EQ2 – Page 117 – A Pixel Nomad

Everyone into the Pool

Screen shot is myself and three guild mates splashing around in a froglok pool that I added to the guild hall yesterday. The kerran is Craw, halfling is Egon, and the mouse is Wpus with his best friend Smiley watching from the back. Center is my little defiler who managed to ding 78 last night – and – brought her Tupta faction high enough to purchase the recipe book that allowed me to craft such a fancy little pool. I really do love those craft books.

Just so people don’t think I’ve forgotten, I do still have big news in the works. Town Crier even mentioned it which surprised me (and flustered me even more). I haven’t wanted to release too many details yet in case I jinx it and it doesn’t end up working out. I should find out the remainder of the details either today or tomorrow – the suspense has been causing many a restless night and inane ramblings to my close friends to say the least.

Wpus wanted to work on his conjuror epic a little bit last night and had very little left to go. I am always eager to get the group killed help out so off we headed as a duo to Sebilis. We actually made it quite far in our ‘barely a group’ group and when Craw (bruiser) had some spare time he came to help as well. The update was from researchers, though we did try the dreadmages in the blacksmith area first. Update obtained, that was the end of my evening.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what a wonderful group of friends I have in game. How understanding they can be, how they listen (and how I hope they can say the same about me) and the entire support network. I’m so thankful every day that I have been given the opportunities in my life that I have, and I really appreciate what everyone has done for me.

I do have two smaller projects on the go (or just starting off I suppose) that I’ll probably write about here as time goes on. We’ll just have to see where they go!

See you in Norrath!

Not Quite There Yet

I know I’ve been slacking on my defiler. She’s been level 77 for a little while now, and I haven’t felt “the push” to get her to 80. I’ve mentioned numerous times here how I hate the quest grind and it’s pretty safe to assume it’s because I play a healer class. I didn’t mind it quite so much on the illusionist, coercer, or troubador/dirge. I dislike it immensely on the warden, templar, and now defiler. It makes me long for the hybrid healer of Vanguard, where unless you’re putting out damage you can’t heal effectively. Sure, you’re not going to be out dps’ing the classes that are meant to do so but you’ll certainly hold your own.

I did manage to explore a little more of the Moors. I did the crafting faction chain of quests, trying to edge myself closer to the netural line in order to purchase recipes. It was a fair amount of experience, and along the way the defiler also reached level 70 tailor. Sweet!

Later on in the evening the guild gathered and decided we should all do the Daily Double (DD on Najena, MoTD on Kithicor) which was Najena’s in Lavastorm. I’d only been there once before, mentored, and it didn’t go too badly but it wasn’t easy either. The zone starts with a cut scene which is very awesome, and you have to work your way down a spiral ramp and unlock each floor.

We died. A lot. It was great though, learning to play with one another. The group consisted of an 80 fury, shadowknight, bruiser, conjuror, and necromancer, along with myself (defiler) at level 77. Looks like I can’t get those daily double quests until level 79, but that’s alright. We did manage (after a lot of deaths, I was on my 2nd special repair kit that repaired me to full) to get all the way to the final named. You know the one that requires a million mobs to all be tanked at once?

I couldn’t remember if my group had done anything special the last time we were there except to tank them all, kill the genie type first. Last night things didn’t work out quite that smooth. I still had a lot of fun though, even when we had to leave the final named up. That’s two shards added to my collection, well on my way to getting the outfits I need.

On that same note, since my tailor hit level 70 it also meant she could scribe her void armor recipe books. It’s nice to be able to make the armor for myself, and I’m really looking forward to it. I did make my first piece for Wpus yesterday, a brand new pair of summoner shoes.

I want to give a big hug and /wave to ‘Doomcookie‘ who commented on the Everfrost screenies I had posted in an older article. Another EF screenie at the top of this post just for her, really do love that zone.

Moors of Ykesha and Faction Recipes (finally!)

I managed to do it – finally. On at least one character. I figure now that one character has managed to get this far, it should be easy to get the rest of what I want, right?

Of course I’m talking about housing items. In specific, the TSO faction recipes that come from one of the three main factions in the Moors of Ykesha. Still no idea what I’m talking about? Take a look here on EQ2 Traders and then prepare to drool. You need to be at neutral faction (0) in order to purchase these recipe books. The recipes themselves are level 65, thankfully my tailor is level 69 and was able to scribe them. They use the general craft skills that everyone has, so there’s no worries about having to be a carpenter or woodworker or any other particular class in order to make use of them.

I spent the better part of the evening discussing when GU52 would be implemented (more like arguing), and crafting the new pretties and then wondering where I could stash them all. They really are nice. I can’t help it, I’m one of those people who just loves me some house items.

The quests in the Moors were not too bad, either. I FINALLY learned Tik Tok. First thing I wanted to do was head to Steamfont and find out what all of the clockwork have been screaming at me. I’ve been waiting for this language since release. I also finished the other two languages within the zone, and worked on doing the first hub of quests along with resident conjuror Wpus. The defiler is inching closer to level 78, right now she’s about 60% into her level. While I’m not particularly fond of quest grinding, it’s not as painful as doing RoK quest grinding for the 7th time.

Short term goals are to get enough faction with the other two Moors residents to purchase their craft books as well. In specific, Grobb. The grey stone items are wonderful and I can see so many possibilities with them. I’d like to build a cave of sorts surrounding the guild forge, and I have a few other ideas floating around.

I also got a very odd tell about joining a raid guild yesterday. Not that I’m complaining at all. The odd part was not getting the tell to begin with, but the fact that it was asking about my 77 defiler. The majority of guilds that I know who raid want someone at least level 80. In fact on the Kithicor server alone I rarely hear anyone advertise their group is looking for more unless it’s followed by “must have mythical” or “must not suck”. Thankfully selective reading allows me to completely ignore those calls for help.

Hopefully I can get a few more HQ under my belt, and earn some more status. Other then that, things in game have been pretty slow since I’ve had to concentrate on real life (ugh!) for a little. Hope everyone else is having a great start to the week, no matter where you are!

Heritage Quests Galore, and Crafting

The screen shot above is taken in the Sarnak starter town, my baby dirge getting a few levels. Yes, for some reason the Sarnak have decided to paint themselves with glow in the dark paint, and the trees have turned a metallic blue, and other various ‘issues’. The problem is that I don’t have the faintest idea what is wrong on my end. I’m using a nvidia 8800 and I have up to date drivers. I turned the fans up from their default position to 85% and still have the issue. I thought perhaps Xfire was causing something to go out of wack but that wasn’t it either. I’m not a computer guru (anyone who knows me is well aware of this) so I’ve been trying to come up with solutions on my own — and it’s not working. It only happens in EQ2, every other game I play is just fine. It’s also typically after a length of time has passed. Windowing out of the game and dropping to desktop then entering game again fixes it without shutting down the game or my computer though that probably means I’m breaking it even more.

This weekend the little guild I belong to on Kithicor reached level 43, they’ve really been doing a fantastic job. After I finished off the Greater Lightstone, Wpus and I decided to do Foomby’s Stolen Goods. This HQ is obtained in Enchanted Lands, and is really quick and easy even at appropriate level. Afterwards Wpus suggested we do The Screaming Mace, the drop to start this quest is in the Feerrott, and we had to camp Agony for a little while to get it to drop for both of us. Then there was a matter of camping each of the named required. A few hours later we were sporting our shiny new mace and the guild was enjoying the new status.

It wasn’t finished after that though! It was time to head to Feerrott again and work on the Stein, where you have to kill a few bouncers. Aside from a LOT of zoning (To East Freeport, back to the zone, back to EFP, back to the zone, and so on and so forth) it was pretty easy to complete. Of course, we’re also a good 20-30 levels higher then the recommended levels. I guess that may have something to do with it.

Afterwards I managed to get a few crafting levels on both the carpenter (33!) and the tailor (69!) which was great. Guild was bustling, and people were chatty. I had a lot of fun.

There’s been a lot of talk about the changes that will be coming in the next GU and I’m still eagerly awaiting those. You really can’t judge how something is going to impact your class until it happens and it’s on the live servers. Test server is great, but things can easily change before they get pushed to live (which is exactly the point). I know the whole hate transfer scenario is one that keeps getting talked about, every time I log into the 70-79 channels that’s all anyone is mentioning.

Anyone else excited? Or is it more of a wait and we’ll see type feeling?

Time for a Heritage Quest

One of the common things that happens when I power level a character is that they get to level 70 or so and have not completed a single Heritage Quest. I absolutely love these quests, it doesn’t matter which one it is or how long (or short) it is to complete them. I love them because the items can turn into house items if you’re not going to wear them, and I love them because the guild status is something everyone can take advantage of.

So as I looked at the baby coercer (no longer quite a baby any more hovering just past level 67) I decided to do return of the light. It’s one of the lowest level HQ there are (the lowest being the Dwarven quest in Greater Faydark). The quest has been tweaked and changed over the years. What once used to require an access quest (The Stronghold) now just needs you to crouch down and talk to an npc. What was once hours some times of camping, is now constant mobs that are always up.

I actually don’t mind the changes though for one good reason. Because this is such a low level HQ, it gives new players (and lowbies) a chance to enjoy their first before they have to settle into some long tedious grind. Now, don’t get me wrong here. Sure, it’s great to have all of the named up but the Stronghold instance at the end is still difficult when you do it of level. Getting rushed by huge groups encounters of orcs is not always the most fun thing in the world to do.

Since I had out leveled the content the entire quest from start to finish only took a few minutes and I was rewarded with a LOT of achievement which was fantastic. The guild earned some status, and I had fun. Wpus (a resident conjuror) was kind enough to call me to the locations I needed in between me running back and forth from the NPC just south of the crossroads.

I’ve been running Shard of Hate in the mornings as well with some friends on Najena – my 71 paladin was lucky enough to get herself the bloodthirsty choker. Since she can heal herself, I’m not too concerned about it draining health away. I also managed to get her a few 2h weapons within the zone, new shoulders, a belt, a few charm slot items. I love this instance and when you’re level 80 it’s not nearly as painful.

Hope everyone has been having a lot of fun, no matter what you’re up to!