Obviously there are a number of people upset with dungeons. There are individuals that believe they are fine. Both groups mention they can complete the dungeons. Yet, some people still can’t make it through.
How are you succeeding with your class in a dungeon? Be specific, what weapons are you using, what utility skills are you using, how are you approaching “pulls”, how are you approaching boss encounters, etc.
I ran my first explore mode CM (Golem related path, Mr. Frost at the end). We had 2 warriors, 1 elementalist, 1 ranger, and 1 guardian. I was the guardian.
We managed to complete the dungeon, although we did have a number of deaths due to a few pulls that we didn’t do just right. This was a pug group and one guy said it was the most smooth run he had been on for a quite a while. I’m still getting used to the mechanics so I was surprised at that statement, it felt like failure in some ways. Completion of the dungeon does not equate success, that may just be my mindset.
So, I’m still a noob and trying to understand the mechanics of dungeons. It feels much different from top world combat where there is some forgiveness if you do something just a little wrong.
Here is what I did on that explore CM run:
Profession: Guardian
My guardian traits are setup for consecration cd/length, larger symbols, and something else, not remembering at this point.
Pulls
This seems to be the part where people get killed instantly if not done correctly. The group started with a thief that wanted to run into a room and try to AoE the static archers…. we tired to talk him out of it but he ended up leaving after the dungeon booted everyone for some reason. After the dungeon boot he quit the group and we picked up one other to form the group mentioned above.
1. Line of sight pulls. Just about every initial aggro pull we used a wall to force the mobs to run to us.
2. The elementalist would pull and use wind to knock down ranged attacks.
3. I would pull and use wall of reflection. If mobs would not break off me I’d basically cycle through all the mace/focus blocks/blinds, refresh aegis, drop sanctuary, or use renewed focus. Sometimes this was not enough and the mobs would burn through all these blocks/blinds/dodges and still down me.
It would seem if a pull did not go just right someone would die or we would even wipe. We did have 2 bad pulls that we did recover from pretty well.
Dodge can only do so much and after 2, I’m out of endurance. In the majority of fights I’m out of endurance most of the time.
Fighting Trash
For the most part we would try to block ranged mobs by using LOS. As a guardian I would always place Wall of Reflection between us and any ranged mobs.
Symbol of Faith Virtue of Courage Virtue of Resolve
I may focus too much on dropping symbol of faith (so little help in a system with no forgiveness if you mess up, ala mobs hit like trucks). I also try to keep protection up. If an individual or a pull has gone bad I will trigger Virtue of Courage to help mitigate 1 cycle of mob attacks. If players are all low I will often trigger Virtue of Resolve.
2h Hammer
I have not so successfully used the 2h hammer to cage melee mobs and use the knockback. I think this could be handy, but will require more experimenting.
Sanctuary
For downed players I will often drop Sanctuary, if it is a hot spot, and try to get them back up.
Sanctuary seems hit and miss at times. Sometimes the mobs run right in and attack me other times they get knocked down. Not sure what is happening there, does stability negate sanctuary?
I have used Sanctuary to basically stun lock a mob in a corner. When this works it really works great. The mob is knocked down, gets back up, and immediately falls back down.
Purging Flames
I usually have this for the fire field combos and if I see a lot of conditions on team members I use it to clear one off for them.
This feels a little weak in some ways and I have been playing around with other utilities on this slot.
Wall of Reflection
I always have this on my bar for trash pulls. This most likely does more dps then I could ever dream of with any of my weapon sets. Maybe I just suck at dps. I find myself quite busy doing other things, like helping downed players.
Wand / Shield
There were a number of mobs we engaged at range. These guys were usually standing on a platform above us. I would just use the wand 1,2, and 3. Buff team with protection. I didn’t really make good use of shield 5, which absorbs projectiles (any success stories out there?) I mainly used shield 5 to knock back any melee that tried to charge in.
Continued Below
(edited by irongamer.6014)