2.5.5 Skirms o.o

[Quetzal]

Had this happen last night on Way of the Smiths. Boss was lootable, but only dropped some normal trash loot without anything skirmish related. Looked around for chest too and didn't see anything.

I did. The boss in the Way of Smiths dropped a piece of regular trash loot rather than any skirmish rewards. I don't remember what the boss in the Deep Way dropped as I wasn't paying much attention for that one.

I had the same thing happen. The troll boss was "loot-able" but only yielded a couple of common vendor trash items.

[Galahadur]

Hmm, not sure what's up here. The boss' body should have been lootable. Did anyone else have this issue?

The troll was lootable, but had outside-world loot with him.

I think i got a Broken Sheath and a Dawn-Rose or something.

No special marks.

[Malachi108]

Same here. Last Troll in the way of Smiths dropped nothing but a common Adamant. Also, I'd like to point out that there was a named Globsnaga Troll for Encounter in the same room as the final Troll boss and killing him didn't start the Skirmish Encounter deed. Deeds for the 21st Hall and the Deep Way started just fine.

[Berephon]

I had the same thing happen. The troll boss was "loot-able" but only yielded a couple of common vendor trash items.

This one is a different bug, but good to know. Please bug this in-game so it will funnel through the right channels.

[BetterOffDead-2]

Also, I'd like to point out that there was a named Globsnaga Troll for Encounter in the same room as the final Troll boss and killing him didn't start the Skirmish Encounter deed. Deeds for the 21st Hall and the Deep Way started just fine.

I believe it didn't update the deed because you had already started the boss fight. I did that troll before speaking with the NPC to start the fight and it worked fine for me. I had this same issue awhile back with the Amon Sul skirmish where I didn't get credit for the deed because I killed one of the encounters as the boss was entering. Not sure if this is WAI or not.

[Malachi108]

I believe it didn't update the deed because you had already started the boss fight. I did that troll before speaking with the NPC to start the fight and it worked fine for me. I had this same issue awhile back with the Amon Sul skirmish where I didn't get credit for the deed because I killed one of the encounters as the boss was entering. Not sure if this is WAI or not.

That may have been the case. I remember for sure that the Boss Troll was a Signature at approximately 6k hp and the Encounter one was Elite at about 18k hp, so I naturally killed the boss first. I'll keep that in mind next time.

[BlueRizla]

The battle for the 21st hall, well i somehow failed the final battle. This reset the whole skirmish. Is this as intended?
I even cleared the encounter within the vault before talking to Will.
A bit peeved after wasting 30 mins or so defending East, West and then North tbh.

I very much enjoyed the whole 2.5.5 up until this point mind you so well done Turbine

[Hagen13]

Heh...you quoted my words exactly.

I like that there's new skirmishes, it helps break up the grind of gaining marks.

But I always miss when something hard is taken out. It's not just that it's a rite of passage (as you quoted me saying) but there's a kind of camaraderie among those who get past it. It's nice to have "that one quest" that everyone "hates" because there's a real feeling of pleasure from getting past it, and even from mastering it.

I also feel like there needs to be some hard content put directly in your path. I'm not naming names or ragging on anyone in particular but having a few hurdles in the way proves to those you group with later that you are a capable grouper and not a soloer who assumes you can tag along.

[muleskinner2]

Well the 21st hall on lvl playing duo was dang tough, my son said he did it solo without trouble but in duo we both died the first time and lowered the lvl to 62 to complete it the second time.

The Way of the Smiths the boss dropped normal loot, same as other comments.

The weirdest thing that happed thought was when we went back to the Crossroads and turned in the quest. You then watch a short movie. When the movie cut ended and my son and I appeared back in the Crossroads my son died from falling! Right on the exact spot I was standing. Nothing happened to me but there he lay dead from falling. We both got a good laugh from it.
Has this happened to anyone else?

[SapienChavez]

i find it a bit ironic that they are making old books solo and the new book ends with a 12man raid... unless i missed something major!

[AlphaMan]

Heh...you quoted my words exactly.

I like that there's new skirmishes, it helps break up the grind of gaining marks.

But I always miss when something hard is taken out. It's not just that it's a rite of passage (as you quoted me saying) but there's a kind of camaraderie among those who get past it. It's nice to have "that one quest" that everyone "hates" because there's a real feeling of pleasure from getting past it, and even from mastering it.

I also feel like there needs to be some hard content put directly in your path. I'm not naming names or ragging on anyone in particular but having a few hurdles in the way proves to those you group with later that you are a capable grouper and not a soloer who assumes you can tag along.

You can, of course tier it up/group it up (without a group even, to make it harder), etc. Not that that's in your path directly, so yeah not all will do that. But you still can, so Im sure some will for the challenge (not the same kind of challenge, sure, so it wont present difficulty in the same way as the older battle instances)

[Isilmacil]

Well Sapien, it'll be my pleasure to correct you. Technically there are two new books in this update. One is for Volume 3 book 3(solo friendly) whereas the other is In Their Absence, that is suppose to show you through all the new instances. In Their Absence book is a side thing, not directly related to the Epic Story.

[SapienChavez]

The weirdest thing that happed thought was when we went back to the Crossroads and turned in the quest. You then watch a short movie. When the movie cut ended and my son and I appeared back in the Crossroads my son died from falling! Right on the exact spot I was standing. Nothing happened to me but there he lay dead from falling. We both got a good laugh from it.
Has this happened to anyone else?

iirc, the death bug has been there since the beginning of this quest line! i died turning it in like 2 years ago ;p

figured this would have been fixes as a result of the skirms... guess not!



edit: thanks for the correction, above!

[whheydt]

i find it a bit ironic that they are making old books solo and the new book ends with a 12man raid... unless i missed something major!

There is only one new Epic Book...Vol. 3 Book 3. My wife and I duo'd through that yesterday and (aside from having a real downer for an ending) it was a very nice experience.

For your point, are you thinking of the instance arc that was added? That's not a "book" in the usual sense and is completely unconnected from the Epic quest lines.

--W. H. Heydt

Old Used Programmer

[Berephon]

i find it a bit ironic that they are making old books solo and the new book ends with a 12man raid... unless i missed something major!

The raid is not part of the Epic Book.

EDIT: Heh, others beat me to it.

[Sonsy]

The weirdest thing that happed thought was when we went back to the Crossroads and turned in the quest. You then watch a short movie. When the movie cut ended and my son and I appeared back in the Crossroads my son died from falling! Right on the exact spot I was standing. Nothing happened to me but there he lay dead from falling. We both got a good laugh from it.
Has this happened to anyone else?

I've had this happen to me on several occasions when turning in that quest over the past 2+ years (it's done that since day one). I've somehow managed to plow through 2.5.5 on four alts prior to this update. I think I've died three times and once escaped with just a broken leg.

[little_stone]

Hmm, not sure what's up here. The boss' body should have been lootable. Did anyone else have this issue?

Hi Berephon

Ran the "Deep Way", no problem the boss was loot'able this time.

But then ran "Way of Smiths" and I got this...



full size http://i.imgur.com/KNW0E.jpg

edit: did 21st after and had no problem

[Hagen13]

You can, of course tier it up/group it up (without a group even, to make it harder), etc. Not that that's in your path directly, so yeah not all will do that. But you still can, so Im sure some will for the challenge (not the same kind of challenge, sure, so it wont present difficulty in the same way as the older battle instances)

A few problems with that though.

For one, just soloing it on hard mode is fun but doesn't lend itself to any special memory. C'mon, everyone has good memories of "hey you remember how hard THAT was? But we did it. Man those were the days." Those memories are all in groups, cause there's nobody to share the memory of hard solo content with (and even trying sounds like bragging). The only exception is if it's completely non-optional, but folks get up in arms about that kind of thing.

For another, nobody is gonna go for it. Even for the week or two before this patch came out, trying to get a group for Vol II was nearly impossible because everyone was waiting to solo it. So the odds of the motivated grouper getting a group for this content is close to nil, and since the content actually gates certain very nice things, like Mirkwood and skirmishes etc, folks are gonna get fed up with waiting and run it solo. That's human nature.

I know I'm a minority, and I accept it. And I realize part of the reason for this is the content is aging and fewer people are grouping for it, but nevertheless I've seen many games where very hard obstacles existed and were later "smoothed out" or "made more friendly" and I typically hated it. I'm a challenge gamer and I enjoy seeing what I can accomplish, not just twitch reflexes, but if I can find a way around something by thinking it out.

Lemme ask you, do you remember all those easy quests you did? Neither do I. They didn't stand out and they were same old, same old. I bet a lot of people will remember the old 2.5.5 though, because it was a real obstacle, it stood out, and I will miss that.

[SapienChavez]

Deep-Way bug:

The Goblin Archers are buggin-out on the Barricades is you do not get to them fast enough.

had to wait 5m for them to get out of anti-exploit mode.


thought id post this here, as this has become the "official" 2.5.5 thread and thanks, again, for the correction, i knocked out the new epic story last night. worked great with inspired greatness. I also understand the "parallel" quest to takes you to each instance now too.

[auximenes]

Deep-Way bug:
The Goblin Archers are buggin-out on the Barricades is you do not get to them fast enough. had to wait 5m for them to get out of anti-exploit mode.

That happened to me yesterday morning. I just waited it out. Annoying but not game-breaking as long as the Goblin will eventually shift targets.

[HolyGigi]

Did all 3 today, cant say I like them. Especially the 21st Hall one. Waaay to long. On tier one absolutely no challenge, except for time. Do we really have to fight 3 waves at each outpost then 4 more and another 1 after? It seems excessive. Its not like you get to complete a deed or anything, just orcs.
You could've at least thrown some morrovals, spiders and worms there. The rep is nice, but not really an incentive to run them.

At least before the patch you had the sense of emergency, but now all 3 waves come at the same spot, then move to the next and repeat.

Guess now they are just some mandatory skirmishes to get your legendary trait.

[Hagen13]

Same bug with the Way of Smiths. Troll downed, but no loot. No chest, troll disappeared without being looted.

[LagunaD]

I've run all three now; I am sad to see the real 2.5.5 go, but I understand the rationale. I do wish there had been more variety between and within the skirmishes though. The original Deepway had orcs AND bugs. Perhaps there is a bug spawn that the RNG just didn't pick, but it felt like it should have been scripted as part of the final battle (as in the original).

The biggest issue is the time element though. I think this will really eliminate replayability unless the rewards are scaled.

4/10

[SapienChavez]

Same bug with the Way of Smiths. Troll downed, but no loot. No chest, troll disappeared without being looted.

yup! i did get one aquamarine though!

[Aloro]

I really enjoyed all three and think they're both excellent additions to the skirmish collection, and a great use of legacy content. Thank you!

A few thoughts on new skirmishes:

* The drake boss in the Way of the Smiths appeared to pause everything. That is, it seemed that the announcement of its presence came before I finished killing the wave I was on, I got no notices that there was a pause in the action, but no new monsters came until I'd killed the drake and returned. May be WIA but it was a little surprising.

* In the 21st Hall, when you move to the North section it is really unclear where the attacks are taking place. The dwarf you're following runs into the Chamber of Mazarbul but the attackers won't come in there until the next wave. The dialog should really be cleared up here.

* The bank robber is pretty hard to take down fast enough solo, IMO. I think a lot of classes will struggle with that but we'll see.

* Could we please get the Battle of Lorien as another skirmish?