Neverwinter Online: Faster Weeklies in Barovia

Repetitive tasks get old quick, and while Barovia is quite a nice place here are some pointers to get you through some of the weeklies quicker.

1) Do the Yesterhill BHE earlier during the week cycle. More people trying to do it means more chances for you to get it done.

2) After doing the Pack of Lies instance, you get a weekly that covers the same ground. If you aren't hunting cards then you can skip most of the early combat in the repeating weekly thusly:

-After examining first body, mount up and ride on before spawning wolves catch you.

-After examining 2nd body ride on all the way to the mouth of the cave. If your mount is fast enough, you can avoid all exterior combat. Jump up and Spam F to enter the cave and bypass the wolf man right outside.

-Inside the cave, you must kill the group in the tunnel, then you can run past everything else without aggroing them by running through the lake. Fight the Alpha and run out the same way you came in.

-Once you get out, mount up and circle to your right to flank the pack leaders. Range attack them to lure them to you and then just focus on hurting one till they flee. Note: you will need to pull back after your first attack or your companion will charge and aggro everything. After this point, you'll need to kill everything else.

3) Bypassing enemies in the Old Bonegrinder instance is easier:

- Run past most of the spiders, kill the set at the dead end and kill the witch.

- While mounted, stick to the right side of the forest (hug the mist) when triggering the next cut scene then escape (ESC) out of it as soon as you can and run past the initial scarecrows. If you then hug the left side while crossing the farm you can avoid all those scarecrows too.

- Lure the second witch a little bit and kill her and her summon. If you go too far away she'll call you a coward and reset position/HP. Note: Let the summon aggro you from line of sight. If you range attack, all the field scarecrows will wake up.

- Afterwards, if you are fast enough you might be able to rush and spam F to get into the basement but that only has worked for me when wolves guard the door and not shadow demons. After this point, you'll need to kill everything else.

That's it from me, hope it's been of some help to you!

Neverwinter Online: Reclamation Rock Vigilance Guide

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

Reclamation Rock is home to very dangerous bulettes, but it also has the easiest starting area of all the zones to complete. Personally, I've been using it as extra XP for my characters who already have finished the campaign. This guide will be using the same color coding as last time.

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

BEACH CAMP

My favorite spot as it gives easy access to quest givers and to traveling back out to the world map. The instanced dungeon here is the Crypt of Ascension, and if you do decide to go in there you will find the entrance behind an illusionary rock face. Make sure you have both quests to make the trip more worthwhile if you do attempt it.

*Dassar Truebow

• Adepts of Ascension - rescue acolytes    
• Scouting Ascension - kill enemy scouts   

*Imbross Irri'karr

• Black Earth Survey - investigate / disrupt training camps   
• Cult Infiltrators - talk to infiltrators (usually on ground level)
• Stealing Their Mettle - steal cult weapons
• Scouting the Forest - talk to ranger scouts (usually on higher ground)
• The Heroic Way - complete HE, rescue merchant
• Tombs of the Watchful - Visit 5 tombs (open world) fight inhabitants, interact with something.

*Baram Hannikar

• H1 - Heroics - As of this post, currently bugged and finishes by itself: Free XP.
• Deployment Orders - get orders (pickup or mobs)   
• Training Manuals - get training manuals    (pickup or mobs)
• Cult Connection - gather journals from cultists (goes well with below)
• Fighting the Earth - kill Rock Claws (the West cultist camp has 7 in the vicinity)
• Grinding the Gravel - kill mercs and throwers  Leading the Avalanche - kill elementals (doesn't really mesh with any other quest)   

CITY CAMP

Ah the city. The grind of this zone begins now. Fortunately there is a secret tunnel (near one of the scouts) that leads up to the tavern to save travel time. There's also a new secret tunnel that leads from the cathedral to Scar Keep. From inside the cathedral if you are facing the doors, turn right and look for stairs down. The instanced dungeon here is the Underlift, and because the quest selection here is so poor I actually do recommend going in there (with 2 quests) to save time. The crazy bomb throwing dwarf boss in there isn't too bad. Just kill the adds and you will win. I sure hope you know how to tell the difference between a mimic and a treasure chest though (cursor has bag = regular chest).

*Brother Satarin (Cathedral)

• Posting the Truth - put up posters. If contested by other players, switch channel.
• Warding off Madness - gather materials to reinforce wards (tainted water x4/archon dust x4)
• Holding the Streets  - draw out cultists on street. Use corners for cover or leave quest circle if hard pressed.
• Rocky Foundations - kill 40 earth elementals. Not too bad since the marked zone has around 20. Archons count.
• Rock Tumbler - kill galeb duhr. (Rare to find in the area, especially if contested)
• Voices of Stone - kill 10 blackmantle sorcerers (more rare than above, even with the new summoning scrolls)

*Councilman Graves (Cathedral)

• Rescue Mission - rescue workers from Underlift
• The Verge of Collapse - stop bombs in Underlift

*Hedgewizard Nottin - (Scar Keep)

• Hedging against Plague - not a vigilance quest (doesn't take up a slot), but good for bonus XP. Collect notes from cultists (100).
• Call to Alms - collect alms (drops anywhere and pickup from zone) then hand them out
• Recovering Reconstruction  - collect construction supplies (drop / pickup) and rebuild
• Hero of the City- complete ANY HE (good combo with below)
• Shaking up the Town  - complete Earthquake HE - High odds of others doing this as it is right outside the cathedral. If currently active, try get this and Hero of the City to complete both.
• Hostile Induction - Complete Press Gang HE - can be difficult without aid or sniping from cliff top.

MEMORIAL FIELDS

The most annoying area of all the zones purely because of it's crappy quest choices and tough or rare opponents. Expect to be here awhile. The instanced dungeon here is the Lost Tomb which happens to be where the Earth Prophet, Markos Unrayle is encountered. He has a pretty big room to fight in but isn't that much of a threat. Kill his adds while fighting (so kill him slowly) or lure him near the entry so you can murder him with ease. Because of the low quest choices here, I do recommend visiting this at least once (with two quests).

There are also Slaad (frog men) present who are numerous and pretty annoying to fight (long to kill/use up too much resources), so I try to avoid them.

*Captain Dunfield

• Black Earth, Stone Heart - stop ceremonies in Lost Tomb
• Stay of Execution - rescue captives from Lost Tomb

*Captain Lynn

• Stone by Stone - Kill 3 Blackmantle Generals. All are casters. Not all are equally defended. Choose targets wisely.
• By the Horns - hunt 6 gorgons. Slightly rare, one in Graveyard and one next to graveyard. Alternate as they respawn or channel hop.
• Landshark - hunt 8 bulettes. Easy to find, but very dangerous.
• Defying the Rock - HE Encounter. Very tough to win. Concentrate on the non-silver/golds on the wings to up the kill count quickly. Better odds for randoms to assist than the HE below.
• Bannermen Forever! - Raise banner to spawn a Silver HE. Defend.
• Taking Measures - take 500k damage and live. 15 min limit to complete. As a rogue and ranger I couldn't do this. Might be ideal for Cleric / Pally.

*Brother Theodosian

• In Memorial - Check on Graves - Easy.
• Stolen Memories - collect mementos (drops). Good combo with Defying the Rock.
• Memorial Heroes - complete grave robber Silver HE. - Soloable but be careful.
• Toad Bait - Close Slaad Limbo Portals. Often contested by other players. Best right AFTER the Slaad invasion event finishes.
• Toadkiller - Kill Slaad, can find many to the East along the outer cliff.

Once that is all done, you just have to pick up the Earth seed and are finished with this area. That might be a little challenging though as one of the Blackmantle Generals sits right on top of it with two or three groups of lackeys. Get a buddy to help you clear it out or channel hop to find one that has recently been cleaned out. If you skipped the last part of Drowned Shore like I suggested, it is time to go back there and curb stomp everything.

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