Spoils of War Prelude Guide

Apparently Trion isn’t content to just give us a patch next week.  Instead, they’ve added a handful of daily quests that can lead to some fun rewards as a bit of a mini-event leading up to patch day.

Hey, who am I to say no to free content/loot?

So, here’s a quick run-d0wn of what they’ve got going this week.  Keep in mind, once the patch hits, this will all probably disappear, so get it while it lasts.

Enjoy!

~Gaar

Spoils of War Prelude
(May 2011)

Earth and Fire rifts are opening unexpectedly all across Telara, spilling forth mysterious fragments of golden dragon eggs along with the usual monstrosities.  Daily quests in Meridian and Sanctum offer special rewards to those Ascended who attempt to solve this planar conundrum.

General Information

Spoils of War Prelude was patched onto the Live servers in North America on May 4th and should continue until May 9th based on when the 1.2 update is supposed to go live.

(MMORPG.com had a sneak peak at this prelude event.)

The items you’re looking to collect in this mini-event are the Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells.

These come from the planes of Fire and Earth, so look for those rifts/invasions and collect away.  So far, it seems you get 2 Shells for completing Stage 3 of a rift and another 2 for pushing through all the bonus stages and completing them as well.  Killing off an invasion group seems to get you only 1 Shell.

Riches!  Raining from the sky!  What is going on here?

Defiants can kick off their quests by talking to Niala Swald in the middle of Meridian at (6109, 5206).

As for Guardians, well…I’m unable to find a bread-crumb quest in Sanctum for this.  It may be the level of my characters as neither are 50 and some of the quests are level-gated.  A little odd, if you ask me, but oh well.  The quest hub for Guardians is right in the middle of Tavril Plaza, just like the Grim Harvest event.

Defiant Spoils of War Quests

As mentioned above, hit up Niala Swald to start the quest series.  Granted, you could skip it and just run to the daily hub they placed for this, but you might as well knock them all out.

The Case of the Shells – Unique

This is simply a bread-crumb quest meant to lead you to the daily-hub just in case you somehow didn’t notice it sitting over there flashing its fancy little green quest circles to anyone that passes by.

Representatives of the Planar College have asked me to help them in their study of recent phenomenon:  ancient dragon egg shells appearing in the possession of the invading forces of both fire and earth.

Speak with Zaharri Swald.  I know they’re offering good rewards for the retrieval of the eggs.

• Find Zaharri Swald in Meridian

What is happening with all of these eggs?

Zaharri can be found at (6167, 5224) in Meridian near the rest of the quest-givers for this prelude event.  Talk to him to complete the quest.

Oh yes, it’s quite the mystery.  These egg shells have begun to appear in not one but two rift types:  fire and earth.  Where did they come from?  Why are they here now?  Did they hatch, or simply fall apart?

All questions begging answers.

Reward:  XP

Gold Aplenty – Daily

Pick this quest up from Zaharri after you’ve completed the bread-crumb quest.

We don’t know much about these Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells coming from the rifts.  We don’t know what they represent, nor what sort of power they hold, but we must study them and endeavor to unravel this mystery.  This collaboration between the Ember Scholars and the Shale Collegiate represents the best possible meeting of minds, but we need something in our hands to study.

• Collect 25 Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells from targets of green difficulty or higher

All of these Egg Shells come from Earth/Fire rifts and invasion groups.  Make sure you’re hitting things you would normally get experience for or you’ll be wasting your time.

Once you have 25, return to Zaharri in Meridian to complete the quest.

So many shells.  I would be expecting to have dragon baby hoards flocking about, if the eggs were not so ancient as to be petrified.  They seem to have turned to solid gold and then fallen to pieces.  Most interesting.  Most peculiar.

Reward:  A Mysterious Artifact, XP, 2 gold 10 silver

Treasures of Meridian – Daily

This quest is obtained from Tio Akobahn at (6167, 5220) in Meridian.

You’ve heard about the dragon egg shells that’ve been appearing in the rifts?  Well, just after that started up, treasure started dropping from the sky into Meridian.  At first, this was taken as some sort of great fortune, but quickly enough the people who gathered them began being driven mad with greed.  It didn’t even take a close inspection to detect Laethys’ corrupting energy in them.

We need strong-willed Ascended to gather up these treasures and bring them here to be purged of the planar power.

• Collect 5 Corrupted Coins

Bags of coins can be found in piles all around Meridian.

They spawn in fixed locations, so if you’re having trouble finding enough, just stand where one spawned before and wait for it to pop again.  The more people running around grabbing them up, the faster they seem to pop.

Once you’ve got all five, head back to Tio to complete the quest.

We’ll see about getting these cleansed as quickly as we can.  Thank you, <your name here>.

Reward:  10 Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells, XP, 2 gold 10 silver

Hunting for Riches – Daily

This quest is obtained from Ganqa Altan at (6169, 5222) in Meridian.

My comrades wish to gather up many eggs so they might possibly learn some great secrets of the planes.  My needs are not so great.  I wish to have a few in my possession that I can experiment with and see what we might be able to make from them.  Certainly something so rare and valuable should be able to be molded into wondrous items!

Bring me what I need, and I will give you something you need.

• Collect 15 Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells from targets of green difficulty or higher

All of these Egg Shells come from Earth/Fire rifts and invasion groups.  Make sure you’re hitting things you would normally get experience for or you’ll be wasting your time.

Once you have 15 Shells, head back to Ganqa to complete the quest.

This is quite enough to get me started, <your name here>.  I hope these rewards might tickle your own fancy.

Reward:  Crafter’s Glowing Pouch, XP, 2 gold 10 silver

Heroic Spoils – Daily

This quest is obtained from Ravena Morrid at (6172, 5227) in Meridian.  It appears to be level-gated, although I’m not sure exactly what level you are allowed to pick it up.  It would appear it’s for end-game players, so >45 is probably likely.

More and more of these dragon shells keep coming out of the planes!  We don’t know yet whether their presence is a bad thing or a good thing, but it cannot possibly be good to just leave them lying around.  We need to step up our effort.  As a seasoned adventurer, I’m going to ask you to bring in more shells than I might ask of one of your greener comrades.  Not to worry, though, you’re also entitled to a bigger bounty for your troubles.

• Collect 40 Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells from targets of green difficulty or higher

All of these Egg Shells come from Earth/Fire rifts and invasion groups.  Make sure you’re hitting things you would normally get experience for or you’ll be wasting your time.

Once you have all 40 Egg Shells, head back to Ravena to complete the quest.

We might finally make some real breakthroughs into discerning the origins of these eggs.  They are touched with both earth and fire, and the remains of solidified tissue inside of them suggests that whatever was meant to come out of here never saw life.  Why has this happened?  What were these eggs waiting for, and what didn’t they get?  What dangerous collaboration between fire and earth does their very presence suggest?

Reward:  Chest of Riches, XP, 31 gold 50 silver

Guardian Spoils of War Quests

As mentioned above, I wasn’t able to find a bread-crumb quest for Guardians.  I also was unable to pick up one of the four daily quests as I’m not high enough level for it.  That quest is “To the Victors” which is the Guardian equivalent of “Heroic Spoils” for Defiants.

Gifts from Mortals – Daily

This quest is obtained from Pip at (7371, 3050) in Sanctum.

Truth and fortune, <your name here>!  With our many victories against the corruptive forces of the dragons the gods have smiled upon us, and we can enjoy the prosperity of the victorious.

We take the wealth our members have donated, and exchange it for these mysterious Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells that have been appearing in Telara.  Perhaps we can help you?

• Collect 25 Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells from targets of green difficulty or higher

All of these Egg Shells come from Earth/Fire rifts and invasion groups.  Make sure you’re hitting things you would normally get experience for or you’ll be wasting your time.

Once you get all 25 Shells, head back to Pip to complete your quest.

Reward:  A Mysterious Artifact, XP, 2 gold 10 silver

Prosperity if Not Peace – Daily

This quest is obtained from Meowlin at (7372, 3048) in Sanctum.

Do you think it is odd that the Mendicant Order, who have all taken a vow of poverty, are celebrating and encouraging wealth?  I assure you we pray to the Vigil for prosperity for all the faithful.  We see our duty is to fast so that others may feast.

Indeed, we use our former wealth to exchange for any valuable items that may have the touch of Laethys.  The Ascended should neither suffer the misfortunes of corruption nor poverty because of the Golden Queen.

• Collect 15 Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells from targets of green difficulty or higher

All of these Egg Shells come from Earth/Fire rifts and invasion groups.  Make sure you’re hitting things you would normally get experience for or you’ll be wasting your time.

Once you get all 15 Shells, head back to Meowlin to complete your quest.

Reward:  Crafter’s Glowing Pouch, XP, 2 gold 10 silver

Follow the Money – Daily

This quest is obtained from Charlie at (7368, 3049) in Sanctum.

Coin, like the flowing paths of magical energy, can lead one to trouble.  We of the Mendicant Order have devoted our life to combating the evils of Laethys and her influence of greed.

In this time of plenty, she corrupts the joy and prosperity of the faithful by polluting this sacred city with Corrupted Coin Caches.  If you can find these hidden coffers, I will have my disciples perform rituals of consecration, so that this time of prosperity will be a blessing and not a curse.

• Collect 5 Corrupted Coin Caches

Bags of coins can be found in piles all around Sanctum.  They spawn in fixed locations, so if you’re having trouble finding enough, just stand where one spawned before and wait for it to pop again.  The more people running around grabbing them up, the faster they seem to pop.

Once you’ve got all five, head back to Charlie to complete the quest.

Reward:  10 Ancient Golden Dragon Egg Shells, XP, 2 gold 10 silver

To the Victors – Daily

As previously stated, I have no first-hand info on this quest as it’s level-gated.  It should be an exact copy of the “Heroic Spoils” quest for Defiants, so should involve rounding up 40 Shells in return for a nice purple chest of loot.

Spoils of War – The Loot

The loot from this mini-event comes out of the containers you obtain from completing the quests.  Here’s a rundown of the containers available and what’s been seen in them so far.  Keep in mind, what you get is random so we may not see everything right away.  Make sure to let me know if you got something not listed!

Crafter’s Glowing Pouch

Each crafter has their own pouch they can choose from the list of rewards for the related quest.  When opened, these can provide things like Dusts, Artisan’s Marks and possibly more even Crafting Plaques for your profession.

A Mysterious Artifact

As expected, when used this item gives you a random artifact.  Mine was a green, but I’d expect blues are possible as well.

Chest of Riches

These are not only available as a quest reward, but can also be earned in Epic Invasions.  Of the two I’ve opened so far, I ended up with anywhere from 1-2 Platinum and a random green artifact.  Supposedly, you have a chance of earning Plaques of Achievement from these as well.  People have reported obtaining the Gritty Kitty companion pet from this as well.  Make sure to hit up the end-game Epic Invasions to increase your chances.