EQ2

Pegasus Feathered Cloak #EQ2

stargrace March 26, 2011 1 Comment

The design of this cloak is absolutely amazing. It’s in two layers, giving it a better movement effect, and the details in the feathers is just fantastic. The cloak itself drops as a semi-rare item from the new portal quests in EQ2, celebrating the 12 year anniversary of EQ1. I ran a few alts through the instance because the cloak is heirloom and can be traded between your account, I was determined to get one.

I also wanted the two scout weapons from the Guk portal – but instead of patiently waiting until I looted one, I decided to purchase them off the broker. If I do manage to loot one while adventuring there on my own time I’ll hang onto it for when the portals are no longer around (the event ends the 30th) and then sell them. It’s not often I splurge on my alts, and it was a massive upgrade to the troubador.

Yesterday also marked my final quest for my flying mount – I did the crafter chain in order to get it, and I’m really glad I did. I picked the Boreal mount, which has some very nice colours on it. My 90 carpenter (84 coercer) is pleased to be able to fly around completing quests much quicker now. I do have many more alts who could use the flying mount, but I’m undecided as to whether or not I want to run them all through the quest chain or just stick with one having completed it for now. Since I’m still spread between two servers it’s a little annoying, I’ve always wanted my characters on one server but alas with friends scattered all over the place that rarely works out in my favour.

I hope everyone is enjoying the 12th anniversary quests. This weekend also marks double vitality for Eq2, and double experience for EQ1, so get your levels while you have the time! Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself. I’ll see you in Norrath!

Changes coming with Destiny of Velious #EQ2

stargrace February 17, 2011 1 Comment

As with pretty much every expansion, there are a lot of changes coming with DoV and I wanted to go over a few of them now that the NDA has lifted. Please keep in mind that these changes were in beta, and are therefor subject to change before being brought to live servers.There are more changes coming then these ones listed here, but these ones are the ones that popped out to me first.

Tradeskill pristine bonus being removed – that means for first time combines you will no longer gain a bonus. There is a very lengthy post about why this is from Domino over on the eq2forums. Basically what it comes down to is that some craft classes have way more recipes then others (in specific the ones that make skills, alchemist, sage, and jeweler). There for they would level up “faster” then other classes because of this pristine bonus. The article goes on to talk about how compensation will be given by means of extra experience awarded for crafting quests as well as writs. I personally think that this is a good move, of course on that same note I dislike change and feel that this is a pretty large one for the crafting community to swallow. Hopefully it all balances out.

Changes to stats – Another big one. Eq2wire has a great write up about what will be changing as far as itemization goes. Number one, gear will no longer have hit points or mana on it. I remember them trying to change this back in SF but it didn’t exactly work out and was reversed. Players will gain power through their primary stat only, so for fighters it’s str, scouts agi, priests wis, and mages int. Agility no longer has anything to do with mitigation or critical mitigation. Wisdom no longer has anything to do with resists. +spell damage and +combat art damage is being phased out.

Item Score (also known as Gear Score for those who may be familiar with the World of Warcraft term) has been removed.

Achievements – Curious about what your new achievements are going to look like? EQ2wire has set up a fantastic aa browser for players to look at.

I’m really looking forward to the in-game calendar, as well as being able to fly around Norrath. I don’t see an issue with having to be level 86 in order to complete the flying mount quest as long as there is also a crafter friendly version of it.

Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Let me know! Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

** Edit ** Domino confirmed for me that there is indeed a crafter friendly version of the flying mount – fantastic!

Test Server Erollisi Day Party #EQ2

stargrace February 16, 2011 No Comments

Last night I patched up the test copy server and headed over to join in the festivities and spread the love (so to speak) a bit with other players. Amnery’s graciously hosted an Erollisi Day event and explained that while she would have loved to hold a party on every EQ2 server, it just wasn’t possible with so many other things on the go. I realize it’s only too easy to point fingers and blame the lack of personal attention on community managers (since it is their job) but they too only have so many hours in a day in which to get things done. I was thankful for the party none the less.

There is a second party being hosted on the EQ2X server on Thursday February 17th at 9pm PST so if you didn’t get to make it to the test copy server but still want to celebrate you may want to head on over to the Freeport server.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Prismatic 1.0 and Progression #EQ2

stargrace February 13, 2011 2 Comments

With the Fippy Darkpaw EQ1 progression server opening on the 15th, I can’t help but wonder if there are any plans in the works for EQ2 to add some progression servers. I know there are a handful of progression guilds (especially on Antonia Bayle) that are level locked and working their way through old content, and I really think that this is something that players would like to see more of. After all, how many people actually did prismatic 1.0 ‘back in the day’ when Solusek Eye was a zone to be feared. When every giant saw through invis, and there was NO way to port down to the bottom to visit Darathar – and you needed to visit him a lot. Back in the good ‘ol days when you had to do ‘To Speak as a Dragon’ on each individual character instead of just visiting the Shady Swashbuckler in Nektulos Forest and purchasing the heirloom tablet. Ah, the good old days.

I mentored down with a guild mate and together we completed all of the quest chains for Prismatic 1.0 and then eventually showed up on the Isle of Dawn (which you will now never even get to see as a new player UNLESS you do Prismatic 1.0) to face Darathar. I took a video of the fight, but haven’t processed or uploaded it yet. Hopefully I get around to that before too long. The fights were pretty trivial. Level 90’s mentored down are still incredibly over powered, and it didn’t give me that old school “we’re all going to DIE” feeling that I got back in 2004.

It amuses me that we went through SO MUCH effort for a legendary weapon (and a title). At the time the prismatic 1.0 was the best weapon in the game. It requires 7 raids from start to finish, and that’s if you succeed at them all. It used to require more but there have been some changes over the years, like the beginning of the quest that you obtain from Maiden’s Gulch in Lavastorm is now heroic instead of an Epic x2. Maybe I spend too much time looking backwards instead of forward (there have been far more posts about what I ‘used to do’ in EQ2 then there have been about DoV for example) but that’s just how it is for me.

What do you all think, would an EQ2 progression server be fun or what? Maybe we can convince the folks at SOE to entertain the idea.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!