I run Tequatl events regularly with the TTS guilds, and I have no issues about how the Tequatl event runs with a full map organized group. I wanted to make a suggestion on how to adjust the event in such a way to preserve event’s current flow regarding how full map organized groups go about it while at the same time making it more possible for smaller groups to succeed, if at reduced reward.
The difference would begin with a trigger for some state in the event that makes it very clear that the event is going to fail. Something that would never happen on a full map. For instance, when Tequatl puts up a bone wall that persists for over a minute, or alternatively if all 6 hylek turrets are destroyed at once. Or perhaps if Tequatl’s health is over a certain amount when the timer is at some other amount. There are a lot of possible ways to trigger this. It should happen well before the first battery defense phase begins.
When triggered, some form of reinforcements arrive. They do something flashy that weakens Tequatl significantly. As a for instance, a Priory group arrives on in a flash of lightning with a massive air elemental that briefly wrestles with Tequatl, damaging the dragon before it obliterates the elemental. Something as dramatic as the vigil lazer firing really; the thematics aren’t important to my overall suggestion here. Tequatl gets a chunk of his health gone by something dramatic, and NPC’s arrive. Afterward they hold the western battery. However they manage it, the western battery no longer needs to be defended.
As for how much this event helps, I would say aim for where a group about half of the size seen in full maps can be reasonably expected to succeed at the event afterward. The rewards should be less, though, to encourage players to better organize. Remove the exotic chest for instance. Note that it is impossible to get Power Play when this triggers. You could also change the condition for “Slaughter in the Swamp” to kill Tequatl without reinforcements. If the reinforcement arrival replaces a battery phase entirely this would mean they could not get the rare Tequatl chest at all.
A second event like this could trigger for the Order of Whispers, if things are still going quite poorly later on. And afterwards they hold the Eastern battery so it doesn’t need to be defended. Or if the first trigger happens, either the Priory or Order of Whispers arrives for their support and later if needed the other shows up. That would give both of the other orders equal showing in the Trinity operation here. And if both of these events happen then the rewards should be even further reduced. I would say ideally set it so a group of 20-25 people can win using both of these events, and with rewards more in line with lower level world events (Admiral Taidha Covington for instance) or the reward level that Tequatl had before his major update.
In conclusion, the benefit of this proposal would be that it would not effect organized groups who regularly succeed at killing Tequatl, but it would make players more willing to come out and try. In my first few attempts at Tequatl before joining a tequatl-slaying guild, I found that players who have never gotten to the first battery phase treat the event as just impossible, but that once they get through that it usually ‘clicks’ how everything works (more or less that is) and it’s not long from there untill they can get to a group that would win. A less organized group should be able to beat tequatl using the reinforcements, and from there improve their method such that in future runs they rely less and less on them.