EQ2

Productive Gaming Weekends #EQ2

stargrace August 15, 2011 No Comments

Another Monday here, and a productive gaming weekend under my belt. Well, mostly productive. The warlock is now level 90, although she has barely 100 aa and that’s always annoying to deal with. I’d much rather level lock (as I have with my ranger) and grind aa for a while before leveling. The 35 ranger has 160 aa which is a great amount to have and as I level her to 90 she’ll at least be past the 200 mark. Probably more since I plan on leaving her at 35 until she reaches 200-250 aa first. I don’t remember the /played time on the lock, but it’s not that much, I’d be surprised if it was a full day. Plus there’s all that time I spent AFK and hanging out in hall with her. I can’t afford the 15 plat per kaborite cluster at the moment, so she’ll sit in the background until I can properly gear her up.

I wasn’t in the mood to deal with PUGs yesterday, so the guild decided to do the weekly without looking for any extras. This consisted of Pools, Ascent, and Spire. The group was myself boxing my 2nd account, Ibeogur, Nocturnous (boxing his 2nd account) and Shamah. We cleared the zones with ease, and then after doing the weekly once decided to do it again with alts because I had forgotten to drag my 2nd account along for Pools and Ascent. The end result was a LOT of shards (we also did the first Kael zone, since it was the supposed hot zone) that I can use towards more ry’gorr. I’ve got the complete set on my swashbuckler, and bits and pieces of the set on my warden, defiler, and bruiser. I’m thinking of starting on the set for my coercer, but I’m undecided at the moment. I’m also going to start replacing some of the gear my shadowknight on the second account is sporting. SF raid gear is fantastic, but the stats missing hurt some what.

I’m eagerly waiting for GU61 to be implemented. One of the down sides I find with EQ2 is that there’s too much time between their updates and unique events. It’s one of those things that I really appreciate with Trion and Rift, where there are updates frequently and live events constantly.

Still, it was a good weekend. I’m contemplating getting into some roleplay with a character or two of mine, but I haven’t decided who yet. They all have background stories, and I know of numerous weekly rp locations on Antonia Bayle, it’s just a matter of taking the plunge. We’ll just have to see.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

One More Reason to Love Player-Written Books #EQ2

stargrace August 13, 2011 1 Comment

It’s Not Up To The Game To Entertain Me #EQ2

stargrace August 11, 2011 14 Comments

I never really understand some of the conversations that go on in the public channels of EQ2. Last night for example, the auction channel (which is the global 1-9 channel for those on the Antonia Bayle server) was filled with how much everyone dislikes EQ2. They talked about how there was no challenge, and how it was a horrible game. The part that always confuses me is – they’re talking about a game they supposedly hate, while paying and playing for it. It just doesn’t make sense to me. When I played WoW the channels were filled with childish rantings as well – but – I very rarely ever saw someone complaining about the game they were currently playing. I always saw insults to other players, and very minimal insults to other games.

For myself, the choice is pretty simple. If I’m not enjoying myself I won’t be playing. I’ll move to a different game, or go do something else. As far as what’s ‘fun’ in a game, that is completely up to the individual. Two guild mates and I decided to run through Deathtoll (which is quite a few expansions old now) just for the fun of it. We had a great time, many many MANY deaths (we took lowbies along who were power leveled without any real gear or spells above apprentice) and it was a blast. Some evenings I just want to decorate, and others I feel like doing DoV instances. While the game provides numerous tools for me to make use of, it’s up to me to figure out what I want to do as far as entertainment goes. Sure, not all games appeal to all people. It’s rare I’ll stick with a game long term if all there is to do is quest and blow stuff up. But the act of being entertained ultimately comes down to what I find appealing and that switches on a nightly basis depending on my mood.

I suppose at the core people just like to complain, and it doesn’t really matter WHAT they’re complaining about so long as they meet some sort of secret quota. It’s still something I just don’t seem to understand no matter how hard I try.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Crafters Spotlight: So You Want To Be A Sage #EQ2

stargrace August 8, 2011 1 Comment

Sages are wonderful crafters. Part of the scholar path they create spells for priests and mages – but not only that, they have the ability to create the blank notebooks used for player-written books. Considering my intense use of these notebooks it was a bit of a surprise that my sage was actually the last crafter I managed to get 90 on, but I’m glad I did. Not every crafter has unique quest chains, but sages do (there are a few others which I’ll get into details about another day) and I wanted to gather all these quests together in one location, so I’ll be posting them below. There are some people who think sages are useless with the competition of adepts and masters on the broker, but I tend to make fairly good money on mine. It’s just a matter of finding out what sells and knowing your market, which can actually be said for any crafter class out there.

Sage Specific Quests:

• Level 50+: In a Bind (Recipes for crafted notebooks)
• Level 50+: The Legendary Paper (Augren’s Auspicious Inkwell & Wantia Artisan’s Satchel)
• Level 80+: Sarnak Supply Stocking (The earring of the solstice chain, which leads to a scholar specific step)

One of my favorite sites has always been EQ2traders, and they’ve compiled a wonderful page filled with all of the crafting quests currently available.

General Crafting Quests:

• Level 10+ New Halas Level 10 Crafting Series – Level 10+ crafting series added with GU57
• Level 20+ Butcherblock Mountains Level 20 Crafting Series – Level 20+ crafting series added with GU57
• Level 20+ Tradeskill Writs – Work Orders and Rush Orders
• Level 20+ Journeyman Service – Level 20+ crafting quest for a free T3 advanced recipe book
• Level 30+ Steamfont Mountains Level 30 Crafting Series – Level 30+ crafting series added with GU57
• Level 30+ Crafter Leaper Mount Quest (added on June 24, 2011)
• Level 30+ Tradesman Service – Level 30+ crafting quest for a free T4 advanced recipe book and cloak (requires completion of Journeyman Service quest to obtain)
• Level 40+ Advanced ____ Service – Level 40+ crafting quest for a T5 advanced recipe book (requires completion of Tradesman Service quest to obtain)
• Level 40+ Crafty Sootfoots/Sootfoot Service – Quest series in Lavastorm for Sootfoot Magma armor recipes
• Level 50+ Advanced Journeyman Tasks – Level 50+ crafting quest for a cloak and a house item. (requires completion of the Advanced ____ Service quest to obtain)
• Level 50+The Shadow Odyssey expansion has many quests, some with pre-requisites.
  • Cannons Away! – a small access quest that can be completed by level 50+ crafters to gain access to the cannon travel in the Moors of Ykesha
  • Ship Out! – quest series to introduce level 50+ crafters to the Moors of Ykesha, this questline is required before you can perform missions for the Far Seas Supply Division.
  • Far Seas Supply Division faction quests – requires completion of Ship Out quest before you can obtain these level 50+ quests.
  • Survival Accord Daily Tradeskill Tasks – daily tasks for level 50+ crafters to earn Survival Accord faction
  • Tupta Daily Tradeskill Tasks – daily tasks for level 50+ crafters to earn Guktan Guard faction
  • Grobb Daily Tradeskill Tasks – daily tasks for level 50+ crafters to earn Clan Grobb faction
  • Additional quests for Liaison Mug – available after the completion of Ship Out
  • Additional quests for Liaison Varick – available after the completion of Ship Out
  • Additional quests for Liaison Zubzub – available after the completion of Ship Out
• Level 60+ Crafter Glider Mount Quest (added on June 24, 2011)
• Level 60+ Senior Crafter Service – Level 60+ crafting quest for formal wear and a level 60-69 advanced crafting book (requires completion of the Advanced Journeyman Tasks quest to obtain)
• Level 60+ (Carpenter) Nurwin family Secrets – page collection that rewards a level 60 recipe book to craft Wantia furniture.
• Level 65+ Crafter Sokokar Quest – for crafters 65+ who are under level 65 adventuring.
• Level 70 (Alchemist) A bit of Fire, a bit of Ice – Level 70 alchemist quest for recipes to convert byproduct dusts into higher tier versions
• Level 70+ New Lands, New Profits – a level 70 crafter quest that will get you faction with Rilis and Bathezid’s Watch
• Level 75+ High Risks, Higher Profits – a level 75 crafter quest that will get you faction with the Shipyards of Danak
• Level 80+ Sentinel’s Fate Crafting Quest Series – series of quests in the Sentinel’s Fate expansion for all four SF crafting factions
• Level 80 (Alchemist) Distillation Inspiration – level 80+ alchemist quest for recipes to bulk convert byproduct dusts into dusts of the next higher tier (followup to A Bit of Fire … listed above)
• Level 85 Shadows of the Betrayed is a crafting signature quest that results in a crafting-class-specific level 85 item with a non-combat evac effect, etc.
• Level 85+: Destiny of Velious Crafting quests, released on February 22, 2011.
  • DoV Crafting Quest Rough Overview
  • Iceclad Ocean Crafting Quests
  • The Return of a Gathering Obsession (level 90 with pre-requisite)
  • City of Thurgadin Crafting Quests
  • Crafter Flying Mount Quests Requires certain progress in the City of Thurgadin crafting quests to begin
  • What Dreams May Come (Blessed Coldain Prayer Shawl HQ)
  • Eastern Wastes Crafting Quests Requires that you have completed the Iceclad Ocean Crafting Quests listed above. NEW quest series added with GU60
  • Level 90(?) Drunder Crafting Quests Unlocks the ability to buy heirloom recipe books for used in crafting Drunder-related drops for adventurers. NEW quest series added with GU60
• 90+ gathering skill Feeding Duggin – a series of repeatable harvesting quests with dishes as rewards (Additional rewards added with GU45)
• RoK: RoK Faction from a Tradeskill Perspective not only gives an overview of some of the RoK factions, but explains about special RoK tradeskill writs to obtain vendor access to your Advanced recipe books and more. Also check out the GU54 addition of RoK Daily Crafting Faction Quests
• Special Red glowie collections released with GU46, additional collections added with GU47

You can also find crafting quests written up on EQ2i, which is a fantastic resource for all things EQ2-related. No matter what path you choose to go down you’ll find a lot of quests related to crafting, and before too long you may find yourself with two, three, or even all 9 of your crafters at 90 (yes, all mine are 90).

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

How: Level 1-62 in Two Hours #EQ2

stargrace August 7, 2011 13 Comments

A few of you left comments about how quickly I had leveled my warlock and wanted to know how I did it, so I decided to post the path I took. Now the warlock is level 78 but I haven’t really been playing her, she’s got 9 hours played at level 78 but a large portion of that was me standing around AFK while I did a few RL chores at the higher levels. A few things to keep in mind.

Number one – I have 180% veteran bonus due to max level characters. I also had full vitality (200% b0nus), and used my orb of concentrated memories (veteran reward) that restocked the vitality. I used one 110% potion (lasts for two hours), had 10% bonus due to being mentored, and had a 10% bonus due to the RAF mount (no RAF account though, that was some time ago). So in total I was sporting a hefty 500%+ bonus during the majority of this.

Number two – I was being PL’d by a berserker friend of mine in DoV T2 gear (ry’gorr) with a few odds and ends of x2 gear. No EM/HM x4 gear (easy mode, hard mode).

Number three – I have leveled in EQ2 SO many times, it’s really second nature. I follow the same path every time. By the char above you can see Lysthia (the warlock) and here’s how I leveled her and where:

• 2-12 Commonlands. Started by the gates to West Freeport AOE killing snakes. Moved towards Dog Pond and killed dogs. Slowly walked North towards Wailing Caverns which would be the next destination once the warlock hit 10+.
• 13-20 Wailing Caverns. Actually turned xp off for this zone and worked on aa. Mass slaughtered everything, the zone was empty for once. At 20, it was time to move on.
• 21-33 Fallen Gate. I was afraid that this zone would turn grey before I had time to complete it. It’s filled with heroic mobs, and fantastic experience plus a lot of named. For whatever reason it was also empty. Helps a lot when power leveling.
• 34-35 Enchanted lands, just running to Runnyeye for the next little bit. Discovery experience + a few mobs on the way there.
• 36-41 Runnyeye, just running through the entire zone.
• 42 Zek, the Orcish Wastes. Was going to go to DFC because it’s fantastic discovery and named – BUT – the final boss is already 42. I didn’t want to out level it there. We decided to go to The Temple of Cazic-Thule instead.
• 43 The Feerrott, dinged on the way to CT due to discoveries.
• 44-48 The Temple of Cazic Thule. Started upstairs, moved downstairs after, and then eventually into the instance once we’d collected golem hearts.
• 49-50 The Sanctum of Fear. Loads of mobs in this instance in CT, collect golem hearts outside first so that you can spawn the named.
• 51-54 The Sanctorium. It was instance time. This is located in Sinking Sands. Lots of mobs, mass pulled everything. I think I dinged twice just from one pull.
• 55 – The Hidden Cache. Another instance in Sinking Sands. Not as many mobs as the Sanctorium.
• 56-58 – Clefts of Rujark. A great zone if you can find it empty. There’s a number of instances inside, loads of named.
• 59 – Vault of Dust. Instance in Clefts.
• 60 – Clefts of Rujark. On the way to another instance.
• 61 – Scornfeather Roost. 2nd instance in Clefts of Rujark, loads of mobs
• 62 – Poets Palace. Went here just because I love the zone. Desert of Flames is a great expansion, and I really enjoy adventuring through it.

At this time my 2h potion had run out, so there’s 62 levels in two hours. I continued off and on for the next two days, and am now 78.

Total Time Played 9 Hours 59 Minutes