EQ2

Completing the Splitpaw Adventure Pack

stargrace May 5, 2010 2 Comments

How many people even REMEMBER the Splitpaw adventure pack that SOE put out a few years back? Fighting hordes of gnolls beneath the surface of Norrath? Yes please! Back when this adventure pack first came out, it was a huge deal. So many people were excited about it, and you could find a large number of them wandering around the lower tunnels of the Splitpaw Den.

Of course yesterday this was not the case, I didn’t see another person there at all.

Whether that has to do with the fact that the zones no longer scale above their previous limits to allow players level 70+ to participate without chronomentoring down, or for some other reason (outdated gear?)I’m not sure. I was determined to complete the series of quests and if possible obtain the two raid achievements.

It’s not just a matter of zoning into the two raid instances and killing the named, either. First you’ve got to obtain an item through your /claim window, a shard used to access the quests. You have to figure out what’s going on with the gnoll teleporters in Thundering Stepps (which really needs to be revamped, but we’ll save that for another post). Once you’ve obtained access to the upper tunnels, you fight your way to the lower ones, and then you have to complete at least four unique quests in order to earn the trust of the Splitpaw gnolls. Once THAT is done, you’ll be able to access the x2 raid zone. The reward for completing this zone is a clicky shard that allows you to walk / breath and jump under water for five minutes, unlimited charges. Finally, once THAT has been completed you’ll have access to the x4 zone. There’s an achievement for each, and even at level 90 it was difficult to finish each of them. The x2 zone requires you to split into two groups and complete puzzles for each side. I had a lot of fun with that one. The x4 involves LOTS of adds, and LOTS of things that would have made the raid easier had I known about them before hand, like lowering the armor of the boss by defeating three mobs located behind walls in the zone.

Ah well, there’s always next time. For now, at least I’ve obtained the achievements!

Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath.

Deathtoll Access Obtained

stargrace May 4, 2010 No Comments

I know it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, especially since Deathtoll is a raid zone a few expansions back now. However, it’s also one of the very few raid zones that still requires a complicated entrance quest – and I’ve always loved that feature. I don’t like it when SOE removes the access requirement to zones even though I understand their reasoning behind it. In order to access Deathtoll you have to complete a series of quests that start on a little island in the sky in Bonemire. I can’t remember the number of times I died trying to jump onto that little island. The final ‘test’ is to take the marks of four dragons, which are all raid encounters. You also require having completed speak as a dragon (of course) in order to speak with Nagafen to get the quest to that step – and once you’ve FINALLY brought all of the marks back to Nagafen he gives you a quest for the flame shield that allows you past the barrier in Deathtoll. You know the one in the main room that’s blocked by a little gnome invention?

Out of all of my characters only ONE has ever completed Deathtoll access – and it was way back when Deathtoll was THE place to be. Completing it on a second character is quite exciting to me, and even more so because I’ve been making my way through the Claymore quest chain. I’m on the Ascent of the Awakened portion, and the drop we need to spawn the 2nd named just refuses to spawn. Yesterday after hours in the zone we gave up, but should be going back some time later this evening.

Once Claymore is completed it’s time for another run of Prismatic 1.0, then Godking, and Soulfire. Each of these quest chains have an incredibly rich history of lore, and I love re-visiting them. I’d also like to get the mark of the awakened completed, but we’ll just have to see about that one.

Happy gaming no matter where you find yourself, and I’ll see you in Norrath.

Claymore Progression and Vasty Deep: Labs

stargrace May 3, 2010 1 Comment

Last night was a mixture of achievements in EQ2. Torrent Knights got together and managed to take down Vasty Deep Labs, which was fun – except it was also stressful. There’s one in every group (we were three TK members and three PUGS) a player (or two) who think they know how to play their class as well as everyone else’ class better then you play and they’re not afraid to bring it up. Constantly. That was my experience last night as we made our way through the zone. I kept quiet but really wanted to say something to the player about their attitude. It’s not typically like me to sit quietly by while someone rips into the group. There are bad groups and good groups and if you think your group is doing poorly there’s always ways to offer advice without being condescending.

Eventually the zone was completed, my coercer managed to pick up a master spell (which was a M2 choice but that’s besides the point, I changed it to something else so I could scribe the spell. I also got a small ring upgrade, which replaced a treasured one I was wearing. The coercer is still sporting a poor collection of gear since all of the gear I used to have was deleted when I deleted the character.

I also managed to progress Claymore to the point where I need 200 gathering and lets just say that mine is no where near that, so it’s a project for tonight. I’m slowly catching up in achievements, hitting 162 last night. It’s been fun working on the coercer, and I enjoy the class a great deal. I’m still eager to get my fury up there so I can be healing again on Antonia Bayle (currently all of my healers are on Oasis) but I really am burnt out from leveling characters, so questing is a lot more fun.

Hope everyone else had an amazing weekend, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Busy Weekend

stargrace May 1, 2010 No Comments

It was a busy weekend gaming, and it was great. I worked on the fury who is now high 70s, did Unrest with guild mates as well as Shard of Love and a few other instances. On my troubador I managed to do all three Vasty Deep zones yesterday which were also the 5 shard (weekly) zones, and ended with 19 shards in total. No idea what to spend my shards on yet, I think I’m going to just save them up for the new gear that comes out.

I also picked up a few upgrades for the troubador, and passed off some items that I looted with greed rolls to the dirge, and casters.

Worked on the guild hall on Oasis some, and all in all? It was great. The city festival is in Freeport until the 7th, so don’t forget to stop by! It’s up the road from the docks, towards the crossroads. While I’m not a fan of the black marble walls (they have more brown then black in them) the floor tiles are amazing.

Safe travels, and I’ll see you in Norrath!

Crowded Times

stargrace April 30, 2010 No Comments

Last night was spent trying to progress the Claymore chain of quests but since Antonia Bayle is a fairly populated server (understatement) there were others in the zone power leveling their alts floor by floor which made it next to impossible to find the encounters we needed. I didn’t feel like spending an evening trying to fight with others for mobs in the zone, so we moved on to something else. As I mentioned in a previous post I’ve been boxing my 2nd account, and created a fury for this occasion. She is now level 67, and quite pleased to be there. I absolutely love this class and were it not for the fact that I eventually developed a case of alt-itus I’d have probably continued to play her throughout the next few years. Ah well, c’est la vie. Instead of fighting with other players for mobs I’d rather spend my time in instances to level up. At least that way you’re not stepping on anyone else’ toes.

The next city festival begins tomorrow, and I am VERY excited. I believe it should be Freeport, which has an amazing selection of black marble housing items to choose from. Stock up on those city tokens in the mean time!

I’ve got some roleplay posts that center around the fury dancing in my head, so don’t be surprised if you see those pop up over the next couple of days. Aside from that, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself! I’ll see you in Norrath.