Strategy for Najena’s Hollow Tower

Thought I would start doing write-ups of zones.

****If you don’t want to be spoiled then don’t read any further****

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Najena’s Hollow Tower
Located in Lavastorm

From the cave that leads into LS from the dock area, head west, you’ll come to the long-existing tunnel that has been sealed since ‘05.  Head down this tunnel — there are a couple shard quests from some dark elves to pick up on the way, for the Tower and the Forge.

At the end of the tunnel is a large set of double-doors.  Those lead to the Deep Forge (the easier of the two instances, by a small notch).

The platform immediately in front of the double doors is what you utilize to reach the Hollow Tower, as it is actually an underground complex going DOWN, not a tower, per se.

The trash here is mostly linked in 2’s and 3’s, double and triple up heroics.  There are some encounter’s of 5 linked single-ups deeper down.

• In order to progress through the dungeon, utilize the series of valves to lower the lava to each level.

• Each level has a named, and of course, they get more difficult as you go lower.

1.) Fitzfangle - at the top entrance level

When you first enter he calls and alarm and stuff comes running at you to kill.  Clear the room of this.

He summons multiple bomb-pod tinker toy things that sit stationary and buzz at you.  Heavy AE can burn them down before they do anything drastic.  Other than that, it’s a straightforward burn.

2. ) Raz’hish – second level, in the steam room

Have two ranged DPS target this mob directly so that they can see his buff icons under his name in their target window.  At either end of the steam room, overlooking his holding area, there are two valves.  At intervals throughout the fight, these vlaves become clickie.  Put the ranged DPS on these valves and whenever they see his reflection buff come up, they click the vents to release steam and the buff goes away.  Failure to do this reflects most damage back on you until the buff is made to drop.

(Note: there is a bug with this that he sometimes does not properly reset after a wipe and his buff will still be active upon first pull — make sure the buff is not active before pull, after a reset, or the clickies will never activate and you will be forced to wipe.)

3.) Jailer Ca’iluer – in the third level prison cell area

This guy will spawn flame tornados.  These tornados remain stationary and heal him when he is near them.  They also throw off a minor heat DoT that will damage any group members in their vicinity.  Each time he spawns one, have the tank drag him progressively further back down the hall you came from in linear manner, so that he is not nearby/healed by each tornado.  All the rest of the group should remain well in front of the tank as you move back down the hall, to avoid the DoT as the tornados are spawned.  It’s an easy burn fight otherwise.

4. )  Magmadin - lower level lava caves

First clear the entire room of all the drakes.  Do this as fast because they DO respawn.  Magmadin is a dragon that hides in a lava pool.  Be careful as you go around not to walk up on the ledges and drag him onto you.  As soon as you pull him, he will port the entire group into a random lava pit.  This does immediate damage and keeps doing damage until you get out.  Not all members are ported to the same lava pit.  He will port all the group all thru the fight.  After he ports the group, he will chase whoever has aggro.  Get your bearings back as fast as possible and race back to the tank — while avoiding falling into one of the lava pits.  No tricks here — just takes some skill and everyone really has to be paying attention.  Fast heals and very solid range DPS will be a huge help.

5.)  Gurg Flameeater and co. -  stairs to Najena’s throne room

A captain summoned by Najena when you reach the stairs just above her throne room.  Comes with multiple adds and a linked grouped.  The trigger point for the spawn is about 1/3 down the final flight of stairs.  Have everyone stay on the top landing and have the tank spawn the first group.  Pet pull the group to the top landing.  Kill those (some elementals).  Eventually she will summon the captain.  Adds may or may not come with his group depending on how you’ve been pulling.

(Note: at this time, if you continue to move up and down on the stairs, then Najena will continue to summon the same NPC’s over and over, inlcuding the named – assume this is a bug – so stay at the top landing.)

6.) The Reformed Magolemus – Najena’s Throne Room / stairs

This will spawn during or immediately after the fight with Gurg and friends.
Mezz it if you have the luxury until you finish off the trash.  Tank with his back to the side wall of the stairway.  Burn down.  Very simple fight, just lots of HP so regen is a must.

(You will get an annoying message about 500 times that says “The magolemus grows larger!”  Even long after you’ve killed him, looted, and run out.)

Najena floods the tower.  Run back up and out or …

… if you want your extra void shard then go to the chest in the central spire and have whoever has the key unlock it before the place floods. You can all roll so everyone gets 1 shard from the chest — in addition to the quest from the dark elf outside this run is worth 2 void shards total.

Feel free to comment if you’ve done things differently.

A Very Smooth Launch

I’ve been part of 5 expansion launches in EQ2.  This is the smoothest expansion launch since Desert of Flames.

Some people have reported crashing out.  I guess I’m fortunate – I have not experienced the crashing problem.  (Although I have had to contend with Road Runner’s constant service outages these past few days.)

Quest NPC Starters in TSO

From EQ2Players:

Hop aboard the Skystrider airship in Sinking Sands to travel to the newly rediscovered Moors of Ykesha!

Once there, either speak with Ember Tizzlespring to begin assisting the Scholars of the Lost in expanding their efforts in the Moors of Ykesha or …

… speak with Ragheejb Yasir to receive missions that will send you to the numerous other newly opened locales throughout Norrath.  (i.e. dungeon running – Ara)

If you wish to be of use to the Antonia of Qeynos or the Overlord of Freeport in addressing matters of great importance to the fate of Norrath, visit their emissaries in Qeynos Harbor and East Freeport.

GU50 Tidbits

• Characters will now continue to get Apprentice I versions of spells and combat arts placed in their spell book at appropriate levels above 50.

• There are new appearances for the Inferno Golem pet. As a result the spell has been renamed to Fiery Magician.

• Three new amenities added to guild halls! Achievement Counselor, Collection Binder, and the Mariner’s Bell: Island of Mara.

• The “Flora Displacement” option has been optimized and does not reduce framerate so much.

• The stats section of the Persona window has been expanded to include more information.

TSO Dungeon Rundown

Miragul’s Phylactery: (located in Everfrost)

• Scion of Ice
• The Anathema
• The Crucible

Najena’s Tower: (located in Lavastorm)

• The Hollow
• The Deep Forge

Befallen: (located in the Commonlands)

• Cavern of the Afflicted
• Halls of the Forsaken
• Necrotic Asylum

Mistmoore: (located in the Loping Plains)

• Evernight Abbey
• Mistmyr Manor
• Ravenscale Repository

Sebilisian Dungeons: (located in Kunark)

• Veksar (Fens, full version of current instance)
• Nu’Roga (Fens, at the Mines of Nurga)
• Atrebe’s Laboratory: The Fabled City of Korsha (Fens, Cabilis, via sokobat from Omen’s Call)

- Not to be confused with the RoK raid zone “the Temple of Korsha”

Guk: (Moors of Ykesha, take balloon down from Dropship Landing Zone UJL, take path up from Firmroot)

• Halls of the Fallen / Upper Guk
• Lower Corridors / Lower Guk
• Ykesha’s Outer Stronghold

The Void:

• Obelisk of Akzhul
• Anchor of Bazzul
• Palace of Ferzhul
  

Raid Zones (so far):  WORK IN PROGRESS!

• Tomb of the Mad Crusader
• Palace of the Ancient One
• Zarrakon’s Abyssal Lair
• Ykesha’s Inner Stronghold
  

Difficulty of Zones in TSO:

Easy:

• Najena’s Tower: The Deep Forge
• Mistmoore: Evernight Abbey
• Befallen: Cavern of the Afflicted
• Phylactery: Scion of Ice
• Void: Obelisk of Akzhul

Moderate:

• Fens: Nu’Roga
• Mistmoore: Mistmyr Manor
• Fens: Veksar
• Phylactery: The Anathema
• Najena’s Tower: The Hollow

Tough:

• Guk: Halls of the Fallen
• Befallen:  Halls of the Forsaken
• Phylactery: The Crucible
• Void: Anchor of Bazzul

Hard:

• Befallen: Necrotic Asylum
• Mistmoore: Ravenscale Repository
• Cabilis: Kor-sha
• Guk: Lower Corridors

Very Hard:

• Void: Palace of Ferzhul
• Guk: Ykesha’s Outer Stronghold

*if RE2 as baseline = Moderate*

Nerfing Content while in Beta, some thoughts

The following was posted as part of yesterday’s beta update:

• Palace of Ferzhul is now a persistent instance instead of a zone with a lockout timer.
• The Librarians should have ~15% less hit points.
• The Scrolls of Binding in the Librarian encounter can now be used to delay the detonation of the trap. Each scroll will disrupt the trap, delaying its ascent for 10 seconds, and multiple uses will stack the duration of the disruption. However, they will not slow the descent of the trap.
• Ferzhul’s adds have been lowered in tier.
• Ferzhul’s Void-charged Fel Blast no longer stifles and has had its initial damage lowered slightly.

So, that’s a pretty big nerf to the baddies in that zone.

I can only assume it comes as a result of people complaining that the encounter is “too hard” — or perhaps the devs deciding that the encounter is too hard.

The issue I have with these kinds of changes is fairly simple.  This expansion needs to keep people challeneged and entertained for ONE YEAR.

What is the RUSH to be able to clear every instance and kill every named?

Shouldn’t some exceptionally hard nameds and dungeons be existing?  And by exceptionally — I mean, really, truly, challenging six-man content that might not be cleared by anyone for the first 4-6 months of release.

There are what – 12-15 dungeons in this release?  Surely one or TWO of them can be left as exceedingly tough, and people will still have plenty to do for awhile.

Case in point from the current live game: when the small sampling of Veksar was released, I was invited to a pick up group on my first outing.  This was a group of fabled raiders from one of the best, if not the best, raiding guilds on our server.  Veksar was supposedly a super challenging zone that gave a preview of the content to come.

We whipped through it in 20 minutes without a single person dying a single time.

So … what is to prevent this same kind of “rush” through the new dungeon content in TSO — that should keep us all occupied for a year?

The only obstacle to that rush and following boredom can be true challenge.

I’m not talking about tedium, I mean — nerfing an encounter that is shard simply because it is deemed “too hard” is not the same as getting rid of placeholders or cutting down on Fed-Exing quests.  That is tedium.  No, a challenging encounter is challenging usually because of: very high hitpoints, hard hitting mobs or adds that are not easily controlled, and specific strategies that need to be met to be victorious.

Up until now, most of those qualifiers have been relegated to raid encounters — in fact almost exlusively so, from the eyes of the casual player.  Even what is considered the most ‘challenging’ zone on Live currently, such as RE2, can be easily completed with fairly simple and straightforward tactics.

When RoK came out 1 year ago, I remember walking into Karnor’s Castle at level 72 with a level 77 tank in our group and getting blown away — and I was thinking “This is awesome!  Finally we get some tough encounters in the game again!”  Then everyone moaned and whined for 2 months, and the developers ended up nerfing the mobs to hell — so that now a trip to Karnor’s is just as easy and boring as a trip to any other zone.

That is exactly the kind of reactive response I hope they will be avoiding with this expansion.

Because yes.  It seems hard.  Quite hard.  But you know, most of the dungeons in RoK seemed pretty hard at the time, too.  Now?  Now they are all cakewalks, every last one of them.

So, here’s my thinking:  leave stuff hard.  Let people complain and whine for a little while.  After they realize it ain’t gonna change, they’ll quiet down.  And 3 or 4 months later, when they have the true satisfaction of completing that instance, finally taking out that named, they’ll love you all the more for not putting the game on easy mode.