2015

The Soloing Coercer

stargrace July 28, 2015 1Comment

It was too good to last. After making a blog post about the new guild I had just joined, I jinxed myself. It happened that fast. I was hanging out in Nektulos forest when a member stated they were moving on to greener pastures. Then another member said the same thing. Then two more left. These players were the ones who recruited me to the guild with promises of raiding – and I was frustrated. Then 15 in total left. I knew it would happen, as we grew the idea of ‘raid space’ became more limited. When raids are 24 people how do you make sure there’s a spot for everyone who wants to go – especially when your guild is over 200 strong. I understood their reasons for leaving but I still felt betrayed. They had recruited me just the day before, stating they needed coercers. I was excited. I got my hopes up.

So I decided to make my own guild, which is what I should have done from the start. I can still find other guilds to raid with from my own guild, or I can just forgo raiding all together. Either way, it means a lot less drama for me, and that eases my mind in a huge way. I created Combat Wombat, invited my alts, and dinged the guild to level 3. It won’t be as fast as being in a large guild, but it also won’t be as hectic and that means a lot less stress. What’s the point in playing if you’re not enjoying yourself. Of course I am still disappointed because I had gotten myself excited about the prospect of raiding, but honestly I think this is a better decision for me.

After dropping provisioning for carpentry I found myself staring at a very long grind from level 10 back up to 20 where I could choose my class again. Not having vitality really hurts, the levels inched. I did a lot of writs to get from 15-19 and then at 19 I eagerly spoke to my tradeskill member and picked carpenter. Shortly after I managed to ding 21 by doing writs. Today I’m hoping to get to 25, and that will mean my adventure level and crafting level match once again.

Speaking of leveling, I had the greatest of luck yesterday. Someone had my level 20 charm for sale (master quality) for 7 gold. Cheap enough that I had no issues affording it. I was ecstatic. I headed off to Thundering Steppes, found myself a skeleton warlock, and proceeded to solo my way to level 25 by killing ^^ yellow heroic skeletons. It’s dangerous work as a coercer, but it is also by far my most loved class. One very important thing to remember is that you can create a hotkey for /pet range and then it’s just a matter of root / nuke. I also upgraded all of my spells to at least adept quality. I don’t have a sage to upgrade things further, but with time I know I’ll level one up (that’s why I have 9 alts after all).

All in all, even with the turmoil and drama from guild, it was still a lot of fun. As long as it’s fun, I’ll keep playing.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Finding Where you Belong

stargrace July 27, 2015 4Comments

I have a really hard time finding guilds (as I’ve mentioned in a previous post). Normally my instinct is to just start my own guild – and that way I’m never disappointed. There’s no drama, I can decorate my own hall (if that’s an option) and I don’t have to worry about anyone else. This time I decided I would find a proper home. As I mentioned already, the first guild I found wasn’t that good of a fit. Then when I was grouping up in Fallen Gate, one of the group members asked if I was looking for a guild. I explained that I was, and they mentioned that they were hoping for a coercer or two to join up. That’s how I found myself in ‘Thats a Wipe’ which raids on weekends and seems to match my hours perfectly. There are of course a few downsides. Number one, the guild is gigantic, and I’m a pretty shy person so finding my groove is difficult. That also means there’s lots of competition and conversation, it’s a busy place. Great for people who are interested in all of that – but again I’m pretty quiet.

I don’t want to feel so competitive all of the time, but when you’re on a time locked server it seems that everything is rush rush rush. Guilds also tend to use a lot of voice chat, which is great – except I’m not really a fan. Raids and stuff sure, but otherwise I’m usually listening to my own stuff in the background and I’m not really interested in listening to people talk.

With that all being said, I really enjoy the guild so far. Today we did some smaller raids in Commonlands (yay, the guild is almost level 20) and I grouped up briefly to take down Varsoon. I won a coercer master even though everything was very red to me.

I also decided to swap my crafting profession (already, I know). I went from provisioner to carpenter, and now I’m excited about all the housing items I’ll get a chance to make. I managed to ding 24 coercer, and I was 22 provisioner before I re-set, now I’m back at 13. I don’t have vitality, which makes everything much slower.

Are you playing on either of the new servers? How are you enjoying it so far? Let me know in comments below!

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Public Quests in Commonlands

stargrace July 26, 2015 0Comment

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been playing a game for, you’ll still discover something you didn’t even know was there. In my case it was the fact that there are public quests in both Commonlands and Antonica. It didn’t take long to figure out because absolutely everyone was talking about it in channels. The first time I did the PQ I was level 21 and showed up at the last boss – which means I didn’t get a reward. The second time I decided to mentor down and as I write this post I’m currently waiting the 19 minutes for it to begin, hoping that it will count. It’s nice to know that these events are here. There’s a choice of weapons and a very nice fabled item that can drop, and it’s not a bad way to collect some coin.

Public quests are relatively new to EQ2 in my eyes even though some games have had them the entire time. My first experience with them was pretty positive, but as soon as there’s no longer anyone to do them, they get frustrating. When they’re a requirement in progression that makes it even worse. It’s fantastic on a new populated server like Stormhold (that’s the name for the PVE time locked server) but how long until the starter zones are empty once again.

Speaking of quests, one thing I’m looking forward to completing is the heritage quests that are all over the game. I’m holding off for now because I want to be able to do them for AA and to help give guild experience once I find a home. Others have already started these quests and I envy them a bit, but I remind myself that I don’t HAVE to be front of the line, I don’t have to rush through all the content. That’s probably one of the harder things to remind myself about, especially because MMOs can be pretty competitive and I love that sort of excitement.

20 seconds until this event starts, lets see how it works out.

After failing some rounds it looked like we weren’t going to be able to round up the DPS to get the 2x epic down, but we managed it. My DPS sucked (the life of a coercer) so I only got a legendary reward, but it was a nice 10% xp, and I had fun. Now it’s on to harvest in Nektulos Forest.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Back Home?

stargrace July 25, 2015 1Comment

Daybreak went ahead and opened up a time locked server for EverQuest 2 last week and so of course I found myself on the Isle of Refuge with a new baby coercer. All I kept thinking about was what on earth I thought I was doing. EQ2 had been ‘my game’ since it released. I wrote about it more on this 10 year old blog than I did any other game. I met friends in the game, and formed lifetime bonds. Heartache. I raided for a few years before determining that I was no longer interested in it, mostly because I didn’t have a ‘main’ character and I felt lost. Me and EQ2, we go way back. I never had dreams of recapturing how things were ‘way back then’ because lets face it things change and once you know how to do something in a video game you can’t exactly forget it and pretend that you never knew how but what I was hoping for involved a populated server, with a crowd that wasn’t bent on soloing all of the content along with their mercenary. That has been the roughest issue with going ‘back’ to EQ2 – or any game for that matter. People are content to play on their own, or only with people that they know. They’re rarely forced into situations where meeting new people or grouping up must occur in order to progress.

I created a coercer hoping that maybe (if I was very lucky) I’d be able to find others to play with, and perhaps meet new people to play with. So far the attitude of other players on the server is very different than what I experienced over in EQ1 on the progression server. Everyone seems pretty excited, happy, and most of the chat is filled with questions and people reminiscing about how long it has been since they played. Others are playing for the first time, there’s nothing quite like a brand new market and everyone starting at zero to inspire others to give it a shot. This is true for every single game I’ve ever played. Give players a fresh slate, and they will come in droves. I heard an amusing quote from someone stating that Daybreak took away our loyalty points, our fast experience, our mercenary, and all the work we have done in the past – and we thanked them for it and came to the server in masses. They’re right, too. The idea makes me giggle.

I also created 8 alternate characters. Crazy, right? Well, I’ve always been a crafter and I imagine I will once again (if I decide to stick this out, we’ll see). I enjoy being able to craft everything I want for my characters, and it gives me something to do. Even if it is slow.

Right now my coercer is level 21, and she’s a level 20 provisioner. I haven’t found a guild to join yet – well, that’s not exactly true. I did join a guild but they ended up not being a very good fit. No one was on except recruits and even then people did very little together and didn’t talk much at all. I decided to move on. Should I be less picky? Maybe, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing to be picky.

Leveling is much slower than the EQ servers. No one has reached level 50 yet, but there are some mid 30s and maybe some 40s. I know this post has been all over the place, but I’m hoping to continue posting on a regular basis and talk about what I’m actually doing in game (quests, etc). I haven’t been regular with my blog posts for a few months since there’s just always so much going on. Maybe this is my chance.