So the latest EQ2 expansion Sentinel’s Fate is live on February 16th, and news is flowing like water to all corners of the interwebs. I was in the beta and I had notes of things I wanted to talk about, but there are others who have done a much better job than I could so this is going to be a little bit of a linkfest.

First of all, there are big new changes coming to the way stats affect our player characters. Stargrace talks about this and other topics in the video she made on the subject of things coming soon in the expansion. Go watch it right now!

I’m especially excited about the new tradeskill stuff, since I have an 80 jeweler, an 80 carpenter and a max transmuter. EQ2Traders has a great series of articles about Transmuting Changes, and a spoiler on the new Carpenter Recipes that totally made me excited to have a real library in my Gorowyn home!

There are also spoilers on the new quests to transform your mythical weapon into a clicky buff, courtesy of Zam. This is something lots of people were concerned with and it’s good to see what exactly the plan turned out to be to keep them useful after level 80.

There is also a fan-made trailer for the expansion that’s been making the rounds, if you haven’t seen it yet it is sure to get you excited about next week. I know it did me.

The most exciting news so far though? Stargrace is having a contest where you can win an expansion key over on MMOQuests! Just think back to your favorite memory of EQ2 and look at her post to get all the details.

Heard a rumor that a Far Seas Trading Company ship had pulled into dock, so had to go and check that out last night. I missed the first of the new City Festivals (who wants to go to Kelethin anyway…) but with this month’s in Gorowyn I really had no excuse.

On closer inspection the crowd of people standing at the end of the plank are speaking with the questgiver, who has simple quests available to grant you city tokens to spend on things at the festival merchants. I did all three, one was harvesting T2 nodes to replenish their stock; one was crafting some T1 food and drink to feed the hungry merchants and the last was making a run to Mara to grab necessary replacement supplies. Doing all three gained me nine city tokens, so I wandered my tail up to the vendors to have a look.

At first I was considering buying a new outfit… since the Frostfell finery I’ve been wearing is starting to look a bit out of season. Unfortunately, the festival dresses are not good on a sarnak, and the Gi that were available are all temporary items. I’m just going to have to go back and find a nice robe to wear when I return to the guildhall.

The other merchants had lots of exciting house items. I wanted to get some of the Festival lamps that magically bob and dip, but opted instead to spend my tokens at the local specialties merchant, buying a weapon rack, scrollcase and cauldron. There was also a fortune teller (who told me in certain light I resembled Lucan d’Lere) and firebreathers, as well as a food merchant. They have a neat setup of tents at the base of Gorowyn just inside the cave from the docks.

After heading home to display my purchases I quickly fell asleep, satisfied by my festival experience.

Check out the Festival in Gorowyn everyone! Feb 1-7!

As you may have already seen on another blog the first T2  ship made from Tipa’s invention skills is now zipping around the skies of Coriault. The Helios is a covert ops frigate that is able to fit a covert ops cloaking device, giving it amazing maneuverability and the ability to remain undetected. Plus, it looks good

Been thrilled that my last EVE post got so much attention, thank you all for stopping by. I wanted to address some of the comments… first of all I’m not good at judging how much time is worth to me in EVE yet. I’ve been pouring skillpoints into being able to fly the Helios and have only done level 1 and 2 missions, so my cash flow is not high yet. I’m sure as I move farther along into the game my time will become more and more valuable to me, and then I’ll be able to judge it in with my profitability calculations.

Also, I’ve been pricing out manufacturing T1 ships (as I was looking to buy a Myrmidon) and I see what Lockefox meant by most ships coming out as a loss. The Myrm certainly would have been, even with a researched blueprint copy from the corp. It’s going to take time to see what is an isn’t profitable to harvest and make, and I’m ok with that. EVE is a learning experience. For now I’ll keep making rigs from mission salvage and work my way toward bigger and better ships

Fly safe everyone.

I’m planning a gaming post for tonight over on the Nomadic Gamer blog, and I’m warning you now that this one is off topic and political so if that would offend you please don’t read.

I feel like today something has happened that shows every nasty emotion we as a people are capable of feeling. Everything is on the surface and on the issue of healthcare in the US some very ugly things have happened. I’m young, but in my limited experience this is the most polarized I’ve ever known things to be.

When I think about healthcare, it’s very simple to me… that every human deserves access to medical care, regardless of economic situation. It’s unconscionable to me that anyone would be allowed to profit from the health of another. The insurance companies and hospital conglomerates are doing something morally repugnant when they put profit above life, and it happens every day.

Does any doctor study medicine without wanting to help people? Why is it not the same for business people and politicians. I just don’t understand. Perhaps I never will.

Today Barack Obama did the best thing he could have done by telling democrats to seek bipartisan support for the parts of healthcare reform that are popular. There is a seat at the table for republicans, and it is my earnest hope they will take it. It’s well past time they stop saying nothing but “no” and join the discussion.

But, perhaps there is noone in the republican caucus who believes that it is wrong when an insurance company denies coverage to someone who just was diagnosed with an illness. Or when the cost of a prescription drug increases 3000% over a decade. Perhaps the cost of capitalism is human life and dignity.

I don’t know. I don’t understand.

It’s an exciting week in EVE, I’m now three days from being able to fly my first tech II ship. As I talked about in my last post the part of EVE that draws my attention the most is the exploration, moving through dangerous space in a cloaked ship and scanning for hidden goodies. To that end, I planned from the time I played the trial to learn to fly the covert cloaking ships. For Gallente, the first is the Helios frigate.A Helios requires two skills to fly, Covert Ops I and Gallente Frigate V. In addition, to fit the covert cloaking device that is the ship’s real claim to fame you need Cloaking IV. I have all the necessary prerequisites now except for the Electronic Upgrades, and that is three days from finishing. I’m very excited!

Now, learning to fly one is only half the battle of course… you also have to be able to get one. Current price for a Helios on the market in Gallente space is close to 22 million isk. Talking to Tipa who is in the midst of learning to invent tech II blueprints we both agreed that it would be far more fun to make one, rather than buy it. So, that’s what the past couple weeks while skills are training have been for me.

Tech II ships require far more than just minerals to build. They require the tech I ship as a base component, then a mixture of minerals and spaceship components. You’ll also notice I don’t have the skills to build one at the moment, in EVE the industrial path is arguably even more complex than the spaceship command path for skills. Haven’t figured out a solution to that yet, hoping someone in the corp who does have the skills is willing to hit the manufacture button when everything is in place.

As of yesterday I’ve bought all the components needed and stashed them in a station, total cost was 11.2 million isk. You’d have to ask Tipa what it takes to make a blueprint (very involved and lots of start up cost) but once you can invent then a 100% profit on completed ships is not bad at all. And making my first Covert Ops frigate this way is certainly more fun than just buying one. Can’t wait to insure it :-X hehe.

Fly safe today my friends.

I’ve written a piece for Stargrace’s new blogging project The Nomadic Gamer about one of my wanderings from last year, Legends of Zork. Check it out, and comment on mine and the other posts there.

I’m really excited about the new blog and really happy that Stargrace asked me to be a part of it. Hopefully you all enjoy reading about our wanderings in MMO gaming too!

With things being in that in between time and my usual winter restlessness I recently reactivated my EVE account. I’d only played through the free trial before, so my Ethomas is still a low skill capsuleer but in EVE that just means that you have room to grow into any career you wish. Over the past few weeks I’ve been getting back into the game, and have been running lots of level 1 and 2 missions to raise funds for new ships and upgrades.

I’m not a pvp person, never really have been. A big part of what turned me off in EVE the first time was the way that pvp culture fills the game. Even in Empire space, where any hostility is met with lethal force by the CONCORD police force you still see people do things like can flipping, rename storage containers to tempt people into agressing them, spam local chat channels with auction scams, and even carry out large scale abusive targetting of people who choose to avoid low/nullsec play through Hulkageddon style organized griefing. For people who enjoy that sort of cutthroat gameplay EVE is a universe full of danger and excitement and honestly that’s great for them.

I on the other hand would rather not have that be all there is to the game, and of course it isn’t. Exploration of space is a rewarding activity that I’ve been pursuing lately, and while I do missions my skill queue has been working up the skills needed to fly a ship called the Helios, a probing ship that can fit an advanced cloaking device. I’m looking forward to being able to scout in lowsec and wormhole space for people in the corporation while also learning skills to fly battlecruisers and battleships for higher level missions. I don’t know how long EVE will hold my interest but there is so much to do and so much to see that I’m sure it will be for a while yet.

This is a little real life post to welcome in the New Year and rejeuvanate my poor neglected blog. More gaming coming tomorrow and hopefully more frequently, so stay tuned for that.

Well, it’s another year and another cold January. Hope everyone is staying warm and having fun playing what their game of choice is these days. It feels lately like we’re in a lull in between the release of some really exciting new projects and expansions for old friends and the holiday season, and lately I’ve been drifting a little more than normal. So, here are some of the things that have been happening lately.

EQ2 has the new expansion coming out soon, and Kiara has been nice enough to send me some exclusive preview screenshots for Sundered Frontier and the Hole. The new expansion looks really cool, and with a level cap increase and changes coming to transmuting along with other unconfirmed rumors floating around it sounds like Norrath is in for big things. I’m looking forward to it, as lately I just haven’t had the desire to grind achievements on the sarnak and new content to explore and history to learn is really what keeps me driving forward in the game.

I haven’t been playing much Vanguard since I finished making my home, but some recent disturbing news has me worried about the future of it. Telon is a beautiful world and the people of Safe Haven have been nothing but welcoming so I hope that there’s still a game to go back to when I get the urge to be there again. It will happen sooner or later you know, probably sooner!

Exciting new stuff about Star Trek: Online over at West Karana! I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m a sci fi junky and of course Star Trek is right up my alley. As I hear more about what has changed in the game design from what initial impressions were I’ve gotten a little less enthusiastic but the fact that I’ll play is almost a given… after all, who can resist after seeing Tipa’s screenshot of a DS9 flyby!

You may ask what have I been doing  while I talk about what I haven’t been. Well, look out tomorrow for an article about that.

I got a camera as a gift from someone close to me for Christmas and it inspired me to start a new project for this year. You may have noticed already (and for the last couple weeks) the poor man’s ShutterCal sidebar picture on the right, which links to my calendar on ShutterCal. Come visit me, and post comments if you want… I want to keep up posting something every day and so far that’s been going pretty well. Now if only I can get the cats to behave long enough to take pictures of them!

Also on ShutterCal you can see pictures of the secret santa gifts I sent to girlunplugged as part of Stargrace’s Secret Gamer Santa. This was a lot of fun and I hope more people take part next year. Probably will take pictures of the gifts I got to post on my calendar sometime soon, so watch for them.

Thanks to all my friends for a great 2009. You all are why I keep playing and what puts a smile on my face every day.

More pictures mysteriously left on my doorstep. This time the note only said one word… Hole.

Getting excited for the new expansion, the Hole was one of the most frustrating zones in the old EQ but also one of those zones that leave you with lasting memories of tense dungeon crawls. Excited to see how it’s been reimagined for Sentinel’s Fate!

Happy New Year everyone.

The strangest thing just happened readers, I’m sitting in my dining room enjoying some delicious roast ham when I hear a rustle outside the door. I walk over to it and hear something that sounds very much like giggling, then a tape dispenser being used, then a loud *KNOCK* and hurried footsteps. I opened the door to look but all I saw was a shadow of someone with blue skin wearing an elf cap running toward the road.

A packet was left taped to my door with a drawing of a hamster and a label saying *Sentinel’s Preview – Sundered Frontier*. Inside were these two photos.

Whatever could it mean, could something be happening soon?

Until next time, listen for the giggle…