Uncategorized
Classic Everquest
by paul on Jun.10, 2010, under Uncategorized
This discussion is a bit of a sore one on the EQ boards, so I’ll try to short-circuit it by giving a brief, and totally biased, summary. (continue reading…)
Underfoot and Everquest 2
by paul on May.19, 2010, under Everquest II, Uncategorized
I’ve been largely away from Everquest for the past couple of months. This was triggered by being suddenly very busy with work, partly from a combination of customers, and partly from the iPad launch bringing projects together all with the same deadline. (continue reading…)
Buying Everquest Titanium in the UK
by paul on Dec.01, 2006, under Uncategorized
Isn’t easy. SOE offer it as a retail box only, although you can buy it from the Station online store – but the shipping is $40 (ouch!, for a $20 product). None of the UK games stores seem to every carry it, although at least one seller seems to stock it on Ebay. One UK store that may carry it at times is Strategic Plus; unfortunately, they are closing down. I can remember buying BBC B games from them a long time ago.
So, how about Amazon? Not on their UK store, although the US store carries it – but they won’t ship outside the USA.
People on the SOE boards often recommend DVD boxoffice; they are based in Canada, but offer free worldwide shipping and have the reputation of being reasonably prompt.
One other option is to use a service that will buy a box for you and email the CD key. There are supposed to be several on Ebay (US) that will do this, but several people have posted that they bought from online cd key.
If you buy Titanium, you will have all addons prior to the current expansion, The Serpent’s Spine, (apart from the Prophecy of Ro, which was a high level only expansion) which is available for digital download from Station store or www.eqplayers.com. There is speculation on the boards that a new compilation including TSS will be available in early 2007, and a new expansion will be due not all that long afterwards.
Group bonuses
by paul on Apr.12, 2005, under Uncategorized
The origin of the post was the necro forum; it has been modified somewhat by me.
What are race and class penalties?
At some point in 2006, race penalties were abolished. The halfling racial bonus remains, as does a bonus for both rogues and warriors. The good old/bad old class (or hybrid) penalty was removed a long time ago, although, while penalties were in place, they did vary by class.
The old story: Some races and classes will need to kill more (or less) mobs to gain a level. For classes, it is believed that hybrids have a experience penalty; for races, iksars, trolls and ogres may have an experience penalty, halflings a bonus. It is believed that dwarfs do not get a bonus, although gnomes might (but almost certainly don’t); and it is my observation that a dwarf cleric grouped with an ogre warrior of the same level gains experience at the same rate, or possibly slightly slower.
Halflings get a 5% bonus, Ogres 15% penalty, Trolls and Iksar 20% penalty; Barbarians might have a 5% penalty. Rogues and Warriors have a 5% bonus.
What bonuses are given for grouping?
2 person group – 20% total bonus. (60% per person)
3 person group – 40% total bonus. (46.6% per person)
4 person group – 60% total bonus.(40% per person)
5 person group – 80% total bonus.(36% per person)
6 person group – 116% total bonus.(36% per person)
What bonuses are given for grouping? (this is the old scale, pre-April 2003)
2 person group – 2% total bonus. (51% per person)
3 person group – 6% total bonus. (35.3% per person)
4 person group – 10% total bonus.(27.5% per person)
5 person group – 14% total bonus.(22.8% per person)
6 person group – 20% total bonus.(20% per person)
I have seen it said that experience is split within a group according to the following formula:
Player_Level+5 / (Sum_Of_Player_Levels + (Num_Players*5))
So a level 44 grouped with 5 65’s would split: 49 / 399 = 11% of the kill; and the 65’s get 70 / 399 = 17.5%
What levels can group together?
For LDoN adventures, all group members must be within 10 levels of each other. Not sure about LDoN raids. For normal groups, the highest member can be +50% of the lowest, rounded up. So a level 43 can group with a 65.
How does the Raid System affect bonses?
It is believed that, under the raid system, no group bonus whatsoever is applied. This can mean up to 40% less experience is given for killing mobs using raids.
What are Zone Experience Modifiers (ZEMs)?
Not all zones give the same experience for any given mob. It is believed that the following system applies:
A newbie zone (one where newbies are bound, and their level 1 mobs are found) has an experience modifier of 1.0 – ie, this is considered to be a normal zone with unmodified experience.
Outdoor zones have a ZEM of 0.7.
Dungeon zones have a ZEM of 0.8.
The ZEMs given below were published by Verant some time ago, and apply to the baseline ZEM for the zone type as given above (mostly to the dungeon type). Other zones are believed to have had bonuses, which may still be in force, or may have been taken away: for example, the Overthere, SolB, and all Planes zones. A consequence of this is that newbie zones have an effective bonus of 35% over normal outdoor zones (they are all outdoors), and some newbie zones have higher level mobs to hunt in them: for example, Feerrott, Lake of Ill Omen, etc.
Do bonuses exist for hunting in certain zones?
Yes, but the information published by Verant may be out of date. This is the last info I could find published by Verant, and is quite old. Don’t treat as etched in stone.
Droga increased by 12%
Nurga increased by 12%
Solusek’s Eye (SolA) increased by 13%
Najena increased by 13%
Befallen increased by 13%
Paw increased by 13%
Permafrost increased by 13%
Kaesora increased by 18%
Qeynos Catacombs increased by 20%
Runnyeye increased by 20%
Kerra Ridge increased by 20%
The Hole increased by 25%
It is generally believed that Kurns Tower has a 13% bonus, though I’ve not seen this documented anywhere, and there are definitely modifiers in other zones – Paludal being an insanely good example (30%?).
How does the zone you are in affect the amount of experience gained per kill?
The ShowEQ people keep lists of ZEMs, although they don’t claim that they are entirely accurate. Here is a recent one (recent in 2003, that is), zones with stupidly high ZEMs are flagged. Sources include Safehouse. Notice that the Hole, Nurga, Droga, Timorous Deep and Qeynos Catacombs aren’t included. And that LOIO has the lowest ZEM of any zone listed. Zones that have a ZEM of over 100 are: Befallen, High Keep, Najena, Solusek’s Eye, Upper Guk, Crushbone, Unrest, Kaesora, Kurn’s Tower, Paludal Caverns, Warrens, and all PoP zones. Most city zones have a ZEM of 100; zones with a ZEM of 100 that aren’t cities are: Blackburrow, Runnyeye, Kedge Keep, Veksar and Ssraeshza Temple. This means that all starting cities have a close by ‘fast track’ zone for 10-20; zones suitable for 25+ from this list include High Keep, SolA and Runnyeye, with Kaesora for 35+, then Kedge and Veksar for 50+, and Ssra and PoP for higher up.
Antonica:
Arena-75
Befallen-160 ***
Blackburrow-100
East Commons-75
East Freeport-75
East Karana-75
Everfrost-75
Gorge of King Xorbb-75
Gukta- Outpost of Marr-100
Halas-100/125?
High Keep-150 ***
Highpass Hold-80/75?
Innothule Swamp-75
Jaggedpine-75
Kithikor Woods-75
Lake Rathe-75
Lavastorm Mountains-75
Lower Guk-80
Misty Thicket-75
Nagafen’s Lair-80
Najena-130/100? ***
Nektulos-75
Neriak- Commons-100
Neriak- Foreign Quarter-100
Neriak- Third Gate-100
North Freeport-100
North Karana-75
North Qeynos-75
North Ro-75
Oasis of Marr-75
Ogguk-100
Permafrost-90
Qeynos Catacombs-96
Qeynos Hills-75
Rathe Mountains-75
Rivervale-100
Runny Eye-100
Solusek’s Eye-130 ***
South Karana-75
South Qeynos-75
South Ro-75
Splitpaw Lair-90
Surefall Glade-100
Temple of Cazic Thule-85
Temple of Solusek Ro-75
The Feerrott-75
Upper Guk-150 ***
West Commonlands-75
West Freeport-75
West Karana-75
Faydwer:
Ak’Anon-100
Butcherblock Mountains-75
Castle Mistmoore-90/75?
Crushbone-160 ***
Dagnor’s Cauldron-75
Felwithe-100/125?
Greater Faydark-75
Kedge Keep-100/125?
Lesser Faydark-75
North Kaladim-125
Ocean of Tears-75
South Kaladim-125
Steamfront Mountains-75
The Estate of Unrest-130 ***
Kunark:
Burning Woods-75
Cabilis East-75
Cabilis West-75
Charasis-85
Chardok-85
City of Mist-85
Dalnir-75
Dreadlands-75
Emerald Jungle-75
Field of Bone-75
Fironia Vie-75
Frontier Mountains-75
Kaesora-110/100? ***
Karnor’s Castle-85
Kurn’s Tower-150 ***
Lake of Ill Omen-60
Mines of Nurga-89
Sebilis-85
Skyfire Mountains-80
Swamp of No Hope-75
Temple of Droga-89
The Overthere-75
Timorous Deep-75
Trakanon’s Teeth-75
Veksar-100
Warsliks Woods-75
LoY:
Crypt of Nadox-85/75?
Dulak’s Harbor-85
Hate’s Fury-
The Gulf of Gunthak-85
Torgiran Mines-85
Luclin:
Acrylia Caverns-90
Akheva Ruins-85
Bazaar-75
Dawnshroud Peaks-75
Echo Caverns-80
Fungus Grove-75
Grieg’s End-90
Griming Forest-80
Hollowshade Moor-75
Katta Castellum-85
Marus Seru-75
Mons Letalis-75
Netherbian Lair-80
Nexus-75
Paludal Caverns-160 ***
Sanctus Seru-85/75?
Scarlet Desert-75
Shadow Haven-100
Shadweaver’s Thicket-75
Shar Vhal-75
Ssraeshza Temple-100
Tenebrous Mountains-75
The Deep-85
The Grey-65
The Maiden’s Eye-75
Twilight Sea-75
Umbral Plains-90
Vex Thal-75
Odus:
Erudin-75
Eruds Crossing-75
Kerra Isle-90/100?
Paineel-75
Stonebrunt Mountains-75
The Hole-100
The Warrens-150 ***
Toxxulia Forest-75
Planes:
Plane of Air-75
Plane of Fear-75
Plane of Growth-75
Plane of Hate-75
Plane of Mischief-75
PoP:
Bastion of Thunder-119
Halls of Honor a-111
Halls of Honor b-111
Plane of Air-119
Plane of Disease-199
Plane of Fire-119
Plane of Innovation-119
Plane of Justice-119
Plane of Knowledge-75
Plane of Nightmare-119
Plane of Storms-119
Plane of Tactics-119
Plane of Torment-
Plane of Tranquility-75
Plane of Valor-119
Plane of Water-119
Ruins of Lxanvom/Crypt of Decay-119
Tower of Solusek Ro-119
Velious:
Cobalt Scar-75
Crystal Caverns-85
Dragon Necropolis-85/75?
Eastern Wastes-75
Great Divide-75
Iceclad Ocean-75
Icewell Keep-85
Kael Drakkel-85/75?
North Temple of Veeshan-
Siren’s Grotto-85
Skyshrine-85
Sleeper’s Tomb-90
Temple of Veeshan-75
Thurgadin-85
Tower of Frozen Shadow-85
Velketor’s Labyrinth-85
Wakening Lands-75
Western Wastes-80/85?
Starting in Gates of Discord
by paul on Feb.18, 2005, under Uncategorized
From this thread on eqlive(comments are mine).
“Natimbi: Farm Restless Souls for named who drops HP Augments (non Lore, you can have as many as you can carry), within range of Named Reef Crstacean who drops the Mana version of same augment. While farming this camp, you get enough shards to obtain an excellent Proc weapon that can be used by a wide range of classes and will be an upgrade for many of them. If you’re lucky, this camp will provide you with either the Flowing Thought or the Vengeance Necklace as well (the Vengeance Necklace is easily Elemental in quality, it regularily sells for 80-100K).
While camping this area, you can also drop a few other named for some minor goodies that may or may not be upgrades.”
shell inlaid collar +regen 1, +atk 10, melee
talisman of the spiritseer ft1, priest/caster
swift scavenger (hynid) – broken hynid claw, woven nihil mantle, painted primal mask
Duara Yuenki (potameid), n3000 2000 – abysmal seaweed wraps (18/25), barnacle studded bracer, cockleshell girdle
Tumia Lehio (restless soul) – faceted gem of might, decrepit taelosian band, torn flesh turban
fierce cragwalker – stitched ceremonial wrap, iridescent turepta shell, thick netted veil
Vimidon (reef crustacean) – calloused shell helm, whittled bone ring, glimmering mind sphere
4 intact stonemite parts – strand of sea pearls
4 succulent turepta meat – Kiki’s Recipe book (mp3, priest/caster)
4 spectral essence – mace of focused flame (14/23 1hb)
3 siren parts (potameid) – sheild of coastal purity (regen 3)
3 broken shore shells (foraged) and reef crustacean gland broken shore shell necklace
3 flawless hynid hides, boot pattern hynid boots
“By the time you’ve done a bit of this and gotten bored, any 60-65 group of any equipment level can go to and handle Qinimi. My guild members regularily hit Qinimi, and they are pre Elemental, sub 65 folks.
Qinimi named can be taken down by any decent 60-65 group, regardless of equipment (well, unless we’re talking Bronze Armor), and no Elemental Quality is necessary. I have NO Elemental Gear (3 1492 Armor pieces from LDON and the aforementioned Vengeance Necklace from Natimbi are my best pieces of gear, everything else is regular equipment…except Fabled Short Sword of Ykesha), and I and a guild Shaman have duoed many of the named in Qinimi. So no talking about how you NEED to be a raid to take these named. Some excellent upgrades in equipment in Qinimi for all levels, Augments on many of them.
Move to Riwwi. Again, I REGULARLY lead my guild members here. Levels 54-65, none of them Elemental or Raid equipped. We clean house and can take almost any of the named inside the Arena or outside. The drops are easily some of the best you can get with a non raid equipped force. The Chef drops a pair of Vengeance Pants that will be an upgrade for the classes that can use it, some sweet arms drop in the Arena (almost as good as the 1492 LDON armor), and there is a quest ring that is EASY to get as well.
If you do this for a few days, you’re more than equipped enough for Sewer 1. And Sewer 1 IS the hardest of the Sewer Trials as well. You do need a hardcore tank and a healer who is on the ball, but I’ve regularily tanked the Sewer Trials, and I am far from Elemental equipped.”
The original author of this also wrote a guide to GoD recently.
How to play a cleric? At 53?
by paul on Sep.20, 2003, under Uncategorized
[edited from my posts on EQ Cleric forums]
I normally agree with all the posts about how to learn a class you have to play one up through the levels as a main. But I’m not sure that I do for a cleric. The reason being that cleric style changes a lot at key levels.
Before 39, a cleric is comparable to a druid that can’t nuke/snare, or a shaman that can’t slow – but with bigger heals. It’s nothing like 39+. I used to treat it as a balancing act – keep the group percent hit points at or above my mana percentage – but always keep the enchanter at full. That usually slows down fast pullers who don’t pay attention to caster’s mana.
Be aware of aggro: getting this right is the sign of a good cleric. A mob hitting you makes it very hard to cast heals, and impossible to use Complete Heal. Sometimes you want to pull a mob off another caster, so aggro works both ways. You can get aggro in several ways: healing early, before the mob has taken more damage than you are healing for – which will happen to mobs that aren’t mezzed/rooted on a multiple pull; over healing, when you heal someone to full; or sitting, especially healing then sitting immediately. You can reduce aggro by intelligent timing of heals; never Complete Heal on incoming, heal between mobs, and use heal over time for low aggro when a CH would be too much – you can still follow with a CH, but a few seconds later for less aggro.
From 39 Complete Heal is your main healing strategy; groups work better if they work with a Main Tank, and no one else needs healing. There comes a slight change at 44 with Celestial Healing, the first good Heal over Time. You’ll use this to heal on incoming, to buffer against unslowed mobs without stealing aggro, and generally to heal efficiently where speed isn’t of the essence.
At 53, the best group heal is Word of Vigor, which is as close to useless as the 19 HoT is; I used it specifically only on AoE fights where I wasn’t in the chain, and wasn’t assist healing. The only difference from older cleric strategies is that Remedy is your new small-but-fast heal.
In the quiet times, you buff; don’t do buffs when you’re low on mana in the middle of a pull. Use Heroic Bond if you have 3 or more in the group, otherwise single cast Heroism. Cast symbol on an enchanter and your main tank, or use Temperance. Put Blessing of Faith on all casters.
Cast CH when your tank is somewhere in the 40-60% HP range, you’ll find out when. A hotkey with a message keeps the tanks nerves calmer. Use an anti-fizzle hotkey, where you put the /cast command twice.
You’ll probably use Remedy to heal everyone else. Keep your enchanter at full HPs if you possibly can, let druids, shamans and necros manage their own HPs – but don’t be afraid to heal them if they let themselves get too low, you don’t want them to pull a mob with low HP aggro. Experiment with Celestial Healing, it can be very effective once you know how to use it.
Sit and med the rest of the time, on a horse if you can.
Watch caster mobs, and mem a couple of stuns to interrupt them when they cast – especially gaters and healers. Bash works wonders for this, as well.
Root runners.
If you have excess mana, nuke.
If you can see a wipe coming, call evac *before* anyone dies. If you have to, use DA/DB and leg it for the zone, or try to channel a gate off. I never remember, I’m always trying to cast one last heal on the MT.
In some locations, keep the appropriate cure loaded to deal with slows – getting Pure Blood is a good idea, if you don’t already have it.
Learn to pull, and how to CR – it’s the same skill. Use pacify to split pulls and for CRs, and root then atone on the CRs if you get aggro.
Check your cleric’s skills – you will want to make sure he has decent defense, and will want to raise 1HB, offense and bash. Get a reagent conservation III item, and consider MP III and extended range III, flowing thought and improved healing III/IV if you can.
The rules change completely when you regularly group in PoP zones, and when you reach 56, with Yaulp V and the first decent summoned hammer. From this point, if you aren’t a melee cleric (in normal groups and especially in LDoN) then you’re a waste of space. Sure, sit while you’re figuring out the group, or if mana is in extremis. The 54 pet is less efficient than a nuke for all except long (2 minute plus, I’ll have to calculate it exactly) fights.
At 58/59 new HoT and fast heals make these more efficient, but don’t change the game. 61+, healing strategies change again, as mana pool improves, group heals get better, and fast heals are big enough to act as a CH for many classes.
The only thing I’ll add is that playing cleric as the main from time to time should be considered essential to learning the class – but simply because the cleric’s role is going to change a lot with each couple of further levels.
Belkin Nostromo N50
by paul on May.14, 2003, under Uncategorized
This is a programmable button pad with a D cursor control button, like a cross between a numeric keypad and a console gaming pad. It attaches using USB, and has support for MacOS X (and 9) as well as Windows. It is intended for use by the left hand. There are ten buttons as well as the cursor button and a wheel shaped throttle control. The ten buttons can be modified with three shift states – which need to be controlled from the buttons somehow.
You assign to each button press on the device either a key, a macro, or a shift state. When I say key, that means a single key press, which the key functions can be set to press and release, hold down, or repeat at various rates. This means that a combination keystroke, like Ctrl-S, or even Shift-S, needs to be assigned via a macro. The Windows version seems to accept long macros, but the MacOS X version of the software appears to limit macros to a relatively short sequence.
Manufacturer link: Belkin Nostromo
So far I have set it up to use the D pad for movement control, with a couple of common functions on the buttons; all works smoothly. I want to use it as a limited form of two boxing, so that I can control one character with it, while I actively play the other. This will clearly only work for certain classes; I wouldn’t want to try it with a melee class, for example, but would be fine with a buff class, especially cleric, and I can see it working with a mage.
My initial question for myself is: what macros do I need to create for this scenario? I can see it working with the basic ten buttons mapped to the hot keys, although more advanced controls are possible, and the cursor control mapped to movement keys is pure bonus. It might almost be feasible for controlling a melee character, now that I think about it, given that we have reasonable movement control beyond simple auto follow.
Basic controls…
Target character, stand, and…
cast buff (x n – what about self buffing?)
heal
follow (no sit after this, click jboots first)
Target character, assist and…
pet backoff/pet attack
nuke (stand/sit)
dot (stand/sit)
Others…
Toggle sit on/off
Gate
Evac (druid)
This all depends on spell order being maintained, and is highly variable between chars. Should include some /gsay to confirm targeting, etc. In a minimalist configuration, control of the sit function isn’t required, as any spell cast will leave you sitting; a raid would be different, but then it would be different for many other cases as well.
A second usage pattern would be as a supplementary control for your main character. I can see the movement control being preferred, perhaps. This is especially appealing for when running with a laptop keyboard, and being unable to access numeric keypad keys or function keys as easily as on a normal keyboard. In which case the usual hot keys would be required, plus auto attack toggle, sit toggle, and replacement for the f keys; could possibly use the throttle as a shift control between these two banks, or sacrifice the hot key that occupies my forward macro. In this configuration, I’m going to assume that the normal keyboard is accessible; so that Ctrl-S for sit toggle, Alt-3 (etc) for spell casting, etc, are accessible. So hot keys will map to buttons directly, for faster access, movement to the pad, and the throttle wheel will shift state for function keys when pushed up. The problem with this is that there are 10 buttons, but I’d want to map 10 hotkeys plus a shift function, and the throttle isn’t too reliable for this; it would be better if releasing it also recentred it. Strafing is also lost this way, unless you can use the keyboard simultaneously.
The simplest configuration is as described: map movement keys to the D pad, hot keys to the buttons, F keys to one of the shift states, and the throttle to shift. For a laptop user, the numeric keypad also covers autoattack (I shift it to numeric 0) and look up/down/centre view. I think I’d use the other shift (throttle down) to manage the view – D pad up for up, down for down, and left/right to centre. That leaves autoattack; the way to handle that is to assign it to the key that would control the hot key I use for forward movement (9 or 10), that does sense heading, foraging, tracking, and any other function I put into that macro – this hot key will be autotriggered by my D pad forward movement anyway, so reassigning the button shouldn’t be too confusing for me.
Next problem: I can do this with the Mac profile editor, but the PC profile editor doesn’t allow me to assign shift states to the throttle. I’ll check into this.
Back to 2boxing, time to work out the macros. I’m going to think of them as general purpose, but I’ll probably assign them to hot keys, rather than the E50 macros. The most immediate priority to me is controlling the mage to back up my enchanter. From the list above, I’m going to need: follow macro, send in the pet, nuke, dot, pet heal, pet buff, pet DS, and emergency (gate). Items in brackets can’t be done inside hot key social commands.
In an ideal world, I’d use something like the following, with a few recasts added in there against fizzles. However, the social macros are restricted to 5 lines, so most of these would have to be trimmed. All of the spell casting macros will also need a pause inserted after the casts, to allow time for the spell cast to complete; and remember that socials are not interruptable, you have to allow them to complete. One way to allow for this would be to remove the final ‘/sit on’, and use a separate key for this – and manually allow for the casting time, which also means that fizzles can be handled by a simple extra tap of the cast button.
Follow
/sit off
(click jboots)
/target X (or F2)
/follow
Pet Attack this will double as a pet backoff if I have myself targeted first
/target X (or F2)
/assist
/gsay targeted %t
/pet back off
/pet attack
Cast Pet Buff (can be adjusted according to the spell to cast)
/sit off
/pet target
/cast n
/sit on
Cast Attack (can be adjusted according to the spell to cast)
/sit off
/pet target
/assist
/gsay targeted %t
/cast n
/sit on
The best way to set this up will be in combination with EQWatcher, so that I can hear when buffs are wearing off; I’ll leave self buffs to direct keyboard control. Extending this to a cleric required a couple more functions: cleric buffs, different heals, nuke/stun and possibly spell swapping, which is definitely more advanced, and I think I’ll skip for now. Thinking about it, the general assist and cast technique should work for the cleric, only instead of assist pet, it should be self target and assist. So the new pattern is:
Cast Spell (can be adjusted according to the spell to cast)
/sit off
/target X (always my character name)
/assist
/gsay targeted %t
/cast n
/sit on
This pattern will work for any spell, attack or buff. Other spells can fit into the general pattern, such as gate or evac. All that is required is to adjust the gsay command to inform the group of actions. They will even work outside of a duo, when both characters are grouped with other people. If that is going to be the case, then we can’t use F2 for targeting group members, as that could be any group member in that slot.
Skyfire Named Cycle
by paul on May.07, 2003, under Uncategorized
There are two cycles in Skyfire, each with its own spawn point. One spawns around loc -2245, +580 (about NE of Wiz portal); this is not an exact loc as they pop relatively close to there and a Druid tracker at least can pick up the PH’s. The Second spawn point is around -1073, +3249 approximately.
These nameds are mainly of value for spell drops, but there are also some epic drops:
Soul Devourer
Black Scar
Shadow Drake
Guardian of Felia
Felia Goldenwing
Spirit Wurm
Lava Walker
Faerie of Dismay
wandering wurm
If you are looking for spell drops, they also drop, possibly more frequently, from mature wurms, old wurms, and elder wyverns.
User Interfaces
by paul on Mar.09, 2003, under Uncategorized
I like this one: Thott.
Frontier Mountains Cycle
by paul on Jan.17, 2003, under Uncategorized
Same as for the Trakanon’s Teeth cycle – see this link.
There are two cycles
1] Goblins in SE – Giants in SW – Burynai in NW
2] Brutes in SE – misc. in SW – Sarnaks in NW
Cycle One:
Goblins in SE
a goblin headhunter – Goblin Head Spear
a goblin trailblazer – Goblin Trailblazer’s Knife
a goblin dustscryer – Dustscryer’s Cyrstall Ball
a goblin Iksar slayer
a goblin prospector
a goblin herb collector – Goblin Juntah Harvester
a goblin chieftan – Chieftan’s Headdress
a wandering stone healer – Goblin Soul Caller
Rockwolf
Blugtigin – medicine totem
common placeholder “a goblin raider” (has to have “a”)
Giants in SW
a mountain giant prospector
Goblinstomper
Gromlok – Gromlock’s basher 30/85 2hb +3 str SK WAR
Krenlek – Skullhelm of Krenlek
Overseer Miklik – Gem encrusted circlet +1ac +6int NEC WIZ MAG ENC
common placeholder “a mountain giant hillock”
Burynai in NW
a burynai treasure seeker
a burynai grand cenobite – Belt of the Cenobite
Bonedigger
Stonegrinder – Stone Thunder
Gem Eye – Gem Finder
Dustback – Dusty Breastplate
Eboneyes – Ebon Razor
common placeholder “a burynai miner”
Cycle Two:
Brutes in SE
Boogoog – Cracked Branch
a rabid brute – Helm of Brute Strength
a diseased brute – Rotwood Club
a berserk brute – Glowing Club
a mangy brute
common placeholder “a gorging brute”
misc. in SW
Miner Bordakin – giant – Skullchip Bracelet
Joojooga – brute – Gauntlets of Brute Strength
a goblin coward
a goblin scavenger
a sarnak bloodbinder
a sarnak rebel – Necklace of Defiance
Burynai Squad Leader – Rusty Mining Pick (heehee)
common placeholder “a mountain giant hillock
Sarnaks in NW
a sarnak assassin – Wind Runed Dagger
a sarnak scavenger
a sarnak mystic
a sarnak seer
a sarnak warlord – Ring of Dominance
Clazxiss – Windetched staff 3/20 1hb +20mana Effect-careless lightning RNG DRU
Slithinis – Slithinis’s Shield
Varithx – Sleeves of the Ancients
Draketamer – Scale hide whip 8/22 1hs RNG WAR
Bloodscale the Vicious – splattered veil +4ac +5str RNG PAL SK
common placeholder “a sarnak dragoon”
Killing a MoB from a cycle in SE makes one spawn in SW, killing that one makes one spawn in NW, killing the NW one makes one spawn in SE. (thus the cycle
All giants and brutes and sarnaks are rumored to have rare drops. I have just listed drops if I have personally looted them.
SE corner – a 30 to 40 group or even a 30 to 35 group if well balanced. Tracker is a MUST. Position this group near the Dreadlands tunnel and have the tracker SOWed, lev’d and pulling to you. Rangers preferred as tracker here but druid or bard will work.
SW corner – higher end group – camp on the south wall near -3300, +2000 or -3300, +1500. On the wall near those spots you can find a place where not much will aggro your group. Make this group the higher group, consisting preferably of level 35 to 45 or even higher people. A couple of the SW corner spawns are blue into the low 50s and can have a ton of HP so higher is better here. Tracker here can be any of the tracking classes.
NW corner – ranger is a must for this corner. All that you need here is a ranger and one other, say an SK. Higher levels are better. If you get one of the nasties, just yell in guildchat that you are bringing Bloodscale (or whoever) down to the SW corner group and pull him in for the kill.
Each group leader is responsible for telling, in guildchat (or via tells if not in same guild), when their group has complete a mob and what mob it is. That way, when the SW group kills a particular giant, the NW group knows which list is about to pop and that they need to look right then for the new mob.
If your trackers are good and you don’t get distracted killing non-cycle mobs, you can run a cycle in about 5 minutes tops. Figure a dozen cyles per hour, go for 3 hours, and you can haul some nice items out of Frontier Mountains.
Cycle 1 is easy to get started. Just kill the rare in the SE corner or ANY “a gorging brute”, then run to the SW corner. Chances are that the SW corner will have popped a rare…then onward to the NW etc. I got my sleeves the second time I ran the cycle. Varithyx is very easy, Claxiss is a tough one. I killed him but only after he got to about 20% from gobbies.
Biggest problem I keep having is getting aggroed by random mobs…tons of monsters in the mountains there. If you get aggroed, you can root and easily run out of their aggro range usually. Keep SOW up always and Levitate if possible, very helpful in the mountains.