Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

[Haggai]

Even among the beastmen, the creatures listed below are especially notorious for their crimes against the Empire. All competent mercenaries and adventurers are encouraged to aid in their elimination.




Cerberus

In recent months, numerous reports from mercenaries infiltrating the Troll stronghold of Halvung have indicated the presence of a sinister-looking three-headed canine of cyclopean proportions. Those who have mustered the courage to challenge the hell-spawned daemon in mortal combat tell spine-tingling tales of an impenetrable sable hide, and rows of armor-piercing jaws dripping endlessly with the blood and bile of countless victims...

Intelligence has also gathered that this creature might actually be the hunting dog of Troll mercenary captain Gurfurlur. If this is true, then it may not be long before the savages deploy it during one of their raids on Al Zahbi. We ask that all able-bodied mercenaries take up arms against this threat to the empire.




Hydra

Recently, the lone survivor of a missing volunteer unit returned to Al Zahbi with an unbelievable story of a three-headed dragon that attacked his companions while they were on a mission deep within the Wajoam Woodlands. Though they fought gallantly, their mauls and magicks were no match for the Tartarean wyrm's thick, squamous hide, and it was only a matter of moments before the mephitic miasma that poured from its gaping maws scorched the lungs of the ill-fated warriors.

While ancient tomes indicate that the Hydra is an independent beast that roams the outlands of its own will, the interrogation of a Mamool Ja spy revealed that the reptilian horde has been attempting to tame the dragon by luring it to their training grounds with the raw flesh of their prisoners. If they are successful in soothing the savage beast, they may soon learn a way to utilize it in battle, thus spelling doom for the Empire's armies. All high-level mercenaries are recommended to enroll immediately in eradication expeditions.




Khimaira

Travelers to Halvung and Hediva Isle have brought back with them strange tales of a hideous beast roaming the volcanic terrain. However, the differing reports have Imperial schoolmen scratching their heads in disbelief. Some adventurers speak of the twisted horn of a giant ram, while others the golden mane of a lion. Still others speak of a pair of undersized bat-like wings or a spiked reptilian tail imbued with deadly venom. One crazed old man even mumbled of a deep violet hide, not unlike that of the dreaded behemoth.

Until more information can be gathered on the abhorration, the Empire has bestowed upon it the name Khimaira, and is actively searching for mercenaries who might be willing to hunt down this elusive beast.

Finally, the Empire would like to address the rumors that the Khimaira is in fact a byproduct of a secret Imperial bioweapon engineering program. These accusations have no basis, and any person(s) caught spreading these malicious falsities may be tried under Imperial laws of treason.



Officer Shazarsh,
Imperial Military Relations


Illustration by Mitsuhiro Arita

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http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...88/detail.html

Looks like these guys will be showing up in Besieged!

[Neomage]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

Mabye besieged but... why does Halvung have 2 monsters, Mamook 1, and Reef 0?

[Gobo]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

Mabye besieged but... why does Halvung have 2 monsters, Mamook 1, and Reef 0?

Hediva Isle is a currently locked off area that is connected to Cadervia Mire. The mentioning of Halvung is just a reference to one of the missions that was released last patched (you fight a weak version of Khimaira in Navako Execution Chamber). Also, I truly doubt these will show up in Besieged. They are way too big, plus Cerberus's "Gates of Hades" WS or Hydra's Super poison breath attack (whatever its called) would go unstunned so much that people would be dead before they realized what hit them.

Also:



Polearm Samurai, a healthy part of any ferocious beast's balanced breakfast.

(PS S-E: a crappy torque, weak BST Axe and items for a worthless armor set, leave poor Hydra untouched and uncared for. Ninja'd drop update maybe?)

[KoukiRyu]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

They're mentioning them being used soon in the beastmen's raid of Al Zahbi...so it definitely seems to me that they'll be thrown in at some point. Although like you mentioned the weakened version of Khimaira in the mission, perhaps there will be that type of version for each in Besieged.

[Raydeus]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

I think I have better chances of seeing these mobs in a model viewer than in Besieged, simply because lag (connection lag) on regular NMs barely lets me notice what they are doing, they just warp around while I freeze for a couple of minutes.

And with all the people around these new NM I'll just freeze at 0 hp while the spell casting animation goes off.

[Akashimo]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

Lol, I'm really looking forward to lvl 6 now mroe than ever XD
I wonder how would our little low level leachers would react to seeing HNM type mobs in Besieged one shotting them easily. <|Fear|> <|Impossible to gauge.|>

[Malevolent]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

These NMs look awesome^^ but kinda scares me from getting my stagging points becasue of runnign into these guys...

[Gobo]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

They alluded to similar things with Percipient Zoraal Ja, Lamia 19 and The Gar Brothers in "The Empires Most Wanted" (1) and only 1 of those mobs is related to besieged (the brothers pop in Mount Z while the trolls are attacking).

Hydra is 3 times the size of Cerberus (who is just a little smaller than Fafhogg). The only place Hydra would be able to fit is where the Elvaan General spawns durring Beseiged, and even then it would stretch from the entrance from Whitegate to the wall on the otherside (and crush every merchant stand under it). Khimaira is the only one small enough to fit without causing PS2s to explode from the amount of players/mobs being processed.

[Kaickul]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

Yeeeeaaaaahhhh... I wanna see Gates of Hades go off a few times in a Beseiged.

[Karinya]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

More things for people to waste time playing with while someone else is actually winning the besieged?

Or are they going to address the fact that the existing besieged HNMs are basically invincible and can only be "defeated" by killing the rest of the army and forcing them to retreat?

Seriously, what is the point of adding another monster that can't be defeated directly? Just to distract and kill more players so the Candescence will change hands more often?

[Caspian]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

Seriously, what is the point of adding another monster that can't be defeated directly? Just to distract and kill more players so the Candescence will change hands more often?

I think you just nailed it. Haven't seen any of the high end NM's in besieged drop below ~70% or so. And thats with 30-40 people hammering on them as soon as they make an appearance. Meanwhile the rest of the current Al Zahbi population goes ahead and actually wins the besieged for them.

Don't know if its part of the storyline yet, but the part about the Khimaira not being an Imperial experiment seems pretty blatant. I mean, we know the Empire is up to something, seems this is likely part of it.

And Malevolent, you won't see any of them while getting your staging points. They're off in separate areas.

[Illuen]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

Last Besieged I was in, We ended up getting Medusa down to either 3% or 4% before they finally retreated. All of Fenrir was freaking out about finally, possibly, beating Medusa. So it is possible.

At the same time, I wanna see the big mobs.

[Karinya]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

Your evidence for its being possible was a time you didn't do it? Where despite what must have been an intensely concerted effort by most of the zone, she still didn't die?

The big mobs are cool looking, but as long as they remain not directly killable (or tougher than the whole rest of the army put together), they'll be little more than a distraction from the real business of defeating the beastman army. Despite the "cool factor", I don't think the level 6 bosses added anything to the gameplay of besieged (although the froggies, wamoura adults and other new normal mobs and "small" NMs added are another story - personally I'm hoping for undead to bring along some soulflayers postpatch, and maybe the trolls will bring a few of those red dragons...)

Well, I guess there's not much point in discussing it right now: SE has clearly already pretty much decided what's going in the next update, so we might as well wait and see what it is and how it works before commenting further.

[Caspian]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

I'm still curious what the lvl 6 NM's even drop. They always allude to something impressive, but I've never even heard of any server taking one down. Would most likely require area wide cooperation and having just enough people to keep the generals alive, while absolutely everyone else works to take down the NM.
OT: has anyone noticed besieges not being as difficult? We took down two almost straight lvl 6 attacks w/o losing a single general and only having 450 people in the zone. That just doesn't seem right somehow.

[Legal Fish]

Re: Empire's Most Wanted 2 (12/05/2006)

Wow, they certainly exaggerated on Cerebus' size in that drawling. The art is nice though.