April 16, 2009

Station Marketplace to get new HOUSE items!

So far I’ve managed to stave off the lure of the station marketplace. There’s only a few items I glance at here and there and really wouldn’t mind owning. I was thinking of buying $20 worth just so I had a little coin – the cowboy hat comes to mind for my hair-less characters (since it looks great with fur but makes you bald other wise). 

Then they rolled out the house item on the right hand side – and what’s more it comes in an 8 piece SET. Which looks absolutely amazing. You can check out the pieces over on SOE’s web site. Now, if ever there was something that would draw me to purchase station cash, house items are the way to go. 

I’m torn! On one side I really want the house items, because – they’re house items! I love decorating! They look amazing! On the other hand I REALLY wish they were QUESTED items and not something that people can only own if they fork out a bunch of cash. I can see this becoming a VERY expensive hobby to get all of the items that may come out in the marketplace. Which of course is the point, and I understand that but dang. I dislike how all of the ‘best’ fluff items are now things we have to purchase and the items are not something that people can obtain through any other means. I get that it’s not essential to the game, but I still feel like there’s a lot of ‘double dipping’ going on having both a $15/m subscription and all of these items in the marketplace.

Betrayal, Instances, and Alts!

Yesterday was busy in EQ2, that satisfied busy you get when you’ve got so much to get done and your friends are right there helping you finish it all. Well, that’s what it felt like in any case. To start it off I betrayed my coercer to illusionist on Kithicor. I know, I already HAVE an 80 illusionist AND coercer on Najena. I’m obviously demented. My illusionist’ personal dps has gone down slightly (especially if you count the lack of charm) the group dps is way up with the new buffs. We’ll manage. It didn’t take long to betray and the illusionist is all settled into her new home in Qeynos, moved into a nice North Qeynos home that I’ll decorate some day I promise. 

Ultann picked up a recruit a friend account for himself in order to level up an inquisitor on his laptop as we play. A backup healer is great plus they have some pretty nice buffs we can make use of. Since he has been leveling up this character (approx 36 levels in two days if that) I decided it would be a great time for me to level up my paladin at the same time. It gives him a break from playing the tank if he wants, and I (yes) already have a 71 paladin on Najena. What on earth am I going to do with all of these character doubles if servers ever do merge or I do get my wish of some free character transfers. Well, not sure. 

Before we got going on the alts we decided to give instances another shot to see if anything useful would drop. Vault of Eternal Sleep refused to give up the praetor’s guard that we’re attempting to get for the illusionist. Obelisk of Ahkzul refused to give up the healer shield that I’ve spoken about pretty much every day for the last year it seems, and Najena’s Hollow Tower refused to drop the cloak Wpus is after that comes from the water boss. Our look struck as true as ever. If these things DID happen to drop I have no idea what we would do any more since it’s been our routine for quite some time. We make jokes about it, and try to guess exactly what is going to drop. 

So now the paladin is sitting at level 31, after being level 18 yesterday. We headed to Fallen Gate and lay waste to everything that stood (and a few that didn’t). Sure, she’s got no gear and is sporting app1’s (and getting adept3’s at level 80 is going to be not so fun) but part of the battle is done.

On an interesting note – the 10% bonus experience that recruit a friend people get from the mount – is group wide. So my paladin was receiving the 10% bonus from Ultann’s mount, since he was riding it. She was also gaining 50% bonus due to being on my main account with other 80’s and 55% bonus from a potion – and double experience from vitality which I managed to replenish with the orb of concentrated memories that players received with the 5 year veteran reward. 

Not bad. 

Tonight will probably be an evening of ‘more of the same’ but we’ll just have to see!

Just Leveling Along

I’ve been leveling up a rune-caster on Landroval in order to catch up to the Nostalgians who have characters that are moving over (some time soon we hope). I didn’t want to pay to move a level 19 character when I’ve only devoted 24 hours to the class and figured it would be easier to just start over. I switched from a minstrel to the new class and then noticed ‘gee, there are a LOT of rune-keepers around!’ but I’m not going to let that bother me. In the past, it would have. I’ve never really grasped the idea of ‘playing what you like’ as opposed to ‘playing what is needed’ because I’ve constantly tied the two together. What I liked was something that was needed. As I continue to game though I’ve found it more and more important to play what I like because lets face it, things change and if you’re not at least happy with what you’re playing, well. What’s the point. It used to be a much bigger deal because I enjoy almost all classes – but I’m learning to narrow it down.

healer – support – ranged dps  – tank – melee dps 

That’s what I like to play, in the order that I like to play it. No big deal, nothing earth shattering. Anyhow – yesterday the rune-keeper climbed to level 14, almost 15. I’ve had a few deaths but nothing too difficult thus far. I have to keep reminding myself that last time I was doing this content I actually had a tank helping me out which made things far easier. It’s some times difficult to solo when I have to attune myself to either dps or heals. I’ve been getting by so far by placing a healing rune on the ground, and one of my two HoT’s on myself before combat begins (when ever possible) and then switching over to the dps which blocks out the rune from being cast as well as one of my HoT’s. I can take on three at once if they’re dark blue, but anything more and it starts to get messy. I typically get interrupted as I try to cast my DoT’s or my mez. It’s a work in progress what can I say. 

I’ve picked up crafting but so far have been doing very little of it, concentrating on catching up in levels instead. I also managed to snag myself an invite to CoW yesterday since Sarzan was home during the day (which happens to be when I’m around most as it were). Hopefully the rest of Nostaliga moves soon and we’ll be back to our regular leveling schedule before too long!