Curse

aspi · Jul 12, 2010, 07:42 PM // 19:42

Only hard part of BLA is finding a damn monk. Takes ages to get one.

El Presidente · Jul 12, 2010, 08:10 PM // 20:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by aspi

Only hard part of BLA is finding a damn monk. Takes ages to get one.

Why? I've done this 3x now with a guildmate...never used a Monk.

Me: Imbagon
Guildie: R/ (Barrager)

Me: A/R (Barrager...yep, mainly a mule ~ no other 2ndary prof)
Guildie: Rit/ (SoS)

Me: R/ (Barrager)
Guildie: Rit/ (SoS)

Then, the following Heroes:

MM
Panic Mes
Nuker
N/Rit (with Splinter & some heals)

Easy when they ball up at the stairs for minions and spirits with the barrager, nuker and splinter support up on the hill. The first time, we wiped twice (not knowing what to expect) but recovered. The others, one Hero death each time. Why stand around in LA spamming for Monks?

Essence Snow · Jul 12, 2010, 08:33 PM // 20:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by makosi

There's a lot of Panic-love in this thread but I found it kind of pointless; the exclamation marks make it seem like more impressive than it is.

In a party of 6 I would rather have a damage elite instead of a defensive elite because I found I was less likely to wipe if I simply didn't overextend and aggro too many mobs. Camping on the stairs next to Nola Sheppard was optimal in my experience.

Remember every one of those !! is an interruption. That means that many less actions that your group has to deal with. I noticed when I went w/o a Panic Mesmer there was quite a bit of Unsteady Grounds and Firestorms to contend with. I've done this 3 times with a human Panic w/o 1 death...w/o human Panic 2 times (both had 1 full wipe and couple individual deaths)

aspi · Jul 12, 2010, 08:39 PM // 20:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by El Presidente

Why? I've done this 3x now with a guildmate...never used a Monk.

Me: Imbagon
Guildie: R/ (Barrager)

Me: A/R (Barrager...yep, mainly a mule ~ no other 2ndary prof)
Guildie: Rit/ (SoS)

Me: R/ (Barrager)
Guildie: Rit/ (SoS)

Then, the following Heroes:

MM
Panic Mes
Nuker
N/Rit (with Splinter & some heals)

Easy when they ball up at the stairs for minions and spirits with the barrager, nuker and splinter support up on the hill. The first time, we wiped twice (not knowing what to expect) but recovered. The others, one Hero death each time. Why stand around in LA spamming for Monks?

I still need to do it with my warrior and sin, unless I want to stand around and admire the view I'd better bring a monk

Could go crit barrage sin I guess.

Saborath Gilgalad · Jul 12, 2010, 10:43 PM // 22:43

Quest was quite easy not sure what all the fuss is about.
I ran it with a splinter barrage(me), SoS(hero), Roj monk(hero), panic mes(hero), lvl 10 mes and monk.
Only tough part was a few waves of mursatt.

Verene · Jul 13, 2010, 01:03 AM // 01:03

You know, I haven't even managed to complete this quest yet (tried a couple of times with a friend earlier - we lost primarily due to positioning issues and suicidal heroes), and yet I've still had a blast with the attempts I've made. Yes, it can be fairly difficult. It's supposed to be. But damn is it a ton of fun. There's nothing quite as amusing as balling up a dozen WM on the steps and just scything my way through them. Love it.

Skyy High · Jul 13, 2010, 05:54 AM // 05:54

Crazy thought here: can you form a party of 8 in ToA, walk to LA, enter the keep, and do the mission like that? Might not work with henchies, but should with people/heroes, right?

Showtime · Jul 13, 2010, 09:58 AM // 09:58

just did it with h/h (gwen/livia/xandra/mes/ranger). i used my ranger with barrage w/ xandras splinter. funny that one of the middle jade bosses made it past the 2nd set of stairs, but the final bosses wiped my group in between the 1st and 2nd stairs and ran back below the 1st steps. i don't think they would have ever went up the stairs since they started patrolling back and forth. maybe one of the spirits stayed up or one of the npc came back and pulled them. got wiped 4 or 5 times so i tossed up armor and a summon. should be a lot easier now that i know what to expect with my necro. kill underlings and focus fire on 1 boss at a time. do a little kiting.

dorin · Jul 13, 2010, 11:44 AM // 11:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skyy High

Crazy thought here: can you form a party of 8 in ToA, walk to LA, enter the keep, and do the mission like that? Might not work with henchies, but should with people/heroes, right?

Since you start the quest inside Lions Arch Keep, no.

Kenzo Skunk · Jul 13, 2010, 12:01 PM // 12:01

OP

You as SoS
mes hero with panic
mm hero
aoe hero

Plus - you have cons, summoning trinkets and dp removers at your disposal.

Imaginos · Jul 13, 2010, 02:00 PM // 14:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gill Halendt

The problem with this mission is that it's not really "challenging", it's just the frustrating type of challenge that ANet seems to love so much.

Encounters are not well thought out, you're just flooded with spawns from the front gate. Enemies are not any smarter either, they are just (ridicolously) numerous and often hard-hitting if you're not prepared enough.

A textbook example of quantity over quality, you don't really need any strategy to clear the mission, you just have to hit them harder as you can't overcome them in number.

The real problem with this mission is that it's fine if you're with at least 1 other real person and their heroes alongside yours but with the default L10 npc's this mission is impossible.

Also for some odd reason with real people the jade wave doesn't seem to madrush Salma like they do with just pure H/H.

Imaginos · Jul 13, 2010, 02:02 PM // 14:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alicendre

I've had no real difficulties with a PuG consisting of a Mo, a resto Rt, a Panic Me, a D with SY! and me as a SF E. Biggest problem was the lag, but it's apparently fixed, and we didn't wipe.

People are still doing the quest so you shouldn't have a problem finding a decent team.

Let's see how that pans out in a few months when the hype of this quest chain is over and no one is doing it, or very very few people are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VAge Japie

I found it quite easy with 2 monks, 1 MM, 1 SoS rit and 2 SH eles. I had expected more from the Masters ''tag''.

Now go solo it with 2 level 10 henchmen and 3 heroes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xsiriss

It's only hard because we're given literally no ai to work with (cough 6 heroes please) and most pugs suck. Like seriously suck. 'Hai I'm infuse',' Why are you spamming Sf then?'.

This please!

Imaginos · Jul 13, 2010, 03:44 PM // 15:44

After reading the rest of the thread I see that people have done it with some of the L10 henchmen, so I'll have yet another go at it on my warrior and see how it shakes out. My first runs were using builds very similar to what was already posted. I think I'll dump alesia and just add another heal or two to some of the necros and take another damage dealer henchman like the archer.

I wish I could do this with 4 or 5 heroes but no second account that would work

kanuks · Jul 13, 2010, 04:13 PM // 16:13

I usually do all questing with h/h in hard mode but i fear this one is too much. I need some more trys but it's sooooooo difficult to deal the damage quickly enough.

N1ghtstalker · Jul 13, 2010, 04:20 PM // 16:20

panic
deep freeze
echo savannah heat
????
win

rabwatt · Jul 13, 2010, 04:39 PM // 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imaginos

The real problem with this mission is that it's fine if you're with at least 1 other real person and their heroes alongside yours but with the default L10 npc's this mission is impossible.

Also for some odd reason with real people the jade wave doesn't seem to madrush Salma like they do with just pure H/H.

Its not impossible.... just very difficult.... this took me several attempts

I didnt use any cons... or stones... just popped the aplles etc for the last wave and used some honeycombs after the one and only wipe...

EDIT:--- Just to highlight this can work with any character as I didn't use any Monk skills at all throughout the mission
Have fun :-)

dusanyu · Jul 13, 2010, 05:44 PM // 17:44

mission was simple with 1 war 4 rangers and one monk no cons

FlyMoto · Jul 13, 2010, 05:54 PM // 17:54

Just easily completed with:
Me (AEcho RoJ + EBSoH + EBSoC)
MM
Panic Mes
Curses Nec
Alesia & Dunham

Strategy was just to stand up on the cliffs with the rangers, keep the Ebon Battle Standards up, and RoJ groups (any other decent AoE would work in RoJ's place, I was on my monk). I used a summoning stone but it was a saltspray that got killed in about 1 min, so nothing terribly useful there, and some personal cons (apple, cupcake, cookie for extra energy). Got wiped once near the end when Perfected Aegis came out, but that was not that bad.

Bigger Redd · Jul 14, 2010, 12:00 AM // 00:00

Completed this the other night, it was a nightmare. Hardest part was Perfected Armor and his group. I did as others, staying on the ledge with the archers until he was down. Pretty much solo'd the last 2 bosses (ele and mo) with spirits.

no cons or summons

Chthon · Jul 14, 2010, 03:20 AM // 03:20

Going back over my earlier predictions:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

NM H+H - probably impossible with the two lvl-10 hench. WRONG. IT'S BEEN DONE.
NM full players/heroes - Fun. Not precisely challenging, but you are likely to wipe on sheer numbers here and there. CORRECT
HM H+H - probably impossible, at least for most classes. ?? NO REPORTS SO FAR
HM full players/heroes - probably doable once we get a better grasp on how the monster AI interacts with the map. CORRECT. IT'S BEEN DONE

Biggest issue for HM is that the allied NPCs fold pretty much instantly against any HM mob.

Now, for the $64,000 question: Can you get a party of 8 from ToA in to LAK? DID NOT WORK WITH 2 PLAYERS + 6 HEROES; NO REPORTS ON 8 PLAYERS.

So, I'm still waiting on someone to manage BLA HM with H+H.

Also, if anyone tests out 8 players from ToA, let me know.