Themed TF/SF Saturdays

[Bananiac]

So, after a long and exhausting trip back home I am back at home with my loved ones and mentally preparing to head back into the haziness of every day life. After what I now definitely have to call the trip of my lifetime (and that does mean something, because I had a few that were quite special already!)...

 

Thanks @Midnyte and @TraumaTrain for making this happen. It felt awesome, after I already spent the time on the ship with pretty much my oldest friend from childhood - and a guy we basically met on our way to the ship just a week ago, but who already feels like a dear old friend to us now! 

 

I am quite at a loss of words (and you all know how I am with words!) when I try to put it all together and how I would explain this to somebody who hadn't been there...

 

I would gladly pull all levers to make Theme Team Meet Up possible with more of you guys in one location. California would not be a bad choice at all, as my friend Marc (the beardy guy in the pic up there) lives in the Bay Area. 

 

Take care, friends! And meet you in our City or the Isles soon.

 

[TrixieKixx]

23 hours ago, Bananiac said:

So, after a long and exhausting trip back home I am back at home with my loved ones and mentally preparing to head back into the haziness of every day life. After what I now definitely have to call the trip of my lifetime (and that does mean something, because I had a few that were quite special already!)...

 

Thanks @Midnyte and @TraumaTrain for making this happen. It felt awesome, after I already spent the time on the ship with pretty much my oldest friend from childhood - and a guy we basically met on our way to the ship just a week ago, but who already feels like a dear old friend to us now! 

 

I am quite at a loss of words (and you all know how I am with words!) when I try to put it all together and how I would explain this to somebody who hadn't been there...

 

I would gladly pull all levers to make Theme Team Meet Up possible with more of you guys in one location. California would not be a bad choice at all, as my friend Marc (the beardy guy in the pic up there) lives in the Bay Area. 

 

Take care, friends! And meet you in our City or the Isles soon.

 

 

That's so awesome! I live in the Bay Area too 😄 I'm so glad you are home safe and sound!

[TraumaTrain]

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to miss the next couple Saturdays, I think. Other plans and stuff.

[Burnt Umber]

Ah, just remembered that I hadn't signed up yet. I hope to bring Atomi (Grav./Rad. Controller) tomorrow.

[TrixieKixx]

Hey All!

 

We don't seem to have the participation that we used to have, and it's extremely difficult to find anyone to join on the Indomitable server. We failed the WST last week because we only had four people and we needed eight.

 

Would you guys like to move to another server? The only other one I have toons, and a base, on is Excelsior, but I'm sure I could move some over to another one and build a new base. 

 

I know the minimum for Woodsman (Eden Trial) is four and we now have four; however, I'm not sure we can take down the final enemy. What do you think, @FrauleinMental @TygerDarkstorm @Burnt Umber? According to the wikipedia: This is one of the most difficult Trials in the game. Besides the battle with the actual Crystal Titan, the descent is very tough and littered with enemies. 'Descent' is the right word, because the journey begins by falling down several holes in the ground; heroes who can teleport and fly are very helpful here. Here's the full wiki article so you can read about it and then let me know. I'm okay with cancelling if we can't do it.

 

ETA: @Bananiac has now joined the team so we have five.

Edited May 13, 2022 by TrixieKixx

[Bananiac]

On 5/7/2022 at 7:19 PM, TrixieKixx said:

 

May 14 – Woodsman (Level 39-41 – Blue Side: Eden) – Punk Rocker costumes – Any AT  

 

@TrixieKixx Ima Wallflower - Plant/Nature Controller *Placeholder...I may choose a different toon

@FrauleinMental Fraulein Mental - Mind/Kin Controller

@TygerDarkstorm Love Like Winter - Ice/Ice Dominator

 

@TrixieKixx I am gonna show up with Forlorne, Fire/Fire Blasteress and ready to pogo!

 

Edit: Just saw your last post. If we can only field 4 or 5 toons, then doing a trial like this one is probably not very promising... we can try to recruit, but I also have no problem moving to another server with more pop to fill up. Surely won't have problems to find people on Excel or Everlast. Even Reunion would likely be ok at that time of day.

Edited May 13, 2022 by Bananiac

[TrixieKixx]

8 minutes ago, Bananiac said:

 

@TrixieKixx I am gonna show up with Forlorne, Fire/Fire Blasteress and ready to pogo!

 

Edit: Just saw your last post. If we can only field 4 or 5 toons, then doing a trial like this one is probably not very promising... we can try to recruit, but I also have no problem moving to another server with more pop to fill up. Surely won't have problems to find people on Excel or Everlast. Even Reunion would likely be ok at that time of day.

I will add you for now and will send another message if I need to cancel! I'm waiting to hear from the others 😄 

[TygerDarkstorm]

There's always the easier TF WST we can do. What is it, Citadel this week?

 

Barring that, I'm not real interested in going to Excel, but we might get interest for these on Everlasting. Or, if needed, take a short break from these to see if people might come back over the summer.

[FrauleinMental]

It can be done with 5, but 4 is pushing it.  Everyone needs at least 3 Ambrosia inspirations for the Crystal Titan fight (they're like EoEs against Hami); they're available on the AH, or the last hall before the Titan the DEs drop them.  (It's good to sweep a bunch of them anyway to clear some space near the Titan, and the Ambrosia usually sell for a decent amount on AH.)  With flight and ATT (or Teleport Target, which I also have), the bare minimum is fighting the two Walls and the Titan.  They also expanded the level range in the last Page patch, so bring your 50s.

 

That being said, I'd be okay doing one of the other WSTs this week if we're light.

 

I'm hesitant to change servers, but I suppose it's inevitable since Indom is dying.  Thankfully, it's easy to flip servers.

[Burnt Umber]

I, too, think we might be able to get through the trial.  My controller has flight and tp target/att too, along with the host of /Rad debuffs.  And, as Mental said above, the main enemies to defeat are the rock/mold wall (stationary/mild AVs) and the Titan; the rest are kinda straightforward, if not easy, DE.  I think the main trick will be for us to be okay with a certain amount of speeding as we fight through the cavern and to pause to buff and stay at range when we face the Titan.

 

That all said, I'm hesitant but accepting of moving the teaming over to another server.  I have a number of characters on Excel. and Everlasting, so they'd be my preference if need be.

[TygerDarkstorm]

The character I was bringing is only like level 40. If we want 50's I need to bring Environmentabot or my demon/storm MM from Everlasting over, though neither are slotted well yet.

[TrixieKixx]

I really hate suggesting moving to another server as 90% of my toons are on Indomitable. It’s just dying so hard and it’s almost impossible to find extras if we need to round out the team. I know we are all loyal to the server, but it’s gotten ridiculous. I think the PVP title has scared others away or has people coming but leaving because they can’t find PVP. Would you guys like to try as we did last week or would you prefer to do another WST?

[TraumaTrain]

The most important aspect of theme team has been to have fun. We are casual - we're never about speed records or "Masters of...," or anything like that. The theme is important as well because it gives us creative goals, especially when it involves a costume theme.

 

I'm not sure the various trials are the best fit for us. Some are done too quickly like the respecs or Transcendence, and others are very difficult like Abandoned Sewers or Eden. My preference would be to stick with Task and Strike Forces. Most of those can be completed by two or three players, and sometimes we're light on that.

 

Indomitable is an issue. No matter the root causes, the population here is faltering. Sometimes we get lucky and we pick up one or two folks who want to join, but I think others are daunted by needing to fit our theme of the day.

 

I feel when we have a costume theme, it's okay to not enforce it for pick-up-players. We can take our pics for us in theme and then advertise for others to join and they're fine. Archetype or power themes can still be enforced though.

 

Those are my thoughts. 🙂

[Midnyte]

@TraumaTrain: Wise words indeed from our Founding Father. 😄 I agree about the pick-up players not having to fit the theme. The theme is for those of us who see it on the forum, and allows us tohave fun and be creative and have time to plan, if necessary, but then after that whoever wants to join to fill out the team should be okay (even if the server were crowded, IMO).

 

@TrixieKixx: I'm sorry that I never signed up, I certainly meant to! I'm just now trying to figure out which character to bring, but count me in!

 

re: switching servers: Eh, we were hanging on to Indom for dear life! I dabbled at playing on Excelsior and have a base over there, but it's just not the same feel. Not as comfy, perhaps? In the end, I brought any characters I like over (or back over) to Indom to stay (or so I thought). Knowing that I can pop them over there for big seasonal zone events (Lord Winter's Realm or Halloween banners, for example), but for me that is more about badging. Maybe I need to re-wire my brain on that.

[Jaxman100]

Work has been rough.  I should be able to attend.  I have my Dark/Katana tanker, Jax Saber lined up. 

 

I also farmed up 20ish Ambrosia. I am definitely going to be hit or miss over the next coupe months.  Summer time and less covid restrictions will probably hurt weekend attendance.

But we can always find something to do, even if it's not the hardest level 50 WST content. Hardest part of recruiting last minute is keeping with the vibe/theme.

 

We could always run some Ouro arcs vs TFs. 

[Midnyte]

Jax, I'm sorry to hear of your work troubles. I agree we don't have to do the hardest content or even the WST. I'm usually up for anything. My badge spreadsheet has lots of empty cells. 😄 Hope you can join us more often soon.

 

 

[Midnyte]

Trixie, I have ready to go: Winter Poison - Ice/Rad Sentinel. She is happy to do the Eden trial, or any of the other WSTs, or any other TF/SFs, or anything really. I guess I just wanna play, dammit! Gabba gabba hey!

[TygerDarkstorm]

5 hours ago, TraumaTrain said:

The most important aspect of theme team has been to have fun. We are casual - we're never about speed records or "Masters of...," or anything like that. The theme is important as well because it gives us creative goals, especially when it involves a costume theme.

 

I'm not sure the various trials are the best fit for us. Some are done too quickly like the respecs or Transcendence, and others are very difficult like Abandoned Sewers or Eden. My preference would be to stick with Task and Strike Forces. Most of those can be completed by two or three players, and sometimes we're light on that.

 

Indomitable is an issue. No matter the root causes, the population here is faltering. Sometimes we get lucky and we pick up one or two folks who want to join, but I think others are daunted by needing to fit our theme of the day.

 

I feel when we have a costume theme, it's okay to not enforce it for pick-up-players. We can take our pics for us in theme and then advertise for others to join and they're fine. Archetype or power themes can still be enforced though.

 

Those are my thoughts. 🙂

I agree with this. I'm not super interested in pushing super hard content. I'd be good with just doing Task and Strike Forces so it's not as drastic if we end up not filling our roster. I like that we're casual and laid back. I do these to test my creativity and have fun.

 

Edit: I now won't be able to make it tomorrow, unless we end up doing something quick ish. Parents want to come visit my daughter and I, and I stayed up super late tonight and want to get some sleep. Sorry guys!

Edited May 14, 2022 by TygerDarkstorm

[Bananiac]

Let's see who shows up in Eden, then we can take stock. If we feel like we are not heavyweight enough for the Trial, then we can always hop on a Citadel as the WTF and see if anybody wants to join that.

 

No need to move servers, if anybody feels uncomfortable with it. This is an Indom event for me as well, although most of my mains are all on Reunion. 

 

That said, Forlorne is lvl50 Incarnate and built to last. And being a fire³ Blaster, will dish out decently.

[TrixieKixx]

Thank you everyone for your input! I really appreciate the support and feedback 😄 We wound up with a full team today, and the Eden Trial was not hard at all! We will continue the Theme Team on Indom and I will choose TF/SF that can easily be completed with a few people.

 

May 7 – Mairenn MacGregor (Level 35-50 – Blue Side: Atlas Park) – Neon costumes so we can see each other in the tunnels! One AT of each type.  

May 14 – Woodsman (Level 39-41 – Blue Side: Eden) – Punk Rocker costumes – Any AT  

May 21 – Ernesto Hess (Level 25-30 – Blue Side: Striga Isle) – Hippie costumes – All Controller/Dominator team  

May 28 – Mortimer Kal (Level 20-40 – Red Side: Sharkhead Isle) – You choose your costume! All Crab/Widow team 

 

@TrixieKixx Althea Gaia - Earth/Emp Controller

@FrauleinMental Fraulein Mental - Mind/Kin Controller (Has Hess unlocked!)

@Burnt Umber Philodendra - Plant/Psionic Dominator

@TygerDarkstorm Hippie Hailey - Plant/Psy Dominator

@Jaxman100 Jax One - Mind/Dark Dominator

@Midnyte Stroke of Midnight - Dark/Rad Controller

@TraumaTrain Is That Freedom Rock - Ice Armor/Battle Guitar Ax Tanker

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by TrixieKixx

[Midnyte]

Eden trial - Punk Rocker costumes

Saturday, 5/14/2022

 

Thank you all for going along with my theme idea. It was my first one ever. Trixie asked for ideas and this popped into my mind. What a time that was when punk rock was in its infancy. I may be the oldest one in the bunch of us here, but even I was very young when it all started happening! First, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Iggy Pop, so much astounding music from the mid 70s. Which is almost completely at odds with @Bananiac's cruise last week of ProgRock bands! Hehee, but it's all good, there is room in our universe for every concept. 😄 
 

I have some comments/questions about everyone's costumes below.

 

 

@FrauleinMental, we used the same hair. 🙂 and same vest but different sleeves. What is that belt? I love it. and what is the chest part under your jacket?

@TygerDarkstorm, awesome look. 

@TrixieKixx,What are those boots? For a punk look I always wind up using combat boots with stiletto heel, but these are even better. Clue me in!

@Bananiac, we both chose the "blast" tights, great choice for looking tattered and torn like a true punk rocker. I also like the choice of anarchy symbol.

@Jaxman100, very cool, unique look 🙂

 

@Burnt Umber, Again with those boots! You and @TrixieKixx need to tell me where to find those!
Also, did you catch my message in game regarding how closely you resemble a Linda Linda? 😄

@ZekeStenzland, So glad you joined us today! It was great to meet you. Hope you join us again some Saturday. Just bookmark this thread to see our weekly schedule and you can post to sign up.

 

NOTE: In the group photos, Jax has 2 characters, but at the last minute we invited @ZekeStenzland so Jax removed his tiny headless girl. 🙂

 

 

And here comes new recruit, DISASTAR!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Midnyte

[Burnt Umber]

I'll be bringing Philodendra (Plant/Psionic Dom.) next week.

 

Re: servers and future teaming/tasks - I'm agree with most of what Rich said above.

 

I enjoy the creativity and casual nature of the teams, going through content that is not necessarily the most difficult or maximizing time/rewards.  I'm on the fence as to whether trials work:  on the one hand, I think it's nice to have the team do them occasionally since it gives me a reason to take different characters out of the mothballs to do them; on the other hand, doing difficult timed tasks requires a certain amount of streamlining that I think runs counter to the almost pick-up nature of the group.

 

However, I recognize that it's not just trials, because we've had a few weeks where the task was cancelled or painfully extended because we were unable to field a full team.  So I can understand why there might be a niggling feeling that a more populous server might help when we need to fill and fewer of us are available.  At the same time, I'm not so sure of the trade-offs:  a more populous server like Excel. also seems, to me at least, to have players who try to speed through content or care about the difficulty/rewards rather than casually playing through the missions.

 

Maybe it might help a bit if we sometimes hash out the plan for proceeding before the start of whatever we're doing while pre-game pictures are being taken?  I think one problem that we have sometimes is that some of us are more familiar with a task than others, so we're not all on the same page as to what we're all doing.  Talking a short bit beforehand might help this and make the smaller team experiences less messy.

[TygerDarkstorm]

@TrixieKixx I plan to be there on Hippie Hailey - Plant/Psy Dominator

 

@Burnt Umber Yes! to your last paragraph there. That thought actually occurred to me this morning after entering the trial and there was no minimap and I could not fly. I felt dumb for not thinking to ask for a plan given I was unfamiliar with that trial. I usually ask what needs to be done. Jax is also a bit of a hard tank to follow. 😅 He's one of those players who's always moving around and darts all about, so I kept getting myself lost trying to follow and figure out what was going on. So I admittedly ran off a few times to take on packs of the easier guys just to see what my dom was capable of if I laid my tricks out right. Next week I will need a refresher of how Hess works, please. 🙂 

[Jaxman100]

Ya today got off the rails right away I think with our PUG player.  Right away couple people took off.  I was expecting to kinda plow through like we normally do. Make sure we tp all the folks to the GMs/AVs before starting.  Hit the main points of the trial, and go over them.  And it's not overly challenging until we get to the Titan and the special damage type. 

We could always look at just having a theme and picking what to do day of. 

Anyways for next week, looking to bring Jax One, Mind/Dark Dominator. 

[TygerDarkstorm]

So y'all, I'm trying to make hippie costumes, and like, CoH just wasn't designed for the sort of authentic hippie look, lol. I am super curious now to see what everyone else is going to come up with for this theme. I think I will have to forsake authenticity and settle for a close facsimile, lol.