I tried 16 times, each time attempted to invite others to chat party (I avoid fire team invites due to trust issues post POE experiences). I could never get people to join the group chat. And then I myself was clueless for the first dozen matches. Then I read a post on here, found two friends to do it with and we finished it on the first try.
Since then, every night now for two weeks I always check if those guys are on to see if they need help on their sword quests, so far I've yet to repay the favour as they keep playing raids. I then was able to use the sword to get my black spindle, then my NTTE, and tonight I'll get my last calcified fragment for finishing the TOM quest.
All this because two people helped me get my sword last week. Two amazing, friends of friends of strangers of friends that I've never met but have played with for 8 years. It all started many moons ago on a warm summer night where I popped in COD and got a random friend request by someone that sounded like they were chewing tobacco and had a now forbidden red flag on their pick-up truck which has a toilet seat in the back with a cut-out hole for when they're camping in their back yard. Starting from that interesting fellow, I've now built an empire-network of ex-black ops now guardians that have since broken up with their mother's daughter and are on their 3rd marriage with their uncle's son's daughter. These are my friends, and they got me my sword arc sword. Which then set off a chain of events that led me here today, to write this post from work while I wait for my wife to pick me up so that I may then play later tonight. I'll always think back to that pick-up truck toilet, and remember... just how much sleep I've lost since I started buying gaming consoles. In-game stats show hours played, PSN should start showing hours played as well and allow you to print it to show your Dr. during your yearly physical. "Well sir, you've gained 65lbs this year. Your cholesterol levels amaze me into wondering how it is you drove here. But your hands... your hands look like crab claws; ready to pinch a coconut in half. What is it you do to have such strong hands? " - Dr "Sir, here's my PSN stats report, so I can get wellness credits for sudo exercise" - Me. "Ah, we thank you for your efforts in saving us from the constructs of game developers. If it weren't for you the US economy would have billions extra every year for something meaningful, like planting trees or giving braces to little orphan kittens" - Dr
Also note I later learned that I had notification pop-ups disabled, so the messages from randoms calling me a knight slaying time waster weren't read until I turned my console on the next day. I messaged most of those players back some times apologizing, sometimes asking them what they thought of my boots and whether or not they matched the color of my eyes.
Notification pop-ups now enabled, and with a touch of malice possibly I will return to > 4 hours of sleep a night once more.
End strategy: 1 player kept darkblade's focus. 2 players killed adds, close enough to revive but not close enough to die at the same time. When adds were gone knights that weren't needed were removed from existence When we realized keeping two knights alive was harder than just doing the whole thing over again for the 2nd guy, one of us got their sword (me) and the other is still pending.
Long story longer, to be continued... going to close my eyes a bit while driving home. Need to rest.