Did Velks Lab with a group last night, 52-57, and I got about 1 yellow in a hour and fifteen minutes. That is a little faster than I make xp soloing the first ship in Dulak Harbor. The best benifit was that it provided a controled place to do some skill raises.
We where doing spiders just to the left of the tunnel that goes to the zone. Spiders hit for at most 200, hit very seldom when slowed (my ac is 900) and are very cold resistant so bring your DoTs. Lots of stuff to kill with many adds so CC or pet classes to have off tanks would be best.
I have heard that with the 56 pet you can solo here but I will have to let others speak to that. All and all it was a fun time and realitively safe easy xp.
At 56 I could just keep the entire entry level clear (solo). At 58 I was clearing it, and pulling from the ramps.
Dogs and upper spiders were mostly camped by much higher level soloers, so I never tried there solo; but I did find that I could duo frienzied easily (one of the soloers brought it to the ZO) at 56.
The only real trick is to split a couple of the spawns; I couldn't always do it, but could take 2 at a time if I had to, it just slowed me down for the rest of the level. Cancel magic and proximity pulling worked at least 50% of the time. Best was to ask an in zone cleric or enchanter to pacify off my target :).
To be quite honest, experience was slow here, and I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't for the shawl threads. 4% level experience per hour, 10% AA, at around 58. I would guesstimate that 10% and hour at 54 would be more likely, when solo.
Every time I come to Velks it's heavily camped. Appearantly the combination of good exp and needed threads for the shawl is too much for people to resist. Anyway, does anyone know of a place in Velks that's off the entry level that is good for soloing?
Might be able to solo the Safe Hall area (hallway leading to the village before the invisible wall). Think this would be pretty doable, just need to watch out for the named pop Crystal Eyes. But that would depend on gear and level. I haven't been to Velks with my beast yet, but will be going soon. Nothing there really hits that hard compared to what we've come to know in PoP zones. Getting hit for 105 max just doesn't hold the sting once you get whacked for 400 by yard trash in PoP. Might be a little rough tanking with 100hp heal, but you can always play pet cleric. I'll post more once I get high enough to go here with this toon.
Velks is a super easy zone to solo in. I used to hunt here a very long time ago, but never did it solo. This past weekend was the first time I even thought about coming here and soloing. Being lvl 58 I thought I might have a little trouble, but it never hurts to help. If you are at least familiar with the zone then you will know the 2 areas I am about to recommend. I decided for my first expedition I would just try some of the ent mobs. After deciding that I needed more of a challenge I decided hell why not I will go up to the Crystal Eyes spawn/safehall/lower safehall area. Quick note here, always make sure you have see invis up in this part of the zone. Too many times will you run to the safe hall seeing it is clear and then get jumped by 3 spiders, not fun. I set up in the safehall, made my pet, buffed and then started pulling. First and most important thing I noticed was the fact that at 58 I could pull singles without any problems. After clearing those 3 I thought hmmmm why not Frenzied spawn... Making a short story shorter I moved up to the upper safehall/invis wall/Frenzied area and set up in that safe hall behind the invis wall.
Once you are behind the invis wall go ahead and set up there. Once you step out of the wall there will be one spawn straight ahead on the walk. I don't think I need to tell you what needs to happen to the squishy spider....do I? After that one is dispatched you will walk a bit further on the walk and it will go around to your left, make sure you stay to the right edge of the walk because right around the corner is another spider. Once you are in that area just look out around there area you will notice that there is a 3 spawn off and to the right and a 3 spawn off and to the left. All of these were single pullable at 58 and I would guess 57. I was able to take all 8 spawns easily before repop with some time to pull the Crysatl Eye spawn if I was quick. This is a very good place to not only get xp, but to get velium which still sells pretty well in the bazaar.
Good luck and I hope this helps anyone looking for an easy place to solo.
I hit 51 a couple days ago and poked my head into Velks to see what it was like. I found that if I could single pull it I owned it. I pulled with Sha's and then sat back and played pet cleric and threw in our poison dot and our debuff. I didn't do much tanking so to speak jumped in at the end just to see how hard they hit cuz I was curious and the max hit it took was 82. I had KEI, Virtue and Focus at the time, so I was around 4300hp and 1035ac to give you an idea what I was working with. I buffed up the pet with all the goodies we have at 51 and that was all, no mage gear, which would have made this even easier. He took about 3-5 heals per fight with my our 39 heal and the blackened glass eye for healing 2 (max heal 699). So I would say by 56 this place would be a cake walk with single pulls.
Any one have a map for Velks?
I know my way around the lower level and can pull from the ramps to the main floor, but I've only been to the top shelve once.
I solo'd the entrance of Velks towards the end of 55. With moderate gear, it was OK. Double pulls were a touch close and I had to resort to backing off and healing/pet clericing for a few minutes to get through.
I went back last night after hitting 56 and soloing got a lot easier. I had a great rotation going once I split the 2 spiders on the far side of the left hand ramp. That opened up the left hand wall which was just enough mobs to keep me busy before they started to re-pop (8 mobs in total - 2 statues + all spiders from left of entrance). I'd heal/med maybe every 3 to 4 kills. With KEI it was a breeze. Without KEI, I would just shorten the rotation and concentrate on anything that could be single pulled to cut down on med time.
See invis (Spirit Sight) is a must in this zone. Also, AFK's are risky as trains to zone can be frequent (and often lethal if the person has fallen from a higher level).
During the hour and a half I was there I got 13% of the way into 56 and made just on 800pp from the various Velium drops in the bazaar.
One word of warning - don't crash in this zone! My EQ client crashed just after I'd started to move forward from the entrance. I logged back in to find myself naked in PoK... got back to Velks to discover my corpse half way up one of the ramps.... being guarded by some big hairy spiders (why is it they seem so much worse when you're naked?!?)
Hi all, thought I would take a look in here at the weekend as I have gotten bored of JPF even though it is easy , if slow. Zoned in and buffed pet and tried to single pull but kept getting doubles which promptly ate me up and I had to zone to save my furry butt (sorry fluffy). Is there any advice on pulling near zone in here , or should I go back to JPF and lvl up to 56 first to get new pet then try again. Tried looking on various sites for guides to Velks but couldn't really find any so thought I would ask you guys.
Thanks in advance for any help, magelo is up to date so you can see the meagre gear I have.
You don't say what level, and I can't read Magelo - I assume 55 from context.
There are certain spawns that will often come as two when you pull; the one to the far right of the entrance is one that springs to mind. There isn't much you can do about these, apart from just kill both, then keep the spawn split.
Most other spawns at the front by the entrance should come single; the two gargoyles will split without any special precautions.
Make sure that you have Spirit Sight on so that you see the invis spiders as well.
If you want to try to split, you can try pulling one directly away from its partner with either proximity aggro, or with a cast of Cancel Magic. Even with the best technique (and luck), you will fail to split them about half the time.
Thanks for the tips Hereki, yes I am 55, only tried quickly and didn't want to move too far as I don't know about aggro ranges there, will try again next time I am on . When I am not sure ,I always use cancel magic , learned that one in Echo at 4 spawn of Underbulks near zone to The Deep :D
Most ground floor spiders will come single, certainly at 56. There is the 2 to the far right, and another 2 somewhere else that don't like to split.
At 55 you can single pull the statues. The spider in the alcove under the left hand ramp can be single pulled, as can the one above it on the ramp itself. You are more limited on the right hand side, however once you have taken out the statues, stand near their spawn point and look right - ahead is another spider that can be single pulled. This gives you a rotation of 5 which should keep you nice and busy at 55 (with some downtime for medding etc).
If you're feeling brave, you can try and split the 2 on the far side of the left hand ramp, although at 55 a double pull was always tough. Once split this open up the 2 futher down the left hand wall which can be single pulled.
Good luck!
Is very slow xp, but very easy at 56. Still searching for that really great place.
Aye, you should be in POP at 56. Soloing in PoJ or get a small group going in any other T1 zone. The zem is the highest you will find for your level.
OT has no exp bonus at all. Its just a good place to solo because of the number of mobs available per person in the zone. No competition. I remember when this was the Number 3 hot spot to exp at from 30 to 40, then #2 was Dreadlands 40 to 50, then #1 was Karnor's Castle 50 and up. Which at your level, Karnor's would be easy place to solo and offers a 13% zone bonus. Which is the same as Velks Lab but the mobs have less hp and dont hit as hard and is less camped then Velks is these days.
Take a look at this zem chart I've used to judge where to go when I wanted to level an alt. It's been useful over the years.
http://www.eqdiva.com/eq/zoneLevels.aspx
I've heard that the planes actually have an experience penalty if you're solo. Could be just a rumor, of course, I have no idea where my source for that is...although I have heard it in several places.
Game on,
Dakat, that chart is wildly out of date, and was pretty inaccurate even when it was new. (For instance, LOIO has never had a -20% ZEM - that rumor got started when they cut down the original ZEM by 20% because it was too high for an outdoor zone.)
Exp in LOIO was cut drastically in a revision back in September 02, I believe. There is no such thing as a negative ZEM, but only because ZEM numbers are all absolute multipliers - the ZEM for both LOIO and the Grey are lower than that for all other zones.
I don't place much faith in the ZEM charts, either - they are hearsay reports taken from other hearsay reports at random times, ultimately tracable back to the SEQ boards. I think the eqdiva one was large copied from a chart on eqdruids (a long time ago) , which was a revision of one I posted on eqdruids that I copied from the SEQ board. The same goes for a similar chart on the Runes, which was copied from the eqdiva one.
The way that it works in PoP zones is the same as everywhere else; the zone has a ZEM. The tier 1 (and probably other) PoP ZEMs were all cut about the same time as the grouping bonus was introduced, with the reduction balanced in such a way that a soloer would get about 10-20% less exp than before, but a duo would get 1-2% more exp thanks to the compensating factor of the group bonus. This was done simply by a flat cut in the ZEM.
As always, this isn't direct knowledge taken from the internals of Everquest, just an informed view based on comments that were made on boards and in the patch messages. If you want to be sure, check the patch messages and other SoE souces from around that time, April - May 03.
Thanks Dikat,
Have been trying the flies in PoD, do fine until I get two..LOL. Have tried inching towards them to try to get just one.,but usually it is the 2.
Would love to go hunt in Krnor's but that is pretty much out of bounds Spent ages etting VS faction for my OT Gate Hammer.
No need to worry about OT faction unless you use that place as a home base. Nothing argos on you when you zone in giving you time to heal/sow/invis/etc and then run off to the PoK book.
I would imagine that at too high a level, VL would be pretty slow. My wife and I were grouping in PoJ on our new characters ( this bsat, and her new Wizzy) and we got 1% a kill. Went to VL and duoed back wall 1st night and left wall 2nd night, got 1% a kill. We just drug our chanter bot to help clear, then, we forgot she was even on at all after spawn was broken :)
*edit* When I say Velks, I mean Velkator Labyrinth, not that zone off in LOIO pond.
Been to Velks a couple of times @ lvl 56 & found lack luster XP there. I recently bought First Aid 1, 2, 3. Now, I can chain pull with an ADD thrown in every once in awhile. When I say chain pull, I mean it. I leave when the MOB is 10 - 5% health & come back with another right after the other dies.
I stay at the entrance & pull all the mob's on the floor and some on and up the ramps before I have to sit, re-buff, and wait for the next spawn.
I'm a mediocre 56 LVL BST with 850~ AC/2k~ HP unbuffed. Self buffs take me up to somewhere around 920~ AC/2.3K~ HP. Since I've gotten FA 3 I have never gone to Velks KEI'D or VIRTUE/TEMP'D. Oh, & I got Regen3, Run3, MC1, & CA1. Not to forget FA3 :))))
At 58, I've been exploring Velks looking for better loot/exp than the spiders I always have to compete for with everybody else. I've found that the kobolds are much better experience and drop cash, 25pp paws, and pretty commonly spells. They're about as difficult as the blizzard hunter spiders, just a little less melee damage and the annoyance of healing themselves. I've also not been able to find a place that I can pull singles at 58. But the notch up in experience and loot is plenty of reason to deal with the added risk, and their HPs are similar to spiders so my kill rate is mostly unaffected.
I started out in the basement maze, near the end of the kobold area where there is a safe spot to summon pet and buff. This is a pretty safe spot with enough room to move around without aggroing more than 2 dogs at a time. The downside though is that there's little hope of getting out alive since you'd have to run past tons of see-invis mobs. Bring a gate potion or hammer if you fight down here and want to get out without the "return to home" button.
Now I'm hunting at the kobold village upstairs. Still 2 pulls at a time, but much less room to move without getting into range of extras. On the plus side though, you can (carefully) get back to the zone line from here so you don't need a way to gate.
Edit: At 59 I thought it'd be a good idea to try the gargoyles and golems outside the castle. That was a bad idea. Their resists are high, they knocked me around on the ice making it impossible to channel heals, and the 2 I got on my first pull killed me quickly.