Rorgg's Seat-of-your-Pants LDoN FAQ

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Rorgg's Seat-of-your-Pants LDoN FAQ

Postby Gloriana » Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:08 am

Rorgg's Seat-of-your-Pants LDoN FAQ

The Basics
---------------

Q: What's LDoN?

Lost Dungeons of Norrath, the Everquest expansion released September, 2003.

Q: Why this FAQ?

Because LDoN includes a lot of new game mechanics that are more involved than, say, a new charm slot from LoY and I'm tired of typing this stuff a dozen times a day. Yes, I'm lazy.

Q: Who can use LDoN?

Single group adventures are available for anyone level 20 and up. Raids are targetted only to the very highest-end players. If your guild isn't at least in the Elemental planes, I advise avoiding raids.

Q: What if there's something wrong on here?

Eh, bug me (rorgg@yahoo.com) and I'll fix it at some point.

Getting started
--------------------

Q: Is this a downloaded or store-sold expansion?

Both. If you buy it online, you can just download it and save yourself a trip or Shipping and Handling. If you box-buy it, you get a keychain (a real one, not /key) and an in-game weight reduction bag.

Q: Ooh, a WR bag. Is it any good?

Eh. Here's what you get when you type /claim (only one per account, so choose wisely who gets it) :
Satchel of Abu-Kar
LORE NODROP
Wt: 1.0 Slots: 8
Wt reduction: 25%
Item size: LARGE

If you do a quest to upgrade it, it can become this:
Reinforced Satchel of Abu-Kar
NODROP
Wt: 1.0 Slots: 10
Wt reduction: 50%
Item size: GIANT

Draw your own conclusions.

Q: Ok, I have it installed, now what?

The first time you zone after installing, you should get some yellow text directing you to go to your home town to talk to an NPC there. If you don't remember what your home town was, or you're KOS there, there are NPCs in West Karana (northeast corner) and the Rathe Mountains (gypsy camp) you can use. Once you zone in, you'll be given a vague location and an NPC name. Find the NPC, hail them, and follow the text. You'll be given a yellow "flag" message and they will list 5 NPC names you can talk to next. There is one at each Wayfarer camp (Waycamp).

Q: Where can I find a Waycamp?

These are where you get your adventures. It doesn't matter which one you get to first, just find one and hail the appropriate NPC there.

Zone Location
East Commonlands Tunnel to North Ro, near Shady Swashbuckler
North Ro North of the entrance to the tunnel to East Commons
South Ro West of the druid ring
Butcherblock Just off the path near the Greater Faydark zoneline
Everfrost In the V made by the river splitting in the tundra, just south of the orc ruins

Go there and find Selephra Giztral, Barstre Songweaver, Vual Stoutest, Teria Grinntli, or Ruanya Windleaf. Hail them, they'll give you a pop quiz based on your prior conversation. Either give them the answers, or just skip the whole thing by giving the final answer, "Farstone Magic." You'll get more yellow "flag" text and they'll give you an Adventurer's Stone.

Q: What's an Adventurer's Stone?

It's an augmentation for your charm slot only. Augmentations are discussed below. Basically, once it's placed on your charm, it gets better as you complete more adventures. Having one (even just in your inventory) lets you request adventures as well. Note that you can GO on an adventure without your stone, but you might as well have yours. If you lose it, or destroy it for any reason, you can just request a new one from the same NPC who gave you yours. Now you're set to start adventuring!

Starting Adventures
---------------------------

Q: How many people go on an adventure?

Group adventures will be given to groups between 4 and 6 in size. However, no allowances are made for group size, so you should always have 6 if possible.

Q: Can I add more people?

No, once you've been given the adventure, you cannot add anyone to the adventure. If someone goes linkdead, however, they can still come back in and rejoin you.

Q: What about raids?

Raids in LDoN are for 3 to 6 groups of at LEAST Elemental-planes caliber players. Some guilds in Plane of Time have had difficulty with raids. If you can't handle zoning in to 4 mobs that are highly resistant, mitigate slow, are unmezzable, and hit for around 1100 damage each, don't bother. Unless otherwise specified, assume the rest of the guide is for group adventures, because if you can handle a raid, you don't need my advice.

Q: What levels are allowed?

Anyone level 20 or higher can go on an adventure. The level spread within a group is small though, at most seven levels. The dungeon will automatically scale itself to the average level of your group.

Q: What do I have to do on the adventure?

There are four types of adventures, listed here in the general consensus of easiest to hardest to win regularly:
Slaughter: Kill a stated number of any kind of monster within the dungeon to win.
Assassinate: Kill a specific named monster to win.
Collect: Loot a stated number of a special useless item to win.
Rescue: Like assassinate, but then get an NPC back to the dungeon exit to win.

Slaughters are very straightforward. You don't need to know where you're going, you don't need to find anything specific, and you don't need to rely on lucky (or at least not-unlucky) drops. Just kill the stated number of mobs (usually in the 50-60 range) within your time limit and you win.
Assassinates are a little more complex. Start by mindlessly killing things in the dungeon until 60% of the mobs are dead, then the named will pop. You can either track to him, or once per minute or so from that point forward, the dungeon will give you a directional hint as to his location. When he dies, you win.
Collects are very much like slaughter in that it's non-directional, but you need to get a certain number (20-30) of a special drop which drops randomly off the mobs. The drop rate seems to be tied to the number required, so a collect 30 adventure will have the drop come 50% more often than in a collect 20 adventure. Warning: some people have reported they have killed EVERY mob in a dungeon and have not gotten enough drops to win. While a good group certainly can and should win most of these, the introduction of this random element leaves a lot of more experienced players wary.
A rescue is like an assassination, but requires keeping an NPC alive and back to the entrance after you get to them. There's really no reason to do these.

Q: Do I have to take the kind they give to me?

No, when the group leader requests the adventure by right-clicking on the Adventure Recruiter and choosing "Request Adventure" (how profound) they are given a description of what has to be done and the location of the dungeon. They can accept or decline the mission. If the leader accepts, all the players get to see the same description too. If the leader declines, he can request another adventure in one minute.

Q: What's this Risk setting?

It's not for the faint of heart. High Risk adventures have considerably harder mobs, but offer a greater prize for winning. For a level 65 group, a normal dungeon will have level 60 mobs that hit for 350 or so. With level 61-66 nameds hitting in the 600s. On high, trash mobs are around level 65, hit for about 900, and partially mitigate slow... your typical elemental planes mobs.

Q: Ok, we accepted the adventure... now what?

On your adventure screen (alt-V brings this up if you closed it) you'll see in plain English what type of adventure it is, if it's a collect or slaughter how many you need, and where the entrance is roughly. You have 30 minutes to begin the adventure, so start moving.

Q: Where' the dungeon?

Depends on which camp you took the adventure from. There are a few different entrances

Camp Dungeon Entrance(s)
E Commons North Ro, Oasis, South Ro
N Ro Oasis
S Ro Innothule, Upper Guk
Everfrost Everfrost
Butcherblock Lesser Faydark (two, right near each other)

When you get to the appropriate zone, you'll get a blue line on your compass that points to the dungeon entrance. Follow the magic blue line to get there.

Q: Can I abort the mission?

If for some reason you need to, you can alt-V and choose Leave Adventure. If you do this before anyone enters the dungeon, you will get a failure message, but it will not count against your statistics. After the dungeon's been entered, leaving the adventure will fail you. Note again, if you go linkdead, you will still be in the adventure, just go catch up to your party.

Q: How long do I have to get there?

You have 30 minutes to enter the dungeon, the timer can be viewed from the Adventure Status (just going to call it AS from here in) screen by hitting alt-V. As soon as the first person enters the dungeon, the main timer starts.

Q: Do we have to be together to get a mission?

Surprisingly, no. If you know where the next dungeon entry will be, the rest of the group can just wait outside, while the leader goes back to camp to get another one. You do not have to be in the same zone.

In the Dungeon
---------------------

Q: How long do we have?

You have 90 minutes to complete the adventure from the time the first person zones in, shown on the AS.

Q: How do I know how we're doing?

If you're on a Slaughter or Collection adventure, the AS will show your progress like "Progress: 11 of 24" If you're on a Rescue or Assassination, you just have to guess. Either you complete the one task or you don't.

Q: What do I do to collect the reward if we win?

You'll be given a message that you won, and your adventure points (APs from here out) immediately. You then have 30 minutes to play around in the dungeon if you choose. You do NOT get extra time for finishing the dungeon early.

Q: What happens if time expires?

Then you lose. You then have 30 minutes to complete the objective anyway for a lesser reward, which is about 1/4 the APs of a win.

Q: What happens when the 30 minutes runs out?

You'll find yourself outside the dungeon entrance, no matter what you were doing ... including killing a named mob for some nice extra loot (d'oh!)

Q: How many points for a win?

It depends on your level, it's 51 points at level 65 for a Normal win. High gives 71 points, but that's currently being re-evaluated on Test to make High more appealing (they're trying 150). At level 34, I can verify the stunning reward of 3 points.

Q: What if I die?

You can get rezzed back in, or if bound nearby, run back in. There are no respawns in LDoN dungeons (but there are occasional roamers, so be careful).

Q: Can other people join my party after the adventure to come in and rez me?

No, entrance to the dungeon is tied to you accepting the adventure, not being in your group. But after the 30 minute extended period, the dungeon instance will close, and your body will appear outside, at the entrance. You can get resurrected there.

Q: Do I get XP on the adventure?

Yes, just as normal. It's not bad, at level 65, you get about 3 orange bubbles of AAXP per run. At level 33, you get about half of a level.

Q: Do I get loot on the adventure?

Yes indeed. The mobs drop loot as normal, most of it junk/cash loot, or caster research, including the 50+ research components on higher-level research. Some dungeons will also contained named mobs which will drop one tradeable piece of equipment. These are extra named mobs, if you are on an Assassination adventure, the target boss will be itemized as any random monster. Named mobs hit for about 650 on a level 65 adventure (think normal PoP tier 3 mobs). Monsters can also drop coin loot, of an amount that ends up being decent. At 65, plan on banking from 100-300 pp for an adventure once the loot's been sold and the money's split.
Also dropping randomly will be augmentations, most of which are +x to a stat or resist, though I've also seen + mana and hp augmentation of two times x, x is approximately a tenth of the group's level. Augmentations are nodrop and discussed farther down.

Q: Is the dungeon random?

No, there are a limited number of dungeon zones per Waycamp, but which zone you are in, you won't know until you enter the dungeon. The same named dungeon has the same layout though, which means...

Q: I can map these?

Right, you can map these. Note however, that named mob location does seem to be random, and even how many you'll get is random, I've seen anywhere from 0 to 3.

Q: What are these hollow trees (bitten victims, cursed guktans, creaking chests, etc.)?

These are interactive NPCs. You can hit them once and see what happens. There are a few possible effects, including it giving you HP or mana and then disappearing, it breaking down into 2 or 3 monsters which attack you, or it asking to follow you. Note that mobs that spawn this way do not usually count toward your kill total on a Slaughter adventure, but some reports report that occasionally these do. Since it may slow you down a bit, some groups prefer to ignore these.

Q: Wait a second, did you say "follow me?"

Yes, if the mob offers, any player in the group without a pet can tell the NPC "follow" and you have essentially an enchanter-type pet for about 10 minutes or until it dies. The NPC is not heal or buffable, but also does not take AE spell damage. When its time is done, it just lays back down and vanishes.

Q: How about these stationary chests, boxes, and barrels?

This is a whole other ball of wax. Since there's already a good guide to this, I'm just going to copy it verbatim:
--------------------------------------------------------
I was really frustrated and confused by the new objects in the LDoN on my frist few adventures. It seemed no matter what we did the damn things blew up and nearly killed us ;P. So i did a little research and I thought id share the info with you.

There are 3 types of chests/boxes in the dungons:

1) Mechanical - these are boxes/chests that can be sensed by bards/rogues, disarmed using the bard/rogue disarm traps skills, and picked using the bard/rogue pick lock skill.

2) Magical - These are boxes/chests that can be sensedl/disarmed/and unlocked using the Wuggan's spell set used by Necros Mages and Enchanters. Also by the Xalirilan's spell set which can be used by Wizards.

3) Cursed - These are boxes/chests that can be sensed/disarmed/and unlocked using the Reebo's line of spells useable by Necros Mages Druids and shaman. As well as the Iony's line of spells useable by Clerics.

So how do you know what kinda box you have got?

Here is a rundown of what you should do when you encounter a box:

The bard/rogue if you have one should Sense Traps. If the message says something like "You cannot tell if the -object- is trapped" then its either a Magical or Cursed Box and the bard/rogue should now leave it alone :P. However if he/she gets a message "You cannot sense any traps" Keep trying to sense traps until you get a "You are certain that an -object- is not trapped" Or "You sense that an -object- is trapped" If you get any of these messages the box is mechanical and should ONLY be touched by a bard/rogue.

The Cleric/Druid/Shaman/Mage/or Necro should use their Augury spell for sensing cursed traps. You target the object and try to cast your Augury spell. If you get a message "This only works on the cursed" then the box is not cursed and you can leave it alone. If you can cast the spell, find out if its trapped or not.

The Mage/Necro/Wizard/Enchanter if you have one should use their Augury spell to sense magical traps. I dont have this spell so not sure how the messages work but i assume its similar to the cursed one above. Again if you can cast the spell the box is magical and you should determine if the box is trapped or not before continuing.

Great now we know what kinda box it is, now what?

Mechanical - The bard/rogue should try to disarm the trap if the sensed one using their Disarm Traps button. If they sucessfully achieve this then they should try to pick the lock. This is tricky as we were used to picking locks using lockpicks. However this doesn't work in LDoN, you have to make a Pick Lock button similar to the Sense Traps button using the abilities menu. Have the object targeted and hit the Pick Lock button, pretty sure you still need picklocks in your inventory although they can be in a bag. If sucessful at doing this, approach the box and type /open with the box targeted. If you succeeded at everything else this should open the box, give you the "Your party gains experience" message and you can now loot the box like a corpse.

Cursed - If your Augury spell sensed a cursed trap, use your Remove cursed trap spell to remove it. This spell requires a scrying stone. These can be bought from the Magus in the wayfarer's camps. The Greater Scrying Stone is a little over 17 pp. If you sucessfully remove the trap, use your open cursed locks spell to unlock the chest. If you sucessfully unlock the chest you may approach it type /open with the chest targeted and then loot the chest like a corpse once open.

Magical - This is the same as cursed boxes except only int casters can open magical chests. Untrapping a magical chest also requires a scrying stone. Make sure you use /open to open the chest after detrapping and unlocking it with spells. Do not ever hit a chest as it can destroy whats inside.

Now you know how to open chests/boxes ect. Unfortunately there is a bug right now that may prevent some members of a group from opening a chest/box for some reason. It may give you the message "You cannot loot this corpse at this time". If this happens to you, try logging out and logging back in, this fixed the problem for me.

PS. /inspect will also give you information on what type of chest it is magical/cursed/or mechanical. However /inspect has a chance of setting off any traps on the chest. Also all spells and bard/rogue skills also have a chance of setting off traps when used except the Augury ones on chests that do not match the type of spell. Clerics are the best at opening cursed chests, Wizards are the best at opening magical chests, and rogues the best at mechanical.

Good Luck and have fun in LDoN!

Kodachi Darkbane
65 Cleric
Torvonnilous
New Dawn Rising
-----------------------------------------------------------

Adventure Points
------------------------

Q: Where can I get those spells?

Go back to the Wayfarer camp after you've successfully completed a mission, and find the Adventure Merchant. Right-click to see what's to be had. You'll see some information here, including a list of items with their cost and theme, plus how many APs you've earned and how many you have to spend.

Q: What about regular merchants? I have all this cash loot.

There's one normal merchant per camp, named Magus soandso. They are a normal merchant as well as a translocator. By saying "East Commonlands," "North Ro," "South Ro," "Butcherblock," or "Everfrost" to them, they'll immediately port you into the Wayfarer camp in that zone. Handy for meeting up with friends, or getting around if you didn't rebind (note each camp has a Soulbinder, too).

Q: Ok, now what's all this stuff on the Adventure Merchant mean?

When you earn adventure points, they're counted two ways: first, they're added to whatever points you had. Then you can spend those points at the adventure merchant to buy spells and equipment, and they come off your total. Easy enough to understand. The second thing is they're added to a running total kept of how many points you've earned from that camp, also known as that "theme."

Q: Theme, what's that mean?

Each Wayfarer camp has a set of dungeons that all kind of look alike and have the same kind of mobs (though not all in all dungeons). This is called the camp's theme.

WayCamp zone Theme
East Comons Rukarkian Hills
North Ro Takish Kaz
South Ro Deepest Guk
Butcherblock Mistmoore Catacombs
Everfrost Miragul's Menagerie

Q: Wait, so I'm limited to spending points in each Waycamp?

No, points you earn can be spent anywhere. However, the maximum you can spend on any ONE ITEM with a theme is the amount you've earned at that camp. The Adventure Merchant will show you items you can buy, plus items a few points higher as incentive to do more missions. Pretty sneaky.

Q: What about items without themes?

These you can buy anywhere if you have the points. The spells for traps come in a level 14, 24, and 34 version. There are 3 at each level that do various functions, they cost 60 APs each for the 34 version.

Q: So this means I want to adventure all from one camp, right?

Doing all your adventures from one camp will get you access to bigger equipment faster, yes. However, you'll probably want to check the other dungeons out a little, and heck, use the points you earn there to buy some smaller-point stuff like the trap spells or maybe some augmentations at your "home" camp as you continue to drive towards the biggest stuff.

Q: How big IS the biggest stuff?

Around 1500 points. The most expensive spell is Greater Remove Curse for 800.

Q: Greater Remove Curse? The one from Ssra that was like 50 000pp?

That's the one. There are a lot more curses in the game now, plus shamans get a whole set of curse-based dots, which means shaman mobs get them too. SOE decided making the remove curse line buyable was in the best interest of game balance.

Q: Can I buy the same stuff anywhere?

No, while it tends to be of approximately the same quality, each camp has its own selection of gear. Yes, that means to get all the best stuff for your particular class, you'll have to hit all of them. A lot.

Q: How about farming stuff for my twinks?

To the best of my knowledge, all augments and all AP-buyable gear are NODROP. However, there's some solid droppable gear off random nameds in the dungeons.

Q: How good is the best stuff?

There are several spoilers around (I recommend reading one to decide where to concentrate your hunting first. There's one at http://67.113.229.226:8080/skp/eq/ldon/list.cgi ), but just as an example, the top-level chain tunics are a bit better than a Tae Ew chain tunic, which is kind of the default buyable-but-good tunic for chain wearers in their 60s. Also, items you get with APs tend to have more (and better) augmentation slots.


Augmentations
---------------------

Q: Ok, you keep mentioning augmentations. How do those work?

Augmentations are gems which can add statistics or effects to gear. If you look at your existing gear, you'll probably note that most of it has one Type 1 slot, except your weapons which probably have a type 4 slot.

Q: Err, ok, so an augmentation goes in a slot on my gear. What's with the types?

A slot can hold any augmentation of its own type . So a type 1 slot can only hold a type 1 augment. A type 4 slot can hold a type 4 augment, etc. Types go up to 8. There are also some augmentations that can go in any type slot.

Q: So what stuff is type 1? Type 3?

Type 1 is your basic one-stat bonus up to +6 STA or MR, or maybe +12 HP/Mana. Almost all pre-LDoN non-weapon gear has a type 1 slot.
Type 2 are either large single stats (+40 HP) or multiple stats (+7 STR +7 STA).
Type 3 are constant worn effects, like ultravision, flowing thought, and the like.
Type 4 are weapon procs. Almost all pre-LDoN weapons have a type 4 slot.
Type 5 are bonus damage to weapons (Magic DMG: 1, etc.).
Type 6 are bonus base weapon damage, and may include other weapon damage upgrades.
Type 7 and 8 are unknown, there are no known items with type 7 slots. Plane of Time gear tends to have type 8 slots.
Thanks to Luclin's Arriana for clarification on this.

Q: All right, so let's take say, this Adventurer's Stone I got because you told me to. I want to add it to my charm. How do I do it?

At each Wayfarer Camp, there's what looks like a birdbath. It's like a kiln or a forge, left click to open it, then put in your item and augment and hit combine. Voila! WARNING: DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THE CONTAINER WHILE YOU HAVE A NODROP ITEM IN IT, THE ITEM WILL VANISH!

Q: Wait, now my item is NODROP.

That's right, adding a NODROP augment to any item makes the item NODROP.

Q: So I can never sell it? I don't want this thing forever.

You can, you just have to destroy the augment first. This is also what to do to put a new, better augment on. Go to Magus whatserface at the Wayfarer camp and buy a type x solvent, where x is the SLOT you want to remove the augmentation from. Then combine the solvent and the item in the birdbath. Voila, no more augment!

Q: So how do I get the old augment back?

You don't. You can leave it on, or destroy it, but it cannot be returned.

Q: Back to the Adventurer's Stone -- this stinks, it's got no stats AND I have no charm!

Maybe you should try charm school. The stone is charm-like itself in that it gets better as you complete more adventures. If you don't have any charm, fortunately you can buy a cheap one at the Adventure Merchants, from 1 to 6 APs in a variety of styles. By the way, note that the Adventurer's Stone, like some augments, are limited to what equipment pieces they can go on. Before buying that ultravision augment, make sure it can go on the gloves you want it on!

Random Stuff
-------------------

Q: Is there new tradeskill stuff in LDoN?

Yes, they've added some recipes, largely to help with significant gaps where it's extremely hard/expensive or takes a ton of farming to get materials to skill up. As usual, http://www.eqtraders.com has the best info on these.

Q: I still have questions!

Go ask your guildmates. Or go adventure! There's still a lot to be discovered, I'm sure, but you now have more than enough information to get started. Go! Shoo! Nothing more to see here.

Rorgg Bearskin
The Ogre of Love
Omani guild, Bertoxx
rorgg@yahoo.com
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