Melting Isles is a large-scale PvP zone available to players Level 40 and up (45 recommended), designed to pit not only League against Empire, but also players on the same faction against each other. You can choose to travel alone, in a party, or even in a full-scale raid to work together to fight other players. Once you enter the zone and leave the safe area, any player you are not in a party or a raid with will be flagged as a possible target, adding to the difficulty in identifying along faction lines. Lower level players may be able to access the zone, but will be at a significant disadvantage and also be unable to use any of the gear or reagents garnered from questing.
To reach Melting Isles, you must first go to Gipat. You will be given a quest from the Spirit of Peace to go to the Melting Isles via the nearby June teleporter. Simply walk up to it and request to be teleported to the zone.
The goal in Melting Isles is to fight other players to capture various chests around map. While the zone is open 24 hours a day, chests will only spawn between 3PM and 2AM server time. During this period, chest spawns will be announced to every player in the area. These announcements will denote the location of the chest. After the announcement has been made, however, the chest will not spawn until a certain period of time has passed.
Tarnished Chests normally contain Symbols of Glory or a piece of Level 44 Epic gear based on the location of the chest spawn, and normally take one minute to spawn. They also give out Amalgam, a medium-quality reagent used in Astral Gear Combining, at a rate of one or two per mots chests.
Ornate Chests are much larger and take up to five minutes to spawn, and may provide the same items as Tarnished Chests, or more items and Amalgam. Ornate chests no longer spawn Legendary gear.
Spawn rates for chest vary randomly throughout the day. Sometimes chests will appear once ever half an hour. Other times they will appear every minute. Chests may continue to spawn even when players are not in the zone, and remain hidden until scavengers stumble across them at a later time. There is no set order to where chests will spawn. They could very likely spawn at the same location a dozen times in a row, or in a clockwise pattern given the circumstances.
There is a minimum player limit of at least 12 players for Melting Isles to prevent ninja looting.
COOL, Z-LOOT!
Not so fast. Players who attempt to loot the chest will be given a debuff that will increase their damage taken. If you are interrupted by either damage or a stun and attempt to loot again, you will receive another stack of the debuff. The debuff will last one minute, making you a prime target for people hoping to stop you from completely looting the chest. As such, you must either have adequate protection or be lucky when looting! Players in a raid are only allowed to roll on an item that is being looted IF they are close to the chest when looting BEGINS. Once a chest has been opened, canceling prior to looting will make the item vanish FOREVER, so once you open it, you MUST loot it.
Each chest spawn location has its own loot tables. For example, Crystal Tear is heavy on plate shoulders for WarPals and Healers. Much of the gear in Melting Isles has an IDENTICAL COUNTERPART to a piece of gear that can be found in Arena of Death. However, it has a DIFFERENT NAME. Please be aware of that to prevent cross-looting.
It is recommended you obtain at least a full set of blue gear of quality Level 42+, including green Legendary-type gear and Rep gear from Kirah and the Time Wanderers. This will provide you with enough gear to fight at least the mobs that spawn in this zone. Level 4 runes in ALL slots is also recommended.
You should also consider purchasing or obtaining a mount, as traversing the environment is difficult at foot pace, especially because some mounts possess dangerous CC abilities. Furthermore, a mount tends to draw less player PvP due since players must dismount to begin their attacks, and can be used to signify a retreat/passive PvP stance.
Map of the Melting Isles
This map will be provided to you when you enter the zone, and for the most part accurately depicts the terrain. Your point of entry will be at the League or Empire Encampment. From here, you may form or join other groups of players using Zone Chat if you wish, or simply head out in hopes that you will get lucky.
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The zone has 10 chest spawn locations divided into roughly 4 areas of influence. The northern area consists of Crystal Tear and Snowbound Crater. The western area consists of Icicle Spring, Ruined Peak, Frozen Wasteland, and Shipwreck Shore. The eastern area consists of Frostbite Cavern, Valley of Tombs, and Frosty Cove. The central area contains a variety of paths to all these areas and contains Dragonskull Lake. In many cases, a group of players will choose to defend one of these areas to reap all the loot from the area, by defending several choke points in each zone.
Crystal Tear
Crystal Tear is on the western half of the northern zone. The chest spawns in the center of a rippled frozen lake, providing an unhindered view of any would-be looters, and is difficult to defend due to its proximity to the two paths up to it. Chest defenders will have difficulty seeing approaching enemies from within the Tear due to the ice formations, which provide many opportunities for flanking and surprise attacks, making this one of the more difficult positions to defend.
Snowbound Crater
Snowbound Crater is found on the eastern side of the northern area. It is one of the more unique chest locations in that it spawns chests underwater, making it much harder for players to use a charge attack to engage looters. Defenders of this area will have a much more difficult time if they are located within the basin, since attackers will have both an advantage jumping in from the hanging ice formations above, making it all the more important to have players defending from outside the actual structure.
Dragonskull Lake
Dragonskull Lake resides squarely in the center of Melting Isles. The chest spawns directly in the skull's mouth, which provides little coverage from attackers. Due to the small amount of real estate on the island, players may find it difficult to use any sort of charge attack. Due to the centralized location of this spawn, there are SIX paths that lead directly towards the chest spawn, making it brutally hard to defend from anywhere except directly on the island. Routed attackers will have an easy time retreating due to the vast amount of escape paths provided. Because this is a centralized location, defending this area even when there are no chest spawns provides steady access to much of the rest of the map.
Icicle Spring
Icicle Spring is situated just south of the League Encampment. It has two access points to the north and the east, making it easy to flank and defeat a defending force. The chest itself is protected from view by ice and trees, making it harder for attackers to stop a looter, but the area itself is very small, making AoE spells much more effective in this location. The small moat disrupts charge attacks.
Frozen Wasteland
Frozen Wasteland is at the end of a long corridor and covered by a single ice formation. PvP tends to happen along the corridor, which is open and allows for easy placement of firewalls and caltrops to deny attackers from their approach. It is very difficult to secure this point if a group has already taken it. Due to the length of this corridor, attackers may have difficulty with a front-line assault and may have to rely on players from Ruined Peak to flank and harass the defenders.
Ruined Peak
Ruined Peak provides a tactical advantage over other areas in the western area. Players guarding the Peak are able to quickly attack Frozen Wasteland and Shipwreck Shore by rapidly descending from the mountain. The Peak itself offers very little room for PvP. It is difficult to guard the two approaches because both of them are covered by terrain and obstacles, though the single stairwell up to the peak itself can easily be used as a defensive area for fire walls and AoE attacks. Because the chest's view is blocked from all sides by viewing angle or structures, players are unable to determine the size of defenders next to the chest unless they are physically on the peak, making it easy to set up ambushes against against scouting players.
Shipwreck Shore
Shipwreck Shore is an enclosed area that has one open entrance. Defending the area outside of the entrance is difficult because it is flat and large, restricting the use of firewalls as a defensive measure. Players can readily charge across the area, making it much more PvP friendly for classes with such abilities. Assaulting the ship simply depends on a single player getting past the defense and attacking the chest opener.
Shipwreck Shore also provides easy access to Frostbite Cavern via the cliff to the east.
Frostbite Cavern
Frostbite Cavern's chest location is inaccurate. The chest location marks the entrance to the cavern, a giant maw made of ice. This path is guarded by elementals that can CC you.
The chest room is an open room with many areas to hide behind, making it an excellent spot to plan ambushes. The chest spawns on the platform, making it easy for attackers to target and interrupt the looter, making defense of the chokepoint entrance a priority when looting is occurring.
Frosty Cove
Frosty Cove is similar to Shipwreck Shore except that the chest is moderately covered by a block of ice. Due to close proximity, it can be easily defended with the Valley of Tombs. Since the area is relatively flat, it is a prime area for close PvP and an excellent place for AoE combat.
Valley of Tombs
This area is otherwise unremarkable. The area is very flat and allows easy attacks upon the chest looter due to the lack of any serious cover. The only benefit this area has is that trees nearby can be used to conceal a watcher. PvP in this area will not be impeded by terrain.
Northern Main Path
This is the primary access point to the northern area. It is easily defensible with firewalls and caltrops. The path is a straight shot down to Dragonskull Lake if a chest spawns there.
Northern League Path
There is a small path favoring the League Encampment along the western edge of the northern area. It is guarded by elementals but is a possible flanking route for unwary players in Crystal Tear.
Eastern Imperial Path
The Imperial Encampment offers easy access to this enormous mountain path. It provides an easy entry and escape point for both eastern chest spawns, though traveling up and down this area is time consuming and should only be done if the main path is taken.
Eastern Main Path
This path serves no real purpose for entry into the eastern area because the mountains allow you to jump down. It is only practical when you have no real opponents and want to conserve on healing during transit, and when leaving the area.
Western Main Path
The main path is one of the most important locations to guard if you are attempting to secure the western area. It provides the only easy access to four points on the map, and provides a complete field of view of much of the area.
Unlike other areas, paths within the western area are divided by large mountains, so traveling between two points is time-consuming. Guarding the main path allows you to protect all of these paths from scouts and generally sneaky players.
Western League Path
This path resides south of the League Encampment and provides ease of access to Icicle Spring, though it is also guarded by elementals. It can be used to gain access to much of the western area by circumventing the main path.
Suicide Slide
Shipwreck Shore's cliff allows you access to the eastern area of the map. However, you will most likely take fall damage or possibly get stuck in the environment by doing so. Attempt this jump at your own risk!
The Inhabitants
Two types of Elementals guard many places throughout Melting Isles. Each is a considerable threat to ungeared and unwary players, and can be used as defenders in zones due to their ability to CC players and cause wound complexity.
The ice-type elementals are resistant to stuns and knockdowns, and inflict a debuff that randomly causes players to become unable to attack for 2 seconds.
Breeze elementals are weaker than ice-type elementals.
