There is no way to happiness: Solo PotD Naked

[Harpagornis]

LOOOOOL. Nalrend is finally dead. It was so easy - oh dear.

 

I just changed my tactic and it worked wonders.

 

1. Charm the Elder Bears

2. Immediately run back out of vision

3. Combat will end and maybe a Elder Bear will die before

4. Combat will nearly instantly start again (for whatever reason)

5. THIS is the most critical point and seems completly random because one or two or three Ogres will engage you again

6. If you get lucky it will be Nalrend the Wise (in my case it worked on the second try!)

7. Before he reaches you -> Cast Relentless Storm (works great vs Ogres!)-> Cast Embrace the Earth Talon  (great too!)

8. Spiritshift to Catform and claw him down as long as he is petrified (5-6 hits should bring him down)

9. Take his head and wonder about the strange combat mechanics

 

New Bounties are waiting!!!

Edited March 26, 2016 by Harpagornis

[Reent]

its not the single target charm!!!!!

Its the fight detection, fight ends IF both:

 

a) no enemy targets you

b) you dont target an enemy (directly, so ranged weapon FTW - AOE spells and spells that target friends dont count) (charmed enemies dont count as viable targets)

 

so, if you charm both bears, the ogres will target them - you are pure melee, so you cant target the ogres - both a) and b) apply=fight ends...

 

 

Gratz to a dead Nalrend... i am still too salty to continue - many bugs are still from the beginning and i simply... get less and less motivation each time i find a new one - remember, i only play chanter enough to find bugs - even then i found a bug  with monk and one with priest+chanter (i call it bug, they call it  "first we wrote it down as a bug, but later we changed it to working as intended" - i told them that you can kill the alpine dragon without risk with priest+chanter thanks to that "working as intended" i hope they accept it and change it)...

 

if i started playing more classes... wow... how many bugs would i find? Is the "dont name your animal companion a specific name (forgot which one, a bear name i read sometimes in books) or the game breaks (doesnt acknowledges the bear as your animal companion if he starts the fight - so scripted things dont trigger after you won the fight)" bug still active? I dont know... it was the 3rd bug i encountered in the game (i still call it a bug that you cant see the duration of spiritshift - thats what made me abandon my first character)

 

Maybe i will play later today... maybe i wont, but man... its no fun with that many bugs.

I didnt even mention bugs like the Lagafuerth (the ones that blind you) bugging out if you attack them with ogres in melee - the ogres have a higher range so the lagafuerth try to attack them - but they cant - the attack stops (they only get as far as making a sound and showing the attack symbol) and... they start again... so you have disturbing sounds every 0.X secs and thats all they do.

Or the bug that the one with the scroll of wael stopped moving and just stood at his spawn point waiting for his death... (i dont think thats everything, but i try not to notice such things... as long as it doesnt change the fight... i dont look too close)

Those are bugs i dont care about... if its a bug you dont always get... it can be fine, however... if enemies randomly get faster (or i randomly slower)... i can do better things with my time, for this run i told my friend "sry, i am playing pillars and want to get something done" - if i loose some hours because of stupid bugs i loose all motivation to tell him "no, i dont want to play LoL right now, i am trying something in Pillars"

I tried the alpine dragon - i didnt manage because i am not fast enough - was it a bug - was it correct? I dont know... and such things... the best planning could go down the drain if such things happen. I want to get my Ultimate Achievement... but not with alt+f4 - however the game is doing its best to convince me that you cant not use alt+f4.

 

God... i am remembering some of the bugs i had when i did my first solo runs... my motivation is going down the drain!

[Harpagornis]

its not the single target charm!!!!!

Its the fight detection, fight ends IF both:

 

a) no enemy targets you

b) you dont target an enemy (directly, so ranged weapon FTW - AOE spells and spells that target friends dont count) (charmed enemies dont count as viable targets)

 

so, if you charm both bears, the ogres will target them - you are pure melee, so you cant target the ogres - both a) and b) apply=fight ends...

 

God... i am remembering some of the bugs i had when i did my first solo runs... my motivation is going down the drain!

 

Hhhhmmmmm... its even more complicated i think.  Because: With Noober i charmed the Bears with Munacra Arret and after this i used the AoE-Fireballs from Taluntain's Staff. The fight did not end even though a) and b) applied. Dont ask me why...

 

Keeping the motivation on is not that easy but at least for me i can say: I wont let the bugs stop me. Maybe the fun gets back after a short break - we have all the time in the world.

 

If anyone else wants to join us: We need a competent Wizard or Monk Player with lots of Patience!

Edited March 26, 2016 by Harpagornis

[Reent]

jeah, it is much more complicated (not that complicated... just plain wrong)

what i think:

there is my a) and b)

and a c) but the c) is the complicated one -

 

c) if you didnt hit the enemy with a non targeted spell (targeted spells are in b) ), the aggro system counts this intervall (the fight detection doesnt react instant, it checks periodically - or it checks if X sec a) b) c) sec applied... dunno which one).... HOWEVER! Chants dont count, dots dont count i think - either... and some spells are too slow (fireball is a fast spell - so it works)... so i dont know what works so i didnt include c)...

 

With ranged weapons you can keep b) applied for many many secs (try to see what happens if you have 2 dex and a plate armor... with a reload weapon... if the enemy starts retreating and you have to reload many times you will walk - try to reload/shoot - whatever - walk - try - walk... and the combat doesnt stop... even after 10+ secs xD...)

 

Towards Wizard and Monk:

i'd love to try my hands on monk... however as long as http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85388-torments-reach-high-int-aoe/ this bug exists, i dont think i should... using the bug makes the monk partly too strong... and without high int torments reach? He is simply a ranged fast running character that has no good way to deal with tougher stuff... maybe after he got his 2 friends

(wizard... i dont like running out of ways to kill stuff midfight - however that shouldnt hinder me too much, so maybe i will try it a bit at one time, however i dont have enough experience with wizard to play them naked... it would make me not get the right spells etc... so, it may be the wrong thing for me^^)

looks like i have nothing better to do: playing my chanter a bit, lets see if i manage to stay motivated long enough to get past nalrend (if i do, i will do as many bounties as possible, i dont think i will run out of motivation then)

Edited March 26, 2016 by Reent

[Harpagornis]

Yeah, i played high Int Monk earlier and Torments Reach always felt broken. But i never tested this in detail - your screenshots are very funny. Another reason more to play low Int Monks. My Ascetic used 4 Int only and made it deep into WM 2 so maybe not only Torments Reach but Monks overall are borderline broken.

 

In the next days more bounties are on the To-do-list. This will be fun!

[Reent]

i just managed nalrend - as i thought, lvl 13 is a breakpoint for the chanter - i could get my summons out fast enough to reset the fight after i killed the 2 bears, after that i just needed to play it right (needed a few tries - made stupid moves in the fight like shifting the aggro back to me when only nalrend and one ogre druid where left and both almost dead... they didnt have enough damage to kill my summons, however i was almost out of room - i moved my character in melee range for nalrend - he attacked me - fight lost^^

 

i'd use low dex monk - with talents you can get the speed high enough... but i want my wounds to last a long long time - same with the 50% duration CC ability... however you need torments reach for many things - but if you have high int and use it, it can oneshot whole groups of enemies (weak ones in from, strong ones in back)

jeah - monks are really fun because of the high DPS, however without figurines? You cant fight head on with just a low AOE torments reach - and the CC effects dont help either - so in the end, you are - i think - simply going to use the splitpull style and kill with range

No fights where you rush in and do something stupid - and win :D (sure - i cant do that either - if i had more ACC i would - gimme the survival bonus, gimme the talent damage% - i'd have less might now and much more ACC - i would go in and kill them as fast as possible while kiting the melee enemies)

[Harpagornis]

With Nalrend the Wise down things are going much smoother now.

 

Daroth Grimault ---> DEAD

Glasdial ---> DEAD

Songsmith Roska ---> DEAD

Thorfen ---> DEAD

 

All four Bounties together took less time than taking Nalrend down.

 

The tactic was always the same:

1. Splitpull (Tanglefoot just works great here)

2. Decimate the enemy until the boss engages you

3. Relentless Storm -> Embrace the Earth Talon -> Enraged Catform

4. Take the Head and continue with another bounty

 

The next bounties will be tougher for sure - tomorrow!

Edited March 26, 2016 by Harpagornis

[Reent]

ha! i am ahead i did 4 more bounties in vanilla (and all wm1 bounties) - the last 3... tried the one in cilant lis just now... and wow thats one hard fight -.- i have to get lucky to get up the stairs - after that i can splitpull... however i stopped it before really starting - without more rests i dont think i can do it - so i need at least one to get more xD

 

lvl 14 now, i need lvl 16 for my next summon (blame my never playing high lvl that i thought wrong...)

 

If i redid my character now?

I would look at stats i need to get easier fights lategame... and i would change the character from ground up... no more dragon chant, no more low resolve - resolve is one of the main reasons why i have to load (right after stuck) atm...

My summons do all the hard work - dragon chant is simply my tool to hasten the fight - but sometimes i have to load because i go in range for enemies and they switch aggro.

 

There are 2 ways to play high level naked chanter (for me at least) quite risky with low dex and - get your summon out and damage them with dragon chant - with max perception i would hit a bit, however it wouldnt be enough to be quite viable ( you would have 91 acc at the moment... thats not enough to trade hits with most enemies - it targets reflex and many human enemies have very high reflex... with 103 its enough against most enemies (you get 102 with 1h weapon), with 118 it would be enough (survival bonus - if it wasnt bugged)...)

 

with my perception its pointless... sure, if only 1-2 enemies target me (ranged, so i can switch aggro all the time - they switch back, but not for every attack)... dragon chant is quite handy... but its easier to just stand out of range and summon ogres on CD...

 

Chanter is about the most boring character naked, he is a summoning machine (that was my playstyle in 1.x... however my ogres survived long enough in most fights so i could do more than i can do now) - with figurines he can do other things (wow - a summoning item makes him able to do other things than just summon^^)

[Harpagornis]

Level 14 is right in front of me too. The Bounties are quite funny no? I will take it slowly because of my lack of time.

 

My Druid is still fun to play. Thanks to a huge spell pool he can deal with many situations even though there are some spells that are used much more than others.

 

The two most casted spells per level so far:

1. Sunbeam + Talons Reach

2. Autumns Decay + Insect Swarm

3. Returning Storm + Twin Stones

4. Overwhelming Wave + Calling the Worlds Maw

5. Relentless Storm + Embrace the Earth Talon

6. Rot Skull + Sun Lance

7. Call to the Priomordials + Natures Bounty

 

If i could respecc my Druid i would change...

I still think the stats are nicely balanced. The only thing i would like to push a bit more is maybe Con. Res i dont care much about...

Wasted Talents so far? None at all. Everything works fine. Reinforcing Spiritshifting is still great wihtout loosing too much spell power.

 

But Durgans Battery will be a tough nut to crack. Maybe the Sirens will kill me, maybe the Amush will stop me, maybe the final battle is too much... we will see!

[Reent]

ha! my most used chant is the one with +1.2 movementspeed, the most used spell is ogre summon - i have used 7 nights ZERO times without loading right after!

I have used the lvl 4 summon 2 times and both times it was a waste of time - one time in a bounty and i had to restart the fight because of it (i summon a spore with 3xx endurance and 62 ACC, he gets about one attack out before he is down... that is too unreliable with his 62 ACC...) phantom is waste of time, lvl 2 spells=waste of time...

 

sooo you can see the amount of things i can do... i have to summon ogres or i am down, to summon them all the time i am not allowed to use other spells :D

[Harpagornis]

ha! my most used chant is the one with +1.2 movementspeed, the most used spell is ogre summon - i have used 7 nights ZERO times without loading right after!

I have used the lvl 4 summon 2 times and both times it was a waste of time - one time in a bounty and i had to restart the fight because of it (i summon a spore with 3xx endurance and 62 ACC, he gets about one attack out before he is down... that is too unreliable with his 62 ACC...) phantom is waste of time, lvl 2 spells=waste of time...

 

sooo you can see the amount of things i can do... i have to summon ogres or i am down, to summon them all the time i am not allowed to use other spells :D

 

It seems Chanter is the most boring class on earth - well at least when naked. Even my naked Monk used more skills - but i got so bored in WM2 that i stopped playing for a while now.

 

A Wizard should be more fun too but i never played them much so we need someone else who joins the challenge.

 

Maybe i should start a Fighter-Class just for fun - or better pain. I need more time...

[Harpagornis]

Okay - just reached Level 14. Totally unsure which talent to take. More damge is always welcome but...

 

Apprentice Sneak Attack, Savage Attack, Spirit of Decay, Bloody Slaugthter, Galans Focus....

 

Or even going for the +25% Damage against specific enemies. Vessels will be very helpful...

 

Hmmmmm... will have to think about that... damn no respecc!

[Reent]

the chanter is too MAD with all the bugs... (for those who dont know MAD=Multiple Ability score Dependent)

 

not enough might? Oh, you don't kill stuff fast enough=go back to the summoning game.

not enough con? Oh, you can't kill stuff before you are down and most of the time you cant even summon something fast enough=leave the game

not enough dex? Oh, you can't do clutch situations early game - the phantom has a too low duration - after 10? Not that needed... but to get that point... dunno, should have tried... (i still really like dex even now, it allows for some fancy kiting with the watcher abilities - and yes, many times i have to rest because my watcher abilities are used up)

not enough per? Oh, you miss most of the time, making for too long fights=go back to the summoning game.

not enough int? You can't hit enough enemies, you will need much much more time to kill a group=go back to the summoning game

not enough res? You can't kite if almost every ranged attack interrupts your running (many reloads bc of this - as i said... this would be a no go in ironman)

 

So, with items you can let go of res and (if you don't mind using a very light armor later on) dex... making for a situation where the MAD is resolved (with the +12 ACC its the decider)

You can start charming or doing anything... you aren't limited to use ogre summon everytime - many fights won't even last that long

 

So jeah, naked chanter is the most boring class on earth - but its my kinda boring - sadly (ROFL)...

 

With bugs resolved, you can play with lower might and lower perception - go play a balanced setup and still dish out enough damage to allow persistent damage to reach your character (at the moment i have to reach a point where my summon get resummoned before they die and no enemy targets me - so against ranged or very fast enemies i dont dare but stand as far away as possible - i have no heal on demand, only the first 60 secs i have good heals (outside of moon godlike) with the talents, but after that i have nothing... so with the need to splitpull quite some duration is lost and i can't heal myself enough to duke it out with my lousy offensive :D)

Edited March 27, 2016 by Reent

[Harpagornis]

Just moved back into Durgans Battery with level 14 to test if my Druid is finally ready for the Battery Sirens.

 

Is she ready? Yes, she is! Relentless Storm constantly hits and stuns, even petrify works to some extend and - the best - the Cat now hits much better. The first Siren had no chance!

 

The difference to my first try is huge: +5 more Accuracy from the Resting Bonus and +6 Accuracy thanks to two more levels.

 

Hopefully i will have more time in the evening - the White Forge is so near! The Ambush will be lot of fun!

Edited March 27, 2016 by Harpagornis

[Reent]

you have so many tools to deal with it xD

 

I will make my tools! I call him "my game winning slave" or "my enemey"... he is the one to enable me! HE IS MY ENEMY!

I will call him My enemy!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVl3K7C4h-Y

[Harpagornis]

Okay - i am in the Foundry now. The Mines were not that difficult thanks to splittpulling and heavy CC. Petrify - if you can land it - makes short work of Sirens.

 

In the Foundry three challenges are waiting:

 

1. Clearing the main floors for later kiting: This should be the easiest part and will just take some time

2. Surviving the Ambush once you got the Adra Disc: This will be dangerous but with heavy CC it could be manageable

3. The Final Fight at the White Forge: This will be a tough nut to crack as the Forge Guardians are fast, hit hard and can take many punches.

 

I already have several strategies in mind - tomorrow we will see what works and what doesnt. Interesting times are ahead - good night!

[Harpagornis]

Feeling like a adrenaline junkie. The Ghost-Siren-Shadow-Ambush was damn hard. Or better: Tricky like hell.

 

My first attempts failed horribly because even if you manage to cast a heavy CC like Relentless Storm the first stuns are incoming -> more enemies are engaging -> dead.

Or you get teleported into the enemies -> stun -> dead. Running is also also no option as you are attacked from both sides and the end is always the same : Stun -> dead.

 

The only way for my Druid was:

1. Move to a point right before the Enemies are spawning.

2. Cast Overwhelming Wave out of combat (!)

3. After the cast is completed immediately move forward

4. Hope that the Wave hits as many enemies as possible (the teleporting ghosts must get stunned!)

5. RUN!!!!!!

6. Cast "Form of Delemgan" to cancel the immobilze effect of the Sirens

7. Run out of vision and wait for combat to end

 

Took me dozens of tries but it seems that this is the only way for a Druid to go through

 

Side Note: The +2 Movement Speed Resting Bonus also helped a lot!

 

The final batte at the White Forge is ahead. Will try it in the evening!

Edited March 28, 2016 by Harpagornis

[Reent]

respect - its the power of the first strike!

The Chanter can win every fight where you have to endure a long period of fighting - but everytime the initial strike is the only relevant part? He is a weakling, every other class should do better in those fights :D

 

Maybe i will try today, i'd love to get lvl 16 before the ambush... but i dont see me getting lvl 16 with the stuff i can do before that... lvl 15 should be possible, but lvl 15 doesnt change my strenght... lvl 16 opens possibilities and would make much stronger

There are some things to do before the ambush: 1) clear the weak enemies until only one is left 2) use that one to summon ogres and splitpull the big group with a few summons, kill at least one enemy everytime - rinse and repeat until the big group is done (its much faster to not stop the combat once it started until everything is dead, but it can easily go wrong and you loose the whole progress, so i think i will go slowly but surely) 3) use the one enemy to summon stuff and lure him to the adra item - disengage the fight and take the adra item 4) reengage the enemy, summon stuff, position yourself in a way so you are right before the ambush - position one ogre in front, one in back - start the ambush and RUN...

 

i think i will start the mission now, 1) should be easy, 2) will take a long time, 3) shouldnt take too long but is easy to loose too much to accomplish 4)... and 4)... i just dont know how hard that will be, i will write about the progress later...

 

2) will be a pain, every few enemies i should have to back and get new camp supplies, everytime i have to back it takes me a few mins (i didnt clear everything on the way, so i cant take the direct routes^^, its a pain)

[Reent]

Okay...

so this is wrong, wrong on so many levels... -.-

WTF?

Did i encounter some bugs? Whats wrong with this game?

 

a) The Mines had groups of enemies the same type as The Foundry, but: i got stunned even when i was much further behind my ogres than i was just now (that was one major pain that i had to stand >max summon range away so i didnt get stunned)

b) the groups in The Mines managed to kill my ogres fast enough, even with only 3-4 spirits so i had major problems in some fights... this time? The Foundry enemies were tanked 6-10 enemies a time and i was fast enough to resummon my ogres

c) the stunning spectre attacked me over the whole diagonal screen in The Foundry - really? They have such a big attackrange? >20m?!?!?! god this game...

 

so, thanks to My Enemy 1) and 2) are done, i dont think 3) will be a problem (i can just let him hit me a few times, My Enemy likes me and deals no damage) if 1) and 2) are an indicator (did both withoud loading once), 4) will be easy too...

timer is running, lets see how long it takes me :D

[Reent]

30 mins for the ambush (3 try was the charm, first one i didnt have an ogre behind me, 2nd time i just tested where the spawn point is, 3rd try i simply did it)

the forge fight is a forced fight=i just have to run away and i won with mass ogre spam

 

PS, i forgot a picture in my post before (thats how i "feel" every fight is :D):

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by Reent

[Reent]

Honorable mention for: My Enemy, a "Battery Shieldwall", he was killed by a Forge Guardian giving me enough time to get the next round of ogres out in a good position so i could kill them 40% faster! May his Soul Rest in Peace. I wouldn't have been able to get this far without his great help against the ambush and the group of enemies in front of the forge!

 

So... now that i have mentioned how great enemies are, how much they mean to me, how much faster everything is with the help of My Enemy!

Now i will tell you about My Allies!

 

---

okay... Okay... OKAY!

So... the hard parts were... very mediocre with planning it was... a little bit too easy, My Enemy was too good... i shouldnt have said so! That was my bad, really! I AM SORRY!

Please PLEASE! Game, don't do that to me, you cant! You simply cant be this sadistic!

 

I want to get into the Iron Flail Fort... so my guide said: Use the logs - the Logs say: you are too weak! - i think with only one character its impossible to use a rambock...

so... i have to go back to the battery... and i thought it would be no problem... but

 

My allies

 

I dodged as many lagafuerths as possible... now i have to fight - game, please! Not like this!

 

I always sneaked past them, it was easy! Now?

 

Now now "My Allies" made sure i would kill the lagafuerths for them -.-

 

I want My Enemy back! If i have "My Enemy", i dont need any allies, but with "My Allies" i dont need enemies either - its not fair!

 

I think i will have to create a new "My Enemy" for that encounter... else i dont know how to get to durgans battery now that "My Allies" have taken it...

[Harpagornis]

Wow, i never thought a Chanter could go through the Ambush. But okay i never played one so i never thought about the little tricks you mentioned.

 

But... holy cow... how many Ogres can a Chanter command at the same time? Endless? This is totally crazy!!!

 

No wonder that the final battle was that "easy" for you - congratz on finishing WM 1.

 

My Druid will have a very hard time with the Forge Guardians - it could be the end...

 

Not to forget: Yes, the sneaky path to Durgans Battery is closed once you finish WM 1.

You either have to fight the Lagufaeth or use Sneak 6+ to get past.

My Ascetic Monk faced the same problem and had to suffer a lot...

[Raven Darkholme]

Wow, i never thought a Chanter could go through the Ambush. But okay i never played one so i never thought about the little tricks you mentioned.

 

But... holy cow... how many Ogres can a Chanter command at the same time? Endless? This is totally crazy!!!

 

No wonder that the final battle was that "easy" for you - congratz on finishing WM 1.

 

My Druid will have a very hard time with the Forge Guardians - it could be the end...

 

Not to forget: Yes, the sneaky path to Durgans Battery is closed once you finish WM 1.

You either have to fight the Lagufaeth or use Sneak 6+ to get past.

My Ascetic Monk faced the same problem and had to suffer a lot...

No more than 2 at the same time the other ogres in the pic are dead.^^

[Reent]

its not many ogres at once - its a bug where dead summoms are still there for the looks (only ogres with a green circle are "real")^^ i can command 2 ogres a time - the bug doesnt activate everytime, so it just shows you how many Many MANY ogres i summoned to make this screenshot (and finish the fight  X_x)... ^^

 

the sneaky path is free again - took me longer than the ambush did :D however thanks to the nice stags it was easy to get my summons out - too bad i had to kill all the elder stags :/ the stag population will grow lower without them to protect the others :D

 

now i am inside the west tower... and man, the spiders suck so much, they shoot me despite standing >one screen away, doesnt make much fun X_x

next session i will see how i fare - i am further in than i ever was before (as said before, i stopped playing and started again when wm2 came out - then up to this run you can say i always played ironman solo chanter)

But - doing good so far, with a bit more i should be able to get enough exp with the sidequests i didnt do up to now so i could possibly rush lvl 16 - lvl 16 should make me much much much stronger... so i am sure i can come up with ways against anything thats like these situations, i really want to get to the boss fights, see if i can manage them... so i am quite happy with the situation so far! The Chanter is going strong!

The grain of salt is the tankiness of my summons, the last level summon should be at a similiar level of tankiness (about 160 endurance*3 vs about 300 endurance*2, but with some immunities vs CC (if i saw it right) and (i hope) higher DR, the 3 should be at the same level), my ogres cant tank the spiders long enough (its close, with a bit of luck it can work out) so... if other groups can deal even more damage, it can make my life that much harder (i know that i can splitpull, however vs ranged its always a bit harder)

[Harpagornis]

Very cool stuff Reent. Summons for the win! The Ogre bug is funny though!

 

Yeah, the first parts of WM 2 are easier than the Foundry itself. The total stopper will be the fight against the Monk Boss in the Monastery.

You get ambushed from both sides - no other monsters to help like in Durgans Battery. Only massive cheese will help here.

 

I will now try to fight the Forge Guardians at the White Forge - i fear it could be the last battle.