draft guide: solo shaman epic

[garfo]

Hail fellow priests! I'm still working on my epic, but I wrote up this guide for solo shammy's doing their epics up to Child's Tear. I wrote this guide based on my personal experience, but I first got started by doing deep google searches and pulling info from old forum posts. I figured it was time for someone to compile the info and upload it as a guide to the p99 wiki! What do you guys think; any feedback? (in unrelated news, I'm looking for a guild! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.])


GUIDE: How to solo your Shammy Epic (up to Child's Tear)
Congratulations Shaman, you have grown wise and powerful. Now it is time to begin obtaining your Spear of Fate. This guide is designed to help you accomplish the majority of your Epic Quest naturally as you level.

STEP 1:
- You'll begin your journey at Level 34. Why 34? Two reasons: 1) you're just high enough level to solo these steps with relative safety, and 2) you're the perfect level to group at the Mistmoore Castle Entrance (CE) camp. This becomes important soon.
- Refer to the Spear of Fate Quest page on the p99 wiki; complete the questline up to Part 5, The Test of Might. This is all very straightforward. As you complete the quest, you'll notice your faction with "Truespirit" increasing. This is good; this is the key to your epic questline.

STEP 2:
- Now we're on to the Test of Might. This entails slaying Black Dire, a powerful spawn in Mistmoore. In order to spawn Black Dire, we need to first slay "An Advisor" in the Mistmoore Castle.
- The tricky thing is, the Advisor spawns every four hours. But no need for poopsocking! You're the perfect level to be grouping at the Mistmoore CE camp. So join up with a group and make sure to ask the puller to keep an eye out for the Advisor. If the advisor is up, ask the puller not to touch it! If you're unable to find a group, you can also ask in /ooc. Don't worry if it takes a long time for the Advisor to spawn; you're here to level up anyway, remember? I guarantee by the time you hit level 39, which is when I recommend leaving Mistmoore, you will see the Advisor at least once.
- Once the Advisor is up, you'll need to recruit some assistance for the Black Dire encounter. You can either rally your guildmates (if you have them) or turn to the kindness of strangers. I was not in a guild when I was on this step of my epic, so I posted in the forums asking for help. I got several very kind responses, but ultimately it was too challenging to coordinate schedules. What ended up working for me was when I saw that the Advisor was up, I did a /who all search for high level folks (58-60) in EC and Gfay. I then ASKED VERY POLITELY for aid, explaining that I was a solo shaman and that the Advisor was up, and would they mind zipping over for assistance with Black Dire? Within just a few minutes I had help from a level 60 ranger, and I also did a quick /ooc in Mistmoore and got someone to log onto their 60 cleric main character who happened to be camped in the zone. The ranger and cleric handled Black Dire easily! I offered to pay the Ranger back for his Dial-A-Port costs, but he refused.
- I cannot stress this enough: ask politely, nobody is obliged to help you. Now that I am higher level, I absolutely love helping out newer players who are genuinely trying to make their way in Norrath... politeness, kindness, and enthusiasm go a long way!

NOTE ON STEP 2:
- If you really aren't able to get any help for Black Dire, you can repeat the Envy/Woe/Marr's Promise step of the quest 2-3 more times to bump your faction high enough to proceed. But I recommend really trying for Black Dire; the clicky SoW boots you'll receive are worth it!

STEP 3:
- Congratulations on coming this far, Shaman! You have done well. If you haven't hit level 39 yet, continue grouping (in Mistmoore or elsewhere) until you have.
- The next step entails gathering reports from City of Mist and turning them in to a Spirit Sentinel in the nearby Emerald Jungle. Most people will head straight to CoM at level 39 or 40; I recommend waiting for a few more levels. At 39 or 40 you'll be the lowest level in your CoM group and the experience will be slow. Instead, try duo'ing Gnomes in Sol A (make friends with a Monk!), soloing Tundra Yetis in DL, or doing the Sarnak Berzerker quest in OT. The experience will move much quicker!

STEP 4:
- At level 44, you are of the proper level to start grouping in CoM without truly gimping your experience gains. This is the "grind-y" part of your epic... but not to worry, it'll fly by (and you're here anyway for exp grouping, remember?)
- Head to the Spirit Sentinel in EJ and get the 6-slot booklet container (end of step 5 on Shaman Epic Quest wiki page). Then go to CoM and join a group! The various report pages that you need will drop every few minutes, and before you know it you'll have filled up your first booklet.
- NOTE: The "student's log" only drops off A Spectral Courier, which hangs out near the stables camp. If you're not in a stables group, don't be shy about asking in /ooc -- pages rot all the time in CoM!
- After you've filled up your first booklet, hit "Combine" and then gather the pages again, storing them in a backpack. Once you have a combined booklet and another set of 6 reports, make a quick run out to the Spirit Sentinel in EJ. Hand in your combined booklet, and then say the prompt line ("I will find out how it all began.") to get a new booklet. Quickly fill up your new booklet, hit combine, and turn it in. Then say the prompt line to get another empty booklet, head back into Com, and repeat!
- It will take you anywhere from 7-8 turn-ins to hit max faction (you'll see a notification along the lines of "Your standing with Truespirit faction could not possibly get any better"). Don't stress about this; I guarantee that by the time you hit level 46, you'll have looted more than enough pages to hit max faction!

STEP 5:
- Now that you've maxed out your Truespirit faction, all that remains is looting a Child's Tear in the Plane of Fear and doing the final turn-in and battle with Lord Rak`Ashiir in CoM.
- This is much easier said than done. There are two ways to complete this step: 1) save up ~50 to 75k pp to pay for the Child's Tear loot rights, or 2) join a guild, raid the Plane of Fear, and earn your Tear yourself! This last step is up to you, Shaman.

[loramin]

Great work. You might want to consider merging the above with http://wiki.project1999.com/Shaman_Epic_Quest, or else making it it's own stand-alone "guide" in the wiki, since forum posts get lost over time.

[Legidias]

Step 1 should be save 75k as it will (probably) take the longest

[garfo]

And we’re live! Check it out under shaman guides on the wiki

[HalasHermit]

Good guide man. If anything, super duper emphasize needing to be max ally, I've had 2 people ask me why their turn in didn't work in the last month or so and it sucks to tell them "so close, yet so far away" essentially.