Specifically with that patch. I changed the difficulty of the mobs INTERNALLY yesterday. I have no ETA on it making live. Likely the April patch. This difficulty change was to get rid of all of the multipliers on stats. Many were 1.2X baseline, a few 1.56X baseline (Like damage!). Melee Speed was .9X baseline... (faster is better, so .9 made them do more DPS) I did not change "mechanics" such as the dancers being in linked pairs, nor their spell lists. Also. The dinner guests (not general tower guests, but the 8 at the table) are still in the tougher mode (with multipliers) since I consider them the "boss" of the mission. AND if you do the mission correctly, will get only 1. I'll be making other small changes like removing the two orcs right on the other side of the door from the doorman (Currently they do have an 80% chance of de-popping, but I'll flat remove them), making the Doorman not KoS (not that he attacks... but still...) The "Target Rooms" will still be packed with the main target mobs. In most cases, this means everything there will be there. The exception is the ballroom where the dancers are the only clue-droppers, so the guests around the edges of the room will have the 80% chance to despawn. The Dancers will all remain.
Good deal, thanks for he update Ngreth. Thank god for removing the orcs from behind the door, it was frustrating to be killed just trying to do a hail.
This mission in it's original form was the best I played in a long time. I didn't manage to beat it, still I enjoyed it because it was hard and unforgiving. Sad to see it dumbed down.
Thanks Ngreth, that should help somewhat. Working to win is fine, it gives a sense of accomplishment. Grinding thru a wad of raid trash mobs where you need a near perfect group to have any chance at all is not. I try and do something tough make a mistake and die that is part of the game. I can come back figure it out and beat it, this is fun. I try an event and just get plowed by mobs that have me out gunned. There is nothing to figure out or try differently, this is not fun. The event is a neat idea using an old zone and what you have to work with. Being almost raid level difficulty was what made it a failboat.
Changing the stats some is not technically "dumbing it down". Some people like wet grocery bags too.. .
Frankly, I would prefer just as hard, but a lot fewer mobs. Since you have to slaughter entire zone minus hallways apparently, the number of mobs in zone should be around 40 not in hallway. Think about how many mobs you want players to kill in a mission and then design the mission around that. Other option would be to drastically reduce the number of hitpoints of mobs in the zone, but then that makes dot classes like necros less useful. I am not sure what this 80% despawn means. I ran it yesterday and there were far too many mobs to kill. Personally, I think ideal mission time is 30-60 minutes. Anything over 2 hours is way too long. Especially for this mission which could be a lot of fun to do over and over solving the riddle rather than making it a long slog.
First time through we had a less than ideal group composition. We went for 6 hours and did not finish. Cleared every mob we could find, wiping several times, except that none of us knew about the click through ports. We still had fun though. It really didnt seem like a damn 6 hour run.
The basic problem is that the mobs hit far too hard for group content. They are basically raid mobs, but as trash. If you have a 3-pull, you have a very good chance that the tank will get slaughtered before the group can do anything, with a wipe coming right after, simply because of the damage output of the mobs. As a raid tank I could handle singles, just do pairs (if I used discs), but a three pull was a wipe on every occasion. and you can't avoid 3 (or more) pulls unless you have a class that can still split stuff. Now, if they had not nerfed most classes pulling abilities it might have been ok since you could still rely on your skills to get through the mobs, albeit slowly. But after the pulling nerf NO GENERAL CONTENT should be a combination of high mob density and high damage output. With that combination you pretty much need a perfect group, including a class that can still effectively pull as well as a class that can still effectively CC. When I tried this mission I initially attempted it the proper way but after MANY deaths/wipes (that as a tank fully equipped with EoK raid gear with some RoS raid gear) and getting hardly into the zone at all I just said "screw it" and got the aug using an eye to find the correct clue. In conclusion IMO the mission has been very poorly designed, and has not taken in consideration what a real group actually looks like. This is supposed to be a celebration event, not an exercise in frustration and pain.
So you’re saying raiders will be able to steam roll it, and all will be right in the world? Thank you! Nothing makes me more sad than seeing fully geared raiders about missions being too hard...the same missions that group geared players completed.
If you do the mission properly in the current form, it will take a very long time to complete and will require a skilled and optimally composed group. No puller, too bad, go do something else. No CC, too bad, go do something else. Don't have two tanks and two healers, too bad, go do something else. Entire group doesn't have 6 hours to spare, too bad, go do something else. Don't have a full group, too bad, go do something else. That is completely inappropriate for a mission intended for the general population. It should not require a raider to point this out or to appreciate that fact. Just because you personally have done it does not mean that it is ok in it's current form, just as it is not ok for a raider to say that any other group content is fine just because they personally can do it. I am willing to bet that even if you have completed it once, you will not be willing to do it again, and your guild mates (assuming you have any) who perhaps have somewhat less skills or do not have access to that ideal group can go pound dirt. That sort of attitude is what makes ME sad.
That's not totally true. I did it pre mob density change with my box crew, Warrior, Cleric, Shaman, Bard, Rogue, Zerker. 1h45m. I skipped the hallway mobs. I simply tried to run past them with each char, to the labs safe spot. If they died, oh well... drag them there with Smoke. Res'd and medded up. First pull was most of the lab, burns and Warrior defensive discs were up so it was dead quickly. Killed the rest of the lab, the two door mobs outside lab... then waited a few minutes for burns and pulled the ballroom. 6 mobs was rough but defensive discs + burns killed them, pulled the other ballroom mobs and started on the PITA library. Burns popped... did the big pull again! Once Library was dead, dragged everyone up to the safe spot by the bedrooms. Killed those mobs up there, popped over to the study... killed them and the weapon racks and got the last dropped piece needed. Ran the Rogue down to the Crypt and found the correct ground spawn to get the aug and it was done. That only left the Crypt and Ritual area mobs up, that's not that long to kill them too if I hadn't gotten the drops. I don't mez on my Bard 99% of the time, he's Silver since I max'd out AA's so it rarely works and REALLY doesn't work well in that mission. I just burn through mobs instead. I also pull on the Warrior, not the Bard. Now that said, the mobs DO hit far too hard. If defensive discs aren't up, even two mobs had a chance to kill me if they got a lucky round off. Three mobs was almost certain death. The only time a big pull was ok was if Rogue/Zerker burns were up and Warrior defensive discs were ready. 46k hitting mobs is definitely way too much.
Wait, really? You need a group to do group content nowadays? Shame on you, devs! I don't say every mission should be like that one was. And reducing the "unrelated" mobs is a good idea. Still I laugh at the tanks complaining about this. You kids are so used to just brainless pull & tank everything that moves in sight without much effort. No need for a puller or cc in any current content. Just to remind everyone - there are no tricky mechanics involved. No "unfair" DoTs, no fire falling down from the sky, mobs don't root, snare nor mez, roamers are very obvious and predictable and there are no respawns. So this mission is down to doing a good pull, then tank & spank. Rinse & repeat. For reference, I played enc/cle with tank/healer merc, played 3.5 hours and had to call it a day when I was about to pull the three mobs from the bedroom. At that time I had collected two of the proofs (from lab and lib). All that was missing from that mission was a reward that would have made it worth playing it again. I vote for restoring the hit modifiers to the original values, adding an appropriate reward and leaving the mission up for the entire year. Reward could be a clicky with one charge.
Thank you Ngreth , the mission was before hard but with a fine reward, I am looking to repeat it with the changes. Will all the anniversary missions be live till june ? Thank you
I agree with Smokezz, I did it with a similar group setup only a Sk as tank. And hell yes the grade between challenge and frustration was sometimes tight. But the reward for a non raider was very worth it.
Raiders get lazy at times, and get smoked by stuff they should easily beat if they pay attention and be careful. Confidence is awesome, but I'm pretty sure I die more often in groups than I do on raids. Some of that is "Hold my beer, watch this" ... some if it is just not bringing a good group and expecting raid gear to sort it out. (it doesn't.. a well played group tank is not that different than a well played raid tank)
Thanks for adjusting this on the fly. Any chance of getting the Extruded Black Pearl and Lost Wayfarer's Tent usable by level 70 toons? Not sure what the point of making these missions scale to 70 is when the rewards do not scale to 70, the augment currently requires level 75 and the tent requires 110.
Someone at Theybreak Games must have said, "I bet we can't lose half our subscribers in the first quarter!" "Oh yeah!?!"
After few runs I attempted to 3 box this with a group gear war and ftp clr and ftp wiz. 4 hours later I got the win. Yes did I die a ton. Yes Yes did I use multi clr mercs. Yes Was the dps mindnumbing low. yes Did sit and wait on Disc timers. yes Did I have fun. Yes. Did yell at the PC a few times or more. yes. I found this mission as intent by deve to be pretty fun and rewarding. The eye of zoom is crap work around.. but hey I can say no to that.. mob packs.. cheer CC is needed. no more just run in and tank 5. and say me good More content similar to this.. cheers for rewards that are worth my time and effort. Note its not apr 1st
The chance is so small it is statistically zero. The tent especially because of the way tribute works..., the aug because, even though the mission allows 70, I don't like the stats it gives at 70, even with the recommended level up there. Do it early, and have something to look forward to.
