Curse

Senator Tom · Aug 12, 2006, 08:05 PM // 20:05

Below is a map that shows all of the possible chest spawn locations (to my knowledge) and the path that covers each of them. The path also passes each of the locations for the quest most people farm for faction.

The yellow dots represent the chests, and the light blue spots represent the locations of the Western Shore, the Stairs, the Mushrooms, and the Bridge. If you decide to faction farm while you're chest running, or vice versa, make sure not to take the quest until you have visited each of the spots. Taking the quest before you explore these places causes mobs of Luxons to spawn on the path.
The skills I use as a Warrior are;

Sprint
Charge
Balanced Stance
Endure Pain
Healing Signet
Purge Conditions
Smite Hex
Holy Veil

13 (12+1) Tactics and 13 (12+1) Strength. If you have a +1 Tactics or Strength helm, wear it. If you dont have one, thats fine it doesn't make much of a difference.

Tips for running;
Be sure to Veil yourself before running into groups of Mantids that contain Dreamweavers, because they will use Crippling Anguish on you. Once you see Crippling Anguish on you, double click Holy Veil to remove it. The only other hex I bother removing is Barbs, just because it does extra damage to me.
Remember to use Charge+Balanced Stance while going through any groups with Fungal Wallows because they use Weaken Knees and will knock you down.

~Lazy Alternative~

1. Zone into Melandru's Hope from Jade Flats (Kurzick)
2. Run down to the stairs and look to see if there is a chest at one of the three locations being pinged on the minimap of the shown screenshot.
If there is a chest, see step three. If there isn't a chest, see step four.
3. Go open the chest and pick up the drop.
4. Zone back to Jade Flats (Kurzick)
5. Repeat steps 1-4.

This chest will spawn nine times out of ten. The time it doesn't spawn, you can go look around in areas close to it to usually find a chest. Any profession can do it!

Have fun!

ubermancer · Aug 12, 2006, 08:12 PM // 20:12

Nice one, Ill be sure to try that path. How many of those chests spawn on average?

Guinevere Ac · Aug 12, 2006, 08:36 PM // 20:36

almost everyclass can run in here. as i ran 6500+chests there as mesmer i can vouch hex breaker and distortion is enough to run safely.
usualy it's 4 chests average. can be 2, can be 7 sometimes

ganky · Aug 12, 2006, 08:55 PM // 20:55

I got a few questions ^^

1)Is this faction farming/chest run for kurzick (outside lutgardis conservatory)

2) How much faction can you make per hour? (on average)

3) Are all the chests high end? ie. purple or gold drops from chests

4) If "yes" to 3), how many chests can be opened per hour? (again on average)

Highly appreciate if you could answer!

thx

moko · Aug 12, 2006, 08:58 PM // 20:58

as far as i see, you missed two chests there.

one is at the first group you encounter when you start from brauer.

the other is at the top of the stairs where the ranger boss is.

just realised; theres a few more missing. meh, guess you didnt put them as they are closer to the other yellow dots so you can hardly miss them anyways.

might add other tips;

for teams, /A is nice for recall

Monks should carry Spellbreaker as its pretty much the only thing you need for the 'normal' FF run, not counting going for chests with dredges. those are the only prob as monk, but guess if you are lucky you an open them, pick up, die, rez and continue.

if not try again and just skip..

etc etc :| its quite easy, im quite amused when i can run that thing without any deaths and horrible amount of lags :P

"1)Is this faction farming/chest run for kurzick (outside lutgardis conservatory)"

yes ^

"2) How much faction can you make per hour? (on average) "

i take 5 mins per run (including my horrible loading time), so 60/your time and you got it. average would be 5000~ faction though

"3) Are all the chests high end? ie. purple or gold drops from chests"

yes, all chests that need a key which costs 600 or more are considered high end.

"4) If "yes" to 3), how many chests can be opened per hour? (again on average)"

depends if you check all points or not. if you only pick up thsoe on the normal FF run its 2-3 per run. if not 5 or so~ you do the math

*EDIT*

if you are actually going the lazy way from Jade Quarry, dont forget to pick up this chest, it mostly spawns if there is nothing at the stairs :P just wait for patrlols

http://img82.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gw006fu4.jpg

Mournblade · Aug 12, 2006, 09:20 PM // 21:20

This is one of my favorite areas to explore/run/farm in, but you've taught me a couple things. Thanks very much Sen. Tom! =)

Ozric · Aug 13, 2006, 05:53 PM // 17:53

Well, not that it's been a huge secret but since Tom has let the cat completely out of the bag here on the Lutgardis FF, I'd like to see more Ele's like myself out there.

I'm not saying that I've got the best Ele running build (though I may think it), but it is quite good for the small FF group that has no problem with picking up chests as they go along. For strait up FF or chest running only, you could improve upon it.

Rez Sig
Sympathetic Visage
Mist Form [E]
Windborne Speed
Hexbreaker
Shatter Hex
Inspired/Revealed Hex
Illusion of Haste

As you can see the attributes are pretty much all over the place, but everything has it's role. The main spells of course are the Windborne Speed and Hexbreaker, with Air at 16 and a 20% Enchants you're running 33% faster for 13.2 secs I think.

What's not really understood by others that I've seen try to use it is Hexbreaker. Usually I've seen people poppin' it just before they hit aggro with a Dreamweaver, which will indeed take care of that first hex, but the Dreamweavers cast three hexes, Conjure Phatasm, Crippling Anguish [E], and Fragility, and of course what we're really trying to avoid here is the CA. The Dreamweavers 95% of the time will either make this the 1st or 2nd thing they cast, and if you're caught by it as a squishie it's pretty much all over, as the Hunters will be on you before you can Shatter or Mist Form, and they'll definately disrupt those spells and/or cripple you. So, cast Hexbreaker at least 15 seconds before you make aggro with a Dreamweaver, allowing the stance to recharge. Right before aggroing the Dream, hit WS and run keeping your cursor over HB and watching for when the stance is broken by a hex, then pop it again. Usually you'll end up with nothing but Fragility on you if that, with the very occasional Conjure Phantasm that you can easily Shatter once you're clear of the mob.

You can solo bridge using this tactic, but you can't rush bridge when 2 Dreamweavers spawn. For that, upon entering Melandru's immediatey pop HB, WS and run to the Dreams. Stop in front of the two Dreams giving them 100 feet or so and wait right there at the edge of the cliff where the grass ends keeping a watchful eye for the 3rd group to your far right that's also approaching. The Dream group on the left will come to you crossing to your right and then the right Dream group will begin going off to the left. Pop WS and run right out in front of the first group crossing to your right and hug the wall to the bridge. Got that? You'll make it 95% of the time with practice. The key thing here is to only make aggro with that one group.

If you do get caught with Crippling Anguish, pop Mist Form first thing to avoid dmg from the Hunters and Shatter or Inspired/Revealed the hex off of you. If the Hunters cripple you, use Illusion of Haste to escape. Of course you can also use the Shatter and Inpired/Revealed Hex to help out the guys running with you on the stairs/shrooms route (and save yourself from having to run both in so doing).

The Sympatetic Visage/Mist Form combo in the bar though was primarily to be used for getting to chests guarded by the tougher Dragon Moss and Dredge groups and works pretty well, just SV/MF/WS and run to the chest, you'll take some dmg from the initial Shove's but nothing you can't handle. Wait until any Fungal Wallow patrols are clear before rushing a Dredge group, you're still just a squishie.

This build has nothing to address poison, and when confronting the dredge you will be poisoned, but if used properly you can fade the degen from that as you'll be taking very little dmg from anything else.

I keep a rez sig primarily for when your running buddy on the shrooms/stairs route gets whacked in the lake, you can simply pick him back up instead of running his point for him, and they'd like to get their golds too.

EDIT: And oh, btw, if you can think of a way to improve upon this E/Me build, by all means share your thoughts. I'm open!! =D