Kunark – “First” Day Impressions

By “First” day, I mean first day of Kunark being Live. I spent a considerable amount of time on Beta, so I’m already fairly adjusted (and knowledgable) of the new continent.

For the first time in a very, very long time, I’ve actually had a reasonable shot at a number of server discoveries after an expansion launch. I didn’t waste any time. I think a few of them were even game wide discoveries. Yay me.

Kylong Plains, the first zone that people were introduced with, was quickly swamped with players the very moment the servers came back up. So much so that for the first time in a couple years, we saw overland-zone instancing. I believe today it was as high as Kylong Plains 6. And considering how large these zones are, that’s a lot of people! Common (over-repeated) questions for Kylong Plains included, “How do I get to the new expansion?”, “How do I get a Sokokar?”, “How do I get to the new expansion?”, “Where is Drolvarg L&L?”, “How do I get to the new expansion?”, “What faction do I need to use the city?”, and the ever popular “How do I get to the new expansion?”

Kylong Plains consists of the old EQ1 zones Dreadlands, Burning Woods, and Firiona Vie. I have to say, with all the arbor giants, drolvargs, and drachnids roaming around, it definitely had the Dreadlands feel going on. The goblins were a bit annoying, as were some of the Sarnaks. But most annoying are the Iksar. I swear, they had eleventy-billion HP. Your typical solo mob only has about eight billion HP by comparison.

After grinding through Kylong, and completely finishing the zone (and dinging 72), I zoned over to the next part of the expansion, Fens of Nathsar. So far the population is light, but will be increasing over the next few days pretty quickly I’m sure. It has parts of Lake of Ill Omen, Swamp of No Hope, a small part of the Frontier Mountains, Field of Bone, and the ruins of Cabalis going for it. I haven’t yet finished all the LoIO and SoNH quests yet, but I’m hoping to move on pretty soon. The sabertooth cats are getting on my nerves, as are the wyverns.

Thankfully, the only annoying question out of Fens is regarding those damn mushrooms. They really are hard to find.

It surprises me the number of people who want to group in Karnor’s Castle, instead of solo grind. Friends commented to me how abysmal the experience points are in Karnor’s Castle. Meanwhile, in about 24 hours of straight soloing I’ve rocketed up to level 73, and 71.5 Tailoring, probably the fastest I’ve ever leveled since my newbie days. Not to mention around 15 Achievement points in rapid succession. And all with no vitality to speak of! Though with RL catching up right now, my leveling is going to slow dramatically down. Still, why group when solo questing is so lucrative for exp?

It also surprises me how good the quested gear is. Half of this stuff that I’m getting from these solo quests is practically on par with Tier 7 Fabled and Legendary. Hell I’m half tempted to drop my Najena’s set for these pieces. The mob drop loot isn’t half bad either; the Legendary is definitely on par with high end Tier 7 Legendary/Fabled. What I didn’t expect was all this Legendary loot from easily soloed named mobs!

Well, easy for a Conjuror anyway. I’m not sure how easily a Berserker or Templar can handle these named.

But mobs hit a lot harder now. I’ve had way too many close calls where a mob is beating on me and my pet hasn’t pulled aggro yet. When that happens, I only have a few seconds to get my pet to get aggro before I become roadkill. Which I found out the hard way; I’m probably the very first casualty in Kylong Plains after the servers came back up. Oops!

One problem is going to be spells. Since I’m completely Adept III’d / Master I’d out, the only things that are upgrades are going to be more Adept IIIs or Masters. Which is fine, as many Adept Is are selling for 50g to a plat right now. But that also means people are getting away with selling Tynnonium Clusters for upwards of 5 plat apiece! No thank you, I’ll just harvest them myself until prices drop down.

Another is leveling my tradeskill. Tailors receive woefully few recipes for tier 8 to level up on; for level 71 I got a whopping 5 boots recipes, and 6 dress robes for level 70. Meanwhile there’s already level 80 Sages, Alchemists, and I’m sure Jewelers. Tailoring is just going to take a bloody long time to level by comparison, especially with all my cloth recipes calling for about 9 or 10 roots per combine. Not to mention the level 70 rush order writ requiring 6 dress robes. Sure wish they were made out of leather, I’ve got too much leather now!

Soon I’ll be able to move onto Kunzar Jungle, and Jarsath Wastes. But first, Fens of Nathsar needs to be finished.

As soon as RL catches up, anyway.

Game Update 40 – Rise of Kunark!

So today’s patch day for Rise of Kunark. As with every major game update, and especially with every major expansion, most of the day is spent waiting for the servers to come up. So while we’re waiting for the game to patch, let’s go over the changes introduced today.

Rise of Kunark – Inside the Box

Just got my Rise of Kunark retail box. Let’s see what’s inside of it, shall we?

The picture is pretty self explanatory. Standard stuff for a retail box like this. Three DVDs means only one thing: EQ2 is huge! If you don’t already have a DVD-ROM drive, now is a good time to consider getting one.

And something I discovered while patching, the files from the DVD were pressed onto the disk all the way back in late September. Needless to say, they’re a wee bit out of date.

Rise of Kunark NDA lifted

To quote Gallenite:

It’s been a fantastic beta so far.  Thanks to everyone who’s been patiently awaiting the NDA coming down before sharing information with their friends.

As of 4:37pm PST Friday Nov 9, 2007 (a time also known as “right now”) you’re all released from the confidentiality requirements of the Rise of Kunark Beta Non Disclosure Agreement. 

May your next days be filled with tales of adventures and triumphs in Kunark, and we’ll see you live next week!

- The EverQuest II Team

Of course, it doesn’t help that the login servers crapped out, but it’s good that the NDA is lifted, and just in time for the weekend.

I’ll keep the spoilers light. Let’s just say if you aren’t already level 70 when the expansion is released, you’re going to have a pretty difficult time; the lowest level mobs (besides in Timorous Deep) are all 68+ in Kylong Plains (the starting area where you first zone into), and 68+ in Fens of Nathsar (the second zone you enter, on the other side of Kylong).

Banner Ads on Everquest2.com

I don’t know how many people have actually noticed, but ever since October 8, 2007, SOE has placed banner ads on the majority of their major websites, including Everquest2.com and EQ2players.com.

I understand why people put banner ads on a website (revenue), but come on! SOE is a major multi-million dollar operation, not to mention it’s a divison of the multi-billion dollar Sony Corporation. Are finances really that desperate that banner ads are necessary for revenue? What about my $14.99 a month I pay for my EQ2 subscription, and my $1-5 extra for the EQ2Players.com features, aren’t those sufficient to cover website operations?

Hell, one could buy a ton of web space from GoDaddy for that kind of money alone.

So just what is SOE advertising anyway?

Aside from the random Windows Live ad, CapitalOne ad, Best Buy ad, and random hotels, there’s a few other interesting things that pop up on the SOE websites.

Ding! Welcome to Tier 7 – Again

Yesterday, after nearly a year of off-and-on grinding, questing, and frustration, my Berserker hit level 60. And for a change of pace, it was on a quest turn-in. Usually it’s on some random mob.

And for the first time ever for me, I have an alt character that’s nearly as high level as my main. The last time this happened was back in my EQ1 days when I was still a mid-30s Mage, sometime in 2002.

It’ll be interesting to see how my tier 7 experience the second time around is shaped. Before, I had my Conjuror, and I could easily tag along in a group and go hunt things, and play it casual. Or I could easily solo just about anything in my path; Conjurors are after all one of the best classes at soloing.. Now, as my Berserker, I’ll actually be forced to lead groups instead of playing casual. I’ll have a much harder time soloing things, and exploring the world.

Already I’m having a frustrating time. My experiences in Kaladim to finish the fourth Rallos Zek quest was painful. To be fair, I was fighting white and yellow-con 1-up mobs who are highly social and have a huge aggro radius. Even my Conjuror would have difficulty in a situation like that. It also didn’t help matters that my gear is still mostly Tier 6 Mastercrafted (though I have some very nice Desert of Flames Fabled on). In two levels I’ll get another significant gear upgrade. And in about 4 or 5 levels I should be adequately leveled to lead groups through the easier parts KoS.

Of course, by the time that happens, Kunark will be around, and no one will be hunting in KoS anymore if they can help it. I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone hunting in Silent City, after all (though there were a few instance runs in Flames).

So what’s in store for my Berserker?

Well for the Overrealm, we have Tenebrous Tangle, which I’ve been hunting and about exhausted quests from. Only a few repeatable quests remain, as well as several Heroic quests (not to mention a few from the Claymore series). Sanctum of the Scaleborn will likely be my heroic dungeon of choice after I reach about 65, while people remain interested. I can move on to Barren Sky at about 63 or 64 and start the solo quests there, and will be able to hunt in Bonemire around 67. Palace of the Awakened becomes an option around 66 or 67 for tanking. And I can start tanking instances around then too, and get some much needed gear upgrades. Assumingthe population holds out in this level range (which I highly doubt).

For Faydwer there’s New Tunaria right now. But I can’t recall the last time anyone actually hunted there. Loping Plains will have lots of solo content for me for a few levels yet. Mistmoore Catacombs is an option for grouping in a few levels, though it’s not a popular zone by any means. Kaladim should be feasible around 65 or so, though again groups there are rare. Castle Mistmoore will open up at 70, but I don’t see it being a popular place to hunt after Kunark comes out. And I can start doing the Faydwer instances around level 70 too, though popularity will also wane with Kunark. And then there’s Unrest, and the Shard of Fear at around 70 as well.

Gear wise, I already have my suit of Xegonite ready (the pieces I will replace anyway). I need to get more Acrylia jewelry made to fill in most of my spots. A new Buckler is a must. I got my tradable weapons covered for now, until I can get better from mob drops anyway. And of course I’m going to need about 16 or 17 spongy loam for the Adept 3s I’ll need until 70. There’s a few quests I’ll be able to start, and hopefully finish. Claymore probably won’t be an option, but Swords of Destiny might be.

I gotta say, my Berserker is better situated for tier 7 than my Conjuror was nearly a year and a half ago. It’s probably because I already know what to expect from Tier 7, and I’ve had time to plan things out. Definitely not so with my Conjuror, I had to figure things out as I went. And spell upgrades for the Conjuror were (and still are) a high priority; it took nearly the entire expansion cycle to get the Masters I have now, and I’m still missing a few minor ones. Just as well, Kunark will take care of that problem soon enough.

Course, once the expansion rolls around, I’ll probably worry about the Conjuror 100% until I hit level 80. But I’ll worry about that in 3 weeks.

Newb guardian, I cant kill anything even cons

I happened across this thread on the SOE boards, titled Newb guardian, I cant kill anything even cons.

Right away I can see the problem that the forum poster, Ladsud, is having:

Hi, just started eq2 yesterday and choose a guard.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people pick up a brand new MMORPG (to them, at least), and either because they don’t know better, or because they’re a glutton for punishment, pick possibly the worst beginner class you can possibly pick. And in this case, it’s a Guardian.

I can see, from a beginner’s perspective, how a Guardian would appeal to an average beginner. You have here your stereotypical low-IQ plate-wearing sword-chucking thug. They’re typically one of your most powerful characters in an offline RPG, usually wielding the Sword of a Thousand Truths, and able to survive–and inflict–those annoying 9,999 HP attacks (Final Fantasy, anyone?). They also evoke the fairy tale image of a knight in shining armor, off to slay the dragon and rescue the princess, who is usually in another castle.

I can see that.

On the other hand, you have the reality of the situation. Guardians are tanks. Their job is to hold aggro, while monsters let loose all sorts of carnage.  They have very low damage output compared to other classes. And because they have such low damage output, they aren’t as able to kill mobs quickly, and have to resort (typically) to simply outlasting their opponent in solo play. And in group play, you have to act as the group leader and lead your group to your destination, being aware of your surroundings, where your enemies are, where your group members are,  whether or not you have aggro, and being absolutely sure you will survive when a giant tarantula decides to attack and devour you.

That’s a lot to keep track of. It’s pretty difficult for a veteran at times, but it’s especially hard for a beginner. Forget dealing with all that, beginners are still learning how to play; they often aren’t ready for all this multitasking so early.

Add to the fact that Guardians are very gear reliant; you have to remain on top of gear upgrades, so that you can survive your encounter of the third kind. A caster can get away with letting his gear slip as long as he has his spells, but not a Guardian. You let your gear slip for too long, and you get eaten alive. Forget to upgrade that weapon, and you lose aggro. Let your combat arts fall behind, and though you can survive getting beat on, you won’t be able to kill anything with any kind of speed.

In a word, unforgiving.

So I have to wonder, what compelled Ladsud to create a Guardian in the first place? I can only speculate, but perhaps he played a similar tank class in a different MMO. I know Warriors in EQ1 are just as unforgiving, if not more; if you don’t have access to high end loot, you can’t even go to high end zones and tank, though your DPS is somewhat respectable (for auto-attack). If he came from EQ1, then he should be familiar with how Warriors function, right?

On the other hand, Warriors in WoW can spec all-out DPS, and put out some crazy numbers. Maybe he thought the Guardian class was like the WoW Warrior? If so, he was pretty close; Berserkers would fit the criteria here, as they’re more damage-oriented than Guardians.

I may never find out, but I do have advice for people playing an MMO for the first time: Pick a class that works well for beginners; these classes tend to be excellent soloers. Not only will you gain the satisfaction of killing just about anything you see, within reason anyway, you’ll learn the game that much easier. In time, when you’re ready, you can go back and reroll a tank class, should you still desire to play one.

Class Strategy – Berserker Achievements (part 1)

One of the things i love to do is thoroughly analyze a subject — such as a class in an MMO, or the process you follow to build a computer — figure out what makes it tick, and share my findings with the world. It’s something I found I was very good at while I was an admin for The Magician’s Tower. It was actually one of the reasons I became an Admin, so I could more easily create, edit, and update guides that people (including myself) posted.

So today I’m going to continue that practice, and with something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile.

Ever since I’ve started playing my Berserker, one question frequently gets asked: “What AA spec should I do?” I suppose it’s natural to ask this; you don’t want to play a gimped character. And certainly the wrong Achievement build for a Berserker can gimp you, both in solo play and in group play, at least when compared to another achievement build.

So for my first part in a multi-part series, I’m going to thoroughly dissect the different Achievement Points options for the Berserker class, specifically in the Warrior tree. We’ll see exactly what they are, what they do, and whether it’s a potentially good or bad buy for a Berserker to get. In part 2, I’ll analyze the Berserker tree. And in part 3, we’ll start talking different build configurations, and the pros and cons with each.

Game Update 39

I’ll admit it, this one snuck up on me. I wasn’t expecting it until next week for some reason. Anywho, this is the last Game Update until Rise of Kunark comes out (short of the annual Halloween update, but that isn’t considered part of the Game Update cycle).

So what was all in the update? Let’s see what the patch notes say…

Rise of Kunark

It looks like SOE is taking preorders for Rise of Kunark now. That’s good for the lazy who don’t want to wait for the box. Me? I like waiting for the box.

So here’s a quick rundown of some of the features of Rise of Kunark – All-In-One Compilation.

• Journey beyond current limits with the new level cap increase from 70 to 80
• New zones, quests, armor, weapons, creatures and more…
• Achievement point cap raised from 100 to 140
• Includes Legends of Norrath^TM strategic online trading card game, digital starter deck, booster pack and loot item
• All-New Player Race, The Sarnak
• Quest outbound from the new starting city, Timorous Deep
• New Mount – Explore the world on the shoulders of a new rampaging beast – The Kunarkian Rhinoceros
• SpecialPre-order Bonus! Burynai Seeker House Pet. Burynai are a race ofcollectors and builders that have a strange affinity for certainorganic items found in Norrath. Give a Burynai seeker one of theseitems, they’ll bury them and store them for later. Rumor has it thatthey also may sometimes discover collectible items (shinies) that youdidn’t even know were lost under your home!

Taking this one at a time, here’s what I think.

Journey beyond current limits with the new level cap increase from 70 to 80

This was pretty much expected since the beginning of time. It was announced long ago, and it’s been nearly two years since a level cap increase. Players are getting bored being at the cap of level 70, and 100 AAs. And there’s only so much you can do to balance new raid content at level 70 without completely overpowering players. So, some breathing room with 10 extra levels is quite welcome.

New zones, quests, armor, weapons, creatures and more…

Wouldn’t be much of an expansion without this.

Achievement point cap raised from 100 to 140

This is a little bit controversial. I’ll explain in another post. Sufficit to say I don’t think this is a terribly good idea.

Includes Legends of Norrath^TM strategic online trading card game, digital starter deck, booster pack and loot item

Hmm, interesting? I’ve already dumped more money into it than I should have, so essentially this is just a bonus for getting the expansion. But since this is an all-in-one compilation, this is an easy way for SOE to introduce players to their new cash-cow card game. Who knows, players might actually like playing LoN.

All-New Player Race, The Sarnak

For the altaholic, new player, or someone wanting to start over, Sarnak must seem pretty cool. I certainly like the idea myself, though I don’t know if I have the plat funds to start yet another alt. I highly anticipate an immediate rush of new Sarnak once the expansion goes live; you see it whenever a new race/class/whatever is added in MMOs, and EQ2 is/was no different with Frogloks, Fae, Arasai, and Neriak.

Quest outbound from the new starting city, Timorous Deep

As explained at Fan Faire, Timorous Deep is the starting area for Sarnaks. Wouldn’t make too much sense to make a new race without a new starting area (though it did happen for Frogloks).

New Mount – Explore the world on the shoulders of a new rampaging beast – The Kunarkian Rhinoceros

Also announced earlier. I expect to see people running around on Rhinos shortly after the expansion.

SpecialPre-order Bonus! Burynai Seeker House Pet. Burynai are a race ofcollectors and builders that have a strange affinity for certainorganic items found in Norrath. Give a Burynai seeker one of theseitems, they’ll bury them and store them for later. Rumor has it thatthey also may sometimes discover collectible items (shinies) that youdidn’t even know were lost under your home!

Now this is different! I wonder if it’s preorder only, or if you can get it in the retail box too.