I have been stunned by how awesome the dueling is to watch! I could never fight well enough to do it, these fighters are amazing!

I know what you mean, mALX. Someone asked Buffy to duel yesterday. She declined and wanted to say, "Just because I'm blond doesn't mean I'm stupid!"

I'm with mALX - I just can't fight that well!

I also have auto-decline for both Julian and Mazul - Julian just because she isn't confident in that kind of knock-down drag-out kind of battle, and Mazul because she considers it a waste of time and energy.

I got back online with Julian yesterday and a little bit more this afternoon between errands. She's now level 35 and is properly awed by Sentinel. After dreaming about seeing this Redguard capital for so long, she is absolutely blown away. Stros M'Kai was cool, but Sentinel . . .

Her first glimpse of the Alik'r Desert beyond Sentinel's walls was equally

We both love the sun, the sandstorms (as long as we are within Sentinel's walls, that is), and Julian is seriously considering dropping some hard-earned Crowns on a camel. I'm not sure that a camel would be an appropriate investment, as it does not carry much more than Blanco, though I would rent a camel for the desert outings and leave Blanco in the stables just below the palace. Unfortunately such an option is not available in game!

Julian is arguing that the camel could stay in Sentinel and be available to Mazul. I reminded her that Mazul doesn't ride, and that Paint has been loafing the entire time Mazul's been using him. Julian came back with the reminder that I am considering starting other characters in other alliances, and the camel could be useful elsewhere (though not Skyrim, we're sure!). I seem to recall Buffy in a desert somewhere in the Dominion? So maybe such an animal would be a worthwhile investment. But I want one that doesn't spit! It's bad enough that both cats (Mazul's Spangles and Julian's Bezo) are suitably feline in their temperaments! Then again, a cranky, crabby camel would be nothing new . . .

And I finally purchased the Shadows of the Hist DLC. So far neither lady wants to explore the far side of Tamriel, but when I start characters in Ebonheart, I want that option for them. Who knows? I might finally dive into the whole Argonian/Khajiit mindset.

And speaking of Argonians and Khajiiti, I absolutely, positively love, love, love the way they are done in ESO. The best characterizations, and the most interesting characters so far! Julian met a very charming Khajiit smuggler ("I deal in legitimate goods, but I had no idea that such innocuous items are banned in the Alik'r!") and couldn't resist helping the beautiful cat lady. It didn't help that she reminded me so much of my second cat who passed away so many years ago and still occupies a gigantic chunk of my heart.

@Grits: I checked out the Rude Gesture emote, and it wasn't quite rude enough for me. But there is a /playdead one that might be absolutely outrageous in the right circumstances! If only I could add that to my Quickslot . . .

This post has been edited by haute ecole rider: Oct 29 2016, 03:31 AM

Nobody has even asked Haa-Rei or Cirinwe to duel yet. We enjoy watching duels while we wait for world bosses to spawn - especially with those lengthy respawn times in Craglorn.

Also, how cool is that werewolf lord polymorph! The Argonian version looks really awesome, but Haa-Rei can already turn into a proper werewolf, so he won't spend any crowns on a costume

Yes, that werewolf lord polymorph is cool!

But neither Julian nor Mazul are interested in that kind of stuff, so I guess I'm passing at this point.

Had a short shift at work today, so spent time with both Julian and Mazul. Julian crafted some glyphs for Mazul's new equipment. Mazul crafted some new stuff for Julian. She tried the Hollowjack motif for Julian, and I had to say Julian looks awesome in the Jack! She is getting a new sword, and staff too, as soon as she can craft some Moderate level glyphs for them. Right now she's only able to go up to Lesser, but she was able to craft some Absorb Health glyphs for Mazul, and I have to say that they did the trick for Mazul!

Both of them are loving the Absorb Health effects. And Mazul has all the Hollowjack motifs except the boots. She keeps picking up everything else, so Julian has been learning new chapters, too.

Julian just made Master Chef today. And she brought the camel. Named it (him? her? we haven't figured that out yet) Absinthe. Kind of appropriate, considering their spit can be the color of that drink . . . She still hasn't left Sentinel. Kind of prolonging the pleasure, if you ask me. And I don't mind. Both need to bring up their crafting skills so they can craft new gear between them.

And Mazul realized she hadn't cleared all the bosses in Glenumbra - there was still the Ebon Crypt. So we went back. While working her way through the Crypt, she got asked to group by a Level 12 player. As she was at Level 35, she agreed to go along just to see what it was like. It's hard to tell what the other player is like, as both of us are in the skelly mode from the Witches Brew, but I got the impression that this is a fairly young player. Said player told Mazul this is all new yet. Mazul for once wasn't a grump, but rather assured this youngster that we all start as newbies. Then Mazul kind of hung back and let the youngster lead the way. But when trying to sneak up on multiple enemies, Mazul would use her Fighter's Guild Shards of Light to distract them from a distance and keep them unaware of our Young One who was actually closer. The Young One actually did well, even with the boss in the crypt. I kept an eye on that blue bar and it didn't go down much at all. Then Young One leveled up while we were going at the Boss a third time, and Mazul gave congratulations when the fighting was over. Then the young one admitted that this was on big brother's PC and that the time to log off was approaching. I suggested we go over to the northern dolmen and see if we could get one more boss in before Young One had to call it a night. Young One was game, so we went over there and had a blast.

Then Mazul surprised me once again. After Young One signed off, Mazul sent a little note saying that this was her first time in a group (mine, too) and that she enjoyed the experience. She congratulated Young One on leveling up to 13, and wished Young One a good weekend. I guess she is learning some social skills from Julian, Buffy and mALX's gang. I rather suspect she will make an excellent sergeant in someone's Guard someday.

I'm so glad you enjoyed your informal grouping, Rider! I can identify with exactly what you mean. A couple times Buffy has helped a younger player - letting them lead the way but trying to be a protective overwatch. A few days ago we had an amazing experience from the other side of things. Buffy went into a public group dungeon after a skyshard. Tight corridors and groups of 6 at a time high-level foes swarmed her - basically her worst nightmare. She did get killed and started over - a couple times. Then we got an invite to group from someone and quickly accepted it. Well, it turns out her groupmate was a CP561 templar who led Buffy straight to the skyshard as an overwatch - letting Buffy do plenty of killing but exploding all around her and healing her when it was needed. He then led her to the boss and did the same thing for her. That experience really left a lasting impression on us.

His parting words were 'Not wise to have bow on primary dps bar.'

Well, we took his words to heart with two changes.

1. Buffy the stamsorc now dual wields daggers (on her second bar) and can use whirlwind when cornered by a mob.

2. Created an additional Buffy as a magplar and I must admit that Grits was right - it is a glorious playstyle.

Anyway, I'm just so glad that Julian and Mazul are doing so well and have craftibits chores divided up to help each other.

Edit: Oh I just noticed Julian's Stargazing pic in your siggie - beautifully wow!

This post has been edited by Acadian: Oct 29 2016, 04:14 AM

Heh, Cirinwe always gets people trying to help her. The thing is though that she doesn't need a knight in shining armour - she is one. She appreciates the thought though.

Haa-Rei often helps out people who look like they need it, but we don't like getting too involved. He'll just take a few enemies out and then the other player can deal with the rest or have some space to heal/retreat as needed.

I was about to mention that the camel spitting had me rolling laughing when I saw it, that is one of the main reasons I would want one = to go around "spitting" on everyone!

That desert killed me, seeing all the dead horses and lost caravans, etc. But at the same time, I loved the atmosphere of the towns so much! The feel of the place is stupendous!!! They did an Awesome job on that whole area for immersion, that is for sure!

By the way, what is the "Shadows of the Hist" like? I thought it was just the addition of two new world boss/group event dungeons. Is there new territory with it? (I imagine Black Marsh by the title). Does it have quests? Skyshards?







I haven't seen that Werewolf Lord in game yet, only in the Crown Store!








Misa was getting hounded to duel, even after I set it on "Auto Decline" she had people Whispering to ask her to duel. Did the Auto Decline not give them a clue she wasn't interested?

But it is really Awesome to watch the dueling, really impressive!

haute, did Mazul find her boots chapter? Congrats to the Master Chef, and congrats on the camel addition! My crew has not named their camel. They rent one when they're in the desert. Jerric refers to it as "Bullseye," but I'm not sure it's even the same camel. I'm pretty sure it would not answer even if it was!

Acadian, how fun to see Buffy grow and adapt to her world. I'm glad she has a solution for getting cornered. Tight corridors with enemies respawning under your feet means that even the best plans can't be relied upon.

Jerric's crew has been taking care of the usual business, but there is one thing to report. My Skyrim SE box came with a surprise inside, codes for the Dragon Warrior costume and the Gray Yokudan Charger!! Darnand finally has the horse of his ESO dreams. It has been raining in Daggerfall so I don't have a screenshot, but as soon as the sun comes up he will insist on a portrait. Darnand does not make a fuss about it, but he takes a lot of pride in his marvelous and pampered horse.

Also Jerric acquired a badger and gave it to Darnand as a pet. Anastasia/Belchy the kindlespit dragon frog needs to return to her native ooze for seasonal dragon frog activities, so Jerric conveyed her to the swamp and wished her good mating. Darnand has not named the badger yet. Jerric's suggestions of "Stripes" or "What Is That Smell" did not seem to stick.

Oh, and some time ago Lildereth had a falling out with Hassim the clouded senche leopard. She has lately been riding a dire wolf. Jerric suspects that it might be more than just a wolf. He is suspicious of were-creatures. Lildereth insists that really, it's just a big wolf.

Honey is a good name for a badger!

I second Rosa's "Honey" suggestion for the badger!

Yes, Mazul got TWO boots chapter on Halloween! So she got the Happy Jack achievement! Unfortunately, she fell short of the Witches Festival achievement as she has not earned enough plunder skulls. That's okay, it was fun while it lasted. Maybe next year . . .

Julian loves the Yokudan Grey! Every time she sees one she has to stop and watch him. But she's happy with Blanco and Absinthe. After traveling around the desert and visiting Bergama and Tava's Blessing, she is glad she was able to talk me into getting the camel. Horses just don't seem to do as well in this environment, and she would have been heartbroken had she lost Blanco out there.

Julian is starting to make serious noises about retiring once she saves the Daggerfall Covenant. She is so in love with the Alik'r Desert she doesn't want to leave. She doesn't mind the giant snakes and the dunerippers. Not when there are adorable little lizards (they look like fat iguanas) running around. We are in negotiations at this point.

Mazul still wants to keep exploring, if only to learn new forging techniques. In fact, she was more blown away by the Earth's Forge (part of the MQ) than Julian was. Though she didn't do any forging (she was relegated to the role of bellows apprentice for this), she loved being so close to such a magical place. And she is excited to learn that the special forges scattered around the Covenant means she can recreate the armor that Misa of Ebonheart made for both Julian and herself. In fact, she is considering returning the favor . . .

That is a good name! And it suits them, those badgers are so sweet and cute in the game!

I'd link to the video about Honey (the) Badger, but I'm sure I'd violate some forum profanity rule!

haute, I'm interested to see where Julian retires with all of Tamriel to choose from!

Grits - Thanks for the update. New set of hoofs and a Honey badger for Darnand! A wolf mount suits Lil well.

Rider – I can identify with Julian – retiring in the desert worked well for me. I presume she would keep her restaurant and alchemy shoppes open to resupply young’uns? Your siggie screens are fabulous. Julian looks right at home in the desert with that adorable lizard and Mazul looks to be in forge heaven!

Today Jerric discovered Text Chat, and the PS4 NA server may never be the same. I have used it before but always distracted the Nord with a drink or something before I got into player business. Well.

A Wrothgar daily assignment took him to a World Boss that he has tried twice but never managed to complete. No one else was there. He climbed up the rocks and shot off Finvir's Trinket to see if anyone was crouched nearby waiting for help. Nothing.

Hmm, I thought, better call for backup.

"WHAT?!" said Jerric.

Oh [censored], thought I.

"I HEARD THAT, TOO," said the Nord. (He does not have an indoor voice.)

So Jerric went on Text Chat to the Zone: "All alone at The Accursed Nursery."

Two folks replied, one with an incomprehensible name. By the time he got her halfway invited, she was right there jumping up and down in his face so he could use the quickwheel instead of typing the weird letters. His team of three began to slaughter the local miscreants while waiting for more to join them.

Soon the three were alone apart from the really bad guys, the other two expressing concern at their low numbers. So Jerric went on the Zone again: "Accursed Nursery, too pretty to die like this."

With two minutes an army had assembled. Jerric blew the Emote horn and they charged. It was awesome.




This post has been edited by Grits: Nov 17 2016, 09:20 PM

That sounds so very Jerric! Buffy's bane is the Skull&Xbones world bosses. When she finds one, she hangs around for a time. . . but if no one shows up, her butterfly totem wins and she moves on. She learned after T1 that soloing them is a bad idea.

That said, she will often pass by again and is often able to join others to clear boss. She honestly doesn't mind missing a few though.

That's what Julian and Mazul have done too!

The worst one was the mother spider on the way out of Stormhaven up into Rivenspire. Too powerful for three or five to kill, and no room to maneuver . . .

That was the only time Mazul got on the zone chat and called for help . . .

GAAAAAH, I'll have to learn that one!

They would have charged anyway of course, but it was one of those fun moments.

With One Tamriel Jerric takes the skull and crossbones seriously. I guess they're called Group Bosses now? In this last fight right at the end everyone but Jerric and the guy directly behind him went down at the same time, and they only survived because Jerric happened to be casting a healing spell when the wave hit them. I've never seen so many people pop up as resurrected shades at the exact same instant, lol. He wasn't so lucky today against a titan called Zandadunoz the Reborn in Wrothgar. The entire group died multiple times, which resets the boss's health to 100%.


ADDED: D'oh! I forgot to say, Jerric spent some outstanding time in Malabal Tor closing Dark Anchors for the Fighters Guild. He got from one to another by swimming the entire length of the Xylo River. Anyone want some crocodile skin boots?

This post has been edited by Grits: Nov 19 2016, 03:58 AM

Buffy found herself inadvertently running with a herd of about ten for a time the other day. There is a dolman and world boss very close together in Stonefalls. Well the informal group would close the dolman then, while waiting for it to respawn, jog over to the world boss (a giant troll) and take him down. Then back to the dolman, wash, rinse, repeat. It was a fun chance for Buffy to practice her up and coming healing abilities. She quite loves the ability to heal and buff up others. Oh, and she got quite a nice collection of magicka-supportive set rings and amulets for her efforts.

Last week we cleared a different dolman several times with a gang of about 15. One fellow got everyone there to join his group (apparently the xp goes up in you're in a group). One unexpected benefit was that someone had their banker out and someone else had their merchant summoned. And anyone in the group can use a groupie's banker/merchant! Close dolman, sell loot, wash, rinse, repeat. It was kind of fun for a few cycles.

She found a nice spot by the water today that was a fishing hole. She doesn't fish but, in true Buffy fashion, doffed her clothes to go swimming. She confessed that she sort of hoped that a naked elf would be the kind of bait that would attract Jerric to the same spot. . . .