Von 5 EN, Von 6 EH. It's new to me.
I've never, ever seen the giant iron golum fight so long. Usualy he drops instantly. But on EN he was punching back for a quite some time. Is there a taller humanoid in Ebberon? I can't think of any....
Anyway Von 5 was really fast, and Von 6 was the fastest I've ever seen. I don't understand how everyone runs so much faster than me. Is there some sort of Epic destiny or does everyone splash monk? barbarian? I don't know. Anyway the speed difference really showed up running to ice base and back.
But once I was inside I had an unexpected surprise. Our leader said to stay in front of Velah if you have either more than 650 HP or Evasion. (I've got both).
The fire breath did absolutely no damage to me thanks to evasion. Has Velah's breath always been so harmless? I thought she used to pass out a special debuff that made the second blast do 1000+ damage. Anyway, the fight lasted longer but was much less dangerous than I remembered. I got nothin but an Epic Raid Token, which I'll swap for an Epic Dungeon Token so I can get a TR heart.
I'm happy to be 1.87 tokens closer to TRing again but this sort of speed run left me cold. I didn't particularly enjoy it, however efficient it was. Does that make sense? It's not that it was too easy (since it's too hard to do on my own) but I dunno. I guess I'm just a TR guy instead of an Epic guy. Or rather I like dealing with the chaos of a sloppy run. Oh well, I'll be PUGing in the Halls of Shan-to-Kor soon enough! :D
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
LEVEL 20: Third time's the charm!
Today I hit level 20 for the third time. Here's a pic of the moment it happened in The Mindsunder. The last few levels are really a slog, lucky for me Mabar was delayed for a +31% Heroic XP Boo-nus.
I'm very happy with what my Defender of Siberys Paladin Axe & Shield tank has become, but the journey here was really tough. I abandoned my original goal of staying Pure Paladin -- the importance of evasion cannot be overstated! Evasion is really that good!
I took Rogue levels so I could dump 16 skill points into UMD. I'm not impressed with the results. Honestly I'd rather depend on the Paladin's arsenal of healing and a few good clickies than try to deal with all the UMD stuff.
My first paladin life was much easier. The great DPS from Two Weapon Fighting made it a quick and fun. That said, I'm really enjoying the durability of shield and evasion this time around.
For my third and final Paladin life, I'm leaning towards yet another Paladin 18 / Rogue 2, but this time I'll forget about UMD and focus on traps and open lock. Those are very important skills for the kinds of PUGs I end up running with.
That said, I'm not sure if I want to do my Paladin life next. The additional +5% healing amp is tempting, but I'm gonna miss playing Paladin when I'm done, especially since the enhancement pass is scheduled for later this year. I'm not sure if I'll stay at cap for a while or try something different entirely. I'd like to try Druid, Monk, or even Artificer if I can get the house C favor. Until then I'm going to be farming Epic dungeon tokens and messing with my gear.
The biggest change I foresee is putting my Tharne's Goggles in the bank. My intimidate is so reliable I never get a chance to benefit from the sneak attack damage. As an easy swap I'm going to try to find +15 intimidate goggles to free up a ring slot (where my intimidate is currently). I'm also toying with the idea of a steam guard item for the solid fog. Supposedly GS solid fog is better and longer lasting than other clickies.
This life felt really rushed because of the Stone of XP. First I rushed into it by TRing before I had everything farmed. Then I rushed to reach level 8 before the stone of XP expired forever. And now I'm hurrying to grab up all the easy favor I skipped.
I'm very happy with what my Defender of Siberys Paladin Axe & Shield tank has become, but the journey here was really tough. I abandoned my original goal of staying Pure Paladin -- the importance of evasion cannot be overstated! Evasion is really that good!
I took Rogue levels so I could dump 16 skill points into UMD. I'm not impressed with the results. Honestly I'd rather depend on the Paladin's arsenal of healing and a few good clickies than try to deal with all the UMD stuff.
My first paladin life was much easier. The great DPS from Two Weapon Fighting made it a quick and fun. That said, I'm really enjoying the durability of shield and evasion this time around.
For my third and final Paladin life, I'm leaning towards yet another Paladin 18 / Rogue 2, but this time I'll forget about UMD and focus on traps and open lock. Those are very important skills for the kinds of PUGs I end up running with.
That said, I'm not sure if I want to do my Paladin life next. The additional +5% healing amp is tempting, but I'm gonna miss playing Paladin when I'm done, especially since the enhancement pass is scheduled for later this year. I'm not sure if I'll stay at cap for a while or try something different entirely. I'd like to try Druid, Monk, or even Artificer if I can get the house C favor. Until then I'm going to be farming Epic dungeon tokens and messing with my gear.
The biggest change I foresee is putting my Tharne's Goggles in the bank. My intimidate is so reliable I never get a chance to benefit from the sneak attack damage. As an easy swap I'm going to try to find +15 intimidate goggles to free up a ring slot (where my intimidate is currently). I'm also toying with the idea of a steam guard item for the solid fog. Supposedly GS solid fog is better and longer lasting than other clickies.
This life felt really rushed because of the Stone of XP. First I rushed into it by TRing before I had everything farmed. Then I rushed to reach level 8 before the stone of XP expired forever. And now I'm hurrying to grab up all the easy favor I skipped.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Non-Mabar fun.
(say) Me:"Today I'm playing Mabar!
(say) Kids: "But..."
(say) Me: "Mabar!"
(say) Wife: "Let's go..."
(say) Me: "MABAR!"
So they left me alone except to bring me spiced coffee and hand drawn crayon art of the spooooky gibbering mouther.
Of course I *COULD* have told them that Maybar was canceled but what fun would that have been? So here's what I did this year while I was "playing Mabar." /wink
+Greater guild bonus+
I honestly don't know where this thing came from. I was standing near The Twelve campfire and suddenly, a "Greater guild bonus" was applied to me. The text ascended from my head, and then I got a fancy gold icon on my buff bar. The timer said 4:20, and that it paused in public areas.
+Giant's Vault+
I can complete this in about five miniutes. Not a world record, but it's still the fastest way for me to get guild renown. I only had 4:20 on the timer but with any luck I might beat my average by 40 seconds and get some much deserved favor.
As it turns out the guild bonus was four HOURS and twenty miniutes. Sometimes I get tired of Giant's Vault but last night I was still having fun when the ransacking occured.
+Dreaming Dark+
It's right next door but I didn't get much favor. Too much fun getting the Iouns I wanted Deep Red for twink Dex +6 and exceptional +1 dex skill for Open Lock, Scarlet and Blue for INT / disable device. And finaly, Pale lavender: spell absorption. Then the group fell apart so I was stuck with three unsupressed stones.
+Vision of Destruction+
I got to tank, but I guess tanking isn't really required anymore. I had Suulumades under control most of the time, but when he broke loose it wasn't a big deal as far as I could tell. Same thing with the rednamed orthons. They don't do much damage or present a unique threat. I'm glad my intimidation was high enough for hard but I missed the teamwork-or-die aspect. And I don't think that we succeeded because of battle hardened vets since I personaly rescued 6 of them that got lost while jumping past the buttons. But in the end, we won and I got that shield I wanted, the "Vengeful Protector" with a low roll of 24/100. :D
+Dreaming Dark+
Back to unsupress my three Ioun Stones.
+Subterrain+
Farmed 12 shards while waiting for a Stealer of Souls PUG to fill. I need more bags!
+Stealer of Souls+
Took three hours and three tries to shortman this quest on Elite at level. First run we disadvantaged ourselves by wasting 10 miniutes waiting for someone to grab their 3 essences and 3 gems. We ran out of time and ended up panicing into error and aggroing thirty giants a dozen air elementals. I alone survived.
Second run was faster but we failed on the ice part. I died first, I got air jetted into a stuckspot. I couldn't "/stuck" because the pummeling interrupted it. So I tried death, but then I still couldn't move and "/stuck" is not alowed when dead.
Third run was great. We sped through all four elements and finished with 17 miniutes to spare. The xp was great and for fun we tried beating Sorjek but we abandoned before he was down to 50%.
In short, I had a great time playing DDO on the first day of Maybar -- and there wasn't even any Mabar! Most things are not like that. I wouldn't enjoy cruizing down the highway at 90 MPH without a vehicle for example.
When Mabar does finaly happen, my main goal is to pimp my Cloak of Night. Currently I've got four of them. Can you guess what the problem is? My four cloaks are level: 4, 12, 20....
...and 12. :D
(say) Kids: "But..."
(say) Me: "Mabar!"
(say) Wife: "Let's go..."
(say) Me: "MABAR!"
So they left me alone except to bring me spiced coffee and hand drawn crayon art of the spooooky gibbering mouther.
Of course I *COULD* have told them that Maybar was canceled but what fun would that have been? So here's what I did this year while I was "playing Mabar." /wink
+Greater guild bonus+
I honestly don't know where this thing came from. I was standing near The Twelve campfire and suddenly, a "Greater guild bonus" was applied to me. The text ascended from my head, and then I got a fancy gold icon on my buff bar. The timer said 4:20, and that it paused in public areas.
+Giant's Vault+
I can complete this in about five miniutes. Not a world record, but it's still the fastest way for me to get guild renown. I only had 4:20 on the timer but with any luck I might beat my average by 40 seconds and get some much deserved favor.
As it turns out the guild bonus was four HOURS and twenty miniutes. Sometimes I get tired of Giant's Vault but last night I was still having fun when the ransacking occured.
+Dreaming Dark+
It's right next door but I didn't get much favor. Too much fun getting the Iouns I wanted Deep Red for twink Dex +6 and exceptional +1 dex skill for Open Lock, Scarlet and Blue for INT / disable device. And finaly, Pale lavender: spell absorption. Then the group fell apart so I was stuck with three unsupressed stones.
+Vision of Destruction+
I got to tank, but I guess tanking isn't really required anymore. I had Suulumades under control most of the time, but when he broke loose it wasn't a big deal as far as I could tell. Same thing with the rednamed orthons. They don't do much damage or present a unique threat. I'm glad my intimidation was high enough for hard but I missed the teamwork-or-die aspect. And I don't think that we succeeded because of battle hardened vets since I personaly rescued 6 of them that got lost while jumping past the buttons. But in the end, we won and I got that shield I wanted, the "Vengeful Protector" with a low roll of 24/100. :D
+Dreaming Dark+
Back to unsupress my three Ioun Stones.
+Subterrain+
Farmed 12 shards while waiting for a Stealer of Souls PUG to fill. I need more bags!
+Stealer of Souls+
Took three hours and three tries to shortman this quest on Elite at level. First run we disadvantaged ourselves by wasting 10 miniutes waiting for someone to grab their 3 essences and 3 gems. We ran out of time and ended up panicing into error and aggroing thirty giants a dozen air elementals. I alone survived.
Second run was faster but we failed on the ice part. I died first, I got air jetted into a stuckspot. I couldn't "/stuck" because the pummeling interrupted it. So I tried death, but then I still couldn't move and "/stuck" is not alowed when dead.
Third run was great. We sped through all four elements and finished with 17 miniutes to spare. The xp was great and for fun we tried beating Sorjek but we abandoned before he was down to 50%.
In short, I had a great time playing DDO on the first day of Maybar -- and there wasn't even any Mabar! Most things are not like that. I wouldn't enjoy cruizing down the highway at 90 MPH without a vehicle for example.
When Mabar does finaly happen, my main goal is to pimp my Cloak of Night. Currently I've got four of them. Can you guess what the problem is? My four cloaks are level: 4, 12, 20....
...and 12. :D
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Cannith Crafting: how I learned to stop worrying and love the cranking sound
At first I was planning to attack head on Cannith Crafting and bang out some levels really fast. I got a Royal Guard Mask for rapid transit to the house K Crafting hall (shoudn't that make it the Kraft-ing hall?) and a new bag as big as my greed for all the essences and shards I would soon have.
But despite all my effort my progress was unbearably slow. I still kept teleporting to the crafting hall, and I still jammed nearly everything into the hopper and ground it up for essenses. Occasionaly I crafted some lowby gear -- I especialy liked helmets, because there are so many styles to choose from.
Until, suddenly, something amazing happened. My bag overflowed. I didn't notice because it overflowed into my other bags, but I did notice last night because all four of my ingredient bags overflowed into my backpack.
So... rather than waste them I went on a crafting spree and gained twenty levels (distributed among all three schools) Ten in Arcane, six in Divine and four in Elemental. It was fun to see those numbers increment after an eternity of not doing anything. And of course, it ended far far short of the big numbers that the uber-crafters brag about. But something caught my eye that doesn't sound right.
The forum is filled with people complaining about running out of small essences and the laborious agony of grinding larges into smalls. ...but I still have plenty of smalls and it's the LARGES that I've run out of.
Am I doing something differently? (AKA wrong)
I looked for shards with a very high percentage of success, and crafted whatever gave the most xp on either the bound or unbound side. Then I ground all the shards back into essences until everything fit into my large ingredient bag.
Anyway now I've got 65/50/49 and I'm looking forward to grinding everything I own whenever the next bonus weekend is.
Oh, and I decided not to grind up all the Thorn Guard and Good Luck +2 shards. I think I may use them sometime....
But despite all my effort my progress was unbearably slow. I still kept teleporting to the crafting hall, and I still jammed nearly everything into the hopper and ground it up for essenses. Occasionaly I crafted some lowby gear -- I especialy liked helmets, because there are so many styles to choose from.
Until, suddenly, something amazing happened. My bag overflowed. I didn't notice because it overflowed into my other bags, but I did notice last night because all four of my ingredient bags overflowed into my backpack.
So... rather than waste them I went on a crafting spree and gained twenty levels (distributed among all three schools) Ten in Arcane, six in Divine and four in Elemental. It was fun to see those numbers increment after an eternity of not doing anything. And of course, it ended far far short of the big numbers that the uber-crafters brag about. But something caught my eye that doesn't sound right.
The forum is filled with people complaining about running out of small essences and the laborious agony of grinding larges into smalls. ...but I still have plenty of smalls and it's the LARGES that I've run out of.
Am I doing something differently? (AKA wrong)
I looked for shards with a very high percentage of success, and crafted whatever gave the most xp on either the bound or unbound side. Then I ground all the shards back into essences until everything fit into my large ingredient bag.
Anyway now I've got 65/50/49 and I'm looking forward to grinding everything I own whenever the next bonus weekend is.
Oh, and I decided not to grind up all the Thorn Guard and Good Luck +2 shards. I think I may use them sometime....
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Learn from my fail: lowercase-fail edition
+Raiding the Giant's vault+
For a year I've been doing it wrong. There are two rare chests above the silver key!
+Awesome looking Cannith Crafted heavy spirit crafted shield+
I thought I was being frugal by buying up a armload of cheapo shields from the venders and deconstructing all save the prettiest. Behold the trifecta of fail:
1. It's not heavy (it's light, but spelled lite)
2. It's not spiritcrafted (it's ML1 korthos stuff)
3. Not awesome looking. It's a little shield with a picture of an open mouthed skull. If the skull could talk, it would say "meh."
+Golden Guile gear swap+
I re-geared my character and slotted this in. Then, I used a Nyoko's invisibility clicky and spent a whole day wondering what the big deal is about Golden Guile's Improved Deception. It never did anything. It was almost as if I was wearing a Nyoko's necklace instead...
For a year I've been doing it wrong. There are two rare chests above the silver key!
+Awesome looking Cannith Crafted heavy spirit crafted shield+
I thought I was being frugal by buying up a armload of cheapo shields from the venders and deconstructing all save the prettiest. Behold the trifecta of fail:
1. It's not heavy (it's light, but spelled lite)
2. It's not spiritcrafted (it's ML1 korthos stuff)
3. Not awesome looking. It's a little shield with a picture of an open mouthed skull. If the skull could talk, it would say "meh."
+Golden Guile gear swap+
I re-geared my character and slotted this in. Then, I used a Nyoko's invisibility clicky and spent a whole day wondering what the big deal is about Golden Guile's Improved Deception. It never did anything. It was almost as if I was wearing a Nyoko's necklace instead...
Saturday, October 20, 2012
My first time: The Mindsunder
I've owned this pack for a couple months, but I didn't get around to running it until now.
I enjoyed the quests. My favorite feature is how each of the quests really changes environments. It helps that much of the action happens in a dream-reality where the rules of normal reality don't apply. But even so, I really appreciated how the adventure had parts, and that each part had a different setting. Changing scenes is a rudimentary storytelling technique but it's done really well in the Mindsunder quests. Bravo for an adventure pack that genuinely feels out of this world! :D
Loot wise, there's no "must have" named Dwarven axes but that shouldn't be a problem for anyone but me.
As far as XP, I felt like The Mindsunder was outrageously generous until I learned about the +25% xp bonus. Taking that into account the XP seems generous but not bonus-weekendly so.
That said, it could be that all the flattery heaped upon me by the other players made this a sweeter experience. My tank paladin was rocksolid through out the quests. I did switch my gear around a bit, I got rid of Kilau's band and necklace (+1d4 slashing, from ToD) an swapped in a otherwise plain +15 intimidate ring and a golden guile (for improved deception). I also swapped out the Madstone towershield for a cannith crafting heavy shield (+20% incite and lifeshield).
It feels like my intimidates are working more reliably although I'm still waiting for Defender of Sybris III when I hit level 20. I don't notice the lifeshield text that much, but it sure feels like I need way less self healing than before. Then again, since these are new quests I don't have a good baseline for comparison.
It makes me kinda wish I still had my stallwart trinket from Smuggler's Cove. Currently I've got an upgraded Head of Good Fortune (for the Heavy Fort mostly) but I wonder about putting the heavy fort somewhere else and seeing how that stoneskin effect changes things.
The item I want most is an upgraded Quiver of Alacrity but I've never completed Abbot. But that's a post for another day....
Long and short of it is that I'm very happy with the Eberon side of DDO. I'm so happy that I've totaly forgotten about all the newstuff going on in the Forgotten Realms.
...Gah! I see what I did there.
I enjoyed the quests. My favorite feature is how each of the quests really changes environments. It helps that much of the action happens in a dream-reality where the rules of normal reality don't apply. But even so, I really appreciated how the adventure had parts, and that each part had a different setting. Changing scenes is a rudimentary storytelling technique but it's done really well in the Mindsunder quests. Bravo for an adventure pack that genuinely feels out of this world! :D
Loot wise, there's no "must have" named Dwarven axes but that shouldn't be a problem for anyone but me.
As far as XP, I felt like The Mindsunder was outrageously generous until I learned about the +25% xp bonus. Taking that into account the XP seems generous but not bonus-weekendly so.
That said, it could be that all the flattery heaped upon me by the other players made this a sweeter experience. My tank paladin was rocksolid through out the quests. I did switch my gear around a bit, I got rid of Kilau's band and necklace (+1d4 slashing, from ToD) an swapped in a otherwise plain +15 intimidate ring and a golden guile (for improved deception). I also swapped out the Madstone towershield for a cannith crafting heavy shield (+20% incite and lifeshield).
It feels like my intimidates are working more reliably although I'm still waiting for Defender of Sybris III when I hit level 20. I don't notice the lifeshield text that much, but it sure feels like I need way less self healing than before. Then again, since these are new quests I don't have a good baseline for comparison.
It makes me kinda wish I still had my stallwart trinket from Smuggler's Cove. Currently I've got an upgraded Head of Good Fortune (for the Heavy Fort mostly) but I wonder about putting the heavy fort somewhere else and seeing how that stoneskin effect changes things.
The item I want most is an upgraded Quiver of Alacrity but I've never completed Abbot. But that's a post for another day....
Long and short of it is that I'm very happy with the Eberon side of DDO. I'm so happy that I've totaly forgotten about all the newstuff going on in the Forgotten Realms.
...Gah! I see what I did there.
Friday, October 19, 2012
My Kids love the Monster Manual
So last night I had the rare opportunity to be home when the kids were going to sleep. My wife took our infant and gave me instructions on how to go to put them to bed. Eat vitamins, brush teeth, read a book or two, then take them into the bed room turn on the nite lite and all that. No silly business, don't get them riled up. After all, the oldest is only six years old.
But my daughter had other made other plans. That is, she literally wrote out a plan on a bit of paper. And I walked right into it. After I finished the younger kid's teeth I ushered them into the reading nook and my 6 yo daughter was already there with the Monster Manual opened up to my favorite abberation -- the Gibbering Mouther.
Now she knows that I like the gibbering mouther, but when I see the glint in her eye I know that she knows. Of course, the terrifying contents of the MM are not bedtime approved but honestly, I'm flattered that she remembered that I like Gibbering Mouther. And then, before my parental circuitry is fully engaged to extol Goodnight Moon she asks me sweetly "Oh Papa? Do you know what sound this strange creature makes?" And of course I respond with a wink and a whisper "Gibber gibber gibber!"
And soon all four of us are gibbering. Low will saves run in the family I guess.
After that I try to put them to bed, but they intuitively know that bedtime doesn't actualy start until Papa stops laughing. And so they goof around and ask a hundred questions about the Gibbering Mouther. So I read some of the descriptions, and happen to mention that they are Abberations. What's that? I'm not really sure, except that abberations are not anything else. So then they flip through the book looking for other abberations. And soon we've invented a new game: Animal, Monsterous Beast, or Abberation?
At first they just guess randomly, but soon they're asking very pointed questions. "Papa, does a Digester have real acid like in a stomach or is it a magical acid?" I tell them it's normal acid and they guess, correctly: magical beast. And by the time we get all the way through the alphabet to R for Roc, the kids are outraged that it's an animal and not a monsterous beast as they guessed.
I skiped over the extra planar stuff because I can't think of a way to explain the great wheel over the sound of the shouting, jumpin, spinning and acting like victims of the various monsters. (Note, "acting" as in the William Shattner school of overacting.)
Finaly they want to go back and guess all the other creatures (humanoids, extraplanars etc) but I insist, absolutely insist, that we read the pastboard edition of Noah's Ark. To get them quiet I promise that we'll play the Monster Manual book again soon.
...I can hardly wait! :D
But my daughter had other made other plans. That is, she literally wrote out a plan on a bit of paper. And I walked right into it. After I finished the younger kid's teeth I ushered them into the reading nook and my 6 yo daughter was already there with the Monster Manual opened up to my favorite abberation -- the Gibbering Mouther.
Now she knows that I like the gibbering mouther, but when I see the glint in her eye I know that she knows. Of course, the terrifying contents of the MM are not bedtime approved but honestly, I'm flattered that she remembered that I like Gibbering Mouther. And then, before my parental circuitry is fully engaged to extol Goodnight Moon she asks me sweetly "Oh Papa? Do you know what sound this strange creature makes?" And of course I respond with a wink and a whisper "Gibber gibber gibber!"
And soon all four of us are gibbering. Low will saves run in the family I guess.
After that I try to put them to bed, but they intuitively know that bedtime doesn't actualy start until Papa stops laughing. And so they goof around and ask a hundred questions about the Gibbering Mouther. So I read some of the descriptions, and happen to mention that they are Abberations. What's that? I'm not really sure, except that abberations are not anything else. So then they flip through the book looking for other abberations. And soon we've invented a new game: Animal, Monsterous Beast, or Abberation?
At first they just guess randomly, but soon they're asking very pointed questions. "Papa, does a Digester have real acid like in a stomach or is it a magical acid?" I tell them it's normal acid and they guess, correctly: magical beast. And by the time we get all the way through the alphabet to R for Roc, the kids are outraged that it's an animal and not a monsterous beast as they guessed.
I skiped over the extra planar stuff because I can't think of a way to explain the great wheel over the sound of the shouting, jumpin, spinning and acting like victims of the various monsters. (Note, "acting" as in the William Shattner school of overacting.)
Finaly they want to go back and guess all the other creatures (humanoids, extraplanars etc) but I insist, absolutely insist, that we read the pastboard edition of Noah's Ark. To get them quiet I promise that we'll play the Monster Manual book again soon.
...I can hardly wait! :D
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
He is making a hat. He says: "it is for me!"
When I was a kid my parents were always buying me educational entertainment. They're both teachers so they're into that stuff. One such gift was vinyl record, a "Commander Whitehall audio adventure" starring the titular Commander himself. According to the record cover the Commander was traveling the world, seeing strange animals, making new friends and learning about other cultures in a way that appeals to young boys.
But in truth, it was just one guy telling a story in a Paladin voice with some sound effects. He said he traveled to Equidor, saw the equator, got a hat, saw a parade. But since the voice actor had no idea what Equidorians sound like he carried both sides of the conversations. "I am in a beautiful villiage here in Equidor. The people here are friendly. I thank them "Thank you! You are too kind!'" He is making a hat. He says: "it is for me!" "
But most of the record was just the sound of Commander Whitehall driving his Jeep along a mountain path. Oddly there were no mountain sounds, so basicaly it's just six miniutes of listening to a jeep's engine. No wheels, no gravel crunching, no lamas or birdsong.
Well, that's what Reaver's Fate was like today. Our fearless leader didn't even put any funny piking joke in the LFM. There was just the name of the raid "Reaver's Fate." I almost didn't recognize it without the sarcasm.
So, in I went. Fake-DPSing with my non-Giant bane non-DR breaker. And then giving up the pretext entirely and AFK piking. Exactly one load of dishes later, I returned as the Stormreaver died. I ran to the stairs and did an autoran at the forcefield.
Forcefield?
Doesn't the forcefield drop when the lever is pulled? Yes it does.
And what happens when it doesn't? The quest fails by killing everyone and grief-dropping their soulstones on the lever. Ha ha developers. Reeeal funny.
A quick reform and we're back in again. This time I bring my A-game. I out-tank everyone and pull the Reaver into the center. Not that I care about greenbeard, no I want all eyes focused on me, the mighty tank. Everyone must watch as I pull an amazing feat of PRR! (Physical Resistance Rating)
Suddenly the gravity flips. Up I fall upward through the spikey hole of death. I richochete off the spikes and hit mouse button 14 of 25 activating fire resistance clickie. I press it again, activating my cloak as more spikes rip huge bloody numbers from my head. I toggle the scroll wheel left twice click click, and press button 14 of 25 a third time. The animation for Lay on Hands begins. I crash land on more spikes. It's possible that I could survive a third hit because of my PRR and hitpoints, but no. I die and everyone laughs at me.
But I have the last laugh after the quest is done. "The chest contains a Reaver's Sigil. It says: "it is for me!"
But in truth, it was just one guy telling a story in a Paladin voice with some sound effects. He said he traveled to Equidor, saw the equator, got a hat, saw a parade. But since the voice actor had no idea what Equidorians sound like he carried both sides of the conversations. "I am in a beautiful villiage here in Equidor. The people here are friendly. I thank them "Thank you! You are too kind!'" He is making a hat. He says: "it is for me!" "
But most of the record was just the sound of Commander Whitehall driving his Jeep along a mountain path. Oddly there were no mountain sounds, so basicaly it's just six miniutes of listening to a jeep's engine. No wheels, no gravel crunching, no lamas or birdsong.
Well, that's what Reaver's Fate was like today. Our fearless leader didn't even put any funny piking joke in the LFM. There was just the name of the raid "Reaver's Fate." I almost didn't recognize it without the sarcasm.
So, in I went. Fake-DPSing with my non-Giant bane non-DR breaker. And then giving up the pretext entirely and AFK piking. Exactly one load of dishes later, I returned as the Stormreaver died. I ran to the stairs and did an autoran at the forcefield.
Forcefield?
Doesn't the forcefield drop when the lever is pulled? Yes it does.
And what happens when it doesn't? The quest fails by killing everyone and grief-dropping their soulstones on the lever. Ha ha developers. Reeeal funny.
A quick reform and we're back in again. This time I bring my A-game. I out-tank everyone and pull the Reaver into the center. Not that I care about greenbeard, no I want all eyes focused on me, the mighty tank. Everyone must watch as I pull an amazing feat of PRR! (Physical Resistance Rating)
Suddenly the gravity flips. Up I fall upward through the spikey hole of death. I richochete off the spikes and hit mouse button 14 of 25 activating fire resistance clickie. I press it again, activating my cloak as more spikes rip huge bloody numbers from my head. I toggle the scroll wheel left twice click click, and press button 14 of 25 a third time. The animation for Lay on Hands begins. I crash land on more spikes. It's possible that I could survive a third hit because of my PRR and hitpoints, but no. I die and everyone laughs at me.
But I have the last laugh after the quest is done. "The chest contains a Reaver's Sigil. It says: "it is for me!"
Monday, October 15, 2012
Learn from my fail: Stormcleave outpost
My LFM said "Stormcleave Outpost. Favor, no XP. Know trapazoids and love the color brown."
I got a few tells "lol" they said, and then suddenly an entire party of grumpy favor grinders.
"When are we starting?" "Can we start now?" "Hello? Lets go" "Start now?" "Hurry please" All this in the time it took me to respond to the first question by typing "y"
And by the time I had run from the top of my guildship to Stormcleave outpost they had cleared much of the quest. So I hurried along as best I could while the warforged sorcs hasted trails of anhiliation through the outpost. Those poor giants never stood a chance.
But despite all the speed and firepower, we somehow failed to activate one of the half dozen pillars -- or so DDO would have us believe.
After several miniutes of checking and double checking all of the pilars, the grumpy grinders cursed DDO's buggyness and quit the party.
I left and rescued some noobs from Dreaming Dark casual. Then I returned to Stormcleave Outpost with the same LFM. This time I didn't get any tells or party members, so for fun I decided to solo it ninja style.
Basicaly, using my ToD necklace for three invisibilitys per rest to bypass all the mobs.
It worked better than I expected. There's a long list of things that do or don't break invisibility that I never bothered to memorize. But I was elated to see that activating pillars didn't break my invisibility. And so I came up with a new self imposed challenge: I'd try to get all of them before my invisibility ran out.
Not so tough on a tanky paladin with jet propultion boots, but when I finished, I discovered to my horror that NONE of the pilars registered as activated. I tried an experiment but dreaded the outcome.
Hypothisis: Activate schmactivate. It doesn't count unless you kill the mefits.
Result: True. What now zerger?
So I trudged around looking for Mefits. As luck would have it, I never found the last Mefit. Some sorc hasted around until he found it and sqashed it for me.
Got my favor and learned something new.
...stupid learning. I hate it.
I got a few tells "lol" they said, and then suddenly an entire party of grumpy favor grinders.
"When are we starting?" "Can we start now?" "Hello? Lets go" "Start now?" "Hurry please" All this in the time it took me to respond to the first question by typing "y"
And by the time I had run from the top of my guildship to Stormcleave outpost they had cleared much of the quest. So I hurried along as best I could while the warforged sorcs hasted trails of anhiliation through the outpost. Those poor giants never stood a chance.
But despite all the speed and firepower, we somehow failed to activate one of the half dozen pillars -- or so DDO would have us believe.
After several miniutes of checking and double checking all of the pilars, the grumpy grinders cursed DDO's buggyness and quit the party.
I left and rescued some noobs from Dreaming Dark casual. Then I returned to Stormcleave Outpost with the same LFM. This time I didn't get any tells or party members, so for fun I decided to solo it ninja style.
Basicaly, using my ToD necklace for three invisibilitys per rest to bypass all the mobs.
It worked better than I expected. There's a long list of things that do or don't break invisibility that I never bothered to memorize. But I was elated to see that activating pillars didn't break my invisibility. And so I came up with a new self imposed challenge: I'd try to get all of them before my invisibility ran out.
Not so tough on a tanky paladin with jet propultion boots, but when I finished, I discovered to my horror that NONE of the pilars registered as activated. I tried an experiment but dreaded the outcome.
Hypothisis: Activate schmactivate. It doesn't count unless you kill the mefits.
Result: True. What now zerger?
So I trudged around looking for Mefits. As luck would have it, I never found the last Mefit. Some sorc hasted around until he found it and sqashed it for me.
Got my favor and learned something new.
...stupid learning. I hate it.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Bah! Schrödinger's catted again!
My self-imposed exile started on Korthos but it ended in Vision of Destruction with the slaying of Suulomades.
Why Vod? Vision of Destruction holds a special place in my memory because it was my first "real" DDO raid. The loot is fantastic, binds to character on pickup, and causes anger and resentment if you don't re-distribute it correctly.
Alot of those hardfeelings went away with the True Reincarnation system. Now you can take ANY raid loot and if anyone complains just say you're gonna TR into the (item appropriate class) next life.
The other thing I really liked about VoD is how fail-prone the Raid was. It's a very short raid, just one extended battle in a small arena, and so it's easier to accept a total party wipe and have enough of a raid group for a quick second attempt.
So how was it?
Honestly I was very dissapointed. Our group had so many Epic Level characters there wasn't any real threat of failure. I really missed that.
But at least we got some neat raid loot. I won the roll for a Vengeful Protector, a heavy shield that is an upgrade to my current Madstone shield. (I'm so tired of looking at that ugly hunk of crystal!)
But I hear you, my loyal readers, asking "Yes, but what about the probability themed soul crushing pathos promised in my thread title?" Well here it is:
So the guy who put the Vengeful Protector up for roll said something like:
"Vengefull Protector up for roll."
And then someone else said "Bracers of the Glaicer up for roll" and the screen was filled with /roll d100
So then the Vengeful Protector guy said, "Vengefull Protector d87"
I rolled a 25 on the d87, I won and it was passed to me. Someone else won the braciers of the glacier and they took it and left.
But then someone else spoke up on the mic, saying that they had rolled a d100 for the vengefull protector *before* the bracers of the glacer were put up for roll. And since he rolled 100, it should have been his by right.
I kept silent and let the two of them argue it out. As a compromise they decided to let him have a do over. Since my d87 was a 25, I wasn't feeling too confident about it.
He rolled a 79 and so the Vengefull Protector was lost -- forever.
In retrospect, I feel confident that he won the shield fair and square. But man I miss that Vengefull Protector. I'm so tired of looking at this ugly hunk of crystal!
Why Vod? Vision of Destruction holds a special place in my memory because it was my first "real" DDO raid. The loot is fantastic, binds to character on pickup, and causes anger and resentment if you don't re-distribute it correctly.
Alot of those hardfeelings went away with the True Reincarnation system. Now you can take ANY raid loot and if anyone complains just say you're gonna TR into the (item appropriate class) next life.
The other thing I really liked about VoD is how fail-prone the Raid was. It's a very short raid, just one extended battle in a small arena, and so it's easier to accept a total party wipe and have enough of a raid group for a quick second attempt.
So how was it?
Honestly I was very dissapointed. Our group had so many Epic Level characters there wasn't any real threat of failure. I really missed that.
But at least we got some neat raid loot. I won the roll for a Vengeful Protector, a heavy shield that is an upgrade to my current Madstone shield. (I'm so tired of looking at that ugly hunk of crystal!)
But I hear you, my loyal readers, asking "Yes, but what about the probability themed soul crushing pathos promised in my thread title?" Well here it is:
So the guy who put the Vengeful Protector up for roll said something like:
"Vengefull Protector up for roll."
And then someone else said "Bracers of the Glaicer up for roll" and the screen was filled with /roll d100
So then the Vengeful Protector guy said, "Vengefull Protector d87"
I rolled a 25 on the d87, I won and it was passed to me. Someone else won the braciers of the glacier and they took it and left.
But then someone else spoke up on the mic, saying that they had rolled a d100 for the vengefull protector *before* the bracers of the glacer were put up for roll. And since he rolled 100, it should have been his by right.
I kept silent and let the two of them argue it out. As a compromise they decided to let him have a do over. Since my d87 was a 25, I wasn't feeling too confident about it.
He rolled a 79 and so the Vengefull Protector was lost -- forever.
In retrospect, I feel confident that he won the shield fair and square. But man I miss that Vengefull Protector. I'm so tired of looking at this ugly hunk of crystal!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Pit + Tempest spine = TREASURE
I've been goofing around in DDO. Each night, I log on to Orien with my Level 19 Defender of Syberis intimitank run the lowest Elite quests I've got uncomplete.
It's a fun, easy way to unwind after a day at work, and it's nice to see all the content that hasn't been available to me until now. (Durring the MotU pre-order, I bought all of the Adventure Packs.)
But then last night I fell into a group of like minded players who also wanted get Favor for all the quests they skipped over with the stone of XP. It was so fun!
We hit a long string of quests, but for me the highlights were The Pit and Tempest Spine.
I love the Pit. I love it so much that I intentionaly try not to overplay it. Until last night I've never run the Pit overlevel so that it always seems dangerous, and so that my memory has a long cooldown time to forget everything so I can relive the wonder-fear and dread-joy of my first time in the Pit. But as it turns out, playing the Pit while level 19 is really fun too! Some of us died (not me). All of us fought the Avatar of Jubliex. None of us got a muckdoom. Fun fun fun.
Then after that we ran Elite Tempest Spine raid. We went in with six people and at our worst moment everyone but me was dead, and I was running for my life chased by a pack of giants reavers and mefits, wishing that I had more mana, a few LoH, or my Unyielding Soverignty. I survived that by running through a portal, rezzing the one soul stone dragged with me, and then fighting our way back throught the portal and to the shrine.
Apparently it's a tough quest to solo since it's a raid and someone managed to get Red Dungeon Alert. But as my readers know, I love a tough fight. The only thing better than a tough fight is a tragic defeat... or so I thought until I opened the chest before the portal to the water.
+3 Greater heart of wood
Suddenly, this remedial favor grinding doesn't seem so "inefficient" after all! :D
It's a fun, easy way to unwind after a day at work, and it's nice to see all the content that hasn't been available to me until now. (Durring the MotU pre-order, I bought all of the Adventure Packs.)
But then last night I fell into a group of like minded players who also wanted get Favor for all the quests they skipped over with the stone of XP. It was so fun!
We hit a long string of quests, but for me the highlights were The Pit and Tempest Spine.
I love the Pit. I love it so much that I intentionaly try not to overplay it. Until last night I've never run the Pit overlevel so that it always seems dangerous, and so that my memory has a long cooldown time to forget everything so I can relive the wonder-fear and dread-joy of my first time in the Pit. But as it turns out, playing the Pit while level 19 is really fun too! Some of us died (not me). All of us fought the Avatar of Jubliex. None of us got a muckdoom. Fun fun fun.
Then after that we ran Elite Tempest Spine raid. We went in with six people and at our worst moment everyone but me was dead, and I was running for my life chased by a pack of giants reavers and mefits, wishing that I had more mana, a few LoH, or my Unyielding Soverignty. I survived that by running through a portal, rezzing the one soul stone dragged with me, and then fighting our way back throught the portal and to the shrine.
Apparently it's a tough quest to solo since it's a raid and someone managed to get Red Dungeon Alert. But as my readers know, I love a tough fight. The only thing better than a tough fight is a tragic defeat... or so I thought until I opened the chest before the portal to the water.
+3 Greater heart of wood
Suddenly, this remedial favor grinding doesn't seem so "inefficient" after all! :D
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Arcane hireling? Why didn't I think of that?
So I was like "Die thou spawn of a cinder!" And then Cinnis the Cinderspawn was like "+3000 XP." It was a really tough fight even though we were overlevel. The assassin rogue said it best: "Do you have divine punishment slotted? ...next time use it!" He was a genius or something.
But the other thing I learned from him is that arcane hirelings are cool. His 'ling was blasting everyone with gobs of arcane dps... Not as good as a real sorc, but still better than "stupid Haysack" as my kids call him whenever he dies... Again... And again... And again...
But anyway I expect good things I should be able to tank and spot heal an arcane hireling and get stuff done faster than killing it all myself. I got used to always bringing a hireling with a raise dead, just in case I got summoned during a fight. But this should be better.
It's yet another thing I'm looking forward to in DDO.
But the other thing I learned from him is that arcane hirelings are cool. His 'ling was blasting everyone with gobs of arcane dps... Not as good as a real sorc, but still better than "stupid Haysack" as my kids call him whenever he dies... Again... And again... And again...
But anyway I expect good things I should be able to tank and spot heal an arcane hireling and get stuff done faster than killing it all myself. I got used to always bringing a hireling with a raise dead, just in case I got summoned during a fight. But this should be better.
It's yet another thing I'm looking forward to in DDO.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
I am back. Again! :D
This week my newborn daughter learned to commando crawl. She lies on her tummy and scoots around in search of things to bite. That's given me the freedom to get back into the game.
Before, all she did was submit bug reports about how everything bite worthy was too far away.
Baby: Wah! (The singing fox plush toy is too far)
Baby: Waaah! (Ceiling fan cannot be reached)
Baby: Waa! (AI problem: I hit Papa but he won't fetch scissors.)
Baby: Wa! (Another stuck spot! Who designed this quest anyway? Fire them!!!)
Baby: Wah! (My depth perception isn't fully developed so I'm grasping at something 5 feet away.)
Me: Working as intended. You look like you're using the force. Totaly cute.
In game, things are pretty much how I remember them. My Rogue/Pali is still nigh unkillable, but my DPS feels like a huge step down from my previous two lives (TWF ranger & TWF paladin). But the big change I forgot, and was pleasantly surprised by, is that I've got an upgraded Head of Good Fortune from Reaver's Fate in the Gianthold. The Head is not a big deal for most people because most people have a Minos Helmet from Necro4. But I don't have a Minos helmet and therefore, I've always had trouble slotting Heavy Fortification. And even if I had a Minos I wouldn't wear it because my ConOpp greensteel is a helmet.
The upgraded Head of Good fortune solves the Heavy Fort problem that for me by putting the Heavy Fort in the trinket slot, which frees up my ring, necklace, belt slots and/or Dragontouched rune for cooler stuff.
PUGs have been pretty accepting of my gimpy ways. I haven't been called out on my humorously low DPS, but I did get some admiration for surving a TPK in Pray the Hunter and tanking redname Rockslide while the casters lined up a clean kill.
Goals: I'm not sure what I'm doing with a tank. None of the quests I'm doing really needs a tank for anything, and I don't have much Intimidate gear anyway. If I was going to stick with this build, I would want to get more intimidate and hate. I'm looking at the Circle of Hate from Necro4, but I've never run Accursed Ascention, so can't anticipate how much of a grind that could be.
My other goal is to do something about my Madstone Shield from Reavers. If I get a sigil I could upgrade it, but honestly I'm tired of looking at that ugly hunk of crystal. I don't know which shield has the stats to replace it though.
And then my overarching strategic plan for my next TR? I'm not sure. The unkillability and AFK-friendlyness has been perfect for this phase of my family life, but I'd kinda like to try something with more fight. I'll probably get my third (and final) Paladin life, but with a really aggressive focus on traps and dps. Perhaps even try some deep multiclasses.
I'm also nearly ready to do another Greensteel, so perhaps a Rad semitar for backstabbing? Lots of cool gear and options at this point.
Oh and lastly, I pulled my second +3 STR tome. It was unbound so I swapped it for a +3 DEX. Now I've got +3 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, and everything else is +2.
Oh right, the new endgame. I'm totaly out of the loop on that. That should be a fun surprise. :D
Before, all she did was submit bug reports about how everything bite worthy was too far away.
Baby: Wah! (The singing fox plush toy is too far)
Baby: Waaah! (Ceiling fan cannot be reached)
Baby: Waa! (AI problem: I hit Papa but he won't fetch scissors.)
Baby: Wa! (Another stuck spot! Who designed this quest anyway? Fire them!!!)
Baby: Wah! (My depth perception isn't fully developed so I'm grasping at something 5 feet away.)
Me: Working as intended. You look like you're using the force. Totaly cute.
In game, things are pretty much how I remember them. My Rogue/Pali is still nigh unkillable, but my DPS feels like a huge step down from my previous two lives (TWF ranger & TWF paladin). But the big change I forgot, and was pleasantly surprised by, is that I've got an upgraded Head of Good Fortune from Reaver's Fate in the Gianthold. The Head is not a big deal for most people because most people have a Minos Helmet from Necro4. But I don't have a Minos helmet and therefore, I've always had trouble slotting Heavy Fortification. And even if I had a Minos I wouldn't wear it because my ConOpp greensteel is a helmet.
The upgraded Head of Good fortune solves the Heavy Fort problem that for me by putting the Heavy Fort in the trinket slot, which frees up my ring, necklace, belt slots and/or Dragontouched rune for cooler stuff.
PUGs have been pretty accepting of my gimpy ways. I haven't been called out on my humorously low DPS, but I did get some admiration for surving a TPK in Pray the Hunter and tanking redname Rockslide while the casters lined up a clean kill.
Goals: I'm not sure what I'm doing with a tank. None of the quests I'm doing really needs a tank for anything, and I don't have much Intimidate gear anyway. If I was going to stick with this build, I would want to get more intimidate and hate. I'm looking at the Circle of Hate from Necro4, but I've never run Accursed Ascention, so can't anticipate how much of a grind that could be.
My other goal is to do something about my Madstone Shield from Reavers. If I get a sigil I could upgrade it, but honestly I'm tired of looking at that ugly hunk of crystal. I don't know which shield has the stats to replace it though.
And then my overarching strategic plan for my next TR? I'm not sure. The unkillability and AFK-friendlyness has been perfect for this phase of my family life, but I'd kinda like to try something with more fight. I'll probably get my third (and final) Paladin life, but with a really aggressive focus on traps and dps. Perhaps even try some deep multiclasses.
I'm also nearly ready to do another Greensteel, so perhaps a Rad semitar for backstabbing? Lots of cool gear and options at this point.
Oh and lastly, I pulled my second +3 STR tome. It was unbound so I swapped it for a +3 DEX. Now I've got +3 STR, +3 DEX, +3 CON, and everything else is +2.
Oh right, the new endgame. I'm totaly out of the loop on that. That should be a fun surprise. :D
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