Happy Birthday Bob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sunday, February 10, 2002 -- tigole
High Priest of Ssrae Gets Frank Stallowned
Let's not forget the High Priest's kid brother, the Arch Lich
What can I say? I've been a cranky bitch lately. I promise I wont whine today. You all get the day off.
The guild has been busting ass in Ssrae lately. I can't tell you how proud I've been of everyone's dedication to seeing these snakes die. We've been having fun mastering these guys as well, which afterall is the whole point of this shindig. So as far as the High Priest goes, we had one try the day Ssrae was a free for all -- we tried him with about 24 people and got fuggin destroyed. Then we had a bit of luck and got our key and tried him again with a full raid turnout. We lost that try as well but during that attempt we pretty much figured out what had to be done. That brings us to tonight which was pure ownage. I can't tell you how great it is to be surrounded by a bunch of these crazy mo faka's who just wanna see stuff dead. The whole server was popping tonight and we could have easily opted for the easy loot route. No one even mentioned it. Someone once asked me what it was like leading a guild like LoS. My answer is that it's like going to your garage every morning, opening it, and seeing a finely tuned Ferrari waiting. . .begging. . . to be driven like rocketship. A Ferrari with no rearview mirrors that is. . .
So I was gonna be a cacksugger and not post any loot because, like I said, I've been a real cranky whore lately. But I ran out of beer and resorted to drinking the two liter bottle of Johnnie Walker Black that I had tucked away for a rainy day so I'll post loot. Luckily we've killed a bunch of shit the past few days so you wont know what dropped each item. Yeah, I like fuggin with people. Oh, and please, I realize that drinking scotch out of a two liter bottle is about as classy as a clip-on tie at a Shriners's Parade but do you think I give a shit? Like my favorite band of all time, Destiny's Child, so aptly put it, "I'ma survivor, I'm gonna make it!" Yeah, that makes no fucking sense -- send all complaints to the Johnnie Walker Black distillery. . .
Ok here's the mystery loot. . .you'll never know what drops it till you get your lazy ass out of Velious and start killing shit on your own:
So, my last update was done Feb. 5 and today is the 6. . .wait till you see how many fuggin Stalkers came by in that short time. I didn't even take screenshots of half of them. Seems like Legends is quite the salt in the wound for many players. Let's just leave it at that. . .
Stalkers, Wanna-be's and Unoriginal Bastards
And of course, the crazy Korean stalkers. . . .
Quote of the Day
I'm gone the next few days -- so don't bitch and moan too hard about no updates. Go look at pr0n or something. . .
The Bliss of Solitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .February 5, 2002 -- Tigole Bitties
From The Company That Brought You Gems. . .
To quote the Everquest Legends website:
"Our target is a game environment that neither suffers from an empty, under-crowded feel where grouping is difficult, nor a cramped, overrun setting."
Dear god. I know you crazy bastards want me to rant about this bullshit but do I even need to? I took some time to visit the "uber guild" sites from each server and on the vast majority of them you have people complaining about overcrowding and lack of spawns. This is the solution? Pay 4 times as much to get what we're paying for in the first place? So let me get this straight -- and please be patient with me, I am slow -- instead of dedicating time and money into coming up with a solution that would improve the gaming environment for EVERYONE serverwide, VI sinks its cash and resources into forming an exclusive server for those willing to pay 4 times what anyone should be paying in the first place? Ever wonder how much the guy got paid to rip-off Maeglo's design and make those websites or how long that took him? Wonder how much time and money that l33t map tracking thing cost. Wonder how many GM's are spending time creating dynamic content for those people.
Perhaps the Legends server can just start selling loot and spawns. Want a shot at Vulak but he's always *camped*? -- $29.95!!! Special of the Month -- Flayed Barbarian Skin Leggings -- Only $19.95!!! Buy now and we'll throw in a Blade of Carnage -- only we'll name it after you!
The next time you're sitting in ToV with a bugged corpse stuck in a wall and waiting two hours for a GM to show up just picture those lucky bastards on the Legends server fighting Vulak in West Commons with 5 GM's watching them.
Why fix problems and bugs when you can charge more money and ignore the mass population?
My favorite part of this whole EQ Legends scam is the whole notion that now you're going to get to "Buy Fame in Everquest" -- ROFL. Um, ok. I know I'll just be clamoring at the EQ Legends website each day to figure out who my Hero is going to be!!! Nothing earns my respect more than some guy paying 4 times as much as me for a free shot at doing the things I have to work my ass off to do because VI simply doesn't give a shit about me, my server or the 30 others like it.
I did like the part about the Legends losers getting all the new loot first. Thank fucking god. At least someone who is paying Verant a shitload of money might get them to realize that they have no concept of how loot works at the end game. I'm sick of bitching about what a bunch of bullshit the majority of SoL loot is. Anyone noticed that Rhags 1 and 2 drop better loot than the Arch Lich? Wait!! Not my problem anymore. Let some rich fucker kill the Arch Lich and he can bitch about the loot and get it upgraded!!! After all, it will have his name on it!!!
Oh wait, I shouldn't bust on Legends too hard. I want everyone from The Nameless to move there. Yes, I love you guys and we're all such a great community but wouldn't you be better off on Legends? Come on, you know you would. . . By the way, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
So welcome to the Era of Uber. Being Uber is no longer an elitist privilege you earn by being the best -- oh no. Get your AA skills, your serverfilter, your magic resist patch, your Safehouse spoilers, your EQ Legends and BAM -- isntant FAME. You are a GOD. We all worship you now. Welcome to Everquest where being Uber is not a right, it's a marketing scheme.
And as a friendly reminder -- to all you moving to the Legends server -- please keep in mind: We're laughing AT you, not with you.
So us poor ghetto folk over on The Nameless have been busy killing mobs -- here's a sample of the carnage and loot:
Here's some of the loot from these cacksuggin snakes:
I have some exclusive insider info I acquired for you all on the Batphone -- this loot will all have its name changed. Here are the new names you can expect to see next patch, thanks to EQ Legends:
Dagger of Some Rich Loser
Some Rich Loser's Glowing Mithril Ulak
Shield of Some Rich Loser
So there you have it. Excuse me if I sound jaded over this whole thing. I am jealous -- yes, I think that's it. You see, I refuse to pay $40 a month and it has hit me hard that I will never become famous in Everquest -- my life long goal. I am bound to live in obscurity, paying 10 bucks a month without people calling me names like l33t, ub9r, godlike or Mr. Oxlong Cock. Sigh. . .life sucks.
Signing off with my head ducked down in shame because I will never be an EQ Legend,
--The Notorious T.I.G.
The Gnome of Own
Blown Spawns of the Week on The Nameless
AoW x2
Glyphed Covered Serpent x2
Exiled x2
Cursed x2
Ring War x1
Number of Spawns blown by LoS = 0
Working as Intended!!! Fun for everyone!!! Just think, if we were allowed to actually kill these things, we wouldn't go kill other, easier things!! Wait that would mean more spawns for everyone!!! The fucking goat's talking crazy man!!!
The Wonderful World of Rhap
Stalkers, Wanna-be's and Unoriginal Bastards
Quote of the Day
Jangos, our resident PR rep, explains the Ring War to the general population of Great Divide:
Keep Comin' Up With Funky Ass Shit Nearly Every Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .January 31, 2002 -- Tigole Bitties
Arch Lich: Karl Marlone'd
We finally got to put our much coveted Ssrae key to worth while use tonight and laid waste to the Arch Lich Rhag'Zadune. The loot was so amazingly awesome we will never return to the Temple of Veeshan again. After all, why kill 14+ dragons in a few hours when we could kill the Arch Lich -- much easier than any of those "hard" mobs in ToV -- and get AWESOME, GODLY, phat l3wtz such as these:
Truth is, I had a blast watching the fucker die =P
Oh, for those of you curious, here is what the sword looks like equipped:
Dada's Art
Stalkers, Wanna-be's and Unoriginal Bastards
Ok that last dude wasn't a stalker, a wanna-be or unoriginal -- but goddamn -- he pops right in front of me in the middle of the Ring War and I just about lost my shit.
Quote of the Day
I've Got a Dalmation, I Can Still Get High . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .January 29, 2002 -- Tigole Bitties
Excuse Me While I Ramble A Bit
I'd like to take a minute to openly address Verant regarding the *end game* of Everquest. If you're here to see dead mobs and new loots, just scroll down some. But for those of you at Verant (yes, I know you read this page) and for those of you interested in the *high level game* of EQ, this concerns you. This isn't about the *casual gamer*, so don't even bring those arguements into the picture. Apologies in advance if I get a bit touchy. You see some crazy bitch on a cell phone just came within three feet of running me and my dog over in a cross walk so I am a bit on edge at the moment. Also excuse any spelling or grammatical errors -- I have 16 minutes before my lunch breaks ends and I am typing this directly into this suck-ass, free-hacked HTML program. So just deal.
THE PROBLEM
The high end game in Everquest revolves around raiding. Currently, for a number of reasons which I will identify, there are simply not enough spawns to keep the *raiding community* content. What happens when people are not content? They stop playing.
The truth is guilds such as my own will still succeed because we push the envelope on our server, usually trying and killing things before anyone else. For example, when the RoK expansion came out, Legacy of Steel had a good 10-15 Trakanon kills before other guilds even TRIED him. When the SoV expansion came out, we were trying Dozekar before any other guilds even ZONED INTO the Temple of Veeshan. We completely cleared the North Wing of ToV a good 10 times before anyone else even TRIED Ikatiar. Well, this is all fine and dandy and I am getting a massive swelled ego just thinking about it. But my point is, this magical period of mobs actually being hard, of no spoilers existing, only lasts for a VERY BRIEF period of time. To put it in perspective, when we wanted to learn about North Wing, we went and scouted it -- no spoilers existed because no one else even thought of going there. Only a handful of guilds serverwide ever went past the door. Check out these screenshots from over ONE YEAR AGO: Example 1 Example 2 . Things were HARD. In order to learn you had to risk dying over and over. You didn't run, crying to the Safehouse for spoilers. ToV-by-numbers didn't exist. Basically, killing stuff was a PRIVLEGE not a RIGHT.
Fast forward to present day. Well actually rewind a bit. The first major, game altering change took place with the big magic resist patch. While the patch was overall a good thing, making casters more useful, it trivialized a number of *uber* encounters. Now back to that fast foward. Add the Shadows of Luclin Alternate Advancement skills into the mix and you have created an environment where basically anyone who can gather 40 people in front of a mob and have them press A at the right time can kill about 90 percent of the uber mobs that exist. What I am saying is that uber encounters have been gimped -- straight up. Personally, I think the magic resist changes as well as AA skills are both GOOD THINGS and I applaud VI for implementing them but what needed to take place was a readjustment of the overall difficulty of ALL the existing uber encounters with these things in mind.
You've created a massive overcrowding problem at the end game -- bottom line.
Some Solutions
Like I said, I am strapped for time in a big way here so I'll just throw a few ideas out, ideas that seem incredibly obvious.
1) Add more end game content
This is the best option, hands down. Of course this is the least likely to happen. This requires VI to invest time and effort into doing something which (on the surface) seems to provide no fiscal reward for them. However, I'd consider that keeping people playing Everquest would be a wise financial move on VI's behalf. This idea could range from the addition of new uber zones to simply placing a few more mobs in under-utilized zones. Stick a boss mob in Plane of Mischief -- but stick him on a three day delay so the guild lucky enough to get N ToV doesn't also get this free mob. Have a dragon spawn in Dawnshroud or Hollowshade. Those are beautiful zones that go untravelled. Those are a few quick ideas -- I am sure you could come up with better.
2) Increase Spawn Times
I can hear the VI arguement on this one already, "Boss mobs were intended to be special, rare encounters and to increase spawn times would take away from the original dynamic vision of having these mobs in the first place" or some such predictable bullshit. But guess what guys? You trivialized uber mobs by making a zone called Western Wastes. You took end game, "privleged" mobs, models that before SoV only existed in Veeshan's Peak, and you made them Yard Trash.
So here comes VI's other arguement. "We cannot have boss mob loot entering the game at an increased rate." Well first off, bullshit. With patches every other day the loot is flowing like water. Secondly, you could reduce the amount of loot dropped in places where it's already out of hand (example N TOV).
Players would prefer to be able to RAID every day then to sit around bored for 3 days. Give us stuff to kill.
3) Randomize Spawn Times
You are creating enormous tensions among the player base on blue servers with these easy to predict spawn times. You also patch at the same time each day/week. Asian and European guilds get the pick of the litter and American guilds fight and rush over spawns as soon as they get home from school or work. Once the spawns are controlled, the respawn is obvious and predictable, once again favoring Asian and European players. You need to randomize these spawns. The tensions between guilds are high enough -- when you favor time zones you add RACIAL tension into the mix. Do I need to go on as to why this bad?
4) Triggered Spawns Need To Be Fixed
While originally the idea of mobs such as the AoW only spawning when the Statue died seemed good at first, it has turned into one of the worst and most frustrating facets of the game for AoW-capable guilds. The Statue dies to 60+ Asian players or to the European guild on our server before we're even out of bed. The AoW spawns, sits in the arena untouched and then poofs until 5 days later when 60+ Asian players or the European guild kill the Statue again before we're out of bed. How bout something like this -- When the Statue dies an UNTARGETABLE (yes because players are pricks and will kill NPCs to spite other guilds) NPC spawns -- a quest mob -- that would allow someone to SPAWN the AoW. Sure, he can only stay up 45 minutes. I like that -- it's a challenge. But have the NPC spawn after the Statue dies so that if someone actually WANTS the AoW (which we do!!!!!!) we can have a shot at him.
Same thing goes for these Ssrae Basement mobs. You get these guilds rushing down to the basement with no fucking clue what they are doing. Next thing you know the Glyphed/Exiled/Cursed spawn is BLOWN for the week and the dumbasses down there never even spawned him. Yeah, I like killing one mob and popping another but VI needs to address the *dumbass factor* for us because you've already made everyone THINK they are uber and capable of doing all this stuff when in fact they are wasting the FEW spawns we can actually enjoy killing. Please idiot-proof triggered spawns.
5) Tigole's Not So Popular Darwinistic Idea
This is my favorite but will never fly. I'll throw it out there for you all though. You want to make a patch-day cluster-fuck zone like North ToV? Fine. How about this. When VULAK is up in the Temple of Veeshan the zone becomes PvP. VI has THROWN US into a massive spawn competition yet gives us no means to settle disputes. We are not allowed to train, there are PnP rules, GM's do not get involved. We are left on our own with no way of settling our problems except *goodwill* and we all know goodwill and a quarter will buy you a phone a call.
Verant wont address the spawn competition in zones like ToV? Let us address it.
The truth is ToV is fucked beyond recognition and nerfing the CoH spot was the dumbest thing VI could have done. At least with the CoH spot two guilds could move around North Wing and not step on any toes till the end of the night. Now you've created leap-frog city -- that's the only way to go and it's sad. The real problem is that ALL THE BEST LOOT DROPS IN THE SAME FUCKING PLACE. And SoL loot isn't any better (so far) not to mention there is no MASSIVE CONCENTRATION of mobs like there is in North Wing. North Wing was a great idea before the magic resist patch, before the CoH spot nerf and before AA skills. Right now it's a clusterfuck waiting to happen.
If VI doesn't want to lay down the law there -- make the the zone go PvP when Vulak is up and we'll lay down the law ourselves.
6) More Server Splits
If you don't want to add new content, increase or randomize spawn times or give us other solutions to the crowding that exists in the end game then you're going to have to keep splitting servers. I have no idea how VI works. My guess is this option is probably somewhat costly.
Conclusion
Ok my time is up. I had some more ideas but I don't have time to spell them all out. Pretty much anyone with even the tiniest bit of knowledge of how raiding works in EQ could figure out solutions to the GLARING PROBLEM that exists across all servers. I don't mean this as criticism against VI. But VI were the ones who posted that stuff about "EQ never being the same" when SoL came out. You guys decided everyone needed to be *uber* (that word is laughable now) with the magic resist patch and the AA skills. You've created a massive network of roads but put no traffic lights in -- people are going to get sick of crashing into each other and find somewhere else to drive. Hell, maybe they'll just walk. Seriously, address these issues in some way before you start losing players over them.
Now that that asshole Tig is done rambling can we please get a real update?
Ok yeah yeah yeah you cacksuggers. So yesterday we decided to kill Grieg. Amazingly the key mob actually dropped the key this time and we all promptly jizzed our trousers.
Crazz shared the Lore behind the zone with us all:
So we fought our way to Grieg which was amazingly NICE thanks to the illusion bug going on right now. Well, illusions don't work in Griegs so you don't have to deal with a raid full of mushrooms begging for cheals. So this is what Grieg looks like for all you foolmans who have never been:
And this is what he looks like when Legacy of Steel is done with him:
Our very own Veneficus Grieg was elated to see his arch-rival Grieg Veneficus die:
And here's the loot since that's all you mo faka's care about anyway:
That shard is a pretty ownage piece of caster loot. Props to VI on that one. I also like the fact that casters are getting loot with a spell effect on it they wouldn't normally get. Very cool idea. So no one wanted that sword (*shocked*) but before giving it to Mort we wanted to see what it looked like equipped. Check out this sexy bitch:
Pretty cool looking sword, if you ask me.
In other news we killed the most hated magina of all this weekend again, Tunare. The kill was especially sweet because in essence, it was a flawless victory. We had two deaths but the two who died were both involved with the pull.
Ok now I am 20 minutes late so it's time for Tigole the Not So Silent to STFU.
Mort and Gage, Uber Bankers
cong Mort on 3 server first-and-only loots~
Stalkers, Wanna-be's and Unoriginal Bastards
Quotes of the Day
Hot Tramp, I Love You So . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .January 25, 2002 -- Tigole Bitties
Ssrae Opens For Business
So during our weekly assassinations of our good friends the Glyphed and the Exiled we checked the doors like we always do (ever since some doors were changed from not pickable to pickable) and discovered that Xerkizh the Creator was now up for grabs. I am still not sure if this was a wise, well thought out design desicion or if some monkey in quality assurance, chained to a cubicle, is getting beat right now in San Diego. Either way, this was the first time we have been able to take a shot at this mob without fear of Ssploiting the doors -- and you bet your sweet ass we took advantage of the opportunity.
The fight was pretty fun. And the loot was absolutely re-goddamned-diculous. Check out this bullshit:
OMFG MAGE ONLY LOOT!!
Well, actually that mage dagger is pretty nice and I give phat props to VI for putting in some Caster loot but of course we had no mage there in Ssrae so congrats me on the Dagger, just what I always wanted. Too bad people got mages nerfed by Ssploiting the doors -- we might of actually had a mage with us to loot it. (cue dumbass flame on messageboards)
Here's a picture of the Creator fight for anyone who actually gives a rat's ass. Note the l33t strategy: Bard Tanking!
So I gotta tell you guys about our Glyphed fight because it's actually worth mentioning. We are fighting Mr. Glyphed Covered Cacksugger and everything is going very smoothly. There is 0 doubt that we will beat him. He's even holding a Dagger we have never seen before -- something with a new graphic and piercing. He enrages and then gets to no visible life and begins to flee. What happens next???? POOF. He vanishes. Then he is back on his spawn point, full hp, and summoning people. So we pull him back to the group and have to kill him again. To tell you the truth killing two Glyphed in a row, with no pause, back-to-back was a really fun fight. I wonder if that is "working as intended" as well. Fucking buggy ass zone. Oh, here's that dagger:
At first we're pretty excited. After all, the dagger would be pretty sweet. Then we notice it's OFFHAND only. To add insult to injury the HASTE is a fucking PROC that lasts 18 seconds (18 mo faka seconds?). ROFL. Yay, more useless loot. And p.s. VI I bitched about too much monk loot because I wanted CLERIC and CASTER loot -- not 10 million fucking daggers. What is with the uber goddamn weapons on Rhag 1 -- the biggest poosae in all of Norrath??? Jesus Christ you guys give new definition to the phrase "knee-jerk" -- sheesh. Save the uber weapons for the uber mobs (p.s. Rhag one = anti-uber mob) and put CLERIC and CASTER loot on those fool poosae push-overs. I know you guys all have level 17 characters on test that you levelled all by yourself and what not so you know your game really well but try this sometime guys: /buff up some level 60 characters then spawn Tunare and Rhag 1 and try to beat them both -- get back to me on who is harder. Oh wait, I bet you chumps die to both =P
You know I constantly bust VI's balls. The truth is, I love their game and think it's sheer brilliance. I just want it to reach its full potential. So for all my criticism of VI, I am their biggest fan. But goddamn, why not consult with some players before implementing some of this stuff? We've all come to accept that Everquest is an eternal work in progress. You have all these people who live and breathe the game -- why not use them as a resource? Oh well, what do I know. . .
Working As Intended
l33t spelling. . .
Stalkers, Wanna-be's and Unoriginal Bastards
Quote of the Day
