August 2007

Another Great Update in the Works – GU38 Test Notes

stargrace August 29, 2007 4Comments

Is it just me who gets all excited and maybe even a little flustered when they see that the test server has been updated with the latest GU? Well, for those who are curious, the notes are found here. Be sure to check them out. As for what I’m personally interested in.. well:

• Bristlebane ReturnsDo you consider yourself a practitioner of pranks, a student of the silly, or even a fan of the funny? Does the idea of pulling a practical joke over on someone sound like your idea of a good time? If so, you might make an excellent follower of Fizzlethorpe Bristlebane, the Grand Prankster. Recently scores of puckish jesters, fanciful bards and quick-witted thieves have all been spreading rumors about the imminent return of their favorite Sire of Shenanigans. If Bristlebane has truly arrived and resumed his place aside the other gods who have also returned to Norrath, why has he waited until now? What sort of mischievous plans does the Royal Trickster have in store for his faithful followers? What about the other gods who have yet to reveal themselves since their departure? The answers to these questions are undoubtedly wrapped within a riddle only Bristlebane himself can solve.Those interested in devoting themselves to the Master of Mischief should speak with Tobel Patadash, the self-declared Prophet of Bristlebane at the docks of The Enchanted Lands. Be advised, however, that the Gigglegibber Goblins have their own nonsensical opinion of who they believe the real Prophet of Bristlebane is as well!

• Trivial Loot no longer includes Quest items, so Quest items will drop on gray encounters.

Probably what I am most excited about. This means (If I’m reading it right) Cloak of Flames will not have to drop from green mobs. Which is what people had to do before. A pain in New Tunaria where a few of the pages drop. It also means when RoK comes out you won’t have to continuously mentor to get the updates. Of course the BEST part – is that I’m hoping my book quest starters will drop from these chests. So I won’t have to mentor to finally complete my set of Obelisk books.

• Resistance Chorus Songs: Now affect the entire raid.

• You can now sort the quest journal by quest level

It’s the Little Treasures..

stargrace August 29, 2007 1Comment

This new quest UI from EQ2 Questlist is a handy little mod

If you’re anything like me, you like to customize your UI as much as you do your characters. It doesn’t matter if you use default or any other sort of mod, your user interface has as many or as few hotbars as you particularly like, it’s got everything arranged the way you specifically play, and I have to say, some times it’s the less-noticed but still valuable mods that really stick with me.

The one that I’ve most recently added to my UI is a quest journal mod, and it may not seem like much – unless you are an avid quester. The EQ2 Questlist site has been up for some time, but isn’t a quest walk through site like the rest of them out there. So what does it do? It keeps track of every quest in the game, where to get it, what level it is. What’s more, is you can create an account, and mark down the quests you’ve completed (as well as started) and keep track of your quest record. In the past, you had to do this out of game, or painstakingly slow, without really looking at your journal. But with the new mod, which you can get here you just click and input the quests that actually show up in your journal under completed and started. You can also search their data base from the journal browser, see how many quests you’ve completed in game without having to move over to Eq2players, and various other small nifty options. I love it.

I like being able to see that I have 11/33 L&L quests completed. I like to see which ones I’m missing without having to draw up huge graphs and charts. I like knowing there are 53 total quests in a particular zone, and what all their names are, and comparing them to which I have done and which I have not done. Again though, this is NOT for quest walk throughs. It’s just a way to keep track of statistics. Like a raider may keep track of their parses to see improvements.

So if you’re a quest person at all, and you’re looking for a few little spiffy toys to play around with, and you like to keep track of the quests you’ve done, be sure to give this very simple UI a try. It’s nice to find a little treasure like this every so often.

Healing can be a Thankless Job

stargrace August 29, 2007 12Comments

Working on those fun Lesser Faydark Quests

Over the years that I’ve played both EQ1 and EQ2, I’ve come to the realization that healers really get the short end of the stick a lot of the time. You’d think since I have 3 level 70 healers in EQ2 I’d have already come to this conclusion, and I suppose I have, but it really becomes more apparent the more you group. Now this is not to say it’s the norm for ALL groups – but these are the typical responses after a good run of whatever we’re up to.

“Wow that was some amazing tanking!”

“Look at that DPS parse!”

All the similar comments. Why is it that people are so reluctant to thank their fellow healers? The tank didn’t just stand up on their own the entire time did they? Well, maybe they did but if the healer is worth their grain of salt it wasn’t just all the dps and the tank that made the group. It’s a combination of players who know what they’re doing. Sure, a great tank makes things easier. Just like great dps makes things easier. But please folks, don’t forget to thank your healers out there! They need a little lovin’ too.

Goudia hit 69 yesterday. Meant I got to wear all of her new set gear. She’s got four pieces to the bard set. She’s 34% into her level, so hopefully over the next couple of days I’ll be getting her level 70. Then we’ll see where it goes. She’s got her two new weapons and her bow just waiting for her. I’m looking forward to it, even if it is my 5th level 70. I figured I should probably attempt to get them all at 100aa and level 70 crafters as well. What possessed me to do that? Not quite sure. Right now only Stargrace (illusionist) is at level 70/70/100. Arysh is missing 10aa, Misako is missing 5aa and she’s only a level 45 tailor. Goudia just hit 83aa, and she’s a 44 weaponsmith. Dasie needs another 15aa. I’ve got time before RoK to get them all where I want them to be at least.

After that? Who knows. I’ve been contemplating leveling up my coercer just for the heck of it (she’s sitting at level 42 right now, in level one gear with nothing but app1 spells.. yes, I just put her on auto follow..) but I’m not sure what I’d do exactly with six level 70 characters. So maybe I’ll just quest and work on their houses or something. I’ll have to see.

I’m looking forward to Kilanna coming back from her vacation, mornings are lonely without her around.

Did a very quick Obelisk run yesterday with Dasie (who does not have her shoes yet) which went really well. Bard shoes dropped for the dirge in group, go figure. No ring either, I’ve never even seen it on any of my runs and everyone else seems to always get it. I must be cursed. Expect an rp post in the near future, it’s been so long since I’ve really written anything and I don’t want to get rusty (code word for: Quick, run away! Stop reading now!). Safe travels!

Progress? Oh yes.. a bit..

stargrace August 27, 2007 3Comments

Goudia, was busy…

This weekend was wonderful for EQ2 at least. Yesterday Shadowgeist and I decided it was high time we finished our signature orb of tunare quest. The orb was an upgrade for his necromancer as well as an upgrade for Misako, and the earring choice was an upgrade for Goudia. It took most of the day to complete as the quest is quite lengthily, but was well worth it. I got three aa along the chain and also managed to hit level 68. It helped that Obelisk of Blight is a necessary zone and neither Bloodpact nor Goudia had been yet. Since his machine was upgraded this weekend he boxed both Shadowgeist and Bloodpact, and I boxed Misako and Goudia. We pretty much have our own group any time it’s needed – though neither of us have any intentions of boxing ALL of the time. It can get annoying after a while, and some times it’s just nice to play your one character without having to worry about where the boxed character is standing or whether or not they’re going to get tossed off of some ledge.

We also toddled around doing some Mistmoore Catacombs, and completed a handful of quests in the zone, one of which needed another legendary item (wrist piece for me) that was an upgrade (also an upgrade to Bloodpact, I think). It was pretty nice. Goudia is 45% into her level, and I’m thinking that with a little work today, I can get her to level 69 which of course is the level I can finally wear her four pieces of legendary set gear. I’ve been waiting for a while now to wear them as they taunt me from her bags.

A small question to pose to readers today. Do you run a guild, and even if you don’t – how close are you to your fellow gamers? For example, if there’s a member of your guild, who logs in every single day — but rarely says much. They’re just constantly around, they help a time or two. Then one day, you notice they don’t log in. Nor do they for a few more days.

Do you worry?

Do you have any way of getting a hold of people in your guild in case they mysteriously vanish? Does anyone really care if random_member_101 never logs in again? I’m just curious what others out there think. I’m quite close to every one of my guild mates, but then again there are only five of us. If someone leaves for a while, I typically know why they’ve left (for example, Kilanna is on vacation as we speak). If I didn’t see her for a week I’d worry, and I’d want to make sure everything is alright. I’ve had some guild members in the past just disappear from the MMO world and with no method of really checking to make sure they were ok it left me feeling a little glum. I know I’m most certainly not unique in this situation, and I’m curious how others handle it.

LoN Fever..the Good the Bad and the Ugly

stargrace August 26, 2007 3Comments

Hooked already, at least for a short time, I spent the evening test driving LoN

Yesterday it was announced that random people had been selected for LoN beta. I got in with both of my accounts, and decided to give it a test whirl. Now, if you’re looking for guides, this is not the place. If you’re looking on how to play the game, wrong-o again because I suck when it comes to explaining that sort of information. So this is (as are all my posts!) just general opinion stuff.

I loved the game. Granted, I have played card games before, and yes it does give you a small advantage if you have a vague understanding in what to do from the get-go. The tutorial was long, and I barely paid attention to it. Instead I got right to the battles against the computer and learned that way (which may explain why I lost, a lot). Everyone graciously starts with 1 booster pack (the pack of 15) and one starter pack of a designated class. Mine both happened to get fighter, however a friend managed to get a mage one. You can buy the starter packs to the other classes for $9.99, or a booster pack for $2.99. I’m sure SoE will make a LOT of money off of selling these virtual cards. Which is a whole other discussion.

Now, a portion of the game that I do not like at all. As far as I have seen, so far. There is no way for you to get any of the neat “things” (or in this case loot cards) without spending real life money (or trading your rare cards / money with another who has the item you want). Loot cards come in booster packs. I find it quiet amusing that the “store” is open already, even though we’re all apparently just beta testing this game. People can already spend their real life money for these packs of virtual cards and obtain the rare “cool” loot items (randomly). A few of these are house items. One is a tradeable box of cards with 400 rent reduction. – and I’d love to get my hands on one, but I see no other way besides paying 100p for it on broker, spending real money in an effort of purchasing it randomly through booster packs, or trading for it with another player (in which case, why would I even have anything they wanted to begin with). I have no idea if perhaps when the game goes live, when they say that mobs will drop these cards, if they will drop whole booster packs, or just one card at a time. If there will be any other way to obtain the interesting loot that comes with it (which is unfortunately the only real motivation for some to play, and I’m not above that). The epic mount is another one of these very cool items that few will own, and the cloak that shape shifts you into a box.

So I made an agreement with Shadowgeist, we’d each either buy four booster packs (for a total of $12 and some change) or one booster and one starter (the same price). After that, no more. With his beta claimed decks, he got an item that changes him into a frozen skeleton randomly. I got… nothing. He bought a mage deck (which does not claim to give loot cards anyhow) as well as one booster deck, and recieved nothing.

I decided to purchase four booster decks, and also got nothing. Meanwhile I see a box, and an epic warg a few feet from me, and two card boxes for sale on broker for 100-140p. On the other hand, I can trade him all of my mage cards since I have no use for them, and he’s going to trade me all of his priest ones since that’s the next deck I’ll be working on.

The game itself is quite fun, but I can see it getting very boring very fast if you’re not one of those people who can afford to spend real life money on bettering your deck. I’ve got no idea when it’s going to go live, and I assume the dropped items are not in game until after that point. I know a lot of people were very angry that SoE was advertising “random” people were getting chosen to beta test it. Outcries of “why wasn’t I chosen” and what not echoed through the channels. The game plays smoothly, however after 4-5 matches I seemed to stutter and lag when my character decided she’d had enough of her ‘fix’ and wanted to adventure again. The cards are wonderfully drawn, the playing mat beautiful, and I didn’t encounter any bugs at all the few times I played. Over all, the experience was a lot of fun, just not sure on a few things.