So, I may be way off on this but I'd like some input and maybe even some links to information that can help. I was away for over a year and came back to the game a couple of months ago. It seems from DOV on the levels of zones don't really do much to explain what you can actually ACCOMPLISH at a given level. The grind to 85 was smooth and was enjoyable (regardless of missing out on huge portions of the game because you level so quickly). Since that time I check out an instance and in one place I slaughter everything and in another I get trounced by trash mobs. So, there has been a shift to gear progression for the game from what I hear. I would really like some kind of information available that we can search to see what we can actually get into and when and what we can accomplish with what gear. Is there a list or some kind of guide somewhere that explains minimum stats for zones now ? This is an absolute mess for anyone returning to the game and I can't imagine the confusion caused to someone just coming in to start playing.
These days, EQ2 is two games. Level 1-85 is completely trivialized in difficulty. If you aren't choosy about AAs, Gear, Spells, or which Buffs you run, you can still steamroll all the content. Level 86-95, you have to care about all of these things. The game isn't hard, you just can't ignore all those things anymore. If you do the level 80-85 quests, you will have the gear to get into 86-89 zones. If you do the level 90-92 quests, you will have the gear to get into the 92-94 zones. If you do the level 95 quests (Vesspyr Isles), you will have the gear to do the level 95 zones.
Thank you Feldon, I was able to see the relation between the level 85 quest gear from Eastern Wastes and the zone as well as the first few zones like forgotten pools. Eastern Wastes is kind of where I am most running into the problem. While I have the lvl 85 gear from the pools I can't even get past the trash in the first drunder instance lol. I guess, trial and error and some more effort
Ahh, Drunder. Those were the more challenging heroics out of the bunch, and you do need to be more on top of your game for those. Pools can be seen as more of a DoV beginner instance with Drunder being the hardest. Work on all of the Great Divide instances a bit to get some better gear and you should have an easier time with the Drunder zones.
You can also try Kael Drakkel. Destiny of Velious Heroic Progression (by zone as each zone has identical 1st->2nd->3rd type progress). Easy: Tower of Frozen Shadow. - If you can follow scripts this zone really is the easiest of the sets, if you can't then Hold of Rime is probably easier. Normal: Hold of Rime - Pools/Ascent/Spire fall in here and are generally considered quicker and less of a headache than ToFS. Hard: Kael Drakkel - I enjoyed running Kael a lot, even before Thunderclap was reduced in damage output from a 1-shot down to a 75% shot. Challenge: Drunder - Again, I enjoyed Drunder immensely but I as a player like instances that push players to be better. The more skill Heroics ask of players the more potential ways for players to get into and enjoy Raiding if they wish. Basically I feel the 1st two categories are going to be cleared by everyone, the 3rd will be cleared by most and the 4th will be cleared by those wishing to push themselves.
Drunder is quite painful and, in my opinion, completely optional unless you will be attending with 4-6 other players of similar level. Drunder was punishingly difficult, rather than smartly challenging.
Been awhile where did EoW fall? Is it moloable these days? I think is the instance where you could get a title and big monster illusion lol.
For most of the time that DoV was current content there was a stat called "Critical Mitigation" which actually kept you locked out of instances until you had enough CM for that zone. It sure made figuring out the progression series easy . That stat was removed from the game, and without that as a gating factor it is very possible to wander into instances that you really don't have the gear for yet.
Kael 1 is not hard if you limit yourself to only the four first named. The hard fight is the one with 3 linked giants, one massively drain mana. Even in steward gear i could not solo it (with my warden) but the first four were not an issue, indeed i could do the first 3 in early dov gear (tier 2/ EM raid items) During early verlious, I remember duoing with an inqui Kael 2 named (warden in tier2/Em raiding gear, inqui in raid gear with some HM pieces). Like in Kael 1 only the last encounter (like 4 giants and a massive mana drain) is hard. When heroic toons were released i checked loot tables in ascent/kael1/kael2/kael3 (in steward gear). And the quality was similar to DOV Emode raiding gear. I did a bit of drunder, the problem is that those instances were designed very badly since most people running them had better gear than what drunder currency afforded, several time i went to heal group in raid gear (often with HM gear) that were after a charm (a rare fabled item). Doing it in Tier 2 heroic gear was rather challenging, it took forever (may be my dps friend were bad but well ....). Bosses were fun but the frontal (340 degree?) on trash was really a pain. Mob were also too big and too many. It was a bit like the 4 drake encounter (almost any tank pull 8) in Veshann temple, those drakes are annoying since they are too big. But unlike in TOV (i can solo those heroic drake, it take forever but they cannot kill anyone) trash would 1 shot anyone in a 270 degree front angle. heroic Drunder was a radical failure since any group completing it could easily complete the easy mode raid content with a reduced team (like 3 group for the x4 or may be less). The risk versus reward was indeed totally wrong. Ps: i liked drunder pre nerf too, it required to be carefull on pull and positionning .... and my warden was quite good at keeping things alive even with quite bad groups (but not with very bad ones). TOV has gone very far in the trivialisation, no frontal, almost no aoe on trash. Kael instance were the exact opposite of drunder because the reward to go there was great. Last remember that handcrafter level 90-91 item from COE are better than 90% of the gear you can get in heroic instances and even in easy raid.
