JP Hunting Tips

[Girsham]

I find myself at skill 202 wondering what is next. I'm pretty sure I will begin on Pies soon but what after that? I have bought some plant shoots when they seemed reasonablely price in Bazaar, but honestly I look forward to being very lost. I am only level 53 and I am considering hunting in Jagged Pine for exp and meat from Griffs and Anacondas as from what I have heard I think they may provide me with both. I am a Dwarf Paladin and can solo reasonablely well when I have some mana to spare but I can not track these animals or even sense heading very well (blame True North for that). Well anyways I was curious to when I can solo these guys and up until when (for exp I mean). Also where are they easily found? Thanks in advance!,

[Ozmandias]

Griff hunting

Best place I found for Griff hunting is the SE portion of the zone, more or less. There's a lot of other things to consider though.

First, be sure to check the local vendors. Some people will sell anything...

When you zone in from SF, con a passing animal (I recommend a panther) and a treant to find your faction standing in the zone. If you are non-KOS, you're going to love it. As an Iksar necro I was KOS to the animals, dubious to treants, and of course KOS to the JP residents. If you are KOS to the animals, you can expect wolves and cougars to jump in on you a lot. Wolves were very green to me, but attacked me fairly often, and cougars were aqua (at 60) and did as well. Cougars hit fairly hard too.

Hopefully you're not KOS to these two factions (only 3 in the zone you care about for the purposes of this), you can head out and go hunt. JP has very obvious and predictable monster paths. I hunted often near the dryed up river, as it's a mob highway. Griffs will assist each other if they get close to your pull, but Anacondas will not. Griffawns and griffons both drop the meat. Their drop table is very nice for their level, and I made 60% of an AAXP while spending ~a week meat farming. In that time (about 20 hours) I made ~500pp pure cash, a lot of droppable minor items that sold for a further ~300pp to the gnolls, and 134 meats. Also in that time I looted 63 wings and 47 bloods. Wings are for the ever-nummy Qeynos Afternoon Tea and blood is for HE smithing, I believe. On a server with an economy, you might find wealth in selling these regents.

The griffs also have a rare drop of a +20 wis range item or another +wis earring. I never saw either. You may also see "Griffon Down", which is a no drop item for a nec/sk spear. The anacondas, which I found to be the hardest of the 3, will rarely drop a skin for a no drop JP quest as well. Anaconda meat is uncommon. At your level I would roughly estimate the fawns to be aqua, and the other two to be blue. Anacondas were aqua to me. If they poison, they never did it in the times I played with them.

While I was in JP, a 40th level enchanter hung out with me a few times to aleviate my boredom. She never cast a single spell, except mez 1 time and invis the whole time to avoid agro. She gained 2 levels. You may want to consider dragging a ranger or druid friend along and having him forage you plant shoots while you kill. With a duo, you should be fine.

You will recieve faction hits on killing wolves and panthers. Griffs and anacondas are faction-hit free, but are on the same faction as the cats and dogs. Think Wyverns in CS.

Final note: I recommend moving a lot. Mob density seemed to be an issue. When I killed a lot in one spot, suddenly I would either have a ton of monsters to kill (too much sometimes) or none. Moving in a loose circle worked for me.

[Zallarenya]

Just a note on experience. At 52, about half of the griffawns are green cons and half light blue (aqua), which roughly equates to no experience. Griffons and anacondas are all still dark blue and provide experience, but not exceptionally so. The anacondas provide more than the griffons, but are quite rare especially since they're primary targets for all the trackers that will be in the zone. It's hard enough for a non tracker to find a griffon, but finding a free anaconda is usually just lucky for me.

As far as I know, unless you've done some faction work, the animals there (panthers, bears, wolves) are threatening cons (KoS, small aggro radius) to all except druids, rangers, and beastlords. Enchanters (or anyone with an alliance click-necklace, I imagine) can use a benevolence spell to get to dubious to prevent attacks from all these wandering mobs.

This really is a zone designed for druids and rangers, it seems

Just a tip that I haven't tried...

But I hear Wolf form makes none of the animals KOS to you, so you can hunt the griffons and anaconda's, and the only add you have to worry about is another griffon.

With all the druids in the zone, it shouldn't be that hard to beg/whine/cry til one of them turns you into a wolf.

At lvl 43 Wiz I killed 1 griffon with lots of mana left over without any mind buffs, so I may go back, but not being a druid I was frightened and went back to DL.

[sir0die]

if you're a shaman, bearformmmm has the same effects. happy hunting.

[Zallarenya]

I haven't tested it since Jaggedpine first opened, but wolf illusion made me go from threatening to scowling. I remember because my first attempt at changing my faction was to wolf form, and second attempt was Benevolence (which worked). Perhaps that has changed, but /con carefully.

[drael]

My half elf pally is kos to the animals, beloved by the citizens and hasn't seen a treant there yet. Druids and treants elsewhere love her so I have no clue, sigh.
However, she safely travelled to the bandit camp in wolf form - became amiable to the animals.

[Ozmandias]

JP Treants are on their own faction, and as I have'nt killed one (hey, have to leave someone alive!), I'm not sure which. I've killed a bunch of panthers and wolves - they jumped me first I swear - and Treants are still Dubious.

Treants elsewhere are very KOS to me. I killed many many of them, plus killed Xanthuss several times for fun =)

[Sibaelius]

Wolf form is good

I was farming meat in there the other day with my ranger and went into wolf form. Went from indifferent to warmly upon casting it. I would say you could ask any of the very friendly druids to cast shared wolf form on you and you would be fine.

[KyrosKrane]

I guess my question would be, how can I raise my faction with the animals there? In my younger days, I hunted wolves and bears a-plenty; I had no clue that animals were on a kind of "invisible faction." Now, I'm KoS to way too many animal types all over Norrath. Is there any way to fix this and render me once again dubious or better?

And I don't mean a temporary fix like wolf or bear form.

[Ozmandias]

They're not on an invisible faction.

Those bears and wolves in there are on a faction. No idea if it's possible to raise or not. Animals in QH are on "QRGProtected" or something like that which can be raised, albeit extremely slowly and no real purpose to do so, but quests in Surefall. Other animals are on their own factions that you can't touch (lions, tigers, bears, oh my!).

[KyrosKrane]

Precisely my point. As a newbie, I had no idea that I was affecting my standing with the animals by killing them wholesale. They're animals; they don't have a faction (no message along the lines of, "Your faction standing with Bears got worse!"), and it never occured to me that they had a racial memory.

Once you've become KOS to, say, the bears and wolves in East Commonlands, you're pretty much permanently KOS to bears and wolves everywhere. It's too late to try and "make it up" to the bears. Hence, my comment about an invisible faction.

Hum ... I don't suppose there's a recipe or a foraged item or something named "Honey"? Maybe you could raise your faction by giving that to bears.

I believe that the QRGProtected Animals faction is the bears in Surefall Glades, but I'm not positive about that. Don't think it affects animals in Qeynos Hills, despite the name.

[Gelaan]

Once you've become KOS to, say, the bears and wolves in East Commonlands, you're pretty much permanently KOS to bears and wolves everywhere. It's too late to try and "make it up" to the bears. Hence, my comment about an invisible faction.

There aren't any invisible factions. As a Paladin, you were KOS to these animals to start; my Druid and Ranger alts have killed a great many animals, and they're still loved by the poor sods.

I believe that the QRGProtected Animals faction is the bears in Surefall Glades, but I'm not positive about that. Don't think it affects animals in Qeynos Hills, despite the name.

Yep, that's them. QRG stands for "Qeynos Ranger Guild" and is in fact Surefall.

I haven't tested it since Jaggedpine first opened, but wolf illusion made me go from threatening to scowling. I remember because my first attempt at changing my faction was to wolf form, and second attempt was Benevolence (which worked). Perhaps that has changed, but /con carefully.

Illusion:Wolf made me non-KOS to the animals in JP, no problems.

[Calabar]

Its true, you CANNOT damage your faction with the bears and lions in East Commons. My druid has killed enough of them to make a full set of patchwork armor for every citizen of Norrath and the critter still love me. They’re just too trusting for their own good. Bears, wolves and cats in Jaggedpine seem to be smarter, however, and killing them will give you negative faction hits.

I didn’t start hunting in JP until level 46, due to video card issues. But now that I can fight there I don’t plan to leave until I can’t get xp there anymore. One of my guild mates is 56 and she still solos there with her druid, hunting the giant anacondas. They were DB to her at 55 so I’m assuming they are still DB at 56 or she wouldn’t be hunting there. As mentioned before, hunting in wolf form is the way to go. There are a lot fewer adds that way. If you stay away from the gnolls, the poacher camp and the water, you won’t have to worry about much of anything attacking you. I don’t know the zone areas well enough to tell you where I’ve seen him, but there is a named poacher that wonders one area of JP, so don’t get too complacent.

A couple of mobs that haven’t been mentioned are the wisps and the dryads. The wisps make good targets if you’re looking to make a little cash. Most of them are still DB to me at 50, but some have turned LB. Wisps always drop a greater light stone, which can be traded in for a book/container at three different camps that I know of; one of the gypsies in North Karana, one of the gypsies in Oasis and one of the dark elves in Ro, where the Ancient Cyclops spawns. The book in turn sells for about 9pp. The wisps also drop coins, up to a few plats, and sometime things like rings or pendants that sell for several plats each. I usually donate 30pp for KEI before I go hunting and by the time it wears off I’ll have over 300pp just from the wisps. The dryads are worth mentioning just to say that you shouldn’t hunt them. To the best of my knowledge they have their own faction. If you get on their bad side hunting in JP could become rather painful. They tend to pop up when you pass by one of their trees. So having bad faction with them turns much of JP into an active and minefield.

The last mob to mention would be the Potameid. I’ve never seen one and plan to do my best to keep it that way. Thy live by the water, hate everyone and are very efficient at killing players. After hearing several horror stories, I’ve decided that if I need to take a dip in the water I’ll head to the more friendly waters of Rivervale where all I have to worry about are a few piranhas.

[Lekani]

KOS

My Dwarf paladin was KOS to the critters here, so grabbed a wolf form. The animals were fine but the treants attacked on sight.

Killing the poachers raises faction with the animals quite well thou.

A quick question, are the Plant Shoots a rare forage?