Visions of Grandeur

Myself and two buddies managed to kill the Maestro of Rancor two nights ago. Between the three of us we have 6 toons (65 mage, 60 SK, 59 Sham, 57 Beast, 51 cleric, 51 rogue - obviously levels go up quick so they might be higher even as I write this).

I know Hate went through several revamps so I am not sure which "version" of the Maestro we took down and how he compares to some other bosses. So I am looking for any recommendations on what we should try to take next. How do Inny, CT, Tunare, Trak, and dragons in Veeshan Peak compare?

On a related point - I never got past 60 on live EQ and did very little raid content as a tank. The SK is serving as the main tank for our group and I was wondering if anyone had any general advice as to how I should gear him. I currently am using a blade of carnage off avatar of war (15/20, great stats and enraging blow) and fabled shield of the slain unicorn. Should I switch to a 2hander (currently have an axe of destruction in bank) and does it make any sense to take the time to do the epic because it seems like the dam/delay ratio stinks (side note - Control as long as you are looking at epics, any chance you would consider changing 1.0 epic dam/delay or make 1.5 epics somehow obtainable)?

Also, as to armor, should I be focusing on specific resists, ac, +hp, or something else? With shaman buffs, it is my understanding I don't need to worry too much about stats because I will be buffed to the max, but please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks in advance for the tips and Control thank you again for this amazing server.

Some of the others will be better at this question than me, but I'd guess that until your SK catches up in level, the mage pet will be a better tank. Would guess that you could pretty easily kill ct/inny/trak and lower velious/luclin named. Mage pet + slow + cleric can do pretty crazy things, not even counting your other dps.

for the tank, i would focus on ac any time there's a choice of gear

I wouldn't worry about saves on gear. The casting damage and AE's on the server are pretty much superfluous. I would equip the Axe of Destruction. Unless you get the something like the knight exclusive 1hs from Veeshan's Peak I would just use the best two-handed weapon you can find. If you are tanking something really tough you can always switch to sword and board using your bandolier but those instances are quite rare.

If you are looking for raid content I would say you can do Trakanon with ease and all the other Kunark content except VP. You could do some of the lower level Velious and Luclin raid content. I don't know what your gear is like but you could start farming some armor from Halls of Testing and the Kael arena if you want to go that route. As for Inny, he isn't that bad but will just take a long time to kill. I don't remember him being much worse than Maestro but he is level 70. I don't think Tunare can be slowed so she will be a bit more of a challenge.

Veeshan's Peak here is the 2.0 and you will need to get your group to 65 to have a lot of success against the named dragons. Once you hit 60 with everyone you could probably kill the trash. Basalisks drop a 1hb, wyverns drop a earring, wurms drop a ring and drakes can drop a haste range slot item. All of them would be a decent upgrade for your characters. There are also a couple of relatively decent quests off of Xygoz and Hoshkar in VP you can complete for Elemental Planes level loot and a more difficult quest from Phara Dar which requires Tactics access.

I would recommend just getting all your characters to at least 60. At that point, all of Velious and most of Luclin would be doable for a group of six except for maybe Avatar or War and Vulak. You will probably need to spend some AA's before they are doable. Inny and CT are kind of mid-range Velious difficulty.

So we were able to take down Inny, but barely. Ton of fun; thanks again Control for the great job balancing things.

We are all rather unfamiliar with Luclin - is there anything worth trying there (both for exp and loot)? I know the planes are great, but I don't want to skip any expansions.

Also, how do Veeshan's Peak and Temple of Veeshan compare in terms of difficulty? Is there any relationship between the factions of those two zones?

Any other tips for fun places to try (pre-PoP) would be welcome.

Luclin mobs have a significant jump in hit points, and a bosses start to have mechanics other than tank and spank. The exp is not great in Luclin, but there are many specific items worth farming if that's your thing. I spent a decent amount of time killing Lord Seru and doing the Cursed Cycle in Ssra temple. Seru doesn't require bane weapons, unlike live, and has a few pieces I still wear. Cursed drops a few great weapons (bloodfrenzy) worth looking into, although spawning him is annoying.

Temple of Veeshan is the first place I spent some time at after freshly hitting 65. Good loot and xp, and useful practice for killing raid targets. Veeshan's Peak dragons are significantly harder, but the loot is equivalent to upper planes gear as a result. Veeshans Peak trash mobs, however, also can drop great gear, and are no harder than normal trash mobs. Xygoz and Hoshkar have great quest loot, and involve velious dragon faction, so if you farm in ToV you will need to kill in Kael for a bit to correct it.

Thanks Kopek. When you say Temple of Veeshan, do you mean the halls of testing part or all of the zone?

I'm talking about the north wing. Halls of testing would be alright if you wanted to get some armor drops, but it is still bound by a four hour respawn like the rest of the zone. Dozekar quest loot is great if you can kill him.