Page 1 of 1

Library Heist - a halfass guide to Katta merchant faction

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:42 pm
by Euan
aka "from Zero to Hero (ally faction w/ Katta Merchants) in ~14 hours"

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/ques ... quest=4113

1 group mission plus 127 "Library Heist" completions got me to ally. I averaged about 6.5mins, with my shortest completion at 2.5mins (gating back). There's talk of negative faction hits post-patch here, but I'm thinking it's just as likely those folks got rolled back during a server reset (edit: tuirns out they were doing the quest shrouded, and didn't realize the faction was lost when they dropped the shroud). For all the talk of strategy, it's just as easy to go in, scout the 4 ground-spawn books (bottom floor has one in each "back left" corner, top floor is each "back right" corner. I suggest getting the task, then go in and scout the layout first, and note the safe spots. Safe spots seem to be in the middle section of each floor, behind the row of pillars as the librarians take a curved path to the bookcases.
* Until you've picked up a book, the librarians won't bother you.
* Once you have a book, if you get close (melee range) to a librarian they'll take your book(s) and kick you out.
* Once you've been kicked out you're flagged as a thief until you zone or relog. Only disadvantage to the "thief" flag is they'll boot you even if you haven't picked up anothe book yet - not worth relogging over if you ask me.
* Can immediately reenter the library and start scooping up all books again (~60s repop on the books)

Some missions I ran without getting caught at all, other times I'd get caught nearly 10 times before I safely exited with all 4 books in my posession. I was bound at the quest giver, so saved some time on the return run. A bored mage with coth and a stack of pearls could speed things up as well if one is on.

I always started with the top floor books, since it was easier to float down avoiding librarians than it was to climb the spiral ramp avoiding them. The exception was if I'd picked up both top books and got booted, I'd start on the bottom, grab those two and by the time I made my way to the 2nd floor the top 2 had repopped.

Note, if you try to pick up a LORE ground spawn that you already have (shouldn't happen, but it could if you lose track), it disappears until you relog.

If there are more than 1 or 2 other folks chain-doing the quest at the same time, it's probably not worth the trouble of competing for the books.

Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 8:44 am
by Euan
Nerfed in 3/14 patch.
*** Tasks ***

- The quest "Library Heist" is no longer repeatable.