It's gonna be a long time until the Rift.

[Stunseed]

An Illoke mystic summons the wrath of his god as he gestures at you!
A massive stone hand appears in the air before you!
The huge grey fist wraps around you before you can move to avoid it! The massive hand clasps you tightly in a crushing grip, and your brain seems to scream as you feel your bones snapping!

... 60 points of damage!
Blow to your chest frees rib to spear a lung and heart!
You feel the aura of confidence leave you.
Your SIGN OF STRIKING is no longer effective.
The very powerful look leaves you.
The white light leaves you.
You feel the inner strength leave you.
The light blue glow leaves you.
You seem to lose the thorny barrier that surrounds you.
You no longer feel so dextrous.
You feel the gathering of nature's power leave you.
Your SIGN OF SMITING is no longer effective.
The deep blue glow leaves you.
Your SIGN OF SWORDS is no longer effective.
You return to normal color.
The buzz of thoughts in your mind subsides.
The powerful look leaves you.
Your SIGN OF SHIELDS is no longer effective.
You are no longer moving silently.
Your SIGN OF WARDING is no longer effective.
The air about you stops shimmering.
The guiding force leaves you.
Your SIGN OF DEFENDING is no longer effective.

Own3d.

[Edaarin]

I spent like 15 levels there in GS III.

Enjoy, it doesn't get any better. They fall on you too.

[Sean]

Seriously, I was stuck with them in GS3 and then when we converted to GS4 I got stuck with them again. But atleast I was in the landing so the game didn't suck as much as it did when I eventually got to the rift.

[Kenn]

Stun, have you tried things in Illistim? Ogres, vipers and boars were great for me. And the temple is easy enough for me right now at 63.

[Stunseed]

RP reasons keep me in either Landing/Pine/Solhaven. Stun's only 58, and I'm trying to see how well I am going to do. I forgot a spare backpack full of ish I had on me, but I did quite well until the fisting occured.

[Sean]

I found it helpful to turn off automatically picking up coins and just leaving them there for someone else to die for them.

[Artha]

but I did quite well until the fisting occured.
If I had a quarter for every time I heard that...

[Stunseed]

An Illoke mystic summons the wrath of his god as he gestures at you!
A massive stone hand appears in the air before you!
The huge grey fist wraps around you before you can move to avoid it! The massive hand clasps you tightly in a crushing grip, and your brain seems to scream as you feel your bones snapping!

... 60 points of damage!
Blow to back crushes your spinal column.
Talk about no backbone!
The buzz of thoughts in your mind subsides.
You are no longer moving silently.
Your SIGN OF SMITING is no longer effective.
Your SIGN OF SHIELDS is no longer effective.
Your SIGN OF DEFENDING is no longer effective.
Your SIGN OF STRIKING is no longer effective.
The deep blue glow leaves you.
You feel the aura of confidence leave you.
The air about you stops shimmering.
The light blue glow leaves you.
Your SIGN OF SWORDS is no longer effective.
The white light leaves you.
The very powerful look leaves you.
You no longer feel so dextrous.
You seem to lose the thorny barrier that surrounds you.
You feel the inner strength leave you.
Your SIGN OF WARDING is no longer effective.
You return to normal color.
You feel the gathering of nature's power leave you.

It seems you have died, my friend. Although you cannot do anything, you are keenly aware of what is going on around you...

Own3d by the fi$ting, twice.

[Stunseed]

A massive Illoke shaman appears standing before the stone altar. He cracks a wicked smile in your direction before sinking his long-bladed ritual dagger into the heart of a striped gak. The gak's eyes open wide a moment, it exhales one last time and dies, its blood running over the altar and trickling towards you. The shaman turns towards you, taking a few steps in your direction, but fades into nothingness a few feet away!


A maniacal laughter rings through the air, echoing off the mountain, sending chills down your spine!

I feel like that fucker just tattoo'd his name on my back, for some reason.

[hectomaner]

how you do in SH does not give a good show to how you will do in the rift. SH the hardest area in GS, hands down, for anyone besides bards and wizards, and people that can sweep well

[Sean]

Eh anyone who can unbalance well and takes the time to actually do it, can be just as effective.

[Stunseed]

I've decided to retreat from the Stronghold at this time. This is prolly the worst bout of hunting I've ever done since n00bism. I've got another good 3-4 trains in Darkstone before the migration is needed.

[Fallen]

EN is a damned joke compared to the Stronghold. I know this for a fact, and I've never even hunted Illoke. It HAS to be harder.

[Drinin]

Pfft, don't give up. I hunted there from 54 until like my mid 60's in gs4 and spent about 10 trainings there in gs3. It just takes time to get a good strategy down. Keep those bitches in roundtime, and run from shaman until like level 60. You'll be fine then. Feint, sweep, whatever rangers have that's the equivalent of 1016 (call swarm, does it generate roundtime?) , disarm, whatever.

[Stunseed]

All those tactics sound feasible, with two major setbacks. First and foremost, Spikethorn/Call Swarm are level-based. That being said, neither attack does much to them. Secondly, the Stronghold is considered an inside area, so even with Nature's Touch running, it will never be in full effect.

The tactic I had going into the Stronghold is this. The person I hunt Stun with 99% of the time is a guildmaster of sweep. She's also mastered Feint, so I picked up disarm. My tactic was to open them up by letting them swing/prep, hide, get a small opening stun against them. Then proceed to disarm the creature in question. If fails, repeat step one. Once disarmed, a legshot is definately in order, followed by multiple strikes to the face. I have 117 and 608 to aid me, however my ambushing is pretty smooth so far, 117 wasn't needed until I was getting swarmed.

[Drew]

Don't worry about it man, the Stronghold is designed to kill those who hunt it like-level. Over hunting in it is very perilous. I take Chiv there but Chiv is crazy and thinks he can kill anything. But a backpack with about 40 blue crystals, 608, and a magic claidhmore can do wonders with any hunting ground. Of course he stills dies nearly every time he trys it solo anyway.

Anyhow, if you don't like the fact that there are deaths in there that you can't avoid no matter how hard you try you definately should stick to Darkstone.

[Bobmuhthol]

It's weird, whenever I soloed Stronghold as Shay I kicked ass. Very very rarely did I die there on my own. Whenever I was with someone, though, one or both of us almost always ended up dying. Stronghold was awesome because mystics and shamans fell fast when shot in the eye, and the doors gave decent exp for picking.


Edit: Illistim was harder for me. Black forest, Wyneb.. everything hurt me more than Stronghold and it took longer to fry.

[Edited on 7-16-2005 by Bobmuhthol]

[Kenn]

Yeah, I hunted Stronghold in a group once, it sucked for me. It took me so much longer to fry. If not for RP purposes, I would suggst Ta'Illistim one more time. Hunting there is great.

[hectomaner]

Originally posted by Fallen
EN is a damned joke compared to the Stronghold. I know this for a fact, and I've never even hunted Illoke. It HAS to be harder.


yeah it is. uphunting 25 levels in otf proper is easier for me than most have it in SH

[Asha]

Dude that place has so many complaints on the officials, it's totally randomwhen you die.
You re doing really good and then there will be an earthquake, putting you on our butt for 20 secs.
The whole thing is like a miniature rift, but one hundred times more severe.

Go to Illistim man.

[FinisWolf]

There has to be a RP reason you could find to hunt in Illistiam religiously for the last 8 trains till Rift.

Finis

Get hired to do something ... blah blah blah (other ideas here)

I'm hunting through there now for my third time (helping someone through.. OH NOEZ!) and I'll tell you.. That place is completely random and it sucks.. 110 is your best friend or sweep. Good luck.. I remember I died 7 times in a row there and I was PISSED.

- Arkans

[Fallen]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Fallen
EN is a damned joke compared to the Stronghold. I know this for a fact, and I've never even hunted Illoke. It HAS to be harder.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

yeah it is. uphunting 25 levels in otf proper is easier for me than most have it in SH >>

....Alright, once I get my ass handed to me in the Rift a few times at 66, I will venture into the Stronghold and see what all the fuss is about.

Stay tuned for logs of Evarin getting owned.

[Asha]

dude, rift is piss compared to SH.
You'll be fine.

[Fallen]

dude, rift is piss compared to SH.
You'll be fine. >>

My primary concern is Sheer Fear. It is something you simply cannot avoid. On your knees in offensive without your shield DS is not a good place to be.

[Asha]

At minimum train for the rift you'll only get short fear, which won't knock you into offensive.
You'll be fine man.

DC the naisircs once, then 705 them.
MD the lunatics, they're meatwalls.
Curse lower TD the csetairi's then DC them.
You'll own, man.
Sorcerers are made for the rift.

[Fallen]

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

[Sean]

It's not hard to avoid things on plane 1. I avoided Cset's for the longest because there TD was too high with opals and such. Just avoid the naisircs for awhile and you wont get feared.

Plane 1 is easy.. It's just when you get Rifted to plane 2 that shit gets hairy.

- Arkans

[Gan]

I'd say that SH is one of the most challenging places to hunt in groups. Hunting there solo I would sweep, then head shot for the kill, sometimes taking multiple strikes. You just have to take into consideration that if you get more than 3 in the room its best to retreat one over and let them come to you one at a time for disabeling.

I'd say that area is one of the most challenging areas in the lands for like aged or up-hunting.

[Edaarin]

I'm not even kidding when I say I died there somewhere between 100-200 times.

[Stunseed]

At 48, Stunseed had the Blighted Forest beaten. I know I can handle it with ease, and I know I can hunt TK's until 67. Hunting TK's past 62 or so would be dumb, but I could do it.

I'm mainly frustrated at my first solo attempt at the Stronghold went so badly. Stunseed is IMHO a very rounded Ranger, although the one area he does lack in is the ability to hide. I usually just let 608 do that for me.

[Sylph]

SH is the devil.


I'd rather deal with the f'ing Ithzir scouts head shotting or flaring me to death because at least I can see the mechanics behind it.

[Drew]

Originally posted by Stunseed
At 48, Stunseed had the Blighted Forest beaten. I know I can handle it with ease, and I know I can hunt TK's until 67. Hunting TK's past 62 or so would be dumb, but I could do it.

I'm mainly frustrated at my first solo attempt at the Stronghold went so badly. Stunseed is IMHO a very rounded Ranger, although the one area he does lack in is the ability to hide. I usually just let 608 do that for me.


Chiv will wipe up SH at 58. Just to piss Stunseed off :lol:

[AnticorRifling]

Everytime Bisco and I went into SH it was like hunting kobolds. Soloing wasn't so bad either. I'd suggest rerolling :cool:

[Stunseed]

< I'd suggest rerolling >

Well, between all the characters I have, I think it would take me forever to get Stun back up that far. If I ever ditched Stunseed, I don't even know who my main character would be. Prolly the Dark Mage, although I am enjoying my magical Bard alot lately.

I'm taking a break from SH for a bit. It's obvious I need to readjust my tactics in that damnable area.

[AnticorRifling]

Dude I was kidding. Stunseed is set up fine. It's just one of those things that certain areas are better suited for different professions and or group hunting. It's indoors so that kills some of your spells, they are stone so I'm sure spikethorn doesn't work for shit (not sure about your weeds). Only reason I was doing ok is I had mobiles as well as haste at all times. Self spelled I suffered in there.

[Asha]

When Katya was box hunting up there, even she died more than a few times.

That place is a nightmare.

[Terminator X]

guild skills are your friend....

and by that, i mean the viable ones....

and by that, i mean rogue guild skills....

and by that, i mean sweep.

[Asha]

Truth.
That and E-wave.

[Krayton]

I hunt alone in Illistim's Black Forest with EASE. I never tried to hunt Stronghold alone, but I just turned 60 and plan to try it a few times. I sweep pretty well, and could hide on everything in there except the damned mastiffs. Anyone wanna hunt there with me, find me IG.

[Stunseed]

I hated the Stronghold so much I found a way to break Stun's RP to get him to EN.

Never regretted it. Stun's almost 64 now, and my Wizard is levelling every two weeks, it seems.

[Drew2]

I tried to use my Temple script the other day, but I no longer learn from Hierophants and Supplicants. :(

I forget who, but someone I know has a tower script I might hit up soon. Although my rift script doesn't do too bad... I dunno.

[Czeska]

My problem in SH is I'd run out of mana before I'd fry, since bone shatter doesn't work on freaking rock. It just got irritating, even though I was rarely dying there.

EN was far easier in the early 60s. Hell, I preferred the bowels with a hunting partner at those trains!

[Fallen]

EN hunting grounds are generally much easier than any comparable spot within the same level range from 50-100. Of course, this is said from the viewpoint of a pure.

1. TI Glacier - If you die here as a sorcerer, it better be from a Major Elemental Wave of a Slush, and it better be seldom.

2. Black Forest - Stick to the trees if you want nearly no risk of being killed by the Boars. You may find a death or two being blinded by snakes and slowly pecked to death while they stack stuns with maneuvers and FoF.

3. Temple Wyneb - Pathetically easy. Disable the Herophants so they cannot spike, and you may die once or twice to an unlucky spell from a Dogmatist. Farlooks are ... interesting.

4. Temple Maaghara - Shrickhens Major E-wave, and that is about it. Your TD should be high enough to not worry about 90% of the spells cast. Sheer fear from the Shrickhens could be a problem if you uphunt by a bit.

5. Aquaducts - Implode everything once to stun if your CS isn't enough to stun/disable the creatures reliably. Kill at your leasure. Run from crowds to drastically cut back the chance of being put in any real danger. Script to-from the hunting area.

6. Old Ta'Faendryl proper - Well..haven't quite hunted here yet. I have only run through it. I do know, however, that nothing cast focused implosions, and there are no random voids floating around. Everything is static so you can script to and from your hunting area, and the area is easily accessable if you allow others to rescue you.

There is the Griffin's Keen, which is more challanging than its surrounding areas, though still pretty simplistic if you have a good CS.

I wouldn't mind seeing a comparison of the like-leveled hunting grounds west of the Dragonspines, if anyone has the time and knowledge to share their opinion.

[Jolena]

Teehee.

All of the areas that Fallen listed--

CMAN SMASTERY, CMAN SURGE, Hide, ALIAS (creature short) - ambush head, stance defensive. Search. Move on.

[Czeska]

Griffins keen is easy enough if you pay attention. And far richer than the tower.


Wait .. I didnt say that.. don't go to the keen, go to the Tower.