Bastion Stair Completion Rates

[SJHarrison4115]

G'day Folks.

Hoping you're all well!

Just thought I'd post a quick discussion concerning Bastion Stair and the completion rates for it. Quick disclaimer, I do play in incredibly off-peak times, being Australian, and this has definitely impacted my experiences.

The purpose behind this discussion is to garner some insight as to what I might be doing incorrectly, or if there perhaps is a greater barrier that might need addressing.

The Background → I've been attempting to grind out Bastion Stair for now 5 weeks- now that does sound like an incredibly long time for sure, but you'll need to understand that Monday to Friday I play an hour or so in the Australian Evening and then the bulk of my playtime is on weekends. Over this 5 week period, I have achieved only partial completions of the dungeon- groups falling apart most commonly at the end boss of the left wing (very early in the dungeon.)

This has been insanely frustrating to me as 5 weeks in I have two pieces of the gear set and the bloodlord longsword. As I'm sure you can appreciate, I grit my teeth through PVE simply to be able to rejoin PvP at the earliest.

Most commonly finding a group proves to be almost impossible, even over the weekends with 900+ player counts, then that group failing to progress past the left wing being the next hurdle. To date, I've not been in a single group that has completed a run.

My question is, what in the world am I doing wrong and how in the world can overcome this as it's genuinely destroying my appreciation of the game. Or, alternatively, what have your experiences been like?

Given we play for the RvR, is Bastion Stair simply too long and tedious, should it perchance be looked at for review?

Thanks in advance.

[F4llen4ngel]

Hello, i have 100% completion rate(1-2-3 or more wipe happened, but we tried again and succeeded, also some might die accidentally, **** happens, you try again).
I only join a pve dungeon group if i know there is at least one participant i know (mostly a friend or guildy) and i am sure he knows every boss and what to do when and the rest of us only needs to listen to him for a moment before every boss and of course, follow that lead.

If the above happens, it is almost guaranteed success even when our setup is not ideal, like solotank, soloheal. Of course, it means, that we might wipe at some bosses and we finish after some more tries, bosses can be nasty sometimes, aggro can be hard to hold as a tank (everybody should use aggrometer addon and help the tank with some detaunt and stopping dmg dealing), but if the group listens and does what needs to be done, it is easy..

On the topic of a group falling apart after the first failure, well, yea, thats tough, you have to find more dedicated people, there is no other way.

(and i hate pve and try my best to avoid doing it )

[Rubius]

Currently, Bastion Stair is the hardest dungeon within the game, and is meant for players in Vanquisher gear. It's most stable with a 2 tank 2 heal 2 DPS setup, but totally doable in less gear than that and with different setups. (Common to see groups that stretch to solo tank, or even solo heal in some cases.)

The first thing I'd ask is: What seems to be the biggest issues that your groups are hitting that causes them to give up?

Like F4llen says, in many cases, a solid tank and one solid healer are enough to be the foundation for a group to survive most mishaps and bounce back from mechanic mistakes. Guilds are most likely to have veteran players who can carry the team a bit, so I'd also recommend looking for a guild in your time zone who can assist or form teams.

I also wrote up a bunch of the mechanics here on the Wiki, which can hopefully help explain a lot of boss fights: https://wiki.returnofreckoning.com/Bastion_Stair

Hope this helps!

[Nameless]

Imo bs problem is that there are still many bugs and non wrking mechanics that mess up most runs. It is quite frustrating to do it as /5.
Before the rework still was the hardest but it felt more fluid and overall better experience imo

[3Form]

I think most of the problems with BS are due to many pug groups trying to solo tank without the group being setup to handle it. At least in my experience, it usually falls apart on one of two bosses, which are both 100x easier with a second tank.

On Thar'Ignan (end boss left wing) if you're solo tanking then your DPS really needs to make sure they have <0% CTBC otherwise they will be deleted if he punts the tank. Additionally, dps/heals need to detaunt if they end up on top of the aggro table. This is almost completely solved by having a second tank.

Chorek the Unstoppable is the other boss that ends runs and it's usually because the DPS cannot kill the boss before the armour debuff on the solotank becomes too much OR because a healer gets jailed and the group's AoE is not enough to kill the adds quickly. The problem is when the solotank is undergeared AND the dps is slow. Slow dps can be mitigated a bit by the tank being specced for dungeons (extra armour and avoidance instead of stacking toughness) and vice versa - if you can burn the boss and adds fast enough then a poorly geared tank is less of a problem.

Urlf Daemonblessed (boss with the two skulls) can also be a problem in that it takes a few tried before the group manages to survive the opening, but I've not seen it completely end runs. Usually here the solotank really needs to be quick on guard swapping.

All of these bosses are made easier by having two tanks. Most of the runs I've seen fail are due to a poorly geared or setup tank trying to solo tank, with the rest of the group not being able to make up for their deficiencies.

The other issue I see is tanks trying to skip the trash but not doing anything to keep said trash off their groupmates (dmg, taunts, challenges, KDs, roots) and failing these skips slows the whole run down.

[Rubius]

Imo bs problem is that there are still many bugs and non wrking mechanics that mess up most runs. It is quite frustrating to do it as /5.
Before the rework still was the hardest but it felt more fluid and overall better experience imo

What kinds of bugs? Are they posted on the bugtracker?

[anstalt]

I have 100% completion rate in BS, though I've only got the gear sets on 2 characters: BO and Squig.

Honestly, PvE in this game is really easy (in terms of player skill), so I find the biggest challenge comes from low gear. I've never run a dungeon with 2 tanks, it just isn't needed. Boss tactics are all pretty straight forwards and easy to learn.


The most common problems I run into are:

1) Tanks with crap gear / setup

As a tank, you want high armour, 0% chance to be crit, high block, and 9k+ health. But, some tanks I've run with come in with only 25% block chance, or only 8k health. These tanks just drop too quickly. Usually, it's just a case of re-speccing, spending those renown points properly.

2) DPS taking aggro

Some DPS just can't help themselves! They get the red mist and go all out on DPS immediately, without giving the tank a chance to build aggro. They then die, can't be ressed, and you fail. Just ask the DPS to hold off for 5-10 seconds, and to detaunt every cooldown.

3) Squishy People

Some DPS and healers ignore defensive stats, and end up dropping instantly, either when they grab aggro or from inevitable AoE damage. Everyone should have 0% chance to be crit, and remember to detaunt. Again, this can usually be solved by a quick respec. As some bosses in BS have aggro reset mechanics, its inevitable that you'll need to be able to take some damage, so prepare for it.

4) Not seeing pools of doom

BS has plenty of bosses which drop **** on the floor that kills you. Some people have their graphics settings too low to see them, or are simply too slow moving out of them. This is a training issue most of the time, just be patient and teach them.

[SJHarrison4115]

Hey all thanks for your responses. It's good to see that it should definitely be able to be done with 100% completion rate.

As Anstalt says, these are the common issues I run into for sure, add on top of that healers not forseeing the time investment for what it is and dipping early, leaving us all with a partial lock out.

Thanks Rubius as well, sadly, whilst a guild in my timezone would be amazing, I have a guild full of amazing people whom I would miss too much to leave, however, ultimately, they're unable to assist me too much with my PVE journey.

Thankfully, mechanics aren't an issue for me, I've done my reading and guide watching etc and I'm very familiar and comfortable with all mechanics.

Absolutely, it's always Thar'Ignan or Urlf Daemonblessed that the groups crumble on.

I think my issue multi-fold, typically I've run a solo tank, and they've never been particularly geared enough to run solo. So I think next time I'll ensure 2/2/2.

Another issue is as a WH, I have very little cleave (with sweeping Razor hitting a max of 3 targets.) This means that especially with only one other DPS, I'm basically required to have a White Lion or Bright Wizard with me.

In anycase, I'll keep slamming my head against the wall until it sticks I guess.

[joroth]

BS has been so nerfed, i used to run it for fun and even for 2 months, ran an event on stream where we would help viewers get their bs weapons. I enjoyed min/maxing the dungeon.

After doing it last week. I don't ever want to go back. Almost all mechanics can just be ignored and healed though running a 1 tank 3 dps 2 heals group. or even a 1 tank 3dps 1 shielf/dok-wp/1 heals. The dungeon is no so badly balanced I caught my self just falling asleep. i have a minimum of 40+ runs on old BS, each boss had some jank you could manipulate to have fun.

Tbh I don't see how any groups would not be able to clear this unless they're just going afk or refusing to use their core mechanic, (guard IE).

I always wanted speed runs to be a thing, or a rare mount from these dungeons. but now I'm just happy I don't have to go back in.

TL:DR: I loved old BS, now its so nerfed I find my self shutting my brain off. just happy I don't have to go back in

[nocturnalguest]

Hey all thanks for your responses. It's good to see that it should definitely be able to be done with 100% completion rate.

As Anstalt says, these are the common issues I run into for sure, add on top of that healers not forseeing the time investment for what it is and dipping early, leaving us all with a partial lock out.

Thanks Rubius as well, sadly, whilst a guild in my timezone would be amazing, I have a guild full of amazing people whom I would miss too much to leave, however, ultimately, they're unable to assist me too much with my PVE journey.

Thankfully, mechanics aren't an issue for me, I've done my reading and guide watching etc and I'm very familiar and comfortable with all mechanics.

Absolutely, it's always Thar'Ignan or Urlf Daemonblessed that the groups crumble on.

I think my issue multi-fold, typically I've run a solo tank, and they've never been particularly geared enough to run solo. So I think next time I'll ensure 2/2/2.

Another issue is as a WH, I have very little cleave (with sweeping Razor hitting a max of 3 targets.) This means that especially with only one other DPS, I'm basically required to have a White Lion or Bright Wizard with me.

In anycase, I'll keep slamming my head against the wall until it sticks I guess.

Also try to contact some highlevel WH, ive ran dungeons with many skilled WHs and they are really strong in PvE, maybe someone would help you adjust the spec. Also you can skip alot of trash and unnecesarry bosses (in mid wing), plus you can tank left wing end boss on your own easy so prolly something else but main tank pulls is going wrong (its crucial to kill adds asap, if you are not on time they exlode the person caged). Another thing is that speed running actually depends on huge ST dmg not AoE, so its not mandatory to have much (only 1 boss with fairies does require it but can be overcome with smart defensive morale usage).

Bringing two tanks is a good idea if you struggle so hard. Would be easier to skip trash as well.