The best comment ever heard over voice for me is “You don’t have spell X?”. I love it. People just assume your spell list is the same as everyone else’s. Let me color you a mind picture.

I have been leveling Java as a FVS, as I hope you all know. He is around 11 now and starting to come into his own. And as every divine caster will tell you at some point you will get a tell please join X quest please. Now this life I have been in a bit of a mood, a good one not a bad one. And I ask “Are you looking for a healer?” because if they are asking anyone with divine spells we all know what they want. When I get a “yes please” back I say “Sorry, I only have 1 healing spell, if you need a healer you might want to keep looking” And it is true. Java’s only has cure serous.

Last night I got in a von5 farming party. Once I joined 4th or 5th in the group I made it clear that I was not a healer and with a +6 wisdom item I only have a 12. And the leader didn’t have a problem with it. But there was a monk that I guess didn’t have a way to fix the con damage post poison or nerco touch. And was always complaining about con damage. The leader linked his lesser restore pots and I replied “what he said” We made 3 runs and I didn’t hear from that monk again. 🙂

Ask a sorc one of the things I have problems with is the lower number of spell slots. I have told you about not having a way to hurt the Abbott while leveling up by swapping Disintegrate for Reconstruct but that decision hunts me in Evon6. Not being to one shot the pillars. But I can cast CyBlast 2 or 3 times and not have an issue, takes a hair longer but normally not an issue.

But I want to share another evon6 story. The other day we get moving and life is good. I am assigned base 1 with another guy. The base gets prepped and people take off. I am standing in the “safe” spot with my wf melee partner and a reaver runs over. My partner stands there as yells dance him, dance him! And dies as I try to recon him up. I jump over behind the reaver and check my invis no problems.

I rez and heal the Barb who starts to try dressing me down for not having dance. And I just inform him that I don’t carry dance but I do have a stack of rez scrolls… But I didn’t stand there and let myself get beat to death with someone throwing reconstructs… Time comes to take our base but the freshly back to life barb can’t hit anything because he died and lost his buffs. WTF? Power attack off, hit == win. But he slips on some ice and dies. I do get the shield on the pillar down and kill it once but do to timing we miss. I get it to half a second time but with the reaver on me my sorc is just too squishy and I die with the the pillar at about ½. Oncler wings over in time to drop the pillar with comet falls and the raid is saved.

Moral of the story, don’t assume that someone can save you. Save yourself! Not everyone is going to have the answer for your bad play. Does my sorc need to swap into dance? Maybe and I will be making that change in my spell list, However, I will not stand by and let myself become helpless waiting on someone else to save me.

Oh and a bonus moral, Don’t assume that someone is a cookie cutter of someone else. Spell lists for example are personal choices.

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Wow, how to begin…. I have been asked to talk about epics. With the idea of getting started doing epics. Or how to break into epics. Epics kinda have 3 categorizes, easy, normal, long as balls. I say lets stick to the easy epics for right now.

What are the easy epics? For me they are BoB-Bargain of Blood, TTT- The Tide Turns, Claw-The Claw of Vulkoor, Von1 Tharashk Arena, Stand – The Last Stand and the following raids DQ – Zawabi’s Revenge, Von6 – The Vault of Night and Chrono – The Chronoscope. I just listed all the raids I think….

Any way if your new to epics look for eBoB and TTTs. These are fairly simple see a mob kill the mob epics. There are a few tricks to avoid unneeded fights that some people will use and others wont. Like if Tobril and I are doing Ebob once to the shrine we move around the corner to the left of the shrine and clean up mobs there. To not pull up the red named cow.

In TTT right at the start you can agro the archers in the first room and then run back behind one of the House D npcs they can be shot by an arrow and then the npcs move into the fight. It is just a help for the first fight or two. And proper trap use is a must. Web and balls in the traps and pulling mobs into the traps can really cut down on the time it takes to finish a TTT. Oh and go ahead and clear to the end fight people. There are like less then 10 mobs. But every kill is a shot at a scroll or tokens, go get them….

Claw is an solo or dual able epic, it does take some practice but any one can invis and use sneak mode to stealth through the quest. I would say however, practice on none epic. Learn the scorp’s patterns and then step it up. Be ready for a few fails. But if you keep at it you can solo it fairly easily.

And I have yet to see a group fail last stand. I am sure they are out there but it is “see a caster kill it first, see a not caster mob kill it next” epic. I have seen that lots of people have soloed it. I am not one of them but I do see that it can be done.

As for any other epic and epic raids. Send a tell. Let them know that your new to the epic and be willing to learn. Most leaders are willing to give clear instructions. If you take the time to hear what they are saying then you are golden. Just don’t be afraid to ask for help and be sure that you understand what you are being asked/told to do.

And healbots can get into almost any thing just to get a feel of what is going on. Then once you understand the ins and outs other rolls become a lot easer.

Hope that helps. And later I will talk about the normal epics. Ie Devil Assault.

So over the last few days I have been looting the easy to get to epic von chests. Nothing in von 1, but upon thinking about it I should be going for the chest behind the locked door and maybe do a little scroll farming. Update the locked door in von1 has a higher then 52 knock dc, that means I am not looting running von1. Well not this life anyway…

But basically I want to run down the “how to”s to farm the epic chest in the vons.

I start with von 2. I cast res. fire, exp retreat, jump, the DW clicky and invis. Now there is more then one reason I am letting my sorc life linger a bit, the air dance is handy for some farming.

So we are looking for the up to two chests in the maze. You have to be carfull when looking for them however. Because you don’t want to anger too many mobs because once they know where you are you are going to have to kill them. Dogs I PWK, melee cows get a few neg levels and the finger casters get dragged back where you have a corner to stand behind and jump out to Dot them and jump back to some safety. Tab around and find the chests don’t rush but at the same time don’t stand around smelling the flowers. I know seals drop in these chests. So for me right now it is worth it.

Then I hit von 3. the jungle run is just that and invis run with a well placed wail on normal. Then enter von3 proper on epic. There is a possible chest right at the start. Sometimes there is a named there some times a caster, sometimes a scorp. Some times all three others nothing. Scorp gets PWK, drow get doted like the casting cows in von2. I haven’t seen a seal drop in this chest. But with is 1 out of 4 spawn rate I think of the von 3 run as more of a fast shrine with a possible chest.

Von 4 fire, haste, jump and invis and get the lever. You might have to PWK the earth elemental, but that is no big deal. Invis again post pulling the secound lever and move up some and wait. Wait until the WF moves across the tunnel and you see the crystal about the head glow then jump onto the head, and reinvis talk to the head as fast as possible and start moving up the right tunnel. We are running to the chest down in the pit trap. If you don’t know what I am talking about again find a map on the ddowiki. I haven’t seen a seal drop here either but I have high hopes.

In any case you can hit up to 4 epic von chests in less then 6 mins and start over again. I have seen a lot of 500-1000 point guild renowns tokens. And have earned at least 100k plat in an hour hoping for seals. Now that they are ransacked it is back to EDQ six man chests. 🙂

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I have been asked what do I plan to have in my truck kit. And you know what Ddo was a slow night of hitting epic von chests and getting some xp with Javabot so not a lot to talk about there. And frack, I like talking about this stuff. So here is my current list of stuff for my truck kit.

First Aid kit probably going to add some QuikClot

Food & Water 3 people a day or so. Thinking jerky and something like “Aqua 2 Go” aka long storage time, can’t do that with bottled water.
Some amount of cash money.

• Tire repair kit
• Fixed blade knife/ hatchet?
• Good multi-tool
• Blanket

(again enough for 3)

• A few 55 gal trash bags
• Jump kit

possibly this I have something very much like this but as this is a light, air compresser and more that what i have does not. This is a logical upgrade.

• Can of sand

I want to explain the can of sand, It is a multi-tool. One if it is cold out burning a candle set in sand is a good way to save heat. Also sand can to help get traction if stuck in the snow or mud. And you could also use it as a first first layer filter if you need to clean some water.

• Candles or other source of fuel for a small fire
• Water proof matches
• Folding water bag + some kind of water purification

– never know if you might need more water

• Some extra socks, Bandana/s
• Tarp
• Rescue Tape

– think long storage duct tape.

• Some small gage wire.
• Spare cell phone charger
• Shovel
• 5 gal bucket with a lid.

My plan to expand this to a 3day/bug out kit includes

• Expanding food and water supply to 3+days for 3 people + dogs.
• Ample water purification supplies
• Dog food
• Some amount of hunting equipment

– be it spare ammo or some thing as simple as a Slingshot, pellet gun or a few fishing supplies.

• Extra bedding
• Hand powereddevices, radio, lights, etc…

Think what I will do is break this into a few 5 gal buckets. One car kit in each vehicle, then try to get as much of the bug out kit into one more bucket and keep that in the garage so in case of an major “Get out of Dodge” emergency all I need to do is yell at the wife and kid to get the dogs and get in the truck as I grab the expanded kit and the can of gas and take off.

Now I currently don’t live in a large city. We have a population of about 50k in Salina. And I know the area well enough, I can get out if the need arises. Say the interstate is closed I can take a highway or a black top or even a dirt road to get to a safe house. Now if if I lived in a larger city, say Boston (hint hint Turbine) I would to plan an route or two or three. Having a plan and never using it is good insurance.

While writing this I had a meeting with my boss and owner of my company. A man I trust and respect and he feels that something is coming. He sees it in the financial markets. When the self made – very well off see trouble and start to get ready you had better get ready also. Because those people can since trouble coming and know what steps to take to weather the storms.

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Ps, If you also see trouble brewing let me know and moving to small town Kansas sounds good, I am debating on how to best start a commune….

If you are a fan of the Ddo Cocktail Hour then you have heard me go a little nuts about how the end is upon us. I am not talking about judgment day or any thing like that, although I do think there is a major shake up on the way. But one way or another major change is on the way. And I don’t know about you but I am getting ready.

For example last year we had some nasty ice storms, and many people lost power for 15+ days. And we had 22 inches of snow in places and going out to the store was a laugh.

So what am I doing about it?

1, I am putting together a few emergency bags for the vehicles. You know things like first aid kit, a few bottles of water, flash light, some basic food stuffs, some bailing wire and a good multi-tool and other whatnots. Things that are good to have on hand if say there is a car accident or getting stranded on the side of the road to there is a major emergency.

2, I am also building a list of everyday/everyplace gear. I stopped caring a pocket knife years ago, but I am going to start carrying one again. I am going to try to find a knife with a light on it. If not I have my cell phone which has a flash light app that turns on the flash until turned off. And I am looking at getting a small lighter that can go on the key chain. Boom mini survival kit. Again nothing super strange just good things to carry that I had carried when I was younger and quit.

3, Learning garden. This is a biggie, I am not an out side person and I don’t like yard work. But a simple patio garden sounds like a good idea. You know some potatoes, green onions and carrots maybe some sunflowers next year. I don’t need to replace my food supply, just give myself some fresh veggies.

4, Stock the pantry. My family kinda lives week to week when it comes to food. We don’t like going to the store. So when we go once every few weeks we end up spending a ton of money for what doesn’t seem like a lot. So I am just going to slowly try to bulk up on none perishables like noodles and whatnots. Trying to get a good week or two supply if for some reason I can’t get to the store.

5, Fuel, do you keep some gas on hand? I fill up a 5 gallon gas can maybe once a summer for the mower. I want to try to get myself on a better rotation for turning over that gas. I fill up once every two weeks or so, I will try to use that gas around the half a tank mark and then fill that container just to keep that gas fresher.

6, Power, that is the rub isn’t it. With out power Samius is sitting in the dark. So I am looking into generators, augmenting my home with solar or wind power. I live in Kansas so wind power might be a good option. I am also learning some other skills to live with lower power levels. I learned to build a solar oven. You know it is not that hard, and if I need to I can heat water, bake some food with little more then the sun.

7, Looking at other food supplies. I am thinking about some slightly more extreme options. I have looked at the city ordnances. I can get up to 15 chickens. I think I could build a small fish farm with out going over the top, maybe something as little as a nice yard pond with 30-40 fish and a few water plants. I don’t know yet, there are lots of options.

If you think I am nuts, that is cool. But what is the harm in having/doing some of the things on this list? Nothing. Look back over the last few years of your life. Has there been a time when you or a family member got in an accident? Or couldn’t get to the store or lost power for an extended amount of time? Were you/they able to handle that emergency? If not think about some basic insurance against just this kind of problem.

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Did he fire six shots or only five?

I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? – Harry Callahan

Lately I have felt a little off in my loot pulls. I have been running epics normally many a night. Last night being a kinda an exception, but I will talk about that later.

And when I think about complaining I remember that speech. “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”

There are so many other things to complain about. Is the video game loot really that big of a deal? No and Yes.

Ddo is my main source of entertainment, and game loot is part of entertainment. I want to see that scroll drop in my name. Or get that seal I have been running for. But at the same time, I can afford to play. There are a lot of people that can’t out there.

So I guess the next time I farm for seals and Fopo gets the one he wants on the first run and completes his epic item (like last night, that lucky dog) and I get a lot of nothing I will try to remember a few things:

1, The game loves me and my luck will turn around some time.
2, Everyone has dry spells.
3, And that if I keep a positive attitude then it is all good.
4, And I am playing with good people and they will pass loot that I want if they don’t have a use right away or if I am closer to using it then they are.

Well I hope you all are getting the fat loots, and if not that you can stay positive and work through it.

❤

Let me tell you a little story. I log in Saturday morning check channel and learn that Onecler has also just got on and just hit a epic last stand. The group is looking for one more. And he says get in asap!

So I hit the join group button and wait and wait. A little bit later the lfm changes to barbs, fighters and pallys only. No decline however.

So I inform Onecler of the lfm changes and wish him luck, and we can group up later.

He says no he will talk with the leader. A min or two and I am still hanging out. I get declined. Okay no big deal. I wish Onecler luck and let him know I was declined. As I get back to the boat I get an invite from Onecler, I thought that maybe he got the star and was sending me an invite.

Nope, he told the leader to invite me and we could all get going and have a good run or he was gone. Guess if Onecler tells you something like that it is not a threat. And if you want him you better do as he saids.

In less then 3 mins we have a mostly full lfm for last stand and we are rocking. Onecler starts getting tells from the other group leader, who now is looking for a healer as well as a final dps. About how is Dcs are real good and Onecler should take him into our group…. WFT?

We fill shortly, and have a fun run. I even pull my gloves seal so all I need now from fens are mostly shards. I would take other stuff but most of the epic stuff I want is falling in to place.

Onecler and I went on to rock quite a few epics that morning most of the fin stuff and whatnots.

I have another stand out story with Onecler and the guys this weekend we get an Abbot run going. And we complete in fairly good order. Looks like we are getting skunked until a litany drops. The owner types “sell or roll”. Just like that.

And Miss catches it and types that selling raid loot is a no no. At least in groups with him in it. And it is echoed by many of the other players. Letting the seller know that he will make a few do not play with lists if it gets sold.

Me? I don’t care if you sell raid loot as long as the leader is cool with it and people know the deal from the start. But if your not up front then you sure are a fool. If you don’t think people will be angry.

But the trade goes down. The group reforms for a epic von6 and the seller logs off and someone else from his guild hits the lfm looking for an invite. We asked if he was the seller, he answers yes. You know what? He got declined and was informed as to why.

It is sad. But you cross the raid leader and buck group you better be ready to handle the fall out.

It is your loot and you can do with it what ever you want to, but everyone else in the group can form an opinion as to your character and decide whether or not you are the kind of person they want to group with. Just to be clear however, the buyer also made a few lists. And I think he also tried to get in the von run and he was also declined. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a few guild leaders didn’t hear about this. All I know is reputation is everything for end game Sarlona. And if your rep sucks. Change guilds, get a name change, reroll. Because once that is tarnished you will be facing an uphill battle to change that opinion.

So last night Started off with a bang, a crono loot run with Fopo then I got a ton of xp for Java with the wife. As she was about done for the night I as asked to join a EV6 by Oncler and the guys. I do but find Samius still on timer. So I get Mcgoogles, and remind/inform everyone that I am not a healer. But a shitty Ranger. Mcgoogles is a 20 level human FvS Silver Flame, all light and bow speced, multi shot and all.

And we have a good old time, even told to go spell/ranged dps durning the Velah fight. Smooth completion. And pull the shard of the Dragon Eye. For the eye samius got passed on his first run this life, and the seal he pulled on run 2. All I need is a scroll.

I ask around as they are out of my plat range on the Ah. Lousypher, I guy I don’t know too well, but have ran with more then a few times links 4 of them. I ask what he would sell me one for and he gives me one instead. Woot! Thanks Bro. And now Samius has a new shiny epic trinket for a little sp boost and a way to fit in Str +6 this life. I might have to clear it later but I will cross that road if I cross it.

Post Von the group decides to do a Abbot, Samius needs a Litany. It goes fairly smooth, our healers end up in the water with the abbot at about 20% hp and I spent the rest of the quest right at the edge of the platform throwing a metor swarm and trying to rez them as they swam up. I also throw the occasional heal scroll as I notice people are low. At 5% I get encased and die. But we finish with no problems, the group got skunked at the chest. 😦

So now I get told Ecrono is next. We start to fill, and I epic my new toy. And run over. Timer? Oh, no. When I did that loot run with Fopo first thing I competed and Samius is on timer. Well back to Mcgoogles.

Things are going well, we loop around looking for scrolls. Get to the first real fight, Blood plate. We have a few deaths. One was Oncler who was tanking. I was to heal the group. And the other FvS would keep him a live. Well I guess not. Then a sorc drops a few times. I would throw a heal and he would go a round a pillar. Oh well. I take 2 chain lightings with no time t heal between them and die. Thankfully all the deaths were spaced out over the fight. For the record no pots. The group heads over to loot their other in the inn chest and 3-4 for people get caught by an Abishai. I stay to help the Abishai group and miss the a DD along with those other 3-4 people.

Thankfully I have my invis clickly and most of us make it to the steam tunnels with no problem. A barb is not so luck and croakes. But I think there were a few other people not invsed as we are now at yellow alert. We decide to go clear the alert. But myself and the other healer both get hit with a soundburst and we are helpless as the group starts to drop. True craziness rains down on us for about 10 mins as people are dieing right and left. I lead the killed count at a total of 6 deaths. It was unreal. Finally people start to regroup to the Rusty Nail. That would make a great WF whore’s name in a pnp game. I will have to remember that. Anyway we get our act together and move along.

Ruin Arm fight goes well.

But then we fight go to fight the CAD Oncler says Miss is the tank. Everyone get a drink. And maybe when we get back we can go in. A Horc runs in and hits the CAD twice. The CAD turns and fire breaths killing me and 4 or 5 others. It was crazy. There was the strangest thing. The CAD turned and fired in one move. There was nothing I could do. After some recovery and again some one pulling agro off miss we complete. I hear lots of this was the best run ever. Lots of fun. Other whatnots.

I explain once again not a healer. And I think they know that now. We got lots of shards for the run however and it was lots of fun. It was nice to be in a group that doesn’t mind a little crazy.

Final death count for me 8. The next highest 7. Both of us the healers. The only person with no deaths was Miss. I think he hid when the real crazy went down. If only i was as smart. 🙂

A few more runs like this and I might have to take another look at my raids suck rule and try to do a little more of them.

❤

Last night was a play around with Java and get in an epic or 3 with Sam. Aka a fine night of running around.

I have to say, the way Java is running right now I am very pleased. However I felt the same way at this level with my barbarian and it is sitting in bank land at the moment…

Last night I burned through most of tangle root on elite solo, level 6 remember. Have swapped cure mod for cure serous+ max. That hits for about 35-45, so worth casting. And once I leveled up to 6, I borrowed a icy burst keen great sword of pure good from a melee weapon bank alt. And the damage is solid = Bull Str + rage+ max str and the Abishai set doing its thing + damage boosts + power attack on all the time. Well you get the idea.

I am also getting to the place where the DR 5/invulnerability is starting less great then it is at the starting levels. I think a lot of that comes from not having 100% fort yet. I need to dig up an earthen guard trinket from the cove. That might help, until I can farm von 4 for straight up 5/-.

If you have been keeping up a day or two ago I talked about using the different crafting options to make a vamp great sword with a med guild slot and + 1 point of force damage. That could be level 5 but do to some bugs in the crafting is level 7. I hoped that once the guild boost timed out the weapon would down shift back to level 5 but no luck. So I guess it will just sit for another day or so. Still now is the time I want that sword it is like regeneration but a million times better.

Well back to work.

❤

I have been a long time fan of house D epics and their epic items. Samius carries a Winter’s Wrath for out of Sp moments. Healz’ armor is the Deneith Heavy Chain, my other wizards have a Midnight Greetings mostly for the Disintegration proc. For beat down moments. I have every thing ready for the Docent and a Jidz for Javabot, well the docent anyway.

A few months ago, Sirgog on the forums started a few epic item review threads. Scoring epic items and offering up ideas for possible up grades to better the lower scored items. And to be honest some of the epic items are a little lack luster if good in certain encounters.

Genasi, who I now think of as the item guy, replied to the thread and worked with the players to make some adjustments. To both the House D epics and the House P epic items. In a few weeks we will be seeing those changes happen.

But I am mostly going to talk today about the house D epics and their upgrades.

You know what here they are:

Epic Elyd Edge:
The weapon now includes Screaming, as well as Cacophony, a sonic damage effect equal in proc rate and power to Incineration. This weapon now uses the higher of Strength or Charisma for to-hit and damage, and has a new effect called Inspiring Echoes in which a Bard wielder’s Inspire Heroics, Inspire Competence and Song of Freedom become Area of Effect benefits while this weapon is held.

Epic Midnight’s Greetings:
The weapon’s Enhancement bonus is now equal to a character’s Intelligence modifier (minimum of 6, maximum of 10). The weapon’s Deception benefit has been replaced by Improved Deception, and now features Improved Paralyzing as well. The weapon now boosts Assassinate DCs by 2, and will use the higher of Strength or Dexterity for to-hit and damage.

Epic Deneith Heavy Chain:
This armor now has Superior False Life and Vertigo +15.

Epic Blademark’s Docent:
This armor now features Superior False Life and Vertigo +15.

Epic Chimera’s Crown:
This item now grants stacking hit points depending on the number of Dragonmarks a charact has: 1 Dragonmark grants 10 HP, 2 grants 15, and 3 grants 20. 3 Dragonmarks will also grant Spell Resistance 30.

Epic Chimera’s Fang:
This weapon now has a +6 enhancement bonus, 2d10 base damage, Silver, Keen, Shocking Burst, Disintegration, Destruction, Shatter +10, and a Red Augment Slot. The weapon also grants additional abilities based on the number of Dragonmarks a wielding character has:
1 or more Dragonmarks: Bastard Sword proficiency, +7 enhancement bonus
2 or more Dragonmarks: Greater Parrying, +8, Incite 10%
3 Dragonmarks (non-Sentinel): Sup. Parrying, +8, Incite 15%
3 Dragonmarks (all Sentinel): +10, Fortified Defenses 50%, Incite 20%.

I know that is a lot of text, lets skip to the Docent and the Chain. To items I use or will be using heavily.

Life Shield, DR 5/Epic, Superior False Life, Vertigo +15. Colorless slot and a blue slot if you don’t swap a lot these slots are great. A +6 stat easily goes into the colorless slot say con and toughness can go in the blue slot and you have all your HP in one easy to use item. This is my plan for Healz anyway. Java will swap a bit more then that so I might not wrap so many hp in one item. I might do secondary stats to help with stat damage.

The Elyd Edge is about to become a high Chr persons weapon of choice. Strength or Charisma for to-hit and damage as well as a high damage proc is great. Do you see that it beats dr of many a raid bosses? Bards will love it as now even more as it will speed up the let me sing these songs by making many of them mass songs.

But really all the items that got a once over are great. The Crown was an item I always passed over before being weak Sr, a bonus to Ac and a few more mark uses a day. It does have a colorless and a yellow slot however, but still… But now, a useful SR, as well as a possible 45 extra hp if you also have a mark or 3…

You can read the rest of the changes yourself but it is always night to see unloved items get a little power boost for a little more loven.

❤