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!"
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
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
Monday, August 6, 2012
ToD rings: they ungimp my palitank
After a yet another demoralizing bunch of deaths, I abandoned palipurity and sauntered over to the rogue trainer. To my delight, I had banked two levels -- enough to get evasion.
But the coolest thing was upgrading my ring fingers to wear ToD rings. Encrusted and Kilaus FTW! I'm not über but it's enough DPS to make me feel relevant again.
But the coolest thing was upgrading my ring fingers to wear ToD rings. Encrusted and Kilaus FTW! I'm not über but it's enough DPS to make me feel relevant again.
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