A Pixel Nomad

I didn’t play nearly as much as I wanted to yesterday, mostly due to a very sore mouth and a few extra strength tylanol but I did get some time in. I wanted to try to get Stargrace to level 80 before the expansion comes out in November, but I’ve said a few times now I just can’t stomach the RoK quest grind any more. I decided since I was only 40% away from leveling, I’d try to put up with it just long enough to at least hit level 78. I headed off to Jarsath Wastes to complete the quests I’ve had for about three months now that have just sat there. 

I did manage to die three times, and with a little help got to 90% experience before I just decided to call it quits. I just really dislike the grind THAT much. I figure now I’ll either do one of two things. Forget about Stargrace until the expansion comes out and try to level her to 80 with the new content (some of it should be mid 70’s range I hope) or go through old world content and level at the pace of a snail. I haven’t decided which. Or I’ll just level someone else and work on her gradually like I have been. The 100% experience bonus made no different to my level 77 character because the experience you gain from kills is so insignificant. 

I did get a LOT of crafting levels though. My tailor went from 21-30 in an hour thanks to vitality and the bonus experience. My alchemist went from 41-47. I’m hoping to get her to 50 today, but I’m out of vitality and things are crawling a little more. Plus I’m not certain if I want to be so eager to hit T6 which is the dreaded harvest tier that uses supplies from Sinking Sands. 

Hope everyone else is having an awesome weekend!

I’ve never owned top of the line computer bits, though I’ve also never really had any reason to complain. I’ve used my 7600 GeForce for a few years now without issues. I ran EQ2 on balanced (minus flora and fauna because I just disliked the way I could never see anything laying on the ground) and was quite happy with the graphic performance. 

With a little extra money kicking around I decided it was time to start getting some upgrades. Even though I could use a new processor and motherboard, I think those can wait until February – today it was time for a new video card. 

I didn’t go all out like a lot of people would have. I wanted an upgrade but not something that was super expensive. So, when all was said and done I went from my trusty 7600 to the 8800. 

Instillation went smooth, and I loaded up EQ2 right away switching my settings to the highest possible ones. Of course I still had some lag, the change for dual core isn’t in quite yet – and the highest possible settings really are that. I know people who have the best of the best and still can’t play on those settings. So I tweaked things some, and set them to the 2nd highest settings. Turned down the fauna so I could actually see the ground, made it so I don’t see 10 spells per person and will only see two, and turned down shadows slightly.

It still made a HUGE difference. I can see all the nice little texture details now that I had missed before unless I played on the highest settings. I typically leave my lights off due to lag – and have no issues at all with them now. It’s great.  I logged over to Vanguard and noticed a great improvement in frame rate, but didn’t turn my settings up any higher because the game is pretty enough on balanced. The screenshot above is on my new settings, and I can tell the difference from my previous screenshots easily.

So that’s how my weekend has gone thus far. Gotta love getting new toys to play with!

I’m on my way out the door to buy a new video card (nothing wrong with the old one, but it’s a 7600 and I’d like something new just for fun) – in the mean time though, I spent ALL morning working on the server wide live event (because I’m not sure when it poofs) to get some pretty amazing rewards and follow a spectacular story line. I don’t want to ruin the story because it has to do with the murder mystery going on and involves the void beasts and that whole incident. If you haven’t done this quest yet, I HIGHLY suggest getting to it, check to see if your server has unlocked the bonechips yet. The evil side on Najena is only 80% complete last I checked, but the Qeynos side has finished theirs. 

The quest is made up of over 42 sections from start to finish – and it makes you travel all over to figure out the mystery. The rewards may not be worth it to the average player, but to me they were better then any money. The first reward is food that lasts for 3 hours and gives you 15% bonus experience to COMBAT only. Sort of useless when the food is level 80 and that’s the character I did this quest on. Anyhow, second quest rewards a house item and some gear – the basket of berries. The third quest rewards the staff pictured above, and it has a really awesome particle effect. The fourth quest rewarded the talisman that can just barely be seen resting on my bench. 

These items are all gear as well, but you can right click like the heritage quests out there and turn them into house items. I did the quest on Goudia, which was a bad idea I should have done it on one of my mains instead. The quest really is long, so I haven’t decided if I’m going to do it on everyone yet, or leave it at that. 

More postings about it and a few details later, for now, it’s time to go shopping!