Are you pondering what I’m pondering?
I’ve started, deleted, and re-started this post about 5 times now. It keeps coming across as a total rant and I really don’t like doing the whole rant thing. So, I’ll just do a quick summary of what I was saying.
I was just commenting on how funny I thought it was that people seem to think content is a race. I’ve never understood that. I do understand that people want things for their characters, but I honestly have never understood what the hurry is. Is it for bragging rights? Is it so they can finish the latest bit of content and then go back to bitching about how there is nothing to do?
I don’t know if any of the new epic weapons have been 100% solved yet, but if they haven’t, I bet they are by the end of today. I personally know several people who called in sick to work today because they were up all night last night trying to be the first to complete the epic.
That whole “race for the imaginary finish line” mentality is just beyond me I guess.
I don’t have a problem with people who want to do them quickly just because they enjoy it. It just bothers me when people who complain about lack of content blast through new content like it is a race and then go right back to complaining.
Last night was my first real night of 2-boxing. I took my 25 wizard and 20 brigand to Butcherblock. I mentored down with my wizard so that I could more quickly catch him with the brigand and then set out to do the beginning area quests around the docks. I had already completed them with the wizard, so it was all for the brigand.
Between the two of them, mobs just don’t have a chance. I lead off with my stealth attack on the brigand and then just unload his 3 primary frontal attacks. I then fire off the big nuke from the wizard which spins the mob to face him and I finish it off with my 2 flanking attacks on the brigand. Single ^ yellow mobs were lasting about 10 seconds… and I giggled a lot.
I ended the night by getting the brigand griffon tower access and picking up the quests at the greater faydark zone line. I’ll knock those out this evening and possibly venture over to Crushbone to pick up the orc L&L book. I’ll be somewhat curious to see if the brigand is KoS to the Fay in Kelethin. If he isn’t, I’ll go ahead and pick up the Dwarven Ringmail Tunic HQ and get started on that for both toons.
Either tomorrow or this weekend, I’m going to head over to Thundering Steppes. I leveled my dirge there and don’t really feel a pressing need to go there again, but I need to work up their harvesting skills. Plus, I would like to get my hands on some steel nodes so that I can make my brigand some new armor. I could do the harvesting elsewhere, but Thundering Steppes always has a nice quantity of nodes all over the place.
I will probably also work on completing my wizard’s level 20 armor quest line. He doesn’t need most of the pieces, but I think those quests are enjoyable.
Here is a question for those who know much more than me… do Gorowyn residents get a Call ability like Qeynos and Freeport residents do? I have yet to receive anything of the sort on my brigand and I’m not sure if I have just missed a step or if this ability doesn’t exist there.
If anyone happens to be curious about the tradeskill epics, check out the information that Stargrace has uncovered about it. Many cudo’s to her for spending the time to work through all of that. It sounds interesting, but time-consuming. I won’t be doing this for a while. My top tradeskiller is only level 57 and he is also only a level 12 adventurer, so I don’t see him as being a candidate for working this one… unless I get around to leveling him up one day. My most likely toons to be able to do this quest will be either my dirge or my wizard. While my dirge might be a level 71 adventurer, he’s only around level 32 in tradeskill. My wizard is a 46 tradeskiller, but only a 26 adventurer.
Clearly, I have a wait ahead of me for that. I don’t mind though. I’m in no hurry.
1. You can do the crafter epic even at level 1 adventurer. You do have to dodge some kobold around Steamfont, but it’s very do-able at lower levels. So that won’t be an issue if you’re concerned.
2. Yes, they actually changed the ‘call of’ spell slightly for newer players. Check your abilities book out (I think K is the default for this) and it will already be in there, starting at level 1. People who start on the Island (Qeynos and Freeport) receive theirs as they leave the island, so it shows up on your hotbar. However, if you start in Kelethin, Neriak, or Gorowyn, your call home spell is already sitting and waiting for you- it’s just a matter of noticing it’s there.
3. I agree completely with the whole ‘why is it a race’ aspect. I didn’t intend on being the one to disco the crafter one on my server (I actually did it with a friend who found the initial npc) I did it because I enjoy it, and I certainly don’t think there’s a lack of content. People will blow through them, and then they’ll be back to picking their nose tomorrow in game because they’ve ‘done it all’. I understand that ‘progress’ is a very important thing in an mmo and we all judge it differently, so maybe I just can’t see their point of view.
Thanks for the information, Stargrace. That is very helpful.
I guess I read your writeup where you were talking about the library in Maj’Dul and the instance of the bixie tower and got to worrying that I would get smoked at lower levels just walking in the door. I guess that is where I will have to be creative moving around and doing the whole “dodge aggro” dance.
I actually think it is very cool that you disco’d so much of the tradeskill epic. Having read your site for a while now, you seem to approach MMO’s the same way that I do… as an exploration and an adventure. As someone who shares a love of tradeskilling, I don’t think I would have been able to resist seeing how far I could get on that one either had I been of a tradeskill level to try it.
Loved your write-up by the way. I will be coming back to it once I’m ready to give it a go.