How to grief wipe a whole party in HC

[Halciet]

I have not had the 'spawn in wall and dot you to death issue'
I think that is because how I deal with them.

since I am solo, I know it is coming 'blue arrow'
and as soon as I know it is coming I quickly move to as big a open area I can
find near by and do a backwards circle until it shows.

so there is no wall near them, it zones into the open area.
-as soon as it zones-
I sic the hirelings on it (I am not standing near it)
and as soon as the hirelings have aggro I quickly kill it at range.
heal any hirelings that got dotted and move on.

I know this does not address the bug issue.
but so far it has helped me avoid the bug.

Also solo: if you are hounded and know you are unable to find a safe location for it to spawn you can port out without worry of it grief wiping a party.
Seems this season heavily requires party coordination, which is not a bad thing.

[fatherpirate]

but the dot/wall thing is a problem.

Just because it does not effect me much (due to my play style)
that does not mean it is not an issue.

it should be addressed.

[Jerevth]

Thank goodness it was on solo, and a quest below level 5-
I had a hound spawn and I didn't see a debuff notification (The hunt bow, next to the HC Death reminder doesn't always appear) in one quest. I was getting tussled by a boss and a his mephit buddies when the hound appeared and joined team BBEG, so I withdraw to a farther room. The hound blinked/TPd and went into NPC mode on a snow drift. I couldn't hit him, couldn't AOE him. (Or her- I didn't care to check). Sometimes you have to move.

The stacks were vulnerability only so I was able wrap up the quest, grab the loot and recall but... I'm not looking forward to running level 5s which does include DOTs.

Not sure if I mentioned it already but... 1 stack of vulnerability is 20%, and it stacks to 20 total, across the entire dungeon... who thought that was a GOOD idea? Who survives past ten stacks?

[Oxarhamar]

but the dot/wall thing is a problem.

Just because it does not effect me much (due to my play style)
that does not mean it is not an issue.

it should be addressed.

It hasn’t yet your play style won’t avoid the bug indefinitely not unless you avoid many quests with uneven terrain, water, & corridors

even then I’ve see hounds bug on flat floor

[LT218]

I have not had the 'spawn in wall and dot you to death issue'
I think that is because how I deal with them.

since I am solo, I know it is coming 'blue arrow'
and as soon as I know it is coming I quickly move to as big a open area I can
find near by and do a backwards circle until it shows.

so there is no wall near them, it zones into the open area.
-as soon as it zones-
I sic the hirelings on it (I am not standing near it)
and as soon as the hirelings have aggro I quickly kill it at range.
heal any hirelings that got dotted and move on.

I know this does not address the bug issue.
but so far it has helped me avoid the bug.

What level quests are you running currently? Have you considered what's going to happen when you get one of the bugged hounds that never fully activates so you cannot kill it, but it continues stacking the debuff + dot in the higher level quests?

Had it happen with two frost hounds in back to back quests. Luckily, they were level 2 quests so it was only a debuff they stacked, not a damage DoT.

@SSG - Granted, I don't know DDO's code, but it doesn't seem like rocket science for the devs to put in some error checking logic to account for things like this. I'd really hope it was obvious to any dev that in the order of operations of the hound scripting, the AoE should NEVER start before the hound is confirmed active.

For example: If Hound_01 state = active, start AoE, else GoTo activate_hound_script.

Ditto for Line-of-sight checking before starting the DoTs, etc.

The high-level Hound mechanic is actually a great idea in my opinion. It's just being ruined because it was built upon a known, unreliable foundation and the devs didn't bother to build in error checking for all those known issues.

[slarden]

I have not had the 'spawn in wall and dot you to death issue'
I think that is because how I deal with them.

since I am solo, I know it is coming 'blue arrow'
and as soon as I know it is coming I quickly move to as big a open area I can
find near by and do a backwards circle until it shows.

so there is no wall near them, it zones into the open area.
-as soon as it zones-
I sic the hirelings on it (I am not standing near it)
and as soon as the hirelings have aggro I quickly kill it at range.
heal any hirelings that got dotted and move on.

I know this does not address the bug issue.
but so far it has helped me avoid the bug.

I don't think there is anything I am doing to make it stay yellow. I normally do just as you described. Wait it for it to spawn in an open area.

My connection seems solid, but it could be some isp glitch with xfinity - who knows - I think you might be over-estimating a players' ability to control the bug though.

[NemesisAlien]

I think this is a bit excessive, Nem.
No number of character deaths warrant losing anyone's life.

Maybe we're letting ourselves get incensed beyond the reality of the situation.
It's frustrating as hell- both because of the bugged hounds situation and the griefer possibility, but we can choose to walk away from the challenge, or accept it knowing these are the risks.

Its culture and I dont mean literally. Well unless you mean out of the office.

When something goes wrong someone not a small pawn will take responsibility and jump. To be clear that someone is usually a decision maker. Usually happens in government, that person usually end up retired in some countryside home.

[captain1z]

I wouldn't worry about it.
I cant imagine there are so many level 30+ griefers actively looking
To ruin a raid and get black listed across the server, that this would be a problem.

The average person who makes a mistake would just stay and die, hopefully to be raised later.

But at this level with such a small population, I really can't see people doing it on purpose.

Just call me naive I guess.

[Dark_Lord_Mary]

All this said I haven't heard of or seen this happening on hardcore to this point.

Not to say it hasn't or won't but from what I have seen at the very least this isn't widespread if happening at all.

100% agree though that dungeon wide targeting of a DoT makes no sense and is both bad design and poorly thought out.

I have been told by players it is happening and happening often enough they are sure leaderboard people are/will being targeted.

After every hardcore season I post a list of guild must have to deal with griefers/trolls bc presently guildmasters have no tools to deal with anything - ddo was not designed with the mmo 1000 person guild in mind, guilds were made for 6 friends who would never steal or grief - there is no audit system, no ranking system, no ability to ban accounts, just toons; and the same goes for questing - a griefer can exploit the hound dot mechanic and kill other players on hardcore. In a guild where its just guild chat or the guild chest; fine, we expect a few griefers and deal with them. But in a competition for a leaderboard where you can target and exploit a game mechanic to kill another player - using that mechanic in unintended ways during what should be a fun social event to grief and remove players from the boards - it is awful that it is a thing but it is, i have been hearing from players that it is happening; hardcore server is not GM'd, there is no reporting trolls or griefers bc ssg has said they will not reverse any deaths for any reason - so here we are. A buggy hound that can be exploited to grief other players on a server that is not policed and no rules of conduct are enforced. I would advise everyone to consider it extremely risky to play presently and to wait till the devs post the hound bug fixes - hopefully they make it so the hounds cannot be exploited to kill other players.

[kmoustakas]

I mean, a thunderholme slayer run is a deathwish. Any wilderness slayer is a deathwish actually. And a teleport item a must (because you can't recall if you are dotted).

Anyone know good teleport items in the store that don't need umd?

[AustrianDeathMachine]

I mean, a thunderholme slayer run is a deathwish. Any wilderness slayer is a deathwish actually. And a teleport item a must (because you can't recall if you are dotted).

Anyone know good teleport items in the store that don't need umd?

Rod of greater teleportation

[Cordovan]

We are working on a patch that will include some bug fixes to the hounds. Stay tuned for more info on timing.

[Mand_OLin]

In breaking news: The DDO Store is now selling a Hardcore League Hound Chew Toy for 100 DDO points. When a hound spawns, throw down the chew toy to distract the hound from placing a DoT on you. Single use and only effects your character. The rest of the party is still doomed!

[vryxnr]

In breaking news: The DDO Store is now selling a Hardcore League Hound Chew Toy for 100 DDO points. When a hound spawns, throw down the chew toy to distract the hound from placing a DoT on you. Single use and only effects your character. The rest of the party is still doomed!

Lame joke is lame.

[Inanout]

They do have mimic repellent.
That is no joke

[vryxnr]

They do have mimic repellent.
That is no joke

ok, "lame lies are lame" then.

Yes there is mimic repellent, but there isn't a "hound chew toy" atm. The above was not a suggestion, but a statement of fact which is not currently true.

[Mand_OLin]

ok, "lame lies are lame" then.

Yes there is mimic repellent, but there isn't a "hound chew toy" atm. The above was not a suggestion, but a statement of fact which is not currently true.

It is not a suggestion.

It is not a fact.

It is satire.

[vryxnr]

It is not a suggestion.

It is not a fact.

It is satire.

Satire and parody is a form of comedy, thus a joke. But Inanout said it wasn't a joke: thus, lies. Otherwise my initial response stands.

[Inanout]

Satire and parody is a form of comedy, thus a joke. But Inanout said it wasn't a joke: thus, lies. Otherwise my initial response stands.

I read it as a joke.
The fact they have MB and therefore could do the same thing is no joke.
To be fair it is actually insulting and can see how someone could be offended by fake news.

[Jerevth]

Gallows humor is seldom appreciated by all.
It was kind of funny but in a groaning, ouch kind of way, and not a "Hahahaha" way.
Humor is subjective.