June 19, 2009

A New Way of Loot Distribution for EQ2

stargrace June 19, 2009 2Comments

When GU52 went live, a new method of loot drops also happened to make its way into a few instances in loping plains – drops from the final named in each of the instances. When I saw these linked on 70-79 I was drooling along with every other person out there.

No matter what day it is I always seem to hear about people clamouring for smart loot. How what they wanted never dropped. How they would love to have a selection of loot to choose from, so that at least SOMEONE would get something.

Now we have that choice (at least in three encounters).

These lock-boxes give players a choice of fabled items that were previously dropped from the named. I’m sure it’s still exceptionally rare, BUT it’s nice to beat an encounter, see a fabled chest drop – and NOT have to see the loot get transmuted or sold to a vendor.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the equipment grind we all have to do. I don’t mind when some random loot from some random zone doesn’t drop but I do dislike it a great deal when we work REALLY hard on an encounter (and in fact a zone) and nothing at all drops that anyone can use, and the one bit of fabled gear that did drop was already owned so we spent all that time for nothing. I realize that these grinds are just a part of the game, and if we didn’t have to wait forever for certain pieces of gear we’d all be utterly bored and have nothing to do – but I love this idea of giving us a choice of gear.

I’m hoping that this new method of loot distribution continues through future encounters, or maybe some form of smart loot gets implimented. I understand that without the grind we’re all left uber and with the feeling that we’ve ‘beaten’ the game, so it may be best to hold off until an expansion has been out for a few months, but it would also be exceptionally nice to have the option NOT to have something rot if and when it finally drops.

I don’t mind if I personally don’t get an upgrade, but I really want the items to be useful for someone at least. My turn will come. Some day.

Gaming

Order of Rime – Icemare (and other happenings)

stargrace June 19, 2009 0Comment

If you’ve been exploring the new ‘monument and might’ content at all (or if you’ve been listening to channels) you’ll have heard the excited voices crying out about the ‘new Order of Rime mount’ pictured above. Actually, there are two, one is a large creature like the ones you get from TSO via shards, and the other one is this beautiful icemare with ice particle spell effects. If you’ve heard about this mount you have probably also heard everyone curse and swear over the HUGE amounts of faction you need in order to obtain this mount. On Kithicor some people quested from 5pm until 2am (straight) in order to get this mount. No, it wasn’t me (I still have not experienced much of the new content, more about that soon). The mare is beautiful, and I’m looking forward to obtaining one – but – it’s also 40p and I have been having a difficult time making money lately. I’ve been purchasing spells for my characters (masters) which has been a lot of fun but also very expensive.

Emperor’s Athenaeum and The Crucible

Wpus, Ultann, Kasul and I (the guild of three plus one) headed to Jarsath Wastes last night to attempt the new instance we found there. It was said to be the difficulty of Crucible which we have done many times before – but – I think it is quite a bit harder. At least the golems we found throughout the zone certainly were harder. We managed to get the first four named down without too much problems once we had discovered the ‘tricks’ but when it came to the area where there is a crowd on either side (Drago I believe) the lag was beginning to cause huge issues for us. We didn’t realize until after we wiped a bunch of times and left the zone what the ‘trick’ to that encounter was (calming the crowd, anyone?) so we headed off to The Crucible for our final instance of the night. I did manage to get Arysh a neck upgrade from Athenaeum which was nice, but it would have been better had we finished the zone. There are just some things we can’t complete on the first try with only four of us.

Crucible was kind to us, and it dropped a very nice symbol that Arysh and Wpus rolled gainst each other for. Wpus of course had his loaded dice, and ended up winning – afterwards Wpus and Ultann headed to shard of fear and managed to get a bloodthirsty choker to drop which I was given for my troubador (thank you)! Now I just need to get one for the coercer, and I’ll be set. We have better luck in those zones if I don’t go along (plus I was VERY tired).

Bits and Pieces

Thanks to EQ2 traders, I know to be on the look out starting the 20th of every month for the ‘moonlight grotto’ events that will be making their way through EQ2. These are small mini events that reward players with some neat house items and a lot of fun. To read more about the event, please be sure to check out the article here. I’m excited about all the house items (as always) and I’m looking forward to these neat events. The aa experience increase has been VERY nice, despite some people saying that they don’t notice the difference, I think it’s amazing.

I had enough shards to get another T2 piece yesterday, and things are moving along nicely. The Fan Faire starts soon and I am exceptionally eager to hear all of the announcements that result from that. So many people I know are going, it’s going to be great that’s for sure. Maybe next year!

Have an amazing Friday, no matter where you find yourself. I’ll see you in Norrath! (and Telon, and I’ll probably be playing some Aion this weekend if anyone wants to meet up).

A New Way of Loot Distribution for EQ2

Order of Rime – Icemare (and other happenings)

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