MadMarv

Full disclosure; Here's the good professors reply:

Thanks for your note.

I've tried to overcome the perception that Twixt used one "exploitive/broken/uber" power to "grief" others -- since that didn't happen. I've addressed this repeatedly in my blog -- which, though it might take some effort for you to read, took more effort for me to write

Here are a couple of things I mention in that blog that you might want to inspect:

I provide objective evidence of Twixt's accomplishments (kill vills, win zone) in RV: villains killed, deaths incurred, pillboxes taken. None of the "villains killed" in these accounts include either dronings or npc kills. Typical total: 24/1/84. I also note how many times the zone was won during Twixt's reign: oodles of times. As you know if you have played the game, it is impossible to win the zone by standing by the drones in the hero base.

The paper mentions droning and tping into npcs as two important areas of criticism. The reason I mention these is not because they were representative of Twixt's play, but because they were not. The criticisms of Twixt's play, as I state in the paper, vastly distorted and transformed his play in order to make that play seem unsuccessful, skill-less, unethical, and such. I continue to claim, whenever I have the energy to do so, based on the objective evidence I have and have provided, that Twixt's play was none of these things.

As you can see, however, that perception is very difficult to dislodge, particularly when it is propagated with such little effort, at so little risk, with so great a consequence.

Best, David


David Myers
http://www.loyno.edu/~dmyers/

This guy played on Champion, Infinity and Freedom. Here is a link to the article and his paper if you want to read it: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2...fessor_be.html

Here is the letter I emailed him. See what you guys think.

Hello Mr. Myers,

I enjoyed your paper and appreciate your input regarding social interaction that occurs on MMORPG's. I play on Pinnacle, and have spent years in RV as well!

I also possess an advance degree in behavioral sciences (MSM), and had a few observations:

To me, the skill involved in building one's toon (ie...Slotting IO's that enhance specific set bonuses that emphasize the innate abilities of your chosen AT) verses choosing TP -Foe, and NOT ACTUALLY KILLING ANYONE YOURSELF, are two different things. Your paper and the related article do not sufficiently mark this difference. I believe that you drew obtuse comments from others for the same reason that most of America cringes when we hear of someone using a legal loop-hole to defraud or avoid a responsibility. You were viewed as a cheater, and were treated accordingly! Yes, you followed the game rules. But I think you are missing an important issue here: It takes more talent to create a build, slot IO's, and then use that build to personally defeat your opponent than to take 1 pool power and grief others. Other players recognized that difference and I believe, sought to recognize the abilities that requires more talent. You never mentioned if you dueled anyone, or what your scrap build was? Did you ever earn the temp Heavy Power - which is one of the real purposes for capturing pillboxes.

There is a reason one gets zero debt when they are defeated by another player - So the game recognizes the difference between a player defeat and a NPC defeat. You know - I can pop an orange and avoid a teleport, but that doesn't mean I am skilled!

Again, I enjoyed your paper, and hope this has come across as intended: A respectful observation from a fellow RV'er!

Respectfully,

@Mad Jaded

Name: The Shadows - Sister SG is C.O.R.E.

Currently Recruiting: Still have some room in the original. Going to have to create a new one for alts soon.

RP Level: Not so much...

Theme/Concept: Very casual, no pressure group of nice people. Lots of experienced players usually very willing to help others. Many 'Beta' players in this VG.

Activity: We play way too much. It is rare that a few of our people are not online. Very active powerplayers. We typically Power Play a batch of toons from 0-50 in about 45 days - usually in the evenings 7pm-10pm Central USA. However, we have many international members too. Actively run ITS's many times per week, as well as other SF's depending on interest. We have some dedicated PvPers in this VG also.

Requirements for Membership: Be a decent person.

Leadership: Same as C.O.R.E. SG

In-Game Contact(s): Global @ Mad Jaded

Coalition(s): We try to coalition with those VG's on the move, filled with active players who enjoy all aspects of play.

Other Details: We are set to bust the top 100 Pinny list late this year. No specific 'ranking' goal, but rather we get enjoyment from teaming with decent, competent players. Both VG and SG bases have all portals and all the extras that make a base great.

Goal is for all members at virtually any level to be able to easily find teams within our coalitions, at any time. If you also play 'way too much', come join The Shadows.

Thanks for all the great advice. Loads of information here - I am consistently humbled by the knowledge many of you long-time players possess.

To me, as long as there are different personalities, there will be different prefered toons of which could be argued to be the 'Best' team to accomplish this TF.

Please continue to post advice. Thanks again,

MadMarv

Speed ITF

Goal of this post is to give suggestions on how to complete the ITF in under an hour. Many mobs are bypassed, but this is not to say that one will not gain a load of experience. Most sub 45 toons gain about a level in an hour, even SK/LK up to a 50. Please keep in mind that the goal here is speed. There will be no tanking, pulling mobs, or waiting for ambushes. Admittedly, this is not a method for everyone. However gaining a chance at a rare recipe, about 4 million cash, plus whatever drops you’ll pick up in under an hour is certainly a great return for the time investment. Additionally, running through this thing in under an hour is just plain fun.

Team Mix

Team mix is crucial. If you do not have the appropriate team, don’t start until you do. My choice for a Speed ITF team looks something like this:

Lead Brute or Tank (Must be able to hold large mobs unassisted)
Backup Brute or Tank (To keep team alive and finish off mobs)
A Kinetic anything (Defender, Troller, Corrupter)
3-4 Squishy Control Toons (Corrupters, Trollers, Defenders, Dominators)
1-2 Damage Dealers

I prefer to lead this TF with a brute. My favorite brute is a SS/Invul – Great for big mobs, and Foot Stomp with Fulcrum Shift is a great way to drop a lot of baddies fast. Also, Bruting works well with the concept of moving quickly from objective to objective. Speed equals a full Fury bar 

Not to be critical of others, but I am amazed to see long time players who do not recognize the potential of their toons. A great team is one to where every player is maximizing the effectiveness of their unique abilities. That being said, a few words to the kinetic: Your primary function is to Speed Boost the team, and spam Transfusion on the AV’s and EB’s. Transfusion keeps the big baddies from regenerating health for a bit – a great debuff. Please know your value to the team kins, as I hate to beg for SB. Also, know that I wouldn’t consider attempting a Speed ITF without a kin. So to that degree, the kin gets the MVP award for this TF.

During this TF there are a few team rules: Team MUST stay with the backup Brute or Tank. This keeps everyone together, and prevents team wipes and individual deaths. Also, team must be prepared to abandon mobs or skip mobs entirely. When the Backup Brute/Tank moves, the team had better move with him/her or risk a death.

OK, we are ready to begin. Yes, set the timer – people work best under a deadline. 4 missions, off we go!

Mission 1: Save the Girls, Release the Hostage (10-12 Minutes)

Lead Brute/Tank is off solo looking for the girls. Backup and Team will quickly clear the first couple of mobs to the main corridor, then assist the lead as needed. Again, we are not clearing every mob and we are not pulling. We are releasing each of the 10 Hostages – The second they stand, move on! Lead will communicate with Backup and Team constantly to let everyone know what’s happening. “Come to me when you can” is a phrase you will hear often. Backup Brute/Tank must use their own judgment regarding when they can safely leave a mob or not. After all 10 Girls are up, run to the exit – bypass any mobs in the way. Just run through them or jump over them. They are not important, and will not follow you outside.

Once outside, wait a few seconds for all to arrive. Buffs all around, then straight up. Straight up means that we do not use the path, but fly or jump straight up from the doorway. I prefer to have the lead go directly to the girl first to grab agro. This is where demonic aura really comes in handy. Makes me bullet proof for a minute, and a minute is all we need here. Entire team to the Girl, and when she stands, the entire team goes to alter. Exit on Complete.

Mission 2: Bust the Crystals (12-17 Minutes)

Depending on the map spawn, it is possible to ditch all the ambushes. Basically the mission looks like this: Lead will just focus on busting crystals while the team handles the surrounding aggro. If we can ditch the ambushes, we will. If not, the backup and team will take care of them while the lead keeps looking for more crystals to bust. Usually I can hit unstop and bust the last 2-3 very quickly solo, and then out we go. This mission has the propensity to go bad quickly, so lead and backup must communicate effectively throughout this mission. Even if we have to kill all the ambushes but the last 2-3, we can still complete this one in about 17 minutes. My advice would be to stay tight, and let the ambushes find you if you have to kill them all.

Mission 3: Lag Mountain (12-15 Minutes)

The most dreaded of all the missions. This mission used to really tie up a lot of time before we started using the Lead and Backup Strategy. Constant spawns and the Lag would bog us down midway up the map. No Fun. On this one, I usually keep the entire team together. Lead may jump to the next General once one is down, but then the entire team quickly joins. If the current mob is not down, let them pull. The game puts limits on how many baddies will follow any given player. I have heard that this was to stop tanks from pulling massive herds. So let’s use this to our advantage. Abandon a mob, and you’ll be surprised how many don’t follow.

Once in the mission, buffs all around – then straight to the bridge. Focus only on the General and his posse’. Watch the Navigation Bar. When the General Count drops to 4, time to move on. 2nd General is just above the bridge. Entire team to him and watching the Nav Bar again. 3rd and 4th Generals are past the aqueduct looking bridge. When #4 is eating dirt, entire team moves to last area, which is directly in between the giant robots. You can have someone ghost and tp if you like. I prefer to be the last one out, and then we’ll mop up any mobs that follow before attacking the console.

End is simple. All on console, with squishies dealing death from 500 feet or so to avoid the 3 defense stages. When console is down, brief regroup, more buffs, then lead pulls Rom or Req. Sometimes we’ll pull em both. We have 2 very competent Brutes/Tanks on the team, so one can distract the other while we drop them individually. Exit on Complete.

Mission 4: Kill 300 Romans, then the Big Guy Four Times (12-15 Minutes)

This mission can flat suck away the time if you are not careful. Here is my preferred method for completion: Team enters and immediately buffs. We’ll meet the ambush in the middle of the first mobs on the stairs. Demonic Aura again, or a few purps. Squishies hang back and deal death from a distance the entire time from here on out. Take the left path. It just seems shorter to me. The second a mob is 80% down, move to the next area and let them pull. If we miss a few Romans, no biggie. Continue on left path to the end area. Be sure to have your F7 and F10 buttons ready for the cinematic trailer.

Rather than clearing the entire last area sans Rommy, I prefer to kill only the few mobs leading to the far back left corner. This will be the kill zone. Pull the Cyclops or Cow on Rom’s left side, then team buffs all around. A few more purps, then lead pulls Rom to the waiting team. The disadvantage to this is that when he goes down, people will scramble to get out of LOS to avoid the stuns. We do not want someone to aggro the platform mobs, so know where you are running before the big guy drops. Or, bring a giant Break Free and don’t run. If you’re lucky enough to have a bubbler, you can stay under the big bubble and avoid the stuns also. Once he drops four times, you will need to defeat about 40 Romans to complete. There is at least that many on the platform.

Final Notes

While running through this TF is not for the faint of heart, it sure is a lot of fun. We try to schedule running it in advance, so that we know the crucial elements (like a good kinetic) will be there. Another plus is that when you get your uber-rare ‘Pacing of the Turtle’ or the ever coveted ‘Trap of the Hunter’ at the end, you can feel good about only having invested about an hour of time. We also routinely run this with a few lowbies LK up, and it works fine. Mad Matilda on Pinnacle is my preferred lead brute, or PST to @Mad Jaded if you have any advice or questions.

The Shadows VG (Pinnacle) completed this TF in 57 minutes. I am sure others must have completed it in less time. Please post any advice or hints.

Thanks for reading this!

Mad Marv
Mad Marv 50 Invul/SS Tank
Mad Maelstrom 50 Fire/Fire Tank
Mad Moby 50 Fire/Kin Troller
Great White Rhino 50 Stone/Fire Tank
Mad Marge 41 Empath/Electric Defender
Mad Mel 41 Empath/Dark Defender
Mad Moto 40 BS/Regen Scrapper

Mad Mitch 50 DM/Electric Armor Brute
Mad Matilda 50 SS/Invul Brute
Mad Mindy 50 Mind/Psi Perma Dom
Enea 50 Ice/Kin Corrupter
Mad Marius 46 VEAT Bane
Mad Martha 28 VEAT Tuna