Tag: Leveling

Multiboxing some Dungeons

I don’t really enjoy leveling up in World of Warcraft these days because I have done it so many times in the past (I have all classes at 120 for alliance, and most for horde). Thing is, if you want to unlock heritage armour (especially for allied races) you have to level up. Not boost.

That’s where the decision to create a dungeon team that I could level up with came from.

I made a vulpera monk, vulpera warrior (just because), a mag’har orc mage, a highmountain tauren druid, and an orc hunter (I haven’t unlocked all of the horde races yet). I multibox all on one PC thanks to some upgrades (5 is pretty easy, I typically do 8) and I use a few addons like EMA, Dejunk, GSE, and one 3rd party software called ISBoxer. ISBoxer has been around for ages, and before anyone asks, yes, it’s completely safe to use and doesn’t violate the TOS for Blizzard. In fact the ISBoxer community is some of the friendliest and dedicated bunch I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking with. Their discord is filled with multiboxers of all ranges, from beginners to those so well versed they’re running mythic+ with their teams. It’s a passion, just like gaming.

Anyway, I haven’t optimized ISBoxer yet because honestly even though I’ve been playing 5 accounts for a while I’ve just never taken the time to set it up properly. For dungeons, you REALLY want to set it up. You want hotkeys so your healers actually, you know, heal. At the beginning this isn’t a big deal. I have a very simple macro my healer spams to heal the tank. That’s it.

Later on I’ll want her to cycle through the group, and I might even swap my tank from the monk to the warrior and then have the monk do both dps & backup heal. You can get REALLY creative with things. I’ll probably want to get more heal addons like clique or healbot, and I need to keep learning ISBoxer because it is just amazing what you can do with profiles.

The team went from 20-24 last night with 2 dungeons. I didn’t bother doing any quests as I wanted to learn the ropes. I had an absolute blast though and finding little challenges like this to do always gets me so excited to play.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!


Levels 31-66 in Four Hours

I had a pretty good day gaming yesterday, I have to admit. I didn’t play that much, I was out for a bit (groceries and some shopping!) but I did get three or four hours in which I spent leveling my inquisitor. She’s now level 66 – with just slightly over 8 hours played total. When I tell people about how many levels she’s gotten in such a short period of time, they tend to stare at me like I’ve got four heads.

When it comes right down to it, there’s really nothing unique that I’m doing, and it’s a combination of things that allows me to level that fast – which others could also do easily enough as long as they also had those means. So what is it exactly that allows me to gain the levels as fast as I do?

  • I box an 80 Shadowknight who is geared in top end raid gear, which gives me a constant tank (or I make him play his own character, which is far better then me trying to play teehee).
  • The Shadowknight has a recruit a friend mount, which grants anyone in the group a 10% bonus to experience
  • I have other level 80’s, and for each one you have (up to a max of 5) you gain 10% extra experience. This gives me a 50% bonus to experience
  • I have the five year veteran reward that allows me to replenish my vitality once every 7 days (and you can use jesters cap when you use this item to shorten the time).
  • I have a HUGE stock of potions from various veteran rewards that grant 55% bonus experience for an hour (and some times two hours). I have more then enough for every level, as most of the /claim rewards come with 6 potions (3 adventure and 3 crafting).

All of these items stack with one another, and since I’m blowing through content fairly fast, the leveling comes easily. Of course there ARE downsides, like my huge lack of aa – I’m not concerned about that. I’ll have all sorts of time once I reach 80 to work on those. Also keep in mind that this is not my first character, nor my first healer, I’ve played through the EverQuestII content numerous times before, I know where to level – and I don’t see anything wrong with skipping content after the length of time I’ve spent working through it. I would never suggest this method of leveling for anyone who hasn’t played through at least once (or more) at a regular speed.

I have other characters who take their time and work through each and every quest, slowly leveling up (my level 22 shadowknight is one of those characters for example) and this is just ‘yet another’ way to keep the game interesting for me, getting to level 80, getting my epic, and waiting for Sentinel’s Fate. Actually that is one of my main reasons for wanting 80 before February, I still have no idea who I’ll be playing once the expansion goes live, and I’d like to have a good selection of characters to choose from. No doubt it will depend on my mood at the time, hehe.

Anyhow, I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I know Monday came too fast today, and it’s sad to be going back to a regular work week, but that just lets us appreciate the family times and holidays that much more.

Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath!


Getting there slowly

Yesterday was a pretty progressive day, though not exactly in the ways that I had thought it would be. I decided to play my swashbuckler, struggling to get her past the 71-75 hump in order to be able to pick up shard quests for her (those daily quests give quite a fair amount of experience). Teaming up with a few people we wandered through Sebilis, getting discovery as well as fairly good experience, and a lot of aa from named. In fact the entire zone was empty the whole time we were there, which really surprised me. I know Sebilis is going to be undergoing a little bit of a make over as far as named and timers are concerned in GU53, and I guess now I can see why.

The swashbuckler struggled past level 73 Saturday, inched her way through 74 Sunday, and is now sitting at roughly 70% through level 75 thanks to doing a handful of shard quests in the Commonlands. Since she is on the same account as my mystic who has been hording shards forever, I had 40 of them already in my collection. I had another 40 but I used those to gear out my 80 defiler, also on the same account. Once this swashbuckler hits 80 that will be 10 (yes, that number is correct) level 80 characters. Probably a good spot to stop. I do love my alts.

There’s one benefit to having so many characters (aside from being able to fit into almost any group minus playing a tank role) and that is that when February finally comes around and the new expansion goes live (as well as an extra 10 levels) I’ll have a whole selection of characters to choose from depending on where my mood seems to settle at the time. There are a LOT of down sides to having so many characters (lack of achievements, lack of shard gear on some, etc) but since I’m not heavily raiding, and it’s so incredibly easy to level up, I figure why not.I love knowing the ins and outs of each class, and I think that I play all of them fairly well (healers and support stronger then dps and tanks for example).

I helped out part way with an Overking raid yesterday (pick up) but mid way through I was beginning to feel a little sick, so I had to call it early. It was still a fairly nice day and there’s still one more day left of this holiday weekend, which I will hopefully be able to take advantage of fully and game throughout. We shall see!

Happy gaming, no matter where it finds you this holiday Monday.


A Matter of Opinion

I was recently asked on twitter what I thought the ‘worst’ classes in EQ2 were – and I actually had a pretty hard time answering. The term ‘worst’ can be applied to so many particulars about a game, especially when it comes to classes. What one person may consider to be a down feature may actually be a feature others enjoy. Even after I had answered I had to think about it, in order to figure out what I really felt.

I was told that in actuality I would have been disqualified from the question due to the sheer number of level 80 characters I have – but I think that this would imply the exact opposite. The fact that I have played so many different classes gives me a better idea of what (for me personally) is considered the ‘worst’.

My answer when all was said and done – was summoners. It was based on the fact that out of all the classes out there they do their ‘job’ worse then what other classes do as their main ‘job’. Since they are headed towards a revamp I don’t think I’m too far off on my mark. Now let me explain this a little further.

The summoner class offers very little to a group or raid that another class cannot provide in abundance. They have no unique spells that make them essential, no buffs – and currently their DPS is sub par compared to other DPS classes. Yes, they can be fantastic at solo play, and no I’m not saying they suck by any means at all but when you compare them to other classes they fall below the line right now.

Bards and enchanters on the other hand are always needed and wanted for groups and raids, their buffs are unique and push up the dps of a group by significant amounts, and if you know how to play a coercer properly you can solo pretty much any heroic content you want. There are specific mobs out there you can charm with a master1 charm and they will nuke for 400k damage. If you were to look at their playability you may consider these classes to be the ‘worst’ because they can be exceptionally frustrating to solo with, players rarely use mez and it can be frustrating, and the learning curve to play these classes properly and as more then just a buff bot can be a bit high.

Tanks are great to level up with but at end game it can be a bit lonely especially if you’re looking to raid, though shadowknights are certainly the flavour of the month in this expansion there tends to be an abundance of them and most situated raid guilds already have their main tanks and off tanks chosen. Leveling up without a healer or power regen or some outside dps can be really slow – and this too may make them seem like the ‘worst’ classes to level up (aside from the SK, who as I mentioned are just super amazing currently).

The rest of the scouts and mages (wizards, warlocks) that focus on dps can at least offer a few buffs to groups and keep their dps up fairly high as long as they’re willing to invest in the time. Healers are needed fairly frequently, druids were the flavour of the month in RoK, and that seems to have died down some what (at least on the servers I’ve played). Templars are by far one of the most difficult classes to solo with simply because their dps is about equal to that of a paper bag, and that may be what some consider to be the ‘worst’ class to play. If you’re teamed up with a dps class (any one works) you may find that they’re the easiest to level up – and they’re certainly wanted end game for their hp buffs and reactive heals.

Anyhow – the point of this long ramble was simply to point out that there is no real ‘worst’ class out there. It’s all about how you play, what matters to you, and what you hope to acomplish. If I had to choose, I’d say summoners but that’s a personal opinion based on how well everyone else does their ‘job’ in the game. In the end you should always be playing what you enjoy and what you want to play the most anyhow, and none of these rants should matter in the least so long as you’re having fun.

Speaking of fun – I ran Obelisk of Ahkzul yesterday morning with Ultann in the hopes that perhaps after my extended break the zone would be glad that I had returned and cough up that healer shield I’ve been after for months now, and like always I was proven wrong and nothing of use dropped – though the chest in the ‘bouncy’ room did reward us with 14p and since it was just he and I in the group (me boxing my coercer + mystic) it was a nice reward. Aside from that the day was fairly quiet, and I am thankful for that.

I hope everyone is having an amazing weekend and I want to give my thanks again to everyone for being so supportive as I go through these health issues. It’s really nice to know what a wonderfully amazing community of people I know.

See you in Norrath!


Taking Advantage of Bonus Experience Weekends

The bonus experience was flowing nicely this weekend in both EQ2 and EQ. While it may have only been a 50% bonus to combat / tradeskill in EQ2, it was 100% bonus in EQ which made for some pretty fun times – unfortunately I didn’t spend nearly as much time taking advantage of it as I would have liked, but I suppose some time is better then none.

The greatest thing about the bonus experience is knowing how to use it to its fullest potential. So, Ninga (Wpus) and I logged in and headed to Loping Plains (along with 27 other people who had the same idea might I add). LP is not a hot zone but there are repeatable tasks throughout the zone. One of which is to kill wereorcs, and worgs.

I always chuckle to myself when I explore through this zone, I spent so much time here in EQ2 before ever adventuring in it in EQ. There’s similarities but plenty of differences too. We grabbed the two tasks to kill 20 worgs and wereorcs and set to work dpsing them down. Things were going fairly smooth (if not a bit slow) and before too long Ultann returned and logged in with his magician to add to the dps.

When you complete these tasks, you can decline accepting a reward and that was the key to maximizing the experience gain. Each time we completed them (for a maximum of 10 completed plus two more to turn in) we declined the reward (which has an option of extra experience) and saved it up. Then all at once turned them in with lesson of the devoted running which is a veteran reward that boosts your experience gain.

By turning in three quests I managed to net myself 15% experience easily, that’s a huge amount at level 81. In fact the experience was so great that Ultann managed to find himself brushing up against level 85, the current cap for EQ. WOOT! I was very excited for him. My necromancer inched her way through most of level 81 before we decided to head back to EQ for the remainder of the evening, I was starting to get a little tired and wanted to do a quick CoA run (and perhaps pick up the dirge epic starter) before crashing for the night. Ninga is almost level 85 as well, it’s great to see them hitting the cap once more. My little necromancer has quite a bit of time left before she’ll see 85 but this is the closest I’ve been to ‘end game’ in EQ. Granted the cap will probably go up again before I actually DO see it, but that’s alright. It would be nice to hit it just so that I could focus on gaining some achievements, since I am missing a huge chunk (like 1500 or so, hehe).

The game was VERY busy last night on Drinal as well. Over 381 people were in the general channels (there was a general, and a general1 since 200 players per channel is the cap) and while they may not have been the most talkative of people they were definitely out and about which was great to see. I can only assume that the hot zones would have been VERY busy with people too.

I hope everyone had a fantastic evening, and here’s looking forward to the rest of the week! I’ll see you in Norrath.


Thuuga Quests, Cazic Thul, Vex Thal and Innoruuk

Yesterday was a fairly good Saturday as far as health concerns go, it’s getting less painful to breathe which is the main part. Hopefully a few more days and I’ll be back good as new. In the mean time I spent a little bit of the early afternoon finishing off my Thuuga quests for both the mystic and illusionist in EQ2. I was really glad to get those out of the way, though I should have finished them weeks (maybe even months) ago. The hardest part was waiting around for the named I needed to show up, and dragging both of my characters all through the Fens of Nathsar since neither of them have done any quests in the zone, didn’t have the sokokar posts, and were agro to all of the factions. Now both characters are sporting their fabled bits, and I’m glad it’s done.

Afterwards Wpus and I decided to head back to EQ for a little while, and I had an absolute blast.

Blackburrow and Cazic Thul were revamped not too long ago (three weeks maybe?) and so we headed to Cazic Thul first to check out the zone. There were 20 people camping but we managed to find ourselves a little niche to hang out in without too much traffic. Wpus brought along a tank mercenary and I dragged along my healer. I only have one of my EQ accounts open so I couldn’t box, but it was still a lot of fun. I managed to get a very awesome pair of shoes for the necromancer, you may remember the original pair.

They have a nice clicky effect on them, and they can also be traded which is nice. The same named also dropped a cleric only primary, which I tucked away for later. Not sure if it will be worth anything on the broker, but one never knows I suppose.

After we decided to head to the Plane of Hate to see of Innoruuk was home – which he was. We had no idea if we’d be able to take him down just the two of us with two mercenary (especially since we had no idea what his ‘thing’ was that he did during fights) and we came SO close to defeating him, it was painful. We managed to get the fake Innoruuk down easily enough and then the real version spawned in the room down below. The problem with mercenary is that they’re not very good at managing their mana, and my healer seemed to drop faster then normal. Innoruuk was down to 14% before we wiped (well, I died, the monk feigned) and we figured we’d just give it another shot. I made my way back to the zone, and JUST before I got to his room (he was at about 20% health) he poofed.

Ack!

Ah well, maybe we will get another chance to take him down.

We were also unaware as to whether or not the fabled events had been completed – all of the celebration decorations are still up in EQ as well as the quests. Asking on channels received no reply at first. We figured they were down, I saw no fabled at all in my brief travels and when we headed to Umbral Plains to farm a few named for alts, there were no fabled there either. We took down Rumblecrush (I think that’s his name) and a few others before deciding to head into Vex Thul for no other reason then I had never been there before.

The courtyard is beautiful. I’d love to own a copy of the statue posted above for my house in EQ2. You can only get so far in the zone (which is not far at all) without a rogue to let you in, so I quickly relogged to Invis (my 73 rogue) and opened the doors. As we checked on various named (Vex has always been heavily camped) we came across not one but TWO fabled.

Odd.

Asking in channels again explained what was going on. Mobs were no longer *spawning* as fabled, but if there happened to be fabled up, they would remain up until the next server re-set. Aww. There had been a few fabled items that I wanted to get last time that I never got. At least I got the fabled gate necklace before it ended.

After our exploration of Vex Thul I decided to call it a night. I had been feeling relatively good all day and didn’t want to jinx myself by staying up too late or anything like that. I gated back home and headed to bed. It was still a fantastic night though and I had a lot of fun.

Don’t forget today is Mother’s Day (like anyone could forget) and I hope all the Mom’s out there have a fantastic day. See you in Norrath!


A Little Bit of Everything

I decided to disrupt Princess (my cat) for most of the day yesterday, and spent it spring cleaning. Moved all of her ‘beds’ around and rearranged the apartment, it looks much better now. I still have a few rooms to go, but it’s a start. Once that was done I headed in game to find Ultann’s boxed inquisitor at level 80 – woohoo! Less then a month to level from 1-80 using the recruit a friend method, which means he can start working on his epic now. We decided to head to Crypt of Agony and see if the Cardiocutter would drop (which it didn’t) or even the fabled ranged item for Ultann (which also didn’t drop). What DID drop though was that caster ring (legendary) with some pretty nice spell crit on it. Of course it would drop, since I had been trying to get it for my illusionist for quite some time and we never saw it. Thankfully, it’s also a nice ring for a bard who makes use of both CA’s and spells.

That was the only thing of note to drop within the instance, and afterward we decided to head to Courts off of Pillars of Flame in order to get some more guild experience (not to mention a good handful of craft rares). We one grouped everything except the final Black Witch who happens to elude us because our dps is too slow to take down a x4 before she ports most of us all over the zone, leaving either no healer, or no tank, or no dps (which makes everything even more slow). She also places curse of insanity upon the group which means you can get one shot if you go below a certain amount of power. Seeing as we were one group trying to take down an encounter meant for 24, we use a lot of power.

It was still a lot of fun, we still gained a lot of aa and the guild is nearing level 30 where we’ll be able to purchase a guild hall.

After that we headed to Chardok in an attempt to obtain the inquisitor starter which has been noted as dropping either there, or in Chelsith (or outside Chelsith). We didn’t see it and ended up calling it early because red encounters were absolutely ripping my bard to shreds.

The evening went well over all. The bard dinged level 74 and is 30% or so into it. As you can see above, she gets a good chunk of experience each kill. I wish it worked for quest experience too but such is not the case. At level 75 she can start doing shard missions, though you do have to be 79 to pick up the daily doubles. I haven’t begin to work on obtaining her skills yet, but that will be next. I cringe at the number of silicate loams I’m going to have to get.

I hope everyone else had an amazing Saturday, don’t forget next Sunday is Mother’s day!


Working on the Epic, and ANOTHER Bard?

An absolutely beautiful day yesterday, so I spent a lot of out outside doing some photography in a little village. It was fun, warm, but fun. Later on in the day I logged in to EQ2 to have a little fun. Ultann was busy doing Halls of Fate with Wpus and the boxed inquisitor who managed to climb to level 77 and I went back to working on my epic for a little while. Finally I had gotten my gathering skills high enough to work on it properly.

I completed the first portion that required me to harvest rocks in Kunark and deliver them to a dwarf in Butcherblock Mountains, then it was time to head to Shard of Fear and take down an Eye of Thul. These mobs are just before the graveyard and are pretty close to the zone in, so 5 minutes later it was complete.

Ultann had to leave for a few hours (and ended up being gone for the remainder of the evening) so Wpus agreed to help me level up my dirge. Now, I know. I already HAVE a troubador on Oasis, one who has her dirge AND troubador epic weapons because I’ve betrayed her THAT many times, but I love bards, I truly do. So of course it was natural (for me) to create another. I may betray her to troubador later on as well, I haven’t decided yet.

She started off at level 54, and is linked to the rent-a-friend account that I have so she’s got the benefit of 200% bonus experience. Not to mention 50% from my regular level 80’s on the account, and she had full vitality plus the Orb of Concentrated Memories which is the 5 year veteran reward that grants full vitality once a week.

Needless to say after running her through Clefts of Rujark and an instance within that zone, then heading off to Living Tombs, she was well situated at level 60. I had hoped to gain two more levels and push her to 62 which is the new tier for Mastercrafted gear (and I was planning on checking out new skills as well) but I was feeling pretty tired after a busy day so I decided to call it an early night at 9:30. Hopefully I can get those levels today instead, we’ll just have to see.

I’ve also found myself turning off most of the level channels on Kithicor, and instead joining the role play channels over on Antonia Bayle, which you can join no matter what server you’re on. One of the more popular channels is a player run tavern called “Raven Mythic” which you can join and listen to by /join antonia_bayle.RM  – the tavern is a gathering place for role players who play out their stories within, some acting as staff, others as weary adventurers who have come to sit by the fire and tell their tale. I’ve listened to the stories there off and on for the past two years, enjoying every minute of it. I’d much rather spend my evening leveling and watching the chatter of that one channel then listen to the elitist comments made by the general populace in 70-79. If you’re into that sort of thing, whether to partake or only to listen I highly suggest it.

Other then that, it was a quiet evening. Those are just as nice as one packed with things to do especially after a busy day. I hope everyone else had an amazing Saturday!


Rule of the day – Avoid the Kinship Keg

Yesterday I had some time to play with Kasul on my little rune-keeper. He managed to get an invite to Casualties of War (Thank you Ethic) and with that came a visit to the Kinship house in the shire. I learned something very important. Don’t drink from the Kinship Keg.

I took a sip, innocently enough. Just one sip. Before I knew it, I was passed out on the floor with a blurry image of Kasul hovering over me shaking my shoulders – and when I woke up I was in Tyrn Lhuig – Angman. This is a high level zone, at least higher then me. I was laying in a field surround by mosquito and when I managed to get my feet under me one of them came along and easily bonked me on the head. Of course my recall was down because I’d just used it, and guild recall was down.

Needless to say Kasul had an easier time of it and when he revived at least he was not too far away. Even though he was also unceremoniously dumped in a field some place. I guess that will teach both of us.

I paid the repair bill and we continued questing. The rune-keeper inched her way through 15 and most of 16 before I decided to call it a day. I didn’t get any crafting done, but I am sure I’ll manage to find a little time to work up the cooking and jewelcrafting.

I’ve already done all of the quests before on the other server with my minstrel, but I’m having a lot of fun with the rune-keeper. It’s interesting to make sure I align myself properly for either healing or dps depending on what I’m doing and who I am with.

The goal is to reach level 19 and be able to play with the Nostalgia who are still waiting to transfer, and work on my crafting. It’s a slow process but it’s been a lot of fun. Once we’re all there and settled it will be great to see some new sights, as I’m getting a little bit tired of running the same quests that I just did last week when I leveled the other character.

I was also happy to learn that I must have miss read the cost of housing. While it is still expensive, it’s not something that’s going to be completely out of my price range later on. I do want to purchase a home (seeing as housing is one of those things that I just enjoy doing) and I’ve been collecting a few house items to use once I get one. I’m not sure which area I’ll move to yet, but I’m thinking of avoiding the shire – since the Kinship home is there and my elf is constantly hitting her head on the low ceilings.


Alts are Expensive

Alts are expensive. I know if I devoted all of my time to one character instead of the … 20 I have now, I’d probably have a lot more money in game. Not to mention moving servers would be cheaper, and my house would be the most impressive thing this side of Norrath. I’d also probably be fairly bored, because anyone doing the same thing day in and day out is bound to get boring eventually. 

I’m not the only one with a whole lot of alts. I’ve tried cutting back and all it results in is more alts being made. It’s a vicious circle. 

Yesterday I got the recruit-a-friend mount that grants members in my group a 10% bounce to experience so long as I’ve got the mount buff on. Great idea. I’ve named the horse “gassy” I’m sure you can guess why. The mount is also 55% run speed, which is great. Plus, it’s heirloom which means you can place it in your shared bank for all of your alts to use. Another big bonus since you can only claim one. 

The paladin is now sitting at level 46, and the new fury at level 42. Last night Ultann took his baby inquisitor and we all headed to Obelisk of Lost Souls which is my favorite zone in the game because of how twisted and dark it is. We gained access to the lower levels, and it was a lot of fun (and surprisingly empty for once). Today I will hopefully quest in Everfrost until the boys log in and then we’ll decide what we’re doing from there. 

I spent 15p last night outfitting the two characters which I knew would happen sooner or later. While I could certainly make it to level 70 without purchasing anything at all for them, I can’t solo that way realistically. I outfitted them both in tier-appropriate gear, and bought all of their spells at least adept1 quality, a few adept3 and M1 where the cost was right. They’re not twinked by any means, but it should be more then enough to get by. I wish Kithicor had a better ‘small’ population, people below level 60 as it were. I know the role play servers are bustling with activity, and I wish all the servers shared that enthusiasm but alas, they do not. Kithicor’s main population spends their time whining about how uber they are compared to someone else and shooting down those who are not as good as them. It seems like every single person I examine is decked out in fabled, and makes me wonder what ever happened. Alas, without a merge or a server transfer (which I can’t keep splurging on) I’ll remain there (for now). Fingers crossed for one of these two events happening in the future though. 

Over all it was a nice night. After I shopped I decided to call it an early night and got some sleep. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Safe travels.


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