Solo Artist Challenge

[Slave]

Originally Posted by qelen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Xenevorash 3 manned 2 clerics + mag. Details are scarce. Think it could be done with 2.

Gee I wonder if Donals were involved at all.

[qelen]

Originally Posted by Slave [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Gee I wonder if Donals were involved at all.

One was.

[Tecmos Deception]

Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[S-] Estrella of Gloomwater [51 Druid, Kedge]

My first S- [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Found her up with my brother's little druid that I ran over there to track for her and headed over asap. I went down into her room and at first thought I'd just keep 3 of her guards lulled then use a 4th, dark blue one to kill her. But a lull wore off like right as I sent my pet at Estrella, it dotted me, root wore off, charm broke, and I just managed to get out by stunning them (couldn't mez cause all 3 of the damn things were dotted) and gating. Good thing I decided to bind outside instead of keeping my bind by seb.

Next time I decided I would just lull her guards, mez her, and invis pull her back to entrance where I'd kill her with an animation: http://postimage.org/image/600rh51hx/

I figured I would just chainstun her while I hit her with my RoA and my animation chopped at her from behind. But a couple things I expected and something I didn't expect conspired to work me over pretty good. I wasn't timing my stuns very well, and she was getting in swings at me... which was pushing me and causing me to have even more stuns interrupted, which resulted in her sticking two dots on me. Dots and underwater push were what I expected, but didn't handle well. The thing I didn't expect was her damage shield. I should have stripped her of buffs before the fight, but since I didn't I was hurt (through runes, stupid stupid) from the DS and getting eaten alive from dots. I didn't get a SS of it, but I was down under 20% from the dots with drones wearing off and I clicked a CH on myself.

After this, I decided to just keep her rooted and slowed and use stuns + bedlam on pet and let him do the dirty work while I caught med ticks and ToTed, and things were more under control: http://postimage.org/image/qs5b41sfd/

She was getting low, finally, but she killed one pet so I stunned her and mezzed to get medded back up and get a new pet out and such: http://postimage.org/image/olzxpgp7z/

Unfortunately I think I had taken so long by now that tash wore off without me noticing, and I didn't think of this until after root wore off early a couple times and I got beat up some more before I figured, what the hell, I've already used a CH I might as well use a net on her too: http://postimage.org/image/xjvodyqeh/

She did die eventually though: http://postimage.org/image/a0gymbprv/

The rod went to a lowbie druid near the zone [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]



You can bet your ass I won't be going back to change the S- to a normal S any time soon though. I am disliking Kedge very much. I loved leveling in LOIO underwater, but these stupid little fish and the fact that it took me so long to find estrella up and everything is a stupid buffing + healing + dotting druid mob in here... screw this place.

[Tecmos Deception]

Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[S] Baron Yosig [55 Warrior, Sebilis Crypt]

I logged out in crypt last night, and when I got on this morning the place was empty and Yosig was up.

I wasn't sure what level the dar knight pather was, so I decided to use the skeletal hierophant as a pet to clear out the ICG more easily and then smoke Yosig. I was pretty devil-may-care, since Yosig is just a warrior and 51s seem to hold charm quite nicely anyways. And the fight played out as I had hoped. It's amazing how much stronger a level 51 pet is than a 48 or 49. They just seem to hit so much more often when fighting a 54-55, even though they don't hit much harder.

Early: http://postimage.org/image/5dvpf3e9b/
Earlyish: http://postimage.org/image/nhfxky8u1/
Late: http://postimage.org/image/3zupc2o1t/
Loot: http://postimage.org/image/3z8deyy9b/

Pooptastic loot. Hiero spawned the next cycle, but he popped a bit sooner than I expected he was going to (I always get confused on where is 21ish minutes and where is 26ish minutes) and got himself buffed up before I pulled him. Then the pull wasn't pretty cause my pet was still rooted outside from killing an ICG... but fortunately I had poison cure pots this time. And then he slowed my pet at ~50%, and fetter would just not wear off so that I could pull him back into a room instead of out in the open. I let my dar die and petted baron, but he broke charm as soon as I re-engaged so I just hatted. Hiero only had skyfire anyways.

[Erati]

Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I logged out in crypt last night, and when I got on this morning the place was empty and Yosig was up.

I wasn't sure what level the dar knight pather was, so I decided to use the skeletal hierophant as a pet to clear out the ICG more easily and then smoke Yosig. I was pretty devil-may-care, since Yosig is just a warrior and 51s seem to hold charm quite nicely anyways. And the fight played out as I had hoped. It's amazing how much stronger a level 51 pet is than a 48 or 49. They just seem to hit so much more often when fighting a 54-55, even though they don't hit much harder.

Early: http://postimage.org/image/5dvpf3e9b/
Earlyish: http://postimage.org/image/nhfxky8u1/
Late: http://postimage.org/image/3zupc2o1t/
Loot: http://postimage.org/image/3z8deyy9b/

Pooptastic loot. Hiero spawned the next cycle, but he popped a bit sooner than I expected he was going to (I always get confused on where is 21ish minutes and where is 26ish minutes) and got himself buffed up before I pulled him. Then the pull wasn't pretty cause my pet was still rooted outside from killing an ICG... but fortunately I had poison cure pots this time. And then he slowed my pet at ~50%, and fetter would just not wear off so that I could pull him back into a room instead of out in the open. I let my dar die and petted baron, but he broke charm as soon as I re-engaged so I just hatted. Hiero only had skyfire anyways.

Tecmos; I enjoy your detailed stories as well as the progressive screenshots you provide to show us each of the stages of these fights however I am not sure if I am alone here, but I sorta hope 1 of 2 things happen:

1. You solo/attempt to solo a mob that is widely viewed by other ENCHANTERS as near impossible to solo. A lot of your tales there are probably a few, not many, well played enchanters can also pull off but just don't bother. In fact Id almost like to have this "challenge" renamed to the Solo Enchanter Artist Challenge as it is fairly obvious that only enchanters or possibly bard/sham and maybe necros can do most of the "challenges" you find on the list. I know most of the 'art' comes from how you approach breaking these camps as solo, but once you figure out a safe way to break a room, thats it, the hard part is over. I wanna hear about soloing something that is difficult, widely renown from most high tier ENCHANTERS as impossible to kill rather than how to break X camp charming a mob and rinse repeat same tactics. Hell even as 50 druid I figured out a way to safely break the froglok king room (without simply aggro'ing entire room and rooting it) and I thought that was impressive yet that challenge doesn't really measure up to what an enchanter can accomplish solo hence the skewness of having this thread.

2. Create an alt and let us experience some low lvl challenges from a different class. #2 kind of builds off #1 where we get it, you can charm monsters and break a lot of camps, but if you want to be a true 'solo' artist lets see how you do soloing with lets say a wizard or shadow knight. Who knows. Obviously not all classes can solo that great but I for one playing a wizard on live felt really accomplished soloing some camps that some other classes would wipe the floor with. It can be your choice, though the least solo able class u select and more the success you have with it will just prove you are the ultimate "Solo Artist" as there are many different creative ways the other classes have to dabble in the 'art' of soloing.

Good luck and keep up the good work [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Briscoe]

Everyone following this thread is fully capable of weighing each participant's level, class, and gear versus the target they kill. For example, Tecmos did a lot of his work before he was level 60 and he received some praise for that. In your case, if you posted a recap and screenshots of breaking the Froglok King room and ultimately solo killing him as a level 50 druid, you would surely receive high praise.

[Tecmos Deception]

Originally Posted by Erati [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

1. You solo/attempt to solo a mob that is widely viewed by other ENCHANTERS as near impossible to solo.

I'm sure you can see how I'm approaching the SAC. I've started at the beginning with the easiest mobs (and mind you that, as far as I can tell, I am the only person who started the SAC at level 55; I wasn't 60 until I was done with most of the disciple tier), and I'm progressing upwards. Eventually I will be working on the grandmaster monsters that only a few people on the server have solod, regardless of class.

Originally Posted by Erati [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

A lot of your tales there are probably a few, not many, well played enchanters can also pull off but just don't bother.

Granted. But this isn't a challenge just because the individual fights against nameds can be difficult. It's a challenge because of everything getting that kill entails.

It's not like you start at level 60, with the right gear, with the right clickies, with the knowledge of the zones, with the mob already solo pulled, etc. The challenge isn't named "most skilled enchanters list" because being a good enchanter (or shaman or whatever) is only part of the effort it takes to kill these things. I've said a number of times that an actual fight was easy, but getting to the point where I could even enter that fight was the real challenge.

Originally Posted by Erati [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

In fact Id almost like to have this "challenge" renamed to the Solo Enchanter Artist Challenge as it is fairly obvious that only enchanters or possibly bard/sham and maybe necros can do most of the "challenges" you find on the list.

Look at the first page if you want to see what classes are capable of accomplishing what in this challenge. Ploktor broke fear solo as a druid (without clickies! jesus!). Svenn solod a sebilite protector. If certain classes excel at this particular challenge while others don't, it's just because that's how EQ is built.

Also, I'll call your attention to the fact that this is named "solo" artist challenge, but there are plenty of rules for undertaking it as a duo as well. And that involves basically every class, so long as the player is willing to put in the effort.

Originally Posted by Erati [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I know most of the 'art' comes from how you approach breaking these camps as solo, but once you figure out a safe way to break a room, thats it, the hard part is over.

You're wrong here. There isn't a "safe way" to do most of this challenge, because even with the perfect plan and perfect execution, it is all too easy for things to go horribly wrong: bad resists, situations that just are impossible to negotiate safely (i.e. too many pathers to pull solo), other players sniping your mobs or training, etc.

And even with the perfect plan, imperfect execution (we're all human afterall, except ploktor) is a constant, and it makes everything harder [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Originally Posted by Erati [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I wanna hear about soloing something that is difficult, widely renown from most high tier ENCHANTERS as impossible to kill rather than how to break X camp charming a mob and rinse repeat same tactics.

Then make your own challenge where the solo god mode kills of this challenge are just the beginning. I'm not here because of you or anyone else except myself. I do the writeups because a surprising number of people have told me they like reading them, but even if you all hated reading my stuff, I'd still be doing all of this because it's hard and it's fun!

If you think that all of this is rinse and repeat same tactics, it might be more a product of my "short" stories than how things actually work. I tend to write about the actual individual pull and fight most of the time, but you can find me talking about doing CRs in HS west and botching fights against trash and all kinds of other things than just the same old same old lulling a room and pulling a named out. That strategy of pulling gets less effective for me soon anyway, cause the GM stuff is too dangerous to do it on.

Originally Posted by Erati [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Hell even as 50 druid I figured out a way to safely break the froglok king room (without simply aggro'ing entire room and rooting it) and I thought that was impressive yet that challenge doesn't really measure up to what an enchanter can accomplish solo hence the skewness of having this thread.

Very nice. But like Briscoe said, the people reading this thread aren't just looking for [S] and writing off anything else. Everyone knows that someone who clears the warmup rank as a cleric did something unique and challenging; no one would say "well sure but Tecmos did that at lower levels and in half the time" because they understand the difference in a chanter soloing those mobs and a cleric doing it.

Originally Posted by Erati [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Create an alt and let us experience some low lvl challenges from a different class. #2 kind of builds off #1 where we get it, you can charm monsters and break a lot of camps, but if you want to be a true 'solo' artist lets see how you do soloing with lets say a wizard or shadow knight. Who knows. Obviously not all classes can solo that great but I for one playing a wizard on live felt really accomplished soloing some camps that some other classes would wipe the floor with. It can be your choice, though the least solo able class u select and more the success you have with it will just prove you are the ultimate "Solo Artist" as there are many different creative ways the other classes have to dabble in the 'art' of soloing.

I've talked a couple times with The A-Team about how I've wanted to level a shaman or a necro to see how they tackle the SAC differently than an enchanter. However, as much as I do play, I don't have enough time to keep enjoying my enchanter AND level one of these AND then learn how to negotiate the SAC with them.

Really, though, the whole "soloing more with a weaker class says more about you as a solo artist" thing is pointless, again. I daresay that no one here is here because of what others care or think. We're all here because this is fun for us the way we're doing it. I'm quite positive that while any class can approach situations that are a challenge for it to deal with solo (rogues lol), the classes you tend to see doing the most in this thread are the ones that it is the most FUN to challenge yourself with because they are the classes with the most tools to make things work.

There's something to be said for doing more with less, but I kind of don't see how soloing a frenzied pox scarab with a level 57 wizard by tanking the room as you root the frogs and then slowly whittle down the scarab is going to be more fun or interesting, or going to say more about you as a player, than doing it with a typical, strong solo class.


I've also thought the idea of a "Group Artist Challenge" would be fun, to see what people can do with a full group, but I am not the person to come up with such a thing. You'd just need too many rules and limitations on it, because of the limited number of challenging targets compared to those for a soloer and the potential for excessively gimmicky tactics trivializing all too much of the targets that do exist.

[Erati]

Obviously I struck a nerve with my post. I did not mean to flame you nor belittle your accomplishments nor the others who have mastered some of these challenges. If you read my first sentence, I said I enjoy your stories and SS's which compelled me to try to see how far you can take your skills as you obviously enjoy doing it and seemed like the competitive type that would look at any mob and plan/scheme a way to take it down even if its never been done solo before.

That was at the core of my post, I wanted to see how far you would take things and if you had any plans to prove your skills with another unlikely solo class. Understand all your comments, and I don't disagree with anything, especially taking the challenge up through the tiers instead of skipping ahead.

Again, I enjoy reading your stuff, and you don't have to prove anything to anyone as you stated you are doing this for you. I was just sparking a conversation that I was curious if any of the "non enchanter" readers who are fans of your stuff was interested in hearing.

[Tecmos Deception]

Originally Posted by Erati [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

That was at the core of my post, I wanted to see how far you would take things and if you had any plans to prove your skills with another unlikely solo class.

I'll take your word for it, then. You sure did go about asking a simple question in a funny way, though. Next time, a "hey, what do you think of these things?" post might be more appropriate than the post you chose to make instead.

[Tecmos Deception]

Here we go, Erati. I've got a story I'll work on right now that's not just the same, old stuff. Part of reason a lot of my kills themselves are boring, and a part that I've neglected to mention in the past, is that I spend a lot of time "cultivating" (I like to use that word) the area I'm in.

Right now HS South is a HUGE fucking mess. I blame TMO [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

There is a patrolling feaster just around the corner from the drop down. There was a feaster by the western cave pathing. There is a feaster in the central room pathing. There is a bile PH up in the middle. There is a feaster pather in the western, north-south hallway. There is a bile in the room with the key to east. There is a bile in the central cave. There are two biles in the eastern named room. There is a bile PH in the southern room.

You know how hard it would be to try to kill nameds in south solo right now? Lol. But most of my named kills in South are very simple, because I spend hours before I'm doing most of those pulls getting the right trash mobs up so that I can pull the named as safely as possible. And even then, I still often need to lull 3-4 level 51-53 monsters... and that leads to at least a couple of deaths or hats in a 4-hour stay down here. To a lesser extent in other zones (and in HS), I also will kill of higher-level trash mobs to get them to repop as something that is easier to lull.

When South is a mess like it is right now, it's very risky just trying to get into the wing let alone trying to clear out the stuff that sees IVU let alone trying to single pull a named.


Ahh! I only managed to clear 1 devourer and 2 biles out before my cave repopped. And my efforts are going to be rewarded already: http://postimage.org/image/3xn1gaou1/

I'm low on HP cause my charm broke the instant I hit my pet with it again, and he interrupted 3 stuns before it landed [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]