For argument sake, I think that cumulatively the mobs do hit relatively hard on health. The supertank Knights are the ones not complaining, heh.
If I had to make a suggestion, I would say reduce (halve?) the rate of afflictions, to make it viable without a standardbearer, and probably increase the experience further to make it worth the time and effort. I disagree with Morkarion when he says that lightening the hindering would revert larva bashing back to the way it was. I think what is being ignored is that all of the mobs become aggressive to you, which was a significant change, and also represents a large deterrence for most players without substantial health... then topped with the afflictions. If adjusted as suggested, a tanky Knight would probably be able to get through it solo, but the afflictions would make it burdensome and not worthwhile. It would, and should, still be a group-bashing area.
I think that it doesn't need both reduced afflictions and further increased experience.
If the rate of affliction spam was cut in half, it would be perfect as-is. Less experience than astral, fine. It's also on Prime and enjoys all the benefits thereof. It also comes with gold. Alternatively, buff the experience a little bit more to account for the mobs still being pretty darned destructive.
It's close enough at this point that tweaking is better done in small steps rather than sweeping ones.
My intent was that reducing afflictions removes the requirement to have a standardbearer. The mobs will still hinder the group, or the standardberaer, at an appreciable rate, decreasing your return per time investment. I suspect, even with that change, it would still be a burdensome activity without appropriate gain. Larva bashing is still a relatively unattractive option for the aforementioned dangers associated with the area and group requirement. I don't really buy into the "it's Prime" argument when the place is built to be high-risk and largely inaccessible. The gold is in the noise.
I disagree that it's "close enough", or that addressing two separate issues (standardbearer requirement and poor returns) is a sweeping change. If it were me, I'd implement the lower aff rate, and then after some observation, tweak the xp gain as necessary.
Just gonna say that no bashing zone should require a standardbearing knight just to have a chance of surviving. That's never been the case in the past, nor should it be the case now. A reduction in the afflictions given by the mobs would be a very good thing. Judging from the numbers that Kelly gave, it would still be sub-par to Astral (and let's remember: that's soloable). There's absolutely nothing wrong with making the area easier to bash in for groups that do not have the luck of having/being a supertank 18k health knight with massive DR and standardbearer. They're not a common thing, nor should a bashing zone be balanced around such an outlier.
What exactly is wrong with having an area that encourages you to find a unique way to hunt that encourages branching out and forming a group? In an MMO, after all, many places require a particular class or style of class to clear. I remember when Cataclysm came out for WoW, particular healers couldn't do particular dungeons without being geared a particular way because of the way the triage-style healing was implemented. I thought that was awesome.
This sort of thing not only encourages group play, but encourages players to put more thought into bashing. This is tactical PvE. This gives those players who crave a challenge when hunting a place to go and an obtainable goal. I will never be able to agree with the sentiment that every bashing zone should be accessible by anyone or with any setup. There are plenty other places to hunt that don't require this sort of effort, after all.
Change is a good thing. It keeps things fresh and opens up new avenues of excitement for a wider variety of players. Its never having been this way before does NOT mean it shouldn't be this way. In fact, it means exactly the opposite: Icewynd has created something Lusternia has been severely lacking, and it is something I hope to see much more of, being a player who highly values a challenge in PvE just as much as PvP.
What exactly is wrong with having an area that encourages you to find a unique way to hunt that encourages branching out and forming a group? In an MMO, after all, many places require a particular class or style of class to clear. I remember when Cataclysm came out for WoW, particular healers couldn't do particular dungeons without being geared a particular way because of the way the triage-style healing was implemented. I thought that was awesome.
I had a long post rambling about healing during cataclysm and how the options compared to stuff here but the forum ate it. So instead, I'll just say this: being a holy priest sucked for a lot of cataclysm.
Cataclysm was a terrible expansion in general for anyone who wasn't a mage.
Anyway we're going off topic, let's clear a few points up.
It doesn't require an 18k HP tank, I've tanked it when my H/M/E buff fell off and I had 9k, (yes it requires some good DMP to work there, yay for Aslaran racial cold bonus.) Again it's not the damage that is the issue, it's the afflictions, you don't take the Warrior because he can soak up a ton of damage and walk out alive, you take him to funnel all the afflictions off the team. This has the side effect of a tank taking a battering, true, but it's not the reason you're focusing everything on them. Kelly was comparing it to dual link astral, not solo, everyone knows Astral gives larger returns the more people you've got there, so to go "And you can solo that and it gives more" is a false comparison without actually running a test yourself.
Lastly I agree with Xenthos, at this point tweaks and slight adjustments are far better than sweeping changes.
The divine voice
of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations,
Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
What exactly is wrong with having an area that encourages you to find a unique way to hunt that encourages branching out and forming a group? In an MMO, after all, many places require a particular class or style of class to clear. I remember when Cataclysm came out for WoW, particular healers couldn't do particular dungeons without being geared a particular way because of the way the triage-style healing was implemented. I thought that was awesome.
I had a long post rambling about healing during cataclysm and how the options compared to stuff here but the forum ate it. So instead, I'll just say this: being a holy priest sucked for a lot of cataclysm.
Hey, hey. Wouldn't ya know it... that's what I did, heh. It was rough at the start, for sure, but once you got the hang of the chakra setups and a reliance on PoM, it started to get much easier.
What exactly is wrong with having an area that encourages you to find a unique way to hunt that encourages branching out and forming a group?
Right now (give or take 5 minutes), there are 0 standard-bearing knights in Celest and in Hallifax. Not everyone is Glomdoring who has at least 1 per timeslot (Asia-Pacific, West USA, East USA, Europe, Australia, etc.) For those unlucky enough to play in an org which has only a handful of other players, finding that 'unique way to hunt that encourages branching out and forming a group' can be quite tricky (read: highly improbable). While I agree that group bashing is awesome, it should never come to the point that just because you don't have 1 very specific type of person available, then you're not going to be able to hunt area X.
Unless, of course, you support the idea that everyone should flock to more populated organizations for the sake of sweet xp/essence/gold.
What exactly is wrong with having an area that encourages you to find a unique way to hunt that encourages branching out and forming a group?
Right now (give or take 5 minutes), there are 0 standard-bearing knights in Celest and in Hallifax. Not everyone is Glomdoring who has at least 1 per timeslot (Asia-Pacific, West USA, East USA, Europe, Australia, etc.) For those unlucky enough to play in an org which has only a handful of other players, finding that 'unique way to hunt that encourages branching out and forming a group' can be quite tricky (read: highly improbable). While I agree that group bashing is awesome, it should never come to the point that just because you don't have 1 very specific type of person available, then you're not going to be able to hunt area X.
It's true. However, there are also no healer Shadowdancers awake at the moment, so if I go bash Astral for a while, I'm going to have to sit in my manse for an hour afterward while I wait for the insanity to go away.
There's also no tinkerer in Glomdoring and my cube is completely emptied. Finding anything on the market channel right now is pretty tough - it seems most people with trades are keeping them to themselves.
Frankly, "highly improbable" is a gross exaggeration. Celest has plenty of knights capable of bearing a standard. It doesn't require you to be excessively tanky to the highest of outliers - it just requires you to have a decent health pool, the ability to cure some afflictions, and the ability to bear a standard. Something any Paladin who is capable enough to join in on the hunt should be able to do.
There's no need to complain because people aren't around 24/7 to do these sort of things. I'd kill to get on an aetherhunt, but I have yet to hear any of our rough alliance go up on one, yet your guys have been dying to dragons left and right.
Multiplayer games are give-and-take, man. The same opportunities just aren't going to available for everyone at every time. That's what happens when you have a large group of people from multiple time zones playing together. This should hold little footing in the argument of a group bashing area. Especially when there are plenty of other places that you, without having to track down a standard-bearing knight, or I, without having to track down an aethercrew, to hunt.
Frankly, I'm getting pretty strange feelings about the sheer amount of whining on the forums about this sort of stuff. The administration is doing the best they can to pander to an INCREDIBLY diverse group of people, whether it be this or the affliction issue which has so many panties in knots. I, for one, and immensely appreciative that they do this. I also, for one, don't think sitting around complaining is going to open up any doors for fun in the game.
If I can't get an aetherhunt crew, I don't sit in my manse and wait for one to show up. I go influence, or I go hunt an aetherbubble, UV, or Astral. If Morkarion doesn't want to take me and two other people to Icewynd, that's not something I can change, so there's no point in sitting around and waiting for it.
Unless, of course, you support the idea that everyone should flock to more populated organizations for the sake of sweet xp/essence/gold.
They give nothing to the argument and only serve to put up a divide between players who are trying to better the game. Do you have any other reasons why this should be changed, other than your inability to find a standard-bearing knight? If not, the parallel for aetherhunting seems to show that this isn't an actual problem, as aetherhunting requires a much larger, much more organized crew and a hefty gold investment at the tradeoff that the skill required is common. "Requiring" a standard-bearer for Icewynd has an opposite tradeoff: a smaller, easier to organize group and one person with a guild-skill (that, mind you, has no ties to a nexus so even a rogue can do it).
There's a small bit of irony that Alacardael just left Celest and the Paladins so he WAS their Standard bearer Knight at this hour, but I digress, Kio has a great point. I can't remember the last time Glom ran an Aetherhunt, the Northern Coalition have one seemingly every other day (at least that's how often they explode, they may well run it more often!) Organisations and alliances have their pros and cons, the North is short on Knights these days in certain TZ's.
The divine voice
of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations,
Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
(okay I deleted the quote because it was too lengthly)
1) And yet you can still bash Astral. Without a knight, there is very little chance for a group to even begin bashing Icewynd.
2) I personally get by for a few hours without a cube. Brooches are lovely that way.
3) Celest has plenty of knights...in the West Coast timezone. Let's not even begin probing the problem when the 1 knight is unwilling to risk being the punching bag for Icewynd -- this creates resentment all around. Icewynd is a very lucrative bashing ground (if you have a standard bearer), and a lot of people want to hunt there. The inability to do so without that magical ingredient is pretty frustrating.
4) Anyone can aetherhunt. You don't need a Serenguard on the chair and a Tahtetso, Celestine, and Researcher Hexen on the turrets. Icewynd, however, requires a knight. Without that, you have very little chance of bashing Icewynd with any degree of effectiveness. (Also, aetherhunting is very very dull except for maybe the one piloting and the slivvener. Icewynd is much less so, what with digger pits and winds(?) and massive load of afflictions).
5) Please don't say that just because we think some of the administration's latest projects are bad means that we do not appreciate their efforts. We do. We appreciate it so much that we think they should instead do Y instead of X, because X will only bring in more problems Z. Z will cause less headaches, and result in a happier experience both for the administration and the playerbase.
6) I do, in fact, have some reasons why Icewynd should be changed to either lessen the afflictions or increase the experience reward (more on the former, and not by much -- basically, remove the requirement for a knight to be present). It's the same as 'the melder problem': the presence of one for your team (and the absence of one for the other) vastly turns a battle in your favor. In this case, it's either you have a knight or you go on and bash Astral (no gold), or whatever.
Also, I think you are highly overestimating how hard aetherhunting is. It's not. Glomdoring has done 12+ hours of straight aetherhunting. Serenwilde does this daily.
Digger pits aren't a risk, you squint and walk (or fly if possible) around them, there's no risk involved. In the larva packs there are two mobs that fear, kill them immediately, and there goes the "risk" of digger pits.
Winds just require a bit of questing to turn them off, and lets be honest we haven't had winds up in months.
The divine voice
of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations,
Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
There is a difference between an area that requires you to gather a group and figure out special tactics an an area that requires you to find one specific (guild-specific) group and use that tactic. There isn't much special strategy in "If you don't have a standardbearer, don't bother".
The first and second points were to illustrate that the problem of playing when others aren't around exists in multiple areas of the game.
The third point you're making is just a restatement of the perceived problem.
The fourth point you're making is a blatant misunderstanding of the tradeoff I outlined.
The fifth point was merely me being sour about all the whining lately, and I apologize. It has no place here.
As for six, you haven't said anything new. You're just restating your previous protest.
No, I am not highly overestimating the difficulty of aetherhunting. I am outlying the difficulty in organizing an aetherhunt. I don't know what I've done wrong to not get my point across to you, so I will try once more:
Icewynd
Our setup was a non-demi cavalier, a demi cavalier, a destruction VA, and a standard-bearing pureblade. That's four people, and three of them are interchangeable. Judging by the rate of the bashing, we could have done without one of them, even. The only investment required was that into our main guild skills (excluding Celina's destruction, and even that was a perk and not required), simple healing triggers, standard bashing cures, and our standard-bearer having a standard to bear (which is as simple as having a forger make one). We were on Prime. If we died, we could quickly make it back with little organization. If one of us died, they could have deffed up and teleported back to the group.
Aetherhunting (assuming we're hunting dragons)
You require a pilot, three gunners with a heavy investment into aethercraft and a good rate for critical hits [reminder: aethercraft does nothing for a person OTHER than giving them the abilities to aetherhunt], an empath who knows what he or she is doing, at least one siphoner, and at least one slivvener. For prolonged hunts, you require extra heads to swap out when aetherwill begins to run low. If one person messes up, the entire crew could die. Such a mistake will cause the entire group to be scattered at their various nexi, have to regroup, have the ship brought around, and make the long trip back to your hunting spot. You also have to consider that the investment for a ship capable of doing this is generally so great that it belongs to an organization. That's a lot of money required just to get some experience.
The trade-off: Icewynd v. Aetherhunting
Hunting Icewynd requires only one particular: a standard-bearing knight. Standard-bearing is a skill inknighthood. It's not even a specialized skill. Any knight capable of hunting Icewynd will be able to bear a standard. This skill-requirement is related to that of aetherhunting: the heavy investment by a majority of the group into a common skill readily available to anyone but does not give any sort of benefit outside of aetherhunting.
Hunting Icewynd also required a small, easy to pull together group. Since the only requirement is one standard-bearing knight, any of the other "spots" can be filled by anyone. Aetherhunting, however, requires a far greater amount of people, many of whom have to have the particular investment into the aetherhunting skill.
Hunting Icewynd is far safer. Also, if we die, there is far less coordination, movement, and time invested in returning to our spot.
I have to admit, I'm getting really bored with this, so I'm just gonna tl;dr the rest:
Basically, aetherhunting requires far more coordination and investment before it is possible to do. Gathering the people who have made this investment and want to go up at the same time is exceedingly difficult. Hunting Icewynd just requires you find a standard-bearer who wants to go, something that is far easier than finding an entire group of people with the desire and the investment in a skill created solely for the purpose.
If the problems in finding a standard-bearer for Icewynd are sincerely that great, the problems in finding a crew for an aetherhunt are sincerely greater. However, no one is currently up in arms about changing aetherhunting to be easier to organize. Therefore, there is a strange disconnect here.
What is that disconnect?
Enyalida: It's true. But the same argument can be said with aetherhunting. You "need" a standard-bearer for Icewynd (but, as Mork points out, only if you're going foran optimal setup). You need a well-endowed aethership to aetherhunt. Both of these things are available to all cities and communes. Only one of them requires a massive investment of gold.
Apologies for such a late response: I've been fighting with the forums for quite a while.
Any argument that says you can't bash icewynd without a warrior buddy is plain off base. Is it easier? Sure is. Is is a requirement? Sure isn't. Stop being over-dramatic
it seems to be a requirement if you don't want to all die horribly because of all the afflictions allowing no one to bash, thus requiring a standard bearer to bash with any level of effectiveness. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but it comes back down to the fact that without that 1 specialist person with you, it's not even worth trying. Sounds like something is wrong when you're at the mercy of that 1 special class, in my opinion. If adjusting the afflictions given or the frequency or whatever would make it so you don't need a stadard bearer to bash with even moderate effectiveness, I'd have no complaint.
The afflictions aren't bad enough to permanently lock out a single person to bash, it's just very slow, I've been able to very very slowly sologrind out an entire Larva. It's crap and really not worth it, but the affliction spam hinders, but doesn't make it impossible.
Spread them out across the group and it's hindering, it slows the group down, but it doesn't stop an entire group from bashing. As Sidd said, it's optimal, not requirement.
The divine voice
of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations,
Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
it seems to be a requirement if you don't want to all die horribly because of all the afflictions allowing no one to bash, thus requiring a standard bearer to bash with any level of effectiveness. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but it comes back down to the fact that without that 1 specialist person with you, it's not even worth trying. Sounds like something is wrong when you're at the mercy of that 1 special class, in my opinion. If adjusting the afflictions given or the frequency or whatever would make it so you don't need a stadard bearer to bash with even moderate effectiveness, I'd have no complaint.
Except you're not at the mercy of that one special class, you -can- bash it solo, without them
it seems to be a requirement if you don't want to all die horribly because of all the afflictions allowing no one to bash, thus requiring a standard bearer to bash with any level of effectiveness. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but it comes back down to the fact that without that 1 specialist person with you, it's not even worth trying. Sounds like something is wrong when you're at the mercy of that 1 special class, in my opinion. If adjusting the afflictions given or the frequency or whatever would make it so you don't need a stadard bearer to bash with even moderate effectiveness, I'd have no complaint.
Except you're not at the mercy of that one special class, you -can- bash it solo, without them
Really? I would have thought that only a very select few would be able to pull that off, having the necessary DMP and damage output to stay on top.
The divine voice
of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations,
Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
it seems to be a requirement if you don't want to all die horribly because of all the afflictions allowing no one to bash, thus requiring a standard bearer to bash with any level of effectiveness. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but it comes back down to the fact that without that 1 specialist person with you, it's not even worth trying. Sounds like something is wrong when you're at the mercy of that 1 special class, in my opinion. If adjusting the afflictions given or the frequency or whatever would make it so you don't need a stadard bearer to bash with even moderate effectiveness, I'd have no complaint.
Except you're not at the mercy of that one special class, you -can- bash it solo, without them
Really? I would have thought that only a very select few would be able to pull that off, having the necessary DMP and damage output to stay on top.
Sure, if you prep for it enough, why not?
I just find it ludacris that people insist that you can -only- bash it with a standardbearer, which is just simply not true. You can even do a group without a standard bearer pretty easily. Just have people follow the bashing order and it's no problem.
I can believe a group doing it, but I'm struggling with a non Knight trying to solo. Considering the slow killspeed due to affliction lockout, and the high damage when everything is focused on one person, I can't see much being able to solo it, maybe a drunk Gaudibard.
If someone wants to try it and pull it off, be my guest. Personally I believe a group of 3 people is enough affliction and damage spread to kill it, course you're hindered without an affliction soaker but you're not doomed to fail.
The divine voice
of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations,
Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
I'll just say this: I've soloed Icewynd as a non-Knight (With Destruction and a passive cure), and I've done Icewynd in a group without a Knight and no one dying (with Aeromancer demesne providing a passive cure for everyone).
I don't think the passive cure is even that necessary (I've bashed through when my emerald gem has run out of charges), though it obviously helps.
While the larva are more or less *subject to potential tweaks in the reward department* spot on. I really fail to see the purpose or attraction of Icedigger hunting.
208 Icedigger corpses are worth less than 200 Kephera (no Monks or Keph Queens in there) when offered, give little essence/xp gain and zero gold. Meanwhile they're a huge source of WP draining through clotting, hitting with high damage, recklessness and blackout.
I appreciate the orbs the Queens drop have a value with respect to questing, but the actual groups offer little (outside of Death Seal, they're sodding great there) reason to be bashed, and clearing them is just a hindrance more than any real benefit. Other than them being a challenge to kill for said orbs, what's the purpose of these groups, and does the admin feel they're in the right position as far as risk/reward balancing goes?
The divine voice
of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations,
Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
Expecting a deathtrap to yield tangible rewards is not a worthwhile though process.
Why do diggers exist potentially? - Make Icewynd more scary RP wise. Does it work? Yep, people fear those pits in general. - Discourage AFK hunting. Does it work? Looks like it, I've not seen anyone afk hunt there. - Makes you think about where you tread carefully. Does it? Well compared to hitting a button to walk somewhere, sure. - To kill you. Does it? People die to them constantly.
Are diggers in the right position for risk/reward? - It's a deathtrap design. Yes.
Thing is, they're hardly deathtraps these days. So many people (not just Knights at that) jump in and can solo bash out an entire mound, it's less a deathtrap and more an annoying pothole in the road.
Personally I'd love to see them attack at full speed and thus have the exp increased as was mentioned on another thread a while back, but I get the feeling people might strongly disagree with that idea.
The divine voice
of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations,
Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
Comments
If I had to make a suggestion, I would say reduce (halve?) the rate of afflictions, to make it viable without a standardbearer, and probably increase the experience further to make it worth the time and effort. I disagree with Morkarion when he says that lightening the hindering would revert larva bashing back to the way it was. I think what is being ignored is that all of the mobs become aggressive to you, which was a significant change, and also represents a large deterrence for most players without substantial health... then topped with the afflictions. If adjusted as suggested, a tanky Knight would probably be able to get through it solo, but the afflictions would make it burdensome and not worthwhile. It would, and should, still be a group-bashing area.
If the rate of affliction spam was cut in half, it would be perfect as-is. Less experience than astral, fine. It's also on Prime and enjoys all the benefits thereof. It also comes with gold. Alternatively, buff the experience a little bit more to account for the mobs still being pretty darned destructive.
It's close enough at this point that tweaking is better done in small steps rather than sweeping ones.
I disagree that it's "close enough", or that addressing two separate issues (standardbearer requirement and poor returns) is a sweeping change. If it were me, I'd implement the lower aff rate, and then after some observation, tweak the xp gain as necessary.
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
This sort of thing not only encourages group play, but encourages players to put more thought into bashing. This is tactical PvE. This gives those players who crave a challenge when hunting a place to go and an obtainable goal. I will never be able to agree with the sentiment that every bashing zone should be accessible by anyone or with any setup. There are plenty other places to hunt that don't require this sort of effort, after all.
Change is a good thing. It keeps things fresh and opens up new avenues of excitement for a wider variety of players. Its never having been this way before does NOT mean it shouldn't be this way. In fact, it means exactly the opposite: Icewynd has created something Lusternia has been severely lacking, and it is something I hope to see much more of, being a player who highly values a challenge in PvE just as much as PvP.
Anyway we're going off topic, let's clear a few points up.
It doesn't require an 18k HP tank, I've tanked it when my H/M/E buff fell off and I had 9k, (yes it requires some good DMP to work there, yay for Aslaran racial cold bonus.) Again it's not the damage that is the issue, it's the afflictions, you don't take the Warrior because he can soak up a ton of damage and walk out alive, you take him to funnel all the afflictions off the team. This has the side effect of a tank taking a battering, true, but it's not the reason you're focusing everything on them. Kelly was comparing it to dual link astral, not solo, everyone knows Astral gives larger returns the more people you've got there, so to go "And you can solo that and it gives more" is a false comparison without actually running a test yourself.
Lastly I agree with Xenthos, at this point tweaks and slight adjustments are far better than sweeping changes.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
Winds just require a bit of questing to turn them off, and lets be honest we haven't had winds up in months.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
Spread them out across the group and it's hindering, it slows the group down, but it doesn't stop an entire group from bashing. As Sidd said, it's optimal, not requirement.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
Really? I would have thought that only a very select few would be able to pull that off, having the necessary DMP and damage output to stay on top.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
I just find it ludacris that people insist that you can -only- bash it with a standardbearer, which is just simply not true. You can even do a group without a standard bearer pretty easily. Just have people follow the bashing order and it's no problem.
If someone wants to try it and pull it off, be my guest. Personally I believe a group of 3 people is enough affliction and damage spread to kill it, course you're hindered without an affliction soaker but you're not doomed to fail.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
208 Icedigger corpses are worth less than 200 Kephera (no Monks or Keph Queens in there) when offered, give little essence/xp gain and zero gold. Meanwhile they're a huge source of WP draining through clotting, hitting with high damage, recklessness and blackout.
I appreciate the orbs the Queens drop have a value with respect to questing, but the actual groups offer little (outside of Death Seal, they're sodding great there) reason to be bashed, and clearing them is just a hindrance more than any real benefit. Other than them being a challenge to kill for said orbs, what's the purpose of these groups, and does the admin feel they're in the right position as far as risk/reward balancing goes?
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!
Why do diggers exist potentially?
- Make Icewynd more scary RP wise. Does it work? Yep, people fear those pits in general.
- Discourage AFK hunting. Does it work? Looks like it, I've not seen anyone afk hunt there.
- Makes you think about where you tread carefully. Does it? Well compared to hitting a button to walk somewhere, sure.
- To kill you. Does it? People die to them constantly.
Are diggers in the right position for risk/reward?
- It's a deathtrap design. Yes.
Personally I'd love to see them attack at full speed and thus have the exp increased as was mentioned on another thread a while back, but I get the feeling people might strongly disagree with that idea.
The divine voice of Avechna, the Avenger reverberates powerfully, "Congratulations, Morkarion, you are the Bringer of Death indeed."
You see Estarra the Eternal shout, "Morkarion is no more! Mourn the mortal! But welcome True Ascendant Karlach, of the Realm of Death!