August 2007

Ugh.. Downtime.. and Bugs..

stargrace August 31, 2007 9Comments

So my server’s been down for over 12 hours now due to the latest (huge) bug that I got to experience first hand this morning. You can read about the servers going up here
if you’re curious when yours is next on the list. Since it’s 11pm EST here now I suppose I’ll just call it a night.

For those curious what the bug actually was, no it was not LoN related. When servers came up at 11am EST characters were experiencing what I like to term as the “oh-gawd-nothing-is-saving-bug”.  It was not numerous bugs, it was just one bug. It was not LoN related at all, they even said they were working on a separate bug that involved a few characters, and as they worked on it they made a bigger boo-boo. It happens. What the actual bug did:

When you zoned, your character basically wiped (minus coin gain and experience gain and aa gain) to how it was the last time you logged into the game (pre-patch). So that meant if you completed a quest, then zoned, the quest magically appeared back in your journal. If you added new buffs, and zoned, each of those buffs dropped. If you bought a spell at the broker, scribed it, and zoned, you instantly lost the spell (and did not get that coin you spent back). I discovered and re-discovered the same entrance to loping plains 5x in a row. Also completed the same quest in Mistmoore Catacombs 3x in a row, gaining aa each time, then zoned out only to find it entered into my quest journal again. When you completed an instance and then zoned out the timers on that zone were wiped, allowing you to enter again right away.

So of course drastic measures had to be taken. Servers came down approx. 2 hours after this bug was running ramped. Roll backs were of course incoming since there’s no way they could just leave characters as they were. Now Antonia Bayle is a huge server, so I can understand the lengthly down time it’s experienced thus far. I’m really hoping it comes back up tomorrow at least since I’ve got that Emerald Halls raid, but I’m not going to hold my breath just in case.

Am I overly upset? Not really. These games are huge, and things happen. One hour after browsing forums though is more then enough to realize that not everyone understands that, and that there are some VERY angry people out there, demanding money back, and other extra compensation for their missed play time. Me? I’ll just wait for the game to come back up. Unfortunate that it happened, but I know it’s being worked on and my ranting and raving about it won’t make it go any faster.

A Discreet Meeting – Sensual

stargrace August 31, 2007 3Comments

(( Just the beginning of a little story I’m working on involving my Arasi brigand, Sensual. Not all mapped out yet, but it was a fun start. I’ll add to it as I come up with ideas, here’s hoping I get a lot of them, I do enjoy writing, so if you don’t enjoy it, oh well!))

She danced with the shadows, weaving in and out between them. Her feet barely touching the floor. Violet eyes glinted in the dark, and nothing could be heard aside from the faint swoosh swoosh of her daggers moving. The little Arasi was called Sensual, though most barely even knew that, and she loved to dance with the shadows. Her wings painted patterns on the floor as she moved, her body lithe and trim.

Her blades glinted once, and then twice, piercing imaginary foes who had done her wrong. Or perhaps people she had been hired to kill, as that was not beneath her. Her mouth curved in a smirk, and she continued to dance. Her mind drifted and wandered and she forgot where she was, almost forgot herself. Such was the way of the dance.

The dance can be dangerous

A voice echoed through her head, and she worked to shake it out. Dangerous? This? She practically laughed. She was not complete without her blades at her side. The connection she felt to them was something beyond what most could understand. Certainly her own family had not understood her desire, her need, to lose herself in the dance. She had left them as early as she could, saying not a word and simply disappearing from her home in the dead of the night years ago. She did not expect anyone to stop her or try to find her, if anything Sensual imagined they would be quite relieved that she had ‘disposed’ of herself, ridding them of one more problem.

A cat cried out from across the cavern she was practicing in and caught her attention for a fraction of a second before she turned back to her knife play. It was nearing two in the morning and the only people who were wandering through Neriak at this time were drunks and whores peddling their wares. She’d floated silently through the caverns to the older sections that were constantly deserted where she could be in peace. She needed to clear her mind.

Earlier that day an emissary had arrived to speak with her. Or so the person had claimed. From the Queen none the less. Sensual was both intrigued and nervous about the meeting. The man had been wrapped from head to foot in some sort of rough scarf material, his eyes glinted out in slits, and his voice rasped out with a heavy lisp. There was not much Sensual could figure out from him aside from the fact that if she needed to she could burry her daggers into his brain without him crushing her. He’d come to her with a task, but would not speak more about it. He wanted her to accept before knowing fully what it entailed, and Sensual was not sure she was comfortable with that. He’d given her the rest of the night to contemplate it, and asked her to meet him at the Fair in Darklight Woods the next day. She’d agreed, after all money was money, and he promised this would give her plenty of it. He’d shaken a purse before he left and the promise of coin rang through her mind even now.

One of Those Days

stargrace August 31, 2007 1Comment

Goudia, browsing through the vast volumes of books in the Tower of the Moon, Maj’Dul

So what do you do when your character hits level 70? You have a number of choices. You can work on chains of quests (Claymore, SoD, MoA, Godking), you can get yourself into a raid guild, you can finish off your aa, and you can craft. You can become obsessed with questing, start an alt. Work on a house. There’s still so much to do. Of course, if you play long enough none of these things will interest you, and you’ll more then likely end up just wandering around Norrath — or find yourself lost in a few games of LoN, which is a popular choice these days as we all wait for the release of RoK.

So what do you do once you’ve hit level 70?

I’ve already come to the conclusion that I want to “finish” my characters, the ones who are already at 70. What does that mean? Well, I already said in a previous post I want to get them all to 70/70/100. Level 70 in adventuring (I already have 5 at that) 70 crafting (Three of them are there already) and 100aa (only Stargrace has met this goal so far, with Misako close behind at 96, then Arysh at 89, and Goudia at 87). I’d love to delve back into questing and seeing what there is out there. I know I have yet to do a single Butcherblock quest for example. I want to finish off the HQ I haven’t done yet for some guild status, and try to help get the guild to at least 30 before RoK comes out. Not sure if that’s even a viable goal any more with the way guild experience works. Smaller guilds used to have a benefit over larger ones as the % of status was divided between total members and not just a base percentage. Now though the more active members you have the more status you’ll be inputting into the guild. Since my small guild has only five members or so, we move slow. Not a big deal though I suppose.

I watched another Avatar fight last night, the Avatar of War, though I was saddened to see it go poorly. I hate to watch guilds compete with each other – only because eventually it turns mean. People get mad at one another, they try to sabotage each other, they shout and scream and spam and all the rest. So while it was probably one of the more exciting fights to watch just because it is quite complex, it was also one of the few I watched and grimaced each time I saw the guilds confront one another. I understand that rivalry is normal, and even healthy, but there is a good way and a bad way to compete for contested mobs. After watching for over five hours as they battled between each other I decided that it was well past time I went to sleep. It was just one of those days anyhow, and I was out of sorts by the end of it.

Goudia managed to hit 45 weapon smith today. Not a huge accomplishment but I’m pleased. She has vitality for another level or two, but I’ve not decided yet if I want to actually craft more or go play and have fun with some quests. We’ll just have to see I suppose. I’ve been working down (slowly) her L&L list. She has 15 left to go, which is not so bad. Her house is filling up nicely with weapons and I’m eager to create a sort of display / sales area for her trophies. I think it’s fitting since she is a weapon smith. Saturday I’ll be doing an Emerald Halls raid, and I’m excited (and nervous!) about it. I have not really raided since January, though I have certainly raided and done some EoF content, none of it was exactly on par with what I’d been doing in the past. I’d only gone to EH three times, and was on the second floor. I’ve not stepped foot in it since then and I know a lot has probably changed. The guild I’ve applied to is not sure whether they want me to play the bard, illusionist, mystic, or fury, so I’m to park each one outside of EH. I’m secretly hoping they want me to play a healer, because I feel that I can shine with those classes the most (you don’t get 3 level 70 healers and not enjoy them a little bit after all). Hopefully I’ll have some screen shots and good stories to tell after my adventures tomorrow! We’ll just have to see how it goes..

You Paid HOW Much for THAT?

stargrace August 30, 2007 3Comments

Remember I said I was obsessed with house items? I meant it. I paid 10p for this LoN painting from a friend…

So A friend of mine got a hold of me and let me know that they had one of the LoN paintings. Wanted to know how much I’d pay for it. I’m by no means a rich person, but I always pay well for unique house items. So I offered them 10p for the painting off the bat. Went into trade mode with them and ta da, the painting above called “The Rune” is the latest to my LoN collection. In fact, the only painting I have. Another friend apparently has “The Muse” which is an image of a very scantly clad woman, and he’s agreed to drop it off in my house (These items give status as well towards the house) so that’ll mean I have two in the collection. Always nice.

Am I a little bit of an obsessed housing person to be paying such amounts for these virtual paintings? Hrms. Maybe. I think everyone has their quirk though. Maybe you collect daggers for your characters to use, or weapons with particle graphics. Maybe you collect sets of armor, or maybe you are like me, and collect house items.

The only thing I don’t really like about this painting is the fact that it is HUGE. It takes up a very large portion of Misako’s five room house on the main floor. A second one will take up another huge section and I have no idea what people in their one room inns would even consider these for since they’d not be able to place them anywhere. You pretty much have to own a house with high vaulted ceilings and plenty of wall space. Of course I can only trade money on my actual server, but if anyone is looking for a few rares (I do not have many) or some money on the Antonia Bayle server, in return for house items, let me know.

In other news! Goudia hit 70, and I’ve applied to a raid guild. We’ll see how it goes. Yes, I’m nervous, but I also really miss raiding. With five level 70’s I’m not eager to work up a 6th. I outfitted Goudia with the rest of her gear, two new shiny weapons and the bow. She’s sitting at 576 int and 512 str self buffed (with no food or drink on) which I love. So what’s left to do? Get them all to 100 aa (Goudia is sitting at only 86 right now) and max out their tradeskills. Bloodpact is also level 69, and almost 70. Forever is close to 70 as well. Gothun is still eating up the levels but not fast enough for his liking. Beeglin asked if I’d like to decorate his house on Lucan D’Lere, which I of course said yes to. A few old friends are trying to convince me to move back there and join a new raiding guild. Normally I’d contemplate it, however. Lucan D’Lere is just a dead server to me. I left it for a reason and I really enjoy Antonia Bayle so much better. The population is huge and I’d really miss the people I’ve gotten to know here. I was surprised and pleased with the offer, but had to say no.