GW:EN Sneak Peak: Live Thread 8, Back in the Saddle

Okay, I'm done punching the walls and blasting speed metal. Disconnects piss me off something fierce.

Did a little checking around and it seems I've been on a sissiphan quest looking for a mission. There aren't any in GW:EN. Just these dungeon things in the underground. I passed by one when I didn't follow the master Wurm quest. So, I have before me two options, both of which will probably take up the rest of the night or until I fall over unconscious which will be soon the way things are going. The first is to head for that Qurm quest and also find the Sepulchre of Whatever, which is also a dungeon and finish off some quests for some big XP. The other is to follow along the primary quest, the one that screwed up on me the last time around and try to finish off the Norn Alliance quest. This Blood Washes Blood quest is one half of that. I'm not sure what exactly it takes to finish off the other branch but it's probably equally involved.

Either way I need to get back to Jaga Moraine. I'll decide along the way.

Damn, looks like I can run with the K-Dawg again. He's not by the perch. On the other hand, a little exploring around and I find some jars of healing salve. Dropping them is like a Heal Area, +300hp to everyone in range. I'm toting one around with me for now.

Least I don't have to deal with the funky shadows by the altar again. Just have to stand around and wait for it to light. And with Yogi in tow, we're matching towards the marches. Fingers crossed this time...

And we've loaded successfully. Whew. First impression of the new zone is that the sky is dark, the rocks are jagged, I'm in enemy territory. And it's time to get some ass and kick some ass. Looks like we're hunting another Norn form to transform into.

Ah, killing Charr by the bucket load. Like old times.

The Charr use a lot of fire stuff. The Warriors Conjure, the mages Fire Storm, the Rangers Kindle Arrows. If I was actually preparing for this instead of just flying by the seat of my pants, I'd be ready for that sort of thing.

Another map piece. I wave good-bye to another inventory space.

At the shrine dealy now. Tough boss fight. Massed fire eles. Went down to one Hero - the E/Me - with a burnt rezsig and the Bearagon and me, alone against the boss. My prot fu is strong, though, and we whooped him, recharged the sig and we're good to go.

Two more bosses around the shrine, too. A Barrage Ranger using Ignite Arrows, gg. And an Axe Warrior with something I didn't catch because I was running for my life before he ground me into paste. Neither as touch as the Mind Burn guy.

The bear form has the same problems as the wolf form. I'm one of two healers and taking me out of the picture is bad juju. Nice and fun, though. Feels really powerful. I especially like the shout that weakens enemies and gives everyone on your team perma-orders. So now I'm bursting through the gates, slaughtering Charr. In the center, I'm getting slaughtered myself but there's a rezpad right outside so I don't care. And, finally, there's a Monk boss - and the reason I'm having some problems with the killing of stuff. He's got Healing Light which is pretty meh, but I ain't proud so I'll take it. Aw, hell, something rezzed him.

Oh, I see, these Flameshielders are dual classed, too. Ele/Mon it seems. Nice.

Ha, these Charr Warrior guys were rank flashing. Tigers. That's awesome.

Quest finished and it's another cutscene. Robs me of Healing Light since I wasn't able to cap before the Charr all went dead. I shall console myself with another tasty beverage. Return of the mysteriously vanishing Heroes, too, by the way. Mr. Dwarf thinks the Norn are the craziest people.

Finishing the quest has warped me to Gunnar's manse. Quick stat check, I'm a half a dozen skill points up and at 7k Norn points - almost to rank 3, 800 Dwarf, and a mere 350 Vanguard. And I'm in the black from after buying my armor. A few changes, I'm ditching Devonna for Talon, the Guardian henchie, hopefully he can stay alive and tank a little better since he's sword not axe. I'll miss the KDs though. And I'm ditching Holy Veil in favor of... You Move Like a Dwarf! Yes, I'm using a PvE only skill. I haven't gotten much use out of Veil, really, and I figure a ranged KD will be fun and, worse comes to worse, will help me run away if needed.

Again, I hate the pathing in Gunnar's Hold. Always bumping into something to stop my auto run, and all the vendors are a pain to reach. Also, I'm really getting tired of the voice comments. Cute once or twice but everyone says the same damn thing.

Norn Storyteller isn't handing out any more goodies. It's not that I'm sniffinc g at an extra 60 health, that's a full Hale/Hearty staff for everyone in the party. But rank 1 was 54 health, so I only went up 6 health for getting 3k in points, that just doesn't sit right.

Roy Boy has another tournament for me. Good fight promoter he is. I must say I am tempted to break some more faces. But, no, another time, Killroy. Another time.

The next leg of the Northern Allies quest requires me to travel to Olafstead, in distant Olafistanm right on the border of Whocomesupwiththesenamesabibia. The portal leading to there is in the Southwestern corner of Norrheart. Time to get my travel on.

Ah screw this. I'm just running for it.

You know what? This game really needs an SMS feature. I want it so I could write this post without having to tab out. But just imagc ine you could send someone a message on their cellphone "dood raid n 5 minutes where are u?" Or vice versa. This will happen someday. Mark my words.

And I just auto-ran right into the Jotun boss group I'd been so worried about in a narrow mountain pass. Crushed 'em, so it's all to the good.

My favorite guild name, I Swear She Was Eighteen [Gwen], just won the halls. Ah, statutory rape, you never cease to amuse. It's even creepier now that we've actually met the grown up Gwen.

New zone, Varajar Falls. It's, um, the Shiverpeaks. What do you want from me, poetry? There's trees and stuff.

Why, yes, I have been drinking, why do you ask?

Looks like I've got a ways to go to find Olaf.

There were a lot of centaur here. Now there are a lot of dead centaur.

Olaf's palatial townhouse is up a big huge winding ramp. That's going to look totaly hot on GTV Cribs.

Neat little touch. In the row of henchies, Zho and Aidan, the two Rangers, are off to the side, sitting down next to each other. Beyond that, there's jack all here except for Olaf. I grab the quest and looks like I'm going to becoming like unto the raven soon. And then it's back out the way I came.

At the shrine it's Olaf Olafson. And his sister, his daughter, his sister Olrun Olafsdotter. And a bunch of flunkies. I was just kinding about Olafistan before but this is getting ridiculous. And, of course, it's a trap. All the Norn turn hostile but I'm a practice hand at slaughtering them thanks to the dozens of rezshrines and the like along the way here. Or rather, it's a bit more than your average trap as after I turn the Norn back to a lovely shade of green, a bunch of Destroyers charge into the fray and I have my first real encounter with them. Tough suckers but they go down just like everything else.

Afterwards, it's a cutscene. Blah blah blah, Shithead, who's didn't magically appear out of thin air since he was in my party, says to the Dwarf, who did materialize from the the ethers, there's a gate we have to shut or open or dance around it with mayflowers, I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention. I was hypnotized by the row of tiny sharp teeth in his cavernous mouth right below his huge, soulles eyes. The Asura are like humanoid paranhas, I knew it! Hot Mama then proceeds to be hot and we've got plot motion.

I have to say, the male Norn model with the beard growing out of his chest looks ridiculous. Like some kind of neckless muppet. Olaf doesn't look as bad as the Nornbear Unveiled did but he's still freaky looking. The rest? Well, they give new meaning to the word bear, alright.

Then I collect the rewards and it's on to another instanced zone - a Gate Too Far. I'm underground in an Underworld/Tombs looking "dungeon". Olafette Hotdotter has stayed outside and, instead, I'm accompanied by her father, who's shirtless and making me uncomfortable, and a pair of Norn, one of each gender. The girl has a mask on so she's probably a butterface. Oh, who am I kidding, she and the guy are probably an item and he'd sqaush me like a bug if I tried to climb that mountain of a woman.

My quest log says I need to kill stuff. Sounds good to me. New mob type, Stalagmites, which are like transparent Devorers. I hate them already, they're spirit shitters. Including Frozen Soil and Winter. Those are going to hurt. Winter because it hurts my damage, these critters are all probably hardened against cold damage. And Frozen because it means no combat rezzing. QZ, too, that's going to wreck my e-management.

I forgot how much easier having four Warriors makes things. Olaf and his pals are awesome tanks and heavy hitters, too.

Onto the shrine which is just sitting there in an empty room. You know what that means, right? Yep, it's a trap. Destroyers and some kind of Tremor beast pop up and try to kill me. I try to kill them. I am slightly more successful. There are several waves but it's never really in doubt. I get a pair of gold daggers for my trouble, though. Max enchanting mod but otherwise unremarkable. Intersting shield skin, Enameled, dropped for me, too.

The raven form give me some health and a 20% block chance, that's nice. The usual smattering of skills, too. Nothing really amazing although there's some nice stuff. I'm supposed to be protecting myself from tremor knockdowns with it but, um, I'm a backliner, I'm nowhere near close enough to get caught by that.

Yeah, see, that's why I shouldn't be dicking aroudn with forms. I just lost the hot Norn girl. Although she got rezzed up, that's interesting. Yeah, these things just hit way to hard to leave it up to a lone Monk. Raven forms not that much fun anyway so I'm going to ignore it for now. Defeated a bunch of Termors and a door opened up with a portal inside. I guess I'm suppoed to go through it?

Okay, I am so completely lost right now. I have no idea where to go and ther are no Destroyers anywhere around here. Well, there's a portal, I'm taking it.

Phew, okay, here's some Destroyers in this level. Not much of a challenge getting to the main chamber with the gate. Pantystain says some stuff and tries to endear himself to me by being sacrastic, it's not working. His race has a skill calle Technobabble. He's so uncool he raises the average temperature of the room. Finishing off the quest involves smashing the gate.

With that, I'm back at Olaf's, a bunch of XP richer. And I've earned enough rep points to get to Norn rank 3, Slayer of Nightmares. Speaking of Nightmares, I think that's as good a point as any to call it a night.