EQ2 – Page 14 – A Pixel Nomad

Templar hits 80, with LOTS of instances!

Up early yesterday for a family get together and then spent most of the afternoon napping (I wasn’t feeling too well) so when I finally got up around 7pm I wasn’t really expecting to do too much before heading back to bed for the night. Turns out, I was wrong.

My ‘usual’ group was around, Kasul, Albrta, Eyenstein, and Shadowgeist, so we decided to do some instances. The daily double was Najena’s Hollow Tower, and none of us felt like doing it. So instead we headed to Scion of Ice in Everfrost. Before doing Scion I had done a quick maidens run in Jarsath Waste, first time running Petites (templar) through there so the experience was fairly good. Finished off the weapon quest from the zone too. Anyhow, Scion of ice hurt. Plus our second shadowknight was apparently fairly drunk and left unable to continue part way through the instance. I was the only healer, and everyone seemed to be getting pummeled by AoE’s and my templar (yet) is not exactly geared up for solo healing. But we managed it, cleared the zone. I picked myself up a new healer cloak, as well as a new ring.

I was a little reluctant to solo heal, but some times you don’t always get the perfect group. After we finished with Scion we headed to Crucible which has always been the easiest of the Everfrost instances, for me at least. We picked up a swashbuckler who was LFG – and for the first time ever I had to ask someone not to use a particular piece of gear. Not because of them, but because of me.

I was still 79 at the time, solo healing, without very good gear (my own fault I know, but what was the point of upgrading everything when I was wearing the EoF set gear and I’d just be wearing void shard gear before too long) my spells were all adept3 but I didn’t have any illusionist with TC or any of that stuff. Anyhow, the item in question is the Bloodthirsty Choker. If you’ve never heard of this item before it’s the one that quickly drains your health as you dps to boost your attacks with a proc. It drains about 10% health (at least on the swashbuckler) every tick or two.

Being the only healer, I didn’t feel as though I could effectively keep my heals concentrated on both the tank, and this swashbuckler in group without letting someone die. If I were on my warden, I’d have no issue at all with this. Afterwards, I did learn a few tricks in regards to the bloodthirsty choker. For example, apparently shield of faith which is a magic ward / buff will work on the choker. Apparently so will a few other things, like shield ally.

Was it unfair of me to ask them to remove the piece? Well, I’m not sure. It really did make me feel like a crappy healer, but I know my limitations, and I wasn’t about to risk heals because someone wanted to boost their dps. Not to speak down about them, but pet peeve of mine is someone posting the dps parse every fight into group chat. It’s fine to want to know your dps, but posting (and they’d only post the ones where they were on top) like that just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe even more so because I play a healer and I’m always at the bottom of that list, with big fat 0’s by my name.

The fabled healer / mage item from Crucible dropped and Petites won it, all in all it was a very nice day for the templar. That also makes my 5th level 80 character which means my account has a 50/50 bonus for both tradeskilling and adventuring (which is the cap). I started the templar epic, which has been fairly smooth so far. Lots of running around, which seems to be the case for every epic.

Next? Not sure. I’d like to work a pure DPS class up to 80 simply because I don’t have one. I have two healers, and 3 utility (two enchanters and a bard) and then of course there’s the paladin tank I have at 70. Still on burn out from that one though. So what do I have left? Well, there’s the 61 bruiser, the 61 necromancer (who I’ve had since 2004 and just never leveled), I have the 58 swashbuckler, the 70 paladin, and a 30 warlock, as well as the 74 defiler. It may sound like a lot, but keep in mind the experience from 1-70 was drastically increased, there’s mentor bonus, and there’s experience potions, AND there’s the account bonus I have. It really takes no time at all these days to level up a character in EQ2 and honestly as long as I’m having fun that’s all that matters.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, and had some great holidays no matter where you game!

Happy New Year

I’m not exactly a big fan of crowds or large noisy parties, so last night saw me in EQ2 for new years eve talking with online friends as I drank some sparkling wine (which was really good, the empty bottle attests to that) and today I’ll be doing the family thing and finish up putting together a plate of appetizers before I head out. Even under the influence of a little wine I still had good fun, and managed to do a few instances.

Petites headed to Deep forge to complete the daily double and I was really pleased to learn that I can obtain the shard quests at level 79. I thought they started at level 80. So now she has four shards in her bags waiting for her first piece of TSO gear. I’d never been to the deep forge and the group blew through it with no issues at all. It was a Shadowknight, Dirge, Troubador, Wizard, some scout DPS that I forget at the moment (I want to say Swashbuckler or Assassin) and myself as Templar. 20% experience later, we headed to the Obelisk that you find in the Moors. I needed it for my signature quest anyhow, and the chest within that zone drops a few plat for everyone in the group. Plus it was quick and easy even if there are no shard rewards unless it’s a daily double location.

After that we headed to Commonlands to help the coercer out with a quest update for the book of Thex heritage quest. You have to zone into an instance and defeat a named who spawns adds – without killing a single add. There are a lot of them, too. Apparently it was supposed to be difficult, but we had no issues. The coercer rooted the adds that spawned far away, and mez’d the ones who spawned close by. We had a lot of dps and that helped take down the encounter.

Earlier in the day I completed a tradeskill instance on my tailor with Kasul from guild, his carpenter hit 61 I believe. My tailor managed to slug her way to 67, three more levels and it’ll be back to writ grinding for me. I also logged in the alchemist late last night before bed and inched her to 66 and part way through. Made a few adornments to put on the broker, I’ve been holding onto the shards and dusts for a long time now stock piling.

All in all the evening was spent exactly as I had hoped. I wish everyone a Happy New Year, and may it be as wonderful as the previous.

Frostfell Guide Event, and DING 79 Templar!

Happy New Years to those who have already passed it, and to those who are celebrating tonight. I won’t be doing anything special per say, no doubt I’ll be gaming (not a fan of crowds of people). Yesterday saw a little excitement in game, for various reasons. As I was hanging out in Qeynos Harbor (which is a rare occurrence these days, with guild halls providing everything I could possibly ever want) I heard Gigglegibber Goblin screaming about not having any gifts to give to Aimee, a Ratonga.

After four or five of these screams, I headed over to the bank portion of the zone, and was offered a quest from this Gigglegibber, who spoke nothing more aside from that (I had complained about the noise, goblins, what filthy creatures).

The quest was to collect presents that you can see in the zone when you have this quest on you. It was a race with everyone else running after the same gifts, but Petites (the halfling who was doing the quest) was up for the challenge.

I love seeing unique quests like this. Number one, they’re rare. Number two, they count towards your quest count. Two very good things. I chose the snow generator reward and headed off to Baubleshire to put it in Petites 1-room (amazing) house. It has the same graphic as the little statue you click inside of guild halls to obtain the recall to guild button, but it has an off and on switch. When you turn the generator on, it spews little puffs of snow up into the air and has a cool swirling effect. What can I say, I love the house items. Thank you to the guild who ran the event, I’m glad I could be in the right place at the right time (for once).

The paladin is inching her way to 71, 80% through level 70 right now. I was working on those quests in Kylong Plains and yes dragging my feet through them. In the last week or so (just before holidays) I went from level 62 to 70 with her, so perhaps I’m experiencing a little burnout now. The greatest moment of the evening aside from the house item was the fact that my level 78 templar (who just hit 78 not too long ago) managed to drag her way through the entire level yesterday and hit level 79! Only ONE more to go! Shadowgeist ran around the Moors of Ykesha helping me clear out the beginner quests that I’d never done (which was, lets face it, all of them) and then afterwards with raids cancelled due to people still being on holiday, Albrta, Eyenstein, Kasul, Shadowgeist, and myself made our way to Crypt of Agony in Sebilis. Yes, you remember that zone no one does any more because we’re all too busy in TSO instances? Well it turns out that Petites had never been there before, so it was a LOT of achievements for her, as well as some great experience. Since I’m this close to max level I decided to use my experience potions, better late then never. I rarely use them and I don’t know that they helped too much, but hey every little bit matters.

Today I hope to run her through more quests either in Jarsath Wastes or Moors depending on what mood I’m in, and finish those off. Inching her closer to 80. Once at 80 I’d love to work on her epic, though there is also Stargrace who has (once again been neglected) been waiting to work on her epic as well. This will be my 5th level 80 character, and with the paladin at 70, and the defiler at 74, it won’t be that much longer before I add two more to the list.

Hope everyone has a FANTASTIC evening tonight, don’t drink too much, stay safe and many HUGS from me here at MmoQuests.com!

Pool Tables, Crafting, and Antonia Bayle

Yesterday was pretty fun, the paladin reached level 70 which was a fantastic goal. I took her to Palace of the Awakened which is all but forgotten now with all of the new content. There wasn’t another person to be found. Boxing, I took down the two dragons in each of the wings, who of course dropped nothing but treasured for me. Ah well. After that I headed to Vaults, which is an instance on the Isle of Awakening, lots of spell casters in that zone.

Nothing of note dropped except maybe the fury class hat which has a pretty cool graphic. Of course if you manage to snag one of the ‘box of utterly classless hats’ you don’t even need to be a fury to have an item with the same graphic. Since I don’t have any fury, I put it for sale. I would have liked the paladin hat, but I remember them being quite ugly, and I’m sure I can do without.

Two more levels and I can finally start outfitting the paladin. I need to get my alchemist some levels, goal for later today perhaps. I figure since I have crafters on both accounts, I can box the instances and even if one character is just sitting inside of the zone, that’s faction and a shard for them. I know the quests for TSO shards have been changed so that you can’t let people into an empty zone any more for clickie updates (or at least this is what I’ve heard through the grape vine, I haven’t tested it myself yet) which makes sense. There are a handful of quests that require no killing at all, so after an instance was cleared you used to be able to just wander in and grab it yourself.

I built a pool table for a friend, their house is a work in progress. They wanted something ‘modern’ looking. The screen shot is a view from the back of the house, there’s a TV off in the distance with a couch, some gaming tables and of course the pool table. VERY much a work in progress though.

Afterwards I decided to work on the TSO signature line with Petites (78 templar) in the hopes of getting her a little experience. The quest starts on the docks in both Qeynos Harbor (goodies) and East Freeport (evil aligned) and sends you to speak with either Antonia Bayle, or Lucan D’Lere. Of course in the screen shot Petites took the time for a photograph with the queen herself who looks less then amused with the whole situation.

Halflings rock.

I didn’t get too far in the series because I realized I had yet to complete the crafting introduction quests, even though Petites has been an 80 jeweler for quite some time, a unicorn mount may not be out of the question. Eventually (some day) I have hopes of completing enough faction required to actually purchase all of the items on the merchants. We’ll just have to see how that goes though.

All in all it was a fairly good day. I have been having fun watching everyone else give their predictions for 2009, while I myself am not really one to make those types of lists, they always interest me.

Nostalgia is half way through 35, and creeping towards 36 at a fairly steady pace. Hopefully once my two crafters hit 70 the status they get from their writs will help move us a little further. I planned on using up all of my potions before 70, so the experience would slow down so that I can earn more faction and status. We’ll see how that works out (if it works out). I hope everyone is having an amazing week no matter what game they’re playing.

A huge hug and shout out to anyone reading this by the way. To those who have contacted me over the years and who have given me opportunities I have only dreamed of, my thanks. You all have no idea how much it makes me smile to hear about your own adventures. Sorry for the sentimental round there. I renewed my site yesterday for another year, after contemplating ending it and moving on to a new project. So much work has gone into it and I truly do enjoy writing, even if I’m not one of the ‘big names’ like others I read.

Safe travels, see you in Norrath!

Quiet Sunday Fun

It was a quiet Sunday, and those are rare. The paladin is now sitting at level 68, she was big enough to start the Kylong Plains quests – but not quite big enough to solo them, especially since she’s missing gear. Lots of gear. I didn’t want to bother getting her any until she hits 72, and then she can wear incarnadine. Grouping with level 80’s isn’t a problem any more, and in the morning I headed to Halls of Fate in Bonemire for a quick run. The group consisted of myself playing both paladin and templar, the trusty Shadowknight, a Conjuror, Assassin, and Dirge. The zone was fun, and fast. We all mentored down even though after a few people mentored everything was green anyhow. Nothing of any note dropped, I was hoping since the aa in the nest was apparently re-set that so would the aa in other zones. Wasn’t so, ah well.

Goals? Getting the paladin to 72 so I can get her into some proper gear, spending 100p on some loams so I can get her some skills – and finding an alchemist to make those skills. My own is sitting at 65 currently. Though she does have full vitality and 5 other level 80 crafters on the account, so technically speaking I could inch her closer to 70 if I tried.

Still looking for a raid guild too. Or I just need to meet a few tanks or some static groups. Slow process, but I know it takes time. You have to actually be around and in game longer then 10 minutes if you expect to get a group or make new friends. Since I’m constantly flip flopping from character to character, it can be frustrating. Nostalgia is well on their way to level 36, which is one level closer to 40, which is one level closer to new bank slots, and two more amenity. Really looking forward to that!

Other then that, just a lot of real life post-holiday clean up.