May 2008

Just so much to do

stargrace May 28, 2008 2Comments

One thing (of many) that I’m completely loving in EQ1 is just how much there is to do. In EQ2 I feel as though I’ve done it all, or at least come pretty close to it. I’ve seen all the zones, run all the instances, I may not have my epic, but pretty much everyone else does. Getting 140aa is easy and there’s nothing really left to do anymore. I mentioned before about how you’re not supposed to feel like you can ‘beat’ an mmo because there’s always something left for you to do – and while in EQ2 I don’t feel as though that’s true, in EQ1 it certainly is.

Early in the evening yesterday Malfi and Binxs logged in, along with Woosao, Tipa, and myself, and we headed to Blightfire Moors to get some levels. Malfi was away on business when we ran our Nostalgia group last week, and Binxs could use the exp as well. So I logged to Minxe, my dark elf necromancer. She was level 32 at the time, and after all was said and done after two hours or so we’d all gained 3-5 levels, it was nice. Tipa joined us as a level 30, in shroud form. Mostly to try it out rather then anything else. In the end she’d actually gained two regular levels – something she was trying to avoid. It was great that she could lower her level to play with us, but until we hit level 51 and stop gaining experience in favor of aa, it’s frustrating.

I managed to craft my level 33 pet spell (cheers) and set off to Abysmal Sea to gather the rest. Since Minxe is no longer my progression character, I’ve decided to stop playing my level 30 monk with Woosao, and to play Minxe. That means I can delete the 30 monk, and thus have another character slot open (which is rare for me). That leaves me with: 70 rogue, 68 enchanter, 68 cleric, 45 shadowknight, 40 cleric, 38 rogue, 36 necromancer, 33 druid, and a level 7 beastlord.

Yes, I have two clerics, and two rogues. Not sure what I’d like to make next, I’m sure I can figure it out though. Lackey (magician) logged in and promptly headed to Najena to hunt for a broom and shovel. Apparently these items are used in some magician focus items (and thus for the epic 1.0 as well further down the road) and he was having some difficulty getting things to drop. Urtog (faithful warrior that he is) volunteered to help him out, and within the hour had gathered so many pieces Lackey needed, it made my head spin.

All I managed to do was get Lackey killed – supposedly twice. We went to Ocean of Tears (and me on my 68 cleric) to kill a few Seafury Cyclopes and steal their toes.

Now, I know this may be hard to believe – but –

It was my first EQ1 boat ride, ever. Apparently, they used to be a lot longer, but when I started playing 3-4 years ago, the boats were all broken, and Translocators were set up on docks in order to port you to your destination. It was nice to see that the boats were back, and I enjoyed the ride. In another short hour Lackey had all of the pieces he needed, and later today I’m sure he’ll eagerly complete the quests granting him his items. Aside from the death (or two) it was a great night, again spent with great friends. The Tuesday Nostalgia group was canceled for the night, since one of it’s key members was called away unavoidably (the healer). They were meant to spend the night in Najena, but it looks as though it’ll have to be next week instead. I never did spend that much time there leveling up.

I’m pleased that most of the people who were slightly behind in Nostalgia (the Friday run) have caught up the few levels they needed. Coldheat, Malfi, and Binxs, with Gozad not too far behind. Aerrik and Sev still have a little work (Sev being away for medical reasons) and Said as well, I believe. This Friday we’re heading to do Everfrost LDoNs, which I’m sure will be interesting. This is another one of those camps that I dislike, and I can’t quite recall why. No doubt Nostalgia the Guild will change my mind though.

Between leveling, hunting for gear upgrades, doing random quests, crafting, getting excited about aa, and where Nostalgia the Guild is going next, well. The game is pretty booming, what can I say. For now it’s still my ‘game of choice’ though I do wander into EQ2 still on occasion. Having a group of steady friends on has been just the thing I needed.

City of Mist, Temperance, and Fun..

stargrace May 26, 2008 1Comment

This weekend has been fun. In fact, so fun that I completely forgot to take screenshots. I know, I’m bad. Last night (was it only last night?) Tipa, Lackey, my favorite warrior Urtog, and of course myself (as Ishbel, the cleric) headed out for fun and mischief. We found plenty of both. It started off of course when Tipa’s own druid forgot to bring.. TIPA along in the port to Emerald Jungle. Or maybe it started before that when we spent 20 minutes deciding where to go. Either way, that set the tone for the night, and I barely stopped laughing until we finished our adventures.

We headed to City of Mist, a favorite zone of mine in the past, and made our way to the stables. There was no one around (surprise surprise) and it’s not a hot zone but the experience was steady. Breaking camp is always the best part of any group, and Urtog managed it with Ease. Lackey nuked away while his pet DPS’d and Tipa did it all, tanking, dps’ing, you name it. I sat and looked pretty in scales, of course.

We were lucky, it seemed that every named was up waiting just for us when we zoned in. It started with the Mighty (red) Golem right at the entrance who dropped a pretty face piece for me. Then we took down a few ghosts and a shield dropped with mana preservation III on it. Very nice. Lackey also got himself a shield, though it wasn’t quite as nice as mine, it was better then the nothing he was wearing before. A pair of plate gloves found their way to the guild bank, and the only down side to the evening was that we reached our level cap for this week – again – too early.

It’s only Monday and we can’t play our Nostalgia characters until Friday, for fear of out leveling everyone else. Tipa’s already 41 and creeping up on 42, Ishbel is 20% away (though she’s not technically my Nostalgia character). Lackey isn’t a part of the Friday night groups and he swung by 42. Urtog sits comfortably at 40.

Since I hit 40, it was time for me to work on my temperance spell, a cleric quest that’s really quite easy. All it requires is talking to an npc in Gunthak, heading over to Dulak Harbor, being on the right boat (gulps) and killing things there until it drops. Tipa came to the rescue, and her third mob in, found an emblem. I’d be lost without her what can I say. I ran back to Gunthak, talked to the npc again, and set off for the beaches to find the female erudite ghost – who was also up.

Give her the new emblem, and presto, I have temperance.

At level 45 I’ll be able to scribe the group version of this spell, which is waiting for me, having already made it with Kameeko (I like being able to research, though the new method is a little.. odd). All in all, the weekend has been great. I wandered around Stone Hive some more today with Growlius’ necromancer, though not too much dropped for me. In Dulak I found a nice pair of shoulders for Ishbel – though the rogue is a little harder to gear up. I’m hoping to drag her around to finish some quests, or maybe craft her some more pieces of gear like jewelery. We’ll have to see I suppose.

All in all, just another great day gaming. Now if I could just remember to take screen shots while I’m having so much fun…

Doing It The Hard Way

stargrace May 24, 2008 0Comment

Last night was Mistmoore Castle, and above is the only screen shot I managed to take the entire time we were there. If it could go wrong, it did go wrong. Malfi (healer) wasn’t there, Relm (beastlord) wasn’t there, Aerrik (other healer) was very low level and ended up being disconnected (we think) part way in – which left group one with no healer as Coldheat also had a sudden emergency and had to go afk for the evening. Urtog (group two’s tank) also had to leave part way through leaving Tipa and Rogbog as our tanks. There was no doubt we were in Mistmoore Castle, this is what the zone was known for (and still is to this day). We combined two groups into one and after numerous deaths, and trains of various sizes, we decided to head to a LDoN to cap off the night –

Where we also died twice more.

Well, ok it was only once more but I died twice more since I decided to spam heal while waiting on an evac. At least I provided suitable distractions for everyone else to get away. Oh yes, did I mention I healed? That’s because despite having spent the majority of my time this week leveling up a rogue, working her skills, and making her armor – I played the cleric.

The forces of the universe were obviously against me. I make a healer and we’ve a surplus, so I switch to a necro, then switch to a rogue, and then back to the healer. Thankfully, I have the time to keep both characters (at least for a bit) within our level ranges. I also enjoy both a great deal. I spent the majority of the beginning of the evening (before we’d actually started) role playing UghUgh the ogre rogue (aka Dainty, the gnome) as her true ogre self. It happened to coincide with a new recruit to Nostalgia the Guild who didn’t speak ogre and had no idea what I was going on about. It was great. Thankfully Tipa and Gozad managed to pick up ogre before this whole incident began. I plan on keeping it up – at least with the rogue. Ishbel (the cleric) has no such rp yet, and I haven’t really managed to think of one for her. That’s not to say I won’t, though.

I still had a lot of fun. I still highly encourage anyone who wants to come play in our static Friday groups to get a hold of someone in guild and let us know. The level caps for this week are 35-40 and there are people willing to help you (for now while the level is low) level up. I can’t help people who don’t play though.

The rest of the evening was spent in Stonehive on high level characters killing the Queen (aka: Watching Tipa kill it) who dropped a caster earing that was actually an upgrade to my enchanter, and a few goodies for our lower level characters. One of the highlights for the evening, for me of course, was the Manic Mushroom, and the little ditty I made up to the tune of ‘Manic Monday’. Ah, good times.

Tonight, Nostalgia!

stargrace May 23, 2008 3Comments

Today is Friday, which is wonderful. It means it’s almost the weekend, people are in relatively good moods, and tonight is another meeting of Nostalgia the Guild. I’m looking forward to our trip to Mistmoore to hit on some vampires. Though I expect Urtog will be doing most of the hitting on. Dainty just stabs. I’ve (unfortunately) been sick most of this week, so last night was yet another night of me going to bed around 8pm and I didn’t get much done in game.

What I did get done though was manage to make Dainty two pieces of her cultural armor for level 35-40. It requires a tinkering skill of 185 and her skill is currently 102 which means out of the 9 tries I failed 7 of them. But I still managed to walk away with a new chest piece and a new pair of shoes. Today I’ll see about making a few more pieces. The stats are really nice, +6-10 to pretty much everything, with a good arrangement of hp / endurance / mana (not that she uses mana). I still need to look up some quests some time for those “missing slots” of gear, but I felt proud that I could craft armor that’s pretty good for her level.

Before tonight’s meeting of Nostalgia, I need to learn ogre. Easily done. I also still need to work up my lock picking, disarm trap, and a few other things that I just simply haven’t had time to do. I love how EQ1 actually requires you to play in order to get these things done. I believe it was Tipa who said “well it’s really hard to level if you don’t log in” when we were discussing a few things.

The supplies for the 35-40 armor are very cheap, about 20p per piece all together. That mostly includes the 15p you need for the main component of the augment, which is water specific to your deity. I have my enchanter make these augments as it requires a skill and a quest that I didn’t exactly want to do on my lower level right yet. I’m not supposed to be getting experience, after all.

Once things settle down some, I’d like to keep playing my cleric (the drakkin) who I decided not to delete (she’s just too much fun) as well as Minxe (the necromancer) who can solo herself a few levels if I ever find the time. This weekend should be spent mostly with me at home trying to get better, and hopefully not sleeping quite so much. We’ll see how it goes, I suppose.