Going away

Ice Chest……..Check

Beer……….Check

9 other friends……… Check

So this weekend I am heading down to New Braunfels Texas with 9 of my buddies. We are going tubing on the Comal River, and from there hEadng up to Austin to drink the night away on 6th street. it is my best friend’s Bachelor party.

This will be goooood times. Have a safe weekend all. Be safe and all that other jazz

The Discussion

So I was having a discussion with my friend. It started out with him complaining that the servers are down and he can not log in to play EQ. I shrugged it off as I am sitting here at work working hard (cough cough). Thinking that MMORPGs go down sometime it is a fact of life. I told him not to worry about it and just wait. He continued to complain about it and then he said, “This down time is making WoW look better and better.”

This bothered me, not because I hate WoW which I don’t. Until recently I played the game since early 2004 in beta and then from release until April of this year. I quit because I was tired of constant raiding and needed something with a little more substance. He like wise has 3 level 70 characters and a BUNCH of alts that range form 40-60 as well as quit for the same reason over all.

NO EQ2 For YOU!

http://eq2players.station.sony.com/en/network_status.vm

Scheduled Downtime Updated – 08/31/2007 8:00 PM PDT

All EQ2 US servers will be brought down for a scheduled maintenance on

8/31/2007 at 7:00 AM PDT. The estimated down time will be 1 hour.

UPDATE:

All servers are up except for
Guk
The Bazaar
Lucan DLere
Butcherblock
Nektulos
Kithicor
Unrest
Crushbone
Blackburrow
Najena
Everfrost
Befallen
Permafrost
Mistmoore
Oasis
Venekor PVP
Antonia Bayle
Nagafen PVP
Vox PVP

So what is that all but 3 servers are down ??

WTB a little help

So over at Kill Ten Rats their header image changes every time you hit their site or refresh your browser window. How can you put revolving images up like that? Let me know!

Game Update #38

Looks like GU#38 will come out soon to the live servers.

Here are a few Highlights

• Dual Wield Weapon Changes
• Trivial Loot Code no longer applies to quest items
• Bloodlines Chronicles spell Changes
• Some Fighter group buffs have become raid buffs
• Sort Quest Journal by Quest Level
• Bristlebane has Returned

From the official Forums:

Armor quest done.. Now What

Quick update before bed.  Just finished up the armor quest, and it was a pretty cool quest series.  Here is a pic of my buddy Sporanox and I who also just completed the quest.

I am level 25 now and I am trying to decide if I should stay in Nektulos Forrest, or head over to Butcher Block. What do you think?

More EQII Adventures

Last night I got on and hooked up with two of my buddies. We were trying to complete the 5th quest in the Custom Fitted Armor chain quest.  Nillipus, Sporanox, and my self all needed our legs so we set out into Nektulos Forest to quest for them, it took us a long time to find what we were looking for but we were able kill what we had to and now have our legs.

Now I just need to get the breast Plate and I will be a bloody red, axe swinging, open can of whoop ass!

I took this Pic a while back, and I really like it. It looks awesome with the destroyed moon  in the back ground.

Can you relate to …. “The Feeling”

I wrote this almost a year ago on the Vanguard forums long before it came out hoping I could connect with like minded individuals that share the same indescribable feeling that I think every single one of you felt at some point when you started your FIRST MMORPG. I have discussed this in the past many years ago with long forgotten players, co-workers, and friends who all at one point or the other got “The Feeling” but has been unable to obtain it once again. Tell me what you think, can you describe what I am talking about? Have you gotten it more than once in different games, same games? Let me know!!!

The Feeling

Do you remember the first MMORPG you stepped into? Either it was Ultima Online, Ever Quest 1 or 2, Anarchy Online, World of Warcraft and the others that flood the market these days. Did it give you that feeling? Do you even know the feeling I am talking about? Can I even describe this feeling? I will try and perhaps you gamers out there can help relate to “That Feeling” I speak of.

My very first real attempt at joining a MMORPG was Ever Quest, like many other people out there like me Norrath was out first home in the once new concept long ago. I played a Barbarian Warrior and walking around the land of permafrost I knew I wanted to venture out and view the world. It gave me a sense similar to how one may feel in real life if they decided to set out on a long journey across our real world. The sense of utter amazement, the feeling that I am about to become apart of something bigger in these lands, and that I can accomplish anything not because I can grind out a camp for hours on end to gain levels but because I have the know how to extend my own self into my digital avatar.

This is the tip of the ice berg in my thoughts on “The feeling” I am trying to convey to all of you.

Why do we play these games? Is it because of the impressive persistent world? Is it because we like the power and feeling of accomplishment from the time or dedication we put into our character, or is it the people you have met in the game. The people who share the same ideals as you in terms diving into a game sitting at a computer for hours on end where the people who “ Don’t get it” look at you strange and label you the stereo typical names I am sure we have all heard before.

For me I will have to say it is all three. Being my first experience at a MMORPG, Ever Quest yields some of the fondest memories I have in any type of game I have ever played.

For me playing that Barbarian Warrior was taking my self and projecting it on to that large humanoid to give it a life of its own. I will not go as far as saying I role played him, but I played his Role. He was the big tough guy that protected those weaker than him and he would stay if the flight was a failure to “hold off” the enemies and die fighting them so others may live. I loved that feeling and it gave me a sense of “The feeling” that at the time I did not know as I do now but knew enough that this game was the best thing I have ever experienced.

Soon I joined a guild and this is where I really had my first real social interaction with other players, I continued to play my role as the tank and tanked for them on many occasions as we all leveled in our low teens to 20 and so on. To this day I speak with these same people in other games/AIM. Some play the different varieties of MMORPGs out there some do not play any and some still play EQ1 to this day. I think after the “The Feeling” began to wear off as I played the game more and it dawned on me what it was, after that sense of newness wore off that I had to grind to progress the social aspect of it is what kept me playing and still playing these games to this day.

Finally the last thing that in humble opinion that brings up this “Feeling” you see me refer to a lot, is the impressive persistent world that the developers, story writers, and other employees build for you. As I previously said at all the MMORPGs that I have played ( EQ1, EQ2, AO, WOW, DAOC, to name a few) EQ1 holds the most special moments that can recall that brings a smile to my face.

I can remember killing Bandits at the “Bandit Farm” in West Karana. I can remember the feeling I had when I killed my first real humanoid. I can remember the HOLY CRAP feeling I had when I went to investigate the rumbling sound of a Random Hill Giant walking past and then aggro’ing me and me running for my life. I can remember grouped up with my friends still at the Bandit Farm and when night fall would come, we would continue to kill but were prepared for the Random Werewolf to spawn there. Knowing that we had to run as we were to low of a level to kill it after repeated attempts  and feeling the terror when it would spawn and start hitting on a party member and running afraid we would die.

All these things I mentioned above is what made the game for me so special, and gave me this feeling I speak about that I cant even name. One thing I do know is I have been searching for that feeling again. I have played a large variety of MMORPGs currently playing World of Warcraft, and though it lit a spark in me I have been hungering for more. How do you guys feel about this , and do you think Vanguard will live up to it?

Any rate, like I said, I tried Vanguard and that was that. Tell me what you guys think, I am off to play a little EQII

I feel Guilty….

So are you excited about the release of Rise of Kunark? I know I am… Hell it can’t get here any faster, I can’t wait to try out a new Sarnak or explore Kunark and relive the setting for what was the best darn Expansion for any MMORPG ever made.

All year this is the only release I have been looking forward to, but in all my waiting I have never really put much thought into the hours that people who work on these games getting it all together, adding their polish, and packaging it so our greedy little fingers can have it come launch day. Sure I knew the developers, designers, producers, and so on, work hard Monday – Friday 8 hours a day to put their designs into pixels for us to enjoy on a daily basis, but never thought about the over time, the deadlines, and the pressure these people go through on a what I am sure is a daily basis until release.

Well… Until this Article I came across surfing the SOE boards. It gives a brief look into a work day of these developers and what they are going through to meet their dead lines. SOE calls it Crunch time. These guys are working late hours probably 6 to 7 days a week working their butts off.

So this is why I feel guilty, these guys work extra hard under a lot of pressure to ensure we have our fun. I wanted to take a moment to thank them for their hard work and as a SOE customer I appreciate your hard work and dedication, and I hope those who decide your fate give each and every one of you a pat on your back.

Thank You Guys keep up the great work !!!!

The Urge

So I have been keeping an eye out on Vanguard from a distance. When the game first came out, like others I picked it up played the first month and was like “meh…” I was busy raiding in WoW and I even had my EQII account going. When the first month was over I did not re-subscribe.

I tried out a few characters, had a Warrior, a monk, and a cleric. I liked the first 10 or so levels but with the other games I just couldn’t get into it. As a lot of you know SOE took over Sigil games, and they have taken the broken release of Vanguard and are adding their now in my opinion awesome (thanks to what they have done to EQII) polish to it.

I have been hearing a lot about Vanguard recently with Game Update# 2 coming out, listening to it being hyped on the latest SOE Podcast, and semi scanning through the VG boards, makes me want to renew my subscription.

What am I to do?

Oh… I am also really looking forward to trying out this Legends of Norrath trading card game, which is available to those who play EQII, EQLive, or play it stand alone.

●Some Features include:

●In Game rewards

●Single player or against others

●Original art work.

It will be my first trading card game. I hope I get added to the beta, so I can check it out.