Quest of The Week: Infiltrating The Sanctum
Yesterday I was looking through Arysh’ quest journal, thinking to myself “wow, I only have room for 8 more quests”. The quests that I do have in there I’m reluctant to delete, they’re either chains that I’d like to complete one day, or they’re book quests that I don’t ever delete because (gasp) house items rock. One quest that had been in there forever (almost literally) was part of the Sanctum of the Scaleborn timeline. It’s one I’d never completed on any character - even though I have basically lived in SoS in the past, working on Claymore (which I completed on Arysh).
The quest is the ‘infiltrating’ line, that starts just inside the doors to SoS on the left hand side. The first few quests are quite easy, you have to run around placing listening devices. Of course by now everything is very grey to me, so this was no issue. The entire quest compromises of 6 portions, each one slightly more difficult then the previous.
When I got to the final two quests, Shadowgeist came to SoS to help me out. Not that I needed help per say, but killing grey heroic mobs can be slow (and boring). Since I was there, I decided to log in Ellithia, the 74 defiler. Added her to group and when we mentored, the zone turned green (and most of the upper levels still grey) which was perfect. We had to kill enough scaleborn to finally get a trial stone to drop, and that was probably the most difficult part of the whole quest. The trial stones are used to spawn a ring event in a pit and in the amount of time I’d been in SoS, I only saw one. Thankfully, we were lucky and got one to drop after clearing out a few rooms.
The quest gave me a LOT of achievement, and it was just plain fun. Of course there was a hidden reason why I wanted to complete this chain, and it was not the fact that the second last reward was a cool looking sword that my warden could wear.
It was of course a house item. One of the few things in game that will pull me to a quest no matter what level it is. The dragon bust doesn’t look all that impressive compared to the other crafted ones, but it does have a fair amount of status on it, and I’m proud for collecting it. The final quest makes you kill Cyenadros, a x2 epic dragon that resides above the gorg pit in SoS. He (she?) was not up when we made our way there, but you can trigger them by killing the worshippers who hang out on the rug on the bottom floor. Then upstairs x2 drake will spawn around the outside of the main platform. Kill them, and Cyenadros will spawn in the center. The dragon is level 67, and we duo’d it at level 74. They DO have a kick back, so make sure you’re up against a wall when you fight or you’ll get tossed over the side. Other then that, fairly simple fight.
Arysh hit 149aa when all was said and done, which is not too bad. I’d like to be closer to 160, but since I haven’t worked on her at all, well, I’ll take what I can get.
When I was done with the SoS quest fun, I decided to level the paladin a little bit. Sitting at 62, Lithe has her 52 rare spell (hate transfer via group) and is a lot of fun to play. I logged in my templar (Petites) to box along with, and headed off to do The Nest in Barren Sky with Shadowgeist.
The paladin managed to hit level 65, which means she can group with level 80’s and get quest updates (finally). The templar also hit level 78, which is a huge deal to me because solo’ing with a templar is like watching paint try. It also means I’m close to having my 5th level 80 character, and possibly a tank before too long on the 2nd account (which I’m really looking forward to). At 65 I can start the Kylong Plains quests, but I think I’ll wait until 67-68 before starting them. I haven’t explored very many zones with Lithe yet, and I’m still enjoying the paladin more then I thought I would. I looted a very nice shield off of Cyenadros last night, so she’s sporting that. Now I have to save up another 100p for some T8 loams, too. Only five more levels before I’ll start using those (and I should level the alchemist up to help her out too).
There’s still so much fun to be had in Norrath, I hope everyone enjoyed their Saturday! I’ll write more about the other games I bought on Friday this week hopefully. he
Slave emancipation a major change in EVE Online’s lore
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Lore, Roleplaying
A significant twist in EVE Online’s lore was announced on Christmas day: emancipation for much of the subjugated Minmatar race. EVE’s far-future galactic setting of New Eden is characterized by struggles between the four (playable) races. Of those races, the dynamic between the theocratic but cruel Amarr and the tribal Minmatar is often one of master and servant. The Amarr enslaved the Minmatar race centuries ago; this is a prevalent aspect of the backstory (lore), the game’s missions (quests) and factional warfare, as well as a focal point of the roleplaying that some players opt to engage…
Continue reading Slave emancipation a major change in EVE Online’s lore
Slave emancipation a major change in EVE Online’s lore originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Slave emancipation a major change in EVE Online’s lore
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Lore, Roleplaying
A significant twist in EVE Online’s lore was announced on Christmas day: emancipation for much of the subjugated Minmatar race. EVE’s far-future galactic setting of New Eden is characterized by struggles between the four (playable) races. Of those races, the dynamic between the theocratic but cruel Amarr and the tribal Minmatar is often one of master and servant. The Amarr enslaved the Minmatar race centuries ago; this is a prevalent aspect of the backstory (lore), the game’s missions (quests) and factional warfare, as well as a focal point of the roleplaying that some players opt to engage in. Even some player alliances have taken a stance for or against slavery in the game. (Those who don’t play EVE might be surprised to learn that slaves can be bought and sold on the open market as a low-cost commodity. Note, however, that the players themselves cannot be forced into slavery. It’s just an aspect of the setting… one which is intended to evoke response from the players.)
CCP Games has decided this change in the Amarr-Minmatar dynamic was warranted in terms of New Eden’s backstory, with the freed slaves numbering in the hundreds of millions, although the existence of slavery in EVE is still far from being abolished.
Continue reading Slave emancipation a major change in EVE Online’s lore
Slave emancipation a major change in EVE Online’s lore originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A Straightforward Quest Gone Horribly Bad, or How Not to Pull Off Fresh Springs
Anyway, I was already in Adso’s camp and it wasn’t too far.
“It won’t take long at all”.
It fit right in there with my plans for an early night. Plus, it would be a great way to cap off my crowning acheivement of the Breeland Adventurer deed. I just needed one more quest to complete it and didn’t feel right about doing something like collecting 10 boar tusks or delivering the mail from Buckland as the gran finale to this long fought for deed.
Back into the Old Forest I went to get a new bucket of water from the fair Goldberry… and around and around I went. It seems that maybe the forest routes change over time or maybe we just forget. I was so lost. Everytime I looked at the map it seemed I was getting farther away instead of closer to the spring. Then came the spiders. One after another I hacked my way through them but they just kept on coming. It got to the point that I couldn’t afford to stand and fight any longer and so I just ran and ran until the spiders were finally off me. Except now I was even more lost, and even farther away from Goldberry.
I slowly, painfully made my way as best I could back to the spring. More spiders, tree roots now attacking, going in circles, just going through a living hell and all the while that horrible, tense game music in my ears (I had no clue at the time that you could turn it down). It was not good to be me.
But, there she was, the beautiful river daughter at the shore of her spring. Finally.
*Click*
“You should bring the water to Adso”, said Goldberry.
“What?” *Click*
“You should bring the water to Adso.”
“Huh?” *Click*
“You should bring the water to Adso.”
“Oh @#$%!”
Turns out that if you stop to fight something while carrying out the water, you set the only bucket down AND you need to pick it back up before you move on. I now remembered when I stopped the first time through, near Bonfire Glade, to fight the wolves and spiders. I also remembered when I couldn’t find the bucket when I arrived in Buckland. Yeah. That’s right.
Well, as hot for this quest as I was there was no way, absolutely no way, that I was going back THERE again to get that bucket! So, waht to do? Retreat to Adso’s camp, of course, to think things out. Unfortunately that entailed traversing the Old Forest again. More spiders, more living hell. But, I did scout a rumored shortcut to the northwest and it was a good, fast, but dangerous route.
Finally back at Adso’s I realized that somehow, by some sheer stroke of luck (and probably more so due to the help of kind friends), I had reached level 15. Time to buy gear and train up. The class quest sent me back to Adso’s and into the Old Forest once again, but this time to hunt wolves. No problem. I’ll take wolves over spiders any day! Class quest completed and armed with a new, cool bear hat that gave me unbelievable armor rating my confidence returned. I was ready to try for the spring yet once again, but what could I do without the bucket? Cancel the quest, of course, and so that I did. Sadly, there was a 4.5 minute cooldown timer to regain the quest and so to not lose time I decided to just go ahead and finish another nearby quest to complete the long sought after Breeland Adventurer. That decided, I picked up a hunter quest and went off to collect 10 piles of boar scat or whatever it was. A few minutes later I found myself turning in the boar scat. Breeland Adventurer at last! I could have taken on a Troll, even the Witch King himself at that moment! And so, overwhelmed by my enthusiasm and new found prowess, I went charging, awesomely cool bear hat and all, back into the Old Forest to find Goldberry. A fateful error.
What I found was a nightmarish repeat of the last time through. More spiders, more living hell. Really, just a living hell. Went down into some dark gully and was just overwhelmed but ran like the wind and escaped. After far too long I was at the spring again. My goal was now, so I thought, nearer than ever.
*Click*
*Click*
“Hey, there’s no gold ring above Goldberry’s head”.
“Oh @#$%!”
You guessed it. Amidst my noob delusions of granduer I forgot to pick up the quest again before charging back in there. More spiders, more living hell. Just nasty, unyielding tree roots and spiders hanging off my back as I ran. I limped back to Adso’s after running blindly off of a cliff, breaking my leg, and out of the forest.
I made sure to pick up the quest this time. I would also make sure to play it smart. I would go in via the shortcut.
Having found the entrance, but now seriously disoriented, the spiders were all over me again, and again and again. I couldn’t run. It was hopeless. I could do nothing but just die.
Waking up in Buckland I quickly parted with much coin for repairs and decided on one last shot (yeah, right). I came up out of the shortcut gully and anticipated the spiders this time around Setting traps, now I was the hunter and not the hunted. Luring the spiders in and taking their aggro as I pretended to flee I led them in to trap after trap. I killed every last one of those hated things. Finally, there with the fair Goldberry once again, I would show the world that I did indeed deserve this cool class quest bear hat. Bucket in hand I headed out. Now knowing the route well (it was about time), and the amount of time it would take to pass through, I just ignored the spiders and ran. More living hell. More horrible music. But this time I did make it out AND with the water.
Running as fast as I could to Adso’s I defeatedly watched the quest timer count down. Oh, these devs are cruel!
There was no way I was going to make it. With the camp in sight there was just a hair of blue left on the timer bar. Not again. Remember in the movie, the look on King Theoden’s face when after his huge suffering in defeating the Orcs and the Haradrim, and when there was finally some hope that he could resolve his doubt and find glory, he saw the Witch King fly in toward him on the Fields of Pelennor? That “why me” face? That “not again” face? That was me.
I did all that I could think of, just clicking away frantically at Adso.
“Thanks for the water”, he said.
I had made it, and ran proudly back to Bree, cool bear hat and all.
A Straightforward Quest Gone Horribly Bad, or How Not to Pull Off Fresh Springs
Anyway, I was already in Adso’s camp and it wasn’t too far.
“It won’t take long at all”.
It fit right in there with my plans for an early night. Plus, it would be a great way to cap off my crowning acheivement of the Breeland Adventurer deed. I just needed one more quest to complete it and didn’t feel right about doing something like collecting 10 boar tusks or delivering the mail from Buckland as the gran finale to this long fought for deed.
Back into the Old Forest I went to get a new bucket of water from the fair Goldberry… and around and around I went. It seems that maybe the forest routes change over time or maybe we just forget. I was so lost. Everytime I looked at the map it seemed I was getting farther away instead of closer to the spring. Then came the spiders. One after another I hacked my way through them but they just kept on coming. It got to the point that I couldn’t afford to stand and fight any longer and so I just ran and ran until the spiders were finally off me. Except now I was even more lost, and even farther away from Goldberry.
I slowly, painfully made my way as best I could back to the spring. More spiders, tree roots now attacking, going in circles, just going through a living hell and all the while that horrible, tense game music in my ears (I had no clue at the time that you could turn it down). It was not good to be me.
But, there she was, the beautiful river daughter at the shore of her spring. Finally.
*Click*
“You should bring the water to Adso”, said Goldberry.
“What?” *Click*
“You should bring the water to Adso.”
“Huh?” *Click*
“You should bring the water to Adso.”
“Oh @#$%!”
Turns out that if you stop to fight something while carrying out the water, you set the only bucket down AND you need to pick it back up before you move on. I now remembered when I stopped the first time through, near Bonfire Glade, to fight the wolves and spiders. I also remembered when I couldn’t find the bucket when I arrived in Buckland. Yeah. That’s right.
Well, as hot for this quest as I was there was no way, absolutely no way, that I was going back THERE again to get that bucket! So, waht to do? Retreat to Adso’s camp, of course, to think things out. Unfortunately that entailed traversing the Old Forest again. More spiders, more living hell. But, I did scout a rumored shortcut to the northwest and it was a good, fast, but dangerous route.
Finally back at Adso’s I realized that somehow, by some sheer stroke of luck (and probably more so due to the help of kind friends), I had reached level 15. Time to buy gear and train up. The class quest sent me back to Adso’s and into the Old Forest once again, but this time to hunt wolves. No problem. I’ll take wolves over spiders any day! Class quest completed and armed with a new, cool bear hat that gave me unbelievable armor rating my confidence returned. I was ready to try for the spring yet once again, but what could I do without the bucket? Cancel the quest, of course, and so that I did. Sadly, there was a 4.5 minute cooldown timer to regain the quest and so to not lose time I decided to just go ahead and finish another nearby quest to complete the long sought after Breeland Adventurer. That decided, I picked up a hunter quest and went off to collect 10 piles of boar scat or whatever it was. A few minutes later I found myself turning in the boar scat. Breeland Adventurer at last! I could have taken on a Troll, even the Witch King himself at that moment! And so, overwhelmed by my enthusiasm and new found prowess, I went charging, awesomely cool bear hat and all, back into the Old Forest to find Goldberry. A fateful error.
What I found was a nightmarish repeat of the last time through. More spiders, more living hell. Really, just a living hell. Went down into some dark gully and was just overwhelmed but ran like the wind and escaped. After far too long I was at the spring again. My goal was now, so I thought, nearer than ever.
*Click*
*Click*
“Hey, there’s no gold ring above Goldberry’s head”.
“Oh @#$%!”
You guessed it. Amidst my noob delusions of granduer I forgot to pick up the quest again before charging back in there. More spiders, more living hell. Just nasty, unyielding tree roots and spiders hanging off my back as I ran. I limped back to Adso’s after running blindly off of a cliff, breaking my leg, and out of the forest.
I made sure to pick up the quest this time. I would also make sure to play it smart. I would go in via the shortcut.
Having found the entrance, but now seriously disoriented, the spiders were all over me again, and again and again. I couldn’t run. It was hopeless. I could do nothing but just die.
Waking up in Buckland I quickly parted with much coin for repairs and decided on one last shot (yeah, right). I came up out of the shortcut gully and anticipated the spiders this time around Setting traps, now I was the hunter and not the hunted. Luring the spiders in and taking their aggro as I pretended to flee I led them in to trap after trap. I killed every last one of those hated things. Finally, there with the fair Goldberry once again, I would show the world that I did indeed deserve this cool class quest bear hat. Bucket in hand I headed out. Now knowing the route well (it was about time), and the amount of time it would take to pass through, I just ignored the spiders and ran. More living hell. More horrible music. But this time I did make it out AND with the water.
Running as fast as I could to Adso’s I defeatedly watched the quest timer count down. Oh, these devs are cruel!
There was no way I was going to make it. With the camp in sight there was just a hair of blue left on the timer bar. Not again. Remember in the movie, the look on King Theoden’s face when after his huge suffering in defeating the Orcs and the Haradrim, and when there was finally some hope that he could resolve his doubt and find glory, he saw the Witch King fly in toward him on the Fields of Pelennor? That “why me” face? That “not again” face? That was me.
I did all that I could think of, just clicking away frantically at Adso.
“Thanks for the water”, he said.
I had made it, and ran proudly back to Bree, cool bear hat and all.
Wintersday events in Guild Wars
Wintersday is being expanded this year in Guild Wars, with the Eye of the North sporting some festive decorations for the first time. Lt. Thackery is the man to talk to inside the citadel, as he’s directing the festivities.
The Polar Bear mini-pet also makes a return, along with the Candysmiths, who can fashion special weapons, armor, and other unique items from the rewards you can gather from Wintersday quests. Completing The Strength of Snow or Straight to the Heart quests and you can gain the Polar Bear as a random drop from the Wintersday Chest that appears.
The usual tonics are also available, along with some new and potent brews. New this year are Summoning Stones, allowing you to summon a snowman or grench ally to help your party on the quests.
The full run down of events and items can be found on the official Guild Wars Wintersday page.
Wintersday events start today, Friday 19th December, at 8am GMT, and run through until noon on January 5th. The Wintersday Grand Finale, where you can claim your special festival hat and aid Dwayna or Grenth, starts at 8am GMT on Thursday, January 1, 2009, and repeats every three hours until 8am GMT on Friday, January 2, 2009.
With new quests and collectible items, this year Wintersday promises to be the largest festival so far in Guild Wars. So head to Ascalon City, Lion’s Arch, Droknar’s Forge, Kamadan, or the Eye of the North, and enjoy a happy Wintersday!
You can also subscribe to the Guild Wars: Eye of the North blog by email.
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- The new Guild Wars storybooks
- Wintersday is coming - win some Guild Wars prizes!
- Some changes coming for the Hall of Monuments
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Handful of player-created quests come with updates to EverQuest, EverQuest II
Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Patches
The folks at SOE passed over word that new updates are coming this month for both EverQuest and EverQuest II. While both games are mostly receiving simple tweaks, there’s a few unique additions coming to EQ. A few players participated in a quest workshop recently, and some of their hard work will soon be implemented into the live game. A patch today to EQII is primarily adding changes to the game’s UI and adding some sorting options to the quest log. Aside from the two player-created quests going into EverQuest, the venerable game is also gaining improved camera controls, a reduction in…
Continue reading Handful of player-created quests come with updates to EverQuest, EverQuest II
Handful of player-created quests come with updates to EverQuest, EverQuest II originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Handful of player-created quests come with updates to EverQuest, EverQuest II
Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Patches
The folks at SOE passed over word that new updates are coming this month for both EverQuest and EverQuest II. While both games are mostly receiving simple tweaks, there’s a few unique additions coming to EQ. A few players participated in a quest workshop recently, and some of their hard work will soon be implemented into the live game. A patch today to EQII is primarily adding changes to the game’s UI and adding some sorting options to the quest log.
Aside from the two player-created quests going into EverQuest, the venerable game is also gaining improved camera controls, a reduction in linkdead reconnection time, and the removal of a long quest chain series to access content in the Serpent’s Spine area of the game. For the full patch notes for both games and a bit of holiday PR, read on below the cut.
Continue reading Handful of player-created quests come with updates to EverQuest, EverQuest II
Handful of player-created quests come with updates to EverQuest, EverQuest II originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Celebrating the holidays with Lineage II’s Saving Santa event
Filed under: Fantasy, Lineage 2, Events, in-game, Quests, News items, PvE, Humor
The holidays are in full swing across several of the games we’ve been covering at Massively. In fact, a number of massively multiplayer online games now have holiday-themed quests, items, and unique winter settings, and NCsoft is getting in on the action as well. The latest holiday event announcement we’ve gotten word of is happening in Lineage II with its Saving Santa Event, which will run from December 16th through December 30th. The holiday event pits you against one “Thomas D. Turkey” who holds Santa Claus captive. If Santa is freed, he will visit random players throughout the world,…
Celebrating the holidays with Lineage II’s Saving Santa event originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Raph Koster on whether torture in videogames is evil
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO industry, Quests, Opinion
Debate over what is considered ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ in terms of behavior in a videogame has become commonplace in recent years. Virtually any mass media commentary on the myriad evils of Grand Theft Auto or the ‘Debbie Does Dallas in Space’ view of Mass Effect drives this point home — everyone has a different mindset in terms of what’s acceptable to them. While gamers easily dismiss many of these notions as being uninformed and taken out of context, now and again something comes to light within the gaming community itself that sparks debate. A good example has been the recent (and heated) discussion of torture in games, stemming from the views expressed by Dr. Richard Bartle. He argued his points on the questionable morality of torture in the “How to Win Friends and Influence Enemies” quest in World of Warcraft, which set off a flurry of responses from gamers and peers.
MMO industry luminary Raph Koster weighs in with his own views on the matter in a post titled “Are games about torture evil?“. Specifically, Koster addresses this comment at his website: “… please explain to me again why killing NPCs in games is fine but sticking them with a cattle prod is evil.” However, Koster seems less concerned with arbitrary notions of right and wrong as he is with the game design that leads us down this path in the first place.
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Continue reading Raph Koster on whether torture in videogames is evil
Raph Koster on whether torture in videogames is evil originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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