Are the two HE's (not Slaughter) in Dread Ring broken?

aslan3775

I have done each of the HE's in the IWD zone, and been with groups that successfully caused the bonus encounter (finished gold with 9+ players) on each HE in IWD.
At first, we were able to do all three in Dread Ring, but it seems as if the timers are not working properly. For example, while the Harper is up during closure, the bar should move, right? We had the Harper up for over a minute, and no movement on the bar--fail HE. This happened at bronze, silver, and gold levels.
I have noticed that multiple people are clamoring for the Slaughter HE in Dread Ring--another sign that either this one is the easy one, or the other two are broken because I don't see that request in IWD. It might also be that this HE is the closest to the portal, so people jump to it as fast as possible.
So I ask:
Is this a bug with the other two HE in Dread Ring that should/is reported and I missed it, or am I not doing something correctly when in Dread Ring? If it is a bug, please let me know if it has been reported and I just missed the thread. I also don't mind being told I am incompetent and don't know how to play--that happens frequently and won't hurt my feelings too much or too long.

zibadawa

One reason for the slaughter preference in Dread Ring is that the instance sizes are the smallest around, so it is much harder to get a competent group at closure or escape. Both of those encounters are pretty easy to fail when people don't know what they're doing. Slaughter is a mindless kill-fest, so can really only be messed up by people kiting mobs because they're too weak to handle their own aggro.

IWD lacks the ability to change your instance at will, making it basically impossible for people to get into instances very dedicated to the encounters, or at least know what they're doing. There are ways to get into common instances, but it's a real hassle (even before accounting for how half of the population can't party with the other half), so most people don't bother if it's not for Biggrin. IWD can also be messed up slightly by the open world PvP: some people flag themselves for PvP with the express hope of finding opposing people flagged for PvP at the HE so that they can try to kill them. Even if they're not actively going after each other, they will still be effecting each other, which lowers their efficiency at the encounter.

WoD has neither issue: it has the largest instance sizes, and you can change your instance on demand.

That alone can explain what's observed, I think.

However, I can't guarantee there are no bugs with these encounters outside of WoD.

instynctive

One of the problems with the other two HEs is the fact that everyone still treats it like a DPS race (ie. Slaughter), which you can do if there are enough people there.. however, it's not a DPS race. For Escape, just have to hold aggro on the demons to prevent them from getting into that rift; likewise, just have to hold aggro on the demons so they don't attack the cleric(s).

Also, while defending the cleric(s), people are always hellbent (ha!) on killing the Zythar. Please stop that. Drop your defender companion on the Zythar and let them hold aggro... and tend to everything else.

See.. the Zythars are the key to respawning demons. The faster the Zythars get killed, the faster demons respawn. Yes, on occasion demons will spawn while the Zythar is still up, but not always.

Letting the defender companions keep aggro on the Zythar serves two purposes: 1) Holds aggro. 2) They don't quickly kill the Zythar.

Unfortunately, everyone wants to DPS everything and not give any thought to strategy. Reminiscent of the old zerg days in Tiamat.

My partner and I actually seek out the two unpopular demonic HEs in DR for the simple fact no one else wants to do them... because we can finish them both ourselves with no problem. It's only when others show up and burn down the Zythars do we get overrun and fail... even after we direct them to stop killing the Zythars.

flowcyto

It really seems to me that DR's Closure has a channel rate that is being affected negatively by server lag from too many players being in that zone. Even if you do it right (keep mobs off channeling npcs, kill enraged gorillas), it seems much harder to win when the lag builds up w/ too many people in the zone (even if if its only you doing the HE and keeping the npc free to channel most of the time). Way easier to get a success in a zone w/ only 1-4 people, in my experience.

Escapes also suck w/ the lag, but aren't really that hard either way. WoD is the place to go cause ur more likely to get zergs, overloads, and less lag (mobs are a bit tougher, though).

nawelen

What about the books you need to unlook the campain boons?
I`ve never found a single one

ps: but yes, people are only doing demonic slaugther in the dread ring and avoiding the rest.

aslan3775

I appreciate the responses. It seems that the best reason so many are running slaughter is that it is mindless button mashing--yes, reminiscent of Tiamat.

Thanks for letting me know the others are not necessarily bugged, but maybe just affected by lag and bad play. I don't really need the DR stuff, so I will concentrate on IWD and WoD

I will try your tip on the Zythar--It may also be helpful in my Stronghold, since I am in a very small guild and only a few are in the Stronghold at a time.

fastrean3

I think that defending the cleric(s) HE is bug, its always failed when more than 1 cleric npc pop up no matter u control the mod very well or not. when there is 1 cleric, it can be finish before times up even she get hit serval times. when the 2th cleric pop up, the timer is suddenly become shorter, but speed of the bar doesn't look like speed up it should be, its feel like slower.

sorce

fastrean3 said:

I think that defending the cleric(s) HE is bug, its always failed when more than 1 cleric npc pop up no matter u control the mod very well or not. when there is 1 cleric, it can be finish before times up even she get hit serval times. when the 2th cleric pop up, the timer is suddenly become shorter, but speed of the bar doesn't look like speed up it should be, its feel like slower.

Not the case at all. As @instynctive said above, the trick with Demonic Closure is not in trying to kill everything, but instead kiting the demons around the edges. Usually I find that once you are done to one remaining demon (I've never noticed a type preference, done with Shadow demons before), no more spawn (except for the Enraged types - which can't be kited). I've seen success with 1, 2, 3, and 4 Harpers up - but it's always been by kiting.

The longer you kite a demon on the edges, the quicker the bar goes up. Been able to turn HEs in IWD that looked to be a flop by doing this. Problem is trying to get the rest of the group to understand that you don't want them to kill it.

fastrean3

I found that too, sometimes i can finish this HE myself (1 cleric pop up)...but u can't control pugs not to killing mods

zibadawa

instynctive said:

One of the problems with the other two HEs is the fact that everyone still treats it like a DPS race (ie. Slaughter), which you can do if there are enough people there.. however, it's not a DPS race. For Escape, just have to hold aggro on the demons to prevent them from getting into that rift; likewise, just have to hold aggro on the demons so they don't attack the cleric(s).

Also, while defending the cleric(s), people are always hellbent (ha!) on killing the Zythar. Please stop that. Drop your defender companion on the Zythar and let them hold aggro... and tend to everything else.

See.. the Zythars are the key to respawning demons. The faster the Zythars get killed, the faster demons respawn. Yes, on occasion demons will spawn while the Zythar is still up, but not always.

Letting the defender companions keep aggro on the Zythar serves two purposes: 1) Holds aggro. 2) They don't quickly kill the Zythar.

Unfortunately, everyone wants to DPS everything and not give any thought to strategy. Reminiscent of the old zerg days in Tiamat.

My partner and I actually seek out the two unpopular demonic HEs in DR for the simple fact no one else wants to do them... because we can finish them both ourselves with no problem. It's only when others show up and burn down the Zythars do we get overrun and fail... even after we direct them to stop killing the Zythars.

The Zythar has no special mechanic. You probably only think this because the Zythar is naturally the last one a group will deal with. He's the only strictly ranged attacker among the demons, so he stays at rang while everything else closes into melee range right away. So non-Zythars get attention first, leaving the one flaming guy left.

More demons spawn after the previous set is completely destroyed. Enraged apes will spawn about every 30 seconds no matter what, and as has been mentioned can't have their aggro moved from the target and need to be stunned or killed well before they get close to the target or they will get in their attack.

instynctive

zibadawa said:

The Zythar has no special mechanic. You probably only think this because the Zythar is naturally the last one a group will deal with. He's the only strictly ranged attacker among the demons, so he stays at rang while everything else closes into melee range right away. So non-Zythars get attention first, leaving the one flaming guy left.

More demons spawn after the previous set is completely destroyed. Enraged apes will spawn about every 30 seconds no matter what, and as has been mentioned can't have their aggro moved from the target and need to be stunned or killed well before they get close to the target or they will get in their attack.

So, for all intents and purposes, the Zythars should be left alone, since finishing off one wave of demons spawns the next wave, and the Zythars aren't overly aggressive towards the clerics.

Regardless of "technically" and "mechanics".. people need to leave them alone. Or push them off a cliff or something.