Which version of Velketor's Labyrinth will we be getting?

[Dabasher]

Many may not remember, but Velks was actually revamped about 6 months after Velious launched. It took me a while to find info on this change, and I started to wonder if I was misremembering. The patch archives on ZAM didn't say a word about it. However, I did manage to find some comments on ZAM about the zone changes, such as follows:

Jun 29 2001. Post titled "Velks upgrade"
"As of the patch on 5/27/01 alot of the loot in Velks was upgraded and some other odd changes in the zone also. As far as I can tell all the armor drops from the k0b0ldz have been boosted, the crappy spider fur collar (random loot) is now AC 10 +7 str +7 svc +7 svm I believe.

The entrance spiders have all been upgraded. However they do not proc poison vellium poison now (this may get fixed later). Kobolds seem to be about the same difficulty as before. Haven't worked our way to the golems to see how tough they are or if the armor drops have been upgraded.

Xp is noticibly better (the entrance spiders are actually great, too bad they are such a pain in the ass to pull).
--
[56 Meatshield] Cornelia <Agony> - Vazaelle"


Jul 09 2001. Post titled "NEW VL"
"OK , here the skinny on NEW VL. the MoBs at zone in are blue to 60 yet really easy to kill. Great XP at lvl 57 i get 1 blue an hour if only group at zone ( 57war, 56 bard , 58 cleric, 57 wiz, 57 druid, 57 chanter ) Go do the Kobolds in huts at top good XP ,( 1/2 to 3/4 blue per hour ) and great money ( average 20 pp per kill )
We think the zone is broke but till VI fixes it this is the zone to be in :)"


Worth noting: the ZAM archives don't reference a patch on 5/27/01 as the above post does. Have had trouble finding a direct mention of the revamp outside of these two posts. I went through some of the bestiary section mobs, but not all (very time consuming). Some random google searches for some form of Velketor's Labyrinth (such as just 'velks') brought me this post from the Druid's Grove, which may or may not be referring to the revamp:

07-05-2001:
"maybe I should try spiders in velks with a ranger friend, or LDCs. I have heard velks in insane now and seb is empty it seems =)

Durinstorm -- 55 druid -- drinal" - http://thedruidsgrove.org/archive/eq/t-2386.html

Anyway, I have no idea what Nilbog has planned as far as Velk's goes. I liked that it eventually became the only real PUG zone for 50+ players in Velious, especially because I personally disliked Karnors/Seb/HS. If anyone else has any memories/evidence of this change I'd appreciate seeing it, or hearing Nilbog's thoughts on this.

[Ele]

If enough information is compiled, hopefully, both versions.

[webrunner5]

Well it looks like this thread will push back the release of Velious 3 months lol. :(

Ele is chomping at the bit. So much for a Christmas Present.

[Tasslehofp99]

Well it looks like this thread will push back the release of Velious 3 months lol. :(

Ele is chomping at the bit. So much for a Christmas Present.

Integrity > early release!

[myxomatosii]

Integrity > early release!

I say that about my poops.

[happyhappy]

It's not only velks that got revamped, many of the loots in velious were upgraded in that undocumented patch.

http://www.thesafehouse.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5821

People seem to forget that Verant had the bad habit of stealth changing stuff, this is a good example of it.

[Atmas]

Integrity > early release!

Highly debatable statement. I'm not sure integrity is even the appropriate word to use here and early release is kind of thrown out by this point.

I know people strive for classic, but this thread is more depressing than it is exciting. :(

[Lisset]

Depressing why? You'd rather have crap loot?

[webrunner5]

I know people strive for classic, but this thread is more depressing than it is exciting. :(

Having a GOOD poop can be fairly exciting. :D

[Quiksilver]

I say that about my poops.

girlfriend does not like early release :(




































just kidding. I don't have a girlfriend :(

[Castigate]

Anyone know if the pre-buff versions of drops from these places were upgraded? Or will they stay the same even post revamp making farming these drops somewhat pointless beforehand?

[Byrjun]

Highly debatable statement. I'm not sure integrity is even the appropriate word to use here and early release is kind of thrown out by this point.

I know people strive for classic, but this thread is more depressing than it is exciting. :(

[Spitty]

As far as I can tell all the armor drops from the k0b0ldz have been boosted

Confirmed legitimate - random use of leetspeak in the middle of a sentence of perfect English indicates a creation date between 1998 and 2002.

[maximum]

I threw the Velks "revamp" on the Timeline wiki article. Forgot about it until now!

http://wiki.project1999.com/Players:EQLive_Timeline#Development_timeline

[Messianic]

Better question is "will I have the super hax where I have direct access to the boss from near the zoneline because of my borked game files" like I did on live

[Xelris]

I remember initially hating that zone trying to group in it as an ENC. Spiders were EXTREMELY resistant and procced DoT death if you couldn't cure it.

Also, Siren's Grotto was a death trap. Everything saw invis, was incredibly magic resistant and was a giant pain in the dick to anyone trying to get through to hunt in WW, DN or TOV.

[baalzy]

I remember initially hating that zone trying to group in it as an ENC. Spiders were EXTREMELY resistant and procced DoT death if you couldn't cure it.

Also, Siren's Grotto was a death trap. Everything saw invis, was incredibly magic resistant and was a giant pain in the dick to anyone trying to get through to hunt in WW, DN or TOV.

Looks like the zone (Siren's Grotto) is going to be super-hell for 3 months after Velious then still pretty hellish for another 3 months.

Heres how it was initially

When you first zone in from Cobalt Scars, there are 3 level 53 mobs at the ent. They don't see invis.
They are extremely MR, but have a low FR so fire based spells work great. It appears they have more hp's than the other mobs of their type in the zone, but I'm not 100% sure.

Lev/DMF drop when you zone in, however theres a bug where you can lev, then DMF outside and when you zone in it only strips Lev. Expect this to be fixed soon.

If you zone in invis, you can pass the 3 zone guards with ease. If you're leading a raid, I suggest you have everyone charge the left beach when ready. The walrusmen and their type don't see invis, but the fish do. Once on the beach, the one roamer mob can be dispatched without aggro'ing the static near the waterfall.

The exit to West Wastes is up the waterfall and through a tunnel system to the left. (Take all lefts and you'll zone) Another way is to zone in, fight the walrus on the left beach. Rune the dru/wiz and invis everyone else. Then have the dru/wiz succor. This places you at the WW zone with up to 3 mobs, none of whome see invis and the wiz/dru should be able to zone with the aid of the Rune.

CR in Grotto is HARD. The first 'safe spot' is a tiny little niche near the CS zone. Stay to the left as you zone in, pass the guards and stay on the ledge. To the left is a rock and you'll see a small wedge you can cram into. Fatties have had difficulties staying safe here however. We've done some incredible CR's in this tiny space =D.

The second 'Safe Spot' could easily hold 20 people, but it may be tough for non-tanks to reach.

From the CS zone, pass the guards invis. Jump into the water (fish here will see invis) and swim down into the tunnel to the right (east), staying in the center and swimming at the top. When the tunnel ends, turn around back the way you came and hop on the little ledge running over the top of the tunnel mouth. The ledge across from you on the tower is also safe. Furthermore, the ledge to your left (facing the way you swam) is safe as long as you don't go up the incline to the bridge.

Its a quick swim, if you have SoW and practise, you can make this without gettng hit or even aggro'ing. I also reccomend you camp out to clear fish aggro.

To zone from WW to CS, Invis in, follow right wall to top of waterfall, jump down (make sure you fall into water =P) and swim straight across to the cave with 3 zone guards and zone out.


That lev+DMF bug looks fun. Theres a post from 2002 saying its been fixed, but I can't find a patch note specifically about it.

Things change a bit from the above quote in february 2001 but I don't know what for sure.

Update: We also made several changes to Siren's Grotto to address player concerns with the difficulty of the zone.


Then some more changes seem to happen.

Sirens Grotto has been changed a bit. It should be a more interesting zone now.

Some people talking post-patch

After the patch:

Molkors: 49-50ish clerics around 9khps, cast a magic or fire based DD that hits for 250 max and a Cheal on themselves. Note they run out of mana quick so don't worry about the heal, they shouldn't get off more than one. They drop crushed gems and netted kelp.

Ulthorks: 49ish warrior around 11khps, hits for 130ish max. Drops netted kelp and crushed gems.

Bulthars: 50ish warrior around 14khps, hits for 130ish max. Drops netted kelp and crushed gems.

Walrus/mantee/: 47ish warrior 9khps, hit for 120 ish max. Killed 40+ never seen a drop. Always indiff until attacked, will agro if you attack anything else in range.

Seahorses: 50ish enchanter? - 12khps hits for 179 max, drops bard stuff, hair, shell for 7th coldain and fishing pole.

**NONE** of the above now summon, thats a fact.

Enticers: some kind of caster not sure which, not fought them enough.



I came in here after the 6/28 patch to see what was 'more interesting' and it seems verant apparently made the zone weaker. There is only one mob near the CS zone, he's a molkor and hit for 128 that I saw. The seahorses I fought hit for 176, nothing more than that, between the four that I had attacking me. Just thought I'd post, I bet all people doing the 7th shawl are happy.

[pasi]

Of course you can bypass it all by just camping into the zone-in wall three times!

[baalzy]

Of course you can bypass it all by just camping into the zone-in wall three times!

Yeah, I wonder how this will be handled in P99. GMs did hand out suspensions/account marks on live for doing it.

[Xadion]

Yeah, I wonder how this will be handled in P99. GMs did hand out suspensions/account marks on live for doing it.

It was so well known and used for years never ever heard of a GM actually handing out punishments. It always seemed to be a delay tactic during guilds racing to ToV "Oh dont do that GMs will ban you! go the long way and die!" well atleast on Veeshan :-P

[pasi]

They did give warnings for it, but it was pretty rare. I only know of 2 guildies who got warnings doing it in years of doing it. Most GMs just looked the other way.

[Pint]

Velks as it is right now is much more harder than i remember it.

Also there seems to be more see invis than before, so you can't invis through it like you used to.

I don't have any references, but I vividly remember monks soloing velkator's labrynth easily.

I've been tearing up velks on beta and I'm going to have to disagree, it feels weaker than kc atm, some of those ent spiders are max hitting for 95 and only doubling. Velium hunters on the other hand down in lord bob area are insane pets, doubling for 400 and backstabbing for 615 nothing down there lived for more than 15-20 seconds. Velketor is fucked if a couple of enchanters show up with those

[Iumuno]

It was so well known and used for years never ever heard of a GM actually handing out punishments. It always seemed to be a delay tactic during guilds racing to ToV "Oh dont do that GMs will ban you! go the long way and die!" well atleast on Veeshan :-P

If no one petitioned, they wouldn't do anything about it. But if you did and a GM was available, they would come and give warnings.

[Iumuno]

I've been tearing up velks on beta and I'm going to have to disagree, it feels weaker than kc atm, some of those ent spiders are max hitting for 95 and only doubling. Velium hunters on the other hand down in lord bob area are insane pets, doubling for 400 and backstabbing for 615 nothing down there lived for more than 15-20 seconds. Velketor is fucked if a couple of enchanters show up with those

Aren't these very MR and/or above boltran's level limit though? I remember not using these for a reason, either or both.

[myriverse]

Maxing for 95 sounds about right to me.

[Tubben]

Also, Siren's Grotto was a death trap. Everything saw invis, was incredibly magic resistant and was a giant pain in the dick to anyone trying to get through to hunt in WW, DN or TOV.

There was one mob between the way from SG entrance on CS side and exit on WW side who did see invis. Could not avoid it, but you only had aggro on it till you swam up the tube and exited the water. There you jumped down, went on land, invis up again, end moved to WW. Was an seahorse iirc, but not sure there.

With lv 60 it was no problem, with lv 50 i am not sure if you could take the hits after your invis broke in the water.

[Pint]

Aren't these very MR and/or above boltran's level limit though? I remember not using these for a reason, either or both.

Nah he was pretty manageable as long as your enchanter is on his toes and doesn't get eaten on a break. Idk of they are supposed to be charm able or not, wouldn't surprise me if they weren't supposed to be though, they are op.

[Danth]

Anyone know if the pre-buff versions of drops from these places were upgraded? Or will they stay the same even post revamp making farming these drops somewhat pointless beforehand?

The items I had at the time (ie, Paladin sword from Velks) were upgraded even if you already had them. I cannot speak for all such items.

Danth

[Silent]

I sincerely hope velks is changed to how it should be, I just zoned in and tried to kill a spider self buffed with fortitude. I got it to about 87% before I had to zone, mind you I snuck hide and opened on this thing with a double 400 backstab. followed by lots for 60-90 hits for almost a minute before zoning. The lowest I took it was about 79%. I didn't log the total hp I did, But their HP is VERY VERY high. I remember soloing here on my 55 non-fungi epic monk. Yes it was difficult, But I was able to kill spiders and bandage/heal up before engaging the next one to grind exp. Right now these spiders have crazy HP

[citizen1080]

Newsflash: Rogues can't solo


=)

[jaybone]

I sincerely hope velks is changed to how it should be, I just zoned in and tried to kill a spider self buffed with fortitude. I got it to about 87% before I had to zone, mind you I snuck hide and opened on this thing with a double 400 backstab. followed by lots for 60-90 hits for almost a minute before zoning. The lowest I took it was about 79%. I didn't log the total hp I did, But their HP is VERY VERY high. I remember soloing here on my 55 non-fungi epic monk. Yes it was difficult, But I was able to kill spiders and bandage/heal up before engaging the next one to grind exp. Right now these spiders have crazy HP

GAMES HARD CANT POOPSOCK SPIDERS PLS NERF

[Cecily]

Newsflash: Rogues can't solo


=)

Ayup. LFG hell to 60 in Velks, good times.

[Silent]

You are an idiot, I was able to solo velk spiders in and around the ramp areas at 55 on a monk. And my rogue at 60 had no problem killing them, even with self buffs he would drop to like 40-50% depending on target. But he still killed them. Them having like 15-20k hp right now somethings wrong.

[Pint]

spiders near zi of velks atm have 7-9khp, you probably just picked the wrong one to fuck with

[Loftus]

I say that about my poops.

QFT - I really lol'd at this.

[HeallunRumblebelly]

Newsflash: Rogues can't solo


=)

Root net, back up, mryokar bp! Puppet strings! Bladestoppers! Soulfires! I"LL KILL THIS LIGHT BLUE GODDAMNIIIIT.

[pegleg]

If your a pro rogue (like myself) then you know how to backstab while you have agro and can be decently effecient at soloing.

[Tasslehofp99]

Lol a 55 monk prolly tanks about 15 times better than a 60 rog regardless of what.gear each toon is wearing. I can solo drolvarg guardians on my 51 monk with ease with no epic or fungi, but a 60 rog would probably barely finish it without buffs. Can't compare one classes ability to solo to another in this game, each class is really too different.

[webrunner5]

Root net, back up, mryokar bp! Puppet strings! Bladestoppers! Soulfires! I"LL KILL THIS LIGHT BLUE GODDAMNIIIIT.

That would be one VERY expensive kill lol. :eek:

[HeallunRumblebelly]

That would be one VERY expensive kill lol. :eek:

Could probably kill most LBs wit just the strings, but you question why a rogue would have them :P

[Scrubosaur]

I only remember hearing about monks with fungi and a t-staff being able to solo in Velks, but that was before the monk AC nerf. After that it was back to groups only for exp in Velks.

[Lyrith]

Only thing I really recall about Velks was it was THE place to level in your higher 50's no questions asked. However My characters were already max level.

I will say for reading purposes in this thread it would be smart to make a thread for Velks in the Velious Beta forums AS WELL as one for Siren's Grotto.

[baalzy]

At 60 in Luclin Velks was the place to be for lvl 60's to solo for AAs (including warriors). I think though, Velks @ launch was a rough place and then it got severely toned down after a little bit.

[Xelris]

A lot of people didn't experience the original version. Velks was near-deserted by all but raid groups for a while because the zone was strait rape. After the revamp you could do fine with a rag tag group of whatever, but before it, soloing spiders was out of the question (due to a really nasty dot proc, hitting too hard and lots of MR and hp on spiders).

It took a very well tuned group to go anywhere, and even then there were no guarantees because CCing was kind of a nightmare.