Turgenev

This is a very good point. It's not that you'd necessarily exclude S/L damagers, but just rather focus their attention to other problem points on the field (for instance, an ambush that's targeting other players and doing notable damage).

No contest on that. In a similar thread, I make the point that, "if you do these trials with the Master concept each time, you eventually train the general mentality on how NOT to rely on the built-in crutches. Learn to run the Master format natively, and non-master runs will be ridiculously simple in comparison."

Master BAF: Yes. Did that last Friday evening, I think?

Master Lambda: Not yet. We tried twice yesterday afternoon with a quasi-random PUG crew built to maximize our chances. We did VERY well, but what killed us each time was Marauder going Unstoppable TWICE in the last few minutes, basically stonewalling our damage on him 'til the timer wound down.

Master-Blade: I hear you, I just wanted to give you more information as to what was verified vs rumored to be happening. My info wasn't a counterargument. I do think my first point covers the current (bugged) requirements for the set, however.

Master Summary: If I had ANY point in it, I guess it would be "even bugged, it's REALLY not that bad".

Unless you run with social deviants and misfits on a regular basis, I have a very hard time believing that griefing is this much of an issue for you.

But you're outta here, so it doesn't matter.

Everyone else: Ran with another PUG Master BAF on Tuesday. There were about four or five friendly faces, the rest were as random as you can get 'em, but fit the bill for general concerns (the first qualification was general AT, which suited pretty much all the needs). Kudos to that team, I forget who organized it but it was nice to see a completely PUG crew basically get asked "can we do this as a Master run", and have everyone agree immediately and just get business going. A few stumbles from surprise deaths on the AV fights (from the towers), but everything else was swimmingly smooth.

It's been awarded. Here are the ongoing theories:

1. It's bugged to where you HAVE to get the following three badges at the same time in order for ALL of them to qualify:

• Well-Stocked (acquire 10 grenades AND 10 acids but don't use them)
• Antacid (acquire 10 acids but don't use them)
• Lambda Looter (acquire 10 grenades but don't use them)

The fourth badge requirement awards independently and is not bugged:

• Synchronized (destroy a weapons cache and Incubation Pod within 2 seconds of each other)

2. (RUMOR) It's possible that the badge check daemon goes in to "count" how many temp powers people in the league have before it permits the badge reward. This means that if you get the power, don't delete it from your power list (but you CAN remove it from your power tray).

3. (RUMOR) This also means that, if someone has a grenade/acid in their inventory, and they happen to disconnect during the final few seconds, the badge system may not reward the players because it was unable to "count" the temp power in their inventory.

4. (RUMOR) This ALSO means that, since you can get the above-ground weapons drops, counting those might also interfere with the badge count for Master. Best advice here is to don't even bother to make the attempt on those caches - don't destroy the containers, and ignore them and their mobs completely.

Having said all of this, all the Master team needs to do is the following:

1. Don't die. Death means downtime, and maintaining a steady DPS on Marauder is vital.
2. Marauder appears to be vulnerable to Psionic damage. Seer pets are like MM pets: Target them on Marauder each time to help your DPS. The more Psi damage you have on your team, the easier this will technically be.
3. Once everyone has the temp powers, ignore 'em, but have them parked and ready to throw "just in case" (I'll explain afterwards.)
4. Bum-rush Marauder. The killzone the players will unleash on him will vaporize any enemy mob that enters it. He also hops away regularly, taking you away from any clustered mobs. It's actually amazing how much you can ignore the mobs once you get a good rhythm going.
5. ...if you're in the last 30-60 seconds and you've got no hope for Master, you might as well pepper his butt with grenades to break Enrage. At least you can try to get the trial win reward.

Cuz it's possible. I was within 2-3% of Marauder's health with Kotchie and crew yesterday on two runs which would have been a perfect Master run, if only we had a bit more DPS.

It's like having Empath before the nerfs. "Yes, I did it back when it was hard."

(...of course, I DID AFK farm that... but that doesn't deflect me from my point!)

I feel like, at the very least, trying to do it as an all-in-one Master run is a great way to get people up to speed on the requirements and general layout. If you can win with the restrictions, you can utterly DESTROY it when you remove them.

Luna: I wouldn't worry about being behind the curve for running this - almost everyone's in the same boat. The important thing is to go in with an open mind and not being afraid to fail.

Grats r0x. Did you have to overcome a 2nd Unstoppable, or did you drop him before it kicked off?

Me three. In fact, I set up a Master BAF pug to say "thanks" to someone two nights ago. Everyone was on the ball and didn't give flack, and we won it in one go. And amazingly, this was on my beloved Freedom. If my native stack of maniacs can do it with random PUGs, any server can. :P

I hate the Internet. I need a or a ;( to know if someone's serious or not.

I dunno, I kinda giggled at the idea of "Mister Emo" too.

Doin' this cuz I know the both of you can't POSSIBLY be buttin' heads over this, right?

I run Master BAFs quasi-regularly (it's a regular request on the PUG teams, so if everyone agrees to Master, I usually take voice lead to give 'em the skivvy). If you want this one, just ask the team before you guys roll that you want to do the AVs in their spawn points. Most teams have been amenable to this on Freedom. If not, lemme know and I'll set one up this week for you.

LIES.

...oh wait, yeah, I got it, we good, yo.

That "no prisoners escape" badge is really irritating, btw. Spawn count lag makes managing that fight really problematic. You really sweat to keep a handle on that, I'm glad we finally got it that last time. On to Lambda! I'll be around at 9!

Sev, do you have these badges on your primary badger? If not, lemme see if I still need it. I usually do the Master runs on my "five mains", but if you're still trying to get it on one, I'll gladly give up my seat for someone in need.

Seat going for 1B INF. Do I have 1.1B?

Let's hear your science behind that statement.

I think you just swim at walk speeds, but I don't recall the exact mechanics. Easiest place to test is Ouro I guess. Drop Ouro, you have a water patch right in front of you when you step off the pad.

Walking in AP is fun. People start walking with you and local-chatting, just cuz. I once had a chain of four random lowbies follow, and we chatted about everything: Leveling, powersets, game social avenues, etc. When a group of mobs would appear next to us, Dr. Turg's "Gale" took care of 'em rather easily. That always get the laughs.

I dunno. I like to go through AP with the Walk command, reminisce about how big the zone felt when I first started, heal lowbies working on their "arrest five Hellions" missions, etc. You learn to filter it, I guess. Or you get numb to it. Same effect, different journey.

Just wanted to nitpick on this little nibblet.

1. Red does not mean overpopulated. It means server load. That doesn't translate to player population. To put it in extreme terms: A server with 1000 players standing around, doing nothing, generates less load then a server with 500 people in active PVP with each other. Make sense?

2. You say the word "overpopulated". What do you think this means, exactly, in the context of an MMO?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeroesDude What is going on here. You go into atlas park and its just a bombardment of jerk hackers, 10mill per run AE farms. Players have gotten so bold as to broadcast web address's for dupin rares. This is insanity, why do the GM's do no maintenance to get this under control. I expect there to be a certian amount of this in the game of course. But to so boldly broadcast things like this in atlas and COH WELL BE GONE TO THE AMERICANS!!!!! Those of you that approve of such actions, take it into a private room so the rest of us dont have to deal with this nonsense. I have sent several petitions to the GM about such issues, and will continue to do so.

You pen that strongly worded letter of complaint to the editor.

I'll just /ignore 'til it's my kinda quiet.

I think my method'll have more immediate and lasting impact. Just sayin'. Welcome to Freedom.

(Quote intentionally muddled with for subtle humorous effect.)