Shadow of the Mad King - two questions

[Hesione.9412]

1. Is the candy-corn gobbler not for sale this year, as we have passed the sale start date for the other years: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Candy_Corn_Gobbler_Pack Related question: why have the festival-related items not been on sale this year?

2. Will anything be done to stop the mechs from massacring everything in the lab before others have a chance to tag?

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

A while ago, I have done a few tests regarding the Mechanist situation. Assumed the worst possible scenario:
- Mechanist with full boons
- Target with 25 stacks of Vulnerability
- All 8 non-damaging conditions + bleeding from the trait, resulting in 9x2 = 18 % damage increase
- Raw DPS food Peppercorn-Crusted Sous-Vide Steak + Write of Masterful Strength (beats the regular food as there are no stats to scale with)

The lowest rifle you can obtain is a level 0 rifle with 129-158 attack and +9 power (white). No armor, no trinkets, no back-piece, no runes, no sigils. Autoattack only. 

Test 1 - Mechanist with Mech away, which means it shoots from above every few seconds
DPS: ~1,700
Mech Airstrike (automated): ~ 1,200 - 2,100
Aim Assisted Rocket (Orbital Strike): ~ 4,100 (maximum if you are lucky)

Test 2 - Mechanist with Mech as in PvE, all pet-skills on autocast
DPS: ~ 5,200
Mech Core Reactor Shot: ~ 12,000

Test 3 - Mechanist with Mech summoned, but passively following only
DPS: ~ 1,500
Aim Assisted Rocket (Orbital Strike): ~ 4,100 (maximum if you are lucky)

-
Should not be much of a problem to use one gear-template with a basic rifle only and one gear template with regular gear. The locations of the bosses are know and Steve can easily be spotted from a longer distance. So switching the gear templates in time should be possible. 

Those who insist playing on Open World mode will probably be kicked from squads quickly. I would also like to mention that, profit-wise, the Mechanist and the Rifle are awful picks regarding tagging multiple enemies. With the narrow corridors and the stack-spawning, you are imo better off with any FT build. Rifle hits hard and fast, but changing targets is rather slow with it.

[Farohna.6247]

1 hour ago, HnRkLnXqZ.1870 said:

A while ago, I have done a few tests regarding the Mechanist situation. Assumed the worst possible scenario:
- Mechanist with full boons
- Target with 25 stacks of Vulnerability
- All 8 non-damaging conditions + bleeding from the trait, resulting in 9x2 = 18 % damage increase
- Raw DPS food Peppercorn-Crusted Sous-Vide Steak + Write of Masterful Strength (beats the regular food as there are no stats to scale with)

The lowest rifle you can obtain is a level 0 rifle with 129-158 attack and +9 power (white). No armor, no trinkets, no back-piece, no runes, no sigils. Autoattack only. 

Test 1 - Mechanist with Mech away, which means it shoots from above every few seconds
DPS: ~1,700
Mech Airstrike (automated): ~ 1,200 - 2,100
Aim Assisted Rocket (Orbital Strike): ~ 4,100 (maximum if you are lucky)

Test 2 - Mechanist with Mech as in PvE, all pet-skills on autocast
DPS: ~ 5,200
Mech Core Reactor Shot: ~ 12,000

Test 3 - Mechanist with Mech summoned, but passively following only
DPS: ~ 1,500
Aim Assisted Rocket (Orbital Strike): ~ 4,100 (maximum if you are lucky)

-
Should not be much of a problem to use one gear-template with a basic rifle only and one gear template with regular gear. The locations of the bosses are know and Steve can easily be spotted from a longer distance. So switching the gear templates in time should be possible. 

Those who insist playing on Open World mode will probably be kicked from squads quickly. I would also like to mention that, profit-wise, the Mechanist and the Rifle are awful picks regarding tagging multiple enemies. With the narrow corridors and the stack-spawning, you are imo better off with any FT build. Rifle hits hard and fast, but changing targets is rather slow with it.

This is very helpful and informative.  I've wondered the same thing.  Going with groups will probably ask mechanists to not level everything, rangers not to use skill 4 longbow, and no mounts.  Hoping for groups of only mechanists in LFG 😂

The gobbler...who knows.  It's often requested.  Wait and see.

[Hesione.9412]

4 hours ago, HnRkLnXqZ.1870 said:

A while ago, I have done a few tests regarding the Mechanist situation. Assumed the worst possible scenario:
- Mechanist with full boons
- Target with 25 stacks of Vulnerability
- All 8 non-damaging conditions + bleeding from the trait, resulting in 9x2 = 18 % damage increase
- Raw DPS food Peppercorn-Crusted Sous-Vide Steak + Write of Masterful Strength (beats the regular food as there are no stats to scale with)

The lowest rifle you can obtain is a level 0 rifle with 129-158 attack and +9 power (white). No armor, no trinkets, no back-piece, no runes, no sigils. Autoattack only. 

Test 1 - Mechanist with Mech away, which means it shoots from above every few seconds
DPS: ~1,700
Mech Airstrike (automated): ~ 1,200 - 2,100
Aim Assisted Rocket (Orbital Strike): ~ 4,100 (maximum if you are lucky)

Test 2 - Mechanist with Mech as in PvE, all pet-skills on autocast
DPS: ~ 5,200
Mech Core Reactor Shot: ~ 12,000

Test 3 - Mechanist with Mech summoned, but passively following only
DPS: ~ 1,500
Aim Assisted Rocket (Orbital Strike): ~ 4,100 (maximum if you are lucky)

-
Should not be much of a problem to use one gear-template with a basic rifle only and one gear template with regular gear. The locations of the bosses are know and Steve can easily be spotted from a longer distance. So switching the gear templates in time should be possible. 

Those who insist playing on Open World mode will probably be kicked from squads quickly. I would also like to mention that, profit-wise, the Mechanist and the Rifle are awful picks regarding tagging multiple enemies. With the narrow corridors and the stack-spawning, you are imo better off with any FT build. Rifle hits hard and fast, but changing targets is rather slow with it.

Thanks for the testing!

I'm assuming there will be roughly 15-20 mechs per group, maybe more if people decide that mech is the best elite for pummelling mobs in the Lab. In which case, it will be a problem. If grenade kit is used, the ground targets will be random.

I foresee a lot of unhappy people during these events.

[Hesione.9412]

2 hours ago, Farohna.6247 said:

This is very helpful and informative.  I've wondered the same thing.  Going with groups will probably ask mechanists to not level everything, rangers not to use skill 4 longbow, and no mounts.  Hoping for groups of only mechanists in LFG 😂

The gobbler...who knows.  It's often requested.  Wait and see.

Sadly, there's no way to remove this type of person from the map, as people who run ahead of the group opening the doors and completing the events before others get there could be map kicked.

[Farohna.6247]

10 minutes ago, Hesione.9412 said:

Sadly, there's no way to remove this type of person from the map, as people who run ahead of the group opening the doors and completing the events before others get there could be map kicked.

True there's not, though I don't usually see a lot of it.  Maybe I just get lucky on maps with groups.  More concerned with mechanists mowing everything down before anyone gets a chance to tag mobs.  I love mechanist, but it's potentially a frustrating issue.  

[jezzi.6825]

My Ranger usually attends this festival, but not this year, because I want to intro my Mech to Steve. I can't speak for anyone else that will be bringing their Mech to the party but, as for me, I never open doors when solo or when grouped, nor am I ever a Mob Mower, and that won't change just because I will be playing a different character this go round.

[Ashantara.8731]

They could have your PvP build being automatically activated when you enter the Labyrinth, so no more PvE Mechanists during Halloween. Or even better, the profession-specific build from Reaper's Rumble! 😅

...or they could simply, finally, nerf the Mechanist. 😉

[Sylvia.4870]

 The Horror of the Labyrinth: Oh! I feel very excited to see your golem, Commander! I want to play with it, too! *Vroom vroom vroom*

[Etherical.2693]

#2 I'm a Mechanist and I've heard the complaints. I'm not going to run my Mech in there if there are enough people to cover. Will be running a kitten build.

Solo runs.. PewpewPew!

[SolidTx.3249]

when exactly will the upload happen? like what time EST, PST, etc is the question?

[Farohna.6247]

The mechanists here give me hope, and I look forward to a fun festival! 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

1 hour ago, SolidTx.3249 said:

when exactly will the upload happen? like what time EST, PST, etc is the question?

Are you asking when the Halloween Release happens?  Usually, it around 9am Pacific Time.  Same as usual for Releases. 

[Hesione.9412]

On 10/18/2022 at 7:45 AM, Etherical.2693 said:

#2 I'm a Mechanist and I've heard the complaints. I'm not going to run my Mech in there if there are enough people to cover. Will be running a kitten build.

Solo runs.. PewpewPew!

Yep, every year there's selfish people, and I predicted this year would be worse due to the mechs.

[Farohna.6247]

On 10/17/2022 at 1:45 PM, Etherical.2693 said:

#2 I'm a Mechanist and I've heard the complaints. I'm not going to run my Mech in there if there are enough people to cover. Will be running a kitten build.

Solo runs.. PewpewPew!

Thank you kind mechanist.  So far I have only had a few who don't seem to get the idea to not level everything, but then again they probably are the same people who use mounts to kill mobs too when asked not to.  

[Danikat.8537]

Last night I was running around in a few groups with several mechs out and I didn't notice problems tagging stuff (no more than I usually have anyway) or things dying quicker than usual. I don't know what they were doing specifically to manage it, but it seems like just having mechanists there doesn't necessarily cause problems.

[Garrison Storm.3046]

I also haven't really noticed a problem with the few mechs that I've seen... an occasional "dude, really?!" for whatever they use for knockback, but that's different than the Rangers, etc.
I did have one comm drop ascended food, which I wasn't sure about... helpful for the couple of bosses that take a couple of minutes, but seemed like a lot of one-shotting the mobs...  Can be a challenge to find that balance where the entire group is efficient and maximizing loot.