EverQuest

This was the fight I mentioned a few posts back, the one that takes an hour. We opened with Venril Sathir, a fight we weren’t supposed to finish on the first pull, since the Leviathon timer from before hadn’t expired yet. Having the flag, I sat out and worked on redecorating my apartment with Dera on my other computer. I’m thinking of contracting with an interior designer to do something with my five room in Gorowyn. I had my three room in Freeport set up pretty nicely, but am hoping for a different perspective… ...

I’d never done the Court of Korocust before. It’s a simple instance at the bottom of Chardok – collect three ground spawns and one mob drop, then summon a named, once for each member of the group. Fun part where you have to be sent to prison to collect one bit from a cell there. Just plead nolo… It was something to do after our Sebilis run. We opened with Protector’s Realm, which gets easier for me every time I go. The most challenging part, personally, is doling out Jester’s Cap. Usually on raids, I would just give it to random people I thought would appreciate the boost. Now, though, I have to hold it back, because people with long recast abilities might need it at any time. The two necros are going to lifeburn right after one another; a berserker’s Peel timer is about to expire; if I just use it whenever I like, I’ll miss a time when it is really needed. ...

Last night was an off night – no official raiding – but when I got a raid invite the moment I logged in, well, who am I to say no? Severilous was up, the Epic x2 dragon in the Kunzar Jungle I’d killed before playing Dera. What took a half dozen pulls and two full groups in Eternal Chaos took a group and a half and just two pulls with Clan of Shadows. Nice! I think some of the people in the raid were alts, too. ...

Huh. I wonder if I spend too much time gaming? Anyway. Some minor news from my various gaming related interests: EQ2: Finished Tier 2 last night (finally!) as the Overking went down quickly and painlessly. The raid leaders decided not to flag everyone who needed him in one go, instead some of us (including me!) got in this time, and the rest will go the next time. It’s more important to actually win than to try to do it all at once, but lose. We went on to do Leviathon, the hentai tentacle monster in the Chamber of Destiny (which is not that crystal emerald sphere after all, but a different place entirely), to finish Tier 3. I’d have pictures, but I sat out of that raid. Next time! Listening to the fight on guild chat was fun. People turning into fishes to grab things from the beast’s stomach… some of us sitting out did a Vault of the Eternal Sleeper run, and they were still fighting that same guy when we were done. LONG fight. I finally got Dina’s Coat of Imperious Strikes (legendary RoK scout-set bp) from the boss of VoES… I’d though that dropped only in Maiden’s, but apparently not. ...

There’s two raids in Tier 2, Venril Sathir and the Overking. So we killed Venril. He wasn’t that hard; all you have to do is pay attention, and anyone can do that, right? Well, it wasn’t that simple; it took us two nights. I’ve been warned by the guild leaders not to talk about the strat, but there’s no need – once we all were paying attention, it wasn’t that tough. Fighting down to the instance is much harder :) ...

There is celebrating in New Tunaria tonight; the evil stain on the heart of the capital of the High Elves is cleansed; Mayong Mistmoore has been unmasked and killed. Rejoice, O New Tunarians! Of course, we did have to kill your Queen to get to him. And, um, he’ll probably be back in a couple of days (yeah sorry about that. vampires, you know.) Overking was scheduled, and good thing since I’d just spent all afternoon there earning my Master Di’Zok Hunter title and exploring the more distant reaches of this immense zone. Earlier I’d been in Sebilis, another really huge zone that certainly doesn’t appear that large from zone in…. but it is… then you fight your way to the back and come to the basement, just as huge. ...

2007 opened with me splitting my time between EQ1 and EQ2. Through brief flings with LotRO, Dungeon Runners and Mythos, and even briefer flings with a half dozen more I played just once, I ended the year in pretty much the same place – playing EQ2 exclusively. There’s these incredibly massive hype/PR machines and all they want to do is build up expectations for their ground-breaking, world-shaking title, or book, or movie, and then when it finally arrives, you go “meh” and wait for the next big thing. And the hype machine worked overtime this year. Burning Crusade, Vanguard, Warhammer, Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Hellgate: London, Tabula Rasa; all have (or had) the hype machine promissing so much that almost anything that came (or will come) can only disappoint. ...

The Fate of Norrath is a level 80 quest that starts outside the City of Mist in the Kunzar Jungle. This little Halfling seems unusually preoccupied with the vast power of the Greenmist Oubliette and appears to have mysterious information and powers. Some even wonder if he is an avatar of Bristlebane, but could the God of Pranks really ever take on something as serious as this? Regardless, he is the one that sets into motion this vast, secret army against the powers that reside in Kunark. ...

Talk about speedy backflagging – two raid nights and all of Tier 1 done. The raids in Rise of Kunark are based around an overplot; the Greenmist which once cleared Kunark of the Shissar and a second time killed the Rallosian attackers as they were about to overrun the human lands in the Age of Turmoil – is about to be used again. To find the Greenmist Oubliette will require keys worn as amulets by the Overking of the Di’Zok, and by Venril Sathir, leader of the Sathirian Iksar. To defeat THEM, requires special weapons held by three lesser creatures; Pawbuster in Karnor’s Castle; a spider queen in her lair in the Fens; and from a Protector deep inside the city of Sebilis. ...

Our local CompUSA is closing (well, they all are… but so is our local one!), so I went down there to scavenge today. And, oh look what Santa had for me at discount prices. Dungeon Siege 2 with the expansions. That DS game where you draw your character and lots of other stuff in the game. Zelda and the Phantom Hourglass. Oh, and Vanguard, and EverQuest with all the latest expansions. ...