October 2009

Getting Things Done

stargrace October 21, 2009 2 Comments

Hanging out at the waterfalls in Nektulos Forest. I decided that I had the quest ‘glowing black stone’ in my quest journal for far too long and it was time to do something about it. The quest is not complicated, but it does make you return to the Oracle Tower in Antonica a handful of times which can get annoying. Thankfully my recall to guild hall button is on a short recast timer, so gating back home and taking the portal to Antonica is never difficult.

Torrent Knights is inching through level 48, with the new guild members throwing themselves into their own Heritage Quest runs. We’ve already got three amenity picked out, a training dummy, portal to member housing, and a wizard spire. When I can afford it I’d also love to move us over to a T2 guild hall, but we’ll see how that goes.

Further proof that you do NOT need to be uber in order to get things done in game. On a whim Wpus and Ultann and I decided we would attempt Kurns Tower (the group version of course, not the raid version) with just the three of us. Ultann (Shadowknight – though he also boxed his inquisitor), Wpus (Conjuror) and myself (Mystic) managed to clear the ENTIRE zone with just the three of us. I was surprised, and very pleased. Ultann got himself an amazing ring upgrade, although I was really hoping that the healer charm would have dropped. My mystic needs new charms badly. The EA (in Jarsath Waste) charm also refuses to drop for me, figures.

I still need to finish off doing the Nights of the Dead events, the haunted houses as well as the maze another time. I finished off my 25 quests in Sinking Sands last night before bed, and earned myself another achievement. I’m also closing in on 195aa which is the furthest any of my characters have gone to date. One of these days I’ll actually hit 200 on at least one character.

Other then that, it was just a pleasant night of gaming! I hope everyone else is enjoying their Wednesday, and I will see you in Norrath!

Shattered Lands Raids, Guilds, and Fun

stargrace October 20, 2009 3 Comments

Most people who know me realize that I play on two servers in EQ2. Oasis, and Antonia Bayle. I try to split my time between them but I pretty much just play where I want when the mood strikes. As if it wasn’t bad enough that I play on two EQ2 servers, I also play a lot of games. This can create issues and hurt feelings when it comes to guilds that I join, since there’s no real guarantee that I’m going to be there playing or that I won’t just leave to another game for a few months, or another server. It also creates some hardships between friendships (online ones in any case) for those who want to play with me, constantly feeling as though they have to follow me from game to game which is not something everyone can do. What I’ve learned over the years to do to combat this is to just make my own guilds, if friends want to play and join that’s great, if they don’t then that’s alright too. Hence I have my own guild on Oasis, and one on Antonia Bayle. I belong to Safe Haven in Vanguard but they are an ultra casual guild who are very used to my coming and going as it’s been years like that. In most other games I stay without a guild, though I did join the Nostalgia branch of Free Realms and I’m in Casualties of War in the Lord of the Rings Online. It has taken a lot of time and effort to figure out what sort of guilds will work for me and my nomadic play style, but I’m happy with my choices.

On that note – Torrent Knights (the guild on Antonia Bayle) managed to pick up two new guild members yesterday. We tend to be an eclectic miss matched bunch, a rag tag team from all walks of life – outcasts even at times, which is probably why we all get along so well. There is myself, Tipa, Calreth (via alts only these days), Kasul, Wpus, and Ultann plus the two new members from yesterday bringing our total membership to 7. I couldn’t be happier.

We also managed to ding level 48, which means we are two levels from new amenity as well as the ability to purchase a T2 guild hall which is something I’ve dreamed about for quite some time. Not bad for such a little guild. Especially since the guild only had two members until level 30 and then grew from there.

Yesterday was an amazing day of game play, for all members of TK. Wpus, Ultann and myself decided to work on the Shattered Lands achievements – specifically the raid achievements. We headed to each and every raid zone using chronomagic to lower our levels to 60. The three of us managed to defeat every one, though we at times did have some issues. We gathered a lot of achievements and a good chunk of fabled loot that we can sell or pass down to alts depending on our mood. Afterward we noticed that there was a contested epic x2 up in Zek, so we grabbed the two new members and off the five of us went to take them down. It was a long fight, we were defeating it at the appropriate level after all, but in the end we were victorious once again.

Once that was done I worked on my baby shadowknight a bit, who hit level 20 with a handful of aa. She’s a lot of fun, a relaxing character to go along with the others that I have. Hopefully I can continue to quest with her and rack up the aa. When she hit 20 I logged over to Stargrace (the illusionist) and helped Ultann out with his baby dirge he’s been boxing. We headed to Nest, Vaults (the one in Barren Sky) and then Halls of Fate for some massive experience and a good time was had by all. In the end it was a very busy day, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Days like that just can’t be beat.

How do you Choose What to Play and When to Play It?

stargrace October 19, 2009 5 Comments

I remember back 10 years ago when someone asked me what my ‘game of choice’ was I would have answered EverQuest, easily. I barely ever dabbled in another game, and before that I was playing a MUD called Redemption with a bunch of friends from high school. It was rare I ever had more then one game on my plate. Oh how times have changed, and it’s certainly not just for me that things have changed. These days if you ask someone what MMO they play you’re likely to get a handful of answers. Ask them what MMOs they have played in the past, and the list can get longer the Santa’s naughty and nice list. Right now I’m actively playing EverQuest2, Vanguard, The Lord of the Rings Online, and Aion as ‘main’ games (the ones I spend the most time in, not always for pleasure), and then there are a lot of smaller games that I dabble in for whatever reason. With the incredible selection of games that are available these days, HOW do you choose what to play? How do you make room for more? How do you fit console games in there?

Is scheduling involved? Is it just whatever mood you happen to be in? There are plenty of MMORPGs out there to keep me busy forever, but some times I just want to sit back and play Fable 2 on the XBox, even though lately those times are rare.

I love being able to experience a large number of games simply because it reinforces what I like and don’t like about each and every game. I know exactly what sort of gamer I am and what appeals to me. I also love exploring content that’s always fresh, and learning about someone else’ passion. On the down side it is also a very expensive and time consuming hobby, and you have to draw the line some where. How do you decide what to play?

EQ2 was a LOT of fun this weekend. Wpus and I decided to make little alts and play those instead of the plethora of other characters we already have. We ran around Neriak and managed to level to 15, before making our way to the guild hall in South Freeport. Upon entering I saw a new gift that Calreth left there for us – the guild hall trophy of the headless horseman. I wish the trophy had a little blood or gore along with it, but it stands in our main entrance and balances out the other trophies we have. Thank you Calreth for that gift!

Speaking of which, Torrent Knights on the Antonia Bayle server is slowly making its way to level 50. I’ve been thinking of upgrading to a T2 hall, but I’ll need to do some farming first and earn some status. With new characters on the rise this is easier to do, as we both have a lot of Heritage Quests to complete. We’ll be level locking at 20 to gain achievements and alternate advancement for a few months or how ever long our attention stays. I’m looking forward to it. At level 20 there’s a lot of content that can be explored and completed, and it puts us in range for a few dungeons and instances as well. I had adept3 combat arts created last night which should help make things easier.

I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend, no matter where you found yourself. Happy gaming!

THIS is the Game I’ve been playing for 5 years?!

stargrace October 18, 2009 3 Comments

Leveling Velours up in Darklight Woods off of Elementals

I’ve never owned a computer that was able to handle the highest settings on EQ2 before. Ever. I’ve played for five years on moderate settings, and at times (with a video card upgrade) ooh’d and aahh’d over the change – but it wasn’t until this past week that I realized just how *amazing* this game is when you are actually able to play it as it’s meant to be played. The problem is that it takes a great deal of hardware in order to play that way. I’m currently running a quad core i7 2.9ghz with 8 gigs of DDR3 (running as duel channel). I have an ATI 4870 (that I love might I add), and things run absolutely wonderful (graphic wise). I look at the screen and think to myself – woah – is THIS the game I’ve been playing for five years? I’ve never seen half of this stuff before. Like, the ground actually looks WET when it rains out. My dual core served me well for the past five years, but it was time to see what I was missing out on. For games that were already quite pretty in their own rights without having to own an awesome machine (Aion, The Lord of the Rings Online) they are simply astounding. Now I can finally add EQ2 to that list as well. It is a shame that it requires such heavy hardware in order to make the game appear as it should, but I’m really loving it. Below are more screen shots of my adventures this weekend.

Hanging out in East Freeport, just as the rain started to end. I had no idea the ground actually gets WET.

Killing the Brood Mother in Darklight Woods for a quest update on my baby Shadowknight

Playing with the Nights of the Dead illusions with Wpus in Darklight Woods – yes, I’m the one on the right

Being able to see the game like this DOES make a difference. In zones that I always dreaded (Lavastorm, Moors of Ykesha, Neriak) things are running flawlessly and I’m able to enjoy the surroundings of my favorite game just as much as I enjoy the content, the atmosphere, and the players. This was probably my biggest issue with EQ2 and always has been, the fact that I was unable to run it and make it look ‘pretty’.

Now if only I could get the video in the hedge maze to work. Unfortunately that seems to be one of the few things that I can’t get working, no matter what I try. The introduction video to EQ2 also does not run – unless I’m windowed (the maze video doesn’t work no matter what window setting I’m in). I can get the video in Nagena’s Hollow Tower to run just fine, but the maze eludes me. Normally I wouldn’t be upset – but in this one rare case, if the video doesn’t run the quest does not progress, the final boss does not spawn, and you sit there wondering what happened. I ended up loading it on my laptop in order to get it to work. Ah well, ya can’t win them all.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, no matter where you found yourself. Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath (and Wizard City, Telon, Middle Earth, and where ever else I happen to be, Elysea I suppose!)