FD Split question

[Centinull]

I know the basics of the FD split, but this happened last night:
I was trying to kill the guards in misty thicket for some exp and pp. There were two at the gate, so I targeted the light blue one and cast Engulfing Darkness (target did not resist). Both ran at me, and I FD. Both returned to the gate at full speed. So I tried the single guard at the end of the wall, light blue also, and darknessed him. A wandering halfling rogue added so I FD. Both mobs took off again at full speed, so I pop up and cast Boil Blood on the guard I was killing, and FD again because both halflings were after me. Long story short I'm at 25 percent health and 72 percent mana, so I pop up and just life tap him to death, then FD to avoid the rogue. The guard died, and I recieved no exp (light blue does give experience, right? They changed the colors since I last played and I normally killed dark blues to yellows), but I was able to loot the corpse. So my question is this: Did they nerf the effects of darkness when your FD? Am I doing something wrong? And why did I recieve no exp?
And one more question if I may, where is a good place to farm plat at level 33? I've got basic gear, most of my spells, and kite pretty well (I've got the horse from anniversary ed, it helps alot). I've tried the halflings in misty and the druids in the commonlands (Lord that was a bad idea, I died from a DoT while FD). I hate the idea of farming but I need money for my spell research and new spells coming up. Thanks in advance!

[Lashden]

I know the basics of the FD split, but this happened last night:
I was trying to kill the guards in misty thicket for some exp and pp. There were two at the gate, so I targeted the light blue one and cast Engulfing Darkness (target did not resist). Both ran at me, and I FD. Both returned to the gate at full speed. So I tried the single guard at the end of the wall, light blue also, and darknessed him. A wandering halfling rogue added so I FD. Both mobs took off again at full speed, so I pop up and cast Boil Blood on the guard I was killing, and FD again because both halflings were after me. Long story short I'm at 25 percent health and 72 percent mana, so I pop up and just life tap him to death, then FD to avoid the rogue. The guard died, and I recieved no exp (light blue does give experience, right? They changed the colors since I last played and I normally killed dark blues to yellows), but I was able to loot the corpse. So my question is this: Did they nerf the effects of darkness when your FD? Am I doing something wrong? And why did I recieve no exp?
And one more question if I may, where is a good place to farm plat at level 33? I've got basic gear, most of my spells, and kite pretty well (I've got the horse from anniversary ed, it helps alot). I've tried the halflings in misty and the druids in the commonlands (Lord that was a bad idea, I died from a DoT while FD). I hate the idea of farming but I need money for my spell research and new spells coming up. Thanks in advance!

Hmm...that should work fine. When you snared the guard, did it walk (not run) while you weren't fd? As far as I've seen, snare seems to work fine at the moment, fd or not.

As for making plat...have you tried the giants in rathe? I think they'd still be good xp for you actually lol, but they don't summon iirc.

[AbyssalMage]

I know the basics of the FD split, but this happened last night:
I was trying to kill the guards in misty thicket for some exp and pp. There were two at the gate, so I targeted the light blue one and cast Engulfing Darkness (target did not resist). Both ran at me, and I FD. Both returned to the gate at full speed. So I tried the single guard at the end of the wall, light blue also, and darknessed him. A wandering halfling rogue added so I FD. Both mobs took off again at full speed, so I pop up and cast Boil Blood on the guard I was killing, and FD again because both halflings were after me. Long story short I'm at 25 percent health and 72 percent mana, so I pop up and just life tap him to death, then FD to avoid the rogue. The guard died, and I recieved no exp (light blue does give experience, right? They changed the colors since I last played and I normally killed dark blues to yellows), but I was able to loot the corpse. So my question is this: Did they nerf the effects of darkness when your FD? Am I doing something wrong? And why did I recieve no exp?
And one more question if I may, where is a good place to farm plat at level 33? I've got basic gear, most of my spells, and kite pretty well (I've got the horse from anniversary ed, it helps alot). I've tried the halflings in misty and the druids in the commonlands (Lord that was a bad idea, I died from a DoT while FD). I hate the idea of farming but I need money for my spell research and new spells coming up. Thanks in advance!

As to your Darkness/FD problem. If your positive darkness is landing and your getting DoT spam in your window, I would /report and /bug it. I would also post a confirmation here in the Necro issue's section. Afterall it could be a silent nerf done by the developers although probally more likely an unintentional coding error.

As to your second question. HG's in Rathmountains is probally your best bet. Temp + best Mage gear on your pet and use the shrouds to save him when you log. Cyclop Island in OoT may be good also but its been a LONG time sense I've hunted there for xp, back when LDoN was the latest and greatest and I don't remember it being great but at that time it was less populated than Rathmountains. Blightfire Moors (sp?) has some decent cash loot but you have to memorize/write down what sells for PP and what sells for CP.

Another option is doing the Hearty Seed quest out of Cresent Reach (The quest with the HoT potions. Probally one of the best quests for this level, its repeatable, and you can load up on potions for those times you need a HoT to live. And best of all, at 33 you can gain xp, there are some vines that sell well (rare drop), Bind/Gate makes the quest faster, and the potions can't be beat until lvl 65!!! Spell research components drop like crazy in this zone BTW as they also drop like crazy in beehive and 'Mesa. So you can gain cash, spell reseach supplies, and xp w/items.

[scrat]

I don't know the mobs you are speaking of personally, but I certainly know the behavior you describe...

Mob linking. Mobs that are linked to other mobs (a mechanic to prevent splitting) absolutely ignore all movement penalties the moment their leash pulls taunt (maximum distance seperator met) and/or the moment you feign. After which, they run at full speed regardless of how many different types of snares or darknesses they have on them active. Even other players can cast additional snares/darkness with no effect.

However, I find it odd that devs would link guards in misty thicket. Most "guards" are flagged as being immune to changes in runspeed, and you should have gotten a red texted message saying as much if that was the case. The no-exp aspect is common among NPCs devs don't wish killed - such as merchants. They might have extended that feature to select guards as well.

[Lilnecro]

I have this problem on my sk. but his snare sucks bad. sure you are using the right one?

[Centinull]

I'm using engulfing darkness, dooming darkness is higher level but seems to be resisted more, oddly. The guard was taking 11 dmg from my darkness so I know it was working, and I don't know if they were snared running after me. I cast the spell, ran away as fast as I could, cast boil blood and then FD. These guards were a common camp back in the day, maybe they did get exp nerfed, and I think Scrat might be on to something too. I've FD split giants in FM the same way and it works fine, any mess ups are due to my timing. The HGs are lvl 40 on average, and the 7 lvl difference means they'll resist like hell. My gear is modest at best, though my guild has been helping me with plat for stuff (wonderful people!) I plan on doing IGs in everfrost at 40, same general loot as HGs but they drop gems and other goodies more frequently, or so I hear. I've been doing a lot of time in FM, BF is good but bored me quickly, and the lack of blightfire infused silk chaps my bottom. I will be back for the undead though in a couple of levels. FM is a hot zone too and I like it, the burynai (spelling?) and giants are fun to kill and give good exp.
Thanks for the advice!

[Ecol]

Lower lvl darkness spells don't reduce the run speed of the mob as much as higher lvl ones. if memory serves. what I like to do is try to snare both mobs...snare one, fd, stand snare next one, kite until dead. HGs in Rathe (as someone mentioned) drop nice cash. not sure on the level but Echo cavern has undead and can be split relatively easy.

[Vivamort]

Engulfing darkness won't stop mob from running away at low health, it will run away slower but will still run away, I believe dooming darkness is the first in the line with enough oomph to keep mob from moving if it is low hps or non aggroed. Although you specifically say it went back to the wall at full speed, which sounds like something else is wrong, because even with its smaller snare component it should have been slower then the other unsnared mob.

[Mystiqat]

sounds like the mobs are linked, I ran into this in Fort Mech with those groups of roaming gnomes, snare did nothing even though it landed

[Centinull]

I just wanted to add Engulfing Darkness will make a mob stand still at low health, seen it happen in multiple zones. As an example the rats in Blightfire flee at 20% health, and stand still around 10%. I've got more mana now and use Dooming Darkness, and it is a much better snare, and the mobs tend to stand still around 20%. For lower levels though Engulfing can't be beat, I used that time it takes for the pet to kill the motionless mob to get my mana back with Allure of Death, maybe throw on Leech to offset the HP loss.