2008

Bring On the Alts – Er, Wait. Nope.

stargrace November 6, 2008 8 Comments

One thing I’ve always disliked about EQ2 (yes, there are actually things I dislike, I know, how odd!) is the lack of character slots. You’re restricted (currently, with a regular account) to 7 characters lots, not per server, but for the entire game. In a game where there are 9 crafting classes and you can only chose one per character, with 24 class types, 7 characters is a pretty small selection. Sure there are ways of obtaining more – if you subscribe to station access for example. This boosts your character count from 7 to 12 (number may be off by one or two, it’s been a little bit) almost doubling it. Of course the cost of the game also doubles from $14.99 to $29.99 American, and if you’re only playing the one Sony title it doesn’t quite seem worth it. If you play EverQuest-PC, and Pirates of the Burning Sea (yes, people still play that I hear), Vanguard, or any other number of games along with EverQuestII then I can see how you may want to subscribe. It’s almost better to just purchase a second account though and box, and get LoN rewards on both accounts. 

I am hoping that players gain one (or how about 3 to make it an even 10) character slot when TSO goes live. I’ve already got a level 80 warden, coercer, and dirge. A level 78 illusionist, 76 templar, 61 necromancer (pictured above) and a 50 monk. They all craft. That means that aside from the 40 new aa we’re being allotted, I have very little room for ‘new’ progression. Since the expansion focuses on 50+ content (scaling at that) I suppose I wouldn’t want a lower level character, but the ‘alt itch’ is always there just beneath the surface. I don’t have any T1 dps, a wizard, ranger, or assassin. I’ve been itching for another scout (the dirge doesn’t count) so much to the point of almost deleting that 61 necromancer I haven’t touched in ages. So why not just delete her and remove her from the picture? Well, she’s also an 80 sage which is harder for me to get rid of. I remember how many hours upon hours of work I put into her.

I’m not alone in this boat either. It’s quite common to see people with 1-4 level 80 characters, and a handful of crafters. In EQ-PC when people reached the max level they would work on their achievements since there are so many of them – in EQ2 there is a lack of things to do at end game aside from raid. So what does everyone do? They make alts. If they’re not making alts they’re bored and are typically taking a break until the new expansion gets here.

The character limit has been a debate for quite some time. Reasons where given for why it was so limiting when EQ2 first came out, wanting to reduce the number of names taken or some such, but it’s been almost 5 years now, and while the number of characters regular accounts can have HAS grown (it used to be 4  when the game first came out) it’s not enough. We really need at least one more character slots. If for no other reason then feeding my love of alts.

TSO Journal – Part III (The Deep Forge)

stargrace November 4, 2008 5 Comments

(( Only a few more TSO Journal entries to post. Why am I posting them? They’re fun for me to create, and for those who are not aware, Nostalgia is the guild I belong to in EQ2, formed with the most wonderful people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. I hope everyone is excited about The Shadow Odyssey! ))

Nostalgia gets a Lobby

stargrace November 3, 2008 3 Comments

Today was much like every other day I’ll have for the next little while. NaNoWriMo meshed between real life projects meshed between my love of gaming. I haven’t had time to play Little Big Planet as much as I’d like, or hang out with friends in game, but I logged in to EQ2 and looked around the Nostalgia guild hall with a little dismay. It didn’t take long for the urge to hit me. We needed an entrance room.

I hate designing entrance rooms. I’m not any good at it. We really did need one though. I wanted it to welcome people into the hall. Show off what Nostalgia was about. Make it some what ‘homey’ and I think I managed to do that between furniture and accessories. There’s still some work to be done on the ‘stage’ room, with a few tables and chairs set up in the theater area, the library and crafting areas also need some work, but I’m happy to say that I think the lobby is at least ‘finished’ and I won’t be touching it that much. The guild has reached just over the 400 item mark in a 750 limit – apparently you CAN use the expander to add 100 extra items to the halls which is certainly something I’ll be looking into. More items is never a bad thing!

The only downside to all of this decorating (and not much leveling or actual playing going on) is that I’ve spent close to 200 plat on the guildhall now and I’m not making any of it back. Hopefully as things quiet down (when ever that will be) I’ll have a chance or two to do some adventuring and maybe run an instance or two in the hopes that a semi good master will drop that I can sell. Or craft a bunch of adornments in the hopes that they’ll sell. I’ll think of something no doubt. 

I’d love to ramble on about some far more exciting adventure, but alas that’s the limit of my gameplay today. I should be posting the TSO Journal Day III tomorrow (fingers crossed) but no promises. 

I had a few random thoughts on betas and why I didn’t think that the EQ2 approach to them was such a great idea (ie: Everyone runs in to look at all the ‘cool’ stuff and actual testing doesn’t get done, people head straight to the shiny bits) but my eyeballs are threatening to close here at the desk so I’m going to call it a night for now.