July 2011

Selling Loot Rights #EQ2

stargrace July 18, 2011 9Comments

There have been a few debates rising up lately from SLR (selling loot rights) – some people are for it (naturally) and others are against it. In EQ2 gear becomes bound to you when you do an instance. You’re able to trade that loot with anyone who was in the instance for 48 hours after it was looted. What players do is leave the item in the chest, change the loot options to leader only (thus allowing you to assign the loot to someone) auction the gear in a channel, invite the winner to the group, summon them to the dungeon, and pass them the loot. I’ve never personally had an issue with this method of obtaining loot, if players wish to spend their money on this sort of thing then why not. I think it helps casuals gain items that they may not have otherwise been able to gain, and it helps bolster community. Most of the public discussions on Antonia Bayle happen in the auction channel. I understand that my thoughts on this are not the same thoughts as the entire community though and the idea of “if you didn’t earn it yourself you have no right to it” also runs strong. To the left hand side is an auction that was taking place last night, myself bidding on a ring (which I eventually won). For some odd reason Conterary felt the need to call me a slut simply because I had out bid him (her?) on this item. I’ve never spoken to them before in my life, have no idea who they are or why they felt the need to call me names based on an auction. I don’t even really understand the whole name calling scenario, or why people resort to this method of insult first. To me name calling is a definite no-no, and it’s one of my biggest pet peeves.

What are your thoughts on selling loot? Do you wish the ability to do so were removed? What if all of the no-trade flags were removed so that gear could simply be placed on broker? Let me know in comments!

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

Updates Galore #EQ2

stargrace July 16, 2011 2Comments

With so many characters at my disposal a great amount of time is spent deciding what I want to do, and who I want to do it on. I bounce between all of my characters on a daily basis, my whims changing on who I want to play (for some pretty silly reasons some times). I have been attempting to focus on two characters while I play the others as I’m bored or restless. So far those two selected are my swashbuckler, and my defiler. I’ve been focusing on getting them both gear, adornments, and aa. Neither of them have hit the 300 mark yet but I’m hoping that it comes to pass (eventually).

Long term I have four characters that I’m some what dedicated towards. That would be the swashbuckler, defiler, coercer, and bruiser. It’s no coincidence that there’s one of each class, either. One day I have high hopes that each of these characters will have 300 aa – but that’s a long time in the future, if ever.

This weekend is incredibly quiet in guild with two of the core members away for various real life functions. I spent this evening out at the National Art Center here in Ottawa, taking in The Lion King broadway musical. It was very well done and I had an amazing time. It was also a huge step forward for me as I suffer from agoraphobia and dislike being in situations that I can’t escape easily from (like balconies in theaters). The set design took my breath away and the story (one we’re no doubt all quite familiar with) was portrayed in such a unique manor.

Back to EQ2 – SOE has disabled the Dragon Ring / Wizard spire event until next week. There were a few bugs with it, number one it was running too quickly and thus progressing too quickly which meant that people who were away for the weekend or unable to participate would miss out on obtaining tokens. In fact as of this morning (and a few hours before) Antonia Bayle was 99% completed. Except the final encounter also did not work, in Eastern Wastes there is an epic x4 that was defeated and yet they remained at 99% completed even afterward. Rumor has it (I have yet to confirm the later portion at least) that the event will change frequency and be once every (3?) few hours instead of every 30 minutes. Thus it will take longer to complete. On that same note, I had heard (but not confirmed personally) that any progress over 50% will be wiped from the slate, and servers will have to work back up to 100% completion again.

While I realize these things happen, I can’t help but wonder what caused the issues. The event was on the test server for a few weeks before running live – the timer issue I can see because apparently it’s as simple as the event running every 30 on the test server and forgetting to switch it when it was moved to the live server. However, the end event not triggering properly is a bit odd. I think that perhaps with Fan Faire looming at the time things were not looked at as carefully as they should have been, it’s a crazy time of year for everyone involved.

I did manage to run the event a few times before it was taken offline. I purchased a replica of the Dragon Rings, as well as some teleporters for my house and a velium shard or two. That was another thing I didn’t quite agree with, every hour a player could earn a shard if they hung around afk in the area and picked up the quest for 25 tokens each time. Hopefully before this goes live again all of the kinks are ironed out.

How is everyone else spending their weekend? Inquiring minds wish to know! Let me know in comments. As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

A Simple Difference of Opinion #EQ2

stargrace July 14, 2011 1Comment

It never fails. I’m sitting in the public channels while going about something in game and I hear the usual conversation of “such and such game sucks” and numerous reasons why. One reason that always seems to come up is “the graphics are too much like a cartoon and that must mean it’s for little kids”.  I’ve never really understood this complaint because it’s an art style, and has nothing to do with game play. You’re not expected to like every single art style out there but why the hatred towards those that do? Why is it so difficult for MMO players in specific to understand and respect a difference in opinion. A lot of people are not fond of the style of art found in Aion – but I wonder if they look at the art style and associate it with a type of game, and thus they’ve already judged what sort of game it is before even giving it a shot. The same goes for any other game out there – like World of Warcraft. Players take one look at the graphics, and go ew mentally in their head. Once you’ve come to that decision it’s really hard to open up and give it another chance. By that same token, there are those out there who do not like the look of EQ2 at all. Of course that’s going to affect your game play and decisions about whether or not to play because guess what, no one wants to spend hours looking at something they just find repugnant as a hobby. Well, maybe a few out there do. Most would rather not.

For those asking, yes I’m still playing on the Antonia Bayle server. I have a whole mess of characters if you want to add to friends: Stargrace, Ellithia, Jacquotte, Minxes, Ishbel, Faralithe, Arysh, Sharatan, Trinetta, Kameeko, Petites, Seduisant, and Seduit. I think that’s all of them.

Thanks to the newly acquired 2nd account from the other half, I’ve got my first 90 weaponsmith. He had leveled the character to 81 but hadn’t progressed any further, so last night I decided (as my bruiser was leveling) to do a few writs, and before I knew it I was 90. That means all I’m missing from my ‘collection’ is a sage and an armorer. Of course it also means I need to keep both accounts open if I want to make use of the other crafter, but that’s not too difficult of a choice for me at least (at this point in time). I am not sure if I will want to keep both accounts open once mercenary release, that’s something I’ll just have to wait and see.

My 9th level 90 managed to level up last night, the bruiser. That gives me 180% xp bonus for having max level characters, something I can take advantage of when the next expansion releases since there’s no increase. Leveling is really easy in EQ2 (at least, I find) and this will come in handy when I create a beastlord, as well as working on my aa points. I’m excited about the bruiser, I’ve never really played one to any great extent and they’re a lot of fun. Plus I’ve gotten some nice pretties for her over the last little while, so she’ll have some gear including a raid weapon.

Thursday! Only one more day until the weekend starts. I hope everyone is having a fantastic week thus far, no matter where you find yourself. Happy gaming! I’ll see you in Norrath (and Telon).

Pondering Progression #EQ2

stargrace July 13, 2011 2Comments

Progression is natural in most MMOs, and it’s no different with EQ2. There’s a progression of levels, be it crafting or adventuring, faction, gear, etc. A lot of people complain about progression along the lines of “what’s the point, it’s just going to be replaced in XYZ months” and to some degree they are correct. It’s still nice to be at your ‘best game’ before that happens though. Or at least that’s what I’ve found.

Guild mates and I headed to Kael and had a lot of fun. We did Iceshard Keep which was pretty easy for just four of us. My scout managed to get herself a new breast piece this morning which was fantastic, and I bought a 2hb weapon for the bruiser before leveling her to 85 – she has five more to go. I have four basic “mains” (this week at least) that I’ve been working on, one for each subclass, the bruiser (fighter), coercer (mage), swashbuckler (scout) and defiler (priest). The rest are just ‘for fun’ that I play around on when I’m bored or need a break. Because EQ2 is the only game I’m playing at the moment I need lots of “other stuff” to keep me interested. Thankfully, I find that easily in game.

A huge thank you to the 2nd person who has donated to MmoQuests (via paypal donation top right hand side) it’s really appreciated. I’ve had the site running for 6 years now and have been happily paying for hosting since I started. They made a suggestion that I feature more player-written books from my library – so I am going to take them up on that and tomorrows post will be one of the player-written books that I’ve got in my collection. I haven’t decided which one yet. If you have a suggestion for which one you’d like to read please feel free to leave it in comments below – I realize not everyone can get to my in-game library to enjoy the books. You can find the list of them under the heading at the top of this site.

While I am having fun in EQ2 I feel a bit odd about it because a lot of my friends are not playing. They’re sort of spread all over between Rift, STO, WoW, and a few other games. Some have given up MMO gaming all together, although I have been enjoying a lot of single player stories as of late. I suppose that’s one thing I really miss about “the old days” when there were fewer choices and I knew where everyone was. On that same note I’m very thankful for social media places like twitter and G+ because it allows me to keep in touch even though none of us are playing the same games any more.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Wednesday, no matter where you find yourself. Happy gaming!