Squid Vicious

“A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” 🥄

I never said it was. I just predicted it was next. 😘

If the server community can come together and adjust to the original Hami design, that would be awesome. There are some good leaders among us! And there are also some folks who may underestimate the importance of clear communication when leading. I had no idea this was a thing, but apparently it was. Can we please agree to reserve the REQUEST chat for raid leaders, for example? This way the rest of us can better follow what our leaders are trying to do. Kkthx The zone changes are just the beginning of a series of ‘corrections’ in store for us on the HC servers, peeps. Up next, the ‘enterbasefromcode’ ‘fix’ for example. You heard it here first! There are other ‘adjustments’ coming too, I’ll bet. (E.G. I don’t think we’ve seen the end of tweaking AE exp or rewards 😎) My theory is: We’re close to an announcement regarding NCSoft negotiations and our HC dev friends will need to ‘fix’ a few more things before big brother begins really observing us and our ‘rogue’ servers in earnest. Got to show our overlords that we haven’t ‘strayed’ too far from the original client as it existed before sunset, I’ll wager. 😇

Last night's movie was called, "Revenge of the Hami" ... at least for the Excelsior: Hive 2 peeps. 😛 I very much appreciated FoxFyre and a few more of the Hive 1 peeps who (after pwning their Jello) zoned over to Hive 2 to assist. Unfortunately, too many folks were unfamiliar with the old-school mechanics, and jumped ship. Plus, there were never really any focus fire leads established through which to target (this is essential it seems to me). We were on the verge of something good, though and were beginning to push past the second bloom of Mitos and just DPSing Hami down, but it just wasn't enough. 😑

Any lag I experienced on Excelsior Hamidon raids was always resolved by turning graphics settings down to minimum before the shift to the 64-bit client. After the shift to 64-bit, graphic setting adjustments during the Hami-farm seemed unnecessary.

For the crowd already possessing tricked out, expensively-equipped enhancements, looking for a new challenge, you bet! These are the Classic Wow purists who love their sandbox. For those who are legitimately trying to earn merits via Hami each night, these heroes may now be potentially shut out of a raid because of a few vocal purists. Who cares if the Zerg isn’t how Hami was intended to be taken out? Apparently not the original devs - who clearly underestimated the power that IO sets and bonuses brought to this classic raid. I’m not disputing the merit of learning how to take him down the original, Mito-clearing way. I’m disputing the actual reasoning behind the timing of ‘fixing’ the population cap bug.

How about making the Incarnate Salvage account bound? 😎

YAY! I noticed also becoming more VISUALLY invisible after patch.

Well ... what did everyone win? Did I miss that?

Well ... I suppose the red side needs its perks. I rest easy knowing how outnumbered they are. Thanks for the response.

Sure thing. On Homecoming's 'live' servers (I'm a HERO on Excelsior), I was offered only (4) Epic Power Pools from which to choose: Energy Mastery Pyre Mastery Arctic Mastery Earth Mastery On 'Justin', I was offered the (4) pools listed above plus the following: Soul Mastery Mace Mastery Leviathan Mastery Mu Mastery So, if it's intended these additional pools are offered only to villain brutes, ok. I'll assume they don't have access to Energy, Pyre, Arctic, or Earth unless they decide to 'go rogue' via the gull, right? We can call it a day then. 🙂

Thanks for this, but I think I'll keep the blue Epic pool I selected - and NOT risk being stuck serving Lord Recluse after I'm done. I mean, really ... all that trust placed on a seagull in Pocket D? 😁

Well hell ... how is a Brute on the Blue side supposed to access those? Can we WITHOUT 'going rogue'? 🤨

I've noticed many more Epic Power Pool choices for my Elec / Fire brute on Justin than on 'live'. Is this intended?

Missed it, AGAIN. I'm just sorry that we can't actually compensate you guys properly for ALL the EXTRA things you do (in excess of overhead and server expenses). I know WHY you can't accept it ... but I don't have to like it. 😛 Keep up the good work and stay away from the drama queens, please!

I've seen your build! It IS a MFingPB ;) I love it! Thank you very much, Orivon! I do think I could lose some slots in Nova, like you suggested, and put them to better use. No need for Phase Shift if I have Quantum Flight. Can slot an additional mule that will improve some stats, etc. You are THE SQUID, O. Thanks for the review. 8)

Thanks very much for the build! I'm primarily a MFing PB, but I couldn't play just ONE Kheldian. :D I count 8 toggles on this build. Given the higher defense and resist numbers achieved with your build, I'm assuming they're on all the time during combat? I really hate managing toggles and the need to reactivate them after having been stunned, etc... :o So I'm looking forward to test driving this build. I was hoping he'd make a good AE farmer ... or at least be able to assist a main tank farmer. ;p You're using the MFing Dwarf powers as set mules. I noticed. It's not viable to trick out a Dwarf-centric build solely for MF-farming?

Thanks again, Orivon! It was a pleasure to meet you in game! And thanks so much for the invite to SG! Truly, nothing was quite so frustrating and exhilarating at the same time after finally reaching 50 - to realize that there was a way to really enjoy the utility human form offers while also taking full advantage of both alien forms! I hope you don't mind if I make some comments, brainstorm, and ask you some random specific questions? 1. How did you determine the flight speed cap with energy flight and quantum acceleration? How do figure out the cap on this for any AT for that matter? Better to fly in human form with Quantum Acceleration for the improved inertial control, speed, and defense, than to fly in Nova form, right? You'd need to slot Nova with something to cap speed in this form, I'm guessing. 2. Your build omitted Glowing Touch. As I was leveling with friends, I found this 'heal-other' power useful! It has come in handy in some higher level missions too ... but I can see why you chose to not heal others ... we need the slots. Particularly with high end content, I think my efforts are better used in the pursuit of DPS for team, than the (back-up) utility of a healer. 3. Let's talk about Knockback. I was always sensitive not to compromise the herd of mobs so as to maximize AE DPS efficiently with teams ... so Gleaming Blast, Solar Flare, and Dawn Strike were always those situational powers to use when we had the bad guys all bunched in a nook or cranny on a mission map. That is - until I found the Sudden Acceleration enh set! It doesn't look like Knockback concerns you in your build. Did I waste my influence buying a couple KB - KD enhs for Solar Flare and Dawn Strike respectively? (Boy were they expensive on the AH) 4. OMG, I did not realize we can use Light Form while in Nova or Dwarf form! Or did I misunderstand? 5. I have always been a 'click-the-power-button' type of hero ... so assigning binds for them would be somewhat of a challenge for me ... but considering how seamless I've seen you dart in and out of our kheldian forms, I am willing to give it another go. Advice? Essential vs. nice to have? 6. Inner Light used when available, but not priority? I see only one slot used in your build. 7. I regret removing the melee powers from my current build. Radiant and Incandescent Strikes are simply too nice to omit in melee range of the bad guys. I could be blasting away at a boss for over 30 seconds and barely scratch the surface, and one carefully-timed Radiant Strike would do the trick (or most of it). Incandescent Strike is awesome too, but I utterly HATE the activation time for it! 8. If I embrace the core essence of your build, it will take some effort not to be anxious about the missing shield powers. They've served me so well up to 50! OMG, I'm naked and exposed!! 9. One slot recharge on Hasten? That isn't Perma-ed, is it? 10. I need some serious coaching on the Incarnate stuff (slotting Alpha, etc ... after 50). I've read your choices for enhs in your slots ... but how in the sam-squid hell did you get these? :) 11. I also need some serious influence and Merit Rewards to actually pay for some of the build you've achieved! /bow /praise Looks like I'll be doing Hamidon raids as often as I can. I am quite fond of his Hami-Os. I mean to use them where I can in my build too. Ouroboros Flashbacks, here I come. Hmmm ... what to do with all these AE tickets? :) Thanks so much for inspiring me to change the way I think about the Kheldians, Orivon! Cheers!~ SV

Thank you for the response, for clarifying, and for the /chanjoin tip! Cheers!~

Ok, help me out here. I was in the Hive between 10:00PM and 10:30PM last night. There was no Hami raid at the usual time ... so when exactly did Excelsior do this yesterday? As an aside ... why wouldn't anyone chime in on LFG to let me know (after asking about it in LFG THREE SEPARATE TIMES) that I had missed it or that it was scheduled for X:XX o'clock? When did you all raid him - before the fireworks or after everyone was punch drunk afterwards? :) Can we keep a thread on the raid times somewhere or schedule somewhat consistently so folks can make time to join in? Asking for a friend.

Uber! Help me out though ... what exactly are "set mules"? Does that refer to slotting a power you've taken simply as a placeholder for a particular enhancement or enhancements that give you some side benefit not provided elsewhere in your build?

Pretty much, generally between 9-10pm EST. Nice. So it's been a minute since I was in a Hami raid. Don't we form up in the Hive? I remember flying through "Eden" to get there and staging on some rocks and killing a bunch of devouring earth while waiting to form up. ;p

Orivon - I'm an aspiring PB on Excelsior too! I prefer to remain in human form to take advantage of all utility the non-alien form possesses, but I'm very intrigued at your build. I am also overwhelmed at the idea of upgrading to 'sets' to maximize my potential. Perhaps I've underestimated their power, but I am wary considering how powerful Solar Flare and Dawn Strike are! Hope to chat with you in game one day!