Shadow of the Mad King - Oct 22-31

[murdoc]

The less said about the mental cripples who spam speed boosts or cast pets on the way up, the better.

Except for the fact that you can't do either of those things.

I finished it on two chars last night. Once you get it the first time, it's not that bad.

[Threash]

Gotta get ahead of the pack so the norns and charrs don't screw you up.

[Venkman]

Had to go online to find the start of the 2nd book hunt.  This is all a giant mess. 

It's almost like we're back in *gasp* Everquest again.

Including the zone lines!

[PalmTrees]

Finally went into the mad king's realm. Two meh pvp games, the labrynth of finish-your-kill-achievement and the jump puzzle. Only lasted three attempts on the puzzle. I just hate having to repeat stuff over and over. Add in the wait and that was it for me. Fortunately I checked in on massively so I know there's a 1 time only event tomorrow at 3pm edt. Not like something like that was in game or on the login page.

[Ingmar]

Ugh, guess I am going to miss that one.

[kildorn]

If it's the dinner party from the achievement list, they're fucking insane. I'm betting it's just some special event for laughs with the statue breaking.

[Mattemeo]

The one-time event has no achievement associated with it - the one sensible decision they've made about its implementation. All their other reasoning behind doing it only once is derpville territory.

Incidentally, neither the Clocktower nor the Pumpkin Carving achievements are required for the meta-achievement.

Except for the fact that you can't do either of those things.

I wouldn't have mentioned it if that was the case. There are other 'pet' entities besides Ranger pets and speed buffs come from all over the place.

[Rendakor]

So I'm just coming back to the game after a while away; is there a guide to the Halloween stuff somewhere? Also what's the event happening today at 3pm? I should be on and would like to see/do that at least.

[Zetor]

This one is pretty good.

[Ingmar]

The one-time event has no achievement associated with it - the one sensible decision they've made about its implementation. All their other reasoning behind doing it only once is derpville territory.

Incidentally, neither the Clocktower nor the Pumpkin Carving achievements are required for the meta-achievement.

Except for the fact that you can't do either of those things.

I wouldn't have mentioned it if that was the case. There are other 'pet' entities besides Ranger pets and speed buffs come from all over the place.

Ah, well, if it isn't the "party" then whatever, I guess.

[Venkman]

I'm enjoying the chaos of the Labyrinth. Helps me practice my field/finisher combos and timing, and it's a much better source of Candy Corn than the regular zones.

I won't be doing the Clocktower again though. I've never been a good completionist anyway.

Haven't done the Mad King zone PvP stuff, but have done a number of the costume ones. They're 60s-era TV Batman fun. I also finsihed both books (stupid lack of level on the second one prevents slotting of my better gems). I have no idea how well I'm doing on pumpkin carving, but I'm way over 100 at this point.

All in all I'm enjoying it. I think they pulled it off well, except for the lack of explanation. That will go better next time I'm sure.*

* And yea, shit, that's me being optimistic. For an MMO. Haven't felt that in 6+ years 

[Threash]

Nice cut scene, crashed as soon as i tried to zone in.

[Threash]

PSA: there is a chest at the very bottom of the dungeon.

[ffc]

The dungeon took about 10 minutes, maybe less. It was fun.  Apparently there is a part 4 to this event.

The chest is after the final kill of the mad king right? I got junk. Someone in chat got the bow shaped like a spider.

[Zetor]

I got a level 76 exotic the first time, and crappy greens the second time.

And yeah, it's fun. Headless Horseman eat your heart out!  


e: The 'big event' was just a cutscene which is probably on youtube in a few hundred copies by now. They could've just made it a "click this statue to view" cutscene like they did in WOW so latecomers could view it whenever they wanted, but... yeah.

[kildorn]

The first run of the new instance will get you a free 10 slot bag, by the by. Every other run will give you a decreasing number of candy bags.

It's worth farming if you want a whole shitload of greens. SO MANY. Random exotics as well, but the absolute worst I've gotten from the last chest is 4 greens.

[Venkman]

e: The 'big event' was just a cutscene which is probably on youtube in a few hundred copies by now.

PSA

Wouldn't that be descent into madness though? 

[Shatter]

I soloed it 3 times now, once on Mesmer, twice on Thief. 

[Threash]

Is there a third scavenger hunt?

[Sky]

Just ran the upgraded book quest, level 54 was baaarely enough to do the last zone. I hadn't even been to two of the zones in the quest, so it took a while running around. But the level 55 mobs at the end of this chain make me think I probably won't be able to handle any further iterations.

The second back book is a nice upgrade for me, though.

Went through some portal in LA only to get trounced by tons of mobs quickly. That wasn't fun. Nor was the repair bill.

[Ingmar]

Did you not see the "suggested players: 5" on the zone message?

[Mattemeo]

I think my distance from the server is going to remain the glass ceiling preventing me from ever completing the Clocktower. I have wasted more of my life trying to do it tonight than I would have ever allowed myself usually. The cameraderie with other players helped keep me going but tiredness, latency and again, idiot trolls casting their elite pets just as the group is shifted to the tower weren't helping. Hounds of fucking Trollthazar.

[Zetor]

I came to the same conclusion after half an hour or so. (I also play on a US server from Europe) Server distance + a whole lot of norns / charr bodyblocking the view made me a sad asura.

[ffc]

Did you not see the "suggested players: 5" on the zone message?

There's actually no repair bill in the Mad King area, must have been somewhere else. I think it's a nice touch since the low level characters get boosted to 80. The short nature of it and quick fights make it my favorite encounter.

[Rendakor]

I did the MK zone once but I dislike the platforming elements so I'm unlikely to repeat it.

[Shatter]

Did you not see the "suggested players: 5" on the zone message?

Group not required, I soloed him 3 times last night and by the third time I had it down to 20 minutes and only died twice from being feared off platform.  You can easily get out of combat with him, just walk away far enough, regen to full and go back in.  I modified my build to add some healing so I could stay in longer and boom...dead king.  I would of done it all night but rewards seem to get worse with each kill. 

[Threash]

If you are at all interested in the costume brawls use a zombie tonic, they are massively OP compared to the other costumes.

[Sky]

Did you not see the "suggested players: 5" on the zone message?

Group not required, I soloed him 3 times last night and by the third time I had it down to 20 minutes and only died twice from being feared off platform.  You can easily get out of combat with him, just walk away far enough, regen to full and go back in.  I modified my build to add some healing so I could stay in longer and boom...dead king.  I would of done it all night but rewards seem to get worse with each kill. 

This. I was just testing if it was doable. Not with my build, and I'm not going to waste money respecing to try.

[Zetor]

Why not group for it? It's super easy and done in ~10-15 mins even in the worst groups. There were groups going constantly around the statue when I looked, and joining one is as easy as typing any of their names into the 'join' window (top left corner) and pressing join. Not as easy as Tarvu, but...

[Shatter]

Why not group for it? It's super easy and done in ~10-15 mins even in the worst groups. There were groups going constantly around the statue when I looked, and joining one is as easy as typing any of their names into the 'join' window (top left corner) and pressing join. Not as easy as Tarvu, but...

Cause I prefer the challenge of doing it solo?  Honestly the first time I did it was at the event at 3pm, so I just jumped straight in and didnt realize it was a group thing until I was inside already.  After I did it once on my Mesmer I decided to try on my Thief solo, then I wanted to see how fast I could do it solo.  This is the kind of stuff I enjoy in MMO's, something meant for 5 people I do by myself.  Reminds me of EQ1 on my Enchanter when I would mind control MOBS and kill things that I wasnt really meant to on my own. 

[Crumbs]

I'm having a blast with this event now that it has unfolded.  There was always 70% or so of holiday content that I'd ignore in WoW, and the same is happening here.  I'm going straight for the dungeon and labyrinth, and ate a bunch of candy corn for the monthly achievement and vomit animations.  

The dungeon is easy enough, but I've managed to get feared off the cliff 5 out of 7 times after the MK is downed.  Pretty lame to have crows spawn and fear 20 seconds after he's dead and everyone is at the chest...which is at the edge of the cliff.  At level 71 the first completion gives around 110k xp, on my level 14 it was around 800.  So, while you CAN do it with lowbies, it's far less rewarding and I spent most of my time being revived.

Labyrinth is - you guessed it! - another zerg, but thanks to bumping everyone up to 80 and not having to group, just join the fun and rake in the loot.  Key word here is fun.  Far more rewarding on higher level toons even though everyone is bumped to 80.  Bags fill up with blues and greens faster than you can salvage them.  Can't wait to see what they have for the holiday season.  Frosty the Snowman Elementals?

[murdoc]

Got the 150 pumpkins carved for the achievement, so I think I'm caught up and just need the 'Attend the party' achievement. Felt cheesy doing the pumpkin carving as I just had all my alts in Lion's Arch and spent about 30 min running a circuit to get it done. I know that the pumpkin carving and clocktower didn't count toward the Emissary achievement, but it would have felt unfinished to not have done it.

Also, if you missed the cutscene, it repeats itself at random intervals at the dungeon port-in. The Mad King will surge out and be pushed back, exactly the same way as the cutscene.

The dungeon was pretty easy and quick to run, we did it with 3 level 80s without much trouble.

[Sky]

Why not group for it? It's super easy and done in ~10-15 mins even in the worst groups. There were groups going constantly around the statue when I looked, and joining one is as easy as typing any of their names into the 'join' window (top left corner) and pressing join. Not as easy as Tarvu, but...

I dunno, I grouped once with Helm or someone. It's too distracting mostly. Groups have names?

[Tmon]

You do take equipment damage when you get killed by the creatures in the dungeon, dieing by falling damage never causes equipment damage so you take no damage when the king fears you over the edge.  I did a solo run with my 80 warrior and it was painful but I was able to finish it. 

[Zetor]

Why not group for it? It's super easy and done in ~10-15 mins even in the worst groups. There were groups going constantly around the statue when I looked, and joining one is as easy as typing any of their names into the 'join' window (top left corner) and pressing join. Not as easy as Tarvu, but...

I dunno, I grouped once with Helm or someone. It's too distracting mostly. Groups have names?

I meant the name of the person spamming 'lfg/lfm mad king'.