Friday, January 04, 2002

Blood Donation

Well, did it for the second time today. This time around I knew what forms needed to be filled out before I pressed the button to have them come and get me for the interview portion. (And that's a very good thing, because the waiting area in Donation Services was a mad house today!) Now the only thing that I'm still squeamish about is actually watching the needle go in (don't mind the pinch, can look at the needle once it's in, but choose to think about something else while she's putting it in). The only bad part today was my blood pressure was high (160 / 85 or so), probably because I didn't sleep well last night and had left-over pizza for breakfast. (Ugggh... time to get back to my healthy diet, because I sure felt a lot better when I avoided sodium and white flour.)

On the plus side, I got a cute widdle teddy bear! (LOL)

posted by Wuphon's at 4:29 PM

Thursday, January 03, 2002

Favorite Blog's List

LOL... I just happened to be catching up on jschuur dot com (now that he's back from haitus) when I stumbled across the comment about making it onto someone else's favorite blog list. Had a big chuckle when I looked at the underlying link and saw a link back to here.

posted by Wuphon's at 4:35 PM (0 comments)

EverQuest - power of a cleric's buffs

So how "good" are my cleric buffs? Well at level 19, I have Spirit Armor (+14 AC), Daring (+8 AC, +115 HP), and Symbol of Transal (+34-73 HP) for a total of +22 AC and +188 HP. At level 24 when I get Bravery (+9 AC +140 HP) which replaces Daring and Symbol of Ryltan (+158 HP) which replaces Symbol of Transal I'll be putting a total of +23 AC and +298 HP on a player. For casters of that level, that probably comes close to doubling their HP and about 50% improvement of their AC (it's a smaller effect on tanks who have better armor than casters).

Now, how does a druid's spell compare? Well at 24 they get Skin Like Steel which adds 10-11 AC and 74-100 HP. Frankly, if you have a 19+ cleric in the group (and the cleric has the mana to spare)... ask before casting SLS on anyone (including yourself) because it overwrites Daring (because SLS has a higher AC value).

Labels: EverQuest

posted by Wuphon's at 3:36 PM

EverQuest - Making your cleric a happy cleric

...and a happy cleric is more likely to keep you alive (LOL). Actually, only the very worst clerics will let you die out of revenge (it's just not good for a cleric's reputation ya know); but even the best clerics may become distant and withdrawn (and not as careful with your health) after a while if you don't show appreciation.

- Be a Master Looter (or at least offering to sell items for the cleric as well when you run to sell)... frankly, I hate to leave the group's location to go sell, because if all craziness breaks loose while I'm gone (badly timed pop, or a wandering tombstone mob) I'll feel really bad about it. On the other hand, if I don't go sell, I'll be enumbered, my agility drops to low levels and I get hit more often (and for more damage) when I gain aggro from healing someone. Which means I may not loot after a while, leading to a poor cleric, which despite a cleric's best intentions results in a not-so-happy cleric. Or I may decide that I need to go sell and decide not to come back. (Actually offering to sell for any of your casters is a nice touch as well. Especially if they're tired of running low on mana and need a good long mana break.)

- Supply the gems needed to buff you! Right now I have a symbol spell (Symbol of Transal) which adds 30-75 hp (it was 30hp when I got the spell, now it adds 60 or 70 a few levels later) but uses a Cat's Eye Agate which costs around 5pp per stack. This spell lasts about 30 minutes (actually a little longer, but with deaths and dispelling by mobs, 30 minutes is a good round number), and if I buff a full group it's 12 gems per hour (or about 3pp). Over the course of a long camp (3-4 hrs, I can easily burn through 2-3 stacks of these gems). So unless you're willing to spot me 3 plat per hour as a stipend, I'm losing a good bit of my portion of the loot. And it gets worse at my next symbol level spell (Symbol of Ryltan) which uses a 5gp bloodstone (10 plat per stack) so my costs will increase to 6 plat per hour at level 24. At level 34 I get Symbol of Pizarn uses Jasper (8 gp each), but since the spell lasts longer, costs only go up to 8 plat per hour. Then there's the level 44 spell, Symbol of Naltron which eats a Peridot (11 plat gem) and lasts for 9/10ths of an hour, resulting in a cost of 73 plat per hour (heck, let's say 75) if I want to keep the entire group buffed. Of course, unless it's a raid, level 44+ clerics hardly ever use the Symbol of Naltron (500hp) on anyone other than the main tank (preferring to rely on the Symbol of Pizarn, a 300hp buff, for most group situations).

So between the costs of spells, the costs of armor, and the costs of gems... it's a wonder that clerics are ever able to make a profit some days. Well, at least I don't have to buy bladed weapons (since clerics can only use blunt). The good news is that the better groups take care of their clerics (because a well played cleric means the difference between life and death for a group in a tight spot, just like most groups would die from a 4+ mob pull without an enchanter).

Labels: EverQuest

posted by Wuphon's at 2:24 PM

EverQuest Behind the Scenes of a Guild

Heh... little did I know back when I purchased EQ that I'd eventually be a guild officer. I originally bought EQ because it looked like a fun game to play and the multi-player aspect of it just seemed like a nice touch. You know, a nice mindless (hah!) computer game to play every so often during the evenings when I had nothing else to do. Well, that lasted all of about 6 weeks or so! (Actually I was hooked as soon as I got into my first group up on orc hill and saw my first glimpse of group dynamics.) So while you can play EQ as a casual player, there's a whole other realm of experiences that will open up to you once you play regularly (building a friends list or joining a guild).

Once I realized that (and how undependable a friends list can be until you work on it for a bit), I was ready to join a guild and expand my horizons. One of the big benefits for joining a guild is that Norrath suddenly feels a lot smaller because now you have a guild chat channel that you can use to get advice and input from your guildmates. Plus, you can seek guildmates out for groups, organize events, or just chat about some cool new hunting spot that someone has discovered. So for a few weeks I reveled in my newly guilded status, striving to bring honor to the guild's name by being the best magician that I could possibly be, playing with integrity and not getting into petty fights, kill-stealing, or any other abhorent and immature activities that would give the guild a bad reputation. (I considered myself to be on "probation" even though our guild has no such process yet.) It was quite pleasing to have gotten guilded so easily (or at least it seemed easy... basically my plan was to group with one of the officers of the guilds that I was interested in until I got noticed and invited).

Of course all of that "playing to my best" means that somewhere along the line I got noticed (er... and I don't remember what I did either LOL) for my er, officer-caliber abilities. And of course, I forgot to "duck" when Liberi came around to promote me (I forgot the principle of "strategic incompetence"... just kidding). So now I'm an officer in the guild (Liberi is the guild leader, Felweniel is the first officer, and then there are the 3 of us who are regular officers), plus I'm in charge of the guild forums (oops, put my hand up and volunteered again), and put together plans for a guild event into Najena.

So what does a guild officer do with his EQ time? Well, I still get to just "play" the majority of the time (unless it's a guild event and I'm helping to run the show). But I also spend time monitoring the guild forums, monitoring guild chat, discussing membership issues with the other guild leadership, looking for ideas to add to our guild charter, our raid planning guide, our raid guidelines, looking for new recruits that would be a good fit with our guild, trying to get people to register on Guild Magic, getting people to register for the guild forums, updating the guild MOTD when Liberi isn't able to get on, and trying to dream up new raid ideas. All of which can lead to a very busy schedule when things are popping. But I wouldn't have it any other way (we've got a good guild leadership team, and a pretty good set of guild members at the moment... I've actually seen 15 Avatars on at the same time over the New Years holiday, which is about double what it was a month or two ago).

Labels: EverQuest

posted by Wuphon's at 1:58 PM

More strange SPAM

Got this in my inbox today... very strange (and the URL doesn't work so I have no idea what they were trying to sell). BTW, no they can't take your picture using your computer monitor... still with all the numbers after the name, it's got to be SPAM.

---

From: "dan" <dan011970@yahoo.com>
Subject: this is funny
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2002 06:08:50 -0800

hey, check this site out, you'll never believe it! it can take your picture using your computer monitor!

here's the address: http://monitorcam.cjb.net/

pass it on!

-dan

Labels: Spam

posted by Wuphon's at 10:03 AM

EverQuest - Life of a cleric

Well, unlike making posts to my blog, I have actually been playing EQ regularly, but have spent most of the last 2 weeks working on leveling up my cleric alt (who is rapidly becoming my main or favorite character to play). The first dozen levels of a clerics' life are rather difficult, because without twink gear (meaning gear that is 20+ levels above what is obtainable for a level 10 player) we don't solo well, we don't have powerful heals which means we have trouble getting into experience grinding groups. (We're also cash poor because we spend so much time sitting and meditating to regain mana to cast our poor little healing spells... in a lot of groups that means that the tanks will loot all the mobs and the casters/clerics only get a split of any loose change the mobs were carrying. I was in one group at level 12 that actually rolled on the nice drops... somehow I won both drops of fine steel to sell back to the merchants for almost 10 platinum.)

Finally at level 14 we get our first big heal (heals about 3x the hp of the level 4 heal for twice the mana). On tanks of that level it means about 1-2 bubbles of hp on the tank (granted you can only cast it about 5 or 6 times, but I kept the level 4 heal memorized for healing casters or for topping off). Since I spent level 12-18 in Oasis (a very dangerous place at 12, but easy to find pickup groups as a cleric, but I died at least once a day down there), I actually carried my level 14 "key" spells with me just in case it wasn't convenient to run back to Freeport to buy my spells after I dinged 14. Now you're starting to feel more like a cleric and less like an underpowered tank who is a glorified bandage applier (which is a puller-cleric joke... puller will announce what they're pulling, cleric replys "ready to apply bandages to your ouchies when you get back").

Frankly, I'm amazed at how much fun I have playing my cleric. Growing up in Greater Faydark, everytime I'd exit Felwithe I'd spend 5 or 10 minutes buffing and healing any newbie within sight (usually a HP/AC buff along with an AC buff) because it was just so much fun to be able to help them out without risking being called a KS'r (kill stealer). The fun trick is to wait until they're engrossed in fighting something to cast the buffs so they can't tell who buffed them (it's the way game mechanics work, if you have nothing targeted and someone buffs you, you automatically target them); that way I can merrily run along without having to stop and wait for them to bow or say thanks (hehe... drive-by buffing). Otherwise you also run the risk that they'll expect it after a few minutes. For example, I'll wander up to orc hill in Greater Faydark and see if there is a group up there fighting. If I see a group holding the hill, pulling mobs to the top of the hill, helping each other out, I'll spend a while buffing them all up, making sure everyone is healed, and generally just keeping an eye on things. On the other hand, the loners I'll rarely lift a finger to help unless I happen to see a /yell. I guess that's because I got into my first group up on orc hill at around level 4 or 6 with my magician and I like to see people learning how to group at a young age.

The other place I like to visit is just inside Crushbone, waiting for the inevitable 'TRAIN' call or seeing someone fleeing to the zone with multiple orcs on their tail. Then I get to play train de-railer, healing the person, rooting a mob or two, or stunning long enough for the person to cast. Some people catch on quick and stand and attempt to fight one last time once they see their hit points go back up (and they'll usually win as long as I have enough mana). Others chicken out on you, I gain aggro and then have to zone myself.

So... life of a cleric... hmmm... this post had plans, but I've forgotten what they were, LOL.

Labels: EverQuest

posted by Wuphon's at 12:51 AM

Wednesday, January 02, 2002

Samurai X (Trust and Betrayal)

Okay, I'm a little mellowed out after watching the second half of this series. The first part (Trust, Amazon.com) is very action-paced (but I had to watch it twice to catch some of the nuances). The second part (Betrayal Amazon.com) is much more mellow and introspective (and does not have a happy ending... which is a good thing). I'll not get into the plot details, but it's a very well done piece of anime that fits together nicely and leaves you with a languid sense of sadness when it is over (sorta like when one of the principal characters in Key the Metal Idol passes away).

Now I need to find something a little more upbeat to watch... (which is why I haven't watched the last few episodes of Bubblegum Crisis 2040... which is really turning odd at the end, and why I'm waiting to watch Grave of the Fireflies which is reported to be very sad).

I guess I could start watching Gundam Wing (I have a new DVD of that series), but I'd like to have a few more before I start on that series again. Nah, I'll start watching The Princess Bride DVD that I got for Christmas (with lots of extras).

Labels: Anime

posted by Wuphon's at 8:35 PM

PVP Online (here, gone, here, gone... oh wait it's back!)

Hehe... (no wait, that's not funny because I want my daily PvP fix!)

At the moment it's back up and running (making me happy). I'm not sure what happened over the New Years holiday weekend.

posted by Wuphon's at 8:23 PM (0 comments)