Happy Halloween!
stargrace 
October 2013
Once Again Betraying #EQ2 #EverQuest2
A few days ago I was talking about how I managed to finally complete the ‘new’ quests in the reamped City of Freeport. I mentioned that there is an achievement for completing the quests in both Freeport and Qeynos. Last night I went over to Qeynos to see if the NPCs would talk to me at all seeing as I was from Freeport, but all they did was sneer at me and tell me to go away.
It was time to (once again) betray Freeport and move to a ‘happier’ place.
I’ve betrayed a LOT of characters over the years. My defiler used to be a mystic back when level 90 was the cap. The inquisitor used to be a templar. The dirge used to be a troubador (a few times, I’ve probably betrayed that poor bard about 10 times over the years) and so on. I don’t mind the betrayal quests anymore and I can usually betray from evil to good in about 20 minutes or less.
So I headed off to Gorowyn, became exiled, made my way to Greater Faydark, and before too long was welcomed into the open arms of the Queen. Hopefully those snobby Qeynos citizens will be less likely to brush me off when I go looking for quests this time around.
Thanks to the game mechanic that leaves you with the quality of spells you had last time you were that class, I only had levels 91-95 to replace. A few black star sapphires later, I was back to my regular healing self. I can always go back to defiler later if I want, but I think I’ll stick with the mystic for a bit and see how things go.
The guild also managed to ding level 69 which means we only have ONE more level to go before I can purchase a T3 guild hall. I’m incredibly excited, I have been working towards this for a long time. Earning guild status is not too difficult, and less so when you’ve got an active guild, but when you have a guild that consists of three people it can take some time. I’m looking forward to decorating the new place. I don’t know when we’ll reach level 70, as we’re currently only 13% into level 69, but I’m hoping within the next week or two. We’ll just have to see.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.
It’s Not Always Fair #MMORPG
As we all learn sooner or later, some times, things are just not fair. This carries over into the MMO world too and can sometimes be a harsh lesson.
Take Wurm Online, for example. A player was banned for cheating not too long ago. Typically this is a zero tolerance policy, if you’re banned for good that’s just the way it is. However, this particular player who was banned happens to be popular on YouTube, and brings new players into the game, so after a few months, they allowed the player back. Other players who were banned were not allowed back, and it was decided that the popularity of this one person was worth any backlash from the loyal player base that they may incur.
Fair? No, of course not.
On a lesser degree, there’s extra-life coming up. Some groups who are quite popular with social media are receiving extra attention from the games that they’ll be streaming, where the little guys who are not quite so popular, are left behind. Even though everyone is raising money for the same cause. This happens quite frequently. I’ve been running my blog for over 7 years now but it’s not a “news” site, it’s just me writing about my adventures in whatever game I happen to be playing. As such, I don’t typically qualify for contests and prizes to give away to readers. Maybe once upon a time, but things have changed as more and more news sites have been created.
Am I a little bitter? Yes, I don’t feel that it’s fair. So what can I do about this feeling I have? Well. The best thing to do (again, for me personally) is to move on and ignore it. Know that I’m doing the best that I can, and as always I’m not doing doing this for any special reason, I write because I love writing. Raising money for extra-life has been a trial in patience this year. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has donated and supported me, but it has been much more difficult than previous years of fundraising (this is my first year doing this particular charity, but I have raised money for NaNoWriMo in November and other events over the years). I understand that money is tight, but a small part of me wonders if it’s because with the popularity of Kickstarter and humblebundle, we now “expect” that a reward and prize comes with our “donations”.
Anyhow, just some rambling thoughts this morning – back to our regularly scheduled blog posts!
The City of Freeport Timeline #EQ2 #EverQuest2
Quite some time ago, Freeport underwent a huge transformation. The citadel that Lucan D’Lere resided in fell from the sky, and the landscape was changed. Then the entire zone itself was overhauled, getting rid of the smaller housing zones and adding new quests. When it went live I wasn’t actively playing, though I did peek in to see the changes. As such, I had never actually completed the Freeport Timeline nor did I know just how very involved it is. There’s an achievement for completing the timeline, as well as one for completing the Qeynos timeline – and a title if you complete both of them. I decided to give it a go, and I’m really glad I did.
Throughout the quest series you earn a lot of neat paintings (pictured above) that show off how Freeport has changed. You’ll also earn a lot of other house items, at level 95 each quest was worth a plat and some change, you get some gear (none was an upgrade as they seem to cap at level 90, but it was still neat), along with some very cool appearance gear including a pirate captain hat. My one issue is that you’re also given a lot of cloaks. Cloaks seem to be EQ2’s go-to quest reward lately. I get so many of them and I only ever use one, so I find that it’s a bit of overkill.
I had fun exploring the revamped city zones, although there IS a lot of running around and you probably want to space the quests out instead of doing the entire chain over the course of two days like I did. I also earned myself a neat title from the priest guild, and got to visit with Lucan D’Lere. I’m not sure if I can obtain the Qeynos quests seeing as I am from Freeport, but I’m going to try. If I can’t, at least I can always betray to Qeynos in order to do them!
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.
Taking Care of Crafters #EQ2 #EverQuest2
EverQuest 2 does a fantastic job (especially compared to other games) of taking care of the population of crafters within the game. That is to say that there are lots of quests specifically for crafters, and if a player wants to craft and NOT adventure, it is doable. Special care is taken to ensure that crafters that are any adventure level can complete their quests.
There are also numerous achievements for crafters to complete, one involves finishing each of the tradeskill instances available from the Isle of Mara. Each day is a different instance, and they require you to craft 108 items and turn them in at an NPC. You can complete these instances in a group or alone, and they reward various crafting items, coin, status, and a token to purchase from a vendor in Mara. They’re also a great way to level up a crafter (you can start doing them at level 50+) because the combines require no components.
In order to get my achievement I only had one instance to go, the Shipyard located in Commonlands. As luck would have it, that was the instance yesterday and so I quickly purchased a port stone (from the vendor in Mara) and made my way over. When the zone completed I won a token, two pieces of crafting jewelry, a crafting book, and also completed the achievement which rewarded the item pictured above. A neat Nayad house item that can port you to the Village of Shin (which is in the Isle of Mara).
Crafters may feel neglected from time to time in EQ2 but that is only because they are used to NOT being neglected. We’ve come to expect it. EQ2 really does a fantastic job at catering to this type of player, and it’s important to remember that not all games do this. In fact, I’d be hard pressed to name even one that goes to the length EQ2 does (unless it is a purely crafting game, without the adventure component, those do exist).
I’m excited to see what Tears of Veeshan offers crafters, I’ve heard some things in the antonia_bayle.homeshow channel, but I’m trying to leave it as a surprise for myself. It won’t be too long now!