2007

Tinkering Woes

stargrace November 7, 2007 1Comment

I’ve got a very small range of goals that I’m trying to get done before the new expansion comes out. Why bother? Well, I’m sort of a lists person. If I want to get anything done, or feel a small sense of accomplishment, I make a list. I do it for a lot of things. One of the items was to get Goudia’s tinkering skill to 350. Now, I already have a tinkerer at 350 skill, Stargrace. But I rarely play her. I decided a few days ago that the level 70 I’d stick with in rise of Kunark will be the troubador. I had her tinkering at around 60 and decided I’d spend 10p of my savings (if it cost that much) and see how high I could get it. I’ve spent roughly 2p50g and gotten it to 300 so far. 50 more points and that will be finished off. I’m exceptionally happy of course.

Down side, Goudia is not at 100aa yet. She needs 9 more. So that’s on the list as well. And so is saving up collection quests in preparation for the expansion. Though I’m sure that there’s so much discovery and quests that it won’t exactly be needed.

The quickest method I found for leveling tinkering, was to stop production after the first completion. Because this craft works on skill rather then experience, you get the same chance at a skill up from pristine as you do from the first tier. Aside from that, one recipe (at least) a tier, uses very few ores, but it uses plenty of loam (fairly cheap still) and rocks (also fairly cheap) thus saving you huge amounts of money. You get no pristine experience so making things for the first time isn’t going to net you anything extra either. You want to see what that cool do-dad is that you just scribed? Easy, open the recipe book and right click the image, then right click the image at the bottom of that, and you can examine the item before you ever make it.

So why tinkering? Well, Arysh is already 350 transmuting. That cost me about 50p to work up (minus any farming) and I’m not going to do it again. Tinkering also has far more usability to my characters. Who doesn’t want to be able to feign death, rez a group member (I’m a troubador remember, not a dirge) or any other number of things to play with. Though I was of course disappointed that my mem wipe item was changed to a de-agro, it happens.

Of course in the mean time Goudia’s bags are a disaster area, as can be seen above. She’s got ore and roots and rocks stashed all over the place and there’s no point in me trying to organize it right now when all I want is another 50 skill ups and then I’ll be done (for now). I apologize for the lack of posts lately, but with the expansion looming and plenty of people hanging out in beta more then in game, there’s been sparse topics to post about. Expect an explosion on the day of release!

Tomorrow the wonderfully smart owners of my building have decided that between 9:30am and 3pm, the power (including heat) is going to be turned off. I’m sure there’s a reason for this (they did it last year too) but they always seem to pick the coldest day of the week to do it. I also live on the 11th floor which means if I want to leave the apartment at all during the day, I’ll be walking. So tonight, I’ll be heading out to go book shopping, find a few extra art supplies, and find something that I can take out of the fridge and eat without having to prepare it on a stove first, and something I won’t need lights for. Since it’s winter months here now pretty much it’s going to be a dark, quiet, day. Thank goodness for my mp3 player and a love of books.

So What Were the Results of the 50% extra Experience?

stargrace November 5, 2007 7Comments

Not much posting happened this weekend, but plenty of other sorts of goodness went on. Of course it was one of two Sundays before the release of Rise of Kunark and with it came an increase in experience both for adventurers and crafters. I’m sure I was not the only one who took advantage of the bonus. So how did I end up spending my time and what were the results? Well. The screen shot is of Arysh, my woodworker, who finally managed her way to level 70 before RoK comes out. I’m very pleased, she’s the fourth level 70 crafter I have. Not that big of a deal with the new expansion coming out and another 10 levels to grind, right? Well, I’m pleased anyhow. It means a few less to do when the cap goes up.

Adventuring:

• Ishbel 60->62

Crafting:

• Armorer 21->30
• Weaponsmith 50->52
• Woodworker 67->70
• Carpenter 23->30
• Tailor 48->50

Pretty much everyone got a few levels in at least crafting. So that leaves my totals now as far as crafting and adventuring goes as follows:

Adventuring

• 70 Mystic
• 70 Templar
• 70 Troubador
• 70 Illusionist
• 70 Warden
• 62 Coercer
• 57 Necromancer
• 52 Ranger
• 36 Brigand
• 33 Monk

Crafting

• 70 Jeweler
• 70 Sage
• 70 Provisioner
• 70 Woodworker
• 60 Alchemist
• 52 Weaponsmith
• 50 Tailor
• 30 Carpenter
• 30 Armorer

There’s still a little bit of a life in there too, no worries. I also managed to design a new logo for a guild, and worked on some art work for a friend. Christmas is just around the corner (they’re calling for SNOW this Wednesday!) and I’ve got plenty of projects to work on. A huge random thank you by the way to Shadowgeist for updating my DeviantART account, that was a nice gift this weekend. I have finally narrowed down my choices in regards to a main when RoK comes out, though the answer may be surprising. Since it seems to change from day to day, I’m going to leave it a surprise for now. I’ll write about that more when RoK is actually live and there’s proof that it’s my new “main”. In the mean time, I’m going to harvest some in preparation for the grind to 80 I suppose, and continue working on the other crafters so that they have some vitality when Sunday rolls around again with bonus experience.

Some Times it’s Confusing

stargrace November 2, 2007 2Comments

The screen shot above, is for a scintillating Judicious Composite Gear. It drops from mobs, and it’s for tinkerers. Most people out there don’t know what this is exactly, but since I’ve got a tinkerer, any time anyone asks for the +10dps adornment for bows, well, that’s what it is. It’s one of the few adornments that the second subclass artisan makes.

Of course, someone who’s new to the game wouldn’t know that. There’s no plain way to know what this recipe even does, aside from doing some research. You’d have to do what I did to figure it out, the +10dps bow adornment on the broker, figure out what the name of it is, and then search through recipes learning which one goes with what. Of course there are handy sites with crafting information where you can also look this stuff up. I just wish they had an easier way to find them. Ie: The name of the recipe (Eznertob’s Consecrated Contraption) matching the actual name of the adornment instead. Or having some other logical method of naming it.

Ok, maybe this post is a stretch, but it was just one of the little things that got under my skin.

In game today, Sensual hit 35 brigand, something I’m happy about. She also went from 20-28 armorer. Wow. I miss the way that vitality lasts. I wish it were like that for all levels. I’m hoping she can gain back enough over the Saturday tomorrow to push through to level 30 by the time the bonus experience is in game. That’d be nice. Not that I really need another crafter.

What to do before RoK

stargrace November 1, 2007 2Comments

I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with myself before RoK (rise of Kunark) releases. Since I’ve got so many characters already, leveling them up isn’t really a huge concern of mine. Although I did make myself a new goal to only have ONE main in RoK. A distinct main. I’ve actually never had one before. I want one. I figure if I dedicate as much time to one character as I do to 10 characters, I can make them pretty nice. We’ll see how that goal goes. No decision on it yet either, I’ve got no idea who I want to be playing. Go figure. Anyhow.

There’s a bonus to experience coming this Sunday, and next Sunday (right before the RoK release) that I’m looking forward to. Not because I want to adventure, but because it gives me some time to get my crafters up there before the expansion comes out and I’m left wondering why I didn’t level them up sooner. As you can see by the screen shot above, I’ve been busy. I used up all of Arysh’ tradeskill vitality yesterday and managed to get her three levels working away on those writs. I adore them, it’s one of the best things they implemented. I decided to do some harvesting after grinding out all those levels, and stock piled to get 70 on her this weekend. By then I’ll have saved up vitality again (I hope) and it won’t be too much of a push.

Next I started on Goudia, who hit 51 weaponsmith. The tailor is also sitting at 50. The alchemist is 60, the sage, provisioner, and jeweler are all sitting comfortably at 70. The armorer and carpenter are way behind but hey I need projects when I hit 80 too, right? Sales are exceptionally slow in game, so aside from doing writs, I’m not wasting my rares. I’ll save them for all the crazy Sarnak who come wandering through in November and then maybe make some good sales. I’ve stashed aside 100p in the guild bank for RoK, funds for whatever character I end up working to 80 first, and I’ve got about 100-200 rares sitting in the guild bank waiting for use. I’ve also stashed aside a huge amount of transmuting items so that Arysh can work the skill up for components, and tinkering.. well that one’s on the back burner for a bit I think. I haven’t decided yet. It honestly depends on who I’m bringing to 80. We’ll just have to see.

Dasie, Vindicator of the Coin

stargrace October 30, 2007 2Comments

I’d been pondering what to work on in game while I wait (like everyone else) for RoK to release. We’re all frantically counting down the days and weeks until new content. Excited? Yes, quite a bit. I’ve been doing older quests on Dasie lately, trying to clear them from her journal while having things still be interesting for me at the same time. Easier said then done on occasion. Out of all the expansions out there I’ve probably leveled up the least amount in DoF. I did do the Godking chain of quests but that’s about it. I’d never worked on the Ring of Fate, or did much with factions (there are three, Coin, Truth, and Blades). While I did have 20,000 with coin on Dasie (just enough to get her call of ro quest completed) that was about as far as I took it.

So yesterday for the majority of the day I wandered around Maj’Dul completing various quests for faction, some coin, and finally after some time the “vindicator of the coin” title that I’ve never actually had before. It felt good to get it done. That leaves two more factions to complete since I’m pretty sure to start the ring of fates quests someone mentioned you need to have worked all three up. Hrms. I’ll have to look up the quest and see, since I’ve really got no experience with it.

Bought Dasie a new outfit last night as well. All she’s missing is the rice bowl hat (rockpounder is one that all priests can wear) and she’s transformed from a templar to a monk class. She’s also got a handy dandy two handed hammer for just such occasions. I enjoy having “fluff” armor slots, but wish there were more of a selection of things to wear. I feel sorry for those people who wear cloth, since Dasie wears plate she has a great choice of armor. She’s of course also wearing her LoN burning fists item that I claimed. I found a booster pack and decided to trade it, I managed to get my Three Warriors painting, as well as those fists. Worth it? Matter of opinion honestly. There could have been a better loot card in that booster deck, but it doesn’t really matter to me.

I’m pretty set on making a new dirge when RoK comes out – yes I realize everyone and their dog has a dirge and they’re the new flavour of the month, but oh well. I have a few (three?) character creation slots left on the two accounts, and I may as well use them up.

Other then that, just counting down the days….