Taking on the Leviathan
stargrace 
Let me start this post by saying that for those people out there who wonder why my blog never talks about the ‘end game’ in EQ2 (ie: raids) it’s simply because I’ve BEEN end game before. I did the hard core raid thing for the first three years of EQ2. Right up until RoK was released, and then as RoK went on I got tired of it and stopped.
I raided Darathar for the prismatic line at level 45 on my templar with an Aussie guild on Najena. The 6am (my time) raid times were not fun but I wanted to raid and they were the best (at the time). I’ve never raided much contested content (ie: avatars when they released) but I used to raid, a lot. I posted about those raids earlier in this blog, like when I got my Deathtoll access, we took down Chel’Drak, and I disco’d things in Emerald Halls after we defeated Clockwork Menace for the first time. They were great times, the raids were fun and at that point in my gaming it was what I wanted to do. When RoK released is about the same time I started gaining a plethora of alts, and guilds would find that out and suddenly I would be switching out between 4-5 characters in order to fill in spots in a raid when others were not around. This frustrated me, a whole lot. Even though I now have 8 level 80’s (maybe more, I’ve lost count) I always had the dream of settling on a ‘main’.
As RoK wore on, guild troubles arose (as they tend to do) and I grew even more unsatisfied with raiding. I didn’t exactly decide to quit for good then, I would pitter patter to and from a raid here and there but eventually as the expansion wore on I decided to call it quits. Aside from a raid here and there (mentoring for courts, doing Halls of Seeing and what have you) I haven’t raided since RoK released.
That doesn’t mean I’m oblivious to what goes on in a raid though, and it doesn’t mean I’ve suddenly forgotten *how* to raid. It also doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy raiding, I do, a great deal. I just also hate all of the drama that comes along with it.
Calreth has been trying for a while to get his Leviathan raid update – he needs it for his mythical. He has been on more failed Leviathan raids then anyone should ever have to endure, and still he keeps on trucking. Last night he was attempting to join another but the raid said they had no room for him – so he asked me if he could use my mystic as a bargaining chip to get into the raid.
Now typically I’d decline. I dislike pick up raids – but lately I’ve felt the itch to raid again. With the next expansion due out in February and the level cap going up by 10, it wouldn’t hurt to make myself a little known, we’ll all be starting off at square one when that happens, which is the perfect time to get back into raiding.
So I agreed to go on this raid – which was probably a mistake but I wanted to help Calreth out.
Lets just say we farmed vials four or five times, and we attempted Leviathan once and only got him to 97% – not without cause of course.
One very important thing to keep in mind if you are a raider. If you are NOT the raid leader or a member of the guild the raid leader is in, or specifically asked for your wisdom – KEEP QUIET. There was one attendee who just would NOT hush. By the end of the evening I wanted to simply back hand him and I’m a pretty non violent person being from Canada and all. It was all I could do to restrain myself and not say something. Part way through the night I put him on mute.
When it comes to raids there is really only one thing any person has to do – but they have to do it for the entire duration of the raid and this is where issues arise. It’s LISTEN.
That’s right, it’s so simple and yet this is the one thing countless people have difficulties with. Listen to your raid leader, if you have questions, ask don’t just wonder whether or not you’re doing the right thing. The instructions last night must have been spouted out 10-20x per pause, and still people did not listen.
One “must do” things on a leviathan raid is to CURE a noxious dot that goes off quite frequently. In fact every person in the raid is supposed to have potions specifically to cure themselves. Being a healer I still had potions “just in case”. Take care of yourself first, then worry about others. Being a mystic I also have a group cure noxious. I changed my aa’s around and put all I could into casting faster cures, with an 80% mana reduction to them. I dropped my heal crit line, but for TSO raids and even older ones cures MUST come first. If you can keep your tank cured, you can win (that’s always been my motto). Anyhow. I actually had time to cast a group cure (1.83 seconds) plus cure 3-4 people (the same people) every time the dot went off. That is too much time between the dot going off, and them not curing themselves. I even had time to jump, interrupt a spell, cast my group cure, and then cure the others.
One of the main reasons we wiped was a small little lack of information.
You basically farm fish suits, farm vials, and then send people in those suits into the belly of Leviathan, blowing him up with vials, while the rest of us do absolutely nothing except heal and feed mana. There is a point in time where shields will come down and you can do other stuff but for this specific instance we would not be (to save confusion not that it worked). You stay off of the green sand – and you do not revive if you die, because if you do, Leviathan heals. If you step on the green, Leviathan goes mean. Stand on the sand (or the rock, where we were tanking him). Now, the important information that was missed was – Leviathan will heal if there is someone in the raid who is not in combat.
We were to NOT auto attack due to someone proc’ing a spell that would wipe us. I could get into combat easily enough with heals. The raid leader didn’t mention to the others that they MUST be in combat, and each time we would send our fish men in to drop vials, Leviathan would simply heal.
Then vial orders got out of hand. People started dying and reviving, someone stepped on the sand – we were called to wipe it.
It was a mess, a disaster. I DID still have a lot of fun, I really enjoy the Leviathan raid when it’s done properly. It’s not difficult, so long as you pay attention.
Sadly enough that was the only attempt we got to make because we had too few fish suits by the end of it. Ugh. One of these days Calreth will get his update. Maybe I’ll start tagging along for more raids in the mean time.
Safe travels and happy gaming!