2011

Cleric Finally Hits Stonefield #Rift

I’ve been leveling really slow. I mean, REALLY slow. It’s for a few reasons, the main one being that I haven’t actually played Rift a great amount in any one sitting. It’s a few hours here and there in between playing a lot of EverQuest. As such, I just hit level 25 last night, and myself and Ogur (pictured above) just hit Stonefield when I reached 24. Someone asked me how I managed to stay in Freemarch for so long, and it was quite simple. I did a LOT of rift fights when the game first released. Now they’ve slowed down a considerable amount, I haven’t seen the map crowded like I once did and I find the large invasions have become a bit rare. Whether this is due to my server specifically (I play on Deepwood) or because everyone is crowding the higher level zones thus leaving mine barren, I’ve no idea.

I wanted to make sure I finished all of the quests in Freemarch before I moved on, and I think I managed to complete all of them but two. Those I deleted because I was tired of the same zone, I’ve been there since release, after all. Stonefield is pretty and the quests I’ve done so far are enjoyable. One had me battling gigantic trolls, which really made me feel incredibly small and powerless – which was great. In the same chain I then had to turn myself into a troll and read some glyphs scattered throughout the area – towering above everyone else was a fantastic feeling (until an invasion landed on my head, combat morphs you out of the transformation). Crafting supplies seem a bit sparse compared to Freemarch, but it could be that everyone else has been collecting (except plants, those I found in abundance). I’m finding a new difficulty with playing a priest in Rift fights. When everyone first started the game this wasn’t an issue, because there were no level 50’s running around completing level 20 rifts. I was healing a LOT, and there for contributing a lot. As time goes on I see more and more players above the level of the rift participating in the events – which is fine except that my personal contribution goes WAY down because no one is taking any damage for me to heal.

My only solution has been to switch to my DPS spec (Justicar / Druid / Shaman) and wail away at the mobs. Then when the invasions are over I switch back to my heal spec so that I can keep my tank alive as we plow through our quests. I’m not really surprised at healers having a harder time, the same happens in EQ2 public quests as well, healers are second rate citizens (especially lately, there have been major issues with heals not counting towards contribution) and making a contribution to what is going on always seems hard. My tank friends on the other hand is always way up there in contribution. I would really love to see some sort of magical ‘easy answer’ to this problem but I doubt very highly that one will come.

In the mean time I just try to participate in every single rift and invasion that I see. I’m toying with changing my spec’s around a lot. I find myself not using warden (thinking of switching to druid for the pet but I’m unsure) and on that same note, I’m not fond of the shaman build either. Perhaps that’s a goal for today, to play around with my builds some what and see what appeals to me on a greater level. I love playing justicar for DPS, and I love sentinel for healing but I would enjoy branching out a bit. Then there’s also my 10 scout and 10 mage to level up eventually. For now they’re acting as crafters, I have Stargrace (25 cleric) who is my Artificer / mining / forager – then Kameeko (10 scout) is my Outfitter / butcher / armorer, and Velours (10 mage) is my apothecary / runecrafter / misc (I haven’t decided yet). It’s one more thing that makes me truly appreciate EverQuest where I can focus on ONE character, and work on aa to unlock every craft that I’d like to work on. I wouldn’t have the alts if I could do it all on one.

P.S. WRU player housing. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

EverQuest Patch Notes #EQ #EverQuest

*** Highlights ***

– Corrected an issue that could cause corpses to lock incorrectly.
– Added /kickplayers, a new command that allows expedition leaders to kick everybody from the dynamic zone and shared task leaders to kick everybody out of the shared task, which results in them also getting booted form the dynamic zone associated with the shared task.  See the Miscellaneous section below for details.
– Many problems with boats have been fixed.  See the Miscellaneous section below for details.
– The minimum fizzle rates for all classes have been reduced, as well as the amount of mana used by a fizzle.
– Zones with key or flag requirements will now unlock themselves automatically when later expansions open (on standard and progression servers). Meldrath’s Mansion and Crystallos zones are now unlocked on standard servers.
– Keep an eye out for Grundle Cogwelder in the Plane of Knowledge.  He has been hearing some interesting rumors about hares.

*** Items ***

– Corrected the lore group on bottles of bleach.
– The Portable Forge should no longer spawn on top of the user.
– The Which Came First item will create a more limited variety of eggs now.
– The Potion of Divinity can not be used as often as it could previously.
– Removed the Encompassing Nightmare IV focus from Doll of the Nameless Child and added it to Shiliskin Metamagic Totem, where it would actually be used.
– Slightly increased the backstab damage on House of Thule daggers.
– Added detrimental haste focus to the all/all legs from House of Thule zones.
– The Katta’s Signet charm and those like it will now have much more reliable stats.
– The Whirligig Flyer now properly grants AC.
– Corrected typos on several items.
– Corrected several mounts that were not usable in combat.

*** Tradeskills ***

– Good Iva’s in Paineel now has an oven.
– Failing to craft Prepared Dream Meat no longer returns any items.
– Older alchemy potions on the Progression Server recipes now stack to 10.
– Fire opals are back in stock at their normal vendors.

*** Quests & Events ***

– Some missing kobold parts have been restored to Toxxulia.
– Wellis Pestule will now ask for the correct item when you are sharpening the Rusty Scourge Knight Saber for him.
– Norten Magmaflinger will now speak to characters at maximum level.
– Corrected the items that Kugaran asks for in the Troll Shadowknight weapon quest.
– Shana Liskia now asks for the correct items in the quest for the Dagger of the Academy.
– Corrected the requirement for reforging rhodium into Burning Ash of the Lake.  It now correctly requires completing the Keymaster’s event.

*** Spells ***

– The minimum fizzle rates for all classes have been reduced, as well as the amount of mana used by a fizzle.
– Players who are under a rabbit illusion will have their viewpoint set much closer to the ground.
– The ventriloquism effect works again.
– Resurrection spells now issue text messages so players can set an audio trigger.
– Fixed an issue with doom spells not working when the target is an NPC.
– Bard – Corrected the cap on the damage shield portion of War March of Dagda.
– Beastlord – Kron’s Maelstrom should no longer interfere with Funeral Dirge.
– Cleric and Druid – Increased the strength of Reject Corruption.
– Druid and Shaman – Corrected the amount of corruption cured by Chant of the Tae Ew.
– Druid – Corrected the cap on the AC reduction of Argent Frost.
– Druid – Increased the AE range on Lunamelioration.
– Enchanter – Baffling Constriction now reduces accuracy with all melee skills.
– Magician – Monster Summoning should now summon local denizens in House of Thule zones.
– Necromancer – Scapegoat has had its cost lowered and your scapegoat will now correctly cast spells at your target when summoned.
– Necromancer – Rebalanced the Splirt spell to decay faster and deal more damage overall.
– Necromancer – Corrected the damage added by the Irae Faycite Shard: Splirt to match the new damage values on Splirt (and corrected its name).
– Necromancer – Cascading Deathshield will now properly heal your pet when each bulwark expires.
– Ranger – Corrected the cap on the damage shield portion of Quillcoat.
– Ranger – Moved Burning Ash to timer 4 so it no longer interferes with Cataclysm Ash.
– Ranger – Moved Biting Wind to timer 3 so it no longer interferes with Windwhip Bite.
– Rogue – Removed an invalid cast message from Aggravated Bloodlust III.
– Shadowknight – Corrected the cap on the AC buff portion of Drape of Fear.
– Shadowknight – The snare component of Despairing Darkness will no longer ignore immunities.  It is still very difficult for normal NPCs to resist.
– Shadowknight – Corrected the heal cast when Gorgon Mantle Rk. III is broken by melee damage.
– Wizard – The Irae Faycite Shard: Brainfreeze Strike will now correctly add damage to Brainfreeze spells.

*** NPC ***

– Melee DPS mercenaries obtained via LoN rewards can now be buffed by players.
– Fixed some issues when un-suspending a buffed and geared pet that has been suspended across zone lines.
– Fixed a crash bug caused by attempting to log in on a character with no corpse.

*** AA ***

– Fixed a problem causing suspended pets to lose gear and buffs when their owner zoned.
– Magician – Theft of Essence will now work correctly with the Annihilate the Divergent spell line.
– Necromancer – Blood Magic should now behave in a more predictable manner giving full benefit to each rank. Please note, each step for Blood Magic is now shorter than the original.
– Paladin – Reduced the critical damage effect of Valorous Rage across all ranks.
– Paladin – Fixed the AC component of Blessing of the Faithful.

*** Achievements ***

– Epic titles should no longer go away if you place your epic items in your house as long as you have the epic achievement.

*** Progression Servers ***

– Corrected several recipes that were producing too much money and returned the alchemy vendors that sold the parts for them on progression servers.
– The Vial of Pure Water recipe has been made available on Progression servers.
– Newbie weapons (and other items from those quests) on Progression servers will now be weaker until more expansions are unlocked.
– Barbarian Northern Wolf and White Rose armor quests should now be working on progression servers.
– Quests for armor “of Ro” can now be completed on progression servers.
– Shaman armor quests that produce armor “of Justice” can now be completed on progression servers.
– Dark Elf quests for Orc Slayer, Bone Mail, and Ashen Bone Mail armors should now be functioning on progression servers.
– Druid armor quests that produce “Moss Toe” armor can now be completed on progression servers.
– Erudite Abattoir Initiate, Fell Blade, and Templar of Fright armor recipes have been enabled on progression servers.
– Gnome Plague and Initiate’s Watchmen armor recipes have been enabled on progression servers.
– Restored some missing gnomish newbie armor quest givers to progression servers.
– Half Elf/Wood Elf quests for Emerald Novice armor should now be functioning on progression servers.
– Halfling Thorn Mail and Bravefoot armor recipes have been enabled on progression servers.
– High Elf Art Keepers and Sylvan Initiate armor can now be created on progression servers.
– Human Coalition Trader, Sturdy Workman, Dismal Knight, Scourge Warrior, Scourge Sorcerer, Rage Sorcerer, Songweavers, Pestilence Priest, and Dismal Warrior armor recipes have been enabled on progression servers.
– Ogre quests for armors of Protection, Darkness, and War should now be functioning on progression servers.
– Troll armor quests for Da Bashers should now be working on progression servers.
– Krivn S`Tai has returned to progression servers.
– Some missing kobold parts have been restored to Toxxulia.
– Returned some creatures that were not spawning properly in the Butcherblock Mountains on progression servers.
– Restored some missing NPC spawns in Lavastorm on progression servers.
– Gnomes can now complete the quest for the Plague Raiser Mace on progression servers.
– Andara C’Luzz has been returned to her post on progression servers.
– Brunnel Kegstander is now available on progression servers.
– Wendel Deeppockets has returned to progression servers.

*** Miscellaneous ***

– Saltpeter is now available in the Lavastorm Mountains.
– Increased the size of the obsidian building blocks to match other building block sets.
– Added /kickplayers, a new command that allows expedition leaders to kick everybody from the dynamic zone and shared task leaders to kick everybody out of the shared task, which results in them also getting booted form the dynamic zone associated with the shared task.
– Usage:
– /kickplayers task — Removes all players from shared task and also removes them from the associated dynamic zone.
– /kickplayers exp — Removes all players from the expedition, including players not currently in the dynamic zone.
– Fixed problems with looting rights.
– Polls: Implemented the ability to teleport to winners of real estate polls.
– Fixed a crash bug when a PvP player’s infamy changes and becomes tied with more than 4 other players.
– Fixed a few boat bugs that caused players to drop into the water, drop on the boat and take falling damage, disconnects when zoning on a boat, and the “rubber band” effect when riding with other players on a boat.
– You will no longer need to completely exit out of the game when you get extra character slots.  They will be available to you the next time you enter character select.
– Added in Rotate Yard combobox to the Layouts tab of the Real Estate Items window.  This allows you to choose which direction you want a yard facing in when it is loaded.  Also updated the Layout help page with info on the Rotate Yard option.
– Fixed some minor memory leaks related to spells.

*** UI ***

– Long tool tips will now wrap to multiple lines.
– The item display window has been updated to display total skill mod information.
– In the real estate items window, if a full stack is moved it will remain selected, or the stack it is combined with will become selected.  However, if only part of the stack is moved, the remaining portion of the stack will remain selected.
– Fixed an issue that was not allowing the results of closed non-real estate polls to display.

– Added –
EQUI_NameChangeMercWnd.xml
EQUI_NameChangePetWnd.xml

– Changed –
EQUI.xml
EQUI_Animations.xml
EQUI_CharacterCreate.xml

*** Previously Updated ***

– The First Creation – The Creation should leave a corpse more reliably.
– The Mechamatic Guardian has a limiter on the number of steamworks it can command at once.  It will no longer process damage if this limit is exceeded.
– Reduced the spell resistances and the resistance to combat abilities on the Mechamatic Guardian.  It should also return to where it belongs if pulled or pushed away.
– Increased the number of adds that spawn during the 12th Anniversary Mechamatic Guardian event by 25 to 33 percent per wave.
– Fixed the bug with the “Stealing My Life Back” mission that prevented updates for killing an angry helibot.
– Removed NPCs and some quest rewards that were appearing too early on progression servers.
– The rare items required for the Hunt for Shards task have been made more common, and more shards will be up at once.

– The EverQuest Team

The (long) Road to 300 #EQ #EverQuest

One of my ‘goals’ (I love setting goals for myself in games, gives me a bit of direction) is to one day complete the Prayer Shawl 2.0 quest that came out with Underfoot. I had a blast finishing off the 1.0 Shawl (many) years ago, and when I heard about the new one of course I wanted to face that challenge. You require 300 in the ‘basics’ of crafting (this excludes things like alchemy, tinkering, and spell research) in order to receive the quest. I’ve been working my skills up (slowly) and have been quite pleased with my progress. The signature above is a few days out of date since I haven’t sync’d my character lately, but as you can see I’ve already gotten 300 in JC and baking. Added to that list I’ve raised tinkering by a fair amount (just because) and my blacksmithing and tailoring have also raised a few points each. I’m excited to finally get 300 in all my tradeskills although it will still take some time and a lot of farming. Yesterday I headed off to Acrylia Caverns in order to farm (you guessed it) acrylia for my tinkering. I was making Geerlok automated hammers.

The rest of my evening (before I eventually could no longer keep my eyes open) was spent doing missions with Ninga and Mileren (along with a boxed cleric, Elte) two monks that I spend most of my time in game with. There’s also Durf who is leveling up a zerker after being unsatisfied with his 82 shaman, and rumors that another mutual friend of ours may come back who plays a level 85 mage. It’s really nice to see so many people around although don’t get me wrong if you’re a new player returning to the ‘regular’ EQ servers you’ll be spending most of your time leveling up alone – if you’re persistent and use the public channels you WILL meet new people to play with but lower levels are a little sparse, until about 60-70 or so. That’s not to say people are not out there, they certainly are, it just takes a little while to wiggle your way into a group.

With HoT progression mostly complete (there are a few flags and keys I still want to obtain on the enchanter) my eyes are set on working through the Underfoot progression chain. I have barely even set foot into the expansion that’s already more then a year old, and I’m excited about exploring. Even if the gear is no longer valid, there’s still a lot of quests I’d like to try and who knows what I may find along the way.

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

Bobo Gleemaker and the Mini Jokester in ‘This Ain’t Right’ #EQ

Turns out that this April 1st also added a new quest that I had completely forgotten about until someone linked one of the rewards (the marionette pictured above) to channels. You may have noticed this new NPC in PoK – standing at a tree beside the Plane of Tranquility stone. His (her?) name is Bobo Gleemaker, and his first task is solo (and scales with your level). A note here – in order to get the group task you MUST complete the level 90 version of his quest. Only one person in the group needs it in order to request the mission. You can shroud down to request other versions of the first task but the group one must be done at level 90.

The solo quest sends you to the Feerrott to kill 5 yodeling gorillas, and to loot music books from them. This isn’t exactly a *solo* task by any means, they con white to a level 90. None the less myself and a few friends grouped up to give it a go – what we were really after was the group task. The gorillas fell easily enough and we headed back to PoK to request the task.

When you request the group task you must say the words “Hubadee dubadee doo” in order to zone in – and then you’ll find yourself (and your group) in an instanced version of Plane of Knowledge. If you thought all was well, you’d be mistaken. Your first sign that not all is right would be the tiny elephants that litter the zone in. Your quest update would also indicate that you are not just there for pleasure:

  • Hail Bobo Gleemaker 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)NOTE: This locks the task.
  • Kill Tiny Elephants 0/8 (Plane of Knowledge)The elephants are found in the neutral area of the zone.
  • Loot a Tiny Elephant Trunk from a Tiny Elephant 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)
  • Kill Cannibalistic Gingerbread Men 0/8 (Plane of Knowledge)These are found on the good side of the zone.
  • Loot a Gingerbread Man Spleen from a Cannibalistic Gingerbread Man. 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)
  • Kill Grugglemumps. 0/8 (Plane of Knowledge)These are found on the evil side of the Plane of Knowledge.
  • Loot a Grugglemump Hide from a Grugglemump. 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)
  • Kill Edwin, the Gingerbread Man. 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)Edwin Destroyer of Worlds, a huge gingerbread man, is next to the trader building on the opposite side from the Herald of Druzzil Ro and near the monster shroud NPC.
  • Kill the World’s Tiniest Giant. 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)The World’s Tiniest Giant is right outside the stairs to the library (at the bottom) near the big bank.
    Completing the above steps opens up three more steps:
  • Give the Tiny Elephant Trunk to Bobo Gleemaker. 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)
  • Give the Gingerbread Man Spleen to Bobo Gleemaker. 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)
  • Give the Gruggleump Hide to Bobo Gleemaker. 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)Then, after doing those turn-ins:
  • Speak with Bobo Gleemaker. 0/1 (Plane of Knowledge)

At the end of the task Bristlebane himself appears to give you your reward which is a chest filled with a hobby horse. This “mount” can be shown off but you can’t actually MOVE anywhere on it, which I found hilarious. Of course you’re also granted the house item I pictured above, which was the whole reason I wanted to do the zone to begin with. Over all I found the task a little lengthy, but the aa was good. My enchanter just passed the 500 aa mark, which is nothing by these days standards – but considering I was level 81 and only had 100 aa in March, I’m pretty pleased.

I’ve been spending a lot of time reading the Norrathian Homeshow lately, and not the EQ2 version of the forums, but the EQ1 version. Some players have created astounding homes and I’ve been working on an idea (at least in my mind) to create a gnome home for my enchanter. I haven’t actually started to build yet, but I’m looking forward to getting started (eventually). Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself, I’ll see you in Norrath!

Rift: Hotfix #15: 7:00am PDT 4/10/11 – #Rift

WORLD EVENT
* Phase 2 of the World Event has been rescheduled for April 16 at 12:00pm server time, due to the stability issues discovered this morning. The World Event UI now shows the updated date.
* For Phase 1, new Trinket items, Lesser Essences, and weapon glow effect items have been added to the World Event merchants.
* Minor Death Rifts now all drop 4 Otherworldly Sourcestone. Major Death Rifts drop 8. Death Zone Events and River of Souls daily quests now award 15 Otherworldly Sourcestone.

GENERAL
* Re-added the ability to promote guild members who are not online.
* Fixed a bug with taunts not always working correctly, especially on initial pulls.
* Audio: Corrected the repeating buff sound from Beastmaster’s Protective Companion.
* Fixed a chat bug that allowed sending of fake server messages.

ZONES

GREENSCALE’S BLIGHT [Raid]
* Players can no longer enter the Hylas arena without being teleported during the critter phase.
* Life Aura should spawn more reliably.

IRON PINE PEAK
* Telara On the Brink: Fixed a bug that would often cause this quest to not function properly.

SHIMMERSAND
* Sight Unseen: Players who die in Farsight Tower should now be able to resurrect at their corpse if they choose to respawn.

MOONSHADE HIGHLANDS
* Increased the respawn time on some named faeries in Faering Woods if no players are nearby who need them for quests.