DrGemini

Well, Auroxis knows what I play. But for those who don't...

My main is Emp/Dark/Power. I do carry good old Power Buildup to take advantage of opportunities to drop PBU + Venge/Fort/Heal/Etc. I enjoy the /Dark portion because it does do a satisfactory amount of damage (for my tastes) and Tenebrous Tentacles/Night Fall provide some nice -tohit debuff.

As far as my opinion on the i20 stuff...

Judgement - I am currently running with Ion. I figure I want a power that will occasionally do some significant damage and clear out trash mobs. So far, it seems to help get rid of a bunch of mobs and "lighten" the load on my team as far as incoming damage. Tho, I haven't really decided on which Judgement I will really stick with, Ion does seem to be a good choice so far.

Lore - I actually chose to take the seers and go the route that has the pet which gives out Fortitude. Thought it would be nice to have something that will buff my damage when I want to do damage. Trouble with me is I tend to team a lot on my Empath and I take the attitude that my teammates are my "pets". So, my need for buffs on myself are few. I may end up looking into pets that do more damage on their own on those occasions when I need a couple extra meat shields.

Interface - Haven't really done much with this yet. But, I am debating the choices between Diagmatric (sp?) and Reactive. Debuffing Tohit even more seems hot. Debuffing regen also seems good. Though, debuffing resistance is also a good way to go.

Destiny - Clarion was the easy choice for me. I have the T4 2-minute version. When I saw that I could have perma CM + ID on myself (and those around me), I immediately knew what to pick. Though, since any character with Empathy tends to be the "center" of the team (so you can make best use of RAs and Healing Aura), I would think all of the destiny powers would be a great choice. The path in Barrier that offers rez x2 even seems good in that it would give an Empath additional rezzing ability that they lack, which could be useful in large-scale events where having multiple dead bodies is more likely.

Personally, I think that i20 brought to my defender the ability to expand on his overall theme.

Rogues and Vigilantes can run SFs/TFs. You are only limited if you are hero/villain-only.

Normally I prefer to run them with my own group of friends... so we can do all our crazy stunts and not scare anyone off!

But, I do enjoy doing some PUGs. It is a chance for me to interact with people I don't know or don't team with very often.

For the most part, the PUGs I put together tend to go really well. I suppose it's just that I lay out the expectations from the start and it turns out great or I hop on a team that is already well built.

FYI, if you have never gotten a chance to run an SF/TF with me and my friends, you should know you are missing out on a lot of fun. We are the crazy group that likes to run +4 stuff.

Hmm... my DP blaster is 50 but i could be convinced to exemp her down for this.

Does the weekend of February 4-6 work for those interested? Dr Q would be up first and doing it over a weekend might be good... break it up into smaller sessions over the 3 days/evenings.

Ok, people have sort of been bugging me about the possibility of running the Shadow Shard (particularly Dr Q) @ +4.

So, I need to know now who exactly is interested in doing this. Keep in mind that this will take the better part of an entire day or will need to be broken up into 2 days (per TF).

Ideally, we would do this on a weekend or over a vacation. Or, we could break it up into 2-3 hour parts over the course of several evenings.

Also, keep in mind that if you want to do this I will need a solid commitment. And, you will need a lot of Mt Dew/Coffee (or whatever drink you like to have when you game).

Really, I slot mine as you would slot any other pets. They are a good addition to your damage particularly when you solo. They also have a nice little damage aura that allows them to pseudo-tank for you.

Once you get to the point of IOs, the Expedient Reinforcement set is your best bet. It does have a +resist aura that makes the gremlins a little more resilient.

Hello all! As the new year is quickly upon us, it is that time to start organizing plans for the coming weeks. And, my "Plus 4 TF" group is no exception...

The popularity of these events has told me that there are people out there who enjoy a good challenge and some proper ***-kicking fun. Running these at the lower levels is no joke!

Some changes are going to be made to our schedule to accommodate those who wish to join us. This group will now be run twice a week. Once on Saturday @ 7 PM and Sunday @ 3 PM (all times are Eastern). This should give you ample opportunity to join us and perhaps let people run them on more than one character.

We will be starting from the beginning and going through each (and every TF) in the game (hero side).

Here is the planned schedule...

Jan 8-9 = Positron part 1

Jan 15-16 = Positron part 2

Jan 22-23 = Synapse

Jan 29-30 = Sister Psyche

That should cover the schedule for January. Rememder!!! These happen Saturdays @ 7 PM & Sundays @ 3 PM (eastern).

What do you need to do to join us?

Best way is to join the new global channel called Plus 4 TF. It was created so that organizing teams, etc for the event would be easier and the MOTD always has a quick blurb about upcoming stuff.

On the day/time of the event, make your way to the appropriate contact. Suggest showing up about 15-30 minutes early so you don't miss out! **Please** come prepared for the event. Get all of the inspirations, enhancements, etc you will need. I strongly suggest that (if your character is below 50) that you slot generic IOs so that leveling up doesn't alter your enhancement needs. These +4 TFs do take some extra time. So, we do want to move along as much as we can. If you show up and are not ready by the time we are ready to start, you may be dropped for someone else. Sorry!

And, there isn't really anything fancy or flashy about the event. Show up. Kick butt. Go home.

What are the benefits of running these @ +4?

1. For fun.
2. Those under 50 can find themselves getting uber xp.
3. Good drops tend to be seen.
4. Obviously, @ +4 it will make you a lot of influence/prestige which I'm sure you and your SG will appreciate
5. Enjoy teaming with some crazy, but competent players. Well, competency I can't guarantee but crazy we are!

If anyone is reading this and would like to start a Villain-Side version of this please let me know. This doesn't just have to be an event led by me. More leaders/volunteers are welcome!

Happy holidays and hope to see more of you come!

P.S. Yes, we will be getting to the Shadow Shard TFs at some point. +4 Dr Q here we come!

Our first run was successful. The final mission was tough but we won and had a good time.

Next Sunday (12/19), I will be hosting the next part of our +4 TF series. Synapse will be next.

All those +4 kill-alls? Yes!

Drops, Cash, and many Faceplants await us!

Meet near Synapse in Skyway City @ 3 PM Eastern/Noon Pacific for the event. Again, we'll run as many teams as we can get together. Teams will be balanced as best as we can.

Ventrilo will be available for the event. Server info will be given out to the people who join the event.

As the title says, we are running a +4 Positron event @ 3 PM Eastern today. Anyone is welcome to come, if we have more than one team wanting to do it we'll run however many teams we have people for.

Meet in Steel Canyon by Positron for the event. Teams will hopefully be divided evenly with Tanks, damage, and support.

A Ventrilo server will be available for use during the event. I will post the server info to the people who join the event.

Well, if people want to do more than just Positron we can... but seeing as we'll all be like level 15 fighting +4... might take us a while

So far the roster is as follows...

1 - Me (on Emp or Kin haven't decided yet)
2 - Toxsyn
3 - Master Blade
4 - biggreenogre
5 - Residentx10
6 - Scataloni
7 -
8 -

Will update as more people sign up. Projected date is Sunday, Dec 12 @ 3 PM Eastern. +4 Positron TF.

Hero Side. I may go for villain side at some point.

Also, starting it next week so that we can (hopefully) get through Positron and Synapse before the holiday and have the "shorter" ones to run over the holiday break.

Also, just an FYI... this "event" WILL hit EVERY TF in the game except for the Shard TFs. We will schedule the shard for perhaps a weekend where we can split the longer ones into 2 parts.

Ok time to revisit this now that i19 has been out for a bit. I am going to aim for a +4 Positron NEXT Sunday (12/12/10) @ 3 PM Eastern (noon pacific).

Please come expecting it to take longer than your average Positron TF since we will be running +4. And expect to face plant a few times!

Let me know if you'd like to come. Any spots left unfilled by the time we start will be filled with whoever else wants to join us. More than 1 team is possible if we have more people interested than a standard team can fit.

Well, seeing as we are on the release of i19... any suggestions as for a day? Thinking a Saturday or Sunday would be best to do this.

Hello all!

If you have been watching Freedom TF and other globals, you are probably aware that I am one who likes to run Task Forces @ +4 difficulty. In my opinion, the Task Forces we have are far too easy if you run them at base level... especially if the majority of the team is mad of 50s (IO'd or not). And with the plethora of people who have the ability to stealth/speed the TFs I find myself wanting to get more out of a TF than just a few shiny merits.

So, lately I have started running +4 TFs when I have the time to do so. And, the success rate of them has been amazing. I've gotten quite a few good people to come along and they all have a lot of fun! I mean, when's the last time you were on a team that legitimately risked wiping to Arbiter Sands (without some idiot at fault)?

So, I have thought about going back and running ALL of the Task Forces (hero side) in the game at the +4 setting. I'd start with Positron and work my way up.

Please let me know if you would like to be a part of this. Yes, it will require some time commitment beyond the normal average (though some of my +4 TFs have not been that much longer than normal). I would probably advise bringing level 50 characters as the balance of the team as characters under the level cap of each TF may cause the time to drag on. Depending on the success of this thing we may open it to whoever as I'm sure it will be a great way to level considering all of the XP, Inf, and drops we'd get!

So, let me know if you would like to do this. It will probably be a weekend/evening thing depending on which TF we do. And, it will likely be a 1-per week to start with but we'll see how it goes.

As those who know me can attest, I play a mean Empathy Defender. Some of that is due to how well IO'd he is. But, a large part of it is my mentality behind the character.

Personally, I enjoy being on a team as much as I can with him. This is NOT because he has no attacks -- in fact, he has 4 well-slotted attacks that do phenomenal damage even without Vigilance buffing it -- it is because I enjoy watching the buffs and heals do their job turning my teammates into the killing machines they should be with a GOOD Defender behind them (or any other class that buffs/debuffs/heals). In fact, on a large team, I do have a buff cycle that I try to maintain. Thus, on large teams, I am less likely to be attacking. Some of this is unfortunately because my buffs seem to have a short duration compared with the effort of maintaining them (cough Clear Mind cough).

However, like I said, my defender has 4 well-slotted attacks that actually pump out quite a bit of damage. My philosophy is that, while I dislike soloing if I can avoid it, I do believe that I should have the capability to solo (and abuse the 30% dmg buff from Vigilance) when I need/choose to do so. Plus, if I am on a great team and not needing to do much more than cycle a few buffs, my attacks allow me to contribute and not be bored (though, admittedly, laziness does sometimes kick in!).

The difference, though, is that Defenders seem to be one of the only classes who are expected to take, slot, and routinely use all 9 powers of their primary powers; take few attacks; and take power pools which help them do their supportive role more efficiently -- usually, means taking Flight for safety, Leadership for more group buffing, and anything else that would help support a team. Whereas, other classes seem to take powers that would either help them survive and/or do more damage.

Unfortunately, defenders are in that situation where you are expected to think of others before yourself in power selection. But, do make sure you can take care of your own needs as well.

Maybe I should clarify... new(ish) to the server but not the game.