The fiery peaks of EverQuest IIs Lavastorm zone have claimed the life of many unfortunate adventurers. Rivers of lava flow freely and hundreds of hostile goblins and lizards inhabit this desolate place. SOE has recently decided to revamp this area making it friendlier while maintaining an intimidating allure. Ten Ton Hammer put on its asbetsos-ware and trudged into this new content. What is there to do and how does it affect you the game? Let's take a look shall we?
Zone Overview:
In an unusual move this traditional level 45-55 zone has not only been revamped but expanded adding two new raid instances. These changes include new quest hubs to progress players through the zone, so gone are the days of suicide runs to Solusek. To help move between areas a system of fast transportation much like what we see in the Faydarks has become available. If you are going to travel through a volcanic wasteland, flaming horses are the way to go.
border="1">
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/65165">
src="/image/view/65165/preview"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px;">
The expanded area mentioned above is level 80+ content designed to satisfy the end game, and note both the new raid instances require The Shadow Odyssey expansion. The quests here won't replace your daily shard runs but it's a nice addition to whats available in the Moors of Ykesha. If you are level 45, there is one quest to pick up just inside the shrine near the docks. After that exit the docks and move straight through the tunnel to access your content. Level 80's will enter the shrine at the docks to receive multilpe quests and find faction merchants. Exit stage right (that's your left) towards the swarm of players and void creatures standing on the beach.
Level 45 - 55:
As you exit through the tunnel you'll find the area pretty safe to stand in. Stay away from any of the goblins working near rocks and make your way to the flaming horse. You'll be whisked away to the next area and find yourself among the Sootfoot Goblins. The Sootfoot are an odd group and are the dominant faction here and absolutely love you. They like you so much they won't sell you any of their reward items. In order to purchase these items, You are going to have to complete quests (some which are repeatable) to increase their loathing.
What kind of rewards will you find? The most obvious are the cool mounts which consists of flaming rhino's and carpets which will certainly impress your friends. House and Guildhall items are plentiful allowing a fiery theme, but for those who demand to literally be flashy, a suit of lava armor. It's of course appearance slot only but check out the merchant while you are here, something should catch your eye. Start with Blisterzonk who has five quests to give before sending you to Magnurmal.
For the most part the transportation system will move you to the appropriate hubs so it's just a matter of doing the available quests. You'll spend 45-55 working through here, Everfrost, Steamfont Mountains, and Lower Faydark. Between these four areas 10 levels should be a breeze. If you do find yourself short of quests however don't ignore Solusek. While the revamp left this untouched, there was solo content added in here quite some time ago and can net you some pretty easy AA in an uncrowded area. The Golden Effreti Boots heritage quest is here and if you can find one or two others, this dungeon offers a lot of discovery and quest experience.
Level 80:
The level 80 solo content offers a number of opportunities for end game players. Now first to clarify, when I say Level 80, I don't mean 78 or 79. My character is average if not better than average equipped with fabled weapons and shard armor, including a few Tier 2 pieces. The creatures these quests require are 81 or 82 and aggroing an additional encounter was not a matter of annoyance, it was a matter of survival. If you have friends, save yourself some time and bring one. Otherwise don't expect to get very far alone under 80.
Inside the shrine at the docks you'll find a number quest givers and types. The first type are faction quests which grant access to certain items on the merhcant. The second are solo shard quests which we'll detail below and finally the series which grants access to the two group raid zone. It's easy to get confused on what you are working on so we'll try and clear things up a little.
border="1">
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/65166">
src="/image/view/65166/preview"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 200px;">
The first person you will want to see is Palissa Rargon who will hand you a simple task of placing crystals in staffs on the beach. Palissa does have five more quests available rewarding you each time with faction. You can stop by Pyrissa Flamecog after the Palissa's first one to save time (we'll explain below), but completing all of these will open up Marathin Allim's five quests. Once completed you will be able to return to her daily and receive a quest which grants a void shard. The merchant outside will exchange these shards for jewelry and belts and a few of the pieces are actually quite nice. Each item is running roughly 30 shards so expect to be here for a month.
Pyrissa Flamecog's quest series is an important one as completion will allow you access to the Ward of Elements raid zone. These five quests will start out on the beaches but have you making at least two trips into the skull cave in the mountainside and one trip to the entrance of Halls of Forsaken instance. You'll be sent to the raid zone entrance which is at the bottom of the elevator under Najena's Hollow and this will complete Pyrissa's involvement. See Nida Ya'fiyyah to receive your zone access and begin a quest series to spawn nameds in the caves you visited. These have nothing to do with the Ward of Elements zone.
Was that not confusing enough for you? Alright well toss one Saedie Kalterra who has three daily faction quests. Now when you mix all these factors in together, you have a lot of people going after the same creatures. Be patient and remember to combine quest updates if possible to maximize your experience.
Instances:
Ward of Elements - This is one of EverQuest II's first two group raid zones. While yes there have been a few other attempts, this is far and above anything else SOE has attempted. While there will be those who can boast of their single group of uber geared friends completed the zone, it's designed for two moderately equipped parties. There is plenty of trash to kill and more than six bosses most of which can be fought in any order. This is a perfect place for more casual guilds to learn the elements of raiding, and more advanced groups to spend on free nights.
Munzok's Material Bastion - Almost nothing is known about this four group raid zone. Poking my head into it on the Test server revealed a layout similar to the Anchor Bazzul and filled with level 89's. Hopefully this is just the development teams way of keeping out those wanting to get a jump on the content while they are still testing. Otherwise there is hopefully some trigger or item which lowers the level.
Lavastorm's revamp was significant and opened an entire new venue of content for both its original audience and its current playerbase. There are literally dozens of new quests available, house items galore, and flaming mounts which are circulating through the community. Hopefully we've been able to start you on your way to finding success here but if you see anything we missed, be sure to email me .
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EverQuest II Game Page.
