Shades On : GW2, EQ2, EQ

October is likely to be a quiet month here at Inventory Full. At the start of the month my posting routine, such as it is, was somewhat disrupted by an annual event at work that requires a change in shift patterns and now, much more enjoyably, this week we're going on holiday.

I'm taking my dual-boot tablet with me, which means that at least in theory I could both play MMOs and blog about them while we're away. It's an excellent device. The inbuilt graphics can handle full-blown PC games like WoW and Allods under Windows and there's Celtic Heroes and AdventureQuest 3D on Android.

From experience, though, I tend to forget about gaming while I'm traveling. It's true that in October there will be dark evenings to occupy but it's a lot more likely we'll pass them chatting, watching movies and reading than playing MMOs on a 10" screen.

As for posting, I really don't fancy knocking out a thousand words with my thumbs. I need to feel the impact of the keys - it's a tactile thing. I'm also far too disorganized to schedule pre-written posts to pop up automagically - and anyway for that I'd actually need to have written some...

Of course, by taking the trouble to pre-empt the silence with this announcement I'm almost guaranteeing I will end up posting something, just because that's how the universe works. Maybe if it rains.

If the tablet would run GW2, which it won't - I've tried -  things might be different. The next bi-weekly update will drop while we're away and that should move the Current Events and associated plotline forward. I'd clear an evening for that. Also I don't think I'd be able to resist a little WvW action, not while everything is so vibrant and so volatile.

I'll have to content myself with following the fortunes of Yaks Bend on the invaluable mos.millennium.org page and maybe on the forums once in a while. It looks like we're back in Tier 1 again and likely to stick there for a bit. I was hoping for an extended berth in Tier 2, where there tends to be less hysteria but when you're hot, you're hot I guess.

We'll also miss out on the part of the first of the "Gear up, Level Up" events over at EQ2, although that's no loss. It's already been running for a few days and I haven't felt the need to log in yet. It's a Triple Ethereal Coins event, which is a very big deal for people proposing to perform effectively at the true end-game but of marginal interest to anyone else. I've managed to get by just fine with no Ethereal items at all so far.

Chances are the next one will kick off while we're away, though, and if it involves enhanced xp then I'd normally want to take advantage. I'd be a lot more interested in a bonus xp event for EverQuest itself. That's where my characters - my level 92 Magician, specifically,  - need all the help they can get.

It's harder to come by reminders for things happening in the older version of EQ since it has no real equivalent of EQ2Wire. I look at EQ Resource when I remember and I see from there that there's currently a two week long double rare spawns and double faction bonanza going on, which again I can very easily stand to miss.

By the time we return we should be approaching the final countdown for the launch of expansions for both flavors of EQ, each of which features a return to Kunark. As soon as I finish this post I'm going to pre-order the standard edition of EQ2's Kunark Ascending, which looks outstanding.

I'm particularly excited about the new Wardrobe feature, not least because of the bank space it will free up. I have a whole load of boxes labelled "Dressing Up" that I'll be clearing out as soon as the expansion goes live.

I'm also very intrigued by the four new "Ascension Classes". I'm hoping they will be similar to the Elite Specializations that came with GW2's Heart of Thorns, which I thought were one of the most enjoyable and satisfying aspects of that particular expansion.

That carpet's got to go...

Being still a dozen levels adrift of the cap in EQ, and each level taking me around a month of somewhat repetitive hotzone grinding to burn through solo, I don't feel any need to buy the EQ expansion, which seems light on features other than new things for max levels to do. A "Familiar Keyring" is not something of which I've ever felt the lack until now, to be honest.

I'll skip that one as I have the last nine or ten. I think the last one I paid money for directly was Secrets of Faydwer in 2007. Of course, since EQ and EQ2 went F2P, you get every expansion for nothing in the end, albeit at a slight delay. I'm only about four years adrift in terms of content I can actually use!

A date hasn't been officially announced yet, or if it has I've missed it, but I'm guessing that when we get back The Mad King will be up to his usual, rather faded tricks again. I'm not a huge Halloween fan in general but MMOs love it and at least it's something to do. Also - 20 slot bags for cheap. Not to be sniffed at.

That reminds me - Nights of the Dead has already started in EQ2. It runs into the first week of November so plenty of time left to get the goodies. Not much has been added this year by SOE/DBG standards, just a lot of new housing items -some crafted, some vendor-bought, all rather desirable - and a new collection with a must-have baby bone dragon pet

Lots to look forward to, lots to be getting on with. Do I even have time to go away?