Exciting Events in Korsha (understatement!)

Calreth has gone back to his job at the army after a week off, leaving Kasul, Wpus, Ultann and I to hold down the fort in guild. We’re trying very hard to reach level 35 so that we can purchase a merchant and some bells for the hall. We need a fuel merchant, mender, and writ giver as well but I’d take those two first. The only thing I seem to miss from Kithicor is our level 51 hall (rightly so). Writs were run (it helps that most of us are from Freeport and can do them all together – I’m sorry Wpus) and then we decided to head to a “new to us” zone that we’d only attempted once before – Korsha.

While Ultann and Kasul (now named Hamal on Antonia Bayle) are both sporting their mythical weapons, and Wpus is wearing a full set of T2 gear along with some nice odds and ends, my poor little Sharatan (coercer) is still wearing most of her T1 gear since I’ve just started working on her again. I was a little worried that this would prove to be an issue, but it didn’t seem to affect our performance too much.

The first time we were in the zone we were unable to defeat the very first named because he reflects and we had no melee dps. This time around (thank you Kasul) we were able to take him down without any issues. He’s a huge golem who stands in the main hallway. The second named caught us by surprise, it is in the laboratory and the named just sort of shows up. Adds are called throughout the fight, but we held steady. Of course bard loot dropped, it always does.

The third named was where we started to have some issues. Because my healer was being boxed, as well as our second healer, it proved to be slightly difficult when we all got ported to opposite sites of the room, and were unable to cure ourselves. The noxious aoe wasn’t too much of a problem but the elemental one proved to be exceptionally harmful – so after wiping a few times we decided to continue on with the zone, and left the Sokokar named up. It was still not bad at all for our first attempts, we managed to get him down to 40%.

The mobs in Korsha all seem to stun, stifle, and power drain, making it exceptionally fun but you’ve really got to be on your toes. I switched my accounts around so that the coercer was the boxed character while I played healer. Typically you can stun the sokokar named as well but I was having issues healing plus stunning though I managed to keep up for a short while. Eventually we found ourselves face to face with the boss of the zone, the Emperors Weapon. We had done a little reading up on the zone by that point and after we were one shot the very first pull we decided to stand on the tables just off to the side and range fight the entire fight. The difficult with that is there is still a power drain / elemental aoe that goes off, and this is where the most epic of fights took place.

It was incredibly intense, and it was amazing. We managed to get the named down to 10% when suddenly we were all out of power, and five of us died – leaving Ultann to tank the named and keep himself alive all alone. We said not a word, but began to run back down towards the named room, I used channel on my coercer to feed a little power in the mean time (it balances out the groups power) though it barely made a difference because of the power drain dot.

Wpus and Hamal made it back to Ultann JUST as blood letter triggered (keeping the tank alive while taking the groups hit points) and I was able to run the rest of the way down with my two characters. I rez’d Noc (the other healer) and kept the group alive while we continued to work down the last 10%. The reason this fight is so long is because the named is rooted to his platform, and you have to range the entire thing. Being an Assassin, Shadowknight, Conjuror, Coercer, Inquisitor, and Mystic, our ranged DPS was severly lacking, especially since the named would go kill pets and pretty much anything that came near it.

After a very long, stressful, amazing fight we BEAT the boss. Not only did we beat him but he dropped a master chest with three pieces of loot – a master spell for the inquisitor (grats noc!) a bard only breast piece that I relogged my dirge to snag, as well as the fabled mage item pictured above that I won on Sharatan. It’s fights like those that I love, intense, amazing fights with friends. Sure, another group could have done it far easier then us but I never felt prouder then at that moment.

We decided to spend the evening doing something far easier (Obelisk of Ahkzul anyone?) but part way through Ultann lost his internet,  so we decided to take that as a sign and call it a night.

It was still amazing fun, I had an incredible time and I was reminded once more why I play this game. I hope everyone else had a lot of fun too!

Tonight? Who knows!

See you in Norrath.

A little of this, a little of that

Having been on Antonia Bayle now for three days, I can say that everyone who moved over from Kithicor seems to be exceptionally happy with the change. While it was noted that there was a tiny bit of extra lag – I have not personally had to deal with any mishaps aside from my wireless going nuts yesterday during a storm. It’s been fantastic. There are conversations constantly, groups ongoing at any minute of the day (be sure to join both your highest level channels as well as the lowest to maximize this!) and the atmosphere has been great. Sure, there have been some rough groups here and there as we get settled, after all we don’t really know anyone aside from ourselves yet but we’re working on it.

Yesterday saw everyone on at the same time for once, Kasul, Calreth, Wpus, Ultann and myself. We headed to Obelisk of Ahkzul (before Kasul got home from work) and attempted to see if the shield would drop – which it did not of course. We also made short work of the Anchor of Bazzul which has a few nice pieces of loot (though we didn’t see any of those, either).

I was feeling slightly worse as the day wore on, and so the others went to do Maidens and Vaults of eternal sleep while I watched their excitement from the guild hall. No enchanter along with them and they still did fantastic. I believe a few TSO instances fell to Calreth and Ultann after that but it was past my bed time and so I called it a night.

I haven’t only moved characters to Antonia Bayle, but I also moved three of my characters (warden, illusionist, and troubador) to join a few other friends – the illusionist being the original Stargrace who was decked out in treasured RoK gear. I  have had a few chances to play her in between health issues and playing on Antonia Bayle, and she’s come a long way already. She is sporting both of the fabled wrist pieces from Palace, and the fabled earring from Anchor. Needless to say her luck on drops is better then any of my other characters. She also managed to finish off her fabled epic (I’ve lost count over how many that is now) and got her first mythical update which was Thuuga. Illusionists get lucky with their updates, all that is required is Thuuga, Leviathan (which you need to get into VP to begin with) and Silverwing (which you can get to right away if you have Trakanon access).

Needless to say things in EverQuest II have been very busy, and I’m loving every moment of it. Lets not forget that Monday is the 20th, which is around the time that the enchanted grottos and all of their quests should be making their way back into game for a day or two – if you’re into the house items (and lets face it who isn’t!) and want some good achievements, these quests are perfect.

Now if only I could convince myself to stop spending all of my money on player-written books. I must have purchased another 15-20 yesterday and my funds are quickly running out. I have been amazed at the creativity that I’ve found and it’s been fantastic to see so many books for sale.

Eventually, the new guild hall has to be decorated which is something else I’m not exactly looking forward to doing simply because I wish we could have moved over our entire hall from either Najena or Kithicor. Calreth has been holding down the fort in my old guild Torrent Knights, which is level 30 (almost 31!) while I’ve been on other servers and we purchased a T1 Freeport guild hall. Right now it’s a mass of craft machines and npcs as most of the furniture lays packed away in boxes, but I’m sure over time it will get set up nicely. I really miss having the level 51 guild with more amenity, the five we have right now is alright but having no merchant and no harvesters and no mariners bell reminds me of all the work we did on the other guild. Ah well, I doubt we’ll be leaving Antonia Bayle any time soon, so we have plenty of time to set down roots!

See you in Norrath!

Home Sweet (new) Home

The screen shot is taken from Evernight Abby which my guild tackled last night happily. We didn’t get anything of use to drop but honestly that’s not a big surprise for us, and we’re quite used to it. We were having a few issues with heals on the final fight since I was not boxing my mystic and just playing the coercer, but I logged in Ellithia and we downed the final named without too many issues. The first time through we forgot to get the spell that casts holy water to prevent the massive AOE that pretty much one shot my poor enchanter.

Ultann managed to get his mythical last night – which means that TODAY we will be packing our bags and leaving Kithicor for good, moving to Antonia Bayle, a server I have always loved. I’m excited about it, eager to join friends and set down new roots. Hopefully we can find an alliance or two to raid with, and make some new friends along with the old. I will be moving my coercer from Najena along with the mystic from Kithicor, and then when I can afford it, I’ll move over my other coercer and (gasp) probably betray her to an illusionist so that I have one of each again. We’ll see. I haven’t figured it all out quite yet.

Aside from Evernight Abby we also did Obelisk of Ahkzul, no the shield did not drop, again. I think I’ve stopped wondering if it will. At least the zone is fairly fast, and we do get a shard from the final named. I still need to finish off the set gear on the coercer, and since I’m moving over a different coercer, she’s going to need her set, as she doesn’t have any of it at all. I started playing on Kithicor before I really got into TSO at all with any of my Najena characters.

Today is going to be busy, packing up and moving characters over, making sure nothing important is left behind. Hopefully it goes well. Fingers crossed!

Trivial Matters

One of the things I have been struggling with (a little) is the fact that I know in February the level cap will be going up by 10 – thus making all of the gear I work for now pretty much obsolete. Coupled with the fact that (if it goes through at least) gear will become “grey” to the person wearing it if they out level it, thus reducing its effectiveness. That means at level 90 I’m not going to be wearing a single piece of gear from TSO (unless it was upgraded of course) because it will be ‘grey’ to my character and weaker then a piece of gear that is level 81+

With that being said, spells will also be upgraded making the spells I have now pretty much useless though you could argue the fact that you’ll want the best of the best in the mean time in order to blast through the content of the new expansion. The problem is – the new expansion is still 7 months away. This is a horribly early time to start thinking about how before too long everything will be trivial.

Then there’s also the fact that I am eagerly awaiting server transfers to come down in price so that I can get settled in a new (but old since I’ve been there before) server. I’m not moving the same characters that I’m currently playing on Kithicor (aside from the mystic) and that makes whatever I do on my current coercer and dirge / troub a little meaningless to me – since I’ll be playing someone else. I realize that probably only makes sense to myself, but that’s where things are standing right now.

Yesterday! The guild got together (minus one Kasul who was still at work) and managed to inch our way back to Obelisk of Ahkzul which was the mission of the day (or the daily double for those of you not familiar with Kithicor’s way of terming it). This is the quest given to you in the Moors that rewards 2 void shards and a plat. The zone is simple, and we cleared it without too much trouble. We did lose Ultann on the ‘bounce’ room because he fell through the world, but Burny (Wpus’ mage pet) tanked just fine while we pinged off the magical orbs.

No, the shield didn’t drop. I am fairly sure that thing is a myth, we’ve seen every single other drop numerous times now and no shield. My mystic is getting mighty tired of the RoK one she’s wearing (it’s a really bad shield) but even the void crafted ones offer very little to healers. They have no heal crit on them, low power (only 100) and no other admerable traits aside from their spiffy graphics that would convince me to want one.

The 20th of the month is coming around quickly again and that means the grotto events will be back in Norrath! I’m looking forward to adding some more house items to my collection and getting the aa’s on characters who have not done it yet. I’ve put a few for sale on Kithicor and they’ve been going for 5-10p per piece, which is just neat (and weird). It’s nice to be able to make a little coin.

I hope everyone has a fantastic Tuesday, and I’ll see you in Norrath!

A Matter of Opinion

I was recently asked on twitter what I thought the ‘worst’ classes in EQ2 were – and I actually had a pretty hard time answering. The term ‘worst’ can be applied to so many particulars about a game, especially when it comes to classes. What one person may consider to be a down feature may actually be a feature others enjoy. Even after I had answered I had to think about it, in order to figure out what I really felt.

I was told that in actuality I would have been disqualified from the question due to the sheer number of level 80 characters I have – but I think that this would imply the exact opposite. The fact that I have played so many different classes gives me a better idea of what (for me personally) is considered the ‘worst’.

My answer when all was said and done – was summoners. It was based on the fact that out of all the classes out there they do their ‘job’ worse then what other classes do as their main ‘job’. Since they are headed towards a revamp I don’t think I’m too far off on my mark. Now let me explain this a little further.

The summoner class offers very little to a group or raid that another class cannot provide in abundance. They have no unique spells that make them essential, no buffs – and currently their DPS is sub par compared to other DPS classes. Yes, they can be fantastic at solo play, and no I’m not saying they suck by any means at all but when you compare them to other classes they fall below the line right now.

Bards and enchanters on the other hand are always needed and wanted for groups and raids, their buffs are unique and push up the dps of a group by significant amounts, and if you know how to play a coercer properly you can solo pretty much any heroic content you want. There are specific mobs out there you can charm with a master1 charm and they will nuke for 400k damage. If you were to look at their playability you may consider these classes to be the ‘worst’ because they can be exceptionally frustrating to solo with, players rarely use mez and it can be frustrating, and the learning curve to play these classes properly and as more then just a buff bot can be a bit high.

Tanks are great to level up with but at end game it can be a bit lonely especially if you’re looking to raid, though shadowknights are certainly the flavour of the month in this expansion there tends to be an abundance of them and most situated raid guilds already have their main tanks and off tanks chosen. Leveling up without a healer or power regen or some outside dps can be really slow – and this too may make them seem like the ‘worst’ classes to level up (aside from the SK, who as I mentioned are just super amazing currently).

The rest of the scouts and mages (wizards, warlocks) that focus on dps can at least offer a few buffs to groups and keep their dps up fairly high as long as they’re willing to invest in the time. Healers are needed fairly frequently, druids were the flavour of the month in RoK, and that seems to have died down some what (at least on the servers I’ve played). Templars are by far one of the most difficult classes to solo with simply because their dps is about equal to that of a paper bag, and that may be what some consider to be the ‘worst’ class to play. If you’re teamed up with a dps class (any one works) you may find that they’re the easiest to level up – and they’re certainly wanted end game for their hp buffs and reactive heals.

Anyhow – the point of this long ramble was simply to point out that there is no real ‘worst’ class out there. It’s all about how you play, what matters to you, and what you hope to acomplish. If I had to choose, I’d say summoners but that’s a personal opinion based on how well everyone else does their ‘job’ in the game. In the end you should always be playing what you enjoy and what you want to play the most anyhow, and none of these rants should matter in the least so long as you’re having fun.

Speaking of fun – I ran Obelisk of Ahkzul yesterday morning with Ultann in the hopes that perhaps after my extended break the zone would be glad that I had returned and cough up that healer shield I’ve been after for months now, and like always I was proven wrong and nothing of use dropped – though the chest in the ‘bouncy’ room did reward us with 14p and since it was just he and I in the group (me boxing my coercer + mystic) it was a nice reward. Aside from that the day was fairly quiet, and I am thankful for that.

I hope everyone is having an amazing weekend and I want to give my thanks again to everyone for being so supportive as I go through these health issues. It’s really nice to know what a wonderfully amazing community of people I know.

See you in Norrath!