Kamar Battlefield Part 2

Welcome to my second article on Kamar Battlefield. In part one I left off near the middle of the battle.
At this point in time,  you'll receive a message on your screen that says:
"A box of Reian Tribe supplies have arrived in Peace Square" (those may not be the exact words but
they're pretty close).   A huge cargo crate of supplies is dropped in the northeast and southwest corners in Peace Square.  This is one point where pvp can begin if it hasn't already because the supplies are definitely worth getting. The download time is longer than most quest items,  so you have to make sure that someone
isn't about to attack you.
They include:

1. Steelskin elixir,  which, as its name implies,  makes you invincible for an unspecified amount of time. 10/23/13 *Correction* - This item has been changed to give extra HP for a limited time. 
2. Explosive devices,  which can be used to inflict damage on enemies, 
3. Kamar Cannonball,  which is the needed ammo for the faction based cannon 
4. Siege Weapon Fuel,  needed to operate the faction based cannons that spawn in the northwest and southeast corners of Peace Square.

The supplies crate that drops around mid-battle

A closeup description of the Steelskin Elixir

Some groups choose to designate a person who should roll for the cannon items.  This has pros and cons.

The advantage is that everyone in the group knows who'll be operating the cannon,  but a disadvantage could be if that player gets killed during pvp and cant easily return to the group when the cannon is needed.   Teams sometimes camp the breakouts of their opposing teams.

Unlike dredge,  where a team can lock their side and choose to avoid pvp,  KB is a pvp instance,
something like Arena of Harmony but with a 12 person alliance.   The battle starts to heat up during the
middle of the instance,  after both teams have farmed the points for their sides and theres nothing left to
do but duke it out in Peace Square.   As I mentioned above,  this is often started by the dropping of the supplies crate.

PVP in Peace Square

I've been on teams that try to jump the gun on the opposing team by running to the center first and catching
the other team while they're PVEing,  however I don't really agree with that strategy.  It often backfires,
valuable points are lost,  and team morale goes down quick.  Once that happens,  a loss is inevitable,
and with a 2 day cd on this instance,  you want to do your best to win.  This brings me to another difference
between Dredge and KB:  the points awarded.  In  Dredge a losing or afk team can expect to win at least
5k AP  or thereabouts based on participation,  however in KB when you lose you get about 1750 AP. Victory in KB is also a  fixed amount of AP,  although I've never been afk on a winning team so I don't know if AP is adjusted based on participation or not.  See pic below.

Victory always gives nearly 11K AP

 You also receive a Victory Box.  Again this is like AOH.

Now back to the battle.  After the mid point in the battle,  a message will flash on your screen that
says:

A message about Commander Varga.  Note the faction based cannon in the background.  It can only be operated by a player who has Siege Fuel.

In my experience Commander Varga spawns in the main central building,  where players get their Kahrun quests in the real Sarpan.  Its the building where Garnon's office is. Raxu told me he can also spawn in Lamina Bazaar,  however I've never seen that.  If your team can kill him and his sidekicks,  the instance
will end.  He is tough though,  and teams don't usually go after him because doing so puts them in a vulnerable position.  It takes awhile to kill him,  and the opposing team can storm right in and ruin the effort.
Although the message above says he and his Deputy,  there are really 2 deputies.  He has 1 mob on either side of him.

In this particular run of KB,  my team really rolled.  We had alot more points than the opposing team,
and when that happens,  the instance plays out differently than when the points are closer together.

Message stating "You will win if you exceed opposing team by 1961 pts.

If your team is way ahead in points,  the instance will generate a message stating that you'll win if you exceed the opposing team's points by a certain amount,  in this case 1,961 pts (see message box in pic above).
When that happens,  and it did,  the instance will end,  regardless of how much time is left on the clock.   Its a game mechanism that saves the losing team from excess grief,  and makes sense,  since the winning and losing AP rewards are fixed anyway.

In other cases when the teams are close in points,  something different happens.  The clock will run to the end,  and a message will appear when 10 min or less are left on the clock,  stating that "Acting Commander Crispin and Acting Commander Tepes have arrived".   These are 2 NPCs ,  one for each faction.  Crispin for Elyos ,  and Tepes for Asmodians.  Crispin usually spawns in front of the main building in Peace Square,
and Tepes usually spawns down in Lamina Bazaar.    The team who kills the opposing team's NPC will
be awarded about 5k pts, and the opposing team will  lose that amount of points.  For example,  if my
team kills Tepes,  we gain the points that he was worth,  and the opposing team loses that amount of points.
This is something to be watchful of.  It can make or break a run for either team.   Sometimes a team will
enlist the help of the Balaur to kill the opposing team's NPC.   Its a strategy that works well.

On all runs no matter how they play out,  you'll always receive the following message:  "Defeating the top
ranked race will earn you more points"

The above message appears in all runs of KB

A few words about the cannons.  The main cannon in the center of PS is a very effective weapon,  not to mention alot of fun to operate!  You can use it until the opposing team kills you while you're on it.  Its alot better than the one in EC Arena of Chaos,  imo,  because you don't get the lava debuff.   The faction cannons are also cool,  even more so because they're mobile.  You can chase your enemies in it!  It isn't used as much tho,  because of the need for siege fuel,  and sometimes the opposing team kills it for 225 pts.

The main cannon in PS.  Its usable by both factions

Thats all I can think of for the moment...I think I've covered most of the important things to know about
this instance.  I hope it helps :)

Kamar Battlefield Part 1

Kamar Battlefield:  the Dredgion for players 61 and up.
In the same way that we were given a look at how the little town of Poeta in Elysea would be if it became a war zone occupied by Balaur in the Dark Poeta instance,  this idea is shown to us again in Kamar Battlefield. The awesome city of Kamar in Sarpan has been ravaged by Balaur and this once neutral zone ruled by the Reian tribe is now a war zone in which both factions can fight.  The city is a shambles of a once civilized and
busy place.
This instance differs from dredge in that it needs an alliance of 12 players,  whereas dredge is a basic group of 6.  Like dredge,  you can form your own alliance,  or have the game queue you into a pick-up group (PUG).   One half of the alliance begins in one starting point of the faction warships:  Griffoen (Elyos) and Habrok (Asmos),  while the other half starts from another point. There's a  statue at the starting point while the clock counts down,  and it gives each member of the group 200 points (see pic below).

Be sure to click the statue in the breakout room to get 200 pts

When the instance begins,  head down and out into the city and meet your first obstacle,  an elite 3 dot Varga raider rampager,  usually.   In this run I started from a breakout in Peace Square where running into this mob can't be avoided,  so it had to be killed by the group for 50 pts.   If you start from the breakout in Lamina Bazaar you can sometimes side step it,  but not always.

Fighting the first mob

See those 2 Reian prisoners in the upper left of the above pic?  They're worth 225 points each,  and all you have to do to get those points is click on them once the Varga  is taken care of.

Clicking on the Reian prisoners for pts

All the side rooms of the city have a similar set up,  except often with more mobs to kill.   Some rooms have
a Reian elite thats worth around 1225 pts.   There are also fuel barrels to destroy that are worth 75 pts each
and give an item for the alliance to roll on,  usually a Kamar Siege Cannonball or Siege Weapon Fuel.

Going to destroy a fuel barrel for 75 pts and siege loot

Before I forget, let me mention something else that has changed about the city.  In the doorway to each room in the city there is a band of floor spikes.  Maybe you can see that in the above pic.  You have to jump over
these spikes to enter and leave the rooms because they act as obstacles.  They also keep the mobs inside the rooms from leaving,  so you don't have to worry about being chased by them- the rooms are their jail.

That concludes part 1 of my article.  Its a little difficult to get pics of the instance in its later stages,  because there's alot of pvp (unlike dredge where there sometimes isn't any) and it gets pretty hectic.  In KB pvp is un avoidable,  as I'll discuss in part 2. :)

Taloc's Hollow Part 3 of 3

In the previous installment,  we had just left Kinquid's Den and were headed out to the last areas of the instance.  This is where we'll be fighting Queen Mosqua and Celestius,  the boss of the instance.

NOTE
Before I ran the instance this time,  I picked up 2 quests.  One quest is from NPC Reemul in Inngison Fort (you can find him in the warehouse room),  which is called:
"Taloc's Heart Full of Soul".  This is an important quest because its a stigma expansion quest. Collect 3 soul pieces in Taloc's and you get an extra stigma slot opened. The other quest I picked up from NPC Tialla in Taloc's Research Campsite.  She's with the group of NPCs that stand on the scaffolding below after you come out of the wind stream that takes you into Taloc's Forest ( see pic below).  The quest is called "The Shulack of Taloc", and it gives the title "Guardian Protector" as its reward.   This is a good title for healers because it gives a healing boost attribute,  which is why I'm taking this quest on my cleric.

 After walking thru the area of daylight and tree roots you'll come to an area like the one pictured below,  with the path blocked by waving blue arm-like things that pop out and retract, which you have to wait for in order to cross the path.  There's also some new mobs called Komad Sentries,  funny looking humanoids with large heads and wispy bodies.

The path blocked by waving arms with Komad Sentry

The path winds around and you have to deal with another set of these arms and more mobs until you reach a clearing that looks like this:

Spotting Neith the spider

Its an easy jump down to your next fight with Neith the spider.  You'll see him fighting a Reian who calls for your help. 

Fighting Neith

He can sleep you for 5 secs during the fight,  so you have to wait a little longer to win,
but the drops that he gives are what's worth it.  He drops Dorkin's Pocket Knife (see pic below),  which is important because its used to cut thru the vines that cover the entrance to a secret room,  which we'll soon see.

The loot from killing Neith - Dorkin's pocket knife and Neith's Sleepstone



 

He also drops Neith's Sleepstone,  another item that can be used for fighting mobs in the instance,  and its skill is self explanatory.  It's good for when you have to deal with more than one mob at a time or if you need time for some reason during a fight. 

Now that we have the pocket knife we can make our way to the right of Neith and find the secret cave.  I've included some pics so you can see what to look for.

The cave entrance from a distance

The entrance is behind a waterfall,  and you have to fight Mr. Komad on the left to make your way over there. 

Approaching the vined door

You have to make your way to the door by carefully walking across a narrow pathway on the left.  Otherwise its down into the drink!  

Walking the path to the vined door.. almost there

Using Dorkin's Knife to "cut thru the vines" (open the door)

And finally I enter the room...Dorkin's Nook.  And there's Dorkin the recluse,  awaiting my quest turn in.



Dorkin's Nook,  the room behind the vined door

Here is where you turn in the quest "The Shulack of Taloc". 



Turning in the quest

He gives you a sack of supplies to bring to Seikin ,  who is located in the Wretched Garden in Inngison (Elyos). 
Another good thing about visiting this nook is that NPC Dorkin is also a merchant.
He's not exactly a normal general goods merchant,  although he does sell those things too.  He sells specialty foods and items only available thru him in this instance.  If your inventory is full of junk loot from your kills throughout the instance,  then this is the time to free up room and make a little money. 
If you look behind Dorkin,  you'll see that he's standing in front of something.  Its an
egg - a golden mutant insect egg to be exact,  and if you try to open it you'll get a message from your own character that says: " The shell is too hard to break"

Trying to open the egg

What's the solution?  Talk to Dorkin again of course!  He has just the item you need to break the shell.  Its the Shulack Hatchet,  and it costs almost 100K.

Buying the hatchet from Dorkin

The reward is always a little different,  and this time I got:

Breaking open the egg and receiving my reward

When you're done here,  its time to venture back out and continue your way over to
Queen Mosqua.   She can be found by checking your map and heading to Mosqua's Nest.  Here's a pic of her when I first entered her nest:

Spotting Queen Mosqua

She can be a tough fight that takes awhile.

Fighting Queen Mosqua

And the fight took a lot of my char's HP this time,  but I succeeded and got her usual drop:  Mosqua's Hairpin,  plus the quest item Taloc's Soul,  which goes toward my
stigma expansion quest that I picked up from Reemul.

Next,  you turn your attention to the egg.   Break it and a vent of steam will be
released.  

Breaking the egg

You have to jump into the vent,  pop your wings and let it carry you up to the next zone,  and from there glide down.  There's no other way to get to the last zone where Celestius is located so if you're having trouble you just have to keep trying!  After you glide down there's an area with plenty of mobs but you don't have to fight them if you don't want to because once you jump down from where they are to where Celestius is
you'll lose the mobs.  Basically what I'm saying is that you can train your way thru and not worry about dying.

And here's Celestius:

Fighting Celestius

He drops the last piece you need for the stigma quest

I have all 3 pieces,  I can turn in my quest now.

Taloc's mirage is who you speak with to leave the instance

Turning the quest in to Reemul

Completing the quest

Yay! I can socket another stigma now.  I have to decide what stigma I'll be using -
I'm not sure yet.  I have to think about it,  but I know that I can once I decide.
My next step is to turn in the "Shulack of Taloc" quest and acquire that title.

And that's it.  I hope this article has offered some useful info for you.  See you in Aion. :)

Taloc's Hollow Part 2

In my last installment I had just finished killing Shinshir,  which gave me the item I needed to break one of the helper NPCs out of his cocoon.  I chose the Templar Engeius to accompany me on the rest of my journey.   Our journey through Taloc's now continues.  At some point of walking through the instance you'll arrive at a place called Muculent Grotto,  which is where your next boss fight occurs.  The boss is named Gellmar,  and he's one of Taloc's parasites (see pic below).

The location of Muculent Grotto,  where you'll find Gellmar

Sighting Gellmar

I always clear all the regular grade parasite mobs from the room first before fighting Gellmar,  although you'll end up having to fight Gellmar and a few of them at the same time anyway,  as some of them surround him and try to defend him.  In the pic below
I've just finished off the defending mobs and am finishing him off.

Dealing with Gellmar as he casts jagged teeth

As a reminder,  while walking through Taloc's,  don't forget to keep an eye out for Taloc's Soil,  which can be essencetapped for the quest item Taloc's Leaf for the quest
"The Wounds of Change" (see pic below).  It usually takes 2 runs of Taloc's  to complete this quest,  because there aren't that many of the quest item to be found in one run.

Finding the quest item Taloc's Soil


 

Obtaining the quest item

After dealing with Gellmar,  you'll eventually find your way to Kinquid's Den.  As you enter you'll be treated to a movie that gives you a hint on how to fight him.  As with Gellmar,  try to kill some of the smaller mobs before dealing with him,  tho it will be more difficult to do that because Kinquid flies around the room and is more likely to  aggro on you as a result.   In the room there are vent craters that spew gusts of purple
smoke.  The movie hints that the best way to fight Kinquid is by standing over a vent while it's venting smoke.  They say that this lowers his physical defense,  which is actually pretty strong.  I've tried fighting him both ways,  with and without the aid of the vent smoke.  I find that its a harder and longer fight to use the vents than it is to just keep hitting him without the smoke's help.  I find that using the vents is more difficult
because  having to be standing right over a smoking vent while being chased and attacked by him is a lot trickier than just standing anywhere I choose and fighting him.
The reason why is that the smoke moves from one vent to another and its hard to keep up with while fighting him.  You'll have a chance to try both ways because most players run Taloc's more than once. 


Fighting Kinquid as he charges up Kinquid's Bite



Facing the smoke vent that can be stood on to lower Kinquid's defenses

Another shot of him attacking us

Hey! I'm supposed to be standing there! Move outta the way!

And finally... Victory!

As you can see in the above pic,  the fight took a lot out of my Templar helper.  Its a good thing I'm a cleric!  

 

As you make your way out of Kinquid's Den,  this is what you'll see:

 

How things look after leaving Kinquid's Den

At this point I'm now crossing over into the final zones of the instance.  I'll cover that in Part 3 of this article,   coming soon!

Taloc's Hollow Part 1 of 3

This is Part 1 of 3 of a walkthrough for the Taloc's Hollow instance,  available to players lvl 51 and higher.  The entry quest for the instance for the Elyos is a campaign quest called "Friends for Life" and only becomes enabled after completing "Proving Yourself to Oustremus".  The "Friends for Life" quest has you speak with Lothas,  an Elim NPC who asks you to kill 32 Woodland Brohum or Brohie in Taloc's Forest after visiting every tree (Elim) NPC you've ever met throughout your game. At this time I don't have the info for the Asmodian entry quest,  however the instance itself is the same for both races. The following pics show my cleric completing the entry quest and running the instance.

Killing Brohums for the entry quest

When you're finished killing the mobs,  speak with Lothas and gain entry to Taloc's Hollow.  When you enter,  be sure to check your inventory before walking very far.
You'll see that an item has been deposited:  Taloc's Fruit. Its looks like a pear.  It transforms you into a powerful tree with about 10x your normal amount of HP.  You must use this and transform before fighting any mobs in the instance because all the mobs are elite and can easily one shot you if you don't.  You'll also notice a another
item in your inv:  a red ball called Taloc's Tears.  Its your first weapon for fighting mobs in the instance.  Its a strong AOE that's good for when you have several mobs
aggroed on you at once.  It takes about a quarter of their health.

A pic of my inventory showing Taloc's Fruit and Taloc's Tears in the bottom row.
 

Once you get the hang of being a powerful tree creature with a great skill,  you'll clear a room or two and start making your way thru the instance,  which is supposed to be
the roots of Taloc himself.  As such,  your map looks something like an underground
dungeon. 
Heading along the path,  you'll be confronted with a huge spider which stands in front
of 2 things marked "Writhing Cocoon".  A message saying "The cocoons are wriggling - somethings inside!" appears .


Arriving at the spider who guards the cocoons

The spider's name is Shishir,  and hes a parasite who lives in Taloc's Roots.  Hes in the way of you and the 2 cocoons.

A look at the named mob Shishir,  the parasite of Taloc's Roots
 

 

After you finish fighting him,  loot him for the corrosive fluid and the second weapon that he drops.

Looting Shishir after fighting him

 

He drops an item called "Shishir's Powerstone" which is your second weapon for helping you get thru the instance.  Its a powerful one shot wep, great for fighting one
enemy at a time.  It take more health off the enemy that Taloc's Tears,  but it isn't an AOE.  Next,  walk over to the cocoons.  They talk!  They ask for help but you only have one bottle of corrosive fluid for dissolving a cocoon,  so its up to you to decide
which of these two NPCs to free.

Facing the writhing Cocoons

 

Now,  you don't have to break the cocoons if you don't want to.  As you can see in the pic above,  the game gives you the option not to.  I always do tho, and for this run of
Taloc's I chose the cocoon on the left.


Meeting Engeius after using the corrosive fluid

Accepting him as a companion NPC

The game gives you an interactive window in case you don't want to have a companion or need time to decide if you want one. I always accept because it helps to have a fighter NPC.  The NPC I chose is a Templar,  which is good,   and since I'm a cleric I can buff and heal him.  As a side note,  hes also a Reian,  a separate race of people who are also inhabitants of Atreia.   Now we can adventure together through the rest of the instance :)
That concludes Part One of my article on Taloc's.  Part 2 coming soon !