Question to the forums. I’m trying to determine which TBL raid to attempt or if our guild even has the chance to beat any TBL raid. Here is what our situation looks like: 1) We almost always field 54 characters on raids, but a number of these characters are boxed and therefore not maximum efficiency. Also, folks struggle to comply with character specific emotes (such as “XYZ run away”) as opposed to raid wide emotes (“everyone run away!”). Some folks are older and tend to miss emotes altogether, so “raid wiping” emote mechanics are rough for us. 2) Our class makeup tends to include an above average number of tanks with boxed healers. Really good at spamming group heals to manage AEs but not so good at tank switches and concentrating heals on multiple tanks. 3) We have 5+ tanks that are very well geared / auged / etc., so we do particularly well in fights such as Gorowyn where we need to fight multiple mobs simultaneously none of which do uber DPS. 4) Our DPS is decent, but we don’t do well with DPS check events where adds spawn on a timed basis. I’ve tooled around a bit in Plane of Smoke and I think I understand how the first phase of that raid works (split raid up to do 4 bosses simultaneously?) Not sure what the subsequent phases of that raid entails and if we would be wasting our time learning to beat Phase 1 only to get permanently stuck. Plane of Fire I’ve heard there are a bunch of snail adds. Is this a tough DPS check? I imagine there are run away emotes based on the group mission, but are they frequent and uber punishing? No idea what to expect out of the Stratos / Fight Fire raid. I know many people would say “don’t ask for advice, just get in there and try it.” I don’t need to know how to beat these events, I’m just looking on advice on where to focus our efforts, and if it is even worth it... Thanks!
Reparm has single run away emotes with multiple mobs needing tanked... might be easy-est for your make up.. Smoke has 3 single emotes that can screw your raid if missed, otherwise its easy-ish... Stratos might be best suited as can spam heal thru the ae damage, just lotta mobs one first 3 waves to tank, need the dos to get thru each wave before next is active.
note; the last raid mob Reparm has single run away emote for one peep yes very frequent. but the 1st mob in Reparm has two AT to run away for two peeps. Smoke is just that tank 4 raid mobs - put peeps who cant follow the 3 AT on the other raid mob. their is no other phases.
If you aren't doing it already, look at GMM1. It's a tank and spank with adds at set intervals. The dragon AEs a lot, but it sounds like your raid handles that well. For the mechanic adds, kill them as they pop or use other strats to keep them away from the dragon so they don't heal it. For rats, just CC until they despawn. The event used to be a significant DPS check based on the mechanics spawn rate and healing ability on the boss. Both of those attributes have been significantly toned down, so you should be able to handle it. From there you can try the other 2 missions which might be a bit tougher for your described make-up, but still doable. Good luck!
Appreciate that. Pre-nerf, we attempted the GMM dragon. Unfortunately we kept getting instantly wiped by the Static Charge and couldn’t figure out how to avoid it, so we gave up and haven’t been back in months. Granted our raid force is much stronger today than it was then, but any advice for how to avoid getting blown up by static charge? We tried pulling the dragon to different spots, standing up on the ledge rather than in the pit, and a whole host of other things. No luck in the end though.
I would focus on Smoke for the progression side. It is a tank/heal heavy event without any real penalty for low dps. Stick people who suck at emotes or don't excell at boxing at cyclone and just enough dps on cyclone adds to keep up with the times adds. A lower end guild may need more on cyclone but shouldn't need more than 4 groups. Don't be afraid of making specialty or odd groups to cover the needs. You want at least 5 groups that are responsive on mephits. In the lower area each mephit has a run away emote so designate a spot for each to run, and assign a live healer to cover emotees (they don't all do damage). Balance down the mephits. Don't be afraid of tank rotations in each boss and have your tanks glyph to extend their tanking times. Once mephits are done join the raid together and finish off cyclone. Send a PM if you want more ideas or suggestions.
Static charge is a aura centered around the room (denoted by a lightning aura) the area of safety changes based on emotes. The safety areas are visually marked by the rings or drainage looking vents on the floor there is one close to the dragon and one near the walls. The safe area is WITHIN the aura not outside it. Tell your raid to stay within the inner circle and you will not ever get hit by it or have to move. PS if you pile up close enough to the dragon (ie...within the target ring) you can ignore the directional AEs mostly
Fight him right where he spawns. There is a circular ring in the floor that is slightly larger than the dragon. Just keep everyone inside it.
PoFire (General Reparm) for visibles/muhbises - the easiest raid in TBL. GMM 1 post-nerf is easy but it only drops several items.
With what your explaining everything would come down to just how bad is yalls overall RAID dps. Smoke is decent.. however the upper island if you lack the dps check to stop the yellow con trash merging they merg into a Red conned trash which is ten times the hp's .. an all that. PoFire raid First encounter does hit 2 people with the run away or wipe the raid emot. (this will hold you guys up as you said your roster's heavy on boxers, an sucky at Movement.) Second encounter is easy. 1 movement emot, 1 frog, 2 none ext tar skelly's (which spawn trash adds that need to be handled until those none ext tar skelly's are killed) Longer they are up, Moar adds ya gots .. Snails x2 pop. which have frontal / back Conal AE's that are punish mechanics .. long as you don't kill one before you kill the other .. you can focus ALL raid DPS on 1 .. dps it down to what ever % then switch over to the other snail.. dps it down.. kill it, then swap ova kill the other .. Then just take out reparm .. big red none ext tar skelly's (which spawn mobs longer they are up) an frogs til the end.
Sounds like Smoke may be your best bet. But all 3 raids have emotes that need to be avoided... 1. Stratos may tax your dps capabilities (super dps on last mob makes this raid WAY easier) and your tanks' reaction times - as waves go active in random orders/locations. Next to last mob also drains mana (line of sight, I think) but most healers (even boxes) can hide the whole raid, you'll just suffer some loss of AE healing while they're hiding. 2. Fire is a dps check. If you can't keep up with the add frogs, boneburners and single target emotes (the entire time) and then add 2 more boss level Snails with more AE's, then you're in trouble. You also are penalized with more snail adds if both snails don't die together - so that's coordinated dps. 3. Smoke still has single target emotes (3 players at once) and requires tanking 4 bosses at once, but still seems like this would be best suited to your setup. If you can do the first phase (killing the 3 basement mephits while balancing them), the rest is easy, since everyone can move up and kill the last boss. GMM1 is probably easier than any of those, but only drops 3 non vis items per win and no TBL currency and no muhbis's. Good luck! Conq
GMM1 is good, but as mentioned earlier, it drops fewer items than other TBL raids and no coin, which is a bummer, although the raid gear is better than the TBL raid gear.
yep, sounds like you could do these 7 raids. you guys could breeze thru GMM1 and Stratos for sure it sounds like. tried to not spoil the learning, but gave some key points on each event to minimize your wiping/morale dropping if you were to move your guild into these events. these 6 are all box friendly, stratos has the greatest AE dmg, but as you said you guys are great at staying piled up GMM1 - Keep it in the center of room on 1 side of the inner circle, have your raid stand on one side of the inner circle furthest from dragon spot while your tank does the wing emote flips (which ever left or right wing flip it from raid when it emotes). and just kill mechanics as they spawn (dont let mechanics stand under the boss, they heal him) while dpsing the dragon down inbetween Stratos - just group up, spell rune up, AE heal, and CC mobs following your MA's no AEing, can keep the last inferno flare out of the 3 waves at the beginning mezzed to rez/rebuff if needed before proceeding. Doomfire - always kill the frogs asap, they mem blur the MTO. Stop dps on the boss at 50% to deal with the snail mini's, snails mini's need to die at the same time. Burn the burner skeletons, faster these die the fewer mini red skeletons you will have to deal with T2 - Prince Ralaifin - 4th easiest, this raid is similar to Gorowyn, in that you gotta split your tank groups up by 4 mobs. there is a small DPS check during this event, however its a minor check should be doable by you guys. T2 - Generals - have to beat Prince Ralaifin first, its box friendly, can stay grouped up for the most part no real dps check other then the enrage timer. but requires your tanks to be on the ball for the simon says emotes. sounds like your guild could manage it. the lag makes this raid hard at times tho, its even worse if your tanks do not have quick reaction times (as in they need GINA to tell them what to do) T2 - Contract of War - this is prolly the 5th easiest raid imo. this is a 3 boss balance raid 1 boss takes extra melee dmg, 1 boss takes extra spell damage, 1 boss spawns up to 3 mini birds at the same time that die when you charm them. only real catch is you wanna keep them all within 1-2 balance of each other. each of the 3 bosses have a move emote, but its literally like take 3 steps this way or that way. and theres 2 cure emotes. T3 - Palace Gates - prolly the 6th easiest raid, you can do this a couple different ways depending on your style, which is nice. both pretty much involve standing in 1 spot, while your tanks and or melee do all the moving. dont let the Blue Burbs stand next to the boss, you gun have a bad time. These 4 will prolly fustrate your guild, i would just avoid them until your guild is feeling bold, otherwise it will just end up fustrating your member base. =P Plane of Smoke - is easy, but there are many emotes, and many mobs, splits your raid up quite far and away from eachother and a dps check. doesn't sound like your guilds cup of tea. maybe pass on this one until you got a strong night and you guys are feeling bold. T3 - Mearatas - not box friendly, DPS check, Emotes that will wipe your raid if not followed, funnest raid in eq imo, so should deff check it out at some point. GMM2 - not really box friendly, DPS checks, couple emotes requiring certain people to do stuff, and annoying Fling, flings everywhere. GMM3 - DPS check, otherwise pretty easy can stay grouped up i hope this helps, now get in there and figure it out for yourselves =P
I am incredibly appreciate of your taking the time to write up your post. The most flattering / enjoyable part was the fact that you included a write-up on Mearatas as if there were even a remote chance that the sun and the stars would align and we could take this event past 99%. Thank you!!
I think Stratos raid is easier than Fire raid, and Fire raid is easier than Smoke raid. I always found it strange that more guilds have beaten Fire than Stratos, per elitegamerlounge site.
Mezz-breaking seems to plague many mid-tier guilds and there's a whole lotta mezzin' goin' on in Stratos. I would imagine that might be the culprit, although it's merely conjecture and speculative.
If you have people playing multiple chars, just make sure they have Gina triggers set correctly. For Reparm for example... Flames envelop you and flare, trying to reach others near you. <- The viral DoT. Make sure it says / displays something like "Get away from raid {C}" and not just "Get away from raid". Smoke will be harder to do if you have multiple chars in the 3 named area. You will need to be on your toes as you might get both of them having to run away at the same time. You mentioned you tried GMM1 before, but if you have decent DPS you can do it pretty easily now. The healing on the mechanics was toned down pretty significantly.
For the final fight fire boss.... If burning him dead isn't a good option due to low mid tier dps and overlapping boss and inferno add AE inevitably results in a wipe. What methods are people using to beat it? An enchanter AE stun cycle and killing adds? With bountiful AE healing?
