[b]Synopsis:[/b] [i]"I didn't think hard mode would be so... hard..." -Jcarols[/i] [b]Roster:[/b] ARC89 BTrain905 Chubaca411 Jcarols Niiyobin RNG_15 [b]The Short Story Made Long:[/b] Shards were needed, and everyone was still looking for for a Vex Mythoclast and/or Gjallerhorn and/or Fatebringer, so off we went to VoG hard mode. We're starting to get pretty good at this whole VoG thing, and managed to cruise through the first few encounters with minimal trouble. Sadly, we wound up with minimal loot, as nothing of interest seemed to drop from any of the Templar fight sections, nor the exotic chest. No Fatebringers... No Gjallys... No No Land Beyonds... Nada... Then we hit a big patch of fail at the Gorgon Maze, and wound up letting ARC89 cheese it with his hunter's stealth skillz. The platform puzzle provided its customary brand of hilarity, with Jcarols getting an opportunity to comment on how long the stragglers were taking (oh how the worm has turned on that one...) The Gatekeeper needed a few reps to get through, but was, for the most part uneventful. RNG got his 4th Hezen Vengeance. Nobody got a Praedyth's Timepiece - sensing a theme here? Stay with us. That brought us to Atheon where we hit a pretty significant wall, in that Jcarols didn't have a good Oracle-killer in her arsenal, leaving us having to improvise a little (ok, a lot) to make sure we could get the oracles down before hitting the wipe limit. We wound up hitting the wipe limit. A lot... Last night's experience really underscored the importance of the Oracle Disruptor perk. It is literally the difference between the Oracles being cake and being white-knuckle stressful. I wish I could attach a YouTube clip of me and RNG on the oracles (Max'd Atheon's Epilogue + Max'd Praetorian Foil) and a clip of me and Jcarols (Max'd Atheon's Epilogue and non-raid weapon). Light years of difference I tell you... light years... But eventually, we managed to get everything straightened out (Jcarols scrounged up a Fusion Rifle that seemed to do the trick), and eventually Atheon was dusted. [b]The Loots:[/b] There are three VoG items that drop only from the Hard Mode Atheon fight: The Raid Helmet, Aspect of Glass (Hardmode ship), and Vex Mythoclast. Two of those items dropped for me - neither was the Mythoclast. Instead, the Mythoclast dropped for Chubaca whose run of awesome drop-luck continues. There was at least one other ship dropped, and I'm fairly certain that RNG got yet another Hezen's Vengeance... Any other drops of note that ppl remember? Until next raid, BTrain