She’s got huge… tracts of land.

People suck.

That might not be entirely fair.

People who game suck.

Well, that’s not really fair either.

1 out of every 10,000 people who play games suck.

That’s probably more accurate, but still probably a bit unfair.  The number is smaller than that still.

So, with the remote odds of running into people who suck, why do I always do it day after day?  Is it a gift?  A curse?  Some greater plan at work?

I was working on clearing out some quests yesterday and noticed one in Tenebrous Tangle that I had never finished.  I had never finished it because it involved killing a hard-to-find mob.  Well, probably not hard-to-find but I certainly had a bitch of a time finding him.

I spotted him on track at the top of one of those climable trees.  So, I cleared out the sentries at the bottom, climbed to the top and took out the groups of sentries up there.  As I was killing the final sentry, a group of idiots came blazing up the tree behind me, jumped past my fight, engaged the guy I needed, and left.

And all I could think was, “There went a jerkoff who breast-fed for faaaaarrrr too long as a child.”

Every time there is a double exp weekend, I vow to use the time wisely and get some serious work done.  On Friday, I believe that I said I was going to really buckle down and get at least 2 levels on Rao.

I failed.

Friday night, I did some crafting and a bit of playing around on my new baby ranger.  Saturday, I mostly harvested and crafted.  Saturday night, we did a retro raid and I got to kill Lady Vox.  Afterwards, I logged on Raynar (raided with Fuzz) and knocked out the Tobrin’s Mystical Eyepatch HQ on both toons before calling it a night.

Sunday, I woke up determined to be productive.  I took Ray and Fuzz up to KoS and had my encounter with the idiot mentioned above and pretty much lost all desire to play.  I logged off and watched movies.

We raided again last night, but it was a first-time raid for the guild and we spent a lot of time saying, “That didn’t work.  Let’s re-group and try this.”  It was still fun the first few times until everyone spontaneously decided that they had the answer and started talking over each other in Ventrillo.  The more people talked over each other, the longer it took between attempts and I found my finger hovering near the “Call to Qeynos” button on more than one occasion.  I don’t mind the dying repeatedly or the hashing around of ideas.  It’s the constant babble when everyone is too busy talking to shut up and listen which just results in a whole lot of time sitting around doing nothing… that’s what annoys the hell out of me.

Still, it was a good time for me.  I love seeing new things even when it isn’t a successful run.

The raid was called off early and I debated for a bit seeing if I could find something to do to make it appear that I had accomplished something over the weekend, but I couldn’t think of a thing.  I ended up chatting with a friend from my original server for about an hour before logging off and calling it a weekend.

So, for the grand double exp weekend, how many levels did I get?

Adventure levels- 0
Alternate Advancement levels- 0
Crafting levels- 6

I knocked out three levels on my carpenter bringing him up to 70, one level on my armorsmith bringing him to 42, one level on my tailor bringing him also to 42 and one level on my jeweler bringing him to 64.

My total experience gain for the weekend was probably about 12% on Ray and Fuzz and maybe 3% on Rao.

Maybe it’s just a rut.

Kindling to the inferno?

It’s already old news it seems, but I arrived home from work yesterday to a new e-mail from Sony offering me a free month to return to Vanguard.  If, after that month, I resubscribe, I get a nifty little camel mount to keep.

For some reason, this offer appeals to me FAR more than the offer to return to EQ does.  It isn’t that I have any time invested in Vanguard because I don’t… and I CERTAINLY have a significant amount of time invested in Everquest.

I think the bottom line comes down to this:

I have lost count of the number of former EQ players who now only talk about that game with bitterness.  The only thing that can match their current unbridled hatred of the game was their former unrestrained enthusiasm for it.  I’m not sure where the transition comes into play or what makes a former fan such a devout hater, but it seems to happen… a LOT.

I spent a great deal of time in EQ… more than a lot of people did.  I played the game from about mid-2000 until October of last year.  I was in a grand total of 5 guilds in that time split over 3 different servers.  I was a casual player for a while, a hardcore raider for a while, and ended my days as a casual raider.  Through it all, I played with a smile on my face and enjoyment in my heart.  When that enjoyment began to fade, I walked away.  I still think back on EQ with extreme fondness.  I love talking about my adventures there and the friends I made along the way.

I want to keep those memories and those good feelings in tact.  I don’t want to become the bitter old man that so many others have turned into because I tried to force the game to keep meeting my expectations.

I have no such investment in Vanguard.  I followed it through all the years of development and waited with anticipation for its release.  I spent some time in beta and bought it at release.  I left, not because I didn’t enjoy the game but because there just weren’t any people playing that I could fall in with.

Still, I have continued to follow the game as an outsider and have always wondered if I would ever go back.

I doubt seriously that I would ever make Vanguard my one and only game, but this is the perfect time for me to go back and take another look… when it’s free.  I don’t know that I’ll sub once the free month is up, but you never know.  I just might… to give myself another game to play when I have one of those nights were I really want to do something but EQ2 just isn’t it.

I nearly had one of those nights last night.  I got home and was just cranky… I don’t know why.  I just was.

I sat on the couch and watched some television for a bit before finally logging on.  When I first logged on, all I could think of was how I didn’t want to play any of the guys I have.  So, I logged on a newly created ranger.

I have always loved the ranger class no matter what game I’m playing.  Oddly enough, I have never actually played one.  Sure, I’ve created ranger alts and played them for a dozen levels or so, but between EQ, EQ2 and Vanguard, I think my highest level ranger ever was 15.

I had (well, still have I guess because I haven’t deleted him yet) a ranger over on Unrest.  After creating him though, I changed my mind on what race I wanted him to be.  I made him a wood elf but later decided I would rather him be a half elf.  Of course, I didn’t decide that until AFTER I had already invested a significant amount of time into his woodworking.

My new ranger is a half elf.  I haven’t started his woodworking yet, but that’s what he’ll do.

I did most of the Queen’s Colony last night.  I couldn’t bring myself to do the entire thing.  I have done that damn island so many times now that I just freaking hate it.  I did about half the quests before I decided that it was all I could take and headed off to The Willow Wood.

I went ahead and ran the half elf mentor quests in Willow Wood.  I was debating logging on Rao to mentor him for a bit or just calling it a night at that point.  I couldn’t decide which.

I ended up logging on my carpenter to work on some tradeskill writs.  I didn’t really feel like it, but I just kind of had a feeling that if I loitered about enough, something would happen.

I was just starting my second writ when it actually did happen.  Jaye logged on and announced that she was putting together a group for the Palace of the Awakened.  I sent her a tell asking if she had room for a rusty dirge and off I went.  For the first time in months, I joined a group with Rao and went hunting.

I was definately rusty at first and not at the top of my game.  Even once I fell into a rhythm, I’ve never grouped Rao enough to know completely what people expect of a dirge in a grouping or raiding situation.  I pretty much just concentrate on firing off any and all of my debuffs and then start launching attacks if the mob is still alive once all the debuffs are in.

Since I’ll be starting to raid with him soon, I guess it is time for me to start reading up on what is expected of a dirge on raids.

I did score one piece of upgraded gear last night.  A bracer dropped off of a named on the second floor.  I’m sure most people would look, sneer and say, “Transmuter trash,” but I was excited to get it.

I understand that this weekend is a double exp weekend.  I guess I’ll spend some time trying to get Rao a couple of levels.  After last night, he’s not too terribly far from 72.  Maybe I’ll shoot for hitting 73 during the course of the weekend.

We’ll see what happens.

All good things…

Well, it was a fun ride, but I’m sorry to say, this is where it ends. 

After 2 glorious days at home, I had to *sob* return to work today.

If you thought I was quitting the website or the game, tough nuggies.  Not just yet.

I had kind of hoped that the decision to change back to playing a dirge would have somehow inspired me to really dig into the game yesterday.  Afterall, I was going to be at home with nothing to do while trying to kick my cold, so what better way to pass the hours than reacquaiting myself with the dirge?

The first thing I did was log on Fuzz to craft some CA’s for Rao.  I sadly neglected Rao while leveling.  I kept his armor and weapons sort of up to date along the way, but things like jewlery and CA’s?  Ha!  I laugh in the face of such things!  HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yeah… his jewelery is all stuff looted back in his 30’s and all of his CA’s are the apprentice level 2’s you can buy from the class trainer.

So, I spent some time crafting what adept 3’s I could and then looked to see if I could update any of his jewelry… which I couldn’t.

I decided to log him on and give him a test drive and re-learn the class.  But, instead, I went on a harvesting run.  I would hunt some after harvesting.  Ooh!  I got some rares that my carpenter can use.  Before I go hunting, I’ll craft that stuff.  Okay, new furniture is crafted.  Before I go hunting, I’ll go place it in Ray’s 5-room Gorowyn house.  Okay, new furniture is placed.  BUT, before I go hunting, I think I’ll knock out this tradeskill quest.  Okay, tradeskill quest is done.  Time to go hunting I guess.  /yawn.  Ooh!  Was that a yawn?  I believe it was.  I think I’ll go to bed!  But, before I go to bed, I think I’ll sit down on the couch and watch some television.

I don’t know if it is the class itself or the levels that I don’t want to play.  I think it probably has more to do with the levels than the class, but I could be wrong.  I know that once Ray and Fuzz hit level 60, my desire to play them started to decrease and I started thinking about what classes I wanted to level next.

I haven’t done much of the Kunark content.  In fact, I’ve only even been there twice… and haven’t stepped foot outside of the initial zone.  I just know that I wasn’t too terribly impressed with what I saw on those two visits and I’m not in any rush to go back.

There are 2 unfortunate situations here though… the first is that Kunark is the only way to level past a certain point.  The second I will keep to myself for now.

Once around… a few more times

Talk about committing the ultimate geek crime!  In the aftermath of Richard Bartle’s interview over at Massively (not linking it because I haven’t read it), someone asked me last night if I agreed or disagreed with him.  My reply was, “I don’t know.  Who is Richard Bartle?  Never heard of him.”  You would have thought I had just stood up on a table in a retirement home lunch room, declared that I had just gone “Rambo” on a pack of kittens, and then smeared kitten blood all over my face.

Sorry.  I don’t have a clue who Richard Bartle is and vehemently telling me things like he’s the father of the MUD or whatever does absolutely nothing to flip the light switch on in my head.  I didn’t play MUD’s, okay?  I never cared to.   I never even heard of a MUD until someone mentioned them to me once during an EQ session and I remember saying then, “What is a MUD?”

Go figure.

I didn’t want it to happen, but I am glad that it did.  I’m a dirge again.  Rao is once again my main.

We did a raid on Bonecrusher last night… so they tell me.  I spent the entire raid face-down in the water.  We would trigger him and kill the add spawns.  They would call “all in” on Bonecrusher and I would charge over… and die before ever getting a shot off.  Someone would battle rez me, I would self buff and wait for rez effects to fade, charge back in, and die again before reaching melee range.

I died 9 times last night having never swung my sword a single time.

I was freaking PISSED.

At the end of the raid, I sent Jaye a tell asking if we could chat for a few.  She said she wanted to talk to me as well.  I asked her what she would think to me changing out my main for Rao.  I was so frustrated… and I know a lot of that has to do with levels which will work itself out over time, but I level slowly most of the time and I want to be useful now.  She laughed and said that she was about to ask me if I would mind changing to Rao since their only raiding dirge had a sporatic schedule because of work.

So, it all works out in the end.  I got the break from Rao that I wanted while leveling Ray and Fuzz.  I’ll continue to play them, but my focus is shifting.  Ray is now 66 (Rao is 71) so I think it is time to start 2-boxing Ray with Rao instead of Fuzz and get Rao to 80.  Later, I can go back and finish leveling Fuzz.

I’m anxious to see what the difference will be on the next raid.

In the mean time, I’ve got some work to do.  I neglected Rao terribly while leveling him up and didn’t get him any adept or higher CA’s.  They are all apprentice level.  Time to fix that.

Strange unknown culture

I’m sick today.  That by itself isn’t overly strange.  Like most people, I get sick a couple of times a year, but it is nothing unusual.  I shuffle, sneeze, cough, and moan my way through it like a wus and carry on.  Unlike most people (at least where I work), I don’t call in sick.  One of the guys I work with calls in sick once per pay period… like clock work.  As soon as he accumulates 8 hours of sick time, he feels a sniffle coming on.

I don’t call in sick though.  No matter how bad I feel, I just go in and deal with it.

Not today though.  I had a slight stomach bug over the weekend.  Then yesterday for lunch, I had the supreme lack of judgement to have a spicey chicken sandwich for lunch.  From the first bite, it didn’t taste quite right, but my dumb butt ate it all anyway.  So, here I was recovering from a stomach thing, I eat a spicey sandwich, and I can tell it isn’t good.

Yeah.  I’ve spent a lot of quality time in the can for the last 18 hours.

So, as I sit here at home writing this rather than at the office, I have the television across the room turned on and VH1 Classics is running music videos from the 80’s.  Don’t get me wrong… I grew up in the 80’s and typically get a smile any time I hear a song from back then as they tend to bring back a lot of memories.  I don’t collect 80’s music CD’s though and I don’t freak any time they do some special on the 80’s. 

I don’t think I’ve really seen most of these videos since they went off of heavy rotation on MTV (back when MTV actually played videos) and it makes me laugh at how impressively bad they are.

I remember when I was a kid, we would turn on MTV and make sure to be in front of the television at the top of every hour to get the preview of what videos were coming up.  If there was a video we really liked, we would stay glued to the television for the entire hour and then freak when it came on.

One of those videos played just a minute ago.  I stopped with the web surfing to watch the video remembering at how cool I thought it was back then.

It was so freaking cheesy.

I laughed… a lot.

Well, the server name may have changed for my EQ2 toons, but the jackasshatery seems to remain the same.

I decided to do the world event last night.  I had already done the leg work and roaming around.  All I needed to do was head out and clense 9 critters stuck in the storm.  I walked out into Antonica and saw the storm by the gates was occupied with someone, so I headed over to Fippy’s Hill.  That one was empty, so I set out clearing it. 

After taking down 3 or 4 critters, someone ran up and started pitching a fit because “this was HIS storm and I STOLE it from him when he ran in to get the quest again.”

Not in the mood to deal with that kind of mental idiocy, I left and went looking for another storm.  I found one over by the Oracle Tower and finished off the quest.  I ran back to NQ for the turn in and grabbed it again.  I ran back to the Oracle Tower and started in on it again.

I clensed/killed one and then did a second one.  As I was killing the third, I noticed a group moving in.  I’ve never minded sharing, so I didn’t say anything… just moved up and waited for the creatures to reset.

When they did, each member of the group tagged one instantly, /yelled to break the encounter, and then laughed and sent me taunting tells when the creatures turned on me and killed me.

I started running around again looking for another storm that didn’t have a soul anywhere near it.  Through it all, I kept getting tells from the last group making fun of me, so I just put them on ignore.

I finally found another storm, but I didn’t set out on it yet.  I sat down and waited for about 15 minutes.  When no one showed, I put on my goggles and started the task up again.

As I was killing the void beast critter, I see someone run up to the storm, turn and look at me.  When I finished the critter, the guy sent me a tell, “This is my storm.  You need to leave.”  I replied saying, “I sat here for 15 minutes waiting to see if anyone was on this one and no one got within visual range of it.  What makes it yours?”  He replied, “This is the storm I’ve been camping for the last few nights.  It’s mine.”

MMO’s need an IQ test or psyche profile exam or something as a requirement to play.  Once every few months, you have to take the exam again before the game lets you log on.  If you are grotesquely stupid, selfish, sociopathic, rude, or just an overall asshat, the game doesn’t let you play.

Since starting back in on EQ2 last October, I have gone out of my way to participate in any world event that comes along so that I can have some kind of trophy that I can point to and say, “I did that.”

This one may end up being the exception.  I looked at all of the rewards I can purchase and, quite frankly, none of them got me overly excited anyway, but I definately don’t want any of them enough to deal with the mistakes from the gene pool. 

Maybe I’ll give it a few more days so that maybe the idiots will be bored with it and then I can try it again in peace.