Scared of the Shroud

[Original]

Not sure what server your on, but failing a shroud run is rare. I can only think of one, but that was because the orthon bugged out. You Need to find better groups, but any pug should have no problem.

[Sequell]

I have participated in 5 Shroud runs and have completed 1. I am now hesitant to join a Shroud group because even though it is fun it is also frustrating when we can't complete.

My character is a 12/3/1 Fighter/Barbarian/Ranger.

Any advice as to my role in a Shroud run and any suggestions on improving chances of completion?

It seems we have failed at the part where the lieutenants must be defeated simultaneously.

Thanks.

If you are failing on normal it is not a party makeup issue as much as it is a radi leader issue IMO. If the leader of the party isn't giving proper instructions then part 2 will probably go badly in most pugs.

[MJNOR1]

I have participated in 5 Shroud runs and have completed 1. I am now hesitant to join a Shroud group because even though it is fun it is also frustrating when we can't complete.

My character is a 12/3/1 Fighter/Barbarian/Ranger.

Any advice as to my role in a Shroud run and any suggestions on improving chances of completion?

It seems we have failed at the part where the lieutenants must be defeated simultaneously.

Thanks.

[...v...]

I have participated in 5 Shroud runs and have completed 1. I am now hesitant to join a Shroud group because even though it is fun it is also frustrating when we can't complete.

My character is a 12/3/1 Fighter/Barbarian/Ranger.

Any advice as to my role in a Shroud run and any suggestions on improving chances of completion?

It seems we have failed at the part where the lieutenants must be defeated simultaneously.

Thanks.

For a successful run look at the group makeup, two or more casters is a waste of dps, we run them without casters and just a bard. If you do let a caster into the run make sure they got debuffs and buffs. Also look at toons in the group, like the human ftr/barb/wiz is a sign. Make sure you got greater construct banes and transmuters if you don’t have green steel weapons. The rest blame management.

[Sequell]

What server you on? I will get you in one of my runs if you are on my server.

[GlassCannon]

...or the other problem: The shroud is now configured to FORCE a player to have a Tier 3 Mineral 2 Greensteel weapon to do any decent damage, uber-rare chest loot aside. No, the Auction House is not a viable solution, as the prices are usually 10-100x higher than they should be.

Grab at least 5 veterans with Greensteel Weapons and you'll have a fighting chance. Otherwise, simply resign yourself to Newbiehood and accept that the content is blatantly hateful to the untwinked.

Oh, and Moderator, I love what you did to this thread's Post Sequence

[noinfo]

If you are failing on normal it is not a party makeup issue as much as it is a radi leader issue IMO. If the leader of the party isn't giving proper instructions then part 2 will probably go badly in most pugs.

Or the party isn't following instructions, this seems to be the most common problem.

[Sequell]

Or the party isn't following instructions, this seems to be the most common problem.

Agreed...most people that are new to the raid want to wander around...not exactly conducive to a successful part 2 lol!

[Jarka]

Ouch!

What server are you on?

Your primary role, looking at ur class is DPS. You need to try to have the right weapons.

Part 1: Anarchic,holy(burst)xxx of greater construct bane/pure good for the portals. Vorpals/Con damage/holy(burstxxxof PG for trash

Part 2: Greater Elemental Bane for ellies, transmuting/holyburstxxxof pure good/greater evil outsider bane for devil/orthon....will aso work on kobald, gnoll and troll

Part 3: puzzle solver, jump pot for puzzle if u have a poor jump, csw pots and wands when running water

Part 4: transmuting/holyburstxxxof pure good/greater evil outsider bane for Harry

Part 5: same weaps as part 2 for the leutenants, and then same as part 4 for Harry.

Also, at beginning of part 5, ur highest ac/evasion party member should kite the leutenants the away from rest of party til they are buffed and organized to peel 1 leutenant at a time for the kill.

Hope this helps a bit. There's a lot more to the various strategies/tacticts, this is just a start for you.

[noinfo]

Ouch!

What server are you on?

Your primary role, looking at ur class is DPS. You need to try to have the right weapons.

Part 1: Anarchic,holy(burst)xxx of greater construct bane/pure good for the portals. Vorpals/Con damage/holy(burstxxxof PG for trash

Part 2: Greater Elemental Bane for ellies, transmuting/holyburstxxxof pure good/greater evil outsider bane for devil/orthon....will aso work on kobald, gnoll and troll

Part 3: puzzle solver, jump pot for puzzle if u have a poor jump, csw pots and wands when running water

Part 4: transmuting/holyburstxxxof pure good/greater evil outsider bane for Harry

Part 5: same weaps as part 2 for the leutenants, and then same as part 4 for Harry.

Also, at beginning of part 5, ur highest ac/evasion party member should kite the leutenants the away from rest of party til they are buffed and organized to peel 1 leutenant at a time for the kill.

Hope this helps a bit. There's a lot more to the various strategies/tacticts, this is just a start for you.

Along with a poison immune item or pot. Disease immune item and Remove curse pots.

[Jarka]

Along with a poison immune item or pot. Disease immune item and Remove curse pots.

Nice catch Noinfo

[baylensman]

Voice chat is mandatory. Clear instructions, follow the leader, stay together. Our groups consist of a core of about 6-8 players and we usually pug out the remaining spots. The only stipulation is that invities follow the instructions. As stated buffs and debuffs, as well as mass heals. DON"T BE STINGY WITH MANA. If you have pots or cakes of mnenoic pass them around. Don't be a hero, in part two. have someone get the agro and draw the baddies back to appropriate points and coordiante the attacks. Take a few minutes at the begining and discuss weapon selections for each part, If you aren't sure ASK!
Keep at it I also failed the first few times, till I understood what was expected, and asked a lot of questions, now I know what to do ahead of time and am ready to say high high when the leader says jump.

[Draccus]

I have participated in a total of 15 Shrouds. 11 were PUGS and all succeeded. 4 were primarily guild raids and all failed.

We joked about this in guild chat last night and determined the reason: with guild groups, we are more concerned with making sure everyone has a slot than about party makeup or effectiveness. In other words, we take any guild member who's online, regardless of their class, experience with the quest, or gear.

Combine that with a "we're here for fun" attitude, where raid leaders are less likely to bark orders to guildmates and we fail. A few simple changes would dramatically increase our chances for success, even on a "fun" guild raid.

1. People who have never run the Shroud should take the time to learn a BIT about the quest (by reading or asking) before asking to join. A bit of advice for each part would go a long way.

2. People need to bring the right gear and know when to use it. A barbarian who can solo Orthons in the Vale all day will be as worthless a caster swinging his scepters against Harry in Part 4 if he uses the same weapons. Stepping into the Vale with your standard level 12 trash mob weapons isn't doing your party any good.

3. Unless you've got a ridiculously high DPS party, you need a strategy for Part 2. It doesn't have to be complicated but I see too many raid leaders who assume everyone knows what to do. Are we using the cubby? Are we just taking them SW? Are we peeling off any mobs? Who's taking the elemental and where? What order? This info is important for any group but it's SUPER important for a group with some new folks who may not be properly equipped.

Failed raids are probably equally due to the players and the leaders. Good players can make up for weak leaders and strong leaders can make up for weak players. But weak players and weak leaders are rarely going to succeed.

[sephiroth1084]

Sometimes a group just doesn't have the DPS or skills necessary to complete.

In the Shroud runs I have failed, the problems have often been:
-lack of DPS (took too long getting Lieutenants down, or beating Harry down)
-poor healers (just didn't know what spells to throw where and when)
-poor mana usage (if all the blue bars are gone by the time round 2 with Harry finishes, there is going to be a problem)
-poor instructions/leadership
-inability for some people to follow directions
-mistakes/random luck (almost had a Shroud go bad on part 2 that I was running because the caster that was handling the fire elemental hit him with a Polar Ray trying to keep him at an even level, and crit, doing nearly 2,000 damage, and killed him before we were ready)

Anyway, like any quest, The Shroud (and raids in general) take some getting used to, party adjustment, and teamwork. Don't get too discouraged by your failures--everyone failed A Vision of Destruction a half a dozen times before finally completing it (and it is still far from an auto-complete for most groups). I was 2 for 6 when I first started running the Shroud, and now only fail a run about one time in 5 or 6 runs (unless I'm doing a guild run...and then, well...HORDO).

[xynxie]

its when ya get the egos in there that it is impossible.....and I mean impossible

example...zergers that have done it alot but seem to forget they are in pug and pull devil before even thier own cleric has mana because they have the uber weps to get him prepped in 20 seconds..but cant heal themselves expecting the cleric that hasnt done this before to know about the curses and such..then dies...thing is, now he has nothin better to do then whine why everyone else haven't lived on thier server getting same uberness and how bad this pug is going to be....been in that shroud? demoralizing for folks that actually play to have fun.....had this happen the other day....I live on my server and never seen that in shroud before.....and I have done alot of em...till lately.....like folks are looking down on folks without GS.

example....uber sorc has no debuffs says he is going to haste and finger in part 4 saving his mana for that...doesn't throw buffs around, doesn't have web, doesn't have a clue why he died running around doing nothing....been in that shroud? oh gawd I wish I could say no. No haste for you now? and I bet the guy still thinks debuffing is a waste....tried to give him some help in a side chat....basically told me didnt know what I was doing....he is on my friends list.

Part 1
jump in dual weild vorpals on any toon whether twf or not (takes a 20 no matter what) 12 folks swing 24 vorpals(my casters have 2 vorpals yes)....thats a recipie for killing the original trash mobs quick

anarchic, holy, GCB, transmuting....all good on portals and as long as everyone is on the portal cept the babysitter they will go down plenty fast enough....cleric throw a prayer and bard a haste and song its magic

Part 2
don't run through the middle no matter what....meet in south cental....same as beginning of part one...clean mobs and assign.....chaotic bane weapons work fine on devil and orthon. though I like my g/s light II can assign one or two to it though if noone feels uber......fire and ele are no brainers...send 2 evasion types on fire and barbs on stone ele if they dont have uber weps that will get him down fast enough...thats 6 folks if ya assign 3 to NW cleric and two tanks, and 3 in NE bard and 2 tanks....that leaves 6 on wall...cleric back....caster back...that leaves 4 on wall.....how hard can that be....but folks find a way to make it hard.....those 2 tanks in corners dont need super uber weapons to bring down thier guy....just swing on em get em prepped then take em all down at once....if ya get yours done early....shield block....then when everyones rdy take em down.....

if it falls apart....don't let your ego take over......kill everything....let them go back to the middle and repeat....tip your cleric later if he used scrolls....and definitly tip the bard he HAS to use scrolls


Part 3
Puzzles.....if you got a problem using puzzle solvers..let the leader know before ya join..I won't take folks that won't use em.....if ya can solve em great.....but i will destroy your cyrstal before i wipe in part 3.....made that mistake once, will never do it again for 2 chest....even though those are the 2 chest i pulled my w/p rapiers out of

Part 4
POISON NEUTRALIZATION...give it to everyone cause someone always forgets to say they need it
Beginning same as part 1 and 2 cept clerics and caster dont vorp....vorpal those buggers and get er done.....if you don't have silver....shame on you....holy burst transmuting and i am sure others will add to that list...i use gs light II teir 3....clerics should have quicken for this part so they don't get broke on con checks....thos devils go right for ya it seems...casters should be able to debuff....waves of fatigue, ray of exhaustion, ray of enfeeblement a few times and a solid fog is nice, web for the mobs dancing ball if ya have to but its annoying so most bards have it.....when the blades get close tumble out AWAY to the flank side of clerics so hairy doesn't kill them with a fireball meant for you.....if you have ranged evasion types clerics should stand behind them but away from them a bit as the fireballs are area of effect...if your in swinging on hairy and dont have the aggro flank him or be behind him this helps. 3 rounds is not a sin.

Part 5
Same as 4....Poison neutralization a must before hairy.....let someone kite and then ya kill the minions one at a time....get all your buffs while the casters get manna back then kill the last one then kill hairy..........if you die and are rezzed DO NOT JUST JUMP BACK IN...get buffed wait for penalty to run out....range if ya can....if clerics run low everyone jumps out and ranges......again this is where i have seen egos make this a darn sight harder than need be....don't care if he is done to 5-10% if clerics can't heal you ya will die.....range em and let casters get some mana


only failed once leading a group and that was afore mentioned on puzzles.....and that was an ego thing on a players part that he wouldnt even let someone else do the puzzle.....when the wall came he was the first to drop group nothing said......I think this is just basics....not saying folks have to run shroud this way....just saying when your puggin expect no uber and be pleasantly surprised when ya get it....but i believe this quest can be done by anyone with the minimum of right tools

[Aranticus]

Voice chat is mandatory. Clear instructions, follow the leader, stay together. Our groups consist of a core of about 6-8 players and we usually pug out the remaining spots. The only stipulation is that invities follow the instructions. As stated buffs and debuffs, as well as mass heals. DON"T BE STINGY WITH MANA. If you have pots or cakes of mnenoic pass them around. Don't be a hero, in part two. have someone get the agro and draw the baddies back to appropriate points and coordiante the attacks. Take a few minutes at the begining and discuss weapon selections for each part, If you aren't sure ASK!
Keep at it I also failed the first few times, till I understood what was expected, and asked a lot of questions, now I know what to do ahead of time and am ready to say high high when the leader says jump.

i have run many shrouds without voice chat. its is NOT mandatory

[Aspenor]

i have run many shrouds without voice chat. its is NOT mandatory

generally speaking, only the leader should need voice chat.

anybody cluttering the speakers with useless non-quest-related jabbering should be squelched

[Aspenor]

nah, dun even need voice chat at all. have ran a few silent shroud. there is nothing much abt being a leader in shroud, almost all instructions are the same, ie

part 1: bring all mobs to centre, kill all. casters roam, rest hit portals

part 2: bring X, Y, Z to NE. bring A to SE. caster to centre when X drops

part 3: rogue OL, rest do puzzle and run water

part 4: cleric 1 mass heal melee 1, cleric 2 mass heal 2. casters get gnolls, melees on fiend

part 5: need these buffs, ranger 1 kite X away, rest on Y, kill order, Y, Z, A keep X

Yeah, that'd be true if the OP had run it more than 5 times. We're talking to a comparative Shroud newbie, you can't expect somebody like this to be able to function with the above instructions, you might as well just say RUN AMOK!!!!

I know YOU can run it like that, but we're helping a newbie, not talking to somebody that's done the Shroud 10 times.

[Aranticus]

generally speaking, only the leader should need voice chat.

anybody cluttering the speakers with useless non-quest-related jabbering should be squelched

nah, dun even need voice chat at all. have ran a few silent shroud. there is nothing much abt being a leader in shroud, almost all instructions are the same, ie

part 1: bring all mobs to centre, kill all. casters roam, rest hit portals

part 2: bring X, Y, Z to NE. bring A to SE. caster to centre when X drops

part 3: rogue OL, rest do puzzle and run water

part 4: cleric 1 mass heal melee 1, cleric 2 mass heal 2. casters get gnolls, melees on fiend

part 5: need these buffs, ranger 1 kite X away, rest on Y, kill order, Y, Z, A keep X

[doppleganger]

I have participated in 5 Shroud runs and have completed 1. I am now hesitant to join a Shroud group because even though it is fun it is also frustrating when we can't complete.

My character is a 12/3/1 Fighter/Barbarian/Ranger.

Any advice as to my role in a Shroud run and any suggestions on improving chances of completion?

It seems we have failed at the part where the lieutenants must be defeated simultaneously.

Thanks.

Lots of good advice in the replies.

In addition to the equipment mentionned, bring along Fire Protect pots for parts 4 and 5, to be able to renew your fire prot yourself if necessary.

In part 2, yea, a lot of factors can contribute to a wipe:

-sub par healer
-sub par DPS
-sub par leadership
-sub par obediance to orders from some players

mix that up with the devil that has seen everyone and teleports all over the place and you have a perfect recipe for a disaster.

When this happens, if you think the group was really bad, dont join up again with them, try again later with a fresh batch of people. You will eventually stumble upon a group that has good healing, DPS and leadership, it will be a breeze, and you will stop fearing the Shroud.