Black Abbot Raid 04/27/2008

[BuzzSaw]

Hey Hey All...

Well, time has come for our Guild to finally see what is what with the Black Abbot raid. I know, I know, The Official verdict on this raid is, at best, horribly flawed, and, at worst, totally Broken. But One day it's gonna get fixed and we figured better to start getting used to it now rather than later.

So I was wondering if anyone who had successfully run the raid would like to be our guide for our first run of the raid. I am basically familiar with the mechanics of the raid, but none of us have ever done it.

If you would like to be our guide, you will find our people capable and able to listen and take direction.

We plan on Running the raid at around 20:00 EST on Sunday, April 27, 2008.

So if someone is feeling frisky, we would love to have you join us.

Thanks for your Time
Buzz

[Nevthial]

Please post how it goes, I'm obsessed with this raid now....

BTW, love the comics...keep 'em coming

[between6and25chars]

Better tell Mahmood hes been foaming at the mouth about the favor for that LOL

[Qzipoun]

I'm always up for the raid just for the sake of running something that is not constantly grinded. If I see your LFM up or something I'll join and help out, but no promises.

I haven't beaten the raid but I blame that on the other 11 people in the party (well, more like the lack of 11 other people in the party )

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

Beat the abbot in 4 easy steps:

1. Find 12 people willing to suffer pain and torment for a few weeks. Ensure nobody is going to quit by threats or pleading
2. Run the first part of the raid as two separate six man groups until everyone is comfortable doing all the puzzles. Be sure to recall out after the first puzzle since otherwise it's just a waste of resources. You'll find that you'll quickly master the ice room puzzle, the goggle puzzle just requires some coordination, and the meteor puzzle either requires some cheese (recently made harder) or just plain luck. You will want to have a reasonable degree of confidence that everyone can do the puzzles first time.
4. Once everyone is happy doing puzzles, form your raid group and do the Abbot.

Going in and trying a 12 man raid is just a recipe for quick disaster and frustration. At least with the six man groups you're not wasting resources, just dying a bit - and you genuinely feel like you're making progress too.

Regards,

Garth

p.s. Hey - what's step 3?

[Kargon]

p.s. Hey - what's step 3?

Eat Tasty Ham of course

[Healemup]

So what was the verdict?

[smatt]

Beat the abbot in 4 easy steps:

1. Find 12 people willing to suffer pain and torment for a few weeks. Ensure nobody is going to quit by threats or pleading
2. Run the first part of the raid as two separate six man groups until everyone is comfortable doing all the puzzles. Be sure to recall out after the first puzzle since otherwise it's just a waste of resources. You'll find that you'll quickly master the ice room puzzle, the goggle puzzle just requires some coordination, and the meteor puzzle either requires some cheese (recently made harder) or just plain luck. You will want to have a reasonable degree of confidence that everyone can do the puzzles first time.
4. Once everyone is happy doing puzzles, form your raid group and do the Abbot.

Going in and trying a 12 man raid is just a recipe for quick disaster and frustration. At least with the six man groups you're not wasting resources, just dying a bit - and you genuinely feel like you're making progress too.

Regards,

Garth

p.s. Hey - what's step 3?

Hmm, using summoned mobs to block is cheese? Seems like a very legit way to use such creatures really. What else should they be used for? OK, using ANYTHING to tweak game AI is cheese for sure. But using buddies to block, attack, debuff, draw agro (not bug) is what summoned monsters are for.... Isn't it?

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

Hmm, using summoned mobs to block is cheese? Seems like a very legit way to use such creatures really. What else should they be used for? OK, using ANYTHING to tweak game AI is cheese for sure. But using buddies to block, attack, debuff, draw agro (not bug) is what summoned monsters are for.... Isn't it?

Since they changed the timer on summon undead scrolls it's quite hard to use the cheezy technique anyway - 4 ghouls just isn't enough. You ideally need two casters/umd people to be summoned there at the same time and then 8 is probably enough. However because they break at different times and then start attacking each other, it's very useful to have a heightened break enchantment to ensure they all break and can be stoned at the same time.

Garth

[Pellegro]

Whatever happened to hanging off the edge?

Does that not work anymore?

[samagee]

Since they changed the timer on summon undead scrolls it's quite hard to use the cheezy technique anyway - 4 ghouls just isn't enough. You ideally need two casters/umd people to be summoned there at the same time and then 8 is probably enough. However because they break at different times and then start attacking each other, it's very useful to have a heightened break enchantment to ensure they all break and can be stoned at the same time.

Garth

What about crowd control? Does that help at all? I have been interested in running this raid, just have not gotten around to getting ready for it.

[Garth_of_Sarlona]

Whatever happened to hanging off the edge?

Does that not work anymore?

I'm told it doesn't work any more, but I haven't actually tried it myself

What about crowd control? Does that help at all? I have been interested in running this raid, just have not gotten around to getting ready for it.

The first thing you will want to get mastered is all the puzzles, which don't require anything except a combination of luck, experience and an element of skill. You might want Jump for the ice puzzle, and haste/jump for the goggles (depending on how you're doing it). Once you're pretty sure that you can do all three puzzles then you will want to start thinking about how to survive on the main platform while the six people who are teleported are doing them.

The best spells on the platform are probably firewall and command undead since you will be assaulted by several waves of undead (wheep and quell) until all six people who have been teleported are back on the platform (either dead or alive). Then there's a few more waves of undead before the Abbot teleports down, you get to beat him down a bit more, and you will get teleported again (assuming you survive inferno and encasement).

Garth

[sirgog]

I'm told it doesn't work any more, but I haven't actually tried it myself



The first thing you will want to get mastered is all the puzzles, which don't require anything except a combination of luck, experience and an element of skill. You might want Jump for the ice puzzle, and haste/jump for the goggles (depending on how you're doing it). Once you're pretty sure that you can do all three puzzles then you will want to start thinking about how to survive on the main platform while the six people who are teleported are doing them.

The best spells on the platform are probably firewall and command undead since you will be assaulted by several waves of undead (wheep and quell) until all six people who have been teleported are back on the platform (either dead or alive). Then there's a few more waves of undead before the Abbot teleports down, you get to beat him down a bit more, and you will get teleported again (assuming you survive inferno and encasement).

Garth

Definitely the various charm undead effects are best there.

[Twerpp]

Hmm, using summoned mobs to block is cheese? Seems like a very legit way to use such creatures really. What else should they be used for? OK, using ANYTHING to tweak game AI is cheese for sure. But using buddies to block, attack, debuff, draw agro (not bug) is what summoned monsters are for.... Isn't it?

Of course, what the hell else are masses of stupid inferior expendable minions good for? Only a paladin would call that an exploit, thats just **** good rp.