Zen and the Art of Raiding the Rikti Mother Ship

This is the official thread for Azure Lightstar’s Rikti Raids.


Scheduled runs: Sundays at 16:00 Central Time (or 5:00 pm Eastern time)
Average run time: 45 min to 1 hour per run.
Average number of runs: 2
Location: Rikti Warzone (meet at Point Du Hoc)


Sponsors: Privateer Protectorate and Omega Revolution


General information:


Raid has three parts (the pylons, the grates, and the bowl).


The pylons – Group will move from pylon to pylon and attack them. We will start at Pylon 10 just northwest of our starting location. We will travel counter clockwise around the mother ship until we take down all the pylons. This will cause the shields around the mother ship to fall. Listen for the raid leader to announce the next pylon in broadcast or in League chat. Otherwise, just follow the crowd. It is best to let someone who can withstand a blast or two from the pylon go in first, otherwise, you may find yourself face planted. Depending on the run and the makeup of the groups, I will end with Pylon 1 (in the southwest part of the ship) or more often Pylon 3 (in the northwest part of the ship). See the maps below to get a better idea of what I'm talking about.


The grates – In this next stage, your team leader will have already picked a grate; so make sure you know which one you are assigned to. It’s safest if all the teams pick grates that are all on one side, but it really depends on your team leader. When the shields around the mother ship fall, you will need to get onto the mother ship. If we end at Pylon 1, you will need to jump or fly up (teleporting works too). If we end at Pylon 3, you can just drop down onto the ship. The top of the ship will be covered with various types of Ritki. The ones I think you really need to watch out for are the Magus who will stun your character. I also recommend that your team work a little crowd control before going directly for a grate. This can mean using someone to taunt the Ritki away from the grate, a ranged player to pull them with a shot or two, or a controller type could hold them or confuse the Ritki around the grating. When that is done, you can attack the grate until it disappears. Someone from your team should run into the now open grate and click on the glowie inside. A message will appear telling you that the bomb is set. You need to move away, or you will be caught in the explosion. After your team has placed the bomb, assemble on the ledge around the bowl in the center of the mother ship. Once enough bombs are placed, the Giant Monster will appear, usually in the bowl.

The bowl – When all the teams are ready, the heftier characters will jump into the bowl (usually after the raid leader says) followed by the less durable characters. This is where you should spam heals and buffs if your player has them. You may want to turn off powers that will prevent enemies from grouping up, because other players may get upset. If the group in general is having problems though, by all means use these powers to keep the group alive. We will need to finish off the Giant Monster and other Rikti in the bowl. At that point, we usually take the remaining time to start chatting and joking around. Meanwhile we are constantly being attacked repeately by Rikti that teleport in, or by the ones that were brought to us by our aggro magnets. This continues until the shield comes back and we are teleported back to our starting location. If we have enough people who want to do another run, we reset and restart after about a 5-10 minute break.

Here is a map outlining Path 1...which ends us at Pylon 1...

Here is path 2 (the better known of the paths), which is the path we will most likely take...Careful going around the ship between Pylon 1 and 2. Touch the shield and you teleport back to start.

I listed you as the leader for these raids on the level 50 MOTD. I will be making them here n there...

One quick question..I was looking at the map... ummmm where is the "U Formation"?!?

Just a reminder that my next Rikti Mother Ship raid is scheduled for August 8, 2011, at 16:00 Central Time (that should be 5:00 pm Eastern time).

August 8th went very smoothly.

It took a long longer to start than I had anticipated. This might be, because I hadn't run the raid regularly in some time. I plan to make it a regular thing though. Mostly, I want to get comfortable leading leagues before I plunge into the bigger things like CoP and MoKeyes.

Highlights for me on this run were:
--------------------------------
1. We fielded a team of nothing but Brutes (6 players)!
2. We had paraphrased Star Wars quotes in the bowl. If you know my ban and blame posts, you know how much I love to paraphrase.

Disappointments were:
---------------------------------
1. Not being able to have enough people to field the 2nd run. This usually happens for the 3rd run. But then again, the first run usually doesn't start as late was it did.

Photo:
---------------------------------



Hope to see you next week. It's double XP weekend...so hopefully it will be twice the incentive to join the raid.

While I was unable to participate as I was between a Numina TF and an Eden trial, I am glad to see that folks are coming out for your Rikti Raid, Azure.

Will you be running this next weekend with Double XP weekend going on?

Yes, I plan on running the Raid. Whether it actually takes place will depend heavily on how interested people are. For me, having less than 18 people can get a little bumpy and sometimes a little heated because of that. I just want people to have fun.


I’m actually more worried that there will be too much interest and that there will be other raids running at the same time. I will play it by ear, I guess.

No worries, I listed your event on the Guardian Facebook page. Hopefully, I can get out there with my D3 who is in dire need of Vanguard Merits.

Thanks again for running these, Azure!

Nice, i'm featured right smack in the middle of that picture
What is Neph doing? Looks like he's doing nothing >.<

( I blame bad timing )

And Azure, u did GREAT!

I think the reason that we didn't have a bigger crowd, was the fact that it's a new time slot. As soon as people know that you host this on a regular base, u'll draw the crowd like we had when the Dream Team hosted the Rikti Raids on their Tuesday and Saturday slots.

I'm also happy that i could help u out with finding an alternate route.
And whenever u need help hosting, or need a team leader, u can count on me to help out!

That's gives me an interesting idea. How about a post the best action clip of the raid contest? hehe.

Well... to start off the contest, we turn back the hands of time to the Original Dream Team Rikti Raid hosted by yours truly.. Dark Energon.

The Raid for August 14, 2011 was a great success. As always, the team leaders make it happen for us. So thank you for leading a team.

Highlights for me on this run were:
--------------------------------
1. Dark Energon announced his snaphot contest. Looking forward to seeing what people captured.
2. We run three runs tonight (with demand for a fourth).
3. We fielded four full teams for most of the runs! Usually we only run three teams per run.
4. At one point there was a glitch in the League Interface, and I had 10 people listed on my team.
5. Lots of people leveled. Lot a people got merits and XP.

Disappointments were:
---------------------------------
1. We had a slight misstep on the 3rd run with the bowl. We regrouped on the ledge and everything went smoothly from there on out.

Photo:
---------------------------------

Ack! I just noticed these runs start at 2pm PST.

I usually work 2pm-midnight on Sundays, so it's been quite some time since I last joined a Mothership raid. I got tapped to work the early shift (5am-5pm) today, so here I'd spent the day thinking that I'd punch out, head home, log on, and get in on some Vanguard Merit action -- only to find that it'll likely all be over and done with by then.

Ah, well -- happy raiding, everyone!

--Chris

The Raid for August 21, 2011 completed successfully. I will not be present at next week's run, but the raid will take place and will be run by a substitute raid leader (one I have a lot of confidence in). Please extend him the usual courtesy that you always provide me.

Highlights for me on this run were:
--------------------------------
1. We managed to run at least one attempt, even though we did not have three full teams. There were no major blunders that forced us to regroup.

Disappointments were:
---------------------------------
1. Was not able to run a second attempt.
2. Had to kick a person from the league.
3. Was not able to get an actual action shot from within the bowl.

Photo:
---------------------------------

Just a reminder that there will be a raid this Sunday at 5:00PM EDT (2:00PM PDT).

The Raid for September 4, 2011 completed successfully.

Highlights for me on this run were:
--------------------------------
1. We leveled several players.
2. We scored close to 900 merits.
3. A lot of people got to play characters they normally didn't get to bring.

Disappointments were:
---------------------------------
1. As before, we were not able to run a second attempt. We were close a few times, but as we added people, we would lose others.

Photo:
---------------------------------

The Raid for September 11, 2011 completed successfully. It was the most fun I've had in a long time on CoH.

Highlights for me on this run were:
--------------------------------
1. Have three runs this time. (Run 1 had four full teams and a partial. Runs 2 and 3 had three full teams and a partial.)
2. The group was chatty and fun.
3. Still made the vigil in Galaxy. Thanks DE.

Disappointments were:
---------------------------------
1. I accidently transferred Mr. Body incorrectly and put him on a lower level team which instantly killed him. Eek!
2. Could not add a player because they were already associated to a team, which I eventually got onto the league. I think the code really needs some more work.

Photo:
---------------------------------

The Raid for September 25, 2011 had a shakey start, but we completed two runs. As always, the team leaders make it happen for us. So thank you for leading a team.

Highlights for me on this run were:
--------------------------------
1. Completing each raid with what I consider the minimium safe number of people to start (18).
2. Started the second raid with less than my safe number (15). The 2nd run went rather smoothly, showing that sometimes it's what you play the field with rather than the number of soldiers.

Disappointments were:
---------------------------------
1. Not fielding full teams.
2. Having a larger number of defeats than we are accustom to.

Photo:
---------------------------------

The Raid for October 9th, 2011 was completed.

Highlights for me on this run were:
--------------------------------
1. Had a good turn out despite not having one last week. Three full teams with one partial afterwards.
2. A lot of lowbies got to try the raid out.
3. We still managed to get about 6 level 50 players.

Disappointments were:
---------------------------------
1. There was a point when I got lost with the order to the pylons because I was fielding invite requests in the middle of the pylon run.
2. We didn't spawn the GM on our first attempt. We managed to get him to spawn, but after many player defeats.

Photo:
---------------------------------

The Raid for October 16th, 2011 was completed.

Highlights for me on this run were:
--------------------------------
1. We had a great turn out today, with a great mix of veteran players, returning players, and newbies.
2. Had 2 runs today (with eventually 4 teams).
3. I made no hiccups on the pylons announcements this week.

Disappointments were:
---------------------------------
1. Not sure if I was disappointed this week. We did have a point during the 2nd run which got a little rough, but we took the bowl back quickly.

Photo:
---------------------------------

Glad to have you aboard.