EQDiva

Do alternatives to tier 2 exist as there are some rumored for tier3? Or must i simply perform a trial? My late night/early morning playing makes it somewhat hard to pull together reliable people to tackle trials right now, i am probably going to have to log during the day sometime soon to get this done.

Don't get me started on trials... heh I have done like 70 of them. When no good groups can be found, just get a pickup goup. You won't pass it with a pickup group, but the loot and XP is not bad at all. I don't know of any way passed the trial system atm. I do know how to do the one for PoD.

its very hard to do a straight pickup group, I found that after about my 2nd group I got together. For one, none of the people are used to the other's playstyles, which is key IMO. I really feel bad for the people that keep trying and trying and trying to get it doing this. Seriously, its a major waste of time doing that. You really have to have friends you know or a guild, or something, to get this done. unless you are VERY lucky to get the right people. Mages are very useful strictly because of their pets and their banishment, so really you get 2 people out of one group slot. The more mages the better, but I found it difficult to even get one. Druids are also helpful because of banishment and their ability to play backup healer or nuker or whatever. If you can get your hands on an AE taunter tank, (AE taunt is an AA class ability if I'm not mistaken), this is because it will help to keep the aggro on one person, in the exe trials you have to LAST, if your cleric is anywhere below 60 in most cases, all the mobs will start to give him/her some major lovin'. The main idea is also, you need somewhere near about 700-800 dps to safely do this trial, because you have to kill 4 waves of 4 mobs, with each mob dropping in 30 seconds minimum, I think the first wave you have 40sec for each mob, I may be mistaken though. Either way, you need lots of DPS. Make sure, because as us bards, we serve a great purpose as either damage shield if you can pull it off well, or ae slows, both of which really get good at 62, but once again that creates the problem of aggro. Try to stay positioned in such a way that you hit the mobs with your songs if you go the ae slow/dot way, or you'll get creamed in no time. The mobs usually hit for about 250s. But, if you decide not to do it this way, and get lucky, I had lots of help from the top guild on my server, I have a bard friend that came with some friends and we took it down in short order. of course they were all 65 or thereabouts, and it was easy. This was after about 15 tries of my own, tying to get groups together, sending out tells to people constantly, several nights of nothing but the trials. My heart goes out to the people that are nearing or past 50 - 100 tries for this. this was the most frustrating thing I've ever had to do in EQ, and I was pissed. Anyway, it was worth it now, the exp that is possible, is simply amazing. Keep with it, and try to get friends that you are familiar with, pet classes are a major plus, and just take everything I said here with a grain of salt.

I've been to the boss about 5 times... most times someone in the group isn't ready for it and does something silly. Like I am kiting him around so people can med and then the shammy would cast slow on it... heh Bye bye shammy.

Well, believe it or not, i actually managed to pass trial of exe last nite with a pick up group. Shocked me no end! hehe! Was actually no big deal at all really, wasn't even an uber group or anything. 61 wizzy (with epic), 61 mage (with epic pet), 60 chanter, 61 half elf warrior, 65 cleric, and me, 62 bard. We did ae all the way, i sang winds of marr, melody of mischief, and the 59 ae dot. For the boss mob, I played oos, mischief, warsong and winds of marr. We were at 80% mana overall at the end of wave 3, cleric was fm at the end of wave 3. Hehe, nukers went oom on the big guy tho, he has a TON of hp. Took the chanter 5 tries to land a slow, so mischief was just awesome in meantime. We prolly coulda done this with any cleric really who was 60+. Doing this trial with melee damage is pretty tough tho, melees just cant put out the damage necessary until they are too high to need to qualify i think.

Nice, I've never done a trial as an AE group but I always wanted to. I tried charming pets last time I tried. Worked out great except for one thing. People have a hard time telling my pet apart. Too bad I don't have some kind of pet shrink or a way to make it stand out.

I tried charming in the trials as well - I used /assist macros to tell the Main tank who to agro next. For example - 1 rock and 3 others spawn. MT jumps on one, I charm #2 and /assist (with /pet attack included) the MT, then Mezz #3. Druid/Mage Banishes the rock. Since I am mezzing #3 - I have to switch back to target him to remez while my pet is plowing away assisting the MT. I am also meleeing the same mob between mezzes. When the 1st one is at 10%, I make sure to have the mob I am mezzing targeted and hit my: "%t is next, /assist me to target" Macro - the group finishes off the 1st target, the MT hits his /assist Hyjynx Macro - and we are off to the races. I recharm my pet if I need to to increase DPS, and break charm when when the MT's 2nd target is around 10 - 15%. You need the transition between targets to be as seemless as possible. You can not have the MT's target die, and him not know where to go next. It has worked the 2 or 3 times we have tried it - but we keep dying on the boss mob. :cry: You need to have a MT who is able to relinquish a little control over where the fight is going, and to trust that you know what you are doing and won't steer them wrong.

Nice, I will try having the MT assist me then. Would smooth things out a bit.

Wow, thats a whole lot of work for nothing. the trials are EXTREMELY easy, and a bard in invaluable to any trials group. First off...dump the chanter. having a bard and chanter is a huge waste of DPS. I have passed the trials 37 times out of 42 tries, and my guild mates all /tell the hell out of me to come get them passed. Its a very simple thing. The tank chooses the mob. You (the bard) mezz whatever lizards there are and play mana and some form of haste. If you have a banisher they work on the Rocks. Once you have nothing left that is mezzable, then you and just you goes into AE mode. Spin ae slow/dot, ae stun/dot mana and haste. If you cant hold up a 4 song spin reliably every time......go play a different class, bard isnt for you. In between waves super pump mana, and only mana. DO NOT just turn it on and let it play. If you do that each pulse gives mana..meaning evey 6 seconds. You can double mana output by continualy recasting manasong. It has a 2.5 sec cast time, so every 2.5-3 sec the group ges more mana. The whole key to key to the trials is not to have mobs bouncing around. Everyone should rush the center of the floor and stay near the tank when the mobs pop. If nukers or healers stand around the outside the mob runs around too much and the Tank cannot target it quickly. The most important thing in the trials is that the tank moves from one mob to the next extremely and NEVER for any reason switches targets. The everyone assists the tank and kill kill kill. Just my 2 cents, and believe me I know what im talking about. The trials are about working together. If you follow the plan I outlined I guarentee that your cleric will go oom, unless the tank gets charmed/slowed. (In which case the tank needs berrer MR/DR) Get as many buffs as you can before you go in. I'd suggest KEI VoG GRM FoS Sta Adj DS Aego/Virtue BmB and if you have low char get a buff from a chanter or a shammy. Every thing should be cake after that

Lol, lets not get started again about mana pumping... That doesn't work with things that have and EFFECT icon on you. The pulse will tick when the client reaches it's 6 second effect area. Just because you recast it again doesn't mean it ticks right at that moment.

Aside from Paeros' comment, I think Talerious comments are very valuable. They provide experience from someone that has a very high success rate and I hope to use that knowledge when I get to that point and need to pass the trials. My questions to Talerious would be what level are you, what is your typical line-up of songs, (other than what you've mentioned) and what the lowest level one should attempt this? I am certain at 54, almost 55 I am not high enough to be doing this yet, but I like something to shoot for. Thanks, Sinfonian

Back to the original question by Anulien, "Do alternatives to tier 2 exist as there are some rumored for tier 3?" If so what are they? Please answer that question for those of us not lucky enough to be in an UBER Guild or have a bunch of lvl 60+ friends willing to drop what they are doing to help out with a trial when they have already passed it and don't want to go back. Tamb

Well the CoD one is done by the Grimror Bug collection quest. He's the Ogre in PoD with the plate armour. The key to CoD is the Bangle of Disease Warding. I like the item even if only for the DR buff. Heh There is one to BoT through some quest. Susperia knows most of that quest, but he has had some trouble with it.

A great alternative to PoV/PoS (if you are not flagged) is the factory in PoI. The mobs are level 60. I get 3 ticks of AA xp per kill. As for getting flagged... I have help numerous people get flagged. The ideal group for a bard is: Cleric, tank, Wiz, Wiz/Rog/Mnk/Mag, Wiz/Rog/Mnk/Mag, Bard Bards job: Mez the non-rocks, Play Zek and Warcry, Attack after 2 mobs down. Fill mana between rounds, and on Prime Executioner, Play Melody of Mishief/Zek/Warcry. Done, Flagged, go talk to mavuin.

The easist way for people to assist your pet is hit the funtion key that targets you twice (which targets pet), then assist. Doing it that way ensures they have the right target.