Tag: EQ2

All About Goals

A proper screenshot of the dirge with her eyes actually open. Why I picked a half elf, I have no idea. I typically go for something that has racial abilities that will one day help me out (melee orientated, or spell, or the fun floaty one that a few races like erudite and dark elf get).

You’ll have to forgive my lackluster post, I won’t make excuses but this is certainly not the best of weeks I’ve had. Bare with me and things will improve (we all hope).

CoA – The Farseer did not drop, the Cardiocutter did not drop. We’ve been doing this zone every day for more then a month now and have not seen hide nor hair of these items. I’m beginning to think they’re mythicals and have since been removed from game. The bard goes without for a little while longer.

Did manage to get a few crafting levels yesterday which was great. Ultann inched to level 50 armorer which means he can partake in the TSO crafting now. Kasul has moved his main assassin over to Kithicor (until we’re all offered free transfers if that ever happens, so we can leave this horrible server) and now we find ourselves with a whole lot of dps – it’s going to be great. I believe today we plan on spending the day doing amazing instances that we normally can’t defeat because we don’t have the dps and I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll just have to see of course. I’m not sure if I’ll be playing the illusionist or the dirge but either way I’m sure it will be fun.

Speaking of fun I created my 4th enchanter last night. That’s right, another coercer. WHY?! Well. I have an illusionist and a coercer on Najena. I had a coercer on Kithicor but I betrayed her to an illusionist because their buffs are simply better for the group in general. You can’t go wrong with Time Compression and Illusionary Arm. I really love enchanters (no, they don’t play like EQ enchanters, but I still love them) and being able to charm things is an amazing aspect to the game (especially for thrill seekers) that I just can’t get enough of. So I searched last night for my master charm spells, I picked up the one for level 47, the one for 61 (which is all you need even at T8) and Wpus managed to have the level 20 charm stashed away. That was more then enough incentive for me.

I created an arasai coercer, and decked her out. What’s more I created a ‘goal’ for myself – no power leveling, and I want to try to have 200 aa BEFORE I hit level 80 (no matter how long that may take). I got her to level 20 yesterday, and then turned off experience as well as quest experience. That means the only thing I’m obtaining is achievements from quest completion and discoveries etc.

Wpus helped me out with spells while I did some shopping, and she’s sporting about 10 master spells now and a nice outfit of gear. I took her back home to Darklight Woods after playing in Wailing Caves and started working on the level 10+ quests. She’s only got 10aa right now, but I expect that to continue to grow. I figure I will do the 10+ quests in Darklight, Gorowyn, Commonlands, as well as any smaller zones such as Stormhold and Blackburrow before I enable experience again.

Why am I doing this? Well. I love having goals in game. I have so many level 80 characters now that getting to level 80 is no longer a thrill. Sure I could have 14 in total and get them all their epics and then have a steady stream of crafters to level but I’m already pretty tired of that grind. So I seek out new ways to play the game by my own rules, and different ways to interest me. Questing is not always something I enjoy doing, but if I place enough challenges along the way it looks infinitely better. Owning so many lower level master spells certainly helps too, and of course the coercers bread and butter which is my master charm.

No matter what game you’re playing or how you challenge yourself, I hope everyone has an amazing Friday, and an incredible weekend. Chances are I’ll be here, in Norrath as always.

Moving Forward

I miss raiding. There I said it!

I haven’t done any serious raiding since just shortly after RoK came out (Taking down T1 and some T2 encounters but nothing more) for whatever reasons. I was tired of ‘the grind’ and the guild drama was more then I wanted to handle. During EoF I was a pretty serious raider, I got discoveries on Emerald Halls gear and when we defeated Chel’Drak for the first time (and I blogged about that of course) it was one of the most exciting things I’d ever done in game. The problem is I’ve never really had a raider mentality. Yes, I enjoy defeating encounters but no I don’t like the attitude that comes with it (typically, not always).

I’ve also never wanted to be a part of a guild simply because they raid – I enjoy gaming with friends and being close to those I explore the game with. Unfortunately asking for 23 other close friends doesn’t really happen.

So, those of us in our tiny guild of 3+1 have decided to try to seek out an alliance on Kithicor. We consist of a Shadowknight (or inquisitor), Conjuror, Assassin, and myself as either the dirge, illusionist, or mystic depending on which is wanted (but not all three, and I’d rather stick with one constant and not swap out every time). So far we’ve had a few hits. I also suggested we tag along on one of the (many) pick up raids that happen on our server.

There’s a few down sides. While I’m not sure about other servers I’d say almost 80% of Kithicor level 80’s already have their mythical. It’s VERY common. I don’t fall under that category which is a slight disadvantage. Every WoE raid I’ve heard looking for more is constantly searching for folks with their mythical.

A lot of people on Kithicor are also rude and obnoxious and if I had to stand in the same room as them let alone the same raid there’s no telling where that would lead. I don’t say that jokingly either. I’ve played extensively on Lucan D’Lere, Antonia Bayle, Najena, and Oasis, as well as Kithicor (we’re talking 6 months to a year or more on each) and Kithicor is by far the worst server I have ever played on. We (as in the little crowd I play with) are eagerly awaiting open server transfers or some other such miracle so we can move back to a ‘better’ server. In the mean time we wait (and turn off channels).

Speaking of which – last night our little guild of 3+1 managed to ding level 35! Ultann, Wpus, and I headed to Jarsath Wastes to grind out writs. It took approx. 4-5 rounds of Kylong Plains writs to get our level but when we finally did (and purchased two more amenity quite happily might I add) it was fantastic. The guild hall now sports a mender and a depot box for harvests. This also allowed us to free up a LOT of space both in the guild bank and our personal banks where we had been hording supplies.

Now it’s a grind to level 40, where we’ll be able to purchase three more amenity, and unlock another row of guild banking. Hopefully it won’t take us too long to get there, the progress we’ve made so far has been fantastic.

I spent a lot of yesterday (aside from doing writs) working on clearing out my quest journal on Satia (the dirge). I went through each zone one at a time and completed all I could. Once that was finished I picked up some L&L (I have a grand total of ONE completed) and decided to work on those (along with language quests). Now I’ve got three lore and legend completed, orc, skeleton and gnoll.

My duo pair has switched up from the illusionist and the mystic to the dirge and the mystic now that the dirge is 80. I’ve always loved playing bards. Another Crypt of Agony run was made last night, and another failed attempt at getting either the Farseers Armguard or the Cardiocutter to drop. We’ll be getting back to shard runs shortly so that we can complete some sets which will be nice.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day, and I’ll see you in Norrath!

Another Epic Bites the Dust

No screen shots again today (blogging from bed is not nearly as exciting as it sounds) but yesterday was a fairly good day in game none the less, even if I wasn’t completely coherent for the duration of it.

With the bard hitting level 80, it was time to begin yet another epic. You may recall that I actually already have the dirge epic, on my troubador when I betrayed. I have no desire to betray this second bard at all, she’ll be staying a dirge (I know, a few months down the road I may be eating those words). The quest starter comes from Sebilis, and we were lucky with the drop (or at least I like to think we were) getting it fairly painlessly and getting some achievements along the way.

The dirge epic is one of those fast easy painless epics that you can complete in less then a full day. You don’t actually have to do any instances for it, you need to harvest a few bits in Chelsith and kill Abyss Lurkers which are right at the entrance, and you need to go to Maidens and kill two bottomless devourers but they’re not that far into the zone either. You need 50 drake kills from Jarsath Wastes which Ultann Wpus and Hamal were kind enough to get for me as I auto followed them through the zone, making myself some dinner last night. They had it completed by the time I got back.

After that and talking to a few npc’s (and a kill in New Tunaria) it was simply a matter of making our way to the library in Chardok and killing one more mob there. Back to my halfling friend in Gorowyn and I’m proudly sporting the dirge epic on Kithicor. Yes, that’s my uh.. 8th epic? 9th? I forget now. Troubador, Dirge (x2), Coercer, Illusionist, Templar, Warden, Mystic. Guess it’s 8th. Of course I don’t have my mythical on anyone and unless I settle down to one character I doubt I will, but it’s a nice little goal to have completed in any case.

Next in game goals? Perhaps getting the paladin to level 80 (sitting at 73) and then concentrating on getting those achievement points. A huge congratulations to Wpus who managed to hit the 200 mark this week – Ultann is not too far behind at 194 I believe. Since I’m always bouncing around from character to character my mystic actually has the most at 158. Hopefully I can inch my way closer by completing some quests, I’ve avoided them like the plague since RoK’s release. I’d also like to continue leveling my crafting, the dirge is a level 30 provisioner currently, and the carpenter is sitting comfortably at 52 waiting for her vitality to fill back up after that wonderful bonus experience weekend.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Wednesday, and happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

Wrapping up the Weekend

Figures that the one screen shot I actually take yesterday has my dirge with her eyes closed – but I really wanted to show off the newest trophy our little guild of three+1 added yesterday! We managed to spot Vision of Vox up in Permafrost (we’ve been waiting for her all week) and while Ultann was out raiding Leviathan (with a pick up raid) Wpus and I decided we would try to duo this magnificent creature: me tanking on my 73 paladin which is a fairly scary thought right there.

I boxed the mystic and stood in the hallway just gazing at the dragon. I’ve never fought her before, and she’s still intimidating even if she cons gray. I knew only one thing about this encounter and that was she spawns adds. I had no idea how many.

We begun the fight easily enough, bolster, lots of shards handed out. Then the adds came.

They didn’t stop! At one point in time it seemed like we had 100’s of adds all raining down on us. Giants, elementals, other dragons even at the end. It was pretty fun. We were starting to get a little low on power (remember, this is an epicx4 and we consisted of a paladin, conjuror, and mystic) and I started to get worried that we wouldn’t be able to defeat her but slowly, ever so slowly, we managed to work her down. It was an epic battle and I was VERY happy to get the trophy added to our small (but very proud) collection. Next we’re trying to catch Venekor (the contested one in Cazic Thul) up so that we can add that trophy to the collection. The rest will take a little more finesse, it will require winning the item in a pick up raid, or running a raid of our own, so we’ll see how that goes.

The dirge hit level 80! I also had enough shards saved up for three pieces of T1 gear for her, so I quickly had my mystic make the pants, gloves, and hat. We ran Crypt of Agony and JUST as we were about to take down the final mob my power went out randomly for an hour. Thankfully I have a fantastic group of friends and they waited for me just in case that Cardiocutter dropped. Which it did not but that’s besides the point at least they waited.

We ended the evening on a high note and picked up a warlock for a deep forge run – we died on the final boss (once) because both of my characters died (I was standing in the wrong spot) and the 2nd healer was ported into the lava – but once we explained to the warlock that two of us were boxing (the main tank playing his healer and me on my dirge playing the other healer) he developed a little bit of patience and we took down the encounter on the second pull. Nothing of any use dropped, but we did get two shards from the zone at least, not all was lost.

Today I’ll be getting the dirge epic started (and maybe even completed depending on how the day goes) as well as working on my upcoming Beckett articles (deadlines in early June). Aside from that it should be a fairly quiet day. I’m looking forward to progressing the dirge and getting her some more upgrades – I did purchase two level 80 masters yesterday that were fairly cheap.

OH! Almost forgot. Have you taken a look yet at all of the new goodies that are coming with GU52? Well, takes a loot at EQ2 Traders Corner for all of the fantastic (not yet on test but shall be soon) items. Look at those furniture items down at the bottom, don’t those just look absolutely fantastic? Not to mention, look at those player created books! The designs are amazing – and WHO wouldn’t be excited about the revamp to those tailor made charms and throwing pouches? I know this update is not yet on test – but I’m exceptionally excited!

See you in Norrath!

Simply Gaming

Aww no screen shot to go with this post because I spent the majority of yesterday bedridden again and the screen shot quality of the laptop is just not that great. Snuck onto the computer early this morning before I have to go back to my cave for the rest of the day, at least it’s comfortable (even if I don’t have digital cable in there and the channels I do have suck!).

Despite being confined to my room I did get a fair amount of gaming done yesterday! It’s not like I’m going to let a few little problems stop me, eh?

To start it off Satia (the dirge) is now level 79 and 40% into it! This will mark my 8th level 80 I believe. I already have an 80: Coercer, Illusionist (x2), Templar, Warden, Troubador, and Mystic. The 50% bonus experience for the (US) holiday weekend has been nice in helping me along, plus I had a few smaller experience boosting potions, and I mentored with my mystic. In order to get that bit of experience the guild and I headed to Crypt of Agony, Maidens Chamber, Vaults of Eternal Sleep, as well as Unrest and Shard of Fear. Oh, lets not forget Chelsith too!

Crypt of Agony, Madiens, and Vaults were slightly disappointing as none of them dropped a single item that any of us were searching for – however Ultann managed to get his choker from Unrest finally, and Wpus managed to get his ring from Chelsith (you know the one that procs a huge aoe when a mob dies). Hamal (Kasul) also inched his way closer to 72 and gained a lot of achievement points from the instances, so that was good for him.

At 79 my little dirge had a lot of gear waiting for her, she can wear some new weapons and her new gi and a handful of other random items. I believe I have a few shards saved up so at level 80 she can get a piece or two of void gear (T1) until I can farm some shards on her. She’s still quite far behind in achievements, but is almost at 100 which is better then some of my characters (like the illusionist, lol). Of course this character isn’t even 80 yet and I’m already debating who to level up next, probably the paladin and then who knows, I may just create something new. I only have three characters on my 2nd account, so there’s lots of room over there still. Maybe a pure dps class of some sort. Suggestions?

Aside from that, I’m expecting a fairly quiet weekend. Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday, and their holiday Monday (for those who have it off). Chances are I’ll be some where in Norrath.