April 29, 2006
Friday night was one of those nights where I did a little of this, and a little of that, and all along the way I got to be with some really great people. And Mutz too.
First on my plate was some experience, and I was thinking of taking a group into the Shimmering Citadel. So I sent a tell to some of our usual suspects, and Mutz and I grouped up with Tamire, Lauxen, and a fellow guildmate and monk, Cate. We made our way to the Shimmering Citadel, and wandered around a bit. Killed some undead snakes, some wisps, and some djinn but they were only solo mobs (WHY PUT SOLO MOBS DEEP INTO A DUNGEON ZONE MIXED WITH ROAMER HEROICS!) We even found some Kaentrik dirges, playing tunes for the Aravu, and Mutz wittily said, “Look, a Kendricke dirge.” /rimshot
Then we headed up one of the towers, and had a little fun. The first time Mutz and I ever went up one of the glass elevator lifts, we ended up almost dying, because we got ambushed at the top, and Mutz got off, but I stood there like a dumbass and ended up going back down the platform, leaving Mutz to fend for himself. I’m still laughing about how badly we botched that, and how we still managed a way to win. This time we were better prepared, and decided to go up another level, and things got a lot more interesting. I’m guessing it was either because of where we were standing or maybe the way we were killing the mobs, but every time we downed the group of Reclusive Treasure chests on the second floor, they would instantly repop.
We were dealing with them fine, and then started to face the group of djinn heroic mobs from the floor beneath us. No problem, the fight continued and we were doing ok, and then some sets of ghostly looking guards came in, called Wandering Neoums. We still were holding our own, but at the same time, we did want to get on the lift for the next level. So we timed things, hopped on the lift between spawns, and went up, only to get decimated by a group of level 59 heroic Neoums.
At that point our friends Aarant and Nafina logged in, and we had an odd man out. Things worked out though, because our guild leader, Kendricke, was calling an unofficial meeting, mainly to initiate my old friend Urko to the guild. Since I was his advocate, I dropped to make room and met up with him at the guild hall.
After a small but friendly initiation ceremony, Urko was warmly welcomed to the Legion of the White Rose, and Kendricke graciously offered Urko a spot at the bar on a special crafted Guktan stool. But we didnt’ stay long because we had some gnolls to kill in Thundering Steppes, and a level to grab for Urko.
It was just like old times, and I chain pulled the gnolls at the crater. Urko even recalled the time we were pulling the nest dragons and I pulled Yeldema halfway across the zone to the group. I miss those nest dragons! Not long after, Urko dinged 27, and I headed to bed having had a lot of fun with some nice people.
Today picked up where I left off. We did scornfeather’s roost again, with what’s becoming the usual gang: Lauxen, Nafina, Aarant, and Tamire. But this time around, we cleared it much easier than the last time, thanks to some clever casterwork from the warlock crew. Aarant, Tamire, and Nafina remind me of three old friends from Everquest: Ciridan, Maxine and Niniane. A trio of casters, quick to offer aid, easygoing, and, at times, ingenious.
An example of this is today, when we got to our first named harpy. We were going over the rundown, I was bracing myself for some mean hits and that good old stifle, and all of a sudden one of them (I forgot which!), said, “Or we could just lock it.” Before I could finish typing, “What the eff does lock mean?!” I see the huge chain particle effect from their root spell wrapping around the named harpy. Seconds later I see her health bar slide down to the red, and by the time she broke root, she was dead.
“Ok you can pull now!” quipped Aarant.
After drying the tears from my eyes and prying my fingers away from the delete button, I humbly resumed pulls of the “trash” mobs. I have to admit, though, that I watched in admiration as they effortlessly took down the named. It was that same kind of clever teamwork that made me appreciate Maxine, Niniane, and Ciridan. I wonder what those three are up to!
Anyway, long story short, we finished Scornfeather’s Roost, ran around Clefts taking out nameds, snatching up some loot, and raking in a nice bit of experience. Fun weekend, and it’s not even over yet.
Just wrapped up a short little hunting session with Mutz. We duoed some raptors. No loot to speak of, but great experience. 57 and 58 ^^^ heroics. We tried out Cazel’s Mesa tonight but got as far as the first mob before we ran out of things that we were strong enough to take on. A few more levels though and we’ll be back for sure.
Posted by jayernh under ,Archive,Everquest II | Comments (0)
April 28, 2006
I’m going to be upfront about this: I hate twinks. HATE twinks.
Why? Simply because to me, twinking is something you do on the side, when you have played your main so much that you are level capped, raid gear equipped, DKP maxed, AA’d out, tradeskill mastered, and dripping with coin. A twink to me is like one of those squires you see traipsing behind a paladin in Qeynos harbor. They’re fun eye candy, but nothing that I would waste my time to advance, because chances are there is someone’s main character of that same class and level in the guild that could also use help. I played a cleric on the side in Everquest, mainly because you couldn’t do much in a group or on a raid without a healer, and healers were always impossible to find. But I always made sure he was only used as a last resort, and the gear he got was either funded by me on the side or picked up on raids only when rot was the alternative.
I would get irritated when someone in guild would announce they were “changing mains,” only to find out months later that they were changing back (after the twink filled up his bags with nice raid loot). It wasted everyone’s time in the guild, because every time that happened it made progression all that much slower, and farming time all that much longer.
I would get irritated in pick up groups when something dropped that wasn’t particularly usable by any of the classes present, and someone would say, “I have a baby *insert class here* that could really use that!” Oh lovely, so now I’m killing mobs and getting loot for a toon that A) isn’t even here, B) probably isn’t high enough to get the nice item on their own merits, and C) might not even really exist!
I’d get especially irritated at people who pestered the guild for help with epics for their twinks. Epics in Everquest were a torturous affair, and it was bad enough trying to organize the energy and manpower to epicfy mains. Now I’m expected to drop what I”m doing to help camp mobs for a twink?! Thanks, no.
If people were reasonable about twinks, and kept perspective on where twinks stood in the virtual pecking order, I’d have no problem. But too many times, people would start up a twink and the damned thing became a demanding, time consuming, money grubbing, guild disruption.
Now that I got that off my chest, I found a great reason to twink in Everquest 2. Recently, they made a big change to the way class choice worked. Originally, you had to choose one of four general classes (fighter, mage, priest, scout), and then gradually work up the ladder to your specialized class. Now, you start from the beginning as your class, which makes it easier to sample and try out the differences in all the choices. With it, they cleaned up and revamped the Isle of Refuge and the newbie zones, to add more dynamic quests and some neat little dynamic events. The changes sounded very interesting, so I decided I would make a twink!
Meet Hunca Munca!
She’s currently a level 7 shadowknight, and she’s already had some challenging adventures, like:
Defeating an elf on horseback!
Fighting a cow! (I beat Mabel and pried her bell from her cold, dead, hooves.)
And my favorite one, trapping hawks by laying down little white rats as bait…..hey wait a minute, I’m a little white rat!
Anyway, Hunca is a troublemaker, and her real goal is to muck things up for the Overlord in Freeport. She’s off to meet her mentor next, and I’ll update occasionally with her adventures when Mutz isn’t playing and I’m not playing Erika. When she gets a few more levels, she’ll be able to join her friends in the Legion of the Black Rose, a clandestine chapter of my guild that strives to take down Lucan and the denizens of Freeport. And then this:
Will hopefully go the way of the Death Star. (/hat tip to X!)
Posted by jayernh under ,Archive,Everquest II | Comments (3)
April 27, 2006
During the day, I sometimes have a little window of time to play, as I mentioned before, and I like to use that time to do some solo quest stuff and check out some of the more undiscovered territory in the game.
Now that I am level 56, I decided I was experienced enough to being my service to the Ashen Order, an elusive group of monks that reside and train in the Pillars of Flame. The Ashen Order follows Quellious, and believes in self defense as a way to achieve tranquility. I need a little more tranquility in my life, so I started out for their encampment.
I gradually reached Master Akuno Beslin, and began my service to the Ashen Order. I knew that this training would be arduous, and all I could think of was the scene in Kill Bill Vol. 2 when Beatrix Kiddo is being trained by Pai Mei and gets to a point where she’s eating individual grains of rice off the floor with her swollen-knuckled hands.
But the Master Beslin’s tasks are not at all like Pai Mei’s. They’re WORSE! So far, I’ve killed scorpions, sabertooth sandstalkers, a spectre, a harpy, a ton of sandcrawlers (which look like goblins with tiki masks on), falcons, desert prophets, desert lunatics (probably former monks that were doing the service also), and sand pikes. And I’ve only just begun!
On a positive note, I have studied their movements a lot, and learned to be graceful, agile, strong, and crazy (all I could glean from killing desert lunatics was that they were crazy, not much else). I also have used the opportunity to see each and every nook in the Pillars of Flame, a zone I do like, fortunately.
I will continue my service to the Order, and if I can complete enough of these tasks, I will eventually be able to take on more challenging adventures for them, and perhaps earn the title The Jade Tiger. All I can say is, Serenity Now! SERENITY NOW!
Posted by jayernh under Archive,Everquest II | Comments (0)