Alts, Dings, and just Plain Fun
stargrace 
It’s no surprise any more when I make alts in every single game I play. I’m an alt-o-holic, and I’ve come to terms with it. I envy those people who have 1-2 characters they can dot on while I have 6+ in any given game. So it was that I created two new alts to play in EQ yesterday. I didn’t really have a heavy DPS’er and I was debating a beastlord but I already have my necromancer pet class, so I decided to go with a dark elf wizard named Ashria. Of course I needed a counterpart to box with, and I’d already created a cleric and a druid on Luclin, so I decided on a shaman named Sharatan this time around. Barbarian at that (and pictured to the right sporting her defiant gear and the always awesome kilt-skirt). I really don’t enjoy the tutorial any more but it’s more then likely simply because I’ve done it so many times. I do the very first quest for the charm and then typically head to Crescent Reach to continue my leveling upstairs on bats and rats. I’ve got some roleplay stories in mind for the duo, and I’m looking forward to playing them when things are quiet and no one is around. I don’t expect that they’ll level too fast, but it should be fun. I think I managed to level 3-4 yesterday before relogging to my other characters to play for a bit.
We (ie: the other two I play with) decided to head to Dreadspire and grind out some experience. The zone is typically empty because most people hang out in the level 70 hot zone, which has higher level mobs. Dreadspire is the level 75 hot zone. We created a campfire in the ballroom ‘just in case’ and began mass slaughtering the room. After a little while I used my lesson of the devoted and the experience flew by.
It was such great experience in fact, that the necromancer hit level 75 and is now 50% into her level. The enchanter hit level 73, and is also 2% away from hitting level 74. Two levels in a few hours is really not bad at all, especially since she does not have any veteran rewards at all, it was just regular experience. I also managed (thanks to named smushing) to collect the rest of the glowing runes I needed for my level 70 spells on both characters, which means the enchanter finally has group mana regen (as well as her haste which I picked up the day before). I’ve bought a few base spells 71+ for the necromancer but I haven’t looked into the enchanter yet, and I haven’t been able to afford the RKII spells that are for sale on the broker. I keep meaning to work up my researching to 300 (the enchanter is currently at 200) but when you spend your time in game actually playing the game, it leaves very little time for crafting, go figure! This is a great thing though, not a complaint.
When lessons were spent in Dreadspire we decided to head to a GoD zone to work on some raid but it turned out we needed an annoying pre-quest that no one felt like doing so we went to Katta instead in TBS and worked on missions there for faction and more orux. I managed to get amiably with the merchants and purchased two new spells on the enchanter. The necromancer I decided to pass on, the spells were not that useful and were probably things I’d just let sit in my book and never do anything with. Now, I’ve never really solo’d in EQ (I know, how odd is that) in all of the years that I’ve played. I’ve always been with friends in a duo or trio type situation. I used to solo a little bit on my enchanter with dire charm when I was of level, but those days were long ago.
I know necromancers can solo fairly well with kiting, but I’d never actually attempted it because I’m always with friends as I mentioned above. Yesterday there was a lull in the group when everyone went to eat and I had already eaten, so I decided I would head to the greenhouse in Katta and attempt some kiting for experience. Now remember my necromancer may be level 75, but she’s also still very new to me, with under 6 days played and I believe she’s probably two-three weeks old now. In other words, I have a lot to learn still. I did get the hang of kiting though, especially once I stuck the enchanter pet onto the mob as well. I pull with snare, load up all sorts of dot’s on the encounter, and thankfully the path in front of the greenhouse is agro-free and there’s lots of room to move around. It does (at the moment at least) take me a good bit of mana to take down white-con mobs (about 50%) but I can do it. I was so incredibly happy and proud of myself. I realize it’s sort of silly, but it was a huge accomplishment for me. Now, I know that with time things will get better. I only have 73aa and nothing into crit dot’s yet, nothing into mana preservation or anything like that. I worked on getting my pet some affinity and some crits and then foolishly decided I needed an army of undead fighting for me as well. Hey, I don’t plan on doing anything too serious with the character, it’s all just fun, and so that’s how I spent my points. In any case, I know once I get more aa things will go better. I’m eager to hit 80-85 though, so for now I’ve got my experience set to 90/10 – 10 being the amount of aa I’m earning. I’ll get there, slowly.
I hope everyone else has an amazing Wednesday, no matter your game of choice (oh, and on a random side note, I decided to download Runes of Magic and play around in that a bit, more about it later – sure wish I was in the Free Realms beta instead so I could prepare to write about that! Teehee).
I was a little confused yesterday. The level 20 hot zone is Stonebrunt Mountains, which makes sense. You head there and the mobs are yellow and higher near the warrens at level 15, so level 20’s can easily gain experience there in groups, or with mercenaries. 
I also noticed that I had a new item I could claim that I’d never seen before. In this item are gem slots, I assume for some sort of attunement. Something else I’d never heard of before. Since my highest character is (at this moment) only level 44, I decided not to claim it yet. I can’t wear it until 50 anyhow. I don’t have the faintest idea how the gem slots work or where I obtain them from but I’m looking forward to figuring it all out. That’s one of the best parts of Vanguard to me, trying to figure it all out and put it together. I don’t have to know everything about the game in order to play it. Eventually I’ll figure it out.