Last night was our first time in the Protector’s Realm, and the guild was pretty pumped up after our Mayong kill. We ended up almost starting on time, which is practically unheard of, and walked into the zone wondering what to expect. None of us had ever been there before, we didn’t even know the general script of the zone. It’s located in Sebilis, the same zone that Crypt of Agony uses. It’s made up of a few rooms, very little agro to start, and lots of npc dialog. You end up doing some interaction with the npc’s and then go on an epic quest (literally) to help aid the people stuck there. There’s four little named and then one more big named and then two more named after that — or so the rumor goes.
We made it past the first four named, which were not exactly hard, but not easy. Our guild couldn’t find a warden, so I volunteered to bring my 76 warden Arysh, and box the troubador. We can get by without a troubador, but we can’t get by without a warden. I would actually rather play the healer, but the guild screams if I think about dropping the bard. We’ll have to see where that goes. It’s easier to find a warden then a troubador, but difficult to find a good warden, if that makes sense.
We managed to kill Iztapa Vyx on the first pull, Wymbulu took quite a few, we came back to that one later. Adkar Vyx went down after the second pull. The encounters have a lot of aoe’s, some dots, some of them massive. Wymbulu was hitting people for 12-18k a shot with a flurry AoE that just ripped us to shreds the first few pulls until we figured out a method to beat them. I must say, the troubador level 80 spell countersong (absorbs 70% of an aoe raid wide – lasts for 20 seconds 10 minute recast) really helped a lot. We couldn’t avoid the aoe completely, but eating 70% of it was great. M1 absorbs 90% of the aoe. Zukluk Vyx took two pulls, and we were feeling pretty good.
One unique thing about these encounters that differ from the previous tiers, is that they drop coin, and a good amount. By the time we’d downed the first four named, we’d each made 3p – plus paid for repairs once from the mender bot. To be expected while we learn something new. We had a blast, and our spirits were high as we set the script in motion for Doomcoil, which is a giant snake – and you only get one chance to beat him.
We knew he ported. Knew he had two aoe’s one large and one small. We proceeded to pull him (her?) and learned that the snake also heals when ever anyone dies, but also hits like a kitten. Tactics ranged from attempting it as a curor (snake in DT) fight with massive burning while we bladedanced for as long as possible, to trying to hide behind geometry to avoid the aoe’s. Needless to say he wiped the floor with us, though it did take some time. If you fail on him, he apparently can come and assist in the next encounter – so we called it a night for then.
The loot was not fantastic, but not bad either. Upgrades are upgrades after all eh? No discoveries but I’m sure that the “bigger” raid guilds have already cleaned out these little ones.
I was proud of our guild for what we accomplished, though I wish I hadn’t of been boxing, it wasn’t that big of a deal in the end. Nothing required a whole lot of maneuvering, and even though Arysh is only level 76, I ended up parsing 2nd zone wide on heals. Helps that a lot of things are AoE damage and druids certainly shine in those circumstances.
After raids, a few guildmates asked me if I thought I could solo heal Maidens. It’s one of the two instances in the Howling Stones, and used for the legendary (used to be fabled) weapon quest. It’s a hard zone, the two more difficult encounters would be the three sisters, where you have to root one, mez another and dps the third. Then there’s also the final named, who heals every time you dps (and that means ANY dps, including thorns, procs, adornments, cloaks, etc) until she’s done freaking out and then you can start up again. I was a little cautious but told the guild I was fairly confident I could solo heal it at level 76 on the warden. We had the ideal group, a guardian, dirge, necromancer, coercer, and swashbuckler, all level 80 except for me. We had one wipe, on the sisters because we had them running around for a bit too long, but pulled with the group charm and things went just fine. We got a lot of legendary chests, two master chests, a few upgrades (most of them going to the coercer, good night to be a caster!) and other random goodies. Arysh didn’t end up getting her legendary weapon since she still needs to do the quest from Vault of Eternal Sleep first. Afterwards we whipped through Crypt of Agony, and since it was 2:30am after that I called it a night.
Today I quested with Shadowgeist until he left for work, and then picked up a charmed pet to solo quest in Kunzar Jungle, the zone I hate the most. I love the way RoK has plenty of animal creatures, it’s the first time I’ve had such a supply of things to charm. In fact I re-spec’d for now just to be able to max out that charm while I’m questing. The little bit of extra dps is an amazing addition when I’m all alone. Hit level 77, and got to wear two new pieces of gear, a shield and a new pair of gloves. I have a cloak waiting for me and that chestpiece as soon as I hit level 79. Things are going smoothly in game (for the time being) here’s hoping it lasts!
A Pixel Nomad 