Today was the +50% exp Sunday and I decided to take Gnobby out to Butcherblock since he was level 22. Yesterday I finished up a nice Saturday of questing at Crushbone and that concluded the entire Greater Faydark solo questlines. GF was a fantastic 1-22 experience but I think it definitely lacks the achievement exp that Darklight Woods provides for evil characters. I think I had about 14 Achievement points when I finished in GF and headed for Butcherblock Mountains.
So upon entering BB I noticed a group of quests that I had not seen before. Near the entrance to GF there was a little camp of Dark Elves and Arasai who must have been added since the last time I ran through BB with Delbert (My Brigand I played about 5 months ago). These NPC’s offered a few extra quests (and achievement exp) that I milked before heading to the Irontoe outposts and docks. I was pleased to see such a large turnout in BB this Sunday. I’m not quite sure if it was the exp bonus or just a lot of people returning to the game to take advantage of the time before Kunark but it was sure more people than I saw in LOTRO on average – total pleasing surprise.
I spent about 4 hours questing today and made it half way through 24. I’m saddened to report that being a Conjuror has become slightly more difficult. It’s not quite as easy to take on mobs that I was able to wreck in my teens and my pet is not staying alive or holding aggro like he used to. At 24 I was able to scribe my Adept 3 Tank pet which holds aggro pretty well but still takes an unbelievable amount of damage for being a tank. This brings up the next conundrum – achievements. Until this afternoon I had all 16 points unspent but finally decided to break down at place 5 in improved Earth Pet, 4 in Stamina, 1 in Shockwave, 1 in that required starter, and still have 5 points unspent. I’m toying with the idea that I could go STA 4-4-8-8 WIS 4-4-8-8-2 which would be a decent solo build but would leave little in the way of groupability. If I wanted to be slightly more group friendly I could go STR 4-4-4-8 STA 4-1 WIS 4-4-8-8 … I’ll probably end up doing that. I want to group although I’ve had difficulty finding any groups today. Had I found a decent group I bet I could have yielded much more than 2 levels (although I did get a ton of questing done).
All in all a decent Sunday with boosted EXP. I wish I could have jumped up to about 26 but that would be unrealistic for the time I wanted to spend playing. I’m still taking the game casually and I really want to experience playing through as a Sarnak at the very least from 1-20 so there’s that feeling in the back of my mind that I don’t want to experience TOO much of the content on my conjuror just yet. Having a blast though.
I welcome any Conjuror advice for AA’s or advice from any EQ2 vets out there willing to offer general tips. Also, where’s a good place to go quest at about 25? The quests are getting difficult in Butcherblock mountains and I would love to skip Nek/TS if possible – I really hate those zones.