So here I was in the Training zone of everquest – If any of you are not familiar with it, it’s basically a big set of caves that goblins and orc’s have taken over. There’s pretty much everything that has to do with eq set out – complete with a tutorial on how to use said features. After that it’s a quick trip through the caves – You can do some missions from the guards and accumulate some nice stuff along the way (Well. Nice to a new player, some of the well, well outfitted twinks I saw in there could make my higher level toons drool)

I think I need to explain a few things here – Just so we’re all on the same page. Again, those of you who are familiar with MMo’s can just ignore this little section… A Twink – is a secondary character for someone, often with premium equipment that the character would not be able to get on their on for considerable time. I have no ideal where the slang of “twink” came from however – It’s been around for years…

A Toon, or Alt – refers to another character usually all on one account (though with some hard core players there may be many characters spread over several accounts) There’s probably as many names for them as there are characters

Back to the Reality of my jaunt – I’d finished the tutorial, ran through some beginning missions and managed to get my self to a fearsome level 4. My second play session saw me again running missions for the guards – Mainly Kill a really big spider (the queen) her spider tamer (a cranky orc) and do a few other little tasks. My reward for this was practically nothing (Really. The loot sucked) The group that I was in to kill the queen (1 twinked paladin and I think a twinked cleric) helped me kill the queen, and then pretty much disbanded, however the cleric hung around long enough to loot the two venom sacks in the queens chest before leaving (like I said the loot sucked).

Onward Ho! The guards were suitably impressed with me, I gained another couple of levels – Woot 6. Now I can loose experience when I die.. and assigned me some more interesting tasks – Basically go kill more goblins and get back to us later… There was however an ogre guard who gave me a lantern bomb and told me to go blow up some kobold fort…. Yeah. I’ve seen the guards; guarding that sucker. Fat chance buddy…

Having looked at the fort, I decided to call it a night and leave the exploration (read, running for my life) for another day.

Tbiggs (Temu – Lvl 7 Warrior)

Just spent the past two and a half hours trying to get one of my final pieces of newbie armor. Unfortunately, it is considered a 'group' task - and since most people are uber high level, there was no one to group with.

I gave it a shot anyway and went into Kurn's tower instance. I was doing ok most of the time, but every once in a while I'd encounter a healer mob who would just never die, and occasional I'd die, losing tons of experience.

In the end, I lost my corpse deep in the mines at the bottom of Kurns tower and if it hadn't been for a kind soul who gave me 90 plat to go summon my corpse in the guild hall, I would never have seen that corpse again.

Newbie armor! What the hell are you thinking Sony! Shiva H. Vishu! You need to fire whoever thought of that one.

Needless to say, I spent 2 and a half hours of my life and in the end didn't finish the quest and even ended up with less experience than I started with!

-sometimes I wonder why I play this game.

Been playing EQ1 again lately because I got really bored with (the albeit amazing looking) EQ2. EQ2 is just too darn easy and too darn small. I sure am glad I went back to EQ1, but I do have one minor complaint.

The way you get your newbie armor is different than it used to be. I went to Grobb and got all the things I needed to start trying to build my SK newbie armor (Dark Basher armor). Then I went out and started collecting ingredients from mobs. First of all, one of the items I needed (fungus clum) only comes from a lvl 40+ mob! Newbie Armor? Second off, once I had all the ingredients I needed (minus that fungus clump) - I tried making some of the armor and it woulnd't work! So I get tired of trying and go do one of the other quests I had from PoK. What do you know! My reward for completing the quest was a piece of my newbie armor! I do the next quest from him and the reward for it is another piece of my newbie armor! So it seems that SOE has changed how you get your newbie armor without getting rid of the old way to do it. They need to go in and delete the quests from the old NPCs so people don't get confused. Just a minor rant. I'm sure this won't change any time soon - Sony has a bad habit of letting bugs go for years.

I guess I have become too complacent playing EQ. I charged into Estate of Unrest this evening, planning to do so mayhem on the second floor. Wasn't paying a lot of attention, climbed the stairs and started to fight what should have been a ghoul. Turns out the NPCs have been changed a bit. Instead of a ghoul I was facing a Priest of some type who was a bright red to me. Barely managed to beat him off, after chasing him all over the building. Never could seem to get the final killing stroke in. Remember. Just because you played a zone for 10 thousand times, don't assume that something hasn't changed.

Today I managed to prove that I don't know nearly as much as I think I do. First, as we all remember from earlier blogs, I lost a corpse. I waited until the corpse should have appeared and then went looking for it. Now I find out that I was looking in the wrong place.

First, when I log in today, I receive a message that my character has a lost corpse in Shadowrest. Hmm, I think, that isn't where I have been taken in the past. Naturally, I cheat and run to one of my bookmarked EQ websites and determine that I shouldn't have been going to the PoD, but instead to another character. I determine that there is such a character in PoK.

I rush back to PoK and begin to run through the zone, watching my /loc to determine where I need to go. I run up an embankment, near a bridge and ZAP...I am caught in the geometry. I try to back up...no luck. I run in all directions...no luck. I duck, I jump, I sit, I log out...no luck. I check for guides or GMs...of course, none are on. I check out EQ's Knowledge Base...there are several entries for how to get out of this situation...none work. I try /rewind...no luck. I almost submit a petition but instead decided to call on the player base for help. I shout for assistance...it is suggested that I try /rewind... another suggestion involved my giving up the game since I am too stupid to play...but finally a kind soul stops by and levitates me...no luck. Then she casts evacuation and VIOLA I am free. My kind thanks to whoever it was...of course I forgot to note the name.

After getting stuck I carefully began to search PoK for the character that would lead me to Shadowrest. Finally, I found her at -13, 460, 90. After negotiating help, I was taken to Shadowrest...your everyday common graveyard. Here, I proved for a second time that I am really too dumb to play. I looked all over the graveyard and couldn't find my corpse. I run up to the summoning skeletons who ignore me. Finally, I approach Death, complete with hood and harvesting tool. He, after extensive conversation, says that my corpse is at my feet. There, finally, it was, my long lost corpse, compete with all the twinking gear.

Then I began my last trip into stupidity, for today. I began to look for an exit. I ran all over, I spoke to death, I spoke to the skeletons, until I finally found a stupid PoK portal and went back home.

SO ends my trip into dumbville.

Talk to you later.

Texalor

The age of Everquest means that there is a plethora of information on every aspect of the game. You can obtain maps, hunting guides, and details of every quest. Some people feel that the use of such material is cheating and takes away from the fun of the game. Until today, I used any information that I could find, simply to keep my alter egos alive and progressing albeit slowly.

Today I decided that I would let my newly 25th level Iksar warrior, return home and venture into a new area without looking at any available information. I recalled from my early days in the Field of Bone, a dungeon by the name of Kaesora. Having reached the ripe old age of 25 levels, I decided that I would try my new method of not looking up information but rather play the game as if it was real.

I entered the dungeon, and really felt that I was adventuring into the unknown. I didn't see anything as I entered and discovered that the only way to proceed further was to jump down two ledges. No problem. Both jumps occurred without any damage. I was feeling good.

Immediately after the jumps were two doors. I selected the right door feeling very much the adventurer. The door slid open and I was face to face with a spider that conned red. Slowly I back out, only to discover that those spiders may have the biggest agro area of anything in the game. In any event, the entire room came after me. First poison, then stun, then damage!

I then did what any well organized, young adventurer would do who had entered a dungeon without asking how big were the monsters or how to get out. I plied swift knees (i.e. I ran like hades was after me)

I ran down hallways, through doors, into small rooms, then back out. And everywhere, in the little rooms, in the hallways, everywhere were more and more spiders.

Faster and faster I ran, surely I could find some surcease from the spiders. My breath was coming more ragged, I saw in the distance a door. It must be my salvation for I was running out of health. I ripped open the door and met....

the biggest spider of them all....

Unless I can make some new friends I have a real problem. I am dead, down a hole, and after running amok as I did, I have no idea where I am.

So much for playing like it was real. I plan on using every bit of information I can come up with.

Anyone want to help retrieve a dumb Iksar?

Texalor

Twinking (using lavish amounts of equipment and money on a lower level character) still causes strong emotions in Everquest. Some people seem to think that twinking is an evil so gross that no amount of repentance will atone for it, while others feel that twinking is an acceptable option for bringing a new character along.

I started out feeling that twinking wasn't a good thing, especially when I was a new player and didn't have anything. It was irritating, to say the least, to be hacking away at a monster with my dull chunk of iron laughingly called a sword and another player run up and with one slash of his shiny, magically equipped, guaranteed for a lifetime to remain sharp, named weapon of destruction destroy the beast.

Now, however, I tend to view twinking in a different light. If you've got it, flaunt it, could be my new motto. Why should I have to struggle through the lower levels when I have the ability and money to speed up the process? Today, you can find my new barbarian berserker adorned in his high class armor and weapons. In fact, he is past being a twinkie...he has gone all the way to being a "CUPCAKE".

Of course, my feelings for those people who spend real money to buy a character has not changed...after all my wife draws the line at that.

One of the real pleasures of EQing is dying. I always found the time I lay unconscious the most irritating. I am alone, the monster isn't going to go away, and I have to set looking at the screen waiting to die.

It always seems that I tend to die somewhere that I don't want to die at. You know the type of locations, one foot from the meanest named monster in the zone with a 30 foot agro zone. Or fall off a cliff with no hope of getting to the bottom. In the old days you were out of luck, unless you had some uber friend who would help you out.

Now, however, there is an option. About 4 days ago I managed to get stomped trying to perform one of the new tasks. It was a standard kind of exploration...I was in the middle of a zone where I had the life expectancy of a marsh mellow in a hot fire. Naturally, I triggered an agro and like all agros it grew.

If I had been smart I would have recorded my corpse's location, then moved carefully to allow myself the best chance for recovering my corpse. Did I do that, you ask? Of course, not. I put my knees in high gear and away we went....me and most of the zone.

Did I run for the exit? Nope, didn't know where it was.

Did I run for a recognizable location? Nope. Couldn't see for all the NPCs. Perhaps I should note that I am a dwarf and everyone else is bigger than me.

Did I panic and run around in circles, while running into trees and increasingly powerful NPCs. You bet! I acted like the greenest noob you have ever seen.

And to top things off my soul point was a long way off.

So I did what any other reasonable, frustrated, irritated player would do. Logged on another character and played it for a while.

Now for the nice part. Instead of trying to get that corpse back, I only have to wait 7 days. Of course, being too impatient to wait I trot up to the Priest of Dispair and am sent to the dead corpse storage facility...a nice looking location but they forgot to tell me that there are great BIG monsters up there. I managed to get killed looking for my corpse.

I will let you know if 3 days if I got my corpse with all its goodies back.