The Positron Task Force Dream Team

With the advent of Issue 13 for the City of Heroes and City of Villains, there has been some initial testing done on the new rewards system by a few good folks. The details of their findings can be viewed in the official CoH site forum post.

In case you've been hiding under a rock the whole time, the number of merit rewards are based on the average completion time for the TFs. Of interest are the TFs that award the highest number of merits:

• Positron: 55
• Synapse: 45
• Dr. Quaterfield: 90
• Sara Moore: 50
• Faathim: 55

Since I am a professed power-gaming, min-maxer, I would like to write about ways to earn merits as quickly and efficiently as possible. Please note that I am not looking to exploit the system, but rather, I am looking to maximize efficiency in merit awards with the tools provided.

Because of such, it seems as if the most "easiest" TF to "farm" is the Positron TF because there is no Arch-villain to fight and it only requires 3 people to start. Of course the caveat is while running it, you'll be stripped of much of your powers and you have to fight really annoying enemies like the Vahzihlok and the Circle of Thorn that have mostly "unresisted" damage types at the level you are exemp'ed to (level 15). The CoT in particular has some obnoxious accuracy debuffs as well. Even then, it is still possible to build a team designed specifically to speed through the TF.

Personally, I think such a dream team should consist of:

• Kinetics Defender
• High DPS Scrapper
• High DPS Blaster or Scrapper

That's right. Despite my love for Tankers, having one in the Posi dream team isn't optimal because of its lower damage output relative to a Scrapper. Also, as mentioned, there is no Arch-villain in this task force so having a Tanker around isn't necessary in that aspect.

As for the proposed team build, the Kinetics Defender is the only requirement in terms of Achetype requirements. He/she is there to Speed Boost the other two team members so the endurance doesn't run low and the pace of the game play remains quick. In my opinion, the best secondary power for the Kinetics Defender is Radiation Blast for its defense debuff. But either way, the Kin can get away with just about any secondary since his/her primary role is to buff, buff, and buff!

The Scrapper acts as a tanker of sorts who absorbs the initial alpha strike while also dealing out a great deal of damage. A good primary power choice for the scrapper is Spines or Fire while the Secondary Power choices can be Will Power, Regen. The goal with this particular Scrapper is to be damage heavy, preferably with a good amount of AoEs by level 15, as well as having enough defense/resistance/regeneration to absorb the alpha strike. I do admit that I have little experience in playing Scappers, so I am sure other folks can beg to differ on my opinion as what the ideal Scrapper for the Posi Farm team should look like.

As for the Blaster, he/she serves as the primary damage dealer. The preferred Blaster Primary should most definitely be Fire Blast for its AoEs and overall damage output compared to the other primary power choices. The Secondary Power should be any that gives the Blaster the Build Up power choice by level 15. Build up is a click power that gives him/her a huge accuracy and damage buff for a few seconds.

With the Kinetics Defender feeding the two DPSers Speed Boost, having the endurance heavy, but high damage power sets is possible.

For the DPS players, the power choice for the first 15 levels should be picked with damage maximization in mind. The Kin should obviously choose all possible buffing powers in his/her primary set to help speed along the team. All players should be level 50 and exemp'ed down for the TF run and fully slotted with invention origins enhancements.

Another requirement is for a player to have Stealth/Invisibility along with Recall Friend .This is neccessary for the team to be able to stealth through certain missions to cut down on time. Stealthing requires the stealthed player to go in the mission and locate the boss or clue (depending on the mission requirement), teleport the rest of the team to the objective's location, and complete the mission. If actually dipping into the stealth pool is impossible, an alternative is to have the player with Recall Friend acquire the temporary Invisibility power that can be purchased from the auction house. In addition, that player can also have one of the unique Travel IO enhancement with +stealth to go through the mission. Also of note is that Super Speed does also grant a bit of stealthing as well. The ideal situation would be to have this player have the full invisibility power to avoid detection completely.

Fortunately for me, my character, Sixty, is a Kinetics & Psychic Blast Defender. I am doubly fortunate because I have friends who fit the Archetype criteria for the Positron Farm team and are willing to hold regular runs. We are planning a test run tomorrow to take notes.

From what I see, there is a total of 3 delivery missions and 11 door missions in the Positron TF, 5 of which are 'defeat all enemies' missions.

My personal best time for this Task Force was about 3 hours and 15 minutes. I ran it as Sixty on the 'Heroic' difficulty setting with a Sonic/Electricity Blaster and a Dark/Dark Defender. Given the fact that the team did not have the most optimal Archetypes and Power Sets, that no one had invisibility and TP to stealth the missions, that none of us was even level 50 yet (I believe I was about level 20ish at that time), and that Invention Origin sets were still a few issues away, a 3 hour finish time is pretty darn good! I do remember it being extremely exhausting because of the break neck pace of the team given my Speed Boost spamming, but it was a really satisfying TF given the record time it took us to complete it.

So now, with beefed up IOs and players with powers tailored to running the TF at max efficiency, my goal is to get it within the 2 hour mark.

Unfortunately, I just really hope that the devs don't end up lowering the merit awards once folks get too good at running the TF.

In the meantime, I'll keep you posted on how the test run goes!

Paradoxic Hits Security Level 18

Sunday was a much slower day in terms of leveling and overall gaming activity. I just ran a bunch of missions solo at my leisure and was able to get Paradoxic to level 18. It's just one of those days, I think.

Tonight's run was mostly uneventful, not that I'm complaining mind you. Of interest is the Montague Castanella story arc. In terms of the writing, its a good story, one I actually enjoyed going through.

The best (most novel) part was being able to cure the Lost with the use of a wand that is created by collecting items from the missions. I wish they had more missions like that.

Renewable Energy in the City of Heroes!

While dallying around in the City of Heroes, in Steel Canyon, I noticed this:

There are solar panels on the roof! While they probably have always been there, I just noticed them today. This is great! I think its a good idea in general just to get this idea ingrained in people's minds regardless of whether or not it was done purposely.

This makes me think about whether or not I should make a character named Renewable Energy or Solar Panel! =)

Go CoH!

Inroductions: Paradoxic

Now that my Stone Armor Tanker, Annzilla has leveled up, it's time to start a new Tanker.

Now introducing, my Dark Armor & Dark Melee Tanker, Paradoxic!

She was originally a Dark Armor & Energy Melee Tanker, but I decided to re-roll her today to a Dark Melee because I never really had a Dark Melee character before, so why not!? Besides, it just really seems to go with the whole dark and mystical look. She is of magic origin after all.

I don't have a full background story for her, but the gist is that she is some person transformed by some evil magical object that enables her to control some dark plane. She is constantly battling the inner demons that seek to control her by bending it to her will for the good of mankind. That's how she remains sane, I suppose.

I'll elaborate on the story once I work out the details.

Lowbies starting in the trenches. The good old stinky sewers!

As for game play, so far, I'm really enjoying what Dark Armor has to offer.. or rather, I find that it goes very nicely with the Dark Melee set. It is somewhat of a challenge for me to keep the argo as there is really no defensive taunt aura.

But then again, I am a lowbie, not even to the Single Origin enhancement level yet so I may be speaking too soon on this matter. From my understanding however, since its pretty fun to play her now, I expect it be even better once I do get to SO level.

I am excited to keep playing her, so stay tuned for more on Paradoxic's adventures in the City of Heroes!

P.S. I got from level 1-16 in one day (no PLing). Not bad, eh?

Annzilla Reach Security Level 50!

Like I said in the previous entry, I have a lot of posts to catch up on. I've actually managed to get Annzilla up to level 48 since the last time I wrote an entry on her. As a tanker, it is stupidly easy to level up once I hit security level 45.

Not because that is the optimal level to get power leveled, which I did not, but it is more so because I am finally able to get Maria Jenkins as a contact. Pretty much every single mission Maria gives you has an Arch-Villain in it, so that just means gobs and gobs of XP.

Its doubly easier for me, because I am a tanker, I create my teams, and run the missions like a well oiled machine. I basically power-leveled/power-game myself (and the teams). That is how I was able to get to level 48, just in time to run the Lady Grey Task Force with some friends.

The team is assembling by Lady Grey. Unfortunately I did not write down the names and I had forgotten to coerce the team into posing for a picture. =(

So the task force starts out pretty good. The team starts out by saving Penny Yin's butt. And then going on to fight the Clockwork King.

I just want to quickly mention how much more fun Annzilla is to play after being fully IO'ed up with level 50 IOs. She is slotted with as many +speed/travel as possible, so playing her is not so unbearable anymore due to the travel/speed restriction while in Granite form or with Rooted enabled.

For me, it took her 47 levels to mature, and by that time, I was so delighted at how awesome she played.

And if you're wondering, yes, I am one of those perma-Granite Stone Tankers. There are different schools of thought on perma-Granites due to the -Acc and -Damage debuffs that go along with Granite form, but as a Stone/Fire tanker fully IO'ed, I don't have a problem in either accuracy or damage output of my attacks.

But I digress. Back to the Task Force:

So in the next mission where we are to save the chatty twins and lead them out, I level up!

Caught the very tail end of the ding animation again. =(

That particular mission was rather unfortunate because one of the hostages we were supposed to save died right at the Arch-Villain and the mission failed. Previously, the hostages could have died, but I guess they changed it in the i12 for a mission fail. I suppose now that a mission fail is in place, one could farm the LGTF to auto fail the mission for a shorter TF run.

Something to think about I suppose. But on to the next mission! This is where we fight a neutered version of Hamidon. We did beat him up (with some snags along the way) and I caught the 'dying Hamidon' animation. Its always so pretty to watch so I thought I'd share it. (sounds kind of morbid, doesn't it?)

This particular mission went well for the most part. I honestly still haven't run the i11 (or was it i10?) Hamidon raid when they changed the mechanics of it (again), so I am a bit clueless as to the how-to of going about killing the thing.

Aside from never being sure on which mito's to defeat first with what attack, Hamidon has an unresisting damage type which cuts me down like butter.

So the team did a great job. I say the team, because I was on my back drowning in the water the whole time. Go team!

The final mission is when we have to fight a mutated and brainwashed Hero 1. If you know the stories of Hero 1 in the CoH/CoV universe, its a sad story.

During this particular mission, we plow our way through to get to Hero 1 with ease. The problem is actually fighting him. We did not have anyone in the team with any regeneration debuffs to debuff him when he goes (his version of) unstoppable. When he does so, he becomes resistant to all types of damage and is basically in god-mode. Our problem was being unable to get his health points down enough to beat his regeneration when he does go into god-mode.

This one screenshot is just too cool, love the vivid colors!

After he went into god-mode and regenerated his health points to nearly full for the 5th time, I along with two other team mates had to do a quick run to Bloody Bay in order to get some Shivan pets to aid in defeating him.

Shivans do have neat little -regen in many of their attacks so it really made a difference.

The whole task force was clocked at about 3hours and 45 minutes until completion. 45 of those minutes was likely during the Hero 1 battle.

So after the TF I hung around a bit with some Paragonian Knights friends who also ran the TF.

Yes, I am the one with the afro.

Prickly Tiger, aka @Yaki-Sama had also dinged 50 during the TF. The PK folks had a neat little ceremony to honor the new 50's.

All in all, it was a fun TF (my first actually, with Annzilla) where I was able to finish leveling my Stone Tanker. She'll be shelved until needed and I will be starting a new Tanker!

Might be Moving this Blog to Wordpress

I am contemplating on moving this blog to wordpress.com. Or even buying a domain for it and hosting it in the wordpress platform.

Yes, I know that this is a blog, but I like to have a certain level of customization and operating it under the blogger platform is too limiting for my tastes. This is a shame since steps have been made to optimize this particular blog.

I am going to have to mull over on what to do, but it does look like I am going to be moving this blog soonish.

Stay tuned...

Update 11/14/08:
I've decided not to start a new blog with wordpress after all. It would just take too much work to move the content over, re-optimize that site, and design the theme (not to mention I will have to pay to customize the theme on wordpress.com). Besides, I think I have a workaround to create the "pages" that I want. It just takes some creative blog designing.

So while it does mean that I will have to tinker with the theme more than I'd like, I guess I can do it over time and it wouldn't be such a big deal in the long run.

Now that it has been decided, I've got a lot of entries to catch up on!

Issue 13: Power and Responsibility - Open Beta

This just in: I13 open beta is now live! (in the UK)

Is it out for the US yet?

Edit: Yes, beta for US is live.

"In the City of Heroes & City of Villains Blog" Theme is Done!

I know, I know, it doesn't look a thing like the mock-up in the previous entry. I realized that the way it designed will require a lot of work in writing the CSS and frankly, I'd rather spend the time doing something else. Oh you know, like play the game!

So I ended up just switching out the images on the existing template, futzing with the CSS a bit to suit my tastes and calling it a night!

Hope you like it!

New Blog Theme in the Works

I thought I'd update everyone on the progress of the new blog theme. The plan is to keep the design simple.

I've got the general look and feel planned out and now its just a matter of cutting up the image and writing the CSS.

Here's the sample:


I'm personally not looking forward to "working" on it, since I'd much rather be gaming after all!

Thermonuclea Achieves Threat Level 50!

I've been really sick for the past few days with the flu or a really severe cold so I haven't been able to play as much as I'd like to, being high on cold medication and woozy and all.

However, tonight I played as my Radiation Blast & Radiation Emission Corruptor, Thermonuclea. She is just tons of fun. When casting the Radiation Infection power with gobs of accuracy debuff on the enemies, it feels like I'm playing a tanker sometimes!

She's been sitting at threat level 49 for the past 8 months, so its about time to get her to 50!

I literally had about 2 bars of experience til level 50, might as well finish level her up with a bang and run that that nifty story arc from my patron, the Black Scorpion.

Getting the missions from Black Scorpion. He's quite a condescending, arrogant jerk.

I was able to enlist some help from my good pal @CX2 with his Stalker, Night.Blade.

He's been away from the game for some time as well (playing the Lord of the Rings MMO no less) so we both were taking our time readjusting to our powers.

We did get the hang of it eventually and started kicking butt and taking names. There wasn't much of a strategy aside from casting the debuffs and charging in blowing stuff (people) up. All goes well during the first few missions until.. Silver Mantis shows up as and politely (or not) rips us a new one.

Why the floor is quite comfortable, why do you ask?

After a few tries, @CX2 decides to bring in the big guns in the form of his scary Troll Brute, Jutala, who's apparently hopped up on that superdine and ready to rip stuff (people) to shreds.

We kick Silver Mantis' butt, and in the next mission we kick Black Scorpion's butt to finish the story arc.

But of course, the crowning moment was when... (drum roll please) Thermonuclea finally reaches threat level 50!

I was only able to catch the tail end of the level up animation, bleh.

All in all, it was a very fun and productive night as well as a nice break from leveling up Annzilla.