2011

Finishing Off the Coldain Prayer Shawl #EQ2

stargrace July 3, 2011 4Comments

That’s right, after weeks of faction work I finally managed to gain 40,000 with the Forgemasters of Thurgadin. Even more excited then I was about the shawl was the fact that the recipes are heirloom, and I managed to pass them to my other 6 level 90 crafters. Of course the shawl is pretty nice too, and I owe a HUGE thank you to the husband and wife team who managed to make all of the combines for me, as well as to Shamah from guild who supplied the alchemist portion. It was hair-raising to do the final combine that required me to craft 5 items in 12 minutes and if I missed a reaction I would have died (literally) and had to start all over. Thankfully that did not happen, and I finished with 3 minutes to spare.

I had a commission for a combine shortly afterward, it used a gem and was a fabled combine using the Thurgadin recipes. Low and behold, Brell decided to bless me during the combine and so the recipient gained their rare gem back. I received a 2 plat tip which I was a little upset about considering Brell’s proc’d and their rare was worth 500+ plat on the Antonia Bayle server – but c’est la vie. Non-crafters rarely understand the amount of work (and coin) that goes into obtaining some of the quested rewards. For example the prayer shawl uses components from 9 crafters (which I tipped for, each piece), a rare ore, a bunch of fuel, etc. I could have decided not to wear the item and thus not proc on that combine, but what’s the point.

I’ll probably never see the item go off again, but it was still neat to witness. Now I just need to complete it on the other 5 crafters, and raise my three final crafters to 90 so that I have one on each of them. Also, the +25 to all stats is incredibly nice for future missions, especially the tinkering. I’ve got over +150 tinkering between the harvest cloak, the pack pony, the shawl, and various other pieces of gear which really comes in handy in order to raise the skill.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Arr, I’m a Pirate! #EQ2

stargrace July 2, 2011 1Comment

I’ve been busy questing through the Great Divide on my swashbuckler, and she managed to earn herself this really neat pirate outfit yesterday during one of her runs. Now I just need to complete my class hat (from the Kingdom of Sky quest chain) and the outfit will be complete. She also gained a gnomish pirate title which goes well with her swashbuckling pirate titles. Over all the ensemble is cute. Certainly not unique, but it is cute. I’m sitting at 188 aa, which is quite low for DoV but I’m getting there slowly. I managed to buy a really nice sword from the x2 raid dungeon that someone was selling yesterday, and I won an upgrade in Tower of Frozen Shadows: Shadow Corridors, which was great. I still really need to work on my faction so that I can buy some proper adornments, but I know that will come with time (and dedication of course).

Torrent Knights (the guild I run on Antonia Bayle) is also doing quite well. Last week we dinged level 55 which opened up two more amenity. We’re well on our way to 56, even with only a very small group in guild (there are 6 of us total). Tomorrow I’ll have 40k forgemaster faction, which means I can complete my prayer shawl and purchase the Thurgadin recipes for the rest of my crafters. I’m incredibly excited about this, even though I’ll have to hunt down other crafters to help me complete the portions that require help, but that’s alright.

I’m thinking of leveling up the swashbuckler as a weaponsmith, one of the three crafters I don’t currently have at 90 (I’m missing a sage and an armorer besides). I miss pristine bonus, but leveling up via rush orders is not that bad since it helps the guild out.

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

A Time for Coldains #EQ2

stargrace June 30, 2011 0Comment

I’ve been switching between a few characters lately, but only my swashbuckler has come very far in completing her coldain insignia ring. Players may remember this ring well from EQ1, and if you don’t – well. Consider yourself lucky. I’m still trucking away on Forgemaster faction for the prayer shawl, I have one more day before I’ll be at 40k faction and able to continue on with my shawl. I’m excited about that.

The first few coldain rings can be done solo, or in a small group if you prefer. They were a significant upgrade for me and thanks to a guild mate having an open x2 instance I managed to complete all of the rings up to the 2nd last one. Before I can get the quest for my final ring I’ll need to complete a bunch of other prerequisites that I don’t imagine I’ll finish off any time soon. We shall see.

EQ2 players are disappointed in the lack of bonus experience for this holiday weekend after finding out that EQ1 is getting bonus experience. What made things worse is that no one officially came out and said look, we’re simply not doing it, instead the messages on forums went unanswered. If there’s one thing gamers hate, it’s being ignored. Personally, bonus experience is always a nice thing (gives me time to work on my alts) but if we don’t get it so be it. I understand that with Fan Faire looming in the distance there may be other things on their minds. I think EQ2 is getting an SC sale and a firework festival, but as of yet neither of these things are live on servers (as of July 1st 11am EST).

I’m postdating this to yesterday since I neglected to post then, and I’m enjoying the rest of my holiday Friday. Happy Canada day to my fellow Canucks!

My First “Real” DPS Class #EQ2

stargrace June 29, 2011 2Comments

When I game, I’m usually playing one of two types of characters (as far as classes go). I’m either playing a healer or I’m playing a support class. Last night I managed to get my very first ‘pure dps’ class to level 90 – which is astounding for me considering I have 6 other (yes this makes it 7) level 90 characters. What dps was it that finally made it to the end? Swashbuckler. That brings my veteran bonus experience to 140% (20% per character) which plays out well for my other characters. I had a lot of gear saved up for her which was nice, a combination of PQ and Eq anniversary items that I’ve been saving for quite some time. Thanks to help from guild mates I finished my enervated, and while I’m pretty far in terms of aa (I am only sitting at 170 at this moment) I’m still pretty happy. That brings my list of characters to:

1. 90 coercer
2. 90 illusionist / 90 provisioner
3. 90 warden / 90 woodworker
4. 90 dirge / 90 alchemist
5. 90 swashbuckler
6. 90 defiler / 90 tailor
7. 90 shadowknight
8. 84 coercer (yes, I have three enchanters, I love them that much) / 90 carpenter
9. 81 templar / 90 jeweler
10. 52 (level locked) monk
11. 35 (level locked) ranger

I still have one spare character slot, I haven’t decided if I’ll use it or wait to see what the 25th class is that Sony is adding. I was thinking I may enjoy a warlock or a wizard, but we’ll just have to see. With all of these alts you’d think that I never get anything done, but out of those characters I do have some “mini mains” that I tend to stick to consistently. I’ve barely played the illusionist this expansion, or the warden. The shadowknight is a solo character I use, the dirge and defiler are who I end up playing most of the time, with the coercer thrown in there when encounters demand it (like the final named in Tower of Frozen Shadow: SC that needs to be dispelled). While it may look like I have a lot of characters (and I suppose technically I do) I’m certainly not the only one who has this many level 90’s, or even this many characters. Channels on Antonia Bayle are filled with players advertising their army of alts LFG at any time during the day.

In any case, all that matters is that I’m having fun – which I am, despite not having a “main” to play. I hope everyone else has a fantastic day, no matter where you find yourself! Happy gaming!