Killing Two Birds with 1 Stone

[traggum]

I quit EQ back in 04 or 05, right after DoN came out.  I came back during the summer free time.  Since I had a more powerful computer, I was able to 2-box, so I grabbed my friend's account and ran his BL with my cleric.  OMG!  I loved running that BL!  So when the free time was over, I kept my two accounts and made a BL on my 2nd account specifically to run with my cleric.  Right now he's only 51 and we're running around in GE, mainly for gem drops and xp. 

My cleric is lvl 67 and only has 1 spell past 65, so I was thinking about heading to DS and kill in the bat caves.  The xp should be close to what you get in GE, but I don't remember the loot.  I'm in hopes that either a rune or spells will drop for either, but someone told me that only names in GoD land drop runes.

Also, is it just me, or do certain zones appear to drop certain types of defiant gear?  So far I've only gotten chain from GE.  What zone can you get leather for my BL and plate for my cleric?

Thanks!

[Tanot]

The defiant drop will drop from any mob who is above the required level for the gear e.g. for Elaborate, mobs of 59 and up drop it. Apparently you have more chance of the better slots (chest etc) the higher up the level range up to the recommended level. The drop rate is flat across all zones and any "stickyness" you might be seeing is purely EQ's not very RNG at work. If you could see the sample rate across all of the chars on all servers it (should) even out.

Only named drop runes in OOW AFAIK. They used to drop quite a lot in the Hollows apparently but I think the drop rate got nerfed ages ago unfortunately. I have done a little bit of AA work on my pally in there and the instance level depends on the person asking - they are light blue to the pally at 51 but dark blue when requested at 53. They also hit a lot harder! You will also need 3 in the group to request them...

[traggum]

Thanks for the info!  It had been so long that I'd forgotten it was an instance for the bats in DS.

Just looking for the perfect storm:
good xp for my 67 cleric that my 51 BL can survive
good $$$ and maybe actual gear upgrades
would be nice to get my 66+ spells too

[Tiroon]

I haven't found any link between zone and type of drop so far. The only thing that seems to matter is the number of mobs you kill. The more you hunt, the better the chance for a drop. The more drops you get, the better the chance for something useful.

I assume you will leveling the beasty closer to your cleric, then get some of the important AA's. Only after that you'll have a realistic chance to go after the nameds that drop runes.

GoD spells were pretty much the domain of raiders at the time and are the domain of researchers today.

The runes needed for OoW spell turn ins have as an additional source the DoDH expansion. Unlike GoD runes those are and always were tradable through bazaar. Muramite and Shadowspine runes were pretty cheap while people still hunted there but have gone up in price enormously in the past weeks with returnees hoovering them up.

Prices for research materials for PoP to OoW spells have followed suit, but unlike runes the parchments and vellums can drop off any caster mob of the appropriate level, not just nameds. They will be your best bet for obtaining 61 to 70 spells as long as you can find a skilled researcher for the combines.