This fight has to be a little too difficult for a SM.

 

I have noticed though that a lot of people arguing in favor of the ops boss being fine have also been clearing the 16 man version of the encounter. Which, of course, is going to be MUCH easier on the actual key points in the operations considering you have a lot more people getting the capability to interrupt the different attacks that require much better coordination for 8 man.

 

So in all reality, I don't mind the challenge and I don't mind the fight being difficult. But at the same time, you have to look past your own capability and ask:

 

Could you do that in unaugmented 66 grade gear? Because I think this fight is way too difficult for a group of players to clear this with an average skill level and in 66 grade base gear. Recommendations for gear are based around the average player, and if you want to do that op in unaugmented 66s, you probably have to be exceptionally skilled. Which isn't the majority.

SM does seem to be bugged. We ran through this on 8M SM the other night and had major problems with Druxus. Not Druxus himself, but his Guardian spawns. They seemed to randomly throw out an "Affliction" debuff that ticked for 6k a second and couldn't be cleansed. We looked through at a dulfy posting and a forum parse and found that on HM, the same debuff was ticking 3k a second. Clearly something is not right about that.

I have to lol at the pseudo "leetists" with their spasmodic put downs at everyone else's expense at what is obviously just bad tuning of Story Mode! Any opportunity to preen! Hilarious. There's always one or two. Its just Story mode for Pete's sake.

 

Like we shouldn't be drawing BW's attention to an out of whack mechanic >.<

Has anyone else encountered a bug with Draxus where resets back to the start mid-fight? It was 16-man HM and things were going smoothly, next thing we know he is back to full heath and the first wave of adds spawn again. The sad thing is it happened on two consecutive pulls.

Has anyone else encountered a bug with Draxus where resets back to the start mid-fight? It was 16-man HM and things were going smoothly, next thing we know he is back to full heath and the first wave of adds spawn again. The sad thing is it happened on two consecutive pulls.

 

I had actually forgotten about this. Yes, this did happen on one of our early pulls.

I am unfortunately not a native English speaker so yes some of my writings can be a bit hard to understand. There are probably alot of grammar/spelling errors you can pick out too. It also depends on how fast I am writing them as well, the faster I write them the more mistakes there tends to be.

 

Quite honestly, I don't have any problems understanding Dulfy's English. Compared to some of the people on this forum and some of the people in Republic general chat of Jedi Covenant , I find most of what Dulfy writes to be clear and easily understood. For the parts that aren't clear, when I actually do the content, I can understand how hard it is to explain the content without being overly verbose and confusing.

 

At the same time, seeing all of the GW 2 content that Dulfy puts up in addition to the SWTOR stuff, I'm surprised that she actually has time to play SWTOR! When we read her walkthroughs, we take into account when it was written and read the comments to see if changes were made since she published her write ups. Her walkthroughs may not be the most up to date, but we find them extremely useful for the 95% of the time that they are accurate. Until the time someone else puts a more detailed walkthrough on the content we are trying, we use Dulfy's work as a starting point.

 

You probably hear it all the time, but thanks for your work!

I've tackled this boss on 8 man SM with a good group in VENT.

I've tackled this boss on 16 man SM also with a good group in MUMBLE.

 

BIG DIFFERENCE in the fight as 8 man is over tuned and 16 man is about right in complexity.

 

This is like TC HM 8 man vs TC HM 16 man. Bit of work for 8 man, but with DPS on 16 man it's a piece of cake.

BIOWARE: Needs to NERF the 8 man SM in some fashion, because it's way overboard for PUG groups and does not have the look & feel of an SM OP. Again today I'm seeing lots of "LFM.. 2nd Boss" as it's pretty much destroying most PUG run's even with Vent/Mumble.

 

DITTO on Dulfy's guides. Most of the time they will give you 95% of what you need. Still better than anything anyone else has put out online.

Edited October 3, 2013 by dscount

I've tackled this boss on 8 man SM with a good group in VENT.

I've tackled this boss on 16 man SM also with a good group in MUMBLE.

 

BIG DIFFERENCE in the fight as 8 man is over tuned and 16 man is about right in complexity.

 

This is like TC HM 8 man vs TC HM 16 man. Bit of work for 8 man, but with DPS on 16 man it's a piece of cake.

BIOWARE: Needs to NERF the 8 man SM in some fashion, because it's way overboard for PUG groups and does not have the look & feel of an SM OP. Again today I'm seeing lots of "LFM.. 2nd Boss" as it's pretty much destroying most PUG run's even with Vent/Mumble.

 

DITTO on Dulfy's guides. Most of the time they will give you 95% of what you need. Still better than anything anyone else has put out online.

 

I agree with your assessment. After my experience in 8m SM, I went on a different toon for 16m and was shocked at how simple it was. Most of the "It's fine as is" comments in this thread have come from people talking about the 16-man perspective. And it IS fine in 16-man. In 8-man, however, it's a different story.

Not signed! Please do not nerf the 8 man SM version of this Op!

 

We cleared this on 8 man SM. We did wipe a couple times on Draxus but we did get it down and clear this boss. We just called out when the corruptors were up and we would have a dps or two interrupt them and focused them down while the other mobs were being taken care of.

 

We actually used the guide linked below...

 

http://www.hov-swtor.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9678518

Edited October 3, 2013 by Anamurra

After a few attempts we got the Corruptors' wave down pat. DPS was interrupting and killing them, and near the end of the phase we could leave one alive to catch up on healing if needed.

 

Now the phase with the two big guys was tougher, but on the 2nd such wave we just downed the boss and worried about the adds afterwards.

There is currently a bug with the Guardians. Their Affliction ticks for...

 

3,536 in 16M Story

3,598 in 8m Hard

6,413 in 8m Story

Edited October 3, 2013 by elidion

We got Draxus down but it took us a a few wipes and enrage timers. Everything else in this op is so insanely easy that its hard to understand how this one is in there. I am all for either beefing up the rest of the op or bringing this one in line with the rest. As it is now though, its just so out of place. This felt like a HM boss.

Not signed! Please do not nerf the 8 man SM version of this Op!

 

We cleared this on 8 man SM. We did wipe a couple times on Draxus but we did get it down and clear this boss. We just called out when the corruptors were up and we would have a dps or two interrupt them and focused them down while the other mobs were being taken care of.

 

We actually used the guide linked below...

 

http://www.hov-swtor.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9678518

 

Disagree. This fight is overtuned for SM, and I believe it is a bug. The damage output is greater than in HM. A HM version of an encounter is not supposed to be easier than the SM version, right? As it stands now, that's the way it is.

 

We beat this too fight too; that isn't the issue. The issue is that an average PUG of player wearing 66's (i.e. most of the people NOT reading this forum post) are supposed to be able to clear this. As it stands, that's not the case. Most players on the forums are above average, based on the fact they are doing "outside research" and not just looking in-game going "hey yea cool! an operation! let's gooooo!". These are who SM are intended for (and not most of us), and these players are going to have a hell of a time clearing this.

 

Personally, it doesn't affect me much. I'll only be running SM for a couple weeks while I finish farming Ultimate Coms, and then I'll probably never go in SM again. Even when I do go, I'll be going with people I trust as I would not ever attempt to PUG 8man SM again as it stands. I'm advocating for the general public.

 

Please don't get me wrong. This fight was FUN and was a pretty decent challenge. I just don't think this encounter should be in SM (and look at the rest of the Operation as an example. You can straight up ignore 90% of the mechanics and turn almost every fight into a simple tank and spank).

There is currently a bug with the Guardians. Their Affliction ticks for...

 

3,536 in 16M Story

3,598 in 8m Hard

6,413 in 8m Story

 

CONFIRMED from my logs files and random off Torparse even.

 

STORY MODE LOG - 8 Man http://www.torparse.com/a/446236 on SNIPER Affliction ticks for 6.4k

<SNIPE Guardian of the Fortress's Affliction hits for 6418 internal damage, /SNIPE>

 

 

STORY MODE LOG - 16 Man http://www.torparse.com/a/445010/36 on a SORC Affliction ticks for 2.5k

<SNIPE Guardian of the Fortress's Affliction hits for 2510 internal damage, /SNIPE>

 

BIOWARE! Please FIX your 8-MAN SM version

Edited October 4, 2013 by dscount

Not signed! Please do not nerf the 8 man SM version of this Op!

 

We cleared this on 8 man SM. We did wipe a couple times on Draxus but we did get it down and clear this boss. We just called out when the corruptors were up and we would have a dps or two interrupt them and focused them down while the other mobs were being taken care of.

 

We actually used the guide linked below...

 

http://www.hov-swtor.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9678518

 

I DISAGREE with you as well. You "Called Out" means you had a coordinated guild or pug run all in vent. SM's are supposed to be PUG friendly and able to be completed without the requirement of VOIP communications. They are easier with Vent/Mumble, but are not supposed to be such tight mechanix / timers that it feels like NiM/HM to a group. Based on DAMAGE output and the fact many have pointed out some sort of BUG... I suspect a NERF is required or a "FIX" is needed. Leave the rest of the OP as-is please, but make this one so it does allow folks to enjoy the "ENTRY LEVEL" version.

dscount and Askesis, you guys have a point there! When I wrote my reply, I wasn't even thinking of the PUGs that would attempt this. That was entirely on me. They will have a tough time with this fight as it's very much a coordination heavy fight and some of the mobs do hit hard.

 

Running it with guildies with VOIP is much different than with a PUG without VOIP. Some things need to be fixed with this fight or else a lot of PUGs will stall out on this fight!

Right now there is a known issue where the SM version of the fight is putting out 2x the damage the HM encounter does, that's why so many pugs are having trouble. Bioware screwed something up.....not like we haven't heard THAT before.

Killed Draxus on 8SM few hours ago, after wiping on him for two previous evenings - we're very casual raiding guild, using VOIP but never focused on getting anywhere close to bleeding edge.

We had to pull up all resources - Adrenals, extra gear upgrades and augments into the picture before we killed him.

 

And after that we finished raid with only 4 wipes on last boss (while we were figuring out the tactic). Everything else was one-shotted and we were done within 1h30min since downing Draxus.

 

I don't mind difficult fights, but this fight - as it is now - is very uneven compared to the rest of the Op.

Not sure if that was intentional or not but I think that fight requires either group of very good players or very overgeared characters (considering the boss drops Arkanian / Black Market level loot).

I don't mind difficult fights, but this fight - as it is now - is very uneven compared to the rest of the Op.

Not sure if that was intentional or not but I think that fight requires either group of very good players or very overgeared characters (considering the boss drops Arkanian / Black Market level loot).

 

It requires a brain, but unfortunately by looking at oricon general chat and seeing people struggling with the soloable story arc content you can see why a lot cant get past this fight (due to not interrupting etc)

 

It requires everyone to be on their toes and do their part not just one or two, the problem is though a lot expect to sit back like in previous ops and get carried through.

It requires a brain, but unfortunately by looking at oricon general chat and seeing people struggling with the soloable story arc content you can see why a lot cant get past this fight (due to not interrupting etc)

 

It requires everyone to be on their toes and do their part not just one or two, the problem is though a lot expect to sit back like in previous ops and get carried through.

 

Normally I'd agree with you, but affliction (from the Guardians of the Fortress) is absolutely bugged right now in 8 man story. Took a good group of people who cleared the op earlier in a 16 man story in 8 man story imp side. Our gear wasn't nearly as good as our Republic toons but all of it was mostly 69 or 72 with a few exceptions for enhancements.

 

Now there was definitely a few wipes on us due to needing to make adjustments to 8 man. Afterall when you have 10 72 geared DPS in 16 man story, you burn through guardians of the fortress so fast they barely have time to do anything, and you have the spare DPS to keep corrupters interrupted while you focus DPS on Draxus whenever he's down so the tanks barely have time to try tanking him and taking extra damage from Dispatchers.

 

So yeah that was on us and we adjusted. But healers getting hit with two afflictions during the first Guardians phase effectively eating 12-13k a tick? You can't survive that in 8 man. I'm guessing those who cleared this 8 man story way overgeared the instance and just burned down the Guardians of the Fortress super quick. I just don't see a group with instance appropriate gear getting through this, but that's purely because of the bugged affliction from the Guardians. Assuming *knock on wood* that it gets corrected because it is so CLEARLY a bug (I'm guessing they swapped the damage between 8 man story and 16 man story), then this fight will still be a very solid challenge for 8 man PUG groups due to the coordination check. Maybe lower the damage done by dispatchers since their damage also seems a bit high for 8 man story (my Jugg was rotating through every cooldown and healers were just pouring heals down my throat, and I still went down a few times), but otherwise I think the rest of the mechanics aren't as pain inducing and should be a decent challenge.

 

My experience on 16 man story and 16 man hard makes me think the encounter is fully appropriate on both of those difficulties. 8 man story honestly would probably be too, but the bug we're seeing is just unacceptable.

Edited October 6, 2013 by ArchangelLBC

Normally I'd agree with you, but affliction (from the Guardians of the Fortress) is absolutely bugged right now in 8 man story.

 

While the affliction bug makes that bit tougher that's not why people are wiping though, the majority of pug groups are failing due to add management. If bioware fixed the bug without nerfing anything else people would still wipe on it in their droves because of the sheer co-ordination required anyway.

 

What bioware have basically done not only with this boss but the whole of oricon is chuck everyone straight into the deep end, giving the more casual side of the player base a nice middle finger as now they have to handle "do or die" scenarios like interrupting something or attacking certain adds at the right moment, no longer can they burn through something by ignoring the castbar or sit back in the raid while others do the work. I've even seen a comment in oricon chat from a reasonably geared gunslinger I've probably been in pug ops with a few times who didn't know what their interrupt was... it's almost like they made the content this hands on to sort the wheat from the chaff more than anything.

While the affliction bug makes that bit tougher that's not why people are wiping though, the majority of pug groups are failing due to add management. If bioware fixed the bug without nerfing anything else people would still wipe on it in their droves because of the sheer co-ordination required anyway.

 

Nonsense. Your condescending elitism aside, there really is not much more coordination required on this boss than on other 8-man SM ops bosses. Operator IX, Operations Chief, Olok, and maybe even TfB require just as much if not more competence from PuGs to clear as Draxus. It is purely the affliction bug that is giving people fits right now.

They need to FIX the BUG first and then look at tuning the fight.

 

I thought it was strange that both HM and SM versions had the same amount of adds.

Usually a mechanic is removed from SM version. Like DELETE the Bulwark's would make sense.

 

SM 8 is all I'm talking about. Leave 16 man SM alone (It's fine).

 

FIX the Affliction BUG and remove some of the ADD's for 8 man SM to be "Playable" by most PUG's.

Tried this Op tonight as a guild run for the first time in 8M SM. Had a few wipes, then once we got the mechanics right cleared draxus and the rest was very easy. Think the difficulty is right to be honest......we had some members in 69 gear with 66 hilts. Make it easier would just be a farming Op. I like the fact that the 2nd boss mechanics and damage is high, it stops pugs running it all the time farming

 

The only downfall was the time that draxus disappeared and never came back, that is clearly an unintentional bug. However, after wiping and trying again, all worked as intended. With regards to the affliction (I believe it was), the dps and tanks just need to get the interrupts down early to stop mass damage.

 

This is one Op that requires everyone in the group working together.....we want more of these!

 

That said, really loved the scenery in the fortress, though it was very cool! Nice job BW!

 

Edit: Also, got the Fearless title for completing, but in achievements it only says 4/5 bosses completed. Another Bug

Edited October 6, 2013 by Consular_Bob

I thought it was strange that both HM and SM versions had the same amount of adds.

Usually a mechanic is removed from SM version. Like DELETE the Bulwark's would make sense.

 

 

Actually HM has some extra mechanics compared to SM...

- Guardians AoE is not interruptable

- Draxus is immune for a while when he comes down during wave 9 (he has an immunity buff that is counting down).

- dismantlers now actually do need absolute priority (due to the insane damage after being knocked back)