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Drake Pens and the Master Alchemist--too much?

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  • khimera906khimera906 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 898 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I'm a MI Executioner TR (16.5K), not built for survivability at all, and I don't remember having problems with it. I slot Smoke Bomb for a bit of CC, otherwise all out DPS. I think you need to find a strategy that works for you. The fight is really not that hard ... from what I remember :D
    I hate dancing with Lady Luck. She always steps on my toes.
  • query523query523 Member Posts: 1,515 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Really folks it's just learning curve. Remember a vit ago when folks thought that Ghost Stories was hard? And then figured out the rotation that worked for themand suddenly it wasn't a problem any more. We've run the instance 3 times per toon at this point. People were having trouble with Biggrin's before they figured it out too. in ancient times CN was considered a difficult run....
  • zebularzebular Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 15,270 Community Moderator
    edited November 2014
    It's not fine, there's something wrong and it feels like a bug or even multiple bugs. I should not be getting one shot, by anything but an Epic Boss. Period. Add that the skills I am specifically trained in do not function properly and the health bar bug and the confined space in one, there's just far too many issues right now for these battles for my CW. Heck, I even got one shot while casting Maelstrom... I've never even been killed by an Epic Boss in one shot while casting Maelstrom... Then the next try, one of them interrupted my Maelstrom.... No, it's not fine. So, please stop saying it is.
  • grorimgrorim Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    zebular wrote: »
    It's not fine, there's something wrong and it feels like a bug or even multiple bugs. I should not be getting one shot, by anything but an Epic Boss. Period. Add that the skills I am specifically trained in do not function properly and the health bar bug and the confined space in one, there's just far too many issues right now for these battles for my CW. Heck, I even got one shot while casting Maelstrom... I've never even been killed by an Epic Boss in one shot while casting Maelstrom... Then the next try, one of them interrupted my Maelstrom.... No, it's not fine. So, please stop saying it is.

    Hmm, it does seem odd that the people having problems with this are getting one-shotted,, and the people who did not are talking about how they beat the bosses while sleeping. Also, to the people talking about dodging and using potions? Wow, I did not think about doing that during the fight at all. I´ll keep it in mind
  • grac3n77grac3n77 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 234 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I have two main char 1 CW and TR I'll just give you example: my TR when doing bigrins and ghost stories and most of the new dailys now our stealth is useless because the boss sees us even when we are stealth. and it give us a hard time to figure out which is which of the skills that works. But that don't give us to complain. We studied the behavior of the AI boss. MY CW never had difficulties from daily's I always use SOTEA. fanning the flame, scorching burst, Icy terrain, Icy rays, RoF, and the good old Ice storm.
  • zebularzebular Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 15,270 Community Moderator
    edited November 2014
    I'm going to try my GWF when I can get enough energy to play again. He's a beast and even though he's not as well geared as my CW, he's always done way better than him in close fights like this soloing. I'll also try one of my other CW's when I can that isn't specced to use SS, MoC, and such. But man, to have any content that is either broke or doesn't work with a set up clearly intended by the paragons, feats and powers, is just wrong. I shouldn't have to change my whole skill, feat, and paragon choices for one battle.

    But man, it just feels horrible to have my main be viable in any content up to now without ever needing to change things around. My only console is that the major issue seems to be stemming from what feels like a bug or multiple bugs related to my CW and/or the mob's abilities.
  • grac3n77grac3n77 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 234 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Sometimes its always best to ask someone for help and asking for help from your friend doesn't mean we are weak, we do that in our guild if someone needs a hand just to finish a hard daily's we will gladly help its just takes at lease 15 minutes.
  • zebularzebular Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 15,270 Community Moderator
    edited November 2014
    grac3n77 wrote: »
    Sometimes its always best to ask someone for help and asking for help from your friend doesn't mean we are weak, we do that in our guild if someone needs a hand just to finish a hard daily's we will gladly help its just takes at lease 15 minutes.
    As awesome and welcoming such help is, this is beside the point. The point is, it is solo content and therefore should be soloable by any class with a reasonable build and gear. It's not a delve and there's clearly issues with the Drake Riders in WoD, the end fight in both these dailies at hand interrupting Maelstrom and one-shotting while in Maelstrom, and Sudden Storm not doing any damage.

    Has anyone else noticed uninterruptable powers being interrupted in the end fights? If so, which ones?

    Also, has anyone else been one-shotted while in the casting of Maelstrom? If so, where and/or by what?


    Edit: Forgot to add, last night I also got 1-shot by a Drake Rider while in Maelstrom. Yeah, it was a 3-5 man HE, but come on. Even an Epic Boss cannot 1-shot me while in Maelstrom (or couldn't in the past).
  • lewstelamon01lewstelamon01 Member Posts: 7,415 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    zebular wrote: »
    It's not fine, there's something wrong and it feels like a bug or even multiple bugs. I should not be getting one shot, by anything but an Epic Boss. Period. Add that the skills I am specifically trained in do not function properly and the health bar bug and the confined space in one, there's just far too many issues right now for these battles for my CW. Heck, I even got one shot while casting Maelstrom... I've never even been killed by an Epic Boss in one shot while casting Maelstrom... Then the next try, one of them interrupted my Maelstrom.... No, it's not fine. So, please stop saying it is.

    I'll stress the bolded part for emphasis. Group content or not, like I said, I'm all for a challenge. Challenge should not equate to "ridiculously overpowered", however. Also, it's a daily--grouping up should be optional, not mandatory, and only as a means to speed things up, not a requirement to finish the daily. It's not a Dungeon Delve. This is a boss that hits harder than any dragon in ToD and harder than most epic dungeon bosses.

    Taking that amount of spike damage, as I would from an epic dungeon end boss, from a <insert word of choice> daily boss? FYI: that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 30k after accounting for the temp HP boost from Curse + Vampiric Embrace. No, just no. I've taken weaker hits from Vilithrax.

    If you're unlucky and out of stamina from dodging the Whirling Rage Drakes, and the Interrupt 'R' Us Guard Drake as well as the Freeze Happy Hunting Drakes, and happen to get caught on the fringe of that Nuclear Potion Throw From The Nine Hells, even a stone of health isn't strong enough to save your behind, and all the lifesteal on Faerun won't help you against upwards of 30k burst damage.

    As an aside: If you're one of those who happen to have Tymora's own luck, and are decked out in all orange gear, who can make Tiamat roll over on command solo and eat other dragons for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even a bedtime snack....then you're not the target audience of this thread. We know you can faceroll everything on Faerun and quite possibly in other realms. I'm talking about the average or slightly above average Joe here.
    ROLL TIDE ROLL

    Great Weapon Fighter: Because when is today not a good day to die?

    PC and PS4 player. Proud Guildmaster for PS4 Team Fencebane. Rank 5 Officer for PC Team Fencebane. Visit us at http://fencebane.shivtr.com
  • grac3n77grac3n77 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 234 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    zebular wrote: »


    Has anyone else noticed uninterruptable powers being interrupted in the end fights? If so, which ones?

    Also, has anyone else been one-shotted while in the casting of Maelstrom? If so, where and/or by what?


    Edit: Forgot to add, last night I also got 1-shot by a Drake Rider while in Maelstrom. Yeah, it was a 3-5 man HE, but come on. Even an Epic Boss cannot 1-shot me while in Maelstrom (or couldn't in the past).

    The only problem I see in this is the one shot kill but yes I experience being interrupted with my tr's skill even the blood bath daily's that supposed to be uninterupted most of those came from CW and HR skill. Since mod 3 as far as i can remember. I will try my brothers spellstorm mage if I would be one shot while casting maelstrom need to see it for my self.
  • linaduinlinaduin Member Posts: 187 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I'm also surprised at the range of comments from "it's impossible" to "it's easy". I'm a HR with 13.5 GS and Thayan Zealot armor (T1). Nothing special - OK. Trapper build. I love the dash in, melee, get out, play style. I found Ghost Stories quite easy but the Alchemist has me beat (for now). I'm not really complaining - I love the challenge. I agree that more challenge is needed and (for me) this is it. I was challenged by ghost stories, but only briefly until I worked it out. But this guy is one difficult @#%!$@%. I agree it's not really him but the adds. The only way I can survive is to keep moving - if I stop and try to use anything more than the left mouse button he targets me and even two dodges doesn't get me far enough from his blast to avoid losing @%!!<font color="orange">HAMSTER</font>#% of HP. I think I can beat it if I kite for 20-30 minutes. I may have to change build otherwise and use rain of thorns. I'm frustrated but kudos to Neverwinter for making something challenging. I knew those major injury kits would be useful for something one day.
  • nurmoodnurmood Member Posts: 342 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Yo itz so eazy noobz! i just looked at him with a mean face....

    This guy is tough for sure. SW 16,4k Tempt with 10% Lifesteal ~ 30% DR and 1k Regen 35k HP and soulforge here. Died once but then managed it.

    BUT i didnt have the best setup for this and did many mistakes. If you start TT at the beginning put Warlocks bargain on him followed by eldritch storm and killing flames you can do it. Dreadtheft isnt gonna work. Learned it the hard way =(

    So i am fine wth the challenge - defenitly! i am enjoying it very much! The good thing is you can allways team up with people to do it if you feel like it!
  • twilightwatchmantwilightwatchman Member Posts: 2,007 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I'm currently running 2 toons through WoD - a 14k WK Scoundrel TR and a 13k Soulbinder Fury SW. The TR cruises through the lair bosses while the SW struggles with them. Toons with moderate GS and long cast time skills are going to find these bosses a LOT more difficult than higher GS toons with quick casting abilities. Hence the spread of comments on this thread.

    I'm not complaining BTW - I like the lairs and as frustrating as they can be, challenge is a good thing in a game that generally lacks it.
    Jenna Sunsoul - Justice Tankadin
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  • vinceent1vinceent1 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,264 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    well master alchemist is a joke in comparison with today lair, shelter. they almost kill me :-)))))))))))
  • yukimaru153yukimaru153 Member Posts: 173 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I'm all for challenge, sure, but let's take a serious look at the Drake Pens final boss: the Master Alchemist.

    If you're unfortunate enough to be stuck in the splat he opens with--while simultaneously dodging two rage drakes, and you have less than 28k HP....pray that your Soulforged is up because you're going to be kissing dirt. Even with the temp HP boost from Vampiric Embrace.

    And that's the easy stage of the fight. The adds...oh, the adds. FOUR more Rage Drakes? Elite level mobs...seriously? That's just waves one and two.

    The final wave throws in an interrupt-happy Guard Drake, so if you're a SW like me, Dreadtheft is a mission to pull off its full duration--so you're left with your biggest gun either unusable or severely gimped. Did I mention the size of the room limits maneuverability?

    I have 15k GS. Took me four tries to handle it solo. Now, there are those that are gonna say "lol, get a group then." Fine. This is a daily, though. A group should be needed if you want to get it done fast, but it should at most be a moderate challenge to get it done solo. I've seen epic dungeon bosses less challenging.

    Either the adds should be toned down a notch or the power of the boss should be dialed back by 30 or so percent. You'd think he was packing napalm in whatever it is he throws at you.

    I have done the fight but i really didnt have much of an issue as a cw. I can see where it would most certainly be an issue for people. However all i can say is "Wizards in IWD HE's".....Even with well over 100% BI resistance one combo is basically a one shot because its like they ignore everything (im a BIS wizard....if they are not stunned or prone its death.)... Places like the mini dungeon your speaking of exist in other areas in the game as well. But im guessing the devs are banking on 1. people well out gear it in time. Which is a safe bet. 2. They will just do it in a group.

    Hopefully they will not only take what your saying into consideration but other areas as well. On that note though I would love to see more high damage stuff like Pen in real dungeons. I think they really have the potential to make very challenging dungeons in this game and it would be great to see it. But for a daily....hell no lol XD
  • alkemist80alkemist80 Member Posts: 957 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    zebular wrote: »
    I should not be getting one shot, by anything but an Epic Boss.

    Most likely you got debuffed to the point that your robes pretty much melted off. It happens, that's a good reason to take care of certain mobs first. Ever get spit on by those drakes in Shores and LoL? It's not primarily the damage they cause, it's the armor eating spit that stacks on you.
    Banshee (Devotion Justice Oathbound Paladin) - Crueladevil (Soulbinder Damnation Scourge Warlock) - Sindania Balefire (Master Infiltrator Trickster Rogue)

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  • grabmooregrabmoore Member Posts: 188 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I was at a rock show last night, had free drinks til 6am. Went to WoD to do dailies afterwards, drunk as ****.
    My DC went through the alchemist dungeon with ease. The boss didn't even survive two rotations. If the walls weren't there, I'd pull the whole "dungeon".

    Dodging isn't hard in this game, since you get used to repetetive mobs with same casting animations. A SW without TT has a hard time in boss fights anyways. This class needs some love, it's getting more obvious the longer it exists. Take TT from SWs and you have a puppet without defense and just a pink laser.
    @grabmoore

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  • leandreav1leandreav1 Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I've only just reached 15k, but I'm a temptation SW. Which means when I drop warlock's bargain and start Dreadthefting even when the mobs start hitting me my HP is trickling back. After the initial knocks from the drakes I cast Fiery Bolt, and again, that serves the purpose to damage as well as heal myself up, especially if it crits.

    From there I Hellish Rebuke a few mobs (more trickling HP) and Shadow Slip to gain distance once DT is up to start all over. The T2 4P bonus and all the DoTs are giving me HP back and keep me up and in the meanwhile I'm focusing on the adds instead of the boss. Since most my skills (Fiery Bolt + DT) are AoE he also gets hit.

    It's not a 'my way works everytime so just mirror me', but after doing it twice I'm yet to die, though I'll grant a temp warlock can be quite tanky if not CCed or one-shot. My advice for the glass cannons is to get some Defense in.
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    The level of difficulty for this daily for you personally will depend on a number of factors:
    1) The class you have chosen, as certain classes may find it more difficult then others, I have done this on my TR, SW and CW and I have no problem on any of them.
    2) The quality of your build, a badly built character will obviously struggle a lot more then a more optimized character will.
    3) Your gear, a character who has a high gearscore but has got a bad stat line may find this difficult as well as characters who are just under geared in general. Also, depending on how glassy your characters are, you might also find problems. I personally don't build glass, and my characters are 2x 11k gs and 1x 14k gs and on none of them did I encounter any difficulty.
    4) Your skill, a player who doesn't play very well will obviously have issues in any areas.

    If you found it difficult, using those criteria you can work out why. I know that rogue, CW and SW should have no problems, as I had none on any of them assuming you have a non glass cannon character, however, I can't judge for other classes. I imagine the tank might have issues, but other then that, I think all might be fine.
  • urlord283urlord283 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,084 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I am a GF wiyh a (almost)15K GS and I have been told my build is Mediocre and a few nights ago I was told I was "Mentally deficient", what whatever that means... there was a LOL and a :) along with the last statment...

    All that said, while he gives me a good fight I kill him without too much trouble.

    BUT

    Where do we get these key for the cages?

    Urlord
  • rifter1969rifter1969 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 516 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I've noticed that the end bosses for the dungeons in WoD have been much tougher than what has been seen previosuly.

    And yes.. the rpison warden toom my Damnation SW 5 tries to beat... the Master Alchemist took 4... but the master summoner took one...

    My WK Exe TR did the warden in one shot, did not do the other two.... yet :D

    But, from what i can tell... you need to clear the adds... i did this with my SW... and once the various add waves are dealt with... the bosses were straight forward.

    Don't know if this will help any... thought i would throw it out there
  • str8slayerstr8slayer Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 715 Bounty Hunter
    edited November 2014
    I personally haven't had any trouble with these lair bosses on any of my classes (but they are all 15k or higher) but they clearly tried to make these fights a bit more difficult and I can respect that.

    SW and DC seemed to have the most trouble (due to interrupts) and I've died maybe once and had to retry. GF didn't have an issue because he can take the damage/block interrupts, same for GWF, CW/TR/HR, no problem, too fast, AOE heavy and maneuverable.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • myowmyowmyowmyow Member Posts: 1,923 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    magenubbie wrote: »
    I had a hard time on preview with him on my TR. Today I breezed through it on my HR. Trick is, go for the drakes first while dodging the warden. He may hit like a brick, but he's got the HP of a marshmellow. Brink him down to half for the 2nd add spawn, kill those and then the warden is easy.

    That is EXACTLY how to complete it easily. Avoid the warden while killing mobs, then focus on warden. Same holds true for the Master Alchemist in the other dungeon.
    SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! SEC! (repeat indefinitely)


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  • lewstelamon01lewstelamon01 Member Posts: 7,415 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I think the point I'm trying to make here is that the Master Alchemist and the Prison Warden are fights that have way too many random elements for a strategy to be consistently successful for anyone who doesn't have a ridiculously above average GS.

    For instance, IF you don't run out of stamina avoiding all the adds, and IF you can manage to get out of the way of his Nuclear Potion of Doom (and not get caught on the fringe of the splat), then yes, this is a survivable fight. But the adds are way too aggressive and numerous, and any effective strategy would leave absolutely zero margin for error. One misstep, one add not accounted for, or heaven forbid a hiccup in your connection, and you're eating dirt and most likely getting your ticket punched to the nearest campfire.

    I've said countless times--I expect this level of difficulty in an epic boss. But a daily boss shouldn't even be able to have anything like ability to one shot you from full health. And for those saying "oh, you're getting caught in acid spits"--this is from the onset of the battle, and last I checked rage drakes don't have that acid spit.

    Challenge is fine...but there's a difference between "challenging" and "make you wish to throw your PC out the nearest window in a fit of rage".
    ROLL TIDE ROLL

    Great Weapon Fighter: Because when is today not a good day to die?

    PC and PS4 player. Proud Guildmaster for PS4 Team Fencebane. Rank 5 Officer for PC Team Fencebane. Visit us at http://fencebane.shivtr.com
  • kabinoleskabinoles Member Posts: 229 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    My GWF had no problem kicking them
  • rifter1969rifter1969 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 516 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    I think the point I'm trying to make here is that the Master Alchemist and the Prison Warden are fights that have way too many random elements for a strategy to be consistently successful for anyone who doesn't have a ridiculously above average GS.

    For instance, IF you don't run out of stamina avoiding all the adds, and IF you can manage to get out of the way of his Nuclear Potion of Doom (and not get caught on the fringe of the splat), then yes, this is a survivable fight. But the adds are way too aggressive and numerous, and any effective strategy would leave absolutely zero margin for error. One misstep, one add not accounted for, or heaven forbid a hiccup in your connection, and you're eating dirt and most likely getting your ticket punched to the nearest campfire.

    I've said countless times--I expect this level of difficulty in an epic boss. But a daily boss shouldn't even be able to have anything like ability to one shot you from full health. And for those saying "oh, you're getting caught in acid spits"--this is from the onset of the battle, and last I checked rage drakes don't have that acid spit.

    Challenge is fine...but there's a difference between "challenging" and "make you wish to throw your PC out the nearest window in a fit of rage".

    I can understand, I'm getting this on the outside in WoD... the mobs are so closely packed together, that if you aggro one, its like the whole map aggros.

    But yes.. they are much more difficult than what I expected too.
  • wyndrarchwyndrarch Member Posts: 147
    edited November 2014
    I fully agree with you on the difficulty of this fight. I have yet to die to the Alchemist, but the two times I have fought him I've been forced to use Waters of Elah'zad to stay alive (which I normally ignore outside of PvP).

    This is on my 14k HR - for her GS she is the definition of tanky. Due to her setup she quite literally never needs to be healed. His sword swipes cut through her like butter and leave her with a red screen reminding me of impending death.

    To put this into perspective, in a fight with Venfithar using the same HR (with worse equipment) I once made the mistake of catching his lightning breath full-bore. By the end of the attack I had slightly more than half my HP remaining, which I had mostly regenerated in the 1 second it took me to Marauder's Rush back in (thanks to a mixture of regen, life-steal, wild's medicine, profound set & several healing boons).

    Master Alchemist hits harder than a Blue Dragon.
  • froszztfroszzt Member, Neverwinter Beta Users Posts: 284 Bounty Hunter
    edited November 2014
    Why are you crying? It took you 4 tries. You gave up in Super Mario after 4 deaths? It's a video game, you will die.

    This game is super duper forgiving to deaths. I do not see a problem here.
  • krymkackrymkac Member Posts: 210 Arc User
    edited November 2014
    Agreed. Especially funny to read how cws have problems dealing with them bosses. Most faceroll pve class ever. With that attitude no wonder pve is a joke in this game. 15k cw can solo any heroic in the zone aggroing all at once. =S Done all lairs with cw 15k, hr/trapper 16.5k, gwf/sent 17k & sw/tempt 15k. - tougher than shar/dr lairs but overpowered?! hell no! everything dies in seconds
  • rashylewizzrashylewizz Member Posts: 4,265 Bounty Hunter
    edited November 2014
    krymkac wrote: »
    Agreed. Especially funny to read how cws have problems dealing with them bosses. Most faceroll pve class ever. With that attitude no wonder pve is a joke in this game. 15k cw can solo any heroic in the zone aggroing all at once. =S Done all lairs with cw 15k, hr/trapper 16.5k, gwf/sent 17k & sw/tempt 15k. - tougher than shar/dr lairs but overpowered?! hell no! everything dies in seconds

    Let's be real though, any class can afk on heroic dragons. Any class can mount up and follow the zergtrain on the well of dragons.

    Let's not pretend that PVE is some challenge to other classes
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