Nudists Save Tyria

[FoxBat]

Having finally overcome the epic challenges of the desert, Nudists have ascended and earned their right to new powers in their struggle against the anti-indecency clothed mursaat fops. We begin at the Dragon's Lair and march onward towards our ultimate victory in Hell's Precipice.

Any character may freely join in our quest on Tuesdays starting at 8:30 PM EST, so long as they follow these rules during our team game:

- No armor except for a holiday hat
- Only candy-cane weapons/shields/foci and their equivalents are permitted (bananna scythe, gingerbread, or those crafted in Shing Jae/Kamadan). These items cannot be upgraded in any way.
- Only DP-erasing consumables are allowed. (Morale boosts are not allowed.)
- No title-based skills (PvE-only)

These rules may be revised later if the team deems it appropriate.

[FoxBat]

This mission is mostly more of the same annoying desert enemies we've been fighting. But now it is the time to take revenge with our improved skill selection.

As much as I'd love to try minion masters, there are a ton of corpseless enemies here. A necro who has some free points might bring bone minions along anyway for energy management and extra distraction. Flesh Golem is obviously sturdier but you need to justify the death investment.

So far our team has been casters and semi-rangers, and I'd love if we could get an actual frontliner on the team, using an energy-management elite to spam attack skills along with some defensive-skill. They can aggro the initial hate if not keep everyone solidly on themselves. This along with weakness spam on a necro should make the melee opponents manageable.

One big nusiance is the archers. There's an entire facet packed with nothing but them, and we get stuck on a slow effect making running away a non-option. In the chaos facet, there are also similar spiders which will shatter all our protective enchantments. We could try to (again) coordinate some special pulling shenanigans with getting people to use wands, not pets, and hiding behind walls while a stance tank gets their attention... but wouldn't 3 copies of Shields Up! be so much easier? That should also take care of glint's typical attack damage too. With the heavy tactics investment we can probably pile one or two Watch Yourself! in there. (And if we *do* want a tank, Gladiator's Defense is sure to be hilarious...) Spiteful spirit is also a powerful way to cut through these guys with their bunching-up habits.

Another issue is the knockdown room. For normal teams, it's just a nusiance, but for nudists, 3 seconds without heals/prots could be death. Let's just bring Ward of Stability and be done with it.

Then there's the elemental facet. Aside from the usual dual-earthquake madness spikes from the arcanists, we also have shock/aftershock golems who sting in normal play and could absolutely devestate low-armor targets. Ward of Stability is again helpful here, but we also need additonal protection, whether in the form of timely interrupts/daze or perhaps Shelter. We shouldn't have to face more than two arcanists at a time if we are careful with pulling anyway.

The necro room will have us down to a mere one pip of energy. We need a blood ritual for emergines just for this room if no-where else.

Finally there's the question of Glint. We aren't obligated to do the bonus, but there's a special point of pride in this bonus over the others. Not to mention failing it still lets us complete the mission. The only thing to watch for is we don't over-build against it and make the rest of the mission too difficult. We'd need to fit in two copies of inspired hex, something that interrupts non-spell skills to catch hibernation, and either limit our physical attacks or have wild blow handy. We have made a joke of her before with ebon dust blinding and spirit shackles, but this may be harder to achieve given our energy limitations. (IE it can be done, but might screw our builds up too much.)

[FoxBat]

Glint is DOWN!!!


Summary: weakness was the MVP here. It's really the most energy-efficient shutdown we can get against weapons, far better than jumping through the hoops of team-wide armor and spirits. Enemies that we were previously terrified of tried in vain to harm us even as they ran past the tank. Casters of course are still a problem, though between mesmer and ranger interrupts we can mess them up enough.

I had ogden simulate a nudist bonder with 2 pips and keeping him far back, which was helpful but not completely essential. Would much prefer having a human in that slot (hint, hint! )

For glint herself we were ill-prepared skill wise, not a single copy of inspired hex. Yet we went foolhardily towards the bonus anyway, being sure to spread far out and let Courin draw the majority of the hate. Glint's Crystal Haze fell (mostly) harmlessly just on courin due to the spread, and his crystal bonds were interrupted enough until right near the very end. Eventually healing gave out and I couldn't get prot spirit back on because of the bonds, leading to half our team getting 1-shotted and raised until we finished her off at a sliver of health. Very intense!


For those who need to, please go and pilot your characters around to get them some decent skills and elites! Or just swap to a character that's already well equipped (still have that necro ex-survivor KoP? )

[KingOfPain]

Here's one for Thirsty River. If AN makes a crane hat Vex would gladly wear it, but that chicken shit is stealing my thunder
*Vex proudly takes note that her legs are as slim as the chicken's*




One more of GLINT. I can't get enough of it.



Thanks to Mrs Z and mucco for joing up, very cool to have you

(still have that necro ex-survivor KoP? )

Helel Vex Ortgul is still around and it will make things easier since she has a lot of (Elite) skills. I can bring her in if a build requires it, however, she looks intense, not such a cutey pie as Vex - be warned

Nudists in survivor mode!?

KoP

[Zed-F]

You do recall that my Nudist Rit has the survivor title, don't you? Survivor (1) anyway. It was too much of a nuisance to bother with after that rank, and I'd made my point by then.

And yes, she was nude while acquiring the title. Admittedly her party wasn't, but they were all brain-dead AI henches before the existence of heroes or flagging, so that makes up for it!

[Drasca]

Leaving for who knows how long! Moving to San Diego, then being shipped off four a tour in the Pacific. Probably hunting pirates with allied ninjas.

[Hawkmoon]

Leaving for who knows how long! Moving to San Diego, then being shipped off four a tour in the Pacific. Probably hunting pirates with allied ninjas.

We'll miss you, Drasca! Keep safe, and we'll be here when you get back - though hopefully we won't be stuck at Iron Mines by that time!

[Lurker Wyrm]

Leaving for who knows how long! Moving to San Diego, then being shipped off four a tour in the Pacific. Probably hunting pirates with allied ninjas.

Thought you weren't leaving 'till May or something like that? Well, have fun, anyway (seems too cliche to say good luck so you get that instead).

[KingOfPain]

AKA nudists in stick figures bagged Ice Cave mission and bonus



KoP

[FoxBat]

That's us catching the Iron Mines bonus by the hair of our chinny chin chin. We managed to wipe out the mursaat on the trip down from Markis in our infused hats, but once this ele Inquistor spawned with his 3 mesmers, he toasted the majority us. Fortunately KingOfPain brought his signet against his better judgement, rezzed me, and then we recovered, killing his mesmer buddies on the bridge, and then getting his attention to fight right at the portal he was to leave through! Too close a call.