So, what’s next

A view of New Tunaria at night, beautiful place

So Christmas is done (at least in real life, I’m sure we’ll be listening to the Frostfell music in EverQuest for a few more months yet), and the tree is down. What’s next? I’ve been thinking a lot about where I want to head in my gaming. There are a lot of choices. Do I want to keep playing WoW (which I’ve barely played, lets be honest) am I going to try Vanguard? What about Eq2?

So far I’ve come to very few conclusions. I think I will try Burning Crusade when it comes out, even though my WoW characters are only 40-47 or so. I just want to see the content. I’m sure new servers will also be coming out, and it would be nice to attempt to sink myself into a guild. I think I’d like the game a lot more if I didn’t have to spend all my time listening to “hey pl me fgt!” or some other such annoying comments.

Vanguard, coming out shortly. A lot of people I know are going to give it a try, and I will as well. I want to see if it lives up to the hype I’ve heard. A lot of people have said bad things about it who have tried the beta, and again there’s the flip side where I’ve heard a lot of good stuff as well. Best to make my own judgment call.

Everquest2.. well. Here I’m some what lost. Or at least pulled in many directions. The 70 templar fury and illusionist, I am going to play off and on, and try to max out their aa’s and complete all of the heritage quests they’ve yet to do one at a time. Maybe not the harder epic ones, but the ones I can do at least. I’d like to work on getting the necromancer to 70, she’s sitting at 51 right now, almost 52. I’d also like to get the sage (also the necromancer) and the alchemist (the assassin) to level 70 crafters. There are smaller projects I’d like to complete too, the illusionist needs DT access, and claymore, which I’m dreading and not even sure I want to work on *shudders*

So those are the smaller things. I’d also like to work up a carpenter. Everything is sort of balancing on the possibility of playing other games though, so who really knows what I’ll be up to. Raids start again this week at least, but I wish we still cared at all about doing the older (Older? KoS is not that old) zones, like HoS, Labs, Lyceum, DT, etc. We’ve all but forgotten those zones since EoF came out. I realize that it’s also in large part due to the fact that most of the loot from those zones ends up rotting, but status and raids are good practice no matter the levels. Why neglect the other T7 zones just because three new ones were added? I suppose I just don’t get it. I also hate the fact that my alts can’t be in the guild with my raiding character, since I am typically on my alts doing various things. It separates me from the guild, and I hate it. Even if they just let in the level 70 alts we all had, I think it would make a difference. It’s depressing only seeing 29 accounts total in a guild, and on the channel we have set up there’s 10 others who are on their alts. Sorry for the venting.

I’m going to be trying to set up a site much like ogaming (which no longer works as most have found out) or eq2i.com but a more user friendly version, with the quests that I’ve done and helpful hints in there. Not sure when / if it will take off the ground yet, but in time it should. I’m tired of having to search through 100 different half-formed data bases in order to find the information I need. I absolutely hate pop up ads that appear on one such site as well.

More rambling to follow!

The G15 Logitech Keyboard

Santa was good to me this year, what a busy holiday. I’m safe and sound back snug in my home, with visions of… keyboards? Dancing in my head. One of my presents this year was the G15 gaming keyboard, by logitech. Which is pretty spiffy. Except. EQ2 doesn’t support it what so ever. It’s got an lcd screen, which can display various ‘things’, if any were supported. It’s also got programmable buttons.. for macro’s.. again, if any were supported.

Wait, that’s not exactly true. You CAN use them for macros – if – they use one of the three hotbars you have that come with key commands already. Ie: Those alt 1 alt 2 control 1 control 2 keys. But no more then those three. See, unlike WoW, where you can bind every single hotkey to your own personal command, EQ2 doesn’t give you that option. I know, the g15 has been discussed up one side and down the other, if it’s breaking user / game agreements, if it’s ‘cheating’, blah blah blah. But it’s just a gadget, much like any other gadget out there.

 I did find a use for it in eq2 though. Oh yes. My parse program, ACT, supports the g15 keyboard. And it will also time aoe’s for you. So on those icky raids where the mobs are tossing out aoe’s every 45 seconds or 30 seconds, it will tell you when they’re about to hit. Giving you time to back out of the way, if you’re in any way squishy, which I typically am. The keys also light up, nice for those dark nights. WoW is supported, and so is Vanguard even though the game isn’t even out yet.

I went and poked around looking for responces to why sony hadn’t added any sort of lcd support, and their response was basically that they figured the g15 was not used by enough people to bother with it. Glad to see their customers are so important. I know a good deal of people who use these keyboards, that’s the whole reason I even heard about them or have one.

It’s a fancy way to turn the pages of your hotkeys if you want, instead of hitting shift # to turn them you can bind it to a gkey, but other then that…again, there are good sides and bad sides to every argument. People are still bickering about how the paint used to come off the keys (which has since been fixed, and no longer presents an issue). It seems a little more complicated then I would have liked, I have a hard enough time learning computer stuff as is, but oh well.

One huge thing I like about the new keyboard vs. my old one, is that if I’m listening to music on winamp (since eq2 does not have an in game music player, unlike eq1.. which I miss) I can pause / change the song / start / skip etc. in game, as opposed to having to tab out to the music program I was using. Another huge bonus.

Have yourself a merry little Frostfell..

One of the many Frostfell snowglobes

The next few days are of course the Christmas Holidays, and I won’t be around very much, as there are family gatherings to attend to! I typically have one gathering for my family, and then a second one for Shadowgeist‘ family, however this year I have two for my family, as a bunch of them are visiting from the east coast. It should be eventful! Anyhow..

I have been decorating Eleyn’s home! Having a blast doing it as well might I add. I love decorating, even other people’s homes, just taking what they have and finding a spot for it all (which until today seems to have been in every nook and corner available). I’ve been having fun sending out random Frostfell presents to friends as well, Dalven D’Verilex got a fire place and some dinner food. I’m not exactly sure if he’s a fan of Frostfell, being from Freeport and all, but oh well! Had to spread the cheer. I also passed out pressies to Krai, Xani, Selema, and Meepers. Ah it’s the little amusing stuff that makes me happy hehe.

I love the snowglobe rewards of this years events, but I’m not sure where I can keep them all. So far I’ve got three to the collection, and I know there’s three others at least that I don’t even have yet. I’ve been claiming my 1 present a day on each of my alts so that I can stash snowglobes away for a later date (grins) much like I’m doing with food, presents, bows, and fire places. Such a house item nut I know. Everyone has their things. Some quest, some make coin, some raid (though I do all of those too) and some collect spiffy looking house items! So a very merry Christmas and Frostfell to you all, I hope everyone gets some time off at least, and shares it with those they’re close to.

Frostfell is here.. and.. food.. fireplaces, quests! Snowglobes! *squeels*

 

 

After a 5 hour patch (ew) Frostfell is here… and while there are plenty out there complaining and upset over the festivities (why is this in here when there are bigger bugs in game and so on and so forth) I for one, was exceptionally happy. Mostly because 90% of Frostfell activities and quests revolve around house items. I spent about 8 hours in the Frostfell zone harvesting my little heart out and creating festive items for my house, including the fine table set above. I made some for friends, and made some extra to stash away in my house vaults for a later time. Besides the items in the zone you could craft (food, clothes, bows, ribbons, presents, snowmen, weapons, and various other items), you could also quest for a Christmas tree. The following quests gave you a wreath, and an option to light that tree with about 10 different options. Something I found to be absolutely fantastic.

Silverstep, surrounded by Frostfell goodies!

The fire places also come with different settings to light the logs. I know a lot of carpenters are upset that they’re not a permanent recipe and require special Frostfell items to craft them (as well as machines) but they’re going to be exceptionally sought after and rare that way. The wreath hangs on the wall nicely, and my girls are decked out in their holiday finest. It may be silly, but gawd for a person who adores the house items such as myself, it was wonderful. I also quested for a book and a cloak, though the cloak is slightly.. disappointing. It’s baby blue with white snow flake trim.. looks like Pepsi sponsored the event. I spoke with the giftgiver, and received a snow globe of fallen dynasty for one character, as well as a frostfell snow globe on the other character. I’ve been trying to get both my “mains” the items for their homes to spruce them up a little. No fun if I just do it on one character!

Silverstep, lighting her Christmas tree!

On the down side, each instance for the new Frostfell goodies seems to be jam packed with people stepping on each other to harvest the nodes of goodies required to make the house items, and of course there’s price gouging galore with fireplaces selling on average for 14p on Lucan D’Lere, when it costs 24c to make the item to begin with. Hence why I made enough for myself, my friends, and then got out of the zones, letting the other people bicker with one another. Though I will be back for my one present a day! The snow globes also play music, which I find adorable. A job well done, even if it is missing one event at the moment and there was plenty of other stuff that could have been worked on. In the patch there were also some unrest files downloaded, an EoF instance that never made it in at release, supposedly it’s incoming GU (game update) 32, in February. Looking forward to that one.

Bullies are still Bullies, and Frostfell Excitement!

There are bullies no matter where you go, and the same can be said for the mmo worlds out there. Those people who derive pleasure from picking on others, degrading them and making fun of them. On Lucan D’Lere (also called Lucan D’Drama, for pretty obvious reasons) there is a handful of these people. You see them every day, spamming the 60-69 channel with their words of ‘wisdom’, rallying for the popularity of whatever other gamers happen to be listening at the time.

I can’t help but feel sorry for them. They must have some huge issues if they’re picking on others in an mmo, to make themselves feel better. They’re escaping their real lives (much like we all do) and feel the need to exert their power over others. It’s a shame really. Had to vent that out. Along the same lines, my guilds forums have been spammed nicely by members of another raiding guild, trying to stir up unnecessary drama. For what purpose? Well, none of us are really sure. As far as I know our members don’t go posting on their personal guild forums (in the public section that most guilds have) but I could be wrong. Again, just random thoughts and observations. In WoW you would experience the same thing, but it was much more childish and unrefined, and almost easier to excuse. Where as the comments that some times fly out of the 60-69 channel are just down right mean.

Frostfell update is going in today! Fireplaces are the word on the … channel? I’m excited. I missed out on the Christmas events last year, so it’ll be new to me even if they’re repeated. I want to see if the music boxes are back, the snow globes, little cute hats, and house items! Expect lots of screen shots later today of all the new stuff if I can manage to get any of it.

Stargrace is catching up fast as my new main. I was pretty far behind on aa’s but they’re not going too badly now, she’s sitting at 58 with plenty of quests and zones yet to adventure in. Most of the guild is around 80, but I’m not worried. She’s also gotten a few pieces of gear upgrade, also a good thing. I was almost completely broke after betraying to Illusionist (I never have very much money, it doesn’t bother me though my characters are all pretty well geared and can fend for themselves), so I’ve been trying to make some coin. The quests in Lesserfay are great for that, both the Nybright family ones and the ones from Fae Court. Mentored yesterday for my turn ins granted me 3 aa and about 3 plat in coin, with only a small portion of them completed. I’m absolutely loving the illusionist class wise, I find it much more fun then the coercer. Not sure why. I respec’d my aa’s and went full out dps, with perpetuality and crit spells, most of my spells end up being almost instant cast with that line up, it’s wonderful. Still no raids lately in guild, but holidays and all so it’s understandable.