Round Two: Cavern of the Afflicted

That’s always the way it happens. Monday the ‘daily double’ (which seems to reward 2 shards for some people, while others only get 1 shard) was Cavern of the Afflicted – which is the zone I did Tuesday. Tuesday’s daily double was Halls of the Forsaken – which is the zone i did Monday. Ah well. I dusted Arysh (warden) off after dinner and headed to the zone. At least the zone in issues seem to be slightly under control. It does still take a few minutes to get anywhere, but it wasn’t near the 10 minute mark from the night before. Cavern of the Afflicted is a shadowknight’s dream. This zone has so many mobs. Warlocks love it too. We constantly pulled 2-3 groups at once and Shadowgeist was parsing 8-14k an encounter. Very fun stuff. 

I want to thank the people at SOE who linked my site on their Tuesday Town Crier (it’s posted weekly) with six of my posts. I really appreciate the EQ2 community and readers. 

I’m collecting a fair amount of void shards now, I’m almost up to 10. I haven’t even looked at the merchants to see what they offer and what would be upgrades. I believe that there are some pieces that cost less then what I have right now, so I should look into it today. I also want to find a crafter who can make the pieces for me so that I don’t have to pay extra shards. A lot of the crafters that can be hired on Najena are asking for 1p per piece, and I’m of two minds about this. The craft books are not especially hard to get, and they cost practically nothing to actually craft the piece. On the other hand, money is not hard to come by in EQ2 especially from level 70+ so why shouldn’t they charge this amount. I’m still hoping I can find friends and guild mates who have the books rather then paying coin for simple combines. 

Cavern of the Afflicted is a fairly easy zone, though I was reminded some times how frustrating it can be to play a healer. During one encounter (the one that burrows) group members are hit with a noxious dot. This drains your power, and it drains it fast. The problem is that my group did not have a group noxious cure. The way I typically fight this worm is to bring it upstairs to the room with the well in it, and any time the worm ‘burrows’ and it’s stone shield is up, train it around the room in circles so that players avoid the nasty things that happen (knock backs, aoe’s etc). When they do this, their noxious aoe also goes off. One of the group members said in group that if the group didn’t get cured fast enough (while we all had the dot of course) that we’d not have any power, and would die. 

Well, I know that. However when an entire group is spread out over a well, some times not everyone is range. Not to mention we’re constantly running around for that encounter, and I have to cure everyone one at a time. I wish I could do it all but alas it takes a second or two. For the most part I think I am fairly prompt on the cures, they’re one of the most important aspects for healers in EQ2 especially from level 70+ if you’re not curing things are going to go bad, and fast. 

We defeated the encounter, and got the same cinch that just dropped off of another trash mob, even though the encounter was a named one. 

Ugh. Transmuted it went. 

Unlike my first trip through the zone, we found the key for the treasure chest at the end of this one along our way, and each of us got our two shards. Now it’s just time to find something to spend them all on! I’m still debating leveling up my templar, but I think I’ve come to an easier solution then just quest grinding in RoK or even TSO. The templar is sitting at level 77 and is on my ‘main’ account. She gets a 30% experience bonus for adventuring due to the others on the account who are already max level. I have been looking for an excuse to level my swashbuckler (newly betrayed from brigand) on the 2nd account. Swashbucklers get stances (All dps scouts do, except bards) and taunts, making them some what effective tanks, especially at lower levels. She’s 45, and has a lot of leveling to go. Even if the experience is significantly reduced for the templar, leveling along with a 45 dps is better then leveling alone, or leveling through more quest grinding. Don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoy the ‘questing to level’ method that’s implemented in EQ2 (I know a lot of people are quite tired of that) and I love seeing my achievements from leveling. Some times, I just want to play EQ1-style. Find a nice camp some place, sit down, and pull to the location for hours. EQ2 doesn’t do this very well, groups are constantly moving. Also not a bad thing, just different then another game. 

Hope everyone else is having a great week thus far, happy gaming in whichever game you happen to play!

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