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The Shadowguard

Drakelord

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ok old news but I will type it anyway; The Shadowguard is a series of encounters found at Minax's fortress in the Valley of Eodon. A single player or party can attempt to defeat the challenge. There are five rooms which have special conditions to complete. Double-click the enchanting crystal ball in the grand hall to open the rooms gump. It shows your current progress and allows the selection of encounters.

Now the part I don’t like about the Shadowguard. Its for one person only, so the person you start this with has to finish it. Nothing like the Valley of One quest. Where 5 items from the sub quests get you a reward for finishing all five parts of the quest. Why can’t the “Rooms” of the tower be more like Valley of One sub quests? Each room gives us one item that we can pass on to another character. There been so many times I wish it had been this way from the very beginning of the start of this quest.

As of today, my Bard has only completed two of the five rooms, The Bar, and the The Orchard. I have tried The Armory several times, always running out of time. Because of the times I am trying this there are very few people on during the day to help and in the evening we are (as a guild) busy with larger events. When this was on Test Center I was able to run the one character there by changing out its template for each room, something I cannot do on a normal shard due to cost of soul stones.

I don't think I will ever make it passed The Fountain or The Belfry on the Bard alone, but could (with help) on other characters I have on the three accounts I am playing. Yet these same characters all have the same problems none can do all the rooms alone.
 
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Drakelord

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I had one other help me with the Armory and the Fountain, and then four of us did the Belfry. Tomorrow will be the first time I been on the Roof since TC1.
 

Trixicle

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i got one quest from talking to the man inside Eodon - when u land there-for the masterswordsman btu i have no clue what to do next- i havent played in two years
and im totally lost
 

Merus

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i got one quest from talking to the man inside Eodon - when u land there-for the masterswordsman btu i have no clue what to do next- i havent played in two years
and im totally lost
This quest involves defeating a specific boss. Your quest log should tell you which one you were assigned. If you don't like the one you have you can cancel the quest and take it again and see what the new one is. I believe this has a 1 hour cool down.
 

MalagAste

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And that quest log is found by clicking on your player ingame .... not the quest log... where you would think it is... Hopefully you have many friends to help you do it. Though if you get one you don't like you can always quit it and try again later to get a better one.

Though to be totally honest... you could just get a Bard friend to get you the book you need and then buy a level 1 mastery of your choice simple and cheaply more often than not off someones vendor and save yourself the hassle.
 

Petra Fyde

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I regularly solo on my bard, Bar, Orchard, Armory and recently, fountain. The group I hunt with usually do the roof together and follow it up with Belfry, giving us a start towards the next set of rooms.
In the armory I used provo, disco and a pair of EVs. I use EC's scavenger agent and hot bar slots to simplify the pick up and throw part.
 

whitesmith

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Instead of every individual competing all the levels, split it amongst the party. Every individual completes one room/s, if altogether they complete all rooms before the roof, everyone can go to the roof. Encourage player interaction...
 

Parnoc

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Instead of every individual competing all the levels, split it amongst the party. Every individual completes one room/s, if altogether they complete all rooms before the roof, everyone can go to the roof. Encourage player interaction...
Each player in the party that goes to the roof HAS to complete all the rooms with that character, don't they?
 

whitesmith

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Instead of every individual competing all the levels, split it amongst the party. Every individual completes one room/s, if altogether they complete all rooms before the roof, everyone can go to the roof. Encourage player interaction...
Each player in the party that goes to the roof HAS to complete all the rooms with that character, don't they?

Was trying to say it would be nice if everyone didn't have to complete all the levels. Instead as long as the party completes all the levels, all should be good to go :)
 

Drakelord

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I regularly solo on my bard, Bar, Orchard, Armory and recently, fountain. The group I hunt with usually do the roof together and follow it up with Belfry, giving us a start towards the next set of rooms.
In the armory I used provo, disco and a pair of EVs. I use EC's scavenger agent and hot bar slots to simplify the pick up and throw part.
Ya she has an awesome video of her bard doing the Armory.
 

Parnoc

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Was trying to say it would be nice if everyone didn't have to complete all the levels. Instead as long as the party completes all the levels, all should be good to go :)
ah yes, misunderstood you, I agree completely, doing the rooms in small groups in say a party of 8 or 10 takes a long time and really makes it a grind. Right now the rewards are good so folks are doing it but a little later down the road, this grind will come to a halt, most people just refuse to do grinds after a while. And making some of the rooms almost impossible to do with a party over 2 (armory) just makes it more of a grind.
 
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Eärendil

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Was trying to say it would be nice if everyone didn't have to complete all the levels. Instead as long as the party completes all the levels, all should be good to go :)
This! I would love to see a change in this direction, even if they lowered the drop rate. My problem is, that I simply dont have the time and the number of skilled PVM-friends who would do the encounter with me... Its too time consuming!
 

Drakelord

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This! I would love to see a change in this direction, even if they lowered the drop rate. My problem is, that I simply dont have the time and the number of skilled PVM-friends who would do the encounter with me... Its too time consuming!
That last time I went on the Roof with PAS (Sonoma) I was the only one to get a drop. The Luck sandals which were then roll for by all there at the event. I was lucky and won the roll as well. It is sad that the drop rate of rewards is so low. All the work that all those people did to get there and one drop item to share among them all.
 

Alex"Drake Iron Heart"CS

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Was trying to say it would be nice if everyone didn't have to complete all the levels. Instead as long as the party completes all the levels, all should be good to go :)
Although I see your point and I disagree because, its far easier to do some rooms than others, and everyone will want to do the easiest....
By making all do it, it shows commitment in all the group entering the roof, all work the same and have same rights to drops tho thats not true as some Accs have added luck, but thats a total other subject......

ah yes, misunderstood you, I agree completely, doing the rooms in small groups in say a party of 8 or 10 takes a long time and really makes it a grind. Right now the rewards are good so folks are doing it but a little later down the road, this grind will come to a halt, most people just refuse to do grinds after a while. And making some of the rooms almost impossible to do with a party over 2 (armory) just makes it more of a grind.
Never take parties more than 4-5 to roof, thats my advise
Armoury can be done with big groups, its a matter of being organised, my guild/alliance once in a while do all rooms with 10 people just for the added fun, but its easily done.... well maybe not bar with that many people, gets a little hectic, but its a matter of having a good balance of team and obviously putting effort and concentration into it
 

Merlin

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Here's my two cents on completing the rooms:

The Bar - This is easiest to do solo (if you have the right template for it) or with a small group (2-3 max). Any more than that, and the Encounter produces a lot of spawn it makes it take too long to complete (especially if you don't have people fully engaged)

The Orchard - Extremely easy with any size group. Need to have one person with a Cu Sidhe so you can feed them the apples and not produce any Tree spawn. Aside from that, as long as you have pen & pad and know the corresponding virtues/anti-virtues, this one should be able to be done in short time.

The Armory - I prefer doing this is large enough groups whereby you will have some people simply fighting the spawn, and others running around and picking up the phylacteries to purify and throw them. Best to be tackled one room at a time. If doing in a large group, need to have someone in the center spamming Wither. A few GD's always helpful too. However, even in a small group (3 or less), this isn't too daunting of a room if you coordinate together. Provo bard's are very helpful here.

The Fountain - Can be done with any size group, just need to divide up the duties. 2-3 people should focus on killing spawn, and then one person needs to be assigned to building each side. Also, if doing in a big group where a lot of spawn and canal pieces are produced, you need to have someone running around with an axe and just chopping all the unnecessary corner pieces laying around.

The Belfry - Just cast RC's on the ledge and/or there is a method to get your GD to fly up top and fight the dragon. If you get off a disco on the dragon, it makes it go much quicker. Can be done with any sized group.

My guild runs this every single night multiple times. There is not any need to add in an 'easy button' to any of these encounters to make them solo-able. You simply have to keep grinding at it to learn best practices as a group and you will be able to knock out all rooms in short order.
 
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