.... is a freaking deathtrap, and that's after they fixed the mobs hitting for 65k..

if you go, go in a full group, preferably with 2 rezzers, in case one dies.

Getting there:
Can go from Sol B (map point 14 on eqatlas), jump in the lava (10hp/sec), swim east a bit to zone. Soon as you zone the lava must be hotter (~80hp/sec), swim straight and out onto the cave floor.
Can also go from Sol A. No idea where in Sol A this zoneline is.

Succor Point:
Is at the Sol A zone. So if you exodus to escape trouble, you won't be getting back to the cleric who was da at any time soon.

Mobs:
maybe 1 in 5 goblins or kobolds sees invis. That one is packed into an area the size of a thimble along with 10 companions who otherwise would let you go. seems gobbos on the sol a side, kobolds on the sol b side. fire giants (all see invis, i think) somwhere in the middle. Also TT's and 'pools of lava' thingies.

Mobs don't hit hard, ~ 200. Mobs swing fast. 7 unslowed mobs will destroy your we-came-to-explore-group faster than all the named in powater could. if you're solo, once you get seen, you're done. end of story.

Death:
death requires running nekkid through sol B again, if you don't know where the zone to C from A is. LDC's hit for 99 a pop to a nekkid 65 druid or cleric who was caught unaware. If you died on the sol A side, you'll need to be able to evac your rezzer to the succor point to cr.

Loots:
like 40hp/mana items, other general twink gear and junk.

Overview:
65 elemental cleric, monk, druid can die repeatedly (8 times between the 3 of us) and cause HOURS of painful cr. i'm talking painful CR enough to make breaking Fear while naked back when ssoy's were the win look like a walk in the park. I'm talking make your eyes bleed CR that'll make you wish you were in Vex Thal getting glfuxed. We're talking CR more agonizing than the first group who zoned into Veeshan's Peak and died, realizing the key wasn't soulbound yet.

Bring a full group, if you want to explore.

Other than that, this effin zone is just simply not worth the time, and was an absolutely effed up waste of everyone's damn time.

I will NEVER make use of this worthless offering from the dev's. It's simply too much of a pain in the ass to get to, recover from a death, or get around in-zone.

Thanks for a useless zone, you jagoffs.

alyn cross
forces unknown
/owner the impressive text only sig!

I soloed the entrance MoBs for about 2 hours on the Kobald side, then got a pick-up group consisting of 2 druids and a monk. We crawled our way in and explored a good deal of the zone with no deaths, wearing NToV or less gear. We ended up on the goblin side. Druid 65, Druid 64, and Monk 65.

I thought is was rather easy going and enjoyable. I have the same opinion of ChardokB.

I went there with a mid 50's group (well later a level 65 rogue tagged on to explore, but everyone else was in the mid 50s). Entrance stuff was pretty easy, ok slow resisting 3x on a tashed blue is a bit absurd, but not all of them seemed to have the magic resist problems.

Then we bit off a little more than we could chew and got into an area that was entirely red to my enchanter. Didn't see a mob that was going to add, so didn't pacify. couldn't mez, or really slow, cleric got eaten in seconds, we wiped.

Unfortunately, this was about 15 minutes before I planned to go to bed, as I had to get up for work the next morning at 5:30 AM. We spent an HOUR AND A HALF trying to get our corpses, and in the end (luckily) found a necro preparing for a raid at the zone in who was willing to summon. Our rogue (no SoS) died FIVE times trying to get our corpses. Everyone else died at least an extra one time, some more, I kind of lost track and was falling asleep at the keyboard.

GET A FRIGGIN CLUE SONY, PUT IN A GY OR DON'T MAKE THE MOBS SEE INVIS. Not everyone has a SoS rogue or a necro in their back pocket. Dungeon crawling is FUN and RISKY (as it should be) but trying to get your corpses back when the mobs are closely packed and see invis is friggin impossible, as well as frustrating when you know you need to go to bed.

Welll I (65 druid with over 100 AA) and a lvl 65 BST went to poke around.

Found one mob we could target but not damage or cast on. He was KOS to us but didnt attack.

We didnt have a lot of time to figure out what to do so we explored a bit more.

Tried to pull a TT to us and got like 5 goo adds. We evacced to Sol A side.

Saw one goblin pop near entrance. PUlled it and was doing okay. THen the other 2 goblins popped and added. We succored out and both decided not worth our time, or effort.

For a full group of casual players it seemed like it might be worth a shot spending some time there. But as said above CR would be an extreme pain if you were in deep.

As far as naked cr through Sol B. I would just root everything along the way and just run on by.

If I can convince 5 other folks to go I may take a look. Otherwise I wont be back.

Bah, any rogue worth their salt can find a way around see invis mobs. Unless the mobs back is absolutely against the wall... and there are two see invis mobs facing each other, there's always way.

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>For a full group of casual players it seemed like it might be worth a shot spending some time there. But as said above CR would be an extreme pain if you were in deep[/quote]

And how!

Total wipe of a 6 person group in the middle of Sol C. 4 attempts at corpse recovery. 4 more total wipes.

Playing on FV as a good-aligned character, necro's are a last resort for our guild and allies. No rogues on-line.

Finally, against our wishes, we finally had to conceed defeat and hire a necro to get our corpses. Not only did the inability to obtain our corpses via our own means frustrate us, but we had to go OOC (Okay...laugh at us silly role players if you will, but we really do like to try to do things without having to resort to the aid of evil aligned races and classes) in order to obtain our gear. We had two people lose their levels, because the rezz timers ran out, and we still have two people whose corpses are in the middle of the zone (They had to log, it was about 3am for them -- and they also happen to be two characters that are the most adamant about NOT letting a necro summon their corpses, so it is likely tht we will have to gather a small raid force to get them out).

Yes, some of my guild's problems with this zone have more to do with self imposed RP restrictions, but I do think that going in too deep with a single group might not be the best idea.

First off, the zonein seemed buggy for me. Sometimes I'd end up back in Sol A, other times I'd make it to Sol C. I think being under the lava when you hit the zoneline helps, but groupmates reported that approach failed once or twice as well.

I checked the place out with a mixed group of friends, levels 58 to 65. We started from the succor point, and crawled around the goblin side of the dungeon. The new fire giants looked like something from a superhero comic book. We took a look at a massive spider called Fireback Queen, but invis dropped when we were setting up and we had to evac.

A few folks camped, but I stayed at the succor point with 2 bards and a cleric for a few hours of "I think I can pull that named mob". To his credit, one of our bards did bring some to the succor point. Between adds and repops, it made for some highly entertaining combat.

XP sucked except when fighting spiders, a few pieces of loot were minor upgrades, but more importantly, it felt like a dungeon. I'd like to go back and see some of the areas we missed.

Hiya Tupp =) Didn't know you read this board too.

Well I went to SolC once, don't know if I can deal with going back, other than there being a pretty damn fine shoulder piece that drops there, which I managed to win, hehehe, so I should be good and let the rest of the folks get one too.

On our excursion, we joined a small raid with a 2nd group, 4 of whom had already been killed by some cluster of demons deep in the zone. We crawled for some time, did well, recovered all the corpses thanks to a very clever monk, and then decided to go explore areas neither group had been to before.

Arrived at a bridge, a goo was across it, puller pulled it, and, hrm.... where is that thing? I theorized that it wouldn't cross the bridge.... but that theory was quite incorrect, as the thing pathed around and picked up about 14 friends from locations unknown ( since we had killed everything behind us already, ) wiping out most of us instantly. Three clerics died immediately, one of 'em me. Then I got to die again on the CR! Woo.

We managed to get the corpses back without a necro, following another group that was clearing in that direction, but some of the folks in the original 2 groups had already fallen asleep without getting their bodies back. Once bodies were retrieved, you couldn't believe how fast people were getting the hell out of Dodge, vowing never to return. Heheheho.

I'm stupid, or brave, or something, cos I think I will go back. I know where 2 problem spots are, and I know to kill that goo where it stands next time. Heh. Live and learn!

Elsie!

Who knew that another Saga member read these boards, much less a cleric!. :p

/hug

I will let you drag me back into Sol C anytime, even if it is with a single group and into the bowels of CR Hell -- just cause I trust you that much. By the way, I saw one of your corpses laying there holding a summoned hammer...so I knew the place was gonna get ugly. :rolleyes:

Cool, just like the good ol days where there was actually a small ammount of risk involved. Lets see everyones outdoor skills into play in a dungeon now.

Folks, you better get used to places like SolC. I got a feeling this is how LDoN is going to be like, afterall this is kind of a "preview" of LDoN isn't it?

The difference is the see invis backspawns.

Fighting past content that challenged you the first time fully geared isn't fun naked.

In LDoN, there apparently won't be backspawns -- which will make a world of difference.

BTW, the zone eats naked corpses. It did that to two of our groupmates. Remember to bring a few coins with you on your CR.

Oh, and you can't zone out where you zone in (or at least I couldn't find the zoneout in the 80-per-pulse lava).

All of Sol B sees invis and wasn't a problem back in the day. Even Sol A has see invis mobs spread all over even close to zone. It just takes time and a slow crawl to learn the zone and any tactics required. GYs and outdoor zones have made a lot of people rusty and a few new real dungeons to get people back in shape before LDoN is a good thing.

Use bind sight and check for shaman mobs as these mean things are hasted. Dispell is usually more reliable than slow / mez for reducing mob damage output even if it's not by as much. Pre-targeting and dispelling can drop the DPS of a pull by 1/3 pretty easily. It also makes it easier to channel through other spells you need to cast on resist and agro. Try to watch for patrollers they can link groups of mobs that would otherwise wouldn't be. Thats just two quick points there are lots of others depending on group makeup and where your hunting.

Yet Another example of level 65 KEI, Aego newbs that leveled way to fast got elemental gear and still don't know how to do a simple dungeon crawl :P It's hard to do things with out your zerg force isnt it....

/cackle


that made me laugh... cause, well, this dude probably didn't know that half of us were playing before his class even had a clarity line of spells.... if he even knew that they didn't at one point... /cackle

curious to see if anyone who had the all-too-common bad first sol c experience has been back for a 2nd look? never returned, myself. couldn't ever find 6 people interested in the joint, can't say i am, much, either.

alyn

I have been back a couple of times with much the same folks. The first foray was a learning experience, and knowing to be extra cautious because of bad pathing in some areas, we were very successful.

Not one death after the initial trip mentioned above, got a very nice shoulder upgrade off of a named on the goblin side, and ended up calling it a night after discovering that the giants weren't giving any experience, and folks having to log off because of work the next morning.

I'm really not interested unless I'm significantly higher level before the zone goes away or I have a necro in my group. I like taking risks but fighting my way naked through content that was risky fully armored is complete crap (especially when I have other things to do in real life and don't have the time for a long CR).

i had a rather good time exploring. was a lvl 60 warrior, 63 druid, 65 ench, 65 necro, 65 wiz and me a 65 cleric.

exp wasn't any good, but at least it was something new that we could go do and didn't need a raid force to do so.

i admit some peeps had a hard time getting there, lost wizard to the lava, swam in circles i guess and couldn't find the way out. plus the druid somehow ended up at the succor point when she swam in, so here we were one dead, one someplace in the zone, and 4 of us standing here. well rezed the wiz, succored to the druid and made our way in. took a wrong turn right at the start and ended up at a dead end in some buildings, went back went the other way, and explored till peeps had to go. this was a guild group so maybe it had something to do with that why didn't seem too bad. was nice to kepp moving, and seeing new things.

First SolC experience was awesome. Minced our way through 3 named and went a fair way in. On the way back for an awesome Healing Eff ring off the first named that went to the shammy.

Got a Petrified Spine for myself which was lucky on a roll of 52.

Chardok B is another awesome zone. Just to fight around and move through to diff exits. Not in it for the loot or XP just good fun to crawl through new places.

Love all the new zones and if this is what LDoN will be like I can hardly wait.

challenges like this are what makes EQ worth playing. well, overcoming said challenges with some friends.

I guess its not to everyones taste. But IMO Sol C is a pretty #$%% good dungeon.

As for the zone bugs, my understanding has ben you only get thrown across zone to succor point (when zoning INTO Sol C from Sol B) if you are partially or fully above the lava. Have people get submerged before zoning in, and itll be fine. (Always workedd for me in 20+ times zoning in).

As for the "succor, now how do we get back to our body we lost at the kobold side?" issue - from succor point, zone out into sol A. right next to where you zone into sol A, is a zone line to take you to Sol B.... right next to the zone into sol C. In other words, from the succor poinbt you can run 10 feet, zone 3 times, and be back in Sol C at kobold side.

Very very nice setup.

Quite honestly, I loved this zone... which is saying a lot because I am a tough customer to please. I love the opposing factions within the zone, I love the quests that are in the zone (especially not having to pay some greedy mongrel 75-90k for a CoF now). And yes I realize the flame etched cloak is only 55+, but serioulsy, how hard is it to get to 55? That was a great gift by zone designers especially since it is droppable.

Basically this is a great dungeon all around and I loved it and enjoy going back. In a full group with the full group bonus doing the elemental area in the middle of the dogs and gobbos we were getting about 1% aa xp a kill at 65. The same group gets 2% aa a kill in PoV only we don't have to deal with idiots in Sol C because everyone is afraid of the zone.

All those positives said, I hate the CR in this zone. It is ridiculous with the random see invis backspawns. If you aren't packing a necro or an SoS rogue, you are in for way too much of a headache. The spot that took you 30 min to crawl to? Prepare for 2 hour CR.

Now some will say this wasn't a problem back in sol b or sol a, and I will agree. However, I'd also like to mention that in Sol b and sol a, the mobs weren't hitting for 200 and up. And let's face it. An elemental geared tank naked is well... The same as a ToV geared tank naked.

Yes, you have bank gear for CRs and all that jazz, but seriously with the way the game is changing, they should just put a GY in this zone. In reality, who here can say the funnest part of their EQ experience is CR crawls in dungeon? Didn't think so. The penalty for losing control deep in the dungeon with a GY then becomes you lose your xp and you lose your spot and have to start your crawl all over. Which I think is punishment enough without having to beat someone over the head with the headache of a see invis CR.

I have only been to solc twice but liked it each time.

First time went with a normal (but well-balanced) group. Killed a lot of stuff and then the puller (enchanter) came back with 7 mobs (we were at the perma-rooted boss-ish mob but didn't know it). Unfortunately he died, but the rest of us exodus'd out.

Headed back in, sans the enchanter, I got to play CC with snare and root. Got back to him without any issues, even dealing with 2 to 3 in camp at a time. Rezzed him and then took off because it was kind of late. Saw lots of named, got like 4 or so items, and another 1 or 2 that rotted because they were nodrop.

Second time we took a small raid force (around 3-4 groups) to see if we could take out that named guy. Before we did that, we went and killed the spider thing, which was fun. We did have a 6-7 fire giant pull but it was pretty trivial for the raid... I think single group it would be evac time. Killed the spider thing, went over to the other named thing, but by then we were down to about 14 people with only 2 tanks, and we decided after trying a couple things unsuccessfully to deal with the 6 no-mez/charm/slow/snare level 65 mobs we just called it a night.

I do agree that there takes some skill to play in this dungeon than some may be accustomed to. Having played for a long time in lower guk, chardok, and many other dungeons, this dungeon seemed very familiar.

There is some skill in knowing when to push the evac button, and some skill (sometimes) in being alert enough to push it before someone (or at least everyone) dies. That's the best way to prevent a total party wipeout and a long cr. There is also some skill involved in never placing yourself in a situation where you (as the evacer) will be the first to die.

This is a situation where some people have never had to think about; but for me, it's second nature.

Similarly, there are many other, often small, and often easily overlooked, skills which help dungeon crawlers... many of these skills will never come into play in Valor, Overthere, Dreadlands, etc. Stuff like always having enough room so that if there is bad pathing, not everyone is screwed. Knowing to look out for wanderers. Remembering to snare mobs, and snaring them without getting agro. Watching out for gaters (though didn't see any in solc) etc etc.

I'm not saying that any of this is rocket science -- it isn't. But for someone who has done this type of stuff a long time, they are going to have very different reactions and reaction times than someone who knows in theory what to do but hasn't had the experience.

I found SolC to be fairly entertaining and not very hard at all. I can see how other people might have different opinions, but I wanted to point out that not everyone is annoyed with the zone.

- Xylem, E'ci

PS on a similar note, I do think there are some different skills which are needed for other types of encounters -- I did not want to imply that dungeon crawling requires skill while other methods of gaining xp do it. On the contrary, I think almost all methods of gaining xp efficiently require a fair amount of skill.

I don't want to insult you are anything.... But seriously..

That zone is great and is easy to do everything but the highest bosses with 3 or 4 mid 60s players. I have gone in there a half dozen times now without a cleric and the only death I recall was someones 31 cleric alt that died in the lava on the way in trying to get that 2 hander Heli drops way too much more than the ring.

Whatever happened to The Abbey of Innoruk dungeon they were supposed to put in? That was the reason there was a hallway in SolA that just had this invisible force field that wouldn't let you turn the corner or go any further past it. Did they just decide to completely scrap that and put in Sol C instead?