I agree, it should be tuned down. We beat it last night, 6 live raiders, but it was challenging. I applaud any group tanks that can handle this mission.
I've been expecting this to get tuned down for a long, long time. Quite frankly, I'm amazed it hasnt been. I've ran it approximately ten times (helping the wifey get the aug) and every time I get a headache. The worst was the charm achievement, given we had to incorporate a bard or enchanter into the limited group spots. I can't possibly see it being done in a group setting without exceptional players running a two tank, shaman/cleric, two dps setup. Its very restrictive on group composition, and even at raid levels, I've barely scraped by with a single healer. I wish there was an exceptionally challenging, optional group mission outside of progression like the Plane of War raid. Throw in some amazing augs on the loot table (we all love our augs.) I hate to see group geared players struggling with legitimate progression missions, though.
Did Ellyra made this mission? If so I quit as it looks like this will be the very last mission that was designed and tuned well.
It doesn't get any more fun than two beguilers, followed by two beguilers, followed by two beguilers. I mean, if you're idea of fun is rezzing and rebuffing.
Au contraire, mon cheri. I drank 7 of those mana pots when I did it yesterday while using every single mana recovery trick every single time it was up, including the horn of unity, and I am nearly 110k mana fully buffed with max AAs. This mission is no joke. Have won it twice now out of about 8 attempts. No aug either time.
I have never done the mission with group geared players, so I can offer no input there. I am positive it is winnable in group gear, but that certainly does not mean it is tuned correctly either. As a player that has done it with raid geared players numerous times, the mission is pretty much a breeze if you have a pet class to tank the minis. The next step is to just load around DPS. I would say a real tank is optional but nice for the times you get a timed and percentage add. Raid geared DPS can pretty much just bounce aggro on the adds otherwise and usually do even when there is a tank. The longest this mission has taken me is 15 minutes, and the shortest is 12 minutes for some perspective. It does require full intensity, but has been pretty painless otherwise. My typical group has consisted of Mage/Necro, Wizard, Cleric, Shaman/Druid, Tank type, any other DPS. I feel there is some flexibility in class selection, but it still requires careful thought, as any random 6 is not likely to be successful. It is also not the type of mission you easily can carry someone through that isn't performing. Suggestions for a re-tune: Remove two of the five percentage adds on the minis. Slightly reduce damage output throughout the mission to allow for more group-gear friendliness.
I find this mission to be extremely frustrating without bringing outstanding players that are carefully selected. I think it is over tuned for the vast majority of players. Lots of good suggestions on simple changes have been given. Heck, just removing the timed adds from the mini bosses would probably suffice. Can we please get this looked at again.
Cant wait to have caster spell focus AA lines locked behind missions like this that don't get retuned for months if ever.
My group went with the 2 tank 2 healer 2 dps route. Warrior Sk cleric cleric wizard monk on the attempt we finally won. Once we got execution down and better placements, the strongest obstacle was not running out of mana. On the attempt we won, our healers got refreshed by jester/servant. To keep the execution on the event mainly the same and making it easier for others to do, id start by giving a partial mana refresh at a certain interval during the mission.
"Keep the execution on the event mainly the same"? It is the execution that is causing the problems! The problems with the group game isn't that single groupers cannot do progression, they can. The problem is that a group of single groupers cannot do progression. SOE has reinvented the Holy Trinity, except the Holy Trinity changes from mission to mission and mob to mob. SOE either does not know or does not care that there are single groupers in the game that want to progress through the game with their friends.
There are mana preservation potions (albeit small %) that supposedly do work in the instance that may help. Unfortunately I can't remember the name ATM. What is ironic to me is that the best "group" tank shield in the game drops from this mission... which most tanks won't be able to get. It doesn't get unlocked on the vendor or anything either. While the AC boost isn't going to make or break someone it's just a bit ridiculous given the already huge disparity between group vs raid shield AC. It seems like a cruel joke. I did this recently with a full raid geared group: 2 tanks, 1 Clr, 1 Dru, 1 Rog, 1 Ench. Mana was definitely dropping quick but people know what abilities to use when and so it went fine. I'd agree it could be done in COTF group gear but it's easily the hardest mission of the entire expansion. Look at Argin-Hiz and the Void missions... yeah... a joke. Of course this makes 0 sense but then again most of COTF didn't make sense. While some will probably disagree, "'group" missions should be relatively easy for skilled players in full current raid gear. When there is still such a level of difficulty and/or restriction on class composition... there's a problem. That suggests a retune is in order. The raid is fine. The group mission is a nightmare. A tip if you have to sacrifice a spot for an Enchanter / Bard / Necro: charm an evoker and use it for the entire mission until Bayle locks (when you are forced to have everything dead). If you don't know why then you're definitely not going to win this mission regardless of your group setup
Really you just need two tank types (Warrior / Paladin works great), and a solid cleric. Fill in the rest with dps, or some CC and dps or whoever needs the task. One tank takes the namers in the corner, the other pulls adds to the group, the cleric keeps them alive and helps burn down the undead. A Merc cleric won't cut it, hell, two merc clerics probably wouldn't cut it.
