July 2011

Moving from a Tier 1 to a Tier 2 Hall #EQ2

stargrace July 27, 2011 0Comment

Yesterday I decided that Torrent Knights really did need a T2 hall (we don’t really NEED one, but I wanted one) and I set out to purchase a Freeport guild hall for everyone to enjoy. The hall cost 250p and thankfully our amenity traveled with us as well as escrow, so I didn’t need to pay more money. I’ve started decorating it (slowly) and managed to set up our main entrance, where we can display the trophies we’ve accumulated over time. I also set up the crafting area, since that’s the portion of the hall most used. We used to own one some time ago but when the guild became stagnant I decided I couldn’t afford the upkeep, and I downgraded us.

Anyhow. The guild is nearing the level 60 mark by leaps and bounds, we’re already 1/3rd of the way into 59, which is fantastic. I have been doing writs on my weaponsmith as I level her up and it’s nice to see the bar moving slightly, even if it’s not a great amount. We were welcomed with another new player yesterday, and hopefully they find it as welcoming as everyone else has so far.

This weekend SOE is offering bonus xp for players – it counts towards aa, adventure, and crafting. I have no doubt in my mind that Antonia Bayle will be bursting at the seams, and I’m probably going to try to level the last two crafters I need at 90 which are my sage and my weaponsmith (the weaponsmith will probably hit 90 today, she’s level 70 at the moment). Aside from that I have no great plans, relaxing and spending my time where ever I find myself. I know it’s a bit silly to be thinking of the weekend when it’s only Wednesday, but hey we all need something to look forward to.

As the guild becomes decorated I’ll be sure to post more pictures and maybe a video or two, we’ll just have to see. In the mean time, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

With Brells Blessing #EQ2

stargrace July 26, 2011 0Comment

EQ2 is one of the few popular games I know of that don’t treat their crafters as second class citizens. What I mean is they have a large number of quests dedicated to them and their professions, and DoV brought about the first crafting Heritage Quest. I had already completed my coldain prayer shawl on my tailor but I’ve had grand ideas of obtaining the item on each one of my crafters over time. Yesterday I finally earned enough faction with the Forgemasters of Thurgadin to finish off the shawl on my woodworker, pictured above receiving Brells Blessing. I love this chain of quests for a number of reasons, but most of all because of the timed portion at the end. If you miss a reaction or fail to counter it – you die, and you have to start all over. It’s some of the most intense crafting I’ve ever had to do, and I had a blast with it both times.

Torrent Knights is growing by leaps and bounds. What was once a small guild of four or five people has expended to ten regulars and some times even more. I still consider TK to be a ‘social’ guild more then anything else (meaning we talk a lot but don’t necessarily group up or do guild events unless we happen to be in a particular mood) but it’s neat to see people around. Last night thanks to a slew of Heritage Quests completed by Belghast as well as some raids run by Ibeogur and Nocturnous, we dinged 59. One more will extend our bank tabs an extra row, and 11 more will allow us to purchase a T3 hall – which is something I’m considering just to decorate, but I’m not sure if I want to. It’s a huge investment, 1,000 plat and the weekly cost would jump up significantly. I may just upgrade us to a T3 hall.

On that same note, we also managed to earn a few more guild hall trophies last night to put into our display! We now own 14 of them, which is pretty nice for a guild that isn’t really a guild. Last night we picked up Venekor, Chel’Drak and the Clockwork Menace by beating the raid zones. It was a lot of fun, and I’m excited about trying more raids as time goes on.

I hope everyone else had a fantastic start to the week, no matter where you found yourself. Happy gaming! I’ll see you in Norrath.

500 People LFRaid #EQ2

stargrace July 25, 2011 0Comment

What happens when you play on the busiest server and there’s a live event that takes place on Saturday? Well, the screen shot above is just one of four instances of Eastern Wastes that opened up on Saturday afternoon as Antonia Bayle completed the Wizard Spire Reconstruction event. There were over three full raids in Easter Wastes 1 and 2, with over two full raids in 3 and 4. Each raid consisting of 24 people, plus numerous others who were outside of raid (my group included). Why was this event such a big deal? A number of reasons. I think it has less to do with the fact that we finally have a means of steady transportation to these zones and more to do with the rewards offered. If you took part in the final epic battle you were rewarded with 500 tokens (remember, 50 buys you a velium shard which is used for ry’gorr armor) that could be spent at merchants for fluff armor, mounts, and house items, you were also rewarded with a pocket teleporter in order to get to Easter Wastes at the click of a .. clicky, and you were given a title – and nine plat. Not too shabby.

I had no issues completing the Eastern Wastes battle, but there were problems with the Dragon Ring event that took place later that day in Great Divide. See, zones typically top off at 50 people for Great Divide due to the Public Quests and issues with lag. There are means around this by simply inviting others outside of the zone to your group. They can then zone over so you’re both in the same instance. Great Divide wasn’t exactly made to withstand 500 people all gathered, and when the final Dragon Ring event spawned – no one could see it. The battle couldn’t really take place because everyone was being killed by the epic encounter that was invisible, and lag was so atrocious there was no point in getting anything done. A developer ended up coming over to Antonia Bayle to progress the quest for players who were unable to get their updates. By that time I had moved on to something else so I decided to forgo the Great Divide update.

Still, it was fun, even if this was the … fourth? Time we’ve rebuilt the transportation system in Norrath. First there were griffon towers in Nektulos Forest and Thundering Stepps, then there were Wizard Spires numerous times, and again and so on.

Tinkerfest begins on July 29th which is an event that I know a lot of players are looking forward to. I am unsure of what the quests will involve, but there’s always some really neat crafted house items for players to obtain. These live events have been a lot of fun, even if they haven’t ran perfectly. I hope everyone had an amazing weekend, no matter where you found yourself! As always happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath.

It’s All About The Details #EQ2

stargrace July 22, 2011 0Comment

It was time for another (yes another) alt. This time I’m leveling up a mystic on my second account, to go along with the shadowknight and necromancer I already have. So far she’s sitting at level 56, and yesterday I spent a bit of time in one of my favorite zones, Obelisk of Lost Souls. This zone has some amazingly disturbing books that players can complete, filled with void-related nursery rhymes and other tales of horror. One of my favorite parts of any zone are the little details that you stumble upon. For example, in Obelisk of Lost Souls you come to a room that’s filled with glass display cases (pictured above) with ancient scrolls kept inside. In one of these cases the scroll is missing, and shattered glass litters the ground. Of course my mind wanders – what happened to the scroll? Was it valuable? Who took it? What did it say? These little details are what keep me transfixed about a game, little stories that the game doesn’t necessarily come out and tell me about, but that I notice none the less.

It has been an incredibly warm week for myself and a lot of my friends (the city of Ottawa reached 117F yesterday, something I’ve never actually experienced before) so I don’t have much to update with. I DID spend a bunch of time yesterday updating my player-written library page here on the site, as you can see I have made it over the 550 book mark! Thanks to some wonderful donations from players. I received over 20 books in the last little while, each of them filled with a fantastic story. Thank you to everyone who donated a book! I’m hoping to extend it past the 600 mark before too long, but that will depend on generous donations and what I can find on the broker.

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

Guilds Just Want to Have Fun #EQ2

stargrace July 21, 2011 1Comment

My swashbuckler finally made it over the 250 aa mark, it’s the first character I’ve managed to do that with, and only one expansion late. That means I’m finally working on the DoV aa (well, I have been for a while but I’m finally working on the later tiers of it). I picked up a few master spells off of the broker and she’s almost completed her collection. I also managed to craft another piece of Ry’Gorr armor (pants!) so she’s nearing “completion” for me. Next I’ll be focusing on the defiler, who is lacking Ry’Gorr and adornments.

Yesterday was a lot of fun, the weekly shard quest was Tower of Frozen Shadow, so we (guild mates of course) headed out to Shadowed Corridors and made short work of the Librarian. Next we hit Umbral Halls, and finally Haunt. We managed to complete all three of the zones, even though we were one person short and I was boxing my swashbuckler / necromancer together. The necromancer won herself a nice new robe, and I made a Ry’Gorr forearm piece. Drahk managed to pick up a few pieces of fighter gear, since he’s a new level 90 shadowknight pretty much everything was an upgrade. It was nice and incredibly rewarding to take down the final boss (the x2) in Haunt. It’s a difficult fight on the best of terms, and since we were so under staffed I was wondering if it was something we could even complete. The best part was that we all had a great time, which is the most important part to me in any situation. Guild groups are always nice and relaxing and if we wipe 10x to one encounter it’s always a learning experience.

Speaking of, the guild is also inching its way through level 58, which I’m pretty excited about. Another row of bank tabs at level 60 and more amenity (although I haven’t spent the last amenity we earned) are always welcomed.

It seems like each time a patch goes by the harder zones of DoV have been downgraded a little, so it shouldn’t be too long before we find ourselves in there. We have tried a little Kael, but I’d like to attempt the Drundar instances. We’ll just have to see.

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