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.
Kunark – “First” Day Impressions
Tags: EverQuest II, Rise of Kunark
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.