Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Computer Humor Links

! & Actual Calls to Internet Technical Support - Thanks to Liberi for this link! I promise I'll find the BOFH archives soon.

Computerworld Shark Tank - a daily must read (get the e-mail edition delivered to you to make this easier)

Bad Business Etiquette - okay, not really computer humor, but still interesting....

Lotus Notes - A day in the life...

BOFH - The SysAdmin from beyond imagination... (actually it's pretty close to what goes on in real life).

BTW, those of you who play EQ should be reading up on the latest patch messages (I read up on them by visiting EQ Caster's Realm because they provide commentary about what the patches really mean.)

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 11:48 PM

EverQuest - Characters I've lost track of...

... and who have suddenly come back into my memory after falling off my friends list.

Kondessa - see "Deathwish Gang gets their wish"
Jarius - got me my first port from Steamfont to Toxx Forest

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 3:21 PM

Tuesday, December 11, 2001

Cool link of the day

Body Scanner Sees Like Superman - so very cool, reminds me of what we've seen on some sci-fi shows from a few years back.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 3:29 PM

EverQuest - Elven Chainmail Armor Update

Still researching costs for the armor... note, I'm only listing ingredients that get used up (you'll need other items like special hammers, files, etc.)

EQTraders Secret High Elf Smithing

Making the Armour - Smithing, Trivials 176-243+
Chainmail pattern - 1pp?
Silk Swatch - 2pp
Moonlight Temper - 125-500pp?
Mithril Rings (1-3 per piece) - 50pp each?
Imbued Emerald (Tunare) - 16pp, plus need a level 29 cleric/druid who follows Tunare to imbue the emerald (10pp tip?)

Moonlight Temper - Brewed, Trivials at 135
- I've seen cost estimates of 250pp-500pp for brewed moonlight tempers (less if you provide the components)
Morning Dew (foraged) - 5pp?
Swirling Mist (dropped) - 20pp?
2 Essence of Moonlight (dropped) - 50pp?

Enchanted Mithril Rings - Smithing, Trivials <= 175
Morning Dew (foraged) - 5pp?
Large Brick of Mithril Ore - 25pp?, must be enchanted using a level 49 spell before making rings (20pp tip per enchantment?)

So to make a small item (1 mithril ring), you're looking at a cost of 200-575pp per attempt up to 300-675pp per attempt for a 3 mithril ring item. Success rates are reportedly in the 1 for 3 or 1 for 4 range, so that armor is going to cost around 1000-2000pp per piece (and most smiths who are willing to even make this will sell for a 5x markup based on a 1/3 success rate). There's like 8 pieces (maybe 12) so a full set would run 10,000-30,000pp (a lot less if I can collected and brew the moonlight tempers, then I figure it will only cost a tenth of that).

sigh... looks like I will be able to afford this (which is bad news for my bank account balance) if I collect and brew the moonlight tempers (going to start vendor mining every chance I get in steamfont, lavastorm, kithicor, etc.)

BTW, if you're going to make Elven Chain, it's not worth making anything less than the Enchanted Elven Chain (since regular Elven Chain still requires the Moonlight Temper ingredient and carries no bonuses and it also weighs more), and if it's for a follower of Tunare you may as well do the imbuing of the Emerald for the additional stats (typically +1 to INT/WIS bonuses over regular Enchanted Elven Chain).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 2:46 PM

Monday, December 10, 2001

EverQuest - puller thoughts

[steps up on soap box and prepares to preach to the choir]

Use a supply of summoned throwing daggers to pull with (easier than running up and trying to hit a moving mob). It's possible that you don't even have to hit the mob with the thrown dagger to aggro it. Plus, you get a little bit of a head-start on running back to your group (less chance of getting beat on even if you do have Spirit of the Wolf on you).

Or let whichever caster has the longest range, low-mana spell pull (without them leaving the 'say' range of the group). My cleric's lowest level nuke seems to have a huge range compared to most of my mage spells.

When pulling, don't attempt to 'pull through' the group leading the mob anywhere near the casters that are meditating. About half the time, those mobs will immediately aggro on the casters who will then have to spend precious seconds (and usually a bubble or two of health and lots of interrupted casts) unaggro'ing themselves. This happens very often when a puller is getting beat on by adds who have not been harmed by anyone else (hence, their hate list is very easily re-arranged by seeing a meditating caster). Keep the fight away from the casters (and make sure to announce that it's 'beating time' when you finally get the pull back to the group).

Thou shalt only have one puller... 'nuff said. If there are two who desire to be 'bait', let them alternate pulls so the one can heal while the other pulls.

If you have a mage with an earth pet and get a multiple pull, let the mage 'pet park' one of the mobs away from the melee point. Odds are the mage can keep the pet alive long enough and the pet will keep the mob parked long enough that you can clean up the first then let the mage pull the mob by backing the pet off and waiting for the root spell to dispell. If your lucky, you'll either end up with a severely damaged or even dead mob by the time you need to take that mob on.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 4:00 PM

EverQuest - Situational cleric humor

From the message board: ... "Last night the group I was in lost track of whose turn it was to loot. I said,"when in doubt, let the cleric loot." I heard a round of "amen"s and the cleric happily looted =)" ...

One of the commandments of EverQuest: "Thou shalt not annoy the cleric, for they can suddenly lag and not notice you dying."

All this in reference to a post where the warrior tank wouldn't let the cleric loot because 'he wasn't hacking and slashing like the warrior'.

And a cleric guide from EQ Cleirc.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 3:51 PM

EverQuest - A magician's hot keys

Guess now that I've had to set my hot-keys up from scratch again (after moving to the new system), I should probably jot them down... (along with my reasoning behind the keys). Now, I don't know if it's because I have the Velious expansion that I get 10 hot keys per bank, or if Ruins of Kunark had them too, but since I play in full-screen HUD view I use all 10 keys. Even when I'm in spellbook view, I can still use hot-keys 7,8,9,0 - I just have to hit the number key instead of using the mouse (actually, I prefer to use the keyboard for stuff like that).

Bank One - Travel, Fishing, Misc
1) inventory slot (opens my food and gem bag)
2) inventory slot (opens my other small item bag)
3) n/a
4) n/a
5) n/a
6) Fishing
7) Bind Wounds (I should add a /say Bandaging %T, please don't heal!)
8) Location (does a /loc)
9) Sense Heading
0) Yell (does a /yell, /loc, /say Help! Please kill the %T that's attacking me!)

Bank Two - Anti-Social Time (a.k.a. Soloing)
1) Pet Attack
2) Pet Back Off
3) Pet Guard Me
4) Pet Guard Here
5) Pet Report Health
6) n/a
7) Assist
8) Location (does a /loc)
9) Sense Heading
0) Yell (does a /yell, /loc, /say Help! Please kill the %T that's attacking me!)

Bank Three - Group (non-verbal)
- most of these keys do not issue any verbals on the group chat channel, this bank is for an experienced group that doesn't need status information
1) Pet Attack
2) Pet Back Off
3) Pet Guard Me
4) Pet Guard Here
5) Pet Report Health
6) Damage Shield (does a /say Casting damage shield on %T!, then casts the gem)
7) Assist
8) n/a
9) n/a
0) Group Yell (does a /g Help! I'm being attacked by %T!, /loc)

Bank Four - Group (verbal)
- these keys are more for when working with enchanters, or when working with a group that's not used to playing with a mage
1) Pet Attack (/pet attack, /loc, /g PET ATTACK [ %T ])
2) Pet Back Off
3) Pet Guard Me
4) Pet Guard Here
5) Pet Report Health
6) Damage Shield (does a /g DAMAGE SHIELD [ %T ], then casts the gem)
7) Assist
8) n/a
9) n/a
0) Group Yell (does a /g Help! I'm being attacked by %T!, /loc)

I've been in pickup groups that have been pretty bad at announcing pulls. I've seen two good pulling setups for puller hot keys. The idea is that you announce the pull as it builds so the group knows what to expect when you arrive. When you reach the attack spot, the main assist (or main tank) should then call out what the primary target is (and let the enchanter/bard crowd-control the rest). Telling the group when to attack also helps casters who have noses buried in spell-books and need a verbal cue to know who to assist and who to send the pet after (I have to wait till I see the puller getting beat on in my chat window before assisting and sending in the pet, otherwise my pet is likely to attack a mob that might be rooted/charmed/mezzed or a mob that is far away from the action):

Pulling by the numbers
1) /g PULLING [ %T ]
2) /g PULLING [ %T ] PLUS 1 FRIEND
3) /g PULLING [ %T ] PLUS 2 FRIENDS
4) /g PULLING [ %T ] PLUS 3 FRIENDS
5) /g PULLING [ %T ] PLUS 4 FRIENDS
6) /g PULLING [ %T ] PLUS 5 FRIENDS
7) /g PULLING [ %T ] PLUS 6 FRIENDS
8) /g PULLING [ %T ] PLUS 7 FRIENDS
9) /g PULLING [ %T ] PLUS 8 FRIENDS
0) /g PULLING [ %T ] PLUS A HUGE TRAIN

Pulling by levels
1) /g PULLING [ %T ] GREEN
2) /g PULLING [ %T ] LIGHT BLUE
3) /g PULLING [ %T ] BLUE
4) /g PULLING [ %T ] EVEN
5) /g PULLING [ %T ] YELLOW
6) /g PULLING [ %T ] RED
7) /g PULLING [ %T ] AND ONE FRIEND
8) /g PULLING [ %T ] AND TWO FRIENDS
9) /g PULLING [ %T ] WITH 3 OR MORE FRIENDS
0) /g UH OH! [ %T ] IS CRASHING THE PARTY!

That last one is a good 'prepare to evac' call meaning we're not ready to escape yet, but it's looking like something nasty is coming. I figure that call would usually be followed by a EVAC/ZONE/CAMP/GATE call by the main tank. I've also seen some funny pulling sayings where the puller has a whole bank dedicated to funny incoming/pulling messages. Most people recommend using the funny sayings at first, then switching to more generic sayings after the first few pulls. I like funny pulling sayings, but I don't like funny sayings that don't include the name of the mob (the %T macro). Some funny sayings from the message boards that I like (these are all groupsays of course):

We've already ruined our own lands! Let's ruin a %T's!
Incoming! A %T is biting my tail! (good for Iskars or Val Shirs)
INC: A %T followed me home, can we keep it?
INC: Hey Rocky! Watch me pull a %T out of my hat!
Watch me trick %T out of %P Pebbles!
Let's give a big Norrath welcome to %T!
I caught this %T defiling Norrath. Let's kill it!
Time to die %T!
Incoming %T!! Get ready!


posted by Wuphon's Reach at 12:17 PM