Zealot's Guide to Lost Vale: Right Wing

Long overdue, I know, but it's been a long time since I've been there. But as I managed to do a successful full run today, events are still fresh in my head so let's begin by spewing them out already. Too bad I forgot to take any screenies of it so random stuff from previous runs will just have to do to mitigate the 2k crit from the WoT.

This was my build for this run. Currently wearing some Warlord, one piece Tyrant (with +4% heal crit), a Cowl of the Fist and 4 piece bonus from Sentinel. For jewelry I use the ToVL glyphs, o LotD Cape, a purple bag city siege weapon and a rr55 SC focus (Apostle's Focus of Anathema. A bit over-geared for this but there you go.

Also, remember to start off battles with your Morale 1 on the bosses, followed by the Harbinger (pre 1.3.6). Although they won't understand why, dpsers will notice a boost in their dmg output.

--//--

Once you're done with the spider boss you come up to the beach again. First-timers must then return to the beach and deliver the quest at the Eversissy again. On to the right wing.

Throughout the wing there will be little neutral Pain Sprites. These cast an AoE silence if aggroed so either make a point of killing every one or just avoid them entirely by cutting down on the AoE. First few tree-like mobs are easy enough. If you find their hits too strong (and they will almost definitely hit you) just detaunt them or Embrace the Warp. I find that a bit overkill for such little damage.

When you come to the stairs make sure everybody moves together and ignore all the mobs until you reach the great Treekin/thingy at the top. You must do this because a barrier appears at the bottom of the stairs soon after the first person goes up.

Moving right on to the first boss.

Chul, the Tosser

Chul crits you for over 9k. You have died.
No, actually Chul is kind of a sissy. The only thing different that he does is that he randomly tosses someone down a great pit. There are quite a few lizards at the bottom. Anyone tossed down should just run up and alert the party of incoming mobs at which the OT or any dps should focus on getting them off the healers while the boss melts away. Otherwise, just keep the main tank HoTed and make sure to through a Leaping Alteration whenever it's off the cooldown. He might silence you for a wee bit. If you're having trouble healing this it can save your lot's asses when you get silenced. Gratz on the almost free loot. Talk to the NPC. Move on through the river.

There is a cave to the right here. It's filled with Gorgers (I think they are). At the top and after a bridge you'll find the next boss.

Larg, the Stomper

Get every single person in the room. Tank&Spank him down. Once in a while he'll start stomping the ground for a small amount of damage every second or so. Just detaunt him if need be. Otherwise, heal as usual. Moar lootz!

Once done, get back down the cave and continue forward towards the patrol of Ogre&puppies. Soon after that you come to a set of stairs that can be tricky. I've wiped on these stairs a lot (and I do mean a lot) until I found a way around them. Be that as it may, the way we did it was: we pulled the first group a bit away from the stairs and waited for the scout to go get the second group. We then proceeded to take that group down, still away from the stairs, before moving on up. I must admit we had pretty well geared healers and 3dps so this might be more difficult with lower dps and less healing output. Alternatively, I believe all you have to do to make this easier is kill the scout before he gets away. Try quaking or any kind of knockback/snare.

Once you're through with the stairs, you'll want to enter the second opening on the right, when you get to the ruins by the cliff. Inside you will find...

Butcher and Gnoblar, The Married Couple

These two are the reason most parties do the dungeon with two tanks. Don't ask me what to do with all the items that supposedly help in this fight, I wouldn't know. Stand in front of the tent or inside the hole in the wall, it won't matter much. The tank should tank the Butcher by the left wall, with his back (the tank's) against the wall. The other tank, if existant, should tank the Gnoblar on the opposite wall, near the dirt pile. All they have to worry themselves about is killing the Gnoblar at Butcher's 75, 50 and 25% hp and retaunting the new Gnoblar that spawns. What you have to worry about is the heavy damage the offtank beggins to suffer when it is time to finally kill him. Being specced high in Dark Rites helps in this fight but, if your OT s a bit squishy it might not be enough. And you can't afford to let your MT get hit for too much either. Just focus heal on the OT when he magically jumps to below 50% hp and group heal them both until the gnoblar is down. When the new one spawns, keep the OT perma-HoTed and focus on the MT. Should do fine.

Hug the wall, past the bridge. Careful because the trees in the bridge dump AoE pools (they look a lot like Mistress of the Marsh) that can really hurt.

Once you get to a platform thingy have players all stand in one of the stone cyrcles. As a Zealot, stand on the one to the far left and let the MDPS stand on the ones to the right. They kill the mobs, you probably get silenced a bit by aggroed sprites. Mobs dead, speak to NPC, move on to the hardest boss of the right wing. After you kill all the tree mobs you might want to aggro a Pain Spire to have your tanks build up morales until they reach Morale 4. This way they can easilly withstand the first blow oooof

Gorak, the Fugly Electrician

At the beginning of battle (after you kill the Sprite, and please remember to or you'll be silenced for most of the fight) make sure everyone is well spaced out and avoid standing close to one another.
This boss has two stages. The first stage he will do frontal cleaves that do pretty heavy damage to anyone caught by them. So keep the MT HoTed and keep dishing out your big ST heal. Due to my Blessing of Chaos I can have this one crit for around 3500 hp so it really helps with the cleave business. Once you see him take the, what I like to call, "taking a dump" position, detaunt him. He will knock everyone back and hit people with a ball of lightning that can eat out half the health of squishies or more. I remember that he deals around 500 when detaunted. I would assume unwarded players are insta-gibbed. This attack is AoE so if someone stands next to another they'll both get hit, hence the spacing thing at the beggining. Time for heavy group heals. Don't bother with Morale 3 as this is a magical attack. Right around the time your detaunt ends, he'll revert back to cleaving as usual. Focus on healing the MT again. This is one of the few bosses in here with an enrage timer. If you don't kill him around his third lightning stage, you will die.

If you succeed, congratulations. NPC, moving right along. Place your self res as soon as you encounter any mobs as this boss aggroes without being attacked or taunted or anything.

This... is... SARTHAIN

Once you get in the wooded area, move left. Place one of your dpsers in the first clearing you find. Keep moving forward and place your tank and mdps here. See that stone near the water more to the left (if you're facing the boss)? Place a rdps there. These should be their positions when they run out. You don't need to have one but more on that later.
You all jump on to the island (although you have the range to not do so if you prefer) and dps the boss heavily. You'll notice some text going on about how Corruptors spawn and channel power and Bob Loblaw's Law Blog. Just keep AoE healing the grunts in the middle. Once they all spawn have everyone take their appointed positions. If someone gets rooted they will take slight damage in very fast ticks. Just Flash them back up. Anyone rooted will be silenced though so place a HoT on yourself when the rooting phase is on. Once the shield is down around the Corruptor's the dps need to be quick about it to get them down or else they will heal the tree back to full health. Just DoT and debuff them as much you can. When done with them wait for the timer on the tree to run down and then everybody moves in again. If you move in the water before the timer runs down you will die. Well, not necessarily but quite probably. Just avoid the water at any cost. Ranged abilities are ok during this phase though so feel free to mangle it with your UBER Scourge...
Anyways, that's pretty much all there is to it. Not much for us to do here except debuff the targets, group heal while in the island and save rooted people.

NPC back at the beach and...

YOU'RE ALL DONE! Congratulations. Be disappointed. Well if you had my luck you would be...

Cya next time.

Zealot's Guide to Lost Vale: Left Wing

For your learning pleasure, I took part in one of the most god-awful runs ever. Just to take notes, of course, as nothing ever drops for me. Oh wait, something did drop. Two more belts, me now having 3 of those and a pair of gloves. Ain't I joyous. The run wasn't bad cuz we had a bad group. The run was bad because we barely had a group at all. I found a BO, a Choppa, a Shaman, a Sorc and a WE (f u Shadowlost, giving Kill Frenzy a bad name). You will note the absence of an OT. I did. But I was alone in my worries so I let it rest.

Long story short, the WE misteriously disappeared after the first boss (we found a BG to help out but he left after the left wing was done), the Sorc had to go tend to his/her daughter, the Shaman logged off mostly at the same time so I managed to find another Choppa (the so far ever-patient Bösewicht, which has been in another fail-run with me before) and Gwaan, our main and only tank, brought a Squigster and another Shammy from his guild WOLF HOUNDS. We managed to complete the first wing and clear the path to the third boss of the second.

But let's get to the Zealot part of this post.

(NOTE: whatever I call "Gors" might not be Gors at all. They might be... Ungors or some centaur-like thingy. They go unga unga so I call them "Gors".)

Tactics: again, same as before. Discipline, Subtlety, Restorative Burst and Blessing of Chaos.

Morales: Tzeentch's Talon, Eye of Sheerian, Divine Protection, Alter Fate or whatever. I don't really care for morale 4's for Zealots. I think they're, most of them, crap. If you disagree please show me the light as I am currently very disapointed in them. Needless to say, have your selfres up for bosses and be sure to die away from their spawn point and advise everyone to die quickly if you're gonna wipe.

Ok, make sure everyone has been there before and, if not, make sure they have the Blood of the Vale quest that Hellebron in the Palace gives.

Buff up but don't bother mounting up. You take a few steps in and, in the distance, you'll see an Elf going something like "OMFGWTFISCHASINGMEGETITOFF!" and then a big worm thing pops out. No big tactic here, just heal through it and it'll go away. People new with the quest, go back to deliver it and get the next bit.

Beginning of left wing, kill a few scorpions, a few Gors, heal right through all that crap until you come to the lake. The big lizard boss should be right there in the middle. You should stand next to the boulder that has a shard behind it. You can even stand on top of it.

Lake Lizard

Be sure to keep your tank(s) hoted and just heal through the sucker. Throw a Morale 1 at it as soon as you can, so it goes down faster, and possibly a Harbinger of Doom too. Choppas deal Corporeal damage, if I'm not mistaken. Crucial though, someone has to pick up the ads it spawns. It's not that they hit super hard but, if no one picks them, you inadvertadly will and will be setback until forever. Be sure to Embrace the Warp if that happens to hold you up while someone takes care of them. Alternatively, Zizzy (can I call you Zizzy? Sure I can) advises you to u se your Morale 3 if you pick them adds up. Should hold you for a while longer but not forever, believe you me.

After the boss, someone take the shard on the left side of the clearing (just don't let it be a WE) and then up the stairs. Beware here. These stairs can wipe. The rest of you must always go for anything with "Pleasure" in their names first, as they add a bunch to your cast-time. There are more shards around, keep an eye out. Pretty soon you're up the stairs and on to another clearing filled with trash gors or whatever and the next boss. Clear the trash.

Big Angry Cloud Boss

The way this sucker works is that he'll always go for anyone who steps on a pink cloud he spawns. And he'll spawn plenty. What I usually do is that I have everyone but the MT standing on a rock (the first big rock in the clearing, before the tent) and the MT drags the beast to stand real near the rock, with its back turned to us. Note: The front part of the rock, not the side or he'll just reset. The DPS can reach it there but clouds don't spawn there. Another viable place is the tent further on. It has a log near it. I usually avoid the tent because people tend to get stuck coming down from it. I've also stuck the boss there once too so, pick your poison. How I ended up doing it the last time though was prolly the most dangerous way. The MT was just running around trying to touch purple clouds while I stood very still and tried not to move just in case it spawned a cloud around me. Eventually the MT died but the OT was sporting a S&B too so it wasn't too bad. Nuke it.

Pass the trunk bridge, make sure ppl are delivering the quest if need be. You'll come to a path filled with spider and spider eggs. You can either have a rdps destroy the eggs from afar or stand near them and they'll spawn lil' spiders. If you've been wiping somewhat destroy some eggs so it'll be easier for ppl to run back *shudder*. Spiders are fairly easy to heal through so just slap down a ritual, a Leaping Alteration and you can even Demon Spittle and Rite of Agony them. There are more shards hidden behind rocks and one near the ledge right at the beggining, to the right I think. There are also two in the corridor filled with eggs. You can spawn two or three eggs at a time and AoE them to death. Kill spiders, push forward. You'll get to a clearing filled with harpies. Clear trash. Selfres on.

Slaanesh Cutie

Stand near the trunk. It the tank is tanking it against the pillar, stand near the front of the trunk, if he's tanking it on the side, near the ramp you came from, stand on the side of the tree trunk. Tank and spank, nuke it. All it does is knockback once in a while as far as I can remember. Oh yeah, some adds do spawn. I don't remember them but I remember looting them in the end. ^_^. Same deal as with the first boss, Morale 3 if you pick them up until the Choppa shreds them. Get loot (or don't if you're anything like me. All I ever get is Heart of Lolololyougetnothinggood).

Use the shards (they're in the quest inventory, just right click them) near the big pillar. You just need 10 to spawn the quest ghost thingy and now you should all have the torch. In the cave to the left is the reason why I started these guide thingies in the first place.

Dralel, the ICritYouToDeath Spider

Clear all the trash in the room. The way this is usually done is: When you get in, Dralel should be in front of you. There's a recess to the right of her with a ramp leading to a blue light. You tank her there. Well, not you, he/she/it/tank-like-thing. Oh and, don't jump off the ledge to get to said ramp. I've seen lot of people get stuck on those rocks. Once she's in position, place yourself with your back to the rock to the left of the ramp, facing the blue light. Your camera will probably weird out (I, at least, feel claustrophobic). Make sure everyone has the torch in their hotbar.

So here's what I've been meaning to tell you all along. Swap out a tactic (I take out Blessing of Chaos) and slot in Waves of Chaos. And here's a rundown of how the boss battle should go.

• First thing she does is a general knockback. Everyone gets knocked back and snared. That's what the torch is for. You have to use it to be able to move again. She will instantly aggro the first person to use the torch so make sure the MT is quick to use it so you can do it right after.
• She will not move from her spot instantly so the tank has to work hard to get her into position.
• Any AoE dps and your Ritual must be on lil' spider detail. Every little spider that reaches the big one gives it a 5% damage buff.
• Once the spider is on the ramp, place the ritual on the ramp behind it (around where I'm standing in the picture), so that it catches any stray spiders that get past the dps. Some spiders will also come up from behind you so use your Rite of Agony when they do. If you have a Chosen, have it use its damage aura. Spiders only have around 50~100 hp.
• This is not a DPS race its a lil spider race. Last time I did it, Dralel had a 25% damage buff on her when she died and we still managed it without much difficulty.

An AP banner here will work wonders since you have to keep healing and using your AoE dmg. As long as you keep the tank hoted between big heals, and kill any spiders as they're about the reach the big one, you should be fine.

If the thing would've dropped the boots for me I could be sporting +8% crit heal. But nooo, phantom Marauder got them or something.

So tired of this spider, I swear...

Screw you with a stick, Shadowlost

AKA, "Preamble to LV guide: Setting up a party", alternatively "The Run-back Curse: The Beginning". I go with the more insulting, personal one cuz I started this damn thing I can insult whomever I want. Long live the interwebs.

Aforementioned Witch Elf is probably a nice person. I wouldn't know because he/she/it has ragequit on me twice in LV, on the same exact place so we never got to bond. I have the feeling it only needs stuff from the first boss and when it's done it leaves us hanging for a dps.

With this in mind, here's a short list of things to make sure you have when you embark on that sad sad journey that LV can be. If you're lucky and it isn't sad, it ain't the most thrilling thing in the world either.

• Don't have a Shadowlost WE in you party, destro Nornites. It will only give you grief. It'll collect the shards and then leave after the first boss.
• Be wary of Shamans. People who play them tend to be very fickle and a have a very short temper. Excellent candidates for rage-quitting.
• DoKs are nice because their heals are quicker and they themselves are quick. Most DoK players are trigger-happy so they tend to keep moving.
• Have an OT. At least for the right wing. There's a boss with a gobbo that is almost impossible with just the one tank and million choppas.
• Be sure to resolve any loot issues ahead of time if you have more than one of the same career in your party.
• Make sure everyone has at least 2 hours to spare for each wing you propose to do. It's harder to find replacements because nobody wants to start a run from the middle of a wing.
• Apart from needing on dyes, make sure you all agreed on the loot rules of repairable Remnant equipment.

Next time, expect a post about LV's left wing from a Zealot point of view. Granted, it wasn't the best run to take notes but, alas, I take the runs I'm given and am gifted with extraordinary patience.
Seriously.

Zealot's Guide to Bilerot Burrows

So after you fall off the edge of the city and make your way back to the Monolith (we've all done that, one time or another) you get into BB.

First of all, every now and then a "PLAYER starts to feel (or seem) very sick!" That player has to gag or they'll be out of AP in no time. To gag you need to press a button that appears near your granted abilities (like Zealot Marks that I'm sure nobody ever uses).

Same tactics and Morales as above (or below), use whatever linis you want. For this dungeon I like to keep my Mark of Remaking up most of the time. First trash you'll deal with are slugs that can add about 2secs to every cast time. Even morales. I keep it up just in case tanks are just a bit too squishy and can't hold them through the long cast times. Just try and stay away from the slugs to avoid getting that curse/hex/whatever. I believe that, at the bottom of the first ramp you should take out the small nurglings to the left before you pul the mobs in front. Otherwise they all aggro and its too much to handle. Also, I believe there's an armour or toughness debuff that keeps getting put on the tanks that starts stacking up. If so, keep removing it. It may seem like it's bugged and that they always have something to remove. Keep casting Glimpse of Chaos just in case.

Every now and then you'll get a "doggie time" from the MT. This means that he'll pull a big nasty Plaguebeast that supposedly looks like a dog (I don't see it). From what I can remember the tanks Xguard, melee stands back, ranged Doombolt/Plink/Flickering Red Fire it. NO DOTS! Not ever. No freakin DOTS. Unless you're all Warlorded and just doing it for shits and giggles.

Also, there are some tall thingies (that's what I call them, I dunno what they're caled. They're tall, green and come in groups of 2) that can wipe you if you overpull. Don't fret its normal.

I'm not 100% sure about which boss comes first and I'm always too far to catch their names. Try and make your party wait for your selfres especially if you feel the party usually has their common health below 60% through trash fights.

Boss with a pet Nurgling

Don't kill the Nurgling, nuke the boss. Easy. They usually kill this one before I even realise its a boss we're fighting.

Ssrydian Morbidae
You have the kill all the doggies in the room where this guy is before you take him on. Tank and Spank, don't hold back. Never had a problem with it.

Boss that spawns Nurglings
There's a tooth outside the room. Some ppl like to have their healers stand on it. I prefer to have a Dissolving Mist or a Surging Pain taking care of the adds and let the healers stand wherever they want. Focus and do your best and have your selfres on. Should be fine.

The Great Unclean One

Have selfres. Tricky boss but not that hard. What you have to do is to find a happy medium between proximity (so your heals can still reach the tanks) and distance. Distance because he spawns Diseased Grounds on the... ground. You'll need to have your graphics on at least medium to see them. But you'll know if he spawns one under you if you start getting repeatedly hit. Further warning, if there's a Magus with you, stay away from its Daemon as the boss is likely to spawn a pool under it too. Also, if the nurglings he eventually spawns go for you, try and stand on a Dissolving Mist so they die or pass by the Magus or Sorc so they can pick them up. You have to keep moving and stay away from those pools. When the boss is almost down he'll swallow you all up. Keep group-healing through the loading screen. This is crucial. Some people die on impact inside the thing. Keep healing in the innards until you're spat out again. Again, groupheal through the loading screen. With any luck, no-one died inside (if they did, there's no way to reach them. Ever again. They have to respawn) and no one died on the spitting out part. Boss should be down quickly after that. So, main points on this boss.

• Avoid the pools. Keep moving.
• Have the AoE dps of choice grab the nurglings or they'll set you back until forever.
• Groupheal through the loading screens.
• If you feel you're about to wipe, be sure to die away from the boss's original spawn point so the selfres is actually useful.

If I forgot something or a whole Boss even (highly likely) let me know.

So, it should be done, you should have, with any luck, at least one new Sentinel shinie.

And, to wrap it all off, have some gratuitous finnish swearing and a very tired mailbox.

Zealot's Guide to Bloodwrought Enclave

It is exactly what it says. If you do as described here you should have no biggies healing through it. Last time I went at it as a Zealot I managed to solo-heal a 3-man party. Of course, I was already near full Sentinel but still.

Anyways.

Tactics: Discipline, Subtlety, Restorative Burst and Blessing of Chaos or whatever. Maybe throw in a tactic you might have bought in a mastery tree. I didn't buy any so go crazy. Just don't slot in Waves of Chaos. At least not while trash clearing. I rarely do any PvE without these tactics. Just changed out one for one boss that I can remember but that's for a different dungeon.

Morale: Tzeentch's Talon, Eye of Sheerian, Divine Protection, Alter Fate. The last one I never use. I rarely get past Morale 2 even, mostly because I love Sheerian's animation so much. And it's another HoT. I love Hots. I passed on Divine Favor because I don't think the amount it heals is justifiable. I'd rather have a reverse 1001 to help kill bosses. If you have a different morale 4 you're in love with go right ahead.

Depending on what gear I had I'd either use a Liniment of Inspirational Winds or a Wounds one instead. I like(d) to keep my Willp at least in the 1k range without Mark of the Spell Destroyer but if you feel the second healer is doing fairly well and the MT ain't too squishy, by all means slap on yer Willp mark. Save your Mark of Remaking for the bosses.

Once inside, turn left. If you're specced Dark Rites (AoE) like me, just lay down a ritual (you can use whatever you have, I just have the one), throw your Leaping Alteration and a Dust of Pandemonium between sending bottles of Tzeentch's Cordial to the melees. If not AoE specced, just make sure everyone is HoTed at least before you invest your AP in party heals.

After you clear all the trash on the left you get to the first boss. Three centaur-like thingies. "Nuke the boss" they'll say. You slap on the self-res before you answer "ready". If your tanks aren't great you'll be off-tanking the champs. It shouldn't be a problem. With your morale one and a Harbinger of Doom on it, the thing should go down fairly quickly. Just keep the MT all buffed up (give him a willpower/initiative mark if he's getting hit too hard) and remember you have a Daemonic Fortitude to put on them tanks if they seem to be a bit fail.

Party: "What you're not using Menace?"
Rk40 Tank who should know better by now: "No. What's Menace?"
True story.

If you do find yourself tanking the adds, save the Fortitude for yourself, remember that besides the detaunt you have Veil of Chaos, to give you time to get a big heal in and Embrace the Warp, a beauty of a thing. If only it didn't have such a long cooldown. HoTs are crucial to keep up in this fight, especially on whoever's tanking because now and again you'll get silenced.

Boss down, boohoo you didn't get loot and yes, we are needing on dyes. Moving right along.

When you get back to the first intersection you go left again (that is, straight forward if you're coming from the entrance). Clear more trash, spam more heal, declare the tanks incompetents cuz they can't keep aggro. The person who got the key in the last boss opens the door, you all go in and you healers and any rdps go stand at a staircase. Either one is fine. If you have an AP banner place it down next to you in the stairs. The tanks can find their own.

This bastard is moody but fairly easy. If it's your first time here it can take a while. Tanks should guard the melee(s) but let the MT get all the aggro. You have your selfres on, you slap down a ritual and you answer "r". The most crucial thing to do, once everyone is blown up in the air is that whatever you're doing, once the main tank is knocked back you have to stop doing it and uncurse/hex it. Seriously. STOP and Glimpse of Chaos it. The fight then proceeds as it was, you keep HoTing everyone and once they're all in the air again you jump and uncurse the MT again. Rinse, repeat, Barakus should be dead now. If not, your selfres should be useful to prevent you all from having to run back. Just remember to stay near the middle of the stairs, not too up, not too down. Its normal if the OT or the meleegets one-shotted. I don't know why. I don't know tanking rules. Just know it wasn't your fault.

Boohoo, phantom Marauder has 2 new Sentinel helmets now and you have jack shit. Tough luck.

See you in BB.

What "Annoying" Is and Other Exciting Adventures

I live in a small country. Granted, we're not totally backwater anymore, but still a fairly small country. This does not annoy me. I'm patriotic, I swear. On the rare and much celebrated occasions when I can actually get myself to leave the house, I find myself looking up at the sky and feeling "man, I love being here." What does annoy me is the people.

Yes, it can be said I'm somewhat anti-social. Not quite a sociopath but not on the friendly side of the stick either. This, although it might annoy others, does not annoy me. I like not liking people. I'm the best company I could ever hope for. So it comes as a bit of a shock to some people the way I glare at them when we first meet. I don't mean any harm, I'm just sizing them up. Not liking people in the broader sense has made me a good judge of character.

It is with this good amount of anti-social experience that I can most definitely say that most portuguese players (henceforth known as "tugas") are OMGSTFU-annoying. Seriously. I've been approached, time and time again by the same people, always asking me if I would like to join their now defunct "national" guild. The concept of an all tuga guild always put me off but I never actually minded them. So it was with a smile on my face and a sprint in my step that I heard they were done with the "national" part of it. Still didn't stop them from trying to recruit me every other day. This I find annoying.

I feel nothing but pity for their guild leader, as he is one of the few I have no qualms with. But their so called recruiters have been nothing but disapointing and/or rude. So, if by some off-chance you all happen to read this (you know who you are) please, STOP trying to recruit me or even talking to me. I don't care. Oh, and I will let you die every time it is within my power to do so. That's for telling me to go fuck myself, you non-Dark Magic releasing and unpocketed Sorc.

On to happier and more exciting things.

Our first ToVL run, albeit a short one, was a success. Mostly because the very first thing that dropped on the very first boss was the Glyph of Ualatp: Khaldun. Sweet, eh? Take that, Sentinel boots! (no, they still haven't dropped). We breezed through the first boss fairly easily, even though we had no ranged dps and three tanks. And apparently they forgot to reaply the guard the dude supposedly strips.

Moving right along, we got to the second boss and this one took a few tries. I had seen it done in a youtube video from this guy so I knew how it could possibly be done. But, although someone said it would be better if I did it, I wasn't keen on trying to kite the thing. So we tried it this way, and that way, this kiter, that kiter all to no avail. Finally, I stepped up and did it. First try was fail, second try was total win. This was, all in all, the best solution because I was the least dps-capable of the bunch and I could spam Flash of Chaos on myself if he happened to hit me once (no saving if he hit me twice though). Seeing as we kited him on the platform I was still in range to use my morale 1, Tzeentch's Talon, to help them kill it a bit faster. I also threw in a Harbinger for good measure. So, down it went and we didn't even take too long.

Third boss, not so win. I must admit, I wasn't as effective as I could've been, mostly because I didn't know if I should be coming or going when the beam thingies started. I have since looked into the matter (AKA, watched more vids) and decided the dmg from the beams can be fairly easily outhealed and thus I won't have to move around much. Which is nice, considering Dust of Pandemonium has a long cast time. Good thing it's critting for more than 3k too.

Alas, our healer had to bail and we decided to try and do it some other time. We got out, Crimson killed us, we took some BOs, a keep, unlocked Cunning Evasion/Assault, sleep.

Now that I think of it, that was probably one of the most ORvR filled days I had in a long time. We had to farm resources to try and open LotD up and we always seemed to end up in the middle of a keep take. Which was nice, for a change. Also nice cuz i "/point & /lol"ed at the afore mentioned sorc after it died while trying to hide behind a courner while we valiantly fought off the ordas.

Oh, and don't think I forgot Kahliah, Oh Great Broodmother. Seeing as you believe we should raise our recruitment standards so that they match a certain "star quality", I give you another tuga (actually a bunch of them) who is beyond annoyng, he's downright hillarious. He's got "star quality" alright. His momma told him so. She also said he was "special".



All of them are great fun, aren't they?
Note especially at 3:46, when our friend answers the question "What is it you think you have?" There can be only one, indeed.
This one's for you, Broodmother.

PvE and Me

I give you today, The Eye of Sheerian which, albeit a bit of a useless or maybe just ignored morale 2, is clearly, the most visually stunning ability in the entire game.
Indubitably.
Word.

So everyone was talking about how they did the thing there at the place and the ones who didn't we're all like "aww, I wanna go do it too!" and I got to thinking "yeah, I should totally do that. By golly". And, by golly, so I went and did it. Yes sirree.

I'm talking about LotD powerleveling. Yep, I got on my Shaman and we went to get Nirvaesh's DoK up to 40. I got the Shaman up to 35 in the process. Which sucks since he's "da Green" specced and I wanted to get his rr up evenly too. Don't get me started. This is the one toon I won't respec for a long time. For starters I'd need to get new gear to slot willp talismans in. Maybe if I ever get it up to Annihilator level. Maybe. And then it's just to breeze through the rrs until Conqueror.

And then it got me thinking "what wards did you need for that big bad tomb there on the horizon again?" I'd heard you only needed Greater but, call me a rub-tugging* jamaican monkey, I was doubtful. So I asked Gonk, my new second favorite tank in the whole wide server, and he confirmed that all we needed was Greater.
Rock on.

So a semi-guild run is scheduled for tomorrow. I'm guessing we'll either have a legitimate rdps with Gonk on his Magus (Doomish) or he'll come on the Gonk itself (BO) and we'll have an MT and 2 dps tanks, counting Krueg on.... well, Krueg. Lets hope we find another good healer. I like Groobar. Everyone that helps me heal through N'Kari, I like.

And so it is that after our completion of yet another LV (still just the damn belt) and 4manning BE (still no damn boots. SRSLY! I've been trying for months now) we set forth to conquer the last big PVE challenge. ToVL. Gonk says he's confident we can do the first 5 bosses. I'm up for at least die trying.

Speaking of trying, I went to Gunbad (fiiiiinally) on the Donkeywrath, the dps Zealot. That Redeye set is so yummy for a dps healot, especially compared to Devastator. The last bonus for me takes the cake. So off we went, me half-healing specced, Sarephi the other zealot (and broodfather) main healing, Kahliah (the broodmother) on her Sorc, Nirv on Krothek, his rk 18 Marauder (or Mordor if you ever hear him saying it) and the new Chosen, Zorpus. Surprisingly enough our 5 man group cleared the whole right wing, including the instanced boss, and managed one of the pqs on the left before Sar had to go. Surprisingly because I was rk 26, apprenticing Krothek but the rest of them were 23/22. We walked away with bolstered egos and some Redeye pieces to boot. And we got to hear Zorpus and Nirv spill out finnish over the vent. That's always.... interesting.

All in all, a good time was had, we got to spend time with our new recruits and we're taking a well deserved break from PvP. Of course, you'll find us emblem whoring in Scenarios now and again (but never leeching, we try our hardest, honest) but I, myself, needed and still need a break from all the zerging.

And getting better gear in the process is a well deserved added bonus.

I will continue on with my PvE adventure-relaying at another post.


*Kudos to Mr. Robert Rankin for having written all my favourite books. According to this remarkable man, a rub-tugger is one who "tugs at his rubbing parts".


---


CASUAL READER READ NO FURTHER! TOTALLY USELESS BULLSHAITE AHEAD!

Character name meaning for the curious or otherwise no-lifers:

• Ehone Donkeywrath (means nothing, GOA/Mythic renamed me in a server transfer. "Ehone" sounds like a donkey to me so I call her Donkeyspeak) - ZL
• Dextrose Docinho (dextrose is a sugar and "Docinho" means sweet/sweety) - MG
• Trinca Espinhas (although "Trinca" by itself means bite, "trinca espinhas" is an expression used to describe someone very thin - its direct translation would be "fish-bone bitter") - DoK
• Nojo Debolso ("Nojo" is an ick, something disgusting; "de bolso" means portable/fits in yer pocket) - SHM
• Fofo (cuddly, flluffy, cute) - SH
• Chaimite - CHS
• Enfermeiro (male nurse) - DoK
• Donkeywrath (after Ehone) - ZL
• Pirilampo Mágico ("Pirilampo" means firefly but.. a magical firefly is something else altogether. You buy them to help the... handycapable?) - SORC

That's all of them I can remember, on Norn. So, if you see any of them stop asking me if I'm a tuga. Yes, I am and it's always just me.

Evolution

It's what life is all about. You're born (and if you live in southern US, you get to be in beauty pageants when you're 2 weeks old), you grow up, you learn how to do things and you evolve. You get better at doing such things (like using food utensils, or breathing through your nose) and you learn how to do new things and you get better at those too. And then you die.

Take my cat, for isntance. When we was younger he'd find the most weird positions to sleep in. Nowadays he just curls into a ball and sleeps, like regular cats. Every now and then you'll find him choking in his sleep because he fails to realise he can't rest his head directly on his nose but I have faith he'll come to that conclusion sometime in the near future. Miles wasn't the sharpest knife in the kitty drawer but that's why I picked him. Makes me look smarter in comparison. That and he bit me when we met. "Payback time, sucker".

I too, have evolved my play style in WAR so it is now easy for me to spot those who have, as of yet, failed to do so. I'm not the best Zealot in Norn, by far. A big part of that probably because I lack the decent gear to do so, but it seems to me that some have gone all the way to the higher renown ranks with very little evolution under their belt.

Take this SC, for example. Halfway through I had to switch to semi-healing mode because, frankly I was tired of dying and of all the dying going on around me. Makes me feel sick. Makes my throat sore because everytime a WE dies I, myself, make the same sound they do. Out of all the Zealots in the SC I was the lowest ranked one. "Oh yeah, but you're a twink you get better gear and stuffz from your main". The only thing I ever sent the Donkey from my main was rk39 gear which I probably won't even use. So that excuse falls short. Order won spectacularly, with their only two healers dishing out awesomeness left and right. I managed to get killed 5 times. Other healers managed to heal as much as I dealt damage and me, a dps specced Zealot, managed to heal double of what they healed. So I keep asking myself: what are they doing wrong or what is it that I'm doing so right? And why do I get yelled at for DPSing? :(

I'll share what I've come to learn about healing, especially in scenarios.

1. 
   
   I noticed some healers (some even in t4) don't know this but AoE heals aren't AoE. They're Group heals so they won't save that tank that happens to be in party 2.
2. 
   
   When in SCs, if you're like me and don't use Squared or Healgrid or something fancy like that, the game itself has an option to show you other parties just like if you were in a warband. At the start of a scenario, toggle on every other party other than your own.
3. 
   
   Throw HoTs (heal over time) around. This will really boost up your healing, especially if, like me, your AoE specced (I call it AoE cuz the damage abilities of the tree are AoE). It will also help healers in other parties keep their parties up.
4. 
   
   Resurrect. If you're not getting hit hard, take the time to rez other players. This is crucial as it prevents our front lines from falling back and creates what I call the "wall effect". More bodies between you and them is always nice. Obviously, always rez healers first even if you have to let a tank or a dps die to do so and especially if any other party has only one healer and that healer bites it. That dead healer drastically diminishes the survivability of all the other 5 players that were depending on it. Bottom line, if you see me die, rez pls. :)
5. 
   
   Strategic fall back. Healers have INSANE range. Nothing else has better range than a healer so stay back. If, however you depend on groupheals a lot, like me, you need to get closer because they nerffed the range on group heals. Just remember that, if the enemy charges, take a few steps back. Eventually, you develop a sixth-sense for wipes and you'll know how to pick your fights.

While on the topic of sixth-sense, we finally managed to do an LV run! It all came about when this Shaman, a fellow countryman of mine from D E C A D E N C E started yelling for an LV run. It was 2 am, I was bored, waiting for a lock that wasn't going to come, so I said "sure, I'll go". I got my Epikk and the boss to tag along and we found a DPS Chosen, Subah. For my delight, Silenz, this awesome sorc that I always try to heal in SCs cuz she kills lots and I want that assist renown, was also interested in coming so the party was set.

We get there and, what do you know, half the party had to go get the quest from Hellebron. So we wait patiently and when we finally get everyone back the Shaman goes "sry ppl gtg!" WTF, why do people start things they have no intention of finishing? The run wasn't obviously going to take the 10 minutes we had to wait for the quest issues. Still, we shrugged it off and found ourselves another healer, Kjx (who seems to have a very... interesting girlfriend). After he went to get the quest himself, he set off for the left wing. We get through all the bosses ok, with Nirvaesh MTing (MT stands for Main Tank if, like me, you don't know tankspeak) and Silenz sharing his/her wisdom on boss tactics. We even only wiped once on the big spider thingy and it wasn't a big deal because I always make sure we wait until I can slap on my Mark of Remaking (henceforth known as selfres or autores). In the end I finally got one (better than nothing) Darkpromise piece. It was only the belt but I also got a belt for Dex so it wasn't a total loss (too bad the weapons are bind on pickup because we got a weapon for Magus that was crappy but was alliteration goodness: Dekelex, Dreadstaff of Devouring). Too bad for the Shaman that he left because Shaman dropped twice. Mike also got 2 DP pieces for Epikk and a 3%crit choppa. He's now sporting 3 DP pieces and some conqueror, the DP weapon and the BS weapon. Sweet, sweet choppin.

So, why all the "sixth-sense" thing? At a certain point we were killing some random mobs that were a bit tricky and, all of a sudden, some rhino-like piggies come stampeding down. From the rate of our healing and the rate of their hitting I was sure after the first few seconds that we weren't going to keep up. So i slapped on the selfres and, sure enough, down we went. Just one thing about selfrezing Zealots. If you have one in your party and it dies and then your other healer dies or just isnt able to keep the MT up, stop trying. Like any rez, selfres gives you a 30sec timer. If the whole party doesn't die in those 30secs and the boss doesn't reset its quite pointless. So make with the dying.

It was a pretty sweet run. We did all but the middle wing, even with half of us half asleep already. Nirvaesh's tanking was up to what I expect from him and Subah did an awesome job for a DPS Chosen, I must say. Kjx was a big help with his quicker group-heal to keep us up between my long casts and wasn't afraid to help DPS when needed. In the end, we managed to pleasantly surprise ourselves and The End, with all its highly-evolved players, made a good impression on these bigger-guilded players.

LONG POST IS LONG!