So I tried HKC with a zerker. I didn't know where I was going but it didn't matter much because most people there were not 100 like me, so I assume that's why we died so much. I accept that, I just wanted to see the place and learn it. One way I was contributing to the death toll was I had a lot of trouble pulling just one group at a time. And I consider myself very good at doing that. Years ago when I created this zerker, I spent lots of time in any place that had tight corridors and social mobs so I could pull just one group at a time, etc.. That personal training was kept up in newer and higher level dungeons and I did as much grouping as possible. The first really good place to learn that I think is Gobblerock's Hideout in Commonlands, or its twin, Condemned Catacombs. Mistmore comes to mind also, for later. Great place to get killed by pulling too many. And it's an important skill. So the people who'd been to HKC before kept encouraging me to use an arrow to pull. But I know that's crazy, and it certainly didn't work. Two mobs minimum on each arrow pull. Oddly, they got mad at me for pulling just one mob with a body pull, but that's what worked. I was quite frustrated with their behavior, was it just a bad group? Or do I need "stealth arrows" of some magical kind? I also find that the no-damage, single target taunt will pull just one mob. But again, I got a lot of static for doing that, I guess they thought it was "slower" or something, but I'm only assuming. To me, slower is getting killed every few mobs. Another thing that was a problem was that the walls weren't walls. The mobs walked right through them, and so did any aoe anyone used. Is there a general way to avoid this? If they'd been a more cooperative group, I'd have pulled every mob to the outer edge before they would begin dps-ing, but I didn't find that to be a workable solution with the people I had with me. The wizard in the group even pulled a group "through" me before I'd attacked it, and the scout was wandering off pulling groups left and right. I don't take responsibility for those deaths. Was that a bad group (I doubt they ever played skyshrine, the way they were acting)? Or is there some magic way to pull mobs that doesn't aggro 3 or more groups at a time in HKC and I just don't know it? Thanks in advance!
If you aren't in a stacked group, you don;t want to be pulling mobs quickly in HKC. The multi-group debuff will make people into pancakes pretty quickly. A lot of times you will want to body pull... you will need to get pretty close to some mobs to do so, but it helps ensure you get one group at a time. Getting 2 groups is doable, just make sure you burn one full group down before moving to the next. Getting 3 or more groups with an under-geared group won;t be pretty. Slow and steady is the goal in HKC for leveling. AE procs are problematic in HKC, as is not turning Singular Focus on for bow pulls. You want to get as few groups as possible unless you have the gear & heals to keep yourself alive. Blue AoE's will go thru floors (up and down in places) and walls. On the 1st floor, stay close to the outer wall. On the 2nd and 3rd floors be careful of pulling stuff from any direction. Being over or under any of the ramps can be particularly tough for avoiding AoE adds. If you want to pull stuff to a certain spot, stand there and cast some blues to pull any adds that would have come. Finally, the lower levels (with the liches) seem much more open and forgiving when it comes to AoEs. If you want to level toons, this is a good place to do it and let people AoE without too much consequence.
Body pulls. Maergoth has a post (3rd one down) on this thread with pictures. There are very few solo mobs in HKC. Most of the mobs are linked groups of 2-4. So when you pull, you're going to get 2-3 mobs in a group. I suggest body pulling if other groups/mobs are close by. Otherwise, I tend to go for the group-only taunt. A couple things to be aware of: On the first three floors there are groups of roamers. On the first floor alone there are two packs of these roamers and they cover 2 corridors each. You must be aware of them at all times. If you see them coming down the hall toward your group and you're fighting a group of mobs that is not dead yet, you should move away from them. Learn where they stop and turn around, and their aggro ranges, so you can avoid them (unless you get powerful enough to take them on as adds). Once you know where they stop and turn, you will know where the safe locations are for pulling groups. Until you have a strong group with good DPS, tell people to avoid using blue AOE, due to the aggro issue. You will find yourself living a lot longer if your weaker groups obey this rule. On the first floor, almost every group has a Soothxxxx mob in it. This is the groups healer. When you pull, target this guy first and burn him down first. This isn't an issue for high DPS groups, but if you're a low DPS group and having trouble staying alive during fights, or the fights seem overly long, then you need to burn this guy first and attempt to interrupt his heals. Otherwise, you're in for longer fights than you need. Tongusk the Terrible roams the first floor and will spawn on top of your group. He's an easy named to kill, but he will roam and pop through walls. Be on the lookout. Wiping is just part of this zone when you're lower level and weaker geared. People need to learn to accept it. The middle corridors of the first floor have roamers that come out to the outer walls. Be aware of them when pulling near those corridors. Sometimes groups are full of jerks. They are folks with several alts in raiding guilds, and they think they know everything. They'll ask you to pull more than your group is capable of. Ignore them, boot them, or leave and find another group. Unfortunately, this is part of the game. When you die, make sure folks know which spot to revive at. The further down you go, the more likely you are to accidentally revive in the wrong location. Unfortunately, the dialog window that shows the revive point doesn't put the entrance at the top of the dialog. When you wipe, have everyone wait and agree on which revive point before anyone revives. Might be a good idea to mention that before you start pulling any mobs from 2nd floor down. HKC is a dangerous zone. It's also awesome XP, and if you can keep a group upright, it's well worth the time. There are a lot named mobs and some of them are more trouble than they are worth. If you're there just for the XP, you can safely skip most of the named.
Thanks, I needed to know several things you both said. I also found on other forum messages (after I posted the question) that people were discussing that "quested and handcrafted" gear from AoM is not adequate for HKC. I didn't think I was being particularly squishy personally, but I wonder how true that is.
Yeah HKC is a tough zone and its quite weird that its the only viable option for dungeon grind exp past lvl 96 becuz you need to be quite well geared for it. I would have prefered fabled SoS for grinding if it wasn't nerfed to oblivion. But it is what it is :/ Just make sure you work ur temps right when u get adds in there. Battlefrenzy-dragoon reflexes will give ur dpsers sum time to burn down adds.
I was pretty happy using SS up to 98 (mentored to 95 or under) before starting on the AoM line. Although seriously if you (in the general sense) are going to hit up HKC as soon as you're 95, please, please, please I'm begging you for the love of all that is holy, go to the broker, buy yourself the TOV HC gear. Spend the 40-50 plat on it. You don't belong in there with 150k hp. I'm sorry, you just don't. My first experience with HKC was 'ok i'm 100, now i got some eyes, time to level them in HKC!' followed by over ten miserable groups with dps at 150k (or less!) hp and tanks who are similar or worse than Furex stated above. Some don't know the gear exists. That's okay, not everyone has to know everything. But I've encountered people who are just like 'psh, naw bro, i aint spendin that money on HC gear'. One of my groups had a Brig with over 500k hp at 95, kitted out in ToV HC gear and AoM food. I was very happy to have him. He is an outlier, though. I wish more people did the same.
I think the other posts that pointed out the heal debuff per - group - of mobs was something I had forgotten my first hour in there a few weeks ago. Your personal hit points and mitigation also have to be up there a bit as some of the others pointed out. _ _ _ As long as there was at least 1 strong DPS (2M) and 1 decent 96-99 healer present that is more than - - nearly an /autofollow for xp - - is usually enough to have a successful run with a 6/6. It also helps if someone who is a tank who ran the zone in the past is in your group as another character giving you pointers - around this corner, up this area, pull over here... - etc. for about an hour or two as being in a group and driving one are two different experiences. Live coaching gives you a nice head start once you're tall enough to ride the rollercoaster - - equipment wise - -.
