January 2013

Ding 95 (And Jenni’s Stained Pants) #EQ2

stargrace January 21, 2013 No Comments

I finally managed to reach level 95 on my main, Stargrace (defiler) last night. I was cruising along doing quests, and ended up completing the Chains of Eternity line with about 75% still needed. The rest of the level was spent in Palace of the Awakened, one of my favorite places.

I final quest was a bit of a let down. I did get an incredible cloak from completing the series, but I was expecting a bit more when I went to meet Drinal. I did have a lot of fun finding a suitable mate for Jenni’s bug, skitters, above shows the map with all of the potentials – however. The quest right before the cute mate one happened to be called “Jenni’s Stained Pants” – and that threw me for a loop. I couldn’t get over the fact that I was working on an EQ2 quest actually called that. Now, as you’re doing the quest you find out it’s because of Jenni’s bug, but to see that as an actual quest title was a bit disturbing. It could have been named anything else and not left such a sour taste in my mouth.

What’s next now that I’ve reached 95? I’d like to attempt a few dungeons, but I’ll have to do a bit of research and find out which ones are within my range. I’d also like to work an enchanter to 95, and perhaps a handful of other alts. My shadowknight may be useful. The enchanter is still only level 90 at the moment though, so there’s work to be done on that alt at least.

I really love the new guild depot boxes. I purchased the L&L one as well as the shiny one for my small guild (two people in it, we’re inching towards level 65) and gladly cleaned my bank and inventory out from all these items. It was also really nice to be able to click ‘deposit all’ and not have to sort through the bags myself.

Next I’ll have to place the 40 or so house items I got from working through the Chains of Eternity quest lines. I still wish I had of gotten a bit more gear as rewards instead.

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

Trying to Tell a Story Through Quests #EQ2 #EverQuest2

stargrace January 20, 2013 No Comments

I’m about 50% into level 94 now, and I’m having a bit of an issue trying to “get into” the quest chains I’m doing in Chains of Eternity. The zones look absolutely incredible, but almost every single quest is exactly like the quest before – what I mean is this.

Person A explains their situation and sends you out to collect 10 flower petals. You happily do so and cure them of whatever ailment they had. Then you speak to person B who needs 10 flower stems. So you head back out to those same flowers and help them out. Person B sends you to C who needs – you guessed it, flower leaves. You’re back out at the same flowers you’ve already been to twice before.

It feels like I’m doing almost the exact same quest for each person with just a slight difference in their story. Now, I’m determined to complete the Chains of Eternity story line at least once, but I’m having a really hard time ‘getting into it’.

When I completed the story line for EQ1 and their whole ether realm I felt quite pulled into the lore. It was exciting – and new. I just can’t say the same for EQ2. I feel that EQ2 has lost the art of story telling. Now, I don’t blame the developers for this either because lets face it, most of us are never going to read the stories we’re presented with. We’re just going to eagerly click through every conversation and ignore and tidbits of lore.

On the plus side I am having a fun time “running into” old dead EQ2 characters, like Jenni from Everling Castle and as I already mentioned, this is probably the ‘prettiest’ expansion I’ve ever seen them put out. Really, kudos to the art team on this expansion, it’s just amazing.

I just wish I felt more ‘compelled’ to help out Vie or whomever, as it is I get a sense of “oh great you want me to go right back to where I JUST was, and collect what now?” each time I finish a quest.

Anyone else get this feeling? Or is it just me?

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

Mains? Alts? Which to Choose! #EQ2 #EverQuest2

stargrace January 17, 2013 No Comments

A long LONG time ago, I used to have one character, and only one. Alts, were something that just didn’t exist for me. We’re talking years ago, back in my EverQuest days. I played an enchanter, and I loved it.

Somewhere along the way, things changed. It was probably my second or third year into EverQuest 2. I started out with one main, a templar. By the time Echoes of Faydwer came around I was up to three max level characters – and I was even boxing them on raids. I quickly burnt out and got fed up with having so many characters, even though I absolutely loved playing each and every one of them, I started to feel as though I was floundering a bit.

See, when I play a character I like to be as ‘good’ as I can be. That means the best gear I can get, all of my master spells (in EQ2 specifically, although these rules pertain to any MMO I play) my crafting as high as it can go. I like to ‘complete’ all major quest chains. When you have a handful of characters at ‘end game’ it’s really difficult to do.

The years went on and the alt army grew. Now I have 10 characters who have at one time all been max level. They’re currently not, with Chains of Eternity the level rose from 92 to 95 so one of them is at 93 and the rest are still 92. They’re all 95 crafters, but that barely counts.

I’ve been attempting to “get back to my roots” so to speak. Continue to work on a ‘main’ character, and just one. In EQ2 this is the defiler. Last night she continued to work on the Chains of Eternity quest line, and while the quests are quite fun I am a bit disappointed in the lack of gear rewards. Most of the rewards I’ve earned so far are house items. House items are nice, but they’re not going to help me take down an encounter as I try to level.

I also spent some time last night looking over the guild hall amenity. My guild is currently level 64, something I’m pretty proud of for how tiny we are. In fact due to a glitch, I am the only member, heh. If Tipa, or any of the other older members are reading this, feel free to poke me for re-invites. Anyhow, we’re level 64 and I had purchased 15 amenity but we have space for a few more so last night I purchased the lore & Legend amenity since I’m constantly stuffing those in the guild bank, and I also purchased the shiny amenity. This lets you store shinies in chests in the hall for other guild mates to use. I normally end up selling my shinies, but this way I can collect them all in one spot and then do a massive selling twice a year or something if I want. In any case, it’s neat to be able to collect a large amount and keep them some place where all characters have access.

I’m about 30% into level 93 at the moment, and I find it is crawling by. I try not to look at the experience bar and just do my quest chains, but some times that’s hard to do. I’ll be happy when I have at least one character back at the cap of 95.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Wurmbone’s End #EQ2

stargrace January 16, 2013 1 Comment

I’ve been trying to get my defiler, Blesse, to 95 in EQ2 but it’s been going slow. She’s working on a Chains of Eternity signature quest that has sent her to Jarsath Wastes at the moment, and into some really neat looking dungeons. The latest was Wurmbone’s End to discover and pick up a monolith. The boss encounters are pretty neat, and the zone looked stunning. Apparently this is one of seven instances added to EQ2 in Chains of Eternity.

The final boss has a mechanic that can send him into hardmode if you don’t prevent it. Apparently if you defeat him while on hardmode you can obtain three chests from him instead of the usual one. Since I’m not 95 yet and don’t have a lot of amazing gear or anything even close, I just beat him in normal mode instead.

The boss dropped a scout cloak that I can’t use – but I can pass it off to my alts. It also has a yellow adornment already in it which I thought was pretty neat. Saves me from having to purchase one myself.

I’m excited to hit 95 even if I haven’t been playing steadily. EQ2 is one of those games that I always enjoy playing here and there even if I’ve been away for a while, it’s like riding a bike, you never quite forget how to play (at least in my case).

Whether or not my other 9 alts will ever make it to 95 I’m not sure. They have at least all made it to 95 crafter, which is nice especially for the 20% bonus for each character at the cap. Since I have 1 of each crafter I don’t really need that bonus any more.

I still haven’t decorated my galleon, either. I’m trying to decide if I want to decorate it the ‘normal’ way or if I want to use the layout editor to create something magnificent. We’ll just have to see.

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