PvP vs. PvE – and Me

(( Hmpfs, seems like I’m not the only one with PvP and PvE on their minds, hehe. Made my post before I’d wandered over to Gestalt Mind.. great write up!) 

I’m glad these days that there’s such a selection of games out there. It means I have lots to read. I like the idea of sticking with what I’m playing (which currently is EQ2 and VG) and living vicariously through whoever I happen to be reading about and their adventures. I don’t care too much about the technical bits, nor the drama associated with any of the games but I do care about what people are thinking, how they’re exploring, their thoughts and ideas, opinions. I suppose it all goes hand in hand in one neat little package. 

I am obviously not a big personal fan of PvP – and not because I suck at it. I’ve played PvP in WoW before, as well as EQ2. I got the mad ‘zomg die die n00bsauce!’ rush and it was a lot of fun. At the end of that initial rush though I started feeling sort of bad. Lets say I was out questing, and I really wanted to finish the quest. It frustrated me that some random_person_101 would come along and squash me while I was trying to finish the quest. Then you have the campers, griefers, and all that sort of ‘fun’. Then there’s the ‘you have to travel in numbers or you’re going to die instantly’ factor that I experienced. I do play solo a lot of the time. Some times I just want to wander around and do nothing (or diplomacy, or craft) and not have any combat at all. 

I also started thinking about the fact that the people I was ‘killing’ (even in a video game) are just that, people. Maybe they had a bad day at work. Maybe they’re escaping their real lives in order to block out some abusive real life issue, maybe they’re jerks because of random_reason_101. 

It made me want to PvP even less, because I’d lose that ‘bloodthirst’ that I needed in order to accomplish it to begin with. Now, grouping together to take on an encounter of badies (who are computer generated and there for not ‘real’) I have no issue with. Raiding, I love. I love coming together for a common goal. I love winning (who doesn’t) or even losing with the right people, but when it comes to PvP it’s all about ‘us’ versus ‘them’ where the us and the them are all real people behind the computers and for some reason it just doesn’t sit very well with me. I can’t really explain it any better then that. 

When I played WoW I only played on PvP servers – because lets face it as much as people may say it caters to both sides, WoW is a PvP oriented game. I did my fair share there, too. Carebear player? Maybe I am, but to each their own honestly. I enjoy the housing, the quests, crafting, and in Vanguard the diplomacy and affecting the world in little ways. I don’t enjoy knowing that maybe by me smushing some other player in a game, they’re going to be upset (and it happens, I know it’s overreacting, but it happens) and take out their bad mood on some other player and thus the chain goes. Of course the typical remarks follow like they need to take a break and they need to get a life, etc etc. But lets face it, there are some pretty poor losers out there.

I know I know, it’s just a game. Those are just some of the things that run through my mind though, and an explanation on why I personally don’t enjoy PvP. Does it come as any surprise that I don’t enjoy FPS either? Probably not (not that anyone aside from myself even cares why I do or don’t play PvP). 

Just some mindless ramblings on a Friday afternoon.. (oh yeah, I don’t like afternoons either. I’m an early morning / late night type of gal).

QoTW: The Far, Far away Pelican

What pirates home is complete without a ship in a bottle – or two? If you were not around to quest for the iksar ship in a bottle (came out during a live event) then don’t worry there’s still hope! Did you know that the island of Mara has an alternative access quest? I’m not sure why it never went as a requirement, it should have (when the adventure pack was first released) for some added flavour I think. 

If you’re fond of house items you’ll be fond of this quest. It starts in Thundering Stepps, walk along the docks up along the back behind the building there and you’ll see Quint Cerlius M.E. amongst some crates. Click on each one and he’ll warn you to leave them alone. Once you’ve clicked on them all, talk to him and he’ll offer you a quest. 

He sends you off to the feerrott to look for the ship, and on the left hand side of the docks in the water you’ll come across a little row boat. 

You’ll board the ship – and even though the pirates are labeled as heroic, you should have no issues taking them down solo. You need to kill all of the pirates that roam the ship – and then take out the named that spawns at the end. Talk to the captain at the end and you’ll get the wonderful house item pictured above. For a complete detailed walk through be sure to check out eq2wikia here. 

It does have a little bit of rent reduction on it, so if you’re looking for knick nacks that are going to help in your rent, add this one to the list! I’m still hoping that some day SOE adds a status reduction to heritage quests that people have mounted to their walls. 

I was tired of the little garden entrance I had to my place, so I created a new sales area. I still don’t like it that much but it will do for now. I’m waiting for GU49 before I do too much more decorating, being able to resize things smaller or lager will be very handy. I’d like to level my monk a little as well, but I think I’ll wait until the experience gets a boost. I’m also looking forward to having my higher level characters tag along with friends and earn extra achievement experience as they mentor. 

In the mean time, I’m trying to grind out writs for Nostalgia (gotta get that guild hall!) eagerly awaiting Beckett MOG Issue #15 (where there should be an article from Tipa and a few from myself), and waiting on GU49!

Ki The Fiend Hunter – Waves Breaking

Yesterday was time for a little more diplomacy as I wandered through the Isle of Dawn in Vanguard. I again didn’t want to out level my partner in crime, and wanted to continue to explore the quests I had been working on. By the end, I hit level 9 and part way into it (in diplomacy) – once I hit 10 I’ll switch to crafting I think. Anyhow. 

The Magistrate wanted me to interview some hobgoblins (who were supporting him) on the docks of the village – they were having a tea party. That is to say, they were dumping all the tea into the water in support of the magistrate. Go figure. I had to laugh as I interviewed the last ‘hobgoblin’ who was not one at all, but a farmer down the street dressed in the skin of a hobgoblin. While I interviewed them their appearance changed and they wandered back to their farm. 

The quests got harder (understandably) but I managed without having to buy any of the expensive 1s cards that the diplomacy vendor sells. I’ve lost a few parles but nothing important. Of course I’ve played diplomacy before so that comes in handy. 

One thing I’ve noticed is that the rewards are just amazing – and I’m a little sad that my other diplomates who are off of this island (and I don’t believe there’s a method to get back to it?) will be unable to get these benefits. I’ve gotten a cloak (last time I played there were no diplomacy cloaks with stats), a bracelet (there were only one of these), a full set of gear and some other bits and pieces. I’ve built my deck heavy with flattery, and it seems to be working out well (at least on the island). 

Eventually I was sent to a little burnt down village, being invaded by floating eyes (you’ve probably seen them before in Kojani) and what not. The npc there told me they needed a special type of hunter to deal with the problem, and that they had tried to convince her to come help – with no success. 

So of course that leaves it up to you. It’s always up to you after all. The person’s name is Ki The Fiend Hunter – and the problem is that although the quest says she has a particular affinity for the evil badies, it does not tell you where she is. 

So I spent 30 minutes or so running all over the place looking for her. Then I asked in the main channels – and someone replied (woot) that I should rent a Pegasus, and fly to the temple. 

Temple? Hrms. They must mean that dark ominous looking building just North of where I was standing. I had actually created a macro that was /targetauto Ki  and as I ran around spamming it, the only thing it picked up was a King Crab from the nearby river. 

I decided what the heck, grabbed a Pegasus, flew over to the dark building with purple swirls (remember, I’m of a low adventure level so these places still scare me) and hit my macro. 

Well what do ya know, there tucked away on the left hand side in a little alcove was Ki The Fiend Hunter. Only problem is that whole little landing was swarming with level 7-9 mobs. So I hung around a little, until a few more brave adventurers went to clear their way into the temple, and then made the little trek across to talk Ki into helping the Magistrate. 

Back to the npc afterwards – where a 15 minute warning sounded that servers were coming down. I was so close to finishing my quest too! Just had to talk to the five brave adventurers who were going to help deal with this ‘problem’ they had been having, along with Ki. Dang it. 

Oh well, I guess it’s time to see if servers are back up today so I can finish off the chain! Great story so far.

Quiet Nights

Didn’t get a chance to game tonight, but I did play some Vanguard earlier in the day and managed to hit level 9 in diplomacy. More about that tomorrow though.

I logged into EQ2 as well today, though just briefly to check sales (which were far and few between, though I can’t exactly complain as I don’t have much for sale). I was contemplating leveling Stargrace (who has been neglected for quite some time now) to 80 and to have her join the other 80’s I have, but the thought of RoK quest grinding just made me log out. Maybe another day. 

In the mean time, my latest bit of artwork. It’s titled ‘Reaching Beyond’ and I added a frame and some text to the final version of it, didn’t want it to be any larger then it already is though for this post. It looks way better in it’s original dimensions. If you’re keen on seeing it let me know. 

I hope everyone has a fantastic end-of-week no matter where you are.

Woah..

That’s pretty much all I can say regarding all of the new goodies that are coming to EQ2. I’ve spent the better part of this morning reading through a load of information on forums, only to sit here wiggling around in decorating anticipation.

So what’s got me so excited? 

First of all. Because furniture is going to be able to scale, there’s a few recipes carpenters currently have that will be removed – and replaced with furniture examples from Unrest. What exactly are those furniture examples? You can take a peek here, at eq2traders. Don’t they look amazing?

As if that were not enough there is this post here, that gives a little taste of what halloween goodies we’re going to be getting eventually. It was posted a little early by mistake, as the items should not have even been on test – but that’s not going to stop me from getting excited about them. 

Did you know there’s a server wide event going on right this very second? Well, Antonia Bayle is in the lead for it – I have a feeling that Najena doesn’t even know it’s going on. You know that bone chip quest? Well that’s a server wide event – and part two gets released shortly, and you’ll get some very cool items with that as well – if your server works towards it. Not sure that mine will. 

Ok so that’s some new furniture, scaling furniture, and the server quest – what more could there be? How about purple shinies. How about little helmets that look like miners would wear them to work on some big project. How about that battle robot type house item in the main picture? O.M.G.

If all that was not enough, how about that new 5 room house located in the Academy of Arcane Science, that you can’t purchase unless you own a Tax-Free Freeport Residency License? 

Want to see some new guildhall screen shots? Then take a peek here. 

There’s no doubt at all that this is going to be one heck of an amazing update.