Wicked.Freaking.Cool!!!!

First Person View Remote Controlled F-16…

 

 

I’m already looking at the trainers….. enjoy.

Butcherblock Mountains…

Butcherblock Mountains.  Or rather, the docks and the surrounding areas.  On Monday night I finished up with the Darklight Woods area and then made the trip to BBM.  I got started doing the starter quests being offered and hit 23 last night.

One thing I realized upon getting to BBM, was that I’ve been here and done this before.  I don’t remember how far I got, but I don’t think it was too far… I seem to remember doing some quests above on the cliffs surrounding the bay but that’s about it.  That was back with my Troll SK in ’07 or so.

I really wasn’t in the mood to play last night,  but I got on anyway and knocked out a few of the quests leftover from Monday night before logging out and watching the rest of the Godfather Part II (my favorite of the three) on Blu-Ray.

To be honest, it was rather uninspiring.  The quests were ho-hum and after awhile actually started to annoy me a little bit.  I did end up dying twice during my half hearted adventures last night though.  My third time overall.  Three equal conning Aqua Goblins did me in.  For some reason they kept breaking my mezzes.  Bad JuJu for a Chanter.  Anyway, after the second time I called it a night and  logged out, abandoning my somewhat ambitious (more like ridiculous) quest to hit 25 last night.  I’ll give it another shot tonight though.  I might even try to find a Crushbone group or something.  Soloing is alright and all, but sometimes seeking out company is the way to go.

OR… I COULD give in to my nature and look at starting an alt.  I know.. I know.. I just said I *could*.  If I do start an alt though, I’d have to decide on what to roll.  I’m thinking Ranger (scout class again) or possibly an Assassin or Paladin.  I kind of miss my plate class.  Back when I quit though, and part of my reason for leaving the game, was that my 50th level Paladin was not a very good tanking option at the time.  I wonder if things have gotten any better since then (Desert of Flames days).  I guess I’ll have to see how I feel when I settle in for tonight.

~ Mojeaux

 

Level 20 = Mount, Free Plat, New Gear…

As the title of this post implies, I made it to 20 last night.  Actually, I almost made it to 21, but I was beat (had to work earlier and the heat was a killer) and I couldn’t hang on for the remaining 20% left.  I know, I’m such a wuss….

As mentioned in a previous post, hitting 20 was a bit of a goal for me.  Not only a personal goal, but a quest objective as well.  The reward for it wasn’t bad either, it netted me 10 or so gold for completing it withing the time limit set (14 days).

Anyway, as soon as I hit 20 I stopped what I was doing and went and did a little research regarding the level 20 mounts that I had read about somewhere and found (to my delight) that I was already almost finished with the quest line that would grant me a mount with a speed bonus of 135% as  reward.  Sweet!  I was starting to get a little tired of hoofing it everywhere I went….

It wasn’t long before I was galloping around the Darklight Woods finishing up the last remaining quests I had left for this zone in my journal. I’m sure there are more to be had, but I think I’m ready to move on.

Speaking of moving on, I *think* ~ if I’m remembering what I read online about a “Golden Path” ~ that I’m heading to Butcherblock Mountains next .  I could also head over to the Common Lands (I’ve picked up a quest leading me in that direction), but I’ve done that zone a few times already (back in the day) and I’m looking for something new this time around.  So it looks likes BB is the place…

Aside from exploring BB, I’m also interested in doing some Crushbone runs ~ I think you can start in the low 20’s and adventure there all the way up until you hit 30 or so ~ nothing like a good dungeon crawl if you ask me!  Crushbone came out well after I left the game so I’m looking forward to seeing EQ2’s version of it for the first time.  Some of my best memories from EQ1 involved CB, so I’m eager to see what kind of job they did with this version.

Oh and I figured out (all over again) that I can click on a quest NPC in my mini-map and a nice glow worm type thing appears in front of me leading me right to the NPC in question.  I had wondered what happened to my friend the glow-worm trail.

Speaking of friends, Kaozz from ECTMMO was kind enough to take a little time out of her day and send me a few goodies.  What did send?  Well, she sent me a couple of nice big boxes (I think they are for storing goods that you want to sell from your storefront) and 5 plat!  I know 5 plat may not sound like much, but let me tell you… it goes a long way!

With it I was able to buy all this stuff:

1. 4 – 36 slot bags (bag space for-evah!)
2. New Robe (very nice upgrade!)
3. Headgear (another nice upgrade)
4. Gloves (upgrade)
5. Bracers (upgrade)
6. Boots (upgrade)
7. Cloak (upgrade)
8. and Leggings (upgrade)

So yeah, as you can see, it really does go a loooong way!  And I still had a little over 3 plat left when it was all said and done!!!

So Kaozz, many, many thanks!  You made my night 🙂

~ Mojeaux

A Little More and Then Some…

Well, the wife had landed safely in the land of juicy bratwursts and monolithic sized beer steins!  Before heading off to the airport and while she was putting the final touches on her packing efforts, I got on and knocked out a few quests around my new quest hub:  Wanderlust Fair.  I did pretty well too, given the short time I had, getting to level 15 before having to log out.

When I finally got back from the airport (it’s a 3 hour drive ONE way) and got settled in, ready to play, I did something stupid which ended with me getting frustrated and logging out for the night.  I guess it wasn’t really “stupid” ~ just unfortunate.

It all started when I opened up my quest log and noticed that I had a few lower level quests still open.  Most conned blue but there were a few green ones too.  Now I don’t know about you guys, but I hate deleting quests from my quest logs, so I decided that the best course of action would be to start with the green ones and work my way up to the blue quests; the only problem being that as I work the green quests and turn them in, my blue quests start becoming green because of the xp gain from the original green quests.  Which means that in the end, most of my quest turn-ins are netting me minimal xp gains.  So I guess now, the question becomes:  Do I skip the green quests from now on and just do the blue or better?  Will I miss out on gear and such as a result?  Arrrgh!

So anyway, as result of all of this agonizing over quest efficiency, and deciding to work on my earliest quests first blah, blah, blah ~  I decided to finally go and hit Neriak as part of a quest that I got in my early levels.  I had neglected this particular quest when it was first given to me and now I remember why.  It’s has you running all over Neriak collecting signatures for the Dark Traders.  I hate these types of quests.  Especially when you can’t find the NPCs.

During the course of this quest, when I was searching for my third npc, I ended up going into the crafting area and for some reason my pc experienced a memory error both times I tried.  Upon the second time I just gave up for the night, frustrated at not having really moved the xp bar at all this time around.  Upon reflection I think it’s just that I have the graphics settings set too high for my system (Ultra or something like that) so I’ll see if knocking it down a few notches doesn’t fix my memory error tonight when I get home from work.  Also, I think I may just go back to Wanderlust Fair and start working those quests.  Anyway, if all goes well, I may just hit 20 tonight.

~ Mojeaux

 

Darklight Wood, Level 13, New Robe and Other Stuff…

I think I’m finally done with the T’Var Outpost.  I put in about 1.5 hours last night after my wife faded off to sleep and made it through to 13 (from 10).  I’m thinking that I probably could have made it a little further, maybe even hit level 14, but I sort of took it easy and goofed around, stopping to gather at most of the nodes I came across as well as trying my hand at fishing (an event which lasted waaay longer than it took to gather the correct amount of fish for the corresponding quest).

The highlight of the night was a new robe gotten via a string of quests given by one npc or another at the T’Var Outpost.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually a pretty nice looking robe.  I don’t remember getting cool looking gear this early on when I last played.  In fact, one of my major pet peeves about the game back then was the lack of variety in armor/gear models etc.  I’m all about the eye candy!

Speaking of gear, it turns out that most of the quests that I was completing last night were yielding up some very usable gear ~ unlike a lot of quests in other games where you find that the rewards are often only good for selling because you’re already sporting something better or because it’s not really level appropriate any longer.  Refreshing.

Anyway, after finishing up at the Outpost, I was routed to another quest hub not far from there at which the NPC’s were just bristling with quests.  I picked up all of the ones that I could and then logged out for the night.  I’m hoping to get some decent play time in tonight so I’m going to set a goal of hitting level 20 tonight.  Might be realistic, might not be.  We’ll see.

~ Mojeaux

Note: I’ve given thought to the buying the Freeblood race, and since Kaozz has given me the low down on what’s what with that… and even though I have 2100 SC points (not sure how I came across those) I don’t think I’m going to take the plunge and buy the Freeblood.  I think if they had included the whole kit and kaboodle (race + racial abilities, mount, lair etc) I would have probably bitten (pardon the pun) but as it stands right now… I think I’ll pass.

To Craft or Not to Craft…(and Vampires and Such)

To craft or not to craft ~ that is the question.  Typically I avoid crafting and gathering in most MMO’s I play.  It’s just not something that I give much thought to initially, preferring to spend my limited play time exploring and/or leveling ~ preferably both.

In fact, since ’99, I think I’ve tried my hand at crafting in only three MMO’s: EQ2, AION and RIFT.  These forays into the time and cash sink known as CRAFTING were usually attempts (of varying success) to make armor or gear for myself (save some cash) and if I was lucky, maybe sell a little to make some gold on the side.  Never did get rich off of it like some people did.

Come to think of it, the furthest I’ve ever taken crafting was back when I played EQ2 the year it first came out (I played pretty regularly for a little more than a year before moving on).  I usually played a Pally, but I also had a cleric alt that made provisions.  He actually made some decent coin while doing it too.  And that was the low level stuff too.

So, seeing as how I need coin.. I’m wondering if it’s even worth spending the time gathering and crafting.  To save money? Sure.  To make money?  Eh… probably not.

Moving on to the Vampires.

So now you can play a vampire (Freeblood) in EQ2.  Cool!

I have to *buy* the race with Station Cash.  Not so cool.

WTF?!?  You have to buy your racial abilities as well?  Ok.. that’s taking the RMT shop thing a bit too far…

I read somewhere (can’t find it now) that the Velious expansion this past February included *free* access to the Freeblood as part of the expansion.  Haven’t been able to confirm nor deny.  Maybe one of you fine folks can enlighten me as to that?  And while you’re at it, if this is so, can you fill me in on whether I’ll need to buy the racials or if they’re included as well?  I’d like to play a Vamp, but not for $25 bucks.  Now if it comes as part of an expansion… yeah, I could see forking over the $29 for the expansion.

Anyway, I hit level 10 last night and changed my XP config to 85% going towards leveling and 15% going towards AA’s.  Not sure if this is a bad move or not in regards to what the pro’s recommend for efficiency, but for now it is what it is until I learn different….

~ Mojeaux

Fickle is as Fickle Does…

Not sure what that title up there means, but hey, it sounded good at the time…

Anyway, last night I did something that I haven’t done for quite some time (seems like ages) ~ I stayed up and played an MMO until the wee hours of the night.  Ok, it was only till 12:30 but still… that’s wee hours for me! (I’m such a wuss!  I blame age.)

Instead of going with my baby Ranger on the AB server however, I set my sights on the other high pop server (Crushbone ~ turns out it’s NOT a PvP server after all) and  I created a Dark Elf Illusionist (Moejeaux ~ so original aren’t I?) starting in/and around Neriak. The Dark Elf part is another deviation for me.  Although my original EQ1 Enchanter had been a DE also, I typically choose characters on what is usually considered the “Good” side.

So why an Enchanter?  Well, I went with an Enchanter for two reasons.  One, I once had this really bad ass Enchanter character back in my EQ 1 days, probably my favorite all time MMO character ~ and two, I just came off playing Rogue classes in my last two MMO’s (Aion and Rift) so I think maybe, a change might be in order.  Now I’m not ruling out creating a Rogue/Scout alt, but for now I’m going to go with the Illusionist.  A Druid alt might also be forthcoming in the near future.  We’ll see.  Maybe I’ll do something totally out of character for me and just stick with one Toon until I get it to level cap.  At 90… Yeah… never mind 🙂

So anyway, my adventure started out like most adventures do now days,  I located the token quest giver, conveniently located near my spawn point (‘natch!) and I got to it.  By 12:30 I was tired and ready to go to bed… but also sitting at level 7.  Not real exciting… but still fun enough for me to look forward to entering Norrath once again when I get home tonight……

~ Mojeaux

Back to Norrath…

Well, after a couple of months of no MMO’s, I finally lost it and I went ahead and downloaded EQII.  All 12.5 GB of it.  It didn’t help that my wife is going to Germany for a few weeks to visit family and friends.  I mean, what am I supposed to do with that much unsupervised time? 🙂

I haven’t played the game in quite a long time ~ in fact, if my payment history is correct, I think 2007 was the last time I set foot back in EQII.  One thing that caught me by surprise was that I had a level 37 Troll Shadow Knight on the Guk (medium pop) server just sitting there waiting for me.  He looked pretty spiffy and inviting too, just sitting there in all his shiny plate armor…  “Play me! Play me!” he seemed to say.  Sadly, I have absolutely no clue how to play him.

So… instead of sitting there for an hour or more trying to figure out my SK, after already having to endure the 12.5 GB download, I just decided to go ahead and re-roll a new character (Ranger) on the Antonia Bayle server.  It was one of two servers that showed “HIGH” populations among the 10 or so that were listed.  The other high pop server is a PvP server, so I’ll probably end up there once I get my bearings, but for now I think I want to just take it easy and “stop to smell the roses” so to speak.  Hopefully, choosing a High Pop server will provide me with plenty of folks to group with without having to join a guild.

I don’t mind guilds for the most part but I find that as I get older, I have less and less tolerance for the drama and the demands of a raiding guild or any other type of guild for that matter.  We’ll see.  Maybe I’ll get lucky and find a good casual semi-serious guild that likes to raid occasionally.

So anyway, as mentioned, I’ve rolled a Ranger on the AB server named Moejeaux.  Drop by and say “Hi” if you’re so inclined!

~Mojeaux

A Whole Lot of Nothing…

… is exactly what I’ve been doing lately.  Aside from a really good game of CIV 5, I haven’t really touched my computer since putting in my new Video card a few weeks ago.  I haven’t even bothered to download the bundled game that came with the video card – DIRT 3.  Not that I’m a racing/driving game sort of guy, but I still like to look at what I can only surmise are really cool graphics.  Maybe I’ll get around to it this week… maybe.

About the only thing out of the ordinary that I’ve done here recently revolves around shooting.  I took my wife out a couple of weeks ago and it turns out that not only does she like it, but she’s also pretty good at it!  It’s cool to find a “hobby” that both she and I can enjoy.

Anyhow, before I log out, I’d like to welcome Girl Grey back to blogging after a long hiatus.  Welcome back GG!

And with that… I’m out!

 

~ Mojeaux

Star Wars The Old Republic is now Available For Pre-Order..!

That’s right folks, and in case you missed it, you can now pre-order SW:TOR!  After jumping through my a$$ here at work (game sites are blocked – imagine that!) and going through the painful process of ordering and registering my account code via iPhone, I am now the proud owner of the SW:TOR Digital Deluxe Edition.  I think the total for it was like $83… a bit steep if you ask me, but hey… it’s STAR WARS man!  That being said though, as much as I love Star Wars and MMO’s in general, I just couldn’t bring myself to pony up the $150 they wanted for the CE edition.  Not that it would’ve mattered anyway since, at least on Origin’s site the CE version was already SOLD OUT.  Cr@Zy!

Did anyone else hear/read anything about an actual release date?  A buddy told me that he had heard/read NOVEMBER 15TH….

Edit:  While looking around at the other vendors offering SW:TOR pre-orders, I noticed this on the Amazon site:

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B005B8DRVU
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: December 31, 2011

Sooo…. is this another “accidental” slip up on the part of an online retailer?  Or just a “guess” by someone entering the data?