Haunting Task

[Jabril]

I just had my first Haunting guild task today and let me tell you, this is WAAAAAAAY too hard. All of the nethrim are at the exact same skill level as me and I am expected to kill 3 or more at a time and even if I make some headway, they get even harder the more you manage to kill. I could see this being an easy task for a rank 8 templar with all the spells but someone with one spell and swinging a weapon my entire experience so far has been, You are stuck in roundtime and "You are unable to escape from combat!" and dead....

Are these supposed to be group only tasks? Do I need to rally a large group together to tackle it?

[CLOK]

Until a GM has a chance to look over the task in more detail, here are some tips for the meantime: Deactivate the Halo spell as soon as something spawns. They only spawn as long as a halo is active, so that can help you control the amount of creatures you're fighting. You can also move one room away if more than one spawn at a time and see if they'll wander in individually for easier handling.

[jilliana]

There's nothing wrong with getting more than one person in with you, but it is possible to do them alone. It's a matter of finding your stride and rhythm. It's difficult to only use a weapon in those paths. AThe best way to handle them is through Thaumaturgic spells. Also, those tasks don't always go quickly. They used to take me forever even when my Thauma was over 1k.

[jilliana]

In addition to what CLOK said, every room you can wander out so you don't have to keep track of the direction you have to run to.

[Kiyaani]

These have been discussed before. They're definitely a challenge - especially before getting sun disc or spear of light. I would recommend doing as others have suggested and moving away once packs spawn to allow the mobs to trickle in more slowly. If you get tired - go to the wilds and rest before coming back in. Only have the halo active if you're ready for more to spawn in. If you're comfortable with it, try to keep thaumaturgy active while fighting so you can get flares to proc on your weapon attacks as melee attacks alone don't do much against non-corporeals. You *can* bring others with you on these tasks as well. You don't have to do them alone. Until you get a few more abilities, that may be the best way to handle them.

[Jabril]

Is there a way to channel thaumaturgy without having the halo?

[Kiyaani]

Not that I'm aware of. It used to be a separate spell that didn't require you to channel, but now it's automatic and then persists a bit after you stop channeling. So it will make things difficult for your task purposes if you want to use it to proc flares but don't want more mobs spawning. Sorry :/

[mercer]

there is you just type dismiss halo. I keep forgetting about that. some of the nethrem are either really strong, or broken. they are not stunned by beacon for more than a second

[Shainar]

I've had my own trouble with these tasks as a low rank Templar. The swarms can show up extremely quickly if you're unlucky, though I try to dismiss my halo to prevent it from happening which makes it more manageable. I'd classify them as the most difficult and dangerous task available to us by far, but technically doable solo with a lot of time and patience. Making it so multiple groups can't spawn within a few seconds would go a long way. I can do a whole lot of highwayman tasks in the time it'd take me to do one of these.

What about not assigning these tasks until you're rank 15, or until you have the Sun Disc spell? I've watched some friends helping me use it to clear a room instantly.

[mercer]

these actually aren't that hard if you are a bit careful, and don't take that long either. If you either channel thaum while you swing your weapon, or use light spear, they shouldn't give you too much trouble. You could also always bring friends with you. Light disc works fine for these tasks, but if you are careful about taking out the weaker nethrem first, like the lost souls you don't need it. Also if your thaum skill/dodge is low, you'll just loos energy faster, because you'll just miss, and then loos twenty energy.

[Kiyaani]

I think the problem is that the mobs sometimes spawn in groups of 6-8 which then puts in surround mechanics and drops your defensive roll instantly. If you miss your first hit in those cases you can very easily be overwhelmed no matter what your skill is. Since they're all non-corporeals, it's very hard to get in melee range for some of them. So if you don't have the higher rank skills at your disposal, these tasks are very dangerous.

I understand that time is subjective, but to me these are some of the slowest tasks out there. You can't go search for the mobs to hit a set quota and have to rely on them to spawn in on some random timer. It can be seconds or minutes between spawns. You have no idea how many you even need or when you're close to being finished. I think all of these factors add up to a level of uncertainty and, in some cases, anxiety regarding these tasks.

That being said, one strategy I sometimes employ (being at higher level and able to do so) is to let some of the weaker ones remain until the stronger ones spawn. Then I can target the weak ones and hit the strong ones with ricochets. But again, that won't necessarily work for someone just starting out. I think the suggestion to save these tasks until the higher abilities are unlocked is a good one to consider since some of the bugs with the actual task likely won't be addressed for quite a while.

[Shainar]

I think the issue is that they aren't that bad, except for the times that they are. I'll occasionally get six mobs spawning within the span of a few seconds, presumably just due to bad luck on the dice rolls involved. As a hardier Templar with higher skills, better gear, and better spells, that isn't likely going to be as much of an issue. At my low skill level and rank, though, my options are very limited, and with a little bad luck on attack rolls or flee rolls, six mobs at once leaves me dead.

The "don't take that long" remark, I can't agree with. Or rather, it's another one of those situations where they don't take that long, except when they do. There's a lot of down time waiting for things to spawn.

Again, I'm not saying these tasks are undoable. Just that they could use some quality of life tweaks, and considerations for lower-skill characters. Highwaymen tasks spawn fewer highwaymen when you're lower skill. It'd be nice if there was some kind of scaling consideration for these tasks as well. As they are, I'll consider skipping them if I don't have friends around until I've got more skills and more spells.

[mercer]

I do think spear is your best chance for these, you could even go tactic defence and cast at them with the cast command, which uses loads more energy, but it's not a bad idea if your in a tough spot. Yes you can dismis your halo and still use thaum when you dismis halo, you are still channeling halo doesn't come back up unless you re channel by typing thaum, in which case you have to dismis again. As suggested earlier you can always leave the room and let them trickle out, they are actually verry much scaled, there offence matches yours, but normally accept specters and the like, most nethrem actually have really low def for those tasks, you shouldn't have much of an issue hitting the souls, which are the biggest part of the numbers with your lightspear, even in a defencive tactic.

[Shainar]

I appreciate the advice, Mercer. A lot has been offered in this thread, and I'm following it all to the best of my ability. As I've said, I do believe the tasks are doable. What I'm suggesting are quality of life and anti-frustration updates.

When I say scaling, I don't mean the skill of the mobs. I mean the swarm density and the amount of spawns required for task completion, similar to the highwaymen task scaling.