EQ – Page 42 – A Pixel Nomad

Necromancers and Missions

I took a little break from gaming yesterday to play around with some more art pieces, learning (yet another) new program that I’m trying to get the hang of. I’m not that great at it yet, it’s a lot more complicated then the previous one I was using, but the images also come out a lot nicer too (as shown above). I want to do an image with my rendition of my EQ necromancer – she’s Drakkin though and I’d like to add the scales / tattoos that cover her body (in red). There’s no post work on the image above, so it still needs a lot of work, but I decided to scrap it and start over again from scratch.

I did play for a brief bit last night, Ultann is still in the process of moving, so it was just Ninga and I. We decided to do some more Depths of Darkhollow missions, working on getting more of my spells (and a few other pretties in the process). We did one that involved slaying a lot of mushroom men, annoying ones that liked to path funny.

I also had two glowing runes to turn in (level 70 spells) as well as two greater runes on Kameeko – she finally obtained her level 69 mez and can take care of creatures up to level 73. The previous one only worked up to level 70, so this is a good thing for me. She earned three more aa, and I unlocked yet another tradeskill to 300 instead of 200. Not sur which it will be yet, as I haven’t crafted in quite some time and the guides on leveling on EQ traders are quite out dated.

The mission runs were fun and relatively painless, since we had to rely on my one mercenary healing us we just did the easy versions. Normally it would be no problem at all to do the hard missions, but alas my mercenary is not the most reliable of healers even on the best of days.

As we head into March I’m getting more and more excited about the 10th anniversary of EQ. I think it will be great to see old players return to check out the events (there’s no doubt in my mind that a few will at least), and maybe even drag a few new players out that way as well. We’ll just have to see!

As always, happy gaming no matter where you happen to find yourself, see you in Norrath!

Now That’s a Canon

Yesterday was a little bit of everything all done throughout the course of the day. I don’t remember what order it was done in, but it was all fun. I spent the late morning and early afternoon taking my brother out for pho here in the city, which was fantastic. After logging into EQ, Ninga decided I needed to hit level 72 on my necromancer so that she could purchase her newest pet from the vendor in Direwind. While every other spell may have a ‘level’ to it (ie: Rk, RkII, RkIII) the pets do not, so purchasing them from the vendor is perfectly ok. We hung out in the pit of Valdeholm, which is the level 70 hotzone, and it didn’t take too long before I’d managed to collect quite a few aa on Kameeko (the enchanter) and ding 72 on Minxes. Kameeko should be saving her aa to get useful helpful things for leveling up with the group – but instead she’s my crafting character, so after maxing out jewel crafting, I maxed out salvage, and then started putting points into unlocking other crafts above the 200 trivial mark (two to date). Once that is completed I’ll start putting my points into not failing those other crafts, and hopefully I’ll be working on getting them to 300. I haven’t decided if I am going to do the evolving trophies for all of the crafts or not – ideally I’d like to. We’ll see how that goes though. The trophies tend to be a pain in the arse, and they may just take up inventory space, not sure. I wish there were a way to combine all of the trophies into one big mega trophy. For all I know there may be.

After Valdeholm it was time to do something a little more interesting. Apparently there is a (I want to say ear?) piece that drops from a rare named in Gyrospire Zeka, and when Ultann had a few minutes to log in and play for a bit my little trio headed there.

Heading there ended up being an adventure in itself, you have to get shot out of a canon to start, exactly like you do in EQ2 except it doesn’t turn you into a barrel. You also get flung by a catapult shortly after that to get to specific destinations. It was a lot of fun and a brand new experience for me in EQ. After we hung out around the zone line watching a group continuously die in front of us, we learned a little more about the zone. Turns out, that zone is hard. They hit hard especially when your tank is a monk – it doesn’t matter if they have 1700+ aa or not. We still did amazingly well for what we had (three ouf us + one bot enchanter + one bot healer + one mercenary) but after failing to gain access to the third level of the tower we were climbing we decided to head off to do something else.

That ‘something else’ would be to do missions for Ultann to try to get him the fancy robe that I am wearing, not for him to wear because I know he has better – but the +400 mana clicky makes it worth while.

Speaking of which, a huge thank you to Ninga, who gave me a new clicky to add to my collection yesterday. It is not exactly fancy, just summons my pet to me, but it’s still pretty awesome none the less. Love my clickies.

It was a great weekend and I had a lot of fun. Hopefully everyone else had an amazing time as well, and this weekn is off to a wonderful start. See you in Norrath!

Not Running Away Quite Yet

Someone commented yesterday on my xfire numbers for EQ over the past week – and I had to laugh. I gently reminded them that in order to set up a trader in EQ you still have to be constantly online, so I’ve been leaving my computer on while my trader sits in the bazaar and does her thing. Spells are expensive after all, and I’m still getting back into the swing of things. From that stemmed a conversation about how ‘easy’ things appear to be in EQ now, and whether or not EQ is still the same immersing game that it used to be.

I had to disagree with the argument, because while things may have changed over the past 10 years it’s still one of the most complicated games I’ve played in terms of just plain game play, not to mention the questing and crafting systems. When I first came back there were so many changes to take in that it felt like a different game – for about an hour and then I started to see the familiar patterns again that I’d seen back in 2002 when I first started. A few of the changes caught me off guard. For example when you die you no longer lose anything at all except for the experience, you return fully geared. The only reason you would have to obtain your corpse is to get a rez and re-gain your experience. You also no longer lose your spell set up when you die, the gems are still in their last positions. This doesn’t take away the need for saved spell lists since those are always handy but if you’re a low level and die and have forgotten to put together a saved spell list you won’t spend hours setting one up. For some reason (I’m not sure why) if you are not of appropriate level to wear a piece of gear – you can now still wear it. You won’t get any stats from that piece of gear but it will fit into your gear slot just fine. I’m not exactly sure what this change was for, but it’s interesting.

Mercenaries and the experience you gain while leveling has been changed a lot – but there’s a good reason for this. The game is 10 years old after all. If it took you as long as it did at release to level, then you’d probably be put off by trying to catch up to friends who are level 85. The community is much the same as it’s always been, maybe a little quieter now and there are less people around but the ones who are around love the game. They’re passionate about things, and they’re friendly and helpful. Out of all the games I’ve played EQ has one of the best communities I’ve ever seen. Vanguard is another with an outstanding community, but you really have to look for it first.

The basics of the game are all the same and it’s comforting. There’s no one way to do an encounter. Monk pulls are still used (and are still amazing), kiting is still done (unless the mobs summon, ew!) and questing still involves figuring out the proper text to say to an NPC. There are still LOTS of options of what to do in game, especially once you start working on aa. If you get into crafting at all then your options are multiplied. Trains are still trains, and they still hurt (and they are fun!) and the very basic components of the game that make it fun are all still there and intact. The fact that things in the game are ‘bigger’ then you and there’s NO guarantee that you’re going to win, is a feeling that I love. Whether you’re taking down an even con mob or battling a great deity, things feel bigger then you. There’s a moment in the fight where you think to yourself (from time to time) “oh crud, I am not going to beat this!” and then it rips you apart. On the same note, there’s the satisfaction of taking down an encounter and then it becoming easier each and every time, and then a sense of triumph as you defeat it without breaking out in a sweat. It’s got that feeling of ‘conquiring’ that a lot of games miss. I don’t want to be able to defeat everything in the game easily, group or raid or solo. It should feel like a challenge (but also leave enough encounters around that I CAN defeat, so I don’t feel overwhelmed). This feeling is one I get every day as I play EQ. In EQ2, not so much. I felt like I could defeat pretty much anything depending on who I had with me. There was very little in the game that couldn’t be beaten, unless it was a high end raid zone (and I’m not a raider these days).

If it sounds like I’m being a poster girl for SOE and their games, well guess what, I am. I enjoy the games, I wouldn’t be writing about them and I wouldn’t have played them for the last 7 years if I didn’t. I feel passionate about them, and I love the experiences I’ve had in them. There’s no shame in that (at least not for me). Does it mean I ignore the flaws or faults in the games? No, of course not. No game is perfect and it’s bound to happen. Bugs are there, down times occur, rollbacks hurt and all the rest. I’d rather spend my time talking about the good points of a game and share my passion for it then rip it apart and do nothing but complain – unless I really don’t enjoy a game (and trust me, it has happened) for whatever reason. What a fantastic time where we have so many choices of things to play, and so many great people in each of the games. I feel lucky to have found games that match my play style (or did I match my play style to their games?) and I hope everyone else out there finds ‘their’ game too.

Shew, sorry for the rambling, but I guess you can expect that on my blog from time to time!

Safe travels, see you in Norrath!

Questing Away in Prophecy of Ro

Yesterday was my first foray into the Prophecy of Ro expansion, even though it’s been out since 2006. Well, it was my first ‘real’ adventure in it, I do have a few of the evolving crafting trophies that were released at that time in place of the old tokens that players used to wear. The story to the expansion is wonderful, here’s what zam had to say about it:

Mayong Mistmoore’s release into godhood has turned the gods’ focus back to the mortal realm. Druzzil Ro foresaw the devastation of the world and in turn beckoned all mortals to her Plane of Magic, a plane ruled by her creations, the scrykin.

The scrykin have a problem, though. As they age, they succumb to madness, paranoia, and instability — something which led the first born scrykin, Daosheen, to lock himself in the tower of Skylance. As the elder scrykin continued to deteriorate mentally, the dragons of Relic assumed more political power. They, however, are at odds one another as they each want control of the magical channeling platforms built within the city. And so it is the second born scrykin, Porthio, who has assumed the role as governor of Relic while at the same time remaining focused on his studies.

In addition to the Plane of Magic portal, another passage appeared in Freeport, one which leads to the home of Sullon Zek — the Plane of Rage. It is said that when one mortal kills another in a fit of rage, the killer is sent here when they die. The Seething Wall which lines the plane covers the killer in an all-consuming darkness. They feel cold, leathery flesh, and the pinch and scrape of armor against their bodies, crushing them from every direction. With the stench of death in the cold air and the calling of Sullon Zek’s rage, they soon feel an urgent need to destroy and vent their unrelenting rage, as well as a desire to fight for Sullon Zek and earn her respect. Sullon Zek remains in the tower of Razorthorn within her plane’s stronghold, alongside those who are most dedicated to increasing their rage and learning how to focus it.

Another magical passage formed in the Desert of Ro. Druzzil Ro wasn’t the only god to take action after Mayong Mistmoore was released into godhood. Tunare, too, saw the need to beckon mortals to her realm. Using rains from Karana and magic from Druzzil Ro, a sandstorm was created in the desert, revealing the ruins of the Elddar city Takish-Hiz. Also created was a portal into the past and the glory of the Elddar Forest and great elven city as it stood in the Age of Monuments, before Solusek Ro created the Serpent’s Spine Mountains and turned the forest into a desert.

There is one god who has already fallen to the corruption of Mayong Mistmoore. She is Ayonae Ro, the ruler of the once-beautiful Plane of Music, a place which has turned into a dark, bloody cesspool of terror and rage while Ayonae remains holed up in the plane’s tower of Deathknell.

The very power of mortals that the gods despised for unleashing Mayong Mistmoore into godhood is being called upon to save them and the world.

You can read more about the expansion over here on the zam site, and don’t cringe too hard as you read Mayong Mistmoore is one of the leads to yet another story. In both EQ and EQ2 he seems to be a very popular character. My dynamic trio was down to a duo as one friend deals with life for the next little while, so we were down one person. To start the day Ninga asked what gear I was wearing for jewelery and I sheepishly lined my level 40 items that I’d been sporting since early last week. He ran us through some Depths of Darkhollow missions and upgraded a whole lot of items on both my enchanter and my necromancer. Both of them managed to get a few aa as well – then he suggested we head to Arcstone, and work on an evolving cloak.

I have to admit, I have a special fondness for evolving items in EQ. Yes, I realize they are a PAIN to level and take huge amounts of time and effort. Before I started playing EQ I played a MUD called Redemption. It was based here in Ottawa, and had a pretty good following of players. I met a lot of amazing people at ‘mud meets’ – I even coded for them and created a zone based around “Gulliver’s Travels”, as well as an old broken down gnome amusement park. Anyhow, there were evolving weapons added to this mud over time. You’d wear them and they’d develop as you slaughtered creatures (or players) and it was just something I really enjoyed. I loved that weapons could have a ‘mind’ of their own and change. So the fact that evolving items are in EQ really makes me feel nostalgic about the mud.

The quest was fairly simple, though I can see how it would have been quite difficult in 2006. You have to go around killing 5 named, each of which represent an element, and each does unique attacks during their encounter. For example, wind came with four adds that you had to defeat first before you could damage the gigantic creature (or you could spend an hour trying to whittle him down), fire re-spawned a number of times and did a few AoE, Earth had an AoE root and so on. The battles were great, and even the base cloak was an upgrade for me.

Today my parents come back from their cruise (much later) and I’m taking my baby brother out for Pho for lunch, it should be a nice day. Even with the snow (yes, lots of snow still falling here, ah well). Safe travels and I hope everyone is having an incredible weekend!

2.0 Completed – Anguish Didn’t Stand a Chance

So it was that I found myself heading to Natimbi yesterday to speak with Whiahdi about a staff. She spoke in riddles of course, just telling me where to find it would be too easy. Apparently the staff had been broken into three pieces, and it was up to me to re-unite them. Two pieces came from encounters in The Ruined City of Dranik after I muttered some secret word, and the third and final component was an orb of discordant energy that came from Anquish after killing Warden Hanvar. Compared to some classes my epic was exceptionally easy. After we completed the two fights I had we set off to complete the cleric one, which required a lot more running around and hailing and gathering of flags. It was still great fun though. The whole day was great fun actually. While we waited on a friend to head to Anguish we did a mission that rewarded me with a clicky robe that gives +400 mana. I was super excited about that, the more clickies the better!

A huge thank you to Zeemus, Sarou, Ultann, and Ninga for helping me out with the 2.0. Well, more then helping. I actually spent the majority of the named fights face first on the ground, death by AoE, while they did their thing. It was magnificent and I count myself VERY lucky to know such wonderful people who would do this for me. I’d never been to Anguish before let alone ever expected to get my 2.0.

I got a few other pretties while we were in Anguish, and I think a good time was had by all. I also got two parts to make some new gear (Tier2 armor) if I can manage to get the faction for it some time. We’ll see how that goes. It may be a goal of this weekend or something. The necromancer also hit level 71, which enabled me to wear a very nice shield Ultann had found in Blackburrow when it was revamped for a short time.

I hope everyone is having an amazing weekend, who knows what next week will bring! Happy gaming, no matter where you are.

I’ll see you in Norrath!