TOPIC: TDA1579079 True Grind Friday 3pm

I grabbed one ticket of this run for myself. Wondering who else is facing the horrors of Grind with me this year. And as for class preference, I'd like to play the Wizard (big surprise, I know).

FYI: It looks like David Harris has at least 2 of the tickets for Friday 3 PM, though he wants to swap them for Saturday 3 PM.

truedungeon.com/forum?func=view&catid=580&id=221614

Yep - I have some of the tickets for this, actually 5 right now and will likely use them, unless I can secure the other 2 Sat 3:00 tix. Right now the group I run with will likely split up, part on this run, part on the other.

Adeya we ran Grind together this year at WYC, it was the first one on Friday.

@ David Harris: I can't switch to Grind on Saturday since I have a conflict. But I look forward to running with you again!

Adeya -- looking forward to it as well!

In a fortuitous outcome, one of the people with 2 for this run is a friend who does not get on the forums much. I told him I would post all our stuff on there for him. So effectively 7 tickets + Adeya =8. Step forward fellow 2 adventurers.

Difficulty Planned: Probably Hardcore

1) Adeya - Wizard
2) David - Paladin
3) Grayson - Bard
4) Ben - Monk
5) Dave - Cleric
6) Matt - Ranger
7) Kris - Druid
8) CJ - Barbarian
9) Aurket - Rogue
10)???

I'm one of your missing grind victims

What difficulty are we planning?

If normal I would like to try the rogue.
If hardcore or nightmare I'll use a fighter class (preference is barbarian but not overly picky). I plan on using my RoSP for this turn

Re: Difficulty Level

Eric posted the following about that very thing:

NEW Normal = OLD Normal
NEW Hardcore is easier than OLD Hardcore
NEW Nightmare is harder than OLD Hardcore but easier than OLD Nightmare
NEW EPIC = OLD NIGHTMARE

Here's my take - have played Hardcore the last 2 years. 2 years ago we timed out against the Bunny, made it to the end and it was close. Last year we all ended up Purple Worm food. Except for 2 very well geared participants - who eventually bit it for the TPK. Felt like our group was over-matched on last year's Hardcore. Blew threw A LOT of healing and still failed.

Of the 7 I know of, we'll have 5 lvl 5s and 2 lvl 4s, and no Charms of Synergy. Gear some Relics, decent amount of Purps, the rest good Reds. If I remember correctly Adeya was well geared.

If the NEW Hardcore is easier than OLD Hardcore, I would say lets try it. If everyone wants to go normal we can do that too.

RE: Party Card: since I have easy access to 7 players builds already. I'll be glad to do the party card in advance.

Welcome to the run Aurket!

As for difficultly, I'd vote for anything other than Normal. But if I'm outvoted that's ok. I'm just happy I got a spot for Grind at GenCon this year.

I am indeed well-geared for the Wizard. But I also have a few tokens I can loan to others on the run if they want a boost including a Ring of Heroism and a few other miscellaneous relics and URs.

David Harris wrote: Here's my take - have played Hardcore the last 2 years. 2 years ago we timed out against the Bunny, made it to the end and it was close. Last year we all ended up Purple Worm food. Except for 2 very well geared participants - who eventually bit it for the TPK. Felt like our group was over-matched on last year's Hardcore. Blew threw A LOT of healing and still failed.

Some groups have trouble with particular monsters (some of whom can be pretty tough under certain circumstances).

A lot of the time it is due to deficiencies in teamwork or strategy.

If a particular monster is really dangerous and a significant problem, it is really helpful if the party redistributes its firepower to deal with it. For example, if people can't hit the monster well, then they need to change approaches and maybe get all the spellcasters to concentrate their spells. Or use buffing effects to increase their + hit.

Sometimes the problem is with the builds, such as players who focus only on their + hit/damage and are surprised when they get mauled. Or players who focus only on defense but then can't hit a barn with their weapons.

While a brute force approach may occasionally work, most of the time careful planning and tactics are far more important!

Eric, yes, I definitely think tactics and strategy were the downfall for the group I ran with last year. When the purple worm started swallowing players. The better geared players where focused on the other combat board and despite pleas for assistance with the menacing worm, it took at least 5 rounds and several more swallowed players and a couple outright dead players to actually get them to assist. It was very much a slippery slop, cause once ingested the players pretty much had a 1-2 rounds of other action before they needed to down a healing potion every turn to keep from dying. So they couldn't take any other action.

I know you mentioned that you thought the builds were a bit to lopsided toward +hit/damage and should have focused more on AC. But I'll don't think that was the main problem -- it was definitely the communication.

On the builds, just to run that discussion out there. The stated write-up for Hardcore last year stated basically that a mostly Reds, some purple party should be able to handle hardcore. I equipped 7 of the players on that run. 3 level 5s, and 4 level 4s. The ACs were 17 (Wizard), 19, 19, 20, 21, 23, 26. Saves ranged from +5 to +15, most in the +8 to +10 range. To hit +6, +6, +7, +10, +10, +10. To Damage +4, +11, +11, +12, +13, +17.

Looking at the equipment list. I see mostly about 3 places where damage could be convert to AC, neck, bracers, and ring. So at most the ACs could be boast 2-3 points and damage would be lowered 4-6 points. Not sure this would real make all that much difference. Eric I'm interest to hear your thoughts on this.

The good news is the group for this run has worked together quite a bit in TD itself and the teamwork should be much better.