The Sundered Frontier

Yesterday I was lucky enough to find these images tucked away in my mail box – no doubt delivered by a mischievous dark elf, with wings. Ridding some grand steed. At least that’s what I imagined in my mind. In actuality I had to hurry up and close the door before even more snow piled into my house.

Rumor has it these are some pictures of the Sundered Frontier, and you’ll want to read more about it tomorrow on the EQ2players page, so bookmark it and keep checking back!

Be sure to click on the images to see the full view – they’re pretty spectacular!

Kurns Tower and Friends gaining Mythicals

Yesterday in a rare decision I put up my LFG tag (on both the illusionist and mystic) and got about 6 tells within a minute asking for – raids. Not groups. I barely have the patience for a PUG group, let alone a PUG raid, so I politely declined, and waited for a group who was looking for one or the other of my characters instead (and this is where the WoW LFD (looking for dungeon) tool would really come in handy for EQ2).

I still didn’t have too long of a wait, there was a Kurns Tower group heading off and they needed an enchanter, so I relogged to Stargrace and ported myself to the group (thank you 6 year veteran reward). The leader of the group asked me if I was new to the server as they hadn’t seen me around before. I told them I mostly kept to myself but no, I wasn’t new at all.

I play a LOT of support classes (I have 2 80 bards, 3 80 enchanters, and 3 80 healers just as an example) and one of the first things anyone ever asks me or tells me in a group is if I have such and such buff, and could I please put it on them. My group yesterday was not like this – and it was SO refreshing. For once they didn’t insinuate that I didn’t know how to play my class, or care if I had the TSO end line aa. My illusionist does happen to have those buffs and I am pretty good in deciding who should get what, so it was just nice to enter a group and complete a zone without any hassle.

It was a fast run and we managed to get the achievement for completing it in less then an hour which just added to the pleasantness. Nothing of note dropped which sucked (and we had a boxed bard that basically autofollowed and cast buffs and that was it) but it was still one of the best groups I’ve been on pug-wise.

In other fantastic news, Malfi is the proud owner of his mythical weapon as of last night! It is always so awesome to see friends names in the server wide message that goes off each time a mythical is obtained. Congratulations! I’m sure he’ll make great use of it.

Christmas is creeping up VERY soon! I’ll be headed to my parents place for a few days, but I’ll be dragging along the laptop (which has a few of my favorite games on it) so I’ll still be around to bug everyone. Have a fantastic holiday and stay safe!

See you in Norrath!

All about the Grind

Yesterday while I was playing Aion I came to a realization about myself. Games involve a whole slew of different activities that you can do in them depending on your personal choices, and one of those personal choices happens to fall under the category of ‘grinding’. I’m sure at some point in time, in some random game, we’ve all come across this. It’s where you do the same thing, over and over again for whatever reason (quest reward, experience, etc). This isn’t simply leveling up, it’s leveling up in the same little area for a good length of time.

Now, my realization was that number one – I don’t mind grinding, at all. But it depends on where I am and what I am doing. For example, craft grinding? I enjoy a great deal. I could sit for hours and watch movies on my laptop while crafting on my PC and it doesn’t phase me in the least. I actually find it pleasantly relaxing. Quest grinding on the other hand I can not handle for any length of time – game dependent. I don’t mind quest grinding in LotRO – but absolutely refuse to do it in EQ2 (especially RoK quests). I don’t mind grinding solo, in my own little area undisturbed, but I do not enjoy grinding (mobs) in a group. I find it boring, I start to fall asleep. So why do I enjoy doing that particular activity solo rather then in a group? I tried to figure it out and the only reason I really have is that when I’m by myself I can stop and start under my own decisions, and there’s absolutely no pressure because it’s just me.

In Aion if you wish to level up (not everyone does) you’re pretty much forced at one point or another to go grind mobs. There’s simply not enough quests that you could complete to level up just by doing them, and this has been a sore spot for a lot of people. This weekend (and for the next three weekends) Aion has bonus experience going on – and just as an example, when I kill an elite mob (in a duo) I was getting 50,000 experience (I need over 1.5 million to level) which is more experience for one single mob, then all of my quests. They reward you for deciding to grind rather then doing your quests. The bonus experience is also in place for crafting, and harvesting (two more ‘grinds’). Now, I’m not about to say no to this sort of bonus, it’s a HUGE increase and last night I managed to climb up two more levels, but I really wish I was being rewarded for something else OTHER then grinding.

What about everyone else, are you against grinding in all its forms? Is there one particular type that you enjoy more then the others? Let me know!

Down go Leviathan and Druushk!

Most of yesterday was spent traveling to my parents place, and then traveling home afterward, a good time was had by all. I came back with a loaf of amazing banana bread that I doubt will make it through the rest of today. I spent the remainder of the day doing pretty much nothing, just exploring around EQ2 and then out of luck I remembered I had taken on a project to decorate a friends house (Pennie, from Paradise Lost on Oasis) and me being, well, me. Completely forgot to actually go off and decorate the home!

So I grabbed my little carpenter and set out to do just that. Pennie is a gnome, templar living in Qeynos and so I tried to make his home represent him. Once I get permission I’ll be posting videos of the house (I need to finish two more rooms as well). I’m excited about it. So far it’s turned out pretty well.

Later on in the evening, it was time to buckle down and FINALLY get my troubador her epic weapon. Goudia has always been a fun character of mine to play but since TSO (The Shadow Odyssey) I’ve barely played her. In RoK (Ruins of Kunark) she was my raid main, but I stopped raiding not far after I started. Needless to say, each time someone asks me if I have UT (upbeat tempo, it’s a troubador thing) I cringe a little on the inside. She’s resting at 152aa, not nearly enough to have this skill. Some day though.

Paradise Lost was hosting a Leviathan raid – as well as VP (Veeshan’s Peek) following. These raids are typically run once a month (because the guild no longer has a need to run them) and consists of 1 and a half groups of guild mates, and the rest are pick ups. It can be VERY messy, but it’s also a lot of fun. PL gets a chance to scope out some talent, and people get their updates. The way PL runs it is that they do NOT charge for updates – but when it comes to loot drops, all PL tagged characters get +250 to their roll. What this means is that loot drops, you roll /random 1000 and anyone wearing the PL tag gets +250 added onto that roll. Seems fair, since they’re hosting (and main tanking / healing) the raids.

It still gives a chance for lots of things to go wrong. We ALMOST managed a flawless victory on Leviathan but there was a wizard who had a suicide wish and kept nuking so that of course kept reflecting and they died a few times. Even though we specifically told people to just stand there and look pretty for most of the fight, letting PL take care of everything else.

There were a LOT of people around who wanted to make their way through VP, so I decided to sit out for the run, and just come during my specific fight, which was Druushk. The fight is really nothing special. There’s two rooms, one has four statues, and one has Druushk. Every so often you’ll hear a script emote about the flapping of wings, one of those four statues becomes active and whoever is stationed there must click their statue – a mob will spawn, they have to survive that, then a 2nd tank will pull those mobs over to the raid and the raid will kill them, as you’re also working down Druushk in between pulls. It works out well. We did have a few wipes at the start because some people didn’t know where their statues were, but before too long it was over, and I was sporting my new axe, having visited Barren Sky first of course.

The weapon itself is a huge upgrade over the fabled version, and it grants some very nice stats for players. This makes the third mythical that I’ve completed, I also have the mystic mythical and the illusionists completed. I’m hoping that they’re still used some how in Sentinel’s Fate, because you can’t really get BETTER then a mythical weapon, and I’d hate to see all of the work I did for this go to waste.

For those out there who think you have to join a raid guild in order to get anything done in game – don’t buy into that. It’s simply not true. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, or dedicated 12 hours a night to raiding, or anything like that. On every single server out there there is an alternative method for you to get your mythical completed, I guarantee. Some times it takes a little work, and some patience, and yes, some time, but there’s still a way.

Today is the 20th, which means Moonlight enchantments are in game – complete with a few new house item rewards. If you’ve never taken part of them before I highly suggest you take a peek, the achievements for completing them are worth it alone. Speaking of which, I think I’ll grind out some aa in the new Frostfell instances and get some questing done.

See you in Norrath!

Acts of Gamer Kindness

This year I got it into my mind that I would run a 2009 Gamers Secret Santa, asking anyone who was interested in games in any aspect to participate if they wished. I drew names to match people with their gift receivers, and kept the pricing low. I kept myself out of the draw because I didn’t think it would be fair to know who had me, and just ran it for those who decided to participate. It was a small turn out, but still enough interest to make it worth while for next year (and hopefully more will decide to partake next year, we’ll just have to see).

Anyhow. I had a few reasons for running this which I mentioned before, first and foremost simply because I wanted to bring the community together a bit. Sure, we all play video games – but behind all of those pixelated characters we’re actually people, just doing our thing. We may not be particularly interested in learning more about one another but that’s one of the main aspects to why I game. I love meeting new people, learning about them. Their life, their culture. Differences in opinion. Sharing experiences. All of that keeps me coming back for more. I wanted something simple that would be able to open up that door a bit.

As a thank you yesterday I received the items pictured above in the mail, a thank you for running the 2009 Gamers Secret Santa, and a request to “keep spreading the goodwill”. I was so incredibly touched and happy for the remainder of the day. When Spyderbite posted on twitter that people should ‘pay it forward‘ I couldn’t agree more.

Some times we forget that we have an influence over whether or not someone has a better day then they’re already having, by doing some really simple things. Scarybooster for example has been posting some ‘getting to know‘ posts on his web site, bringing awareness to other writers. I think this is wonderful, and I bet it cheered some people up immensely.

With the new year coming up, I think we should all be a little more aware of our personal random acts of kindness in the gaming world. Giving away gear for free, sending a friend something just because. Not spouting off that rude comment to someone who may actually deserve it. There are so many small things that we can do to make the gaming experience better for someone else without expecting something in return.

To all those who have demonstrated random acts of kindness to me over 2009, thank you. So much. It’s these things I remember and I take with me when I go through difficult times, and it’s made all the difference in the world.

Back to our regular scheduled blog posts! I think I’ve got enough syrup for my pancakes now..