Idian Depths: From Katalam Part 2

In my previous post I outlined the ways to reach Idian Depths from the Katalam base camps.
In this post I'll show the way to ID from a regional non-base camp location.

There is one entrance to ID from Katalam that I know of.  It is located in the Quarantine Area
(southeast Katalam),  see pic below.

The regional entrance from Katalam

The entrance door close up

When you port through,  you arrive in the south east area of ID,  the second canal to be exact.

You land in the second canal of ID after porting through

Good luck and happy trails :)

Idian Depths: How to Get There from Katalam

Idian Depths:  The lvl 65 only region that was introduced in 4.0.  As its name implies,  its an underground
zone.  Its also one of the most unique places ever introduced into Aion so far.  Its an open world pvp region
without any safe zone obelisk pads.  The main safe zone that exists is the central hub,  called Segurinerk's Bazaar,  where both factions can take quests from their respective NPCs.  buy special things from special
vendors,  get soul healing,  and bind to if they want (for an incredible $4 million K!).  There are a couple of other safe zones that are entrances/exits from Katalam/Danaria.  More on those later.   The main purpose of
this article is to explain all the ways of getting to ID,  and where they put you on the ID map.

The 2 factions each have a default entrance to ID.  The entrance is in the base camp near each faction's Katalam fort.    For the Elyos its the Primeval Ruins camp in Loftus Woods.   For the Asmos its Beritran
Foothold in Stellman Valley. See pics below.

For Elyos: The Primeval Ruins base camp in Loftus Woods has the default entrance to Idian Depths

The entrance in Loftus Woods

Beritran Foothold in Stellman Valley is the default base camp ID entrance for Asmodians.

From the  Beritran Foothold base camp (default for Asmodians),  this is where you land in Idian Depths

This is the default entrance for Asmodians,  so the NPCs appear disabled to me

Each default faction entrance has faction specific NPCs,  which give quests to members of the faction they represent.  If your faction owns the opposing faction's default Idian Depths entrance base camp,  then
you can use the entrance to ID but you won't be able to interact with the NPCs.

The 3rd base camp entrance is Broken Cliff camp in Relics of Sorrow.  This is an excellent entrance
because it places you in an area of ID that is unreachable by the opposite faction while your faction owns the camp!

Location of Broken Cliff Camp:  the 3rd and last base camp entrance to ID in Katalam

The area of ID you port into from the Broken Cliff entrance

From Broken Cliff Camp,  you land in the Clawed Fist Garrison,  the northern-most area of ID.  Its a great place to grind mobs or get quests done because as I mentioned above,  it can't be reached by your enemies
until the base camp flips factions.

I hope this helps those of you new to Katalam and lvl 65.  Happy trails in Aion :)

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 :)