Saturday, December 08, 2001

EverQuest - Funny startup sayings

You know that screen that appears where it loads all the textures? Well, I'm trying to collect all of the funny phrases that the developers have dropped in there (so e-mail me if you see one that's not on the list). Reminds me a lot of the odd sayings you'd find in SimCity:

Attaching beards to dwarves...
Does anybody actually read this?
Dusting off spell books...
Have you hugged an Iskar today?
Looking for graphics <LFG>...
Now spawning Fippy_Darkpaw_432,326,312...
Teaching snakes to kick...
You have got better at Loading (6)!

Others that I have not personally seen yet (send tells if you've seen them):
Adding vanilla flavor to ice giants...
Aradune Is Still Stinky
Banging on the keyboard will not make this go any faster...
Creating randomly generated feature...
Darkening Dark Elves
Doing things you don't want to know about..
Ensuring Gnomes are Still Short...
Entering randomly mispeled words...
Feeding the bears...
Filling halflings with pie...
Have you tried batwing crunchie cereal?
Hiding cat-nip from the Vah Shir...
Loading, don't wait if you don't want to...
Look out behind you...
Looking up Barbarian Kilts...
Making Barbarians tall...
Making Gnomes short...
Making sure everything works Perfektly...
Polishing Erudite Foreheads...
Preparing to spin you around rapidly...
Random nerfing of SOW...
Reloading Death Touch Ammunition!
Sanding wood elves, now 45% smoother...
Stupidificationing Ogres...
Sharpening Claws...
Starching high elf robes...
Told You It Wasn't Made of Cheeze
Warning, Half Elves are now only .49999 elves...
Whacking trolls with ugly stick...

Found in EQ Humor and Humor before char select screen threads on Sony's TNZ.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 10:16 AM

Friday, December 07, 2001

EverQuest - A big bunch of Skinner boxes?

EverQuest - A big bunch of Skinner boxes? (fun post)

So what are you calling the new Luclin transport system? Top choice so far is the 'Nexus Express'.

And of course my thread in the support forum (Muffled sound on Creative AudioPCI 64 ES1370) related to the muddy/muffled sound issues that I'm experiencing. (Note: they wiped the boards again on Sunday, so I had to completely repost my issue - annoying...)

---

I have a Creative Audio PCI 64 ES1370 sound card and am getting muffled-muddy sounds (like my footsteps, other mobs, spell casts, looting), but the thunder sounds just fine.

I've done the DirectX 8.1 followed by reinstalling my sound drivers to no avail.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 9:19 AM

EverQuest - The Luclin Subway

Yes, I got EQ back up and running last night, but I'll be running out today to pickup another 256Mb of RAM (since I want to see all the shiny new player models). So I'll be running 512Mb on a Pentium II 400Mhz with a GeForce2 MX 400 AGP 64Mb video card ('s very nice).

The new textures for the old world zones is a very nice eye-candy and useable at 256Mb (but I only have 160Mb free). However, I only have enough memory to load 4 player models (I've chosen wood elf male/female and high elf male/female).

The biggest reason to pickup Luclin if you only have 256Mb RAM?

The 'Luclin Subway' (or at least that's what I'm calling it). Basically it lets you teleport up from 4 different wizard spires on Norrath (Greater Faydark, North Karana, Toxx Forest, and a place in Kunark) up to the Nexus on Luclin for free (you have to hail the 'Nexus Scion' NPC to get a teleport shard) and you can teleport back to any of the four locations from the Nexus on Luclin. Total trip time will range from 15-30 minutes and costs nothing. I haven't worked out the schedule overlaps yet, but all teleports happen every 15 minutes and you get 5 minute, 3 minute, 2 minute, and 1 minute warnings before the teleports kick in. So if your in Greater Faydark and need to run to the bank, you'll have ample notice in order to catch your teleport.

So now I can get from Qeynos back to Kelethin reasonably easy (super easy would be running up to Surefall Glade and paying for a druid port). I haven't figured out yet if this will lower druid teleport prices or not (since druid teleports are instantaneous and have more destinations).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 8:30 AM

EverQuest - Guilding my first alternate

My first alternate is a high-elf cleric named Corish and now that I've gotten him up to level 11 I decided it was time to get guilded so I could listen to the guild chat while playing my alternate. That, and it was time to let Fel in on the secret identity of my alt. You see, my original plan was to level my alt up and see if I could get invited into the Avatars of the Ancients guild again based on my alt's reputation. Well, I did take it so far as to get Fel's attention on one or two instances, but events in Norrath have gotten very hectic lately and it was becoming too difficult to keep up the illusion. Plus, there's a level 11 warrior that I think would make a good addition to the guild if I can catch up with her (saw her in Blackburrow while playing my main last night).

I don't think Fel is too mad at me for keeping her in the dark, she only called me a crackhead once but did go ahead and guild my alternate. (Well, actually she's now called me a crackhead twice... she says I have to make sure my readers get the REAL count.)

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 8:21 AM

Thursday, December 06, 2001

Rummaging Through the Spare Parts Bin

LOL, okay I admit I have a large spare parts bin... found a ATX tower case, spare ATX power supply, motherboard with a Pentium II 400Mhz and 256Mb RAM, and assorted parts (including a pair of 20 or 45Gb HDs). Hmm, all that's missing now is a video card capable of running EverQuest and a mouse. Guess I'm off to the store to see what I can find.

Well all that, and need to find room to put this new system... (turns around and carefully surveys the office, spys a spare 2.3 cu ft of space in the corner).

One of these days I'll have to put up pictures of all the systems in my home office.

BTW, for those who were curious as to the specific error message I got:

BSOD: Stop 0x0000001E (0xC0000005, 0xBEA14E4A, 0x00000000, 0x00000000) Address BEA14E4A offset BE9E3000 datestamp 38976F94 s3savmx.dll (Tecra 8100 with 8Mb S3 Savage/MX video card, Windows 2000 SP2 using Jun 2000 drivers from Toshiba's web site)

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 1:03 PM

EverQuest - Time Warp

(sung to the Time Warp)

It's just a bump(wad) to the left,
and then a wav to the right...
you put your hands on your files,
and pull your specs in tight...
but it's the main patch server (up down up down)
that really drives me insa-a-a-ane...
let's crash to desktop again!

(found it on one of the tech support message forums)

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 10:08 AM

Wednesday, December 05, 2001

Yes, My Web Server Is Back Online

And being attacked by people who still haven't fixed their systems against the NIMDA worm... (come on folks, how difficult a concept is it to learn that if you run Microsoft IIS that you need to have updated patches and anti-virus software installed?)

And I'm updating my sorely neglected archive page for 2001.
And reorganizing my image folders.
And reorganizing my MP3 collection.
And checking out some new dance/techno tracks.
... and wishing I could get into EQ to touch base with my guild mates ...

On a fun note, I finally got crawled by Google's search engine!

Even my brother's blog has got picked up by another blog (do a search on Quilpuuxla Daj): In my head (for those who love ...)

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 10:12 PM

EverQuest - The quest for a fix

Sigh, they've royally screwed up this Shadows of Luclin roll-out (and I'm not even going to install the expansion pack). They've 'fixed' things so that even classic EQ doesn't work on systems that it ran fine on until Monday's patch.

Looks like I'll be off-line for a few days to a few weeks until:

a) Verant gets its head out of its nether regions
b) I get a new laptop that will run EQ

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 8:31 PM

Tuesday, December 04, 2001

EverQuest - Elven Chainmail Armor

EQTraders Secret High Elf Smithing

Why? Because my caster (a high elf mage) could wear this armor and a full set of Elven Chainmail only weighs 16.3lbs while provding 79AC (4.847 AC per lb). FYI, the ratio on banded armor (which my mage can't wear anyway) is only 2.578 (a full set of small banded weights 35.3lbs and provides 91AC). For a mage with only 57 STR native, weight is pretty important (and my high elf cleric only has a STR of 60). You figure on carrying a weapon that weighs 5-10 lbs, plus 5lbs of provisions/misc, and carrying 35lbs of armor means I'll be close to encumbered even without looting anything. My cleric's armor weight is right around 25lbs right now (I'm making a set of reinforced leather 67AC for 19.5lbs to help that character).

So what does it take to make (and how much will the useable components cost me? enchanted or imbued/enchanted will cost even more):

Making the Armour - Smithing, Trivials 176-243+
Chainmail pattern - ?
Silk Swatch - 2pp
Moonlight Temper - ?
Mithril Rings (1-3 per piece) -

Moonlight Temper - Brewed, Trivials at 135
Morning Dew (foraged) - 2pp?
Swirling Mist (dropped) - ?
2 Essence of Moonlight (dropped) - ?

Mithril Rings - Smithing, Trivials <= 175
Morning Dew (foraged) - 2pp?
Large Brick of Mithril Ore - ?

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 2:57 PM

Monday, December 03, 2001

EverQuest - Avatars of the Ancients

BTW, I got guilded a week or two ago (shortly after making up my short list of guilds). Since then it's been pretty hectic at work and I've not had time to sit down and figure out my thoughts on anything.

Maybe soon (gotta finish moving my web server from NYC to Long Island to Pennsylvania).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 12:03 PM

EverQuest Guild Stuff

Guild Guidelines and Codes
Dark Vigilance Guild Code
Silver Daggers Charter
Crusaders of Drunken Might Guidelines
Heroes
Sapientia Guild
Aetherium Charter
Knights of Arcane Lore
Random Acts
Elven Elite
Guardians of Truth

Hosting a Raid

Attending a Raid
Consanguine Raid Guidelines
Order of the Steel Rose - Common Sense Raid Rules

Message threads from The Newbie Zone
guilds - or why should I join a guild?
Newbie question on stumbling into a raid???
Can a small guild survive? - issues facing a guild with less than 50? members (some very good postings here)
Guild Improvements?
Raid Announcement for non-guild members, good idea or asking for trouble?
Guild "point" Systems for loot distribution
How do guilds handle loot for people who like to play alts?
To slay the white dragon, Vox
Raid Point Systems
Raid information: Anyone know a good source
Raid questions from a Ranger

Topics for a charter
- porting guidelines (to cover requests, may differ by porter)
- utility class spells guidelines (when will a cleric come rez you, an enchanter to enchant that piece of platinum, or other buffs
- guildwars
- new member guide, sponsers? discipline
- handling jerks in the guild, or beggars, or EGRs
- tithes? keeping the 'loot bank' hidden from outsiders
- twinking, handing out freebies to other guildiees or people outside the guild
- loot on a raid for alts (only if the alt attends?)
- fun raids vs exp raids vs loot raids vs high level raids with other guilds

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 9:08 AM