Impyre

We’re back!

We’ll be running MSTF this Thursday evening at the regular 6pm/9pm pacific/eastern time. Next Thursday I am not available so I asked Talbein to organize the run and he may be able to do so. Otherwise I hope someone will step up if there is enough interest.

As far as I know STF isn’t bugged currently, but I haven’t run one since i17 went live.

Rad Corruptors has been running on sporadically on Sundays but we’ve missed some days and it’s been low key. We had 7 people show up yesterday and were mid-Mantis Strike Force when the server went down. We’re still not where we can run an all Rad Corruptor ITF with participants yet. Of the seven in attendance this week, two were in the 20-25 range, (hence our options were Tarikoss or Mantis). My corruptor is 32nd, so still a few levels from ITF. We’ve had a couple of people that already had Rad Corruptors join us.

I’m planning to roll whatever merits I’ve accumulated at 33rd and still intend to level lock at 35th. I’m not sure who has level locked; I know one that level locked briefly then decided to continue leveling.

If anyone is still interested in joining us send me a tell or just listen in on the STF Masters global channel on Sunday afternoon, 1pm/4pm pacific/eastern time.

/sarcasm, When things go wrong in game I like to remind my teammates that the first and most important thing to do is to assign blame, not to fix the problem.

All joking aside, we already know the solution is to efficiently and effectively advertise the Hami Raids in a timely fashion. That said, I'm fairly certain the next Hami Raid isn't currently posted in the STF Master's MotD. Advertising concerns will fade once we can get Raiding on a regular schedule.

A minor quibble with Ice9_'s assertion that blueside advertising = redside advertising. With a smaller redside player base, equal effort means proportionately lower redside attendance. For example, I sometimes team with a particular group of players that regularly support the blueside with 4-6 people but have no villains 45+ or no villains at all.

We'll have better attendance if we'd just remind one another. Ask your buddy if they're going to the raid. Ask the channel operator in your large, (Protector based), global to see if they'd advertise in the MotD or if they'd just mention it during the week. Lastly, mention it yourself in the channel throughout the week, "Hey, who's going to the Hami Raid this weekend?".
Get the word out.

Thanks to everyone that organizes or participates in events, task forces or teams. It builds our community.

3/25 team

Inferno Prey? I remember that tank; Mortal is just lazy now, only bringing Invincible Prey, his Invuln tank.

The turnout for last Thursday’s run showed up early again. We had an abundance of scrappers and regulars. Since almost everyone had run before we decided to have some fun with the team composition. We ran with 2 fire/shield scrappers, a katana/fire scrapper, a peacebringer, emp/rad/sonic defenders and a granite tank. The least experienced (as far as running STF) was the granite tank having run STF once or twice long ago.

This was one of the rare times I copied the chat log and a couple of things stand out. First of all, that Impyre sure does worry a lot and secondly Scorpion was pulled while the Flier was overhead and Mako didn’t follow. Against Ghost Widow we didn’t have any of the scrappers sit out the fight. Stone Palace focused on taunting from range and both shield scrappers fought without Against All Odds. There were several occasions when I think a Soul Storm could have caught multiple scrappers had it been used but we were lucky enough to avoid any mishaps.

Congrats to Burning Prey, Scrappy Shields, Waker., Hazel the Hare on earning the MSTF badge.

Note that I may miss some Thursdays this month. Hopefully someone else will take up the organizing if I’m not around.

As was mentioned previously we had a failed attempt a couple weeks ago; in fact, we ran 2 of the 3 previous weeks and failed both attempts. I cancelled the run on Double XP Thursday. This past Thursday, however, we had a successful run. We had six members of the team earning the MSTF badge, with a few earning “Saved the World” also, (I don’t have my notes for the latter badge). Congratulations on MSTF go to Prince Buster, Kotando, Maser, Mage Shaman, and Dusty Rose. Unfortunately I didn’t get the complete power sets but the support sets were Cold, Kin, Emp and Rad. I believe this was only the second time we’ve managed to successfully run with three tanks.

Following the recent trend, the first to show up on the boat were on early, before 6 pm. Prince Buster and Kotando wanted the badge on their tanks but, after conversing with both of them, I decided it would be best if I tanked also. Since I had Friday off I felt I could afford to have a longer than usual run.

The only close calls I remember were against Scirocco. One of the tanks knocked into the orange and one of the defenders tested the one-shot rule. We had a long fight with Ghost Widow as expected. Against Lord Recluse we had some issues with the repairmen on the Red Tower. I had used more than half my tray of inspirations while they defeated that tower so I called for a retreat after . There was a brief confusion when I called for the retreat, but we managed to get clear of Recluse to wait for the Flier respawn. It was one of the longest runs we’ve had in a while at 3:33, but it was a satisfying run for everyone. Congrats again to everyone and we look forward to seeing you Thursday.

Here's the team

*warning**Wall of Text**warning*

I too am part of that silent majority in Jello Shooters. I rarely chime in and, in fact, I'm more likely to send a tell to someone who voices a question or a request in the channel. Jello Shooters has never been the channel for everyone. I know I've had in game friends that found JS just wasn't for them. It was a good channel for doing the big thing like recruiting for a Hami Raid.

Things are different now. The population of Protector is smaller and that is compounded by the fact that the activities tend to be instanced and not centralized in a single zone. You can't expect to get a mission team by broadcasting "level 16 scrapper lft" anymore. In my opinion we veterans need to do more to build the community and that includes all major Protector Channels. We need to be less divisive and more welcoming. Is JS less than it was? I don't know. I remember feeling left out by the JS channel until I got to know a few people in the channel. There are still many I recognize by global but haven’t teamed with before. In this smaller population era, Jello Shooters should try to be more than a "love it or leave it" channel.

I had one acquaintance in game move alts back from Freedom because I teamed with him more and introduced him to some of my other friends. He found it wasn’t necessary to move elsewhere to find the task force opportunities he wanted. During the free server transfers he brought the alts back and I think a few friends came back with him.

I try to do what I can to support the community. My MSTF runs are meant to provide a teaming opportunity for a task force that tends to be more frustrating and harder to run successfully. I try to support the events such as “Rush the Rikti” and Hamidon Raids. I haven’t joined in some of the other events going on and I need to join in sometime soon. I have nothing but respect for those that put together events now or in the past. Protector is still a great place but we can make it better.

I don’t think it’s my nature to look down on other players and if that’s ever come across I apologize. There are complaints about this generation of AE players but I have to take responsibility for some of their play. I haven’t taken the time to team with new players. What teaming opportunities have many of them had other than “AE farm team lfm”? Stalemate’s NPC is a great opportunity for us to change the status quo. Some of us need to step up and help these new players to experience the game outside AE. It’s hard because all of us have some people we team with now and they do come first.

We're back on a regular Thursday schedule so come out to the boat in IP if you want to run. We'll do our best to accomodate those that show up.

For those looking for the other Master's badges we do run MITF at times when there are requests and there are others in the "STF Masters" channel that run MKahnTF also.

No apologies are needed Boricua. Real life happens and isn't in our control. We'll see you next time.

The first attempt ended short when a teammate had to log and had died to the mob that used to despawn in the second mission. It's the one just before the elevators that they finally fixed some months back.

We filled his spot and had a smooth and steady run with a team that was high on defense and a bit light on damage. If this run had been prior to the nerf of Mako's god-mode we would have had to be creative with Fulcrum Shift or we might not have been able to get past him.

Once again I didn't take notes on badges earned but the team was made up of: Trinity Storms, Colby Prey, Doc Jen, Jasmine Burns, Mrs. Icy Jen, Vik Volcanic, Mystic Fusion and Dawnrazor.

We will run again next week 2/26 at the usual 6 pm pacific time. I'll try to mention it a bit more during the week now that I've had at least one person voice a willingness to lead a second team if we have enough show up to run more than one team.


Off topic: Does anyone else wonder why BackAlleyBrawler obviously holds back his full "might" on the Recluse Strike Force?

Mystic Fusion -- Rad/Dark Defender
Damien the Duck -- Dark/Dark Defender
Zues-Tank -- Inv/SS Tank
Combat Waitress -- Dual Blades/Super-Reflexes Scrapper
Buzz Lightning -- Electric/Electric Blaster
Endurance-Thief -- Kinetic/Sonic Defender
Doc Jen -- Empathy/Electric Defender
Scrappy Hood -- Archery/Mental Manipulation Blaster


Sorry for the late posting, but here's the team.

It might have been a first for us to run successfully with a Tauntless tank. It was a veteran team and, though a few hadn't run in a while, it was a fairly smooth run. I don't remember who earned the MSTF and/or Saved the World badge(s) so I'm not going to list names for fear of leaving someone out.

This past Sunday we had enough show up in the early afternoon to run the Steel Canyon Mayhem followed by a Silver Mantis Strike Force. During our Silver Mantis run more showed up and Talbein organized a Tarikoss SF. I believe they had one non-rad join the team to help fill.

It seems clear that the Sunday time works better for some than others. I'd like some feedback from those unable to make that time to suggest another regular time or just to be pro-active in spur of the moment teaming with other rad corruptors. The level spread is fairly wide and I know that a couple of members were nearing their "level lock" point in the low to mid 30s.

With the Tarikoss run from the previous Sunday and the Mantis run the other day I have enough to make a couple of recipe rolls but haven't been on Rad Shift since Sunday. I'll report what I roll in my next update.

We'll be running tonight with the team forming at 6pm, Pacific Time

Please be ready to run when you arrive; clear your inventory in advance and have an appropriate inspiration tray. As always, come first as the alt you'd prefer to play.

I will mostly abide by first come, first served but that will be subject to putting together a team capable of completing a Master run in a reasonable time.

I'll be trying to have regular Thursday night runs again if there is enough interest.

Our first outing went well. We had rotating teams as people logged on/alted an joined in. I heard from a couple people in the channel before we started but didn't see them once we began. If the schedule doesn't work for you, please chat with others and see if you/we can set up other times to team. If you're a late night person, Talbein has indicated that he'll be looking for late night superteaming opportunities.

Next Sunday we'll be running the Virgil Tarikoss Strike Force, level 15-20, 13 merits. I expect multiple teams/runs to give everyone a chance to participate. The plan going forward is to stagger the Strike Forces. When we are running Silver Mantis, 20-25, we will try to run a Tarikoss to give those that missed it a chance to run that also. We'll have to see how this idea works out in practice.
So far I've had nothing worth listing that i can recall. The dozen plus bronze rolls amounted to nothing useful.

Other notes:
still no costume suggestions so far, probably not important till we unlock 2nd costume slot at 20th
Thank you Rasta; your well wishes are appreciated.
Thanks to everyone that made it on Sunday; it made it a very fun day of teaming.
Invite others. It's still a great chance to get people to try redside. The more we have involved the more teaming opportunities everyone will have.

I'm not sure how many people will be taking Hasten, but with AM and Hasten slotted with 3 SOs of recharge, it will take approximately 3 other AMs to make both perma. That will be my minimal slotting in those 2 powers once SOs are available. I encourage others to take and slot Hasten similarly, but I'm not going to require it. I'm actually going to overslot AM and Hasten early and will look to respec the slots as SOs become available.

I haven't played a superteam up high enough to know, but I'd expect our bigger issue in prolonged fights with AVs will be status protection rather than recovery crashes. It will be fun to work our way through any challenges. A dose of Vengeance should get us through most situations to say nothing about a well managed inspiration tray.

**We each have our individual preferences for power choices and slotting and, much the way I recruit teams, I'm giving the maximum amount of freedom so that everyone can do as they want.**

My build plan is very vanilla DO/SO at this point. If we leverage AM well, it will cover many slotting limitations during the early levels.

For now our scheduled teaming time will be Sunday afternoon. We'll do our best to accomodate other play schedules as we get feedback. Hopefully others will pick up the torch and organize other teaming times to give the best coverage and everyone will be able to participate.

Everyone that has chimed in on the thread knows that I'm very easy going and I hope that will be an asset to this endeavor. The powers listed are just "recommendations". Accelerate Metabolism is mandatory; If you want to delay AM till level 6 that is fine. After that, other powers will synergize well, although having 8 people with Radiation Infection could be overkill. Hasten will make a significant difference in using AM, especially while super-teamed.

Stamina is completely optional. If you want to take it, take it.
I may not have been explicit, but I had hoped there would be room in the builds for some individuality. I haven't worked on a build yet so I'm not sure how much room there actually is for taking a pick or two from another power pool.

To make things easier I am going to provide a "scholarship fund" to everyone that reaches 22nd level. It will be more than adequate to pay for a 2nd build if anyone wants to go that route.

We are still looking for a team uniform. If the costume is open to variations, that would be great too. Since we are going to be in different supergroups an thematic costume would be nice.

As to the "midlevel crisis" recipe rolls, I tend to save merits until 30th-33rd level before I actually roll. That is just my preference. I'd like to hear from others on advice on rolling merits. It hasn't been discussed but we can also take some of the teaming into AE for ticket rolls there also.

Here's a template and feedback is encouraged. We're going with the Villains/Redside.

Requirements:
- Accelerate Metabolism at level 4
- any 2 of [Radiation Infection, Radiant Aura, Envervating Field, Lingering Radiation] prior to level 20 and should have RI, EF and LR by 30th
- any 2 of Maneuvers, Assault, Tactics prior to level 24(?)
- AoE attack as early as available
- be friendly and have fun!

Optional/recommended:
- Hasten (highly recommended)
- Fallout and Choking Cloud (not available till 35th/28th)
- It would be nice if we had a couple people (or not too many) with: Grant Invisibility, Vengeance, Mutation, Recall Friend

Note that Stamina is not needed when teamed so is not recommended.


With the amount of interest we've received, I think we'll try for 2 "scheduled" playtimes; ideally they will be time windows that will give everyone a chance to team. People are encouraged to play together at other times since the new sidekick/lackey rules should make teaming different levels easy.
For discussions sake the proposed times are Sunday afternoon and Monday evenings. If these times conflict with other regular events or you think they'd be better spread out more, please make suggestions. Also if both times are bad for you, please chime in.

As suggested previously, we'll be using "STF Masters" since many of you have that channel already. It's open for anyone to join from channel search; an invite isn't needed. Everyone is free to use their own supergroups. If you don't have one, you're welcome to join Domain of Wrath with me. I'm sure others will welcome you into their SG as well.

Please invite players from other servers to join us. This is a great chance to play on the redside with such limited redside opportunities on many servers. Protector has excellent redside players and they are well represented in the replies in this thread. RSF is run all the time and we've run successful Hami Raids. For those without a level 50, I'd recommend not to turn off xp, assuming we can keep this going that long.
I'll personally provide infamy for slotting SOs/DOs and maybe a bit more to those lacking resources, especially anyone not native to Protector.

As we get rolling we should be able to work on accessible accolades.

Does anyone have suggestion for a(n) (optional) theme for the characters?

I'm still looking for others to "take up the star"


I know "you can't make everyone happy" so make your voice heard while we're still getting organized.

Chatting with a couple people during the past week gave me an idea. One discussion was about starting a rad "super team"; the other was about their participation in generating mid-level recipes with the Market Forum endeavor.

So far there are 4 of us interested in starting up a */rad super-team. It's been suggested that we start up a red-side team but nothing is finalized. Two of us are planning to eventually "park" our alts at 33rd or 35th, but there won't be a requirement that anyone interested in joining has to stop leveling.

Things to be determined may include, but aren't limited to:
-Required/Suggested power picks/template
-a Theme
-Supergroup (new or use/acquire an existing one?)
-use of existing global channel or creating (yet) another?
-will there be a designated night or time to play together?
-who is/are going to lead/spearhead this effort?
-red or blue?

We'll miss you too; I hope you find a way back to Paragon City soon.

A Pride of Lions, a Gaggle of Geese. You get the idea. What would you call collectives of various groups in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles?

Hopefully this hasn't been done before.

Some groups seem like they'd be too awkward such as Devouring Earth or Carnival of Shadows but others should give a wide variety of ideas like Malta, Crey, Clockwork, etc.

A Pile of Skulls, an Ignorance of Luddites or an Intolerance of Luddites,...

I'll be at Hero Con.

You can stop mocking me now.

Take Care Flame. Come back for a visit at least when Going Rogue goes live!

Hi everyone

I just wanted to give everyone an update based on what I (think I) know currently. I believe there is or was a patch for the repairmen on Test and, the last that I know of, it hasn't gone live as of yet.

It is possible to run and complete STF/MSTF with the bugged repairmen but the team needs a way to deal with the repairmen. The most popular way to deal with them seems to be with hurricane or force bubble. Our test run showed that there are other ways to deal with them also such as Burn or Oppressive Gloom.

A team of STF vets including Dignan and Faint successfully ran a MSTF recently using a force bubble to deal with the repairmen. (I wasn't on this team)

I've chosen not to run recent Thursdays in part because I didn't want to deal with the extra specificity of powers needed to run MSTF when I may have to organize multiple teams. Hopefully we'll start running again soon.

Take care and hope to see you again soon.

We ran a STF yesterday to try a few things on the repairmen and two things that worked well against them were Oppressive Gloom and Burn. Oppressive Gloom was from the Defender Epic pool, but should be functionally identical to the Dark Armor version in this situation. Burn required a bit more positioning/timing, but someone with better slotted burn than I have will be more consistently effective against the repairmen than I was.

I'll be there. I may have to leave before we finish depending on how long the Raid runs.

Random and not so random thoughts:

Confront requires a “to-hit check” which will be a factor against +4 Arch-Villains. The purple patch will also shorten the duration of the taunt significantly too, but I don’t remember the scale.

Ghost Widow:
I have no idea how the agro magnitude of confront will compare to any of the scrappers scoring a critical. My guess is that a confront will miss at some point and the scrappers in melee will take some agro at least a few times. You’ll just have to see how well the team can immobilize her.

I would have the entire team use Lucks to softcap their defenses, and possibly use rages to shorten the fight. Softcapping will mitigate most of the effects of both Soul Storm and Dark Regeneration on those occasions that the 'taunting scrapper' loses agro.

Lord Recluse:
Bane spawns can be interrupted by some auras; I believe Mud Pots and Chilling Embrace interrupt, but I’m not positive. For scrappers the aura that might work is Invincibility, maybe. If knockback is an issue, use a pillar or other object so it becomes knockdown and you don’t lose contact with him triggering Bane spawns.

I’m not sure how not having a toggle debuff will affect the math, but ~75% is the threshold to floor his “to hit” while the Red Tower is up. Remember that his attack can debuff both your defense and your mez protection (-3.0 to magnitude of your stun protection if I remember correctly). I don’t remember how much the defense debuff is, but it is significant.

Other notes you probably already know:
The Flier is on a fixed 20 minute timer for respawn regardless of when you defeat a given Flier. The time to mark is the first time a team member zones into the final map.

The repairmen are currently bugged; they are healing the towers as soon as they spawn, before they can be targeted/defeated. It would be best to wait for this bug to be fixed before you attempt your run.

-- I'd go with Pep Rally's note on the auras; I'm not sure other than any aura that requires a "to hit check" won't interrupt his Bane spawn reliably.