On A Storytellers Night

So I was going to hold this title till I go back to my Bard but that could be years away and I am sat down typing whilst listening to music associated with the title and I want to tell you all a story. Where does this story start? Well it starts with a book I read so many years ago call Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber that feaured two very different yet two similar characters and their two "helpers" warlocks who set them on strange adventures. Well when we get Warlocks GrouseNinga will appear but right now I want to talk about Grousemouser.

Plenty of Books

 So this is a character I want to build based on one of the two characters in Leibers book, a dual weilding man of slight stature. I will play this for 3 lives so I can get a 36pt build and I have a collections of Tomes and equipment that will make him a fun to play. While both Scapel and Cat Claw are pointed weapons with slight curves it sort of fits nicely with a rapier and dagger combo. In the stories Mouser has a small amount of magic but is primarily a rogue and fighter. On the third life I will go more dex focused and certainly I am considering a halfing for the job. However first couple of lives I think I will using human to help ensure I get the balance right.

More Books

That is what I love about DDO, the fact that I can take a hero from a book and create a character to play that is close to the concept of the stories I grew up on. Howard, Leiber and Tolkien were authors that I grew up with. Brooks, Gemmell, Feist and Eddings are ones that have added to my taperstry as I have got older. I could go nuts and add more characters to my 25 toons but to be frank that would only cause me to never get out of Heroics in DDO. Anyway back to Mouser the biggest debate I am having is how to split his levels? 18 Fighter with a splash of 2 Rogue or focus more on the rogue? First couple of lives don't matter so a 18/2 followed by a 12/8 will give me a chance to see just how he will play.

Okay perhaps I need a Library

Nice thing is my pack mule (Bard) is loaded with Tomes and various other treats so I can ensure that the build will have some help early on. The only issue with creating Mouser is that it was originally my slot for my Iconic completionist but for some reason the only way I would make a Icon is so I can breeze through a favour run for turbine points which would be good if I didn't put my money where my mouth is. And the problem I always have just how will I add in the time to play him? I already have two TR'd heroes I currently run daily, one on his second life and the other on his 6th. Just dealing with those two is enough but I also have characters that get no game play like a level 16 bard and a level 22 wizard. I struggle to even get my level 26 monk out and he is guild leader.

And at least I have a bit of Healing

But my heart is set on adding a Mouser to Conan and Getafix, I would love to add a Garion and a Jax to the mix but I would never get them past life one. I already have 3 charcters parked at level 20 for reincarnation and adding more to the mix is not good (struggling to convince myself). One day I will finally get my characters going in a much more focused way but right now I am just a random player will no self control when it comes to playing just one character. One day I may be able to focus but right now all I want is to have a massive laugh playing for fun with a multitude of characters, after reincarnating 23 times amongst different toons I am all over the place. So next time you are sitting next to a camp fire talking about your heroes remember they all come with a story.

Grousemouser (well not yet but)

Selling England By The Pound

This could have turned into an incredible moaning, as everyone in DDO knows Ghallanda has been impersonating Simmie Black it has has been down so much recently (mad rush for google by non boxing fans). Ghallanda is home to a lot of the Europeans that were transfered over many moons ago, but no matter how many times the server needs a fix I keep on playing. Considering the updates are done early AM in the States it hits a lot of us Europeans on those patch days as it is our afternoons and evenings. And today I want to explain that yes I spend real money in the game but it has given/keeps on giving me a ton of enjoyment.

So where am I currently with my game play? I stopped crafting a while back but I have realised sometimes I want a specific weapon and it will be quicker to craft it than to ignore it. But with the nightmare of deconstruction to get enough ingredients to craft it is still a very slow process. I probably made a big mistake by choosing a first life wizard that was going to end up a sorcerer. Now he is stuck at level 22 and I haven't taken him outside the crafting halls for around two months. I am not playing him apart from crafting at the moment as I have too many others to enjoy.

Sometimes I do just enjoy the scenery

 I am currently grinding two heroic characters, GrouseMerlin who has started his 6 life but I am just grinding his low levels for another week as my priority was GrouseConan a Barbarian who has now reincarnated into a Monk. So I continue to enjoy and bash out the heroic levels but I still haven't completed ToEE in any format with any of my 25 toons. As much as it appeals because I have so many options and I have invested so much into allowing myself to play according to mood the concept of 2 to 4 hours in a dungeon I don't know just doesn't appeal. Having run an attempt and losing both clerics to spores and thus dying at the end battle of part one I am not sure how much time I want to invest in learning it. I am much happier running 15 to 20 minutes with a toon then putting it down unless I am close to leveling or reincarnating.

Wasn't he a barbarian last week?

The fact that monks are such a challenge gave me pause when considering running 3 monk lives for Conan before taking the 3 fighter levels and finally returning to Barbarian. But when you consider the cost in terms of not just time but investment in hirelings and slayer boosts for the wildernesses you realise there is a very real financial cost to playing for me. But the spending of cash to reduce the playing time required to get my characters to their end game builds it does not feel it is not as much of a cost in money to save the time. After all there is so much in the way of epic content and I barely touch it except with my first lifers and that is for tokens of the 12 so I don't spend money on hearts of wood.

Not quite enough me thinks

And what is with all those large crates I can't break?

I am also currently looking at the situation for the Guild Airship, I realised that I have two options and that is a slow grind to Guild Level 130 for the Airship that fits my needs or just buy the shards and get the one I want now, Yes it is a big cost and not something to do because you have nothing better to do but the 30% discount this weekend on big purchases means if I am going to do it now is the time. The bonuses on a full airship will benefit the 35 toons in the guild (remember there are two of us) and it is all about making the playing experience more fun so bonus mana, spell resistance and everything else you can get from an airship is almost vital to my game play so think I am talking myself into spending.

Grouseconan