Party Quest (Ludibrium)
Introduction
Many players at around level 40 may begin to get bored of the game, possibly because of slow training or other reasons. The Ludibrium Party Quest is a quest for those willing to take a challenge, and work with 5 other party members through 10 complex stages. Completing this quest requires teamwork, patience, and skill. This party quest is the second of the two currently available, with the first (and easier) one being the Kerning City Party Quest.
Party Requirements
Before beginning this party quest, be sure to read through this list of requirements:
- You must have 6 party members to begin this quest. These players must all be in the level range of levels 35-50. Players level 40+ are preferred.
- One member of the party must be a Magician, with at least Level 1 Teleport.
- One of these party members must be a Thief with Dark Sight.
- One of these party members must be an Assassin or Bowman with Level 8 Keen Eyes or The Eye of Amazon respectively.
- The rest of the slots are open to whatever class you choose. Bowmen higher than level 40 are useful, as are Warriors over level 45.
- All members of the party must make sure they have considerable amounts of HP and MP potions, to prevent them from dying during the quest.
- It is highly recommended to have a Cleric in your party to heal you while fighting the boss. Having one in your party will save you many HP potions. However, it may be wise to have 2 clerics in your party, as they may be prone to dying.
- Also, cure potions such as Eyedrops and Holy Water are recommended while fighting Alishar. All Cure Potions are most convenient because they cure all states.
If your party meets all of these requirements, you are ready to begin to PQ! To enter the party quest, you must first head to the 101st floor of the Eos Tower. Then, get the leader to click on the Red Sign to begin the party quest. That is, if no other party is in it.
Finding A Party & Getting In
If you're trying to get into a party, put on your best equipment and channel surf! In each channel you visit, advertise your availability. Don't stay too long in each channel. Keep in mind that you'll have a much easier time getting in during weekdays (Monday - Thursday), during the early afternoon and late at night, EST. Also you will have a much easier time if you play in a server other than Scania,Bera or Aquila. Once in a party, ask for your party's track. If they don't have one and you're not prepared to wait a long while, do not hesitate to leave and search for another party. If they do have a track, check it.
Once the party that your party is tracking reaches Stage 7, you should start to check your track repeatedly. Stage 8 will probably take the party a long while for them to finish, but once they get into A Crack on the Wall (the boss stage), your leader needs to start clicking the stop-sign. Only a few seconds after they leave the boss stage, the PQ will open!
- DO NOT use autoclickers. Sure, they help you get in, but they are a violation of MapleGlobal and MapleSEA's Terms of Service and you may get banned for using one.
The Quest Process
Finally! You're in the Ludibrium PQ! You thought that the worst was over, right? Well, not really. Unlike the Kerning City Party Quest, the Ludibrium PQ is extremely difficult, and will require a lot of precision to complete, even when inside. This is how to complete the Party Quest.
Stage One
Move up and down the area, killing the black ratz. They've got a little more HP than usual. Each kill will net you one coupon. Give them to your leader, then have him talk to the red balloons NPC to open the portal to the next stage. Have two or three of your party members go through the portal. The rest should wait by the exit of Stage One.
Stage Two
The party members who went through the portal should go down to the second box. When they hit it, all the members you sent into Stage Two will be moved to the Tower's Trap. Basically it's just a mini-stage to do, but since you've got 3 or 4 other party members waiting to come through, you can do Stage Two and Tower's Trap simultaneously. This saves a lot of time. Once the 2 or 3 have been taken to the Trap, the other members should go through the portal and beat Stage Two as usual. Both groups need to hit all the blue boxes they come across. Each box that was hit will drop a coupon. You may need a Magician in the trap to teleport over to a difficult-to-reach box. An Assassin/Bandit with a high level of Haste can replace the Magician. When both groups are done, give all 15 tickets to the leader and have him talk to the orange balloons NPC. Everyone should now proceed through the portal.
Stage Three
Now, have all party members begin to smash the boxes. Most boxes in this stage will spawn Bloctopus. Each Bloctopus will drop a single pass upon being killed. Your party should split up. Half can go down and smash the boxes as they go. The Bloctopus will fall down to the bottom area, where you can easily mob attack them. The other half should go up and kill all of the Bloctopus up there. Give all of your coupons to the leader, who gives them to the yellow balloons NPC. Proceed through the portal to Stage Four.
- Player's note: There may be some "Corner Kill Clause" in this stage, just as there was in the Kerning City PQ. In one particular PQ, a spearman cornered an enemy, defeated it, but no pass came out. (We ended up having to rush it.) In addition, it seems that ranged jobs can't hit the bloctopi when cornered. Note by other player: This was fixed in a recent patch
- Player's note: Ice lightning mages are highly recommended for this stage. They can freeze the bloctopus with cold beam, making killing the bloctopus a LOT easier. Mob attacks such as Lightning and Arrow Bomb are good.
Stage Four
When you reach this stage, everyone should jump or fall down to the bottom of the area. Now, begin to work your way up. When you reach a portal (the bottom and top portals don't do anything), mark that you went in by dropping 10 mesos or an item near the portal. Then go in. Inside, it is completely dark, with one or more monsters inside. The monsters (called Shadow Eyes or Dark Eyes from Another Dimension) are black so you cannot see them. Every once in a while, they will open their eyes. These monsters can only be damaged if their eyes are open. When each monster dies, it drops one coupon; six coupons in total are needed to pass. Once you're done, leave through one of the portals in your room. If there are any more unmarked portals, do one of those rooms, otherwise go up to the balloons and wait for the rest of your party. Drop your coupons. The leader should click the lime-green balloons NPC to open the portal. Continue through.
- Player's note: It should be known that the types of monster in each portal is different. The bottom two have high magic defense, making them impossible to beat by mages (although wizards above level 45 can kill them, though it takes a very long time), and the top three have high weapon defense, making them impossible to beat by anyone but mages.
- Player's note: The top three mage portals are the easiest for Ice Wizards, who can freeze the monsters' eyes open and take them out in consecutive hits without having to wait for their eyes to open again.
Stage Five
The Thief with Dark Sight should activate it and go down through the Golems. There are several portals. The Bandit or Assassin will need to go through each one and collect the passes in each room. Beware! Some rooms may contain more Golems, which dish out 8000+ damage per hit, more than enough to kill anyone in one hit. The rest of the party, go up. Again, mark the portals you go into. Two members should go through each portal. In every room, climb up and jump off the side of the rope onto the chests on the side of the room. The Magician with teleport needs to take the top portal. Have him/her teleport (or Haste jump) up into the portal. In their room, they need to teleport directly down into their stage. Once everyone's done, they should drop their passes to their leader, and pass through the portal that opens.
Stage Six
The Sixth Stage is fairly simple. There are rows of platforms, each with three numbered boxes; pressing up at the correct box will teleport you up to the next platform. At this point, someone in your party will probably announce the order of the box numbers to the newbies.
The order is: 133 221 333 123 111. The numbers are easiest to remember in groups of three.
Hit up while standing on the numbered barrels in that order. At the top is a portal to stage 7.
- player's notes: I found out that most people (including me) can't remember it well, so I suggest you follow an experienced PQ member.
Stage Seven
Get an assassin with maxed keen eyes or a bowman with maxed eye of the Amazon to kill the ratz, dropping passes which will break the box and summon rombot. The rombot have a magic attack that can be avioded by jumping. You will know when the attack is going to be activated when the romnot's eye glows and its hands sparkles. JUMP! After half of its health is gone, rombot will start summoning block golems. There will be three rombots. Kill them, get the passes they drop and you have completed this level.
Tips for this level:
-The rombot has a magic attack that can be avoided by jumping.
-When rombot is about to use its magic attack, its eyes glow and its hands sparkle. JUMP IMMEDIATELY!!!
-Summoning all the rombots at once is not recommended unless your party is very pro. Once, when I was in a noob party, the leader summoned all the rombots at once but did not help to kill them, in the end, the rombots kept summoning block gollems until the lower level was flooded with block gollems. Jumping down was suicide.
-A fire mage is recommended in this level. Block gollems are weak to fire and are easily knocked back by fire arrow.
Stage Eight
Yet another puzzle stage. It is very similar to the Kerning City PQ puzzle, but with nine boxes. This can get tedious. The #1 and #2 are boxes should always be covered, although they're usually relinquished to the party newbie if they're too slow.
There are 123 orders- 12345, 12346, 12347, 12348, 12349, 12356, 12357, 12358, 12359, 12367, 12368, 12369, 12378, 12379, 12389, 12456, 12457, 12458, 12459, 12467, 12468, 12469, 12478, 12479, 12489, 12567, 12568, 12569, 12578, 12579, 12589, 12678, 12679, 12689, 12789, 13456, 13457, 13458, 13459, 13467, 13468, 13469, 13478, 13479, 13489, 13567, 13568, 13569, 13578, 13579, 13589, 13678, 13679, 13689, 13789, 14567, 14568, 14569, 14578, 14579, 14589, 14678, 14679, 14689, 14789, 15678, 15679, 15689, 15789, 16789, 23456, 23457, 23458, 23459, 23467, 23468, 23469, 23478, 23479, 23489, 23567, 23568, 23569, 23578, 23579, 23589, 23678, 23679, 23689, 23789, 24567, 24568, 24569, 24578, 24679, 24689, 24789, 25678, 25679, 25689, 25789, 26789, 34567, 34568, 34569, 34578, 34579, 34589, 34678, 34679, 34689, 34789, 35678, 35679, 35689, 35789, 36789, 45678, 45679, 45689, 45789, 46789, 56789. (took the time to write down all these combinations =D)
Continue until you get the right combination. It can become confusing after 1 and 2 start moving, but you shouldn't have much trouble.
A Crack On The Wall - Killing The Alishar (Boss)
Have your Bowman or Assassin kill the Ratz on the platform so the passes drop directly onto the treasure chest. An Alishar is summoned! Your Cleric should start spamming Heal and not stop until the end of the battle. This is because that you will not be able to take even 2 or 3 hits from the boss. Use skills to pour tons of damage on him; his health will get down in no time. After losing about 1/3 of his health, he will begin to summon Chronos, which are a nuisance. Kill them as quickly as you can so you can get back to killing the Alishar. If you're good, you can get him to the next summon-level before he summons more Chronos. The next monsters that are summoned are Platoon Chronos. These are larger and take more damage before they go down, but your party should be able to hold its own.
About this time, if too many of your party members have died, your party may struggle. Alishar will constantly Seal you or Blind you, making it impossible to mob the Chronos or hit the Alishar. You will eventually make it to his last "stage" of summoning. The Alishar will begin to summon Master Chronos when he has about only 1/3 of his HP left, which are quite annoying if you are fighting the battle on your own, or with only one other person. Eventually, the Alishar will go down. Let the leader pick up the keys he drops. You will now proceed to the Bonus Stage.
- Player's note: It's very much suggested that most PQers don't try to attack Alishar until at least level 40+. A successful "boss" party (one that wants to complete the entire PQ by killing Alishar) should have at least two players above level 45. There are exceptions: wizards cannot really do damage to Alishar until at least level 43, but assassins with good critical damage and equips can start bossing around level 39. After level 45, all classes can do fairly well, though mages should probably focus on taking out the mobs of Chronos that are summoned. High-level bandits, assassins, bowmen, and warriors can kick Alishar in no time.
Furthermore, I suggest that mages bring Holy Waters but not Eyedrops, because physical accuracy doesn't matter with your magic attack. However, if you can't attack altogether, you're in big trouble.
- Player note: Once in the boss stage the coupon fell down from the Ratz platform, so make sure that doesn't happen. It is possible to throw it back up by jump and dropping, be careful~! However, unless you got lucky scrolling your shoes, you'll need Haste to throw it back up. So don't make the coupon fall.
- player's note: cleric(s) should consider healing CLOSE to alishar so when chronos is summoned, it will freeze for 2 secs+/- and get the party ready to kill.
- player's note: Use your own hp pots, clerics cannot be running from side to side to take care of a crazy party.
- Player's Note: Low leveled Bandits can't do much during this fight, so let them either help take care of the Chronos, or let them avoid fighting altogether.
And also, party members that are mages (not those who cant hit alishar) should retreat after being sealed up-make sure the assasins hold alishar back.
Bonus Stage
This stage consists of many, many prize boxes. It is suggested that before you enter the bonus stage, you call which section of the map you want to collect prizes from so that you do not waste time fighting over items. Upon entering, you have one minute to collect as much loot as you can. Hitting a box opens a cascade of Mesos and items. It is recommended that you not bother with them unless you see a cape, earrings, or Dew (sells for a few thousand Mesos at an NPC). After a minute, your party will automatically be ejected into the conclusion stage.
- Player's note: Before entering this stage, the leader should decide to rush out (known as "chiong" in MapleSea) as after the clock reaches 0:50, other parties will be able to enter