After my post on Surviving Claw of Jormag was so well received and after beating Shatterer with 6 people and failing it with 20, I felt I had to post about kitten.
First off, I was at Shatterer once with only 5 others, and while we didn’t think we could beat it, I encouraged everyone to man the mortars & turrets and fire away. 2 people still wanted to melee, a guardian and I think a ranger. The other 4 of us fired the mortars, occasionally swapping ammo to healing for the 2 melee. No one fired mortars at the adds, as that just brings them to destroy the mortars. Everyone was positive in map chat, wondering if the few of us could do it, wanting us to succeed for the bragging rights. When the mortars were attacked by the adds, we fought them off and went back to firing the mortars. We ended up beating it with just a few seconds left on the timer. With just 6 people. Six.
Fast forward a few weeks and the LS is Escape from LA. Not many people out in the rest of the world, as everyone is in LA. Shatterer pre is up on the gw2stuff timer, so I go there, zoning in just as it lands. I see no one on the mortars, so I put in map chat, “Man the mortars!” A commander-tagged toon is doing melee and says something to the effect that melee and ranged is the way to go and the mortars don’t do squat. I run up to the melee group, quick count of about 20 and they seem adequate, so I run back to the mortars, and get at least one firing. No one else mans a mortar, so I mention that I and 5 others beat Shatterer with pretty much just the mortars and 2 toons at melee. No one comments or comes to man a mortar. At the 11 minute mark, Shatterer still had 90% health. I again mention the mortars, no one responds. At the 5 minute mark, we’re still barely half way. I again mention the previous 6 man mortar win, no one mans the mortars. At the 1 minute mark, its clear we’ll be failing the event, kittenterer still has about 30% health. I say in map chat, “We’d have been better off with a full compliment on the mortars.” Obviously not happy that we’re failing the event, some wisecracker responds with, “Talk to yourself much?” Event ends a failure, and everyone starts spewing venom in map chat, blamestorming.
So…Shatterer is doable with a very small group. Just man the mortars and turrets. Please. Only go to the rise to melee/close range if the mortars are all manned.