R.A.I.D. Simulator: The New Big Thing

 Like kids to an arcade when a new video game came out back in the 80's, heroes now rush to the BADGE orbital platform to train in the new R.A.I.D. training simulator. Excitement is rampant as each hero hopes to take part in defeating one of the two newly offered holo-villains to defeat. Will this training be beneficial? To some, yes. To others, a little bit, and to a few it will be an exercise in futility. 

How can players best make use of the new opportunity?

First, it depends on being aware of new options available to players. If you know your goals, resources, build, and resources, it is possible to improve your odds of maximizing your benefits.

• Equipped Gear: Each foe has specific weaknesses/resistances. When fighting, use appropriate gear choices that give bonuses to damage based on your core. Stick with items that give specific damage bonuses over burn, poison, or aura damages, as they (at this point) aren't as favorable in your efforts. Gear that provides defense and health boosts are also unneeded, as damage isn't being done to heroes by the foe. It is all about the damage you can inflict. Xdamage multipliers do work, so make use of them if possible for some big pops of damage.
• 
  Be stocked in consumables. The daily maximum of More-Fun Bars has jumped from 14 to 16 uses per day which adds some additional attacks. There is also a consumable purchasable at the bottom of the GIFTS tab call Liquid Learning. It comes in different strengths, based on your purchase choice, but it can be used to improve XP gains, should that be your preferred route while raiding.
• There are multiple routes for playing, so understanding how RAIDing will impact your style is going to help determine your strategy. If you just want to play and get what you get, that is an option. If you are fast leveling or playing an energy alt character(one that puts a good amount of skill points into energy when they level), RAIDing is a very useful opportunity. If controlling your leveling speed to control your gains is your preference, you may want to look at the cost/benefit margin before participating. The current style of play that benefits from the RAID structure is a character that can deal out substantial damage in the hits they inflict, moderate damage in a high volume of hits, or substantial damage in a high volume of hits. 
• Look at your power cards and if possible, bulk up on ATTACK cards to give you extra strength for your strikes. You can temporarily replace some of your lower value crystal cards with BUX cards for the duration of the raid. If you haven't already, a player can use the Power Counts button on the POWER>TRAIN tab to see what cards you are actively using for each attribute.

For the lower level, Abominable Yetti RAID, a team of 4-5 player who each dole out 200,000 damage during the course of the raid each have a fair shot of getting a substantial quantity of all the offered rewards. On the Heroes Rising Players Page, there are several opportunities to see other player's RAID results. After some examination and participation, these are some of the results I have observed.

• There are quite a few players participating and sharing raids. I've seen RAID results shared from groups of 10 and groups of nearly 30. There are invites going out like mad, but several of them have already ended before I have received the invitation.
• Typically, there are 2 or 3 characters that dominate each of the lower RAID score-wise. I have observed one instance where a high level character sweeps in and in one hour does over a third of the RAID target's health in under an hour. Open invitations do allow players to come in and dominate the field in a moments notice. This isn't a negative, per se, about the RAID activity or a players enthusiasm to dominate, but it does quickly reduce the allotted time and damage available to players who have to wait to build energy back up. Don't count on being able to hit certain thresholds in your own performance in an open field. Crows will come in and ravage if possible.
• 
  In the Abominable Yetti RAID with only 10 participants, all below level 300, those doing over 200,000 damage earned far more quality items than those doing around 100,000 damage. Individual damage ranged from 200-300 for most, with one doing and average of 500(Lvl240ish) to the lowest doing around 100 damage per hit(Lvl 60).
• The available rewards are not to par with a typical World Raid, which for the summonable aspect of doing them is as to be expected. There are uses for all rewards, either in resale, filling Power Card slots, or adding variety to an arsenal.  
• The snowglobe for summoning these R.A.I.D. events (found in Neo Utopia, along with the AMA parts needed to purchase tokens) drop with fair frequency, but have been discovered for sale in a Black Market during patrols for 50MP. They are your MP to spend, but a bit of farming will get you one for free, so shop wisely.
• It is possible when creating the RAID to make it private or public. This will help players control who participates.

Overall, these highly desired player summoned RAIDs are a substantial improvement to the game, but will not be of much interest to new players, as they can not join until at least level 50. Even once hitting the threshold, it is likely the damage output of a low-level player won't earn much during one of these events. 

Building an "energy toon" will foster several advantages to strong performance in a RAID event. With additional energy to spend, a player can get far more attacks in. When they level, they will get the opportunity to do far more attacks than a player who is relying on Energy Consumables. I predict there will be growth in this type of build in the coming days as more and more players participate.

Opening up a RAID to everyone at this time is a pitfall that can cost players the chance to build up their damage sufficiently to defeat a foe while crossing thresholds for prize awards. Choosing a group of known players to cooperate in damage output might prove to be far more beneficial than sending out a global call for help. 
Repeated completions of these RAIDS will build a players ability with each run-through. The arm gear offered in the Yetti RAID will directly help if equipped in the next attempt, as it offers and Elemental Damage boost. The core offered in the Skelanimal RAID is going to be highly sought after. 

If you aren't sending out or collecting Gifts from the GIFTS page, start doing so. The depletion of these resources is going to be increasing the longer RAID events are available.