Read The Fine Print: EverQuest

I guess I should have known. When I posted a Promptapalooza love letter to the room in which I've written every post on this blog since it started, it was inevitable I'd soon find myself moving out. I spent the last couple of weeks returning the first of our two previously unuseable rooms to a state, if not of grace then at least of decorum, whereupon Mrs Bhagpuss surprised me by asking if I'd like to have it as my "study".

I'd been thinking she'd want it to store her ever-growing supply of crafting materials, especially since I already have one large room downstairs filled with my stuff, but apparently she fancies having the room I'm in now for storage, because it's very dry. Well, it is.

Consequently, I spent most of the day moving the contents of one shelving unit from my current lair to my new one and I'm knackered. The sheer amount of stuff that can be crammed into one corner of a small room is unbelievable - almost as unbelievable as some of the things I've apparently thought worth keeping for the last fifteen years.

Anyway, the upshot of all that effort (only about a third done but the hardest) is that I now have neither the time nor the energy to finish the post on Stargirl that I was planning for today. Instead I offer a brief, cautionary tale on chicken counting.

Just a few days ago I was eagerly anticipating my EverQuest magician's imminent arrival at the foothills of EQ's current content. Even before the announcement of Labor Day's double xp extravaganza I was expecting to ding 111 this weekend, at which point I would whisk the mage away to The Overthere to buy her final air pet spell until such time as Daybreak see fit to raise the cap once again.

With the benefit of double xp, which I can confirm does apply to both Overseer quests and unsubscribed accounts, the ding came sooner rather than later. And also later rather than sooner.

This morning, when I accepted the reward that would tip her over the edge, I braced myself for the deafening DING! and... nothing happened. I looked at the xp and laughed. I'd stalled at 99.999% of level 110! What are the chances, eh?

I was so amused I took a screenshot. Then I accepted the reward for the next quest in the absolute certainty it would bring the noise and... nothing. Again! Still holding at 99.999%.

To my credit I did immediately, if belatedly, twig what was going on. Of course, given all the things I've written up 'til now, that's like giving myself credit for noticing the stable door is banging in the wind while the stalls remain notably horse-free, but at least I got there in the end.

As I believe I have mentioned really quite a lot of times, the level cap was raised to 115 with last year's expansion, Torment of Velious. I do not own Torment of Velious. See the problem?

Actually, I do own Torment of Velious. Now I do. As soon as it dawned on me that the reason I wasn't dinging was because I didn't have the expansion I went straight to the Daybreak website and bought it. I did have the very briefest tussle with my sensible side over whether I really needed an expansion almost all of whose content I would almost certainly never get around to using until it was already included among the ones you get for free, but I told my sensible self where to get off. I've been looking forward to getting that pet for weeks!

Luckily for me ToV is on sale right now. Yes, that's because in two or three months this year's expansion will come out and if you buy that you'll get all the previous ones for free, so if I had the patience you might expect of someone my age I could wait until then and get both. Given that I'm planning on re-subbing to World of Warcraft for the pre-Shadowlands patch, the one with the level squish and the removal of the rep requirements to play a Vulpera, this does seem like a particularly inopportune moment to be buying last year's EverQuest expansion.

Well, stuff logic. I wanted it, I got it. And it was on sale so we all know that means I actually saved money! And by the time the next one comes out I'll be playing the EverQuest II one so I wouldn't have time to play the EQ one anyway. And this year's expansion will be full price so if I only want to play last year's and it's on offer...

Anyway, I bought it. And I'm glad I did!

I logged in and out to make sure my account was flagged, then I accepted the reward for one of my two remaining completed Overseer quests and this time I did ding 111. Phew. Now for the pet!

I went into the Guild Hall (very handy for me that I joined that guild that Mrs Bhagpuss was in all those years ago. Now I'm the only one left who plays and I have the Guild Hall all to myself), gave the gnome a few hundred plat for the Miniature Worker Sledgemallet, gave it back to him so he'd switch the portal to The Overthere, zoned, ran over to the vendor and...

Didn't buy my pet spell. Because she wasn't selling it. She wouldn't be, would she? She's the spell vendor from 2017's Ring of Scale expansion. The one that raised the level cap to 110. Why the hell would she be selling Level 111 spells?

 A quick trip to Allakhazam informed me that for Torment of Velious spells I'd need to go to Eastern Wastes (the new version, naturally). And apparently I could get there for free by talking to Belinda in North Ro. At least that would save me giving any more money to that grifting guild Hall gnome.

I cast Throne of Heroes to take me back to the Guild Lobby. There I spoke to the Magus and asked her to teleport me to North Ro. She's been working that route since Lost Dungeons of Norrath back in 2003. Never say there's no use for old content.

Using the Find function on the map (can't remember when that was added but I'm very glad it was) I was with Belinda in no time. She was waiting with a couple of griffins wich, as she explained, she'd only just discovered how to tame and train. There's a surprising amount of lore continuity between EQ and EQII these days.

Belinda cast a spell, worryingly called Barely Tamed Griffon, and off I went. Landing on what looked like the edge of a precipice in Eastern Wastes I quickly located the appropriate vendor, bought all my Level 111 spells and gated. No point hanging around. Not going to be killing anything there.

Back in Plane of Knowledge the mage summoned her new pet. It conned dark blue at 110, one level below her. The old one was 106, because I finally managed to get a focus that works for that level range. I did check whether there was any chance of getting an upgrade that would work on the new pet but not a hope in hell.

Never mind! Her new pet is going to be plenty tough enough at 110 for the places I plan on taking it. The old one was managing pretty well and I don't intend on going anywhere tougher just yet.

I don't know for sure how much better the new one is because I haven't been able to give it a test run.
All of the above I did first thing this morning, before spending the whole day moving stuff from one room to another. Tomorrow I have to visit my mother for her birthday (she's 88, thanks for asking) so I don't suppose I'll get much of a chance to try the pet out then, either.

The strange thing is, having bought the expansion and the pet, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with either of them. Getting 111 and the pet felt more like the end of something than the start. But now I've bought the expansion I feel obligated to carry on for a while just to make the puchase worth it.

On to 115, I guess.