Advanced "Solo" zones for Drinal signature way too hard

I put solo in quotes because i'm convinced these are impossible solo. So my question is, seriously? You really think we can do this solo? Like really? That's cute.

Before all the L2P posts flood, I'm 95, in full visionary/refined/adorned MC T10 gear, and I have all my experts. These bosses hit way too hard, have way too complex scripts, and bottom line--are not fun.

Not soloable, and not fun. Oh, but it's a game! Not everyone was supposed to complete all this content! Yeah? Well I'm a paying customer, I'm not an idiot, and I should be able to do this. What's the point of content if you can't beat it? There's a difference between making a game hard, and making it damn near impossible. Fix this crap. Now.

If, to complete the Drinal sig, I need gear that comes from raids/obols, or another player, it's not soloable. Period. What were you thinking, SoE? This is something EA would do. Not you guys. Get it together.

- Gynomancer

They're called "advanced" solo for a reason. It basically means if you're "advanced" (ie, overgeared) you can solo it, otherwise you'll probably need some help (like a mercenary).

Is there something specific you're having trouble with? If so, what class are you? What have you tried? Etc.

Wow.... I soloed it on 9 of my 10 characters that have done the quests. The only one I had trouble with was the Illy, and that wasn't even one of the instances, but on the beach at the very beginning. If you are having trouble, do like I did when I struggled with my illy... enlist the help of a friend. Advanced solos are balanced for up to 2 players.

I'm not sure what class you are playing, but if you are really decked out in that gear at level 95 then the mobs should barely be making a dent in your armor before they are dead. There is nothing broken to fix. Not all of the names are tank and spank. A couple of them have a little bit of a strat and require a joust or slow movement backwards to avoid spawning adds. Please state which encounter you are having a particular issue with and I'm sure we will be able to assist you to kill it.

I've done the Sig Quest 8x on various alts with a merc. The only one that I remember being a challenge was the Illy. This was before the Wurmbone names were made easier to kill, a couple of weeks after release. All of the quests were completed in only the legendary gear awarded for the quests in EJ and OP. I don't raid or buy SLR gear.

BTW. If you are struggling with the Drinal Sig quest; I wouldn't attempt do the two new Advanced Solo's in Cobalt Scar just yet.

I have some sympathy for the OP on one point - that they are not fun. I got part way through the series and just stopped - I realised I was doing them to finish them, not because I wanted to . Up to that point I had not received a single useful item of loot either - it was just a drag.

No, they are not fun. However, my half geared ranger finished drinal at 93 almost 94. I finished the Cobalt Scar ones on the same toon at 94. He is still 94 and even still has a couple of pieces of PQ armor.

The OP should understand that there is no 'I win' button at the entrance to any zone, you still have to work for stuff. I suspect that's the problem, learn the scripts, learn what to interrupt, learn hen to joust, get a buddy or a merc and do them properly, you will have no problem then.

They are not hard. They do need fixing but as part of an overall balance with heroics.

I did the entire quest line within 1 week of release before they nerfed the daylights out of most of the encounters.
The toon was a 95 wizard in all MC refined visionary gear, No merc. The toon completed the entire quest-line with little difficulty. Yes they can be solo'd, no they are not too hard. They are much easier than they were just after release. Seriously take some time to learn the scripts and possibly your toon. After my wizard I did it 3 more times with an Illy, Mystic, and Inqy all with a merc and with a merc the Drinal quest-line is a walk in the park.

Does OP refer to the last part where we have to deal with Drinal?. Yes, that fight is hard if we would attempt it ourselves The trick is not to agro him and let Oligar the merc to fight him. Just get health potions with you. Because Drinal's aoe still drain your health. When he us 90% use a dagger on him.

Spoilers below.

Cobalt Scars final fight sort of the same. A merc now it's marshall.Vishra fights the queen and you after a red text have to open shells to set up barriers back. You dont even need to participate in a fight. She goes down quick.

But the whole zone have mobs that are triple heroic and if you want to fight them it would take time even with this powerful merc.
I was checking our dps during trash fights. He was parsing way up to 800k and I was around 200 - 300k . So together about 1ml. Not all fights mind you.
And a fight may go for a few mins.

This zone can be diffucult a bit for squeeshy chars if they get aggro before their merc does.

I know not everyone wants to pay for AoD, but if anything is too hard or too slow, a merc can really help tip the scale. Wurmbone's End had a couple of tough encounters until I learned how they worked. I've run it a second time, and it was easy. The worst part is how long it is.

for drinal use a red stone then quickly click the dagger, fight won in like 5 sconds

Just lol @ the OP

I needed some help my first time through, but like stated earlier, I was under-geared and unfamiliar with the zones. After that it was farm-city and every alt I have now has an easy time going through it. Then I bought AoD and get mercs. Accept the fact that the 'advanced' part of this solo excludes you for the time being and enlist some help. You will be strong enough to solo it soon enough.

Gynomancer, you have my sympathy, but I have to disagree.

I have a level 95 SK, geared just as you are, 92 MC, some of it Visionary, and whatever I could pick up as quest rewards in Withered Lands and CoE. I have *never* used a merc. Until recently, most of my adornment slots were empty. I had not tried much reforging.

Yes, those instances are hard; some of them are very hard. I did not always beat them on the first try. Sometimes I had to think about them, look up some strategies, or try another approach. Like any good puzzle, I would occasionally walk away for a few days to give myself some time to come back to it with fresh eyes. Sometimes, like in Sleeper's Tomb, once I knew the strategies, it was a cake walk--an exciting cake walk, but easy to complete nonetheless. Without the strategies, it was literally impossible.

Because these dungeons made me sit back and think, I've had some really memorable runs there. The increased challenge made me feel like I'd truly accomplished something when I finally beat each named mob. They have drawn me in and I look forward to running some of them again.

It has also prompted me to "grow" my character. I scoured the broker for small, inexpensive upgrades. All my white adornment slots are now full and so are several of my red and yellow. I reforged stats that had reached the soft caps to boost stats that have not. I took another look at my AA points. I already had a tinker, so I started making dislodgers to squeeze every drop of advantage from loot in those dungeons. I didn't have 100's of plat to spend on SLR auctions, so I did what I could with what I had, making every small improvement I could as I went along. And those fights started to get easier and I learned a boatload about my toon that had escaped my notice previously.

Yes, they can be frustrating and stressful, but keep at it. Try different things. Take another look at what you can do to improve your character. When you *do* finally conquer them, what you will remember is how fun they actually turned out to be!

The signature questline is the Worst. Thing. Ever.

But the advanced solo instances are not really that hard. I took 5 classes through the signature line: warden, mystic, inquisitor, troubador, and illusionist. No problems at all solo/molo'ing the zones.

As others have said, get a merc. If you are unable or unwilling to get a merc, ask a friend. I know I'd gladly join any friend or guildie in these zones if they needed my help.

Any required solo questing is the worst thing ever!

But I actually enjoyed the AS zones on my handcrafted Warlock. Other classes like Inquisitor (or especially Templar), on the other hand...makes me want to quit the game on the spot pretty much.

Sorry to hear you are having trouble but they aren't that bad. Some do have scripts, some of which are pretty darn annoying (stupid last guy in Sleepers for instance made me want to kick something). They should be soloable though by most classes. I had no trouble completing most of the questline at 93 with my mystic & the only gear I have that was gotten in a group is my weapon which I got like 3 years ago in TOFS or one of those other easier Velious zones while helping a guildie get updates for the coldain ring.

They are advanced solo. They aren't meant to be faceroll content. They allow a second person or mercenary in the zone. However, they are very much soloable by people in gear equal to yours (no clue about your class, but your fully adorned, visionary mastercrafted is pretty good stuff for solo gear) for at least most classes.

I personally still think they made a mistake calling them advanced solo. Soon as you add the word solo in there, some people are going to think they should be able to roll over the content in their pjs dual wielding a butter knife & a spoon. Not saying the OP is in that category, they obviously have put some effort into their gear, but some people are like that. The devs should have called them small group zones or something, anything that didn't have the word solo in it so as to not build up the expectation that every person in any quality gear & level is skill will be able to walk in and complete it with ease.

I started the whole thing on my necro at 92. I was in a mix of quested gear from WL and reactant gear. Some parts were very challenging. Other bits were just impossible (until they got patched). By the time I hit 95, there were few places that I actually needed a merc. Of course, my class is all about the solo. Overall, I enjoyed the challenge and being able to go through the story. The only part I found disappointing was loot. I wasn't getting much cash for the time spent in there.

that is what I did for my healer infact friend of mine and I are running through them the questline with his sk and my fury.

you get a very nice clicky cloak at the end

Just spring for AoD or invite a friend. Either way it'll be facefroll. Soloing is not likely to come out very well.