Stargrace’ merry little fireplace

After almost a month of no raids, Torrent Knights picked things up again last night. Wow, were we rusty. It happens of course. We also had a few of our newer members join us, not to mention the fact that it was my first raid with the illusionist vs. whatever else I typically play (warden, fury, templar, coercer). We didn’t dive right into the EoF content (though we will be today) but instead spent some time in Halls of Seeing, then after once the raid had broken down (as it typically does once one zone is cleared) we took the two remaining groups and did Roost, as well as Crab from Fallen Dynasty. Today we’re supposed to be attempting Chel’Drak and Clockworks.

I was a little bit worried that my illusionist would some how jeopardize the raid because she’s not nearly as nicely geared as most raiders. It will come in time, of course. I didn’t want to be dying every 10 minutes (it was more like 15) or putting anyone at risk. It seemed to go well though. We’ll have to see how Chel’Drak goes today. I wish my illusionist had completed Nizara, as it’s a portion to a quest I need that rewards a very nice ring, two in fact if I completed Chel’Drak too. I did get a pair of gloves as an upgrade though, and from Roost a back up pair of boots, as well as a house item for completing a quest. Achievement experience of course, three points last night which was just fantastic.

With Shadowgeist taking the week off from work, I’m looking forward to completing some of the things I’ve neglected on my Illusionist. I need Deathtoll access still on her, as well as my class hat which I’ve slacked so far behind on. I also want to progress claymore a little more, at least getting out of SoS. We’ll see how it all goes. I doubt I’ll complete everything I want, but maybe at least one of the three. It’s difficult to go from a fully geared / mastered character to one that’s not nearly as nicely geared, but I know with some effort and time it won’t take long.

A view of New Tunaria at night, beautiful place

So Christmas is done (at least in real life, I’m sure we’ll be listening to the Frostfell music in EverQuest for a few more months yet), and the tree is down. What’s next? I’ve been thinking a lot about where I want to head in my gaming. There are a lot of choices. Do I want to keep playing WoW (which I’ve barely played, lets be honest) am I going to try Vanguard? What about Eq2?

So far I’ve come to very few conclusions. I think I will try Burning Crusade when it comes out, even though my WoW characters are only 40-47 or so. I just want to see the content. I’m sure new servers will also be coming out, and it would be nice to attempt to sink myself into a guild. I think I’d like the game a lot more if I didn’t have to spend all my time listening to “hey pl me fgt!” or some other such annoying comments.

Vanguard, coming out shortly. A lot of people I know are going to give it a try, and I will as well. I want to see if it lives up to the hype I’ve heard. A lot of people have said bad things about it who have tried the beta, and again there’s the flip side where I’ve heard a lot of good stuff as well. Best to make my own judgment call.

Everquest2.. well. Here I’m some what lost. Or at least pulled in many directions. The 70 templar fury and illusionist, I am going to play off and on, and try to max out their aa’s and complete all of the heritage quests they’ve yet to do one at a time. Maybe not the harder epic ones, but the ones I can do at least. I’d like to work on getting the necromancer to 70, she’s sitting at 51 right now, almost 52. I’d also like to get the sage (also the necromancer) and the alchemist (the assassin) to level 70 crafters. There are smaller projects I’d like to complete too, the illusionist needs DT access, and claymore, which I’m dreading and not even sure I want to work on *shudders*

So those are the smaller things. I’d also like to work up a carpenter. Everything is sort of balancing on the possibility of playing other games though, so who really knows what I’ll be up to. Raids start again this week at least, but I wish we still cared at all about doing the older (Older? KoS is not that old) zones, like HoS, Labs, Lyceum, DT, etc. We’ve all but forgotten those zones since EoF came out. I realize that it’s also in large part due to the fact that most of the loot from those zones ends up rotting, but status and raids are good practice no matter the levels. Why neglect the other T7 zones just because three new ones were added? I suppose I just don’t get it. I also hate the fact that my alts can’t be in the guild with my raiding character, since I am typically on my alts doing various things. It separates me from the guild, and I hate it. Even if they just let in the level 70 alts we all had, I think it would make a difference. It’s depressing only seeing 29 accounts total in a guild, and on the channel we have set up there’s 10 others who are on their alts. Sorry for the venting.

I’m going to be trying to set up a site much like ogaming (which no longer works as most have found out) or eq2i.com but a more user friendly version, with the quests that I’ve done and helpful hints in there. Not sure when / if it will take off the ground yet, but in time it should. I’m tired of having to search through 100 different half-formed data bases in order to find the information I need. I absolutely hate pop up ads that appear on one such site as well.

More rambling to follow!

Santa was good to me this year, what a busy holiday. I’m safe and sound back snug in my home, with visions of… keyboards? Dancing in my head. One of my presents this year was the G15 gaming keyboard, by logitech. Which is pretty spiffy. Except. EQ2 doesn’t support it what so ever. It’s got an lcd screen, which can display various ‘things’, if any were supported. It’s also got programmable buttons.. for macro’s.. again, if any were supported.

Wait, that’s not exactly true. You CAN use them for macros - if - they use one of the three hotbars you have that come with key commands already. Ie: Those alt 1 alt 2 control 1 control 2 keys. But no more then those three. See, unlike WoW, where you can bind every single hotkey to your own personal command, EQ2 doesn’t give you that option. I know, the g15 has been discussed up one side and down the other, if it’s breaking user / game agreements, if it’s ‘cheating’, blah blah blah. But it’s just a gadget, much like any other gadget out there.

 I did find a use for it in eq2 though. Oh yes. My parse program, ACT, supports the g15 keyboard. And it will also time aoe’s for you. So on those icky raids where the mobs are tossing out aoe’s every 45 seconds or 30 seconds, it will tell you when they’re about to hit. Giving you time to back out of the way, if you’re in any way squishy, which I typically am. The keys also light up, nice for those dark nights. WoW is supported, and so is Vanguard even though the game isn’t even out yet.

I went and poked around looking for responces to why sony hadn’t added any sort of lcd support, and their response was basically that they figured the g15 was not used by enough people to bother with it. Glad to see their customers are so important. I know a good deal of people who use these keyboards, that’s the whole reason I even heard about them or have one.

It’s a fancy way to turn the pages of your hotkeys if you want, instead of hitting shift # to turn them you can bind it to a gkey, but other then that…again, there are good sides and bad sides to every argument. People are still bickering about how the paint used to come off the keys (which has since been fixed, and no longer presents an issue). It seems a little more complicated then I would have liked, I have a hard enough time learning computer stuff as is, but oh well.

One huge thing I like about the new keyboard vs. my old one, is that if I’m listening to music on winamp (since eq2 does not have an in game music player, unlike eq1.. which I miss) I can pause / change the song / start / skip etc. in game, as opposed to having to tab out to the music program I was using. Another huge bonus.

One of the many Frostfell snowglobes

The next few days are of course the Christmas Holidays, and I won’t be around very much, as there are family gatherings to attend to! I typically have one gathering for my family, and then a second one for Shadowgeist‘ family, however this year I have two for my family, as a bunch of them are visiting from the east coast. It should be eventful! Anyhow..

I have been decorating Eleyn’s home! Having a blast doing it as well might I add. I love decorating, even other people’s homes, just taking what they have and finding a spot for it all (which until today seems to have been in every nook and corner available). I’ve been having fun sending out random Frostfell presents to friends as well, Dalven D’Verilex got a fire place and some dinner food. I’m not exactly sure if he’s a fan of Frostfell, being from Freeport and all, but oh well! Had to spread the cheer. I also passed out pressies to Krai, Xani, Selema, and Meepers. Ah it’s the little amusing stuff that makes me happy hehe.

I love the snowglobe rewards of this years events, but I’m not sure where I can keep them all. So far I’ve got three to the collection, and I know there’s three others at least that I don’t even have yet. I’ve been claiming my 1 present a day on each of my alts so that I can stash snowglobes away for a later date (grins) much like I’m doing with food, presents, bows, and fire places. Such a house item nut I know. Everyone has their things. Some quest, some make coin, some raid (though I do all of those too) and some collect spiffy looking house items! So a very merry Christmas and Frostfell to you all, I hope everyone gets some time off at least, and shares it with those they’re close to.

 

 

After a 5 hour patch (ew) Frostfell is here… and while there are plenty out there complaining and upset over the festivities (why is this in here when there are bigger bugs in game and so on and so forth) I for one, was exceptionally happy. Mostly because 90% of Frostfell activities and quests revolve around house items. I spent about 8 hours in the Frostfell zone harvesting my little heart out and creating festive items for my house, including the fine table set above. I made some for friends, and made some extra to stash away in my house vaults for a later time. Besides the items in the zone you could craft (food, clothes, bows, ribbons, presents, snowmen, weapons, and various other items), you could also quest for a Christmas tree. The following quests gave you a wreath, and an option to light that tree with about 10 different options. Something I found to be absolutely fantastic.

Silverstep, surrounded by Frostfell goodies!

The fire places also come with different settings to light the logs. I know a lot of carpenters are upset that they’re not a permanent recipe and require special Frostfell items to craft them (as well as machines) but they’re going to be exceptionally sought after and rare that way. The wreath hangs on the wall nicely, and my girls are decked out in their holiday finest. It may be silly, but gawd for a person who adores the house items such as myself, it was wonderful. I also quested for a book and a cloak, though the cloak is slightly.. disappointing. It’s baby blue with white snow flake trim.. looks like Pepsi sponsored the event. I spoke with the giftgiver, and received a snow globe of fallen dynasty for one character, as well as a frostfell snow globe on the other character. I’ve been trying to get both my “mains” the items for their homes to spruce them up a little. No fun if I just do it on one character!

Silverstep, lighting her Christmas tree!

On the down side, each instance for the new Frostfell goodies seems to be jam packed with people stepping on each other to harvest the nodes of goodies required to make the house items, and of course there’s price gouging galore with fireplaces selling on average for 14p on Lucan D’Lere, when it costs 24c to make the item to begin with. Hence why I made enough for myself, my friends, and then got out of the zones, letting the other people bicker with one another. Though I will be back for my one present a day! The snow globes also play music, which I find adorable. A job well done, even if it is missing one event at the moment and there was plenty of other stuff that could have been worked on. In the patch there were also some unrest files downloaded, an EoF instance that never made it in at release, supposedly it’s incoming GU (game update) 32, in February. Looking forward to that one.

There are bullies no matter where you go, and the same can be said for the mmo worlds out there. Those people who derive pleasure from picking on others, degrading them and making fun of them. On Lucan D’Lere (also called Lucan D’Drama, for pretty obvious reasons) there is a handful of these people. You see them every day, spamming the 60-69 channel with their words of ‘wisdom’, rallying for the popularity of whatever other gamers happen to be listening at the time.

I can’t help but feel sorry for them. They must have some huge issues if they’re picking on others in an mmo, to make themselves feel better. They’re escaping their real lives (much like we all do) and feel the need to exert their power over others. It’s a shame really. Had to vent that out. Along the same lines, my guilds forums have been spammed nicely by members of another raiding guild, trying to stir up unnecessary drama. For what purpose? Well, none of us are really sure. As far as I know our members don’t go posting on their personal guild forums (in the public section that most guilds have) but I could be wrong. Again, just random thoughts and observations. In WoW you would experience the same thing, but it was much more childish and unrefined, and almost easier to excuse. Where as the comments that some times fly out of the 60-69 channel are just down right mean.

Frostfell update is going in today! Fireplaces are the word on the … channel? I’m excited. I missed out on the Christmas events last year, so it’ll be new to me even if they’re repeated. I want to see if the music boxes are back, the snow globes, little cute hats, and house items! Expect lots of screen shots later today of all the new stuff if I can manage to get any of it.

Stargrace is catching up fast as my new main. I was pretty far behind on aa’s but they’re not going too badly now, she’s sitting at 58 with plenty of quests and zones yet to adventure in. Most of the guild is around 80, but I’m not worried. She’s also gotten a few pieces of gear upgrade, also a good thing. I was almost completely broke after betraying to Illusionist (I never have very much money, it doesn’t bother me though my characters are all pretty well geared and can fend for themselves), so I’ve been trying to make some coin. The quests in Lesserfay are great for that, both the Nybright family ones and the ones from Fae Court. Mentored yesterday for my turn ins granted me 3 aa and about 3 plat in coin, with only a small portion of them completed. I’m absolutely loving the illusionist class wise, I find it much more fun then the coercer. Not sure why. I respec’d my aa’s and went full out dps, with perpetuality and crit spells, most of my spells end up being almost instant cast with that line up, it’s wonderful. Still no raids lately in guild, but holidays and all so it’s understandable.

Since it’s still pretty close to christmas, not a whole lot has been going on. I was invited to raid with Marauders, some tier 6 things mostly for achievement points. I went with Silverstep since Stargrace is my new main. We did Courts, which I love (and also dinged my little guild level 7), did Lockjaw (awsome aa), and Poets Palace: Return. Which is actually a raid zone I’ve never been to. There’s a reason people avoid this zone, the trash mobs (and there are about 1,000 of them) have a billion hit points. They’re not hard, but they take forever to kill. We spent 3 hours clearing the zone, a very long time for something that’s T6. Ended the night with 3 aa’s and a lot of guild exp, it’s always fun and relaxing for me to get a chance to play in the other zones besides the new ones.

Been doing some quests on all my girls as well, and managed to get 4 crafting levels on Misako, who’s now a 24 tailor. Going to get her to 25 today so she can make the new cloaks. Nice for my lower level characters.. well.. just her I suppose, the rest are higher level and will get their cloaks in time.

Farming is still annoying, roots are hard to come by. Not in a rush though. Sorry for the lack of posts lately, tomorrow’s should be slightly more entertaining!

Mail, from Citizens for a Free Freeport

First of all, I apologize for the christmas colours, I promise they’ll be gone… after christmas *grins*

Restless. Bored. Repetitive.

Words I use to describe my end game healer (fury) in EQ2 on raids after playing her for about a year now (I played a templar as my main before that, and experienced the same thing). Why do I play healer classes? Well, first of all. I’m good at it. Without tooting my own horn, I know I’m a good healer. I know what to cast and when to keep the tanks alive (or my group of mages if it’s a raid). Secondly, healer has always been needed. Most of my friends either play a dps / support class or a tank. So that leaves a healer position open in a group.

So after taking a break from EQ2 to organize some real life things (see previous posts about too much play time) I decided I would take the plunge and attempt to situate myself with a new main. A difficult task, especially if you raid. It’s not simply a matter of logging in and deciding, ok, now I’ll play this character. I had to first discuss things with the officers and leaders of Torrent Knights - explaining why I wanted to change, what I was contemplating changing to, how it would benefit the guild, how it would be detrimental to the guild, etc. After a few days discussion I was told I could switch my main - in my mind, it is much more important to play a class you like, rather then a class you are simply good at. So my fury said good bye to her home (sighs, 127k of guild status lost by her name, but our guild has a policy of only one “main” in guild, and no alts), and my (at the time) coercer joined the ranks.

Now, TK already had two coercers. In fact, they used to have three but one recently left for another server that was more suitable to their play times. So I offered to betray to an illusionist, covering the costs of the betrayal myself. What costs are there? At level 70, it’s not a cheap thing to betray. You need to replace every spell that’s 55+ pretty much. With the prices of acrylia going for 1p-2p and needing 20 of them, + 7 pieces of Vanadium (as a mage), yeah, it’s an expensive ordeal. Then finding a T7 sage (since ours was the guildie who moved) to take care of such a large order without also charging you an arm and a leg for them to be made. Thankfully, Meepers offered to help me out in the sage department.

My poor wood elf.. she betrayed way back when, at around level 10, and went to coercer. I can’t even remember why now, it was probably right when they were given charm as a spell. Now she’s betrayed back to her home town of Qeynos. I actually don’t mind betraying or the whole process, I think it’s quite fun. I can betray from Freeport to Qeynos in a matter of two hours, the only drab part is repeating the blasted faction quests. Easiest one I’ve found is to sneak into west Freeport and collect the schedules from the tradeskill instance. The zone is right off of Commonlands where the quest giver is, and the guards don’t see invis. Rinse and repeat x 12.

So, hopefully I’ll find the game slightly revitalized playing a “new main”. Then again, maybe not. Worth a shot though. I also dropped my station access account (again) so I’m limited to 6 characters. Which should be more then enough. The necromancer hit level 50 earlier on in the day and could finally wear the robe I’d saved up for all those months back from Poets palace.. .You know the one, legendary with some FT on it? Looks awesome on a gnome.

Quest walk through from EQ2i

Get the base shield in New Tunaria at (-315.30, 53.81, -858.44). It looks like a regular tin buckler on the wall in the east side of the Hall of Truth, facing the huge tree that houses the Temple of Growth.

• Slay the element of fire, located in Lavastorm within the lava in the center of the Goblet of Ro (-709, -11, -275).
• Slay the element of earth in Kaladim past the large doors at the top of the entrance room in the corridor slightly to the left (15.76, 26.57, -183.31).
• Slay the element of air, located in Loping Plains near the the Crypt of Valdoon climbing wall (192.51, 71.69, 315.44).

1. Once you have the Symbols from the four elements, it is back to Fethinal again.
2. Go to Antonica to find a tower (-2036, +7, +218) on the hill north of Keep of the Gnollslayers. There you will find the grave of Kryfru the Enchanted. Inspect the gravestone and talk to the ghost.
3. Search the grave dirt to find Kryfru’s journal.
4. Take the journal back to Fethinal.

• spirit of life - Greater Faydark near the waterfall at the Lower Emerald River (-552, 5, 154)
• spirit of divine - New Tunaria, on a point of land (-317, 72, -75) overlooking the lake southeast of the Thex Monument and north of the nearby waterfall
• spirit of magic - Lesser Faydark by the Fugtyr tribe. Climb to the very top of their area then jump in the river and swim downstream. The spirit will be above the first water fall (128.18, -1.15, -375.81)

1. Return to Fethinal for your reward

I found the health and power on this item, slightly lacking. To say the least. Looking back though, it’s a very very simple quest that you can solo easily, the mobs are solo ^ and it doesn’t take much time. So if you’re wandering around wondering what to do, stop in and visit Fethinal located in a tree close to the New Tunaria entrance, and pick up this quest. I’m not sure I’d ever actually use the shield, but if you’re fond of items with procs, snag it!

Lack of posts over the past week are one sure indication that in the MMO world, not much is going on. That indication would be correct! After taking some time to look at my life (lack of one?) I decided very spur of the moment, that I needed a break from EQ2 for a little bit. Why?

 Well, I’m blessed (cursed?) with having the life of a house wife pretty much. I have no children, I stay at home, I cook clean and do all that fun stuff. I’m 25, so fairly young. The life is not a bad one. It’s not always an easy one though and anyone who tells me other wise I will swiftly give a great boot to the head. There are reasons life is the way it is right now and without spewing my emotional garbage all over my blog that should sufice.

Anyhow

I have a huge amount of free time on my hands. My boyfriend and I decided to try EQ1 5 years ago, and have been playing MMO’s together (in some degree) ever since. There comes a time though when everyone at one point or another can think of someone or themselves and know, hey… they play too much. I’m one of those people. Not even ashamed to admit it. It was getting to the point where I’d just log on for the sake of logging on, not even acomplishing anything. Granted, I still did all the things in real life that needed to get done, but even I know when too much is too much.

 So I wrote a quick note to my guild letting them know I needed a break for a bit (it is the christmas season anyhow, most of our raiding if not all has slowed to a stand still as various people are on vacation / visiting family / drunk) and have been EQ2-free for… *checks the calander, ignoring her shaking hands* 6 days now.

Are MMO’s addictive? Sure. They draw you in and can keep you there, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with admiting that. When you have the free time to devote to it (and hell, even when you don’t) it can become a pretty powerful thing in your life. So does this mean I’m giving up my MMO’ing ways? Naw. Just means that I took a step back, and decided I need to limit my playing a little more then I had been in the past. Sounds sort of weird to write about, but I’m sure there are those out there who understand exactly what I’m saying and where I’m coming from.

On the flip side, finding 15+ hours of something to do has been a huge challenge. I shopped. Worked on Christmas presents, read, did some drawing, did some writing, and whatever else I could find to fill in the empty gaps of time that seem longer some how these days. I decided to limit myself to 4 hours of play a day. Longer on weekends since… well, this is a major form of (cheap) entertainment these days for myself and my boyfriend. I’ve braced myself for all of the “WTF Get a Life!” comments, and “OMG L0Zer!” and all the rest. It’s all about the moderation.