Are Verina Tomb and Vessel Drozlin still bottlenecks for Enchanter epic?

[JickFromTholuxe]

Howdy friends,

I have been playing P99 off-and-on since 2012, but I haven't played in over a year now. P99 is my favorite game of all time, without doubt, however I tend to go too hard playing it and have to cut myself off cold turkey. I still resist coming back because I feel I have accomplished pretty much everything I've wanted, with one very big exception...

Jick, my main on Blue, is a re-creation of my old childhood main on the Tholuxe Paells server: a 60 Enchanter + epic + GM JC skill. I finished pretty much my entire Enchanter epic over five years ago, except for the two soul-crushing bottlenecks: Verina Tomb and Vessel Drozlin. I did manage to catch Vessel Drozlin up once, but I died twice trying to solo him before a group got to him. The fucked up non-classic timers for those two spawns were so infuriating and demotivating to me that it has caused me to quit P99 several times.

Now that Green and Teal are live, and how I would need to finish my unfinished business with my Enchanter epic before I even consider starting anew, I am wondering if my chances of finding Verina Tomb and Vessel Drozlin are now substantially improved with the lower population? Are they still considered bottlenecks, or is the population so low now that the mobs can stay up for a long time without a full group logging in on-site within seconds of them popping? Also, have the timers been changed to be more classic?

Since I don't currently play, and therefore have no guild or zerg force, I may want to actually attempt soloing them. I have all the Enchanter spells, some good clickies, and level 60. However, I do worry that if I tried this, I wouldn't be able to get a rez easily. I can only die a few times before I de-level to 59, IIRC. I do not have a machine available at this very moment on which I could run EQ Titanium, but if I knew I could get my epic with only a day or two of work, I would be very motivated to get set back up for playing to come back and "beat" P99 (according to my own personal metric of success).

Has anyone else had to deal with these two bottlenecks after the launch of Green / Teal? What should I expect at this point? Also, I'd love to know the latest tips on soloing them. Thanks in advance!

[Droxx]

They're not a bottleneck if you actually camp them (even afk with audio triggers). If you just wander in and try to find them up, you'll have a tough time.

[JickFromTholuxe]

"Camping them" is one thing, but contesting the camp with 2-4 other Enchanters who are ready to pounce on them with a batphoned group in moments is simply demotivating. I would be interested in coming back to P99 for some fun accomplishment, but spending a week or two logged into the game on my iPhone hotspot to get only chances at succeeding doesn't sound like a game I need in my life.

I'm asking about how much things have changed since blue had a high population so I can get an idea of how much risk of competition I'll have to deal with. The idea that "glory comes only to those who poopsock" is the worst aspect of P99 as a game, IMHO.

Anyone have recent experience with them, or know through the grapevine what the situation is with them?

[Nitholias01]

its not nearly as bad as it was, ive killed them now a few times in the last month and even found them up with no one in zone a few times in the morning

[JickFromTholuxe]

its not nearly as bad as it was, I've killed them now a few times in the last month and even found them up with no one in zone a few times in the morning

Nice! Good to know. I'll start setting up a P99 Titanium install.

Here's everything I remember about soloing the two. Can anyone recommend more soloing tips for a 60 enc?

Verina Tomb

She's a CH'ing 60 cleric, and will buff herself once she spawns, but she doesn't social aggro with anyone. She may need to go OOM before she can be killed, so anti-mana spells are important, but they may not land without a malo since she's 60. The NPC "Draan N`Ryt" is the best charmable pet in that zone, at level 50, but he'd probably need at least one CH with a Reaper to withstand her attacks since she may not be slowable (I think?). She should be pulled to the zone-line with a pet-pull because her summoning will make zoning out for safety impossible. A crystallized pumice could be used to dispell her quickly, but I don't know if an entire pumice would strip all her buffs, and it might pull aggro off the pet.

Vessel Drozlin

The worst part of this fight is how he is surrounded by one-way walls and will flee or summon through them.

There are also level 1 mobs that will attack a sitting enchanter down there, so they should be cleaned out before engaging him first in case you have to wander the halls (or you could cast Feedback DS on yourself), but you may have to go through the one-way walls with a pet in tow, which can be very annoying.

Pulling him into the water may be better, but fighting him underwater may not be ideal, especially during a recharm.

For recharming, having your charmed guard pet pre-targeted, having Wand of Allure on hotkey, re-attacking on hotkey, and staying within non-summon range is crucial. If I tried to fight him again and wasn't in a huge hurry, I may want to try to pet pull him all the way out to the landing by the boats where you first swim underwater into the tunnel to reach him. He may require two pets, or possibly more than one Reaper CH, but I'm not sure. Him fleeing above ground could cause some CC issues with cabilis guards on the shaman guild faction, so having Dazzle/Calm available seems prudent. He will HT once, so you can probably engage him once with a pet before zoning out gracefully and restarting fresh. Rune V and Bedlam on the pets will help survivability a lot.

---

What am I missing? Anyone have any better suggestions?

[ecurb_dlabihcra]

That pretty much sums it up. For VD and VT I highly recommend loading your pet up with -MR items too which will help decrease the odds of charm breaks. Wand of Allure is a must, and keep casting Blanket of Forgetfulness on VD as he cannot be slowed (VT can be slowed). You absolutely need to be sure your pet regains aggro on a charm break or you will get squished in an instant. Haste and torch your pet too since you need to get VD and VT down fast and with the Wand of Allure you don't need to mem any of your stuns. I didn't need a reaper for VD but I did for VT. Always good to have one. Keep Theft of Thought up for sure since you'll need it to maintain mana while casting Bedlam/Rune on your pet

I'd say also I've seen more people selling the loot rights to these which is unfortunate, but that may have stopped after Green/Teal came out.

Also if you want to watch how people have done it, there are a few videos on YouTube of enchanters soloing them, and Nybras has some twitch clips of these as well. These are definitely do-able fights. Honestly the biggest challenge is staying composed as you get ready to engage since there is always a feeling that another enchanter will zone in and snipe your mob. Especially with VT. It's a rush!

[jbel123]

We killed VT for a guildie a couple of days ago. She had been sitting up for at least 8 hours when we engaged her.

[Stryker85]

its not nearly as bad as it was, ive killed them now a few times in the last month and even found them up with no one in zone a few times in the morning

Fuck you dude. People like you are the reason why enchanters struggle with this part of the epic.

[Baler]

It is possible to kill this mob with 2-3 people. Have a couple high end friends park characters near there and tell them when she's up to log those characters in. proceed to beat down.

[Isey]

I got mine on my 55 chanter (VT) without poopsocking. I just had a level 1 toon there that I would check into every time I logged in or off.

Found her twice that way. Once I lost it (died trying) as others were getting ready, the second time I got a guild group there and we killed her within 20 minutes of her popping.

You definitely need a guild and own willing to mobilize to help.

This might be harder now that Teal megerd if upset people come back. He'll, the AC camp is empty in OOT half the time, I got three rings in 8 hours one day. The population drop to Green Teal made things way more manageable.

[San'Drax]

Just so I understand, you wanna get these so you can not play this toon anymore?

[Barlu]

I paid for the service of getting them both but from what I understand binding in the sewers is the way to go for VD. Bind near mob charm your pet then gate and it will warp in. Makes Engage much faster. This way also has to be approved by GMa because the guy before me had his Rod ninja looted and the Gms restored it so I guess using that way to get a pet there isn’t against the rule.. Also, VD dispels a lot so mana drain there is key. If you are going to make a serious go at this buy some wort pots too. You dont want to die when you actually find them up.

Glad to hear they aren’t perma socked anymore. Gives people a better chance to get and even a chance to solo them which kinda seems appropriate for the class to get epic.

[Nitholias01]

Fuck you dude. People like you are the reason why enchanters struggle with this part of the epic.

killed them for enchanters in my guild...not for profit

[jbel123]

Fuck you dude. People like you are the reason why enchanters struggle with this part of the epic.
you realise that even if he is selling the loot rights - he's selling them to enchanters.

[JickFromTholuxe]

Holy shit! I happened to log in this morning and found Verina Tomb UP! I managed to enlist the help of some fine folks in TSS to help take her down. I was ready to engage if another group showed up, but I was more interested in securing the drop with minimal death on my part if possible. :)

Shortly after I posted this thread and setup P99 again, the first thing I did was log onto my Enchanter (who was already parked near VD from the last time I gave up on P99), and I actually found a group there about to engage him. That was kinda mindblowing in itself to even see him up on blue for my 2nd time ever. I have his timer from that day, but I haven't been watching logs or keeping a mule there.

Now once I get VD, I just need to spelunk the Hole and then I got my epic! I think it's safe to say that, yes, the two bottlenecks are indeed less contested than what I remember of the last ~8 years, lol.

[Varren]

Congrats Jick. Hmu if you need some help, and come on back to TSS

[branamil]

Blue is very very inflated at this point and there's very few new 50+ enchanters. You'll mostly find them alone for a few hours, or at most 1 other poopsocker. But if someone is socking them hard just wait for the next one.

[JickFromTholuxe]

Congrats Jick. Hmu if you need some help, and come on back to TSS

Thanks man! I won't be needing much help since today I got BOTH Vessel Drozlin AND Verina Tomb, as well as my last kill: Ghost of Kindle. I was omw to do the Hole turn-in, then the final epic turn-in when the earthquake happened today, lol! Today is my 2nd day back pretty much and it's poppin' with TSS. :)

Great to see you're still around, man. Cheers! :)

[JickFromTholuxe]

https://i.imgur.com/PnGM85h.png

Eight years in the making! IT IS DONE. Thanks again TSS for all the help!

[Vallyx]

Since green's release these are substantially easier to find up.