One thing I'm actually curious about, is the 3-person-puzzle solving strat, as I've never done it.

 

Bear with me here. Can someone confirm this is how it is done:

 

1. Joe at right panel

2. Sam at middle panel

3. Bill at left panel

4. Joe activates right panel (piece #1 out)

5. Sam activates middle panel (piece #1 down)

6. Joe activates right panel (piece #2 out)

7. Bill activates left panel (piece #2 down)

8. Sam activates middle panel (piece #1 out)

9. Bill activates left panel (piece #1 down)

10. Joe activates right panel (piece #3 up)

11. Sam activates middle panel (piece #3 down)

12. Sam activates middle panel (piece #3 up)

13. Joe activates right panel (piece #3 down)

14. Bill activates left panel (piece #1 up)

15. Sam activates middle panel (piece #1 down)

16. Bill activates left panel (piece #2 up)

17. Joe activates right panel (piece #2 down)

18. Sam activates middle panel (piece #1 up)

19. Joe activates right panel (piece #1 down)

20. Fire

 

Is there any delay between pressing panels? If not, (since this strat requires no running), it seems like this whole process could be done in about 20 seconds.

 

Currently we have someone running the puzzle full-time without stopping. I suppose this way, everyone could be dpsing until he gets a couple of stacks of armor, then 3 ranged run up to the puzzle, take 20 seconds to reset it and fire again, then go back to dps.

 

Before I suggest this to my group, I like a confirmation that this is how it works with the 3-person strat.

You just leave the 3 people up top all the time. If they're ranged, they can easily start the fight DPSing the boss from the platforms (e.g., 2 people on the middle platform and one on the right to start) but then should move quickly to their button and commence button pushing full time. The key is you need a lot of uptime on the boss debuffs to make up for the loss of a person down below, which is doable with the strong resistance debuff from the jets. So the faster you can solve the better. B/c you don't have to run or think about anything else as a button masher, you can move the puzzle quite quickly.

we keep him in starting position, put a healer on the middle button and your weakest dps on the outside buttons (Preferrably ones with a knockback in case the droids spawn.)

have one dps on stun droid duty and then just keep the tanks cleansed.

fire the flame, unstack the puzzle, restack the puzzle and fire again. if you are quick enough he will always stay on fire and no extra droids will spawn.

free loot

It works well in hard mode and story mode, though I think it doesn't in nightmare but im not sure.

Can someone confirm this is how it is done:

 

1. Joe at right panel

2. Sam at middle panel

3. Bill at left panel

4. Joe activates right panel (piece #1 out)

5. Sam activates middle panel (piece #1 down)

6. Joe activates right panel (piece #2 out)

7. Bill activates left panel (piece #2 down)

8. Sam activates middle panel (piece #1 out)

9. Bill activates left panel (piece #1 down)

10. Joe activates right panel (piece #3 up)

11. Sam activates middle panel (piece #3 down)

12. Sam activates middle panel (piece #3 up)

13. Joe activates right panel (piece #3 down)

14. Bill activates left panel (piece #1 up)

15. Sam activates middle panel (piece #1 down)

16. Bill activates left panel (piece #2 up)

17. Joe activates right panel (piece #2 down)

18. Sam activates middle panel (piece #1 up)

19. Joe activates right panel (piece #1 down)

20. Fire

(repeat from #4)

 

Is there any delay between pressing panels? If not, (since this strat requires no running), it seems like this whole process could be done in about 20 seconds.

Yes, that's a good solution if you want to do the "only fire right tower" strategy. There is no delay on any of the moves (I think there is a delay between when you fire and when you can move the first piece, but I'm not certain). If all three people know what they're doing, it can be done in less than 20 seconds.

Note that on 16-man, whoever last pushed a button cannot press the next button. You will need a fourth person (Xanthippe) to execute step 11 as well as step 4 of the next cycle. Also, if anyone makes a wrong move, Xanthippe will need to move to that player's terminal to correct the error.

You do not need to move from original position in HM or NiM mode. It's actually easier to pull off in HM.

Checked last night. Sad but true and I found it kinda lame.

As I remember at some point Fabricator's stacks should be removed by left ice nozzle. I am disappointed by this changes. This encounter required some tactical movements and coordination, but now he is as simple as any other TnS boss. I really hope this changes was unintended.

The first time my guild completed this boss we kept the droid in his original position the whole time. We did man, many many, practice runs of getting the fire in the right spot, resetting and getting it back. We had the fire on him about every 20 seconds or so (guessing here things were getting real intense so who knows). Our group was:

2 Commando Healers(Myself BH/Rakata/Columi mix, and WH Commando)

1 Vanguard Tank (BH/WH)

1 Guardian tank (Mostly Columi I think)

and a Shadow, Gunnery Commando and Sentinel DPS in a grab bag of PvP, Columi and god knows what else.

I was the main tank healer standing on the platform directly facing the droid. The other healer was on the one next to me. He mostly healed the 2 guys doing the puzzle. We had one Sent. Stay on the right panel and trigger button. guardian tank ran between the other 2. Knocked down mines when they dropped on me with KB. Healed like crazy and put in some DPS with Mortar Volley every other fire drop when it was off CD. It took us a few tries mostly because we had a bunch of guys that had never raided before and didn't really have great gear and weren't very experienced with raid type mechanics.

On the run we downed him our precision was spot on. The 2 doing the puzzle communicated very well. Once thy were ready they would say "Fire Up!" and the main tank would say "Fire!" Communication is key in this one as well as getting the puzzle down solid. We found this to be much easier than moving him from spot to spot.

Hope it helps!