Hedgefund

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  1. [ QUOTE ]
    Add an option to autopay the base rent instead of having the base go dark. In fact, consider making this the default. No matter how stupid your SG leader is, the only time your supergroup base would go dark is if you literally don't have enough prestige in the bank.

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    For me, this is by far my #1 thing.

    I've got 6 solo lairs and there may be gaps of time before I get around to visiting one. When I do log in, I inevitably have to tread to PO/Atlas to do what, in real life, I don't even have to bother with.

    Please please please add auto rent pay capabilities!
  2. [ QUOTE ]
    I consider FB to be required for RWZ raids. Why, and where do you use it? Not until you get to the center of the ship, then turn it on. All the blasters and other squishies can sit in the middle, safely protected from almost all melee attacks, while the melee toons can go to the edge of the "inner ring" and take out all the enemies that are PINNED there by the Force Bubble.


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    You are single handedly neutering Tar Patches, Disruption Fields, Quicksands, Sleet, Liquefy, Freezing Rain, Rain of Fire, Ice Storm and many many more. These are powers that lead to accelering the defeat of the Rikti.

    Are your raids "successful"? I'm sure they are. Are people getting deprived of merits? Absolutely, at the cost of providing no additional safety whatsoever. Are you protecting blasters? That's questionable, at best. Are you putting meleers at higher risk? I'd say so since now they have to go away from healing auras, AM, Soothing Aura, Recovery Aura, Regen Aura and many many more.

    There may be good uses for FB (the computer for ITF), a RWZ raid ain't it.
  3. I've been on raids where a bubbler did think using Force bubble to knock all the Rikti out of the location based debuffs and forcing meleers out of the range of pbaoe buffs was a good idea.

    Hey, note to those bubblers - it's not a good idea.
  4. Thermal will be a great Defender primary and I'll roll one on the first day I can.
  5. [ QUOTE ]
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    And my first thought was Crow T Robot.

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    I named one of my robots that. Crow is off-limits but Crow T. isn't!

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    It would be most hypocritical if you couldn't use Crow T, since Dr. Forrester is a mad scientist NPC in Grandville.
  6. [ QUOTE ]
    I love wailers! I mean, they have incredibly weak attacks, give just as much exp as other mobs, and spawn in huge, easily-dispatched hordes... Even the bosses are a breeze to take out... and they give twice as much exp as any other boss! (Except maybe freakshows... except that while freak tankers MAY wake up, wailer kings seem to ALWAYS do so.)

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    Initial attacks by Wailers may be "incredibly weak" but these are Sonic blasts they use. If you don't defeat them quickly, they'll stack -Res debuffs on you and you won't think them too weak when the fight goes something like this:

    1st volley - "heh, that kinda tickled but my health is still over 90%"
    2nd round - "whoa, that was a big dip to yellow health"
    3rd round - "I think I'll rez at the base to pick up some purple insps..."

    This is especially pronounced when you team on that mission and YOU happen to be the ambush's target. If they get the drop on you
  7. All of this does not take into account a concept called "probability of ruin", which I think is applicable here.

    The quesion is about survivability.

    If you chip away at a Res capped Brute, he'll survive quite a while, regening damage along the way.

    If you hit a Def capped Brute, he'll take the full brunt of the damage. If another unlucky roll hits soon (soon meaning, before enough HP is regenerated), you have a dead Brute.

    So the question isn't about average damage taken over time, it's about surviving over that time.

    I haven't done any real analysis of this. Intuitively, it "feels" like the Res capped Brute will survive more often than the Def capped one.

    I'll be getting some Monte Carlo simulation software installed soon, I just may play around with it to delve into this when I get it.
  8. I've done 2 VEAT teams. The first was TopDoc's (with /Rad or /Kin Corrs), I'm currently in another that's pure VEAT. The capabilities of the second (non Corr) team is not less than the first (with Corrs). It's a little bit slower without Kins but in the big scheme, no big deal. It takes 10 minutes to finish a mission instead of 9.

    To your questions:

    Everyone should take TT:M but not Leadership:Man. Yes, you're so far over the soft cap that it may seem like overkill, but in the real world, you may have sessions where not everyone shows up or goes afk or whatever can get you out of an ideal state.

    Do NOT skip Stamina. Endurance management is the only thing I've seen slow a VEAT team down. Not only do you need Stamina, but expensive powers like AOEs need some Endurance Reduction slotting as well.

    Widows will need Hasten for Mind Link. Soldiers can skip it (my Crab did), though it's certainly helpful.

    Leadership:Assault is a chance for super stacking. Leadership:Tactics is a waste.

    Aid Other can have its uses. I wouldn't stress about it though. Making sure you have a column or 2 of green skittles is enough.

    A Crab with Tough, leading off with Venom is probably your best alpha absorber.

    I saw a suggestion of Weave and NO ONE should be taking Weave. Slotted that's what, 5%ish Def? A lot is made of adding 5% to get from 30-35 or 40-45, but to go from 85-90??? No.

    Though I'm sure there's an optimal VEAT team makeup out there, I think any configuration will be fine as long as they had:

    alpha bait - Crab with Tough
    assassin - ST focused Bane and/or Night Widow to take down priority targets and AVs
    Fort with Dominate and perhaps Confuse. This is the role I play in my current VEAT team. Confuse or hold a buffer/debuffer before the fight starts.
    Immobs, immobs, immobs. On both VEAT teams I've done it was always the runners that slow things down. WAWG is more useful than you'll know. If someone does manage to get away, Forts need to nail them quick.

    Here's what I think is wasted for a VEAT team -

    Elude - when you pop this, your chances of getting hit will go from 5% down to... 5%
    Vengeance - see above
    Weave - see way above

    Note - that 5% does not account for Accuracy buffs. Still, the concept is the same - uber Def buffs will not help. On the other hand, Elude could come in handy if you find yourself in a drawn out fight and running out of endurance, Vengeance can give a heal. Still, I'd skip.
  9. In my opinion, Disruption is far more than "nice to have". It has a large area and, for a set that's a "jack of all trades", allows you to become "a master of -res" when used with Acid Arrow.
  10. Hedgefund

    Pro's and Con's

    The stealthability of a Huntsman is hardly a reason to choose it over a Crab. Me, I've got a stealth IO in Sprint, I toggle it on and I can run through a Cimeroran cave to free Sybils or destroy Cysts no problem. If I'm on an sf that requires running to an end objective, stealth works fine. If I do happen to aggro someone, guess what? I can survive the resulting attacks.

    There may be reasons for choosing a Huntsman over a Crab and I'm not going to get into that, but stealthability for running speedy SFs is NOT one of them.
  11. [ QUOTE ]
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    In a team of 6, double the Inf due to the team XP multiplier. That brings the total Inf up to 35,118. Divide by 6. A level 50 char would earn 5,853 Inf per run on average. It seems appropriate to charge 6M per person if there are 6. At the other extreme, if it's just the Dom and a single SK, the total rewards is a bit over 32M. That means it would be appropriate to charge 16M per run. Yes that's a silly high price, but it's based on the chance the the SK gets a nice purple drop once in a while. STATISTICS DON'T LIE!


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    Statistics do lie when they are based on a silly small sample size...

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    No, they don't lie. You can perform further analysis to see if you have a statistically significant sample space, but that doesn't make the existing data and resulting analysis a lie.

    I'd run a t-test on it but... I've forgotten how.
  12. Earthwyrm, I wish you would realize the "Turn tactics off" isn't for you, the person that knows to stay out of range, it's for the team in general because not everyone does know. It's just easier to say "turn them off" then go into some tutorial about "make sure that, relative to Katie, you're at least 60 feet away".

    When I have the star on a Katie run, I'm that guy that dictates that Tactics must be turned off. Exception - if I know all 7 other members of the team. Write your notes accordingly.

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    You know... I rather have a guide to how to recruit for a Katie PUG. Because over the months, I've seen that being the bigger problem on slow times.

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    The OP did this.
  13. [ QUOTE ]
    Kinetics: Speed boost!! Speed boost everyone (and occasionally pets) every time the witch oes down on mission one! EVERY TIME! this will help keep the AoE holds up and running and seriously help the damage output. Also position yourself so every siphon power hits the very most of your teammates. Every siphon power for defenders give +25% damage and controllers get +15% (I believe).

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    I wholeheartedly agree and have an addendum to this: ID your team. Keeping it perma sucks, for sure and I don't do this. I do make it part of the SB buff cycle, since it fits in nicely during the time when waiting for SB recharges. ID is a great "secret weapon" for the first mission. It protects against repel, kb, stuns and adds resistance to Smashing and Energy. In other words, everything that makes the witches a pain, ID combats.

    Yeah it's a major pain, but for 10 minutes, Kins should make this buff a priority. I could argue it's even more important than SB against the Cabal (but I won't).

    So though I agree that SB (and ally buffs in general) are a priority, I vehemently disagree with

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    Defenders in general: Don't attack..

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    I don't even know what to say to this, it's so perplexing. I have 2 defenders I do Katies with, Kin/Sonic and Cold/Ice. Both of the secondary effects are EXTREMELY useful, not even considering the damage of the attacks. Sorry, that's a piece of advice I won't be following and can't condone it whatsoever for others to follow.
  14. [ QUOTE ]
    I only heard of the Tactics 'problem' a month a go. I did hundreds of successful Katies blissfully ignorant that all those Tactics were somehow screwing up perfectly executed TFs. I didn't know I failed so often, but I guess I must have since Tactics was on!

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    Ever hear of risk mitigation? Someone can go for years without car insurance but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have it.
  15. [ QUOTE ]
    Another minor, but ultimately inconsequential nit-pick: I was retrieving Amy on the last mission, asked repeatedly for whoever had it on to turn off tactics, and they refused

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    Actually I don't think that's inconsequential. I was about to not reply, thinking this to be a moderate threadjack, but this point is something I'd put in my KH guide -

    Unless you believe the team leader's instructions to be detrimental to the team objectives, just do what s/he says. If the order is to turn off Tactics, TURN OFF TACTICS! If he says "all but BlastEx stay at the door", then stay at the door (unless you're BlastEx). On the other hand, if the order is "everybody run to Katie, turn on Tactics and CM her", well that's an order to take exception to.

    And to Tactics specifically, yes, turn them off. Everyone should as a standard practice. I don't care how far away you are, just turn them off.
  16. Hedgefund

    Rude Tells

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    I was just wondering what was the rudest tell any of you have gotten and if this is common on other servers. I was on champion.

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    That'd be the guy that saw my "I don't bridge" search comment and said, "lol I didnt know anyone was stupid enough to pass up free xp."

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    I've gotten that one too. Odd.

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    Me three!!!

    Hey kids, there are folks here for whom the great thing in the world isn't sitting by a door and letting someone earn xp. Now a 2-year vet, I officially don't care and won't bridge for anyone (except myself for some 3-boxing ) again.
  17. [ QUOTE ]
    If you're a level 16, doing the level 15-20 TF, and you have 4 other level 16's on your team... Avoid getting that level 19+, or you'll find yourself in over your head.


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    I would ordinarily let this slide, but since this is a guide, I need to point out that this is not true for most tfs. In fact it's the exception, not the rule. The big 6 tfs (for the accolade) are hard capped. You can bring 8 level 15s to Synapse. Good luck against the 20s you will be fighting.

    Respec trials are different, I hear Moonfire is different. ITF scales for sure. Otherwise, you better invite that higher level or you'll struggle.

    I made the following comments in another thread and Phil asked me to include them here, so I shall:

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    1) I like to actually begin the search at level 50. Many 50s put "Looking for Posi" in their search comments. Getting 50s helps because these are folks that a) want to do it fast and b) should be proficient with their char.

    2) I like to make it crystal clear that anyone exemping does not get xp. This is just of those points of failure that I see cause premature attrition.

    3) Your guide is very upbeat. There's a dark side to effectively running a tf as well. Sometimes (and it's fortunately rare) you have to kick someone. Sometimes you have to nudge someone that seems to be going afk once they enter the mission, but miraculously are able to hit the exit button right on time.

    Also, selfishly speaking, I like to begin recruiting what will most accentuate the character I'm playing. For example, with a kin, I first try to recruit debuffers with -Res and scrappers.

    Obviously you have to make compromises as you go, but you might as well start with the ideal (according to you).

    Still, that's a very nice guide that I think any tf leader should read.
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