Showing posts with label Spinward Rise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spinward Rise. Show all posts

Friday, 13 November 2015

Photo Story: Never Adventures (Part 5) - #IntPiPoMo2015

[Part of my photo story folder and part of IntPiPoMo2015!]

The final cult group - the one of the air, makes base up at Spinward Rise.

Gravity is all out of whack up there.

You can pretty much fly in some places.

Even while mounted!

Don't worry, the landing isn't fatal. It's only near fatal.

It probably should be fatal if I shot you through the neck with an arrow?

Maybe that's why air archons all aim too high?

It does explain why cloud giants like baseball.

Not as scary as a half giant though!

"Whooo goes there?"

These cute things are pretty agile.

And occasionally menacing.

I do wonder where they come up with some of these names though.
Sometimes I can't help but wonder if it's meant to be a comedy.

ORLY?

Current #IntPiPoMo2015 Count - 54 / 50

Thursday, 28 May 2015

NBI: Screenshot Safari! #NBI2015 #NBI2015Safari #Selfie #Flight

It's time for my final screenshot for the NBI Safari! This is me and my shadow wolf mount, flying through the area of Spinward Rise in Neverwinter Online.



Technically, I think it could fit in any of the available categories but I'm going to go with #Selfie. =)

Selfie - its me!
Heroes or Villains - I'm a hero!
Landscape - With an awesome view behind me!
Epic Achievement - I'm also flying... kinda (shh I'm actually falling)!
High Fantasy - I'm riding a wolf made out of shadows, jumping about on a floating a earth node (flying island)!
The Scariest Place - This fall is near certain death, if I don't time my evade right.

Yes, I'm so awesome I can "evade" falling damage. :P

Anywho while I'm talking about airborne silliness I've been hearing a lot of noise about WoW killing flying because it "skips content". It wouldn't skip content if they simply had flying enemies. In Mabinogi if you get hit in the air your mount is summoned, you take falling damage, then you have to deal with whatever cluster of mobs you just fell into and in that game two regular enemies can easily destroy you (depending on player skill).

Better still is Perfect World where elves have wings, humans ride giant, flying swords and a bunch of quests actually lead to magical floating fortresses guarded by all manner of flying foes. Given that a good portion of the game is in the air it has some pretty good aerial (and by extent, underwater) combat. Guess what I'm trying to say is flying wouldn't be skipping content if you just put content up there. Oh well, Blizzard should know what it's doing. It's been doing it a long time after all. Right?

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Neverwinter Online: Spinward Rise Vigilance Guide

[Part of my Neverwinter Online: Vigilance Quest Guide.]

Welcome to the final zone of Elemental Evil! It is actually more travel friendly than all the previous zones as you unlock each island, however it can also be brutal in the way of combat, especially on the last island. Like before, be careful of pure melee groups of enemies. While it is easy to tell if a bunch of cultists are skirmishers, it is a little less obvious for air archons. Simply count the number of bows / blades they carry to know what to expect.

The repeating quest here is "Howling Hatred". Don't go out of your way to complete that until you reach the second island. There are also jumping puzzles (yay!) which are the easiest tasks to complete on each island. Basically you just have to find the correct jump point and then press and hold space bar while moving forward. If those big chunks of rock can fly through the air, why can't you?

Once at the top, you can either jump back the way you came or simply "fall" down. If you dodge just before hitting the ground, all your vertical momentum is halted and you take zero falling damage. Neat trick huh?

Last thing of note is a personal one here. I didn't go into -any- instanced dungeon as I felt there was enough to do top side so I can't give you any tips for those this time (other than don't go alone). At least it makes it exciting for you right? ;P

No point in changing the color coding now:

Green - Easy and/or fast.
Pink - If there's nothing else to do.
Red - Better to take a break than do these solo.

AVIA LANDING

The first island introduces you to Kenku, Axebeaks, Owlbears and jumping puzzles! Unlike the cramped confines of the Fiery Pit, it's pretty safe to wander around here. There are two entries to the cult barracks, and the Western one next to the Kenku camp is less defended. You can also go in with style by jumping in from a glider tower.

*Harper Evandriel
  • Tome of Air - Jumping Puzzle! Starts at the tall western glider tower.
  • Learning to Fly - Collect 12 "flight" supplies from Glider towers (drops and pickup), kill 40 cultists
  • Air Cult Assault - HE Encounter Silver - self completes sometimes. Odds of getting help to complete is high.
  • Elemental Assault - HE Encounter Silver - self completes sometimes. Odds of getting help to complete is medium.
  • Air Supply  - Sabotage supplies 6 then 6 airships. Lots of Fighting.
  • Twin Breezes - Raid air cult barracks instance

*Skreel Swiftwing
  • Birds of a Feather - Rescue 6 kenku eggs. All guarded. Pickup.
  • Shiny Metal - collect 10 weapons from kenku (pickup from camp barrels and drop), kill 30
  • Kenku - defeat 40 kenku (goes well with two above)
  • Fight the Wind - defeat air archons in barracks instance

*Pirri The Swift
  • Target - Blackfeather - miniboss kenku. Kill fast as a kenku spawn lives right outside his cave.
  • Target - North Wind - miniboss hurricaine cultist. Kill fast he appears next to a large group of cultists.

*Brokar Ironshod
  • Flightless Fury - kill 15 axebeaks, 5 owlbears (doesn't mix well with any other quest)
  • Lesser Air Runes - Available after your first 16 tasks, mandatory to open teleporter to next island.

WINDCALL TEMPLE

The second island is home to the rather safe cultist binding workshops, and the more dangerous air elemental summoning portals and altar of Yan-C-Bin. The encounters are a little stacked at Yan-C-Bin's place so expect multiple groups during combat there. Fortunately you should only need to do that a few times.

*Harper Evandriel
  • Greater Tome of Air - jumping puzzle! Starts from the only glider tower near the workshops!
  • Clearing the Air - add incense to 5 shrines at Yan-C-Bin's altar
  • Air Cult Assault - HE Silver - self completes sometimes. Low chance for players to assist.
  • Elemental Assault - HE Silver - self completes sometimes. Low chance for players to assist. 
  • Slaad Summoner - Kill the summoner in the Howling Maw instance

*Skreel Swiftwing
  • Order out of Chaos - Gather 15 Slaad control gems from cultists (drops). Can get them from Avia landing - easier fights = faster
  • Fiends of Limbo - Kill 40 Slaad at the pool of chaos. Slow to kill, doesn't even count if not in pool. Stupid.
  • Feeding the Slaadi - free sacrificial victims in Howling maw instance
*Pirri the Swift
  • Target - Windshear - Miniboss air archon - spawns near campfire. Kill fast to avoid archon respawn.
  • Target - Glark the Rancid - miniboss death slaad. Tough fight: Hardest of these mini boss assassinations. Expect to continuously evade moving AoE "monster" while fighting him.
*Druid Okobo
  • Unbound Anger - release 5 air eles. Easy, you only have to fight cultists to do so.
  • Windbreaker - disrupt 5 air ele portals. All guarded.
  • Archon Anarchy - kill 35 air archons (goes well with above)

*Brokar Ironshod
  • Greater Wind Runes - Available after you finish 16 of this set to unlock teleporter to the final island.

THUNDERHEAD REACH

The final and most dangerous island is home to Cloud Giants who are rather adept at defeating adventurers since they never come alone. You'll get a "Scrying the Skies" mandatory quest to look through four telescopes which doesn't count to your Vigilance Quests but does give you a good idea of how the last island is laid out. The instanced dungeon here is Nimbus Tower which is probably where the Air Prophet is, but after hearing it takes 40 minutes to clear solo I opted to just leave it alone.

*Harper Evandriel
  • Grand Tome of Air - jumping puzzle! Starts from low broken tower next to two giants.
  • Eyes in the Sky - gather 6 intel reports from cultists (Farm at Avia)
  • War Chests - recover 12 war chest treasures (pickup, often guarded by cultists)
  • Whispers on the Wind - collect 10 messages from cultists. (drops at a low rate. Best farmed at Avia)
  • Air Cult Assault - HE Encounter. Very tough.
  • Elemental Assault - HE Encounter. Very tough.
  • Tempest in a Bottle - stop rituals in the Nimbus tower instance

*Skreel Swiftwing
  • Giantslayer - kill 8 cloud giants. Good news: they mostly come in pairs. Bad news: they mostly come in pairs.
  • The Cloud Forges - kill 4 cloud giant smiths. Usually come with air archons.

*Druid Okobo
  • Archon Anarchy - slay 40 archons at Thunderhead Reach.
  • Lofty Ideas - collect 5 air magic scrolls from cloud giants (drops)
  • Cloud Magic - collect air magic lore and win Nimbus Tower instance

*Pirri the Swift
  • Target - Rastari - kill cloud giant miniboss, the easiest cloud giant to kill since he comes alone!
  • Target - Grackel - kill owlbear miniboss, hits hard with no telegraph. Good practice of controlling AI, has no nearby allies.

Once that is done you just need to collect the Seed of Air, which might look like it's guarded by a giant and a bunch of air archons but if you dash along the left side and go all the way to the edge of the cliff they ignore you long enough for you to collect the seed and get out of there. Once that's done, congratulations - you have finished Elemental Evil! Enjoy your new artifact weapon. Don't forget that if you hit level 70, you can get an off hand artifact weapon too. See Sgt. Knox.. :)

Thursday, 30 April 2015

Neverwinter Online: Vigilance Quest Guide

With Module 6: Elemental Evil came a whole bunch of repetitive "Vigilance" quests and now that I've gone through the whole lot twice I thought I might make a little guide to help clear your 16 (tasks) x 3 (areas) x 4 (zones) quests as efficiently as possible. In subsequent posts I'll be going into each zone by detail, but for now just some general info.

  • You can "properly" start Elemental Evil upon reaching level 60. Talk to Sgt. Knox.
  • I suggest doing the first three intro quests with Minsc as it introduces you to the new mobs.
  • You can only carry 4 vigilance tasks at one time.
  • In theory you can finish a set of 16 tasks by doing the same quest 16 times but that isn't a good use of time.
  • If you have finished quests and are near the quest givers, go back and hand them in / pick up new ones.
  • Each area has 16 vigilance tasks available but only in batches of 8 which switch over each hour.
  • Each area offers an instanced dungeon. Only go in if you have the two dungeon quests (one before the hour and one after).
  • Personally, I try skip the instanced dungeons (if solo) as you can get more done outside them.
  • It is faster and easier to clear quests in an organized team (carrying the same quests).
  • Reaching level 70 gives you an artifact off hand weapon. Talk to Sgt. Knox. (thanks Shintar!)
  • Finishing the Vigilance cycles of Spinward Rise (last area) gives you an artifact main hand weapon.
  • It is possible just to level up to 70 elsewhere and charge Spinward Rise directly, skipping the other zones.
  • Don't forget to buy potions and sell loot during down times when there are no (decent) quests available.

Clear as mud? Next up, we'll start looking at each zone in detail. :)

Drowned Shore Vigilance Guide
Reclamation Rock Vigilance Guide
Fiery Pit Vigilance Guide
Spinward Rise Vigilance Guide