The title says it all. We tried the new hotfixed OT mission with 6 real life players. I play a Berserker, and I knew not to Dicho rage the boss due to the insane damage shield. We begin boss, and the first add spawns with him Bludgeoning Succulent. I hit dicho rage, and was immediately killed. The logs reveal that I took 268k damage from the BLUDGEONING SUCCULENTS damage shield. I am floored that the incompetence of Absor is this high. How can you mess up this event so bad after supposedly fixing it. You never even tested it one time did you? Just admit it you don't care. I know people have cancelled over this, and surely more will as they cannot progress their characters. What is your endgame here a joker style burning of money?
No, you're just not understanding how the mechanic works. It's not a damage shield, it's a debuff on you.
Regardless of whether people know it works like a damage based reverse DS or not, for a fairly melee heavy game on a mission that requires abnormally high DPS for the average group in group gear on T1 is dumb. This mission is way overtuned and the adds either need the spawn timers increased to allow time to dps cactus and maybe make them spawn close. If they didn't want easymode maybe they should of made more than 3 group mission and utilized Howling Stones and ST for a group mission too.
I don't disagree that it's overtuned, and there's a 12 page thread about that. However, the premise of this thread is incorrect because the OP had no idea how the mechanic works. It's a bad mechanic, but misinformation only detracts from making a legitimate case to tune it down.
How does this mechanic work? Ive ran this mission several times and never got hit with that debuff. Does it only hit tanks and monks?
[45344] Shield of Needles Target: Self Resist: Beneficial, Blockable: Yes Focusable: No Casting: 0s Duration: 120h (72000 ticks) Song, Extendable: No, Dispelable: No Max Hits: 8 Defensive Proc Casts 12: Add Defensive Proc: Agonizing Needles with 400% Rate Mod [45482] Agonizing Needles Target: Single Range: 1200' Resist: Unresistable Focusable: No Reflectable: No Casting: 0s Duration: 18s (3 ticks), Dispelable: No 1: Decrease Current HP by 5000 2: Lifetap from Weapon Damage: -5% 3: Decrease Chance to Double Attack by 50% 4: Decrease 1H Blunt Accuracy by 100% Text: The pain is hard to bear. Cactiikii and every succulent (except the sprouts) buff themselves with Shield of Needles. It is a defensive proc triggered by melee damage that puts Agonizing Needles on the attacker. Agonizing Needles works like a variable reverse DS, dealing more damage to yourself as you increase your melee damage output (via burns and ADPS). It is worse than a DS because it bypasses the ranks of Slippery Attacks Ambidexterity that stop DS from affecting the offhand, because player damage output is so much higher than player HP, and because there's almost no difference between the raid and the group version of this spell. Using the Vampiric Aura effect from Blooddrinker's Coating helps a little to offset the damage return, but I've still nearly killed myself with it running. Lich Sting effect from SK epic makes Agonizing Needles trivial and laughable.
