So.... Keyes Island Reactor

I have been on 3 successful PUG's on Freedom but seen Zero on Virtue and when I attempted to form one during "busy time" I was utterly rebuffed.

Come on Virtue what's up with that!? Keyes is so much more involved than the other two, and IMHO fun. Is there a good time to find people interested in this, or has the server given up?

...of course after waiting an hour to post this, as I thought about it. 30 seconds after I post, I get invited to a Keyes :facepalm:

Seen it done, give it a few days for everyone to learn the process

Head to RWZ, they are forming there a lot. I have done 4, all successful.

This is why anecdotal evidence is the worst kind of evidence.

I am taking my time with it and hoping the learning curve provides a bit more ATTENTION to INSTRUCTIONS but to date i have been on 4 Keyes Island runs and all 4 were sucessful. All four were a Cluster >>> ( she did not say that! Did she?) lol but we did manage for stablize all reactors and defeat Anti-Matter. Oh and all 4 Were on Virtue over the past few days beginning with one on Tuesday only a few hours after 20.5 went live.

It seems like it will be a good trial for new incarnates to get IXP on since you have so many adds you HAVE to clear out to control the reactors.

First try at Keyes with the leader who had no experience at running Leagues in general, let alone the trials, and we beat it despite losing like three people who wanted a BAF run instead. It's really not that difficult, you just need to practice at the multitasking involved. Beat it a second time yesterday just before they shut the servers down for maintenance.

Done a few. They've all been successful. Can't say they've been all that enjoyable though.

Things I liked:

1) It's obvious that some real thought has gone into the contruction of the trial, and use of the tools available to make it 'different' (cutscene time freezes, zone-wide DoT etc).
2) The trial lends itself to more subtle tactics from players than has been seen before - especially to try and do the badges.
3) The monologue from A.M. really makes you want to punch him on the bugle.

Things I didn't like:

1) It's all good and well designing content that requires clever tactics and co-ordination - but the playerbase represents the full gamut of both playing skill and also the ability to listen/work in a team, and unforutnately the larger the team size, it's easier for those commodities to be in short supply.
2) Continuing on from the first point - a lot of the new content recently (specifically trials) have introduced a lot of 'lag' into gameplay. By this I don't mean the lag of 24 players' particle effects choking video cards (yeah yeah I know, we should now turn *off* all the nice Ultra Mode effects that were trumpeted so much recently), or the mapserver creaking at having to sent HP/End bar/buff information to every client in a league (although these are problems in their own right) - but there is also increasingly the lag of just getting *going*. It used to be considered a drag if a TF took more than 5 minutes to recruit and get going but now I find myself regularly stood in RWZ(x) waiting for a trial to fill - and once filled there are often instructions from the leader to wait for (none more so than for K.I. recently - instructions for last nights badge runs were generally 15 minutes long). I realise this always gets better with time but I can't help but being depressed that if I log on to play for a couple of hours, often the majority of that time is taken up by standing around. Oh, and I never used to have a problem waiting for a TF - I guess I'm kinda trying to point out that if *I'm* getting antsy, then either I've picked up a case of ADHD, or the 'downtime' really has increased a lot.
3) ...is specifically about badges. I like collecting 'em. I have willies that we're seeing more and more badge requirements that rely on *noone* in the team (and now League)messing up - which I don't like both for reasons of having to rely on people other than myself for an 'acheivement' badge for myself, and also for the stigma that my fellow players attract or feel if they are 'the one' that is unlucky enough to get caught in the green (or get one-shotted by LR, or Aeon, or Reichs, or the Freedom Phalanx, etc). That's all.
4) I don't feel very uber (or 'Incarnate', if you will) if a AM pulse plus a Vicky looking at me the wrong way, or I get to watch an Obliteration beam form under me *after* time freezes, all meaning I wake up in the hospital multiple times throughout the trial. I'm a blaster, I'm used to controlling my agro, playing well and I generally aim as a point of honour to not faceplant once throughout a whole TF/Trial. K.I. has changed that play experience dramatically unfortunately. And yes, I can still keep myself alive, but that often means keeping way out of where the action is (again, doesn't lend itself to feeling all that 'super').

Also, as a general nag (although it would help with the 'downtime' issue i mention above) - it's dissapointing that the LFG interface, which seems a really nice and powerful way of kicking off these large teams, doesn't seem to be getting used as it seemed to me to be initially intended. We all wait around until there are 24 in the League. Why? Because seemingly no one uses the LFG option to join events now. Why? Because (even though the interface says a <2min wait) they can put it on and wait 20 minutes and nothing happens. Why? Because we all wait around until there are 24 players in the League...

I'm hoping the 'PUG' league changes will help out with this

Anyway. That's my bleating fwiw.

I actually find it a tedious trial with no better rewards than ones that happen much more quickly and without all the cat herding. I'm also not a big fan of the various god powarz slung about.

Anti-Matter has taken up the reigns of the old Posi TF with repetitive tasks.

Get the cells... do the reactor thing.

Ok, now do it again.

Ok, now do it again.

Now that I have bought all the unlockables, I can do with the 1 less emp merit a day. I'll end up with more astrals and more chances at VR salvage for future Inc Power slots when they eventually get unlocked by doing the other 2 trials in roughly the same time.

It's the least fun trial, imo.