So... in my over ten years of mudding, I have always disliked bashing immensely. Its boredom of repetitiveness has never motivated me to go for top levels. However, just a couple of weeks ago, for the first time in any game, I got my City of Heros character to level 70. Something of a feat for someone like me. Thus, I figured ok, if I can do it there, I can try to do so in one of the muds I play.

So I bring back my one character with a class which stands any chance of a decent bashing. However, in the last 24 hours, I have successfully gotten myself killed three times. First one, due to carelessness on my part, and forgetting that my channels were off, and thus not realising there was a raid happening. Second one, cos I couldn't find the cave, so I walked into the raid group for a fast way down. Third one, I got jumped whilst hunting gorgogs. Which brings me to my posting here and seeking advice.

Are there any areas in Lusternia which will not get me jumped by various thrill seeking players? I'm level 80 right now, so being stuck in the city until I can afford all the needed cures and getting my combat system in order isn't an option.

Thanks in advance.


Edit: Just wanted to add. I don't mind getting jumped -occassionally-, but not if I am going to lose a whole afternoon's of bashing with one death. Thanks!

If you do PvE on prime the Avenger should stop you from getting jumped more than once.

If you are just focused on PvE and wish to avoid getting jumped you should avoid doing anything that will cause people to notice you. This means you should not go on raids, should not kill any NPCs that a group protects, and you should just basically try to avoid interaction with any org that opposes you.

Getting much past level 80 on prime is going to be an exercise in frustration. You really need to move to the Undervault, aetherbubbles, or astral at some point. For those places having a gem of cloaking is going to be a life saver. Assuming you can not afford one then I suggest doing a QW after each kill and just be paranoid. This will not save you from people with gems but it might give you a heads up on when to run.

Still what you really should be doing is investing in some herbs and using a free system. There are multiple ones out there and any one of them will be good enough to give you time to run.

Finally you should keep in mind that the grind from 80-100 is a lot longer than you think. It is going to take hundreds of hours. If one death and the loss of exp it entails frustrates you now, it is only going to get worse when you are in the mid 90s. If you do not enjoy it trying to force it is just going to lead to burnout.

If I'm right, your character is "Neuf, the Wandering Jewel Trader." I can't tell what org you belong to, so my first question is where is your character from? I know you're not from Glomdoring, cos I'd've seen you around. So are you from Celest, Magnagora, Serenwilde? Or are you rogue? If you're not in an org, hunting can be rather hard because of the lack of guild skills.

Secondly, where do you usually hunt? As a former Aslaran turned Orclach, I can say that mobs that use fire are a huge pain the , even if you're wearing a fire proofed coat/cloak, so I generally avoid gorgogs and steel goats (Astral).

Thirdly, I'd suggest the following places:

1) The glacier's a good area. Mammoths deafen, cats cause heavy bleeding so bring lots of chervil, and if you're not to picky, the Taurians are okay gold/exp/karma. I normally just take the whole lot and offer them. Not too many people hunt in that area.

2) If you belong to an org, just take a walk around the mountains. Gather scholars and bards. Kill rockeaters to turn into commodity stores to produce gem comms and decent gold. Not too many people actually WALK around the mountains, save for some novices or dedicated veterans.

3) If you do belong to an org, hunt your org's ethereal/elemental plane. Bringing in essence for power makes you look really good in the eyes of the upper ranks.

4) If you have enough skill in Aethercraft to operate a turret, know a good pilot with a good ship, try to get groups together to go Aetherhunting. I've heard that the exp is pretty good, and an Aether dogfight can be extremely costly, so most people avoid it unless they're raiding.


Aside from that, there's really nothing you can do to avoid getting ganked. Griefers will be in every game you will ever play. I'm no saint myself, I occasionally I give into the desire to gank because it's just plain fun. And really, there is no truly 'safe' place anywhere in the game, except for maybe the Portal room and a few other places.

I'm about as paranoid as they come, so every time I kill something, I Scan (a skill in Discernment, let's you see who's in the area) the area and check Prints (a skill in Hunting) to see if anyone else is around. I always try to keep careful track of the prints in the area, because even hidden players can sometimes be detected by Prints. Just remember this: it's not a question of whether or not you're paranoid, it's a question of whether or not you're paranoid enough.


*Edit*: I agree with Enthralled. It's almost impossible to get to or past lvl 80 just on Prime. You should try branching out to Astral and the Undervault. Even hunting Undervault trash mobs (centipedes, fishers, rockeaters, etc) can be a good source of exp/gold/karma. A few weeks ago I leveled from 72 to 77 in a week just by spending maybe 4-5 hours a day, just straight bashing UV trash and a few other places. I'd net 30-60% exp a day, depending on my pace, and did it all without the Harmony Blessing. Granted, I had my nose to the grindstone for a solid week and hardly talked to anyone, but I made great progress. And really, to get past lvl 90 you have to be a bashing machine, hardcore dedicated.

P.S.: A system helps.

The Undervault is Prime. Even without that, though, I got from 76-80 mostly on Spectres. Not really impossible.

It's weird prime. The non-enemy areas will get you to the low 80s easily enough but for serious killing you need to pick a side and get enemied. Once you are enemied it is basically non-prime from the point of view of getting jumped. Plus depending on your skills you might not even be able to effectively call for backup if you get into trouble. Yes other places on prime have a similar enemy setup but UV just stands out to me.

Despite all of that the UV is one of the best PvE areas in any IRE game. I highly recommend it.

I hunted through most of 97/98 from the non illithoid/kephera UV. I think I did a large part (40%?) of titan there too. Then I found Xion, and that was that.

It's technically on Prime, but it's my understanding that it's something like another 'continent'. I've never heard about Avenger holding sway in UV, but I've never had any run-ins down there, so I wouldn't know. Anyone know?

Any Prime area that doesn't get you enemied is equally safe. Gorgogs, krokani, Undervault tunnel critters. Aslaran and merian aren't enemy territory, but a Celestian will occasionally take the suspect status to "protect the innocents" (read: lolpk) from someone, but suspect is deterrent enough for some.

Past that, some enemy areas are safer than others, PK-wise. Shallamurine isn't so bad. Igasho and the spirit wolves aren't bad. Mags would probably protect the Presidio if they noticed you there, but it doesn't seem to happen.

EDIT: Argh, ninja.



Avenger works just fine there.

EDITEDIT: Ninja'd twice. Mrr.

Sure does. Except in enemy territory.

It's still Prime.

Wow I am seriously impressed. Do you have a rough idea for how long that took in play time?

The tunnels are better xp than the kepheras (and the illithoids, I'd assume). The gold drops are really bad, though.

Bugger.

WTB deletion of Avenger, send tells.

A long time? But I remember being able to get almost 1% every 10 minutes at 98.

I might have to give the tunnels another shot. Thanks for the data!

Oh yeah, the almost 1%/10 minutes thing was while I was a rogue, too.

Thank you all for your responses. Most of them have helped. And no, it is not Neuf who is returning. Neuf has no guild skills whatsoever, never having been in a city/commune or guild before.

Also. YOU LIE! CoH only goes to level 50!

oh yeah, you're right. Lol..see how badly bashing made my brains mush. WoW's the one with 70.