My how time flies…. Friday, Jul 3 2009

Good grief I cant believe it is another week over!!!!

I work in finance, so end of Financial year here in Australia has had me a very busy little bee.   Bah to real life interfering in my gaming and posting :p

So when last I posted, we (the guild) were preparing for a fresh instance of VP.   I do believe all of our mains now have their Mythicals.  Some folk have one or two of their alts with Myths now too    Grats to them.

Really there is not much of note from our trip into VP.  We came, we saw, and we kicked the dragons asses – some folk got some pretties for their kids along the way ….. including my little Killy.    I was so excited when the pattern dropped for the forearms for the Templar set piece.    I was even more excited to win them of course :p    It was incredible to see my little girl last night with a 110% heal crit.

With the fact that I have been busy at work, I have been a happy but tired little dorf and have not really had a chance to review Kil’s gear in detail recently.  I suspect when I do that, I will be taking off one of my charms to equip my Claymore reward (Arm of Erollisi – Cure is pretty useless now but the chance of an extra 20% to next heal is pretty nice)

Wednesday night was very much a quiet night of noodling ( Disclosure:  Noodling is a phrase ‘borrowed’ from Suzita ).  I really dont even remember much of what I did but it did involve some crafting.  While I was on vacation I managed to level my 8th crafter to level cap.   Now my Woodworker girl only has about 4 and a half levels to go before I have one of each crafter class to level cap.    I have been working towards that aim on and off for about a year and a half.    *giggles* come next February I will have another 10 levels for each of the girls to get.

Last night then was another glorious evening in game.   I have missed hanging out and laughing with the boys the last few weeks, so I really enjoyed getting together last night and hitting a couple of shard zones.   Ingame voice was not working for most of us … so we switched to teamspeak for the purposes of the evening.   It was so lovely to hear the boys voices again and have a wee giggle.  

We had a couple of exquisites drop … but Masters rather than gear      Never mind – we will get Arishas Deepwater Barrier and Danonias ring from Najenas Tower …. one day.   I was even surprised to see Killy healing around 2500 heals/sec in a couple of encounters.  Not too shabby at all.

As for tonight, there are plans with the boys which may or may not include EQ2, Champagne for me, Rum and/or beer for the boys and lots of laughs     The rest of the weekend is fair to bursting with plans for time with family and friends outside of Norrath.    I am definitely hoping to get my woodworker girl her last couple of levels if game time permits.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend both in and out of Norrath.   Happy hunting and crafting!

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*waves* Monday, Jun 29 2009

Yes … I am back.

After 2 wonderful weeks of vacation, and much of last week travelling for work, I am back home and trying to settle back into a regular routine.

While I did get a little game time in towards the start of my vacation, really it was not an awful lot to speak of, and I did miss the boys.  However, over the last weekend I did manage to catch up with the boys and girls of Pax and get a little game time in … but with one MAJOR frustration.

I didnt have any in game voice

Apparently the last GU has been causing some problems with in game voice for a few folks.   Looks like I am one of them.   I know I do some blonde things sometimes, but I am not completely stupid with Technology.   I checked all my voice chat settings and tick boxes, checked my firewall settings, checked my windows sound settings, and everything looks OK.   I guess that all I can do now is wait for the hotfix to come after fan faire.   I dont want to fiddle too much or I know I am just going to end up messing it up completely lol.

While I did miss hearing and talking with the boys,  we still managed to hit an instance or two.   Most notable of them was Ravenscale Repository last night.    While this is only my second trip into the zone, we certainly showed those mobs who was boss :p.  

One thing that I really noticed was the totally supreme change in aa that running a shard instance now gives.    Prior to the GU, Killy could earn herself somewhere around 4 or 5% aa for completing a shard run.    The last few days she has been earning around 15% which is just awesome.

I have also taken little Killy to talk to the research assistant to choose her first master.   I have chosen my single target reactive heal, as I have never seen it for sale for anything less than 300 PP.   While it is a long wait …. I dont mind that at all.   Some people may not like the idea of research assistants, however I dont see it as a bad thing really. 

Given that people can only use this assistant for one character per accout at any one time, I dont see that the market will completely dry up as some might claim.  I believe that there will still be an active market as people continue to seek masters for multiple characters, but I do think it will mean that we may see much less of those outragous prices for the highly desirable masters – and I dont see that as a bad thing.  

Tonight then will see me returning to the fray and raiding with my guildmates.    At this point we have still only cleared VP once, and I think that there is still a lot of phat lewtz that could boost our raid force.   I also think there is still some things we need to learn about some of the named in there, so I am glad we are continuing to hit VP.   We have also planned that if we finish VP in good time we can poke our noses in to have a look at Tomb of the Mad Crusader.   I really think that is a good plan, and it will give us a much greater chance at success in TotMC once we have a little more gear.

So enough of an update from me … Still trying to catch up with what has happening with other folk in the blogosphere too.

Happy hunting and crafting everyone!!

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What a difference a week makes Tuesday, Jun 2 2009

Wow … where have the last few days gone???

The weekend seemed to fly past as I made some final arrangements towards my holidays at the end of this week.   I did however enjoy a little time in game hitting some fun content with the boys.

We have been talking about it for a little while,  and finally Killy started her TSO signature quest line.  It is our intention that we all get to the same point and progress the quest line together … so Killy caught up and we all moved things right along into the start of Chapter 4 iirc.

On top of that, we also headed into one of the Guk zones – I am hopeless since I dont even remember which zone it was *giggles*.    It was nice and a whole lot of fun to hit a new zone … Discovery AA … AA for killing new named … AA for quest completion.  How lovely!

The beginning of a new week saw us hit VP once again, with hopes to clear the zone and earn mythicals for our remaining guildmates.   We knew that things may have been a little easier with quite a proportion of us now wearing Mythicals … but GOSH what a difference a week makes.

I was a little worried that we were light on healers – especially for Druushk (if we got that far).   My fears were shown to be unfounded.

While some encounters were still untidy (especially Nexona), the change from last week was astounding.   We killed every mob on the first pull, and it only took us one night to progress as far as we did in three nights last instance.  Nexona took us around 15 mins to kill instead of the marathon 40 mins from last week.

I was particularly struck with the changes in the Druushk fight too.  We were so short of healers we only had Killy and Lukwut (Defiler) in MT group.   I was worried that Arishas health would be spiking dangerously without a third healer, but we had no such problem.   Arisha even asked how the healing was feeling in voice chat and I commented that it felt nice and stable and controlled.  Killy and Luk made an excellent healing team

Last night we killed up to and including the Taskmaster.  So tonight I hope that we shall kill Milyex, Xygoz, Ashenclaw and Hoshkar … and perhaps even have time to start into the next wing.   Even if that is all we manage tonight, that will give us both nights next week to play in the final wing, to get both Silverwing and Phara Dar for our Monk, Guardian and Rangers (hope I have not forgotten anyone!)   Cross fingers for us and wish Pax good luck!!

Happy hunting and crafting everyone.

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Slow and easy. Friday, May 29 2009

Last night was a lovely slow and quiet time in game with the boys.

We decided to head to the middle of the three Commonlands shard zones for something a little different.   Some of the guild had already headed off to Scion for the Daily Double, and there were not enough folk from guild to fill up the group …. so we decided that we would just 5 man the zone

The zone went at a good pace and uneventfully and I am pretty sure that no one died at all.   We were even lucky enough to have a couple of exquisite chests drop too.   Nothing that anyone in the group could use …. but some nice lewtz to sell on for the winners.

Really enjoy this zone … jousting in and out to the ghosts to be cured of the detrimental effects.    I must say I really dont like the fight with Gromkey much … the one who spawns adds you need to have dispelled.   But the second last named, the guy on horseback, that is cool

Finishing this run and handing in the shard quest was enough to have Killy ding 178aa.    I know I know … I am a slow coach :p   In truth I am not in any huge rush for aa especially now I have my healer stance in the Shadows aa line.  However, I do want to make sure I hit 200aa some time before the next expansion

After the zone, we all milled about, my crafter girls helped make a few adornments for various people, and my tailor girl got herself a little xp edging closer to 80.   At which time I decided to bid good evening to Norrath nice and early.

It is now just over a week until the very exciting time when I  am able to get together for dinner and drinks with a bunch of my guildmates … in fact I must pop up the road and see if I can book our table today.   That will signal the start of 2 blissful weeks of vacation for this little dorf and I am counting down the days *giggles*   I dont think I will get a whole lot of game time in my vacation, and I am sure that when I return I shall well and truly be over my current lack lustre levels of enthusiasm lol

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend both in and out of Norrath!

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Checkin out the new toy Thursday, May 28 2009

With all the excitement of our new toys, we were all eager last night to take them out for a spin and see what difference they made and what they could do.  Only natural!!

I was hooked up with the boys very soon after logging in, and we discussed what we wanted to do.  There are some pretties still from Codexicon and the final golem in Najenas Tower that are appealing.  It just so happened that Crucible was also the daily double so we grabbed a few more guildmates and headed off.

We giggled to ourself as we started to clear the first trash.  There was indeed a huge difference to the dps of the group.   I paid attention to my heal casting and tried to do a little more damage on the trash.    On trash I dont think my power dropped much below like 98%

We cleared the zone comfortably got our four shards, but sadly no pretty fabled drop from Codexicon.

Once we had finished the zone I had a quick look what ACT said – and just about fell of my chair.   The codexicon fight saw Killy healing at 2500 heals per second and some change …. that is almost 25% higher than I had ever healed before.   I guess that is totally in line with the expected boost (20% to reactive heals).   It felt like a pretty tough fight to heal ….  but not panicked.   See what happens when you let your tanks and DPS wear items like the Jewel of Animosity and Bloodthirsty Choker :p

Najenas Tower was another pretty strait up and down zone … nothing much to mention, no pretty lewtz … but another two shards for our collections.  

Now one thing I will need to consider is incorporating the clicky from my myth into my repertoire.  My thaughts are pretty much to use it for when the tank is pulling named in instances, or as often as it is up in raids.

All in all we had a lovely relaxed night with plenty of fun and giggles all round.  We all decided to bid goodnight to Norrath nice and early after the exitement of the last few nights.  

Happy hunting and crafting!!!

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How sweet it is. Tuesday, May 26 2009

Well,  I can hardly believe the day has come!!  My little girl has her very own very shiny, very pretty, very smacky brand new hammer!!

As we formed raid and zoned in last night, we knew the main enemy we were fighting once again was time, since our instance was due to reset in less than 24 hours.   We stood facing the update for our Brigand (Milyex) and knew that the following three named were going to give us possibly 10 Mythicals for the raid force.

I think Arisha was concerned that Milyex was going to take us some time and we would be stuck there.  Topo, our only Brigand,  had very generously expressed that he had no problem skipping him for now for the benefit of the entire raid. 

The decision made, we moved on to Xygoz for our two dirges and swashy.  He looked so cute sleeping peacefully there :p   I loved this encounter … Finding the little dollys of ourselves, and then fighting miniatures of all the dragons.  We had a little trouble first pull with everyone getting their little dolls, but we regrouped and second pull the big boy was put to sleep permanently.

Then on to the encounter to spawn Ashenclaw.   We headed across the bridge and just inside the corridor.   Killed the bees, killed the Cinder Wasp Queen and then POOF comes Ashenclaw!!!   While it certainly was NOT the prettiest of encounters, Ashenclaw was sent to the great dragon lair in the sky quick smart!.

And now was D Day … time to speak to Hoshkar.   On to the little island we all piled, and we prepared for battle.   Arisha engaged Hoshkar, ran around the outside of the island while we all moved to try and keep range to hit Hoshkar and heal the brave dark elf Palladin.    Less than 8 minutes later Arisha Kilanna and another Templar companion had our updates.

The time was still not too late, so we raced back to Milyex with the hopes of getting Topo his update.   Arisha engaged the dragon and the engineer soon lay dead at her feet.  The MT group slowly ate at the Dragons health while the rest of the raid smashed the generators.   We got him to 6% and a fourth generator took us by surprise.  Wingbeat AoE hit and that was all she wrote for that encounter.   We regrouped and with no surprises, Topo soon had his final Mythical update too!!!

At that point, we all went our different directions to speak to our respective NPC’s.   The atmosphere in chat was just amazing as we all celebrated the successes of our guildmates and friends as they were awarded their mythicals.  How sweet the success after the months of work we have put in as a group to get here!

For sure there was other lewtz last night … but what an experience with over half of our raidforce earning Mythicals in the last two nights.   I was thrilled that Topo got himself a pattern for his set piece forearms – I put that down to Karma after his willingness to possibly miss out on his Myth update for the good of the raid.

With the number of mythicals we now have, I trust that the next two weeks will see us completely clear the zone.  The Druushk and Nexona encounters will likely go that much more smoothly and give us time to play with Silverwing and Phara Dar for our Guardian and Rangers.

With all that … I shall away to quitely celebrate with a nice cup of Coffee

Happy hunting and crafting everyone!

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Norrath is still for a moment…. Tuesday, May 26 2009

Nothing much more to say….

 

Along with 7 of my guildmates and 3 other companions.

I need to go to bed :p  but more details soon!

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VP Mark 2… Continued Monday, May 25 2009

Well … lots of exciting things going on both in and out of game recently.

Out of game, obviously the new little man is a huge focus in my familys little world and he is just GORGEOUS!!   I have booked myself some vacation starting at the end of next week, so work has been incredibly busy making sure I can get all my month end reporting finished before I head off.

In game, I have also been having a lot of fun even if I have been a little tired :p  

Over the weekend, I took advantage of the bonus xp for little Katyya, and got her some more aa and xp.   I have done as much of the solo questing as I think I can in Lesser Faydark, and grouped up with guild leader to start some of the heroic quests from the Nybright Camp.    I am not sure that there might still be some quests around the Fae Court. 

I then took little Katyya into Loping Plains and found myself reminiscing.    When I joined Pax, one of the first things I did with Killy was to get her Warg mount questline done.   I remember that being a right PITA with Killy, but absolutely no problem at all on the dirgeling.  She does look rather cool on her mount even if her bard run speed means she doesnt need it.     But remember – fashion is everything!

Last night then saw us return to VP.  Last week we were stuck at Nexona, so last night we went in fresh and determined to take her down.   Second pull saw her defeated even if it was a marathon 40 minute and 27 second fight!  

Onward then we moved to the switchmaster.   We had pulled him once two weeks ago, and were flattened by his AoE.   Armed with some knowledge of what to expect, we gathered at a little alcove to the North of his island,  engaged the encounter and we were off.   We patiently burned him down, jousted his AoE, smooshed the little adds and had him down first pull.   I was so excited, since now my favourite Coercer has his shiny new toy to play with.  Congrats on your Mythical Danonia!!!

Tonight we head back with hopes to see more of my guildmates with their Mythicals.  First comes the Brig update (crossing my fingers for Topo) I know that much.  I am not sure of the order but I understand that the Dirge and Swashy updates are not far behind, followed by Wardens. 

I live in hope that we might get to Hoshkar for both Killy and Arisha, but if we dont get that done tonight, it wont be far away.  I have waited this long, another week or two wont hurt.   If we can get to Hoshkar, that will mean that the whole MT group will have Mythicals.  

Maybe I am strange and I know it is a cliche, but I feel it is not about whether you win or loose the fat lewtz (but that is a nice bonus), rather it is about how you play the game.  I will be so proud to wear my Mythical knowing that my companions and I have persevered and earned our shiny pretty things.

Cross your fingers that Norrath may stop for a moment tonight to celebrate for a good number of my companions and maybe even my own little dorf

Happy hunting and crafting!

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VP – Mark 2 Tuesday, May 19 2009

As always a fantastically fun evening in game.

We headed to our second instance of VP, and one of our regular raiders showed us a way to sneak past the first trash mobs on our way to the first named.  

The first named dragon did cause us a bunch of trouble between his knockback and crushing damage AoE (wingbeat)   Not so bad if you joust it – but a pain in the ass for healers keeping range.  Arisha died first time cos of the issues with him being knocked back out of our range.    Second pull we got him, even if not in the tidyest fashion.

We then cleared trash and headed on to Druushk.  Once again it took us a couple of pulls but we got him down.   A quick foray down to kill Elder Eckron and his rascally adds – and that was enough for the evening.

Veeshans Peak really is a totally EPIC zone.  Everything is huge.  The distances everywhere are huge – I guess what more can you expect when you enter a lair big enough for Dragons :p

Last week we cleared both Nexona and Druushk on our first instance of VP.   The only thing that prevented us form clearing the zone was time.   In order to give us enough time to work strategies and clear the zone, we have decided to add an extra night to our raids in the short term.   I think this is a great idea to get the guild all mythed up – and then we will be able to clear the zone within our regular raid schedule.

Tonight, hopefully we will clear tsome trash, smoosh Nexona and head over to take out the Switchmaster.  That would see my favourite coercer with his Myth!!!!    Hoshkar is still a ways away for my little girl, but I reckon she will have her new shiny smacky hammer next week.

In other news, the little dirge has still been running around a little in Lesser Faydark doing some of the quest there.  The faydark zones are quite cutesy, I dont mind that, but I find all the mountains and cliffs and ledges somewhat annoying at times for navigating the geography :p

Enough news for now – Happy hunting and crafing everyone!

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I think I need a holiday Monday, May 18 2009

After reading Castillions post today, it has prompted me to respond in my own post rather than comment on his blog since I releate to it quite well this morning.   Last night I was in game but just found myself feeling very bleh.    There was no good reason at all why I should have been feeling bleh – life is full of good and positive and exciting things for me at the moment.

I have been blessed or spoilt (depending on how you look at it) with a fantastic group of guildmates and lovely gaming friends that I spend a lot of time with.   Lately, it feels like we dont often get our “A-team” together and hit challenging content.   I was reflecting on it as I travelled in on the train this morning.   I think this is for a number of reasons.

Firstly, we have been doing a lot of work raiding.  We have achieved wonderful progress over the last few months.   It has been a lot of work especially for Danonia and Arisha as our Raid Leader and Main Tank.   Outside of raids then, I guess we have been looking for time to relax a little and enjoy our selves too lest the game becomes like a second job.

For me personally, it has also been almost 14 months since I had a vacation.  While that is not a long time for some people, I am starting to feel the need for a recharge of the batteries.   It also occurs to me that while I am absolutely loving my game time and would change nothing about it, it wouldn’t hurt me to have a few nights off.

I have been finding it hard this last few weeks to find my usual enthusiasm.  I feel like I have kind of been floating along rather than steadily working towards a goal.   There are many many things that I could be working towards but just cant seem to get into anything in particular.

My solution – I think I need a vacation.  A vacation from work, go away somewhere nice for a few days with no PC – Just good food, good wine, fresh air, blue skies and good company.

Back to things game related :p   Between spending time with the family and new little man, I did enjoy some fun time in EQ this weekend.

Guild leader was starting one of his toons on the Vampire Chronicles questline, and asked me if I would like to bring Killy along for some aa.  I was quite glad to see a whole new part of the game I had not seen yet, so Killy mentored his Brigand.  

The quest line was a lot of fun – to seek out information on the nasty undead, kill them, help the NPC to research them, and eventually have the ability to transform into a vampire.  We took our time, and with some of the quests and many named mobs still green, Killy netted herself amost a full aa point.  I also think she looks pretty cool as a vampire

As well as that, I got up to a little more questing on the Dirgeling in Lesser Faydark to make the most of the bonus xp this weekend.  The end of the weekend saw her ding 63 dirge.   Go my little girl!!

Tonight will see the guild heading to our second instance of VP.   It would be nice to get Nexona and maybe even Druushk down tonight so we have time to work on the remaining named to get the guild their Mythicals over the next couple of weeks.   Fun times!

Happy hunting and crafting all

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