I don’t have time to join a group and fully explore Unrest right now. I’ll admit what I saw looks spooky-scary and very reminiscent of the old EQ1 Unrest – except this time, the yard trash is 72^^^, and there’s plenty of it. Outside, looking in From zone in. There are see-invis mobs two yards in front of me, hidden on the edges. Same view as above, in EQ1 ...
Live Update 32 went in this morning, bringing Unrest, Brell Day, and new achievements. I was so excited when I saw that bards had gotten a new Selo’s run speed buff - Selo’s Speed of Sound. Maybe bards would once again be the fastest runners around, but it wasn’t to be. It was just a rescaling of the Selo’s line so that top buff would come at 55 instead of 41 (or whatever it was). Our top speed without J-Boots is still 46%. Very disappointed. ...
I just heard the news that SOE might be considering an EverQuest movie. Now, I love EverQuest and have been playing since 1999; nearly eight years devoted to that game or its sequel. But you won’t find me warming a chair when it opens. I’ll tell you why. It’s because I have seen the Dungeons & Dragons movie. And I have seen Conan the Barbarian. And I have seen The Sword and the Sorceror. And The Beastmaster. If there was a fantasy movie that came out in the 80s, no matter how bad – I saw it. ...
Rumors have the next EQ2 expansion as “The Rise of Kunark”. That’s a small surprise; I was expecting them to follow up “Echoes of Faydwer” with another adventure pack, not something as grand as a whole ’nother expansion, especially one that opens the lands that really launched the original EverQuest into MMO history. The job SOE does here is so critical to EQ2’s future… so many people from EQ1 and EQ2 are off trying Vanguard. Guilds all over EQ1 are imploding; I expect the same from EQ2 soon. Vanguard doesn’t cost anything extra for people already on the Station Access plan, so it’s never been easier to leave EQ. ...
The Slavering Azid finally let go of his bard legs tonight. I told Taps, the other bard (a dirge, poor guy) on the raid, that when he went AFK to get his kid that bard gear would be sure to drop, and it did… but I doubt he was unhappy with the Nightchord wrists and boots he got. Anyway, my combination of Vhalen’s and Nightchord armor just happens to match, so now I look fine in bard blue. After the raid, a couple of us finished the Rain Caller heritage quest, so I got a shot of my new armor and new bow picking off some vampires that were trying to pick us off. ...
There be further foul denizens cluttering the shores and deeps of Norrath, and it’s my intention to carry on in the grand tradition of halflings everywhere and watch them die. Except Tarinax, of course… he’s already dead… Darathar… tricky guy. Lures people into Maiden’s Gulch to “save him” in his mortal guise as the Sage of Ages. But it’s Nagafen who is the villain, and the Sage wonders if we could have some words with him – of course, he’ll teach us the dragon language so we can. Naggy won’t tell us anything until we resurrect his ancient love, the gracious Lady Vox. And once we do, he tells us that Darathar has stolen the prismatic egg, his last remembrance of his fated, forbidden romance with a white dragon. If we avenge him and her memory by killing Darathar, he will reward us with weapons recovered from the tomb of the great Kerafrym. ...
More in my little series of the big baddies of EverQuest 2 – Today, Barakah, the gold dragon who holds part of the mystic barrier guarding access to the Djinn Master’s Prism, the Pedestal of Sky, and Poet’s Palace: Return. Barakah sometimes wanders Maj’Dul in his mortal form as a dark elf, and it was there we tricked him into assuming his dragon form and slaying him for his half of the mystic key. But though we defeated him there, he fled to the Pillars of Flame to nurse his wounds and his anger. And it was there we found him hiding last night. ...
Lauren over at Mystic Worlds was bemoaning the fact a month or so ago that she hadn’t seen any pictures of EQ2 boss mobs! She wanted to feel the danger and majesty of those fell creatures whom raids must take down. She has a point. You can see every boss in WoW plastered over the Internet in a thousand places. EQ1 as well, if you go looking. Maybe it’s good that information on EQ2 is so scarce that each zone is new and the bosses, surprises. But here’s a glimpse at the ice queen of the Ascent of the Awakened, Gorenaire. ...
If you play MMOs, you instantly knew from the title that there is a group of people who want to go to Wailing Caves/Caverns/West Commonlands (depending on your MMO) for the purpose of making their characters more experienced, and they are looking for someone to take the hits and attacks from the monsters therein, plus an additional person of any profession to fill the group. They are meeting at the Crossroads (both EQ2 and WoW have a Crossroads near their WC, go figure) and are otherwise ready to go. ...
Commissioner Dorah Tanglewood, Vindicator of the Coin. Her full name now is twice as long as she is tall, she dinged 60, completed her third tradeskill title and the final quest for the Court of the Coin. But there’s a lot yet left to do. It takes 67 tradeskill writs – over four hundred combines using between 1200 and 1600 of each of four common harvests (adamantine, azurite, topaz and hanging roots for jewelers) – to gain a faction level with the Coalition of Tradesfolk. Sunday, Dorah gained the third faction with them, “warmly” – over twelve hundred combines using over ten thousand harvests – to gain the title of “Commissioner”. ...