The perilous adventures of Zerocon

[Oilfan73]

Preface:

In this thread I will be diarizing the adventures of a newly created Warforged Artificer, Zerocon. This is something I've never done previously (describing my exploits, plunders, and epic fails in a forum post) so there are bound to be revisions as I go along. So my first question to myself was "what character should I play?" I opted for an Artificer for a couple reasons; one reason being that I think it has fairly decent solo ability, but the main reason being that I have virtually no previous experience playing an Artificer (I've dabbled a bit playing a few levels years ago, but that's pretty much it). So that being said, my gameplay will be less than "uber". I'm not going to be following any particular build posted on the forum. I'm basically going to learn as I advance in quests and levels. So, if you're looking for how to play a Warforged Artificer maximizing DPS, survivability and being the most efficient possible, this thread is not for you. I welcome ideas and suggestions, but keep your rude non-constructive comments to yourself because you obviously are not understanding the purpose of this thread.

More to come....

PS: Unless otherwise noted, all quests will be run on normal difficulty ("omg dude....you should be running leet"........ read above)

[Oilfan73]

Abilities:
STR: 8
DEX: 16
CON: 16
INT: 18
WIS: 6
CHA: 6

Level 1 feat taken:
Augment Summoning

Gear:
Docent: Initiate's Docent
Weapon: Ember Repeating Light Crossbow

[Oilfan73]

That's right. Everyone's favorite place....Korthos. With the exception of this starting area, one of my favorite things is starting out new characters. Maybe it's the "something shiny" feeling of a new character, but as my daughter can attest to, I do enjoy rolling new characters. It's here, where my journey begins:

Heyton's Rest
This was simple and straightforward, as expected. I did forget to buff myself with my Enchant Weapons spell until halfway through the quest though. It wasn't necessary as I was able to range attack without taking any damage. I put my iron defender on attack mode, but since I was getting them at range, there wasn't much for the iron defender to do except test the fitting of its bolts and hinges (side note: I should probably think of a name for my iron defender.....suggestions?)

The Storehouse's Secret
With my iron defender on attack mode, it was nice as it made a straight line to the spiders and rats. Good because that gave me more time to spend shooting barrels and crates. I'm thinking that I might need to invest in a melee weapon because it would probably go faster than shooting at them. The boss sahuagin, Huul Eyx, went down before it could come out of it's hidden room thanks to some crits with my repeater.

Taking a look at some enhancements as I now have 2 action points. Not sure where I'll be spending my points in the long run so I may have to reset these from time to time. For now, I'm taking what will help me now. I spent my first two points in the Warforged tree by taking Improved Fortification and Mechanist I. The added fortification and healing amp will definitely be helpful.

The Cannith Crystal
One of the few benefits of running quests over and over....you begin to know where all the cultist spawn points are. My iron defender seemed to have fun as it was like a mechanical Lassie showing where the well is which Timmy's trapped in (or in this case, where the cultists are lurking in the shadows).

The Collaborator
To start this quest I cast Enchant Weapons on not only myself but also my iron defender. I should actually do this all the time. The reason this time because I was perched up on the hanging light above the bar so I wanted my iron defender to take out as much as possible in quick fashion down at ground level. I did pick up a +1 Heavy Crossbow of Doubleshot I in a chest. I tried it a bit, but I think my light repeater still manages to do more damage especially since the sahuagin are immune to the 1d6 of lawful damage from the heavy crossbow. I did pick up Oladren's Great Crossbow as my quest end reward. The Keen I on it is cool. I'll keep all three for now and alternate with them to see which one I prefer.

Oh, and I hit level 2!!! Woot!! At this rate I'll be level 30 before the sun sets lol I spent my one remaining action point on Construct Stability. The bonus to balance is nice, but I took this more for the increase in the Repair skill to help with self/iron defender healing. (I made a mistake earlier. Mechanist I was two action points so I must've had three points to spend earlier. Either way, I've spent four so far and ready to take level.

[Oilfan73]

Abilities: (unchanged)
STR: 8
DEX: 16
CON: 16
INT: 18
WIS: 6
CHA: 6

Gear:
Neck: Amulet of Inner Focus
Docent: Initiate's Docent
Waist: Rugged Belt
Wrists: Bracers of Assistance
Weapon: Ember Repeating Light Crossbow / +1 Heavy Crossbow of Doubleshot I / Oladren's Great Crossbow

[Oilfan73]

Some of my guildmates comment about certain times during gameplay where the in-game music is good. One of the first things I always do in a game is mute the in-game music. Why? Listening to some Metallica while questing is pretty **** awesome, that's why! lol

Off to Korthos Island I go. I decided to go ahead and snag up all the Explorer locations and check on any rares. Found the ice spider, Cicic.

Redemption
Who in the flame are you?

No.

Who in the flame are you???

When I run this on elite I sometimes fail the quest if I don't have healing capabilities for Heyton, but since I'm running this on normal, it's not a concern. I just buff him up with Aid from my Bracers of Assistance and he's good to go. Go get 'em Coyle...I mean Heyton!!

Misery's Peak
Finally!! Got through this quest. I'm always happy to complete this quest because it means I'm off this stinkin', freezing cold island!! So, when I hit level 2 I got the rune arm use. I picked up Thought Spike from the Redemption quest and now I have 1-2 force damage added to my attacks. You artis out there....do you use the rune arm charges? I'm not a big fan of it. Maybe there's situations where it would come in handy, but mixing it with my crossbow (adding the Alt button to my attack) doesn't feel "natural" to me. Maybe it's just something to get used to. Have I mentioned that I'm one of those people that doesn't use keyboard shortcuts comfortably? (I know, I should)

Oh, I thought of a name for my iron defender. Maxcon (or Max for short). Get it? Get it? Maxcon, iron defender of Zerocon.

<crickets>

DM: You failed your DC roll on your Clever skill.

[Oilfan73]

The Kobolds' New Ringleader
This is a great XP quest right outta Korthos! I went in destroying all the boxes for this one in order to reap the rewards of the Ransack Bonus (especially with it being a high XP quest for the level).

Now hold on a second. Before you comment on my choice of running the quest this way, keep in mind that I know this goes against the "XP/min rule" that many go for. We're not doing that here. We're taking our time....'cuz that's how we roll in this thread.

Going through this quest was nice and I certainly got my share of barrel and box busting. And with that, we got enough XP for level 3!! Ooooh yeah!

Spent my four Action Points on Mechanist II & III.

I learned something...the repair spells I get are free. When I leveled up I selected to learn the spell Repair Moderate Damage. I didn't need to because I was already given that. What a noob!! Oh well. For now I'll just run with one less Level 2 spell until I either inscribe another one or select one at Level 4.

Oh, and Max gets enhancements too? Saaweeeeeeet!!!

[Oilfan73]

Abilities: (unchanged)
STR: 8
DEX: 16
CON: 16
INT: 18
WIS: 6
CHA: 6

Level 3 feat taken:
Point Blank Shot

Gear:
Docent: Initiate's Docent (+5 AC bonus w/ +3 Repair)
Eyes: Deft 2 Goggles of Accuracy 2 (+2 Seeker & Attack)
Head: Focused 2 Circlet of Spot 3 (+2 Concentrate, +3 Spot)
Neck: Amulet of Inner Focus (+1 Will)
Waist: Rugged Belt (+5 HP)
Feet: Grundok's Boots (+3 Jump)
Finger: Engraved Ring (+1 Deflection)
Wrists: Bracers of Assistance (Aid clickie)
Weapon: Ember +1 Biting 1 Repeating Heavy Crossbow of Critical Piercing 2 (+1d6 acid, +2d6 piercing on crits)
Rune Arm: Thought Spike (+1d2 force)

I picked that heavy repeater as an end reward from Ringleader. It made my decision easy on which crossbow to use!!

[Oilfan73]

As a ranged attacker, one of the great things about open wilderness areas is you can target the creatures from a great distance and even with the recent changes to ranged aggro, I still have plenty of time to put them down before they get to me. The nice picturesque details of the whole wilderness area is also a great feature. I roamed around here and picked up all the wilderness locations, plus I struck it rare rich with five out of seven rares found. The only ones I did not get were Thaalan, Brigand Commander and Talloak Stoutfield, the farmer (I guess I needed to rescue him - meh, I was busy shooting bugbears).

Where There's Smoke...
When the day comes that Zerocon retires from adventuring he has his retirement hobby all lined up. He will be known as Zerocon, the Dog Whisperer. I think Maxcon wanted me to help the poor dogs out. Maybe it was the kinship. At any rate, I brought back all the dogs and made short work of anyone who stood in my way.

The Captives
"Hi Pearl Dumpling. What quest do you have for me?"

"My last name's not Dumpling, it's Drumling.

"Are you sure? You look like a Dumpling."

I don't know why, but ever since this quest came out years ago I've always had the name Pearl Dumpling in my head. I know it's not that, but it's just one of those names that stuck right off the bat. Now, I just refer to her as Pearl Dumpling. (Wise words from Zerocon....calling a computer generated NPC a "dumpling".....is ok. Calling a real person a "dumpling".....let's just say you better have your Evasive Boots on and click your AC boost.)

This quest more often than not, has always seemed to take a death by somebody when I run this on elite with our Permadeath group. Those champion wolves hit HARD! On normal, however, easy peasy.

I earned a couple more Action Points completing the Cerulean Hills and with those two point I took Construct Stability II & III. I'm now sitting at 21 repair spell power with 40% repair amplification. Oh, and that new heavy repeater I picked up earlier? Lovin' it!!!

[Oilfan73]

Today my journey takes me to the catacombs. Pretty straightforward stuff in here. LOTS of doors to open though.

The Friar's Niece
The bats in here, like most bats in this game are a nuisance at best. Always flying around me making it hard to shoot. Fortunately for me, Max took care of them for me. Good Max. With the recent "fix" to the aggro it does in a way make things simpler. Just stand there after reading the note and they will all come to you. I picked up a +2 Hardy 2 Docent of Undead Guard 1 for my end reward. This is a good choice especially with this quest chain.

To Find a Witness: Return to the Sanctuary
Lots of doors, lots of chests, lots of loot. Most of it not needed, but still good to get at this point. Max sure looked small compared to the iron defenders in this quest. lol I remember years back when they made the iron defenders twice the size that they are right now for this quest. When you pulled the lever, you ran before they could get you.

The Old Archives
You know, Head Librarian Guillaume reminds me of that really slow person in the checkout line at the grocery store that seems to take forever and question every product price that gets scanned. The speed that he walks is unbearably slow. After making a sandwich and taking a nap, I get back to see Guillaume finally at the bookshelves. Rest of the quest goes much faster...

The Crypt of Gerard Dryden
Not a fan of this quest. Pretty long a boring. Got through it thankfully and dinged for next level. I'll hold off on it for now until I finish up this quest chain.

Setting the Wards: The Lower Cathedral and Setting the Wards: The Patriarchs Crypt
Almost done this chain. Just one more trip up the stairs. You know, with the technology of the Cannith, they should really invest in some sort of elevator system or something. Uuup!! Doooowwwwnnn!!


Endgame: Marguerite and Endgame: The Archbishop's Fate
These two quests that wrapped up the quest chain went by quickly. I had noticed as I was running them that somehow my rune arm was taken off. There was no added force damage that I was doing. I took a look and sure enough, it was in my inventory. I don't recall ever taking it off... Aside from not having ghost touch, the Archbishop went down with ease. I ended up taking Ogre Power +2 Bracers. Nothing else really interested me, and the added strength will help to not get overburdened with the loot (hasn't been an issue yet, but just thinking ahead).

For the remaining two Action Points before leveling up, I took Construct Toughness for the +10 HP.

I took Level 4 and pondered on what I should do at this point. I opted to take my level-up ability bonus as INT, took Rapid Shot as my feat and Elemental Weapons for my Level 2 spell.

[Oilfan73]

Abilities:
STR: 10
DEX: 16
CON: 18
INT: 19
WIS: 6
CHA: 6

Level 3 feat taken:
Rapid Shot

Gear:
Docent: +2 Hardy 2 Docent of Undead Guard 1 (+2 CON, +1d8 Good damage on Undead hit)
Eyes: Deft 2 Goggles of Accuracy 2 (+2 Seeker & Attack)
Head: Focused 2 Circlet of Spot 3 (+2 Concentrate, +3 Spot)
Neck: Amulet of Inner Focus (+1 Will)
Robe: Grounded 6 Cloak of Spellsight 4 (+6 electricity resistance, +4 spellsight)
Waist: Gracious 4 Belt of Natural Armor Bonus 2 (+4 Diplomacy, +2 Natural Armor)
Feet: Boots of Solar Guard (+10% movement and +2% attack speed, +1d8 Light damage on hit)
Finger 1: Engraved Ring (+1 Deflection)
Finger 2: Blazing 14 Ring of Physical and Magical Resistance 3 (+14% cold resistance, +3 PRR & MRR)
Wrists: Ogre Power +2 Bracers (+2 STR)
Weapon: Ember +1 Biting 1 Repeating Heavy Crossbow of Critical Piercing 2 (+1d6 acid, +2d6 piercing on crits)
Rune Arm: Thought Spike (+1d2 force)