Every so often podcasts tend to fade, much like blogs, Facebook and Twitter users. This is just human nature. We are creatures of habit and we bore easily. I am here to say that I have found my interest once again in podcasting. Even though I have not been making new shows I have been playing EQ2 quite a bit over this recent hiatus. With all the new changes that will be coming next month with the Sentinel’s Fate expansion pack much of the previous shows are going to be kind of obsolete.

Take for example the show#1. When I wrote that show I was learning podcasting at the same time I was auditioning to get into the Virgin World collective. I feel that I over produced the early shows. I also was still learning the EQ2 game itself. I chose to do those shows to help others enjoy this game and not to struggle much like I did. I now know so much more than I ever did about the games mechanics, classes, features and even podcasting itself. This makes the past podcasts seem outdated and rough at best. Take for example the Lore and Legend show that is mostly outdated since you no longer have to obtain the quest starter the way you once did. The show on Combat basics is going to be outdated as well come next expansion. Show 3 has changed much since the Sinking Sands had its mobs and encounters raised to levels 55-60 and many of the epics have been changed to just Heroics.

My show on Leveling is irrelevant now due to the many mechanics changes over the last year. Even the last show about Transmuting is going to be vastly outdated next month. This has been very discouraging to me since the goal of the show was to keep it is relevant as possible. I had always claimed that I would just go back and edit the old shows and bring them up to date. I still may but some of them will be drastically changed I might as well just re-record the whole show. Even if I do re-record I will leave the old shows intact for historical purposes.

All in all I will be releasing a show soon about the reboot of the podcast so stay tuned and be prepared to hit the ground running once the Sentinel’s Fate is released. I am in beta and will be ready to make you ready come February 16th.

With my inability to deliver a show as often as I want as well as posting content on the site here I have now added a new tool to keep you informed for those who follow this blog and the EQ-IQ show. Yes I am now Twittering. As you can see in the sidebar I have added a tool to keep you up to date on my progress on the shows or what I am doing when it comes to video games in general. You know sometimes I do like other games. For those of you out there that do not know what Twitter is let me give a quick summary. It is a social networking tool that ranks up there in popularity as My Space or Face book. I do have a Face book page for EQ-IQ but still just don’t get the hang of that just yet. With Twitter it allows me to send out short thoughts where anyone who is following me can read. Or in this case even those whom are not following me. What this allows me to do is keep you out there aware of what it takes for me to do these podcasts as well as the blog its self.  Because Twitter forces me to make it short and simple I am more motivated to post a twitter than to sit down and draft up a post such as this one.  Now that I have an iTouch and I have a Twitter application that allows me to update the Twitter while I play it makes it even easier. Thanks to Brent at Virgin Worlds for his recent plug for Twitter which has allowed me to give it a try for this show. So far I like it a lot. I hope it keeps you informed as to whether or not I have pod faded. If I can’t find the time to Twit then I give up…

Everquest lore has always had gods to worship. In the Everquest 1 days you were able to pick you deity of choice from character creation. When Everquest 2 was first released the gods were absent. The story behind this lies in the departure of the gods over 500 years earlier. With the Echoes of Faydwer expansion pack some of the gods have returned. With each expansion pack a couple more gods have also returned. There are currently 14 gods in the game 5 evil, 5 neutral and 4 good. You can choose to serve or follow a god that you are aligned with.   

The benefits of worshiping a god are nice. You get powerful spells and abilities called Blessings and Miracles. These are limited in use because they tend to be very powerful. The Miracles last for 10 minutes and the Blessings are only usable for 20-30 seconds but are usually a difference maker in a raid or when in a sticky situation. I guess that’s why they are called miracles. Now you are allowed to use each miracle and blessing once every hour and you only get two uses. You’ll need to find an Altar to worship in order to obtain the abilities again at a cost of Favor. Favor is basically faction and works as currency to use the blessings and miracles. You will also get a Pet that behaves very much like a wizard’s familiar in that its only purpose is to enhance one of your main attributes such as Strength, Agility, Stamina, Intelligence and Wisdom. You also will receive a Cloak once you have fully devoted you allegiance to your god. These have some nice stats as well. Each god will provide a different set of blessings and miracles that will not always benefit your class so it is important to find the right god to get any real use from them. 

You will need to be level 25 before you can seek out your deity of choice. Once you are ready you can head over to the Butcherblock Mountain Docks where you can talk with a Deity Historian which will lead you to the Prophet for your deity. These NPC’s also serve as merchants to buy the base Altars and books for crafting advanced Altars such as the Deity Altar Crafting, Advanced Deity Altar Crafting and Decorative Deity Shrines that Carpenters can craft. Altars are used to house your blessings and miracles. This is where you will go to get you abilities and to donate or sacrifice treasured items to the altar to increase favor which you can use to get your abilities. The better the altar the cheaper your abilities will cost.  The best altar that can be crafter is the Imbued ones while the best altar in the game is the Ordained one that is dropped from Mayong Mistmoore which is NO-TRADE. Better altars means the abilities will cost less.

Once you have made a decision to follow a particular god you will need to locate the Prophet. The Prophet will start you on a series of devotion quests. There are five in total and they are available at different levels of your character development.  By completing each devotion quest you will be granted rewards such as an Altars, Pet, Cloak, miracles and blessing along with some favor. There are five miracles and five blessings for each god. These are unlocked upon completion of each of the devotion quests. The 1st, 2nd and 4th quests are usually Soloable while the 3rd and 5th ones tend to require some assistance since they are heroic.
 
There is one more benefit you will receive that is very rare. Every so often one of the Avatar’s will descend to Norrath if enough favor has been collected by worshipers of that god. The Avatar will remain on Norrath for 1-3 days or until they are killed. Only one god’s Avatar can remain on Norrath at a time. If the Avatar representing your god is up, you can approach them and receive a small 5-hour buff.  Another important note about gods is even though you have completed your entire devotion quests does not mean you are stuck with the god. You can just visit another prophet and begin your devotion to your new god. The other important note to this is you keep your cloak and altars. Now the altars are not usable but the cloak still is. For more information of gods check out the next EQ-IQ show.
 
More information on The Gods…..
Which Deity For Me?”, Part I: The Benevolent Gods
Deity 101: A Quick Overview of the Deity System of Everquest II
Deity 102: How the Norrathian Gods Came to Be

Zombies are just re-animated dead creatures. Zombies are mindless and have no consciousness. They always seem to crave flesh. Even if it’s their own flesh. They are usually associated with those whom play in the world of necromancy. You will find the zombie in just about everywhere in Norrath so completing your Lore and legend should not be real tough.

Getting the book to begin the quest on the other hand can be challenging to some if you’re under level 30. The book is located in the Fallen Gate which is located in the northwest of the Commonlands zone. Very close to the Nektulos Forest zone in. There are lots of triple up heroics here but if you are careful you can get the book without a group in your 2o’s. Most of the mobs will not see through invisibility or stealth. If you’re a class that does not have these you will have to either get a group with someone to help or wait till your level 30 when you can buy a Totem of the Jaguar that will grant you invisibility.

When in the Fallen Gate head to the First Gate and turn left. Follow the passage way till you come to a lager room. Continue to stay to the right and go through another passage way that leads to an area called Pool of Percelia, Stay left and go into another westbound passage which turns into Little Neriak. Be careful since the Overseers can see Invisibility. The book is found by in a pot near the tents along the southern most walls at (174.74, 18.4, -45.76). 

Once you read the book you will be presented with the quest. You will now need to locate some zombies. As with all Lore and Legends updates you will need three automatic updates and five uncommon drops. It can take a while and sometimes many kills before you get any updates or drops. The key here is at least get the non-drop updates. If you have plenty of Plat then you may just find all of the drops on the broker. Since zombies are extremely plentiful this should be very cheap. If you don’t want to spend any money to get the drops then you should hunt zombies in the Darklight Woods very near the Tvattar Post just outside the Bridge to Neriak. There are lots of various Stout Cadavers and Fallen Rangers that re-spawn extremely quick.

Other great locations are the Fallen Gate where you got the quest, In Antontica at the Ruins of Caltorsis, The Graveyard in Freeport, Stormhold in Antontica and many more locations. Below is a list of the drops you will need and the quest reward that you can place in your house!

 

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Show number 7 in the EQ-IQ show covers another learning series topic about the basic combat mechanics in Everquest II. Covering topics such as the type of attacks used in EQ2 like Auto-Attack, Combat Arts, Spell Arts and more. Cover topics such as the Con system and how to determine the mob encounter difficulty. More topics include how the Heroic Opportunity system works in game and much more.

Links:
http://eq2sday.mypodcast.com/

Email:
EQ-IQ@EQ2-Guides.com