Yesterday was my first foray into the Prophecy of Ro expansion, even though it’s been out since 2006. Well, it was my first ‘real’ adventure in it, I do have a few of the evolving crafting trophies that were released at that time in place of the old tokens that players used to wear. The story to the expansion is wonderful, here’s what zam had to say about it:
Mayong Mistmoore’s release into godhood has turned the gods’ focus back to the mortal realm. Druzzil Ro foresaw the devastation of the world and in turn beckoned all mortals to her Plane of Magic, a plane ruled by her creations, the scrykin.
The scrykin have a problem, though. As they age, they succumb to madness, paranoia, and instability — something which led the first born scrykin, Daosheen, to lock himself in the tower of Skylance. As the elder scrykin continued to deteriorate mentally, the dragons of Relic assumed more political power. They, however, are at odds one another as they each want control of the magical channeling platforms built within the city. And so it is the second born scrykin, Porthio, who has assumed the role as governor of Relic while at the same time remaining focused on his studies.
In addition to the Plane of Magic portal, another passage appeared in Freeport, one which leads to the home of Sullon Zek — the Plane of Rage. It is said that when one mortal kills another in a fit of rage, the killer is sent here when they die. The Seething Wall which lines the plane covers the killer in an all-consuming darkness. They feel cold, leathery flesh, and the pinch and scrape of armor against their bodies, crushing them from every direction. With the stench of death in the cold air and the calling of Sullon Zek’s rage, they soon feel an urgent need to destroy and vent their unrelenting rage, as well as a desire to fight for Sullon Zek and earn her respect. Sullon Zek remains in the tower of Razorthorn within her plane’s stronghold, alongside those who are most dedicated to increasing their rage and learning how to focus it.
Another magical passage formed in the Desert of Ro. Druzzil Ro wasn’t the only god to take action after Mayong Mistmoore was released into godhood. Tunare, too, saw the need to beckon mortals to her realm. Using rains from Karana and magic from Druzzil Ro, a sandstorm was created in the desert, revealing the ruins of the Elddar city Takish-Hiz. Also created was a portal into the past and the glory of the Elddar Forest and great elven city as it stood in the Age of Monuments, before Solusek Ro created the Serpent’s Spine Mountains and turned the forest into a desert.
There is one god who has already fallen to the corruption of Mayong Mistmoore. She is Ayonae Ro, the ruler of the once-beautiful Plane of Music, a place which has turned into a dark, bloody cesspool of terror and rage while Ayonae remains holed up in the plane’s tower of Deathknell.
The very power of mortals that the gods despised for unleashing Mayong Mistmoore into godhood is being called upon to save them and the world.
You can read more about the expansion over here on the zam site, and don’t cringe too hard as you read Mayong Mistmoore is one of the leads to yet another story. In both EQ and EQ2 he seems to be a very popular character. My dynamic trio was down to a duo as one friend deals with life for the next little while, so we were down one person. To start the day Ninga asked what gear I was wearing for jewelery and I sheepishly lined my level 40 items that I’d been sporting since early last week. He ran us through some Depths of Darkhollow missions and upgraded a whole lot of items on both my enchanter and my necromancer. Both of them managed to get a few aa as well – then he suggested we head to Arcstone, and work on an evolving cloak.
I have to admit, I have a special fondness for evolving items in EQ. Yes, I realize they are a PAIN to level and take huge amounts of time and effort. Before I started playing EQ I played a MUD called Redemption. It was based here in Ottawa, and had a pretty good following of players. I met a lot of amazing people at ‘mud meets’ – I even coded for them and created a zone based around “Gulliver’s Travels”, as well as an old broken down gnome amusement park. Anyhow, there were evolving weapons added to this mud over time. You’d wear them and they’d develop as you slaughtered creatures (or players) and it was just something I really enjoyed. I loved that weapons could have a ‘mind’ of their own and change. So the fact that evolving items are in EQ really makes me feel nostalgic about the mud.
The quest was fairly simple, though I can see how it would have been quite difficult in 2006. You have to go around killing 5 named, each of which represent an element, and each does unique attacks during their encounter. For example, wind came with four adds that you had to defeat first before you could damage the gigantic creature (or you could spend an hour trying to whittle him down), fire re-spawned a number of times and did a few AoE, Earth had an AoE root and so on. The battles were great, and even the base cloak was an upgrade for me.
Today my parents come back from their cruise (much later) and I’m taking my baby brother out for Pho for lunch, it should be a nice day. Even with the snow (yes, lots of snow still falling here, ah well). Safe travels and I hope everyone is having an incredible weekend!
So it was that I found myself heading to Natimbi yesterday to speak with Whiahdi about a staff. She spoke in riddles of course, just telling me where to find it would be too easy. Apparently the staff had been broken into three pieces, and it was up to me to re-unite them. Two pieces came from encounters in The Ruined City of Dranik after I muttered some secret word, and the third and final component was an orb of discordant energy that came from Anquish after killing Warden Hanvar. Compared to some classes my epic was exceptionally easy. After we completed the two fights I had we set off to complete the cleric one, which required a lot more running around and hailing and gathering of flags. It was still great fun though. The whole day was great fun actually. While we waited on a friend to head to Anguish we did a mission that rewarded me with a clicky robe that gives +400 mana. I was super excited about that, the more clickies the better!
Tomorrow it will have been a week since I’ve started playing EQ again. In that short amount of time, so much has gone on and it’s been a huge rush, I’ve had so much fun. If you had of told me a week ago I’d be playing EQ, I’d have a new character on a new server who would complete her 1.5 epic – I’d have probably laughed. Ok, there’s no ‘probably’ about it. I would have laughed. Yesterday was spent completing the awesome staff that Minxes is sporting in the screen shot. The quest rewarded me with 5aa as well as the title that she’s sporting too, which was all pretty impressive to me. The quest was relatively easy although I’m sure it was difficult when it first came out. My trio handled everything beautiful, and then once we’d completed the final raid mob in Nobels Causeway, we hunted around for other named to defeat in the hopes of obtaining a few runes I could turn in for my 66-70 spells and it went relatively well. I managed to pick up my new level 67 pet, which is always a good thing. Necromancers work through dots, and using the level 30 ones I had were doing pretty much nothing. That’s alright though, it will come with time. 
There is some talk tonight of getting my 2.0 completed, an old friend of Ninga and Ultann is apparently going to be in game. I’ve never met them before, but I’ve heard the boys talk about them a few times. The 2.0 is something I haven’t even thought of getting, ever. To the left is a screen shot of my new shield that I’m also waiting to wear, a gift from Ultann. He got it from Blackburrow when they had it revamped for Seeds of Destruction just a few months ago. I need 60% more experience before I can wear it, but I’m excited! New toys are always a lot of fun in game. 
I saw the sweetest thing last night in EQ and I had to mention it here of course. In both EQ and EQ2 you’re able to edit a small box of text on your description window. People use these for numerous things, favorite song lyrics, a list of their accomplishments and other random goodies, whatever really happens to cross your mind. When you examine someone these boxes of text are on display for all the world to see. 
