Roadblocks to class specific weapon?

Me, personally are CH2, Tree2, PoS2 and HoF2.

These in their current state will prevent me from completing them. I'm looking for input and opinions on any changes from groupers that may help get them done.

I haven't done PoS2 or HoF2, but the biggest advice I can give you for both CH2 and Tree2 is as follows:

Take it nice and slow...find out what the pause points are and use them. Additionally...a chanter can help trivialize these events (though a bard can help too).

CH2: The skeletons that spawn from having someone transform into a wraith are 100% mezzable in the group mission. That, combined with knowing WHEN The wraiths spawn goes a LONG way. I believe in the group mission it is 1 wraith every 8%. You only really need one shrouder to keep up with them. Have your chanter mez the skeletons until Marnek is in skeleton form, then kill any extra skeletons that were left up. You should never have to mez more than 2-3 skeletons at a time, so a bard can do this job as well.

Additionally, its worth noting that there is NO CONSEQUENCE to leaving Marnek in skeleton form in the group mission. Get him to skeleton form, kill the 1 or 2 wraiths that will spawn during that time, then head on down to the cure pool and med up (Marnek is perma rooted and won't do much other than the targeted dots). Once everyone is full mana/ready to go, just run back up and do the last bit of damage to make him go from skeleton to human form and be ready to go again.

Again, take it slow...its a control event, not a race.

Tree2: There are a few tidbits to this one. The biggest issue with this event is that you have to repeat the first part if you fail the second...which makes sense in the raid but is a total drag in the group mission and should have been corrected long ago.

Part1) The molars. There are two ways to deal with this and which you choose will largely depend on your DPS situation...but here is the hint: If you make the npc's run over one of the campfires, they will get the fire buff. If they have this fire buff when they hit ~60% health, they will run off to the molars and blow up, doing ~3% damage to both of them. This means you only have to do 40% damage to each add, making it VERY easy to keep up with them, even in a low dps group. It DOES take a while though, and it takes some practice getting the mobs to run exactly over the fires. Only note on this: Fires only proc so many times before they poof for ~2 mob spawns (then respawn). Avoiding landing on the fire yourself helps. When the fire DOES poof is a GREAT time to burn discs if you are light on dps.

Now, you can set up by the fire AND send someone up top to try and dps the molars. Two words of advice for that, 1) only fire damage really damages them and 2) having a class that can drop agro easily REALLY helps...just check hott of each mob as it spawns to see if its on you, if so drop agro, otherwise continue balancing dps on molars (since tree explosions damage both equally, its best to balance them, though not required).

Alternatively you can have your whole group set up shop up top and just burn the molars down while doing the adds as well. If you have good dps this is easy enough.

Part 2) Clearing the ants is easy, BUT BE CAREFUL...if you agro the nest you have ~5-10 seconds to re-agro it and do the event or it resets and you have to do part 1 all over again.

On the nest protector itself: You go in and to the immediate right in the room. Healers can stay down the hall...but by immediate right I mean almost not in the room at all. Go in, hug right, you will hit a corner. Set up there...by keeping your back to the wall and in this corner you can really avoid mantrap ugliness and the pollen debuff floating around the air (note in raid version there is a mantrap here, but not in group version). There are 2 methods to doing this.

Without chanter) This is another control event. Damage the nest until an ant spawns. Pull dps off the tree, kill the ant, re-engage. Only way to wipe this is fall behind on ants...but if you are reckless and just blindly dps the tree this will happen every time. DoT's on the tree are generally bad in this situation.

With chanter) In the group mission a maximum of 12 ants can be up at once (tested and verified about a 2 months ago). Your chanter can make 12 hotkeys and single target mez them all as they spawn. They are as follows:

/target an_aggressive_ant00
/target an_aggressive_ant01
/target an_aggressive_ant02
...
/target an_aggressive_ant11

With this method you can just burn the nest down and deal with all the adds you have left at the end.

Both of these events are about control, something raiders are very familiar with but groupers not necessarily. Take it slow and don't panic and you can do these missions...but everyone has to be on the same page...one person running off and doing something dumb can wipe you extremely quickly, and in the case of evantil, can be extremely frustrating forcing you to start all over again.

~MrGPAC

With the addition of Perilous Disorientation (12 sec duration PBAE mez) and the fact that the ants are also stunnable, there really is no need for an Enchanter to go through all that work to single mez every mob. You can cycle PD and PBAE stun to keep it permalocked with only about 6 seconds of "lag time" if a new ant pops. This strategy just requires you to keep the ants relatively close together. Obviously your strategy works, but I think this would really simplify it for whoever is on CC.

Capt- if you could post your "usual" group makeup (if you have one) it would help in giving advice for PoS1 and HoF2. Like anything, certain combos can make the events very trivial easier.

Edit: trivial was not an accurate word to use in regard to those missions

Thanks for that Silv...I don't play a chanter and all I knew for sure was you couldn't pbaoe mez lock them since they nerfed the duration on it. Main reason we went through targeting scheme was we weren't sure if it was going to cap out at 12 or if it would go higher, so we literally stood there with the tree at 90% health until 12 ants spawned and kept waiting, then bashed it dead to confirm no others spawned.

~MrGPAC

The wraiths start spawning at 95% and ever 10% after that.

95
85
75
etc

This includes when he's in skelly form.

Thanks! I had forgotten the exact percentages in the group version since its been a while since I did this. Again, knowing and anticipating when these things happen makes this mission 100x easier.

Reacting: Damage named. Wraith spawns. Oh crap healer is stunned, quick go shroud and get this wraith off me! Oh crap healer stunned and skeleton just ganked our wizard as tank struggles to stay alive without heals...WTF? Why is the named at 85? Another wraith? Who dotted the named that badly? And we've wiped.

Anticipating: Ok its at 96%...go shroud form...once he does this expect to cc/offtank the skeleton. Pull off dps until we are ready. Ok skeleton under control and shroud is ready, drop it to 95%. Kill the wraith while making sure not to drop Marnek to 85. Perfect get back in human form and ready to reshroud as we drop it to 86%...repeat.

The second you find yourself reacting in this event is the second you die.

~MrGPAC

They start spawning at 93, not 95. And there is also a wraith at 10%. So it goes 93, 83, 73.... 13, 10% and I don't remember if there is one at 3% or not.

HoF2:

- Get 2 healers
- One tank and one melee (that can tank a bit)
- Chanter really helps (everything mezzes, except nameds)
- DPS not really that important, but you're gonna need some at the end

Phase 1:
One person is going to need to take one mob through all the auras. In the group version this mob doesn't hit hard at all (4-8k) and it can easily be done by a sturdy melee type. Knights probably can do it without any further support. Get all the 7 auras on one mob to spawn Cazic.

In the meanwhile, tank Xaric or kite him. Here you'll need a sturdy tank. Some minor adds will spawn during the event, which donot summon and can be mezzed. Have the rest of the group deal with those. Don't bother killing Golems as they will keep respawning. Mez/root/kite them.

Phase 2:
CT spawns -- kite CT around and generally keep him away from everyone to avoid his annoying Cazic Touch. Kill the golems now, as they won't respawn anymore. DPS Xaric and get him to 1% while dealing with the minor adds that spawn.

Final:
Xaric should be at 1% and CT is being kited. You now have two options, tank both near each other until Xaric gets Cazic Touch, or have Cazic be kited near Xaric. Whatever method you choose, as soon as Xaric is hit with Cazic Touch, do whatever you can to get him dead (only 1% left). The healers should load cure corruption spells and cast them during this time to cure Cazic Touch (need 2 casts of Abrogate Corruption iirc).

If you had enough DPS, and you kill Xaric, you win. CT does not need to be dps'd or killed (but it can help to dps him a bit it seems).

Thanks for the advice. But these should not be so restrictive. No group task should need two healers or two tanks. A chanter should not be required.

They did fix some missions but I feel some are too difficult for the targeted segment of the playerbase.

There aren't that many people I know that have all of them done. The ones that are done come from raiding guilds. Or have access to raider help.

I remember this guy during that original RoF group mission thread before many of them were nerfed, and now it appears he is at it again. Capt, I really believe you won't be happy until these missions are duoable for two level 95s with 1k AA

To correct your statement above, they did fix ALL the missions, even the latest ones you can't seem to beat. In Chapterhouse 2, the big dot (that you cure by jumping into the pool) used to do ALOT more damage then it does now since the nerf. A good group healer can easily heal through the dot now, whereas before it was very difficult. Tree2 used to be much harder as well. You needed a lot more DPS to keep up with the add spawns in phase 1 then you do now, which makes it much easier for groupers. I can't even believe you have PoS2 on this list, that mission isn't even a little bit hard.

HoF2 is the only mission where I feel you have a legitimate gripe currently, as some of the effects cazic is using are bugged, and are doing more damage then intended.

Basically, you were asking for input on how to do them, but really you were just looking to start another whine thread on how you still aren't able to do these missions, even though people were nice enough to go step by step and list the strategy for each. None of these missions in their current form are undoable by groupers who actually know how to play their class and have the appropriate group gear for said mission period.

Finally, just because you pay your monthly sub does not entitle you to all the content in the game, even on the group side. Some people will not be able to get everything due to lack of player skill, low play-time, inability to make friends with others, etc etc. After seeing yet another thread on how EQ is too hard for you, I have a feeling you just may fit into this category.

I agree this task is too restricted in the classes it can be done with. My regular group is a monk, ranger and me a wizzy and we pick up a tank/healer/slower or use mercs depending on who is available to join us.

We have found on many of these mission that we cannot play together and have to get missions done separately. We play so we can group together. Having 5 slots restricted to the old trinity (healer/tank/chanter) + 2 of the same is hurting the formation of groups, its bad enough finding one healer and tank let alone 2 and a chanter.

I'm sorry, did I misunderstand your original post? I thought you asked for advice and input on how to beat the missions that you mentioned.

If this was some backhanded way for you to bring up an underlying vendetta then I hope you feel like a jerk for wasting all of the people's time that actually posted legitimate suggestions to HELP beat aforementioned missions.

Don't ask for help, then ignore all of the suggestions (none of which required raid-geared friends), and come back and say how mission XYZ shouldn't need ABC. Are you wanting to win the missions or retune the expansion?

For example, I asked multiple posts ago what your usual group makeup was to offer you specific and succinct advice to help beat it. You never provided such information. Did you actually want input on how to win? What were you expecting? Someone to degenerate the thread into a rant about how hard some missions may be? Please don't make empty posts. I was all for offering advice until you posted ^.

My advice now, 1) join a raid guild, or 2) quit. That's how you can win!

Thanks for the advice,those that gave it. Those that say quit or whine less, no thanks for you.

Some of these missions are still too difficult. The completion of these missions has got to be quite low overall on any server.

Who's got paragon done? How times have you repeated the 2's? Most importantly, only reply if you had no current raid gear help.

So it has come to this, raid to win in the group game. I guess that makes sense giving that the raid mechanics in group content are all over the place.

I have the class specific weapon on 3 different characters. I have 1 raid char. I hardly ever group with my guildies outside of raids, or on specific requests from one for personal help. That being said, I have beaten all of the missions without a raid character. All of the "blocker" missions posted above were beaten without raid characters.

If you are going to do the Tree2 mission, it takes good fire damage to be able to drop the Teeth and not get overwhelmed by adds. Bring wiz, mage, necro, druid as best you can. Don't try to adapt and use the fire proc garbage. Why would you do this?

On PoS2, I had a T4 group geared SK with 4600 AA tank both named, with a cleric for heals and beast slows. The adds have low hps and hit relatively weakly. Insert X class to help deal with them.

On HoF2, this event is pretty trivial in the group game. It's mechanics that messes people up. Raiders do accomplish missions like this better. You know why? We are exposed to every ridiculous flaming loop and crossword puzzle ever created in raids now days. We break down mechanics, and piece through something a single step at a time. Once you know how to divide up HoF2, it is pretty simple. I can 3 box it, and a friend of mine can too. None of the adds summon, they all snare, they all mez, they all slow, they all root. They also spawn based on the crystals taking damage. If you attack 3 crystals at a time, or let adds attack 3 crystals at a time, you're going to get 12 adds at a time. Break it down, piece by piece. Xaric leashes and doesn't reset aggro, and keeps all of his debuffs. A mage pet, a merc tank, a defensive anything, a well geared melee dps can all move the terror around. CT doesn't summon, he leashes. You can back up and stand still and he will keep running to you and leash. Just take him out of the picture until Xaric is down. Once the tentacle died, none of the golems respawn, so you can kill them. On P2 with both named active, none of those adds will respawn if you kite them or mez them or root them. Once Xaric is locked, you can just dps cazic for a little until he emotes...

That mission in particular is chaos if you don't know what is going on and why. Once you know these things, it is just 1 step at a time that can be completed by nearly any group who has direction and focus.

Your little tight knit crew of 3 wants to do everything in game but you can't? Should you be able to go and drop the T1 raids with 3? You're playing a MMO, it hinges on people playing together and doing things together. It has 16 classes for a reason. Each one has a role to play. If you take out specific roles and needs for the game.... Hey, I know, let's all run around invincible and do everything we think we should when we want to. DT this DT that, unlimited permanently regening hps....

Things are designed to encourage diversity and something other than "I haz tank, my tank haz mob, I haz nukes, I haz nukez on mob, Jim haz sword, Jim haz sword in mob face.... I haz lootz now."

Expand your play, or expand your RL time.

Explain to me how you three box it and what classes.

For HoF 2
Mage Pet can tank Xaric.. he hits for 8kish.

I did it very smoothly with Mage Necro Beastlord Paladin bot cleric and merc cleric.

Part 1 mage pet tanks Xaric. Divided up the crystals between BST and Necro to protect them. Paladin lead mob around to eat auras. We even fell behind on adds and one of the golem mobs ate an aura... so we killed it, and continued on. Paladin tanked Cazic when he spawned and moved him close to Xaric for emote when he got low health.

This group had a lot of DPS... and that certainly helped, especially when we got the additional empowered mob, but like was mentioned.. divide up the tasks.

Did 6 hours later with a 2 monks, ranger, necro, druid, cleric. Monk dragged around mob to auras necro pet tanked Xaric. Was even easier with monk and ranger running around keeping mob population down and ranger booting and rooting the golem mobs. Group followed up with PoS2 swapping druid for another necro. We even messed up the orb changes 3 times... having Luclin reset her hps (don't take her below 30% health without having done all 3 changes.) have her as close to 30% as you can when you do the 3rd change, so you can get to the next stage even before the whirlwind mobs spawn.

To be honest, pet tanking is still over powered even after the nerf. They definatly take damage better than group tanks

SK, Wiz, Mag, Healer merc, Healer merc, Healer merc.

Drop the mage and his merc and form their own group so the merc isn't cross healing. The pet and the mage don't have to do anything, just put the pet on Xaric and leave mage alone.

Wiz has up instant nuke, and big booms. Runs around and aggros everything. Make sure to have Netherstep and runspeed handy. Know where your auto run keys are. Leave 1 mob on a crystal, aggro everything else.

SK is NDT, take the spawned tentacle to 1 crystal at a time. Leave the crystal that does the knockback for last. Once you absorb that, the tentacle would knock you out of the aura when you go to play the wiz.

As the SK moves the terror around, once you hit a spot, switch to wiz fulltime until absorb. Once absorbed, move to next with auto run filling in the quick gaps to move, since NDT, terror wont summon and will move quickly.

DPS all adds down as you go with the wiz. Once golems pop, leave them alone, snare them, root them, whatever you want. They will respawn if you kill them until tentacle dies. Keep killing spiders, ghouls, skellies, etc on wiz while moving terror whenever you see absorb message.

Once tentacle has absorbed all of the doodads, kite him with tank so healing is less, use wiz to bring golems down to 10-15%. Re-root / snare them... kill tentacle, kill golems. They no longer respawn.

Xaric / CT.... Aggro CT w/ SK and put him on auto run backwards and initiate a leash chain. CT will just keep leashing. SK takes little to no damage, healing continues. 3 adds will spawn. Snare them with wiz and kite them around, or root them. Mage pet takes Xaric. DPS Xaric to 1 with mage, and wiz while the wiz is kiting.

Once Xaric is at 1, DPS CT a little with SK tanking until emote that unlocks him.... burn Xaric from 1%.

The named hits softer than trash in regular zone. You may think pet tanking is overpowered still, but it doesn't apply to this fight for sure. So unless you don't want to allow pets to even tank zone trash....