2010

The Leveling Game

stargrace January 3, 2010 5Comments

As always the hardest part for me these days in EQ2 is deciding who to play. I have three characters who are not yet level 80, and a few who are not yet level 80 crafters, so my ‘basic’ goal is to get each of them to 80 before the expansion hits. If I’ll actually manage that I’m not sure, but it would be nice. One thing I’m going to miss a lot is the 50% bonus I currently receive for having max level characters. It’s EQ2 equivalent to allowing people to skip levels I suppose, letting them level faster. It’s nice, but I’d prefer a different method, or removing the current cap of 50% bonus experience (this works for both adventure levels and crafting levels).

Lately I’ve been playing an inquisitor on Oasis, and leveling her up. Yesterday after a quick run through Klak’Anon and Mines of Meldrath she reached level 52, which is impressive for me considering she also just reached four hours played. I hadn’t realized that the difficulty of sinking sands was raised, but that’s where she’ll be off to next, and through Clefts of Rujark and Pillars of Flame to complete the instances in Desert of Flame (my favorite expansion by far). That should take her to 60 easily, where I’ll start on the Kingdom of Sky instances (Nest and Vaults being two of the first ones) and work my way through to the Bonemire instances.

Then comes the ‘long’ part, getting from 70-80 is always a grind and there’s no real way around it. Thankfully, at 75 she can start working on shards, and saving those up for when she hits 80. That’s more then likely what I’ll do, but we’ll just have to see. Whether or not I can get all of that done before February is yet another story, but I like a good challenge and it gives me something to do. I’ve played an inquisitor only for a very short time previously, I betrayed my templar to one. At the time the class wasn’t really for me, but I’m hoping this time around it’s more enjoyable.

I also created a new bruiser on the Antonia Bayle server named Minxes. She started in Gorowyn and is working on quests there (only level 4 so far). The bruiser class is much like my carpenter class – I started about 100 carpenters and finally managed to stick with one until level 80. Typically I changed their class or deleted. I’ve created about 100 bruisers (or brawlers in general) and always seem to level to 50 and then delete. This time around I’m hoping to stick with it.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend before heading back to work tomorrow (shudders). The holidays were fantastic, and I’m looking forward to what the rest of 2010 has in store. Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath!

What’s Next

stargrace January 2, 2010 2Comments

I decided to move my little ranger (literally little, she may be level 80 but she’s a gnome) over to Antonia Bayle a few days ago. I’m constantly switching my characters from one server to another, it keeps things feeling ‘fresh’ to me and well, why not. Anyhow, the ranger doesn’t have her epic yet, not even the fabled version, but she’s got a few pieces of nice gear. A fabled shield from Guk (since rangers use their ranged slot more then they melee, and it includes a 45% haste) as well as a nice neck piece, etc. She’s only wearing T1 currently, but that’s better then what she COULD be wearing. Her aa on the other hand, have suffered greatly. I think she’s barely sitting at 106aa right now. Ouch.

It’s been nice to be back in game, but I’m having issues deciding who to play. There are so many alts that I could potentially work on. I’m comforted by the fact that at least my ‘main’ is taken care of and ready for the expansion. Ideally I’d like to be ‘complete’ in two more characters (one per server) but I doubt that will happen.

I’m really looking forward to Sentinel’s Fate, and new content. I’m not looking forward to 10 more levels, but I love new quests, and new areas to explore. I’m also not looking forward to how incredibly crowded the whole thing will be. That’s alright though, a thriving community is always a bonus.

While I’ve been pondering who to play next, I’ve been doing a lot of crafting. Trying to get everyone to level 80 before the expansion hits. Once more I’m so glad that the guild hall is equipped with harvesters for everyone to share, it makes leveling so much easier. I still wish EQ2 would adopt Vanguards method of writs where the supplies (minus fuel costs) are taken care of but eh, can’t have everything perfect.

My player written book collection is coming along perfectly. I have 205 books to date, and I’m looking forward to gathering more. I’ve probably spent well over 50 plat trying to purchase every book I possibly can from the Antonia Bayle server just so that I have a copy. I’m proud of the work I’ve put into the Norrathian Museum, and I’m excited that it’s mostly complete aside from filling in some blanks.

Speaking of which, that reminds me. If you haven’t done the quests in West Freeport and North Qeynos regarding the missing Soulfire and Claymore, go get them done before they vanish! Also make sure you take part in Frostfell before that is gone, as well as the new Kelethin City festival. Some nice house items to be had there.

I guess I’d better go complete those quests myself, too! Safe travels and happy gaming no matter where it finds you. I’ll see you in Norrath!

New Year, New Festivals

stargrace January 1, 2010 0Comment

This morning I decided to head to the grass knoll in Kelethin to partake in the new city festival that’s going on. There are two merchants with house items, and a few new clothing items. You’ll need city tokens if you want to pick up most of the house items, but you can also buy some food and drink with coin. I couldn’t help but giggle when I checked the merchant, beaver tails are a very popular item here in Ottawa, a dough concoction flavoured with cinnamon and sugar, and other things like apples and chocolate if you want.

The festivals will rotate in game, and be at a new city each month for a limited time with house items particular to that city. There is also a purple shiny collection for each city, so make sure you get in game and check them out before they vanish!

The shiny collection for Kelethin rewarded a nice mail box for your home, “kelethin style” as they termed it. I’m hoping that not all of the shinies reward mail boxes as I can only really use one of those per house, but we’ll see.

A congratulations to Drahk who managed to not only finish his fabled epic on Thursday, but got his mythical late last night! What a great job. See, who says you need a raid guild in order to get things done. Little Torrent Knights is moving along nicely.

I hope everyone is enjoying the first day of 2010, and are looking forward to the new year. I’m off to a family get together, but should be back in game for the remainder of the weekend, hehe. Safe travels and happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

P.S. SOE you need to add an in game calendar much like the one WoW has. It’s important to keep track of everything from missions, to in game events. I hope others feedback the request and we see something like this in game before too long.