1.7 expert dungeon question

[wyofiddler]

Edit: I re-read my post and didn't like it.

Basically, are expert dungeons a good gear option for fresh teams of 50's, or are they all "T2" now and silly hard for what you get?

[Smedbox]

I haven't tried them yet, but they are all T2-difficulty now. Trion's recommended path is:

- Intro 50 content: level 50 Dungeons, Chronicles, Rifts, and Zone Events.
- "Tier 1": Expert Dungeons, Ember Isle, early Prestige Ranks, Expert Rifts, and Zone Events.
- "Tier 2": Master Dungeons, entry Raids and Slivers, mid-Prestige Ranks, Raid Rifts, and Zone Events.
- "Tier 3": Difficult Raids and Slivers, high-end Prestige Ranks.

[wyofiddler]

Thanks for the reply, I saw that list in the patch notes as well and I'm still working out how best to progress thru the new tiers as a very average-skill boxer.

Got my first expert dungeon boss kill yesterday, it was boss #2 in xCR - the first bosses ground aoe was impossible for me to manage. It was an eye opening intro to the boxing ability and refinement of team setup needed for this content level.

Whats the deal with expert rifts? I've tried to help an expert rift in progress (the perdeen death rift) a couple times now and the whole team gets instantly one-shot killed. Is this a flaging thing to prevent players from raiding the expert rifts, or do I just suck/don't know then event? Lol. The one time I opened my own expert rift I wiped so many times I lost count and ended up walking away from it. I assume the gear requirement is equal to expert dungeons? Is there a particular expert rift that boxers have found simple due to less movement req or whatever?

[Krago]

Thanks for the reply, I saw that list in the patch notes as well and I'm still working out how best to progress thru the new tiers as a very average-skill boxer.

Got my first expert dungeon boss kill yesterday, it was boss #2 in xCR - the first bosses ground aoe was impossible for me to manage. It was an eye opening intro to the boxing ability and refinement of team setup needed for this content level.

Whats the deal with expert rifts? I've tried to help an expert rift in progress (the perdeen death rift) a couple times now and the whole team gets instantly one-shot killed. Is this a flaging thing to prevent players from raiding the expert rifts, or do I just suck/don't know then event? Lol. The one time I opened my own expert rift I wiped so many times I lost count and ended up walking away from it. I assume the gear requirement is equal to expert dungeons? Is there a particular expert rift that boxers have found simple due to less movement req or whatever?

It's not just you. :D

Yesterday, I was 5 boxing with 5 solo players from our guild and we wiped several times as we underestimated the nastiness of an Expert Rift.

I did try once to 5 box an expert Rift and met with the same results as you, I just walked away form it. Now, I was a fairly new 50 at the time, I should revisit trying to 5 box an expert as I have 30+ lures for them.

I have 5 boxed Expert Iron Tombs, however, that was before they merged T1 and T2, so i am not sure about the difficulty of it now as I haven't tried since the merge. Before the merge Expert IT was easiest of the experts.

[Smedbox]

I also tried an expert rift once. And walked away. That was also with fresh 50s and I now have a little better gear on them, but I'm still planning to get some more Planar Conqueror gear before trying again (got two pieces so far + all rank 12 pvp gear).

[wyofiddler]

Sweet it really wasn't just me then haha.

My experiences did provide me the neccessary drive to seriously push to get the group fully geared out. I've done a lot of research on Zam and have a list of what pieces to get with inscribed sourcestones, which ones to get with plaques and what crafted item options are out there. I also have 2/4 Blessed Oathsmasher hammers on the clerics (swapped in my warrior MT as the team lead - but she's only in equal gear to the clerics). Also corrected my massive oversight of having zero runes on all my stuff, now everything that can be runed is, even if it will be upgraded - runes are about 1p/ea so it's not a big deal at all to replace and re-rune the new items.

I've also done a bit of EI content, with the new gear I've already gotten the SS/SM event mobs go down really fast! I'll gladly take the suggestion for xIT, if I can run even a single expert that's better than nothing, and plaques for normal CR are painfully slow at one plaque per run.

One more thought about that expert rift I mentioned - I popped that rift open when none of my 5 toons were able to que for expert dungeons, so I totally understand now how pointless it was for me to try that. Life's a little different when your clerics are pulling 4x 500-700dps single target, 1500+ aoe and your warrior tank has 101 toughness and over 12k health. I can close the lvl 52 major rifts (3 stages not 5 but still...) in EI, so maybe the experts are coming within reach. Rifts have been such a staple item for the team that I don't want to give up on experts because they are too hard. I'll keep trying them as I gear out and see what I can pull off. Each rift event is different enough there's got to be one of them that is managable for a boxer - less movement, less aoe/non-tank damage dealt etc.

[Smedbox]

I guess the Blessed Oathsmasher would be fairly similar to the Planar Conqueror's Staff... Do you think you could share your gear list that you're working towards for your clerics?

[wyofiddler]

I would be glad to share my list so far :)

Please keep in mind this list is just for now. I was looking for the fastest replacement upgrades for each slot, with the content I am doing now. For example, the Planar Conqueror's Staff is 605 SP vs. the Blessed Oathsmasher at 537 SP, but I have the team setup to farm mats/plat for 4 crafted weapons in a few days, versus the time to farm 900 Inscribed Sourcestones for the staff . My tank is 3x gathering skills maxed, so I am crafting all three of the 20Hr cd's each day and trading extras for the ones I need. I really enjoy doing rifts and world events, so planar gear is priority for any slot it's available for.


Here's what I have so far: (top to bottom as you look at your character panel ingame)
T1 = first version of the upgradable epic armor purchased with plaques of achievement - I get these from doing random normal dungeons right now, so the supply is minimal.
Planar Vanquisher's (whatever) = first version of the upgradable epic armor purchased with Inscribed Sourcestones (abbreviated “IS”) + planarite.

Helm: T1 (33 plaques) _OR_ the lvl 50 version of the world event helm from the magma opals (better than T1)
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/BAF6E6970201010101/Exponent's-Great-Helm or
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/FAC5CE890401010101/Master's-Chain-Kapelo two clerics have this, I'm kicking myself for not making sure I got all four instead of blowing all my magma opal on ash striders.

Shoulders: Planar Vanquisher's Shawl - 226 IS
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/C1E8850D01010101/Planar-Vanquisher's-Shawl

Chest: Planar Vanquisher's Hauberk - 262 IS
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/E0D983AE0201010101/Planar-Vanquisher's-Hauberk
I’ve actually gotten a real decent interim epic chest from High Thane Hergen (boss #1 in CR normal), good drop rate as I’ve been able to get one for each cleric without crazy farming.

Gloves: T1 - 25 plaques
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/B8C4D5990401010101/Exponent's-Greaves

Belt: T1 - 28 plaques
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/D7D8D6810601010101/Exponent's-Girdle

Legs: T1 - 41 plaques
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/B8C4D5990401010101/Exponent's-Greaves


Feet: Planar Vanquisher's Tabi - 170 IS
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/AFB7E05701010101/Planar-Vanquisher's-Tabi


Rings: Stillmore rep vendor, in Zareph’s Return
Neck: Icewatch rep (don’t have these yet, found them on a gear list by DulfyCleric)

Weapon: Blessed Oathsmasher - crafted by weaponsmithing
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/E0F3FC6BAA83AD8007010101/Blessed-Oathsmasher
this is actually wrong, the "blessed" part is a flawless saintstone augment for +19 wisdom.

Warrior tank is going for the plate versions of everything shown here, with a purple crafted mace and a 3k armor shield I bought from the AH for 1p. Seriously, it was 1p, the vendor value was actually more than the buyout price.

[leroyreborn]

Helm: T1 (33 plaques) _OR_ the lvl 50 version of the world event helm from the magma opals (better than T1)
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/BAF6E6970201010101/Exponent's-Great-Helm or
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/FAC5CE890401010101/Master's-Chain-Kapelo two clerics have this, I'm kicking myself for not making sure I got all four instead of blowing all my magma opal on ash striders.

.
with the world event in 1.7 you will be able to randomly get past world event currency

[crowdx]

I am on Faeblight and have done parts of a lot of the dungeons before and after the 1.7 patch. Remember, even though the dungeons are all now T2, your gear also got buffed. Crafted gear is a good start to get yourself up to a decent level and if your tank is a warrior you should get the Stalwart 4 piece set which is a big stat increase.
Good luck :)

[Smedbox]

Where do you get the focus and toughness? From the rep items or from some runes? I'm primarily getting the planar conqueror gear that has focus/toughness on them...

[crowdx]

My main 50s team tank is Divinelace, if you want to take a look I am doing my dailies in EI at present :P

[wyofiddler]

I am on Faeblight and have done parts of a lot of the dungeons before and after the 1.7 patch. Remember, even though the dungeons are all now T2, your gear also got buffed. Crafted gear is a good start to get yourself up to a decent level and if your tank is a warrior you should get the Stalwart 4 piece set which is a big stat increase.
Good luck

Crowdx, regarding this Stalwart set you speak of, is that the epic plate tanky crafted items?
http://rift.zam.com/en/recipelist.html?name=of+the+stalwart&skill=Armorsmith&level_low=300&level_high=300&orderby=

If so, what’s the fourth piece? I found a Ring that is named “Signet of the Stalwart” with mat requirements high enough that it must be awesome, is that in fact the 4th piece of the Stalwart set items?

[crowdx]

Yes, the ring is an Artificer crafted item and so does not show under armor search
http://rift.zam.com/en/recipelist.html?name=stalwart&skill=Artificer&level_low=300&level_high=300&orderby=

[wyofiddler]

Focus came strictly from gear as I picked up more pieces, my limiting factor was toughness at first. I grabbed a few runes to make the 90 toughness minimum at first, but I've since picked up a few more pieces on the tank that give me enough by themselves and I have switched runes to end/str/block depending on what is avail in that slot.

I was talking with a friend who has run all the expert rifts and he said to try the earth and air events since he thought they have less mvmt needed and less crazy adds/untankable mobs or whatever. I grabbed an earth expert rift lure last night right before I had to leave for work and easily reached stage 4, wiped there so the timer ran out, and came back and closed the rift up before logging out. It was very straightforward so that was fun! I'll try the air expert rift today and see how that goes as well. Also found a page on Zam that runs through each expert rift stage by stage listing what mobs are there and the mechanics of the stage etc so that was super helpful to me as well, since I have not done any of them before (I haven't solo'ed much at all at 50 so trying to box it is also my first exposure to it at all - not the easiest path lol).

[Krago]

Focus came strictly from gear as I picked up more pieces, my limiting factor was toughness at first. I grabbed a few runes to make the 90 toughness minimum at first, but I've since picked up a few more pieces on the tank that give me enough by themselves and I have switched runes to end/str/block depending on what is avail in that slot.

I was talking with a friend who has run all the expert rifts and he said to try the earth and air events since he thought they have less mvmt needed and less crazy adds/untankable mobs or whatever. I grabbed an earth expert rift lure last night right before I had to leave for work and easily reached stage 4, wiped there so the timer ran out, and came back and closed the rift up before logging out. It was very straightforward so that was fun! I'll try the air expert rift today and see how that goes as well. Also found a page on Zam that runs through each expert rift stage by stage listing what mobs are there and the mechanics of the stage etc so that was super helpful to me as well, since I have not done any of them before (I haven't solo'ed much at all at 50 so trying to box it is also my first exposure to it at all - not the easiest path lol).

That is very good to hear!

I may try that tonight as well, also, since you didn't reach the end before the timer expired, I assume you did not receive the loot chest, correct?

[wyofiddler]

There was a loot chest with a so-so blue item after stage three, but no chest when the rift closed. My Internet has bee acting up and I haven't been able to box for several days, so trying the other expert rifts is still on my to-do list.