One Druid, Many Worlds

I’ve been sucked back into EQ2 with the launch of the Odus expansion and am digging around for resources to get me back on track with my level 64 Fury. I’ve found this overview of gear progression on the official forums:

Sentinel’s Fate changed all classes primary attributes. Priests now use wisdom as their primary stat. This improves resists, power pool, damage of spells and even melee. The other stats that would be useful are stamina for some health, agility to avoid melee attacks, intelligence is our critical mitigation stat, and strength only affects how much stuff we can carry now.

New players are usually directed to Timorous Deep to quest to the 20′s. There is a new golden path thing that directs you to the next zone. If TD is not your starting city, there is a griffon that will take you there or to Darklight Wood on the Butcherblock docks near the Sinking Sands carpet. Kelethin is the other starting city that directs you on this golden path. I think this path directs you from BB, then to SF Mountains, Lavastorm, Sinking Sands, Tenebrous Tangle judging by the Old Man Shivers quest I just ran my fury through.

eq2.wikia.com has guides for zones and quests to help you on your way. eq2zam.com too.

Mastercrafted gear is usually best up through to about the 70′s when you start getting the ROK quested stuff and TSO shard gear you can’t wear until level 80 (have to be level 75+ to start earning the shards), then of course the new SF mark gear for 80-90 range. At 80 you can start the quest for the Fury class weapon Wrath of Nature, and then at 85 you can start the quest to get the spell version of the weapon effects. Raid portion of that quest to turn fabled to mythical is optional now, just need the fabled weapon to do the spell conversion quest.

If you want to brave the sometimes bad language and flaming, eq2flames.com has a current aa thread, gear lists, etc.

Sounds like a good place to start.

(Yes, I know that pic is from EQ1, but it’s a druid with an epic, so work with me.)

With Everquest 2′s Rise of Kunark expansion on the horizon less than 2 months away, a new quest has appeared to get players involved and excited. The Iksar far from the lost continent are attacking Norrathian boats and it’s your job to protect the next vessel going out to sea.

What’s interesting here is that this quest is set up in classic storytelling structure. Allow me to demonstrate.

The Setup – This is one of the first things you hear from the crew when the instanced event begins:

Read the rest of this entry »

We all want the best items for our characters. But mixing and matching pieces of equipment can leave your character looking less like a bad ass and more like a clown at a kid’s party. For example, here is my mean, lean fighting machine in World of Warcraft, my feral druid:

All I need is a set of balloon animals and a red afro and I’m ready to conquer the 5 year old birthday celebration. And people wonder why I spend most of my playtime in cat form.

Everquest 2 has finally brought relief to it’s color blind players in its latest major patch, Game Update 38. Included in it is a second layer of visible equipment slots. Anything you put in there won’t add to your stats/armor/etc, but it will be the armor texture that is displayed. For example, here’s a screenshot comparison of my Bruiser, Katfight.

Admittedly, the armor on the left isn’t bad looking. But it is a complete set. Also, this guy is a monk-class, should he really be running around in that much heavy metal? When he first was created, he was granted a Gi that befits his class, but had only nominal stats. Fortunately, I never deleted it. Now I can have the appearance of his Gi, but the power and stats of his heavier looking armor.

Blizzard should definitely consider doing this in their game as well. They have already acknowledged the importance of appearance. In the next major expansion, Wrath of the Lich King; they are adding new hairstyles and dances. The least they can do is add functionality to make a raid look more like the Second Coming and less like Bring In The Clowns.

I first conceived of this blog as a way to express my view point of MMORPG’s after 8 years of nightly playing. And I still intend to do that. But I’m also going to use it as a personal log of my nightly adventures in various games.

First, an entry for Tuesday, April 24, 2007:

EQ2 L58 Fury – Silverfur: LFay Questing

Lord of the Rings Online ended Open Beta last night. There was a glitch with my pre-order code and I couldn’t log on. I headed over to World of Warcraft but didn’t feel motivated to quest grind with my feral druid or my new dps shaman alt. I decided knocking out a quest or two in Everquest 2 and going to bed early would be the best choice.

Playing an MMORPG for just a few mins. What was I thinking?

EQ2 has been on the back burner for a few months for me. Since WoW came out with the Burning Crusade Expansion in January, I had been playing nothing else. And just when I was burning out on WoW, the LotRO Open Beta came along and knocked me off my feet with its immersiveness. I had been logging on to EQ2 just a few mins a day to do a Tears Grifter instance to keep the experience rolling. Two more levels and I will hit L60. Then many new zones become available to me.

So I logged on with my Fury and headed over to Lesser Faydark to knock off what quests I could. I still had 4-5 group quests for that zone and figured I would have to write them off. But after spending an hour finishing the solo quests I had there, I joined a group and we were able to knock off 3 group quests I had in the Thexian camp.

It was a good night for experience (2 AAs gained and almost hit L59) and I was able to clear out a good chunk of the quests I had left for that zone.

I was going to wait til L60 to hit the new zones, but I could probably start at L59. Or I could clear out the rest of my Pillar of Flames quests as well. We’ll see if I feel like quest grinding or exploring next time I log on, but I think I already know the answer.

I’ve launched a new site today that I hope fills a need.

MMOPug.com is for players who need to find or fill a pick up group. I often find myself wanting to group on my main character in EQ2 (a L55 Fury), but get bored waiting for that group to come together. The siren call of my new Fae Illusionist calls and I switch over knowing that I’m losing any chance of getting a group on my Fury for the evening.

So I made a site to fix that. Basically, it uses a Craigslist template for players looking for a group to list their info. After they do that, the can switch to another alt, another server, hell, another game. Then, a group leader looking to put together a team can search the board for anyone available to fill his group that isn’t online at the time. The group leader can send an LFG poster an e-mail saying: come on over and join our group.

Putting together the site was easy enough (even with my severely limited HTML skills, go Ning.com site templates!), but getting the word out about it is going to be the tricky part. Fifteen years of real life marketing experience is going to be put to the test here.

Couldn’t find a guide on the web, so I wrote one based on my experiences running the zone last night. This is a L50-60 group instance in the Echoes of Faydwer expansion. If you want to run the entire zone (about 2 hours) make sure you tank is at least L55+.

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You enter this group instance by clicking on the Clockwork Lift in the building sitting in the middle of the lake in Klak’Anon.

FIRST PART: Have your tank lead your team to the top of the ramp as quickly as possible. L56 flying clockworks spawn from the ceiling every 60 seconds or so until you get away from the ramp. Then fight across to the next ramp and pull everything you can at the top of that ramp. Jump down into the courtyard, fight into the small room across the courtyard and use the lever inside to open door to second part.

SECOND PART: Have your tank pull the named on the other side of the open door into the courtyard and fight him there. After you dispatch him, head into the central hub of the zone. Clear all the aggro clockworks there and ignore the Deactivated Clockworks lined up in the middle for now.

You’ll see two paths, one leading up, one leading down. Take the downward path. Click on the deactivated clockworks you see standing along the walls by themselves. A few moments after you click on them, they become aggro and you can kill them. Work your way to the Power Cell room.

THIRD PART: Clear all the aggro mobs in the Power Cell room. Mouse over each of the four power cells and write down the symbols you see. Head up to the top of the small tower in the room and activate the levers to match the codes to deactivate the shielding around all four cells.

Park your group under the tower away from the power cells. Park your tank between the group and the tunnel you entered the room from. Have one party member attack/nuke any deactivated power cell to destroy it (it has very low health). When a power cell is destroyed mobs spawn in the tunnel and head in. The flying clockworks head to the tower, the walking clockworks head over to the power cells. If your group is far enough away from the power cells, you can avoid aggro’ing the walking clockworks until you have dispatched the flying ones.

Spawn sequence (as I recall, may not be exact numbers):

1st Power Cell Destroyed: 2 Flying Clockworks, 1 Walking Clockwork
2nd Power Cell Destroyed: 2 Flying Clockworks, 2 Walking Clockworks
3rd Power Cell Destroyed: 3 Flying Clockworks, 2 Walking Clockworks
4th Power Cell Destroyed: 3 Flying Clockworks, 2 Walking Clockworks & The Crimson Vanquisher

The named has a nasty long lasting AE stun w/damage. If you wipe, release and rez at the zone in, then you can run back to tunnel leading into Power Cell room and single pull him into the tunnel.

After named is destroyed, the deactivated clockworks in the middle hub room are now active. Clear them and take the upper path, activating and killing the single deactivated clockworks standing along the walls.

FOURTH PART: This is the throne room of the zone boss, King Klak’Anon. Clear his guards, then pull and fight him. At 20% health he will become non-targetable and runs to a platform above the throne room, transforming into a bigger, badder King. He can be single pulled back down. When he dies, he drops a Gear and The Master Protocol Spawns on the platform.

The Master Protocol can’t be pulled (he is attached to the ceiling), but it won’t attack you as you clear the rest of the guards around him. Have the tank use the Gear the King dropped (it’s tradable if the MT didn’t get it) to take out The Master Protocol’s shielding and then your entire group can attack it. This fight is WAY easier than the Crimson Vanquisher. When defeated, a chest will spawn.

Congratulations! You finished the Court of Innovation.

#1 – Inventory Juggling – The Bank Version

I think I spent three hours playing this EQ2 mini-game over the weekend. The tradeskill revamp of LU24 was a good excuse for me to go through the 8 containers of harvested items I have collected over the last 6 months and see what was still useful. There was much rearranging and and organizing. I can now find whatever harvestable item I need for whatever tradeskill alt I am on. Yet I still don’t feel the need to tradeskill. Do I win?

#2 – Inventory Juggling – The Adventure Pack

You’re deep in a dungeon and your inventory is full. A metal chest drops. What do you destroy in your inventory to make room for possible legendary item? The corpse loot that may be worth good coin to a merchant? That food you might be able to live without til you get back to town? The status point loot that’s been collecting in your fourth pack? Whatever you destroy will be gone forever with no guarantee that you will /random above a 3 for the big ticket item.

#3 – Guess The Pick Up Group Efficiency

Does the main tank hold aggro? Does he call his pulls? Does he position mobs for the scouts? Do the scouts/mages wait for the MT to get aggro before popping off their highest damage ability? Does the healer conserve mana for actual heals? If you don’t play this mini-game correctly, your evening’s entertainment could be short lived.

#4 – How Much Can I Take From The Guild Vault Without Getting In Trouble?

This is a mini-game that tests your laziness. As a L70 provisioner you could whip up a stack of drink for yourself, or you can save the time and just grab a stack out of the guild vault. But last night you took out an Adept book for an alt that you swear you are going to be playing more. Sure, you threw in a stack of Glimmering Flowers, but does that balance out the 5 Harvesting Timer Reduction items you happily plundered?

#5 – How Long Can I Hold Off Going Back To Town To Repair?

Until you’re naked.

What mini-games do you like to play?