Runnyeye 2.0
Ok, so we’ve been running this zone since it launched and I have a few thoughts on it.
I really, really, really hate this zone. It’s absolutely awful if you bring more than one caster and less than two healers. I’ve had a Warden solo heal it before, but it was pretty hard. Casters just get eaten by AE from the nameds like there’s no tomorrow. The biggest pain in the ass mobs are Slamhammer and Chieftan Stiltsea. I just spent an hour dealing with Chieftan Stiltsea and finally just gave up. I’ve taken him down a few times, but I don’t think I’ve had as much trouble with him as when I have more than 1 caster in the group. It’s not because we’re n00bs or don’t know what we’re doing. The same healers I had today keep me up fine on raids, but couldn’t keep it going on this mob. Not only does he do a power drain, but his AE hits the casters so hard we end up losing most of the dps before he even hits 50% half the time. The only reliable method of killing him has been to all huddle together in one of the tents. Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but making it so that casters can’t survive the mob period isn’t fun, it’s just frustrating. After a 70g repair bill I decided to give up and move on to other nameds.
Usually when we’re fighting Siltsea I’m sitting there healing while I’m tanking and interceding the people getting hit the hardest. I mean seriously, 2 raid geared healers should be able to keep a group up through this guy, but it’s hit or miss half the time. The mob really isn’t even worth the effort half the time because he rarely drops anything good (least from my perspective). He’s only dropped the following every time I’ve taken him down:
Anguish (Adept I)
Blackened Alloy Gloves
Chieftain’s Blocker
Death Blow (Adept I)
Magicky Danglies
Pack of Imps (Adept I)
Purple Muslin Vest
Silten Sand Headgear
The Blackend Alloy Gloves are decent for a scout, the Chieftain’s Blocker is meh compared to most of the shields I have, plus it has a stupid “goblin” proc like most of the items from the instance. The Magicky Danglies are meh compared to a lot of other wrist items for tanks, I suppose it would be ok for a caster, but again, it has the useless goblin bane proc on them. The Purple Muslin Vest is pretty decent for casters, and Silten Sand Headgear is ok for Brawlers. I have yet to see a master drop off the guy, or even something I would really use. The fact that you can spend over an hour dying to him doesn’t make the loot worth it. It’s not a matter of unskilled healers, it’s a matter of sheer annoyance with the fact that he practically one shots the entire group every time his AE goes off, and there is no decent place in the room to fight him except for under the tent next to the hall you come in from. Anywhere else in the room and you’re basically going to go flying all over the place.
In order to make this encounter actually decent a couple things need to happen. Less AE…I’m not talking about taking it away completely or whatever, just tone the damage down a couple hundred points and have it fire off less often. Less interruptions when casting. Seriously the entire group is constantly interrupted, makes it not only frustrating, but almost impossible to keep up with heals and damage. The last thing is make the tent you have to stand in slightly bigger, just a little bit so people can actually get tucked away better and not get shot out into the room and perhaps not constantly interrupted by the tornadoes that come by the edge. Casters really need some love in here because this place just eats them alive. I have never had this much frustration with an encounter, even when learning Protector’s Realm or Thuuga for the first time. Hell even Shard of Hate is easier that this zone.
Slamhammer…ok this mob is probably the second worst designed mob in the zone aside from Stiltsea. I understand the fact that he’s going to spawn the hammers at given percentages of health (although people argue with me that it’s timed, I’m still convinced that it’s at percentages of health). I usually can get the adds on me before they kill group members, but then there’s the fact that the healers find it almost impossible to keep me up through the hammers. I’m not a n00b, and I don’t have crap gear. I have plenty of raid gear and a decent sized health pool, especially for a Paladin. No, a Guardian isn’t going to tank this any better than I am, half the Guards on my server have worse gear and stats than I do, so I don’t think it’s a gear problem. The problem is the sheer amount of damage the hammers put out and whether or not I get stunned/stifled at the wrong time. Generally what wipes us is the fact that I end up stifled and the healers are trying to keep me up in addition to trying to cure me. Yeah I use freedom of mind potions, relics of clear voice or whatever, but it doesn’t always work, and not fast enough. The only problem I have with this encounter is the adds…if they were toned down slightly, like a few hundred points of damage less each the encounter would be much more doable, especially for people who aren’t raid equipped.
The other problem I have with the zone is the placement of some of the mobs in the doorways. I will probably be respecing my racial traits just to be able to reliably pull mobs in the doorways with Diplomacy, but honestly you shouldn’t have to rely on someone having Soothe, Diplomacy or otherwise just to be able to pull trash mobs without getting more than the healers can handle. There’s also the problem of mobs getting pulled through walls by AE when they shouldn’t be. That problem is nothing new, it’s been a problem with the game for a long time, but really something needs to be done about pulling mobs on the otherside of walls with AE. This is usually a problem when going into the little room just before Stiltsea. Those mobs will come straight through the wall unless you’re up the adjoining hallway quite a bit.
The amount of time it takes to complete this zone is really not worth the effort. Over 2 hours on average…in that amount of time I could complete 3 of the RoK instances and actually end up with something to sell or whatnot. Running RE2 I usually end up out a plat in repair bills, 2 to 4 hours of my time and nothing else to show for it. I absolutely hate this zone. There’s too much trash to clear, the mobs are placed poorly and I hate mazes. The rest of the nameds are decently easy compared to the 2 I have complaints about. Those were done fine. If they would have only toned down Slamhammer and Stiltsea and had a little less in the way of trash in the zone it might actually be worth running. I personally would rather raid and instance run than have to go through this zone.
The loot in the zone was heralded as having smart loot code applied to masters by the developers. Well, for one I’ve never seen a master drop in there but maybe once, and it was a master that no one in the group could use. It wasn’t even for a class in the group. After perusing the forums one of the developers stated that he’s “not going to fix the smart loot code for one zone“. OK, then why did you even bother telling everyone how awesome it’s going to be because masters will follow the smart loot concepts of dropping according to the makeup of the group? I mean come on, at least fix it if it is truly broken since you already promised it would be in the zone.
I really hope they don’t screw up Kurn’s Tower as badly as they did Runnyeye 2, that is if it ever gets released.
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