Category: Gaming

 

Stargrace, talking to the bard in preparation of collecting (another) 50 statues

So GU38 went live yesterday, for complete notes you can look here. For my own personal look on them, well.

I like the idea of “fluff” armor slots. I like to be able to wear my own thing, and look how I want to look. I don’t like how plate classes gain the most benefit from this new change because they can wear plate, chain, and cloth. Where cloth wearers are stuck wearing only cloth (though, there is some cloth that looks like plate, from the bloodline vendors I do believe). Of course it has a few down sides. For example people are out walking around in their Halloween masks. No problem with that from my perspective though. Almost everyone who wears robes is wearing the Barristers robe, since it’s black, and one of the few that is (and very easy to obtain because it’s quested). I’m looking for a specific hat that drops in Kaladim, and is wearable by all fighters, priests, and scouts, and it’s got the monk rice bowl graphic. Of course it’s a semi-rare drop and I’ll probably be camping it for weeks if I get serious about wanting it, but we’ll see how it goes.

In GU38 what they forgot to mention, was that the level 35 Bloodline spells got upgrades. But not for everyone. Heh. Crusaders, Bards, Mages, and Priests (minus mystics, who get no love) all now have a level 53 upgrade to their spells. I had fun making numerous sage and alchemist combines last night satisfying my own guild and characters as well as a few people from channels who were searching for the spells.

Bristlebane has also returned. Hordes of people ran towards Enchanted Lands to begin the new quests. The cloak, is too over powered in my opinion. For example, you can get a card reward that gives you 10 minutes of 100% experience bonus. Now, I know, 10 minutes isn’t long, right? Well, it still impacts your game. The cards can be held onto until RoK goes live. They are lore, so you can’t horde a whole lot of them, but it still seems slightly unfair.

Another change that wasn’t announced – if someone has already cast a rez, you will get a message as you try to cast yours. Which is great.  I hate unannounced changes, but it’s fun to figure them out.

The weapon changes did not really affect me, as I don’t play a scout who is big on melee damage. I know some people are now in love with their wurmslayers, and a few other weapons of choice. What I did like about the change was that the previous 1h weapon from Acada, a dagger, with +10 spell dmg on it, is now on Goudia, with +95 power and +26 int, it’s a great weapon that I can duel wield (since I don’t care about the low damage).

So, aside from the update. I decided to work on SoD on two more characters. Why? Because uh, not sure why. I decided I needed some goals in game. I wanted to get SoD and Claymore done on at least one more character. I chose Stargrace and Misako to start with, but after boxing the whole Tunarian section of the quest I decided maybe I should go with Stargrace and Dasie. See, Dasie already has her SoD. That saves me from having to box or find two groups going through the named in Castle Mistmoore. A zone that I hate beyond all other zones. Dasie has also done her SoD already. She has her ring of the four winds, and of course I love playing a templar. Misako has none of those completed. She doesn’t even have to speak as a dragon finished yet, and I dread doing that.. for the sixth time.

So aside from those lofty goals, I’m working on my coercer a bit. I love the class, since Stargrace was one for the better part of her EQ2 played time. Mine is (now) sitting at level 43. Wearing level 1 gear. I’ll have to fix that up, in fact as soon as I post this I’ll get started with Misako making her gear, and Dasie making some jewelry. Finally managed to upgrade her spells as well.

Hopefully, everyone else’ gaming days are going well! If anyone has some suggestions on perhaps things I can do, to keep things fresh, as I’ve been flip flopping from character to character and really accomplishing nothing at all. I’d love for that to change.

 

Who wouldn’t want to participate in the Festival of Discord?

I know GU38 is going live today, and I figure lots of people will be posting notes to it, and their opinions. I’ll hold off and post about it tomorrow, I’d much rather have folks reading about the FoD upcoming, and save the GU38. Sorry for anyone who was looking forward to the notes! You can still find them on the EQ2players site.

The image from above is from the FoD’s web page, which you can find here. You can log in with any guild portal account, or just browse through the forums as you wish.

What is the Festival of Discord? It’s a week long role play event hosted by 10+ guilds on the Antonia Bayle server. It runs from September 22nd until September 29th, and includes a home decorating contest, a betting pool with gambling on winners, an assassination event, arenas, and so much more. I am certainly looking forward to it.

As of now, the guilds involved are:

• Bloodthorn
• Coterie of Thorns
• Court of the Moon
• Gunthak Pirates
• House Gevaudan
• Knights of Freeport
• Pawnshop Syndicate
• Raven Guard
• Sojourners of Norrath
• The Discipleship

It may not seem like your typical list of guilds. In fact, you may have not even heard of many of the guilds listed. Unless of course you are into role play. Then these words trickle down through the ranks. There is a list of contacts on their main page which can be found here if you’re looking to get involved in some way shape or form. They’re looking for volunteers for events, shops to peddle their wares during the festivities, and numerous other small details that goes into making an event like this work.

Some of you may have remembered my write up on the Festival of Unity which was held a few months back. I had a blast there, but due to some raid restraints (not an issue now since I don’t belong to a raid guild) I could not attend everything I wanted. I will most certainly be making an effort to attend all I can this time around, with in depth blog posts (hopefully also in character) abotut the events.

If you’re good aligned, you’ll have to sneak your way into the city for some events, just as the Festival of Unity was focused on a unity of each city, the Festival of Discord is for the.. darker.. sides of Norrath. That’s not to say they’re going to exclude their Qeynosian and Kelethian counter parts, but they certainly won’t be ushering them into the city either.

Are the GM’s going to be lending themselves out as they did for the FoU? I’m not sure, it would certainly be nice to see them take part again though. One thing I’ve noticed in EQ2 vs. EQ1 (I know, the two games are not the same and it’s difficult to liken them to one another) is that the guide events in EQ2 are far more restricted. Antonia Bayle may be a role play server and I have seen a guide or two around, but never any large events. Those that do happen, seem to be small scale where the larger events are almost constantly run by players. This is probably a good thing, it inspires players to role play and be creative, but I always loved seeing guides take an active role in their server. I contemplated applying to be a guide and would still love to if I could find any information on it (or even if applications are being accepted) but I can affect a server far more as a regular player with events, then I could as a guide even with my dedication I think.

Opening ceremonies begin September 22nd 2pm EST for those who are interested. Two hours later there is a “Battle to the Death” in the Commonlands, the opening ceremonies also begin in CL. On the 24th there’s even a drunken brawl at The Pit – for those who have no idea what the pit even is – It’s a players house in West Freeport in the Bloodhaze Inn, and they’ve been running events there for quite some time. Look under the housing name of Jenavive.

If you’re interested in volunteering for the festival, be sure to log into guild portal and sign up here.

Other events I’m looking forward to include a Masquerade event hosted by House Gevaudan, and the Gunthak Pirates who are hosting Captian Vilnius’ Secret Recipe Rum Drinking Contest. Quite a mouthful.

If you’re shy about these sort of events, please, don’t be! It’s lots of fun to be had by all even if you just wander around looking at everyone else. With the “fluff” armor slots coming today in GU38, it’s sure to be an amazing time watching those colourful costumes. You can get a hold of me by mail or tell in game or leave me an email (address posted at the top left of this site) as well as commenting here, if you’re interested in some company to any events. It’s a great way to meet a huge portion of the Antonia Bayle server, and find out what “Role Play Preferred” is all about.

 

Because we all know how I need yet another alt

When I’m feeling slightly down in real life, or when I’m restless in game, anyone who knows me knows my first reaction. Make an alt. If I’m not making an alt to escape things, then I’m playing a lowbie character to get away from the grinding and end game content that just ends up frustrating me. We all go through these moods, so it’s nothing new of course when I decided late last night that I’d create a new character. Just a little lowbie to play from time to time. The urge of course has mostly left me now, but she’s sitting at level 22 and is a whole lot of fun as I contemplate some sort of rp background for the new little Arasai. The fairy races really get the best abilities. I am completely in love with their ability to “float” and in fact forget that the rest of my characters are lacking such skill (though I know a lot of the LoN cloaks reward you with the glide ability, I have not yet managed to snag myself one).

In real life, it’s pouring down rain and I love it. Football season has started (which I don’t love quite as much) and fall is just around the corner. The next two months are the absolute best for me, weather wise at least. Where it’s not quite cold enough for me to wear a winter jacket, but it’s not roasting any more either. In fact the high for today is 15 (59F for those of you in the states) and it’s perfect.

Yesterday was one of those nice in game days where lots of things get done. A huge congratulations to Gothun, who managed to complete not 5.. not 6.. but 7 heritage quests over the past two days. In fact the count probably rose by now. I think it’s standing at like 10. I forgot to add in the extra ones he did last night. Torrent Knights is almost level 23, that’s almost a full guild level in two days. Not bad at all. He’s been doing writs as well (at least for crafting) which is always nice to see. I did the Lost Legends of Lavastorm, a HQ that I’d never completed before (and now realize why.. gawd it’s a long one!) on both Arysh and Stargrace. It was nice to see the guild move up and of course adding to my personal status collection is never a bad thing.

Kilanna and I have been chattering frequently again which I adore. I missed her when she was away on vacation. Alberta hasn’t had much time to play, but I love chattering with her too.

The Festival of Discord starts on the AB server on the 22nd of September, another week long rp event that I am incredibly excited about. If you’ve never been much of an rp’er but wanted to give it a shot, or wanted to take some time to meet some people, this is the event for you. I’ll be attending as many of the events as I can, and if anyone is looking for some company, please don’t hesitate to get a hold of me. Even if you’re from another server and just want to check out what it’s all about. I’ll be doing an in depth write up about the festivities later this week, with more information on the 10 guilds involved in setting it up, as well as useful links for those who wish to get involved.

 

Congratulations Torrent Knights, who hit level 22 last night.. we’re aiming for 35 by the time RoK comes out..

So my guild has a goal. Well, ok lets be honest here, I have a goal. I’d love to see my little guild Torrent Knights hit 35 before RoK comes out. Should be simple, right? Well, not exactly. The guild is made up of five people. Well, maybe a few more but five constant people. Alts-of-Lader, Cordanim, Gothun, Shadowgeist, and myself. Cordanim’s brother in law is also guilded, as is an alt of Kilanna. I think that’s about it though. In the past, people who were in smaller guilds had a benefit. They received a significant increase to the status they obtained for turn ins. As in, their portion was greater, because it wasn’t split between the over all size of their guild. This was (in some ways) bad though. It meant that guilds restricted the number of people in them until they obtained max level. So the method was changed. Now it’s 10% of your personal status goes towards guild status for each turn in. Seems fair. Except when you only have five or so active people, that’s a LOT of status they’ve got to make up.

So TK has a lofty goal of hitting 35 before RoK comes out. I’d be happy to see 30. Even 25 I suppose. We managed to snag 22 last night, which was great. As you can see by the guild events people are busy finishing up all of those old HQ that they skipped along the way. I actually, in a spurt of geek-ness, drew up a chart with a list of all the HQ in game and a list of my characters and went through them all and marked off which I’d completed on who. Since I have 10 alts it’s a handy thing to have even if it does make me feel like I’ve crossed into a realm of EQ2-nerdness.

Shadowgeist is going to help me out with the DFC HQ’s I’ve got stock piled (even if he doesn’t know it yet) and hopefully by the time I’m done working through the lists of who needs what, TK will be nearing 25. At least that’s my goal. Then if I can grind out some writs, both tradeskill and regular ones, maybe I can boost our way to 30. We don’t have much time though, and I suppose I should have started the grind before now. Oh well, it’ll be fun at least.

GU38 should be hitting live servers shortly. I’m excited about it. Not really sure why, but there are a lot of interesting changes happening. The weapon changes, and “fluff” armor changes, and some changes to Bloodlines, which was an adventure pack.

This weekend I hit Labs with Dasie in hopes for relic plate pants (which of course did not drop), and then I also did LoA with Daise (and switched to Misako half way through). Both raids went smooth and there was only one issue with Gnorb-eye ball guy in LoA. We wiped three times on him and then finally took him down on the fourth pull. Annoying. Those tatter tot things he spawns are a pain when they spawn on the pull along with the first set of adds that you are allowed to AoE down. Didn’t get anything pretty out of either raid, but it was still a lot of fun.

 

This picture belongs to Lunnagirl, she did an amazing job on it, one of my favorites

I decided to take a little time and show case a few members of the EQ2 community. Specifically those who volunteer their talents in some way shape or form, be it as professionals or as a hobby. My first (eye stopping) encounter was from this forum post on EQ2players. Who would have ever guessed there was such amazing work being done by artists. I sent an email to “Lunnagirl” and asked if she wouldn’t mind answering a few questions. So without further hesitation:

1. How long have you been playing EQ2:

I started playing EQ2 about two weeks after the game released.

2. Have you played any other MMO’s and if so what were they:

I played EQ Live for years on the Bristlebane server.

I played City of Heroes until EQ2 came out.

Recently I’ve picked up World of Warcraft which in truth has given me an entirely new and refreshed appreciation for Everquest2.

3. How long have you been adding your own artistic touch to the world of Eq2

From the beginning. I draw everyday and it’s only natural for me to take something I interact with often (erm… dare I say daily?) and do something creative with it.

4. How long does each piece take you to complete (approx)?

It varies from piece to piece. The first ones I did really didn’t take that long. Three to four hours maybe. Some of the later portraits have taken 8 – 10 hours. I got bored with just improving the look of a character in a simple pose. I wanted to challenge myself so I started trying to create a scene, and have the character doing something related to his or her profession in the game.

5. Would you ever consider doing something like (graphic wise) this as a paid job? Or is it just a hobby of yours?

I’m a professional graphic designer, so I do earn a living by doing this sort of thing. The fan art is more of a hobby though.

6. I imagine all works are original pieces (from screen shots and the like), what programs do you work with to finish the product?

When I take on a portrait project I make an appointment with the player and take the screenshots myself. Once I have some good shots I begin to edit them using Adobe PhotoShop.

7. Any advice for people who are interested in getting into turning EQ2 screen shots into artwork?

Take high quality screenshots. It will make the work you do easier from the start.

8. Have you ever had anyone hate the work you’ve done?

Yes. I’ve done portraits over again because the recipient didn’t care for it. I’ve also done work that the recipient loved and I can’t stand. You just try to learn from it and apply those lessons to future projects. It’s the projects I do for myself – that belong to me, if you will – that I hold close and personal. Those are the ones that I tend to get defensive over.

9. How do you find the forum community at EQ2players, supportive of your posts? Lots of interest in your work?

Over all everyone has been very supportive. I really couldn’t ask for anything more. I think artists in general enjoy the positive feedback and encouragement of others. We share something personal and always hope that folks will enjoy our work.

I’ve had quite a lot of interest in my work, many requests from across the servers. I’d love to say I’ve been able to do something for all of them but that’s not the case. There just isn’t enough time and I do enjoy playing the game after all.

10. Do you have a site where people could browse through more of your work?

You can see some of my non EQ related work @ http://lunnagirl.deviantart.com/   There is some nudity involved so Deviant Art requires you to have an account to see mature content.  There is only one screenshot manip there, all the others are digitally drawn with a tablet in photoshop.

Be sure to browse through the forums and get to know people. There’s some amazing and incredibly talented men and women wandering the lands of Norrath. If you’ve met someone that you think should have the spot light shone on them for something they add to the EverQuest community, please feel free to email me with details.