"X TF (SF/Trial) forming, need _____."

Now before I go ahead and dump my thoughts out here, let me say that I've been playing this game awhile, etc, and I realize that a team can consist of many, many different combinations, or a bunch of the same (see: all FRad teams that tear through content). Very, very rarely (never?) does a team actually NEED a certain element to succeed. Anyway, I just wanted to see what your experiences were in what people ask for when forming teams, any specific powersets that are requested. Of course your basic melee and range DPS, tank, control, buff/debuff functions are sought when forming a team, but I'm wondering what people have seen in terms of specific powerset requests.

My short list is: Kin, Cold, Rad, and Emp.

What have you all seen? Note: not really talking about "we could use some AoE" or "we could use an MM". I'm wondering about very specific requests in terms of powersets.

Thoughts?

Best,
-MT

Stalkers for RSF.



(it was an all-Stalker run )

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

It's pretty common to see people recruiting for Holds, when forming a LGTF.

I don't generally remember seeing any calls asking for a specific powerset. But generally, I tend to ignore and "need ______" requests that aren't for Lady Grey or Barracuda anyway.

I've seen people say "X forming, send me your build for an invite" in Freedom tfs. Always thought that was strange.

Whenever I form something it's mostly "need people to start, bring whatever".

I tend to ask for (not require, just ask for) at least one melee type, a kin, and either a FF or Cold. I want the melee type because life is easier for everybody when all the enemies pick one target and stay on them instead of running all over the map, and the rest I want for obvious reasons.

But if I can't get those, I'll just shrug and take whatever and roll with it.

However, if I ever see anybody asking for a "healer," I bail. Past experiences have made that a huge warning sign that I'm in for a few hours of debt and frustration, so I just bail.

Yeah, when I said "rarely/never?" I was implying the LGTF. While you can beat Hami's healing mitos without holds, it is so much easier and faster to just get one person with holds on a team.

EDIT: You can beat Cuda without MM (temp power) too, it just makes things a lot easier/efficient.

MT

I remember seeing for MOLambda run people were recruting for non smash/leathal characters for a while I am not sure current situation. Oh and I remember someone doing spped tf's was saying no MM, PB, stalker and one more AT which I can't remember at the moment. I did most of level 50 tf with him and longest was 27 minute. I didn't do a speed STF though so I can't be sure how will be it fare and longest one was LGTF mostly because of hami stage.

When it comes to specific powersets, I usually see requests for Kin, Emp and Rad. Also somewhat often, requests for a Granite Tank or Brute.

Maybe "demand" is more appropriate than "request" - they generally won't start the tf (or whatever) unless they get the powerset(s) they want.

I very rarely see someone ask for somethign specific unless it's an Mo or speed run. Then i tend to see people asking for debuffs.

On MOs i tend to see "need granite tank" but to me that is like someone asking for a healer, just know thats gonna fail. But i have a deep seeded hatred of granite tanks.

I really cant stand it when people ask for any specific powerset, it just couldnt be any farther from what they REALLY need... a decent player.

Most of the TF/SF can be done with any combo of 8 players who actually try.

The only content I hate are ones where I have stand around requesting stuff. My feeling is, if I have to do that, the content is broken. I prefer stuff where I grab 7 other willing bodies and we roll.

I'm not really into micro-managing a TF/SF.

When I see a TF where I see "X forming need Healer" I know I can skip that one.

X TF (SF/Trial) forming, need people.



As long as they all meet the mechanical requirements, like minimum level, appropriate alignment, number required to start, etc, then I don't see a problem. Master of X or otherwise. Usually global friends/private channels first, and then open it up to anyone after that on a first come first serve basis.

Only other request I might agree with, would be someone who has Mortimer Kal, Hess or Katie Hannon unlocked as a contact if I didn't already have it. If the team is desperately lacking something like holds on an LGTF, I'd likely swap to my domi, rather than turn someone away. If I'm on my tank, and another joins, I'll offer to swap to something else.

Back when the LGTF had the higher mez resist mitos, and people were taking enough holds, we went in with no holds, and out damaged their regen. I've tanked Recluse my Dark defender by aggro'ing him from out of range, when we didn't have a tank. Even if the team make up was awful, Inspirations can fix most hiccups. I'm pleased if someone joins with a powerset that I like, but if they don't, it's really no bother.



That said, if I see someone requesting a granite tank, or a healer, or something really specific, I'm not likely to want to join that team. Quite often, they're too set in their ways to think that anything but their optimum team design is capable of succeeding, despite it usually being a sub-par plan to start with, and one that's better suited to other MMOs. (ie, the Unholy Trinity of Tank/Heals/DPS).

I suspect this will get worse with CoX: Freedom, and the influx of new people with a history in other games. I wish more people would be willing to take anyone on anything, now, so that when the new folk show, they don't fall straight back into their old ways.

"X TF (SF/Trial) forming, need _____."

/broadcast Me, "X ST/ trial forming, need Y more player of Z+ lvl. PST"
/tell Player, "What does the team need?"
/tell Me, "Y more people. Bring what you want to play."

Honestly, this is all I ever say. If we are light on heals, every player for himself/ herself. If someone volunteers to go get a toon with heals, that's fine as long as they don't say I will get my 'healz0r.' Please use your buffs/debuffs, heals and controls wisely.

I'll occasionally request a specific AT or AT type, mostly based on what the ATs in question can do. But it's rare, usually I'll only do that if I know the task in question is difficult without a certain thing. Most of the time it's: "X forming, need warm bodies that have a couple hours to kill"

Corruptors, Defenders, Controllers, and Masterminds are all acceptable when I say "Buffs/Debuffs would be nice)"

Controllers, Dominators, Tanks, and Brutes will all work for "Crowd control"

I'll take just about anything for damage, since all ATs can deal damage in some form or another.

I've never understood the whole "You must be exactly THIS set of powers, slotted exactly THIS way. If you aren't you're gimped and useless!" mentality that I sometimes see. Really? The game isn't so freaking hard that you must optimize every facet of every powerset on your team.

Wasn't a TF, but I just saw someone advertising for the Midnighter arc, demanding specifically an empath for healing. *sigh*

I like Emps, but I find them worse or at most on par with almost every other support set. If I was to pick one buff set to have on a TF I would go with Cold Dom. Good defence buffs, good debuffs. It's also very nice to have a Kin to cap the team's damage. Every other force multiplying buff set is also great to have, ranging from Dark/Sonic/Traps/Thermal...

Duo Emps (or a team) of course is a different story.

I think there's two different issues at hand here, and people are not separating them. There are the people who want to micromanage the entire team and have exactly the combination of powersets that they want (IE: Forming Kahn, we need a Rad, a Cold, a Kin, and an X/X Scrapper, etc), and the people (like me) who just want to ensure they have one (or possibly two) specific powersets on the team, and don't care what they get outside of that. For example, 99.999% of the TF's I run are run at +2 or +3 (or sometimes +4). Even Posi. If I'm running an STF, it will be at +3, I will be on my Stone tank, and I WILL be herding all 4 patrons, and charging straight to Recluse after that, taunting the flyer all the way. I WILL have a Kin, Empath, or Pain on the team to stack Hold protection to make sure I don't get held. I prefer Kin, because that means I get SB too. But I won't cry if it's an Emp/Pain instead. That's why I have run speed bonuses. Outside of that ONE powerset, I couldn't care less if we had 6 Stalkers. If we get 6 Stalkers, we won't have to worry about anything, because the Kin/Empath/Pain and I can keep them alive and well-buffed. If we get 6 Controllers, we STILL won't have a problem. It just doesn't matter THAT much what the team has.

I ask for one specific powerset (or in the case of LGTF, I ask for anything that can stack enough Holds on the mitos, regardless of AT) on almost every TF I form, because it will make everyone's life easier. Frequently, I pick this person up from private global channels, and don't have to ask the public channels for it. But that's just the way I roll.

My point is, there IS a difference between micromanaging your team (way too much, and to a frequently negative effect) and asking for one (or maybe two) specific powersets in general (with no AT preference) to make the TF go smoother for the entire team. The only time outside of LGTF (or all-<insert AT here> runs) I can recall asking for a specific AT on a team was when we determined that I would try to tank the TF on my PB in Dwarf form, and needed more Blasters/Defenders/whatever to cap my Resistance... And that was an incredibly fringe case done for humor more than anything else. lol