Keepers of the Glade

Will attach multiple links here:

Digital Loot Link
http://groups.msn.com/steelhonor/vexthalloot.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=6709&LastModified=4675516224199200195

SPAWN MAP
http://www.vidiotmaps.com/eq/Maps/vexthal_jaryn.jpg

SHOW EQ VT MAP
http://www.vidiotmaps.com/eq/Maps/vexthal_showeq.gif

Zone Converter
http://www.vidiotmaps.com/eq/Maps/vexthal_zoneconverter.png

EQ Atlas VT Map
http://www.eqatlas.com/luclin/vexthal.html

Guide to Raiding Vex Thal

RAID BASICS

BE ON TIME. BE ON TIME. BE ON TIME.
This zone has a bajillion mobs to clear and we need you to be there, buffed and ready to go. If you expect to sign on after the raid begins for ANY reason, then take the extra five minutes of effort the night before, and camp out in Umbral Plains/VT. That way, as soon as you get signed on, you can be COTH'ed and helping us clear.

- DO NOT WANDER. STAY TIGHT WITH THE RAID.
Cannot stress this enough. Traps, see invisible mobs, easy aggro. All good reasons to stay tighter to the group than usual.

- DO NOT CAST AE SPELLS ON ANYTHING HERE. EVER.
Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad. BAD! Besides which the mobs here have huge amounts of HP and they're mostly unstunnable.

- Did we mention, DO NOT WANDER? Ever.

- PAY ATTENTION. VEX THAL REQUIRES 110%.
Back mobs respawn in something like 8-10 minutes, and the raid will near-constantly be moving, so avoid AFK if you can. If you absolutely must AFK for any reason (bio break, getting water, anything!) no matter how short, make sure you LET PEOPLE KNOW, and then /autofollow somebody in your group. There are ONLY one or two safe spots in the entire zone, and the raid leaders will let you know when we are in one of these rooms.

- YOU MUST /ASSIST AT ALL TIMES!!
There will be FREQUENT calls for offtanking, as 3/5 of the mobs in the zone are unmezzable and it is difficult to pull many of them solo. But if YOU are NOT the offtanker, then /assist, /assist, /assist. Do not kill off the entire raid because you insist on breaking the mezzes of the few mezzable mobs that are there.

Names
Qua - level 55
Zov - level 58
Zun - level 61 NOT mezzable / must be offtanked
Pli - level 64 NOT mezzable / must be offtanked
Eom - level 66 NOT mezzable / must be offtanked

- DO NOT LET ANYTHING GATE!!!!!
See "clearing the dungeon," below, for which mobs gate. Know them, stun them. One gate mob = one big amazing mess, trains of amazing proportions...

- HAVE FUN (Yes, it's possible)
The zone is the dungeon crawl to end all dungeon crawls, but the rewards are AMAZING. Congratulations, you are in Candyland, but you'll still have to earn the NPC kills.

Vex Thal ("VT") consists of a huge amount of yard trash and then several major raid-force mobs. While conceivably a group or two of extremely well-equipped players could hunt here, the exp level is poor, and there is almost nothing of value dropped off any of the mobs except the major named mobs. People come here because it is, hands down, the best loot (OF ITS TIME) in game short of the elemental planes/PoTime. It is the reward for being able to kill Emp Ssra and for having the patience to complete two major timesinks for keys.

ENTRANCE
You enter VT by questing the Sceptre of Shadows. The entry to Vex Thal is located on the southern side of Umbral Plains and is marked by a massive stone staircase. If you are familiar with Rumblecrush, he is the massive stone guardian to Vex Thal, and if he is spawned, then he must be cleared before entry into VT can be made. If your raid is unable to kill RC, then they are not going to survive the named mobs in VT, either. All other mobs around the entrance to VT do not see invisible, so it is possible to easily, and safely, travel invisibly from the Maiden's Eye/Umbral Plains zoneline, south then east along the wall, to VT.

When you first zone into VT you will find yourself in a barren rock hallway. Don't wander down around the corner because there are several mobs there that will easily crush you before you can blink. The first 2-4 mobs do not see invisible but almost every other mob in the zone does, so DO NOT WANDER. All initial raid buffs will be done at the zone-in (if the raid will be clearing the entry mobs) or after the raid is COTH'ed to the initial mob. The zone out is the wall behind you at ZI.

To progress around the zone, mobs must be killed in order to obtain keys. Generally rogues are given these no-drop keys (lucky rogues) because it is possible to COTH in certain parts of the zone. Additionally, certain named mobs must be killed in order to spawn/despawn warders in the zone, so any VT clear is going to require a certain amount of clearing; there is basically no way around that. Monks/other FD classes can generally split mobs but expect most pulls to come back with 2+ mobs.

VT is classified as a dungeon, but it is also an outdoor zone. Horses and SOW work here.

The zone-in consists of a long stone corridor with several stone mobs like the Da'Vyn of Ahkeva. These are cleared then you will find yourself in the lovely front yard of Vex Thal.

You will see a stone pond and a nifty statue of Aten Ha Ra. The temptation is to go stand in front of the statue and take a screenshot to prove you've been there. Avoid the temptation - there's a trap right on the edge of the pond in front of the statue that spawns a nasty robe mob on top of you. Generally the raid will move to the left side of the yard and pull to there.

YOU ARE CATTLE in VT. You will go where directed, when directed, and ONLY when directed. If you do not, the mobs in the zone will slaughter you and eat you raw and you will very likely cause a raid wipe, which are a mega pain in the ass in VT.

Repeat, DO NOT WANDER. Like many Luclin zones, VT is riddled with traps not to mention it's easy to aggro mobs here. You can aggro them before you can even see them.

If a raid is doing a full clear, once the yard/front steps have been cleared the raid moves up into an entry hall. There are chambers on either side of this hallway and the raid will move, on direction, into these chambers and pull a large number of mobs until they reach the named mobs.

After these mobs are killed, we move into the main area of the dungeon, which consists of a huge, oval-shaped hallway which is segmented into smaller sections. These sections must be cleared one at a time to reach the four towers of Vex Thal. After these are cleared, then we zone up into a safe room, and after the safe room, then comes another short clear and then comes CANDYLAND, where there are four or five of the major mobs spaced much closer together, with much less to clear between mobs, and then finally the queen bee herself, Aten Ha Ra, who single-handedly (or rather, quad-handedly), drops some of the phattest lewts in the whole game. (For its time)

CLEARING THE DUNGEON - MOB BASICS

The mobs consist of high-level mobs that are seen in Maiden's, Ahkeva, and Umbral - rock toilers (like Da'Vyn), "robes" and the "4-arms." They're level 55-66 for yard trash, with major mobs around level 70+, and a mistake or two can easily wipe out an entire raid. The yard trash respawns in under 10 minutes in most areas. They are placed close together and a large number of them CANNOT be single-pulled.

VT can conceivably be cleared in 8 hours or less. It is a very intensive zone and you must be on top of your game every moment. MISTAKES ARE EXPENSIVE HERE, so get your game head on, and PAY ATTENTION at all times. It is going to be nearly non-stop pulling while in the zone.

The respawn time for the named mobs is one week, so if a raid is very efficient on the Saturday that tier mobs become available, we can have respawns on Friday (more loot!). If we're really, really lucky, we get some server crashes after we've cleared the zone, and get to repeat the whole process! Woot!

How do you know what mob is what? I found a neat guide that helps break down mob names:

There are 3 elements to the Monster name: Level, Class, and Type.
Take for example: Pli Liako Xakra.

LEVEL QUALIFIER

Qua - level 55
Zov - level 58
Zun - level 61 NOT mezzable / must be offtanked
Pli - level 64 NOT mezzable / must be offtanked
Eom - level 66 NOT mezzable / must be offtanked

NOTHING is charmable in the zone.
Depending on class, certain levels of mobs get extra abilities, see below.

MOB CLASS QUALIFIER

Centien - warrior
Thall - cleric - * GATES *
Zethon - wizard - * GATES *
Liako - Paladin
Va Liako - shadowknight
Senshalu - rogue
Rogues and Warriors like to enrage, flurry and rampage, depending on level.

MOB TYPE QUALIFIER

Nothing after the name - 4 arm model. Will SPAWN a something something Xakra after it dies.

Xakra - shade. Killing it kills it.

Va Dyn - rocks. These are all warriors. Killing it kills it.

WHO'S WHO IN VEX THAL

Aten Ha Ra (aka. the queen bee of VT) -- Magic Slowable, AE fluxes, flurries/rampages, just a whole ton of fun.

Diabo Xi Va -- Unslowable

Diabo Xi Va Temariel-- AE = Black Winds, Magic Slowable

Diabo Xi Xin -- hits for 1200 not sure if quad/triple rampages

Diabo Xi Xin Thall -- Unslowable

Kaas Thox Xi Ans Dyek -- (giant Goo) AE = Fling = Gflux, Unslowable

Kaas Thox Xi Aten Ha Ra -- (giant Goo), AE = Fling = Gflux, Hits for 1600? Lots of HP, Magic Slowable

Thall Val Kelun -- Magic Slowable

Thall Val Xakra -- (Undead) Lots of HPs , AE silence - short radius

Thall Xundraux Diabo --

Va Xi Aten Ha Ra -- "Aten Ha Ra, Jr." - Magic Slowable

**Originally translated from Meryddian of Stormhammer/July 2003