_Echo_

Just a slight update. My good friend and housemate's chosen to join in the fun with a Blaster, so the list has expanded yet again.

Frostbourne: Endothermica (Kin/Ice Fender) or Avalonica (Ice/Storm Troller)
Canine: Ill/Storm Troller
Lifeline (Azomas): Ice/Dark Tanker
MajikMan: A Troller or a Blaster...
Skills: Ice/Kin Troller or Kin/Ice Fender
Blind_Minotaur: Cold/Dark Fender or Ice/Therm Troller
Drakmarth: Psi/Ice or Ice/Mental Blaster or Storm/Ice Fender
Teathered_Heat: Ill/Storm or Plant/Storm Troller
MarquandDance: is an enigma
Moondog: Storm/Ice Fender, probably
Okton: Plant/Storm Troller, or maybe Cold/* Fender
Dr_Toerag: Piranha Coldshot (Arch/Ice Blaster)
Echo: Belligerent Lass (Ice/SS Tanker)
LightningEmperor: ?/Storm Troller
dipstar: Plant/Storm Troller
Mini-Nukette: Snowjoke (Cold/Ice Defender)
Paj: Ice/? Blaster
Paj's brother: Undecided
Celestyna: Star Frost (Ice/Energy Blaster)
Alphane: Cold/Ice Fender
Samuelsapien: Repentant (Ice/Energy Blaster)

It too late to edit that last post, but duly noted Celestyna, sorry! I'll fix it the next time round.

No Canine, I don't believe in the Honour System.

EDIT: Was just thinking, PvP with this team would probably be a lot of fun! (Fun for us obviously, not the poor bugger who gets toggled with 3+ Snowstorms...) The main focus of this team is definitely PvE for sure, but it might be a nice distraction once in a while.

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Update :
Frostbourne: Still undecided!
Canine: Ill/Storm or Earth/Storm Troller?
Lifeline: Ice/Dark Tanker (last time I spoke to him)
MajikMan: A Troller or a Blaster...
Skills: Ice/Kin Troller or Kin/Ice Fender
Blind_Minotaur: Cold/Dark Fender or Ice/Therm Troller
Drakmarth: Psi/Ice or Ice/Mental Blaster or Storm/Ice Fender
Teathered_Heat: Ill/Storm or Plant/Storm Troller
MarquandDance: is an enigma
Moondog: Storm/Ice Fender, probably
Okton: Plant/Storm Troller, or maybe Cold/* Fender
Dr_Toerag: Appeared outta nowhere!!
Echo: Ice/SS Tanker
Azomas: Ice/Dark Tanker
LightningEmperor: ?/Storm Troller
distar: Plant/Storm Troller
Paj: Ice/? Blaster (oh welcome by the way)
Paj's brother: Undecided

This is going to be cooooooooolllldddd summer

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You've got me in there twice.

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I believe that's meant to be me then.

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Regarding the SG aspect, Echo's already stated that this is intended to be a more 'casual' team, and I know that I for one will be using my usual SG's to get the early benefit of the base transport links. (well, that and because all of my heroes are in those two related SG's) the global channel is intended to be the main 'touchstone'/comms hub for the team IIRC.

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Agreed. I'll be using my own SG teleporters for the early game at least. I've tried a theme SG int he past and while it worked out okay, I'm certain there are folks who would rather be earning Prestige for their own, better-established SGs instead. (Case in point: Canine )

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So as we have so many people interested I propose a sewer run for the first session or two. Will allow all the teams to play together and with our global channel it could be great fun. I've never done a sewer run before so new and exciting stuff. We could then move onto the redesigned Hollows!

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<cough> Insert Kings Row Safeguard between sewers and Hollows. </cough>

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This is exactly how I envisioned the first few weeks playing out. Street/sewer hunting for a lark, then from level 5 a rush of radio missions to get the safeguard in Kings. Then with our Raptor Packs we're ready to embrace the Hollows.

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Anyway, now that I'm here... most likely wouldn't be able to commit to a regular night in any case, but just out of curiosity would you guys consider stretching the concept to allow Electric Blast as well? Seems to fit with the whole stormy weather idea (and I was already planning an I12 Elec/Mind blaster...)

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And there was me thinking you may pick up Maxwell again if Elec was permitted. From what Echo said last night, the lack of any slow in Elec blast is the current disqualifier on it being a 'permitted' set.

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Disqualified is a strong term... thetr'es always Elec/Ice or Blasters and Storm/Elec Fenders.

Sorry Tundra, it's unlikely I will expand on the given options at this point. (I did briefly consider allowing a Warshade or two, too.)

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Frostbourne: Ice/Storm Troller or maybe not
Canine: Ill/Storm Troller
Lifeline (Azomas): Ice/Dark Tanker
MajikMan: A Troller or a Blaster...
Skills: Ice/Kin Troller or Kin/Ice Fender
Blind_Minotaur: Cold/Dark Fender or Ice/Therm Troller
Drakmarth: Psi/Ice or Ice/Mental Blaster or Storm/Ice Fender
Teathered_Heat: Ill/Storm or Plant/Storm Troller
MarquandDance: is an enigma
Moondog: Storm/Ice Fender, probably
Okton: Plant/Storm Troller, or maybe Cold/* Fender
Dr_Toerag: Piranha Coldshot (Arch/Ice Blaster)
Echo: Belligerent Lass (Ice/SS Tanker)
LightningEmperor: ?/Storm Troller
dipstar: Plant/Storm Troller
Mini-Nukette: Definitely maybe
Paj: Ice/? Blaster
Paj's brother: Undecided
Celestyna: Starfrost (Ice/Energy Blaster)
Alphane: Cold/Ice Fender

Named my Tanker girl. And welcome all!

Hi LightningEmperor (nice name!). Welcome to the team!

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Regarding the channel: In the short term, an addiiton to the MotD notifying people that they may be kicked without warning if they don't belong, as a sort of disclaimer, might help things tidy themselves.

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Nobody's perfect.

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No no no...

What you SHOULD have claimed is that you were emulating the in game chaos that the team should cause by way of the global chat system, and that it was a performance art piece.

Of course, we'd then start calling you Yoko.



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Echo Yoko, has a nice ring to it...

(Thinking about it, I think maybe we should we restart the channel, after all. It seems less of a pain in the long run. My list is vast and the people on it, some of them don't log in for months at a time... Kinda ruins the clinical, secure nature of a pseudo-Team channel if some random friendly type wanders in to find us barking team orders about during a particularly hectic AV fight! We can give it a week or two, or however long it takes I12 to arrive, before making a final decision in any case.)

Blimey, it's a Lifeline!

Chemo Boy?

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And oh dear god.....

Remind me NEVER to give Echo channel op privs again...

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Nobody's perfect.

Cheers Li, that's a fine name for a chat channel.

Just to re-iterate, if you don't have space for another chat channel yet, more are coming with I12 so it shouldn't be a problem.

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Why is a raven like a writing desk?

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Nice taste in quotes, by the way.

Ok Canine, I'll put you down for Ill/Storm the next time I update the roster.

And no worries on Lifey, he's not the only one I know who's interested but doesn't frequent the forums at all.

Thanks Drak and BM for answering questions already... and thanks Blindy for the powerset list as well. It never hurts to repeat that point, that only one of your two powersets needs to fit into the group theme. Consider this team, "theme casual".

I agree with Drak, there's no such thing as too much Storm. I get excited to see so many people spontaneously looking at one of my all-time favourite powersets.

I'm also insanely pleased to see we might have a Kinetic in our midst too! Nothing makes slow debuffs seem slower!

For my own toon, I'm planning on an Ice/SS Tanker, since those are two powersets I love the look of but have never gotten to high levels before.

Oh yeah, as already mentioned, there are no uniform requirements or ideas at this point. I have nothing against them, but it's quite enjoyable to see what characters people invent and then find a uniform that fits... For example, the Dom team's unofficial uniform was based on one of Moondog's outfits, and the Trapper attire spawned spontaneously from 4-5 players turning up one night to find each other dressed in military camo.

I would also be up for spending Free Tailor tokens in favour of optional bi-monthly costume themes, nominated by team members... that might be fun.

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The roster so far:

For ease of reference I'm putting everyone's powerset choices down in one place, along with the list of cadets. Of course this is far from final and you're still welcome to change your mind at any time.

Frostbourne: Unknown
Canine: Ill/Storm or Earth/Storm Troller?
Lifeline: Ice/Dark Tanker (last time I spoke to him)
MajikMan: A Troller or a Blaster...
Skills: Ice/Kin Troller or Kin/Ice Fender
Blind_Minotaur: Cold/Dark Fender or Ice/Therm Troller
Drakmarth: Psi/Ice or Ice/Mental Blaster or Storm/Ice Fender
Teathered_Heat: Ill/Storm or Plant/Storm Troller
MarquandDance: is an enigma
Moondog: Storm/Ice Fender, probably
Okton: Plant/Storm Troller, or maybe Cold/* Fender
Dr_Toerag: Appeared outta nowhere!!
Me: Ice/SS Tanker

*drools at the number of Stormies*

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Sorry to see you're leaving so soon Knightly. I hope you enjoy your Psychic Platoon!

EDIT: It's a shame to see Bucky go as well. I'm not above a light PLing if you want to visit sometime to see how the team's coming along.

Welcome aboard Dr_Toerag. I hope you find a powerset that enthralls you!

Thanks Skills and Bucky, you're both superstars.

Skills, yep Fraser Phipps is one of my die-hard Trappers. Cool! Any friend of his is welcome. Join me in pestering him into signing up for this team too!

Thanks for the link Canine, Ill/Storm is something I hadn't even considered. Too much time spent on Villains teams I guess...

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Dammit Screwloose.

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Teehee.


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I'm up for that, a bit cold for my liking but i'm for anything, i'll probably go for a StSumm Controller, haven't tried one of them before!?

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You'll be in for a treat. Great think about Storm wherever is how nearly every power is often useful, but not every power is often used. Allows each mission to be more than just your usual A-B-C formula.

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Agreed. Storm is one of the best secondaries for a Controller, a set of versatile and great-looking powers you can dip into as much as you need... or make a wholesale commitment to.

There's a bunch of damage boosting powers for the discerning Controller there. Freezing Rain is one of the key powers in the set, fantastic soft control with a mean -res debuff on top. But just the lvl 35 and 38 powers (Tornado and Lightning Storm) make the whole set worth it.


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More Tornados the better I say though.

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Oh hells yes! A swarm of Tornadoes is a terifying thing to behold. They clean out Orenbega corridor spawns like a vacuum cleaner!


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Mondays are good, when do you think they'll release i12? How long do they usually test for?

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My money was on the 20th May, but that may be a bit optimistic.

The devs will certainly give the final release date in advance, and once that happens we can start making more definite plans.


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Okay, so far we have the following cadets:

Frostbourne
Canine
Lifeline
Knightly
MajikMan
Skills
Blind_Minotaur
Drakmarth
Teathered_Heat
Bucky
MarquandDance
Me!

Just trying to keep track.

Wow lots of interest already!

Those on my other regular teams have known this idea was in the works for a while, and I know a couple of friends have decided on toons already. My apologies to newcomers for any confusion or inconvenience this may cause.

<ul type="square">[*]On the number of members:[/list]
Yes indeedy, as is often the case, unforseen circumstances cause all but the most addicted team members to drop out. It's unfortunate but it's also unavoidable.

As such, there's no limit to the number of particpants. All are welcome and at least it should make the first few weeks exciting! Sewer hunting, anyone? Or why not clear out the Grendel's Gulch?

<ul type="square">[*]On Super Groups, etc:[/list]
There will be no Super Group, since I don't want to divide anyone's loyalties between the team and their own SG. What's more, established SGs are handy particularly in the early levels too. It makes interzone travel so much faster...

Instead, in order to organise and coordinate ourselves effectively (especially with the likely prospect of multiple teams) I think it'd be cool if we take advantage of I12's chat channel changes and create a new channel for the theme group, which can act both as a meeting point and a surrogate team channel in gatherings larger than eight.

Suggestions on the channel name (and the team name, for that matter!) are most welcome.

In terms of thematic names, costumes, uniforms or origin stories for the team, all that stuff is up to you. I'm not saying we won't have a uniform at some point in the future, but that will come later. Bottom line is, there are definitely no restrictions on how you design your toon.

Even if you have a pre-exisiting alt (preferably low-level) that fits the powerset requirements and you're willing to examplar down to join in the fun, then that's cool too!

<ul type="square">[*]On Tankers:[/list]
While they do perform a key role in the survivability of a team - especially a large team - compared to the other ATs, Tanks in large numbers simply don't add as much to the team's potential and can even be badly disruptive.

In hindsight it may not have been a great idea to offer the Tanker role so openly in my opening post, since I knew of three people (two friends, plus myself) who already wanted to contribute a Tanker toon to the team before I opened this thread.

Since that now puts us at potentially five Tankers now, I humbly ask anyone who's thinking about playing a Tanker to seriously consider if they might instead enjoy one of the other team roles just as much.

I know that sucks, and I'm really sorry. I hope everybody understands the difficulties inherent in building a great team and help to resolve this issue quickly and fairly.

Ouie respec trial this week was rather dandy. Highest difficulty and we breezed through it! Though I suspect the two Kins and the Brute may have helped a bit there.

I would be up for doing a pure Trapper respec again next week, if folks would like that. All the Trappers are now 44, so we could do the 3rd trial - but that might mean +6 foes.... hmmm, may have to think about that.

The Ice/Storm Theme Team thread is finally up. I hope you guys are psyched for a new team idea!

Sadly, as I mentioned on Monday, this does mean that the regular Trapper team will soon become not-so-regular. I am still committed to getting the "Final Five" all the way to 50, but we'll have to start thinking about TFs, trials and play sessions outside the usual Monday nght slot.

Bored of summer already? Miss those brisk winter nights? Interested in joining an ice cool themed team that would meet regularly every week to reminisce in the best the cold season has to offer?

Shortly after Issue 12 hits live (and all the new character slots have been handed out) I plan on hosting a new theme team on the Union server.

This is going to be a heroic team (for a change!) and the objective, as usual, is to make our way from level 1 to 50, seeing as much of the content as we can and generally having fun along the way. I12 seems a great opportunity, what with the revamp of the Hollows and the new powers afforded by Powerset Proliferation.

<ul type="square">[*]What's the theme?[/list]A character with any of the following powerset combinations can be accepted on the team:

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Defenders: Cold Domination/*, Storm Summoning/* or */Ice Blast.

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Controllers: Ice Control/* or */Storm Summoning.

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Blasters: Ice Blast/* or */Ice Manipulation.

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Tankers: Ice Armor/* or */Ice Melee.

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* That's right, so long as you have just one of these powersets, your other set can be absolutely anything you want!

I chose this theme as I think these powersets should tie together really well, both aesthetically and gameplay-wise, without restricting AT or power choice too tightly. Heck, since I12 is giving Ice Blast to Defenders, all of a sudden all Defender primaries are now viable!

<ul type="square">[*]When &amp; where?[/list]Right now, it looks like the regular meetign time will be every Monday night from 7-10pm GMT (on Union).

We can flesh the other details out later, once I have a better idea of the numbers involved and the release date of Issue 12.

So... anyone interested?

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It's possible to have a cape and the Crab Spider backpack. A guy on the US forums showed some pics of his "Crab Spider" (which was in a Huntsman costume) with cape and the backpack.

It looked awesome

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Link please?

If numbers permit, we'll be doing the respec trial tonight. (Note: probably the 2nd one, since Mea is not yet lvl 44 - though if that's a problem I'll bring Footloose or Danger Baby along instead...)

I'll be on from 7pm, and we'll look to start the trial at 7:30-ish if possible.

I wish you the best of luck with your Dominator team.

I've had so much fun with the other team, Dominators really play very well together, and fast too.

I've noticed this on my Kinetic too. Definitely seems to be related to the Vigiliance inherent and how it calculates its discount as I only get the negative value when the whole team's at full HP.

Aside from defence, Ice tanks also have a self heal, HP boost, slows, -damage debuffs and Hibernate to keep them alive.

Not to say I wouldn't be happy to tank with an SR Brute. I'm just keeping my expectations low and see how it goes. If the SR Brute turns out to be stronger than expected, then even better.

Well, they've changed SR for Brutes a little, not the Evasion toggle includes a taunt aura. That should help with Fury generation a bit.

I'm going to be making a SR Brute when I12 goes Live. I've always liked the look of the powerset (especially Elude) but compared to the RRAAAR FURY SMASH gameplay of Brutes I've always found Scrappers a bit bland. Such a Brute is not likely to be able to take a lead tank role on a villain team, but as a scrapper/supporting secondary tank alternative, I'm looking forward to it.

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Q: But isn’t there some stuff that will work in the regular costume creator.

Yep, but only a few. Let’s take the widow for example. Most of the widow stuff will work in the regular costume creator except the chest piece and high collar. So, if I put all the pieces that will work in the regular costume creator the player would then ask “Well this stuff got in there why not the other stuff?” It’s a slippery slope and the costume creator would get sloppy. So the VEAT has its own costume creator and the regular costume creator stays the same and never shall the two merge.

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Q: Well then, why don’t you just port all the stuff that will work into the VEAT costume creator?

If I was to do this then we would basically have two costume creators. One regular costume creator and other one to accommodate for the VEAT costume pieces. Again, very sloppy and unprofessional.

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Er... wow, way to follow your own logic there Jay.

Well my last avatar was nearly two issues out of date. Befuddled Chief O'Hara's a temporary stand-in until I find another avatar I like.

I was online earlier today but only for Wentworths and base stuff, the test will be when I actually have to fight someone - that's when things started rubberbanding last week.

I will try to get online for trapping tonight, though I'll have to see how my connection holds out.

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The Omega Maneuver summons an Omega Bomb, which appears to be a bloated photon seeker with a taunt.

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Sounds good, then. Being able to summon it at range a la Seekers gives it more uses than a point blank power.