Friday 19 December 2008

Elite Einherjar

Another day, another post. It's been surprisingly busy at work in the last few days so I haven't had the chance to sit down and actually write this post out. I have had the pictures lurking around though *grin*

With the reduction in numbers in Versus, we have had to suspend certain activities that we did previously, not through choice but necessity. It is one thing to strive to better ones self through challenges, but it is something else entirely to just throw away pop sets, exp, time and effort in a futile attempt to win something that you are seriously undermanned for. Unfortunately one of the casualties of this thinning down of the ranks was Einherjar.

As a linkshell, when we were doing Einherjar we were surprisingly successful at it. Despite doing it with the low man approach, we were consistent and as a team we worked well to adapt to the ever fluid settings and challenges unique to each chamber in Einherjar. Our stumbling block became a lack of man power at the tier 2 range, just an extra body on one or two runs could have been the difference between the win we didn't achieve or the loss through time out that we got. Admittedly we only did Tier 2 a few times before Einherjar got pulled from the schedule for the time being.

Fast forward to about a month later and we are now working on a very productive partnership with Obsidian and Versus. The Versus members propping up a thinning memberbase for the Obsidian Einherjar runs meant suddenly Tier 3 wins were becoming extremely easy and the popularity of Einherjar exploded. Where as it wasn't all that long ago they barely could get over 20 people to show up, it is common to see people queuing to snag a valuable slot in the event.

This has lead to our very first Odin attempt. Excitement at doing this was definately at a peak in Versus. Although there were some rather sarcastic (when are there not?) comments about going in to lose lots of exp with enthusiasm! Not only did we win, but it was an extremely smooth win at that. *smirk* And I didn't die once!!!





So, we now all have a snazzy new title, that no doubt will be erased by some slightly less sparkley title such as "Crawler Culler" and the satisfaction of knowing that on our very first Odin fight we won. Not to demean the efforts of other people who have gone before and laid the groundwork for our strategies and approaches, but reading knowledge can only take you so far. The rest comes down to how well your members react, pay attention, adapt and respond to the fight itself not to mention the myrriad of of random effects and consequences that can happen in any large NM fight.





I have to say it is quite an interesting experience zoning in. It's so quiet and you expect there to be background music until you engage Odin. Not to mention the heightened tension about finally being in the fight itself, the wait is over its full commitment now to win or not at all. Although there was a bit of faffing around at the start as 2 ppl who had signed up for the run realised they couldn't come into the fight. A shade shoddy in the preparation, it would be better if people knew what was required to get into fights, mistakes happen I understand that but they didn't seem to have a clue at all, and it was mages who were locked out, which are in general not a healthy job to lose suddenly because of a lack of foresight.





He is gorgeously impressive when you get up close though. If you have done all the missions for the Aht Urghan storyline, you know how exciting it is when he pops up from time to time in the storyline but getting THAT close to him in the fight is something else entirely, even as an Elvaan I felt tiny. Interestingly I never got that impression when fighting Alexander. Possibly because he is all bulk and whirling machinery, where as Odin is sleek and elegant astride Slepnir.





Maybe we were just extremely fortunate in the attacks and moves he decided to use, but I never really got the impression that anything he did outside of Zantetsuken was really a devastating attack, just more of an annoyance to be dealt with. As long as your mages were on their toes and ready for the various status effects that he could inflict upon the tanks. The biggest hazard to the fight was definately the valkyries. Their randomness for spawning and the devastating effect that ALL of them at once on a single tank has means you really need a good claimer ready to peel them off and kite them as soon as possible. His moves are so rigidly dictated by % health it is easy to prepare and adapt to what is incomming than if he had been a more fey being with much more erratic behaviour.

I would definately agree with the opinion held commonly that the chambers preceeding this fight are far more complicated to deal with, it is almost something of an anti-climax. Not entirely a bad thing though, you know you will always get something from him if you can win and considering the general dearth of drops that come with anything from Tier 1 to 9 of the other chambers it is a welcome change and something to look forward to. Could you even imagine how bad it would be if you had no guarantee of a drop like Kirin and his 1 wind crystal. It would be pretty demoralising hehehe.





By the end of the fight I know I was really getting into it though, perched on the end of my seat, watching it hit 10% for Zantetsuken then the surge to burn down the last few drops of his health for the win, caught up in the combined effort and fervour of knowing we were so close but the clock was ticking a heady moment of thrilled exhilaration where you barely dare to hope but strive to succeed. It's such a great feeling, and even better for knowing that you are sharing it with everyone else in the chamber who is just as keen as you to be there, at that point with those people winning.

For anyone who wants to be blase about wins like this, I say for shame. It's fights like these that lift moral, inspire the linkshell and forge the bonds that keep your engaged and interested in what is going to come. It rises you above the drudgery and the hard work and fills you with elation and delight at a job well done.





Riding on the excitement of our first win, you are never going to be too disappointed with the drop pool, that jaded complaining sets in on the second fight when you haven't gotten what you wanted. LoL Such a strange attitude, an incredible amount of impatience.

Regardless, it was exciting just to get the point of getting a treasure pool, although some people were a little panicked that people were not passing fast enough, SE were generous enough to give you an extra 5mins after the chest was opened regardless of the time on the glass so you can distribute the treasure which I think had been forgotten, qualms aside everyone got what they wanted without hitch.





I think Izman has a strange affinity for hats, particularly the variety of hat that no-one else wants. A peculiar twist of fate and a bidding war over the Vahallah body piece meant that Izman won the lot on the helm for a mere 6 points, AND it dropped. In a repeat of our first Omega where no-one wanted the Homam head piece and Izman stepped up to fill the void, he now has a (very silly) nice shiney new piece of running around town gear.

I have to say, it looks FAR better on Odin, although as a Hume it does look better than on a Taru.





All in all a throughly exciting and worthwhile experience! Can't wait till we go again. ^.^

1 comment:

  1. Don't forget he has his damn Orc Helm too. =P

    I have hence dubbed him, "Izman, Paladin of Many Hats and of Too Few Pants."

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