Lago Mortis
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Post by Lago Mortis on Apr 19, 2006 16:46:09 GMT
Are anyone interested in a long UW trip on Friday/Saturday with the aim to clear out UW and make all quests?
Guess it can take 6-8 hours. I am available from 15 GMT Friday and go on (worst case scenario) until about 16 GMT Saturday.
Guess some of us can switch server (Euro <-> America) if neccesary. I read that you can switch region up to 5 times so back and fourth this time would mean 2 times spent.
I will be away from early Sunday and until next Saturday, so I guess I will miss the Factions startup. :-(
Regards, Lago Mortis
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Post by Cerryl Nyrim on Apr 19, 2006 16:51:44 GMT
I have yet to use my newly obtained access to Uw or FoW, but unfortunately I will be moving this weekend, and my internet at the new place will not be on til Mon evening. So after about Thur evening I will be unfortunately unable to acces GW. Maybe next week.
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Post by Volitar on Apr 19, 2006 17:04:58 GMT
I'll switch over to Euro for an UW clearing run unless you all switch over to America. I guess it really depends on which server has favor when the run is planned. I am willing to switch because it is very rare for a group to set out and clear the entire Underworld and I really want to do that. Even with my Monk who gets into parties extremely easily, I can never find a group to do this.
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Post by Kailianna Firesoul on Apr 19, 2006 17:32:18 GMT
I'd love to go on a massive trip to clear out UW, but I'm not really willing to switch servers for it
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Post by Dawnstar Elyra on Apr 19, 2006 21:36:58 GMT
I'd also enjoy doing this, though I'm also a bit leery of switching for it. I might be able to drag some of my guildmates in for it as well... Gage was saying something about needing to play together more or something, too.
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Post by Kailianna Firesoul on Apr 19, 2006 23:03:15 GMT
It might be nice to organize two runs, one US and one EU.
Oh, and I'd like to point out randomly that there are two other EU guilds with the tag SoT (Soldiers of Thunderstorm and Sons of Tyria) - a good reason for us to stay US, no? <_<
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Lago Mortis
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Post by Lago Mortis on Apr 20, 2006 5:07:56 GMT
We made an attempt yesterday!
First we had some trouble with the servers not allowing anybody to enter FoW/UW, but that was solved after some time (an hour?). Vol joined us in Europe and was a nice addition to our team of 2 R (traps/disrupt) , 1 Me (Dom/Shatterhex), 2 W (Very nice tanks), 2 monks (both with a mix of healing and protection) and me with my battery build from the Crash course. We seemed to be a pretty solid team and cleared out Labyrinth/Smites/Village/Mountain without much problems. Good ecto drops also, 5 in our party had gotten their share that far.
We were doing very well with the mesmers using Dana's tips of pulling them to the stairs. The hexing was much less this time. A bit more than halfway through them I got disconnected....bummer! They others seemed to do pretty well though, even though they missed the BiP'ing. I'm eager to know how it ended.
Very nice party, with a lot of witty comments!
Regards, Lago Mortis (Hoping for a new attempt)
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Post by Twisted Sister Jane on Apr 20, 2006 6:21:35 GMT
Too bad you disconnected last night Lago! And too bad the hour was so late (uh, early)!
We were victorious over the infamous Mesmer plains! We cleared out just about everything there was to clear out, then moved on to an area I never had seen before, filled with Terrorweb dryders and air elementalist ghosty thingies. We cleared this out also, rescued the monument, got another relatively easy quest from the Reaper (apparently bugged, we got the reward before doing the quest, heh heh), then some of us had to leave. We finished up by rescuing the monument in the plains (warning: there are popup Mesmers here! Get them first or they will kill the reaper) and then, with 4 of us left, we decided to end the night by taking the Reaper's quest at the plains monument. This is perhaps one of the more impossible quests, and we soon died by the enormous amount of enemy that spawned.
We had a truely great team! Two great tanks, two great monks, two great rangers, one great battery (until Lago disconnected), and one squishy Mesmer (me) who hid behind anything that looked friendly and just kept casting Shatter Hex on the tanking Warriors. We survived because we played together as a team, and even knew when to run away when necessary.
I look forward to this again! We are on our way to conquering UW, an area that I once thought just about impossible to do with a balanced group.
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Dana Hawkeye
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Post by Dana Hawkeye on Apr 20, 2006 6:31:08 GMT
What a shame Lago you had a DC problem.
From that point onwards we basically cleared the Mesmer Plain except around the monument and to our surprise found and entered into a 'new' area which none of us had been into before.
This was to the right of the monument and was filled with Driders and Phantoms, plus a nice easy quest, worth 10k xp.
I believe that there is just one more area that I certainly havent been to and that also is accessible from the Mesmer Plain through the cave to the right of the stairs. Do you remember me asking 'has anyone been down there' as we were attacking those Obsidian Wurms on top of that hill - I think that is a place we have not been to yet.
I also think you are right in saying about 6 to 8 hours in clearing Underworld. We were not very methodical last night, maybe that is what we need to do in order to truly 'clear UW' and complete ALL of the quests - start on one side of Underworld and work our way across.
I think the skill and profession mix was about right last night - the 2 tanks were very handy as they blocked the Mesmers from us most of the time and there was some excellent monking going on at times - thanks for that. Whatever you were doing Lago and I really dont understand the 'Battery' role of Necros, it must have been good, because you were noticeable by your abscence. The only thing that I thought could have been handy was for the 'other' ranger, I think it was Kira to have also had Barrage, but maybe she had a trap elite or something else - it would have helped a bit on the mesmer take down - not a major critisism, more of an observation.
I do think that with this 'Expedition' though because of the length of time, that we take a few more breaks throughout it and to take a bit more time over what, where and how we are going to do it - A UW Strategic Plan .................. and stick to it as well.
But, all in all, last night was a good recce and I think next time we will beat the Mesmer Plain once and for all and perhaps finally conquer THE UNDERWORLD in the name of 'The Scouts of Tyria'.
NOTE: I was writing this as Jane was writing her post.
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Twisted Sister Kara
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Post by Twisted Sister Kara on Apr 20, 2006 7:18:37 GMT
The only thing that I thought could have been handy was for the 'other' ranger, I think it was Kira to have also had Barrage, but maybe she had a trap elite or something else - it would have helped a bit on the mesmer take down Yes, that was a really exciting trip yesterday, and we really did a very good group together. Those mesmers in the plains were really hard to get through, from the other attempts we made before. Sorry to say Dana, that i didnt take Barrage to do damage. I concentrated more in defense of the group and interrupts. So I had traps to blind for some of the areas with aatxes, and other traps to do some spiking on those mesmers while the warriors were tanking, and to generally keep foes away from our healers and spellcasters. I also took choking gas combined with practiced stance (very good combi btw, PS upholds preparation for a longer time) to make those multiple interrupts. Dont know if you noticed, but the hexes and those nasty spells was reduced consideraly due to the multiple interrupts. So i thought we did a good ranger combi in the team.
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Post by Twisted Sister Jane on Apr 20, 2006 8:00:50 GMT
We did do darn good! Kira's spell blocking with a just about constant choking gas cut down considerably the spell damage from Dryders, Colds, Mesmers, and the Lightning phantoms. Lago's role was well needed; she supplied me as Mesmer with constant energy, and after the disconnect I often had to wait for energy recharge before I could shoot off some spells again.
The tanks were great; I for one am glad that those two big warriors are so big!
Frustratingly, I as Mesmer was interrupted a little too often by those darn Mesmers. But if I was fortunate to be far enough back so as not to catch much of their attention, I was able to cast echo'd shatter hex as often as the spell was ready and energy was available, because at least one of our warrior tanks was always hexed. This gave 126 damage to each enemy around when a hex was shattered, and if I managed to cast this twice relatively quickly, with a dose of Energy Surge which gives 80 damage to each nearby enemy, that alone was 332 damage to all nearby foes. Combine that with Dana's barrage, our warrior's axe and sword, Kira's traps and it is easy to understand why the Mesmers were taken down so quickly.
So the damage dealing was at a fine and high level. And as I mentioned above, the monking couldn't have been better.
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Post by Gigs on Apr 20, 2006 10:27:22 GMT
It truly was a great trip. I enjoyed the fun we had together and the way we played as a team. The monking was far less stressing then it can be, maybe almost relaxed . The way you all played didn't need intensive healing most of the time and combined with Lago's BiP's I was tripping on an overdose of energy. So thanks all for a great job ! I loved the way Licinia and I worked together last night. It just worked out great. We both had a healing build with some protection. We agreed before the trip we would both use Aegis and timed it after each other, having the spell up for 22+ secs out of 30 in most of the battles. Those mesmers were a real challenge. And somehow we divided our monk roles naturally without any communication. Licinia stayed in spell range to counter big health dips, I stayed far back trying to keep out of reach of the hexes and keeping general health up for all with Heal Party. With massive hexes on everyone, I think its an impossible job to try and strip them one by one. But doing good damage with shatter hex by Lulu was very effective, and removing a migraine sure had its value. Dwayna's kiss was a great spell out there. Even way beyond spell range and aggro circle I still got my share in Migraine covered with phantasm and clumsiness (?!?), but not as much as I otherwise would have got. I was hardly interrupted. Thanks for all the fun. Thats why I keep playing GW. Having fun with my GW-friends. I wont be available Friday 17.30 - 00.00 GMT. Playing old fashioned table top / pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons. But I'd loved to join at any other moment during the weekend. Twisted Sister Anne
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Lago Mortis
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Post by Lago Mortis on Apr 20, 2006 10:40:06 GMT
Yes, I liked the group balance as well. We had some nice complementing skills and used them well together as a team. As Kira and Jane pointed out, there were a lot damage reduction going on, and we did really benfit from it. The hexing were significantely less this time, of those that got through I helped the monks remove hexes from casters, while Lulu/Jane used those on the tanks to kill the monsters.
When we met warrior/ranger foes, I think traps, the monks protection as well as some really good tanking helped us squishy casters survive. I tried to do my share by casting shadow of fear and enfeeble blood on nasty beasts to reduce their damage output to 1/6.
A balanced group is always a balance between defence and offence. This time we were heavy on the defence bit. As I see it, we took advantage of that, since everything went much smoother than our previous attempts. I also feel that we actually took down things more rapid this time since our 2 warriors, Shar and Khorrax (friend from othert Guild), Dana and Lulu together dealt a pretty load of damage.
Dana, it warms my heart to hear that my abscence were recognised, hehe! I understand that the role of a battery is a bit obscure if you not have played much as a monk. My experience is that monks easily get energy issues in long and hard fights, one of my importent lessons as a monk was to reduce the amount of heal/protect to a bare minimum. If they monks get some regular BIP's I guess it allow them to cast a lot more nice spells making the life easier for the rest of us. Yesterday we discovered that warriors also need BiP's and to my experience Mesmers and Rangers can increase the amount of damage if they get an extra energy boost from time to time. Other than that I made wells to help healing and as corpse denial. I also casted rebirth since I'm the one most suited to do that without disrupting vital things like healing/tanking/interupting.
We have been at the cave area once. It is full of flesh golems and chained souls. Corpse denial were a nice thing to have there since the golems casted fiends from the abundance of corpses in the area. Thje reaper quest there is a pretty easy escort thing.
Altogether a very fun trip and we really rocked!
Regards, Lago Mortis
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Post by Gigs on Apr 20, 2006 11:49:35 GMT
Oh, and I'd like to point out randomly that there are two other EU guilds with the tag SoT (Soldiers of Thunderstorm and Sons of Tyria) - a good reason for us to stay US, no? <_< I think the switch of server was purely meant by the others to be able to play UW together on this occasion and not intended to switch as a guild to another server for a long period of time.
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Post by Volitar on Apr 20, 2006 12:25:24 GMT
It certainly was a great run yesterday. I hope that we can go again and clear out the area with the Dead Threshers. I have never been there before. Everyone did a great job with what they needed to do and it was a lot of fun. The Chaos Planes were definatly the best part of the run. Especially when nine Mindblade Specters would charge at us or spawn all around us; it makes things really intense and that is what I like about monking. I think next time I am going to leave out Healing Seed and bring something different. I only saw a few times when Healing Seed was working out well and that didn't warrent it taking up a skill slot. The Smites seemed to give us some problems though it seemed. I have found when I used to solo the Smites with my Mes that Sympathetic Visage crippled them. Perhaps someone should bring that? Only problem is that they sometimes won't stay on a target for long since they are so erratic. For those that have never been do the Chaos Planes or Spawning Pools, here are two screenshots of them.
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Post by Gigs on Apr 20, 2006 12:31:57 GMT
Dana, it warms my heart to hear that my abscence were recognised, hehe! I understand that the role of a battery is a bit obscure if you not have played much as a monk. My experience is that monks easily get energy issues in long and hard fights, one of my importent lessons as a monk was to reduce the amount of heal/protect to a bare minimum. If they monks get some regular BIP's I guess it allow them to cast a lot more nice spells making the life easier for the rest of us. Very true Lago ! I am very grateful for your BiPs. I learned I can totally trust on enough energy for anything with you present as a battery. I can follow a saver strategy. Keeping all healths as maximum as possible. Not caring if I over heal sometimes (loosing part of the total healing because my target reaches max health). So when massive damage strikes, the chance of being in time and be able to heal enough to prevent a death is bigger. And when there is massive AOE damage or massive DOT (like yesterday) I can use Heal Party (15 energy) several times to counter it. Think I must change my signature : "If we have Lago, I'll heal" Twisted Sister Anne
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Post by sharplaninac on Apr 20, 2006 13:11:13 GMT
it was really fun yesterday. great balanced team... all really done their jobs great. only "objection" that i can say is to myself, dont get my wrong, i am satisfied with my tanking yesterday but dolyak isn't best choice even if it give me +40 armor lvl. -75% movements isn't good if i want to agro foes on me. i cant catch them later if they past behind me. ;D also, with almost 1200 hp and 150 armor lvl (dolyak, watch urself + platemail) i died twice. and it was my fault. monking was really great, and with that build my job is to minimize healing from monks to me. and #3, my dmg was really.... hmmm... poor only to meet req. for victos axe. i put 9 axe mastery. i will have to catch more strategy for good uw tanking on forums. i got one advice from one (imo) great tanker. to put "martyr" on me... with that skill i get conditions from all party members to me (good thing is that dont stack ;D ) and heal all with pure condition. then, i am clean and all party is clean. i will study some more tactics for sure. but conclusion is that we done GREAT job yesterday. thank all !!
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Twisted Sister Kara
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Post by Twisted Sister Kara on Apr 20, 2006 16:06:47 GMT
As always, a nice group photo of last nights adventure. Here we are enjoying the breathtaking view at the end of the so called "smite run" in UW. Starring: Licinia, Dana, Kira, Anne, Shar, Lulu, Lago and a nice friend from another guild Khorrax.
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Lago Mortis
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Post by Lago Mortis on Apr 20, 2006 17:48:38 GMT
Very interesting to read everyones comment about their own builds. What they did and what they might do better next time.
I myself have very little knowledge about the "noble art of tanking" so Shars comments was especially interesting. Since I cast BiP on mainly the monks I get a fair insight in the skills they use. as for the Warriors and the non-trapping Rangers I have much less idea of what kind of build they use.
I was rather satisfied with my battery build this time. Since it was my 3rd time reaching the mesmer plain I also had polished the use of it somewhat. I have one question though, do you Rangers have any use from BiP? I sometimes have some free capasity that I can use for those who benfit from it. As for now I use to cast BiP right in the beginning on the trapper since my guess is that traps cost a lot energy which is nice to replenish. Is that a good thing? Besides that Ranger get some BiP's when I don't think any else need it more and I have nothing better to do.
Regards, Lago Mortis
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Post by Twisted Sister Jane on Apr 20, 2006 18:29:16 GMT
I can't speak for the others, Lago, but when Jane is playing her trap-oath shot-throw dirt build, energy becomes scarce within a battle. Usually Jane can hold her own with energy, due to a reasonably high expertise and the choice of rather low energy costing skills. But as trapper, particularly with dust trap, energy input from BIP can be useful during a battle.
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