Farming Runes in Draniks Hollow

[bham]

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.

[Tastian]

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)

[Catgal]

How do you start the expedition? I couldn't find the way. Should I be in a group?

[Eatbugs]

How 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.

[Sasraix]

3 people are required to request the expedition.

[zaab]

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.

[Traz]

Which expedition is that in Zaab?

[Qwawn]

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...

[Oneiromancer]

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,

[zaab]

Which expedition is that in Zaab?

Murkglider caves.  Third  entrance north.

[Inunokami]

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.

[Oneiromancer]

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,

[bham]

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...

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.

[zaab]

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.

[Oneiromancer]

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,