Category: Gaming

EQ2 Announces Server Merges (Finally)

You can find this posted on the Official Forums:

Hi there, Norrathians,

We’ve been planning to merge the EQII Live servers for a long while now, and most of you have been asking for it to happen for just as long. As part of our ongoing effort to utilize community feedback and deliver the best gameplay experience possible, I am happy to announce that we will begin merging several servers this fall.  Bigger population density on a server is just simply more fun for everyone involved, so it’s time to get it done.

Therefore, beginning on November 16th, we’re going to start merging servers together. It’s going to take a while (many weeks) to get all the merges completed, but we’ll start the process on that date. (We will move slowly so we can double-check and troubleshoot between each pair of merges instead of just doing them all at once.)  We hope this will bring a more enjoyable experience for players across Norrath.

All told, 16 servers will be affected.

The Merges

  • Nektulos merges into Guk
  • Najena merges into Unrest
  • Befallen merges into Oasis
  • Blackburrow merges into Everfrost
  • Mistmoore merges into Permafrost
  • Kithicor merges into Butcherblock
  • Runnyeye merges into Splitpaw (UK)
  • Innovation merges into Valor (DE)

We’ll pre-announce each merger before it occurs and keep you updated on the status of the merges as they progress.

11 servers will remain unaffected because they are already populated enough or because of contractual obligations that prevent such merges at this time.

The Unaffected

  • Antonia Bayle
  • Nagafen
  • Crushbone
  • Lucan D’Lere
  • Harla Dar (RU)
  • The Nexus (RU)
  • Barren Sky (RU)
  • Sebilis (JP)
  • Storms (FR)
  • Vox (Live Gamer)
  • The Bazaar (Live Gamer)

There are more details on these merges at this link.

~ Dave “Smokejumper” Georgeson

Thoughts? Personally, I’ve been waiting for server merges for a while. I think it’s a little odd that they’re not offering players transfers, as even EQ offered them with their recent merges, but to each their own. Perhaps that is a way to entice players to spend some cash to move their characters via station marketplace.

My Biggest EQ2 Mystery

I know, it’s been a really long time since I logged into EQ2, and it shows. There are a few reasons for that. Number one I have been incredibly unsatisfied with the new “EQ2X” idea. I think the pricing plan is horrid, and that it does nothing to populate the already-somewhat lacking servers that are in desperate need of a boost. Not including Antonia Bayle where the population thrives. Before or around the grand reveal of EQ2X a bunch of my friends stopped playing for whatever personal reasons. This left me with even less of a reason to log in. For the past few months I’ve barely played and it’s actually been refreshing.

When Gu58 went live I logged in all of my characters just to make sure things were in order, and I came across the letter posted to the left. Now, on first glance this may seem like your typical roleplay letter, nothing unusual. It was addressed to Stargrace on Antonia Bayle, my inquisitor.

Giving that letter a second look one thing may pop out from those who know me well – it is written by Ellithia, who is a character of mine that I moved off of Antonia Bayle and over to Oasis. When I first read the letter (supposedly from my own character) I had to ask myself if I had some how written it myself. A quick search on EQ2 players showed no other Ellithia characters aside from my own that I had moved to Oasis. I can’t even reply to the letter because the character does not exist.

How creepy! Awesome, but creepy.

I don’t have the faintest idea who wrote it, or how long this letter sat in my mailbox before I finally logged in and read it. I don’t know what became of my ‘sister’ but this totally made my day and reminded me that while I may not enjoy the game of EQ2 itself right now – the community? Is by FAR one of the best I’ve ever encountered (second only to that in EverQuest).

After being away from the game for so long I find it difficult to know just how to get back into the swing of things, or if I even want to try. Then there is also the fact that my friends are all off playing their various games now, which leaves me quite sad. We’ll just have to see I suppose.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

I Feel Like a Wom– Warlock!

I’m still (slowly) going through each of my characters and adjusting them from 4.0.1 – yesterday I decided that instead of being a protection paladin, I’d go dps. Tanks of all shapes and sizes (minus Death Knights currently) have been up in arms over the changes because aggro is now a huge issue. I don’t blame them. Forums are now livid. The most amusing comment I heard was from a paladin who was upset that healbot no longer worked. Healing is one thing I don’t need a mod to do at least.

Yesterday it was the warlocks turn, I teamed up with Detch (priest) and Toargo (warrior) and we decided to trio some of the non-heroic Wrath dungeons. It gave me some time to play around with my talents and figure out what was what. The first thing I did was go down my ‘usual’ warlock line, which (before 4.0.1) was destruction. I found that my casting was sluggish and dps suffered. I was doing ok but not great, 3k in most situations.

We decided to do the zone a second time, and this time I switched out for demonology which was a spec I had actually never used because the dps never compared (in PvE) to the other two chains.

Since 4.0.1 this is no longer the case – my dps went up by a HUGE amount. In my 5k gs outfit I was easily hitting 5-7k on most fights, 12k+ on large groups. FINALLY my warlock FELT like a warlock, instead of a mage class with a pet. My damage comes from my demon, and not so much from me spamming spells. I haven’t even added glyphs yet, so I’m eager to get that situated.

I’m still cranky that most of my stats were removed from the caster weapons I sport. I have Seethe but have been attempting to get the off hand from Halls of Reflection (heroic) for quite some time. Another attempt yesterday resulted in another day of it not dropping. It was probably the fastest run of HoR I have ever done, with the druid easily parsing 10k and the Lich King well behind us the entire way.

I still feel quite bad for tanks and their lack of aggro management with the changes. Toargo mentioned that soloing is quite fun with the boosted dps and heals, but since everyone else in game had their dps boosted by a large amount it was making things difficult for him and that he was reluctant to tank, even with his 5.5k gs. Hopefully something comes to fix that before too long.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Taking in the Changes

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The lure of cosmetic gear in the LotRO store was calling my name. With my saved up turbine points yesterday I picked up three new pieces, and placed them in my wardrobe. Pleased that I can share the items across all characters that way, I think it was a good purchase. I love how the prices are incredibly reasonable, I don’t have to debate with myself over spending $10+ for a single outfit (Ahem, EQ2 I’m looking at you).

Lysthia the Minstrel is now level 33, Toargo and I spent some time yesterday completing Tier II skirmishes which are a LOT harder then Tier 1. We gathered a lot of tokens which I used to upgrade a few pieces of gear as well as my protector soldier. I wanted to work on some crafting, but I need to complete a metalsmith quest before I am able to move on to the next tier. Lysthia is my Armourer, able to do prospecting, metalsmithing, and tailoring. My other characters include a tinkerer, woodsman(woman) and historian – this allows me to have one of everything, and it works well. I’m eager to get back to doing regular quests. While skirmishes are a great source of xp if you do them as dailies, they don’t drop enough of the ‘other stuff’ that I enjoy like crafting materials and potions. Not to mention you miss out on the whole adventuring and exploring aspect of the game.

I spent a fair amount of time in WoW trying to get used to 4.0.1. My priest has changed a good amount. Number one, power regen was removed from all gear which meant that a lot of my heal set was now unnecessary. All mana regen gems were changed to spirit, which now controls in combat (and out) regen exclusively it seems. I no longer have a spirit buff, which is not too big of a deal since the stats on every single piece of gear has changed. My DPS 2h staff now only sports stam which I was sad to see, so I’ve switched to the 1h and off hand item full time for both specs. I decided to go discipline once more but I haven’t actually healed any level 80 heroics yet, so I can’t really give my opinion on those changes. I do not like how many justice items are required to purchase heirloom gear. Previously you could purchase shoulders or a bp for 40 emblems, which I had just enough of but neglected to puchase before 4.0.1 – now they are 2100+ justice which is FAR beyond what any other piece of gear costs, including the frost gear. When my emblems transferred to the new type it left me just shy of 600. A far cry from the 2100 required.

The earthquakes that are plaguing Azeroth are neat – but they cause me to have incredible bouts of vertigo. I have to close my eyes or look away until they pass. Having my screen shake up and down is not fun.

I don’t mind change but having to re-learn how to play all of my characters in each spec is daunting. I’ve been concentrating on the priest first because that’s my ‘main’ and the other characters I have will take a back seat. It gives me a headache now just to think of it. I haven’t even logged the paladin or death knight in to see how the changes have affected them, nor the rogue. One step at a time.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!