Captain_Alpha_EU

Well... following the good run experienced on sunday I'd thought Hami was worth taking a shot at again. Timings are a little different; Wednesday's and Thursdays are the best evenings for me to run Hami Raids without interruptions, weekends are just a busy time for me. 7.00PM GMT meet, 7.30PM GMT start time. So post on here if you can make it, leave the monster patrol to me, I will personally contact you if I need you. [u]This time I need more Hami Tank healers and PA droppers![u] Last time we were a tad undterstaffed in this sector; would be much appreciated if a bigger turnout of Hami Tank Healers and PA Droppers could be seen, cheers!

[u]1ST TIME HAMIDON RAIDERS: I STRONGLY ADVISE YOU READ THIS. THE RAID WILL RUN ALOT SMOOTHER IF EVERYONE HAS A STRONG FOUNDATION ON WHAT THE RAID'S SPECIFICATIONS ARE.[u]

I look forward to leading you all once again into the fray; it's always a pleasure,

Cpt. A

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WooT !! Congratz M8
Will Golden mbe at the next Hammy Bash??
Also will you be on GM Team?
Every 1 Say. Hip-Hip-Horray !!

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He'd better be on the GM team one of the best darned fighters Defiant has to offer ^^

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Be good if the day at least alternated to allow people the chance to attend at weekend and in week as an option in my view.


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This is something me and Hey Man are looking into, I wanted the next raid as early as next thursday following the success of Sunday Will get back to you all on this one.

Gratz to Mr. Apollo for his 2nd 50! About time too!

Enjoy, may you continue to stack more 50's in the near future!

A HUGE Gratz to Johnathon Hawke on his first 50! Unit Alpha's 29th lvl 50 and a fantastic friend

Enjoy matey, now go and faceplant several hundred more times on your new Kheldian

Right, a long thank you list here:

Thanks to my co-pilot Hidden Healer for all his efforts at the raid; you're a saint matey . Also a huge thanks to our Hami Tank Hammerfall and his skilled team, also thanks to Righteous Bob and his PA team, also our renowned targetter Odins Son. And a huge thanks to my monster patrol, nicely done; and a massive thank you for everyone who showed up and played their part in making the raid a success.

Unfortunately my net somehow fried for around an hour as soon as I began my run into the Hive, turned out to be a dodgy port in my router; but it's all fixed up now. I managed to make it back just as the holders were moving in, things were looking pretty good from where I was. Although I will apologise to anyone who tried to talk to me as I came back, I wasn't... well I wasn't the happiest bunny shall we say . Ah well the raid wasn't about me, I played such a small part in it, I really do hope the rest of you enjoyed it. Ooooh also me and Hey Man have been discussing making this a weekly event; it is quite a commitment though so it's still another thing on the drawing board.

Until next time raiders,

Cpt. A

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First question is, will your friend be teaming with a tank a lot? If not it may be a rather frustrating first toon...

Elec/Fire does really wonderful PBAoE damage right from very low levels, but without someone tp draw the aggro away you'll wind up very dead, very quick.

Much as I love flight on many toons, I wouldn't reccomend it for this build - either SS for setting up PBAoEs or Leaping for Acrobatics would be better.

The core attacks all come early, which is nice - Ball Lightning, Combustion, Fire Sword Circle and Short Circuit make up an attack chain that will pretty much wipe out entire spawns and leave bosses with a sliver of health.

My own E/F is in the mid-40's and currently not being played much as altitis has had me on villains instead. I could post his build if it would help, though.

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Ooh yes his build would be helpful

Hey Guys,

Right I have a friend joining CoH very soon, and he wants to try an elec blast/fire manipulation blaster as his first toon. Can any of you suggest a good build for him? (iirc he wanted fly as his travel power, and stamina is a must).

Thanks in advance and I hope you can help, I'm useless on these builds unless you're talking about energy!

Cpt. A

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I'll be there Cap if you need a hand with anything.

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Thanks Chels All help is very appreciated; well 3 days to go till the raid, I think everything is looking good so far as numbers of people attending are concerned.

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Ok... Ok... so what exactly are you guys suggesting I do then? Scrap a monster patrol, hope for the best and have 8 extra people for the mito? (Not a rant, just a straightforward question)

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Right, I feel I have to apologise for this; last night after going through this thread countless times, and returning to the drawing board about whether a patrol is needed, I just made myself more stressed out than needed. However, after giving it alot of thought, I've decided that the monster patrol will still operate in place. I have my reasons, and I'm more than glad to share them with you.

Firstly, anyone who says that everyone who turns up in the Hive to participate in the actual raid appropriately is wrong... very wrong. I've seen many, many times dozens of heroes who just turn up to the raid, and float about while the rest of the people are doing an excellent job. I don't think many people have commented on this factor before; but in my opinion, the people that aren't where they are supposed to be are a security threat.

Secondly, while I realise that a monster patrol may just be more hassle than it's worth; it could be useful, not just to protect raiders whilst they are in the mito/holding/tanking etc, but the transition of groups in and out of the jelly could lead to the monsters being aggro'd. This is just an assumption, something I will monitor with my team whilst the raid is going on.

The monster patrol will stand, needed or un-needed. I'll make the descision whether it's needed again myself if I ever decide to put together another raid.

Ok... Ok... so what exactly are you guys suggesting I do then? Scrap a monster patrol, hope for the best and have 8 extra people for the mito? (Not a rant, just a straightforward question)

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Thing is....lot of people will think "oh...I'd better help that GM team...Oh I'd better taunt that GM away from Hami...Oh what's that team doing over there?" etc....and suddenly you have way too much GM attention because people wont do what the raidleader tells them....even if they think they're helping.

The best route imo would be to have 1-3 tanks patrolling the area and taunting any GMs that would be coming too near the raiders.

Some background from the raids we've done:
We always had a few people from OotCS to keep an eye out for troublemakers and GMs. We never told anyone because of the reasons above.

At one point we more or less decided that this was basically a waste of good raiders so OotCS joined in instead and all was good.

The night came where we had 2 certain people at the raid (who's names I've pm'd Cap Alpha) and it failed because of GM aggro. We still don't know if 1 of these people was the cause of said aggro or if it was another player or team intent on griefing the raid or maybe just unintentional aggro from a random player.

Ever since that incident people have been more concerned about patrolling for GMs than the actual raid....which is a bad development imo.

Concentrate about doing the actual Hamiraid and maybe keep a few scouts out and you will do fine.

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That is a very fair point Archy, and I do agree with you. But I don't think people are actually more concerned with monster patrol than the actual raid. It's still more of a side issue I'd say. Perhaps just having a few tanks would be the more sensible option. As you mentioned though about "oh...I'd better help that GM team...Oh I'd better taunt that GM away from Hami...Oh what's that team doing over there?" etc, I think that if the message to stay away at all costs from the monster patrol is put across on local, B'cast and request once outside the hive, and a reminder when everyone is inside, the message should be clear. I'll admit last time there was major problems from random non-monster patrol people gathering them up without consent from me (I was very very stressed at that point). Perhaps if me and HH do a 2nd raid later on, we'll revise some of these tactics, but I always want to make sure that bringing Hamidon down in the proper form always remains the main priority.

I love mito clearing, tbh that is more fun than GM hunting; you're better off in there than stuck brawling a bunch of giant plants Oh and a few of you have been asking who's PA drop co-ordinator, I'm gonna find out tonight and get back to you on that one. And Hammer don't worry about it, I'm sure that we'll get the perfect numbers on the night.

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We didn't used to have one but then a raid failed because of a monster entering the jelly during the holding phase and killing the tank team. The holders died and Hami spawned his mitos, ending the raid. Some raids since then have had a GM team, some have not. There's no doubt that it can be useful to have a GM team, however it's the one element whose presence isn't required in terms of actually getting a raid off the ground on the night.

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Yup, exactly my thoughts. If there is the people to spare, have a monster patrol in place.

Well it's varied Mighty. Some consider a monster patrol uselss, others consider it very effective at making a raid secure against the threat of monster aggro. Since this raid is being run for the first time by me and Hidden Healer, we thought we may aswell be prepared and have a monster team.

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So? It seems you've got the (not needed) GM team in place....so whos actually raiding Hami then?

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Ahem, I believe we need one, better to be safe than sorry; these measures have to be put in place, rather than simply saying "Oh yeah, everybody here is going to do [u]exactly everything[u] perfect, no aggro from those monsters, nope. Every single person in there has done this many many times and has read the guide." As much as that would be nice... it aint gonna happen. I don't want to take any risks; and I'm sure Union's Perimeter Guard can back me up on this matter. Hami Raids do bring in a lot of people, and accidents happen when you have alot of people in there, some who may be unsure exactly what's going on. I'd rather keep a monster patrol in place as wipes due to the monster aggro has happened before. We learn from our mistakes, and I'd rather have 8 (not needed) people in there doing a so-called (not needed) job rather than a failed raid!

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You can use Krunch (Smashing) or Hax (Lethal).
They are both 50 as of this morning.
IIRC The DE mobs are normally resistant to one type, yet vulnerable to the other? So Which one da want?
The team seems to have a lot of Smashing in already.
K

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I'd say bring Hax in that case, since we'll have two super strength tankers. Though to be honest with both sonic and dark debuffs, they won't be standing very long (-60% resistance from Sonic and a further -30% from Dark's Tar Patch, along with -regen from various Dark powers). Cap's damage will also be fairly unresisted.

Red Noise is Sonic/Elec/Elec btw... End Drains are useless at a raid but has Tesla Cage for the hold phase.

Should be able to find out this evening if I can make it next week or not, hopefully will be there OK.

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Ok, would be very very very good if you could make it, those sonic buffs/debuffs will be incredibly valuable, especially combined with dark. Ah also Krunch, may be better if you bring something along with lethal damage

Right guys, finally got my final lists for the Monster Patrol; may have to steal Union's idea and get you other 7 unique avatars

Anyhow here's the lineup:

Captain Alpha 01- Energy/Energy/Force Blaster
Blonde Justice- Invunerability/Super Strength Tanker
Dr. Edge- Stone Armour/Ice Melee Tanker
Golden Wing- Invunerability/Super Strength Tanker
Flush- Empathy/Elec Defender
Red Noise- Sonic/? Defender
Krunch- Martial Arts/Regeneration Scrapper
Black Mage- Dark/Dark/Dark Defender

If my calculations are accurate, thats a pretty capable team for monster hunting .

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please do, I know there is a bit of friendly Union / Defiant rivalry ( sporting I'd say lol ) but if there is any info that will help your raids from turning into wipes, or debtfests it would be worth working together!

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Most definately, I have no rivalry with Union whatsoever.... *looks around* Im serious guys! Stop laughing! Will make sure to send you a few tells if I get online later, feeling quite ill at the moment though so I'm not too sure if I can be too bothered hehe; thank the lord for the forums

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dont know if this helps you guys, but we have found over on Union that after the bud drop is over, that our raid group is auto swarmed in aggroe'd GM's, without players actually doing any aggro!

can you let us know if this happens at your raid too?

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I do remember something like that happening TsumijuZero, not 100% sure; will make a note of it and send you a PM if i can answer that one.

Ah nuts... missed it! Well a special thanks to Unit Alpha's 28th lvl 50

Congrats!

kk Leese, thanks for telling me

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P.S- Need your tank for this time Apollo

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Ready and loaded

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Good to hear my main man Now as for the monster patrol team; this is the current looks of it.

Captain Alpha 01- Blaster
Golden Wing- Tanker
Flush- Defender
Blonde Justice- Tanker
Krunch- Scrapper
Red Noise- Defender
Leese- Scrapper
Black Mage- Defender

Now with the information I recieved from Mael about what his sonic/sonic defender can do, along with Flush's awesome buffs, along with the tankers and scrappers and blaster doing their thing, we should be all fine and dandy monster wise. I think with the addition of a sonic cage we'll be able to add in some fresh tactics, along with all the lovely -res

Wow! Very nice work here Catz, some very creative usage of shading there

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And I most thank you and Captain for the great night missions last night. Was really fun and we had a good old chat Only 1 bar till 47

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Was a pleasure, rekindled my love for my 41 Scrapper . Anyways tonight if I can get all this work on my desk cleared in time I'll make a quick visit online to CoH and start building up a list for my monster patrol team. Krunch and co; could you please drop me a tell @captain alpha 01, Forum PM me or reply to this thread on exactly who it was you wanted in the monster team; I'll do my best.

P.S- Need your tank for this time Apollo