Tag: EQ

 

Yesterday was one of those “a little bit of everything” days. By the end of it I was left feeling as though I’d accomplished nothing, though it’s not the case. It started out easily enough – I leveled my beastlord from 35-40 in Stone Hive, which is of course a hot zone. I teamed up with my druid, who’s just a hair shy of dinging 48. Afterwards I was feeling bad that the beastlord couldn’t cast a single spell, she’d leveled that fast. Everything fizzled. I spent a few hours working on skills so that I can at least buff, call pets, and heal. Tried to do a little shopping but everything is grossly over priced in the bazaar, so I’ll satisfy myself by either crafting bits and pieces of armor, or just waiting until I’m at a level where I’ll have no choice but to splurge. We’ll see how it goes. Today I’d like to reach level 45, so I’ll be heading to Dulak Harbor (again…) later on.

In the screen shot above is of course Rahotep who I helped take down on my ranger, along with magician friend. Back when we were level 13 or so, he hurt. A lot different from the EQ2 version where he’s a raid encounter with an army of undead, used in a heritage quest. Or at least, he used to be epic, he may have been toned down after a few years, a lot of encounters were.

EQ2 had their GU yesterday, including a new Runnyeye zone to play in. I almost ended up going to that, but alas the lure of EQ1 was stronger.

I finally managed to get my jewelery trophy completed on Kameeko, it’s evolved 5/7 of the way, and gave me a nice 75% 10 slot WR (weight reducing) bag. It’s temporary, but if you pass it to Jorlum in the bazaar he gives you an essence you can combine in your crafting machine of choice and it’ll turn into a real bag. Since I have the old school one from the grandmasters piece, Kameeko is now sporting two of these bags. Can’t complain at all.

I spent a lot of time organizing bags yesterday. Trying to figure out who will do what craft. While it’s nice and easy to say one character will do it all, it’s also nice to spread it out a little. For example, the ranger will be a master fletcher – they use arrows, it makes sense. The halfling druid, is going to be a master tailor. Halflings are the only race who can make the leatherfoot haversacks that I so enjoy. She’ll also be doing baking, because it just makes sense. Kameeko is of course my master jeweler. She has everything else at 200, but I’m not sure if I’ll spend aa to extend that or not yet. Invis is my master poisoner. I attempted to work on her trophy last night as well, but it requires bits harvested from lower level zones that no one goes to any more – and thus none of the poison components were for sale at the bazaar. It’s still quite easy to do, but it will take me some time to find all the parts I need. Nothing wrong with that.

I took Qutey out to the Broodlands to forage for a time, there’s a LOT of food supplies that can be scrounged up there, as well as scale ore which is used in jewel crafting. The only problem is that there’s such a variety of items, it’s going to be difficult to store it all.

All in all, yesterday was a rewarding day at least in the craft sense. I feel better now that things are slightly more organized and I have a direction to go. That’s the problem with having so many alts.

Back to Katta I went, to turn in bundles of herbs for faction and experience. Each round gave me 75p and a lot of experience. It’s all aa experience, but hey it helps. I’m just glad to have my bag empty from herbs (again). It’s a long boring run from the quest npc to the Greenhouse (which is an update you need to get first) before you pass over all your leafy green goodness. A huge thank you to Kragnn who helped me find my way to the greenhouse (and back) without me ending up a smushed splatter on the ground.

Once I did that, I helped out with a wizard epic 1.5 – and part way through Lackey asked if I’d come help him ding level 51. We rarely get a chance to play since he’s not on any sort of schedule, it’s hit and miss. Once the fight was done for the wizard, I headed off to Dulak’s Harbor with Lackey and a Shadowknight, “Imacrushu” who found it amusing that the cleric and magician tanked far more then he did. I brought Ishbel, popped my Lesson of the Devoted (which is a veteran reward for those not familiar with it, that gives you a bonus to experience for 30 minutes) and we began ripping apart the harbor. It wasn’t long (an hour and a bit) before Lackey managed to get his level 51, and Ishbel had gained three aa.

Not that I have anything to spend them on. The general consensus is that you can save up to 30aa before it’ll start reverting to regular experience again, so that’s probably what I’ll do. I have my aa experience on a 10/90 split so that I’m still gaining a trickle of regular experience as well. I’m 51 and the hard cap is 52, I have a bit of leeway.

Since I’m boxing now, I’ve come up with a few duo combinations that I’m happy with. I have a druid / beastlord combo (beastlord managed to hit level 35 yesterday), and a necromancer / enchanter combo. Since the necromancer just kites anyhow, and the ench can slow. I also have a ranger who I can stick with multiple characters, and yesterday created a shaman on the second account, eventually to team up with my shadowknight. It’s fun to not only have a wide variety of characters, but a selection of levels to play at as well. One thing I’ve noticed more about EQ1 then any other MMO I’ve played in is that I’m not quite as concerned with gaining levels as one may think. Typically it’s the “grind to end game” that urges people further. However in EQ1 you really do need to stop and gain aa for a period of time before considering leveling up again. A level 80 character with 0 aa is going to have a hard time of things, great gear or not. It’s one more unique thing I love about EQ.

One of these days I’ll have to organize all my banks, do some serious crafting. It’s an expensive hobby though and rarely does the lower level items sell. We’ll just have to see how it goes. Two more aa on the enchanter, and I’ll be able to purchase the 50% reduced fail rates. Then comes salvage. For now I have 25% reduced rates. I also need to get her crafting trophies – eventually. Then besides all the crafting aa she still needs regular aa. I have a feeling all of my characters will sit at 70 for quite some time. There’s really no reason for me to be in a mad rush to level up anyhow, plenty of great lower level content still that I’ve yet to see.

I need to start Ishbel’s epic as well. Maybe this week – I hope.

Welcome Anakh to Nostalgia too, a friend from Vanguard who decided to give things a whirl!

Alright, before I get into the Medieval Festival (which I’ll post about later) lets talk about EQ. Heeding the advice of others, I went and did my fletching trophy quest as soon as I’d reached a skill of 50 from the freebie quests found in Crescent Reach (which you can also find in Abysmal Sea if you’re not keen on CR). The quest was simple enough, make 10 class 1 wood point arrows using large nocks, make 10 class 1 wood point arrows using medium nocks, make 4 long flight javelin shafts, 4 rough hickory recurve bows using silk string, 10 class 1 wood point arrows using small nocks, and 10 class 2 wood point arrows using small nocks.

Once all that was done, I turned them in to the judge, who gave me a score card. Turn that score card in and presto – I’ve got myself an evolving trophy. Worked fletching up another 20 points after that and it’d evolved into 37% through it’s level. Can’t complain at all.

The ranger managed to get from level 13 to level 23. I teamed up with a magician and we stayed in the hot zones, leveling in North Ro from 1-13, then porting over to South Ro until things started turning green at around 18. Then we headed over to Blightfire Moors, and completed the 10 slot bag quest – the gnolls were astounding exp, about 20% a kill at our level (they were white and yellow) so before we’d even finished the quest we’d gained a bunch of levels.

I also managed to get the beastlord a good number of levels, she’s sitting at 21 currently. I created the Vah Shir on my second account, so that I can level her with any one of my healers. A character I can just do whatever on, and not feel as though I’m out leveling anyone.

For once I didn’t really play my higher level characters, and I was content in doing so. There are plenty of lower level things I still want to do, zones I want to see, and old world quests I miss. Maybe I’ll even get an rp post out there sooner or later. We’ll see.

Now onto what I spent most of my weekend doing!

“I love those little time capsule moments we leave behind for ourselves” – Einhorn

Those words could not be more true. Pictured above is Newtfish – a name I created from an inside joke between myself and my former EQ1-buddy, Fistinyereyes. I’ve mentioned him before, I know. Anyhow. We used to duo, and I’d box my clr / rogue and he’d box his bst / druid. We were owners of old world zones, and on our frequent list of named to kill, was Grieg Veneticus, farmed for all his phat loots. We weren’t even sure we could duo it just the two of us. The first time we did was painful, especially since both of us forgot that Grieg blinds. We did it though, and on the first kill he dropped a nice haste belt for Invis, and the horse mount he has which we sold.

After some time, we ran out of ‘useful’ gear from him for our mains and even our higher level alts. So we each created a level 1 character. Mine was Nukette, a gnome wizard, and his was Newtfish, a gnome magician. We some how (I don’t even know how) managed to run them to Grieg’s End. I think we ended up using a druid port to DSP (Dawnshroud Peaks) and then running (invis) along the wall. Once we were in the zone, it was simply a matter of sacrificing ourselves, giving the group consent to drag our corpses, and rez’ing within Grieg’s room.

Newtfish is decked out with four pieces of gear from Grieg, and Nukette had her four as well.

Anyhow, the point to this whole droning story? I logged into my old account (since I’ve decided to box, I’ll be moving Ellithia back over to that second account and I’ll have a clr / ench combo, or a rogue / clr combo or whatever else I feel like playing). Low and behold, there was Newtfish. Exactly as I’d left him. Standing in Grieg’s End, in the room just before him. Since the servers had also just come up a few hours before – he was actually UP too. A flood of memories came rushing past me.

When I left EQ1 for EQ2, it wasn’t intentional. I had no plans of ever leaving the game. In fact I’m pretty sure I was one of those people who spoke adamantly about not leaving the game ever. I bought the game though, the day after it released, played for an hour or two and was hooked. I played it off and on for three years between multiple other mmo’s before settling back down here in EQ1, and for now at least here’s where I’ll stay. EverQuest offers me things that no other mmo can offer. The complexity and comfort that I find within the game, and the very unique (and wide spread) character customization through alternative advancement (aa) is just incredible. The crafting (while annoying at times) is exactly as I wanted it to be, and with aa I know it will only get better.

This Friday Nostalgia will be heading to Kaesora. I admit now, I haven’t been there very frequently. A few quests took me into the zone and I don’t even recall what for any more. I remember getting stuck down there I believe on my rogue when she was just tiny. Spiders that liked to maul her. That is, if I’m thinking of the right zone. I remember ruins beneath the FoB (Field of Bone) and ghosts and other goodness. I want to say I was camping a sword or something in the zone, but who knows any more. I’m excited about it, even if our local hero Gnewton won’t be there to cast his wonderful clarity (note to self, stock up on potions).

In other news – Ellithia dinged 69 last night, and 40% (two yellows, I believe?) into her level. The experience was not the greatest I’d seen, but it was steady and safe (for the most part). I spent it again in The Nest, off of Broodlands (which is off of Lavastorm, a DoN zone). I have every intention of seeing her to 70, then stopping to work on a good chunk of aa. Once I hit 300aa or so with her I’ll move up to 75, and then aa again. I’m also going to look into her cleric 1.5, how can I not! I’ll be attempting the same with kameeko, though I’m not sure yet how that will go. Getting back into the game has been wonderful (as I’ve said time and time again now) and there’s just still SO much to do.

Yesterday as I boxed I was impressed with how smoothly things were running. I play both accounts on the same computer (windowed) and then alt tab between the two. I noticed if I left the background character stagnant for too long (we’re talking hours here) there was a little lag as I tried to move around. It would clear up as I tried to move the account around, so that’s good. I used to love boxing, and while I do also just simply love playing the game with one character (as I will on Friday) there’s something to be said for accomplishing things in that manor. In fact, I’d say a large portion of EQ1 players have resorted to boxing. Be it duel, or 5 or even more. Over the years as people have left the game for their various reasons, it only makes sense that some would turn to this method of game play so that they could still accomplish what they wanted to do without the hassles of having to LFG for hours, or finding people in their time zone.

Two more days until the Medieval Festival – I am so excited. It’s going to be a blast. Expect lots of pictures when I get back!