hooden said:
I'm just curious, are there raid targets out there for those who are level 45-55 ish? Of course I know about adepts, but there are only 2 of those and, until lately, those guys never really got taken down.
With that said, can anyone name any mobs that can be done with 2-3 groups of 50 (+/- 5)?
You can definitely hit some good mobs with forces like that. A lot of the smaller named in Storm Keep (Fluxator, Champion, Slavemaster... possibly arena master if you're good and have a higher level tank), Bone and Shade dragons in DN (drop a variety of decent weapons, some spells, and some SK/DHK quest armor, as well as occasionally the hatchling bones for a 6ac 55hp/mana 40svd ring).
Also, if you're just looking for an activity, you could put together little mini raids on some level 65 xp zones. You could do the MielC crypt, for instance--the Bladelord there drops some nice plate arms and a great wiz bracer. You could find all kinds of interesting challenges. The problem with most of these targets is that at level 50 they'll require quite a bit of organization. No problem for a guild; definitely difficult if you're talking about a pickup raid.
Oh yes, I've heard that treasure maps are supposed to be a good challenge for the low 50's, but I never really persued it for some reasons of uncertainty. (Keep in mind I've never done one before though.) What happens if you cannot do the mobs on the first try? Is the attempt over, and you lose your chance at that map? Also, for a very easy map, what kind of numbers do you need assuming everyone is 49-55?
Finally, are all the maps obtained via fishing "very easy" skill?
Yes, all maps from fishing are VE. I would guess that you could do a VE map with two groups in the low 50s. The mobs they spawn are around 51-53 (guesstimating) and generally hit for around the 120s. The way it works is that as you dig you'll get random events. You can uncover a loose item (adds one more item or gem to the chest when you finally dig it up), hit bedrock (does nothing), uncover the chest, or spawn guardians. When you uncover the chest, guardians pop with it.
Each time guardians pop you'll get anywhere from one to five mobs--skeletons, undead frogloks, elementals, or imps--which you need to kill to finish the tmap. After they're all killed, you just bash the chest open (I think slam works too). A failed attempt to bash (i.e. too low skill) will spawn more guardians, so make sure you have someone there with a maxed skill.
The drops from the tmaps vary a lot. Some of them are pretty mediocre, or specific to a certain class. There are quite a few, though, that are fantastic. I've still got pieces that I use over mid-tier raid target drops.
As for killing the mobs, the strategy is up to you. I'll make one suggestion right off the bat, though. Keep your healers and casters out of aggro range of the digger until after the mobs are somewhat under control. They all spawn more or less on top of the digger, and if the whole group is there they'll go on a rampage.
