Updates

I’ve made some various updates over the past several weeks to the other pages of the blog, particularly movies, music and a few changes to the guild page.

Grouping in EQ2

After 3+ years of being Live, finding a group, especially at the lower and mid-tiers, can be a challenging task. It helps if you are one of the two sought-after archetypes, a fighter or a priest, but what if you aren’t? (And most of us aren’t.)

Well, there is one sure-fire way to get the group you want in the time you have. Start your own!

When starting your own group, there are a couple key things to keep in mind:

- Make sure you have the required pairing: a tank; a healer. Tanks are standard: Guardians, Berserkers, Paladins, Shadowknights, Monks, Bruisers. Healers are standard: Templar, Inquisitor, Warden, Fury, Mystic, Defiler.

- Support your group with adequate DPS. It’s a common mistake to build a group with whatever is available. While most dungeons are certainly do-able with almost any mix, it will help speed things along and keep you alive if you have at least 3 solid DPS classes in your group. If you feel confident in your healer, go with 4.

- Don’t despair over the “perfect” group make-up. Until you reach tier 8, you won’t usually have the luxury to spend an hour waiting for that elusive Defiler to log in, or that rare Coercer. Go with what is available to you, and work it out as you need.

Using the Channels

There are a couple things you can do to help speed the process of putting a group together.

1. Go to the zone you will be working in BEFORE you start recruiting. Right off the bat, if players see youa re inviting them TO that zone, they will be more likely to stick around, and more likely to hurry there. If, on the other hand, you invite players from Qeynos Harbor, they are more likely to dawdle, and some may even leave if the group doesn’t get underway fast enough. By inviting players directly to the zone you will be adventuring in, you’ve already put it in everyone’s head that you mean business.

2. Put up your LFM tag. This can be done from the advanced LFG window. Click on the Key icon in your group window, and you will be able to select the tab “Group Looking for More” from there. Fill in your info, check off what you need, and throw it up. Can’t hurt. And you never know who might be checking it.

3. Advertise in the appropriate level chats. If you are, say, going to Runnyeye, a level 33-41 zone — roughly — then you can safely advertise in the 30’s and 40’s channels. When you advertise, be sure to give the levle range your are looking for, and what types of classses you need i.e. healer, tank, DPS, utility, etc. If you already have your core group and are just looking to fill out, simply say something like “Any class” and you are almost guaranteed to get quick replies.

4. Use the LFG window. Many players put up their LFG tags but don’t consistently — or never — advertise in level chat. They may be busy working on quests, or they may have forgotten they were LFG, or you may have just formed your group when no one was advertising. Check the LFG window to see who you can invite. MAKE SURE to send a tell first! Sending a /tell not only is polite, it also informs the player you are inviting: who you are, your attitude, where you want to go, and what you need. You are more likely to get Accepted invites if you send a tell first.

If you take just a little bit of initiative, you can quickly put together the group you want, when you want it, and, as leader, you reserve the right to kick out any annoying players, too! Always a good perk!

Of Hats and Dragons

Readers be warned, this will be a rant, and as my guildies can tell you, I don’t spare feelings or give a rat’s ass about being Politically Correct or “nice.”

Recently there has been a small debate about why the new Sarnak race cannot display the class-specific head pieces that all other races can display.

In response, the Gnobgoblin Gnobrin has posted this:

“I would imagine, if you choose to play a race with 15 horns on your head, it may cause issue in equipping special hats, too.  Do you really want a hat with 15 horns sticking out of it, or do you suddenly want to go bald so you can wear such a thing?”

Which is a valid reason, if this were a game grounded in reality.

It is not a valid reason in a fantasy game, nor is it justifying the lack of visualization on a technical level.

Sarnak heads are complex, of that there is no doubt.   There are some problems in the logic, though.

First of all, since the game was released, we’ve been told that the reason releasing new armor geometry (i.e. the class hats) is due to a need for each geometry set to be tailored to each race and sex.  Ok, fine.  I can live with that reality, as much as it sucks.  I’ve lived with the same boring plate armor, chain armor, leather armor — and one single fucking robe model — for 3 years.  So really, if they simply said “Sarnak will eventually get class hats that they can dsiplay, but it will take time,” that I could rationalize.

But it seems like a true cop-out to simply say ‘Well, they have way too many horns and we can’t get the hats onto them so they jsut have nose pieces and don’t you agree they should just have nose pieces so you can see their horns?’ No — actually.  If everyone agreed and didn’t care, there wouldn’t be a fucking debate about it.

That’s not the point.  The point is you have an entire new race, which you’ve advertised as a selling point for your new expansion, and in a previous expansion you advertised class hats as a major selling point.  Nevermind that the class hats themselves took more than 1 YEAR to be completely finished, well and far after the release of the expansion which should have contained them ALL.  Nevermind that.  Let’s just focus on now — now we have these same hats being completely UNSHOWABLE if you opt to play a Sarnak.  What then, for players of Sarnak, is the point to even bother with those quests — what is there for that player to look forward to as so many players do, to getting the class hat — that little bit of icing on the cake that says ‘Hey I’ve reached the big leagues, finally!’

And that IS why people play these games.  Oh they play them to be social, for sure — but the bottom line?  People play to show off, to achieve, to accomplish, to become great.  Whether it be in adventuring, raiding, questing, crafting, or even social event organizing — I would bet there is not one single  player who could say S/He plays an MMO without EVER thinking about how other players perceive their own character in the world.  That is why people play.  For recognition on some level.  Just like why people have jobs, careers, make art, and any number of other things.

So by eliminating the option for an entire RACE to display class-specific hats, you’ve just by-passed an inherent logic in the mind of your would-be players.  Your “customers” as Scott Hartsman likes to put it.   (Coming from the large corporate world of senior management for a Fortune 500 company, I find the word “customer” to be far LESS personal than most other terms.  As if they are just a number, just a paycheck, not a person at all.  Interesting how we all take a different view to that issue.)  They feel ignored, perhaps even lied to, or deceived, on some level — although they may not vocalize as such.  And that’s just … bad.  All around.

So.  Put the work in and put some damn hats on your fucking dragons, guys.  If it takes another 6 months, fine.  If you slip one in here and there, fine.  But simply WRITING IT OFF?  Arrogant and not smart practice.

Where do I go after level 20?

This question pops up a lot on the Newbie board over at SOE.

It’s a good question. Sony has focused a lot of attention on the 1-20 and 45-80 experience but 20-45 can be hellish to make it through, and is, most likely, where the most casualties occur in terms of people leaving the game.

Why? A couple of reasons. Lack of groups, and lack of direction. Which are intertwined.

Around level 20, assuming you’ve started out in Darklight, Kelethin, or Timorous Deep, you’ll be directed to Butcherblock.  Butcherblock has some nice quest lines, although it is not the most travel-friendly of zones, and you may find yourself doing a lot of running back and forth across the zone, especially for the first several quest lines, which are at opposite ends of the map.  Still, it’s the best option for those who prefer solo play and like questing.

Be that as it may, once you leave your newbie area, you are going to end up in one of 3 places: Butcherblock, Nektulos, or the Thundering Steppes. These two zones are part of the “Old World” and although they have each gone under the knife once or twice to keep their faces wrinkle free, some of the underlying bone structure is in need of adjustment, still.  Each one has some nice quest lines, particularly Nektulos Forest, but they may seem time consuming and tedious to the new player who is coming from Timorous Deep, Darklight Woods, or Greater Faydark, where the 1-20 quests are very polished.

My advice for new players is to venture into the dungeons, as well as the overland zones.

Start with Fallen Gate in the Commonlands, then move to Stormhold in Antonica, then the Ruins of Varsoon in Thundering Steppes, and then Crushbone Keep in Greater Faydark. Around 30, try your hand at the scripted Nektropos Castle in Nektulos Forest.

By this point you should be well into your 30’s if not approaching 40, and can venture to Runnyeye in the Enchanted Lands and the Drafling Tower in Rivervale (truly one of this game’s most underrated dungeons). You can take another breather and go into the scripted Deathfist Citadel in The Orcish Wastes of Zek.

At this point your options begin to open up again and you can try out solo content and some nice dungeons. At level 45 you can head to the Sinking Sands for some great quest lines, or you can return to Steamfont in Faydwer for some fantastic solo questing and easy leveling. In the Sinking Sands, the Clefts of Rujark await you at level 50, as does Klak’Anon in Steamfont. If you want to see the most breathtaking dungeons in the game to date, check out Permafrost in Everfrost, and Solusek’s Eye in Lavastorm. Getting to them might be a challenge, but find a solid group and delve in … they are worth the effort for their amazing visuals!

After that, you can go to Tenebrous Tangle and begin the quests there. The Sanctum of the Scaleborn is one of the game’s largest dungeons, as well, and a popular grouping spot for the low 60’s.

Lesser Faydark has some nice quest lines to take you up to your 60’s, and then the Loping Plains can take you to 70 — and at 70 you can head to the new Ruins of Kunark content!