Curse

jetlaw · Dec 17, 2009, 04:21 AM // 04:21

My background: I am a guild leader who has played since the initial release, done every mission in the game, hundreds of UW farming runs and plenty of UW clears before the UW nerf (including 2 man + hero full clears). My only reason for mentioning this is to verify that I am not a clueless noob who doesn't know the UW or have clue what they are doing.

That said, I have made multiple attempts at doing full clears since the nerf and failed miserably. The ONLY quest I have had any difficulty with has been the new Ice King quest. Tried with various groups, and bit it hard. Tried with 2 people + heros and did fine until the Ice King quest, and then bit it as soon as the 2nd group spawned.

Since I always seem to get in bad PUGs, my question is: Is there is a way to do an UW FC with 2 people + heros? I have tried various builds that dominate in other areas of the game, and they have not worked at all for this quest. I have even tried running a team with heros with MASSIVE amounts of interrupts, and also failed. So, I am now seeking some thoughts from you 1337 pros out there, to see if there is something out there which might do the trick.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated!!!

Braxton619 · Dec 17, 2009, 04:41 AM // 04:41

It's possible with this setup:
--------------
x1 SY Spammer, x1 HB Warrior
x2 ER Heals/Prots
x1 MoP SS Nuker
x1 FoC Necro
x1 Nuker, x1 Spirit Spammer (or 2 spirit spammers if different spirits)

Agar · Dec 17, 2009, 07:43 AM // 07:43

You cleared UW with that setup? Dhumm too?

Zodiac Meteor · Dec 17, 2009, 08:03 AM // 08:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agar

You cleared UW with that setup? Dhumm too?

No he didn't.
Meta works with well coordinated people, not AI heroes.

For one, ER heroes can't heal at pits as they will be constantly drained. Heroes will blinding wonder into the casting range of a chained soul, not good when 6 dryders pop up. Unless you have heroes that auto target the spawning chained souls (Which they don't attack chained souls unless they attack) players and heroes ER's will have huge trouble.

Secondly, you need a person to hold 1 side of the plains quest. Either a spirit spam or perma which heroes can't solo, if you don't have those your backline healers will be eaten alive with meteor shower and anti-cast spells.

ER heroes use ER when low on energy or you micro them, either way it is a lose, lose. A Mark of pain caller requires a person, so does SY!

It is POSSIBLE with 3 people and the rest heroes and that includes Dhuum, but this is done in NM.
You need 2 ER players, 1 perma. 2 ER's has the heroes with communing spirits and channeling spirits. Last spots are 3 A/R Barrage heroes. The perma runs and pops the Reapers for fast teleporting while the other 2 ER's go out to complete the quests.
Send the channeling hero, perma and 1-2 A/R to their deaths to put Dhuum to rest.
Here a tip while doing the quests with the builds, kill fast. The A/R barrage is great because melee AI is horrible. Plus with Unwelcomed guests you can attack from afar no problem as the heroes will completely ignore the invicible spawns. The Skeletons in wastes should die very fast and probably won't notice them spawn. The mountain quest is super easy as the high can make barrage fly a long way. Pools is a simple pull and kill. The perma can easily handle 1 side while your team handles the other. Pits is also good because there is a nice safe spot where the spawns pop and chained souls can't touch you. Other than that, the remaining quests are hardly quests at all because they are very easy.
It takes ~1h and 20m with 2 consets and 1 back up. That includes 2 summoning stones. Worth it? No, NM = really small drops.

Quote:

MASSIVE amounts of interrupts

That's your problem, Interrupts =/= PvE. Monsters hit hard and they heal badly, most amount of interrupt you would need is Broad Head Arrow for foes high powered spell spike damage.
Great Dwarf Weapon is great because not only it increases damage, spammable on allies, but it randomly knocklock foes regardless if you have 0 Delver Rank. If you get great dwarf weapon on 3 people that means 1 foe will garrentee never move or doing anything while being attacked.

HellScreamS · Dec 17, 2009, 10:31 AM // 10:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zodiac Meteor

No, NM = really small drops.

Ectos have the same drop rate in Normal Mode and Hard Mode.

Rekliss · Dec 17, 2009, 02:03 PM // 14:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by HellScreamS

Ectos have the same drop rate in Normal Mode and Hard Mode.

now u let the cat out of the bag XD

Zodiac Meteor · Dec 17, 2009, 07:03 PM // 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by HellScreamS

Ectos have the same drop rate in Normal Mode and Hard Mode.

But the chest drop isn't worth it.

jetlaw · Dec 19, 2009, 01:18 AM // 01:18

Thanks for the comments folks.

Based on the comments here and the other posts on UW Full Clears that I have seen, it appears that there are 2 constants with most of the balanced team builds: (1) A SY! Para to lower the damage done to the party (per wiki this results in a 82.3% reduction of the damage dealt to the team), and (2) GDW to help add some KDs to keep the level of aggro manageable.

I have some ideas as to how it might be possible to do this with 2 + heros , but I'll have to do some testing to find out if it is really feasible. Of course, if anyone succeeds with a 2+H team in the interim, please post the team build you used to make it through.

Thanks again.

Kirzath · Jan 22, 2010, 01:47 AM // 01:47

I have cleared the UW (in normal mode) with 2 players and 6 heroes.

Player 1: SY! Paragon
Player 2: BHA Ranger
Heroes:
P/any Motivation Paragon
P/any Command Paragon
D/N Orders Dervish
N/Rt Corrupt Enchantment Necro w/ Barbs and MoP
Mo/E WoH Hybrid monk
Mo/E Prot Monk

This was however accomplished before the Dhuum update, but I don't think he'd be much of a problem against the sheer DPS the team build can put out.

Anduin · Feb 02, 2010, 01:55 PM // 13:55

I too, am interested in doing this, with no permas. Is it possible? (2 players and henchmen).

I wonder how hard it will be once the SF nerf takes place. I just want to beat it on all of my characters to finish that Halloween quest once and for all.

dr love · Feb 02, 2010, 05:24 PM // 17:24

i haven't done it, but my recommendations would be:

1. play on NM
2. both players come as e/mo ether renewal protters + infusers
3. some sort of mish mash of damage heroes

the hardest part will be 4H and wastes quest. but i think its doable.

Anduin · Feb 03, 2010, 01:00 AM // 01:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by dr love

i haven't done it, but my recommendations would be:

1. play on NM
2. both players come as e/mo ether renewal protters + infusers
3. some sort of mish mash of damage heroes

the hardest part will be 4H and wastes quest. but i think its doable.

I have to do it with 8 different classes, so the "e/mo" thing is out the window.

mage767 · Feb 05, 2010, 01:29 AM // 01:29

Attempted 3-man 5 heroes after Dhuum update in NM.

Failed at the last quest...Unwelcome guests while killing the last dryad. We were tired after the 2 hr ordeal and screwed up. We did kill it but got wiped simulatenously, lmao. So, it was 10/10 and I got the option to return to ToA.

At 4H, don't split, and at Wastes make sure no skeleton can run to King. Even one is enough to kill King while the snowmen do nothing but watch.

I was imba, and friend was spirit spammer. The other dude was a ursan I think.

acastillo666 · Feb 05, 2010, 05:30 PM // 17:30

for all this trouble at henching uw u should just do FoW it is still as easy and u can probaly get faster times, if u want u can even do it in HM with cons me and my freind would do it all the time.its great FUN, most ppl now only go cause they want to finish very fast. but u seem like a leader who just want to have fun with his guildies and make a bit of cash doing it.

jetlaw · Feb 08, 2010, 08:11 PM // 20:11

The assessment by acastillo is pretty accurate. I've done FoW numerous times, NM, HM, with people and Heros. I've even done FoW with fun theme groups - such as an all monk team. Since I'm not a big farmer, I mostly look at adventures that are fun or unique. Although I still do FoW on occasion, my real goal is to finally complete the darned Holloween UW quest. I have completed the UW numerous times B.D. (Before Dhuum), but have never been able to complete it A.D. (After Dhuum). Since I have completed EVERY other mission, dungeon and elite area in both NM and HM, it is now a matter of principle for me to get this done.

As with Anduin, I have numerous characters looking to complete this, so my hope is to find a way to do it with multiple professions (although at this point even being able to do it with one prof would be a welcome respite). Frankly, I haven't had time to try it in the past month and am eager to try focusing more on GDW + SY! to help keep the aggro during the Ice King at a manageable level. Adding in MoP should help a great deal as well. I will hopefully be set aside some time to be able to get this sometime soon.

On another note, with a rumored nerf of SF, I am curious as to whether ANet will change the way that the UW is set up. Permas allegedly provided the impetus for ANet to add the skeletons to the UW. If permas are taken out of the equation, one would hope that the skeletons (at a minimum the skeletons that spawn during quests) will be either deleted or reconfigured (e.g. - not having their damage ignore all forms of defense). Absent such changes, my guess is that the UW teams will become even more scarce, and the UW will become yet another area of the game that people choose not to venture to.

Thanks again for the comments. And of course, if anyone discovers a good hero based build for this which works effectively, please post it.

Anduin · Feb 11, 2010, 05:56 PM // 17:56

I also am wondering how UW is going to work without SF, for as much as I know it is basically required now to beat the stupid place.

Also, Amatz Basin is pretty much impossible without it.

I hope these places (and all others like them that need cheese in order to be passable) get balanced after they remove one of the only methods of beating them.

Ariena Najea · Feb 11, 2010, 09:30 PM // 21:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anduin

I also am wondering how UW is going to work without SF, for as much as I know it is basically required now to beat the stupid place.

Also, Amatz Basin is pretty much impossible without it.

I hope these places (and all others like them that need cheese in order to be passable) get balanced after they remove one of the only methods of beating them.

It took my Alliance a few months of one-a-week Amatz runs to get 100 points with a balanced team.

Anduin · Mar 03, 2010, 08:48 PM // 20:48

So... can it be done? Or does this require an all/mostly human party?

WarcryOfTruth · Mar 04, 2010, 02:36 AM // 02:36

Yes, it can be done. No gimmick of any kind is required to beat it, nor with Amatz Basin.

Anduin · Mar 05, 2010, 12:37 PM // 12:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarcryOfTruth

Yes, it can be done. No gimmick of any kind is required to beat it, nor with Amatz Basin.

What party build would you suggest? I have 8 different classes (everything but ranger and monk) who need to do the festival quest. My friend whom I will be playing with only plays warrior for the time being (the rest of his characters aren't level 20).