Back... again...

Well my buddies and I yet again disappeared from EQ2 for a length of time. Always going back and forth between games and never really settling. Through this latest "walk-about" through the MMO realms - we have landed back in WoW, Rift, SW:TOR and some other minors ones in between. We have witness the fall of a great (before massive changes) MMO Galaxies. Others just getting worse and worse and yet through all of this we see that EQ2 is still here and plugging along with a great a mature environment overall.

So now we are back again - this time for the final time. Myself being a Husband and Father, a full time worker, going to school as well, I no longer have time for bouncing and trying out everything that is out there. Gaming has become a pastime rather than a full-time entertainment process. Also with another child on the way... time will be tight. Yet EQ2 still stands and is here to stay. With EQ Next on the horizon the franchise is a solid one and one that has stood the test of time. No this game does not have millions of subscribers to it, but what this game does have is a solid and mature player base and a player base that helps one another.

It is good to be back and I am enjoying the Beastlord class that was just released as well as still itching for my dirge, but I made a promise to get at least one character in this game to max level before starting alts and I am well on my way already. Level 29 and mowing through crowds of mobs and the endless line of quests... My Turtle is kicking ass and taking names (thanks for that Tip Star :) )

I am on the AB server and still trying to get the great Nozo over here... he just can't cut ties with that "OTHER" game!

Later - Tri

State of Affairs...

Howdy everyone!

So numerous happenings this weekend! This game is simply amazing, everything that you can change, experience, etc... In this as well this game completely is annoying for someone who has adult ADHD... for there is nothing worse. Whats worse is that you have a few friends who are waiting on you to continue leveling regardless of what you choose.

To really get a feel for the game overall you need to try everything, for me that is fine, for friends waiting it can be a bit annoying. So this weekend I pushed and gritted my teeth to get Tremereis to level 20... the conj class can seem amazing but for someone who does not like to wait the 10mins while the pet catches up than decides to attack... or chooses not to attack at first... its not fun. All the pew pew pew in the world will not save you if your pet decides to not move, does not catch up in time or you pull aggro.

So what does one do? Try other classes... now I had intended to restart with my Shadow Knight, while in my heart she is as fun as I remember, I have come to find out that that all the back treking to get her back up to speed just isn't worth it - especially at 43. The other intention that I had was to start up my defiler alt only level 1. But when I came back Starlin had chosen a Mystic. Our other friend had started a templar... so figured I had to take a tank class. Now in all my MMO history, I have always chosen what to do for the group rather than what I have enjoyed - this has lead me to leave numerous MMO's. I am not leaving this one, and I can get to 20 with the AA slider after 10 at either 50 or 100% within a few hours of game play. So catching up is not my issue, its the fact that its another waiting period for my friends.

Than to top it all of yesterday my wife was enjoying the character generation as well, so this slowed me up. At around 1am I than witnessed my bad sector drives fail. So another showstopper.

On top of all this as well, I am quitting smoking as well. The battle has been going well! Yet the battle as each hour passes is a bit hard. We are talking about an individual (myself) that for 15 years has smoked 1-3 packs a day. So its a battle I am and feel I am winning but still a rough one.

More later...

Mystic fun

As Trimoon posted below regarding his conjurer - I'm really starting to like my Mystic.
She's level 23 or 24 now with 35 AAs.  I'm approaching the game as a number of forum posts (and guildie suggestions) of using the AA slider a lot. 

Basically the thinking is that starting at level 10, you should be gaining roughly 3 AAs per level.  So by the time you're level 20, or so, you should have 30, level 21, you should have 33...etc.  Once you get to level 30 (or so) you start to 'slow down' on the AA's - gaining 2 per level...It's hardly an exact science but in reality it's making my life SO much easier. 

I've had to purchase 2 things from the broker - a level 12 master-crafted weapon - and now a level 22 master-crafted weapon.  That's it.  The amount of 'uberness' that you get from having a large number of AAs makes leveling almost too easy.  It also makes completing quests trivial.

I bring this point up due to the fact that I took a look at my other alts - and, if I'm lucky, the highest one (inquisitor at level 58 or so) has something like 40 AAs.  I'm going to have to do a LOT of playing in the lower-end zones to get her up to the 120 (or so) that she needs.  And, while going through old zones is fine and dandy, I'd like to, ya know, SEE a zone completed in this decade...  It would also be nice to run some instances with my guildies - and, for some crazy reason, they like to run things created in this decade as well... :)

So all of this talk has me working on my Mystic, Pookette.  I'm taking down 4-5 heroic ^'s and even ^^'s without too much of a headache.  The self-buffs, the shields and, of course, the self-healing - just makes it that much easier to go through content.  And I know it will only be beneficial WHEN I make it to level 90 (not if, when). 

Amazingly Massive

So, finally getting settled with my conj in EQ2. An amazing class and very versatile and able to handle almost everything thrown at it, even at the lower levels. I am at 10 mobs I am able to handle, still trying to push the limit :)

Now that being said, I have been watching guild chat and the other various channels in game. There is alot that I have no idea what it is, or how to come about doing various tasks. In all... this game is very established and a game that can leave a new player drowning or gasping to breathe from the sheer weight of the amount of content and inter-connectivity found within this game. So in essence, this game is amazingly massive!

Yet this can also be an issue. As Star has stated with WoW there is tons of reference sites and various sites to utilize to help guide someone who has never been through the game. Myself, I have achieved the rip-old age of 43... established for a player 2-3 years ago. Now this season of an adventurer is only half way. Yet an adventurer that was 43 1.5 years ago, is now not all that well... and has missed out on much content. I would argue that a character from 1.5 to 2 years ago heading up to level 60 should just be restarted... but that is just me.

There are so many aspects to this game, that it can be easy to miss various stages of the game for adventuring and progression sake. Solo zones, duo zones, trio zones, raids, quests, armor quests, heritage quests, heroic quests, quests galore and they are all connected to an MMO that is barely viewed in the MMO Market. Amazingly Massive! It is great to be apart of such an established and mature game, finally I am home, finally I feel excited about gaming again, finally.

Now with all the information out there... I am thinking of starting a project for general and my class specific needs. Rather than going to 3-4 different sites, and having to click on various pages to come up with the specific information that one needs having everything on a spreadsheet a step-by-step process so to speak. Lets see how this project progresses to see if it is even worth it!

So I have issues...

Many people know this... but creating and playing alts, is a serious addiction of mine. One to the point that I can barely enjoy a game, instead of just picking a class and playing.

So last night I went on to fully play my dirge and start gaining some ground level wise. My first mistake, I logged onto Ukast Ill'tank, my Shadow Knight. After transferring her from Oasis to AB, I needed to check out my house place some items in her bags and basically get her settled... than I looked at the AA's... ugh. I want to play her and will again at some point, but I just do not have the drive to search, tinker and toy with another set of AA's along the way at this point. That and she is 43 and my level 12 Conj has just about half of the AA's that Ukast has...

So after toying with Ukast and getting her settled in her new "home", I went to log onto the Darkvoice - my Dirge. Than I thought about a warlock and made a quick character and wasn't overly impressed by the warlocks "pew, pew, pew". Went over to my paladin ran around in circles, than finally started over to my Conj (see what I am saying about choosing?).

Finally last night decided to just continue on with the Conj, great class so far, but like every other class in this game starts off a tad bit slow. With my friends both a mystic and a Templar... while we have a pseudo tank with my pet, and dps from me, things might take forever to die... but he we never will with two healers!

See everyone in the land of ever crack...

Alt-Itis

So AB is up.  I'm quite happy about that.  Server seems stable and everything in as it should be.

Throughout the years, my friends and I have returned again (hence, the blog name) to EQ2 (and other games).  And each time that we have returned, more often than not it coincided with an expansion coming out.

Expansions sometimes mean new races or start zones or new race/class combinations, etc...  I'm not sure if you see where I'm going with this - but I have 5 'main' toons. 

59 Inquisitor, 53 Wizard, 25 Illusionist, 22 Mystic (my newest creation) and a 20 Shadowknight.
EVERY ONE of these characters have had their AA's reset.  Makes sense due to the numerous changes in the game - but to research on the forums AA builds for 5 classes + try to remember how to play these guys effectively... that's rough!

I know my 22 Mystic the best since I started her with the Sentinel's fate expansion (latest re-subscription) and I don't want to out-level my friends.  Yes, I can mentor down, but still, it's not the same.

That leaves me with looking at my 4 other toons and trying to figure, at least initially, what to play first then how to AA-spec, look through my gear, my bank, my storage compartments, etc...  Then try and complete the quests (or delete and start from scratch) that are in my journal...

The problem is, there's no quick or good solution to this 'problem'.  Outside of not having any alts, you're going to get comfy with something (a toon) by using it over and over again and while absence might make the heart grow fonder, it makes the brain forget.   And I have far more important things to forget... :)

Star

I'm SO ready to play!

I get home after a meeting-filled day to relax a bit and kill something...

I guess one of the problems in picking the busiest server to play EQ2 on is that you'll probably have more downtime than the 'average' server.  Antonia Bayle is down...2nd day of 'issues' in a row.

I get it - I'm in IT and occasionally server hiccups happen.  And, overall, SoE (and especially Kiara who is keeping the masses updated) is doing a decent job of keeping people informed.  But being on the end-user side of things (for a change) it SUCKS!  :)