Posi 1 - Becoming the PuG

[MoonSheep]

i recently made a new alt, trying to break away from playing only the same 2 characters for the last 5 years. i quickly levelled Cold Sheep, an ice/shield stalker to lvl 15, decked him out with some SOs and decided to form a Posi 1

 

it quickly filled and we get going. i run it on +1 because why not

 

we breeze through the missions without much drama and quickly find ourselves at the final mission. the heroes are rescued, the steps are cleared - now for the final battle, with the bosses all at +2 to us

 

now, here's where people start getting nervous and start putting out the most insane and ridiculous ideas i've ever heard. ludicrous suggestions like "lets wait for everyone" and "we should pull one of them first" - just straight up nonsense. so anyway, i juice myself up to the eyeballs on T3 inspirations and dive right in. i'm having a great time waving my icy fists in all directions like someone trying to kill a moth in the dark, barely seeing beyond my nose from the glow of all the inspirations i was huffing in the corner before jumping in

 

the rest of the team.. not having as great a time. red health bars soon give way to black and the rot spreads quickly through the team

 

we regroup, i re-insp outside and we head back in.

 

now, friends, the scenario that followed has fortunately been documented by PvP Comic's Scott Kurtz in 2004, shown below. Panel 3 represents your esteemed leader and his strategic choices

 

 

as george bush once said, fool me once: shame on you. fool me twice: ..you can't get fooled again.

 

well, we quickly got fooled. people are now starting to get a bit grumpy, it's time for a change in tactics. i'll entertain the team and their preposterous and zany ideas

 

we regroup for a third time and pull just a handful of the bosses, laying a nice trap of debuffs for them as they round the corner at the top of the stairs. we quickly mash through the remaining enemies and complete the TF with what i think must be a server all time speed run record of 54 minutes

 

anyway what i'm saying is, Posi 2 LF7M on excelsior, pst for invite

 

Edited September 23 by MoonSheep

[ZemX]

47 minutes ago, MoonSheep said:

i run it on +1 because why not

 

Thank you for both asking this question and then demonstrating the answer.  I've been on +2 Posi 1 TFs that were a total steamroller blowing away anything in its path all the way up until that last fight... and then we get wiped multiple times by ourselves.  This is the problem.  The stronger YOU are, the stronger THEY are.  I'm always encouraged when the team struggles a bit earlier in this TF.

 

It means we're probably not strong enough to kick our own asses quite that badly at the end.

[Without_Pause]

I hold back inspirs for that fight, but I also don't assume others do. Posi 1 is the one TF with the widest variance of how teams do. Even by Posi 2, teams are fairly competent at completing it smoothly.

[Techwright]

3 hours ago, MoonSheep said:

anyway what i'm saying is, Posi 2 LF7M on excelsior, pst for invite

I'm ah...I'm not available at the moment.  Which moment?  The one when you're inviting.  Sorry, I'm tied up in my base making certain the flower vases are the proper distance from the edges of the side tables.  It's a tedious, time-consuming job, but it is important to get it done.  Repeatedly, if necessary.

 

A word of advice as you go into Posi2 TF: when you get inside the dam, it's best to tag as many CoT groups as possible so they all accumulate together for slaughter.  It should be a piece o' cake that way.  When you finally confront Dr. V, be sure to charge him straight on.  Have your knockback specialist hit his adjacent minions with the best aoe attack they've got, making sure to scatter them off the bridge and across as wide a field as possible.  That way, they're not close to supporting him, so they'll not matter at all, right?  They can go their merry ways wherever.  With them out of the way you can turn your back to the bridge ends, as nothing's remaining on the bridge to attack except Dr. V.   It will be smooth sailing from there. 

[MoonSheep]

58 minutes ago, Techwright said:

I'm ah...I'm not available at the moment.  Which moment?  The one when you're inviting.  Sorry, I'm tied up in my base making certain the flower vases are the proper distance from the edges of the side tables.  It's a tedious, time-consuming job, but it is important to get it done.  Repeatedly, if necessary.

 

A word of advice as you go into Posi2 TF: when you get inside the dam, it's best to tag as many CoT groups as possible so they all accumulate together for slaughter.  It should be a piece o' cake that way.  When you finally confront Dr. V, be sure to charge him straight on.  Have your knockback specialist hit his adjacent minions with the best aoe attack they've got, making sure to scatter them off the bridge and across as wide a field as possible.  That way, they're not close to supporting him, so they'll not matter at all, right?  They can go their merry ways wherever.  With them out of the way you can turn your back to the bridge ends, as nothing's remaining on the bridge to attack except Dr. V.   It will be smooth sailing from there. 

 

thanks for the advice but i’ve actually had someone map all my standard controls for powers and movement to the cockpit of a 1960’s Douglas DC9 aircraft which i’ll figure out along the way during the TF

 

[BZRKR]

1 hour ago, Techwright said:

A word of advice as you go into Posi2 TF: when you get inside the dam, it's best to tag as many CoT groups as possible so they all accumulate together for slaughter.  It should be a piece o' cake that way.  When you finally confront Dr. V, be sure to charge him straight on.  Have your knockback specialist hit his adjacent minions with the best aoe attack they've got, making sure to scatter them off the bridge and across as wide a field as possible.  That way, they're not close to supporting him, so they'll not matter at all, right?  They can go their merry ways wherever.  With them out of the way you can turn your back to the bridge ends, as nothing's remaining on the bridge to attack except Dr. V.   It will be smooth sailing from there. 

Epic 🙂
 

[Spaghetti Betty]

This isn't a PuG story, but I do have my own Posi 1 moment to share!

 

It wasn't too long ago that I took my group of buddies on an All Ice Superteam. IIRC, we were 3 melees, a Dom, a controller, a corr, a defender, and a blaster. My stipulation is always that we run everything at +4. So, what follows shouldn't be that surprising!

 

We make it to the end of Posi 1 and get wiped out by our godmode shadows in very short order. I think it took everyone unloading full trays of Super Team Duals to finally take it down!

 

It was probably the most challenging and expensive Posi 1 I've ever ran!

[cranebump]

As previously noted, group composition makes the Dopp fight in Pos1 range from cakewalk to faceplant, depending on composition. However, one thing I am certain of...

 

KILL THE GD MARINE TOONS FIRST! KILLKILLKILLKILL!

 

 

 

[Snarky]

12 hours ago, MoonSheep said:

i recently made a new alt, trying to break away from playing only the same 2 characters for the last 5 years. i quickly levelled Cold Sheep, an ice/shield stalker to lvl 15, decked him out with some SOs and decided to form a Posi 1

 

it quickly filled and we get going. i run it on +1 because why not

 

we breeze through the missions without much drama and quickly find ourselves at the final mission. the heroes are rescued, the steps are cleared - now for the final battle, with the bosses all at +2 to us

 

now, here's where people start getting nervous and start putting out the most insane and ridiculous ideas i've ever heard. ludicrous suggestions like "lets wait for everyone" and "we should pull one of them first" - just straight up nonsense. so anyway, i juice myself up to the eyeballs on T3 inspirations and dive right in. i'm having a great time waving my icy fists in all directions like someone trying to kill a moth in the dark, barely seeing beyond my nose from the glow of all the inspirations i was huffing in the corner before jumping in

 

the rest of the team.. not having as great a time. red health bars soon give way to black and the rot spreads quickly through the team

 

we regroup, i re-insp outside and we head back in.

 

now, friends, the scenario that followed has fortunately been documented by PvP Comic's Scott Kurtz in 2004, shown below. Panel 3 represents your esteemed leader and his strategic choices

 

 

as george bush once said, fool me once: shame on you. fool me twice: ..you can't get fooled again.

 

well, we quickly got fooled. people are now starting to get a bit grumpy, it's time for a change in tactics. i'll entertain the team and their preposterous and zany ideas

 

we regroup for a third time and pull just a handful of the bosses, laying a nice trap of debuffs for them as they round the corner at the top of the stairs. we quickly mash through the remaining enemies and complete the TF with what i think must be a server all time speed run record of 54 minutes

 

anyway what i'm saying is, Posi 2 LF7M on excelsior, pst for invite

 

[Ukase]

11 hours ago, ZemX said:

 

Thank you for both asking this question and then demonstrating the answer.  I've been on +2 Posi 1 TFs that were a total steamroller blowing away anything in its path all the way up until that last fight... and then we get wiped multiple times by ourselves.  This is the problem.  The stronger YOU are, the stronger THEY are.  I'm always encouraged when the team struggles a bit earlier in this TF.

 

It means we're probably not strong enough to kick our own asses quite that badly at the end.

It could just be the teams I'm on - but after having done Posi 1 more times than I care to think about, I have yet to run into a doppelganger that has adequate KB protection. Nemesis Staff for the win! 

It's the single most effective tactic I can think of due to it's range and inherent kb. Mind you, one or two might miss...but it's a huge advantage. I can't be the only person that does this. There is no npc that attacks while trying to stand up as far as I can tell. 

[Snarky]

3 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

This isn't a PuG story, but I do have my own Posi 1 moment to share!

 

It wasn't too long ago that I took my group of buddies on an All Ice Superteam. IIRC, we were 3 melees, a Dom, a controller, a corr, a defender, and a blaster. My stipulation is always that we run everything at +4. So, what follows shouldn't be that surprising!

 

We make it to the end of Posi 1 and get wiped out by our godmode shadows in very short order. I think it took everyone unloading full trays of Super Team Duals to finally take it down!

 

It was probably the most challenging and expensive Posi 1 I've ever ran!

Did you try letting the Dom build domination, pop accuracy inspirations, hit dom, stealth in and group hold everything???

[Spaghetti Betty]

18 minutes ago, Snarky said:

Did you try letting the Dom build domination, pop accuracy inspirations, hit dom, stealth in and group hold everything???

We were running it at level, so no group holds. Our initial strategy was to try and get the jump on at least 1 of the mobs with Cold Domination and it didn't pan out. So, after the double Cold buffs went out, it was impossible to deal any real damage to them without 12 or so Precise Imbuements.

[Frunobulax]

I had a fun one not long ago where most of us were the new Marine set and we learned how well their buffs/pet thingy (that none of us had access to ourselves at that level) stack, and how well that works out for multiple mm shadows.

 

Luckily I was on a corr with a snipe so for our second attempt we just pulled the mm's one by one.

 

I've always wondered if those shadows inherit our procs. I've never noticed because I usually lockdown and/or kill me right away before I can get the upper hand and slaughter me and then steal my wallet off of my corpse and go to my house and pretend to be me and talk trash me to my family while I drain my bank accounts and take out as many loans as I can under my name.

[Without_Pause]

6 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

We were running it at level, so no group holds. Our initial strategy was to try and get the jump on at least 1 of the mobs with Cold Domination and it didn't pan out. So, after the double Cold buffs went out, it was impossible to deal any real damage to them without 12 or so Precise Imbuements.

A group mezz would still work. Not saying it was taken at that point, and yellow inspirs likely needed, but it can be an option. I've seen a Dom flip Domination and that was pretty much it. 

[Spaghetti Betty]

8 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

A group mezz would still work. Not saying it was taken at that point, and yellow inspirs likely needed, but it can be an option. I've seen a Dom flip Domination and that was pretty much it. 

This was an all Ice team. If we were all running at level 8, the only real aoe control either the Dom or Troller would have access to then is Cold Snap. I love fear as much as the next guy, but even then, that would mean hitting any of the mobs once will let them get buffs out!

 

Regardless, we triumphed with another insanely valid tactic: money!

[Marshal_General]

If s PuG is going badly, look around and see if their is anyone who might be a vampire on your team. 

 

From what I have read, any pug with one on it tends to go badly. 🧛

⚰️🪦 🫣

[ZemX]

11 hours ago, Ukase said:

It's the single most effective tactic I can think of due to it's range and inherent kb. Mind you, one or two might miss...but it's a huge advantage. I can't be the only person that does this. There is no npc that attacks while trying to stand up as far as I can tell. 

 

Great range.  Great knockback.   Shitty recharge.  Yes, this will do something for a few seconds.

 

As others have said, it's the party composition.  And yes, @cranebump the mariners need to die first and fast.  I think really any debuffers but we had two mariners if I recall right.  I watch my ten power monitors including recharge, recovery, some resists, one defense, hit chance, damage bonus, you know... so I know when I am being debuffed.

 

All that stuff went red and my 50 full-loaded tanker hit the carpet a few seconds later through half a tray of inspirations.  Guess I should have ate em all.  Sure, exemplar all the way down to Posi 1 levels does a number on all my stats, but still a beast and I got wiped out like a blaster.  We HAD to single-pull that mess.  Not like we were all walking around with bank accounts full of super team insps like the miscreants @Spaghetti Betty hangs out with. 😈

[ZemX]

3 minutes ago, Marshal_General said:

If s PuG is going badly, look around and see if their is anyone who might be a vampire on your team. 

 

This is good advice.  I got on a PuG Tarikoss one time that wiped out just inside the FIRST door mission.  Nearly the whole team immediately quit because the enemies were all waaaay above our level.  That's when I noticed him lurking in a shadow.  Not the team lead.  That would have been too obvious.  But clearly.... involved!

[Riverdusk]

Easiest time I ever have with this is with a plant dom.  Save dom for that fight and hit them all with seeds.  Fight is over baring a situation like above where they have a chance to buff up with crazy defense or something.

 

Also actually often easier and faster to solo this one than doing it in a group.  But of course, where is the fun in that?

[MoonSheep]

just did another run on my mind/fire dom to see how much of a polar opposite i could create - at the final battle i popped domination and Geas of the Kind Ones, laid down Mass Hypnosis onto my canvas of enemies and then Total Domination for a nice AoE hold - the whole group was nicely held for the duration of the battle, 0 damage inflicted upon the team

[Doomguide2005]

On 9/23/2024 at 8:36 PM, Ukase said:

It could just be the teams I'm on - but after having done Posi 1 more times than I care to think about, I have yet to run into a doppelganger that has adequate KB protection. Nemesis Staff for the win! 

It's the single most effective tactic I can think of due to it's range and inherent kb. Mind you, one or two might miss...but it's a huge advantage. I can't be the only person that does this. There is no npc that attacks while trying to stand up as far as I can tell. 

This about 1 gazillion quadrillion times over.  Just think about how many of us have inherent, no IOs involved, knock protection under level 15 nevermind something under lvl 10?

 

Domination first strike is nasty too

Edited September 29 by Doomguide2005