Fan Faire

Fan Faire is now over and I have put together a list of the EQ2 related news from the weekend. Im sure I’ve got stuff wrong and missed stuff out, i’ll edit in as and when i discover errors

 

You can watch the first of the webcasts >> HERE <<  (the main EQ2 stuff, including some video of the new expansion area, is about 55 minutes in)

You can see a short video of the new area >> HERE <<

Miragul’s Phylactery – The Crucible

A Guide to Miragul’s Phylactery : The Crucible 

Location : Everfrost

 

 

Void shard mission giver – Chief Scholar Lakewind -261, -4, -366

Quests to get before entering :
Making Sense of Miragul Part 3
Getting there before the Coalition

Here be Dragons!

The slug is dead! long live the slug!!

We hit the Chamber of Destiny last night with the intention of going straight for the Leviathon kill, we had already hada farming run earlier in the week to collect the vials required.

Luckily for us, we decided to do a full, farming, run at him before resetting for the kill. Luckily I say, because we wiped first attempt!!

All was going well, our bruiser had the Greenmist orb and was heading to the point to use it when he got hit by the noxious dot, realised he had run out of cures and died!

Our Pally set-of to rez him but got hit by a tentacle, thrown into the low-ground and caused an AOE which wiped us

the second attempt was much, much smoother and down he went, one big, dead, blob-thing!!!

Dead leviathon

With Levi down, it was time for Kalyyn to step into Veeshans Peak for the first time!!

 

What a great looking zone, and huge! I was expecting a large zone but nowhere near the scale that it is. I would guess the whole zone is around the size of Antonica. (I did take some screenies, but they dont seem to have saved :/ )

We made our way down to the first named with few problems (well, our MT did pull a big beastie and , while running back to the group, fall off the edge of the platform and into the lava )

 

We made it to the first named, Kluzen the protector, one big, bad Wyvern, must be at least 4 or 5 times the size of the Wyverns in Kylong Plains.

He went down with little trouble and I was eager to carry on, but it was starting to get late for some and a few people had to go, so we decided to leave it there and continue on another night.

 

Kalyyn needs Hoshkar for the last of his Mythical updates. Im told his encounter is fairly easy, but im not sure how deep into the zone he is. Im sure we will make our way to him soon enough

 

With about 15 of us left and wanting to carry on somewhere, we called in some reinforcements, Suzita and Dimzad came to join us (Dimzad on Hewgo, his Conjy) and a few others from the other guild. We had almost a full raid, although the class mix was a bit off , so we decided to hit Shard of Hate.

 

I’ve been into this zone a few times, but only to the end twice i think. It always amazes me just how streaky the RNG for loot is in this place. Sometimes you can go all the way and get only 1 or 2 exquisite from trash, others they drop ten-a-penny.

Luckily for us, last night was probably the luckiest night i have ever seen for exquisites.

I didnt keep count, but i think we had about 10-15 exquisites drop from trash!!

At one point, we pulled 3 of the living-chests at once and each one dropped an exquisite! most of the loot wasnt that great, so Kalyyn got to mush it, but we did get a few masters (Including a lovely ranger one for Suz ) and a couple of nice upgrades for people.

 

By the time we reached the sisters it was 2am and judging by the way the quality of voice-chat had dropped into the sewers, I get the feeling a little alcohol had been imbued by some

 

We spent a while here swapping alts in and out so we could have a bruiser available, but by the time we where ready the raid had dropped to 18 people and we where a little short on healers. it didnt look promising for the kill, but we hit them anyway and I was pleasantly surprised when they encounter was beat first time, with very few problems.

 

Owing to the hour and the lack of numbers, we called it a night here, there was no-way we would be taking on Byzola or the Maestro, but maybe we will come back another night, before the instance expires, and take them out.

 

Im looking forward to my next visit to VP, hopefully Sunday evening. Will be nice to throw ourselves against some dragons

Mistmyr Manor

A Guide to Mistmyr Manor

Location : Loping Plains. Enter through a tomb in the graveyard of Somborn Village

Shard Mission NPC : Tanya Alveron in Somborn Village at -336, 14, -26

Ratty go sleeps now

It was a frustrating night in Mistmyr last night.

Recently we have been running with the following setup a lot – Me on my Templar, Emaimee playing her alt Dirge, Dimzad the zerker tanking, Suzita the Ranger, Kajen the Swashie and Yharlie the Illy.

The dps and hate buffs from the Dirge have made a lot of the zones a lot easier.  But, this has meant that Ema doesnt get to play her main, and favourite character as much as she would like.

So, last night we hit Mistmyr with a slightly different setup. Dimzad, Suzi, Kaj and Yharlie where there, but I bought out my likkle rat Wizzy, Poxridden and Emaimee came to heal.

Things didnt start to badly, we took the first named easily enough and moved on to the Curator.

It took us a few attempts to get him down fast enough, on the first 3 (or 4?) attempts we had him down to 1 or 2% HP and the ceiling got us. but we persisted and got him in the end. We definitely noticed the drop in group dps on this encounter.

Eventually we got to the final pair of nameds.  This encounter is a bit different. One is a fighter  and one is a mage. You need to keep the group away from the mage (who doesnt move about but stays ranged and nukes you). From time to time the 2 nameds will port to each other and swap places. When this happen you all need to run to the fighter as fast as you can.

By this time it was getting late and after a few attempts we gave up, with plans to come back tonight with fresher, more awake, heads.

Usually, this wouldn’t bother me at all. I don’t mind multiple wipes and even not clearing a zone, as long as we all have fun.

What was so frustrating last night was the amount of times I kissed the floor with my wizzy.

Don’t get me wrong, i’m well used to dying with this fella (I can remember a particularly bad experience in a Protectors realm Pick-up where i died 30+ times ) and usually it doesnt bother me much at all.

But, last night, I just couldnt seem to avoid peeling agro from the tank.

I tried everything. I dropped my usual pre-casts and only used my passive buffs before the pull. Even waiting a few seconds into the fight before casting anything too aggressive. I was well down the parse, behind Suzi and Kaj and around even with Yharlie and still I would peel.

I threw my (very limited and poor as they are) threat decreasing abilities into my rotation and used them whenever they where up, this didnt seem to help.

I dropped my dps right down, but still, any use of my ‘big hitters’ like fission or bolt of ice would see a dead rat on the floor.

I just cant work out what has changed. I know Dimzad is a great tank and we used to cope well (I would pull agro some , but nothing like last night).

To put it to the test, I dragged Pox out into a couple of Pick-ups this morning. the same thing happened here. I would be  doing average dps at best, one use of a big hitter and SPLAT!

This really took away a lot of the enjoyment I used to get from running with the ratty. I can’t see the point of playing him if he can’t do the only thing wizzies are good for (DPS) and not spend half of the fight on the floor.

I think Pox is going to crawl back to his little rat hole with a nice bug lump of cheese and take it easy for a while, at least until we see what the upcoming fighter changes bring.

I have been playing Karnag (My brig) a little more lately and quite enjoying him. I got him up to level 60 today, so may just level him a bit and see how he does

Veksar : The Sunken Theater

 Guide to Veksar : the Sunken Theater

Location : Fens of Nathsar. Underwater off the coast near Omens Call

Shard Mission NPC : Lieutenant Kresic at Omens Call (110, -66, -268)

Quests to get before entering
Sunny Side Up
A Thing of the Past
Sticky Business

Key Mob : An Acolyte of the Whisperer – In room with Cribblekeep

Void shard chest : The Reflection Pool -111, -2, -124

The starting area of this zone is underwater, but you soon get to fight on dry land.

Be carefull around all of the water pools etc.. many (if not all) contain creatures which only spawn when you get to
close.

There are many rooms that are initially closed off by doors or shields. these rooms need to be opened by clicking an
object somewhere.

Also, scattered around the zone are 4 staff’s. these can be picked up and moved (like furniture) but not placed into your
inventory. They can be placed anywhere and picked up again.
these open several doors (place them onto the triangular plinths that ar efound infront of the locked doors) and are also
required for a quest update at the end of the zone, so move these along with you as you go.

Follow the main corridor along.
The first room, on your left, contains Ul’lugh the Divine but will be blocked by a shield.
Continue past this room, in the next room on the left is a statue. Turn the statue to open the shield.

once the shield is down, pull all of the adds outside into the corridor and kill them there.
When only Ul’lugh is left, the whole group should move into the near,left corner of the room.

Ul’lugh the Divine

Mainly slashing damage, some cold
If you pull Ul’lugh from his platform he can break the encounter.
The group should stay in the corner while the tank pulls him to the steps ,directly in front of the group.

Continue along the main corridor, past the statue room and take the next left.
In a room at the end of this corridor is Gruerg the Ravager
This room will be barred by a shield. Go back to the statue room and twist it to open the shield.

Guerg the Ravager

mainly piercing and disease damage. Some cold and slashing
Spawns 4 , low HP, adds. While adds are up the group will have an uncureable posion DoT on them. Kill adds as fast as
possible.

head back to the main corridor and continue North.
take the next left hand turn.
At the end of this, short, corridor is a room containing Boss Riggledub.
As before, this room will be blocked by a shield. To open this shield, continue along the main corridor. The next room on the right contains a book on a table. Click this to open the shield.

Boss Riggledub

Slashing damage

Clear the room for all except Riggledub (who will be non-agro at this point)
there is an epic Massive-golem lying on a stone plinth in the room. be VERY careful not to AOe and agro him.
Around the room are several ‘golem parts’
Move all these parts to the same spot to create your own Not-as-massive-golem
Your golem will attack the Massive-golem and keep it occupied. At this point Riggledub will attack you.
he is a straight forward kill. Just watch those AOE.

When Riggledub dies, one of your party will loot a ‘golem switch’. target the Massive-golem and use this to destroy it.

One of the moveable-staffs is in this room.

Head back to the main corridor and continue to follow it.
The first door to the right is to a room containing some quest updates.

The main corridor continues and turns to the right.
You will drop down to a slightly lower level then head south.
the next room contains Cribblekeep (and the voidchest keymob)

Cribblekeep

Mainly magic damage, some crushing and slashing

Cribblekeep will be in the centre of the room. Surrounded by 6 pillars.

He will use a magic damage AOE ’squall surge’ this can hit hard so needs curing quickly.

Cribblekeep will spawn 6 An Aqueous Protector.
If any more than 3 of these are up, cribblekeep cannot be damaged.
These all need to be killed as fast as possible (it is possible to have one, high dps, character take care of these).
It is possible to stun/stifle Cribblekeep to stop him spawning the adds.

You can now open the door behind Cribblekeep by placing a staff onto the small triangle in front of it.

The area behind Cribblekeeps room has several passages and rooms. Some behind destroyable walls.

Behind a wall in one room is an orb you can click to open a door further in.

The void shard chest is found in a room here ( -111, -2, -124 )

In another room is a tomb.
Click the tomb to spawn Lord Sasil

Lord Sasil

Mainly Crushing, some disease damage

Initially Lord Sasil will be immune to all damage.
Behind Sasil are 4 tombs, clciking these tombs spawns parts of Sasil (His Arms, Head, Legs and Ribcage)
Kill all 4 parts to make Sasil vulnerable.

Once Sasil is dead the final room, the Broken Theatre, will open.
Within this room is Garudon.

Garudon.

mainly magic damage, some crushing

this mob has 3 stages to defeat.
he will start as a single heroic creature. Fairly easy to kill.
When he dies he will respawn as a group of heroics, again, not to difficult to kill.
His final stage is that of a Ghostly dragon.
When a dragon he will use a large magical damage tail-lash, AOE, with a big kickback. This only hits you if you are behind him.
He also uses AOE stifles, stuns and power drain.
If possible, stay at max range and infront of Garudon, this way you will avoid most of these AOE’s.
There is a dragon skeleton in the middle of the room. If the tank puts his back against this, he will be wedged so he avoids the kickback.
The rest of the group can then place themselves towards the back of the room, so they are side-on to Garudon.

Once Garudon is killed click the altar type object on the plinth in the room.
Then place the 4 staffs onto the triangles.
then click the crystals on the 2 pillars.
If the staffs are in the correct positions, light will shoot from them to the, now raised, plinth.
If light does not appear from the staffs, move them around to different locations. (Best to try the staffs, one at a time, on each plinth until the right one is found)

Of Rodents and Stormtroopers

Nothing much to report on the EQ2 front, didnt get up to much last night and I don’t think there are any major plans for this evening.

I have spent  a little time spring-cleaning my hard-drive today though, its amazing the rubbish I have deleted!

I had a browse through my screenies folder and come across a few that I like and thought I’d share them with the world (well, at least the very small percentage of the world that browse through my blog )

(Click any of the pics for an enlarged view)

Maybe not the most visually stunning picture this one, but it did remind me of a really fun night.

RoK was not that old and we had run the instances a few times, with full groups. We where all still gearing up and having a blast taking our time getting the instances done.

A few guild members where offline so we decided to see how far we could get taking a group of 4 into Crypt of Agony (well, a group of 4 1/2 as I was tanking and 2-boxing my wizard )

I dont think we really expected to complete the zone, but after a few attempts we got the last fella down!

here is Ashenshugar (My pally), Emaimee, Asirra (Suzita’a Assassin), Kajen and Poxridden (My Wiz) in the final room.

The gang of 4 (1/2) conquer COA!

 

for some reason Ashen and Pox never could see eye-to-eye

Barbarians and Ratonga never see eye-to-eye

 

We where taking a run into DFC and decided to fill the last spot with a pick-up. But who should tank?

I dont care how big you are, I'M tanking!

 

SOE introduced some flashy new armour for appearance only, but you have to pay real money in the station cash shop

The players where not happy , so the troops where sent in to quell any unrest!

Qeynosian Stormtrooper

 

For some reason, this talking shiney turns up outside the Tower of the Drafling in Rivervale, always give sme a giggle

who?what?where?when?why?

Saturday night out in Norrath

Saturday saw the usual crowd hit the town in Norrath!

After a couple of beers in the guild hall myself, Seabreeze (Emaimee’s Dirge), Suzita, Dimzad, Kajen and Yharlie set out for the icy wastes of Everfrost and the Anathema dungeon.

The last time we came in here as a group was before the Amalgam was ‘fixed’ and we where a lot worse geared. On that occasion we did manage to clear the zone but it was slow going and we struggled with that nasty zombies huge AOE!

This time we stormed through with no problems at all!

I really enjoyed this zone. The frustrations we had with the Amalgam last time where no-where to be seen this time. A mix of high dps, multi-stuns and the fix and he dropped like a stone!

I really enjoyed the encounter with ‘ourselves’. Although we proved to be a bunch of easily killed wusses

(Click any picture for an enlargement)

We came across another group of adventurers, they seemed a little familiar....

Seabreeze seemed reluctant to bash her own head in!

 

This zone went so well we decided to move onto Veksar.

The last time we stuck our heads in here, Cribblekeep (Or Cribblebo****ks as he was christened!) had roundly kicked our collective arses, I put that down to a bit of an odd group set-up and it getting very late.

This time the conquering heroes og LotW kicked his Gobbo butt! And the rest of the dungeon went pretty easily to.

The light show at the end was really cool, very Indiana jones.

Garudon went down easily enough. Having no idea what was coming when we engaged him, I knew something was up when his HP started to drop way to fast for the usual end-of-zone boss, so wasnt completely surprised when he respawned as a group of mobs.

When he respawned once more, as a ghostly dragon, this did catch me unawares though!

Garudon as a ghostly dragon

 

i can hear a sound in the distance, kind of like a large ball of rock rolling along!

 

In all we had a great time Saturday night. A couple of bits of upgrade loot, but mainly stuff for Mutey Muterson

Najena’s Hollow Tower

A Guide to Najena’s Hollow Tower

Location : Lavastorm. from dock, head through the tunnel. Turn left at the end.
Use the lift in front of the entrance to Deep Forge to get down to the entrance.

 

Miragul’s Phylactery : The Anathema

A Guide to Miragul’s Phylactery : The Anathema 

Location : Everfrost

 

 

Void shard mission giver – Chief Scholar Lakewind -261, -4, -366