October 2008

The (dire)Bear Facts

stargrace October 21, 2008 0Comment

* From 1 to 19, he’s a little bearcub that follows you around. 
* From 20 to 39, he grows up and you can ride him around (a 20% speed mount). 
* From 40 to 59, he gets a saddle, and some more speed (30%). 
* From 60 to 79, he gains armor, and more speed (40%). 
* At 80, he’s fully grown. He has a full set of armor & saddle and is as fast as he’ll ever get (52%). 

Each character on an account will be able to claim the bear. 

As it is all working right now people who attended fan faire will get a digital download of the expansion all-in-one pack. 

The dire bears only come as part of the retail box (either pre-ordered or purchased after launch) so they won’t be part of the fan faire distribution.

DFC Adventures, and working computers

stargrace October 21, 2008 8Comments

Last night was a great time in EQ2 – but then again lately every day has been. To start things off, the wireless issues are solved and everything is working flawlessly. It was something I wouldn’t have known to fix, so thank you Woof for explaining it to me. Apparently microsoft has a ‘feature’ that bumps all wireless connections every 10 minutes looking for a new connection. Specifically if you don’t have your wireless broadcasting. Which I didn’t, it was locked and hidden. So now it’s encrypted, has a password and is broadcasting. Played last night for a few hours with no interuptions at all, everything worked just fine. 

I’m still getting used to having my two accounts on two seperate computers. I imagine it will take some time after 7 years of boxing on the same computer. The most difficult part is figuring out which account to put on the laptop. When I’m soloing that tends to be a healer, as I am using them less. However, when I’m in a group the healers tend to be someone I use a great deal more depending on who I’m with and what I’m doing. 

Last night I wanted to try to get some items to transmute as well as some of the special blood iron ore that’s used in DFC crafting. So I asked Kasul if he wanted to tank DFC and I’d play my monk / defiler combo. It was actually a lot of fun, and we both got a lot of goodies to sell and transmute. Most of them ended up in the guild bank for Nostalgia members to use. My fae monk also hit level 49 while we were in there which was nice. The defiler hit 80% into her level, so I’m hoping to reach 73 today with no issues. 

I’ve been contemplating re-activating my EQ1 account and taking a peek around again, and re-joining with Nostalgia The Guild on their Friday night adventures. I stopped a little bit ago when I was focusing more on EQ2 and had other RL things going, but it’s been tugging a bit lately. 

Nights of the Dead should be coming tomorrow and I’m really excited about it. There’s apparently a heroic version of the instance, which should be a lot of fun – not to mention LOTS of crafting goodies. Excited? Yes I am! I donated all of my old Halloween items to the guild hall, so it will be nice to get a few extra for my own homes. I decided to go one character at a time, and “complete” their homes, though my warden and illusionist have had theirs for years now they could use a facelift. 

Just another week of good ‘ol fun EQ2 style!

Random Bits

stargrace October 20, 2008 5Comments

Computer issues are not resolved yet, but should be soon. On the plus side I’ve become very good at guessing when the connection is about to bump (approx every 10 minutes) and I’ve been playing around it. It’s not enough of a bump to dump me off of EQ2, just enough to cause a minute or so of nothing happening on my screen. Apparently it’s a known issue though. Since it’s happening to both my pc (wireless adapter) and my laptop – but NOT the 2nd pc that’s plugged in with a cable, it was easier to search for. 

I’ve been questing Stargrace and Ellithia (78 illusionist and 72 defiler) around Kylong Plains lately. They make a fairly interesting duo, I typically mentor down and have the illusionist call her pet, then it’s just a matter of root and nuking. The defiler debuffs and casts her heals, sets her pet on the encounter as well. If root breaks it’s not such a big deal since the healer is close at hand – and so far encounters have been blue and below. I’m actually looking forward to playing the monk with the defiler, or perhaps (oh noes!) creating even more alts. We’ll see how it goes. I guess it’s fairly safe to say EQ2 has a fairly good grip on me as of late, and the best part is that I’m happy with that. 

Tipa and I were talking about how EQ2 is “home base” for both of us. We may play other games, and I certainly do wander but when all is said and done we both end up back in EQ2 – and happily so. 

I’m hoping once the computer issues are fixed I can get the defiler the rest of her level. I have a very lofty goal of trying to hit 80 before The Shadow Odyssey releases next month, but that’s 7.5 levels I’d have to gain before release and I think that’s a little much in less then a month. We’ll see how it goes in any case. I also want to level my necromancer, and my monk, and my paladin. Ahh good times. 

Nostalgia gained some new members last week via the guild recruitment tool. Surprised me because our guild rarely ever actually shows up on the list of guilds recruiting. I keep mine turned on “just in case” someone happens to think Nostalgia may be what they’re looking for. More members is never a bad thing!

Instances, and Computer Issues go Hand in Hand

stargrace October 20, 2008 7Comments

Thanks to a series of random events, I didn’t get to play nearly as much as I had wanted this weekend. When I did get a chance to play a good portion was spent screaming and cursing at the computer and everything related to computers. When my other half and I bought the laptop, we also decided that we should have my pc wireless since it’s across the room from the router, leaving his PC plugged in. So we bought a USB adapter that would work as a wireless card or what not. Remember, I am not exactly a computer person here. Anyhow, he fiddled with that for a good while, trying to secure our network without kicking any of the three computers off and what have you. I was surprised to see how many people in my apartment building have an unsecured / open wireless connection that anyone can tap into. 

After a short while of playing, I started losing connection every 10 minutes or so, and it would take me roughly 3-4 minutes for all of that to straighten out. It always happened at the most inopportune times too of course. At the end of Veksar we’re working out a plan to take down the final encounter and I go run off and lag into the room agroing him. Thankfully I was able to backtrack into the previous room and no one died. 

Then later that night I offer to help Kasul get some epic updates, Shadowgeist, Kasul and myself on Petites (76 templar) are running through Sebilis when what should happen – we get to the fearing encounters and I have a good solid 40 seconds where I see no one moving, nothing happening and can’t cast spells. Gah! I got frustrated and decided to take it as a hint and just log off. I decided to watch two and a half men in bed for the rest of the evening, which was a lot better then dealing with Internet issues. 

The little bit of time I did get to spend in game was fun though. Veksar was not too bad until the final encounter where we tried a handful of methods that didn’t seem to want to work. I played my enchanter, and didn’t realize they changed the encounter (again) so that now you CAN mesmerize the adds. I guess people complained that it was too difficult the other way around. Our first attempt involved me mesmerizing the named before we entered the room and then standing on his small platform to prevent adds from spawning, but for some reason even when he was mesmerized he still spawned them, so instead we just did it the good ‘ol normal way. Tank rushed in, grabbed adds + named, and I locked them down. Recast my mez when the adds respawned, which they did at least 5 times. 

Kasul got a few upgrades I believe, or at least one. Albrta got an upgrade too but nothing else was really of any use. The day before I had taken Ellithia to heal for Vaults of Eternal Sleep, a lot of fun since she was only level 72 and the only healer. Worked out great though. The only difficulty with bringing in low level healers is that they are unable to cure any of the dots. So you need a zone where dots won’t mater. After we had cleared Vaults I relogged to Arysh and we did Maidens, where I actually got a pair of gloves that were an upgrade. 

Later last night I also tried my hand at a little boxing this new way with two computers. Right now I almost wish I could go back to the old way of two accounts on one machine but that’s simply because I’m used to it. It’s weird for me to be able to watch both at once, and remember what to cast. On the plus side it also allows me to actually do more healing and debuffing which is a good thing. I’ve been planning out all the alts I want to level up that I haven’t yet. Having Ellithia (72 defiler) on the second account is nice, because the majority of my characters are on the other account and having a healer is always a good thing. Though I’m sure eventually I’ll make a tank class on her account that I can play my other healers with.

I hope everyone else had an amazing weekend. Screenshot is of Veksar, having an Indiana Jones moment (I’ve never actually seen any of the movies, someone told me this is in one of them though).