Strand of the Ancients exploit!

[Swampratt]

So for 4 days now , a group of guildies myself included have tried to complete a few quests in this area. The one we still have yet to finish is at the temple were you /say Nar'ssik to complete one quest and enter this room to try and clear/defeat PH's and Guardians. Everytime we go the same 6 to 12 people all from the same 2 guilds have this place on perma lock down. I thought to myself why? Then I thought to myself how they went from 22-30ish in 2-3 days just sitting at this Alter for 14-18 hours a day. So we kept an active eye on these guys and the spawns. Come to find out the 4 guardians are insta spawn level 27 4 dots. Once the innitial pull of 2 lizards and 1 troll is broke you can farm the insta spawn mobs with no risk. THATS right as he dies another auto respawns! so its endless exp with no risk. Not only does it stop other players from completing the quest it pushes this exploiters even further ahead of the casual player to exploit more content and abuse mobs/encounters.

Swampratt:mad:

[Anthal]

This sounds sort of borderline. Your best bet is to /petition it to see if it's actually against the ToS.

[hawnz]

they still have to beat the 4 dot. it's not like it's free xp. there are quite a few places where the mobs have instant respawn, and until sigil is willing to address the spawn times or at least make us aware that the spawn times are broken, it's not really an exploit.

[Swampratt]

This sounds sort of borderline. Your best bet is to /petition it to see if it's actually against the ToS.

Well, we would just like to complete the quest and move on about are buisiness. When you try and ask these guys for info or if we could get a shot at the named for quest completion they just luagh and say things like " No way , no time innterupt our 733t exp"! or they tell you the quest is in another location, when we have clearly seen them farm this mob at that location. Sigil should do one of two things make this mob a triggered spawn for people with the quest... and make those guardians have a 10min respawn. That would keep people like this from abusing a simple over look by Sigil.

Swampratt

[Anthal]

Unless you really want the quest reward, I'd just chalk this up to "not worth it". When anyone asks for help doing the 5 Brothers quest, I laugh and tell them not to waste their time. That took me like 6 hours to complete because of slow respawns and people cmaping the NPC's. Sometimes it's just better to cut and run than to waste your time.

[Vestas]

Unless you really want the quest reward, I'd just chalk this up to "not worth it". When anyone asks for help doing the 5 Brothers quest, I laugh and tell them not to waste their time. That took me like 6 hours to complete because of slow respawns and people cmaping the NPC's. Sometimes it's just better to cut and run than to waste your time.

Just a note - 5 Brothers *IS* worth it. You're just looking at the quest reward, a marginal amount of XP. However, the loot you can earn in those camps is some pretty large upgrades for everyone. Off the brothers and the bazillion random named that pop I got some impressive gear, finished decking out our tank and a lot of cash loot. Yes, it takes time (I still need 2 more brothers) but the loot rewards and ancillary XP from camps is huge.

[Anthal]

Oh, I'm well aware of that. We had macros for all of the named spawns, and everyone got REALLY nice gear. I managed to pick up 2 Rare swords, rare chest and shoulders, some nice legs, gloves, and arms, a Rare Dex Neck, and tons more. I probably made half a gold from all of the "crap" that dropped, too. If you can manage to farm the brothers themselves, they have really nice drop tables.

The big problem is that finding a group willing to sit there for 5 hours is tough, and there are plenty of people camping the spawns to find gear (eg: Yoshi drops some really nice daggers, Sodu drops a really nice bow).

[Varel]

Things like this will always happen.

Good for them to getting to lvl 30 by doing the same thing ad-infinatum...go them.

Petition it, move on, as has been said. Not alot you can really do other than that.

[Swampratt]

All we need is the named to complete this quest. Its well worth the Heroic(orange) quest reward. Not to mention I am sure this named has a deep loot table. We have moved on but when we are in the area we take a peek, praying we might get a chance at the named to complete the quest. Soon (this weekend) we will be out of this area and if we do not have it by then , yes we will chalk it off.

Swampratt

[Carni]

All we need is the named to complete this quest. Its well worth the Heroic(orange) quest reward. Not to mention I am sure this named has a deep loot table. We have moved on but when we are in the area we take a peek, praying we might get a chance at the named to complete the quest. Soon (this weekend) we will be out of this area and if we do not have it by then , yes we will chalk it off.

Swampratt

Insta spawns are stupid design.

Having said that I will get two levels tonight chaining insta 3 dotters if I don't get into a timely group.

[Molpadia]

So for 4 days now , a group of guildies myself included have tried to complete a few quests in this area. The one we still have yet to finish is at the temple were you /say Nar'ssik to complete one quest and enter this room to try and clear/defeat PH's and Guardians. Everytime we go the same 6 to 12 people all from the same 2 guilds have this place on perma lock down. I thought to myself why? Then I thought to myself how they went from 22-30ish in 2-3 days just sitting at this Alter for 14-18 hours a day. So we kept an active eye on these guys and the spawns. Come to find out the 4 guardians are insta spawn level 27 4 dots. Once the innitial pull of 2 lizards and 1 troll is broke you can farm the insta spawn mobs with no risk. THATS right as he dies another auto respawns! so its endless exp with no risk. Not only does it stop other players from completing the quest it pushes this exploiters even further ahead of the casual player to exploit more content and abuse mobs/encounters.

Swampratt:mad:


You have a valid point. Selfish players exploiting any mob is a lot like cheating IMO. And it is more agregious because it is a quest NPC. It should not matter wheather the quest is "worth it" or not, it is content I am paying for, and any group locking down any mob and endlessly killing it without allowing players attempting to complete a quest their 'turn' will result in many more npc's spawing only when flagged. That is not something I would like, but if too many l33t peeps do this sort of thing it diminishes the value of the game for me.

On a side note, I hope sigil does a good job with expansions, and releases them about once a year, then all these dodo's rushing to the end game will get there and not have anything to do, maybe they will leave. :D

[Dillgaar]

On a side note, I hope sigil does a good job with expansions, and releases them about once a year, then all these dodo's rushing to the end game will get there and not have anything to do, maybe they will leave. :D

I hope not... it was those increasingly frequest expansions that killed EQ for a lot of people, myself included....

Additional free content added over time... sure... a single paid expansion every two years... sounds good to me

[Muggi]

Just as a note, the insta-spawn mobs are NOT quest placeholders, as someone seems to be confusing.

I know the exact bug, its been in since Beta 3 and /bugged a thousand times. At some point, you have to wonder..is it forgetfulness, laziness, or a game mechanic they're just comfortable with?

Oh and if the groups that were locking it down stayed there til 30, they're morons :P

That being said, it sucks they wouldn't let you get your quest mob. That's just rude.