'Claws of Malar' -- Make it Soloable, or Make it Queueable

dadanddragons · May 2019

The Claws of Malar quest in Wyllowwood is a roadblock to progress. This is because the final boss of the encounter, Arcturia, is far too difficult for the majority of players to solo. However, the two sets of mob groups and mini-bosses that lead up to the Arcturia fight are easily soloable, with or without the NPC dragon's help.

As such, it makes no sense to have the Arcturia fight tuned so far up in difficulty. Either make the entire quest soloable, like 90% of all other quests in the game, or make it a queueable, group-based quest, like the other 10% of quests. Having it 2/3--1/3 solo/group in terms of difficulty is frustrating, and makes no sense. The entire flow of the Undermountain zone (which is a stunning achievement btw, easily the best zone in the game and one of the best in any MMORPG currently), from the moment you step into the Yawning Portal until the moment you take the Claws of Malar quest, is slick and exciting. Claws of Malar is a huge stumbling point in that journey.

kolatmaster · May 2019

What Class/Loadout when facing her?

Her butterfly/flying bug zone attack is/was super annoying, but as a Warlock Soulweaver I beat her 1st time around...

Unknown · May 2019

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Unknown · May 2019

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Unknown · May 2019

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truecreamy · May 2019

problem is if you do not have the boons and such. You are not going to be able to hit Arcturius hard enough to get around being rooted, stunned, action points drained, and your hp stolen to replenish hers.

Having started playing Jan '19 it is hard to find campaigns not affected by the level thing to make progress in

Unknown · May 2019

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commonstarguy · August 2019

Agreed. It's now August as I post this, I'm soloing and I'm blocked from progressing by the Arcturia boss fight. She's managed to kill me in two shots five times in a row, and I ran out of healing items/injury kits early on (which are crazy expensive for me right now, since I'm using all my available currency on healing potions which don't even do that much to keep me alive in the fight). In addition to that, there's a chance that in the lead-up to the fight you can be swarmed by a legion of what looks like 30 or more cultists. Calling it "unfair" is putting it mildly, I think. Either nerf the boss, or make it part of a queue solo players can at least have a chance in the quest.

greywynd · August 2019

Try asking for help in zone.

callumf · August 2019

greywynd said:
Try asking for help in zone.

This. I have helped out players a couple of times.

I soloed it after it killed me about 6 or 7 times. I just worked out you have to hit it as hard and fast as you can, then run around healing until you can hit it again. Probably the toughest solo fight for some time

fyrstigor · August 2019

It is a hard part compared to the rest of the areas. But its still not hard to solo. Ive done it on tanks and badly geared and build dps. It can be done. If u cant kill her fast more running and dodging is involved though.

A lot of player are still not using selfhealing insignia bonus. So in this instance where they is many mobs and boss they get caught off guard ad struggle with the 18 sec CD on healing. But most of the adds doesnt hit hard, and selfhealing will negate most of what they are doing to u.

Else just ask for help in zone, guild, alliance. Anyone who is a little bit geared can finish that instance in a few min.

plasticbat · August 2019

I soloed that for 6 characters and did not feel it was difficult. Nobody died. My toon did have selfhealing insignia set up, ArmPen and Accuracy close to cap, augment pet. On the other hand, this is an early mod 16 quest and I had not learnt to play some class mechanic properly (probably, still do not). The last toon was a Cleric in the weekend and I still was confused with its mechanic and she did not have any healing encounter. It took a while but she did not have issue to finish it.

Unknown · August 2019

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planestrider · August 2019

I got stuck on the walking stick in this quest (2nd boss) with a glass cannon aka dps warlock, geared for maxed dmg since every other setup would have died even faster, at level 80 instead of the required 73 or so. Eventually I was invited into a group and able to solve the quest, dying only a couple times, but before that, it was a complete block. The dragon disappearing each time before the real fight was not funny any more, but simply felt like additional mockery. Tactics were down to nothing since getting out of sight was impossible as well as using the landscape, thanks to invisible walls, which in other areas allow a temporary retreat while enemies are busy with pets / companions. In the quest I player, I was just able to waste one healing potion before I got killed by a single blow - that's the kind of block I mean, not "you did not try oft enough".

whatismayo · August 2019

The entire fight is BS. I'm a level 80 wizard (slightly undergeared, but still overleveled) and she absolutely destroys me every time I face her. She can spam that AoE attack that drains your action points and cuts your health by about 70%, she has the multi-hit beam attack that I can find no way around, and as far as I can tell she's immune to control effects. Doesn't help that she and her minions can track you back to your respawn point, giving you hardly any time to recover after death. Potions are far too ineffective and have unnecessarily long cooldowns to be at all useful, so healing is pretty much out of the question.

Also, I'd like to mention that I have boons from early campaigns like Dread Ring and Icewind Dale, campaigns that are now meant to be tackled after Undermountain. My point: Undermountain recommends 9,000 item level while Dread Ring and Icewind Dale recommend 11,000. This means that new characters are meant to take on Undermountain before those two, which means they won't get their boons until later. So in a sense, I'm stronger than I'm supposed to be at this point in the game, yet this boss makes me feel like I skipped at least two zones. This leads me to a question that I've had on my mind for a while: does Cryptic even test their zones and balancing before pushing them out? Did they seriously go into this zone and fight this boss with a level ~75 character with decent gear, and actually decide that it's okay? My guess is no.

Get your act together and clean up your mess, Cryptic.

cherryman1 · August 2019

Those that have problems are the ones who aren't ranged without burst nor ability to survive. She is going to butterfly over herself, drain your AP, do ranged damage to you. All of that is really hard to deal with as a melee class that is newer to the game. She also has a heal mechanic to heal back up just like the boss in master of the hunt.

Those that are commenting on making sure to use insignia bonuses also need to remember that the average cost to get those at least on pc is in the 200k AD range per mount plus about 40k more for the insignia. If you have played a while and have free mounts you probably have the mounts already. With the reduction in the amount of rAD events for new players getting the AD to get the items needed is probably a 60 days to 120 days into the game milestone to have what your suggesting to solo that quest.

fyrstigor · August 2019

cherryman1 said:
Those that have problems are the ones who aren't ranged without burst nor ability to survive. She is going to butterfly over herself, drain your AP, do ranged damage to you. All of that is really hard to deal with as a melee class that is newer to the game. She also has a heal mechanic to heal back up just like the boss in master of the hunt.

Those that are commenting on making sure to use insignia bonuses also need to remember that the average cost to get those at least on pc is in the 200k AD range per mount plus about 40k more for the insignia. If you have played a while and have free mounts you probably have the mounts already. With the reduction in the amount of rAD events for new players getting the AD to get the items needed is probably a 60 days to 120 days into the game milestone to have what your suggesting to solo that quest.

Having green mount bonus is good enough for a cheap start. Buying cheapest insignias at green or blue is also fine at start. Ur picking insignias for the bonus they give, not for the stats.

So no, u dont need to pay that much to get going in the beginning.

Ur time frame of 60-120 days must be based on someone just playing 10 min a day. Cause its no where close to based on reality.

planestrider · August 2019

cherryman1 said:
Those that have problems are the ones who aren't ranged without burst nor ability to survive. She is going to butterfly over herself, drain your AP, do ranged damage to you. All of that is really hard to deal with as a melee class that is newer to the game. She also has a heal mechanic to heal back up just like the boss in master of the hunt.

I just want to add that I had the problems as a ranged-only warlock of Level 80 just as well due to lack of health and companions who weren't able to aggro even the trash. You're right; it takes way more than the suggested char and gear level to get through.
(Lvl 80 despite leveling my way through Undermountain happened since I had to take a break from the campaign and do others first in order to survive the Malar cultists in Wyllowwood. Back then I already thought them somewhat overpowered, but then, I haven't faced them with any other class.)

sometimesyoulose · August 2019

im not sure what the problem is here. are you not moving and "dodging"

i have gone through this fight on 11 toons. the only problems i have had were with melee characters. when she butterflies around herself, you just have to run around till it goes away. you cannot stand in one place very long in this fight, thats really the only thing. hit her with your encounters and move away. she wont butterfly herself if you arent next to her very long. make her try to butterfly you when you are running around, waiting for your encounters to recharge. even try to hit her with one encounter and move away, then back in.

when you run into something you think is very hard or impossible, think about what makes it that way and adjust how you play it. that is what strategy is.

now, go solo the CTA

planestrider · August 2019

I'm always moving and dodging (and usually the Unmoveable Object, which is funny), with the Claws of Malar mobs usually more than I ever get to attack. Warlock is surely not the worst class for dodging, but the most powerful attacks are too slow and, at the level I got there (first 76, later well past 80), too weak. Speaking of "A campaign which is perfect to raise your level from 70 to 80." Similarly, it was not possible to evade earlier opponents in this quest before dying. Several times I had to quit due to them following me to the campfire, and I did already use the swiftest possible setup for warlocks plus marathon runner boons at 5. Armor must have been Gambler's / Deteriorating set at the first try.

I ended up there with a new Mod16 char with the possibly lowest gear score one could have at that point, so even healing was low, although that did not matter - it was not possible to use a health stone without getting slain.

'Claws of Malar' -- Make it Soloable, or Make it Queueable

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