Sub-50 Solo Challenge Giveaway

[Tecmos Deception]

Someone in my "yay I have a million platinum" thread suggested I do a giveaway to celebrate. I poo-poo'd his poetry idea, but seeing as I'm such a big fan of soloing stuff, I thought maybe a lowbie version of the Solo Arist Challenge (http://www.project1999.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80165) would be a fun giveaway.

For anyone who does't know, the SAC is a for-fun challenge where players try to solo a variety of 50+ NPCs that are sorted into tiers of difficulty. Because of the nature of EQ and the rules of the challenge, enchanters and shamans dominate the SAC, although several different classes have participated, and the people reading the stories understand that a wizard killing a "disciple" tier mob is actually a heck of an accomplishment, even though an enchanter or shaman might be able to kill that mob in his sleep.

Anyway, I was thinking I'd host a solo challenge giveaway for sub-50 players, where players pick the zone and specific mob (or camp) that they will be soloing, and then they go solo that while taking video or screenshots and write up a post in the thread I create telling the story of their kill(s) from start to finish. I would judge which of the stories I like the best, considering everything from the class doing the soloing to the zone/camp/mob(s) they're dealing with to their gear to their former experience with p99 to how well presented their story/SSs/videos are, etc, and award a 1st prize of 10k, a 2nd prize of 5k, and a 3rd prize of 1k.

I'm (somewhat) open to suggestions of how to do the challenge within these general guidelines, and will think a bit more about the specifics before I host the actual giveaway. I know that this challenge will STILL favor some classes over others, because no matter what level a warrior or a rogue is, they just aren't going to be able to make as interesting of a story killing nameds solo as casters can... but I'd love to be proven wrong! I'll double the prize number for underdog classes that win, if any!

Thoughts?

[HippoNipple]

Sounds blue

[Halius]

So what are some good mobs for a 15 magician to try and solo? lol

[Tecmos Deception]

Sounds blue

That's the idea.


So what are some good mobs for a 15 magician to try and solo? lol

I think I will make a post that is a walkthrough for this, to try to help anyone who is interested in trying to find something appropriate for them to try to solo... like screenshots of using the wiki to find the right level zones and links to maps to use and stuff. Basically all of the things I used to get a lay of the land when I was doing the SAC myself.

[Estu]

Sounds pretty cool. You might want to make a stipulation that people with high-level mains can't enter. You WOULD get more interesting stories from people who have the resources for leet equipment, clickable potions/whatever, etc., but the prize money would be wasted on them. Maybe an exception would be that these people could only enter if they donated their winnings to someone who could actually use them :p. (Obviously all this would be somewhat based on the honor system.)

[Morrissee]

I'm up for it - will there be an "official" thread to start it or is this the thread?

[Tecmos Deception]

Sounds pretty cool. You might want to make a stipulation that people with high-level mains can't enter. You WOULD get more interesting stories from people who have the resources for leet equipment, clickable potions/whatever, etc., but the prize money would be wasted on them. Maybe an exception would be that these people could only enter if they donated their winnings to someone who could actually use them :p. (Obviously all this would be somewhat based on the honor system.)

Yeah, I'd ask for a screenshot of inventory screen at the start of a story, and like I said, I'd be taking into account what gear a person has when judging them so that the winners aren't just people who had the best twink.


I'm up for it - will there be an "official" thread to start it or is this the thread?

I'll make an official thread after I work up a how-to walkthrough.

[Tecmos Deception]

I'll probably do consolation prizes for everyone who has an entry too. Maybe the 1k will be consolation prizes.

[Raize]

Sounds blue

Really blue

[Halius]

It may be a pain in the butt, but maybe you could make another SAC sheet with possible named mobs to solo. Such as named 10-20, named 20-30, etc. I know there a bunch of named mobs in this game so it would probably be a lot of work to figure them all out, just a thought though. Of course it would probably be easier just to let people pick out their own otherwise everyone will be crowding all the named mobs that are on the sheet. I don't know, I'm just rambling now, sorry I'm tired.

[Izor_01]

I think this is a cool idea one recommendation would be to maybe do level brackets so more people can enter? Cuz i wanna enter and win this shit! lol need money for gear n stuff:)

[Tecmos Deception]

The idea of making my own sheet for this is a good one, but I don't think I'm going to use it. I think the perk of writing a guide for how to find a mob you want to solo and letting people pick anything they settle on is that I won't be excluding certain classes/levels by not making a comprehensive-enough list of options. It makes it more work for contestants, but no one has to do this if they don't want and learning how to use the wiki and other pages is good anyways, and I raised the prize amounts!

I'm not going to make brackets, because anyone below 51 is already allowed in. You get to pick where you will go and what you will fight for your kill, so anyone who wants to do this can, no matter level or class or gear. How difficult the process is for each individual will be most of how I decide who wins. An untwinked level 17 bard who does something impression for a level 17 bard will beat out a twinked level 50 monk who just brute forces his way to killing a high-level named, for example.

[Tecmos Deception]

Here's my walkthrough. I'll probably let this thread go a couple days to see if there are more suggestions that I want to use, then I'll make a new thread for the official start of the giveaway and give maybe 10 days or 2 weeks for people to get their entry in before I close entries and judge and give out prizes.


"So you wanna solo a named?" Walkthrough

Please note that you don't really need to read this in order to do the giveaway or win one of the prizes. It's pretty lengthy, because I'm trying to make sure that anyone who wants to do this has a good idea of how to do it, even if they've never tried to track down and solo a named in EQ before!


I can't really do a total guide for this, because depending on your class and your level, the things you'll need to do in order to get to and solo a named mob (not to mention which named mob that will be) are going to be totally different. With this little walkthrough though, I'll try to quickly explain some steps to take for anyone who wants to compete for some of my plats and the rules of the game.

1. Decide what named mob you want to kill
2. Get to that mob
3. Kill that mob
4. Create an entertaining/interesting story of your kill
5. ???
6. Win my pp


1. Decide what named mob you want to kill

Note that by "named mob" I'm talking about the mobs that tend to have special loot or are special otherwise. Quillmane is a named mob for purposes of this giveaway, but Guard Cheslin is not, even though he has a proper name. Etc.

Load up some wiki pages: http://wiki.project1999.org/Zones and wiki.project1999.org/index.php/Recommended_Levels_and_ZEM_List#Recommended_Level_ Range_by_Zone

You can use those pages to try to pick a good zone to look for a good named to fight. Generally I would say if you're a necro, druid, shaman, enchanter, cleric, paladin, or shadowknight, and/or if you are like 35+ instead of 1-25, you should be looking at dungeon zones to solo in instead of outdoor areas. But there are nameds in outdoor areas that would be a good challenge also!

Once you've selected maybe 2 or 3 zones that you think might be a good spot for you to look, click on those specific zones on the zone map and check out their specific wiki pages. The individual zone pages will have some general info about the zone (which is usually quite accurate for p99, imo) along with lists of mobs in the zone and items in the zone down near the bottom of the pages. You can also check out http://web.archive.org/web/20021129210131/http://www.geocities.com/ficticiousname9/ to look for some more info on the specific mobs in each zone, although the lists on that site aren't usually exhaustive. Look for named mobs on those pages, then click on their specific pages (if any) or check on the wayback page right there to see what level and class the monster is.

What monster exactly you should try to kill is where I can't help you anymore. You'll have to figure out what you can handle for yourself, maybe the hard way (i.e. trying it and failing!), based on your experience with the game and your knowledge of your class and abilities available to you at your specific level, etc. That's a lot of fun of this kind of thing, imo!


2. Get to that mob

This can be pretty simple or it can be pretty complex, and it definitely will factor into how highly I rate your kill! A mob like Tovax Vmar (http://wiki.project1999.org/Tovax_Vmar), who is just wandering around in Qeynos Hills by himself, is super easy to "get to" because he's in the open and he has no guards around him and is up very often. He might not be a super easy fight for many characters near his level since he's a necro and has a pet, but the act of getting to him is easy. But a mob like Najena (http://wiki.project1999.org/Najena_%28NPC%29) would be very hard to get to (AND hard to kill) because she's in a dungeon, behind locked doors, is a caster with a pet, and has guards in her SMALL room, and isn't guaranteed to be up!


3. Kill the mob

Again, this step might be easier or it might be harder depending on what mob it is. An example? Howling Stones difficulty is supposed to go north is easier than west which is easier than south which is easier than east. There's a level 50 named necromancer in north, The Crypt Keeper (http://wiki.project1999.org/The_Crypt_Keeper). There's a level 50 named warrior in south, the Skeleton Sepulcher (http://wiki.project1999.org/The_Skeleton_Sepulcher). The warrior is a much wimpier mob than the necromancer. But getting into south and pulling the warrior by himself is much harder and more dangerous than getting into south and pulling the necro!

Not much else to say than that though! Chop it up, nuke it, charm it and suicide it against it's buddies (though you'll get no xp or loot), they all count!


4. Create an interesting/entertaining story of your kill

Explain how and why you picked the zone/mob you picked. Explain how you got to the zone. Detail the fights or sneaking around you did to get from the entrance of the zone you picked to your named mob. Explain the named fight itself. Talk about what you were planning, what actually happened, and what you realize, in hindsight, that you should have done differently!

Most importantly though, is take screenshots (or video) and work them into your story! Don't just take a picture of a the full spawn, then kill the guy, then take a picture of the mob's corpse. Take pictures of charm breaks, of adds, of bad luck with resists, of good luck you have with melee hits, etc., and then talk about that stuff too! If the mob you want isn't spawned at your camp when you get there, spend a bit of time talking about/showing what you were doing while you tried to get it to spawn, etc.

You don't have to do all of this stuff, and you can do other stuff that I haven't mentioned, but you get the idea!


5. ???

The secret step to winning my platinum!


6. Win my pp

I will do a 20kpp first prize, a 10kpp second prize, a 5kpp third prize, and 1kpp as a consolation prize to everyone who makes a good-faith effort to compete in this giveaway. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up doling out more pp here or there if someone really entertains or really surprises. I'll also double the prize money for anyone who I consider to be an "underdog" with a success story (rogues, warriors, I'm looking at you! but also anyone who has long odds in my book but pulls it off anyway).

This is intended to be fun for everyone who wants to join in, and I want it to be that. Hopefully we won't have any drama or arguments or people being butthurt over how I evaluate things - it is my pp after all! :)

[Tecmos Deception]

I type entirely too much stuff up. I bet like 5 people will have the motivation to read all my shit and then actually try to do this. Lol.

[Halius]

I type entirely too much stuff up. I bet like 5 people will have the motivation to read all my shit and then actually try to do this. Lol.

Oh I read it all lol. I am just trying to figure out what named I want to try and take and where. First time playing a caster (aside from a cleric to 39 on live). It'll probably be quite a few tries on different mobs to see how far I can push my pets.

[falkun]

Its been too long since I solo'd my Mask of Deception. Probably nothing amazing as a 47 bard, but I was happy figuring it out. Left instructions for other would-be dark elves: http://www.project1999.org/forums/showthread.php?p=536884#post536884

Nothing fantastic and I'm sure an enchanter, shaman, or necro could do the camp at a much lower level.

[mrmop520]

Great idea!

[Tecmos Deception]

I'm tempted to do this a few times myself for demonstration purposes, I've got a few sub-50s, only one of which is really twinked.

[koros]

I'll try something cool w/ this on my 40 iksar SK. He's got some dreadscale and a deathbringers rod and really nothing else. Should be fun.

[loramin]

I type entirely too much stuff up. I bet like 5 people will have the motivation to read all my shit and then actually try to do this. Lol.

Count me as one of those five; as soon as I get home tonight Loramin the Frost Seer is going to try and find something epic (or at least epic to him) to solo. Seems like it wil be a lot of fun even if I don't win a thing :)

[ripwind]

I'll totally do this on my 40 mage, Year. You mentioning Najena made me chuckle, because I've nabbed her a few times now by pulling her through the door (eek!) and barely gating out alive after nuking her down. That whole room comes down on you and gets pretty hairy with all of the spellcasters.

[Fame]

Maybe something not super hard at first but difficult in the long run?

Thinking something like, Solo a camp normally held by grps for a few rounds. lvl appropriate of course.

HHK goblins can get pretty hairy even as a enc when ya have to kill every mob and keep em single spawn.

Holding down Paw by yourself isn't something I see many people do.

I've seen some impressive bard charm kiting in giant forts

Guk has some solo gems


Just a few ideas, I'm sure there are many more out there

[Bantam 1]

Hmmm I might do this with a quest mob I need.

[Tecmos Deception]

Maybe something not super hard at first but difficult in the long run?

Thinking something like, Solo a camp normally held by grps for a few rounds. lvl appropriate of course.

HHK goblins can get pretty hairy even as a enc when ya have to kill every mob and keep em single spawn.

Holding down Paw by yourself isn't something I see many people do.

I've seen some impressive bard charm kiting in giant forts

Guk has some solo gems


Just a few ideas, I'm sure there are many more out there

Yep! That's good thinking too. I actually purposely didn't mention "holding down an entire camp instead of just killing a single named" because I was figuring someone would think to do it anyway and get extra points for style :)


Glad to see there is some interest! I'm guessing I won't change the suggestions/rules much, so anyone who does want to start looking for something to kill, try to kill it and get nice screenies and stuff, etc., feel free to get crackin.

[Zeonick]

Sounds really awesome! I want to give this a try but i'm not sure if I have time as i'm going on a vacation soon. I hope I can think of something to solo as it's been a long time since i've played and I cant really remember any good spots.

Either way though, sounds like a great competition and good way to celebrate your achievement! Right on man, thanks for involving / giving back to the community!

[Obsidus]

Hmm, I may have outed myself from participating by rolling a Rogue haha.

[a_desert_madman_01]

I really need a laptop out here on the road. I'm fiending...

[mtb tripper]

win.eq/virus.org

[captnkrunch]

I will participate starting tomorrow.

[crkhobbit]

When is the deadline?

[Halius]

Is this still happening? I know Tecmos said he would be putting up a separate thread for entries. Just wondering.

[loramin]

Oh just re-read the original instructions and you're totally right; I failed to RTFM and jumped the gun in my excitement :( I 've removed pre-mature entry for now.

[Vallanor]

This is such a cool idea. I've decided my level 45 paladin will solo the library in Kaesora or will die trying. From all I've read, probably the latter...

[Tecmos Deception]

I'll get back on this shortly I hope. I kind of bit off more p99 than I can chew by starting to stream while also wanting to do this giveaway and also having a rekindled interest in my shadowknight alt.

Anyone who wants to do this can feel free to work on their kill of choice and the story and stuff and just save it until I announce this officially. Rest assured that I won't give up on the idea, I'm just postponing it for a bit!

[Infuriati]

Really blue

How does red sound? I wouldn't know, seeing as how no one plays red.

[Dirtytony]

I soloed the chancellor in LOIO as a 45 ranger, as you know that mob is pretty tough and noway i shoulda been able to kill him.

The secret

Train the chancellor out of the sarnak fort and run him around snared , watch as goblins agro him and become ur little pets, the goblins are weak but will slowly beat him down. When he starts to run kill the goblins then kill chancellor for da win.

[Dirtytony]

Also can solo griffins ez in NK at a lvl lower then u should be able too, jus train griff to guards at the tower, watch as griffin whoops on gaurds but is left at about 30% for the ez kill

[diplo]

I would like to see 2 level 44-48 mages try to duo phinny (after the pull ofc.). Can't be lvl 49 because it's more or less easily achievable if you don't suck.