Tag: EQ2

Earlier this week I mentioned that I had started playing EQ2 again on a whim (that’s how it starts). I decided to dust off my 96 defiler and work on some older quests. I never completed the previous expansion (Altar of Malice) and while I did cave and buy their newest expansion (Terrors of Thalumbra) I wasn’t quite ready to dive back into things. The point of this rambling being that I’ve missed a lot of changes over the years and had no idea where to start. Video games do a bad job at telling you what has changed since last you played. Sure, you could try to go to their web site and find a list of all the patch notes, but it’s not going to explain things in depth because patch notes are meant for people who are actively playing, and it’s a lot of information to take in at once. Places that do present to you the changes in a fantastic way are typically fan sites.

I love fan sites. I think they are the bread and butter of any game, and the communities that surround them are amazing. They can include any professional or non-professional site that is run by – you guessed it, a fan. One of my favourites for EQ2 happens to be EQ2wire which includes the latest changes along with author commentary. I don’t always agree, but I don’t always have to. The site itself is good, the owners work hard at it and have a passion that shows through. My absolute favourite part of their ‘Wire Network’ though is of course the u.eq2wire.com portion. This lets me take an in-depth look at my characters, the quests they’ve completed, what major quest chains I have yet to begin, what gear I’m wearing, adornments, and basically everything that I could ever want to know – and what’s even better is that I can search for other characters. Something I’ve done in the past when I was curious about a specific build someone may have been using.

I think it’s important to show these types of sites that you support them, that you enjoy what they do. All too often you start using a site only to have the creator take it down for xyz reason, and then those resources are lost forever. Vanguard was a fantastic example of this happening and it was always sad when a fan site vanished.

Other EQ2 sites I absolutely love and use any time I’m playing include:

• EQ2Traders
• EQ2Furniture 
• EQ2 Wiki

Of course there are a few blogs here and there that still talk about EQ2 as well, like my friend Bhagpuss. I used to really enjoy ZAM as well, but the network has since let go of all my favourite people which sucks because they were amazing and passionate. Don’t forget to support that small fan site that you use, even if it’s just a little notice to the authors that you appreciate their work. It does make a difference.

 

 

 

 

Some people really like managing money, even in video games. Me? I worry enough about money concerns in my day to day life, when it comes to video games keeping track of what I can afford and what I have to hold back on is something I rarely devote any time to. As games age of course inflation happens. People who have been around for a while earn more money, quest rewards are greater, etc.

The economy was already pretty established when I started playing EverQuest, but since I started EverQuest 2 when it released I was able to keep up with the economy changes pretty well. Until I took my breaks, of course. Yesterday when I was leveling up my brand new zerker I was watching an action going on – and the bids were over 30,000 plat for a single item. There’s one major reason that stands out for me as one of the causes for this increase. Loyalty tokens used to reward 75p for 5 tokens, and a subscriber would get 2 tokens every day if they completed the daily objectives. That reward has been changed to 500 plat, in itself not an enormous change since it affects everyone – but the 12 year veteran reward, well that’s 375 tokens. That’s a lot of plat if you decide to spend your tokens on coin bags.

It’s no surprise that I’m seeing things for sale on the broker for hundreds of thousands of plat.

It’s comfortable to be back in EQ2. I’m even debating picking up their latest expansion even though I haven’t completed the previous one yet. Then of course there’s the decision of who to play. My current characters include (feel free to friend):

• Stargrace – 96 defiler / 100 tailor
• Milay – 10 berserker
• Minxes – 91 ranger / 95 armorer
• Petites – 95 inquisitor / 95 jeweler
• Jacquotte – 95 swashbuckler / 95 weaponsmith
• Arysh – 91 warden / 95 woodworker
• Seduit – 95 illusionist / 95 provisioner
• Ellithia – 95 dirge / 95 alchemist
• Ishbel – 95 coercer / 95 carpenter
• Seduisant – 95 shadowknight / 95 sage

All located on the Antonia Bayle server. I’m debating between the dirge, coercer, shadowknight, and defiler because those are my preferred classes, but I’m much more likely to just play whoever interests me in the heat of the moment. On that note, I managed to ding the guild 79, too. That’s a huge accomplishment considering I’m the only one active in the guild, and we were only ever a guild of three people to begin with. Took some time, of course, but I’m still really glad.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

The coercer is level 28 now, but it was a difficult run. I hadn’t earned very much vitality last night so even though my UI told me I had enough to make it to the next level it ended up running out about 70% of the way through my level. I decided instead of grinding without vitality (it really is the slowest thing ever at 0.2% per kill) that I would work on uncovering the rest of Thundering Steppes. When that was completed I headed back to Freeport to check out the market and pick up a shiny collection or two that I hadn’t completed yet in the hopes that I could earn the last bit I needed. That ended up being no problem at all, and I found myself 16% of the way into level 28. Shinies are lovely, but they’re also very expensive because lets face it I’m certainly not the only person doing these collections. As the player base rises up through their own levels and populates the zones, the collections get cheaper (because so many people are harvesting them and already have the pieces they need).

I had been looking forward to working on my carpenter skill a bit, but at the moment writs are broken and they’re not rewarding any coin – which wouldn’t be such a big deal except that it includes the cost of fuel not being returned. Fuel gets expensive. It could be that this change is intended in an effort to offset the few quests players were abusing to rack up lots of coin, but it punishes those who were not making use of those systems and who were only trying to level up their professions or guilds. Instead of working on my already-established crafters I plan on leveling up a few more to 10, since you don’t get any writs at all until 15+ and you don’t get rush order writs until 20. Next on the list is my illusionist who is going to be a provisioner. I go through a lot of food and drink (since I’m online a lot, it’s no real surprise) and I don’t like having to buy it all of the time. Plus it’s just a handy craft to have.

One thing I have really enjoyed since playing on the progression server is the fact that there are no guild halls, so everyone is out in the open. The cities are busy, ALL cities are busy. I see people everywhere and I love it. That’s what was missing for me in the older versions, and I’ve said it a few times now – games need a central location for players to gather and meet up. It’s important that we “see” others around. It makes the world feel more robust and populated, which is a great thing.

Have any special plans for EQ2 (or any other game you may be playing) this weekend? Let me know in comments, and happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

 

Me and Mooshga, we go way back. Hanging out by the city of Freeport gates, this lady works tirelessly to cook awesome food and drink for players. Help her out enough and you’ll be rewarded with coin, experience, food, drink, and in the end you’ll become her very best friend and earn yourself a title. The quests start at around level 10, and you’re required to head to Dog Pond to kill some carrion hounds, which will then be made into jerky. Yum. In total there are 9 quests to her chain, leading from level 10 to 20 (and eventually leading you into Nektulos Forest). I love these quests and I typically end up doing them on all of my Freeport characters just for the Nostalgia factor. Looking around the Commonlands it appears that I’m not the only one who enjoys the quests either.

• Seafood Surprise
• Crack Pot
• Whisp-er Sweet Nothings
• Rhino-rific
• O’ Mugwump Where Art Thou?
• Overlord’s Omelet
• Pachyderm Punch
• Mushroom Madness

Coercer is sitting comfortably at level 26, which I’m hoping will mean 27 later on this evening. I also inched towards 24 carpenter, but wanted to earn some vitality first. Leveling without vitality is incredibly slow. While I was earning vitality on my main I played the alts, my shadowknight actually found a level 6 master spell in Darklight Woods! I ended the day at level 7 on that character, and level 10 alchemist. My wizard is going to be my sage, and she also reached level 10. If you’re wondering why you don’t have vitality when you created your characters some time ago, remember that you need to be level 4 before vitality shows up. You DO still earn it even though you can’t technically see it. That means when you reach level 4 things should start to fly by (until you’re out of vitality, of course). The guild is almost level 3 which means (of course) that I have a very long way to go, especially in my guild of one. If you’re looking for a coercer to group up over the weekend feel free to give me a nudge! You can find me in-game as Stargrace, or just do a search for ‘Combat Wombat’ (my guild).

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

In most MMOs, the ‘goal’ is progression. Whether it’s progress in a story line, a character, or progressing a world or map, it’s there. What actually counts as progression differs person to person. A lot of us set progression ‘goals’ in games, things we’d like to see, do, or accomplish. It’s no different for me in EQ2, and I’m having a lot of fun making up my own rules as far as progression goes. Most of them involve crafting. I added my 8 alts + main to my guild, and they’re slowly all reaching level 10 in their crafting profession. I don’t imagine I’ll level all of them in their adventuring class, but crafting is something that I can easily do and find incredibly relaxing.

With that being said, not all of my goals are for crafting. My ‘goal’ for my main character (that would be Stargrace, my coercer) is to try to earn at least 1 level a day. When it becomes too difficult to earn that 1 level I’ll try to lower it to 50% experience per day. That way I don’t feel incredibly pressured to keep up with everyone else who is leveling, but nor do I feel as though I am falling far behind. It does put me slightly behind the curve in the fact that every 30 days the vote for a new expansion is supposed to pop up, but I’m hoping most of the server votes no, and we unlock every 90 days instead. 30 just seems way too short a time to blow through an entire expansion.

Then there are my smaller goals. Doing dungeons, heritage quests, getting achievements. Things that don’t necessarily mean progress in ‘typical’ terms, but are a form of progression for me. Completing shiny collections, being on the lookout for player-written books. Maybe I’ll re-create my library. My goals change from game to game  – but only some of them. Others remain exactly the same (such as leveling).

Do you need progression in a game in order to enjoy it? What forms of progression do you enjoy? Is it different for every game? Let me know below in comments and as always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.