FrauleinMental

7 Sep - Soul of the Woodsman (Numina, Level 35-40) - NuMMina TF (one of Rich’s original themes from page 1 of this thread!) 14 Sep - Cavern of Transcendence (Karsis, Level 12-15) [last Theme Sep 2022] (Note: Unlock required for leader) - “Pinball Wizard” - Kinetics or Kinetic Melee powerset 21 Sep - Terra Volta Respec #2 (James Harlan, Level 34-43) [never done in Theme Team] - Oktoberfest - Beer (Water) powers, Oktoberfest costumes 28 Sep - Positron 1+2 (Level 8+) - THEM! All insect motif (another of Rich’s original themes from page 1 of this thread!) Signups for 14 Sep: @FrauleinMental Bug Sapper - Kinetic Melee / Electric Armor Brute (trial unlocked) @Burnt Umber Super-Radiance - Kin./Energy Defender @TrixieKixx QT Pie - Kinetic Melee / Energy Aura Stalker @TraumaTrain Squiggly Marks - Kin Melee/Dark Armor Scrapper @TygerDarkstorm Glitched Out - Electric/Kin Controller @Midnyte TBD @Jaxman100 Bourbon neat - Ar/Kin Corr ?? I'm still tracking signups for "An Arachnos Shardtober" (Dr. Q 40+, others 44+, all VEATs), but on last week's post just to keep it in one place.

Like a hero(ine) who shows up in our darkest hour, this game reappeared just in time for the Dark Times. It's also gotten me through two interstate moves (and job changes). You got me reminiscing and going back through the early pages of the thread. First appearance: 3 Oct 2020 with Coffee Ring for the Gloomy Boomy theme (Dark, Ice Mistral SF). (A week later was the Food and Drink Costume Contest, where she got a runner-up title.)

I didn't see any objections or edits, so here are our themes for September: 7 Sep - Soul of the Woodsman (Numina, Level 35-40) - NuMMina TF (one of Rich’s original themes from page 1 of this thread!) 14 Sep - Cavern of Transcendence (Karsis, Level 12-15) [last Theme Sep 2022] (Note: Unlock required for leader) - “Pinball Wizard” - Kinetics or Kinetic Melee powerset 21 Sep - Terra Volta Respec #2 (James Harlan, Level 34-43) - Oktoberfest - Beer (Water) powers, Oktoberfest costumes [As far as I can tell, we've never done TVspec 2 or 3 in Theme.] 28 Sep - Positron 1+2 (Level 8+) - THEM! All insect motif (another of Rich’s original themes from page 1 of this thread!) 7 Sep is Full in celebration of one of Rich's original themes! @FrauleinMental Project Isabelle - Bots/Rad MM @TygerDarkstorm Xanthia - Mercs/Cold MM @Bananiac TBD @Burnt Umber TBD - Ninja/Marine MM @TrixieKixx Abyssal Oracle - Demon/Dark Miasma MM @Midnyte Midnight Dreary - Necro/Dark MM @TraumaTrain Bank Job - Thugs/Kinetics @Jaxman100 Lich Pool - Necro/Marine On the horizon, October is a month-long theme: “An Arachnos Shardtober” (Arachnos invasion - All VEATs), running through all four Shadow Shard TFs as they rotate into WSTs. I'm leveling my first-ever Arachnos Soldier (Crab Spider) just for this occasion. And I think we're still hoping on 2 Nov to run Dr. Kane's House of Horror (Level 15-29, 4 players per team) with an Illusion power, Halloween costume theme (otherwise, it's MLTF). Since there's been a request for signup for "An Arachnos Shardtober" (Dr. Q 40+, others 44+, all VEATs), I'll start tracking those as well: @Glacier Peak Fortunata Non Grata - Arachnos Widow @FrauleinMental Orb Mistress - Arachnos Soldier @Bananiac TBD @Midnyte TBD

It's almost like too many people in the Federation know about 31 and they're using the plot of the new show as a disinformation campaign to convince Federation citizens that nothing like 31 could possibly exist.

The issue wasn't replicated on this week's Indom CoP. We tried two runs, first without Marine powers and second with. No apparent difference, though we may have taken down AoR too quickly to see it. It seemed last week to be AoR becoming Unaffected by attacks a few seconds early, as if his shield were back up early (preceding the shield animation by a few seconds). I'm wondering if the +Recharge buff from the Shifting Tides power may be affecting enemies as well as allies, but it's mostly conjecture so far.

3 Aug - Abandoned Sewer Trial (Mairenn MacGregor, Level 38-50) - "Follow the Leader" (First person to sign up chooses the AT for the entire group; any costume) 10 Aug - Beast of the Mountain (Virgil Tarikoss, Level 15-20) - "Fighting Fire with Fire" (Any AT/powers; Fire/Demon/Necromancy-themed costumes) 17 Aug - The MegaMech Cometh (Ernesto Hess, 25-30) (Note: Unlock required for leader) - "Striga Infiltration" (Any AT/powers, Council costumes) 24 Aug - Following Countess Crey (Manticore, Level 30-35) - “Summer Blockbuster” (Dress up as your favorite action movie character; any AT/powers) 31 Aug - Temple of the Waters (Operative Renault, Level 25-30) - "Overwatered Plants" (At least one Plant powerset; Plant costumes) @FrauleinMental Norn Embla - Plant/Nature Controller @TrixieKixx Ima Wallflower - Plant/Nature Controller @Burnt Umber Marcor - Rad./Bio. Brute @Midnyte Flora Volta - Garden Frost - Plant/Icy Dominator @TygerDarkstorm Marsh Madness - Water/Plant Blaster (maybe) @Jaxman100 - Jaxon Brand - Spines/Bio Stalker ?? ??

Done! So glad to hear from you and that you're progressing at least day-by-day. Hope to see you next week!

Welcome home! If you hang out in Atlas Park enough, you'll find people forming for the Death from Below (DFB) trial, which can take you from level 1 to around 10 pretty quickly. And whatever the Weekly Strike Target (WST) is, you can find or form one relatively easily. (Check the LFG tab in your Chat window, and this week's WSTs are faintly highlighted in purple.) I think Glacier Peak is right about supergroups (SGs). On Homecoming (HC), you can form a SG by yourself. Anecdotally, I've been keeping my own SG for storage and zone teleports since my IRL friends dropped away from our common SG. I do see one or two large SGs (Island of Misfit Toys, I think they called themselves?) forming once in a while, and there are a few open transport SG bases (e.g., IIRC, TOUR-5307) that just have telepads for the common good.

3 Aug - Abandoned Sewer Trial (Mairenn MacGregor, Level 38-50) - "Follow the Leader" (First person to sign up chooses the AT for the entire group; any costume) 10 Aug - Beast of the Mountain (Virgil Tarikoss, Level 15-20) - "Fighting Fire with Fire" (Any AT/powers; Fire/Demon/Necromancy-themed costumes) 17 Aug - The MegaMech Cometh (Ernesto Hess, 25-30) (Note: Unlock required for leader) - "Striga Infiltration" (Any AT/powers, Council costumes) 24 Aug - Following Countess Crey (Manticore, Level 30-35) - “Summer Blockbuster” (Dress up as your favorite action movie character; any AT/powers) 31 Aug - Temple of the Waters (Operative Renault, Level 25-30) - "Overwatered Plants" (At least one Plant powerset; Plant costumes) @FrauleinMental Jean-Luc Wick - Beam Rifle/Willpower Sentinel @Burnt Umber Baryosynthesis - Rad/Regen Sent @TrixieKixx Sandy Claws - Claws/Invulnerability Scrapper @Midnyte Crystal Storme - Storm/Stone Sentinel dressed as Sarah Connor ?? ?? ?? ??

I'll be there on the 24th! For this week (17th Aug), I have the two badges so I can swap to an alt if it's useful.

I've come up with some themes for September and Shardtober. Since I have them early enough, I thought I'd throw them out for comments/suggestions. Suggested themes for September: 7 Sep - Soul of the Woodsman (Numina, Level 35-40) - NuMMina TF (one of Rich’s original themes from page 1 of this thread!) 14 Sep - Cavern of Transcendence (Karsis, Level 12-15) [last Theme Sep 2022] (Note: Unlock required for leader) - “Pinball Wizard” - Kinetics or Kinetic Melee powerset 21 Sep - Terra Volta Respec #2 (James Harlan, Level 34-43) - Oktoberfest - Beer (Water) powers, Oktoberfest costumes [As far as I can tell, we've never done TVspec 2 or 3 in Theme.] 28 Sep - Positron 1+2 (Level 8+) - THEM! All insect motif (another of Rich’s original themes from page 1 of this thread!) “An Arachnos Shardtober” – Month-long theme (Arachnos invasion - All VEATs): 5 Oct - Explorers and Exploiters (Dr. Quaterfield, Level 40-45) [last Theme Oct 2023] (Note: This is faster if everyone has Team Transport, but even then it’s a 2-hour TF.) 12 Oct - The Legend of Ruladak (Sara Moore, Level 44-50) 19 Oct - The Saga of Faathim (Justin Augustine, Level 44-50) [last Theme Apr 2022] 26 Oct - The Saga of Lanaru (Faathim the Kind, Level 44-50) [last Theme Apr 2023] 2 Nov is the weekend right after Halloween, so Dr. Kane's House of Horror (Level 15-29, 4 players per team) might still be up for an Illusion power, Halloween costume theme. Otherwise, the next up in the WST cycle is Ms. Liberty TF (Ms. Liberty, Level 45-50). There is a fair chance I'll be on the road that day, so I may ask for someone to lead. None of these are set yet, so please chime in!

I'll keep that in mind for next month, which I'm already starting to assemble. Also: Shardtober is coming, and I'm considering setting a month-long theme for it. We haven't done the final two Shadow Shard TFs in Theme for quite a while (last Justin Augustine was in April 2022, Faathim the Kind in April 2023).

Sign up for 17 Aug - The MegaMech Cometh (Ernesto Hess, 25-30) - "Striga Infiltration" (Any AT/powers, Council costumes) @FrauleinMental Lost Time - Mind/Time CTRL (TF unlocked) @Burnt Umber Nox Atrissima - Night Widow @Midnyte Global Catastrophe - Seismic/Storm Corruptor @Milrop Mesocyclone - Storm/Ice blaster Cece - Celestiala - Empath/Dark defender (maybe) @Bananiac Smiley Goblin - Beam Rifle / Traps Corruptor ?? ??

Yep, any powerset. I think the original idea was demons and fire, but the Bat'Zul are pretty fire-resistant.

Any interest in the other Praetoria zone events? Laureate in Neutropolis Protester in Nova Praetoria Takedown Artist in Imperial City IIRC, they can be finicky to complete, which might be why people don't seem to do them frequently (or just that they're Goldside).

We'll miss you! Good luck!

Sign up for 10 Aug - Beast of the Mountain (Virgil Tarikoss, Level 15-20) - "Fighting Fire with Fire" (Any AT/powers; Fire/Demon/Necromancy-themed costumes) @FrauleinMental Radical Flambe - Rad/Fire Brute @Burnt Umber Alichino - Demons/Pain MM @ZamuelNow Operative Hugo - Arsenal/Forcefield Controller @Bananiac Chainbow - Arrow/Dark Sentinel @Midnyte Global Catastrophe - Seismic/Storm Corruptor ?? ?? ??

I'll bring Fraulein Mental - Mind/Kin CTRL to each of these.

I don't recall using the Thermite, but I've only done this trial a few times. The Plasma/Particle Cannon is pretty important, and that's what I've always picked up.

That's right--all Blasters! I dropped in my character as a maybe, so that spot's still open if by some chance we get 8 definites.

I'm 50/50 due to travel, so my spot can be taken if we happen to fill up. 3 Aug - Abandoned Sewer Trial (Mairenn MacGregor, Level 38-50) - "Follow the Leader" (First person to sign up chooses the AT for the entire group; any costume) EDIT: All Blasters! @ZamuelNow Ebony Gyro - Elec/Elec Blaster @Midnyte Ginger Sunbeam - Energy/Time Blaster @Burnt Umber Hiemps - Storm/Ice Blaster Cece - Princess Cecilia - elec/elec blaster @Milrop Fireman Joey - fire/fire blaster @FrauleinMental Cryomania - Ice3 Blaster @TygerDarkstorm Ruff Ruff Boom - AR/Dev Blaster @Jaxman100 Tano Jax - Ice/Fire Blaster

Here are the themes for August: 3 Aug - Abandoned Sewer Trial (Mairenn MacGregor, Level 38-50) - "Follow the Leader" (First person to sign up chooses the AT for the entire group; any costume) 10 Aug - Beast of the Mountain (Virgil Tarikoss, Level 15-20) - "Fighting Fire with Fire" (Any AT/powers; Fire/Demon/Necromancy-themed costumes) 17 Aug - The MegaMech Cometh (Ernesto Hess, 25-30) (Note: Unlock required for leader) - "Striga Infiltration" (Any AT/powers, Council costumes) 24 Aug - Following Countess Crey (Manticore, Level 30-35) - “Summer Blockbuster” (Dress up as your favorite action movie character; any AT/powers) 31 Aug - Temple of the Waters (Operative Renault, Level 25-30) - "Overwatered Plants" (At least one Plant powerset; Plant costumes)

I'll bring Fraulein Mental - Mind/Kin CTRL as Magenta. Sometime this weekend, I'll generate the August list.

We're on our last theme for July, so we should get an August slate ready. We have 5 Saturdays in August, and here's what I've pulled from the event calendar for available Weekly Strike Targets [with the WST and theme we did the last 3 cycles]: 3 Aug: Ms. Liberty TF (Ms. Liberty, Level 45-50) [3 Feb: "Knights Templar", all Tanker/Brute team] Future of Freedom (Lord Recluse, Level 45-50) [4 May: Black as Night] Abandoned Sewer Trial (Mairenn MacGregor, Level 38-50) [4 Nov: "A Night at The Arcade" Favorite iconic character from any other pc/console/arcade game from your childhood or other game you play today - Any AT] 10 Aug: Citadel's Children (Citadel, Level 25-30) [10 Feb: Favorite AT, Romantic costumes in Valentine colors] Beast of the Mountain (Virgil Tarikoss, Level 15-20) [11 Nov: "Fatal Flowers", Plant/Nature/Bio costumes and powers] The Eden Trial (Woodsman, Level 39-41) [11 May: Barbarian costumes] 17 Aug: The Lady Grey TF (Lady Grey, Level 45-50) [18 May: All Sybil costumes] The MegaMech Cometh (Ernesto Hess, 25-30) [18 Nov: "World Domination", All Dominator team; Evil genius mastermind costumes from the movies] Pirates of the Skies (Silver Mantis, Level 20-25) [17 Feb: "Build your own Djinn", storm powers, Arabian costumes] 24 Aug: Following Countess Crey (Manticore, Level 30-35) [skipped 25 Nov for Maria Jenkins arc, Thanksgiving weekend] The Sky is Falling (Admiral Sutter, Level 20-40) [25 May: All Blaster team, Military costumes] The Fire and the Flames (Mortimer Kal, Level 20-40) [24 Feb: Warrior costumes] 31 Aug: Market Crash (Ada Wellington, Level 40-50) [2 Mar: Star Trek costumes] Temple of the Waters (Operative Renault, Level 25-30) [2 Dec: All Radiation] The Kheldian War (Moonfire, Level 23-28) [1 Jun: Wolf/Vampire costumes, Claws/Psi/Mind powers] For reference, we did the summer themes for August 2023: 8/5 - Ms. Liberty (Level 45-50 - Blue Side: Independence Port) - Costume to reflect your favorite Summer treat! Any AT 8/12 - Virgil Tarikoss (Level 15-20 - Red Side: Cap au Diable) - Stormy Nights - All Stormy AT's (at least one power) 8/19 - Silver Mantis (Level 20-25 – Red Side – Sharkhead Isle) - Beat the Heat! How bare can you go? All Energy AT's 8/26 - Admiral Sutter (Level 20-40 – Blue Side – Independence Port) - Beach Day - Costume with your best beach look! Any AT I've compiled a few ideas for themes, some from previous discussions in the thread: Costume Contest - Bring a costume you have (or would) bring to a costume contest Disco Forever - Disco/dancing costumes, Skittle ATs (Variety Act) Snow Crash - Bring your dystopian cyber/tech costumes! Highland Games - Scottish (or Highlander) costumes, Bring out your plaid kilts! Steampunk/Victoriana "In love with a Preacher(wo)man" - Clergy-themed costumes, e.g. Priests, Nuns, Buddhist or Zen-Monks, or other religion-inspired costumes Team Dynamo - Electric/Storm/Kinetic powers and costumes, based on Ban's "Drain it like a Pro!" theme Dark Star - All Warshades, dark costumes Supernova - All Peacebringers, bright costumes If we went by cycle, this would be the lineup: 3 Aug - Abandoned Sewer Trial (Mairenn MacGregor, Level 38-50) 10 Aug - Beast of the Mountain (Virgil Tarikoss, Level 15-20) 17 Aug - The MegaMech Cometh (Ernesto Hess, 25-30) 24 Aug - Following Countess Crey (Manticore, Level 30-35) 31 Aug - Temple of the Waters (Operative Renault, Level 25-30) Anyone have preferences/suggestions for WST or Theme?

Focus on getting better, @TrixieKixx, and thank you for leading Theme Team thus far! We'll miss you while you're down, but we'll look forward to seeing you again!