So it’s come to that time of the year where I cancel my EQ2 account at least for a little while. I’ll be wandering around in WoW and attending to that thing called “real life” that we all like to avoid. Unfortunately I’m just not feeling satisfied in EQ2, nor am I feeling challenged, or anything else that would keep me in the game. I’ve given my msn out to those who want to keep in touch, and my email can be found at the top of this site. I’ll still blog and work on some digital images, but until RoK comes out, I just was not happy. I won’t call it quitting, since I always come back, but a break is needed.

Hopefully my readers will check back from time to time, and enjoy the past posts here! I knew when I created the blog that it wouldn’t just be limited to EQ2, hence the other categories. Safe travels no matter what mmo you find yourself in!

For those who are interested, you can keep reading about my mmo adventures here.

Arysh making her way through Unrest earlier this week

You’d think, that because the SoE forums and all SoE related games, are down for at least 14-24 hours, that I’d have plenty to say. But alas, this is not the case. At least not today. Last night in game I did a (slightly painful) labs run with an alliance guild, it was messy and took far too long. After doing some thinking, I decided I’d try to give Mayhem another shot, well, a shot, since I didn’t really go through with it the first time I attempted. The problem is when I search for a raid guild, I want a community along with it, and the raid portion typically goes fine, but the community portion takes a little bit to wiggle into and I end up feeling secluded and then annoyed. Wish me luck this time around though, maybe I’ll have finally found what I want out of a guild!

During the down time I’ll be playing WoW (gasps, there’s that word again) off and on, though of course they patch for 8 hours on Tuesdays as well. Go figure.

Gothun and Shadowgeist played in FTH last night, Gothun picking himself up a nice earring, Shadowgeist managed to snag his first piece of EoF fabled set gear from MMIS a few nights ago. He’s obviously very happy about it. Forever took me on a wonderful (and profitable) Unrest run, too bad Arysh’ set piece didn’t drop. Actually the coercer made off with the majority of the loot, winning not only their legendary class hat, but the robe as well, and the wand of crystallized plasma. Figures.

I did some crafting orders yesterday, so hopefully that’ll help me out a bit with coin. I’ve been trying to prepare for RoK. Not that I ever spend large amounts of coin on items typically, but I’m bad for purchasing silly things like house items and fluff gear. I managed to farm DFC last night and walked away with three blood iron ores, which is fantastic. I wanted to farm it in order to sell the set gear, people have been purchasing them for their fluff slots due to the colours and look of it. I wanted to craft a set for my baby monk of course when she gets to the appropriate level it’ll be a very nice upgrade for her. It’s also the lowest level of “rice bowl” monk hat look that I can get I believe. Too bad it’s restricted by class. While I understand (and agree) that you should only be wearing fluff armor that your class can actually wear, it would be nice to have no restrictions at all just to satisfy that “girlie” side of me that likes to look good in game. Yes, I know, horribly shallow of me to say. But hey now, I play Ratonga and Iksar characters along with my Wood elves, so I’m entitled to the opinion!

Other then that, game’s been fairly quiet. I did also walk away with two masters from DFC, and one was actually an upgrade to my level 70 fury. It was pact of the cheetah, which I’ve never seen drop before in a master form and does not get an upgrade through any levels. I was pleased as punch that it dropped. Most of the gear from DFC was selling for below what a merchant would pay for it, so it instantly became transmuted fodder. Thanks again to Crystallis for helping out!

A look at the West Freeport gates, fairly ominous from way back here

Clockwork Gamer called a few people out to write up a review of their weekly selected zone. Of course I was pleased as punch, and I’ll continue to do so every week - I think it’s a great idea even if it is just here on my little blog. You can find the link to their post here, and of course maybe you’ll get as addicted to the site as I am. Fairly sure I check it a few times every day even if there are no posts. Commonlands was their first pick. I have to admit, I shuddered slightly when I saw which zone was selected. Of all the zones out there, this is probably one of my least favorite, ranking right up there with Thundering Steppes and a little above Nektulos Forest.

The Commonlands are home to 118 quests. 10 of those are Far Seas Requisitions which drop in chests and don’t actually use the zone, 10 others are random drops from the zone, a few are from examining items, and the majority (as it is with any zone) are from NPC. Adventurers ranging from level 5-25 can find their way through this zone with little difficult– wait, wait. No. Lets be honest here. This zone can be frustrating for a new time player. I spent a lot of time here, and if it wasn’t for the help of Eq2maps, eq2wikia, and the blessing of my track, I’d have spent a lot more then a few simple hours running around. Of course it did bring back wonderful memories of my first jump into EQ2, but lets face it, with zones like Kelethin and the (amazing might I add) Darklight Wood, why even bother any more unless you’re a fanatic quester.

That’s what it comes down to. The quest rewards for Commonlands are sorely lacking in comparison to the newer starter zones out there. It’s unavoidable of course when you release new content. The quests make you run from one end of the zone to the other (for the most part) in search of some elusive mob/node/npc/location that you have to search forever for. Unless you’re blessed with track and a wealth of knowledge you’re going to be there a while. I actually make it a point to start my characters some place else to get their first few levels and then work back to the Commonlands at a later date. There are a few named who give aa, but there’s nothing unique about the zone. I found very few broken quests and that was nice at least. There are quite a few zones that lead off of CL, and they have added things over time like the quest called “The Secret Valley” which leads to an instance in Commonlands. A few quests are miss-tagged as solo but require heroic content, that happens in pretty much every older zone though.

I suppose my biggest issue is the fact that the Commonlands is a HUGE zone, but a lot of the space is wasted. Everything is spread so far out. I understand that this is the look of the zone and it should be this way, but I always wished there was a better way to implement and not loose the feel. I know I keep comparing it to Darklight Wood, but it’s because it’s the newest starter zone out there. You’ll rarely loot an item or a piece of gear in Commonlands that you would actually want to wear. In a comparison, the level 14 gear from Darklight Wood, is far superior to the level 19-ish gear from Commonlands. It’s better off sold to transmuters.

If it sounds like I’m coming down hard on the zone, I suppose that I am. If you’re a new player to the game and have never experienced any of the other beginner zones before you may find this one just fine. If quests are your thing, again you’ll probably love it here although it will take you a good portion of your day to make progress in the quests. Does that mean the zone has absolutely nothing to offer players? No, of course not. The design of the zone is still pretty. It’s great to look out across the land as the sun is setting. The Greater Lightstone Heritage quest has been revamped and every named you need is practically always up now, a change I disliked since it just made things far too simple. Access was removed some time ago for Fallen Gate, and I also disliked that. I miss the way you had to work to gain entry to a zone, now it’s just handed to you on a silver platter. There’s also a high teens instance in the graveyard close to the entrance of the sprawl, that doesn’t require access any longer. If you like that stuff, you’ll love the Commonlands. I still stick with my Darklight Wood zone though for any of my evil characters.

Did You Know:

• Rilkrik at the Crossroads works as the Supplies Officer, and sells treasured and eventually legendary shoes based on your destroyer of orc count
• The Greater Lightstone heritage quest starter is now no-trade, but the wisp who drops it is typically up
• Mooshga gives the best quests around, she’s outside the WFP gates

Goudia, camping in Everfrost. Her poor little nose is getting cold..

I made another alt. I know, bad me. Eventually though I’ll run out of classes that interest me and the alt madness will have to end, right? Faralithe is the newest addition to the alt-army, a little fae, high elf, iksar paladin. I wanted something a little different. I have an arasai (or two) I have dark elves, I have a regular fae, I have a ratonga. I love the look of the female iksars and the way their fins (are they even called fins?) along the side of their heads flare out as you fight. Of course, iksar are evil (typically) so I’m a shadowknight for now. She’s also only level three. But she’ll betray around level 18 I think if I can handle it then (to Kelethin of course, where the quests are far easier to complete for betrayal). That way I can do the evil aligned starter city quests and the good ones as well. An iksar paladin eh. Not sure what her role play story will be yet, but I do plan on creating one. I typically do with my characters even if I don’t post about them.

I suppose I’ve been feeling restless in game again. I completed three heritage quests yesterday on Goudia which was a fair amount of guild status. Even though the quests themselves were very boring at level 70 completing them for the fourth or some times fifth time. I’m looking forward to RoK in a way that I’ve never looked forward to an expansion before. I know there are mixed views on a level cap increase, but honestly, it’s about time. I need to feel some sort of linear progression again.

Aside from the paladin creation, I worked on my armorer (who is new), Sensual reached level 20. Which is nice. She in fact made all of the gear for the paladin. Now I need to harvest metals (again) which is never fun, as any weaponsmith or armorer can agree. So why am I doing it? Who knows, maybe I’m just crazy. Naw, actually. I just find it so much more useful if I have one of every sort of crafter. I like being self reliant in as many aspects as I can in game. That way I’m not waiting on someone else to craft something for me. Since I have so much time to play, I figure that there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to do these things myself. A skewed way of thinking perhaps, but hey, whatever works.

Goudia in Everfrost, fighting off the Numbnuts Numbfoot

First of all, eeks, it was announced earlier today that EQ2 (and forums and what not) will be down for a full day, 24 hours. Starting on Tuesday September 24th. No time given as of yet. Not just EQ2 but all SoE games. That sucks. I am sure that people will be upset over it. That’s a long period of time to be game-less if you play at all. So I’m sure lots of blogs will be updated and people will be dusting off those ‘other’ video games that they play. It’s of course an understandable reason for being down, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck.

Ok, second of all, Cordanim, tagged me for this new style of meme on which races should be aligned to which classes. (Or in Cord’s words, who should play what). Well. My opinion on the matter is pretty simple. I hate being restricted. I think that anyone should be able to play anything. Of course base stats would differ due to the racial abilities (exactly as they are now, with ogres having more strength then elves for example) but I think that having specific races only being able to play specific classes sucks. I’ve played both methods, in EQ2 there are no restricts besides good and evil, and even then the line can be blurred as you betray. However, in WoW (gasp, I said the dreaded word) races are very strict towards which class they can be. I hated the restricts. What if I wanted to be a orc paladin (or any other combination). People are not restricted in real life (these days at least.. they shouldn’t be..) as to what they choose for their profession, especially not based off of race. May seem like an odd analogy but that’s the best I can come up with. So I can’t really do a full write up like he’s done with his post, aside to say that why have restrictions at all. Everyone wants to be unique, and no one wants to all have to be restricted to the same race if they’re playing a particular class.

In game.. I’m doing heritage quests on Goudia. At least at this exact moment I am camping the three named needed by the Eye for Power HQ. It’s boring. But the guild is almost level 24, and then it’s just one more to be able to purchase some new guild status items from the merchant. We’ve been working really hard on it lately, and it’s great to see. Aside from working on the old HQ’s that I haven’t bothered with (once you do them the first time you sort of loose the excitement) I’m also doing tome quests. Lots and lots of tome quests. I adore them (as always) and eventually maybe I’ll finish a few collections off on numerous characters. Or if I ever settle down to a character and not 10. We’ll see how it goes!

Faydai, my 56 necro, is well behind where she should be in regards to achievement experience

So I’ve been contemplating what I should do in game now, I’m basically just waiting for RoK to be released. Working on smaller alts and crafting here and there. Storing coin aside in the guild bank to help afford the cloak as well as new spells that’ll be coming out. Still not even sure which two characters I’ll be taking to 80 first, I’m sure I’ll decide the day of the expansion or some such. In the mean time, I decided to dust off my 56 necromancer, Faydai. She’s way behind in achievement experience (or aa as it’s typically called by old EQ1′ers) and it’s going to take me forever to get her caught up. Or I could stick with her, or something. Not sure.

I love playing the necromancer. The dps they have is very nice and a huge change from my typical healers. Except she’s slightly… less well off. Then my other characters, simply because her spells just cost so dang much. I used to say that everyone and their dog had a druid (which still holds true) but now I think everyone is running a necromancer of some sort or another. Not that I mind exactly, it’s not as if I am really playing mine, but they’re everywhere.

I ran Mines of Meldrath today, managed to get three legendary useless drops. Transmuted them all, and got powders (also quite useless). 22% experience for the zone, which is not so bad. Groups in the 50’s seem to be far and few between, so I’m contemplating questing my way through them, or being constantly LFG (me? LFG? Eh, no thanks…) to at least try to break into the T7 bracket before RoK comes out. Since Faydai is already a 70 sage, that comes in handy, I can at least see the higher level channels.

Slightly peeved, last night was going to go on an Unrest run, but the servers said they were going down randomly for two hours. Group decided to go to a smaller instance, and the server message said they were not going down after all… of course. Once my group had already decided to go do something else. Ah well, it was getting close to midnight anyhow, so Shadowgeist and I just decided to call it a night.

Playing around with Photoshop and screen shots (there are three screenies incorporated here)… too much fun

So I decided to kick back and relax yesterday, spending most of my time on Qutey, the monk. She’s completed 310 quests or so now I believe, hit level 28, and 28aa. 28 carpenter as well, which is always nice. I’ve come to the conclusion (though I am not the only one) that Thundering Steppes quests suck. Yes that’s right I said the S word. The rewards are barely worth it, the mobs are scattered all over and are far too rare especially if you don’t have track. Of course as is the way with quests, I had to kill 16 hawks. Barely saw any, struggled for a few hours hunting them down, once I’d completed the quest there were hawks everywhere. Bah.

The new level meant a new feign death though, and that was a welcome upgrade. Since I was only wandering around killing solo encounter mobs I turned combat experience back on for the majority of my travels, not that it netted me much. I’d like to get to 32 though, means a new set of gear and some new pretty weapons. I have a good chunk of quests to complete in TS before I wander anywhere else, at least the majority of the rewards are tradeable, and my transmuter’s been having a lot of fun ripping things apart.

Other then that, things are quiet. Last night in guild we had myself, Cordanim, Calreth, Gothun, Shadowgeist, and Lader all on at once, it was odd. I haven’t heard from Kilanna in a few days, hope everything is going well down at her end of the world. TK is almost level 24, the writs keep coming (maybe that’s what I’ll do today instead of slogging around on the baby monk, who knows). I’m excited about RoK, and hoping to get into the beta, we’ll see how it goes!

I love the Bristlebane pet, Meatbeast from Shimmering Citadel

Well, there was no time for posts this weekend, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t active in game. It was my Mom’s birthday so I headed to my folks place on Sunday, and of course did all of the typical household things on Saturday. I switched Goudia from Rallos to Bristlebane and the cloak is quite impressive. In fact it sort of puts the other deity cloaks to shame, as far as reward goes. I think I completed a heritage quest, Stein of Moggok, but it was lost in the amazing spam of status from both Calreth and Gothun, who have been working their way through our guild levels. Torrent Knights is almost 24, at 25 we get to add a new design to our guild cloak, as well as unlocking a few more things from the status merchant, always a good thing.

After some heavy contemplation, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just not a raider. I felt almost obligated to raid because I’m level 70 and know my characters fairly well — but that’s not how I enjoy the game. I have far more fun piddling around on a level 20 character doing a quest I’ve never done before or exploring an area that I glimpsed over long ago, then any end game raid or instance. Maybe it’s because I find the game slightly stale, it’s been over 18 months since we’ve had a level increase. But the game doesn’t bore me - so I’ve decided it must just be my play style. I’m much more comfortable crafting and chattering then traipsing around for hours on end in Emerald Halls. Even if I am “good” enough or know my class well enough, it’s just simply not fun to me.

I’ve been having fun leveling the coercer lately. She’s almost 47 and that’s when she can finally use her m1 of dominate. I’m excited about it. It’s been a while since I’ve played a coercer, though the pain from leveling up the last one still throbs from time to time. The master charms really do make a large difference. I’ve also geared her up finally, and moved her from Neriak to Freeport, to escape the lag monster.

The wizard that I made is sitting at 22 (un-geared) and I’m sure I’ll make some items for her before too long and begin questing. My favorite by far is still the monk (though I was contemplating a bruiser) who hit 28 carpenter. I haven’t heard from Kilanna much this week, but I’m sure she’s doing wonderful. Cordanim poked in last night so he’s back from his business trip and in game (where he should be!).

I finally found my photoshop CS2 CD (ok, ok, I “found” it over at my folks place, dad graciously gave it to me) and I’m going to be delving into manipulations hopefully over time. I’d like to be able to work on my screen shots and produce some art work from them. The uh, cow image above is the first thing I’ve done with photoshop in about two years. If anyone has links to some tutorials please feel free to email them to me! I have found a few on the Eq2 forums, but I’d love more. Everything I’m trying to do is just self taught. It was nice to re-install the drivers to my wacom tablet (Mine? I actually mean Shadowgeist’) this morning now if only the cat would stop trying to chew on it…….

Four Things! As I was tagged by Kilanna, here are mine…

Four Movies I have watched over and over:

• Ever After
• Chicago
• Love Actually
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (old version)

Four places I have lived:

• North Bay, Ontario
• Baden Soellingen, Germany
• Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
• Russell, Ontario

Four Shows I love to watch: ( I don’t watch tv.. 0_o )

• Iron Chef

Four Places I have been on vacation:

• Austria
• Florida
• Holland
• France

Four of my favorite foods:

• Sushi
• Chocolate covered strawberries
• Sandwhiches on fresh buns
• Home made stew

Four favorite drinks:

• Mudslide
• Ceaser
• Tea
• Cranberry

Four places I would rather be right now:

• Australia! Visiting Kilanna of course
• Europe, I miss it a lot
• Curled up with a good book
• Out in the woods

Now, as for the people I’m tagging!

• Gothun - Because he doesn’t post enough.
• Cordanim - Because he’s not posting enough either! Damn business trips.
• Jerrek - I’ve seen him around AB some times, so he can do some more posting too!
• Average Joe - Hey, why not.

Darcyle finding out first hand what the Avatar of Mischief has been up to

Since Bristlebane is live on servers, it’s only natural to assume that his avatar would be as well. Wandering through various nightbloods I stepped onto what appeared to be a huge mass of fur. Little did I know it was just ONE TOE of this massive halfling. He stands pretty dang tall, and on my server at least he’s yet to fall. Looks like the top end raid guilds are going to have their hands full.

I managed to do an unrest group early this morning with Goudia, she was still hunting her class hat and breastplate. I say was because she managed to (finally) get the hat to drop. Now she’s got her set bonus (wearing her feather hat for graphics) and just needs the chest piece for a full complete set. The only one of my characters to have their full set in fact. Pants and gloves are such a pain to obtain unless you have a very steady group of adventurers. Isn’t that everyone’s dream anyhow in an MMO? To have a constant steady group of (fun) people to wander the lands of Norrath? I know it’s not very typical that everyone is on at the same time, but I think that’s what we all look for.

Since the GU, my tome quest starters now drop from grey mobs. I am of course ecstatic over this and I’ll be working to get all of the ones I’m missing. I know there are nine in Obelisk, at least one in Blackburrow, two in Rivervale, and a few in Cazic-Thul as well. It’s going to be great working on these book quests and filling my home.

On a side note, I got some very pretty flowers yesterday from Bloodpact that smell like strawberries. Hopefully the cat doesn’t decide to eat them or knock over the container that I’ve got them propped up in. My mom’s birthday is this weekend, so I’ll be (hopefully, if she’s home) heading to my folks place this weekend to see how she’s doing.

I also did a very nice Obelisk of Blight group this morning, I didn’t need anything from the zone (except maybe that ring that refuses to ever drop for me, I’ve never seen it drop not even once) but it was still fun to run through, I did that with Stargrace. The illusionist doesn’t get out much but is still a lot of fun for me to play.

OH as another change that I didn’t even notice yesterday — they removed the rooted component to my troubadors precision of the maestro spell! I wouldn’t have even noticed were it not for the fact that I attempted to move as I cast it. The spell now dazes me, which means I can’t auto attack. I don’t anyhow with it, since it’s a proc that sets off on hostile spells. I adore the change, it was fantastic to learn. I’d typically toggle the spell off so I could run after my group that was charging ahead, and now I can simply keep up.