Monday, May 24, 2010

Quest Guide: Asee-Teph - Part II

This is Part II of the Asee-Teph quest guide. You can find Part I right here. I'll be talking about the quests in this zone area by area, more or less in order of difficulty, since there is no clear linear progression through the entire zone. As I mentioned in the previous part of the guide, you should be ready to adjust your questing plans based on the PvP situation in the zone. Let's begin.


Central League Camp

There are a number of quests to pick up here, beginning with a few PvP oriented quests. If you're not familiar with the PvP flag system, pay attention to the quest The Rules of War, which talks about PvP in general and explains how your PvP flag works. If you're not familiar with the flag, see the image at right. From top to bottom the flags are:
  • Unflagged - You can only be attacked by an enemy player with the Bloodlust buff from a War Banner.
  • Flagged - Your PvP flag is ON and you can freely attack or be attacked by enemy players.
  • Flagged Cooldown - Your PvP flag is ON, but the timer is counting down. At the end of the timer cycle your flag will switch to OFF.
Note that if you attack a PvP target, player or NPC, your flag automatically turns ON into Flagged Cooldown mode. The Cooldown timer is five minutes, after which you automatically become Unflagged.

You should also pick up The Sites of Power and keep the League Banner you receive handy. Use it to capture any of the four sites you happen to pass if they are available, as this quest is a daily repeatable and will reduce the total reputation grind for the League Army.

Any time you're in the Central Camp you should check around for new quests. There are several World Mystery quests here, and new starter quests show up quite regularly as you level. These quests often point the way to remote quest sites, so if you're heading out into the wilds, be sure you pick up the appropriate pointers.

The only quest I would not pick up immediately is the Orders for the Guerrillas, as it consumes three precious bag spots, and puts you in the middle of a PvP heavy area. I generally put off this quest until I've cleared some of the easier locations here. Speaking of easier locations...


Jungle Mine

This is generally a pretty safe area as Imperials that travel this far are either questing or headed for the Central Camp. It will also give you your first taste of PvP enabled NPCs, when you take care of Saboteur Hunting. These NPCs will flag you for PvP so be sure you understand the consequences and keep a sharp eye out. While you're here, visit the Site of Power above the mine proper and pick up Sanctified Mine, but be very careful if the site is controlled by the Empire. The Imperial Channelers are very aggressive!

Note: Be sure you swing back by the mine when you've advanced in level to pick up Underground Danger a higher level group quest.

Misty Slope

Things get interesting here, since there is often quite a bit of PvP around the Misty Slope area. You will get the quests Arisen Tricks, which requires you to steal missiles from the Imperial Camp near Texio Swamp, and Raiding the Imperial Camp, which requires you to kill various PvP guards in the area. Note that you can circle to the swamp-side of the camp and sneak in the back to grab the missiles without flagging yourself. Watch out for the very dangerous Battlelord guards in the camp!

The remaining quests here are pretty straight-forward, so once you've wrapped up, move on to...

Uskul the Dead City

This is the first Historian camp you'll encounter. There will be Imperial players questing in the same area, so be alert. Two quests lead to this area, The Historian's Documents, and Fury of the Fallen. There are Imperial Watchmen around the Site of Power here, so watch your flagging. Keep an eye out for the lost Historian for Historians in Trouble, and escort her back to camp. The other quests here are kill or gather quests, and they are pretty quick. Be sure you ask for a Historian Pamphlet after you finish the quests offered here, as that will complete Historians' Documents back in the Central Camp.

Take a trip back here later to pick up the higher level group quest The Tomb of the Dead City (no link available).

Kotick the Dead City

This is likely your first encounter with the Free Traders, another neutral faction like the Historians. If you've completed Historians' Documents, then you probably have the followup quest Reading Material for the Lamias. To complete this quest, simply talk to the roaming Missionaries around Kotick, the Dead City. As you make your way to the Free Trader Camp, be sure you find the tired Trader on the road , who gives the quest The Exhausted Trader. Once in the camp you'll carry out a few straight-forward, but slightly challenging quests for the Traders, including The Trader's Plan, a kill quest for three unique monsters, and Dueling Lamias, which pits you against three successively harder foes in the Lamia arena.

Tekyan Thicket

Be sure you find the small encampment south-west of the Miktlan Ruins, as the Big Cats quest in the Thicket starts there. Get familiar with this area as several quests lead into this tangled maze. The Tekyan and June Sites of Power are both in this area. Be careful around the June Site, as it is guarded by pretty tough June Golems. Getting the capture here can be hard.

The real challenge here is finding The Predator. You'll be looking for a dead Gibberling hanging from a tree. As you get close you'll see a quest marker pop up. Once you examine the remains you'll eventually get the quest The Second Victim. From the first victim, look down the slope and spot the dead Orc corpse stuck to the side of a big tree. That's your goal. Take the offered followup quest and find the Demon Hunter NPC, near the stair ruins north-west of the second corpse. He'll give you The Predator's Lair. Slay the demonic beast and gather it's heart. Talk to the Demon Hunter again, and deliver his present back to the Central Camp to complete the quest line.

If you've gotten this far, you've probably covered all the "A" category sites on the map. Time to move on to the "B" sites. Most of these are pretty quick kill or gather quests, but there are exceptions so here goes...

Overcharged Shore

This area is full of demon worshipers and elementals. The lead in quest to take you to the single friendly NPC in the center of this mess, who will give you two quests, killing demon worshipers then collecting essences from the elementals. Once you've done these tasks she'll point you back to the central camp and you'll pick up the demon hunter line with The Demon Worshippers' Ritual  which is at the June Site of Power

Miktlan Ruins

Time to take care of the quest lines in the Ruins. Like the Uskul the Dead City quests, you are sent to this site with a purpose, Permission for Voisvet Belov. Carry out the quests on site for the Historians, killing elementals and gathering bones for the most part, and when your done speak to their leader and ask for permission, which he will grant. Note Asee-Teph's treasure is right in the Ruins, so now is the time to grab it if you haven't already.

When you're done at Miktlan, head about south-east along the road and pick up the quests offered at the camp there, Assault on the Hyenas and Rescue Mission. Note that Rescue Mission requires no fewer than SIX bag slots to complete (argh!)

Western Misty Slope

The western site near the Eljune border is a very quick stop, offering two kill quests, Hydras and Crocodiles, and one gathering quest, for vines from the local trees. You may want to take on the Texian Hydra while you're here.

Wild Corner

Head here when you have the troll killing quest Troll Camping Grounds. When you're killing the troll leader, be careful, there's a raid boss with the same name who spawns right next to the relatively easy quest boss. Make a stop at the marked camp to pick up Poisonous Medicine a quick kill for drops type quest. Make note of this camp, you'll be back later!

Swing by the Uskul the Dead City site, and turn in the zone's treasure quest if you haven't already.

Guerrilla Leaders

These three NPCs are located right near the Central Imperial Camp, the three eastern dots on the map. Each of these NPCs will offer you a quest or two, mostly involving PvP. Expect to die in this area, as it is heavily traveled by Imperial players and NPCs. You should have the quests Orders for the Guerrillas, and Imperial Heresy in your quest log when you head this way, as both those quests are resolved here. Be aware of the Channelers on the nearby site of power as they can be some of the worst NPC foes in the area.

Temple Camp

By now you've probably been to this site just north of Tensess Temple at least once. There isn't much going on here other than the reputation quest Imperial Sentinels. The other main quest here is Escape From Captivity, but this quest is very difficult to complete as the NPC can be attacked by unflagged Imperial players and her escort path leads right through the very tough Minotaur mercenaries. Seek high level help or wait a while to complete this task.

SCOSS

One quest leads into this complex, Imperial Science, which is obtained at the Central Camp. The surrounding area has a few others quests of note. The marked site north of SCOSS offers kill quests for the plentiful manticores and tough gar, and the Free Trader agent on the shore south of SCOSS offers a reward for killing Imperial Patrollers. It's worth having the Patroller quest when you do  Imperial Science, since there are several inside the complex you'll have to kill. For Imperial Science itself, there are three crates in the complex, one at the rear of the office / barracks type structure, and one in each of the left- and right-most warehouses. These are on fairly slow timers, so if you're in a group expect to hang around a while.

Final Wrapup

If you've come this far you're almost done with Asee-Teph. By now you're probably familiar enough with the zone that the loose ends are easy to wrap up. I would advise a final circuit around the camps to pick up any higher level quests you may have missed the first pass, and to complete any outstanding deliveries or followups you may have in your log. In particular, getting to the quest The Voice of Truth takes some running back and forth as you complete the prerequisite quests. Note that the Prophetic Family, the goal of this quest, is the westernmost red marker on the map.

A final trip right into the Imperial Camp for The Treant Guardian should be one of the last things you do here, a relatively easy sneak quest assuming there aren't a bunch of Imperial players around. Most of your remaining quests will be PvP-focused, or raids, which can be hard to get organized here. In particular the quests Horrific Disfigurement and A Smelly Task seem to be hard to complete because of this.

That should do it! Congratulations, you're free of Asee-Teph!

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