I'm still hoping for some sort of mimic villain group that when you encounter them they randomly mimic the build of a team mate.
Congratulations to all of you.
@CrimsonOriole
The Villains
We threw around some ideas and, unintentionally, modeled it after the heroes team. Two brutes for melee, one built for defense and the other for offense. Five corruptors with different secondaries. Primaries were personal choice with at least one Fire and one Dark for its disorient. The dominators sets were chosen for its disorient and power boost. With the corruptor buffs all coming on the same level up schedule, there wasn't much opportunity to plan out power selection as was the case on heros with defenders and controllers. Unfortunately, we couldnt rationalize a stalker or mastermind on the team given the speed with which we turned over missions on heroes. Our controllers rarely used their pets.
Dark/Stone Brute - played by the kin defender
SS/Elec Brute - played by the empath
Dark/Thermal Corruptor - played by the ice controller
Sonic/Kin Corruptor - played by the earth controller
Ice/Dark Corruptor - played by the scrapper
Dark/Cold Corruptor - played by the ice blaster
Fire/Rad Corruptor - played by the tank
Fire/Ice Dominator - played by the fire blaster
While efficiency concerns might've had us each resume our previous roles, we pretty much all shifted just to keep it interesting. We all had multiple L50's on various hero ATs. But going into villains, only three of us have L50's and two of us have no higher than L15.
So, once more unto the breach, dear friends ...
Relentless Session 1
We ran two missions, then moved over to Port Oakes to open up the Atlas mayhem. Fought mainly Family, Council, and Skulls at +0 to +3. Apart from a particularly aggressive Bone Daddy we had only two defeats in regular combat. The Bone Daddy was really just an accidental aggro while waiting for the other half of the team to enter the mission. Finished at L8.
Relentless Session 2
Got a late start and one member couldn't make it. We ran a couple paper missions and put off the mayhem until all eight were available. Finished at L10.
Just wanted to drop a quick note of congratulations. As impressive as it is to run on Invincible, I think just getting 8 players to play together through 50 levels is the greater achievement.
Good luck with your corrupter, I mean villain team.
[ QUOTE ]
Good luck with your corrupter, I mean villain team.
[/ QUOTE ]
I know. I was hoping for better representation of ATs, but we just couldnt make it work out. 
The multiplictive nature of buff/debuffs make those sets the cornerstone of a solid team. Without a primary buff/debuff AT, a strong villain team has to load up extra corrs or MMs. We considered a tanking MM, but unfortunately pet spawning/buffing just takes too long. So, yeh ... there's nothing particularly innovative about the team makeup.
Honestly I can really see how that would fall. My friends and I kicked around a six man team concept and corrupters were the most popular choices. The argument went that Stalkers were useful but slow while Masterminds bogged down the systems of weaker computers.
Personally I think Dominators could be a good swap, but when you're fighting +5's all the time, it can be annoying to toss out three second holds. Good variety would be nice, but I will be the first to admit the game as is doesn't encourage it when you're playing relentless.
Relentless Session 3
We were missing the */Stone brute again tonight, but completed the AP mayhem with seven against +2's. Picked up an old school buddy of ours who had a brute about two levels lower. With eight we ran the AP mayhem again just for fun, but were sent packing. Big difference in spawns between the two runs. There wasn't time to grind through multiple +2 bosses properly, so we tended to rush things. Unfortunately, we'll outlevel it before we can 'get it right'. Finished at L12.
Hmm....
Does it seem like the missions for villains are scaled more in tune with the representative ATs? Just playing through a few levels of villains, the missions seem a little more difficult than heroside. I was just wondering if you had noticed this in your own efforts?
@CrimsonOriole
I'm in the same SG and we are running a second Team Relentless that started the same day. Unfortunately we haven't been able to get 8 consistently, but yes, villains do seem a bit harder at lower levels than heroes. I especially noticed it with a Council newspaper mission at level 8. We had several team wipes making it through that mission. Mooks, on the other hand, were pretty easy even though, on the surface, the mobs seem pretty much the same.
[ QUOTE ]
Does it seem like the missions for villains are scaled more in tune with the representative ATs? Just playing through a few levels of villains, the missions seem a little more difficult than heroside. I was just wondering if you had noticed this in your own efforts?
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, the first night when we ran regular missions, we came away from it thinking it was much easier than our first night of heroes. In fact, there were a lot less deaths... only two with the full team present. We kicked around a few theories as to why...
1. Experience playing together. We largely agreed this didnt have much impact the first night. We were on new toons with new power, names, costumes. My wife and I spent the better part of the night saying, "Wait who is so-and-so again?", to each other.
2. Buffs/Debuffs of 5 corruptors > 2 defenders and 2 controllers at low levels. I think this had some impact in the first couple levels, but it will fade quickly. All ATs start out effectively the same, but heroes quickly grow into strong team roles. Whereas the villain ATs can't specialize as effectively.
3. Mob types. Family, Snakes, and Council aren't as difficult as the Vahz and CoTs we did heroside. Most of us agree this was the biggest impact. Our heroes were wading knee deep in huge Vahz groups with multiple Eidolon bosses. Additionally, the spawns seemed smaller on villains, but I'm not sure if this was perception or reality.
In both cases, heroes and villains, we made L8 in the first session. L8-12 is harder to compare because much of that time on villains was spent in the AP Mayhem. The street spawns were small, but the ambushes quite large. Although at one point, in the 8 man runs, we stacked two ambushes. Not a pretty result. Afterwards, short one brute, we ran 2-3 paper missions to reach L12. I think these seemed harder, but I can't say with certainty. The next session will be interesting. On heroes, we ran Positron against +4 to +6 mobs. It was difficult, but we did it. On villains, with no TF available, we'll be looking at +1 to +3. Should be easy...
Relentless Session 4
Ran the Winter Event mission on Relentless five times. Missing Stone brute, so team of 7 again. Made a little over 2 levels taking us to L14. Most of us slotted DO's at the beginning of the night, but I know the SS/Elec brute hadn't had time to. So, despite trainings and a build geared for offense, with support she tanked +2's easily. Right now our limitation is endurance, whereas heroside we had Speed Boost at L12.
Relentless Session 5
Ran the KR mayhem on Relentless for a of team eight. Fellow SG member subbed in a corruptor in place of the Stone brute. Completed the mission with time to spare, but not enough to finish a side mission. Ran some regular missions and finished the night at about L15.5.
You guys are gods!!! I just read the entire thread, and I can only wish that I could find the time and people to try something like this. About the closest I have come is duo'ing with a buddy of mine every time we play. Unfortunately, most of the time, we don't have the time to do TF's, so we are stuck doing door mishes. Still, I have to take my hat off to you.
<doffs cap and bows deeply>
Keep up the good work.
I have to agree with the above poster. Me and my friend are in a wonderful supergroup, but do to real life and conflicting times, we probably would never be able to get a team of 8 together and level all the way to 50. It is nice that me and my buddy and play together almost evertime we get on. Awesome job guys!
Thanks guys. It's largely the result of being part of an SG thats been established since release. We don't recruit heavily so our roster doesnt rapidly change. Membership stabilized into a core group of link-minded players with compatible schedules.
As for TFs, remember that its fairly easy now to spread them over multiple sessions. So it really just turns into a couple nights of doing door missions.
It's quite an accomplishment. It is definitely harder than it sounds. I'm in the same SG and we have tried to form a 2nd Team Relentless on villains. We usually only have 5 or 6 show up for a session and get frequent team wipes. We haven't become the well-oiled machine that the original Team Invincible is.
I'm hoping once we hit 12 (everyone is 10ish) and can buy DOs it will change.
Schedules are tough this time of year, too. We probably won't be able to get all eight together until after New Years.
Relentless Session 6
With the holidays over, we finally got the entire team together. Ran regular missions against mostly +2 CoTs, Goldbrickers, and Family. We did get beat down by some +3 Family due to some sloppy tactics. Yay, for the temp rez power. 
We finished the night with an even con Skyway mayhem, which probably turned out a little too easy. +1 con probably would've been about right and +2 con a legitimate challenge. If we have the opportunity, I'd like to go back and do it on Relentless. Don't think that'll happen though, as I think we'll start the first TF, err SF, next. Most of us are 17 or a bub away, so it may make for an interesting comparison to our Synapse TF done at the same level.
Relentless Session 7-8
Again, more regular missions at +2. Had planned to start the first SF at L17, but scheduling conflict prevented it. Most of the team is about L18.2 SF, next week.
Relentless Session 9
Started the 'Beast Beneath the Mountain' SF. The team was six L18, and two L17. The SF spawned L22-23 Legacy with double boss groups. Finally, something to sink our teeth into. At +4 to most, the L22's were difficult but entirely doable with typically one casualty per group. L23's were quite a bit more problematic. It took multiple attempts, and lots of seperation tactics to finish that group. We made heavy use of the self rez temp powers, lol. Finished at L19.
In comparison to our Heroes run, I'd say that theres about a level of disparity in effectiveness. In both the Positron and Sister Psyche TF's we tackled +4 mobs on DO's with little trouble, while +5's were difficult but doable, and +6 extremely difficult. Qualitatively, about a level different. At this stage, our villain team lacks sufficient +recovery, -def, and +acc compared to the hero team. Crowd control is questionable, too. Domination is great when its up, but inconsitant performance hinders a fast moving team. Most of these issues will be addressed as we level and the necessary buff/debuff powers become available to the corruptors.
Came up on this thread late. Read the whole thing over the past hour or so. This was the best read I have seen here. I would love to do something like this villian or hero side. Im on CO* almost every day. I just wish I could team with people who are liked minded and would not mind the commitment. Good work and keep the info coming.
Relentless Session 10
We did the next two missions of the SF at L19 against L22 and L23. Both of these missions are CoTs with lots of -acc debuff, which did not help our already poor chance to hit. That alone effectively bumped the difficulty up a level, making the +4 CoTs difficult. We started the 3rd mission with the intent of just getting a bub for the kin, and the oh-so desirable SB. Without the -acc, the +3 Longbow were a pushover and +4 not a big threat.
In retrospect, we over looked accuracy in building this team, whereas we made sure to cover it on heroes. On heroes, the two blasters had Aim and Buildup at this level while only three corrupters can have Aim. The defenders provided one Tactics and Fortitude, plus Irradiate and other rad blast -def. The controllers added Earths -def and Rad Infection. But the corruptors only provide Rad Infection and single target Infridge. Irradiate is available, but I don't think we're using it. We probably should have had three corruptors pick up tactics at L14. In any case, we still need to add it in as the +tohit will be more effective than the DO/SO transition.
[ QUOTE ]
Relentless Session 10
We started the 3rd mission with the intent of just getting a bub for the kin, and the oh-so desirable SB. Without the -acc, the +3 Longbow were a pushover and +4 not a big threat.
[/ QUOTE ]
Except for the ambushes that kept coming
Longbow Ambushes
[ QUOTE ]
There is speculation that a villain group will exist post-I9 who must be killed with inventions. Mobs such as this, who require special effort and knowledge to be able to defeat, would at least challenge most vets for awhile. Perhaps if all of their creatures had full powersets as players do, they would provide a decent difficulty?
[/ QUOTE ]
Anything along these lines would be a welcome addition. I think you hit a key aspect in expanding the critter powersets. Even if the AI is no smarter, the sheer randomness of power selection might require you to keep on your toes.