More adventures in the Icy Crevasse
We got transfered! And I got to check out the Icy Crevasse on my mains.
As I expected with a Captain (level 65) this wasn’t as bad as with my hunter. I’m running the Leader of Man trait line which provides group-wide Shield-brother effects and so I can keep myself alive better provided my soldier doesn’t die but more about that later. The Winds of Forochel (damage buff) certainly helped and I felt like Moria again – I even scored a 1.5k Devastating, something I haven’t seen for a while. The last fight is easy, Captain is pretty much an anti-sorceror class (not that Guinokh does many magic tricks to begin with) and the only trouble I can see there is the wider range of the mammoth’s melee attacks (he can reach you across the steam vent and still have the damage buff). Even when I ended up fighting both of them it was easy to handle provided they both stayed on the steam vents. I also took my Warden through (level 65 as well). Obviously that was easier – I mean I am a Warden, slightly undergeared Warden but still. Basically the only problem are the grims – they switch targets and they don’t like to stay in one place, it can get messy when a soldier tries to follow their erratic behaviour.
Trouble came yesterday as two friends and I went in – me on a level 49 RK, another RK on level 53 and a Minstrel on level 60 and the skirmish itself set to level 50. We experienced two defeats on the way to the bosses but it wasn’t that hard. The bosses were another story. In a 3-man setup Guinokh lays down 3 pools (one under each person) which wouldn’t be that bad but every time Guinokh enters fight a counter-attack comes. So you got the sorcerer to take care of plus the lieutenant with his entourage and little space to stand on. It went nasty and after the Minstrel switching for his level 65 Hunter and no difference therefrom we gave up. (And then we did Attack at Dawn and showed them what for). Of course our setup wasn’t the best and we probably need to train a little on easier skirmishes.
Anyway, now that I have properly checked it out I kinda like it not mention I need to finish all the encounters anyway (we needs those titles preciouss) so I’ll be running it quite often. On the other hand there are the rewards. I’d really like to get some of them for my Warden but they are pretty price-y: 4k Skirmish Marks, some Odothuilan Marks (campaign-specific) and finally Veteran Third Marks – only available from fellowship and raid skirmishes (or an expensive mark upgrade). Not likely I’m going to see those any time soon.
The final paragraph shall be dedicated to the soldiers. If devs plan on doing more skirmishes like those two (with emphasis on spatial awareness) they better upgrade the soldier management system. In the Icy Crevasse its often important to retreat and run to the steam vent or stay on it from the beginning. What do trusty soldiers do? They pick an enemy and run towards it thus ensuring the incoming enemies will stop to poke them to death before turning towards me. Yes I can actually face another direction forcing the soldier to look the other way but at the last control point in the Icy Crevasse this isn’t possible – I have to aggro the counter-attack and run back to the steam vent. I’d be really happy if it was possible to make the soldier stay on a spot until I tell him otherwise – he wouldn’t run where he’s not supposed to and I could also make him stand in the damage buff and not on the steam vent. But maybe I should just be grateful that I have only one NPC to worry about.
Tags: laurelin, skirmishes