Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)
Guilds, no less than individual characters, gain strength
through grinding. For individuals, grinding is done against
trash mobs, dark blue done solo, or yellow/white in groups,
done in quantity over long periods, preferably at camps
where there a named that drop decent upgrades. For guilds,
grinding involves raiding the same named targets over and
over until everyone who can use one of their drops has one,
everyone has their level 69 or 70 spells, everyone has their
DoN progression pushed up. Grind raids are well mastered,
easy for the force taken on them.
Friday, Aug. 26:
Saviours rallies at the usual spot; order is to head to WoS.
First target of the day is Velitorkin. This proves our smoothest
fight against him yet; our healers have their group heals, and
use them frequently. Only a couple of deaths, a nice wrist drop,
two greater runes. Looks to be a favored target now.
Move then to Lavastorm for DoN raids. Start with a crack
at our current progression roadblock, Volkara. Our last try, we
pulled Volkara well out into the caverns, where her DPS increased
dramamtically; we couldn't handle it. Second attempt, we tried
confronting her on her platform, and dispatching eggs as they
popped. The eggs don't have all that many hit points; really only
two or three good DPS per egg is needed. But we only had 30
people total, not enough to spare, so we shelved the encounter.
This time goes no better. We try to pull Volkara out into the
tunnels, not quite as far this time. Oddly, the eggs don't pop
on her platform; they pop amongst us. We only have 27 people
this time. Wipe again.
As we recover, it is noted we got no emote stating Volkara's
strength was increasing. Perhaps we didn't pull her far enough?
Perhaps the eggs will not pop in our midst if we do pull her far
enough? But the officers decide to shelve the encounter again,
and move on.
Working our way backwards in DoN progression, we hit Trial
of Perseverance again. We've never lost this on. It's not quite
drudgery: one of our druids gets resisted too many times on
snare, dies, her goblin rings the bell, and we have a very strong
statue to deal with. Then we end up with two sets of goblins in
camp at once. With the warlord. Messy, but we can handle it.
That done, we move backward again, to Emoush. First time
we did him, weeks ago, seemed close-run; knock out his mystics,
burn Emoush down to 40%, knock out the mystics again, and
Emoush is already back to 58%, just enough to deal with.
Second time we did him, we somehow didn't get him below 20%
in the second round; there isn't a tank in Norrath that can take
a double-pumped Emoush. We had to cancel for that day.
That was weeks ago. We've gotten stronger since then. More
precise, more disciplined. We go in, get the mystics down
within 2 seconds of each other, and have almost a full three
minutes to burn Emoush. 40% proves doable. 30% is gravy. 20%
is golden; now he has to be due to get invulnerable again.
But no; the mystics are still down. 15%...10%...omg, can we
actually...?
We can, and do. Emoush goes down in one round of intense
DPS burn. Everyone is stoked. Surely, we will never lost to him
again.
In fact, we do it again the following week. One round, hoped
for and attained. For practical purposes, it is enough to do him
in two rounds, but we can expect Emoush to be no better than
20% at the end of one round now, an easy kill in round two.
And Adas now gets one of the Glowing Stone Fragments,
pushing her on to tier 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Grindage done, there comes a time to advance, to test ourselves
and earn uber gear in events we can just barely do.
Monday, Aug. 29:
Not many mobs of interest are up. The officers ask how many
of us are now Time flagged, and not locked out, after recent
joint raids with Prophecy, which is doing phase 3 right now.
Barely a dozen of us. We can call in a few afilliates and allies,
but that still allows us to gimp in only two people. Everyone
else is told to go xp until we get done in Time.
I've been meaning to have someone box Adas for me on
the joint raids, but haven't got around to it yet. No key for her.
But she is called anyways: she is one of the lucky few to get
gimped in. I have been one of the most reliable raiders, and
my DPS will have a signifigant impact. So...Adas gets her
first taste of Time.
Screenshots first, of course. Then the officers who have been
here before try to remember thier way around, and how the
phase 1 trials go. We start with air, then move on to fire, then
water. I think. Good upgrades drop each time. I can see where
getting everyone keyed is so important. With only three
groups, we clear three trials in an hour. With five, we should
get into phase 2, and hopefully phase 3. Form there, we can
do our own gimp keying.
Thrusday, I get my account info to the officers to box Adas
for me on that night's raid. But, wouldn't you know it, someone
else - Glory's Path - cuts in on us, convincing Prophecy to let
them have the lion's share of extra keys for that night.
Only two Saviours get keys. Have to hope for better luck next
week.
Labor day weekend. Lots of people out for the holiday, well
into the week. We're on call, no scheduled raids, until further
notice. We will try to use the time to finish Tipt trials and
move people up in DoN progression. Hopefully, we should
soon be fully attended and ready to kick butt.
EJH
On Bertoxxulous:
[70 Wizard] Adastraea Starwind (High Elf) of Erollisi Marr <Saviours>
[61 Druid] Rabotev Startree (Wood Elf) of Tunare
[46 Warrior] Gruggoredil Dullwit (Barbarian) of Rallos Zek
[50 Monk] Tosev Starfist (human) of Quellious
[48 Shadow Knight] Neuveniu Sinstorm (Dark Elf) of Innoruuk
[50 Cleric] Celune (High Elf) of Tunare
[42 Beastlord] Grukyn (Vah Shir)
On Drinal:
[24 Bard] Greban (Vah Shir)
[39 Magician] Cadwen (High Elf)
On Firiona Vie:
[32 Cleric] Adastra Peraspera (High Elf) of Tunare
On Quellious:
[31 Wizard] Phrogment (Froglok) of Mithaniel Marr
[40 Ranger] Keaolasi (Wood Elf) of Tunare
[3 Paladin] Caeinye (High Elf) of Tunare
Guilds, no less than individual characters, gain strength
through grinding. For individuals, grinding is done against
trash mobs, dark blue done solo, or yellow/white in groups,
done in quantity over long periods, preferably at camps
where there a named that drop decent upgrades. For guilds,
grinding involves raiding the same named targets over and
over until everyone who can use one of their drops has one,
everyone has their level 69 or 70 spells, everyone has their
DoN progression pushed up. Grind raids are well mastered,
easy for the force taken on them.
Friday, Aug. 26:
Saviours rallies at the usual spot; order is to head to WoS.
First target of the day is Velitorkin. This proves our smoothest
fight against him yet; our healers have their group heals, and
use them frequently. Only a couple of deaths, a nice wrist drop,
two greater runes. Looks to be a favored target now.
Move then to Lavastorm for DoN raids. Start with a crack
at our current progression roadblock, Volkara. Our last try, we
pulled Volkara well out into the caverns, where her DPS increased
dramamtically; we couldn't handle it. Second attempt, we tried
confronting her on her platform, and dispatching eggs as they
popped. The eggs don't have all that many hit points; really only
two or three good DPS per egg is needed. But we only had 30
people total, not enough to spare, so we shelved the encounter.
This time goes no better. We try to pull Volkara out into the
tunnels, not quite as far this time. Oddly, the eggs don't pop
on her platform; they pop amongst us. We only have 27 people
this time. Wipe again.
As we recover, it is noted we got no emote stating Volkara's
strength was increasing. Perhaps we didn't pull her far enough?
Perhaps the eggs will not pop in our midst if we do pull her far
enough? But the officers decide to shelve the encounter again,
and move on.
Working our way backwards in DoN progression, we hit Trial
of Perseverance again. We've never lost this on. It's not quite
drudgery: one of our druids gets resisted too many times on
snare, dies, her goblin rings the bell, and we have a very strong
statue to deal with. Then we end up with two sets of goblins in
camp at once. With the warlord. Messy, but we can handle it.
That done, we move backward again, to Emoush. First time
we did him, weeks ago, seemed close-run; knock out his mystics,
burn Emoush down to 40%, knock out the mystics again, and
Emoush is already back to 58%, just enough to deal with.
Second time we did him, we somehow didn't get him below 20%
in the second round; there isn't a tank in Norrath that can take
a double-pumped Emoush. We had to cancel for that day.
That was weeks ago. We've gotten stronger since then. More
precise, more disciplined. We go in, get the mystics down
within 2 seconds of each other, and have almost a full three
minutes to burn Emoush. 40% proves doable. 30% is gravy. 20%
is golden; now he has to be due to get invulnerable again.
But no; the mystics are still down. 15%...10%...omg, can we
actually...?
We can, and do. Emoush goes down in one round of intense
DPS burn. Everyone is stoked. Surely, we will never lost to him
again.
In fact, we do it again the following week. One round, hoped
for and attained. For practical purposes, it is enough to do him
in two rounds, but we can expect Emoush to be no better than
20% at the end of one round now, an easy kill in round two.
And Adas now gets one of the Glowing Stone Fragments,
pushing her on to tier 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Grindage done, there comes a time to advance, to test ourselves
and earn uber gear in events we can just barely do.
Monday, Aug. 29:
Not many mobs of interest are up. The officers ask how many
of us are now Time flagged, and not locked out, after recent
joint raids with Prophecy, which is doing phase 3 right now.
Barely a dozen of us. We can call in a few afilliates and allies,
but that still allows us to gimp in only two people. Everyone
else is told to go xp until we get done in Time.
I've been meaning to have someone box Adas for me on
the joint raids, but haven't got around to it yet. No key for her.
But she is called anyways: she is one of the lucky few to get
gimped in. I have been one of the most reliable raiders, and
my DPS will have a signifigant impact. So...Adas gets her
first taste of Time.
Screenshots first, of course. Then the officers who have been
here before try to remember thier way around, and how the
phase 1 trials go. We start with air, then move on to fire, then
water. I think. Good upgrades drop each time. I can see where
getting everyone keyed is so important. With only three
groups, we clear three trials in an hour. With five, we should
get into phase 2, and hopefully phase 3. Form there, we can
do our own gimp keying.
Thrusday, I get my account info to the officers to box Adas
for me on that night's raid. But, wouldn't you know it, someone
else - Glory's Path - cuts in on us, convincing Prophecy to let
them have the lion's share of extra keys for that night.
Only two Saviours get keys. Have to hope for better luck next
week.
Labor day weekend. Lots of people out for the holiday, well
into the week. We're on call, no scheduled raids, until further
notice. We will try to use the time to finish Tipt trials and
move people up in DoN progression. Hopefully, we should
soon be fully attended and ready to kick butt.
EJH
On Bertoxxulous:
[70 Wizard] Adastraea Starwind (High Elf) of Erollisi Marr <Saviours>
[61 Druid] Rabotev Startree (Wood Elf) of Tunare
[46 Warrior] Gruggoredil Dullwit (Barbarian) of Rallos Zek
[50 Monk] Tosev Starfist (human) of Quellious
[48 Shadow Knight] Neuveniu Sinstorm (Dark Elf) of Innoruuk
[50 Cleric] Celune (High Elf) of Tunare
[42 Beastlord] Grukyn (Vah Shir)
On Drinal:
[24 Bard] Greban (Vah Shir)
[39 Magician] Cadwen (High Elf)
On Firiona Vie:
[32 Cleric] Adastra Peraspera (High Elf) of Tunare
On Quellious:
[31 Wizard] Phrogment (Froglok) of Mithaniel Marr
[40 Ranger] Keaolasi (Wood Elf) of Tunare
[3 Paladin] Caeinye (High Elf) of Tunare
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