Lost Vale Left Wing Review

In Sodality’s quest to excel and progress through Warhammer Online’s PvE content my group and I have found ourselves in Lost Vale as of late. Like every other dungeon in the game LV is divided into a left, right and center wings. I’m going to review each separately to keep the articles short (at least short for me). This week I want to look at the left wing.

The first thing to note about Lost Vale is that it is on a scale similar to Bastion Stair or larger. The instance simply feels huge and is aesthetically very pleasing. Few areas of War look like this and I was happy that a unique zone design was reserved for the (currently) last dungeon of the game. As a side note, and to harp on my usual party line, Lost Vale seems like it was designed for more than one group. Much like Bastion Stair you progress through a series of quests in Lost Vale. Each step needs to be completed for you to successfully progress. Should you fail to do so you’ll trip traps in the other wings. We’ll save that for the reviews of those wings, however.

The left wing sports three mini-bosses who mainly drop purple items. They also have a chance to drop Darkpromise belts and gloves. The wing boss drops Darkpromise boots (only one pair). Each encounter is fairly reasonable in difficulty if you have four ward tanks. If you have five ward tanks the mini-bosses may essentially be ran over without a thought. The wing boss is more of a challenge but, once you master your strategy, victory is soon to follow. I can’t imagine being successful with a three ward main tank however. The experience is an enjoyable one and the wing flows logically. You don’t find yourself scratching your head too often. Given all of the positives, some of the complaints I have with the left wing aren’t major but they are an annoyance.

The first is something that makes little to no sense to me. If you don’t skip content and clear the entire beastmen compliment you doom yourself to spirit champions following you and attacking. They’re not difficult but they are annoying. It seems strange to punish players for clearing thoroughly. All I can say is save yourself some trouble and leave at least one group of beastmen up.

My next complaint is about the crystals that must be collected to progress the zone’s quest line. When you enter the left wing you’ll spot slender crystals on the ground that you can pick up. You’re not warned about this but you need to have 12 quest inventory slots available (since they don’t stack) to progress the quest. Additionally, and I can’t verify this, I’m told you can’t do so if multiple people pick them up. Finally, when I turned ours in we needed 11. Some says you need eight. There aren’t 11 to be had. You have to wait on some to respawn. Clarification or warning as soon as you enter would be great. Your mileage may vary.

The final complaint I have about the left wing is Dralel the Whitfire Matron, the wing boss. The encounter is well imagined, designed, and fun to do. The annoying thing is that Dralel has an ability that will toss and disable players. This, in itself, is of no problem. The issue comes when she does this to the main tank. More times than I care to have happen she’d disable the main tank and then retreat. We “defeated” her roughly four times before we “killed” her. Not surprisingly my other complaint about her is that she only drops one set of Darkpromise boots. With a five day lockout she should really drop two sets of boots that cannot repeat.

Other than those three issues Lost Vale’s left wing is a lot of fun. To sum up I think it is fair to say that LV has a “raid zone” appeal but only requires a single group. The visuals are great and unique to the game. The mini and wing boss encounters are interesting and varied. A real sense of progression is instilled in the players as you work through the dungeon. You don’t find a lot of cookie cutter content here when it comes to the boss fights. The purple loot is decent and usable but could stand an upgrade even if it is just to make it more PvE focused. More than anything the dungeon is fun and I can’t say that enough. It is, very much, worth your time.

Bonus Feature: Sodality’s method of killing Dralel the Whitfire Matron.

Encounter notes: Dralel, when pulled, will either directly engage your tank or stop and bounce a bit. During this time an army of tiny spiders will approach her. If you allow them to make it they will buff her damage. If you let a lot of spiders make it you’re in for a world of hurt. You must engage and destroy them immediately. Dralel also has a group knockback/disable and a single target knockback/disable. Both may be cleared with the torch in your quest inventory that you earn by following the quest line.

The Strategy: When you’re in Dralel’s room, face her and look right. You will see a “ramp” going up to a blue light. This is where you will tank her. The main tank will pull and Dralel will use her group knockback/disable. Clear it with your torch. All DPS and the off tank must engage the tiny spiders while Dralel bounces. Eventually (or immediately) she’ll go after the main tank. Our main tank usually uses shield wall and backs slowly up the ramp. Note that if you back too far Dralel can bug behind you and face out. This is a bad situation.

Small spiders will continue to approach Dralel throughout the fight. By putting her on the ramp you create a single point for them to travel to. Melee dps will focus on the boss while ranged dps (a sorceress is best) switches from her to the spiders. I generally kill them with my simple PBAoE. Occasionally the DPS will be knocked away by Dralel’s knockback/disable. Clear it with the torch and rush back. Kill spiders on the way.

The healers should be placed against the pillar on the right (when facing the ramp). This will ensure they rarely, if ever, are knocked out of range. With a five ward tank healing is not that difficult. With a four ward tank it can be somewhat challenging and most of their focus needs to be kept there. Other group members should not take much damage.

Once you have positioning down the fight is simply a matter of execution! Hopefully the Sodality method will work for you but if not…

Ferrel and/or Sodality is/are not responsible for the use or misuse of this strategy. Use at your own risk. All flames, law suits and whines that result from the usage of this strategy will be forwarded to Dresden and disregarded. Strategy may cause death.