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Alerts advice for a Newbie?
tripph
Posts: 84 Arc User
Okay, got a couple of L15's, and ready to try Alerts. Any recommendations on what to start with?
And it appears that I just click on the Alert, and join the queue. When there's a full set, another window will open?
I'm ranged DPS focused (what CoH called a Blaster). Do I need to know anything special about what to do, or just start shooting? Should I focus on minions or the "star" of the Alert? I understand aggro control and selective use of knockback/down from my CoH days.
I don't want to be a complete noob in my first alerts.
And it appears that I just click on the Alert, and join the queue. When there's a full set, another window will open?
I'm ranged DPS focused (what CoH called a Blaster). Do I need to know anything special about what to do, or just start shooting? Should I focus on minions or the "star" of the Alert? I understand aggro control and selective use of knockback/down from my CoH days.
I don't want to be a complete noob in my first alerts.
_____
I'm still fairly new. If I screwed up again, let me know.
I'm still fairly new. If I screwed up again, let me know.
Post edited by tripph on
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First off people don't generally communicate much, you are expected to sensible things on your own initiative.
Saying that I'd generally recommend you look at the people that arrive and try to work with someone who looks like a Tank (or Brick) providing extra fire-power as that character keeps enemies focused on him, if he is able to.
Switch who you are working with if this seems wise.
At level 15 you should probably be trying to even the odds by keeping the supporting cast away from the other characters but still seek to pile on the damage if someone looks like they need some help fighting someone tough.
Some are simple fights, other require a spot of brawling before you enter a building. The building missions generally follow the same route for the same building, so learn it.
If you are outside look for red circles, which is where the people you are able to attack generally can be found. For long distances use your travel powers.
Try to adapt to the chaos of these alerts and experiment as much as possible.
A Prootwaddle is one of the weirder player-character races in "The Fantasy Trip", Steve Jackson's first published role-playing game.
You feel much better.
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
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Most Smash alerts, it's okay to die and respawn - but I think there's one where the timer loses ten seconds every time someone dies. I avoid both Recruiting Drive and Soul Siphon, because I know it's one of those, but I can never remember which.
It's okay to ask in Chat about the Alert before you run it - just be prepared for alleged wits (who are usually about half-right) to make what they think are jokes. There'll be people who actually want to help you improve, as well.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Do note that for Recruiting Drive Smashes every defeated Hero makes the timer go faster (represented by recruited civilians). Soul Siphon spawns really annoying worms as time goes on (represented by civilians getting turned into said worms), but at the beginning there's only the Super Villain/Legendary to oppose you.
Trainstopping can break (requiring you to defeat one more enemy than is present to complete) if you defeat a minion before the barrier drops naturally, so don't try it. In general, don't try to cheat the alerts by engaging enemies before the barrier drops unless you actively want to fail (and if that's the case, why even queue in the first place?).
Grabs, Bursts and the other Special Alerts are not timed at all, so you don't have as much pressure there. When the server has room for another instance of that alert and you're among the first 5 of the queue, you'll get a popup asking you to confirm that you're Ready.
Also, you can close the popup Alert Window after joining one or more queues without losing your place. Useful if you're queueing for alerts while soloing missions. Try to catch minions and villains in your AoEs while you focus on the Super Villain/Legendary when in a Smash. In Burst and Grab Alerts you mostly just need to avoid aggroing too many things, so watching where your AoEs go is more important.
And don't try to kite if you get aggro (from the SV/L) and whatever semi tanky character your team has is melee. All you'll do is frustrate your teammates, lower overall dps and keep aggro. Instead stand still while blocking until they peel the enemy off you, then move away from melee range and start firing again. Note that aggro is generally determined by dps, hps, spikes and threat management advantages/powers. A large spike can grab aggro, even if the tank has spent the last minute pounding with Crippling Challenge/Challenging Strikes, so favoring steady dps may be a better option than short bursts of heavy damage.
And as a last tip: Pay attention to your Open Mission tracker if you're unsure about what to do in an Alert.
- If you're doing Recruiting Drive, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO KILL EVERY MOB. In fact, if you end up killing every mob, you have done it horribly, horribly wrong, and everybody on your team is probably pissed at each other. Avoid aggro'ing random groups; take care of the first 3 guys you come to, then pull the Boss back toward the starting area. It will go much more quickly and easily that way.
- Be careful where you finish on Trainstopping. One time I was on the ground towards the back (where the train ends up coming to a stop after the final cutscene) and got trapped inside the newly arrived train, unable to go pick up the XP reward. Not the end of the world, but irritating to lose out on the whole point of running the Alert.
It's actually 'worse' than this, the kill counter starts at 0/20 only when the alert 'officially' starts, if one or more of the enemy is killed before the start, you CANNOT complete the alert successfully because the counter will never reach 20/20, no matter how well you deal with the rest.
In Stitch in Time alerts feel free to use your 100' attacks to pull the first group to the spawn point, the alert will still 'work' even if the whole group is down before it actually starts.
As a ranged DPS you will probably pull aggro from other members of the team even on the boss, if you're confident you (and the other ranged members) can finish him off then 'kiting' is an option, but if your team is composed of mostly melee types then please don't rush all over the map to keep out of attack range. If there's a melee tank, they won't be able to grab aggro back from you and the melee DPS will curse you for failing the alert (this goes treble for Unleashed ATs, they do not have a lunge power so have to chase the boss 'on foot' as it were). Blocking and waiting until the boss focuses on someone else is usually the best course of action, or forgo the block and keep attacking then recover and charge back in. Nothing drops aggro like being defeated :biggrin: .
@CanisErectus- Scampering around, biting bad guys since July 2011.
plbbbbttt!
I enjoyed pugs on CoH. When they went well, they were awesome. And when they went badly, they always did so spectacularly!
Thanks all for the tips!
I'm still fairly new. If I screwed up again, let me know.
/stuck should get you out of the Train. I got stuck in the front of the train right at match end.
If that does not, use:
/killme so you can respawn then get your XP drop.
If you get launched into the cargo containers in Dockside (Where you're flailing about), you need to use /killme or wait for a nice enough teammate to destroy the container. If you're standing up inside of the crate, /stuck will get you out of it.
The rest were fast and fun! I can see why so many people think they're the ONLY way to level.
One of them a couple of people bailed, leaving just three of us, but we still did it. One character kept the supervillian's aggro, constantly healing himself while both of the rest of us just kept wailing on the villain. I think it took three or four minutes, but we eventually wore him down and won!
Alerts are FUN!
I'm still fairly new. If I screwed up again, let me know.
Derp on me. I knew (but totally forgot) about /killme, and didn't know about /stuck. Thanks for the heads-up!
Another piece of advice: When you see a Nemesis Dockside Dustup alert, you probably won't get many people in other alerts. That's because every time you defeat a Nemesis in alerts, they drop Boxes of Questionite which can be opened for 200, 500, 700, or 1,500 Questionite. It's supposed to be random, but I get 200 about 90% of the time. Baron Cimetiere also drops a a box, but people don't like farming him for some reason. Probably the voodoo doll that reflects damage back on you when you attack, which causes you to commit suicide if you don't see him whip it out. Blocking while he has it out usually keeps me alive, but forcing the whole team to stop attacking or die nearly instantly isn't very conductive to timed alerts.
Oh, and if you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Jack Fool yet, make sure to block if he's charging an attack and you're his target. If you don't, it's an instakill.
And one last one: if you can fly and the villain can too, try to stay on the ground if you've got their aggro. I've had a few alerts fail due to melee dps being unable to reach Viper X because he's too high up in the sky. Same with kiting (running around and making the villain chase you): melee hate that. Heck, I hate that on my healers. My range isn't infinite. If they don't let me get close, they don't get healed.
It is random chance, but not evenly weighted (i.e.: it's not 25% chance for each of the 4 options). This is intentional. But just to correct, it is in fact random.
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
Yeah, I know it's bad form, but they're busy. They don't have time to come fetch the noob and lead him by the hand. And I'd rather leave them short one than leech. They were doing quite fine on the street, so I hope they were able to handle it.
So is there a guide anywhere to the Pyramid Power alert, and where to go once you've cleared the street?
I'm still fairly new. If I screwed up again, let me know.
So that if I get aggro. I can go straight up from the target.
They stay still and melee can beat the crap out of them.
and the normal one.
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On the main street, just where you jumped down to from the starting point, is a door flanked by, I think, 2 Sphinxes - the door should pulse a dull red color, indicating that you can interact with it. There's a similar door in the back that you can enter from as well.
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
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Also, try not to use knockback/up/away too much, especially in timed events like Dockside Dustup. It will just break the action and make everyone have to run after the villain, wasting time that could have been spent whittling down health. Try to keep a villain in one place if possible, so that powers that might take a little longer to set up (like sigils and some attacks and debuffs) can do maximum amounts of damage.