July 2009

Tinkerfest and Parties

stargrace July 27, 2009 2 Comments

This weekend was the start of Tinkerfest (and also the SOE Block Party) and other random bits of goodness that remind us that these are summer months meant for fun. Tinkerfest is a holiday that involves gnomes, and of course, tinkering. It is a holiday that came off as being no more then a marketing ploy by the gnomes, with very few quests (and none of them exceptionally difficult) and a merchant who would offer to sell you items in return for cogs that were spread throughout three zones.

While these cogs respawn on a fairly frequent basis, trying to hunt them down in a mass of 40+ people in a very small area was annoying and not much fun at all. I can’t remember the number of times I had my toes stepped on by greedy cog-hunters so in the end I decided to purchase my cogs off of the broker and have Kasul create house items with them for me. There is also a shiny collection quest, and since the pieces re-spawn so fast they are going for dirt cheap. I didn’t want to even try to fight off the harvesters for those purple shiny bits, so I also purchased those.

I did the one repeatable quest that rewards you with a nifty tinkered mug – and then left the party, having more then enough of my fill for one holiday. While the house items are VERY neat, and it’s always great to add to the over all quest count, it was so crowded in Steamfont, Baubleshire, and Temple street that it made the event not much fun.

If you haven’t checked out the party yet you have until August 3rd, maybe by then it will have calmed down some. Antonia Bayle was an absolute mad house, another server I checked was a little calmer until later on in the day. I appreciate the work that goes into making holidays like these, but there just wasn’t enough substance to want me to deal with the crowds. Much like real life holidays I suppose.

Kasul and Wpus finished off their flowing black robe heritage quests yesterday night which was great. The guild is inching through level 37 (not bad since we were level 30 when we transferred over) and we’re well on our way to 40 – new amenity and new bank slots will be a welcome change. We need some writ givers and a fuel merchant something fierce. It will be nice to be able to do writs within the hall and take advantage of the depot box we have.

I finally got into the new Kurns Tower in Fens of Nathsar with my illusionist yesterday. I was a little worried because when I went on the tour of the zone with Kiara it hurt us pretty fierce, even though I had an amazing time. Yesterday I had nothing to worry about though and we made short work of the zone – two void shards being our reward (which is great because I didn’t think we’d get any shards for our work). I believe I managed to get one semi-upgrade and on a related note my illusionist is no longer wearing RoK treasured gear which is a big bonus for me. I haven’t worked on the character in a very long time and she was well behind in gear, something I’ve been trying to rectify.

Aside from that it was a quiet weekend, I managed to gain a few levels on my baby sage (remember I deleted that level 80 sage I had) and before too long I should be able to make my own player made books, which would be fantastic. Sitting at level 26 the sage still has a ways to go before she hits 50, but it’s a start.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Monday, and had a great weekend no matter what world you found yourself in! Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath!

Saturday BoTD (Book of the Day – a day early)

stargrace July 24, 2009 No Comments

(( Please remember that these are NOT my books, they are player-written books found on the Antonia Bayle server, specifically owned by my mystic Ellithia in her Norrathian Library. The works within the books may not be all creative masterpieces, and you may find them elsewhere in the net, please don’t betrate me for posting them here if it turns out that they are not original pieces of work. If you’d like to visit the library, feel free to head to the North Freeport Mage tower, bottom floor, the house is under the name of Ellithia in the magical housing complex ))

Gorowyn – A Horrible Place to Live – By Dawid

Dangerously free-thinking Free Citizens have sometimes contemplated what life might be like outside the walls that protect Freeport. This article is the second part of a series titled: ‘Foreign city, a horrible place to live’. Readers be warned! Do not read this edition while eating or drinking, for this tale of Gorowyn will surely spoil your appetite.

It is surely a challenge to build a capital city where the geography is virtually guaranteed to wipe out the very heart of your Empire, but the founders of Gorowyn have stepped up to the challenge. Gorowyn lies in the heart of a volcanic archipelago in the ocean of Timorous Deep, making it the most foolish place in all of Norrath to build a capital city. Free Citizens wanting to visit Gorowyn must take care not to be engulfed in a fiery sea of magma, boiling up from the earth like angry words of wisdom might boil up from the throat of our mighty Overlord.

Building a city in the inside of a volcano also brings more immediate disadvantages. Poisons waft from the sulphurous waters below, rendering the inhabitants of Gorowyn sterile. The indigenous Sarnak people have adapted to this condition by growing “children” in giant eggholders, but non-sarnak races do not have such a recourse. Breathing in the air of Gorowyn for any amount of time may result in sterility, loss of sexual appetite, anti-Lucanic thoughts and suicide. Because of the lack of natural sunlight in the city, it’s inhabitants are generally pale, slow-witted and decrepit.

Gorowyn has the highest suicide rate of all the Norrathian cities. This isn’t just due to the poisonous fumes wafting from the waters. The design of the city plays a major role as well. Platforms have been arranged along the rim of the volcano, spreading out goods and services in a highly irregular goods and services in a highly irregular manner. A system of horizontal and vertical lifts “help” the visitor to cross onto the different platforms, though these moving platforms are highly irregular and do not appear to have fixed points of departure and arrival. There are no signs to help the visitor, and the guards are unhelpful. After hours of aimless wandering around identical platforms, the unprotected depths of the volcano beckon like the embrace of an old friend.

Housing in Gorowyn is similarly impractical. The ceilings are impossibly high, so they can only be decorated with great effort and at great expense. A light hung from a Gorowyn ceiling will only be a pale reflection upon the ground below – like a distant star fixed under a Free Lucanic sky. The stairways are adapted to the needs of the oversized indigenous people, making them veritable mountains for the outsider. Last year, three Free Citizens broke their necks and died while attempting to descend a Gorowyn staircase. Five were permanently crippled.

The vast majority of the population of Gorowyn is made up of “Sarnak”, a disgusting halfbreed race of lizard-men with an impractical anatomy. The sarnak have tiny arms and hands, making it impossible for them to perform well in any but the most simple aspects of manual labour. They uriniate from only one hole, making them breeding pools for infectious diseases. They sit as a fae might, with overbearing spines that make it impossible for them to stand up straight like disciplined Free Citizen.

To compensate for these obvious failings, the sarnak recruit outsiders to work for them like slaves. Free Citizens who choose to migrate to Gorowyn are put to work in to migrate to Gorowyn are put to work in sweatshops where, among other tasks, they must use their muscled arms to produce food and furniture for their new Sarnak Overlords. Another unpleasant task left to outsiders is separating the urine from the faeces in Sarnak urinals.

Although nominally loyal to Freeport, the city of Gorowyn tolerates the presence of Qeynosians and Kelethinians. You may find Qeynosian assasins and foul agents of the usurper bug-queen “Amree” preying on you while you are inside the city limits. These outsiders may attempt to strike up conversation with you, but do not fall into this trap! Their “friendly” attitudes are but a ploy to lure you to their secret torture chambers, buried deep in the mountain halls of the volcano.
In conclusion, Gorowyn is the ideal home for sulky misfit experiments gone bad. If you are a failed scientific experiment and/or looking for a place to commit suicide, talk to the Gorowyn ambassador in the militia halls of West Freeport. All other Free Citizens are advised to stay clear of this mountainous death-trap.