The Fens of Nathsar lies between the Plains of Kylong and the Kunzar Jungle. In this heartland of Kunark you will find the ruins of the ancient civilisation of Cabilis. The land is named after the elusive Nathsar tribe of Kunark, details of which were lost long before the rendering. The Fens of Nathsar include the Swamp of No Hope, the southern edge of the Lake of Ill Omen and the Field of Bone.

There are four primary factions in the Fens:

• Riliss
• Bathezid’s Watch
• Exiles of Droga
• Bellywhumpers

It is possible to get all four factions to max ally - there are some quests which require you to take a negative hit from an opposing faction (for example Riliss would have you kill members of Bathezid’s Watch) but the amount of faction lost is trivial and easily recoverable with a single repeatable quest, if necessary. [More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Wouldn’t it be great - the Rolling Pin of Doom for my provisioner perhaps. Or the Darning Needle of Spite.

A pipe dream. There’s been no mention of tradeskill epics … until tonight.

The Producer’s Letter included this throw-away comment:

Oh, and someone mentioned epics. I think there are some epic quests in this update.

It seemed to me clearly tongue-in-cheek but a number of people panicked on the message boards, asking WHICH epics were being skipped over and why.

Froech responded directly:

Hmmm. Apparently my oddball sense of humour doesn’t translate as effectively in my writing as I hope it does face to face. I was trying to be amusing. Perhaps I should use the more informal smiley face after the sentence when writing the Producer’s letters.

Yes, all the epics for each class as well as tradeskills will be in this update. I promise!

Having said that, it doesn’t mean we may not tweak them here or there, just like all the other content in the game! The wonderful thing about doing online games is you do get a chance to go back and change stuff, hopefully for the better. But they’ll all be in the game update. All you guitar players, don’t fret. SMILEY:)

What was that? Could you repeat that, please?

Yes, all the epics for each class as well as tradeskills will be in this update. I promise!

Now, I don’t want to get over-excited here. I looked at it, put it down to a misunderstanding, took a deep breath and decided that he probably meant the Erollisi update.

Except that then, he posted again:

They’ll be there. All of them, including the tradeskill epics. Have faith.

Edit: Confirmation and details from Domino.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Bathezid’s Watch is the fortress of the Di’Zok in the Fens of Nathsar. You’ll find their hidden encampment in the northwest of the zone. You will initially be KoS to the Watch but a single quest will gain you the faction required to enter their fortress and continue the quest lines there.

As you enter the Fens from Kylong Plain, you will see an upwards path to your right and a Di’Zok standing on the slope. Speak to him to gain your initial faction and begin your friendship with Bathezid’s Watch. Be sure to click on the sokokar post at 1154,207,1216 once you’ve reached the top of the hills.

Gaining Faction

Speak to Outrider Kelgyn for the quest Favor of the Di’Zok to gain your initial faction. This will get you access to the Bathezid’s Watch fortress up in the hills, where there are a number of other quest givers.

If you have a tradeskill above level 65, you can speak to Greeblentus in Teren’s Grasp for the New Lands, New Profits quest in Kylong Plains which will give you starting faction with Riliss and Bathezid’s Watch. This quest opens up the tradeskill writs available from Supply Sergeant Anuhadux at 1176,203,1430. [More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

We have a list of every Lore and Legend book in Norrath, to save you time and effort as you gain your mastery abilities.

These two lore and legend books were introduced with the Rise of Kunark and are located in the Fens of Nathsar. You’ll need to be able to take on solo mobs in their 70s in order to complete these quests

The Tales of the Burynai

The Burynai book is at the fishing village of Omen’s Call, on the coast of the Lake of Ill Omen. When you enter the building, go past the bar and you’ll find it in a crate at the rear. Once you have read the book, you can begin to collect Burynai body parts. Your quickest route is to take the sokokar to Drogan Exiles and then on to the Bellywhumper Burrows. Don’t kill the Bellywhumpers! They want to be your friends and we’ll probably need them for faction once the epics are included. Instead, head down into the Field of Bone and kill the Bonedigger burynai roaming around there, which will gain you Bellywhumper faction as a bonus. They are solo mobs, level 74 and 75 - the only issue fighting solo there is the adds.

You can also go to Kunzar Jungle to fight the level 75 Rubble-Rabble burynai in their burrow, west of the Abandoned Village.

The Coming of the True Creator

You’ll find the book underwater in the ruins at the south side of the Lake of Ill Omen. Everquest players may recognise this area as the ruins of Veksar, destroyed by Garudon the dragon. There is a concrete crypt with a skeleton floating over it; the skeleton holds the Lore and Legend book. If you access the location via the coast, rather than through the Yha-lei on the ruins, you can reach this spot using invisibility or sneak without issue. There are plenty of solo Yha-lei fishmen at the ruins, underwater and above ground, ranging from level 70-72 and offering Bathezid’s Watch faction. The lowest level Yha-lei are level 69-70 at the Mudfin Village in Kylong Plains, north of Kunzar’s Edge. There are further Yha-lei, level 79-80, in the Jarsath Wastes along the river and at the coast, west of the Danak Shipyard .

We’re finishing off the final details for the ultimate guide to Kunark. If you want to make sure not to miss it, subscribe to the feed.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Freoch has posted his first Producer’s Letter with a sneakpeek at Game Update 42. There isn’t a lot new but he does mention trying to keep the actual Epic quest lines quiet.

We’re trying to be quite secretive about how the actual quest line works so that people will feel a real sense of accomplishment when they complete them. Certainly, if you wait several weeks, one of our supporting web sites will end up with a walk through for those who want to wait, but we’re so excited that we’ve even kept the data as secret as possible. In fact, if you ask a GM for assistance, there’s a good chance they won’t have access to the data necessary to help, as we have kept it all very close to the vest.

Would that mean several weeks from now or several weeks from the update. Generally, walk-throughs and spoilers get discussed and written up as soon as the updates hit test. I’m not sure if that means they are not using putting the Epic quest-lines on the Test server or what.

I’ve long felt that game- and server-firsts are somewhat meaningless with the current set-up, where people do their exploration on the test server and then race to live servers to get credit for it. When they put up beta-buffers it gets even worse. If you look at quest write-ups for Kunark, you’ll quickly find a lot of iffy data where reward items were changed before the quest went live - the write-up is straight out of test. Lord of the Rings Online call Roheryn the “preview server” which doesn’t actually fix anything but does acknowledge how these servers are used.

Having said all that, I did read the Update Notes to see what they were putting in. I did notice no mention of Epics so maybe they really aren’t testing them. Which will be neat …. if they aren’t buggy.

Meanwhile, a post on the French forums apparently gave the dates for the update: 5th of Feb for the US servers, 6th of Feb for Euro-servers. As the post is no longer there, I don’t think this can be considered official, though.

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

I have been trying to work out which is better, a weapon with a
wide range between minimum and maximum damage or one with a narrower
range. The main difference appears to be when a critical hit (a “crit”)
occurs.

It seems that a crit occurring on a combat ability (CA) is
a straight 30% bonus; if you would have hit for 1,000, you will hit for
1,300 so the weapon range is irrelevant. The interesting time is
when you crit on autoattack. [More...]

Posted by Sixes on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

We are proud sponsors of The Guild, a laugh-out-loud video series about the people behind the game. Episode 6 is finally out and the producers of The Guild are asking everyone to please rate them and link to them on YouTube to get their ratings up.

The series is completely funded by user donations and we have it on good authority that Episode 7 and 8 are already being filmed. If you’ve not seen these clips before, start at Episode One - I bet you are grinning by the end of it. :D

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

The Bellywhumpers are the hardest faction to raise in the Fens of Nathsar, although that looks likely to change once Kurn’s Tower is patched in. Podcast 28 includes a strong hint from Jason Ryan that Epics (and thus Kurn’s Tower, we hope) will show up in Game Update 42. Unlike the other factions in this zone, the Bellywhumper camp is not KOS to start and you can travel to -2152,-294,-1375 and use the Sokokar post as soon as you are happy to cross the Fens.

Gaining Faction

There are around a dozen quests at the Bellywhumper camp which will get you to positive faction but fall well short of the 30,000 needed to do Burynai Order and the 40,000 needed to buy items from the Quartermaster. [More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

Book 12 is now on the Roheryn preview server and the patch notes read like a novel! The Ashen Wastes is the name of this update and it is not just a tweak. Various aspects have already been discussed in the Developer Diaries:

Angmar is undergoing a complete revamp.

Burglars gain new skills, tanking is improved for Guardians and Champions get a second pass. Hunters, Lore-masters and Minstrels also have some minor changes so it’s well worth taking a look at the detailed notes.

Yesterday a new diary was posted with a write-up on the long-awaited Outfit System which will allow you to have three outfits. [More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.

The Sel’nok Brigade is the Di’zok faction in the Overthere area of Jarsath Wastes. You will meet Emissary Dih’ri when you first enter the zone who will offer you a quest, if you are level 75 or over, to gain faction with them.

The quests in the Jarsath Wastes have been designed linearly and should be completed in the rough order in which they are presented. In the case of the Sel’Nok, you should speak to the Emissary, then do the quests in the main camp in their cave in the Overthere, followed by the quests in the Scout Encampment in Skyfire.

It is possible to do all the factions in the Jarsath Wastes through questing alone unless you have done the Anda series of quests in Kylong Plains, which may cause you to need some minor faction repair through killing.

Gaining Faction

You must begin with the quests from Emissary Dih’ri at -1056,-83,-558 at the entrance of Jarsath Wastes. The initial quest gives 10,200 faction so that you are no longer KOS with the Di’Zok scouting the area. The second quest will send you to speak to Agent Zhatia at 395,5,-352, underneath the Iksar Hero Statue . She has the Heads or Tales quest for you to gain faction with the Danak. Although this is a separate (and somewhat opposing) faction, you need to do this quest in order to complete the Sel’nok Brigade faction quests.

Once you have helped him, the Emissary Dih’ri will inform you that Diviner De’Voch is ready to see with you. You can then move onto the quests in their camp at -926,-80,-980 where you will find quests from the Diviner, the Battlemaster and finally a quest from the Warlord. [More...]

Posted by Taymar on http://www.mmorpg-info.org.