Lothiriel

November Girls Nite Out this week!!

However, I can't run it this Tuesday. I'm rescheduling for Thursday instead, same time/same place. If you plan on attending send me a PM so I know to wait for you!

Just a few more points on pa drops.

I usually determine the optimum position for dropping pa visually - it's the easiest way to do it. Given my resolution (1440x900), I stay at an altitude where you can see all of hami in the screen but with little extra space around him. Any lower and hami starts shooting at you, a little bit higher and pa stop being effective in getting aggro - they spawn on the rock formations or get stuck in unwanted parts of hami. You want to position the pa drop halfway between hami and the edge of the cytoplasm normally. If the raiding team gets hami aggro, the pa is shifted so that they sit on the opposite edge of hami. When the raiders are working close to hami, it's a good idea for the pa lead to warn the drop team to be alert for any position changes as well as moving in the pa a little closer - 1/3 away from hami instead of 1/2 out from hami. Last note about dropping pa - always keep an eye out for nearby rock formations. It's a good idea to check them for pa. If you are too high up or just a little too close to the outside or just too close radially to a tall rock formation, pa will spawn on the rocks instead of in hami.

I haven't actually seen you sneak into one......but I seem to remember you asking if it's real gals only when I post.......

The date has been set for Girls Nite Out in August! It is for Tuesday the 16th starting at 9pm EST in front of Positron at SC. All gals are welcome......real ones.....(nice try Sxxxy, Ranma....:P) And as always this is the perfect time to get any female friends/family/significant others hooked onto CoH.

Oh, and this GNO night, we'll be celebrating Lil' Mama's upcoming bday! In honor of this momentous occassion, feel free to wear as much or little of your bday suit to party.

GNO goes on for quite a while so if you can't make it when we start but can join later, send me a tell when you get on so we can bring ya in for the fun!

How about *light* pink.....like blush?

Here's a repost of the Controlling guide for hami since it has fallen off of the Champion boards.

Controlling Hami and You

I. Before the Raid

Illusion controllers
1. Illusion! Represent!
As an illusion controller your loyalty should be to your primary always. If you are Ill/Emp or Ill/Rad, you belong in the PA drop team. Under only the direst circumstances – healing blanket has only 4 members – should you be with the healing blanket. If there are not enough phantom armies being dropped continuously, no amount of healers in the blanket will protect the raiders from mito aggro.

2. I need some fairy dust
If you don’t have fly or hover, notify the illusion lead immediately. We can and will find someone with group fly for you but we need time to do it. That being said, if you plan to attend many hami raids in the future, you may want to consider respecing in hover or fly.

3. Positions, everyone!
The PA drop team goes into the Hive the same time melee goes in to clear out monsters. That gives us enough time to get into position above hami – west side – and to work out any traveling issues. That being said, if you are flying to hami, fly high. There are swarms floating in the hive that have a really nasty sting. If you touch them at all, you will lose any and all traveling powers for a long time. If you are a group flyer, use group fly to travel to hami. It takes time to activate and switching between fly and group fly will drop you a decent distance….usually right into hami lovin’ zone. Non flyers, wait for a tp next to the group flyer. If no one with a teleport is available, travel the distance to hami by foot, as should the group flyer. Once you are near hami, slowly work your way up into position above hami with your group flyer.

Non Illusion Controllers
1.Mmm….warm and toasty
If you are not illusion and you are /emp or /rad, join the healing blanket. We can never have too much green goodness. If those are not your secondaries, join the main raiding group. Enter the hive when commanded by your lead.

II. Mito love

Illusion controllers
1. Drop it!
Once you are in position, drop PA whenever you have them. Don’t stop until the last mito goes down. If you want to optimize your phantom army for hami raids, it should be six slotted with recharge rates.

2. Following the leader
All independent flyers should have the illusion lead on follow. Group flyers should have the illusion lead on follow and non flyers should have the group flyers on follow. Non flyers should stick with the group flyers no matter what. If the illusion lead says shifiting, wait for the group flyer to shift. Do not shift with the lead if you cannot fly on your own. We want to keep the mito aggro in a focused group so stick with the illusion lead.

3. This way to the lake!
Once the last mito is down and the raid leader calls for all out north, head down north of hami to the healing blanket and await for further instructions.

Controllers
1.Focus
Stay in the blanket, use only single attacks, no AoEs.

2. No Pets Allowed
No pets should be out at this time. Drawing aggro of any kind to the healing blanket is unpleasant. The only pets you should see are the PA on the other side of hami.

III. Hami love
1. Hold me close, hold me tight
Once melee have gotten their hits in and gone south, the raid leader will call in defenders and controllers. Set your hold on auto-hit. If you can hold, you must hold hami starting at this point and you should not stop holding until hami goes down no matter what. The only exception to the rule is if the raid leader gives the all out call. At that point you must leave the bubble immediately. If you have attacks, your first priority must still be holds. Do not interrupt any holds to attack. If you have the vanguard medal, use it. You may want to wait until crucial points to use it – 50% or 10% health but use it at some point. When you hold hami, use all the holds you have but only use pure holds. Do NOT use immobilize, disorient, fear, or slow. If you’re not sure what your powers do, look at the power info and it will tell you. There is also a list at the end of this guide listing all controller powers and notes whether or not they are holds.

2. I can’t see!
If you have trouble targeting hami you have several options. However, you should NEVER spawn pets for the purpose of targeting only. There should be plenty of dark servants and singularities that you can assist in targeting hami. The range finder will also have hami targeted and you can continue to use them to find hami.

3. No pets, no pets, NO PETS!
There are only two pets that should be out during the hami phase of the raid. These are dark servants and singularities. That is because they have their own holds. Any other pet is not welcome. Ever. They cause aggro and lag, both of which we want to avoid. No phantasms, no phantom army, no fire imps, no jack frosts, no earth pets. No exception to that rule. Ever. Even with the I4 changes to Jack Frost. If you need a target, use darks or sings.

4. Cut the lag
If anything causes lag, it is not welcome even if it has a slightly beneficial purpose. No capes and auras on outfits. No shields should be up – you shouldn’t need it with hami aggro control and the healing blanket and if hami decides to hit you, it won’t save you. No freezing armor. No fire shield. No invisibility. No steamy mist. No storms or rain of any sort. If you have storm as a power set, you should not be using ANY of those powers in this phase. No lighting storm, no tornado, no freezing rain, ice storm, blizzard, rain of fire and anything else that has been left out. No ice patch, no earthquake. Once hami is held, the heals should be cut and the only ones healing should be pets. The only debuffs allowed are rad debuffs. Nothing else is welcome or worth the lag from the graphics. Also, help reduce lag by spreading out. Hover if you have it. Use that shiny brand new graphics options enabling the filter for extra graphics.

IV. Bud love
Once hami pops and the buds come out, take them out before trading. Feel free to let anything loose – pets, storms, everything. Let them have some fun. Yes there is a bud timer now but if you are looking to do 2 raids a night, you better clear those jello bits.

Repost of something Genna found that might help:

Hope this helps for Controllers.

Earth Controllers
Fossilze and Volcanic Gasses are a hold

Stone Prison and Stone Cages are not holds (immobilize)
Quicksand is not a hold (slow)
Salt Crystals is not a hold (sleep)
Stalagmites is not a hold (disorient)
Earthquake is not a hold (knockback)
Animated Stones have no holding ability, they only damage.

Fire Controllers
Char and Cinders are both holds

Ring of Fire and Fire Cages are not a hold (immobilize)
Smoke is not a hold (debuff)
Hot Feet is not a hold (slow)
Flashfire is not a hold (disorient)
Bonfire is not a hold (knockback)
Fire Imps have no holding ability, they only damage.


Gravity Controller
Gravity Distortion and Gravity Distortion Field
Singularity is a good pet to use because they cast holds

Crush and Crushing Field are not a hold (immobilize)
Lift and Propel are not a hold (knockback)
Dimension Shift is not a hold (intangible - especially bad since no one can then hold him while he is phased)
Wormhole is not a hold (disorient)

Ice Controllers
Block of Ice and Glacier are holds


Chillblain and Frostbite are not holds (immobilize)
Arctic Air is not a hold (confuse and slow)
Shiver is not a hold (slow)
Ice Slick is not a hold (knockdown)
Flash Freeze is not a hold (sleep)

Illusion Controllers
Blind and Flash are holds

Spectral Wounds and Phantom Army not a hold (damage)
Deceive is not a hold (confuse)
Superior Invisibility and Group Invisibility are not holds (duh) and shouldn't be used because of lag caused using them.
Spectral Terror is not a hold (fear)
Phantasm is not a hold (knockback)

Of course, Phantom Army is needed for the Pet Drop phase.

Mind Controllers
Dominate, Telekinesis and Total Domination are holds

Mesmerize and Mass Hypnosis are not a hold (sleep)
Levitate is not a hold (knockback)
Confuse and Mass Confusion are not a hold (confuse)
Terrify is not a hold (fear)

[ QUOTE ]
Follow Orders and ask questions ....Its pretty simple do what your told and then if you want to understand the "whys" ask) At least thats my philosophy....I just did my job and later started asking questions...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, that's the point I think Control Queen was bringing up - if a raider's doing hami for the first time it's ok that they don't know what's going on. Yes we should check before the raid for newbies and educate them but no matter what THEY SHOULD LISTEN TO THE RAID LEADER AND CAPTAINS. Even when they don't understand why. And if they don't understand, no one's stopping them from asking. A lot of times, a raid captain tells newbies not to do something - but they just keep doing it while asking why at the same time. And a lot of times they don't agree >< and keep doing it.

Back when *I* was a newbie hami raider and we walked uphill through the snow without any SHOES all they way to the hive entrance and gathered at 8:30EST and started the raid at 9:00EST........ well, I mean, when I first started, I had no idea what was going on. It didn't really make sense to me that we should clump the PA together instead of spreading them out but I still stuck with the rest of the PA droppers. Didn't make sense to me for another 5 raids or so - course, could've saved myself a whole lot of trouble had I just asked.....but I did follow orders.

However, not all newbies ignore orders that they don't understand. A couple raids back an illusionist raiding for the first time had her phantasm out during the hami holding phase. I sent her a tell to remove it and she promptly left hami and got her phantasm killed. While she did that, I explained why a phantasm at that point was a bad idea, saving us much hami aggro. Yay for hami newbies that listen!

It's up to you how you want to do it but clearing the mitos by color tend to be more dangerous for the raiders than clearing them by location - outside-inside counterclockwise. You might end up in pockets by hami with lots of uncleared mitos behind you. Those mitos will aggro on the raiders no matter what and you will end up taking more hits.