Category Archives: Uncategorized

1, 2 Skip a Few 16, 17, 18

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Last week as you know, I TRed Java into a druid and powered him up to stoning level and cracked open my Otto’s box that I have bought just for him..

Xp heaven!

Did the gear thing as best as I could he still has 0 rings until 18… But the questing thing as been good times even if has strange out of the blue issues. But he has XP for 18 and I am working on finishing milking the xp from Litany before I take it. See any of my 100 posts at to how I ❤ litany.

Lets jump to things that are working/things I have learned.

Using a SunFlask in animal form for fighting ghosties does grant ghost touch BUT you need to cast magic fang, as they are not magical so you need to be at least +1 for the ghost touch to work…

Remember to turn on Reaving Roar after any out of the blue death that may happen do to lag or the lack of quicken.

At some point you want quicken for heal, vigor, earthquake and summon spells. Don’t be like me and forget until you start playing again post stoning to 16 and have to wait until 18… There has been more then one death due to taking a big hit while casting and losing the spell.

The Druid Deep chain is killer for pets. Leaves of the Forest/Liveword Core (15+) are big fort simi good AC pet armor at least for ungeared new pet owners. The level 22+ versions are less then ideal however. But a nice Hide of the Goristro shouldn’t be too bad or too hard to get. Want to say I have a Con+8 Vertigo+10 set ready for Fin Fang Foom. But the real winner is the Ivy Wraps. You can find the lvl 15 wraps on the AH for less then 100k assuming someone doesn’t buy them all up. And if you happen to pull an eN or eH version you might even think about giving it you your dog. Short of making LoB wraps for it I can’t think of a better Dog wrap.

Brawling Gloves, So far it seems that the d4 from being Spike Studded is working in dog form assuming I remember to swap back to them after I trigger a power drain. More and more I am glad I took the time to make T3 versions of the lvl 16 gloves they have gotten a metric ton of use with all of Samius’ TRs and more or less every leveling alt.

ToD Rings: Now I haven’t gotten to them yet but I think that tod rings burst damage work in animal form. If that is right, I will be grinding out the Knost’s Belt and will be using that set full time I think. I could also swap in and around the Oremi’s set for a little more dps when a torc is not needed.

Lastly, I found that the dog can be a real helper. Keep it healed. Cast a few buffs and/or take the time to ship buff it up and you wont regret. Fin has gotten more kills then some other people in the group. And with the Ivy wraps/collar and a few points in the feed line he is mostly self healing assuming he passes his saves vs big fire balls and the like.

Good enough for today,
<3s

Playing DDo for Free?

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Last week and again last night I was talking to people about trying/playing ddo. It was funny as both of these people were asking about ddo but were more focused on the cost and less on the play. As a player of DDo that is less about the cost and more on the play I felt behind the curve on talking from their pov. And I just want to get some of these thoughts out and see that you think.

I was told that at least 10-15% of any player base that has a F2P model is totally f2p. This shocked me as a concept. Could there really be that many people that play ddo for free? I mean ddo has some real good perks for just a few dollars. Why wouldn’t you spend like 5$ and move to Premium at least?

How long would a game with those limits be fun? Which brings me to the next thought: Most players are transient players.

Now I agree that going from game to game is fairly common. But to me that is like having alts, play one when you want but you know there is one you love more then the others.

Now I know lots of people that wonder the game spectrum but I thought most of my friends have a core or a hand full of core games they play. But a quick poll of my friends and that is just not true. Most of my friends have a type they like to play more then others, but not any one game. Granted most of my friends are console players, so that might tweek things in the move around favor. But when I played mostly on my console I feel I was more of a one game man. Shining Force… But in retrospect maybe that was my version of a MMo but totally solo???

Also among my friends a new game gets heavily played for a month or two at most then it gets set aside. How do people that complain about 10$ a month afford a 60$ every month or two? 20 is less then 120 right?

I think that there is an “Oh Shinny” moment among some gamers and by some I mean my friends. Where they want the new thing. Then they get the new thing and it is not all they wanted it to be… And it gets put aside. You know I know some Non gamer people that do the same thing in dating now that I am thinking about it. Wonder if that is a thing…

So I did what anyone that had a dev’s personal email would do. I asked some questions. Which said dev replied, “You know I can’t talk about DDo like that.” Doh! But the reply did say some things about games in general that I knew about “in general” but didn’t really think about. Like what is the cost of a player to the company; Bandwidth, Server load/space and whatnot? Not to forget new content dev time.

I deal with some of those issues in my day-to-day work life (as a web programmer) but for some reason I never thought about them in my game. As if the rules of commerce are different for a completely online thing… Wait lets just think about that for a moment…

Anyway my head spins just thinking about the possible numbers and ARPU for something like DDO where you are dealing with ARPPU Average Revenue Per Paying User.

From now on I will suggest at least spending 5$ or whatever the lowest TP point pack is when talking to my friends about DDo. Seems like the least everyone can chip in to play.

<3s

Feeling Funky

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I am not sure what is up today, I am fairly good at pushing aside my personal shit and getting at least something done at work or a post or something. But today I am in a funk. I don’t want to work. I don’t want to tweet. Hell I can’t even troll the forums like a normal DDo addicted person.

So lets force something. Btw if this post seems weird it is because I am truly writing it as I am living it so any crazy thoughts you might get are raw and unfiltered. Bio.

Its funny I was in my opening header I was going to say something about my head not burning atm and I should be burning threw work. I go piss and my head is starting to fire up with the burning poke my eye out pain. Oh life your so funny.

Anyway it is 15 mins until lunch, is it weird that I am really looking forward to getting home so I can watch Buffy? I hope not, because for the last 2 weeks or so the wife and I have been Buffying out. As you know I like to watch a show when playing DDo solo/wife only groups and it was Buffy time. Think it had something to do with Tobril buying session 9 comic book run and letting me read it. Got me fired up to rewatch the show. But at the same time Darkhorse had a .99 sale on buffy comics and I bought the newest run up to date of Buffy, Angel & Faith and Willow. Sorry Spike I was poor enough after all that and I didn’t see you on sale. So my brain is very Buffyed out.

I am also really ready to be home for the night so I can log in. Last night was fun times but not very filling as for achieving person game goals. Ie, there was no loot from Abbot training runs, the DQ was a bust and I only got 2 tokens among both of my guys (Samius and Steampower- piker) in the eDA run Tobril and I did last night. Sam died in the last fight from poison or something totally out of the blue for me and I was in shock…

Anyway I want to knock out some more Xp for Java and get him to 8 asap so Tobril and I can level those guys. But I am torn as I also see that epic xp is getting boosted this weekend… Maybe mindless xp farming for Samius is in order. Some destinies are less then fun and I want to get over to Primal Avatar with out buying more Keys of Destiny from the store. Sam is more or less low hanging fruit guy for twists…

Hey look it is almost lunch time, 11:28 so time to post and run home for Buffy and food I guess.

❤

How the Hireling …

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I so wanted to complete that title with “Fracked Me” but I am not sure how turbine would like that. So I will just stick it in the first line so you can get the feel for the ton of this post.

Last night I was on the newly TRed Javabot, I just wrapped up the level 2 and 3 quests that I do for favor and leveled to 4. A fast zerg of the back half of the Water Works and the first half of the Splinter Skull chain I decided to do the Sharn market chain.

The first few runs were simple enough nothing my dog army couldn’t handle. Btw when push came to shove I went with FinFangFoom, just too good of a name not to use. And then I hit Book Binder and what I call the Jumping on the Bed Quest. What? You know you take a sec and jump on the beds also.

So I clear Book Binder, call my hire rogue and set about disarming the traps and then opening the doors. Get to the very last trap box tell the hire to disarm it and it runs to the door nearest to the trap. Hits the door, some how one shoting its, setting off the fireball one which opens and agros the room across the hall. The alert goes nuts the hire starts to die super fast. In other werds, fan + poop….

I can’t keep the hire, FinFangFoom and myself all up so I dismiss the hire. She has done her damage. Just then Fin dies. I take the pet had died hit. One of the Npcs dies failing the quest for me and before I could be booted or make it to the exit I take a lighting bolt and a fireball to the back.

And things were going so well until that point. Sigh.

Rebuff and take extra care to line up the rogue so it is really unlikely that it would try to path threw the door to get to the trap box. And we win handily.

The arty didn’t have any of these issues. I miss trap skills some times.

❤

Staring at New Tail

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So last night I bit the bullet and TRed Javabot in to my Druid build. I was back and forth on the details but I ended up saying why not go for it all the way? And I went 16 str, 18 con, 16 wis and any other points in int. I was back and forth as 16 wisdom is max on a WF and I didn’t want to change race on Java and I thought maybe I should just tank DCs and plan on pure DPS. But 2 more str wasn’t going to break me and I like the hybrid play style that Samius did on his druid life and that is want I want to recreate.

I didn’t do a lot of planning again for this TR. I know I just did a blog post about taking a sec and getting my shit together b4 a TR and I did some stuff. And I looked for a few things but after 30/40 mins cleaning the TR cache and hitting the AH and the vendors for lvl1 staffs/wraps/collars/leather armor I said “Frack It” and just used the starter flaming touch axe and a stack of pots for level 1.

Speaking of level one seemed to take a long time. Mostly because my summon nature’s trash pet was less then amazing and as I said before my druid dog was less then stellar. Speaking of the dog by the way, I think I have chosen him a name, Syntax. Roboty and yet doesn’t have a bot in the title. Although I tweeted it and Ecgric has a few good options also including Python which is now major contender or maybe just go with my first name: Fin Fang Foom!

Level 2 brought the good stuff, WOLF form and a slew of good weapons icy burst/ holy great axe and a flaming/icy rapier. But the real wining weapon/tip came from DDo cast: sun flasks for Undead/oozes. If you equip them in form you don’t throw them, but get the massive light damage vs guys it hurts and ghost touch, they are such a main stay for this druid from now on!

Level 2 went nice and fast clearing the near the harbor bank quests. Information is key, all those little favor quests and Durk’s, find my backpack and the kill everyone quest.

At 3 I hit New Ring leader and now I have xp for lvl 4. Think I will polish up the favor quests before taking it though.

Okay some thoughts, Wolf form is still amazing, takedown is the nuts! Throw in the WF trip line – vertigo weapon/shield in the off hand and you are a tripping king. Being a WF in form is strange. Some things works like you think they should like healing is amazing. I have a Blood/ Invulnerability docent, which is really good for my atm. Sure I loose some fort but pick up some amp. A (max) lesser vigor in form gives 10 a tick if I cast and open a door it down shifts to 6 until the door is open and then upshifts back again as soon as I return to wolf form. Also sometimes while swimming I have a breath meter and others times I don’t always in form… And finally the thing that gets me is I have some tasty ham oils and turkey dinners from something… And in form I can’t use the oil, which makes sense, but I can’t eat the turkey, which doesn’t. Also while in form I am immune to repair, which makes since, but that means I need to remember to carry normal healing pots now too. ☺

Well back to work, <3s

Oh Lailat, You’re so Funny

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Some of you might not know, but I have been really working on getting a Marilith Chain for Darth sorted out. Meaning Tobril and I run it every Wednesday I talk the British Invasion in to knocking out at least one over the weekend and I pick up channel runs as I see them. I less then 3 weeks I have gotten about 11 completions on Darth. I assume I will need to get to 20 for a list and hope for good stuff. I might even lesser to take a second crack on the list. But this is not the story of trying and failing. This is a tail of Lailat (and maybe DDo as a hole) giving up the goods.

We had a full or mostly full run this weekend for an eH DQ. When the dust settled Darth was dead, but there was an amazing amount of good stuff in the chest. Grim had a Torc Shard drop for her, which she was good enough to pass to me.

BTW, I should point out that this was just the DG + HotDW+ our piking accounts.

There was at least 2 other good shards that dropped but I was too busy thinking about running off and having Samius make an Epic Torc so I didn’t take super notice of what the others were… Wait no, I am remembering a Dustless Boot and Spirit Sight shards want to say there was a few base items also.

Then I remembered that my piker hadn’t looted yet and when I did a torc was sitting in the box. The second one in 2 weekends with his name on it.

No he didn’t get to keep this one either, Grim’s arty got it, as she and my piker were the last two blue bars in the quest that didn’t have one. Seems like a fair trade to me.

While the Torc shard was my best loot of the weekend, I want to say most people had good things over the weekend.

EE Twisting Shade, EE Bastion, a ton of killer seals and scrolls Tobril got a stunning 10/str 2 Ring and both he and the wife pulled drow weapons. (Good ones even!)

Over all I would say this weekend was a solid loot weekend.

Oh one last thing. Feels like Grim and I are in a pissing contest to see who can be nicer to the other. She started winning when she gave my tank his EE Bastion. I returned the favor but making her lady a set of Stonedust/vamp wraps and then gave her back a EE bastion. She “gave” me 5 reds to make a red suit (but then Turbine shut off the Druid challenges making it impossible to get the favor) and then we swapped the Torc/shard around. So she is currently winning. Damn it I need to find something amazing to get for her and repay her those reds. I am at 21 atm but I have no idea what to get her…. Growl!

<3s

Crafting for Others, Not Me

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So last night I got to help an old friend out by making him some starting level 7 gear. He is a long time player on another server and due to his gaming circle drying up he is moving to Sarlona with more or less nothing. Guess he played some back then the cap was 14ish but he has little to no gear over here and decided to do the whole start over thing, “for the fun”.

His new “main” he is working on a dual wielding scimitar elf pally and he goes hey can you do some crafting for me? I say sure and we head to house k.

I ask what he wants and he says, Acid Burst x2, bleed x2 and +1 x2. Okay… I offer up some lesser vamp shards, which he takes and I precede to try and make this list. But my elemental is only at 100 so no acid burst. I counter with holy, which he takes. But not before explaining that acid burst is more dps on more guys assuming that you bypass good dr which he has found flametouched blanks to craft on. And I am dumb founded… Have I been wasting my time on holy/(lesser) vamp weapons at low levels?

Bleeding I understand but not over vamp at low levels but I would rather not have to drink a pot vs take one more attack. Different strokes for different folks.

But this last one got me +1 shards. I don’t plus anything for low levels. Plus 1 to hit and damage is not worth the overall higher level of the weapon to me. But as he is already level 7 thanks to Vet2 and dual wielding so maybe the +1 is to off set the dual wielding pen some…

But I am so not used to crafting low-level pluses I end up making two +1 Enchantment shards and not Enhancement shards and end up having to make some things again because we didn’t catch it in time. I found the whole thing funny and aggravating at the same time.

Once the weapons were sorted, we moved on to armor where I offered up an Invulnerability Shard which he takes and then asks if I can make an +3 Enhancement shard which I run over to make but again being low level crafting dumb I end up crafting up an armor 3 shard which is not the right thing at all. Once that is pointed out I start looking for the correct ritual and I can’t make it because I don’t have any +3 spirits…. Look I have like 10 +1s and 20000 +5s okay! Not really that many 5s but everything else is just taking up room in my bag. Well until last night when I needed them… Doh!

Any way Jay is all geared up and ready to rock. Well not really but he is well enough for now I guess. The thing is the whole time I was thinking wouldn’t he be better off finding some AH weapons with 2 or 3 properties (like flaming of Lacerating) adding just a normal icy dice and then letting me give his the mats for a stone of change force damage? That would be like d6 + str + 1 + d4 + d8 + d6 +d6 + 1 to bleeding guys?

Anyway think he is moving his crafter over so in a few weeks I don’t expect it to be an issue but until I guess we will all muddle threw.

Okay back to the grind.
<3s

Once a Strength

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One of the things I have always felt was a strength in my gearing was how I spread out my gear effects. The idea was when I need to make a swap I can do so with minor losses. But now I am having issues making room for other things that my build wants to work in by my diverse gear set up is causing me headaches.

I hope that the Epic GH will make things work for me again. Looking at http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=404940 for my eGH info/ what I can remember from my visit to Turbine in November, the Stormreaver’s Tablecloth is a must have for Samius. Int/Cha/a yellow/ Greater Spell Pen/SFM +2 all in a simi unused slot for me atm? Well it is a clikly slot, mostly Jungle cloaks. But it would make things easier again at least stat wise.

Looks like a blue helm might not be the worst place to move +3 insightful int and get it off my body slot. But that is where my Min2 lives now… So I might have to slot Fort someplace. But 2 epic slots would be a huge help for other things. Hell I could do a epic blue armor maybe.

Okay RL is knocking so i need to get. Hopefully i will have a cool story for tomorrow, have to see how tonight plays out.

❤

Making with the Iceness

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So I haven’t really bothered with the ice jumps myself in a long time. Don’t get me wrong I think it can be fun, but this year I am trying to keep up with the ice race every few days and that is more then enough screwing off getting motes and things. That means that my pile of items I want to add icy (burst) has grown and the amount of 3/4/5s that I have around are getting lower. In fact I have been out of 4/5s this whole time and have counted on the stockpile of scrolls that the wife and tobril are sitting on. ☺ Got to Fleshshaper’s Docent -> Live Woodcore -> Quorforged -> Epic Docent of Grace so I just need something until 10? Something I already have wouldn’t suck need to hit the wiki and see what I have other then the house D docent around this level. He might just get a GFL docent until something good comes along.

I was kinda excited to add Glaciation to a shield until I realized that it wouldn’t really take a shield and then I was like never mind. Really what was Turbine thinking? Random armor with Glaciation 120 @ lvl 24 does not beat like any named armor. Now if you could add it to ANY armor I could see that being popular.

Well I guess I can get a bear???

<3s

Gear Thoughts 1/22/13

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For the last week or two my gear has been in the forefront of my thoughts. Armor for Darth (all none weapon slots really), leveling gear for my Arty, Java is a total mess when he makes the switch to druid here real soon, and eGH is about to shit all over my world. Lets not for get the quickly leaving Ice game stuff and what I can only assume is the soon to return Cove…

Growl!

So lets break some things down and I assume that I will be covering it a few more times this week. So prepare.

Darth Samius:
I have talked about his gear issues a few times in the last few weeks but mostly focusing on two slots, weapons and armor. Well what else is there in a big hit build?

Well weapons are covered, Armor not so much. I have earned 16 reds and begged/borrowed the rest from Dim and could make a set of Armor from the FR side. Well I could if I had 100 more favor… Mean while I am a base Marith Chain short of rocking a epic version. Which other then the lack of PRR I think covers my needs better. That and now that I have 20 reds, I think that Java as a druid would be better off using them to make a Ebbron docent while in dog form. But I think it will be a matter of what comes first the PDK favor or the Chain. I am running both as often as possible.

Everything else is butter; I need a EE Bracer, find and use a +3 con trinket to make my plainer set. Breaking my PDK set lets me adjust my helm slot as well meaning that my I have helm/cloak/belt slots fairly free. Some of the Lam preview stuff looks good. Epic Dragon Helms have too slots and insightful dex, so 2 slots. Maybe you can get an str version and that would be badass! Although I like the EH Girdle of Giant’s Brawn, 8 str/+2 str green slot so maybe the added dex wouldn’t be soooo bad.

Over all I have more gear questions then answers. Heck the Epic Black set looks good also.

Lets jump to something I can decide on. Samiusbot, my arty build. Even though I want to have a melee option on the Bot. I know he will mostly be ranged while leveling. So I am thinking about making him a DPS heavy Greensteel repeater.

But there are lots of good options, I could run down them but I am fairly sure a Rad2 or a Dust2 is the way I will be going. Maybe a simple trip positive???

Damn thought I could decide on that at least??? Lolz

Well time to get back to the grind. More Gear tomorrow unless something nasty happens.

<3s