Lukenbach's Got Nothin' on Michael Phelps

I hit the quest trail hard this past weekend, zooming Lukenbach up two whole levels. He’s 41 now, but now that the bonus xp weekend is over, his continued leveling will slow considerably.

I spent the most time in Evindum. It’s the first zone Turbine added after the game’s release. I like it for the most part except for the fact that the entire middle of the zone is a massive lake. To complete the quests strewn throughout the circumference of the huge water body, you either circle around or swim. Travel by horseback is fast, but rising cliff faces and ranged mobs often force a dismount. And swimming feels like half running movement. It’s so painfully slow I often set Lukenbach’s course and then go downstairs to grab a soda and light snack. I wish they’d put some sort of raft travel system on opposite lake shores, by which you could travel to one side of the lake to the other. To give Evindum credit, the hard travel lends the zone a wilderness feel.

Lukenbach scored his first legendary trait this past weekend as well. Unlike other traits, legendary level is reached by gathering an initial entry tome, talking to an npc, and then gathering a certain number of pages to complete the book. Once the book is complete, the legendary trait is unlocked. A player can only have two legendaries at a time and only when the reach level 41. Lukenbach’s recent acquisition grants him an aoe blasting cry and deals damage to up to three mobs and slows them for a considerable time.

Since Lukenbach is close to level 42 now, I need him to refocus on his master tailoring profession so that he can make himself a new set of armor. Unfortunately, he’s barely started on master so he can’t yet crit on crafting to churn on the really good stuff. To make matters worse, he’s still not high enough level to harvest the higher level mobs that give out the exceptional hides needed to grind out master tailoring. I might just have to buy his armor at 42 and then really focus on tailoring when he can get the hides on his own.