Friday, January 25, 2013

Satra Treasure Hoard

With 4.0 approaching in the distant horizon,  many players (myself included)  are saving up AP like never before,  and are in need of ways to obtain it quickly and easily.   Satra Treasure Hoard answers
both these needs.  Its a PVE instance that gives 2 chests of relics to each group member and doesn't take very long to run  (about 20 min. depending on your group,  of course).   There are 2 levels of difficulty - normal and hard.  I've only run normal,  because every group I've joined runs that mode.
There's a couple of reasons for this :  1.  Normal mode is probably alot easier,  and  2).  The entrance
to the instance on normal mode is easier to access.  The hard mode entrance is in Tia's Eye,  and often a group wants to avoid being attacked by the enemy faction while heading to an instance. 

The NM entrance to Satra is in the Tiamaranta forts.  There's a portal inside that takes you to the instance.   Once inside,  this is what you first see:

The first room before beginning the fight
In the above room there's 2 Reian NPCs.  They give quests for the instance,  such as killing a certain number of mobs,  or a specific mob.   The NPC on the right gives the quest called "According to his
Ability",  which asks you to kill 10 Special Forces Treasury Guards in the instance.   Proceed down the hall to begin the fight,  which starts with those 2 COs straight ahead in the pic. 


Taking the left path after the first hallway
As you can see,  there's a door further down,  and it needs to be opened.  There's also another unpictured door on the opposite side of the room.  After killing the 2 mobs marked along the left side,  Gatekeeper Gourlaz appears and requires your full DPS services in order to dispatch him and get a door key!  His key drop determines which door will open,  and therefore which path your group will have to take (right or left).  In the lower right inset map in the above pic
you'll notice that the room has 2 paths.  If your group opens the left door then your group will go
through the Plunder Guard's Room;  if you open the right door,   then your group will go through the
Hoard Watchroom to reach the end of the instance.  On this run our group got the left door key,  so
the rest of the pics in this article will show that path only. 



Gatekeeper Gourlaz - a must kill to get a door key

 Once the door is open,  exit the Loot Loading Bay and head to an unnamed area of hallway just called Satra Treasure Hoard :

Exiting the Loot Loading Bay
 
 
Satra Treasure Hoard

 
Enter the Plunder Guard's Room and kill the 2 mobs that block the path to the stairs, 

Plunder Guard's Room

Again taking the left path,  kill the 2 mobs along the side:

Clearing the path before the 2nd to last boss


The second to last boss,  Borgalmar,  can be seen in this next pic:


Borgalmar in the distance

There's a quest to kill him that can be picked up a the beginning of the instance.  Its a one time quest,
which I completed already,  so couldn't show you a screenshot.


To help you get your bearings on where we are at this point,  I took a map ss:


A map screenie to show our loc at this part of the instance

Borgalmar has to be carefully pulled over and fought away from the other instance pats,  as seen here:



Borgalmar heading our way!
After the Borgalmar fight,  head into the next room,  called the Discard Pile,  where you and your group receive the first treasure chest of the instance.  It contains a few relics and often a plat medal.



The Discard Pile,  an ante-room before the final room

Heading out to the hall,  your group will be faced with several mobs who stand in your way towards
reaching the final room of the instance:

The final hallway to the last room
 
 
After dealing with those guys,  port into the final room and fight the boss of the instance,  the Muzzled Punisher!

Fighting the Muzzled Punisher
 
He has a timer on him,  and its best to kill him in 5 min or less,  which the groups I've been in always
do.  Thats why I can't say what happens if you take longer.  I think that another mob appears and
makes things more difficult.  When you've killed the MP,  loot him for a heavy chest key,  which gives you more relics:

He's ready to be looted!

That's it,  and after exiting the instance,  which ports you back to Rancora Fort,  turn in your quest
to NPC Karuti:

Talking to Karuti
 

I hope you found this guide helpful :) ,  and when I learn more I'll update it.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

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 :)

Saturday, November 17, 2012

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 :)