I log on last night even though I am dead, dead tired. While I would like
nothing more than to go to bed, we also have had problems getting people to
raid GoD targets. I don't know what it is, but GoD seems discouraging in a
way no other expansion has been when it comes to raiding. I think it's a
combination of difficulty getting to the raid target combined with the
frequency and regularity of deaths that make people feel disinclined to log
on for GoD.
I'm trying to set a good example, so I decide to put in an appearance.
We're in the middle of an Ikkiniz raid, forget which one. The Glorification
one, anyway. We're already a goodly portion of the way in. For all my
complaints about the difficulty of getting to a raid, this one is easy: I
merely have to get to Kod'taz, and then I get invited to the expedition and
CotH'd to the entrance.
I zone in and join the raid. We're just about ready to engage one of the
loot-dropping mobs. So I get Supernal Light ready (still don't have Holy
Light, darnit) and we spam fast heals on the main tank. The mob goes down
and we have our usual hilarious hijinks trying to give away the loot: Aegis
of Blackscales AC: 60 Str: 15 Sta: 15 Cha: 15 Wis: 15 Int: 15 Agi: 15 HP:
180 Mana: 180 End: 180 Effect: Spiritual Fury (Increase Mana by 5 per tick,
Increase ATK by 25) Shielding: +2% DoT Shielding: +2% Spell Shield: +2%.
Uber, right? Can't give the thing away. The thing drops all the time. And
I do mean all the time. And while it would be a fairly good upgrade for me,
I'm holding out for upgrades to my leggings (still using ornate) and my
primary, which is still the Orb of Thunderous Spirits from Agnarr. Someone
in my group wonders why the Aegis of Blackscales is so hard to give away,
and I mention that of the people who don't already have it, most have good
shields anyway and want to save loot karma for something better. Good
shields are just not that hard to come by.
I mention that we should just /random the shield. Someone else mentions
that it wouldn't be fair to the people who used loot karma to get the shield
when it first started dropping. I explain that my suggestion was meant as a
joke. My guildleader mentions that I should be forced to loot it because of
my 'joke'. After a long time, a wizard is finally convinced to loot it.
We move on to the final confrontation. This involves killing a golem, who
splits into two, and each of those splits into two as well, requiring you to
kill a total of seven golems, each of which hits fast and hard. After
getting the first golem to split into two, we back out to rez and med,
unfortunately running smack into a hallway repop. After some more hilarious
hijinks which cause our raid leaders to grind their teeth, we get everyone
rezzed. We split the two golems, kill one, watch it split into two, try
killing those, nearly wipe, pull out, regroup, go back in, finish off all
the golems. I manage a couple of deaths along the way but we do manage to
win. Some loot is announced, none of which is useable by cleric except the
70hp augment, which I'm not interested in yet.
We gate out and head back. This raid had good attendance for the first time
in a while, forcing us to actually kick out bots to make room for real
guildies. So our leadership decides to try something that we haven't yet
succeeded at: the Summoner Ring.
Unlike a lot of the other raids I've been writing about, this doesn't
require an expedition or an instanced zone. The Summoner Ring is right
there in Kod'taz, right in the middle of everything. In a Stonehenge-like
ring stand eight summoners and the untargetable High Grand Summoner. We
clear our way down and get ready. The first part of the ring we're pretty
familiar with: we move in and start killing summoners. They all summon a
*bunch* of pets, and the chanters get busy mezzing while we move from
summoner to summoner. Oh, and did I mention that the High Summoner
regularly casts an AE curse that drains mana? Fortunately I recently got
the AA to upgrade to Radiant Cure3, so every other AE I can cure my group
of.
As usual, we pause about halfway through the clearing of the summoners to
rez and rebuff. I've managed to survive so far. We then complete our way
until only the High Summoner is left. This is the part that always kills
us, for after the last of the regular summoners is dead, the High Summoner
summons a whole bunch of golems. Some are mezzable, some are not, and the
chanters do their best while the melee try to handle the unmezzables. I
heal and heal but get get aggro and die.
I run back - through long practice I've learned how to run through Natimbi
to Kod'taz naked and visible. I make it back to my corpse while everyone is
still fighting golems. I loot my corpse, leaving one bag on it, and cast a
couple of buffs on myself. My Quarm shoulders are very helpful in
situations like this, giving me a buff that gives me 8mana/tick
regeneration.
We're doing good; we might actually kill the golems for the first time ever.
All the unmezzable golems are dead and we begin to kill the mezzables. When
those are dead, the High Summoner becomes targetable. All the healers are
just about out of mana, and what we have left we throw on the tanks that
engage the High Summoner.
The High Summoner dies. Our cheers are cut short when a *huge* mob appears
in the center of the ring. If we were low on healing mana before, we are
running on mere mana vapors now. I do what I can, throwing heals as soon as
I've regenned mana, but tanks are still dying pretty frequently. Finally
the only tank left is a recruit, a warrior with good attitude and ability
but not much in the way of equipment. He gets one-rounded by the mob, from
full health to dead in the blink of an eye. Our raid leaders tell everyone
to burn whatever disciplines or mana they have left. I manage a couple of
heals and, finally, finally, with most of the raid dead, the mob falls.
I manage one woot before the awful realization hits: the ring is not over.
*Six* *more* golems spawn. That's it, we just can't handle it. These mobs
are supposed to be easy - they drop the quest pieces needed for eventual
access to Uqua. They don't hit that hard and don't have that many
hitpoints. But with most of our melee dead and everyone else out of mana,
they are more than sufficient to wipe out the rest of the raid, including
me.
I sigh and make my way back again. I run to a spot outside the ring that is
our usual rezzing/rebuffing spot. Alas, we learn something else about these
golems: unlike the other mobs in the ring event, they are perfectly capable
of running outside of the stone ring itself. And they have a huge aggro
radius. They run up and manage to kill everyone who was just rezzed.
Including me. I sigh and run back. Again.
In the meantime, there is loot to be awarded. Once again one of the pieces
is proving difficult to give away, a cape that I can't find listed in
Allakhazam's. It's nothing special, 175hp, 175mana, no focus effects. Once
again officers can't find anyone who wants it. I relent; I still have my
Sol Ro cloak, whose focus effect of Marr's Gift has been outdated by my new
breastplate. So I tell one of the officers I could use it as a minor
upgrade, and instantly I get awarded it.
There's the small problem of looting it. My Divine Aura and Divine Barrier
aren't up yet. I burned Target Divine Aura earlier in the event. DA and DB
take fifteen minutes to refresh, and the corpse with the cape on it will
expire in five minutes.
One of the clerics casts TDA on me at the zone-in and I try to run to the
corpse from there, but I don't nearly make it in time. I do manage to get
to the edge of the ring without getting aggro, though, so I hover there
wondering what to do. I can see the corpse I'm supposed to loot, surrounded
by six red see-invis golems. There's less than a minute on the corpse now.
Fatalistically I run in, hoping against hope I can loot it. Nope, the golem
make quick work of me, and the corpse poofs, taking the cape and a cap that
was awarded to one of our rangers. Argh.
I get lots of sympathetic tells. Truly it doesn't bother me too much, it
wasn't really a big upgrade for me. I get rezzed again and we get ready to
kill the golems, because we still need the quest pieces. We make our way
back to the edge of the ring, in full force this time. Just as we are ready
to enage, the golems disappear. As in, we're going to have to do this whole
event all over again.
It's not such a bad thing, though. Now we know what to expect every step of
the way. We should be able to handle it a bit better next time.
I'm still very very tired and I log without further ado. Despite having a
piece of loot with my name on it rot, I feel pretty good about the night's
event. We figured out an event that's been giving us problems. Next time
we'll beat it *and* get the loot and quest drops. =)
--
-Richard
Monual Lifegiver
Archon of Rodcet Nife
Silent Tempest
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This page is Copyright by Skaarak; Everquest (TM) is property of Sony Online Entertainment
All stories and art work are Copyright@ by the origial owner/writer.
Most, if not all stories, were taken from newsgroup alt.games.everquest (AGE), I recommend that anyone who gets a chance to read it should!