Month: November 2008

Aside from the 3 new TSO dungeons located in the Void (including Obelisk of Ahkzul), the other 17 TSO dungeons located around Norrath each contain a “bonus” void shard quest. Find the key and loot it, and your party each get void shards. Until a bug is fixed, the group leader must temporarily switch looting to “Lotto” before everyone clicks on the chest. Each of these chests has a key hidden somewhere in the zone. Some are harder to find than others, and fastidious EQ2 players have been documenting and reporting the locations of these “key” mobs and some...

The TSO Mission system is, how shall we say, VERY buggy at the moment. Especially if someone shares a mission with you. Some people are getting totally locked out of missions if someone shares the Double Void Shard mission from Moors of Ykesha and they complete it. Quest Sharing is often not giving people the items necessary to do the missions (Holy Water, etc.). All of this is being investigated by the Developers according to Kiara: http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?&topic_id=436585

I have been pleasantly surprised by the range in difficulty of the TSO Dungeons. Other than my my previous blog entry, which left no ambiguity about my opinion of Befallen, players have been presented with a lot of choices about these dungeons. Don’t give up just because you do a few runs and die a lot! The most important point I can get across is that some Void Shard quests only require killing 1-2 of the easier names, some require none at all. I could see a mastercrafted/legendary group of 4 determined players completing some of these Void Shard...

Let’s take a look at The Void: Obelisk of Ahkzul. Yes, it does not reward void shards, so you may have trouble getting pick-up group members excited about attending, but with the high likelihood of Ornate chests, and a bonus chest waiting for you, the rewards are still worth it. The names are of a reasonable difficulty. You must clear the first room entirely and then Executor Vark will shove off, clearing the way to zone into the next room. The second room, clear the possessed trolls around the pond in the middle to spawn Proto-Ravager. This room does...

This zone itself is a puzzle, where you have to clear names and open pressure relief valves to unlock further parts of the dungeon. A bit like Tomb Raider or Legacy of Kain really. The zone opens with a brief cinematic showing you the whole zone before Najena’s henchmen fill it up to the brim with lava Fitzfangle <Foreman> Clear the trash and open the 4 steam vents (ignoring the warning that only the Foreman is permitted to open them!). Naturally, this will make Foreman Fitzfangle very unhappy with you. Every 20-30 seconds, he will spawn 6 bombs. These...

Today’s post is all about the asterisk. Because there should be an asterisk next to the Blue Square next to Befallen: Cavern of the Afflicted. Here’s what I can determine: Befallen: Cavern of the Afflicted is easy IF you have: Shadowknight or Berzerker (with Mythical) Illusionist (with Mythical) Warlock (with Mythical) Swashbuckler (with Mythical) Inquisitor (with Mythical) Dirge (with Mythical) Sense a theme? 🙂 We tried it with Ranger, Wizard, Illy, Templar, Fury, and Shadowknight. Except for the SK, we were all single-target DPS, and it showed. Did I mention that Befallen respawns as fast as a contested dungeon?...

Three of us got together today and did one of the Tradeskill Group Instances, specifically the Shipyard Cove. The quest starts in Isle of Mara (Village of Shin) and all members must be a level 50-80 tradeskiller and have first completed the quest Ship Out in the Moors of Ykesha. There are a couple of other quests in Isle of Mara you’ll definitely want to check out too, including Rush Orders and a soloable quest that rewards a Far Seas token. Click on everything you can in the upstairs area of the Isle of Mara dock alehouse so you...

I seem to remember commenting on the Beta forums about 3 weeks ago that an awful lot of items have Shield Block and were very desirable for tanks. Fireflyte said he would probably be reducing it on some items. Well… Originally posted by Fireflyte: I’m making a number of changes to the items currently available for purchase with void shards. The majority of the changes are improvements to the advanced armor sets, however I wanted to drop in a quick warning about a couple of changes that could affect the desirability of certain items: The Shield Block effect is...

I’m not the first to have visited this zone. Indeed I was in beta and I did not run it, so hundreds have done it first. I guess wanted to be “surprised”. Well, I was surprised alright! We wiped on the first trash not once but twice. We got knocked around, stunned, blurred vision, burned, frozen, and all sorts of nastiness. Agro problems were surprising considering the ballyhooed “tank balance” which was supposed to go in with TSO. Some of the positional taunts (+1 hate position) just flat out did not work properly at all. We went in with...

4 hours early, The Shadow Odyssey is now open for business!

What do Tradeskillers have to look forward to in The Shadow Odyssey expansion? Quite a lot actually! Tradeskilling in The Shadow Odyssey Starter Quest in the new Moors of Ykesha zone (77-80 adventure level, accessible from the Airship dock in the Sinking Sands). New Grobb and Tupta factions in the Moors of Ykesha. Far Seas Supply Division — a new faction with a ton of rewards including mounts (a white unicorn), jewelry, belts, clothing, etc. A Gathering Obsession — Harvesting Signature Quest (rewards a cloak with Featherfall, etc.) And the most exciting addition (in my opinion) are the new...

Prepared by Calaglin (Illusionist of Confirmed on Unrest) who posts online as Pinski. First 2 named in Tomb of the Mad Crusader. First named in Palace of the Ancient One. Next 2 named in Tomb. Next 4 named in Palace. First named in Ykesha’s Inner Stronghold. Final named in Tomb. Final named in Palace. Zarrakon (in Zarrakon’s Abyssal Chamber naturally) Rest of Ykesha’s Inner Stronghold. In response to this list, there has been some conjecture that Zarrakon is slightly easier than the final named in the Palace. Ykesha in Ykesha’s Inner Stronghold is considered to be the hardest mob...

Thanks to Cyberlink for posting this on the EQ2 forums!! The Ruins of Guk Access: Moors of Ykesha, take the balloon from Firmroot to the Entrance of Guk. Moors of Ykesha is the new 77-80 zone accessible by Airship in Sinking Sands, Druid Rings, Mage Spires. Halls of the Fallen (Level 80) The Lower Corridors (Level 80) Ykesha’s Outer Stronghold (Level 80) Raid: Ykesha’s Inner Stronghold Miragul’s Phylactery Access: Everfrost (Within the new GU47 tunnel) Scion of Ice (Level 50 – 80) The Anathema (Level 50 – 80) The Crucible (Level 50 – 80) Najena Access: Lavastorm (head left...

Regular Void Shard armor can be CRAFTED. Advanced Void Shard armor MUST be CRAFTED. Recipe Books drop in Tradeskill Group Dungeons. According to information posted by Xalmat and Whilhelmina on the EQ2 Beta forum, Void Shard armor is now craftable. The Regular Void Shard armor can be created by your friendly neighborhood level 70+ crafter IF they have the recipe book from the appropriate Tradeskill Group Instances (there are 3 of these being added in TSO). If you have a crafter make your Regular Void Shard Armor, you are getting a 1 shard discount on hand/feet/legshead slot items, and...

D.I.R.T.Y. quests end when the servers come down for The Shadow Odyssey. You’ve got until 11:59pm PST Monday, November 17th to get your carpets, clothing of Imperceptible Beauty, etc.

Allakhazam has done a preview (including a cool video) of the Dire Bears, or so they thought. Actually they reviewed heretofore unknown uber Void Shard Bears: 65% Run Speed (if level 80 or higher) EITHER: Increase Melee Weapon Range of caster by 1 OR: Increase Reuse Speed of Caster by 3 Increase Max Health of caster by 250 Not to be confused with The Shadow Odyssey Dire Bear (retail box): 1-19: Summoned pet (not a mount) 20-39: 20% run speed 40-59: 30% run speed and armored appearance 60-79: 45% run speed and increased armor appearance 80: 52% run speed...

Here is a fantastic article written by Victer (guild: Perdition, Server: Oasis) . I’ve shamelessly borrowed it from here. Diminishing Returns means that when you reach certain level of any skill, (mitigation, slashing, defense, etc…) you will start to get minimal benefits from raising its value. Soft Cap: referred to as the Break Even Point, is not an actual cap, but the value at which you start seeing less return from adding more points to a given stat. Hard Cap: The definite value at which you will no longer see a benefit from adding more points to a stat....

From Ilucide (SoE Dev): Some other things you may or may not know… There’s basically a super mission that will be available once a day for a random instance that will be worth 2 shards. In addition, all dungeons will have a chest with a void shard for every member of the group… if you can find the guy carrying the key. So each day, 1 dungeon is potentially worth 4 shards: 1 shards from the regular mission 2 shards from the Daily Double 1 shard from the chest