Can we get a discussion going about the current difficulty of this raid? I love the notion of something so challenging in the game, but the short duration makes me curious. Its an exact replica of The Brothers Zek from SoD for all intents and purposes. If it isn't nerfed into oblivion, then very few guilds (~5 I imagine) will complete it before it goes away. What are the current plans on this event? If it was permanent, it would be wonderful to learn and progress on. At this rate, the difficulty is fairly insane and only a select few will manage to even take the time, let alone complete it, before its diappearance. Anni raids have typically been a joke that everyone can enjoy for a limited time - this event is quite insane in its current state. Any thoughts?
I always thought the anniversary raids were more *inclusive* rather than *exclusive*. Challenging content like this should be delivered for the raids that will be in permanently, not the ones with a 6 week shelf life. =\
Yah. Leave it as is. The fact that its difficult and that the clock is ticking before it poofs..well, that just seems kinda cool in a way. it might actually be an achievement with some substance. Would you rather have one event be uber hard and only for the elite players or have an entire expac geared to challenge only the top guilds as it was in the past? Amazingly, SoE is still trying to actually please as much of their player base as they can and they might value the business of the more skilled player base. This one event is an outlier compared to everything else current and doesn't require a dumb down.
I seriously doubt that SOE's intent with this raid is to please the elite guilds. Anniversary events are meant for the whole EQ population to enjoy. They are only available for a limited time. A raid that runs for only 6 weeks, gets defeated by only several guilds and is never seen again until it's obsoleted - that would make no sense. If the devs wanted to please the elite guilds, this raid in its current form would be available with PoW and stayed available indefinitely.
difficult is one thing....nearly impossible to beat (as of this writing I m not sure even the elites have beanten it....to me that says something) and more over tuned then any permanent raid content in current population IS however another matter. They knew it was overtuned in beta and frankly DIFFICULT I dont mind on progression mobs, but what this raid is is ridiculous, with its current mechanics, be like the Sleeper and need 4 guilds to zerg it. Sorry thats not a anniversary event, I dont want a walk over either , but this event is just something to give people a reason to grind again for level xp.
Make it permanent, if you're concerned with prestige have an ach for completing the raid prior to June 18th. If there is something like the ToFS ach for beating that raid already disable that ach on June 18th. Complaints about lack of content, explanation of lack of Dev time. Devs spend time to make a raid and then make it not available for 46 weeks a year is madness.
If you really think everyone in any top 10 guild is just more skilled then the rest of eq you really need to think about the way things are and the way you picture them . Everyone can mess up I seen it happen last week from a guild leader not to name names but yeah the person wiped us =P Yeah sure they have all the better players in eq beating down their door because their guild name is more popular but that doesn't mean anything. People's point of view about hard content is pretty flawed. Knowledge of everything going on in a raid and everyone having that knowledge is the only thing that separates the guilds. Beta testing, players more willing to raid like the old days (5 hours straight wiping) are really the only other difference.
I think it's really funny the Devs did this. Aside from it being temporary, its how a lot of us felt when Plane of War went live and we found we couldn't handle it.
Oh to add one more thing compared to old raids that people thought were actually hard new raids are 1000 times harder with 10 times the mechanics . They just seem easier because the entire playerbase has more knowledge and the information about the raids is more easily attainable. I am not sure about everyone else but I have never been overkilled by 100k other then a death touch in less then one round from pure melee damage.( wk 2 and dead hills 2) That's in 12 years of raiding.
If this is what the devs had planned for this raid I think someone has lost the plot. This goes against everything the devs have said raids will be. Why waste time creating a raid that only a handful will complete when there is so many other things that time could have been spent on. It least if it had been a permanent raid there would have been the chance of more beating it once players had geared up a bit in T2 CotF.
PoWar isn't hard, just bring more friends....maybe that is what they need to do with the raid, make it a 72 man instead of 54, that was how PoP was after all.
Then make a dumbed down version option, with reward that equates to the reduced challenge that is available concurrently with the current version and on the same lock out. . Otherwise, the current version should remain as is for those that want something to bang their heads against. Its my opinion that its good for really difficult content to be added once in a while. It shows that there is still a willingness to do so.
I've been one to complain in the past about nerfing content difficulty. I felt exceptionally happy to have this title you see on my magelo pre-nerf. Quick Death in a raid setting was quite challenging (IMO). I felt the need to water down the so called 'hard modes' was unnecessary to say the least. They never blocked anyone from content, but gave a *badge of honor* to those who wanted to push into harder areas. With that said, my grief with the current PoWar mission is tuned to an extreme degree. I believe everyone in my guild is happy to be progressing against the challenge, but I think a nerf is going to be a necessity on principle alone. Anniversary content in the past has been easy - to the point most servers had successful pick-up raids against it. If they wanted one special 'challenge raid' assigned in the game, it shouldn't be temporary nor associated with the anniversary (which brings players together to celebrate EQ, not shut them down in 30 seconds of engage and demoralize.) If this was the intended difficulty, the implementation as an Anniversary event is a poor method to do it. I believe a large skill difference exists among guilds in EQ. Maybe individual players are have comparable skill, but the collective ability to cooperate, adapt, recover and win is substantially different. A lot of elements have to interact and go right to get anything done. Watching a finely oiled raid machine is a beautiful thing - relaxed, on point, flawless on execution. There is a large difference between good players and good players who work well collectively. But, speaking on players individually - one of the benefits of guilds with more notoriety is that they get the ability to be selective - applicants flow in and they can ensure every one is on point, like-minded, and exceptional in a raid environement. That isn't a luxury a lot of guilds get. The skill difference exists, and its very large depending on how wide you're comparing. Do I think the *top-ten* that beta are super-better? No. Some guilds don't have batphones and rush on release to beat the new raids minutes before the others. That's an old, outdated model when being the first to the end meant something. But I do also acknowledge the difference between guilds struggling and the others facerolling the content even with half thr numbers. There is no shame in that. Guilds exist for all levels of play and experience, and everyone has a home.
Absolutely! I also would have locked it behind PoWar progression (if it was going to be a permanent raid), but i can be a glutton for punishment.
The problem is time. When you think of older events that were hard and required more than a day to beat, there were avenues to gear up more and come back stronger to try again. Even in GoD where the end boss was essentially unbeatable, the event was permanent so people had an opportunity to level/gear up in OoW to go back and try again. But today's game is different. Major guilds have already farmed current content for months, and there is no option to get stronger and come back later because: A) They already have full raids with the best gear in the game and max AA so they're not getting any stronger, and B) we only have a six week window to try. When the top guilds that are fully geared can't beat a raid that's only around for a few weeks, that's an issue. There is no avenue to go get better gear or levels to come back and try again. Even if we do get a couple of guilds to complete it, as of now it looks like most of the time it's available will be spent trying to learn it and win, with next to no time left to actually collect gear from it due to lockouts. By the time it comes back around next year we'd probably be better equiped to handle it, but at that point the gear will most likely be very outdated for the effort involved. The only caveat to that was if there was something from the static PoWar progression that we were supposed to obtain to make the raid easier, which could have been why the zone was out for a month before the raid was. However, with that essentially being broken/buggy too the idea goes out the window. I'd say it either needs to be made permanent so raid folks can continue to work on it during the rest of the CotF expansion, or it needs to be tuned down a bit if it's only staying for six weeks.
My thought would echo what I believe to be the majority opinion from those who I have heard express opinions: -no problem with extremely difficult content -no problem with temporary content -100% problem with extremely difficult AND temporary content My choice would be on the side of making it permanent rather than tuning it down, no matter how much precedent has been set by previous anniversary raids. Things change over time, and right now we need as much permanent content as we can get. Help yourselves (SoE) out and make this permanent. P.S. - A tangential point that I would not be opposed to would be that there is precedent for easy and hard modes due to the original raid showing up in SoD (hard mode 54 and easy** mode 72 players in this case?), as well as the content being "PoP" would mean the option of 72 man raids would be a nice throwback. **I know for many teams finding 72 raiders wouldn't generally be considered easy
I like the fact that this Raid is super tough. I would agree though that the event should be extended so it can be enjoyed for a longer period of time. Just Curious if any has beaten this raid yet and if so which guild and server. Many complained how easy current content is, I think having 1 or 2 crazy hard events every expansion is good thing. It would be nice for the event to be permanent though. Good luck to all and prepare yourself for many wipes! It's easy to be a good winner but a true test of a guild's metal is seeing how people react to failure.
For years we lesser people have had to bite the bullet and wait for more levels and more gear. Sometimes years before we got to see the content. And it was okay. Hardcore folks told us it was okay. So, now theres content that can't be steam rolled by all the Nouveau Riche guilds and all of the sudden it's a problem. Tough it out and wait till your skill set catches up with your desires. You've got those awesome five new missions out right now. Everyone could use bigger bags, right? Plus, the PoW mission. That's got some replay ability. It's just one raid. There so much more to do, let that .05% of the population have something they can sink their teeth into.
dear Captain, raid much?? no one is asking to steam roll it....for those that raid it is something new and would like to see it done before its taken away. For guilds that have raids on farm, missions probably done already a new raid that is SOMEWHAT doable would be nice. Have you tried the raid?? As of last nite, the top 3 guilds in the game had attempted it and not gotten even half way on it. Would you suppose that might state something? do you believe the people of RoI dont have a raid skill set that hasnt "caught up"? The raid is way over tuned and not doable in its current state. Tough and difficult are fine, completely obscene and needing TWO guilds MAYBE to zerg combine it and take it down are a bit ridiculous but hey thats just me. I ll let you be the one tell Realm of Insanity that their skill set just has to catch up. I would prefer if you havent had the notion to see the raid to hold your thoughts until you do.
But it won't get taken away. It will return. If they can't beat it this year, there's always next year. I think you guys are forgetting how hard some raids were in PoP. Heck, wasn't there a furor over PoE not being beatable and some even accusing the Devs. Of purposely preventing progression because Time wasn't ready.? So maybe just like the regular PoW zone, it's a throw back to old times. Hard core end gamers have been clamoring for hard and defending how hard PoW is for old players that just don't have access to needed classes at the drop of a hat. Now, when you get something hard that must be attempted many many times for a chance of maybe beating it, there's complaints. I'm sure the best of the best, after attempting the raid a significant amount of times will be able to beat it and have the satisfaction of proving their mettle.
