Everquest Dragons of Norrath Progression
The Dragons of Norrath (DoN) Progression in EQ is one of the few things that has stayed absolutely crucial to do from past expansions, much like MPG Trials. For DoN you will receive unparallel base rewards for your characters that stack with all buffs, AAs and anything else. They become an innate part of your character as you acquire them making them an absolute must for anyone looking to maximize their character's potential.
The rewards for DoN Progression in order, are as follows...
Gift of the <Keepers // Dark Reign> - Increases your base stats (and stat cap) by 10. Basically like an Innate Eminence and Planar Power combined.
Tenacity of the <Keepers // Dark Reign> - 2% Maximum Health, 250Mana/250Endurance.
Embrace of the <Keepers // Dark Reign> - Increases your buff slot limit by one.
Power of the <Keepers // Dark Reign> - Increases Crit Chance by 1% for Spells, Heals and Melee. Some places say 3, some places say 2, but I have seen some official SoE posts that say it's a solid 1% for everything. This is the second best tier of DoN.
Fervor of the <Keepers // Dark Reign> - This AA increases your chance to resist a Detrimental Spell.
For the purposes of this guide I am following the Dark Reign tasks, the Evil side of DoN. The reason I chose Dark Reign is because it has the easiest tasks to grind and the easiest missions to complete. Therefore, it is the fastest possible route you can take to finish DoN. This is from my own personal experience doing both sides.
Keep in mind too that if you choose Evil it has no negetive effects on your character. You won't be hated anywhere outside of the DoN expansion and if you're good or a neutral race/character choosing evil has absolutely no negative effects on your character.
Below is a map of the DoN camps in northern Lavastorm Mountains.
To get started you will need to do solo tasks at the Neutral Token Taker area on the map, the southern end of my picture and where it says Tokens in blue. Here you'll find a few different people, make sure you only accept tasks from Varein and Jeryx as they are the Dark Reign side of the mix. After you reach Indifferent faction you will unlock the ability to accept tasks at the Dark Reign camp, you'll find the camp where it says Evil Camp on my map above.
I strongly recommend you grind out most of the faction before even starting the DoN progression!! I rounded up most of my faction requirements for DoN because I ran into a lot of trouble with not having the required faction that it said on other websites. Though putting all of that aside I recommend you get to Amiable faction before doing any of the tiers, that way by the time you reach Tier 5 you're high Amiable or Ally.
If you are having trouble accepting a Shared Task after a Hail, wait about 5 minutes. If your faction is high enough it will appear on the list. If you haven't unlocked a shared task or some other raid, start hailing all the important NPCs. Maybe you forgot a hail somewhere. Also follow through with [their bracketed text].
List of Tasks to Grind:
Holy Hour?
Tier 1 Tasks:
Upon reaching indifferent faction you can accept the following tasks. You will start by hailing Zaerr Ty'Dar who will tell you to talk to Officer Sirrikus Ryktor. You will want to do these tasks in the order I have them below.
After you finish these three tasks you need to return to the Dark Reign camp and hail Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar. He will give you a character flag after doing so. After getting that hail Officer Vacax Rol'Tas for the following mission.
Shared Tasks
After you have finished Have Note Will Travel return to camp and speak with Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar to complete tier 1 DoN. After you speak with him you'll want to speak with him again for a character flag which will allow you to continue with tier 2 DoN.
Tier 2 Tasks:
You will need Kindly faction for this next set of quests. To receive these tasks you will need to speak with Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar for your character flag, then you will need to speak with Officer Sirrikus Ryktor to receive the following tasks.
After you finish these three tasks you will want to return to the Dark Reign camp and hail Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar for a character flag. After you do that you'll want to speak with Officer Vacax Rol'Tas for another mission, as seen below.
Shared Tasks
After you finish Drake Eggs you'll want to return to camp and turn the egg in. After you do that speak with Captain Aleeth Zyrv for the first raid you have to do in DoN progression. If you are having trouble with the raid appearing in Captain Aleeth Zyrv's list, hail the Commander, Officer Vacax and see if that helps. If hailing either of them doesn't work then just take a quick AFK/log out and back in.
Sometimes the raids take awhile to appear in your list (when doing this on more than one character, sometimes the raids appear on a different character before the character you're on so check everyone)!
After you finish Calling Emoush bring the Stone Fragment you get back to Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar for a character flag and to finish Tier 2 DoN.
Tier 3 Tasks:
You will need high Kindly faction for this set of quests. After you have spoken with Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar and received your character flag you will need to speak with Officer Vacax Rol'Tas to get the final three easy peasy tasks you'll be doing for DoN progression.
After you finish these three tasks you will want to return to the Dark Reign camp and speak with Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar who will flag you for the following tasks.
Group Tasks
Volkara's Bite (42man raid, easy to solo at max, just need people to request it)
Trial of Perseverance (24man raid, easy to solo at max, just need people to request it)
After you complete Trial of Perserverance you will return to the Dark Reign camp and turn in the beads you received to Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar. This will finish tier 3 DoN and flag you for the next tier.
Tier 4 Tasks:
You will need Amiable for this set of quests. Speak with Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar for a character flag if you have not already.
Guardian of the Sands (42 Player raid, easy to solo if it's VoA or later)
Goblin Dojo (24 Player raid, easy to solo if it's VoA or later)
After you finish both of these raids and turn in the goodies you get to Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar you will be flagged/ready for the last raid of Tier 4 DoN
Second half of Tier 4 Progression:
An End to the Storms (54 player raid, easy to solo if it's VoA or later)
After you finish An End to the Storms and turn in Ya'Lir's Fang you will be able to take on Tier 5 of DoN. Speak with Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar for a character flag.
Tier 5 Tasks:
You will need high Amiable for this set of quests. Speak with Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar for a character flag if you have not already.
Rival Party - Group Mission
The Curse of Ju'rek - (24 player raid, easy to solo if it's VoA or later)
Speak with Commander Zaerr Ty'Dar for a character flag if you have not already.
Final part:
In the Shadows - (54 player raid event will be tough to solo because of mechanics unless you're a high DPS class during the TDS X-pac or later)
After you finish this final raid return to the Dark Reign camp and turn in your item to Commander. Hail him for your final character flag and completion of DoN Progression. Congrats!