Lower Guk

23 Minutes and 50 seconds... It is exactly this time of there is no server lag.

This zone must have been amped up big time since either it was made a 'hot' zone, or since that revamp they did when they made this a level 70-80 zone. Fighting blue and light blue mobs down here now at level 44 is like fighting yellows and reds that are high 40s-low 50s. Every mob has had their Hit Points drastically increased, and hit in the low-mid 100s. Don't come here expecting to mow thru blue mobs like as if it were a typical 'old world' zone for fast exp. Simply put, this is more like a SoF zone now.

The quest that Franklin Teek gives you for this zone is "Kill 5 Dar Frogloks". Just completed the quest with my 45 SK no problem. Got roughly 1 yellow bubble worth of xp. That was the only reward I noticed. Was grouped with a 52 druid.

Just wodnering, does Raster still spawn in New guk? or was he moved elsewhere? Came back for the events and I'm working on my monk's epic... if he doesn't spawn I guess I'll have to camp brother qwinn and beg higher lvl chars to kill him for me. =(

...is the new "temporary" zone name for the revamped Lower Guk, with darkened items drop.

Try zoning in, and you'll see "You have entered the Darkened Ruins of Old Guk". I assume post-04Aug08 it will revert to Lower Guk.

I saw some links to stuff in the bazaar. All were Darkened xyz. All had some amazing atats for something from Guk, which is where they came from according to the /ooc seller. The one item had a name similar to something from Lower Guk IIRC, so maybe he was correct on the origin of these items. That item had a clicky Primal Guard. Get on down there!


Edited, Jul 7th 2008 7:47am by Guyyug

Yes, apparently there has been a revamp of this timeless zone. 70+ At least now. Mobs hitting 1.6kish at least. A group of 75+ is forming on Cazic Thule to check it out now, so will post more info as it comes.

New drop found...
Enameled Black Greaves
Class: War Clr Pal Shd Brd
Race: All

Req: 71
Rec: 76

AC: 87
HP: 355
Mana/End: 360
Purity: 50
Str: 17+1
Sta: 19+2
Int: 15
Wis: 20+3
Agi: 16
Dex: 17+1
Cha: 16

MR/FR/DR: 15
CR: 20
PR: 25

Attack: 15
HP Regen: 3
Spell Shield: 1
DS: 3
DoT Shield: 1
DS Mit: 2
Avoid: 6
Acc: 2
Strike Through: 1
Heal Ammount: 2
Clairvoy: 3

Ferocity 3
Zealotry of the Moonfang 1
Edited, Jul 7th 2008 4:16am by Woaglador

Edited, Jul 7th 2008 4:41am by Woaglador

What's the wood elf crown that people farm faction for down here? I did an item search for it but couldn't find it.

I have finally figured out what the bloody slots in the walls in Safe Hall are for. Halfling traps. Maybe gnomes too. I accidently backed into one once and got very stuck in the walls. Could have sucked if I had mobs on me... Would be interested to know if the ghoul froggies could be made stuck also by kicking them in with a bash or knockback spell. Someone let me know plz...

- Iboga Headtrip
51 Halfling Druid
M-T Server

At level 56 as a necro, I can plow my way through the dead side with very little challenge. Killing any MOB is just a matter of time, not whether or not it can be done, and it can be done faster than they repop in a huge area of the dead side. MOBs vary from green to dark blue. Anything light blue or below can be eaten by the lvl 56 monk pet once it is slowed. The Ghoul Lord is single-pullable and not a huge challenge. Slow, dark, Splurt, BoD, heal pet, etc.

I wish I had spent more time here around level 50, but the fabled MOB event was going on, so it wasn't a viable dungeon at the time with lvl 60+ fabled pops at all the named placeholders and lvl 65 groups camping them.

Today I am camping ***/Sup Room, here is the pop/drop report, maybe this will help.

1. Arrived, no named up
2. Assassin - dropped Mask
3. No named popped
4. No named popped
5. Assassin - dropped Mask
6. Supplier - dropped Sack, Assassin - dropped Mask
7. No named popped
8. No named popped
9. No named popped
10. No named popped
11. Assassin - dropped Mask
12. No named popped
13. No named popped
14. Assassin - dropped Mask
15. No named popped
16. No named popped
17. Assassin - dropped Mask
18. No named popped
19. No named popped
20. Assassin - dropped Mask
21. Assassin - dropped Mask
22. No named popped
23. No named popped
24. Assassin - dropped Weighted Gloves
25. No named pop
26. No named pop
27. Assassin - dropped Mask
28. No named pop
29. No named pop
30. No named pop
31. No named pop
32. Assassin - dropped Mask
33. No named pop
34. Assassin - dropped Mask
35. No named pop

I am lvl 55, all mobs were green with 20-30% of them light blue. Breaking camp was pretty easy... IvU... climb the ladder, target one, go back down, pacify and climb up again to aggro the other two... pull them down the ladder (helps if you cleared the nearby spawns first), kill them, go back up, clear the pacified mob.

Even with the ghoul supplier being a rare spawn, this seemed too rare for me, so I send a /bug report... hope it does not get lost in the maelstorm like every other bugreport I have written so far.

Edited, Wed May 21 21:03:35 2003

I took my 31st Order Paladin (with Ghoulbane and Instrument of Nife) to Guk for the first time because, while heading across the Commonlands towards North Karana, received a tell inviting me to join a group there. I reached 32 there and had much trouble keeping that level over the following sessions while I learned the ropes of my new hunting area. These following sessions were mostly spent soloing with some parternering. This writeup will focus mostly on the zone entrance area and my Paladin's experience there.

Problems:

The initial problem I had with Lower Guk is the nasty Ghoul Root (or plain old roots from the Wizards for that matter). With a SvMagic of only 45; resisted the root only 5 times out of 21 attempts (24%). On one trip to the bank, upgraded my SvMagic to 70 by swapping in my Shiny Brass Shield and Crown of the Forlorn and buying a Sarnak Emblazened Tabard in Bazaar for 50pp (could have gotten it for 29pp if I had waited a couple of minutes as a new vendor come on with one). Was then able to resist roots 15 out of 41 attempts (37%) and they seemed to fade quicker - a significant improvement and enough that I no longer died while rooted.

The real problem with camping the entrance area is that this is the main thoroughfare into/out of the deeper dungeon and higher levels without Invis vs Undead may need to fight their way down. They may unfortunately need to take out "your" ghouls in the process. Has gotten to the point recently (late Nov 2002) where I avoid the zone at peak hours. There is also the rare higher level who is leaving the zone leading an undead horde and not telling; this can be insta-death even with Lay on Hands - got overrun once this way and barely zoned a second time.

Also the Ghoul Wizards have four DDs - Fire for about 240, Frost for up to 187, Thunder for about 260, and Magical for up to 148 - do not let them cast! Died three times in quick order and only my puny 10% and a very kindly Cleric's 96% rez (thank you Alaru - good soul for a DE!) allowed me to quickly regain a tenuous level 32. Was a long run from East Freeport before Amazon finally delivered PoP and I bound in Plane of Knowledge.

Layout and spawns:

There are several static ghoul spawns near the entrance; these are commonly Shin Ghoul Knights (levels 29-31) or, uncommonly, a Tsu Ghoul Wizard (30), Shin Ghoul Warrior (27), Vis Ghoul Knight (30-34), Tal Ghoul Wizard (32-34) or Nol Ghoul Wizard (only saw him once and not sure of the level). There are several static live Frogloks spawns here also. Since I wanted to be able to travel freely in Upper Guk, I left the live ones alone.

From the entrance is a short hallway to a left corner leading to a down ramp. There is a T-intersection at the bottom of this ramp. Going left leads down a slimy ramp (fun doing pirouettes while sliding down) to a dog-leg to the right . This continues through a room which leads to the Spiral Staircase/Waterfall near the other two Dead Side zone-ins from Upper Guk. There were several static live frogloks along this route with three in the room. If you go right at the T, you go down a non-slimy ramp with two dog-legs to the left at the bottom. At each dog-leg is a static ghoul spawn on the inside of the turn - can't see till you are upon them. This path ends at a water course with an alcove on the other side with two static ghouls. Swimming the water course to the right leads to the Bedroom. There are a couple of wandering ghouls of the types mentioned above. (edit 4/16/03) One spawns at the first dog-leg on the right from the T. It wanders up the ramp, heads down the slimy ramp to the room with the three live frogloks, heads back up to the T, down the other side to its spawn point, and then continues to the water course, swims to the Bedroom where I lost track of its route. It will pause at a number of spots along this route including near the T. It eventully returns to repeat the above path or another wanderer spawns somewhere else and retraces the first's route. (edit 4/16/03) The other wanderer spawns at the foot of the spiral staircase leading to the Waterfall; it tracks the same basic path but in the opposite direction; i.e. heads towards the Bedroom first. Just be aware of them; got jumped several times by the second one while fighting the first one.

The ghoul at the first dog-leg turn on the right can be attacked without agroing the three ghouls further down the hall and the Alcove; just don't let it run away because it runs towards those three ghouls and will agro at least the ghoul at the next dog-leg - keep it rooted. Attacking the ghoul at the next dog-leg will agro the right hand ghoul at the Alcove. If you attack this one and try to pull it, it retreats a bit and triggers the other ghoul in the Alcove. Two strategies on the second dog-leg ghoul -

Sooth and zone pull.

Sooth Strategy:

(edit 4/16/03) Sooth has been modified lately and greatly simplifies breaking this spawn. Cast Sooth on the two ghouls in the Alcove. Attack the ghoul at the second dog leg. Haven't had either of the two Alcove ghouls agro with this tactic. If either of the ghouls at the Alcove comes, then revert immediately to the zone pull strategy.

Zone Pull Strategy:

Attack the ghoul at the second dog-leg, run like heck to the zone, pause a moment to make sure they catch up, zone out, and then immediately zone back in. Hopefully one is still hanging around the zone line and you can take it. Sometimes they are still at the zone necessitating zoning back to Upper Guk. Sometimes both will be heading back to their spawn points and you will have to do it again. Sometimes you can catch up with one and pull it back. And, rarely, there is a bug where a ghoul warps back to its spawn point and then paces inside the walls. Repeat the process for the two at the Alcove. Strongly urge having full health and mana before attempting each of these pulls.

If left alone, there are enough spawns to keep you plenty busy.



Some Stats:

Level 31/32
HP ~1060
AC ~600
DEX 118 (146 during first trip)
SvM 45, upgraded to 70



Ghoulbane/Instrument of Nife procs:

DEX #ghouls #slashes GB IoN slash/GB slash/IoN
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
118 69 713 48 47 (4 wholely/partially resisted) 14.9 15.1
146 20 124 10 12 (2 wholely/partially resisted) 12.4 10.3

#Slashes is total number of 1HS hits (excluding misses which I've turned off). The slash/GB or slash/IoN is the number of 1HS hits per proc - lower is better. Nice improvement in the frequency of IoN procs with DEX 146; but only marginally better for GB - probably need more data.



Notes:

1. Finding a group here is very difficult at 32 as the zone mostly contains 10 or so 40's and 50's; bring your own group! Was able to partner several times. Once with another Paladin (42); this was the best team as we could take all the entrance area ghouls plus the Bedroom (we were lucky once as a Vampire Bat killed one of the three BR ghouls just as we got there) plus bats/spiders though not the nearby Greater Icebones. By then the Entrance area ghouls would be respawning. A Shaman (DEX buff for GB/IoN procs) and/or Cleric partner (heals/Undead spells) are great also. Starting to see more 30's Paladins and Clerics coming here so partnering opportunities exist.

2. Took the Ghoul Wizards down by casting Invis vs Undead, walking up to them, hitting melee, then bashing to break their first cast. Used the level 1 Cease stun with Bash to keep the Wizard pretty immobilized with minimal damage received. Was able to take the casters with about 1 bub loss.

3. Loot is uncommonly FS and up to 4pp plus words/runes/pages. Illia reports mid-level gems up to Black Pearls (about 20pp to a vendor); these are very rare drops around the entrance - (edit 4/16/03) looted several gems in about 350 kills. Commonly got Undead Froglok Tongues which are used in Broog's Old Peculiar (temper for Troll or Ogre smithing) and in a new PoK quest.

4. Experience is okay for a dungeon; about 1/4 to 1/2 blue bub for killing dark blues. Was able to solo yellows (Vis Ghouls Knights) for much nicer experience.

5. The negative faction hit for killing a single live froglok appears to be much greater than the positive faction hit for killing the ghouls. Killed or helped kill about (edit 4/16/03) 350 ghouls and just turned apprehensive to the live ones. Reminds me of trying to get Paineel faction by hunting The Warrens; you have to go deeper in and get the high level named ghouls to have Frogloks of Guk faction rise fast (if you care).

6. The spawn time on these frogloks is 28/29 minutes (edit 4/16/03).

7. Would not have been able to solo at 31 without my GB AND IoN. The Shin Ghoul Knights hit up to 65 and it would have been a close sword-only fight with major downtime after each one. (edit 4/16/03) At level 36 with KEI, Shade, Swift like the Wind, and PotG; was able to solo the Bedroom with using Lay of Hands. Without SltW but with Silver Chitin Handwraps and a Wizard up, was able to solo the Bedroom using LoH.

(edit 4/16/03)
8. I think something has changed wrt to the bats. Used to they would not agro and would fight the ghouls; now they agro with a vengeance and two ghouls to boot; recommend not even thinking about standing - ZONE.

9. FROOOOOAAAAK!



Edited, Wed Apr 16 15:14:09 2003

40 Agnostic monk here.

Ventured into Lguk last night with some friends. Cleared Bed room just after water and started into the bat area. Found the bats conned dubious to me and that they would neither assist the Frogs nor other bats. Made venturing through quite a bit easier.