1 - What is Cathedral of Pain?
It's a trial for CoX that gives an Item of Power to the SG as a reward.
2 - Cool! What's an Item of Power?
It's an item for the SG base that gives its members a bonus when they run in SG mode and pays 40k prestige of the base rent/upkeep.
3 - Bonus? What kind of bonus?
Little things, like small damage bonus, small defense bonus, small XP increase, automatic debt paid...
4 - Damn! How many of those can the SG have?
An SG can have 5 IoPs of each type and the base need to be able to support the IoPs.
5 - Hmmm, support the IoPs?
Each IoP needs to be on a IoP vault room and the SG base needs to have space for the room. Also, only secure plots can house more than one IoP.
6 - What the hell are secure plots?
Each base has a limited space to grow and you can upgrade your plot using the prestige the SG earns. Secure plots are very expensive, btw.
7 - Ok, I get it. Now how do I start the CoP trial?
You need to get into your SG base and use the mission computer to start it. Oh, and the base needs to be raidable.
8 - More base stuff? What does the base need to be raidable?
It needs an IoP vault room, a raid teleporter and 6 dimensional anchors.
9 - Ok, got it. But does this mean my SG base will be raided?
Right now SGs can only be raided through harmless instant raids that an SG member needs to accept. In the future SGs will have to defend their IoPs.
10 - Cool, can I start it now?
Yes, but be sure to have many SG members to help you.
11 - Members? Can't I invite friends too?
Nope, only SG members can participate of this trial.
12 - Hmmm, ok, how many do I need?
The minimal is 1 and the max is 20, but it would be safe to bring two full teams.
13 - What do you mean 20?
The CoP trial is something like an SG mission and every member of the SG can enter the mission, until there are 20 in the map.
14 - That is pretty cool! Lot of LK'ing involved then...
Nope, everyone that enters the mission is bumped up to level 50.
15 - This is too good! But everyone needs to be online when the trial starts, right?
Nope, members can log in and enter the mission, even if it already started. You can even invite a friend temporarilly to the SG to join the trial and switch teams while you are running it.
16 - Great! But getting everyone to run a long trial can be hard...
The CoP trial consists of an 1 hour timed mission where you need to kill 6 mobs and 1 AV. So it's 1 hour tops, either you succeed or fail.
17 - We will succeed, 6 mobs are easy.
The mobs respawn and each one has 3 bosses, 5 lieutenants and 3 minions, with psionic damage.
18 - Respawn? Can you explain a bit more?
Yep, the trial has two parts. In the first part you have to destroy three obelisks. Each obelisk is protected by a mob. Destroy the mob and the obelisk shield will go down so you can hit it.
19 - Ok, mob then obelisk. What about the respawn?
The mobs respawn following a fixed timer, every 1:30 minute. If they respawned with 50 minutes to go on the mission timer, they will respawn again with 48:30 minutes to go.
20 - That's not too hard. Mob then obelisk, if the mob respawns, kill it again and go back to the obelisk.
Yep, but once an obelisk is destroyed, it will respawn in 3 minutes.
21 - Damn it! Any tips on how to get the three obelisks down?
The strategy that seems to work better is to split the players sending some to one obelisk (Beta Isle) and some to another obelisk (Delta Isle). When they destroy their obelisk each team should head quickly to the third one (Gamma Isle) and destroy it too.
22 - Ok, need to be fast then. There are little demons called netterlings surrounding the obelisks...
Forget about them. They don't do much damage, don't have holds and don't heal. Think of them as decorations.
23 - Heh... Ok, what about the second part of the trial?
Once you destroy the three obelisks, you must head to the glowing map icon and enter the last room to fight the AV.
24 - Nice, I know all about AVs, just hit him first right?
Nope, there are three mobs you need to kill to bring down the AV shield before you attack him.
25 - Oh... And are there more respawns there?
Yep, you can clear one mob but a similar timer will respawn all the mobs every minute if you kill anything from the other mobs.
26 - Hmmm, what do you mean by a similar timer?
Look for the first respawn inside the room. Let's say the mobs respawned with 30:30 minutes left to complete the trial. Another respawn will happen with 29:30 minutes left, if there are enemies from more than one mob killed.
27 - This is complicated, give me some tips.
Clear one mob (the left one) and back off. Have someone kill a minion from another mob (the right one) and die so he won't attract agro to everyone. See when the mobs respawn.
28 - Ok, I did that, they respawned at 25:15.
Nice, that's your timer. Now clear one mob again and back off. Wait until the timer passes and attack the remaining two mobs at once, spliting your members and making sure someone distracts the AV.
29 - So should I attack at 23:14?
Yes, that will give you 59 seconds to kill both mobs. You need to be quick!
30 - And then I attack the AV?
Yes, the AV shield will drop for one minute. That's also how long you will have before the mobs respawn again.
31 - Oh, they respawn even after you kill them all?
Yes, and the AV has a good regeneration, so your best bet would be to be able to take down the AV in one minute.
32 - Ok, what if I can't take him down on the first attack?
Regrouping outside the room is a good way to reorganize, but be careful because some mobs might follow you outside. Just wait a bit, check if the timer changed and repeat the procedure.
33 - What do you mean with check if your timer changed?
Once you kill all mobs inside the room, the timer changes and restarts to that second.
34 - Damn timers... Hey, I can't kill the boxes that respawn the mobs!
Asking about that now? The boxes cannot and don't have to be killed...
35 - And I see I'm not getting XP!
You will get XP when you complete the trial, it's a good chunk of XP.
36 - Is it? This can be a great way to level. I'll farm this!
Actually once you get an IoP you cannot delete it. And without free IoP vault rooms you cannot start the trial.
37 - Well, you cannot get everything, right? So run this once and have the IoP forever?
Nope, at the end of a cycle you will lose all your IoPs and will be able to run the trial again.
38 - Cycles? Lose? What?
Yeah, the trial will be available for one week and close for three weeks. When it opens again, all SGs will lose their IoPs.
39 - Oh, 1 week only? Then I need to get it done soon, thanks!
You are welcome and good luck!
40 - One last thing I remembered. A friend told me about unique and rare IoPs...
Yes, there are special IoPs, look for lists on the forums and stop bothering me. I need to run my trial too!
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