Assault

(Learning by Doing)

Tonight, I had another first – I was able to get a spot in a Nyzul Isle run. This is technically part of the AU assault eval system. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

I logged in and flagged up on WHM while looking for VE. I gave up on that and made my way to AU to see if my luck would improve, and failing that, perhaps I could make a bit doing tele-taxi runs.

I took some time to cycle junk through my d-box so I could get my latest loot proceeds. I also put the three hi-pots Fhox had us buy for BCNM’s. Speaking of that elusive RDM, he must’ve logged on recently because he took the two Yag necklaces I didn’t recall from his box.

Neemomo shouted for a Yhoat run and I think I had a Vahzl passenger, but that was it. I also spent some time chatting with Tetskei about… Nyzul Isle. He was newish to AU missions and didn’t know what the requirements were. He wanted help and I gave him as much info as I could. I even escorted him to Salaheem and Ryzaal. Turns out he’d already gotten at least this far, meaning he could in fact go to Nyzul.

But he only had him and possibly me. Nyzul runs appear to be full party affairs, at or near 75. And just as we were thinking about trying to assemble a party, Goltoros shouted for a healer, @5/6.

I jumped at the chance, asking Gol if WHM70 would cut it. He said to hurry, and unfortunately I needed to swap subs. BLM wasn’t going to work in a mana-heavy situation.

I excused myself from Tetskei and eventually Portaled into the zone. Most of the rest of what happened was a blur, as the rest were waiting on me and once started, the timer doesn’t stop until victory or a 30-minute maximum.

NZ runs work like this – at least 5 floors must be climbed. Victory happens when that floor’s objective is met – kill ‘em all, find NM, kill one type of mob, switch-quest, etc. If successful, there’s points to spend on future temp items and you can start from the next set of floors, if you have the points for the “line-cut fee.”

Floor 1 went well enough, as did 2. But three did us in. Supposedly we were after Ebony Puddings but the two we found took an eternity to finish off. Time ran out then and we were ejected. Thankfully, we got dumped next to the RP.

Now the good news: I got quite a lot of Divine SUs. Nobody died. I didn’t run out of mana once, although it would have happened on the 4th floor. I missed our DNC Hyhi on the first couple of Sleepgas – I was trying to wake the wrong person >< I got a Werebuster, one of the WHM drops. It’s 75 and has less DPS than my Maul, but still, w00t!

Lessons learned: Apparently, nobody casts sneak or invisible – item use only. Makes sense now with mana so precious and time far more so. Also, while Sublimation kept me awake, I did get slept once or twice when I was between subs or a hard hit put me under 50% thus ending the fill-ticks. Parties often go tankless in favor of maximum DD, letting the mage(s) sort out the healing.

On breaking up, I thanked the group for the opportunity and promised to improve. Nobody seemed to mind my performance (and why should they? I did a good job. But had we made it past the third floor things would have changed.

I’m going to try going on more runs but I think I’ll have to stick with the first floor until I build up some points and some familiarity with the process.

Aaaaand, in GD news, Aleu beat Maat on SAM, first try! Congrats Aleu!