It WOULD be nice if someone would post directions/strategy on HOW to get around this place, (right from the entrance). I have climbed, slid, fell so many times, it makes my head spin, lol. The floor you zone in to, has no where to go, except up the slippery catwalks. I got up to a point where one could view some mobs through some kind of clear wall, but like any other wall, couldn't go through it and couldn't find any more "UP" ramos to go anywhere. Just a bunch of green spiders around. (I am 65). I see mobs on the map, but everywhere I go leads to a dead end right from zone-in. Any help (for all of us) would be appreciated.
once you get high enough where there is a cave that goes in the wall(I think one lvl below the invis wall you found.. go to the very back and you can walk through the wall. It's very slippery here so a word of caution. You can go 2 ways from here, down which leads to kobolds and Lord "Bob" or up and around, going through another dead end wall leading to more kobolds. Behind the kobold tents there's a tunnel that eventually leads to Velk(the area behind that invis wall you ran into). Hope this helps and not too late.
Finding Velketor's Experiment is not easy. The hardest part is making your way too Velketor's Throne Room, (which is way to hard for me to explain). There are two paths away from the throne room. One is to the zone line, and starts at a false wall in the throne room. This is the wrong way. The correct way is to stand just outside Velketor's room, and continue past it to a door which opens to a smallish room. In this room are six mobs. Two pairs are on the entrance level, and another pair is on a small porch above. I have knowledge of four or so pops of Velketor's Experiment. It is somehow tied to Velketor's spawn. My theory is that Velketor's Experiment spawns once per Velketor spawn. After Velketor spawns, kill in the room of six described above, and Velketor's Experiment will shortly spawn. From what I have seen, Velketor's Experiment will then not respawn until Velketor respawns. A druid friend and I killed in this room, and around the castle for days once, and the experiement never spawned. Velketor popped, and the experiment spawned on the next spawn cycle in the room of six. I have seen this pattern several times since. I am uncertain if Velketor's Experiment only spawns when Velketor is up, or if it can be spawned after Velketor is killed. It can be spawned before Velketor spawns, as once someone spawned and killed the experiment, and Velketor spawned an hour or two later. But I am certain that Velketor and Velktor's Experiment spawning are somehow linked.
As for a report of the experiment or the failed experiment spawning in the lower kobold caves, I doubt it. (There is even a picture of the experiement and a kobold together on the page for the experiment). I have killed a lot in the lower kobold caves, and there are spiders, koblods, cone things, and Lord Bob, but no golems or gargoyles down there. Velketor's Experiment is a golem type mob, and golems only spawn from golem ph's and a limited number of gargoyle ph sites. It is possible someone dragged it to the basement for some reason (there is a hard to find and water filled access tunnel from the garden next to the castle to the lower kobolds). Or maybe they dragged it to the upper kobolds camp. Kobolds never spawn in the castle area. Another possiblity is that the kobold is a pet.
From what I have seen in the room of six, a druid and DPS would be useful, but I have solo'd it with some difficulty as a ranger of level 70 and ? 500 AA's at the time. I don't know how hard the experiment hits for, but would expect it hits harder than the other golems do. See invis mobs are common in the castle area, as are two kinds of traps. There is always a trap at the door to the castle closest to the entrance tunnel. This trap breaks invis, and teleports you, sometimes into a pile of kos mobs. This trap has a reset time of about one minute or less. There are other traps which dispell buffs. Sometimes traps seem to move around or change their type, but the one at the door seems pretty constant.
My advice would be to take an exploratory trip at any time, find the room of six, and get an idea of how hard it is. Then wait for a server reset, or get lucky and find Velketor up. Then return with whatever help you need. You will be able to kill the guard outside of Velketor's room and not aggro Velketor.
I camp the lute of the howler for PP. As mentioned below there is sometimes a debuff. It can be anywhere down the bottom with the kobolds. It seems to be a shimmering orb that casts it. Anyone know how to stop it once its started as it really pisses me off and makes camping and exping there a real pain.
Only way to get rid of this trap is to have a rogue disarm it. Then that only lasts for 30 seconds or so and it respawns. So get used to either haveing no buffs or figting in the room out of it's trigger range.
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I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you thought you heard was not what I meant.
saw a book laying on ground picked it up and it was "Quintessence of Elements" at loc 95, -61 in basement. went farther left of that and saw a mob not listed
"a terrible crystal shard" So I tried to solo it. Dark blue con to a lvl 70. Two mobs between me and him both light blue easy, medded a little, noticed he was in room all by himself. Was easy max hit 168 on necro
a terrible crystal shard Dropped 2
Ice Coated Shiel of Defence MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO TRADE Slot: SECONDARY AC: 35 STR: +5 STA: +15 INT +5 HP: +25 MANA: +25 Endurance : +25 SV MAGIC: +5 WT: 3.5 Size: MEDIUM Class: WAR CLR PAL SHD DRU SHM NEC WIZ MAG ENC BER Race: ALL Slot 1, type 7: empty
Last night I came to Velk's to help a bard camp the Lute, and I have been to that camp before when helping another bard. My other time coming here our group was debuffed at two seperate points by AE room effects at certain spots along the way. Knowing this, i warned our group last night about upcoming debuffs, and there are even specially colored areas on my downloaded maps that are at the points I was debuffed on my first trip. However, at no point last night were we debuffed going to and from Khelkar's room, even camping in one of the rooms that was supposed to be casting AE debuff. Certainly not complaining, but can anyone confirm whether they have / haven't been debuffed recently passing an area they previously would have been?
Hey guys saw a spider on track today for the first time named "a deadly blizzard hunter" talk to the guy that killed him and i think he was lieing to me cause he said it dropped nothin but like the fierce spider it conned dark blue.
what it drops you might as well concider it as nothing .. but for the sake of it .. you can call it a mini-named cause it does drop gear and not the standard stuff all the normal lower case mobs drop.. btw .. this one summons and is a bitz to get the agro off of you if u a caster .. hits for 300+ and is fast .. hard to slow without a tash first (at lvl 57)
but the gear it drops has nice saves (+10 all) except there is so much better out there now for 1/2 the trouble.
Killed a spider i have never seen before today, he is also not listed on the bestiary...
--"a fierce blizzard hunter"--
He had quite a few HP's and hit for 200+, double attacks, and occasional bashes. Found him at the Back Wall Camp, aka straight to the back wall as you enter the large open room, he was on the right half in the corner.
He dropped 2 Velium Etched Helm and nothing else.
Velium Etched Helm MAGIC ITEM LORE ITEM NO DROP Slot: Head AC: 22 Str: +5 Sta: +3 HP: +25 Wt:1.9 Size: MEDIUM Class: WAR CLR PAL SHD BRD Race: All Slot 1, type 7: Empty
Hunted the back wall with a group and got the helm one day, 2 dropped btw. Hunted the back wall the next day and got the ear ring with the helm again. Lotted earing of course. The helm has no graphic. Good fast killing and not to much trouble for a lvl 58 cleric and 54 war.
I was very fortunate in getting a group in Velks. I was sitting outside of Thurg when a level 60 Ranger asked if I wanted to do 2nd with him. Of course, who at level 43 would say no? I went, and got about half of a level for the day, don't know if thats good for 2nd.
I have been back to Velks since, and have seen many camps now, except for Upper and Lower Dogs. Most of the time I get into Floor or Upper Spiders though.
Niolen Silvertree Druid of the 52nd season Worshipper of Tunare Player on Mithaniel Marr
I was with my 55 Druid, I had Spirit of Eagle on and when I zoned in it disappeared. I exited, cast it again, zoned in and it disappeared. When I exited, cast SOW, and then zoned back in, SOW stayed. Spirit of Eagle has levitation as one of its many buffs and I guess, sadly, levitation is not allowed in here?
You can zone out the way you zone it. It's perfectly safe if nobody's training out, which isn't that common. Usually, it's mostly soloers and a small group or two owning the zone entrance.
There are alot of zones that have people farming up AA points. Velks is just a nice place to do it, with good flow of gems and items worth selling rights to loot, and Wraps make nice items to sell in the bazaar. At 52 I can solo the spiders at the entrance to the zone.. after about the 3rd one, the first one re-spawns. Without being able to cast a SoW and still working on my AA for WalkingSpeed3, I don't dare go much further than that without a well balanced party. Best bet: a tank, mezzer, healer and a nuker works. Xtras and multiple groups (ie raids) work good too, that way the xps come from all around. Hope it helps.
This is one of the "money men" in Velks lab that can be hunted for his drops by your standard post 56 well balanced group.
Ensure your group contains a warrior (with defensive disc up), a mez class, and a post 56 cleric, with 3 other members (most often melee) to form the castle group. If your base crew is higher in level, you can get away with a few lower levels in your group. If your group is new to the hunt here, or is a tad shy on DPS, it would prove to your benifit to have a succor class in your group. Personally, I like my fav group of 60 Ranger(me!), cleric/torpor shammy, chanter/shammy/bard, warrior, rogue/second MA type, GG class/FD puller and you can clear nearly all of the spawns in castle camp (counting the underneath portion and the ones in the tower, prior to repop). With a lower level group, expect your lower DPS to clear a proportionantly smaller section of the castle.
I personally like to move my group through the tunnel infront of the Upper dog camp area, through the 2 garg and 4 garg pops, and then mve through the caslle mobs by going around the castle in a counter clock wise progression. There is a trab loacted near the end of the hall as you reach the first set sents in the back. Once you kil the first pair of sents, it is always a good idea to turn off all traps. This one is a particualarily nasty one, AOE 4 slot dispel :-(
There are two main types of mobs in the castle area: Gargs and Sents. Crystal and cystalline gargs have a small chance to respawn as Icy watchurs, or a tougher version of mr flappy wings. There is even a smaller chance that the garg will be one of the named varieties Til or Mej. Ensure that everyone is assisting to kill the most difficult mobs first (Order of killing: Named, Icy, crystal, and crystaline) The Sents have a similar progression: Crytaline and crystal sents are the easiest, followed by the crystal destroyers, and then the named Failed Experiment, Kerdlb, Bledrek. Use the same method of killing the highest mob first to give your group the best chance for survival.
All of the mobs to my memory can be shammy slowed, however the higher level ones Enrage at 20% health (turn on all frontal attacks as they are all riposted). The named sents FE and VE also rampage (the second tank for rampage damage is a good idea) None of the mobs are especially MR, but I don't see much chance of an AoE castle group forming up in the near future ...
In moving through the castle area, it is generally best to move as a group through the main floor and through the tower, following the puller as he selects pairs of mobs to kill. Having an FD puller will help as the higher versions of the mobs (CDs and Icy watchurs and all the named) have a good chance of resisting or being immune to your mez. On the off chance that you do not have an FD puller, be prepared to split tank up to 1 named and 1 CD at the same time. Once you have cleared the external main floor around the castle, have the tracker in your group confirm what is on track. Many groups find that killing the 10 mobs around the castle, and the 3 terrors in the castle lawn are about all they can handle, and return to the point where they started (the 2 sents by the AOE trap) and restart the 30 minute cycle again.
If you have a higher DPS, and want more, now is the time to move into the castle proper. Open the door and go down one level in the stairwell. Establish your camp at the base of the stairs and begin pulling that floor. Take heed though: The evil Velks the Sorcerer is just down the hall and through the door to the right. If he is on vacation at the moment, some people like to go down there and take a picture of themselves sitting in his throne. Behind his throne is a secret passage that will dump you off in the Safe Hall camp. Should you aggro VtS many people will run down this hall, VtS in tow, in a mad attempt to make it to zone. These attempts usually fail ... He also has two guardians, that if VtS is not up, can easily be killed for exp.
On a side note, the evil VtS conducts many experiments on the local dorfs and giants in the area (Killing VtS gives a nice little plus Tormax faction hit with no neg coldain or dragon hit. Thus it is theoretically possible to be Ally with all 3 of the Velious kings, but their underlings will still hold different opinions of you...) Well, on the side note, there are a half dozen dorf captives located in cells just around the corner. Sadly, I have not found a method to set them free, and hailing them will give you a wide variety of replies. /em shrugs as she is not wise enough to solve these quests if there even is one.
When I said camping for the money men, I am always pleased when we complete a trip through this area. The named sents drop a set of SK/War only droppable armour called Blood runed, which to this day, remains some of the best dropable and attainable armour that you can get for these classes, and is highly prized amoung "twinkers" and people who want to improve their own personal gear. Each item generally sells for 3-9k depending on the item dropped. All of the more difficult mobs (Icy Watchurs, CDs and named) all have a decent chance of dropping a BP Gem for the velious quest armours. Some of the named drop some nice pre-epic type weapons that are no drop. Plan ahead for these drops by reffering to the equipment drop list.
As I ding level 61, I find that my favorite camp, Uper dogs, is begining to give diminishing returns, and my friends the kobalbs are starting to turn light blue :-( This camp, although it does require higher levels to do, much like a CT or SSRA group, will continue to provide solid exp gains. On my server, Velks Lab continues to be the place where a small guild ranger can still pretty readily find a group or solo for exp, where as CT is a "come with your own group" or SSRA is a "come with your own guild" affair.
I hope this short post helps you and yours a bit as you hunt this fine zone.
Heh- Anyone know where the Sword of Pain drops? Heard its random, then someone told me he thought it dropped in the gnoll camp "random". but hell even if thats true i dont know my way around in there, couldnt find it anyway lol...
the first trap at the drop in is no problem but there's another one down there that dispels and I can't figure out where to disarm it (sense trap hasn't detected anything yet). Any ideas?
I had a bad time there yesterday, I lost random on SC wristband, CC gaunts, silve chitin handwraps, CC boots, and CC leggigns. Not fair=( Oh well, I will try again today;)
What lvl can a warrior come here and get into groups fairly easy ( BTW im Human if it matters) I also wanted to know what lvl can i be a MT here and be sucsesful?
Actually, I was able to get two groups here last night at 45 (I'm a warrior as well). None of these were done by LFG shouts though, I sent group leaders tell and got let in. Generally people dont come here till 50 though. I did survive MT'ing for a few mins.
hmm, i have onyl been there once, as I showed up at lvl 51, and got laughed out of the zone....maybe it was just the crowd at the time...i was frightened to think that blue con mobs could "laugh" at me at 51....
I was actually just there today at 42, dinged 43. We were just on the bottom floor pulling spiders. Two under 50, the others high 50s. I'm not sure how good this zone is at my level though, I don't do very much damage (mage pet and warrior were doing like 90%) so I didn't even get 1% exp per kill. All depends on your group, the amount of people there and what you are fighting I suppose.