She’s Perrfect

 

What’s the point of owning two accounts if you can’t completely fill them up with characters – and that’s what I’ve done. The best part is that I haven’t deleted anyone in a very long time. I used to delete them when I got bored, but with two accounts I’ve always just had room to make more. So this morning (after crafting 5 levels yesterday on the carpenter and doing some random harvesting) I decided it was ‘that time’ again. That’s right, time for (yet another) alt.

Thus I created Coya, my new dirge. Wait, isn’t a dirge a bard? Don’t I already have an 80 troubador? Well, yes, I do. I wanted to try the other perspective of the class too though. Heals and rez? Why not. A spunky little Kerra who’s lots of fun to play (so far). Shadowgeist and I ran her around the Gorowyn starter zone collecting every quest we could (him for the aa since he’s so close to 140). The quests were simple and fun – though we did have some difficulty with the ‘kill it to 30% then click it’ sort since we’re both very much into the ‘smush it until it stops twitching’ and that makes those quests hard.

I haven’t twinked her out (yet) but I’m sure I will. I also managed to get to 10aa, which is nice for her level. Or maybe it’s at 11 now, I forget. So that leaves my characters in EQ2 standing at:

  • 80 troubador / 60 weaponsmith / 400 tinkerer
  • 80 warden / 72 woodworker / 400 transmuter
  • 72 templar / 80 jeweler
  • 71 illusionist / 80 provisioner / 400 tinkerer
  • 70 defiler / 50 tailor
  • 70 coercer
  • 58 necromancer / 80 sage
  • 53 ranger / 62 alchemist
  • 38 brigand / 35 armorer
  • 33 monk / 35 carpenter
  • 31 wizard
  • 17 dirge
  • 14 shadowknight (who’ll probably be lucky to see one level or two a year)

I do have room to create one more (on the healer account), but honestly, I think 13 should be more then enough and I can’t even think of what I’d play, since I basically have one of everything – and both types of bards as well as both types of enchanters. I like coercer and illusionist for different things. I was betraying my illusionist back and forth depending on my moods so I decided that it would just be easier if I worked up a coercer, and had one of both. Now I do, and both are level 70+.

I’m still hanging out in my own little guild. Just doing my own things. Crafting, of course. I’d ideally like to see all my crafters at level 80, as well as a good portion of my characters. Granted, I imagine that’d be quite boring, it’s not as difficult as everyone may think. Two levels a day for whichever field I’m working is a common goal if I’m feeling the need to actually define ‘progress’. Slightly slowed from time to time by the need for harvests.

I was contemplating wandering towards another raid guid, but do I really want to put myself through that whole… mess.. again? Meh. It seems as soon as they find out I’ve got two accounts and a bajillion characters I instantly fall into “oh yes she can play anything we tell her to play” mode. Which I hate. Though anyone who knows me knows I shy away from having an actual ‘main’ to begin with I suppose. Mehs again. Done ranting for now *sighs* Just one of those days / weeks.

Korocust fun, and back to crafting

 

I decided to tag along with Shadowgeist to a Korocust run, mostly because I hadn’t been there since release, in fact I hadn’t even stepped foot in Chardok at all. It’s a zone that’s not used (as was apparent by my group being the only ones even in there). Everyone in the group needs access, so we headed to the bridge and killed the keeper with little trouble. Grabbed the sokokar post that’s right close by so next time I go I can just take the sokokar down. The named drops access for everyone, so eventually maybe we won’t have to keep doing it to catch people up. Not that it requires much work.

The instance itself was quick and easy, with a lock out of three hours. There’s one named (a warden) who can spawn on occasion, and he decided to spawn the first time I was there today. Shadowgeist had been there a good 10 times previous though, and never seen the mob. After we beat him, and collected some bones, it was time to spawn the named at the end, one at a time (by clicking a coffin) which means you can spawn him six times if you go with a full group.

Two legendary drops this time around, though apparently that was a bad run. The necromancer (or wizard was it?) walked away with some new shoes, and Arysh won the shackles of the Shai’Din, which were actually not an upgrade to the Guard of the Fens that she’s already got adorned. Going to be hard to replace those ones, even with the extra wisdom, the + heal amount and ministration as well as higher power and health make them far more appealing to me.

I decided to do some crafting after all that, and managed (so far) to get the carpenter to 32. I’m contemplating heading to Frostfell to do the quests that I’ve yet to get done there, and to craft some of the items – I do have a pile of them, but not an overly large pile, and one never knows what they’ll want furniture wise as time goes on. Hopefully I can get to the next level of box-making shortly, and get the carpenter closer to 40. I figure I’ll work from the lowest crafter to the highest until they’re out of vitality.

Does this mean I’ve given up on Vanguard (again)? Nope. Not at all. I’ll give it some time and keep hoping that when they re-release in April (or so rumor has it) that more people will shift over. I just miss having folks around, and as of yet cross game tells and channels are not working. Maybe I’d have enjoyed it a little more if I could have at least talked to the blog channel as I played.

Back in EverQuestII

 

So I decided to take a break from Vanguard (already), I was feeling a little lonely with a lack of community. I always said I’d be back to EQII as soon as I wasn’t feeling quite so burnt out anyhow. Yesterday I decided that it was time for me to betray my mystic to a defiler. Why? Well, why not? Defilers have some wonderful power management tools, and I betrayed from defiler for a guild to begin with long ago. So why not just play what I want to play.

I decided this time around to do the betrayal quests for Neriak, which are not quite as boring as the ones for Freeport (that I’ve also done countless times). I need +10,000 more faction before I’ll be allowed to actually apply for citizenship – which is the most tedious portion of the betrayal, obtaining the faction you need in the end.

The price of fire emeralds has apparently also come down quite a bit, so I’ll be stocking up on those. Misako (the mystic / defiler) is still only level 70, so I’ve got some adventure levels to catch up. I’m not sure if I’m going to leave her in Neriak, or move her to Gorowyn. Or maybe just put her back in Freeport. I also have an extra stein of the alesmith that she could use, in order to gate to Kylong Plains (dang us non-druid / wizard types!). In the mean time, it’s nice to be talking to old friends again, and yeah, nice to be back playing EQII. I’d probably stick it out with Vanguard if the game was slightly more populated. I still enjoy it a great deal, but hey what can I say, EQII is home.

First Time Land Owner (woohoo!)

 

Satia’s first new home, is nestled in the little community of Eastpoint (-20.26). It took me about four hours of flying around (all three continents) to find the perfect spot to build (perfect = cheapest). Plots of land range from 2.5g (which is what this one cost) to 30p (for guild halls). Each continent has a ‘style’ of house that you can build on it. I’ve decided to go with the T4 house, which is a Thestra two story with thatch roof. The Qalia housing is very nice, looks very Arabian, the Kojan houses are very oriental, but they also have no 2.5g plots there.

This is what housing in a game should be like. Never before have I experienced such a wonderful sense of ‘ownership’ as I did when I bought my plot in Vanguard. All those other homes scattered around mine are my neighbors. There’s a crafting area in a cave that can just barely be seen at the bottom left where the white stones are. There’s also a bind point, bank, housing merchant etc just over a huge hill (which I have no idea how to get to once we loose randolph, I think I’ll be swimming it). I also now have three gate spells. One is to my bind point, one is a house recall, and one is a guild headquarters recall.

Once you buy your plot, it’s up to you to decide which sort of house you’d like to start building there. I’ve got the basic frame of mine, and I put down the lotus mortar I needed since it’s vendor sold. Be sure to check your housing guides! There are plenty out there and some of the items you use are vendor sold, you can easily get ripped off if you’re not building the place yourself.

Satia, amid the construction debris. I have no idea when I’ll actually be able to complete this house. If I make it myself, I’ll need to be around level 35 crafter at least in mino – they make the bricks. I can however buy the parts for it on the broker. It looked to be about 60-70g if I were to buy the complete thing on the broker. I’m sitting at about 21g right now, so that’s not too far off in the future if that’s the rout I decide to go. In this type of home I can have a max. of 200 fixtures, and 4 chests. That’s right, a house that lets you actually place items inside of it, in a chest. I’m looking forward to that. Even if the home itself is a little off the beaten path. It’s way NE in Thestra, not exactly close to anything in particular. You won’t see me complaining though.

Satia looking over the plot of land before she buys it. This sign is the indicator that the land is for sale, and they’re hard to find! Most (older) plots are completely sold out. Be careful though, you can lose your house if you don’t pay for the upkeep. I have no idea if the indication of houses is an indication of an active player base but if so, well, it’s going strong. You are only allowed to have ONE house per account per server which makes sense due to the way that housing is set up in this game. I saw a whole lot of 10g houses for sale on Kojan, beautiful lots with purple trees and right close to Martok. You can abandon your house and buy another plot at a later date, but after putting in all that work to build it, why would you.

In order to get my house to 100% construction – I will need:

  • Thestran Limestone Housing Brick (x200)
  • Thestran Travertine Cornerstone (x1)
  • Lotus Mortar (x20)
  • Select Wood Panel (x60)
  • Select Wood Housing Beam (x30)
  • Pyrite Fasteners (x9)
  • Thestran Silkbloom Thatch (x25)
  • Thestran Select Window Pane (x6)

As a crafter, to learn the recipes not only do you need to be of the appropriate tier, but you also need to make them A quality. Anything lower results in needing x2 of the material. So 400 bricks of B quality, etc. You also need to have 2,000 faction with the artisans that you’re learning from. Not too difficult as I’ve been doing WO’s on Satia in Tursh at least. She’s got a long time to go before I can even contemplate making the house (as well as a lot of harvesting for it).

In the mean time, I was so excited to purchase this, I wish EQ2 housing were more along this line. Actually physically being able to see your home among the others, and building it – literally.

Is That a Pumpkin pie in your Pants?

 

Screen shot above is my FIRST ever rare piece of Jewelry that I crafted – all by myself! Now, I realize it’s not grade A quality – I’m a level or two shy of being able to get pure goodness on those, but none the less I was impressed and happy that I’d figured out how to do it at all. It starts with a base jewelry piece that’s made out of a simple garnet, then I add a tin sheet (care of Arysh, my weaponsmith. Thank goodness, because there were none on the broker, VG is not crafter friendly it would appear) and I added a uh, rare T2 resource. Carnelian I want to say. Combined it all together, and ta da, that’s what I got.

Now Arysh isn’t quite up to snuff making her tin sheets, so they were B quality, and Satia is missing a lot of points in shaping and reforming for some reason (which I haven’t quite gotten the knack of fixing yet) but hey, I did hit level 14, and I spent most of the day working on WO’s and crafting quests. I got a lot of gear upgrades, learned a few things. I know Tush pretty well now, lots of crafting quests there. Some bigger crafters were talking about uh.. unions or something? I think I’m too small for that (thankfully). Crafting is a world in VG all on its own. If you only have one crafter in fact you may find it difficult. For example, while I can make regular jewelry all on my own – to make upgraded I need tin sheets – which I can’t make. I think most crafts work that way, to make the upgraded versions you need a piece from another craft class. Works for me.

Morras Goldfarn who I was working quests for, happened to stop me as I was walking, and ever so bluntly replied, “Is that a pumpkin pie in your pants?!” ….Seriously, I’m not sure if I was squishing while I walked, or there was some sort of .. scent.. issue, but this boy got a thump on the head for even contemplating it. Though I suppose there are worse things to be compared to then pumpkin pie. I didn’t do any adventuring today at all, and I probably won’t for a little while as I get situated with the crafting. I’d like to get all three of my crafters up to T3, which would match my adventure level. I doubt very highly I’ll have the patience for that though. Minxes (the future leatherworker) is still sitting at level 1 after all. I’d also like to learn the other styles of crafting, as Qualia is int / wis and Satia could benefit from that (right now I’ve got her stocked in vit).

Game crashed twice today randomly to desktop, a small annoyance. The regionsay channels are much the same in pretty much any mmo, 90% of the conversations revolve around WoW and the ‘next big mmo’ that everyone is waiting for, spammers, and lately, politics in the states. Needless to say it doesn’t take long before I just turn them (the channels) off and sigh in relief.

If any bloggers out there want some jewelry pieces made, feel free to send mats my way (materials) I can’t guarantee pristine yet on T2 (I can for T1 though) but I can pull off pristine on most things (so far), give me another level or two and I’ll find it much easier I’m sure. I found 12-14 very hard levels, hopefully the next few are easier. I’m still learning and there’s a lot to take in.