Cathedral of Pain Trial This Saturday Aug 21st

Hey everyone,

We will be having a CoP Trial this Saturday at 8 PM EST / 7 PM CST...

Here is what you need: In the interest of having the CoP go well, while we figure out the ins and outs of it, please bring a well developed level 50 toon if possible. Also, please get Shivians from Bloody Bay and Nukes from Warburg. It would also be a good idea to stock up on temp powers - you can find many at WW's. Better to be over-prepared and overkill than become roadkill.

Blueside - meet in AP. I will be sending notifications on AE Anonymous, Infinity TFs, Infinity Hamidion, Blueside Hamidion, Infinity Badges global channels and more...

We had enough people to form two CoP Trials. Each failed. The fist one lead by Wolf-Ire got into the Cathedral but didn't manage to take the aspect down.

CoP two just missed getting in by maybe as much as a second or two.

Sorry I didn't get us in guys and gals. You did great. Much was learned. I hear Wolf-Ire is going to do sign-ups for next weekend.

I was on Wolf-ire's team during the run of the Cathedral of Pain trial on Saturday night. We successfully coordinated defeating the three Psionic Resonator obelisks within 30 (or is it 35?) seconds of each other, opening the portal to the cathedral. Thus, we advanced to the second part of the trial with around 36 minutes left in the 1-hour time limit.

However, we failed the mission because we could not defeat the Aspect of Rularuu. That is, we failed despite:
- We had 24 players, many of them level 50 with extensive IO set builds, with a well balanced mix of archetypes and powersets.
- Many players summoned Shivan Destroyers and Vanguard heavies as pets.
- Many players launched Warburg missiles: biological, chemical, and nuclear.

Why did we fail? I don't know.

After we cleared the Soldiers of Rularuu mobs for the first time, dropping the impregnable energy globe surrounding the Aspect of Rularuu arch-villain, we hit the AV hard. Shivans and heavies were out and buffed with at least one Warburg biological missile. Warburg chemical and nuke missiles dropped on the AV while its globe was down. Players attacked the AV, doing damage. I fully expected to see the AV's health bar drop precipitously (like when I did the Faathim the Kind task force and a similar AV was defeated quickly after dropping Warburg missiles); however, nope, the AV's health bar only dropped by less than one-quarter, probably closer to one-fifth. ("What?! Uh-oh, I think we're in trouble!")

After the energy globe regenerated and SoR mobs re-spawned, we repeated the cycle and tried again. Once more, we hit the AV with pets, missiles, and damage attacks; but, to even less effect than the first time. After that, we kept trying; but, with our resources depleted, we fared not so well. The AV and its minions showed us why the trial is named the Cathedral of Pain -- full team wipes.

What could we have done differently? In the post-discussion, Wolf-ire suggested that we needed more debuffs and to hit the AV faster and harder.

Yep, seems correct. Posts on the forums by other CoP runs on other servers told tales of how the trial was "crushed" in what was described as "a bull rush" and "steamrollered". Both part one (defeating the three obelisks) and part two (defeating the AV) were achieved in less than 1/3 or even closer to 1/4 the time limit. So, evidently, a blitzkrieg approach is effective.

Is it possible, during our failed run, that the AV resisted our debuffs? While, in the successful runs on other servers, the AV failed to resist? The successful runs were launched on redside ... does this suggest that villain archetypes and powersets have an advantage?

Other than getting luckier with the random number generator, could we have done things better?

Regarding strategy inside the cathedral:
- When we initially entered, we gathered all 24 players at the entrance, summoned pets, and buffed.
- Should all 24 players stay together and proceed to the three Willforges in order, defeating the Soldiers of Rularuu along the way?
- Or should the 3 teams of 8 split up, each taking on one of the Willforge spawns?

I read a guide for the original CoP trial that suggested, after wiping out most of the SoR spawn, leave a few SoR alive so players can prep for the AV. Then, killing the last of the SoR will drop the AV's energy globe when then team is fully prepared to attack.

Some guides suggest that certain debuffing powers are particularly effective; that is, powers that will keep the AV from regenerating health so fast. Radiation and Dark Miasma powers were named.

It's a really tough trial. Many archetypes/powersets seem needed: tanking, healing, control, debuffing, buffing, damage dealing.

Any ideas on how we can succeed next time?

If you guys do it again count me in. i have a cheap IO set but used for taking and giving damage... Elec/SD scrapper i will hold off till next week to go Villain if yall wanna give another attempt

When we had our successful trial, we made our teams consist of this: 2-3 debuff, one dedicated healer, one tank, and the rest damage. It may have to do with the luck of the draw as to which rularu boss u get. Also a big thing was communication. We held a big skype call and there were like a bagillion people on it, but only the team leaders would speak or give commands. This way no one was runnin around all nimbly bimbly. Just a few suggestions.