As you've no doubt figured out, the actual missions themselves aren't the problem in the Katzenstein quest. It's simply GETTING to the mission door that is difficult. This is primarily because of the speed and the erratic behavior of those accursed metal men. If you can get past this nonsense, you'll be able to finish with no problem. Here's my strategy for completing this mission:
First, you need a Friend. Sure, you could solo this one, but it's much easier with an assistant. Have one person stay put in a safe spot while the other one makes a run for the mission objective. IMPORTANT: The runner should NOT be the mission owner -- that is, the person who has the quest and opened the Katzenstein instance. If the mission owner quits, the whole instance has a tendency to shut down.
The runner should stay on the center line of the rooftop. Run across each rooftop segment, stopping on the grate until you have determined which pattern the gearheads ahead of you are following. They will either run straight across (in which case, it's safe to proceed), or they will criss-cross or u-turn (in which case, you need to wait until the roof is clear. Always check to see who's coming up behind you before you begin running again.
Periodically, when the runner makes it to a safe position, go ahead and port the friend to that position. This way, there's less running to do if you need to drop out of the mission and come back in. When you make it to the mission door, port your friend, and you're ready to do battle.
If the runner accidentally engages a combat, simply quit the game, come back in and port to your friend who's waiting in a safe place, and try again.
When I did it, we had a team of wizards- an ice wizard(me), a master fire wizard, a life wizard, and a master storm wizard. At some point the storm wizard had to go, so our mutual fire wizard friend came in. When you get caught in a battle, log out, log back in, teleport. It's much quicker and easier than fleeing or finishing the battle. When you get to the part where the potbellies roam, it gets lots easier, as they're a lot slower. Don't forget to talk to grunk and make the golem afterwards, or you'll be shrieking with agony as you realise you have to do it all again. Remember to get the cat and the book, they're both near katzenstein.
I actually soloed it on the first try, then soloed again because I forgot to get the history book. It's not hard if you stay in the middle of the rooftop, run FAST, and keep an eye on your surroundings. Marking the place where Watson is helps, so you can just teleport back to him after defeating the first 2 bosses. It gets easier once you get to the part with slower monsters like Potbellies and gear spinners, and Katzenstein himself isn't hard to defeat, so if you can make it up to there you're doing well. Good luck!
i did katzenstien solo yesterday lol i made it to katzenstien with 15 mana out of 195 left cause i got into many wild battles. i suggest using potions only when you REALLY need them because i wasted all mine early in the dungeon. therefore having low stats when I faced katzenstien. I lost to katzenstien only because i ran out of mana. He had 200 health left and i had no mana so i just fled.
EVAN ICE FIST magus thaumaturge attempting to do katzenstiens lab
I have the quest, but for some reason it wont let me in there, Do I need to finish another quest first or something? Same with big ben...
Yes you probably have to finish more quests until the instances glow blue and the "press x" button occurs (:
Also as a response to this thread...When my grand life was a magus I had this really, really, super good friend. He was an INCREDIBLE runner and he always slipped past all the gearheads while every time I finished a battle (I didn't know about logging out and then porting at that time) I would run into another set of gearheads. Unfortuanetely, my friend Valdus didn't have Text Chat so it was really hard to tell him what I was going to do. I wish there was a "I'll teleport to you after this battle" Menu Chat...Because he would port to me and get another gearhead into the battle, taking even longer. Then after a while he got the hang that "One minute, I'm busy fighting" means "I'll port after this"...And things got super easy.
Find a friend as good as a runner as Valdus and you're lucky to do Katz Lab without any hard times.
Well now that there are mounts it will most likely be easier to get through the rooftops. I am about to get the quest and will have some high level friend help me.
