Do people run Ascension Chamber on your server?

[munificence]

On Cannith, it is very rare to see Black Abbot raids forming in the LFM panel. Now, I realize that guilds may do their own runs of this raid, but I find it odd that literally no one even tries this raid, and anyone trying to form a group will have a tough time finding players to do it. Every other raid, including the most difficult Epic raids seems to run in LFM, but the Ascension Chamber is conspicuously absent.

I realize there are several reasons for this.

1) It's not an easy raid to PUG. If people don't know the puzzles, having one or two people mess up can force a restart of the raid. Usually new players to the raid can do fine at Asteroids, and there are cheap tactics to get around the ice wands, but Goggles seems to require too much teamwork for your average DDO PUG group.

2) Flagging. The flagging for this quest is absurd, moreso than any other raid. Add to that the fact that you can't carry the sigil key over to your next life, and most players procrastinate on flagging until their "final life." Of course, this means fewer people are flagged for this raid than any other.

3) Black Abbot revamp. Why they decided to beef up the Abbot to 150k hps on normal is beyond me. It's not like people were just slaughtering this raid left and right given my two previous observations. Now, there's a risk that you get in a group, get past the puzzles, and still run out of SP and wipe before you can take this guy down. Add to that some tricky mechanics in the final fight, and this is actually the hardest non-epic raid in the game.

I really think this raid needs some love. To encourage more people to complete this content, the sigil farming needs to be reworked, or players should be able to carry completed frames over to their next life. The Abbot revamp needs to be scaled back on normal.

Beyond that, I enjoy the fact that there is a raid that challenges people to use teamwork and knowledge instead of just tanking/spanking, but the ridiculous flagging system for this quest, and the way it punishes new players make it inaccessible to a large portion of the playerbase.

[FrozenNova]

Khyber has its fair share of abbots.

[KingOfCheese]

My guild (on Thelanis) runs this usually many times per week. 50-70% of the time we fill in guild. Of the remainder, about 1/2 are shortmanned and 1/2 are pugged for the remaining spots (usually 1-4 spots). The lfms tend to fill very, very quickly--so they aren't up long.

[munificence]

Khyber has its fair share of abbots.

I see one LFM up every 3 days or so, and it usually doesn't fill on Cannith. If it does fill, it would be interesting to know what the success rate is.

[Kmnh]

I run abbot every 3 days and I'm on cannith. There is a fairly famous "Abbot" channel that you can join, too.

Maybe it's a time-zone thing?

[bendover]

Correctly, yes. Incorrectly, way too often.

[munificence]

I run abbot every 3 days and I'm on cannith. There is a fairly famous "Abbot" channel that you can join, too.

Maybe it's a time-zone thing?

I play in EST for the most part. Like I said, I've found it very rare to see one forming. At any given time, there's always a shroud up, ADQ runs regularly, ToD goes off about once an hour, VoD/HoX seems to always be forming, but there's literally never an AC raid up, from 8pm-12am or so EST on Cannith.

[Kmnh]

Well I usually run abbot a bit before between 8am-12pm - when the europeans and aussies are online, and some of the crazier americans. I usually see multiple runs firing up at that time.

Ask the Holw or hella pro guys to see if they can find a spot for you, I think they run it at a friendlier time.

[somenewnoob]

I'm on Cannith too and only see it every once in awhile. Other than Titan it's the raid I see the least lfm's for.

But I still need the fracking sigil from inferno so it doesn't bother me yet!

[munificence]

Well I usually run abbot a bit before between 8am-12pm - when the europeans and aussies are online, and some of the crazier americans. I usually see multiple runs firing up at that time.

Ask the Holw or hella pro guys to see if they can find a spot for you, I think they run it at a friendlier time.

I guess my other option is quitting my job so I can run it at those absurd times...

EDIT: It's interesting that other servers seem to have a lot of groups doing this, and that Cannith is an outlier. Maybe Cannith's American players are all Froobs, or just don't like raiding?

[jandhaer]

On Cannith, it is very rare to see Black Abbot raids forming in the LFM panel.

2) Flagging. The flagging for this quest is absurd, moreso than any other raid. Add to that the fact that you can't carry the sigil key over to your next life, and most players procrastinate on flagging until their "final life." Of course, this means fewer people are flagged for this raid than any other.

3) Black Abbot revamp. Why they decided to beef up the Abbot to 150k hps on normal is beyond me. It's not like people were just slaughtering this raid left and right given my two previous observations. Now, there's a risk that you get in a group, get past the puzzles, and still run out of SP and wipe before you can take this guy down. Add to that some tricky mechanics in the final fight, and this is actually the hardest non-epic raid in the game.

1) Well I play on cannith and I see this raid all the time. Once you get in the loop you do see alot of the same names running it but most times many different guilds are included in each run, usually at least half of any given run is filled by pugs (if not more).

2) When I first started I heard that nobody bothered flagging for Abbot cause there was this sigil that was nearly impossible to fill and even really good players almost never won so there was no point in trying..... -.- /sigh
If you farm the flagging quests like we do (essential for TR's) then it seems impossible to NOT get all the pieces, it is easiest if you can keep a group together for multiple runs of each quest so as people keep pulling sigil pieces they share with others that haven't gotten them yet. When your doing fast runs and are getting large amounts of XP then people tend to want to stick around (zerg FTW)

3) Raids SHOULD be a challenge on any setting (pick the one appropriate for your group) IMHO thats why you have 12 people all pitching in to try and get the job done.

[munificence]

1) Well I play on cannith and I see this raid all the time. Once you get in the loop you do see alot of the same names running it but most times many different guilds are included in each run, usually at least half of any given run is filled by pugs (if not more).

Aussie/European timezone, or you just play during the day? It doesn't run during US evenings.

[edragoon148]

Our guild on Cannith runs it every Monday and Friday (and of course plenty on the in between days if there's time), and we usually have a couple spots available due to the high volume of toons TRing. Many of the other guilds run Abbot regularly on Cannith, it's just a matter catching them since there are pretty much two types of Abbot lfms:

1. The ones filled with people who really know what their doing, regulars on the server know this and the group fills rapidly

2. The "Need Guide" lfm which often sits with 1-3 players for an hour and then disappears

Abbot can be a relatively difficult and unforgiving raid, and given the new increase in Abbot's HP PUG Abbot completions are rare. My recommendation would be to jump on with one of the experienced guilds on the server (I would name names, but in the past people have gotten angry for name-dropping their guild in even a good light -_-).

Add to that the fact that you can't carry the sigil key over to your next life, and most players procrastinate on flagging until their "final life." Of course, this means fewer people are flagged for this raid than any other.

I figured I would comment on this as well . . . yes your sigil, and all pieces in it carry over between lives. My main has 99 of every sigil piece (pretty much due to a now fixed bug that I won't speak of :-P) and they carry over between every life.

[Backley]

On Orien:
I used to host Abbot twice a week, teaching any newcomers the 2-round method.
After the Abbot revamp, tried a couple times and gave up. I haven't hosted an Abbot since.

In the past month I've seen/heard of exactly 2 Abbot runs on Orien. I hear Over Raided (level 100 tiny guild) still runs it, but haven't seen their runs on LFM ever, if they invite non-guildies at all.

[munificence]

On Orien:
I used to host Abbot twice a week, teaching any newcomers the 2-round method.
After the Abbot revamp, tried a couple times and gave up. I haven't hosted an Abbot since.

In the past month I've seen/heard of exactly 2 Abbot runs on Orien. I hear Over Raided (level 100 tiny guild) still runs it, but haven't seen their runs on LFM ever, if they invite non-guildies at all.

This is too bad.

I fear all the old raids will go this way with the increase in HP and Fort they are giving them in u11...

[munificence]

I figured I would comment on this as well . . . yes your sigil, and all pieces in it carry over between lives. My main has 99 of every sigil piece (pretty much due to a now fixed bug that I won't speak of :-P) and they carry over between every life.

But when you turn it in, the sigil is emptied as part of the pre-quest. Thus, you have to refill it at least once each life. the only way to "carry over" the sigil is to fill it, turn it in, then fill it again.

[Kinerd]

Argonnessen, Eastern US evenings, see LFMs very infrequently, our guild never does it.

If you think about it, it's pretty bizarre. The flagging quests are pretty fun and the capping quest is never run... in a Necro pack.

[edragoon148]

But when you turn it in, the sigil is emptied as part of the pre-quest. Thus, you have to refill it at least once each life. the only way to "carry over" the sigil is to fill it, turn it in, then fill it again.

Sigil Pieces stack within the frame. Thus if I have: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (those being the amount of each sigil piece in it's given location, after turn-in for flag I will then have 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.

So, on my toon right now, his sigil reads 98 98 98 98 98 98 98 98. When I turn in this life I will have 97 97 97 97 97 97 97 97. ^.^

Only 1 of each sigil is removed from each stack upon turn in.

[munificence]

Argonnessen, Eastern US evenings, see LFMs very infrequently, our guild never does it.

If you think about it, it's pretty bizarre. The flagging quests are pretty fun and the capping quest is never run... in a Necro pack.

Not to mention there is a lot of good loot to be had.

[somenewnoob]

Argonnessen, Eastern US evenings, see LFMs very infrequently, our guild never does it.

If you think about it, it's pretty bizarre. The flagging quests are pretty fun and the capping quest is never run... in a Necro pack.

lol, that is a little off for a necro pack!

The quests themselves I like........I dislike having to run them over and over and over to get the sigils that don't always drop!