R> daily 4-man Zak

I'd like to propose a new standard for Zak runs, the 4-man. It's fairly normal to try to reduce the number of attackers for CWK, HT, and pretty much everything else, but for some reason Zak always seems to be run with 6 people. It also seems that a lot of higher level characters don't find running Zak to be as worthwhile, so this is a minor remedy for that as well.

The goal is to have 4 sufficiently strong runners (3 attackers and a bish) to be able to clear within 30-40 minutes. This new standard also assumes 2 buyers per run, to fill out a single party of 6.

Benefits for runners

Obviously with 4 people, individual splits will be higher. At 15m a helm, that's 3.75 split per helm per runner. That's still more splits than a 6-man AFK run of 20m a helm, which would only be 3.33m per helm per runner. Splits from selling SBs and Gen20s would be fatter too, of course.

It also has the benefit of greater party flexibility compared to AFK runs, and not having to cancel any run with insufficient buccs.

Benefits for buyers

With only 4 runners in the party, there would be an additional 2 slots for buyers to fit. This means less hassle if buyers need HB, and less pot burn since the bishop will also be in the party (but of course buyers will still be responsible for keeping themselves alive).

Downsides

The biggest downside is that if any attacker DCs, it will be a lot more impactful. Hopefully with the recent increase in server stability this won't be much of an issue.

Another downside is that AFK Zak runs are more viable in supporting 3+ buyers per run. Since the buyers don't use pots in AFK Zak runs, there is less risk to filling up on buyers and not having enough helms drop. Of course, this is a downside only for runners, and is actually another benefit for buyers (who get greater chances at reloots and such).

If you're interested in joining this bold new frontier in Zak runs, or if you have any questions, post a reply or shoot me a message on discord at Awrien#0502