Nomadic Gamer

Crypt of Agony

Gaming

A Shield! I finally got a Shield

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Last night against all odds almost everyone was online (aside from Calreth who can typically only log on during the weekends) – so it was Ultann, Hamal, Wpus (on his berserker Ibeogur) and I who decided to venture down to the basement of Sebilis once more in the hopes that the Spore King would drop the fabled shield. We had one small incident on our way down, I flew through a water pipe and ended up dropping down on a bunch of mobs after Ultann had been dispelled which made for one very squashed group. Thankfully the revive point happens to be downstairs so we didn’t have to run back, and we picked ourselves back up and were on our way once more.

Earlier on in the day Ibeogur tanked Vaults (Jarsath Waste version) for us for the first time – even though he was only level 76 and he was trying to keep agro off of a mythical assassin, he did fantastic (well, we all did, as we trio’d the zone). It was a lot of fun even though nothing of use ended up dropping.

We made it to the Spore Kings room, killed him – and a metal chest dropped. My heart was in my throat. Would this be the day I actually won a shield – or was this just a teaser chest with a master spell in it like we usually get teased with.

Kasul popped open the chest and finally after months of wearing a fairly horrible shield, I won the beautiful one on the left. Sure, it’s not the one from Obelisk of Ahkzul (which I have all but given up on) but that one is legendary and not fabled. I was exceptionally happy and made sure to thank all of my guild mates for making the trip down to the basement. Ibeogur managed to ding 77 before we headed down there, and he had used a potion that we didn’t want to waste, so we decided since we were already in Sebilis we may as well complete Crypt of Agony. It was a relaxing run though the loot Gods were not smiling on us, it was another great chunk of exp for Ibeogur.

His potion was not quite done by then and we all had a little time left so we decided to make a quick trip to Deep Forge and see how we fared. My mystic has the necklace that allows you to see the TSO shinies, so for the first time I was able to harvest them as we made our way through the zone. We didn’t have any issues – but again the loot Gods were not very nice to us and we didn’t see anything of any real use drop. It was a good run none the less and we did get a handful of shards for our efforts (in this case a handful = 2).

All in all it was a pretty productive night. Ibeogur managed to inch his way through most of level 77, the experience is VERY slow, hopefully it picks up for him. I logged off early and decided to get some cross stitching done before bed (it’s very relaxing!) and hopefully everyone had a fantastic time. I’m looking forward to all of us being able to explore a little more together, it hasn’t happened nearly enough lately.

Happy gaming, no matter where it finds you!

Gaming

Did We Just Pull That Off??

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Yesterday was the first real day we’ve had Kasul around on his assassin and boy did we take advantage of it. I’ve been constantly grouped up with Wpus and Ultann (and Ultann’s boxed Inquisitor, Nocbot) since late December on the Kithicor server. By now we know how we group, I know what to expect. If things are too easy chances are I’ll go screaming into the next room shouting “BUGABOO” at the top of my lungs and training us. They know that.

Adding a fourth person to the mix (and thus filling out our group nicely since I box the mystic + dirge / illusionist) was something I had a few reservations about. Not because Kasul isn’t amazing but because we (the original three) know how to play together. We’ve been taking down content with three of us that I was exceptionally proud to do. We DID have a lack of dps though, and it was noticeable.

Last time we headed to Guk we couldn’t make it past the third named. Or rather, the stairs of mobs that would never end. It took forever just to get to that part to begin with, so we called it.

Yesterday we bravely headed to Guk once more – and WE CLEARED THE ZONE. That’s right. That’s how much of a difference it made to add a fourth to our 3. So now I call us the 3 plus one guild. Not only did we clear the zone but Ultann managed to get the fungus spores that go for 600p on our server, as well as a new master spell.

I was impressed. I was happy. I can only hope that the others were too.

That wasn’t all we did though, oh no of course not. We did our usual Crypt of Agony run and no neither item that we’re after dropped. After that I suggested that we spend our time doing zones that we don’t typically do. We’ll have plenty of time to do the ‘other’ zones while Kasul is at work. So we did Obelisk of Akhzul, Anchor of Bazzul, Najena’s Hollow Tower, Halls of the Fallen (Guk), The Crucible,  and then after all of that our little 3 plus one group headed to Evernight Abby in Loping Plains which was the daily double.

Unfortunately by the time we got there it was after midnight and I still haven’t been feeling the greatest lately, so we cleared the first named and then I camped out in the zone so that we could finish it off tomorrow (today). Not a big deal, and I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully everyone had an incredible time, even if they all teased me to no end. Why?

Well, throughout most of the zones (Crucible, Najena’s) nothing but the dirge, troubador, paladin, shadowknight loot would drop. Every single time. Of course I happened to be on my illusionist, which is ALWAYS the case, the dirge who didn’t play even got a master to drop while the illusionist has one single little master to her collection. Ah, the RGN is a cruel mistress some days. Wpus, Ultann, and Kasul had no end of material for teasing me. Each time we defeated a named it was almost guaranteed that it would drop loot for the dirge I wasn’t playing.

I did make off with two nice items, a ranged item for the illusionist as well as a new cloak with a void beast proc on it (that I adore, even if procs are going to be nerfed and it will no longer crit). It was one of those amazing incredible days that I love so much. Good gaming, good friends, great conversation and we got a lot done. Now I just need to work at finishing off those achievement points.

Happy gaming, and I’ll see you all in Norrath!

Gaming

All About Goals

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A proper screenshot of the dirge with her eyes actually open. Why I picked a half elf, I have no idea. I typically go for something that has racial abilities that will one day help me out (melee orientated, or spell, or the fun floaty one that a few races like erudite and dark elf get).

You’ll have to forgive my lackluster post, I won’t make excuses but this is certainly not the best of weeks I’ve had. Bare with me and things will improve (we all hope).

CoA – The Farseer did not drop, the Cardiocutter did not drop. We’ve been doing this zone every day for more then a month now and have not seen hide nor hair of these items. I’m beginning to think they’re mythicals and have since been removed from game. The bard goes without for a little while longer.

Did manage to get a few crafting levels yesterday which was great. Ultann inched to level 50 armorer which means he can partake in the TSO crafting now. Kasul has moved his main assassin over to Kithicor (until we’re all offered free transfers if that ever happens, so we can leave this horrible server) and now we find ourselves with a whole lot of dps – it’s going to be great. I believe today we plan on spending the day doing amazing instances that we normally can’t defeat because we don’t have the dps and I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll just have to see of course. I’m not sure if I’ll be playing the illusionist or the dirge but either way I’m sure it will be fun.

Speaking of fun I created my 4th enchanter last night. That’s right, another coercer. WHY?! Well. I have an illusionist and a coercer on Najena. I had a coercer on Kithicor but I betrayed her to an illusionist because their buffs are simply better for the group in general. You can’t go wrong with Time Compression and Illusionary Arm. I really love enchanters (no, they don’t play like EQ enchanters, but I still love them) and being able to charm things is an amazing aspect to the game (especially for thrill seekers) that I just can’t get enough of. So I searched last night for my master charm spells, I picked up the one for level 47, the one for 61 (which is all you need even at T8) and Wpus managed to have the level 20 charm stashed away. That was more then enough incentive for me.

I created an arasai coercer, and decked her out. What’s more I created a ‘goal’ for myself – no power leveling, and I want to try to have 200 aa BEFORE I hit level 80 (no matter how long that may take). I got her to level 20 yesterday, and then turned off experience as well as quest experience. That means the only thing I’m obtaining is achievements from quest completion and discoveries etc.

Wpus helped me out with spells while I did some shopping, and she’s sporting about 10 master spells now and a nice outfit of gear. I took her back home to Darklight Woods after playing in Wailing Caves and started working on the level 10+ quests. She’s only got 10aa right now, but I expect that to continue to grow. I figure I will do the 10+ quests in Darklight, Gorowyn, Commonlands, as well as any smaller zones such as Stormhold and Blackburrow before I enable experience again.

Why am I doing this? Well. I love having goals in game. I have so many level 80 characters now that getting to level 80 is no longer a thrill. Sure I could have 14 in total and get them all their epics and then have a steady stream of crafters to level but I’m already pretty tired of that grind. So I seek out new ways to play the game by my own rules, and different ways to interest me. Questing is not always something I enjoy doing, but if I place enough challenges along the way it looks infinitely better. Owning so many lower level master spells certainly helps too, and of course the coercers bread and butter which is my master charm.

No matter what game you’re playing or how you challenge yourself, I hope everyone has an amazing Friday, and an incredible weekend. Chances are I’ll be here, in Norrath as always.

Gaming

Moving Forward

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I miss raiding. There I said it!

I haven’t done any serious raiding since just shortly after RoK came out (Taking down T1 and some T2 encounters but nothing more) for whatever reasons. I was tired of ‘the grind’ and the guild drama was more then I wanted to handle. During EoF I was a pretty serious raider, I got discoveries on Emerald Halls gear and when we defeated Chel’Drak for the first time (and I blogged about that of course) it was one of the most exciting things I’d ever done in game. The problem is I’ve never really had a raider mentality. Yes, I enjoy defeating encounters but no I don’t like the attitude that comes with it (typically, not always).

I’ve also never wanted to be a part of a guild simply because they raid – I enjoy gaming with friends and being close to those I explore the game with. Unfortunately asking for 23 other close friends doesn’t really happen.

So, those of us in our tiny guild of 3+1 have decided to try to seek out an alliance on Kithicor. We consist of a Shadowknight (or inquisitor), Conjuror, Assassin, and myself as either the dirge, illusionist, or mystic depending on which is wanted (but not all three, and I’d rather stick with one constant and not swap out every time). So far we’ve had a few hits. I also suggested we tag along on one of the (many) pick up raids that happen on our server.

There’s a few down sides. While I’m not sure about other servers I’d say almost 80% of Kithicor level 80’s already have their mythical. It’s VERY common. I don’t fall under that category which is a slight disadvantage. Every WoE raid I’ve heard looking for more is constantly searching for folks with their mythical.

A lot of people on Kithicor are also rude and obnoxious and if I had to stand in the same room as them let alone the same raid there’s no telling where that would lead. I don’t say that jokingly either. I’ve played extensively on Lucan D’Lere, Antonia Bayle, Najena, and Oasis, as well as Kithicor (we’re talking 6 months to a year or more on each) and Kithicor is by far the worst server I have ever played on. We (as in the little crowd I play with) are eagerly awaiting open server transfers or some other such miracle so we can move back to a ‘better’ server. In the mean time we wait (and turn off channels).

Speaking of which – last night our little guild of 3+1 managed to ding level 35! Ultann, Wpus, and I headed to Jarsath Wastes to grind out writs. It took approx. 4-5 rounds of Kylong Plains writs to get our level but when we finally did (and purchased two more amenity quite happily might I add) it was fantastic. The guild hall now sports a mender and a depot box for harvests. This also allowed us to free up a LOT of space both in the guild bank and our personal banks where we had been hording supplies.

Now it’s a grind to level 40, where we’ll be able to purchase three more amenity, and unlock another row of guild banking. Hopefully it won’t take us too long to get there, the progress we’ve made so far has been fantastic.

I spent a lot of yesterday (aside from doing writs) working on clearing out my quest journal on Satia (the dirge). I went through each zone one at a time and completed all I could. Once that was finished I picked up some L&L (I have a grand total of ONE completed) and decided to work on those (along with language quests). Now I’ve got three lore and legend completed, orc, skeleton and gnoll.

My duo pair has switched up from the illusionist and the mystic to the dirge and the mystic now that the dirge is 80. I’ve always loved playing bards. Another Crypt of Agony run was made last night, and another failed attempt at getting either the Farseers Armguard or the Cardiocutter to drop. We’ll be getting back to shard runs shortly so that we can complete some sets which will be nice.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day, and I’ll see you in Norrath!

Gaming

Another Epic Bites the Dust

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No screen shots again today (blogging from bed is not nearly as exciting as it sounds) but yesterday was a fairly good day in game none the less, even if I wasn’t completely coherent for the duration of it.

With the bard hitting level 80, it was time to begin yet another epic. You may recall that I actually already have the dirge epic, on my troubador when I betrayed. I have no desire to betray this second bard at all, she’ll be staying a dirge (I know, a few months down the road I may be eating those words). The quest starter comes from Sebilis, and we were lucky with the drop (or at least I like to think we were) getting it fairly painlessly and getting some achievements along the way.

The dirge epic is one of those fast easy painless epics that you can complete in less then a full day. You don’t actually have to do any instances for it, you need to harvest a few bits in Chelsith and kill Abyss Lurkers which are right at the entrance, and you need to go to Maidens and kill two bottomless devourers but they’re not that far into the zone either. You need 50 drake kills from Jarsath Wastes which Ultann Wpus and Hamal were kind enough to get for me as I auto followed them through the zone, making myself some dinner last night. They had it completed by the time I got back.

After that and talking to a few npc’s (and a kill in New Tunaria) it was simply a matter of making our way to the library in Chardok and killing one more mob there. Back to my halfling friend in Gorowyn and I’m proudly sporting the dirge epic on Kithicor. Yes, that’s my uh.. 8th epic? 9th? I forget now. Troubador, Dirge (x2), Coercer, Illusionist, Templar, Warden, Mystic. Guess it’s 8th. Of course I don’t have my mythical on anyone and unless I settle down to one character I doubt I will, but it’s a nice little goal to have completed in any case.

Next in game goals? Perhaps getting the paladin to level 80 (sitting at 73) and then concentrating on getting those achievement points. A huge congratulations to Wpus who managed to hit the 200 mark this week – Ultann is not too far behind at 194 I believe. Since I’m always bouncing around from character to character my mystic actually has the most at 158. Hopefully I can inch my way closer by completing some quests, I’ve avoided them like the plague since RoK’s release. I’d also like to continue leveling my crafting, the dirge is a level 30 provisioner currently, and the carpenter is sitting comfortably at 52 waiting for her vitality to fill back up after that wonderful bonus experience weekend.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Wednesday, and happy gaming no matter where you find yourself.

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