Tahliah

That's great, @RothenOrderCOH! We'll love to have you join us! While we don't pick back up our Tuesday schedule until January, we are meeting on Thursdays for the next two weeks (at 9 p.m. EST on Excelsior). If you can make those, you'll get plenty of levels and be fine going into our TFC schedule. If not, you may want to get to at least 20-25ish because some of the later tfs we are doing are 25-35, and those levels come slower. Our crew liked that schedule, so we will be sticking with it until we complete our TFC accolade. Yay! We'll be running (at least) 30-35ish Winter Event missions/stuff on Thursday, December 26th, so your lvl 12 would certainly get a lot of xp running with us. And xp booster would also help if you like using those. Likewise, we will be running (at least) 35+ish content on Thursday January 2nd, so again, a good time to get some xp while have a blast on our plant troll team. I'm not sure what we'll be doing that night, but we'll decide when we meet this Thursday (I'll post it afterwards so everyone knows). Anyway, welcome!! It'll be great to run with you whenever you can make it.

Heh, so true, @VV! Plants are slow killers solo, even with Flytrap, Creepers, and Fulcrum Shift, when compared to some other controllers. My ill/kin crushes mobs solo and is a blast to play either solo or on teams. I typically only team on plant trolls because they are so much slower, but they are fun for stuff like Halloween or opening presents solo. All that said, once you get your plant troll up to 50 and get him or her slotted out, you'll find a big difference in damage (depending on how you build). I love to duo my 50 plant troll and she solos well, too, though that's not my first choice on her (I love to solo my main, a blaster, so I may be spoiled in terms of dps). And all that said, I'm so thrilled that you rolled yours on Excelsior and will be joining our plant troll team festivities!! Yay!

Aw, that's so sweet! But it's okay, I'll be running a bunch of stuff to get some. I need to earn it anyway for my badges :) Thank you so much, though!

Emmy, you so rock! I'm glad I'm not the only one getting trade declines, it's kind of disheartening, but I think people are suspicious if they don't know how trades work. That said, even on the trade declines, I would send the player a tells saying I just wanted to give them influence and expected nothing in return. When I didn't hear anything back, I went ahead and tried to trade again (thinking maybe they didn't know how to respond to tells; I didn't at first, who did?). But nothing. I did get some success with the Local, so that is a great idea! I seriously need to run an MSR or two, though, as I'm running out of Holiday Cheer to spread. Hee!

Oh! And I got a large heal insp back, too! I was kind of touched to be honest. :D

Okay, I am beginning to get a complex of some kind. I'm having a horrible time trying to give away free influence. I did have some success with Emmy's blind trade idea, so cool and people are so happy! But today was just bizarre. I had four turn my trade down in a row (I'd already been successful with a few others, but the streak was weird), so I sent tells that I just wanted to spread holiday cheer. Nothing. So I decided to just Local that I was standing around giving out free influence to people. I got three responses. THREE. And AP (I'm on Excelsior) was laggy full. So the one guy was in a DFB and told me to email him the infl. I did, but if you know enough that you can email infl, I'm guessing you don't need it. LOL But spreading holiday cheer is our message, and whose lowbie new roll doesn't need a million? The second two were awesome, I just ended up giving them both $5 million and telling them I was on a mission from @Marine X. I got my day done, but it was a squeaker. :P

We typically only run for two to three hours once a week, but I get that 9 p.m. EST on Tuesdays (Thursdays for the next two weeks) might be a bad/off time for you for any number of reasons. That said, if you and/or your friend are ever on while we are running, you are both more than welcome to join us and experience the real thing! :P

Yes, Carrion Creepers swirl and bat around, smacking baddies and generally being marvelous! You can see them in the last of @krj12's screenies above. They are the tall viney looking things toward the back of the shot. One great thing about all the respecs we get on Homecoming is that you can try all of the powers as you level and then respec out of them later if you don't like them or find you no longer need them. I typically will respec out of Spirit Tree, for example, on post 50 plant trolls because by that time, it's just not needed on teams any longer. Everyone has their incarnates rocking and the minor heals from ST are not even noticed.

Awesome, @VV! We'd love to have you join us on your shiny new plant/kin. I love plant/ and /kin and the combo is lots of fun! It's very different than grav, but lots of fun. Yes, Carrion Creepers is one of those "must have" powers to me. YMMV, but they are incredible in terms of damage, debuff, and even control (they'll flop baddies around and otherwise keep them busy). I typically aim for perma Creepers, they're that good! I haven't tried Leviathan, but I think Coralax is awesome (and so perfect for plant!). (As an aside, my second favorite Halloween costume is the Coralax one!). We're a bit off-schedule for the next two weeks due to the holidays falling on Tuesdays, but you are welcome to join us next Thursday (and/or the following Thursday) on your new planter. After that, we'll be back to Tuesdays and will pick up our TFC accolades on the 7th with Synapse, so you'll want your toon to be at least lvl 15 by then (which will happen in one night with us between now and then!). Yay! So happy to have you join us!! :)

Best. Plant. Night. Evah. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but oh my goodness was tonight's Posi plant adventure awesome! We started our twelfth all plant troll/dom night with six planters, and we decided to broadcast in LFG for two more planters to round out our all-plant troll/dom Posi 1 tf. Two completely awesome planters joined us for the Posi tfs (both 1 and 2) and our Parks and Wreck sg. Yay!! We had such a hilariously good time bantering and strangling (er "hugging") our way through Posi 1 that I was surprised when we got the tf mission complete window! It was that fun, and I had completely lost track of time. So after Posi 1, one of our planters had to get going, so we decided to send out another LFG for an eighth planter to round out our Posi 2 team. We had a taker, but that toon ended up being a defender. Well, what can ya do? So we *hugged* our new oddball emp/ and carrioned on. I have to say that the CM was most welcome and the def ran a great emp, so our hope is that s/he will roll a plant/emp to join our Parks and Wreck crew on a regular basis! Mostly, we just had a blast all night. We strangled and vined and wrecked mobs like butter . . . even on a lowbie Posi tf. It was wondrous and super good fun. We were (unofficially) Task Force Kickass, and we reveled in our planty awesomeness. Having completed both Posi 1 and 2, and thus getting yummy merits and that first badge on the way to Task Force Commander, we batted around ideas for the coming weeks. With both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve occurring on Tuesday, we thought we would meet on Thursdays for the next two weeks only. We will leave the TFC schedule (posted above) the same, but next Thursday, for example, we will do Winter Event stuff. We'll do the Snaptooth mish until we all get that badge. Saving ugly little Baby New Year never gets old, right? And we'll do the Lady Winter mish to get that badge and some yummy candy canes, and who knows, we may have a ski challenge for those badges, too! I'll sit that one out since I am the worst at skiing, but I will cheer from the sidelines and have hot cocoa seeds for all planters. We may do some present opening and winter horde killing to add to our planty fun. Winter Lord will not want to meet our creepery, flytrap wrath! Essentially, then, next week will be a fun Winter Event experience for all plant trolls/doms! I may even come up with a festive holiday planty costume for Power Plant., too. Obviously, festive holiday costumes aren't required, but . . . fun! If you want to festoon yourself in holiday happiness, do so! We'll be amazing. If you are interested in running your plant troll/dom with our all plant troll/dom team, don't be shy! We love welcoming new people to our Parks and Wreck crew! The next two weeks will be "off" since we officially meet on Tuesdays; however, the Parks and Wreck crew wants to meet up even with the holidays taking place, so that is going to happen on Thursdays. Next week, we will break for Christmas Eve, which falls on a Tuesday this year, but will meet on Thursday, December 26 at 9 p.m. EST on Excelsior for some Winter Event planty fun and lots of wrecky shinies. If you would like to join us in our wintery plant wreckage next Thursday, you can join our Parks and Wreck chat channel and shout out, and one of us will get you in the sg, or you can send a tell to me @Tahliah. Or just show up in the Ski Chalet and shout out to let us know you are there and want to run with us. All plant trolls and doms of any level are welcome!

Yeah, I think a "general" forum will just open a can of political and religious worms that would create havoc across the forum and that would seep into the game. I'm a "no" for that reason. People have the entire internet (blogs, news sites, social media) to vent their crap about politics and religion, most of us come here to escape all that and just have fun in a game we love and with people we love (and might not, in this political climate, if we knew about their political beliefs). Some kind of specific general forum (how's that for an oxymoron) like on comic books might work, but again, rules would need to be established . . . and enforced.

Just a quick reminder that the Parks and Wreck all plant troll (doms are welcome, too!) will meet tonight at 9 p.m. EST on Excelsior. We are kicking off our Task Force Commander accolade festivities with a Posi tf double feature. The minimum level is 8. We'll run Posi 1 and then run Posi 2 and will likely kick off a little after 9. If you miss Posi 1, you can always join us when we start on Posi 2. If you would like to join us, you can join our Parks and Wreck chat channel and shout out, and one of us will get you in the sg, or you can send a tell to me @Tahliah. Or just show up in Steel and shout out to let us know you are there and want to run with us. All plant trolls and doms of any level (8+ for the tf) are welcome!

Ouro seems to be an easy way to work things like this into the lore? Maybe add a Cim destination there? Even as a separate Cim porter (like the separate Echo porters)?

Thanks @EmmySky! It didn't even occur to me to just surprise people like that! What a lovely gift and happy surprise for them!! I'm doing that starting today and will make up for the fumblings I was trying before. LOL, too, at someone giving you 1 influence in exchange. I remember when I first started playing, someone in AP gave me a million on my very first roll, and I didn't have a thing to give them in exchange, so I gave them a small inspiration! They must have laughed their butts off. :D

So my first and second nights of Christmas didn't go very well (Excelsior). Apparently, everyone who was in AP while I was there was on an alt supported by a very wealthy main. Sigh. I did think I had one when someone asked in Help how to find low-level contacts. Aha! I thought, finally someone new I can give a million inf to! I zipped to AP and begged the person to take my Holiday Cheer. S/He was content learning how contacts worked and assured me that they were "all right" in terms of infl. Sigh. On the bright side, I did help in that regard, so that's good. I will try again tomorrow, but what approaches do you all use? I'm having zero luck just letting people know I want to give them a million inf. Who would have thunk it?

OMG, I thought I was the only one! When soloing, I will literally just stand there for the few seconds it takes Ice Bolt to recharge rather than "waste" Ice Blast (or God forbid, Bitter Ice Blast) on a nearly dead foe. I'll even silently berate myself for using a high dps power "accidentally" (i.e. my autopilot click the attack chain mode is on). On teams, I'll go ahead and "waste" the unneeded DPS for efficiency's sake, but when I'm alone, it just seems . . . wasteful. I don't recall thinking about that back on live, but who knows, I may have. I seem to have forgotten so much while simultaneously remembering more than I thought I had.

I knew you could pick either option, but i did not know that origin bonus worked if your origin did not match the choice. Great to know, thanks! I pick both, but I get the origin bonus only on the Blackwand. Can I get the bonus on both or just one or the other?

If the mission is set, you can use Mission Teleport (available from the P2W vendor). I usually take the Wentworth's porter (day job power) to Steel and the univ is right there. But yeah, a Cim base porter would be great!

Oh noes! I hope you are okay, Apparition. Get well soon!

Count me in on Excelsior!

I had a very similar experience back on Live, too! I was on a plant/emp troll, and the team leader kept telling me to stop "wasting my time" with controls since all the team "really needed" were heals. Unlike you, I chose to comply . . . using only my heals, no buffs (no RA, no CM/fort/AB), no control, no nothing. Just spamming heals. I thought it was hilarious .. . but I'm evil that way. 😛 Edit to add: I just want to point out that I am neither a sadist nor a masochist and left the team after that last mish. I think my point was made when, in the absence of my /emp buffs and plant/ control, the team wiped almost immediately (including me, of course). A "pure" /emp can't keep a stupid team alive, and it's a pretty safe bet that an emp/ can't, either.

It's also important to ALWAYS spam all of your auras and to summon any and all pets everywhere. AP, Ouro, Wentworth's. In fact, you should probably make a habit of going to each place just to do this. Spend hours just standing there, spamming your auras, one by one. It's fun, it's pretty, and people like it! When entering a mish, it's important to guard the door, lest any baddies should come in. While on guard duty, shout out orders to the team (using all caps, for best effect and to ensure your pearls of wisdom are not missed by people who are actually fighting enemies). Demand teleports from your team mates. This is really important because it teaches them teaminess. When you die, stand in the hospital and demand a tp; if someone has to exit the mission to do so, even better! Same when you zone, even if the mish door is right there. You need to conserve your endurance and can't be wasting it on things like traveling to a mission. The best way to do this is to just spam "TP?"over and over in team chat. When you ding a new level, immediately leave the mission and go train. Don't wait for the mission to end, just go. That's what that "ding" means; you have a new level, go train. DO IT NOAW! When on a lengthy tf, be sure to go afk often, particularly if you wish to have a sandwich. Tell everyone, you're going to make a sammich and then disappear for at least half an hour, a whole hour (or two!) is better. People love that because you are sharing your rl with them, and besides, you were just screaming for tps so you could sit by the door waiting to level so you could go train anyway. Join a tf team that specifies it's a "kill all" or "kill most" run and then spend the first half complaining that it's not a speed tf. Then rage quit. People love that! Likewise, join a "speed tf" and complain that it's not a "kill all/most" and then rage quit. You can't lose!

Hasten is a must-have on pretty much any support toon, and I would also use sets to get extra recharge and recovery (I also slot all my support toons with the recovery procs). With set bonuses for recharge, I find that I don't need to even two-slot Hasten; I just use one invention recharge IO and have it boosted x5. (Two would be better, but a plant/emp troll is slot-poor . . . at least the way I've built mine.) I love your idea of using Burnout with Conserve Power, too! Gosh, now you have me really wanting to work on my plant/nature troll who's been sitting idle for months! 😛

Don't beat yourself up! The whole thing was crazy; simply entering the mish resulted in my being immediately deadened. That was the crazy mobs suddenly parking at the door for no real reason, drawn as you say across a HUGE map to where any of us were. It could have been anyone. Heh, I have to agree, whomever created that mish was completely unhappy and wanted us all to die. Over and over. 😛 Or maybe they were secretly hoping to help with our death badges? On the bright side, we got it done, and now that it's over, we can focus on the fun and planty goodness of our TFC adventures. At least we know that we have those TFs in the bag (she says, hoping she didn't just jinx us all!)

Emp is tough until you get recharge AND end use under control, but you can do both by the 30s. Perma whatever is good, but it's not the be all and end all. I kind of don't get this perma fixation, but on /emp, you don't need perma Fort or AB, you just need to be able to support your team.