February 2008

James Blunt in Toronto? I’m SO There!

stargrace February 6, 2008 0Comment

Shadowgeist is pretty bad at keeping secrets from me (as much as I am from him I suppose, I’ve never been good at that sort of thing) so when he started hinting in on a Valentines day present I knew it was only a matter of time. NOT that I’m complaining! Turns out that at the end of this month I’m headed to Toronto for a few days to catch a James Blunt concert.

I love his music, and I’ve never been to a concert before aside from 2000 Summersault where I saw The Smashing Pumpkins play their last touring appearance before they reunited in 2007, Our Lady Peace, Foo Fighters, A Perfect Circle, Eve 6, The Catherine Wheel, Treble Charger, Sum 41, and Finger Eleven. Most of that concert was spent trying to avoid the sun though and getting a horrible burn all along the back of my neck, and my taste in music has changed drastically since.

Anyhow, I’m excited. Exceptionally excited at that. I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun. I’m not sure if I’m going for two nights and three days yet, or just one night and two days. Toronto is not that far away (about 6-7 hours) and hopefully the weather will be nice. The only down side of course is the drive, lots and lots of traffic through that city, but I believe the hotel will be smack dab down town, so we won’t have to worry about having to drive everywhere, and can just leave the car parked. Toronto is one of those cities I love to visit, but would hate to live due to all of the people. I’m more of a country type person, heh.

Today in EQII is the five (at least) hour patch that brings epics to people. No doubt everyone is mighty excited over that, and I can’t blame them. I haven’t decided if I’m even going to bother working on mine, EQII has sort of been on the back burner for me (again) as I flounder about. We’ll see how it goes. In Vanguard I managed to get my baby bard to level 13 (have I mentioned just how much fun they are? They are SO fun!) and did a little crafting, not too much though. At least it gives me something to do while EQII is down for their massive patch.

Gaming

Khal? Sure, park your boat here

Khal was revamped a while ago, to cut down on the lag that was predominate throughout the city. A wonderful job was done with it and the outcome was very aesthetically pleasing. Now as you wander through you can look below to the port and see everyone and their boat (literally) parked, waiting for their captains to return. I still love looking at the player made ships in game, and how they vary from continent to continent.

The continent of Qalia is where a lot of 20+ spend their time, working on various quests. Neamsong Bunker is the home to the first Hunter’s League quests, though if you’re above level 18 or so you’ll want to head to Upside Defense Garrison and grab the quests there instead. Without the bonus experience things seem to crawl by- it’s still rewarding in the end.

The Vulmane Shaman is inching along, level 9 yesterday. Eventually became frustrated by the amount of running one has to do, it can take hours just to get from point A to point B. The 30% run speed is a nice thing to have, but still is not quite fast enough to make the journey that much more enjoyable. Population is still quite high which is nice to see, still not sure that they’re ready to re-release in April. There’s a lot of bugs yet. Like my Vulmane friend who has large shoulders, each time he swings downwards (on either of our screens) his muscles appear to bulge through any harvesting clothing he’s wearing, and flicker. Not exactly a huge issue, but it’s one that should still be addressed none the less. It’ll be nice to see those character revamps. I can’t remember when they were supposed to come along, but I suppose it can’t be rushed.

Today’s goal- make some progress and perhaps hit level 10. Apparently shaman have a quest to choose some sort of spiritual path, wolf, bear or bird. I’ve got little to no information on any of this, but I’m sure I can figure it out.

Gaming

Vanguard Anniversary Gift

stargrace February 4, 2008 1Comment

Taking a trip into Vanguard proved to be (aside from a lot of fun) profitable, as I managed to claim this new reward from my claim window. You get the choice of 3 bags, one per account (they’re a little stingy with their gifts). One for each of the spheres. Since I can get player made bags easily enough, and I can quest for a diplomacy bag, I opted to get this crafters pouch, to help boost up my stats and give me a permanent buff. I claimed it on the artificer, and I think it was a great choice.

I managed to finish off the URT weapon quest with some help from a GM who kindly dropped all those essences (the quest is broken) into my inventory, and decided to move on to the Hunter’s League quests in Qalia. The first two that rewarded yellow gear (around level 19 I believe?) I completed with little difficulty, having to smush some level 18 cyclops and a few other bad guys that roamed the coast. The next quest I’m on wants some zombie flesh though and they’re four dot which means they’re heroic and I should be in a group to kill them. They’re also level 22, so I didn’t want to risk getting smacked around too badly before giving up until I can find a group.

The guild had some low 20’s groups going on in Qalia as well on Friday night, Sunday was of course the super bowl where everyone was busy shouting at the TV and watching the fantastic commercials (which are blocked out here in Canada, we get to watch the Canadian commercials instead, and none of them are nearly as exciting as the prized American superbowl commercials) of course regionsay was filled with people arguing about why their team should win and bringing up every possible bad play that was ever made by anyone. Interesting, to say the least.

I also started a shaman class, a vulmane at that (they need tails, badly) and with some company got her to level 8. I’ve never played a shaman before (or any other healer aside from bloodmage for that matter), so far it’s a lot of fun. Helps to have someone to play with of course. Formed a brotherhood with both the shaman and my bloodmage, so my characters can’t out level anyone. I like the idea of sharing exp even if it takes a little longer to level up in the end.

Gaming

Trip Down Memory Lane

stargrace February 2, 2008 1Comment

Out of all the characters I’ve deleted over time, and yes I’ve deleted a few, I’ve managed to keep my very first EverQuestII character, which is the templar. She may have betrayed a few times, but I’ve still managed to keep her around. I found it amusing when I was cleaning out quests from her journal to spot the above quest still burried in there. A heritage quest I picked up in 2005. I have one other quest a few days older then that one, another heritage quest, lost legends. Just as an indication of how much I must have disliked those quests (and how rarely I ended up playing the templar in the end).

After browsing through the active quests, I took a peek at when I completed my very first quests. It was surprising to see that it took me two days to get from level 1-7. I completed my first quest on the isle of refuge – 11/10/2004. Ah good times.

When I first picked up EQII I had no intentions of playing. I was happy in EQ1 doing whatever it was I was doing at the time. Mild raiding and playing with my best friend, who had a troll beastlord. I had a cleric, enchanter (oh how I miss the EQ1 enchanter) and a rogue (SoS was awesome). I haven’t actually checked in to EQ1 in quite some time, but I was thinking of re-installing the game. I haven’t played / bought the last few expansions and have no intentions of it, but it would be nice to see the old places agian.

One thing I really miss about EQ1 vs. EQ2 is the way in EQ2 you can “out grow” zones and areas. They turn grey, making them worthless to re-visit unless you’re an obsessive quester. I realize it was probably to help prevent farming – after all who wants level 80’s killing your level 20 mobs for the loot and gear, but I dislike the method of trivializing areas.

In EQ1 nothing turns grey, so even if you’re max level you can still farm items, names, and areas. You can go back and re-visit them time and time again. You could argue that it’s do-able with the mentor system here in EQ2, but not really to the same extent. I remember killing things in so many old world zones in EQ1 thanks to my bestlord friend, zones I’d have never visited or even known about without his help. I imagine that EQ2 is almost the same way. Most of my ‘new’ characters now start in Gorowyn and quickly level to 20. This means they out level the Commonlands, Antonia, portions of Stormhold, Wailing Caves, Oakmyst Forest, The Forest Ruins, Sunkin City, and various others before even exploring them what so ever. They trivialize. Unless I mentor, or spend time doing gray quests, there’s no reason at all for me to ever set foot in those areas. As more expansions are added and the world grows, it also shrinks.

Anyhow, it was an interesting walk down memory lane. What’s the oldest quest anyone else has in their journals? What was the date you completed your very first EQ2 quest? Feel free to share!

James Blunt in Toronto? I’m SO There!

Khal? Sure, park your boat here

Vanguard Anniversary Gift

Trip Down Memory Lane

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