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Valindra and GFs...
krimbarbarroja
Member Posts: 125 Arc User
Well, well, last night we went to Val's tower and faced the Big Baddie herself. First time there, and I do not wish to complain about "Val is too hard bla bla bla", because she, most probably, is not (Though I do not believe, for a second, that a 10.500 GS team stands a chance).
My problem is with the encounter design seems to leave no role for us. I mean, we are supposed to be defenders, yet in the whole encounter, there is nothing to tank. Val casts magic missiles for all, grabs random people and does AOE around herself, 3 attacks that a tank really doesn't help with. Then, there is the casket mechanic, which is all about mobility...well, we have 1 good gap closer, and 2 rather poor ones, so this is not exactly our forte, is it? Granted, ITF provides a boost to all the team here, but for reasons that shall be adressed below, it is not all that.
Apart from "being able to move and click to all the caskets fast", the encounter seems to revolve all around single target DPS. Burst the grappling hand, and, very specially, burn Val ASAP, because the longer it takes, the more caskets spawn, and when caskets and hand start spawning together, hillarity ensues. Because of this, DPS is king, master and ruler. Even if a wight spawns, the best solution is, can you believe it....Single target DPS!!! This makes damage skills beyond a must, and the most practical solution to the problem.
In fact, the whole freaking encounter seems to have been designed around GWF strengths, making GF completely irrelevant.
Am I missing something? Did I use the wrong skills? Is there anything else I can do for the team there? Or should I just accept that I am going to be a drag vs Val?
EDIT: Don't get me wrong. I am glad that this boss is NOT "Fight a gazillion adds while you burn the boss", but the way this encounter is set feels...wrong when you are a defender with poor damage.
My problem is with the encounter design seems to leave no role for us. I mean, we are supposed to be defenders, yet in the whole encounter, there is nothing to tank. Val casts magic missiles for all, grabs random people and does AOE around herself, 3 attacks that a tank really doesn't help with. Then, there is the casket mechanic, which is all about mobility...well, we have 1 good gap closer, and 2 rather poor ones, so this is not exactly our forte, is it? Granted, ITF provides a boost to all the team here, but for reasons that shall be adressed below, it is not all that.
Apart from "being able to move and click to all the caskets fast", the encounter seems to revolve all around single target DPS. Burst the grappling hand, and, very specially, burn Val ASAP, because the longer it takes, the more caskets spawn, and when caskets and hand start spawning together, hillarity ensues. Because of this, DPS is king, master and ruler. Even if a wight spawns, the best solution is, can you believe it....Single target DPS!!! This makes damage skills beyond a must, and the most practical solution to the problem.
In fact, the whole freaking encounter seems to have been designed around GWF strengths, making GF completely irrelevant.
Am I missing something? Did I use the wrong skills? Is there anything else I can do for the team there? Or should I just accept that I am going to be a drag vs Val?
EDIT: Don't get me wrong. I am glad that this boss is NOT "Fight a gazillion adds while you burn the boss", but the way this encounter is set feels...wrong when you are a defender with poor damage.
Post edited by krimbarbarroja on
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VT is one of the few fights in the game that actually benefits communication and teamwork over "ZERG, BURN", which means that it's one of the few fights that is less fussy regarding class balance. Sure, you're not bringing raw personal deeps to the fight, but you could be bringing +60% power and +25% defense for everyone else, ITF-derived mobility + AP gain, and a superfast low cooldown gapcloser for lunging to caskets. Your third encounter is your own choice, since you can merrily keep val marked with tab (for the mitigation debuff). Other than that, just do what you usually do: keep Val looking at you so everyone else gets combat advantage, absorb most of her AoE hits with your meaty frame so the DC can mostly just worry about the squishies, etc.
So basically, you can make your party avoiding 1 AOE during the fight by holiding aggro on her. At least that's something along with the ability to get to any caskets in no time thanks to Lunging strike.
The whole thing is really underwhelming, considering this is the Mod 2 boss. I can totally understand the first dungeons being a mess, and such, after all, the game was starting. But when Mod 2 came out, the devs were perfectly aware of the balance issues. They were aware of the lack of need for tanks, yet they decided to make a boss with nothing to tank. They were aware of the DPS imbalance between classes, yet they did nothing about it and created a boss based on almost pure DPS. They were aware of the mobility issues of the GF, yet they decided to further punish them by having the boss TP all around to make their DPS contribution even poorer.
Also, and 2 months after publication, the fight has not recieved a balance update -To my knowledge, no boss has, ever in this game-. This tells me that the devs have no interest in creating interesting content, and do not really care wether their encounters work or not. Furthermore, the game seems to lack the mechanics needed to ensure that all classes have a role - No separate damage types, no resistances, no dual specs to fall back on, etc -, so I guess it is only natural that the devs don't bother with it. It is, in all likehood, not a realistic goal.
Yeah, I'm whining, I know.
Val is actually (as I mentioned above) one of the few bosses that DOESN'T hugely favour 'stack CWs, profit'. There are no massed adds to control, unless you suck at clicking caskets, and if this is the case then you're boned anyway.
GFs can bring enhanced mobility for everyone (super useful when you need to run over and click), extra AP gain for everyone so you can pop lots of dailies, and potentially a huge boost in power & defense, too. And if you can keep her pointed at you, probably combat advantage for everyone else, to boot.
Does this mean GFs are vital in this fight? No. Would it be more efficient to take another GWF? Probably. Is it still more GF-friendly than basically every other boss fight other than "frozen heart if you don't have the deeps to zerg"? Yes.
Regarding mobility, GFs are suprisingly zippy if you take the right powers. ITF obviously, lunging strike is astonishing as a gap closer, and threatening rush is superb for zipping back to val after she punts you, or for dashing to reach a casket sooner. The only problem with GF mobility is that it's mostly dependent on having something to stab at the destination.
a) I'd instantly use "Into the Fray" run-speed-buff upon casket-audio ("Rise...", "Come forth..."), making it easier for everyone to get their caskets
b) I'd bring Knight Captain set for power buffage, at least at boss (as GFs have no noteworthy DPS of their own in PVE)
c) I'd put the perma-mark on Val for 8% more damage
d) I'd enjoy having Threatening Rush/Lunging Strike for caskets/helping with hands
I guess it would be doable, maybe a tad slower than in a standard easymode 2CW 2GWF 1DC group, but potentially quite safe if people have experience with caskets.
In the end, GF isn't needed or attractive enough to justify bringing other than for the player behind it, so your complaint is definitely valid. Another CW in its place would effectively mean more overall damage mitigation/avoidance through CC while bringing far more DPS to the table. I guess if it wasn't for PVP implications they'd have a much easier time buffing GFs for PVE.
So true...and so hard to solve.
at valindra use battlefury & leap, will help you
I suppose you could tank all the spawns if a casket gets missed, then just continue fighting Val to save time?
I always seem to have a tank in my non-pug parties usually because it's a guildie and we enjoy playing together. I think however if your party as a whole is on the lower side of DPS than having an extra damage class along can be a crutch or alternative. But the buffs from a good gf are great, especially if they are running a debuff enchant that some people forget exist outside of the vorpal blinking.
lunging strike, for quick casket control.
You can actually tank her, but it's use comes into play at 50%-20%. during this phase, you should have agro (if you have enhanced mark on especially). During this phase when someone gets hands, you get full control of where that AP AOE lands (on you) so you can easily keep it away from people who are grabbed.
I have had no problems with VT as a GF. If your party is weak, you can use knight's valor to absorb their damage during the 50% onwards stage too.
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