Organica

If I'm joining a random PuG I worry a bit more about team chemistry, but team defensive buffs always help on an ITF. The cims will debuff your defense so being a few points above the softcap is ideal.

Usually I'm on one of my well-IO'd brutes or scrappers who are softcapped, and can solo every spawn if absolutely necessary. Even better if I play my widow who can buff the team. But I find that teams assembled from the private global channels I'm on can throw together just about anyone regardless and do well.

The ITF I was on last night had a blaster, a stalker, and three brutes. Another player decided we had enough melee and swapped out a tank for a defender. This worried me a bit because none of the brutes were 50 and mine was only 35. I was partially IO'd, with about 15-18% smashing/lethal defense. I grabbed a bunch of purples before we started, but actually between ice shields and other buffs from two defenders and a corr, I was typically at 60% to 80% defense. I kept an eye on my defense and when it dipped to 45% or less I popped a purple. I was able to act as one of the primary tanks for the entire TF, and never died.

That's more a testament to the fact that we had a good ice defender, people running manuevers, and that I always monitored my defense so I would know when I might be in trouble. Cims can debuff you defense very quickly, and then you're in real trouble. But to me, those are the things that make a big difference between a team of experienced players and a random PuG; mostly that I know without asking that we'll have most of the elements to be successful, whereas on a randomly assembled PuG it's an open question.

A speed run is just a different kind of challenge.

Same. They're not impressive or flashy -- in fact most people won't even realize you have pets out. I've had players wonder where the Peacebringer is, they see the blasting but not who's doing it. But if you've ever done the Winter Lord trial and been blasted relentlessly by these things, well, that's why I wanted them as pets. ^_^

It was a shaman power first. A lot of their spells were "spirit of" because that was how their powers were supposed to work.

(I played a barbarian shaman!)

Besides, Elan is a bard. >.>

Anyway the main point I was hinting at was that speed boost powers have been popular in games like this since there were games like this.

Except during the holidays.


Striga ends in a TF too, btw. It's far more directly linked to other CoH lore, but otherwise works much like Croatoa does.

Nobody here has mentioned the two GMs wandering about Croatoa (and the third non-GM). I think they add a bit of color to the zone that a Striga/Faultline/Hollows lacks. Striga should have had a giant robot striding across it from day 1.

And I still find it annoying when people claim that the Hollows was impossible to navigate without flying, because it was possible to navigate if you were smart and careful. But then, I'd learned to cross an entire world in one of the earliest MMOs at low levels, and that was across many zones that were FAR more dangerous, with no special travel powers.

The main problem with the Hollows was that it was a massive danger zone at low level and would send you to the far corners of the zone for door missions. I could get to them, but it wasn't fast, and there were always people on the team who couldn't figure out how to get there at all.