One of best zones ever created...

[SantagarBrax]

Crystal Caverns (lvl's 29-48)

I'll give you the low down on the zone first, then explain why this zone is so damn amazing...


CC is an exceptionally well thought out and designed zone, extremely underrated, with plenty of named, and always under populated. The outpost hosts a Bank that anyone can use, and the zone favors sneak/hide classes with their ability to sell to the merchants. (Faction with the city of Frost stone is currently broken and can not be raised, however, items/spells to raise faction do work). One of the main attractions of this wonderful dungeon is the 13 minute respawn timer and the amount of platinum you can make in your 30's/40's here. Forget Mistmoore folks, you want to come here.

The zone is best dealt with in parties of 3 or less, including twinked soloing. The experience is quite good if you stick to this rule and can carry you straight to lvl 48 in no time, while making Tons of money for these levels. Specific classes seem to do better than others here, on this note, especially monks, rogues with a duo partner, rangers, shamans, and of course, enchanters. If you do not have the luxury of being twinked, I'd recommend a tank/slower/healer around level 34 and that should suffice.

There are 4 main camp areas:

Orcs (lvl 27-30) around the pit area
Crystalline Spiders (lvl 30-34) in the middle tunnel at the bottom of the zone
Stalag Terrors (lvl 31-36, named up to 38) in the left tunnel at the bottom of the zone
Geonids (32-37, rare 38's) in the right hand tunnel at the bottom of the zone

I typically don't bother with the Orcs as the experience seems to be on the light side, compared to the rest of the mobs in zone. The real money maker's here, both in xp/plat, are going to be your Spiders and Geonids. The spiders drop crystalline silks and are used for raising skill in the coldain rings/shawl quests, as well as thurg gate potions and can be sold for 200p per stack, to players. High levels frequently want to farm these but sometimes it's just better to pay and move on, and it's common to find this camp open.

There are 13 Spider's, not counting the spiderlings, prior to the Queen's room. (Queen room has about 6 total spawns) This is more than enough spawns to get a rotation down befitting your current party level and capabilities. Due the fast respawn time, a twinked monk/ranger at lvl 33, can kill about 6-7 of these before heading back. If you are smart, you can share the camp with a high level, giving them the mobs at the end of the tunnel and the Queen room, and they will almost always help out with buffs to help PL your group/solo xp run. Don't be shy sharing this camp folks, there's Terrors you can scoop up if your party needs more to kill without down time, or even Geonids if they are not camped. The poison on the Spiders does not seem to be poison based, as I've been poisoned before with over 160 pr. Just a side note. It's not a huge deal but be prepared for it.

The Geonids start off non kos and there are 8 spawns. It takes about 4 runs to become KoS. The named Geonids (Gem Collector/Focus Crystal) always drop gems similar to seafury isle, 40p-196 to vendors (chipped fire opals/chipped diamonds). They are the top dogs in this zone as they have high AC, hit like trucks for 88 doubles, but solid xp. This is the PERFECT afk camp while at work or just want to make some xp and plat with easy going, peaceful, hunting. Be aware there is no way in game to raise faction, currently. This should only apply if you are interested in the Pheno Crystal questline, for pure casters that won't see raid level loot.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Phenocryst%27s_Focus

The Stalag Terrors are good exp, and a middle ground in between the geonids/spiders. They are almost never camped. They are also a nice side pot to pick from when you do find those few rare souls willing to venture into CC for some xp and the other two camps are taken. The named also drop some decent gear for players/vendor.

Benefits of this zone over others:

1. /who all crystal doesn't work, you have to actually travel here to see who's here and what's camped.

2. The bank/merchant feature in frost stone allows you to never leave, unless getting spells/training.

3. Comradery - You will build excellent in game relationships and friends here, it's just a fun zone with no BS trains and KS'ers etc. The zone itself promotes sharing and working together and it benefits all levels here.

4. Frost Stone Guards are lvl 30 ish, don't expect to be "Saved" automatically while running to them. You also have to stand next to the npc's for most of them to react to mobs, causing you to run in circles and pray while 6 mobs are chasing you. Guards also won't attack Geonids, so don't bother running to town, zone out.

5. Zoning out - It's not always Safe to zone out! You may chance upon the orc emissary and Rodrick the traitor dorf, whom backstabs for 300+, in a meeting! This little extra bit of worry and tension adds depth to this zone. It's not guaranteed you'll make it out alive, and if you do, it's not guaranteed you'll survive the zone process! No where else is it like this while leveling up. +++

6. $$$$ - On my monk, leveling from 33-48, I made 24k here. I've made 6k from lvl 32-38, on my ranger so far, and I haven't even made it to the Geonids yet. Jade earrings, flame agates, peridots, words, topaz, carnelian, ivory, etc... a bunch of small plat items that add up when selling to vendor. 200p per stack of Crystalline Silks, be firm! Deals for multiples of course! Geonid gems are just golden and unfounded anywhere else from an upper 30's mob at this drop rate. You still see lvl 51 sk's in here farming sometimes, lol.

7. Exp - up to 22% per run of spiders, depending on solo of course, and how many you can handle. In a duo with a monk/ranger from lvl's 32-37, expect 10-13% xp every run, or 13 mins. I completed lvl 35 in 3hrs and 15 mins on my monk, with a high lvl shammy farming queen area (BUFFS!) I average a level every hour and 15 while making good money doing it.

Once you get into the 40's, it's quite easy to start at the top of the Geonid camp, and run all through them clearing down to terrors, and back up in time before repop, if you have the right party. It's a fun clear, I've even seen mini chardok ae pulls to the safe spot and the xp is nasty good.

All things being said, I've leveled every single toon I have here in CC, because it's worth it. Why am I sharing this information? I'd like everyone to be able to enjoy in one of the best designed and fun dungeons in all of p99.

I'm sure I've left out a few key notes, but where's the fun in spoiling everything by telling all!?!

Enjoy guys and gals, this zone is one of the best ever made. Kudo's to whomever worked on it back in the day.

Pantheon - Take Note! I want one just like it!!

[Jimjam]

I had a couple of 45 buddies, a monk and a druid, who were killing here for tradeskill pieces (or something). The xp had slowed down for them by this level so they agreed to out of group Ds/FD PL my 37 ranger at the bottom of the zone. Took 3 hours to go 37-40.

Xp in this zone is incredible!

[Aaramis]

Crystal Caverns is a really great zone, but the issue is, as pointed out, that there are only really 4 camps.
A zone that's the equivalent in size of West Karana, all told, and only 4 camps. And one of them has stalag terrors that don't drop anything uber (except for the nameds), so they're often not camped - not when you can kill orcs and get velium ore, spiders for silks, or geonids for gems. So in reality, there's only really 3 often used camps.

Throw in the fact it's a mid-level zone, and one uber twink or slightly higher character can easily replace a group in each of those camps. So you can have 3 people level 45+ pretty much farming out the zone.
And as it's a popular zone to farm, there's almost ALWAYS people there farming it, meaning you might run all that way for nothing.


That said, if you can nab a camp and have a decent group (or decent solo class), it's definitely a great spot. I love that zone to bits.

[Brut]

You meant to say Velks but okay.

[Swish]

"I'd rather level through the same zones to level 60, six times" - the P99 community

[gprater]

CC and Velks are both great. I think the fact that CC is a dungeon in an expansion pack where all other dungeons are high level was a good move on the creators' part.

[Jimjam]

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

"I'd rather level through the same zones to level 60, six times" - the P99 community

Don't forget to pay other players to upgrade your pixels for you so you can avoid adventuring off the golden path!

[blondeattk]

only dowside on p99 is the orc shamans dispell, which didnt happen on live.

sadly this server is saddled with incompetent hacks, who do wierd things for their own agenda. hohum.

[gprater]

I dislike the golden path immensely. No need to treat EQ like a job and maximize efficiency I already have a job. Oh, I see the flaw in my logic now. People need a career. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[ZiggyTheMuss]

It was fun to check it out for a level or two, but the exp just plain sucks unfortunately.