A Pixel Nomad

Arysh making her way through Unrest earlier this week

You’d think, that because the SoE forums and all SoE related games, are down for at least 14-24 hours, that I’d have plenty to say. But alas, this is not the case. At least not today. Last night in game I did a (slightly painful) labs run with an alliance guild, it was messy and took far too long. After doing some thinking, I decided I’d try to give Mayhem another shot, well, a shot, since I didn’t really go through with it the first time I attempted. The problem is when I search for a raid guild, I want a community along with it, and the raid portion typically goes fine, but the community portion takes a little bit to wiggle into and I end up feeling secluded and then annoyed. Wish me luck this time around though, maybe I’ll have finally found what I want out of a guild!

During the down time I’ll be playing WoW (gasps, there’s that word again) off and on, though of course they patch for 8 hours on Tuesdays as well. Go figure.

Gothun and Shadowgeist played in FTH last night, Gothun picking himself up a nice earring, Shadowgeist managed to snag his first piece of EoF fabled set gear from MMIS a few nights ago. He’s obviously very happy about it. Forever took me on a wonderful (and profitable) Unrest run, too bad Arysh’ set piece didn’t drop. Actually the coercer made off with the majority of the loot, winning not only their legendary class hat, but the robe as well, and the wand of crystallized plasma. Figures.

I did some crafting orders yesterday, so hopefully that’ll help me out a bit with coin. I’ve been trying to prepare for RoK. Not that I ever spend large amounts of coin on items typically, but I’m bad for purchasing silly things like house items and fluff gear. I managed to farm DFC last night and walked away with three blood iron ores, which is fantastic. I wanted to farm it in order to sell the set gear, people have been purchasing them for their fluff slots due to the colours and look of it. I wanted to craft a set for my baby monk of course when she gets to the appropriate level it’ll be a very nice upgrade for her. It’s also the lowest level of “rice bowl” monk hat look that I can get I believe. Too bad it’s restricted by class. While I understand (and agree) that you should only be wearing fluff armor that your class can actually wear, it would be nice to have no restrictions at all just to satisfy that “girlie” side of me that likes to look good in game. Yes, I know, horribly shallow of me to say. But hey now, I play Ratonga and Iksar characters along with my Wood elves, so I’m entitled to the opinion!

Other then that, game’s been fairly quiet. I did also walk away with two masters from DFC, and one was actually an upgrade to my level 70 fury. It was pact of the cheetah, which I’ve never seen drop before in a master form and does not get an upgrade through any levels. I was pleased as punch that it dropped. Most of the gear from DFC was selling for below what a merchant would pay for it, so it instantly became transmuted fodder. Thanks again to Crystallis for helping out!

A look at the West Freeport gates, fairly ominous from way back here

Clockwork Gamer called a few people out to write up a review of their weekly selected zone. Of course I was pleased as punch, and I’ll continue to do so every week – I think it’s a great idea even if it is just here on my little blog. You can find the link to their post here, and of course maybe you’ll get as addicted to the site as I am. Fairly sure I check it a few times every day even if there are no posts. Commonlands was their first pick. I have to admit, I shuddered slightly when I saw which zone was selected. Of all the zones out there, this is probably one of my least favorite, ranking right up there with Thundering Steppes and a little above Nektulos Forest.

The Commonlands are home to 118 quests. 10 of those are Far Seas Requisitions which drop in chests and don’t actually use the zone, 10 others are random drops from the zone, a few are from examining items, and the majority (as it is with any zone) are from NPC. Adventurers ranging from level 5-25 can find their way through this zone with little difficult– wait, wait. No. Lets be honest here. This zone can be frustrating for a new time player. I spent a lot of time here, and if it wasn’t for the help of Eq2maps, eq2wikia, and the blessing of my track, I’d have spent a lot more then a few simple hours running around. Of course it did bring back wonderful memories of my first jump into EQ2, but lets face it, with zones like Kelethin and the (amazing might I add) Darklight Wood, why even bother any more unless you’re a fanatic quester.

That’s what it comes down to. The quest rewards for Commonlands are sorely lacking in comparison to the newer starter zones out there. It’s unavoidable of course when you release new content. The quests make you run from one end of the zone to the other (for the most part) in search of some elusive mob/node/npc/location that you have to search forever for. Unless you’re blessed with track and a wealth of knowledge you’re going to be there a while. I actually make it a point to start my characters some place else to get their first few levels and then work back to the Commonlands at a later date. There are a few named who give aa, but there’s nothing unique about the zone. I found very few broken quests and that was nice at least. There are quite a few zones that lead off of CL, and they have added things over time like the quest called “The Secret Valley” which leads to an instance in Commonlands. A few quests are miss-tagged as solo but require heroic content, that happens in pretty much every older zone though.

I suppose my biggest issue is the fact that the Commonlands is a HUGE zone, but a lot of the space is wasted. Everything is spread so far out. I understand that this is the look of the zone and it should be this way, but I always wished there was a better way to implement and not loose the feel. I know I keep comparing it to Darklight Wood, but it’s because it’s the newest starter zone out there. You’ll rarely loot an item or a piece of gear in Commonlands that you would actually want to wear. In a comparison, the level 14 gear from Darklight Wood, is far superior to the level 19-ish gear from Commonlands. It’s better off sold to transmuters.

If it sounds like I’m coming down hard on the zone, I suppose that I am. If you’re a new player to the game and have never experienced any of the other beginner zones before you may find this one just fine. If quests are your thing, again you’ll probably love it here although it will take you a good portion of your day to make progress in the quests. Does that mean the zone has absolutely nothing to offer players? No, of course not. The design of the zone is still pretty. It’s great to look out across the land as the sun is setting. The Greater Lightstone Heritage quest has been revamped and every named you need is practically always up now, a change I disliked since it just made things far too simple. Access was removed some time ago for Fallen Gate, and I also disliked that. I miss the way you had to work to gain entry to a zone, now it’s just handed to you on a silver platter. There’s also a high teens instance in the graveyard close to the entrance of the sprawl, that doesn’t require access any longer. If you like that stuff, you’ll love the Commonlands. I still stick with my Darklight Wood zone though for any of my evil characters.

Did You Know:

• Rilkrik at the Crossroads works as the Supplies Officer, and sells treasured and eventually legendary shoes based on your destroyer of orc count
• The Greater Lightstone heritage quest starter is now no-trade, but the wisp who drops it is typically up
• Mooshga gives the best quests around, she’s outside the WFP gates

Goudia, camping in Everfrost. Her poor little nose is getting cold..

I made another alt. I know, bad me. Eventually though I’ll run out of classes that interest me and the alt madness will have to end, right? Faralithe is the newest addition to the alt-army, a little fae, high elf, iksar paladin. I wanted something a little different. I have an arasai (or two) I have dark elves, I have a regular fae, I have a ratonga. I love the look of the female iksars and the way their fins (are they even called fins?) along the side of their heads flare out as you fight. Of course, iksar are evil (typically) so I’m a shadowknight for now. She’s also only level three. But she’ll betray around level 18 I think if I can handle it then (to Kelethin of course, where the quests are far easier to complete for betrayal). That way I can do the evil aligned starter city quests and the good ones as well. An iksar paladin eh. Not sure what her role play story will be yet, but I do plan on creating one. I typically do with my characters even if I don’t post about them.

I suppose I’ve been feeling restless in game again. I completed three heritage quests yesterday on Goudia which was a fair amount of guild status. Even though the quests themselves were very boring at level 70 completing them for the fourth or some times fifth time. I’m looking forward to RoK in a way that I’ve never looked forward to an expansion before. I know there are mixed views on a level cap increase, but honestly, it’s about time. I need to feel some sort of linear progression again.

Aside from the paladin creation, I worked on my armorer (who is new), Sensual reached level 20. Which is nice. She in fact made all of the gear for the paladin. Now I need to harvest metals (again) which is never fun, as any weaponsmith or armorer can agree. So why am I doing it? Who knows, maybe I’m just crazy. Naw, actually. I just find it so much more useful if I have one of every sort of crafter. I like being self reliant in as many aspects as I can in game. That way I’m not waiting on someone else to craft something for me. Since I have so much time to play, I figure that there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to do these things myself. A skewed way of thinking perhaps, but hey, whatever works.