Gargoyle_KDR

Question: What protection (+DEF, +RES, other, etc.) can the Cold provide itself? Specific values would be useful in the answer (say for a level 50).

I know what a FF can provide itself both with it's own powers and when Leadership and/or other power pools are included. My FF'er runs at 46.6% defense to range, 46.9% to Energy and Negative, and 32.4% to everything else without the use of PFF. And then there's the 47% resistance to S/L that he brings himself.

I ask about the self protection because if the FF or Cold gets dropped then there is the whole "what protection is still available to the team" situation.

- B.

The song list for the Rocky Horror episode has been released. The cast will perform "Science Fiction Double Feature," "Damn It, Janet," "Whatever Happened To Saturday Night?," "Sweet Transvestite," "Touch-A Touch-A Touch-A Touch Me," and "There's A Light (Over At The Frankenstein Place)."

It hasn't been released who sings which songs. There is a rumor that "Touch-A Touch-A Touch-A Touch Me" might be sung by Emma (Jayma Mays), who actually sang the song in her Glee audition. There was also a rumor that Kurt (Chris Colfer) would sing a song, but the song associated with that rumor isn't on the released song list.

Two of the original film's cast will guest star in the episode. Meat Loaf and Barry Bostwick will cameo as TV station managers who "have an interesting proposal" for Sue Sylvester.

It's going to air on Oct. 26.

Sunshine Corazon (Charice) was amazing on that solo song. The Hello Kitty backpack in her exit scene was a nice touch too.

The song list for this episode is up on IMDB.

It's not much of a spoiler to know that freshmen factor into the show tonight.

At the PAX M&G it was mentioned by two of the attending Paragon Studios staff that "FF's will be something people with want to have on their teams in the end game system." It could be for the Mez protection. It could be for the +DEF. It could be for both. We don't know yet. What I do know is that they were pretty excited about the fact that FF's would be "useful" in the end game.

- B.

After reading through the 1.0 version, the discussion here, and then participating in the first Saturday CoP run I decided to edit the guide in order to help clarify some things. This is largely based on Blazing Tiger and Xeon's information.

Table of Contents
Definitions
Phase 1: Form the Teams

• Trial Requirements
• Team Composition Recommendations
• Recommended Temp Powers

Phase 2: Begin the Trial

• Designate the Team Assignments
• Start the Mission

Phase 3: Destroy the Obelisks

• Obelisk Game Mechanics
• The Obelisk Assault

Phase 4: Defeat the Aspect of Rularuu

• Setting Up and Buffing
• The Aspect Game Mechanics
• The Aspect of Rularuu Assault

Definitions:
Raid Leader – the individual that provides an overall direction to the trial participants. This includes team assignments, strategic instructions before and during combat, and coordination of designated roles within the trial. The Raid Leader does not need to be a Team Leader.

Team Leader – A member of a Supergroup that has a trial compliant base. This person will activate the trial mission from their Supergroup Base’s Mission Computer or Oracle in order to allow their team to begin the trial. They will also coordinate their team’s DPS output on the Obelisks in order to defeat all three within 30 seconds of each other.


Phase 1: Form the Teams
Forming the teams takes place before the start of the actual timed trial. Allow at least 15 to 30 minutes prior to the start of the actual trial to sort and form the three teams that participate in the trial.

Trial Requirements
The Team Leaders of the three CoP teams need to be in the same Supergroup. The Raid Leader does not have to be a team leader in order to satisfy the Supergroup requirement.


The Supergroup Base of the three Team Leaders must have the following in order to start the trial:

• Oracle or Mission Computer
• Raid Telepad or Raid Teleportal

There are restrictions on Vigilante and Rogue's participating on a CoP team. More information is required on defining this restriction.

Team Composition Recommendations
The team set up is divided into three roles. The recommended quantity of each role is:

• 1 Tank/Brute
• 3 Damage
• 4 Support

The Tank/Brute role is intended to control agro of the mobs throughout the trial. This person needs to have a Taunt power to help them perform their role.

Damage consists of: Blasters, Scrappers, Soldiers of Arachnos, Kheldians, Stalkers, and Dominators.

Support consists of: Defenders, Controllers, Masterminds, Widows, and Corruptors.

When building them you should take into account the amount of Psionic Defense and Resistance that each team has available to it. Powers that provide these defenses are helpful for keeping everyone alive against the onslaught of Psionic damage that Rularuu use. All the other damage types they put out is less important to worry about. Support role powers that offer Psionic Defense or Resistance are: Dark Miasma-Shadow Fall, Widows-Mind Link, Force Field-Dispersion Bubble, and Pain Domination-World of Pain.

Also, balance the teams so there the ability to revive a team member if needed. It is always easier to revive a team member on your team than it is to search for a body in a group of people.

The easiest way to form the teams is to divide the participants into groups based on their role. The Raid Leader can then separate out the three team leaders into a fourth area. As people are added to the trial teams they move to the team assigned area to help the Raid Leader identify who is left to be assigned.

Recommended Temp Powers
At this point in time Temp Powers seem to be very important to the success of the CoP Trial. The temp powers that are most important are the three Nukes from Warburg, the Shivian from Bloody Bay, and the HAVS from the Rikti War Zone. The more of these you bring the better chance for success you have. Other AoE buffs and Pets are all useful as well.


Phase 2: Begin the Trial
Once all teams have been formed they will need to enter the designated Supergroup base. Gather the teams around the Raid Telepad or Raid Teleportal in order to designate the team assignments, and to prepare for the start of the mission.

Designate the Team Assignments
Before starting the mission designate each team to an Obelisk island location. The three directions are North East, South East, and South West. Each location will have a named Obelisk that the assigned team will destroy as part of a coordinated effort with the other teams.

Each team should designate a team member with the power Assemble the Team that will work with another team at their assigned location. The designated teleporter will go to the next island clockwise from their team’s assigned location. This person will serve as an emergency teleport service to bring their team to the Obelisk lagging behind the others in order to ensure all three are destroyed within the required 30 seconds. If the teams are roughly balanced for damage output the emergency teleport may not be needed to complete this phase of the trial. Be sure that the teleporter knows the name of the Obelisk the rest of their team is at.

Start the Mission
One Team Leader from the SG/VG will need to click on the Mission Computer or Oracle to activate the trial. All the other SG members, including the other Team Leaders, automatically get the mission related to the trial. , and allow their team entrance into the mission.

Once the mission has been activated the Team Leader should be the first team member to enter the mission via the Raid Telepad or Raid Teleportal. This will avoid the “different instance zone bug.” All three Team Leaders enter the mission first. All other team members stay in the base until the Team Leaders have entered the zone map. The Team Leaders will acknowledge they are in the same instance. At that point the remaining members of the team may enter the mission.


Phase 3: Destroy the Obelisks
Upon entering the mission the teams need to assemble at their assigned locations. Each team should identify the Obelisk name they are facing. The name will be needed for the teleporter role to know which team is to be teleported if needed during the destruction of the Obelisks. Once assembled the teams begin buffing for standard combat, and wait for the Raid Leader to call out Attack.

Obelisk Game Mechanics
The Cubes near the Obelisk will spawn Rularuu. There will be a spawn there to begin with, and a new spawn will occur as the Obelisk shields are reactivated.

After defeating the Cube spawn the shield on the Obelisk will drop. The Obelisk will spawn some Natterlings around it. While the Natterlings offer the Obelisk additional regeneration the team needs to ignore them, and attack the Obelisk directly.

The Obelisks must be all dropped within thirty seconds of each other to open the portal to the AV.

The Obelisk Assault
As soon as Attack is called the teams will start at the same time to move in to defeat the Cube spawn. Powers that use –Fly are helpful for this attack since all the defenders are flying mobs.

The Team Leaders should broadcast when the shields of their Obelisk is down or up. Everyone in the zone can see the three Obelisk HP bar, but not when the shield is up or down.

When the HP of a team’s Obelisk is at 50% the Team Leader should check if the DPS for their team needs to slow down to help other teams catch up or not. The Team Leader should coordinate their team in order to try to have their Obelisk reach roughly 25% HP at about the same time as the other teams.

As soon as the Cube spawn is defeated focus all attention on the Obelisk. Ignore the Natterlings. Attacking them will slow down the destruction of the Obelisk, and increase the probability of a respawn of the Cube Rularuu spawn.

If the Cube respawns the shields on the Obelisk will be restored. Re-defeat the Cube spawn to bring down the Obelisk shields. The Raid Leader will help coordinate the shift in focus between the Obelisk and the Cube spawn.

If an Obelisk location is lagging behind the other teams in reaching zero health points on their Obelisk then it may be needed to use the emergency teleporter to assemble their team at the lagging location. If the teleport completes before the timer runs out the additional fire power will help destroy the lagging Obelisk location.

When all three Obelisks are destroyed within 30 seconds the portal to the AV that is located on the center island will open. All teams need to enter the portal to move to the next phase of the trial.


Phase 4: Defeat the Aspect of Rularuu
As you enter the portal there will be a cut-scene. At this point you will be shown which Aspect of Rularuu you will be facing in the final phase of the trial. The name will be the same, but the color and powers of the spawned Aspect differ between the two possible versions.

The first possible Aspect of Rularuu is red in color. This version is the easier of the two possible types.

The second possible Aspect of Rularuu is purple in color. It uses Storm type powers such as Lightning Field and Hurricane. This is a substantially more difficult version to face.

The Aspect Game Mechanics
Mechanically this encounter works similar to the Obelisk encounter. There are 3 Cubes spread around the room that spawn Rularuu mobs. Destroying all three of the Cube Spawns at the same time will drop the shield that protects the Aspect of Rularuu. The Cubes will re-spawn their mobs on a timer, and the shields will reactivate when the re-spawn occurs. The group must repeatedly drop the shields to attack and defeat the Aspect of Rularuu.

Setting Up and Buffing
Once everyone enters gather at the bottom of the ramp in preparation for buffing. There is a possibility that the ramp will obscure AoE buffs. If this occurs move the teams slightly past the ramp to fix any issues with that.

All pets should be dismissed at this time. The following steps involving temp power buffs (Biological Nukes) can be impaired by the presence of pets. The pets will be re-summoned after the use of the key temp powers buff.

Prior to the buffing cycle the Raid Leader will ask for and designate four people who have both Biological Nukes. The same will be done for Chemical Nukes. The designated people will trigger their powers when called for by the Raid Leader.

The Raid Leader will call for everyone to begin buffing. All long term buffs like shields and status protections are to be applied first. Next the four designated Nukers will be called upon to drop their Biological Nukes.

After all teams are buffed up the group should summon all available pets including Shivans and HAVS ,and wait for the Raid Leader to call out Attack.

The Aspect of Rularuu Assault
The Raid Leader will call Attack. At that point everyone at once should move to the center of the room next to the Aspect of Rularuu. The strategy is to establish a protective bubble of healing and defense over the entire group while dealing with both the Cube spawns and the Aspect of Rularuu. As you are fighting the Cube spawns and the Aspect of Rularuu make sure to revive all dead people up as quick as you can.

Tanks and Brutes will split off and taunt the Cube spawn mobs into the center for all to kill. The Tanks/Brutes can be designated to which cube they should pull from based on which island they were on before. Characters that are “less squishy” can leave the protective bubble as needed to take down any stragglers.

As soon as the shield is shattered everyone will focus all their attention on the AV. It is important to establish de-buffs on the AV and additional buffs on the group as soon as the AV is able to be attacked. The designated people will drop their Chemical Nukes on the AV at this point. Also, all other available Bio nukes should be dropped, and Damage Nukes can be dropped as well. All team members that have minus regeneration powers need to immediately use them on the AV. It is important to get all long term minus regeneration powers on him before the Cubes re-spawn Rularuu.

As the Cubes respawn Rularuu everyone should break off from fighting the AV and refocus on the spawns. Repeat the process of Tanks/Brutes bringing them in to the center to kill while “non squishies” focus on killing all stragglers.

After the shield is shattered again re-focus all attention back on the AV. At this point it is a “wash, rinse, and repeat” process to defeat the Aspect of Rularuu. The most important part of this phase is getting minus-regeneration on the AV before he reshields so he cannot use the shielded time to completely restore his health.

It was a great time. Thanks, BT for leading the event.

- Bayne

Squirrel Girl versus...

Thanatos
Dr. Doom
etc.

Thank you for posting the video(s).

- B.

Issue 11's Title: Welcome the Kheldians.
The Nictus Science-Lord (in the form of Requiem, leader of the 5th Column) appears...
War Witch and Requiem have some issues...
Horus reveals he is a Peacebringer...
Horus and Requiem have some issues...
Apex in a towel...
Crey comes after Horus...
Newbies show up and join forces...
BaB's gets a visit from some newbies...

Interesting hint.

- B.

I will be there all 3 days. PAX is always a great time.

- B.

My $0.02:

FF suffers more in the high level game more than it does the low or mid game. The ability to softcap the defense of a team isn't quite as useful to the players when some AT's can do that on their own without the FF powers. Yes, Scrappers, Tankers, and (to a lesser degree) Blasters I'm looking at you.

Design problems with FF include having a tier 9 power that has Repel power with a radius of effect greater than the range of an attack power in the Defender's ranged powerset. You can't use the short ranged powers against a target that is being kept at the radius of your power. The only ways to over come that is to push the character into a corner and advance on your target until the power is in range, or to slot for range in the attack power. That's an ugly set of choices IMO.


- B.

This gathering sounds like a lot of fun. It's sort of like a class reunion without the "jeez, you're certainly grayer than you used to be." If I can rearrange my schedule I'll attend.

- Bayne

I look forward to seeing folks at PAX Prime. I've had a blast each and every year.

- B.

What a long, strange trip it's been.
Happy Anniversary, CoH.

- B.