Heroic Adventures

Heroic Adventures are a system of missions that scale the difficulty and rewards to the level of the highest level player in the adventure. They were first released with the Call of the Forsaken expansion. They may be considered a more advanced version of Lost Dungeons of Norrath.

Call of the Forsaken Heroic Adventures can be attempted by players level 75 and up. The Darkened Sea Heroic Adventures can be attempted by players level 95 and up. They are designed primarily for 3 players + 3 mercs. 2 players + 2 mercs should be viable in most cases, but they will need to have a bit more skill, gear, or class synergy to pull it off effectively.

During Heroic Adventures tasks, there is a chance that a rare (named) mob will spawn, as well as a chance for tradable rank II spells to drop off of random mobs. There is also an extremely rare chance for raid level gear to drop off of random mobs, which is also true of all mobs in Call of the Forsaken and The Darkened Sea.

With the launch of The Darkened Sea, every Heroic Adventure has its own three hour lock out. Players will not receive a lockout unless they complete the Heroic Adventure.

Official word
From SOE (used with permission, updated as new information is revealed):

What Heroic Adventures Are
A Heroic Adventure is a series of customized tasks, with multiple options for what can happen at each step of each task, and multiple routes to take you on each story. They are instanced, and designed for 2-3 players with mercs to finish them in 30-45 minutes.

Level ranges
Call of the Forsaken Heroic Adventures can be attempted by players level 75 and up. The Darkened Sea Heroic Adventures can be attempted by players level 95 and up. The difficulty (and rewards) will automatically scale based on the highest level player in the Adventure.

How You Get Them
Inside several open world zones in CotF and TDS, you will find quest-givers for Heroic Adventurers, with the "Heroic Adventures" label under their name. When you request a Heroic Adventure from that NPC, you will get a task in that section of the zone.

How It Works Inside the Heroic Adventure
Each step on a task can have multiple options. For example, a specific task may take you through the Bixie factory, but there are three different scenarios that can be playing out there: a productive work day, a worker strike, or an after-hours theft.

NPCs will not respawn inside of the instance. You are meant to play through the Heroic Adventure content, and then leave and get another one--not farm the NPCs inside it for hours. You will only see the current Task Element in your Task window, but if you accidentally kill the NPCs for a future Element before you can see it, you will still get credit for it.

The NPCs inside of the Heroic Adventure zone will scale all of their stats, damage, and loot based on the highest-level character in the player group.

The level of the requesting player only sets the initial level of the NPCs. Once players enter the heroic adventure, the NPC levels adjust dynamically in real-time.

Rare (named) mobs
Rares will spawn inside of the Heroic Adventures, and will have set positions along the tasks and routes, so you can learn where to find them if you're hunting a particular one. They will not spawn every time you progress along that route, but will have a % chance to spawn.

The current spawn rates were calculated using the average completion time of each HA on Live and a modified time-goal for how long it should take a group to get the rare.

The goal was to achieve a similar balance to how much time it takes to get a Rare to spawn in an open zone. (As you noted, the old HA spawn rates made them significantly worse than open-world Rares.)

The new spawn rates bounce between 20% and 70%, according to how long it takes to complete the HA.

Placeholders are there to help players realize the Rare spawn step has occurred, since the step that spawns the Rare changes between HAs. If you notice it without the PH, that's great.

The old spawn rates were a flat 30% for every HA. The new spawn rates for the original HAs are between 30-70%. The new Hate Rising HAs are all close to 20% because of how much quicker they are to complete.

A coordinated group should be able to farm Rares inside of HAs slightly faster than you could in an open-world zone. Average groups will be a bit slower. Obviously, a solo player will be lagging behind open-world zone farm times. We're happy with that current comparison.

That said, we're always watching the completion times for HAs and will adjust the spawn rates as necessary. Let us know if there's an HA in particular you want us to check.

All Rares inside of an HA should be Findable [using Ctrl-F]. If you encounter any that aren't, please report them here and we'll make the adjustment.

This is the solution that I'll be implementing for the next patch [Feb. 2014], which will apply to all HA Rares:


 * Chat box emote and screen pop-up on Rare spawn (Pop-up is delayed a few seconds after the Collections pop-up that happens on the same step)
 * Findable
 * No emotes or pop-ups for placeholder spawn

Call of the Forsaken
Mark of Valor is alternate currency obtained by completing Call of the Forsaken Heroic Adventures. They can be used to purchase mercenary gear, Rank II spells and group level player gear.

Merchants

 * Mercenary Morloro (Mercenary Equipment)
 * Merchant Akele (Group Merchant level 85)
 * Merchant Nyvan (Group Merchant level 90)
 * Merchant Sertan (Group Merchant level 95)
 * Requisitioner Rhies (Group Merchant) - Level 100

The Darkened Sea
Piece of Eight is alternate currency obtained by completing The Darkened Sea Heroic Adventures.

Merchants

 * Tier 1 - Yllethil Starsun (Group Merchant) in Tempest Temple.
 * Tier 2 - Cha`nya Athendi (Group Merchant) in Caverns of Endless Song.
 * Tier 3 - Agrimensor Crescentia (Group Merchant) in Degmar, the Lost Castle.

Daily bonus experience
With the November 19, 2014 patch, daily Heroic Adventure quests were added. Guard Hamarn in Ethernere Tainted West Karana would like tales to tell of heroic adventures. Each day he will offer you bonus experience if you do any of four Heroic Adventures from Call of the Forsaken for him.
 * Guard Hamarn (Daily Adventures)

It's intended that the bonus from doing the HA daily is substantial and it should be much more than completing the HA. Also, keep in mind that the experience rewarded for completing a HA will vary depending on the steps that are randomly selected.

Call of the Forsaken
Those Heroic Adventure that are indented indicate they are part of a quest arc and you must complete the one before it to request. Anyone level 75 and over may participate.

Argin-Hiz
The following Heroic Adventures begin in Argin-Hiz.


 * A Posthumous Proposition (Allakhazam)

Bixie Warfront
The following Heroic Adventures begin in Bixie Warfront.


 * Assault the Main Hive
 * Jacyll's Jailbreak (Allakhazam)
 * Endless War
 * The Thunder Gun Escape
 * General Sagrinta's Final Stand
 * Espionage Starts At Home
 * Always Follow the Money
 * Working Overtime
 * The Great Hunt
 * They've Gone Too Far This Time
 * They're Everywhere!

Ethernere Tainted West Karana
The following Heroic Adventures begin in Ethernere Tainted West Karana.


 * A Helping Hand (Allakhazam, EQ Resource)
 * Seeking Refuge (Allakhazam)
 * Protected Passage (Allakhazam)


 * Life After Death (Allakhazam)
 * Remember the Dead (Allakhazam)
 * The Other Brother (Allakhazam)

Neriak - Fourth Gate
The following Heroic Adventures begin in Neriak - Fourth Gate.


 * The King's Court
 * Hate Hath No Fury
 * Royal Access
 * The Toll Road
 * The Sealed Gate
 * Late Checkout

The Dead Hills
The following Heroic Adventures begin in The Dead Hills.


 * Clearing a Path
 * Excavating an Answer
 * The Descending Tower
 * Into the Hills
 * Scouting Ahead
 * Disrupting the Ritual
 * The Hills are Alive
 * Artifacts of Great Importance
 * Death Peace