HOW TO CLEAR THE OBULUS FRONTIER BOAT KEY QUEST IN UNDER 5 MINUTES.

I've seen 2 of these videos, but the NPCs are always in a different position when I run through, so I either get caught or can't beat the timer.

I haven't been able to succeed on it with this timer yet, but I'm not trying again. Waste of time.

***** thinks it's funny that players get frustrated. and that tells me all I need to know.

There are two slavers who walk around. One right outside the jail cell, the other patrols back and forth in the raised area in the center, where you jump up off of the bowspirit. Just need to look and make sure they're not right in front of you before you move.

Also from what you've said in Discord it sounds like you're crouching the entire time, so you're moving a lot slower than you could be. There are only three places you need to crouch:-
1) When going up the stairs and behind the sentry to pick up the rope.
2) When going across the bowspirit
3) When coming up behind the guy wearing your hat. Crouch as you come through the door until you're close enough to click and knock him out. Once he's down you can un-crouch.

Also if you fail you're locked out for like 10-15min, then you can try again.

In discord I simply asked if they were querying who was eligible to do the zone and was doing it. how many were completing it within the timer and if they were happy with the % of completions? Seemed a reasonable request, they just said 'go away'.

I am not crouching the entire time, now, but ...

I've been seen on both masts for not crouching.

I've been seen on the middle deck by the non wandering ones for not crouching.

z is the default for 'crouch', I forget? but my speed in the crate is unaffected by pressing crouch/in-crouch. Still get hit with 2 'hold still' which makes it undoable.

Thanks for the pointers, but I'm not wasting any more of my time on this.

What point is a quest that is so 'tight' that you have to know each and every step and when to do what before you go in to do it? What difference does it make if the timer was 10 min instead of 6, and more people could get 5 resolve crap keys? My point is it seems the Devs want to drive away customers. Which is fine, maybe they already have too many. Maybe this is how they will fix lag.

It's really not worth my time. I managed to finish one of the other key quests and got some keys and got crap 5 resolve worthless gear. total waste of time. If the keys only give 5 resolve gear there is no point in doing them. Or if they are like the PQ where you get crap gear, but 1 in a 1000 times you get something awesome. Sorry, I'm not going to get a 1000 chances with my schedule. I get better from AS. I can do the AS zones in less than 10 min for 7 resolve, but still pointless since I have more resolve gear than that to do them.

They aren't getting any more of my 'cash' until resolve is gone. They don't care, but that's ok too.

This should have "sticky" status imo! awesome movie

@ColdMetal
Bud this whole x-pack been about "grind" mindless grind and are keys
shadow quartz keys have chance 0.5% sharp (lol I am geared from them so trust me) - you can't open like 10 keys or even 100 keys at time - it will produce ZERO shadow quartz. (same mechanic btw like in ToT) - you have to open large stacks of keys I'd say 600+ good number
My statistic
Shadow quartz - 0.5% sharp - not sure if they consider to be "smart" loot but out of keys I got 5 different piece of 14 resolve gear they are slightly better then CH, stat wise they even a little better then expert 15 resolve gear but this is beyond point. I have no idea if shadow quartz have "rare" loot table - never seen one and not in the mode to find out - I am selling keys now
Inca keys (second grade) - I'd say about 8.5% very consistent but interesting part is different - there is very sharp ratio 10% of inca keys will produce mythical relic gloves or shoulders (each comes in 2 flavors - shoulders useable on mercs). Again same rules have to open chest with stack of inca key to guaranty get 1:10 mythical, well 9 out of 10 obviously "epic skyfire infusers with 20% chance of success. Side note - pure imo - much like ToT keys - second grade keys are da best in terms of yield/usefulness
Timonium keys - oh well lol eh ... they still have the use you know every 10 keys produce enough material for 1 reconstructed skysfire infuser

About AS (of teh record) - I noticed they have somewhat elevated chance of dropping illegibles and produce lesser planar fragments in reward for quest on more or less regular base (like 30 quests or so per 1 fragment) - its other story lol I do not need lesser fragments

Sorry if this sounds unsympathetic, but blaming DBG because you can't finish the zone in time is ridiculous. The fact that so many people have figured out the zone means your failure is all on you, not DBG.

The zone was specifically designed to be a puzzle. If you're not finishing in time, you're doing something wrong. Figure out what that thing is, and you'll nail it. That is how puzzles work!

I failed over and over and over until I was able to identify one specific moment that either makes or breaks it for me. Now I almost always finish with around 1 minute left, and it all came down to one element. If I miss that one thing, I immediately stop and exit the zone because the chance of me finishing in time is miniscule.

The difficulty of figuring the zone out is what made it fun! I figured it out, now every run feels like a triumph BECAUSE I failed so freakin' many times.

If you want to know what the one element I'm talking about is, keep reading. If you don't want a ***SPOILER ALERT***, then STOP READING NOW!!!

At the beginning of the zone the rat brings you the keys to your cell. At that moment the roaming guard is just approaching the stairs to the right as you exit the cell. You need to get out of the cell, pick up the pickaxe, and cross to the stairs on the other side BEFORE the roaming guard walks back. If you have to wait for the guard to walk to across the front of the cell again it'll make it REALLY tough to finish in time. If you do this correctly it doesn't matter if you have to stop twice while you're in the crate. You'll still have time to make it in time.

To speed up the process, I know exactly where the rat ends up and I click both the rat and the keys while the screen is still black. The second I can see again I'm already moving.

Other helpful tips:

When you get back in the crate after setting fire to the barrels, head straight out past the captain. None of the NPCs will see you at that point. I'm usually at the mast by the time all the NPCs poof.

Don't bother kicking the lookouts off the upper platforms, it'll just waste time. When you first appear on the upper platforms you don't even need to move. Just turn around and click the glowing spot and you'll bypass the lookout completely. On the second platform I always jump off to the right side away from the lookout, then immediately click the glowing spot. Even though there's a hole in the platform on that side, you won't fall through it (at least I never have).

I get what your saying, and may try again.

I've been seen by those people on the masts, so some of this seems like maybe it worked for you but not for me.

But, finally. When I play this game, I want to pretend there isn't a 'pattern' to win. I loved Pac-man, UNTIL I found out there is a pattern to always win. Following a pattern to win is work and not play.

I used to say 'vote with your sub', but they don't care about that anymore either.

Thanks again for the 'pointers' (pattern to win)

Ok, I think I understand you a little better now. I can understand you not enjoying a puzzle that requires you to figure out a specific pattern to solve it.

I challenge you though to show me a game where you have goals to achieve that doesn't require you to understand patterns. In fact, show me ANY situation in life where understanding patterns isn't a factor. Humans survived to become the dominant species on the planet because we developed an incredible ability to recognize patterns. It's how the human brain works.

Whether you're talking about gaming, politics, social interaction, engineering, combat, economics, athletics, romance, or pretty much any other topic you can think of, success depends on pattern recognition.

That said, I think you're not really complaining about the zone requiring you to figure out a pattern to win. Every quest, zone, or mob in the game (and any game) has a pattern you need to figure out before you can solve it. You're in a raiding guild, so you should understand this with the various boss scripts. No, you're unhappy with the inflexibility of this particular instance. The margin of error is extremely tight for the Frillik Tide.

Most zones or encounters in the game can be solved in a number of ways. Consider the make up of a group doing heroic zones. You can't form a group of 6 mages and expect to succeed. You need a tank (or in some cases a properly specced scout) and a healer in the mix. This is a pattern that you need to follow if you want to beat the zone. You have some flexibility however in the exact class combo you use to beat the zone.

This isn't the case with the Frillik Tide. You do it exactly right, or you fail. THAT is the aspect that is frustrating you, and I can understand. Personally I like that it was so freakin' difficult to figure out, but I also recognize that not everybody likes that kind of thing.

The reason I have taken a counter-stance to your post is that you've accused DBG of trying to drive customers away, and I think you're wrong in that accusation. I don't like tradeskilling (kinda hate it actually), but I know that it's part of the game and some people love it. In fact, being a max lvl tradeskiller is now REQUIRED to finish your epic 2.0. I don't like tradeskilling, but I understand that it adds to the depth and complexity of the game and makes finishing the epic 2.0 questline ultimately more fulfilling.

I'm not a DBG fanboi, but it gets old having people constantly complaining about how DBG is trying to "ruin their own game". The devs make the game more complex/difficult, and players get mad at them. They turn around and make it more simple/easy, and players get mad at them.

EVERY decision the devs make is aimed at making the game BETTER, and to imply otherwise is ridiculous and a waste of breath.

@Occam
Its not a goal for current Dev team Current objective to preserve as much as possible current sub base and migrate game to standard P2W model w/o loosing to much crowd. Next objective milk crowd to get some profit of money that DB spent to buy this game from SOE ... once this objective is achieved and if milking not goes well (which I expect to be a case - you can't change skin and resell same game to customer for EQ2) ... game will be say retied?

I don't they mean to drive customers away, but this "Super Mario" crap is neither MMO nor RPG, and I think it does drive core people away. No maybe they weren't the big spenders and the "Super Mario" crowd are big spenders and that's the way it's going to be. Or it's cheaper on their side for cost cutting measures to maximize profits.

/shrug I'm accepting that I am no longer their desired customer.

Thanks for the pointers (With the way you describe it, the quest should be called "Not the Frillick Tide"), again, maybe I will give it a go.

That is probably the most mature and sage perspective I've seen anyone take on these forums in a long time.

Thanks Kielex,

one question, I failed about 1/2 through and knew I didn't have enough time to finish it so I cancelled/deleted the quest. Now I can't click on the barrel to restart it.

Am I doomed? or is it some sort of 24 hour lock out?

to share my answer to my question . apparently the quest has like a 10-15 minute time out if you fail it or exit the instance. I was able to re-get the quest after a wait.

Nah - failed timer I think 20 minutes (deleting quest I think counts as a fail)

I got bored so I did a run through and recorded it. I haven't done it in a while but it seemed a lot easier this time than in the past. I even derped and forgot to grab the grappling hook after I climbed the rope, still finished with 40seconds ish remaining.

I know there are quite a few other videos on how to do it, but if you want to see another one here it is.