Hopefully the devs will stand their ground here. The gear requirements are not the least bit stringent for the target audience. Errrorr stated he thinks it could be done in POW gear, he has seen the zone maybe some others from SP and AB can chime in on that. If someone doesn't have the gear for that zone then they need to run the content and get the gear that is required. I hope I have the opportunity to run it before they make it where if you zone in you win.
The underwater zone is probably doable by most people who can deal with the crit chance and manage enough dps to kill the adds. It's definitely super annoying for mages with the KB, interrupts, resists, and not being able to cast on the run. The other two zones are laughable. I'm pretty sure the only reason they got completed was because for the forge a paladin acts as both tank and healer, and he could tank it and have the debuffs wear off, while having a brigand that could stun lock the adds before they got to him while not caring about the cast speed debuff. Basically any other combination (other than brig + healer who can tank) is going to have extreme trouble in here. The tank switch and coop strike mechanic plus the running around and luck on what spawns is going to make this laughable, especially for support type classes and mages. The Theer one might be okay with less hp on the add, being able to cast on the run (you really used that art and didn't give frictionless casting?), and a more realistic delay between getting told your color and getting to that type square. It's pretty laughable when it is 2+ squares away and you eat it before you can get there when you start moving instantly. In general though, if you really expect all the classes to be able to do all 3 zones they're going to have to see some changes.
The application of the Unmaker-buff (increments) in Furnace of Ages seem to be totally random + forging the hammer to undo this (according to the buffs description) does nothing. It worked fine about 10hrs ago in the morning, but now i get 10 increments within 1minute and no way to dispell them - broken?
Some of my guildies reported the same thing in the Furnace. Not sure if forging the hammer is bugged out or if we are missing something as to how it works. Theer one does seem to have some inconsistency with how long it takes to get the right square. Sometimes it seems like you can stroll on over and other times it seems like you practically needed to already be on the color of the square. Not sure if it is intended or we are missing something in the fight. We haven't had much of a chance to try the aquaduct itself. All in all though, these are good zones that provide a great challenge.
At the moment I believe the only servers that the zone is available on are Antonius Bayle and Splitpaw. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm sure i'm missing something with the fight, but the increments seem to just be rng from what I can tell.
The increments are random just like in the raid zones. tank switch to clear them (use the water if you have to.) The weapon removes the damage reduction buff from the named. I hope they don't nerf any of them, so people can actually get time to play the game. You won't convince me that there is a class that cannot go into these zones and succeed. Pretty sure every class has a counterpart that can come with and complete the zone. Guardians can take a necro, warlocks can take a Paladin. All 3 zones work fine, with maybe some little tweaks being necessary. Some classes are better than others, some combinations are more powerful than others, but I spent 6 hours on the first zone alone to kill it with dual crusader (Which is supposedly OP) and we were spinning our tires for half of it. Pulling it for an hour and giving up without trying different group combinations is silly. The DPS checks aren't very steep, and the only requirement is that you can heal SOMEWHAT. With necros being solid DPS that can do this, and paladins being tanks that can do this, there is a reasonable amount of carrying you can do for classes like troubs that don't do much of anything in a duo. Plus beastlords are probably ridiculous in general. Suggestions: Make the debuff crystal on the last mob remove the mechanic mob's resistability and last twice as long. Should make it a little easier for mages to solo/tank. Or just make it have low resists in general. Make the increments more consistent on the fire guy (Using the weapon should also prevent reapplication of the on-hit debuff for 15 seconds or so. A way around the tank switch) Move the water pot away from the forge slightly. Clicking it should give increased hategain or something temporarily. The Roehn Theer chessboard thing needs to have falling blocks. It just does. I don't even care if it makes it harder. Chanters are probably the least capable class when it comes to these instances. There needs to be something they can excel at within them. Make the mobs weaker to mental damage or something is an easy fix. Making buffs extra powerful in the instance would really help support classes. Guardians are pretty lame too. Haven't seen it in practice but I can't imagine it being done without a Necro. There should be frictionless casting on all of these fights, or a way to obtain it.
It makes me laugh that the class that can tank, heal, and probably out dps all the mages in these zones says they are fine.
The add on the 3rd one has a lot of hp for a reason. Didn't figure it out until I cleared it on my assassin alt. Also idk about frictionless casting. I think all avoidance/resistability should be removed to make it more fair. Part of the reason my brigand was boss was because he had 100% strikethrough. My assassin got parried a lot. When I'm moving on my scout to do the things in this zone I don't generally cast anything anyways. Note: There are bugs with mechanics in Furnace (Water not dispelling Lavaburn, Lavaburn/Blazing Weapon in general, item spawn rotation, debuff stack rate) and Automaton (Disharmony) that should be fixed but they're still doable without, at least for some classes (I've completed them all twice now).
I didn't say they didn't need to be tweaked, but they certainly don't need to be nerfed. A whole paragraph of suggested changes does not indicate a perfect encounter. Some classes are intrinsically bad at duoing. Those classes need to be given something to help them manage. Nerfing it for everyone would be dumb, since there are very few classes who have trouble. You shouldn't be able to do them with ANY class COMBO. As long as no class is incapable of contributing enough to a duo to succeed, it's well enough balanced. If there is a class who simply cannot do enough to get a hat, it needs to be addressed. Until I see guardians in there with a necro STILL failing, there's no reason to make any changes. Nerfing HP or reducing damage changes it for everyone, and MOST classes can find a counterpart to do them relatively easily. Try harder, Arabel. I'll come carry your warlock when my timer runs out.
I think you can do them with any healer/tank + another anything dpsy/maybe healy depending on tank. Coercers definitely put out enough solo dps (and I'm assuming troub dirge illy do too), and all of the mages have enough physical mit AAs (or a pet that can rescue!) to tank adds with a healer.
That's the problem with creating a solo/duo zone that is the same for everyone. To make it a challenge for all the classes some classes aren't going to be able to do it. If you make it doable by all classes (not any combo, but all classes) then some classes are going to find it easy. It's the inherent problem in the design. Why do you think all of the solo zones are a joke? Because at the end of the day classes like Guardians have to be able to complete them. You found it easy because of your class. You took two of the best solo classes and did it. Most classes, even some of the better solo classes, will have a lot of trouble with these because the way they solo can't be used here (epic mobs). I'm basically going to have to do the second zone with you, because I can't see Warlocks not struggling like hell with any other class in it (maybe a high dps healer if you could manage to control the adds, which is unlikely). The second one is going to be the major problem because you have to be able to actually tank and heal the damage, be able to swap tanks, and be able to control the adds, all while running around and hoping you get decent item spawns. Most classes simply aren't going to be able to have a combo that can both manage to control and kill the adds before they get you killed, and live through the damage. The third one would probably be relatively fine if the timing on things happening wasn't atrocious and too short. There needs to be more time to move before snakes spawn, and it shouldn't happen while you have to be on a color. The damage for not being on a color needs a few more seconds before it fires (and needs to correctly remove, because dieing from it after not being on the wrong color square for a few seconds is pretty dumb). Also, the seeming mem wipe on the port is ridiculous. You also have to remember mages get dumped on in these zones with resists and not being able to cast on the run. This is entirely catered towards scout healer or tanks that can heal combos.
I have a feeling summoners will do fine. Frictionless casting will fix most of the mage problems. I had no problem with moving around on the third fight. For every time it screwed me for being on the right color (Which was mostly due to my jumping like a ******) it forgave me for being on the wrong color. Yes, consistency would be nice, but there's going to be some delay. I feel like there's a lot of stuff not being fully utilized by most people that would make these zones much easier.
The third one bugs out with the colors. Inq tanking yet I got told a color (I had a dumbfire on the mob at the time). The next color was the same but told to the inq. We both got hit by disharmony while the inq was on the right color and I wasn't. Also if you try to pick up a soulshatterer crystal it should overwrite the one you already have (like necro hearts/conj shards). And cast on the run. 80m is a very long way for a healer or mage to go without being able to cast on a fight like this
The automaton was epic. We did it as an Inquisitor (http://u.eq2wire.com/soe/character_detail/446676764514) and an Illu (http://u.eq2wire.com/soe/character_detail/463858629905) in fairly weak gear compared to what the guilds killing Gen'ra have. I don't really have any complaints about the fight, and I'd tend to oppose anything that makes it easier (frictionless casting is for casuals ), but dropping squares wouldn't hurt. I haven't gotten to try the furnace yet, but the other two zones have much more forgiving gear checks than I expected. Hopefully, we'll be able to get Tautog tomorrow, but if our gear isn't quite up to par, that's cool too. As It turns out, Inq+Illu is actually a pretty strong combo with arcane debuffs and such. CCs were useful on the automaton, and power feeds can help with all the sprinting we've been doing. I think Buffrat is probably right about each class being able to find a good partner for these (at least automaton and Tautog...sounds like furnace may be more demanding in that regard). Anyway, having a blast with these so far! Great job!
Just thought I'd chime in and say this is probably the most fun I've had in this game in years and I haven't even killed one of them yet. Dirge/inq duo (EM/PoW/HM gear), our best pull on the Automaton is 38% and after many hours of pulling I'm still enjoying the fight. Thumbs up. Please don't nerf it.
