Tag: EQ2

 

Playing around with Photoshop and screen shots (there are three screenies incorporated here)… too much fun

So I decided to kick back and relax yesterday, spending most of my time on Qutey, the monk. She’s completed 310 quests or so now I believe, hit level 28, and 28aa. 28 carpenter as well, which is always nice. I’ve come to the conclusion (though I am not the only one) that Thundering Steppes quests suck. Yes that’s right I said the S word. The rewards are barely worth it, the mobs are scattered all over and are far too rare especially if you don’t have track. Of course as is the way with quests, I had to kill 16 hawks. Barely saw any, struggled for a few hours hunting them down, once I’d completed the quest there were hawks everywhere. Bah.

The new level meant a new feign death though, and that was a welcome upgrade. Since I was only wandering around killing solo encounter mobs I turned combat experience back on for the majority of my travels, not that it netted me much. I’d like to get to 32 though, means a new set of gear and some new pretty weapons. I have a good chunk of quests to complete in TS before I wander anywhere else, at least the majority of the rewards are tradeable, and my transmuter’s been having a lot of fun ripping things apart.

Other then that, things are quiet. Last night in guild we had myself, Cordanim, Calreth, Gothun, Shadowgeist, and Lader all on at once, it was odd. I haven’t heard from Kilanna in a few days, hope everything is going well down at her end of the world. TK is almost level 24, the writs keep coming (maybe that’s what I’ll do today instead of slogging around on the baby monk, who knows). I’m excited about RoK, and hoping to get into the beta, we’ll see how it goes!

 

I love the Bristlebane pet, Meatbeast from Shimmering Citadel

Well, there was no time for posts this weekend, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t active in game. It was my Mom’s birthday so I headed to my folks place on Sunday, and of course did all of the typical household things on Saturday. I switched Goudia from Rallos to Bristlebane and the cloak is quite impressive. In fact it sort of puts the other deity cloaks to shame, as far as reward goes. I think I completed a heritage quest, Stein of Moggok, but it was lost in the amazing spam of status from both Calreth and Gothun, who have been working their way through our guild levels. Torrent Knights is almost 24, at 25 we get to add a new design to our guild cloak, as well as unlocking a few more things from the status merchant, always a good thing.

After some heavy contemplation, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just not a raider. I felt almost obligated to raid because I’m level 70 and know my characters fairly well — but that’s not how I enjoy the game. I have far more fun piddling around on a level 20 character doing a quest I’ve never done before or exploring an area that I glimpsed over long ago, then any end game raid or instance. Maybe it’s because I find the game slightly stale, it’s been over 18 months since we’ve had a level increase. But the game doesn’t bore me – so I’ve decided it must just be my play style. I’m much more comfortable crafting and chattering then traipsing around for hours on end in Emerald Halls. Even if I am “good” enough or know my class well enough, it’s just simply not fun to me.

I’ve been having fun leveling the coercer lately. She’s almost 47 and that’s when she can finally use her m1 of dominate. I’m excited about it. It’s been a while since I’ve played a coercer, though the pain from leveling up the last one still throbs from time to time. The master charms really do make a large difference. I’ve also geared her up finally, and moved her from Neriak to Freeport, to escape the lag monster.

The wizard that I made is sitting at 22 (un-geared) and I’m sure I’ll make some items for her before too long and begin questing. My favorite by far is still the monk (though I was contemplating a bruiser) who hit 28 carpenter. I haven’t heard from Kilanna much this week, but I’m sure she’s doing wonderful. Cordanim poked in last night so he’s back from his business trip and in game (where he should be!).

I finally found my photoshop CS2 CD (ok, ok, I “found” it over at my folks place, dad graciously gave it to me) and I’m going to be delving into manipulations hopefully over time. I’d like to be able to work on my screen shots and produce some art work from them. The uh, cow image above is the first thing I’ve done with photoshop in about two years. If anyone has links to some tutorials please feel free to email them to me! I have found a few on the Eq2 forums, but I’d love more. Everything I’m trying to do is just self taught. It was nice to re-install the drivers to my wacom tablet (Mine? I actually mean Shadowgeist’) this morning now if only the cat would stop trying to chew on it…….

 

Darcyle finding out first hand what the Avatar of Mischief has been up to

Since Bristlebane is live on servers, it’s only natural to assume that his avatar would be as well. Wandering through various nightbloods I stepped onto what appeared to be a huge mass of fur. Little did I know it was just ONE TOE of this massive halfling. He stands pretty dang tall, and on my server at least he’s yet to fall. Looks like the top end raid guilds are going to have their hands full.

I managed to do an unrest group early this morning with Goudia, she was still hunting her class hat and breastplate. I say was because she managed to (finally) get the hat to drop. Now she’s got her set bonus (wearing her feather hat for graphics) and just needs the chest piece for a full complete set. The only one of my characters to have their full set in fact. Pants and gloves are such a pain to obtain unless you have a very steady group of adventurers. Isn’t that everyone’s dream anyhow in an MMO? To have a constant steady group of (fun) people to wander the lands of Norrath? I know it’s not very typical that everyone is on at the same time, but I think that’s what we all look for.

Since the GU, my tome quest starters now drop from grey mobs. I am of course ecstatic over this and I’ll be working to get all of the ones I’m missing. I know there are nine in Obelisk, at least one in Blackburrow, two in Rivervale, and a few in Cazic-Thul as well. It’s going to be great working on these book quests and filling my home.

On a side note, I got some very pretty flowers yesterday from Bloodpact that smell like strawberries. Hopefully the cat doesn’t decide to eat them or knock over the container that I’ve got them propped up in. My mom’s birthday is this weekend, so I’ll be (hopefully, if she’s home) heading to my folks place this weekend to see how she’s doing.

I also did a very nice Obelisk of Blight group this morning, I didn’t need anything from the zone (except maybe that ring that refuses to ever drop for me, I’ve never seen it drop not even once) but it was still fun to run through, I did that with Stargrace. The illusionist doesn’t get out much but is still a lot of fun for me to play.

OH as another change that I didn’t even notice yesterday — they removed the rooted component to my troubadors precision of the maestro spell! I wouldn’t have even noticed were it not for the fact that I attempted to move as I cast it. The spell now dazes me, which means I can’t auto attack. I don’t anyhow with it, since it’s a proc that sets off on hostile spells. I adore the change, it was fantastic to learn. I’d typically toggle the spell off so I could run after my group that was charging ahead, and now I can simply keep up.

I was just mentioning in my post yesterday, that I thought we needed more interaction between Guides > Players.  Especially on role play preferred servers – but not limited to them. Low and behold after I do my daily reading of blogs, Cuppycake says the same thing, in a post about Roleplaying Barriers.

3.  I don’t see any game-related benefit to roleplaying.

There are indeed no tangible rewards for roleplaying within games anymore.  The GMs hardly even interact with roleplayers in games anymore.  This reminds me of the EQ1 Legends server, in which daily there would be GM events ran for the players.   Sometimes people would actually roleplay, and the GMs would roleplay back.  That was FUN.  Perhaps we need more GM or player run events with tangible rewards.

 

Stargrace, talking to the bard in preparation of collecting (another) 50 statues

So GU38 went live yesterday, for complete notes you can look here. For my own personal look on them, well.

I like the idea of “fluff” armor slots. I like to be able to wear my own thing, and look how I want to look. I don’t like how plate classes gain the most benefit from this new change because they can wear plate, chain, and cloth. Where cloth wearers are stuck wearing only cloth (though, there is some cloth that looks like plate, from the bloodline vendors I do believe). Of course it has a few down sides. For example people are out walking around in their Halloween masks. No problem with that from my perspective though. Almost everyone who wears robes is wearing the Barristers robe, since it’s black, and one of the few that is (and very easy to obtain because it’s quested). I’m looking for a specific hat that drops in Kaladim, and is wearable by all fighters, priests, and scouts, and it’s got the monk rice bowl graphic. Of course it’s a semi-rare drop and I’ll probably be camping it for weeks if I get serious about wanting it, but we’ll see how it goes.

In GU38 what they forgot to mention, was that the level 35 Bloodline spells got upgrades. But not for everyone. Heh. Crusaders, Bards, Mages, and Priests (minus mystics, who get no love) all now have a level 53 upgrade to their spells. I had fun making numerous sage and alchemist combines last night satisfying my own guild and characters as well as a few people from channels who were searching for the spells.

Bristlebane has also returned. Hordes of people ran towards Enchanted Lands to begin the new quests. The cloak, is too over powered in my opinion. For example, you can get a card reward that gives you 10 minutes of 100% experience bonus. Now, I know, 10 minutes isn’t long, right? Well, it still impacts your game. The cards can be held onto until RoK goes live. They are lore, so you can’t horde a whole lot of them, but it still seems slightly unfair.

Another change that wasn’t announced – if someone has already cast a rez, you will get a message as you try to cast yours. Which is great.  I hate unannounced changes, but it’s fun to figure them out.

The weapon changes did not really affect me, as I don’t play a scout who is big on melee damage. I know some people are now in love with their wurmslayers, and a few other weapons of choice. What I did like about the change was that the previous 1h weapon from Acada, a dagger, with +10 spell dmg on it, is now on Goudia, with +95 power and +26 int, it’s a great weapon that I can duel wield (since I don’t care about the low damage).

So, aside from the update. I decided to work on SoD on two more characters. Why? Because uh, not sure why. I decided I needed some goals in game. I wanted to get SoD and Claymore done on at least one more character. I chose Stargrace and Misako to start with, but after boxing the whole Tunarian section of the quest I decided maybe I should go with Stargrace and Dasie. See, Dasie already has her SoD. That saves me from having to box or find two groups going through the named in Castle Mistmoore. A zone that I hate beyond all other zones. Dasie has also done her SoD already. She has her ring of the four winds, and of course I love playing a templar. Misako has none of those completed. She doesn’t even have to speak as a dragon finished yet, and I dread doing that.. for the sixth time.

So aside from those lofty goals, I’m working on my coercer a bit. I love the class, since Stargrace was one for the better part of her EQ2 played time. Mine is (now) sitting at level 43. Wearing level 1 gear. I’ll have to fix that up, in fact as soon as I post this I’ll get started with Misako making her gear, and Dasie making some jewelry. Finally managed to upgrade her spells as well.

Hopefully, everyone else’ gaming days are going well! If anyone has some suggestions on perhaps things I can do, to keep things fresh, as I’ve been flip flopping from character to character and really accomplishing nothing at all. I’d love for that to change.