Whirly: good to go

Have you ever been stuck in a dungeon trying to finish a quest? We spent over two hours in Crypt of Betrayal trying to track down 12 ire minions to finish Part V of Mike’s class armor. We killed every mob in that zone, multiple times, trying to find those minions. Initially we were mentored down to Mark’s Priest (28), but we got killed one time too many and stopped that. At 34 Mike and I are a bit too high for CoB. We were still getting experience, a lot actually, simply because of the huge number of kills. It was just a grind though with few real fights. I didn’t know you could get tired of opening chests for loot, there were so many. I received two shield upgrades – sweet. I don’t expect to ever return to Crypt of Betrayal. On to part VI.

We are still playing EQ2. I found a list of dungeons by level we are working our way through. We all love a good dungeon crawl, so we are having a great time. We are also working on our class armor quests.

When we re-started, Mark was playing a Priest. He switched to a Druid, but now wants to go back to the Priest. Our mains are 34ish and his Priest was mid teen. EQ2 has a great mentoring system. When you mentor a lower level player, your level is reduced to match theirs. You still have all your skills, spells, and equipment. I don’t know how they reduce your power while mentoring, but it works. I think the Priest is around level 28 after one week of casual mentoring.

A couple of years ago I got so frustrated trying to re-install ATC sim 2, it’s an air traffic control simulator, that I deleted it and eventually tossed the install disk. It’s a great program, but the anti-piracy, or what ever it is, crap just pisses me off… I purchased the damn thing again. It’s $15 more for just a standard download now. There is a professional version. The web site isn’t very clear what pro includes other than a sector design kit.

I run the occasional plane into a mountain. Nothing happens on screen. Maybe you notice the missing blip, maybe not, but when you check your stats at the end, you get gigged for it. Pthh.

We are moving right along in EQ II. I’m playing the tank, Mark is the healer, and Mike plays a Wizard. I chose a Guardian as tank. My second choice was a Paladan. I read somewhere that a Pally was a better choice for a small group. Obviously, I chose a different path.

The experience on Test Server is accelerated. The cash income isn’t keeping up. I can’t afford arrows for pulling. Fortunately we can summon food and drink. I don’t know what we’ll do for equipment. I’m level 14 and I’m still using newbie island stuff. That will limit us.

At these levels we ding every hour or so. It’s hard to keep up with what spells do what and which to use when. It’s not a problem unique to EQ II. It’s fun so far. Good to be back in the saddle after our break.