Riverdancer

I know it's been said that Beast Mastery is not performing up to the level it should be on the boards, but I gotta say:

I don't care! I am having *fun* with this toon!

I'll be running a little BM toon later this evening if anyone wants to join in with their BM toon- prob from 7EST - 9EST or so depending on when supper's done and I can log in.

I got my dark/dark troller from around 26 ( I can't remember what I started at) to 43 through lots of AE and TFs. Got a great predominantly dark/dark troller ITF in with that toon, as well as a Numina. Got a Posi part 1 in on my elec/fire tank and got her up in levels too. Also, got a red-side WST in on my dominator so she's now 33. Woot.

Blarg. I work every Saturday. <sad panda>

The Grim.

So, what are people's plans for 2XP weekend?

Any particular toons you're going to be working on or rolling?

I would like to get some work done on my spines/wp scrapper that's been sitting at 42 forever, but will probably focus more on my dark/dark troller, and a new tank I rolled this morning.

Btw, what's the best TF bang for the buck - the most XP task force when you factor in mobs and XP? I'm curious.

I have a question for Major T regarding this.

Which of these is the bigger 'bad thing' in your eyes:

1) Someone bringing their main character who hasn't been incarnated at all and is a flat 50 (but has alpha unlocked)
or
2) Someone who has several incarnated 50+ characters but brings a flat 50 instead to work on that toon

A flat 50 on a BAF or Lamda doesn't bother me too much as they can pretty much be done in a few minutes unless there's too many flat 50s Everyone was a flat 50 once... and BAF and Lamda are prety quick but it's when you venture into the other trials with flat 50s that it gets dicey.

What I don't understand is why someone who has a level shifted character would bring a flat 50 toon to the trials when they could get them to 50+1 first. I collected threads on one of my other 50+ then did the Oro thing. I got my tank to 50+1 without setting foot in a trial with her.You can swap and move threads around through Oroboros, so you can play on your 50+ and STILL get work done on your other toons. Do Lamdas and BAFs and you collect threads pretty quick. Swap them over to shards, get them mailed to your account and redeem them on your toon you want to incarnate to +1. Shazaaam!

I totally agree that there should be an incarnate level requirement for certain trials.

I'd just like to point out that the reason it's super easy to do those itrials like BAF and Lambda today is that a LOT of people are bringing +2 and +3s, etc so they can get threads to deck out their other toons. Of course a trial is going to seem easy if there's a whack of +3 incarnates on a trial with you.

I can totally get the irritation that T feels. I get it when I have to constantly rez the same person, or spend time and powers on that person because they keep dying because they're not incarnated up.

That being said, everyone HAS to start somewhere, but the Dev's cleverly put the Oro thread trade off mail extravanganza in there so you'd only have to do it on one toon, then you can still do the trial on a shifted toon AND get loot for your other toons too. I don't mind if I have to help carry one of your toons to incarnated greatness, but what gets irritating is being expected to carry them all.

Let me tell you a story about my experiences and ideas.

I got my Empath slotted up to the top level shift through lots of trials. At one point she was a flat 50 with the unlocked slot but no work done on it. As it was said earlier - a support toon is a little more able to contribute to the team than say a flat 50 blaster. I was able to heal, fort, RAx2 and when needed rez people, because those powers didn't need a level shift. I mashed a lot of buttons. Once River was done, I was able to work on another 2 toons, my rad/dark and my dark/dark defender, as even though they weren't fully slotted up, they still brought some debuff (although not massive) to the party. I collected threads on my rad/dark as she was the one I brought to the party most often.

I wanted to work on my tank so I could help more, and provide more characters I could change out, but I did not want to bring a (for all intents and purposes) useless toon and have them carry me. With I22, I was able to start working on decking my tank out without worrying about it. I admit, it was slow going when I started. REALLY slow. Then Major T told me the way to do it through Oro - get the threads changed over, then they get mailed to yourself, pick them on the toon you want, and you can get to tier 3 on your alpha without even DOING a trial.

I agree that you have to start somewhere, and everyone was flat level 50 once. I don't mind if you bring a flat 50 to the party (ideally a support toon because they're always useful), but not ALL the time for ALL your characters. Pick one, get them levelled up, then start hoarding the threads on that toon so you can get another toon to tier 3 Alpha.

It goes *really* fast once you do that. If I decide to take my scrapper through the incarnate trials, that's how I will do it (once that darn tank is completed!).

I'm going to bring up another point, and this is just my opinion, but don't bring a theme toon where you've picked the powers based on a concept. Don't bring a deliberately gimped character. Don't bring a stone tank with no tier 9 power. Don't bring an empath with no AB. Don't bring a controller with no pets (unless it's a Mind troller). Some of the trials are hard(ish) and require the best of you and your team to complete, and that means your best build as well. Again, that's my opinion. I'd rather a flat 50 be on the team that knows how to use their powers, than someone playing a concept toon that skipped important powers.

There you go, Kult. A Double D trial contest.

Perhaps a Double D trial contest for the least amount of deaths? Or fastest time? Or a combo of both?

I wouldn't put it out there as a no level shift trial though; I'm not entirely sure it can be beaten on flat 50s yet!

Dark/Dark for me.

Looking at the powers, I think it's going to be very busy and a lot of fun!

So what's the first toon everyone's going to roll with the new patch?

I am very excited about the dark/dark troller. It sounds really cool, and I can't wait to try it out, though once I get a handle on the powers, I may change toons to try out different primary/secondaries with it to see what meshes best with my playstyle.

I made a rough levelling plan w the dark/dark, so we'll see if I like it. If not, I can always do mind/dark. THAT would be really cool! I can already see that meshing quite well.

So, what's your alt poison for the new issue?