DrGemini

Fortunately, living in Pennsylvania, I will probably avoid the worst of the storm. But, where I live, we will still see quite a bit of rain and wind from the remnants.

I've played my Ice/Axe thru 50 levels since Issue 3. I love it. Are there times when all the uber defenses fail me? Of course. But, all in all, I enjoy it.

Some have already answered with probably the best answer: any controller can be good for teaming at the high-end. It really is up to what you want to play.

However, I might add something that is good to think about...

In the high-end game, strong buffs and debuffs are very important to have since a lot of the high-end content involves a lot of Arch-villains and other strong enemies. Combined with your primary, your buffs/debuffs will provide your team with a powerful ally (you).

For instance, I run an Electric Control - Kinetics controller. Thanks to all of the new incarnate abilities and some great slotting, I could argue that character is pretty amazing. His primary allows for a lot of hard and soft control as well as depriving foes of their endurance. Via the Interface slot, I allow all of my attacks (as well as my team's) to debuff To Hit and Regeneration. Thanks to Barrier, everyone around me (when I cast it) gets a significant boost to their defenses (as well as myself). And, from the Kinetics, my team is kept happy by having more endurance, damage, and can be healed when necessary.

All that said, controllers are capable of a lot. It is up to you to figure out what you want to do with it.

So, they have the overview details of Time Manipulation on the main page. Definitely will be fun to play!

I'd like to take a moment to respond to the sentiment that Empathy is less useful in the end game.

That sentiment is a huge fallacy.

1. No other set can provide the quantity and quality of reliable "green" numbers when you need them. Sure, preventing the damage in the first place is a good way to go. But, throughout the game, Empathy is a power set that provides consistency in terms of carrying the team through some tough fights. And, I can tell you from personal experience there is a lot of satisfaction that comes from knowing that you were able to keep key members on their feet (notice how the devs are working in more things that seem to ignore resist/def buffs?).

2. No other set can provide the quality of Regeneration and Recovery buffs that Empathy does. Yes, other power sets can provide some of either. But, Regeneration and Recovery Aura can be "up" enough to provide a significant boost to everyone (including yourself). Not even the new Destiny buffs can provide a boost that consistent (they diminish over the life of the buff while Regen/Recovery Auras do not).

3. Though they are single-target buffs, Fortitude, Clear Mind, and Adrenaline Boost are a trio of buffs that every character loves to receive. I currently have Fortitude able to be consistently kept on 4 teammates. That's 4 people doing more damage and taking less thanks to you. Fortitude provides 3 buffs that any damage class loves. Clear Mind offers stackable protection from every "status effect" in the game. And, Adrenaline Boost is definitely a buff loved by whoever you can keep it on. Personally, I will throw "AB" on the tank and then be free to ignore him while he has some pretty impressive regen, recovery, and recharge.

4. Empathy is a great power set to have as a team anchor. A lot of times, Empathy defenders are able to carry and slot the full set of Leadership. Thus, again, your presence is providing a boost to the team. The individual buffs may not be that much but they do help.

5. I would argue that on a team, while you should definitely "blast" when you can, treating your teammates as "pets" allows you to actually be the one doing the most damage by improving your team's efficiency.

Eh, maybe that response was a bit overdone but I get so tired of hearing people rag on Empathy. Is Empathy the best? That's up to individuals to decide. But, I highly doubt that you will find many people who will turn away a good Empath from their team.

Why do travel powers matter? Thanks to AE no one ever needs to leave Atlas Park.

I have Dark Blast and love it for the ability to debuff mob accuracy and immobilize a bunch as well. I did not take a lot of the secondary but I made sure to have enough of it to do something with.

From my experiences, Healing Aura definitely is a great help on those big trials. Everyone groups together so AoE healing is more efficient. Could be argued to be a situation where you might stick Healing Aura on auto-fire. But, unless you are teaming with a group of total newbies (very few having their Destiny buffs in particular), those destiny buffs will cover a lot of the healing/buffing. In that case healing aura simply caps off people's health.

I would not worry about healing aura being "big" at the expense of other things. The times when you need AoE healing that big is probably when your group is not doing well and no amount of healing will change that...

So, people have been asking about Hamidon Raids on Freedom. I think it would be good for someone to post an overview of what we do as far as strategies, etc.

First, let me say that I am one of those who host Hamidon Raids somewhat regularly on Freedom. We do have a dedicated raid channel called Freedom Hami Raids. The channel is private and you will need an invite from a mod to get in. We usually post the initial raid announcements in that channel prior to any server-wide announcements on other channels. The idea is to give the "regulars" a chance to get into the zone before it fills up after the broadcasting is done. I was not the one who created the channel. I am simply a mod/leader so you will want to direct questions about the channel to them (@tanknation or @NKT).

So, now onto the raid overview...

What is a Hamidon Raid?

A Hamidon Raid is a "raid" style encounter for levels 45-50. The Hive is the location on hero side and The Abyss is the villain version. Currently, on Freedom, we only do hero side raids. Anyone can attend with a character who is at least Rogue/Vigilante status. In this raid, our goal is to defeat the giant one-celled organism which is the "ultimate" villain in the game.

What is the reward for completing the raid?

Completing a Hamidon Raid results in a reward window similar to that from other trials. It offers 3 choices: Incarnate Shards (4), A Special Enhancement which enhances 2-3 aspects of a power, or 53 Reward Merits.

Also, due to the nature of the Mitochondria which we must kill as part of the raid, the likelihood of additional "drops" is very high.

All in all, the rewards for participation and completion can be rather nice.

How long does it take?

As with anything, getting the people around to do the raid takes the longest. But, in general, most raids take about 1 hour to do in total.

Why? Because part of the raid involves defeating a large number of the monsters roaming around the zone so that Hamidon will spawn. There is no way to tell how many monsters it takes to get Hamidon to spawn. Once Hami shows up, it takes a bit of set up and then once we start attacking it goes fairly fast.

Tactics Used

When we conduct a raid, there are certain things we *must* do (or have) if we want to succeed. Without these things, the raid will not get far.

Team Set-Up

We must establish teams to fulfill specific roles.

Tanks/Brutes with taunt (about 6 of them - 1 per Yellow) are selected to be part of the "taunt" team. Their role is to taunt the Yellow mitochondria and keep their "aggro" off of the squishier people. To help the tanks survive, they use special inspirations called Essence of the Earth. Those inspirations are the only means of resisting any damage done by any part of Hamidon. We acquire these inspirations from the monsters we defeat to spawn Hamidon. The taunting is done from range outside of the "goo" because the "yellows" attacks have a big AoE that has a stun.

1 specific Tank/Brute is selected to taunt the large purple sphere in the middle as well. We assign a number of Empathy defenders/controllers to buff/heal that tank.

Controllers and other classes with Holds are grouped together. Their task is to attack and Hold the green Mitos. The greens must be held before any significant damage will harm them.

Melee classes (Scrappers, Stalkers, other tanks/brutes, etc) are grouped together to attack the Yellow mitos. The yellows are vulnerable to melee damage. So, this team attempts to swarm and kill the yellows quickly.

Ranged classes (ex Blasters) are assigned to help kill the Greens and Blues with the controllers.

We often end up with a couple "overflow" mixed teams to accommodate other people who show up to help out but can't find a team for various reasons.

It is important to note that ALL characters are useful for the raid. Pet-based classes such as Masterminds may find it difficult to participate due to aggro issues. But, anyone can be a help in some way. The important thing is to have all of the important roles covered.

When we have everything set up, the raid leader will give out instructions pertaining to that raid and get us organized to maximize group buffs, etc.

Please note that some powers are generally "prohibited" from use due to various problems. Generally, this means that we do not use Pets or anything that may result in the "aggro" not going where it needs to go. Check with the raid leader as far as what powers he/she prefers you do not use.

Another big note: All damage done by Hamidon cannot be resisted and ignores most defense. Thus, powers which normally increase resistance or defense are useless to us. However, things that boost Recharge/Recovery/Regeneration are always welcome.

Ok so... what happens once we set up?

Once the "green light" is given, all of the tanks responsible for taunting head to their targets. Then, the rest of the group goes in and heads to their initial targets. Usually, the Yellows are defeated first and then we move on to the Greens then the Blues. Once the Mitos are all dead, we can then attack the center for a while. At various points, the Mitos will respawn and we will have to kill them all again. This happens about 4 times total before the raid is completed.

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Well, I hope that overview helps people understand what we do so you aren't totally ignorant when you show up. After a couple raids, you will be able to just show up and know what to expect.

Ultimately, please pay attention to the directions given by the raid leader. Their job is to help us stay organized. So, anything you can do to help keep things going smoothly is always appreciated.

I will be posting an overview of what we do sometime today. Finally got the time to do it.

Someone remind me what the heck we are talking about?

Couple general notes that might help you.

1. Your defender has always been playable. But, now you can fire-and-forget your buffs which lets you attack more often in between renewing buffs.

2. a Kin/Rad defender is one that thrives in the middle of the mob. Irradiate should be your bread-and-butter attack you are firing off every chance you get as it does a considerable amount of damage and debuffs the mobs which helps your team's AoEs hit.

3. Ideally, you should be taking Atomic Blast and perhaps Void. Between Void/AB and Irradiate (throw in a Neutron Bomb), you can do a lot of AoE damage while making the most of your own Fulcrum Shift.

Yes, the base damage on Rad Blast is somewhat low, but you can make up for that by adapting your tactics to abuse the self-capping you can do with Kinetics.

Looks like thread is still going. This kind of thread always gets people going because people don't know how to just let it roll off as part of the routine. Whether in this game or in real life, you run into a variety of people. I think how you deal with it speaks more of your character than theirs.

Don't like being called a healer? Most of the knowledgeable players find such ignorance annoying. But, there really isn't much you can do about it. Personally, I hate the people who do nothing but abuse AE and often complain about it quite loudly. Ultimately, I have to accept that it is part of the game (for now) and just have to deal with it somehow.

Oddly enough, I don't seem to run into the idiots wanting a "healer" that often. I just run into the idiots who just don't seem to have a clue at all how to read and/or follow directions. Again, while I'll be driven to rant somewhere, I just have to realize it is part of playing a game that involves other people.

Welcome back.

I wanted to pitch in here. Don't know if the others play empathy defenders much but I wanted to add some thoughts from personal experience.

1. Doctored Wounds is a very effective and cheap IO set that works really well for slotting about 5 per power that will accept it. DW offers some very nice bonuses in the Recharge and Healing areas. Right off the bat, you can add an easy +20% bonus recharge.

2. For me, Hover, Fortitude, Maneuvers, and Vengeance are the 4 powers I looked to slot that nifty +7.5% recharge proc from LOTG. For you, none of those powers require slotting much these days (I slot 3 Membranes + 1 LOTG in Fortitude).

3. Recovery Aura is a good candidate for slotting the rare recovery set x5. You will see some nice bonuses from that.

4. You should really look into what attacks you can slot with the Positron's Blast set. PB offers a nice bonus to recharge with it. In all, I have 4 of my secondaries slotted (PB set in 2 powers) and get nice bonuses from those sets.

5. Except for the things I mentioned above, you really do not need a lot of expensive stuff to make your character well-IO'd. My empath has 0 purples and the most expensive stuff on him are 6 Membranes (3 in Fortitude and 3 in Power Build Up to use with Vengeance, etc) and a few choice "procs" to boost over all efficiency.

6. I would aim to get the Tier 4 Spiritual alpha incarnate. It offers a huge benefit to an Empath in terms of healing and recharge.

Hope that helps!

I would like to offer myself to be auctioned. I may also be able to "donate" in various other ways as well. I will look around to see what I have that can be donated.