It ain't rocket surgery

[madmaxhunter]

Or brain science for that matter.

Decided to host an "at level" Shroud run Friday night. Levels 16-18 only. Yes, technically at level would be limited to level 17. I was going for full xp.

Started with myself (17 rogue assassin), and three guildies: another 17 rogue assassin, a 17 cleric and a 18 barbarian. Took a while to get the first bites, but did fill within 20 minutes. Typical for Shroud runs. About half of the party were TRs.

I was a bit nervous about the first part, the only caster we had was 16 caster (forget which flavor) and 2 monk. He not only kept us hasted, he prevented the Shavarath from becoming conterminous. I don't believe I've ever been in a Shroud that took the portals down faster. Second part was a one rounder. Part three was a blur, I ported to a 4x4 and by the time I had solved it (30 seconds, tops) there was a player heading my way with water. Part four had a bit of a scare, when Harry was down 50 percent we lost a barbarian and a fighter. With only one caster a couple of the dps aided in taking out the healers. Ended up being a 1.2 rounder.

I asked, jokingly, if anyone was planning on ddooring at the end, of course no one wanted to. We trashed Harry and hit the altar. Smiles on everyone's faces.

Shroud, especially with all the tweaked TRs out there, is FUN "at level." Try it, ya just might like it.

Will host it again tonight then after timer Shroud hard "at level", that will be a hoot!

[mws2970]

What time?

[madmaxhunter]

What time?

Thinking 7 p.m. mtn or -7 GMT, whichever you prefer. LFM will be under my tag name.

[Kages]

Gratz bro, agreed about it being a cake walk. Try to keep it on the DL though, turbine might hear and do something like give each mob triple hp or something. Hehe anyways gl on future runs at level bro.

[mws2970]

If we're done with our raids (Reaver and maybe a HoX) by then, I'll be looking for it. I might be able to scrounge a few guildies too.

[ExK444]

Sure, if half of them were TRs. You need to do an all first-lifer run to really get the nerve-bashing experience.

[rest]

this post used to be hilarious, but the site i linked doesn't allow hotlinking.

/fail on my part.

[Gleep_Wurp]

right?

[Maxallu]

People used to run the shroud all the time when the cap was 16. 20's should have zero issues. What you did was not exceptional, but the standard.

[madmaxhunter]

right?

Was being silly, my favorite two mixed metaphors.

[madmaxhunter]

People used to run the shroud all the time when the cap was 16. 20's should have zero issues. What you did was not exceptional, but the standard.

Was my point, a large portion of the player base now have probably never run a Shroud without 20s in the group. In fact one of the puggers in the group goes back to that era. Had a few stories about those days.

[Maxallu]

Was my point, a large portion of the player base now have probably never run a Shroud without 20s in the group. In fact one of the puggers in the group goes back to that era. Had a few stories about those days.

I got your point and I understand what you were getting at. It shouldn't be so difficult to form groups for Reaver and shroud at level, people don't want to challenge themselves. That makes me a little sad.

[The_Great_Samulas]

People used to run the shroud all the time when the cap was 16. 20's should have zero issues. What you did was not exceptional, but the standard.

Of course, it is not that simple. At level then was with end-gamers. At level now is just everyone, who may not be equivalently geared or skilled. As a matter of fact, you are specifically making a group that excludes most end-gamers, i.e. if you don't have a TR in the level range you won't be going whereas all end-gamers have 20s to go into a raid with. This combined with the fact that most end-gamers are bored to tears with the shroud and there are much more xp efficient things to do in that level range.

- Healers who can't manage healing efficiently without mass heal

- Melee without DR breakers

- Casters with 150 hp, who don't know their spells very well

So while very possible, it is quite different in the types of players you get at levels 15-18.

[Maxallu]

Of course, it is not that simple. At level then was with end-gamers. At level now is just everyone, who may not be equivalently geared or skilled. As a matter of fact, you are specifically making a group that excludes most end-gamers, i.e. if you don't have a TR in the level range you won't be going whereas all end-gamers have 20s to go into a raid with. This combined with the fact that most end-gamers are bored to tears with the shroud and there are much more xp efficient things to do in that level range.

- Healers who can't manage healing efficiently without mass heal

- Melee without DR breakers

- Casters with 150 hp, who don't know their spells very well

So while very possible, it is quite different in the types of players you get at levels 15-18.

It was not my intent to be negatively critical, just an observation.

[Pallol_One-Eye]

People used to run the shroud all the time when the cap was 16. 20's should have zero issues. What you did was not exceptional, but the standard.

Maybe the standard back when Shroud was endgame, yes. Back then, lvl 16s were cap and people understood what needed to be done.

There was no "link beaters" or any of today's other nonsense. We were the ones who firgured out today's tactics a handful of years ago.

We ran Shrouds on elite with nothing but lvl 16s. There were no epics/IQ/Amrath gear sets, yet we still managed to get it done.

IMHO, the capped lvl 16s back then were probably better geared than fully half of the lvl 20s bumping around today. They understood tactics and knew what working as a team meant.

With the advent of DDOEU, this dynamic has totally changed. All it really means is that people need to be better educated is all. If we could do it, so can they.

/oldtimer's rant off.

Stay off my lawn!!!!

[Lost_Leader]

One reason you may have a hard time filling the group isn't that people think that a level 16-19 group can't do it, but rather, people just dont stay at those levels that long. I keep one character in the TR loop at a time, and the other 14 sit at 20.

I imagine there are quite a few folks in a similar situation, who would love to join you for some fun and xp, but simply don't have characters in the level range.

But should I have have one of my characters in the TR loop and see an at level Shroud, I would hop in for awhile in hopes that it would fill.

On the subject of "the good ole days" when everyone was capped at 16 and running shrouds, let us not forget that meteor swarm was a reflex save which was affected by evasion back then and Harry didn't cast Mass Hold, and there were no glancing blows for missed swings. Sure, not a huge difference, but Harry himself was a bit easier back then.