Time for Faction! #EverQuest
stargrace 
There have been a few things I’ve been working on with Oger in EverQuest, but the two major projects have been working on the Dragons of Norrath progression (evil), along with the Trials of Mata Muram. Both are quite easy these days especially with mercenary, and the trials more so since the lock out timers have been tweaked slightly. You can now complete each one every 2 hours – 3 day lock out for completion (or winning), 2h lock out for a failure, and an overall 2h timer before you can move from one to the next. Oger and I managed to complete all 6 over the weekend which raised the base resists we are able to have by a small amount each trial. The hardest one required special spells to open chests scattered around the room and since I did’t have my spells at the time (they’re now sold in PoK, quite easy to obtain, but I didn’t know that at the time) we failed it. Returning later that evening netted a win at least.
Dragons of Norrath progression is a bit more difficult because it’s a faction grind. Faction in EverQuest can be a long and tedious task, as shown here by EQresource:
-3000 to -1999 – lowest faction points
-2000 to -751 – Scowls at you ready to attack! (KOS) (approx. 1300 point range)
-750 to -501 – Glares are you threateningly! (KOS) (approx. 250 point range)
-500 to -101 – Glowers at you dubiously. (Not KOS but very close to) (approx. 400 point range)
-100 to -1 – Looks your way apprehensively. (approx. 100 point range)
0 to +99 – Regards you indifferently. (The majority of NPC’s have this neutral standing with you) (approx. 100 point range)
+100 to +499 – Judges you amiably. (approx. 400 point range)
+500 to +749 – Kindly considers you. (approx. 250 point range)
+750 to +1099 – Looks upon you warmly. (approx. 450 point range)
+1100 to +2000 – Regards you as an ally. (Highest level of faction attainable) (approx. 1000 point range)
+2001 to +3000 – highest faction points
At the moment I am kindly faction with The Dark Reign, and have completed up to tier four in progression. I also managed to pre-loot the pieces for the final tier, completing them the previous week with Nonpoint and Xoxox who were completing the raids for another friend. These days the group tasks can be completed solo (especially with mercenary) so the faction grind is not quite as bad as it once was, but the raids still take a little bit of finesse.
You earn a few useful things for completing faction, the first tier unlocks the passive ability to increase your max stats by 10. The second tier grants 250 hp / mana / end and the third tier increases your buff slot limit by one. The fourth tier which is the one I’m currently trying to complete increases the critical chance of melee / magical attacks and heals and finally the fifth tier increases your ability to resist a detrimental spell.
I’ve been enjoying myself as we go through these older quests and factions. They’re still relevant and while I may not be able to handle doing much alone in the current content (just the way EverQuest is) at least I’m not completely useless.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!