June 2007

Pet Peeve #1329034

stargrace June 30, 2007 3Comments

Why is this person even asking me if I have a guild tag.. of course I do.. it shows up plainly..

I have a pet peeve, and since it’s on my mind and just happened about 10 minutes ago I figured I’d post about it. I have no objections to using peoples real character names in any of my posts, so as a warning to folks, if you say something to me I more then likely WILL post it. Anyhow.

I was sitting in EFP, before getting ready to go out and do some groceries. I get a tell from said person above. Asking me if I was guilded. I do a quick /who all dasie to ensure that my guild tag does show (and you can also look me up on eq2players.com to check for the tag). Seriously, if you’re going to try to recruit someone from another guild at least don’t start off your first impression to them as a moron by not even realizing whether or not they are actually in a guild. In order to see that I am an inquisitor at all they would have to know I was guilded.

Second of all, it would seem like common sense to me that if you’re looking for people to raid with you, you would want to know about the person first. Know what sort of a healer they are or any class for that matter. To insure that they’re not going to ruin your raids horribly. You don’t just go up to random people and say hey, do you want to raid with us. You get to know the person, the player. Find out their play styles. Well. I’ve never grouped outside of my guild and I don’t do pick up groups. I’ve never heard of this person before, never heard of the guild. I have no indication of anything about them. They were not rude, but still.. is it just me who thinks they’re doing things a bit backwards?

Now, the server may have a lack of inquisitors and perhaps that’s why they send me the random tell, but some how I doubt it. There are always plenty of folks around. I’m sure most people wouldn’t have an issue with this sort of tell, but as a raider, it just irked me.

Oooohhh house items!!

stargrace June 30, 2007 3Comments

A knights sconce, very pretty new house item added in the last LU

Servers went down this morning but I had a little time to play with the dressing room feature in game and create a few new house items. The one pictured above is one of my favorites I’ve got to admit. There are also some new plants, an actual wine rack, some pillars (for those of us that adore making gardens in our homes and what not) and some other odds and ends. A friend has let me use their carpenter, which I’m ecstatic about since I’ve never managed to level one of my own to 70. You’d figure with all of these alts and crafters I’d have done so by now.

A thank you to Shadowgeist for helping get my site back up and working. I didn’t actually think I’d burst into tears over losing 300 or so posts, but I did. I have back ups now, so if anything goes wrong again I’ll be better prepared.

Raids today… uhms. Not sure what we’re hitting actually. There are some key people missing, so I don’t think we’ll be doing Freethinkers, which is our typical Saturday raid (I think.. maybe we do that Thursdays.. my brain is a bit muddled). I’d love to see Dasie get some of her set gear but it seems a little out of reach for now. Nothing wrong with that, I’m still working her up. I want to get Misako some levels, I’ve got masters and gear stashed aside and I miss playing her, especially since now I’ve respec’d her aa line.

Sword of Destiny…… I had Kandrial (assassin from guild) read ahead a bit on the quest for me.. and decided that I am just not sure I want to do it. It requires a whole lot of named in Castle Mistmoore, and is also flagged as an epic quest. You have to go into the x4 area upstairs. Not looking forward to any of that. The +75 to heals would be *REALLY* nice, but it’s only got 20 more power then my current weapon, and 8 less wisdom. I’ve got a +40 to heals on the weapon to begin with, so I’d basically be doing all of this work for +35 to heals and 10 power. Of course it does lead to the fabled version, but I’ve got no hopes at all of accomplishing that for quite some time. Maybe when RoK comes out and I’ve (and the guild or whomever) got a few more levels to me. We’ll just have to see how it goes. With epics being released in RoK to begin with I’m wondering if there’s any point anyhow, seeing as I’ll have 10 more levels and possibly a new weapon to work on. Who knows, that’s a long ways away.

Gothun seems to be enjoying himself on AB which I’m glad to see. Kilanna and I have been chattering as always. An old friend of mine from Najena and Albrta (also from Najena) and I chattered yesterday, we have a channel in game so we can do the gossip thing from across servers. One of our friends has been away for quite some time, so it was really really nice to see her ducked in for a bit. I had missed her.

I like the changes to aa, for shaman at least. I love it for enchanters. Being able to weild something in Stargrace’ secondary hand will be nice. Not that I’ve filled the slot yet. I haven’t played her much. Dasie’ aa line are staying as they are, no reason to change really. I wish her EoF line gave her more in the lines of healing but I suppose they leave that to the templars. I boxed Stargrace and Dasie in DFC last night and got a few of the bloodstone ores, to make level 37 gear with. I was contemplating making a set for Ishbel (my 37 coercer) but she’s really just a bot that I drag around and get exp by chance with. I always liked the idea of having both a coercer and an illusionist.

Other then that things are fairly quiet in game which is how I like it. Hopefully I’ll get a little more accomplished this next week but I’m not holding my breath! With the site down the traffic has been slow and I’ll have to get some good posts in to make up for it.

One of those days

stargrace June 29, 2007 3Comments

Site back up and running.. complete with back ups this time.. we’ll see how it goes..

In good news, Dasie was promoted to Tactics Officer in guild. What does that mean exactly? Well it means that when I have something to say about a raid or a class or a group, maybe people will listen a bit more. I was asked if I wanted to be a recruitment officer, and declined. Anyone who knows me understands that I have very little patience, and have no desire to interact with people more then I really have to. Guild members are different most of them are wonderful. Raid Officers on the other hand, know their classes (and many others) inside and out. They know what needs to get done and by who. They understand the parses, and can see those and see where things are going wrong. It may seem odd since my guild is still a “casual raiding” guild to see all of this going on, but they’re eager to get beyond the simple KoS stuff we’ve been taking down and move on and progress in EoF (even if it is a little later now). I’ve played every healer class to 70 (except mystic) and I’ve raided with them all (except defiler). I suppose betraying was a good thing in that regard, I have raided as a fury, warden, templar, and inquisitor. I have a defiler who’s almost raid level but I doubt I’ll be playing her very often. Maybe on off nights I can sneak her into some pick up raids. I was leveling her up to be a MT defiler before I joined my current guild, and set her aside since she’s not needed.

GU36 went live yesterday, I’ll make a separate post about that once I get myself settled with this blog some. Yesterday was a DT raid, which just was… not what I wanted a raid to be. I mean, we didn’t die a *whole* lot, but come on, it’s DT. We should not be having any issues at all with the zone. We didn’t do the splitting drake, we in fact knew we wouldn’t be able to for once. We wiped on Tarinax twice. We did not attempt Cruor, which is a mob I miss doing. The encounter is not difficult, but it does take co-ordination, and there are actually at least 3 ways of killing the mob that I’ve personally done, each one worked, it depends on the guild. To be frank (and not intending to be rude here) The Inquisition just doesn’t have the discipline that’s needed to be able to co-ordinate encounters like that quite yet. Doesn’t mean they won’t get there, they will. But it’s going to take some time.

Changes, and team players

stargrace June 25, 2007 5Comments

In the newest GU, this Ancient Teachings Master for guardians is going to be slightly changed, making it fairly essential

One thing I try to pride myself on when in a guild, any guild, is keeping an eye open for things that other people need. I check the broker fairly often, and have a list of what people may be looking for. If I spot it for sale and they’re not around, I try to pick it up depending on the price. I use my own discretion of course, and since I am typically reluctant to part with money for masters it’s not a bad method.

When I saw the little gem above for sale, I remembered that our main tank needed it, and I combined the money off of all my characters (and a few friends lent me some coin) and bought it. Remember I just spent 25p on a baby dragon, so this purchase was hard to make. But in the next GU, the master is going to be changed, and it will only have 100% chance at going off if it’s at master quality. That’s a huge difference to what it is now. It’ll be one of those “must haves” because the last thing you want is to put up tower of stone and not have it work at all at that dire moment. Now, I don’t play a guardian, I never have. But I at least listen when others are talking about them. I was so excited when I picked up this master, I hope the main tank still needs it, I should have checked first but I was afraid it would get scooped up before I had a chance to go purchase it.

Gothun sent me tells today from the Bazaar, it was nice to chatter with him, apparently he’s contemplating moving servers again, a little disappointed with the one he’s on. I made some suggestions and we’ll see where he ends up. No raids tonight which I’m glad for, I really enjoy having both Sunday and Monday as raid free days, gives me time to craft or quest or whatever little stuff I want to get done. Or just sit around and watch paint dry. Either way, it’s all good.

Today, going to try to get Dasie’s music box done finally. It’s not a hard quest I’ve just been procrastinating. I finished her Vessel of Fyr’Un yesterday. It’s not the legendary manastone 2.0 but it is the treasured version of the same thing, and better then nothing. Anything I can do that boosts up Dasie’s power regen is a good thing. She’s almost at 6,400 power now and edging further every time I manage to get an upgrade for her. I’m very pleased with the class. I don’t mind my other classes, there are certainly days where I’d love to just stab or explode something and have no worries at all aside from keeping my own ass up but I still think I really shine when I play a healer. That sounds completely egotistical and I don’t intend for it to be, there are plenty of wonderful players out there who know their classes inside and out.

I’ve been working on Dasie’s house lately. I spent a plat and bought some odds and ends for it, book shelves and built her a loft and a “play room” type section above the main room in East Freeport. It doesn’t even come close to comparing with Stargrace’ home, then again what does *grins*. I can’t believe how much of a housing fanatic I am. I suddenly found myself with a surplus of roses (house items from valentines day) and just about burst into tears because I adore them so much. I’ll be sure to post pictures of Dasie’s place as I add more to it. Stargrace’ house still needs books, but that’s on hold. I like to work on the house of the character that I am actually playing, and since I’m not playing anyone lately aside from Dasie.. her house has priority. If that makes any sense at all.

Getting to know you.. getting to know all aboouut you…

stargrace June 24, 2007 6Comments

Earring that Dasie got on the HoS raid, she also *finally* got the earring to drop in Valdoons today

I’m in a mood today, not sure if it’s a good one or a bad one yet. A few RL things throwing me off, it’s been “one of those weeks” for the past few days. Things are getting on my nerves a little easier then they should, and I apologize for that if anyone’s had to incur my wrath lately. I try to keep it out of game because no one wants to listen to a whole lot of moaning and complaining. Well, maybe the moaning would be ok. . . Anyhow. . .

FINALLY after doing Valdoons pretty much every day for the past month, Dasie managed to get her Earrings of the Bloodlust Handler. So with that earring, combined with the one from last night’s HoS run, she’s set. Poets music box charm will be next on my list (no, it’s not difficult to get it done but I don’t like to just rush rush rush) and advancing Claymore. A thank you to Thunderwalker, who is one of the officers of my guild, for posting the pleasant comment about my healing capabilities. I think he’s lying though, I suck. *grins sweetly* Ok so I don’t suck but I do have a lot to learn still. I ask a million questions and I’m sure I pester people. How else am I going to learn though. Kilanna is always worried that she’s going to bother me when she asks me questions about playing her templar on Guk, but I am always eager to answer and to help out if I can. In fact I wish more people tried to actually communicate with one another in this game. Another pet peeve.

Thunderwalker and I (he plays a mystic) are typically teamed together when we’re raiding, and when we’re not teamed together, we’re still working together as a team raid wide. How is that possible? Easy. I’ve grouped with him a lot, made it a point to in fact. I’ve grouped with almost everyone I need to group with on a fairly steady basis, and those I don’t group with constantly I at least talk to. I’ve played with our main tank as both a healer and dps, I’ve played with our off tank, and even with our shadowknight who occasionally off tanks. I’ve grouped with most of our healers aside from a few who are part of an alliance with us. I’ve played in the mage group, the main tank group, and the dps group now as both a healer and as dps on my illusionist. Communication is SO dang important. Even outside of a group, I know who is going to cure who and what heal is going to land before it’s cast, depending on which healers we have around. I know how much the tank or the off tank can take before they’re going to drop like a sack of potatoes. When Thunderwalker casts his emergency wards, chances are I’ve cast mine at the same point of the fight as him because we both *know* that the main tank is going to go down if we don’t.

I wish every encounter worked that way. Of course that’s asking for the perfect raid force, which is something we strive for but rarely achieve, not “we” as in my current guild but “we” as raiders in general. Some times it’s hard not to get frustrated, I hate having to re-learn how to raid, it seems that every time I settle into a guild it falls apart and I have to go searching for not only a new home but a home with competent raiders who aren’t going to drive me insane as we re-learn how to work together as a team.

Ugh my writing and thoughts are all over the place tonight, so I’ll leave it at that and come back to this topic tomorrow. Nuff ‘o the ranting.