Tag: EQ

It’s PoP Time, Baby!

This weekend was spent hunting down various named through Luclin, and eventually ending at working for bane weapons to defeat the bosses in SSRA – which we did. It took some time, we had to farm the basement for some green mist ore, do a combine with some shissar weapons, and then actually defeat the named – which I feel was our most difficult encounter so far, because there was a nasty slow that curse that needed to be cured.

Speaking of cured – that’s right, I can now cure. I’ve dropped my beastlord spec and instead decided to go cleric. So at the time of this post, I’m a cleric, ranger, enchanter. Having complete heal at this stage of the game is pretty much a requirement. I’m a ranger for the forage ability (I didn’t want to go druid, and those are the only ones who have the proper forage), enchanter so I can enchant metals for my crafting, and now cleric to help with progression.

Now that Plane of Knowledge is FINALLY unlocked, I can hang out there to tradeskill – except the machines are usually already all being used. Oof. I did get baking to 45 – thank you Batwing Crunchies.

Next? Well, we’ve completed flagging in plane of disease, and plane of innovation – we’ve also taken down thule (I was having too much fun and did not get screenshots of any of this). I believe up next we’re doing the trials of Justice, but I’m not 100% sure. I’m also leveling up my class idol and finally have something in the charm slot.

Over all? Still having a lot of fun – I’m excited about maybe getting into plane of time before too long (this has only been released 2-3 weeks or so now). As always, happy gaming – no matter where you find yourself.

The Grind Begins

My ‘new’ main character is now sitting at a comfortable level 56, and it’s time to grind Dragon Necropolis until my eyes bleed. I do get a bonus to experience until I reach the same AA amount as my ‘old’ main, so right now that means I get the bonus until I have 681aa. I’m currently at 378aa, but over 200 of those are in the tradeskill categories, which are the first ones I maxed out because that’s what I want to do in game. The next things I went for were combat stability, and combat agility. Important for progression.

I am not sure which craft I’ll level up first or if I’ll just continue to work through them each until I get stuck. There’s the coldain prayer shawl that I’d also like to work on, and I need to get foraging up. The list of things to work on in EverQuest is never ending. The husband has over 1,000aa now on his character, and has been farming the lower level zones for items for me to put for sale. He has no interest in the marketing part of the game, but I am all for it. Over all, it seems to be a good pairing.

I did also spend almost all of my plat. I picked up the 30 slot that allows you to sell giant items instantly to a vendor, and I also picked up the 100 slot that allows small items inside and does the same thing. SO MUCH LOVE. These items are incredible. I opted not to spend real life money on these, and instead I purchased EOM from someone else. EOM have been shooting up in price the more people who play, too.

As always, happy gaming – no matter where you find yourself.

A lot of unlocks..

Vox and Nagafen went down without a fight, and then it was time to kill a few more dragons – and then a few more. Right now the character cap for my character is 60, and I’m just shy of unlocking Planes of Power. I need more AA before I attempt that, and in the meantime I’ve been farming things to sell.

There’s a currency on this server called ‘Echo of Memories’ and they’re purchased with RL money but they also drop in game. You can sell this on the bazaar, and they’re used for a few QoL things. 5 EOM will let you port directly from the Bazaar to your expedition zone, and it also lets you take your party along with you. 30 EOM will let you purchase a 100 slot bag that also lets you sell directly to vendor anything that’s inside of it. It can only hold small items – perfect for those craft supplies you’ve been hording. It also has 100% weight reduction. The other EOM bag that I want, is 40 slots, and can hold up to giant items. This one also has 100% weight reduction.

You can also use EOM to change your race, and your appearance. I believe they can also be used to change your class. We’re all given one free class change and then there’s a timer and a cost (from my understanding).

Speaking of – I decided to change my main. I didn’t opt to change but instead just decided to remake. Instead of the Shadowknight/Berzerker/Monk that I had been rocking, I opted to go for a Gnome Enchanter/Ranger/Beastlord – and I plan on crafting with this character. I wanted a Gnome for tinkering, and a ranger for forage. The enchanter to enchant metals (plus illusions for factions) and the beastlord is just a class I enjoy playing. So far she is locked at level 56, but has zero AA, which puts me quite far behind my old main. This Easter the server is supposedly going to turn experience bonus back on (yay) so I should be able to catch up then.

Most players on the server have been kind and helpful, the chats are constantly active, and I’ve had a bazaar character set up for all of the time that I’m too busy to actually play. I just earned 50,000 plat, but ended up spending it all on EOM (which are currently set to 1595p each, it looks like there’s a few people who just hoard them and resell for higher prices). You can’t really take the goblin out of me. In any case, I’ve been having an absolute blast, and I can’t wait to continue on with my progression.

The Heroes’ Journey Continues (The Ruins of Old Paineel)

Right now my paladin/monk/berserker character is level 46, with 155aa – it’s almost time to unlock Kunark. There is no cap on aa but now that I have 150+ I do lose the bonus experience, and until I defeat Nagafen and Vox, 50 is my level cap (I have 100% going to aa at the moment). I believe the guide says I should be reaching 250aa before going further, but I am really only loosely following that anyway.

The first 150aa were done in Castle Mistmoore, where we continued to level until around 40, then we went off to search for new lands. We’re currently parked in The Ruins of Old Paineel – also called ‘The Hole’ by most players. The encounters here are significantly more difficult than they were in Castle Mistmoore, with a LOT of casters who wear damage shields. I’m doing my best to land stuns on everyone but unlike Castle Mistmoore I can’t pull 10+ red mobs here and expect to survive. Things are starting to slow down, which is what I expected. There really isn’t any rush at all, so we’ll probably stay here for a few days and reach our 250aa, then level to 50. Once that is completed, it will be time to take on Nagafen and Vox. I’m excited for that fight. The unlocks are account wide, so that will give my alts access to Kunark. I’ve been thinking about creating a mage/x/x combination, having pets doing most of the work for me might be nice.

Right now there is 50% experience bonus due to the April Fool’s event that took place yesterday. All of the character models and players were flipped upside down (there was an easy fix on discord for anyone who didn’t want to remain this way) – the bonus lasts until Sunday, which is lovely.

It’s not exactly the same thing as playing the original EverQuest, but I’m enjoying myself, it’s nice to hang out with my husband in game like we used to back when we were just starting to get to know each other. I enjoy reading everyones stories in /ooc, the game typically has around 3000-4000 playing at any one time and it feels very full of life.

As always, happy gaming – no matter where you find yourself.

Restless

I’m not sure when I played EverQuest last, but it was probably a few years ago. When a friend started talking to me about The Heroes’ Journey, an EverQuest EMU, I was interested. I’ve never actually played an EMU before – and a lot of that is because of the moral decision associated with it. SOE/Daybreak/Whoever they are now have never taken down the numerous EMU that have been around over the years (doesn’t necessarily mean they approve), and they even officially endorsed P99 at one point in time giving them legal permission to run. If they’re OK with it then why shouldn’t I be. Anyway, we’re not here to debate the ‘should we, shouldn’t we aspect of the game.

I patched up, and read a bit about the server before diving in. Unlike P99 this EMU is focused on giving players a good solo/small group experience – while disallowing things like multiboxing. Every character is basically three classes in one (hence my screenshot above which is my Shadowknight / Monk / Beastlord character). There are a few other QoL changes, you can create respawning or not respawning instances so you don’t have to compete with everyone else, you can trade just about every item in game including epic components, and you can enable AA at level 1 (you even get a few QoL AA for free). There’s a progression to the server, you have to accomplish certain goals to unlock the next expansion/content – and they have two methods for this. You can choose the ‘Hero’ path (which includes things like killing both Vox and Nagafen), or the ‘Explorer’ path, which includes collecting some specialized items and turning them in to an NPC.

So far? I’m having a lot more fun than I was expecting and I’ve just reached level 16. I started playing EverQuest when Luclin was released, so that’s the expansion I’m most familiar with. I leveled up in Shar Vahl, headed out to Mistweaver’s Thicket, then headed to PC to grind in the caverns a little bit. There are about 3,500 people playing at any given time (at least this weekend while I’ve been playing) with some 14,000 people total involved since its release.

I don’t know how long the interest will last, but in the mean time, it’s nice to be playing. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!