October 2012

Blesse The Defiler Dings 92 #EQ2 #EverQuest2

stargrace October 17, 2012 1 Comment

The count down to SOE Live is underway, and if you’re unable to make it this year you can watch a few of the panels live on twitch tv. SOE has posted a schedule so people don’t miss anything. I was incredibly excited and pleased to see that Vanguard has two panels this year,  in previous years Vanguard was the game no one wanted to talk about and you wouldn’t even find it at Fan Faire.

I spent most of yesterday working on my defiler. So far only my swashbuckler had braved the Withered Lands and managed to inch her way to 92 (I did this back in April, and I barely remembered it) and I was not really looking forward to leveling another character. I found the experience incredibly slow, so instead of questing I headed to my favorite old haunts and boxed my way through old instances. I hate having to compete with other characters in zones, so I tend to stick to instances when I can. My rout included going to Barren Sky and completing Vaults (and poking my head into Palace of the Awakened to see how busy it was), then heading off to Halls of Fate in the Bonemire. From there I went to The Blackscale Sepulcher, and Den of the Devourer, and off to Jarsath Wastes to Vault of Eternal Sleep, and Maidens Chamber. Before I knew it I was 92, and made my way to Freeport to complete the Chains of Eternity pre-quest that rewards a really nice legendary necklace.

At 92 you can begin to work on Skyshrine quests, and one of the first things I wanted to do was get the tradeskill apprentice. Sure you can buy it from the broker, but what is the fun of that! Next I’ll be working on getting my aa to 320, and then that character will be all ready for the next expansion when it releases. Of course I still have 8 other characters to go, but it’s a nice start!

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Chains of Eternity #EQ2 #EverQuest2

stargrace October 15, 2012 4 Comments

I’m excited about the next EverQuest2 expansion ‘Chains of Eternity’. No big surprise there, I get excited about any expansion for any game (did you know LotRO is releasing Rohan today? Urge to play, rising). The story reminds me a bit of the void creatures who invaded Norrath not that long ago:

“Death is rampant across Norrath. Citizens are suddenly falling dead as their spirits are torn from their bodies. No one on Norrath seems to understand why the souls are being pulled from the mortal plane, but all signs point to a massive disturbance within Ethernere, the realm of the dead. The heroes of the world must travel to Ethernere to find the cause of the unbalance in the Grey Wastes, and discover what has become of its caretaker – the mysterious being known as Drinal. If the heroes can return balance to Ethernere, the siphoning of souls may be halted. Should they fail, both the living and the dead will suffer a dismal fate.” – zam.com 

I did my first pre-quest to the expansion yesterday and I don’t want to spoil the story but I did get a very nice level 92 necklace out of it. I completed it on my swashbuckler, Jacquotte, who is the only level 92 character I have at the moment. The rest of my characters are still sitting at a dismal level 90, most of them not having the required 280+ aa in order to progress further. A handful of them are close, hovering between 230-250aa and that is what I spent most of my game time this weekend working on. Inching them further and further.

Except the bard, who I betrayed from Troubador to Dirge. Again. This is probably the .. 20th? Time I’ve betrayed that specific character back and forth. I’ve written about it a lot, too. I’m thinking of betraying my shadowknight to a paladin as well for the simple fact that there are a billion SK out there. I know, not exactly a good reason. I do enjoy the ‘fresh’ feeling my characters get when I betray them though.

Chains of Eternity will change the current cap of 92 to 95, adding three new levels. Of course there are other features being added too:

• Prestige Abilities – Each subclass will get access to new Prestige Abilities!
• Prestige Tradeskills – Your crafting will shine like never before with Prestige Tradeskills.
• Organic Adornments – New adornments that gain experience with you and grow in power.
• Guild Level Cap Raised to 95.
• Adventure to Level 95.
• Tradeskill to Level 95.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Pathing Back ‘Home’ #EQ2

stargrace October 13, 2012 2 Comments

I’ve been having a lot of fun in WoW, and before that, GW2 – but something is still missing. In WoW it is too easy for me to get to 90 and have all of the gear that I can possibly get without becoming a hard core raider. LFRaid and LFDungeon take care of that – plus there’s all of those caps on valor and justice to deal with. WoW does a nice job of keeping me in line, and making me follow that carefully laid out path. Some times I enjoy it, the lack of ‘thinking’ required to play. I gleefully hunt up companion pets and chatter with friends. sadly, the new ‘grind dailies until your eyes bleed’ method of MOP is completely unappealing to me. You need faction for everything. You need it for recipes. You need it for gear. You need it for valor gear. Since the removal of tabards to earn that faction you’re left with 300+ dailies. Golden Lotus pretty much did me in, I dislike that faction with a passion that goes beyond what it deserves. I just don’t enjoy grinding out dailies. While there is still lots to do, it’s not stuff that I actually want to do. Thus MOP takes a back seat, and when my 1 year subscription ends at the end of this month I’m debating whether or not I want to renew.

In true nomadic gamer fashion, I wandered over to EQ2 where I’ve barely played the past year or so. I know only a handful of people, no one from my personal guild. That’s alright. There’s lots for me to do and I started off by working on heritage quests because they scratch a nostalgic itch for both EQ1 and EQ2. The first day I completed In Honor and Service, An Axe from the Past, and Dragoon K’Naae of the Thexians. Today I completed War and Wardrobe, Restoring Ghoulbane, and Reaching blade of the assassin. This evening I’m working on The Rescue of the Green Hoods, and Training is a shield. I’m basically working through the giant list of heritage quests in order by level, starting with the lowest. I’d like to get back into doing groups and dungeons and the like, but I don’t have the faintest idea where to start. That’s not such a big deal because Chains of Eternity is not too far away, and I could (if I so wished) “start over” when everyone else was making the climb through the new expansion as well.

I’ve missed housing, a lot. In fact one of the main reasons I’m working through heritage quests is because I’d like to create a HQ room in my Norrathian Museum. My library now has over 600 player written books, by 300 authors. These are things I’ve spent years working on (quite literally) and take a lot of pride in. As much as I may dislike certain policies or actions by SOE in regards to their game, deep down it still offers me more than most of the other games I have on my plate. Of course in a week or two or three or a month or six months, I’ll change what I’m playing again. It’s just how I am.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!