June 25, 2006
I’m back from one vacation and starting another, so it’ll be a light blog week. Mutz offered to write some entries for me. He’s not going to write any entries for me.
I didn’t have much time to get much done tonight, so I just headed over to the Village of Shin to mutz around.
I bet on the pig race, and my dark horse (or is it dark pig) pick was Oinklet. He lost by a nose, tripping just a few hooves from the finish line.
Then I tried my hand at helping farm the rice paddies. I got pretty thirsty, but I learned that it’s not a good idea to drink the same water that Old Man Nurwin walks around barefoot in.
I finished up near Master Long Shen. He’s a good teacher, but pretty long winded.
Off to the beach, Happy Fourth of July!
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June 21, 2006
So there I was, meandering around East Freeport, perusing my mail and thinking about cheese. And then I heard Baron Dracious say, “Do not challenge my authority citizen. In Freeport, the Overlord’s word is law!”
I slammed my tiny fist against the mailbox. That’s it! It was time to rise up and fight against this nastiness in Freeport. I’m tired of everyone around here being grumpy and mean. I’m tired of all the yelling for absolutely no reason. The line must be drawn HERE!
I decided on a letter writing campaign. I rifled through my bags, and then I rifled through Erika and Mutz’s bags (ssh!), and I gathered up all the evil adepts that were lying around. I ended up with quite a few, with adepts of all levels, from the single digit levels to high 60s. I then did some searching and sent off adepts to people who were about to ding and reach the level to be able to use them. Inside I sent the following letter:
Freeport is a cesspit and a failure. It’s time to reject Lucan and seek the light of Qeynos! Shed your evil ways and come to the side of Antonia! Here is a gift from the Queen herself.
I nodded in pride as I sent off the last letter. In all, I must have mailed about 15-20 of them. I couldn’t wait to get the replies! I was sure I would have at least a dozen new refugees willing to leave Freeport and fight the good fight. Viva la Revolution!
I checked my mail the next day and got several replies! I began to read them:
“Thanks!”
“Thank you!”
“Thanks for the adept, it’s really nice of you.”
“ty”
“Thanks, and if you have any other adepts you want to sell let me know. Assassin adepts are hard to find at this level.”
Thanks?! THANKS?!?! No, no, no, they’re not supposed to be happy! They’re supposed to be inspired to take up arms against Lucan and leave Freeport! Heck, they’re not even good Freeportians, because they’re being polite and thanking me for the adepts! I read on:
“Qeynos will be crushed by the might of the Overlord! Your tribute has not gone unnoticed, however. Join Freeport and you may be spared.”
“Thanks for the adept, but I already betrayed Qeynos and I’m not going back!” (oops!)
I sighed in resignation. This was harder than I thought. And then it dawned on me. Maybe Freeport was a sinking ship and it was just time to take a header off the starboard side. Perhaps it was time to take the plunge and betray. It’s a tough decision to make though, because I’d not only have to do a lot of arduous labor, like picking up garbage. (No one really expects me, a rat, to touch garbage, do they?!) And in the end, I’d become a paladin, which is kind of sissy. What a dilemma! Exile and Haven, or stay in Freeport and fight a potential lost cause.
Well, I have time to think about it, because I’m going on vacation and will be back on Sunday. Toodles!
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June 20, 2006
I learned a lot this weekend, but it seemed I learned them the hard way — by dying and failing! Here are a few things I learned.
Yes, Virginia, you can train people in Sanctum of the Scaleborn. I knew that mobs could end up aggroing people if you ran too close to them. What I didn’t know was that two chuckleheads were going to run about 30 mobs over Mutz and me after we had crawled all the way down to the lower level in an attempt to harvest an egg for the Mark of the Awakened Quest. Blam, blam, dead before I could get a group FD off. Seconds later I see an ooc from chucklehead #1 saying “Sorry if we train any of you but we have to get way down to so and so spot for a quest and we’re not going to fight our way through all this trash.”
Oh, ok, that’s nice to know now that we’re DEAD. We also didn’t fight our way all the way down either, but we used INVIS and we stopped to clear whatever was see invis that was in our way. Nice to know that we did all that work for nothing. Mutz camped in disgust, since it was too late for us to try again. I, of course, sent a tell. To their credit, they did offer a rez, but it was pointless since Mutz had revived. I loved how one of them insisted that they did not train us because they didn’t really run *over* us, just around us on the side of the hall. Mmmm hmm, well tell that to the sentinels, I don’t think they understood that they weren’t supposed to hit us because you didn’t technically run *over* us. As I suggested to them, if you plan to run a bunch of mobs around the zone, think about giving the /ooc heads up BEFORE you do it.
Next lesson I learned is find out where the effing terracotta shards go *before* you start the timed trial in the Tower of the Four Winds. I did a little Fallen Dynasty this weekend, and got up to the second floor quests in the tower. I had a little time so I did the Trial of Bo Fen, the solo version. I get in and receive the quest to kill terracotta statues, collect 50 shards in 30 minutes and put them in the vessel. I roll up my sleeves and start smashing clay people, and got the 50 shards with 5 minutes to spare. (By the way, I did find one shard as a glowing question mark, and another as a little tiny bottle on the floor that I broke open.) No problem, plenty of time to find this vessel, I figure. Well, 5 minutes and a second later, I’m staring at the little “you have failed” message. I ran all over the place and could not figure out where the stupid vessel was. Second time I did it, I made sure to scout it out before accepting the quest and starting the timer. Here is what it looks like by the way:
Above: The vessel you need to fill for the Trial of Bo Fen is in the center. The entry room that you zone into can be seen in the bottom left of the screenshot.
Just a heads up on this spot. It’s through the stone tunnel in the first zone in room, and then up a series of stairs. But if you accept the quest right here at the vessel, you’ll get about 6 or 8 terracotta warriors aggroing you, since they pop all around the vessel and also pop up the ramps. I liked the trial, even though I wish the mobs gave experience when you killed them. I seemed to get a lot of adepts to drop on my two runs though, which was nice.
I also learned that pulling is a lot more fun now, because mobs are a lot more social. Of course, I found out the hard way after getting Mutz and me killed a few times in Sanctum. I kept thinking, “I know I pulled that the same way before and didn’t get those adds, what am I doing wrong?!” The next day I saw it on the EQ2 Forums and our guild forum. I have to say, though, it makes pulling a lot more fun.
Lastly, Mutz and I were in Lab of Lord Vyemm on Saturday night and we got to see Uustalastus Xiterrax. What the heck is Uustalastus Xiterrax, you ask? Well Mutz had the best answer of the evening — it’s Xarretix Sutsalatsuu spelled backwards. Just looking at him, that’s about all the lore I think I want to know about that creepy mob!
Above: Another shot from the Lab of Lord Vyemm raid, near the Uncaged Alzid area. Uustalastus Xiterrax was just past this area.
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June 19, 2006
This weekend, we did a little of this and a little of that. Busy day today so I’ll have to write up more about our weekend tomorrow. Here are some interesting highlights though.
Mutz and I tried the ring event in the Oratorium of the Sanctum of the Scaleborn. We killed the Herald of Dar, thinking we could start the event and maybe win some wicked awesome loot at the end. Well, we didn’t get the ring event to work but we did win some wicked awesome loot!
Mutz and I got to go to the Lab of Lord Vyemm again. Darn gnomes had me seeing double by the end of the night.
The area near the Uncaged Alzid was pretty stunning. I love the architecture of the dungeons in the Kindgom of Sky expansion.
Not much else to write about today. I’ve been picking at the Fallen Dynasty here and there, and I hope to draft up a little summary of what I’ve seen later this week. I’ve also had a little fun with Hunca and her fight to gain converts to Qeynos. We’ll see how it goes in a few days.
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June 16, 2006
One of the things that Everquest always hinted at but never really had was player housing. There was some kind of guildhall set up that was put in game shortly after I left, but during the time I played, no one really had any place to hang their hat.
That’s not to say that the idea wasn’t there from the start. I still remember buying a key at the Felwithe Inn, hoping that one day, it would actually lock one of the inn room doors and I could reside there. But the Traveller’s Inn never really amounted to anything, and the keys were basically useless.
I have a home in Willow Wood now though, but it’s just a one room rental at the Inn. I’m always amazed at some of the things that people do with their houses. And the crafted furniture is beautiful. I pop over to the Norrathian Homeshow and ogle at all the plants, pets, fireplaces, and other unique things that people have acquired and created in their homes. Some even take items and use them for a completely different purpose.
I’m a monk though, and that lifestyle is not for me. Here is my room:
Here is another shot of the corner of my room. The wardrobe is a Wantia Armoire from one of the quests in Shin Village.
I have chosen that path to enlightment, and simplicity. So no plush beavers or gazing orbs for me. No palm trees, four poster beds, bear skin rugs, or fancy paintings. Just a bed, a woven mat, and some simple furniture. And, of course, books. Lots and lots of books!
I was thinking one day, though, that I hardly go to my room. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that, well, it’s not really useful for much other than selling. With the change to the broker system, there is even less incentive now to use player housing. I know there are some things that can be bought, like crafting tables and mailboxes, that give some function to houses. But those things are easy enough to get to that it doesn’t really mean much. Our guild has a large house in South Qeynos, but again, I have been there only once or twice, for guild inductions.
So I thought about what would give me more incentive to go to my home (and others homes). Here are a few ideas I had. I’m sure they aren’t groundbreaking or anything, but I think they’d be fairly easy to put in game and I think a lot of players would make a lot of use for them. They may even be a way to generate a new branch of player economy, to make housing a business.
* For crafters, why not allow some crafted housing items to give a certain buff. I remember going to the Plane of Knowledge and hearing buffbots selling things like Tranquility and Symbol. What if you had furniture that, when clicked, gave you a useful buff before going out hunting. It doesn’t have to be anything powerful either, and it’s better if it’s not. It could even be component based, so that you have to have a certain component in order to be able to receive the buff. Just something that gives you a slight improvement, gives crafters a new product to generate income, and gives more motivation to use the housing system.
*We had the opportunity to get a Keg of Everlasting Brew from the Brew Day festival, and it’s fun to click it and get a little buzz from a mug of ale. What if there were other types of furniture that allowed fun stuff like that? Maybe a little box that gave you cookies or cake. A guest book would be fun also, so people can sign in and comment on your home. Again, it could be something that crafters could make and sell, and it would be something that added a little fun to player houses.
*For guilds, what if you had items that dropped from raid mobs, so that if you killed the mob, it gave you a furniture item that, when placed in a guild’s residence provided either a raid type buff, or better yet, ported you to that raid zone. We already have some items that give ports, like the shimmering citadel carpet, so I would think it would be doable to put in game. Remember gathering a the wizard pyramid in Southern Ro to port up to Hate? I think it would be even cooler to gather in a guild hall and port to the raid zone. While hanging out for the force to gather, raiders can have a brew, duel, or even craft if their guild purchased crafting tables.
*For those who follow lore, why not make some of the furniture items from those recent lore quests to give a little buff. Since they’re unique items, people could conceivably “rent” their rooms, or sell access rights to their room so that people can enter and use their furniture. I think it would be fun, and again, it would make good use of player housing.
*Mutz had another good idea, which is to allow you to gate directly to your room. Even better, have it on a separate timer from Call of Qeynos/Call of the Overlord. I know, having two gates is out of the question, but it’s nice to dream!
*Using player housing to increase the vitality regeneration rate would be another idea. Sort of like WoW with Inns, why not give incentive to camp in your room by giving you a faster vitality regeneration percentage.
*The last idea, and it was surprising coming from Mutz, since he’s not much of a roleplayer, was to have some quest NPC’s that met you inside your room. So as you do a quest line, part of the quest would require you to meet someone in your house. We had that with the innkeepers from Qeynos and Freeport, so it would be possible. And it would add a little interesting twist to the usual quest grind.
For what it’s worth, I’m glad that there is player housing, but I would like to see more incentive to make use of it. I love going to the Norrathian Homeshow from time to time to see the amazing homes people have created. It would be great if there were a little more functionality to them!
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June 15, 2006
Wow, Live Update 24 and the Fallen Dynasty released on the same day. I felt like I logged in to a whole new game. The neat thing is that not only were there tons of fresh quests and content with the adventure pack, but there were lots of changes to existing zones as well. No more access quests to lots of instances means plenty of fresh content without grinding timeskinks. Nektulos Forest had a freshening up, and the big one was the Commonlands revamp. Even little things like the new broker system was a big change. Here are a few things I saw last night — some with Erika, and some with Hunca.
On the way to the bell for the Island of Mara last night I ran into this lunk, and his name was Clint Gilcrush. He kept trying to convince me that it was better to reject authority and be my own monk. I know who he really is though, and it makes me leary for when a certain baseball pitcher reaches the end of his contract.
Here I am in The Village of Shin, and while I didn’t have time to get into the quests and the supercool loot, I did find someone who apparently did. This looks like some new type of transportation, like the carpets only no carpet, just sparkles.
I started to hail people and get all the quests in town, and then I heard Mutz start to sigh and start typing /camp, so I figured I’d go back to questing another time without him and just go kill stuff instead. We headed over to the Forsaken City and killed some terra cota people. Here we are killing one on the Bridge at Kazadoom.
It was getting late so we jumped down into the water way way way below us. I’d advise not doing that though, because there are level 67 heroic octopi waiting below. After our painful evac out (also known as revive point), we called it a night.
But I wasn’t done! I wanted to check out the new Commonlands so I logged in Hunca. Visually, I like it and I don’t. It’s definitely more green now, and I like how it adds a feeling that things are happening in game over time. The druid rings seemed especially lush, and there were little sparks of growth flying all over. I have a feeling this will somehow keep changing as we get closer to the arrival of the new expansion.
And there are now fire beetles! They’re so cool looking too. Their wings have this flaming look to them, and they’re huge. Makes me wistful for the old days of the Klicknik warriors and that mean Queen Klacknack that used to hide in that secret room along the wall of Qeynos.
Last night was fun because the changes added a sense of freshness to the game. It’s fun to log in and not know what you’ll see. Even little things like new NPCs and new yard mobs give incentive to poke around the nook and crannies in case some new quest or content is lurking somwhere.
I’m looking forward to doing the Fallen Dynasty quests. But I’m glad that even Hunca has new stuff to putz around with, and the opened up instances will hopefully entice people of all levels to go explore more. Anyone that’s under level 55 can’t really complain about lack of stuff to do. Even though the adventure pack was aimed at 55-70, there were enough changes to improve the existing game for everyone under 55.
Time to go seek out the man of the house of Nurwin! Toodles.
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June 14, 2006
Mutz and I have been roaming around the Sanctum of the Scaleborn for the past week, and I know this is one zone I’ll always remember fondly, long after we level past it. What I liked about the zone is that you can really rack up experience as you move deeper into the dungeon, but the respawn is fast enough that you can also “camp” a room if you would like (or if you need to for a quest.) It’s been challenging at times, but not too challenging, and the dungeon has a nice increase in difficulty as you move in deeper. So if you have a good group and are careful, you can pretty much “do” the dungeon, with tiny exceptions.
The first room is all solo stuff, which is nice if you are waiting for a group. There are also some quests that involve that room, like the idols on the ledges for this part of the Claymore quest. Portal Guard Graliz roams around in there too, who is needed for this quest part of Infiltrating the Sanctum.
You can go east or west from there, but both paths eventually meet up again in the Oratorium. In that room is a large pyramid, with a ring event on the top that can spawn Orate Sivark, needed for A Boisterous Alliance. There is also another ring event further in, which is started by placing a Trial Stone of the Sanctum in the dragon idol, located in the Hall of Rites area. In one group we had made, there was someone with a trial stone, but he couldn’t get the idol to take the stone, so it might be on a timer. That ring event is also part of the quest line called Infiltrating the Sanctum.
Anyway, enough information overload. It’s nice that there are several quests that involve the Sanctum, but the real incentive to go there is the loot! On the first day Mutz and I entered, we cleared the solo stuff and headed down the west hall to the Ready Room. On the first pull down that hall, on the very first heroic mob, a metal chest dropped, I kid you not!
Above: Sanctum of the Wicked Awesome Loot!
I, of course, immediately started to have images of us walking out of there with bags full of master spells and legendary loot. Mutz, of course, yanked me back to reality with a tert, “Don’t expect that to happen again.”
Next, we reached the the Ready Room to get Orate Bozar to spawn for the Vanishing Rewards part of the Claymore Quest. We were a bit surprised at how fast the respawn was, and we got ambushed by roamer adds and room respawn. What I found helpful, not only in this room, but in other areas, is to clear to the big stone statue guys, the Aegis, and then pull mobs to the sides of the walls. It means keeping an eye on the clock though, and sort of moving the group along the sides of the walls so that you keep ahead of respawn. The stone statues have a pretty small aggro range though, so if you stay tight you can fight and not aggro them even if you are next to them along the wall.
After a few room clears, we got Mr. Bozar to spawn, and not only did we get a quest update but we also got a legendary chest! I eyed Mutz and tried not to have an “I told you so” look on my face, because clearly loot was going to drop like rain in our backyard.
Well, after spending a few more days there, and only seeing one more metal chest and one more legendary chest, I guess Mutz was right. Then again, we really weren’t actively trying to farm the zone, and I know that with a tracker in group, some groups really do attempt that. More power to them, I have no problem with that.
I was thrilled with the experience I got in there. We duoed and did fine. We had full groups and did fine. And our best night of all was probably last night, when we picked up a level 63 assassin and made it all the way to the room above the Gorg Hound pit. We were tired, I wasn’t careful enough to scout it out and pull down first, and we eventually were overcome by adds before we could properly break the room. But I left last night feeling like we had “done” the zone, as far as dungeon crawling goes. And I also felt we had discovered the EQ2 version of the Holy Trinity, because it felt like the three of us (all level 63) could have gone anywhere in the zone with little trouble.
Above: The room above the Gorg Pit. I *think* that Cyenadros resides up top from this room. Not sure though, we died seconds after this picture was taken. See the reaver over Mutz winding up and getting ready to smack him in the face?
I’d say that for us, the zone was a perfect spot to level from 62-64. We probably could have even done it at level 61. It will still be a good duo spot (or trio) at 64, but I think we’ll focus on doing the Sanctum part of the Claymore and then get ready to tackle some of the harder zones and instances. It’s a terrific dungeon though, one of the most impressive I’ve seen. It’s dark, but I love the statues, the stonework, and the vividly blue fountains. The multi-colored, glowing, leafy plants give just the right amount of color too.
Above: The Hall of Rites. Past the dragon statue and the railing is a little pit area, where the Trial of the Sanctum ring event can be triggered.
I’m definitely going to miss this dungeon! Time to level up Hunca!
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