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Maia

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Posts posted by Maia

  1. Posted · Edited by Maia · Report reply

    Hi all. 

    This is the next installment in my research on challenge modes. I've been looking onto Samarog and this one is no joke. I'm sure some of you know more about it than me, so please feel free to add to this post or correct anything I've got wrong. 

    New mechanics:

    Invulnerable spears now appear in a set pattern every 5 seconds. After the entire grid is full, Samarog eats them and the group needs to avoid the red arrows that appear on the ground.

    Choose your friends wisely: The person who gets the large circle is now immobilized and the person with the small one needs to run to them. A spear spawns where the person with the large circle is standing, so the group needs to be aware not to stand on the large circle.

     

    Strategy: 

    I found this lovely map by Derior (I think Mold will be a fan).

    P2N7tmi.jpg

    http://m.imgur.com/gallery/P2N7tmi

    Druids: Considering the large amount of deadly area, S&R and spirit of nature seem helpful.

    Because tanking is crucial, we may want to assign people to take aggro (by standing furthest away from the boss as cc phase finishes). The tank should also make sure the swipe attack won't kill the person immobilized by the friends mechanic. A possible strategy is to have the tank move to the next position without the group and have the group follow after.

     

    Videos:

    Video from KING that goes with this map:

    I've got a few others. I'll post them ASAP.

    • Like 2

  2. Posted · Report reply

    With our Deimos kill, I'm excited we're getting closer to challenges!

    Just wanted to update this. As far as I can tell Necro seems to be meta for overseer challenge mode. Why? You guessed it, epidemic! I guess it makes sense with ele nerfs. Good news for people who like playing Necro. Bad news for people (who shall remain nameless) who are triggered by Necro in raids.

     

  7. Posted · Edited by Maia · Report reply

    How bad was the condi ranger nerf? Can we keep full spotter coverage by bringing one Druid and one ranger?

    The other consideration is spirits did not get the ten party member target increase. We typically have at least two frost spirits around and sometimes other spirits. 

     

    Thinking about this from another angle: What is the smallest change we have to make for tonight so that we're not wasting stuff? Seems to me our regular comp with warriors compensating for the banner thing should still work, right? Of course it could be optimized, but I don't think it's broken.

  10. Posted · Edited by Maia · Report reply

    I want the mini Eye of Janthir. I see no reason to buy it off the trading post when we can earn it ourselves. (I'm going to assume you all want it too.) Not to mention all the other cool loot you get from completing a challenge mode. Therefore, I'm putting together some resources for us for after we kill Deimos. Please add info if you've found some.

    New mechanics: 
    Blue stuff: Every 30 seconds, blue stuff appears on four tiles on the floor. The blue tiles are different for every player. You must stand on one of the blue tiles as it expires or it's instadeath.

    Strategy: 
    I don't think the movement and spikes are any different. 
    To be safe you may want to bring a movement skill such as blink, lighting flash, shadow step, etc. (see povs below) Sometimes the blues and spikes are close in timing and you have to get to your blue square quickly at the last second. 
    The blue color appears for approximately 5 seconds before it expires.
    Having someone call blues seems helpful (:05 ish and :35 ish)

    Videos:
    Mesmer tank pov


    Tempest pov: 


    Condi Druid: https://youtu.be/Ww2eq90kj6I (that last minute Dad button!)

    • Like 1

  12. Posted · Edited by Maia · Report reply

    I know we're probably going rev for this, but I found this video today that illustrates how Druid can kite without going to the middle for the dome (most of the time, it might not be 100%). Thought I'd throw it out there in case we want another option (or perhaps the back up?).

     

  13. Posted · Report reply

    I don't routinely bring warhorn, but I have a setup similar to this and I have used it. I've tried it on Matt and Cairn, but I don't bother if I'm in a group with a minstrel chrono (I don't want them to feel like they wasted all that gold :P). Let me just say my build is a little different because I run enough boon duration for the healing spring regen to exceed 10 seconds. Therefore, I overwrite more of the chrono regen stacks (hehe). I haven't tried the fern hound option. I'd want to make sure that it uses my healing power instead of its healing power. I've seen conflicting posts on that point.

    What is a Druid giving up? I'm my opinion there are two considerations here.

     First, we lose off hand axe. That's an issue in fights where I use the axe 4 pull. However, there is always someone else in the group with a better option, so it's primarily back up. Examples: extra cc for Matt sacrifices, pulling adds or the orbs on Xera, pulling loose slublings on Sloth. This is why I haven't tried this build on Xera or Sloth (even though I was tempted).

    Second, you have to pay more attention to internal cool downs and your rotation. Quick draw and weapon swap management matter. This maybe a practice/experience issue, but for me it makes emergency healing a little tricker. You have less tools at your disposal if you just swapped to sword/warhorn. Still doable of course. On the other hand you might not need as much emergency healing with high regen ticks.

     

    Ill think about this a bit more. I reserve the right to edit this post. xD

    • Like 1

  19. Posted · Report reply

    My testing shows the exact same thing:

    Thief = Condi ranger < Staff tempest on large hitbox by 4-6k (depending on how good my rotation is that day)

    I think DD is supposed to be slightly better than condi ranger, but I'm more familiar with ranger than DD so, oh well.

    The more I play DD the more I've come to love the extra dodge :lv:

    I can't promise a repeat of my flawless performance every time (beginners luck haha), but I'm feeling more comfortable and would be happy to give one of our regular cannon runners a break if they would like. 

  20. Posted · Edited by Maia · Report reply

    In the current meta druids are responsible for pushing the orb on Keep Construct. Typically druids use staff 1 because the skill cool down and the orb movement cool down are approximately the same. That said, I don't like how it feels. Therefore, I've been looking for alternatives, and I found one a few days ago on Reddit. 

    This stategy involves starting with staff to push the orb to the first rift and then quick drawing long bow 4 to push the orb into the next two rifts. The pros are it's quicker than staff because you're using a push twice. I'm also hoping it feels better. The cons are you are stuck with using staff/longbow instead of staff and s/a. Although if your running Magi Druid, it probably doesn't matter that much.

    Here's the guide for any who are interested: 

     

     

    Twisted has done a great job "pushing" for Boomslang, but I can't help but feel like I should pitch in too. Maybe we'll have some time to try this out at some point.

    • Like 2

  21. Posted · Report reply

    So tonight I decided to practice DD/tempest in Wing 1 and joined a pug from one of the lfg raid guilds I belong to. To my surprise one of my pug mates was a semi well known streamer, luality. You can see the footage here: https://www.twitch.tv/luality/v/115053989

    It starts around 45:00. My favorite part is around 1:05 when her twitch followers insult my choice of class and decide it would be better if I was running guardian. O.o The part where someone calls her lazy for not porting us past the champ in spirit run is pretty funny too.

    You really never know who you're running with when you pug. Although I should have probably figured it out from her name and guild tag [cute].

    Even more exciting, after she left we did Sabetha and I did 'even' cannons for the first time and no missed cannons! Whoooo! It's possible I'll become a competent DD! :no1:

  24. Posted · Edited by Maia · Report reply

    TL;DR: TC will be less painful if we use this 5 button strat with the entire group (not solo)

    TL;DR 2: Maia gets easily obsessed about stuff. What a weirdo.

     

     

    Last night at the Boomslang Raid I mentioned the Mesmer portal strategy for TC. Because no one else was familiar with it, I decided to do what I typically do when a "puzzle" like that bothers me: I researched it. (Yes, I know I have a problem. No, I'm not getting professional help.)
    From what Mighty Teapot, Nike, and Brazil said about this strat during the Elitist Raiding Party Tournament, it is (as Kintari would put it) the new hotness.

    The idea is to do the solo strat shown in this video with an entire party. This way we only have to hit 5 buttons.

    https://youtu.be/0qr_daPyYkw

     1. Zerg goes right, kills mobs, goes to next room and hits first button. Zerg then purposely ports back to beginning using statue.

    2.  Zerg goes left, goes through 'pain' room, gets to the next room and kills mobs and continues using behind portal. 

     2a. One person goes to forward portal, hits the button, returns to the beginning and joins the group by going the left route. (I'm calling this the first split room)

    3. At second split room, Zerg kills mobs

    3a. Mesmer with falling damage reduction places portal and dodges or falls down to next level (land on arch) and places portal. Open portal.  Rest of the group portals down.
    3b. One person does not take the Mesmer portal. Instead they take the 'door' portal on the left and waits for door to open, hits button and returns to start.

    4.  Zerg kills mobs at bottom of stairs, hit button
     4a. One person goes back to hit button as shown in video: https://youtu.be/MoAu0J_GQsA at time stamp 0:49

    5. Zerg heads through door at top of stairs   

    6. Zerg makes way to end of maze

    7. Win

     

     

    Videos:
    Zerg view: https://youtu.be/v-FiGnV5DpM
    https://youtu.be/ZOVXJXJiMwU

    Mesmer jump and port:
     At 18:12 in this video: https://youtu.be/0aqPFP7TpLI
    In this one too: https://youtu.be/Mim6W8Vf9xg

     

    • Like 2
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