Stage 5: Crystal Desert

[Erudite]

If you've finished the Sanctum Cay mission and found your way across the ocean, talk about your experiences in Crystal Desert here.

I started out by exploring Prophet's Path, the zone just outside of Amnoon Oasis. Nothing all that difficult near the outpost, although the southern parts of the zone can get hairy. I eventually made my way there looking for the named bug, to see if I could tackle it with myself and the henchies. After a pair of aborted attempts, I managed to slide her out away from her entourage of six-legged clicking madness and have a go at her. Long fight, as she's a monk and never seems to run out of energy, but with two monks of my own she eventually went down. No staff, but I popped my Signet of Capture and snagged my first elite skill. And surprise - got a 5000xp bonus for unlocking it. Very nice.

Bopped over to Augery Rock to finish a quest there and pick up a few more, and Xellany grabbed me and walked me out to Destiny's Gorge and Ehlona's Reach. We played around in the Ehlona's Reach mission (one of three needed for Ascension, and supposedly one of the hardest in this campaign). It'll take some practice and teamwork, but I think we'll be able to handle it.

Xellany had to go after that, so I mapped back to Augery Rock and took credit for killing minotaurs while in the mission to claim a few skill unlocks as a quest reward, then set about to find a Forgotten in Skyward Reach. He unlocked a few skills for me and sent me down to Arid Sea looking for another Forgotten. It took a while (and a few deaths) to figure out how to get to him, but I finally did and snagged some more experience - and the first of two quest rewards that afford 15 attribute points. Destrid can now claim to be level 20+, or 20*, or however they're making that notation currently. :lowrazz:

Grouped hydras are evil. Two is okay, three is doable but touch-and-go. Four, just plan on respawning. Sand Giants are also evil, and I didn't encounter any groups of any size other than four. Took a few deaths from those as well.

No real loot, although Onnie did show me her Fiery Dragon Sword for the Prince Rurik wannabe in our crowd. ;)

[GravenStone]

I took a look at Prophet's Path, but unfortunately disco'ed back to the log-in screen while in the midst of fighting the welcoming comittee at the first teleporter landing pad. I did see a named something - probably a hydra, in the distance. Bright red aura - think that's elementalist? Not looking forward to tangling with that one.

Overall, the difficulty is definitely ramped up. I think I'll content myself with just trying to find various locations, killing as I move along but not really expecting to be able to do much special without a PC group.

[Erudite]

Destrid has finished all the Crystal Desert quests that are available prior to Ascension, at least according to the Wiki. Sand elementals and sand wurms have supplanted hydras as the most evil of all desert inhabitants on my list. Ugh. Three sand elementals can lay waste to an entire group before any substantial healing gets done.

[GravenStone]

Destrid has finished all the Crystal Desert quests that are available prior to Ascension, at least according to the Wiki. Sand elementals and sand wurms have supplanted hydras as the most evil of all desert inhabitants on my list. Ugh. Three sand elementals can lay waste to an entire group before any substantial healing gets done.

Hehe, I accidentally ran afoul two groups of sand elementals - I think there were 8 total, plus a couple minotaurs for good measure. My group was paste before I really even had time to blink.

[Onnie]

I don't think it's a good idea to talk about my time in the desert. It was hot, to say the least. Oh and sand. There's lots of sand in the desert. Be careful if you look at Raveneye, he's bright... Bring head gear and make sure it is equiped. Other than that, the missions friggen suxxors bixie stingers!

--Onnie

[Raveneye]

Having finally completed the last of my pre-desert missions, I spent some time getting to know the Crystal Desert last night. Having two healers and three melee (plus the mage) in a group makes for some Cuisenart battles, especially against foes that only come in pairs or threes. Larger groups posed a problem though, as I couldn't keep everythign focused on me as well. The mage is handy though as his AoE tends to make things scatter and run off, allowing me to switch targets and gain aggro.

I managed to collect up a bunch of quests, figure out the teleporters (Thanks Onnie!) and make it to the first outpost. From the sound of it, things get much more difficult fairly quickly.