Light Amongst Shadows - the start of the new expansion

Hi everyone,

I had a level 110 defiler from the last expansion and would like to play this expansion. I got the gear from the great library, and I'm sure all of it is equipped. I am also a level 6 etherealist, whatever that means - I think that is those level 100ish quests from expansions ago, where they gave you better nukes.

Anyway, I tried Light Amongst Shadows, The Vault of Omens and the mobs were easy enough, although they took some time to down, but I realised I am a defiler, so the nukes aren't going to be that good.

However, the eq2 wiki on that quest said I had to kill the named mobs to activate the artifact. I tried my luck with Adlez The Mighty, and the fight took ages, got him down to about 60% health, but ran out of mana.

Anyone have any success moving through the start of this expansion? I know I have to do this solo, because it is a solo dungeon, but defilers are just so slow.

I read in some other posts that I'd possibly have to level up my etherealist to get better nukes. Unfortunately, all my nukes are at apprentice 1 I think.

Anyone got any idea how to proceed?

Thanks in advance

You can have a merc or a friend in this instance, you do not have to do it by yourself.

Also as a defiler refresh your memory of your spells. Defilers have at least three that will increase your mana, so even with the power drains you should be able to recover enough to keep going:

• Cannibalize, which is an AA choice from your Defiler tree expertise row (highest percentage power refresh with a one-time damage increase to next spell; can be used every 10 seconds, uses health instead of power to cast)
• Maelstrom (longer recast DOT with group power refresh and heal over time)
• Soul Cannibalize (DOT with power refresh over time, fast casting)

I did do that instance with my defiler but had someone with me. As Cyrrena mentions you can bring another with you, so you would want a decent DPS to offset your own.

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the advice and tips first of all.

I forgot about the merc. I did the start of the expansion solo dungeon with my Guardian mercenary (not sure if that's the correct merc to use). I got the first boss done after 15-20 minutes of just spamming nuke buttons. I tried the second boss and got him to 10% but then my health started going down all of a sudden and my heals wouldn't worked, and I died. That was after 15-20 minutes of trying to kill him, of him spawning adds on me. So, I am giving up. I may or may not try again tomorrow. I don't know.

I thought this expansion was going to be fun, but defilers and possibly all healers just are just plain useless with leveling up.

This expansion so far, has been a major let down, after I forked over money for it, thinking it would be an enjoyable (soloish) experience. I thought I could take up my defiler again, get the hand-me-out gear, and nuke through the expansion with a bit of effort as with previous expansions. I know defilers are a little tougher to level up but factored that into the equation. I remember doing the solo heroic dungeons at the end of the last expansion taking ages but you got loads of experience at the end. I didn't expect this nonsense of 20 minutes on a single mob.

Unfortunately, healers are just treated as second class citizens in this game. Other games seem to be able to let healers nuke and do reasonable damage while soloing with a solo spec but this is just a joke.

Imagine spending 15-20 minutes, just spamming the same 6-7 buttons over and over to try and do damage to a single mob? Imagine doing it for 15 minutes, and then dying when the mob is at 10%?

It's not fun at all.

I thought I could come back and level my defiler up to max level, and maybe get some gear and have some fun running dungeons or whatever and get a guild.

Enduring these lengthy fights is not my idea of fun.

I'm heading to bed now, feeling a little bit pissed off.

Hey everyone,

Yesterday, I attempted to take down boss #2 of "Light Amongst Shadows" expansion starter quest, as a defiler. I was using a Guardian tank mercenary at the time, and I managed to down boss #1 within 15 minutes. However, boss #2 had different abilities and mechanics, and I died after 15 minutes of trying to kill him.

In frustration, today, I decided to try boss #2 again with a different mercenary. I got a caster mercenary, thinking a caster will have more firepower. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. After 3 minutes of testing out the new mercenary, it had next to no firepower at all, and I had only gotten him down to 95%. I abandoned the fight then.

I am just frustrated that I spent 30 euro and a 12 euro subscription on an unplayable expansion. Either I am doing something terribly wrong, or there is something wrong with this expansion. The expansion gives you hand-me-out gear so you are on par with everyone else who had been playing. I'm pretty sure every piece I have equipped was from the new box found in the new library.

You also enter a dungeon which is labelled "solo". Upon entering the dungeon, there are mobs a fewer higher levels than you. Not only are they a few levels higher but they are ^^ and ^^^ which means they are a lot more powerful. They also come in group encounters. The boss mobs have three ^ on them, and are five levels higher than you.

I don't understand how you are expected to take out these mobs as a healer. Have they even tested this expansion with all classes, and made sure that each class could "solo" this quest? I doubt it.

If anyone has any tips or has completed this quest, as a healer, by doing it "solo" (with a mercenary) as the dungeon indicates, then please come forward, and let me know if it is possible and how long the fights were that you had to endure.

Thanks,

What server are you on?

First of all...a reality check. The prelude instance in Chelsith isn't something you jump into after being gone for a while or jumping into unprepared. It's truly a prelude to what you're going to face into the new xpac. This has been posted about in other threads, but a couple of things:
1. Level of spells. Apprentice/adept isn't going to cut it. You should be--at a minimum--expert in everything.
2. Got your Epic 2.0 done and spells up to at least Master?
3. If you haven't done Panda quests in Sundered Frontier for last few years, so great adorns (white and cyan), and potency infusers to be had.
4. Etherialist at L6? I can only speculate that your spells on that are apprentice as well. My defiler went thaum, but if you're going with etherialist, you should be at L20 and those should be at expert--especially your nuke spells.

I know this is a lot to absorb, but you're facing a new reality from when you've left. The "casual" player is fast getting cleaned out of EQ2 and that started with last xpac. There are serious hurdles to overcome to play now and the "well, I'll log in whenever and maybe I'll improve my character and maybe not" are over. I'm not trying to be negative or discourage you. I'm giving you an honest assessment of what it's going to take to get through some of the content. If you're looking for a more casual, user friendly non-pay-to-win game, send me a PM and I'll give you a recommendation. Don't get me wrong--I love this game, but it's changed from it's roots of years ago to what it is today. Returning players need to understand, "you ain't in Kansas anymore, Toto."

Additional note. There is no merc that will make a noticable contribution to your dps at level 100+. Even my gimpest healers do 100x as much dps as even 'dps' mercs. If you're going to bring a merc as a healer, bring a buffer, a chanter or an inquisitor. The first might help YOU do more dps, the 2nd will help with power, but they're nearly impossible to find, and the last has verdict.
That's pretty much it. No other types of merc make zones any faster for healers and even those three only provide very very marginal time reductions for healers.

I play on the European server.

Thanks for your comments. I understand now that the game has changed since I played it last and a freshly dinged 110 character isn't going to cut it. A lot of expansions in other games start afresh, with new gear, new spells and a new fresh outlook. At these particular times, a lot of people start afresh, with a new class but unfortunately, it seems this is not what the developers have in mind with the latest expansion.

If someone has time, can they lay out a path in which a freshly dinged 110 character can compete and enter this expansion? What do they need to do?

Thanks again.

Here's what I would suggest:
1. Run through the Panda Quests (officially know as "The Travels of Zun Yi, the New Travels of Zun yi.) Find these on Wikia. It's a disco series of quests that takes you all over Norrath. At the end, you will have access to "Daring" adorns of Tol Ren, which are solid. You'll also have access to a familiar, and the cyan adorns that go for 256 potency each in your primary, secondary, and ranged. If you need potency increases, they're there, but they only take you to a certain level. There's also some tomes for taking one of your Ascensions to 15. Note: you may have gotten something in mail from DBG and some ascension primers restoring points (sort of like ascension vit), but toss those. They made a wise decision just to treat these like TS,ADV leveling when Chaos Descending launched.
2. With Loyalty tokens, pick up the "Orb of Concentrated Memories" ( a vit restorer that takes you to 100%, but takes 4-5 days to charge up after using. Also get Hammer of Adept Hands (works same for TS vit). Check your shared bank or claim for some XP pots giving 100%. (You'll use these in Blinding to level to 120 when you have access).
3. If you don't have your Epic 2.0 (and more importantly, access to the spells), then go to the Myrist Library and do ALL of the lIbrary quests and then the sig line. You need to start with Library first. Also check mail for a summons by the Tribunal. Finishing the sig line gets you said Epic 2.0 spells which will be useful for a defiler.
4. Get your harvesting skills up to max. Doing some variations of harvesting quests will net you planar energies which are the fuels to raise your Ascensions up. Journeyman take ordinary harvest mats and experts take rares (casium roots) These are harvested from PoM.
5. Do both the ADV and the TS quests in the Duality's Vigilant Sanctum. This gives you access to the Blinding in BoL (latest xpac). Do the first set of TS there and the 3-4 quests that take you to 120 on Adv. side (you will be using Orb here and the 100 xp pots.

I'd also consider doing the daily tinkering, adorning and transmuting dailies from Londiar Inyard in Freeport Crafting center until you're maxed in TSing. You will find crafting useful in these later expansions. Finally, find and join an active guild that helps their new players acclimate and will be an invaluable source of information.

Send a private forum message to Momo or Schmetterling. Either one of them may be able to put you in touch with some nice folks on Thurgadin or perhaps a casual guild where you could meet others that also solo/molo and they might be able to help you through Chelsith:Vault of Omens. If I had a character that was able to on Thurgadin, I would assist you, but unfortunately, I do not.

So basically you have a lot of work to do before you even get to play the game? It's like Christmas when you get the toy that needs batteries. Oh, and the batteries are only available by mail order. It takes a month for them to arrive.

I don't mind challenging dungeons, but preludes like this are not what I am paying for. Just give me access to the zone, and have an NPC waiting for me there with a feather over his head (who is standing next to the new merc I also just paid for!).

LOL, a year later, not much has changed. A freshly dinged 110 isn't going to have much of a chance to instantly play anything except old content to catch up. The information I shared was basically to help someone understand that you just don't buy the xpac, create a toon and you're instantly viable. I'm not saying your expectation isn't reasonable, it's just not the way it's happening in EQII. Buying the game and creating the toon is the start.