Planar Observations

[P. Fricebottle]

*snip* from Tep


Edit: Oh yeah, I noticed that in the Halls of the Dead Maximized Undeath to Death didn't do anything....

[Flailer]

So, anyone going to Halls of the Dead, Positive Energy Plane and Negative Energy Plane much lately? Any more feedback on their difficulty level targeted at around level 35+?

[MasterYoda]

we went to HoD with 2 lvl 38 2 lvl 31 2 lvl 32 mages and a lvl 29.

areas were cool but first boss smoked the piss out of us.

haven't been to other planes yet.

[CrazyJ]

I got to see a couple of HOD mobs last night after an indecisive party standing around too long got Malar's attention. The Phantom Guardians were mean.... if more than three of them had stuck around I doubt we'd have survived. Before most of them wandered off there were 5 or 6, and everyone else was dying repeatedly (level 30-33 party).

[MLoki]

Went to Positive Plane with 4 40th level characters. We had a fairly well rounded party with a Druid, Bard, Monk, and AA. With full buffs several of us died to the random explosions that happen occassionally which ended up being our downfall. We made it to the boss portal and just before going in 2 of us died to an explosion while one person portaled and the other stayed behind to raise. Both of them died to the mobs. Even at 40th level we had to be very carefull and only take a few creatures on at a time. It seems that buffs don't matter much there since even 40th level buffs get dispelled fairly easily. Most of the time we had to rest after each fight to rebuff. It was fun but deffinatly challenging and I don't think I would try it again with anything less then what we had. Since we didn't make it to the boss room I can't comment on him.

Tried Negative Plane a couple of times since the change with the same outcome. Since the reduction I have been able to get a foothold on that plane only to be overcome by the mobs within minutes. One of the things I have noticed is that fear is especially deadly there since it sends the affected running off to attract more creatures. Even with larger groups our whole party has died within minutes of landing on this plane. Most of the groups I have gone with were 36-40 and included a cleric.

Another thing that I have noticed is that Shadow Plane is a lot less accessible now that the only other entrance is in HoD. I used to solo Shadow Plane occasionally by running through Ragnars to get there but since that portal was moved to HoD I haven't been back. I know where the other entrance is but that is a much longer walk and a lot less accessible. It is also a much harder entrance into the plane. I did try finding the entrance in HoD but was unable to even backtrace it do to the difficulty of the HoD mobs. Was just wondering if other entrances to this plane were going to be made available? It seems that not enough attention is given to it in the first place and now that it is even harder to get to it may never get used.

MLoki

[Flailer]

Yeah, I'll probably add some more links to some planes until we get the full tree worked out - they might be one way though...

[Findor]

I participated in some late testing of HoD prior to its release with my L40 "cheese" (let me say it before some other condescending, self-righteous player does) PM melee build and a party of about 4 other high level toons. Everyone else died multiple times in the outer area; I survived by (of course) quaffing heal pots. But no one had much of a chance against the boss dragon. Pwned was the word of the day. If nothing has changed, you'd better plan on having 6-8 strong L40 toons in the party if you wish to survive.

I have been leveling toons on Reflections, but wouldn't mind trying HoD now with a good party. Has anyone tried bringing a well-built HiPSer (as in H/MS skills above 90) there?

[CrazyJ]

Where does the portal in Dwarfhome point now?

Tempest CR needs to be 32 or 33... the KD aura makes them lethal to anyone who doesn't have discipline as a class skill if there's any other mob around... the KD aura becomes impossible to escape from and the other mobs slowly kill you as you can't heal, fight back, etc. Even pure-class monks, fighters, etc. still get knocked down some of the time... yet they give out less XP than Guardians, who are much less of a threat even with their mord's.

Fully half of the recent planar boss drops of random gear (imbued adamantine, etc) have been ammunition. Nobody even *uses* xbows, but we're getting ammo for them instead of gear that's, you know, worth something. If ammo's going to have such a high % chance of dropping, then the % of such type of drops needs to be turned up a bit to compensate.

Also, with the recent implementation of better gear, planar boss gear is no longer the best in the game.... so perhaps some of the weaknesses could be toned down? The elemental boss armors (Fire/Air robe, Earth plate) have such high vulnerabilities that nobody particularly wants them.

[Amoenotep]

i assure you that the boss gear is better than the newly implemented generic gear......but no one is actually trying to get the good stuff.

[CrazyJ]

The higher-level plane boss gear from HOD/Neg/Pos maybe.

Earth, Fire, and Air armors--definitely not. 25% vuln to slashing in exchange for 3 extra spell slots is not a tradeoff I would make under any circumstance except perhaps going into a fight knowing 100% for certain that I will face absolutely nothing but archers who don't melee. Earth/Fire vulns are a bit less but still make the armors not worth using.

[Binkyuk]

they're still the best for their level though.
you can neutralise it by also packing something that does the opposite. so if you're wearing 25% slash vuln armour, carry a 25% slash immune shield and you're done. of course you could have had 25% extra immunity to something else, but just because the armour is slash vuln doesn't mean you'll *definitely* be vulnerable to slash weapons.

[CrazyJ]

Sorcs don't have the shield option unless they have Still spell.

How are they the best for their level? There are Imbued Adamantine plates & robes out there that have the same DR, with no vulnerability. The elemental stuff does not matter most of the time.

[Kirg]

Where does the portal in Dwarfhome point now?

SNIP

Right now? Nowhere. The portal is disabled.

[CrazyJ]

CrazyJ wrote:
25% vuln to slashing in exchange for 3 extra spell slots

evidently you've found some Imbued Adamantine gear of which I haven't even heard.

3 spell slots, woo, lasts for 3 rounds of battle. 25% more damage from the most common damage type--lasts the whole battle because you can't change robes in combat.

I don't think anyone is going to use it.

Damage Immunity: 25% Slashing Immunity
Elemental Damage Immunity: 25% Acid Immunity
Damage Resistance: 20/- Pierce Resist
Damage Vulnerability: 25% Bludgeoning
Damage Vulnerability: 10% Sonic
Regeneration: +1
Spell Resistance: 22

Low SR and a bit of regen is not much of a tradeoff for 25% more bludge damage (which is what monks, all planar guardians, and the fairly common warhammer users do). Acid resist is ignorable--only one epic-level weapon that I know of even *does* acid damage, and acid's not present in any plane that I've been to.

Armor Class Bonus: +6
Damage Immunity: 25% Slashing Immunity
Elemental Damage Immunity: 25% Fire Immunity
Damage Resistance: 20/- Pierce Resist
Damage Vulnerability: 10% Bludgeoning Vulnerability
Damage Vulnerability: 5% Bludgeoning Vulnerability
Damage Vulnerability: 10% Cold Vulnerability
Spell Resistance: 22

Same comments as Terran Battle armor, except this one is slightly less vulnerable in exchange for not even having any regeneration. Oh, and about a third of the epic-level weapons at this point are dishing cold damage so you're picking up a few points more damage there.

[kingfatzo]

several of us died to the random explosions that happen occassionally

i am glad u mentioned this , i have seen massive complies of explosions on fire and shadow as well -- it as if the scripts got constipated and let off 25 explosions in the same area all at once.... hehehe it can ruin your day especially if you are soloing