July 2007

Well Hello There Naithi

stargrace July 25, 2007 4Comments

Arysh taking a stroll through Qeynos Harbor, happened across another traveler

When I see a guide wandering around the Shattered Lands, I always remember when I had applied to be a guide, and wonder why I decided against it. In the end I think it was just my general love of the game that stopped me from going any further with it. While I love being able to enhance someone else’ game play through the guide program specifically with their contests and rp events, I just found it much more fulfilling if I delved into the game from a players perspective (though I am well aware of the fact that guides are also regular players). It’s great to have a volunteer program like this though.

Yesterday was raids. We didn’t exactly have our core group (which is an ever-present issue these days) so we headed off to Lyceum. No deaths for Misako (the mystic) which was nice. The zone was completed in barely over an hour, and everyone did fantastic. We decided to give Freethinkers Hideout another run. If you remember my previous posts, we’ve had issues with this zone from the start, and yesterday was no different. We downed the first two mobs with little difficulty, though I still have to swap out for my illusionist for the second battle which sort of peeves me because it is a fight that drops class set pieces, and that means my mains class piece will never drop. The warden forearms fell none the less. We wiped a few times on the second last guy like we always do, at the exact same spots that we always do (right after the second mem wipe and reflect hits) and called it a night.

I feel bad for wanting progression. I shouldn’t though, right? I mean, we all pay our monthly fees and want specific things out of the game. I love this guild but there are days when I long to be able to progress some. People have mentioned to me (I won’t name names here, but you all know who I’m talking about if you’re in my guild) that “we” are trying to make The Inquisition into some “uber” raid guild. Which ‘we’ are not. If “we” wanted to be in an “uber” raid guild, “we” would be. You’ll have to forgive my use of quotes around all that stuff.

So. I have no idea what direction I’m headed in game. I have no idea what goals I want to set, or what I want to do. More often then not I’m just left feeling flustered and frustrated. I doubt my quality of playing, and my ability to know my class. Better then the average person? Sure, but there are lots of very incredible players out there.

Sorry for yet another drab post, here’s hoping I stop being so gloomy real soon! Maybe a quest walk through or two will finally make their way to a post.

Wait.. what did you just say to me?

stargrace July 24, 2007 4Comments

First of all. To the person who left the very rude comment on my site on a previous post. Don’t do that. I don’t allow comments to get posted unless I read them first, so if you were trying to act all cool or whatever, it failed, sorry. On the plus side, I do have your ip information now, and you won’t be doing it again. I have absolutely no issue with people expressing their opinions on a post, or disagreeing with me about everything under the sun, but if you’re just going to out right insult me and make a personal comment about what sort of person you think I am? Yeah. Don’t do it.

Yesterday was a some what productive day. I decided to settle with one character and actually work them to 70 next. So who have I decided to do this with? The troubador. Who may be a dirge, I have not decided yet. I’ll decide once I hit 70 and figure out what people want. I doubt I’ll play her seriously but it would be nice to take the bard + mystic to 80 first. That’s my personal choice though. I’ll be taking the bard + healer type to 80 first no matter what, and eventually they’ll all hit 80 so it’s not that big of a deal.

So the troubador went from 53-55 yesterday. Lots of fun to play. Tried to do mines and get one of the two fabled daggers to drop with no luck of course. Did however get the brigand ancient teachings of amazing reflexes, which should sell for a pretty penny. I’m trying to save up some coin again in preparation of RoK, it’s not going to work though of course because I’ll find something pretty out there that I just HAVE TO HAVE RIGHT NOW. Probably a house item. Thinking of "borrowing" Shadowgeist today and harvesting blue shinies. None of my alts have done those collection quests yet and I’d like the rewards for their homes. Not to mention the aa from it.

Next few weeks are going to be sort of.. meh. As far as raids go. Or that’s what I think at least. I really hope I’m proven wrong. People are on vacation, and the non-typical raiders are signing up more and more which is fine but there’s just so much personally that I see has to be done. People need claymore. People need their arcanist signet quests. People need SoD. DT access. I realize that my inquisitor and mystic both need these as well (except for SoD on the inquisitor, she already has hers) but I’ve already completed all of these things on my fury. So the inspiration to do them a second or third time is lacking. I don’t get to play my fury but there are certainly times I miss her. I put a lot of work into the character. There are 2839328495734 +1 druids already out there though once they got portals. So she sits on the back burner.

I’ve been talking to some members of my old guild Torrent Knights. Well, former members. In specific the "rapture" bunch who left us with two weeks notice for Vanguard and the whole guild fell apart because of. They are all playing EQII again. Though a select number of them are playing on a new server, it pisses me off that they came back to the game after ripping the best guild apart that I had been in. I knew Vanguard was not going to be "all that" or keep them there. Torrent Knights was a fantastic guild and it still irks me 6 months later. We were doing things back in January that my current guild is still months away from doing.

Anyhow, sorry for the venting post. It’s just been one of those days.

It Just Makes my Day

stargrace July 23, 2007 5Comments

A random tell I got today that just made everything worth while

Every so often, I’ll get a tell from someone who reads my site, telling me thank you, or that it has some good information, or that they used it for the relic gem list and what not, and each time, it makes me smile. Last week I had someone comment (after I’d spoken in the 60-69 channel so they saw my name) that they had the site linked from their guild, and used it for relic gem lists quiet frequently. I was pleased as punch. So when I got the above tell today, of course it just made me smile. I responded with my typical nervous “well thank you so much” type of reply, because honestly what else am I supposed to say to a comment like that. I don’t do very well with the praise. I’ve met some wonderful people through my site though, and even if no one at all read it I’d still update it every day simply because I love to write.

I also (along with Geabrial) worked on a few heritage quests tonight to try to help push the guild towards level 10. Shadowgeist wanted a few HQ done for his necromancer, so we decided on Foomby’s Stolen Goods, and By Hook or By Crook. Both are fairly simple to do with very little camping. The guild actually got three levels today. Now, I realize that level 10 is not a big deal. A lot of guilds can achieve that pretty much instantly. However, I worked hard at it to get it that far and I have every intention of seeing it all the way to 60 if I possibly can. I take pride in my achievements and this will just be another one I add to the list. Besides, once they add tradeskill experience to crafting writs, I intend on grinding out a whole lot of them with the weaponsmith (have I mentioned lately how much I HATE leveling this class? No? Well I do).

Aside from working on HQ and the pleasant tell today, I also decorated a small amount. Took more screen shots of Stargrace’ home which is open to the public at 4 Bayle Court and will have some shots coming up tomorrow more the likely. I spent 12p on 19 rough ebony (the T7 rare) in preparation for GU37 with multiple characters being able to sell at once. Not only can I use some crates myself for the plethora of alts I have, but I can sell them for a tidy profit (hopefully). I’m down to my last 20p which is quite frustrating for me. That’s the fun of having alts though, always some where to spend your money. Misako’s betrayal is the cost I am still trying to recoup over, it’s very slow going though.

Oh, and a random pet peeve. To all those people out there who are harping on the Equinox magazine because they think it is SoE trying to steal their money? I direct their attention to here. While SoE I’m sure is reaping some sort of benefit (though it may just be general publicity to their game) PLEASE keep in mind that this magazine is NOT published by SoE. It is being published by a UK based company, who actually does specializations in a few MMO’s. I was actually asked to write an article for their 2nd edition, so maybe it’s a bit of a shameless plug for myself, but even if I hadn’t been. It’s best to have the whole story before you go flaming SoE for trying to “steal” your money. No one is forcing anyone to buy it. Gah. I’ll never understand people.

Goudia’s House (1-room Inn, Big Bend)

stargrace July 22, 2007 5Comments

Even a Ratonga needs a place to live. This is Goudia’s one room in located in Big Bend, Antonia Bayle if anyone ever wants to stop in and say hello. With the implimentation of multiple characters being able to sell from the same account in GU37, I decided it was time to spruce up some homes. The new indium candles are beautiful, and make a great addition to the dining table (food to come next) and the poppies to the left spruce up the simple room.

Even a ratonga is not opposed to gazing at themselves in a mirror, nor would she ever dream of giving up the few books she has (which will hopefully grow with time, and not become too cluttered)

An overview of the room shows a simple seating (and drinking?) area, some more books of course, and her bed area, complete with roses. A girl is still a girl after all, even a troll can appreciate the scent and colour of flowers (though they may end up eating them).

A close up of the seating area, some photos hang proudly and a merchant board, a fine collection of wines.

Close up of the sleeping area, what a little reader our Goudia is! The scent of the poppies wafts out through the room.

So remember as you’re decorating, you do not need huge extravagant ideas in order to make even the 1-room inns look like a comfortable place to live. Give it some personality and make it your own, that’s always the most important part.

Test notes for GU37.. Oh.. My.. Gawd

stargrace July 20, 2007 8Comments

Ok. I am in heaven. I just went and read the test notes for GU37… they’re way too long to post the entire thing, so if you’re interested in reading, check here, and in the mean time, here are the portions of it that I personally am so ecstatic about:

BROKER

• You can now sell items on the broker with more than one character!
  • All characters on an account can list items for sale at the same time.
  • Items remain listed as long as you log in with any of your characters at least once every 7 days.

Mystic

• Enhance: Resurrection Efficiency: Improved power reduction from 8% to 12% per rank.
• Spirit Dance: Increased resurrection amount from 15% to 40%. Improved reuse speed from 2 minutes to 90 seconds. Increased radius to 30m.
• Enhance: Cures, Fading Spirit, Ancient Balm: All ward amounts have been increased by 20%.
• Immunization: Improved reuse speed from 3 to 2 minutes.
• Weapon Mastery: Also increases effectiveness of Summoned Spirit Companion (single down arrow instead of double down arrow).

TRADESKILLS

• Crafted deity altars are no longer flagged “Lore”.
• Wuoshi’s Molted Scale, Bark of Growth, and Seed of Growth are no longer flagged Lore.
• Imbue type harvests are now known simply as “material” instead of four separate types (“flower”, “stone”, “tooth”, “scale”, simplifying bank space usage logistics. Existing flowers, teeth, and scales will not be renamed but can still be used.
• Crafters now gain tradeskill experience from completing tradeskill writs.
• Crafters who have respec’ed their crafting class and wish to exchange their crafting tool from the Village of Shin quests can now speak to Rai Faela Nurwin near the Village of Shin brokers.
• The following tinker-made items are now tradable: gnomish flotation device, spring-loaded gnomish stilts, goggles of the bats, gnomish diving goggles, gnomish shades, full spectrum goggles, gnomish anti camo goggles.
• The Dark Bargainers have noticed a business opportunity and moved to fill it! Neriak now has its own tradeskill faction and faction merchant.
• Carpenters have removed the following recipes from their recipe books, as they are identical in appearance to other existing items: Maple Gnome Chair, Gnome thinking chair, Gukta ironwood shelf, Ornate bedside table, Burlap painting, Elegant bone chair, Fir trophy box, Ruckas rug, Bone shelf.
• Tradeskill writs now award Dark Bargainer faction to Neriak citizens.
• Tradeskill faction merchants will now sell in-home crafting stations to crafters whose efforts have sufficiently impressed them.
• Kindling merchants not working inside the tradeskill societies are now stocking a wider inventory of recipe ingredients including cream cheese, cocoa, and sugar.
• The Norrathian Carpenters’ Guild has quietly retired the recipe for the Twisted Oak Table due to lack of demand (existing twisted oak tables will be unaffected).
• The horned leather backpack recipe is now level 63.
• Grandmaster’s Elixir of Second Sight will no longer be removed when you zone.
• The recipe for the teak oval table is now correctly named.
• An intrepid band of single-minded interior decorators has ventured deep into what remains of the Misty Thicket, and returned bringing yet more furnishing ideas to the cities of Norrath.
• Carpenters have discovered Steamfont hot springs heating technology! The carpenter-crafted moonstone pools now look slightly more desirable than the quested versions with similar appearance…
• Jewelers across Norrath have discovered how to make pristine quality handcrafted and mastercrafted rings accept adornments!

UI

• You can now re-purchase your 10 most recently sold items at the same price.
  • No time limit!
  • Even after logging out or zoning!