The Essence of Fear and Flame

Highlights: Resolina enters the most dangerous region on the Plateau of Gorgoroth

January 7th - 9th

Talath Úrui (Levels 112, 113)
Missing Page: #6 (secluded area), #9 (extremely difficult level 115 area), #11 (easily-missed stairs in Naerband), #13, 14, 15 (level 115 areas)
Problems: Watchtowers only respawn with their two highest torches intact, orcs fanatics fall directly into the fire when trying to attack you, no clear direction on the mechanics of various quests, difficulty spikes for solo quests 
Ventrilo Spoiler: "That instance is supposed to be solo but it's just impossible." ; "I need to find some torture devices." ; "Let us just run and die. Easier than trying to fight your way back."

Summary: I actually wrote out my screenshot folder as "The zone I hate" simply because of how excruciating difficult they made some of these areas. I will admit that I could have potentially done all these zones by myself but was glad to have someone accompany me at certain times. Let's check out the areas:

• Dâr Mauzur: I ran into a minstrel by the name of Feldmin that assisted me in a few of the first quests in the area. The portion you actually see foremost in the northern portion of the road is designed for level 115 dailies. You have to go south to find more appropriately leveled enemies. 
• Fushaum Bal: I fail to see the significance of adding this zone. There are even kinmates who refuse to ever come back to this dreaded place. You are supposed to assist both sides of the conflict, North and South, by completing a list of miscellaneous tasks. However since the tasks are repeatable every two minutes, it is much easier to do the two landscape quests within the zone - destroying watchtowers/burning tents and taking down 6 guys of the opposing faction - than it is running back-and-forth between camps to turn in the various quests. The final resolution quest can be completed in roughly 30 minutes, with or without a kinmate who loves cats. 

 

• Thorzhaf: I decided to join in with Rinri on figuring out how exactly The Pit-fighter sequence actually works. In the end, the whole thing was way more complicated than it should have been. You must accept the quest to venture over to the spectator area, pick up various quests at different times from several sources, and refresh your armor from the armor barrel at the entrance of the arena before it falls off every 5 minutes (you have to hover your mouse over the buff icon on your avatar to see the timer). You may ride your horse but encountering anyone that doesn't have a Unaware marker under the name with immediately drop your armor. I had to be off my horse to detect spots to cheer among the crowd, and the quest to wake up orcs only began after clicking on one already sleeping. The whole thing was fun and awesome... after you figure out the complexities of the questchain. Once you get in the arena, I couldn't help but trash-talk. For example:
  1. Bukra The Scrather: "What exactly do you scratch? Do you have an itch on your nose or... somewhere else?
  2. Dharpush the Foul: "Whoa, calm down there. I've picked up boar droppings that smelled worse than you."
  3. Karg and Khur The Ripper Twins: "Which one of you is the stupid one because I know both of you are equally as ugly?"
  4. Urzot the Ravenous: "I bet you get to meet all the good-looking orcs in the arena with those three nice putrid teeth of yours."

    

• Naerband: Don't get this confused with the instance. The instance takes place after the events you encounter during the landscape quests. You could say Orodir is the prisoner processing center with shackles and cages. Naerband is the actual torturing in cells place. From what I learned in Udûn, it would be very wise to make sure you have Chapter 3.3: The Gúrzyul in search of the scorched skull and Into Naerband questchain. The wiki is still incomplete on this but I do remember thanking myself for completing a quest that required scouting all the way to the eastern road before going into this place. Oh and make sure you get pages #3, 7, and 11 while you are inside there.

   

• Nargroth: This area was brutal. It got so bad that I had to start using all my premium buffs, including a soldier token. I also had to make sure I prepared myself for each encounter with my pet striking one enemy and taking his blows as I pounded on another. I got so frustrated near the end of my experience that I contemplating rage quitting. Good thing I had Smellything to back me up there at the end. The developers really wanted to go the extra mile in this place. How so? Well...
  1. The zone is divided up into three separate pathways.
  2. You may end up doing all the landscape quests before realizing that the main questline takes you to each section anyways.
  3. The initial quest has you exploring each pathway halfway and sending you back to the beginning before obtaining the next quest. 
  4. The following quests has you going into each area, sometimes two separate pathways, in finishing just the first part of the following quest.
  5. The second portion of those three quests has you venturing to the furthest point of two of the three pathways to summon someone. Narthalum and Dúrossul are located in the northern portion while Nargúr is in the southern portion.
  6. The final quest takes you through the center pathway in a solo instance.
  7. Enemies respawn quickly and defeating each group takes time. This means your choice is to defeat the same enemies on your way back from each pathway, try and out-run enemies to the very beginning of the zone, or die and make your way from a respawn point that is a couple minutes away.

    

 

2018-01-13