stargrace

30 Tailor, and a lack of vitality

stargrace July 20, 2006 No Comments

I absolutely hate the crafting changes since LU24. I speak from a long time crafter, I’ve had one of every class, and it has nothing really to do with the fact that there are now a bazillion other crafters out there (thanks soe), but mostly because it takes a lot more raws and a lot longer to get anywhere and feel as though you’re making any progress. I get about 2% crafting exp a combine, for something that I’ve already crafted before (little difficult to work that first time pristine bonus when you only get 4 recipes a level), with vitality. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of raws and fuel it would take to get a whole level without vitality. It’s just simply not worth it at all.

There are some out there who hate the crafting changes specifically because it is now much easier for the ‘average’ crafter to level up. It requires little to no effort besides gathering raws and paying for fuel. There are no sub combines to level off of any more, no tedious except for the grinding of the buttons, and instant gratification in your end product instead of having to make 3-6 other little items before you saw it. As a result the market is absolutely flooded with crafted items, and there’s fierce competition to get anything you make sold. Not to mention they’ve lowered the stats on just about all items / weapons / gear and unless it’s mastercrafted (rare), you’ll never get your money’s worth out of it in most cases. There are always exceptions.

And yet, it’s still not the reason why I hate the changes. I take little to no pride in the crafting process now. It’s become boring and with so few recipes a level it becomes pointless. At least I could always gather a few levels making sub components before. Now, I know a few crafters are also very glad of the changes. It means when a guild mate asks for a full set of level 20 gear, and you’re level 70 crafter, no longer are you spending an hour making sub components for a set of gear that you can’t even get any experience off of. So the process is much faster. However, I’d have rather seen it go this way instead:

Sub components re-implimented such as they were before– however, when a recipe no longer gives any experience due to it’s level (or when you hit level 70) it turns grey, and the recipe no longer uses sub components (but they can still be substituted such as they can be right now if you’ve had left over components). Removing the tedium of crafting level 20 gear at level 70, and making it faster, but also still allowing those people who use sub components as a method of gaining experience to do so. Sure, it wouldn’t please everyone, but in my ideal world that’s how the crafting would work in EQ2.

Will I give up crafting due to the Live Update24? Probably not. I admit now, I’m pretty addicted. I re-activated my station access account so I can create 10 characters (I actually did this because I was missing some expansion packs and didn’t feel like purchasing each one for $7.99 American when I could just pay the $24.99 and gain access to all again), and have a wide variety of crafters. It gives me something to do when I’m bored, not to mention the rare gear / jewelery etc are still nice upgrades, and they do still sell well. I can get on average 30-1p a day from rare T3 crafted items. I realize you can get a lot more with simple adventuring, and I like that factor as well since I do both, but the option to do one or the other or both is always a nice variety for people. Granted EQ2 does not strike me as a game solely for crafters, there’s not enough to support that, but if you need a break from the adventuring and questing, well, there’s something.

The Lair of the Necromancer.. and adventures with Pascolino Ciete’Bellezzas

stargrace July 18, 2006 No Comments

“Pft, it won’t be dangerous! T’is just dead things!” Willamina pulled Pascolino along through nektulos forest by the arm, eager to show off her new adventuring location. She’d stumbled into it by accident, after hearing some tidbits from her friend Gholdmoon. She had not intended on wandering through the darkened tunnels, no not at the time. But she certainly had a lot of fun while she did it! It was something that had to be shared! It was far better then trees that moved. Those things gave her the creeps.

The Lair of the Necromancer is a solo instance (but a group can zone in, or at least a group of two can, I’ve yet to try it with more) which is located directly behind the dragoon you use in the heritage quest shiny brass halberd, which I’m sure I’ll be doing some time shortly. It has a very small loot table, but was still pretty fun and while it’s a cut and paste version of the fallen gate instance, the final boss room has some nice looking statues.

Willamina is now a 27 necromancer, 24 sage, I’ll have to catch her up again. I’ve been using Silverstep to farm T3 roots for the tailor, who is just a smidgen away from 29 now. The blasted crafting books are exceptionally expensive for 20-29 it seems, I’ve little to no chance of grabbing advanced jeweler volume 28. It has all the palladium recipes in it, and is sought after by numerous people (unfortunately). The others are still sitting at their regular levels, Ricotta 26 jeweler since I’ve been lack luster in playing her. Nesia is way behind in carpenter levels, but I’ll get to it eventually!

My e-peen is bigger then your e-peen! (The woes of the 20-29 channel)

stargrace July 17, 2006 No Comments

I hate people, there I said it I admit it freely, people make me angry. Especially stupid people. Unfortunately in an MMO, you can’t zone from one place to another without running into them. Since I’ve been taking a ‘break’ so to speak from my 60+ characters, I’ve been spending extended amounts of time in the lowbie channels. Not that the 60-69 channel is any better at times, but it’s more… pronounced.. I think at lower levels. Anyhow. This particular day started with some random_moron_101 debating the fact that BSV still required an access quest to enter. Now, bsv has two (perhaps actually three) versions of the zone, they’re typically level 15-25 zones or so. One of the versions is a stronghold, and it’s used in the greater lightstone HQ. Until a live update or two ago, you had to complete an access quest to enter this zone. However. It was removed.

To enter Bloodskull valley now, you hail an npc to the right hand side of the zone, behind a rock. They blather on about letting them escape or some such nonsense, and ta da you can zone in. After stating as much in the 20-29 channel with my lowbie alt, a little necromancer who thought they knew everything, decided to debate this issue with me. Claiming that they’d just gotten access two weeks ago (perhaps it was before the LU went in where they removed these access quests? Hmm?). I know 100% there is no access quest, I just did the HQ with my level 70 to help level up my wee tiny guild, and I’ve never done access. I hailed the npc out side.

But would they admit they were wrong? No, they decided to make it into some huge e-peen waving contest, where they were the only winner and they knew it all. Heck people even rose to their defense.

*bangs her head against the desk*

When someone gives you the RIGHT information about something in game, there’s no need to get all defensive about it and cause a huge ruckus in channels. It’s not about who’s right or wrong, I gave the information and was trying to help the persons involved in doing the HQ to begin with. Heaven forbid though, the level 20-29’s know it all! Every day it is a competition between players of who can ‘one up’ another player. Who has the highest level alt in the highest level guild and the best gear doing the best things. When it comes right down to it.. WHO CARES?!

Obviously I care slightly if I’m ranting about it on my blog, right? Well, maybe. I’m just looking for a way to get out some frustrations and so I ramble them out here instead of banging little newb heads together to knock some sense into them. Alright, so I’m not the most patient person in the world either.. I’m hoping the 30-39 channel will be slightly better, but who knows.

Why I hate dkp

stargrace July 13, 2006 No Comments

Dkp = Dragon Kill Points for those who are unfamiliar, and the term has been around for quite some time. It’s a loot method that a huge amount of guilds use in order to total up who gets what in a raid. It’s also a method of loot distribution that causes much debate, and there are good and bad sides to using it. Personally, I hate it.

In eq1/eq2 the majority of raiding guilds that I’d been in over the past 4 years used DKP. The only exceptions that even come to mind are Keepers of the Elements (eq1) and Forsaken (eq2). Basically you earn an amount of points every raid you attend, some times you can receive bonuses if you take down a boss encounter for the first time (the guilds first time, not your personal first time), you can lose points for being late, leaving a raid early, or even for making stupid mistakes depending on how strict the guild is. This method of earning points is a high winner with those people who can attend every single raid, namely the main tank, and all of the raid organizers (guild leader is typically included in this list as well). When something drops that you want, you bid on it using these points you’ve accumulated. Person who bids / has the most points, gets the item. Seems pretty fair, right? After all, you do want to reward those who attend the raids, and those who attend the most raids deserve to have a shot at the best items first…….or do they?

Lets say I join a guild, and they use dkp. Oh, wait, I’ve already done that (and left last week). The guild has been established for a few years, and have raided heavily, so those who are on for a constant basis and can raid daily, have acquired 300 dkp. You earn 1 dkp an hour, with about 15 hours of raid time a week if you attend every one. Being a new member, you start at 0 dkp. In fact, being a recruit, you can’t even bid against regular members, which is actually quite fair. You’re new after all, doesn’t matter if you attend every single raid upon joining, the ‘real’ members earned their dkp in the past and deserve to have dibs on items.

Now lets say something drops, and it’s not an upgrade to anyone in the guild since they’ve been raiding heavily for so long. In fact, it’s not an upgrade to anyone except you. But you’re new, and have no dkp. Some guilds I know would loot the item and vendor it, rather then letting the new recruit have said item, since they’ve not yet earned any dkp. Other guilds, would let the recruit have the item for a minimum bid of dkp so that the person was in the negative, and would have to earn their way back up to a positive amount.

Even with these small issues, that’s not what I hate about dkp. The part I actually dislike the most, is the following:

Say you join a guild that uses dkp. That’s fine and dandy, you have no issues with it. You begin raiding, and you raid daily, for three months. During that time, hard_core_raider_101 has been missing for two months. They grew bored with the game once each instance had been beaten, and moved on to something else. They have 300 dkp saved up from al of their hard work. However, a new expansion is on the horizon, and a week before it’s due to release, they come back to the game and start raiding again.

Now, you’ve been raiding for three months, and have managed to save up (with a few upgrades here and there) 200 dkp. You’re reliable, on time, and haven’t missed a single raid. Despite this fact, the member who’s been missing for those three months still has more dkp then you. When the new expansion comes out, they also have first dibs on anything that drops over you. Even though you’re the one who’s been playing.

Fair? Not in my opinion.

I realize that loot is not a huge deal on raids. In fact, I enjoy raiding simply for the pleasure of being able to work together and take down a mob that others can’t take down. It’s a thrill and I like it. But unfortunately the rewards that come along with it are hard to ignore, especially if you’re in one of those constantly raiding guilds that tend to be a little.. greedy.. and talk about loot rewards 24/7. It becomes difficult not to care. When you have the mentality that the guild as a whole will be better the more people you gear up, and the rest of the guild is of the opinion that it’s everyone for themselves when it comes to loot…. it’s hard not to feel slightly bitter.

I wish I could find more raiding guilds who were able to take down targets, and used a better method of loot distribution. Unfortunetly it’s very rare, but I can keep hoping.