Getting Essence of the Dragon I (Group) [Kar'Zok immunity]

Unless Daybreak implements another method, doing most progression in Ring of Scale, as well as getting keyed for Veeshan's Peak (Ring of Scale), will be difficult without the Empires of Kunark achievement Essence of the Dragon I (Group).

In addition, raiding in Empires of Kunark tier 3 and in Ring of Scale will require this.

While there is an argument over how important this is for casual players, I'm not going to discuss that.

What I would like to offer is my version of how to get Essence of the Dragon I (Group). While EQ Resource has an excellent page on Empires of Kunark progression, my page is solely focused on getting Essence of the Dragon I (Group).

Here is the link: Empires of Kunark progression > Required for Kar'Zok immunity

I've attempted to make it as easy as possible to work just on getting the achievement. If you have any suggestions to improve it, let me know. Or even better, go edit it yourself. That's what wikis are all about.

Thank you very much Fanra
I would like to add that in SW, when working with the Burynai or Centaur faction, play around with illusions if you have them. Some illusions may get you a better start point with one or the other if you use them, making the faction grind a lot less painful.

Thanks, I've added a line about illusions. If you know what illusions work, I would appreciate if you could let us know, or add them yourself to the article.

In general, the player races (or maybe classes) that affect your faction with the Burynai and Centaurs are something it would be nice to know, if someone knows the details.

awesome, thanks alot Fanra.

I 'think' Dark Elf for Burynai and Wood Elf for Centaur? (I don't remember so can't say I'm 100% sure).

Dark elf will give about 2 faction levels for Burynai, I tested a couple others and some give a single rank increase but dark elf is a much larger increase. and I think I used High Elf for Centaurs.

I used Wood Elf for Centaurs, and yes, Dark Elf for Burynai.

I just tested on the centaur.

Current faction I have with them: Dark Elf, no illusions: Amiable.
Gore-Splattered Shoulders: High Elf: Warmly.
Crown of Deceit: Wood Elf: Warmly.

Also, strat for Droga>Pure Success and Droga>Rebellion of the Pure with a rogue (for quick completion):

Pure Success:

• Have rogue request task to get the injector.
• Take group down to Overlord Boilwart area.
• Group starts to clear out room with Boilwart in it (one goblin + 2 slaves, + 2 wandering mobs)
• While group is clearing out the room, rogue does his hail run
• Rogue injects himself with injector (make sure you have no illusion on, else it won't take)
• Rogue runs to Wergla, Gentza, and Snally
  • Werglra is on a bridge, a couple of pathers to watch out for. When no pathers around, unhide and say "combine," this will update the quest.
  • Gentza is in a small cave, with two gobs near him, but backs turned toward his position. Get behind him, unhide only (keep sneak on) and say "combine," this will update the quest.
  • Snally is in the far south east room. One spider paths into the room that you need to watch out for. Get behind Snally, unhide and say "combine", this will update the quest.
• Rogue runs back to group at Boilwart. When Boilwart room is clear, say "combine" to Boilwart, he will go active. Kill him.
• Rogue goes and turns in task, gets next task. Group stays in Boilwart area, keeps it cleared.

Rebellion of the Pure

• Rogue requests task to get injector.
• Rogue heads in and immediately heads to one of the first three goblins named above, after injecting himself and turning into a goblin.
  • Say "me" to Werlgra for update.
  • Say "dronan" to Gentza for update.
  • Say "control" to Snally for update.
• Rogue runs back to Boilwart. When Boilwart room is clear, say "stronger" to him. Three blue con goblins will spawn. Kill these.
• Rogue runs back to Frontier Mountains for turn-in.

Also, in regards to Dronan, for the second quest Purifying the Purifier, the items needed for it CAN be prelooted, and turned in when you get the quest if you are helping others through it:

• 3 Drogan Ore (NOT Dronan Ore. Drogan Ore drops off slaves.)
• 3 Goblin Mushroom Loaf (found in supply crates/barrels. Have to be broken open, and looted old fashioned way)
• 3 Drogan Medicinal Herb Bundles

Anyway, a few tips that can make Droga go real quick.

Thanks, I've added all this information.

All my toons as an injector from requesting and quiting the task that I always keep. That way anyone without a campfire timer can go do the turn in.
For Pure Success and Rebellion of the Pure it doesnt matter which order you take. Stuff agro on the last you talk to but Boilwart or Werlgra is a good one to finish with . I also space those 2 quests out If you have someone that can request them all in any order. I send the class that can bind to the quest npc then campfire back or worse case I just plant a toon there for turn in as I have stacks of everything pre lootable even full set of the bloods... The casters and the rogues are a little rarer then the rest so I was making sure to click those when ever I could. I always end up doing progression for other people that do not have the time so for me doing things that way is saving me time.

*nod* I usually park the group at Boilwart because the goblin there by him is facing toward him, so my sneak won't work. Plus, having run through this a few times, I know the way through Droga pretty well between the 4 mobs, so I do it pretty darn fast.

As far as the first quest, yes, you are right, the rogue and spell caster mobs are the rarest ones, especially the spell caster ones. Unfortunately, I can't offer a suggestion to making this part go faster.

I am thinking of running in with a group of people that have completed it just to run the first mission and second mission just to get the bloods, and have those ready to go for a group that needs to run through it. I have stacks of the ore, medicinal stuff, and bread, so I am good to go on those.

Another thing to mention with the SW faction grind - you can have both faction-required partisan tasks active at the same time. I ran my bard through this zone relatively quickly (hah, puns) by grabbing the burynai task first, then killed a bunch of them in order to get the centaur task. Or was it the other way around... I can't recall. In any case, you can have both active at the same time and work on both at the same time.

Easiest way to do the grind is to get a faction potion from the store and go out killin', then do an illusion as noted above to finish it all off. There are two mercenary tasks that give faction as well (one for burynai, one for centaurs). They can be repeated, and can be acquired much sooner than the partisan tasks in terms of faction requirements.

Methods for Sarnak Destruction tips:
Raise smithing to 222 by combing one cobalt ore with a file (you need 202 skill, but getting extra is always good).

Intact White Dragon Scale, Meteorite Fragment, Giant Lymph Node, Dronan Ore, Imperial Ore, Korshan Sarnak Scale, and Ancient Sarnak Bones are all prelootable. When you get the quest, and you have these items in your inventory, and the quest does not update, trade these items to someone, and have them trade them back, this will update the quest.

Metallurgy of Souls (from Brell's Temple) IS NOT pre-lootable. It is no trade, so you can't pre-loot it and do the trade trick. You have to wait to get to this step in the quest to travel to Brell's Temple to loot the book (spawns on table in middle of zone where Brell is).

Cleaned White Dragon Scale, Enchanted Meteorite Fragment, Enchanted Giant Lymph Fluid, Enchanted Dronan Ore, Enchanted Imperial Ore, Cleaned Korshan Sarnak Scale, Korshan Portal Resonance, and Enchanted Ancient Sarnak Bones can be crafted by another player and pre-looted before the task, or this step in the task. If, after getting the update for the Metallurgy of Souls, this next step does not update and you have the items, do the trade trick, and it will update.

Meh...
I've taken a look and ran into that captcha-thing, but can't be arsed to allow google scripts on my computer.
So instead i'm letting you know here:

I'd add a hint in Lceanium and Scorched parts at least, that
1) each additional character in the group that has requested the quests but does not need the drops will still give you additional quest-parts. Only a few of the "supply" tasks can be repeated, but all of the mercenary ones can as well as any partisan in the following zones of course.
So if you have boxes or the company of someone who has completed progression already, make him get the task (again) anyways, but assign the items in /advl all to the char that needs them first; this will speed things up enormously.
2) Always do request mercenary tasks as soon as possible, and do them as you do the partisans. By the time you have completed partisan tasks, the mercenary tasks (for all zones but FM) will have "done themselves" in the process. FM mercenary tasks are basically just one more big round of the zone, with a stop at each task-giver's area.
3) while you mentioned it in passing, i would emphasize it more that in Scorched you "need" to start with whatever faction you are higher in. get faction up to kindly, request partisan for that side. then - as Thrillho said - immediately flip faction (easier with the ENC that you mentioned, i would just make that more clear via layout if possible) and request the other side's partisan as well - so that you have 3partisans active, from Burynai, Centaurs and Domenica.
You can then do the 3 partisans all in basically one big round around the zone - and for the turn-ins all you need to worry about is that remain non-KoS which basically takes no effort at all.
4) for the time you are doing faction work with either Burynai or Centaurs, assign their quest-giver to your xtar, so you need not run to them to check your faction. Unless you are lucky enough to do the tasks during a reduced lockout-timer event, make sure to /taskt every now and then to keep the "wasted" time between faction-task requests to a minimum

I've found that these have significantly reduced my "time required" to do those tasks.

In the Chardok, FM, Droga paragraphs you mentioned they're group tasks. i would add a mentioning this means that you can be /taskadded and need not even be in the zone in order to get credit. It will of course significantly speed up the flagging process.
I'd also add a remark to Sarnak among us (even though it's mentioned on the EQResource page you linked to) that you either want good DPS that can kill the mob in 2-3casts or some means to knock it back reliably. I found this mission the by far most "boxing-unfriendly" one.

Yeah, CAPTCHAs suck but it is necessary as I was getting many new spam accounts a day without it. You can just let the Google script run temporarily to get the CAPTCHA done. Alternately, once you create an account and do a useful edit (yeah, you have to let the CAPTCHA work during that), I then (within a day or so) give you access to avoid all CAPTCHAs in the future while logged in.

Thanks. I'll try to incorporate what I can.

Also, anyone who creates an account on Fanra's EverQuest Wiki can just send me a PM here with your Fanra's EverQuest Wiki account name and I'll flag you there to avoid CAPTCHAs when logged in.

But is 1 of the worst part not actually one of the first ?

I mean the spider part in LCE

Yep, those spider caves are difficult, unless you have good dps or CC. Most people get stuck there until they get a group.

The repellant step in the spider caves...
Used to be difficult, and probably still is - depending on your gear/AAs (as usual).

As EoK is "old" now though, i have the impression it's not THAT difficult anymore.
I have done it with my mostly group-geared SHD and only group-geared ENC for a RNG who was the DPS - CC is big here.
On the other side, i also do it (of course) easily now with my (raid-geared) WAR and a mostly group geared SHM - when i had issues with a group initially, i.e. when EoK was new.

So yes:
It can be a difficult step - but not as much if you can handle 5spiders some way outside, so you can test easily if you are "ready" for it.