2011

Master Tailoring Trophy and House Items #EQ

stargrace March 19, 2011 0Comment

Yesterday was a fantastic day in EQ1 for me, personally. I was a mere 5 points away from hitting my goal of 300 tailor (the current cap) and I had been saving up pelts and silk in order to make my way. It took a lot longer then I imagined it would, but I should have known better. Finally, I hit 300. Now if you played EQ you may remember the old day crafting trophies. They were items that gave you a % mod to your skill, as well as the ability to summon a weight reduction bag. In Prophecy of Ro these trophies were changed into actual trophies that players could obtain, with a higher % mod, and a lot more stats. In House of Thule they became house items – and not only that but they became house items with an activated buff that you can manage through your tribute window system. That means instead of wearing the house item you can simply place it and activate your house trophies and have the % mod while you’re anywhere in Norrath. AWESOME.This allows me to activate any and all of my crafting trophies as I obtain them and not have to actually cart them around on me. There’s one for each ‘true’ craft (ie: Researcher is not included because not everyone can do it although poison making is included).

In order to obtain this trophy you need to speak to Event Coordinator Baublie Digg in West Freeport. She’s just outside the gates standing beside Judge Marion Teld’mare who will look over your work when it’s completed. There’s two ways to start on your trophy. You can 1. start the beginner trophy quest as soon as you have reached 50 skill in any craft – or you can wait until any level within that craft and then do the quest. The neat thing is that these trophy items evolve as you do combines above your current skill level. There are 7 ranks in all, and in order to get from rank 6 to 7 you’ll need to do combines with a trivial higher then 300. It takes anywhere from 400-1,000 combines in order to level the trophy into a mystical bolt.

I decided to wait until I had hit 300 in tailoring to begin my trophy quest, but for my next craft (I’m thinking baking) I’ll start the trophy first and compare the evolving process of each item. I was required to make 10 items (and not fail on any of them) then turn them in to the judge. The problem is almost all of these items are old world items and they require components that no one was selling in the bazaar. They also all have a number of subcombines, which meant I had a lot of farming to do first.

Create 1 Studded Boots using tradeskills – ALL
Create 1 Crystalline Silk Collar using tradeskills – ALL
Create 1 Platinum Forestgreen Ribbon using tradeskills – ALL
Create 1 Etched Scale Snake Whip using tradeskills – ALL
Create 1 Arctic Wyvern Cloak using tradeskills – ALL
Create 1 Grandmaster Tailor’s Needle using tradeskills – ALL
Create 1 Holgresh Fur Moccasins using tradeskills – ALL
Create 1 Fine Silk Robe Template using tradeskills – ALL
Create 1 Othmir Fur Cloak using tradeskills – ALL
Create 1 Ice Silk Amice using tradeskills – ALL

I failed one combine throughout the process, and made sure I was wearing a geerlock so that my skill was at least above 300 while I attempted these. A lot of the subcombines used components from other crafting professions, so I used my enchanter to make them all for me, you only need to make the final combine in order to get credit.

Next? Inching my way to 300 on all other crafting professions, getting the trophies for them all – doing the prayer shawl 1.0 and then eventually the shawl 2.0 that was released in Underfoot. Adventurous? Yes. But that’s why I love this game.

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

12th Anniversary Solo Quest

stargrace March 18, 2011 0Comment

This solo anniversary quest has been my downfall since it released on Wednesday. See, there’s a collector located in Sunrise Hills in a bright red robe, and he needs your help finding these magical shards (collection bits) that are scattered throughout the zone. The reward is a fairly nice augment that you can add to your gear. The problem is there’s a number of them you need to find, and they are in categories ranging from common to ultra rare. There are five more I need to find and these things are incredibly tiny not to mention rare. If you happen to be in a housing zone that involves another player (or two) then forget it. The best thing you can do is move on to another place with less people.

Thankfully the items are tradeable between characters and will still update the quest, so if you’re looking to trade pieces be sure to advertise on the channels.

Yesterday was a day for alts. I’ve been leveling a shadowknight and bard together (along with some mercs) and managed to get the bard from 34-50 and the shadowknight from 45 to 53. Not too shabby considering there’s no bonus experience going on right now. Most of the time was spent in Howling Stones, which is a bonus xp zone. I’m looking forward to hitting 60 on both characters (or any number of my alts) so that I can group up with level 90’s and still gain experience.

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend, no matter where you find yourself! I’ll see you in Norrath.

EverQuest Adds Cherry Trees as a Symbol of Hope #EQ

stargrace March 17, 2011 0Comment

The EverQuest Team and Sony Online Entertainment would like to express our support and condolences for those affected by the recent tragedies in Japan. The cherry trees that have appeared in the Plane of Knowledge and Neighborhood zones are a symbol of our hope for a quick recovery.

The Mechamatic Guardian: Infiltrating the Guardian #EQ

stargrace March 17, 2011 0Comment

The new group task added yesterday takes place in a unique version of The Mechamatic Guardian, a zone that I just don’t like. Me and Ninga managed to complete the first portion of the zone with our mercenary (I have a J5 tank, he a J5 healer) and then Xaoz joined us on his shaman and monk for the final fight against the CPU. You basically have to hack into a computer using codes, and then play through a very long final event to defeat the CPU.

Your very first task after zoning in is to defeat Mechano Steam Sentinels, Sentries, and Warders, which are mobs found on the upper floors. Then you’ve got to pour bleach into the oil reserves bay. This bay is straight on the main floor, in a room to the right hand side. The problem is that it’s also covered with see invis oil blobs that you’ve got to defeat. Once that is completed you need to speak with Gearbie, and then defeat the CPU’s creator – Sork Hibbleton. You steal a book of codes from him and are required to enter these codes into the CPU. Only one code is the correct one, for my group (I am unsure if this is random or not) the code was 123456. Not exactly difficult to crack that’s for sure. When you speak the wrong code four adds spawn, so if you can get someone who can feign or at least stand in the hallway across from the CPU that is the best bet.

Finally you’ve got to defeat the CPU itself. This is where we had trouble. See four times during the fight he spawns four adds. We had no crowd control class so what we had to do was be on the watch for adds and then back off and feign (while the shaman used their totem to escape combat) and then monk pull the four adds. Then we would resume our attack on the CPU which would have regenerated to full while we were dealing with the adds. The adds have a small knock back, and the CPU has an AOE slow that’s annoying if you’re a melee. The best bet in an ideal situation if you have no crowd control would be to range fight the CPU from the hallway, and pacify pull the adds each time they spawn, ignoring the CPU at that time.

The fight was difficult with our make up but I loved completing it. The rewards were nice – except for the small fact that they have no augment slots. At least not the 85-89 versions I’m unsure as to whether or not the level 90 version of the zone is different. I wasn’t able to request that one because I wasn’t level 90 at the time. I claimed an item that has enhance minion 8 on it, as opposed to my previous earring with enhance minion 6. Pretty excited, it’s always a good thing to be able to summon stronger pets. There are numerous rewards with a few different clickies, so if you’re looking for a challenge to do with friends, this is a great one.

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

First Max Level EverQuest Character #EQ

stargrace March 16, 2011 2Comments

Not only was everyone in game celebrating the 12th birthday of EverQuest yesterday but thanks to a few tasks I also managed to get my first ever level capped character – of course it did take me 12 years, but it’s better late then never, right? My necromancer came close to hitting the cap of 85 last expansion but never quite made it there before I moved on to other games. This year I was determined to hit 90 no matter what – and I’m incredibly pleased that I did. Now that I’m 90 there’s so much more to work on, especially aa. A lot of people have 2500+ and I’m just brushing up to 300. There’s the bard on my 2nd account that I’d like to level up, and lets not forget all of the crafting I have yet to do, as well as exploring more old world content and doing activities in expansions I’ve missed almost completely like Underfoot.

This year there is a new solo quest, a group quest, and a new raid. I’ve been working on the solo quest and completed the group quest which I’ll write about in a separate post. I’m not sure if I’ll manage to get a chance to do the raid but if I see anyone recruiting for it I’ll attempt to join.

The solo quest takes place within the new housing zone of Sunrise Hills. There’s a collector in a bright red robe that you can barely miss, musing over lost shards spread throughout the zone. He gives you a task to collect them all, tiny little semi rare shards on the ground. They glow a bright neon green so once you spot one they’re hard to miss but the quest will take a few hours to do. Thankfully you can 1. purchase pieces from other players if you know what you’re looking for and 2. trade between players for missing pieces. You’ll end up with a handful of doubles since the spawning items are rare and not lore, and there are a good number of them to collect. After working on this quest for two hours I had five of the pieces down and another 9 to go I believe. Hopefully I’ll manage to collect the rest once the game comes back up later today.

Fabled are also back in game but this year there’s no motivation for me to take part in the event as none of the items would be an upgrade. Fabled encounters stop with the Planar Power expansion with no additions coming in the foreseeable future, and while I’m happy that I won’t have to deal with the very long painful camps (I did two years ago) I sort of miss the excitement of this portion of the anniversary.

Do you plan on playing with any of the anniversary fun? Hard to believe that EverQuest is already 12 years old and still going strong! Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself, I’ll see you in Norrath!