Tahliah

Frost! OMG, I was completely digging your play throughout the whole tf. Yeah, I thought my memory was faulty on the time, it probably was 24 mins. I'm thinking the Manti may have been 40. Anyway, it was truly awesome to run with you, your toon really rocked that tf.

Sorry for the late report, but I've had RL stuff take over the past couple days. Anyway, our sixteenth (I think, I'm losing track!) all plant troll (and dom) team was another raging success. We had a total of twelve planters show up, and we ran two teams: the regular team who ran the Manticore tf on our way to Task Force Commander, and the team of fabulous new planters who went off and did their own thing until we finished up. I have run Manti dozens, maybe hundreds, of times over the years, and I have to say that an all plant troll/dom Manti run is by far my favorite. We had eight planters on our team by 9 p.m. EST on the dot, and off we went! We absolutely wrecked it. We were so darned powerful that we may have occasionally over-estimated our awesomeness and broke off from the group, but even then, pure wreckage ensued. We mopped the floor with the Crey, and many planters kept marveling at how awesome it is to be able to lock down every single Paragon Protector before they can . . . do whatever it is they do that makes them untouchable. I think I saw only one or two that managed it, and that was at /x8! It was a wild time of auras, debuffs, buffs, Spirit trees, creepers, vines, flytraps, and genuine great fun. It was so exciting! We just rolled through mobs of Crey like they were greys (they were yellows, reds, and purples); it was so fun! So after we finished Manti, we all got together for a post-Manti group shot. Perhaps as an emblem of our love of plant troll chaos, we all seem to be facing in different directions. Love! We completed Manti in just over an hour, so we had lots of time to kill and thought an ITF would be fun, but several of our planters decided to call it a night. Down to four and with our -lvl 30 planters on a full team having tons of fun, we decided to run the weekly for the double merits. It turned out to be Penelope Yin, which we just ran last week, but it's a fun tf and who doesn't LOVE double merits when building a new and beloved plant troll or dom? So off the four of us went to IP to get that Yin party started. It was a blast, we filled with randoms from LFG, but they were totally awesome and did they ever bring it! We raced through Yin in no time at all (like 40 24 mins or so, and it was not a speed run, nor were we in a particular hurry, we just wrecked it). After that, we joined up with our -lvl 30 sg mates for some tip missions in AP. That was a blast, but my goodness, after an eventful two TF plant night, I was exhausted and had to bail on our newest sg mate who joined us well into our tip runs in AP. Sorry about that! Heh. So next week we will wrap our Task Force Commander accolade with the Numina tf. Honestly, I thought Synapse and Manti would take a couple hours, but our team is so much awesome that we had tons of time left over and could have even doubled up! The Numi hunts may be challenging, but . . . oh, who am I kidding? We'll wreck that tf in no time and have our TFC wrapped up with a pretty green bow. On Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST on Excelsior, all planters lvl 35+ will meet in Founders Falls for the Numina tf. All planters under 35 can meet in the sg base or just log on and be teamed from the Parks and Wreck SG or Parks and Wreck chat channel. If you are interested in joining us, please do! We welcome all new plant trolls (and doms) with open stems and run fun all plant teams that will blow your mind. Join the chat channel and shout out for an sg invite or send a tell to me @Tahliahor to our sg leader Irresponsible Creeper @GreenAx

Heh, yeah, that was us. There were four of us at that point, and after the first mish, we did try to hold back and at least let the tank do his thing. Our sg leader Irresponsible Creeper runs a tank as his main, so he tried to get us to rein it in for the tank's sake . . . but that may not have worked out since we were all in plant team mode still after an amazingly fun Manti tf. 😛 Your plant/nature is WELCOME to join us any Tuesday! We meet at 9 p.m. EST on Excelsior, so send a tell to me @Tahliahor to @GreenAx (we were both on that Yin), and we'll get you in the sg (if you want, it's not required, but it does help with communication and meeting up/teaming) or you can join the Parks and Wreck chat channel that serves the same purpose, though not everyone in the sg is in the chat (and vice versa).

Are people saying that leveling is too easy or that it's too easy once we are incarnate? I'm confused here. If it's leveling, then, no, it's definitely not too easy. If we're talking about incarnates doing regular game content, then yeah, upping the diff doesn't change anything except give me more pesky gnats to swat down (which in turn becomes boring, as I noted above). Incarnates doing incarnate level content (i.e. DA and trials) I don't think is too easy, either. I guess some people must think regular content prior to 50 is too easy since we see calls for low level tfs at +4/x8, which is insane to me (even masochistic), but I can see how people would think regular lvl 50 content is too easy for incarnates unless the diff is bumped up (we're running at +1 ourselves, after all, plus we have awesome incarnate powers). I laughed my ass off when I saw people in PI during the Halloween event using their judgement on those pitiful little vamps and witches that spew out when you knock a door. So not needed, but hey, it's fun, so why not? Being incarnate is FUN, and it's not like every player will go to the trouble of making their every toon incarnate (many people don't even bother to play to 50 at all, and those of us who do, don't care to pursue that on every single alt. I have two incarnate 50s, and I am planning on only two more in the foreseeable future--neither is 50 now). For example, my fully slotted incarnate alt can solo content that the exact same AT with the exact same powers cannot in a million years. That's how it's supposed to be; I invested a great deal of time, planning, hours, inf, and FUN into building my main. I have other ice blasters who are working their way up and can't even begin to handle what she can with her purple, superior, and full IO sets (plus procs and all the other love we give our favorites). That's okay, it's even good. I WANT her to be fantastic and fun and god-like. I don't need, want, expect, or intend to put that much love into every single toon I roll. Ultimately, then, we should not change the game to make incarnates less fabulous, and we don't need to change it to make regular, leveling content more challenging. It already is, and we can up the diff if we need to while leveling (again, I think it's just annoying at the incarnate level to have to kill 30 instead of 10 enemies when my health doesn't dip once in the entire "fight"--and I run a blaster, an AT known for face-planting. Often.).

This is the biggest problem for blasters as far as I am concerned. I don't worry too much about most resist/defense (cold, fire, smashing, ranged, etc.), but I do worry a lot about anything that renders me helpless (with one or two blasts, granted). If I can move, I can get out of the range or LoS of those other damage types, if I can't move, I'm dead. To that end, I tend to turn not only to set bonuses but to procs. Here are a few that I use on my main with great results (i.e. it is now taking me forever and a day to get the mez, hold, slept badges!): Reactive Defenses (Scaling resistance) Impervious Skin (Mez resist) Impervium Armor (Psionic resist) Aegis (Psionic/Mez resist) There are a lot of other procs, plus set bonuses, that can help with this, but just these will greatly improve your ability to resist Rikti, Carnies, Talons, Arachnos, etc.

I think that all of these discussions about difficulty do miss this point completely. There is nothing inherently more difficult about killing 30 instead of 10 baddies that you can easily kill anyway. It just takes longer and gets boring more quickly than just steamrolling the 10 throughout a map. I see nothing challenging about fighting at /x8 at all, to be honest (unless I'm on a troll, then it is kind of more fun). If I can kill four on my incarnate blaster, I can kill 8 or 10 or 30. Shrug. And your point about upping the diff to +5 and up is also spot on. If I can't hit anything or do any damage, I'm not going to be challenged or find it "hard." I'm going to be aggravated and annoyed, and every mission will take forever (adding to the aggravation and annoyance factor). Ultimately, the only solution to the "problem" of some players finding the game too easy is very limited: either gimp everyone or make the enemies stronger in a way that is balanced and includes every element from level to damage to resistance to defense to debuffs, and etc. The first choice is ridiculous and will cause far more turmoil and rage than the "easiness" of the game, and the second would take a major overhaul by the devs (who are currently working for freaking free). I say just leave well enough alone until a real solution can be found that will make everyone happy or at least not totally alienate the majority of players (as would gimping everyone to make it "harder").

Interesting observation that I've never considered before, but you're right, blasters do have more attacks to choose from. I'm a clicker, so I have three trays open in the bottom right of the screen and just click the powers I need when I need 'em. I use them all, so it's more about how you plan your attack chain and mitigation. I group my attacks/mitigation to the left and then have other powers I use all the time on the right in these three trays. For example, I don't keep any toggles in these three trays (i.e. leadership pool, frigid protection, ice armor, auto hasten--the last is not really a toggle, but on auto, I just set it and forget it like a toggle). I have them in a vertical tray on the far right of my screen. Then I keep my main attacks, immob, and holds (i.e. Ice Blast, Chilblain, Freeze Ray, etc.) in tray 1, mitigation/cone (i.e. Shiver, Frost Breath, etc.) in tray 2, aim and build up in tray 3--I also have ice patch here and Blizzard, so they are all grouped to the left of the trays and easily accessible. To the right of these three trays, I keep travel, ouro, self rez, and whatever day job powers I might have that I'm likely to use in a fight (like heal ally). It sounds more complicated than it plays, though, so ymmv.

I love this! I have some lowbies I can get the Rescue the Mystic on. I'll get it set up and send you a tell.

Peacebringer. When they first came out, I was super excited not just to get fly at level 1 but to have another "blaster" type AT to play. Then, like now, I prefer range to melee, so yay! Omg, I hated that AT with a passion and barely got her to 20, maybe 22ish, and only then because my SG mates were into the new Kheldian experience thing. Ugh. Happily, that wore off pretty quickly, and I was thrilled to move her to the bottom of my character list and forget all about her (until now). I'm also not a fan of sentinels. I just can't get into them at all. They don't do enough damage to my mind, and they don't have enough def/resist to make them worth the effort to keep up with their crazy end needs. They aren't blasters, and they aren't scrappers . . . sents seem to be a "trying to be all things to all players" AT. And as is often the case when you try to be all things to all people, you end up nothing much. That said, I will admit that I haven't got a sent above the mid-20's for these very reasons, so they may get better later, but I just can't bear to play them long enough to find out.

I'm so glad you are enjoying your plant troll! So fun! As to names for your flytrap . . . I usually go with the theme of my toon, so for instance, my Parks and Wreck plant/kin is called Power Plant., and her flytrap is Cord. (as in power cord, but also a cute name for a gutsy sidekick). My plant/emp is called Trapper Jayne, so her flytrap is Hot Lips. I don't have flytrap on Over Thyme yet, since she is only lvl 26ish, but I'm thinking of going with Thyme Card. That might not work with your planter, though, Cloud Song is plant/cold, right? Like you said up thread that sounds almost like a /storm (or even /sonic), but you can still do something themey with it. I also love Termite's flytrap's name, Audrey 2 and have seen some good ones over the years like Hit Point and Sexy Beast. There's also the tried and true option of going with "regular" names like Chuck or Susan which have a jarring effect that makes other players smile at their banality. Well, that make me smile, anyway. Heh.

Absolutely! You can run with us and join our sg! We'll be meeting in Bricks at 9 p.m. EST, so can't wait to see you there. 🙂

Of course not! As long as you meet the minimum level, you are welcome! I just love your spirit in the face of so much adversity and can definitely understand wanting to play your new favorite plant troll as much as possible before you are forced to take a break from the game. We'll be here, though, when you get back! So you'll have something to look forward to. :)

Case in point. I occasionally see LFGs for a low-level TFC tf that requires people "apply" with their AT, power selections, etc. It's absurd on its face (how pathetic do you need to be to join these control freak elitists?), but people do join. But here's the thing, I respect those team leaders far more than I do those who withhold key information (this is a speed run, this is a +4/x8 run of Posi). Communication is key, but when you're in LFG starting a tf, the communication onus is on you as team leader.

I guess I just don't think it should be a two-way street unless the team leader specifically asks about "bumping" the diff. If you're running a tf, let it be known what you are doing, don't depend on me to join and then ask about the diff level or approach. It's YOUR team, you're the leader. If you don't know what you're doing or what is important for other team members to know, don't start a tf team. No member should have to join a tf and then interrogate the team leader about their plans; it should be known up front. Period.

Ugh, if comes down to a major Q&A who will ever join a pug tf? Best for the team leader to announce the plan (+4 or whatever, speed, kill all/most) and leave it. If I have to pass out a check list to team leaders upon joining their team, not only will I never be asked to join them again, but I would hate me. Advertise what you're doing and be done with it. Anyone who joins knows the score and is happy with it. How hard is that?

Okay, that's just awesome. Me? I want clowns! Hehe

It is. I have the best time in Praetoria with MMs, but I'm also finding it very doable on my main (an ice/ice blaster, but she's tricked out. I definitely don't recommend a blaster for Praetoria if you solo and can't find teams). I love the writing Goldside, and thoroughly enjoy all the arcs. Praetoria itself is simply gorgeous. It's just a tough slog for most ATs solo and not very populated for teaming. That said, if you're on Excelsior and want to run Goldside, hit me up! :)

I go for Face 4, mostly, I think that's the one that looks like she's startled and amazed that she's a hero. I did choose the smiley face for my superhero toon because I just felt that she would be smiling. A lot. At her awesomeness. But typically, I find it kind of goofy looking, which is pretty much what I needed for Rad Girrl, anyway. I do use the supernatural face where you can change the eye color on a demon MM, but mostly I stick to the first few faces (not the crazy angry one). I see the back of their heads most of the time, so I don't tend to second guess these choices as much as I do the costume choices I can actually see in-game.

Me three! Well, get your recruiting game on and let's get up to 24 planters so we can find out! My guess? We'll rock the heck out of it, including getting the ever-elusive Gotta Keep 'Em Separated badge.

I don't think I'd even notice a +1, so I wouldn't have an issue with this at all. And oddly, I do like to run lvl 50 tfs higher, starting at +1/2 for pugs, for instance, but typically +3/4 for the team I usually run with. I think the pug factor changes things significantly, as does the level of the tf. If we all have like two actual attacks (not including vet powers we pick up from P2W), then it just seems nuts to crank it up past +0/1. Just my two inf.

I really hate to join a pug tf and find that it's set at +4/x8 (or even at +2, etc.). I think it's great for people who like to slog through Posi or Synapse at those settings, but it is not my idea of fun or a good use of my time. Mostly, though, on Excelsior at least, team leaders do advertise what they are running at and also whether it will be a speed or kill/all/most tf. This is important information because you couldn't pay me enough money to join at "speed" tf (when almost all the missions are kill all, anyway) set at +4/x8. That said, I'm sure you couldn't pay other players to NOT run that way. It's all good. What is not good is not letting people know what you are doing when you advertise for a tf. Joining a tf does not put me at the mercy of lunatics, and I will not spend four hours running a two hour tf because someone thinks it's a good idea to run it at +4/x8 and the team spends more time team wiped and in the hosp than in the missions. If that's your thing, you're welcome to it, but don't expect me or anyone else to stay if you haven't made clear what kind of tf you are running. And no, a tf set at +0 is definitely not a speed run. Speed runs may indeed be set that low (though this seems rare?), but they tend to include just meeting mission objectives as quickly as possible, including ghosting, team splitting to achieve mission objectives more quickly, ignoring all ambushes, most members with TT or some form of TP, and the like. I will join them for the weeklies sometimes, but since I know what I am getting into, that's on me. 😛 [Edit to add: I have been on tfs that started out set "too low" for the team leader, and when the leader suggests "bumping" it up after "this mission," several of us chime in with please, no. Let's just get this done, get the badge, the merits, the Notice, whatever, and move on with our lives. Such leaders have always been receptive to the team's wishes, and we carry on and get the job done and move on to other fun stuff.]

You're never too late to the all plant troll (and dom) party! We have a great crew and are having a complete blast running our planters and enjoying great company as we go. This is a fun group and we are focused on casual fun and awesome plant wreckage, so if that is your preference, you'll be very welcome with us. 🙂 We just meet up each week, have a marvelous time bantering and wrecking baddies, and occasionally form impromptu plant teams if there are enough of us on and available. We are seeing a surge in new planters joining our crew (yay!), so there is every possibility that we may run a second night each week for those who are just starting out. Those of us who have been with the group since day one are in our 40s now and very eager to hit the big 5-0 and become incarnate godlets! So we're definitely not abandoning our carefully tended plant trolls/doms and their set Tuesdays, but there's no rule that says we can meet only on Tuesdays. I have poor old abandoned Over Thyme who is just gathering weeds at this point, plus a couple of lvl 2s parked in the sg, as do many of us. Who knows? We may find a time to bring them out for their chance at plantie glory! If you might not be able to actually join in for a couple months (I certainly understand when RL takes over!), no worries. Just join our Parks and Wreck chat channel or send a tell to me @Tahliahor to our irrepressible Parks and Wreck sg leader Irresponsible Creeper @GreenAx. We'll get your planter in the sg and even give you a tour of the base! Creeper recently added a maze that is tons of fun, though I do tend to prefer swimming with sharks and dancing at the beach party. Heh.

Awesome! And love that name, too. Not sure if you can put her in the sg or not since you mentioned you are running her with your sg, but if not, no worries, just join the Parks and Wreck chat channel to communicate with and be part of our crew. :) Or you can just show up in Bricks on Tuesday, we'll be meeting at Manti for the tf fun!

I love the chaos, too! It's part of what makes all plant trolls/doms teams so much fun. It was great to run with you last night, and I can't wait to run Manti next week, too. Woots!

Awesome ,thanks for the recap, @krj12! You do in few words and awesome screenshots what I take forever to do each week. Nice! So we did indeed have a blast on the Cit tf, and we zoomed through it in about an hour. I think the timer thing was at an hour and a minute, but in my excitement, I clicked it closed too fast to be sure. So next week, we will be doing the next task force on our way to our Task Force Commander accolade: Manticore. This tf requires a minimum level of 30. We will meet on Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST on Excelsior in Brickstown. The following week we will finish up our TFC goal with Numina (lvl 35+). Once these are finished, we will do content that every planter of any level can join, and we have been so happy to have so many new people join since we set our TFC schedule. In fact, there are quite a lot of planters who are not yet lvl 30, but there is no need to sit out the next two plant nights! Go ahead and log on with your planter next Tuesday night, no matter your level. There should be plenty of your fellow Parks and Wreck sg mates to run a plant team for mission arcs, radios, tips, a lower level tf, or whatever sounds like planty fun!