Author
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Topic: What are you working on? (Read 127827 times)
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Stormwaltz
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2918
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Very pretty area though, and a nice change after being cooped up in Moria all weekend. In Lothlorien, you can stand anywhere, point in any direction, and find a screenshot-worthy view.
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Nothing in this post represents the views of my current or previous employers.
"Isn't that just like an elf? Brings a spell to a gun fight."
"Sci-Fi writers don't invent the future, they market it." - Henry Cobb
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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Thanks to Grimst and Issa, my wife and I finished 1.3 on Sunday, just before the boy got home. Once again, I'm not sure how anyone can do these epic stories until they are grey. Besides the bullshit which is Freeing Dori, the group will have to make its way from Esteldin to Rivendell; that trip might as well be its own quest.
After the others passed out for the evening, I worked on crafting with Fatwing. Metalworking is a pain in the ass. Once I was done with that, I abandoned her to Thorin's Hall and went back to Dwuli who was still in Rivendell.
The funny bit about finishing Book 3 is that I haven't even started Book 2 with him. I headed out of Rivendell, mostly confident that I could make the trip in one piece (level 38 RK) and found a perfect lynx pelt right away. Soooo I too that back into Imladris and turned it in, but was unable to resist taking on a quest to kill snow lurkers in Misty Mtns. Snow lurkers are very much like bog lurkers, but they are white. In any case, I went and killed a bunch of shit in MM, made lv39, and took the stuff back to the elf who then sent me to talk to the head scholar (who isn't the head of the Scholar's Guild), who then wanted me to go get more artifacts. So, yay for new area but I think I want to backtrack. I also might want to wait for the revamp to do Book 2. It's awesome how I'm just ahead of the wave here.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Ard
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1887
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Besides the bullshit which is Freeing Dori, the group will have to make its way from Esteldin to Rivendell; that trip might as well be its own quest.
Unless you have a high level hunter with you (which there should now be tons of in Esteldin due to the new bounty quests), or are an elf with the Rivendell teleport deed unlocked, in which case it takes about 5 seconds. But have no fear, chapter 4 is coming up with an all new way to make you hate life! Stupid troll caves. I managed to get all the way through 1.7 last night. My kin up and decided they wanted to finish all of book one in the next week or so, so it looks like I might get to see the rest of the story finally. Also ran the forges for the first time, and man, that's a fun arcadey type fight at the end there.
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rattran
Moderator
Posts: 4257
Unreasonable
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Troll caves aren't a problem, as much as "Legolas, aggro magnet" as he runs about annoying trees.
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Ard
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1887
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The troll caves are only annoying if you're of level where you have to fight them, then it's an overly long slugfest that just takes WAY too long, and then you have to do it two more times.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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Dwuli made lv40 this past weekend, now I get to fast-travel to Rivendell which is great for scholars. Also since my wife (Ellarran) is lv41, I don't have too many excuses to play Dwuli solo that don't involve Breeland somehow. I wanted to go to Angmar but we ended up in Misty Mtns, which is good enough for me.
Just before the Summer Festival ended, I gave a cup of swill to that guy in Aughaire. I have two or three drinks left to hand out and I expect I will be able to do so during the Fall Festival. Currently they are sitting in my vault, which seems to be refrigerated since I also have some dace stored in there and nothing is rotting.
I also spent a little time decorating my house. It is shaping up but still looks a bit like a college apartment. With the new paintings, it looks more like the apartment you get when you get your first job.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Ard
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1887
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I also spent a little time decorating my house. It is shaping up but still looks a bit like a college apartment. With the new paintings, it looks more like the apartment you get when you get your first job.
You're missing one major accessory for an actual college apartment.
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Tarami
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1980
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Seeing that picture, can I just say how much I hate that they flipped around the staffs when carried on the back? It looks ridiculous because Turbine didn't fix the anchor points so they just sit... weirdly.
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- I'm giving you this one for free. - Nothing's free in the waterworld.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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That's a lot of fucking buttons.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Ard
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1887
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Welcome to Loremaster land. But to be fair, there's a lot of extraneous stuff in my bars. All my teleports are there, more potions than I really need, food, my cosmetic pets, crafting tools, etc. The bars look to be a bigger mess than they are in my head. A lot of the stuff is situational stuff I manually click and aren't bound to buttons, and some of it is situational stuff I swap around to other keys as needed (stun removal, corruption removal, certain debuffs).
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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Well, I'm not going to show my UI now, it would be embarrassing. I don't even have a mod.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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Brogarn
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1372
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Welcome to Loremaster land. But to be fair, there's a lot of extraneous stuff in my bars. All my teleports are there, more potions than I really need, food, my cosmetic pets, crafting tools, etc. The bars look to be a bigger mess than they are in my head. A lot of the stuff is situational stuff I manually click and aren't bound to buttons, and some of it is situational stuff I swap around to other keys as needed (stun removal, corruption removal, certain debuffs).
To go completely off topic... intentionally... neener... What the hell is the LM class supposed to be? I've been trying to figure it out since i started playing. Its supposed to be a CC class but doesn't seem to have much of it. It reads and at least during low levels, plays like a class duct taped together from various parts. What do you do when you're in a group?
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Mrbloodworth
Terracotta Army
Posts: 15148
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Welcome to Loremaster land. But to be fair, there's a lot of extraneous stuff in my bars. All my teleports are there, more potions than I really need, food, my cosmetic pets, crafting tools, etc. The bars look to be a bigger mess than they are in my head. A lot of the stuff is situational stuff I manually click and aren't bound to buttons, and some of it is situational stuff I swap around to other keys as needed (stun removal, corruption removal, certain debuffs).
To go completely off topic... intentionally... neener... What the hell is the LM class supposed to be? I've been trying to figure it out since i started playing. Its supposed to be a CC class but doesn't seem to have much of it. It reads and at least during low levels, plays like a class duct taped together from various parts. What do you do when you're in a group? CC, support, debuffer, last string healer, off tank. You get a good deal of non-instant CC at mid levels, as well as a mez or two, depending on what you are fighting. The bear can be used as a tank in the pinch, the linx is a single target high damage, the crow is a ranged debuff and shadow buff.... The other pets i'm not sure yet. They are great solo if you dont mind being strategic and slow at the killing. Also has healing and power transfer ability's for support, as well as a resurrection ability usable outside of combat with a item requirement. In a group, they can fill just about any gap, they are like a glue that holds together the not typical group makeup. YMMV.
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Brogarn
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1372
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You get a good deal of non-instant CC at mid levels, as well as a mez or two, depending on what you are fighting. The bear can be used as a tank in the pinch, the linx is a single target high damage, the crow is a ranged debuff and shadow buff.... The other pets i'm not sure yet. They are great solo if you dont mind being strategic and slow at the killing. Also has healing and power transfer ability's for support, as well as a resurrection ability usable outside of combat with a item requirement. That still sounds like a bunch of different things connected together by duct tape. Not that I can't see the potential. In a group, they can fill just about any gap, they are like a glue that holds together the not typical group makeup.
So like a Captain? Not part of the tank/healer/dps triumvirate but a class that makes the core group better or fill roles temporarily as needed?
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Ard
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1887
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Well, I'm not going to show my UI now, it would be embarrassing. I don't even have a mod.
Mine isn't modded, that's raw Turbine power there, baby. To answer Brogarn: You're mostly crowd control, debuffs, and a mana battery. The amount of crowd control I have at 60 is borderline insane, but part of it is my spec. I have 1 mez, 1 instacast aoe root, 1 short delay recastable aoe root, 2 stuns, 2 aoe stuns, 1 aoe undead daze, an aoe on the ground snare, and a pet I can use as an offtank. The eagle pet has an in combat power regen buff for groups, and does more flanks than the other pets for soloing (which lets me self heal or do more damage). The sabertooth is an odd pet, it does frost damage, and can potentially open a fellowship maneuver. The bog thingy is similar to the eagle, but more damage without the power buff. edit: also, the eagle and bog lurker pet are both legendary traits, so not everyone has them This said, be aware that loremaster is right at the bottom of the dps totem pole along with burglars. edit: and as a tangent, pretty much every class in game is a hybrid of some sort. Captains, Loremasters, and Burglars are pretty much just the epitome of it, and this is why I love the game. You're never really pigeon holed.
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« Last Edit: September 01, 2009, 01:46:06 PM by Ard »
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Mrbloodworth
Terracotta Army
Posts: 15148
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You get a good deal of non-instant CC at mid levels, as well as a mez or two, depending on what you are fighting. The bear can be used as a tank in the pinch, the linx is a single target high damage, the crow is a ranged debuff and shadow buff.... The other pets i'm not sure yet. They are great solo if you dont mind being strategic and slow at the killing. Also has healing and power transfer ability's for support, as well as a resurrection ability usable outside of combat with a item requirement. That still sounds like a bunch of different things connected together by duct tape. Not that I can't see the potential. In a group, they can fill just about any gap, they are like a glue that holds together the not typical group makeup.
So like a Captain? Not part of the tank/healer/dps triumvirate but a class that makes the core group better or fill roles temporarily as needed? Captain is the other odd one, yes. Its not really a fill the role, i look at it more like a Runekeeper and a captain/loremaster = Minstrel. But, again, this really depends on the group makeup. Turbine did a good job of making all classes hybrids with overlapping stuff. I have seen a good number of classes really have about 3 roles they COULD do, with different degrees.
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Mrbloodworth
Terracotta Army
Posts: 15148
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This said, be aware that loremaster is right at the bottom of the dps totem pole along with burglars.
Yes, but the real utility ( not just numbers to counter numbers) is high with those classes.
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Ard
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1887
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Oh, I'm not arguing, I know what I bring to the table. It's why I leveled up with my wife's Hunter. I make it so they don't hit her, and she kills them for me.
edit: yeah, my brain isn't working today, sorry MBW. Also, the debuffs are beyond huge if you trait for them. I can pretty much cut a mob's dps by half and make it easier to hit, in addition to all the other bad things I can do.
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« Last Edit: September 01, 2009, 01:47:48 PM by Ard »
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Mrbloodworth
Terracotta Army
Posts: 15148
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I wasn't arguing either, sorry, just pointing it our for Brogarn there.
My main is a hunter, and my girl is a bugler, heh, the bugler ability to start conjunctions/Heroic opportunity/Fellowship maneuvers makes it so we really never need a healer =)
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« Last Edit: September 01, 2009, 01:42:32 PM by Mrbloodworth »
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Tarami
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1980
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As a totally subjective opinion, Lore-master is probably the awesomest class I've played. The shit you can pull of as a group with a good LM is absolutely insane and it has none of that "cycle these three skills until the boss is dead." In raids and groups you have between 10 and 15 really useful abilities. Plus that the Sword and Staff legendary is the coolest trait in the game. /gush
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- I'm giving you this one for free. - Nothing's free in the waterworld.
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Stormwaltz
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2918
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Lore-Master = Astromech Droid.
You can do damn near anything. Personally, I have my pet tank (I have two pet buffing traits equipped) while I sit back and stun/debuff.
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Nothing in this post represents the views of my current or previous employers.
"Isn't that just like an elf? Brings a spell to a gun fight."
"Sci-Fi writers don't invent the future, they market it." - Henry Cobb
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Brogarn
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1372
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Thanks for the replies, folks. I've just never been able to wrap my head around this class for some reason. It just feels clunky and slapped together to me in the lower levels. I think I might give it another go since my Minstrel is dedicated to a three man group I have with a couple of other buddies and I need something else to do. Frankly, I wish I could play the Minstrel all the time, but my group only gets together every now and then and I don't want to roll another Mini. I have a Captain and Warden, both at 31, but have stalled out with both. Can't put my finger on why, to be honest. Guess its time for another alt! Wee.
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Ard
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1887
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Well, another big problem with loremasters at low level is a large chunk of the debuff abilities are % based, and the numbers don't really seem noticable at low levels, so some people don't think they're worth using. This changes significantly at higher levels.
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Tarami
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1980
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Well, another big problem with loremasters at low level is a large chunk of the debuff abilities are % based, and the numbers don't really seem noticable at low levels, so some people don't think they're worth using. This changes significantly at higher levels.
/cast Fire-lore
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- I'm giving you this one for free. - Nothing's free in the waterworld.
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Mrbloodworth
Terracotta Army
Posts: 15148
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Turbine from launch has had them listed as "Advanced".
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Brogarn
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1372
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Well, another big problem with loremasters at low level is a large chunk of the debuff abilities are % based, and the numbers don't really seem noticable at low levels, so some people don't think they're worth using. This changes significantly at higher levels.
When I play one I use those. As a long time MMO player, I certainly understand debuffs and their importance. Thinking on it further, it might be the staff attack that throws me off and confuses me a bit. I understand the ranged DPS, crowd control, and debuffs. Its like an EQ Enchanter. But then you throw the staff swing in there and I go "uhh.. what?". So it confused me as to what I was supposed to be doing to be efficient and play the class well. Am I supposed to be mixing it up? What about PBAE attacks from mobs? Shouldn't I be way back? But I have this "SMACK" I can use. Do people even use it? Then it all fell apart from there. I know... I'm weird. I just like things to be symmetrical and have synergy and "make sense". The staff swing was like the loose strand of a sweater. I pulled it and unraveled.
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Ard
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1887
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Staff Strike is actually the loremaster bread and butter attack at high levels for non-group situations. It's low power cost. If you trait for Improved Staff Strike, it does extra damage, and does light damage if your pet flanks. You can get it on an even faster recycle if you can get your hands on the right legendary item trait. It starts doing absurd damage pretty fast. Obviously, you don't want to be doing this against anything with pbaoe's, but that's not a trick Turbine abuses as much as Blizzard does. Read through this thread if you want the details and the math, and to actually understand what I was just talking about: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=287383
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Tarami
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1980
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Melee DPS is quite important to an LM the way I play it.
Make sure you have a high-DPS staff at all times and slot the trait Master of the Staff. You're quite a bit more durable than one would expect from a cloth-wearer.
Also, use your Staff-strike when you get flankings from your pets (turn on combat indicators and wait for the purple arrows around the mob and the "boing" sound) and you'll practically double your DPS that hit (additional damage plus it becomes Light damage instead of Common), and if it crits at the same time it's really great DPS. Also, if you cast Sign of Battle: Wizardry when the mob is flanked by a pet, you will get a small heal which is very handy since our normal heal can't be target self.
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- I'm giving you this one for free. - Nothing's free in the waterworld.
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Brogarn
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1372
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Zetor
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3269
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Yeah, I love my LM, the class's complexity and potential was definitely one of the high points of lotro while I still played. Also, Ard's screenshot is kinda tame, I had -all- of the easily reachable keys bound to skills on my LM [1-9, shift1-5, alt1-5, ctrl1-5, q, e, z, x, c, r, f, v, two side mouse buttons, and the six G-15 keys], and still had a ton of them left over (consumables, pet summons, tracking, etc). My LM wasn't even level 50. At low levels, the LM plays mostly like a squishy nuker/melee with debuffs, though staff strike is your most efficient attack no matter what (and since all mobs will be trying to close in on you, it makes sense). You definitely want to put the 'command' debuff on everything you're fighting, along with the fire-lore when it's a tougher mob (+ your raven's debuff / air lore on ranged). Soloing raven is best due to a ton of flanking (which is great with improved staffstrike), but I eventually switched to lynx because lynxes do an obscene amount of damage to single mobs. An alternative 'safe' (but much slower) tactic is to kite the enemy with keeping snares up and have your pet do most of the damage while you run around and use your stuns when they aren't immune. You can reliably solo elites that way (unless they have ranged attacks or spells, in which case you're screwed). In groups [mostly referring to instances], a LM can do a lot of things, but mez is one of the most important ones. I always kept one of the more dangerous mobs mezzed in a pull, kept everything else debuffed, tossed clutch heals to the healer or the tank if they got a nasty burst streak, kept the tank stun immune, cleansed debuffs, and assisted nuking on the main target. It's a very involving role, but very fun imo, and never really gets stale (since you can always switch it up). The most annoying thing is having to participate in fellowship maneuvers while doing all that, since you are typically targetting something other than the main mob AND you need to be in melee range to use your offensive fellowship moves.
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Yegolev
Moderator
Posts: 24440
2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST
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During the usual Sunday session, my wife and I did Thief Taker's Bane and Tomb of Elendil. I really thought Elendil would be a horror story but we did it anyway and just had a few deaths and only one time did my wife die and retreat. I passed out one time but luckily a LM can bring people back, too. In any case, we had some tough times since no one of us had done it (three forty-plus and a sixty LM) but once we figured out we needed to clear out the discrete gangs before a leader called them all together, we did much better. Also I got better at healing in hectic situations, and judicious use of paralysis and other neutral-attuning skills, which helped tremendously against Midboss. The boss, we squeaked by since I was swarmed by Baby Bosses and my wife died pulling them off of me, but the LM and Captain finished it off within seconds of my wife passing out... lucky since she was the DPS.
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Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone
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