Monday, November 5, 2007

Dungeon Diving: Raven's Point

You know what I wound up doing? I didn't write. I didn't try and sleep. I certainly didn't try and clean up. Or eat. Or anything that would have made me feel better. Instead, I played Guild Wars. What the fuck is wrong with me that when I'm grieving my first impulse is to drown myself inside of the electronic cocoon? And, of course, that I'd keep a running log while I'm doing it.

Aside from a mad run to the Polymock trainer and a quick whirl through the ridiculously easy Secret Lair of the Snowmen, my first real splash into the world of GW:EN. And while I could have worked on the campaign or some quests, I went dungeon diving. Because as long as I was going to smear filth all over myself and smile about it, I was going to smear a whole damned lot of it. Straight off the deep end. Right into the shallow pool of PvE monotony. Not sure whether I'm more disgusted I did it or that I'm taking the time to tell you all about it.

I wanted to get some Destroyer Cores in order to get the secret goodies revealing Light of Deldrimor. Breath of the Great Dwarf being available for the same price didn't hurt matters, either. So I headed to Raven's Point and, as long as I was there, I figured I might as well put another page in my DM's guide. Knowing that there would be plenty of Destroyers and that Destroyers were resistant to fire damage meant that my normal strategy of relentless burnination through the countryside was a non-starter. Instead, I decided to switch to a physical-heavy shutdown build.

I am on my Monk, at the moment, since she's got the most area unlocked in the Frozen North. It's odd but from being my defacto mule she's probably become my most complete character, having completed all the campaigns (except the expansion's) and revealed most of their maps. Anyhow, a little bird told me that the final fight in the Raven's Whatever was a test of endurance more than anything else. A wave of critters pounding on you, like THK. So, I stuck with the prot build I've been running lately. SoR, Aegis, GLE, PS, you can fill in the rest, fueled by a +20% enchantment mod and Blessed Aura. All my stats in Prot and DF, respectively. Half the team gets perma-coated in PS alone, SoA outlasts its recharge, the list goes on.

For my Heroes, I went with the following. First, I grabbed God, my Paragon (since i haven't unlocked the other one yet). I've heard that people are running with the two and it's the bees knees but I haven't been able to track down the exact build. Still, it's not hard to figure out. Aggressive, Defensive Anthem and fill in the blanks from there. Then, I took Carson "Daily" Koss, my favorite Warrior on a DPS cracking D-Slash/tank build. Next, I picked up an Earth Ele, transforming Queef the Asuran bugger since unlike my other ele heroes he hasn't gotten a set role yet into a warder with enchantment removal from the Necromancer side of things which allowed me to stick the unholy goodness of Enfeebling blood on his?, hers?, its bar.

For my henchies, I pluck the Illusion henchie and the Interrupt henchie, Lo Sha and Zho out of the normal discard pile for some more disruptive goodness. Then Eve to help out with my energy out of a lack of better alternatives. And finally, Mhen-dog to round out my backline with a healer. All it all a group that might not hit quite as hard as my massed SF but was going to be ultra hardened and disruptive. Change of pace, anyways.

Warped to Olaf's pad, headed out into the Falls to tromp towards the Raven's Nest. On my way there, some broccoli drop. A green scyth to drop from a Derv boss. Actually, not a bad one. Asterius's Scythe. Zealous of Enchanting with 15^50. That's pretty ideal for most Derv builds depending on how quickly they want to chew through their enchantments. And another freaking map piece. I just found the Deeprunner to get those out of my inventory. But, now, I suppose I've got a half dozen more characters to do it for, as well.

Lots of melee critters with the rampaging Bison and all. As you might expect, with my team, I'm steamrolling them. I'm Alt-tabbed out right now so I can type this and no one's even below half health yet. In the middle of a huge pack, not even bothering to put up Aegis. I suppose I could have brought an MM but I'm not sure about the corpse resources available in this dungeon. The only thing I'm really missing is a reliable Deep Wound. God has Vicious attack but that only lands so often. Blech has Enfeebling Blood so, of course, he uses Glowstone like an idiot. I also gave him Rend. It's overkill but it's just so sexy now.

Took on a pack of Ice Imps to see how I'd do against a non-melee heavy mob. A bit more touch and go since I got Mind Freezed inside of a Maelstrom but not too bad, all things considered. Lots of clicks from the plentiful interrupts.

And, finally made it to Olaf's GILF of a daughter to pick up the dungeon quest. Quick romp through the cave to the portal and it's time to begin the dungeon for reals. I ran this dungeon during the preview but only during an instanced quest. Haven't ever run the chest bearing quest before so this should be interesting.

Delver rank on. Bounty from the Beacon. B-Aura up. Check, let's do this thing. Oh great, it's bats. I hate these Incubus things. And I would have happened to have gone with Shield of Absorption over Dismiss Condition. I'm going to get rocked by their Dazes.

Alright, locked door. Unmarked chest. An unlit torch. And some items called Flame Braziers standing around. Hmmm...I wonder what I'm supposed to do here...

Bingo. It puts the fire on the torch again or else the door stays closed. You only have 30 seconds to run from a lit brazier to the other ones. Where's Holy Haste when I need it?

Fuck. First bats then dryders. I'm built completely wrong for this place. Yeah, that's a wipe. My DP is mounting now.

Some more fiddling with torches and I'm on to a Destroyer boss and, my, does he hit hard. Get a dungeon key for my troubles but no idea where to use it just yet.

A bit of looking around, a few more dead mobs, and I've found the stairs down to the next level.

Again, my pre-level check to make sure I've got all my maintained enchantments up and I've hit the nearest bounty giver for the point spree.

Second level, lots of Vaettiri looks like. And, oh goodie, more flame braziers. I was worried I wasn't going to get frustrated by running back and forth around the map enough.

I love the laziness of the Stalactite design. They just reskinned a Devourer in ice and stuck its head into the ground and called it a day. Were they expecting people not to notice or something?

Fighting Dredge while the roof caves in on me, it's like Factions all over again.

Another Destroyer boss, another key. Now to head back tot he stairs I found earlier and... crap, Destroyer ambush on the way back. And, typically, not one Destroyer Core yet. I really don't want to have to farm these things.

Oh well, on to level 3. Pretty sure that's the last level here.

DP check. I'm at full morale, so are Carson and God. Blech is hurting, though, he's at 44% DP. Can't tell about my henchies but I suspect Mhenlo is heavily DPed up. Guy can't kite to save his life. Literally. The rest should be okay. Well, it's not perfect but since I can perma prot the two softies it just might work.

So, the final fight here is alongside a horde of Dwarven allies. There are a few wave of Destroyer pop-ups and then the boss arrives. They're both fairly easy. I tried my best to save the Dwarven Captain-with-a-name-so-you-know-he's-important but, alas, it was just too much for me. Did manage to keep most of the Dwarves alive and with their damage added to my own, we made short work of the Destroyers and saved something or other. I didn't really pay attention to the quest. Does that mean I have to turn in my PvErs card now?

I still only have one Destroyer Core and my prize from the chest box was an Onyx Gemstone. I am, however, now around 10k in Dwarven points which puts me at rank 3. I'm a Gutsy Delver. So, no Light of Deldrimor for my troubles, like I'd hoped but I do have another dungeon completed now.

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