I'm really enjoying contested High Keep

I wouldn't normally make a thread like this, but I was really pleasantly surprised with this zone.

Ever since Thursday's hotfix, this zone is awesome. I am really enjoying it, more so than any other contested zone in a long time.
It actually feels like an open world dungeon crawl, which is something this game has been lacking for years. I seriously havent had this much fun in pugs in a long time.

The fact that you have to be careful about pulls and cannot just pull whole rooms is really fun. It brings a bit of that sense of danger back. I've been up and down the zone many times since Thursday, and its very possible to do the whole thing without getting more than 1 or maybe 2 groups of mobs aggro'd at once if you pull right.If you are getting too many adds its because you aren't pulling the right way. Or someone in your group is attacking prematurely. Smart pulls are necessary, and its a welcome change of pace.It IS easy to bite off more than you can chew, and botched pulls WILL wipe groups. As it should be. The only "buggy" issue i saw with aggro was AE'ing mobs through walls in some places, but that is fairly predictable and avoidable with experience.

I suppose the gear could be better, but its probably the proper strength for a contested heroic zone. The zone is very doable for people who are not in raid gear (I pug'd in there with many ppl who did not have any raid gear). However I'm not sure there will be incentive for me to keep coming back after a week or two; I would really like to see certain named have a chance to drop Sparkling Gems but I understand they need to be careful about flooding the world. (Although Sparkling gems are still way way too rare). But I really would like to see reasons for this zone not to be abandoned by the general population in a few weeks.

Anyway, at the moment the zone is great. Its fun to play in. The fact that you cant drop a guild flag or track named mobs is great. The fact that you cant easily pull whole floors is great. The fact that botters and the like cannot lock down huge sections of the zone for themselves effectively shutting everyone else out is great. The fact that you actually have to make smart pulls and watch for roamers, etc is great.

I too have enjoyed the contested pretty much even if mostly no one else wants to come in with me.
I have finished getting the 4 different carpets, 2 of the catelog quests,.
one thing reminds a mystery, the marked items achievement.
I have marked 8 or 9 things so far, I still haven't marked them all since I don't have the achievement, but man finding that last one or so that I need, rough

I have to agree with the OP, its nice to have to be careful, to THINK, through a zone. A very welcome change. It takes me back to the early days of EQ2 when a heroic really "meant" something. Fun all the way around

Can a few of the single mob encounters be merged, especially by the initial position of the HQ guy? the ramps/passages to balconies etc there tend to turn into a cluster mess. And The floaty in the air ones get pulled through floors and make it a pure disaster. The lower levels in the caverns seem much cleaner because of the larger encounters/spacing.

Ooooh quests from those guys usually drop crates of prizes... what will be in the new missions prize crates!? score!

I would super enjoy a zonewide debuff on players in Hkeep contested, that reduced AoE range to say, 5m.

Say, call it "Controlled Fear"- "Your fear drawing too many of the undead horde at once limits your AoE range to 5m."

Can you slip in a heroic HeepCo mission on the cycle for Anex, too? Pleasey please!

I agree the zone is a lot of fun and takes real care but having the mobs come from the floor below even after all the mobs around you are dead seems buggy. If you clear a area to pull the named and then get adds from below there is something wrong with agro. Other than that I'm having a blast...dying a lot (wasn't able to play the first week zone came out) but having a good time.

i keep finding groups going in there that are woefully lacking in gear and dps. on crushbone it is basically a dead zone. that and i wish my computer did not Complete freeze for like 10 seconds the first time i go down every stairs. i amuse it is loading the next part of the level

More highkeep contested weirdness. I was in Hk contested zone 2 in a group and i went ld. It put me in Hk contested 1 but in group when i came back with the predictable Splat results

There are some really weird social add issues going on with mobs from floor below/above. Not sure exactly what is causing it, but even with all AoE's not being used, singular focus on, still having 8 groups of adds randomly appear through the stairs/floor.

Seems to happen a lot around the stairs to Hammy's room, the Ledge above it where the Overseer named is too.

the area of criss-crossing paths all around the HQ starter NPC is really tight... its best not to fight directly in that area.
Just body pull, and pull back a bit away from there and you shouldnt have any issues at all.

Brusiers must be awesome in there then since the range on all their blues is only 5m... (And just cause it doesn't translate well into text, yes there is a touch of sarcasm there.)

I went in for the first time today, gotta say, it was fun to heal. 1 debuff was easy, 2 was manageable (and fun!), 3 was tough, 4 was usually a wipe haha. I enjoyed myself even through (more than) a few wipes.

Then you got ubah gear but sucky skills son..

all those monks and bruisers are there for Different reason then soloing mobs hahah

It certainly isn't for the new heritage quest. Brawler weapon has only been disco'd on 5 servers

I'm running the market on plundered rugs with my bruiser and there is nothing anyone can do about it.