View Full Forums : I feel sorry for Xanthe


ccLothar
06-19-2002, 11:35 AM
His namesake earring is the primary reward for completing the PotC quest and at first glance (because of FT1) it doesn't appear to be as nice as the Earring of the Solstice. Second fiddle in your own quest. What's that all about?

Xanthe's Earring of Nature
AC 5, str 8, sta 8, wis 10, hp 55, mana 55, sv fire/cold/magic 7

Earring of the Solstice
AC 5, sta 5, wis 8, int 8, HP 55, mana 55, sv fire 5, sv cold 5, sv magic 5, (flowing thought 1)

Maybe I'm wrong, but which you rather have?

Talyena Trueheart
06-19-2002, 11:43 AM
Hard choice there. 3sta, 8str, 2 wis/fire/cold/magic and not having to load the dl port all the time (normal guild hangout is the little hill near the druid ring in dl) vs FT 1. Heck, Im a druid, I would take both. :) Ya, overkill on the wisdom, but the stamana, mana, hp, resists, and effects are nice. And having too much wisdom just opens up future loot choices.

I know a lot of tanks that are doing the earring quest too now. With mosquito leg earrings going for as much as 100k or more (offers I have seen, never have seen one for sale), 20kish isn't bad for a 5ac, 5sta, 55hp, 5 fire/cold/magic earring.

Seriena
06-19-2002, 11:50 AM
You don't need to make a choice, take both. I'm currently working on 2 for my druid and 1 for my monk. Even with the ft/wis/int on the earring it's still a very nice melee earring.

Scirocco
06-19-2002, 12:12 PM
There's no question that the FT 1 earring is far superior. The minor and questionable benefit of not having to load the DL gate (which a lot of us do rarely at best) vs. FT1?

The XEoN ought to have some Healing focus effect at level III, IMO.

ccLothar
06-19-2002, 01:14 PM
Do you have Bankers Legs? Man, 24 seconds is a long long long time. I can sit down, flip to the correct page, mem, cast, and be in DL less than 24 seconds :) ...I have bankers legs in my bag, and NEVER pull them out for Misty Thicket.

I'm have the makings for a second ring, which I mights do. Then again I might sell it so I can get a Bracer of Sense and a Lodi. ...would round out my non Tov stuff nicely.

Talyena Trueheart
06-19-2002, 01:21 PM
"Man, 24 seconds is a long long long time. I can sit down, flip to the correct page, mem, cast, and be in DL less than 24 seconds"

I bow to your superior book flipping and memming skills. BTW circle of combines is a 16 second spell with a 12 second recast. That is 28 seconds right there. :p

Tils
06-19-2002, 01:26 PM
Solstice is better.

VI should have swapped them so the Solstice was the druid named earring and the other is the bonus one for other classess.

Tils

Dr Fluffee Bunnee
06-19-2002, 01:34 PM
I disagree that the Xanthe’s earring needs any focus effect – it’s great as it is.

Personally, I’d like to see Verant throw a cat amongst the pigeons by doing something like putting the Heal III Focus effect on the Hollowed Pixies Rib Halloween event ‘01 earring. A nice earring, a reasonable number of them around and, with a good focus effect on it, something to give people cause for serious thought in their equipment choice.

For the same reason I’d like to see some decent focus effect (maybe Mana Preservation 3… give someone a choice other than the ODS) on boots – Coldain, Eboots or Elysian? - to give people second thoughts about Boots of Flowing Slime.

Equipment choices shouldn’t be easy, and a bit of a dilemma about which item to use would be a nice change from the old “this item is obviously superior, throw the old one in the trash” phenomenon.

ccLothar
06-19-2002, 02:17 PM
Stormhaven, I've seen dozens of posts like this that could techically on a whimp be moved to Quest, Spoiler, rants or wherever.

My post wasn't so much about the Earring and it's stats, as it was to the fact that poor Zanthe got a bad deal with his earring being worse than the alternate earring. It in fact is a general observeration - and belongs as a general post.

If you feel different, I'd love to see you take a stab at defining a general post Vs. something else. I'm not asking you defend the move, but respectfully I'd like you call to your attention (imho) that you shouldn't have moved this post.

...move this one --- then move dozens more like it. Then what's left in General? Patch messages?

Batou062671
06-19-2002, 02:58 PM
I'm not sure that I would say that Xanthe's earring is inferior. It's got 8 sta on it and that means more HP. In many cases I find more HP to be more usefull than FT1 and I only have one FT1 item, the earring of the solstice. When under AE effects those extra few hp add up. Don't get me wrong, FT1 is very nice, but even if Xaanthe's didn't have a port to dreadlands I still think that it's a very good earring.

Stormhaven
06-19-2002, 03:19 PM
General - EQ
EQ related discussion about Druid life in general - moderated

Druidic Equipment
Discussion about equipment useful for Druids - moderated

His namesake earring is the primary reward for completing the PotC quest and at first glance (because of FT1) it doesn't appear to be as nice as the Earring of the Solstice. Second fiddle in your own quest. What's that all about?
General Discussion

"Maybe I'm wrong, but which you rather have?"
Druidic Equipment

Reading the replies you've got so far, I stand by my move.

Bria Sunrider
06-19-2002, 04:03 PM
Xanthe is female ;)

ccLothar
06-19-2002, 04:58 PM
A female. Of course. How could have I been so foolish! :)

Seriena
06-19-2002, 05:50 PM
Ah , I see your point now Lothar. I didn't read all the posts though, surely Xanthe got more than just Xanthe's earring?

Seriena
06-19-2002, 05:51 PM
oops double post Sorry about that.

Alliza
06-19-2002, 08:47 PM
With the help of some RL friends and guildmates I was able to get both.

The FT1 earring was priority, but the stats are to amazing on Xanthe's to pass up.

chenier
06-20-2002, 07:21 AM
Druids, do both. Both of the earrings rock!

And I love the clicky effect, but then I'm a clicky junky. DL is our guild's post-raid drop off point, so I use it all the time. I love not having to sit down and mem a spell - just click and go.

Scirocco
06-20-2002, 07:34 AM
I didn't read all the posts though, surely Xanthe got more than just Xanthe's earring?

What makes you say that?

And the XEoN, while a good earring, is not particularly uber. The Sanctum Guardian's Earring is probably better for most higher level druids that don't have one of the truly uber earrings.

The XEoN effect is just an out-and-out waste, though.

chenier
06-20-2002, 07:39 AM
She got the earring named after her and major honor, which is incredible.

Fayne Dethe
06-20-2002, 10:10 AM
Um which high level earring is better than Xanthe's other than the REALLY uber stuff?? Earring of the Icecaster from NTOV, Yelinak earring,etc are all inferior. 8 stamina + 55 hp = 79 hp and 55 mana is quite a nice combination. Sanctum Guardian Earring is about the same as Xanthe's earring aside from an extra 25 mana, and I prefer the resists on Xanthe's earring compared to disease/poison which is rarely needed. Plus, Sanctum Guardian is a MUCH bigger pain to get as there is a high failure rate on the smithing and the components are tedious to obtain/require groups. Not to mention how buggy the final dragon fight part is ;p.

The only earring I'd replace Xanthe's with is Tunare earring of course which EVERY wis caster wants (so hard to get even if you do kill Tunare) or the uber earring from Vex Thal (haha yeah right). On that same note, the earring from killing Lord Seru is also very uber and sooo easy to get ;p. So really, the only "uber" earring accessible to people is the Tunare one which you have to compete with all the clerics/shamans for.

ccLothar
06-20-2002, 04:53 PM
I think all Xanthe got besides fame was her name on the earring. Don't get me wrong, the earring is wonderful, but I think the Earring of the Solstice is a bit better.

Just seems odd that the primary reward wouldn't be as nice as the secondary.


....Did mention that I've changed my mind about this quest? I love it!

Fenani13
06-23-2002, 03:33 PM
What will really suck is when, a couple months down the road, some random guide tells Xanthe that her name violates the naming policy, since its the name of a character in EQ, as evidenced by the name on the earring, and then changes her name.

Fenani
Rodcet Nife

Miss Foxfyre
06-24-2002, 07:06 PM
think all Xanthe got besides fame was her name on the earring. Don't get me wrong, the earring is wonderful, but I think the Earring of the Solstice is a bit better.

Just seems odd that the primary reward wouldn't be as nice as the secondary.

I disagree. The fame is nice, but the final earring, as it turned out, is very, very nice for druids, even if you don't bother to use the effect.

Given that druids can do the quest twice and wear both offsets the downside of having a worthless effect on one.

And even though the quest was intended for us, I'm actually glad it turned out that Earring of the Solstice exists for others. A lot of players became interested in the quest and in doing the social work to get gifts. I always tell people, "Hey, it's something nice from our community -- enjoy." :p

Paldor
06-25-2002, 04:45 AM
My only wish is that the teleport on Xanthe's earring was "Circle of the Nexus"

That would be a nice effect.

Jhesair
06-25-2002, 09:11 PM
I sport both earings , and they are quite nice together.

Vermilion Starfires
06-26-2002, 08:09 AM
Ya know, Xanthe and I are guildmates. I have not heard her complaining about the earring.

Nobben Wolfrunner
52 Druid
Healers of Norrath - Bertoxx

Loralin
06-26-2002, 08:16 AM
I did both earrings as well and I doubt I'll ever be replacing them.

Batou062671
06-28-2002, 09:00 AM
My only wish is that the teleport on Xanthe's earring was "Circle of the Nexus"

That would be a nice effect.
I can allmost guarantee somthing like that won't occur till after planes of power has been out a while. The only 'port' to nexus that works anywhere is on Al'Kabors Propylon of the Nexus which is an artifact. This means that the designers felt that such and effect should be exceedingly rare.

However, if they follow the pattern they have established in the past, when the next expansion comes out they will open up ports to it to make it easy to get there and make travel in the new one not so easy (at least to some of the out of the way places)