EQDiva

I have read several posts here and on other sites about swarming in PoD. I'm currently lvl 50 with a fair amount of swarm kiting experience under my belt - and quad kiting experience with both a wizard and a druid. I have been refining my technique with ratpors in TD since 48, and I'm not having problems there with a similar lack of space as in PoD. Now that I'm 50, I have tried a couple of times near the zone without success - and I have been lucky enough to get away without a scratch so far... Maybe it's the mobs I am tyring, or perhaps the location - but I'm getting a lot of "this npc can't be charmed" messages when trying to charm some of the flies (around the shore just north of the zone-in.) I haven't ventured deeper without a group, and I only know the area up to and around the giant spine from grouping there with friends. My question is this - am I just in the wrong spot, or what? I don't mind sticking to 3 or 4 flies at my level (which should be 51 after one round or two in PoD) - but I just can't charm them reliably. Can someone give me directions to the swarm spot near the rock that everyone keeps mentioning? Also, am I just pulling the wrong mobs or what? Thanks.... Lyrika

Only the named flies you can't charm. The rock refered is the one strait over the water from zone in. As soon as you zone into PoD, face the water. Lev yourself and then give a tick of SoB (speed of bard :p). Run strait over the water until you hit land again. There should be a large rock (boulder) about to the left a little bit or right in front of you. This is the rock mentioned. The hairs sticking out of the ground to the right of that (3 or 4 of them) are your running markers. Run forward past the rock (with it on left of you) until you get to a dip in the land. Hang a right until you get to the waters edge and follow it around until you get near the rock again. That way works pretty good with no warping.

First off, hang in there, I too had 5 failed attemts, many times getting away with somewhere near half health before I figured this place out, err sort of. So far, I have found that as long as you don't have wandering players mess up your kite, you can kite very effectively in the area Paeros mentioned. There are other descriptions of the area but it's safe to say just stay to the right of the boulder (facing the boulder coming from zone-in). As for uncharmables, the only things I have found that cannot be charmed due to level are some rats that get aggro'd mistakenly. Those I just make my pets' target. I find after 5 or so pets have smacked on it for a while, it is well below 50% and is a managable chant kite. I would hate to chant kite a rat completely. With resists, I expect it's a 10 min kite with walrus drums. There is a great thread about charming, but the Reader's Digest version is make sure you have a good CHA and use your wind instrument to charm. That made all the difference for me. I find it odd that you would get a message that you cannot charm a fly. I have not seen any named ones so I don't know where they are, but the little flies can definitely be charmed (as well as the two-legged ones on the small island north of the penninsula) and at your level should be just perfect for you. Give those a try and keep at it. They move fast and have wierd pathing. It is WELL worth the risk though. Sinfonian

Ok I'll give it another try. I suppose I may have wandered into PoD with the wrong charm memorized (it wouldn't be the first time....) I thought it was odd, since everything conned blue - I thought it might be some of SoE's anti-solo PoP code smacking me in the face for even trying to solo there. =) Lyrika

> There is a great thread about charming, but the Reader's > Digest version is make sure you have a good CHA and use > your wind instrument to charm. That made all the difference > for me. I agree 100% - I recently upgraded my CHA gear a little (I'm at about 190 now with a couple of pieces that I swap out for melee/ac stuff,) and got a darkwood piccolo for 500pp (!!!) in the bazaar a few nights ago - there is a VERY noticable difference in charm's duration with the flute. I think this is the most overlooked thing in many of the guides out there - I wouldn't have believed it myself until I actually spent some time swarm kiting with it. I think over the last 3-4 levles I have had about 5 charms break early - the rest last until I break it with invis, and I can usually get my pet down to less than 10% of health before having to chant it. If you haven't bought a good wind instrument yet, your'e missing out! Lyrika

Ok. /kill Lyrika /drool I have been searching every few hours with my mule for ANYONE selling a Darkwood Piccolo in the bazaar. I anticipate paying about 10K for it. You got one WHALE of a deal! Either your server economics are toast or you had a real sucker for a seller. Either way I'd kill for one of those, unfortunately we are not a Plane of Fear doable guild so I must buy it. I will keep looking, eventually one will be for sale, hopefully I have the money as I'm still using a minotaur's horn. Works but I get early breakage about 20% of the time, maybe more and normally it's right away which really sucks as I don't typically have the pet retargeted (I'm normally in the process of pet attacking my victim). WTG on the find! *he says jealously* Sinfonian

Most of the flies most of the goos and some of the rats are charmable by bewitching aura. Are you using the right song?

Yeah I got it working. I'm not sure if it was a resist or the wrong charm (was too busy running my arse to the zone at the time hehe.) Either way I'm now one bubble into 52 and working my way up the 50s at Selo's pace... =) About the Piccolo - either it was a mistake, or it was someone desprate for cash. Either way I'm very happy with my new flue. I have since seen others around 5k+, so maybe the economy IS that screwed up on Tribunal. Then again, I'm always very careful to check my trader prices before I click the BEGIN button hehe... One thing about this camp - I had problems with my pulls agroing into a nearby group the other night. I was there for several hours, and they showed up pulling single malarians to the rock area. I asked them to move to a "safer" location - and warned them about what would probably happen if I pulled. They moved a little bit north, but still well within the agro range of my pulls. I warned them again - but they basically told me to go screw, and so I started pulling. Long story short, TWO flies leveled their 60+ group. This ended up being an argument (some portions over /ooc,) with them claiming I was training them delibrately. The whole thing gave me a bad taste in my mouth, and I finally logged. It's funny how people honor "camps", but then when they roll up into yours (and they are in the way,) you are "training" them delibrately if they pick up adds from your kite. The moral of this story is, be careful in PoD - and (unfortunately) you will probably have to leave if another group shows up. Lyrika

I think all of us has had this problem. I have a hotkey for say that warns them that I don't have aggro and they will likely get aggro of some or all of my swarm. I further warn them to stay at their own risk. This normally get them to say stupid bard or something equally elloquent, but they got the message at least. I did have a problem with a bard of all people training me there a few days ago after repeatedly warning him not to co-mingle our kites and to please move as the area was camped. Just two days ago I went LD and my rather large swarm wiped a group. Only found out later when one was brave enough to yell at me in a tell. I was LD, how was I supposed to know what happened. Regardless, I spent 20 min appologizing individually to each member of their group and left. If it gets too crowded, I typically just leave and come back late at night or early morning when nobody's there. Sure it's not the fastest way to level, but considering how fast you level there, I do ok. Hehe, my guild still hates me for how fast I'm flying through levels. If they only knew I was slow and lazy as I'm working on my druid's epic a bit lately (the reason for which is I can't work any further on my bard epic and just got my Jade Reaver so what they hey!) Back from my tangent, most folks just run through my camp, and I've never seen a high level run through my camp and get aggro, though last night somebody was sitting on the shore along my "track." First pass I noticed her, I repositioned my hands to use the mouse for my /say hotkey and next pass fired it off, hopefully in earshot but not close enough to be training her. Of course she ran back along my "track" along the shore. That was a bad idea for as has been said, the pathing there sucks and they make a 45 degree angle bee-lining for the shore and then continuing after you. I'm sure it looked like they aggro'd her but she just ran into them. Felt sorry for her as she did TRY to move. Doh! Anyway her friends that came to rez her were really nice and shared my feelings toward that bard (see him a lot there, keeps trying to strike up conversations while I'm kiting) Can you say EBay? You'd think my afk message stating that I was kiting at the moment and could not chat would give him the hint. I'm sure he is not that bad, and he has appologized (took a while for him to do so). Safe to say this is the WORST area to put a bard camp, right by zone where everyone runs though and looks "safe" to everyone. WTG Sony! If you have a zone that doesn't see invis, put the camp a little farther in against the zone wall or something. Blah blah blah, can you tell I haven't had my coffee yet! ROFL Sinfonian

Heh, When I die in PoD, I never get a rez. First off I lose all my mana, and second off I can get all the exp I lost in 4 to 6 kills :p But ya, I will have about 14 flys on me, and some stupid duo or necro or what ever, will come and start killing things from the camp. So I tell them that I have the camp and they say in a snobbish way, "Well are you sure you can handle ALL of them?" And I reply with, "Well I have 14 on me now )" So they leave. I have when people do that though. Just a couple nights ago, I died and came back to my corpse 5 minutes later. There was another bard there hunting and I kindly asked him if he could leave. That I had just died and would Like my camp back. Might I add he was in a pretty uber guild. Well...... he was being sooo rude and made a remark that he was there for 20 minutes! So we got in a big arguement and he was cussing at me and being totaly rude. We decided to share the island half and half. Well he kept training purposly his mobs on me, and it was a disaster. Then a couple minutes went by and I said, I came back and looted my body right? Well if I looted my body 20 minutes later after I died it would have been in the grave yard correct? :lol He just told me to shut up and put me on his ignore list. I left to PoT and petitioned his guild leader and went back 5 minutes later, he was gone Lol. Wasnt on line even. What people will do now adays to try to get a camp. Is it really worth losing your guild over?

Here's what I really just don't understand... You are running around with 10+ mobs on you, and your average group (3 melee types, 1 healer type, 2 int caster types) rolls up and has a seat near where you are chanting off your last pet. You give them sufficient warnings, all of which they ignore and insist on just camping "their" new spot (nevermind whether it actually belongs to someone else or not) - and when they die, they insist (after their unfortunate deaths) that your attempt to warn them was actually a THREAT - and one that was carried out to it's conclusion by "training" them. Now, what's wrong with this picture? Obviously the person (bard) running around with 10 mobs (at full hps) isn't very high on the mobs' hate list. In fact, without even knowing what the bard is doing, most casters should get a little nervous sitting down with 10 mobs running around, each of which capable of hitting them for 200 x2 almost every round of melee. I have seen this drama play out a lot lately in PoD - this case in particular was the worst. I think if you walk into someone else's camp, you assume a certain amount of risk - ESPECIALLY if they are running around with 10+ mobs with full health bars... I have also experienced the poblem of dying there, and someone taking the camp before my luke warm corpse repops in the GY. "You weren't here 5 minuts ago...." "You left, it's my camp now..." UGH.... On the other hand, I have run into some very nice people with whom I have gladly shared "my" camp - particularly a wizzy (whose hide I saved with speed a few hours ago when his snare ran out and he was oom.) I will kite all the flies on the main island, then rest while my mana bar charges to full (and I read a book hehe.) Meanwhile he pulls the flies and quad kites them. It's fair (except that he's 58 and I'm 52 hehe but that's another story) - and eveyrone is happy. So it's not all bad - just expect some grief and arguments over who has what rights to what spots. At any rate, I will fly through my early 50's here - at a rate that will frustrate even the most experienced quad kiter =) Lyrika

/agree Got so fed up with the "camp stealing" right near the zone in finally went looking for a new place. Around the corner to the left towards the Castle can be done, but the possible spider adds makes it tricky / dangerous. And of course, you still have the folks running by to get to the castle. Did find a good place finally, usually clear of campers, with a good "run area." FYI - I have found that the non-caster mobs do not see invis. At zone in, follow the RIGHT wall with lev. Stay high on the wall so you don't pick up swamp rats or worms, until you come to dry land again. Wall then continues around to the right. Just as the wall goes right, there's a "boulder" on the wall, and another free standing just out from it, then about 5 "hairs" behind that. Circling the hairs, with the wall and boulder as markers, is your run area. Also, there are some ledges up the wall to med on. Plenty of rats at the water line, and malerian pests. Just be careful not to agro the diseased malerians (casters that summon) or defilers (SK's) past the pests. There's an isle of 5 Vetri flies just out from here that you can swarm also. Past the hairs is an open area to pull 2 types of goos and other rats. The occasional spider passes by, so watch that area from the wall to chose your target. The ledges on the wall sometimes have campers, so check on "company" before you get started. Get a freindly cleric to Virtue you, or donate. This WILL save your butt if the lag monster gets ya. 5 mobs on your butt that stun makes for a dead bard. 5 will smack ya down for 1200+ easy if stunned. Did 5 levels there and only died from campers that lost it, the occasional wiz/druid heading for zone with swarm in tow, and lag monster. Cash isn't great (pop zones are not money zones), but fangs and hides are good VT. Enjoy!

Swarming Tsets in PoD = Great opportunities plus good exp till 58ish. Kk bards here is the trick, CHECK TRACK during any little bit of downtime. If you see "A tachnian Larva(e)" or "A tachnian caterpillar" kill them. The Larva drop Ethereal parches at about 25pct chance and caterpillars can just with lower Pct chance. So if you've taken down the 3-2-2-2-1 spawn on the first island of Tsets and u have a bit of time left pull one of em and if u can grab a solo fly to come with. Basic routine fly into mob chant mob while fly (ur pet) gets the beatdown and wa la u have a chance of getting a higher level spell in your lower 50s. Its easy its good exp and its fun.

In reading this I have learned one thing; you guys get "rights" to a camp? omg...that would be a dream. Generally speaking, on my server (Tallon Zek) you either get exp'd or trained out if someone else wants to use your spot. Wow, camp rights...what a country! =x