Old raids

M

marinerfan

Member
Hi Ghallanda!

I've been plodding towards 7500 favor on my favorite alt, Pseudopod-3, and realizing I either need to buy Myth Drannor or run some of the old raids to make it there. I'm planning to try to solo a lot of the older raids and wanted to check if there's any interest to make things a little easier (and also ask 1 favor!). I'll probably be running these in the coming Wednesdays (maybe starting in 2-3 weeks) shortly after the downtime. I haven't figured out my order yet, but below are some of the raids I'm planning to hit - I figure I'll try to solo them unless others are interested in joining :). You can assume heroic versions if the raid has a heroic version. Please note - some of these I've never run or have just stood there while the skilled players do all the work so there will be some learning involved unless a guide joins. I'll probably try to run the raids I don't know well on normal by myself to get a feel for them before putting up LFM's at higher difficulties so the runs should be "first time" runs. My character is level 34, so don't join these for xp, as there probably won't be any for you. This is strictly for favor and to relive "the glory days".

We'll start with the one where I have a small favor to ask of the community...
- Tower of Despair (I've never run this one). I am hoping someone may have some spare parts so I can craft my boots of anchoring. I'm in need of Pure Shavarath Iron. Please mail to Pseudopod-3 and let me know what you want in return. If I get multiple sets, I can distribute to others who may be interested in running the raid with me. I have around 10 demon's blood, but if there's interest from several people, I'd need a few of the other items (Mysterious Artifact & Devil's Keepsake).
- Lord of Blades + Master Artificer
- Vision of Destruction + Hound of Xoriat (I think running to these will be the most challenging aspect of doing them)
- The Shroud (please be flagged)

If we get a good group rolling or enough interest, we may push onward to some of the higher level raids and if very short-manned may do on hard, but these are lower priority for me:
- The Twilight Forge and The Titan Awakes. I'm flagged and would be happy to run this if we get a guide. I don't know this one and know it can't really be solo'd unless you have a pet.
- Fall of Truth
- Fire on Thunder Peak
- Temple of Deathwyrm (I've never run this one)
- Defiler of the Just
- Mark of Death (not sure about this one, maybe already ran it)
- I think I have uncompleted some of the Ravenloft and Sharn raids, but if I knock out at least half of the above raids, may not need to run these higher level raids where I'd definitely need a group.

Please either reply here if you're interested in joining for anything specific or send me a private message. We can try to work out times that will work for people, unfortunately the only time I can reliably be on is Wednesdays for around 3ish hours right after the downtime, otherwise my play is very sporadic.

Additionally:
I will probably try to run TOEE legendary one of these Wednesdays, pushing R4-6 if I can find a group, so keep an eye out for that also :)

Thanks all!
 
vryxnr

vryxnr

Well-known member
Good morning!

I can't guarantee my presence at this moment, but I might be able to help when the time comes. I have several raid ready characters, though most are on timers as I raid often. Raamattu should be off timer for everything right now.

As for soloabillity...

Tower of Despair: easily soloable with a level 34. Even without the boots, the attack targets your will save, so if you have a decent will save and do a quick ED swap to make it so you do not fail on a roll of a 1, you will be immune to the banishment even without the boots.

Heroic LoB and MA: both soloable, but you do need a ranged attack (for LoB one that can actually hit the tops of the pillars)

Vision of Destruction: heroic is easily soloed

Hound of Xoriat: solo is a bit awkward with everything on you, so once you have the charming stones you need to kill the nearby trash without killing the puppies so you can charm them and they'll actually attack mommy. Better to have a second who can play with the pups and mommy while the other kills and collects stones.

Heroic Shroud: Soloable if you have a good ranged attack (one shot the crystal) and possibly a speed boost if you get unlucky with the maze boss spawns (split killing, outrunning, and crystal smashing when you have both the kitty and the fire ele is a pita).

Twilight Forge + Titan: Solo is no t just a pet, but a specific monk build with a pet as you need to be able to self rez while underwater while doing pet shenanigans. a real PITA to solo. I know a few people who love this raid. I sometimes multibox solo, so I should refresh my memory on the green puzzles and how to do them without DDooring after each one lol.

Fall of Truth: easy to solo when at cap by simply overpowering it

Fire on Thunder Peak: another real PITA to solo, due to the dragons becoming immune to damage when close to each other. I have not tested the old ways around this in a while, so best to have at least 2 just in case.

Temple of the Deathwyrm. another real PITA to solo, as you need a pet, and you need to rely on RNG to actually solo, as there are 2 times where the path forward splits randomly (3 paths, only 2 are available, chosen randomly. You chose which of the 2 to go through. This happens twice in a longish raid). Not all paths are possible solo, even with pets. Actually, the first split is soloable regardless of the path taken. The second split though, one path requires 4 people, another path requires 6 people, and the 3rd path can be soloed. So soloing REQUIRES that RNG is nice to you for the second split and give you the soloable path. If not, reset and try again. The end fight is complex with several phases, that require party splitting so one group does vital side activities and another stay with the dragon. If no one is with the dragon, everyone gets teleported back. So getting here solo means you now need a beefy pet that can survive the dragon and infinitely respawning trash while you do shadow side objectives. ... Best to have 4 people so you can get through regardless of the paths and don't have to do pet shenanigans at the end.

Defiler of the Just: soloable with decent DPS

Mark of Death: Currently bugged and closed. When it gets fixed, this is one that is only soloable with a pet, as someone must stay on the main platform to prevent the party getting teleported around.
 
Mornyngstar

Mornyngstar

Well-known member
For Tower of Despair if you have spell absorption from the Ioun stone or the cloak from Gianthold those work fine, as long as you don't take long in the end fight.
 
A

Alternative

Well-known member
vryxnr said:
Tower of Despair: easily soloable with a level 34. Even without the boots, the attack targets your will save, so if you have a decent will save and do a quick ED swap to make it so you do not fail on a roll of a 1, you will be immune to the banishment even without the boots.
Click to expand...
Not long ago, in another thread, people were saying that EA no fail on 1 will save is bugged and doesn't work.
 
M

marinerfan

Member
Good input so far, thank you all for that.

I'll try TOD with an exalted angel splash later today if I have time. It'll be a normal run as I'm not currently subbed. If I get banished on a 1, I'll report back here. As a bard I think my will save is fine, but not amazing...if I got popped out of the raid, I'll let you know what my will save is as well.

@ Vryxnyr - I assume a ranged attack such as the fatesinger ED and sonic blast will reach the targets you noted that require range?

@ Vryxnyr again - if multiboxed, would twilight forge be more doable? I have a couple extra accounts amassing ddo points in case either of my kids ever wants to play ddo with me :). I could also bring the boxes to other raids like HOX, but I'm pretty bad at jumping between screens and may do worse with the extra commotion.

It sounds like Temple of Deathwyrm is out unless there's an inexplicably good turnout, probably for this one I would defer to a guide if at all possible.

Aside from maybe Fall of Truth, I don't think I'd try to solo any of the lower list of raids. Pseudopod-3 is a first life toon and she just doesn't quite have the juice needed to dps through some of the higher leveled stuff. I was able to solo normal Fall of Truth a while back, but I'm not sure I have the dps to take on H or E by myself. On my main, I've 3-manned a few like Fire on Thunder Peak and Defiler of the Just.

I should add to the list:
I'm not sure I've done an elite caught in the web yet. I know I've run it at least on normal with 1 other player, but not sure about E. If not I'd probably try to get that put together as well.
 
vryxnr

vryxnr

Well-known member
marinerfan said:
Good input so far, thank you all for that.

I'll try TOD with an exalted angel splash later today if I have time. It'll be a normal run as I'm not currently subbed. If I get banished on a 1, I'll report back here. As a bard I think my will save is fine, but not amazing...if I got popped out of the raid, I'll let you know what my will save is as well.

@ Vryxnyr - I assume a ranged attack such as the fatesinger ED and sonic blast will reach the targets you noted that require range?

@ Vryxnyr again - if multiboxed, would twilight forge be more doable? I have a couple extra accounts amassing ddo points in case either of my kids ever wants to play ddo with me :). I could also bring the boxes to other raids like HOX, but I'm pretty bad at jumping between screens and may do worse with the extra commotion.

It sounds like Temple of Deathwyrm is out unless there's an inexplicably good turnout, probably for this one I would defer to a guide if at all possible.

Aside from maybe Fall of Truth, I don't think I'd try to solo any of the lower list of raids. Pseudopod-3 is a first life toon and she just doesn't quite have the juice needed to dps through some of the higher leveled stuff. I was able to solo normal Fall of Truth a while back, but I'm not sure I have the dps to take on H or E by myself. On my main, I've 3-manned a few like Fire on Thunder Peak and Defiler of the Just.

I should add to the list:
I'm not sure I've done an elite caught in the web yet. I know I've run it at least on normal with 1 other player, but not sure about E. If not I'd probably try to get that put together as well.
Click to expand...
TBF, I have not tested the range of every attack. For the last while I've been swimming in warlock, and the top of the pillars in the Lord of Blades is juuust out of range of the warlock's focused blast.

If there is low turnout, boxing makes anything possible (so long as every real person is okay with it... I've bumped into some vehemently anti-box people before), it just also makes things take longer as well. And yes, it is a very different challenge to box things especially when there is no assisting software involved and you manually control each one via window hoping (this is what I do as well, no software, swapping windows quickly to control each one individually... and I've either soloed or solo-boxed most every raid so far... the exception atm is Den of Vipers which I've poked my head in to to test things but I haven't actually finish it solo yet)
 
M

marinerfan

Member
We ended up having a great raid day today, rather than a few weeks from now. Group size ranged from 5-12 depending on what we were running. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of interest we had today. The big obstacle seemed to be flagging, as that was the main reason for people dropping throughout the morning. Special thanks to vryxnyr for typing in main points about each raid before we got rolling.

Some notes from today's playing:
- Heroic Lord of Blades and Master Artificer are very easy at cap. These were good ones to start on to set the tone. I had asked about range attack aimed at the higher nodes - sonic blast easily reaches, the fatesinger ED spell reaches if you're near the edge and jumping when you cast it.
- Hound of Xoriat went smoothly, though need to be careful with the pups. Not sure who, but someone blew them up at the start and we had to wait for more to drop from the ceiling, then when I tried to charm the first couple, I killed them with the Shiradi Mantle (it will proc when you use the stone to charm the puppies). This one was easy, but took longer than expected due to puppy deaths.
- Vision of Destruction - didn't know this one no longer requires the run, which was a pleasant surprise. We smashed through this one super fast. Of the ones we ran, I think this one would be the easiest to solo.
- Fire Over Thunder Peak - no drama here. Higher level raid compared to the first few we ran so we had to actually kind of pay attention, but very easy at cap with a 6-person party (or maybe 7?).
- Defiler of the Just - lost 2 archons. I think we had 5 or 6 for this one. Went smoothly but I guess we didn't find 2 of the executioners quickly enough.
- Fall of Truth - smashed through this one super fast.

I'm hoping to host a few more raids within the next 1-2 Wednesdays (might not be able to play next week). This next round would be more involved raids. The raids with asterisk, I'd like to have a guide in the group before attempting them. The list of possible raids is below:
- TOD
- Shroud (be flagged)
- Twilight Forge* (again, be flagged)
- Temple of Deathwyrm*
- Mark of Death* (if it's open)
 
M

marinerfan

Member
So far I've been focusing more on the older/easier raids. Here's a more complete list of potential raids we could run in the coming Wednesdays (basically here's what I haven't run yet):

- Mark of Death* (once it's back up)
- Tower of Despair*
- Twilight Forge*
- Heroic Shroud *
- Temple of the Deathwyrm
- The Curse of Strahd*
- Legendary Chronoscope
- Project Nemesis
- Riding the Storm Out
- Too Hot to Handle

* indicates raids I know require some flagging. Maybe some of the higher level raids also have some flagging that I'm not aware of (never have run the bottom 3 listed and haven't looked at the wiki for them yet).

I'm thinking I will probably skip Deathwyrm (long, complicated) and Twilight Forge (also long, complicated, not many bother to flag for it). I'm closing in on 7300 favor and don't think I'll need to run the tedious stuff.

If we get a good group forming, I'd probably try to hit the bottom 5 raids in this list (I think EH or EE depending on group and difficulty of the raid), so let me know if you're interested and we'll try to set a day, either this Wednesday or the following Wednesday shortly after the downtime. We'd probably start with legendary chrono (no lockout here? This way more can join as we get started), then strahd, Nemesis, Too Hot to Handle, Riding the Storm. If we haven't run out of steam, I'd probably then want TOD + shroud next unless anyone has specific interest in running something else.

Thanks!
 
vryxnr

vryxnr

Well-known member
Good luck today! Sadly I will not be able to join this week, but I believe in you! (also MoD not back up this week, which is sadness)
 
M

marinerfan

Member
Probably no raiding today. I'll be out running some errands instead today :/. I'll try to get a lineup settled for sometime in the next 1-2 weeks and post it later today.

Edited to add:
In the bits I've been playing over the past couple weeks, Pseudopod-3 reached her goal of 7500 favor. Thanks everyone who has either hosted or joined raids that I've been a part of. I ran a few of the raids listed above on my trek to 7500:
- Tower of Despair: really easy and quick to solo. I re-did my ED to grab the EA "no auto fail will save on 1" ability. I ran this on n/h/e and never got banished but I'm not sure if I ever rolled a 1.
- Heroic Shroud: I happened to find one other interested person and we 2-manned it. Shoutout to the other player because it would have taken me a year to break the portals (I'm a caster bard and the portals are immune to sonic damage. My goldcursed dagger only does so much damage). I'd say heroic shroud is easy to 2-man. Some highlights: we broke the crystal on our first try so none of the monsters got a chance to respawn, got the puzzles all solved without getting liquefied by the wall, and we had enough DPS to kill Harry before the blades closed in on us. This was fun, though it'd go a lot faster with another 2-3 players to solve puzzles and run water.
- Legendary Chrono - joined an LFM to run this on hard. My first time in LChrono. Nothing notable here.

I'm hoping for 1 more good morning of raiding either 5/14 or 5/21, with the following lineup:
1) Riding the Storm Out
2) Project Nemesis
3) Too Hot to Handle
4) Curse of Strahd
5) Mark of Death (if opened by the time we get a date set)

I think I'll opt to skip Twilight Forge and Deathwyrm unless there is strong interest in them.

See you in game!
 
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