Despite our crack cocaine-like dependence on Anointed Army, mSVA runs still fail if the skirmish mechanisms are ignored.
The strategy has been posted countless times here and on YouTube. Yet every day SVA runs are hindered by someone who either does not know or care about the mechanics.
Please remind your teammates:
1) Ice (permafrost) is your first priority. Freeing teammates from ice is more important than your personal DPS. Don't assume someone else will do it or the trapped teammate will be saved by AA. Every dead teammate lessens your chance of winning.
2) Stay with your group. Running off alone to take on a mob pack is deadly if hypothermia (red arrows) or Permafrost (ice) land on you.
Then, you must scream for help forcing a teammate to risk their life running over to break the ice or rez you. Just stay close to the pack and this never happens.
3) Take red circles (Hailstorm) away from the group, especially away from the boss. So often a DPS player, in bloodlust, will ignore the red circle and keep blasting away. Selfishly, they realize Hailstorm will not kill them due to AA, so they ignore it.
But Hailstorm hurts your tanks more then they hurt you.
Tanks, especially those protecting the party with Knight's Valor, are hit with multiple times the damage of the selfish culprit. Worse, the hailstorm causes a stun dropping a GF's shield and some OP auras for 1-2 seconds. They still have boss aggro but are now vulnerable thanks to your selfishness.
If Svardborg happens to strike at that moment, you are responsible for killing your own tank. Why should you care? Dead tanks are directly correlated with failed skirmishes.
If, on reading these, you said "yes, yes, I already do that" then please admonish any teammates you witness NOT doing these things. RNGeesus is already cruel to us in SVA. Let's not be cruel to each other. Thanks for considering.
I am Took.
"Full plate and packing steel" in NW since 2013.
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Just to add a little also, if you do not take the circles away, you create a DOT effect where even DPSers cannot get close to the boss. This scatters the rest of the party and it makes it harder for the healers to keep everyone alive. Some will be outside the range of the DC.
Ever notice how when 'in their bloodlust' people ignore hailstorm and suddenly it feels like the fight is taking longer than it did just moments before? Or why suddenly that tank that was very capable of mitigating Storvald's damage suddenly drops to the ground? That's why.
"Storvald is standing in the ice left on the ground he gains a buff that increases damage done and decreases damage taken. (Not sure if its a visible buff or a hidden buff)... Ever notice how when 'in their bloodlust' people ignore hailstorm and suddenly it feels like the fight is taking longer than it did just moments before?"
Holy Helm! I absolutely noticed that.
I'm usually too busy cursing at the three layers of Hailstorm on top of my tank's corpse to think, but you may be right.
I will parse ACT and the combat log next time to confirm (unless someone has already).
Thanks for pointing that out.
I am Took.
"Full plate and packing steel" in NW since 2013.
I find most of the people guilty of this are melee types (GWFs especially) and I suspect it's because it's just not so easy to tell who the circle is under when there are a couple of you in melee with the boss and because breaking your rotation to move hurts your DPS- but when in doubt MOVE.
Winter Lily (CW) / Winter Rose (DC) / Winter Ivy (HR)
Pandora's Misfits Guild Leader
"I find most of the people guilty of this are melee types (GWFs especially) and I suspect it's because it's just not so easy to tell who the circle is under when there are a couple of you in melee with the boss and because breaking your rotation to move hurts your DPS- but when in doubt MOVE."
Your point is valid. Not everyone does this intentionally or maliciously.
When I play on a DPS alt and I see red under me I "strafe" side to side to see if the circle moves with me. If it does, I run away from the boss/party.
Yes, it breaks my timing. Yes, it lowers my DPS.
But I would rather win then be paingiver.
I am Took.
"Full plate and packing steel" in NW since 2013.
Let me know what info's you get from that ACT log.
The buff/debuff on Storvald when he's on ice is something we noticed very early on, there was much yelling on Teamspeak.
As to some of the other points people here have made. It really does feel like GWF's are the most common culprits for leaving ice in the group. There is something odd that happens with GWF's, I comment about it all the time on TS or guild chat. I dont know if its a mindless bloodlust or that they're staring at their buffs/debuffs all the time but good god it feels like once they start swinging their swords every other thought just melts from their minds. Its 'MUST DO DAMAGE, MUST DO MORE DAMAGE, ME GWF ME SMASH. Now I'm not saying everyone who plays a GWF is a mindless oaf, just that they seem to be the most susceptible to that mentality. (actually it seems to travel around, whichever class has the highest dmg (which is usually something broken) tends to fall into this mentality)
It reached a point early when mSVA was first out and we were running it non-stop that, when people were ignoring mechanics or there was just too much general bumblef#ckery that I decided to make all the GWF's in the group stand on runes. I said, "All right you bunch o scrubs, time to stand there and do the responsible thing and nope, you wont be able to do ANY damage at all the whole time your standing on a rune, but guess what, we dont need your damage, we just need you to do your jobs."
Generally(I feel) many of the Neverwinter players need to learn that they're not special, they're not important and they're certainly not essential. When you go into a dungeon/skirmish/trial you're going in with a team and whether your the strongest member or the weakest member of that team you succeed or fail together. So when circumstances dictate that you sacrifice some of your personal glory in order for your team to succeed, you damn well better humble yourself and do exactly that.
Joke aside, I sometimes have a hard time actually seeing in mSVA. My whole screen turns white from all the boni and proccing and stuff. So I really cannot see that I am being targeted by a AoE ice. It has nothing to do with having taken too many hits on the head. Not at all! Who got hit on the head?
For the record I play 2 melee classes, TR and Healadin. So I do understand the plight of not being able to 'easily' see ground effects. Its even more difficult on TR than any other class afaik due to the fact that the red circle that shows beneath you dims during a flurry. That being said once TR's know that (knowledge is power) they can use that knowledge to know if the debuff is on them if when they go into a flurry they see one of the red circles get dim.
/gfxsetdefaultfov 90
I have to say.
I enjoyed reading your comment. And i fully agree on the last part. I actually do not remember ever seeing a party where people actually did runes. Even when we yell in ts at them.
Got an urge to try to join Holy Crusaders .....
I had to do a head desk in order to resist the urge.
Very nicely written . Thank you .
You should have listened in on our teamspeak during those early runs, especially the runs we did to get the nobody died achievement
"Everybody stay on the rug! The RUG!"
"Red! Move away!"
"Ice!"
"Don't spread out!"
:Get back in!"
"Runes! Somebody get on the runes!"
"Get Skoll first!"
"Who dropped the ice on Svardborg?"
"Aaargh!"
"Ooops!"