EQ

Basic Adventures

stargrace July 21, 2008 0Comment

I should have probably taken advantage of the double experience weekend in EverQuestII, at least for the crafting, but I didn’t. I should have probably spent some time leveling in Vanguard, but I didn’t do that either. Instead I boxed in EverQuest, and I hung out with some friends, and had a lot of fun. Afterwards of course I was reminded about all of the stuff I ‘should’ have done – that’s always the way it works, right?

I’d been to MPG a few times (muramite proving grounds) in the past, years ago now I suppose. The zone was packed. There were people camping everywhere. Now though they’ve moved to greener pastures. Fistinyereyes boxed his beastlord, cleric and enchanter. His cleric is trying to get some levels, and went from 65-67 yesterday. Fistinyereyes himself managed to hit his 757th aa or something like that. I lost track once he hit 700. I took invis, who got an aa and a bit, before we called it a day. She also managed to get herself a +20ac augment, which is really nice.

We were the only ones in the zone, wandering to camp was easy enough with invis and of course the shroud of stealth I’ve got on the rogue. Being an outdated character is interesting to say the least. There were times I’m sure I barely dented the mob even though they were a dark blue con.

I also managed to finish getting Ishbel her shield from Natimbi. I took Invis out to hunt for the last two meats, and MQ’d the book to her (since she had already looted two of the meats herself). Which is good, because I’d hate to show up on Friday night missing gear. Oh, that’s right, I’ve also decided since things have settled down some to partake in the Friday Nostalgia groups again. Not sure if I mentioned that before or not, it’s only 6am right now and I’m not fully awake (when am I ever, eh).

Got tickets to Feist. Looking forward to that. Sarah Brightman is also coming to Ottawa, but the tickets are well out of my price range. Hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend.

So That’s Where They All Are!

stargrace July 20, 2008 1Comment

Ever wonder where everyone hangs out now in EQ1? Noticing that PoK is a little more empty then usual after your return? Well the above image would be the reason. It’s the picture of the guild lobby on the luclin server, busy as always. It’s great to see so many people active in the game. Since things have slowed down (slightly) for me, I’ve decided it was time to rejoin the Nostalgia crew in EQ1 on their Friday night adventures. Since I’ve been gone they’ve been growing by leaps and bounds, and doing some raiding to boot.

I still currently have both of my EQ1 accounts active, so I decided to take the 50 druid and 45 beastlord to Dulak harbor for a little grind sesson. Of course, I got a head of myself and before I’d even made it to a camp Qutey and Nala were little smeared bits of Nostalgians on the ground. Woops.

So I loged the druid out (slightly frustrated, since I spent a lot of time buffing them) and brought out the 70 cleric instead. Since the beastlord has some levels of catching up to do, I simply had the healer follow around and dot the mobs – it worked out far better. My very first kill dropped a defiant plate breastplate which I’ll ship over to my 48 shadowknight, and though I didn’t see another piece for the evening I still had a lot of fun. By the time I called it a night the beastlord had reached level 47, which means a new pet. Her skills started to rise a good bit as well, sorely neglected in my power leveling sessons of the past.

Before this Friday’s Nostalgia meeting I’d like to get Ishbel (that’s the cleric) a shield from a quest in Natimbi, I need two more pieces of turtle meat to drop though. That’s today’s project (in between some real life stuff). If anyone is looking to talk, remember you can add me to Xfire (check it out if you haven’t yet) and it lets you talk in game, no matter the game as well as take video and screen shots.

Other then that, I hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend, no matter the realm you’re gaming in!

Mostly just Crafting

stargrace June 18, 2008 0Comment

Yesterday was one of those “a little bit of everything” days. By the end of it I was left feeling as though I’d accomplished nothing, though it’s not the case. It started out easily enough – I leveled my beastlord from 35-40 in Stone Hive, which is of course a hot zone. I teamed up with my druid, who’s just a hair shy of dinging 48. Afterwards I was feeling bad that the beastlord couldn’t cast a single spell, she’d leveled that fast. Everything fizzled. I spent a few hours working on skills so that I can at least buff, call pets, and heal. Tried to do a little shopping but everything is grossly over priced in the bazaar, so I’ll satisfy myself by either crafting bits and pieces of armor, or just waiting until I’m at a level where I’ll have no choice but to splurge. We’ll see how it goes. Today I’d like to reach level 45, so I’ll be heading to Dulak Harbor (again…) later on.

In the screen shot above is of course Rahotep who I helped take down on my ranger, along with magician friend. Back when we were level 13 or so, he hurt. A lot different from the EQ2 version where he’s a raid encounter with an army of undead, used in a heritage quest. Or at least, he used to be epic, he may have been toned down after a few years, a lot of encounters were.

EQ2 had their GU yesterday, including a new Runnyeye zone to play in. I almost ended up going to that, but alas the lure of EQ1 was stronger.

I finally managed to get my jewelery trophy completed on Kameeko, it’s evolved 5/7 of the way, and gave me a nice 75% 10 slot WR (weight reducing) bag. It’s temporary, but if you pass it to Jorlum in the bazaar he gives you an essence you can combine in your crafting machine of choice and it’ll turn into a real bag. Since I have the old school one from the grandmasters piece, Kameeko is now sporting two of these bags. Can’t complain at all.

I spent a lot of time organizing bags yesterday. Trying to figure out who will do what craft. While it’s nice and easy to say one character will do it all, it’s also nice to spread it out a little. For example, the ranger will be a master fletcher – they use arrows, it makes sense. The halfling druid, is going to be a master tailor. Halflings are the only race who can make the leatherfoot haversacks that I so enjoy. She’ll also be doing baking, because it just makes sense. Kameeko is of course my master jeweler. She has everything else at 200, but I’m not sure if I’ll spend aa to extend that or not yet. Invis is my master poisoner. I attempted to work on her trophy last night as well, but it requires bits harvested from lower level zones that no one goes to any more – and thus none of the poison components were for sale at the bazaar. It’s still quite easy to do, but it will take me some time to find all the parts I need. Nothing wrong with that.

I took Qutey out to the Broodlands to forage for a time, there’s a LOT of food supplies that can be scrounged up there, as well as scale ore which is used in jewel crafting. The only problem is that there’s such a variety of items, it’s going to be difficult to store it all.

All in all, yesterday was a rewarding day at least in the craft sense. I feel better now that things are slightly more organized and I have a direction to go. That’s the problem with having so many alts.

Epics, Experience, and Enjoyment – Oh My!

stargrace June 17, 2008 0Comment

Back to Katta I went, to turn in bundles of herbs for faction and experience. Each round gave me 75p and a lot of experience. It’s all aa experience, but hey it helps. I’m just glad to have my bag empty from herbs (again). It’s a long boring run from the quest npc to the Greenhouse (which is an update you need to get first) before you pass over all your leafy green goodness. A huge thank you to Kragnn who helped me find my way to the greenhouse (and back) without me ending up a smushed splatter on the ground.

Once I did that, I helped out with a wizard epic 1.5 – and part way through Lackey asked if I’d come help him ding level 51. We rarely get a chance to play since he’s not on any sort of schedule, it’s hit and miss. Once the fight was done for the wizard, I headed off to Dulak’s Harbor with Lackey and a Shadowknight, “Imacrushu” who found it amusing that the cleric and magician tanked far more then he did. I brought Ishbel, popped my Lesson of the Devoted (which is a veteran reward for those not familiar with it, that gives you a bonus to experience for 30 minutes) and we began ripping apart the harbor. It wasn’t long (an hour and a bit) before Lackey managed to get his level 51, and Ishbel had gained three aa.

Not that I have anything to spend them on. The general consensus is that you can save up to 30aa before it’ll start reverting to regular experience again, so that’s probably what I’ll do. I have my aa experience on a 10/90 split so that I’m still gaining a trickle of regular experience as well. I’m 51 and the hard cap is 52, I have a bit of leeway.

Since I’m boxing now, I’ve come up with a few duo combinations that I’m happy with. I have a druid / beastlord combo (beastlord managed to hit level 35 yesterday), and a necromancer / enchanter combo. Since the necromancer just kites anyhow, and the ench can slow. I also have a ranger who I can stick with multiple characters, and yesterday created a shaman on the second account, eventually to team up with my shadowknight. It’s fun to not only have a wide variety of characters, but a selection of levels to play at as well. One thing I’ve noticed more about EQ1 then any other MMO I’ve played in is that I’m not quite as concerned with gaining levels as one may think. Typically it’s the “grind to end game” that urges people further. However in EQ1 you really do need to stop and gain aa for a period of time before considering leveling up again. A level 80 character with 0 aa is going to have a hard time of things, great gear or not. It’s one more unique thing I love about EQ.

One of these days I’ll have to organize all my banks, do some serious crafting. It’s an expensive hobby though and rarely does the lower level items sell. We’ll just have to see how it goes. Two more aa on the enchanter, and I’ll be able to purchase the 50% reduced fail rates. Then comes salvage. For now I have 25% reduced rates. I also need to get her crafting trophies – eventually. Then besides all the crafting aa she still needs regular aa. I have a feeling all of my characters will sit at 70 for quite some time. There’s really no reason for me to be in a mad rush to level up anyhow, plenty of great lower level content still that I’ve yet to see.

I need to start Ishbel’s epic as well. Maybe this week – I hope.

Welcome Anakh to Nostalgia too, a friend from Vanguard who decided to give things a whirl!