Any boxers attempt group missions yet? Reading the overviews seems like they are designed to be hard to box. Indifferent in either case, but curious.
some of the missions will be a bit rough but nothing that i saw seemed like it will be nearly as hard as things like the 2nd sepulcher mission or other challenging alaris missions. The final xorbb group mission looks very overwhelming on paper to a lot of people i suspect but i can say with a certain degree of certainty that it actually was shockingly very easy. I honestly expected it to be MUCH harder than it was when i saw it. I don't think people will struggle with it (or *most* of the other missions too much) The first xorbb mission though, the battle for rivervale.. that one might cause some people to scream (depending on the approach you take to it, it can be a potentially horrible mission to slog through.
Making things more difficult to box is a sure way to lose subscribers. It wouldn't be possible with how they run the business to bring in enough return or new players to fill the void of cash if boxers stopped playing their alternate accounts.
The group missions for RoF are certainly no cake walk, just did grelleth #2 a few nights ago and that sucked big time. it has put me off wanting to even attempt the rest of them. The "suckyness" of the event was compounded by the ultra sucky item that dropped at the end. Risk v reward in this expansion is more out of whack than I have ever seen it in this game. This includes named mobs that will charm or mez MT and other ugly mechanics which makes 2 boxing with 2 mercs a lot more ineffective. Not renewing my box account subscription. Main account has 50 days and still undeceided. Well done SOE.
The EW missions and many others are pretty terrible with RvR. Many of them are hard to box if at all. It is my opinion that missions are very difficult compared to alarais missions and compared to normal group content. You pretty much need an enchanter or bard for many of them doing their job 100% so good look boxing many of them.
On the bright side at least you dont 'have' to do the missions that suck. There are no zones, AA, or armour locked behind doing them.
I can say for sure that most of these missions are boxable (but not easy).I still have not even attempted chapterhouse mission 2 at all yet (mostly been doing other stuff for fun) because i heard that one would be terrible to box. I attempted evantil 2 once time awhile back 3 boxing + with a non boxed cleric and non boxed chanter friend.. and it was very doable but the method we were taking to beat it was going quite slowly and it was late so we ended up gating out and not finishing it (i suspect with a few methods i know of evantil 2 will be 'easy but long' Xorbb mission 2 (the battle against king xorbb) was quite hard, i did not box that fully, i boxed mage/mage/bard/ranger and was with a non boxed cleric and chanter when we beat it.. I am pretty sure i could never in a million years have beaten that mission without their help. Every other mission listed though i've successfully beaten (and gotten most of the conquests for) with me boxing mage/mage/bard/ranger + none boxed chanter + 1 cleric merc. IMO the hardest missions in Alaris at level 95 were far harder than the hardest missions in RoF at 100, but RoF still has some really annoying overtuned missions (for the majority) As others have said though in other threads, having a non boxed CC'er helps A TON for several of these missions.
you are right with that one adding a real cleric and real chanter to help is not really "boxing", because they can focus 100% on their toon,while you can do your things , that a lot different than trying to box it by yourself
some missions are very easy and very easily boxable, however there are some that even the best box setup would be pressed to finish it, ones like "Run you fools!" those types of missions.
Sadly ( i say sadly because most fixes to the grouping game came too late) they embraced the boxing culture because of dwindling subscriptions. Now for some reason they are making it hard for those same people that are paying for 3, 4, 5 and even 6 accounts. I know it doesn't go over we'll when someone says tone down content. But, please, take a look, at least. Even if they did, with the glacial pace things happen around here, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a month before they wanted us to break out our wallets for the next expansion or whatever they have planned.
Easily boxable: - Both Shard's Landing missions (1 is much easier with an enchanter or a bard than without) - 1st mission in Crystal Caverns - 1st mission in Kael (but you might need to die and rez a couple times while the npc's kill everything for you) - 1st mission in Eastern Wastes (might die 1 or 2 times when the add waves go active, then pull and kite them and get back on the dragon) - 1st mission in Evantil - 1st mission in Grelleth (the end boss is stunnable! lol) - 1st mission in Breeding Grounds - 1st and 2nd missions in Xorbb Notice that this list always includes the 1st mission and not the mini raid, with only a couple exceptions (SL mini-raid is a joke; both missions in CH are no joke for boxers).
^^ Axxius' list pretty much mirrors my own experience. I run DRU+BST+WAR plus whatever 3 mercs best suit the content I am attempting to tackle. With my group, I beat all of the #1 missions except for Chapterhouse. Of the #2 missions, I have beaten SL and CC only. Spent six hours wiping repeatedly to ZKA #2 couple weeks ago, best effort was 38%. Haven't attempted to 3box any other #2's ... yet. Been through most of the other #2's already with a group of 6 breathers, so I know better than to even attempt boxing most of them. Probably try Kael and Xorbb next though, since dieing in EQ doesn't hurt
I two box a necro + bard and 2 cleric mercs for: Evantril 1, Grelleth 1, Breeding Grounds 1. Haven't tried too many other tasks but those ones are really easy.
Only added a real cleric for one of the missions, never attempted that mission without them though, a lot of these missions are "do once then never ever again type deals. That being said most of the missions i've beaten I am pretty sure i could box by myself (with great difficulty and prolly take several attempts). Exceptions being prolly chapterhouse 1, and xorbb 2 (mini raid) Though certain classes do help a ton on a couple missions and can be dealbreakers or dealmakers for beating the mission.
Compared to VoA, more then half should be box-able. Some are good for farming, others are just win once for the credit. The only ones I haven't beaten or tried yet are EW2, GR2, CH1 & 2, EVA 2, Xorbb 2. I've got war/brd/shm/wiz.
A friend of mine I know boxes at least the first 2 shards landings one. He had completed them before, but I joined him with one of my chars and the Sleepless Nights was very easy for him. It was a little rougher on Calling Phantasm but we completed it. I completed Sleepless Nights with my ghetto box group last night and it was surprisingly easy. I had attempted it 2 times prior and got rolled. But I changed around my box configuration and it was much easier per some peoples suggestions. That being said, I know how much of a pain the second one was for him boxing 2 out of the 3 real chars, that I won't attempt it. Those barrels caused all kinds of issues. I'm still gearing up so I might try some of the others this weekend and I'll go by the missions suggested above. Nothing worse than getting to the last boss or towards the end and not being able to finish.
Use an audio trigger program or use the one in-game to avoid the barrels. Keep your chars spread out and you'll only have to move one at a time for Calling Phantasm. If you have more than one melee class, have them fight on opposite sides of the priest at max melee range. Multiple melee in a group, keep all the dps on the opposite side as the tank. The barrels don't trigger on mercs so you don't have to worry about their positioning. They will eat a blast, but the damage is minimal and can be healed with one group heal.
