My thoughts on 1 Arcane slot shroud groups.

[soupertc]

Dec 12th 2012 is gonna be a great day if it's true. Cause it will be the last time a Shroud Thread ever gets posted. Until then.....I feel #4321 coming around the bend.

[Cyr]

Shroud is easy. It's been easy a very long time. You don't need X of Y class for shroud and have not for a long time.

The only reason people don't put up more arcane slots for shroud is the same reason they don't put up more rogue slots. It's all about the really bad/lazy players they have seen of those classes and one shot kills in part 4 due to bad builds and not moving.

[jwdaniels]

ps. get a puzzle sover! *facepalm*

Or just learn to solve the puzzles faster than they can be entered into a solver.

[Tobril]

There's no way a group of all wizards could ever complete the shroud...

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=285329

[Dartwick]

1 arcane shrouds(Im referring to PUGS) are kind of selfish IMO.

On the other hand 3 arcanes is being kind of generous and 4 is just silly.

[Draccus]

There's no way a group of all wizards could ever complete the shroud...

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=285329

Nope. Never.

On Ghallanda, we have a strict minimum of 4 arcanes, 5 healers, 2 bards and one token rogue for our shrouds. I think this run took us about 25 minutes due to our gimpy rogue

[Carpone]

Wasting time trying to fill so that you get an uber level 17 unequipped adventurer-build fighter over a (potentially geared out max level sorc or wiz) is just ridiculous.

I agree with your point.

[Carpone]

Part 4 and 5, I fatigue and exhaust then proceed to mana dump,

You're better off casting Cloudkill for 20% concealment and skipping fatigue/exhaust.

[LordRavnos]

My main, if I can be assumed to have one, is a wizard. I prefer 2 arcane runs as back up, and to be lazy in part one >.> <.<. By lazy one of us takes left, one takes right bam boom done. But on to the point, I have seen many sucky arcanes lately, other day in shroud told the other arcane to take the crystal, long story short took us 3 tries due to lack of attention on there half, I had to go do it myself. Part 4 and 5, I fatigue and exhaust then proceed to mana dump, because I want to get this done with, and because sometimes I embarrass a few melees who are not equipped right after bragging for 10 minutes hehe.

[Vellrad]

Before a while I was posting a lot of "1st 11 who hits lfm" but a lot of people complained that "we gunna fail this!!!1!oneone!", and then /ragequit group.
The best shroud I was in was about 5 arcanes, bard, 3 healers and 3 DPS. Perferct 1 rounder, 0 death, at #5 fiend died so fast, that we though devs nerfed it .

[ballsz]

Lately, the only time I've seen shrouds fail is when the leader tries to form the perfect group. Just get yourself two clerics (second cleric optional, but mostly as part 4 lag insurance) and 10 other people. If you have to rely on some magic combo of classes and mass heal spams that someone told you will always work, you don't know the raid well enough to lead it. Put the solver away, click on a shroud lfm and pay close attention until you understand what's going on and why things work the way they work.

Agreed, I've done PUG shrouds with no casters, with too many casters, with no rogues, one healer, short manned, etc... etc... etc...

Not to mention the countless variations for channel/guild shroud runs.

Next I'm going to do an all Muckbane Shroud this weekend... and I'm going to PUG out most of it just because it'll be fun.

[sweez]

...wait what? Main tank in Shroud?

Edit: side-question, I've been greater commanded while having a protection vs. evil item equipped several times recently, is the spell effect different or?

[PopeJual]

But, more important, why are you wasting time in Shroud on a L20 sorcerer? Don't you have other things you could be doing? And, don't ever complete the Shroud runs you do. That way you are never on timer. If you are just farming ingredients then the more you are able to run the quest the more times you'll find a group to get in.

I like having nice Greensteel weapons and items for my characters. I run all three of my capped characters through the Shroud every 3 days or so. No, there aren't better things that I could be doing since I want those larges to make stuff for my melee characters.

And the don't-complete advice is just terrible for someone who is already having trouble getting into Shroud parties. If you're having a hard time getting into parties in the first place, then why would you want 1/2 a large when you could get 1.5 larges instead?

[Thrudh]

And the don't-complete advice is just terrible for someone who is already having trouble getting into Shroud parties. If you're having a hard time getting into parties in the first place, then why would you want 1/2 a large when you could get 1.5 larges instead?

Yes, and if you are looking for medium ingrediants, you can trade the guarenteed large (unless you get a bone) in Part 5 for multiple mediums.

[moops]

Everyone seems to judge DPS by one round in part 4--I always seem to bring a ton of casters, 99% of time have one rounders, and even have had a one rounder with 6 casters.

But lets not forget that a group can save time in other places.

1- I put up and LFM and take any class so it usually fills in 2 mins--not the 20 mins I've sat in other shroud LFMS

2-Negative Energy, and Force does wonders on the portals if people are geared out for it, esp with the Palemaster and Archmage now this is more viable, but I think a Sorc in my Guild did a 1075? hit on a portal with a Force Spell. He might have even said More

3-Casters can kill large groups of trash in part 2 with the push of a button. Many of the better players can solo a boss if something goes wrong and it needs to be done.

4-There is no doubt in my mind that the Burst DPS from even a moderately equipped caster can keep up with Melee DPS. Now that there are so many clickies in game, a well geared caster will out DPS many melees.

[AMDarkwolf]

Just a lot of wah.


Open party. Put up lfm. ONE spot is saved for a healer. Thats it. Anyone else can join, Doesn't matter cuz its FRAKING SHROUD Man, not like its elite tod or anything.

Suck it up, make your own group, ppl WILL join. they always do.

[NaturalHazard]

ive been through shroud with 3 or even 4 arcane casters in the group with no problem, killed harry in part 4 in one round, portals in part 1 went down very fast, they took down the bosses in part 2 very fast, i wonder why so many people get so worked up about shroud normal when with a charactor range of 17-20? I mean its shroud normal with most of the charactos capped why do some people treat it like we are putting a team together for the world championship or the olympics? Then I come on the forums and I hear the horror stories of people even failing part 1 because of gimpness and I guess I can understand how some people become paranoid over a raid that normally is quite routine. Dont most people do this raid in their sleep?

[Crann]

Kind of weird timing, but ended up in a Shroud run yesterday...with no arcane.

Filled immediately, finished in less than 20 min. Leader kept the group moving, looting at end and min buffs.

There were alot of players from the same guild, who were well equiped, no doubt this was not the average pug.

[Sarisa]

Edit: side-question, I've been greater commanded while having a protection vs. evil item equipped several times recently, is the spell effect different or?

Protection from Evil items do not stop Greater Command.
Protection/Circle spells do stop Greater Command.

I'm not sure if it's intended or not, but that's how it currently works.

[Carpone]

Having run 42 elite Shrouds on my arcane, I can say without prejudice there's no need for more than one arcane in Shroud.

If you have problems finding a <insert name> raid, you always have the option to start your own.

I obviously hit a nerve with the amount of neg rep I've received for this comment in just the past day. Let me further explain why arcanes don't stack well in Shroud:

Part 1: Trash mobs can be easily soloable by a single arcane with Wail of the Banshee and Finger of Death (even on elite). Multiple Ice Storms don't stack on the portals.

Part 2: Fire elemental is easily soloable by an arcane, even on elite. The earth elemental is easily soloable by an arcane on normal/hard. On elite it's possible to solo, but it's more time efficient to have a melee tag team with the arcane to kill it.

Part 3: N/A.

Part 4: Devil Trash - Only one arcane is needed for disco ball or mass hold monster. Harry - Only one arcane is needed to cast Cloudkill for 20% concealment. Gnolls - One one arcane is needed to kill the 8 channelers.

Part 5: Again, just one arcane is needed for Cloudkill. Chain casting Polar Ray and keeping up Ice Storm, arcanes run out of mana before Harry is dead. It's not optimal to bring multiple of the same class that are going to run out of gas before the fight is over.

You can give me neg rep for my comments, but it's misdirected. I'm simply illustrating the fact that Turbine has failed to create content where arcanes stack well. Please direct your hate and disdain at them, not me. I'm just an observer like the rest of you.

And yes, you can complete Shroud with any composition of competent players (I've completed elite Shroud with 7 arcanes before, but they were all guildies). When it comes to pugs though, quality of player is often a crapshoot. So it's not surprising to have leaders limit classes with known stacking issues, like arcanes. If you find your class filtered out of Shroud LFMs, there's little you can do but start your own Shroud or find a static group of people to play with.