Stargrace

EverQuest II Hotfix – April 21st

EverQuest 2Hotfix April / 21 / 2009
GENERAL
The friends list on the welcome screen will now ignore offline friends if that option is enabled on the community window.

ITEMS
The 4-piece bonuses on the Paladin, Monk, Berserker, and Defiler Shadow Odyssey raid sets have been improved.
The Lycanthrope Bracelet’s effects in PVP combat have been slightly lowered.

QUESTS
One of the lists of names for the Task “Hidden Agenda” could appear in an unreachable spot on a bookshelf. This has been fixed.

WARD OF ELEMENTS
Elemental bosses in Ward of Elements now drop non-stacking encrusted gems. The encrusted gems can be unpacked to yield stackable elemental gems. This change allows the gems to be split between players when dropped.

Also remember all those new items are coming to the station market some time today, so be on the look out.

Rule of the day – Avoid the Kinship Keg

Yesterday I had some time to play with Kasul on my little rune-keeper. He managed to get an invite to Casualties of War (Thank you Ethic) and with that came a visit to the Kinship house in the shire. I learned something very important. Don’t drink from the Kinship Keg.

I took a sip, innocently enough. Just one sip. Before I knew it, I was passed out on the floor with a blurry image of Kasul hovering over me shaking my shoulders – and when I woke up I was in Tyrn Lhuig – Angman. This is a high level zone, at least higher then me. I was laying in a field surround by mosquito and when I managed to get my feet under me one of them came along and easily bonked me on the head. Of course my recall was down because I’d just used it, and guild recall was down.

Needless to say Kasul had an easier time of it and when he revived at least he was not too far away. Even though he was also unceremoniously dumped in a field some place. I guess that will teach both of us.

I paid the repair bill and we continued questing. The rune-keeper inched her way through 15 and most of 16 before I decided to call it a day. I didn’t get any crafting done, but I am sure I’ll manage to find a little time to work up the cooking and jewelcrafting.

I’ve already done all of the quests before on the other server with my minstrel, but I’m having a lot of fun with the rune-keeper. It’s interesting to make sure I align myself properly for either healing or dps depending on what I’m doing and who I am with.

The goal is to reach level 19 and be able to play with the Nostalgia who are still waiting to transfer, and work on my crafting. It’s a slow process but it’s been a lot of fun. Once we’re all there and settled it will be great to see some new sights, as I’m getting a little bit tired of running the same quests that I just did last week when I leveled the other character.

I was also happy to learn that I must have miss read the cost of housing. While it is still expensive, it’s not something that’s going to be completely out of my price range later on. I do want to purchase a home (seeing as housing is one of those things that I just enjoy doing) and I’ve been collecting a few house items to use once I get one. I’m not sure which area I’ll move to yet, but I’m thinking of avoiding the shire – since the Kinship home is there and my elf is constantly hitting her head on the low ceilings.

Kingdom of Sky Instances

I had a lot of other things to get done yesterday, so I didn’t play for more then two or three hours but I did get a lot accomplished thanks to Ultann and Wpus. Before I ended up crashing for the night I saw Ultann’s inquisitor reach level 71 which was just fantastic. My paladin managed to hit level 67 (or was it 68?) and the fury is 64 (I believe). We ran around BarrenSky and did various KoS (Kingdom of Sky) instances including The Nest, and Vaults.

Vaults typically drops a legendary class hat of some sort from the final named but alas our luck with master spells and loot has been absolutely horrible and we saw neither. I have no idea if it’s just a bad streak or what but we haven’t gotten any items in a very long time. Instead a symbol dropped that has some defense and parry on it so I snagged it for the paladin and gave up her bow.

I’m looking forward to starting RoK quests and getting some gear and coin rewards. Then there’s also the mass amount of TSO shards I’d like to gather in order to outfit her in her T2 shard gear. That will be a slower process, but I’ll get there eventually. Amassing Adept3/M1 for skills will also take a lot of time (and money) but I’ve found that unlike most MMO’s I actually enjoy tanking in EQ2. Maybe it’s just because I’m comfortable with the game, or maybe there’s some other reason, I’m not sure.

Once I level the paladin up it will be time for my warlock and dirge to take advantage of the recruit a friend (on the same account as the paladin). I wish the bonus experience worked for quest experience, though I suppose that may be just a little over powered.

Today I’ll be playing LotRO during the day with Kasul who is off work, so I won’t have any EQ2 time until later this evening. I hope to push the paladin to 70, and get the fury a few more levels as well. We’ll see! I hope everyone had an amazing weekend.

You’re level WHAT?

I believe I started the day as a level 38 fury and 41, respectively. I was up early (always am) and had very little planned for the day (though some new living room curtains did get installed as well as a shower curtain) so I decided to spend most of it gaming. It’s not often I get those chances, this week has been work-free since my deadlines passed, and next week will be much the same (unless I manage to find extra work, who knows) until I get into gear to meet more deadlines. Ah, joy. Anyhow! I had time on my hands, that’s the point. I logged in and before too long Ultann woke up (way too early for him) and we decided to go play in Permafrost.

I’ve mentioned before about how I dislike that EQ2 zones can “grey” out, giving people little to no reason to ever revisit them unless they mentor down. I think it’s a poor game plan. You don’t want people to out level your content, you want to allow them the freedom to explore where ever they want – give them choice. EQ and WoW are both examples of this. Things don’t become trivial per say. As I entered empty zone after empty zone it simply reafirmed my thoughts in the matter. There was no one around and we gained quite a few levels. I believe Ultann’s inquisitor box was level 51 at the time.

Before long, Wpus joined us and we moved to new grounds. I don’t remember the exact order that the day went but by the end of it we had spent a fair amount of time in the Clefts of Rujark (we did the two instances within that zone) which is off of Sinking sands, we also hung around in Sanctum of the Scaleborn and Ultann had to head out for a bit so Wpus and I explored around Pillars of Flame gaining achievement points and exploring some dungeons I never knew existed before heading back to the Kingdom of Sky zones for a little lazy grinding.

Through all of these zones I didn’t see another person. I DID hear a lot of complaining on the 1-9 channel about lack of low level groups (especially on Kithicor) where the majority of the population is 70-80 and those who are lower level are alts.

When all was said and done, the paladin reached level 63, and the fury is level 60. I managed to stay on top of the paladins gear enough so that she can actually tank some places – though she has issues taunting with adept1’s I do get amends and that helps a great deal. I had a blast, we explored places we’ve never been and saw things that we’ve never seen even after 4 years of the game.

I hope everyone else had an amazing Saturday, and that Sunday proves to be just as interesting. Safe travels no matter what realm you find yourself in!

Alts are Expensive

Alts are expensive. I know if I devoted all of my time to one character instead of the … 20 I have now, I’d probably have a lot more money in game. Not to mention moving servers would be cheaper, and my house would be the most impressive thing this side of Norrath. I’d also probably be fairly bored, because anyone doing the same thing day in and day out is bound to get boring eventually.

I’m not the only one with a whole lot of alts. I’ve tried cutting back and all it results in is more alts being made. It’s a vicious circle.

Yesterday I got the recruit-a-friend mount that grants members in my group a 10% bounce to experience so long as I’ve got the mount buff on. Great idea. I’ve named the horse “gassy” I’m sure you can guess why. The mount is also 55% run speed, which is great. Plus, it’s heirloom which means you can place it in your shared bank for all of your alts to use. Another big bonus since you can only claim one.

The paladin is now sitting at level 46, and the new fury at level 42. Last night Ultann took his baby inquisitor and we all headed to Obelisk of Lost Souls which is my favorite zone in the game because of how twisted and dark it is. We gained access to the lower levels, and it was a lot of fun (and surprisingly empty for once). Today I will hopefully quest in Everfrost until the boys log in and then we’ll decide what we’re doing from there.

I spent 15p last night outfitting the two characters which I knew would happen sooner or later. While I could certainly make it to level 70 without purchasing anything at all for them, I can’t solo that way realistically. I outfitted them both in tier-appropriate gear, and bought all of their spells at least adept1 quality, a few adept3 and M1 where the cost was right. They’re not twinked by any means, but it should be more then enough to get by. I wish Kithicor had a better ‘small’ population, people below level 60 as it were. I know the role play servers are bustling with activity, and I wish all the servers shared that enthusiasm but alas, they do not. Kithicor’s main population spends their time whining about how uber they are compared to someone else and shooting down those who are not as good as them. It seems like every single person I examine is decked out in fabled, and makes me wonder what ever happened. Alas, without a merge or a server transfer (which I can’t keep splurging on) I’ll remain there (for now). Fingers crossed for one of these two events happening in the future though.

Over all it was a nice night. After I shopped I decided to call it an early night and got some sleep. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Safe travels.