Author: Stargrace

Dasie is quite dead. The first pull punted our tank the wrong way. The 2nd pull was flawless

I have been feeling restless in game again as of late, and anyone who knows me that it’s typically not a good thing but that it does blow over before too long. I’m not sure what it is. I tried to focus and work on a few goals that I had set for myself to no avail. Maybe it’s the time of the year or maybe I need to go find some trees. In any case. I spent 5 hours working on L&L with Dasie last night. Brownies were not nice to me. I had killed 0 when I started and had 500+ by the time I managed to find the last dropped piece, a pancreas. I found multiples of every other part — except — that one and I refused to pay the 42g the broker was asking for it. Another pretty house item to add to her walls, and more books to add to the shelves.

Yesterday I also decided to betray my conjuror back to a necromancer. I’m happy with the choice. I originally went conjuror for CoTH (call of the hero) but I had not used it except to port people to MMIS when they wanted the gear that dropped and didn’t want to let it rot. I’d much rather have a feign death, and a rez, plus Faydai had some pretty spooky rp going on when I played her (she talks to her pets and considers them her children, crazy gnome). The betrayal itself took a few hours as always, but again well worth it to me. She’s 53, so she did not have any important spells.

Next I’ll be betraying the defiler over to a mystic. I have 3 rough pearls and 16 moonstones thus far saved up to accomplish this. I need a handful of pearls still and then I think I’ll be set. I am not certain yet if I want to wait until I have them all before doing it, or just do it today and have it out of the way. It’s not a raid day (thank goodness) so I’ve got plenty of time to do whatever it is I want to do. Lader is back from Costa Rica, and I’m glad to have him around, a voice of reason and a great friend. I’m still contemplating guild issues. They don’t seem to go away and everyone promise change that never happens. One person (and the biggest voice) has already admitted defeat and is no longer going to fight on any issues because they just can’t do it any more, which sort of sucks but is understandable at the same time. I’m not sure if maybe this is just my cue to go find another guild who is accomplishing the goals I was aiming towards in November, or give this guild more time. RoK is going to come out and we’ll still be doing KoS is my honest opinion on the matter, because they refuse (they as in leadership) to listen to the advice of others. The way the positions on raids go, you do not EARN your spot to be in the main tank group, they just put their favorites there (wives, and close friends). Which is a shame. If they did what was best for the guild we may actually progress some what, and those people can still be in the raid but there are others who have proved they are worthy of the positions much more. People who know what they’re doing and can handle emergencies.

Which is my biggest gripe. I parse the heals and keep them to myself typically unless some one asks for them. Parses looked like they were improving — zone wide. However. If you looked at any battle that there was a named involved, or any battle where we had an add, or some other sort of emergency. Those people (minus one warden) in the main tank group seemed to freeze, and did not know what to do any more. The people in the other three groups had to compensate for them being unable to handle the change in tanks. It sucks. We need MT healers who can keep their tank up during the roughest of moments, who can anticipate him dropping to half health, who know when to use their emergency spells and anti-deaths and all the rest. Who can pull out all the stops. Alas, I’m rambling again. I know the issue will probably not get better. Perhaps it is time for me to look at something else guild wise, if I am so intent on being able to see some progress. Which is a shame, because I love the atmosphere of this guild, well, when the MT isn’t completely ignoring me because his wife is around and we don’t exactly get along….. *sighs*

Dasie’s spell cast is 106% so she casts over 100% faster then she would typically cast. Now that rocks.

Saturday raids are typically a mish mash of our “regular” raiders and a few others who can only make weekend raids. So we ease up and this weekend was no different, we decided to do LoA and HoS (that’s Lyceum and Halls for those who are unfamiliar with the acronyms). I’m typically in the melee / off tank group due to my dps buffs + dirge dps buffs + necromancer who can life burn a whole lot easier with two healers keeping him up. My partner in crime used to be Thunderwalker, who played a mystic, but is now Sahvek, who’s a defiler. Both are great healers and I trust them completely on our raids. Shaman have a spell called alacrity (single target) that stacks with my divine retribution, and as you can see from the image on the post, it’s dang nice. Having a 106% spell cast for 30 seconds on an inquisitor is amazing. I typically hit DR when the necromancer is about to life burn, so that me and Sahvek can keep him up easier. I also have my hp buff on him so that he has more hp to burn away. Dasie may not be the most “uber” inquisitor out there, but she’s still a lot of fun to play, especially when I have great people in her company.

The raids were wonderful. I wish, really really really wish, that they were consistent. That’s about my only qualm. We died twice between the two zones, once due to a weird fear issue that pulled some named from a few rooms over some how, and once to Venekor who decided it would be cute if he punted our main tank directly into the statues that surround his room, instead of into the back corner with us like he typically does (or she? I have no idea, I try not to look that close to dragon parts).

Dasie got a new wrist piece, which means I really just want one more upgrade for her (other wrist) and I’m hoping maybe I just get DT access for that. Aside from Claymore, and the fabled version of her hammer, I have nothing else that I want, well, maybe a new breast piece. Nothing besides that though. I REALLY want to try to farm her set gear, having 6 out of the 7 pieces will warrent her another 33% spell cast that’s static. With her 14% from aa, as well as 5% reduction from her chel’drak ring, she’s pretty dang set. I know she’s not all uber, but considering I hadn’t played this character in a very long time and I’ve been trying to get her caught up for a bit now, she’s done very very well.

Kilanna is back! I’m so excited about that. I have missed her oodles, it’s funny how used to talking to someone you can get even if it’s just on line. She is the voice of sanity in the early mornings when I’m ranting away about something. Gothun was promoted to member in The Inquisition, always nice to see. Other then that, things are going the same as always. Deciding which alt I should work up next. I need to find myself a whole lot of rough pearls too before I can start betraying the defiler.

Misako, the defiler (who is going to betray back to mystic..) hit level 70 finally

I started Misako quite some time ago, and those who knew me well asked me every day when I was going to delete her because I’d never stick it out with a shaman of any sort. I’d deleted them religiously time and time again once they reached the 30th level. There was just something about only being able to prevent damage at the lower levels that made them a little more difficult to level. Today in Obelisk of Blight she finally hit 70, and I’m happy and proud of it. After some contemplation – I’ve decided to betray her back to a mystic.

Who didn’t see that one coming eh. I betray so many times. She’s got a few masters but not enough for me to be concerned about, and she’s not in any raids currently, and with RoK a hop skip and jump away, I’m not worried about any she just HAS to have. I have not really played a mystic, aside from a quick peek at one guildie. I like the idea of bolster, and of oberone, they also have two more heal-type spells / constant regenerating wards. They’re pretty much like templars / wardens in the fact that they get one or two more heals then their counter parts (templars get glory of battle or whatever it’s called, and wardens get spores). I am also still going to betray my conjuror back to a necromancer one of these days. So many things to do.

People ask me all the time, which characters would I like to play. It is actually quite a hassle for me. I have never specified a preference. I now have 4 level 70 characters, 3 level 50+ characters, and quite a few smaller alts. Yes, I realize this means I have no life or I play too much (it’s actually just a whole lot of free time that I use in game instead of watching tv or what have you). Anyhow, I think people would be surprised if I actually listed in order the characters I have that I enjoy, and the order I find them in. So what is that order?

Necromancer->Bard->Shaman->Ranger->illusionist->Inquisitor->Fury

I do have a few more alts. They can be placed in there some where. It’s a shame that out of them all, the fury is the best geared, but the one I like to play least. I’ve always longed to play a pure dps class. Why? Well, aside from thinking I’d be fairly good at it, I have always played something that requires a lot of responsibility to a raid. Healer, or support like an enchanter. I’d like to not do that a time or two. Weird eh? Well, maybe not so weird. I’ve never even played a necromancer to end game before but I’ve seen some very good ones (I’ve also seen some pretty crappy ones). Bards are just so interesting to me, as are shaman in general. I’d like a wizard or a warlock for another class, and a warden. Other then that I’m pretty content with what I have. I do have my 24 monk, a 37 coercer who I’ll level one day, a 6 swashbuckler, I even have a level 7 zereker not that I’ll ever play her.

HoS tonight, then two days of raid-free bliss. I imagine I’ll be helping a warlock in guild, and maybe working on Misako’s betrayal, and maybe my necromancer. We’ll just see how it goes!

A vision into the future rewards this very pretty ring after you kill Chel’Drak, now Dasie, Stargrace, and Arysh each have theirs

Dasie was so far behind her Mystic Lake quests at the beginning of this week, I had really thought she’d be getting her ring next week. However, karma is nice some days and she ended up getting it last night. I managed to catch her up (with some help) to the Nizara portion of the quest. Then a group of guildies were doing it and two of them logged off early, they happened to be the main tank and the defiler, their templar also left. So as I mentioned in a previous post, me and a few other guildies took their spot and completed the zone. There were quite a few of us who needed the updates. Since Chel’Drak was cancelled on Tuesday due to quite a few essential people missing, we scheduled it for last night.

We did a portion of Deathtoll first, granted some folks were unhappy that we also skipped two of the named, the splitting globule one as well as cruor. We did it to save time I suppose, though I can understand their frustration. Especially since it took us 4 (real) pulls to down Chel’Drak. Disappointing after we got him down the first pull the week before. I don’t understand the lack of consistency. People should be doing the exact same things every time we raid, or so you’d think. The first wipe was not exactly anyone’s fault. for some reason again when we zoned in we found Chel’Drak on top of us, none of the trash spawned in the long hallway, and just happily died. The next few wipes were just silly really. The main tank was dropping far more then he should have been. People not paying attention. I burned through my power roots (I LOVE those house plants that give roots.. having 6 roots that give you between 10% and 22% power back with a very small re-cast timer is amazing) and knew there’d be no way we could down him if some groups had no power regen. So we added some to the raid, switched groups around, and finally had a flawless pull (and kill). There’s still a lot of drama and issues going on in the guild which I know is quite common for any guild, but I really hope they dissipate some time soon. It makes for a very uncomfortable playing situation, for a simple game that we all pay to play.

So Dasie has her pretty ring, the 3rd character I’ve taken through that quest line. Next she’ll need to work on her Claymore. Since she already has MoA, and SoD, I’m not planning on doing Godking with her — though she does have the quest and is almost finished it, so we’ll see how that goes. If I can get claymore and DT access done for her I’ll be happy. I’d like them done before RoK comes out, if I pushed claymore I know I could complete it in the next two weeks, but I doubt I’ll be pushing for it. I’m finally getting her geared up to where I’d like her to be. She needs two bracelet upgrades (hence why I’d really like to get DT access done on her) and then most of her gear will be at least fairly nice. She could also stand a new breastplate as well, hers is not horrible, but it’s not the best.

Today it’s nice and wet and raining out. I’m contemplating just quietly crafting. Goudia is going to buy a new home in Neriak, so then I’ll own a 5-room in Qeynos, Freeport, and Neriak. The rent is actually not that bad at all, since I can work the status on the other homes down to 0 easily enough, and the homes are about 20g each in rent (the Qeynos and Freeport ones at least) the Neriak one is barely even 7g if I remember correctly. Addicted? Sure why not. Need to have some place to put all those L&L trophies and HQ’s.

This little troubador couldn’t be more happy with her new gear and levels

A friend is working up (power leveling) their warlock in order to have them raid-ready as soon as possible, so for the past few days I’ve been helping them out on various characters. It was suggested that since they were already working up the warlock, why don’t I try to level up another one of my characters with them. Since Misako is already 69 with no real push to get to 70 since I’m not raiding with her, I decided that it was not a bad idea. But who would I level? I have a 53 conjuror who’s just sitting there, a 52 ranger, and at the time, a 50 troubador. I love my baby bard, I really do. I’ve betrayed her back and forth between troub and dirge for some time now, having completed the betrayal quest approx. 6 times with that character alone and never managing to settle. The first time I did it, it was actually for the books, so that I could buy the vendor sold one from either Qeynos or Freeport to add to my collection. Yesterday was a great day for the troub, as she not only hit level 51, but also 52, and then 53. She finally got to wear that pretty cobalt armor that I’d had stashed away for quite some time now. She visited instances she’d only dreamt about, and all in all, did very well. Of course it helped to have the 55 warlock and 70 zerker as well as my 70 fury all mentoring her *grins*.

As she was nearing the last 4% of her level, some guildies asked if the zerker and myself (as Dasie) would not mind helping them out in Nizara. Apparently their group had lost two healers as well as their main tank in frustration over the zone. I was a little bit leery, wasn’t exactly in the mood for the zone, you have to really know what you’re doing or you’ll be there for quite some time. They’d cleared to the third named or so, and off we went. Dasie was actually on the part of the Four Winds ring quest that needs Nizara, so I of course had some hidden motivation.

Two hours later, and the final mob fell. Yes, we died. In fact we died a lot, but it was still not bad and we still stuck it out and accomplished our goal. So now Dasie just needs Chel’Drak (which we’ve been downing without too many issues for some time now) and she’ll have her ring of the four winds that gives a 5% reduced cast time. Essential for any mage or priest. The ring (as well as the one before it) is also an upgrade in general, and free upgrades where I don’t have to spend dkp are always a good thing.

Misako also received a new baby dragon for her home yesterday, a huge thank you on that. With all the furniture updates incoming I’m taking my time working on her house and I will update as I go along. Especially with all of the wonderful plants and status items that I want to add to it.

Guild leader actually talked to me a bit yesterday which was nice after four days of pretty much silence. Not on the warmest of terms, but it’s a start, right? Still looking forward to Kilanna coming back so I can ramble about my adventures.