Trollshaws, some history?

[Tarax the Terrible]

I know Trollshaws used to be very popular..
Then the popularity declined because of changes..

I tried it recently and was very surprised at how challenging the trolls where.
Much more so than Harradrims, Centaurs or Neraka Trolls for example.

Wonder how it stands in the challenge versus experience stakes these days?
It doesn't seem to be very popular, which is a shame since its a good sized area.

[Elita]

My guess is that they are uneven in their stats, heavily topped in STR,CON,DEX and low on the others which makes them poor xp. Hard to kill for little gain really.

But that's just me speculating.

[Creed]

When they first opened, they were like a bunch of bigger centaurs. Even in their stats, and giving great xp.

There were always like 5-7 teams running around down there, competing eachother with coming first to the next room with spawned trolls.

I remember Hektor and myself hunting there. We got great xp, and really enjoyed the hunt.
Then I took a break, for some reason, and when I came back they had been changed. They were harder to kill, their special hurt a lot more, and their mentals were downgraded to lousy.

We tried to go there after, but the xp we got were only like 1/10 of what we got before, and we also had to stop and wait to heal, because of their nasty specials.

And now.. Well.. noone goes there to kill anyone else than the corrupted guy.
You really should look at it again, changing it into being worth the time going there, and not just waste. Give them some higher mentals, and people will go there again, as the xp will be worth the effort.

[Tarax the Terrible]

No-one ever claimed to protect that area either did they? Everyone could kill there..

The upgrades in difficulty vs exp is similar to the story I heard. Anyone know what prompted it?
I would guess the AoB team where concerned with rate players could grow, but much has changed since then since Icewall raised the bar.
Middle Earth used to be top dog before then.
Edoras was also a long term favourite that is empty now.

Since those days Krynn has just added more and more to overtake Middle Earth thoroughly in exp grinding stakes.
So now Krynn holds the majority of the uber areas and gear.

We have seen Mithas expanded to three times it original size.
I think I would rather have seen Trollshaws brought up to the Mithas Exp level since it seems almost as difficult to tank.
(Harder per troll anyway)

[Tarax the Terrible]

I guess most of Faerun would fall into the exps/difficulty stakes around Centaurs, Below Mithas?
I haven't really killed there.

[Tharandil]

harder than centaurs

[Rhynox]

When Trollshaws opened, the area gave more experience than others but about the same challenge, so goodie teams started going there. At a time the RDA started going there too (I remember a soldier getting kicked from their guild because they turned goodie by killing there). Then the wizards started tweaking them: first they added the autoattack, trolls would autoattack whenever you entered the room, but that didn't stop people from going there. so, they added autohunting. That was probably the funniest thing that happened in Genesis in years: you entered a room, they would autoattack and autohunt. If you entered another room, the trolls there would autoattack and autohunt too. I heard a team was slaughtered because the leader started wimping, entering rooms, and the trolls would accumulate. Also heard a calian ran away with ten or twenty trolls behind him, who followed him until the pier in Bree until killing him.

Then the wizards removed the autoattack, but kept the autohunting, so they would follow you everywhere, but at least trolls in other rooms would not follow you.Then they removed the autohunting and added the assisting, and finally they pumped them and downgraded the experience.

The area used to leave a lot of loot, and you could sell in the shop, but taking all the coins to the bank was a pain, so Finwe or Palmer added the dwarf there to minimize coins. However, items and armours are heavy, and the shop is pretty average, so you could get some platinum coins in a run, but nowhere as much as you could get from other sources.

Anyways, trolls in general dull weapons and armours faster than other races, so unless you have a non-dulling weapon and heavy armours, you will likely break a weapon or armour in less than an hour. They are really tough when fighting one-one compared to others (I can kill a Mithas troll faster than a Trollshaw one, for example). And they give little experience, so you can't carry a big team there. Phantom and his partners used to spend hours there because nobody went, and it is good experience for small people.

I may be a bit off, but I think Trollshaws was added as a reply to Icewall or Mithas (can't remember if the crystal axe was around before Trollshaws opened, but Grothaur appeared a good while after wizards removed the bloody steel axe). Neither can remember if Fangorn was added before or after Trollshaws.

Talked with Pharaxes about grinding places once, Seren and him could clear Trollshaws in an hour but get no experience progress, while fifteen minutes in the Terel troll caves were enough for them both to get a progress (if the trolls kept booting).

Each grinding place in Genesis has a drawback. Terel troll caves is the best place but the pumped trolls can give a nasty surprise. The goblin caves in Terel are still a good place, but the warriors are pretty random nowadays, so you may have two runs with warriors the size of an expert and then one run with warriors the size of a sup myth. Haradrims are good but you get mages behind you. Same with Neraka trolls and priests. Faerun orcs used to give a lot of experience, but they were upgraded. Icewall is nice if you have a good team, and you can get pretty good equipment there too. Mithas is another good place if you have a good team. Never tried the centaurs, so I cannot say how they compare. However, I fought the Qualinesti elves, and damn they were tough. No idea how a couple of soldiers can clean the place when they took me down pretty fast. Fought an ent only once, couldn't chop him down.

[Tarax the Terrible]

Trusty Rhynox. Thanks for the history lesson
I had never heard about the auto-hunting part. Very amusing.
Middle Earth has never been afraid to kill people hehe.

Its strange the way the experience forumla whatever it is doesn't really equate to the relative difficulty.
You may think it would be hard for players to work this out.
But with a bit of trial and error people realise very fast what is worth their while and what isn't.

Another old school example is Kabal.
Evils used to turn to the elite gate guards there very regularly.
But you are really better off just going to Gont.

[Amberlee]

imo genesis needs more places where people other then myths can go solo.
Like hero, titan size..

[Bromen]

since I'll probably be a titan for the next two years...

Wights, centaurs, bullywugs and lizardmen, Gont guards/warriors, infidels...

Imho, nothing beats wights/cents at this level.

-B