New zones, new race, for free!

Yesterday, SOE put game update #35 on the live servers. In case you don't know what a live update is, because you don't play EQ2 yet, it is a fairly large update that is free. Nothing to buy. Game updates have added new zones in the past but for the first time they added a new starting city in the update. For veteran EQ1 players, you'll know the zone, Neriak. To go with the new starting city they added a new playable race - The Arasai. When I saw these updates I had to roll up a new character and take a look. ...

The first thing you notice is that the Arasai are the dark elves of the fae world. They are basically fae, with some different wing types, hair types and coloring possibilities. Fae are cool though and I had fun creating my new character.

When you log in your new character, you don't start in Neriak. Much like the Fae don't start in Kelethin, you start in a newbie area that is part of the other new zone that came with the update, Darklight Wood. Darklight wood is nice. The village you start out at has a somewhat medieval asian look to it. Other than that it is just a new zone with new things to look at. Of course there are lots of quests to get you leveled up quickly. Being who I am, I wanted to check out the tradeskilling amenities, so I made my way to Neriak.

Neriak is beautiful. In many ways it resembles Neriak of Old. There are some very familiar areas. Pictures are coming soon. SOE did a good job of making a dark and evil city without making it dismal. In case you are wondering, I did find the main tradeskilling area and quickly did quests to get my new character up to a level 9 artisan.

Since these new zones and new playable race are more than likely going to have people roll up new characters, Sony also gave each account an extra character slot. If you've got a station access acount you get two. Did I mention that this update was free? Thank you very much Sony.

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If you haven't played Everquest 2 and would like to try the game, Sony currently has a trial called Play the Fae. If you own a mac, check out this page that talks about using boot camp to play EQ2.

Tradeskilling in EQ2 - Successful Creation

One of my first blog postings here at my.opera was about tradeskilling. More specifically it was about harvesting enough raw materials so that you could tradeskill. At the time of the original post, I fully intended to write the follow up how to shortly thereafter. Well it has finally come time to do so, here it is.

Many people I meet in Everquest 2 don't like to tradeskill, and for many good reasons. For many, the reason is that they can't consistantly make Pristine quality products. Tradeskilling is a bit different than adventuring so I will guide you through the basics today. ...

First, let's define some terms that you may not already know. I will be using these terms to explain some things.

1. Tier - A tier is a group of 10 levels( 1-9 = tier 1, 10-19 = tier 2, 20-29 = tier 3, etc ) and the products you create in one tier can only be used to their maximum potential by people whose adventuring levels are at or above that same tier. Tiers are often written shorthand so that T5 is the same as Tier 5 or levels 40-49.
2. Durability & Progress - When in the process of creating something you have 2 bars shown. The top bar, which is usually green, is your durability bar. The bottom bar, which is blue and starts out empty, is your progress bar. The durability bar represents what quality level you are going to create. The progress bar, sometimes called state bar, just shows you how close you are to being done, or what quality level you will create if you quit now.
3. Quality Levels - There are 4 quality levels you can create. The 4 types most often used, and thus what I'll use, are crude, shaped, regular ( no-name ), pristine. For the most part, we only want to concern ourselves with pristine but it is good to know the lingo.
4. tick - The intervals at which the tradeskilling station ( stove & keg, woodworkers table, etc. ) gives you updates on your progress and durability. Usually around 6 seconds.

Tradeskilling in EQ 2 was designed to be more like an encounter than tradeskilling in EQ Live, where you just put in your components and hoped it combined properly. Like an adventuring encounter, you have actions you can take to change the way the encounter is going. In adventuring you might stun your opponent or heal your group member. In tradeskilling you might increase your speed at the expense of success, or improve durability at the expense of speed. Unlike adventuring you don't get new actions every level. Instead, you get them every tier.

The actions you get at each tier alternate their focus. At the odd tiers ( T1, T3, etc ) the focus is on speeding up the progress bar. Conversely, even tiers ( T2, T4, etc ) focus on improving durability. For this reason, I recommend having the actions from the highest odd tier and highest even tier available for use in your hotbar. I usually put them on my fourth hotbar window and when I tradeskill I just press Shift+4. When I'm done I press Shift+1 and go back to adventuring.

Like adventuring, maxing out your skills is vital to success. With the tradeskill system as it stands now, there is only one skill to max out for your tradeskill class. However, if you've tradeskilled and only used an action to counter some event you may have noticed that your skill doesn't go up very fast. Your skill only has a chance to go up when you create an item or take an action. So in order to get your skill up you need to use your tradeskilling actions more.

There are many guides I've read online that tell you to use your tradeskilling actions more to improve your odds, but they don't tell you how. When I first started trying it I would always run out of power. There is a simple tactic to be able to press buttons every tick and not run out of power. This tactic doesn't involve a mana stone or using your pet's health for mana, it's actually quite simple. Each tier you only get 3 new actions to take at your tradeskill station. One uses a lot of power and the other two use such little power that they regenerate by the next tick. So every tick just use the 2 that don't use any power. Just make sure to counter any events that come up, though it usually isn't too bad if you don't. By doing that you give yourself 2 chances every tick to skill up. You'll be maxed out in no time. Once your skills are maxed out they stay maxed out, as long as your continue to do the same routine.

To get a pristine, just about every time, use this method with your even tier actions. Since they focus on durability over speed, it is slow going but you are almoste assured a pristine. If you want to move faster and your durability is high enough, go ahead and use the odd tier actions. Once you feel comfortable with tradeskilling you can do lots of writs to earn status for your guild without having to get a group together. My next article, I promise it will be this week, will be about how to achieve success with the rush order writs.
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My characters( all on Nektulos Server ):
Diacre: 40 Armorer, 38 Shadow Knight
Leroy: 47 Tailor, 44 Templar
Courier Theloniuss: 50 Woodworker, 32 Bruiser
Envoy Lutte: 50 Provisioner, 28 Warden
Froche: 32 Carpenter, 23 Swashbuckler
Diacona: 14 Conjuror, 14 Scholar

If you'd like to join a high level ( currently 37 ), casual ( real life comes first ) guild send me a tell and I'll invite you to the Black Moon Syndicate.

If you haven't played Everquest 2 and would like to try the game, Sony currently has a trial called Play the Fae. If you own a mac, check out this page that talks about using boot camp to play EQ2.

Tradeskilling in Everquest 2 - Harvesting

If you've never played Everquest 2 you can give it a try for free with Trial of the Isle

Tradeskilling is a part of Everquest 2 that I have been into since before I started playing. I remember playing Everquest 1 and reading about the new tradeskilling in EQ2. Since I had been getting into tradeskilling in Everquest 1 at the time, I found out as much as I could about tradeskilling before I started playing. I have been very successful. In fact, I always try to keep my tradeskill level well above my adventure level. ...

For instance, my main tradeskiller, Theloniuss, is a 42 Woodworker and only a level 25 Bruiser. He would probably still be below 20 but once Achievement points came out I wanted to get him over 20 so he could earn exploration achievement points.

Tradeskilling has been changed quite a bit since the beginning of the game and is now much easier for people less interested in it than I. However, some people still don't get some basic principles and helpful hints that I would like to share. Like many topics in the game, tradeskilling takes quite a lot to discuss so today's article is just about harvesting. The key to successful and pleasurable tradeskilling.

Some people don't like to harvest and they either buy the components themselves ( expensive ) or have friends and guildmates do it for them. If you've never thought about it, here are my reasons for harvesting all my own materials ( except when I need a few more to finish a writ ).

1. Rares - you have to harvest a lot to get the components you need and you are bound to get more than a few rares. If the rares are of no use to you this can be your major source for in game funding. This article is written with the idea that you aren't just trying to harvest rares, but to harvest the components so you can raise your tradeskill level.

2. Collectibles - Collectibles can be the source of adventure and achievement experience as well as in game funding. It is much more likely you'll find collection points when you are already looking at the ground ( and sometimes other places ) for stuff to harvest. Collection points are basically another type of harvest node so you might as well follow the same rules that I talk about below.

3. It is peaceful - Once again, this article is not written for people just trying to harvest rares. Which, in my experience, can be very aggravating. If you follow my rules for harvesting, it isn't a chore and isn't too stressful. Of course, aggro mobs wandering in front of you in mid-harvest or just when you click to harvest can be annoying but that won't happen too often.

4. Meet nice people - You may not think of harvesting as a way to meet other players. However, follow my rules below and you'll meet some of the nicer people I have met in the game.

5. It's a whole lot cheaper than buying the components - It will cost you a whole load of dough to level up without harvesting, unless you have friends and guildmates harvesting for you. If that's the case, though, you are dependent on someone else having what you need when you need it.

Those are the reasons to harvest your own components but let's get down to the rules I have set for myself and they have treated me very well. They are simple rules, so you should have no problem following them.

1. Harvest everything - And I mean everything. If you need it, harvest it. If you don't need it, harvest it. Harvest nodes ( and collection nodes in their own way ), are placeholders for other harvest nodes. If you are too selective about your harvesting, like people looking for rares, you end up with a whole bunch of the nodes you don't need. That's why you'll often see a zone with so many bushes. No hugely profitable rares so the rare hunters don't harvest them. That's okay, just harvest them. In no time your node type(s) will pop all over the place. And what do you do with all the extra components you have? You have 3 choices: destroy them, sell them( more profitable than destroying ) and / or give them away( see below ).

2. If someone else is harvesting in your area, talk to them - This makes all the difference in the world. This is where you meet the nice people in Everquest 2. Here are the types of responses you are likely to get from people as you strike up a conversation with them.
- "I'm looking for rares." If that's so they will most likely give you stacks and stacks of the other components they have that they "don't need".
- They are looking for the same thing you are - Since all tradeskilling takes many different types of components they may be able to help you out with some that you are having a little trouble coming by that they don't need ( and vice versa ).
- "You need feyiron and feysteel? I have 2 feysteel. Do you want them?" - That's right, if you are polite, some people may actually just give you rares. You heard me correctly GIVE YOU RARES! While this happens as often as harvesting rares it does happen. In a social game, talking to people and being polite is worthwhile.
- "I'll go ( harvest ) somewhere else." - Some people don't like to get in other people's ways, especially if they feel it isn't as important for them to harvest at the moment. Under these circumstances they step aside and let you have the area / zone.
- You find a new friend / guildmate - As long as you are talking to them, add them to your friends list. If they aren't in a guild ask if they would like to join yours. If you aren't in a guild, ask them about theirs. If neither of you are in a guild maybe you can get 4 more people together and start one.
That's just a sample of the conversations you will have. If you approach the conversation from "What are you harvesting? I'm harvesting x,y and z" and be polite, then the conversation should go well.

3. Help other harvesters - This is really an extension of rule 2 and the golden rule. Treat other people the way you would like to be treated. I once gave a guy 1 rare because he gave me a stack and a half of something I was having the hardest time harvesting. Then I found another of the same rare and gave that too him as well. I'm pretty sure that made his hour if not his day. I've also given away plenty of stacks of stuff I didn't need or had more than enough of. On the selfish side, these acts make you feel good about what you did.

4. Harvest in dense node areas / harvest in a circuit fashion - Don't wander all around a zone hoping to run into harvest nodes. Learn where the best places are. Create a circuit you walk that works well for harvesting. This will make your bags fill up with components quicker and then you can cast Call of the Overlord / Qeynos and get down to tradeskilling faster. Where these places are depends on the zone, your level, your server and along with the day and time. In a future article I may right about good places to harvest when your level is too low for a zone. I'll try to at least start harvesting in Tier 6 zones before that article though.

That's it. Four simple rules for harvesting that seem to make it go quicker and easier. While it may seem like common sense to some of you, I hope many of you can glean a tip or two from this.

Happy Harvesting and Merry Tradeskilling.
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My characters( all on Nektulos Server ):
Diacre: 37 Armorer, 30 Shadow Knight
Leroy: 40 Templar, 39 Tailor
Theloniuss: 42 Woodworker, 25 Bruiser
Lutte: 38 Provisioner, 27 Warden
Froche: 28 Carpenter, 18 Swashbuckler
Diakono: 27 Conjuror, 20 Tailor

If you'd like to join a high level ( currently 32 ), casual ( real life comes first ) guild send me a tell and I'll invite you to the Black Moon Syndicate.