The Night Is Dark, and AoW Is Full of Terrors

All out War is raging across multiple battlefields, and the fighting on the Vanguard maps is as intense as it gets. Our matchup this season could have been better, and I am expecting hard fights and serious losses if we want to make any real impact on the rankings.

Most of the battles were scheduled outside my usual play window, either during work hours or in the middle of the night. But this Domain Fight is one of the few I can actually attend from start to finish.

Now, I still do not fully understand why Domain Fights get this much attention... They are PvE events where we steamroll the same three bosses I have killed thousands of times in Lost Realm. But since I have missed so many fights already, I am not going to question it. I gear up and show up for my alliance.

I am online early, with almost an hour to prepare. That gives me time to take care of other activities before even looking at the AoW map again. Honestly, this feels great compared to how I have played events for months now, logging in minutes before they start, or sometimes halfway through.

Unlike CCS, where I can join whenever, or AC and AoH, where I can "plant" myself on the map ahead of time, AoW does not forgive being late. If you miss "the train", and I mean that quite literally, you are almost guaranteed to get sniped while traveling alone. Some whale will be waiting just for you, because the elimination points tag you have on you at all times is a giant target.

So in this event, we all need to be on time and move together. That is the only way to have a chance at surviving the trip. We move in herds, like sheep, staying in the middle of the pack, or like a school of defenseless fish. If a predator shows up, it can only nibble a few of us while the rest hopefully make it to the event.

Now tell me, does that sound fun?

Because to me, it is a reminder of why AoW is nowhere near the top of my favorite events list. It also explains why I have zero regrets about missing most of it this season, and why I was happy to see its duration reduced.😜

Rant over... Moving on... Rallies are already up, so the herd has better odds of survival. Time to pick a taxi, or more like a bus.

And several school buses are parked and waiting. I notice I am sitting at 50 out of 50 Dragon Blood vials, so before boarding the bus heading straight into danger, I take a short detour to kill a few Twin Dragon Guards. I stay close to base meaning I can only kill low level Guards... just in case trouble finds me, I can flee to safety.

A few guards later, it is time to board the bus and enjoy the ride. We can already hear the hungry wolves howling in the night.

I bring two fighting marches. One is my main lord march with full gear, badges, everything. The second is another combat march with T5s for extra damage. I also decide to split them up, thinking I should not put all my eggs in one basket. My third march is a logistics/healing march, which I personally drive through hostile territory like the crew of the Demeter, unknowingly transporting Dracula across the ocean.

Unsurprisingly, my secondary fighting march gets intercepted before even reaching the Domain arena.

One look at the enemy commander should have been enough warning for my driver to run; just like Trinity in the Matrix.

Instead, my driver thought he was Neo, awakening some hidden power to fight Agent Smith.

Guess what? Spoiler alert: He was not Neo! And my march, along with every other march in that rally... was wiped out.

RiP my secondary fighting march. Your names will not be remembered. Not really, since you are just elimination points now for a whale who shall not be named. Cough ToK cough. Also, that level 80 Sapphire really hurts. I don't think I've seen one yet... 😱

Moving on...

I open my inbox checking for reports to find no less than thirty fresh reports. All of them are for the "blessings" enemies generously bestowed upon my healing march, which also died before reaching the arena. The event has not even started yet, and two thirds of my army are already gone. Fun times...

At least we are inside the arena now, safe from outside interference. Or so I used to think at that point.😒

We start clearing mobs for bonuses and take down the first boss quickly and cleanly. No issues there.

Then we move on to the remaining two.

Remember when I said we were safe? Turns out that was wrong. I just didn't know it at the time.

In AoW anyone and their mother, can walk into our Domain Fight and attack us while we are fighting bosses.

We regroup in front of it. The tank takes position, the boss is pulled, and we start chipping away at its massive health. Progress is slow, which is expected; it is the final boss, and we barely killed any guards on the way, so our buffs are... small to say the least. Barely enough to open the encounter.

Despite that, we seem confident. Maybe too confident? Because wee ignore the towers that spawn and just brute force through the healing, extra HP, and armor. As if we can overpower the mechanics with our sheer awesomeness. 😅

At some point, a few players decide we should probably do this properly, and we start clearing Tower A. At the time, I do not understand why the sudden urgency.

Then it becomes painfully clear.

A pack of hungry wolves is on its way. Some rude players with zero manners start hitting us while we are fighting the final boss.

While the boss is around half health, the screen turns red. Invaders flood in and start picking us off one by one.

They kill a few, then stop. Probably laughing while we try to finish the boss. Then they continue.

We are no longer a school of fish in the ocean. We are fish in a barrel. We cannot even hit back because the boss must remain the priority.

Slowly, our marches disappear. The boss starts healing more than the damage we can deal. Eventually, only the tank is left alive. The invaders are careful not to hit him too much, letting the boss do the work.

The boss drops below one percent, down to 0.6%.

Then it heals back to 0.7%

Again, 0.6% and back to 0.7%

The tank is under constant pressure, "standing in fire", getting poked by our unwelcome visitors. Everyone is watching. This feels like a World First mythic raid kill in WoW, where the entire raid is dead and only the main tank remains standing.

Does he have one more "cooldown"? Well, in WoW that would have been a thing... not so much here😜One crit maybe?

At under 10% HP, the tank lands the final blow! The dragon finally dies!

Moments later, the vultures finish him off. Not that it matters. There are no eliminations to gain here anyway, just rude people being rude.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG_B_w_pSH0

What started as a clean, controlled boss fight turns into a desperate race against time. The boss was healing more than we could damage, and we only barely killed it thanks to one player standing until the very end.

Objective completed anyway, painfully and in a spectacle of humiliation, but completed nevertheless.

We leaked eliminations on the way in, got farmed for fun during the fight, but at least we finished the event.

I can now continue not feeling bad about missing AoW events this season.😔

I never thought I would say this, but I might actually be looking forward to GB gameplay, despite still being just a resilience breaker, regardless how much my account has grown in strength.