House Items and Crafting Instances
stargrace 
Yesterday for some reason the npc’s in Mara turned their nose up at Tipa, Kasul, and I. So we didn’t get to do our nightly Tradeskill Instance. Tomorrow or the day after I should be able to do the solo quest again and that will give me enough faction to purchase the two recipe books with the tokens I’ve been collecting. Then I can start working towards something else. Even though I couldn’t do the instance with my main (I was unlocked from the instances as well, so I’m not sure what the issue was) I decided earlier in the day to solo one with my tailor. My tailor is on the 2nd account I have, and therefor doesn’t get the experience bonus that those on the main account have (which is a 50% bonus). How noticeable was it? In the time that my alchemist managed to get 6 levels, the tailor got 3.5 levels. Though my alchemist also used a 55% potion, and I did not use one on the tailor. For three hours of work that requires no raw materials, I still find it quite good. I got her to level 56 tailor. So that leaves my current crafters at 80 sage, provisioner, woodworker, carpenter, jeweler, 59 alchemist, 56 tailor, and 40 armorer. The armorer is a few levels shy of being able to do those Moors quests and the instances, so she’ll be next while the other two regain their vitality (why doesn’t the 5 year reward replenish the tradeskill vitality as well as adventure?!). I didn’t get any rares this time around, but I did get a recipe book along with a piece of sage jewelery. I traded the sage piece off to Misako and I’ll have to wait until level 70 to scribe the book. It was still a fun run though.
Earlier in the day I headed to the Moors to work on the chains of quests there. I had already cleared out most of the quests at the landing pad on Arysh, but still had the one remaining that turns you into a warboar. Fun quest! The quests reward a LOT of coin, which is something I like and I dislike. I wish that there were gear rewards, but I understand that RoK gave a LOT of gear rewards and maybe it was just time for something new. There are some absolutely wonderful house rewards, and those I am enjoying a great deal (of course).
One of the rewards was the statue pictured in this post. It lines up flush with the wall, so I’m trying to think of something unique and exciting to do with it. Maybe I’ll just add it to the museum. I saw someone link a miniature air balloon that’s going to look fantastic in my Ethernaught section, and a Lucan D’Lere action figure that will fit right in. The expansion certainly has a lot of amazing house items for players, as well as fantastic gear from Void Shards. You do need quite a bit of Void Shards to purchase your gear but keep in mind that ALL of the gear on the void shard merchants (or at least the lesser and greater gear I have seen, as well as the charm slot items and jewelery) can be made via commission for LESS void shards then you would normally spend if you can find a crafter who has the proper books. It’s nice to see crafters play a little bit more of a roll in EQ2, and something I’m sure other crafters are happy to see.
Next I need to work on my factions, there are recipe books located in the Moors at three faction outlets, and you can make some pretty amazing things from those (which I’ve linked in previous posts). Hopefully I’ll get a chance to earn some more void shards, as well as some Far Seas tokens. Not too far away from that Unicorn mount now!
I decided yesterday to get station access. I seem to switch my subscriptions around every month, so I wasn’t surprised when I began feeling the twinge to play Vanguard (not to mention EQ1) again. I wish SoE offered some sort of family plan along with station access. In my house there are three EQ2 accounts, although now it’s two EQ2 accounts and one station access account. It would be nice to see more variety for billing options. Anyhow, Kasul and Gozad were both in game as well. I wasn’t feeling all that social (hey, it happens, I like to talk but don’t always like to group) and so I hung around trying to get used to my keys again. I’ve always enjoyed Vanguard to quite a large degree, but the population coupled with lack of a guild to call home prevents me from making it my ‘main’ game (that and sinking 4+ years into EQ2 now). Anyhow. I noticed I had a new /claim item. Opened it up excitedly, and found resting inside a new camel mount for each of my characters. I named this one Spit, pictured above with my Raki paladin sitting proudly. It’s 30% speed, which is pretty good for a low level mount. My level 41 blood mage is riding the quested mount that gives 70% speed. Of course when you add horse shoes it’s faster, but I’m not complaining. I also got 25 experience potions (in Vanguard potions count for tradeskill, adventure, and diplomacy as well as quest experience. I’d love to see this implemented into EQ2) for a 50% bonus (for an hour) to all spheres. 