Livestreaming EverQuest DDD (6pm EST) #EverQuest

Watch live streaming video from mmoquests at livestream.com

Yesterday after some discussion on twitter I decided that I would attempt to Livestream some of my game playing – in specific my exploration in EverQuest. Above you can find a link to one of the broadcasts I did where I camped for my enchanter 1.0 piece in City of Mist and then headed to Plane of Fear. It was a pretty boring camp but thanks to some good friends keeping me company in the Livestream channel I seemed to come up with plenty to talk about.

Today I’ve decided to share one of the anniversary tasks with viewers, Dragons, Dragons, Dragons. This task sends players back in time to defeat the dragons of Norrath, starting with Vox and Nagafen and working your way up. If you’re interested in RSVP’ing so you get a reminder you can check out my livestream channel – there are also two other quick broadcasts I did to test out the equipment. Last night I had intentions of broadcasting some Vanguard, but then I got carried away with crafting in EverQuest so that sort of fell through. I do plan on broadcasting more games that I’m playing although I can’t guarantee that I’ll actually speak during all of them there will at least be some wonderful in-game music to listen to.

I hope this along with my youtube videos gives a little indication of why I love the games I play. They’re simply fun.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself! I’ll see you in Norrath (and Telon, and anywhere else I wander).

Thoughts on House of Thule #EQ

If you believe everything you hear on channels, House of Thule has been met with mixed reviews. Personally I really love this expansion but it’s because of a few key components that not everyone appreciates. Number one after having taken a long  break from the game I found it very easy to get relatively caught up as long as I was level 80+ due to the mote gear vendor. While not everyone returning will know this – there is a vendor in the Feerrott who sells ‘mote gear’ and basically using a new currency (dream motes) will allow you to purchase gear in tiers. Earning reputation will unlock higher levels of mote gear, and this currency (like all currency) can be purchased from players selling in the bazaar. Or you can earn it from doing tasks and missions. Because it’s the current currency, there’s a lot of it for sale and it’s much cheaper to use mote gear for the first little while then it is to purchase gear from the bazaar. Mote gear was a HUGE upgrade over my fabled planar gear and the gossamer stuff I was wearing so I was only too happy to find this vendor.

Spells in HoT level 86+ rank II are actually obtained by means of a quest much like they were in Gates of Discord with rune turn ins. The system has also been improved slightly. Number one you can pick and choose which spells you want to obtain instead of having to get them in order and number two the items used to obtain these spells are all tradeable between players and you can sell them / buy them in the bazaar (while the spells themselves are no trade). Another method of allowing returning players an easier time of catching up. While I am sad to see that spells are not dropping from mobs in this expansion it IS nice to know that I’m not missing any of them (unless I chose to raid and obtain Rk III spells).

The basics of the expansion are quite simple. There are a number of tasks you must do for progression (T1-T4) and in order to request these tasks you’ll have a number of quests to do for a number of NPC. The quests are quite lengthy but incredibly worth it. You earn not only experience and the ability to request the tasks on your own, but there are also trophies that are rewards (as well as achievements) that can be placed in your home and grant extra buffs to players (if you’ve got your trophies running, they use the tribute system). Last night I finished off the series in House of Thule itself, and gained a trophy that allows me to raise my max str. as well as my actual str. While not incredibly useful to my enchanter it’s just one of many trophies and I look forward to obtaining the rest of them. Plus these trophies are house items – and hey who doesn’t love a good house item.

If it were not for the fact that I am a returning player I am not sure if I’d enjoy the expansion as much as I am. Of course the housing would have me transfixed (how could it not) but the progression may be too ‘easy’ if I were on par with everyone else. As it is I have less then 300 aa (lots of players have over 5,000 now) and since I’ve returned I’ve leveled not only my necromancer to 90, but the enchanter to 87, and a boxed bard to 76. On that same note if everything were incredibly difficult I wouldn’t necessarily have stuck around either, so perhaps this is a good compromise. That’s also not saying that everything is easy, it’s certainly not. Tier 4 is incredibly difficult, and a lot of the missions you request have little quirks that make them even harder. Thankfully I’ve been playing with a few friends who make all of this much easier and a LOT more fun.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself! I’ll see you in Norrath.

Exploring Thurgadin #EQ2

I really love how the developers of EQ2 have designed Thurgadin. It’s one of my favorite zones in looks alone. I spent a few hours wandering around the city, listening to NPC and viewing the wonders that were hidden in nooks and crannies, and every detail is just done with such care. My coercer has her flying mount now (the only character I have who has finished the quest so far) and getting around quest hubs is much easier. I finished the crafting quests in The Great Divide, and have been working on the ones within Thurgadin. I also took the troubador out for a spin, after being much neglected. I decided to splurge and purchased the two portal weapons off of the broker (having already obtained the belt, all three come from the Guk portal) and then did a few Public Quests with her. I stayed away from SG, people have already proven that it’s the least liked of both, and every two hours I said I was LFR and eventually found myself in a group. I didn’t get any neat weapons or the chest piece or any runes, but I did get myself three pieces of legendary gear with +87 to agi and stam, and the three set bonus also granted me another extra 100 agi. The troubador was wearing level 80 gear from The Shadow Odyssey still, and this new gear was an enormous upgrade.

Since I qualified for the Free Blood race in February I decided just for laughs I’d create one, and purchase the home in case one of these days I wanted to decorate it. I honestly have no idea what the inside looks like yet, I haven’t bothered stepping into one. I’d like to continue working on my carpenter on the Antonia Bayle server, so that will probably be the plan for the next little while.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend – how have you been spending your game time? Let me know in comments below! Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself. I’ll see you in New (and Old) Norrath!

Pegasus Feathered Cloak #EQ2

The design of this cloak is absolutely amazing. It’s in two layers, giving it a better movement effect, and the details in the feathers is just fantastic. The cloak itself drops as a semi-rare item from the new portal quests in EQ2, celebrating the 12 year anniversary of EQ1. I ran a few alts through the instance because the cloak is heirloom and can be traded between your account, I was determined to get one.

I also wanted the two scout weapons from the Guk portal – but instead of patiently waiting until I looted one, I decided to purchase them off the broker. If I do manage to loot one while adventuring there on my own time I’ll hang onto it for when the portals are no longer around (the event ends the 30th) and then sell them. It’s not often I splurge on my alts, and it was a massive upgrade to the troubador.

Yesterday also marked my final quest for my flying mount – I did the crafter chain in order to get it, and I’m really glad I did. I picked the Boreal mount, which has some very nice colours on it. My 90 carpenter (84 coercer) is pleased to be able to fly around completing quests much quicker now. I do have many more alts who could use the flying mount, but I’m undecided as to whether or not I want to run them all through the quest chain or just stick with one having completed it for now. Since I’m still spread between two servers it’s a little annoying, I’ve always wanted my characters on one server but alas with friends scattered all over the place that rarely works out in my favour.

I hope everyone is enjoying the 12th anniversary quests. This weekend also marks double vitality for Eq2, and double experience for EQ1, so get your levels while you have the time! Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself. I’ll see you in Norrath!

 

EQ2 Celebrates 12 Years of EQ1 #EQ2 #EQ

Ah, my old nemesis from EQ1 and I can’t even call it my nemesis because I actually never managed to see Quillmane in game in all the times I attempted to. Famous for their pegasus feathered cloak which is used in the magician epic SOE has continued with the humor by spawning angry mages at the end of the EQ2 event. Yesterday I spent some time in EQ2 doing the EQ (confusing eh?) 12th anniversary quests. Mostly because I wanted the awesome house items that go along with it. I really wish EQ had put some house items in game with their anniversary tasks, but alas I’ll just have to be satisfied with augments.

The only instance I really had troubles with was Lavastorm, but I toughed it out playing a shadowknight and coercer together so that I could get the title at the end of the event. Now that I’ve gotten it, it’s simply a matter of farming the pieces I want (Guk for the level 90 gear, and Enchanted lands for the pegasus cloak which just has an incredible graphic). Each instance drops a fabled adornment, a common piece of jewelery, and the chance at the rare drop from that EQ1 encounter. You also get two tokens which can be spent at a special vendor in Antonica. Doing all of the instances once gave me enough tokens for every item that was not a plushie – plus two plushies. I’ve added them to my museum on Antonia Bayle, and I’ve started collecting items for the coercer on Oasis since at this moment I’m still split between both servers.

I also participated in my first public quest yesterday – and it reminded me of public quests  in Rift and Warhammer except for one really important factor. EQ2 is not made for these sort of quests. What I mean is that there are very few spells that land on anyone outside of your group / raid and you won’t always be invited to one despite advertising. This was the case with my warden who landed (literally) on top of the PQ (public quest) in progress. I was not invited to the raid, and I couldn’t heal anyone or do anything but throw a few little nukes at the encounters. My buffs are useless for anyone not in my group and over all the experience was incredibly poor. Thus since my participation was deemed poor, my rewards were poor.

The second time around went much better. My first PQ was the Ring War (I believe that’s what it’s called on Oasis at least) and the second one was SG (not sure what that stands for). SG is the least popular of the two public quests, and I was invited to a raid without issue. Basically you battle hordes of mobs that swarm the raid and there’s an actual strategy to the encounters. We did wipe once, but revive places you right where you need to be, so it was nothing to get back into the fray. I healed for all I was worth, and managed to score a piece of legendary gear. Not that bad I suppose considering we only had one raid worth of people around.

The quests were fun but without the ability to cast heals outside of group I feel that healers really get the short end of the stick on these. I’d like to see a special flag applied while inside the blue marked map that turns your heals into AoE heals – the problem with this is that classes like shaman may see far higher returns in participation because of how their heals work. They are wards, and prevent damage from coming in. In other words a ward gets used up first before a regular heal will land. Based on the damage being done to players I doubt this would be much of an issue in a raid situation, but you never know. Hopefully we see some sort of “join public group” option in the future to make participation easier on players.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself! Woohoo for Friday!