Well this week was a huge one. The server pop god's smiled on us and we managed to drop several large scale targets. I am very very very happy that we are coming to the end of backflagging. Happy, happy dance!. Now there is nothing wrong with killing the same mobs over and over, hey I would spend a lot more time in Ssra than we do with no problems, and I am hoping we get to spend a lot more time in Vex Thal, but its the kind of "you must do this" attitude that annoys the hell out of me.
Its also really annoying to see people pop up in /gu that haven't been online since I moved to the server and say "we need to kill XXX MOB because I don't have that flag yet". The fact that we have killed that mob 10 times over the last few months seems to have completely escaped their notice, mainly cause they didn't show up for those kills. So off we go to kill XXX MOB for them, they get that flag and five minutes later someone else now needs a kill for YYY MOB that we have also killed 10 times. Its never ending.
However having said that, I have also turned up to every single flagging raid for months and stayed as long as I possibly could for all of them, so that as many people as possible could be flagged. I will continue to turn up for all flagging raids if I physically can. My personal motto with EQ is "everyone comes along for the ride". If that means we are still backflagging next year, well that\'s just the way it is. Hey at least I could start to Back Flag my tank!. There is in fact a reason for this little rant which will come at the end of this update.
First up. I have been significantly sick this week with quite a savage little chest infection. Monday night was this weeks first raid. I went to work Monday day and was told to go home (Well actually they pushed me out the door and told me not to come back at about 3.00pm) So I had Tuesday off which of course meant much much EQ goodness.
First up Monday was another significant backflagging session. This weeks target of choice was Carprin Deatharn and Bertoxxulous.
First up we very quickly dropped Tallon Zek.
Tallon
Then we headed out to the Crypt of Decay and piled into the Carprirn cycle. Again this is another of those "didn't this guy use to be hard?" type MOB's.
We dropped Carprin hard and fast and moved onto the 'Guy I've never seen'. The officers worked this one hard, to make absolutely damn sure no-one died and we had no wipe. It worked and we made it past him with no mishaps. Normally we wipe at least once on this guy and end up with a really nasty CR
Next up came Bishop Toluwon. Now this is the gimp guy in the middle of the run. For some reason SOE chose to put this gimp in the middle of two nasty boys. Maybe they thought you would need a wee rest in between Vindor Mawnil and his buddy Raex Pwodill.We ganked the Bishop and then Pooby one rounded Vindor and Raex and we continued on our merry way.
Bishop Toluwon
Of course after that all there is left is High Priest Ultor Szanvon. 2 druids and a ranger could kill this guy naked.
We all gated out and proceeded downstairs to start the Bertoxxulous ring. We started off and I knew from the get go that this one was going to be special. The DPS we were displaying was INSANE!!. Bert must have been cringing in his little room and whining "oh shit not SA again!".
We absolutely powered through the Named MOB's and just chewed through the trash. I don't even think we lost any 'chanters, the yard trash just didn't get a chance to hit them!. I got a bunch of remote Screen Shots of a load of the little named's. They aren't that good cause they are taken using a telescopic sight from across the room and they are out of order, but you get the general idea.
There are in fact 12 of these chaps. They are the 12 Kings of Ancient Lanxvorm who were corrupted by that nasty God Bertoxxulous. Last but not least came Bert himself. I actually really enjoy this kill. Its fast paced and if you get it wrong you pay for it, so when it goes well its a really good feeling.
We not only killed him, we did it so fast that Poobies defensive didn't have time to run out!. Quote of the week goes to Pooby for an immediate:
"Woot I lived!"
as soon as Bert died. Once again we had 40 minutes spare. We cleared the whole ring and nailed Bert in just under 1 hour 20 minutes and did it with ease. We could have done it faster but the MOB's just don't spawn fast enough.
That was Monday. It finished up about 2.00am and we all logged out well and truly satisfied. Nothing like a good Bert Ganking to make your day.
Since I was home Tuesday I decided to see what Unity were up to. As I logged on they were forming up for a shot at Rallos Zek the Warlord in the Plane of Tactics. Unfortunately he wasn't up, so Unity called a Raid day off and set up a rolling watch on the RZtW spawn. So instead I spent the day trying to learn to pull the Plane of Earth and dieing a lot but having a blast!.
We had a patch Tuesday and as usual the post patch, patch early on Wednesday. I logged in at about 11PM after some pessimistic rumblings with Kezlar about whether the servers would be up in time to raid. And guess what, a fully popped Vex Thal!. This time instead of fighting through to the blob room we tried the DA/Selo's Run in and FD trick. After each Necro ( and there are a LOT of us) had died an average of 3 times each, we finally put 3 Necro's on the ground successfully FD'd. Then it was decide not to use us *sigh*. So I spent the better part of an hour FD'd in the Blob room waiting for the raid to catch us. Not that a DA run or 5 isn't good for the adrenaline buzz *grin*
Eventually they did get to us and we formed up and quietly beat the Blob to death.
Next comes the boring part of Vex Thal, fighting your way to the meat of the encounters. So we crashed our way through the corridors to Diabo Xi Va.
The Diabo dropped (amongst other stuff) the Staff of Lost Rituals. This is one of the great and legendary items for all Necro's. One of the items every Necro worth their salt dribbles over when they hear about. The officers were in fact kind enough to award it to a Necromancer rather than one of the other, I'm sure equally deserving, classes. Big Grats on the Book On a Stick Sorchak!. See now You is Uber! :)
I logged at this point. As the officers were dividing up the PhatLewtz a pull went wrong and we had BIG troubles. We came very very close to wiping before the Lewtz were even allocated, with about 6-7 big ass MOB's in camp and happily dropping our tanks, Nymeria (Oh Lime Green One) stepped up and saved our asses /bow. I didn't get any pics as I was too damn busy trying to survive and not get anyone else killed. I think I got to bed at about 3am and dreamed many good dreams of PhatPhat Lewtz and Aten Ha Ra.
Thursday of course then rolled around and feeling like spattered crap with the nagging feeling that my chest infection was not happy with all this lack of sleep and the absolute and clear knowledge that the GF was NOT happy at all, I headed for Ssraeshza Temple.
There was much much goodness up for Thursday but I just knew I wasn't going to be able to hang out for much of it. First up came the Cursed cycle.
We powered our way through the cycle and headed to the Plane of Tactics as the Zek Brothers were both up. We haven't done Vallon for quite a while so we decide to hit him first, just for a bit of a change.
So this is what Vallons death looks like?...
Of course he has to be difficult..
but he dies in the end anyway. It was just after Midnight at this point and I had to log. I really really really REALLY didn't want to. If anyone ever figures out a way for me to turn playing EQ into a full time job. Please let me know. As I was logging an officer asked in /GU if I needed any of the HoH trials (which they were off to next). I replied in /GU (perfectly reasonably I thought, maybe I was wrong) that in fact I had all the flags I needed short of the plane of Time.
EDITED: Didn't need to make those comments. I shan't make them in the future.
SA continued on for the night and cleaned up Tallon Zek, the Princess Trial, the Villager Trial, Ryda'Dar, Vindi, the Statue, the AOW, and the XTC!!. What an utterly great night and i had to miss it :(.
If I am a very good boy and eat my wheaties, maybe there will be another impromptu raid session tonight!. Oh and WOOT!, I'm up to date with updates again. NOTE* Edited these comments. They were made when I was still pissed off. Wont do it again.
Friday, sick as a dog. Got home from work, slept, no EQ.
Saturday Morning. Logged in to find the good folks at Unity all tooled up and ready to go in the Plane of Fire. Grabbed a quick COtH to the raid. I HATE being COtH'd, every time I see "you have been summoned" I think its the start of a MOB beating on me!
There was a bit of a delay as we waited for more people to logon, once Unity were set to go they started pulling the named Phoenixes. Now these birdies look absolutely awesome. They hang in the air above their platforms, flames leaping from their bodies, you can almost feel the hot air stir from the massive movement of their wings.
They come in fast and they hit like over loaded Mack trucks, but damn they are beautiful to look at.
There are several of these massive, beautiful birds, so next up was Criare Sunmane.
Oh dear, he noticed that DOT....
Thank god for AE taunt...
Then came Babnoxis the (Bitch) Spider Queen . My GF saw her on the screen over my shoulder and left the room and refused to come back till she was gone.
I think I am going to learn to hate the Spider Queen. She has an AE mana drain dot that appears to be unresistable. I loaded up what I could on her, but by about half way thru the fight I was OOM. All I could do was land an LifeBurn on her and then wait to die because of course the recourse didn't land and I got nailed with low HP aggro.
One thing that does piss me off about the Plane of Fire is that although I realize my fire based spells aren't going to land, why do my poison based spells get resisted so much?. Basically I could only land Dark Plague and Saryrns Kiss. My true damage spells, and the mainstay if Funeral Pyre is resisted, is Blood of Thule, and BOT too doesn't land. I am hoping we get better luck with these new "curse" spells that are coming with LDoN and they will allow us to do some real damage to mobs like those in POF
Next up was Quavonis Firetail.
Finally came Magmaton. Now this guy is a monster. He seemed to be really hard to pull as well. The Unity pull team wiped completely the first attempt at pulling him and only one monk was alive to get him to camp on the second try. It appears the pathing out of his lair sucks big time.
3k per hit, triples, rampages. He is very evil. He died tho, so we must have been doing something right!. Now can someone explain to me why there is a frog in the Elemental Plane of Fire?. Don\'t frogs need to stay damp and slimy?
Pyronis
Image shamelessly stolen from Illia's as I didn't get a good shot
At this point Unity decided to have a go at the Generals. Now this involved moving from our little spot and a run across the entire zone. You just know what is coming don't you?. Yup, after the Rogues dragged the 3/4's of the raid that died and the Clerics had rezzed us all, we were formed up at the Picnic Tables (So that's why they are called that, I wanted to setup some chicken, cheese and red wine and just lax out for the day!)
Unity pulled General Reparm first. Now barring a few deaths Unity had just been powering through the previous Mini's. Even against Magmaton they had only lost one tank when his DEF dropped. This guy dropped at least 3, maybe 4 9K HP tanks in seconds. They finally got a slow on him and the DEF tank of the moment breathed a sigh of relief and called assist. He doesn't have a lot of HP, but damn he hits like a train, one of those really, really massive ones that is miles long.
I have to say I am really looking forward to hitting this zone with Southern Armada. The MOB's are reasonably easy to kill (compared to Gods like Agnarr or Bertoxxulous) and drop very nice loot. Unity walked away with about 10 pieces of Elemental armour in about 2-3 hours. In addition the challenge is still there with some nasty nasty MOB's that will fuck you up if you aren't paying attention. I think SOE did a damn fine job with POF, the mobs look awesome and the zone is well balanced from what I have seen so far.
Unity was going to hit a few more of the Generals, but for some reason called it off and headed to POE to do the "Vine Ring". This is the ring that SA had attempted a week or so ago with a half-raid. Basically you seem to kill about 18-24 trash mobs on the big platform. This triggers the ring start. Then you get 12 mobs that hit like Vindi (yellow con to a 65) and finally, once you have cleared the 12 you get Derugoak Bloodwalker. This is a real test of the skill of your pull team and your mezz/offtank team, get too many of these guys at once and its a fast wipe.
From what I can see the only reason that you would do this ring at all is that the named drops a LOT of Runes and the Elemental Silk, Leather, Plate and Chain Bracers. For this reason I can see a lot of him in our future. Derugoak hits like the Avatar of War but has about 20% of his HP.
That was about it for Saturday and the guys from Unity started to log. Later on myself and Nemean (who sucks by the way) tried a couple of times to interest people in a quick hit on Sol Ro\'s Tower. We had confirmed that 4 of the 5 named Mini\'s were up, but we were short of DEF tanks. It hurt to have that much fun and PhatLewtz sitting there and not be able to touch it. Note to self, Ninja a couple of planes maps and read up on the Mini\'s and what is required for them. They shall not evade me again!
On the other hand I dinged Garakk to 52, bought him a new BP and put a big hole in the level as well. 55 and Defensive is not far away!.
I stayed on late on Saturday as Garakk, because the GF was working a night shift and had a blast smacking stuff about in the Plane of Justice!. Sunday I logged on very late and went to Ssra to help Geno and Wolfe get a BOT some XP. After 3/4's of an hour or so I got a tell from Axixs to help come and him get 65 (he was 20% away!) and I headed to Sol Ro's Tower. We formed up and spent several happy hours wacking these guys. Ax dinged 65 and I finished Fury of Magic 2!
My apologies for my finishing comments in the first part of this weeks update. It wasn't needed and I shan't do it again. A good rule of thumb, when still pissed off, don't post stuff to the web.
