Curse

Nater · Mar 20, 2006, 07:26 PM // 19:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerberus

lol nice to see ppl still trying this out, i have to say since i started using this run its paid for itself many times over, average 3-5 shards per run, countless gloom seeds & spider legs ( which pay for the entry )and the odd gold item thrown in for good measure ( tho not that many decent ones to be honest ).

As for the skales, yeah they can be a pain, wot with their aimless wandering and the occassional bad spawn but 9/10 you can get past em by looking ahead and sprinting to that nice little safe spot.

Oh and wot is it with the spiders and Blue dye lol, must of had 20+ blue dyes of them recently, guess its their favorite color

That's funny, because I seem to get a TON of Red Dye. I'd say blue comes in 2nd for me, with a random purple or silver now and then. What color is your armor? (mine is silver/blue, wondering if there's any pattern to the chaos)

Raxxman · Mar 20, 2006, 09:09 PM // 21:09

there was a week where I got 7 black dyes

sadly they seem to have stopped

Racthoh · Mar 20, 2006, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jedit

Back on topic. Runs are currently taking me between 60 and 70 minutes, depending on how crappy the beach and cave mouth spawn are. I have the required weaponry, I'm killing as quickly as is realistically possible and using Healing Signet as little as I can. Then I see people saying it takes 45 minutes to complete a run - which I'm presuming is from entering the FoW to reaching the far end of the cave, correct me if I'm wrong here. (There are more grandiose claims, but see above.) Where is this extra speed coming from?

Last night I was doing a run and was actually somewhat keeping track of how quickly I was doing it. 9 minutes to clear the front of the cave, dryders and spiders from the massive group with next to no grouping whatsoever. 30 minutes to clear the rest of the cave. Realistically, the snarling patrols and wandering dryders didn't take me 6 minutes to clear. Mind you, grouping the driftwood and gaining 6 strikes of adrenaline from Hundred Blades really speeds up the process when you consider that it strikes for about 40-60 to each one. I'll change targets once one is near dead so I'm still getting those full strikes of adrenaline, thus speeding up the process on each patrol. There have been numerous times when a Hundred Blades will kill all 3 at once which not only feels good, but does improve performance.

If I can get each patrol in that situation, it'll take less than a minute to kill 3 driftwood. Mind you, I am also more than capable of finding the sweet spots to stop without worry of skales wondering over and causing a panic. Dryders are about 20 seconds each, as they usually die by the time a second Final Thurst fills (1.33 attack speed, 33% faster attack, 2x Final = 20 adrenaline, Hundred Blades every 8 seconds to compensate for Galrath stealing a strike from Final Thrust).

My original video is about 14 minutes for the cave entrance, however in that I run back at one point, and am dealing with interrupting Healing Spring since it was harder back then. Not to mention since they fixed Flurry that also increased my killing speed. I'm pretty sure if I complete ignored my guild chat and whispers, it could probably reduce the time furthur.

Jedit · Mar 21, 2006, 12:26 AM // 00:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racthoh

Last night I was doing a run and was actually somewhat keeping track of how quickly I was doing it. 9 minutes to clear the front of the cave, dryders and spiders from the massive group with next to no grouping whatsoever.

I seem to be able to manage it about that quickly.

Quote:

30 minutes to clear the rest of the cave.

OK, this is where I'm losing time. For some reason it takes me about 40 minutes. This is weird, as I'm not malingering.

Quote:

If I can get each patrol in that situation, it'll take less than a minute to kill 3 driftwood.

I smack them one at a time. I've found that it's slightly faster with the axe build; the whole pack drops in 45 seconds or so.

Quote:

Dryders are about 20 seconds each, as they usually die by the time a second Final Thurst fills (1.33 attack speed, 33% faster attack, 2x Final = 20 adrenaline, Hundred Blades every 8 seconds to compensate for Galrath stealing a strike from Final Thrust).

I throw up Phys Res to knock off the first Wastrel's as I charge in. I'm running to aggro the ACSs when it starts flashing. As I only have 2 in Inspiration, that means it takes me less than 34 seconds to kill a Dryder. Probably more than 20, though - more like 25-28.

XeNoGeArZ · Mar 21, 2006, 03:49 AM // 03:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jedit

OK, this is where I'm losing time. For some reason it takes me about 40 minutes. This is weird, as I'm not malingering.

That's why I don't run the cave anymore. I just kill the DWs on the beach, and agro all the spiders outside the front of the cave and kill them my fast way, and rezone and try again. The real prize are the DWs, because they can drop rubies and shappires among other things - and mainly, I think their drop possibilities are a whole lot better than the spiders (4 piles of glittering dust, corrosive leg, shard, shadow [whatever], maybe a purple or gold rarely).

From the point of the cave until the end, you are spending a lot of time in there no matter how you slice or dice it. I usually pull the dryder and kill it. Agro the first 3 so they drop in a bunch, and the second 3. Whole process takes way too long for the prize outcome, for my tastes. DWs are the ones I am after. Not to mention their death cries is music to my ears. After doing this run so many times you get sick of spiders.

-XGZ

Racthoh · Mar 21, 2006, 04:20 AM // 04:20

I've found that if I enter FoW twice in a row, the drops seriously suffer the second time around. Hence the reason why I clear the entire cave. It may take that extra time, but usually that's where a few of the shards drop not to mention a better chance of finding chests.

XeNoGeArZ · Mar 21, 2006, 06:56 AM // 06:56

It's definitely random. Usually my first runs yield very little, while on my next run I get the good stuff. I remember it distinctively because it was a 2nd run through, was when I found my first Saphire. If I'm getting shards and other good stuff from the Snarling Driftwoods, that is when I think about how much time I have and whether I should clear the cave. We've all experience long FoW runs (in groups with other people) where we don't seem to be getting anything, and others are having all the good drops. If I'm on a good run with the DWs, I may take my chances with the spiders, or else I will re-map.

It's my personal preference.

-XGZ

Jedit · Mar 21, 2006, 12:41 PM // 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by XeNoGeArZ

That's why I don't run the cave anymore. I just kill the DWs on the beach, and agro all the spiders outside the front of the cave and kill them my fast way, and rezone and try again. The real prize are the DWs, because they can drop rubies and shappires among other things

I've had two rubies and one sapphire drop. Only one of the rubies came from a Driftwood; the other ruby I got in the cave, and the sapphire from the cavemouth gang.

Quote:

- and mainly, I think their drop possibilities are a whole lot better than the spiders (4 piles of glittering dust, corrosive leg, shard, shadow [whatever], maybe a purple or gold rarely).

As opposed to 4 piles of dust, Gloom Seed, Shard, shadow [whatever], maybe a purple or gold rarely?

Besides, I run FoW for the Shards. It's where the profit is; any golds are just gravy.

Senator Tom · Mar 21, 2006, 02:34 PM // 14:34

am i the only one that has been getting 0-1 shard lately?

tuna-fish_sushi · Mar 21, 2006, 02:38 PM // 14:38

Drift woods are better then spiders
killed 9 driftwoods on my way there and got 3 shards
cleared the cave of spider and got none.

Cerulean Niteshadow · Mar 21, 2006, 05:29 PM // 17:29

I have had mixed results with Driftwoods & SPiders with the shards. Drops are still going great. Just wish could find a way to stand up against the Skales when need be. Dont want to fight them on a normal basis but sometimes you almost have no choice.

Tried the W/Me build. Not sure I like it. Whenever I would use Physical Resistance it worked fine, but if I used Flurry while PR was up it would pull it down. Didnt realize this happened at first until I noticed I was taking a lot of damage.

For now I will stick with the original build.

Again Thanks for the info!

striderkaaru · Mar 21, 2006, 05:41 PM // 17:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerulean Niteshadow

Tried the W/Me build. Not sure I like it. Whenever I would use Physical Resistance it worked fine, but if I used Flurry while PR was up it would pull it down. Didnt realize this happened at first until I noticed I was taking a lot of damage.

flurry and pr are both stances. you can only have one stance up at a time, which is why flurry will cancel pr.

Engel the Fallen · Mar 21, 2006, 06:21 PM // 18:21

Using the axe build I managed to run this in about 30 minutes last night. I basically did the starting run, avoided all dryders I could, leroyed one group of driftwoods and longbowed the second then killed when swarmed, ran to next group repeat.

Pull all three dryders at once at spider cave, then group all the spiders you can with herding and unload with cyclone axe. Round up rest and repeat. Then for the cave, I leroyed through the cave for aggroing all the spiders I could, then picked off the dryders one by one, to allow me to give all the cave spiders in two big groups.

You cut some time off, but give up safe spots, as the entire spider cave will be done with aggro, and aggroing all at the beach start is rough too. It can be done, but you must always watch stances.

Not sure if I will do it this way again, as it does involve some risk. Lag spike could mean game over if it is at a bad time, and it is 20 minutes or so of constant aggro.

SirShadowrunner · Mar 21, 2006, 09:46 PM // 21:46

My last run thru only yielded 1 shard, and purple req. 13 shadow blade, I
have never gotten a good drop off a Dryder spider, anyone else ??
For troubles with the spawns and particularly the first group of DW, I like
to make sure to keep them up hill of me, so if the shadow patrol does come
a little early I can back down the hill and keep safe, it does not matter if
the Dryder aggros, but if the shadows push me down into the scales I
usually turn and sprint back up the hill the way I came in next to the big
safe rock spire, then wait for them to leave and re-enter, only twice was I
able to sprint by the ACs with the shadow army in hot pursuit, but when I
made it, it felt good.

Across The Battle · Mar 21, 2006, 09:50 PM // 21:50

I get good drops off of everything i kill, i feel it is all about equal.

Last night I got 1 shard from driftwood 1 from dryder and died at the cave..

Its all random..just dont over farm..switch it up fow and uw every now and then will ya :-p

Captain Arne Is PRO · Mar 21, 2006, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirShadowrunner

My last run thru only yielded 1 shard, and purple req. 13 shadow blade, I
have never gotten a good drop off a Dryder spider, anyone else ??
For troubles with the spawns and particularly the first group of DW, I like
to make sure to keep them up hill of me, so if the shadow patrol does come
a little early I can back down the hill and keep safe, it does not matter if
the Dryder aggros, but if the shadows push me down into the scales I
usually turn and sprint back up the hill the way I came in next to the big
safe rock spire, then wait for them to leave and re-enter, only twice was I
able to sprint by the ACs with the shadow army in hot pursuit, but when I
made it, it felt good.

My best run as of lately:
One Shard: Driftwood
One Rare Chaos axe: Dryder. The Chaos Axe sucked, but guess what? 30 HP Pommel WooT!
One 13% Stance Req 8 Shadow Blade: Chest
Two Shards: ACS
One spectacular death: Running into the mouth of the Infernal Drakes/Wurms.

0siris · Mar 21, 2006, 10:53 PM // 22:53

If you are going down there and repeatedly clearing everything 10 times a day dont expect to get any good drops. I tend not to go down there more than 2-3 times a day.

Best run so far: 5 shards, 3 gold items (2 from chests), a black dye, and an obsidian key. Not a bad days work imo

sheepysheepy · Mar 22, 2006, 06:19 AM // 06:19

my best shardrun was 8

4 before even getting to the cave, but it equalled out in the end after the next 2 runs were dry

Across The Battle · Mar 22, 2006, 06:43 AM // 06:43

Apparently this has turned into a best run thread..

Mine would be either 4 shards and 1 shadowblade 15 stanced :-D

or 6 shards was kinda nice...

But tonight when i went to FoW i forgot to bring fur to craft my helm.. I will never live that down

Almost 1000 posts on this topic. All praise Racthoh

Racthoh · Mar 22, 2006, 06:51 AM // 06:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Across The Battle

Apparently this has turned into a best run thread..

If the thread could steer away from this that would be great. It is always nice to hear the positive feedback, but given the length of the thread I'd rather that those who are just discovering it won't have to, in the future, go through pages of information that won't aid them in anyway.

Brag if you must, but please add a sidenote of additional information to provide some constructive discussion.