Boneskinner strike damage[fixed]

[Jong.5937]

Can the devs please tell us if they think this is fixed or if the fix slipped??

There is nothing in the patch notes to say it is fixed. If the fix has been applied then something is still very seriously wrong and it needs a fresh look.As @Zaxares.5419 says, this Strike Mission is definitely not working as it could possibly be intended. It seems it can only be done by completely ignoring the mechanics.

LFG attempts have almost stopped. In my experience when they do happen they fail >95% of the time. If they succeed it is normally because there is a core group of guildies/raiders who bring overheal and damage and a few randoms get carried, or more likely die (due to not dodging the claws, which with stacking is insta death!) and just get ressed for their rewards at the end.

The only ones really reporting success are guild/raid groups, still skipping the mechanics, which might be great for them but it's definitely not what Strike Missions are about, which is providing a taste of advanced mechanics to the wider population. Experienced raiders doing it by ignoring the mechanics doesn't really meet that goal xD.

No one is asking for a cakewalk here. WoJ strikes a good balance. It still fails in lfg probably 65%-75% of the time, but newcomers CAN learn the mechanics and get better. Here newcomers get raged at, learn nothing even if they get through it (because they were carried and because all mechanics were skipped) and most likely just give up and vow never to return!!

Please, please devs, this needs more work!

[Urud.4925]

It seems weird indeed that to succeed you must ignore the mechanics. I finally managed to kill it, but we completely ignored the torches.Since there is the achievement for keeping always the torches lit, I doubt we completed the mission in the intended way. The difficulty, compared with the other strike missions, is definitely much higher.

[Ayrilana.1396]

It can be done without cheesing it but it requires a little more coordination than you’re going to get from randoms.

[Jong.5937]

I'm not doubting you @Ayrilana, but if it can be done reliably please update the wiki and if possible put up a video. There are no videos I could find of the latest version of Boneskinner. Ones when Anet admitted it was broken all cheese it and ones older still are when it was broken and trivial xD. Since Tuesday the only successful attempts I've been part of have been cheesed.

Seems to me, in Anet's mind people are supposed to spread around the edge of the torment aura, so they can quickly run/blink to a nominated torch. However this makes healing difficult as people are not stacked. Worse, one bad dodge and currently people are down in a heavy AOE somewhere between the edge of the aura and a torch, which again makes it really hard to get them back up.

So, I don't think it's just coordination that's needed but A-class raiding skills too, which is not what Anet have in mind for Strike Missions.

[JeffJeth.9518]

I have a question.How is making the episode 1 strike mission harder than a T4 fractal boss supposed to attract players into doing raids? Because I don't understand the logic of this. It really, really doesn't bode well for future episode strike missions, which will presumably be harder.

[Ayrilana.1396]

@Jong.5937 said:I'm not doubting you @Ayrilana, but if it can be done reliably please update the wiki and if possible put up a video. There are no videos I could find of the latest version of Boneskinner. Ones when Anet admitted it was broken all cheese it and ones older still are when it was broken and trivial xD. Since Tuesday the only successful attempts I've been part of have been cheesed.

Seems to me, in Anet's mind people are supposed to spread around the edge of the torment aura, so they can quickly run/blink to a nominated torch. However this makes healing difficult as people are not stacked. Worse, one bad dodge and currently people are down in a heavy AOE somewhere between the edge of the aura and a torch, which again makes it really hard to get them back up.

So, I don't think it's just coordination that's needed but A-class raiding skills too, which is not what Anet have in mind for Strike Missions.

It doesn’t require A-class raiding skills. You just need to assign duties to people that are capable of performing them. It’s no different than what is required of players during a few meta events. The problem is that the skill level of players is so wide, and tend to fall on the low side from what you’d expect from those who play games, that you can’t reliably do the strike that way. This is why people just outheal the damage as the outcome is less volatile.

[Jong.5937]

So xD, this morning we have someone in EU selling Boneskinner achievements in LFG. If this isn't a sign it's broken I don't know what is!

[Ayrilana.1396]

To be honest, other than one achievement, you can’t really sell them.

[Jong.5937]

I know. It's just ridiculous that such a thing exists for a Strike Mission. I'm disappointed that after saying it would be fixed by this rotation Anet have not confirmed in their release notes nor updated us on any reason for delay.

I know it has been said that it performs differently this time, despite nothing in the patch notes, but, without feedback from Anet, this is just as likely to be due to the balance patch and associated spaghetti code as any intended fix.

[Shadowmoon.7986]

Honestly, the damage has been fixed. There are host of other issues, but the damage has been fixed. The amount of off topic comments on this bug report thread is insane. This should not be about accessablity, or general comments on the balancing of the encounter, but what is actually broken.

[Jong.5937]

Well that is your opinion. Several of us here, who are also entitled to ours, do not consider the damage "fixed". What's more Anet have not stated such.

You may consider this topic to be just about the 75% spike, but even if this has been fixed (as I said, Anet have not confirmed in the patch notes) it is not mentioned in the title of this thread and it is not the only damage issue.

Mostly in lfg 50-75% of a group is downed within a few seconds. While I accept it is possible to dodge this damage, no strike mission (the objectives of which have been previously discussed) should be this punishing. If you consider it fixed and are no longer interested in following then I suggest you unsubscribe.

[Shadowmoon.7986]

Then give specifics on what is wrong with the encounter. I gave a specific problem, the damage at 75% was insane. I told the value it was ticking. Notice now that was fixed, it is no longer ticking that high.Now are there other problems with the encounter, yes. The pillar break mechanic seems to be spammed to much below 75%. But the damage has been fixed which is exactly what the report stated.General complaining will not fix the encounter. If you want something fix, be specific. What skills is doing to much damage, what attack has a bad tell.

[Raizel.1839]

Boneskinner feels too hard compared to every other strike missions (including WoJ).

[Dante.1763]

@"Jong.5937" said:Well that is your opinion. Several of us here, who are also entitled to ours, do not consider the damage "fixed". What's more Anet have not stated such.

You may consider this topic to be just about the 75% spike, but even if this has been fixed (as I said, Anet have not confirmed in the patch notes) it is not mentioned in the title of this thread and it is not the only damage issue.

Mostly in lfg 50-75% of a group is downed within a few seconds. While I accept it is possible to dodge this damage, no strike mission (the objectives of which have been previously discussed) should be this punishing. If you consider it fixed and are no longer interested in following then I suggest you unsubscribe.

Make a new thread then. You are arguing over the difference between a bug, which this thread was about, and the intended damage, which yours is.

[Jong.5937]

The thread is called "Boneskinner Strike Damage". The title is appropriate. Anyone who is no longer interested in the topic can unsubscribe.

And, I say again, there has been no confirmation in any patch notes, or elsewhere that I am aware, that Anet consider the strike fixed. My original request , post patch was simply for Anet to confirm if they really have finished this job or if some aspects missed the cut, hence the omission from the patch notes. There has still been no response.

[Jong.5937]

@Shadowmoon.7986 said:Then give specifics on what is wrong with the encounter. I gave a specific problem, the damage at 75% was insane. I told the value it was ticking. Notice now that was fixed, it is no longer ticking that high.Now are there other problems with the encounter, yes. The pillar break mechanic seems to be spammed to much below 75%. But the damage has been fixed which is exactly what the report stated.General complaining will not fix the encounter. If you want something fix, be specific. What skills is doing to much damage, what attack has a bad tell.

I honestly don't think that is our job. If people have an opinion on that then great, but Anet are the ones with the professionals to design an encounter that meets their objectives.

Strikes were created to ease people into raid style mechanics. I am sure that Anet's stats will confirm that this strike is not doing that job at all. It was largely ignored last rotation by all but a tiny hardcore - far smaller than the other weekly strikes or even WoJ. They need to revisit it from the top down.