Fallout 76

[maflynn]

I found a location - I used this one before its up on a cliff over looking whitespring. Its far enough away that I should be safe from getting nukes (whitespring is a semi-typical target) and I think I'm away from any creature spawning. I'm finding pre-fabs are the way to go, simply because you can move the entire building and contents rather easily and they seem to be plop down easier. I found with regular CAMPP builds when I move the saved CAMPs refuse to be placed. I don't know if its a bug, but I've had a lot of issues where the saved building stays red and even when it turns green, it refuses ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The only downside to this location is the lack of a body of water, I was using water as a means to generate caps, I had about 5 industrial water purifiers and I was generating 100 to 200 units of water easy, and that in turn produced about 400 caps. I have the type of water purifier that doesn't require water but they only produce 2 units each.

I've been grinding pretty hard the past few days, I have enough for another piece of the secret service armor, but I think I'll take a break and play less today.

 

[Huntn]

Quite often, and it takes me a few jumps to either get a new server (it keeps trying the same server) or a server that has the location unoccupied.

I'm right outside the charleston station, and that can be a somewhat popular location. I'm looking for a more out of the way location, but so far nothing jumps out.

Edit:
Looks like I cannot get on a server where there is a spot for my CAMP I jinxed myself. It seems that no matter how many times, I click on find another server when the warning message appears, I'm landing on the same server. I'm at a point where maybe I need to find an out of the place location. I like the idea of being near a train station simply because I can quickly run over there and sell my excess supplies, like water.

I noticed this issue even playing on friends servers. Another strike for F76. 😜
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I found a location - I used this one before its up on a cliff over looking whitespring. Its far enough away that I should be safe from getting nukes (whitespring is a semi-typical target) and I think I'm away from any creature spawning. I'm finding pre-fabs are the way to go, simply because you can move the entire building and contents rather easily and they seem to be plop down easier. I found with regular CAMPP builds when I move the saved CAMPs refuse to be placed. I don't know if its a bug, but I've had a lot of issues where the saved building stays red and even when it turns green, it refuses ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The only downside to this location is the lack of a body of water, I was using water as a means to generate caps, I had about 5 industrial water purifiers and I was generating 100 to 200 units of water easy, and that in turn produced about 400 caps. I have the type of water purifier that doesn't require water but they only produce 2 units each.

I've been grinding pretty hard the past few days, I have enough for another piece of the secret service armor, but I think I'll take a break and play less today.

View attachment 936233

I can see how a prefab might be better for this circumstance.

 

[maflynn]

I noticed this issue even playing on friends servers

How so? private servers have a limit of 8 people and the odds of you and someone else wanting the same spot are kind of low.

I can see how a prefab might be better for this circumstance.

I do run hot and cold, They make life so much easier but by the same token, some CAMP designs are absolutely amazing. Take this camp as a for instance, its incredibly imagantive and wonderfully built. I wish I had that level of insight and ability.

 

[Huntn]

How so? private servers have a limit of 8 people and the odds of you and someone else wanting the same spot are kind of low.

I do run hot and cold, They make life so much easier but by the same token, some CAMP designs are absolutely amazing. Take this camp as a for instance, its incredibly imagantive and wonderfully built. I wish I had that level of insight and ability.
View attachment 936282

In the goup I played with, I ended up across the river by the starting tavern that was close enough to another camp to cause me to move or not play on whoever sever’s it was or that person was already established on.

 

[maflynn]

Ugh, I had a bit of a frustrating Scorched earth event late yesterday. I burned through most of my 50 caliber ammo (in excess of 2,000 rounds), and just as I was collecting the goods, and getting the rewards I was knocked off the server. Most importantly, I failed to get my 3 to 4 treasury notes (used to convert to gold bullion to get buy secret service armor). My wifi, or internet connection has been less stable these past few weeks, and this time it burned me

 

[maflynn]

On another topic, I've been trying to craft secret service armor, which is legendary by the way. Due to being legendary, the effects are completely random. It requires 1 legendary module and a small amount of other material. I've had zero luck in crafting items that would benefit me the most. The legendary module costs 50 scrip, not really that high but doing it over and over you can burn through your scrip pretty fast, and re-selling your legendary gear is capped at 150 scrip a day.

I have a life saving perk for my chest armor, and that gives me a 50% chance of being revived (if I die), but my right arm armor has the auto-stim perk which gives me a stimpak every 60 seconds if my health drops under 25%. Basically, as long as I have stimpacks, I cannot die, which negates the chest piece's primary feature. So far in re-crafting that, I've been striking out and not getting anything remotely close to what I want - A 3 star Vanguard, or Weightless, or Bolstering.

I can't say I'm surprised, I found others needing to do this 20, 30, 50 times, if not a hundred. I'm in it for the long haul, so as I collect legendary scrip/gear I'll keep plugging away. Once I get a chest piece that I want, then I'll move on to the legs. The good news is as I work on the chest piece, I keep collecting treasury notes, and gold bullion, so getting the other pieces of armor isn't being delayed.

 

[maflynn]

Sometimes you get lucky, I've been on a very active server, and the public events have been quite active, 72 treasury notes, not just from today, but thanks to the many active public events, it has increased the amount. I can only cash in 20 notes a day, so its conceivable that I'll have 3 days worth of notes by the end of the day and tomorrow, I can buy 300 more gold bullion for about 6,000 caps.

Yesterday morning it was the polar opposite, I was on a couple of servers where there were not a lot of players and/or those that were playing had no desire to participate in a public event. There's only one or two events, I'm willing to do solo, so it was mostly a quite day.

I've been underwhelmed by the Legendary run, and SCORE system. I've progressed at a decent clip, though probably not as far as many other people and the rewards are meager. Before this, we'd get a lot more atoms for doing daily/weekly challenges and now its SCORE for minor things. The lack of atoms doesn't bother me horrendously because I have more then I need at the moment, but at least you got some more measurable.

The more I play the more I really love the Fallout 1st subscription, I've said this before but the survival tent and scrap box are so huge in changing how you play, its unbelievable. I have over 1,000 scrap steel, 2,500, lead, and other must have junk all number between 500 to 1,000 (cloth, acid, black titanium, etc).

Before the sub, you would have to balance your entire inventory (weapons, apparel, aide, junk, etc) and would almost always be short on something. Push comes to shove, I can craft over 4,000 rounds of .50 cal and still have steel and lead left over. This also means less grinding, since I collect stuff as I go to keep my stock up, and then maybe once a week grind for an hour or two for ballistic fiber, steel, and whatnot.

 

[maflynn]

I splurged today, not sure if it was a good thing or not. I purchased the recipe for marsupial serum, the original cost, before I modified my SPECIAL was 23,000 caps

I had like 30+ points to either move my SPECIAL points or use perk cards. I moved 10 points from a couple of other categories, and use my existing 3 star hard bargain perk card, plus grape mentats to drop the price down to 17k. I was hoping for more of a drop but alas that wasn't to be.

Anyways with this mutation, it will increase the character's carry weight by 20 and increase their jump height. However, it will also decrease intelligence by 4.

If you couple this with Bird Bones, which grants you +4 Agility and if you fall from somewhere high your falling speed is slowed down, the negative effect is -4 strength

So basically the -4 strength is offset a bit by the marsupial serum. I had the bird bones serum in my inventory, and I obviously could afford both recipes in one shot. I had about 21,000 caps already and since I was getting close to the max of 30,000 I opted to splurge. If you use the 2 star starched genes, , these mutations will not be removed, presumably as long as you don't die.

I already made about 1,500 caps today (balance is almost at 8k), and I generally seem to be able to generate about 1,500 a day, so I'm hoping by next week, my balance will be a bit more robust, though at this point in my playing the only reason for caps is to convert it to gold bullion. (6k for 300 gold per week)

As for the serum, man alive, it really changes the game, the jump height is unbelievable, and couple that with the jetpack and it changes the game incredibly. I've seen so many players using this serium and since I had caps just not being used, I said why not.

I have enough in my inventory to craft more of this serum (needs stable flux), and if I price it at 500, or 1,000 it should hopefully sell

 

[Huntn]

I splurged today, not sure if it was a good thing or not. I purchased the recipe for marsupial serum, the original cost, before I modified my SPECIAL was 23,000 caps

I had like 30+ points to either move my SPECIAL points or use perk cards. I moved 10 points from a couple of other categories, and use my existing 3 star hard bargain perk card, plus grape mentats to drop the price down to 17k. I was hoping for more of a drop but alas that wasn't to be.

Anyways with this mutation, it will increase the character's carry weight by 20 and increase their jump height. However, it will also decrease intelligence by 4.

If you couple this with Bird Bones, which grants you +4 Agility and if you fall from somewhere high your falling speed is slowed down, the negative effect is -4 strength

So basically the -4 strength is offset a bit by the marsupial serum. I had the bird bones serum in my inventory, and I obviously could afford both recipes in one shot. I had about 21,000 caps already and since I was getting close to the max of 30,000 I opted to splurge. If you use the 2 star starched genes, , these mutations will not be removed, presumably as long as you don't die.

I already made about 1,500 caps today (balance is almost at 8k), and I generally seem to be able to generate about 1,500 a day, so I'm hoping by next week, my balance will be a bit more robust, though at this point in my playing the only reason for caps is to convert it to gold bullion. (6k for 300 gold per week)

As for the serum, man alive, it really changes the game, the jump height is unbelievable, and couple that with the jetpack and it changes the game incredibly. I've seen so many players using this serium and since I had caps just not being used, I said why not.

I have enough in my inventory to craft more of this serum (needs stable flux), and if I price it at 500, or 1,000 it should hopefully sell

At 21k caps I assume it was a permanent buff...

 

[maflynn]

At 21k caps I assume it was a permanent buff...

The actual price after adjusting my SPECIAL was 17k and the starch genes peek makes it permanent. It's a recipe not the serum so I can keep crafting it

 

[Plutonius]

I jinxed myself.

Blame @Huntn .

 

[maflynn]

FALLOUT 76: INSIDE THE VAULT – FORTIFYING ATLAS

ortifying ATLAS will take place in two parts: Project Alpha, starting August 4, and Project Bravo, which starts on August 27. Each Project will have its own supply requirements, collection dates, and rewards. Collection periods for each objective will begin and end at 10:00 a.m. CT on the dates listed below.

FORTIFYING ATLAS: PROJECT ALPHA
Collection Dates Objective Reward
August 4 – 8 Deliver 125,000,000 Steel Brotherhood of Steel Beret
August 8 – 11 Deliver 150,000,000 Concrete Brotherhood of Steel C.A.M.P. Banner
August 11 – 15 Deliver 200,000,000 Cork High S.C.O.R.E. Double Daily Challenges (August 20 – 24)
August 15 – 18 Deliver 150,000,000 Plastic Bonus Challenges Week (August 26 – 31)

So this is going to be a timed event, and from what I've read into the article, its meant to be done in teams. I'd probably be a bit disappointed and bummed out (I only play solo), but the rewards seeming quite meager. Try as I might, I cannot really get all that excited about a beret. Even on a team 125,000,000 of steel is a lot of grinding just for a hat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Over in the bethesda forums, it seems many ardent players have about 40k of steel stashed away, I'm shocked. I typically try to maintain 1,500 and that requires that I take a morning of game playing just farming 150 steel every 10 minutes at the top of the world location.

I typically take one morning about every other week, and I do a farming run, grabbing steel at the Top of the world, and cloth at Camden Park, ballistic fiber at army bases etc. The steel respawns every 10 minutes if you jump out of the game and back in.

 

[Huntn]

FALLOUT 76: INSIDE THE VAULT – FORTIFYING ATLAS



So this is going to be a timed event, and from what I've read into the article, its meant to be done in teams. I'd probably be a bit disappointed and bummed out (I only play solo), but the rewards seeming quite meager. Try as I might, I cannot really get all that excited about a beret. Even on a team 125,000,000 of steel is a lot of grinding just for a hat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Over in the bethesda forums, it seems many ardent players have about 40k of steel stashed away, I'm shocked. I typically try to maintain 1,500 and that requires that I take a morning of game playing just farming 150 steel every 10 minutes at the top of the world location.

I typically take one morning about every other week, and I do a farming run, grabbing steel at the Top of the world, and cloth at Camden Park, ballistic fiber at army bases etc. The steel respawns every 10 minutes if you jump out of the game and back in.

I’m very negative about online events designed to increase participation. Wargaming in December and last month push this free ship farce play your ass off and so many tried and failed. I learned my lesson in Dec and this last month told them to **** off, at least I said that to myself.

Red Dead Remption 2 has their daily events which I just hated.

 

[maflynn]

I’m very negative about online events designed to increase participation

The more I read about this event, the more it appears to be a community event, not a group one. That is every player, solo or in a group can participate, and regardless if you participate you will get the rewards as each threshold is met.

FO76 has a number of public daily quests, where they seem more solo based - for instance the heart of the queen; visit up to 3 locations to find a cryptid, kill it and bring back tissue samples to another location.

Daily events are specifically for groups and I do these as well as the daily quests. Uranium fever is one that is a lot of fun. You also get a lot of loot from, including legendaries. Line in the sand is probably the most fun and garners the most participation. This second to final Scorched earth event in terms of fun and group particpation, its not a daily, but occurs when someone drops a nuke on Site Alpha.

There's also a number of events can be done solo, such as Swarm of Suitors, and even Uranium fever, though that takes a fair amount of work

I can't speak for other online games, but these daily online events provide the following,

• It allows players to rank up
• Collect legendary scrip
• Collect treasury notes (for conversion to gold bullion)
• Collect raw materials
• Keeps the game fresh and enjoyable, as we wait for new content

As for this timed event, the BOS Fortafying Atlas, it's part of Bethesda's long-range plan, of new content, which culminates with a DLC sort of story/quests like Wastelanders late this year (probably next year knowing Bethesda). I am underwhelmed by this first phase, but I'll give it a try as it may add some things that improve the game - as we await the arrival of the Brotherhood of Steels in Appalachia.

I'm playing less at this point, I'm fairly high level-wise 132, I have a full set of secret service armor, though I need to grind for more legendary scrip as I try to recraft the SS armor with legendary effects that better align with my game style.

As I await the new content, I may like other players opt for creating another character and try another run through wastelanders, but I'm really happy with what I have now. For instance, getting that backpack solo was incredibly difficult solo and in all honesty I'm not sure I want to try that again

 

[Huntn]

The more I read about this event, the more it appears to be a community event, not a group one. That is every player, solo or in a group can participate, and regardless if you participate you will get the rewards as each threshold is met.

FO76 has a number of public daily quests, where they seem more solo based - for instance the heart of the queen; visit up to 3 locations to find a cryptid, kill it and bring back tissue samples to another location.

Daily events are specifically for groups and I do these as well as the daily quests. Uranium fever is one that is a lot of fun. You also get a lot of loot from, including legendaries. Line in the sand is probably the most fun and garners the most participation. This second to final Scorched earth event in terms of fun and group particpation, its not a daily, but occurs when someone drops a nuke on Site Alpha.

There's also a number of events can be done solo, such as Swarm of Suitors, and even Uranium fever, though that takes a fair amount of work

I can't speak for other online games, but these daily online events provide the following,

• It allows players to rank up
• Collect legendary scrip
• Collect treasury notes (for conversion to gold bullion)
• Collect raw materials
• Keeps the game fresh and enjoyable, as we wait for new content

As for this timed event, the BOS Fortafying Atlas, it's part of Bethesda's long-range plan, of new content, which culminates with a DLC sort of story/quests like Wastelanders late this year (probably next year knowing Bethesda). I am underwhelmed by this first phase, but I'll give it a try as it may add some things that improve the game - as we await the arrival of the Brotherhood of Steels in Appalachia.

I'm playing less at this point, I'm fairly high level-wise 132, I have a full set of secret service armor, though I need to grind for more legendary scrip as I try to recraft the SS armor with legendary effects that better align with my game style.

As I await the new content, I may like other players opt for creating another character and try another run through wastelanders, but I'm really happy with what I have now. For instance, getting that backpack solo was incredibly difficult solo and in all honesty I'm not sure I want to try that again

I understand the value of the dailys in this and other games. In WoW I used to do the daily dungeon without griping about it, and the only thing I can think of is that for both Red Dead Redemption 2 and Fallout 76 if I think in terms of a solo game, the daily’s just becomes the developer’s busywork treadmill to substitute for lack of content, while acknowledging in an online world, with 30 players on a server, the landscape is different than a solo adventure.

In RDR2, it was go catch 8 fish, or collect 10 flowers, especially bad was the kill, collect, manufacture, sell and delivery grind. Sure, it can be argued that how much difference is this than questing? The difference is that it is more repetitive. Such as in F76, every day, the robots would go on a murder spree at a certain facility, I mean every day. And yes, it can be ignored, but instead of a solo style journey, this becomes the repetitive treadmill, and it is up to individual player tolerance how much you can tolerate.

 

[maflynn]

This is awsome someone (or team) constructed a CAMP near Fissure Site Prime, so we all fought the scorched beast queen from that platform - it was quite amazing to be honest.

 

[maflynn]

Patch 21 landed Tuesday and that means the timed event - Fortifying Atlas kicked off. Basically with one full day under our belt, many players seemed to been overly generous with their scrap steel as we zoomed well beyond 1/2. I believe this is a combined platform event, that is PS4, Xbox and PC donations are counted as one

 

[maflynn]

Fortifying atlas is chugging along, we hit the steel requirement in like two and a half days, Concrete was a struggle because of the rarity of it, Cork is showing itself to be problematic. With two days to go, its only 1/2 there.


I've crafted my full secret service armor, and while it took a bit of grinding I'm largely happy with the legendary perks. I may re-craft the left leg at some point but I'm not looking to actively grind for that.

I'm shocked that I've completed 3 quarters of the legendary run, this challange goes until the middle of september and I hoping to get rank 98, because of the outfit you get at that threadhold. I wasn't really actively trying to progress, but by playing as I was, I did move up. If I do two a day or choose to use atoms to rank up, I can make it.

 

[Huntn]

Fortifying atlas is chugging along, we hit the steel requirement in like two and a half days, Concrete was a struggle because of the rarity of it, Cork is showing itself to be problematic. With two days to go, its only 1/2 there.
View attachment 943818

I've crafted my full secret service armor, and while it took a bit of grinding I'm largely happy with the legendary perks. I may re-craft the left leg at some point but I'm not looking to actively grind for that.

I'm shocked that I've completed 3 quarters of the legendary run, this challange goes until the middle of september and I hoping to get rank 98, because of the outfit you get at that threadhold. I wasn't really actively trying to progress, but by playing as I was, I did move up. If I do two a day or choose to use atoms to rank up, I can make it.
View attachment 943821

You working with a group?

 

[maflynn]

You working with a group?

No the fortifying Atlas is a community event across all platforms.

 

[maflynn]

One of the more fun events is the Line in the Sand, especially if someone causes the scorched to glitch. That is placing your survival tent in a few places causes all of the scorched to drop in one location in a big clump. With a heavy gun like a .50 cal.

There's two great benefits, you get a ton of XP - several hundred all the way up to 900 if you're lucky. Secondly after the event you can pull a ton of weapons (to scrap). After the most recent event, I scrapped over 1,000 units of steel from this one event.

 

[maflynn]

The hotfix for patch 21 landed yesterday among the updates
The addition of the A COLOSSAL PROBLEM event.
Deep Pocketed Mods for secret service armor was added.
various bug fixes.

I'm happy for the deep-pocketed mod landed as that will increase my carrying capacity quite bit and my gold bullion balance was creeping up inching closer to the max. I'm not sure what I'll do with the gold, as I have the armor that want. You can buy some other weapons plans and power armor that is the strongest in the game

I'm not really a PA fan but they are needed at times. I find that I can around w/o that a lot faster the PA and the target information is more robust outside the PA, that is goal is 6 meters away.

The first phase of the Fortifying Atlas is complete and the commuity raised all of the goals needed

Phase two will begin later and also meat week begins next week. This seems to be a timed event that the community is eager for, something like fasnacht night. We'll see

I'm not on the public test servers (only bethesda.net players - I'm a steam player), no biggie in that regard, but it seems many good things are coming out of that server one item that I'm really happy about is the nerfing of the bloodied build.

In the game currently perks are multiplicative that is each legendary perk is stacked against the other by multiplying it. full damage = base damage * .15 * .20 * .25, now for all stacked perks its additive full damage = base damage * (.15+.20 +.25) The result is that the overpowered builds like bloodied are realigned to more reasonable amounts.

Many people are upset because their builds can literally take on the ScorchBeast Queen alone and taker her down, for instance, I saw one YT video where a player's .50 was doing 600 damage per shot and the high rate of fire means that they can easily take any creature down in no time. For reference my non-bloodied .50 cal does 88 damage per shot.

Being on the PTS, Bethesda may still tweak this system, but it does seem a lot more simpler to calculate and more consistant and fair.

 

[maflynn]

Meat week is under way, it started yesterday, it consists of two events, the first is a timed event to hunt/kill 4 waves of creatures under 4 minutes, and the second is Graham's BBQ, where you bring the prime cuts (rewarded if you win the first event) to the BBQ and it gives you treasury notes Legendary scrip. You also get various legendary and/or unique rewards.

This seems to be a very popular event with the players, and while its do-able, its not easy. After completing my first event, I thought it was going to be easy, maybe even solo on a private server - not so. Depending on the location, the creatures spawned could be a higher rank, and/or hard to kill. Its fun regardless.

I'm still grinding for treasury notes and legendary scrip but I've pulled back. I've largely crafted my secret service armor to my satisfaction. I'm mostly a vanguard build which gives me up to +35 damage protection for each piece - the higher the health the more protection - its the complete opposite of the bolstering legendary perk.

I finished the legendary run, partly through increased playtime and partly upgrading through atoms - thanks to fallout first sub.

 

[maflynn]

Meat week is wrapping up, it was an interesting event. Not as fun as fasnacht, but getting treasury notes, legendary scrip and legendary items (sadly single star items only) was a benefit.

I'm starting to pull back from playing as much as I had simply because I've done just about all of the content. I'm reaching the max capacity in gold bullion and caps. I'm waiting for the next iteration of the Brotherhood of Steel to start up and update 22 to provide some changes, including legendary perks

Its been a fun game to play all summer and I like what I see coming down the pike for new content, but I think it may be time to shift gears. I may do more of the Halo series thanks to the xbox game pass.

 

[maflynn]

Tomorrow the 15th brings one of the largest updates since wastelanders.

• One Wasteland — Creature levels throughout Appalachia will now adjust up or down on the fly to more closely match your own level as you come across them. For example, if you and a much lower-level friend both encounter the same creature, its level will simultaneously adjust to be higher for you and lower for your friend. Enemy loot and XP also scale when their levels are adjusted this way, so you won’t miss out on any rewards. As a result, you and your pals will be able to adventure anywhere together—even if there’s a level gap between you.
• Daily Ops — Put your skills to the test by taking on instanced, randomized, and repeatable encounters called “Daily Ops.” Enemies in Daily Ops will feature unique “mutations” that may require you to strategize how best to take them out, such as stealth, exploding on death, and others. Location, enemy types, and enemy mutations will be randomized each day to keep you on your toes. Every time you complete the Daily Ops objectives, you will receive some loot. Once per day, you will be able to claim even better rewards by finishing a Daily Op within certain time limits. You can tackle Daily Ops alone or in a group of up to four players, so round up your friends and head to the PTS to try out this challenging new addition.
• Armor Ace — This PTS update includes the new “Armor Ace and the Power Patrol” S.C.O.R.E. board, which is set to arrive when we release Patch 22 for the base game next month. You won’t be able to claim Season rewards in the PTS, but we are planning to increase the S.C.O.R.E. you receive from challenges in the test server. This way, you will be able to play test Daily and Weekly Challenges and rank up efficiently in the new Season.
• Legendary Perks — Community feedback has already resulted in quite a few improvements for Legendary Perks, including the addition of many new Legendary Perk Cards in the previous PTS. This time, we’re doubling the amount of Perk Coins you receive from scrapping normal Perk Cards so that you can upgrade your Legendary Perks twice as fast. Please keep the feedback and bug reports coming for the Legendary Perks system as our next PTS phase begins!

I've done a handful of the latest major event, A Colossus Problem and while I've had some levels of success, its not been that great. This is another end game boss fight, instead of fighting the Scorchbeast queen, you nuke Monongah mine and that's starts the event. Unlike the SBQ fight, you are an instanced location where only 8 people can fight the creature. Its a high level fight, though its not limited by level, i.e., a level 20 can join the action.

What I don't like about it is, that its limited to 8 people, if 16 people look to join then there will be two instances running both with 8 people. If there are only 12 people who join, then one instance has 8 and the other has 4.

I've played this about 6 times, with a success rate of 50%. The failures are due to insufficient numbers and/or too many low level players taking the slots for high level players. No matter how you slice it, the last instance running will almost always have less then 8 people, and you cannot choose the instance, you show up and you see how many (or few) other players there are.