Norrath likes to reward it’s players who help kick off the holidays by giving in a big way.
Extra Life Game Day was November 2nd and the Everquest community once again came together to make a great contribution to the organization.
As of this writing, $126,319 dollars has been raised from the community that will help go towards The Children’s Miracle Network.
What Are The Bonuses?
For donating money through Darkpaw’s fundraising efforts, several bonuses and unique items are available. Individual packages include unique titles for your characters, as well as ornaments, cosmetics, and even mounts.
The big prize however is the community reward. Now until November 12th at 10am PST, experience bonuses, increased rare spawns, and more loot will be available to players when they log on.
EverQuest’s Extra Life Bonuses
The following bonuses are temporarily available in EverQuest.
- 200% bonus experience gains
- 225% more likely rare spawns
- 155% more loot
- 100% increased coins
- 100% increased alternate currency
- 250% increased collections spawns
- 100% bonus evolving item exp.
EverQuest II’s Extra Life Bonuses
The following bonuses are temporarily available in EverQuest II.
- 275% Bonus Experience
- 50% Increased Rare Drop Chance
- Double Currency Rewards
- Double loot drops in current expansions.
The Origins Server has its own set of unique bonuses :
- 15% Bonus Adventure and Tradeskill Experience
How The EQ Show Contributors Are Spending Their Bonus Weekend…
For many players, this is a great opportunity to level up their characters a little faster or find the rare spawns or increased loot drops needed for quests.
If you need some ideas of how to take advantage of the weekend’s fun, The Everquest Show’s Fading, and the other members of the team, all have their own plans for a rewarding weekend in Norrath.
Fading’s Recommendations
Your time is finite, and the bonus weekend doesn’t last long. Here are my ways to get the most out of the weekend!
Level an Alt/Persona
With experience doubled, burn your Lesson of the Devoted, and get to work on that alt or persona that you’ve been meaning to get those extra levels or AAs
Finish Up Hunter Achievements
Maybe you’re max level, or max AA, and alts or personas aren’t your thing. Well with the 225% bonus to rare spawned, it’s a great time to named hunt.
Finish up those rare named that you have yet to find, or go to older content and mass slaughter to get the named to spawn. It’s much more efficient on a bonus rare weekend than without.
Camp That Rare Item
Fading had needed a shield upgrade for a while. The one I wanted was a rare drop off a specific named. With the bonus loot and named spawn bonus, I was able to came for a few cycles of spawns, and my shield dropped!
I even picked one up for my box cleric!
Yavete’s Recommendations
Due to donations we’re running at 275% server bonus on Antonia Bayle right now.
I made a new character just to see how quickly I could level with the server bonus right now. So, Cheesewedge, the Ratongan Troubadour was created. A quick side note, this is all done on a free-to-play account.
I picked Neriak as my starting city and I quickly realised this may have been a slight disadvantage on my part as it is the longest run to get to a world bell. Starting in Darklight Woods, Cheesewedge had to trek all the way to Neriak, on to the Dockside Markets to the world bell for a trip to the Moors of Ykesha.
Hitting level 2 on the location discoveries along the way.
Once in the Moors it’s a short jog to the Ulteran Wizard Spire and up to the Plain of Magic.
Don’t let the level 106 wisps scare you. They’re harmless and are content to go about their day without bothering you.
Follow the pathway towards the first of the platforms and then it’s a case of hopping around the plain using the teleportation circles. Which way do you prefer? I’m a clockwise person myself. Khali’Vahla is my favourite spot and Khali’Yrzu is always a dramatic looking way to end the circular route. The red rocks that are shifting ever so slowly and the deep blues in the swirling sky.
Discovering all the teleportation platforms in the Plain of Magic gives a huge experience boost plus an achievement. Gaining the suffix title: the High Planes Drifter and, more importantly, Level 29.
Bercel’s Recommendations
Learning about the experience bonuses available for nearly a week is just the boost (no pun intended) I needed. I have been stuck, for lack of a better word, for some time in Everquest with a couple of characters. Everquest 2 has been a place I wanted to visit for some time as well, so being able to level a character there faster is another exciting opportunity. Anything to help me alleviate the grind will open up the chance to see more zones, more bosses, and all those cool kids at max level!
I have been playing an Iksar Shadow Knight as my main off and on for years. Recently, I began to play Everquest on a more frequent basis but getting out of the 60’s has been a pain. I play on a live server and I’ve been following the “Hero’s Journey” path. I usually run with a pet skeleton, armed with some weapons and armor dropped from mobs, and a healer mercenary to keep me alive (and help make EQ somewhat of an idle game while I work from home).
The Steppes have been my most recent hurdle to overcome, as I finally saw the duration of killing mobs go up drastically without a huge amount of experience in return. My “Lesson of the Devoted” AA helps, especially if I hop on for 30 minutes a day, but when kills take a few minutes a piece, I can only benefit from that extra experience so much.
I backtracked the last few weeks to Gorukar Mesa to farm the giant mobs. While they don’t offer much to me progressing through the 60s, my AA skills have been growing tremendously, allowing me to boost some stats and increase my lifetap potency. Now, with the Extra Life bonuses in effect, things are finally paying off.
The first day of the bonuses I was able to get from level 63 to 65 in the Steppes, utilizing Lesson of the Devoted for EXP and Unholy Aura Discipline to boost my Lifetaps. Jasanak, my Iksar Shadow Knight, immediately made a grocery store visit to PK for some mana and combat potions, selling all the random loot drops for extra platinum, and ran back to the Steppes to keep at it.
The mobs in The Steppes went from 1.5 to 2 a piece experience to almost 8 experience each kill. Once my AA wore off for additional EXP boost, I was getting about 4 experience a kill. I hit 66!
67 came within an hour of tackling the daily task for level 65 characters in Drunder, The Fortress of Zek. I met some others my level and the Diaku were leveling us fast. Jasanak made some grocery store visits again but also picked up new spells. I can start to see the momentum the closer I got to 70, as the potions and spells seem to have much more impact and benefit. As cavemen say, numbers go up good!
It also seems like loot drops have increased during this promotional period. I’m by no means picking up luxury items, but all the random loot can be sold to a vendor for a lot of money. Fangs and teeth are making up all the platinum I’m spending on potions and my mercenary, and then some! I can easily see this being an advantage to players doing specific quests with drops needed. I spent weeks hunting for the decayed armor for SK Epic 1.0 …
All in all, a handful of hours each of the past few days is paying off towards leveling. I can easily see myself getting closer to level 100 before the promotional period ends. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the promotion, as well as continue to support Extra Life by donating and by taking a look at some of the unique in-game items available. Who knew all this gaming could make a difference?
Hotion’s Recommendations
Hothion here! I’ll be starting a fresh level 100 Heroic Paladin to take advantage of the rewards and see if I can get him ready for The Outer Brood! I wanted to try something new and what better yet than jumping into a class I’m not familiar with on top of seeing what a level 100 Heroic upgrade offers. Super excited to get grinding and gain some levels! So if you’re on the Tunare server, give ol’ Sebogig a wave!
The EverQuest Show 