Got Muddle!

Spinklecove's entrance can be seen
from the east bank.

Just a few days ago Babacratus was level 103 and had started timidly exploring the path to Ergo in Elysium only to be totally intimidated by the 105 to 110+ level mobs guarding the approach.  With just one dungeon run, a few Ely missions, and a couple of Rubi-Ka dailies and suddenly he is level 110.  The really sweet part is that with hitting 110 he can finally self cast Muddle Psyche, a great Area of Effect Calm.  AOE calms on one of the defining tricks of the Bureaucrat class. Baba is really looking forward to trying it out. 

He started his run to 110 with a nice run through the Sprinklecove static dungeon in north Central Ely.  Starting at zero, he dinged a level before he reached the final Boss level.  He really likes this dungeon.  It has a minimum number of those Crat pet traps sections where there are a series of staircases.  It also has quite a few really, really big rooms/areas which is always welcome.  (Baba can get claustrophobia.)  This dungeon can be hard to find so see our previous post on where it is.

But not from the west bank.

Next he ran a few quests in Ely.  The first one was the quest given by guard Elmo Fitz at the base of the ramp at Port Seven.  Kill 3 Devourers of Life and get practically a full level of experience based on your level in addition to the reward promised at the beginning by the NPC.  Baba's Nube Tip: Don't skip this quest if you are looking to level quickly.

The next quest he tried from the NPC "One Who Wins Over Mind" turned out to be quite simple, but he had read the online description is such a rush, that he went to the wrong location to look for the mushrooms he was tasked with collecting.  The quest requires mushrooms that can be found quite close by, just a short ways slightly north east of the quest giver.  Baba's Nube Tip: Just because there are no red mobs around, don't try doing it if you have just rezzed and are at less than full health.  He did and almost died.  Each mushroom is toxic and you get a pretty hefty poison hit as soon as you pick harvest them using the bag given to you.  So definitely have stims/kits or get a nice Heal Over Time buff if you are really squishy. 

The next quest from the same NPC sounds easy to, deliver a letter.  It is a two part delivery.  Take the letter to one NPC, then go talk to a third on the other side of Ely.  It has a 30 minute timer, so it is a really good idea to scout out the route to the two NPCs before starting.  Baba's Nube Tip:  Make sure you have your garden key and have saved in your Ely garden before starting. Getting to the first NPC involves crossing a bridge over some Hecklers which will from time to time, aggro you and climb out of the gorge and do you in.  Save at garden, start the quest, get to the first NPC quickly and complete giving them the letter, and pow, there is a good chance a 180+ Heckler will send you quickly your last save in the garden.  From there you can use a statue to quickly travel to a point close to the next quest NPC and finish it with tons of time to spare.

Now it was time to get back to Rubi-Ka and run some daily missions.  The first mission the alien Spaced Out mission, but unfortunately he got the cocoon version, which he could not complete since his cocoon terminator (a unique item) has vanished, but the game says he still has it so it won't give him a new one or let him buy another.  He uses AO ItemAssistant, so he is absolutely sure I does not have this item on his person or in his bank.  The only way out of the mission was to die, which was not a problem as he had remembered to save before the mission. Note: Funcom is aware of this issue and working on a resolution. In the meantime they recommend that players petition in game when it happens to have the items flag reset.

So with a little time wasted, he proceeded to pull a regular daily, and got the "Extraction" mission for the first time.  At first it was kind of a pain as it is in Omni territory and while he could fly there with ease, bringing along his top level 136 Droid (which he relies on Babaemphee and trader Tireen's buffs in order to cast), was problematic.  It might have gone better if he had scouted the mission entrance first.  As it was, in order to get low and close enough to make out the doors meant that his Droid would end up running around aggroing every Omni in sight, which meant if he stuck around his Droid would be toast and require a recast.  He high-tailed it out of there by flying north east to the nearest player city to take a Bar whompa back to civilization. 

He called on Babaengy to team with him and fly out there first.  Once Babaengy was there and situated safely on top of the mission building, he beacon warped Babacratus and his Droid safely there.  Babaengy logged off to wait for Babacratus to run the mission as Babacratus was fairly confident he would not need any help.  After one failed try, he completed the mission. The first time he failed it was because he made the mistake of drawing the Omni aggro first, rather than letting the NPC do it.  Even though you can clear the place before getting the NPC to sign up, more Omni spawn, often with several in a room.  So the object is to keep the Omni from killing the side switching NPC long enough for it to reach the exit. 

Baba's Nube Tip: The Extraction mission varies in difficulty based on the profession of the spawned NPC that wants to switch sides.  If it is a soldier of engineer, they are quite strong and able to defend themselves, while the other NPC professions that spawn are comparably weaker, so if you get an NPC that is not a soldier or engineer, simply exit the mission and then re-enter.  This will spawn a new NPC as well as re-spawn all of the Omni personnel in the building. The Omni re-spawn can be a good thing, as they do give good experience.  After finding the exit and the NPC that is a soldier or engineer, kill all the Omni personnel, then talk to the target NPC. Follow the NPC and hang back slightly.  Let him acquire Omni aggro before sending your Droid in to help and casting any debuffs etc. yourself.  Make sure you talk to the NPC when they stop just before the exit.

Babacratus now mulling over what to do next.  There are more options to level rather quickly now than compared to how it was for Babaoroody as a froob years ago on Rubi-Ka.  You can now level so fast you out-level your gear and nanos quickly, meaning it becomes more important to budget time to work on bringing those up to par. Although Babacratus has stocked his player shop well, it has yet to make a dime, not a single sale, so perhaps he needs to drop prices as he needs income now, not top dollar later. The alternative, i.e. running dungeons or killing mobs in the wild for drops, is the ever inviting classic grind. 

With Shadowlands mid-levels have a ton of choices for leveling.  At 110 he realized he at max level to get into Crypt of Home which is one of Rubi-Ka's classic dungeons which also features a couple of nice Crat pistols.  After looking at the requirements, he realized they are something that will take serious twinking or many levels to be able to equip.  Should he continue to take the fast track leveling to get to the next Shadowlands area Scheol, or take some time to farm for better gear in Ely and Rubi-Ka?  After sleeping on it, he decided to stick with one simple plan, level, level, level.  He has always been under-geared and it looks like that is just going to be the way it is for him for a long time.

As the leader of Angels of the Night AO guild used to say "Get out there and level Nube."