Category: Gaming

The Life of a Crafter #EQ2 #EverQuest2

Last week a patch came that would change the price of Kael gems forever – that’s right, the removal of shards required for Thurgadin and Ry’Gorr armor. I was lucky, I purchased gems that were relatively cheap (at the time at least) and stockpiled them for my alts. I had enough of the two common gems to supply all of my characters with Ry’Gorr helms and gloves, and enough gems left over to gear up a few of the neglected characters. with 12 level 90 alts, that’s a lot of crafting. I don’t quite understand the decision to remove shards as a component, I think it reduces players incentive to do the zones that drop shards. Although they are still required in order to purchase adornments. I know this is probably just preparation for the “features” expansion coming out in November, (can it even be called an expansion?) preparing players for any new content that may be released.

Despite my feelings about SoE’s direction with EQ2 on the adventuring side of things, I still think the crafting side is very well taken care of. I spent most of my weekend working on crafting quests,working faction for Sentinel’s Fate factions (there are four dailies, one for each crafting faction) completing my Sentinel’s Fate crafting epic (a very nice carpenter hammer) and doing my Thurgadin daily so that I can obtain my 3rd shawl some time. I also completed the crafting chains that take players through Butcherblock Mountains and Steamfont Mountains, gathering a nice supply of rares and some cheap crafting books at the same time. I love the idea that players can choose this aspect of the game to play and not have to bother with adventuring in the traditional manor if they so choose. You can complete a crafting version of the leaper and glider mounts, as well as the flying mounts.

There isn’t as much for crafters to do in game as adventurers, but there’s a fair amount none the less. Particular factions to work on with their own crafter related rewards and all sorts of goodies.

Speaking of goodies. If you haven’t done the starter quests in the beginner zones recently, and you’re a fan of housing items – you may want to check them out. A while back rewards were revamped to grant housing items, so I went and completed the Darklight woods quests and came out with a handful of new items. If you’ve already completed the quests on your character it’s too late to get the newer rewards now, but you can always run through with an alt or a higher level character who hasn’t done them yet.

How did everyone else spend their weekend? I actually spent less time in game and more time working on a cross stitch – real life crafting is always a great fall pass time. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

P.S. Trying to fight an urge I’ve had lately to play LotRO. But I think I’m losing that battle.

 

Nights of the Dead Returns to EQ2 (And So Do I) #EQ2 #EverQuest2

Oh EQ2, what a fickle beast you are. I took a break from the game for a little while, playing Rift and WoW along with some other games (like Glitch and LotRO) which is pretty common for me. Everyone needs a break after all. Now with Nights of the Dead upon us I’ve returned, and the first thing I’ve started doing (aside from the Beastlord prelude quests) is decorating the much neglected guild hall. I’ve spent a couple hundred plat in furniture, even with a level 90 carpenter, mostly for those city festival items that I can only seem to find at particular times of the year. I built a stage with a small private members only room in behind it, along with a large bar (you can barley make out the end of it in the screen shot above) along with a library, and in another section I built a large pool with some chairs for relaxing. Upstairs I’d like to create some sort of forest, and downstairs core members each have their own room to decorate so I’ll have to work on that eventually. Ibeogur has been busy at work re-designing the crafting area. I was uninspired when it came to that section but it DOES need some work, so he decided to take over.

I’m once more faced with the decision of who to play. I have so many EQ2 characters that this is always a daunting task and I still haven’t completely decided. I typically play three ‘main’ characters:

  • 90 defiler
  • 90 swashbuckler
  • 90 bruiser

These days I feel very little motivation to play the swashbuckler because she has max aa and is fairly well geared according to my play style. Her and the defiler also have all of their master spells and have for some time now (one of the few benefits of the level cap remaining at 90 for so long). I could work on achievements, but without earning some form of character progression (a la alternate advancement) it feels pointless. There is supposedly an expansion coming in November, but it feels incredibly odd that there has been so little said about it. I know this expansion is more of a ‘bug fix’ and the implementation of Beastlords then anything else, but EQ1 has had their beta going on for a month now already and also releases in November (forgive me if I’m off with dates here, it happens). On a side note, I’m very excited about the EQ1 expansion.

It seems like quite a lull before awesomeness follows, Skyrim is out in November, the sims 3 pets is out in a few days (I know, not exactly everyone’s cup of tea, but I am excited) SWTOR is out in December and a handful of other much anticipated games. So for now, we wait.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

 

Here Piggy Piggy, and Home Sweet Home #PlayGlitch

what is it about Glitch that has me waking up every morning to check on my pigs, butterflies, and chickens? I couldn’t tell you. This little browser game has captured my attention in a way that very few games ever have, and I’m really enjoying myself. This morning I got incredibly lucky, I found a 15,000 currant home listed for sale in Groddle Meadow, UR which is an incredibly desirable place to live. This house came with 6 piggies, 2 fruit trees, 3 spice plants, a 32 slot storage cabinet, trophy case, and 16 crop garden plots. I was ecstatic, the 30,000 currant home I had been looking at came with 3 patches (2 less then my current home), the same storage, and 18 crop garden plots instead of 16. For twice the price! It paid off for me to be frantically checking the real estate listings periodically in the mornings. I saved a bundle of money and came away with an amazing home.

What have I been up to in Glitch? Well the past two days I’ve been doing nothing but trying to save up enough money to upgrade my home. Had I known I was going to purchase this (far) cheaper abode, I wouldn’t have had to work so hard, but now I’m resting on a pretty little sum of extra cash. In the mean time I’m working on my cooking skills, having completed all of the skills that involve animals. This is how I make most of my money at the moment, chickens reward me with a lot of mini radios which I can sell or donate to the Giants, and when I get a super harvest on a pig that’s 20 meat I can sell. I’ve been doing a bit of mining as well, but I need to get my skills up a bit higher before that will be a money making endeavor for me. Meditation has become a very useful skill, and I’m thinking of raising my tinkering higher. Being able to fix my tools instead of having to completely replace them is a blessing.

I’ve been lucky in game, too. I’ve come across some tools others have abandoned on the ground (free money!) and I’ve been exploring a lot. I came across this really neat desert area filled with sand, dunes, and the spirits of my ancestors. There was a time limit on how long I could stay in this area, and along the ground were sign posts that would grant me extra time as I passed them if they were standing up, or other goodies like drinks. If they were face down on the ground then they would reward me nothing.

I’ve climbed my way to level 14 (I have no idea how many ‘levels’ there are) and have barely noticed myself doing it. You earn a handful of xp for completing quests as well as earning new achievements. It’s still very much a ‘make your own fun’ game, I’ve been leaving notes around the zones I visit for other players to read. I found a few yesterday that were filled with star wars quotes. There’s so many little things hidden out of the way that players are forced to explore on their own to encounter.

You can find me playing as Stargrace if you want to add me to your friends list, in the mean time, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

 

Looking For Dungeons #EQ2 #EverQuest2

I made a post about how I thought with tools like looking for dungeon and looking for raid it was easy to phase out the social aspect of MMOs and to never leave our little protective bubbles – but I do also think there’s a very simple solution (two, really) for this situation. One would be to implement Rifts method of allowing free character transfers. That means at least if you group up with someone via the LFD tool you can potentially move to their server and be recruited because you’re such an awesome player and had such a great time with the group in question. Does it happen? Probably rarely – but the potential for that to happen is at least there.

The second would be the method that EQ2 has implemented with their latest LFD tool – don’t allow the tools to work cross server. Now, you may look at that and scratch your head a bit, after all the point of the tool is to get you into a pre-made (basically, made by a computer system at least) group and into the dungeon as fast as possible, but I think by coding it to work on your server only you’re not only allowing for faster groups (faster then they were previous to the tool) but you’re also allowing for people to get to know others from their own server. They can add you to their friends list and next time they may not even use the LFD tool but simply form a group with players they have been with before. Is it flawless? No of course not it’s rare that any systems are but I think it’s a reasonable compromise to both the time it takes to find a group and the lack of social interaction that may go on because of these tools.

I poked around in EQ2 last night, channels were relatively quiet and my LFD tool was populated on all of my characters, even the one 25 guardian I have. It was nice to see. I didn’t see a way for warriors to queue as dps / tank which had me scratching my head a bit, I think perhaps all fighters that queue are placed as tanks? In EQ2 they’re the only class that can have multiple roles, in specific brawlers can act as dps or tanks. Some scouts also have stances and can technically tank but it’s usually a temporary encounter and not an entire zone.

Have you tried the tool out yet? What are your thoughts on it? Let me know in comments below!

 

Bring On The Harvesting #WoW #MMORPG

A conversation last night with Dusty Monk from Of Course I’ll Play It spurred on the following post, so thank you Dusty! This is what he had to say:

“The thing is, grinding gets a really bad rap in our genre, but it’s only partially deserved. Spending time running around gathering things, for whatever reason, can easily be construed as a grind – whether you’re doing it for resources, or faction rep, or just for quests. And the thing is, if it’s the only think you’re doing, and then it becomes a grind.

But too many players would have you get rid of all the repetitive tasks in an MMO, to make it as exciting and thrill-filled for every possible playing moment as possible. And I think too many fail to realize that quite often that very low key turn-your-brain-off and relax kind of play is extraordinarily important to a huge variety of players. Even the most hard core, long term players. 

I’ve been singing the praises of keeping a little bit of grind mixed in with your content for a long time – so it’s nice when I come across other players that recognize you don’t always want to throw out cut out that “low involvement” playing, and that it’s not always a bad thing. ”

I have a ritual in the evenings when I want some calmer form of gaming. I log in and spend an hour or so flying around from node to node, harvesting. I find harvesting a very relaxing act and a viable method of ‘playing’ a game, especially in WoW where you earn experience for it (unless you’re skinning). I don’t have to deal with other players on a personal level (of course there are always others flying around harvesting too, but interactions are minimal) and I rarely have to deal with large encounters of mobs. The entire experience is quite therapeutic, giving me time to step away if I need it and leaving me to my thoughts.

These quiet moments in video games are important if you’re in it for the long haul. It’s great to go out and scream your frustrations at the top of your lungs, but there always comes a time where you’re looking for a quieter method of ‘escape’. Plus who doesn’t like all the money you can make from harvesting!

My shaman reached level 81 last night, this will be the third time I’ve worked my way through the cataclysm content and I’m loving every minute of it. I still haven’t ‘completed’ everything in cataclysm, and since I switched over from horde to alliance it’s almost like new as far as quests go. The paladin is almost 70, having finally inched her way out of Burning Crusade which I dislike to the very core of my being. I typically try to dungeon grind my way through 60-68 because I dislike BC zones that much. I’m looking forward to questing with her through the lich expansion although with so many characters and so much to do in game I’m certainly in no rush.

I’ve also been playing loads of Glitch, which I mentioned in a previous post here on MmoQuests, working my skills up so that I can milk butterflies and squeeze chickens remotely. Ah, the possibilities.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself! I really want to stress that point, too. There’s a lot of conflict going around lately from people who hate one or more games and hence the people playing those games. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what you’re playing in your free time. It’s your choice. You shouldn’t feel bad if you spend it playing facebook games or WoW or EQ2 or AoC or any other title out there. It doesn’t mark who you are as a person, it’s just a pastime, and we all spend them differently. I’ve been concerned these past few days because it seems like more and more people are getting hurt because of the video games they play (emotionally hurt I mean). Tolerance is an easy thing to preach, but we have to remember that it’s not supposed to be about tolerance when it’s convenient for you. It’s supposed to be tolerance over all.