Okay, Part 4 is here. At the same time, the lack of (?) is now official. The reason why? The fact that there's no way for you to try doing every quest possible/available without hiring the expertise of the Chronomage near your home. At this point, John noticed something interesting. Namely, Google ratings for the specific games. If you think this kind of thing is only for Avengers: Endgame and Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, you're wrong. In an era where Google is the legal version of Big Boss Paul and the real-life version of Big Boss John, video games are not spared from Google reviews as well.
Now the reason why John L'Otter is saying something seemingly unrelated is that he decided to snoop around (legally) for Google reviews. After all, he's only doing this for fun. You'd think both Everquests would have an approval rating of 80% to 90%. After all, the first Everquest came out in 1999 while the next version came out in 2004. At the same time, World of Warcraft would always be the defining title of the MMO industry as we know it. So imagine John's surprise when he realised the Google approval rating for WoW is currently at 88%. For a series of its calibre and global reach, that felt... underwhelming. Further "investigations" reveal some interesting results as well.
TERA: 83%
Neverwinter: 90%
Path of Exile: 90%
Now it must be stated that Google reviewers are (most likely) your average folks working either 6 days, 5.5 days, or 5 days per week. They don't earn millions, let alone being CEOs or politicians. Very likely, they don't work for names like IGN and Kotaku. Like those in the Steam community, they play video games because they're... well, gamers. This comes to mind how the Steam community ratings have changed throughout the years. In the beginning, they're most likely more hardcore than just giving a 7/10 rating for the many, if not most. Now it seemed that Google users are pickier. If Steam decided to rate a specific game on a less than 7/10 scale, you know things aren't going right. Interestingly, Path of Exile is the only game John searched that has a 9/10 rating.
[Note: Rift has a 73% rating while World of Warcraft Classic got a whopping 95%. For some weird reason, however, Google seemed to have taken down the info.]
So why did John mention this? Weird things do happen in life, believe it or not. While this means you're not going to see a descendant of Tokugawa Ieyasu living in Singapore without knowing who he/she is, it did just enough to warrant a 91% Google review rating for Everquest 1. Everquest 2? 92%. Now it must be stated that to rate a game, you have to play it. If you want to knock it, try it first. The player base of any MMO title would always dwindle as years progress despite WoW's status as that defining title in the industry. For the two Everquests, it's a case of dwindling player base due to circumstances both unavoidable and avoidable. Therefore, there's no way one could assume a sizeable number of reviewers deciding whether to do a Borat thumbs up or the Roman thumbs down for these two games. Because that'd possibly be one of the dumbest moments in the history of intellect. The funny info Google ratings gave actually reflected the fact that both games were (and most likely still are) unable to draw in a new crowd. That's all. But TERA's drop in ratings was nevertheless surprising given the high previous ratings from both Steam and Google. It makes one wonder whether the Korean rack truly sells. Actually, we all should know the answer by now. Of course, this is not to say only Koreans are obsessed with the oppai. No, it's not a typo. This is oppa while this is oppai.
TERA: 83%
Neverwinter: 90%
Path of Exile: 90%
Now it must be stated that Google reviewers are (most likely) your average folks working either 6 days, 5.5 days, or 5 days per week. They don't earn millions, let alone being CEOs or politicians. Very likely, they don't work for names like IGN and Kotaku. Like those in the Steam community, they play video games because they're... well, gamers. This comes to mind how the Steam community ratings have changed throughout the years. In the beginning, they're most likely more hardcore than just giving a 7/10 rating for the many, if not most. Now it seemed that Google users are pickier. If Steam decided to rate a specific game on a less than 7/10 scale, you know things aren't going right. Interestingly, Path of Exile is the only game John searched that has a 9/10 rating.
[Note: Rift has a 73% rating while World of Warcraft Classic got a whopping 95%. For some weird reason, however, Google seemed to have taken down the info.]
So why did John mention this? Weird things do happen in life, believe it or not. While this means you're not going to see a descendant of Tokugawa Ieyasu living in Singapore without knowing who he/she is, it did just enough to warrant a 91% Google review rating for Everquest 1. Everquest 2? 92%. Now it must be stated that to rate a game, you have to play it. If you want to knock it, try it first. The player base of any MMO title would always dwindle as years progress despite WoW's status as that defining title in the industry. For the two Everquests, it's a case of dwindling player base due to circumstances both unavoidable and avoidable. Therefore, there's no way one could assume a sizeable number of reviewers deciding whether to do a Borat thumbs up or the Roman thumbs down for these two games. Because that'd possibly be one of the dumbest moments in the history of intellect. The funny info Google ratings gave actually reflected the fact that both games were (and most likely still are) unable to draw in a new crowd. That's all. But TERA's drop in ratings was nevertheless surprising given the high previous ratings from both Steam and Google. It makes one wonder whether the Korean rack truly sells. Actually, we all should know the answer by now. Of course, this is not to say only Koreans are obsessed with the oppai. No, it's not a typo. This is oppa while this is oppai.
At least she's not a case of Korean virtual anatomy.
Back to reality (i.e. #respawnlol)
The thing about spending too much time solo'ing zones below your level is this: You're bound to face reality sooner rather than later. After some time of not respawning, reality came back to Layes Wolftree. In Everquest 2, the quirky part about respawning was that it's incorporated in the background world instead of just only the gameplay. Whether or not this was intended to avoid any psychological impact caused by in-game death remains debatable (?). The hard landing (no pun intended for those who died because their mounts happened to run themselves off the cliff) first came up in Rivervale. Not this one but that one.
To highlight how insanely difficult Rivervale is even for a level 40+ character, you can try challenging yourself only to risk multiple moments of #respawnlol in one single session. Unlike other zones, the mob in Rivervale have a high tendency to zerg anyone either reckless enough to engage an individual target or just SoL enough. The Stone Hives near the Drafling Tower is a notable exception to this rule. Otherwise, taking quests in this zone means dealing with the aggro consistently (i.e. fight instead of flight). The tainted maidens along the river are particularly nasty in this aspect. In fact, John suspects the corrupted halfling mobs are not even half as bad. But they're not the worst-case scenario because any desecrated vale oak you find is definitely worse. If you want to progress enough to enter Everfrost and/or Lavastorm, you're better off doing quests in both the Enchanted Lands and Zek. In fact, there's only one questing zone in the Enchanted Lands outside Rivervale. If you don't want to waste your time running all over the place, then Steamfont Mountains should be a good zone for you to run about. After which you can decide whether or not to enter the Lesser Faydark and face those AMDK residents. And that's not mentioning New Tunaria where you have to face those equally AMDK elves (Note: To understand the real-life circumstances happening in the fictional realms of Lesser Faydark and New Tunaria, please refer to this).
A piece of advice from John: Do NOT try to solo the dark side of Shire unless you happened to have a mercenary. Even if you're beyond level 40, Rivervale still presents a bigger challenge than Lavastorm and Everfrost. This was meant to be strictly a heroic zone and it most likely still is. If you think solo'ing the Barovia zone in Neverwinter was already tough enough, try the Ravenloft version of Shire.
Another piece of advice from John: Due to the creature catalogue quest for Enchanted Lands involving around half of the list in the Rivervale zone, the only way to get it done via solo running is to get in and get out. So please know beforehand where your targets are spawning because the only way to get things done is to risk unwanted aggro. Also, please make sure you have the means to teleport back to any city. You'd need that unless you want to #respawnlol.
Note: Interestingly enough, not every nymph is an angry nymph serving the wrong cause. Apparently, the vale nymphs you see in the forest areas are allies to the correct group.
Note: Interestingly enough, not every nymph is an angry nymph serving the wrong cause. Apparently, the vale nymphs you see in the forest areas are allies to the correct group.
Lava and Frost
Lavastorm and Everfrost are two interesting zones. One can only be effectively done during the day, the other being the most ideal zone to run night questing. In Norrath, day and night matter quite a great deal. Unlike Neverwinter where day and night affects the challenge level of the AI in the Barovia zone, Everquest 2 is all about visibility. In short, it's far easier to run outdoor quests during the day due to normal visibility. Once night arrives, that's where visibility becomes an issue. And in Lavastorm, this cannot be any truer.
If you think visibility in Thundering Steppes was already bad enough, you haven't entered Lavastorm yet. Even in the daytime, visibility remains compromised. This may result in first-timers wondering how to reach Blisterzonk to start questing.
John forgot whether this was during the day or night. Also, the timing was brought to you by S(melly)**T(hings) Happen.
To reach Blisterzonk, you have to scale the outer part of the Sootfoot mining area. In fact, the entire area is a basin where Blisterzonk is at the outer high ground. At this point, it's advisable to complete the mount quest in the Butcherblock Mountains zone since the resurrected fossil mount can leap onto the high ground in a single try. The same couldn't be said about horses.
If you have stealth, then use it. While the Sootfoot mob have a low chance of aggro compared to other non-critter enemies, there's always a chance of it happening. Otherwise, you really have to risk the aggro. One particularly annoying thing about fighting Sootfoot mobs is that the gatherers have a high chance to knock you back, which in turn would result in a potential stun-lock situation. This is not to say you can't get out. Just that you'd need to have a decent level of stun-resistance.
Note: If you have the Karana familiar quest, try to wait until you're level 53 or so before attempting it unless you want to trial, error, and die en route to Sumarvaldr. John isn't interested to know whether it's possible to run along the mountains to prevent the aggro.
Everfrost is... well, fun in the sense that you can't just run the zone at early level 40s. While this doesn't apply to the ice wolves along Bitterwind Trench and primal frostfins swimming in the sea, pretty much 90% of the mobs are unsolo'able to any characters below level 45. However, there's a way to level up to 45 asap. At the docks area, you have a guy fishing for fish. This barbarian dude would offer you a fishing quest. All you need is to harvest some fish for him. So long you know how to run away from the sharks (in particular the ancient frostfins since these bigger sharks can dizzy you in 60 seconds), you're safe.
So how to dodge the sharks if you're unlucky enough to attract one? Firstly, the sharks aren't aggressive unless it's that annoyingly dangerous Dreadwake. Of course, there's still a chance of an ancient frostfin targeting you as if you're a bloody prey. But chances of that are... well, slim. Secondly, all you need is to swim towards the part of the docks area where a lone quest giving NPC is standing. Assuming you're facing the guy, aim for the right edge instead of the left. Make sure to hold space once you're nearing icy dry land. The reason why being that sometimes you'll end up under the docks instead of being able to move up onto it. If Dreadwake is chasing after you in this case, then congrats. It's SoL for you because that thing is an epic boss requiring two parties to take him down. Just ignore the fact that this deadly sharknado is a level 42. The challenge level barometer doesn't work conventionally.
Interestingly, you can try solo'ing a heroic quest intended for two players if you manage to meet the criteria below:
1. You're at least level 45.
2. You're a druid due to that underwater breathing spell.
3. Either that or you have the Fishbone Earring.
It's not a joke. John was able to solo Ebon Tooth. The first try was a failure minus the respawn. Layes got dizzied and half of his HP gone. Thankfully, the shore was nearby and the escape was a success. The second time around, casting Cure after getting hit 2-3 times somehow resulted in immunity. Apparently, this is how you go about taking down those ancient frostfins because this was already tried and tested before the first round. This move turned the second bout to Layes' favour and he managed to complete the impossible+unthinkable+unconceivable. Credit to this vid below for showing this half-Ainu sea otter from Hokkaido where to swim.
Note: Plenty of stuff did change over the years. Like less than 5 years to be exact.
Note: If you have the Karana familiar quest, try to wait until you're level 53 or so before attempting it unless you want to trial, error, and die en route to Sumarvaldr. John isn't interested to know whether it's possible to run along the mountains to prevent the aggro.
Everfrost is... well, fun in the sense that you can't just run the zone at early level 40s. While this doesn't apply to the ice wolves along Bitterwind Trench and primal frostfins swimming in the sea, pretty much 90% of the mobs are unsolo'able to any characters below level 45. However, there's a way to level up to 45 asap. At the docks area, you have a guy fishing for fish. This barbarian dude would offer you a fishing quest. All you need is to harvest some fish for him. So long you know how to run away from the sharks (in particular the ancient frostfins since these bigger sharks can dizzy you in 60 seconds), you're safe.
So how to dodge the sharks if you're unlucky enough to attract one? Firstly, the sharks aren't aggressive unless it's that annoyingly dangerous Dreadwake. Of course, there's still a chance of an ancient frostfin targeting you as if you're a bloody prey. But chances of that are... well, slim. Secondly, all you need is to swim towards the part of the docks area where a lone quest giving NPC is standing. Assuming you're facing the guy, aim for the right edge instead of the left. Make sure to hold space once you're nearing icy dry land. The reason why being that sometimes you'll end up under the docks instead of being able to move up onto it. If Dreadwake is chasing after you in this case, then congrats. It's SoL for you because that thing is an epic boss requiring two parties to take him down. Just ignore the fact that this deadly sharknado is a level 42. The challenge level barometer doesn't work conventionally.
Interestingly, you can try solo'ing a heroic quest intended for two players if you manage to meet the criteria below:
1. You're at least level 45.
2. You're a druid due to that underwater breathing spell.
3. Either that or you have the Fishbone Earring.
It's not a joke. John was able to solo Ebon Tooth. The first try was a failure minus the respawn. Layes got dizzied and half of his HP gone. Thankfully, the shore was nearby and the escape was a success. The second time around, casting Cure after getting hit 2-3 times somehow resulted in immunity. Apparently, this is how you go about taking down those ancient frostfins because this was already tried and tested before the first round. This move turned the second bout to Layes' favour and he managed to complete the impossible+unthinkable+unconceivable. Credit to this vid below for showing this half-Ainu sea otter from Hokkaido where to swim.
Note: Plenty of stuff did change over the years. Like less than 5 years to be exact.
In case you're thinking whether this is the only fight that would fetch you a green slot neck gear, the answer is no. You can get one either from Blisterzonk or helping the chivalrous barbarians to remind the valkyries of an age-old alliance. Although to be fair, those guys have to do it in order to survive and thrive.
The correct treatment of women
Recently, a river otter called Adam got himself into trouble. While it's high time we should just swim on, this comes to mind another episode. John is not about to take sides here. After all, he's just a half-Ainu otter who should have been born in Hokkaido instead of Singapore. But he still did have something to say.
Examples of dark fiction include this, this, and that. Half-Ainu or no half-Ainu, John should have been a Japanese sea otter from Hokkaido.
Enough about being a dark knight instead of a white knight in shining armour. The final part of this post involves a question: Is there such a thing called an unorthodox approach in Everquest 2?
The reason behind this question lies in using a Paladin. It's very easy to say tanking+damage, male or female. Under the Crusader section alone, we have four out of five trees considered as orthodox. The reason why?
1. Avenger is all about dealing damage via DPS and cooldown reduction. At the same time, it synergises very well with threat generating so long you have two taunts on standby. No defensive options are available for this tree, though.
2. Cavalier and Sentinel are the tanking trees. The Cavalier tree is all about holding the mob aggro while the Sentinel tanking game is more about survival. For the best tanking effect, Cavalier+Sentinel should be the ideal choice.
3. Fourth is the Knight tree. Possibly many Paladin users' attainable dream, this is all about frontline combat support. You have the defensive, offensive, and the fact that every party would want to have you leading the line.
4. Legionnaire. This is the unorthodox option. The reason why being that it merely gives you an alternate source of damage. Who would be insane enough to attempt this tree since nothing about it is related to what a Paladin is expected to do? Definitely not a river otter. But no one ever said the likes of Emiya Kiritsugu and Goblin Slayer are river otters.
As you can see, this sea otter decided to go unorthodox. While John L'Otter is no ally of justice or the frontier's kindest, that doesn't mean he can't have role models. If you don't have brawn, get a degree. If you don't have both, then play it like this John.
So how exactly was John able to make the unorthodox work? The downside of the unorthodox lies in not being able to be considered the accepted specialist. This would be the strength of the orthodox. As for the downside of the orthodox, it's all about having too many options to consider. This is where the unorthodox shines: You don't need to think much about your move set. On the defensive end, just go for Knight's Stance. There's no other option. Worried about unwanted aggro? You have Subtle Strikes. Having to maximise the only thing that makes the Legionnaire work? You have Righteousness, so make sure you max out Legionnaire's Smite as well. The only dodgy part lies in using Legionnaire's Conviction since it only applies to magic damage. Legionnaire's Mercy? You need that. Like full 10 points. If you're using multi-heal as a bailout option, then Legionnaire's Mercy is your BFF.
This ultimately results in one problem: You most likely have no choice but to max out every AA. That is except for the final one that gives you double cast bonus. If you want to max out the alternate damage, then you can just throw full 8 points into it. Shunning this option, however, means you can afford to be more tactically and strategically versatile. Tactically because Paladins don't get many spells in their black book, hence making other options viable. As for the strategic end, it means you have more space to focus on the orthodox aspects. Because Legionnaires aren't specialists in tanking or damage dealing by default, maxing out Trample under the Cavalier tree can help a lot. To make this work, you have to place at least 1 point into Swift Attack so that you have better chances of multi-hitting. If you're lucky enough to harvest a Primordial Adornment of Carnage shard, that's going to be the best lottery your Greco-Roman knight can get. Whatever you do, make sure the AoE auto-attack game is up to scratch.
10 points into Battle Leadership, that's vital. In terms of party buff, it gives your Legionnaire better value. At the same time, Battle Leadership doesn't require concentration. What this means is that your power gauge won't go down that fast. Trust John, anything requiring concentration is bound to affect your power depletion. He knows because Layes is a Fury and it's been verified through trial, error, and the occasional #respawnlol. Battle Leadership is the backbone of every Knight. It buffs your party members and it also buffs you as well. Damage increment is always much welcomed for any Paladin using Knight's Stance. Again, it's vital for any Legionnaire.
Defensive wise, that'd be the defensive increase under the Cavalier tree. Damage wise, critical chance is important. So 10 points into that under the Sentinel tree. If there's anything left undone, it'd be 4 points into Crusader's Faith. With 94 points currently all spent on the Crusader end, John may end up spending the last 4 points into Swift Attack. Because the faster you hit, the more times you can proc Trample.
Impact so far
Above is all that's left to round things off for this build. The combination of Blessed Weapon training and Divine Inspiration focus is meant to up the damage without worrying about power usage. Yes, it's probability-based. But that's why Knight's Stance is so important. This isn't about getting things done asap, but doing trench warfare. Which was historically what the Romans were known for. The good thing about Paladins is that they have an effective AoE two-hitter. Ancient Wrath>Holy Circle is an effective tactic to weaken mobs. Against trash mobs, this can result in massive damage.
Note: For some weird reason, there were moments where Viaa took down like half a mob with a single hit. Granted the aforementioned two-hit synergy was utilised, but that's before the enemy ranks broke down at least by half. Possibly a case of Trample if you're to ask John.
P.S: We all know the common attribute of every distressed merchant waiting to be a gratified merchant. That is, the oppai. Granted it's not Korean, but that's still oppai. In a twisted moment of accidental humour, there's actually a distressed merchant waiting to be a gratified merchant having the same sprite as Viaa minus the arms, armour, and a more realistic bustline. The one to save her? Not some noble member of the Qeynos Guard but a bastard Fury. This is the reason why John called it a twisted moment of accidental humour. And he's not joking like an Adam.
Add P.S: There's nothing intentional about attractive gratified merchants with a female barbarian's bustline. Refer to the third meaning.
Final P.S: If there's anything worse than being Adam Khoo or Jay Chou at this point in time, it'd be getting yourself arrested in an incredibly stupid way.
