I spent most of yesterday (and I will today as well) transcribing the remainder of my SOE interviews that I did while in San Diego, so I didn’t have a whole lot of time to play. Ultann and Ninga logged in and we decided to start working our faction for the Dark Reign again – of course it seems that I missed a very small part of the progression that may (or may not) have made this all easier.
Apparently once you finish tier one and obtain your 2aa and new special aa (grants you +10 to all of your stats for no cost, constantly) you need to hail the commander once more, and say the key word (work) in order to get your flag for the next tier. In fact zam specifically says:
“Head back to the Commander and speak with him. This will flag you for the next step in progression. You will also get flagged for the Tirranun raid (not required for progression). “
Well, I didn’t do that nor did I suggest to my friends that they do it. So when we could not get the next portion, I assumed it was because we needed faction (and I’d read further down in the post that mentioned something about needing amiable with the Dark Reign before progressing further). We spent the majority of the evening working on creator missions (which are fast) and alternating with another mission. I didn’t mind because it was a nice amount of aa for Minxes – I kept Kameeko parked in Lavastorm to turn in the faction tokens.
After growing increasingly frustrated, by a random chance Ultann happened to hail the captain and say his text and then received his flag, and spoke with the next npc in line who very easily gave him the next tier of progression quests. Woopsie.
It still was a fun night – I hope everyone else had fun too and doesn’t hate me too much for all that work we did.
So tonight we’ll be working on Tier2 for real – and why are we even doing these older expansions? Well first of all they’re still all fairly new to me. I have done the DoN missions before but not the faction or the main quest arc that went along with it. Getting spells and aa and unique aa is a lot of fun, and hey, why not! The goal for tonight is the following bit of quest (taken from the walk through at Zam)
Tier 2: Tenacity of the Dark Reign
Speak with Officer Sirrikus Ryktor and receive three tasks:
“Army of Stone” — Loot five Animated Guardian Essences from Stillmoon Temple
“Blood from Sand” — Loot seven Impure Goblin Bloods from Stillmoon Temple
“Reap the Kirin Mind” — Loot three Pristine Kirin Brains from The Ascent
Head back to the Commander and speak with him to receive a flag. Now speak to Officer Vacax Rol`Tas, who gives you yet another mission:
“Drake Eggs” — In The Ascent, kill drakes until you are able to loot a Drake Egg. This will spawn a Goblin Guard at the zone-in. Kill him, and give the Drake Egg to Celrak Blightblood in the Lavastorm Mountains. Upon doing so, your task is completed and you receive 29-38 Ebon Crystals and a Dark Reign Token.
Speak with Captain Aleeth Zyrv to gain information on the Calling Emoush raid event.
“Calling Emoush” is a 24-player raid event in Tirranun’s Delve. A fairly straight forward event, you need to kill Emoush’s three guards and then take him out. Loot a Glowing Stone Fragment his corpse. Bring this to the Commander for a flag and:
-Two AAs
-Tenacity of the Dark Reign (250 hp/mana/end)
-Your 69th level spell/tome.
Class – Spell/Skill
Bard – Spell: Storm Blade
Beastlord – Spell: Growl of the Panther
Berserker – Tome of Destroyer’s Volley
Cleric – Spell: Blessed Touch (scribes as Ward of Retribution spell)
Druid – Spell: Earthen Embrace (scribes as Serpent Vines spell)
Enchanter – Spell: Rune of Rikkukin
Magician – Spell: Summon: Molten Orb
Monk – Tome of Dragon Fang
Necromancer – Spell: Shadow Orb
Paladin – Tome of Guard of Righteousness
Ranger – Spell: Earthen Shackles
Rogue – Tome of Assassin’s Feint
Shadowknight – Tome of Soul Shield
Shaman – Spell: Spirit of the Panther
Warrior – Tome of Cyclone Attack
Wizard – Spell: Claw of Vox
It should be a lot of fun, and needless to say I’ll try to read the quest information a little clearer next time so we don’t end up spending the evening grinding faction mindlessly for no reason at all. Sorry about that again guys!
I’ve been having a lot of fun playing EQ again. A few friends have been giving me some jeers about playing such an old game (happy 10th birthday almost!) but it really does give a sense of accomplishment when you take down an encounter or work on crafting or obtain a difficult flag. Since it was my very first ‘true’ MMO it holds that special place in my heart that no other game can come close to. That’s not to say that I won’t be playing other games (I’d like to get some Vanguard time in soon and I will be working on a 14-day project for work with regards to Final Fantasy XI) but for my leisure time for now, EQ is where I’m at.
See you in Norrath!