Don't Applaud. Just Throw Money.

What with all the other exciting new games, betas and demos flying around of late, I feel I've been neglecting the only game I pay a subscription for: EverQuest II. Okay, technically the All Access Membership isn't a "subscription" as such and it also applies to EverQuest, DCUO and Planetside 2 but even on the odd occasions I play any of those other games, I don't take advantage of my membership perks. I pretty much only use those in EQII.

I haven't forgotten about the old game entirely, though. Towards the end of last month, just before Blaugust began, I managed to creep a little further towards the end of the Signature Adventure questline from last year's expansion. I finished two more instances and a couple of open-world segments. I think I have maybe four more instances left and I'm reasonably confident I'll get them done before the next expansion arrives.

Even though I haven't done much to upgrade my gear this year, what with the current season of Overseer rewards being very much less overpowered than in previous years, I still found the instances significantly easier than I was expecting. Even the small, incremental increase in power afforded by the gear I've received from doing holiday content made quite a difference.

It was so much easier, in fact, that I was able to ignore most of the bosses' special attacks and just stand there pummeling them. That is absolutely my preferred combat style. There was a fair amount of being thrown up in the air but I use one of my cloaks with the Featherfall effect if I suspect I'm going to get kicked around and it works wonders.

I was enjoying myself and making progress, which is always a heady combo, so I might have expected to do a little more but these days I have to limit my serious game-playing to the times when I can guarantee I won't be interrupted by a small dog jumping up and battering at my mouse-hand with her paws.

Beryl has an almost supernatural ability to be fast asleep for hours until the precise moment when I begin doing something that can't easily be interrupted, whereupon she seems to teleport to my side and begin her "You must come NOW!! It can't WAIT!!" routine. It's a strong contributory factor to my current preference for low-stakes gameplay that can be dropped at a moment's notice, although I admit it was pushing at an already open door.

For the same reason, I thought at first I'd have some difficulty fitting in the required minimum ten runs through the Summer Jubilee dungeon to get my new Plume but luckily I discovered early on that you can cheese the whole thing by mentoring down. Even so, I still didn't manage to get it done during the first two holidays, Tinkerfest and Scorched Skies. 

The third and final holiday of the summer, Oceansfull, was my last chance so when I saw this morning that it had started I thought I'd better waste no time and get on with it. I couldn't remember how many runs I'd done already. I guessed it had been at least three in each festival, maybe four, so I was expecting to have to do it two or possibly three more times.

It turned out to be just the once! I was very surprised when Meldrath's battle-suit thingy crumpled at the end on my first try today and the "A Jubilee For You And Me" achievement popped. I didn't even realize what it was for a moment but then I saw the plume and realised I was done.

Well, not really. If I wanted to do it properly I'd need another ten ticks on my Trial of Elements dance card. That gets you the upgraded version. Given that Oceansfull is here until 23 August and you can do the instance every three hours, obviously I have time to fit it in. I can rip through it in barely a quarter of an hour so it wouldn't take me much more than a couple of hours in total.

It's not very likely I'll bother. Doing it ten times got me three Plumes, one for each of three key combat stats (Crit Bonus, Health and Ability Doublecast.) and also the Plumes of Inspired Jubilation recipe book that lets me make (Inferior.) versions of all three for any of my other characters, should I decide they might need them. It's exceedingly unlikely I'll be doing any content that needs anything better before the next expansion comes out and by then I imagine we'll already be looking at upgrades.

Doing the instances those ten times, plus whatever other holiday content I did, which wasn't much but also wasn't none, I somehow amassed exactly one hundred Silver Jubilation Medals. Since I was at the vendor getting my plumes (Which are free.) anyway, I thought I might as well have a look at what else was on offer.

I'd already bought a couple of odds and ends when I spotted that you can buy this year's silver medals with last year's copper ones - at an exchange rate of three to one. When I saw that I decided it was probably best to spend mine now instead of just hanging on to them in the vague possibility that I might want them for something next year.

I bought some paintings and several potted plants along with another bag of teleportation pads. Those always come in handy. It still left me with plenty of medals so I chucked caution to the wind and bought myself a dog.

The dog, a cosmetic pet, goes by the description of Wire Haired Retriever, which someone with an extremely literal turn of mind felt necessary to correct on the forums, claiming it should really be called an English Setter. My aunt had an English Setter for many years and whatever this dog is meant to be I can guarantee it's not one of those.

It doesn't have to be any recognizeable breed, of course, because this is fricken' Norrath! Have you seen the kind of animals they have there? Why would anyone take issue with a specific breed of dog? Just be glad the thing's not part hell-hound.

I tried to get a decent picture of him but for all the game's many merits, one feature EQII distinctly lacks is one of those in-game photo suites I've come to love. Seriously, if they'd just release a good on as an add-on feature, I'd happily pay Daybreak $20 for it. I'd take it over an expansion, frankly. I know I'd get more use out it, long-term.

Failing that, you'll just have to squint and see if you can make out what my dog looks like. His name is Scruff because he is one. He barks very convincingly, which is probably going to give me even more problems with Beryl at some point.

There's some new content for Oceansfull I'd like to do so I'll try to get another session in before the Othmir pack up their conch-shell caravanserai and move on, taking the Summer Jubilee with them. Next stop on the carousel is probably the expansion prelude, followed by Panda Panda Panda. 

My All Access Membership expires next month. I will be renewing for the nineteenth consecutive year. I may not get as much use out of it as I once did but I'd hate to be without it. 

I guess on that basis we can add this post to the Blaugust Creator's Appreciation Week pile. Thanks again, Daybreak!