Ascension Chamber

[Llewndyn]

/rant
/passive aggressive mode = ON
/pants = 0
/Return SARCASM()

I want to run Ascension Chamber.

I have never run Ascension Chamber. I have TRed twice trying to get all the sigils, but am not really a grind-missions-sort of player. Imagine the phun times and great oldies when I finally....FINALLY got that last sigil piece. I felt like I had achieved a victory, a victory over evil panda overlords heck-bent on taking over our North American collectable plate production in a sick scheme to take over the world (PST and I will detail how they plan to do this. It's nefarious, to be sure)

I know Ascension Chamber is a tough mission. I know this. I would like to learn it. A gentle soul allowed me into his litany group when I told him I had never run it and spent 30 seconds total the entire mission laying out what was going on, and I led kill count all but one time (and that's because he got back from being AFK). I am only looking for the same consideration for Abbot.

As some of you may say, "there's an LFG up almost every night saying ascension chamber, know it or pst if you don't", and I would respond that you are right. While I harbor no ill will toward the people running that, it has become apparent I wronged them in some way because I get ignored every time. Rather than whine about that I would like to offer this heartfelt request that someone run Ascension with me. I am not the best player, most in my guild would say I strive to be a functional one, but I try hard and dangit I got moxie. Thinking about this, though, led to the following dead horse upon which I now resolutely grasp the stick and thwack with much haste:

At some point you didn't know the mission either. I know for some raids and stuff you sometimes don't feel like teaching a group full of n00bs, and I will be the first to admit I am probably the cause of said apprehension because of my iffy playstyle and off color jokes, but thats a FACT. The other day after the new packs came out, literally the day AFTER they came out, someone had an LFG up that said "Know it or don't bother". This made me sad, then confused, then hungry (it was around lunch). I am NOT asking everyone to take along a newbie every time they run something to teach them the mission. I AM saying cut ME some slack because I am putting it down in text on the internet, making it meaningful. If you have 5/11 people who know all there is to know about the quest, including the devs motivations and what they had for dinner every night while coding said levels, and taking one person along can completely ruin the entire thing, maybe the problem isn't all the newbie.

If, however, this seems to not be what you would like to do, have the common courtesy to not waste someone's time and at SOME point decline them. Yes, before you ask, I had moved on to do something else, but still, when it takes your group 45 minutes to fill, you can spend one second telling me no or calling me a racial slur or whatever. If you are THAT busy while filling a group.... I won't finish that sentence.

Anyway, I wanna run ascension. Let's make this happen. Thanks for reading

[Srozbun]

I'm not understanding this post. Is this a preemptive rant to being declined from abbot because the leader doesn't want to explain the raid? Does this happen all the time on your server? Just for abbot?

In general, this raid only requires 2 experts who can get each other across tile and 2 who can do ice (0 if there is a cleric with capstone), and any 4 decently competent people in asteroids. The remaining 4 people generally /sleep in the raid. So with a cleric in the party, only 2 people really need to know the raid well for a completion.

If an abbot raid leader won't take a new player along then he's probably not a good leader anyway. Especially a new player who is eager to learn the raid and states upfront that he is new.

In the meantime, you might want to check out the DDO wiki guide for the raid http://ddowiki.com/page/Ascension_Chamber

[Llewndyn]

It was going to start as a rant, then I saw all the drama on the boards about other stuff and it peter'd out, much like me when I try to dash toward the refrigerator for more mayonnaise to slather on myself.

I have looked at a few guides, talked to a few people about it, I'm just ready to do it. I have been told if one person dies it's pretty much a fail, but this has done little to deter me. I made this post mostly because I wanna run the mission, the little bit about being ignored, while annoying, was supposed to be little more than a blip, but it IS annoying when I have seen that LFG pop up 4 or 5 times, send a tell informing the leader I do NOT know the mission, then being ignored while they VERY slowly fill. I'm a big boy, I can take it if you just decline me, but it is silly that I can see you taking people one and two at a time and as I tried to join as soon as you put the group up when you were the only one running said mission know that you saw my name and don't have the common decency to tell me no, making me think you are simply going through a list but will get to me. Then in part 4 of the shroud run I joined instead of waiting on you I see you declined me because your party was full, meaning you didn't even have the courtesy of just telling me no.

But whatevs.

[Vydara]

I run this one quite often with some friends. We usually have some firsttimers around and we usually don't wipe because of the first timers ;-) Right now i'm writing on my thesis (till monday) so i cannot just show you around on that one. however, feel free to catch me after i have done that one. In the meantime please read http://wizard-detectives.com/ddo/abbott.html as we will force you to read it anyways ;-)

[Srozbun]

I have been told if one person dies it's pretty much a fail

That is not true. At all.

Sounds like you have done a lot of preparation. Personally, I would just hit the LFM and let the leader know once I'm in group that I am new to the raid. If the filling is slow, often people will alt-tab or AFK and miss tells, but they still check on the queue occasionally.

I run abbot a lot. I have lead them, and I have followed others in pugs. From my experiences, I can tell you this: New players to the raid do not cause abbot wipes. Bad luck, bad leadership, or not listening to instructions do.

[Sirea]

Perhaps you've seen my Abbot LFMS where I put "know what's up or know how to listen". Sure, to some it may sound elitist and exclusionary, but all it means is this: if you know the quest, great, but if you don't, it's easy enough to learn if you can follow simple instructions. You'd be surprised how many can't.

Tell you what, if you see one of my Abbot LFMs up, send me a /tell. I won't ignore you, just let me know who you are: "Hi, I'm so-and-so from the forums and you told me that you'd be nice to me for a quest", something along those lines. I'll try to be extra-explanatory and get you a completion.

Don't worry about dying. Everyone who is good at Abbot had to learn it at some point, and even people who are great at it die, or fail the quest, or do something noobish. To use a phrase: "stuff" happens. It's really not uncommon to have to try a couple (or a few, or several, or many) times for that completion.

[BangsLiekWhoa]

http://wizard-detectives.com/ddo/abbott.html

This really is the best guide to Abbott I have seen. Read the whole thing (including the 3 links) and you will have a pretty good idea of what all the roles are. Most people don't mind having a new person join if they are willing to learn it and don't just want to pike their way to good loot.

[Bobthesponge]

I have been told if one person dies it's pretty much a fail

That is not true. At all.



Well, it is kinda true. It depends upon who dies. If you have 2 people running tiles and one dies... fail. If you have 2 people running ice (old school style - no DI) and 1 dies... fail.*

But if some random dies and you can still get the sacrophaguses? (sp?) Then party on, Wayne.

* Yes, I know it is technically possible for 1 person to use the wands to run ice but it is verrrry hard and requires exquisite timing.

[Srozbun]

Well, it is kinda true. It depends upon who dies. If you have 2 people running tiles and one dies... fail. If you have 2 people running ice (old school style - no DI) and 1 dies... fail.*

But if some random dies and you can still get the sacrophaguses? (sp?) Then party on, Wayne.

* Yes, I know it is technically possible for 1 person to use the wands to run ice but it is verrrry hard and requires exquisite timing.

Even if a puzzle fails though, the raid does not (which was what I figured the OP was referring to). It is pretty common in fact to require an extra beatdown of the abbot.

[Xenostrata]

Well, it is kinda true. It depends upon who dies. If you have 2 people running tiles and one dies... fail. If you have 2 people running ice (old school style - no DI) and 1 dies... fail.*

But if some random dies and you can still get the sacrophaguses? (sp?) Then party on, Wayne.

* Yes, I know it is technically possible for 1 person to use the wands to run ice but it is verrrry hard and requires exquisite timing.

Technically, if a puzzle wipes, you can just have a scout go in to abbot, beat him down again, and he will pop the portals. Have the healers rez any who died, send puzzlers back in (same portals as before) and if roids were finished then everyone that is done with their puzzle goes there.

Oh, it's sarcophagi, by the way.

[Bobthesponge]

Even if a puzzle fails though, the raid does not (which was what I figured the OP was referring to). It is pretty common in fact to require an extra beatdown of the abbot.


Technically, if a puzzle wipes, you can just have a scout go in to abbot, beat him down again, and he will pop the portals. Have the healers rez any who died, send puzzlers back in (same portals as before) and if roids were finished then everyone that is done with their puzzle goes there.

Oh, it's sarcophagi, by the way.

I lounge corrected. I didn't know you could reset the portals - I have never seen it. The usual method of salvaging the quest after a catastrophic death is Drop Party Reform.

@Xeno - I refuse to correctly spell polysyllabic plurals that fail to end in sibilants at the end of a work day.

[Llewndyn]

Perhaps you've seen my Abbot LFMS where I put "know what's up or know how to listen". Sure, to some it may sound elitist and exclusionary, but all it means is this: if you know the quest, great, but if you don't, it's easy enough to learn if you can follow simple instructions. You'd be surprised how many can't.

Tell you what, if you see one of my Abbot LFMs up, send me a /tell. I won't ignore you, just let me know who you are: "Hi, I'm so-and-so from the forums and you told me that you'd be nice to me for a quest", something along those lines. I'll try to be extra-explanatory and get you a completion.

Don't worry about dying. Everyone who is good at Abbot had to learn it at some point, and even people who are great at it die, or fail the quest, or do something noobish. To use a phrase: "stuff" happens. It's really not uncommon to have to try a couple (or a few, or several, or many) times for that completion.

I have ZERO problem with "know whats up or how to listen". I have even less of a problem with me hitting said LFM and getting declined. I have no problem with not being given a reason for being declined. If you don't want me in your group, decline me. I'm fine with that. If your group fills in less than 20 minutes and you never get back to me, I am going to assume you were busy the whole time and couldn't get to me and am fine with THAT.

When it takes you 45 minutes + to fill and I hit your LFM less than 5 minutes after it came up, and the whole time you are accepting people, I get a little annoyed because I am unsure as to whether I should hang around until you get to me or if I should call it a wash and move on. Since I have wanted to run Abbot for more than a year I am more inclined to wait to see if you are going to accept me and that makes it even worse. I don't need any extra hand holding or anything like that even, I just wanna try that mission out and the only way to get even less interest in a group is if I put one up saying "Hey guys I have never run this let's learn it!"

[mistalley]

there are some nice abbot raid leaders in G-land.just try to send tell to the leaders that you are new but you know the drill and have learnt something about this raid, at least 1 out of 3 will accept you and then you are no longer first timers.

[Alleyna]

I have been leading a late-night abbot twice a week for months now. Tuesday and Friday evenings at midnight EST. I welcome first timers as long as they can follow directions. Look for my LFMs if you are ever on at this time. I've accrued quite a few static members, so there are not always spots open, but in my experience I'd say I usually have between 2-4 PUG spots open.