BeornAgain

I've read the guides (though none deal with inherent fitness I don't think) and I am trying to create an electric melee/shield defense scrapper that will do 2 things:

Survive the incarnate trials

NOT cost 10 billion

I guess that means can someone who has a greater understanding of Mids than I do design a platform that does not contain the purples or PvP or HamiOs?

I can get LotGs and most of the other stuff for 2 alignment merits a piece, but Hamis are hard to come by (and when I do a STF or a Hami raid, I always seem to get one that I can't use and/or is worthless on the market), and I just don't have the scratch for the 15 billion it would cost to do the scrapper up right.

I have a Nerve Partial Radial Revamp Alpha, and that is the extent of my slotted and/or unlocked incarnate powers (this guy dinged 50 yesterday).

I can respec and have no problem doing so; I would just like to not end on my face every run. Right now, with 60% of my slotting done, I am at 42% melee/AoE/ranged, but I think I can only squeeze another 3% into the build with standard IOs.

Any ideas?

I was a boy living in Scotland when Tom Baker took over from Jon Pertwee, and she (and Brigadier) were like friends to me.

She will be missed deeply.

I'll tell you one thing that you should definitely need to see:

"Beorn, this is your second warning!"

If I don't move (I mean, I always do, but IF I didn't), you will need to know that sequestering is on its way.

Sequestration means, to me, a few things.

First, you are getting aggro from the AV. Usually, this is a very good thing. However, with the hold, a few other things are going to happen:
A) People who rely on movement for part of their defense or what-have-you are going to get curb-stomped by Siege.
B) ALL Melee DPS will cease in and around the offending aggro-haver.
C) Ranged DPS may be off-set by spamming heals/buffs/shields etc. to prevent situation A above from happening.

You are a tank. Your job, as I see it, is to be a meat shield. YOU defend and they attack. If you do not defend them, they die. Yes, the onus is on the others to check and recheck their surroundings in case a tank falls. But, when you aren't down, rather you are asleep at the wheel, then things CAN derail.

I LOVE having aggro. What I do, when I see a second warning from another tank/brute/etc., is I TAUNT THE AV OFF OF THEM. THAT is my JOB. I would hope that another tank/brute/etc., would see the second warning for me and do likewise.

It is our job. Meatshield, defend, protect, draw aggro, THEN kill.

Thanks Wendy! I have played some with you as well (a particularly fun ITF with Taxibot Sara2.0 comes to mind) and I think the good players DO listen and DO try to make cohesive attacks and coherent decisions.

I will have to try the pull to the add building corner next time. Thanks for the heads-up!

In Virtue, the following places seem most likely to have Trials running:

RWZ1
RWZ2
RWZ3
RWZ4
Pocket D1
Pocket D2
Midnighter Club1
Midnighter Club2
Cimerora 1
Cimerora 2

That was this past Saturday.

There were TWO Rikti War Zones before 7 a.m. Pacific time MONDAY MORNING!

I agree, the queue system seems to be broken. I would hit the lowest numbered Rikti War Zone I could to see who is running things there... Though, I personally do RWZ3 since most of the folks I run with spend time there (if it exists).

Thanks dave_p for the clarification on the "Master of" badge situation. Yeah, especially in the Lambda Trial, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get it in one run.

And, thank you Dechs... I have never, NEVER understood why a tank would not take taunt. Okay, there are inherent aggro powers in being a tank, true. But, you cannot aggro a mob at range as effectively without taunt.

That being said, my main, Beorn, has a taunt level of, I think, 4? Threat level? I am not sure, but as dave_p mentioned above, when I get my second ring and I leap over Nightstar (or Siege) to draw the AVs closer to one another, I still get them trying to come after me. I have been on BAFs where we had both AVs at the tennis court corner closest to Nightstar's spawn point, I had leapt to the diametrically opposite corner of the court, only to have Siege lumber towards me and sequester me 10 seconds after I was out of range, and then be sequestered AGAIN by Nightstar immediately after. How did I keep aggro from THAT distance while they were being attacked by 2 teams of 8? I do not know.

I have actually been sequestered 3 times in a row, in place, without ever having re-engaged the AVs. People said that they saw the words "Beorn has been sequestered" floating over me like DoTs...

Virtue, due to the RPers that are in the D, usually has RWZ or Midnighters or Cimerora as the starting point. Though, when things are slow for the RPers, we use Pocket D (or studio 55).

I have now seen the walk-ways/chokepoint style of prisoner escape. I was not as impressed. I think if you have some killer DPS you can make it happen, but talk about herding cats! One in particular grabs my attention, because everything was seemingly fine and then 3 prisoners escaped one right after another. Not sure if that was someone was afk or asleep, or if there was a weak point on a team, or if there was a whole squad of unhurt LTs sauntering up to a hole in the ground and one person tasked with taking them all down...

Seeing the pets on the chokepoint style was a sight to behold though. The escapees TRY to run through the path, and they run RIGHT INTO the pets. My dear sweet, sweet Vickie would ::swish swash:: and down goes a LT like sack of hammers...

So, for the first time this morning, I led a BAF trial.

I was not trying for a Master run. Rather, I just wanted to succeed and not look like a clueless newb on my first time as head honcho-star.

Thanks to Burning Sol, Cimmeria and Y2KING for my training as a leader. Those 3 are the shizzy fo sho, and I would not have the first clue on how to lead a BAF were it not for their excellent leadership skills.

I should mention that Strong & Pretty and Not On My Watch drop this way anyway, but I make no attempt for the other 2 badges.

Part 1) Warworks- Go. Hunt. Kill Wrks.

Part 2) Nightstar- Pull her and her Vickie harem NOT to the tennis courts, but to the building where all the adds come from. There is only one tower that can shoot the helipad/courtyard/tarmac, and it is essentially 20 yards away. One person can keep the towers controls in the corner of their eye and run and click it everytime there is a glowie. As for how to pull Nightstar (and Siege for that matter) shooting and running like hell or shooting and then hiding behind a building seems to get them to chase you faster. Though, admittedly, Siege is a bigger and slower 'bot, but both should come to the same area eventually. Also, since the adds spawn to where you are pulling, more judgement and standard AoEs may be brought to bear and used for more people to get more experience.

Part 3) Prisoner Escape- 3-4 camp each of the doors, with hopefully one controller or dominator per door area. Scrappers and Brutes patrol the walkways and focus on LTs. Blasters and Corruptors flit about and shoot anything that moves. However:
* Try not to use Barrier during this phase. If you get confused you "cast" it on the prisoners and that is a bad thing...
* Be prepared for pets to become confused.
* I found that you can target LTs before they have even exited the door, and by targeting for my pet too (my sweet, sweet darling Vickie), they can and will hit them before they even enter the compound.
Each of the 4 times I ran it this morning, we got the badge. However, that was really due to the great team more than anything else.

Part 4) Siege- Same as Nightstar, with the understanding that homey is about 10 times heavier than "her" and will take a bit more time to pull to the tarmac in front of the add building. Once again, have a designated tower toggler.

Part 5) Both AVs together PLUS Adds- Well, EVERYONE is assembled, and in some cases the AVs are both within AoE distance of one another. By doing this, one Ion or Pyro judgment can hit everybody at once. This helps each team get the maximum amount of exp. Plus, you can really get a feel for how each AV deals with sequestration, and plan accordingly.
And-
* Once again, have a designated Tower control panel person.
* Siege is tougher. "He" will drop more slowly, but don't stop entirely, or you will not get him going again in the 10 seconds it takes to drop him after Nightstar is down.
BUT-
** If you have everyone there, all 24 can now turn their attention to the remaining AV.

Regarding sequestration. As tankers, we have a brilliant way to prevent that from EVER happening. It is called "Taunt." The minute you see anyone get a second warning, taunt them off the unfortunate recipient and take up the banner. There should be enough tanks/brutes or other folks with Taunt/Provoke to keep sharing the love.

I was fortunate that I had some damn fine folks leading the charge for their respective teams. I usually had team one (my team) on Siege, team two on Nightstar, and team three on adds. I also was the designated tower toggler. I don't think we ever lost anyone to that tower on any of the runs. And, there are some really great taunters out there.

I realize that this is not a Master Run. I call it the "too lazy to do a Master Run" run, but we had maybe 3-5 deaths the entire set of 4 runs, and every AT was extremely useful. I tried to have one Kheld and one SoA in each team as well, and the cosmic balance/purple fluffy/quintuple leadership/massive EAT mojo was apparent.

Speaking of purple fluffies, that is another cool thing about having everything by the add area. Nightstar's "corpse" is a non-fading body that is essentially a Dark Extraction piggy-bank. Great for prisoners, adds, and Siege before the final battle.

Well, I would not have had the success were it not for the great people who took charge on their respective teams and did their assignments with brutal efficiency. NO ONE was sponging and ALL were essential.

I cannot wait to try my hand at leading a Lambda now!

When I first started beta, Beorn was a stone/mace tanker. I didn't like how much end it used and how slow he was, so when the game first opened up and we started new characters, I switched to Invul/SS but was still unhappy with the end drain and how it didn't seem to hit hard enough.

I switched again in, I think, Nov. 2004 to Invul/Energy because I was led to believe that I could hit REALLY hard if I was willing to suffer damage in turn...

Cool, wait until level 38 to brutalize my foe? I can do that...

Every powerset that has come since... Energy Melee seems to be lagging further and further behind. But, THAT is the nature of an evolving game AND player knowledge base.

We learn tricks, Devs nerf some and leave others intact... We firgure out loopholes, Devs close most or all of them... It is the evolution of the game.

No tank at the beginning would have been able to hit a flying opponent unless you could fly or jump to them. Now, we have APP and PPP ranged attacks plus judgement, not to mention the veteran attacks (how many tanks use a blackwand or Nemesis staff to pull, right?)...

We evolve to the new game. If the heavy hitting attacks are firing off too slow, then use them for AVs (as has been suggested several times already). I feel like I use the heavy shots enough during the escape portion of the trial on Lts (target them as they come to you and toggle the attack and it fires off as the brainwashed Lt runs by you and either kills it or wounds it significantly enough that the next scrapper or brute along the path can drop 'em with a single shot).

We adapted to these trials pretty quickly. The next issue will undoubtedly throw something ELSE at us that some will complain about, but others will keep their heads down and focus on the solutions.

I look forward to seeing what happens next!

Maybe I don't understand what a "casual" player is...

I have some (like 6-7) 50s... And, I think 3 of them have anything after alpha. One has the alpha open but nothing slotted...

My main (Beorn) has opened up all the new stuff, but doesn't have everything rared up... and I am okay with that. You just play when you can and enjoy the ride, or make fun of Marauder's Enriche bottle, or Mother's set of <ahem> robots, or just go for certain badges or (for the Lambda) just clear the outside of the facility and restart...

You get exp regardless. UNTIL you unlock everything, then you get the occasional thread or astral merit.

This is fun. If I get bored with a tank, I'll run a crab spider or a corruptor or a Mastermind. In any case, you meet cool people and if there are people too serious for you, just excuse yourself and find a new group.

I am SO not concerned with the Very Rare stuff... It will happen when it happens. I've actually converted merits and other stuff for threads just to see what nifty things I could make with each thing... Some would call that wasting threads and incarnate stuff; I call it having fun.

I hope you have fun playing the game, and just don't stress about intangible shiny things that don't exist in the real world anyway...

Yes... this NEEDS to happen!

I declined to read all of the complaining, mostly because much of it was the same thing over and over again, although there were several valid points made about the queue system.

In my case, first night of the new content, I used LFG for BAF. Only one of us had done it before. We were fine until we faced Siege and Nightstar at the same time... But, we got exp and so it was okay. Still, I felt as if my invul tank was armored in butter for that first time.

Then came Lambda. THAT was a painful experience in the first PUG. Nobody knew what they were doing and we got swarmed. BUT, I still got exp and I was okay.

But, I told a friend "I just got tatered... TWICE!"

I had dinner, and went back at it.

2 completed BAFs and a completed Lambda later, I called it a night with my Judgement slot open and a tiny bit of experience towards Lore and 75% of Interface completed.

The next day I had Interface open and slotted.

This is challenging stuff still. I fail 2 times out of 5 attempts still (mostly with escapees or not getting the acid in time), but the experience and the learning curve are fun and I look forward to getting more powers and more ability and understanding about the process.

I, for one, say bravo Devs.

What program did you use to record your session? Looks very clear!

I don't have enough 50s to round out a good team, but if I can "call up" some of my 40s, I'd have:

50+1 Invul/En Tank T4
50+1 Widow T4
50+1 Crab T3
50+1 Fire/Dark Corr T3
50+1 Bots/Traps MM T3
50 Bane (EDIT- just made 50 with Huntsman Beorn)
45 Warshade
43 Peacebringer
(alternate 41 Elec/Shield Scrap)

The triple x2 tactical training, perma mind link and souped-up Kheldian one-two punch plus the -regen and healing/rezzing from the corr would make this a really formidable team. The bots are extra team members just for fun, and if the MM can set up a control station, there will be caltrops, poison traps, and trip mines everywhere.

The crab is an AoE monster, the Bane is a ST nightmare and the widow has a good mixture of both. The tank holds aggro very well and with light form and eclipse running at near perma levels (plus 2 dwarfs in case) means aggro will be managed very effectively.

And, if... just IF I have to go with the scrapper, the combo of shield charge and lightning rod will devastate entire hordes.

I could see the tank standing in the center of the room, the widow and bane on either side, the novas floating on the flanks with the crab a bit behind to be within range of suppression, venom grenade+bile spray and all of HIS pets plus the MM and all HIS pets. Finally the corr bringing up the rear for tar patch + rain of fire and fear for control plus the 2 holds for Lts or bosses (with hasten they'd be stacked to 3 or 4) and his dark servant adding additional holds/immobs/heals and general spooky-inky goodness.

Dang, now I wish there was a way to actually DO this...

Okay, I have a request, in keeping with this concept...

What about a survivable (nearly) melee-only Bane that would be sort of the place-keeper whilst getting the inf together to turn it into the bad @$$ above?

I have a Bane that just hit 48, and he is melee only and has no pets, but has double leadership, hasten & SS, mace mastery (again, no pet), and fighting.

So, until I get the SERIOUS cash to outfit him (and honestly, I have 3 50s to outfit before I get to him, but I still want to play him), I want a build that will be servicable until the inf may be set aside for him.

Ideas?