July 2009

Character Transfer Potions are a Go

stargrace July 15, 2009 12 Comments

Yesterday the LONG awaited character transfer tokens were implemented in game, and I can only imagine how much money SOE will be making off of those. The automatic transfer that we used to be able to do from the web site has been down since last September, they attempted to move it to a petitioned system which didn’t work out and for the past few months the only way you could transfer a character was to call San Diego during business hours and request a transfer. The price at the time was also $50 which was dropped down to $25, a VERY smart move in my opinion. Especially given how much people like to play with their friends (at least the people I know do).

Myself, I’ll be moving to Antonia Bayle along with Kasul, Wpus, and Ultann all from Kithicor. We’ve made no secret of the fact that Kithicor is a particularly horrid server with very low tolerance for anything that’s not up to standards. It makes finding groups and meeting people hard, and none of us enjoy it very much. We’ve kept to ourselves for the most part, and we’re (as far as I know) all looking forward to the change.

Tipa also moved to Antonia Bayle, where Malfi, Cuppy, and Calreth already are. I have actually played on AB before a few years ago and enjoyed the server, but moved to Najena to be with friends (who eventually moved some place else). I’m hoping this will be the last time I transfer characters anywhere, but I’m not holding my breath, stuff happens.

To start off I’ll be moving my 80 mystic and 80 coercer. I’ll be waiting until Monday as Sunday is the day Ultann will be getting his mythical updates (paid) and I wouldn’t want him have to give that up.

In the mean time we’ve got to pack up the halls on both Najena and Kithicor, and make sure everyone is well situated before the moves. Hopefully it goes nice and smooth, I’m not expecting too much trouble. The potions are VERY easy to use, and tell you of any errors you may experience along the way.

The ONE bug I heard about yesterday involves player housing. If you transfer servers and a name change is required, there was a bug yesterday that prevented the items from within your house from moving with you, because the ownership names did not change along with the character name. This meant if you moved from server A to server B and changed names the house items were still under character A and did NOT move even though the house was now owned under character name B. Very frustrating and I hope there is a solution to that in the works, I’d hate to think of how many players lost the items from their homes yesterday.

Wednesday! I hope it’s a fantastic one and everyone is happy. No doubt I’ll be seeing you all in Norrath! If you’re on Antonia Bayle I look forward to meeting some new friends next week, and reuniting with old ones.

Gaming

Trivial Matters

stargrace July 14, 2009 No Comments

One of the things I have been struggling with (a little) is the fact that I know in February the level cap will be going up by 10 – thus making all of the gear I work for now pretty much obsolete. Coupled with the fact that (if it goes through at least) gear will become “grey” to the person wearing it if they out level it, thus reducing its effectiveness. That means at level 90 I’m not going to be wearing a single piece of gear from TSO (unless it was upgraded of course) because it will be ‘grey’ to my character and weaker then a piece of gear that is level 81+

With that being said, spells will also be upgraded making the spells I have now pretty much useless though you could argue the fact that you’ll want the best of the best in the mean time in order to blast through the content of the new expansion. The problem is – the new expansion is still 7 months away. This is a horribly early time to start thinking about how before too long everything will be trivial.

Then there’s also the fact that I am eagerly awaiting server transfers to come down in price so that I can get settled in a new (but old since I’ve been there before) server. I’m not moving the same characters that I’m currently playing on Kithicor (aside from the mystic) and that makes whatever I do on my current coercer and dirge / troub a little meaningless to me – since I’ll be playing someone else. I realize that probably only makes sense to myself, but that’s where things are standing right now.

Yesterday! The guild got together (minus one Kasul who was still at work) and managed to inch our way back to Obelisk of Ahkzul which was the mission of the day (or the daily double for those of you not familiar with Kithicor’s way of terming it). This is the quest given to you in the Moors that rewards 2 void shards and a plat. The zone is simple, and we cleared it without too much trouble. We did lose Ultann on the ‘bounce’ room because he fell through the world, but Burny (Wpus’ mage pet) tanked just fine while we pinged off the magical orbs.

No, the shield didn’t drop. I am fairly sure that thing is a myth, we’ve seen every single other drop numerous times now and no shield. My mystic is getting mighty tired of the RoK one she’s wearing (it’s a really bad shield) but even the void crafted ones offer very little to healers. They have no heal crit on them, low power (only 100) and no other admerable traits aside from their spiffy graphics that would convince me to want one.

The 20th of the month is coming around quickly again and that means the grotto events will be back in Norrath! I’m looking forward to adding some more house items to my collection and getting the aa’s on characters who have not done it yet. I’ve put a few for sale on Kithicor and they’ve been going for 5-10p per piece, which is just neat (and weird). It’s nice to be able to make a little coin.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Tuesday, and I’ll see you in Norrath!

Gaming

Still So Much To See

stargrace July 13, 2009 3 Comments

One of the reasons I have kept my love affair with EverQuest II for so long is the simple fact that there is SO much to see and do – even after all of this time. When I play other MMOs I mention from time to time that I get bored because I don’t want to always pvp, I don’t want to always craft, I don’t want to always group, or always solo. What I want is to be able to do whatever I feel like doing at that exact moment, and move from there. EQ2 is one of the few games that allows me to do this on a daily basis.

There are days when I want to go quest-crazy, and complete as many quests as I can, and there are a LOT of quests in EQ2. In fact looking at the EQ2 Questlist there are 6184 quests total recorded. Some of those are of course class specific quests, and ones that were removed from game or were only around for a limited time, but they still count. If you’re a fan of shiny collections (and lets face it, who isn’t?!) there are 421 shiny collections in game. I have barely completed 200 on any one of my characters. That’s a lot of shinies to work towards! Then of course there are days I would rather not go near quests at all, typically after one of my binges, hehe.

While no game has involved crafting into the actual game play as much as I would have personally liked, EQ2 comes the closest by adding crafter orientated quests to the game that players can complete without too much difficulty no matter their adventure level. It’s not perfect by any means but it sure comes close. If I feel like grinding out a few crafting levels while watching a movie it’s a perfectly viable option.

There is a fair selection of group and solo content – and if I run out of solo content I can always go back and do the group content that I may have out leveled (thus making it easier for me) and I’ll still get achievement points for doing so. I’m really looking forward to the update that will allow players to mentor to a specific level and thus complete content as level appropriate without having to always have a lowbie in group. It will be nice to complete old raids, be able to farm masters that may not get upgrades (enraging demeanor anyone?) and just pretend to be a lower level for once.

In fact how many times have you started playing a game your friends were on only to have to play alone while they play their mains – or have to constantly play ‘catch up’ before you could actually play together. I think the mentor system that EQ2 has is something that a lot of people over look. The ability to play with your friends no matter what level they may be is something that I really cherish. It doesn’t matter if I have 100 level 80 characters (scary thought) I can at least help out on my main character and not have to re-create a lowbie.

I spent this weekend cleaning up my two EQ2 accounts a little. I deleted three characters (including an 80 sage but we won’t talk about that!) that I had very little interest in playing any more (my 58 swashbuckler, 61 necromancer, and 61 bruiser). It freed up a little space on my second account should an urge ever overcome me again to create another alt (and of course it will) and trimmed down a little so I can actually clearly tell what level 80’s I have. On my main account I have 7 level 80’s as well as my level 74 paladin – a full account in other words. On my second account I only have 1 level 80 (the mystic) but hey I suppose there’s a goal to work the other 6 up. Of course when the next EQ2 expansion comes out I’ll have 10 levels to try to gain on everyone including new gear and new spells, but maybe by then I’ll settle down with a ‘main’ and turn all those into crafters.

Hah. Right.

I hope everyone had an amazing weekend, here’s hoping it’s also a fantastic week!

Gaming

A Matter of Opinion

stargrace July 12, 2009 3 Comments

I was recently asked on twitter what I thought the ‘worst’ classes in EQ2 were – and I actually had a pretty hard time answering. The term ‘worst’ can be applied to so many particulars about a game, especially when it comes to classes. What one person may consider to be a down feature may actually be a feature others enjoy. Even after I had answered I had to think about it, in order to figure out what I really felt.

I was told that in actuality I would have been disqualified from the question due to the sheer number of level 80 characters I have – but I think that this would imply the exact opposite. The fact that I have played so many different classes gives me a better idea of what (for me personally) is considered the ‘worst’.

My answer when all was said and done – was summoners. It was based on the fact that out of all the classes out there they do their ‘job’ worse then what other classes do as their main ‘job’. Since they are headed towards a revamp I don’t think I’m too far off on my mark. Now let me explain this a little further.

The summoner class offers very little to a group or raid that another class cannot provide in abundance. They have no unique spells that make them essential, no buffs – and currently their DPS is sub par compared to other DPS classes. Yes, they can be fantastic at solo play, and no I’m not saying they suck by any means at all but when you compare them to other classes they fall below the line right now.

Bards and enchanters on the other hand are always needed and wanted for groups and raids, their buffs are unique and push up the dps of a group by significant amounts, and if you know how to play a coercer properly you can solo pretty much any heroic content you want. There are specific mobs out there you can charm with a master1 charm and they will nuke for 400k damage. If you were to look at their playability you may consider these classes to be the ‘worst’ because they can be exceptionally frustrating to solo with, players rarely use mez and it can be frustrating, and the learning curve to play these classes properly and as more then just a buff bot can be a bit high.

Tanks are great to level up with but at end game it can be a bit lonely especially if you’re looking to raid, though shadowknights are certainly the flavour of the month in this expansion there tends to be an abundance of them and most situated raid guilds already have their main tanks and off tanks chosen. Leveling up without a healer or power regen or some outside dps can be really slow – and this too may make them seem like the ‘worst’ classes to level up (aside from the SK, who as I mentioned are just super amazing currently).

The rest of the scouts and mages (wizards, warlocks) that focus on dps can at least offer a few buffs to groups and keep their dps up fairly high as long as they’re willing to invest in the time. Healers are needed fairly frequently, druids were the flavour of the month in RoK, and that seems to have died down some what (at least on the servers I’ve played). Templars are by far one of the most difficult classes to solo with simply because their dps is about equal to that of a paper bag, and that may be what some consider to be the ‘worst’ class to play. If you’re teamed up with a dps class (any one works) you may find that they’re the easiest to level up – and they’re certainly wanted end game for their hp buffs and reactive heals.

Anyhow – the point of this long ramble was simply to point out that there is no real ‘worst’ class out there. It’s all about how you play, what matters to you, and what you hope to acomplish. If I had to choose, I’d say summoners but that’s a personal opinion based on how well everyone else does their ‘job’ in the game. In the end you should always be playing what you enjoy and what you want to play the most anyhow, and none of these rants should matter in the least so long as you’re having fun.

Speaking of fun – I ran Obelisk of Ahkzul yesterday morning with Ultann in the hopes that perhaps after my extended break the zone would be glad that I had returned and cough up that healer shield I’ve been after for months now, and like always I was proven wrong and nothing of use dropped – though the chest in the ‘bouncy’ room did reward us with 14p and since it was just he and I in the group (me boxing my coercer + mystic) it was a nice reward. Aside from that the day was fairly quiet, and I am thankful for that.

I hope everyone is having an amazing weekend and I want to give my thanks again to everyone for being so supportive as I go through these health issues. It’s really nice to know what a wonderfully amazing community of people I know.

See you in Norrath!

Gaming

Getting Back Into It

stargrace July 11, 2009 3 Comments

After a good while of being sick, things are finally starting to look a little brighter. No, we haven’t quite figured out what I have yet, but I’m keeping down food and water this week which is more then I could say last week. After being on an IV for two days (not fun) I had a CT scan, endoscopy, as well as an ultrasound. Everything major was ruled out, and so the next step is to have an upper gi xray and see a few specialists to see what’s going on. It’s nice to be feeling almost human again at any rate.

A lot has been going on since I stopped writing, even though it’s only been a week. I’ve been keeping up to date on twitter and google reader (must have my daily feed fix!) and following along as much as I can.

In a bit of good news last night, I managed to win a copy of Age of Conan from MMORPG.com which also comes with a free month of gameplay. You may remember that I tried the game on a trial account for a little while but that I didn’t feel the game pull me in so to speak, so I didn’t bother purchasing it or continuing a subscription once my trial had run out. Free on the other hand is another matter. Plus having an entire month to play rather then just a week or two is a nice bonus. I don’t imagine I’ll be hoping in game right away, but once things calm down and I’m feeling even more like my old self we’ll see how things go. I mentioned at the time that I didn’t dislike the game, but that I just couldn’t find the one ‘thing’ that would keep me there. That doesn’t mean I’m not willing to give it another try.

In EQ2 my little guild has been working away while I’ve been sick. Ultann managed to hit level 80 on his armorer, and finished off his tradeskill epic. Him and Kasul have been attending raids with a few alliance guilds we’ve met up with. Both of them have gotten some pretty nice gear from WoE, and I’m happy for them. Wpus has been leveling up a berserker but he’s hit the 70-80 stage which is always very slow especially if you’ve already done that grind once or twice before. It’s where everything turns into a quest grind, and good dungeons like SoS or PoA are in low supply. Hopefully he’ll be able to make it through.

Our small guild also managed to hit level 51, granting us three more amenity, I wasn’t around for this victory but I did notice that we now sport a portal to member housing, and a training dummy chest. The tiki bar pictured above is a small section of our guild hall.

Speaking of member housing, I now have some 20+ player written books in my library for the Norrathian Museum I created. I check the broker every day and as long as the books are resonably priced (1p or below) I tend to pick up any that I don’t already have. Some times I am very dissapointed (a page or two written and nothing more) other times I have been surprised at the stories that others have written. Ideally I want a LOT more books, but Kithicor is a slow server when it comes to these sort of things (understandably) and it’s been like prying teeth. I’ve even sent out random blank notebooks to players in the hopes that they’ll send a story back to me in return. In most cases this seems to work, but not always.

I think most of us are eagerly awaiting SOE’s implementation of the station cash server transfers so that we can move to Antonia Bayle, where I have a level 30 guild waiting (not as grand as the level 50 but we’ll get there) and a lot of friends. It will be nice to team up with Calreth and Malfi and Cuppy (and whomever else is over there) for some dungeon runs and just good ‘ol fun. I won’t be able to move all of my characters over right away, but I can start with a few of them at least and we’ll see how it goes.

Aside from that things have been quiet – something I’m hoping to change as time goes on. I’d like to finally reach 200aa on at least one of my characters, there are numerous quests and instances I’d like to complete, and it’s just a matter of letting myself heal (three weeks of very little food or drink will wear a person down) and slowly getting back into the groove of things.

I am still subscribed to WoW as well, since it runs easily on my laptop for those days I just can’t sit at the PC (sighs, speaking of which missed the Aion beta weekend last week) and will probably continue to play on the Ravenholdt server. We’ll see how that goes. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, and has a great time gaming (or doing whatever it is you’re doing). Again, a HUGE thank you for everyones support as I go through these health issues, it really has meant the world to me and has kept me pushing forward when all I really wanted to do was give up. I am exceptionally lucky to know such a wonderful bunch of people.

Character Transfer Potions are a Go

Trivial Matters

Still So Much To See

A Matter of Opinion

Getting Back Into It

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The Construction of Quail Landing

Making Gold – One Sale at a Time

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