Nearing the End

It’s almost that time, the time when I feel as though I have ‘beaten’ EQ2. Thankfully this comes slightly before the next expansion, due out in February. I realize that a lot of people feel as though you can never ‘beat’ an MMO because of it’s ever evolving nature, but I certainly think that we all have personal goals and once we’ve accomplished them we’ve felt as though we’ve beaten the game.

For me, this list is quite short. 200 achievements, level 80/80 (that means maxed out crafting as well as adventuring) my mythical weapon, the best gear I personally can get (in my ‘mains’ case this happens to be T4 and instance jewelry), T7 mastered (spells), and that’s about it. As of last night, I am sitting on 199aa, and I’ve already got the other smaller goals taken care of.

Excited? Yes, I am.

On the other hand, that also means that all of the quests I do AFTER I hit that 200aa mark becoming a little less meaningful to me, because I won’t get any experience at all out of it. I’ve always hoped that EQ2 would adopt EQ’s method of alternate advancement, where you could dump points into personal run speed, food duration, and being able to train in more then one craft talent. I’d pay a good amount of aa in order to become a dual crafter, and not have to have a unique character for every craft available. I suppose my next ‘thing’ to do on the mystic would be tinkering, because it’s a pretty useful skill to have and I have guild harvesters who can take care of the basic ingredients for me. Aside from that, I think my mystic will be ‘done’. Which brings about the question – what next? Or rather, who next. I’ll still be playing EQ2 of course, I adore the game, but I’ll need to move on to a character who needs a little works. I’ve got lots of those (14 in fact, not including Ellithia) on multiple servers, so we’ll just have to see.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, no matter where you found yourself. Thankfully real life deadlines have come and gone for this month, and I have a little breathing room. I spent some time in WoW inching my priest to level 54, some time in Aion beginning the 20-30 grind, and a lot of time in EQ2 working on those achievements.

I decided to go LFG which is something I don’t typically do. As luck would have it, there was a Najena’s Hollow Tower group looking for more, I joined up and they had room for Hamal (assassin). I’m typically leery of PUGS, but I do like to meet new people.

This group was pretty amazing, we finished the entire zone within 15 minutes without any deaths. Hamal and I picked up the ‘sense of urgency’ achievement, and while we didn’t win any loot, it was still a fantastic clean fun run. Afterwards Hamal and I used the chronomagic feature to level to 50, and headed to Everfrost and Commonlands shard instances, not for the shards since I don’t really need any, but for the aa experience that came from completing the missions.

Over all, it was a great night. I also remembered that Maj’Dul has red shinies, and as I was on Lucan D’Lere running around working on my peacock quest I picked myeslf up a new house item. Couldn’t have asked for a better time in game!

Book of the Day – A Tonga’s Guide to not getting Eated

(( Book of the day, each weekend I try to take one book that I have in my Norrathian Library and write it out so others can enjoy it who may not be in game. Of course if you’d like to read it in person just head to the North Freeport mage tower, bottom floor, and look for the magical housing door. Name is under Ellithia. If you’d like to donate a book to my museum, please don’t hesitate to drop me a message, I’ll even send you blank books in return. Thanks! ))

A Tonga’s Guide to not getting Eated – by Valenoa

Getting eated am a serious problems among tonga todays. Dis book refers to being eated by other peoples not critterthings. There am several reasons that tonga have trouble wif getting eated.

– We am delicious. This am useful during dates but not as usefuls around hungrythings.

– We am very smallandcute and bigandugly things am jealous of that’s.

– Mousies love to wiggle. Dis am verycute too but unfortunatelies makes us goes down easiers.

Thankies to Linleezardshineybutt ((Linthel)) for helping me wif insides informations on thingies to puts in dis bookies and for not eatedings me and fors eateding dat one mans that kept bothering me’s.

There am manythings that yous should watches out fors.

– Trolls cause them eats anythings. While tongas will eats anything except other tongas and friends and stuffs, trolls will eats anythings. This am because their words for ‘cute’, ‘friend’ and ‘delicious’ am all the same so them gets confuseds.

– Leezards can sometimes eat smallthings. Them also has an additional reasons because them can be jealous of our fluffyfur. They eated us hoping to gain our powers of flufficute.

– Ogres can sometimes eated things too. Usually this will follows when them accidentally smushes someones. Then them mistakes them for puddings or applesauces.

– Kittehs can sometimes want to eat mousies cause it am thems instincts. Tries not to acts too cute or likes a mousie arounds them.

*crayon art of a kerra chasing a ratonga with a fork and knife across the commonlands. A speech bubbel reads “Oh noes!” above the ratonga and “Oh yeses!” above the kerra*

Even if yous watches out for these thingies, peoples can still surprises you. Watch out for these warning signs:

– Them keeps droolings on yous.

– Them tries to puts condiments on yous when yous not lookings. Even mores if its when you am lookings.

– Them am hiding split or fork or similar thingies behind backs.

– Them am reading recipe books and looking back and forths between yous and its.

– Yous see them eateding someone else.

– Them keep asking what yous eat. You am what yous eat after alls. It makes you taste differment.

– Them paws at yous or grabs yous tail when yous tries to walk. Them am playing wif food, be carefuls!

Even dates can turns out to be eateders. So ifs an date say you am delicious or them wants to eated yous or takes you homes for dinners make sure them means in goodway.

* crayon art of a drooling troll handing flowers to a suspicious looking ratonga*

There am many ways to avoids getting in this situations to begins wif thoughs.

– Avoids places where eateders congregates. Dis includes places they lives or like swamps and things.

– If you has to go to place that am dangerous, tries to choose a traveling companion that am more delicious than yous. then you can runs when them am being eateden. Frogyloks and fairies make good choices.

– Yous can also travels in large groups or wif verybig peoples to guards yous. If you knows a leezard or kitteh or something that you know will not eated yous (but be sures!) yous could travels wif thems. Then peoples think ‘oh that am their food me not bothers it’.

– Yous can flavors youself wif something badtasting to eateders. Yous may say ‘but then that will be ew!’ but remembers things that am badtasting to trolls and ogres and things am still goodtasting to cutethings. So yous can protects youself and be perfumed for that hot dates tonights too!

– Get stripies. Eateders can no eat things wif stripies cause usually will chokes on thems. If you no have stripies you may considers fur dyes.

– Learns to runfast. Dis helps especiallies if in a groups. Remembers that yous no has to outruns the eateders, just everyone else also running from the eateder.

*crayon image of an iksar gagging up a ratonga, some of their stripes still stuck in their throat.*

But what if you does all these thingies and still gets in a bad situations? How am some ways to get out of its? Sometimes it am depend on who am trying to eated yous.

– There am first the obvious ones that you can stabbies or magics them to deaths. Some good places to hurts them am thems face so them no can eat goods or their happybits cause then they falls over. Cept then they am not really happybits anymores.

–  You can trap yous clothings. Most things will tries to take off yous clothings before eateding  you, and then the trap springs and you runs away! Running away nakeds am a small price to pays.

– Put lots of sharp thingies in pockets. If they bites you right offs to avoid the traps them will cuts them mouths. Poison candies in yous pockets also works and have other uses.

– Though it will not work on verymean peoples that am jealous of cutes, you can tries the cuteeyes. You can also tries to flirts wif them though this can be dangerous in its own ways.

*crayon art of a ratonga running away from a ogre who has a mouse trap clamped over his lips*

But oh noes! What if yous already got eated? If yous has, then yous better has a light on yous cause otherwise will be hards to reads this. If you was eated whole, yous still has a chance!

– Well if yous has a light and it am fire why you not burning thems instead of reading dis bookies dummys!

– You can stabs them from the insides and tries to cut yous way out. If no weapons, than just try scritchieclaws. Try to poke a hole in the bottoms of their tummy so all the juice flows out into thems.

– You may tries tickles. If yous can tickle them enough them will laugh verymuch and may vomits.

– If still on way down, wrap yous tail around thems tongue and pull it down wif yous. Then they will chokes on it.

– Yous can call homes and teleports. But that only works if yous has lots of concentrations. If you am a veryneatrogue like me’s, you can uses the escapes.

– Summon all the thingies and pets you has. It will fills up thems belly so muches that them will pop!

*crayon art of a ratonga in somethings belly, carefully holding this book up and shining a light on it.*

Even though them am verymean, eateders do has uses sometimes. Sometimes yous can finds one that am yous friend and knows difference between friends and foodstuff, but me cannot stress enoughs that yous must be carefuls. Watch for warning signs listed earlier in dis bookies.

Otherwise thems can serve a number of purposethings.

– Them can eated dates dat yous dided not has goodfun wif or that won’t stops bothering yous.

– Thems can gives you insides informations on hows to escapes.

– Them may gives you neatthings in exchanges for luring other peoples you no likes to dem.

Remembers dat being eated am a constant threats to tongakind and dat we must be constantly vigilants so we am not all eateden.

Me hopes dat dis book helps yous avoids or escapes being eated. If it no does, then goodbyes.

*crayon art of Valenoa laying on a pile of various carnivors with x’s over their eyes*

Grummus – Plane of Disease

I’ve obviously been having a lot of fun since I installed Game cam, creating numerous videos (some good, some bad) over the past few weeks. I absolutely love doing this, and I hope to have more coming in the future. One little ‘feature’ Kanad mentioned, was that I should try to film some of the old world fights in EverQuest, and post them here to my web site. I thought that was a fantastic idea, especially since I’ve already been taking screen shots for Underfoot, the 16th EverQuest expansion that is slated to go live (early access) on the 8th of December, with the full release coming the 15th.

Our first adventure was back to the Plane of Disease, to defeat Grummus. Back in the day Grummus was used in a quest for access to the Elemental Planes, he was needed for your Crypt of Decay flag. Today most of these flags are obsolete but you can still go back (as we did) and kill him for Nostalgia sake. Our ‘raid’ consisted of myself (minxes, 82 necromancer), Ninga (our tank, 84 monk), and Kanad (our slower / healer, 66 shaman) as well as two healer mercs, Journeyman tier II (just in case the AOE caused us issues).

If you take a look at the bestiary for Grummus, you can get a sense of just how difficult he was at one point in time. Sure these days we hear about people soloing him but it was a real not all that long ago. The AOE used to really hurt, and people used to actually need more then one group to clear him.

It was great to be able to defeat him again, and what do you know, my little necromancer actually needed the flag. We’ll be working our way through more old school planar progression as the days go on (and as we can find the mobs up, they’re still farmed pretty heavily) and I’ll be taking more videos of it all to post. Hope everyone enjoys this little walk down memory lane!

Wizard 101 School Housing Video – Death School

At the time of posting this, it’s really late. The audioswap hasn’t happened for the video yet but I assume it will start working some time tonight. It’s been a super long week and I’m falling asleep at my desk, but I couldn’t help but make a really quick video with a walk through to one of the seven new class houses being added to Wizard 101 in mid December. This first one is for the Death school. I hope everyone enjoys! The houses are absolutely amazing. I’ll be adding videos to each of the classes once I’m not falling asleep at my desk.

Redemption Mud – Where I came From

I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m still pretty new to MMOs and gaming in general. I grew up with two brothers who always wanted to play the games, but myself I was involved in other things. It wasn’t until 2001 when I started playing games, and at the time I was playing muds. One specific mud that had a large population of people playing from here in Ottawa. We had mud meets, and I met a lot of really great people who eventually became close real life friends. The mud was called Redemption – and is still running fairly well today for such a local game. I decided to log in last night and wander around, after not playing for a good 7 years.

I used to code for the mud, back when I was an immortal, and designed a zone that revolved around Gulliver’s travels. I also designed a second zone that was themed around gnomes building a theme park that was falling apart, with a house of mirrors that had all the text written backwards. It was a lot of fun. It was also a long time ago.

I logged in and there were 13 others on at the time, which is pretty neat to see. The mud has been around for a very long time, and a lot of love went into building it. I spent hours playing this game at one point in time, eagerly leveling up my characters. The game has three levels of game play. You can be a NC – non-clanner which means no player killing (and also means you can’t be killed and looted), a PK’er (player killer) where you can participate in killing others and there is limited looting, or, ravager (which is new to me) which is full on PK complete with full looting. There are four clans, one was Seeker, which disliked PK (even though they could still be PK’d) and would not initiate fights with anyone, but could defend themselves if wanted. They tried to get along with all of the clans. Kindred were the ‘big bad scary’ clan, they would kill anything that moved. Then there was also Kenshi and Venari.

The whole reason I even mention this game is because as I was cleaning out my desk I came across a notebook filled with directions and it just brought back a flood of memories. I used to have a non-clanner named aimee, and she would write an article twice a week called the NCN – Non clanner news. All of my notes for these articles are stored in this tiny notebook I have, and some are quite amusing.

  • Deck clan halls with lowbie corpses Fa La La La La, La La, La La
  • T’is the season for full looting Fa La La La La, La La, La La
  • Kindred’s coming, time to flee now
  • Fa La La, La La La, La La La
  • Joining Seeker, Can’t catch me now
  • Fa La La La La, La La, La La.

It was little silly things like those articles that kept me entertained and still playing the game. I did interviews with IMs and Clanners, and generally just had a good time. I was pleased to see that the game still runs and not a whole lot has changed. The clans are all still there, commands are basically the same. I completely forgot how to set up my prompt to display things I actually wanted shown, in colours so I’d pay attention. I know everyone is always saying you can never go back, but honestly, I’ve been back to EQ and WoW and Redemption and have enjoyed every moment of it. The games have evolved but not changed from when I played. They’re still fun – I spent over an hour in Redemption last night, a welcomed break from my regular MMO gaming. Of course it also means I slacked on work, but hey that’s what Thursdays are for, right?

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself. If you happen to find yourself in an older game then by all means write about it and let me know!