PoliceWoman

Added: Who Dares Wins (#454805) Rog30-35
A Sky Raider captain meticulously plans an attack on Terra Volta, but encounters unforeseen complications.

Source: MA search tool set to "not voted" and "my level" (on a level 34).

This was a good story, deserving of the Dev Choice tag.

Review of Zombie Robots (Fire Farm Version) (#504303)

Started with 5 stars.

Description seems very short but accurately describes what the player should expect by calling itself a "fire farm". (No change)

Burnt Lab Tech contact is actually pretty cool looking, a nurse or scientist looking person that happens to be smoking. (+0.1 stars)

Briefing is far too short, only a single sentence that does not explain enough about the back story of the Zombie Robots or their creator. Likewise the send-off message is too short (only 2 words). Both these places could really use some fleshing out to better explain the situation. (-1 star)

Mission accept message is just the generic "Accept", would be better if it were customized to fit the situation. (-0.01 star)

I like the farming instructions provided in the mission entry popup, they give very clear directions on what you should be doing. (+0.25 stars)

"Zombe Robots" is misspelled in the mission entry popup, should be "Zombie Robots" (-0.01 stars)

"Eliete Boss" is misspelled in the nav tool, should be "Elite Boss" (-0.01 stars)

I think "Mad Lab Tec" is spelled wrong, probably supposed to be "Mad Lab Tech" (-0.01 stars). I'm not convinced they really fit the Zombie Robot theme, not being either zombies or robots but there is some attempt to explain in their description that they are groupies of the evil plan, so gonna let that slide.

In the mission dialog they say:

[NPC] Mad Scientist: Minons come to my Aid!

"Minons" should be "Minions" (-0.01 stars)

[NPC] Super Zombie Robot: Damage Recieved heath at 75%

"heath" should be "health" (-0.01 stars)

After aggroing a few objectives a huge ambush shows up and attacks. A lot of guys show up (so many that I think I exceeded the aggro cap... I was on +1 x4 though), but based on the level 50 minimum and the general expectation of people playing this sort of farm, I don't think the ambush is too excessive.

I don't really get why zombie robots would throw fire. I know the idea of a fire farm is to throw fire at the player, but fire attacks don't fit the zombie robot theme. Needs some explanation. (-0.25 stars)

I rescued "Mad Apprentice Cali" who apparently was the Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter, she immediately betrayed and attacked me, demandind that I leave her father alone. She seemed kinda cool, I would've liked to seen a little more character development though.

I saw the glowie that ends the mission but didn't click it yet because I wanted to see what else was inside.

I rescued "Zombie Robot Recruit." who appeared to be a girl in a cheerleader outfit. She has a "." in her name which looks awkward (nitpicky, I know). I'm guessing that this is because there is a "Zombie Robot Recruit" with no period, too; consider using trailing spaces instead, those are less noticable.

I think maybe her line of "Umm...like I totally dont want to be a Zombie!" should be spoken as dialog, not embedded in her description where a casual farmer might not get to see it. I like the fact that we get to rescue innocent people, that feels properly heroic. (+0.1 stars)

I don't understand why the zombie robots begin singing a Boy George song. It really seems weird and unrelated to the actual story. (-0.1 stars)

Likewise the zombie robot patrols that yell "Marco" and "Polo", this kinda breaks the sense of immersion. (-0.1 stars)

The series of rules the zombies yell at us don't really seem connected to the story either but are at least kind of fun. This one has some spelling problems though:

[NPC] Zombie Robot V 1.0: Rulet #10: Need a suggestion for a rule, add a suggetion at the end of the mision when you rate it!

"Rulet" should be "Rule" and "suggetion" should be "suggestion". (-0.01 stars)

I found a "Zombie Robot Recruit" who was a guy with dark hair. He didn't have a description (-0.1 stars), just has the generic "Bosses are very powerful foes" boilerplate.

Deep inside I found a Zombie Clown EB. I don't get why there's a Zombie Clown. It doesn't seem to fit the story. (-0.1 stars)

By this point I had hit the 1500 ticket cap for the map, and couldn't find any other special objectives, so I went back and clicked the glowie. The glowie was just named "I win" which is rather disappointing, I think it should be named something that fits the story (-0.1 stars)

There's no real debriefing (only 2 words), would really like some text here giving us a proper end to the story (-1 star).

I am disappointed that we never got to face the mastermind behind the zombie robot conspiracy. Although the arc is over, it doesn't feel like we have put a stop to the zombie robot menace (-0.25 stars)

We never really found out the motivation behind the zombie robot conspiracy and what the bad guys were up to. (-0.25 stars)

No souvenir? Could use one. (-0.1 stars)


This is the feedback I wrote to the author:

Tue 8/23/2011

I finally got around to respecing Mystery Girl (52 emp/pistols def) to drop the old Fitness pool, which let me pick up Regen Aura (which I used to think was useless, but now I have a better opinion of), Temp Invuln and Suppressive Fire.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.942
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Mystery Girl I20.5: Level 50 Natural Defender
Primary Power Set: Empathy
Secondary Power Set: Dual Pistols
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Healing Aura -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(3), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(3), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dct'dW-Heal(5), Dct'dW-Rchg(7)
Level 1: Pistols -- HO:Centri(A), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(7), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(9), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Apoc-Dam%(11)
Level 2: Dual Wield -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(13), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), HO:Centri(21)
Level 4: Heal Other -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(17), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal(25), Dct'dW-Rchg(25)
Level 6: Resurrect -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Krma-ResKB(21)
Level 10: Swap Ammo
Level 12: Fortitude -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(27), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(27), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Clrty-EndRdx(A), Clrty-RunSpd(15), Clrty-Stlth(15)
Level 16: Bullet Rain -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), RechRdx-I(17), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(29), Posi-Dmg/Rng(34), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), Posi-Dam%(34)
Level 18: Clear Mind -- Range-I(A)
Level 20: Suppressive Fire -- UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(A), UbrkCons-Acc/Hold/Rchg(31), UbrkCons-Acc/Rchg(31), UbrkCons-EndRdx/Hold(50), UbrkCons-Dam%(50)
Level 22: Recovery Aura -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(37), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(37), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(39), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(45)
Level 24: Empty Clips -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), HO:Centri(42), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(43), Posi-Dmg/Rng(43), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), Posi-Dam%(46)
Level 26: Regeneration Aura -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(39), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Dct'dW-Heal(48), Dct'dW-Rchg(50)
Level 28: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+(42)
Level 32: Adrenalin Boost -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(33), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(33), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(33), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(46)
Level 35: Piercing Rounds -- Ragnrk-Dmg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(36), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(36), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(37)
Level 38: Hail of Bullets -- Armgdn-Dmg(A), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(39), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(40), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Armgdn-Dam%(43)
Level 41: Power Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Temp Invulnerability -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), TtmC'tng-ResDam(45)
Level 47: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Vigilance
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A)
Level 10: Chemical Ammunition
Level 10: Cryo Ammunition

I used a couple billion of the inf I had built up to bid on some of the purple recipes I needed. While I was re-slotting IOs, someone was forming a Keyes "Loves a Challenge" badge attempt, but the leader kept counting down "need 10 players and at least 2 healers" ... "need 9 players and at least 2 healers" ... "need 8 players and at least 2 healers" and so on, so it was obvious that lots of people wanted the badge but no one wanted to actually play a healer so that it would be possible to get the badge. Since I was on my empath, I said I would queue for BAF or Keyes, whichever started first. This started an argument because the Keyes leader felt I was teasing him by being on a healer and essentially refusing to help him since he didn't think his Keyes would start before a BAF, and I kinda lost it, ranting about how any of the last 10 people that joined his league could've brought a healer but they didn't. A lot of those people piped up with essentially "After I get my badge, I'll help other people get theirs!" which I've heard before and always felt was an empty promise. I eventually realized I was on tilt and composed myself, apologized for yelling and joined the Keyes trial. We did end up with 3 healers in a 14 player league, but someone got hit by Disintegration just as a time stop event was starting, and so they died. I did get a very rare and to 76% Lore though, and I used this to craft a Clarion Radial Epiphany (tier 4 status protect/range/secondary boost/incarnate shift). I originally thought I wanted the 120 second duration Clarion to have perma mez protection, but the buff to range and heals seems very tasty despite the 90 second duration of the Clarion Radial. With the Clarion buff active, my Heal Other now hits for 816.

Fricka C (13 fire/fire dom) solo'd a few missions in Praetoria; I hit level 14 right in the middle of a ghoul ambush which was great timing. I also visited the tailor to change her costume from regular tights to a more metallic and shiny look.


Wed 8/24

Mystery Girl picked up Apocalypse (DMG/END) at the market for 500M, and an Unbreakable Constraint (proc) for 63M. I joined a BAF; we seemed to leak prisoners, letting 15 escape, but ended up winning. I got a common and up to 91% Lore.


Thu 8/25

Playing Police Woman (53 AR/dev blaster) I solo queued into a Keyes trial, but the leader somehow didn't make it into the trial area, so all the members quit and apparently reformed the trial without me. (Possibly I managed to offend some people with my earlier Keyes trial rant, hard to say.)

Darla Doppler (51 kin/sonic def) joined a clear most ITF, finishing in 38m 0s. I got a Luck of the Gambler (DMG/END) and Aegis (psi resist/status resist) recipes as drops, 6 shards and the ancient nictus fragment.

Yuki-Onna (52 ice/cold corr) did a clear most LGTF in 44m 24s, got 5 shards and the Hero 1 DNA.

Mystery Girl (52) picked up Unbreakable Constraint (RCHG/ACC) recipe at the market for 150M, and an Apocalypse (DMG/RCHG/ACC) for 625M.

Freitag and 7 de Coeur played my Talos Vice AE arc on Union server, leading a team of players through, and they said some really nice things about it, like "this is definitely an arc to run!" This was really nice. I also hit the unclaimed ticket cap and claimed 2000.


Fri 8/26

Tehuantl (18 widow) solo'd the Origin of Power arc to level 19.

Thunder Girl (51 elec/SR scrapper) did a clear most Kahn TF in 46m 11s. I haven't played Thunder Girl much lately since I've been a bit down on SR as a defense set, but this run was a real confidence builder because I could click glowies even while being attacked, and got to tank Reichsman and the AV adds. We were a little low on debuff so Reichsman took awhile, but we won. I took the Dimensional Keystone. After that I solo queued into a BAF and got an uncommon and to 71% Judgement.

Darla Doppler (51 kin/sonic def) joined a BAF; I noticed one of our brutes was obviously slacking, lagging behind and being AFK a lot. I did get to 92% Lore and upgraded my tier 2 barrier to a tier 3 Barrier Partial Radial Invocation, giving me an incarnate shift. The leader asked me if he could give me the star, since he was kind of tired of leading, but I said he was doing fine, and I also warned him that if he gave me the star I would immediately kick the AFK slacker. So one of these arguments convinced him to stay leader, though he did ask who I meant. On our second BAF run I unlocked the Lore slot.

Ice Kate (33 cold/ice def) joined a Sister Psyche TF. We had 2 cold, traps and 5 damage; despite no real healing we were incredibly strong due to high DPS and debuff, cold shields and FF Gen, and we played very aggressively. Finished in 1h 19m and got Kate to level 34.


Sat 8/27

I did a respec for Thunder Girl (51 elec/SR scrapper). In order to try and make her more survivable on incarnate trials, I dropped some recharge to get her range defense up to 58%, close to the supposed incarnate trial cap (way overkill for non incarnate content). I also dropped Confront for Elude, and swapped the Mu patron pool to get the Fire epic pool back. I originally switched to Mu because electric attacks fit Thunder Girl's theme, but the Mu bolts feel really wimpy to me and the villainous red lightning doesn't match any of her other electric attacks anyway.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.942
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Thunder Girl I21: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Electrical Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Blaze Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Charged Brawl -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(7), LkGmblr-Rchg+(9)
Level 2: Focused Senses -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(9), LkGmblr-Rchg+(11)
Level 4: Agile -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(23)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(A), LkGmblr-Def(25), LkGmblr-Rchg+(40)
Level 8: Thunder Strike -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(11), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(13), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Oblit-%Dam(15)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(25)
Level 16: Dodge -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(17)
Level 18: Chain Induction -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(19), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(19), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Mako-Dam%(23)
Level 20: Quickness -- Run-I(A)
Level 22: Super Speed -- Clrty-Stlth(A), Zephyr-Travel(43), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(46)
Level 24: Kick -- HO:Nucle(A)
Level 26: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(27), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(27), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Aegis-ResDam(31), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(34)
Level 28: Lucky -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(29)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 32: Lightning Rod -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 35: Evasion -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36)
Level 38: Elude -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(39)
Level 41: Char -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(42), Lock-Rchg/Hold(42), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(42), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(43), Lock-%Hold(43)
Level 44: Fire Blast -- Apoc-Dmg(A), Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(45), RechRdx-I(45), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(45), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Apoc-Dam%(46)
Level 47: Fire Ball -- Det'tn-Dmg/Rchg(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(48), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(50), Ragnrk-Knock%(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(37), Numna-Heal/Rchg(37), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Numna-Heal(39), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(40)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(37), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(40)

After the respec, I brought Thunder Girl to a BAF; sadly I still died a lot, though partially this was due to other players getting sequestered near me. Nevertheless I still felt really squishy. 58% range DEF is great against the minions but it seemed like the AVs could easily 1 shot me with attacks along the other positional vectors. I got a common and Judgement unlocked, and crafted an Ion Total Core Judgement (tier 3 electric attack).

Marcia Law (36 pistols/kin corr) did a clear most Silver Mantis SF. In the final mission, fighting our way up through the Sky Raiders' floating base was very messy; I got held a lot by the toxic turrets, then died and had to hospital, but couldn't get back due to lack of stealth and needed someone to TP me to Duray, who we pulled down to the water and beat him there. Finished in 1h 34m, picked up a level 24 Steadfast Protection KB protection recipe and got to level 38. Followed that with a clear most ITF that took 41m 21s; Marcia was very squishy but I got to do Fulcrum Shift/Hail of Bullets a lot, which was very fun. This got Marcia to level 39.

Schadenfreude (52 AR/pain corr) joined a 4 player team in Grandville doing one of Scirocco's story arcs. We defeated Malaise, Ice Mistral (twice) and Scirocco himself. I also got 2 compliments on Schadenfreude's name and one on how nice the buffs were.

Yuki-Onna (51 ice/cold corr) did a clear most LGTF on +2 difficulty. I died a bunch fighting Hami, but otherwise we did OK, finishing in 1h 1m; I took the 37 merits and got 6 shards. I upgraded my alpha slot to the tier 4 Spiritual Core Paragon (45% rchg, level shift). I solo queue'd into a BAF and got a rare and Lore unlocked; upgraded my destiny slot to tier 3 Barrier Partial Radial Invocation (def/res/Rez and incarnate shift).


Sun 8/28

Police Woman (53 AR/dev blaster) solo queue'd into a BAF trial; I got a common.


Mon 8/29

Tehuantl (19 widow) joined a 4 player team for some rogue tips, followed by paper missions and an Independence Port mayhem where we did all the side missions and beat up Aurora Borealis. This got Tehuantl to level 22 and SOs.

Strong Woman (52 inv/SS tanker) did a BAF; we had like 7 tankers and I offered to switch, but the leader said it was fine. In an effort to be one of the more useful tanks I pulled both AVs to the tennis courts, using Dull Pain and Rebirth to shrug off their alpha strikes. I got an uncommon and to 28% Lore.

Mystery Girl (52 emp/pistols def) bought an Apocalypse (chance for negative) IO from the market for 435M. This completed a set and got her global recharge to +173.75%; it seems like this lets me keep 6 Fortitudes up, sometimes 7. Did a BAF; I seemed to die a lot (despite my high recharge I have no real defense, so I really need to stand farther away to avoid Whirling Hands and Nova) but got a very rare and Lore unlocked. I crafted a tier 2 Cimeroran Core Ally.

The reduced lag is helping the runners, too

Thu 8/18/2011

Police Woman hit the inf cap at the market, sent myself another 900M inf.

Darla Doppler (51 kin/son defender) joined a BAF trying for the Strong and Pretty badge. We had a team dedicated to clearing adds as soon as they spawned. The adds were clear when we killed Nightstar, but there was a 4 second delay before Siege went down, and a wave of reinforcements spawned the instant before Siege died. So we missed the badge, but completed the trial. I got a common and to 71% Lore exp.


Fri 8/19

Tehuantl (18 widow) tried a villainous AE arc called Household Chores of the Damned, whose premise is that you're a villain, but you have to do some random non-crime related errands. I think this sort of thing can work (my Papers and Paychecks has a similar concept), but the jobs presented were just too mundane for my taste, and the story was not funny enough to make up for it. I ended up quitting the arc without rating it.

Mega (53 SS/will brute) solo'd my Attack of the 50 Foot Villain arc on +1 x4, mostly for fun; I like the idea of being a gigantic monster attacking Tokyo. It's a defeat all and I capped my AE tickets for the map just before finishing, which is probably horribly inefficient since it causes me to miss out on the end-of-mission ticket bonus. After that I started an arc called Tales of the Creatures from Another Forbidden Planet, which also had a movie monster sort of theme; there was nice writing in the mission briefings, but the actual missions felt a bit tedious to me, and I ended up abandoning the arc in mission 2.

There were tons of people looking for a BAF trial in RWZ but no one willing to start one. So I formed and led one, playing Yuki-Onna (52 ice/cold corr), running three quick BAF trials, getting 3 commons and to 71% Lore. For some reason none of our tanks or brutes were willing to pull the AVs, so various impatient squishies ended up doing this instead; I watched them in combat and it did seem our tanks/brutes died a lot, so may have been a bit squishy for this level of content. I got a compliment on the fast turnaround on the trials I ran, also; I'm still using the method where I instantly queue for another BAF as soon as people zone back into RWZ from the last one, which I like because it nearly eliminates the downtime between trials.

April Fool (52 thug/TA MM) joined a team that was forming to do the Lord Recluse SF, but we couldn't get enough to start and the leader gave up on forming it. I inherited the star and ended up forming and leading a 6 player ITF instead. We had a weird team mix: a MM, a controller, 2 corruptors, a lowbie blaster and a fortunata; with no melee at all I was a little worried about how we'd handle the AVs, but actually it went really well, with only one death, and we easily manhandled Romulus despite having no melee. I took the ancient nictus fragment and got a Gravitational Anchor (RCHG/ACC) recipe drop.


Sat 8/20

Blond Justice (53 sword/shield scrapper) solo'd Deadfellas, a well-written villainous AE arc with fun dialog, where you get involved in a fight between the Family and the undead. I gave it 5 stars.

San Min (51 MA/will scrapper) did a Lambda, got a common and to 82% Destiny. Went on to fight a Rikti invasion in Atlas Park, getting the Sentry and Chief badges.

Thunder Girl (51 elec/SR scrapper) did a Lambda. The leader asked us not to close doors at all until we got credit for killing 30 reinforcements; the plan was to let a lot of adds build up on Marauder, then judgement them all. We did quickly get the 30 kills, but a lot of people died in the initial fight. We were low on support (only an emp and a traps) and more people died as the fight continued. With most people in the hospital we weren't able to keep steady DPS on Marauder, and ran out of grenades. We started killing weapon shipments for more grenades, but ended up running out of time with Marauder at 12% life. Despite failing the trial, I unlocked Interface and got 30% Destiny exp due to the sheer number of adds we killed. I crafted the lowest tier Reactive Interface (25% chance of RES debuff). After that I joined a full BAF trial and got an uncommon and to 45% Judgement; then another Lambda, which had rather poor aggro control even with 2 tanks, resulting in Marauder running all over the place. Despite that we beat the trial and I got a rare and to 61% Destiny. I felt very squishy as a soft capped (45% to all positions) SR scrapper on incarnate trials; the mobs were accurate enough to give me a hard time.

Mayday (51 fortunata) did a BAF trial, getting a common and to 37% Lore.


Sun 8/21

Mega (53 SS/will brute) solo'd Ghost Widow's patron arc, something I had started long ago but never got around to finishing. I beat up Numina, then did Ghost Widow's second arc, where I betrayed and beat up Ghost Widow. One of these missions involved rescuing a Night Widow ally who somehow got killed by AoE from Longbow mobs before I could rescue her, which seemed to bug out the mission; I had to log off to reset it.

Mercy Beaucoup (51 ice/kin corr) did a Lambda, getting a rare and to 96% Interface, then a BAF, getting a rare and to 64% Judgement. With several kin toons at 50 now, I'm having trouble deciding whether I prefer ice/kin corruptor or kin/sonic defender. I like the corruptor's high damage, especially from ice storm and blizzard, but the defender is a lot tougher to kill due to better resistance and defense, though it feels like she does less damage overall.

San Min (51 MA/will scrapper) did a Lambda, getting a common and Destiny unlocked. I crafted a Barrier Radial (tier 2 defense/resist/ally rez).

Tehuantl (18 widow) joined a 10 player league that killed Deathsurge in Cap au Diable. I got a compliment on her origin story, which was nice.

April Fool (52 thug/TA MM) joined a RWZ raid. We had a full 48 player league but surprisingly little lag. The raid was really successful; I got 954 vanguard merits and 2 reward merits from Ukon Gr'ai.

Schadenfreude (51 AR/pain corr) joined a Keyes trial badge attempt. We had 4 healers and the trial was going really well, but near the end of the Antimatter fight, someone died mysteriously, despite not being the target of either disintegrate or obliteration; I have no idea what happened there. Finished the trial but no badge, got a very rare and to 75% Lore. This was actually not too bad considering we had 2 players who had never done Keyes before.


Mon 8/22

Yuki-Onna (51 ice/cold corr) joined a Lady Grey TF. We had no actual controllers but lots of corruptors and defenders with holds that were able to handle the green mitos; I found Benumb was noticably good against the green mitos due to reducing their mez protection. Finished in 26m 10s and got a Hero 1 DNA, a notice, and 37 merits. After that I joined a BAF, getting an uncommon and to 94% Lore.

Here's a selection from the "Mission Architect Contact Tree" that I thought might be suitable for a good-natured, not too cerebral guy who wants to help people. I mostly sorted by theme, and cut anything that sounded too science-y or heavy on investigation. Some of these are much lower than level 38, but "ordinary guy just trying to help out" is a very street-level concept, so many of the best matches are low level; but I kept the level range listings so you can decide whether you want to filter by that too.

I hope that helps!



Two Tickets to Westerly (#374002) H5-12
A Skulls Girlfriend asks you to help her and her boyfriend escape the Skulls gang. Romance.

Night Calls the Weaver (#375420) H5-10
A chance meeting with an old woman leads you to uncover a Hellion plot. Tragedy.

Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls (#158877) H1-14
While in Perez Park, you agree to help another hero "Kill Skuls". Parody.

Chris Jenkins: Attorney At Law (#204942) H1-14
Even lawyers deserve to be saved from rampaging Hellions....don't they? Comedy. Single mission.

Hearts on Fire (#1472) H5-14
Love and death on the mean streets of the city. Tragedy.

Grim and the Green (#61156) H1-14
Help the police bust a Skulls drug ring. Introductory.

Cracking Skulls (#115935) H1-14
Stop the Skulls from producing a new version of superadine.

Bricked Electronics (#2180) H8-20
Help Mark Freeman stop the Goldbrickers' plot.

The Dead and the Damned (#87912) H11-14
Help an unlikely couple get together, against the backdrop of a supernatural gang war.

The Next War on Drugs (#245042) H12-20
Back Alley Brawler wants your help to fight drug trafficking.

Talos Vice (#338380) H12-20
Team up with Detective Croquette to battle the drug trade. Miami Vice homage.

The Golden Age Secret of the Paragon Society (#344596) H25-54
The last member of a Golden Age supergroup asks for your help against the 5th Column.

Two Households Alike (#126582) H25-29
Feuding families, star-crossed lovers. Romeo & Juliet homage.

Kiss Hello Goodbye (#156389) H1-54 but should be around H25-54
A beautiful dame. A missing child. The dark underbelly of Paragon City. Film noir.

Tales of Croatoa: A Rose by Any Other Name (#178774) H33-34
You stop to help a little girl wandering near a cemetery. Tragedy.

Silver Aged (#280017) H30-54
The archenemy of a retired hero escapes prison and menaces the city. Lighthearted adventure.

Fatale Attraction - Part 1 of 3 (#181264) H1-54 (but should be H30-54)
Stop a gang of female criminals.

Added: Deadfellas (#322373) V30-54
A routine contract killing leads into a confrontation between the Family and the undead.

Source: Thank Goodness It's Mission Architect Thursday! thread.

Not sure how practical it is, but I'd really like if you could get level-appropriate AE story arcs from regular contacts in the game. So Azuria or Back Alley Brawler might be able to give you a lowbie AE mission, or maybe there'd be some entirely new contact that managed AE-specific missions for that level range. This would be a lot more immersive than the current "virtual reality entertainment" set up that we currently have. We could then maybe move the AE building to its own extraplanar zone, like how Ouroboros is right now. Unproven arcs, work-in-progress arcs, challenge arcs, and perhaps farm arcs, could be played there instead.

Of course a certain amount of quality control would be necessary to ensure the contacts refer you to story arcs that are at least semi-decent and not to incomplete test arcs or deathtrap challenges. This would potentially be a lot of work, but it's possible you might get the player base to do this work for you.

Thu 8/11/2011

Double exp weekend began as of Thursday.

Tehuantl (9 widow) finished soloing Kalinda's story arcs, getting to level 10.

Water Lily (41 rad/storm corr) did a Posi 1 TF, mostly went OK except when we tried to stealth through missions, which the team wasn't good at and resulted in lots of deaths. Otherwise did fine, finishing in 1h 7m and getting Water Lily to 42, though I confess I'm not that excited about rad blast lately.

Tour de Force (41 ff/nrg def) did a Numina TF in 1h 29m, no real issues and got to level 42.


Fri 8/12

Kyrie (40 fire/fire brute) joined an Eden trial. The leader was only level 39 and the Eden trial apparently doesn't scale to match your level, so everything we fought was +2 to us. As brute, I got to be "tank" for the team, but as a fire brute running on SOs versus +2 difficulty, I felt pretty squishy. We fought our way to the Crystal Titan and initially just rushed him, but we got foot stomped to death; I eventually ran out of ambrosia and we had a team wipe. On our second try the leader asked me to taunt the Titan from the far side while everyone hit the Titan from the back, and the healers would heal me from range. I also tanked while flying which seemed to reduce damage a bit (less foot stomp anyway). This worked very well and we beat the titan, finishing the trial in 1h 5m and getting Kyrie to level 41.

Marcia Law (31 pistols/kin corr) joined a vigilante tips team, but this turned out to be a level 50 malta mission where the leader was 3 boxing, two of those being AFK toons by the door. We had no tanks (aside from 2 that were AFK being PL'd) and little support, and I died 3 times in a row to gunslingers. I managed to find the last glowy and finish the mission, after which I excused myself from the team.

Spy Girl (48 MA/ninj stalker) joined a rogue tips team. We had a 3 player team that did 3 missions, getting Spy Girl to level 49.

Thunder Girl (50 elec/SR scrapper) joined a RWZ raid; the leader was very short on level 50 players since it was double exp weekend, so I volunteered to bring a level 50 to help out. I netted 727 vanguard merits. Afterwards I joined a Lambda trial, getting an uncommon and to 93% Interface exp.

Tehuantl (10 widow) solo'd Brick Johnson's arc to level 11, then joined some friends on a level 46 team doing missions in Grandville. This got me to level 14 in a single mission, but as a lowbie I felt guilty that I wasn't pulling my weight, so I switched to Marcia Law. We had a near wipe to Nemesis, but I also got enough exp to get to level 32 and the fun Hail of Bullets attack.


Sat 8/13

Mayday (51 fortunata) joined an 8 player Posi 2 TF. We had one bad moment during the last mission where people split up to get the various bombs and we suffered a partial wipe, but otherwise did fine, finishing in 59m 1s. I got 30 merits and a Notice of the Well.

Ice Kate (27 cold/ice def) joined a 4 player hero tips team, doing 2 missions to get to level 28. Then I joined a 6-player Moonfire TF. This was a little frustrating as we had 2 force field toons and myself as support, and neither of the FF toons would bubble reliably; a teammate pointed complimented me on keeping ice shields up, which I suspect was a hint to the others. Finished in 1h 20m and got to level 29. Later I helped fight the paladin construction site for the Knight Errant badge and joined an 8 player team for a Carnies mission, getting to level 30.

Marcia Law (32 pistols/kin corr) joined a 8 player Manticore TF; our team was mostly melee with only me and a TA for support. They seemed pretty happy to have a kin, though. We had one near wipe on the Congressman Birch mission where half the team was stealthing to the hostage and the other half was fighting their way up, but otherwise did fine, finishing in 1h 1m and getting Marcia to level 34. After that I joined a hero tip team for 3 missions, getting Marcia to level 35.

Tehuantl (14 widow) solo'd paper missions to 15, then joined an 8 player Cap SF with one player actually being a contact sitter. We had a team wipe against the Longbow ambushes in the portal tech base, but otherwise were fine, finishing in 24m 41s and getting Tehuantl to level 18.

Police Woman bought all 15 chest emblems at Astral Christy for 1 astral merit each; I didn't have any specific plans for them, but like having the costume options unlocked. The certificate UI kinda sucks IMHO, and I was a bit underwhelmed by the actual chest emblems costume pieces.

I also overheard someone on LB say that they like to farm the first mission of Two Tickets to Westerly, my Dev Choice arc. This seemed really weird...that mission just has ordinary Skulls in it. Why would anyone farm level 14 Skulls?

I really wanted to start a new toon for double exp, and I kinda wanted a fire-themed toon. I ended up deciding on a fire/fire dom over a fire/thermal corr, mostly because I've done thermal before and I still haven't found a dom I liked, so wanted to give it another try. After spending some time trying to come up with a good name that wasn't taken, I started Julienne Fry (a newbie fire/fire dom) in Praetoria, soloing through the intro arc to level 4. I got one compliment on this name, and one person who freaked out because their ex-wife had a toon with almost exactly the same name. That made me feel weird; I had picked "Julienne Fry" mostly because I thought it would be funny.


Sun 8/14

So I felt weird about playing a toon that reminded someone of their ex-wife, so I rerolled her with a new name, Fricka C (still a newbie fire/fire dom). Oh sure, I could've bought a rename token, but at level 4 on double exp weekend, it was really simpler to just restart. Fricka C joined the Resistance and solo'd through the story arcs of Praetor White, Robert Flores, Tunnel Rat, Ricochet and Dr Arvin, getting to level 12. I chose to help Subject Zero get cured and escape.

Ice Kate (30 cold/ice def) joined an 8 player team working on Tina McIntyre's arc; we killed the Psychic Clockwork King, then did an outdoor mission fighting Battle Maiden's minions set at +4 difficulty. This was challenging but we survived due to cold and emp support (IMHO), though it was rather slow going. This got Ice Kate to level 33.

Tour de Force (42 ff/nrg def) joined an 8 player team for Posi 1 TF. I got a costume compliment for having a "classic look", which was nice. For the CoT ambushes in the final Atlas Park mission I managed to find a precise height at which I could hover, where I was close enough to Aid Other teammates, yet high enough above the ground to not be interrupted by Earthquake. Finished in 45m 42s and got level 43 and the Task Force Commander accolade.

Marcia Law (35 pistols/kin corr) joined a 6 player Cap SF. 3 toons on the team (including me) had very similar face and hair (brown hair in "low ponytail") and we joked that we could be sisters. Our team got split up when fighting Attack Leader Zurabsal resulting in several deaths, then got split up again in the Portal Corp mission while Longbow ambushes came in, resulting in more deaths. I think we kept getting split up because some team members were stealthing while others wanted to clear for the double exp; we ended up agreeing to clear. One person quit at the start of the last mission (I guess he really didn't want to clear the mission...), but the remaining 5 of us completely cleared Bat'Zul's lair. We had a little trouble pulling Bat'Zul to the door, then our stalker tanked Bat'Zul (sort of...) until he turned and ran at low life, but we got him. Finished in 1h 17m and got Marcia to level 36.


Mon 8/15

Some friends were running a Keyes trial and trying for badges and wanted healing, so I played Mystery Girl (52 emp/pistols defender). I ended up being the only "healer" on the trial, so we tried for Avoids the Green Stuff. It took two tries, but we got Avoids the Green stuff on the second Keyes run. I got an uncommon and a common and to 66% Lore. Even though I was the only healer I still tried to heal the disintegrating people, for practice if nothing else. I can now recognize the graphic for someone being disintegrated: a tight glowing green sphere around their midsection; and I could save someone from dying if they helped a little by popping greens or self heals. If it was just me, though, and they didn't pop anything, they would die.


Tue 8/16

Another Keyes badge attempt; this time I mixed it up by playing Schadenfreude (52 AR/pain corr); the trial leader initially thought I was a dark defender for some reason, so was looking for more healers for awhile. I suspect this is because my heroic healer has a bright red outfit with hot pink powers, while my villainous healer is in black leather with maroon and dark purple powers, so doesn't look very healy. Anyway, we had 3 healers, so were trying for Loves a Challenge; but the other two were rarely played alts, at least one of which had never been played on any incarnate trial before (the player had been on Keyes trials before, but the toon never had), so they seemed to have a hard time landing much healing on the people getting disintegrated. Or maybe they gave up after the first person died each time. I imagine they just need more practice, it takes awhile to get the hang of doing it. I got a little too focused on healing for disintegration; at one point I obliviously moved to heal someone who was being disintegrated and standing in an Obliteration patch, resulting in me getting caught by the Obliteration patch too. Oops. Anyhow, we did two tries at the Keyes trial; completed both times but missed the badges both times. I got 2 commons and up to 65% Lore exp.

I ran Ice Kate over to the ski chalet hoping to unlock wintery badges and costume pieces; the place was open, but there was no contact for the Baby New Year missions, so I actually couldn't do anything. I could've spent candy canes, maybe, but I didn't really feel like buying them.

Instead I played Darla Doppler (52 kin/son def) on a LGTF which finished in 19m 31s and got 37 merits, a notice, and a hero 1 DNA.

Fricka C (12 fire/fire dom) solo'd a mission fighting Destroyers in Imperial City to get to level 13.

Teal Serpent (50 archery/traps corr) joined a 7 player ITF; we had a strange mix of support (pain, TA, traps and poison) but it seemed to work pretty well. I felt a little squishy despite having good range DEF and some lethal RES; possibly I'm a little spoiled from playing level shifted toons. Finished in 23m 10s and took the ancient nictus fragment.

I'll offer Attack of the 50 Foot Villain (arc 363366), the arc of mine which has most frequently been accused of being a farm. (Apparently being a 1 mission Defeat All is enough to qualify for this status....) It is perhaps a bit too hard for real low level toons to play, but personally I have a fun time stomping around smashing stuff.

It's a 1-mission arc, villainous alignment. Recommended for max height characters.

Over the weekend I heard someone on the liberty channel say they liked to farm the first mission of Two Tickets to Westerly (my Dev Choice arc). That was a very weird feeling. And, say what? Why farm Skulls?

Thu 8/4/2011

Millie Volt (52 elec/elec brute) joined a pickup BAF via the LFG queue and got a common.

San Min (51 MA/will scrapper) joined a pickup Keyes via the LFG queue (that's what I get for queueing First Available). We suffered horrific attrition from the antimatter pulse. This was the first time I played a melee toon on Keyes and I found it quite difficult to melee in the final fight against Antimatter because it seemed like the obliteration attack nearly always would be centered on the melee furball. This took a long time and we had a lot of deaths, but we eventually won. I got an uncommon and to 71% judgement, 96% interface. I followed that with a pickup BAF, getting a common and to 95% judgement.

Fire Maiden (52 SS/fire brute) joined a 9 player Lambda via the LFG queue. The leader gave no directions, which resulted in the league getting split up as some people went after turrets and others went inside to kill the guard. I was the "tank" for the league but no one really followed me; I ended up soloing 4 containers on the acid side, then tanked Marauder. I got an uncommon and Destiny unlocked, and crafted a Barrier Radial Invocation (DEF/RES/1 rez).


Fri 8/5

Darla Doppler (51 kin/sonic def) joined an STF which finished in 28m 41s; I took the essence of incarnate.

Schadenfreude (52 AR/pain corr) did a speed Master of the ITF. We had lots of buff and succeeded at the "Master of", finishing in 18m 10s. I took the ancient nictus fragment. Followed that with an RSF that finished in 27m 36s; I took an essence of incarnate.

Strong Woman (51 inv/SS tank) joined a 10 player Lambda, getting a common and to 84% destiny.


Sat 8/6

I did a bunch of BAF trials in a row, switching between toons each time to maximize Empyrean merits. Star Amethyst (52 dark/ice def) got a very rare and Lore unlocked. Rain Dancer (52 storm/arch def) got a common and Lore unlocked, and crafted a Polar Lights ally (I figured the wintry Polar Lights would match her stormy powers). Mayday (51 fortunata) got a common, Judgement unlocked and 3% Lore exp. Mystery Girl (52 emp/pistols def) got a common and to 27% Lore. Schadenfreude (52 AR/pain corr) got a very rare and to 32% Lore. Darla Doppler (51 kin/sonic def) got an uncommon and to 43% Lore.

San Min (51 MA/will scrapper) did a Lambda and got an uncommon, Interface unlocked and 28% Destiny. I crafted her a Reactive Total Radial Conversion (75% fire dot).

Millie Volt (52 elec/elec brute) joined yet another BAF. This one was trying for the Keep em Separated badge, and split the league into 4 teams, assigning 2 teams to each AV. At the end it seemed like the teams on Nightstar (which is where I was at) killed her much faster, while the Siege teams were struggling to survive. As a result, we killed Nightstar first twice, and had her revive twice. Finally many of the players assigned to Nightstar went to the other side to help on Siege, which resulted in the Nightstar team getting wiped out (oops). We ran back from the hospital and regained control, and finally brought both AVs down simultaneously, getting the Keep em Separated badge, an uncommon, and to 74% Lore.

Police Woman (53 AR/dev blaster) joined a Keyes trial attempting the Loves a Challenge badge. We had 12 players including 2 empaths. The leader had two strategies in mind; we first tried "Plan A" which involved people hospitalling for inspirations before the last fight, and permanently stationing an empath in the hospital and have her TP people there whenever they were targeted for disintegration. We cleared through the reactors quickly, but then some people were in the hospital buying inspirations while others had already aggroed Antimatter, then people got hit by disintegration and things went south quickly. We completed the trial; got no badge, but did get a common reward.

On our second Keyes attempt I switched to Mystery Girl (52 emp/pistols def); this time we had 13 players including 2 empaths (one of which was me). "Plan B" simply had both empaths focused on watching for disintegration and healing anyone affected by it. This seemed to be working and we were keeping up pretty well, but apparently we damaged Antimatter a little too fast due to aggressive pets, and as a result we got hit by Time Stop at a bad moment, causing most of the raid to get hit by Obliteration and several to be killed. We finished the trial but didn't get a badge; I got a common and to 37% Lore. Afterwards we discussed the relative merits of the plans and everyone agreed Plan B worked better. One player even said "I think it's best if we forget there ever was a Plan A."


Sun 8/7

Millie Volt (52 elec/elec brute) did a BAF, got a common and to 90% lore.

I joined a team that did a bunch of 1st villain respecs in a row (it being the WST). I switched toons a lot to pick up Notices of the Well. Police Woman (53 AR/dev blaster) did one in 10m 51s. Yuki-Onna (51 ice/cold corr) in 9m 31s. Schadenfreude (52 AR/pain corr) in 11m 52s. Mega (52 SS/will brute) in 10m 42s. April Fool (52 thug/TA MM) in 10m 55s. Millie Volt in 10m 53s.

Police Woman solo queue'd into a 14 player Keyes trial, because I knew some friends were about to start one. The league had 2 empaths and were attempting the Avoids the Green Stuff and Loves a Challenge badges (no deaths to disintegration and skipping consoles); the leader had planned to kick their random pickup person until they saw it was me. We got through the 3 smokestacks really quick; on the last two, we completed 8 computers before Antimatter arrived and had to be dragged around. We all moved to the truck stop and tried dodging green circles, but someone got caught in one. The two empaths were on the scene ("Plan B") and kept people healed and we actually succeeded at having no deaths. I got a common reward and the Loves a Challenge and Master of Keyes badges.

The league was pretty psyched for a second run with some character swaps for badging; I switched to Mystery Girl (52 emp/pistols def) to help out. We had a 14 player league including 3 healers. I tried keeping Adrenaline Boost on the other healers for the extra recharge, but neither seemed to think it helped that much. We missed the green circle badge again, and we had a scary moment where pets started to aggro on the regen consoles in the final fight, but managed to succeed on the no deaths part. I got a rare, to 46% Lore exp, and the Loves a Challenge badge.

San Min (51 MA/will scrapper) did a speed ITF with "master of" settings, but we weren't too serious about it and had one death. Finished in 19m 17s and got 26 merits.

Indigo Ifrit (51 fire/rad corr) joined a BAF, got an uncommon and to 29% Judgement (from 0).


Mon 8/8

An all TA ITF was forming, which I tried to join with April Fool (52 thug/TA MM). Not enough people were interested (probably not surprising..) but some people were calling for PvP in Recluse's Victory, so I went there. I never saw anyone but a pair of hero-aligned stalkers who seemed to be teamed up. Their standard trick was a double Assassin Strike, but this actually did not kill me (Bodyguard mode, yay) and they would turn tail and superspeed away; usually they would escape despite my Glue Arrow and Entangle Arrows, but I was able to pin down one of the stalkers long enough for pets to kill him twice. I think bodyguard mode perplexed them a bit and they started doing interesting things like assassin strike my minions, and having one stalker show himself long enough to try and lure me into chasing him (and away from my pets). I died once from pure carelessness on my part, when I was momentarily away from my pets trying to grab an Arachnos heavy.

Fire Maiden (53 SS/fire brute) joined a pickup Cathedral of Pain trial. This took a really long time to recruit enough to try, but we finally got going with a 20 player league. We had a very difficult time coordinating the 3 obelisk fights at the beginning. The team I was on seemed much higher DPS than the others, killing our monument much faster than the others, while another team seemed to kill theirs glacially slow (we were supposed to kill them at the same time). I stopped attacking our monument to try and even things out and one of our team members moved to help the low DPS team. We tried to coordinate by reducing all monuments to about 20% life, but this didn't work because someone would invariably kill theirs; then we switched to reducing all monuments to 50% life, then the leader would call "go!". Unfortunately the leader would frequently call "go!" right before a respawn occurred, raising the shields protecting the monuments. We messed up the timing of this probably 8 times and people were getting frustrated; we finally succeeded at getting them all down at the same time, but it wasn't because we were doing better, it seemed more like we just got lucky that time. Once we got into the area with Aspect of Rularuu, things went a lot better; the AV itself seemed a lot easier than I remembered (the last attempt I was on required everyone to bring Warburg nukes), probably due to player characters being a lot more powerful now. I got 11 merits and the Pain killer and Power Liberator badges.

Millie Volt (52 elec/elec brute) joined a BAF, got a common and Lore unlocked. I waffled on which pet to give her, finally deciding on a Storm Elemental Ally, figuring that sorta matches her electric powers.

Strong Woman (51 inv/SS tanker) joined a 13 player Lambda; I got to tank Marauder, and stood up pretty well against him. I got a common and Destiny unlocked. I had a very rare and 2 rare salvages from previous runs and burned lots of astrals, empyreans and notices to craft these into a Rebirth Radial Epiphany (tier 4 heal/regen/incarnate shift). I figure a big heal and high regen will be terrific for an invuln tank, especially since I can leverage it with Dull Pain's increase to my max HP.


Tue 8/9

Schadenfreude (52 AR/pain corr) joined a 14 player Keyes, attempting the Avoid the Green Stuff and Bunker Buster badges (we didn't have enough healing to realistically attempt Loves a Challenge), but missed both; despite being warned about the green circles, people got caught in them right away. Got a common and to 42% Lore.

I switched to Mayday (51 fortunata) for the next Keyes run, which had 18 players. Again people got caught in the green obliteration circles right away. This time we got Bunker Buster, though; I also got a rare and to 14% Lore and 63% Destiny.

San Min (51 MA/will scrapper) joined a 14 player Lambda, getting an uncommon and to 48% Destiny. The same league did a BAF, recruiting up to 18 players. I got a common, Judgement unlocked and 14% into Lore. I crafted an Ion Core Judgement (tier 2, chance of extra damage to low ranked enemies).

The concept of "range is a blaster's defense" has gotten much derision poured on it for various reasons. What if we made it literally true by giving blasters either a secondary power or an inherent power that gives +DEF to range (only)? They would still have a big hole to melee attacks, so your blaster could dodge bullets and laser beams, but easily get punched out by a Knockout Blow, and once in awhile can get nailed by a lucky shot. This seems right for blasters thematically.

I don't think it would be too overpowering, and there is even precedent in fortunatas, who essentially are range attackers with high defense (only their defense works against every positional vector).

Thu 7/21/2011

Darla Doppler (50 kin/sonic def) joined a 24 player BAF; suffered from sloppy pulling of AVs and people careless about rings, with about six different people getting sequestered. We missed the timing on killing Siege and Nightstar and both revived and had to be killed again. All this extra killing did unlock my Judgement slot and got me 24% Lore exp, plus a common reward. I crafted an Ion Core Judgement. Followed that with a 16 player lambda, got an uncommon reward and Destiny unlocked.

Blond Justice (51 sword/shield scrapper) joined a 14 player Lambda, got an uncommon and Destiny unlocked. I crafted a Rebirth Partial Radial Invocation (heal/regen/incarnate shift).

Police Woman (53 AR/dev blaster) joined a speed ITF, finished in 19m 42s and got a notice and 52 merits.

Spy Girl (47 MA/ninj stalker) played Facing the Darkness, a decent AE arc about the influence of the Nictus in ancient Cimerora. I gave it 4 stars.


Fri 7/22

San Min (51 MA/will scrapper) joined a 13 player Lambda, got a rare and to 73% Interface; then a 16 player BAF. This trial used the "choke points" strategy (covering the north and south walkways) which seemed a decent strategy but we still had 2 runners get away. We also had a lot of sequestration; I even got sequestered once. Got an uncommon and to 48% Judgement.

April Fool (51 thug/TA MM) joined a pickup 23 player BAF using the LFG queue; I had noticed two competing ones forming and figured I would join whichever started first. This ended up making me the league leader upon entering and I had to transfer the star. No escapees, but it was very laggy. Got a common and to 73% Lore exp.

Schadenfreude (51 AR/pain corr) did an 8 player Lambda; I was a little worried we didn't have enough debuff (had only me, a FF, and a couple VEATs for support) but we easily outdamaged Marauder's regen. Got an uncommon and to 61% Destiny.

Police Woman joined a 5 player 1st villain respec. The leader was level 29 and we had a tough time fighting level 33ish COT in Nerva, but we found the CoT in Cap au Diable also counted for the hunt mission. One person disconnected repeatedly due to a bad wireless connection and ended up quitting. We were worried the door mission might be level 33, but it actually scaled down to level 29, so was no problem. We cleared the first door mission and stealthed to the tree on the last one; cleared CoT and vines both, finishing in 40m 1s. This got me the Thorn Robber and Questing (for having 1000 badges) badges.


Sat 7/23

I hit the inf cap while marketeering again and mailed myself another 900M. I now have a little over 8 billion influence floating in my mailbox and am having to gradually claim the older emails to prevent them from expiring. I'm not quite sure what to spend all this influence on; IO money for future alts, I suppose.

Tehuantl (6 widow) solo'd Tutorial Arc 3: Dark Harvest; this was a well-written AE arc about a Council plot against the Kheldians. It was moderately hard at level 6, but got me to level 7. I gave it 5 stars.

Police Woman did a clear most ITF on +2 difficulty; we had a weird team mix with 3 tankers, 1 blaster, and our only support toon was a stormy. We had a rough fight against Romulus but managed to prevail, finished in 53m 49s and took the 26 merits.

Tour de Force (39 ff/nrg def) joined a clear most ITF. We had kinda low DPS (which sadly FF does not help with) and took 1h 1m to finish; this got Tour to level 41.

Sun 7/24

Police Woman joined a speed ITF; one player was AFK for the first mission, then had to quit due to girlfriend aggro, but the rest of us finished in 19m 16s.

Darla Doppler (50 kin/sonic def) joined a clear most ITF. I got an Unbreakable Constraint (HOLD) recipe drop; someone else got an Armageddon recipe, and everyone congratulated the lucky people who got purple recipes. This made another player mention they got an Armageddon last week; I informed him that a week ago was beyond the statuatory limit for gratsing. Finished in 1h 3m and got an Ancient Nictus Fragment, a notice of the well and 3 shards. I crafted a Cardiac Total Radial Revamp (END/RES/RANGE/SLEEP/level shift) which puts Darla's smash/lethal resist to the 75% cap, and her energy resist to 37%. I really rather like the idea of hitting the resist cap on squishies, which has made defenders a lot more attractive to me (since they have the best multipliers on resist powers).

Police Woman exemped to a 5 player team doing level 17 missions in Praetoria. We had a partial team wipe against Praetorian clockwork, but otherwise did quite well; we beat the timed 2 minute Kill 80 clockwork mission with sheer DPS, which I don't think I've managed to do before. The team leveled up to 19 in the process, while I picked up the Marked for death (kill Syndicate) and No Authority (kill Praetorian PD) badges. A bit later I wandered around collecting all the explore badges in Neutropolis.

Blond Justice (52 sword/shield scrapper) crafted a Radial Rebirth Epiphany (Heal/Regen/Incarnate Shift/120 second duration), then joined a 24 player BAF, picking up a rare salvage and getting to 68% Lore exp.

Schadenfreude (51 AR/pain corr) joined a 17 player Keyes via LFG tool; I knew one was forming at the time so queued up just as they were starting. They had two pre-made 8 player teams, and did not mind my joining, but I ended up being solo for the whole trial. I made a conscious decision to completely ignore gathering temp powers and focused only on healing people; it felt like this was helpful. I got a common reward and to 85% Judgement, 74% Destiny.

After that Schadenfreude joined a 7 player ITF. On this team was another AR/pain corruptor, the only other one I've ever seen. Cleared most and finished in 48m 50s, picking up an Ancient Nictus Fragment, a Notice and 4 shards.

Tour de Force (41 FF/nrg def) joined the Sunday RWZ raid, picking up 461 vanguard merits.

Yuki-Onna (51 ice/cold corr) joined a MoITF attempt, but the leader had miscounted and invited 10 people, so I and another player volunteered to drop out. I ended up joining a normal ITF, finishing in 51m 48s and getting an ancient nictus fragment, a notice and 5 shards.

I hit the unclaimed ticket cap at AE and claimed 1000.

Mega (52 SS/will brute) joined a 15 player baf. We had only 1 rad for support on the whole league, and it was a struggle to bring down the AVs. Due to the lack of support, I got a lot of use from the Barrier destiny power and Strength of Will (the willpower tier 9 power). It took awhile but we eventually won; I got an uncommon and to 44% Lore exp.


Mon 7/25

Sarcasm Lass (38 sonic/mm blaster) joined a Manticore TF. One blaster dc'd early on and we slowed the pace hoping she would return, but never did. Finished in 1h 5m and reached level 39.

Police Woman joined a speed ITF that finished in a blazing fast 15m 47s. The things I noticed we did that were unusual were: me and a brute were assigned to clear the last sibyl room in the first mission while the rest of the team got the earlier sibyls; and in mission 3, the two of us were assigned to attack the second general while the rest of the team attacked the first general.

Yuki-onna (51 ice/cold corr) joined an RSF with a very strong team, finished in 24m 25s, the fastest I've ever done; I think incarnate powers and good debuff both helped here. I took the essence of incarnate.


Wed 7/27

Spy girl (47 MA/ninj stalker) joined an RSF; the team was already mostly formed, with all the basics covered, when I joined, so no one seemed to mind a stalker tagging along. Finished in 29m 37s and got a Lysosome SHO and the RSF badges.

Police Woman joined a Tin Mage TF; we tried for the Midnight Dodger badge. We missed clicking all the glowies within the time limit, then rushed Director 11, but took way too long to kill him (we had very little debuff) and so didn't get the badge credit. We did get Kitty Got Claws for the team. (I actually already had both badges, but didn't mind trying for them for others.) Finished in 21m 48s. It apparently had been awhile since I had done a Tin Mage TF, since I've never seen 10 threads as an option on the reward screen for Tin Mage; 10 threads sounded good to me, so I took them. I also got a Notice and 80 merits from it being the WST.

We tried another Tin Mage TF and Midnight Dodger attempt; I switched to Yuki-onna (51 ice/cold corr) for buffs and debuffs, but we missed getting the badge again. Finished in 21m 5s, and again I got 10 threads, a notice and 80 merits

We did a third Tin Mage/Midnight Dodger attempt; I switched to Rain Dancer (52 storm/archery def). This time we had no tanker or brute, but lots of debuff. Unfortunately our lack of taunt caused Director 11 to run all over his stupid warehouse, so we still didn't get the badge. Finished in 24m 32s.

Rain Dancer went on to join a 20 player BAF, getting a very rare and to 72% Lore. I used this to upgrade her to a Rebirth Radial Epiphany (the tier 4 heal/regen/incarnate shift Destiny).


Thu 7/28

Schadenfreude (51 AR/pain corr) joined an Apex TF. We had kind of a bad team mix, with 3 VEATs, 2 scrappers, a blaster, a dominator and me. We had no one who could taunt, and no support except for me and the VEATs, resulting in lots of death throughout the TF. We were particularly confused in the sewers, where the leader told us to go after the pylon but most of the team stopped to kill hydra; and also had a lot of deaths due to people standing in blue stuff for too long. Despite these hijinks we still were able to finish in 41m 28s; I took the 10 threads.

Kyrie Eleison (39 fire/fire brute) did a clear most ITF in 34m 25s, which got her to level 40. I crafted and slotted 3 sets of 4 Reactive Armor for a total of 3.75% smash/lethal/energy/negative defense; this is still a pretty tiny amount of defense (fire aura starts with none to build on) but I figure it will add up eventually.

Yuki-Onna (51 ice/cold corr) joined an insane speed ITF. We only had 6 players but somehow finished in 13m 19s. This was a recordbreaking time for us, by a lot. Our team mix was 2 brutes, a blaster, 2 cold corrs and 1 kin corr. Our theory was that we had great buffs/debuffs and the 6-player team meant fewer bosses spawned.


Fri 7/29

Schadenfreude (51 AR/pain corr) joined a 16 player Lambda, getting an uncommon and Destiny unlocked; then a 16 player BAF, getting an uncommon, Judgement unlocked, and 12% into Lore. I crafted a Barrier Partial Radial Invocation (def/res/1 Rez/incarnate shift) and a Pyronic Total Radial Judgement (wide fire nuke with a chance of stun).

Police Woman joined a Master of Barracuda SF attempt. We had a 5 player team: a traps, a rad, 2 blasters and a VEAT. In the final mission we cleared 5th Column ambushes for 20 solid minutes before confronting Reichsman. We had no tank and no method to prevent Reichsman from going unstoppable, so we sawed away at his HP and used incarnate pets and regen debuffs whenever possible. This took a really long time, but we finally beat him with no deaths in 2h 4m, getting the Master of Barracuda badge and 30 merits.


Sat 7/30

I noticed Darla Doppler (51 kin/son defender) had not gotten around to making a Destiny, so I crafted a Barrier Radial Invocation (defense/resist/1 rez), figuring those were all things kins can't normally get.

Spent some time chasing explore and history badges on Mystery Girl (52 emp/pistols defender), which got her the Portal Jockey accolade.

Marcia Law (30 pistols/kin corr) joined a Positron 2 TF. We had a full team, but one player left due to his wife having a baby, which seemed like a pretty good reason to log off to me. I got called on ripping off Judge Dredd's "I am the law!" battle cry; I need to think of a better one. We had a good team mix, and I noticed the 7 of us left were seven different ATs (a mix of hero and villain ATs), and we pretty much steamrollered over all opposition. Finished in 56m 30s and got Marcia to level 31.

I hit the unclaimed ticket cap at AE and claimed 1000 tickets.

I dug Fire Maiden (51 SS/fire brute) out of mothballs after 75 days idle; I had forgotten how fun she was. I started to form a Lambda trial, but another person was forming one at the same time, so I merged my league with his and we did two Lambda trials. I got a rare and a very rare, unlocked Interface and got 18% into Destiny. I crafted a Reactive Total radial Conversion (75% chance of fire DOT). I inherited the league star at this point and started running BAF trials. I tried using a new strategy to speed up the BAF trials: instantly queueing for BAF again as soon as everyone exited the previous BAF, and telling anyone who wanted to join to solo-queue for BAF. I feel like this really worked well; normal BAF leagues seem to take 10 to 20 minutes between runs, but using this technique, we only spent about 2 to 4 minutes in RWZ before starting the next run. It was probably a little frustrating for people who wanted to switch toons between runs (though it was still possible to do this, if you were quick) but it felt like a huge speed improvement. Using this technique I was able to run 7 BAF trials in a row, getting 4 commons and 3 uncommons and unlocking both Judgement and Lore. 4 players on the league said they liked the instant queue method and felt it was much faster. I crafted a Cimeroran Total Core Improved Ally (Cimeroran boss, centurion and incarnate shift) and a Pyronic Radial Judgement (wide area fire nuke).

Fire Maiden went on to do a speed ITF; we had a very high damage team with good debuff, finishing in 14m 24. I took the ancient nictus fragment.


Sun 7/31

Fire Maiden (52 SS/fire brute) bought an Apocalypse (DMG/END) for 555M, completing her set of 6 in Fire Blast. This adds 5% Psi defense, but more importantly reduces the END cost of the attack. Looking at her current build, in hindsight I realized that slotting a Numina's Convalescence (+regen/+rec) unique in her self rez was nearly useless; will have to fix that in a future respec someday. I solo'd 2 hero tips and a morality mission for a hero merit.

Yuki-Onna (51 ice/cold corr) joined a 16 player Lambda, getting an uncommon reward and 43% Interface exp. After that I joined a Tin Mage; there were no other support toons but me, and we had issues with heals. I had offered to switch to a kin but the leader preferred a cold; no one else was willing to switch despite the team having 2 tankers, a stalker and 2 scrappers. We had a messy fight against the AVs in the final fight, with several people having to hospital, then zerg rush back in. Nevertheless we won, finishing in 26m 29s. I got 10 threads, 40 merits and the Accomplice badge.

Ice Kate (26 cold/ice def) joined an 8 player Citadel, finishing in 1h 7m and getting to level 27.

Blond Justice (52 sword/shield scrapper) did 2 BAF trials. Our tanks were kinda slow so I tried pulling the AVs, successfully pulling Nightstar but getting clobbered by Siege. I got a common and a rare and unlocked Lore.

Yuki-Onna did two Lambda trials, getting 2 uncommons, Interface unlocked and 24% Destiny.

April Fool (51 thug/TA MM) joined a 22 player BAF. The leader didn't give much direction and a lot of people got sequestered; I got a rare and 98% Lore. I used 1 thread for exp to unlock Lore, then crafted a Carnival Partial Core Improved Ally (dark ring mistress/seneschal/incarnate shift)

Yuki-Onna joined the RWZ raid, which was "robot themed", but sadly I had no robots to summon. Another player complimented me on her background story, which was nice. We had so many buffs that I was at the hard cap for defense and resist, but it was also horrendously laggy, making it hard to fight. I did pick up 460 vanguard merits though.

The Sisterhood SG ran my Two Tickets to Westerly AE arc as their Sunday event, which was really nice, and I got some positive feedback from them.

Tehuantl (8 widow) solo'd Mr. Bocor's story arc in Port Oakes for 1 merit, getting to level 9.

Fire Maiden joined a 16 player Lambda, getting a very rare and to 76% Destiny.

Police Woman joined a Tin Mage TF. Our brute seemed pretty shy about tanking, then died, so we had a lot of death against Director 11 before beating him. In the final mission our stalker team TP'd us right on top of Neuron and Bobcat, which caused all squishies on the team to die instantly; I hospital'd but managed to die twice to War Walker aggro. Despite this we managed to finish the TF in 22m 10s; I took the 10 threads.


Mon 8/1

Star Amethyst (52 dark/ice defender) joined a 20 player BAF, getting an uncommon and 45% Lore. I switched to Mega for another BAF; I pulled all the AVs and got complimented for good pulling, which was nice. I got an uncommon and 65% lore. At that point I inherited the star for the league and ran 3 more BAF trials using my new instant-queue technique for fast turnaround; at one point people were complaining their lore pets were not up from the previous run. I didn't time the runs but that must mean they were taking less than 15 minutes. I got 2 uncommons and a very rare, unlocked Lore, and crafted a Carnival Total Core Improved Ally (dark ring mistress/strongman/incarnate shift).

Yuki-Onna (51 ice/cold corr) joined a 16 player Lambda, getting an uncommon and to 53% Destiny.

Police Woman hit the inf cap at Wentworth's and I mailed myself another 900M.


Tue 8/2

Star Amethyst (52 dark/ice def) joined a 24 player BAF; I disconnected at the start of the prisoner phase, but was able to log back in and rejoin before prisoner phase ended. I got an uncommon and to 65% Lore.

Spy Girl (47 MA/ninj stalker) joined a speed STF. I sorta got a pity spot, I had asked the leader what he needed for the STF and he asked me what toons I had that needed the badge, then said to bring the stalker since it was unlikely I would get her onto any other STF. Nevertheless I felt like I was helping; AoE damage isn't too important for STF, since mainly you just need to kill the AVs (possibly this is just wishful thinking, though). I had to detour a bit due to Spy Girl's rogue alignment, but I knew the shortcuts between IP and IP, so didn't let this slow the team down. Finished in 25m 53s and got to level 48.

Somehow I got nominated to lead incarnate trials after that, so I switched to Yuki-Onna (51 ice/cold corr) and led 2 Lambdas and 4 BAFs, getting 4 commons and 2 uncommons, unlocking Destiny and Judgement and getting 5% into Lore. I used the instant-queue method for quick turnaround on trials. On one BAF I asked people to try the "choke point" method, just as a comparison test. I assigned 1 team to guard the north walkway and 2 teams to guard the south walkway; it seemed like the north side had an easy time, while the south side had a lot of guys leak through. The general consensus was that guarding doors was better, so I went back to that. After the trials I crafted a Cryonic Core Judgement, mainly for thematic reasons (since Yuki-Onna is a snow spirit); for the same reason I can't easily justify crafting Reactive for Yuki-Onna since it's got a fire DoT. I wasn't sure which Destiny I wanted, but finally settled on Barrier Radial Invocation, mostly for the ability to rez teammates.

I hit the unclaimed ticket cap at AE and claimed antoher 1000 tickets.


Wed 8/3

Star Amethyst (52 dark/ice def) joined a 24 player BAF, got a rare and to 92% Lore.

Rain Dancer (52 storm/archery def) joined a 24 player BAF, got a rare and to 94% Lore.

Police Woman (53 AR/dev blaster) joined a 1st villain respec, finishing in 9m 24s and getting a notice and 28 merits.

Fire Maiden (52 SS/fire brute) joined an STF. As a fire brute, I had originally figured I was DPS, but we had no tank and I was the only brute, so I ended up being "tank". We rushed the 4 patron AVs, which I survived through heavy inspiration use, then I used fly/taunt to tank Lord Recluse while the team killed towers. The leader wanted us to kill only the yellow and green towers, leaving the red and blue towers up. I landed after the green tower went down and got instantly killed by the angry Lord Recluse, but I hit my self-rez and was able to tank him for the rest of the fight (I think debuffs got locked onto him after that, making it easier to survive his damage). Finished in 28m 20s; I took the Essence of Incarnate.

Like, totally awesome! Congrats NAR!!

I wonder if it would be possible to "game the system" .... write a farm mission, advertise it to farmers, get it up to around 990 plays, then suddenly replace the farm mission with a real story, and try to pick up 10 more plays in order to cross the line into Hall of Fame. It's bait & switch, sure, but like farms, it isn't explicitly forbidden....



[EDIT: I'm just kidding, of course. If I were willing to do this sort of thing, I would be out there offering to pay 1 billion inf to each person willing to 5 star my arcs.]

It seems to me that you have convinced yourself that blasters are terrible and no amount of argument will sway you. That is totally fine, I have a similar irrational (well...actually, perfectly rational) hatred of kheldians, who I view as terrible, not worth rolling, and generally a liability on teams. I personally can't play kheldians and grumble mildly if forced to team with them. So I can sympathize.

It sounds like you prefer corruptors, which is a totally legitimate choice. Corruptors are a terrific AT and desirable on many teams. There's nothing wrong with not liking a particular archetype. Maybe you'd be happier just setting aside your blaster and playing a corruptor.


PS. EARTH FOR HUMANS!!

My personal conspiracy theory:

Reichsman and the size-changing Science booster both made their first appearance in Summer of 2009. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!