<DIV> <DIV>Good morning all,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I had mentioned in an earlier post that my guild had enough 45+ players to attempt Maiden's Gulch in Lavastorm (To Speak As A Dragon) to start the path to prismatic weapons.  Unfortunately, our first attempt failed even though we learned a lot of important information for our next attempt.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I was a bit disappointed with several things that happened during the raid, even though I enjoyed working together with friends to accomplish a common task.  Perhaps some of you that tank or off tank the dragon regularly can shed some insight.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Our group consisted of 11/12 players, primarily 50's with some 47, 48 and 49's.  Unfortunately, our 50 Illusionist had a family crisis just minutes prior to the raid.  We GREATLY missed her constant power supply and look forward to trying again this week now that she's back <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  I'm confident victory is ours with a little extra mana!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>At any rate, our primary group consisted of a 50 guardian (raid tank), a 50 paladin (me), a 50 beserker (our MA), a 48/49 templar, a 47/48 wizard and a 49 swashbuckler.   Our secondary group consisted of 2/50 Paladins, a 50 swashbuckler, a 49 wizard and 46/47 templar.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We read a few posts on OGaming that basically listed 2 different tactics-- a kite method which appeared to take a very long time and a method of stacking everyone one top of one another in melee range to avoid the dragon's AOE.  We elected the stacking in melee method and discovered the following:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First Attempt: The Guardian pulled the mobs back to the rest of the group standing in a circle the size of a small kiddie pool.  The AOE ate us alive fast and furious!  I did 0 dps and reverted back to assisting the Templar in my group with heals as fast as I could cast and an uncanny number of rezzes.  We did fairly well defeating all mobs sans the dragon we had in the low yellow/early orange.  The dragon wiped the entire raid except me and for whatever reason saw fit to break the encounter and run back to the spawn point.  We were happy enough that I was able to rez our rezzers and over time we had 11 players standing, rebuffed and ready to try again.  We learned quickly that the AOE breath is B-R-U-T-A-L.  One hit would put the whole party in the yellow or orange depending on profession and HP.  The dragon hit us multiple times with the breath which seemed to be the only real obstacle to victory.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Second Attempt:  I suggested we stand even closer together as reports indicated the AOE would not kick in if we were within melee range.  The distance of a "kiddie pool" seemed prettty melee range to me, but let's not risk it right?  We decided to pile the entire party on top of the small rock just to the side of the torches near the entrance.  This tactic seemed stupid to me to have healers and casters standing with tanks, but we elected to give it a whirl and experiment again.  We even caught the humours group hug screen shot with 11 players standing on top of each other--basically equivalent this time to having everyone stand on a single piece of flame licked ore.  When the Guardian pulled this time, he was instantly hit with the breath which not only put him in the orange on the pull with close to 9K damage, it also hit our party which made me shake my head as we were standing half was across the zone and around a solid rock wall (a bug in my opinion that needs to be addressed).  Clearly we dropped from offense to defense when the whole party was near death from the pull alone.  Somehow we managed to get everyone back into fighting condition again and once again took down the minions and had the dragon hurt before we ran out of mana and died.  This time the dragon broke the encounter when one of our healers ran towards the zone-in so 2-4 lived to try again.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Third attempt: We rezzed, rebuffed and gave it another try that basically went like the first attempt, but with all minions dead and the dragon in the deep red about to fall.  Once again the AOE damage, constant and non stopping, kept us hurt and kept us low on mana from all the healing--SURE did miss the Illusionist power.  This time the minions went down and we were certain the dragon was about to fall (deep in the red on health) when the final AOE took down our healer, our tank, and our pallys.  We had 1 live again, but made the very stupid mistake of not passing out feathers <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />   One of our Paladins decided to rez and come back to the zone since one living party member was holding it open.  The plan was to rez everyone and try another tactic.  Unfortunately, the Paladin was unable to enter the zone and we had a 20 hour lock out timer--boo! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>No one had issues with earning debt, fixing gear, etc. but we were disappointed with several things:</DIV> <DIV>- The raid window failed once again to show the changing condition of party members.  Group B had wiped in one instance while the raid window showed full health on the party.  I can't believe this is broken 6 months into the game with so many level 50 players raiding daily.</DIV> <DIV>- The zone had plenty of room to allow for a tank to stand against a wall and hold aggro while group members fan out and casters are distanced from melee range.  However, we had to stand on a rock clumped up together to fight--seemed silly, but of course this tactic didn't work so it might not be a good tactic after all.  I'd like to take a different approach to the mob again but the fear of a 20 hour lock out timer is a nice detourant to experimentation.<BR>- The AOE breath hit us every time with all guildies standing on a rock--the information on OGaming did NOT work for us.  I felt like it was a bug as did the rest of our gang when the tank pulled the mob and everyone was hit with the AOE even half way across the zone.</DIV> <DIV>- The 20 hour lock out timer was discouraging as we had been planning the day we would have enough to do part 1 and advance to the epic x 4 with 24 guildies in the upper 40's to 50.  I was main tanking for a group of 6 later that day in Return to Nek Castle.  Several levels into the castle I died and "AUTO" loaded outside the castle.  I had no rez location choices and could not re-enter the castle which forced my group of dps and healers to abort that for several more hours.  I'm becoming less and less of a fan of lock out timers when the "boss" has not been defeated.</DIV> <DIV>- We screwed up badly by not passing out feathers to rez which might have opened additional opportunities to try the mob again--completely our fault, but a gentle reminder to the other groups preparing for the zone.  Our healers did a fantastic job on the raid and I felt like each guildie contributed well.  The loss of the incoming power from the Illusionist probably would have changed the outcome in at least two of our attempts.  We are going back in Thursday night and I'm confident we'll do well this next round.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm posting this information for several reasons--1. I know a lot of guilds are getting ready to try for prismatic so learning as much information as you can helps in planning and success, 2. I'm curious what other guilds are doing to avoid the AOE breath which is clearly the only obstacle in the encounter.  Turn off the breath or cut down on its frequency = win easily IMHO for a group of high levels.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>It's also noteworthy to mention that each party member must be at least level 45 and must have completed the access quest -- A Broken Key, which is located just outside the zone-in (looks like a key lying on the ground).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks,<BR>Kalen</DIV></DIV><p>Message Edited by SanJun on <span class=date_text>06-13-2005</span> <span class=time_text>04:14 PM</span>

<div></div>Being a level 28 I cant really comment, but just to mention something I saw in a video of the Ascendance guild take out the dragons to unlock the frogloks for their server. In their raid window, I could see only 1 or 2 fighters, the rest mages and healers. As I mentioned, having done only 1 raid, it was mainly the mages that were doing AoE dots and they seemed to be doing the most damage. <div></div><p>Message Edited by Phattie on <span class=date_text>06-13-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:41 AM</span>

This access is actually initiated by being level 50 and hailing an NPC in the canyon near Maidens. Anyone in the raid will gain access to the zone. Secondly...BALANCE YOUR GROUPS, you want to have everyone have as many buffs as possible....take one of those wizzys and put him in the second group...gives that group a chance to survive elemental attacks...put 2 (different type) healers in the MT group, get him buffed as best as possible. This encounter is doable by a group of level 50s...probably less. Honestly...judging by your description of the encounter...someone probably wasn't doing their job correctly (wizards feeding healers..., healers conserving mana correctly, etc). I haven't done this encounter in a long time...but I remember that the AE was very resistable (although I'm not sure of the type) Keep trying this every day...or...get your lower level buddies (mentor, etc) and go do a mob like N'Kzak, Agelaedes or Coldtooth, they're a good start to learning how to avoid/counter the effects of AoEs <div></div>

<DIV>I'll share what I remember of the event.  I'm not in a raiding guild, but I was invited when I was a 48 pally by a few friends. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Our group consisted of 10 or 11 people in total.  We had a monk tank and very few other melee (2 paladins, a ranger, and a troubadour I believe).  We had at least 5 healers, 3 in the main group and 2 in the add group.  We took out the other mobs before we took out the big guy, and just kept on healing it through.  Pretty much, we outlasted him, as it was a long fight (~10 minutes) and everyone pretty much was out of mana at the end.  Most of the casters (a 45 illusionist and a warlock) died several times, unfortunately, but they were rezzed back fairly quickly.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>We just took all the AOE's.  Some of us had much better resistance than others.  Perhaps you should watch your resistances carefully.  I'm sure the extra power regen will help you out.  </DIV>

<DIV>OK..ill help you out on this one :smileyvery-happy:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1st grp should consist of a guard, 3 healers and a dirge or wiz. Preferably a dirge if your Guard has a SM (extra stats) Wiz good for mana feed, but not required.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Second grp should have 1 healer and the rest DPS, but since you have so many palys it might work. The reason for having a real healer is for grp heals. With this set up you can eat AE all day, its AE is not too bad. (TREMBLARR NOOOO!!!)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Now this is where you pay attention. Have the 1st gro pull the main mob and have your MT tank just him, while the second grp kills the adds. Trick is when the MT pulls to have your M.A (main assist ) taunt one of the adds and tank it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>All this time every DPS class should assist the MA in killing the adds as fast as poss, from weakest to toughest, while healers are focusing on keeping the MT alive and throwing in a grp heal.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Its critical that all adds are killed PRIOR to engaging the main mob, specially if you dont have prime grp config.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>if you have any questions send me a message and i can go into more detail.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Uzhiel, lvl 50 Paladin, Eternal Chaos, Faydark.</DIV> <DIV>191 raids and counting!</DIV><p>Message Edited by uzhiel feathered serpent on <span class=date_text>06-13-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:02 AM</span>

<P>also to help a little more, just a builder on what others have said..</P> <P> </P> <P>if ur main tank is hit by the ae then all in that group will b hit by the ae regardless of the close formation u used, trick is to get ur Mts poison rez way up there, i believe if mts poison resist is around 5000 (seems a lot but with the right classes buffs and a little gear tweaking doable at 50) then the ae simply cannot hit him, he will resist it 100% of the time and so then if all ur raid is in the close formation in the right place u no longer have to worry about the ae at all.</P> <P> </P> <P>Hope this helps</P> <P> </P> <P>Steelle</P> <P> </P>

<DIV>Guys thanks for the good advice on the raid.  We are planning a second attempt this Thursday night and I'm confident things will go well.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>A mistake I made in the original post showed both wizzies in the same group.  I was wrong as they were split into two groups.  After reviewing combat logs and noticing the AOE damage was from heat and the single target damage was from poison, we have already begun to make adjustments.  Our Guardian has been purchasing additional gear and swapping out some of his existing gear which has increased both heat and poison resists by close to 2K--should make a significant difference.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The addition of our Illusionist this round for constant power flow should help a lot.  We did use the MA concept on the first try and likewise cycled from weakest to named.  We plan to add another healer to the main group to focus on group heals this round to further our chances of success.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I know the "makeup" of our original party wasn't necessarily the ideal combination of tank, heal, dps, utility, etc., but keep in mind this was our first attempt and we wanted to try it with all guildies and learn as much as possible.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've been reading a few other posts and I've noted parties defeating the encounter with as few as 7 players and others completing it with 0 deaths in the raid, once again good tactics that players have figured out together--my kudos.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks again for the tips/advice on this one.  We'll keep coming back until the job is done <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Kalen</DIV>

wow i learned alot from these posts good luck on your raid! =) <div></div>

<P>Just to make sure..Your are talking about the dragon named Vyr'dais. I believe his AE attack is fire based. My guild had the same problem you did when we first fought it. The AE wiped us. The last few times we have done it with fire resist gear, it has been a walk in the park. We use sootfoot armor for the fire resists. Drops in lavastorm. The mob doesnt have much HP, so once you get the gear, this battle is pretty easy. </P>

<P>Yes Stoney the same named <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>Sootfoot Armor - comes in all flavors for medium, heavy, etc.</P> <P>I hated to spend coin on armor that conned green to me at 50, but was VERY surprised last night at my stat changes!  I kept my rubicite bracers as they have high poison resists, but I swaped out most of the rest of my primary armor for 5 pieces of Sootfoot armor.  This armor cons green @ 50, has +360 per piece to heat resist, and usually has some double digit STA increases.</P> <P>I hated to take off my ebon and a few other pieces of nice gear, but my heat resist is now over 86% to heat <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Likewise, my HP was crazy insane from all the +40-+50 health on each piece and the major STA increase.  My mitigation dropped about 5.5% and my avoidance dropped about 4-5%, but I'll be off tanking again, so rest assured I'll have on Sootfoot armor during this next raid.</P> <P>I purchased the armor for 4-9 gold each by comparing prices back and forth on the good/evil markets.  I think I had around 35 gold tied up in 5 pieces.  I won't usually wear this armor on a day to day basis, but will keep it banked or in inventory for just such raids.  For those interested, the armor drops in Lavastorm and you can purchase from the broker by searching simply for "soot."  The heavy version of the armor looks almost identical to fulginate.  Incidentally, the Golden Efreeti Boots have 500ish resists if you've attained that item through heritage which would beat out a set of LJB.</P> <P>I can't wait until Thursday and once again thanks guys for all the tips on this mob.</P> <P>Still learning!<BR>Kalen</P> <p>Message Edited by SanJun on <span class=date_text>06-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:11 AM</span>

<DIV>Hehe, sootfoot armor is a great investment. When my guild fought darathar, his Fire based AE only hit me for 17 damage, even though i had 100% fire resists.  Getting your entire guild stocked up in fire resists will help you greatly. When we found out about the sootfoot armor, i think my guild emptied the broker of every last piece in under 10 minutes <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Most of these mobs for the Prismatic Quests are quite difficult until you learn that one little strategy, and it turns everything around, Well other than that necro dragon for Deception, he is totally gimped.</DIV> <p>Message Edited by TheGreatStoney on <span class=date_text>06-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>11:12 AM</span>

<P>Well my guild is a social guild of a lot of friends that enjoy roleplaying, adventuring and helping one another.  I watch these guys constantly turn down loot when grouped with non guildies, help everyone recover shards, burn an evening they had planned on a specific task to help someone grind a writ or complete an access quest, etc.  I'm sure many other guilds are just like ours, no flames or bragging intended just background information provided <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> but we are NOT a raiding guild or at least not yet <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Even though we have a LOT of members we are just now starting to prepare for epic x 4 mobs in the tier 5 range so I reallly do appreciate the advise/tips from everyone here regarding the high end epics.</P> <P>I can attest that many in our guild are very excited at tackling harder mobs and breaking open yet another layer of the game that many of us haven't experienced in EQ2, myself included.  Over time we'll learn the tactics to take down some of the tougher stuff, but I kind of feel like I'm starting all over again at 50 with so much epic content to experience.  I'm glad a lot of the raiding guilds are kind enough to share in their experiences with epic mobs they've destroyed 100's of times for months on end.  It really does help with smaller and up and coming guilds that will grin from ear to ear the first time they take down Venekor or Vox or something harder when it's old school and too easy for others to do <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Kudos to you guys that work the ex4 regularly and have developed advanced tactics that let you defeat them with half a raid party or with very few to 0 deaths.</P> <P>It looks like its time for me to start tracking specific damages, resists, etc. of mobs and build a personal database for epic encounters on best group makeup, best gear for success, how to pull and position tactics, which to engage first, which to save for last and much more.  If you need a 50 Paladin that will serve whatever role your raid needs on Najena, shoot me a tell.  I'm eager to get more experience and learn what I can on toughies.  We have 14-20 now that are 45-50 range and would be willing to help with another guild that's short on trying an epic x 4.</P> <P>Thanks,<BR>Kalen</P>

<DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Resist gear is a -huge- benefit in the MG instance, specifically fire. As mentioned in previous posts Heat resists coming from a full set of Sootfoot (which I keep -just- for that very purpose) has proved the deciding factor in turning MG from a nigh unbeatable fight to a routine one. This should put you over 3k unbuffed (A nice number to shoot for, though 3200-3400 is even better) and a swig or two of the resist potions can finish the job. The damage from the poison can be dealt with just by keeping the MT healed, but it's the fire AE that kills raids. Once we outfitted (yes, even to the detriment of some stats) in heat resist, the health of the raid in general was barely touched. As the only higher level Pally in my guild, I generally gladly take over the role of battlerezzer. I beleive I was only needed once in that regard once we adjusted.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Otherwise, the above listed tactics should be more then enough to help you take that Drakota down. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></DIV>

One more thing I would like to add, being my guild's primary tank and having done Vyr'drais at least a dozen times.  With a good tank who has agro, beating a mob like Vyr'drais amounts to simply outhealing the AE and killing the mob before the healers run out of mana. To this end, Vyr'drais is probably the easiest mob to neutralize.  Fire resist is plentify.  As mentioned already, sootfoot armor is extremely useful, especially for your healers.  Use wizards and conjurors for fire resist.  You can also invest in Aura of the Glades (t5 rare heat/cold potion) or Elixir of Heat Protection (t5 common heat/cold potion).  They increase your resistance to heat/cold by 313 and 600 respectively at 50. Sometimes Vyr'drais can be very easy.  Sometimes, he can be quite a pain.  This difference is due to the warlock class spells which he sometimes casts.  The worst offender is Nil Distortion.  I have been hit for over 10k damage in a single shot (and to make matters worse, he casted on me twice, each of which was enough to kill me by itself, in the same round for a total of almost 19k damage).  What I typically do against Vyr'drais is to sacrifice some of my fire resist for poison resist.  Items like shadowfang leggings, necklace of glowing orbs, stink hoop help with poison resist. I typically fight Vyr'drais with about 2300 unbuffed fire resist and 2140 unbuffed poison resist.  While Nil Distortion still hurts, it's no longer a one-shot deal and Vyr'drais would have to get lucky with a Nil Distortion, an AE, and a big melee round to kill me before the heals hit me.  I hope this helps. <div></div>

<P>Thanks guys for all the input on this raid.  I am sure it will help us immensely in our first attempt this week.</P> <P>Too many are too secret about these things.  Everyone sharing a bit of knowledge helps us all get ahead.</P>

<P>Holy cow my browser freaked out... apologies for the I-don't-yet-know-how-many posts...</P> <P>Message Edited by Jgok on <SPAN class=date_text>06-14-2005</SPAN><SPAN class=time_text>06:26 PM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Jgok on <span class=date_text>06-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>06:26 PM</span>

<P>I'll add in my own experiences with this mob.</P> <P>Last Saturday, Clan Whitestorm completed this raid for the first time and had 11 people start the "To Speak as a Dragon" quest. I attended as my level 48 Conjuror, Esheon. I was leading G2 for the raid. Our level range was 45-50, with only 3 level 50's in the raid. Most attendees were in the 47-48 range. We had 5 healers, 3 tanks, and 3 (yes, only 3) dps (CWS has always been a bit healer-heavy and dps-light).</P> <DIV>We were going based on the same information as you... From all we could find the AE would not take effect if everyone was in melee range of the mob. We quickly found out that this was <STRONG>not </STRONG>the case. We had the entire raid pile on top of the torch on the left just before the lava pool, and our MT pulled the mob right on top of us and then turned it around. Our positioning was such that, had the dragon been... gassy, we'd all have died of methane poisoning. That positioning didn't help at all.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The AE was dealing from 1500-2900 damage to each raid member (I was taking about 2000-2500 with 1900 heat resistance). Unfortunately, because of our group layout and the fact that one member had to leave due to an emergency, group 2 only had one healer, plus a paladin. If not for that paladin, the raid would have wiped, as he was rezzing our healer to get us back into the fight. Had we known that we would have been dealing with the AE in Group 2, we would have moved a second healer there (live and learn, eh?).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My recommendation? Two healers in each group at a minimum, and if you have extras, throw em in Group 1. Put a paladin in Group 2, just in case your healers there drop. With the extra hitpoints over most healers and all dps, the Pally will be alive longer than anyone else. Buff your fire resistance with potions and gear. If you're under 2250 hp self-buffed, don't bother coming, as you'll be face-down a good bit of the time. Even with 4 healers in Group 1, they were OOP by the end of the fight, but that wouldn't have been the case with more DPS beating the mob down, and/or with a higher average raid level.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The mob doesn't appear to have any heavy melee damage resistances, although it was fairly resistant to fire damage (as expected) and magic damage. My fire spells landed at about a 25% rate, and my magic spells landed at about a 50% rate. Cold-based and piercing damage from me had a 90%+ land rate. It was also reported from our berserker (who topped the chart for the raid at 89 DPS) that slashing weapons landed well.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I hope that helps, and good luck on your next try!</DIV><p>Message Edited by Jgok on <span class=date_text>06-14-2005</span> <span class=time_text>06:44 PM</span>

<P>lol I love the poster hes been very informitive in past posts</P> <P> </P> <P>Im sorry bro but if you are haveing these many problems in this raid instance the drakodas are REALLY going to [Removed for Content] u off. NOTE: AE hits on a timer our healing chain knows the exact number so count next time you try it. Also have every healer in your guild /respec for the group disease/poison cure your gona need it soon (hint). I've tanked this encounter 2x as a 50 pally won both times (really tight guild) won the breast plate this week WOOT and think its the easyest of the drakoda fights. Save them ruby loams and make potions for Cold also(2ed hint)</P> <P> </P> <P>Monacita </P> <P>Everfrost server</P> <P>PM me if u need more info</P>

Kalen: Did you complete MG last night? I believe you all were trying again last night, but not sure.  As a matter of fact, last night I got a tell out of the blue on Mistmoore asking me if I wanted to complete it, so I jumped right on that opportunity <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> We had 12 people, and actually with a L50 Coercer there to mez the adds it seemed kind of trivial /shrug. Granted I don't know the MT's Fire/Poison resists, but it didn't seem like he got hit that much (L50 Guardian)..and the whole fight took about 7-10mins.  Either way, it was fun (not as fun as doing the CT SoF Epic instance a little later <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ) and I got my Speak as a Dragon starter  <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  - Just wondering if you also got it <div></div>

<P>Yes we took down the dragon and picked up the quest for prismatic last night.  The first attempt went sour (again), but the second attempt was a joke with 0 deaths and only one player dipping out of the green the whole fight, a healer which I brought back with one heal to the green.</P> <P>The first attempt was ugly though.  We had a full raid with a ton of heat resist gear and some pretty nice poison resists to boot.  Unfortunately, early on the dragon started pounding us with COLD attacks.  I counted 27 hits in the combat log from cold-based attacks on myself alone.  His breath hit us two or three times, so we decided to abort by running to the door to break the encounter, so we could start again <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Unfortunately, I had aggro and the dragon not only followed me to the door, but killed me and put me half way through a rock wall where the party couldn't target and rez.  A CSR had to come out and zone me from the wall into the middle of the pathway so a healer could rez me.</P> <P>On our second attempt we decided to stifle/shield bash the dragon as frequently as possible to keep him from casting the AOE.  As I said at the beginning, the fight was < trivial at the point as he used maybe one breath the whole battle and probably none as 11/12 players never left the green, sans one healer that dipped into the top of the orange, one Pious Aid on my part and she was back in the green for good.  The second attempt was baffling after we had experienced so much trouble.  It was like fighting a high hitpoint non epic.  We did take out the in inquisitor mob first which I think helped a lot, then the weak minions and finally the dragon.</P> <P>We had planned on returning soon for other guildies, but a buddy (who missed this raid) just phoned me at work and said all raid mobs just got a big damage, multi-group attack and level boost that will likely make it harder again... lol oh well, I'm ready to go in again.</P> <P>We also took down Mag near Sol's Eye on the way to the raid in the Gulch (my quest update on E boots) and he dropped an ebon coin this time which I didn't win, but was happy to see one of our templars snag.</P> <P>The trip to Naggy's lair was a long jog, but the mobs on the way in the instanced zone were a cake walk.  Our wizard hailed and was placed in the cage, but was able to nuke away on the named.  He dropped a pretty nice slashing one-hander, which I declined since I had a better, but other then high ham, he was an easy 6 person group encounter -- no one but the tank hit yellow.</P> <P>It was 2 AM by the time I spoke to the giant next to Naggy, so I updated the quest and gated to town to log.</P> <P>We were planning to try the King in the Commonlands instance tonight as a few guildies did this yesterday with another guild, but this mornings patch increased epic x 4 54's to 58 level and added some of the single target high damage attacks they have as multi-player attacks as well as increasing their overall toughness.  I think my friend also told me that epic x 2 triple ups are all now level 56.  I'll have to wait until I get home to be sure on the notes as he was quoting from memory as the server was down.</P> <P>Thanks,<BR>Kalen</P> <p>Message Edited by SanJun on <span class=date_text>06-17-2005</span> <span class=time_text>11:00 AM</span>

<div></div>According to the patch notes..the change raised the OUTDOOR CONTESTED mobs to level 57 and gave only these mobs those abilities. Also...I'd consider doing King Drayek before you try King Zalak...the Drayek encounter is quite a bit easier. <div></div><p>Message Edited by FrozenEnzyme on <span class=date_text>06-17-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:28 AM</span>

<span><blockquote><hr>FrozenEnzyme wrote:<div></div>According to the patch notes..the change raised the OUTDOOR CONTESTED mobs to level 57 and gave only these mobs those abilities. Also...I'd consider doing King Drayek before you try King Zalak...the Drayek encounter is quite a bit easier. <div></div><p>Message Edited by FrozenEnzyme on <span class="date_text">06-17-2005</span> <span class="time_text">08:28 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote>I personally think Zalak is easier than Drayek <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span><div></div>

Drayek may have some tricks up his sleeve if you don't know the encounter...but in my opinion he's a much quicker fight with a less-than-full raid force (just relating the King Drayek encounter, not the stuff before it), which to me means an easier mob. <div></div>

<P>Perhaps we could start a new thread labeled "Epic Mobs/Location/Difficulty?"  It would interesting to organize them by tier (level), difficulty rating, zone/instance, starting quest/NPC/access quest, lockout timer on victory, on defeat.</P> <P>I wouldn't care to organize such a thread, but I don't have much raiding experience beyond e2's atm.  Maybe Uzhiel or another raid guild Paladin would want to start the thread?  It might prove especially beneficial to those lower levels that haven't raided but could now on 20-35 range epics instead of waiting until 45+ to start.  I know OGaming has a volume of information which I'd rather not duplicate, but perhaps a quick listing with key information (like I posted above) for reference.</P> <P>Thanks,<BR>Kalen</P>

I don't want to hijack this thread, or I'd post more about the epic mobs that I've killed ...and...since it was your idea...you should probably start the new thread <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <div></div>

<P>Last night I went over 200 raids..212 to be exact. What I'm trying to say is that I have a ton of raid knowledge, but I'm not quite sure what format you guys want it in. SanJun, if you would start the thread or PM me I can start setting out strats.</P> <P>Just to give you an idea though, my guild leader has been in <FONT color=#ff0000><STRONG>462</STRONG></FONT> raids. He's the most dedicated, through raid planner I have ever seen. Some of the strats might make little sense sometimes, but they work. :smileywink:</P> <DIV>Uzhiel Silver, lvl 50 Paladin, Eternal Chaos, Faydark.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

We did the first Dragon Last night.  We used the 'stack everyone in one spot' and got no AOE.  However, we also had a Coercer stifling the raid mob, this has been said not to work, but I think it may.  For a little while until they nerf it anyway. <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Dropped easilly first try.</DIV>

<DIV>uzhiel i think as a preliminary just listing epic mobs and their locations would be extremely helpful. the strats can come later. also strat for every mob would make one big-[expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] thread.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><edit> i just noticed that sanjun stated he would rather not create the thread and everyone else seems to be a bit hesitant. im going to create the thread and get the ball rolling here. given i really dont have any experience with too many of the higher level epic ecounters i send half my day at work on these forums i will make sure it stays updated with ay informations submitted.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Titaliss on <span class=date_text>06-18-2005</span> <span class=time_text>03:32 PM</span>

<DIV>Im almost done with the locations..i've put in a little blurb with some pointers in there too..should be done by monday. Going away till sunday.</DIV>

<P>Guys I apologize for overlooking this thread--don't see how I missed.  A guy takes two days off work to stay at home and game and the boards just run off and leave a fellow behind <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>Epic information would be very important to every player class.  Likewise, the ability to discuss in detail as well as ask questions would, in my mind, merit SOE adding such a thread at the top level and assigning one more more players to manage the thread.</P> <P>I envision something like this:</P> <P>top tier: epic encounters<BR>second tier: organized by epic x 2, epic x 3, epic x 4<BR>third tier: organized alphabetically by epic boss name </P> <P>Once a player accessed the third tier and selected a mob, it would look just like our forum where players could comment on strategy, ask questions, share tactics, etc.  However, I doubt SOE would be inclined to offer the space or the administrators to share the work load.  Likewise, I doubt they'd really want "walkthrough" information posted in detail for all the mobs, although it might prove an interesting way for them to track epic bugs, make mob changes based on areas players exploit, etc.</P> <P>Of course listing this information on a third-party site would like lead to OGaming style bandwidth traffic that would drive a fellow Paladin broke to maintain.</P> <P>I'm not sure I have the best solution but perhaps we could at least do the following:</P> <P>Create a thread entitled Epic Encounters (and all us privately email a forum moderator for a sticky--that's how I got the kite shield data stickied--actually was easy--kudos SOE).  Next, we could create a heading for Epic x 2, Epic x 3, Epic x 4 with the alphabetized listing of boss mobs sorted in a list under the appropriate epic range and no other information. </P> <P>This would allow for several things:</P> <P>1. Just knowing boss mob names would allow players to do offsite searches to research their own solutions<BR>2. It would keep our board from being cluttered -- could see the Paladin board turning into the raiding board if not careful based on how much raid experience some of you could share<BR>3. As new threads are developed on a particular mob, the master thread could include one or more hotlinks to both forum and non forum based sites that contain "more" information.  As an example, you might write up an article on Vox or even find one on the guardian boards that is well written that could just be listed on our thread as a link so our site remains manageable and navigable.</P> <P>Thanks,<BR>Kalen</P>