Raiding Information

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks, FAQs, and New Player Discussion' started by Dejoblue, Jan 19, 2013.

  1. Dejoblue New Member

    I am doing research on several games and their end game raiding scene and content in order to decide where my guild will be going to raid in the near future.

    I have some questions that I was hoping you guys could answer for me.

    How large are the raids?
    Are there normal modes and hard modes?
    Is content "reset" with each tier of new content, IE easily accessible gear, or do you have to progress through the previous tier to gear up and get ready for the new tier?

    Any kind of general knowledge about the end game and community would be helpful. I am looking at RIFT which just released a new xpac, SWTOR has one coming out this spring and EQ2.

    Thank you for your time.

    :)
  2. Estred Well-Known Member

    1: Raids are 12 to 24 man depending on X2 or X4 Content.
    2: There is Normal and Challenge mode bosses though rarely is there an EM and HM version of the same boss outside of the DoV Expansion.
    3: Content mostly resets if you have Previous level EM-Raid Gear you can jump into the new Heroic/EM-Raid content directly. If you have Previous HM-Raid Gear you can go directly to EM-New-Raids without a hitch.
    4: Currently end-game Heroic Groups are slow to get if you play during non-peak hours but Raiding is relatively healthy still and recent changes are encouraging grouping again. Just today I saw a noticeable increase in LFG's on my server.

    RIFT I have heard is boring once you clear content in that there is nearly nothing else to do except raids, SWTOR people have said trips over itself at some points. I hope that helps.
  3. Dejoblue New Member

    What do youu mean bosses are not both NM or HM?
  4. Estred Well-Known Member

    Here are some examples ranging from Sentinels Fate, Destiny of Velious and Chains of Eternity.

    Sentinels Fate
    Toxxulia's Mound: The NM Boss of this zone was Vuulan however if you used the Channeling Crystal after Vuulan became aggro, Toxxulia would also attack you and thus engage HM.
    - Toxxulia herself was the HM-Boss while her minion Vuulan was the NM-Boss.

    Destiny of Velious
    Kraytoc's Fortress of Rime: There were two versions of this zone a normal zone and one with (Challenge) after it's name. All (Challenge) zone bosses were identical but harder.
    - Kraytoc Killingfrost had his normal version and an HM-Verison inside the (Challenge) instance.
    There in essence was an NM and HM Kraytoc Killingfrost.

    Chains of Eternity
    Altar of Abhorrence: In this raid zone the NM-Boss is known as Boroddas, The Shiverback King. However if you destroy the idol at the fear-gate you summon Baelon of Thule, the HM-Boss.
    - Just like Toxxulia you fight Baelon and Boroddas at the same time for the HM-Encoutner.

    I hope that clears up what I meant by some bosses do not have NM and HM version. Some expansions used the same templates for NM and HM versions but only did DoV really do it for all zones. King Tormax was an NM boss but King Tormax the Ancient was the HM-Boss (same boss slightly different encounter). In DoV HM-Bosses had additional scripts to follow. I can elaborate if you wish. Heck I could even list out how to kill Kraytoc Killingfrost HM if you wanted just for an example.
  5. Dejoblue New Member

    Are there both 12 man and 24 man versions?

    I am looking for raids that do not have an easy version for the masses and a normal(hard mode) version otherwise.
    I am also looking for as many players as possible in raids.
    EQ is not an option.
    Vanguard is not an option

    Also EQ2 has 24 man RIFT 20 and SWTOR 16 as their max "raids".

    I truly appreciate your answers but I need to ask the correct question :)

    I have heard virtually nothing about EQ2 raids, I mean nothing. I have heard about RIFT and SWTOR, even did SWTOR raids.

    EQ2 has the best community both before and after F2P launch of any game I have played. RIFT has a terrible community imho both in game and on their forums.

    SWTOR I can just jump into Have have 2 50s and the next expac will be able to level up and get to work.

    EQ2 and RIFT are going to be large amounts of time, which I have no problem with and actually prefer, however I simply am not going to invest into all three franchises.

    And so I am here.

    EQ2 - fantastic community - I have no clue about their raids
    RIFT - terrible community - raids are supposedly fantastic
    SWTOR - above average community - raids are like WoW

    I think you get the picture.

    Thanks again for your time.
  6. Estred Well-Known Member

    I do not believe there are HM-12 Man type raids though there are some single group zones that you must fight an X2 Epic (12 man) boss. Zraxth's Unseen Arcanum and Elements of War are two examples of such one from Sentinels Fate and the other form DoV.

    CoE Raiding can be a bit easy but that really depends on what kind of guild you get. My guild blows EM out of the water, but I know others who struggle with some scripts. If you want "no limit" raiding there is always Everquest 1 which had no limit to a raidforce. I think that was the question you asked there. The rest is I assume framing for the question information wise?

    I have raided EQ2 for about 2 years now so I know EM tends to be easy for the strong guilds and challenging for the low-mid end guilds, while HM is impossible for a number of guilds and challenging for the strong guilds. If you have another question feel free to ask, I will try to answer it best I can.
  7. Dejoblue New Member

    Sweet that is what I was looking to see.

    Thanks kindly.
  8. Plavem Active Member

    Honestly, take my advice.

    Rift has the best raiding. EQ2 seems to follow the same generic boss mechanics across the whole game. MOST encounters are curse cures, jousting, stop casting etc. They don't have the real fights like that of rift where the entire raid has to do something, Which in my opinion is not so much fun. Some hardmodes are hard because they interrupt you 10000 times a fight. Which is fun.

    If you have ever played rift and did Akiliyous ( or however it is spelled ) thats a hell of a fight. So much stuff going on, where the entire raid needs to pay 100% attention. When it was first released, it was a 25 minute encounter. But not just an encounter that stayed the same it was very very dynamic. EQ2 doesn't have anything like that.

    Honestly the only reason I am playing this game is because I like the people in my guild. I was playing rift but I left my guild for over a year. I of course rejoined another guild but it wasn't the same having to work my way up that ranks.

    Also the worst thing about EQ2 is the fact that so many classes are recommended per a raid. I would even say some fights are next to impossible to complete if you don't have the right set up.

    The whole cure system in raids is stupid.

    All in all I give eq2 a 5/10 in raiding, a 4/10 in grouping, and a 9/10 for everything else ( housing crafting etc ).

    Also the hardmodes aren't like you are thinking. Pretty much there are bosses you have to do something to make them go hardmode. Usually 1-2 bosses in an instance.

    Not to mention the game is old. The engine they use may or may not allow them to do things other mmos can, I don't know.

    Lastly the loot tables seem to be all randomly generated. What I mean is certian bosses drop set pieces but sometimes the adorns are like WTF is that doing on there.

    All in all I would suggest playing rift.
  9. Arielle Nightshade Well-Known Member

    This has been my experience with that game - and I'm pretty patient.
  10. Plavem Active Member

    I would just like to speak a little about rift.

    Rift has only been out a year, and there is still a lot to do ( though I quit playing ). Of all MMO's out there Rift has the best dev team of any game. They actually listen to the community without changing the game. They just implemented housing. They also release raid content faster than any other game out there.

    Like it or not most games are filled with people who only play to raid. Even EQ2 is filled with people like this. If you want to argue try running zones during prime time raid time, its hard. Most "hardcore guilds" have nothing but raid loggers. There just isn't incentive to do anything else. Don't get me wrong I like decorating houses, and like doing heritage quests. But honestly that stuff gets old after hours of doing it. Collecting shinies? Yeah again gets old. So we are left with raiding.

    The thing about raiding is people like dynamic encounters. Not just easy stuff.

    One of the main things I hate about EQ2 is the class system, I shouldn't have to have an illy or a troub in the group to do viable dps. But if I don't my dps drops a good bit due to resists. I did Hardmode Sleepers Tomb yesterday, and on the last boss alone I had something like 179 resists the fight is a fairly long fight, but still 179 resists. Thats 179 spell casts that got resisted, that i even with 1 resist adorn on. Maybe I am doing something wrong, but honestly group content shouldn't be that complicated.

    SWTOR is a joke of a game, I raided there for awhile, and honestly it is by far the worst mmo I have ever played. The raids in the game are plain jane wow duplicates. Heck even the graphics are below WoWs graphics.
  11. Dejoblue New Member

    I wasn't expecting more replies, thanx much.

    ALL we want is to raid. We are currently stuck with WoW and its ez mode LFR and 10 mans and normal modes. To get players that even consider proper hard modes is more work than I have ever done farming in classic for pots lol. Basically WoW has fantastic raids but they gave everyone a cheat code and well, lets not go there.

    I have heard over and over again that RIFT raiding is the shiznit...but their community is soooo bad. I know from experience it is bad. I asked this same question over there and got totally blasted.

    Thanks again guys if anyone has more to add I am all ears.
  12. Plavem Active Member

    Dejo,

    I have played every MMO out there. Honestly the community doesn't change anywhere you go. EQ2 has its trolls just like every other game. However I have found nice groups of people in games across all MMOs. My point is the community is what you make of it. World Of Warcraft ruined the MMO genre. In todays society of instant gratification for everything. And the rule that you are a winner just for trying is completely stupid. Anyhow if you are looking to raid I would suggest rift. If you are looking for medicore raids with a some what better community and endless stuff to do Everquest 2 is the game for you and your friends.