Post by dodrudon on Jun 19, 2007 2:36:54 GMT
Because of the length of this guide, it cannot fit into one post. Read the next post for the second part of the guide.
AKA The Not-So-Newbie Guide!
(To moderators, if there's a secret that shouldn't be said, feel free to delete the entire post's contents, I have a current backup saved on my desktop, and please tell me what the secret is so I can remove it!)
This guide is a sequel to the Newbie's Guide I wrote a while back. You should read that guide first to get familiar with the basics on this server. This guide is meant for players that have been here for a while but are seeking immortality for the first time and are still new to the the post-level 40 part of HG. This covers how to gain immortality, various runs, what you need to be prepared for those runs, and other specifics about the server that should be known as you venture into the dangerous world seeking fame and fortune!
I've made an effort to not put any secrets in this guide (though many vague hints abound). Basically anything below I've seen written on posts elsewhere on the forums.
Credits: Too many to list here. Read the posts below to see who contributed.
The Guide to Immortality
Last updated: 1/8/08
Welcome again to Higher Ground!
Table of Contents
Basics
-Glossary
-Loot Splitting
-Death System
-General Information
-Chat Commands
Equipment and Loot
-Random Loot System
-Basic Equipment
-Equipment Tactics
General Run Info
-Introduction
-Tags
-Starting Runs
-Keys
-Despawning
-Resting and the Ring
-No-Port Zones
-Kickback
-Equipment
The Runs
-MoaD (Mother of all Dragons)
-Xulrae
-Lloth
-Immortal
-Ssithrak
-Dach'xilith'az'ichityl
-The Desert
-Dustbone
-Beholders
-Illithids
-The Black Pyramid
-Rona
-The Nine Hells
Advanced Tactics
-Combat Log
-Clouds and Epics
Basics
Stuff that's good to know...
Glossary
aegis - refers to an epic Cleric spell that gives up to 10% immunity to the four exotic elements, and 30/- resist to them as well
account name - also known as GameSpy ID, or playername, basically the name you use to log in to NWN Multiplayer
an idiot busy - see the "how to keep" entry below
build - the subrace/level order/feats/skills and everything that goes into a character
BUR - an abbreviation for Beyond Ultra Rare, a category of rarity of loot which only drops in the Hells
caster - refers to a cleric, druid, sorcerer, or wizard
DM - an abbreviation for Dungeon Master, the administrators and moderators of Higher Ground, respect them for they are mighty, powerful, and may kill you at random but also fix problems
drop - loot left behind by a mob, boss, or container (such as a rock or rubble)
elements - refers to the normal five elements, Acid, Cold, Electric, Fire, and Sonic
epic - refers to levels 21 through 40 inclusive
exotic elements - refers to the elements Divine, Magic, Negative, and Positive
fuguing - refers to being sent to the Fugue for being dead too long
girding - refers to an epic Cleric spell (Girding of the Faithful) that enchants the party's armor and shields to give 2 more AC than they already give
how to keep - see the "an idiot busy" entry above
immo - an abbreviation for immortal or immortality
immunity - can refer to imunities to a type of ability (e.g. Death, Mind), a specific spell (e.g. Implosion), or a stacking percentage immunity on equipment either to some element or physical damage (e.g. 50% Acid Immunity or 10% Pierce Immunity)
immute/invuln - refers to an epic Druid spell (Immutable Force) that temporarily makes the party invincible
insta or instafugue - when someone says "i instafugued" it means they died and immediately got sent to the Fugue, because one of their death timers went off
kickback - the damage that is done to the attacker, for example the mage's Elemental Shield spell does fire kickback to any mob that attacks the mage, similarly many mobs have kickback that damage either its attacker or the attacker's entire party
LL - an abbreviation for Legendary Level, refers to the levels past 40 using the custom LL system coded by FunkySwerve (ruler, dictator, and your friendly neighborhood despot of Higher Ground)
mage - usually referring to a sorcerer or wizard, sometimes refers to a cleric or druid.
miracle - refers to an epic Cleric spell (Miracle) that ressurects the entire party as well as gives everyone a massive amount of temporary HP (to a max of 2000 normal plus temporary HP)
mob - a term referring to an enemy computer creature
port - short for teleport, used either to refer to the ability to port to your party leader using the PC Scry, or a port stone (Gem of Teleportation) that let's you teleport back to town
pre-epic - refers to the levels 1 through 20 inclusive
rare - a category of rarity of loot
reduction - refers to physical damage reduction on equipment of the form +10/5 (soaks 5 points of damage from weapons of up to +10 enchantment), doesn't stack
reset - the servers are occasionally reset to restore non-respawning items or runs
resist - refers to a property on equipment that soaks a certain amount of damage (e.g. 10/- acid or 10/- pierce, which soaks 10/- points of acid or piercing damage), doesn't stack
respawn - to spawn again, for instance, some bosses and items do not respawn (so the server has to be reset for them to return), see "spawn" below
rez - an abbreviations for ressurect (e.g. "rez me plz!" or "im out of rez scrolls")
run - a quest of varying times, see The Runs section for more details
soak - as used in this glossary section, damage that is reduced, not to be confused with reduction (e.g. 10% acid and 10/- acid will soak 20 points out of 100 points of acid damage, or soak 15 points out of 50 points of acid damage)
shunt - refers to an epic Druid spell (Elemental Shunt) that gives about 55%-75% immunity to the normal five elements, indispensable for some runs
spawn - when something comes into existence, we call it "spawning," so when a mob appears, it has "spawned," and a group of mobs that spawn together we call "a spawn"
split - as in "Let's go split!" which refers to the act of splitting loot amongst party members
subbie - an abbreviation for subrace
tag - when talking about a toon, it refers to whether that toon has killed a certain boss (see the Tag section under The Runs), when referring to items, it means whether the item requires the toon that is using it to be tagged or not
toon - an abbreviation for a player's character (e.g. Dodrudon the Bookworm is one toon while Dodrudon the Transformer is another)
UR - an abbreviation for Ultra Rare, a category of rarity of loot
Loot Splitting
Loot splitting for runs aren't as chaotic or free-for-all as it was pre-immo. There is an expected practice for loot splitting on the HG servers. There is one person that is designated as banker. That person, and that person only, takes the loot. If the banker does not have a high enough Lore skill to identify items, others with Lore may identify the item first (simply by examining it) before the bank picks it up. At the end of the run, the party retires to a room in the Wandering Wyrm. The banker puts all the loot in the armoire in that room. The party leader (the one with the crown) uses the !partyroll command, which rolls a d100 (a 100 sided dice) for each person in the party. Usually, the person who rolls the highest gets first pick, then the second and third and so on. After the last person has chosen, the first person gets to choose again. Rarely, the party will decide to "snake," in which case after the last person picks, the last person picks again, then the second to last person picks, and all the way on up to the first person, who then gets to pick a second time, then the second person picks, then all the way down to the last person who picks twice, then the second to last person picks and.... well you get the picture.
Death System
When you die, a death timer is created. Think of it as an alarm clock set to go off in a few minutes. Every time you die a new alarm clock is created. If an alarm clock goes off while you're dead, you fugue. If you're alive when an alarm clock goes off, you're fine, though being rezzed or resting will not destroy any of these death timers. However, there's a twist. Once you achieve immortality, instead of fuguing when an alarm clock goes off, if you're dead, you are automatically rezzed instead of fugueing! However, some areas in HG strip you of your immortality so you STILL fugue if an alarm clock goes off. Sometimes, after the party has died many times, they'll stop to take a break to let all the alarm clocks finish going off.
General Information
Check your in-game journal for information regarding your class, spell and ability changes, server rules, as well as the many commands you can use. You can also read the books in the Wonderous Items Shop for more information on classes.
Chat Commands
There are many useful chat commands, I'll list some of the popular ones here. They are all preceded by an exclamation mark (!). Just type them into the chat to use them, though some need to be sent as tells to a player. For more information on these commands and other commands, check your journal.
!playerinfo - Send this in a tell to a player (including yourself), and it will return information such as the toon's level, total experience, experience until next level, current party members and party leader, current area, classes and levels in each class. Going anonymous (either through the scry or using !anon) hides most of this information.
!runmsg [message] - This sends a shout to every server announcing a run. It will automatically attach your toon name, account name, and the server you're on, along with your message of course.
!tell [playername] [message] - This will send a message to a player on a different server (or the same server for that matter). If they are not online at the time, it will be delivered the next time they log on. for playernames with spaces, use quotes (") around the entire playername. The message does not need quotes.
!list acc - See the tags you have!
!who all/area/class/party/111/112/113/114/115 - These are only some of the options you can use with the !who command (see your journal in-game for more information). The "all" switch will display information from all servers, "area" will list the areas the players are in, "class" will list the classes and levels of classes of each player, "party" will restrict it to listing only the people in your party, using a server number will list players from that server only, and using just plain !who will list only people on your server.
Equipment and Loot
Shop till you drop dead, then start using random loot instead of the store-bought crap
Random Loot System
Higher Ground uses a Random Loot System. Usually, only containers are loot drops. Only keys and boss loot drop from certain mobs. The order of rarity of items are: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra-rare, and Beyond Ultra-rare. See this post for the chances of the different types of loot dropping. Note that BURs only drop in Hells, and the percentage chance they drop is still confidential. Of course, the rare an item is, the more powerful it is. Every time a container is popped, the cosmic dice roll and decide what the rarity of the item is, then chooses an item from that tier of rarity.
Over time, you'll learn how to identify Rares and URs. For example, URs tend to have +16 AC bonuses on them (except for armors and robes), whether Deflection or Dodge or Natural. However, some UR rings have no AC bonus on them at all. Until you learn to positively identify the rarity of items, it's best to ask the party what you should pick at a loot split.
There are also two other types of items: set drops and artifacts. Set drops ALWAYS drop in the same place (or by the same boss). For example, there are a few set drop wands in the Forgotten Forest. No matter how many times you loot the same corpse, it will always have the same wand. Artifacts are very powerful objects. There exist one for each stat, that will raise that stat by two, give you an immunity of some sort, and also give you a once-per-day ability. Three other artifacts also exists with different powers, increasing saves and skills, allowing you to run faster, or increasing your spell penetration. Most artifacts only drop as BURs in Hell, however, three areas, the Beholder, the Pyramid, and the Pharlans (Rona Forest), all drop an artifact. The Beholder and Pyramids both have a 25% chance of dropping the Intelligence and Wisdom artifact, respectively. The Pharlans area is still new, so the drop rate is so far unknown (and might still be changed in the near future). The artifact that drops there gives +1 to Spell Penetration, and once per day allows the user to gain a bonus casterlevel.
Basic Equipment Tactics
Equipment... what a thorny issue. Besides having a competent build, equipment can make or break your character. Having good equipment is just as important as being at a high enough level for certain areas of the mod. Some basics you'll want:
Physical Damage Immunity - this is the %, on all armors, most cloaks, and some gloves. This will protect against the most common damage. Robes and lighter armors have less damage immunity than heavier armors. Depending on what armor you use, you should aim for 20% to 40%.
Physical Damage Resistance - You want 10/- resistance to all three types of physical damage if possible. In areas with lots of piercing damage (such as archers), the Immortal's Cloak is good with 20/- pierce resist!
Physical Damage Reduction - this comes in the form of +#/#. The first number is the enchantment of weapon it can soak up to, and the second is the amount of damage it will soak. So if you have +5/20, any weapon with an enchantment lower than +5 (but not equal to +5) will have 20 damage absorbed. The higher you can get both numbers, the better, though often you may have to do without. Not many items have this property.
Elemental Resistance - you want at least 20/- resistance to all elements. Usually a single item can cover this. A Lloth's Ring works very well in this respect. Very few mobs do ONLY physical damage, they inevitably do a good amount of elemental damage as well.
Exotic Elemental Resistance - this covers Magic, Positive, and Divine damage. Immunity to Negative damage can easily be had by drinking a Negative Energy Protection Potion bought from RIP's tavern. Anyways, you want at minimum 5/- to each of these three elements, 10/- if possible, and 15/- if you're lucky. Many mobs do small amounts of exotic damage with every attack as well.
Haste - of course, you'll want Haste on an item.
Saves - you want to try to max out out on your bonus to saves, at +20. Saves are EXTREMELY important in HG.
Stats - you also want the maximum +12 in your most important stats, such as Int if you're a wizard, or Cha as a sorcerer or bard, or Wis as a druid or cleric, so that you have the highest DC for your spells as possible. Also, all toons want Con for the HP, Dex for the AC (and possibly AB), and possibly Str if you're a packrat or for the extra damage (and possibly AB).
Immunities - you absolutely MUST have these immunity do Death and Mind. Level/Ability Drain, Knockdown, Harm, and IGMS immunity is necessary in some places as well. Some special immunities, such as immunity to Implosion, is useful in areas as well if you have a low fort save.
Elemental Immunities
You'll probably notice that there are a lot of rings with elemental immunities. There 20 rare rings that have 75% immunity to one normal element, and 50% immunity to another. These rings will be the foundation of your success on HG. Rings are the most swapped items in the game, adjusting immunities for upcoming areas. Some rings have immunity to Mord or Breach. Some UR rings have the same 75/50 immunites, and an additional 25% immunity to a non-Negative exotic element. These rings are HIGHLY coveted, so snatch them up if you can! There are also rare rings with 25% to an exotic element, and others with 25% each to an exotic and normal element. The rings you have determine how well you do on several runs. If you lack certain immunities, you'll want to ask to borrow rings to cover them, so as not to be a liability to the party.
Weapons
Currently, there are rare level 29 weapons and level 35 weapons. Moad drops mediocre weapons, Sissy weapons have high enchantments (useful for the extra AB and bypassing damage reduction) but don't do much extra damage, DB weapons have less enchantment, but a lot more damage (though they sometimes lack keen).
Special Abilities
Many items have 1/day (or more) special abilities on them. These are very useful to collect. For instance, the hidden Ssithrak can cast Greater ruin, while some caster staves have Shadow Shield on them, or Epic Warding, which is great to buff right before a tough fight. Shadow Shield is also great for Clerics and Druids, which otherwise would not have access to the spell.
General Run Info
Indy hanformation
Introduction
What's a run? In HG, it's a quest, most of which require you to be immortal. In many cases, it requires collecting a few "keys" (which aren't actually ever in the form of a key but act as one) either to start the run, or perhaps to end it (in order to gain entrance to the area the boss is in). The entirety of the run begins from the initial area, where you fight minions, advancing closer to the final boss in whatever lair they lurk in, sometimes collecting more keys (which occasionally actually take the form of a key) to unlock the next area. A run can last anywhere from half an hour to five or six, though they almost always finish in under two hours. The longest runs are the Hell runs (which actually consist of nine circles, each a separate run), which are the hardest and require you to be level 55 at least. Most runs can only be done once per server reset, you can use your PC Scry under "information on server" to see what runs have or have not been completed.
The runs in this section have been ordered roughly by difficulty, from easiest to hardest.
Tags
Most runs will "tag" you at the end. For instance, at the end of a MoaD run, if you're alive and in the area as well as in the party with the character that kills MoaD and everyone in the party within six levels of each other (not counting LLs), then you'll get the tag. Which is why you DON'T want to be dead when the boss dies. You can use the PC Scry to see what tags your character has. Tags are required to use some items. For instance, the weapons MoaD drops require a MoaD tag, which is convinient because you just killed her!
Starting Runs
When starting a run, it is good ettiquette to provide the keys yourself. Some keys are destroyed on use ("consumable" keys). You should DEFINITELY provide these yourself if you plan to start a run. A few keys are not destroyed on use, and though it is nice if the run-starter has these as well, you can shout for someone else to bring them. In order to start a run, select the "send a message" option off your PC Scry, then select "send a message to all servers." The server number, your toon's name, and your account name (aka GameSpy ID) are included automatically in the shout. You can also use the !runmsg command. Follow the instructions, and be sure to say what run you're starting, feel free to include anything else (for instance, if you'd like a druid with shunt, or need one of the keys). If you're not too familiar with a run and would like someone there to lend a hand, it's fine to include a request for help in the message. The shout will be broadcasted on all six HG servers. Wait a few minutes for the message to get to the other servers and for players to switch servers. You can do a maximum of three shouts per server per reset, and only the current party leader can shout for a run.
Keys
A little more on keys for runs: they can take any shape or form, but usually are anything but keys. From strange balls of light to broken circles or something wearable or even a bound collection of extremely thin tree-derived products. Heck, they can even take the form of a corpse
Despawning
Despawning is the practice of leaving an area in order to make the mobs there disappear. This is often used in lowbie areas when running from mobs when the party realizes they can't handle that area yet. In lowbie areas, the loot does not despawn, only the mobs. However, on all immortal runs, the loot despawns with the mobs. That means if you go to an area and leave it, all the loot in said area will be GONE. Also, on the DB run, if you despawn any mobs, you're prevented from continuing to the next area of the run.
Not only that, but an experimental anti-lag measure is currently in place for the Desert and Dustbone runs. Basically, when more than 10 creatures spawn, a timer starts ticking. For most Desert maps, this timer is 3 minutes, for the Devariel Aerie the timer is 5 minutes, and for the Dustbone map the timer is 4 minutes. If the timer expires and there are more than 10 creatures on the map, mobs will start disappearing (despawning) in the order they appeared. If even a SINGLE mob is despawned because of this timer, all the loot in the ENTIRE area is despawned. If the number of mobs ever falls below 10 total, the timer will disappear. Refer to this thread for more information.
Resting and The Ring
In some Legendary areas, you can't rest. Where do you get your spells, you ask? Remember the Pedestal during the Lloth run? Where you got the Ring of the Planar Traveller? In no-rest zones, using that ring will port you to the Pocket Plane area, where you can safely rest. After you rest, you will be ported back to the place where you used the ring. It will NOT port you back while you are resting, so you can wait a few seconds for the "You cannot rest so soon after exerting yourself" messages to go away, and maybe spare a few more seconds after that to mess with your spellbook before resting. If you get stuck in the Pocket Plane, you can use the statue you see to get ported back as well. When you get ported back, you are stripped of all your buffs. Only some of the runs have a Pedestal at the end of them. The first time you get the ring, you get 10 uses of it on all six servers. Subsequent rechargings of the ring (by using the same or a different pedestal) will give you a certain amount of rests for that server only. If you run out of charges on a server, you can talk to the Sage to get some emergency charges.
No-Port Zones
Some areas do not allow teleportation. This means you cannot use a Gem of Teleportation or the "port to party leader" option on your PC Scry. These areas are usually no-rest zones as well, but there are exceptions.
Kickback
Also abbreviated KB, kickback is when a character is attacked, and the attacker automatically takes damage. For instance, a toon with the Elemental Shield buff will cause fire kb, while Death Armor causes magic kb, and Mestil's Acid Sheath causes acid kb. On some mobs, certain attacks and spells will cause the attacker to take damage, while other times the entire party will take damage. Sometimes ranged attacks or certain damaging abilities will not cause kb, sometimes it will.
Equipment
In the following section, I'll describe the runs and sometimes suggest what immunities you should have. The importance of these immunities depend on both party tactics and the run itself. For instance, on the Sissy run, it's very easy to go without the immunities, as long as you inform the party of your lack of immunities and they avoid attacking certain mobs that do party-wide kickback. Of course, if everyone has the immunities, the party can go wild and attack everything without prejudice.
Also, some areas require the Waterbreathing ring or the Levitation ring you found back when you were a lowbie. I'll let you figure out which ones you'll need and when (it'll be pretty obvious for the water-breathing, and you'll figure out the levitating when you keep dying after taking one step).
AKA The Not-So-Newbie Guide!
(To moderators, if there's a secret that shouldn't be said, feel free to delete the entire post's contents, I have a current backup saved on my desktop, and please tell me what the secret is so I can remove it!)
This guide is a sequel to the Newbie's Guide I wrote a while back. You should read that guide first to get familiar with the basics on this server. This guide is meant for players that have been here for a while but are seeking immortality for the first time and are still new to the the post-level 40 part of HG. This covers how to gain immortality, various runs, what you need to be prepared for those runs, and other specifics about the server that should be known as you venture into the dangerous world seeking fame and fortune!
I've made an effort to not put any secrets in this guide (though many vague hints abound). Basically anything below I've seen written on posts elsewhere on the forums.
Credits: Too many to list here. Read the posts below to see who contributed.
The Guide to Immortality
Last updated: 1/8/08
Welcome again to Higher Ground!
Table of Contents
Basics
-Glossary
-Loot Splitting
-Death System
-General Information
-Chat Commands
Equipment and Loot
-Random Loot System
-Basic Equipment
-Equipment Tactics
General Run Info
-Introduction
-Tags
-Starting Runs
-Keys
-Despawning
-Resting and the Ring
-No-Port Zones
-Kickback
-Equipment
The Runs
-MoaD (Mother of all Dragons)
-Xulrae
-Lloth
-Immortal
-Ssithrak
-Dach'xilith'az'ichityl
-The Desert
-Dustbone
-Beholders
-Illithids
-The Black Pyramid
-Rona
-The Nine Hells
Advanced Tactics
-Combat Log
-Clouds and Epics
Basics
Stuff that's good to know...
Glossary
aegis - refers to an epic Cleric spell that gives up to 10% immunity to the four exotic elements, and 30/- resist to them as well
account name - also known as GameSpy ID, or playername, basically the name you use to log in to NWN Multiplayer
an idiot busy - see the "how to keep" entry below
build - the subrace/level order/feats/skills and everything that goes into a character
BUR - an abbreviation for Beyond Ultra Rare, a category of rarity of loot which only drops in the Hells
caster - refers to a cleric, druid, sorcerer, or wizard
DM - an abbreviation for Dungeon Master, the administrators and moderators of Higher Ground, respect them for they are mighty, powerful, and may kill you at random but also fix problems
drop - loot left behind by a mob, boss, or container (such as a rock or rubble)
elements - refers to the normal five elements, Acid, Cold, Electric, Fire, and Sonic
epic - refers to levels 21 through 40 inclusive
exotic elements - refers to the elements Divine, Magic, Negative, and Positive
fuguing - refers to being sent to the Fugue for being dead too long
girding - refers to an epic Cleric spell (Girding of the Faithful) that enchants the party's armor and shields to give 2 more AC than they already give
how to keep - see the "an idiot busy" entry above
immo - an abbreviation for immortal or immortality
immunity - can refer to imunities to a type of ability (e.g. Death, Mind), a specific spell (e.g. Implosion), or a stacking percentage immunity on equipment either to some element or physical damage (e.g. 50% Acid Immunity or 10% Pierce Immunity)
immute/invuln - refers to an epic Druid spell (Immutable Force) that temporarily makes the party invincible
insta or instafugue - when someone says "i instafugued" it means they died and immediately got sent to the Fugue, because one of their death timers went off
kickback - the damage that is done to the attacker, for example the mage's Elemental Shield spell does fire kickback to any mob that attacks the mage, similarly many mobs have kickback that damage either its attacker or the attacker's entire party
LL - an abbreviation for Legendary Level, refers to the levels past 40 using the custom LL system coded by FunkySwerve (ruler, dictator, and your friendly neighborhood despot of Higher Ground)
mage - usually referring to a sorcerer or wizard, sometimes refers to a cleric or druid.
miracle - refers to an epic Cleric spell (Miracle) that ressurects the entire party as well as gives everyone a massive amount of temporary HP (to a max of 2000 normal plus temporary HP)
mob - a term referring to an enemy computer creature
port - short for teleport, used either to refer to the ability to port to your party leader using the PC Scry, or a port stone (Gem of Teleportation) that let's you teleport back to town
pre-epic - refers to the levels 1 through 20 inclusive
rare - a category of rarity of loot
reduction - refers to physical damage reduction on equipment of the form +10/5 (soaks 5 points of damage from weapons of up to +10 enchantment), doesn't stack
reset - the servers are occasionally reset to restore non-respawning items or runs
resist - refers to a property on equipment that soaks a certain amount of damage (e.g. 10/- acid or 10/- pierce, which soaks 10/- points of acid or piercing damage), doesn't stack
respawn - to spawn again, for instance, some bosses and items do not respawn (so the server has to be reset for them to return), see "spawn" below
rez - an abbreviations for ressurect (e.g. "rez me plz!" or "im out of rez scrolls")
run - a quest of varying times, see The Runs section for more details
soak - as used in this glossary section, damage that is reduced, not to be confused with reduction (e.g. 10% acid and 10/- acid will soak 20 points out of 100 points of acid damage, or soak 15 points out of 50 points of acid damage)
shunt - refers to an epic Druid spell (Elemental Shunt) that gives about 55%-75% immunity to the normal five elements, indispensable for some runs
spawn - when something comes into existence, we call it "spawning," so when a mob appears, it has "spawned," and a group of mobs that spawn together we call "a spawn"
split - as in "Let's go split!" which refers to the act of splitting loot amongst party members
subbie - an abbreviation for subrace
tag - when talking about a toon, it refers to whether that toon has killed a certain boss (see the Tag section under The Runs), when referring to items, it means whether the item requires the toon that is using it to be tagged or not
toon - an abbreviation for a player's character (e.g. Dodrudon the Bookworm is one toon while Dodrudon the Transformer is another)
UR - an abbreviation for Ultra Rare, a category of rarity of loot
Loot Splitting
Loot splitting for runs aren't as chaotic or free-for-all as it was pre-immo. There is an expected practice for loot splitting on the HG servers. There is one person that is designated as banker. That person, and that person only, takes the loot. If the banker does not have a high enough Lore skill to identify items, others with Lore may identify the item first (simply by examining it) before the bank picks it up. At the end of the run, the party retires to a room in the Wandering Wyrm. The banker puts all the loot in the armoire in that room. The party leader (the one with the crown) uses the !partyroll command, which rolls a d100 (a 100 sided dice) for each person in the party. Usually, the person who rolls the highest gets first pick, then the second and third and so on. After the last person has chosen, the first person gets to choose again. Rarely, the party will decide to "snake," in which case after the last person picks, the last person picks again, then the second to last person picks, and all the way on up to the first person, who then gets to pick a second time, then the second person picks, then all the way down to the last person who picks twice, then the second to last person picks and.... well you get the picture.
Death System
When you die, a death timer is created. Think of it as an alarm clock set to go off in a few minutes. Every time you die a new alarm clock is created. If an alarm clock goes off while you're dead, you fugue. If you're alive when an alarm clock goes off, you're fine, though being rezzed or resting will not destroy any of these death timers. However, there's a twist. Once you achieve immortality, instead of fuguing when an alarm clock goes off, if you're dead, you are automatically rezzed instead of fugueing! However, some areas in HG strip you of your immortality so you STILL fugue if an alarm clock goes off. Sometimes, after the party has died many times, they'll stop to take a break to let all the alarm clocks finish going off.
General Information
Check your in-game journal for information regarding your class, spell and ability changes, server rules, as well as the many commands you can use. You can also read the books in the Wonderous Items Shop for more information on classes.
Chat Commands
There are many useful chat commands, I'll list some of the popular ones here. They are all preceded by an exclamation mark (!). Just type them into the chat to use them, though some need to be sent as tells to a player. For more information on these commands and other commands, check your journal.
!playerinfo - Send this in a tell to a player (including yourself), and it will return information such as the toon's level, total experience, experience until next level, current party members and party leader, current area, classes and levels in each class. Going anonymous (either through the scry or using !anon) hides most of this information.
!runmsg [message] - This sends a shout to every server announcing a run. It will automatically attach your toon name, account name, and the server you're on, along with your message of course.
!tell [playername] [message] - This will send a message to a player on a different server (or the same server for that matter). If they are not online at the time, it will be delivered the next time they log on. for playernames with spaces, use quotes (") around the entire playername. The message does not need quotes.
!list acc - See the tags you have!
!who all/area/class/party/111/112/113/114/115 - These are only some of the options you can use with the !who command (see your journal in-game for more information). The "all" switch will display information from all servers, "area" will list the areas the players are in, "class" will list the classes and levels of classes of each player, "party" will restrict it to listing only the people in your party, using a server number will list players from that server only, and using just plain !who will list only people on your server.
Equipment and Loot
Shop till you drop dead, then start using random loot instead of the store-bought crap
Random Loot System
Higher Ground uses a Random Loot System. Usually, only containers are loot drops. Only keys and boss loot drop from certain mobs. The order of rarity of items are: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra-rare, and Beyond Ultra-rare. See this post for the chances of the different types of loot dropping. Note that BURs only drop in Hells, and the percentage chance they drop is still confidential. Of course, the rare an item is, the more powerful it is. Every time a container is popped, the cosmic dice roll and decide what the rarity of the item is, then chooses an item from that tier of rarity.
Over time, you'll learn how to identify Rares and URs. For example, URs tend to have +16 AC bonuses on them (except for armors and robes), whether Deflection or Dodge or Natural. However, some UR rings have no AC bonus on them at all. Until you learn to positively identify the rarity of items, it's best to ask the party what you should pick at a loot split.
There are also two other types of items: set drops and artifacts. Set drops ALWAYS drop in the same place (or by the same boss). For example, there are a few set drop wands in the Forgotten Forest. No matter how many times you loot the same corpse, it will always have the same wand. Artifacts are very powerful objects. There exist one for each stat, that will raise that stat by two, give you an immunity of some sort, and also give you a once-per-day ability. Three other artifacts also exists with different powers, increasing saves and skills, allowing you to run faster, or increasing your spell penetration. Most artifacts only drop as BURs in Hell, however, three areas, the Beholder, the Pyramid, and the Pharlans (Rona Forest), all drop an artifact. The Beholder and Pyramids both have a 25% chance of dropping the Intelligence and Wisdom artifact, respectively. The Pharlans area is still new, so the drop rate is so far unknown (and might still be changed in the near future). The artifact that drops there gives +1 to Spell Penetration, and once per day allows the user to gain a bonus casterlevel.
Basic Equipment Tactics
Equipment... what a thorny issue. Besides having a competent build, equipment can make or break your character. Having good equipment is just as important as being at a high enough level for certain areas of the mod. Some basics you'll want:
Physical Damage Immunity - this is the %, on all armors, most cloaks, and some gloves. This will protect against the most common damage. Robes and lighter armors have less damage immunity than heavier armors. Depending on what armor you use, you should aim for 20% to 40%.
Physical Damage Resistance - You want 10/- resistance to all three types of physical damage if possible. In areas with lots of piercing damage (such as archers), the Immortal's Cloak is good with 20/- pierce resist!
Physical Damage Reduction - this comes in the form of +#/#. The first number is the enchantment of weapon it can soak up to, and the second is the amount of damage it will soak. So if you have +5/20, any weapon with an enchantment lower than +5 (but not equal to +5) will have 20 damage absorbed. The higher you can get both numbers, the better, though often you may have to do without. Not many items have this property.
Elemental Resistance - you want at least 20/- resistance to all elements. Usually a single item can cover this. A Lloth's Ring works very well in this respect. Very few mobs do ONLY physical damage, they inevitably do a good amount of elemental damage as well.
Exotic Elemental Resistance - this covers Magic, Positive, and Divine damage. Immunity to Negative damage can easily be had by drinking a Negative Energy Protection Potion bought from RIP's tavern. Anyways, you want at minimum 5/- to each of these three elements, 10/- if possible, and 15/- if you're lucky. Many mobs do small amounts of exotic damage with every attack as well.
Haste - of course, you'll want Haste on an item.
Saves - you want to try to max out out on your bonus to saves, at +20. Saves are EXTREMELY important in HG.
Stats - you also want the maximum +12 in your most important stats, such as Int if you're a wizard, or Cha as a sorcerer or bard, or Wis as a druid or cleric, so that you have the highest DC for your spells as possible. Also, all toons want Con for the HP, Dex for the AC (and possibly AB), and possibly Str if you're a packrat or for the extra damage (and possibly AB).
Immunities - you absolutely MUST have these immunity do Death and Mind. Level/Ability Drain, Knockdown, Harm, and IGMS immunity is necessary in some places as well. Some special immunities, such as immunity to Implosion, is useful in areas as well if you have a low fort save.
Elemental Immunities
You'll probably notice that there are a lot of rings with elemental immunities. There 20 rare rings that have 75% immunity to one normal element, and 50% immunity to another. These rings will be the foundation of your success on HG. Rings are the most swapped items in the game, adjusting immunities for upcoming areas. Some rings have immunity to Mord or Breach. Some UR rings have the same 75/50 immunites, and an additional 25% immunity to a non-Negative exotic element. These rings are HIGHLY coveted, so snatch them up if you can! There are also rare rings with 25% to an exotic element, and others with 25% each to an exotic and normal element. The rings you have determine how well you do on several runs. If you lack certain immunities, you'll want to ask to borrow rings to cover them, so as not to be a liability to the party.
Weapons
Currently, there are rare level 29 weapons and level 35 weapons. Moad drops mediocre weapons, Sissy weapons have high enchantments (useful for the extra AB and bypassing damage reduction) but don't do much extra damage, DB weapons have less enchantment, but a lot more damage (though they sometimes lack keen).
Special Abilities
Many items have 1/day (or more) special abilities on them. These are very useful to collect. For instance, the hidden Ssithrak can cast Greater ruin, while some caster staves have Shadow Shield on them, or Epic Warding, which is great to buff right before a tough fight. Shadow Shield is also great for Clerics and Druids, which otherwise would not have access to the spell.
General Run Info
Indy hanformation
Introduction
What's a run? In HG, it's a quest, most of which require you to be immortal. In many cases, it requires collecting a few "keys" (which aren't actually ever in the form of a key but act as one) either to start the run, or perhaps to end it (in order to gain entrance to the area the boss is in). The entirety of the run begins from the initial area, where you fight minions, advancing closer to the final boss in whatever lair they lurk in, sometimes collecting more keys (which occasionally actually take the form of a key) to unlock the next area. A run can last anywhere from half an hour to five or six, though they almost always finish in under two hours. The longest runs are the Hell runs (which actually consist of nine circles, each a separate run), which are the hardest and require you to be level 55 at least. Most runs can only be done once per server reset, you can use your PC Scry under "information on server" to see what runs have or have not been completed.
The runs in this section have been ordered roughly by difficulty, from easiest to hardest.
Tags
Most runs will "tag" you at the end. For instance, at the end of a MoaD run, if you're alive and in the area as well as in the party with the character that kills MoaD and everyone in the party within six levels of each other (not counting LLs), then you'll get the tag. Which is why you DON'T want to be dead when the boss dies. You can use the PC Scry to see what tags your character has. Tags are required to use some items. For instance, the weapons MoaD drops require a MoaD tag, which is convinient because you just killed her!
Starting Runs
When starting a run, it is good ettiquette to provide the keys yourself. Some keys are destroyed on use ("consumable" keys). You should DEFINITELY provide these yourself if you plan to start a run. A few keys are not destroyed on use, and though it is nice if the run-starter has these as well, you can shout for someone else to bring them. In order to start a run, select the "send a message" option off your PC Scry, then select "send a message to all servers." The server number, your toon's name, and your account name (aka GameSpy ID) are included automatically in the shout. You can also use the !runmsg command. Follow the instructions, and be sure to say what run you're starting, feel free to include anything else (for instance, if you'd like a druid with shunt, or need one of the keys). If you're not too familiar with a run and would like someone there to lend a hand, it's fine to include a request for help in the message. The shout will be broadcasted on all six HG servers. Wait a few minutes for the message to get to the other servers and for players to switch servers. You can do a maximum of three shouts per server per reset, and only the current party leader can shout for a run.
Keys
A little more on keys for runs: they can take any shape or form, but usually are anything but keys. From strange balls of light to broken circles or something wearable or even a bound collection of extremely thin tree-derived products. Heck, they can even take the form of a corpse
Despawning
Despawning is the practice of leaving an area in order to make the mobs there disappear. This is often used in lowbie areas when running from mobs when the party realizes they can't handle that area yet. In lowbie areas, the loot does not despawn, only the mobs. However, on all immortal runs, the loot despawns with the mobs. That means if you go to an area and leave it, all the loot in said area will be GONE. Also, on the DB run, if you despawn any mobs, you're prevented from continuing to the next area of the run.
Not only that, but an experimental anti-lag measure is currently in place for the Desert and Dustbone runs. Basically, when more than 10 creatures spawn, a timer starts ticking. For most Desert maps, this timer is 3 minutes, for the Devariel Aerie the timer is 5 minutes, and for the Dustbone map the timer is 4 minutes. If the timer expires and there are more than 10 creatures on the map, mobs will start disappearing (despawning) in the order they appeared. If even a SINGLE mob is despawned because of this timer, all the loot in the ENTIRE area is despawned. If the number of mobs ever falls below 10 total, the timer will disappear. Refer to this thread for more information.
Resting and The Ring
In some Legendary areas, you can't rest. Where do you get your spells, you ask? Remember the Pedestal during the Lloth run? Where you got the Ring of the Planar Traveller? In no-rest zones, using that ring will port you to the Pocket Plane area, where you can safely rest. After you rest, you will be ported back to the place where you used the ring. It will NOT port you back while you are resting, so you can wait a few seconds for the "You cannot rest so soon after exerting yourself" messages to go away, and maybe spare a few more seconds after that to mess with your spellbook before resting. If you get stuck in the Pocket Plane, you can use the statue you see to get ported back as well. When you get ported back, you are stripped of all your buffs. Only some of the runs have a Pedestal at the end of them. The first time you get the ring, you get 10 uses of it on all six servers. Subsequent rechargings of the ring (by using the same or a different pedestal) will give you a certain amount of rests for that server only. If you run out of charges on a server, you can talk to the Sage to get some emergency charges.
No-Port Zones
Some areas do not allow teleportation. This means you cannot use a Gem of Teleportation or the "port to party leader" option on your PC Scry. These areas are usually no-rest zones as well, but there are exceptions.
Kickback
Also abbreviated KB, kickback is when a character is attacked, and the attacker automatically takes damage. For instance, a toon with the Elemental Shield buff will cause fire kb, while Death Armor causes magic kb, and Mestil's Acid Sheath causes acid kb. On some mobs, certain attacks and spells will cause the attacker to take damage, while other times the entire party will take damage. Sometimes ranged attacks or certain damaging abilities will not cause kb, sometimes it will.
Equipment
In the following section, I'll describe the runs and sometimes suggest what immunities you should have. The importance of these immunities depend on both party tactics and the run itself. For instance, on the Sissy run, it's very easy to go without the immunities, as long as you inform the party of your lack of immunities and they avoid attacking certain mobs that do party-wide kickback. Of course, if everyone has the immunities, the party can go wild and attack everything without prejudice.
Also, some areas require the Waterbreathing ring or the Levitation ring you found back when you were a lowbie. I'll let you figure out which ones you'll need and when (it'll be pretty obvious for the water-breathing, and you'll figure out the levitating when you keep dying after taking one step).