EQ2: Betraying Qeynos – the Faction Wars

Commonlands, at last. It took many days to earn the right to come here. That inky in Antonica had me going into Qeynos more than I ever did before I became an Exile. Some of those missions are far easier than others, but you don’t know til you try. I eventually settled on just one mission to grind out the majority of the 12 5000 point missions to make myself welcome in Freeport.
Alchemical Hazards
North Qeynos, Ironforge Exchange. A group can enter, so I had my cousin, Tipa, help out. She’s a monk and is happy in the Baubbleshire. We’ve never really gotten along, and she was happy to help me leave. This is a tradeskill instance with hostile Qeynosian guards and citizens. Near the named Scribe is a recipe; grab it. Near the forges is a bottle up on one of the dividers; grab it. Head to the chemistry sets and click on the huge barrel and you’re done.
In three times of trying this mission, the bottle was there just once. The other two times I had to abandon it. If it were consistently there, it could be done in just a couple of minutes with invisibility; there is only one mob, the scribe, that sees invis.
Fight Club
North Qeynos, on a landing in the canal near the citadel. Solo only. Enter and kill all the waiting contestants. Kill the ones in the adjoining room as well; the monk has the ticket to go upstairs. Go upstairs and talk to the Arena Master. Fight two single fights; the third time you fight two; and the last you fight the Arena Master himself.
Success here is totally dependent on how the random mobs in the bottom pop up. You’ll usually be fighting two even con mobs at once. Out of about four tries, I succeeded once.
Close the Door Behind You
South Qeynos, behind the Mage tower. Solo only. There are four encounters in the main room. The three static encounters can be either one or two mobs – if two, one is a down-one arrow and the other is a down-two arrow. About half the time, one of the two is a healer (therapist). Although the encounters aren’t linked, there’s an excellent chance aggroing one of the two far encounters will bring the other; same for the wanderer (who doesn’t aggro when you’re fighting something else, so save the wanderer for last). There is another encounter in the room on the right.
I only came close to killing the bottom floor encounters once. Every other time, too much stuff would aggro, and I never did finish it. Don’t even start if the three static encounters in the bottom room are not all singles; zone out and back in again until they are.
Notes on the forums suggest killing the keeper in the room on the right drops the key, but I ran out of power when I tried to kill them (stupid healer).
Speech Switching (not correct name)
North Qeynos, behind house next to Clothspinners. Solo only. You can kill no more than four mobs in this mission, or you’ll lose. A lot of wandering attendants are milling about downstairs, and every one of them sees invis (but none of them are linked). Wait until they gather away from the door to the right, then dash in there and steal a key from the monk meditating. He’s non-aggro; just right click and take the key.
Wait for your chance to run up the stairs. You may need to kill to get there if you’re seen; if you kill more than two, zone out and start over. Get upstairs, kill the two attendants, and click on the lectern to finish.
This is the easiest one, seeing as how there is very little killing, but the time spent waiting for the people downstairs to randomly move away from where you need to go took more time than I liked.
Killing Trees (not correct name)
Elddar Grove, behind “In Range” archery. Can bring a group. There is a static guard who stands around nearby; I had to eat a death to move him out of the way. Go in, kill the house plants on either side of the door (they’re linked and have an un-dispellable damage shield that does an AE when hit). Kill the guard, kill the chef. Go upstairs, kill the house plant and the three guards, go to the back wall and kill the caster. Loot key from body. Go downstairs, get Cooking Oil from the stove where the chef stood, unlock back door, kill guard, click on barrel to mix cooking oil with the fertilizer, click it again to light the fuse, and done. Takes about five minutes.
This was the mission I did the most. It was group, so Tipa could come with, it didn’t have any random elements, and the experience was fantastic. I made three levels doing the faction part of the Betrayal quest (helped by being mentored).
If you try to retrace my steps and are low level, you can do as I did and suicide after each mission. Reviving places you about ten seconds from the quest giver in Antonica, and cuts quite a lot of time from just running through the sewers and sneaking to the mission. Castleview Hamlet has the most convenient access to the Down Below.
My armor was mostly ruined by the time I cast Call of Haven; but as a pet caster, who needs armor?

This morning I took the tunnels to Haven’s Nektulos Forest exit and made my way to Freeport. They don’t attack me, but they don’t like me either; every guard “spots” me and draws their weapon. They finally let Matthias come in from the cold and wear a new, snazzier set of armor.

He wants me to do one last thing; to tame a dog. It can’t be that easy… I guess I’ll find out tonight, when I summon up my soon-to-be dear friend, Buddy, the Annoying Yaphound.
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EQ2 is such a lovely looking game, if you have the hardware to display it. In order of graphical niceness, it’s tops; followed by FFXI Online, City of Heroes, then World of Warcraft, EQ1, and DAoC. DAoC has nicer character models than EQ1 (and cloaks!), but the landscape is BORING. I was very much in love with FFXI’s graphical excellence until I started EQ2. Vanguard may top it, and actually, Vanguard and EQ2 look extremely similar…

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