Proposed Changes to Abbot

[stille_nacht]

Black Abbot is one of the most infamous quests in DDO. With an all capped party, all experienced, people can still expect to have 2-3 wipes.

Keeping this in mind, i would like to propose a few changes to make abbot less "ridiculously hard" and more "tough".

1. In the invisible platform/goggle challenge- instead of an endless chasm that kills players who fall, have it be really deep, but not fatal, and allow players to climb up a ladder and try again. people might say this is and easy button. No, it is not. You will still have to wait 30 minutes while people try, you just wont have to reform 4 times.

2. In the asteroid room- have asteroids spawn only after all the rocks have been picked up. This way if scouts have slow computers or client crashes, it wont mean a reform because the asteroids were already spawning.

The ice room is fine.

[Dragaer]

If I am in an all pug Abbot, I may expect a wipe or two. But with all experienced folks it should and does go well the 1st time.

The tile room is not that hard. Sure, some of the ways to cross it are more difficult than others but it is well within two people's capabilities to cross...unless "stupid people do stupid things" - as a guildie of mine loves to say.

There are the 'phantom' asteroids - that needs to be addressed. But how hard is it for the scout to say "middle roids" and everyone runs as quickly as they can in there? Half the time you see people standing around looking at eachother hopeing that the other will pick up the rocks so they can pike. If someone with a slow loading screen is assigned as a scout they need to tell the party leader - that is how you avoid that problem.

Abbot wipes are awesome for the stories. Tell people to not pick up the bolders and just /sleep cause it is their first time and what do they do? Pick up all the rocks...shoot their bow at the roids...then jump off the edge. I have dozens of those. Good times.

I like how it is designed now - just needs a few bug tweaks.

[Srozbun]

Agreed with Dragaer.

1) Goggles stay on a character even if he/she dies in tiles. If the group can get one tiler across and fails the second side, it's only a matter of coordination to get the goggles onto the right side after a beatdown to complete this puzzle.

2) As long as people run into asteroids with the intent of completing the puzzle instead of piking, there is no reason the four roids shouldn't be picked up and equipped before the first roids come hurtling in. For slow load screens/connections maybe give a few more seconds before the roids spawn, but part of the "challenge" of roids is being fast enough to set up before the roids arrive.

[Impaqt]

Black Abbot is one of the most infamous quests in DDO. With an all capped party, all experienced, people can still expect to have 2-3 wipes.

I never expect a wipe in the abbot. Pug or not.



Keeping this in mind, i would like to propose a few changes to make abbot less "ridiculously hard" and more "tough".

1. In the invisible platform/goggle challenge- instead of an endless chasm that kills players who fall, have it be really deep, but not fatal, and allow players to climb up a ladder and try again. people might say this is and easy button. No, it is not. You will still have to wait 30 minutes while people try, you just wont have to reform 4 times.

You can try again. Just beat the abbot down agian. he respawns the DDoors.



2. In the asteroid room- have asteroids spawn only after all the rocks have been picked up. This way if scouts have slow computers or client crashes, it wont mean a reform because the asteroids were already spawning.

Send more into asteroids. Getting 4 people in there quick that can pick up the rocks isnt hard. and you only need one or 2 to get going. the Asteroid room can be solo'd by a player with good twitch skills even.



The ice room is fine.

I suggest you practice some more. You'll get htere. The abbot is no longer that difficult. It just has a higher learning curve than other raids.

[Hendrik]

After the what, second or third revision of Abbot, all it needs now is two things;

1. Patience.
2. Practice.

[Vellrad]

When I tried to do my first abbot, it was in pug. And we had no trouble with puzzles. The thing that was wiping us was his mass firewalls. Puzzle are fine as they are IMO, but I can't say how battle looks like after first minute :/

[BangsLiekWhoa]

I still don't understand why people think this raid is that difficult. It is really quite easy and short as long as you know what you are doing. Maybe I'm alone in thinking that it is not nearly as bad as people always say it is.

[rest]

My only suggestion for the abbot is to make it so he doesn't eat your Greensteel items.

I haven't had it happen to me, but I don't want to ever have it happen to anyone.

[Rakian_Knight]

I still don't understand why people think this raid is that difficult. It is really quite easy and short as long as you know what you are doing. Maybe I'm alone in thinking that it is not nearly as bad as people always say it is.

I personally think the same way, don't know why it's that hard.

The only thing hard about it is that he will cast Disjunction on you Dispelling all your buffs and removing your magic abilities from items you are carrying but that makes it more fun in my option. The abbot isn't the Tank and Spank raid that everyone is so use to with things like the shroud so when they fall in platforms or make some stupid mistake that causes deaths people start screaming "make this easier."

This is my favorite raid because of the difficulty and because it is so different. Personally I don't want anything about it changed but these are just my thoughts.

[Lorz]

I agree with rest.....

No need for any changes just get rid of that bug......

Raid is fine.

[Bowser_Koopa]

I was going to post my suggestion of I think the Abbot needs a new special attack to make things harder.

New in imaginary update land-The Black Abbot has learned a new trick, now as a special attack the Abbot will enter a Phase state where he and his attacks can only be seen using the correct set of phase goggles. This ability lasts 1 minute.

Have to make those phase goggles useful in the end fight somehow after all.

[Chette]

I like that the Abbot raid is one of the few quests in DDO where smart coordinated play is far superior to all-out DPS. I would rather take 12 gimpy toons who know what they're doing in there than 12 powerhouses who can't listen to instructions. Well...I'd rather that in most raids, but Abbot just makes it that much more important.

I'm perfectly happy with Abbot the way it is, and the only thing I can suggest to those that are having trouble is try running it a few times with some vets until you are comfortable. Running with a group where 1/2 the people either don't know what they're doing or expect to be piked through to the end is a recipe for both failure and frustration.

I was very lucky to run my very first Abbot with some extremely helpful people who explained everything as it was happening. I got to see what tiles looked like, and learned how the puzzles work. Within 2-3 more runs I was comfortable in any puzzle room, scouting, leading tiles, you name it. Just make sure to let people know what you've done and what you haven't done so that you can learn. I've run with people who have completed the raid dozens of times and still don't know how to lead tiles. Don't be one of those pikers :)

[Angelus_dead]

Running with a group where 1/2 the people either don't know what they're doing or expect to be piked through to the end is a recipe for both failure and frustration.
But half the players not needing to know what's going on is inherent in the design of the Abbot raid! You need 3-6 people who can do puzzles, and 6-9 people to hang out, toss spells, and loot.

[bobbryan2]

I like that the Abbot raid is one of the few quests in DDO where smart coordinated play is far superior to all-out DPS. I would rather take 12 gimpy toons who know what they're doing in there than 12 powerhouses who can't listen to instructions. Well...I'd rather that in most raids, but Abbot just makes it that much more important.

So what you're saying is that the Abbot is no different from any DDO raid. It's just more pronounced...

[elraido]

After the what, second or third revision of Abbot, all it needs now is two things;

1. Patience.
2. Practice.

And me not Burneing the party :)

[stille_nacht]

ah, i havent actually been in tile room yet :[, its just in the 3 groups i managed to PuG, the tile people always wiped, and all of the groups wiped several times trying... i mean sure you can practice it, but i dont think practice should require gratuitous wiping.

And the asteroid spawn thing was because a person dced when scouting and we sent a second scout but the asteroids were already hitting platform :[, wipe. Not shooting the asteroids in itself mind you, just scouting out whats what.

[asphodeli]

Abbot's fine except for the asteroids, people with slow loading computers who zone into the room as a spotter or roider may case a wipe

[Nich]

The actual version of the Abbot is fine. It requires player's skill more than your usual raid. This is not a bad thing. If you prefer to turn on auto-attack and go afk, Shroud is there for you.

[Irinis]

I love Abbott. After a few bad pugs I just don't want to run it again that day, but it's one of the best raids in the game and it's always interesting.

[lugoman]

All they need to do is add some way of practicing the puzzles before hand.

[stille_nacht]

yeah i just practiced tiles a bit with some guildies, its actually not too bad, we did a PuG, and i couldnt believe how smoothly it went (compared to the other PuGs i did), guess i was just unlucky with the PuGs

i would like a way to practice without having to regroup/reform a group of 4 constantly.

[amnota]

Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.