There were a few new missions added.
8-2: A Fate Decided
8-3: When Angels Fall
I can give a blurb on each of them. Can't give good directions on navigating around Hu'Xzoi (and only passable directions for Ru'Hmet), so I'm not gonna try. Look up and print out the maps for each area, it'll make life easier.
8-2: Check eastern portal in Hu'Xzoi lobby hall for cutscene. Check it again to pass through. You're now in Hu'Xzoi itself ... and the entire mission is simply to make it all the way through Hu'Xzoi to a Cermet Portal at the end (north-center, lower floor, approaching from the north).
This basically involves hassling avoiding enemies and escorting Quasilumins. It's not *difficult* (for a party), and it's usually pretty straightforward where you want to go. But it is very time-consuming.
Aerns are non-aggro still. Euvhis aggro true sight (maybe true sound) when they're "open", and also link (with what, exactly, I'm not sure) even if they're closed. If they're standing around open they stay open, if closed they stay closed. They don't transform like the ghrahs.
Ghrahs are those crystalline things, and they periodically transform from a round ball (which is non aggro) to a something-else (which is true sound aggro). As soon as it starts its transformation animation the aggro rule changes, so if you run past a ball and it transforms into a bird as you go by, you've got aggro. Be warned. They're like Empty in that they have a visible elemental core which determines what element attacks they use, and what elements they're strong and weak to.
Zdeis are like a cross between a pot and a mask, and are basically brown things that (usually) stay in one spot and spin around. They have a small blue "eye" on one side and a larger, more decorated blue "eye" on the opposite side. They are true sight, and their sight side is the larger of the two eyes.
Some zdeis do not spin, and their large eye is permanently facing in some inconvenient direction, so it's impossible to avoid aggroing them. The rest, unless they're spinning *fast*, you can simply walk up to their "back" and circle around them, staying "behind" the whole time, and not get aggro. If they spin too fast you can't move fast enough.
A few warnings:
When your travels get around to the southwest part of the upper floor, you'll find a portal leading east, that asks for confirmation before going through. Do *not* go through it. This leads back to the lobby and is one-way (you may recall checking the west door in the lobby to find out that it can't be opened from that side), and if you go through, you lose all your progress trudging through Hu'Xzoi.
???'s are traps and will warp you out. If you find one, don't check it.
Similarly, don't Escape unless you absolutely have to, because you will, again, have to repeat the entire trip if you leave.
When you get to the final Cermet Portal, buff up and check it to spawn an Ix'ghrah. This is stronger than the normal Eo'ghrah enemies around Hu'Xzoi, but not massively so. Party of 75's should have no difficulty whatsoever. Watch out for its attacks (it has some that the normal ghrahs do not), and note that this one can morph into human form, not just bird or spider.
After smiting, check portal again for cutscene. Now, unless you want to walk all the way back to that one-way door, you *do* want to use Escape or something to get out magically.
8-3: Back in the lobby of Hu'Xzoi, check Gate of the Gods (dead ahead, you checked in 8-1), and now you can go through there to Ru'Hmet. You'll get a cutscene upon zoning in. You now have two objectives:
1. Reclaim your lost Light. This is Light of Vahzl for Humes, Light of Holla for Tarutarus, and ... I actually don't recall which was which for the other races. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Dem is Elvaan, Mea is Mithra, and Al'Taieu is Galka. Someone please pop in and correct me if I'm wrong.
2. Get Brand of Dawn and Brand of Twilight to make the central elevator able to take you to the third floor.
You can do these in either order, you are (for the moment) stuck at an unresponsive door at the top of the elevator even if you do both.
Objective #1: There are five towers around the outside of Ru'Hmet. Each tower corresponds to one Light and thus to one race. You only have to climb the tower(s) that correspond to the Light(s) you need. So if your entire group is Hume, you only have to climb the tower that gives you Light of Vahzl. If you have three Humes, two Tarutarus, and a Mithra, then you have to climb those three towers (one for the three Humes to get it done, one for the two Tarutarus, and one for the Mithra).
Unhelpful lout that I am, I only know that the northmost tower is the one that worked for me, giving Light of Vahzl for Humes.
Each tower has four floors, and sneaking around rules are basically the same as in Hu'Xzoi, except it's generally speaking a shorter (and consequently easier) trip. Enemies are a level or two higher though, they give exp in the low 100's to a party of 75's, rather than exp around 40-50.
Also, in the towers, it may well be practical to just sleep anything that aggros and bolt for the teleporter to the next level up to reset hate. The towers aren't large so the teleporters aren't far apart. Fourth floor of each tower has no enemies, just an Ebon Panel.
First time you check an Ebon Panel (whether it's from your correct tower or not) you'll get a cutscene. Check it again and it'll either be unresponsive (wrong tower) or you'll get the option to use your mysterious amulet - do so, and you'll get your Light, and the title "Warrior of the Crystal".
Repeat process in varying towers (hopefully someone else can contribute which Light corresponds to which race and which tower to which Light), until your whole group has reclaimed their lost Light, and you now each have all five.
Objective #2: Approach the center of the map from either the east, the west, or the north. (There's a one-way door - going the wrong way of course - blocking your approach from the south.) In doing so, you will have to pass a "gauntlet" of Qn'zdeis in the last room before the center. This consists of four Qn'zdeis (NM) that are sitting on four pedestals around the outside of the room.
In order for the exit door (leading to the central chamber) to be open, all the Qn'zdeis must a. be alive and b. be on their pedestals (i.e. not aggroing anyone). So you have to somehow get your party across to the exit door and end up with the Qn'zdeis alive. Three methods:
1. Kill them (this is a tad tricky since they'll all link as soon as you attack one, and they're basically unsleepable). Go over to exit door. Wait for repop - it's quick, only about 5 minutes. This is the suggested method if you take an alliance or a confident powerhouse group.
2. (Best done with a WHM along, or at least a BRD.) Run across, die near the exit door, Reraise and Raise once the Qn'zdeis move back to their positions upon killing everyone, and proceed. For purposes of avoiding exp loss, RR3/R3 > RR2/R2 > Hymnus > RR1/R1. Note that Reraise (even RR1) trumps Hymnus in priority, so if you're going with Hymnus, be sure to cancel normal Reraise before dying. With some clever control over who has hate, and having someone die in the middle of the room and getting Tractored, it's probably possible to have one person get their attention while the rest bolt across, then Tractor and Raise the sacrifice.
3. Qn'zdeis aggro like any other zdei, and only see with their "big eye". Like other zdeis, they spin around. I'm pretty sure that in each room there is one that spins fast and three that spin slowly. It's conceivably possible to get across the room by hugging the side that has the slow-spinning zdeis, and moving only when they're not looking. Personally, I don't have the skill to do that, and I doubt most people do. Still, if someone's up for a test of their stealth skills, feel free to see if you can pull this off.
However you do it, eventually you make it into the central room. Here, there is an elevator. Take it on up. As a quasilumin here will tell you, you need Brand of Dawn/Twilight to get access to the third floor. So, go get them. Brand of Dawn is due north of the elevator. Brand of Twilight is due south. All you have to do is check the relevant Cermet Portal, say Yes, and get a quick cutscene with no fight. Simple, right?
Nah. See, there are these little teleporting vortexes blocking most of your east-west progress. Step into one and you're in the equivalent one on the opposite (east or west) side of the tower. Step into that and you're back where you started. And where you don't have vortexes blocking your way, you have piles of rubble, and where you don't, you don't have any direct path - you may find yourself *overlooking* a room you want to be in, by being on an upper ledge in it, but that doesn't do any good.
So, it's a nuisance. To get to Brand of Dawn, you do in fact go straight north from the starting point. Only minor detail - another gauntlet of Qn'zdeis in the way. In this case, the "exit" door that closes on you is the door to the elevator room you just came from, so you can run past them, through the still-usable "entrance" door, and continue on to the Cermet Portal. Assuming they don't kill you on the way. Then you have to get back past them to get back to the elevator area so you can start going for Brand of Twilight. Deal with Qn'zdeis however works best for your group.
Brand of Twilight is more complicated, but a lot safer. No stupid Qn'zdei gauntlets to pass. Make your way to the room south of the elevator (you can't go directly, so go east or west a room, then south, then back), then observe some oh-so-helpful piles of rubble blocking your way to the Cermet Portal at the south end of the room. Take one of the eastern exits from this room and make your way to the outside edge at the southeast corner.
Proceed north along the eastern edge of the central tower to the northeast corner, and then use the portals in either of the western exits to warp to the northwest corner. Go back south to the southwest corner, and take the unblocked exit here and proceed east, to find yourself back in the room with the Cermet Portal - but now you're south of all the piles of rubble, and can get at the portal to get your Brand of Twilight. Reverse steps to get back to the elevator.
Now the elevator will let you go to the third floor of the central tower, where you can do ... absolutely nothing at the moment. There's a door here, which will probably *eventually* be responsive (probably also assuming you got your Light), but at the moment it's inactive, just like the eastern portal in the lobby of Hu'Xzoi was inactive in the previous update.
That's it for missions for now. If, incidentally, you want the map of either area? (They're separate maps.) It's just like Al'Taieu, talk to every quasilumin in the zone (you can log or zone in the process, it's cumulative and doesn't reset), talking to the final one a second time for your map. Unlike Al'Taieu, *getting to* the quasilumins is a major horrible pain.
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Vilurum - Quetzalcoatl
Career bard. Mission hound. Map collector.
Fan of logic and objectivity over prejudice.
Map List
~~linkage~~