Epic

Down go Leviathan and Druushk!

Most of yesterday was spent traveling to my parents place, and then traveling home afterward, a good time was had by all. I came back with a loaf of amazing banana bread that I doubt will make it through the rest of today. I spent the remainder of the day doing pretty much nothing, just exploring around EQ2 and then out of luck I remembered I had taken on a project to decorate a friends house (Pennie, from Paradise Lost on Oasis) and me being, well, me. Completely forgot to actually go off and decorate the home!

So I grabbed my little carpenter and set out to do just that. Pennie is a gnome, templar living in Qeynos and so I tried to make his home represent him. Once I get permission I’ll be posting videos of the house (I need to finish two more rooms as well). I’m excited about it. So far it’s turned out pretty well.

Later on in the evening, it was time to buckle down and FINALLY get my troubador her epic weapon. Goudia has always been a fun character of mine to play but since TSO (The Shadow Odyssey) I’ve barely played her. In RoK (Ruins of Kunark) she was my raid main, but I stopped raiding not far after I started. Needless to say, each time someone asks me if I have UT (upbeat tempo, it’s a troubador thing) I cringe a little on the inside. She’s resting at 152aa, not nearly enough to have this skill. Some day though.

Paradise Lost was hosting a Leviathan raid – as well as VP (Veeshan’s Peek) following. These raids are typically run once a month (because the guild no longer has a need to run them) and consists of 1 and a half groups of guild mates, and the rest are pick ups. It can be VERY messy, but it’s also a lot of fun. PL gets a chance to scope out some talent, and people get their updates. The way PL runs it is that they do NOT charge for updates – but when it comes to loot drops, all PL tagged characters get +250 to their roll. What this means is that loot drops, you roll /random 1000 and anyone wearing the PL tag gets +250 added onto that roll. Seems fair, since they’re hosting (and main tanking / healing) the raids.

It still gives a chance for lots of things to go wrong. We ALMOST managed a flawless victory on Leviathan but there was a wizard who had a suicide wish and kept nuking so that of course kept reflecting and they died a few times. Even though we specifically told people to just stand there and look pretty for most of the fight, letting PL take care of everything else.

There were a LOT of people around who wanted to make their way through VP, so I decided to sit out for the run, and just come during my specific fight, which was Druushk. The fight is really nothing special. There’s two rooms, one has four statues, and one has Druushk. Every so often you’ll hear a script emote about the flapping of wings, one of those four statues becomes active and whoever is stationed there must click their statue – a mob will spawn, they have to survive that, then a 2nd tank will pull those mobs over to the raid and the raid will kill them, as you’re also working down Druushk in between pulls. It works out well. We did have a few wipes at the start because some people didn’t know where their statues were, but before too long it was over, and I was sporting my new axe, having visited Barren Sky first of course.

The weapon itself is a huge upgrade over the fabled version, and it grants some very nice stats for players. This makes the third mythical that I’ve completed, I also have the mystic mythical and the illusionists completed. I’m hoping that they’re still used some how in Sentinel’s Fate, because you can’t really get BETTER then a mythical weapon, and I’d hate to see all of the work I did for this go to waste.

For those out there who think you have to join a raid guild in order to get anything done in game – don’t buy into that. It’s simply not true. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, or dedicated 12 hours a night to raiding, or anything like that. On every single server out there there is an alternative method for you to get your mythical completed, I guarantee. Some times it takes a little work, and some patience, and yes, some time, but there’s still a way.

Today is the 20th, which means Moonlight enchantments are in game – complete with a few new house item rewards. If you’ve never taken part of them before I highly suggest you take a peek, the achievements for completing them are worth it alone. Speaking of which, I think I’ll grind out some aa in the new Frostfell instances and get some questing done.

See you in Norrath!

What Epic Was that Again?

Alright. I admit, I didn’t do that much in game yesterday because I spent most of it betraying my level 80 illusionist over to a coercer, and then I spent the remainder of it convincing my guild mates to help me with (yet another) epic quest. It wasn’t nearly as painful as some other epics have been though, the coercer one is VERY simple.

I’ve lost track of how many epics that is now. I believe I have finished epics for dirge x2, troubador, coercer x2, illusionist, templar, warden, and mystic. That’s a lot.

I had a good reason this time (don’t I always!) for wanting to betray. I had a level 40 coercer and just could not fathom the idea of leveling up ANOTHER alt. I have so many. I want to be able to concentrate on them properly and not just get to 80 and have them sit on the back burner. At least this way I can play the coercer (which I adore) and concentrate on bettering the character. Does that make sense? Well, it does to me.

The coercer epic is by far the simplest epic I have ever completed. There are no prerequisites aside from being level 80. There are no named required aside from Drusella in Maidens at the end. The entire thing took maybe three hours and that was including travel time, with four of us working on it. Now I just need to find a pretty adornment for it.

Today is GU52! I’m excited. I hope it goes well and I hope everyone is pleased with the new features. I’m off to the doctors again today and my fingers are crossed that it goes just as well. In the mean time, have a great Tuesday!

Another Epic Bites the Dust

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.

7th Epic Completed, it’s a Sickness, I know.

When I logged in yesterday I didn’t have a very clear indication of what I wanted to do. I figured I’d work on obtaining some achievements and maybe do a few instances as per usual. Instead it was suggested fairly on in the day that we work on my illusionist epic, and so that’s what we spent most of the day doing.

The first portion of the quest is spent retrieving instruments for a bard who hangs out in Kylong Plains. He’s agreed to give you a book in return for said instruments. The only problem is that once you do your part, he gives you an empty book with the pages torn out. Seems like he’s got a bit of a money problem, and he’s ripped those pages out and used them as IOU’s to various people throughout Norrath. The IOU comes up to 189 plat, which is more then it would cost to purchase the actual mythical weapon these days so it’s your job to run around to each NPC doing various tasks for them in order to pay off the debt.

There are 10 pages in total that you’re sent out to retrieve all with varying tasks like killing 100 yah-li for updates, and obtaining 30 pieces of T8 player crafted furniture. That portion cost me approx 5 plat to complete, and then there’s a portion later on where you’re sent to retrieve 6 masks for a halfling that requires you to have completed the hool’oh hat quest in Barren Sky. The alternative method to completing that quest (because of course I have not done this on my illusionist) is to pay off the bird with 5 plat. So in total my epic cost about 10p give or take a few coins – and a lot of time. There are a LOT of sub components to this quest.

Instance wise it was not so bad. I needed to get one of my masks from the Queen in Chardok which we did fairly painlessly. She was even up rather then a place holder. Then there was the Maidens update which also went really well (though the zone itself didn’t drop all that much).

Finally after a full day of questing I completed the fabled version of my epic. This marks the 7th epic that I’ve completed to date. I have the epics for: Mystic, Templar, Warden, Coercer, Troubador, Dirge, and now Illusionist. I know, it’s a sickness. Once the quest was finally done we headed over to Obelisk of Ahkzul where the healer shield refused to drop (again) but it was the daily double shard zone so we all walked away with three shards and I managed to get the illusionist her first piece of T2 gear which was nice. The final mob also dropped a master for her which was a great bonus, she has all of her adept3 but illusionist masters on kithicor are priced insanely, and she hasn’t owned a single one. Pessimism marks her first.

We headed to Crypt of Agony shortly after that to attempt (once again) to get the fabled range item for Ultann but our luck held steady and we got a treasured chest from that particular named. The Farseer eludes us once more. On the plus side a level 73 mystic master did drop, a temporary pet that helps heal and cure the group. Not as wonderful as a heal or a buff spell but hey it’s better then nothing. The mystic actually doesn’t have horrible luck when it comes to getting her masters, and that one marked her 4th drop.

All in all it was a very productive Sunday game-wise. Kasul also managed to tear up the levels with his baby assassin and inched his way to 61 with a handful of aa via the new hotzones that were around for the weekend. Before long we’ll have ourselves another DPS in the group – and a full group at that, which will be great. The faster we can kill stuff before it tears us to shreds the better. I hope everyone enjoys their Monday, and if you happen to have today off for the holiday, enjoy!

See you in Norrath

Completed Epics and Guk Adventures

After some running around yesterday it was time for the final fight I needed in order to complete the mystic epic. I realize I had been slacking for quite some time (ie: more then a few months now) on this epic. The biggest barrier I had was that I didn’t have my harvesting skills up to snuff. It was done, the final fight was pretty simple (instanced with an 85^^^ and a few level 80 adds that posed no problem to the shadowknight tank). Now I need to get to work on the illusionist epic. I have this epic partially started on my other enchanter, but never completed it. The thought of killing 100 yah-li is intimidating, as well as having to buy 28 T8 house items – when I don’t have a T8 crafter on Kithicor. My carpenter is sitting at 40, though I could probably push her to 80 before I worked on this epic if I wanted.

With epics out of the way it was time to take on new zones. I spent a little time relaxing and crafting, and then we headed to Guk: Halls of the Fallen, which happened to be the daily double. The group was Ultann (shadowknight) boxing his 80 inquisitor, Wpus (conjuror), and myself playing my illusionist and boxing the mystic.

We did fairly well for what we had (two boxed healers) and in the zone we were in. We managed to down the first two named (or was it three?) and also completed the daily double which was great. Once we got to the hallway where the froglok skeletons respawn almost instantly and it is almost impossible to clear it, we decided to call it a day. I headed back to do a little broker sales (and to mend my poor gear) and decided to go read for the remainder of the night. Day 6 of health issues that have kept me pretty much house / bed ridden, and needless to say my nights are ending earlier and earlier each day. Fingers crossed that I’m on the home stretch and will be feeling more like my usual self before too long.

I hope everyone else had an amazing Wednesday, only one more day to go until Friday! Safe travels and see you in Norrath!