Ukaserex

Not only is it possible, I would suggest for a scrapper or brute, with IO bonuses - if you can't, it's possible that you need to rethink your build.

That's not to say you should be able to beat EVERY av - but a fire/fire brute really shouldn't have much trouble with say, marauder in Maria Jenkin's arc.

I can say that before lore pets - but after Alpha Cardiac, my katana/invuln soloed Battle Maiden and Marauder. It took about 8 minutes - and the reward wasn't worth the time. But, hey, it's not about the reward sometimes.

The only thing I would add to Placta's advice would be to assign directions to I presume what would be three teams (the count doesn't get lower with league size, so a full league is recommended.)
Team 1 Forward and right (at the sandbags)
Team 2 Straight and ahead
Team 3 Forward and left

Have tanks/brutes pull to the center - and then use judgements. Do NOT use judgements until the trial UI shows you 0/250, otherwise you're wasting your judgements. You want to be through with them before they recharge -or not very long after.

I think it's worth stating that if you're the thief, in the first part -(could be my graphic settings that made this hard to find)
but, the vault to access when the other three have done their part is to the left of the door.

I did two runs of that clicking on the door because I was just sure that was the vault. That area on the left just looked like some random object.

Apparently, if you have self-destruct, you can use this power and get rezzed back at the hideout.

I had no problems, other than trying to solo, and then duoing the av a couple of times while the others tried to figure out a way to get back to the hideout.

What's up with not being able to trade these on Wentworths? I can trade with another player, but I can't sell it? Seems kind of odd, to me.

This may be just the motivation I need to take my blaster to red side for mace mastery.

It certainly wouldn't hurt for the villains that plan to participate in Placta's The Really Hard Way effort to participate.

If you tell me when it will take place, I'll know how quickly I need to change my hero to villain. (If I'll even have time)

Liberty has finally gotten it done.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=291967

Screenie in the liberty server section.

Earlier in the week - I asked you folks a question - more to make sure that I was doing my part as an itrial leader than anything else. Within those responses, I got some insight from them - and for that, I thank you all again.

Now, it comes time for something that may have far more than one correct answer - perhaps even a different answer for each trial leader.

I'm sure that for the most part, the most basic element any trial participant should have is to be literate.

There are many different ways to play this game. Some loathe typing, and use something like Skype, or Ventrillo.
I would guess that some of those that use vent or something like it may not even have the chat screen up.

Others do not have league chat enabled. Something that's very easy to miss. 23 other players, I assure you, I won't notice the folks that aren't speaking in league chat unless they send me a tell or make some obvious mistake. It's entirely too easy to not mention to a returning player that perhaps, they should click on league, instead of team, so they can see the league members as well as their team, as well as enabling league chat.

I think it would be greatly beneficial to a lot of players to see how some of you have your screen UI set up. Obviously, some set ups would be so different - but I only learned 6 months ago that I could resize all the windows to give me more space between the windows.
And, that I can use /wdwsave and /wdwload to set it up the same way on new characters.

But, tonight, we had a player who was brand new - or at least seemed to be. So new, he's asking for an invite, but he's blocking accept. I find this common with a lot of newer players; not at all sure why.

Sometimes CoH is just plain glitchy. I was on a dfb once, and when I hit level 2, I stopped getting xp because I was set to earn extra inf while exemplared. That was apparently the default setting for that toon - but not the default setting for the next toon I made just to see what the default setting was.

You other leaders - do you expect folks to understand what you mean when you tell folks to go do acids? Or do you break it down to "Use this macro to target what you need to destroy:
/macro LAM targetcustomnext Chamber$$targetcustomnext Cache

What is it that you think every one that's doing a trial should know?

What is it that you WISH they knew?

If you could tell them what they could do to be more valued, what would it be?

We're all different - if a player has a suggestion or an idea, would you prefer that to be a tell, or just that they shaddup and run their own trial if they're so smart?

The LFG queue - should they know that if they get d/c'd, they can click lfg and choose to rejoin last event? Or is that something that we all get sooner or later just by playing?

I am actually at a point now where the idea of grinding out each toon to unlock hybrid, and then work it up to t-4 is daunting. I've done 8 since Magi was released - and on one server, I have 8 more to work on, and another 5 or 6 on other servers.

For me - I think it all depends on the mood which one I play. But, I do want all my toons to be respectable - in the sense they should all have the big 4 accolade powers. It makes it a lot harder to delete a toon that I've invested that kind of time in. Suffering through a synapse - killing 333 Ghosts or Tuatha or Fir Bolg - they go faster when teamed - but not every server is so populated.

So, I know that I will keep my first 50, an emp/elec defender.
I will likely keep my fire/fire tank, and my fire/fire brute - although I'm hard pressed to see what the tank can do that the brute cannot.

I am almost certain to delete my elec/elec dom. I simply do not enjoy playing it. I suspect if it weren't for msrs, it might still be at level 35.

I have to keep the grav/kin. It wasn't fun until it got fulcrum shift, but now that it does, and with the new changes, it's worth keeping.

I have an ill/rad and a fire/rad, and an earth/rad controller. ( I like rad, sue me) But, I don't care much for the fire rad - the imps cannot tolerate the large mobs, so it doesn't feel that super to me. The ill/rad I don't like to play as much as the earth/rad, but it's far more capable because of perma PA, AM and Hasten.

So, I will likely get rid of the fire/rad, but probably later than sooner.

I have about 8 toons that are level 35-41. The highest is a dual pistols/energy blaster. DP is just ridiculous looking to me - DP should stand for drunk pistols, but that's just me. With the crashless nuke, I thought it would be worth keeping, but I don't think so.

I have a ice/fire blaster, but I'm thinking I should reroll it as fire/ice.

I don't see the point in deleting a toon if I have room on the roster - maybe just ignore it, let it languish on the last three pages. If I need the space, that's another story.

Perhaps the lore and destiny unlock requirement for Magisterium? Even so, it should be +3 minimum instead of a simple unlock. (but that's just my opinion)

I think you should also try and run this.

http://us.ncsoft.com/gameadvisor

It's a 10-20 minute app that will determine your computers settings and will give ncsoft tech's the info they need to assist you. And I think you should send in a petition if you haven't already.

I fully realize that when coh came out, the system you have now would have been uber. However, CoH has upped the ante. You may want to consider the notion of upgrading your hardware. Not cheap, but certainly affordable if you plan for it, making a wish list on newegg or tiger direct and buying a component as you can afford it.
(and yes, I certainly don't think any of us should need to do that if we meet minimum specs - but once you do, it's like a whole new game. )

I think it bears saying, that regardless of opinions, whether one trial is intuitive or not, all are in agreement that a trial leader, at least for a fairly new trial should be aware of that trials established tactics for successful completion.

My hat's off to those folks who are willing to endure a new leader's attempt at a trial. I've always had a hard time standing by and watching things being done differently than what I'm used to. But, if I were leader, I wouldn't want to have someone sending me tells, "Dude, have them pull Nightstar to that north wall, it will be easier to handle the adds, etc" ( I like the courts. Particularly that dark nw corner, looks like a bloodstain.)

In short, your league, your rules - provided they are explained clearly ahead of time.

For me, though, the notion of failure on a trial is just..that's not fun for me at all. That leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth, wasting 20 to 60 minutes of 23 other people's lives for no gain? That's just unacceptable.

Maybe, in the case of pursuing a specific badge, if the whole league is aware of and okay with the consequences. I'm simply not going to take a league into a trial unless I'm fairly sure we can succeed.

Powergamer. What a term. I never thought I'd be considered a powergamer. But, I guess I am. I'm certainly far more passionate about winning a trial than the folks I team with.

I think, to a point, all of us are correct. Should there really have to be pre-requisite reading to do a trial successfully? No, I don't think so. That is, I don't think there should have to be, but the way things are now, they should and they will need to - unless someone who already has gives that player a good review. ( I had read nothing about magisterium -but running though the trial 5 times with a skilled leader was enough for me to pick up all the tactics, aside from badge runs)
I think a gamer should probably spend about 5 minutes scanning announcements, patch notes and their server forum section to have a better sense of what's going on. When a new trial goes live, I'd be inclined to think that players should be taking a peek at the patch notes, just to see if their toons got nerfed or buffed. I hate reading patch notes, but I've learned to do it, because not doing so has cost me time when I didn't.

I think following on trials is also a good thing for any leader - you never know what you'll learn. As soon as another free transfer hits, I plan on moving a 50 to another server to see if that server does things differently, and why. (or maybe level one up - just hate trying to get plugged in on a new server)
One thing that is abundantly clear - only in the older trials can you get away with no communication. Even folks on baf need to know who should be doing what -though on a strong league it's not as urgent to know.

Thanks to all for you replies.

A blasters snipe (mine is 5 slotted with Sting of the manticore, and it would need 5 shots, I think to kill it)

So yes, a blaster with snipe could solo all the bombs - but it would take a very long time. Probably a half hour or so.

Also, a nova form kheld, enhanced with a few range IOs can also exceed the 150 feet requirement.

As for a melee toon....I'm uncertain. I've never tried to solo a bomb.

I think a stealth-capped stalker would have the best chance at it -at stealth cap, they can stand next to the bomb and the timer doesn't start. However, if AS misses, they'll be hard pressed to get it down in time. A lot will depend on how many rages they have, and the toons damage cap, recharge time, etc.

I have 4 blasters that are level 50. All of them use their nukes when teamed with a kin (for transference) or an emp (after AB is cast.)

On one blaster, I have Ageless, and will use Blizzard when ageless is recharged.

The range on the bombs is 150 feet. The blast radius is also 150 feet, but desdemona can protect you from the blast radius.

As soon as a pet or player moves to 149 feet away, the bomb will show a faint "ten", "nine", "eight" and so on, down to 1, and then boom.

There are several techniques to doing bombs. The "safest way" is to get 4 to 6 trusted players - and send them forward after the pair of avs are defeated. It is also good if one of these 4 to 6 players has tp ally and stealth.

While the league clears that room - your 4 to 6 group (all on same team, moved by league leader) will take out the bombs, ignoring the mobs.
Any AT is ok for this task - but high hp/high damage and level shifts are preferred. Because the league is clearing that room - and then the mobs before they get downstairs - with des in tow- - the "bomb squad has time to clear all phase 1 bombs -side paths included. They rush forward to area by the clustered hallway and teleport your snipers (the one with tp stealths over the bombs and tp's your snipers. They are far enough away to not worry about them - provided the folks getting tp'd are stationary before they get tp'd.

Because the bomb squad leaves mobs behind, that gives the league something to do while you have the squad work on bombs.


Another option -but sounds like you can't trust your leagues - is to simply take the point, and simply announce that if a bomb is blown up, you will only get threads. This is not true of course, but the message is clear. No one should pass the point man. If they do, you simply 1 star them and NEVER, EVER invite them again, no matter what the excuse is. Harsh? sure. of course it is. No telling what's going on with that player who "blew it". For all you know, it's a 6 year old taking over the keyboard while dad is afk.
In any event, if you can trust your league -- simply take the point - and use three macros/binds
1. /macro tgt targetcustomnext Demolition (you continuously press, targeting/scanning for the bombs
2. /macro !! "say Slow down or stop! Bomb ahead!" (this tells them there's a bomb ahead, so that fool with superspeed knows to slow down. or stop.)

3. /macro Chg "say Help me kill this bomb!" (this cues the league to help you take out the bombs.

You may also choose , on the side paths to also mention that you will kill bombs, then mobs.
4. /macro BTM "say Remember! Kill the bomb, then the mobs!"


The final way that I know to do this is just so long and slow, I can't recommend it. Have all your snipers snipe each bomb on the path.

A variation to the snipe method on the clustered bomb hallway - have all toons with 80 feet range attacks start at 150 feet away, and run towards the bomb, blasting as they get in range - and then continuing to blast, only switching targets to the next bomb after the first one goes down.
This is easy to mess up, and takes a lot of practice - because if they keep running forward, but don't take the bombs out in less than 5 seconds -(you are in range of the next bomb if you go too far, so you need to shoot for 5 seconds, so you have time to kill the next bomb)

What server are you on? If I have one of my toons there, I can help you.