Johnny_Taxibot

Oh, by the way. For those that have been missing Katie Smith in the Team One signup, she's recently decided to take a break from the game due to burnout. She regrets being away, but taking a break makes sense.

I may have mentioned this before, though it doesn't hurt to just state it again.

Cheers,

Johnny

(updating the roster)
Freedom Phalanx is entrusting us with some of the most serious tasks imaginable. This time Manticore has a lead on disturbing Crey research that may be transpiring behind closed doors. If true, it will shatter the public perception of Crey Corporation. They'll likely throw the full weight of their security forces against us, so be ready for anything.

Saturday May 30th 1:00pm EST (12 noon CST) (10:00am PST)
Meet at Manticore in Brickstown
The range requirement is 30-35, with those above exemplared down to 35 automatically

Team One (Invincible):

1. Johnny Taxibot (team lead) - lvl 50 Elec/Energy blaster

2. Ullikummis >> Yeti Prince (lvl 32 ice/em blaster)

3. Scheol >> Aneris (lvl 30 Emp/Dark defender)

4. hilker >> Brother Glacier (lvl 31 Cold/Ice defender)

5. Ad_Astra >> Agoniste (lvl 32 fire/rad controller) -or- Brighid Frost (lvl 34 fire/ice blaster) -or- Nerys (lvl 30 rad/rad defender)

6. Mareal >> Al Dedillo (lvl 31 cold/ice defender)

7. NightWarrior >> Summer Serenade (lvl 30 sonic/fire blaster) -or- Raka Strongbow (lvl 31 dark/elec defender)

8. Taxi_Dermy >> Taxibot Dermy (lvl 30 warshade) -or- Rusty Underground (lvl 30 emp/elec defender)


Team Two (Invincible):

1. Gata (team lead) >> Gata Amarilla (lvl 50 Kat/Regen scrapper)

2. Ironblade >> (needs to decide toon)

3. Doctor_A_Science >> Unknown Warrior (lvl 32 scrapper)

4. mscats >> Delilah Hazard (lvl 30 assault/device blaster)

5. Mystery_Inc >> either Blok (lvl 50 stone tanker)

6. Timothy2day >> Magic Taxi (lvl 35 fire/emp controller)

7. Gillian_Boardman >> Gwen Novak (lvl 28+ Invincible/SS tanker)

8. MISHMASTER >> ClassyWanda (lvl 30 ice/mental blaster)


Notes:

1. This is a task force challenge series, where Team One will seek a reasonably high difficulty level, depending upon the team composition. Teams Two and Three will usually run at Heroic difficulty.
2. We do not generally speed run these adventures, though we do seek to make good time and enjoy being in the story.
3. When doing a higher level challenge, the team lead needs to be in the zone before anyone enters the mission. Otherwise, the mission difficulty will default back to Heroic.
4. For Team One composition, the suggestion is to have 1-2 tankers, and 2-3 blasters for AoE crowd control. However, we will not blindly attempt a difficulty that is beyond the team makeup. When unsure, we begin at Tenacious and gradually increase the difficulty.
5. For Teams Two and Three, it is asked that there be a tanker for each team to provide good aggro management.

Another thing about Trials is that if you fail the final challenge, then you can talk to the contact and have another go WITHOUT HAVING TO REPEAT the preliminary missions and/or head hunting. This is useful where your team had an inadvertent team wipe, or perhaps you had chosen a high difficulty and decided to make another go at (say) Heroic. Just make sure you haven't broken the team up because you won't be able to invite more people.

For example, one time we failed a respec trial on Unyielding, and everyone was keen on having another go at Heroic. All we needed to do was change the difficulty, talk to the contact, and head back into the Terra Volta reactor. Boy, doing the respec on Heroic was so easy in comparison to Unyielding. We burned through each attack wave so quickly that we had ample time waiting for the next wave.

On a subsequent respec a few weeks later, we completed it on Invincible. Generally, a good way to judge whether you can handle the waves of enemies in the reactor, is to observe how long it takes your team to defeat groups in the initial door mission(s). If your team is struggling to defeat mobs, then that indicates you'll get overwhelmed by successive waves in the reactor.

-Johnny

DaShuk had good advice. Also suggest avoiding AE if it's only a grind. We started organizing Wednesday night pickup groups for doing plot-focused AE stories. Mind you, we don't want to ignore regular contact teaming outright, so we're thinking of having Wednesday alternate between AE stories and contact missions.

For this Saturday, we have a signup for Manticore task force, which is level 30-35 and there's a few spots that are still open. Don't worry about the Invincible settings; the team members stick together and support one-another.

This Friday we have a Badge Tour! Probably will start around 9:30pm EST and go for 1.5 - 2 hours. Not sure what zone(s) we'll cover yet, but come out because it's a little different from running missions.

Don't forget to set your teaming flag, and add friend for people that seem to be good teammates.

Cheers,

Johnny

Fixed. And good job on your progress. Sounds like you've been having fun.

-Johnny

That's good to hear. The following Saturday, it looks like we'll do the 1st Respec, and Katie Hannon the Saturday after. Both teams have been doing the task forces at an Invincible for the past few weeks, so we want to make sure we're mostly near level 34 for Katie.

BTW, Midori has a RL obligation this Saturday, so she won't be able to join Team One this week. She'll be back the following Saturday.

Cheers,

Johnny

Thanks Shadowtech and Maxwell_Houser. That helps.

-Johnny

[ QUOTE ]
Tripp_Hazzard: If, however, you're open to other names for it, may I suggest "Absolutist"? As in "one who takes absolutely all of their primary and secondary powers."

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, the word Purist really connotes a person that has an image of how an archetype or set of primary/secondary powers should be configured, and will resist varying from that.

To mainly focus on choosing only primary/secondary powers, I get the impression sometimes that's what people do when they are trying new powersets and are keenly interested in what the powers do and how they handle together. The word Rententive comes to mind for this. I don't think Absolutist works because that's synonomous with Purist.


[ QUOTE ]
Mack10: I just have a thing for a full set. Is this bad idea? Both in general, and on an Elec/Dev/MM blaster?

[/ QUOTE ]

Nothing critical. It might make you less effective than people that focus on powers that enhance their given playstyle.

-Johnny

The event was well organized. Started on time, turned away people that were too late for signup rather than slow the event down, each part of the competition started in timely fashion. We started at 8:00pm and things seemed to be wrapping up by 10:00pm, so not overlong.

Oh, and a cool graphic for the event posting. Thanks for putting this together, Isis. Looking forward to the next set of matches.

-Johnny

Another related question for people...

In the Concealment pool, what is the performance benefit of Invisibility over that of Stealth? Or put another way, how do they handle in terms of gameplay? It could very well be that you chose Stealth as the prereq to getting Invisibility, but once you did, in what tactical situations would you choose to use one or the other?

Thanks in advance,

Johnny

Freedom Phalanx is entrusting us with some of the most serious tasks imaginable. This time Manticore has a lead on disturbing Crey research that may be transpiring behind closed doors. If true, it will shatter the public perception of Crey Corporation. They'll likely throw the full weight of their security forces against us, so be ready for anything.

Saturday May 30th 1:00pm EST (12 noon CST) (10:00am PST)
Meet at Manticore in Brickstown
The range requirement is 30-35, with those above exemplared down to 35 automatically

Team One (Invincible):

1. Johnny Taxibot (team lead) - lvl 50 Elec/Energy blaster

2. Ullikummis >> Yeti Prince (lvl 32 ice/em blaster)

3. Scheol >> Aneris (lvl 30 Emp/Dark defender)

4. hilker >> Brother Glacier (lvl 31 Cold/Ice defender)

5. Ad_Astra >> Brighid Frost (lvl 34 fire/ice blaster) -or- Agoniste (lvl 32 fire/rad controller) -or- Nerys (lvl 30 rad/rad defender)

6.
7.
8.


Team Two (Invincible):

1. Gata (team lead) >> Gata Amarilla (lvl 50 Kat/Regen scrapper)

2. Ironblade >> (needs to decide toon)

3. Doctor_A_Science >> Unknown Warrior (lvl 32 scrapper)

4. mscats >> Delilah Hazard (lvl 30 assault/device blaster)

5. Mystery_Inc >> either Blok (lvl 50 stone tanker)

6. Timothy2day >> Magic Taxi (lvl 35 fire/emp controller)

7. Gillian_Boardman >> Gwen Novak (lvl 28+ Invincible/SS tanker)

8.


Notes:

1. This is a task force challenge series, where Team One will seek a reasonably high difficulty level, depending upon the team composition. Teams Two and Three will usually run at Heroic difficulty.
2. We do not generally speed run these adventures, though we do seek to make good time and enjoy being in the story.
3. When doing a higher level challenge, the team lead needs to be in the zone before anyone enters the mission. Otherwise, the mission difficulty will default back to Heroic.
4. For Team One composition, the suggestion is to have 1-2 tankers, and 2-3 blasters for AoE crowd control. However, we will not blindly attempt a difficulty that is beyond the team makeup. When unsure, we begin at Tenacious and gradually increase the difficulty.
5. For Teams Two and Three, it is asked that there be a tanker for each team to provide good aggro management.

Okay, I have the following for our team:

<ul type="square">[*]Johnny Taxibot (@Johnny Taxibot)[*]Taxibot Vixen[*]Taxibot SPC Francine[/list]
Maybe I can get more people to come. Depends who I see around.

Can you please explain what "No repeating ATs" means?


Thanks,

Johnny

Gee, somehow I missed this posting. I'll round up a couple more taxis; should be fun.

-Johnny

Yes, either look for people that have a signup during the week, or set your "Looking for Task Force" flag and perhaps loiter by one of the task force contacts.

I'm usually busy with Taxibot activities on a couple weeknights each week, such as AE story arcs made by taxis, mixed pickup teaming (taxis and non-taxis), Ouro adventures, or Badge Tours.

Regards,

Johnny

Freedom Phalanx is entrusting us with some of the most serious tasks imaginable. This time Manticore has a lead on disturbing Crey research that may be transpiring behind closed doors. If true, it will shatter the public perception of Crey Corporation. They'll likely throw the full weight of their security forces against us, so be ready for anything.

Saturday May 30th 1:00pm EST (12 noon CST) (10:00am PST)
Meet at Manticore in Brickstown
The range requirement is 30-35, with those above exemplared down to 35 automatically

Team One (Invincible):

1. Johnny Taxibot (team lead) - lvl 50 Elec/Energy blaster

2. Taxikitten Midori (lvl 50 Grav/Emp controller)

3. Ullikummis &gt;&gt; Yeti Prince (lvl 32 ice/em blaster)

4. Scheol &gt;&gt; Aneris (lvl 30 Emp/Dark defender)

5.
6.
7.
8.


Team Two (Invincible):

1. Gata (team lead) &gt;&gt; Gata Amarilla (lvl 50 Kat/Regen scrapper)

2. Ironblade &gt;&gt; (needs to decide toon)

3. Doctor_A_Science &gt;&gt; Unknown Warrior (lvl 32 scrapper)

4. mscats &gt;&gt; Delilah Hazard (lvl 28-9 assault/device blaster)

5. Mystery_Inc &gt;&gt; either Blok (lvl 50 stone tanker)

6. Timothy2day &gt;&gt; Magic Taxi (lvl 34 fire/emp controller)

7.
8.


Notes:

1. This is a task force challenge series, where Team One will seek a reasonably high difficulty level, depending upon the team composition. Teams Two and Three will usually run at Heroic difficulty.
2. We do not generally speed run these adventures, though we do seek to make good time and enjoy being in the story.
3. When doing a higher level challenge, the team lead needs to be in the zone before anyone enters the mission. Otherwise, the mission difficulty will default back to Heroic.
4. For Team One composition, the suggestion is to have 1-2 tankers, and 2-3 blasters for AoE crowd control. However, we will not blindly attempt a difficulty that is beyond the team makeup. When unsure, we begin at Tenacious and gradually increase the difficulty.
5. For Teams Two and Three, it is asked that there be a tanker for each team to provide good aggro management.

Both Rasset and Belle were in Striga in case there were available spots on the teams.

Looks like Team Two has been doing Invincible for a few weeks now. We should just designate both teams as being at an Invincible setting.

-Johnny

It often seems that newbie players don't understand the value of developing their contacts and completing story arcs. They get swept up in a sewer team (or now AE teams) and completely outlevel the regular game content, without knowing that obtaining and starting a bank/safeguard mission will get them a new contact.

Perhaps when entering an AE building or the sewers, anyone with ZERO veteran badges needs to be presented with a dialog that reminds them to help their contacts before they're outleveled.

-Johnny

The CoH talk on Slashdot seems to be more of a curiosity, and the discussion doesn't develop like it does here in our forums.

I think Mission Architect caught the interest of /. because the feature is reminiscent of old-style MUDs (text-only Multi Level Dungeons), where beating the game could entail giving you the ability to craft your own dungeon content for others to play.

-Johnny

The MegaMech Cometh
Freedom Phalanx is entrusting us with some of the most serious tasks imaginable. For the past several weeks, our teams have been ferreting out advanced Council developments in their weapons and defensive systems. Only by coordinating multiple timed assaults have we been able to overcome the Council troops. However, our ally within the Council ranks warns that the Ultimate Council Threat™ is upon us.

Saturday May 23rd 1:00pm EST (12 noon CST) (10:00am PST)
Meet at Ernesto Hess in Striga Isle (Far SE on Striga; 80 yards from Smuggler Freddie; Broadcast request if you can't find him)
The range requirement is 25-30, with those above exemplared down to 30 automatically


Team One (Unyielding):

1. Johnny Taxibot (team lead) - lvl 50 Elec/Energy blaster

2. Taxikitten Midori (lvl 50 Grav/Emp controller)

3. Ullikummis &gt;&gt; Deus Ex-Machina (lvl 28 emp/en defender)

4. Eagle_Star &gt;&gt; Lady Tovara (lvl 28 Peacebringer)

5. hilker &gt;&gt; Heliotrope Cataclysm (lvl 45 warshade)

6. Scheol &gt;&gt; (toon to be decided)

7. Mareal &gt;&gt; Al Dedillo (lvl 31 cold/ice defender)

8. Dr_Tessla &gt;&gt; Midnite Watchman (lvl 27 dark/wm tanker)


Team Two (Heroic):

1. Gata (team lead) &gt;&gt; Gata Amarilla (lvl 50 Kat/Regen scrapper)

2. mscats &gt;&gt; Delilah Hazard (lvl 28-9 assault/device blaster)

3. MISHMASTER &gt;&gt; ClassyWanda (lvl 26 ice/mental blaster)

4. Mystery_Inc &gt;&gt; either Blok (lvl 50 stone tanker) or Kheldian Rose (lvl 50 Peacebringer)

5. Ironblade &gt;&gt; Ironshield (lvl 29+ shield/axe tanker) or Ironblade (BS scrapper)

6. Doctor_A_Science &gt;&gt; Battousai Ken (lvl 29 scrapper)

7. Timothy2day &gt;&gt; Magic Taxi (lvl 34 fire/emp controller)

8. Taxi_Dermy &gt;&gt; Rusty Underground (lvl 28 Elec/Emp defender)


Notes:

1. This is a task force challenge series, where Team One will seek a reasonably high difficulty level, depending upon the team composition. Teams Two and Three will usually run at Heroic difficulty.
2. We do not generally speed run these adventures, though we do seek to make good time and enjoy being in the story.
3. When doing a higher level challenge, the team lead needs to be in the zone before anyone enters the mission. Otherwise, the mission difficulty will default back to Heroic.
4. For Team One composition, the suggestion is to have 1-2 tankers, and 2-3 blasters for AoE crowd control. However, we will not blindly attempt a difficulty that is beyond the team makeup. When unsure, we begin at Tenacious and gradually increase the difficulty.
5. For Teams Two and Three, it is asked that there be a tanker for each team to provide good aggro management.

[ QUOTE ]
Dayuumo: I'm a new player so I know little about pvp. Is it balanced?

[/ QUOTE ]

There are interesting zones that are earmarked for PvP: Bloody Bay, Siren's Call, Warburg and Atlas Past (Recluse's Victory). It's a fairly simple matter to do a little recruiting and have a team to do the zone activities. Having a team is excellent protection against rogue solo builds, and things get more interesting still when there's another team about.

Usually a good idea to organize a set time in the forums, preferably with a signup so that you know who's coming and can get started right away.

For example, we've been having good success organizing Tuesday night PvP zone activities. I've been taking a little break from organizing that, though a couple of the other taxis are interested in taking the lead.

-Johnny

To the OP.

As others have stated, you can 8-person teams work quite well, so long as you adapt your strategy according to the skill sets that the team has available.

Your proposed team with two tankers, two defenders, two blasters, a scrapper and controller looks good. When in doubt, a tanker for aggro management is a safe decision, and two tankers is *fantastic* aggro management when facing swarms of enemies like Nemesis army.


If a team doesn't have 1-2 blasters for AoE, then that can sometimes slow things down. Mind you, having a team of 4-5 scrappers makes for a team that mows through enemies. So it all depends on recognizing a good strategy for the given team, and then wash-rinse-repeat.

-Johnny

[ QUOTE ]
Memphis_Bill: /nitpick
Asteroid, not comet. Comets are generally considered frozen balls of ice, gasses, and minor other debris around a core, usually on a very wide orbit around a star (if they haven't been knocked out of the system by the gravity of that star or an associated planet.)

Asteroids, which can also be referred to as planetoids or even minor (as opposed to dwarf) planets, are generally more rocky, yet smaller than a planet (or dwarf planet.) Generally not rounded by their own gravity, nor do they have any sort of atmosphere (which comets, approaching a star, will temporarily have) or (known) tectonics. Despite the inclusion of "planet" in their name, they do not have the gravitational influence to clear their own orbit.

This also did not refer to the dropping of a classic arcade game on Paragon Studios. Which they may appreciate more, if it survived.

... The more you know.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good stuff! Thank you for taking the time to explain the difference. That's a tidy response. I actually did know, and at the time of my posting, I was kinda wondering if anyone was going to point out that I was less than precise in my comparisons.

-Johnny

The installation procedure should walk you through setting up a login and such. Make certain that you write down your forum login as well, since that's an easy one to forget amidst all the setup.

However, once you get the game booted up, choose a server (the list orders them according to "last played" followed by currently least-populated to most-populated.

Once you choose a server, you can create a toon. The toon setup walks you through what you need to know about archetypes and powers. Once the toon is finished, you have an opportunity to complete a tutorial, which is relatively short and highly recommended.

Oh, and welcome to the game!

-Johnny

A drawback with Flight is that you always need to be guiding yourself in the direction that you're going, and observing the scenery requires a bit of dexterity.

Jumping is more fly-by-wire, where you can launch yourself in the desired direction and then look around whilst coasting.

-Johnny

Here's the link to User Interface customization on ParagonWiki.

Also, to save your customizations, go Menu &gt;&gt; Options &gt;&gt; General tab - way down at the bottom are controls for saving your chat and window settings. That's in addition to the "Save Options" button at the bottom of the dialog itself.

-Johnny