TSO Instances: not casual?

Pedorro@Butcherblock wrote:

I'll give you Caverns...not fun in the slightest...too long...and boring...but luckily shards are shards and I can choose to never go back there.
But, Ive had the most fun in some the most difficult TSO instances..some of which we never actually completed.
Now its true some of the TSO instances are long and have IMO too much trash...but there are plenty of others that do not.
If I wanted boring instances where every named involved tank and spank that I could AFK thru and could do with a PUG of morons I would go back to WoW.

First, I don't describe myself as a casual player. However, due to having no luck with finding a reliable templar, I recently started leveling one, so this toon is by no means has near the level of 'stuff' my former main had (a fury). I have been able to solo heal some of the TSO instances (yes, the easier ones) with almost all MC incarnadine crap (with a few legendary RoK quest rewards) when I was level 76 with 95 aa (hard to get aa when you gain 70 levels in 4 days). The rest of the group was a 78 troub, an 80 illusionist, an 80 guardian and an 80 swashie. None of them are uber geared and only the guardian has more than 140 aa. I think once I'm 80 with with more aa, we'll be able to do some of the harder zones.
So no, you do not need to be raid geared to do these instances. I LIKE the challenge and the scripting. It is nice to have to think to do a heroic zone for a change rather than sleeping through it. I really hope the devs do more zones like this for groups. Sure, throw some of the regular old heroic spank and tank instances in too, but keep doing these types as well. It's really nice to have an alternative to raiding that is almost as challenging.

Rishara wrote:

Bah Furies can solo heal TSO instances

timetravelling wrote:

I look forward to seeing what this new stuff you dev's keep hinting about I thought i read someplace (dev chat maybe?) that we would be seeing some x2 content soon thats going to be attached to TSO. I LOVE this idea if its true, will help our raid force work with new players and gear them up without having to waste the time of 24 people on one of our regularly scheduled raid nights.

Pedorro@Butcherblock wrote:

Thats one opinion. For every one of you there is one of me. I love TSO but I also love raiding. As SOE said they can't make everyone happy everytime.

Gaylon@Mistmoore wrote:

Okay maybe I'll just have to try one besides Caverns of the Afflicted. But that zone absolutely had me incensed. Tanking in there is not fun at all....lol I logged out thinking I would never try one of those zones again.

Gotta admit, after a hectic day of work and trying to help solve peoples problems, I tend to like tank n' spank as I don't have to think much at all. Good to get the aggression level out....
I'll give the other instances a shot before I get too down on TSO. Thanks Gaylon

Pedorro@Butcherblock wrote:

I liked Caverns of the Afflicted. I just wish the different named in there had more variety of loot (there's only 2-3 items that drop off the first 3 named and by that I mean kill first named, Ring of the Terrorfiend, kill 2nd named, Ring of the Terrorfiend, kill 3rd named, Ring of the Terrorfiend) and/or higher quality loot than they do. It does make the tank have to work more than most zones, but there are several ways through it.
Try this with it:
Wait until you see a ^^^ walk near entrance. Proximity aggro it. Kill it.
Now, cast on that first group there, you'll soon have a 2nd group of mobs as well. Kill both. If your tank can't stay up with 2 groups of mobs then just have him proximity aggro the one nearest entrance and then nobody casts for a few seconds while they all run around tank.
Kill the 2nd ^^^ in the doorway there.
Now go down and pull another encounter from the doorway to the right down the hall a bit. Now rush into room against opposite wall before respawn. Tank grabs aggro of mob group there and the one ^^^ that will be to your left. Kill them then go into the room with named. Kill Edgar. Then start proximity aggroing groups of mobs and pulling them into the room edgar was in. Kill the maledictive terror.

ALTERNATIVELY: After you kill the 2nd ^^^ and before you kill the 3rd ^^^ going into Edgar's room just have the tank run into the room the maledictive is in, aggro everything, and run it around between entrance and the maledictive room with a few heals tossed his way for when he has to turn around and go by them. Meanwhile the group kills the maledictive terror. After it's dead you can either die off, or start picking off the crowd following tank one by one. Maledictive terror being killed takes care of you being overran.

It's not that bad once you get it down, Cavern of the Afflicted was one of the first TSO zones I had a group finish completely (from start to finish) after an incomplete Deep Forge run (Firelord Kaern) and an incomplete Evernight Abbey (Pythoness) run.

Pedorro@Butcherblock wrote:

I agree completely.
Other than the tradeskill quests, (love my unicorn!), I have gotten very very little out of TSO, as a casual duo'er.

Detor wrote:

Well the group I was in made it to the stairs down below but the mobs kept respawning too quickly. I could tank 2 groups no prob but when 3 and then 4 groups started jumping us I was overwhelmed. THat was with 2 healers. With an SK tanking and a warlock in group. Everyone in the group kept mentioning how much fun it was but as a tank I was thinking, this isn't fun, it's a darn headache.
Anyways, I will try maybe doing another instance that is easier and go from there. Any tips on any TSO instances that a 'casual' playing tank could have a good shot at completing?

Pedorro@Butcherblock wrote:

Sure. Both Deep Forge and Scion of Ice are as entry level as it gets in TSO. They both have an encounter or two you sort of need to "figure out" but are relatively easy to complete. Hollow Tower isn't really bad either, except maybe for the final encounter, and it is visually pretty spectacular if you've not seen it yet.

Caverns wasn't that bad for my first time seeing the zone last night. Monk tank (me) fury wizzy illy swashy and trouby. I will admit that without the aoe mezzer this zone would have really sucked. Nothing was too hard to figure out and the only encounter that we barely made it thru was the named that has the constant spawning adds in his room. There was more mobs with social agro and huge range that i care to do never again. For an instance run i would rather do a different zone then ever see this zone again just because of the amount of trash in here. Three and a half hours almost with afk smoke breaks etc etc that 2 shards really doesn't seem worth it. The wizzy made a hotkey for me...."incoming 2 or 10 mobs pucker time".

Skywarrior wrote:

Except for the end named being pita in crucible (I HATE BOOKS!) and Anathema are both doable too. It just helps to know a bit about the zone and its tricks before going in. You just have to see those zones honestly they look awesome.
Quite a few of the missions in Crucible and Ana require nothing more than clicking on something too so if you really get stuck you should still get shards.

Good luck in there and more than anything else just have fun

I can't believe people are complaing about TSO instances being too hard.
20 Zones of varying difficulty, what more could you ask for. I think the devs have done a awesome job.
Enjoy the challenge, because having things handed to you is no fun at all.
So what if you die a few times, that's part of adventuring. through death comes learning.

I'm glad they upped the level of difficulty. People wanting things easy ruins games.

Pitt Hammerfist wrote:

I guess its a matter of perspective. My first 2 weeks of TSO I had a grand total of 5 shards. Now I have 7. Whoopy!
I play 3 to 4 hours every single night. On the nights that I do actually get a group we usually fail. Most nights I cannot get a group. People are sticking to their guilds and if you aren't on their frends list your LFG tag goes ignored. I've tried a few times to form groups for the easy zones and was only successful a couple of time. Those 2 groups failed to clear the zone. That doesn't fit my description of fun. Then to add insult to injury, NOT having a full set of shard gear limits which groups you can get into. It's a real blast to spend 4 hours in a zone and get no reward. I'm talking about Deep Forge, Scion and Befallen Cavern.. not the hard zones.
ONE time I got invited to a group for OoB. I (being a casual, non fabled Templar) solo healed the zone without much trouble. The key was the other 5 people where in raid gear. I keep hearing gear doesn't matter. I'm absolutely sure their skill counted too but the gear was the reason I could solo heal the zone.

Buttcliffe wrote:

Thats fine but I don't think the EASY zones should be as hard as RE2 or Vek.

bks6721 wrote:

The developers of this fine game do. And they write the content, not you.
If you want a walk-in-the-park game, I can point you in the direction of several, including WoW, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, Guild Wars...just to name a few.

As it stands now, for me personally, I'm having more fun in TSO than I've had in EQ2 since the game initially launched. I can still remember the first few weeks of the game when nearly all of the overland content was heroic mobs. I can remember grinding highwaymen and scarecrows in Antonica with my guildmates, and wiping in Vermin's Snye. Then they nerfed everything in the overland zones to solo, and a lot of the entry mobs in dungeons were solo as well, to allow the solo/duo players access to at least a portion of the areas.
DoF had a ton of solo content. I was turned off. KoS had a ton of solo content. I was turned off. EoF had a ton of solo content. I was turned off. RoK was so solo-oriented I can't even describe it. It made the previous expansions look like hardcore expansions.
TSO is the first expansion in EQ2 to feature MOSTLY group-based content. The very first one. Every other expansion has featured by far and large a vastly superior amount of solo-based content, and only a limited amount of raid and group-based content. And what raid content there was had forced lockout timers to keep people from advancing too quickly (and still does).
So stop crying and learn to give a little. You solo/duo players have had your time to shine in the spotlight. Now it's time for the groupers.
I personally hope the next expansion features ONLY raid content, or 90% raid content and only 10% solo/group. After all it's only fair. Oh boy, can you imagine the whines that will spring up when THAT happens?
/snicker

I think Caverns of the Afflicted probably should have been a bit easier to avoid scaring off very poorly geared players trying a starting zone. The difference between poor players with bad gear and good players with good gear can be literally orders of magnitude in terms of dps and so on, and not being able to make any progress whatsoever is probably pretty demoralizing. Personally, if it were just me, I'd downtier the respawns.
Scion of Ice and Obelisk of Ahkzul are probably the best ones to direct players to in terms of starting, and the signature questline does a good job of that. The only problem with Obelisk right now is that there's no mission giver dedicated to it, so it doesn't introduce players to the mission system properly.

Thanon@Runnyeye wrote:

Do you feel that if the ENTRY level TSO dungeons where slightly more forgiving that your game would be ruined? You are doing more than just the easy zones right?
I understand that you enjoy the content. You are willing to suggest alternate games for me. Nice, thank you. My question is does SoE, like you, think I should join a different game? If in fact they do feel as you do then I will find a new game. I've played this one for four years and enjoyed it up until now. I understand progression.. earn some shards for void armor. That is what I am trying to do and having a tough time. Congrats to you for finding it so easy.
/waiting for snide reply

Well the entry TSO Dungeons Scion of Ice, Evernight Abbey and Deep Forge are as easy as it gets. How much more
more forgiving you want. Let me tell you something, being in the beta, they changed alot of encounter in favour of
casuals, e g the one Vampire in Evernight Abbey that sucks live from other Vampire, was in Beta an orange Lvl86 con
mob and more difficult than the final boss Lord Marcus Thex, now hes a lvl 83 yellow easy one.
As for zones why would you want 20 Tank and spank zones for 1 Year !!!! You would be bored basically latest in
January. Now you have goals to achieve for a year and try to get void shard and fabled armor and 200 aas to clear the
diffcult zones.