2006

Ricotta betrays… again

stargrace September 26, 2006 No Comments

Ricotta standing at the welcoming party in Haven

I decided Ricotta was growing tired of Qeynos, and after she snagged the languages for all of the goodies, as well as all of the sage / merchant sold book quests, she started the betrayal back to Freeport. Now she’s snug and cozy back in the town of Haven, some caves that have all of the comforts of home (without any of the extreme comforts). I’m in no rush to work back up her Freeport faction, as the quests are pretty boring, but at least in my spare time it gives me something to do. It was nice that I remembered to buy those book quests first, I hate how only Qeynos or Freeport can do particular quests.

Raided HoS last night, what a horrible raid. If it could go wrong, it did. I wasn’t feeling all that great (touch of the flu I think) and I had said ahead of time that if we had more then enough people I would sit out. However, for the first time since I’ve joined the guild, only 24 people logged on vs the 30-35 or so we typically have on raids. I know a few are moving, and are sick, so it comes as no surprise. I was also asked to play my healer instead of the coercer, another small let down. People were off their game, running in places they shouldn’t have been running so that we got adds, aoe’ing when we had encounters mez’d and breaking them (subsequently those broken mobs ran around and squished healers who drew agro), and far too many fighter classes, not enough dps. We had 4 scouts, two were bards so they don’t put out a lot of dps, we also had 4 mages, two were enchanters, lack of dps again. 9 people were fighters. Ouch. Three of those I believe were guardians. One was a zerker. One was a shadowknight. With no enchanter in the off tank group (though we did have a dirge) my power regen was lacking and I spent the evening wearing my power regen gear instead of typical gear just so I could soak up every last bit of power I could. I went through over 50 clarity potions, and used my manastone, manastone 2.0 every chance I could. It was a long night.

Taking a break from the coercer lately, even though she hit 68, I have not been in the best of moods to level her. We’ll see how it goes. I started a brigand to get out of my funk, and two new tradeskillers. I needed a new tailor, an alchemist, and I’m not sure what the final class will be yet, but I think I may make an armorer. We’ll see I guess.

Peacock quests and all the rest

stargrace September 25, 2006 1 Comment

Stargrace killing one of the sages in a sub quest for Damsel in Distress

I like to do quests, most of the time. There are always some out there that prove to be exceptionally difficult for me, especially if they require groups and I’m not particularly in the mood to group, or they have goals that are just not obtainable. But I still quest. I decided as I was slowly leveling the coercer and waiting on a group, that I would start (finally) the peacock series of quests, for the Godking weapon, since apparently my guild will be killing him in a few weeks for people who still need those quests updated. It’s an epic raid for the final fight.

This quest is a long chain of 18 other quests, they start with an npc by the golden scepter, a quest called a damsel in distress. I’ve done the complete chain of quests on Silverstep already. In fact I did it at level 55 when the entire thing still warded a lot of exp and I did it in two days with a lot of help from friends. Doing it again with the coercer, is not that much fun, though it’s (so far) entirely gray to me, so it’s not difficult.

I’d much rather do this chain of quests, then do the claymore chain which is proving to be even more annoying. Whether this is because I currently have not only one, or two, but three of my characters doing this chain of 24 quests I’m not sure, but I need a break from it for a bit. My warden has been on PoA a star to unlock for quite some time. It’s a typical quest to hear people shouting for groups to complete. The coercer is in SoS still, a zone I now hate with a passion unmatched. The templar has just started the chain which means she has yet to enter SoS. Anyone who’s worked these quests to any extent understands my pain.

With the coercer at 68 I managed to snag a spot in our Deathtoll raid last night, we did awsome. One wipe on the corpuscle mob that splits at 54% into two mobs that you have to keep separated for the duration of the fight, and then also on Tarinax. Which I did not expect us to take down anyhow, but we did very well. Lots of pretties dropped, nothing that I felt like bidding my hard earned dkp on though. I’m saving for some pants a hat or a dress, any of those pieces would be nice upgrades to the coercer. Tonight is Lyceum, a zone that I don’t mind too much as long as we have a steady raid force with the healers on their toes as the MT gets some nasty trama dots that need to be cured right away. My only issue is that the fights last far too long, we need more dps, but it’s hard to drop anyone from the raid. We need our 8 healers typically and can’t afford to spare them. We have a surplus of warriors every raid unfortunately. We have dirges and 3 enchanters who are not exactly the best of dps’ers, and we could certainly use more. Constant raiders at that. We had no necromancers or conjurers who raided last night with us, and we could have really used their dps.

Other then that though, it was a great night. I like feeling as though we learned something in our encounters. I think it’s wonderful that we still have about 30 members logging on each raid night, it means we have to sit some out, however I’d rather that happen then be struggling to obtain a full raid.

Home sweet home..

stargrace September 24, 2006 No Comments

An image from Silverstep’s house, just one of my favorite corners

I know I’ve been slacking with the posts, but I typically do on the weekends. So what’s been going on lately in game? Well, the coercer hit 67, and is 70% into her level, so hopfully she’ll get 68 today. What’s that mean? I’ve actually been raiding with her instead of the warden, and let me tell you, I love it. It’s a completely different game with the coercer, complete with a whole different set of worries and concerns. Instead of keeping the tank (or my group) up health wise, I’ve got the responsibility of keeping them up power wise. I do this with various spells at my disposal, mana flow, mana cloak, ease, and gorging thoughts as well as beholder’s eye. The guild has two enchanters who typically are always on to raid, but not on the weekends due to work. I’m sure I’ll still be asked to play the warden quite frequently, or asked to sit out, but in the mean time I’m enjoying it.

I also managed to get Roost access done on both characters this weekend. What’s roost? It’s an epic x 2 raid zone in Mystic lake, completion of the zone gives you access to the x 4 version of it. Apparently pretties drop quite frequently, I wouldn’t know since I’ve never been. It was nice to get those village of shin quests completed though and it gave Stargrace a huge chunk of exp / ap.

I was also promoted in guild from initiate (a two week period) to recruit. I’ll become a full member once I’ve gathered 50 dkp, I’m standing at 30 right now and have 100% raid attendance, so the only way for me to possibly have more would be if more raids were scheduled. I figure another week and a half and I’ll have my 50 and be a full member. As well as an active raider if I can keep my raid attendance up.

I didn’t get to do any crafting, or play my alts, but I’m hoping as I get even closer to 70 I’ll have more time for that sort of stuff. I feel the need to be 70 for the guild and what not which is sort of bad but meh. Long as I’m having fun (which I am). Saw the live update notes for the next one, should be spiffy, I’ll post more details later. For now, it’s off to quest!

Oh yes, the picture above.. a little niche in Silverstep’s house, that represents me in real life more then in game since I draw and write and all that creative stuff. The easel is a quest reward and I’ve placed a little guitar close by as well as some random paintings. I love the way it turned out, just needs some lighting. The rug on the floor is the quest reward from poets palace access, that ports you to the shimmering citadel, very worth it might I add.

QoTW : Drednever Expedition: Unto the Breach!

stargrace September 20, 2006 No Comments

Stargrace in her kitchen, on the left her Drednever scrying sphere

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am slightly addicted to houses and house items in game. Ok, so maybe it’s more then slightly.. each one of my characters own a home, ranging from the 1 room starter inns, to the 5 room manors. Silverstep owns a 5 room, Stargrace owns a 3 room, Ricotta owns a 2 room, and the others are tucked away in 1 rooms. So any quest that rewards me with a house item, is a fantastic quest in my eyes. That goes from furniture, books, or just little nick nacks to place around and give more of a ‘homey’ feeling.

This chain of quests was added to Solusek Eye a few months ago, and on ogaming it’s rated as average rewards.. but I think it’s one of those under rated quests. It starts with a gnome called Ognit Eznertob, who is just inside the zone. You have to be able to speak gnome to start this quest, so stop by your local Temple street or Baubleshire before you make your way down. He gives a series of quests, with a reward for each series. The first one gives a half decent ring, second gives you an item that can summon little pets to help you fight. The third one gives you the house item that’s behind Stargrace in the image above, and a description of it in the image below.

The fourth quest rewards you with the title “Champion of Drednever” as well as a legendary weapon of your choice (no trade). They’re pretty dang good for their level, the mage / priest one has flowing thought 1 and regen 1 on it, as well as some int, wis, and power and health. There’s pretty much a reward for every class. If the zone is gray (which it was to me when I did it on Stargrace) it makes the quest much easier, maps are a huge bonus as well. Even if you weren’t going to use the weapon reward (you can sell it for some coin) the house item makes this quest very worth it.

Coercer hits 66, and the bad part about raids..

stargrace September 19, 2006 No Comments

Stargrace killing glare lords in the Feerrott, clearing some of those green quests

I managed to get Stargrace to 66 finally yesterday, landed myself in an SoS group for about 20% exp who happened to be working on claymore. In fact, they were on my exact step, talk about luck. Finished one full quest with them and a good portion of the next one. Unfortunately it also requires me to speak druzaic (dragon language) which I do not yet speak. I have the starter for To speak as a dragon from the Maidens Gulch raid, but I’ve yet to progress any further with it. I’m supposed to visit Nagafen now, in Solusek Eye. The problem is that to get to them, you have to enter an instance, and if you’ve never entered it before you have to do an event– unless you bring someone with you who has done it. Stargrace has never done it before, so I’ve got to hunt down someone to come with me or try to do the event alone.

I’m really loving those frogs lately. I did all of the basket quests that I could in Tangle, and then jumped down to Hidden Refuge and discovered that there were 9 more repeatable quests that had me killing / gathering random items in that zone. Fairly easy, getting a little exp from the green mobs + 2% for every completed quest, as well as coin and items that will come in handy as I solo (like +3 defense for 10 minutes, items that heal, items that have wards, items that give +700 resists to certain types etc). I managed to actually ding off of these quests, and one I found in Temple of the Scale that I could solo invis. There’s an npc right at the entrance, he asks you to go get him some water, even though it’s a contested raid zone, you can invis through the first few rooms that are heroics, and in the very first room, is a click-able water bowl, that doesn’t break your invis. Went back to him, did the turn in, and ta da, 5% exp plus some 5 hour water with nice regen and stats on it. Not bad. It’s nice to have a master1 of my new single target mez, next level I get the master1 of my AoE encounter mez *drools*.

A lot of guilds are having issues with people not logging in for raids. Especially if they’ve been raiding for a while now and the content is starting to become a little dull. However, my guild has the complete opposite issue. We are not a large guild, there are 66 unique accounts, a few of course who no longer play or who play rarely or are boxed accounts. Every raid night, we have about 25-30 people log in, more often then not 30. Raids are limited in EQ2 by sizes of 24. Which actually really sucks. We’ve had to sit people out every raid night since I joined, and I think that’s a shame. Since I am an initiate, it was my turn to sit out last night. We had pleanty of healers, as well as enchanters, and I didn’t need the updates, so members / raiders take priority. Though I did still get dkp since I was on stand by. Unfortunately the guild didn’t take down the mob they were after (dragon in AoAx4), but maybe they will next time at least. It was a pretty boring night while I watched from the side lines, read a book and did other stuff to keep myself entertained. No one enjoys sitting out, but it happens. I’d much rather be forced to sit out, and have too many people attending our raids, then not having enough and have to cancel them all together.

Still trying to find my niche in the guild, I don’t know many people and there seem to be a lot of cliques. They’re very friendly though, talkative, and helpful. Slowly making my self at home, and getting comfortable. Another week of being an initiate, and I can be a recruit, then I come up for vote as a member I do believe. Not too shabby.