April 2009

Friday Night Instances

stargrace April 11, 2009 0Comment

It’s a lot easier to get groups in EQ2 then it is to get groups in EQ. Sure, they happen but people pretty much stick to doing the hot zones and a few missions that are required for access. In EQ2 there are void shard groups constantly ongoing and even a few pick up raids if you’re so inclined. Although Kithicor has a very elitist view when it comes from doing instances and who is good enough to do them. The channels are filled with people trying to one up each other by linking their gear and teasing those who may not be as well geared as them. On that note, it’s rare that my little trio actually wants to join three other people because from appearances we don’t fit the mold of ‘cool’ people. My mystic doesn’t even have her epic, we’re not mastered out, and our gear is a mish mash of quested and void shard armor. Not bad by any means, but not ‘uber’ enough to roll with the big kids who are constantly going on about 6-10k parses and linking all of their fabled.

We started out last night with our daily Ahkzul run (again no shield) and it went a little rough. The bouncy room didn’t seem so friendly but on the plus side the giant void creatures didn’t hit us with any AoE and that was nice. One huge upside to playing my coercer as my main and then leaving the mystic as the background / laptop character. Coercers get lots of stuns (though I’m thinking of betraying her over to illusionist, more on that later). After we were done we figured why not try to snag three other people and go do Anathema for some shards.

Our group make up was not your typical group and I had a lot of doubts I’ll admit. It consisted of the trio (myself as 80 mystic, Ultann the 80 shadowknight, and Wpus the 80 conjuror) and then an 80 guardian (Ultann tanked so the guardian was dps), an 80 warlock, and an 80 brigand. No power regen (not needed with Wpus’ power procs) and no mezer (hopefully not needed). We did surprisingly well, we wiped once due to one of the ghost children spawning an add directly on top of me when we were already involved in a difficult encounter, and the rest went smooth. The three others died a few times from various agro issues (that’s why there’s a threat meter folks!) and AoE’s but we escaped unscathed and collected our two shards.

I managed to get the mystic her 3rd piece of T2 void shard armor, a nice pair of pants. This leaves her with 2 pieces of T1 and 3 pieces of T2, so she’s getting the set bonus from each. The effect on the pants is a nice overloaded heal (which also happens to be her 5 set bonus) so I was pleased with the upgrade.

Not ready to call it a night quite yet, we decided to go to Scion of Ice next except no matter how hard we looked we couldn’t find three others to round out the group. Apparently we’d managed to catch cooties on our last run. Wpus, our fearless leader, decided that we would attempt this zone un-mentored, with just the three of us.

I was sceptical but never one to back down from a challenge decided sure why not.

It was an intense run. I ended up bringing along the coercer for stuns and power regen and to mez one of the encounters that has two sphynx that you’ve got to defeat. We actually managed to clear the entire zone, including the named at the entrance just the three of us. I was impressed. I was beyond impressed. It was a lot of fun and although the zone seems to drop a million cloaks and nothing more I was really proud that we’d defeated it. It also gives us another instance that we can defeat for shards if we can’t fill out a group.

After that victory we decided to complete the shard quest for The Crucible, it was getting late and I knew we probably wouldn’t be able to beat that zone (at least not the final mob that requires people to click objects from the ground as you fight a named) but the void shard quest was to kill 15 creatures within, and the void shard chest is on the first floor so it was simple enough. Today we’re going to attempt the Lavastorm instances and then perhaps the ones in Commonlands just to see how far we can get in them. It’s great to feel so challenged and to get as far as we have in zones that can pose as cumbersome to people. Sure, I don’t see us trioing Veksar or Guk any time soon, but in the mean time this has been really rewarding and pleased that some times it’s NOT all about what gear you have and it really is about the player knowing their class.

Gaming

Nostalgia The Guild – Happy Anniversary

stargrace April 10, 2009 0Comment

We are a small group of friends who are doing the 1-80 progression one untwinked level at a time, seeing the old world as it was meant to be seen while seeing all the bits of the newer world we may have missed.

We group once a week on the Luclin server, Fridays at 7PM Eastern Time.

We are not currently recruiting, but we’re always interested in meeting new friends and if there is interest, we will make a third progression group.

Regardless of whether or not you want to play in one of the progression groups, if you just want to hang out with a bunch of friendly people and are fairly low level, we’d love to see you in guild chat, once we get the guild made.

Register and leave a message here if you’d like to join!

That was the welcoming message posted by one Tipa almost exactly a year ago on the Nostalgia web site. I was thinking back on everything that’s happened since that point in time. It was a turning point for me, I met a lot of people, made a lot of close friends. We’ve drifted over the course of the year but most of us wander back in one shape or form and leave comments on blogs, forums, emails, xfire, or twitter. We’ve changed games (some times a lot) but we all had something in common when we joined the guild and I think to some degree still do.

We’ve kept small. It’s an aspect I’ve really liked even though I (at times) wish we were more steady. Maybe that’s just not our play style as a group though, maybe we’re just not the sort to all settle down. I look at Casualties of War (which I’m also a member of) and envy their following at times. In day to day activities I’m not really one for crowds and this carries over into my gaming habits.

Nostalgia the Guild started out on EverQuest. It has since carried over to EverQuest II, and most recently Lord of the Rings Online. They are some of the best friends I could have ever asked for, and I am thankful I’ve gotten to know such an amazing bunch of people. Especially since they’ve (to date at least) put up with me and all of my ‘quirks’ (such a kinder word). What an amazing world we live in that we can experience such things. I feel lucky. I realize that there are other guilds, older guilds who have spanned across a greater time period, more games, and bigger trials and tribulations – feel free to give a shout out to them below if you’ve got a great story to tell or just want to share.

Gaming

Ding, 19!

stargrace April 10, 2009 5Comments

Tom just wasn’t all there. Wait, not that Tom. Oh, not that Tom either. There we go, that’s the one. As he sang his tunes and started dancing around I turned and looked at Kasul. We were supposed to follow him? Was that even safe? It didn’t seem like it would be. Of course, good ‘ol Tom ended up leaving Kasul and I standing outside of a big deep cave with lots of creatures inside so maybe we should have followed him after all.

I was so close to hitting level 20 without a death. So close I could taste it. Then book one, volume one, chapter 11 came along. I died. I died a lot. I died from heal agro most of the time and when we went back to Bree broken and torn, my repair bill was 75 silver and I’ve never seen it that high before. I can’t even remember the number of times I died, but it seemed like I was always trying to make my way back to Kasul. Once we decided that there really was no way that we could complete the instance without a group or at least a few more people, we headed back to Bree to see what our options were.

We managed to gain almost two levels in the time we played. I am a little shy of half way to 20. I gathered together more supplies to craft with (story of my life) and contemplated switching to a cook because the food is quite handy, as opposed to a tailor where most of my gear seems to come from quests or drops and it’s far better then the items I can actually make myself. I’ll think about that more when I’m back in game again.

I’ve mentioned before how alive the world feels to me, and I’ll stress it again. As we were running through the woods it was dark, the music was scary and I FELT as though I was in the woods. As we fought our way through The Barrows and I looked across the rolling mountains with ruins scattered every which way, it just felt so atmospheric. Of course, there is also a lot of walking in the game which means I spend a lot of time trying to get from point A to point C (because point B would be silly!) and things are starting to get REALLY expensive (skills and what not) but I’m still having a great time. Were it not for the few items I’ve sold on the market I wouldn’t have even been able to afford my repair bills yesterday let alone my newest skills.

I’m looking forward to hitting 20 and finally getting some appearance slots although my hopes of ever owning a home are quickly diminishing, I have no idea how anyone manages to afford anything, especially since the home I wanted is over 900 gold and I learned that there is a thousand silver to every gold. The most money I’ve had on me has been 400 silver. This could take a while.

Gaming

Me Tog!

stargrace April 9, 2009 2Comments

(A random role player started talking to me in Darklight wood after I’d created a character there specifically to delve into a story of some sort. I have no idea who they were, but I just wanted to say thank you for reminding me why I love these games, and why I play. Whoever “Metog” is – again my thanks if you ever read this, hope they don’t mind me using quotes of our conversation).

How she came to be in Darklight woods standing in an outpost of some sort was a story for another time. All that mattered was the ‘now’ of the moment. She was teamed up with an Arasai who she had known for quite a few years and though the two looked like a highly unlikely pair, they worked well together.

As she spoke with the various commanders, her attention was drawn to an Ogre who was hopping about on one foot. He displayed none of the typical fear (or something that vaguely resembled hunger) when he looked at her and her winged friend, but sat himself down on the ground, smiling and drooling slightly.

“Heddo liddle people,” He said, a grin crossing his face. The Teir’Dal and the Arasai looked to one another some what bemused as they introduced themselves in turn.

“Gud name. Me am Tog. T O G.” He said, drooling even more.

The Teir’Dal only half listened as a Commander rushed up to her to give her more orders, her shoulders sagged slightly. She waved a hand impatiently at the Ogre who was rambling away.

“You dog? Well you don’t look much like a dog but if that’s your name then so be it.”

“No dog, Me Tog. Tog eat dog though, yum.”

She tried to pay the ogre the attention he deserved (could it even be said that he deserved attention?) much like one would with an unruly child. She warned him about stepping on the smaller folks who were gathered around as he clamored to his feet.

“Tog on step if Tog told to step. Blue people tell Tog an Tog do.” She found this intreguing. He was taking orders from someone, obviously. There must be a reward of some sort as well, so she tried to figure out what that was. Perhaps this was some mastermind test set up by her family, a trap for her to get her back home. “Den dey give Tog nice tings.”

Or maybe not. Maybe it was just greed.

“Food an sharp tings to smash stuff wit.”

Or survival. Either way, the Teir’Dal couldn’t be bothered with finding out more at the moment. She had things to do, and as always the night refused to stand still to grant her enough time to finish her tasks. She rambled off some excuse to be on her way, and motioned that the Arasai should follow. Medog Metog frowned a little, and moved out of the way of the pair. “Tog like to smash.”

Throughout the rest of the evening, the dark elf heard Metog’s voice muttering about one thing or another

“Scuse me. Blue people need ta make big doors.” he said once as he tried to bypass the elf entering a building. She sniffed in distaste but said nothing and gave him a brisk nod. For such a large creature he sure got around. There were other, more pressing matters to attend to that night but for some reason the image of the Ogre crouching through doorways and trying to catch fish with his bare hands wouldn’t leave her for the rest of the night and she walked around with a smirk on her face for no reason in particular.

Gaming

Still No Shield, but lots of Fun!

stargrace April 8, 2009 5Comments

Arysh (the coercer pictured above) is getting close to level 80 (finally) and she only has 70aa. This is what happens when you don’t do a single quest with a character (I think she has a grand total of maybe 20 completed) and only get discoveries when you tag along as a boxed character. Now that she’s getting up there, I’ll be switching my play style around some. I’ve had the coercer on the laptop dragging her around while I play the mystic in group – I’d like the coercer to have a better role and so I’m going to start putting the mystic on the laptop for healing / buff purposes and playing the coercer. Now, why on earth would I want to just drag my coercer around for 79 levels and not quest her? Pretty simple, I already have an 80 coercer + an 80 illusionist with epics. I’ve done this before, and doing the whole questing bit just simply wasn’t interesting to me at the time. It does mean I’ll pay for it now, but I don’t really mind that, either. It’s nice to switch things up a little.

The trio headed back to Obelisk in Moors. We had a fairly clean run aside from my laptop disconnecting randomly at the beginning. Reset the wireless router and I was good to go. The healer shield refused to drop (again) and the shadowknight / paladin one was what we got (again). It was still a fun run, and each time we do the zone it gets quicker. There was still a little time to waste afterwards so we headed to Vault of Eternal Sleep in the hopes that luck would stay steady and perhaps we’d get another praetor’s guard for the coercer this time.

Has anyone else noticed a decline in master drop rate? We’ve been doing instances pretty much every day and have yet to see a metal chest aside from the one that dropped the praetor’s guard yesterday. Not a single master spell at all has dropped from any named. Slightly discouraging, but understandable I suppose. I’m wondering if this is intentional, perhaps in preparation of implementing research npc’s that’s been talked about on the forums.

Channels on Kithicor seemed especially rude last night, I tend to phase most of it out but it’s been difficult. I’ve been spoiled by the EQ channels which are far more calm and relaxed. In EQ2 channels are flooded with people selling no trade fabled items to others who may not be able to complete the zones. In EQ this simply doesn’t happen, items that are left to ‘rot’ are announced as ‘free for all’ and whoever gets there first is able to loot it. In fact while I was playing EQ if anyone attempted to sell ‘rotting’ loot they were instantly set upon by the remaining members of the community berating them for trying to sell a piece of no-trade loot. Ah, how things have changed.

After Vaults I decided to call it a night, as I have a Wizard 101 article I need to complete today for Beckett and would no doubt be up early. I spent a good portion of the early evening playing W101 and had a blast, got my wizard Angela to level 17 and worked my way through the early portions of Krokotopia. I used to have a subscription to the game but I really wasn’t playing nearly enough to warrant the $10/m (which is a GREAT plan by the way if you’re actually constantly playing) so I decided to buy some crowns to permanently unlock zones for my account. If you don’t have a lot of time to play this is a perfect payment plan and I’m so happy to find an alternative means for the subscription. I’m not leveling up through content especially fast, and it basically reduces my $10/m down to $5/m based on my play times.

Hope everyone else had a fantastic evening, and are looking forward to the long Easter weekend!

Friday Night Instances

Nostalgia The Guild – Happy Anniversary

Ding, 19!

Me Tog!

Still No Shield, but lots of Fun!

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