January 2008

Chardok, Korocust, and Mice

stargrace January 11, 2008 0Comment

Chardok is a beautiful zone, with lots of things that like to squish innocent unsuspecting travelers. I had already managed to wiggle my way into a Court of Korocust group with the druid, snatching up the sokokar posts and some aa, this time I brought the troubador since those are oh-so-much in demand (insert sarcasm here). One legendary dropped, mage shoes that the fury wanted for the high int. The rest was treasured, lots of aa though. It’s slightly annoying to get access for everyone each time we run through but eventually over time everyone will have it, and it won’t be needed.

Again I was surprised at lack of people / groups in the zone, it was empty (again). People rarely enter it would seem, unless they’re making a beeline to the instance. Even that’s only got a three hour reuse timer, so you could spend hours in the zone of Chardok farming the named, and then do the instance a few times in a day if you’re one of those people who have a static group that they play with (like Lader, who decided to do this all Saturday with his guild, they came out with quite a few goodies in the end).

Two major guilds on the server have cleared Veeshan’s Peak now, Eidolon (who were second) and The Bekwen Alliance, congratulations to both of them. A few smaller guilds are still working progression, and others are eagerly awaiting some new content (Kurns Tower anyone?) already. It was amusing in the 70-79 channel last night as folks debated which expansion they thought was coming out next, along with new classes and races. Hard to believe this is already a hit topic when RoK has barely been released for two months and there’s 10 to go if they stick with the one expansion a year plan. There’s speculation on levels, and whether we’ll be going to 85, or 90, or new aa trees. Velious seems to be the agreement as far as expansions go, some people would like to see something completely new that doesn’t follow the EQ1 time line – but then again this is EverQuestII, and Norrath has already been shaped in the previous game, makes it slightly difficult to just add new lands without some sort of explanation in how they got there. Lots of people are eager to see the planes brought back into the game at a fuller extent, and of course there’s the whole ‘we want beastlords’ argument that’s ever raging.

Guild halls, are something people want to see implemented (and soon) as well. One can only imagine the cost that will be involved with something of that magnitude. An option for the smaller guild would be nice too. I know people must be getting tired of using the five room homes for guild halls. Cozy though, right?

She’s Perrfect

stargrace January 10, 2008 8Comments

What’s the point of owning two accounts if you can’t completely fill them up with characters – and that’s what I’ve done. The best part is that I haven’t deleted anyone in a very long time. I used to delete them when I got bored, but with two accounts I’ve always just had room to make more. So this morning (after crafting 5 levels yesterday on the carpenter and doing some random harvesting) I decided it was ‘that time’ again. That’s right, time for (yet another) alt.

Thus I created Coya, my new dirge. Wait, isn’t a dirge a bard? Don’t I already have an 80 troubador? Well, yes, I do. I wanted to try the other perspective of the class too though. Heals and rez? Why not. A spunky little Kerra who’s lots of fun to play (so far). Shadowgeist and I ran her around the Gorowyn starter zone collecting every quest we could (him for the aa since he’s so close to 140). The quests were simple and fun – though we did have some difficulty with the ‘kill it to 30% then click it’ sort since we’re both very much into the ‘smush it until it stops twitching’ and that makes those quests hard.

I haven’t twinked her out (yet) but I’m sure I will. I also managed to get to 10aa, which is nice for her level. Or maybe it’s at 11 now, I forget. So that leaves my characters in EQ2 standing at:

• 80 troubador / 60 weaponsmith / 400 tinkerer
• 80 warden / 72 woodworker / 400 transmuter
• 72 templar / 80 jeweler
• 71 illusionist / 80 provisioner / 400 tinkerer
• 70 defiler / 50 tailor
• 70 coercer
• 58 necromancer / 80 sage
• 53 ranger / 62 alchemist
• 38 brigand / 35 armorer
• 33 monk / 35 carpenter
• 31 wizard
• 17 dirge
• 14 shadowknight (who’ll probably be lucky to see one level or two a year)

I do have room to create one more (on the healer account), but honestly, I think 13 should be more then enough and I can’t even think of what I’d play, since I basically have one of everything – and both types of bards as well as both types of enchanters. I like coercer and illusionist for different things. I was betraying my illusionist back and forth depending on my moods so I decided that it would just be easier if I worked up a coercer, and had one of both. Now I do, and both are level 70+.

I’m still hanging out in my own little guild. Just doing my own things. Crafting, of course. I’d ideally like to see all my crafters at level 80, as well as a good portion of my characters. Granted, I imagine that’d be quite boring, it’s not as difficult as everyone may think. Two levels a day for whichever field I’m working is a common goal if I’m feeling the need to actually define ‘progress’. Slightly slowed from time to time by the need for harvests.

I was contemplating wandering towards another raid guid, but do I really want to put myself through that whole… mess.. again? Meh. It seems as soon as they find out I’ve got two accounts and a bajillion characters I instantly fall into “oh yes she can play anything we tell her to play” mode. Which I hate. Though anyone who knows me knows I shy away from having an actual ‘main’ to begin with I suppose. Mehs again. Done ranting for now *sighs* Just one of those days / weeks.

Korocust fun, and back to crafting

stargrace January 9, 2008 1Comment

I decided to tag along with Shadowgeist to a Korocust run, mostly because I hadn’t been there since release, in fact I hadn’t even stepped foot in Chardok at all. It’s a zone that’s not used (as was apparent by my group being the only ones even in there). Everyone in the group needs access, so we headed to the bridge and killed the keeper with little trouble. Grabbed the sokokar post that’s right close by so next time I go I can just take the sokokar down. The named drops access for everyone, so eventually maybe we won’t have to keep doing it to catch people up. Not that it requires much work.

The instance itself was quick and easy, with a lock out of three hours. There’s one named (a warden) who can spawn on occasion, and he decided to spawn the first time I was there today. Shadowgeist had been there a good 10 times previous though, and never seen the mob. After we beat him, and collected some bones, it was time to spawn the named at the end, one at a time (by clicking a coffin) which means you can spawn him six times if you go with a full group.

Two legendary drops this time around, though apparently that was a bad run. The necromancer (or wizard was it?) walked away with some new shoes, and Arysh won the shackles of the Shai’Din, which were actually not an upgrade to the Guard of the Fens that she’s already got adorned. Going to be hard to replace those ones, even with the extra wisdom, the + heal amount and ministration as well as higher power and health make them far more appealing to me.

I decided to do some crafting after all that, and managed (so far) to get the carpenter to 32. I’m contemplating heading to Frostfell to do the quests that I’ve yet to get done there, and to craft some of the items – I do have a pile of them, but not an overly large pile, and one never knows what they’ll want furniture wise as time goes on. Hopefully I can get to the next level of box-making shortly, and get the carpenter closer to 40. I figure I’ll work from the lowest crafter to the highest until they’re out of vitality.

Does this mean I’ve given up on Vanguard (again)? Nope. Not at all. I’ll give it some time and keep hoping that when they re-release in April (or so rumor has it) that more people will shift over. I just miss having folks around, and as of yet cross game tells and channels are not working. Maybe I’d have enjoyed it a little more if I could have at least talked to the blog channel as I played.

Back in EverQuestII

stargrace January 8, 2008 9Comments

So I decided to take a break from Vanguard (already), I was feeling a little lonely with a lack of community. I always said I’d be back to EQII as soon as I wasn’t feeling quite so burnt out anyhow. Yesterday I decided that it was time for me to betray my mystic to a defiler. Why? Well, why not? Defilers have some wonderful power management tools, and I betrayed from defiler for a guild to begin with long ago. So why not just play what I want to play.

I decided this time around to do the betrayal quests for Neriak, which are not quite as boring as the ones for Freeport (that I’ve also done countless times). I need +10,000 more faction before I’ll be allowed to actually apply for citizenship – which is the most tedious portion of the betrayal, obtaining the faction you need in the end.

The price of fire emeralds has apparently also come down quite a bit, so I’ll be stocking up on those. Misako (the mystic / defiler) is still only level 70, so I’ve got some adventure levels to catch up. I’m not sure if I’m going to leave her in Neriak, or move her to Gorowyn. Or maybe just put her back in Freeport. I also have an extra stein of the alesmith that she could use, in order to gate to Kylong Plains (dang us non-druid / wizard types!). In the mean time, it’s nice to be talking to old friends again, and yeah, nice to be back playing EQII. I’d probably stick it out with Vanguard if the game was slightly more populated. I still enjoy it a great deal, but hey what can I say, EQII is home.