As an aside, I really don't like the (almost) universal reliance on Temperance. It is a lot more fun to play when there is some risk associated with screwing up. Both me & the druid were self-buffed only (although I did have a clarity potion active) and when we overpulled we scrambled for our lives. My pulse was racing as we struggled to split and take down multiple giants, watching my HP & Mana drop, dogdog go down, and hearing the druid say OOM.
I appreciate that people who are just twinking out their alts just want to get to the higher levels faster, but it does take some of the excitement out of the game for me when the group is in no real danger.
*sigh* I'm afraid that I'm going to cave to the double XP and try to grind out a few levels over the weekend. Camping the undead crusader in Kurn's has really put me off my cudgel quests. I did some exploring in Gunthak (40s hot zone -- plus I wanted to see what I was getting into for Stoicism) & took down a couple of zombies. Seems doable if I can get a group, although most everything in Dulak's is still nice and red. If not, I may go back to Jaggedpine to take down Baskies for a couple of levels. New pet & new DoT should make this even more efficient than before. Plus canni II @ 38! I at least want to get 40 so I can wear my murkglider drape & pick up another ring to replace my fine antique. And then I'm sure I'll want 41 for the pet upgrade. I'd like to upgrade my arms as well, but can't find anything affordable in the bazaar that is enough of an upgrade to warrant the investment (Daydreaming of moldy watchman chain vambraces -- Spell Haste III). Improved Healing would be a nice focus to pick up as well -- I've been healing in most groups, and it seems like dogdog is going to start to require healing as well unless I can reliably pull singles. Alas, Imp Healing is not easy (or cheap) to come by... It seems to be available on lots of augments though, which I haven't even looked at yet. Maybe I can pick one of those up cheap-ish & throw it in something that I'll be using for a while...
I'll post an update after the weekend.
--- Updated 3/20 ---
Double XP is sick! I leveled up nicely over the weekend, and more importantly, learned how to play better. When to slow, when to heal, when to DoT, aggro management, just what I can and can't do...
Spent Friday night killing basilisks solo for about 4 hours. Ding 38, 39, 40, 41, 3/4 to 42. Camped in the cave.
Saturday morning, took one bar of mana's worth of baskies. Had to summon 2 spirit pouches to hold my haul. Ding 42, 1/4 to 43. Back to PoK, unload all of my loot, & buy all of my buyable spells to 49 with trips to East Commonlands, Iceclad Ocean, & Cabilis. This took forever. Picked up some new arms in the bazaar (armguards of sandflow, which I can't wear yet). Took a break to take my dogs to the vet & eat.
Logged in later and decided to check out the Gulf on Gunthak. Couldn't get a group, so soloed on the beach for a while, but a solo druid and a full group (all red to me) were taking most of the spawns. Hit the tunnel, and had moderate success. Worked my way to the fort area, only to find more people taking the spawns in there. Back to the tunnel, where I was trained & died. The tunnel is not a safe place to solo when the zone is crowded. Lots of trains, and the drogmors seem to have a very large aggro radius. Decided to check out Dulak's Harbor, and see about getting an empty flask for the stoicism quest. Did a bit of exploration / killing (2 drunken pirates, no flask), then got in a group: Shammy, Shammy, Shammy, Ranger. Killed our way around for a bit (ding 43!) then headed to the easy boat and kept that clear for a while.
Camped & watched The Ice Harvest. Meh.
Logged in Sunday still in Dulak's & got to chatting with a Berserker. We duoed for a while, pulling mobs near the Gunthak zone and feeling out our abilities. Ding 44. Got 2 more drunken pirates, no empty flask. We were joined by a warrior, and the berserker reported that he had 2 friends on the way, ranger & cleric. Nice. With 5 of us, things were rocking. We fought our way to the second boat, pulling and killing everything we saw, including a handful of drunken pirates. No flask. War left after a while and we picked up an SK. Headed back to land, since we were keeping well ahead of the boat spawns. Ding 45 on the dock heading back to land. Set up shop near the warehouse by Dandolek's Run -- There is an empty alcove through which nothing wanders, and singles can be pulled pretty reliably to. No access to drunken pirates here, but I was having too much fun to care. Ding 46. Ranger & Cleric took off for an hour or so to buy spells. Hmmm... maybe we should take a break, no cleric. I say "I can heal" and let them discuss it. They tentatively decide to go for it, and things are going well. After 5 or 6 pulls they've stopped asking me how much mana I have left after every kill (60 mana. Unless something major occurs, I always have 60 mana
). Then it happens. Overpull. 3 mobs in camp, berserker's life dropping rapidly. "Run to Zone!", they say. What to do... Slow an uninjured one. I get aggro. Excellent. Give that one to Fido. Throw a heal on the Berserker. Slow the one the berserker is fighting. Throw a heal on the SK. Slow the one she's fighting - I get aggro?!?. Heal Fido. SK reestablishes aggro. Heal Fido again. "Zone you two, I can Feign Death!" the SK says. Hmmm... Seems to me that we're winning Get DoT running on all three mobs. Heal, Canni, Heal, Canni, ..., Heal, Canni. Berserker's mob is down. Fido's mob is down. SK's mob is down. Victory! /cheers all around. "Nice healing, Shark" & "Good job, newbie" are music to my ears Picked up a druid for the group, and cleric and ranger returned. Back to fast killing mobs. I logged after an 8 hour session, just as they're starting to discuss taking on one of the higher-end boats.
Logged in briefly later to find Dulak's mostly empty. A druid was pulling to the same alcove we were in earlier, and where I was camped. After what seemed like forever getting set up (summon food, summon drink, summon pet, canni, buff, buff, buff, canni, med) I was ready to go. Druid pulled, and got all singles. We were making short work of them, but Druid had to log. Ah well. Back to PoK to unload my stuff. My 8 Trader's satchels are full of mostly saleable stuff, and I vendored off about 100pp worth of other junk, mostly weapons. And put on my armguards of sandflow. Camped & watched Good Night, and Good Luck. Good show.
Tonight it's back to Dulak's. I'd really like to pick up Stoicism -- Looks like a great tool for use during canni.
Edit: 3/21
Back to Dulak's and soloed pirates for a while. Got the empty flask on the 30th-ish kill, probably 15 drunken pirates. Flotsam & Jetsam were pushovers. I am Stoicism'd. Headed back to PoK to sort out spells. Picked up my first ever KEI accidentally while leaving the bank. 241 minutes. Nice. Went to Velk's (45 hot zone) and killed some spiders/got killed by some spiders. If I can get them solo they go down easy (yellow or blue). If I can get 2 and split them between me & Fido (much better tanking capability than I thought), they go down, but not easily (70mana to take down 1 yellow & 1 blue). If I get two on me at the same time, I can't keep up with heals while dealing any sort of damage at all -- Have I finally outgrown the fungi tunic? I'm going to have to play around with my debuff (mostly unused to this point). Root isn't holding long enough to let Fido build aggro. Lots of people here, but didn't try for a group. Just wanted to get comfortable with the area. No dinging, but I'm a little farther into 46.
