Every time I have a group for Red Reaper, the same pattern occurs:

1. Begin
   
2. Get confused because half the mobs in this first room are invisible. Why are they invisible? What's going on?
   
3. Stop thinking about that because you just got swarmed by like 12 more Strongs making like 20 Strongs attacking your group and everyone is panicking and running in circles with their arms flailing going "Ahhh, ahhh, ahhhh"
   
4. Wipe
   
5. Revive 10 meters away and kill more Strongs
   
6. Wipe
   
7. Revive 10 meters away, finish off the strongs, move to next room and clear entire remaining instance without any issues at all.
   

 

Obviously this is not the intended design, so I assume these Group Finder PUG members (including me) don't understand something.

 

What is the correct / intended way to handle the start of Red Reaper when you're at-level? (43-45ish in on-level gear)

Edited April 13, 2013 by SW_display_name

The mobs are supposed to run into the room, but if you get lag then they just suddenly seem to appear.

Basically you aggro them (when they're outside the room) and they join the fight. My suggestion? Walk slowly with low graphics so that your lag (probably not your computer but the flashpoint) doesn't make them invisible. Then CC and fight them as normal. And yes, the 12 strongs are mean to be fought, hence why you get Republic/Imperial npcs to help out in the first room.

Edited April 13, 2013 by AshlaBoga

The invisible mobs are the ones that are already there when you first load in. It looks like the friendly NPCs are punching nothing / thin air. The ones that run in afterwards are always visible (for me, at least).

 

I don't understand how CC helps here. It's Group Finder, so I end up with groups like PT (tank), Sorc (heals), Sniper, Marauder. That lets us CC... one mob. Out of like 20 mobs (or 12, whatever, it feels like an infinite army).

 

I understand you can do fancy coordinated stuff like Flashbang chained with Roar but I have to be honest, that's expecting too much from Group Finder. Most people will just rush you, charge in for you, or break fragile area CC instantly if it isn't marked. Plus, even in a best-case scenario that only buys a few extra GCDs. That seems like too tight a margin for Group Finder content.

 

And the friendly NPCs:

• lose aggro immediately if you hit any mob once
  
• don't gain it back
  
• do barely any damage
  

 

So they could just as well not be there and I don't think there would be any difference once you engage.

 

I appreciate your suggestions, I just don't see how that stuff would really help the situation. I feel like I'm missing something, like you're not actually intended to fight a giant swarm of Strongs like that and I'm doing something wrong. But I can't figure out how to prevent it.

Well, you should deal with the mobs attacking the NPCs first. Yeah, I know, I don't see them either but I just try to stand next to a NPC and use AoE attacks.

The wave of mobs ONLY appears if you're too close to the corridor. You can kill all the mobs that are already there way before they arrive.

But, yeah, if you're not 50 most of the time you wipe your way into the flashpoint..

My recommendation...tank as best as you can for as long as you can, and healer heal your *** off. I know, it's not ideal...but with a decent healer you can usually clear it with only a couple people dying. And when you do die, accept the fact that you've taken one for the team and rez up right away and get back in the fight. The more of you that are alive the greater the chance you'll clear it without a wipe.

 

Also...interrupt, interrupt, interrupt. The only person in a fp who has an excuse for not using that little button is the healer, because he's not targeting anything that should be interrupted.

Simplest way is just to take one group at a time. Where I mostly see problems with this room is when one person goes for the guys in front of the hallway and someone else goes for the guys to the side and all hell breaks loose.

 

Take it slow and do what you have to do. It's doable.

This can be a very trying FP with a groupfinder group. People seem to think that rushing forward and attacking the pack of strongs that appear is a viable strategy. This does not work out well if you are the intended level for SM.

 

As was already said, take out the side group enemies first. Then the front ones, but stay back from the corridor. When the adds appear do not rush out to engage them. By letting them get to the NPC's, some will get distracted by your allies and make the fight manageable.

Hi guys! I thought about your advice and tried tanking Red Reaper today, and it was a lot more manageable than I had ever seen it. Here's what I did:

 

FIRST ROOM

• Tell the group to stay back and let you bring the Purifiers over. This first group of 4 can be killed without triggering more if you stay behind the barricades.
  
• Then, tell your group to wait by the shuttle. Trigger the 6 in the hallway, then run yourself back to the shuttle. The 6 rushing in will be aggro'd at you, but then the friendly NPCs will attack and pull them off (since no one else has done anything yet). Now you can kill them in small groups of 1-2 by pulling them off the friendlies bit by bit.
  

 

SECOND ROOM

• Ideally, just run through to the elevator. Nothing will attack you. Stay away from friendly NPCs because the Purifiers' Ion Cell will arc to you if you get too close and put you in combat.
  
• But if you have a Marauder/Sentinel that HAS to jump to everything he sees (You always do, right?), then be very careful because aggro is unpredictable here and stuff will pick up Healer threat you wouldn't expect. Watch your healer like a hawk until everything is dead.
  

 

After that it was all totally manageable. Some rough pulls if you don't plan a little (STOP JUMPING ON STUFF, YOU STUPID MARAUDER, I HATE YOU), but nothing that can't be toughed out with cooldowns and a good healer.

@SW_display_name, I just want to say, that your post is a breath of fresh air over some of the more recent posts I've seen complaining about difficulty. I admire the fact you asked for advice, then went back and tackled it successfully.

 

+100 cookies for you.

You can walk past them.

You can walk past them.

 

Yeah.. but how often *can* you actually? I'm always the first to reach the elevator to signal everyone that you can actually walk past all the mobs and not have to fight them but, nope, somebody always pulls aggro. It's vexing.

You can walk past them.

This may be true in coordinated, or lucky PUG, groups. But usually, In my Group Finder groups, attempting to do this results in:

• someone gets hit by Ion Cell / Death Field despite instructions to stay away from friendly NPCs
  
• we're stuck in combat
  
• do the pull anyway
  

 

or

• run past first four
  
• someone aggros the next 6 that run in through the hallway
  
• and now we have no friendly NPCs in range, and it's chaos / wipe
  

 

or

• the Marauder jumps on something despite being told not to attack anything
  
• as always
  
• because ~50% of Marauders are idiots who jump on everything they see
  

 

It's very hard to get Group Finder groups to follow instructions that don't include "and then use Force Charge and spam Slash". I find it's better to take approaches that make sense to random people ("We're going to kill this, here's how")... it ends up being faster. [noparse][/noparse]

Edited April 19, 2013 by SW_display_name

I can carry this as a healer, but on my Sin tank I always had to resort to the wipe repeatedly method. Holding aggro on the mobs isn't hard, but finding someone that can heal you through it can be.