Mith Medal Dailies Part 2

Quests at Gurriki Swamp and Lapidus Mineral Lake

These are the quests known in the lfg as "frog and lake" quests. There's a daily and weekly at both
locations. The daily is repeatable 30 times. For those of you new to Tiamaranta these quests are in areas beyond Kahrun's will, meaning you can be attacked by the opposite faction while questing.
The quests can be picked up in Rancora Fort from NPC Erephe and Karuti inside Rancora Fort. The daily quest in Gurriki Swamp must be done with a group because the mobs are elites, while the weekly can be soloed if you wish. It's the same with the quests at the Mineral Lake. 

Picking up the frog/lake dailies in Rancora Fort
 

I only needed the weekly for the frog quest here
 

Working on the Lake daily,  killing Crystal Mamuts
 

Killing Icemane Lindis to complete the Lake weekly - these can be soloed

Turning in the Lake quests at Rancora Fort

That concludes my 2nd article on obtaining Mithril Medals.   I hope you find it helpful :)

Mithril Medal Dailies Part 1

Mithril Medals:  they're the new form of medals needed in order to buy lvl 60 AP gear.   If you're saving AP
for a piece of that gear,  the minimum you'll need is 29 if you're buying the ring,  all the way up to 182 for the highest grade
Rank 1 locked AP weapon.  In this article I'll review some of the daily quests available that give mithril medals as rewards.

Quests at the Tiamaranta Forts

I can only speak for the Elyos here,  but I'm fairly certain that the quests are similar,  just different in name.
The daily "A Vital Assignment" and weekly "Divided Attentions" can be picked up at the Tia Forts that your faction owns.

Picking up the Mith daily and weekly at the Heart of Fissure

  
The daily asks you to kill 11 mobs to get a vitality crystal from each one.  You can choose from:  Desert Mookies,
I usually choose the mookies, because they're closer and they give a mana buff.  The weekly asks
you to kill "bothersome beasts".  You can choose from a variety but I usually choose the dust cloud
obscuras because they're close by.


Me targeting a dust cloud obscura for the mith weekly

Great Para shot here while doing the weekly :)

Location of desert mookies for the mith fort daily
 

A desert mookie:  these are non pre-emptive

Turning in the daily and weekly at the Tia fort
 

That about covers the Tiamanaranta fort mith medal daily/weekly.  In my next installment I'll cover
other mith medal quests that are available.  Stay tuned :) 

3.5: First Impressions

It's been almost 2 weeks  since 3.5 launched, and I've had a chance to experience about half of the new content.  Here are my thoughts on what I've checked out so far:

The Brusthonin/Theobomos Raids

This is a fun new addition to Aion that I think both factions enjoy.   Allowing PVP raids to
2 previously PVE only zones is bound to be popular.   I get alot of kills quickly and a fair amount
of AP depending on who's there.  I've run it 3 times since the launch.  It's kind of like a cross
between an abyss fort raid and the PVP at West Shard. 
There's about 4 quests that can be picked up before rifting.  The one that asks to kill 5 players
of the opposite faction is completed within about 1-2 minutes of arriving or even less,  if you're joining the
alliance later on.  Other members of your alliance are busy completing the kills for you,
and you get the credit. 
There's alot of guards and players to deal with,  so pushing forward really isn't that easy,  but thats
what's needed to complete the rest of the quests.  The Elyos quest asks players to kill NPC Gien of Baltasar
Hill Village,  and Asmodians are asked to destroy the dimensional generator. 
My only complaint is the rifting curse (Azphel's curse) that I've acquired twice.  On my 2nd run I got the curse after about 30 min or so,  and on my last run I acquired it within 1 min of arriving!  I told myself that I would only stay about 15 min or so in order to avoid it,  but I hadn't counted on getting cursed within 1 min....
The curse lasts for about 3 days,  and puts a stop on rifting anywhere else,  which is bad because rifting
in 3.5 is now open to level 60s for all previously low level regions. 
My conclusion?  I'll be avoiding the curse by doing homeland defense:  I'll be part of the "Welcome Committee" in Theo next time the raid begins :D 
The raids begin at 8 p.m. PST

Arena of Harmony

This is also alot of fun.  As mentioned in my earlier post,  this is the first time in the EC instances where
group chat has been allowed (not that there's much time for chat,  but a few necessary things can be said).  You're paired up with one other person to fight 2 other couples.  The stages are all new too. I like the ice one - its very pretty!  If you come in first you get the chance to receive an Arena of Glory ticket.  Get 3 of those and you get to run the Arena of Glory.  One other nice thing about this:  you can choose your partner and apply as a group.  This way you can run it with a friend. 

Dredgion on the New Instance Server

Let me just say this:  for those of us who like to run dredge but have had to wait 30 min or more for it to pop,  the problem has finally been fixed once and for all!  Thank goodness!
Fast service has arrived - dredge now pops within 5 min,  and often within 1 or 2! 
The reason? The new instance server sources players from across all the Aion servers,  so group formation
is alot faster.  Whether you queue with a premade group or request private or quick entry,  the instance
still pops quickly. 
The downside:  The instance server is laggy at times,  and had a problem with disconnects shortly after
the launch.  From what I can tell the dc problem has been fixed,  but the lagginess does remain at times.
This is because the instance server not only sources dredge,  but every other instance in the game,  so
its a busy server. 

That's my report so far.  I haven't run any of the new high lvl instances like Tiamat Stronghold or Dragon
Lord's Refuge yet.  I'll add some pics as soon as I can .  Thanks for reading and have fun in Aion!

3.5 Has Almost Arrived!!

As I write this,  there is 1 hour left until 3.5 launches.  There are so many new and exciting additions to the game that I'm not quite sure where to start!

To begin with,  and in my opinion one of the most awesome,  is the conversion of Theobomos and Brusthonin into PVP zones!  These 2 zones were strictly PVE since their launch in 1.5.  Players 45+
will now have the chance to rift to these zones through a Dimensional Vortex located in the Kaisanel
Academy and Maruchan Priory.  The Vortexes will only be open for limited times:  10 p.m to
Midnight,  Monday,  Wed,  Friday & Saturday.  There also seem to be some set rules:  the rifting
is scheduled to be in the form of "Raids"  of 24 group alliances.  Also,  the rifting is limited to the higher
level areas of the respective zones,  because Theo and Brust are both low and high lvl regions.

Next we have the addition of 2 instances to the Crucible Coliseum:  The Arena of Harmony and
the Arena of Glory!
These sound very interesting:  the Harmony Arena involves 3 groups of 2 players each  (12 total) battling
each other.  As always,  its faction vs. faction.  And for the first time in the Arena system,  chatting
will be allowed between the 2 group members.  I don't know whether or not you can make your own
group or if you just apply and you're auto grouped with someone.

The Arena of Glory will be available to the top 4 winners of the Arena of Harmony and the winner and first runner up of the Arena of Chaos. Its for lvls 56-60. The rewards will include the usual abyss points and also
Mithril and Platinum Medals,  as well as a new unit of currency known as Glorious Insignias.  Titles will
now be available based on number of wins of the glory instance.

The third item of interest in the 3.5 patch is the introduction of the Instanced Server System.  This will
allow players to apply for Auto Group Formation across all the Aion servers ( I assume NA only).
There will be benefits for forming a group through the new system: 
1.  XP and item drop increase,  and
2.  "Victory's Pledge" boost effect  (PVE DUNGEONS ONLY)

What this will do for static group formation of friends on one server is anyone's guess,  but this change
seems to point to a wish on NC"s part to level the playing field through the encouragement of random
group formation with incentives to do so.

The Involved Dungeons are as Follows:

PVE DUNGEONS
NTC
Fire Temple
Theo Labs,  Adma Stronghold
Steel Rake,  Udas Temple,  Dark Poeta,  Draupnir Cave
Empyrean Crucible

PVP DUNGEONS

Dredgion,  Chantra Dredgion and Terath Dredgion
Arena of Discipline
Arena of Chaos
Arena of Harmony

The Discipline Training Grounds,  Chaos Training Grounds and Harmonious Training Grounds are also
included however I've never run the Disc or Chaos so I don't know if they're PVE or PVP.


Finally,  in the list of the top changes in 3.5,  there's the entirely new PVE dungeons:

Tiamat Stronghold and Dragon Lord's Refuge,  both for players lvl 60
and both with an entrance in Tiamaranta's Eye.  This should make for some serious battles
between the factions for control of the Eye, eh?

and

A new Abyssal Splinter instance,  called Unstable Abyssal Splinter,  only accessible
by the faction that controls Divine Fortress.  This should provide some fuel to renew interest
in taking Divine Fort again. 


My final subect to note is the changes to Legions.   Extra levels have been added:  a legion can now
level up to lvl 8.  There's a cost for this, and it's not cheap. 
There'll now be legion quests to complete,  available for level 5 legions or higher.  These quests will
provide both legion and personal rewards for those who participate.

Legions level 6 or higher will have the right to purchase legion items,  a new addition to the game.
These can be bought with legion coins,  obtained through the new legion quests.
If this isn't encouragement to nudge legions to upgrade to level 6,  I don't know what is!  Not complaining,  just saying.


There are many more changes,  including housing zone quests which I've chosen not to cover in this article.
The full patch notes are here. 

I must take my leave now,  and go download the patch so I can see Brusthonin for the first time!