EQ

Plane of Hate – AKA The Night of Seja

stargrace August 15, 2008 0Comment

Last night, Nostalgia braved the undead dragon skeletons and other horrors that lurked in the Plane of Hate. We had a few close calls, but it was a fantastic night. Kanad joined us on his newly de-leveled shaman, and Seja had just obtained the magical number to enter the zone (46) on his enchanter, so we had a few new faces. Which was great, because again we were slightly short and ended up with a few extra spots. Our second tank / zerker was not there nor was our beastlord (aside from my box). Our groups consisted of uber tank Tipa, Callendra, Sisca, and Mantis in one group (I apologize now if I’ve spelled all of your names incorrectly, it’s early and I am horrible with names) in the other group we had Warmungar, Seja, Kanad, Coldheat (who kept having connection issues, poor guy) and myself (I boxed my beastlord and druid for some extra dps).

Since the zone was not a hotzone, and in fact is still categorized as a raid zone (and has a 5 minute cool down before you start regenerate power properly, ew) things were slow going. The big winner of the night was Seja, who managed to get every piece of gear upgrade I believe, and it was really nice to see things dropping that people could actually use for once. He also gained a handful of levels.

Our cap has been raised to level 60, so I have levels to gain again as well. Hopefully I’ll get one or two throughout the course of the week. I’ve been teaming up with Kanad for experience, and have been having fun in more of the old zones, like Griegs End that we went through yesterday. Also not a hot zone, but the experience was not too bad. Qutey is now at 22aa and part way into level 56. Nala is 70% through level 55, and has 21aa. Ellithia, who I de-leveled hit 102aa yesterday in GE with Kanad.

I’m thinking of teaming up the cleric and enchanter with Kanad just to farm aa some place. She really needs the salvage crafting aa, as well as the final rank to her jewel crafting mastery. It’s getting painful failing combines so often. We’ll just have to see how that goes.

Most people I know are at Fan Faire this weekend, alas I could not make it. Perhaps next year! I hope everyone has a lot of fun.

Corpse Ahoy

stargrace August 9, 2008 6Comments

Once upon a time, I had a cleric named Ellithia, on an account given to me by a friend who no longer played. I loved the cleric, and worked  hard on her, even though she never raided. Over time, as I switched to new games (namely EQ2) and stopped paying for multiple accounts, I lost the log in information for this account. So when Nostalgia started up, I figured it was my chance to start the cleric without having to worry about looking for a group. Ishbel became my new cleric.

After a week or two of Nostalgia, I was looking through an old journal of mine and stumbled across the log in information for Ellithia. I was so happy. Bound and determined not to make the same mistake again, and at the time not wanting to have more then one account open, I moved her over to my main account – which of course left me with two clerics now.

Over time I’ve switched my Nostalgia character around a lot depending on what we needed. It’s something I enjoy, being versatile like that. I have played a rogue for a brief time (who met an untimely end in a pot of stew), a necromancer (who I decided was better suited to solo play), the cleric, the druid, and the beastlord. Ellithia has veteran rewards associated with her, as did Ishbel. My account can only claim two years worth – though it’s been sitting at 2.7 granted for a few months now so I’m beginning to wonder.

Anyhow. I decided yesterday – why not get rid of one of my clerics. Free up that veteran reward for Qutey, who I’ll be playing quite frequently, and then also free up a character slot (not that I really need it).

So, which cleric… well that was the easy choice. While Ishbel is a great character – she doesn’t have her epic, and I have no inclination to do it, especially since I’ve already done it on Ellithia. Ellithia also has 92aa, and while her gear is under where the current standards are due to the defiant stuff, and she actually had less power then Ishbel, I knew that would open up the opportunity to work on her. Plus, I put a lot of time into Ellithia since she’s an older character. Barely any time was spent on Ishbel.

The only thing left remaining was the fact that Ellithia was level 70, and my Nostalgia group will be 55 for another week, then headed towards 60.

So yesterday for the better part of an afternoon I sacrificed Ellithia down from leve 70 to level 60. Honestly, I had no issues doing it. Leveling is so much faster now, and I’d rather actually have some use for her instead of just seeing the character rot. With the Nostalgia group within my level range, it’s really nice. I first bound her to the bottom of Gunthak, pictured above, and let her drown. That was taking far too long though so I came up with a new plan.

I headed over to The Hole, and bound her to the top. Falling to my death over and  over (second screnshot) for some wary traveler below. The only bad part is that each death only granted a 6% experience loss. So in order to lose 10 levels, I had to die a LOT. I had company while I did this though. Kasul, has decided to join up on our Friday Nostalgia with his level 65 shaman. He took the character down to level 60 so that he was able to join us. Going to be great having another person around and I know he’s looking forward to it as well.

Nostalgia heads to Veksar for some Undead Lovin’

stargrace August 8, 2008 4Comments

“Shortly after the Shissar were run out of Kunark, a resort by the name of Veksar was built by the Kylong Iksar Tribe. After standing upon a lake in the middle of Kunark for nearly 1,000 years, Veksar was destroyed by the dragon Garudon, and sunk to the bottom of what is now known as the Lake of Ill Omen.

Now beneath the surface of the lake, Veksar is inhabited by sealife and the spirits of those killed in the incident. It is said that the spirit of the dragon Garudon also resides somewhere in the ruins. Only few adventurers who have chosen to trespass in to Veksar’s confines have been able to return to tell about it.” – Allakhazam

Last night Nostalgia headed to Veksar, a day early since Tipa is away tomorrow. The night started out much like it always does, a few of us gathered early and decided to just camp the entrance, filled with bloodgill shaman and warriors. A named did wander by, dropping an upgrade for my beastlord (though it would have been an upgrade to my druid as well). I ended up boxing for the evening, which I don’t mind in the slightest, since I’ve got three characters in the appropriate level ranges, if there’s room, why not (as long as it doesn’t cause wipes, cough cough). Warmnungar, Rogbog, and I stayed there for a bit until Tipa logged in, and we continued to wack away at encounters. Mantis joined us, an enchanter (to which I was eternally greatful for, since we’ve lost our Gnewton, not that he’s replaceable at all. I’d give some organs to see him returned).

I started out playing Qutey, but we didn’t have a cleric (Coldheat) like we usually do either, so as more people started showing up I swapped out for Ishbel who I’d neglected to level past 52. Experience in zones that are not hot zones, are actually quite slow. Ishbel went from 52 to 70% through 53 in the time she was there, and that was with using lesson of the devoted, which boosts your exp gain for 30 minutes. We did have a LOT of fun though. The monk and druid who typically join up were there as well, so we split into two groups. My group kept camping the shop area and the golems outside. We only spawned one named, the Behemoth, which dropped a robe for Mantis.

We also got one piece of defiant gear to drop, leather gloves. Aside from that, lots and lots of weapons that you can turn in for faction.

I’ve farmed and camped Veksar for months at a time in the past with a good friend of mine, so going back certainly held some very fond memories. There was an 80 beastlord in the zone going after some clicky summon pet that I will have to look into. Group two also spawned a named but it.. vanished, after a 65 rogue wandered into the zone. Not too hard to tell what happened there.

Each one of my characters is sitting at around 9aa or so which is not a great amount, but I’ve been trying to level them up as well as work on those aa. I believe the level cap may be raising to 60, or perhaps we’ll be staying at 55 for another week, I’m not certain. Once the cap is raised to 60 I know we’ll be spending at least two months at that level, which is fantastic. Perhaps I’ll get some crafting done too. Next week, we’re off to hate!

Nagafen and Vox didn’t stand a chance

stargrace August 2, 2008 2Comments

Last night Nostalgia met again to take down some dragons, and it went pretty smooth. Well, very smooth actually. A rocky start (and minus one gnome) we set out to Nagafen’s room. Some how a Warlord decided that we were too close to his abode or something and decided to agro us through some magical means that we never quite figured out. Then came our wipe, of course, and the conversation that followed:

• Tipa: Ok guys it should be clear at the firepit now (where we set up our fellowship)
• Me: Ok, using my token! (gates to the firepit, outside of Nagafen’s room)
• Me: Uh… wait.. I’m not sure it’s clear here (Said quite frantically as Tipa was about to gate her way in)
• – Insert the sound of me getting soundly thumbed by giants here –
• Tipa: Well. I guess it’s safe now.
• Me: *grumble grumble*

I had a blast, as always. Such a great group of people. Not only that, but the level 52 cap we’ve been held at for quite some time was raised, and Qutey (the new character I’ll be playing now on Fridays more then likely) hit level 55, along with my beastlord Nala. Warmongar happened to be strolling through the 50-55 hotzone this morning and asked if I needed a warrior. When don’t I need a fellow guild mate?!

Oh, forgot to mention, we also took down Vox. Easy, once we were done with Nagafen. We didn’t get a red dragon scale, but hopefully we can find one for a fair price on the broker.

In three hours  Warmongar and I had gotten our three levels (it may have been less) and can now work on aa again. A lot more aa open up at these levels which is fantastic. I’m also going to start doing my epics, on both the druid and the beastlord. We’ll see where it goes from there. A shame that our favorite Gnomeh (and resident enchanter) will not be able to partake in the Friday night groups any more. Hopefully he can come a bit later and still enjoy some fun. Going to miss that shorty.

Akheva Ruins

stargrace July 31, 2008 0Comment

Yesterday was a mixture of gaming, in the later evening. I was restless and not sure what I wanted to do. Not because of anything going on in game but it’s just been one of those weeks. You know the ones, that just don’t end quite fast enough for you. I spent some time briefly finishing off book quests for Silhouette in Ruins of Varsoon, adding two more to her collection. The kills were easy and I managed to harvest a few shinies to put for sale. Nothing really of note. Once that was done I headed to Kylong Plains with Kasul to help him get started with the RoK quest chains – namely the sokokar quest.

It wasn’t long (maybe an hour) after working on those I decided I would head to EQ1 for a few hours before bed. Binxs was already there, making his way to the 50-55 hot zone.

“The Akhevan City of Ka Vethan, better known now as the Akheva Ruins, was built long before Vex Thal and served as a stronghold for the shadows of Luclin. Its current state can be attributed to a civil war among the Akhevans.

After their arrival and establishment on the moon, the Combine began building structures and outposts on Akhevan territory. The reigning High Priestess at the time, Akel Ha Ra, demanded that her fellow Akhevans not interfere with the imposing Norrathians. This caused some dissention among their ranks. Before long, an Akhevan named Aten Ha Ra emerged as the leader of this resistance and led her faction in a civil war among the Akhevans. One day, Aten Ha Ra summoned a storm of incredible power and used it to destroy the city of Ka Vethanat, an event which led to the death of Akel Ha Ra, many of her minions, and the end of the civil war.

Currently, one can find a countless number of Akhevan spirits lingering among these age old ruins in addition to a host of mind wurms, stonegrabbers, and centis.”

I asked if he wanted some company, and decided to tag along on Ishbel. She was still sitting at level 51, and I wanted 52 before Friday night’s dragon play. The pulls to the zone line were fairly painless. I managed to ding my 8th aa on Ishbel, and both Binxs and Ishbel hit level 52. Since EQ2 is down for a few hours with the GU47, I decided I will probably go back, this time with my beastlord / druid combination, and see if I can’t get the beastlord to ding a few levels, as well as gain some aa / buffer on the druid. So far I’ve just been hanging out at the entrance, and the one thing I dislike is the fact that everything wants to run away from me at 20% or so.

By now of course I expect it, but it makes duo’ing with my cleric / beastlord combination a pain at times. The cleric does get a root, but I find it wears more often then not. At least with the druid I can put down a snare or two (or three).

I’m hoping tomorrow night we get a great turn out as far as dragon-killers go. Gnewton should be there and that’s always a sure sign of some fun at least. If all goes well, we’ll get the last bit we need and the level cap will finally be lifted. It will be nice to be able to move to 55 instead of the 52 people have been sitting at for quite some time (does us no good to want to kill dragons if we’re getting banished left right and center).

Which reminds me, I need to look up spells, for the beastlord, druid, and cleric. Eventually, I’d like to get my necromancer a few levels as well. We’ll have to see how that goes though.