First impressions

[Reiker]

Hello, I started playing today, got up to 44 on my main and my box (Monk/Cleric), but there's 1 major thing that irks me here: named mobs.

Named mobs are way too difficult. Especially once I hit the 30+ bracket. Karnor's Castle... well, I just couldn't pull past the first couple mobs without pulling a train so I never got far in there. But lguk/com was the same story. Lguk has a lot of nameds mobs all over the place, and the fact that I couldn't kill them really limited my hunting options. I got down to the safe room, but I couldn't pull assassin or savant which limited me to about 7 trash mobs to kill. At about 40 I can absolutely destroy any of the trash mobs (which hit for 70-100 max, but don't hit max very often, and have very few hp). I was able to FD split the assassin solo, but there was absolutely no way I could keep up with healing on a mob that hits for 270s (and flurry maybe, can't remember). A named mob shouldn't have an 400-500% dps increase over the trash surrounding it. What this means is that if I ever want any drops from these mobs, I have to come back and specifically camp them when the rest of the zone is green and not worth exp. And more importantly, level appropriate players aren't able to hunt named mobs and even worse they hamper normal experience gain. After dying a few times in Lguk I gave CoM a whirl... 4 more deaths later to Captain of the Guard and A Mighty Golem and I logged out.

[Falcore]

I leveled up my monk on this server with my cleric bot and a few other bots that were advantages from time to time. I would first suggest do not forget your Phantom line of Disciplines for pulling they can be a tremendous asset.

Also take a look at the Alla clone and set some goals on specific mobs that drop loot that will help you in the long run. Like Raster of Guk who will give you your first long range throwing stars (which come in very handy).

Looking at your Megelo I noticed your character still has some Shiver back armor, meaning you never got a full set of armor from Crush/Paludal. Completing all the quests in the lower zones before you move on to an upper zone will help an enormous amount.

And of course this server has a decent population so dont be afraid to group and make some friends to help you along the way

[Reiker]

Thanks for the suggestions Falcore, but the fact still remains that named mobs shouldn't be such a huge increase in difficulty above trash.

I'm actually trying to figure out what the deal is with my discs... I click them but nothing happens. I have the latest spell file. They worked fine on Storm Haven. /shrug

And yeah... I saw stacks upon stacks of chain/metal/silk but very few leather... oh well. An extra 150 hp wouldn't help me against mobs that quad/flurry for 270.

[Tyler]

Keep in mind that most of our server is designed towards groups. Even if that group consists of only 2 players + bot. So its expected to have a hard time soloing.

[Lillu]

Give us more details about your disc problems and we might be able to help. I suspect it's a client side issue however.

[Ydiss]

The problem here is mainly in the illusion of overpowering strength this server grants you at an early age. You can pretty-much solo/bot the named encounters in Crush and Palu when red, crushing most other trash mobs when deep, deep red without a thought.

The same tends to apply when you enter Guk/COM/KC but the major difference here is the step up with the named. Some are level 54; of course you will struggle to solo them at level 44! The remainder are lower level and very much doable once you hit the latter 40s and early 50s.

Granted, it's a bit of a rude awakening and it happened to me and my friend when we first tried to kill a named in Guk (at level 35-40). But with a few extra levels and a bit of split pulling (you're a monk, you should be able to do this ) we eventually managed to find each encounter easier to manage. That's two of us, plus bot, of course. As mentioned above, we quickly realised these named encounters were not intended to be soloable at an early age. We basically left the king and lord alone until we'd gotten a lot more levels.

It takes about an hour to get the levels required to take on most named in Guk and you can manage this when they're even con or yellow, depending on your duo make up and the encounter in question (managing the ass/sup when both are up is extremely tough; you just need to break the room and ensure you take each on one at a time). The only exclusion from this would be the two main bosses (Lord and King) which are both very tough encounters (particularly the king, which can still wipe you when blue) and I imagine would require you to be at least +1 level over them before you could solo them.

But to do these you just need levels and gaining levels on this server is very, very easy. If you're struggling to enjoy leveling up on the trash of these zones (we did, in some cases, particularly when a level 70 was clearing the entire zone to PL their alt), then why not try some old world zones for your level to get some quick experience?

You'll be amazed how fast you can gain experience in an old world zone; the content is weak yet yields as much experience as a custom zone and, often, is totally empty of other players. Bliss

As for item progression: Don't worry too much about out-growing the Chaotic gear; it won't be replaced at least until you're level 70, so gaining the full set in your mid 50s is quite normal.

PS Sometimes you just have to be patient, find a named room with no named up, clear it and wait for the repop. A well broken room is much easier to manage than a full one with named up. As I said, however, you're a monk and you should be able to split any room you like (obviously, this isn't an option for everyone and I appreciate that). In any case, if you get the named alone and it still beats you then get a couple more levels and try again. There's no punishment for death on this server, besides a little lost time.

[Ydiss]

PPS And one last tip before I shut up: You will probably perform better if you choose another option for your bot. At least until the bots are updated, the cleric bot is not (in my experience) optimal whatsoever when soloing.

I'd suggest making either a ranger or, probably even better, a paladin bot. Both cause a ton more DPS than the cleric (obviously) and the former causes a seriously high level of DPS, which is often all you need to take down a named in guk/com/KC, plus (until the bot code is updated, soon) if you click off the regen the ranger gives you he will actually keep you nicely healed and deal DPS at the same time.

The paladin, however, will hold agro like a rock, keep itself healed (got to love LOH) and cause a significant level of DPS on your target. It'll even try to keep you alive (adequately so in some cases, particularly when you have mend).

Both can be controlled with a little inventive macro writing (you can make the paladin retarget to keep mobs off you, if needed; they can also be very adept pullers).

Give it a shot. The time taken to fit them out in armour is well worth it and you'll find your life as a soloist much more enjoyable. Cleric bots really need to be backed up with a solid tank plus DPS to function well enough, in my experience. A single monk doesn't quite add up to that, not against the named.

Oh and you're more likely to get advanced RSI before these two run out of mana.

[Reiker]

The problem here is mainly in the illusion of overpowering strength this server grants you at an early age. You can pretty-much solo/bot the named encounters in Crush and Palu when red, crushing most other trash mobs when deep, deep red without a thought.

The same tends to apply when you enter Guk/COM/KC but the major difference here is the step up with the named. Some are level 54; of course you will struggle to solo them at level 44! The remainder are lower level and very much doable once you hit the latter 40s and early 50s.

Well yeah that's the problem, they shouldn't be so much stronger than the trash.

Granted, it's a bit of a rude awakening and it happened to me and my friend when we first tried to kill a named in Guk (at level 35-40). But with a few extra levels and a bit of split pulling (you're a monk, you should be able to do this ) we eventually managed to find each encounter easier to manage. That's two of us, plus bot, of course. As mentioned above, we quickly realised these named encounters were not intended to be soloable at an early age. We basically left the king and lord alone until we'd gotten a lot more levels.

K... but what I'm saying is that they SHOULD be doable. Like I said, I split the assassin solo, but a level 44 cleric spam healing can't begin to keep up with the damage.

It takes about an hour to get the levels required to take on most named in Guk and you can manage this when they're even con or yellow, depending on your duo make up and the encounter in question (managing the ass/sup when both are up is extremely tough; you just need to break the room and ensure you take each on one at a time). The only exclusion from this would be the two main bosses (Lord and King) which are both very tough encounters (particularly the king, which can still wipe you when blue) and I imagine would require you to be at least +1 level over them before you could solo them.

An hour to go from 40-55/60? With what hacks?

[Reiker]

PPS And one last tip before I shut up: You will probably perform better if you choose another option for your bot. At least until the bots are updated, the cleric bot is not (in my experience) optimal whatsoever when soloing.

I said box... not bot. I hate bots.

[Ydiss]

Well yeah that's the problem, they shouldn't be so much stronger than the trash.

K... but what I'm saying is that they SHOULD be doable. Like I said, I split the assassin solo, but a level 44 cleric spam healing can't begin to keep up with the damage.

They are doable. That's what I'm saying.

An hour to go from 40-55/60? With what hacks?

Well, I didn't say an hour to get from 40-60, I said an hour to get up to a level good enough to take on the named. That said, I imagine a couple hours to go from 44 to 54 is very doable, no hacks required at all.

But you don't need to get to 54 to do some of the named in Guk; 47-50 will do. Not a lot of work to achieve with x3 exp and an entire world of content which you seriously out-power (non custom content).

You don't need to use the non custom content, either. Just acing the trash around Guk got me three levels in a matter of 20 minutes or so, just now (I wasn't counting, to be honest).

The point is exp is very quick. You can still enjoy the zone in the mean time, just because the named are too tough doesn't mean you cannot explore the zone as they don't block access to it.

I said box... not bot. I hate bots

My mistake. But the point still stands, to a degree; cleric + monk is not an optimal tanking solution when you're trying to fight something that's out-DPSing your heals.

I box. I just took down the Savant and the Cavalier and the Scribe at level 41-42. I have:

Ranger (Box)
Bard (Box)
Paladin (Bot)

I was a solo player. Granted, I have one extra character but that's my choice and yours as well.

It's not impossible. It's touch and go, yes. I lost the bot on one and a player on another. But I expected to, considering it's a boss encounter and I am severely under-leveled (bosses all red to me).

One or two more levels and I'll expect I can do these named no trouble. Get me to 49 and I'll ace them, no trouble (and then it'll be a matter of leveling up to take on the more challenging encounters in the zone).

Again, I'm solo just like you. You can beat these encounters with the right numbers or the right levels. Just leveling up a little will enable you to beat these encounters. That's the point of the zone, to progress through the levels.

And if you'll note, Guk is 35-55, not 35-44