Flower

Good guide, you hit the points well and those maps are great.

I think you were overly strong on a couple points though. Having said that, if I was on your trial I would certainly do it your way, I just want everyone to know that there are other options and you don't necessary fail if don't do it that way.

1) Opening the gates - every lambda I have done we open the gates and I have yet to have Marauder leave. Is it a possibility, yes, but not likely. And without temp powers those without fly and super jump may not be able to do it.

2) Mule for acid and grenade - I also don't get this part for acid, pacification OK (make sure they are not used early, are used when needed, and only one is thrown) but acid? It doesn't really solve the problem of people not knowing they have acid as they are no more likely to know they have it to pass as they are to know they have it to use. I don't mess around with inventorying the stuff, I call for people to check temps then just hit the acid in the courtyard to get what is needed.

The only time I see this is if you are going for the badges in which case I highly recommend it to avoid anyone accidentally using one but that is not a fail of the trial.

Thanks for the guide!

I only have two characters I have run. I don't buy the participation but also don't by the complete RNG either.

Tanker - 4-6 runs (mostly BAF) all tables common except 1 uncommon.

Scrapper - to many to count runs (more Lambda but quite a few BAF) mostly uncommons, 1-2 commons, 1 rare.

If it was RNG I would expect both characters to be like the tanker, mostly commons, some uncommons, maybe a rare, and if you are lucky a very rare. Not so on my scrapper, uncommon almost every time. I have to just take them and break them down to 8 threads, then use them to make commons.

Another thing - they must be joking on the 8-10 thread break down on uncommons. I have done it at least 10+ times and have yet to get anything besides 8 threads.

Remember that in fairly quick succession we have had i19, i19.5, and now i20. Problems, yes. But we have had some very rapid and major changes to the game in the past six months so it is not unexpected.

Maybe beta testing should have found some of the stuff but as a computer geek I know things work just fine in test then you implement and boom!

Lets hope once they get i20 stable they hold off a bit on i20.5 and i21. People want the new trials but I think a new round of bugs that go with them will not go over well until things have cooled off a bit .

What has worked well for me for now is I call all scrappers (provided you don't have more then 6-8 on the league) and one controller to handle the spawns (in all three AV fights). All others focus on the AVs (however or wherever you decide to fight them). Just makes sure those scrappers are evenly distributed among the teams.

Yes this messes up the teams and can be more confusing but it shares the iXP nicely (seems everyone gets 20-25% when we do this).

Of course you either need to be the league leader or have one that is willing to take suggestions for this to work .

But as I said in earlier post, share the rewards among all teams! This will allow us to create smaller teams in the trial and give teams tasks rather then bunching in 3 and playing tricks to share the iXP.

My funniest (for me at least) was on a LGTF. First mission, I was on my Invulnerability/Super Strength Tank and handling stuff just fine.

Yep you guessed it, got to Clockwork King, ran in threw taunt and was dead before it finished animating. Oh yeah, Invulnerability doesn't do well against psionic damage, guess I should have hit a purple and orange or two before doing that

I'll sign on to this suggestion.

I always enjoyed COH because the shared team rewards encouraged the team to work together. In these trials we have lost some of that.

Under this system it is very easy to intentionally or unintentionally create either stacked teams or weak teams. A team with a large number of people with their incarnate abilities will grab the lions share of the iXP no matter what else you do while a team with just alpha slot (or none) will under perform. It is not easy under the league interface to tell what incarnate abilities people have or even what power sets they used to balance teams.

Share the iXP (and other rewards) across the league if at all possible!

I don't play a dom but I can say from a scrapper's perspective we love you mezzers on that part. Holds and immobilizations on those guys sure makes it easier to clear them quickly. Especially if you can hit them while they are all grouped together so our AOE attacks can hit them all. Very frustrating when those guys get scattered because 1-1 hunts take longer and are very dangerous since those guys get tougher the longer they are on the map.

One side note. These spawns are a big source of iXP in the BAF, to maximize it you should have members of every team participating (even if you don't really need them) so that all teams get iXP. And don't be two quick to kill off the AVs so you can get more spawns.

Very good post Kelenar I laughed at several parts of it thinking back on my experience.

I think the problem with the warehouses will work itself out. I think right now everyone sees that 5 minute timer and 10 cases to get and we freak out. Every pair of cases adds 1 minute so you really have 15 minutes which is plenty of time to clear as you go especially with the new incarnate powers everyone is now getting.

Haven't yet done the clear method and it requires both groups to kind of know where the boxes are (they are at least in the same place on the map from what I have seen) so they can hit them and gain the extra minutes but there is a lot of valuable iXP being lost in those warehouses. I think the squishies will prefer this method if we can get teams to do it. For now I just tell everyone to do their best to stay with their leader, knowing it is a death sentence for some squishies.

I've seen both good and bad on these trials. Been on many BAFs where everyone just ignores orders and runs off and we leave a hole and fail the prisoner phase. Been on Lambdas where we either don't get all 10 crates or end up with 5-7 acid despite getting all 10 crates.

For both trials I have found you can recover from team wipes by taking a minute or two and having everyone stop, rez, regroup then hit as team. Now if someone doesn't listen and insists on putting themselves in the repeating loop of hospital - attack AV - die in less then 1 second - repeat there is not much you can do. Most groups have listened even when I am not the leader and we regroup, sometimes we still fail, other times we recover and get the job done.

Over all I give this content a thumbs up. I thought I would hate the grind but so far it is fun. Lots of enemies + big booms + scrapping by when I should have died = why I play this game

You need to first collect incarnate components or shards (used to make the components rather then collect them). Components and shards can be collected by running any of the level 50 task forces (Statesman, Lord Recluse, Dr. Kahn, Barracuda, Lady Grey, Impervious) or running the Cathedral of Pain. Hamidon raids also drop plenty of shards but not components. One component can be purchased from Vanguard using Vanguard Merits.

Once you have the necessary components (either collected or made from shards) you craft the alpha enhancement you want. All the recipes for the enhancments are shown under the crafting tab in the incarnate area.

For more info go here: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Alpha_Slot

My 2 cents. You are the one doing everyone a favor by organizing the team so to drop yourself, while very noble, is probably not necessary. Over inviting happens especially in the global channels, try your best to do first come first serve. You can ask those on team if they are willing to drop (some are just looking for something to do and may be willing to drop off an over invited team). In the end I say just explain to the others you over invited, apologize and enjoy your team.

I take and slot snipes on every blaster. I use them solo a lot and on teams occasionally.

Have to agree though, other then Sting of the Manticore they are not worth much. Have to agree on less snipe sets more Targeted AOE sets (Positron's Blast is nice but as the only real option???)

My favorite and only blaster is a Rad/Energy. As most have said Rad is just OK. I personally don't worry much about the -def debuff. If you can hit something consistently to debuff it you don't need the debuff, if you can't hit it the debuff doesn't work so it won't help. Rad is fun and has some quick firing attacks but for damage it is just OK. Combined with energy can stun most targets with the energy melee attacks.

I slotted my attacks with the same sets I use on everything (including acc) and just let the def debuff alone. I did take the Musculature alpha which includes def debuff but that was a bonus not why I took it.

There is a somewhat hidden benefit to the def debuff and that is almost everything takes defense debuff and accurate defense debuff sets. Shield Breaker is a great set with nice bonuses all the way through if you can find something to six slot it into (put mine in Neutron Bomb with alpha it still does good damage). You can also slot Achilles' Heel chance for resistance debuff proc in your attacks.

That is what I do, have a private group with 6 enhancement bins and 9 salvage racks so I can craft and store to use later or sell. Enhancement bins hold 100 enhancements and cost 95,000 prestige which can be steep for a new supergroup but if you have lots of influence to burn shouldn't be a problem.

You fixed me up good with the last round Fulmens. I have all the immediate necessities in my base. Now I am just adding decorations so I can wait to accumulate the necessary prestige for that

Only changed my settings on one character who was level shifted. My Kinetic Melee toon since non even con enemies suffer knockback rather then knockdown from some of his attacks. Put it up to +1 and everything was fine again.

All the rest (5 level shifted) I kept at +0 where I usually play and just up the number of enemies to increase difficulty.

Somehow we got nine pages on what should have been done after one

This however makes the whole thing worth it:

With my Inv/SS Tanker I went Spiritual - here is how it could benefit your build:

Common - Attack Rate boost (everything but especially Dull Pain and Foot Stomp)

Uncommon (Radial Boost) - healing (Health, Dull Pain and Physical Perfection)

Rare (Total Radial Revamp) - Stun (Jab) and To Hit Buff (Rage)

I have had that same problem with that one every time I have run it. I guess I have never tried T Tech's solution, I usually just exit and use my complete mission on it.