The 50’s are kickin my butt

Khek my Sarnak Shadowknight is now level 52 and I’m really starting to feel the hurt.  Stargrace told me that she always hated the 50’s and I didn’t believe her at first.  Sinking Sands had been so dang good to me.  I went from 45 to 50 in like 2 or 3 days which was a shocker to me given how bad 40-45 felt.  Right now Khek is working through the Lesser Fay quests and he’s not having trouble killing mobs.  He’s 52 and able to take on a level 60 mob with no difficulty at all (although it uses half his mana in 1 kill) so difficulty in killing isn’t an issue… I think it’s the zones that are getting at me.

I don’t like Lesser Faydark and how it’s laid out.  Every 2 feet I run into an aggro mob that snares or knocks down.  Also, being evil I am not welcome at the Fae Court area so those quests are off-limits to me.  I have about 5-6 quests right now but 2 are heroic.  Each quest is becoming increasingly more difficult.  Pillars of Flame is also another option for me but when I went there I nearly become ill when I couldn’t find my quest objectives and couldn’t wiggle my tail without hitting a mob.   Cramped zones = Not very fun for me.  I like having some room to maneuver.  I like quest hubs being located in outlying areas and sending you off to do quests.  I’m less enthused about having to run back and forth between camps and fight my way to them.

I’m almost tempted to use some of my enhanced exp /claim stuff to get past this rut.  A guildy told me about “basket quests” in Tenebrous Tangle… what are those?  He had to log before he could properly explain them to me so all I know is that they give good exp.  Anyway, that’s my brief EQ2 update.  I sure do want to get out of this rut.

  • Basket Quests are given in Tenebrous Tangle and ask you to kill several of a certain type of monster in the area, resulting in great gold and xp, and is how I have gotten almost every one of my characters to 60. In fact, all my characters I got to 60, doing those, usually in a group, since the reward is based on finishing the quest.

    You talk to the avian near the port-up point, then go through the arch straight through behind the ruins on the other side (all non-aggro mobs on the way). He’ll want you to bring him four jumpers (non-aggro little frogs that you HARVEST, you can’t attack them), and then allows you to collect baskets scattered around the area and fill them with whatever they need to be filled with — each starts a quest, you can’t repeat a specific monster basket quest until you complete all four varieties.

    You can only do them a certain amount of times, but they are highly recommended.

  • I believe the mobs are all level 58 solo mobs (not exactly sure). Pop up and try one out. They aren’t meant to be challenging; as far as I can tell, they were put there so you’d have something useful to do while looking for a group.

    The whole Temple Grounds island is just amazing for soloers; you can get lots of writs for the place, harvests are plentiful; Droag and Drake L&Ls are there so there’s another thing you can work on in your spare time; it’s just a really great place for soloers or small groups up to about level 60, and you’ll want to be in SoS or Breeding Grounds or the harder parts of Lesser Fay if you want to solo by then.

    And then at 65+ — KUNARK!

    You’re almost back home again!

  • Dang you’re 52 taking on 60’s with no trouble? I’ve never been able to do that, although I tend to pick gimpier classes. My troubador is 51 and feeling similar pain. I attempted Lesser Faydark and just can’t do it, so have to stick with the blue con mobs for now in Steamfont and Sinking Sands.

    I don’t get that cramped zone feeling here as much as I did in Lavastorm (hate that zone) and other places. But then I have sneak, so that helps the back and forth stuff. Buying some Totems of the Jaguar helps some.