Asudad.. Fun times

I had a friend recently tell me he was cut out of all my pictures in the previous post so in Honor of him here's his own pict.







Since I've been back I joined a new guild Revolution with Dina its actually a Small world huh? Revolution seems to be a nice guild and we've gotten to raid quite a few places that I enjoyed with my Brigand now I get to test me Healing prowess with my Mystic.





















Just recently we Took down Barakah and Siyamak but even before we've taken down Vyemm and Tarnix, We even raided Courts and Gates for fun (Guild Xp) . Rocked Lyceum till the last named but I think that one was late is all. Downed Harla Dar and Gave a good shot at Gorenaire... Looks like we are a decent Up and coming Guild, and I'm sure there's more, Guuuud times ahead.

Into the new fold

OK where to start, I’m finally here and in my new place at good ole Barksdale Louisiana and it’s not to bad yet.. Well it is spring right now so I guess we will just wait and see? I’ve begun playing my Mystic (Chieftain) again. I realized while I was out having a good time PVPnig I forgot the real reason why I started this MMO, it was to play with the wife and enjoy my time with her. I’ve found other ways to subdue my PVP urge and it’s helped, I /duel and with my spec on AA I don’t to do to bad if I do say so myself.

Since I came back I’ve also gotten a great upgrade, I purchased a brand new computer which set me back about 1,500 Duckets. A Core 2 6400 O/C to 2.6, a nice 8800 GTS both from EVGA, I also got a lot of other gear and that includes Mushkin 2gig SLI memory, Antec 900 case with an extra 120mm fan, New SATA HDD 250 gig WD, and a SATA DVD drive, and wireless G network to boot. I’m still waiting on my CPU fan so that I can see if I can O/C to 3.2 GHz but that is for another day. I can pretty much max out everything on EQ2 to include shadows, yet sadly it seems shadows bleed after the memory leaks take hold and soon after they no longer turn on until reset. Above and below are some pictures from my recent adventures into Unrest and Catacombs. If you look at all my previous post pictures you can see that it was a lot more shabby then what you will see in the future. None of my pictures are tampered in anyway.

A few people asked me to update so here it is, and there shall be more to follow in the near future, like my thoughts on LOTR online to the way EQ2 has been on shaping up so stay tuned.

Such a beautiful Woushi isn't he?

Bye bye Cali

Well, my EQ2 Account is closed for the moment and my life is a spin of busyness. I'm on the way of finishing up this term of Computer Languages and Server operator while getting things ready to move to La. I'm hoping once things slow down I can get back to blogging on a more regular basis but we shall see.

I just recently purchased the new Zelda for the Game Cube and it sucked me in, I always love a good Zelda and since the one that was released on the N64 was the last best one it's been a while. Even on the Game Cube the whole game looks beautiful and has a great control but we shall see how it stand the test of time though.

Before my account dropped I was getting a Guardian up in levels on the Good side of Nagafen in the Brownies for now. Almost hit 30 with damn near 20 aaxp so far this has been pretty fast. I figured I would pick something hard to pvp with and see the good and bad with a rare pvp class overall. I love rareness it's the reason I choose a brigand to start with. However, any that have been on pvp know it's the class every newb picks to pvp with as if it's an accomplishment to pvp with a easy class. I'm looking forward to continuing my assent to 70 as a Guardian as soon as I get settled in my new home in a few weeks.

Take care all and have a Happy new year.

Norath Avatars and you

Well it's been a few weeks and I've been having a blast. Learning the new abilities, playing with new handy caps, and kicken tail in Quest world I've had little time to blog. That and the fact I'm finishing up school and getting ready to move across the U.S. doesn't help either.

The only real complaint or rather upset I have is with tier 5 and 6 transmuting fodder "nightmare" and some of the Avatars or lack of any reasoning to have a "God" in this world of Norath. First off a few of the quests for the Avatars aren't solo which is fine but there is no reason they all shouldn't of been either solo or heroic. Both Brell and Solsek seem to be the hardest in the game and it's a little off key when the Rollos and Tunare were a joke in comparison. The abilities you gain for having Avatars in PVP make it a bit unbalanced but I love it both when I have the upper hand and when they have the upper hand as well. I love the sence of not knowing if I'm gonna win or not, and this isn't just prone to pvp. In the PVE realm some of the changes while not perfect make some battles turn out way different then you would of suspected, even if you have killed MobX 100 times it can change in a heart beat. Anyhow, some argue that it's unfair and that PVP shouldn't be allowed to use Avatar abilities though I'm not sure why, yes it sucks to die and yes it takes little to no skill to win but it's once an hour.

Onto the real point at hand though, Avatar abilities are nice but this isn't what I really expected to get with the rise of their existence back into norath. Oh sorry I forgot about the cloaks... wooptie do! Yes the fact that the Dev team and EQ2 in general has started to separate and distinguish character classes from Class hat's to player only armor is nice. But where is the "I have this Avatar so therefore I can use this only item?" Cloaks are the biggest let down, why could anyone use a Brell cloak after they left him and went Quellious? I'm sorry a fix shouldn't just be in the works it should of never happened this way. I do hope in the future there is Avatar specific armors and charms which make it more a real choice of which Avatar to have.

If you haven't alread; go and buy Echoes of Faydwer even if your a newb, the whole new EQ2 experiance just got better as a whole. Those of you from EQ1 that either tried EQ2 at the start and fluffed it off or just didn't feel like it's Norath will be surprised at how much better and imersive it's just become. It would help if they would remove the bells and put boats in the harbors of Efp and Qharbor as well but it's a start. As far as the "nightmare" both T5 and T6 Infused Nightmare's have been broke for about a week now and I wish this shit would get fixed.

CA's, Spells and Class Combining

There are some decent spells in the game and some with unique enough talent trees they are relegated to a single class. Some say it's because it's two sides of the same coin and SOE did it just to split up the subclass. Much like the Shaman at 52 they split in some areas, the Mystic gets Torpor and the Defiler gets Canny; if your from EQ1 you knew both these spells were Shaman spells shared by no other classes. I didn't feel left out because I didn't get Canny but hey I don't stress about the small stuff. I heard latly that since they split the Classes in two it makes your job easier. My chief complaint with that is there is no basis to compare it to other then EQ1. While I was my Conj on EQ2 I can say the more I had to deal with Spell wise the more the game would be easier. If I had say the Necro line as well I would be unstoppable and if I messed up I could just FD, I guess I don't see where more ability's makes it harder. It just seems to me most that want classes to be combined altogether just want their EQ1 experience back all I have to say to them is go back to EQ1.

Even EQ1 wasn't without problems on raids, if they were good and decent players you would only need one of a few given classes. A few good examples are Mage and Shaman, both of these didn't stack well with like classes and when it came to DPS the Conj was easily replaced by melee which seemed better in duration fights. I have played a few different classes and never really felt left out or pushed aside because of the split in EQ2 but it doesn't mean there isn't an innate problem overall in the system dynamics. I just prefer the split because it's more friendly and easier for others to invite to a raid if you want certain abilities. Mystic's Bolster, Brigands Dispatch to name a few and the best part about it these are short duration long recast so you can stack with other like classes. The Holy trinity doesn't exsist anymore as a needed setup which makes this a much more playable game for all.

As a Brigand I'm wanted on raids but in the end it was for a different reason then an Assassin or Ranger. I had no clue that Brigands were a debuff class and has some of the coolest abilities like Dispatch and Amazing Reflexes. Some say they are to overpowering but I say they aren't any more powering then Rain of Arrows, Ice Nova, or Decap. Those defining abilities do massive damage and they complain about debuffs and avoidances to counter their abilities. I don't want to get into a fight over who is the best class for raids or pvp because everyone has a place. Yes tweaking is in order of some abilities it doesn't mean they are nerf or combining classes worthy just because their bread is buttered on the upside and yours is on the downside. It only means that if you complain about another class to nerf; remeber Karma is a bitch.

Links

I just recently updated my links to the right and added a few while deleting others that are dead for now. Enjoy!

GM work

Disclaimer " I've never been a GM nor have I wanted to be and as far as EQ2 goes I have no real knowledge that they exist today except in concept"

I've met a few in game GM's over a year ago as stated in previous post. I've read on boards about GM's in EQ2 and have a notion that their are some they are just not around much. To me it seems that if EQ2 does have GM's there must only be a handful and not enough to be doing the job they should be doing. Better yet the job I think they should be doing.

Some of you from EQ1 know the glory days of GM's there was some almost always on and they even had a /who all GM button. I knew not to bug them or send direct tells unless there was special occasions like Halloween and events. These events were special because they were rare but you knew they happened on a basis more so then EQ2. Hell some of you probly remember some good loot that was GM given only for one event, if your like me you remember the Can O' woopass *sp. However, in Norath the GM's seem few and far between with little to no interaction with them except over Super rare occasions usually them telling you "Banned" then again that is probly used only for Farm/bots or Cheat/hackers and still to a lesser degree then expected.

Some of you like me ask where is the pizaz in EQ2's world of Norath short of the live events which have been dwarfed down to semi fun quests... Some may not agree but I could go for the virus live event again because at least it effected the world. The Frogloc as screwed in it's conception was fun because we got to see who would unlock them worldwide first... Firsts is where it's at mainly but even then it seems to fall short. This is where I believe GM's should be able to step in and have fun real LIVE events, not just Live update events like this lame excuse for Halloween cut and pasted from last year.

Most would agree that loot tables are screwed and I believe that is because EQ2 has no loot table manager. They just throw something in that looks a tad bit better stat wise then the last tier or lower raid mob and say it's good without ever looking at the total options. "Legendary" is a joke since it's not really Legendary if everyone and their mother owns it. "Mastercrafted" was a great change since it was notably something more difficult then norm to obtain that is tradeskill made. Hell even treasured is better then legendary sometimes it's that bad. "Fabled" is way to often in the high end game and if you go a day without seeing one master weather raided or grouped then your not raiding or grouping ie Master spells and/or Gear. This all leads me to the one thing I've seen SOE hold true on Mythical, if you have it your 100% sure no one else does or ever will on your server that's great. But? Is that to say their shouldn't be some more Mythical in the game through LIVE events from GM? My answer is no, they need to get creative Game Masters in there at odd hours at least Bi-annually throwing some shit in the fan where one lucky winner gets a very nice item.

I also believe they should have Game Masters under a different heading then the customer service reps... They should be called CS for customer service that is unless SOE feels we shouldn't get any and we should all just STFU and live in their game. CS should be around one per server at all time to take a queue of people complaint and ruff through them like GM Dave does on FFXI. Take out the botters on normal servers and squash all idiots with impunity but with a smile.. Thanks for coming to Norath-mart have a nice life.. "Banned" for all those who don't go by the rules. The CS should be volunteering and I'm sure you can find a lot that would who can go around change EULA breaking names and attitudes this would be a good self policing system that should also have checks and balances ran through a top dog that SOE can pay.

As far as Game Masters go they should be those that are apart of the community much like Blackguard and Moorguard were. To the extent were they are more noticeable in the game by a great many people. At the present all we have is a hack in slash game with some PVP to top it off if you choose and the same mix of mobs with bad pathing, poorly thought out AI in some cases and the bane of it all, Fast leveling with a shity looting table.

The good thing is the one way they can go is up... That is if they even care what their Customer service satisfaction is.