EQDiva

Ok... nothing earthshattering here but I get many favorable comments on my pulling/running of the Creator task and figured I would share my strategy/approach with those that bother reading this post. First... upon zoning in, clear the pathway up to the right towards the gate where the Creator spawns at the end... and once it is clear go all the way to the gate and look in the crack between the 2 gate halves... if you see a single drake there in front of you (not the 2 up at the crest of the pathway), target it and pull it... this can save you problems later. Next... clear into the building (to your left from where you zoned in. The best bet here is to pull all the drakes you can and bring them back to your party. 66 lull works 99% of the time and the aggro range is quite small... make liberal use of lull and single back everything you can. There are a couple of statue guys to the right and the left as you move into the building - don't be afraid to lull them and pull drakes between them. Once you have gotten most - if not all - the drakes you can from the entrance, pull the statue guys from left side one at a time to your group... once they are done, its time to bring your party into the hall with you. Most times there will be a puma up at the end of the hallway at the corner. I suggest stopping short of his aggro range and pulling him there to be safe in case there are any lingering drakes. Once he is dead, set your group up in that corner and have them stay there. To your right, there is a double door to the inner courtyard. Most times when you open this door, there is a puma right below at the bottom of the small ramp into the room. Pull him back to the group. Next head into the room and stay against the wall (probably want to hit selos just before doing this). If there are any drakes along the wall where you are, pull them back to your group (they should come single without any fuss). When the wall is clear, move 1/2 way down to where the big statue guys are... there are 3 and usually 1-3 of the horse guys there with them. Here is where we show what bards can do... mob positioning is something like this ------------h-------S h-------------------------h ------S-------------S -------ME ___________________________ <----- way back to group After lulling all the horses (h), stand where it says ME near the back wall and bellow the back right S (statue guy)... if you are positioned correctly, this should pull all 3 statue guys at one time... take them all 3 back to your group (they are wimps with no HP - tell your group to load an AOE before you head in if you wanna see 3-go-boom in about 2 sec). That's it for the middle room... which is where many groups spend a good amount of time. Alternatively, you can have the group in the room with you (at the bottom of the ramp into the room) so simplify the pull and to make sure none of the dumb ass Sentries get stuck trying to follow you but I believe this would rule out the use of any AoE's. Next, continue around the outer hallway up to the next corner (about 50/50 there will be another puma there) and then have your group move about 1/2 up to the ramp (from the corner) in the center of the hallway. Here, you may have 1-2 mobs to clear to enter the "back" section. Then 2 statue guys immediate in the "back" section. After this, there are 2 double doors, one left and one right. Track to find out where your named Sentry is... and open the first set of double doors (sometimes smart to invis for the first doors as there are 1-2 horses right behind them). Clear the horses from in back of the first doors pulling them back to your group. After that area is clear, open the 2nd set of doors to see your named Sentry. 95% of the time, you can lull everything else in the room here and pull him single. Target, lull, target, lull, ... target and bellow him out. If you do happen to get an add (it happens on occasion), I usually fade quick and then mezz the add (which reaggros the Sentry), take him back to the group and fade the mezzed add off. Kill the named Sentry and move back to the entrance. Now you have a choice... you can move to the back "gate" where you initially cleared when zoning in and "pop" the Creator by ID'ing the stone AFTER you move there (fight here is quick, make sure creator is snared and you stay near the back gate at all times) OR go ahead and stay where you zoned in and "pop" the Creator - lull one statue guy in front, pull the other... then you can lull both in the 2nd set and bellow the Creator out, pulling to your group... kill and enjoy your newfound 40 crystals. In general, we finish in 20-25 minutes (with decently balanced ~ level 70 groups). Fastest was around 15 minutes with a sick, sick dps group (I couldn't get mobs to the group fast enough). Often times, using the vet double XP, we need to hang out another 5-10 minutes killing some more random mobs to "finish out" the double xp timer. Even considering the Nest (Blackwing) quest, this is the most efficient crystal/xp mission I have yet to find...

Great guide! Thanks for sharing it with everyone. :) I've also done quite a few of these recently. THe only real differences between my commentary and hitmakerII's guide are mainly style or preference differences. Here are some notes of my own: 1. Firstly, the only [b]REAL[/b] danger to this mission is "pather" (wandering) mobs. If you get the chance to pull these back to your group, then do so. It will prevent surprise visits (adds) to your group once you move the group inside. 2. Upon zoning in, kill the Statue and the lone Drake in the room. Sometimes the Statue and/or the Drake spawn, sometimes they don't. There are usually 1-2 pumas in the far corners of the room, but they are far enough away that nobody should ever be close enough to aggro them. 3. Like hitmakerII said, clear all the way to the right-hand side toward and including the Creator Alcove. Also, like hitmakerII said, clear the Drake on the other side of the fence. The Drake sometimes "paths" (wanders) into the Creator Alcove. Just kill him at the beginning and be done with him. 4. Kill the pathers (wanderers) just inside the doorway to the left of the zone-in area. Always drakes. As a matter of fact, [b]all[/b] pathers are Drakes. 5. hitmakerII goes left at this point. I go right. Just personal preference really; I've grown accustomed to and comfortable with that direction. THey (the two directions) are really identical, as near as I can tell. 5. Pull and kill the two static-spawned statues you see (independantly, of course). If there is a pather (wanderer) in between them, pull the pather first. Always make the pathers your number one priority. If you don't, they will sneak up on you later. 6. Pull and kill the static-spawned puma in the first corner if he is there (sometimes he's not). 7. Kill the puma right inside the first door that goes toward the center of the building. If you went right (like I do), it will be the first door to the left after you turn the first corner. Be careful when opening the door because sometimes a pather (wanderer) will be right behind it. 8. Concerning the Defunct Statues (Sentrys?), hitmakerII LULLs all the goats (I call them goats, he calls them horses...same thing...you'll know what we mean. Kirins, technically). I stand (back against the wall) slightly to the left of directly underneath the further-most right-hand "h" in hitmakerII's illustration above. The only goat I have to LULL is further-most right-hand "h". Bellow the center statue, and all three will come to you with no adds (unless a pather surprises you...kill the pathers first). Pull the three dufunct Statues out your side door (it takes some decent timing to get all three out the door without getting hit or without snagging them on geometry, but it can be done successfully and consistently with a little practice). My group is still outside at this point. I like to keep them out there and pull the Defunct Statues to them. My reason? I mezz the first two statues in the hallway to stagger their arrival back to camp. Yes, they [b]DO[/b] die quickly (like hitmakerII said), but if you have any non-uber cloth classes in your group, they (cloth classes) can be one-rounded (killed on one round) if you aren't careful. The statues [b]do[/b] indeed have low HPs, but they [b]hit[/b] for full damage. Staggering the arrival of the Defunct Statues (via mezz in hallway) helps a non-uber group immensely. They (Defunct Statues) still die quickly, so don't worry about wasting time by staggering the arrival times. 9. Now that the Defunct's are dead, the Furious Sentry will spawn deeper in the building. Head back inside toward the second corner (one corner past the doorway to the room you pulled the Defunct Statues out of). Though not always, there will likely be a puma there. Mezz it while you call your group inside. While your group is coming inside, take the opportunity to pre-slow the puma. [b]Always[/b]watch for pathers. Even here. I can't stress that enough. 10. Kill the puma you have mezzed. This corner will become your new spot to pull to. 11. My advice, at this point, is [b]exactly[/b] like hitmakerII's. The only additional advice I have to add is that when you need to pull the goat guards right outside the Furious Senty's room, refresh your Selo's and start playing PoV. I [b]HAVE[/b] gotten rooted (thank goodness for DeftDance). The importance of refreshing your Selo's before you pull a caster goat is that sometimes one of the goats is a SoW caster (druid, IIRC). Run 5 will not cut it against a SoW'd mob. 12. Like hitmakerII said, after clearing the outside goats, you should be able to LULL the the Furious Sentry room and get him single with a well timed Bellow. At most you will have one add. hitmakerII Fades and then mezzes the add and brings Furious Sentry to group and then uses Fade one more time to drop aggro from the mezzed add. I'm stingy with my Fades. What I do, if I have a single add with the Furious Sentry, is to Fade once, and then LULL the add. I then edge up and as far to the side as I have room for and then sing HoS (or RoT) on the Furious Sentry. He'll run forward and just enough to the side that he does not re-aggro the the LULLed mob. I can then finish bringing the Furious sentry back to the group without having to use another Fade. Pretty much the same strat as hitmakerII, but just a little preference/style difference. 13. My advice for the rest of the guide is pretty much the same as hitmakerII's. My normal xp group can do this in 25-35 mins (depending upon how many pathers we have to kill). The average pickup-group time that I have led is about 30-40 mins. That's been my own experience with average completion times. I agree with hitmakerII's assessmant that this seems to be the most time efficient mission for crystals.

I ask the group if we're doing the mission for crystals or XP. If we all decide we want to grind xp also then I do one thing different. Before we kill the three defuncts I go and pull both sides of the back area so when the named pops he's solo.

If I'm not doing the mission for xp, just for crystals, I will single pull the Furious Sentry from his room. I normally pull the 2 statue mobs at the T junction (which you can avoid if you pretarget the sentry, bellow through both doors and mez the 2 statues) then open the dorr, run past the 2 kirins, open the other door, tag the sentry, run back past the T junction heading towards the puma corner where my group is and fade once the sentry is in sight. The adds normally walk back quickly and a lot of the time the sentry will path towards the group, then turn around half way down the passageway and walk back, leaving an easy single pull. I was actually wondering how easy it would be to solo this mission the other day as you only need to kill the 4 statues, which have low HP, single pull and kill the Furious Sentry, which isn't hard with practice (he is mezzable which makes things easier), then deal with the last 4 statue mobs and then kite creator. Is it possible to lull all 4 statues and single pull the creator though to the courtyard where you zone in? I haven't tried it yet but may do soon when I have the time :)

I normally pull the 2 statue mobs at the T junction (which you can avoid if you pretarget the sentry, bellow through both doors and mez the 2 statues) then open the dorr, run past the 2 kirins, open the other door, tag the sentry, run back past the T junction heading towards the puma corner where my group is and fade once the sentry is in sight.

That's a pretty nifty trick if it works, and I've tried to do that a couple times with no luck. Some variables that will prevent that tactic from working [b]every single time[/b] are: 1. Sometimes the goats (kirins) are SoW'd and the Furious Sentry isn't. 2. If nothing at all is SoW'd, the goats (kirins) [b]STILL[/b] run at approximately [b]twice[/b] the run speed of the Furious Sentry. 3. Sometimes, although rare (I have seen it), there are 7 other mobs in the room with the Furious Sentry..[b]plus[/b] the two goats (kirins) outside his room...[b]plus[/b] the two statues outside the goat (kirin) foyer. That's a lot of mobs whose differing run speeds will complicate the timing of your FADE. 4. This is probably the biggest problem: The Furious Sentry gets snagged (hung) on geometry a lot if you cut corners too fast. I'll try the tactic again tonight to see if I can't get it to consistently work (may need some luck [b]and[/b] DA song), but I foresee the same problems I had the first couple of times I did it. One additional idea is to maybe station your party at the [b]first[/b] puma corner (before the side doors to the garden where the defuntcs were) and use Highsun on the first 2-3 mobs (fastest) mobs and then FADE when the Furious Sentry finally rounds the corner into the long hallway back to your group. Re-LULL (if necessary) and then Bellow him again (if necessary). In theory this could work. I will have to play with it and see.

If you fade when the sentry reaches the long hallway he nearly always paths towards your group then turns round halfway down the corridor. It is surprisingly easy to single pull him once you get the hang of timing your fade correctly. Sometimes he does run straight back though, in those situations I mez him and fade, which leaves him single. I hadn't heard of anyone trying to single pull him before, just tried it for a laugh and was very easy, if it doesn't go to plan you may need to fade 2 possibly 3 times but it does seem to work every time and gets easier every time when you know where he is going to path.

After experimenting tonight, I've found this [b]very[/b] doable (for me) with DA song, but not without. I'm not raid-geared though, so that might be a difference too. I can mezz the two statues just fine, but as soon as I open first set of doors and move to open second set, server tick usually catches me and the two goats (kirins) usually knock the woodelf juice out of me as I'm targetting and bellowing the Furious sentry. They get a minimum of 2 rounds (sometimes 3 rounds) of free hits on me. Even with MAX defensive AA, I can't take those kind of hits. For me, anyway, with DA I can do it. Without DA, it's too dicey. I'm likely not going to waste a spell gem for DA, so I guess I'll revert to normal method. For me, it's really only saving 3-4 mob kills anyway.

Wow, I seriously have a hard time figuring out what the problem is with pulling the sentry. Agro him, run him away from your group, mez, fade. Let stuff wander back, tag, you're done. It can take a little patience for the sentry to show up, and you may end up looping towards him to hit mez by the time you fade if he gets stuck on geometry, but it seems so amazingly simple to me :) . People keep telling me it's amazing how I pull it, and - to be honest - my first reaction was 'wth, that's a hard pull?' It's even simpler if you keep in mind that selos can get you through see invis mobs on occasion :). The really hard thing is single pulling him to entrance without clearing trash. He warps back, any one know how to deal with that besides a necro/sk snare + fd?

Usually how I do it is pull thsoe 2 sentries in the front, agro Furious and mez him out before the little T area where theres a drake or sent. Generally, if I fade with him mezzed near a corner, he'll path back to the middle of the hallway before returning, buying me a few more seconds to bellow him or wait for the other mobs to return. Its a bit hard to explain, but it seems most mobs usually path down the center of the hallway, so fade him near a wall and it'll give you more time, and on a corner you get even more, cause he seems to do a sort of V pattern before resuming his normal walk home. I just pull the 2 kirins/sents anyhow because most groups want to get exp. Though if I'm just running it for crystals I tried that DA method.. seemed to work pretty well. I got past the 2 sents and kirins, got the Furious out ok and used the little fade on wall trick to give me some more time. I dunno if I could still pull it off with more mobs, cause the Furious only had 2 mobs in the room with him, and as Treeble said, the kirins like to run faster the the Furious, making it a pain in the ass.

The hard part tends to be the kirins are faster, and in reagro range by the time mez wears off when I fade him. I've tried alot of stuff and usually I just end up pulling everything but the mobs in the Furious room, cause exp is good.

I agree with Scorpx, the [b]ONLY[/b] thing that actually gives me problems on shuffling the Furious Sentry out of the deck (so-to-speak) is the Kirins. Other than that, everything is simple enough.

I tend to have the kirins try to cast spells on me, making it easy to split it. Maybe I've just been exceptionally lucky?

I've done a lot more experimenting with this (getting [i]the Furious Sentry[/i] out of his full room past 2 Kirins plus 2 statues and back [b]single[/b] to the group) the past couple of days. Based upon the apparent fact that I can't take the hits like some of you raiders can, I've perfected my own method. As one poster above does, I mezz the 2 statues at the "T" intersection. As I'm opening the first door that has the (usually) 2 Kirins behind it, I begin playing PoV (mainly in case one of the Kirins or a drake in the Furious room tries to root me). Sometimes, especially if one or both of the Kirins are melee types, I start taking hits. No big deal if, one, I don't get stunned, or two, if I'm quick enough about opening second door (Furious room) and targetting [i]Furious[/i] for Bellow aggroing. This is all about timing, and while [b]definitely[/b] not the easiest thing in the world, I'm getting better with practice. Next, as soon as I have [i]Furious[/i] targeted, I begin to run back to the "T" intersection while I immediately begin playing DA song. A split second after starting to play DA song, I bellow the [i]Furious Sentry[/i]. The DA song, for me anyway, is a [b]MUST[/b]. I [b]have[/b] to baby-sit [i]Furious[/i] while he runs toward me, or he will get stuck on geometry (door frames, etc.). I can't accomplish baby-sitting him unless DA song is on because the Kirins are (as I stated in a post earlier) much faster than him and will be trying to have me for breakfast. Once I'm sure [i]Furious[/i] is going to make the turn to the long hallway (back toward my group) without getting hung on geometry (and this is about perfect, because my DA is about to xpire), I run out in front of the pack of mobs and begin mezzing the stuff in front of [i]Furious[/i]. Usually this consists of at least a couple of Kirins and sometimes a Drake or two. Averages about 3 mobs. Once everything that proceeded [i]Furious[/i] has been mezzed, and [i]Furious[/i] has run past them, I Fade. Occasionally there will be a mob or two very near Furious that is not actually mezzed. I usually quickly PAC (LULL) them and then Bellow [i]Furious[/i] to re-aggro him. At least 95% of the time, he is (at-this-point) now completely single and ready for group-kill. As much as I've tried, I cannot accomplish this (without DA song help) like Zapten is able to do. It's probably just that I'm not geared up enough (HP-wise and AC-wise) to do it that way. Using DA song, though, is a [b]very[/b] viable option if you are not raid-geared. It seems to work fairly reliably for me.

Considering the groups I have kill mobs in 30-40 seconds max, other than saying you ~can~ do this... is it an effective use of time to complicate matters that much more to spare a couple of pulls? I don't know, perhaps I am just too lazy to work that hard ;)

Considering the groups I have kill mobs in 30-40 seconds max, other than saying you ~can~ do this... is it an effective use of time to complicate matters that much more to spare a couple of pulls? I don't know, perhaps I am just too lazy to work that hard

Nah, not really. I think you are ultimately correct, especially in light of the new mission lockout timers. Finishing "Creator" early only really nets you a few extra mins for your group to do fridge runs / bio breaks before your lockout timer expires anyway. The only [b]real[/b] reason I played around with the above (pulling Furious past up to 11 mobs) was for the challenge of it. Somebody said it could be done, I initially had problems doing it, so I had fun figuring out the challenge. :D