VOD drama

[fartlord]

from what i see on these forums VOD seems to be a hotbed for drama.

lately i just skip past it when i see it in LFM due to the fact i want to stay in a good mood.

is it worth the drama/headache?

[PopeDX]

Not for someone of your obvious eruditeness.

[Lleren]

from what i see on these forums VOD seems to be a hotbed for drama.

lately i just skip past it when i see it in LFM due to the fact i want to stay in a good mood.

is it worth the drama/headache?

Some folks really want thier named gear, and get a little bit overexcited when they see it drop under someone elses name.

Somedays even the decent appearing pugs nearly fail.

Someone always falls on the way there.

If you can deal with those things and there is any loot you want from VoD, it can be worth it.
If you are melee there is loot you likely want from VoD, unless you already have the goggles. I've been in runs recently where everybody was there for those silly goggles, even the arcane and divine casters.

[Srozbun]

from what i see on these forums VOD seems to be a hotbed for drama.

lately i just skip past it when i see it in LFM due to the fact i want to stay in a good mood.

is it worth the drama/headache?

Wherever there is bound loot there will be drama.

Personally I don't find VoD to be too bad in the drama department. If you need gear from the raid, then by all means join the LFMs.

[sirgog]

VoD has one more source of drama - the Glacial Bracers.

These are an item that has a very powerful ability that helps melees (a Fireshield Cold proc), plus two caster stats that help both arcane and divine casters, plus a weak set bonus that helps only arcanes.

Smart Barbarian players want this item (as it's the only way to get Fire Shield Cold while in a rage). Other melees want it too, particularly if they don't have 31 or better UMD. Bad or greedy arcane casters insist that, because it has an arcane-only set bonus, it must be theirs (even though the set bonus is totally outclassed by Amrath items).

In short - instant drama, just add 0.75% drop chance (Normal, 2%/4.5% on hard/elite).

[AyumiAmakusa]

This

Some folks really want thier named gear, and get a little bit overexcited when they see it drop under someone elses name.

plus This

VoD has one more source of drama - the Glacial Bracers.

equals Drama

[MeliCat]

Meh.

Go for it with your eyes wide open, prepared to listen and watch, let people know you're new and with a sense of humour.

There's some great loot there and the run just to the raid is an adrenaline rush as you try to keep up, not get lost, not fall off the black on black marked pathways and try to play smart so you don't die to mobs (i tend to step back a bit to keep out of reach of mobs when meleeing... but you can step right off the edge... and then you have to find the steps to get back up again! lol. do that a few times and you'll soon learn where the steps are!).

It's fun although I find it a bit scary.

VOD itself is kind of interesting as it's just one big room and various things happen at various times.

Loot is good too - IF it drops. I tend not to fuss about loot. If I get something, I get something - I will appreciate it that much more when I finally get it if I don't get it straight away. And there's always the promise of geting a selection of good loot on each 20th raid (not that I've done any where NEAR 20 raids on any of my characters yet for VOD).

And other people's loot is other people's loot. I have absolutely no comment on whatever else may happen for others.

I was quite nervous taking my casters down there initially (was my spell pen enough??? web, cloudkill, exhaust loaded - check) and I'm always slightly freaked at taking my cleric into raids not Shroud (200 heal scrolls - check, >10 majors - check (although I'll generally not go through more than 1 these days - depending on my fellow divines and maybe no more than 50 scrolls?)). But I'll take any lowbie melee they'll let me join with

depending on the group it can be a lot of concentrated fun. and if it's not fun, shrug it off and move on.

[k0ukla]

It's not even that all VoD raids are only ever drama filled.. they're just the ones which get posted in the forums cuz well... where would khyber be without some drama

[DrenglisEU]

There will always be drama, not just on VoD

[Wraith_Sarevok]

It's a tough quest for first-timers who have never watched it before.

I had no idea what was going on the first time and it took about 2-3 more runs for me to feel comfortable getting there and doing the quest itself. Whereas something like the Shroud I memorized in a single play and breezed through on consecutive runs.

All of the GOOD items also have low drop rates while things like the Bard's Cloak and Enlightened Vestments seem to pop up alot, even on Normal. I just happened to loot my Tharne's Goggles about 3 days ago on my 20th Normal run from the CHEST and not as an end-reward. The Orthons hit hard, the boss is tough, and the walkup can be a pain for those who don't deal enough DPS to offset the high hp of the shock troops. The popular demand for tough Warforged tanks, bards, and the need for either well-geared healers or Reconstruct casters also makes grouping difficult. It's a precision-timed quest, but not as much so as many other high-leveled ones.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's a HARD quest, but it certainly isn't a walk through the park for those who haven't experienced it at least a couple of times. Just make sure to get players who know the quest, a leader with a solid plan, and do the best to weed out any jerks who like to steal raid loot they don't use.

[sirgog]

It's a tough quest for first-timers who have never watched it before.

I had no idea what was going on the first time and it took about 2-3 more runs for me to feel comfortable getting there and doing the quest itself. Whereas something like the Shroud I memorized in a single play and breezed through on consecutive runs.

All of the GOOD items also have low drop rates while things like the Bard's Cloak and Enlightened Vestments seem to pop up alot, even on Normal. I just happened to loot my Tharne's Goggles about 3 days ago on my 20th Normal run from the CHEST and not as an end-reward. The Orthons hit hard, the boss is tough, and the walkup can be a pain for those who don't deal enough DPS to offset the high hp of the shock troops. The popular demand for tough Warforged tanks, bards, and the need for either well-geared healers or Reconstruct casters also makes grouping difficult. It's a precision-timed quest, but not as much so as many other high-leveled ones.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's a HARD quest, but it certainly isn't a walk through the park for those who haven't experienced it at least a couple of times. Just make sure to get players who know the quest, a leader with a solid plan, and do the best to weed out any jerks who like to steal raid loot they don't use.

Tharne's Goggles has exactly the same drop rate as the Bard's Cloak or the Vestaments.

You just notice the latter as they are *always* put up for roll whereas most people see the Goggles, praise their lucky stars, and quickly loot them.

[Wrendd]

Apparently the raids I run are anti-drama. When I got my Tharne's goggles (around my 6th run or so) no one even rolled against me (WF fighter). I got the Bracers of the Glacier because no one else in the party did. All of the clerics and casters already had them, the other melees either had them or did not want them. I only took them because I was the only one that had even the slightest interest in using them.

The only drama I have seen in a raid was when a person rolled for and won 3 ToD rings in a single raid. He would have won 4 rings but I rolled against him. To be honest, I will only use the ring that I got for a TR (Assassin set) but the person rolling on it already got 3 (Encrusted, Archmagi and one other) for his divine caster.

ps. There was no one in the raid that wanted the assassin ring either, the divine was not taking it from somone that wanted/needed it, I just thought 3 in one run was enough for anyone

[k0ukla]

Tharne's Goggles has exactly the same drop rate as the Bard's Cloak or the Vestaments.

You just notice the latter as they are *always* put up for roll whereas most people see the Goggles, praise their lucky stars, and quickly loot them.

LOL ofcourse ud come in with a stat comment LOL

[Dee_Snider]

VoD ranks up there with the best of them.

Oops, I forgot my featherfall (death).

Look out for that meteor storm (death).

Someone falls and another goes down to help (death).

Let's go hit the lever (death).

Orthons + Devils + Pit fiend all converging on you at the same time - (death death death).

Elite Bats - (if you survived the above - even more death).

Finally, after multiple rezzes, everyone is trying to find the chests amidst the spikes, the cloudkill, the blade barriers (and sometimes the late spawning bats/devils).

Not surprisingly, everyone's a little worn by that point.

Speaking of the drop rate, I've pulled every piece of named loot out of there in about 40 runs on two toons.

Pulled the goggles and bracers twice and saw 4 pairs of goggles drop in one chest on an elite run (no kidding).

[MeliCat]

VoD ranks up there with the best of them.

Oops, I forgot my featherfall (death).

Look out for that meteor storm (death).

Someone falls and another goes down to help (death).

Let's go hit the lever (death).

Orthons + Devils + Pit fiend all converging on you at the same time - (death death death).

Elite Bats - (if you survived the above - even more death).

Finally, after multiple rezzes, everyone is trying to find the chests amidst the spikes, the cloudkill, the blade barriers (and sometimes the late spawning bats/devils).

Not surprisingly, everyone's a little worn by that point.

Speaking of the drop rate, I've pulled every piece of named loot out of there in about 40 runs on two toons.

Pulled the goggles and bracers twice and saw 4 pairs of goggles drop in one chest on an elite run (no kidding).

that's a lot of death.

the last hard VOD run i did i think i was the only person who died (on my gimpy bard Mellinister) - while trying to draw attention to the trash that had got stuck on the main tank while the rest of the party were dealing with trash on the other side of the room...

"Guys!!! Guys!!! there's trash on the main tank!!!"

<death>

sigh.

funny raid but...

[sephiroth1084]

Tharne's Goggles has exactly the same drop rate as the Bard's Cloak or the Vestaments.

You just notice the latter as they are *always* put up for roll whereas most people see the Goggles, praise their lucky stars, and quickly loot them.

I don't know about that. My experience has been that the goggles only rarely drop, and most rogues, or rogue-type characters, hunting for them go to 20 runs before seeing them, some more than that, whereas the vestments and cloak especially drop like mad. I've never seen more than one set of goggles drop, whereas I've had many, many runs with 2, 3 or even 4 sets of either of these two other items drop.

When 3 Bard Cloaks drop, the run has basically been a waste.

[Lo_Pan]

VoD has one more source of drama - the Glacial Bracers.

These are an item that has a very powerful ability that helps melees (a Fireshield Cold proc), plus two caster stats that help both arcane and divine casters, plus a weak set bonus that helps only arcanes.

Smart Barbarian players want this item (as it's the only way to get Fire Shield Cold while in a rage). Other melees want it too, particularly if they don't have 31 or better UMD. Bad or greedy arcane casters insist that, because it has an arcane-only set bonus, it must be theirs (even though the set bonus is totally outclassed by Amrath items).

In short - instant drama, just add 0.75% drop chance (Normal, 2%/4.5% on hard/elite).

I find your assessments of the items, and the fact that your calling arcanes 'bad or silly' for insisting that the bracers are an arcane-only set offensive. Besides, the fire shield 'clicky' takes up a far more important slot for most, if not all, barbarians.

In short, I find your opinions misguided.....

But that's only my opinion.

Strictly speaking, before you go any further on 'your being a troll'-type thoughts, let me quote my sig and explain it for you in English. De Gustapus Non Disputandem est. Now, in English that translates to about taste, there is no disputing. When you look at what I've said, and how I've said it, there is no trolling here.....I'm merely pointing out that what you've posted is simply an opinion, and one that I disagree with strongly. Your choice to word the reply may have been thought out succinctly, or it may have been plainly spoken in haste, but be that as it may, I still find it uneducated, misinformed and plain erroneous.

[Ashurr]

Not for someone of your obvious eruditeness.

pssst, it's "Erudition"

[Renvar]

Additional issues with VoD:

1) It is one of only two raids (Hound) that has no flagging mechanism. Thus, it can be immediately run by players as soon as they are VIP or have purchased the Vale pack. Many newer players can run it quickly. Without much exposure to a previous raid besides tempest spine. (another drama fest)

2) VOD is one of few raids that you can't sleepwalk through. 7-8 members of the party can take a nap in Hound, Reaver, or DQ and you will still get completion. Shroud, VoD, Abbott, and ToD, however require more coordination and participation.

Add these issues for newer players to all the experienced players grinding key loot and you have very nice drama potential.

[Fomori]

I find your assessments of the items, and the fact that your calling arcanes 'bad or silly' for insisting that the bracers are an arcane-only set offensive. Besides, the fire shield 'clicky' takes up a far more important slot for most, if not all, barbarians.

I dont see that at all in his post. I took that line to mean 'players that feel that they and only they should get the item if it drops for a non-arcane simply because the set bonus is on the item'.