I should have probably taken advantage of the double experience weekend in EverQuestII, at least for the crafting, but I didn’t. I should have probably spent some time leveling in Vanguard, but I didn’t do that either. Instead I boxed in EverQuest, and I hung out with some friends, and had a lot of fun. Afterwards of course I was reminded about all of the stuff I ’should’ have done - that’s always the way it works, right?

I’d been to MPG a few times (muramite proving grounds) in the past, years ago now I suppose. The zone was packed. There were people camping everywhere. Now though they’ve moved to greener pastures. Fistinyereyes boxed his beastlord, cleric and enchanter. His cleric is trying to get some levels, and went from 65-67 yesterday. Fistinyereyes himself managed to hit his 757th aa or something like that. I lost track once he hit 700. I took invis, who got an aa and a bit, before we called it a day. She also managed to get herself a +20ac augment, which is really nice.

We were the only ones in the zone, wandering to camp was easy enough with invis and of course the shroud of stealth I’ve got on the rogue. Being an outdated character is interesting to say the least. There were times I’m sure I barely dented the mob even though they were a dark blue con.

I also managed to finish getting Ishbel her shield from Natimbi. I took Invis out to hunt for the last two meats, and MQ’d the book to her (since she had already looted two of the meats herself). Which is good, because I’d hate to show up on Friday night missing gear. Oh, that’s right, I’ve also decided since things have settled down some to partake in the Friday Nostalgia groups again. Not sure if I mentioned that before or not, it’s only 6am right now and I’m not fully awake (when am I ever, eh).

Got tickets to Feist. Looking forward to that. Sarah Brightman is also coming to Ottawa, but the tickets are well out of my price range. Hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend.

I wasn’t really in a gaming mood tonight - yes, I know, did hell freeze over (would be nice to get out of this heat that’s for sure). I spent the afternoon in EQ1 for the most part. My beastlord reached level 48, and the druid finally hit level 51. Actually she was 2% from 51 and died, but a kind cleric rez’d me for no charge and I wandered off for one more kill to ding 51. Very pleased with that progress. Afterward I headed to MPG (Muramite proving Grounds.. though I probably spelled that wrong) and exp’d some with an old friend of mine.

Anyhow, as I was saying. Tonight I wasn’t exactly in the mood to game, so I settled down for a few hours of DAZ Studio’s, which I’m still learning. There are two important things I need to learn how to do. Well, three I suppose. One would be applying textures. Another would be applying backgrounds, and the third would be lighting which I can’t seem to figure out for my life. Me and computers just simply do not get along. The 300 paged manual that comes with DAZ could probably help if I had any idea where to start. I’ll have to look up some other tutorials for it no doubt.

The screen shot above can be seen in far better quality (and size) here. Just click on the image if it doesn’t bring you to the full view right away. I still have no outfits to render for my characters, but the face shots are coming along nicely. I tried to frame this one after Stargrace in EQ2, who is a wood elf. It didn’t turn out too badly. Thinking of using one of these images I create to make a signature. We’ll see how that goes. I’d really like a dark elf texture, and I do have one but it’s not for V4.2 which means it’s not really going to work for me. I suppose I could colour it by hand in photoshop, but we’ll just have to see. Some times, it’s just nice to take a break.

Ever wonder where everyone hangs out now in EQ1? Noticing that PoK is a little more empty then usual after your return? Well the above image would be the reason. It’s the picture of the guild lobby on the luclin server, busy as always. It’s great to see so many people active in the game. Since things have slowed down (slightly) for me, I’ve decided it was time to rejoin the Nostalgia crew in EQ1 on their Friday night adventures. Since I’ve been gone they’ve been growing by leaps and bounds, and doing some raiding to boot.

I still currently have both of my EQ1 accounts active, so I decided to take the 50 druid and 45 beastlord to Dulak harbor for a little grind sesson. Of course, I got a head of myself and before I’d even made it to a camp Qutey and Nala were little smeared bits of Nostalgians on the ground. Woops.

So I loged the druid out (slightly frustrated, since I spent a lot of time buffing them) and brought out the 70 cleric instead. Since the beastlord has some levels of catching up to do, I simply had the healer follow around and dot the mobs - it worked out far better. My very first kill dropped a defiant plate breastplate which I’ll ship over to my 48 shadowknight, and though I didn’t see another piece for the evening I still had a lot of fun. By the time I called it a night the beastlord had reached level 47, which means a new pet. Her skills started to rise a good bit as well, sorely neglected in my power leveling sessons of the past.

Before this Friday’s Nostalgia meeting I’d like to get Ishbel (that’s the cleric) a shield from a quest in Natimbi, I need two more pieces of turtle meat to drop though. That’s today’s project (in between some real life stuff). If anyone is looking to talk, remember you can add me to Xfire (check it out if you haven’t yet) and it lets you talk in game, no matter the game as well as take video and screen shots.

Other then that, I hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend, no matter the realm you’re gaming in!

First of all, my thoughts and condolences go out to Kangamitzi and her family. I can’t even begin to imagine what they must be going through.

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!

“Katta Castrum was built to house the sickened leader of the Combine Loyalists, Tsaph Katta. It was once above water and connected to several areas housing Norrath’s endangered races, the Shissar, Sphinx, and Kedge. Experiments on the Kedge triggered the wrath of the Ocean Lord, Prexus, who sunk the city into the ocean. While it sunk, the magic of a great artifact was used to protect the city and bring air to it.

Homes were built for the endangered races, but over the years those races began to see the Loyalists as jailors. This is especially true for the Shissar, who broke through to Katta Castrum and began to destroy it. The Loyalists have defended the central part of the city, but fear they may lose it all soon. Not only the Shissar threaten them, but the artifact in their city has begun to weaken, allowing water to seep through their barrier of protection…” - Allakhazam

Yesterday it was time for a good ‘ol EQ1 experience grind. Which meant looking for a group, buffing up, and sitting at a camp for hours on end. Katta Castrum (which I had never been to) was the destination, and the Green House was the camp. In the hours I was there (boxing Ellithia and Kameeko) Ellithia hit level 70 (finally!) and 7aa, and Kameeko hit 69, and also managed to get herself a few aa. We weren’t here for loot (thank goodness, because I think all that dropped was one piece of chain defiant) but the experience was steady, and we managed to do a few quests involving faction (which can later be used to get gear, or so I’m told).

It was nice to go to a zone I’d never even heard of before. Out of all the screen shots available I probably picked the poorest one to actually take, but my mind was elsewhere.

Where exactly? Ah, on the Medieval Festival tomorrow of course! I’m feeling slightly under the weather, and so have decided tonight to do the right thing, go to bed early, relax, make sure I’m all packed up and ready. Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain (60% chance) but I’m hoping for some reason the clouds decide to avoid the festival. I’m most eager about the birds of prey show, and the King’s Banquette with the entertainment to follow. I should get there around 1pm or so, and be staying until midnight. It’s an hour drive there and back - but so worth it!

The only way it could be any more fun is if I were going with a bunch of my friends (who would undoubtedly get into so much trouble it would make me simply shake my head at them). Someone mentioned that I should organize a trip to Disney World for Nostalgians which actually didn’t sound like THAT bad of an idea. It comes in handy that my Mother is a travel agent. Something to ponder in the future. Perhaps not Disney World since I’m not exactly keen on that place, but some where else that’s not TOO extravagant a price.

More rambling once I get back from the festival, though it probably won’t be until Sunday.

“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!

I’ve never been uber before, in any game. Not by the uber people’s standards at least. I’ve never really cared about gear or what zones I’ve been key’d for or anything like that. What I have cared about is knowing my class, knowing how to play, inside and out. Even then there’s always room for improvement. I like knowing little tid bits of information that no one else would find useful. I know most of the short cut key commands to UI features just because.

Anyhow. My cleric, Ellithia is by no means uber. She’s three years out of date and there’s no way she could keep up with anything ‘current’. She’s got a tiny little mana pool - which I’m going to work on. Yesterday I spent some time with her in the Nest, which is a DoN (Dragons of Norrath) zone off of Broodlands. I managed to get from 31% exp to 90% exp which I was of course just tickled pink over. I really am eager to continue leveling her and see where I can get her. Maybe even work on my 1.5 (now that would be amazing).

In my travels down memory lane, Einhorn linked me this site, for PoM (Plane of Mischief). There’s some confusion as to when PoM was revamped, if it’s still revamped, or back under the ‘old’ layout. I don’t even know if the PoM I am used to is the revamped version or the regular version. Servers are down today for their 8 hour patch and won’t be back up until after 4pm EST - so I’m twiddling my thumbs contemplating things in the mean time. I’d like to take Invis (the rogue) out there to scope things out and see what it looks like, affirm in my mind that everything is as I’ve left it.

If things have changed, well. I can’t exactly blame SOE — oh wait, yes I can! If a zone is not broken, don’t fix it!

I’d like to organize some ‘old’ world exp running for higher level Nostalgia characters - since now almost everyone has one moved over to Luclin. The majority of us are out of date in gear and I’m not so sure we’d be able to stand up to the newer content, but there’s no reason we can’t go traipsing through the old world stuff. Even if Nostalgia itself is planning on doing that over time. I know, I’m impatient eh.

I still have two character slots, and have been contemplating what I want to make. I’m also contemplating closing down station access, and boxing in EQ1. I have two other EQ1 accounts, void of characters - and that would mean a lot more alts.

*Gets side tracked by something else and forgets where this post was going* Ah well, good enough ending for now..

My first raid ever in EverQuest, was Bertoxxulous. I was so nervous. I was tagging along with a friend’s guild on Veeshan Luclin, Keepers of the Elements (who are still around and going strong today). I was also an enchanter, and back when we were doing this raid they were an essential part of it. Actually in a few raids they were. It was nice. I remember so many people being involved. I remember how long the raid was, even though it was timed. I remember listening eagerly for all the instructions, and me being VERY nervous about not being nearly as “uber” as everyone else was.

It was exciting, and I still remember.

There are very few raids in EverQuest that I’ve actually done. Remember, I came to the game five years too late. Only stayed a year before EQ2 came out. I still had a lot of fun though. I did maze raids, Terris Thul, Saryn, old raids from days long past. I raided PoFear just once with my rogue, and spent most of it dragging bodies around. I loved shroud of stealth. I raided The Hole with Rage Veeshan (before Luclin and Veeshan merged). For every single one of those raids I was on edge, and always of the opinion that this was simply bigger then us (how ever many had gathered for that day). I remember raiding in PoI and not even knowing what we were raiding because I was on spider duty. To this day I don’t even know what the mob looked like I just remember mez’ing / helping dps down spiders. I think they were spiders, my memory may be a little foggy on that. I want to say we were raiding Behemoth, but again, I never saw the mob, so I’m not sure. It was one of the most annoying flags to get when I was working on those. Everyone complained about it. Pick up raids were not something one wanted to do for this encounter.
I ran Invis through some of the zones last night, just visiting old haunts. I’m still not uber, but I am having just as much fun now as I did way back when. I even see some of the same people still running around. The game is still quite active, do a /who in the bazaar or in the guild lobby and you’ll be surprised, I know I was. I realize I spend a lot of time traveling down memory lane, but how can you not when you’re exploring things you did 4-5 years ago.

One zone I certainly want to hit is Plane of Mischief. Gawd I love that zone. I spent hours and hours and hours there, farming named (who are difficult to tell that they’re named, on purpose of course), my first trip in I was smashed by a giant bunny who saw through invisibility and I laughed for weeks. It quickly became my zone of choice, and any time Fistinyereyes (the beastlord I used to play with) mentioned where I’d like to go (we could easily duo) that was the top of my list.

Ah, memories. They’re awesome. Every one of them.