Knowing's Half The Battle~!

[OpMegs]

So, with open beta upon us, the Incarnate Trials hitting live are just around the metaphorical corner. Ergo, I've taken this chance to read up on the beta strategy threads to give people a heads up on what they're getting into. The Incarnate Trials take a bit more coordination than usual, but this is not to say they're extremely hard. As said, this is based off my understanding of the beta, so some of this information may be slightly inaccurate. But I like to think my reading comprehension is good.

So, first up, basic rules:

- Incarnate XP: XP earned during Trials that unlocks your Judgement, Interface, Lore, and Destiny slots. Basically drops like normal XP. Also available for a set threads + inf conversion, but unless you go into convulsions at the thought of teaming with random people, don't bother. It's an inf sink to combat inflation, not an equally effective way.

- Astral Merits: Earned for accomplishing various objectives (Kill Siege, Kill Nightstar, stop prisoner outbreak phase, etc.) within the Trial, breaks down into 4 Threads. Unlimited gain numbers, even if you don't complete the Trial, these still drop. These and Empyrean Merits are planned to be used to craft....something...post i20, per Word Of Dev.

- Empyrean Merits: The big boys. These convert into 20 Threads each, and you get one per Trial completion, once a day. So you can get 2 a day, currently, from BAF and Lambda. 8 Empyrean Merits also convert into a Rare component, or 30 for a V. Rare component

- Reward Table: At the end of each successful Trial, you get a random roll of the Components Table for the new 4 slots. You have a random chance of a Common, Uncommon, Rare, or even Very Rare component dropping. Remember the old end of TF recipe drops? Welcome back!
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[OpMegs]

For those of you anti-social types, it's conversion time!

Shard-To-Thread Conversion Rates:

• 10 Shard + 2.5 mil Inf > 10 Threads (20 hr cooldown)
• 10 Shard + 2.5 mil Inf > 5 Thread (any time)

Salvage Crafting Costs:

• Common = 20 Threads

• Uncommon = 60 Threads

• Rare = 100 Threads + 4 Uncommons (240 Threads) + 100 mil Inf

• V.Rare = 0 Threads + 4 Rares (1,360 Threads + 400 mil Inf) + 400 mil Inf

Also, remember, with i20 going live, Apex and Tin Mage will now drop Threads instead of Shards, though you still need to get that Incarnate XP to unlock the slots.

How much does that cost if you don't want to do Trials? Well....

• 1 Thread + 2.5 mil Inf unlocks 50,000 iXP, or about 2-4% depending on the slot.
• Judgement and Interface costs 30 Threads + 75 mil Inf to unlock.
• Lore and Destiny costs 45 Threads + 112.5 mil Inf to unlock.

So, how do you avoid these nasty costs? By doing the Trials of course. Which I'll post strategies for tomorrow.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Shader]

Just a word of caution OpMegs: It's not quite open yet.. Not that I'm complaining or anything. Its still closed with 'windows' of open beta. And a selection of vets from what I gather have unlimited access, and ALL accounts have access to the forums. Its a weird Beta.
Still having a prima here is good. Want me to post my observations from the runs I did of the trials during one of the 'windows' of open beta?

[Star Ranger4]

I'd like to hear... so far the only things I've heard have been bitching about things that were wrong with the early versions... like people not being co ordinated enough to take down both Siege and 'Star within the 10s elapse, or the general feeling that the towers should either have resistible/defensible damage or double/triple the ofline time per click on the control panels
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[OpMegs]

Just a word of caution OpMegs: It's not quite open yet.. Not that I'm complaining or anything. Its still closed with 'windows' of open beta. And a selection of vets from what I gather have unlimited access, and ALL accounts have access to the forums. Its a weird Beta.

Yeah, as I've yet to receive any beta invite, I've basically been going off what's visible in the Open Beta forum on the forums, which is where all this info is available. I figure if THAT's supposedly under a NDA, a lot of heads are going to roll for how long that's been visible to *everyone*. :lol:

Still having a prima here is good. Want me to post my observations from the runs I did of the trials during one of the 'windows' of open beta?

Sure. I'm gonna put up the basic walkthrough here in a second, so feel free to comment on it.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[OpMegs]

So, first up, let's meet the...

Lambda Sector Trial


Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate Lambda Sector (also known as "That big place with all the guns and tanks and shit in Neutropolis") and slow down Tyrant's war effort by destroying the supplies he needs to produce his super-soldier army. However, all is not an easy smash-and-burn. The Big Dog himself, Marauder, is there for an inspection, and he's testing out Neuron's latest chemical cocktail, on top of Tyrant's new Incarnate boosts for his minions. Want to play with the Big Dog? You're gonna have to step up.

Phase 1: Asskicking is How They Say "Hello" in Praetoria


Simple enough, in this phase, you defeat 60 enemies. If people fail at this point, I presume that they must have all triggered self-destruct simultaneously, as a full League wipe is a failure of the trial (However, so long as any one character is still alive, everyone else can get out of the hospital)

Phase 2:  Breaking and Entering


Now we're cooking with gas. Defeat the security robot to gain access to the interior of Lambda Sector. During this phase, we're doing some early prep-work for the final battle as well. The giant turret guns on the walls will be a problem later, so take these out now while you can do so at your leisure. You'll be far too busy later to deal with them, and the quickest route from the hospital to Marauder's location is jumping over the walls.

Now, before folks head right into the elevator, be aware that someone entering the elevator starts a timer for Phase 3, and so everyone should wait outside until the League leader gets everyone set up for Phase 3, which will usually involve swapping around team members to get a Balanced Breakfast of Asskicking for the IDF inside. Why do you want this? Well, read on....

Phase 3: Five-Finger Discount
(Time Limit: 5 Minutes + Special Objectives)


In this phase, you gather the temp powers needed to defeat Marauder in the final battle. Two sections of Lambda are open to you, the Front Elevators that lead to the Training Facility and the Rear Elevators that go to the Warehouse.

In the Training Facility, team members will be looking for destructible items called Containment Chambers. In the Warehouse, they will be Weapons Caches. You only have 5 minutes, so this is going to be breakneck speed. Hit the objectives, lock down spawns so they can't interrupt you, and move on. Wasting time on the IDF means less time gathering temps, and the more you have, the easier the final battle will be. Also, note that for every pair of objectives destroyed, the timer has one minute added. This means that if Team 1 destroys a Containment Chamber and Team 2 destroys a Weapons Cache, you get 1 minute added to your timer. If Team 1 gets two CCs while Team 2 only has one WC destroyed, you only get 1 minute, but you'll get another when they catch up. 

There are 10 Containment Chambers (Molecular Acid Temp Power) and 10 Weapons Caches (Pacification Grenade Temp Power) in the facility. So, you'll note you can extend the timer to 10 minutes past the original 5 if you're on the ball. A good way to view this mission is like you're speed running the Shadow Cyst mission in the ITF. Since you don't get any ambushes when you destroy objectives, ignore the mobs, blow the boxes, and move on.

Phase 4: Who Let The Dogs Out?
(Time Limit: 15 Minutes)


It's time to take on Mr. Top Dog, but it's not going to be easy. Marauder's not some Primal AV who's stupid enough to let you engage him alone with no backup when you outnumber him 8+ to 1. Surrounding his arena are 10 reinforcement portals. Using the Molecular Acid on these portals permanently destroys them, reducing the number of reinforcements that can spawn to assist him.

At this point, you'll want to engage Marauder's backup squad around him. Focus on human enemies over the robots, as they spawn Battle Orbs which buff everyone around them. Enough of these makes this like being on the receiving end of a VEAT curbstomp with Spiderbuffs. Don't let that happen. After his squad is mostly down, everyone should then engage Marauder, ignoring any remaining mobs to be killed by your AoEs.

Marauder himself is pumped on Neuron's new super-serum, and has resistances like unto a god. His resistances make Reichsman curl up in a fetal position in his swastika blanket and cry for his Ubermommy. On top of that, Marauder's a level 54 AV, complete with the regen that entails. So how are you supposed to hit him? Use those Pacification Grenades you stole earlier. Each disables his ENRAAAAAAGED status and lowers his resistances to something that's actually normal. But even without his resists, that's not all the Big Dog has. There's his new NOVA FIST. When you see a warning on your screen, back away as fast as you can. The NOVA FIST is untyped damage and a PBAOE around Marauder. You don't want to get hit by the NOVA FIST if you know what's good for you. Also, Marauder has Unstoppable that he'll pop when he's low on health, but this is no different from anyone else's Unstoppable.

At certain HP threshholds, Marauder will abruptly realize you're handing him his Puppy Powered ass, and super jump away to a new location. This is frustrating, but also a good thing, as his backup doesn't have super jump. As a result, you can leave them in your dust. Bet they'll think twice about concept builds that drop a travel power next time.

Every so often, you'll hear alerts about "weapons shipments". These are spawns that give you a chance to get any temp powers you may have missed in Phase 3.

Also, in a new mechanic, you can gift your temp powers to someone else. Typically, it's best to gift all the Acids to one person and all the Grenades to another, who will be chosen to deal with their respective objectives. This avoids two people using a temp on the same target and wasting one use. Also, Pacification Grenades have no effect on Marauder's Unstoppable, so don't use them during it, even if he enrages. Just rely on -Regen debuffs to keep him from healing too much until it wears off.

Continue pounding Marauder while pacifying him whenever he enrages, and soon you'll have spanked the Big Dog with a newspaper and earned yourself a Trial victory.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Shader]

Be sure you stop by Zombie Man's threads. Lots of tips there. I sent him a PM. I can copy some of his guides or snippets there of over here once it goes live.
As you mentioned earlier there are two trials. Behavior Adjustment Facility (BAF) and Lambda. I was privileged enough to go on each trial during the open windows. And failed each one, but that was not for want of trying. One trial was poor leadership, the other was a bug in the trial.
First up...
You'll want to edit your tabs to include 2 new channels: League and LFG. Make a new tab for them even. Trust me. It makes life easier. The first one is vital for completing the trials.
The trials themselves, they proved several things. Sometimes the best action is to pull a Monty Python and "Run Away, Run Away, Run Away!".  Other times, they proved the half dozen or so Murphy's Laws of Combat that I cribbed from Megazone's page ages ago.

3. Don't look conspicuous, it draws fire.
7. Professionals are predictable, it's the amateurs that are dangerous.
9. Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at.


11. The enemy diversion you have been ignoring will be the main attack.
14. Never draw fire, it irritates everyone around you.
15. Anything you do can get you shot, including nothing.
18. If you're short of everything but the enemy, you're in a combat zone.
19. When you've secured the area, don't forget to tell the enemy.
41. The one item you need is always in short supply.
43. The complexity of a weapon is inversely proportional to the IQ of the weapon's operator.

On to the trail you have mentioned. I'll keep my experiences with the BAF, and other things I noted to myself until you talk about it.
Lambda
Ops got the gist of this trial right. Here was my experience running the trial (I typed it up immediately afterward)
Lambda... its easy. Piece of cake. There are even Murphy laws about it.
1) Clear the road around the compound.
2) Clear the -top of the GIANT* wall- of the over-compensatory guns (fun for SSers). *Trust me it's Capital H. Huge.
3) Kill everything the the courtyard.
4) Kill the Mini-Riechman Robot at the front door.
5) Run the maze and get as many glowies as possible in 5 minutes.  ->STICK TOGETHERRUN IF IT SAYS NOVA FIST

[Foxboy]

Hospital Timer got changed to 20 seconds
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[OpMegs]

Jailbreak! Jailbreak! Jailbreak!

In a stunning display of backwards thinking, it's time to PREVENT people from escaping from the Behavioral Adjustment Center. Because the jailbreak is a Praetorian plot!

Welcome to the...

Behavioral Adjustment Facility Trial


(Group Size: 12-24 players)

So, the story goes that brainwashed Resistance are being let out to cause terror attacks that will reinforce the populace's dependence on Emperor Cole. As a result, you get to stop it before they escape, and possibly bring evidence of this perfidy out to the masses. But standing in your way are some of the nastiest forces Mother Mayhem can bring to bear, including the robotic duo of Siege and Nightstar. Are you a bad enough dude to shut down the BAF? Let's see.

First up, a map of the grounds you'll be working with:



Phase 1: If WWK=ALV, Then RAID.TASK = WWK.BRK
(Failure Condition: Full League Wipe)


This is an easy phase, much like the version in Lambda before it. Destroy 40 Warworks of various models, then prepare for the ramp up to the next.

Phase 2: Have You Ever Danced With The Devil In BAF Spotlights?
(Failure Condition: Timer, ??? Minutes)


After Phase 1 completes, Nightstar will spawn, along with a cadre of Mk. VI "Victoria" assassin Warworks. Every 15 seconds, Nightstar summons more reinforcements, which will charge you. These do not appear instantly, but rather run towards Nightstar from her spawn point. A potential strategy is dragging her away from it to the tennis courts, making them run further and increasing the space between mobs. Also Nightstar has a new power called Sequestration. This is a single target attack that she must stack on a player 3 times. Each time, the player in question is given a visible warning, but if they don't break aggro in time, the third Sequester will hold them and everyone around them regardless of mez protect. If you get a second Sequester warning, it is advised you move away from everyone else, so as to avoid holding the entire group.

Also in this phase, the Sentry Turrets activate. These can kill an exposed player very quickly if you wander into the field of fire of more than one. Around them are control consoles which deactivate the turrets for a set period of time, at which point they will reactivate and resume fire. However, the tennis courts are completely out of the turret line of fire, so kiting Nightstar to this location has its benefits.

The reinforcements should be eliminated as quickly as possible, though some will, naturally, still focus on Nightstar to keep her regen down. But it's possible for the Vickies to build up a sufficient critical mass that they can't be killed before the Trial's timer runs out, so be wary.

After defeating Nightstar, her corpse will remain static at its current location. Depending on your strategy, it's possible it'd be a good idea to leave her at the tennis courts so you can find her later...

Phase 3: Breakout, The REVENGE!
(Failure Condition: 20 Resistance Escapees escape the BAF, no timer)


After a brief pause, Mindwashed Resistance begin charging out of their holding areas, making a break for the outside world. They will ignore any aggro, but will not attack. Also, the towers will deactivate for this phase. Resistance Minions and LTs are mezzable by any normal means, but the Boss-con Hardened Commandos are not immune to mez. During this phase, DPS types should hunt commandos while Controllers and Dominators are best served locking down the rest of the escapees and taking them out.

The escapees follow a set path, which makes this very similar to "tower defense" games if you're familiar with them. The route is outlined here:



As you can see, there are several areas were given routes overlap, that would make good station points for heavy hitters. The spawn points can generally be locked down by a few AoE immob/holds with decent ease, and wiped out.

So, you prevented the breakout. But now, the prison's warden is heading out to take you on. Better hold on, you're about to be...

Phase 4: Under Siege
(Failure Condition: Timer, ??? Minutes)


Siege is, essentially, an AV class, downsized War Walker, with all the powers that entails. His reinforcements are 9CUs, custom ACU/BCUs that have a unique Defiance protocol. The longer a given 9CU survives, the more damaging and accurate its attacks become. Like before, it is best to kill these as quickly as they spawn. Similar to Nightstar, the towers will be activated during this phase, but the Tennis courts are free of targeting. Siege also has the Sequester power, which works identically to Nightstar's.

Bring down Siege, and the failsafe trips. You've fought the rest, now fight the best.

Phase 5: Both of You! Dance Like You Want To Win!
(Failure Condition: TImer, ??? Minutes)


Siege and Nightstar spontaneously re-activate at their location of death. If you've been kiting them this entire time, this means they'll reactivate right next to each other on the Tennis Courts. They both get their mobs of reinforcements every 15 seconds, and both have Sequester. To defeat them, you must play DDR-er.....kill both of them within ten seconds of each other. If you kill one but not the other, the defeated AV will auto-rez after the ten seconds have expired.

HP monitors are available for both AVs, similar to Neuron and Bobcat in Tin Mage. Pay attention to your raid leader, as it may be necessary to shift DPS from one AV to the other to keep them balanced. As before, wipe out ambushes as quickly as possible, lest the Vickie/9CU build up render the area a killzone.

Once you've defeated both AVs and they're staying down, you've completed the BAF trial, and prevented mass terror attacks on Praetoria. Congratulations!
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, geeze. The more I read about these things, the less I want to bother with further Incarnate stuff.

Then again, I remember when I thought the ITF was murder. And Apex as unbeatable. So maybe I will get to enjoy these eventually. But right now ...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Shader]

Ah... BAF. Fun. Fun. Fun.
They may have changed things since I ran it. Either way, this was the trial that failed due to a failure of leadership.  I ended up in a team with just myself and one other, in a League (there's that word again) of 12.
You'll want to have plenty of heavy hitters and buffers with you.
Enter, watch the Cutscene goodness which explains what's going on. Trash the bots on the ramp. Then dog pile the first AV: Nightstar. This is where things get interesting. She starts tossing around Holds that you can't prevent. If you get to second warning: RUN! or else. And the waves and waves of reinforcements... stamp them down as they arrive or you will be over-run. There was a few hairy moments in this phase of the trial. But we dropped Nightstar some distance away from the tennis court.
Then came the Prisoners. I had a taunt aura on and they ran right through it. They didn't respond to mezs. They didn't respond to taunt. And since they were conning purple, I had a hard time hitting them and they only responded to damage - about the 3rd knock. I remember thinking at the time: "TK's winning smile and charming personality is so going to have fun here."
Then came Siege. UGH. This time you can't ignore the waves and waves of reinforcements... which we were trying to do. I was playing a EA/Elec Brute and I spent more time on my face then on my feet. This was due the the reinforcements, more then Siege. And due to a failure of leadership. Somehow we managed to drop him but dropped him partway between where he spawned and the tennis court.
Then surprise... Both at once. The League I was in basically gave up here, and focused on dropping Nightshade in the time we had left. Which we only just managed. And once she was down she re-spawned to full health. We just could not keep up with alternating waves of reinforcements and the AVs pounding on us at opposite ends of the map and everyone thinking they knew best.
About a minute later the timer ran out and Trial failed.
All told, I got about 7% of a slot filled for a lot of work, and a lot of frustration.
What you need going into the BAF in my opinion:

• League leader who's done it before and knows what's going on.
  
• Organization.
  
• Damage - lots and lots and lots of it
  
• multiple Tanks/Brutes to toss aggro around of 2 AVs
  
• Buffers/Healers to keep everyone on their feet and out of that hospital.
  

But that's just from my run through - according to the forum there are PUGs that run and cruise through it.

[OpMegs]

Then again, I remember when I thought the ITF was murder. And Apex as unbeatable. So maybe I will get to enjoy these eventually. But right now ...

This, right here, is key.

Right now is the hardest these will be. When we just have the Alpha Slot. But as time goes on and more people gain more Incarnate abilities, the difficulty will begin to slack off.

Just using the BAF as an example, the strategy I've laid out is primarily for an Alpha-only run. But consider that, as time goes on, you'll get Judgment that can wipe out entire spawns of minions and LTs in a single blast, or can be multi-stacked from multiple incarnates, laying waste to bosses. With Lore, you could put walls of pets along the paths the Prisoners run through, ensuring they're under fire constantly. Destiny has Rebirth, which is a PBAOE regen buff with auto-rezzes for dead teammates around you if it's high enough, while Barrier buffs your defense and that of everyone around you. And by the time people get heavier Incarnate options, there's the fact that you'll have three level shifts for these. Imagine running these with everything at +1 instead of +4 like they currently are, and the horror starts to go away.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Shader]

Just a heads up...
Next window: Real Soon Now And Real Long
Also as stated in the announcement, there are some other things in i20 that Ops has forgotten to mention that I saw in the sneak peaks that I got to see.
Its not exclusively level 50+ content.
There is also a Blueside TF and a Redside SF. In the very first sneak peak, way back when, I got to look at Task Force. You could solo TF then... the devs have changed TF since then. According to the forums its 4+ players. As the press statements have hinted... Floating Fortress. I only got partway into the first mission before the server closed, but it looks fun.
In the second sneak peak, I managed to get onto the SF. Let me just say this. It is EVIL. In all senses of the word. The leader needs to do a tip to gain access to the wizard contact (Dialogue changes if you're a member of Midnight squad) and then contact will give you a rather quick series of missions... culminating in a fight against POSITRON. Keep an eye out for whoever has the star to make a cameo in the cutscenes. You get the Flames of Prometheus which is a buff that at level 50 can be traded into a Notice Of The Well.
(And the devs hate Villains supposedly)
There is also a neat new Helper system, two search windows, and tweaks to the GUI and tabs and a few other things that you need to see to understand.
And that's about where my notes from the open windows ends. I need to get some more... if my connection will let me.

[dark seraph]

MicroHue wrote:

---

You get the Flames of Prometheus which is a buff that at level 50 can be traded into a Notice Of The Well.
(And the devs hate Villains supposedly)

waaaait, can Vigilantes get that or just straigh up Villains?
also, woot, more red side love!!