June 2008

Writs, Writs, and yes, MORE Writs

stargrace June 30, 2008 1Comment

I had no idea if the bonus experience was still in place or not – but it felt like it was. I had no vitality and managed to hit level 50 last night. Tomorrow is July 1st which means it’s Canada day, and plenty of people are home today and tomorrow because of it. Anyhow, I figured out that one of the main reasons I dislike crafting (or get bored of it) is because what else is there to do as you grind out the experience. Not a whole heck of a lot. Today I found a way to resolve that. I don’t own a lap top, but decided I’d run EQ2 in a half screen size. I have a 24″ widescreen monitor, so it worked out just fine. On one half I had EQ2 running, and on the other half, I decided to watch some shows on broadband. Now, the tv stations in the states won’t allow me to do this because of my Canadian IP, but there are a few Canadian stations that let you watch full episodes. I watched a show called “Gossip Girl” which wasn’t too bad. Anyone who knows me realizes that I am really not much of a tv person, at all, but hey in the name of crafting, why not. It would make it go by faster. I also have a LOT of anime piled up that I haven’t worked through yet, and began on that afterwards.

Three hours later (with a break for lunch and what not) Nostalgia 2.0 dinged level 16 – which is great because we just hit 15 late last night, and I’d completed over 30 guild writs. I went from level 50 to level 54, and 30% into it. I’m debating now whether or not I want to finish that last bit off and try to ding 55. The problem is I’m out of supplies, and sandalwood is going for 50s each piece. I’ve already spent 7p today on supplies and advance books (a few books were nearing the 1p range and I’m a fanatic about owning them all). Not that I don’t have the coin to spend, I suppose it’s not that big of a deal.

The plus side to all of this is that I’m finally able to make house items that I actually like. The new screens that came out a few updates ago, plants, and pretty maj’dul inspired items like I’d mentioned yesterday. The highest I’d gotten my carpenters in the past was roughly level 35 or so. Even Calreth mentioned this morning that he was happy to see I’d made it past ‘the point of no return’.

My typical ‘plan’ is to make 1 of everything for the pristine bonus – and promptly move it into Kasul’s house because he was mentioning it looked bare. Then I grind out writs for the rest of the level. I’ve made it past the 10k status range with the Gorowyn trades faction merchants – also another bonus. Since Silhouette moved from Neriak to Freeport to Gorowyn, getting status hasn’t been easy. She left behind 5k in Freeport faction, and started over from scratch. I’m hoping to get the 30k on one crafter sooner or later (Stargrace is pretty dang close) so that I can buy the recipes for mannequins that I want. Eventually, maybe even the recipes for the respec mirror. We’ll see.

Anyhow, sorry if it seems boring, all I’ve done is grind writs today. Hoping maybe later tonight I’ll play some Vanguard, and inch closer to level 40, we’ll see how it goes!

It’s Always the People

stargrace June 27, 2008 4Comments

Yesterday was a pretty good day, as far as EQ2 is concerned. I spent a little time playing my monk, took her through Wailing Caverns with a mentored Shadowknight and managed to get from level 10 to level 25 in a fairly short amount of time. Not to mention got a whole lot of loot which I transmuted some of, and put the rest for sale. Lower level adepts (we’re talking 1-20 here) sell for a fairly good price, I saw most for 4-10g each, I priced mine at 2g each and they were sold by the time I’d relogged to another character. Some transmuter out there no doubt. I kept the useful adepts and scribbed them on the baby monk. Then I spent 5p and geared her up since she was wearing just the newbie armor you start with. I bought all mastercrafted leather armor, some fighting batons, two charm slot items, all of her adepts that she was missing, as well as a few pieces of jewelery. Expensive? Maybe, but what’s the point of having an alt if you can’t twink them out.

Yes, I could have crafted all the bits myself, but that takes time and well, again – what’s the point of having all this money in game if I don’t actually spend it. I already live on a budget in real life, why worry about virtual coinage.

Later on in the day Malfi logged in and was talking about his vacation – and also talking about how he was working on Claymore. One of those really long chains of quests that no one does any more. Well, practically no one. It’s those quests (and older) that I just love doing and would be more then willing to get a group of people together to work on. Of course he’s 10 levels over the cap for it – but that doesn’t make the quests any less fun (or rewarding) not to mention if you’re one of those very questy people (which he is, of course) it adds towards your total count.

All his talk got me thinking about my own Claymore quest chains. I’ve completed it once on Arysh (warden) and have it started on multiple other alts all at various stages. At level 80 a good portion of this quest chain is gray now, making it far easier then it would have been when it released. Especially the dreaded SoS portions and PoA.

That’s the problem great thing about awesome friends – they always make you interested in whatever it is they’re doing.

But instead of working on Claymore or doing any other chain of quests, I logged in the carpenter and got two levels on her, pushing her to level 46. It’s my goal to try to hit 50 on her before too long at least to be out of this tier of boring crafted items. It’s the highest I’ve ever managed to get my carpenter, which is a plus. I’ll be gone all day Saturday, so I won’t be able to take advantage of much of the “double exp” weekend, but I hope to be able to grab the last few levels I need.

Bring on the Alts

stargrace June 26, 2008 0Comment

This morning bright and early Shadowgeist helped the troubador run through Chardok, grabbing clickies she needed for her epic. Of course on my way to one of the final ones, something saw me and evac was down and in a very short space of time I was looking at the entrance of the zone again with debt (not that it matters at level 80). I probably need a group to reach the furthest one. I appreciated the help though!

I’ve got a lot on my plate in EQ2, and it’s great. Last night in one of my ‘list’ moods I wrote out all my characters, their races, their adventure and craft levels, and then made up a quick ‘to do’ list, in no real particular order. Just a general list of things I wanted to do and accomplish over time. Having so many alts, this is a great way for me to keep track of everything. Of course, instead of working on anything I listed, I made a new alt. Well, actually she’s an old alt.

On every server I’ve played on, I keep telling myself I’ll try a monk. They’re great to solo with, have a fair amount of dps, can tank some of the lower instances – and while they’re not T8 tanks, they can feign death their way around and just generally sound like a whole lot of fun. Problem is I seem to get my monks to level 25-35 or so and then I give up or move servers or switch games or something along those lines. It’s happened every time.

So I created Ysandria some time ago. Probably when Nostalgia 2.0 was just getting started. A fae monk, of course for their glide ability. Last night I felt the ‘alt itch’ while I chattered to Mayadhros, and decided to level her a bit. Then today I decided it was time to try to get the monk to level 35 (or higher if I can) so that I’m at least past the point of no return that I reached with all of the other monks I’ve played. It would be nice to catch up to Kasul, and have a duo partner for some of the solo / duo stuff if I can manage to catch up. This weekend is double exp weekend for EQ2 – but Saturday I’ll be relaxing at the cottage, with no time to play (expect lots of pictures!) the rest of the weekend we’ll just have to see how it goes.

On a side note, Borgeo got a hold of me this morning! How great was it to talk to him! It’s been ages it seems. A pre-congratulations on the 2nd kiddo he has on the way, two months will fly by!