Valdeholm

Your Typical Friday Night

The group headed back to camp for the ever elusive augment that refuses to drop for us, ever. We spent a few more hours clearing place holders and a good portion of the zone before deciding that life is too short, and we moved on to greener pastures. Well, not exactly greener. More like blue. 

Our first destination was Plane of Water, to camp a few more fabled. The zone is quite small, so even with two other groups it felt crowded. Plus things are on a 40 minute timer which means lots of time standing around doing nothing. The ‘regular’ fabled mobs who drop the gate necklace bit were all over the place, and they’re hard and mean. We did see the bard swarm weapon fabled a few times – but we had no bards around, so grats rot. 

The highlight of the evening was Kameeko getting a clicky that transforms her into an inanimate object. It has 600 power on it and some fairly nice stats, plus it’s a clicky so how could you not adore it. At first I didn’t think it was an upgrade, but my eyes were obviously failing me and I wasn’t reading the stats proper. 

I was feeling pretty cranky for the evening, purchasing a new video card wasn’t exactly on my list of things to do, and a few other (smaller) things kept it from being one of those awesome Friday nights that you have oodles of fun with. After camping water for a little while we decided to head back to Valdeholm which I am honestly just tired of. I love the idea that there are hot zones – but what I wish is that every zone that was previously a hot zone, remained. Why? Well it’s simple.

Why restrict where people are leveling. I realize you probably want to see a concentrated population for groups, but people don’t group all that much anyhow. I’d love to see options on where to group. As it is if you want a hot zone for the higher levels you’re restricted to two places, and after grinding experience in those two places you get fairly bored of it. Why not leave all the previous hot zones as hot zones, and allow the community to spread out a little bit. There are lots of places I’d love to go but it’s either too hard and above my skill level right now – or the experience is so insignificant that there’s no reason to even be there.

Games need to stop trivializing their own zones. In EQ2 I’ve talked about this with the con system, how encounters can go grey so unless you’re an avid quest person (or you have someone to mentor) there’s no real reason to travel back to any zone that you’ve already out leveled. In EQ at least the mobs still drop items if they’re ‘grey’ to you since there is no grey mobs really. Would this create issues with players camping named? Well, no one is camping those old grey zones anyhow, so maybe breath a little life back into it. 

I believe today my trio is headed to Anguish to (try to) kill some mobs that drop augments. We’re not big enough (or well geared enough) to take on the named by ourselves, but there is trash that will drop handy things, plus the few brief glimpses I had of the zone were mostly of the floor, as I was dying. I haven’t been back since the necromancer got her 2.0 completed. 

Which reminds me, I still want to work on Kameeko’s (enchanter) 1.0 and 1.5 – it’s a little more difficult with fabled up though. When the old world gods are all fabled versions of the original they hurt a LOT more. Other then that, I’m not sure what’s going on this weekend. Grand adventures of some sort no doubt! Monday night I’ll be playing LotRO with Kasul (supposed to be during the day but he’s switched his shift around to help out a coworker, so it will be in the evening instead) so look for some updates then. 

In the mean time, happy gaming and see you in Norrath!

Questing, Leveling, Options!

One of the main reasons I enjoy EverQuest is that there is simply so much to do. While there may not be player housing (which draws me to Vanguard as well as EQ2) there is so much other stuff I never feel as though I have nothing to do. This also comes with a downside though – you can feel overwhelmed, like there is too much to do. If you’re a fan of alts (and lets face it, I can’t even pretend that I’m not) this may make you feel even MORE overwhelmed because of the desire to accomplish everything on all characters. 

Take for instance crafting. It’s a long complicated process (that has gone through many changes over time) especially if you take into consideration the crafting trophies. Then there are also the aa you dedicate to the skills. Not to mention the fact that any character can learn all crafts (minus tinkering and things like alchemy and poison making). Countless hours go into farming supplies for crafting, and if not farming, well a whole lot of money goes into the process. That’s just one aspect of the game.

Questing is another complicated side. Have you heard of the quest Breakdown in Communication (also known as BiC)? It’s one of the longest quests in game and people worked for (literally) years completing it. Yesterday my group started working on a second one that came out with The Buried Sea for a hand augment. The quest chain is 39 tasks long. I think we got close to 10 of them done yesterday, maybe 8. Each quest rewarded a bit of bone that I assume gets combined into the final skeletal hand augment by the end of things. 

What makes things even more complicated is that this quest in particular is a solo quest. If you do it in a group (as I was, with two others) it takes even longer because none of the drops are group drops. You’re not just looking for 10 ultra-rare bottles of rum, you’re looking for 30. It’s one aspect of EQ I wish would change to encourage grouping a little more. 

If I’m not in the mood to quest nor to craft there’s always just plain leveling. Already at the cap of 85? No worries, there are a LOT of achievement points to obtain. Afraid of not being able to catch up? Since the points now scale based on how many you already have it’s quicker then ever to gain a few. Especially if you are in a hot zone. 

Simply exploring some place new is great too. Just watch out because you may find yourself lost (as I do, often) or being chased down by large groups of angry critters. 

The only time I find myself floundering on what to do in game is when I’m personally feeling restless and that’s simply because there is so many options I can’t settle on just one. Give me a game that offers me multiple venues to explore and that’s the game I’ll end up sticking with the longest even if it’s a combination of questing and pvp and crafting or some other weird combination. I’m sure the main reason for my choices comes from the fact that I have quite a bit of spare time to play these games. People who are a little more restricted in that aspect may dislike the fact that there are so many choices and so many paths to take. A game with fewer options can easily become appealing if you’ve only got time for so much. 

Enough with the rambling! The druid hit level 72 yesterday, exploring through The Buried Sea working on the hand augment quest and then hanging out in Valdeholm for the evening. The enchanter is practically level 79, but I just didn’t have the patience last night to try to gain the last 3% she needs. When you’re watching the experience bar it seems to just stand still.

Today? Crafting, aside from some real life chores. I’d really like to get my halfling tailor her craft trophy and there are of course numerous other side quests I’m looking forward to doing. 

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

The Fabled Sword of Truth, and Leveling.

Sword graphic on the right hand side is the Fabled Sword of truth – a pretty impressive piece of gear that comes with a very unique graphic that everyone adores. The sword comes from The Fabled Lord Inquisitor Seru in Sanctus Seru. One of the many fabled that are highly sought after during the month of fabled drops.

Yesterday was fairly quiet. My 63 druid is now part way into level 69, having spent some time in both Stoneroot and Valdeholm yesterday. Lesson of the devoted is a great veteran reward and everyone in the group happily burned theirs. I also used an experience potion (or two) to help climb through the levels. I expect things will slow down again around level 70+ but I really love playing the druid in any case. I boxed the enchanter along with her for some experience yesterday, who is creeping up on level 79. I should get started on the druids epic some time, I haven’t looked into it but I know it’s on the long list of things I’d like to do ‘some day.’

I’d also like to work on the Bristlebane firework quest – which is going to be a 20+ hour quest no matter how you look at it. The party machine that shoots fireworks off is in one zone at a time, for one real life hour. There are 20 zones, so even if you were to follow it, it would take 20 hours to get the updates to each location. I’m thinking if I cut it down to 5 locations a day that may be easier. We’ll just have to see how it goes though. As of yet I’ve only just managed to pick up the quest. Then there’s also the 10th anniversary deity quests that I’d like to complete, the aa from them is apparently very nice. We’ll just have to see!

Sorry for the short post today but real life has me doing other stuffs so for now this is it! See you in Norrath, and I hope everyone has a fantastic Wednesday.

Ding, Necromancer hits 80!

Well, I may not be at the level cap yet, but I’m slowly inching my way closer! Last night saw us hanging out at our usual Smith camp, and before I knew it I finally hit level 80 with the necromancer! With not quite 9 days played, I’m really happy about this. Of course, she only has 100aa and still has 5 levels to go before hitting the cap, but this brings me significantly closer. Since I’ve already got the necromancer 2.0 that adds another little accomplishment to the list.

The enchanter is not that far behind, sitting part way into level 78 for now. She’s and older character and just for a comparison she’s got 70 days or so played, with 150aa. I’ve had her since I started playing EQ though, and back before hot zones and before leveling was so much easier.

I spent some time working on my tradeskills as well – I finally managed to raise jewel crafting a few more points. I’m trying to decide which skill I want to raise next. There is an amazing craft quest that I want to do – and it requires at least 250 in all skills and I also want to get the aa for each of those crafts so I imagine that’s what I’ll be working on for the next little while. A huge thank you to the folks I’ve been playing with, without our little team of adventurers I wouldn’t have made it as far as I have. Of course having mercenary NPC available helps out a great deal too, that extra healer (or two) is great. Now we want to work through the SoD progression quests in order to unlock the higher level mercenary. The level 85 ones Journeyman RK5 have approx. 30k power – and that would be REALLY nice. The tank mercenary don’t seem to fair as well and they’re a little more difficult to control, but perhaps being able to unlock the higher tiers of those too would help. We’ll just have to see!

Purchasing spells will be another adventure for me, there’s so many that I’m missing because they’re priced so high in the bazaar. Which reminds me, I have a level 80 rogue pet that I need to purchase from Hills of Shade (I believe that’s the zone) some time! My last solo wander through that zone ended up with some undead taking a huge chomp out of me. Thank goodness I have the veteran reward that allows me to re-gain all of my experience, because I lost a good 8% and was 0% into level 80 when it happened. I decided to just stay safe until I can get a buffer in the mean time.

Hope everyone is having an amazing weekend!

Ding, 79 Necromancer (and 78 Enchanter)

Located within the highest icy peaks of the Serpent’s Spine Mountains is the home of the Krithgor, a species of giants which, unlike other giants in Norrath, are intelligent — some even masters of magic. 

Long ago and much to the chagrin of the other gods, Rallos Zek’s creations — the giants, orcs, ogres, and goblins — invaded the Plane of Earth. Among the giants who did not partake in the war was Beltron, the Krithgor king, who died a short time after the war’s end. The most noble of giants marched into Frostcrypt, the giant burial grounds, to lay their king to rest while the remaining giants stayed in their city, Valdeholm. 

That day in Frostcrypt, Rallos Zek committed an atrocity upon his own creations, setting a curse upon them, an event which marked the origin of the Shades of Zek. Now, the mission of the Shades is to end their creator’s curse. In order to accomplish this, they believe, every living Krithgor giant must be slain. To this day, the curse lives on as the Shades of Frostcrypt do battle with the living and fully functioning Wraithguards and citizens of Valdeholm. – Zam.com

Valdeholm has been my “home away from home” for a little while now. It’s the level 70 hot zone, and the experience has been really nice. There are a few camps that people seem to head to by instinct. One is the pit located right at the beginning of the zone. This is a great spot but the pulls can be a little slow if you’ve got a full group. My little trio (complete with boxed enchanter and cleric) typically heads to the Smith which is just down from the North gate. The north gate is typically camped by people who are looking to farm a particular named who drops a nice augment. My group managed to get one almost right away so we haven’t been after any named.

We’ve gotten a lot of spell drops and I’m hoping that my little bazaar mules will make some coin as people return to check out the anniversary events. I noticed that SOE is holding another contest that I can’t partake in because I don’t live in the US. Shame because I’d really love to enter, too. Anyhow, we’ve been grinding out experience in the hot zone and it’s been a lot of fun. Oh, not to mention the fact that my necromancer is level 79, almost level 80! The enchanter is level 78, and heading towards 79. So yes, the experience has been amazing.

When we were tired of that zone we headed to The Mechamatic Guardian, which is a giant robot who wanders along in Dragonscale hills. Typically when you wander in front of this giant robot, he kicks you. It hurts. It hurts bad. However there are also missions you can obtain and when you run up to his right foot while you’re on one of these missions you’ll get the option to either zone in – or be kicked. Who would choose “please kick me” I have no idea.

The experience in these missions is also pretty good, there’s some rare loot, chance at named, and the zone respawns. We haven’t actually completed the missions yet which is fine by me. Being this close to 80 is exceptionally exciting, I’ve never been so close to the level cap before and certainly not in so short of a time period. The grind from 80-85 I know is quite long but I don’t think I’ll mind it in the least bit. 

I’ve been back playing EverQuest for a month now, and it’s been so much fun. I’m looking forward to seeing what other trouble adventures I can get into – rumour has it that fabled starts on Monday, and every day when I listen to the general channel there are a few more people who have come back to the game to see how things are. It’s fantastic (even if I’m not on my ‘home’ server). I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend no matter where you’re gaming. 

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note – I’ve finally updated my ShutterCal account with pictures for the last few months, I had seriously neglected the site and I’m so glad to be back into the swing of things again. You can see my ShutterCal account here, and you’ll find lots of pictures from my trip to San Diego there as well. Safe travels!