If you played EQ in 2004 you may remember this zone, it’s where 7 day old corpses went once they expired from the world of Norrath until their owners claimed them. Now in 2009 (almost 2010!) there’s no real use for the zone, since there is a corpse summoner in the guild lobby (for a small fee of course) as well as veteran rewards that will call your corpse, and of course the ever handy necromancer who can summon (with a reagent). I’m sure there are other methods too that I just haven’t given thought to tonight.

My friend Ninga wanted me to see how he personally made use of Shadowrest when it first became available, and this video is that tour. Enjoy!

I wanted a way to relax last night, in preparation for a huge winter storm that’s hitting us today and so I decided to play EQ for a while. You know that feeling you get, where you’re restless with the characters you have and want to play someone new? Well that’s what I had. I decided to start over with a new beastlord, and was working my way through the tutorial. The early access to Underfoot began yesterday, and channels were active with everyone LFG and searching for people to gather with. It was nice to see.

I started thinking about all those posts people make about how you can never go back to your first MMO and capture the same feeling you had the first time around. I think that’s incorrect. I think it really depends on the person, and their play style.

I think perhaps we as writers and bloggers are more jaded then your average player who is just gaming and not telling the world about it. I know a good number of people who don’t write what so ever, game hop moderately, and still return to their first love (in this case, a game) without issue, and happily continue playing it, pondering all the while why they left to begin with. I love to see this.

With so much competition out there between video games, we expect more and more from what we’re playing. Understandable I suppose, but I like to think that I still can just simply enjoy a game for it’s very basic offerings. I don’t need to pick a game apart and find each of its flaws before deciding if I enjoy it or not.

Anyhow, the little beastlord made her way through the tutorial without too much issue. It wasn’t that long ago that I was doing them, so it was still fresh in my mind. I also had the pleasure of running through Plane of Mischief looking for Brisbane earlier in the evening with two friends of mine. He wasn’t up, nor was Innoruuk (disappointing!) and so we decided to go check in on Grieg in Griegs End. He wasn’t up either, sadly. I did take a LOT of video of the adventures though, which I’ll put together later on today and post. Such great memories of that zone.

I play on the Drinal server, so if you happen to be making your way to EQ for any reason be sure to say hello! I did also check out Brell’s Rest in Underfoot, but I was starting to fall asleep, so I called it an early night.

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

I’ve obviously been having a lot of fun since I installed Game cam, creating numerous videos (some good, some bad) over the past few weeks. I absolutely love doing this, and I hope to have more coming in the future. One little ‘feature’ Kanad mentioned, was that I should try to film some of the old world fights in EverQuest, and post them here to my web site. I thought that was a fantastic idea, especially since I’ve already been taking screen shots for Underfoot, the 16th EverQuest expansion that is slated to go live (early access) on the 8th of December, with the full release coming the 15th.

Our first adventure was back to the Plane of Disease, to defeat Grummus. Back in the day Grummus was used in a quest for access to the Elemental Planes, he was needed for your Crypt of Decay flag. Today most of these flags are obsolete but you can still go back (as we did) and kill him for Nostalgia sake. Our ‘raid’ consisted of myself (minxes, 82 necromancer), Ninga (our tank, 84 monk), and Kanad (our slower / healer, 66 shaman) as well as two healer mercs, Journeyman tier II (just in case the AOE caused us issues).

If you take a look at the bestiary for Grummus, you can get a sense of just how difficult he was at one point in time. Sure these days we hear about people soloing him but it was a real not all that long ago. The AOE used to really hurt, and people used to actually need more then one group to clear him.

It was great to be able to defeat him again, and what do you know, my little necromancer actually needed the flag. We’ll be working our way through more old school planar progression as the days go on (and as we can find the mobs up, they’re still farmed pretty heavily) and I’ll be taking more videos of it all to post. Hope everyone enjoys this little walk down memory lane!

Lore! Again be sure to check it out on the EQ web site for their magnificent gallery. I realize this video (like the first one I made) is a little dark – but they’ll be getting better over time, I promise. Thank you for watching!

Underfoot: Unfolding the Lore

Pellucid Grotto

The Pellucid Grotto is one of the areas of the Underfoot where the primal mineral underpinnings of Norrath and other worlds are managed. The race collectively known as the Crystalkin has made this their home since before memories were made.

Pellucid Grotto is a natural formation of colorful stones, where light shines through translucent crystal layers above great fissures in the ceiling, giving the area its name. Beautiful crystals thrust up from the ground of the caverns, emerging from the cave-like walls and acting as dim light sources. Other crystals, gems, ores, gasses, and substances can also be found throughout the Grotto.

The Geodech, the Crystalkin city, is dedicated to the implementation of Brell’s vision through the efforts of the Crystalkin themselves. The town was built inside the cracked stony shell of the original geode-like “seed” which Brell brought forth to create this area. This part of the city is known informally as the “Upper City”. Geodech’s structure sits partially embedded in a large, hardened flow of obsidianite, called The Obsidian Scar, which is the main center of industry for the Crystalkin and where they refine and polish the gems which are to be taken to the Repository. The outer portion of the Crystalkin city is referred to informally as the Lower City, and the busier parts of this Lower City are arranged on the flatter areas of the Scar. The Upper City and the Lower City have been split recently by a wave of violence sparked by a third group of the Crystalkin deciding to leave the city in favor of following the Faith of Self. Tensions between the two groups are still high.

Surrounding Geodech, the Obsidian Scar, and other areas within the vicinity are outcroppings of a primal metallic material known as Euthorium. A great mass of Euthorium to the east of Geodech, originally part of a collapsed natural pillar, has been worked into a kind of natural bridge known as the Euthoric Bridge, which connects the central city with The Black Plinth. The Black Plinth is a prominent feature of obsidianite that serves as a landmark and as a ceremonial meeting place where the Crystalkin perform certain rituals.

The cave systems in this area are responsible for the creation of many of the gems found throughout Norrath. The Crystalkin harvest these crystals to make the gemstone seeds which are then sown into Norrath through The Repository. Within the Repository is a representation of Norrath where the gems are literally placed into the world by Brell’s servants. The keepers of the Repository can change the floor map at any time to display a different portion of some other world; for now the focus is on Norrath.

Recently, the normally well-ordered reality of the Pellucid Grotto has come unstrung. The harmonious creations of Brell now find themselves in conflict, and the vital work of the Underfoot is suffering as vast portions of the Underfoot lay idle. The crisis may soon spread to other metaphysical realities, with catastrophic consequences for all.

I hope everyone has enjoyed watching these short videos as I’ve had making them!

Another video tour!

Of course the lore comes from the official EQ web site, so be sure to check it out, they’ve also got a wonderful gallery with more pictures.

Underfoot: Unfolding the Lore

The Cooling Chambers

Water, boiling from the lava that is the life’s blood of the Underfoot, pours into the Cooling Chambers from a sinkhole in Brell’s Rest. The water is cooled by Brell’s servants as it flows through the chambers and eventually grows cold enough to turn to ice. This water can be sent to other realms during its cooling stages, as needed.

The main population of the Cooling Chambers is a group of Coldain (Ice Dwarves) that are perpetually cooling the water that flows away from the central core, by means of a series of endothermic reactions. The ice is used to keep a massive necromantic beast frozen in a jagged glacial iceberg floating in the lower lake.

Unfortunately, some of the Coldain have rebelled against Brell’s influence because of the meddling of the first creation. One of them has learned to harness the power of the beast and is siphoning power away from it in order to fuel his own malicious schemes.

The Coldain are not comfortable in the top half of the Cooling Chambers but no one can perform as well as they do in the chilly depths of the Chamber. They are primarily workers, intent on their tasks, but many have gone rogue. Some rebellious workers are still, to all appearances, at work, but grudgingly. Others are roaming the passageways causing havoc.

Undead of all types can be found throughout the Cooling Chambers. The workers react with terror at the sight of the undead and flee their approach.

Thorbin the Elder
An ancestor of Coldain Guard Thorbin of Thurgadin, Thorbin the Elder was a close companion of Dain Frostreaver II, and was killed in battle with the Kromrif, when he sacrificed himself so that a troop of Coldain warriors could escape to a nearby rally point in a battle outside Kael. Thorbin dislikes spending time at the hot springs entrance to the Cooling Chambers but he can withstand the heat, if he has to. No one else in Brell’s Realm is as skilled and adapted to the work in the depths of the Cooling Chambers, where the air itself turns to ice.

Valcamph Shadowfrost
Valcamph Shadowfrost is the Grandfather of Valdicar Shadowfrost, a famous adventurer living in Thurgadin. He runs the main Alchemy area in the Cooling Chambers, overseeing the delicate mixing of materials needed to create the reagents for the cooling process. Valcamph is even more of a playful rogue than his grandson, and still longs for his adventurous days in the frozen wastes of Velious. Valcamph thrives on assigning foolish, dangerous tasks so that he can live vicariously through others experiences.

Tasnise Underbelly
Tasnise Underbelly, Ancestor of the Underbellys of Thurgadin, was the inspiration for the dark studies that Dalgrim Underbelly undertook. Unlike his grandson, Tasnise was brave enough, or foolish enough, to dive headfirst into necromancy and death worship. He walked a fine line between worshiping Brell and secretly lusting for the power that Bertoxxulous promised him. In the end it was Brell who claimed his soul when Tasnise died, but his heart secretly belonged to Bertoxxulous by that point. Brell claimed him as an act of spite toward Bertoxxulous, as revenge for trying to steal one of his priests.
Tasnise has not forgotten his love of darkness. He was the first creature in Brell’s domain to hear and respond to the First Creation’s call. He hides in plain sight in the Cooling Chambers now, to all appearances a faithful servant of Brell. But secretly he plots to overthrow the Lord of the Underfoot, in the service to the First Creation, so he can return to Norrath and raze Thurgadin, dreaming that it will then be rebuilt as a haven for Bertoxxulous.

Only Brell’s will prevents Tasnise from leaving the Underfoot and taking over Thurgadin.

Taelin the Fearless
After years of living in obscurity within the thieves’ guilds of Freeport, Taelin Barnoc has come to the Underfoot to start over. Determined to reverse his fortunes, he gave himself the moniker Taelin the Fearless. It wasn’t long before he bumped into Rodrick Cleanheart, who convinced Taelin to take on the undead currently running amok in parts of the Cooling Chambers. However, once Taelin realized the danger involved, he became anything but fearless. He stands at the entrance to the tunnels, too afraid to return to Rodrick with the task unfinished.

Entarr Coldheart
The ancestor of Captain Dunstan Coldheart of the Froststone Keep found in Crystal Caverns, Entarr Coldheart was a close companion of Dain Frostreaver I. Entarr died of old age in Froststone before the founding of Thurgadin. Though long dead, Entarr is still fiercely proud of the Coldain race.

I’m not sure whether or not people actually enjoy watching these videos or if they’re something that’s typically frowned upon, but I’m going to continue to post them, especially the EQ ones since not many people (that I read at least) are posting about EQ. This is turning into a very fun project for me.

I realize the video starts off a little dark, I may have to adjust the gamma for the next video, remember these are experiments for me, and I’ve got a lot to learn still. This is a video look at Brell’s Rest – one of the first zones I visited in the latest EverQuest expansion. The video doesn’t do it justice, but I tried.

Lore (taken from the official EQ site, for more information and to visit their gallery, be sure to check out their web site!)

Underfoot Lore: Brell’s Rest

Brell’s Rest is the place where the worthy of Brell’s worshippers go when their time on Norrath ends. Some worshippers are given places amongst those of the Underfoot, to work on the world, but few find such a thing to their liking. Many spend their afterlife in an “ideal” setting for their race. Dwarves, gnomes, gnolls, kobolds and others all live in or around Brell’s Rest or in the Shining City just out of sight on the sphere above. However, most of the residents of the Rest are gnolls and kobolds. The dwarves tend to stay in the city brewing beer and crafting things in stone and metal, while the Gnomes tinker, though some of them also wander the land to see what’s up out there.

There is much conflict between the gnolls and kobolds in this domain, since conflict is what they love. Their violent and destructive tendencies tend to keep them out of the Shining City.

There is also an arena dedicated to battle in Brell’s Rest. Here groups of warriors challenge each other to games to prove their superiority.

Trouble in Paradise

Gnoll and kobold warriors have clashed joyfully on the battlefields of Brell’s Rest for millennia, but recently the kobolds have found fewer sparring partners. The gnolls have been acting stranger and stranger, as though they are hiding something from the rest of the realm. Most aren’t speaking at all, but those who do will only whisper of one they call “The Destroyer” or “The Undying One,” their faces twisted by equal parts fear and adulation. Whoever or whatever “The Destroyer” is, the gnolls do not appear to have it under their control just yet.

Excited about this expansion yet? I know I am. I’ll be posting more videos for each of the new zones as the weeks go on and the release date inches closer, so be sure to check back! If you’ve got any questions please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Ellithia is sporting the Shard of Love headgear that dropped for us earlier this week – and that’s been the extent of my time in EQ2, which hasn’t happened in literally, months. I haven’t logged in. It’s not that I don’t have things to do in game, because I certainly do but I just don’t have enough time lately to do everything I want to do. Isn’t that always the case?

EQ2 is always my home base, and I’ll always return there. Especially after I glanced through this HUGE list of patch notes that are currently on test. Wow. Some pretty amazing stuff is finally getting fixed. This has been a very long time coming. Earlier this week I also transferred my 80 swashbuckler over to Antonia Bayle, so I can get back into boxing. I had closed my second account for a little while but decided that 12 alts was simply not enough, so I’ve got both accounts once more.

Vanguard is my home away from home. It’s the game I play for pleasure with a few friends when we all happen to have time, and I really love the game. The problem is it’s not one of those duck in real quick for a minute or two games, so it looks like it gets a lot of back burner time.

Aion is what I’m playing a lot of lately, mostly for work. I play during the day, when it’s quieter then normal and I can’t say I’m hating it. Leveling is slow, quests are grindy but it’s beautiful and still new, and I’ll be sticking with it.

Torchlight and Dragon Age are still on my play list as well, but I’ll probably be playing those more on the weekend when I’m not busy with other things. The weather is getting much colder and it’s almost time to hibernate for the winter. No doubt my adventures there will be fun as always.

NaNoWriMo is eating up a lot of time. I’m just over 12k words right now (although I completely slacked yesterday and didn’t do any writing – today I should be making up for it) and I’m excited about my story. It’s something that I’ve been meaning to write for a very long time, but simply never got around to. Now that the motivation is there I just need to stick with it for the month of November. I’ve also been very excited watching all my friends work on their stories, and the inspiration and motivation that bounces off of one another is fantastic.

There are five games that are on my “dang I wish I had more time” list currently. These are the Lord of the Rings Online, Fallen Earth, Wizard 101, EverQuest and Dungeons and Dragons Online. Thankfully DDO is free to play, so I don’t exactly feel like I’m missing out by NOT playing right now. The Lord of the Rings Online recently extended their special Mirkwood promotions until mid November, so I’ve been debating whether or not I want to get in on that and plurge on a life time just because. It’s one of those games I’ve really enjoyed playing but just can’t seem to find the time. Fallen Earth I managed to score a 15 day trial for, and never logged in – sighs. Wizard 101 is something I should be playing a lot more of next week, fingers crossed. EverQuest currently has their closed beta ongoing for Underfoot – and if I could convince a few of my friends to play with me, I’d probably be there a lot more. I really love EverQuest, always have, even 10 years later. It’s just not fun for me to play alone.

After the list of “I wish I had more time” games, there are a few games that I wish I could simply afford to take a peek into every so often, even if I don’t have the time. These include Warhammer (I loved the game, but lacked friends to play with), Free Realms, and Champions Online (which I played a few times but honestly never got into it, I was right about it simply not being the genre for me). Of course there’s those games I’ve tried but never stuck with (and I’ve tried them multiple times), EVE and World of Warcraft. I even bought the latest EVE game and never actually installed it (it went on sale for $5 if I recall) because I just don’t have the time right now to learn another game. I’ve played WoW off and on since release, and I just think it would have been neat to make it to the level cap at least once. My highest level is 50.

Don’t get me started on all the free to play games out there that tickle my fancy.

There really is just not enough time for everything.

Eventually if you play a number of different games, you’ll come across a point where you think to yourself ‘I wish such and such game had THIS feature!’ It doesn’t matter what the feature is exactly, but you’ll think it and you’ll feel a little dirtier thinking it depending on what “it” is. Now, there are a couple of directions you can go with this thought.

Number one, it’s common for games to “borrow” from one another and add popular features to their game that may have shown up elsewhere ‘first’. This only makes sense, why would you NOT add a popular feature to your game, even if someone else is using it. It’s not the developers who cry ‘we had that first!’ but the players who typically shout ‘oh yeah, well THIS GAME had that feature first! So it must be better.’ In the end it doesn’t really matter.

Second of all, if games only used unique and different features in their games we’d have even more indecision on what to play because no one game could possibly house everything you would like to see.

What feature have you seen in one game but would love to see in another? Would this feature changed whether or not you played either of those games? Feel free to name some that are realistic (ie: you could actually see them being implemented in your game) and some that you know there’s absolutely no way you’d ever see in your MMO of choice.

One of mine would have to be from world of warcraft. I would absolutely love to see EQ2 with a built in calendar much like WoW has (you click on it from the mini map) that tells players what world events are going on, and when they start. You can click on each specific day of the calendar and it will tell you everything you need to know about this event.

I think this would be fantastic for events such as the moonlight grotto that comes once a month, Frostfell, and every other holiday event out there. When a special promotion is going on (ie: doubt exp weekends, SC cards on sale) that could also be mentioned.

Of course it’s not good enough to simply swipe another games idea, you have to improve on it and make it better. So how about allowing guilds to customize their calendars and add events to it, raids. Then players know what is scheduled without having to always log over to their guild web site, and it gives officers and leaders a neat place to write things down and keep track. The general calendar could be something simple and edited by the community team so that developers don’t have to spend hours and hours working on it once it’s released to the game, and things like Antonia Bayle’s server wide roleplay events could eventually get added to these calendars for players to look at while they’re in game.

This feature may not be for everyone, but it’s still something I would one day absolutely love to see (and yes, I’ve left /feedback about this before). Lets hear some other features out there, it doesn’t matter what game you’d like to see it in, I want to hear them all!

I love my job, I really do. Being able to write about something I enjoy as well as something I’m passionate about is a great gift that I try to make sure I’m aware of constantly. On my web site, I write for me and I love talking about my adventures, thoughts, friends and anything else that happens to cross my mind. The only time any of this is difficult is when it all seems to happen at once. These days there are so many games out there, that I simply don’t have enough time to play everything I want. It’s a shame, because I’d really love to.

EQ2 is my ’steady’ game even though I’m barely playing it these days (it’s due to being crunch week and no other reason) it’s the comfort game that I know inside and out, and I like that comfort factor. However. It’s not the only game I want to play and certainly not the only game I am playing.

I’ve been having an incredible urge to continue playing EQ, which I have waded in and out of for quite some time now. Problem is I don’t enjoy playing EQ alone (where as in EQ2 I have no problem wandering around on my own) and it’s difficult for me to make friends (especially when I waver to and from games). I have my 81 necromancer that I’m considering leveling a little, she’s fairly close to level 82. I’ve always wanted to hit “end game” in everquest, and with the expansion NOT raising the level cap in November, it may very well be a possibility.

Vanguard is another one of those “if I only had more time” games. I seem to be in a rut with my blood mage, and I’m slowly running out of areas where I can just dip in for an hour or two before calling it quits and feel as though I have gotten anything acomplished.

Last month I won a free copy of Age of Conan, I think I found the time to play once during the month that came with the game, and then it sat neglected. For some reason it just does not appeal to me as much as I wish it had. It may be because I’m not really a melee person, and it felt uncomfortable. Either way, it’s one of those “I wish I had more time” games – along with many others.

Lord of the rings online – I really enjoy this game, a lot. It’s familiar, it’s beautiful. I want to continue playing but for now my account lays dormant because once again the greedy time monster has taken all of my time away, and I just don’t have any to spare or to warent spending a monthly subscription for it.

So what AM I playing? Well, my current play list includes EverQuest II, Vanguard (barely), Free Realms (barely), World of Warcraft (please don’t shoot me, it’s easy to dive into for an hour and feel like I actually acomplished something), Wizard 101, Aion Beta, and some DDO.  I want to be able to devote more time to EVE, but that learning curve is so far over my head I may as well actually be playing from another planet. I’ve been having fun in Aion, but again – not enough time to play everything I want to play, and to get work done as well as real life things (plus I can’t actually sit at my desk for too long before I start to get sore from health issues).

While I am excited that there are so many games out there (don’t even get me started on console games and finding time to play those too!) there are certainly moments where I wish the selection were smaller. Am I the only one?

Well, there’s lots of news going on out there – to start things off, the newest Wizard 101 world is going live today! What a great Canada Day gift to players. I’m excited about this world for a few reasons, number one you can level up through it just as you would level up a character, so for those who have completed it all – it’s time for alts, and time to run quests for house items. It will also impliment a crafting system, bazaar, and the new 18+ chat system, and a few other goodies. Speaking of goodies, be sure to check out Tipa’s site for some wallpaper goodies! I love how fast things come out of test for players.

Of course there is also the discussion about the Chronicles of Spellborn becomming free to play – I dipped into this game only VERY briefly, and didn’t enjoy it. I’m not sure why. I don’t even think I made it past the tutorial, but maybe I just know my comfort zones, and tend to stay within.

I am looking forward to the next Aion beta weekend, from July 2nd to the 4th. I have no idea if I’ll actually manage to drag myself to the PC to play, but we’ll see. It would be nice.

I spent some time on the new EQ server yesterday, Mayong. For those who have been living under a rock, this new server is a 50/51 server – you log in and create, and achieve level 50 instantly, as well as 51 aa to your name. You also start out with all of your spells (and I do mean all) as well as some gear and backpacks (there are more packpacks waiting for your in the bank if you’re looking for them). You don’t start with any money, so you’ll want to farm some especially if you plan on using a mercenary.

The server was absolutely packed last night, I had problems moving around. It was fantastic. There were four general channels, and people were advertising for groups and guilds all over the place. PoK was packed, it was easy to tell who had been a long time player and who had returned for the free 30 days and didn’t know about the guild lobby yet.

There were of course raids also going on, and I saw a few system messages about encounters that were being taken down. I didn’t stay for too long but I did create myself a beastlord, enchanter, cleric, and bard. Whether I will actually stick with one of those or head back to Drinal I am unsure.

In EQ2 (the brief time I played) I collected some more red shiny and decided to do a little crafting and put items for sale which was nice. Not going to be purchasing anything super expensive over the next little while, but hey it’s better then nothing.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day today, it’s the first of July and thus Canada Day! Get out there and enjoy it for me.