The Nochsana Training Camp is a relatively small Asmodian instance in the Abyss, although I’m sure the Elyos have some equivalent. Because of its location within the Abyss, you cannot access it prior to level 25. It should probably take you no more than 45 minutes to run through, maybe less depending on how efficient your group is. Mine consisted of a Gladiator tanking, three Rangers (don’t ask), a Chanter, and a Spirit Master. The Spirit Master was of limited use though, considering they were AFK for most of the dungeon. Despite this, with three Rangers the damage seemed just fine, and we were able to burn through the mobs with relative ease. The tank was able to hold threat just fine the majority of the time. Only one of the Rangers ever pulled aggro on any of the mobs. Suffice it say, that Ranger was either incredibly bad ass or incredibly bad. Yeah, I was that Ranger, so I’ll opt to say I was just incredibly bad ass.

The entrance to the dungeon is a nondescript little portal just behind the Primum Fortress. I don’t mean nondescript euphemistically; as you can see from the picture above, the tool-tip literally just says “Portal”. Once you’ve zoned in, you’ll want to follow the path to the right. The group I was with actually cleared a small part of the instance before I joined them. But, judging from what I saw and through my superb use of deductive reasoning, they must have followed the path up to some glowy pedestal thing and clicked it. It must be noted that this and many other smaller instances have an 18 hour reset timer associated with them, and it starts the second you zone in. Because of this, you may want to avoid snooping around to avoid getting yourself locked out from playing with a group. Also, to check your current entry timers you can type /checkentry.

From there you can pass through a tunnel onto a small path leading up to a pretty neat looking orange glowing dragon by the name of Nochsana Guard who is guarding the only passage through a wall. Once you’ve dealt with him you can cross through it and up a ramp on the side to where the next mini boss, the Aetheric Field Boss, is awaiting you. She actually posed a slight challenge to my merry band of adventurers. It’s recommended you take care of her two pals first, since she has a buff called Stone Skin that you have to work your way through—so she takes a little bit of time to kill.

I promise what I’m about to say isn’t embellished at all, although I do have a flare for the dramatic. Our tank actually ended up dying during the next fight which left our group scattered and running around aimlessly while the boss killed off a couple more people. I dropped a trap in the center of the bridge and the Aetheric Field Guard wandered into it and was conveniently trapped. I wish I had taken a screenshot but I was too busy kickin’ ass. While she was trapped another Ranger and I finished off the remaining add. We then proceeded to stand around without much purpose or direction until the Aetheric Field Guard broke free of the trap and resumed its chase for the Chanter who, with the other hunter, were making a mad dash for the door. Shortly after beginning its chase, though, the miniboss reset and went back to its spawn point. We were thankful to see that the adds didn’t respawn on us. Bruised and battered, we reassembled and easily killed the Aetheric Field Guard.

About the only real issue I have with Nochsana is that we didn’t get any loot from any of the bosses. Also, bosses is a term I use lightly, considering none of them were bestowed with a name of any significance and it’s hard to imagine a “boss” with a name like Nochsana Protector and Nochsana General to be the guardian of any powerful items. But, luckily, what the instance lacked in any exciting parting gifts it more than made up for in experience. It’s easy to tell that instances will be a great way to level up once release rolls around.

Our adventure continued as we gracefully glided off the bridge the Aetheric Field Guard lay dead on and cleared the last few trash pulls before making our way to the fortress gate, which could be demolished. We spent a good 30 seconds beating on it before one intuitive group member realized that one of the quests we were on provided us with siege weapons to break down this door. I don’t think there is a way to procure another one after you’ve completed the quest in order to assist in beating down the door again. So, in the future, you may have to just beat on it a lot until it submits to your cold steel. It is also worth noting that if you are on this quest you actually need to use the siege weapon in order to progress to the next step of the quest.

Once the gate had been destroyed the debris blocked my vision of the interior of the fortress. Sadly, it also blocked my vision of the wave of Balaur that has rushed out from inside the fortress to greet us warmly. The healer and I were able to escape this slaughter while everyone else died. Once they all made it back into the instance or were resurrected by the chanter and myself, we began clearing the densely filled room of trash. There was little challenge here and it was mostly just tedious, although, again—good experience.

With the room cleared, we wasted no time in getting down to business and pulling the boss. It was a nice surprise to see that the boss’ two adds could, in fact, be pulled separately. After quickly dispatching of them we pulled the final boss. This is about when mobs came running down from above to say hi. I’m not sure if they were pulled due to our proximity to them or because of the old “boss aggros the room if you don’t clear it” trick. Either way, after everyone who died (except me again, I’m good) made their way back, we cleared the upper levels of the room, which is where one last miniboss lay hiding. After we dealt with it we hoped back down to the bottom to kill the final boss. This fight wasn’t anything too special, which was to be expected at this level. He yanked everyone in the group to him quickly as we pulled him, but other than that, it was a simple tank and spank.

Despite the lack of loot, I enjoyed The Nochsana Training Camp. Due to its high experience rewards and short clear time, I’d imagine it becoming a staple of people leveling in their late 20s. It may not be anything too exciting or original, but I’m sure they’re saving that stuff for end game.