Runes dont seem to drop in Harbringers Spire, so now Im trying Draniks Hollow.
If you get the murkgliders experdition from the grand historian in Draniks Scar you can skip ahead to the place holders for the named by using invisibility vs undead to get past the murkgliders. Just take every available left until you get to a hideous rat. This is the first placeholder. About 6 or 7 mobs further in is a tatterwing bat. This is the second place holder. Keep killing these 2 on a 20 min timer till the named ones pop. I cleared my way in the first time and it took me about an hour to get there.
I started this expedition with my 66 mage as the expedition leader (he has all my leadership AAs, so he is the group leader even though my beastlord is my main). I believe that the level of the expedition leader determines the level of the mobs and named in the instance. The guy who put me onto this dungeon said the named hit for 600-800 and were red con to him at 66. I aksed him at the end of my session in there and he said the expedition leader on his run, where 3 runes dropped, was 69.
My named hit like girls and were 64. The 2 that I killed dropped 50hp/mana loot and no runes (Im not saying that they cant drop runes, but it seems unlikely at that level).
Has anyone had runes drop in draniks? and if so what level was your expedition leader? My cleric dinged 67 today, so next time I go he will be leader and hopefully I will finally get me some runes.
Usually have a level 67 group leader and it works out well. Mobs are a joke then. Normal max off around 508 or so. Can have minor/lesser/normal runes drop, the crap ranged item, the crap mask and stick of fury. I ran some logs today since some felt drops were down since patch. Don't have results on me yet, but got lots of runes and a stick in I have no clue how many hours lol. Yes you can still get runes there. 8)
How do you start the expedition? I couldn't find the way. Should I be in a group?
Quote from: CatgalHow do you start the expedition? I couldn't find the way. Should I be in a group?
Yes, you have to have a group. Minimum number is three or four people, not sure which.
3 people are required to request the expedition.
Takes 3 people to start, but you can drop 2 and solo. I start with 2 hydras, and drop the chanter after buffing, then the druid and I IVU to the bottom name PH and farm. You HAVE to have a snarer! You can kill the 2 PH's or named, and afk for 15 minutes, come back and do it all over. The bottom camp spot Named is non-kos, as is the ph. You move out of the tunnel and the other named spawns just to the left. It is a glider and will cast a dot and a slow on you. There is also a rat add next to him. Just pull both to the bottom of the tunnel and kill there. I generaly just kill the rat quickly, then let the named beat on me for a minute before killing it. That way the spawn is staggered, and you wont get 2 the next cycle. You can also head to right tunnel and kill stuff for exp. All tunnels are non-kos, and just wait till the hall rat paths away from the east room. They all have a VERY large agro range and all assist. I am finding at lvl 70 that the lvl 66 mobs are as good as if not better than fire mobs. Just that you cant chain pull duoing.
I have got a dozen 66-68 runes in 2 days of camping, and 5 AA of not pushing it. A 25 hp aug is also a common drop.
Which expedition is that in Zaab?
This can't go un-nerfed for long... I can't imagine SoE envisioned people by-passing most of the dungeons and going right to the named...
Well, it's not really that bad...someone said it took them an hour to get to the PH's anyway, and they don't spawn nameds that often, and are on a 20 minute repop rate...so by invising you get 3 more chances on each named. If there were more named, or you were able to skip 2-3 hours worth of clearing, then perhaps they'd nerf it. Probably the biggest advantage would be the non-KOS (although social) nature of the mobs. Not sure how helpful that is, though, not having been there myself. Once I hit 67 I'm going to try to take guildmates there though. :)
Game on,
Quote from: TrazWhich expedition is that in Zaab?
Murkglider caves. Third entrance north.
Just thought I'd add that many of the muckies see invis but dont see past invis vs undead. (undead jellyfish.. go figure).
Yeah the named are a bit far in but with a cleric or other invis vs undeader you'll be there in no time.
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=2573 works too. And there are 10x and 5x doses too, although Alla doesn't seem to have them. Not sure how often or for how much they're sold in the Bazaar but only 42 trivial on Alchemy so...
Game on,
QuoteThis can't go un-nerfed for long... I can't imagine SoE envisioned people by-passing most of the dungeons and going right to the named...
You can invis to named in dungeons all over EQ..the only difference is that these named drop runes, which is significant for the next few weeks. Once peoples spell books start to fill up with 66-68 spells and runes sell for 3k in bazaar, no one will care how easy they are.
It just seems a big deal now cause everyone is after runes.
Remember, EPs drop off tier 1 trash in PoP. And specs off tier 3 trash. Having easy access to 66 names dropping 66-68 runes is no big deal.
Well, seems rune farming is all over in Dranik's expeditions, specially Murkgliders Hive. Since the stealth patch for the mitigation changes a night or two ago, named seem to pop once every 4-8 hours, and havnt had a rune drop yet. Where I was getting 2 or 3 named an hour, and 1-2 runes, since the patch/nerf, I have had 1 named in 9 hours and no rune.
I doubt the RNG has been this fickle, but would like to hear if anyone else has had the same experience or not.
Sony tends to do this bait and switch, but has never admitted to it every new expansion.
A dev commented that instances shouldn't have greater rates of gear than non-instanced zones...so yeah, seems to have been nerfed.
http://eqforums.station.sony.com/eq/board/message?board.id=Veterans&message.id=38481#M38481
On the bright side, I saw some runes for only 45k in the bazaar this morning... :roll:
Game on,
Just spent about 4 hours here got 1 bat and 3 rat spawns 1 rune 1 2hb and 3 range's. Uless other's are posted better results i wont be back here.
Just did 2 runs in Draniks Hollow, Murkgliders thingie.
Spent about 7 or 8 hours total.
Got 8 runes of the 3 droppable types, 3 or 4 sticks, 2 earrings and several masks and totems. AA exp is very nice, going from 67 to 68 is slow.
2 more runs since then...about another 7-8 hours total. Less named pops and only 2 runes. Nerf or the RNG? I dont know.
you know i must have been doing something wrong but i got me and my box killed trying to do this, the agro range was alot huger then i thought it would be, i have ~ 9.3k buffed hp and close to 7k mana, but my box is kinda sucky just over 4k mana and ungodly low hps ( under ssra level gear) so i pretty much gave up trying to farm this area to get my bsts spells
I still go here for spells sometimes. I run a cleric/beastlord duo though so the lack of a snarer is a huge issue. I average around a rune an hour. The biggest issue you need to be aware of is that you must avoid runners *at all costs*. Runner = cr here, at least for my level of gear. Also, my nukes do not cut it in stopping them before they manage to escape even with dots on them. Maybe if I had the OoW and/or GoD nuke it would make a bigger difference but I think not. I use hobble and two snare weapons, as well as having root and two stuns loaded on the cleric. Sometimes they still escape though. Also, I usually make sure to get the expedition with the cleric who is level 65. The higher levels mobs I can't split with pacify and taking two is painful. It is an option when I can't find groups at least.
Got my Stick of Fury from the Bat! Love that stick, my first really decent hard hitting weapon. Defaulted to me on NBG and I have hardly taken it off since, lol...
We hung around long enough to get 2 named bats and 4 named rats, 3 runes(minor & lesser) and the Stick were the only real drops.
Are these instanced zone like LDoN and based on average level or max level in group as some posts seem to suggest?
Also, what is the max level split to be allowed in?
It's based on the level of the person who get the expedition (doesn't matter who the group leader is). There are no level split restriction.
It's worth noting that Murkglider's Hive got nerfed since the strategy guides were written, the bats and rats are now KoS making invis there vitually impossible with the undead murks in the way. You may get reasonable mileage in the other expiditions which you can still invis through to get to PH.
You can use regular invis to run through this expedition now.
However, there are random mobs which will see through invis (and I don't think they are limited to the murkgliders, although I could be wrong there). Not all the murkgliders do.
If you're lucky, you can still run through as before; you just have to be a bit more careful and con the mobs in your path in case they see invis. Just go cautiously because if you run into a room with one see invis mob, you'll end up being swarmed by all the others when it attacks you.
pfft, the original post said it took an hour to fight down. I don't plan to waste time trying to sneak about, we will just kill down. gonna have to use the wizzie for snare though - he is only 55, which is why i was asking if there was a split like LDoN has (have to be within 7 levels)
No level split like ldon. There might be a minimul level to do the expedition though. I don't have any characters low enough to test it.
really blows the 68 ones are pretty good exp and decent loot (though kinda hard to sell) and most the named are not too bad. BUT seems the 68 expeditions can ONLY drop 68 spells =\. So on my server 68 spells are like 24k and 67 are like 40-60k and 66 are like 30-50k.
I dont think thats true. They just made the drop rates for 66 and 67 runes pretty low, 68 ones are way more common. I got all my 66/67 spells out of a lvl 70 expedition in DH duoing with a cleric so i dont think the type of the expedition is tied to the type of spells that drop.
Quote from: DummkopfI dont think thats true. They just made the drop rates for 66 and 67 runes pretty low, 68 ones are way more common. I got all my 66/67 spells out of a lvl 70 expedition in DH duoing with a cleric so i dont think the type of the expedition is tied to the type of spells that drop.
I too think that true - and the 66 / 67 runes would have a higher drop rate in the "low" zones, ie bloodfield, NC, etc but not alot of people xp there - they go strieght to WoS or DH
Quote from: DeathclawQuote from: DummkopfI too think that true - and the 66 / 67 runes would have a higher drop rate in the "low" zones, ie bloodfield, NC, etc but not alot of people xp there - they go strieght to WoS or DH
I don't think any runes drop in Bloodfields. Would be nice if they did though!
Game on,
aye i apologize for my previous statement last night did a lvl 68 expeidition that netted me 2 minor's and 1 lesser rune guess i just hit a string of bad/good luck (however you see it) and my first 5 or so runes were all 68's heh.
QuoteI don't think any runes drop in Bloodfields. Would be nice if they did though!
could be the case - i never xp in bloodfield, just remember reading runes drop in all zone but DS, and would guess that the zone design for the 66, 67 people will have a higher drop rate on the 66 / 67 spells, but this is SoE so could be wrong in that too.
Well, Bloodfields seems to be about the same difficulty as Harbinger's Spire, and no runes drop in Harbinger's at all either. Take a look on Allakhazam's, even the Minor Runes aren't listed as dropping there.
Game on,
Quote from: Deathclawcould be the case - i never xp in bloodfield, just remember reading runes drop in all zone but DS, and would guess that the zone design for the 66, 67 people will have a higher drop rate on the 66 / 67 spells, but this is SoE so could be wrong in that too.
The only time I see anyone in BF is when they are running to or from RCoD.
EDIT: hunted here a bit, killed more than a few named, didnt see any drops that would come close to a rune - lots of stuff suited for high 50s to low 60s.
Quote from: ShiearaNo level split like ldon. There might be a minimul level to do the expedition though. I don't have any characters low enough to test it.
If there is a min level, it is below 56. I was able to get in with a 56 and 66 in group. However, it wasnt the trio I had intended (66beast, 66cleric, 56wizzie). I ended up having some friends join up - 61sham, 65pal, and 60pal.
I was surprised the the HP the mobs had. Our group, while not very DPS heavy, was taking 2min+ to kill a mob. Had I gone with just the trio, I don't know that the kill rate would have made it worth anything.
Quote from: negrismorteI was surprised the the HP the mobs had. Our group, while not very DPS heavy, was taking 2min+ to kill a mob. Had I gone with just the trio, I don't know that the kill rate would have made it worth anything.
Off the top of my head they are about 25k - 30k HP each. I can usually drop one of them in a bit over a minute with me, cleric, and my 67 (and very crappily geared) necro.