Portal to the Past: Southern Desert of Ro  

Level60 - 70
TypeInstanced Indoor
ExpansionClassic

Wikibase:POIs
The portal is by the dock in the Sinking Sands at -1444, -226, -407

  • Minimum level requirement to enter: 60
  • Higher levels are auto-mentored to 70.
  • Mob level range: 72+ heroic
  • Success lockout: 18 hours
  • After clearing walk around the gravestones to get mummies to spawn. There should be 4 gravesites to do this at. Then listen to the dialogue.
  • The Ancient Cyclops spawns and the adventurers attack it. The AC will be unkillable at this time. The ranger will then "train" Terrorantula to AC. The Terrorantula will be unkillable until the ranger dies, so let Terrorantula stay on the ranger. Once the ranger is down, Terrorantula becomes killable. Once Terrorantula is down the warrior will become killable, and once the AC kills the warrior, the AC will become killable. It is important that you allow the NPCs in the zone to first grab aggro on Terrorantula and AC to prevent from bugging it.

History

There is a lot of flavor text associated with this instance. In EverQuest, players would call a "camp check" (aka "CC", not to be confused with "crowd control") to see what mobs/locations other players were camping so they could determine what was available to them. However, for a mob such as the Ancient Cyclops, which could theoretically spawn anywhere in the zone, it was fair game.

The Ancient Cyclops spawn was akin to Quillmane's; there were a LOT of crazy theories associated with how to get it to spawn. People believed things such as kill every madmen, or only kill the wandering undead, or kill a "cycle" which included Terrorantula, and even to kill a mummy inside a small tower, but only at a certain hour (yes, people seriously tried that).

In the end, the AC was likely just a very rare spawn and likely had no specific placeholder. It was a highly treasured mob to camp though as its ring was needed to complete the Journeyman Boots quest.

The ranger who trains Terrorantula during the encounter is a double nod to EQ. Unlike EQ2, mobs were not locked onto whoever was killing them, and the chance of losing aggro without zoning was very slim. Players frequently trained mobs to a zoneline to lose aggro (and unfortunately, some did it to grief other players), and without ample warning other players or groups in the way would usually get a rude present. The second nod is to Rangers being infamous for dying in EverQuest. EQ players eventually dubbed it the "Ranger gate".

As for the Necromancer.. he's fear kiting that giant, and don't you dare touch it!


(upon stepping forward after zoning in)

You shout, "Camp Check!"
A druid shouts, "ancient!"
A ranger shouts, "AC!"
A warrior shouts, "Ancient!"
A beastlord shouts, "Ancient Cyclops!"
A necromancer shouts, "Sand giants"
A necromancer shouts, "and AC!"


(upon walking near the class npcs with madmen still up)

a vah shir beastlord says, "I'm totally camping the AC. Can't you see I'm killing madmen here??"

a vah shir beastlord says, "I wonder how many of these madmen I have to kill before the Ancient Cyclops will spawn..."

a necromancer says, "Sand giants already camped, kkthx!"

a druid says, "I'm killing madmen to make the AC spawn!"


(upon walking near the class npcs after the madmen are all dead)

a warrior says, "Ok, madmen didn't work. I totally heard killing ancient mummies would make him spawn!"

a warrior says, "Some necromancer told me to kill ancient mummies at night to spawn the Ancient Cyclops. It makes sense, right? Ancient mummy... Ancient cyclops..."

a necromancer says, "Spawning the AC is easy, you just have to find the ancient mummy and kill him at exactly 3am. It's true, my brother's guildmate has totally tested it!"

a necromancer says, "Fear kiting... so powwah~"


(as soon as all the mummies are dead)

A ranger shouts, "You guys still killing mummies? AC is not on track. One of my guildmates got him yesterday, let me ask in guildchat."
A beastlord shouts, "My cousin's brother's guildmate got him to spawn by using /dance 500 times in a row at precisely 3am."
A druid shouts, "This sucks, I'm going to go camp him in oot!"


(AC and Terrorantula encounters)

A warrior shouts, "OMG AC IS UP!! I SAW IT FIRST!!!"

A druid shouts, "Weak! Don't train that Terrorantula over here!!"

A warrior shouts, "Ranger down!!"

a warrior says, "I saw it first! MINE!!!"

a warrior says, "Get away! I've been camping this guy for like 20 whole minutes!"

a vah shir beastlord says, "*I* made it spawn! Why are you all KSing me???"

a druid says, "I'm calling a GM, this is MY AC!!11!!"

(around this time they should all die!)


Chronoportals
Occurs annually during the anniversary of EverQuest.


This page last modified 2012-03-20 12:37:25.