I love Everquest 2. I’ve easily spent more time with this game than any other I’ve ever played, and while I’m sure that I’ll tire of it some day, I’m fairly certain that day is a long way off. Last night my wife and I got some time to play and I experienced one of those moments where you just sit back in your chair and say to yourself, “man, I love this game.”

Earlier in the day I was playing Ordeth, just twenty-five percent away from dinging level 37, along with my wife’s Warden, Saryan. We joined up with a couple friends, a level 30 Troubador (hey Ramm!), and a level 32 Fury (hey Izzi!) and headed out to Crushbone Keep. None of us had really spent a lot of time in Crushbone, so we were mostly going just to explore and maybe get some experience. The main floor was all grey to us so Saryan and Ordeth mentored down to Ramm and we set forth for the basement. We didn’t have any difficulty wiping out the mobs there, and we even snagged Warden Kurgef in the Warden’s Hall who decided not to drop any significant loot.

My wife and I ended up having to leave, so our exploration ended in the basement and we evac’d back to the front door and camped. Later in the evening we logged back in, and with Ordeth just a few percent away from gaining his new level, the two of us decided to head to the upper floor of Crushbone to knock off enough mobs to ding. It turned out we both had a couple of quests to do so we quickly ran through those as well while they were still green. While in the Hall of Tactics we came across a clickable statue which ended up spawning Murnog the Tactician. Unfortunately he was grey to us as Saryan was now level 38, and we had no idea what the statue would do, otherwise she could have mentored Ordeth to make him green. No matter, we made short work of him and continued on our exploration.

Beyond the Southwest Guard Tower, the mobs were no longer grey to us so we started getting some experience, and coupled with some discovery experience as well, Ordeth finally dinged level 37. We made our way into the Emperor’s Chambers to update one of our quests, and then continued on to the Royal Guardpost in search of named mobs. There weren’t any present in the Guardpost, but we did come upon a set of doors leading to an instanced zone called the D’Vinnian Throne. Curious, we clicked in to check it out.

Being just the two of us, we weren’t too sure how we’d fare in the zone. There was someone inside waiting to speak to us who threw two level 32^^^ at us after we hailed her. No problem, Ordeth quickly used Beguile on one of them and set to work on nuking the other while Saryan kept us both alive. This is when my play experience started to elevate from “this is fun”, to “this is the greatest game ever!” The zone was new to us so we had no idea what to expect, what was ahead of us, or whether we’d be able to handle it with just the two of us. We decided to continue on more out of curiousity than anything else, although the experience we were getting was quite the incentive to forge ahead as well.

We soon ran into some mobs that were closer to our level, which meant some more difficult encounters, although I must say, our dynamic duo still did quite well. I absolutely love playing Ordeth; the Coercer class is so fun, and playing in a duo without a proper tank has really helped me learn the class (or so I think). Having Saryan throwing those heals sure helps as well. The first bit of difficulty we had with the zone was when we came across Ograf the Deft, a level 33^^^ Heroic Named in the Gladiator Training Hall. Our first attempt at him failed mostly because I was trying to get a nice screenshot of him. Shame on me. We were almost successful on our second attempt, but he kept breaking my root and laying the smack down on Ordeth. Finally, the third time was the charm as we brought him down and looted the Wristband of Vindication for Ordeth. We had to laugh at that because it wasn’t five minutes earlier that my wife had inspected my equipment and informed me that I desperately needed a new bracelet because I was still wearing a level two one. Yikes. Anyway, problem solved.

It was now getting pretty late in the evening so we started talking about logging out. I was able to talk my wife into “just one more named” so we headed down the hall toward the Inner Guard where we came across General V’Narr, a level 35^^^ Heroic Named grouped with Lieutenant B’Oreth and Lieutenant D’Bryth, both 35^. This was going to be tough. I used Beguile on a roaming mob which I then sent into the room to attack V’Narr so that we didn’t have to clear the room before fighting him. When the three came into the hall to face us, Ordeth immediately cast his group mez, then using Beguile again, took control of one of the Lieutenants. We quickly burned through the other lieutenant, then focused on V’Narr, who promptly stomped us into the ground. After reviving, we ran back and used the same strategy to pull the mob into our hallway. Ordeth settled into a root and nuke routine while Saryan healed and soon enough, V’Narr lay at our feet.

I so very much wanted to continue; Ordeth is now ninety percent towards level 38, but it was time to call it a night, plus I have a feeling the two of us probably wouldn’t have been too successful with the mobs that lay ahead. I have now completely fallen in love with Crushbone Keep and more specifically the D’Vinnian Throne; duoing it like we did only added to the fun. I’ll be dragging Ramm and Izzi into that zone so we can finish it off some time. Maybe we’ll even try to find a proper tank as well, but what would be the fun in that? Man, I love this game.

I’m about to go insane over this Exarch Trulnariz fool. I was logged in as Ordeth doing some random adventuring with my wife when a friend of mine sent me a tell to inform me that a couple of guild mates were starting up a Sanctum of the Scaleborn group to work on Trading Information. My wife was just about to log off anyway, so I switched to Davyydeous and joined the group. Once more I found myself heading down to the Exarch’s chamber, praying to the spawn gods that Trulnariz would show his face. I’ll save you the long story, and just tell you that in almost four hours of killing the same stuff over and over, the group gave up (it was close to 2:00AM) without ever catching so much as a sniff of Trulnariz. Anticipating a long spawn I decided to keep track of how many times we killed his placeholder, the Herald of Dar. I stopped counting after the eighth time. By my count, I’ve now spent nine and a half hours in total trying to get this guy. Even more frustrating was the fact one of our group members mentioned he had been in another group earlier in the day that managed to kill Trulnariz four times. “He just kept popping,” he said. Sweet, I’m so happy for you.

At least Ordeth had some success this weekend. I was running him through the Commonlands when I decided to check on Rama’nai for the Return of the Light heritage quest. I wasn’t really actively working on that quest as it has long since turned grey, but I figured I’d try and get it out of the way. The placeholder, a wandering pride lioness, was up so I made quick work of her and settled into my spawn camp. Not five minutes later Rama’nai appeared before me and was dead even quicker. Next up were the orc captains, Gaer and Ogof. I spent about twenty minutes running back and forth between their spawn points and killing their placeholders (Reag and Fogo – very creative!) before they were dead as well. Knowing that the High Priest of Val’Marr can be a lengthy camp I decided to head over to his tower and see if he was up, and logged out when he wasn’t, leaving it for the next day. When I next logged Ordeth in, I killed the skeletons on the top of the tower for about fifteen minutes before Val’Marr showed up. I knew Ordeth wouldn’t be able to solo the next part of the quest, killing General Drull in Bloodskull Valley, but I thought I’d check it out anyway. I killed the lookout before he could tell all the other orcs of my presence, but after a few minutes they rushed me anyway, and I made a hasty retreat.

I then logged back into Davyydeous to check out the Warg mount quest, which took all of ten minutes for him to complete. I didn’t end up buying a Warg though, as it wasn’t that long ago that I got my War-barded Black Cavalry, and I’m completely broke. Besides, it seems like everywhere I turn I see the new mounts running around. Personally speaking, I would have liked to have seen a much more involved quest to get the mount, especially considering the difficulty of the carpet quest in comparison. Oh well.

I’m sure I’ll regret saying this, but I’m making a vow to kill that stupid Exarch by the end of next weekend. Any chance I get to play this week will be dedicated to getting Davyydeous into a SoS group. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be (well, I have an idea), but you’ll be able to read about it here.

After spending some time in the Enchanted Lands over the past while, Ordeth and Saryan were looking for a change of scenery and soon found themselves invited to a group that was heading into Nektropos Castle. I personally love this zone, from the quests, to the mobs, and most of all, the atmosphere. Actually, I’ve always liked Nektulos Forest in general, and have mostly fond memories of my adventures there with Davyydeous. Picture the ferocious Barbarian Berserker sprinting madly through the forest, a flock of flaming bats and owl bears hot on his heels, only to get killed by a crab at the foot of the docks. Good times. Not to mention the snakes. I remember constantly getting attacked by snakes just up the main path from the Commonlands and it drove me nuts. I always had a hard time seeing them through the grass and would walk right into them.

Travelling through the zone is much easier now of course, with the addition of the griffon towers, and with most of the angry mobs no longer hanging out by the roads. Even the road up to Nektropos Castle was void of the mobs that used to roam there; my how things have changed. With the group assembled outside the doors of the castle, we headed in. In addition to Saryan (Warden) and Ordeth (Coercer), we had a Shadowknight, Guardian, Swashbuckler, and Conjurer. This was the first time in the zone for all of our characters, and in fact, I was the only one who had previous experience with the zone at all.

It had been a while, but I remembered what to do well enough. We spoke to Alexa to start the whole process, then headed to the game room, followed by the hidden staircase to reach the second level and start the lockets quest. We didn’t have much trouble at all, wiping the mobs out like clockwork, until the room that had both Melanie and Crysta in it. We weren’t really paying attention and more or less stumbled into them. The two plate wearers went down fairly quickly, followed by Saryan, the Conjurer, then the Swashy, until Ordeth was the only one left standing. I quickly threw out my group mezz followed by some roots. I squeezed in some damage spells in between roots and actually managed to hold my own for a little while. Just when I started thinking that I was some sort of hero and was actually going to be able to kill the sisters, one of my roots broke and Ordeth soon found himself crumpled in a heap on the floor. Oh well.

We revived and headed back to exact our revenge which came swiftly this time. The rest of the way was a piece of cake. Down to the basement we went, the heartbeat getting ever louder, and made our way towards Lord Everling. The confrontation with Everling could have gone smoother, but ended well for us due in no small part to Saryan’s excellent healing. Ordeth managed to charm one of the servants and got him to do some of the dirty work as well. After all was said and done, we did quite well, I just wish Ordeth had progressed the Hadden’s Earring quest up to the Everling part. No biggy though, as I said, I like Nek castle and will happily return.

Most of my play time lately has been spent with Ordeth, and I’m really liking the Coercer class. I especially like pairing up with my wife’s Warden, Saryan; It’s so nice having a healer wherever you go. Because we never know how long we’ll be able to play for, we’ve stayed away from grouping with others, and so far we’ve done fairly well as a duo. Ordeth has been doing the “tanking”, if you could call it that, mostly through using charmed pets to pull, then using roots and mezzes to control the fight. Saryan is an awesome healer, which is so nice because I never worry about looking at my health bar at all; I just make sure she doesn’t have any mobs on her.

A few days ago Ordeth and Saryan ventured into the Ruins of Varsoon to see what sort of trouble they could find. Not far from the entrance they came upon a pit filled with nasty looking spiders skittering all around their queen, The Crawler Queen. After clearing a path to the queen, Ordeth rooted her, so that they could focus on her henchmen who didn’t prove to be any challenge at all. With the henchmen gone, the queen didn’t stand a chance. I almost forgot to screenshot the queen, so the picture isn’t the greatest, and in fact it looks like Saryan (in wolf form) is sniffing somewhere very inappropriate and has caught Ordeth off guard.

We went as far into the Ruins as we could go, but soon ran into some mobs we wouldn’t be able to handle. Instead, we’ve been running around the Enchanted Lands carrying out various deeds for the locals. With most of the mobs and quests in the zone being yellow or orange to Ordeth, the experience came fast, and he soon made level 30.

The next night we headed back to the Enchanted Lands to continue with some quests, when a fellow adventurer asked if anyone was able to help kill a named wasp, Burnspear. Ordeth and Saryan were right there so we answered the call. The two of us, along with a Ranger and an Assassin made short work of the wasp, but I was too busy rooting and mezzing some adds to take a screenshot of it. After the fight the group leader asked if we all wanted to head to Runnyeye. We said we’d go so long as they knew that one of either myself or Saryan could potentially have to leave at a moment’s notice because of the baby. “Of course! No problem,” was the reply, which is pretty much what I’ve come to expect of the EQ2 community; very understanding. We added a Guardian to the group and headed out.

Just outside the door we noticed the Sludge Creep was swimming around in the water, and without hesitation the group jumped down to engage him. This was a tough fight; the Sludge Creep is a level 39^^^ named, while our groups average level was around 33. Saryan had to continuously mash her heal spells to keep the Guardian on his feet, but sure enough we brought the Creep down. With that, we headed into Runnyeye.

I’ve always liked Runnyeye; I love the mobs in the zone, and have always found the xp to be plentiful. That was certainly the case on this night, as we tore through the beginning of the zone. We took out a Clay Insurgent, Mudslinger, and a Gorehorn Hammerhead, among others. I think I was having too much fun to bother taking notes on all our kills. Ordeth quickly dinged 31, then 32 just before the group called it quits for the night. Unfortunately Saryan couldn’t stay the entire time, but she did manage to get some good xp herself, dinging level 33.

All in all, it’s been a very successful few days for the dynamic duo. I’ll say it again, I am loving the Coercer class and hope I can manage to get Ordeth into some of the higher end instances. For now though, it was nice to have Ordeth take part in a larger group; in fact, I think this was my first grouping experience with Ordeth outside of Saryan. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing our group get swarmed by mobs only to have Ordeth put them all to sleep so that we can deal with them one on one.

Level 26 Erudite Coercer
Level 9 Artisan
Status: Alt, Active

Ordeth is the second of my two active alts and is quickly becoming a favourite of mine, which is why he’s being profiled ahead of my other active alt. Created October 21, 2006, I was looking for another character that I could play for the times where I needed a break from Davyydeous. My other alt was tied closely to one of my wife’s characters and I didn’t want to play that character without her, so I was looking for something completely new.

I knew I didn’t want another fighter, I already two plate fighters (Davyydeous, plus a Paladin alt), plus my wife has a monk that she enjoys playing. I already have a healer (the character I play with my wife – profile coming soon), and a Necromancer I rolled on a PvP server. I also knew I wanted a character that could solo reasonably well, as I didn’t have any plans to join a guild (this was going to be my “escape” character), and I’m not one to join too many pick-up groups. I was initially leaning towards creating another Necromancer, but eventually decided against it because I already had the PvP one, plus it seems like there’s a lot of Necro’s on our server as it is.

I began to look a little closer at the Coercer. The idea that it could be a pet class if you wanted it to be one, but wasn’t restricted to it was very appealing to me. Also appealing was the whole idea of mezzing your opponents and the great crowd control abilities of the class. What really sealed the deal for me was reading through the official Everquest 2 forums and seeing many comments regarding the Coercer’s soloing potential. With the right level of spells and skill, there wasn’t too much a Coercer shouldn’t be able to do solo. It was then that I decided to create Ordeth the Coercer.

I chose the Erudite race simply because of its high starting intelligence stat, plus I wanted something a little different looking, but not too much so. I soon found myself headed to the Outpost of the Overlord, my first experience with the starting zone since its revamp from the Isle of Refuge. I definitely enjoyed the new starting zone, I thought it was very well done. There was definitely a bit of a learning curve to the character. I suppose I was too used to playing Davyydeous because it took a little while for me to cope with the cloth-wearing squishy’s fragility.

It didn’t take long to finish up on the Outpost, and Ordeth soon found himself in Freeport, running through many of the same beginner quests I had ran a few times before with other characters. I definitely felt a certain amount of nostalgia going through those zones again, and I made sure to actually read all the quest text I received. As I became more familiar with the Coercer, I became more comfortable soloing, and began enjoying the class even more. When done just right, I found I was able to solo triple-up heroics that were a level or two above me; something that would be unthinkable with Davyydeous. I take great satisfaction in keeping a mob rooted while I hit him from afar and take control of his henchmen and turn them on each other. The bad thing is, if a mez, root, or charm breaks at the wrong time, I’m dead, period.

I took a bit of a break from Ordeth to focus more time on Davyydeous, but am now getting back to him. The levelling seems to go well, I think due mostly to my familiarity with the game now. I’m not doing too many quests with Ordeth, focusing instead on killing mobs and nameds. Currently at level 26, I’ve caught up to one of my wifes alts, a 28 Warden, and we’ve started questing together. So far this seems to be a fairly effective duo, aside from the fact we have no tank.

I’m enjoying playing Ordeth more by the day, and I fully intend on getting him to max level. There’s no telling how long that will take, but I’m focused more on having fun with him, rather than driving towards a specific level. There will undoubtedly be many tales of Ordeths adventures here in the coming weeks.