Mara

[rgirty]

I'm doing my first mara run with all guildies tonight. I dont' think many if any of us have ever set foot inside. The group will comprise of

shadow priest lvl 55 *dps backup heal etc
Warrior lvl 46 *think he might be a little low for it.
Mage lvl 52 *dps, crowd control
Mage lvl 48 *dps, crowd control
shadow priest lvl 50 *main heal, dps when heal isn't needed

With both priests having IMP ve and the healer having IMP ve as well as many points in aggro reduction. With two mages being able to poly for crowd control can anyone comprise a list of do's and dont's? or some simple rules of thumb/strategy? We did all the bosses in zf except for ghaz in just over an hour with this group excluding the troll behind the locked door after the stairs event? We didn't know he was even there..

Any tips/strategy appreciated.

[Oatmealsmurf]

CC will be limited somewhat because you are fighitng a lot of elementals and plant crap in Mara no humanoids and don't remember very many animals. Nature resist helps...

wish I could say more but I flat out don't care for Mara.

[Grendo]

1- The warrior will be low. Two priests may be able to level that out.
2 - There's two sides, orange and purple. They both end up the same place if youre planning to clear the instance, though most groups do orange thru Noxxion, then leave and enter thru the purple side.
3 - Polymorph will be mainly useless, but good AErs will help greatly. As mentioned above, most creatures save a small handful are not humonoids. Orange has a lot of plants, or AE groups of beasts (larva), and a few elementals if youre planning on doing the Vyletongue Corruption quest. Purple side is mainly beasts (lizards), elementals, and giants near the end.
- The focus of the instance is separated groups of 3-4 mobs each, so offtanks, including hunter pets help a ton.
- You might have to skip Princess with your choice of tank, aggro is going to be an issue, as is HP.
- You should be able to knock out Noxxion and Razorlash on the orange side, and Gizlock, Vyletongue, the Giant, Cerabas, Rotgrip in purple, if you can get thru the trash pulls.

Its a HUGE instance, so expect to feel somewhat lost. The most important quest in the dungeon involves needing to kill Noxxion and Vyletongue for two parts of the Sceptre of Cerabas, and then killing him so that his spirit will help you craft it (all inside the instance). The staff will allow a group to skip the majority of entrance trash for 'princess runs'. Make sure you get the quest, and complete the sceptre for future use.
- NR is a plus in orange, but not required.
- Jumping down waterfalls is fun (tm).

It might be my favorite instance in the game...when I have a decent group.

[rgirty]

I think we'll head down the purple side as it sounds easier.

First time in an instance = learning experience right?

The first time our group did zf we spent three hours and only did one boss.

The second time was better.

The third time we cleared it easy, even the stairs event and quickly.

I'm in a small guild and we are all learning the smaller instances. The only advantage our group really has are pots. I am wealthy enough to use and distribute greater mana pots. IF we do the orange side, i'll pass around some greater nature pots.

Thanks all, for the advice!

[bhroam]

I've only been in mara once, but I'm with oatmealsmurf... I didn't care for it. I have a list of criteria for me to like an instance... the main things are nearby graveyard and easy of getting into the instance from the graveyard. Mara uses the gaveyard in the center of desolace, and requires you to walk through a maze of multi-level passages to get back to the instance... not my idea of a good time after you just died.

That said, I used some feet I got off of razorlash for quite a while... there's some nice stuff dropped in mara.

[Twoflower]

your warrior will be to low, wont be able to hold agro. So expect some messy bossfights.

[rgirty]

The priest had the key for the princess run, so we did landslide and the princess in about an hour. We really didn't have any problems with multiples as I could tank the large rock elementals without much difficulty.

The princess dropped a melee ring and a caster dagger. We only had one caster who could use the dagger and only one melee. Some how the two individuals got confused and rolled need on the opposite items. The warrior ended up with the +int dagger and the mage got the melee ring.

Didn't have any problem with aggro really on singles, just wait for a few sunders to pop up. The princess was kinda all over with the aoe but we didn't have a lot of difficulty. Two priests can cover for a lot of mistakes.

[DarkManxXx]

55 shadow priest tanks and mages try to play keepaway/aggro games with princess after priest is feared, with that makeup you pretty much have to unless you get the warrior to 48.(personally id prefer to see the 55 tank)

[zkajan]

you guys are fretting too much, mauradon is supposed to fall somewhere between zul farak and sunken temple in difficulty. the 46 tank is a tad bit low, but the two priests waaaay outlevel it, so it's fine.

[rgirty]

I did it again last night with

52 tank
52 mage
54 priest
48 rogue
48 rogue

I'll admit, it was tougher this time than last time. Those rogue's take a lot of damage from that AoE. The mage and myself aggro kited her some with my fade and the tank jumped in where he could but it wasn't pretty!

Don't really know why it was so difficult.

Currently running ST a lot, any strategy there would be helpful as well.

I have only wiped there once, when someone got feared twice before I could fear ward them again, they aggro'd the prophet and well...it didn't work out.

[Aerath]

Pull 'em back all the way to the wall.

Then you won't get feared into the next group.

Learn that one well, cos it'll haunt you through most of the rest of the instances in the game.

[Zaratustra]

oh mara....mara was my favorite instance for a very long time and still is. still i try not to miss an opportunity to get my foot into mara from time to time. i have done a countless number of princes runs and many full runs there (though, i have never seen the head piece drop---yeah, bad luck for me).

[Grendo]

ST should have its own thread, of which Ill be happy to contribute. ;)

[Corporal Robinson]

ST was very confusing to me the first time I went there. Now of course, I know it from head to toe, but the first time it was like a maze. ST is my least favorite instance in the game.

I think you guys may get lost if you haven't been their so i will give some advice.

It basically consists of a upper and lower level. Do the upper level first. You will be brung into a circle and clear the whole circle of monsters and then go in each room. Each room has 1 mini-boss. The reason you definately should do the top first is that you need to kill all 6 (or 8, i forgot) minibosses before u can face a very important boss, Jamm'alan the Prophet. Once u have the 6 mini-bosses cleared go to the lower level. Clear ALL the dragons on the floor. You will have to do that or you will not be able to face the final boss.

So yeah i dont like ST at all. I hate having to clear a bunch of mobs to access a boss.

Good luck and I hope you guys have fun.

[Oatmealsmurf]

I liked ST because it was the first instance where you really had some difficult pulls and couldn't DPS your way out of a jam.

[swaldman]

I liked ST because it was the first instance where you really had some difficult pulls and couldn't DPS your way out of a jam.

Aye. I have described ST before as "the end of Easy Mode". In particular, it sorts out the good tanks.

To the previous poster - it has three levels, IIRC. Not every group will bother with the basement though.

And yes, I also always get lost in there...