DevoDog

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Can I humbly suggest to the Devs that while you're contemplating these settings to get in touch with the existing, and extensive, tracking sites already out there like Titan Network (City Info Terminal, City Game Tracker, etc)?

It would be a very nice gesture and useful for a lot of people if when you go to make use of these settings you could also allow sites like that to read data that players have made available for the web.

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I hope there are plans for an API that can retrieve the data as an XML feed.

I completely understand what the OP is seeing as a problem when playing a Defender. But I don't like his solution.

The issue, IMHO, is more of the Endurance costs rather than the effectiveness. Most defenders will be much more effective in large teams due to the propensity of AOE buffs/debuffs.

To give a couple of examples: Accelerate Metabolism costs the same amount of Endurance when it's affecting 8 characters as it does when it only affects 2. Enervating Field costs the same to run when it's only affecting 3 mobs as it does when it affects 8.

If they modified the costs of defender buffs/debuffs based on the number of toons (including mobs) that were affected, Defenders wouldn't become exhausted as quickly in smaller teams.

Zombie_Man,

Thanks for that information. I ran the Ganymede missions last night (we did have 1 villain with us). We couldn't figure out why we couldn't get Scratch's missions.

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Alright, so there seems to be a concensus (spelling?) that there's something stinky about the unlockable contacts.

Anyone disagree?

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Actually, I agree with pretty much the whole idea here. They don't make sense, there's nothing to point you to them in-game, and they're a pain in the ***.

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I have to agree.

What would be the difference if the first mission the "unlockable" contacts gave you was to complete their requirement to unlock them?

The only difference is that for many of the unlockables, their "keys" are "secret."

Majik,

15 is too low for Sharkhead.

You're missing the fact that Peter Themari, Dmitri Krylov and Dr. Percey will each introduce you to other folks (Willy Wheeler, Golden Roller, and Marshall Brass). Willy Wheeler will introduce you to Seer Marino (Wretch arc)....Marshall Brass will introduce you to Operative Wellman (Zig Guard Hat mission).

Aside from that, though, you're spot on about how to run the contacts without leveling them (meet all 3 by running broker missions and heists BEFORE you run their missions).

Arcus had sent me a PM in regards to some of the dedicated teams that I've been on or helped set up:

The Clones
The Clones are all identical MA/Regen Scrappers. Appearances are the same (other than a different letter for each toon) and they choose the exact same powers. We had previously run an all-Scrapper team called "The Becker Brothers" with different powersets. The problem was in the discrepancies in the powers....some ran out of End very quickly while some never ran out of End. So, I came up with the idea of The Clones to help balance things better. We have given a lot of thought on what powers to take at what levels and what would be our travel power. The intial plan had been to take Jump Kick from the Leaping pool as our pre-travel power. A few of the Clones were very hesitant in taking Jump Kick. Eventually, the two primary clones caved in and we ended up taking Crane Kick in its place. By doing so, however, it pushed out travel power back a few more levels.

Our biggest mistake with The Clones was the fact that we are Science origin...which makes going up against Vahz a real pain. For some reason, we wanted to completely avoid The Hollows (which was a mistake). The Clones are either highly effective or quick to drop. We can cruise through the streets of Perez Park with almost no risk or downtime....but large Clone-teams going against Vahz in door missions is much trickier.

The Dragon Kinship
I believe that TDK came after the Clones. TDK is a celtic-themed all-Controller team. Fairly low risk against almost any mobs. With Containment, my TDK member needs a respec (since she took Jump Kick, Boxing and Kick for lower-endurance damage powers).

Scrap Metal
An all */Dev Blaster robotic themed team.

The Infestation
A bug-themed all-Defender team. This is the one we've been playing lately. The bugs focus on Debuffs and attacks. We don't have any Rad primary defenders due to the anchoring nature on many of their debuffs. With the bugs, we can have a wider level-discrepancy without putting the characters at risk. Very fast in defeating mobs of almost any type.

I remember when it was hard to find CoT's and Lost in King's Row without having a travel power and without risking being ks'ed by or ks'ing another player.

I remember the first time I encountered a Tree of Life. It was in King's Row (the remnants of a battle). About 30 folks came of pondering "Should we attack it? What do you think it will do?"

I was in the Synapse TF with 4 friends of mine. I was playing a Mind/Emp Controller who I used the free respec for specifically for the TF (I was going to be moving him to another server).

I had taken the 3 main Leadership powers.

After a few missions, I realized that my holds weren't really that beneficial for the team and that I was better off auto-following the main damage dealer and Fortifying him (auto-fire) and keeping my leadership toggles on.

I think the last two missions I ran like that.....caught up on Battlestar Galactica episodes on my TiVo.

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I still havent encountered any mission boss that werent +1 lvl after update 2 in door missions. Since my my blaster cant really solo a red boss and minions I wonder if there is a fix comming soon?

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This happened BEFORE Update #2. And try going up against 2 bosses.

It CAN be done. I took down a +1 Dev Earth boss yesterday with my Grav Controller (solo). It did take one trip to the hospital before I defeated him, but I did.

It is tough....it takes some strategy...and it often takes some running out of aggro range to recuperate.