Definative Suggestions to Make the Abbot Raid Fun Thread

[sirgog]

Please ONLY post here if you have tried the Abbot raid for long enough to reach the first teleport. If you have not done so, please give it a try (at least to that point) before asking for the raid to be deleted or other such things.


This thread is intended for us to pass on to the Devs ideas to fix the mess that is the Abbot raid.

In my opinion, the actual fight with the Abbot (not considering the three trials) is the most fun battle in the game - you can't just sit back and autoattack like you can against the Pit Fiend. You need to use strategy, know when to fight, when to disengage and heal/rebuff, and the random undead minions keep things interesting. Compare this to the Pit Fiend, which is just generally a case of autoattack, and complain about the cleric if you get killed (if you are a melee), or cast acid fog and debuffs then try to steal the kill (if a caster), or sit back and use heal scrolls (10 on a good group, 310 on a bad one) if a cleric. The Abbot fight is much more interactive and interesting.

This raid however is currently being spoiled by the three mandatory trials which are all about twitch gaming, random instant death and having a 0-latency connection. Even those players skilled enough to beat these trials semi-consistently (of which I am not one) don't particularly find them fun. These trials make it practically impossible to form a group to play this otherwise very fun raid.

Currently, killing the Abbot requires successful completion of all three trials. It also requires that the Ice Wands do not bug at a critical time (just before or during the Inferno), and it requires that the Abbot does not cast Encasement at the party while they are standing on an ice platform. Completing the three trials requires modest skill in the Ice Wands trial (that one is fine), a combination of twitch skills, near-zero latency, a lack of bugs and significant luck in the Asteroids trial (the luck is required to prevent large numbers of asteroids spawning simultaneously which can create impossible situations), and completing the Phasing Chasm trial requires either significant luck or zero-latency voice chat (in short, Ventrillo, or two players playing in the same room). If the three trials have not been completed, the Abbot does not die when brought to zero HP.

My suggestions next post.