Zealot's Guide to Lost Vale: Right Wing

Long overdue, I know, but it's been a long time since I've been there. But as I managed to do a successful full run today, events are still fresh in my head so let's begin by spewing them out already. Too bad I forgot to take any screenies of it so random stuff from previous runs will just have to do to mitigate the 2k crit from the WoT.

This was my build for this run. Currently wearing some Warlord, one piece Tyrant (with +4% heal crit), a Cowl of the Fist and 4 piece bonus from Sentinel. For jewelry I use the ToVL glyphs, o LotD Cape, a purple bag city siege weapon and a rr55 SC focus (Apostle's Focus of Anathema. A bit over-geared for this but there you go.

Also, remember to start off battles with your Morale 1 on the bosses, followed by the Harbinger (pre 1.3.6). Although they won't understand why, dpsers will notice a boost in their dmg output.

--//--

Once you're done with the spider boss you come up to the beach again. First-timers must then return to the beach and deliver the quest at the Eversissy again. On to the right wing.

Throughout the wing there will be little neutral Pain Sprites. These cast an AoE silence if aggroed so either make a point of killing every one or just avoid them entirely by cutting down on the AoE. First few tree-like mobs are easy enough. If you find their hits too strong (and they will almost definitely hit you) just detaunt them or Embrace the Warp. I find that a bit overkill for such little damage.

When you come to the stairs make sure everybody moves together and ignore all the mobs until you reach the great Treekin/thingy at the top. You must do this because a barrier appears at the bottom of the stairs soon after the first person goes up.

Moving right on to the first boss.

Chul, the Tosser

Chul crits you for over 9k. You have died.
No, actually Chul is kind of a sissy. The only thing different that he does is that he randomly tosses someone down a great pit. There are quite a few lizards at the bottom. Anyone tossed down should just run up and alert the party of incoming mobs at which the OT or any dps should focus on getting them off the healers while the boss melts away. Otherwise, just keep the main tank HoTed and make sure to through a Leaping Alteration whenever it's off the cooldown. He might silence you for a wee bit. If you're having trouble healing this it can save your lot's asses when you get silenced. Gratz on the almost free loot. Talk to the NPC. Move on through the river.

There is a cave to the right here. It's filled with Gorgers (I think they are). At the top and after a bridge you'll find the next boss.

Larg, the Stomper

Get every single person in the room. Tank&Spank him down. Once in a while he'll start stomping the ground for a small amount of damage every second or so. Just detaunt him if need be. Otherwise, heal as usual. Moar lootz!

Once done, get back down the cave and continue forward towards the patrol of Ogre&puppies. Soon after that you come to a set of stairs that can be tricky. I've wiped on these stairs a lot (and I do mean a lot) until I found a way around them. Be that as it may, the way we did it was: we pulled the first group a bit away from the stairs and waited for the scout to go get the second group. We then proceeded to take that group down, still away from the stairs, before moving on up. I must admit we had pretty well geared healers and 3dps so this might be more difficult with lower dps and less healing output. Alternatively, I believe all you have to do to make this easier is kill the scout before he gets away. Try quaking or any kind of knockback/snare.

Once you're through with the stairs, you'll want to enter the second opening on the right, when you get to the ruins by the cliff. Inside you will find...

Butcher and Gnoblar, The Married Couple

These two are the reason most parties do the dungeon with two tanks. Don't ask me what to do with all the items that supposedly help in this fight, I wouldn't know. Stand in front of the tent or inside the hole in the wall, it won't matter much. The tank should tank the Butcher by the left wall, with his back (the tank's) against the wall. The other tank, if existant, should tank the Gnoblar on the opposite wall, near the dirt pile. All they have to worry themselves about is killing the Gnoblar at Butcher's 75, 50 and 25% hp and retaunting the new Gnoblar that spawns. What you have to worry about is the heavy damage the offtank beggins to suffer when it is time to finally kill him. Being specced high in Dark Rites helps in this fight but, if your OT s a bit squishy it might not be enough. And you can't afford to let your MT get hit for too much either. Just focus heal on the OT when he magically jumps to below 50% hp and group heal them both until the gnoblar is down. When the new one spawns, keep the OT perma-HoTed and focus on the MT. Should do fine.

Hug the wall, past the bridge. Careful because the trees in the bridge dump AoE pools (they look a lot like Mistress of the Marsh) that can really hurt.

Once you get to a platform thingy have players all stand in one of the stone cyrcles. As a Zealot, stand on the one to the far left and let the MDPS stand on the ones to the right. They kill the mobs, you probably get silenced a bit by aggroed sprites. Mobs dead, speak to NPC, move on to the hardest boss of the right wing. After you kill all the tree mobs you might want to aggro a Pain Spire to have your tanks build up morales until they reach Morale 4. This way they can easilly withstand the first blow oooof

Gorak, the Fugly Electrician

At the beginning of battle (after you kill the Sprite, and please remember to or you'll be silenced for most of the fight) make sure everyone is well spaced out and avoid standing close to one another.
This boss has two stages. The first stage he will do frontal cleaves that do pretty heavy damage to anyone caught by them. So keep the MT HoTed and keep dishing out your big ST heal. Due to my Blessing of Chaos I can have this one crit for around 3500 hp so it really helps with the cleave business. Once you see him take the, what I like to call, "taking a dump" position, detaunt him. He will knock everyone back and hit people with a ball of lightning that can eat out half the health of squishies or more. I remember that he deals around 500 when detaunted. I would assume unwarded players are insta-gibbed. This attack is AoE so if someone stands next to another they'll both get hit, hence the spacing thing at the beggining. Time for heavy group heals. Don't bother with Morale 3 as this is a magical attack. Right around the time your detaunt ends, he'll revert back to cleaving as usual. Focus on healing the MT again. This is one of the few bosses in here with an enrage timer. If you don't kill him around his third lightning stage, you will die.

If you succeed, congratulations. NPC, moving right along. Place your self res as soon as you encounter any mobs as this boss aggroes without being attacked or taunted or anything.

This... is... SARTHAIN

Once you get in the wooded area, move left. Place one of your dpsers in the first clearing you find. Keep moving forward and place your tank and mdps here. See that stone near the water more to the left (if you're facing the boss)? Place a rdps there. These should be their positions when they run out. You don't need to have one but more on that later.
You all jump on to the island (although you have the range to not do so if you prefer) and dps the boss heavily. You'll notice some text going on about how Corruptors spawn and channel power and Bob Loblaw's Law Blog. Just keep AoE healing the grunts in the middle. Once they all spawn have everyone take their appointed positions. If someone gets rooted they will take slight damage in very fast ticks. Just Flash them back up. Anyone rooted will be silenced though so place a HoT on yourself when the rooting phase is on. Once the shield is down around the Corruptor's the dps need to be quick about it to get them down or else they will heal the tree back to full health. Just DoT and debuff them as much you can. When done with them wait for the timer on the tree to run down and then everybody moves in again. If you move in the water before the timer runs down you will die. Well, not necessarily but quite probably. Just avoid the water at any cost. Ranged abilities are ok during this phase though so feel free to mangle it with your UBER Scourge...
Anyways, that's pretty much all there is to it. Not much for us to do here except debuff the targets, group heal while in the island and save rooted people.

NPC back at the beach and...

YOU'RE ALL DONE! Congratulations. Be disappointed. Well if you had my luck you would be...

Cya next time.

Insta Ap Giveaway!

* Ritual of Innervation: Increased the Action Point cost of this ability and removed the build time.

* Ritual of Lunacy: Increased the Action Point cost of this ability and removed the build time.

* Ritual of Superiority: Increased the Action Point cost of this ability and removed the build time.

 

Hmm? Hmm? So all those times you were thinking "where the hell is all that AP I had a while ago" because I get bored of casting a 2sec spell when I could be healing you are now in the past. Yes, I just might be sticking to the AP ritual this time. The one thing I hated the most about it was the longer cast time it had. Made me less mobile and, hence, less happy. Was also reducing my damage output as the circa 20k damage I do each scenario come exclusively from my Waves of Chaos (or sometimes, if we're doing ok, my Windblock) so each time I refused to cast it because I was busy healing I was dealing less damage as well.

 

So look forward to some happy times AP boost. I'm still not happy that I don't get any AP back from the damn thing as I am not hitting anything at all. Not because I'm not happy about the damage I would be dealing but because RvR these days is too healing demanding for me to do anything else at my level. So I'm not hitting and, in result, not getting any AP back. But you lot are. And I know you love it.

 

Also, they have changed my favourite HoT ever! Although I might have to give up the afore mentioned Wave of Chaos to slot this tactic in.

 

* Warping the Spirit: This Tactic is now available at Rank 27. It has been redesigned, and will now give Tzeentch's Cordial a chance each tick to increase your ally's armor and decrease the incoming armor penetration of attacks against them.

 
These can be the things I'm most happy about with the patch notes. All the rest is kind of "meh". I'm not gonna pronounce myself over the whole Harbinger thingy. I haven't tested it yet. See it to believe it is my policy.

EDIT: Check out the instance number on that screenshot. Kinky.

Reikland Factory... AGAIN!!#$%&*

Not this crap again, you're thinking. Yes, this crap again.

You know, I thought it was just me and Epikk hating this, seeing as we were fairly good players playing in disorganised pugs. I thought we were just getting the ugly end of the scenario and that it actually had potential.

No. Al llies. Lies and misconceptions. Even on a proper (or almost proper) premade with vent and everyting it's crap. Wtf cares about the flags, honestly? I want to get in the thick of it, keeping people up against impossible odds, not riding around almsot solo trying to cap this or that while the fight is going on somewhere else. And then I get ganked.

Nobody likes this. Nobody I've met so far, anyway. Epikk has even gotten an addon so he can queue for everything but Reikland Factory. That's how much the public loves it. It's a hassle, it's a paaaain, and we all hate it. With a will.

I for one loved that one that only popped during city sieges, Altdorf War Quarters or what was it. And I understand that making them count for the siege thing was ridiculous and unwanted but now that every instance is self-contained and independent, we could have it back. Or for the Weekend Warfront. Just having everyone from everywhere fighting it out on those two small corridors having to worry about nothing else but murder each other was great fun.

Another one of my favourites, as I stated before, is Mourkain Temple. It's small and simple enough to be exciting and the hill and ruins still provide various tactical options. So why not have that? Why have a scenario as big as a Reikland keep (or almost) where you have to roam to find your fights? I want space to roam outside the scenarios, not in them. I join scenarios because I'm guaranteed a fight there. I don't want to cap flags. In the grand scheme of things, what good is that flag anyway? And there's so many of them!

Or if you reeeeally wanna keep it, get rid of the farther flags. The other two, the tunnels and the stairs are enough to keep us guessing and busy.

Something. But I'm not going in there again. Not as is. Not if I can help it.

Have another zen moment.



No, that's not me. I'm much smaller. :)

Mixing armor sets

Yesterday I hit RR 54 on Epikk.

Up until that point I was mixing 3 sets (lately it was 2 piece Invader, 2 piece Conqueror and 2 piece Dark Promise) solely for the triple STR bonus, and had WS slotted everywhere possible (except gloves. i have Melee Power there).

This was working fairly well for me as it gave me a little bit over 50% armor penetration (2H tanks were mostly a piece of cake to take down, except for 2 or 3 specific KoTBS), my STR was capped from the gear alone and my survivability was close to zero, giving Sara something to do.

Since I don't have the "private" flag turned on, every now and then someone would inspect me and one of two questions would pop up.

• if they were low rank: "why do you stack WS, and can you teach me your rotation?"
• if they were high rank: "why are you retarded? don't you know you don't mix 3 sets?"

to the low ranks I'd say "WS cuz my STR is capped, and I like to be squishy, and my rotation is so-and-so"

to the high ranks I wouldn't even bother answering, unless it was someone from the guild, or someone I knew from somewhere else.

After reaching renown rank 54, I decided that it was time to ditch Conqueror all together and give the "2 set only" a try.

result is... I'm confused... My STR is down, my WS is down, my Damage Bonus is down, my Armor Penetration is down... the only thing that's up is my survivability, because of the wounds and toughness bonuses, but not enough to make a difference.

To be honest, I didn't plan things a lot.. I just went to the bank, got my Invader Helm and Dark Promise Gloves, slotted them, equipped them, and jumped on some scenarios, without doing the math to see which pieces of each set would be more profitable to wear, and what tallis I should slot and all that, but my first reaction was "I'm not impressed".

I think I need something to hit repeatedly for a while so I can check stuff up and try some shit, but all things considered, I'm thinking I'll keep the 3 set configuration until I can run with Invader and Warlord.

cheers.

Manor Whoring... I Mean, Holding

Got some 60% renown defending Manor in Eataine today, which put my total up to 1 and 1/4 rr in one day.
Also did one wing and a half of LV, one Altdorf siege and several scenarios. Getting close to rr 64 wich would mean me wearing my first Warlord piece but it's not worth it alone 'cuz of the set bonuses.

And here is, my moment of Zen.

Accomplishment

So I've been real silent lately, mostly because I've devoted most of my time to stop being a no-lifer.

Still, I woke up today and I thought "I'm gonna do something in WAR that means something. I need to feel like I accomplished something." I logged in dead-set on getting to rr62 at least. I got halfway there and then got an inv to join a ToVL run. GIEF!

So off I went ready to do my thing. Even respecced back to the AP ritual, even though I detest it. Seems I'll keep going back and forth with it when I need to PvE. We did most bosses fine, had to reset the damn thing once because one of the bosses decided to go off to visit his mom or something but, all in all, was a great run. Think I proved to some seasoned WAR veterans that my healing 500k in a sc can translate in keeping them alive in VL. And that was my feeling of accomplishment. Sure, the Tyrant shoulders and third Glyph were like "double rainbow oh my god"  (please do click) but making it known that my ability is reliable is priceless.

So, although I'm still a bit far from my renown goal, other pieces have fallen into place and as long as I can feel accomplished, I'm good.

THEY BE STEALIN' MAH WS!!!

The new MDPS sets have been revised... the only thing i liked about them went away.. the WS 4 piece bonus on the offensive set.

the rest of it looks sweet though, but the one and only thing i thought was nice, was removed.

It was kind of obvious from the start that the WS bonus wouldn't stay, simply for the fact that the set is the same for all MDPS, and that would mean that WE and WH would be getting a useless 4 piece bonus. and that pisses me off.

Why the hell do we all get the same set? We surely don't play the same way, so why do we have to "dress up" with the same stats?

Ok, so, it's the easy way out. It kind of reminds me when Blizzard decided that they were gonna have some classes specific to each of the factions in WoW (you know, like Shamans were Horde only and Paladins were Alliance only) and when things got messy cuz of balance and whining, they took the easy way out and simply decided that both sides were gonna have exactly the same classes (so, the only thing that differs are the racial skills).

I HATE THAT SHIT!

one of the things i like about Mythic is the ability to differentiate everything. DAOC had fucking 44 classes. they were all different. they were split up between 3 factions (Midgard only had 14 Hibernia and Albion had 15) Ok so some are similar, in the way that a magus and an engineer are similar. But for the majority of it all, they were different.

Same thing with WAR. 24 classes. 12 each side. and for the majority of it all, they are different.

Obviously this brings balance issues and all that crap, but Mythic never stood down and never took the easy way out regarding that (at least in my book) by making the exact same classes on both sides of the game.

I can imagine the in-house talk between the Concept Guy and the Balance Guy over at Mythic.

Concept Guy - Hey, let's make new SOV sets

Balance Guy - wtf? you crazy? no way. too much stuff to take into consideration

Concept Guy - Oh, don't worry. we only need to make 8. two for each archetype.

Balance Guy - that's awesome! i can balance 8 sets with my eyes closed.

Concept Guy - and since everyone is gonna have one DPS set, you really just need to think hard about 3 or 4 of them :P nice ain't it?

Balance Guy - awww. i love you concept guy. you're the greatest

Concept Guy - i know i know :) you're pretty awesome to.

(I bet Concept Guy plays a Bright Wizard)

anyway, i lost my focus (and my 4 piece bonus WS) so i'm gonna leave it at this.

cheers all

Playing Games With the Faces

At the gates of Altdorf a lone pair of guards stood watch. Forever vigilant in a state of suspended animation until our party drew close enough that they immediately took a defensive stance." "Who goes there?" One of them asked.

"Err, nobody much, really, just your average party going to the city for some shopping and training and all that."

"Yes?" asked the second one, "And what's with the dead tank behind you?

"Oh that? No, that's just battle fatigue. He's just tired that's all. Say hello." Parsley nudged Sage just enough so he wouldn't fall over again.
"Aeo."
"What was that?" The first guard drew his weapon closer to him.
"Err, that's his name. Aeo. You know tanks, never really inventive when it comes to their own names." Mary did her best to look angelic and... good.
"And that Dwarf there looks a bit pale. You alright there, fellow?"
"Zog off!"
"What?" The second guard held his weapon with his good hand.
"I meants, By Grumble's sideburns I ain't pale I'm drunk! Hardeeharhar!"
"They're not buying it," said Rose.
"No, they don't seem to be. Oh well." Parsley stomped the ground. "Run for it! When the stagger ends we'll be far enough for them to reset!"
"What about Sage?" Mary and Rose struggled to move him to no avail.
"Sod him. You can res him from the inside. Or we can summon him. We'll figure something out, move!"
"Bye bye pointy ears!"
The stagger ended just in time for the guards to see them fade into the distance. They then noticed the shiny armor standing still before them.
"Aeo..."

Choppa Build Delays

i know i promissed a choppa build.. and i know i'm late

the reason for that is the fact that come 1.3.6 one of my core abilities is gonna get changed, and i wanna check it out first and see how much it will affect my game. (that and i don't wanna share a build that might become useless in a week or two)

anyway, as a consolation prize... have a pic of Betty :D

the anatomy of a last name

Yesterday i found out that "Waffles" is restricted as a second name in WAR...

To be honest, up until that moment i wasn't even aware that there were restricted second names. i thought only first names were.

Anyway, another one of my characters has food for his second name now. Epikk Waffle joins the "food family" of Camomila Mascarpone, Ahrimana Cantilope, and Freakish Melons

new SOV gear for MDPS

As you all know, Mythic has been tossing out the stats for the new sovereign sets.

Up until now, every archetype has been given two sets. a set that matches the archetype and a set for DPS. (exceptions are the RDPS who get one for DPS and one for survivability)

Now, i don't wanna sound like a prick here, even though i will, but even though i think that each person is entitled to play his class however they want to (bright wizard as MDPS? sure. zealot as RDPS? no problem.. just don't try to roll a healer choppa plizzz) i always thought that it would be a good idea to have the Sovereign sets reflect the archetype of each class.

i mean... you wanna be one of the Everchosen's zealots? then ffs heal more. you wanna be is favorite choppa? then don't hide in the backlines and chop more!!!!

But apparently that's just me.

I've been discussing the new SOV sets extensively these last few days with Sara and she always tells me "then post about it" but i wanted to wait for the mdps sets to be revealed, just in case there was something there that would make me say "ohhhh! now i get it". But unfortunately i still don't get it.MDPS got the "one set DPS and one set survivability" treatment.

What i'm wondering is how's this gonna roll out. i mean, as things are today, we already see in some scenarios tanks out-dpsing MDPS (and i have nothing against it. i actually respect each and every chosen that deals more damage than a pure DPS class) and, taking the risk of sounding too obvious now, part of that is because of the survivability factor.
Simple math. if you're alive during 98% of the time, you're gonna deal more damage than if you were alive only 80% of the time.

Now let's take a sample DPS chosen (I'm gonna call him Ranark The Kryg just so he has a name) and give him a two hander. if he's specced correctly and he knows what the hell he's doing, he can bash some serious head and spill some soaky red blood. Kryg there, even though he's thinking "shit, i'm thin as paper without my shield" is tougher than nails compared to a choppa (let's call the choppa Betty, just for context).

Even if you raise Betty's survivability, i'm betting that Kryg is still tougher.

And this is my main point... you raise a choppa's survivability but it's still gonna die more than a chosen (for obvious reasons.. and that's how it's supposed to be) but since the chosen has a SOV DPS set, he's gonna deal more damage than the choppa most of the time because of the "up-time" they have.

Same thing worries me about DOKs. Give Melael (my sample DOK for this ramble) a SOV DPS set, spec the guy in sacrifice, and look at him go!!!

what Melael The DOK doesn't have in toughness/wounds/armor, he compensates by healing himself through the dark powers of the bloody hand god. (Again, i have tons of respect for most DOK's out there. don't get me wrong)

Again, i think everyone is entitled to play their classes however they want to. it actually pisses me off when people yell at DPS zealots for not doing their jobs (healing, according to the guys) and i laugh my ass out when that same zealot out-dpses the guy that was bitching about it :P

but my bottom line is... i rolled a choppa cuz i wanted to DPS... apparently i chose wrong.

let's hope everything works out in the end :P

cheers

Epikk's cheat-sheet of character names

Ranark The Kryg - based on Ranark and Krueg, both former chosens of The End

Melael The Dok- based on Meelmael the Disciple of Khaine formerly from NOX (we miss you dude)

Betty - evil guy from Kung Pow

Gogo

Isego Isegooo, me wuvs da name. <3

As for what everyone's raving about (no, I don't need to tell you what) I'm left to wonder: Why stop at Sovereign? I mean, few healing healers ever actually wear Conqueror or Invader, although us Zealots are more likely to do so with the new system. But it kills me that I have to continuously try to do a long god-awful LV run just for a pair of boots that would boost my healing crit by 8%.

I'm not the biggest fan of PvE but I've been doing lots of it lately. Just for those boots, mostly. And my other healers need at least Sentinel. I've tried to focus on my RR for a while but even so, Warlord isn't much better than Darkpromise. Please, please. Help me. Give us something like PvE tokens, or an invisible loot drop percentage boost or something. I've done at least 10 runs just hoping for those boots. At 2 hours a run at least I've invested more than 20 hours in LV. And I hate LV. I didn't before, mind you, it was a good change of pace. Now I hate it. And it is possible that, no matter how many times I run it, those boots will never drop.

Anyways. I like the good news for .6. I honestly miss large and small scale fighting. Any kind of fighting really. Like epic sieges where you had 50 tanks dying at the gates trying to keep the enemy out. You know what I've never seen though? People using those altars in keeps. I mean, I must have collected like 40k skulls already and never did anything with them.

Oh oh. A good idea. Well, possibly... For good RvR weapons you have scenarios. For RvR gear you have city sieges. What we're lacking is good jewelry and/or pocket items. Let's have that in keeps. There really isnt good jewelry for casters or healers outside of LotD. Most of them are very tanking oriented.

Hmmm? HMMMM??

No, I haven't been drinking.

His Bow Tie Is Really a Camera

"I say," said Parsley from within his new vestments, "these Warrior Priest robes are quite spiffy. Good thing they didn't have a Knight with them. Would hate to run around with a bird atop my head."
Rose eyed him maliciously. "I don't much like this hat but at least it doesn't have feathers."
"Feathers?"
"Feathers make me itchy."

At this point Mary came from behind the bushes sporting the robes of the Archmage she had just slain.
"Mary," Parsley asked, "Why is there blood dripping from your sleeves?"
"I got a little carried away."

"Hmmm Kmmmt mmmmmv!" The group turned their collective attention to the static Swordmaster armor behind them.

"Sage seems to be having some difficulties adjusting to his new role," observed Rose.

"I'll get him moving when need be. Or I can just kill him and you can keep resing him up ahead. Or we can summon him. Who cares! And where's the gobbo," asked Parsley looking around. It was then that Thyme jumped from behind the bushes wielding his new firearm.

"DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA! Teeheehee!"
"I think those mushrooms haven't worn off yet," sighed Rose.
"Tom, please behave once we get to the gates or I shall have to smite you with my new hammer."

Behind them Sage fell to the ground with a sound thump. Much groaning issued from within the shiny suit of armor. Parsley sighed.

"Ok lets get going. Mary, go clean that blood off, Rose help Sage up. Tom, put that turret away before you put an eye out."
"Look, I have a gun too," said Rose as she held the glistening and impossibly long pistol against the rays of the sun. "Fancy that."
"Oooh, gief it to me! I luvz guns now!"
"I'm starting to think this wasn't the best of plans," Parsley confided to Mary.
"It'll be fine," she replied. "Just have the goblin stay quiet and make Sage seem somewhat alive."