Lots Of Crafting!

I haven’t been upto anything too exciting in Norrath other than some crafting! Leveling a woodworker and working on some Far Seas faction. Too bad the Far Seas faction recipe books are no-trade, now I have to work on faction for all my crafters. The only crafter who is even close to 40 K faction is my sage and this is because I leveled her crafting to 80 by going to the tradeskill instances regularly. This leaves several others to work on. Maybe I can buy the sage a unicorn soon.

In my quest to get my woodworker to 50, I worked on the Sootfoot quest series in Lavastorm. But her harvesting skills aren’t high enough to continue, so have to work on increasing those harvesting skills and then come back to it. It was good AA as well, she happens to be a level 45 coercer/46 woodworker. Of course, another one of my alts. Level 45 adventurer is a good level for Lavastorm and guess who made an appearance – the Fire Toad of course, who was kind enough to drop an exquisite chest!

Rohawn and I started on the daily tradeskill mission and we plan to finish up Friday evening. Kastle couldn’t join us due to computer issues. What’s up with everyone having computer issues lately? Keocia’s computer is broken as well. Hope both of them get their computers fixed soon!

I am also glad I got the Cisco re-cert out of the way by passing one test. Woot! No more studying for a couple of months at least. It would not have been fun to take 4 tests all over to get that certification again.

Have an awesome weekend and safe travels all!

A Few Hours Of Champions Online

It has been a while since I posted. Been trying to study for a Cisco re-cert and haven’t logged onto EQ2 all week, not even to check the broker! Not that I spent all that time studying… but I’ve been trying. Hopefully I can get over with this test soon and get back to gaming.

I did get a chance to check out Champions Online when they did the free Halloween weekend. The character customization is simply awesome! Gameplay was alright, but I tend to get bored easily. Glad to say that I’m not bored with EQ2 after a couple of years! There’s just so much more to do in EQ2 other than just questing and destroying evil. Back to Champions Online, there are lots and lots of options on how you can customize your character. How would you want to hide your secret identity? Glasses, masks or goth makeup? I honestly can’t say too much about the gameplay, as I spent more time creating my superhero than playing the game . From what I did see, it was talking to various NPCs and finishing up quests (the usual). These are just my opinions from spending a few hours on Champions Online. Maybe if I had played longer, I’d have a different view on it…

I’ll have to find some time to sneak into Norrath this weekend. Have a great weekend and safe travels all!

Shard Of Love And Other Instance Goodness!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Friday night turned out to be a blast. Thank you Rohawn, Keocia and Kastle! It was my first visit to Shard of love and I got great AA from the zone. I am still not at max AA and I’m not in a hurry. I keep thinking that it’ll make me feel like I’ve reached the point of no progression till the expansion at least. I’m weird that way! We didn’t get any wings or the lovely little globes I’ve seen pictures of during this run. It seems like there are lesser people on the server looking for a group for this zone compared to when it had just come out. Maybe everyone got what they needed from it… Definitely a fun zone to check out if you have never been there. After Shard of love, we headed to Runnyeye 2. Since we got a late start, we didn’t finish up Runnyeye 2 but there is always a next time! The layout is just like the lower level Runnyeye of course. I used to farm Runnyeye all the time for transmuting loot, but this was my first time in the higher level zone. Nostalgic times!

Rohawn and I made good progress on the HQ ‘The Book Of Thex’. We just need 2 more zones to complete it! Also, congrats to Rohawn for getting a bonus void shard over the weekend. As for me, Marr decided that I had been a bad elf and denied me all bonus shards. Sad indeed… From what I heard, some folks farmed for hours and found maybe a few shards – Jarsath Wastes, Darklight Woods and Lavastorm it seems. I’m sure there were other zones too, just haven’t heard anyone I know talk about finding any elsewhere.

It was also a good weekend for PUGs. So I did manage to get a few shards over the weekend. What makes a good group? A good tank, a good healer or good DPS? Or just any group that manages to clear a zone? On playing a tank, I’d say that the tank is only as good as the group is. I’ve had easy runs and not-so-easy runs. But isn’t it always the tank’s fault when things go wrong?

Rao says that he is not going to be making any more gaming posts on his blog. That makes me sad, since I’ve followed his EQ2 adventures for a very long time and I’ve always enjoyed reading his posts. He’ll certainly be missed and good luck to him, wherever his travels take him!

Have a good rest-of-the-week and safe travels all!

Friday Night Group Plans, “Bonus Void Shard Weekend” And Free Champions Online!

Woot! It’s Friday! There are quite a few things to look forward to this weekend. What I am most excited about is our Friday night group plans! We might go to Shard of Love, but to me it doesn’t matter where we go. We always end up having a good time regardless . It has been hard to find some common planned free time lately. So far, it’s going to be Keocia, Rohawn, Kastle and me. That’s the paladin group + the most awesome healer!

This weekend is supposed to be “Bonus Void Shard Weekend” in EQ2. We will see an increased rate of void shard drops starting Friday – October 30th at 2:00 PM PDT and ending on Monday – November 2nd at 10:00 AM PDT. Sounds like a good time to stock up on shards for your main or army of alts!

Also, Champions Online is free to try this weekend. Check it out here. You just need to sign up for a free account and download the game. The Blood Moon promotional weekend will be active from Friday – October 30th at 10:00 AM PDT to Monday – November 2nd at 10:00 AM PDT. Who doesn’t want to be a superhero? Especially one where you get to choose your superpowers.

Have an amazing weekend and safe travels all!

Spooky Haunted Mansions!

Last night I finally checked out the haunted houses in EQ2. The one in North Qeynos is identical to last year, at least I didn’t find any changes. The Loping Plains mansion is similar as well, except there is a secret library! I’m not sure if I missed it last year… but I certainly didn’t see it then! After defeating the main vampire in the basement, the painting at the landing of the stairs unlocks and stairs lead up into a quaint secret library, where you can pick up a vampire L&L book! The vampiric incisors are finally put to good use . They are used for the illusion to turn yourself into a vampire from the D’Morte questline, but didn’t have any other use that I’m aware of. Now, 20 are needed to complete the new vampire L&L, the rest are auto-updates – vampire’s black heart, vampire’s hypnotic eyes and vampire’s coffin dust. Definitely a nice quest to add to the list of completed quests!

I am typically a bad photographer, but I decided to finally post a screenshot. Here is a picture of Caladwen entering the secret library. Safe travels all!

Haunted Mansion Secret Library

Leading A Guild – Pleasure Or Pressure?

Of course, there are two sides to every story. So, some folks will say pleasure and some will lean towards pressure. Personally, I think it could be either depending on several factors. I was made one of the co-leaders of my guild a year ago or so I think, it seems like it has been forever! At that time, I don’t think I was the best choice but I was a fairly decent choice as I used to spend a lot of time in Norrath. As the months have gone by, I haven’t been spending as much time online as I used to. We used to have wonderful guild leaders and guild mates when I first joined the guild but most of them have quit the guild. We still have great guild leaders, but most of them are not on often. I do feel bad for the only person who is on a lot, as he always tells me how difficult it is to single-handedly manage running things. I know that just contributing plat to the guild-hall upkeep is simply not enough. This is where the pressure and guilt weighs on me. I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day! Enough of my rants! I’ll have to decide about whether I can spend more time running guild events or whether it’s time to step down…

On a more cheerful note, I took my wizard and warden to Unrest over the weekend with Rohawn and Kastle. As usual, we had a great time and since this was the wizard’s first time there she ended up unlocking some achievements and even hit level 74. Woot! The warden is not far behind, she is about 80% into level 73. I have been trying to keep them at the same level, but one of them usually ends up slightly ahead of the other . Not too sure how much time I will have to game this week, but I should definitely be on this weekend. Have a great week and safe travels all!

Crazy Busy

This week has been pretty crazy with work mostly. After spending 12 hours at work each day, there’s barely enough time to go home and get some sleep and then it’s time to come back to work again! I’m looking forward to the Nights of the Dead events, which should be live now. I have to work extra nights this week, so probably won’t get to check it out till Sunday. Hopefully Sunday will be a quiet gaming day. I need a break from work!

Have an awesome weekend and safe travels all!

Level 80, Here I Come… Well Sometime Soon!

Hope everyone has had a great week, but the good news is that the weekend is here! Now if only this weekend was a bonus xp weekend. Wishful thinking! I have mainly been on a quest to level my wizard and warden to 80 and trying to level my alt guild some by picking up some writs. Leveling the guild is a little slow since I am the only one in it. The guild is level 27 now, just trying to get to 30 so that I can get a guild hall and mainly the call to guild hall. And of course, the extra bank slots are nice . As for adventure levels, half way through 73 but I haven’t spent too much time adventuring. I always get distracted… There is always crafting, shiny hunting and so many other things to do! But then again, all the different things are what keep EQ2 interesting.

Caladwen also tanked Deep Forge twice for PUGs. They both went great, but Deep Forge is an easy zone so you can’t really go too terribly wrong I suppose. I should move on to other zones, but tanking for a PUG is scary unless I have Keocia or Rhamn healing. I’m saving the extra shards for the wizard, since she’s on the same account as Caladwen. She should have enough for tier 1 shard armor at least by the time she hits 80.

I want to try and check out Shard of Love this weekend. I still haven’t been there yet and the chat channels are always talking about the wonderful house items and wings. I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend with lots of gaming. Have an awesome weekend and safe travels all!

Heirloom Items FTW!

The weekend flew by so quickly and unfortunately did not leave much time for gaming. It was still a fun weekend though, had a wedding to go to and my friend was hosting a birthday party. But I did manage to take advantage of the bonus xp for a few hours on Sunday night/Monday morning. My wizard and warden are very close to level 73 and I have been working on the Thuuga item quest series and Fens quests. They haven’t worked on the Bonemire quests or Loping Plains quests at all, so I may go back to the old zones for a change…

In an attempt to clear out Caladwen’s brimming bank slots, I came across some old items that my wizard can use and they are tagged heirloom now. There were items I had used in the past (but outlevelled now) and there were also some that I hadn’t transmuted yet (won on rolls, when noone really wanted them). I was really excited to transfer all these items to the shared bank so that they may be put to good use. Woot! I usually transmute things I can’t use, so I was really surprised and glad to find them still sitting in my bank. I guess it pays to be a pack rat sometimes .

Who doesn’t love house items? The peacock feather from the Maj’Dul red shiny collection is lovely! I need to find a perfect spot to display it in my messy house. I also worked on a few quests from the new spires live event. The magic mouth and bag of teleportation shards are first on my list of items to buy from the vendor when I have enough tokens. So many wonderful items, so little space! There are more items coming with the Nights of the Dead celebration. EQ2 traders has an awesome preview (as always), which can be found here.

Have a great rest-of-the-week and safe travels all!

Estate Of Unrest And A Peek Into Shards Of Destiny!

We have been planning a trip to Unrest for the longest time, but somehow it kept getting put off due to some reason or the other. Saturday, I got paged and spent almost all day working so that was the end of my gaming plans. But, we did manage to finally go to Unrest this week! Rohawn was kind enough to tank and Keocia was kind enough to heal on her fury alt. I took Caladwen and my warden along. We did split the zone over 2 evenings and as I haven’t been there a whole lot, Rohawn showed me how to work the zone. I think I’ll still be a little lost without guidance though . This zone is creepy!!! I still love it though and we had a blast! The warden and Keocia each won a piece of set armor – added bonus to the fun.

Also, Sunday night my wizard and warden tagged along for Order of Rime quests with Kitara, Keocia and Triuna. This was an alt group. After Kitara and Triuna decided to head to bed, Keocia and I continued the quests for a while, till about 6 AM or so! The mean brutes in the Crystal Grove (Fens) Kept killing us, cos we were all weak! I always enjoy alt groups, even if there are several deaths. Keeps it interesting and we always laugh over what happened! Thanks for all the awesome groups, guys!

And GU53 is supposed to be live sometime today! Tons of good stuff to look forward to. Here are a few of the things I’m excited about.

- The new heirloom tag that is supposed to be active on several previously no-trade items. This excludes quest items but includes shard armor, so you can make shard armor for alts and trade the pieces using the shared bank! Too bad I transmuted some no-trade mage items that I could have passed on to my wizard. I did see some people complain about this in the chat channels, their main concern being people rolling on all items claiming that their alts can use them.

- Houses are going to have an extra room. Woot! And house item layouts can be saved. Makes it easier to take down all that holiday decor.

- “Chronomagic” – the auto-mentoring system which does not require a mentor target, just need to talk to a ‘timeless chronomage’.

- Shard of Love zone! Apparently there are some lovely house items and fancy wings you can quest for in this zone.

- New red shiny collection! I love everything shiny!

- Teleportation Spires World Event. It’s upto us to activate the destroyed spires! And also more lovely house items as rewards.

Whew… too many to list!

One thing I’m not so excited about is the racial trait changes (Will have to see how this plays out…).

Note: I just covered a few things. You can find the entire Shards Of Destiny Update Notes here.

Happy exploring and safe travels all!