Instances

Obelisk of Ahkzul, and Vault of Eternal Sleep

stargrace April 5, 2009 0Comment

When EQ had it’s 10th anniversary, for the week you could claim free LoN (Legends of Norrath) loot cards in either EQ or EQ2. For the first portion of the week I was claiming them in EQ, and then switched over to EQ2 when the void vision goggles came out, and then the next day it was the awesome parrot that you see sitting on my mystic’s shoulder in the screen shot above (which turned out really nice, I have to admit). I had planned on doing some questing in Lavastorm for the evening – but had a really nice surprise when Ultann decided to re-activate his EQ2 account. So of course I decide that the group is going to jump right into things, and we head to the Moors of Ykesha to attempt the Obelisk of Ahkzul with just the three of us (and me boxing the coercer). It’s only been a month and a half since we started playing EQ fairly regularly rather then EQ2, and we did pretty well. The new threat meter is amazing and everyone loves it. I adore the fact that you can now auto follow on the Z axis.

I’ve been playing on the highest settings I can put my computer at and still function, which is one below max. The game looks so incredible to me. I did turn down the number of spell particles I see simply because when you have so many turned on encounters start looking like masses of particle effects and nothing more. I can’t see the mobs or where they’re positioned or know if I’m about to die to a giant AoE frontal.

We died once in the ‘ball room’ but it was just us being rusty. The second attempt was flawless, and we managed to get a chest with 14p in it. Those chests are nice when you do the instance in a group of three. I had my fingers crossed that the final encounter would drop the healer shield I’ve longed for since day one – but alas, my luck in EQ2 is pretty non-existant, and nothing of use dropped. On the plus side, void shards WERE introduced to this zone finally, so we each gained one more to add to the pile by the end.

Afterwards we decided to head to Vault of Eternal Sleep in Jarsath Wastes to try (for the 101st time) for the praetor’s guard for Wpus, the conjuror. Ever since we found out we can trio this zone, we’ve attempted to get the guard to drop. Every time, we had no drop. The zone is fairly easy to complete, we rarely ever die. The adds spawned, I mez’d them while still attempting to heal (Wpus catches them with root so I have a little leeway) and down the final boss went.

A master chest!

Now, there are two fabled (maybe more) that can drop here. There are a pair of pants that no one in the group would use – along with the mage item. FINALLY the guard dropped, now we just need to get one for my coercer. Groan.

I started having ISP issues (again) shortly after that, so when I disconnected I called it a night and headed to bed. I had a blast though. It was great to be back in Norrath 2.0 and even better to enjoy the evening with some great friends. I hope everyone else had a fantastic evening, no matter where you spent it!

See you in Norrath!

Gaming

Relaxing in Middle-Earth

stargrace April 3, 2009 0Comment

For the first time since September, I played last night and had no graphic glitches at all. It was nice. It was really nice. Kasul, Tipa, and I headed to LotRO and spent some time slaying various creatures and progressing the epic line. Now, I’ll admit I didn’t spend that much time actually reading the quests. I normally do, I love reading all the stories and then I get to thinking about who wrote them and what inspired them and it just takes off from there. However; I was dealing with some real life background noise (ie: stress) and just trying to make sure I followed along, kept people healed, and didn’t trip over my own two feet very much. I was so happy that the new video card ran (and ran well) that I could barely do more then walk around in a half daze looking at everything.

I do remember getting quite a few pieces of gear upgrade. I got a new cloak, some gloves and even a really awesome recipe that only has a one time charge of some cloth shoulders. It came from one of the instances we ran, and I’d never seen it before. My tailor (explorer) is happily leveling away, and things are going well in that direction.

Gozad also started playing on the same server as Nostalgia (our Kinship, now spanning three games officially, though you can find Nostalgians all over the place), not sure if he plans on continuing or not but it’s always nice to have another member. Our Kinship just reached rank 6, and we’re headed towards rank 7.

I like to unlock the various deeds and see a mass accumulation of titles and little ‘unique’ bits to the game that show off the various feats my character has accomplished. Even if they’re the same titles that everyone else has earned, they are unique to my character and remind me about what I’ve done (or haven’t done) in game. The one Tipa is sporting (on her character Dera) is awesome, and completely fitting for the little hobbit (who I keep wanting to call a halfling due to EverQuest II). It was a wonder we didn’t step on her multiple times throughout the night. Elves may be slim and move with grace, but my Minstrel is wearing some pretty clunky items and I always feel like I’m clunking around instead of floating gracefully.

Monday evening should be the next LotRO meeting unless Kasul has changed his schedule around for that day (one never knows) I managed to reach level 16 and part way through it. We also started working on Book one Chapter five (I believe that’s where we’re at in any case) which has us running all over the place currently. I don’t own a mount (nor do I envision myself owning one any time soon) so it’s a lot of running. A lot.

Over all? Having a lot of fun with the game. Of course, playing with great friends always makes games 100x better then playing alone.

Gaming

Shard instances galore

stargrace January 27, 2009 1Comment

Collecting void shards is my mystics new hobby. Why? Because the gear from TSO (even the T1 gear) is a huge upgrade over the crafted pieces she’s wearing. I managed to save up enough shards before she hit 80 to make myself the hat (I have the recipe books at least!) and then today after a few rounds of instances I had enough to make the pants. I tend to be one of those ‘list’ people who write lists for everything, so of course I wrote down which pieces I have that still need to get upgrades.

Chest, Shoulders, Gloves, Shoes, Earring (one), Ring (two), and bracelets.

Plus my epic. Ok so there’s a lot of work to be done, but hey isn’t that why I play this game anyhow? To further and progress my character alongside of amazing friends and have wonderful encounters in game.

That being said, the TSO instances in the commonlands fell to the group I was in early this morning, and yesterday included a romp through Chelsith. A lot of people don’t especially care for that zone (going off of 70-79 chatter) and I’m not sure why. It could be due to the length it takes to clear it, but I enjoy it quite a bit.

I had my 71 coercer in tow (mostly for power regen while I healed) and she dinged 72. I’m still contemplating working up a bard (dirge) but I haven’t gotten very far with it yet.

I also managed to find a little time to play LoTRO, creating a character on Tipa’s server so I could play with the group she has going there. Hopefully I can find a little more time and catch up to the rest of them! Short post today as I’ve got to get a bunch of things done, but there’s a rumor on the forums that the GU with the fighter changes is tentatively scheduled for the 3rd of February, I’m actually looking forward to it. That should also add the Valentine items to the game, which means – you guessed it – more house item!

Gaming

Laying Down on the Job

stargrace January 26, 2009 1Comment

Another run at Fear (no choker for the summoner yet) and another run at Vault (no guard) but my 79 mystic hit level 80! This is a bit of a milestone for me. Not because I don’t already have level 80 characters (I now have 6) but because she’s the only level 80 on my 2nd account. It means that the other characters will get at least a 10% bonus at all times. I realize it’s not THAT big of a deal, but hey every little bit counts. I’m thinking of leveling up my dirge next, I’m not sure yet. I do need to work on the shaman’s gear.

Guild was nice and active yesterday, Hamal (new ranger) managed to get to level 32 (I believe?) with some help of 80’s mentoring, along with Dweezel who has so many alts with different renditions of his name I don’t have the faintest idea who he actually played in group. I want to say paladin but maybe that was the night before.

I also managed to create a few pieces of void shard gear for the mystic, you can start obtaining the basic void shard quests at level 75, level 79 for the daily double quest. Needless to say I had a nice little stash waiting for me. Since I barely did any RoK questing on her she still has a lot to do, but that can come in time. For now it’s just nice to be level 80.

I didn’t get anything done this weekend that I had set out to do, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. Of course it means that now that the weekend is over I’ll have to get moving on stuff, but isn’t that what the weekdays are for to begin with?

Since I started playing on Kithicor I’ve noticed how prices can change drastically depending on server population. Antonia Bayle and Najena pricing are significantly lower then Kithicor and Oasis for example. AB and Najena are also far higher populated servers then the other two. On Kithicor things I put for sale (no matter the tier it seems) can sit, some times for a long period. On Najena where the market is constantly active things moved far quicker. This is neither good nor bad, just an observation.

I hope everyone else had an amazing weekend, no matter what game you played. I’m looking to get further into LoTRO, things lately have just been too hectic for me to stick to any more then one MMO. While I find that I work better under pressure, and I’m learning how to manage my time properly, it still leaves very little free time.

Gaming

Templar hits 80, with LOTS of instances!

stargrace January 2, 2009 2Comments

Up early yesterday for a family get together and then spent most of the afternoon napping (I wasn’t feeling too well) so when I finally got up around 7pm I wasn’t really expecting to do too much before heading back to bed for the night. Turns out, I was wrong.

My ‘usual’ group was around, Kasul, Albrta, Eyenstein, and Shadowgeist, so we decided to do some instances. The daily double was Najena’s Hollow Tower, and none of us felt like doing it. So instead we headed to Scion of Ice in Everfrost. Before doing Scion I had done a quick maidens run in Jarsath Waste, first time running Petites (templar) through there so the experience was fairly good. Finished off the weapon quest from the zone too. Anyhow, Scion of ice hurt. Plus our second shadowknight was apparently fairly drunk and left unable to continue part way through the instance. I was the only healer, and everyone seemed to be getting pummeled by AoE’s and my templar (yet) is not exactly geared up for solo healing. But we managed it, cleared the zone. I picked myself up a new healer cloak, as well as a new ring.

I was a little reluctant to solo heal, but some times you don’t always get the perfect group. After we finished with Scion we headed to Crucible which has always been the easiest of the Everfrost instances, for me at least. We picked up a swashbuckler who was LFG – and for the first time ever I had to ask someone not to use a particular piece of gear. Not because of them, but because of me.

I was still 79 at the time, solo healing, without very good gear (my own fault I know, but what was the point of upgrading everything when I was wearing the EoF set gear and I’d just be wearing void shard gear before too long) my spells were all adept3 but I didn’t have any illusionist with TC or any of that stuff. Anyhow, the item in question is the Bloodthirsty Choker. If you’ve never heard of this item before it’s the one that quickly drains your health as you dps to boost your attacks with a proc. It drains about 10% health (at least on the swashbuckler) every tick or two.

Being the only healer, I didn’t feel as though I could effectively keep my heals concentrated on both the tank, and this swashbuckler in group without letting someone die. If I were on my warden, I’d have no issue at all with this. Afterwards, I did learn a few tricks in regards to the bloodthirsty choker. For example, apparently shield of faith which is a magic ward / buff will work on the choker. Apparently so will a few other things, like shield ally.

Was it unfair of me to ask them to remove the piece? Well, I’m not sure. It really did make me feel like a crappy healer, but I know my limitations, and I wasn’t about to risk heals because someone wanted to boost their dps. Not to speak down about them, but pet peeve of mine is someone posting the dps parse every fight into group chat. It’s fine to want to know your dps, but posting (and they’d only post the ones where they were on top) like that just rubs me the wrong way. Maybe even more so because I play a healer and I’m always at the bottom of that list, with big fat 0’s by my name.

The fabled healer / mage item from Crucible dropped and Petites won it, all in all it was a very nice day for the templar. That also makes my 5th level 80 character which means my account has a 50/50 bonus for both tradeskilling and adventuring (which is the cap). I started the templar epic, which has been fairly smooth so far. Lots of running around, which seems to be the case for every epic.

Next? Not sure. I’d like to work a pure DPS class up to 80 simply because I don’t have one. I have two healers, and 3 utility (two enchanters and a bard) and then of course there’s the paladin tank I have at 70. Still on burn out from that one though. So what do I have left? Well, there’s the 61 bruiser, the 61 necromancer (who I’ve had since 2004 and just never leveled), I have the 58 swashbuckler, the 70 paladin, and a 30 warlock, as well as the 74 defiler. It may sound like a lot, but keep in mind the experience from 1-70 was drastically increased, there’s mentor bonus, and there’s experience potions, AND there’s the account bonus I have. It really takes no time at all these days to level up a character in EQ2 and honestly as long as I’m having fun that’s all that matters.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, and had some great holidays no matter where you game!

Obelisk of Ahkzul, and Vault of Eternal Sleep

Relaxing in Middle-Earth

Shard instances galore

Laying Down on the Job

Templar hits 80, with LOTS of instances!

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