June 2009

Progress

stargrace June 24, 2009 0Comment

Yesterday was one of those rare days when the members of three plus one are all around – and it was great. I spent the morning creating a new necromancer for no other reason then the fact that I could. Her name is Stargrace on the kithicor server, go figure. I used my paladin to power level her until the down time, and managed to reach level 20 hanging out in Fallen Gate.

In the afternoon the four of us decided it was about time we started working on our TSO chapter quests again, and so we finished off chapter 4 which required going into Obelisk of Lost Souls (the level 40 zone) a few times and then headed back to the Moors to pick up chapter 5. This one requires you to head into a number of TSO instances for updates. We meandered our way through Obelisk of Ahkzul (no, the shield did not drop, is it even real or just a myth?) just for fun and then decided we would head to Veksar, since it was the daily double (MoTD if you’re from Kithicor).

We had a few issues with the zone, but nothing extreme. Not a single upgrade dropped, I was hoping the healer charm would show up at the end.

I happened to spot my level 74 coercer charm M1 for sale for 50p on the broker, and Ultann purchased it for me (I’m broke, dang alts) which is fantastic. I have purchased both him and Wpus masters before, it’s just one of the pleasures of gaming with friends. The master charm is not any different then the level 64 version I was using aside from the amount that the mob regens, and the duration of the charm. I’m exceptionally happy to have it though – the spell researcher is currently working on enraging demeanor for me, so 50p was a huge bargain.

These researchers are also why the spell was so cheap to begin with, I had seen the spell sitting for sale for a few weeks now at 100p with no bites. For 100p I’d rather just wait the 30 days. 50p is pretty affordable for such a fantastic spell (my bread and butter while soloing and exploring a few specific zones).

The Norrathian Museum also added a few more books to its collection, which really made me happy. Taymar created a character on Kithicor to pen me a novel as well as the banker of one of Kithicor’s raid guilds, I had to giggle. I have 13 unique player written books in the collection and I expect it to grow.

Aside from that it was a quiet night. In the evening Ultann and Kasul offered to help level up my baby fury, an arasai that I’ve taken a shining to. We started out at level 23 and in Fallen Gate, before too long I was level 38 and in Runnyeye before I had to call it a night and get some sleep. I love alts, nothing new there. The baby fury has only a handful of aa and she’s wearing practically no gear but it’s still fun. I’ve got an unused 75 fury on my recruit a friend account, but I don’t expect to do anything with that third account now that the month if game time I paid for is up.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Wednesday, and that everyone going to Fan Faire has an incredible time. Hopefully next year I’ll be there too!

Gaming

Work work work

stargrace June 23, 2009 5Comments

Yesterday was quiet – not a bad thing. I happily worked on the museum, adding tables to the library as well as chairs and some lighting. I always have issues getting the lighting right, it’s hard to figure out which house items will give what particular light I want. I added a few more books as well, and mailed off some blank ones to players. So far trying to get people to write for me has been like prying teeth but I expected no less on a non-rp server, and I enjoy the challenge. This way my library is also truely unique, I have one of a kind books that are not published anywhere.

Ultann and Wpus headed off to Pawbuster, but since the cat (as precious as she thinks she is) keeps waking me up at 5am every morning, I have been going to bed fairly early, unable to keep my eyes open any more. Honestly, does anyone have a suggestion on how to train a cat NOT to wake someone up? She will (and I kid you not) do anything within her power to wake me, including (but not limited to) screaming, biting, ripping apart books (my room is a disaster in the morning, I’ve had to give her specific books to chew so that she leaves my important ones alone), vaulting from the nightstand onto me (this is so very painful), she will walk up my body and stuff her nose in my eye and I can wake up to the sound of her heavy breathing, and numerous other acts of cat-ness. 5am is too dang early to be up and I’m one of those ‘once I’m up I’m up’ people, after she’s had her fill of attention for an hour she runs off to sleep. Of course, I’m up by then.

Kasul spent the evening questing, and I nodded off at the keyboard so I decided to get some sleep.

Fan Faire starts really soon, so everyone has been preoccupied with getting that off the ground and I’m excited to see what happens this year. I wish I were going, but there’s always next year. Of course as I’ve mentioned before I’ll be following via twitter and every other device I possibly can, I hope everyone has an exceptional time (I’m sure I don’t even need to say that, it’s just a given).

I believe today the guild of three plus one are all home, so maybe we’ll get a chance to do some instances, summer months are a little more difficult to arrange for that sort of thing. Safe travels, and I hope everyone has an amazing Tuesday!

Gaming

The Power of Words

stargrace June 22, 2009 2Comments

This player written book was donated to my library this morning. It was one of the most beautiful books I’ve read, and even though it’s not EQ2 related specifically (the story that is) I wanted to share it and remind everyone about the power of words, and just one more reason why I think these player written books are so wonderful, little tokens of memories spread throughout Norrath.

Thank you for allowing me to own this copy and to share it with others who visit the library (which you can find on the Kithicor server, in the North Freeport mage tower, bottom floor under the name of Ellithia).

Gaming

Aion Beta Weekend – Round II

stargrace June 22, 2009 3Comments

There’s no way my little screen shots do this game justice, and I realize it’s been said numerous times now but let me state it again – this game is so pretty. There are little nooks and crannies everywhere, and while I realize that how a game look does not mean it’s going to be amazing, it is certainly nice to have something that appeals to me on a very basic visual level.

As if the graphics were not enough there is also the music. The music in Aion is compelling and draws the player into the game. I realize that EQ2 has combat music, but it is nothing like the combat music of Aion. It’s breathtaking, and every time I fight something I want to be on the edge of my seat making sure I don’t miss anything. That doesn’t mean it’s for everyone, but I certainly had a blast. Now if my character would just duck out of her combat pose a little faster.

It was not quite as crowded as I would have thought, and this time around there was a choice of two servers. I created a mage instead of a priest, and felt as involved in the process of character selection as I did the first time. Again, the quests are nothing new and if you’re looking for an innovative game you’re not going to find it in Aion but it does offer polish. Lots, and lots of polish. The world looks beautiful, you can customize the bits you need. Again I’ve said this before but it’s taken the aspect of MMO’s I really dislike (lack of jumping, point and click) and given players options or removing them all together.

While learning about my heritage in game and talking to an old woman I decided to take a break and try to regain some mana. My character promptly pulled a magical carpet out of her bags, levitated it a few feet above the ground, and took a seat. No more sitting on the cold ground looking as though I must have some sort of stick shoved in an uncomfortable location (I’m talking about you, Vanguard).

Since I’m sure there are a large number of sites who will be covering the beta weekend I’m not going to go into much detail about the quests, the combat, and the specifics of the game. I’ve been reading the stories and they’re interesting and make me laugh. I can’t pre-order it here in Canada (that I’ve found at least) so I’m going to continue to follow along the beta weekends and see how it goes, I hope everyone else who has been playing has found it just as enjoyable!

Gaming

A Request for Books, and other Ramblings

stargrace June 22, 2009 0Comment

It’s begun. I put out a plea on both Kithicor and the Norrathian Homeshow forum looking for writers to help fill up my library. I’ve also been advertising it in channels though I’m not sure how well that has gone. I attempt to purchase what I can from the broker, but the written books are few and far between making this difficult. Plus I don’t have unlimited funds, so if it’s over 50g chances are I’m not going to buy that particular book (especially if the inside is blank). When all is said and done I hope to have one impressive library. We’ll see.

Yesterday was one of those nice relaxing lazy days. I had intended on working the grotto quests a little more with alts – but that didn’t happen. I suppose it’s not such a big deal, I had done the quests three times each with various characters, but the house items are simply amazing and I of course always want more. I barely used any in the museum home, I figured I can save it for my other houses (yes, of course there are always others).

The guild of three plus one attempted Crucible last night, but I was starting to feel very ill, so I had to leave once we’d completed the shard quest (which was an easy 15 kill). There was nothing I could do about that except to offer up my apologies. I felt really bad. I did manage to duo Obelisk of Ahkzul with Ultann in an attempt at getting the healer shield to drop but of course after farming it for months and months, we saw the sword that drops regularly.

We only had two deaths and they were foolish ones so I was very happy. Ellithia fell through the floor on the way to the center of the bouncy room, and Arysh died once due to some unwanted aggro. For only two of us in the zone (three if you count the fact that I boxed) it went very smooth and I was happy to get my shard at the end. I tried to search the vendors for a shield but alas the void merchants only hold two for priests, and neither of them have heal crit. Figures.

Today I hope to continue to work on the library, I’d like to get the 2nd portion of the home completely finished, so that all I have left to work on is the bottom portion, which is a living space and not that important to complete. I’m really happy that so far the entire museum has only taken 300/600 items, and I don’t lag in it at all, something I was worried about. Of course I’d love to add more L&L pieces as well as heritage quests, we’ll see how that goes. I’m also wishing we could give our homes names, instead of Ellithia’s Estate, it would be neat to be able to name my home ‘1st Regional Museum of Norrath’ or some such. Foolish dreams I know, but I still think it’s neat.

Aside from all that – (don’t act so surprised) decided to create another character, a baby fury. I do have my 80 warden on Najena, but I was getting the urge and so my arasai was born, level 23 and counting. I spent far too much coin gearing her up, Kithicor is insanely priced.

On the plus side it’s also heavily populated, there are raids going all of the time (Sunday night is Mythical Night, where about 50 people obtained their mythicals) and there are always WoE raids going and other adventures. I still haven’t gotten my mythical on anyone yet, though I’d like to try. We’ll see how it goes.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Father’s Day, and a great Sunday in general. No doubt this week will bring around some amazing adventures, and I’m looking forward to hearing about them all.

Progress

Work work work

The Power of Words

Aion Beta Weekend – Round II

A Request for Books, and other Ramblings

You Missed

Personal EVE Economic Update (October)

Expensive Month (preparing for fun)

Locked Out (again)

What’s Going on?