Levik's: Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!

A while back I finished Stealer of Souls (SoS) but since the quest took so long I logged out without claming my prizes. I meant to, I wanted to, but every time I logged in there was some really cool PUG that I wanted more. I did epics and raids and S/E/Rs and Mabar and before I knew it I forgot all about my unclaimed end reward. ...until last night.

I'm anticipating the return of Mabar by holding at level 20 so I can farm efficiently without spawning the giant skellies. I'm building up XP but at merely level 20, I'm definitely the runt in any Pick Up Group (PUG). Since I'm only level twenty, I advertise myself as the tank of last resort.

So anyway I joined a Tower of Despair PUG, and when a higher level tank joined I was demoted to Suulumades tank. I kept losing Suulumade's aggro between successful intimidates. The melee were fine. Between the epic destiny and the new hurt-free AC system, everyone is too tough to care about a bit of sloppy tanking. I wonder though if that means that people will eventually re-engineer characters to have less survivability?

In any case, everyone was cool except for a Paladin who "helped me tank" by standing next to me. Sadly his "helping" only happened when I used intimidate! ;)

But anyway it got me thinking about working more hate into my build, and that got me thinking about DT, and soon I was on my way to pick up my long-forgotten reward from Stealer of Souls!

My friends say I'm a daredevil but realy my bravery is in statistics. Whenever I'm brave it's because I've calculated that the odds are sufficiently stacked in my favor. When it comes down to the rune grinding lotto, I can't stand it. I get this sorta unpleasant sense of dread because, as far as I know, the only way to stack the odds in my favor is to have many many runes to risk.

Blech.

Well so here's what I did. I closed my eyes, twisted away from the computer and peeked at the screen out of the corner of my eye. I grabbed the mouse with the tips of my fingers and ground up the eldrich runes quick quick quick. Then I did the same with tempest runes. Finaly I popped open my bag and looked at what I had obtained.

I wanted Soverign Rune of threat (20% hate) but instead I got... Soverign Rune of Levik's (20% hate with my current setup.) Not bad! I had given up on Levik's because of how much I dread the Rune lotto, but technicaly it's BETTER than the other rune with the caviat that I need to wear at least one other Levik's item.

Levik's bracers was my first ever DDO item that I wanted and got. I claimed it as my 20th reward and I've worn them ever since. The shield has eluded me, but the idea of finding it and having the complete Levik's set is thrilling. I'm not sure how much of an impact there will be in the differential between 20% and 50% increased hate. But shield wise I can't find a better option.

And so you see how it is. Just when I thought I was finaly out of grinding threat gear, Levik's pulled me back in!

If you need me, I'll be tanking Hound of Xoriat. ;)