MOAR Halloween Plz!

Oh, Magic Broom, please don't leave me.... Stay with me forever.  My favorite mount in the game, sadly only avail for a short time each year.

This week has been a bit slow for gaming. I've been playing when I feel up to it. Trying to do LFR, in WoW, has been a right pain. While many people are raving over the new flex raid (If you're not in the know: Flex is a difficulty which scales, sitting between looking for raid and normal difficulty) I think it really hit LFR hard. Sure, I could sit down and join a flex raid with OQ, or join a more active guild. My brother and Dire both use OQ but I generally sit down for spurts and want to just hop in the queue when I can. I like LFR, I don't want any more than that. I like that I can raid casually, but that is all I have in me these days. I've been with my guild for around two years or so now, while it is small I don't want to leave it. So I suffer the pain that is LFR, many times not being able to complete runs in a single sitting. Either you get a good run or you don't. Last week we had a great run at one point, but it was a terribly long run. I've been sick and I just can't sit there without breaks for long periods :(

I am still glad LFR is a viable option for content for casual players. However, I have the worse luck trying to get a new weapon! It really seems by the time I get one from the new content it will probably be time for the expansion to hit. The way the modifiers on abilities work in WoW is heavily dependent on weapon damage, thus I am really suffering because of it. While my hunter's ilevel climbs, I still take a 'penalty' for the weapon I'm sporting. A buddy of mine has every bow that drops in the new raids, talk about luck. I just would settle for one. RNG truly hates me.

I still have fun moments in WoW. With Heri and Necro, at the shrine, being silly.

Which leads to a feeling of meh sometimes. Nothing new on the holiday scenes, everything is raid centered these days. Yet I still find myself logging in, I still enjoy the game. I suppose I wish wow wasn't so.... cookie cutter? There feels no mystery to the game anymore, it feels so small. But on a good note, I will be creating my Sky Golem mount tomorrow!! Very exciting for me, to have actually worked up my tradeskill and saved up enough money for the combine! I am horrible at tradeskills but I have been trying to be better with the hunter, since I did work so hard on engineering, years ago.

I've been dabbling in EQ2 a little bit. Last night I finally got my spells situated on my necromancer, which took me ages to get around to actually doing. Ugh... Do I have to?! I'm working on Halloween stuff, and there is a lot, many fun rewards. I suppose what has hindered me the most is that this account needs me to unlock a lot of things still, from the cash shop, like mercs. I don't have to- but for me to be happy playing, there are a few things I will need. I think that is part of why I stick to WoW, just one upfront payment a month. That and I can be really impulsive with shiny things in cash shops! Then again I do like the option to buy fun stuff sometimes :)

My own PoFear!? Fire walls and all XD

EQ2 has two really awesome housing additions for the holiday season. The first one I checked out was a version of the Plane of Fear. Which is totally cool, coming from the first EverQuest game. I loved that zone back in the day when it was a current raid zone. So being able to have the option to own it as one's personal residence is quite cool in my eyes! It is really snazzy looking. But the new Fright Manor is also quite awesome, that is the one that really caught my eye. My own haunted house to have year round?! It is reallllly hard to resist this one.

Plus, it has been nice to focus on some more festive stuff, instead of worrying about raids and drops, especially when I have been feeling like utter garbage in real life. It is nice and relaxing to just have a change of scenery and a change of pace. To get excited about holiday fluff. Moar Halloween plz! This really has to be one of my favorite events to get excited about since my days in EverQuest. The first 'seasonal' event I ever participated in was for Halloween. Werewolves would spawn, all kinds of spooky waves of mobs, it was so awesome. They had some cool drops too. Since then I've been hooked.

That is about it for today. Safe adventures! Stay spooky ;)

Fright Manor gates, can't wait to get my hands on this house!

Perfect creepy house for a necro!

Inside, while rather small it is cozy.

Behind the house- a murky, little pool.

My pet and I. A fun feeling class for Halloween XD. Probably my most favorite class in any MMO.  

Postcards From Norrath (EQ2)

The Hedge- Great place for xp during the holiday events, easy and has some fun loot to run multiple times for. Basically a maze, lots of fun once you get to know it, or remember it from past years. I think it is permanently imprinted to my brain from running it so many times over the years, lol. Tons of stuff for me to gather up in here still, lots of house items for my spooky Halloween room I'm working on! 

Shard of Love instance. I will get those wings that drop in here. Running it multiple times a day, I think I have gotten every OTHER drop in here. The nice thing is now I can run it multiple times a day, when I first started trying, years ago, you could only run it once a day. I will have those (valorous) wings!!

This is a room in our guild hall dedicated to Ribbitribbit. A lovely way to remember him, what a wonderful community EQ2 has. We have such a nice guild too :)

That's not my reflection! More spooky stuff. Another fun holiday instance with neat rewards, cosmetic and housing fluff! Decent xp and you can have your merc out. Pure overkill but I thought I'd let him tag along. Somehow he got behind the mirror, lol. 

Just a nice shot of my inquizzy. When the lighting is right, the characters in this game can look pretty good, my biggest beef lately is all the FOG in some zones. It makes my pictures look so hazy. 

One of my illusions, that is something else I miss in other games, fun illusions! The EverQuest games have the best illusions, the best variety! Need a change? Click an illusion in your bag :)

Nights of The Dead 2012

A new holiday reward, mummy wrappings! 

I'm always tempted to return to EQ2 when the holidays hit, there are so many fun activities and new stuff is added each year. More crafting, new rewards, new quests. Over the years the amount of events for Nights of The Dead, the Halloween event, have really accumulated.

I've been enjoying myself in the world of Norrath again, it isn't hard to fall back into step of things within the game. The holiday events reward fun items to wear for appearance, as well as lots of housing items, and there is even a pumpkin pet to grab this year! Plus, they reward monies and xp! The instances can be solo'd which is a real nice pace from other games, you don't have to be at the high end of the spectrum, anyone can participate in the events, something that I really like. While I am playing on my main this year, it has always been nice to be able to participate with lower level characters over the years too.

Thus far I've been taking my sweet time, there are a lot of quests, some can be repeated for different rewards, there is candy to collect for crafting, lots of new crafting goodies this year too! I cannot wait to fill up my house with some of the new and old items!

Zombies!

While there are changes that have come to EQ2 that I don't agree with, overall the game is much more robust and interesting than it was when I first started, I was a late bloomer and started playing in 2007, not having a video card that supported the game until then. Times were tough and things like that were out of reach. When I first started though, the game had changed a lot already and it was a place of awe and wonder for me. It tied to my first memories of the original EverQuest but it was a completely different world, yet it still felt like something I knew. Add in that I have the title from my original EQ server, it pulls even harder on my heart strings.

Anyhow, if you haven't popped into EQ2 to check out the holiday events, you really should! They are fantastic and the rewards are great. There is SO much to do. Plus, with it going F2P it is even easier to log in and check out events. EQ2 Wire has a few great links to check out listing the quests and items from this year as well as the past events, you can find them here.

Hunting for candy!

I now wait on WoW to release Hallow's End, I do hope we get some new stuff this year. I also hope GW2 has something special planned, I really want to see how holiday events fare within that game. Much to look forward to!

Have a great weekend, Ghouls and Boils ;)

Weekend Recap

Tinkerfest is here!

Over the weekend I managed to finish up the new quests from the Qeynos Rises update, in EQ2. I really enjoyed these quests, I even felt a bit sad when they were over. I wanted to keep on playing though the story, which I really liked a lot. The story made me feel part of the world, part of Qeynos because I was so drawn into the stories, and I really liked that. I didn't finish the Freeport line but I managed to get through a fair amount, to get a feel for that side, and I have to say those were just as good but with more of a darker feel. Qeynos is a bit more welcoming to me lately, always optimistic, while Freeport has a lot of sinister stories. Both are really great cities filled with a lot of fantastic lore. Just depends on what you want I suppose.

Tinkerfest is here, yay! It did get off to a late start, oops, someone forgot to flip a 'switch'. Good quests, lots of really great rewards, tons of housing items from merchants and quests. I've grabbed two pairs of wings, which act as flying mounts, very cool items from a holiday event. They cost 500 cogs, the best way to go about gathering these is to make a macro, so much easier and less redundant. A great post on what to do to create one here.

Other than that, I've been questing my heart out and having a blast. I'm really enjoying EQ2 again. I need to get some work done on some textures for Second Life today and I'm dragging my feet. I made my first sale in the Market Place this week. It's slow but I'm adding things and hopefully one of these days it will pick up a bit.

Sharing some pics!

Gone camping!

Questing in Antonica.

Guardian.

Queen Antonia Bayle.

All tied up.

A couple of my favorite NPC's from the new Qeynos questline- Murrar Shar and Field Marshal Vishra. 

Circle of The Ten. 

Baron Ironforge's office.

New wings from Tinkerfest, the darker set.

Our lovely guild hall, I didn't design this but someone else broke out and built this lovely large scale chessboard. Awesome!

EQ2 gives you wings...  Makes me want a REDBULL. 

Tinkerfest cheer!

Lighter, blue, set of wings from Tinkerfest.

Under the moon. Gave my Merc some snazzy new appearance weps from Tinkerfest.

Taking a rest?

Hanging out in the shop.

EQ2 Stuffz

Mercenary, I'm paying you by the hour... If I say we swim, we swim!

I've been working through the new Qeynos quests in EQ2 and enjoying it quite a bit. I'm sometimes pretty bad about reading quests and the dialogue, in a lot of games, but I've really been pulled into these stories. They're quite good and I find myself wanting to find out what happens and sticking to these quests. Lots of neat house items, tons of paintings and I even gained a sweet breastplate. I'm still working on my AA points, I'm still a few off but getting closer to where I can level again.

Tinkerfest starts tomorrow, EQ2 traders has a great write up on it, lots of really neat additions like the wings (mount) you can obtain with 500 tokens, you know what I'll be working on next week! Tinkerfest was a lot of fun last year, some really cool appearance stuff, a neat pet and lots of recipes. Tons of housing items!

If you haven't checked out the marketplace there is free statue of Antonia Bayle. Grab some while you can, you can get as many as you like for free. I grabbed a few for future projects, I just need to place them about. Oh and speaking of free stuff, EQ2 has another FB 'Quest' this one has some nice rewards, I think there is a mount included in this round. Add them, bug your friends, or something, ya know... like asking your readers to, lol. More details here.

If you want an interesting read there is a post with the debate of legacy models vs SOGA models, on the forums which gets a comment from the game's producer who says one set of models could be removed in the future. I personally think that is a horrible idea on an aging games where people are really tied to their characters and how they look. As you can see from my screenshots I use both. I love the SOGA models for males and Legacy for females. I love to mix and match them up. I think anything short of a new set of models would be a disaster. Check out the thread here. EQ2 wire has the direct quote from Holly 'Windstalker' Longdale here, think it is around page seven on the thread. What do you think? Should players be forced to give up one set after so many years? Should we get new models or should we stick with two sets?

That's it for today, have a great weekend!

Qeynos Rises (EQ2) Game Update 64

Today Game Update 64: Qeynos Rises was released in EQ2. Qeynos gets an overhaul to match the one in Freeport. Seems like yesterday I was just logging into check out the Freeport revamp, but then again I took a significant break from the game.

I betrayed from Freeport before the revamp, with my main, so I played through the last update (FP) it with my new Beastlord. I decided to stick to Qeynos with my Inquisitor so I could have a chance to soak up the new atmosphere in Qeynos with her and check out the new quests, instead of playing through with yet another alt.

At first glance Qeynos appears much the same. The layout is still entirely familiar and, well, exactly the same, except for the fact that it is now two zones, combined down from four. Which is nice not having to do all of the zoning, I'd prefer one big zone but this is better than nothing. I'd say that Freeport got a revamp on a more massive scale, but Qeynos still looks nice, those who don't like much change to old zones will appreciate this revamp more. I think Freeport was really needing a makeover it was pretty dank looking to start with, as far as capitol cities go. There are updated textures and the larger buildings, such as the palace, have been redone. It still looks pretty much the same with some updates in textures, familiar but a little more gloss to it. Queen Antonia Bayle also got a make over.

We have some npc's moved around and added here and there. The broker now has a banker friend beside her, he's a welcome addition, in my opinion. There are also many new quests to play around with. New points and racial skills to check out, pretty nifty if you ask me. You get one point to spend for every nine levels you gain.

Zam has a great guide on what quests have been added, if you want to check them out you can find them here. There are a couple of housing goodies for simply checking out an inn room, they are pretty neat too, similar to the quest Freeport offers. If you prefer the look of Qeynos over Freeport betraying should be a cake walk with a mercenary. I've done it twice without mercs, as a low level scout and as a high level cleric. It wasn't bad back then so it should be a walk in the park these days. Just remember, if you're F2P, if you try to betray to a locked class your character will be locked until you  purchase the class or you grab a subscription, though many classes are now neutral. There are a few that are not still!

What you can look forward to in this update:

• New revamped areas combined from 4 to 2 zones with amazing designs with Qeynos Palace overlooking the city.
• Class Focus Effects have been consolidated and will now be available starting at level 9 and then every 9 levels in the Character Development window.
• Massive PvP Update with new PvP stats derived from PvE stats, PvP gear that is useful in PvE combat, revised achievements, infamy, bounty, and a new token earning system.
• Level-agnostic gameplay in Battlegrounds making it more fun, rewarding, and accessible for everyone. Players level 30 to 89 can play together as well as levels 90 to 92.
• Earn bonus tokens to spend on new items in Battlegrounds with kill streaks, rewards for breaking streaks, capturing the flag, and more.
• Battlegrounds tokens can be spent on new gear starting at level 10.
• Fighters receive a new stance called "Recklessness," allowing them to do significant damage while sacrificing their ability to withstand damage.

I haven't had a whole lot of time to check everything out but I did a few quests and looked around to see the new look of the place and took a few pics while I was at it. EQ2 really keeps up with content and keeping things current, I have a lot of respect for the developers who are always trying to raise the bar, it's truly a wonderful game. It's one game that has really aged well and keeps getting better as it ages. That's the great thing about older MMORPGs, they offer such a robust amount of content, in most cases anyhow.

I'll pop back in later to play around more, lots to do! Don't forget about the new Public Quest outside of Qeynos, another thing on my list to go see. For now I have to go get ready for a barbecue. See you in Norrath! Check out the official site here. Showing off a few pics and the official video:

Revamped palace in Qeynos.

Guards get shiny new mounts! Gorgeous!

The clock in Qeynos seems smaller to me... 

Freeblood racial quest chain. The story is pretty good so far.

Questioning citizens about the revamp, seems they noticed that not much has changed, lol. 

Old Qeynos wall textures, you still see this on some of the buildings. Perhaps it is still a texture on the citizen's home from the previous picture, lol. 

AoD- Raising The Bar (EQ2)

I managed to get EQ2's new expansion with the triple SC sale, which was an extremely good deal, I'm very happy that I purchased it as I am seriously enjoying the heck out of it. I thought I'd I would share some of my experiences and thoughts. AoD isn't full of a ton of content but aimed at more features as content is going to be more along the lines of patches since EQ2 going F2P. Thus far it has been my favorite expansion since I started in 2007, yeah a late bloomer with EQ2... Blame it on my old computer and video card.

First up I'll speak about mercenaries. Are they worth it? Yes indeed, they are very much worth it. At the starting levels all the way into the low twenties they are around two silver per half hour, pretty much free. By 22 it is around ten silver and at 90 it is 25g. I prefer the charge being every 30 min instead of, like EQ, it being every 15 min. Some classes are a bit tougher to solo with and mercs can provide a nice boost to soloing. I've not used the DPS merc on the lower levels, only the tanks and healers with my beastlord, while leveling. The inquisitor is very nice for heals and does decent dps. The tank mercs are amazing for a dps boost. I simply adore the paladin from Qeynos, if I know I am not going to need a lot of heals he goes out and about with me as he is a beast. I might need heals if he didn't mow down everything in our way.

"I'll defend you till' death.... Or until you run out of coin." At least he's honest.

I decided to try the dps and paladin merc with my 90 inquisitor. All in all I'd probably stick with the tank, his dps isn't anything to frown at in the least bit. The dps mercs are good but the tank has a much better knack for pulling things off me while I am trying to heal. However, they are AI and you do have to watch aggro, he can only do so much as far as pulling things off me in a short amount of time. That being said they are a bit squishy if you are trying to heal yourself and them and them. I am pretty impressed with them as a whole though. I've read that some people find the mthe melee dps to be less squishy than the tanks but I did not find that to be the case with the Swashy anyhow, perhaps the Brigand is. I'm pretty fond of the Paladin honestly, his dps, when used with my inquis seemed just as decent as a rogue whom didn't get to utilize his abilities since he was tanking.

Mercs are one of the best things about this expansion. They make things a bit easier especially if you like to solo a lot, they can really impact your play for the better. Plus, they are pretty cheap. I do wish that you could at least have two in your mercenary tab, you can only one at a time or purchase another and switch them up and town that way. I'd love to be able to switch them out on the fly, depending on what would be needed- maybe soon because that was one of the features in the latest (original) EverQuest expansion. I suppose it is just a matter of time. This weekend I actually saw an email for the latest EQ expansion and saw it mentioned a feature being that you can now carry multiple mercs along with you. I was confused because, for a moment, I thought it was EQ2 and got really excited. Poor me, I needs to lern to reed :(

Reforaging. Seems like a nice deal, I was a bit let down that you can only reforage legendary (or better) items. Pretty useless on my lowbie beastlord. Plus, most of my appearance weapons are not legendary which means no pretty sparkles on them.... And if they are, well they already have some cool effect. It is a nice addition though, I just wish it was a bit more newbie friendly.

Personal dungeon maker. I still haven't had time for this but it really is a neat option. As an avid decorator this really seems like a lot of fun and I look forward to using it. While I was soloing some old dungeons with my merc I managed to get a few spawners to drop. You can add these as mobs into your personal dungeon. Currently you can only play as an avatar, not your own character, but on test you can play as your character- So soon this will offer more for players that have been asking for this feature. I think the whole player created content thing is a fantastic option for players who want to experience more content and those who love to create. MOAR CONTENT!

Speaking of content, I also like the Freeport revamp. Some of the questlines are really engaging. I also like the openness of the new [one] zone, no longer do you zone from each part of FP but you can still travel to different parts with city bells. It is done quite well, a nice style with the same layout. I can still find what I am looking for but it just has had a face-lift. Very well done IMO.

At level 20 Beastlords get a 'glowly' blue eyes spell effect
(the crown glowing is a cosmetic drop from SoL).

Last but not least BEASTLORDS! I absolutely love the class, coupled with my merc I find it a blast to play. The class is very bursty at my current level, 22. It gets more interesting and engaging as I level and it is quite formidable. I can see this being my new main easily.

Pets pets and more pets! I've tamed a lot of really cool pets, from a flaming bat whom I named Hotwings to a giant cow. I like how some of the options are silly while others are more along the lines of what you'd expect. I really love pet classes and the options for these are great. At level 30 you gain the ability to further make them stronger with their abilities. I suppose this means you'd want to pick one to focus on mainly at first. I'm eager to work on this soon.

The class has a lot of flexibility which it gains with levels. It is more in your face for a scout class but that is what I was expecting- Toe to toe with a warder at my side! I even have an invis/stealth ability, which is totally sweet. I really look forward to the next ten levels to see how the class changes and grows. It is a really fun class to play and a great experience.

All in all I'd say AoD was a great expansion. Adding in just more raids and five mans wouldn't have made me buy it, it was the features which drew me in. That's just me though. Plus, as stated before, content will be arriving in the form of patches.  If you're on the fence about it, I think it is really a great expansion, especially if you're wanting to jump back into the game, going F2P makes it even more so appealing for those who are not sure they have enough time to justify buying it- It will be there when you do, ready to play. EQ2 really is raising the bar for MMOs IMO. Sharing some pics I've taken along the way, enjoy!

Wolf warder in black, he's huge

Lerenth, an NPC from one of my favorite questlines.

Hotwings, my bat warder.

Darklight Wood.

Enjoying Frostfell.

My (othimir) Tradeskill Apprentice who just moved into my residence.