Profit UI for Everquest 2

Several times i have people asking which ui I'm using in Everquest 2. I have used Profit UI for a long time and I'm really used to it by now. It boosts all the information i need, and it's rather clean for me. So my ui looks like this:

The ui tries to cover much information needed on screen, either from status of your character on bottom of the screen, to the different chat windows and every buff or debuff you get on game. Also, on the group frame, one can quick cure any deterimental effect just by clicking on the icon, making cure process much faster.

Can get it here. Also the updater for Profit UI can be found here.

Instructions for installing it, can be found here.

Overall, it's a nice ui.

What SWTOR Class should your play?

So why did i pick a bounty hunter? Well i tried the quizz down there on the next window.

What SWTOR Class should your play? Your Result: Bounty Hunter Both infamous and anonymous at the same time, Bounty Hunters are far more than mercenaries for hire—they’re heirs to a professional legacy—an ancient brotherhood with a glorious history. Tracking elusive targets across multiple star systems requires expertise, especially when the targets can be prominent, powerful, and often prepared for confrontation. Thrill seekers from all walks of life set out to become Bounty Hunters, but only the most hard-boiled survive in this competitive and deadly business.
Republic Trooper
Imperial Agent
Sith Warrior
Smuggler
Jedi Knight
Sith Inquisitor
Jedi Consular
What SWTOR Class should your play? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Try it yourself. :)

SW:TOR Hammer Station

This is the second flashpoint (instance) i did. This second flashpoint resembles more to a regular instance on any mmo then like the previous flashpoint (Black Talon). Less npc interaction, or even any, and a lot more killing. And harder.

Flashpoint is made up of 3 bosses. Going from easy to hard. A quick review on each boss:

1st) DN-314 Tunneler: Is a basic tank and spank fight with adds in the middle. Have the dps kill them because they are fairly simple;

2nd) Riflor's Champions: Boss with 2 adds. In any case you should take first the adds, then the named. Right side add is an healer, so i guess that should be prioritize.

3rd)  Battlelord Kroskhen: The hardest fight i did so far. This boss is ranged based, and has a few attacks, a mine in the area that should be avoid, a knockback (be careful not to be throw out the edge) and adds reinforcements. Be sure to take the adds as quickly as possible or they will swarm the healer making this fight really hard. Also avoid those mines!

Btw, someone with slicing can make your travel on this flashpoint shorter! ;)

Can say it's a hard flashpoint for it's level but not impossible. A bit coordination on some fight, will make you go the good route. 

Star Wars The Old Republic officially released!

After years of waiting, The Old Republic is finally here!

Although many have already started playing it (pre-order customers), today marks the the official release of this game for anyone who wants to buy it at any moment. Either retail or digital the game should be available for anyone who wants to join this far, far away galaxy.

If any of you haven't got the chance to join a big mmorpg when it first got release, i would say this is a great opportunity to start a fresh start, with everyone else. Much like it was with me back when World of Warcraft got released. I would say, don't loose this opportunity!

After the first SWTOR weekend

My first weekend in SWTOR is done. Manage to reach level 17, but could be higher, but the dreadful queue times for my server, cut me like 6 or 7 hours gameplay easily. Friday evening took me around 3 hours to log in...

So what did i do? Well quests of course, that's usually the main thing. Also did the first available flashpoint (instance or group dungeon, for those lesse familiar), Black Talon, PVP (i love the Huttball - sort of football but with guns), crafting (attention about crafting, it works a bit different then other games), and the likes.

About crafting. For those who like crafting, like me, there are slightly some differences on SWTOR. As i said on a previous post, crafting isn't exactly done by the player but his/her companions. So you have picked your 3 professions, two gathering, one crafting, or all gathering (can't have more then one crafting), and you go to the crafting window, pick the skill, select a mission and send your companion. After a couple of minutes he is back with what you asked him to do. Basically you can level crafting while not even actually doing. There are however around the world nodes to gather material if you feel like it.

About the Huttball. You have 2 teams (of course), and the objective of the game consist on taking the ball to the enemy goal area. The carrier gets slowed down, and usually is the focus of the enemy team, so protecting him/her is important. The carrier can make a ball pass to a player at a given area, so don't go do wrong passes. The camp is full of traps to be aware of too.

Oh by the way, when you finish your class quest at the second planet, you get as reward your spaceship. :)

Another note, each planet will have hidden datacrons, that boost your stats, as i said before. I found one in Dromund Kaas. I can say it's near where you do the group quest "Friends of Old". ;)

My SWTOR adventure started today!

It marks today the beginning of my adventures as a Bounty Hunter on Star Wars The Old Republic.

After a freaking long queue of over 2 hours, and a failed log in, making me queue again for another, eventually i managed to start the game. So i created my BH and went on adventuring on Hutta.

Graphically game is good looking, not as great as other titles, like lets say, Final Fantasy XIV or Age of Conan, but it doesn't feel short comparing. I'm even feeling the game more smoother then before, which is good. My opinion about the game is the same as before, in beta, although the trooper storyline is better then the bounty hunter so far.

Since the game is so packed with players, grouping is also easy to happen which is also a good thing, due to the fact of the many group quests available in game. I managed to get a group going for those heroic quests (group quests), and it even prove to be worthy since one of the members new the location of the datacrons. One is inside the sewers where you do a group quest, another one is behind the factory at Rusty Yards over some pipe, and the last one is south of Evocii camp (also have to climb a pipe and go a round a mount to the right, after climbing the pipe). Enough hint without much spoiling ;)

So let me get back to the game, I'll post more later.

Aion is going f2p!

I always told after Lineage 2 went f2p, wouldn't take long for Aion to take the same steps. But didn't expect it to be this fast!

Ncsoft announced that Aion will be hitting f2p market in February 2012, but details about how is it going to be, are still a bit unknown. Also read somewhere that it was going to be f2p only in Europe.

More info here, on the official Aion f2p site.

I was one of the players that tried Aion back when he was on closed beta, but due to the fact i was so bored with World of Warcraft, i end up cancelling my pre-order for this game. But i guess with the f2p change, i don't see why i shouldn't give it a try. I'm always curious to see what this game has to offer, besides the dreadful pvp, the many dislike, and many others love.

F2P on all Everquest 2 Servers now live!

I wasn't expecting this to happen just yet, but they managed to get the servers into f2p at the same time as the expansion got released. Netherless to say, it took them more then 24 hours to get everything working...

Even Everquest2.com got a facelift!

In any case, if you ever want to get a go in EQ2, and see a few more of the game, leave your character name here. I'll be on Splitpaw and can give you a tour on the game. :)

Everquest 2 GU 62: Freeport Reborn

Today will be released on live server the latest game update, 62: Freeport Reborn. Also it marks the release of the latest expansion (they called it feature expansion), Age of Discovery.

What can we expect of this? From GU, the city of Freeport will suffer a massively face lift. From what i've seen city seems pretty impressive. Instead of having four zones (North, South, West and East), they are all now consigned to one big zone. Quests been revamped and added content for most levels. Also, there will be a new public quest in Commonlands, for levels 20 to 30.

Age of Discovery, is a called feature expansion, as it doesn't give any actual new area or dungeons to players. What it brings are a set of features, that are in some cases original, like the following:

- Beastlord class (something many fans already asked SOE for);

- User created dungeons;

- Mercenaries (npc's to aid you out);

- Reforging (changing stats on gear);

- Tradeskill apprentices (still not sure what is about);

- 20 new AAs (this is to appeal to raiders, i guess);

And i hope more features...

The following video covers many aspects of the expansion:

Let's see what can we expect from this!

20 first levels of Lineage 2

Yeah i had to try it. :)

I always get curious to see how far a once p2p game, can go now as a f2p game. So i decided to create a new account and give Lineage 2 a try. What did i found out?

Well first things first, the game is starting to show his age. But what could you expect released in 2003 in Korea (got that info somewhere)? Still it's not the worst graphics.

First things first, character costumization is really poor, like most asian mmo games. Generic faces and models, nothing detailed at all. Secondly the play can choose between the six races available. Thirdly players only get to choose between two classes at the start, fighter and mystic. The thing is, the progression of the player depends on race and class pickup. Let's say you pick a dark elf mystic. As you progress through the game, you will get to key levels, and do the class transfer which is basically picking a sub-class for the giving class/race you picked. For instance a mystic dark elf at level 20 can pick between a dark wizard and a shillien oracle. Or a human can pick between cleric and human wizard. There is in-game when you create a character a detailed progression as the one below.

So character created and i logged in. First things first, since the game is f2p, it is blooming with players. There was times, i would get a huge frame drop. Some places were packed. First nuissance, why the characters have to run bend over? It's so silly! I never understood that. Ok so the first 20 levels of game, is basically the tutorial. The player is almost hand driven through the questline, just follow the arrow to the npcs. From 1 to nearly 10 you basically level by just going from one npc to another. Eventually you get thrown out to the adventuring field at the training island. And this was my second nuissance. Since the game is crawling with players, when i got  to the  adventuring area, frames dropped considerably. Also, mobs were spawning kinda silly, all packed together. It felt really dumb. I dunno if it was intended do to the amount of players online. I hope it was or it would be really silly. Anyways, quests were fairly simple, and any player can done it with ease. When player gets near the end of the training island, he will be taken to a, i guess, single player dungeon, for the final quest. Didn't strike me as impressive.

From 1 to 20, one can consider it to be as an tutorial for new players. Just to get the ropes of the game. As a f2p at least till level 20, i didn't saw any limitation to the game. Kudos for that. I will check further more. 

Oh and by the way takes a average player around 2 hours from 1 to 20. So if any of you want to try it, i don't think loosing 2 hours of your time is that bad, and one can make a quick decision.

Lineage 2: Godess of Destruction, now also f2p!

It was already release like 2 days ago (30 November), but i haven't got the time to check it, or post the info here, until now.

So yes, Lineage 2, hits the f2p market, with a claim that it's truly f2p. Well i will see how really free the game is.

In any case, if you want to get a new account go here.

Also mmorpg.com is offering a promotion, and you can always go grab it there.

After the SW:TOR beta weekend

My thoughts on SW:TOR...

After so much time time waiting, i finally, with thousands of players, got access to the beta. Was a short beta, just the weekend, but gave me some time to make more acquainted with the game.

Since i want to create a Bounty Hunter on game release (yes, i didnt need the beta to make the decision of playing or not), i decided i should go and try the Republic side as a Trooper. 

First things first, character creation is rather poor, but since we aren't playing a Barbie's game, it will do. I just didn't like male models size, just 3 types, from tiny and skinny, to fat large. 

Queue in the typical scrooling text from Star Wars, then a small in-game intro for your class and off you are playing. There 4 starting zones, 2 for each faction. But each class has their own class quest line which makes them kinda unique. The Trooper starts in Ord Mantell, in the middle of the Civil War. We are part of the Havoc squad, with a specific objective of retrieving a bomb that otherwise will wipeout the entire island where we are. Besides the class quest line, which by the way gets really interesting as it goes, there are the typical sidequests, just to make you feel more busy. The good thing about the quests in SW:TOR, is the fact that they can be a bit more dynamic. I mean, some quests will allow you to pick which option to choose from, since we always interact with the npcs. Say you wanna be a Jedi Consular, but following a dark path, then by all means pick up options suited for a bad guy. Same applies to Sith if they wanna be good doers. The fun really lies on interacting with npcs, and pick some punch lines. Even more fun is when interacting with npcs as a group. System works in a roll, everyone picks an option, the higher roller wins and gets to the talk. It's fun when you want to go dark side and all your group mates want to be light. Laughs included.
Combat wise, the game works as most games, based on push buttons for skills. Only difference is that, there isn't any auto-attack, so your it's all skill oriented.
Also at a given point, each class will receive companions (pets if you want to). They can work as tank, dps or healer, depending on the companion.
Crafting is again as all the rest, get materials, do the item, get a skill point. Gathering professions give skill when you gather. A player can have 1 crafting and 2 gathering or 3 gathering, but never more then one crafting. The big difference here, is that, if someone dislikes crafting, but still want to rip-off the benefits from it, he can use the pet to do all the work. That includes gathering and/or crafting. Just pick the crafting or gathering professions, choose what you want to get or do, and send a companion. After a couple of minutes he comes back with the result. Also another fun thing, is whenever you find a node for gathering while adventuring, you can send your companion to gather it.

So until level 10 or so, you are at starting planet, doing your class quest line. When you reach 10, and your off the planet, you have the chance to pick between 2 specializations, for each given class. As a Trooper, i went Vanguard, for tanking purpose.

After that me and some friends, also give a run to the first instance at level 10 or 11, Esseles. Sorry not instance, flashpoint! This Esseles isn't more then a space ship who is taking us to Coruscant, but gets blocked by an Imperial warship that is looking for a specific Ambassador that is going in the ship incognito. So we have to fight off the imperials while trying to save (or not) as much lives as possible. I really enjoyed it!

Flashpoint done, and we are in Coruscant! And boy this place is huge! As a matter of fact, even on the first planet or the flashpoint, i felt everything was rather big, so for my exploration part, this is great!

My adventures ended up here. I did quest a bit more but since it's a beta and i already had a taste of the game, i end up not doing much more.

The game feels polished and fun. I do admit, for most, it's nothing new. It's the old do quests for leveling gameplay. The theme mmorpg. But on the contrary to other games, where you just click as fast to get the quest, open map and see where it, here you have a chance to follow the quest and actually feel more involved. You do believe that i'm playing Everquest 2 for a couple of years now, and still don't have a clue what's going on, lore-wise? Same goes to WoW. While on the RTS games i always had an idea, since the game became mmorpg, most quests are just click to grab, do and deliver...

My only question, relies on the end game for SW:TOR. How is it going to be? I think it will be the same as most, but let's hope for the best.

I did enjoyed my time there and can hardly wait the game release the next month. I have bounties to collect!

This is just nuts!

And i was trying to rant f2p and now this news...

Some people have way too much money in their hands... Link here!

I don't even know what Dark Orbit is all about!

F2P, is it worth it or not?

In the past 2 years lots of existing mmo games switched from the p2p to f2p version. We have the following examples:

- DDO
- LOTRO
- Everquest 2
- Age of Conan
- City of Heroes
- Champions Online
- DC Universe Online
- Lineage 2
- Fallen Earth
- Pirates of the Burning Sea
etc..
And probably more will come in the future. But is this change for better or worse?

The formula for f2p is already well known. Everyone is given, supposedly full access to the given access from level one to max cap level. When one first reads it, might get illuded with the fact that actually everything is free. Ok so we create an account, download the game and load it up. First things first, we notice in some cases we can only create 2 characters. Besides that, we can only create a certain type of class, others are premium only(can read also, p2p users). Fine, most can play with 1 or 2 characters, no big deal. So games up and we are in. Cool, apparently everything can be used. Oh but wait, my inventory only has one bag, i might need some more in a near future. But wait, whats this? I need to buy more slots for bags? Ok, how much it costs? . Ok one for f2p, zero for players. Same deal with bank. Two for f2p, 0 for players. And i haven't touched other aspects. And not gonna to anyways. In some games you have to buy adventure packs, other forces you to buy gear unlockers, so you equip better gear.

In game shops you can find  anything useful for game, from the basic fluffy stuff, like appearance gear, to mounts, to the most expensive stuff like expansions, quests, character slots or classes.

But for me that's not the issue. They can place whatever they want in a shop. My only concern is that in most f2p games shop becomes an utter ripoff to players. In some cases, it's just far more better to just subscribe to a given title then to just waste time on the specific shop.

So far, i do admit i haven't explored much any of the titles as a f2p player, but from what i can see, basically the best offers in market at the moment are DDO and LOTRO, because of a player can, as a f2p, acquire in-game shop coin to spend. Although i do admit it can become a really tiresome process, the fact that actually one can acquire the given coin while playing, is a sure plus for me. Turbine found a nice process, for instance in LOTRO, that when a player finish a given deed (one can consider it as an achievement, in other titles), a very small amount is awarded. But don't worry, a single character can get more then 5000 Turbine Points (LOTRO shop currency). For instance with those 5000, you could buy the latest expansion, and still save around 1800 points. In the end of the day (ok maybe not a day, more), a player can really play LOTRO without spending much or any. Although, of course, if you subscribe the game, every month you would receive free a nice amount of points to spare. DDO also offers points, but i think it's in a smaller quantity.

On the other side, we have Age of Conan. Besides Age of Conan, most titles don't give a chance to players actually get any coin to spend in-game except by buying. And the problem is that, these shops are way too expensive, and in short one rather just subscribe the game and save money in the end of the month. Sure you can play the game as f2p, and while you level everything seems okish, when you reach max level things get rough. 

Other title deserves mentioning is Fallen Earth. From what i've played, although yet the game doesnt offer any possibility of acquiring any store currency while playing, it didn't seem to be severely limited. But i do need more time to play it.

Also, a small note to Pirates of the Burning Sea. It's the only game that actually allows players to sell in-game currency for shop in trade of the regular game currency.

And i haven't touched the subject of pay-to-win, that's not even worth the time.

Overall i think game companies should re-think their f2p business. Sure they need to make money, but if they are sending a game to f2p they should be aware that at the moment, there lots of options for players to pick, and as far as i think, if you pick free to play is because you don't want to spend much money. Game companies, see Turbine f2p model, and pick up ideas, work on that, and give players actual freedom. You can still make money if you are smart enough. I have my own ideas, maybe i'll share in the future, for each given title.

Star Wars The Old Republic Talent Calculator

Soon i will start posting stuff about the Star Wars The Old Republic, that is going to be released at 20 of December.

But for now, why not give a look at a beta version a talent calculator for this game? Can check it here.

So... DC Universe Online

Since DC Universe Online came out, i always been tempted to try it but due to the fact that i had other games and RL messing around i always postponed it. And also because i wasn't sure i wanted to pay for it.

To be honest i was going to play the game anyways, since the fact that Star Wars Galaxies is leaving us in 15 December, SOE decided to award players that had an SWG account active by the 15 October, with free game time to titles Everquest 2, Everquest and DC Universe. I wasn't expecting to get any free time on DC Universe, but since i got it i took the chance. :)

So DC Universe, here comes Bibora!

So i decided that i should be a nice sidekick to Batman, hence created my character has an hero with skills based on the Bat. Mind that the game boosts an good amount of heroes or vilains to base our powers on, but for some reason if not happy with those you can always create your own hero, with powers and abilities you wish for. Although the character creation isn't as deep as, lets say, City of Heroes, it's still quite more deep then most modern MMO's and will allow players do customize many details of the character. And if you still ain't happy with what you got, while you play the game, whenever you get a armor piece, it will had that appearance to your character to suit your needs as you play.

Character created, and off to the tutorial. Ok, for a first character, the tutorial is fine and interesting enough. After that i just wish we could skip it, it's a bit of time consuming. It teach us the basic ropes of the game. Not that's an hard game to learn or such. After the tutorial we are released in the local police department, and from there on, quests will be either handled, directly to the player, or one can cross around the cities (Gotham, Metropolis) for any quest giver npc. It's straightforward enough if one follows the quests given.

As a low level character we can't do much except questing. As we grow up, several games with show up, like pvp battlegrounds (which one can play with DC Universe heroes, such as Robin or Bane), instance grouping at level 9 (know as Alerts), some world events if any (at the moment there was the Halloween event going - a instanced dungeon where you fight agains Scarecrow), and other.

As you level you also have access to skill points, that will allow to buy new abilities for your hero. I'm still level 11 so it's a bit a while to find out the full potencial of my powers. And yes, you have also gear much like any other mmo out there. By the way, there is no crafting in game.

The gameplay of the game, it's more action oriented. You do have the powers on your bottom bar, up to 8 powers at a time, but many attacks are a sort of key combinations. I haven't tried the game with a gamepad, i just use the mouse, so for i have for instance a stun attack that i need to make a combination of 2 fast left clicks and a third one so i can stun the enemy. I guess with a gamepad is a key combination of some sort. It's fast, it's furious and it's fun. Only thing annoys me (but because i suck on it) it's the pvp. They always manage to keep me stun! Those damn villains!

I do hope i manage to get to level 30 (that's the max level) and try one or two raids, to see how the game behaves in high level. Besides that, i can always make several alts based on different heroes (Green Lantern is really cool) so the game can keep one busy for some time.

Overall is fun game, and it wants to be slightly different from most MMO games out there, maybe exception goes for City of Heroes and Champions Online. Although i admit City of Heroes is still better then DC Universe, i never was a fan of it, and i'm enjoying DC Universe more.

Bye EQ2X, Hello EQ2 Free to Play

Yep another SOE blow on Everquest 2.

Don't know how good or bad this one gonna be, but with the eminent expansion release (and also very little info about or as far as i know testing), they just release information that Everquest 2 is going free to play in a very short future (and even the date isn't 100% even by SOE themselves). Date of free to play release should be around the end of the month.

More info here.

And also the, for me infamous now, membership grid, can be checked here.

And also, a FAQ is here.

Will this be a good thing for Everquest 2? Well with the eminent release of Star Wars The Old Republic, and the prospect of yet loosing more subscribers to another game, maybe opening EQ2 to the f2p crowd, wont be a bad move. And from what i've heard, EQ2X server, Freeport, was full of players, so i guess this means more servers even more players. Only question for me remains, for us, long time subscribers, what does this mean? Will we get the same game as always, or will there be some tricks to pocket even more money from our pockets? I sincerily hope not...

More info to come.

DC Universe Online F2P - 1 November

Yep, DC Universe Online is hitting F2P streets in 1 of November. So if your dream is to be Batman, Superman or Joker (or other DC Universe heroes) sidekick, here is your chance.

Small info can be found here.

You can also find the F2P gameplan grid right here.

I always wanted to be Batman sidekick. :p

Rift got soul!

On my last post about Rift, i end up forgetting one important aspect of the game, the classes. Rift classes take an extra to most classes in other mmo games.

Like in most mmo's, Rift boost the usual tank, healer dps class, with an added support class - support classe usually is the class that can bring extra healing, or extra dps goodies for the group. Besides that, and much like in EQ2, we have 4 archtype classes, Warrior, Cleric, Mage and Scout. And here is where the big difference comes. Let's take EQ2 example. If you pick a fighter class, you have to pick either an Shadowknight or Paladin or Guardian or Beserker or Monk or Bruiser (lots of or), and from 1 to 90 you only will be the one you pick - sure you can betray between either Shadowknight or Paladin for instance, but it requires a bit of work. In Rift, you create a warrior, and while you progress the game, you get souls for warrior, which each soul represents a type of warrior - paladin for instance. But each possible build allows you to have up to 3 souls, so for instance your initial warrior could be, Paladin, Warlord and Void Knight, all in a single build. The way it ends up on this build, depends on how you invest your points on each soul (it's the same as talent tree in WoW). Fed up of that build? No problem, go to your trainer and reset it and put new souls in. Each archtype has 8 souls, so you can fiddle up with builds quite alot. Got a build you like? Well save it, and create a new soul. Each character can have up to 5 different soul builds, so you have a lot of playground. What it's said here applies for each archtype, so you can imagine how builds one can get in 4 different archtypes. Also each archtype features a pvp soul (that's a 9th soul).

So this is yet another interesting aspect of the game, that makes it stand a bit different of most mmo's out there. Allowing a big feedling around on classes, should be fun for those who like to experiment on different types of play style.

I will try to go further in on each class in a later post.

Look, i'm playing Rift!

I've been playing Rift the past 3 months. Before that, i would always said to anyone i wouldn't try. I guess just because i was being stuborn. But a friend of mine manage to convince me to play it...

So what can i say of Rift? Well i have to be frank, it feels much like World of Warcraft sometimes. You have the typical quests, you have the same type of crafting, same type of dungeons, gameplay feels the same, you need reputation to get things of vendors, pvp is based on battlegrounds (although there are also pvp servers - i'm in a pve one), same type of mounts (not flying yet), well anything you can remember from WoW it's there. 

Except, there is more then in WoW. First off and the most notorious, is the rifts. These rifts consist of some sort of public quest, where everyone can gather for the same purpose, basically closing it. Each rift offers a set of objectives, divided in several phases. Complete one and the next one starts, until eventually it's closed. Rifts can be found anywhere in world. They will sometimes send off some sort of invasions, that will attack cities and npcs on their way to their objective. Either closing rifts or killing invasions will net you rewards, that you can use  to get better gear. That's more or less the mechanic around rifts.

Besides rifts, there is also zone events. Basically, zone events are a larger scale rift event, that pops in one zone, and brings like a lot of more action. These zone events have specific objectives, like close a certain amount of rifts, stop a number of invasions, avoid wardstones of being destroyed, etc. Managed to get all the objectives complete, and the final boss will pop up. Usually to defeat it, requires some raid effort. 

In this is what i liked in Rift. Besides all the regular WoW gameplay, these zone events, gives a nice distraction of the usual quest go here kill 10 rats. Sometimes, i would just forget all my quest, and would just go rift hunt. It's a refreshing change of pace from the constant quest grind.

When you finally reach maximum level, the mechanic of game works like WoW with the added zone events that you will want to do. Besides that, Trion implemented on last game update, a new Planar Attunement thing, that works much like an AA system of EQ2 or Age of Conan (i dont know the Age of Conan one). So even that you reached the final level 50, you will continue getting experience for this Planar Attunement. So far tier 1 of the Planar Attunement, hasnt proved much interesting but i'm hoping tier 2 and 3 will be better. There is also the so called Chronicles, which are 2 person dungeons, that are design for fresh level 50's.

Dungeons at 50, are all the dungeons you can come accross while levelling, but scaled to level 50 difficulty. There is also the expert and raid rifts, which are rifts of increased difficulty, being the expert rift made for a group of 5, much like a dungeon group, and rift raid set for a group of 20. Haven't raided the regular raid dungeons yet.

Pvp is rank based, get enough prestige, and you rank up, till i think rank 8 (maximum). Prestige can only be gain at level 50, while favour can be gain since you first do pvp.

Other thing that made me stay in game, is the fact that i happened to join a nice casual and friendly guild, and that is making my staying on Rift a bit more pleasant. I guess having a good guild makes a difference in any game.

Overall the game is not that innovative. But i'm having fun playing it. My brother sometimes says to me, "oh fun, you are playing WoW 2.0" - it's true what he says, but i'm enjoying it.

Fallen Earth is now F2P!

It's now up the F2P version of Fallen Earth.

Been one of the games i enjoyed but that only played like for 3 or 4 months overall, this change to f2p will be a nice change of pace for me, from the regulars Everquest 2 and Rift. (yeah i'm playing it!)

The great thing about Fallen Earth 2, is that everything you can wear is craftable and for me, which i like crafting, is a great thing. Another thing, is that the game is sort of a sandbox game, where you can do whatever you want, while leveling, makes the game really interesting. Also the game works, besides of the usual level up, a skill system, which is another big plus for me. So sandbox, crafting, skill system, thumbs up.

Don't have a Fallen Earth account? Just get one here!

And let me get back to my toon. :)

Everquest 2 GU 61 is now live!

After servers been out for like 7 hours or so, for the update, they finally came up my time yesterday around 22:30 (as far as i logged). All my characters were completely stripped of gear so it took me a while just to set up the first one! Then i got the word that it would all be reset again today, so i didn't bother anymore with it. I just basically set up my SK and went to check some revamped gear that dropped on older zones. I will post some huge changes that happened on gear soon.

But for the fun, just watch the trailer for this update.

Game Update 61: War of Zek Live Today!

Today is release the latest Game Update for Everquest 2, 61: War of Zek. It features the following:

• All dungeon and overland loot items have been re-itemized. I think with the exception of Sentinel's Fate gear, all other gear from 20 to 90 had a face wash, to go up in scale with the latest expansion, Destiny of Velious.
• A new dungeon and a new Raid to continue the journey past the Citadel of Drunder to the Plane of War.
• New dynamic dungeons. These scale to your group between levels 60-90 and are designed as new single group heroic content that’s more re-playable. 2 will be out on this patch, and depending on players reaction we might see more in the future.
• AA revamp on the sub class tree. Tree will work now similar to shadow tree, which means, you need to have a certain amount of points on first line to get to second.
• New crafters AA tree. Yep go farm AA for crafting now!
• House rating. You can now rate houses for their decoration.
• Many stats will no longer be capped. Stacking stats, like casting speed, will allow you to have a small chance on spell double attack. Many others are also changing
• Fae and Arasai will now fly!
• Etc.

Can go read all about it here.

Things to be aware. AAs will reset. Tier will get unattuned,  i think even those in bags. Also equipped gear will get unadorned. Not sure about gear in bag tho. So when you first log, give yourself time re-do your AAs and take care of gear. Don't go fight naked!!

In any case, should keep me busy for a while to check the new stuff! :)

The new mythical weapons

Well i managed to get screens of two of the new mythical weapons, that drop (with a very low chance) in the new Drunder x4 Hard Mode Raid Zones. My guess is that there won't be many running around if any.

We have here the scouts (also Shadowknigh, Paladin, Guardian and Berserk can use it) and the brawler weapon. Mind say, the brawler takes a lot of adornments compared to the bow.

Dream on!

EQ2 Iceshard Keep

I've done this zone already a lot of times, but i think it's still useful to put off some info on it, for future references.

It's the first zone from the three in Kael Drakkel. The other two are, Throne of Storms and Temple of Zek, which i intend on giving a few strategies on them.

This zone, compared to the other 2, is easier, but still have some names that can give to some troubles, to less geared people.

The map of zone is marked with a number referring to each named. Note there is no specific order on names.

As soon as entering the zone, we will face the first named (1) Krindem Sigmundr. Until few time ago, this named had some knock back, which would need to be tank at a corner, by entrance. But since it was removed, it can be straight burned out.

Proceed in but be careful, at top of first stairs. There are 2 guards standing, and on each 2 patrols that can be easily missed. Pull the guards, if you can avoid the patrols first. Giants can be mezzed or charmed.

Proceeding in, go for named (2) Sjurd Randskeggr. It will stand on top of a platform. You can use the elevator to get it, or simply do a pet pull if any available. The named itself is a standard tank and spank fight. I assumed you cleared all giants in rooms before pulling names. ;) Shard chest is in this room between barrels.

Going back now to named (3) Grundr Kolfrodr. The room of this one, is the same as the previous one, although the fight has a small difference. When fighting the named, he will spawn on ground some embers, which everyone must stand clear of it, before they go off, or they will hurt, and in some cases even kill one or two. Besides that, nothing more to had.

The named (4) Vilmen Riggandr, can present some difficulties to some tanks. First off is advisable to tank it between beds in the room, to avoid the massive knock back. Secondly the named will be constantly doing some memwipes, so it will probably present some problems at times. Those are the main concerns for this fight. Also the key mob rooms this room, between two beds (* symbol).

Halkon Tormax (5) is probably the hardest named fight on this zone. It's set with 2 adds linked, that will need to be killed before named. The issue here is the great amount of damage on tank if less geared, and the big power drain that the group can suffer. Also there is a random teleport on a member that doesn't seem to give much problems. I usually tank it below the weapon rack and ask the group members to stand by the table chair in front of me.

The last named (6), Praefectus Kriegr is a slighter easier fight then the previous one. First off be sure to tank the named at some wall to avoid knock backs. Then during the fight, the named will pop adds. If you have good dps, just burn out the named, otherwise it's better to kill them or they will buff the named and make your job much harder.

And that's about it, zone itself can be done really fast, if with a high dps group, but still has a lot of trash that needs clearing. Be careful pulling trash, cause giants are social, and you can easily have an entire room on you if you badly pull one giant.

Hope you have fun doing this zone! :)

EQ2: On live servers now, Double Exp Weekend and Tinkerfest!

Double exp is on servers, so it's time to get my alts leveling hehe

Also tinkerfest is up so i guess I'm gonna check whats new on it.

Get Cracking!

Everquest 2 GU 61 now on Test Server

Next big game update on Everquest 2, is now on test server ready for everyone to join.

It's an extensive game update, so I'll just post it the major changes.

For a complete list you can just go here.

Game Update 61: “The War of Zek”

PLANE OF WAR

The time is near for the great Fortress of Drunder to reveal its true purpose to all. The very bedrock of the Eastern Wastes shudders and rocks as a massive planar portal rips itself open within the fortress walls. The sounds of war echo through its halls as the God of War himself prepares his innumerable armies to march across the frozen face of Velious and seize control of the lands of Norrath for all eternity.

The Plane of War is a normal and challenge mode raid.

Elements of War is a normal and challenge mode heroic experience.

Dynamic Dungeons

Two new dynamically scaling dungeons have opened up in the Sinking Sands.  These heroic dungeons automatically scale to your party from 60 to 90.  Their entrances can be found on the door to the Silent City and from a new portal next to the door.  These dungeons scale their difficulty and rewards to your group.

THE PALACE OF SABARON
Sabaron’s Palace is the home of a mad Djinn who believes that by using his power and the power of a newly discovered artifact, the Tear of Anashti, he can raise an army of Sul’Dal to march on the Plane of Air and take it over for Djinn to rule.  His palace is full of undead evils he has resurrected as well as his most trusted attendants.

SILENT CITY: THE DELVING DEAD
The dead within the halls of the Silent City are restless after lifetimes of slumber, as if roused by an unseen hand.  Ancient overseers crack whips as the undead hordes delve deep into hallowed soil.  They labor tirelessly, endlessly searching for an ancient artifact of great power.

Player Statistics Updates

• Many stats now provide additional benefits to other stats!  See below for details:
• Having parry skill over the level cap now gives a bonus to uncontested parry and uncontested riposte.
• Having defense skill over the level cap now gives a bonus to uncontested dodge.
• Having haste over the cap now gives a bonus to flurry.
• Having weapon skill over the cap now increases your minimum damage amount making it closer to the maximum amount.
• Having weapon skill over the cap now gives a bonus to riposte damage.
• Having spell and combat art skills over cap now increases the minimum damage of those spells and combat arts making it closer to the maximum amount.
• DPS is now a rating that translates into the actual increase to your melee damage with no cap. Mouse over the DPS stat in your persona window to see the actual percent increase to your damage.
• Having spell casting speed over the cap now gives you a slight bonus to double cast spells.
• Having a focus over the cap will allow you cast spells while moving.  It will be very slow movement, but will increase as your focus skill increases.
• Multi Attack is now a rating rather than a straight percent chance for additional attacks.  Mouse over the Multi Attack stat in your persona window to see how many extra attacks you get, and your chance for an additional attack on top of those.

Alternate Advancement Revamp

• Subclass Alternate Advancement trees have been reformatted. The connections have been removed and the tree is now formatted in rows. The first row contains four abilities and requires no points spent to access. The second row contains five abilities and requires five points spent in the Subclass Tree to access. The third row has six abilities and requires ten points spent in the Subclass tree to access. The fourth row has six abilities and requires 15 points spent in the Subclass tree to access. The fifth row is the endlines – now known as Expertise abilities. These abilities unlock every 20 points spent in the Subclass tree above them. At 20 points spent, you can select one Expertise ability. At 40, 60 and 80 points spent, additional Expertise abilities can be purchased.
• The Subclass Alternate Advancement tab now unlocks at level 30.
• The Shadows Alternate Advancement tab now unlocks at level 50.
• The Sentinel’s Fate Alternate Advancements now unlock at level 80.
• The Heroic Alternate Advancement tab now unlocks at level 80.

TRADESKILLS

• Harvesting abilities can now only be modified by direct means, so only harvesting tools or racial abilities should affect them.  Casting speed will no longer modify them. Harvesting and tradeskill skills will no longer be modified when mentoring.
• There is now a Rare Harvest Chance stat for tradeskillers. This is the chance to get a bonus rare harvest in addition to the normal harvest rewards from a harvest node.
• Tradeskilled Battleground Jewelry and Armor bags can now be traded and sold on the broker.
• Carpenters can now make some stone textured room dividers, and a wider variety of floor tiles to match their room dividers. [Fan Faire Request]

Tradeskill Alternate Advancement Abilities

• Crafting classes now have their own alternate advancement tab to spend AA on.  This AA is earned through the normal course of gameplay when crafters do crafting quests.

Details:
There are three rows of abilities.
Each ability can have up to 5 points spent on it.
A maximum of 25 points can be spent in this tab.
Each row needs a minimum of 10 points in it to buy into the next level.
Level 1

Ample Harvest: Each rank bought increases your chance to harvest a second time by 3%.
Swift Creation: Each rank bought increases your progress gained each round by 2%.
High Quality Materials: Each rank bought increases your durability gained each round by 2%

Level 2

Rapid Manufacturing: Each rank bought increases your progress by 2.
Resilient Materials: Each rank bought increases your durability by 2.
Effective Method: Each rank bought increase your success chance by 2%.
Advantageous Practice: Each rank bought increases your critical success chance by 2%.

Level 3

Trim Reaver: Each rank bought increases your chance of harvesting a rare by 0.2%.
Conservation of Mass: Each rank bought increases your chance of not using materials when crafting an item.

ITEMS

• All group/raid dungeon items 20 to 90 have been reitemized except for Velious and SF raid/group dungeons.
• All overland zones have been reitemized.
• Brand new loot has been added to many named creatures in outdoor zones!
• Players who wish to procure the Scaleborn arena champion should seek out Ellywig Sprocketbaker in the Bonemire.
• The Lodizal shell shield house item now hangs properly on the wall.

AMENITIES

• The guildhall Adventure Writ Agent amenity now offers Odus and Velious writs in addition to its prior Kunark writs.
• Added tinkering and adorning recipes to the Guild Hall Tradeskill Recipe Salesman.
• Fixed a bug where you could get an invalid amenity listed in your guild hall amenity list.

Everquest 2 GU 60 - Drunder piece of armor

I know some folks are curious, so here is a screen of piece of armor from the new raids zones, released on the latest GU 60:

Hold of Rime: The Fortress Spire

I'll be posting the strategies on different dungeons either group or raid from Everquest 2.

Today we have Hold of Rime: The Fortress Spire.

This zone is of middle difficulty. There is at least one hard boss fight but the rest is quite doable. Mind the epics while heading for this named!

Agna Icespear - It's basically a tank  and spank fight, although the name will port on timer. Just wait till he stops porting and get back on him. Mind the frontals and keep always near him.

Dockmaster Jit'coel - Tank and spank, whenever someone is in a ice cube, destroy the cube.

Abelbrown the Bookie and Quanth Coldblade - Have MT tank Quanth when he gets up (80% from Abelbrown health) and make them go steady at the same time to 0. Anyone can tank Abelbrown. Just be sure they are spread away from each other or they will heal themselves. Oh someone be ready to put up 1 plat to start this fight! :p

Bouont Crushingfist - Named and 3 adds, mezz the adds, tank the named. Kill one add at a time while name is imune to damage. If you can take all 3, even better, just burn the adds. After adds, tank named, the named will port to a platform, need to do 3 clickies at the same time to make him come down. Rest just dps. It's the hardest fight here.

Grand Restorer Lingwal - In this arena, there are several platforms all around. Just have your group standing there, while tank tanks the named near middle. Randomly the name will port to middle, tank runs to group on platform to avoid some AoE. Easy fight.

Et voila, this was a fast run down over the fights on Fortress Spire. Grats on loot! ;)

Everquest 2 GU 60: Children of War

Is now live on EQ2 servers the latest update for the game. It's the first big update after DoV release. This update brings a lot of content for most players, which include new dungeons and new raids and also battlegrounds content. Update includes:

• Three new heroic dungeons:
• Confront Warmaster Grolla Skullwielder in the Spire of Rage
• Challenge Warmaster Korok Hai in the Strategist’s Stronghold
• Battle Warmaster Deynka Packlasher in the Tower of Tactics

• One new x2 raid - Citadel of V’uul
• Defeat Queen Vorticia V’uul in the Citadel of V’uul

• Three new x4 raids [all available in Normal and Challenge modes]:
• Encounter Sullon Zek in Sullon’s Spire
• Test your strength against Tallon Zek in Tallon’s Stronghold
• Prove yourself against Vallon Zek in Vallon’s Tower 

• Earn the new Velious Discord faction to purchase new PvP equipment and adornments
• Enjoy PvP and Battlegrounds rule modifications for better balance and fun
• Fame system improvements
• New PvP armor and adornments

Additional content:

• Visit Whipmaster Snargeant in the Fortress of Drunder to assist with new daily missions within Drunder
• Speak to Provocateur Bas Darkfrost at Thurgadin Docks to earn Primal Velium Shards through a new solo quest
• Two new heritage quests
• Additional signature quest line
• New tradeskill quests and recipes
• New adornments interface
• Ratonga players will find Qeynos has become more accepting of their presence
• And coming soon: help build the wizard and druid transportation network in Velious

Here is the teaser!

Have fun!

Everquest 2 Extended

Being a somewhat long time Everquest 2 player, i was bound to try sooner or later the f2p version of the same, Everquest 2 Extended.

First off, what can a f2p get out of this version of EQ2? Well check out the list here if you want to know. From my point of view the Bronze membership will allow some solid game play out. Experience speaking a Bronze member can reach the level cap, 90, with just the limitation the game offers. I do admit some can be a bit annoying like the bank and gold limits but besides that, it's doable. 

Now what's the trick here then? The fact that you can only use adept gear and only adept spells. This will hinder probably the game play at max level since, first off, DoV rewards are all legendary, so no gear for you. And then all dungeons will require a better geared character, so i guess doing those can be a challenge.

There are several options to break off some limitations from the Bronze member, like buying bank slots or equipment unlock, but that of course, will require some investment.

But if you are interested on giving EQ2 a try, i think this option is a very good one.

Personally i haven't played that much yet, so i haven't noticed any other limitation that could prove hindering. I will try to see how far i can go with not putting any money here.

Back on LOTRO

Since the forced downtime for EQ2 (and all SOE servers for other games), I've taken my time to get some game play off LOTRO.

I've been playing on the Evernight euro server, with a new champion I'm creating, which is now already level 47. I managed to pass those dreaded levels from 20 to 30, doing those boring North-Downs and Lone-lands quests. Eventually i managed to get to the revamped Evendin, which on the contrary to those other 2 zones, was very well done for my satisfaction. All quest hubs were done to make sure all quests you would get, would be nearby each other, to avoid having running all around the map. So that would allow a much more faster income of experience, and faster leveling. There is even a complete set to collect as reward, and token exchange, which is very good for a level 35ish to 40 player. I believe every player who starts this zone around 30, will most probably be done with it around 40. There is lots to do there. And if that isn't enough, to the south of the zone, there is Annúminas which will give players some more quests, some repeatable to grind some tokens, and a big zone to fight off forces of evil. My only regret is that the level 50 set you get from these tokens you acquire in Annúminas, are just a pain to grind. Mostly because you need like more the a thousand of these for just a single piece. That, for a solo player will most likely take near an year to get the full set, which is beyond reasonable. I do realize that this system is made probably thinking on F2P players, who don't have Moria or Mirkwood (at least that's the only reason i think off), but for me it's a shame, cause i would really like to that for my characters also. If Turbine doesn't drop down the prices, why not make those tokens bound on account for another alt? That would be a good option, in my book. There are dungeons in Annúminas that probably would make this process faster, but with no groups to do it, it's hard to get those pieces. And what happens in Annúminas also happens with the other level 50 zones, it's just not worth the effort. And it's just a shame in my opinion...

Besides that, I've been enjoying the ride to Middle-Earth once again. From adventuring to crafting, I've been doing all, and so far it's been great. I do plan on near future to start doing some grouping for instances, because that's what i want to try there. The content group from LOTRO.

EQ2 Tower of Frozen Shadows: Shadowed Corridor

Shadowed Corridor, was the first zone me and some guildies tried to. Without knowing any strategie we just ventured to this zone, for some fun and kicks. Apparently the Tower of Frozen Shadows, is split in several levels (dungeons), that in the end will give you access to a x2 zone. From what i remember, cause i made this zone like 5 days ago, fights are interesting and with some stuff to do if you don't wanna wipe miserably there. I liked also the design of this dungeon, and the library where the last named, it's just fabulous.

Back to each name we fight. Well there are 7 name fights. Taking the order we did them (if i recall):

First named:  Xalgoti, mostly tank spank, has some memwipes. Easy fight with a good healer, and tank that quickly grabs name back

Second named: Alvik the Cold, there is a stove to boil water near the named, you need to use the water when he starts shouting. You have to be very quick on this. He does it at 75%, 50%, and 25%. He heats at an alarming rate. Can have one or more persons doing this job, one is enough tho.

Third named: The Armored Presence, i think at 75%, 50% and 25% he spawns armor pieces, just kill them fast or they turn to be adds.

Forth named: Sergeant Schriber, this one is tank spank but you could use either a messer/rooter to stop adds getting on him. If they reach him, they will heal him alot. Another strategie is to kill the adds then kill the namer. Do as you see fit.

Fifth named: Vethilot the Corpsemonger, this one will start spawning adds, every time an add dies, he gets a buff. Kill the adds, when they die, you must right click and destroy them. You MUST be very very quickly.We didnt do this guy, can be skipped.

Sixth named: Spectral Librarian Emiida, well you will need to keep on dispelling her, and if you have classes that can throw up stuns, stiffles etc, keep them also doing that job. Worked for us..

Seventh and last named: Tome of Ages Past, didn't do it.

Fights require some sort of a script but can be easily learned. Overall it was a cool zone, ok maybe because it was new, but i liked it.

Everquest 2 Destiny of Velious

Been almost 2 days now, that the latest expansion for Everquest 2, Destiny of Velious been out. The flagged features of this expansion are as followed:

* Soar high above Norrath with flying mounts

* Crawl your way through 10 dangerous dungeons

* Complete four new Heritage Quests

* Battle through more than 300 new quests

* Craft through more than 60 new tradeskill quesfts

* Conquer one new truly massive contested dungeon

* Discover two new overland zones

* Defeat four new raid instances

* Collect more than 1,000 new weapons and items

* Journey through a new Signature Quest line

* Slay more than 30 new creatures

* Equip more than 100 new armor sets

* New AA abilities with an increased cap of 300

I've been playing it since it came out, and so far, which happens with anything new, i'm enjoying it. After these 2 days, basically all i did was questing, exploring and a wee little bit of dungeon. In questing i can also i had i tried the EQ2 attempt on public quests, and although it's nice, i think it falls short on that department. Biggest difference noted yet, is the gear. First off, quest items rewards, are all legendary, no more treasure stuff. Second stats of these rewards are above legendary gear from the latest expansion, so if you still on that gear you will quickly replace it. Even the T1 fabled gear from SF leaves much to be desired.

Overland masses are big, Great Divide seemed huge to me. A bit bland, it's a snowy zone.. Second zone, which name i can't remember now, seemed to be quite nice, but i just passed there once running, to check the massive contested zone that comes on this expansion. Yep, they say its bigger then Solusek's Eye. And gorgeous. And, this is what i like the most, HARD! As a small example, my group, which by all means didnt had heals, was me on a coercer, a guardian, conjuror and necro. The guardian was T3/T4 fabled geared, which in most SF zones would do well with no heals. Here, he was killed by a trash mob, when it still was around 80% health. I was impressed. We are planing on doing a proper group there to check it.
I also managed to get a group to one of the new dungeons, Tower of Frozen Shadows: Shadowed Corridor, we didnt finished, but the zone was fun, challenging and well design. Some scripted fights but very fun. I plan on giving more details on that shortly.

Overall, so far, seems a nice expansion, but time will tell more.

But for now, see you in Velious!