Thursday, November 15, 2001

EverQuest - my short list of guilds

Okay, starting to think about getting guilded now that I'm coming up on my 2 month into EQ date. I've been looking for a list of guilds on the Morrel-Thule server and the best listing that I've found is Guild Magic. The following list of guilds is just my own personal 'starting' list, some guilds I just liked the name, or thought they had a nice mix of player levels, or I've seen them in action. Some guilds were mentioned on the Allakhazam's Morell-Thule server board discussion. There's also the Allakhazam's list of guild links for Morell-Thule.

Avatars of the Ancients (web site) They seem to just be getting off the ground, but I've had good dealings with Felweniel before so it might be a good guild to get into (I'll feel like I have strengths to bring to the table and the guild is young enough to be very flexible). They have not even done a raid yet or a dungeon crawl (other than Crushbone that I know of). This guild is still at the top of my list (little do they know) because I know one of the players and I think it would be good to see a guild 'get off the ground'.

Echelon (web site) Um, actually I'm not that taken with this guild at the moment (not for any specific reason, just the way some stuff is written up in the rules and regulations section).

Elven Elite (web site) Hey, I'm a high elf! Actually, this looks like a pretty high-end and highly structured guild and my brother (who plays a dwarf) would be a poor fit due to race.

Guardians of Truth (web site) A moderate aged guild that seems to be actively managed.

Nectar of Isolation (no web site) A moderately young guild, with lots of wizards, druids, and rangers.

Random Acts (web site) I like their attitude and it's one of the bigger guilds on Morell-Thule (could be bad, but they have a pretty rigorous pledge process). I've always heard good things about this guild in various message boards.

Tolkien's Revenge (web site) This is an upper level guild (lowest player I think is level 20) that's caught my eye on occasion. Supposedly, you have to be a level 35 or better to get in. Well, maybe someday...

Trampers Trade (web site) This guild caught my eye because of the emphasis on trading skills (which I'm currently working on). There's not a lot of information on their web site other than 'promote tradeskills' and I've never met any of the players.

Wind of Fates (web site) Looks like a very young/small guild (smaller than Avatars of the Ancients). The fact that the leader is only a level 17 player makes me wonder if they'll stick with the game (but that's just an initial reaction). There is nobody over level 30 in the guild (as far as I can tell). They bill themselves as a 'mature role-playing' guild. Now, I always have my character in '/role' mode (party to obscure the fact that I'm a magician who can do binds, mostly because I would prefer to role-play), but some role-play guilds are stricter than others.

Vorish of Morell-Thule, High Elf Mage lvl 18 (yes I dinged a few days ago, whee!!!)

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 3:06 PM

Wednesday, November 14, 2001

EverQuest - so was I trained intentionally or not?

That last visit to Dagnor's Cauldron still sticks in my craw for some reason, and I have yet to figure out if I was intentionally trained or if it was an accident and the player is an idiot.

This happened back on November 4th after I had been hunting near the NPC camp (a relatively safe spot) for over an hour. Key players in the zone are a bunch of upper level players getting ready for a raid and the following players:

[18 Magician] Nukamann (High Elf)
[17 Druid] Blondwolf (Wood Elf)
[16 Warrior] Blondbully (Barbarian)
[18 Ranger] Whaerf (Wood Elf)

Whaerf was hunting around the NPC camp as well (there are some very nasty aqua goblins that wander that con red to us). Basically, we chatted a bit and kept our distance from each other (if he was pulling on one side of the camp, I'd pull from the opposite side).

Nukamann drug a aqua goblin bosun through the camp around 15 minutes after I arrived (not sure where he was hunting). Now, there are 4 NPCs in the camp that will attempt to assist you, if they feel like it and they like you. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I do see that Nukamann died on that failed attempt to get the NPCs to help him. He came back a few minutes later, looted his body and then left the camp area. I'm guessing that he lost a level somewhere during that time, because a later listing of players shows him as level 17.

Whaerf and I kept pulling to the outskirts of the camp for probably another 40 minutes until Whaerf decided it was time to go (probably around 3pm).

I'm busy fighting a yellow aqua goblin bosun that I should have no problem taking with my pet, in fact I started at 15:15:41 and was just about to nuke it to death by 15:16:14 when suddenly I'm attacked from behind by a named aqua goblin called Dwigus Lowater. Now, I have my back to the NPC camp, I've been there long enough to know that nothing spawns behind me and I'm actively engaged in fighting another goblin. Out of the corner of my screen, who should I see but Nukamann standing and watching me (he wasn't there when I started to fight). Here's the excerpt from the EQ log file of what transpired over the next few minutes:

15:33 aqua goblin bosun scowls at you, ready to attack -- looks like quite a gamble.
15:41 Taunting Attacker Master.
15:43 You begin casting Shock of Flame.
15:46 aqua goblin bosun was hit by non-melee for 92 points of damage.
15:46 Aqua goblin bosun's skin ignites.
15:46 Aqua goblin bosun hits Jonarab for 20 points of damage.
15:46 Aqua goblin bosun kicks Jonarab for 5 points of damage.
15:47 Taunting Attacker Master.
15:49 You haven't recovered yet...
15:49 Aqua goblin bosun hits Jonarab for 14 points of damage.
15:49 Jonarab begins to cast a spell.
15:50 You begin casting Shield of Fire.
15:52 Jonarab is enveloped by flame.
15:52 Aqua goblin bosun hits Jonarab for 24 points of damage.
15:54 Aqua goblin bosun kicks Jonarab for 5 points of damage.
15:54 You begin casting Shock of Flame.
15:56 Jonarab begins to cast a spell.
15:57 aqua goblin bosun was hit by non-melee for 38 points of damage.
15:57 Aqua goblin bosun's skin ignites.
15:58 Aqua goblin bosun hits Jonarab for 40 points of damage.
15:59 Taunting Attacker Master.
16:00 I have 70 percent of my hit points left.
16:02 You begin casting Shock of Flame.
16:02 Jonarab begins to cast a spell.
16:04 aqua goblin bosun was hit by non-melee for 92 points of damage.
16:04 Aqua goblin bosun's skin ignites.
16:05 Taunting Attacker Master.
16:06 I have 70 percent of my hit points left.
16:07 Aqua goblin bosun hits Jonarab for 14 points of damage.
16:07 Aqua goblin bosun hits Jonarab for 4 points of damage.
16:08 You begin casting Shock of Flame.

16:09 Dwigus Lowater hits Nukamann for 15 points of damage.
16:09 Jonarab begins to cast a spell.
16:10 Aqua goblin bosun bashes Jonarab for 5 points of damage.
16:10 Aqua goblin bosun hits Jonarab for 8 points of damage.
16:10 aqua goblin bosun was hit by non-melee for 92 points of damage.
16:10 Aqua goblin bosun's skin ignites.
16:11 Dwigus Lowater hits Nukamann for 21 points of damage.
16:12 Jonarab bashes aqua goblin bosun for 8 points of damage.
16:12 Jonarab hits aqua goblin bosun for 20 points of damage.
16:13 You haven't recovered yet...

16:14 Dwigus Lowater tries to hit YOU, but misses!
16:14 You are stunned!
16:14 Dwigus Lowater bashes YOU for 21 points of damage.
16:14 You can't cast spells while stunned!
16:16 You are unstunned.
16:17 Dwigus Lowater hits YOU for 83 points of damage.
16:17 You are stunned!
16:17 Dwigus Lowater hits YOU for 79 points of damage.
16:17 Jonarab begins to cast a spell.
16:17 Aqua goblin bosun is slashed by shards of ice.
16:17 Taunting Attacker Master.
16:18 Sigan Ilbirkun punches Dwigus Lowater for 19 points of damage.
16:19 Dwigus Lowater hits YOU for 50 points of damage.
16:20 You are unstunned.
16:21 Ghilanbiddle Nylwadil begins to cast a spell.
16:22 Dwigus Lowater hits YOU for 83 points of damage.
16:22 Dwigus Lowater hits YOU for 20 points of damage.
16:22 You have been slain by Dwigus Lowater!
16:24 Returning to home point, please wait...
16:24 LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
16:52 You have entered Butcherblock Mountains.
17:24 You told Nukamann, 'thank you EVER so much for training that on me without using the yell command or a say'
18:03 Nukamann tells you, 'Not my problem you walked right in it's way'
18:25 You told Nukamann, 'really? my fault then'

--- memorization of spells ---

19:11 Your eyes tingle.
19:14 You begin casting Invisibility.
19:20 You vanish.
19:26 LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
19:48 You have entered Dagnor's Cauldron.
21:14 You told Nukamann, 'there's an 8 goblin train in the passage'
21:39 Nukamann tells you, 'Yeah, that's my group member's train'
22:06 You told Nukamann, 'good thing I do my corpse run invis )'
22:07 Summoning Vorish's corpse...
22:10 Summoning Vorish's corpse...
22:12 Nyrien Lyrdarniel begins to cast a spell.
22:14 Elmion Hendrys looks daring.
22:16 You appear.
23:03 You are encumbered!
23:06 You begin casting Gate.
23:11 LOADING, PLEASE WAIT...
23:39 You have entered Butcherblock Mountains.
23:46 It begins to rain.
23:54 Vorish shakes dust off of robe, vows to come back and get revenge.

Regardless of what I said 'really? my fault then', I don't believe for a minute that I walked into it. Especially since it was obvious from previous behavior of him and his hunting partner (either Blondwolf or Blondbully, maybe both) that they tended to create trains. I'm pretty sure it was unintentional that they dumped the mob on me, and yes, I was pretty mad when I sent that tell, but his 'not my problem' was completely uncalled for (a yell or warning 'say' would've let me know to watch my back right then). Even after I saw him train me, I sent him a tell when I saw him standing at the zone entrance in Butcherblock about the 8 goblin train on the Dagnor's Cauldron side so he wouldn't zone into trouble.

Needless to say, Nukamann is on my list of never bind, never rescue, never group, never guild with (at least for the immediate future or until I group with him and find out if he was just having a bad day).

Vorish of Morell-Thule, High Elf Mage lvl 17

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 3:37 PM

Sunday, November 11, 2001

A very sick network

Ugg the net is slow today, a quick glance at the Internet Traffic Report shows why. There are numerous routers that appear to be down, and looking at the global stats, something happened around 3:30am (Eastern US).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 11:42 AM