2010

Achievements? Sure, Why Not.

stargrace January 22, 2010 4Comments

I have no shame in admitting that I enjoy achievements. I like these extra little goals that players can work towards, and while I don’t spend ALL of my time hunting them down, I like the fact that it’s just one more aspect that’s been added to games to give them another dynamic. When I get to a ‘what do I want to do today’ phase of my gaming I’ll typically spend a little time working through a few of the easier achievements while I figure out what I want to do for the ‘bulk’ of my play time. As I’ve already mentioned (numerous) times before, I’m one of those gamers that doesn’t like to do one single thing day in and day out, I switch around a lot. One day I’ll do nothing but crafting and then another I’ll run through old quests, and yet another I’ll spend hunting down appearance gear. It’s great.

It’s easy to work on exploration achievements while I’m hunting down shinies, so that’s what I’ve been doing lately. I’ve been looking up some collection quests (mostly tomes) where I’ve only needed one or two pieces, and wandering around for hours hunting down those elusive question marks and fluttering pages. Exciting? Well, that depends on how you like to spend your time. No, it’s not really that exciting, there’s no real fear of death or being swarmed by mobs when I’m wandering through a lower level zone, but it’s still fun.

Yeah, things are a little quiet game-wise this week (and this will continue into next week) as I work on my Beckett deadlines. After the 5th you can expect posts to move back to their regular scheduled program *grins* I’m sure everyone is just super excited about that. Well, ok maybe just me.

In the mean time, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself, and I’ll see you in Norrath (and numerous other places).

Exploration, Still the Best Game Around

stargrace January 21, 2010 1Comment

Dasie (templar pictured above) was lucky enough to get her first piece of T4 gear last night, some boots from Miragul’s Planar Shard. No, I didn’t raid with her, but the boots weren’t needed by anyone else so I was allowed to scoop them up. I’ve pretty much ‘decided’ (as much as I ever decide anything) that I’ll be playing the templar when Sentinel’s Fate comes out (at least on the Oasis server) and it’s made focusing much easier. She doesn’t have 200aa yet, so I’m working on that as I make my way through achievements, and harvest.

I spent most of yesterday (off and on) wandering through Pillars of Flame which is an absolutely incredible looking zone off of Sinking Sands. I love exploring. It’s one of my favorite things to do in any game, whether I have been to the zone before or not. There’s always something that I haven’t looked at before, and something I notice that maybe I didn’t see the first 100 times through.

Games that act as visual treats for me are keepers. No, that’s not ALL I need in a game to keep me there, but it’s one of the higher factors. If I’m looking at a game that’s visually appealing to me chances are I’ll stick around longer and see past the ‘bugs’ that may be there (ie: Vanguard any one?) more so then a game that just doesn’t appeal to me on that level.

After the game was done patching first thing in the morning, I logged in my Inquisitor to see how the xp changes affected her. When I had logged her out previously she was just a little into 75 (and I was excited about being able to do TSO instances for shards) and when I logged in yesterday she was 147% through her level. I decided to complete a level 1 collection quest (since she had completed none) and she dinged 76, and 47% through that level. That character is on the back burner for now while I concentrate on my templar, but it was still nice to get some ‘free’ experience due to the changes in the curve.

Aside from that, it was a fairly quiet day! I spent some time doing the Moonlight Enchantments that are in game, got a few new shinies, which is always wonderful.

I hope everyone else has a fantastic Thursday, no matter what realm you find yourself in. Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath!

Preparing for Sentinel’s Fate

stargrace January 20, 2010 7Comments

Sentinel’s Fate is about a month away, give or take and I’ve started preparing for the expansion on a few characters that I think may be ‘mains’ in the future (I’m attempting to limit myself to 1 per server that I play on currently, which means 3). One thing I’ve decided to start doing is stock pile shinies. Not just stock pile, but collect as many as I possibly can (there are plenty that I’ve never completed) and get them ready to turn in when the expansion goes live. There are a lot of people who have the same mind set as me, and that also means that shinies are going to be selling VERY well for the next couple of months. They always do when a level cap increases, people are always looking for ways to gain extra experience and alternate advancement.

I’m also trying to get ready on the crafter front. That means ensuring I have enough supplies to get from 81-90 although there’s a chance I could simple do the TSO crafting quests in order to get the levels at a low cost of no fuel. Since the new level cap is going to be 90 and not 80, I’m going to be losing the 50% bonus that my characters currently receive for both crafting and adventuring, and I’ve been looking for other means of obtaining bonuses. Potions is a major one, and there are potions I’ve yet to claim, as well as rewards from LoN that I haven’t bothered with yet. There are also those recruit a friend mounts that offer a 10% adventure bonus to people in group that I plan on keeping handy, not to mention that all important vitality, and the five and six year veteran rewards that replenish that vitality once a week.

How are others preparing, if at all? Any words of wisdom to share with readers on how they can better themselves in preparation for Sentinel’s Fate? Let me know in comments below!

Did You Know?

stargrace January 19, 2010 3Comments

Even after playing for over five years, there are still things I’m learning about EQ2 every day – and I love that aspect of the game. I love that things are constantly changing and evolving, and that while I do know a lot of things, I certainly don’t know everything.

Like yesterday, I learned that there’s a way to tell whether your harvesters are done collecting or not. I suppose I just had not looked at them close enough. When they’re waiting for supplies to come back, they pace and tap their foot impatiently. Once the supplies are back (or when they’re not currently assigned to harvest goods) they stand still. No more guessing whether or not the two hour time limit has gone by before you hail them and send them in search of more goods.

There are a lot of other little tidbits of information that don’t exactly come readily available to some players, a few that stick out in my mind I’ll post here. If you know of another little ‘did you know’ bit of information, then please feel free to leave it in a comment below! It’s always great to share these pearls of wisdom.

– Did you know you an assign chat channels to whatever number sequence you’d like? Making sure that the number you want to use is not taken (/channellist) you can /setchannelnumber old new (where old and new are the actual numbers) and re-assign them to your preferences.

– Did you know there are ‘new’ wizard spire options for travel? When you’re standing at a spire move to the center and look up. You’ll see a spinning vortex that (when selected) lists other shattered lands locations not previously listed. Wizards also have these locations attached to their spire spells.

– Did you know you can easily search for shinies on the broker by opening your quest journal and the broker (keeping both open) and simply clicking on a piece you’d like to search for from the journal? No more having to type out long names of collection pieces. Nice!

– Did you know that you can mentor someone in your group without them being in the same zone as you? Simply type /mentor when you’re in a group with them and it will pop up a window for you to select from.

– Did you know there are more then two ways to stop mentoring someone? You can leave the group (or they can), you can type /unmentor, or you can right click on your name on the UI (not the one in the group window, but the one in the target window) and select the unmentor option.

There are plenty of other wonderful pieces of information out there, and I love the fact that I’m still learning.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself! I’ll see you in Norrath.

How did you spend your bonus xp weekend?

stargrace January 18, 2010 3Comments

Both EQ and EQ2 were lucky enough to have received bonus experience this weekend, 40% was the magic number on EQ2. I decided to dive into game and take advantage of it, and I’m really glad I did. I still had high hopes of getting my inquisitor to 80 before Sentinel’s Fate comes out, but it was beginning to look like that may not happen. She had been sitting at level 72 with no plans of getting anywhere fast.

Last night I was lucky enough to get a group with another motivated bunch of Paradise Lost, and we headed to Crypt of Valdoon in Loping Plains, and then off to Mistmoore Catacombs, and then Castle. Before hand I had gained one level in Sebilis. When two hours had passed and the group was breaking up so that people could get ready for raids, my little inquisitor had reached 75. I’ve got a total of 18 hours on her, maybe 19 now because I spent the rest of my evening working on her crafting (20 sage). I was exceptionally pleased to get her to 75, that’s the magical number of shard running. She now qualifies to do the quests for TSO missions, although I’ll have to wait until 79 to grab the daily double.

That wasn’t the only area I spent my bonus experience in though, of course not. I also worked on my (2nd) alchemist and my weaponsmith, getting them each from 20 to 30 in an hour. It helps that I’ve already got max level crafters, so not only was I receiving the 40% server bonus, I had vitality (doubles the experience), and 50% bonus from max level characters, and 55% bonus from a potion or two. Ah yes, if only every day could be server bonus day!

What about everyone else? I expect that levels were probably gained pretty much everywhere in celebration of this bonus, but perhaps I’m wrong! Let me know how you spent your weekend, I’m always eager to hear!