New member summary so far as I know

[Elrojo]

Mac-Fennris - NM ready, healer can heal Pol/DW so far

Asdran - GMT 10 atm, good tank in NMs

Serpenturus - GMT +8 tank also, but in begnner gear

Scrumptious - in mostly Blues but NM ready

Aeronwi - up to tranny missions, needs the last 4 elites, then NM ready

Reedi - Haven't really seen him around much, will keep an eye out for him

Acreff - Need to finish elites i guess + doing some pvp lately

Relaud - Needs Elites + in tranny now going well

Kasster - havent seen in a while. Can come along well i think. pleasant guy, etc.

Nink - NM ready now. Gear is probably better than level due to previous PvP

CrimsonRum - Havent seen online much, not sure about cabal fit yet. Can debate some more

Lil-eyez - a fellow Aussie who i talk to every day. Need to review his status with us. Good gear, needs to come to us ASAP!

Sweet-Madness - Plays GMT +1 (French), up to Egypt, mixed gear, mostly high greens and 2 purple weaps. Gave some pointers. Needs Elites to get ql 10 blues. Only completed Pol. Also has some buddies to join when they come back. But some elite runs are past due

[Chrisax]

Thanks Rojo. I'll try to set something up for easy recording of members.

The method has proven to be good. Now we'll of course see some new members just drop TSW, as I explained. It's a totally normal phenomenon.

We now have to keep on inviting and recruiting, and numbers will increase. We ca progressively learn how to manage that, we did quite well so far.

Thx to you for the voice server too.

[Elrojo]

Mac-fennris, lireana & nink are the latest to beat the GK. so 3 more NM ready people. Nink & lireana ran 17/18 with zeril. Will try to get mac into some NM also. Psychogirl802 or what ever has only fac and SH in elites to go. (We had a huge elites day yesterday, I think I ran all the dungeons except HE!, same for zeril)

Ric her partner is nm ready but rusty. So by my count we have maybe 10-12 NM people. Need to somehow pair up some people so that we get some good raids going. Like 3 purple with 2 lower.

Also need to remind people not to get too annoyed if they don't get in on all the raids. Still almost all my raids are pug. Though its usually a few regulars I raid with plus a random or two.

[Chrisax]

Also need to remind people not to get too annoyed if they don't get in on all the raids

Yes, it's a major concern. No one must feel like being "excluded" and we must have NM teams (and teams in general) with various AP's and not always the same ones raiding together.

Really, City of Heroes (RiP, blame NCSoft) was very well designed for this: missions and most "dungeons" scaled according to the number of teammates.

We have to repeat that 5 people is a very strict limit and that we actually need even more AP's so we can have several teams running at the same time. Already, some days, we are close to do it. Well we even did it already (not several NM's but two teams).

We did The Ankh with Eldas, so now he just have the Facility and the Slaughterhouse to do.

[Mac-Fennris]

Well, I just want to let everybody know that I am very happy to have found AP!!!

My enjoyment of TSW has improved greatly, since joining "our" Cabal.

Additionally, I am on quite often ... daily for many hours US Pacific timezone and I am "Always" willing to help out anybody that needs anything ... be it normal mission quests in any zone or to help fill up a dungeon group so we can help move our members to their next level what ever level that maybe.

I would like to say a special thank you to everybody that helped make it possible for me to move through my elite missions so quickly and allowed me a chance to defeat the Gatekeeper.

With the Gatekeeper down, I am happy to say that I have as of yesterday been able to successfully complete my first PUG NM mission as the parties only healer of all things ... using Fist and Pistol ... it was only Polaris but still a good start. So I have started my collection of purple gear and BB's to spend

That being said ... please don't be shy in asking me for anything, be it time, gear, or extra coin!!!
If you need it and I have it ... then its yours!!

Thank you again for allowing me to find a home with AP.

[Chrisax]

And we are happy we found you, Mac!

Now the important thing is to work so we can have a lot of NM's together, even if PUG's will always happen; and, finally a full-AP New York raid !

So each and every AP must help each and every AP. We will be stronger together, but also happier together!

[Elrojo]

gratz mac.

To be honest healing is the easiest in terms of gear req for NMs. Most adequate heal uniforms can be made with 10-10.2 pick up items. In most times you only need high burst healing for 1min or less. Especially Pol in which the average fight lasts about 30 secs. The only bad bosses are the 5th and 6th. The 5th due to weird and often "oh sh1t" team healing on volatiles and adds, and the last due to high cleave damage.

To be honest PuG these days is a perfectly fine way to raid. Its also a good way to see how others do it and see their builds etc.

That being said, a well oiled raid group will mean success n the later dungeons (Fac/SH etc). And yes NY is an intensive raid that would need some good tanks to talk and some good healers.

As a side note a FULL 10.4/10.4 items is only 190 BBs so dont be too off put by the gear progression. for AR get about 3300 AR, then glyph out to make 10.4 and then go back and finish the talisman. Foe Heal get about 3.5k HR and then glyph out your weaps and talis, then go back and finish the talisman to 10.4. For tank. go to 10.1 on all HP gear and 10.3 on AR, then glyph everything to 10.4, then finish of talisman. This progression will give you the best results. f you make 1 item full 10.4 at a time you will phail due to all the other low stats.

[Elrojo]

edited OP with updates

[Bredin]

bump to add Serpenturus to first post.

I'll go through later and make sure all have forums members rights, if that has not been done yet

[Elrojo]

updated with some new members.

Last night we had the (dis)pleasure of having a full cabal run of DW (was supposed to be an MP for thing). We had actually too many people (7 NM ready) and were missing 2 that are normally on and NM ready. We completed the dungeon but one accidentally changed stuff, so no update.

However. Full AP MP incoming.

WE then ran Pol after, again all cabal, slow, but no major issues.

[Mac-Fennris]

Hello all.

Well I have now invited my first member to join our cabal. IQs ... yes that's her name, is a nightmare ready Healer. I had the pleasure of getting to run a few pug NM's with her as the group healer and she even healed with me running as the tank in a HR pug. Of course we failed to kill the final boss in that mish ... mostly because I am still learning the ropes of being a NM Tank. She is a down to earth relaxed player that I really think will be a fine addition to our cabal.

Thank you Cx, for putting your trust into me and promoting me to a rank in which I can seek out new fun and friendly players to help fill our ranks. In addition I have seen a few new cabal mates added over the past week, and just want to remind anybody and everybody that if you see me on ... I am always happy to lend a hand to help in anyway I can. If you need help with regular missions ... or just want to fill up a dungeon group from normal to NM, I am ready and willing to lend a hand. Also I have been working on my heal deck and tanking deck so I can fill just about any role. However my tanking in NM is limited to the 18's.

Just an fyi on what I have been up to. I spend most of my time running NM pugs ... mostly for the BBs so I can get my dps build to full 10.4's, and also to keep any eye out for good fun players that might be a good fit in our Cabal. So far I have found IQs ... but I am hoping that I will find even more diamonds in the rough. I make it my rule to only invite one new member every two weeks or so as I really like to take the time to get to know the person and play along side them before hand.

Well thats all the news that fit for print for now. See you all online

[Twill]

Twill recent member, ql 10, purples, DPS, very glad to be in AP,

ready for NMs, Raids, Lairs, and pvp .... die s well

[Chrisax]

Hi twill (although we already met several times).

And good job Mac!

I guess we need a new system to register our members and "follow" the new additions. I'll work on this. (In AO, it's covered because application are manage in a diferent, more complex way, because of the age and the nature of the game.)

[Rurik Nogard]

Err ppl I have to say Im so glad to have new ppl in cabal, Im just like the stealth member in cabal, Im always doing NM on PuG or entering pvp or farming, not much talkative in cabal chat but im always there, regulary when I enter go to do 18/18 1st, then anyother NM that can in PuG if dont going to pvp or going to farm in Transilvania for Violence signets, I have acomplished the 100% Wheel, and I tell to all new members im from Mexico and I get conected from 15:00 to 20:00 hr mexico city time and u can send me a wisp for get some help if u need regulary when I do NM with cabal I dont pick any purple equipments and when Im farming regulary sell all equip I get, so if u can and want to get some NM or do some PVP or get AP and farm can join to ur team and help cabal members to improve.

Btw as son as we get enough ppl and our leaders decide we will start to do NY raids, I think the best poit to start is when we can do 18/18 NM and HE without problem

[Chrisax]

Glad you posted this "reminder" about you Vlein I was almost going to ask you to do it!

Keep in mind, though, that if anyone (you or any other member) doesn't "show up" on chat, other members will likely just assume he is busy and just can't join anything or not interested, this because of the way TSW gameplay works. So never be afraid to speak up, everyone!

About NY raid, I was thinking we could start around the end of this week by entering the area, even just with a team, perfectly knowing that we won't get very far, so members SEE it, understand better the difficulty, work on their builds, discover somewhat the terrain, etc.

We did that with 5 AP's short after NY raid was released with the way less powerful equipment than now, and it was instructive.

And I think the criterion you suggest, Vlien, is a good one for a chance for a successful raid "when we can do 18/18 NM and HE without problem". ("Without problem" doesn't mean "never fail" but means very rare failures IMHO)