So, The Cathedral of Pain

Since the new Issue should be dropping Real Soon Now (trademark withheld due to pending litigation), I was wondering: has anyone given any thought to organizing a few CoP runs?

I strongly suspect it's going to take a) more people than most sgs can usually field and b) at least a few attempts to figure it out-- both of which call for some advance planning.

Is anyone already doing this? I'll try to put it together myself if I have to, but I've never run anything of this scale and I like being lazy when I can. :-)

You lazy bum!!!! Seriously tho, I think we can pull one together. Provided of course a few SGs can actually run one. 24 people on the same page, that's another story. However with team Ouph we only need half that count!!

I will drop next week with Going Rogue

It requires three teams of 8, with the coordination of which teams will attack where being planned ahead of time.

It was impossible to complete on the beta server without all 24 members having Shivans and Warburg Nukes. (I think this is a definite sign that they went overboard on the difficulty)

And have only 3 teams of 8 no more, first one I was in started a 4th team so partial teams were getting in. It was a mess.

I'd love to try this once it goes live.

I'm up for this but again, only have time on Saturdays (usually).

And, I might even say, "wait for a week-three weeks after i18/GR launches."

In one of the CoP threads in the CB threads, Castle mentioned that they will be increasing the time that you have to do a certain part of the trial from 30 seconds to 35 seconds. Not that much of a difference but...sometimes it's worth it.

Edit: Sorry meant to say that Castle said he'd update the timer to 35 seconds once GR goes live ('soon' after it goes live).

I am definitely onboard with running this the first weekend its live!

Difficult never scared me away before.

I thought I'd swipe this and get it over here in case it wanders off for some reason...

The original is posted by VooDooGirl on the beta forums.

Cathedral of Pain - Guide
Please consider this guide a suggestion and not a definitive solution to completing the Cathedral of Pain with any degree of success.

~~~~~Strategy~~~~~
Preparation:
Team Preparation

Prepare your teams ahead of time - you'll need all twenty-four (24) players possible. You will need to have three teams of eight, and it is best to coordinate ahead of time who is leading what team. It is best to assign each team the name of one of the particular obelisks (Gloom, Woe, Despair).

Prior to running the trial, it is helpful/essential to gather shivans & nukes for all team members. The day of, or prior, each team should meet and help each other through Bloody Bay & Warburg to ensure that as many team members as possible have these additional weapons in their arsenal.

It is also suggest to meet in Pocket D and enter the SG base there, due to convenience of the medical rez units and insp vendors in Pocket D.

What (is suggested) You'll Need
A. Go to Bloody Bay, get shivans.

B. Go to Warburg, get one of each rocket (Chemical, Biological, Nuclear).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

Part One:

1. Assemble at respective obelisks for team (Woe/Gloom/Despair).

2. Team Leaders only communicate in the Request channel.

3.Teams attack Judgment Cube spawns simultaneously (it is suggested MM's/tanks/brutes head in first to buffer squishies from insta-death). When the cube's spawns are defeated, the Obelisk's shields will go down.[/i]

4. Team Leaders, when your obelisk's shield is down, in the Request channel, shout "Exposed."

5. Teams attack obelisks (it is suggested MM's/tanks/brutes head in first to buffer squishies from insta-death). Bring the Obelisk's health down to 30%. Forcing the Natterlings away from the obelisks reduces its regeneration.

6 Go to step 3 and repeat until all teams's Obelisks are at 30%. When your team's obelisk is down to 30%, do NOT defeat it until the others are all exposed. Beat it down some, but the defense will come back and the Rularuu will respawn. So it's a matter of maintenance and timing.

6A Team leaders try to slow down or speed up attacks to try to match other teams. If it looks like all three groups are at the same pace, you might try to finish the obelisks without holding at 30%. Leave that decision in the hands of the raid leader.

7 Once everyone is ready and all obelisks are exposed to 30%, then attack and defeat. The Obelisks will be restored 30 seconds after being defeated, so it is critical for all three to come down within the 30 second window of the first one coming down.

Part Two:

1. Assemble at the central access point and buff up.

2. Everyone enter the access point, and immediately move to the left of the entrance.

3. At the request of the team leader, launch a few Biological Mutagens. Take out the cube spawns from one side of the map (under one of the cubes is fine).

4. When the Aspect's shield is down, at the request of the team leader, drop a couple of Chemical Burns and Nuclear Blasts and whatever else you've got.

5. Expect the Aspect's shields to go up, and when it does, retreat to the edge of the circle defeating all the cube spawns quickly. Do NOT stay in the center as you will get attack by spawns from all three cubes AND the Aspect (while it has its shields up).

6. When all the cube spawns are defeated (hopefully quickly), toss everything you've got at the Aspect (including more Nuclear Blasts if you have them).

7. Repeat as needed or until time runs out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~

Addendum

Here is a suggested roster to use the forum to announce and coordinate teams:
-----

Team Gloom
Team Leader:
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Team Woe
Team Leader:
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Team Despair
Team Leader:
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.


Thanks To:
Snow Globe
Human Being
Ketch
Bionic_Flea
Vile Terror

I'm certainly willing to try it, assuming I'm around at the scheduled time. Heck, even failing it once would at least be something different. We just need to do sign-ups here on the fora (and through our various global channels) to put the full teams together. I suggest having a couple of people sign up as alternates, too, just in case someone can't make it on the actual day we decide to do it.

Seeing three full teams getting Shivans and Nukes all at once sounds entertaining, too. And I agree with TT that the best way to get this thing changed to is to run it, successful or not, and give the devs more points to datamine.

I too would love to run the CoP again... well, at least this version of it

the old CoP we were able to do without sg padding, but that was when we had 30+ members lol. i would like to try to get legitimate members before trying a padded team. But either way the UPP is getting our item of power back!

DW it's not the same IoP We will let the heroes decide...

AV

All right. I'll give a shot to running one of these suckers. Won't be the first weekend after release, but likely the second (the 28th and 29th). Almost certainly on Saturday night or Sunday afternoon (I'm CST in Illinois, for those players far afield).

I'll get a firm time on the table in a few days. Anyone with preferences out there give a shout, I'll factor it into the final decision.

I got a few folks together last night just to start the trial and run around the zone so we could get a good look at the map before trying it. Here's a few things we learned that I havent seen mentioned above or on paragonwiki:

- the teams don't need to be in the same SG, just the team leaders. So let's say my SG was to do this, we'd only need 3 SG members to be team leaders and the other 21 people can be from anywhere else

- any SG members that log in after the start of the trial will see this as the active mission and see the timer and can enter the zone without being on any team. If the map will only hold 24 people, make sure some random SG mate doesn't enter the mission map while one of your teammates is at the hospital

- if someone quits and leaves the zone, you CAN invite someone else to replace them in the middle of the trial provided they are not already inside the map

- because there is a mission timer, if you're the hosting SG please don't have your raid telepad in some remote secluded section of your base. People will need to be able to zone to the base or hospital and get back in the action as quickly as possible, so try moving your raid pad as close to your entrance as possible. You can always move it back later

- the mobs have to be killed before the shields will drop on the obelisks, then the obelisks have to be killed within 30 seconds of each other (according to the in-game mission description, though I heard the timer was being bumped to 35 seconds) and the mobs will keep respawning. I'm wondering if *most* of the ambushing mob can be killed to slow or prevent further ambushes. Someone try leaving one guy alive from the ambush mob after the shields drop and let us know how that works.

- the map is like the shadow shard, so there are a bunch of floating islands and stuff. If you dont have a jump pack or rocket pack, make sure someone on the team has fly and TP

- unlike the old CoP, you do not need to have the dimensional anchors, the base item that holds the item of power, and whatever else was required. For this, you just need the mission computer and the raid telepad


I'll likely give this a go this weekend and make more notes. I'll keep you posted.

I'd love to be a part of the CoP run(s) if they happen this weekend....if I'm on, I'll do my best to join.

Edit: Although EI is now a villy so...if we do a hero run then...I can try to bring someone that is needed; and if successful we can try a red side CoP run

*this post has been moved to a new thread

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=235968

Hmmm, most likely won't be there (on Sundays)....good luck though!