MPG Single-Group Trials : EQ1 EverQuest 1 Submissions

MPG Single-Group Trials

This guide is intended as a spoiler to help groups pass through the six trials in the Muramite Proving Grounds (a zone off Walls of Slaughter). These trials yield excellent loot for even Anguish-level guilds, including hard-to-come-by slots like masks, rings, and shoulders. Also, completing a trial increases the maximum that your resists can be raised to.

NOTE: The lockouts on these trials are rather annoying to those that would like to farm them for the loot they offer. If you do not mind not getting credit for the trial, leave the expedition (everyone in the group opens the window with ALT+Z and clicks leave) just before the final mob dies (this only works in the trials where the event ends as a mob dies, which is all of them except Fear). Decide loot beforehand and loot quickly once the chest spawns, then allow yourself to be booted from the zone. You should end up outside the trial with no lock out, since you technically failed.

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Trial of Destruction (Projection of Power)

Perfect group set-up:

2 tanks, cleric, slower, 2 dps.

Objective:

Kill 20 mobs in 15 minutes, and then a final named.

Strategy:

Begin the trial with the group positioned on the east wall of the room. Make sure that througout the trial NO ONE moves up the wall, as this makes it difficult for the tanks to re-establish aggro if mobs chase others up the wall, as well as making it difficult for the damage classes to burn it down. Every 10 seconds or so the mobs will mem-blur themselves, so the tanks need to continually build aggro.

3 mobs rush the group the moment the trial is started, and spawn throughout the event around the room. The faster the group kills the mobs off, they quicker they will spawn. If the mobs do not aggro the group immediatly after they spawn, make sure to quickly pull them to the group for tanks to aggro and the dps to burn down. If they roam around the room too long without being aggroed they will despawn.

Every mob you kill after the required 20 makes the final named weaker. If your dps is exceptional and you manage to kill 25-30 mobs during the 15 minutes, the named is especially weak. The named will rush the group immediatly after the 15 minute timer wears off.

The dragorns are mezzable, although I don't suggest it unless the tanks have poor aggro. Damage shield dps is helpful. Use disciplines early during the 15 minutes, killing the 20 is the hardest part.

Trial of Efficiency (Projection of Arcana)

Perfect group set up:

2 tanks, cleric, secondary healer (druid or shaman), mezzer (enchanter or bard), dps.

Objective:

Kill 4 waves of 4 mobs, and then a final named.

Strategy

The mobs spawn in waves of 4, giving you 4 minutes to defeat each wave. If you do not defeat a wave in 4 minutes, the next does not spawn and you fail. A tank needs to be the LAST person to zone into the trial (the 4 mobs spawn with whoever zoned in last targeted, so someone with hitpoints needs to be able to take the first round of attacks by 4 mobs).

Each wave has 4 distinct mobs. The Elite muramite hits the hardest and has the most hitpoints. He is not mezzable and needs to die first. The Commander is the second most powerful, also not mezzable, and should die second. Finally, the last 2 mobs (muramite soliders) are mezzable and should be locked down by a tank or mezzer until the end.

Once you kill all 4 mobs, you have the remaining time in the 4 minute block to wait until the next mobs spawn, giving you med time. Dps strong groups find that they have 1 to 1.5 minutes to med up for the next wave. At the end of the 4th wave you have until the end of the 4 minute-block timer until the named spawns. He spawns right near the group and is rather easy.

Trial of Weaponry (Projection of Body)

Perfect group set-up:

Warrior, cleric, slower (beast lord preferrably), 3 dps (rogues and rangers are best)

Objective:

Kill 4 nameds in 15 minutes.

Strategy:

Each melee class needs to make sure to bring weapons of all types available to them. For example, warriors/rangers/bards/rogues need to bring piercers, slashers, and blunt weapons (two 1hs or a 2hs, either combination is fine). Beastlords/monks need to bring blunts and hand to hand weapons. Nuking classes need to make sure to have their nukes loaded.

Position the group at the center platform. There are 4 mobs around the room that are lying down. They stand up 1 at a time randomly. Once you kill all 4 nameds, you win the trial. There is no final boss. Each named is weak to a certain type of weaponry and mitigates all others.

The dragorn is weak to piercing.
The golem is weak to blunt.
The bazu is weak to slashing.
The lightning mob is weak to nukes - this mob is not weak to hand-to-hand, but it does not mitigate it either, so beastlords/monks should use hand-to-hand against this mob.

Trial of Fear (Projection of Mind)

Perfect group set-up:

Warrior, cleric, shadow knight, bard, slower, enchanter/necromancer.

Objective:

Stay alive for 15 minutes. There is no final named.

Strategy:

There are 2 types of mobs: Fear-able and Fearless mobs. The fearless mobs need to be tanked and burned down as you would any other mob. At times there can be 2-3 of these at the group at once, so the tank will need to be prepared to aggro all of them.

The light blue mobs can be feared, and while they are feared will undertake a tremendous DoT. If you keep the fear-able mobs feared, you will never have to actually fight them, so that the group can concentrate on the fearless ones.

It is very possible for the shadow knight and bard to handle all of fearing required for this trial, therefore a 3rd fearing class is not absolutely necessary. You may want to fill in a secondary healer or more dps.

Trial of Subversion (Projection of Tactics)

Perfect group set-up:

Warrior, cleric, intelligence-caster (wiz, necromancer, or magician), wisdom caster (another cleric, druid, or shaman), bard/rogue, enchanter/dps.

Objective:

Open the chests that spawn around the room until you achieve 300 points, and then defeat a final named.

Strategy:

Once the trial begins you will need 3 lock pickers running around the room, using their spells or abilities to open the chests and loot the coins. There are 3 types of coins: gold, silver, or copper. The gold are worth 30 points, the silver worth 20, the copper worth 10. Once all the chests are opened you'll need to wait until more spawn, so opening faster is best.

Make sure to first sense the chest to determine if it is trapped. If it is, you'll need to cast the appropriate spell to disarm it, and then pick its lock. If you do not open it properly, an AE will go off that either DoTs everyone or makes everyone drunk. You can cure the AE if you're quick, but it typically signifies a wipe.

Throughout all this, 2 dragorn mobs will be roaming around the room. Since you can't open or loot the chests while these mobs are aggro'd on you, the cleric or other pacifier will need to keep these 2 dragorns pacified the entire time. If they do happen to aggro a person, you need to kill it quickly so you can get back to work opening chests.

Around the 270-280th point, the whole group needs to move to the east wall. When the 300th point is looted, the patrolling dragorns will despawn and the named and his 2 guards will activate on the center platform. Pacify the 2 guards and pull the named. The guards are mezzable if you do aggro them.

Trial of Ingenuity (Projection of Realms)

Perfect group set-up:

Warrior, 2 clerics, beastlord/magician/necromancer, bard, rogue.

Objective:

Kill the named.

Strategy:

Position the group just on the inside left wall as you enter the trial circle. Throughtout this event the group MUST be very tight and not wander around. The tank must begin the trial by speaking to the Master at MAXIMUM RANGE. This is so that the Master does not aggro the group.

Quickly begin pulling the closest dragorns that are positioned around the room. They have low hitpoints and die quickly. Do not loot their corpse. Kill dragorns (allow the close ones to respawn) for 5 minutes. Hopefully you should have created a pile of 8 to 10 corpses. After 5 minutes, every melee loots a set of weapons (or a 2h weapon if applicable) from the dragorn corpses. These are bane weapons.

Pull the named to group. Both clerics will need to help heal the tank, typically by alternating complete heals. Keep the named pinned against the wall, but not too high so melee can't swing at him. Be sure to be using the bane weapons to attack the named. The weapons eventually deterioriate, so melee will need to loot more weapons as their's disappear. Weapons given to pets will never disappear, which is why pet classes are so powerful.

Every 30 seconds or so the named drops his "sheen." This reflective sheen makes it so that all procs and spells are reflected off him on to their caster. When the sheen is up, do not nuke him, as you'll only damage yourself. When it drops, nukers need to unload quickly. Melee classes can click their weapons, which have 6 charges of a 600 point nuke. You'll be able to get off 3-4 nukes every time his sheen drops.

Once the named is dead, the trial is over.

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