Stargrace

Obelisk of Ahkzul, and Vault of Eternal Sleep

When EQ had it’s 10th anniversary, for the week you could claim free LoN (Legends of Norrath) loot cards in either EQ or EQ2. For the first portion of the week I was claiming them in EQ, and then switched over to EQ2 when the void vision goggles came out, and then the next day it was the awesome parrot that you see sitting on my mystic’s shoulder in the screen shot above (which turned out really nice, I have to admit). I had planned on doing some questing in Lavastorm for the evening – but had a really nice surprise when Ultann decided to re-activate his EQ2 account. So of course I decide that the group is going to jump right into things, and we head to the Moors of Ykesha to attempt the Obelisk of Ahkzul with just the three of us (and me boxing the coercer). It’s only been a month and a half since we started playing EQ fairly regularly rather then EQ2, and we did pretty well. The new threat meter is amazing and everyone loves it. I adore the fact that you can now auto follow on the Z axis.

I’ve been playing on the highest settings I can put my computer at and still function, which is one below max. The game looks so incredible to me. I did turn down the number of spell particles I see simply because when you have so many turned on encounters start looking like masses of particle effects and nothing more. I can’t see the mobs or where they’re positioned or know if I’m about to die to a giant AoE frontal.

We died once in the ‘ball room’ but it was just us being rusty. The second attempt was flawless, and we managed to get a chest with 14p in it. Those chests are nice when you do the instance in a group of three. I had my fingers crossed that the final encounter would drop the healer shield I’ve longed for since day one – but alas, my luck in EQ2 is pretty non-existant, and nothing of use dropped. On the plus side, void shards WERE introduced to this zone finally, so we each gained one more to add to the pile by the end.

Afterwards we decided to head to Vault of Eternal Sleep in Jarsath Wastes to try (for the 101st time) for the praetor’s guard for Wpus, the conjuror. Ever since we found out we can trio this zone, we’ve attempted to get the guard to drop. Every time, we had no drop. The zone is fairly easy to complete, we rarely ever die. The adds spawned, I mez’d them while still attempting to heal (Wpus catches them with root so I have a little leeway) and down the final boss went.

A master chest!

Now, there are two fabled (maybe more) that can drop here. There are a pair of pants that no one in the group would use – along with the mage item. FINALLY the guard dropped, now we just need to get one for my coercer. Groan.

I started having ISP issues (again) shortly after that, so when I disconnected I called it a night and headed to bed. I had a blast though. It was great to be back in Norrath 2.0 and even better to enjoy the evening with some great friends. I hope everyone else had a fantastic evening, no matter where you spent it!

See you in Norrath!

First Impressions – Age of Conan

I decided to go ahead with the 7-day trial of Age of Conan from MMORPG.com because it came with three free items and I had no idea how long it would be available. Since the game is pretty cheap ($20) if I liked it I could pick it up, and if I didn’t, well. Nothing lost and at least I could say I’ve played it. I haven’t played long enough to make any solid opinions quite yet, but here’s what I think thus far.

First of all, even with the new video card, it took a lot of tweaking to get it looking good at all. Everything was very jagged and looked very one dimensional to start. I couldn’t figure out what it was because a lot of people I know had ranted and raved about the amazing graphics. Perhaps they meant the gore looked good – and that’s not what draws me into a game, so that won’t want to keep me playing. After fiddling around I nudged some settings and have it playing at a relatively good quality. At least it doesn’t look quite so jagged (and no, I don’t have DX10 on my PC, just my laptop).

I enjoyed the character customization. I like the idea of being able to add scars to a character, after all for the most part these are adventurers. Why would they have flawless skin. Or hey even if they’re a crafter why not be allowed to add soot to their cheek or dust speckles or any other number of little ‘quirks’ that define a character as yours. These add to the story of the character, and they’re a huge part of how players can ‘connect’ to their character. For example, my Ellithia pictured above has bear scars all along her upper right side. How did they get there, what was she doing? So many stories I could come up with for them, from the obvious to the outrageous. I love things like this.

Questing is – still questing. Except at least it’s (sort of) multiple choice in your responses. It’s nice to (almost) think I have a say in the answers, even if they all lead towards the exact same end goal. I think that the quest journal and markers on the map are the new ‘standard’ for questing, with directions pointing players in the right place, clearly labeled. I’m not sure if this is optional or not, but I enjoy the markers. It’s the same method I’ve seen in WAR, and LotRO. EQ2 has this to a lesser degree, you can’t see markers until you approach the proper area.

Right now I’m a level 6 Aquilonian Priest of Mitra. I just freed a slave girl and helped her escape to the City of Tortage. Turach helped free me of my slave bonds, and I’m working on a destiny line – s0lo. I enjoy being able to have the option of doing things solo if that’s how I’m playing. It puts me in my own instanced version of the city – AT NIGHT. Sounds like I should make a coffee table book. “Tortage – At NIGHT.” Now, I realize that the opening to a game is hardly basis to decide whether or not the game is a keeper since everyone knows those are the crutial times to try to get players to instantly fall in love with your game, but by this point I’ve at least seen what I like – and what I don’t like.

What I haven’t seen yet is why this game is any different then any other game out there – aside from the blood and gore (and breasts). I don’t know if I expect to see that by level 6 or not, maybe I’m asking too much. Keep in mind I still know relatively little about the game. I DO enjoy combat a great deal, I like the way I actually feel involved in the fight, dodging and swiviling around, pivoting and all the rest. It looks (and feels) like combat, and I do enjoy that.

Those are my impressions over all – with so many other games out there that I’m already playing, I doubt this will make it to the line up – but I’m still having a relatively good time with it, and I’m glad I decided to try it out.

Unlikely Companions

The trio stood together in the Wailing Caves, which had been home to Lord Ree for a number of years now. His patrollers stood no match for the conjuror, coercer, and assassin as they made their way through the dark tunnels. The orcs were not the only ones to inhabit this area, it was home to other foul creatures with too much time on their hands. Was it some sort of twisted fate that saw these three adventurers gather together at the exact same time in the exact same place? They were after all, strangers to one another. Whatever had caused the phenomenon, it would be remembered by those who visited the caves that day for some years to come.

Finally had some time to play EQ2 last night (woohoo) and since I’ve popped in and out of the game the last little while, I was at least (some what) refreshed on what I had planned for my characters. First, was trying to get my (2nd) coercer to level 80. Right now she’s sitting at level 78, and part way into it thanks to a few shard runs last night. It was interesting to see if I had forgotten how to complete the instances, but they seemed to go smooth enough. We completed all of the ones in the Commonlands, gaining three shards. That brings the mystic’s collection (since she already owns three pieces of T1 and two pieces of T2) to a whole 6 – I have a ways to go. The coercer is currently holding on to 19 shards – since she’s not level 80 yet I haven’t bothered to make anything with hers. Who knows what sort of gear she’ll be wearing by then and what I’ll actually want to upgrade (or not).

I decided it would probably be easier (and more fun) to get to level 80 by leveling up an alt and mentoring then it would be by questing. My reasoning is that the coercer receives 50% bonus experience due to the number of level 80’s already on the account. Grinding experience even at the low levels of 1-20 netted me about 10% in two hours. Now – I know that may seem horrible, but the higher up (closer in levels) the alt becomes, the more experience I’ll gain for mentoring. It’s an interesting experiment in any case. Though now that my alt is level 20 I’m contemplating deleting and creating a different class. I know, so indecisive!

I contemplated heading to Lavastorm to complete the new quests there – but – imagined it would be fairly busy, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to deal with that again right now.

Short term goals? Getting the (2nd) coercer to 80, working on void shard gear, and crafting (my 2nd carpenter is only level 38 – go figure it’s the coercer, my 1st carpenter who is already 80 is also a coercer. On another server though).

Long term goals? Working on epics (still haven’t bothered getting the mystic’s completed), upgrading spells, and playing alts (as always).

I hope everyone has a fantastic Saturday, I’ll see you in Norrath!

Relaxing in Middle-Earth

For the first time since September, I played last night and had no graphic glitches at all. It was nice. It was really nice. Kasul, Tipa, and I headed to LotRO and spent some time slaying various creatures and progressing the epic line. Now, I’ll admit I didn’t spend that much time actually reading the quests. I normally do, I love reading all the stories and then I get to thinking about who wrote them and what inspired them and it just takes off from there. However; I was dealing with some real life background noise (ie: stress) and just trying to make sure I followed along, kept people healed, and didn’t trip over my own two feet very much. I was so happy that the new video card ran (and ran well) that I could barely do more then walk around in a half daze looking at everything.

I do remember getting quite a few pieces of gear upgrade. I got a new cloak, some gloves and even a really awesome recipe that only has a one time charge of some cloth shoulders. It came from one of the instances we ran, and I’d never seen it before. My tailor (explorer) is happily leveling away, and things are going well in that direction.

Gozad also started playing on the same server as Nostalgia (our Kinship, now spanning three games officially, though you can find Nostalgians all over the place), not sure if he plans on continuing or not but it’s always nice to have another member. Our Kinship just reached rank 6, and we’re headed towards rank 7.

I like to unlock the various deeds and see a mass accumulation of titles and little ‘unique’ bits to the game that show off the various feats my character has accomplished. Even if they’re the same titles that everyone else has earned, they are unique to my character and remind me about what I’ve done (or haven’t done) in game. The one Tipa is sporting (on her character Dera) is awesome, and completely fitting for the little hobbit (who I keep wanting to call a halfling due to EverQuest II). It was a wonder we didn’t step on her multiple times throughout the night. Elves may be slim and move with grace, but my Minstrel is wearing some pretty clunky items and I always feel like I’m clunking around instead of floating gracefully.

Monday evening should be the next LotRO meeting unless Kasul has changed his schedule around for that day (one never knows) I managed to reach level 16 and part way through it. We also started working on Book one Chapter five (I believe that’s where we’re at in any case) which has us running all over the place currently. I don’t own a mount (nor do I envision myself owning one any time soon) so it’s a lot of running. A lot.

Over all? Having a lot of fun with the game. Of course, playing with great friends always makes games 100x better then playing alone.

So That’s What it’s Supposed to Look Like

New video card arrived in the mail today, and I’m REALLY happy with it so far. I boosted up my settings in EQ2 and headed to Lavastorm, which is notorious (especially of late) for its lag. There were only 60 people in zone, but I ran around on the settings in the screen shot with no issues at all. You can find the bigger version of it here. Honestly, even if things didn’t run better, I am happy just not to have those trees staring at me any more. That was creepy.

I also downloaded the 7 day free trial of AoC today, though I haven’t given it a whirl yet I plan on it. Tonight, it’s LotRO – I think. Today has been an up and down sort of day. So many highs and lows. I don’t expect things to calm down until April 15th, so I’ll be counting down the days until everything passes.

Happy gaming!