EQ

Chardok Didn’t Stand a Chance

stargrace April 28, 2008 2Comments

Urtog from our Nostalgia group moved his main warrior over to Luclin, and ever since has been hell bent on getting his epic 1.0 completed. Who can blame him? It’s an epitome of EQ1-ness, and was (and still is to a few) a major milestone. Over time though not many people still raid the 1.0’s, a lot of the encounters needed for various classes are on a permanent camped basis, farmed for their drops because a lot can be solo’d / duo’d / boxed.

So when he set forth the idea to go after his Chardok piece, which happened to come from the Queen, of course I jumped at the chance. Tipa would (again) be our fearless leader – and because of sheer uberness was our tank, our dps, and our healer. Urtog was our corpse clearer, and I was our (some what fuddled) navigator and lock-pickerer on my rogue, Invis Abletomobs. Basically the plan was, let Tipa do all the work. I kid you not. That woman is UBER. It helps, being decked out the way her character is. I’ve never gotten into that aspect of EQ1 before, I never really had the opportunity since I left for EQ2. It’s an interesting sight to see that’s for sure.

Anyhow, I scouted ahead (I love Shroud of Stealth, which is an aa my rogue has that lets her pass by things unaware that would typically see) and checked to see if the mobs were up – which they were. I then promptly set off a trap and died.

Woot. Wouldn’t be a Chardok run (hey, some mobs were still con’ing dark blue to me at level 70) if I didn’t die. So I wandered back to Chardok while Tipa set out clearing her and Urtog’s path with her mighty melee cleric ways. It was fun. She’d turn a corner, grab 20 or so mobs, and a few minutes later a sad little pile of corpses lay at her feet. Urtog and I grabbed our pom poms and acted as personal cheerleaders.

Our one issue was that none of us could snare, and the final mob of every encounter would make a beeline for their furthest friend which would in turn bring 20 of their furthest friends and before too long we’d have another dead party at our feet. It was a LOT of fun though. It’s great playing the whole lowbie nostalgia bit, but some times, you just want to wander around and play those old characters you have. I hadn’t touched my rough in three years. I didn’t even remember how to apply poisons, and the bazaar doesn’t have a search field to buy any. Looks like I’ll have to make some (some how).

So after a bit of time clearing, we downed both the Overking, and the Queen. Those two specific encounters were probably easier then anything else we’d fought that night. The Queen’s bard AoE still hurt me and Urtog real bad while Tipa stood there saying “She has an AoE? It hurts?” not feeling a thing. Lucky Halfling. In other fantastic news, we got our guild tag, FINALLY. Pictures of our guild hall to follow in another post. Just watch out for the healing pool, I hear some Vah shir have been using it as a litter box.

Good ‘Ol Kurn’s Tower

stargrace April 27, 2008 3Comments

It stood just as imposing as I remember it. Just as scary as it was in EQ2? Well, not exactly. It’s surrounded by the same mobs, but they’re much lower level. Our Nostalgia group was scheduled to over take get a few levels in Kurn’s for the evening, and I was excited. 7pm was the meeting time, and we got to put our Fellowship Camp Fire into good use. Well, it looked cool in any case. A fellowship can be made up of 9 people and it allows you to place camp fires. You get a trinket from an npc in PoK and when three of you have gathered together, placed the camp fire, it allows other members who are not in the same zone as you to gate there. Pretty cool, eh? Guilds also have a version of this called banners. 13 members must be in the area to place a banner – ideal for raids (and stragglers).

Anyhow. As it turned out only 7 of our Nostalgia members showed up – Cordanim and Noffin being engaged in other real life issues, and Egat with something that had come up. Group Cool’s tank also couldn’t make it, and so with only seven of us there I volunteered to sit out. I didn’t want to have to split into two semi-full groups when they could form one full group, get plenty of experience, and I could wander around by myself. It seemed to work out alright – they headed downstairs after some sniffles and a few boxes of tissue later (on my end, of course, week two of no grouping with the fabled Tipa) and I headed upstairs to wack some skeletons.

I was slightly afraid of how my cleric dps would measure up to a full group downstairs taking down encounters. Turned out, I shouldn’t have worried. I used my veteran reward for a 30 minute experience bonus and if I had of had clarity it’d have been a lot quicker. I think my alchemist may actually be able to make clarity potions – or I can at least buy them some where, I seem to remember that much. So I think I’ll look into that for next time.

Using my spells vs. undead was certainly the way to go. It worked out very well and in the same amount of time that it took the core group to hit 19-20, I’d also managed to hit it. Well, at least (for now) I’m not behind. The entire time no other group (or person) entered the zone aside from a mysterious cleric who came and cast temperance on the group. I found it amusing that they just randomly showed up cast and then left. Thank you whoever you were.

If you’re interested in playing with the Nostalgia group, or just having a group of people around who you can chatter to, anyone is still more then welcome to join up. We ask that folks register on our forums here, and introduce yourself. Let people know whether you’d like to make the Friday night group (there are typically spots, or we’ll form up a third group) or if you’re just looking for people to talk to. We’re still waiting on the creation of our guild (two weeks and counting, come on SOE why not revamp the EQ1 guild format.. this is just getting to be annoying) but we’ll have one (eventually). We play on the Luclin server.

Next week we’ll be attempting our first (and hopefully our second) LDoN. So I went around to the Wayfarers camps and picked up my adventure stone. The stone also allows people to use the Magus’ to port around. There’s a handy one in the guild lobby which I’ll be taking advantage of I am sure. If everything goes well (and everyone shows up – though we already know one wizard can’t make it) it should be a lot of fun – and I believe the goal is to be between 20-25. Right now the Nostalgia group is slightly spread, we’re looking for everyone to be between 15-20 before we attempt our LDoN’s and not above 20. My cleric hit 20 yesterday, and my necromancer is 19 (waiting on Slackey Lackey)  so I created a bard just to play around on when I can’t level the other two. I’ve never played one before in EQ1 aside from just very briefly using a friends – it should be interesting, to say the least.

Neat Freak

stargrace April 25, 2008 1Comment

One thing that always astounds me when I return to a game – is how much crud I have kicking around in various bags and banks. At one time or another I’m sure the order in which I’d placed these items made some sort of sense to me. But three years later, that is not the case. I had bits and pieces strewn about, parts of keys that I’d long since forgotten (which I deleted as well, since most areas have been removed of their key requirements) and crafting supplies in every nook and cranny.

So I took a few hours yesterday (yes, in the end it took that long) to organize the bags of one character. I still have three more that I need to go through. This was the main one though, my over all crafter (and enchanter) Kameeko.

I still have bits and pieces of her enchanter epic (1.0) in one bag, having never managed to get the piece I needed from Plane of Fear. There are pelts of all shapes and sizes, patterns, metals, gems, tools, and I had a backpack full of very old gear (mostly from Plane of Mischief which is my most favorite zone in the entire game) and just… everything. My druid’s bags are filled with foraged items and food bits, she’ll probably be next. Then there’s my shaman and all of her alchemist / potions which are everywhere. The rogue has poisons (being a master crafter way back in the day) and they all have quest bits and pieces of things strewn about.

I’m not exactly a neat freak, but in game especially I do like to know where everything is, how I can get to it easily, and what it’s used for. It does me no good if I open my bags and have to search for 10 minutes for an item – only to find out I don’t have it at all. Or for me to go spending money on an item that I’ve had stashed away for years. I actually enjoy organizing these bags too, it’s fun looking over all the stuff I’ve accumulated, looking it up online to see what it’s for. Humming and hawing over key pieces and whether I keep them for the memories or toss them aside since access is not required.

Tonight is the second night of “Nostalgia the guild” and I believe we’re going to Kurn’s Castle. It may not be implimented in EQ2 yet (maybe it is, I have been playing slightly but I’m behind on the updates) but it should be a lot of fun. The imposing tower resides in both games, and they both send shivers up my spine every time I approach.  I managed to get my LDoN stone yesterday. Handy to use at the Magus’ as well since they port you to the camps – and there’s a magus in the guild lobby. My necro and cleric are both sitting at 15, with the cleric sure to get some levels tonight. Looking forward to seeing everyone there (except Cordanim – happy birthday hon have a great night out!).

It’s always about the crafting

stargrace April 23, 2008 0Comment

It doesn’t matter what game I play, I’m always heavily involved in the crafting. In WoW the crafting was simple and easy, but there were unique recipes you could quest for and gather materials for. I liked that aspect of it even if I didn’t actually enjoy the crafting process itself. In Vanguard, crafting is taken to a whole new level and it’s exceptionally complicated and requires dusts and powders and there’s so much to it. It was a game unto itself. In EverQuestII crafting is a timed event that you have to constantly be present for, and while the risk is not as bad as EQ1 or VG, it’s still there. In EQ1 I’ve been trying to get back into the crafting. There’s a few significant differences between EQ1 crafting and EQ2. In EQ2 you’re limited to one craft per character. In EQ1 you’re not limited at all so long as you get the aa’s required to add more. I’m not sure if the numbers have changed – but the way it used to work was you could reach 200 in any (all) crafts, and then ONE of those, you could get to 300. You could also get your “masters” item from it. If you wanted more then one trade at master level, you’d have to sink aa’s into it.

You could also use aa’s to purchase things like a reduced failure rate. Great when you’re working on those augments (which I did). You can also reclaim items from a failed combine, something unheard of in most games. Once you failed, that was it.

When I left EQ1 three years ago my crafting character was Kameeko. She had:

• 267 Jeweler (Master)
• 200 Research (apparently the cap on this has moved to 300 for everyone)
• 200 Brewing
• 200 Fletching (arrows)
• 195 Baking
• 182 Blacksmithing
• 174 Fishing (I don’t even remember how to fish now)
• 187 Pottery
• 164 Tailor

I worked really hard on my crafting, and was proud of what I’d accomplished. When omens of war was introduced and augments became more common, along with the skill of crafting and upgrading augments, I thrived. I used to sell a LOT of them using materials me and my beastlord friend would farm. Seems like ages ago.

Anyhow, getting back into crafting has been complicated and difficult, but it’s slowly coming back. Especially due to great sites like EQTraders. I used the site way back when and still find it’s one of the best out there. It may not always be 100% up to date, but for what I need at the moment it works perfectly.

I’ve been selling some old crap that I’ve had stored on my other characters for some time now. Sales are not exactly frantic, but I made 16,000p over the past week or so. That’s more then enough to get by for now with general things like crafting. I’m slowly starting to remember what all the stuff is that’s in my banks, specifically the 3-4 backpacks I had filled with patterns (for the DoN cultural gear) that my enchanter was hording. I still have a long way to go, but it’s been a lot of fun.

Yesterday my baby Drakkin made herself four new pieces of armor though I did fail the combines a few times too. She made a pair of boots, a helm, legs, and a wrist piece. At level 15 I can equip them and add the augments to them too. I had Kameeko make those as Ishbel is not quite big enough to do it. They require a special quest to get recipes for symbols. Anyone can make symbols for anyone else, though the gear is race restricted. So long as Ishbel can make her own gear, Kameeko can supply the augments. DoN cultural crafted gear has three augment slots, which is one of the main reasons I like it. LDoN drops augments (last I remember at least) at lower levels. There’s also a quest for an augment in Crescent Reach around level 30 or so. Ah, so much to remember, so much to do! It’s great to be back.

I’d have loved to quest for some gear, like others in the Nostalgia bunch seem to be doing, but alas, Drakkin don’t have armor quests. Not that I could see at least. The DoN cultural armor is not the best out there, so I’ll still be in the running for upgrades at least (especially since not all slots are covered) which is a big factor – but at least I won’t be trying to heal the group in rags, either.

Who Am I

stargrace April 22, 2008 1Comment

My eyes opened as though I was shocked with fire – rushing through my veins. I remember nothing before that, except barely existing. I was being called, I felt it. I groaned with the pressure of it ringing in my ears. Stumbling, I made my way to the council of six to see what was required of me. How I even found them I know not. It passed through my mind like a blur, some unreal dream that was actually reality. I stood before them – and they refused to talk to me. Refused to acknowledge that I was even there, groveling at their feet. I practically wept in despair until a voice called me across the room.

“Vasha, Ishbel” the woman said in greeting. She explained to me that I would have to prove myself worthy of the council’s attentions first. Doing a few very basic chores. It made sense to me in some weird way, and I went off to complete my tasks. First and foremost was learning of our history. I was given the Charter of Crescent Research, where I learned about the Drakkin and the scions of the six. Children of Veeshan, we were called. Living memory of Dragon’s Nest, which was defiled by a curse. We had a purpose, as future protector’s of Veeshan, we had the right to arm ourselves, and defend the city. Crescent Reach was our sanctuary.

Quizzed and found proficient enough to stand before the council, I was granted an audience. My knees quaked at the sight of them standing there, calm as could be. Still, in the background of my mind the flames licked and burned at me and I knew I had nothing to worry about. It was my calling. I’ve no idea how other Drakkin react to their own awakenings, but mine was intense. I suppose in that way it’s meant to be, so that we don’t ever forget.

Ithakis stared at me from his place in the council, observing me as I practically cowered before him. He sneered, almost doubting that I should be there at all. Somehow, I managed to stumble out my cause. He sent me on another task, which I completed with cool ease. I still felt as though I was walking in a dream. Returning to him he said nothing but nodded his head and pointed towards a door, the lifts that would take me to my dragon kin.

How I managed to get my feet under me enough to make that climb, I’ll never know. I stood before Atathus the Red Lord and quivered, dropping to my knees. I groveled before him. I think he smiled at me, if that’s possible. Can dragons smile? He bid me rise, and told me of a great spider and a poison sac that he’d have me collect. At some time during the conversation it seemed as though he almost doubted I could accomplish this task – but again I felt the heat and flames of my heritage sparking through me and knew I’d have no problems.

I went off in search of the spider, and stuck the tip of my staff through the spongy part of her body with ease. Ignoring the stench of the ooze I collected the venom sac, and headed back to Atathus the Red Lord. I dropped the sac at his feet, and waited.

He said nothing.

I tried again, I made sure it was from the right spider, and that it was not damaged.

“I have no need of this item, Ishbel” was all the red dragon breathed at me.

How could this be? What had I done to displease him? I collapsed to my knees and began weeping on the floor. I’d never felt so lost. I knew I wasn’t wrong, I felt the flames of my heritage still licking along the edges of my mind, fanned by my emotions.. what had I done wrong..

(( The quest for my Drakkin to earn her dragon breath attack is apparently broken, as I petitioned it yesterday and got a cut and past answer that there were issues with it. No idea when it will be fixed or why they couldn’t have just granted me the ability and taken away my quest item, but anyhow, that’s what sparked this post ))