Shroud Part IV

[twigzz]

It seems to me that the "In" players are grouping through channels now and ignoring the Social Panel. If you are not deemed good enough to be told the channel name and password then you are screwed.

All my bio's on all my toons say "Gimp", maybe I should change that so it won't be so obvious.

**** the "In" crowd. Pack it, smoke it, solo it!

[djl]

I'm an elitist with lots of epic gear, and yet I still don't get anywhere

Just a dead server lately, takes ages to fill any lfms.

It's because a whole bunch of neat console games just came out, and that combined with the epic fail that was U12 made many people quit playing (some perm, most will be back).

[Sithias]

It seems to me that the "In" players are grouping through channels now and ignoring the Social Panel. If you are not deemed good enough to be told the channel name and password then you are screwed.

Funny that you make that statement since Elricken aka Morfane, posted his channel info publicly on the forums to try to get things going on Sarlona for everyone that wanted to be involved. I see at max 10 people in there a night. If you aren't in there, it's no ones fault but your own. Stop making it seem like everyone is out to get everyday pugs by only "grouping in channels with the "in" crowd."


BTW, who are you anyway and why do you or your opinion matter?

[slarden]

Thanks to all for sharing your thoughts and ideas. The detailed write-up was excellent.

So far I've only joined groups rather than starting a group (sometimes an invite from another guild but typically just PUG). As many of you stated the learning curve alone will improve results over the next few weeks.

[Hellllboy]

It is for sure that sitting back and going on auto pilot with Mass Heal is no longer an option for a group-Healers have to be more adaptive and reactive to quick changes in how the players are sustaining damage. That means more Cure spams in conjunction w/spot healing.

I tried it (first time since change) a few nights ago-fired off a mass heal right off the bat at the melee scrum-had 3 deaths before my animation could complete due to blades spawning on Harry when he dropped down.

[Stermlin]

Funny that you make that statement since Elricken aka Morfane, posted his channel info publicly on the forums to try to get things going on Sarlona for everyone that wanted to be involved. I see at max 10 people in there a night. If you aren't in there, it's no ones fault but your own. Stop making it seem like everyone is out to get everyday pugs by only "grouping in channels with the "in" crowd."


BTW, who are you anyway and why do you or your opinion matter?

I'm not saying that everyone is anti-PUG, but clearly many people are. Alot of players out there will not group with an unknown player period until that player gets the In.

And my opinion matters to whomever cares enough to read it. if my opinion does not matter to you, then do not read it and my feelings will certainly not be hurt.

[Bolo_Grubb]

Apparently the strategy is back to 2 casters max

Last night I saw one for Barbarians only



And this is why people sit around, because even though my FvS is off timer, I'm not breaking him out into shroud for those kinds of groups. He doesn't need anything from shroud other then larges to trade or craft on other toons.

ya I only run my FVS in shroud anymore when my guild needs one

[Solmage]

Not from what I have been seeing,
round 1 Melee's dead from the blades... self healing caster/healers... dot dot dot runaround like crazy.. dot dot dot...win..

All cleric/caster runs from now on. everyone else just hide in a corner and try not to die.

^This.

Ran a shroud on normal, we had two very solid high dps wizards, 3 divines, 1 good/very good ranged ranger, and ...buncha noobs. (200 hp rogue, seriously? 370 hp barb? sigh) 3 guesses as to what happened to the noobies within the start of part 4, heck some died before harry even spawned. Still, we had an easy completion with no pots used. Give me another high DPS range and it'd been a 1 rounder.

As for the blades from devils, my instructions to the party were easy: stay away from them, I'll handle it. Insta-killed them all in two casts (durn 1s..), making sure the blades aggro'd me, and this kept them away from the party, and since the devils died quickly, the blades didn't stay very long after me. This worked very well except for that one noobie that didn't feel like listening, but it's not like he was going to contribute anyway, so...

I'll be doing a puggy(*) shroud on hard today, should be fun.

(*) 4-6 core people I know, rest whatever

[Stermlin]

I'll be doing a puggy(*) shroud on hard today, should be fun.

I'd like to get in on that if you don't mind. Only have Mystym off timer, lvl 20 Dark Monk. Let me know if you want him and what time you plan on running.

[Samiusbot]

Pugged a shroud last night. Other then an inexperienced healer (who was upfront with his healing skills), and a Sorc or two that would shame a glass cannon with how quickly they died it wasn't too bad.

[Chai]

The ball method works well. When the blades get there the leader counts down 3-2-1-JUMP, and everyone jumps backward, taking one blade hit on the way out.

Harry doesnt go anywhere if everyone is in the ball. Problem is if its not lead well, some inevitably runs out of the ball with the bright idea that they wont take damage if they are standing away from everyone else. Harry then moves to them, crushes them, then moves back to the ball.

We did elite like this the other day. Took a few rounds, but we completed.

[hermespan]

I am sure any of you that ran shroud since the U12 update noticed the painful new blades.

The combination of the blades and no ability to Rez in part IV make it by far the most challenging party of the raid. Part of the problem is simple lack of a consistent plan. When the blades close in some stay in and die while others scatter to get away from the blades making it nearly impossible to heal everyone. And then while battling devils again someone always backs into the blades and dies.

Really good DPS takes harry in one round before the blades close in which means no changes are necessary. If the DPS isn't strong enough to take Harry in round 1, has anyone found a good approach? Would an all range shroud be a possible way to go?

Last time, blades were closing in and we had a lag spike. I had turned around to get out, and my screen froze for 1.5-2 seconds. So did everyone else's. All melees died.

It's not always our fault. When I turned around I had ~690 ish hitpoints left->lag spike->standing next to stone when game client became responsive.

I think the solution is to not cut it so close. Start getting out long before you need to.