Titan Quest dynasty - slow ride through "Legendary" play

[hoopsguy]

So I goofed on saving in Babylon and had not encountered a save point that allowed me to start again in the new land. So back to the Hall of Prometheus for me.

I dinged Level 26 before finishing that area out again. Time to start putting some points in Dream mastery. I'm going to basically invest points in the skill set itself, as I don't believe I can move points in and out of there when I see a mystic. There is coming a point in the game (at the end of Babylon) where I think the mystic may come into play more than it has up to this stage. The options look pretty cool, but I'll spend a point every two levels on spells while the other five points go towards the mastery to build it up very quickly. Both attribute points go into Intelligence this level as I want to continue to build my elemental damage.

Health: 1755
Energy: 886
Strength: 176
Intelligence: 283
Dexterity: 146

Resistances: Fire and Electricity 21, Cold 31, Poison 25, Energy 35

DPS: 173
Combined Armor: 182

Health Regeneration: 1.90
Energy Regeneration: 7.23
Offensive Ability: 146
Defensive Ability: 156
Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 773,493

Best Item: Coil of the Gryphon w/Herakles' Might
Worst Item: Beastcaller's Ring of Reasoning (hoping that Babylon will FINALLY shore this up)

[hoopsguy]

Since I'm back in Egypt I decide to clean out the remaining quests before moving on to Babylon. I had some misgivings about leaving the stuff behind earlier and decided to correct a wrong here.

Along the way I find an amulet that is just terrific.

Spellbound Amulet of Reasoning (rare):
+18% Elemental Damage (#1 item type I'm looking to acquire)
+13 Intelligence
+8% Energy
-23% Energy Cost

Out with the old amulet in a heartbeat. DPS jumps by 16 points, while the Pets suffer a little on their damage. They will live, given an option that scales damage and energy for me, along with reduced energy costs.

The treasury goes over 1,000,000 gold while completing these remaining quests. Which really means I need to find some items worthy of purchasing, or else start swapping some of my monster charms out of old items. Or something - the gold itself does not provide much value. Again, hopes are high for Babylon to address this "issue".

[hoopsguy]

We pick up a very nice ring for completing one of the quests.

Insulated Engraved Ring of Frost:
24% Lightning Resistance
+11% Cold Damage
8 Cold Damage

If I was using a cold-based staff I would definitely look to equip this. But since I'm lightning-based right now I'll just stick this in the inventory for later. At the very least it is nice to see that there are worthwhile rings out there, even if it isn't a good fit at the moment.

I'm not able to find a quest location near in the Valley of Kings. There are tombs all over the place here, but I can't find the converted Thebes leader anywhere. So it is off to Babylon.

While searching the desert I did bump the level up to 27. Two more points of Dream Mastery and my first spell from this discipline. Lucid Dream, which deals extra damage, electrical burn, and vitality damage seems like a nice choice. I add points to Intelligence and Dexterity - Dexterity because it is lagging behind my other attributes.

Health: 1787
Energy: 971
Strength: 180
Intelligence: 300 (moving up quickly right now)
Dexterity: 150

Resistances: Fire/Cold/Electricity 21, Poison 25, Energy 35

DPS: 191
Combined Armor: 182

Health Regeneration: 1.90
Energy Regeneration: 7.40

Offensive Ability: 150
Defensive Ability: 160
Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 1,285,470

Best Item: Coil of the Gryphon w/Herakles' Might
Worst Item: Beastcaller's Ring of Reasoning

[hoopsguy]

The Gardens of Babylon are the first area in the new land and they are overrun by Ichthians, spiders, and a new foe (Mantid) that resembles a praying mantis. The creatures don't seem to have a ton more health, relatively speaking, but they are hitting us harder. In particular, the poison from the spiders is running through health more rapidly than the Egyptian variants.

Soon we encounter Jungle Creep's, which are huge mounds of vegetatian that spit a poison bomb doing massive damage. The attack is slow and easy to avoid, but deadly if it does land. There are also vines that attack, although they are the least worrisome foe we have encountered in this land.

We battle through many foes before finally reaching the courtyard for the Temple of Marduk. Up to now, my hopes of a brave new world of treasures in Babylon have yet to be realized. The merchant in town had a sparse collection of items and our foes have not yielded much loot.

Inside the temple we find a collection of spirits and Ratmen. The toughest of the Ratmen are Diseased Kings, who have a bunch of hit points and deliver poison damage to the party. Poison seems to be big over here so far.

The sell value has gone up again - I found a rare mace (that I'm 100 points of strenth away from being able to use) that sells for 39,842. That price tag is higher than any item I'm currently using, with my new amulet being the closest at 38K. And there is a new class of staff - the Battle Staff - that will likely be the next weapon for us. It requires 262 Intelligence and I found one doing base damage of 19-66, up from 15-48 that my Totemic Staff delivers.

[hoopsguy]

On Level 3 of the Temple we enounter both demons and traps, in tight quarters. Level 4 begins with an encounter with a chimera, who has both a fire blast and an electrical field in his bag of tricks. This monster is new to the expansion pack, unless my memory is utterly failing me. But it was not all that daunting, as the damage delivered was not steep and he didn't have additional allies to distract us, other than a pair of traps that the pets dismantled quickly.

The gold is flowing freely here. We get a 3,000 gold drop from a Majestic chest beyond the chimera, the largest that I have seen yet.

We meet Feiyan here, who appears to have failed to stop the Telkine from alighting with the Sickle of Kronos. She tells us she fell on the first blow. It is good to see her a little more humble than in the past, as she recognizes our power now that she has measured up so poorly to the Telkine. But that doesn't help much, as the Telkine now has a deadly artifact and is on the move across the countryside. His goal is unknown, but we can expect him to create the same kinds of problems for the natives as the other two before him.

[hoopsguy]

The Telkine appears to have carved out the back of the Temple, up through the earth. We follow this trail and emerge on the outskirts of Babylon. Here we find an arcanist, who will hopefully have better items available for taking the battle to this 3rd Telkine. No such luck.

On another inventory note, I now have a fourth area for carrying gear.

We rescue a farmer from Ichthians, who pleads for help liberating his livestock from the monsters. No problem, and we take out an Ichthian hero for good measure. The next group of foes we face are Neanderthals, who have saberlion pets and shamans among their group. Chitinous Mantids, a hardier form than the ones we saw in Babylon, are the final trial before moving on to the Parthian Highlands.

Here we find more neanderthals and spiders, who remain our toughest opponents so far in the Orient. Their poison, especially in numbers, really seems to sneak up on me despite having it as my highest resistance. We run into spider-men, Arachnos, that we haven't seen since Greece. They are not as much of a challenge, as their damage is primarily physical. And the spiders finally overwhelm me - it was a matter of time as I was continually having to withdraw to let me pets damage them as I healed.

I have mixed feelings about dying here. I dind't pass once in all of Egypt, so I guess I was due to have something dumb happen at some point. And it is instructive to learn that I'm as weak against poison as I must be to be troubled by these creatures. But with it as my highest resistance, just how much will I need to build up here to mitigate this risk? 25% isn't all that high, but is 50% going to make a meaningful difference?

[hoopsguy]

Level 28 comes shortly after the death, and I do have a spell in Nature that would build up my resistances to elemental damage. However, poison is not elemental. So the three points go into Dream Mastery, as originally planned. Attribute points once again go towards Intelligence and Dexterity.

Health: 1924
Energy: 998
Strength: 186
Intelligence: 311
Dexterity: 154

Resistances: Fire/Cold/Electricity 21, Poison 25, Energy 35

DPS: 195
Combined Armor: 182 (need to improve this, has been stagnant for awhile)

Health Regeneration: 1.90
Energy Regeneration: 7.51

Offensive Ability: 154
Defensive Ability: 164
Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 1,804,850

Best Item/Worst Item - still the same, very distressing.

When I see the same items listed as best/worst items for as long as they have, what that tells me is that the game is catching up to my characters. At different points, I feel like I'm ahead of the curve or behind the curve relative to the game. At the moment, I think I'm maybe a smidge ahead, but throughout most of Egypt I felt like I was significantly more powerful than the foes I faced. The biggest edge I have right now is being Level 28, which is probably 1-2 levels higher than I have been in the past when at a similar point in the game.

[hoopsguy]

The Parthian Highlands give way to the Silk Road. Here we meet a wanderer who tells us that the Telkine has passed through. Just follow the treacherous Silk Road, they tell us. Naturally, we wander off the road to see what else is to be found in these lands.

And it is more neanderthals. They, like the Ichthians, have a habit of bailing on a fight when they lose half of their hit points. It is very satisfying, after playing a melee guy last time around, to have a ranged attack to smite them in their cowardly backs when they pull that maneuver.

There is another foe here, the Yeti. These guys hit really hard and travel in packs. It is important not to get toe-to-toe with a group of them; that is what my pets are here to do. Even worse is the Hulking Yeti, which have at least twice as many hit points.

Although we are still following the Road, the map now shows us in the Bactrian Woods. What this means is that we are moving higher into the mountains and seeing more Yeti. And Peng, which are weak flying demons who attack in big packs.

I head back to the Arcanist to sell my loot. Once again he has no items of value for us. I wonder sometimes if I overvalue the items I have at the expense of good new items, but I don't think that is happening. If there is something interesting I buy it and compare how it measures up against my current stats. But the lack of turnover in my inventory is depressing right now.

[hoopsguy]

We move into the Amdo region, even further north and higher in the mountains, where we come across the Shangshung village. Here we learn of a mammoth Yeti lurking in a nearby cave. Another villager tells us of the angry neanderthals who are attacking the village. In the past, the neanderthals were peaceful. This man fears for the life of his son, who is out in the wild.

This village is the first in this region to have a Caravan, so we move goods around here.

Across an icy bridge is the land known as Natu La Pass. More neanderthals, more peng. Just past a group of yeti is the entrance to a cave. Perhaps the great Yeti is in here? Not initially, as we encounter some ice demons. As we descend deeper there is a very close call with a group of demons and a few Djinni - yikes, the cold resistance isn't stacking up all that well either. It might be time to make resistances a higher priority with the armor selections.

There are no yeti to be found in that cave. Better luck next time. Natu La Pass yields to Natu La Ridge. More Djinni, and I confirm that they have an ability to encase me in stone for a time.

We find a caravan trader under assault from ice demons. We rescue him and he rewards us with a magical ring. There is also a large cave near the trader. Perhaps this is the cave we are seeking. And again we are disappointed.

The Chumbi Valley is further east and we finally see some changes in both the competition and the wintery scenery. We do begin our descent from the peaks and gradually find signs of green again. And a stream - definitely a change from the last few areas.

The creatures are raptors, and they come in both small and large sizes.

We meet a village elder (very small village) who tells us that three sacred weapons have been taken and the spirits of their ancestors now torment them. We quickly dispatch of the ancestors, but find no weapons on the pedastals. They must have been stolen - the elder is very afraid of what sorrow awaits him and his people. He asks us to find the weapons and his lost son.

We are headed back up into the hills, back up to the ice, to Tsongmo Peak. Here we find the son, who reveals that he took the weapons to battle the neanderthals. But like everyone else in these lands, he mismanaged them and armed his enemy. The neanderthals are holed up inside an ice cave ahead.

It is here that we defeat a pair of Neantherthal heroes. But still no weapons, and we head deeper into the cave. There is a neanderthal warlord here who I believe is the second most dangerous encounter in the game (pre-expansion pack). He has an attack that just destroys health - there is enough warning to avoid it, but he also has a stun attack so if you are stunned and then get the special attack it is lights out.

However, I did have the luxury of my own private army. So I engaged him initially from range to get his attention. From that point on, I circled while allowing the pets to continue attacking him. Somehow they did not fall in range of his massive attack (stones falling from sky) and chipped away at his health. The battle took about three minutes to complete, the longest one since at least the Minotaur Lord.

Of course, the character sheet still lists the last Telkine as the toughest foe. Yawn.

I found a pretty interesting set of armor.

Primitive Girdle:
59 Armor
+15 Armor (14 better than current)
+11 Strength
+11 Dexterity
+10 Damage to Demons
Required Strength: 191

And there is the rub. I'm at 186 strength right now, but 20 points of that come from the current armor. So I'm actually much more than one level away from being able to equip this. Still, I'll keep it around for a little while. I'm gaining strength with my Dream Mastery points so it won't be too many levels before I can use this. And at the rate that I'm finding new items, I suspect this will still be my best armor option.

[hoopsguy]

The Squid has accumulated well over 2 million in gold at this point.

Another lone man in the wilderness tells us of the passing of the Telkine through the caves ahead. We get the whole assortment of winter wonderland creatures - ice demons, ice raptors, ice peng, etc. They eventually give way to neanderthals, who are able to live in any conditions.

This is the deepest cave we've seen yet in these lands. We descent to the third level after traversing two large levels. Andour reward on the third level is getting to face the gigantic yeti. He has a ranged freezing attack, as well as a second immobilizing attack. In addition he has a lot of health, but doesn't hit as hard as some other foes. I have to retreat a few times and summon 4-5 additional pets, while downing a handful of potions, but the battle is won. And he gives up yeti fur to complete that monster charm.

Here is another completed relic that I intend to equip.

Essence of the Udjat of Horus
12 Armor
+6% Armor Protection (I don't know what this does)
Completion Bonus: 16% Poison Resistance
Can enchant all armor

Since I'm fearful of poison damage, this is getting equipped now. I would prefer not to use it on my torso armor as there are some items that can only be slotted there, but my arm and leg armor are already slotted. So it goes with the helmet.

I also find my first 4,000 gold drop in the majestic chest that sat behind the yeti. Along with a fairly well known set of armor from the Titan Quest forums.

Lazarus Bracers (epic)
96 Armor
10% chance of 1-22 Lightning Retaliation
+20 Strength
+25 Defensive Ability
+10% Attack Speed
Required strength: 223 (not very close right now)
There are four items in the Lazarus armor set.

So, I'm planning to stow these items for several levels and see if I ever grow into them. They don't help with my elemental damage, and they can't be slotted, but the armor rating is exceptionally high (current armor yields 45 with slotted item).

[hoopsguy]

I finally located an upgraded staff, although I now need an arcanist to retrieve my Valor of Achilles to complete the transition.

Grim Battle Staff of Feasting (rare)
43 Base Fire Damage (compared to 15-48)
Speed: Slow
+23% Life Leech
15 Vitality Damage
9 Vitality Damage (24 Vitality compared to 15-26 Lightning)
7% of attack damage converte to health
+1.2 Energy Regeneration per second (up .1%)
Lose out on +15% Lightning Damage

The DPS dips from 195 to 186 when I change items, but that will be addressed by moving the relic. I anticipate a jump to 205-210 when the relic moves. The separation costs 308K, so the total cost of the new staff is about 800K. That is an enormous amount of money for a small jump in DPS, but I have the money lying around so why not use it? The new DPS, with the charm, is 211. So I paid 50K per point of DPS.

[hoopsguy]

Level 29 arrives and I'm really looking to address our healing capabilities. The Squid now has almost 2000 health and a healing spell of 300 really isn't as significant, especially with our foes doing more damage. But I also want to continue to build my mastery in Dream magics. Two points for dreams, one point for the healing this time. The healing spell now recovers 370, so it still needs to be addressed along with the additional health for party members. Attribute points again go to Intelligence and Dexterity.

Health: 2015
Energy: 1016
Strength: 190
Intelligence: 319
Dexterity: 158

Resistances: Fire/Cold/Electricity 21, Poison 41, Energy 35

DPS: 212
Combined Armor: 205

Health Regeneration: 1.90
Energy Regeneration: 7.74
Offensive Ability: 158
Defensive Ability: 168
Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 1,447,121

Best Item: Ceremonial Phrygian Helm of Inertia w/Udjat of Horus (was close before without the relic)
Worst Item: that crappy ring

[hoopsguy]

Since I'm tired of looking at the Beastcaller's Ring, and I now have a Life Leech option on my staff, I decide to pull out an epic ring from many levels earlier.

Blood Stone:
9% Pierce Resistance
12% Life Leech Resistance
15-36 Life Leech over 3 seconds
19% Life Leech w/+49% improved duration
+39 Health

The DPS goes up another 10 points with this switch. Hopefully my pets understand ...

[hoopsguy]

We exit the ice caverns and are greeted by a large party of Yeti and Saberlions. Welcome to the Khantai Mountains. There is an interesting item here - Amulet of Augury. +18% Intelligence and +19% Energy. Wish that was a ring, but I'm pretty attached to my current amulet and its elemental damage bonuses.

This area is warmer than the land we left behind. Yetis give way to neanderthals. The Orkhan Valley is loaded with neanderthals tucked away in caves with raptors roaming the woods. We cut through both groups. Next stop: Outer Mongolia. This is the first time we meet the larger Peng. They hit pretty hard and mix in with a large group, so they pose a bit of a threat for me. I'm not able to mow them all down from range, as they fly in quickly enough to discourage this approach.

The Mongolian Plateau is the next land area to cross. We still have not seen any sign of the Telkine. Tigermen are the consolation prize, as we see these guys for the first time in the Orient. First impressions - their sorcerors are much improved, calling down lightning strikes on the wolves. The Pack Leaders use the "Battle Standard" which makes all the troops much tougher to fight. So Tigermen don't go down as easily here as they did in Egypt.

New Arcane Formula - Sunstone:
Required: Domain of Dragon Kings (have 2/3), Monkey King's Trickery (not sure), and Raptor Tooth (have completed).
+10% Damage
+10% Fire Damage
+10% Vitality Damage
25% Fire Resistance
25% Skill Disruption Protection

I want it - it goes very well with my current staff (fire + vitality).

As we head east we find the Village of Guanzhong. The natives, the Yerren, have little interest in meeting us. They are basically bigger neanderthals.

We discover yet another Arcane Formula

Crystal Tear
Required: Jade Emperor's Serenity (not sure), Saber Claw (not sure), Yeti Fur (complete)
75 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
+18% Cold Damage
+133% Lightning Damage
+18% Vitality Damage
50% Bleeding Resistance

Another good one. Will be interesting to see where we are at in terms of the items. But our current formula is set to be retired soon, I think.

[hoopsguy]

The Yerren warlords are pretty tough in terms of damage and health and the hero is even tougher, as he plants a battle standard. It is hard work clearing out the village and we are forced into a mini-retreat two times before rallying with potions.

We meet a woman who wails that her daughter is trapped in the village. Turns out she was trapped behind one raptor. Seriously - isn't there anyone else out there who can take care of stuff like this? Next stop - the Great Wall.

We find Yerren assaulting troops manning the Great Wall and come to their aid. The Captain informs us that it fell yesterday before teh Telkine's army, passing into the mainland. They are still struggling to clear the remnants of the beast army from the shattered wall. Another captain relates that they are unable to dislodge a giant peng up ahead.

We defeat the Colossal Peng and his minions, using three potions in the process. Nothing too scary, although I'm below 25 potions for the first time since Greece.

Another Arcane Formula - Deathrattle:
Valor of Achilles (have it equipped with my current staff), Spectral Matter (have it), Scroll of Arcane Power (think I can buy it?)
10 Damage
30 Poison Damage over 3 seconds
+30 Health
+30 Energy
+15% Attack Speed
The trick is the Achilles item - I would have to destroy my current staff to recover it. But after that, I could keep this item equipped while being free to change out items. The 15% attack speed is very attractive.

As an aside, this is my favorite scenery in the whole game. The sense of moving up and down the wall, with mountain scenery in the background, is really pretty neat.

[hoopsguy]

The wall is "All Peng, all the time" until the end, where we see Tigermen. We exit the wall near the Shaanxi Province. The commander is is pleased that we were able tohelp with clearing out the wall.

There is a new creature type in these lands - Dragonians. And they are a load for us. The grunts have enough health, and move quickly enough, to engage us while the sorcerors in the back fire away. The first couple of encounters were very tough and we are going to have to work on better strategies for dealing with them as they are pretty much everywhere the rest of the way in China.

We come across the village of Zhidan. I would expect these people to be hardy warriors to live in the middle of foes like the Dragonians. One of the villagers tells us that the Telkine, with the sickle, has disappeared into the woods heading towards a city named Chang'an.

One of the peasants warns not to stray from the road when heading to Chang'an, due to the presence of a terrible beast. That is an invitation if I've ever heard one.

[hoopsguy]

We need to cross the Jingyang Woods on the road to Chang'an. As we wander off the beaten path we encounter a foe that hasn't been around for awhile - Ichthians. It is Raptor central on the main road. As we continue making our way through the forest we stumble across Arachnoids. Let me reiterate a point from earlier - I have zero interest in fighting spiders.

So naturally the very next encounter is spiders. Even with the enhanced poision resistances they still do a lot of damage to the Squid.

We meet a warrior who is angry at us for saving him. He is seeking a noble death - at the hands of wimpy Ichthians? However, he comes to realize that he needs to act in a noble and selfless way, protecting others instead of wallowing in his own despair. Sure - now please get out of the way.

The terrifying beast in the woods was a large, slow moving spider who was dead before he reached us. Hold me.

We find a quest item - a Jade Figurine - in a cave in the Jingyang Woods. I have found this with three of my characters now and never been able to associate it with a quest so I can get rid of this item

[hoopsguy]

And I've purchased yet another new staff.

Grim Orb Staff of Rime:
38-47 Base Cold Damage
Speed: Slow
+18% Cold Damage
21 Cold Damage
11 Vitality Damage (other one did 24 Vitality)
+1.1 Energy Regeneration (down 0.1%)
Lose the 7% attack damage converted to health, lose 23% Life Leech. But the DPS goes up ten points before transferring over the relic. Now that is a keeper.

Cash flow is down to 1.35 million gold. And I'll need some to extract the Achilles item, although I may save it for the artifact.

Level 30 comes while clearing out Tigermen in the Shaanxi Fields. Two more points into Dream Mastery (now at 12/32) and one point into Premonition, which at level 1 increases both offensive and defensive ability by 5%. Points to Intelligence and Dexterity.

Health: 2156
Energy: 1035
Strength: 194
Intelligence: 317
Dexterity: 162

Resistances: Fire/Cold/Electricity 21, Poison 41, Piercing 9, Energy 35, Vitality 12

DPS: 234
Combined Armor:205

Health Regeneration: 1.90
Energy Regeneration: 7.57

Offensive Ability: 170
Defensive Ability: 180
Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 1,358.539

Best item: Ceremonial Phrygian Helm of Inertia w/Udjat of Horus
Worst item: Padded Wraps of the Pegasus w/Boar Hide (have had it for 20+ levels but can't replace elemental damage/resist)

[hoopsguy]

We power our way into Changan, where a woman tells us there is a woman asking for us at the center of the city. I'm pretty sure I know who this is. In other news, the emperor's terra cotta soldiers have come to life and are terrorizing the populace.

The Captain of the guard is worried about the clay soldiers more than he is the monsters invading his town. His deputy explains why - the men fear them since they are supposed to be possessed by the spirit of the emperor.

Our old friend Feiyan is the woman in town. She shares that the Telkine was in town but has vanished. The Order of Prometheus have not found him yet. It seems that the Telkine is after the last Titan, who was imprisoned here on earth by the gods. If the Telkine frees him then life will get really lousy for all of us.

We have to head to the Jade Palace and speak with the Yellow Emperor, who can tell us where teh Telkine is held. An old poem descibes the Emperor as being in a jade palace at the top of Mount Qiyun. So that is our next destination.

[condors]

just picked up the game due to this dynasty-and proceded to get overrun and killed twice before i finished the first quest, i am not thrilled with the combat interface i tend to run by things instead of shooting them. The game looks like alot of fun if i can get the controls down. Dinged level 2 and took warfare hopefully that works out.

[hoopsguy]

We launch an assault on the Chang'an Palace, working through a host of terra cotta statues in the courtyard. There are basically two classes of statues, the rank-and-file warriors and generals who have more health and do more damage. Neither one is very challenging, but they attack in numbers which creates a challenge when they gang up on me instead of attacking the pets.

Once inside the palace we learn that there is a leader named Bandari who is animating the terra cotta soldiers. He isn't that tough once we get to a showdown with him, but we have to go through an army first. Until we eliminate the enemy he just teleports further back into the palace. The captain is very pleased that we overthrew the sorceror.

However, there are more soldiers in the city to be eliminated. It doesn't take long to find them and we make short work of the soldiers.

We die a bloody death outside the city to a pack of Tigermen. One of the leaders put up the standard and we took a ton of damage really quickly. That is #7, and the second one in Asia.

The rematch is also pretty hotly contested. There are a pair of leaders and they take awhile to kill. Both of them are pretty hot to come after me, ignoring the pets and my defense is not all that great. But some strategic retreats + potions adds up to a victory in the second encounter.

We make our way outside of the city and encounter a disgraced general in the wilderness. He is in a state of reflection, which seems to have involved discarding his worldly good in a nearby cave.

Earlier I had mentioned that I needed a strategy to deal with Dragonians. So far, it basically involves using potions. As a result, I'm down to 11 potions as I head into a cave in the Quinta Bamboo Forest looking for the general's gear. It has been forever since I had to actually spend gold on potions ...

The cave is full of Ratmen and a few shades. But no equipment cache. We emerge outside of the cave, from another entrance, and encounter a mixture of raptors and dragonians. Tough combo.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by condors

just picked up the game due to this dynasty-and proceded to get overrun and killed twice before i finished the first quest, i am not thrilled with the combat interface i tend to run by things instead of shooting them. The game looks like alot of fun if i can get the controls down. Dinged level 2 and took warfare hopefully that works out.

I still have some problems with running past stuff every once in awhile, and it is definitely frustrating to misclick and put yourself into a bad position. The good news is that the penalty for dying is very light. You should have plenty of time to work through the initial learning curve. Also, in the early stages of the game I would strongly recommend trying to pick up potions as it takes awhile for damage to heal naturally.

Let me know if you have any questions or want some company while figuring it out. I'm always looking for an excuse to create a new alt.

[hoopsguy]

Also, a general question - would screenshots help make this more engaging? I'm running the game on my desktop and typing on my laptop. I'm sure I can get the screenshots, but it would take a little work to transfer them over (have to find the USB key, etc) ...

[hoopsguy]

We find a new remote village in the midst of the wilderness named Binxan. Tigermen are attacking but we repel them and find some basic services here such as a teleportation portal and a merchant. The Tigermen are even more fierce across the bridge, taking out a pair of our wolves and costing me three potions.

A farmer shares a story about an ancient cave hidden behind the falls. The spirits here have turned against him in recent days - the Telkine really seems to mess that kind of thing up royally.

Death #8 comes at the hands of a pack of Dragonians - they are pretty good at running with me when I retreat if it isn't a full-out run.

Upon further review, one of their spellcasters has a sleep spell. Yeah, that is going to hurt in close combat with five other Dragonians.

We find the cave that is beneath the falls and it is littered with shades and undead. The quest culminates with a battle with five shades. The farmer has a rare item that he provides us upon completion of the quest.

Dreadful Talisman of Servitude:
+39% Bleeding Damage
+22% Cold Damage
+58% Vitality Damage
Bonus for Pets: 10 Armor, +40 Health

That amulet actually brings our DPS up 9 points over the previous amulet, which included +18% elemental damage. I'm a little surprised, but will go with what works. The tradeoff is less energy (-8%) and losing the energy efficiency bonus (-25%) but I'm rarely having energy issues so I'll take it.

[hoopsguy]

And another death to Dragonians. I really need to invest in more potions, as I'm down to two of them now. The bigger challenge is that they are just mauling my pets and I don't have the advantage of distractions while fighting the bigger groups. So - spend more points on pets next level? I'm pretty close to hitting it, but would prefer to keep dumping my points into mastery levels as they help build attributes as well. Maybe I need to see a mystic? Lots of ways to attack this problem ...

After the rematch with the remaining dragonians who killed me we run into a dragonian hero. However, much like we normally do with our best competition, we come through with flying colors.

Moving east, we enter the region known as the Qiyun Ascent. More dragonians reinforce the idea that I just can't go toe-to-toe with them. Very frustrating. On the positive side, I hit level 31.

I decide that more health would be a good approach, so I bump my Heart of Oak up three points. That raises it from 30% to 45% health bonus. Since this is always on, it acts as a 300 health bonus, bringing the Squid to 2405 health. It also might be a good idea to not play with a few beers in me, but that would mean calling it a night early. Not happening (yet). Attribute points go to Intelligence and Dexterity.

Health: 2405
Energy: 962
Strength: 194
Intelligence: 306
Dexterity: 166

Resistances: Fire/Cold/Electricity 21, Poison 41, Piercing 9, Energy 35, Vitality 12

DPS: 244
Combined Armor: 205

Health Regeneration: 1.90
Energy Regeneration: 7.46
Offensive Ability: 174
Defensive Ability: 184
Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 1,800,124

Best item: Ceremonial Phrygian Helm of Inertia w/Udjat of Horus
Worst item: Padded Wraps of the Pegasus w/Boar Hide

[hoopsguy]

We meet a young woman who tells us that we are in an unsafe area. A side quest is updated named "Three Sisters" so it appears there will be more to this tale.

I'm still searching for a better Dragonian strategy, as they bum rushed me yet again. If they have two casters I'm pretty much meat right now. The best approach is to walk very cautiously, so that I don't trigger a group of 5+ to come after us. In groups of 2-3 I'm fine, but when it is a whole crew of them I'm forced to retreat in a best-case scenario.

We continue to make our way up the mountainous passes. No ice yet, but we are definitely on elevated ground. In fact, the region is now listed as Moutn Qiyun. We find a group of Peng greeting us to the mountain.

There is a mystical bull that we encounter next who also summons shadow demons. He has a load of hit points and just eats my pets for lunch. But he won't follow us across the nearby bridge and that is a huge edge. I can summon new pets there and swat away his demons without his interference. That makes it pretty easy to finish him off, although I still go through about seven spells along the way. If there wan't the bridge trick he would have been much, much harder.

The character sheet actually recognizes him as my toughest foe, replacing Bandari the sorceror who summoned the terra cotta warriors. Good, this guy was considerably more difficult than the magician.

We cross one last bridge and enter the Jade Palace.

[hoopsguy]

The Yellow Emperor is flanked by four spirit warriors, but they do not attack us. The Emperor welcomes us to his chambers - it appears that he is lonely as he gets few visitors. He is concerns about the invaders, as the third Telkine is far more deadly than the first two. If he succeeds in freeing Typhos (the name of the Titan) then we are all doomed. The Titan is chained under Wasao Mountain, which is close to Chang'an. He hopes that we can beat the Telkine there by taking a chamber here in the palace. He then gives us a pep talk.

It would have been nice if he could have kept the terra cotta warriors in the chamber from attacking us, but I guess that is too much to ask. The passageways dump us into a natural cave as we are now underground taking the shortcut back to Chang'an. Ratmen owned these chamber prior to our arrival, but they are not able to hold their ground.

After cleaning out the rats we get spiders and a pack of Djinn. Getting tougher, no doubt about it. We emerge in the Jinghe Wetlands - yep, looks like the area outside of Chang'an, no doubt about it.

[hoopsguy]

Now I could cheat and just teleport back to Chang'an at this point, but I'll avoid doing so. Also, I had neglected to mention that there were a couple of areas in Chang'an that were locked for quests - I'm guessing I'll be able to access those areas fairly soon after I get back in town.

And we are battling through a ton of raptors in the wetlands here. And then, just like that the raptors are gone and replaced by hordes of Tigermen. The Ichthians are the next group to get their shot at the title belt, but they come up just as lacking as the others before them.

We meet the 2nd sister, who tells us that her sister is in trouble. She had a charm that prevented monsters from attacking, but it appears to have been broken. The third sister is guarded by Tigermen. Upon release, she reveals that she broke the enchantment while defending a deer from one of the invading creatures. That broke the conditions of her training from an ancient sage - long story short, when she attacked a creature she was open to be attacked.

[hoopsguy]

Yerren are the next to try and stop us from reaching Chang'an once again. But they fail and we breach the gates, coming in an area that was previously closed off to us. Interestingly enough, the "quest door" still won't open for us. That's enough - I'm porting into the city.

I finally decide to take the plunge and shed the Dune Raider's Harness with the +20 Strength boost.

Stout Jeweled Mantle
48 Armor
+23 Armor (jump of 11 from current)
+45% Energy Regeneration

Feiyan is just amazed that we found the Jade Palace. She tells us the location of Wusao Mountain. We should find the gate that leads to the Forest of the Ancients. Finally, she apologizes for treating us poorly earlier and reminds us that all the hopes of humanity rest on our shoulders. Do Colossal Squid's have shoulders?

[hoopsguy]

A guard who was unwilling to open a door is now willing to do so, but he warns me that there are a TON of monsters behind the gate and asks if I know what I'm getting into? He isn't kidding, as there are four Tigermen Leaders out there, who swarm us as we enter. Some strategic retreating helps make the odds more manageable.

There are a ton of spiders in the Forest of the Ancients. I feel a little like Indiana Jones upon seeing this. "Spiders, why did it have to be spiders?" And there is one other type of monster that live here - Dragonians. We are going to have to earn our way across this patch of land.

So far, so good. We come to a log that runs across a stream granting us passage to the north end of the Forest of Ancients. We continue north into the Wusao Barrens and know that the entrance to the mountain is near. We seem to have a better rhythm fighting the Dragonians. A couple of shrines near the teleportation spot help us launch our final thrust northward to the entrance. It is at the end of a thin passage that is chock full of undead archers and sorcerors. We lose a few wolves claiming the territory, but move on to Wusao Mountain.

[hoopsguy]

There are very tough Dragonians at the start of Wusao. They have a charging attack that levels a lot of damage on the initial strike and they come in a wave of three. After getting past those guys, there is another group of about six lancers (guys who charge) and spellcasters. Very tough, need to be taken methodically. After clearing them out are a bevy of archers. Not good for my pet wolves, but we survive and advance.

The second level starts off easier with a troop of Ratmen. It moves to undead archers, who drop an interesting item that I won't be able to use.

Spearman's Silk (epic):
81 Armor
29% Pierce Resistance
100% Bleeding Resistance
+19% Pierce Damage
+21 Strength
+2 to Take Down
Required Dexterity: 212

Levels 3 and 4 are more of the same. Undead archers are the rage right now, particularly in tiny levels like these. Although Level 5 doesn't head down, but out onto a wide ledge similar to the Mines of Moira feel in FOTR. But the wimpy fire demons are no Balrogs.

Level 32 arrives. This is likely my last level before facing the Telkine, so I would like to make good decisions now more than ever. More damage seems like a good route - I dump all three points into Lucid Dream, taking my damage numbers up.

Damage: from 10% to 18%
Electrical Burn: from 15% to 27%
Vitality: from 15% to 27%

Attribute points go to Intelligence and Dexterity.

Health: 2405
Energy: 962
Strength: 174
Intelligence: 311
Dexterity: 170

Resistances: Fire/Cold/Electricity 21, Poison 41, Piercing 9, Vitality 12, Energy 35

DPS: 248
Combined Armor: 217

Health Regeneration: 1.90
Energy Regeneration: 8.91

Offensive Ability: 178
Defensive Ability: 188
Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 128

Gold: 2,714,816

Best item: Ceremonial Phrygian Helm of Inertia w/Udjat of Horus
Worst item: Padded Wraps of the Pegasus w/Boar Hide

[hoopsguy]

We move into an area called the Obsidian Halls. Home stretch here ...

The floors are pitch black, with volcanic areas and smoke emerging periodically. We make our way through a number of demons, undead, and Dragonians before stepping a little too far and attracting four of the Lancers. Boom - dead.

It takes a couple of minutes to walk back to the scene of lucky #13. I basically tip-toe when I get near the site to make sure that I don't pull all four at the same time again. And we are in luck, as they come in groups of one/one/two, which is much more manageable.

We find a new monster who is a load - Sepuchural Wyrm, which resemble red dragons and breathe fire on us. Bad for us, bad for pets, lots of health. Not fun. We make it to the next rebirth fountain - we are close.

There are a few packs of Dragonian archers that we beat down before heading back to trade in loot. I'm down to 15 potions again so it would make some sense to get some reserves.

I swap out the Blood Stone for an Insulated Ring of Frost - should have done this awhile back when I moved to a Cold-based staff. It bumps DPS up 18 points.

Insulated Signet Ring of Frost:
25% Cold Resistance
+8% Cold Damage
5 Cold Damage

[hoopsguy]

The Wyrms are hot and heavy near the back half of the Obsidian Hills. Their fire breath just lays my pets to waste. We pass through a shattered gate and can hear the sounds of a great creature straining against his chains. This is going to come down to the wire.

We are up on a ledge looking down on the Telkine, who is in the process of cutting out Typhos. And he is really big - he absolutely dwarfs the Telkine. We do not want to fight him - period, end of story. As we make our way down, we see that the Titan is free! And striding towards a portal! Time for a last ditch piece of heroism and suicidal tendencies. But we are too late to stop the Titan. The Telkine turns to face us.

He is the toughest of the Telkines, as he summons fire demons and his attacks actually do damage. He also is adept at swatting away our pets. I alternate between summoning more pets, running around, and taking my shots at him. Although the Telkine has a lot of health, we actually manage to hit him pretty hard with our attacks - I can see them depleting his health each time I'm able to line up shots on him. I'm left with three potions at the end of the battle (used about 8-10 during it) but emerge alive and ready to hunt the Titan. After, of course, claiming the spoils from this battle.

We pick up a better version of our bracelet at the store for a little over 400K.

Insulated Armlet of the Gryphon:
48 Armor (18 better than item not including relic)
27% Cold Resistance
+22% Elemental Damage (down 3%)
5 Elemental Damage (up 1)
+23% Energy Regeneration (up 2%)
10% Attack Speed (up 2%)

DPS goes up four points, armor is up three points even without the relic.

While on my buying spree, I upgrade the torso armor by a point while bringing in +42% Health Regeneration. That cost another 240K.


We return to the chamber, collect the rest of the remaining loot, and set foot into the portal. Next stop? Olympus.

[hoopsguy]

Olympus starts with Limos (them again!) and undead casters + archers. The Limos are pretty tame at this point - they can't suck out the health as fast as I deal damage. But the archers and casters fire quickly and hurt us.

The next wave is some tougher Automatoi. As before, there are two classes with one being bigger, stronger, and with more hit points. And they yield no treasure or mechanical parts, just like the others

The third batch are Minotaurs and Minotaur Lords. I do not want to fight these guys up close, as they cut right through me. There were about five that rushed us ... too many for close quarters without a doubt. Both sizes have attacks that stun/sleep which makes for a more difficult hit-and-run strategy.

Behind the Minotaurs are Cyclops. These guys were the bane of my existance with a close-range fighter but are significantly easier with ranged attacks and pets. They have a skill disruption attack that does massive damage but beyond that are not too difficult. They move with pretty good speed for larger creatures, but don't have overwhelming hit points.

After finishing off about eight cyclops, I hear a booming, sinister laugh in the background. Hmm, I bet I know who that is. We move into the Olympus Summit section and prepare for battle. It is worth noting that I have died 14 times in this game leading up to this conflict.

[hoopsguy]

Upon further review, I'm going to gear up for this battle a little more. I have a number of unslotted items and that really isn't acceptable when I know I need to deliver a lot of damage to win this fight.

We pull the Achilles item out of the old staff for 550K and slot it in the current one. Up to 301 DPS, from 270. The price for DPS is going down, apparently.

Another ring swap generates 12 more points of DPS - heading in the right direction.

So, we are going into battle with the following ratings:
DPS: 316
Combined Armor: 237

I don't think it is nearly enough, but lets see where we stand. I also load up 60 healing potions and 40 energy potions.

[hoopsguy]

The pets can't do anything more than take one shot. And I don't recover them quickly enough for it to be interesting. My best bet here is to bring a few scrolls (have not used these all game) and see if they help, I think.

Death #1 comes after making about seven passes, where he destroys the pets and I retreat. This time I wasn't able to retreat quicly enough. I think I've taken about 5% of his overall health so far.

Death #2 comes when I abandon the pet strategy and go after him myself. I used the Frostbite shrine and was able to immobilize him with some strikes and do OK damage - 15% at best, I think. Time to see the Mystic and move some stuff around ...

I pull a couple of points off my wolves and everything away from my poison attack to max out Lucid Dream and Premonition. Premonition bumps Offensive and Defensive Ability up 18% each, while Lucid Dream now does +28% Damage and +45% Electrical Burn and Vitality. While I see my O/D abilities reflecting the change, I don't see an impact on my DPS ... well, technically it went up four points. Not what I was shooting for ... but it's a start.

[hoopsguy]

Death #3 was a pretty decent fight, if I do say so myself. I went in the ring with him and traded blows for awhile. I used the Battle Marker to help deliver some extra damage and tried to be extra aggressive while it was in play. I believe I got his health down as much as 30%.

Death #4 was our best showing yet, as I put him down to around 30% health. I'm ecstatic about how this is working at the moment. There is time to land shots on him when he brings the hail of lava and also when he shoots fire - those are his slowest attacks. But I'm now down to 15 potions (from 60) so I can't stretch this out very long without needing more healing.

I battle him down to four potions and decide it is time to hit the road. Back to Binxan, where I left a shrine earlier for this moment. I'm going to load up on potions, hit the shrine on the way out the door, and hope to ride for a minute or so with the bonus where I wouldn't normally have it against Typhos.

It is a Shrine of Mastery - very good. Hopefully a slow PC doesn't eat away all the time; it was very sluggish heading to the village.

Death #5 - very disappointing, as Typhos had all his health back. Ugh - I'm not sure how many more shots I'm going to take tonight at this point. I was happy to be chipping away at him, but not starting over. There is no value in doing this. I'll see how far I get on my next shot, but I'll have to put a serious dent in him to persist.

Death #6 - not a serious dent. Good night.

[hoopsguy]

So, one of the challenges that I'm facing with Typhos is that the set of skills that got me to him isn't applicable in this battle. The Colossal Squid has been successful largely by distributing the load across the pets - they draw attacks and deliver additional damage. But against Typhos, the pets are just annihilated before they bring any value to the equation.

The solution? I'm not sure, as I've already attempted to redistribute some of my spells and maximize my equipment. I do not have the ability to reallocate my attributes or to transfer points between masteries (from nature to dream) so that isn't an option.

One alternative is to move to a higher level. I'm about 40% of the way to Level 33 and that might help with taking out Typhos. That isn't a very good long-term strategy; what if I'm not good enough to defeat him at Level 33 or 34?

Another alternative is to look for a cold-based weapon to see if that has any impact of slowing down Typhos when he attacks. But I don't want to give away a ton of DPS, as I'm already struggling to hurt him sufficiently.

Since I've restarted the game - shut down last night instead of pausing it - I had to clean out Olympus again to gain access to Typhos. Nothing noteworthy along the way, no deaths and no items. But I'm resigned to the fact that I can't beat him at the moment. So I'm going to ramp up to Level 33 and then make my way back here for Round 2 (well, technically Typhos won the first six rounds last night, but that isn't important right now).

[hoopsguy]

Level 33 arrives. Attribute points to Strength and Intelligence. Spells - that is a little more tricky. I can buff health further with Heart of Oak, which seems like a decent approach ... being able to survive a little more damage would be helpful. But I want to see if Trance of Empathy works - damage reflection, some attack damage converted to health. Three levels of that mean that I'm reflecting 21% of damage. Hope this works the way I think it should ...

Health: 2349
Energy: 962
Strength: 183
Intelligence: 315
Dexterity: 170

Reistances: Fire 21, Cold 48, Electricity 45, Poison 41, Energy 35, Vitality 12

DPS: 322
Combined Armor: 237

Health Regeneration: 2.32
Energy Regeneration: 8.89
Offensive Ability: 200
Defensive Ability: 212
Cast Speed: 110
Run Speed: 128

Deaths: 21 (and about to go up?)

Gold: 2,135,012

Best Item: Grim Orb Staff of Rime w/Valor of Achilles (can't find anything close to it right now)
Worst Item: Padded Wraps of the Pegasus w/Boars Hide (can't find anything with elemental damage bonus to replace it)

[hoopsguy]

Next part of the strategy - I purchase three scrolls for 740K.

Scroll of the Sky's Rage:
Calls on the power of the skies to rain fury upon nearby enemies.

Lightning Storm Attributes:
Life Time 15.0 seconds
200,000 Health
5000 Energy

Lightning Storm Abilities:
Lightning Bolt
0.5 Meter Radius
75-125 Lightning Damage
1.0 second(s) of Stun


I'm hoping that these storms will inflict a ton of damage on the Titan in a short period of time. But I'm a little worried that the damage isn't high enough here to really dent him.

I wanted to get two Sky Rage, but there are availability issues so instead I pick up two Crushing Vortex (45 second duration, 10 meter radius, 70 damage, 30 elemental damage).

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by PiemasterUK

Just posting to let you know that I bought the game at the weekend and am enjoying it. I spent most of the first day creating lots of characters and playing them up to Sparta to see what the different masteries have to offer. I had a lot of fun with the Hunter, so I have decided to take her onwards for the time being (although I tend to get altitis with games like this so I will probably change my mind).

Not sure if you are still reading along, but were you posting over on the Diablo forums last week? Saw a name that looked like yours who was going to start playing. If so, would love to hear how it is going either in here or by PM.

[nilodor]

good luck against the big guy, hopefully your strategy pans out.

[hoopsguy]

Wow, the last fight with the Titan was very, very close. I had him down inside of 5% health. I really don't think the scrolls were a massive difference maker, but I fought well and was patient until the very end. Time to go finish him off. I went for broke that fight, using all three scrolls and all the shrines, as well as summoning pets frequently as a distraction. Bummer to die at the very end with victory in my grasp - if he has all his health back I may put my fist through the monitor.

And the 2nd try doesn't work - I fight like crap. But he goes down hard on the third time. Zeus speaks to us, thanking us for our help - even the gods are shocked that I defeated a Titan. He tells us that the mortal world is not yet safe, but that I am responsible for protecting the world going forward.

Typhon's essence spits out a bunch of magic items. Hopefully there is some kind of serious payoff here ...

One green, one relic. A 6,000 gold drop, and a slew of yellow items. Of course the relic is the only Chineese one that would not complete an item for me (sigh).

There is a new portal to step through - wonder where this leads?

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by nilodor

good luck against the big guy, hopefully your strategy pans out.

It did, kind of. Truth be told the scrolls weren't that useful in delivering damage to him. I had never used them before and it changed the way I fought a little bit. But the fight was basically won, until I looked and said "Wow, he is almost dead!!!" and then got smashed like a mosquito on the windshield.

Still, very happy to be past him and moving on to what is new content for me in this game.

[hoopsguy]

We are teleported to the temple of Apollo. A blind man summons us to speak with him. Apparently our deeds above have created strife below. We must journey "to where all men are destined" and "seek the sorceress of the Ixian Wood". Sure.

From the temple of Apollo we move into the City of Rhodes. It is battered, all of this has happened today! Apparently there was a Kraken that attacked the city, but the statue of the Colossus fell atop it right as we felled the Titan.

Apparently the sorceress was jilted by Jason of the Argonauts and hates heroes? This is shaping up nicely. Her name is Medea - may need to bone up on my mythology ...

Time for bed - was up a little past my bedtime last night on this fool's errand

[hoopsguy]

We meet a woman whose son has fallen ill. She asked Medea for help, but was told that she would need to bring the Tome of - some ancient queeen. One of Medea's students wanted to help, but did not cross Medea. Perhaps she knows of the ancient tome?

A great shelled monster has arrived at Damatria, blocking boats from entering the city. We can still access the city via the Cave of Orthea, but the road is dangerous.

So, lots to do here in Rhodes ...

As we leave the city we wind up on the Coastal Asomata. Our initial foes are smallish crabs named Karkinos. Next up are Anouran, which appear to be frog-men. Soon after this we find an entrance into the Cave of Orthea. Let's see how dangerous this is - the crabs and frogs haven't exactly terrified me up to this point.

I'm a little worried about the pets - they don't seem capable of staying alive in a fight at all right now. I may need to re-allocate some points to them if I don't want to continuously have their back.

The cave was a cakewalk, and we emerge in Damatria. Perhaps these people don't understand that I braved a Titan in Olympus before arriving in their little villa?

[hoopsguy]

The head fisherman in the city is complaining aboutthe crabs coming after his people. There is a giant one - sounds like the same one we heard about in Rhodes.

The giant crab has a lot of health and "teleports" by disappering in the sand and emerging nearby. But nothing that a couple of potions can't handle. We are rewarded with our first relic piece from this land.

The items in this land are different than the ones I have seen up to this point. And they appear to be better, which is nice. But I have yet to find one that makes the cut for being equipped, although I'm expecting that to happen whenever I start finding some rare items ...

We encounter a man on the beach who is asking for help lighting a fire to signal ships. Every time they try to light the flame they are swarmed by undead. Hmm, I'm got some experience with undead, I could probably help. Particularly for an arcane formula.

I need to lead him to the top of Camirus Bluff, which is just NE of our current location. We find ourselves under a slow assault from a number of wraiths. They move slowly and in small packs, and we mow them down from distance. They are obsessed with attacking the torchbearer, making it all the easier to finish them off. Once we ascend to the top of the bluff we have to hold the area for awhile, but nothing too challenging. Naturally, the formula that we receive is one that we already have.

[hoopsguy]

Nextstop is the Ixia Woods. We encounter demons named Nightstalkers who seem to be pretty successful at dealing out damage against us - they cut through all three pets with a routine encounter. There are some large beasts called Anteoks here as well - again, we are taking a lot of damage here compared to what we faced last night.

We meet a scout in the forest, who is looking for reinforcements for his outpost. Looks like we are the reinforcements.

We pick up a pretty cool Arcane Formula from a group of Nightstalkers.

Shadow Veil:
Reagents: Deathrattle, Chaos Cube, Scroll of Frailty (this has been available)

15 Damage
45 Poison Damage over 3 seconds
20 Dexterity
+30 Health
+18% Attack Speed
Grant Skill: Shadow Surge - wave of darkness blasts outward from player's feet to wound all enemies in vicinity. 5.0 meter radius, 399-453 damage, 97 vitality damage, 1.5 seconds of stun
Required Level: 30
Cost: 300K

I want it.

[hoopsguy]

So we head to the camp and learn that the attacks are spearheaded by a particularly fierce Anteok. Time to go remove him.

And we have our first tombstone of the new area - got charged and mauled by a group of demons and I think an Anteok, but it was over too quickly. The foe was a demon lord, who had an aura that hurt us all. He had company last time, but we thinned it out before he could overwhelm us the second time around.

We move into the Den of the Anteok - seems likely that we will find our target here. And I have my second mouse-related death of the game here when faced with a pair of demons with the auras. I'm very frustrated by this, as it has been a persistent problem for the past few weeks. I'm lucky not to have another half-dozen deaths at least along these lines. I went from my crappy old mouse to a new Logitech and they both suck.

We take down the Anteok hero with a fair amount of running and potions - we just don't seem all that well equipped in terms of hit points and armor to deal with the creatures we are seeing right now in a straight-up combat scenario, so potions are assuming a greater emphasis.

Turns out that we didn't take down the head bad guy - he is a real load up close as he hits hard and stuns. He takes out pets quickly. But he does not pursue well and he doesn't do quite enough damage to kill me before I can retreat. We bomb away at him from long range and prevail.

I'm clearly going to need to see a mystic, get some levels, or change up my strategies at this level. The stuff I'm running into tonight is too unforgiving when I don't immediatly retreat.

[hoopsguy]

The main quest is updated letting me know that I should "defeat the sorceress' sentinels". That means beating two giant plant-creatures who are looking to mix it up at close range. No thanks - retreat and fire. And victory is ours.

We make our way into Medea's Grove. Medea is not pleased that we killed the sentinels. Medea tells us that we are supposed to head to Hades. If we bring the eye of the Gray Sisters - which they won't part with willingly - then she wil help us with this quest. The Sisters are filled with rage and power. Good times.


The headmistress appears to have lost a Sigil of the First Apoktisis when she was ambushed by formicids. She is afraid that Medea will be ... displeased.

Another acolyte promises to make a potion if we fetch the ingrediants. A third acolyte gives me a stone to summon the lich so we can retrieve the book for the woman in Rhodes. Man, the good deeds I'm doing sure seem to put me in harm's way 24x7.