Defenestrator
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:As someone who did scrape up the cash for it, I say you will not be disappointed if you do.Originally Posted by Arnabas
You know.... keep going with these threads and I'm gonna have to come up with some cash to buy that thing... -
Quote:Someone has already developed an all-terrain robot designed to carry about 340 pounds of equipment. It can adapt and cross ice, rocks, walk through forests, etc. and reach a supply point via GPS. This means the light infantry wouldn't need to be overloaded with their own equipment and actually would be able to perform as light infantry.Originally Posted by docbuzzard
I was worried for a second that the DoD got some insanely stupid notion, but since it's just fans on a lark, that's just fine.
If I can find the video out on the internet I'll post it, but my first thought was "AT-AT Walker." -
Oh, and I'm not really all that concerned about one team getting "ALL THE XPs" for something simply because the number of times you need to run these things to get your components, and with there only being two trials, suggests you're going to unlock your slots in due time. Getting 25% XP versus 30% XP is really not a huge deal.
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Quote:I would argue for keeping the teams balanced. I think one of the BAFs you ran you went with the high damage to the north strategy, and the 5 MOBs that got out sneaked through the south roads. (Again, we were in the process of learning and experimenting with this strategy at this point, so it's not a blame thing.) A huge key in this stage is keeping Doms/MMs/Controllers/Tankers/Stalkers/Defenders sort of in the middle of the roads and then make sure the Blasters/Corruptors/Scrappers/Brutes chase down those that get through (single attack) OR weaken those heading to the main group (AOEs). My point is you absolutely want to make sure you have a couple of damage specialists on that south path. It's a total pain for melee characters to chase something that won't stop down, though, especially of the lag is bad.Originally Posted by The_Masque
A few key things to note though, when we run this strategy we overload one team with AoE damage (like sleet, RoF, fireball, Burn) that is the north team. There are only 2 "groups" that run this north path so 1 team of 8 can hold it just fine.
The south path has 4 "groups" that run it, so you need lots of people down there, so we send 2 teams of 8 down to hold that path.
I have seen people trying variations of this technique like team 1 north, team 2 south, team 3 splits up and covers north and south. This typical leads to leaks to the south exit (because twice as many spawns run west, along the south path as they do that runs east).
One variation that I have been using lately is to send one high damage (ranged character is best) to cover each exit, that person just patrols to keep an eye out for lts who make it through the gauntlet of pain.
When the damage specialists work the fringes, they can set the mobs up to be chewed up when they get to the middle. -
Quote:If this happens, start using your Judgment powers on the add groupings instead of the AVs. It's actually better use of the J-powers, anyway.Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
Anyway, I sincerely hope that they shift rewards to going across leagues... this was a huge oversight on their part. I would say teams should be balanced anyway (and most leaders are doing that), but until then, beware of how rewards are parceled out and make sure to let people know and have duties parceled out. Be especially careful of any team leaders suggesting them and 3-4 other people handle the adds. I can't imagine any decent leaders on Victory doing this, but someone in the Suggestions thread has had this happen.
I thought Astra Merits might have some alternative use at first, but I no longer believe this. It seems to be a conscious design to have some level of diminishing returns on these trials so the same characters aren't running them over and over and over again on the same day (even though that's happening). I typically get as many thread drops as I do Astra Merits, so if things are meant to be built with threads, then enough threads aren't dropping on their own. You definitely need the Astral Merits to make up for this deficiency.Quote:Anyone, for the merit debate... I'm holding on to a few astral merits since we may be able to buy something with them eventually, but I cash in most. Do NOT, however, cash in empyrean merits, unless you are using them for rare salvage. If you don't use empyrean merits, you will have to pay scads of influence for your rare and very rare tiers of the new incarnate slots... and I think even most diehard marketeers would want to think a little before dropping 500 million on a purchase. Nor are most of us in that category. -
First off, I'm loving the new trials. I'm trying not to get burned out on them, as there are only two trials, but at the same time I want to get stuff unlocked and slotted for my level 50s. (Been working on the electric brute and electric blaster -- have a long ways to go on both.)
Many random thoughts:
1) On the B.A.F., the newer North road / South road strategy seems to be the way to go. It's far less confusing and you don't need to open up a map and decipher it, which got especially confusing because Team #s would typically change upon zoning in and people wouldn't notice.
2) Voodoo's observation on the Molecular Acid's is interesting, but considering how many people are incapable of following simple directions on some of these trials, I suspect it's a lack of attention to detail or not listening.
3) Tested and confirmed, but it is NOT necessary to hand all of the pacification grenades to one person. If Marauder becomes enraged and a grenade is in the process of being thrown, another one can NOT be thrown. (You get an Invalid Target message.) If you give all the grenades to one person, and they get smooshed and trapped at the hospital for 20+ seconds, your teams could be pretty much hosed. Also, on the last phase when he goes Invincible, USE A GRENADE. We had the "one person holding the grenades" refuse to do this last night.
4) Most of the leadership has been good. I've been wanting to lead one for awhile but have been ending up just joining, and I hope none of the leaders get offended when I start acting as a drill sergeant when people aren't listening to the leader. Totally not trying to steal anyone's thunder, but...I type really fast, and if people aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing, I will get on them. Oh, and if you get on a league with a bad leader (had that experience the other night), it's pretty jarring. Leading one of these is a lot more than just filling up roster slots.
5) Speaking of leadership, if you're going for one of the special badges, make sure people understand that before going in. This has not been a problem (Masque has been trying to get these, which I'm all for, and he's a pretty solid trial leader).
6) Every time we've TRIED to get the Synchronization badge, we've failed. I've gotten it on both characters I've run Lambda on without trying though. Go figure. -
Clicked the link for Frog of Thunder. Leaving satisfied.
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Just got my pre-order today.
This book is over 4 inches thick and could kill a man if dropped on him from a height.
Still on the fence?
There's a terrific forward and afterward written by Walt (he even dumps in the panel that he drew himself and Louise into). There's a great sketchbook in the back that includes house ads (including the Thor is a frog ad), pages of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Walt provided artwork for the various Thor characters), the artwork for the various corner boxes (upper left part of the cover) that Walt drew during his run, pinups that ran in various Marvel publications, covers for TPBs, and covers for the various annuals during his four-year tour of duty.
This is, literally, every piece of Simonson Thor artwork commissioned by Marvel Comics.
The paper they printed it on is not as good as that used for the various DC Absolute Editions, but it's pretty darned nice. It really makes Oliffe's new colors pop nicely.
And all of the covers are here, in place in front of their respective issues, without the titles and bar codes to get in the way of Walt's work.
Yes, I'm a pretty big fan of Walt Simonson, and this is a fitting tome for your bookshelf.
It's well worth the cost, and it's bumped up in line to NEXT on my reading list.
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Quote:Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
That really comes down to the server you play on. I played on Victory for 6 years and it eventually - IMHO - became a ghost down. It would take me 40 minutes to gather up 8 people to run an ITF.
What you say and what you mean seem to be two different things. Were you trying to do all villain ITFs? I mean, that's just silly.Quote:Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
Ummm, last I checked I was referring to my experiences playing redside, in general.
And, yes, red side on Victory is rather sparsely populated, but the server as a whole is not the ghost town you make it out to be. -
Quote:Because you get it at level 32 and not at level 50 and only after going through some difficult content multiple times?Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Now that Judgement exists, nukes are quickly becoming all downside with very little upside.
Judgement:
1)Recharges faster than any crashing nuke.
2)Deals more damage than most of them.
3)Not positive on this, but I don't believe it kills your end bar either.
Why would anyone take a power that kills your end bar every time you use it, and takes 5 minutes to recharge, when there is an alternative that doesn't crash your end and recharges in a minute and a half?
Don't get me wrong, if they improved the nuke powers to be more blaster friendly, I'd be all for it. But let's not compare apples and oranges here, either. After I take the nuke at level 32 and get it slotted up, I have it and it's very useful to a blaster (especially one who teams or who has some sort of cheaty way of regaining END quickly). -
This was MUCH better than that awful trailer they released a few months ago. I think even WB acknowledges the trailer was terrible.
I'm somewhat more eager to see this movie now. -
Quote:Exactly. This can't be topped. Ever. If it didn't kill the Rickroll meme, it should have.Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
Sorry, but the Cartoon Network perpetrated the ultimate Rickroll a few years back (2008) at the Macy's Parade.
They essentially Rickrolled the entire freaking country using the real, live Rick Astley, not an old video, ON LIVE TELEVISION. -
Trip Mine can be a little wonky at times. I've had numerous occasions where something ran over the Mine and ran by it before it triggered. By the time it set off they were out of the effect radius. I've actually gotten into the habit of tossing caltrops down around the minefield to prevent this from happening. But if caltrops aren't working on these things, that could be an issue.
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Quote:On the two BAFs I ran last night, the first was a failure because people either:Originally Posted by minimalist_NA
Yeah, I was between c2 and b1 and that seemed ideal, plus I was able to pick off commandos that were trying to sneak between those buildings. This seems like a fine plan to me, and I'm looking forward to more successes when I get the chance to play again. Whenever that might be.
a) Refused to open the map OR
b) Refused to acknowledge that their team number might have changed and went to the wrong location
Once we got everyone set properly, I was on my first successful BAF and got the Very Rare loot table, which will be nice if I can ever get my Judgement slot open.
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Quote:One of the things I found by snooping around today are that the 9CUs actually GET STRONGER the longer they are out. When we went after Nightstar first after they split, this was probably a huge tactical error on our part as Siege's reinforcements kept piling up AND charging up. Oops. Live and learn.Originally Posted by minimalist_NA
And as for the final phase, I definitely think we needed more damage (especially AoE) to handle the reinforcements, especially the 9CUs. Once people start dying, that sets off a cascade reaction where more and more 9CUs are allowed to accumulate until they become completely unmanageable. If that means killing the AVs more slowly in order to devote damage to the adds, it's worth it. Slow and steady etc. Etc.
It was fun to down a whole lot of purples and see how long my brute could last against them. (Answer: not very.) -
And if it helps convince anybody (I'll try to find the link) one of the comic book news sites (might have been Bleeding Cool) had some sample pages of the recolored work, including one of the big splash pages where he's fighting Jurmangandr. Walt's heavy line work really leaps out with Oliffe's color work. Yeah, I pre-ordered instantly.
EDIT: and here's he link:
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/01/...sthor-omnibus/ -
Quote:I agree with this. Isn't there a whole "Help" channel for people to use?Originally Posted by Gr33n
the whole thing is silly i think...
This whole new system is rather redundant.
Kept my name blue, thank you. -
Quote:I've not watched Sealab, but I just could not get in to Frisky Dingo. I tried. I really did. I'm really not sure what was missing from it for me, but I couldn't continue with it.Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
I agree, the sound editing for the dialog is phenomenal in Archer. Adam Reed's team honed their skills on Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo (did anyone watch the two Xtacles episodes?), and they're katana-sharp here.
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Namely, they're collecting what is widely considered by many the greatest run of the Thor comic book under one hard cover, completely recolored by Steve Oliffe at Olyoptics.
That's right.
Walter Simonson's entire run of "The Mighty Thor" plus his 4-issue limited series "Balder the Brave" are now going to be in one very large, convenient tome. You'll get the Saga of Beta Ray Bill, Thor turned into a frog, the Mutant Massacre, Hela's death curse and the potential start of Ragnarok itself as Thor battles Jurmangandr in a fight to the death.
http://www.amazon.com/Thor-Walter-Si...2189471&sr=1-1 -
Quote:The other thing to note, on these trials, is that a tanker handling all of those MOBs (even those with the indestructable Granite Armor), are being torn to shreds quickly.Originally Posted by Master Zaprobo
The key thing being, one "Tank" should not be dealing with 30 mobs. They almost certainly won't survive doing so.
Get a few "tank" and share the responsibility out.
Aggro cap was lowered by the devs as it was trivialising content. I don't expect they'll be popping it back up again.
Edit: Sorry, I meant taunt cap, but I think that's what the OP was referring to in any event.
The key to the trials is TEAMWORK, not "have the tank do everything."
So my question would be, instead of trying to aggro 30+ MOBs, what are your teammates (leaguemates?) doing? -
Quote:I never said it would be easy or sensible to open everything up with shards. And you can buy the XP. I mean, for the low, low cost of 75 million INF (+ another 7.5 million to convert 30 shards to threads), you, too, can open up your Judgement slot!Originally Posted by Grey Pilgrim
You need far more threads than shards, so if you expect to progress using shards and the conversion rate, expect your progress to be rather miniscule. Assuming you don't want to get hit with the conversion penalty, your 10 shards will get you half of a component. Compare that to Gra'i Matter, which has a similar timer but gets you an entire component.
I'm sure a few people have a bunch of shards banked and can use more of them to help out, but you have to be kidding yourself if you think getting shards will allow you to progress on the new stuff even close to what you could for the alpha. The math just doesn't support it. -
Quote:Very good to know. Someone else mentioned Earthquake was very effective, also.Originally Posted by Prince_Tycho
I have to say that Force Bubble was actually very useful here. The escapees will pretty much only walk on the walkways, so a couple FF Controllers/Defenders can fairly easily contain the minions, leaving all the other people to deal with the Lts.
I think the few times I managed to land a Thunderstrike in a crowd of the minions, it definitely took them off their feet.
As a melee character, the lieutenants just wouldn't stop running so it was much harder for me to get after them. The blasters seemed to be having a field day chewing them up, though.
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Quote:Not to mention "Infinity Gauntlet" or any of the other Thanos Infinity books. Or "Secret Wars." Or any of the various summer team up events the Big Two try to cram down everyone's throats every year.Originally Posted by EvilGeko
I agree, I don't know what the devs are thinking. It's not like in the comics heroes join in these huge groups to combat major threats.
Wait what?
[/SIZE]
I was going to post something similar, but comics are FULL of stories of many, many heroes banding together to do something because some amazing and grand threat is just too big for eight heroes.
It's part of the lore this game is based on, and now it's part of the game.
Get over it. -
Was finally on a successful Lambda last night.
Had two attempts at the B.A.F. and the first one failed during the prisoner break out phase. Quite the learning curve there as many people in the league didn't realize the lieutenants are immune to everything except damage.
The second one failed at the last step when both Nightstar and Siege returned to their starting areas. After that it became a numbers game as their various reinforcements were too much to deal with. I'm sure that's a problem that becomes easier to deal with once people start getting their Judgement slots powered up.
I definitely will want to try to hit the B.A.F. some more tonight. I'm sitting at about 46% of the XP needed to unlock Judgement, and I should have enough components to get it equipped. -
Quote:Right. Which is why my server has seen a number of veteran players who had been missing from the game (some for as long as a couple of years) resubscribe. But other than that, you're right. There's nothing new here for old players with lots of level 50s.Originally Posted by Winterminal
"Veteran players getting bored and quitting" is not the only reason games lose population. You also have to offer things that may draw in new players, or draw back deactivated players, and i20 caters to neither.
Remember, just because YOU don't like something, it doesn't mean the whole world shares your taste. Adding tintable colors to the few powers that currently don't have it would be nice, but it's seriously not going to retain subscriptions. "Oooo...my controller can now have a green fireball. I'd better stay in the game!"
The Lambda Sector and BAF are the type of end game content other MMOs have, but from my experience they are MUCH more friendly to casual players that EQ or WoW-style raids. I remember a Plane of Hate raid in EQ that lasted well over 10 hours. TEN HOURS! And that was with an experience group that knew how to raid the zone.
Believe it or not, yes, there are people who want this type of stuff in the game.