The Hounds are Hunting...

[Jerevth]

My first toon died after completing the first Korthos Quest (well, after Grotto). Got the hound down to a final few hp and he tripped me. Done. Losf my place in Death Smiles (that HURTS most).

But... I like the challenge, crazy though it is. Adapt. Improvise. Overcome. Or die trying.
I won't try soloing on HE above my paygrade- not even in Korthos, anymore.

And the debuff icon you get when hunted is next to the skull. Should be there no matter what. (Temp or permanent).

[Esperano]

I think that it is a good thing that hounds spawn at all difficulties. But those hounds should scale with difficulty level. So a normal hound should be pretty easy to kill. Also, hounds should not be able to attack under water. C'mon.

Agreed!

I kind of liked the mimics from season 4 lol

[C-Dog]

They can attack underwater? O.O


I will say that one thing this does is severely punish soloing/small grouping. (At least until there is evidence that the Hounds scale w/ party size.)

It also means you do NOT want to "dawdle" - no organizing your pack while in a quest standing next to a chest. And, similarly, no "mind if I start?" or "I'll just wait inside" - the Hunt timer is running both before you start and after you finish!

Point Blank Shot,

100% absolutely necessary feat for a ranged Arti

Correct on both points.

I mentioned "(only)" b/c a Human Arti would start w/ both PBS and Rapid Shot, significantly increasing their rate of fire and DPS - I didn't have that.

[Thoggy]

l like the level drop from 4 to 2 and I like the hounds. Adds a lot of spice to HC6, well done.

Even though I almost lost my main on a 'safe' quest to solo when a hound appeared* but was near exit so safely fled.

Just my thoughts. Good luck all!

*Hound appeared within 5 minutes. I was solo, level 1 with no hires, in "Protect Baudry's Interests" doing the hiding tactic near exit when strange blue arrow appeared above my head and a few beats latter a skull doggie! I clicked out before I was attacked. My main is currently "resting" and a very brave farmer character is testing early tactics.

[C-Dog]

Has anyone figured out what, exactly, they are? Race/type?

[Odin_Redbeard]

Just my 2 cents, but after dabbling in the last 4 HCL's i convinced a guildie to try the 5000 favor run. He was convinced that he couldn't do it but i talked him into trying since we would skip reaper and just do the level +4 thing. i made 2 toons to run and the first and only death was in one of the solo quests to a hound. I have no interest in continuing unless my friend wants to, since I talked him into it. I felt hardcore was to hard but thought i would give it a try this time. I did not find it fun and wish the rest of you good luck.

[spifflove]

Just my 2 cents, but after dabbling in the last 4 HCL's i convinced a guildie to try the 5000 favor run. He was convinced that he couldn't do it but i talked him into trying since we would skip reaper and just do the level +4 thing. i made 2 toons to run and the first and only death was in one of the solo quests to a hound. I have no interest in continuing unless my friend wants to, since I talked him into it. I felt hardcore was to hard but thought i would give it a try this time. I did not find it fun and wish the rest of you good luck.

Hopefully the devs will see the wisdom in making korthos and the solo quests safe spaces.

[Amorais]

They can attack underwater? O.O

For me, it spawned underwater but couldn't do anything and neither could I, but soon as I hit dry ground it teleported to me. Guess possibly a bug.

[FengXian]

I agree with Mary, especially since nothing has been done to death by lag (?) It's ok to have a hard hardcore league but seems pretty RNG based. And while I love to group, this mechanic really forces you to group I guess. And not just that, but you have to move as party everywhere, if not to protect yourself, to protect your party members.

Seems a big quality of life drop tbh.

[C-Dog]

l*Hound appeared within 5 minutes. I was solo, level 1 with no hires, in "Protect Baudry's Interests" doing the hiding tactic near exit when strange blue arrow appeared above my head and a few beats latter a skull doggie!...

Wow! Gone are the days of going afk to make a sandwich!

[slarden]

I can agree to an extent. Removing them from spawning in normal or wilderness zones might be a good solution. But I think they should definitely remain in hard+ content.

This seems like a reasonable solution.

I always think there should be a path for casual players - even on hardcore.

[slarden]

Just my 2 cents, but after dabbling in the last 4 HCL's i convinced a guildie to try the 5000 favor run. He was convinced that he couldn't do it but i talked him into trying since we would skip reaper and just do the level +4 thing. i made 2 toons to run and the first and only death was in one of the solo quests to a hound. I have no interest in continuing unless my friend wants to, since I talked him into it. I felt hardcore was to hard but thought i would give it a try this time. I did not find it fun and wish the rest of you good luck.

I got my 5 favor for 50 points on each account and I might be done too. This season isn't going to work with 4 dual boxes piking at the start.

I have a guildy wanting to get wings from 5k favor - might join the group.

[Mindos]

, in "Protect Baudry's Interests" doing the hiding tactic near exit

I wonder if they would come up onto the boxes.

[Sylvado]

(I'll try to gather all reported info into this post...)

Reported behavior:

Hounds can appear in both quests and wilds. They can "wait" (for an unknown time, but at least a minute) outside a Wilderness quest entrance. Hounds spawn up out of the ground. They spawn "on the trail" of their target, i.e. where they have been (or where they currently are if they have stopped long enough at the wrong time).

There is a howl that all can hear. Some time later (tbd, est 20-30 sec?) a random(?)* party member becomes "hunted". For a second or three there is a blue arrow pointing down at the target, and they receives a debuff "Target of the Hunt", visible in their de/buff bar at the top of the screen.

(* Several times, the "last" party member was observed to be targeted, someone who had fallen behind the main group - but it's not clear if that was a factor in the target selection.)

Hunting Hounds are strong and tough, but they are not fast - they can be kited fairly easily (observed w/ standard +25% run boost from Anger's Step). However, they will teleport to their target if it is "too far" away, similar to some Reapers.

It's possible to have Champion Hounds, which only makes them worse. Champ Hounds can drop rems (rem chests have not (yet?) been reported).

It's possible to pull the aggro off the original target.

Any party member can also receive an appropriate "elemental" debuff, stack of ''X Vulnerability, +20% damage'' - and it stacks 20x!

Estimated cooldown between hunts ~10 minutes (unconfirmed).

(more info as it comes in... )

---

Suggested Tactics:

1) Stay with the herd - er, stay with the group! Strength in numbers. Do not zerg ahead, and definitely do not fall behind!

2) Keep your head on a swivel - keep looking behind the group, anywhere you've been, especially right after you hear The Howl.

3) Apparently(?), these things do not scale with party size - do not solo, try to quest only with a (nearly) full party.

4) Treat the hound as a dangerous Champion or Reaper - kill it first!

5) If you hear a howl, let the party know. If you are Hunted, let the party know!

6) If you observe party members who do not "help" Hunted members - it's your call what action to take, but consider your options.

Good luck!

When they teleport there is a pause before they attack so they are easy to stay away from. I have been playing an arti at level 2, Korthos on hard and have faced about a dozen without issue. Having they come up in an end fight would be a different story. I see them as insignificant compared to the +2 cap.

[Sylvado]

These hounds have already killed dozens of players and the server just opened.

Many many people are complaining that they are way too powerful, being stronger than reapers,
and appearing in normal zones and slayer wilderness zones, killing people before they even had a chance to run.

Now I'm all for new mechanics, but this seems a bit strong to have reaper powered mobs killing players on normal and in slayer zones

There will be a minority voice that says 'its hardcore, good' but I disagree - many people come here and are new to the game or the event and many get frustrated by this sort of overpowered early death - SSG nerfed all the low level traps because they used to be instakill for the same reason - people don't even know they need to run and they're dead to these things.

Certainly different if you're in an elite or reaper quest - but on normal? In a slayer zone? On korthos? seems like the balancing is not correct and they are too powerful - i mean why not just make reapers spawn in public zones and just signal the end of times?

I mean these hounds are spawning underwater - is that correct?

Not sure about that, someone posted in chat that they found safety in the water and suggested diving in if attacked.

[Aelonwy]

i can report numerous people in game and in discord who have died to the hounds in slayer zones and normal quests are upset and have decided not to participate.

So is that the intention of this event ? to make it so elitist only the 100 on the leaderboard can enjoy it?

I thought, perhaps wrongly, that this was a game wide event open to everyone?

Having reaper strength mobs spawn at level 1 in solo/normal/slayer zones and kill players who are purposefully choosing easy content seems incorrectly balanced, no matter what event or server it is.

And I honestly dont care who disagrees, so save it. I am intending to be rhetorical, not conversational -

this is my 6th event running at 1000+ person guild - i know a lot of players across the spectrum of skill and I can tell you after 5 hours of hounds murdering everyone the consensus is the hound strength presently is tweaked too high

I agree with Mary, Reaper Strength mobs on normal at level 1? Can't even try to gear up in a newbie wilderness zone before these things are on you. HC is HC because you start with nothing and the level range is limited, and permadeath. Mobs like these in Korthos? Feels like a Bigby's Middle Finger. I haven't died yet so I'm not sour but pardon me for hoping this turns out to be an exceptionally unprofitable HC season so the devs learn not to cater so much to the elite that they exclude the casual player base from even the low tier rewards.

[droid327]

I mentioned "(only)" b/c a Human Arti would start w/ both PBS and Rapid Shot, significantly increasing their rate of fire and DPS - I didn't have that.

Uhh not really...Rapid Shot does almost nothing for Repeaters, which of course is what a low-level Arti would be using. Rapid Reload is the feat for RXB, but that's autogrant for Artis

Human Arti would probably take PBS+Precise Shot to get those sweet sweet Archers Focus stacks, which would be way better DPS than Rapid Shot anyway

[C-Dog]

Rapid Shot does almost nothing for Repeaters...

Yes and no.

It's been shown that, at low levels, Rapid Shot helps noticeably, but that benefit rapidly drops to less and less until, at end-heroics, as you mention it's almost negligible.

So, true, it does almost nothing for repeaters for a build when you look at Level 20 stats, but for early Heroic DPS, it does help. (Some players suggest taking it early, then swapping it out ~level 9-12 for something that will carry on post level 20.)

[C-Dog]

Not sure about that, someone posted in chat that they found safety in the water and suggested diving in if attacked.

I think they'll spawn underwater, not attack. But they could easily t-port to follow their prey once that character gets out of the water.

[balvix]

i can report numerous people in game and in discord who have died to the hounds in slayer zones and normal quests are upset and have decided not to participate.

So is that the intention of this event ? to make it so elitist only the 100 on the leaderboard can enjoy it?

I thought, perhaps wrongly, that this was a game wide event open to everyone?

Having reaper strength mobs spawn at level 1 in solo/normal/slayer zones and kill players who are purposefully choosing easy content seems incorrectly balanced, no matter what event or server it is.

And I honestly dont care who disagrees, so save it. I am intending to be rhetorical, not conversational -

this is my 6th event running at 1000+ person guild - i know a lot of players across the spectrum of skill and I can tell you after 5 hours of hounds murdering everyone the consensus is the hound strength presently is tweaked too high

I agree. With the change in level requirements, and adding in the dogs who seem a little op unless you have a solid group, this seems a little overtuned. Now im not saying that it should be so easy a solo player could just waltz to all the rewards but it should be looked at and possibly adjusted for level (when a toon starts at lvl 1 with 40-60 max hp and a dog is hitting for 40-60+ dmg well that seems a little bit op) and maybe area. That being said, I will still play this season as it is weather there are changes or not. Just my opinion, like it or not.