Author: Stargrace

The GM’s have been very nice in aiding with the festival, adding tents to the celebration areas in Antonica

Last night I decided to take a break completely from things. I was going to work on L&L for Stargrace, and decided not to. I declined power leveling and guildies. I decided to say no to crafting. So what did I do? Well, a few guilds on Antonia Bayle have been hosting the Festival of Unity. It is a week long event located mostly in Antonica so that people from various factions can attend and not worry about the guards. There are games, contests, prizes to be won. It was one of the best nights I’ve ever had in EverQuestII. I’ll be posting my role play version of this event a little later today, but in the mean time here’s an overview.

At about 8:15pm EST, an auction began in Windstalker village. Nice of the GM’s to erect a stage and some tents for the festivities.

The crowd was huge, there were people of all factions, races, and guilds gathered together. The bidding began at 10g and went steadily up from there. The funds went half to the festival community to help pay for things like food and drink and costumes, and the other half went to the people auctioned. It was all in good fun, and it seemed that most people enjoyed themselves. It may sound a little weird, auctioning someone off in an MMO, but they were “dates” for the night, for the tavern event that was to follow the auction. Everyone volunteered themselves, no one was forced. Some people went for as high as 10p. Misako herself tried to make a few bids, but it was a little to steep for her pockets.

Afterwards the Fellowship of the Dragon hosted a fishing competition on the docks in Windstalker village. The winner was Shirrar, who got some nice prizes. Other prizes were donated to the second and third place winners. I had a lot of fun playing a reporter, and wandering around the event in general. There were peddlers selling their wares, froglok totems made from by real frogloks, dresses in case you had nothing to wear to the event, food and drink abound. There was also fortunes told, by Drakael – or rather, futures told. Misako got in on that as well, as there was a huge line up. The event was quite popular. The auction itself went on for nearly three hours, while people wandered around the event. After the auction and while the fishing competition was finishing up, Annwen gathered a crowd beneath a huge old tree to talk about some old Norrathian stories, her tale of the night was about Mujaki the Devourer – I couldn’t listen to the entire story though as it was Misako’s turn to have her future told.

There were drinking competitions hosted along with the stories, and at midnight EST there were card games. My eyeballs were threatening to close by 11:30 though, so I had to call it an early night. I really had a great time. If you’re looking for more information on the festival, you can find it here there are events like lemming cliff diving, there were jousting tournaments, and there’s so much more. There is an event schedule as well. There is also another post with some screen shots of the event here in the offical AB forums. If you’re on the AB server, I suggest you check it out and embrace what a wonderful server you’re apart of, and even if you’re not from AB I’d suggest rolling an alt just to see the events.

Dasie in Unrest, one of my smoothest runs ever, no wipes, and no deaths for her at least (or the tank)

No raids on Mondays, so it was a nice casual day again. Well, it was supposed to be at least. I’m slightly frustrated in game, a combination of real life and in game things creating stupid moods that I’m sure will go away before too long. In game, I’m annoyed by little stuff. I think I am just not used to being in a guild again, and it will be a period of adjustment. The people are wonderful, I have no real issues there. I’m trying to be as friendly as I can back, and still do what I like to do in game, which is typically solo. I pretty much do what I want when I want, with the exception of raids. One thing I wish more people did was dedicate a little more time to “mains” instead of alts. Everyone is busy working up alts currently, and I understand the need for them and the benifits that come with being able to swap them in and out at raids, but what about all of the important quests that a main has typically done as opposed to an alt.

Brock’s thermal shocker is actually one of these really important quests especially if you’re doing EoF raiding. Why? Because the thermal shocker is the exact distance you need to stand away from the 2nd last named in Freethinkers, and lets you avoid the two AoE’s. Don’t sell it to vendor, you can hotkey and use it from inventory, and it does 1k dmg or so (two hits) so keep it! There are of course plenty of other quests that mains typically do that alts do not. The Qeynos Claymore is another. When I think of all the time I spent on my fury, only to have her stashed aside now for my illusionist, it can make me ill. My fury has her DT access, and her Claymore. She also has her Chel’Drak ring. My illusionist, has not even started DT access, she has one more quest to finish in SoS for Claymore. She’s got her Chel’Drak ring at least. She’s missing a lot of L&L still, where as the fury has all of hers completed. Is the illusionist any worse off as a raider for not having these things completed? Nope, she can do her job either way, but that’s the difference between a main and an alt – the illusionist would be a better raider with these things completed. I know some can manage to get it done on everyone, but guilds typically do mass claymore updates far and few between and for mains. I have not seen very many AoAx2 runs, or SoS grinds for Claymore updates for alts.

I got to talk to Kilanna before she had to rush off to work this morning, it was nice. That’s another thing I sort of miss, my little guild with people that I was quite close to. Not that I can’t also learn to get close to the folks in my new guild, but anyone who knows me realizes that I’m fairly quiet and keep to myself in game, I do my own thing, and I enjoy it that way. I do group up, but not constantly. Sorry if that comes off as being harsh, it’s just the way I play this game though as it’s going on three years now. I’ve been raiding for so long and seen end game content that I don’t feel the same excitement as other people maybe.

Anyhow, again, enough of my rambling and ranting. Unrest was fun in any case. The warden (67) in group did die a lot from one shots. They got their class hat upgrade. The cloak of unrest is currently selling for 100p on AB for looting rights, and that also dropped, the necromancer in the group won the roll (I declined, since Dasie is just an alt and she doesn’t need it). The assassin / ranger breastplate dropped, but no one needed that. Nothing else of any importance dropped, but it was still a nice clean run at least.

One of the main reasons I wanted my “main” Stargrace to be a tinkerer, who wouldn’t want feign death

First of all, I forgot to mention this earlier this week, but congratulations to Cordanim and also to Time Sink, for being featured along with this blog in the Town Crier! I meant to write about it when I first saw it but it completely slipped my mind, go figure. The past few nights have been filled with raids, and when they’re not filled with raids, with power leveling people for the new guild I’ve joined. More about that later.

Today was a blissfully quiet day. I got to work on my own tradeskills and I enjoyed doing it. Stargrace had been sitting at 224 tinkering for quite some time. I knew if I could just grind my way through the tier (5) that it would be smooth sailing with T6/T7 since the supplies are so low to purchase. It took a few hours, but I did it. Stargrace is finally a 350 tinkerer. Which lets her use / make a handful of items that I adore. One of them is the feign death machine shown above. It’s better then the shadowknight;s version of feign death, and makes me feel like a necro. I also get a mem-wipe item, handy for raids. I can make a hover device, and the mender bot. Have I mentioned I love tinkering?

There seems to be a new fade with higher end raiding guilds, and I’m not particularly keen on it. Instead of trying to find classes someone needs for a raid, for example a bard. They (the guild, leaders, officers) have members who are already a part of the guild, make those needed classes and set aside their mains, for “the good of the guild”. This does a few things. Number one, it leaves people with a whole lot of alts, and number two it allows a raid to just insert <random class here> out of convenience instead of letting people play what they actually want to play. There’s a few people who stick with the classes that they started with at the beginning of the game, but about 90% of everyone I know has at least one other level 70 alt or high 60’s. They don’t play them in raid guilds because they want to, but because they’re asked to.

I’ve always said that I envy people who only have one “main”. It’s hard to have four level 70’s. It LOOKS fun, but it’s not. It’s hard to do the same quests over and over. To afford masters on each one of them (I’ve been lucky there) and numerous other annoyances. It’s difficult to be asked to play a specific character on a raid and then wish you were playing your other character. Anyhow, rambling here. I’ve been tired this weekend and hopefully tomorrow’s post is a little more coherent and not so drab.

Misako, happily squishing people for her Neriak Sponsor

Lots has been going on lately, so you’ll have to forgive my lack of posts. Here’s a general run down though. Number one, I went on those raids the last post mentioned, and the went really well. I died once to a frontal AE that I should have tried to avoid more when the mob turned around, but other then that, no deaths for me. Remember I did HoS and Lyceum, not as easy as labs but not as hard as Deathtoll. I didn’t take agro, and as an illusionist I shouldn’t be, so that was a good sign. The people were friendly, I felt comfortable, conversation was easy. So after the raids were done and I was asked if I wanted to join I said I’d think about it for a bit. Raids are only three nights a week, which I like. I’m not interested in a hard core raid guild, even if I do have the time to devote to it. They’re making progress in EoF, also good.

It didn’t take long for me to come to the conclusion that I should at least give them a try. So I decided for the next two weeks at least I’ll raid and get to know The Inquisition and find my way around. What harm could it do, if I don’t enjoy it, I can leave. So I had Arysh (fury), Goudia (troubador) and Stargrace (illusionist) all guilded. So far, no regrets.

Yesterday I leveled my troubador to 50, so she’s two away from using her pretty spells. The guild needs one, and since it’s so easy for me to swap in characters, I offered. They’re still looking for a full time troubador, but it’s not like I mind playing multiple characters right now. When it gets closer to Kunark, I will. I’ll want to settle down to one “main” for the 70-80 grind, and stick with them. For now though, it doesn’t matter to me who I played. Last night I spent the evening helping a smaller dirge in guild level, along with a few others members. They got 6 levels, so I’m pretty sure they were pleased.

The game changes again when you’re in a bigger guild. I’ve been in small solo guilds pretty much since January. I’d gotten used to the quiet. It’s not a bad change, but it does require some adjustment. I do have the rest of my alts in my own guild still so that I can escape the hustle and bustle. Inquisition raids are not mandatory (thank goodness). I’ll just have to take things slow and see how they go.

Dasie, originally named Qutey – Do you know who she’s standing next to?

There are numerous types of blogs out there about MMO’s. I say this because I spend an hour every day reading the ones that interest me, the ones of course that are linked down the right hand side of my site. There are the ones I like to call “news types”, that blog about who’s doing what within MMO companies and what’s going on with the dynamics of the games, and who play the games themselves but write very little about their actual adventures. Then there are those who blog about their actual adventures, specific quests, zones, characters. I admit right now, I am not one of those people who blog about the news of MMO’s. I know what’s upcoming because I read it else where. I write about my own personal experiences within the game and my observations outside of game. But I’ll never be one of those news blogs, and there’s nothing wrong with that.. I only mention this because someone decided to send me tells in game on a level 1 character that I’ll leave unnamed and speak down to me about my blog. I write the way I write, and if you don’t care for my style, well, quite frankly you can just bugger off.

Anyhow.

Tonight I’ll (hopefully) be doing Lyceum and Halls of Seeing, with The Inquisition on Antonia Bayle. They are not a hard core guild, but they do raid three times a week, and are making headway into EoF content. Today is their KoS day, which suits me just fine I’m always cautious raiding with a new group of people. Why am I cautious?

Well, raiding is a big deal. Ok, not a big deal, but it’s complicated. It’s not like your general group, you’re with 23 other people and the responsibilities shift based on your class. Every single player in a raid has their own personal part, and you have to do it, and you’re expected to do it well. If you don’t, it will be noticed. So this post will be some very basic, very easy hints and tips to raiding. I’m not trying to come off as a know it all or anything of the sort, but I have been raiding in EQII for quite some time now, and it never ceases to amaze me the amount of things people simply don’t know. Not because they’re stupid, but because no one’s taken the time to teach them how to raid. Yes, you do have to be taught to raid. The screen shot above is my templar standing by the Vision of Vox. Yes, she’s a templar wearing a dress, I think it was for the cold saves. The screen shot was taken in 2005. Vox is used for prismatic 1.0, which was “the thing” to do when you were level 50 and that was the level cap. Dasie got her prismatic scepter of the scale at level 45, with a guild on Najena called Allure. I have learned so much since those early days of raiding.

Number one, show up on time. You’d think this would be a very simple rule, but I can’t even count the number of times that key members are late. Yes, there is such a thing as real life, but if you are signed up for a raid then please at least have the curtsey to show up for the raid. Of course there are always exceptions, life happens, but if you’re just goofing around on an alt or something, you’re holding 23 people up. Try to be at your raid location 15 minutes ahead of time at least, so that the raid leader can invite you and start organizing their groups.

Number two, unless YOU are the raid leader, let them do their thing. It always astounded me the number of people who moan and complain and gripe about certain things in a raid – like group set ups. You may know better, but it is not your raid, and mouthing off in the raid channel about it during the raid is the wrong time to open up a discussion about how things are set up. Deal with the raid in the method it’s given to you, and then afterwards, request to speak to someone on how to make it better and improve on things. The raid leaders have enough to deal with already without 10 people screaming at them about how “such and such a thing” is done wrong. When you’re the raid leader then you can control the raid. If you’re a guest, remember that’s what you are, you’re a guest. If they ASK for suggestions and help, that is different.

Number three, show up prepared! Some more hard core guilds require you to keep certain pieces on you. These range from power regen potions, to critical hit potions, or symbols that are sold from the city merchant that let you avoid aoe’s. There’s any number of items that can help you prepare for a raid. The very basic of these though — mend. That’s right, showing up at the raid in 10% gear is not showing up prepared to raid. Show up with food and drink. Try to keep at least one repair kit on you at all times. Especially if you’re doing a pick up raid, there is no guarantee that they’re going to supply you with a mendor bot, or repair kits of their own. Find yourself a carpenter and keep one on you. Personally, I keep + wis or + int potions on my characters, as well as clarity potions. They’re not a requirement, but they will make you a better raider.

Number four, be patient. The raid is gathering. You showed up early. There’s still 10 people missing and it’s 15 minutes past the start time. Don’t start bouncing around asking when you’re going to start. Just sit tight, and be patient. The raid will start when it’s good and ready. You being upset about the start time is not going to hasten it along. AFTER the raid, talk to an officer or the raid leader and if you’re going to be raiding with the group on a constant basis, bring up the time issue. Ask or suggest what methods could insure that the raid starts on time. Be patient during the multiple AFK’s that will happen while you’re in the zone, and while loot is being handled out and discussed.

Which leads me to number five, if you are a guest, ask how loot is handled before you join the raid. Does the guild use DKP? Do you have any chance at loot at all or is it guild only? Is it NBG (need before greed) is it /random 100? Ask before the raid, before the leaders are flooded with other questions and yours is just another annoyance. There’s nothing wrong with asking. Communication and lack there of is always a huge thing especially in an MMO when you can’t see the people face to face. You have to talk to leaders and raiders alike, during the proper time periods of course. Don’t start spamming their raid channel with questions during the raid. Leave it for important messages and uncluttered.

Don’t get me wrong with this post, raids are certainly a lot of fun, and there’s a lot of time for fun and playfulness within one. You may not want to start laughing hysterically while you’re about to pull Mayong Mistmoore though over teamspeak, distracting people from doing their jobs. In the end, that’s what a raid is, it’s a group of people coming together and doing their jobs, and taking down named for pretties.

Know your class and upgrade what you can. Know your skills. Know how you benefit other people. If you see your resists are low and you’re afraid of getting creamed with AoE’s be sure to step back on a fight. Listen during the raid for hints and tricks on how you’re going to attempt specific encounters. EVERY guild does named encounters differently. Every time I’ve done Labs or Lyceum or Halls of Seeing, or even Freethinkers Hideout, the encounters are different. Some times just the pull is different, the positioning, the method of downing the mob. So be sure to listen to that sort of stuff. If you’re unsure of where to stand, look for people of your class, and stand with them. Mages, healers, fighters, scouts. Where are they clustered around. It’s just common sense, but it never hurts to be reminded.

During a raid, don’t take things personally. If someone screams that the healers are not doing their job, don’t start a huge debate on how you ARE in fact doing your job. YOU know what you’re capable of. Unless they are another healer, and telling you that you’re not doing your job. Then ask how you can improve. Ask for hints and tips on how to make the raid better. Most raids use parsers to indicate who is healing or who is dps’ing. Parsers and showing up at the top (for heals at least) are NOT the end all be all. It does not mean that the 4th healer is not doing their job — unless their heal parse is blank. THAT is when you worry. Or if AoE’s are going off and no AoE heals are being cast. That’s what heal parsers show. They don’t show who is the best, they show who is paying attention. Shaman are typically always first on those parses, just because of the way their heals work, it over writs everyone else’ heal out there since it’s damage prevention instead of actual hit point healing.

Anyhow, sorry for the rambling, in preparation for tonight’s raid I just wanted to go over the basics. What can I say, it’s been a while.