It feels like hitting 50 all over again...

Maybe I'm over-reacting, but after countless hours spent trolling the VN boards and hanging around trade centers in-game, I finally have all of the level 7 spells I need. I just spent 30 SIK's on an Armor Self 6 scroll, and feel like it's the best investment I've made...Armor Self was the only level 6 spell still in my buff cycle. The rest of my buffs are level 7.

I know, alot of people may think it's over-reacting to compare it to the level 50 milestone, but stay with me here for a second....

Imagine, if you will, completing your buff cycle, and being able to weave a web of destruction across the dires for a full 30 minutes before you have to stop to rebuff.

Now imagine as you run across the dires blazing a trail with fire and lightning, casting level 7 vulns with your level 7 war spells....EVERYTHING is a 1 hit kill....(ok, maybe not Pinky, he takes 2 war spells, but everything else is just 1). Do you know how much xp you can make in that 30 minutes? I wish I could tell you..I haven't had the chance to test it to it's limits. I'm making great loot, and I pick up everything. I hunt until every slot in every pack is full, then I go sell, restock and do it over again. I run out of pack space looong before my buffs wear off. ...oh, and I still happen to making a butt-load of xp. I no longer need my melee to make cash for me, and financial freedom is a beautiful thing.

Running through the dires, blasting holes in everything you see, and laughing in the face of the creatures of Derteh as everything cowers in your path...it gives you a feeling of power that can't be matched.


Group Hunting

I hunt with a group of melee's ranging in levels from 46-75. With the ability to share xp equally with anyone over level 50, it opens new doors for a Battlemage.
I used to hate it when I was designated a support role on hunts and quests, but it can actually be fun. The fun comes in 2 words...GOSSAMER FLESH...That's imperil 7 for the laymen out there.
It's fun to take friends out and watch them 1 hit kill everything in their way. They KNOW that you just made their lives a hell of a lot easier, and they thank you with a share of the phat lewt...even better, you get an equal part of the xp, and the monster didn't even know ypou were there until it was too late. Hell, now it's just about testing the limits. Ever seen a 30th level macer ONE-HIT kill a Tiatus Lugian? That's some funny shit right there.

What good is such tremendous power if you don't have friends to share it with?

Quests

God, I've been doing quests left and right...where do I begin?
There aren't even highlights anymore. Everything is so easy at this point, that I now time my quests with a stopwatch just to see how fast I can do it.
Here are my times to beat on a few that I've heped people on:
(The timer starts when you finish buffing, and stops when you kill the least bad guy)
Frore: 6 minutes 22 seconds
Hamud's Katar: (Mt Fortress Dungeon) 3 minutes 48 seconds
Hamud's Katar: (Empyrean Foundry) 7 minutes 14 seconds (I got lost along the way)

Bore-ing (Definitely Not Boring)

Ok, now that's not to say there aren't challenges. My bro' Creeps (54th level Axer) wanted a Sickle, so me him and another friend, Solyoni (53rd level Dagger) took a trip to the Singularity Bore. We portalled in, took 3 steps and were surrounded by Tusker Guards. I figure, no problem, I'm in my element here, and the smell of burnt tuskers wafts through the air rather quickly.
We ran down a ramp and killed a few Virindi (FYI The V Masters in here were dropping masks 100%...we killed 4 and left 4 masks on the ground, as we all had picked up masks in the previous 2 days)
So, we took 3 more steps. Ever seen a Tenebrous Hollow Minion? These things are friggin mean, luckily I had meat shields ahead. Yeah, I wore armor for the trip, I knew there were hollows, but I expected your standard Tumideon Minions, this thing was over 100th level, Trendy don't play with those...never has, never will.
Anyway, I put an imperil on the rat bastard and then just sat back while Creeps and Solyoni toe to toe with it and walloped it good. It actually went down rather easily.

We ran down a ramp and I heard the familiar grunting and running footsteps of of tuskers coming for us. I figured "No Problemo, and went to my first war tab (Yes, I have 3 tabs devoted to war spells...you can never do TOO MUCH damage, right?)
WTF?!?!?!? These things are BLACK! I knew that Rampagers lived on the Singularity Caul, but I wasn't prepared for them in bore. Let's see, how can I sum up the encounter with the rampagers? Does the word RESIST mean anything to you? Man, I tried to vuln it, I tried to war it down, soon enough, my life became a monotony of alternating between Healing myself and trying to imperil the bastards. I finally did the land the imperils, and then my melee counterparts finished them off. We slowly made our way to the next room, and of course, there was another tenebrous Minion in there. This one took a tremendous liking to Solyoni ( I still swear, it was trying to hump his leg) It was in a foul mood. I landed the imperil on it fairly early, but it had some high melee defense, as it took 4 minutes for Creeps and Solyoni to kill it. I was actually standing back at the end of the radar healing Solyoni repeatedly for the bulk of the battle. I could NOT get him above half health for more than 3 seconds. Those bastards hit hard.
When it died, Creeps summed up how we all felt with these words.
Creeps says to your fellowship, "We don't belong here."
I couldn't have agreed more....but onward we pressed.
We made it to one more room...this is where things went downhill...I know what you're thinging, but yes, it actually does get worse.
This room was a blur of black fur. Several more rampagers charged, and we did what we could to fight them off...as we worked the last one down, a Tenebrous Minion spawned on me.
When you get used to being hit for 5-10 damage, 80 pts in 1 hit kinda freaks you out....Heal...60 doesn't feel much better...Heal...
You say to your fellowship, "Get this f***er odd od me"
(Typos are part of the game in near death experiences)
Heal...Heal...Heal...

You say "Shurov Sith"
You have been teleported
You say to your fellowship, "Get Out"
You say to your fellowship, "I recalled"
You say to your Fellowship, "Get Out!! Now!!"
Your fellow Solyoni has died.
You say to your fellowship, "...or die horribly..."
Your fellow Creeps has died.
You say to your fellowship, " Doh...I hope you didn't lose anything important. Those are write-offs"
Solyoni says to your fellowship, "Just robes '
Creeps says to your fellowship, "My body's at my feet at the lifestone"
You say to your Fellowship, "LOL"
You say to your fellowship, "Sol, need some cash for new robes?"
Solyoni says to your fellowship, "No thx, I have a million p on me, and more muled"

Let's write that off as a happy ending. Nobody lost anything too important, and I didn't have to go back there.
For my next quest I think I'll try something easier...like running naked through Aerfalle's keep, unbuffed, armed only with a carrot.

The Lady Eludes Me

No, I still haven't done the keep. I'm hoping to do it this week. I've done every part of the damn island quest except the keep, it's coming soon...I keep promising myself that. It's all about time, and time isn't something I've had alot of recently. The way I see it, Aerfalle's Staff is the next objective on my to-do list. It's one of the few quest items I could actually equip, so I have to get it.

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That's all for now.
Sorry it took so long to get this journal up, but it's hard coming up with something new and somewhat entertaining to write about. Thx for allowing me to indulge myself, and I hope you enjoyed this little tale.
As alot of you noticed, my website hasn't been updated in a month, again, it's a time issue, I wish I could put the time into it, but again, it's a luxury I don't have. As it is, I struggle just to find the time to make my little posts on these boards.

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Special Thx to everyone for the kind words sent my way both in-game and through email regarding my friends and family who were effected on September 11th. Life's finally getting back to normal, although normal has a whole new meaning for a lot of us now.

P.S. If you haven't hit 50 yet, what the hell are you doing still reading this? GET BACK TO WORK!!!

Trendkill