VoN3 finally on Normal

[Jupiterfist]

First time for several of us... we almost had enough to make two full parties... but that fell by the wayside. Graciously Nonrev and a few others tried to form another party... but that did not pan out.

The party that did go... completed it in almost 2.5hrs or so. No complete wipeouts... but some near close ones. The party was lead by Ravenmoon (cleric) and followed by Rubyred (fighter), Luthien (wiz), Araithe (rog), Duagrim (fighter), and Jupiterfist (pal).

When we got to the last boss... we were hit over the head with the fact that none of us had the correct weapon. The end boss is a construct that is impervious to all but chaos weapons... you heard right... not Axiomatic (spelling), true law, pure good, holy, adamintine, etc etc... only Chaos. All except for Araithe recalled and picked up the necessary weapons... from House of D... and we went back in and took care of business.

Rubyred, Luthien, Duagrim, Ravenmoon, Araithe, and Jupiterfist are flagged for VoN4 now. There may be others... but this was from the immediate party last night.

Those still outstanding as of last night for VoN3:

Aolin, ZeroInn, Rifkin, Dohkar, LeapnLizard

Nonrev has completed several... but I am unsure where is currently on this.

Tonight (8/11) we will try to get those needing the VoN3 or whatever in VoN caught up to VoN4.

[Jupiterfist]

To clarify... those needing VoN1 - VoN3 should holler up... what is required is at least lvl 7+

I am familiar enough with VoN 1-2 to get ppls through it. VoN3 is more complicated... and thus, I would defer this to those more familiar with it like Dohkar and Raven.

[nonrev]

Grats on the VoN3 success. It is a killer, as are Von5 and Von6.

Nonrev has done all of the VoN series but is willing, able, and motivated to help any of the TC toons get on through. Raven is a great guide, as is Dohkar (when he's not out walking with his girlfriend). I expect to be up 2nite and will see if there is a place in a party for me to help. I am especially interested in VoN4 since though I have completed the quest for credit, I have never gotten through to the rewards at the end before the place blows up, but as I noted in an earlier post, I believe I know how to get through the lava-pipe room at the end even with limited jumping abilities.

Hope to see you all tonight.

NRV

[Jupiterfist]

here is the rundown for VoN4

dndonline.gameamp.com/dnd/viewQuests/145.php

[Jupiterfist]

Okay... so everyone did not make it on for VoN4 like a thought... so we ended up running VoN1-3 for several other guildees... Caladin, Ackers, LeapnLizard, JupiterIce.

Duagrim and I guided them through VoN1-2 extremely fast... around 1.5hrs for both. VoN3 was the tough nail to swallow. We did well but the end boss was not beatable by our party. We had him down to 1/2 on the last time... but when the healers ran out of blue... our melee only party went down.

What went wrong? Several things...

1) Inexperienced leader for VoN3... I had only ran this one time. Why I chose to lead... well was out of default.

2) Party makeup: We lacked that last 'ump' to kill the boss construct... this is where a mage would have served us well. Apparently, I missed that in my 'vast' experience in VoN3 ;-(

3) Fatique -- we were tired and running all three might have been too much. For me personally, my hands were so tired from clicking and tapping on the keyboard and mouse... that I literally had cramps.

It was a hard lesson... I think this was the first time I had not completed a quest ever in DDO. It was a bitter pill to swallow. But as one wise person has said... you cannot truly cherish victory without experiencing defeat. I hope my fellow guildees will rebound from this...

Some standouts were:

Ackers - did a fantastic job healing for sub-lvl 9 cleric. (no Rez)
Caladin - for fighting and being extremely observant
LeapnLizard - for doing well for a low lvl... he finally made lvl 8 during the quest.

Special thanks to Nonrev for coming in and helping out when he already had the quests done. Duagrim was not with us during VoN3 (we missed that Duagrim-power) so JupiterIce switched and brought in Rubyred. Thus, several folks are flagged for VoN3 now which is a good thing!

[ravenmoon]

The very first time I did VoN3, it took me over 8 hours with the group i was in. that group kept falling apart after the 3rd hour. then bugs (folks got stuck in places, dm had to help), more folks leaving due to real life stuff. so in all, had many invites, redone troll jungle part (was easy back then) and only one person had the correct weapon which i had to borrow while someone took argo and did trade...then ran around in circles till. The worst time I ever did VoN3 was on a sunday, back in june...took 12 hours...I didnt give up thou. I was the only left, laying on the ground dead next to the boss. i kept trying to get dire help in lfg and putting up signs (von3, last boss, need help,uncon on ground)...basically that was what i put up. but in all, i finally finished it. zero exp thou. but got the credit. yes von3 can be fustrating and upsetting with group members. the more you do von 3 or any von series, it becomes easier, you are familiar with what will happen and be prepared.
cant wait to try von3 on elite... lol

[Jupiterfist]

Ah... we had a rocky beginning last night... on VoN3. Started off in the caverns with several deaths... but we kept truckin and made it through. The end boss killed basically all but two of the party... lucky, in the process the wiz and melee had brought him down to nada... when the blocking wall went down... Dohkar finished him off with MM.

Almost 15k in XP... not bad. This run taught me how even seasoned vets can get almost wiped pretty quickly.

[Traveler]

Completed VON1-2 Saturday night, and then proceeded to attempt VON3. Was in a group with 3 Aussies in Ronin, and 2 others who joined up. Had a party wipe in the caverns against some drow, but we came back ok. Had fun firewalling the beholders (including named) in the large cavern with the INT runes. Finally reached the geyser area, and wiped out twice. Tried to get them from the top of the peaks after geyser shoots you up, but before going over. First time, they ranged us and killed us including our cleric so she couldn't raise us. 2nd time, couldn't control our direction and ended up over the peak and was overwhelmed. By then the Aussies were really tired (4am) so we gave up.

Hope to try again soon.

[duagrim]

I assume that VoN4 is gonna be on tap for tonite? Most of VoN4 is fairly mild compared to the others, but the end is a bear- all that jumping! Nevertheless, I'll be available to help with this if needed.

The key to VoN4 is a good rogue. The mobs can be handled with 2 good fighters and crowd-control wizarding, and one good cleric is enough, but the traps in here are brutal if not detected in time. My usual find-with-the forehead method of trap detection is not recommended for this one, especially for a couple fire traps and one especially diabolical spike trap in the factory part. Duagrim found that one and died instantly, well over 200 HPS damage in one shot.

All in all, if we get one of our good rogues on the case, this can be done fairly readily.

[sabatuer]

Greaseum, Theadorn & Sabatuer are back in town. Spent last week fishing in Thorne Bay Alaska for Salmon and Halibut. The weather was an awesome 50-60 degrees everyday.

Greaseum has finished the Twighlight Forge and is ready for the raid encounter. Couldn't tell you the names of the quests i did because i can not remember. I ran them with RAVEN.

Greaseum is on VON 5 and has been wanting to run this quest now for 3 months but can never seem to get in a group. Let me know what TC has planned and i'm ready.

Theadoen is my lvl 5 Drow Paly and will run just about anything for exp.

Glad to be back and see you soon.

[duagrim]

Welcome back! Drow pally, eh? great minds, I guess. Mine is level 6 (as of yeterday) and named Thingol. Let's team up!

While you were gone there has been a big push to get as many TC members as possible Dragon- eligible so that we can run a TC Dragon raid. A bunch of our guildies are now on VoN4. Let's get'em over the top! Greaseum will be a great help for this.

BTW, I am a nauseating shade of chartreuse with envy over your Alaskan fishing trip. I have been to Alaska twice and had a great time both trips.

[sabatuer]

That Alaska trip was incredible. I went Halibut fishing on the North West side of the Prince of Whales Island. I saw 15 Humpback Whales, seals and caught two Halibut. One weighed 5o lbs and the other 60 lbs in 200 foot of water. I also caught my first King Salmon on that trip.

I was able to bring back over 40 lbs of Halibut and Salmon on the plane.

I will definitely be going back. My brother Kwerlin is next up on our father dime but I loved it so much I tld him I'd pay my own way next year.

See you soon

[Traveler]

Completed VON3 last night. Everything went pretty well right up till 4 of us recalled out to help our dead tank run back in (he was bug-kicked out of the instance back to tavern on death). Upon zoning back in to the cavern, I experienced severe lag, and only managed to reach the geyser area when lag got so bad that all I could do was sit still and wait for the rest to finish up. So I never got to see the Marut nor participate in any battle from the geyser onwards. I owe those 4 from Ronin a big thanks

Will be moving on to VON4 on Thursday night, since the servers will be down on Wednesday night (my time).

[Jupiterfist]

Okay... late update...

We finished VoN4 the other night... and then helped some others get through VoN4.

TC party...

I think VoN3 is still needed by some... somehow ZeroInn missed it... guess he talked to one... but not to someone else to advance... so he is still on VoN3. JupiterIce is on VoN3 also... as well as LeapnLizard. There are others too I believe... Rifkin, etc that need to finish out VoN3.

With school starting back... my sons will be hard pressed to play like they have been... except for weekends.

VoN3 should be attemped again only when we have at least 2 or more needing it... and it should be tried only with a lvl 9 or 10 mage in the party.

VoN4 was alot easier. Again... having a mage buff jump is vital. Acid, lightning, fire protections are important too as well as haste.


Jupiterfist/Luthien/RubyRed is flagged for VoN5

[rifkin]

Hey,

I need VoN3, that is true. I'm sorry that I missed it last week when you went and I havent been on the last few days but I'll be on tonight.

I hope we can do it again soon.