Lost Island, ***...

[AmundS]

I PUG´ed it yesterday, as a Merc healer with half rakata half columi I had no problem doing the second boss. We did 4 tries before everyone learnt how to avoid stuff. So this is a group problem, not a game problem. More hard content please.

[obi-joachim]

Rewards could have been better but the difficulity is alright. If you know the correct tactics the whole FP becomes a walk in the park.

[Castiel]

It's quite sad seeing people complain about how this place is way too hard. Challenging content is what keeps people playing and I cleared this with a pug yesterday and it being my first time there. Me (MM Snipe), Leth/Eng Sniper, Op heals and Jugg tank. The also other reason why it's so hard is that the last boss drops Rak Chest, I really would feel disappointed of they just handed that out as the only other raid to get that from is HM Ev Soa which can be quite difficult. People have to learn to stop Qqing, learn mechanics from fights and enjoy hard content while it lasts. Also we cleared the place is 2 and a half hours and all Colum/Rak gear and only one other fully Rak gear. So yes it does take some skill and gear reqs to clear the place. But the end boss/Black hole comms for weekly is what its mostly there for.

 

You're safe with ranged. Melee gets B00tf00kd in this FP.

[Lymain]

Really enjoyed this zone. Did it with:

 

Tank Juggernaut

Tank Assassin

Hybrid Sorcerer

Marksman Sniper

 

The sniper got lots of Columi upgrades, but the rest of the group was already in mostly Rakata. With that said, we were able to use both the BP and weapon from the boss.

Edited April 15, 2012 by Lymain

[paowee]

HM LI with 2 Melee is FINE. did it with a sniper mara sorc and jug tank. key is positioning and interrupting incinerate. down tuning this FP will make it less fun to run imo..

[alifaraaz]

You talk about bad reward, but if you pay attention you'll see the reward probably lands itself somewhere between normal and hardmode Ev/kp as it drops 2 columi and 1 rakata piece. And its a required part of the weekly which rewards 8 Black Hole comms.

 

And when you consider that its easier to both get a 4m group together and easier to coordinate a 4m group rather than 8 or 16 then the flashpoints difficulty is completely reasonable.

 

Once strategies are perfected and people become more aware if the best way to take down the bosses then it'll be fine.

Having said that, I do ubderstand why the 1st boss is difficult, as he's harder than the rest. So you could nerf him a bit, maybe reduce frequency of the arc casts or make the arc casts remain the same size rather than growing.

 

But like I said, I don't feel its required.

[Kaonis]

Me and my guild just attempted HM of the new FP a bit ago, we wiped every single time against the LR5 droid boss. Why? Because that fight as is anti-melee it's not even funny, the only way for the tank to avoid the lava is to stand in the center, then to avoid the plasma arcs the boss spams? Well make sure you have ZERO melee DPS so they don't get hit by it and take the tank with them. Let alone from what we saw if I was even a little too close to the tank I could get hit by incinerate if we didn't interrupt it fast enough.

[Dee-Jay]

Me and my guild just attempted HM of the new FP a bit ago, we wiped every single time against the LR5 droid boss. Why? Because that fight as is anti-melee it's not even funny, the only way for the tank to avoid the lava is to stand in the center, then to avoid the plasma arcs the boss spams? Well make sure you have ZERO melee DPS so they don't get hit by it and take the tank with them. Let alone from what we saw if I was even a little too close to the tank I could get hit by incinerate if we didn't interrupt it fast enough.

 

/signed

 

It's despicable how much ranged DPS are favored in PvE encounters. Lost Island is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Earlier in this thread I recounted my experience from last night, with a pure melee group. Even with a full Rakata group of what I'd consider fairly capable players we wiped close to 20 times with the best try leaving us at 3%.

 

Today, I decided to give it another shot. I threw on my tank gear...I didn't even bother to respec to tank, and 2-shotted the boss.

 

The only difference between the two visits were the fact that we had 1 ranged DPS and 1 melee instead of 2 melees. It's a WORLD of a difference. The final boss too is very melee unfriendly although not nearly to the same extent....I think.

[Fabricated]

Lost Island is overtuned and there's no two ways about it.

 

Just got done in a guild group in pretty much full Rakata and it was ridiculously unfun. The first boss is massively overtuned if you have any melee, which we mercifully didn't. I tanked in the center, the ranged/healers ran around the room and it was actually fairly easy.

 

...but we had no melee. This fight needs some retuning to make it less melee unfriendly. Maybe raise the CD on plasma arcs or something so the tank/DPS don't have to move quite so much. Incinerate is pretty ridiculous too. I have no idea how a tank that could legitimately use the gear (i.e. someone in say...mostly Tionese with the odd columi piece) could survive without an over-geared healer.

 

Second/Bonus bosses are pretty easy. They're fine.

 

Last boss is just annoying. For the gear level that SHOULD be running this place (a mix of mostly tionese/columi/daily-modded oranges) the damage output on the tank from the stacks upon stacks of satchel charges is pretty crazy. The DPS output/healing output at the end is a bit too intense as well.

 

The vial AOE in the first phase could probably be shrunk down/less frequent IMO.

 

This is meant for gearing people, not for amusing aspergers-inflicted grognards decked out in full Rakata who want to play dressup with their companions. It needs tuned down.

 

I know I'm not running it again. If we want to gear alts we can always go sleep through another candy run of story mode EV/Karagga. Why the hell even bother with this place?

[vandana_]

Lost Island is overtuned and there's no two ways about it.

 

Just got done in a guild group in pretty much full Rakata and it was ridiculously unfun. The first boss is massively overtuned if you have any melee, which we mercifully didn't. I tanked in the center, the ranged/healers ran around the room and it was actually fairly easy.

 

...but we had no melee. This fight needs some retuning to make it less melee unfriendly. Maybe raise the CD on plasma arcs or something so the tank/DPS don't have to move quite so much. Incinerate is pretty ridiculous too. I have no idea how a tank that could legitimately use the gear (i.e. someone in say...mostly Tionese with the odd columi piece) could survive without an over-geared healer.

 

Second/Bonus bosses are pretty easy. They're fine.

 

Last boss is just annoying. For the gear level that SHOULD be running this place (a mix of mostly tionese/columi/daily-modded oranges) the damage output on the tank from the stacks upon stacks of satchel charges is pretty crazy. The DPS output/healing output at the end is a bit too intense as well.

 

The vial AOE in the first phase could probably be shrunk down/less frequent IMO.

 

This is meant for gearing people, not for amusing aspergers-inflicted grognards decked out in full Rakata who want to play dressup with their companions. It needs tuned down.

 

I know I'm not running it again. If we want to gear alts we can always go sleep through another candy run of story mode EV/Karagga. Why the hell even bother with this place?

 

All your QQing really means that the instance difficulty is not overtuned but gear rewards are undertuned. People shouldn't go there in Tionese gear (altough I believe it is still doable in lower gear if you execute the fights properly ie not make mistakes, learn to interrupt etc.) Hard Mode is supposed to be hard.

[Tallyhoe]

My group one shot the first boss... cause we followed a basic rule.. interrupt if you can and stay out of bad stuff.. adds on healer? kill it.

2 wipes seeing him do the knock back... the bonus boss we one shot.. 2nd boss 2 wipes... in a matter of 40 minutes..

[Siorac]

Standing in the lava doesn't do nearly as much damage as Plasma Arc, you can run through it to get into a safe position. If the healer's good, it should be no problem.

 

We killed the first boss with a Sage healer, Sage DPS, Vanguard DPS (melee!) and Guardian tank (myself). I was in full Columi, rest of the group was mixed Rakata/Columi. The Sage DPS interrupted Incinerate (as he has a ranged interrupt), the melees were charged with interrupting Plasma Arc whenever we could.

 

I'm not saying it wasn't hard but with good coordination it could be done smoothly. It took me quite a few wipes to learn where the Plasma Arc's effect starts as it is a little bit outside of its graphical representation but apart from that it's fine. We could not figure out the final boss though, we only got to the last phase once as the healer kept dying even though I had the boss facing away from the group all the time.

[Raisatihane]

we (in our guild) r really glad to have that kind of FP. Its hard yes, but that it supposed to be I hope WB will make more FPs like this one.

 

Do ur homework, plan ahead - dont rush and all will be fine.

 

But true... that first drone is hardest one... as it is complicated... hey! but thats fun!

 

With drone we find that best is to lure him into right or left corner (where console is) and then start to move, near wall, backwards... Drone is ranged... but he will follow always. Interrupt is a key + try to keep group in more or less thight position. Yes - best if u have some ranged DD in party. Not much room for mistakes.. but it works just fine.

 

Group is in full Columi with some parts of Tionese and Rakata. BH, mara, snipe & sroc.

 

Now, back where i start this post.

Why we like it? Its simple! Since we have small guild and bit more mature players (what means - kids, work.. wifes ) So we cant all just log in every possible moment - but weekends yes.

Or guild is slowly growing but we have hard time to form OP party... 3 days CD makes difference... hard to find random (or friends) if they want to run OP with own guild.

 

For as that "hard" FP is like small/tiny OP. Not that much rewards but still - better then nothing! Thats why i wish BW will make more of those kind of FPs.

There was a "hole" Good thinking BW!

Edited April 16, 2012 by Raisatihane

[Wulffion]

Plasma Arc has nothing to do with those expanding lightning bubbles that spawn all over the place. Plasma Arc is a single target skill, that hits the tank.

 

We cleared the FP yesterday with 3 melees. Was it hard? Sure ( 7-8 trys for the first boss). Were we overgeared? Sure (allmost full rakata). But after we figured out the tactics it was absolutely doable.

 

Our group was a PT tank, Assassin and Jugg DD, Op healer (myself). At the beginning of the fight, the tank turns the boss around and the rest (healer included) stands directly behind the boss. Interrupt incinerate is top priority. You can interupt plasma arc, but thats not so important.

 

As soon as a lightning bubble spawns everyone moves out of it to the sides (NEVER stand in front of the boss, because of incinerate). The tank moves backwards into a corner of the room, the rest follows the boss (avoid lava if necessary).

 

From now on you kite the boss along the walls whenever a bubble spawns. Sometimes you have to move through the lava area, but thats not a problem.

The adds? Killed the melee adds with smash, ignored the ranged adds.

 

The only critical situation was, when a bubble spawns and he starts to cast his experimental cannon directly afterwards. You have to move away, but the boss wont follow the tank, so everybody could be hit by incinerate (=wipe).

[Thegriss]

Finished HM with Rakata Jugg tank, Rakata Sorc Healer, Columi/rakata BH/sniper. The droid was a challange but after figuring out his fight the rest of the instance was fairly simple. The ground effect on the First/last boss could be toned down a bit however for a HM that drops rakata chest pieces I think the instance is tuned correctly.

[Dee-Jay]

Finished HM with Rakata Jugg tank, Rakata Sorc Healer, Columi/rakata BH/sniper. The droid was a challange but after figuring out his fight the rest of the instance was fairly simple. The ground effect on the First/last boss could be toned down a bit however for a HM that drops rakata chest pieces I think the instance is tuned correctly.

 

With ranged DPS all fights are soooooo much easier than with melees.

 

Doing this flashpoint is melees is like Nightmare mode x2.

[ToughPoodoo]

We tried this on Saturday and spent a long time on the droid. We never finished him. I had even respec'd out to assault from tactics on my vanguard. We'd get him down to about 30k health and then we'd all die. Needless to say, we were very frustrated.

 

I want to thank those you who posted about the kiting with the full group on the tank. I think that is a very viable way to do this as we'd have more interrupts to use. We'll try this next time.

 

From what I have seen so far I hava to ask where the logic is in not allowing speeders? Was this an oversight? We can use speeders most of the other flashpoints and even in those where it wouldn't make sense. Why can't we use speeders in this one? The whole first part is outdoors. Even if you can't use them indoors later on, I'd be ok with that as it would make sense.

[GhostDrone]

Well why dont they let us put our 50's on the PTS then?

 

Why don't you put in the effort to level a new 50 on the PTS like a good amount of other people?

 

Lost Island HM is challenging, obviously not nearly as difficult as a Nightmare mode. Wiped once on the first boss, twice on the second, once on the bonus boss and twice on the last.

 

2 Commando DPS, Scoundrel healer and Shadow tank.

 

But when the last boss of a FLASHPOINT (Not op) drops a RAKATA chestpiece; you really have nothing to complain about.

[Tickdoff-Tank]

Lost Island is overtuned and there's no two ways about it.

 

Just got done in a guild group in pretty much full Rakata and it was ridiculously unfun. The first boss is massively overtuned if you have any melee, which we mercifully didn't. I tanked in the center, the ranged/healers ran around the room and it was actually fairly easy.

 

...but we had no melee. This fight needs some retuning to make it less melee unfriendly. Maybe raise the CD on plasma arcs or something so the tank/DPS don't have to move quite so much. Incinerate is pretty ridiculous too. I have no idea how a tank that could legitimately use the gear (i.e. someone in say...mostly Tionese with the odd columi piece) could survive without an over-geared healer.

 

Second/Bonus bosses are pretty easy. They're fine.

 

Last boss is just annoying. For the gear level that SHOULD be running this place (a mix of mostly tionese/columi/daily-modded oranges) the damage output on the tank from the stacks upon stacks of satchel charges is pretty crazy. The DPS output/healing output at the end is a bit too intense as well.

 

The vial AOE in the first phase could probably be shrunk down/less frequent IMO.

 

This is meant for gearing people, not for amusing aspergers-inflicted grognards decked out in full Rakata who want to play dressup with their companions. It needs tuned down.

 

I know I'm not running it again. If we want to gear alts we can always go sleep through another candy run of story mode EV/Karagga. Why the hell even bother with this place?

 

I did LI HM in a PUG 2 nights ago. We had an assassin tank, jugg DPS (me), merc DPS and sorc healer.

 

This was one of the most enjoyable FPs I have done. We wiped 4 or 5 times on the first boss while we figured out the fight. Then we wiped a couple times on the Sev-Rak fight for the same reason. We one-shotted the guy that hits the floor and then got the last boss on the 3rd pull.

 

This was in a PUG which had never run together before, so I really can't understand the "This FP is too hard" complaints. Is it hard? Yes. Is it too hard? Not by a long shot.

 

I am planning on getting a group together that is in mostly Tionese with a little Columi gear and giving it a shot, once we get the fights "down pat" then this will be a great place to gear up in.

[EteREaL]

Last boss is just annoying. For the gear level that SHOULD be running this place (a mix of mostly tionese/columi/daily-modded oranges) the damage output on the tank from the stacks upon stacks of satchel charges is pretty crazy. The DPS output/healing output at the end is a bit too intense as well.

 

Yeah you are right, the damage output from stacks of satchel charges is pretty crazy, because those four stacks are all avoidable, so I believe its pretty much working as it should. Noone in the party should be getting any stack of that (it is a melee cone aoe that you can avoid), try moving in circles around the boss when he says "have a taste of my tricks" (I believe that is the sentece).

 

Regarding the first boss I actually think the problem is that incinerate is not working as intended. I have the feeling that you get the same damage by having one stack of incinerate than by having 4 (I don't have any numbers to support this though). Because incinerate hits so hard, as a tank it is not possible to easily move the boss, since you always have to be at melee range to interrupt incinerate ASAP ( right now you have +- 0.5 seconds to interrupt it so that you dont get any stack). Because it is extremely difficult to move the boss as the encounter is designed now, a group with any melee dps will find this encounter extremelly hard and I personally wouldn't take any melee dps in my group to lost island right now. (I am afraid this is going to become something common)

 

Bioware could make this encounter more melee friendly by preventing mines to spawn at melee range unless the 4 players are at melee. Mines could also be spawned to the player which is located at the longest distance to the boss. With any of these changes, mines could become a little bit more manageable and any group could do the encounter with two dps melees and a healer kiting the mines.

 

But although the 1st boss has to become a little bit more melee friendly, I have to say that this FP deservers a thumbs up for BW, . Since you get a RAKATA chest at the end, I wouldn't make this FP any easier than it is at the moment. ( This particular piece of loot was what you get from killing SOA which was one of the thoughtest encounters in the Tier 1 )

Edited April 16, 2012 by EteREaL

[Omophorus]

I think the FP is balanced perfectly, to be honest.

 

It takes a few tries to find a viable strat, but once you've got it down, it quickly goes from a 2+ hour wipefest to a ~40 minute farming run. That's the way it ought to be - challenging at first, then straightforward once you've refined a strat. Winning should be based on viability of strat and not on random luck.

 

I usually game with 3 friends, and we tried LI for the first time patch Thursday, cleared it (took multiple wipes and 2.5 hours). Tried it again on Friday, cleared it faster, did it a second time and our tank afk'd and fell asleep at the door to the final boss (do'h!). Then as of last night, it was an easy clear with no wipes, and just random derpy deaths due to not paying enough attention (and not really on bosses).

 

For the record, we're all mostly Columi-geared, and our setup is Tankassin, Anni Marauder (me), DPS Sorc, Op healer.

 

The droid boss took a few tries before we found a kite strat/path that worked for us, but once you have that down, it's a pretty faceroll fight so long as you're prompt on interrupts.

 

The 2nd boss we wiped maybe once due to learning mechanic (didn't bother with story mode first), once due to derp, and haven't had a single death since.

 

Bonus boss we skipped the first night, took a couple tries to figure out what did and didn't work (e.g. staying on or under the bridge) and now maybe get the occasional random death if someone gets bonked by 3 icicles.

 

Final boss took a few tries the first time to figure out all mechanics/gimmicks, but once you know them, it's pretty straightforward.

 

I wouldn't really rank any of the fights as brutally anti-melee.

 

A slow, steady kite means you don't have uptime issues on the droid (and bring a short-cooldown interrupt to the party).

 

Second and bonus bosses have no mechanics that unfairly penalize melees whatsoever.

 

Final boss, the only really anti-melee mechanic is when the second set of puddles go down each cycle, since you're not really left with much room to stay on target. Then again, once second puddles go down, it takes very little to trigger the boss to toss explosives and jump to the next tank.

[rizBRAH]

Just finished this for the first time, wiped 10-12 times and never had so much fun in an instance... i love the place.

 

Sage in full columi btw.

[hulkweazel]

After learning the mechanics for the Droid, we could only get him down to 14% before the entire room is filled with lightning pools/lava. Is this a soft enrage? Does this mean we need more DPS?

 

Anyway, I think it's a very well done FP and I like the challenge. I do think BW will probably nerf the Droid's damage a bit sometime down the road though.

[Anysao]

Actually, a FLASHPOINT is an instance that puts you in immeatide danger or suspence.

 

This is the hardest. Players want harder fights, here ya go!

[JeyKama]

After learning the mechanics for the Droid, we could only get him down to 14% before the entire room is filled with lightning pools/lava. Is this a soft enrage? Does this mean we need more DPS?

 

His soft enrage (when the lightning spawns full size at a fast rate and the lava pulses nonstop) happens at 3 minutes, so that means you need more DPS.

 

I've run this FP with several group comps (2 melee, 1 of each, 2 range) and the only comp that was extremely unmanageable was if you had a group with 0 ranged interrupts (eg. vanguard tank + 2 sentinals, or guardian + 2 commandos, whatever). The chance of the boss has to be moved out of lighting, then pauses to rapid fire the healer, then incinerates the tank (all the while sitting in lightning and the tank has to be at range) is extremely high over the course of the fight, which of course results in the tank getting gibbed.

 

Sure, you might ask the healer to interrupt in that case, but the honestly the healer has to play sisyphus with peoples' hp in that fight without the aid of any kind of macro.

 

The rest of the bosses are great other than the second boss occasionally taking a step back before doing his smash...

 

I can't imagine running the instance in less than full columi (including weapons), much less pugging any member of the party. It's ironically well-tuned for mostly full-Rakata though.