Welcome to the Homes and Tomes House Rally #19 – Developing Taste!!!
We’ll start off in guild chat to let late-comers join up, and then switch to raid/group channel once everyone is on board!
I’m your host Kuerden Basajuanak, and tonight we’ll be looking at places that Everquest 2’s very own Developers developed a hankering for! Their picks are very wide-ranging as to style and complexity, so take a look and see what you think!
As we take a look at these houses, don’t forget to reward the designers by liking creativity and/or style! Try to wait until everyone zones in to LIKE a house though – otherwise the house can shift in the list and make it hard to find!
DON’T FORGET THOUGH!!! A good rating means more people will visit and enjoy someone’s hard work!
For anyone new, we’ll be visiting houses via the Housing & Leaderboards selection of the main EQ2 menu. Sometimes the numbers have shifted a little, just ask if you can’t find it!
TONIGHT SHOULD BE EASY! JUST SET THE LEADERBOARDS TO DEV PICKS, and all 5 houses will be right there!mYell if you can’t find it!!!
We’ll now switch to Raid (^) or Group (#) Chat and dig into this week of Norrath’s Gold! Our first stop is…
Magic Kingdom (#1 Dev Picks/Creativity-Recent) by Sairalindie: A Tenebrous Refuge
Here we have Sairalindie’s first published house! She joined H&T just a few months ago, and got this done in just a couple of weeks! It’s quite lovely, so it’s no surprise the Devs took to it!
On zoning in just take a second to pan around! There is lots to see! I loved the dancing dragon on the floating island to the right! You actually zome into a Thurgadin Mystic Magefire sphere. Head right to the spiral stair to the main house!
Here you can see a large kitchen as well as a couple of sitting rooms. The roofing is done using the woven leaf rug, which give a nice forest ambiance. The floating island itself is made of Oggokian Rock Tables, which have that slight purple cast to them.
Underneath the house is a nice scratch-built stream that adds a lot to the character of the house! Follow it to the garden and garden-house. Just over the edge is the floating castle! Go on in, noticing you are walking on Misty Tile!
The entryway has an assortment of farm animals (reminds me of the Baiten Kaitos game). Inside is a lovely manor house, and upstairs is an archery range (neat!). As you leave the manor, there is a stone mount to the left.
Climb up and you come to a cute little witches hut!
Wander around through this one! There is lots to see! This is a very rich house with many items and plushies! The use of the assorted Vesspyr trees have really allowed people to ‘scale up’ the island, and add a wide range of color!
Now we’ll move on to our next house:
Widow’s Storm Isle (#2 Dev Picks/Creativity-Recent) by Dawnstriker: Storm Tower Isle.
Here we have a Storm Tower Isle – an underused house that offers many interesting possibilities to decorators. On zone-in you are deposited looking towards the un-skinned Storm Tower. Directly ahead is a very nice Hansom cab!
As you look around, you can see some very tasteful landscaping principally utilizing hedge seeds. The area around the tower is tiled using Sullonite paving stones. Ahead by the front door are additional paths, leading first to a open crypt.
The crypt is a beautiful scratch-built structure – and yes there is something moving in the coffin! Check out the other decorations and the use of roses.
Nearby is a small ocean-overlook shrine that reminds me of some British WWI memorials I’ve visited. There is mirror-placed fountain on the roof which I found and interesting feature.
On the island outcropping is a small graveyard, and the central to the paths is a well-executed gazebo. Look at how Ornate Shadowed Bookcases are uses as structural framing. Continue on into the tower.
Inside you are immediately presented with a sitting/music room. The paneling is interesting – it uses Wantia Armoiries to give an almost Qeynosian paneling effect. Adamantine columns and red glass tiles complete the effect.
On the far side of the room is a small kitchenette that is quite nice! Going up to the next floor is a bathing room using a Vasty Deep shrine for the floor.
The next floor is a bedroom, with Sumac and Burnished Metal paneling. Overall, this is one of the best-decorated Storm Towers I’ve seen. Take a few minutes and wander around!
Now we’ll move on to:
Is it a madhouse or a dream (#3 Dev Picks/Creativity-Recent) by Vadra: Everfrost Summer Home
Here we have an interesting Tinkered Everfrost Summer Home. This house, despite its beauty is quite difficult to re-skin due to its complex structures. Here a ‘jumbled’ approach gets around this problem nicely.
There is a ’dare’ issued on entry to see if visitors can get into all three rooms on all three floors.
Moving forward to the face-down corpse with the axe in its back, you can see the various pumpkin torture stations! The use of Misty Tiles makes the floor more interesting.
Crossing the room, head for the Freeport door. When you open it, you are immediately faced by a fire devil plushy – very interesting because of it’s rotation! Give a neat fire vortex effect!
Now wander and see if you can find a way to the other floors! Hint – some of the fallen panels are ramps! The second floor is a music/science lab. Sort of an Island of Dr. Moreau lab effect! Nicely done!
Try to get into the 3rd floor room! I wasn’t able to figure it out! See if you can!
Next we’ll move on to:
The Shoe House (#4 Dev Picks/Creativity-Recent) by Bonnfire: A Tenebrous Refuge
Here is the classic fairy-tale house in a shoe! Cheri always does interesting things, so take a look at the construction of the various items. Note things like the flagstones (upside down Scrimshaw Ritual Sculpture).
The windmill is an interesting collection of tinkered items, check out the use of the Titanium Hex Gaskets as struts.
The standard Treehouse is decorated with assorted streamers – but I liked the ‘rope’ bridge using Indium Cage Bars.
Going into the toe of the shoe, check out the very nice stained glass oval work. The use of the dreadcutter rug as wallpaper give a nice Victorian look. The boot includes a scratch-built kitchen that is nice!
Wander through the house and look at the items and rotations.
All the houses tonight are great examples of taking truly fanciful concepts and turning them into game-reality. Remember you really can do pretty much ANYTHING!!!
Well, that’s about it for tonight! In two weeks we’ll meet again on Saturday to view some of the beautiful Guild Halls of Norrath! We'll also be previewing The Secret Crypt of the Bayles! Be there or be square and have a great evening!
