rularuu has an insane amount of HitPoints coupled to an insane amount of Regen. This means once his barrier is back up after the first attack he will most likely regen to full health before his barrier comes back down. This also means his regen must be nullified if we are to apply maximum DPS during barrier downtime.

Observation #8: I want the badge too. I’ve noticed a lot of people bring their main or badging characters to the raid, however they are often ATs or powersets that are subpar to what’s required to succeed. Some are lucky and have badging characters that are perfect for the raid (a certain Fire/Rad corr comes to mind). However I ask that until we’ve come up with a successful game-plan, please bring a character that’ll fill its role as best as possible.

I noticed occasionally the tanks would get phase bubbled by something. Does anyone know the source? Is it Rularuu (my suspicion) or is there a mob type that does that too?

Sign me up, put my Mercs/FF in a damage slot with some bubbly gravy on the side.

Edit: Also sign up It Outta Be Botley, Fire/Rad corr, in either a damage or debuff slot.