2007

Taking a second (or third, or fourth) look at the Village of Shin

stargrace May 12, 2007 1Comment

I bought the defiler a new inn room. Her small 1-room place was getting a little cluttered, so I moved her from Big Bend (where all exiles end up after first moving to Freeport) into a 2-room in East Freeport. There’s no bank (add one please!) in the zone, but there is a city merchant close by, a broker, and bells to the docks, as well as a carpet to the DoF zones. She had a lot of knick nacks, but no real furniture. Instead of purchasing a bunch of it, I decided to head to the adventure pack Fallen Dynasty, and do the simple (but very rewarding) Village of Shin quests. After spending about an hour in the zone, Misako came back to her home with no less then 13 house items to add to the collection. Now, 7 of those are books to add to the library, but I also got a nice new bed, a bedside table, a lamp, a candle with heart graphics floating around, and a new ornament for the wall. While I was waiting for the npc to show up for tower access, I decided to take some extreme quality screen shots. I don’t want to have to re-size them, so please click the thumbnails for a better view. This zone is one of my absolute favorites, besides New Tunaria (Felwithe). It’s probably due to the Asian theme, while I don’t like soga models for any number of the characters, I do like seeing it in the world of EQII.

The view from the Tower of the Wind, just before the sun comes up in the Village of Shin.

Looking up at the tower from the base.

Looking out over the docks from the main land.

Looking out over the fields, from the main land.

Hopefully a few more out there enjoy the view. I love taking screen shots in game, and love the fact that if I wanted to I could play on extreme quality settings. It does lag me slightly depending on where I am and who is with me (playing that setting during a raid would hurt after some time) but it reminds me of what a very pretty world Norrath is. I have over 600 screen shots in my EQII folder alone, not to mention my old EQLive folder, my Vanguard screenshots, and even some WoW ones. Be it a special occasion that you wish to remember, or just a pretty sun set, at times screen shots in MMO’s are no different them someone pulling out a camera to snap a shot.

As a quick update, defiler hit level 61. Also managed to get 69ap on her, she’s eating those up fairly quickly. Tulips hit 26 armorer. What a boring thing to level. Takes forever and barely any new recipes each level. I think last level she had three, and this level she has.. four? Maybe. Not as bad as Cordanim and his 2 recipes a level record, but I’ve already gone through that with the provisioner (and the woodworker!).

Defiler hits 60, and gains a few ap

stargrace May 12, 2007 0Comment

The guild may be small, with only 7 members (and an army of alts) but we still have fun

Misako hit level 60 yesterday, I’m proud of that accomplishment. I’m already thinking about which character to finish leveling to 70 next. I think my conjuror (who used to be a necromancer) is going to betray back to a necromancer, and then I’ll concern myself with leveling her up. She’s sitting at level 53 currently, and while I do enjoy the call of the hero spell that conjurors get, I like the feign death and rez spells of the necromancer. Even better then getting level 60 though, was that I hit 66ap with Misako as well. It means that she’s almost done her regular shaman ap line, I’ve gone down the pet aoe prevention line (also giving group aoe prevention on pet attack for 6 seconds) and I’ve also gone down the int line, which is a debuff line. I love it, works wonderfully. It also gives the group some very nice magic resists. On the down side, I have about 6 buffs I have to cast + the dog before I even get to my regular buffs. I spend more time buffing and re-buffing then anything else I think. A small complaint of course.

Cordanim has been eating up those ap points as well as can be plainly seen from the screen shot. Shadowgeist, Cordanim, and myself (boxing Dasie and Stargrace) headed to the Crypt of Valdoons last night to see if we had any luck with some class drops. Of course since Shadowgeist doesn’t actually need a single piece of shadowknight gear, that’s what dropped for us. My EQII luck shining through like always. Dasie did get the new cuirass, it’s a slight upgrade to the fabled one she was wearing, both in power and in wisdom. Her old one had some heath regen on it which she doesn’t need as a templar. I have barely played her at all, and she’s so far behind in ap. Perhaps one day I’ll work on that a little bit. Or I could box her along with my necromancer while they quest together.

Off to do nest with the defiler now, hopefully she can get a few more ap points and complete the crafting quests inside the zone.

Here my pretty shiny…

stargrace May 11, 2007 2Comments

Ah, the elusive blue shiny. I’ve talked about these collections before. You have to wear special goggles to be able to see them, they spawn every three minutes in specific locations. They can be found in butcherblock, around the chess board (chess pieces). Castle Mistmoore (candles) Crushbone in the Hall of tactics, hall of the magi, hall of truths, and temple of the prophet (torture instruments). They can also be found in Felwithe (sentry shards), Greater Faydark (Acorns), Kaladim (mining picks), Klak’anon (mechanical springs), Lesser Faydark (Gourd seeds), Loping plains (werewolf fangs), Mistmoore Catacombs (Skulls), and Steamfont mountains (mineral water).They typically reward you with a house item, though the Steamfont collection does not (grumble). I could spend hours harvesting in EQII between shinnies and crafting harvests. When I go to another MMO (WoW and Vanguard for example) I’m constantly looking around on the ground for something to harvest. What makes these little things so addictive that whole groups will even wipe to them in order to harvest?

Things are going well on AB, I’ve found a few guilds who are interested in an illusionist, so I’ll be doing Emerald Halls tonight. Lader and Shadowgeist have also found themselves a new home within the server, and I’m glad that things are working out finally for the band of adventurers. Moving to a new server is never much fun, especially when you don’t know any one. It can be a very stressful period of adjustment.

Yesterday I wanted to finish the manastone heritage quest, but neither of my two characters have CoD access. So I gave up frustrated and I figure I’ll complete it later today. There’s been some small unfortunate issues going on that have prevented me from enjoying the game lately, I’m hoping that they’re taken care of. I also petitioned about my houses, again. My character names were changed when I moved to AB, and my housing still says it’s owned by me, but the zones themselves fall under the previous names. Means if I want to relinquish, I can’t, because the names don’t match up.

Hopefully Cordanim is settling in just fine, his alts all got guilded last night. The little coercer in guild is leveling along nicely. It’s refreshing to have someone new in the guild. We’re not growing that fast, but it’s a type of home none the less.

I apologize for my thoughts being all over the place today, but it’s just one of those days!

The Heritage Quests Continue

stargrace May 10, 2007 5Comments

Goudia Is’Gouda, ratonga dirge, is waiting patiently for Stiletto

Yesterday was a good day for HQ’s, in between dealing with some real life stuff I completed six HQ, four on Misako, and two on Goudia. I started the Jboots but after the first two races was feeling tired and decided to go to bed. That one will have to wait until later today. It’s been nice being able to do the HQ’s on both characters at the same time, for pretty much double the guild exp I’d normally get. The guild reached level 7 last night, with Lader picking up a courts raid. That raid always gives an insane amount of guild status.

Speaking of the guild, Cordanim joined the ranks! Ignore his whole comment about peer pressure, I did no such thing! Shadowgeist and I met him quite a way back on Najena, we were at one point in time all in the same guild. Of course things change and guilds changed and then I ended up on Lucan D’Lere, people switched games for a bit and came back, Cordanim took a break from the game for some time and just recently started getting back into things. With the free server transfers ending at midnight, I suggested he move to AB and join the newly formed Torrent Knights, he boxes as well and I know he’s an avid alt-o-holic not to mention crafter. I also know with his young boys and wife that he’s very much a family man and not looking for something big and uber or hardcore, TK would be a perfect fit. Not to mention I’d get to add one more friend to the ranks, it was most certainly a win win situation. As he talks about on his post community is everything in an MMO (to me at least).

I also found out that Cuppy moved to AB! Being just one of many fans of her blog, I’m glad to see her there, along with some of her friends and guildies.

I’m looking forward to some new adventures, last night my 59 defiler hit 65ap on an Acadechism run, I was hoping maybe something useful would drop but I swear if I didn’t have bad luck I’d have no luck at all. I’ve been mentoring down for the HQ turn ins, that helps quite a bit. Going to attempt to do the manastone and glowing black stone HQ’s today, not holding my breath though as Varsoons is typically pretty heavily camped later on in the day and that’s when I’d be headed to the zone. The defiler needs her manastone fairly badly, and hey, guild status is guild status after all. As a side note, good luck to Dalven on his new server Najena, I hope his guild is everything he wants it to be and he has fun with his friends, new and old.

Lets get on the Kunark train..

stargrace May 9, 2007 0Comment

Game Description:

Centuries of war have left their mark on the continent of Kunark. Explore this massive region as your existing character or as the new playable race – The Sarnak – and discover a world full of intrigue and danger. Engage in all-new adventures as you embark on a crusade to reveal the truth of the wars between the reborn Iksar Empire, Sarnaks, and Dragons and uncover artifacts long since thought lost to history. The lush, nostalgic continent of Kunark begins your courageous path from the new starting city in Timorous Deep.

Rise of Kunark is the fourth expansion pack for the critically acclaimed EverQuest II franchise. With the introduction of the new playable race, the Sarnak, and new starting area, Timorous Deep, Rise of Kunark provides a full range of content for new player’s levels 1-20 as well as advanced, high level players whom can now achieve up to level 80 in high level zones, both increasing their Adventure and Tradeskill classes.

Rise of Kunark includes many highly-detailed areas that are fondly remembered from EverQuest as well as brand new areas only recently unearthed! Hundreds of new quests, dozens of new NPCs, brand new Epic Weapon quests for each class, and new armor sets await those who dare set foot on this fabled continent.

Feature Set:

All-New Player Race – Start up a brand new Sarnak – the classic dragon-like humanoid creature that now inhabits Timorous Deep. Exiled from your homeland and magically altered, discover how your new breed came to be, and eventually return home to help your race triumph over the evil Iksar.

New Starting Area – Begin your adventure from the new starting area in the islands of Timorous Deep. Conclude your day of epic quests and retire to new housing within the Village of Gorowyn.

Level Cap Raised – Continue your adventures on your existing character in Kunark, expanding on your achievements as Adventure, Tradeskill and Guild levels all increase to 80.

More Unique Zones – Advance your way through new massive regions, containing many zones filled with nostalgia and danger, such as the Emerald Jungle and the Skyfire Mountains

Hundreds of New Quests – The tale of Kunark is told through hundreds of new quests, aimed at gameplay of all types: solo, group, and raid.

More Weapons & Armor – New Epic Weapon quests for all 24 classes, with new weapons for both those who raid and those who choose not to. Battle through the opposition and acquire additional fabled and legendary armor sets as well.

Details found here, I’m already so excited I can ignore the fact that it’s still 6 months away…