Tag: EQ

Yesterday was April Fools, and EverQuest wasn’t about to be left behind. You may remember these cute fluffy bunnies (although they now have updated models) from the Velious era prank – but if you were not around at that time, well. NPC, mobs, and players had the chance to magically transform into these fuzzy critters as they adventured (and hung around in zones) throughout the day yesterday. While it wasn’t a big surprise (EverQuest and EverQuest II are known for pulling ‘pranks’ on this day) it was not exactly met by robust cheers in channels.

See, when a quest npc happens to be transformed into a bunny they no longer respond to player hails. This left a LOT of very angry players. Had those players calmed down for a few minutes and asked, or used /motd, they would have discovered that there is a simple work around to hail the quest mobs. You could /say Dark_bunny (the name of your NPC) proceed (or whatever your quest trigger text is) and they would have answered back appropriately. I didn’t let the trick stop me from completing my Feerrott tasks (and obtaining yet another trophy) and my enchanter also hit level 89 along the way – I had her visit the bunny who was giving out the spell task and made a macro to obtain the quest.

Again, people were incredibly angry. Some threatened to close their accounts, others said that they didn’t pay for this event so they did not want it in game. Honestly, I think that while it was poorly implemented, it wasn’t a bad idea – and with the 205 SOE layoffs casting a shadow on the games we play I was thankful they still did anything at all. For one day things were hectic and I doubt very much that those players calling for firings have ever done their job perfectly 100% of the time either.

This doesn’t exactly excuse the fact that it was poorly implemented and probably could have (should have) been removed early – but I still don’t understand why for this one day players were calling for blood (almost literally, and in some cases they were calling for bunny blood quite literally).

I also spent some time broadcasting Dragons Dragons Dragons last night – thank you those who tuned in! I’ll be doing more livestreams in the future of whatever game I happen to be playing at the time. Hoping to get some Vanguard in there before too long actually.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself! I’ll see you in Norrath.

Yesterday after some discussion on twitter I decided that I would attempt to Livestream some of my game playing – in specific my exploration in EverQuest. Above you can find a link to one of the broadcasts I did where I camped for my enchanter 1.0 piece in City of Mist and then headed to Plane of Fear. It was a pretty boring camp but thanks to some good friends keeping me company in the Livestream channel I seemed to come up with plenty to talk about.

Today I’ve decided to share one of the anniversary tasks with viewers, Dragons, Dragons, Dragons. This task sends players back in time to defeat the dragons of Norrath, starting with Vox and Nagafen and working your way up. If you’re interested in RSVP’ing so you get a reminder you can check out my livestream channel – there are also two other quick broadcasts I did to test out the equipment. Last night I had intentions of broadcasting some Vanguard, but then I got carried away with crafting in EverQuest so that sort of fell through. I do plan on broadcasting more games that I’m playing although I can’t guarantee that I’ll actually speak during all of them there will at least be some wonderful in-game music to listen to.

I hope this along with my youtube videos gives a little indication of why I love the games I play. They’re simply fun.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself! I’ll see you in Norrath (and Telon, and anywhere else I wander).

If you believe everything you hear on channels, House of Thule has been met with mixed reviews. Personally I really love this expansion but it’s because of a few key components that not everyone appreciates. Number one after having taken a long  break from the game I found it very easy to get relatively caught up as long as I was level 80+ due to the mote gear vendor. While not everyone returning will know this – there is a vendor in the Feerrott who sells ‘mote gear’ and basically using a new currency (dream motes) will allow you to purchase gear in tiers. Earning reputation will unlock higher levels of mote gear, and this currency (like all currency) can be purchased from players selling in the bazaar. Or you can earn it from doing tasks and missions. Because it’s the current currency, there’s a lot of it for sale and it’s much cheaper to use mote gear for the first little while then it is to purchase gear from the bazaar. Mote gear was a HUGE upgrade over my fabled planar gear and the gossamer stuff I was wearing so I was only too happy to find this vendor.

Spells in HoT level 86+ rank II are actually obtained by means of a quest much like they were in Gates of Discord with rune turn ins. The system has also been improved slightly. Number one you can pick and choose which spells you want to obtain instead of having to get them in order and number two the items used to obtain these spells are all tradeable between players and you can sell them / buy them in the bazaar (while the spells themselves are no trade). Another method of allowing returning players an easier time of catching up. While I am sad to see that spells are not dropping from mobs in this expansion it IS nice to know that I’m not missing any of them (unless I chose to raid and obtain Rk III spells).

The basics of the expansion are quite simple. There are a number of tasks you must do for progression (T1-T4) and in order to request these tasks you’ll have a number of quests to do for a number of NPC. The quests are quite lengthy but incredibly worth it. You earn not only experience and the ability to request the tasks on your own, but there are also trophies that are rewards (as well as achievements) that can be placed in your home and grant extra buffs to players (if you’ve got your trophies running, they use the tribute system). Last night I finished off the series in House of Thule itself, and gained a trophy that allows me to raise my max str. as well as my actual str. While not incredibly useful to my enchanter it’s just one of many trophies and I look forward to obtaining the rest of them. Plus these trophies are house items – and hey who doesn’t love a good house item.

If it were not for the fact that I am a returning player I am not sure if I’d enjoy the expansion as much as I am. Of course the housing would have me transfixed (how could it not) but the progression may be too ‘easy’ if I were on par with everyone else. As it is I have less then 300 aa (lots of players have over 5,000 now) and since I’ve returned I’ve leveled not only my necromancer to 90, but the enchanter to 87, and a boxed bard to 76. On that same note if everything were incredibly difficult I wouldn’t necessarily have stuck around either, so perhaps this is a good compromise. That’s also not saying that everything is easy, it’s certainly not. Tier 4 is incredibly difficult, and a lot of the missions you request have little quirks that make them even harder. Thankfully I’ve been playing with a few friends who make all of this much easier and a LOT more fun.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself! I’ll see you in Norrath.

Alts always seem to cause me the most joy and the most grief in every game I play. I enjoy working on them, but every second I play an alt is a second I’m not playing my main – whoever that is at the time. My main rises and falls as often as the sun or moon and it took me a long time to come to grips with the fact that it’s simply how I have decided to game. I used to get upset with myself for being ‘behind’ the curve and the conversation of “if I had only focused on one character” comes up more often then I’d like to admit.

The dilemma: I love my necromancer, but she’s a fairly new character in creation. I moved from Luclin to Drinal to play with friends and had no characters there so she was created. While I love the character because she is more ‘uber’ then my others I also the shortest history with her. She is well geared, has her epic 2.0, over 300 aa (finally), 300 tailor, etc. My old main used to be my enchanter who I have huge history with. However she’s well behind the times in almost every aspect. I did spend a bunch of time yesterday updating her gear and she no longer sucks quite as much as before, but she was mid-way through her 1.0 and while she does have 300 in jewel crafting, she has only reached 200 in the rest of the crafts. The other problem is that enchanters sort of suck, game wise. In fact they are so rare and perhaps so un-needed that their levle 76 aura is actually an xp bonus (I kid you not) for anyone who groups with them. 5% for rank 1, 7% for rank II and 9% for rank III.

What’s a girl to do? Stick with the better geared-well-created character or attempt to make up for years of neglect on the character with history. Something tells me I may be giving this scenario too much thought.

The dilemma: I have two active EQ accounts and I’d REALLY like to box more consistently, but during my last phase of playing I moved all of the characters from account B over to account A thinking I either 1. wouldn’t be playing any more or 2. wouldn’t be boxing any more. I regret the decision now but what’s done is done and I don’t want to pay $25 to move the characters back. So my only option is to start over on my 2nd account with fresh characters. What to create is always an issue for me. I THINK I have settled on a druid – the same druid that I moved off of the account initially. Providing nice backup heals, transportation, and group buffs I think that the druid would be a great match no matter who I am playing off of my main account. However. I also have a 50 bard that I wouldn’t mind playing, a little more difficult to box with the selection of casters from my main account but not impossible. Offering fantastic methods to pull and great group buffs. Argh the choices!

The dilemma: Housing! How could I have a complex choice to make in housing? Well this one is quite simple. I just am not sure what sort of house I want to design. Do I want to build from scratch like some of the other creations out there I have seen or should I stick with the simple “this is a house, this is a yard” feature that any player can create by default. From the start I wanted to re-create my EQ2 Norrathian Museum – however, a LOT of items within EQ are simply not able to be placed even though they may be ancient relics of days gone by. The point to my museum is of course to show off objects that perhaps not everyone has seen or collects. In EQ this includes every single weapon in game, but not a lot of other bits. I don’t really want a museum filled with weapons.

There you have it, my decisions of this morning. Have any suggestions? Feel free to let me know!

Be sure to check out Scarybooster’s blog this week (well, all the time actually, it’s a great read) for DAW: Developer Appreciation Week. Or, why not do one better and participate in the event and show your love for game developers. With so much negativity floating around the gaming community it’s always a refreshing break to show a little love.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself, I’ll see you in Norrath!