Stargrace

Ding, a Level 70 Paladin #EverQuest

Yesterday I decided I would try to get the paladin to level 70 – this lets me group up with level 100 characters, the current cap in game. I started out in The Undershore and then at 65 I moved over to Wall of Slaughter. There was the usual group of afk-levelers hanging out with their mercenary but aside from that the zone was relatively quiet. I boxed the paladin and the ranger together, along with the rangers J5 tank mercenary. There were two deaths when I got a bit too adventurous but for the most part it all went very well.

I also took down a raid mob that was in the zone that I didn’t realize was actually a raid mob until I started fighting it and noticed that the mob was dying very slowly (and my mercenary was dying not so slowly). I used the ranger emergency skills and managed to kill it before I wiped, yay. Sadly the mob is used for nothing more than someone else’ epic, so it wasn’t of any use to me but since I had pulled it by mistake to begin with I wasn’t that heartbroken.

This morning has been spent gearing the paladin up in defiant gear, the level 70-80 gear is incredibly cheap which is always a nice thing when you have as many alts as I do. I also went and purchased her spells and am now ready to brave Norrath once more. I have her set to 100% aa for the time being so I can try to catch up. Even at 70 there are a LOT of achievements I need. I’ll probably team up with Oger and do lower level zones that still grant him aa so that we can both benefit.

One of the best parts of being level 70 now aside from being able to group with a level 100 character is the fact that I qualify for the MGB buffs that get cast in the guild lobby (I believe 65 is the actual level you need to qualify). Sitting there for a little bit of time means when I go out exploring I am all ready. Still undecided as to whether or not I’ll work on crafting with the paladin, but I’m tickled with the progress so far.

The Undershore #EverQuest

The new hotzone for level 60 is The Undershore, an easy zone to access with a lot of different factions that you don’t typically want to mess up. Thankfully with Oger’s help we found the ones that are OK to kill, and we headed out that way to lay waste to the general population. The paladin is now level 63, and can group with my 89 ranger although she can’t earn aa with the paladin unless the mobs also grant the ranger experience. Still, it’s nice to be into a comfortable level range. Ideally I’ll stay in the 70 range for a while and just work on alternate advancement for some time. We’ll see how that goes.

I still haven’t managed to find Nagafan up, but I did kill Talendor yesterday – unfortunately he did not drop the book I need for the epic 1.0 but I’ll keep trying. Eventually I’m bound to luck out and get the drop.

I haven’t purchased my spells for the past 10 levels so that’s the goal for today. I’m also debating whether or not I want to do any crafting on the paladin. Now that my 100 enchanter has 300 in each craft, maybe it’s time to work on another character? The ranger could stand to have a few crafts leveled up as well, fletching in specific. We’ll see how that goes.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

I’m on a (House)boat! #TS3 #TheSims3

I was under the assumption all this week that the Sims 3 Island Paradise expansion was not due out until June 28th (turns out that’s the UK release date) so imagine my joy when at midnight last night EA emailed me to tell me the game was ready for download. I had planned on making it an early night and actually catching up on that thing called sleep – but a new expansion called to me.

The download was smooth, I haven’t really had any issues with Origin and getting my products. I pre-ordered so I got the shipwreck limited edition version. I was hoping that I had ordered in time to get Barnacle Bay as an add on, but I was one day too late. Ah well. Installation was smooth and before I knew it (is it just me or does the game finally load faster) I was ready to move into my tropical paradise home.

I bought a cheap house boat – you can sail them all over, apparently. I haven’t tested that feature yet. I also joined a career as a lifeguard, although my lifetime wish is to have an amazing blog, go figure. I started up a blog called ‘I’m on a boat’ where I post pictures of my nautical living.

The map to the Island Paradise is larger than most. A lot of it is also unexplored, leaving you some mystery. One thing I did notice is that there’s not a lot of night life bars etc around, there are some resorts, but I may add in a few custom buildings from other expansions just to tweak it a tiny bit.

The lifeguard career choice is a lot of fun. Unlike other jobs your sim doesn’t run completely automated. You survey up and down along a beach, or you can sit on your lifeguard chair, and watch the waters for drowning sims. Eventually you’ll notice some sim out there flailing about and you’ll swim out there to rescue them. You’ll escort them on land and they’ll swoon and pass out, meaning it’s time for CPR.

Thankfully I’ve managed to bring everyone back to life so far. You get paid per sim rescued, as well as a weekly stipend. That’s where I had to end it for the night because before I knew it, it was 2am and I should have been in bed two hours ago. I’m very happy this expansion released earlier than I thought it would, and can’t wait to explore underwater, and sail my houseboat around.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Legacy Family #TheSims3 #TS3

A few times now I have heard friends of mine talking about a “legacy family” in the Sims 3, and I had absolutely no idea what this was or what it meant, so of course I looked it up. It turns out a legacy family is a player challenge, and there are all sorts of them. It also looked like a lot of fun, especially because we all know how much I love the Sims 3. I took to the forums and found this post from 2009 that explains the basic rules, and I created Ellithia Reveur, my legacy sim.

The rules are basic. You create a new family, a single founder. They have to start off in a specific lot that only leaves you with $1300 to build a house. You can’t use money cheats (or any cheats). The overall “goal” is to live through TEN generations and to lead your family to fame, fortune, and success over the course of those 10 generations. There are a few other specific rules mentioned in the post which I linked above, but that’s the jist of it. For your starting sim you pick the sex, age, and have full choice over their looks, colours, and clothing. Your legacy family has to remain the active family. You can’t resurrect dead sims. You can’t use ambrosia. You can’t consume life fruit. You can only age up your sim when the game prompts you to. You can’t ward off death.

Pictured above, my legacy founder, Ellithia, rummaging through the junk yard to try to gather enough scraps to sell to afford a sleeping bag. I managed to build a 6×6 house, purchase a door for said house – and eventually afford a $100 sleeping bag. I hung her diploma on the wall, and she’s set. She doesn’t even know what greatness she’s going to be heading into. Once I was able to afford a sleeping bag she headed out to find a job, eventually finding one as a dishwasher. She’s in a pretty posh neighbourhood, so she made (tentative) friends with the neighbours and used their shower as well as ate some yogurt from their fridge, she can’t actually afford to cook anything in someone else’ house at the moment. After some yogurt and a shower she used the washroom before the neighbours told her she was acting inappropriate and she should leave. So she headed home to spend the next few hours sleeping in her incredibly comfortable sleeping bag.

Couldn’t afford floors or walls or anything yet, so for now, this will have to do.

Face to Face with Lady Vox #EverQuest

Yesterday while leveling up my paladin I started thinking about my 1.0 epic. At first glance I thought it may be too difficult, it used to require both Nagafan and Vox as kills. However, players now have two extra dragon options with each of those drops. You CAN kill Nagafan and Vox, or you can kill Talendor, Severilous, Faydedar or Gorenaire. It just so happened that when Oger went and checked on Vox, she was up! I shrouded my ranger down to level 50, and her and my 49 paladin made our way to Permafrost and slowly towards Vox’s lair.

Of course first we accidentally pulled her along with a bunch of giants that started chain healing themselves. The fight took a very long time, and in the end both Oger (who was shrouded down) and Pumpkins (my shrouded ranger) died, while Dyathe (my paladin) and the three mercenary lived long enough to put the finishing blow on the ice dragon.

I got my drop easily enough, along with a white dragon scale to sell, a cleric only 2hb and a bracelet. I was very happy. My paladin may be low level, but I would really like to complete her 1.0 (and then her 1.5 and her 2.0). Because lately I have been boxing the account along with my main account, I decided to re-subscribe her using a krono I purchased from the bazaar. I had let the account lapse last month thinking that I was no longer interested in boxing and that I may switch over to another game (ie: Rift). Sadly, or perhaps not so sadly, nothing else seems to be holding my attention these days like EverQuest does. I have no regrets about signing the second account back up, and I’ll probably continue to pay for the account via krono for as long as I can.

The paladin is now level 52, and I’m debating whether or not I want to continue working on her epic or go back to leveling and working on alternate advancement. This character will probably level slower than my others, as I would like (for once) to keep up with her alternate advancement so that she’s not a completely useless character. We’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, it’s really nice to have the ranger back.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!