U23 Quest Feedback - Epic Black Abbot Raid

[Eth]

Encasement before having roids is like...Inferno before having Ice Wands.

True, but there are at least some ways around this, since tiles are up in this phase (figure out a blue 'emergency tile') and worst case the water is actually not deadly at all (if you just swim in it, it only ticks for 40-60, it only hurts if you keep jumping in it).

Encasement though is just... plop - you're screwed.
Sure you can jump like an idiot all the time and hope for the best...
Absorption is no solution either, gets drained to quickly with all the stuff going on.

[Steelstar]

The amount of Inferno's was a bit excessive, the rest I won't judge too harshly as lack of familiarity leads to tons of soulstones.

His cooldown timer on Inferno should match the Heroic version of the Raid. If it's significantly more frequent than that, there may be a bug.

[patang01]

More spell point drain? Now we only need to add escorting a flimsy character to make this the worst raid in the game.

[Monkey_Archer]

I've only been in here solo and with 2 people so far, just to test things out.

I really don't like that it was intentionally made impossible to solo. I'd like to see the teleport-back mechanism only trigger ~5 seconds after all party members have completely left the inital room. Having it teleport people that are running tiles at the edges of the room is not good, nor is it good to teleport people in that should be locked out. (fixing this would also give a very small window for soloing to maybe be possible as well)

[Bridge_Dweller]

His cooldown timer on Inferno should match the Heroic version of the Raid. If it's significantly more frequent than that, there may be a bug.

It SEEMED like it was more frequent than heroic. I'm not sure if anyone's used a stopwatch to check it.

The biggest issue was getting hit with the special attacks before we had the countermeasures for said special attacks. inferno with no ice-wands while kinda funny is a bit cruel and something I cannot see pugs ever being able to handle.

[Bridge_Dweller]

Absorption is no solution either, gets drained to quickly with all the stuff going on.

yeah, add in the beholders and it's just LOLz time.

This raid really needs sharks with frickin laserbeams attached to their heads.

[Steelstar]

Tried solo with paladin, fvs, and sorcerer. Abbot is not ready yet i suppose, because he hits with mm that do 7+7+7+7 damage or something similar, i chain lightning spell i suppose that does ~60 damage on save (never failed at one)

Sounds like some of his spells may not be scaling properly, we'll check that out. Thanks!

This raid seems to be built for WF none casters or Bladeforged paladins.

PS. no puzzles just rooms were you have to kill red named and get items for next portal.

We'd be interested in hearing why you feel the Raid is built for Construct characters; other than Negative Levels and other Energy Drain-type effects (which admittedly show up often here), there shouldn't be much in their favor versus fleshy characters.

Edit: I can't stress how much the Tiles system bothers me in this quest. Please, make it more interesting, at least make them more random than they are, or block people from just swimming to the DDoors.

Did you find the tiles too easy, or were people just skipping them altogether?

It SEEMED like it was more frequent than heroic. I'm not sure if anyone's used a stopwatch to check it.

The biggest issue was getting hit with the special attacks before we had the countermeasures for said special attacks. inferno with no ice-wands while kinda funny is a bit cruel and something I cannot see pugs ever being able to handle.

If you're fast, you should be able to get the Wands before he starts using Inferno. The window there may need some adjustment, we'll take a look during the Lamannia Events tonight and tomorrow.

More spell point drain? Jesus Christ, between puzzles and spell point drain we only need to add escorting a flimsy character to make this the worst raid in the game.

Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy the Raid when you tried it. I'd be interested in hearing more about your experience.

[Eth]

yeah, add in the beholders and it's just LOLz time.

This raid really needs sharks with frickin laserbeams attached to their heads.

Hm, that would make the water more dangerous. Why not?

[poltt48]

Between beholders an the sp drain casters are useless in this raid. So much easier if you bring no casters at all into the raid. People are starting to limit casters in this raid already on lamnia with live sure will be next to no casters in this raid.

[Bridge_Dweller]

Hm, that would make the water more dangerous. Why not?

if not ill-tempered seabass.

[Bridge_Dweller]

Between beholders an the sp drain casters are useless in this raid. So much easier if you bring no casters at all into the raid. People are starting to limit casters in this raid already on lamnia with live sure will be next to no casters in this raid.

It's looking this way, and like heroic Abbot most of the loot is caster loot. Awesome ain't it?

[Minrothad]

Did you find the tiles too easy, or were people just skipping them altogether?

Both, really.

The only reason why wearing the Goggles was useful at all was to have a safespot for healers over the blue tile before Vol spawns, and maybe to grab some boulders. The distance between the middle area and the DDoor (swimming) is just too small compared to the tiles path, it's just not worth it.

[Eth]

Both, really.

The only reason why wearing the Goggles was useful at all was to have a safespot for healers over the blue tile before Vol spawns, and maybe to grab some boulders. The distance between the middle area and the DDoor (swimming) is just too small compared to the tiles path, it's just not worth it.

Yap. First time shortman in there a guildy had the goggles and when I followed him the 'intended' way around I really didn't understand why we even took that way.
It's really just 1 wing + 1 or 2 jumps to get from the platform to the door.

[Raiderone]

The spell drain is pointless and irritating. It needs to be removed entirely.

Agreed. Spell Drain should be removed from all quests (ie CITW). Very irritating. About as irritating as no save debuff's.

Get rid of both.

[Seljuck]

I've only been in here solo and with 2 people so far, just to test things out.

I really don't like that it was intentionally made impossible to solo. I'd like to see the teleport-back mechanism only trigger ~5 seconds after all party members have completely left the inital room. Having it teleport people that are running tiles at the edges of the room is not good, nor is it good to teleport people in that should be locked out. (fixing this would also give a very small window for soloing to maybe be possible as well)

It's raid.. you know.. It's designed for12 people groups, at least it should be. In my opinion raids never should be soloable. it's bad design. For solo we have plenty quests in ddo and single player games.

[JOTMON]

Inferno is the only effect that should be draining Spell Points in this raid. There may be an issue where the timing of the visuals ends before the draining effect does; we'll take a look at that, thanks.

Its still a stupid mechanic that turns these things into potfests. especially Epics.

add a mechanic that gives spell points back.. like exploding beholders that partially refills SP bars...
( or even something like the eggs in VON6 use beholders instead of fire ele's.. break the eggs before the Beholders spawn)

Without a mechanism to regen SP in a no-shrine raid, over and above the quells that screw up divine healing this just becomes another hated pot chugging event.

It may coincide nicely with your rise of the Bards/Paladins theme.. but it screws every other blue bar.

[patang01]

Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy the Raid when you tried it. I'd be interested in hearing more about your experience.

Hand on your heart. As a gamer, not a dev. Would you find a feature like that at all appealing (if you view games as entertainment and not a blood sport)? I can only think of one scenario where spell drain can be part of a mechanic. When you auto replenish SP. But that's not this game. In this game what is gone remains gone unless you use resources or have gear that provide a trickle of temp or permanent SP.

People play their casters to be able to cast. They teach themselves to household resources. That's the entire charm with being a good caster; use the spells and control the use of SP until the next shrine. The only thing a spell drain mechanic create is a desire among people who play casters to either avoid or pick a non blue bar class. It's kinda like creating more and more content to favor evasion and ranged. Guess what happens (not meant as sarcasm but the most obvious result) you got ranged and evasion builds galore.

What I'm stating is not rocket science. And it's not about making it 'easy'. Blowing resources, be it from potions or gear is not hard or challenging. But it leads to a tilt toward none casters because few like that mechanic and will move towards classes that don't rely on it.

[patang01]

Its still a stupid mechanic that turns these things into potfests. especially Epics.

add a mechanic that gives spell points back.. like exploding beholders that partially refills SP bars...( or even something like the eggs in VON6 use beholders instead of fire ele's)

Without a mechanism to regen SP in a no-shrine raid, over and above the quells that screw up divine healing this just becomes another hated pot chugging event.

It may coincide nicely with your rise of the Bards/Paladins theme.. but it screws every other blue bar.

Or like that one in the level 15 harbor quests, the end quest where you're in the squid boss brain. You hide behind the things he has to fire and part of the mechanic is to get some HP and SP back. THAT is a good compromise between punishment and reward by adding a feature that regain SP. When it turns into a constant resource drain it just bleeds off peoples interest in using casters.

[Mryal]

So theres spell drain, inferno, and even worst, i mean way worst : the stupid tiles.
No, i wont be running this.Why not creating a new raid that doesnt uses the absolutly stupid mechanics from the heroic one.That worked so well in fall of truth..

[SirShen]

We'd be interested in hearing why you feel the Raid is built for Construct characters; other than Negative Levels and other Energy Drain-type effects (which admittedly show up often here), there shouldn't be much in their favor versus fleshy characters.

You answered it yourself (level drain and unable to cast to get rid of these drained levels) - too many beholders/quell, spellpoint drain from inferno. High saves needed not to be encased.

Would you not say that if you are WF or Bladeforged paladin you will be better built todo this raid?