Well, after a couple of months of barely playing EQ, I've very recently been
playing much more. I even extended a vacation to Reno by one day so that
when I got home, I wouldn't be working the day Omens of War was released.
So I wake up yesterday and run the patcher. It downloads a bunch of stuff
(as it has been for the past couple of weeks every time I log on) but then
says that the servers are down. No problem, I'm a couple of hours early. I
go out and see if anyone has Fable yet, but only a couple of stores say
they're going to get it today. Oh well, I'll wait.
Come the time that the servers are due up. I run the patcher again and get
a few more small files, then try to connect. Nope. I go to the EQlive
forums - there's a note that the servers are due up in half an hour. I log
on to my guild forums and join the java chat room. We gab about stuff. One
person has been playing the new voice mp3's and comments about what he
hears. A half-hour later I try to connect again. Nope. Check EQlive - the
server up-time has been pushed back yet another half-hour. Back to java,
chat some more. Half an hour later - nope, can't connect. EQlive - it says
servers are up! Try to connect again - and again - and again. I finally
get through to the server select screen. All the servers are locked. Then
they're unlocked. Before I can connect to Drinal, they're locked again. A
minute later they're unlocked and I make it in.
I logged right at the K'T zone line. I immediately rush out to Natimbi and
find a light blue mob. I nuke it for a bit, kill it - and ding. Welcome to
level 66! I bet I was one of the first serverswide to hit 66. File that
under "Dubious Achievements".
I zone back into Kod'taz. Other people are logging on so I invite them to
Kod'Taz. I get two monks, a shaman, and a druid, and we begin pulling.
I feel the need to defend myself, so I will. =) Why wasn't I running
around looking at all the new stuff? Why did I insist on immediately
grinding away XP in the old familiar places rather than try to experience
something different? Well, let me tell you: it's because I dislike
grinding. I remember how unfun it was to grind away 59 in Upper Dogs for a
week. I have fond memories of that, sure, but only because it was an
unpleasant experience I endured to reach an important goal. Actually
grinding for hours was darned boring. But getting level 70 is very
important; those additional levels will make a lot of things much easier, as
well as allow me access to new spells. So I want to get there as soon as
possible and put the unpleasantness of grinding behind me. Once I hit 70
I'll be able to relax and enjoy myself. It's like taking a bandage off; you
can peel it off slowly, making it less painful but dragging out the pain
over an extended period, or rip it off all at once, making one sharp but
brief pain. I prefer brief.
We begin the grind. After a few minutes a warrior from our rival guild
/ooc's that he's looking for a group. He's actually a well-respected member
of our rival guild, liked even by me who hates the rival guild with a
passion. So we invite him to join. He makes his way over to us and the
grind is a little easier with a true tank.
Now, for almost my entire EQ existence I have had the sound disabled in the
Options menu. EverQuest has been a never-ending silent movie to me.
However, to experience the new songs and sounds, I turned on Sound for the
first time in a year. So imagine my surprise when the computer suddenly
says in a Gollum-like voice, "Heal me!" It's the troll warrior, playing
with the new voice macros. We all immediately begin talking, from the Cobra
Commander-sounding Iksar monks to the husky deep voice of the female
barbarian shaman. My human male voice sounds quite bland by comparison,
although I'm not unhappy with it. Some people in guild have called this the
stupidest innovation in EQ yet, but I find myself enjoying it. I may grow
tired of it over time, but for now I think it's neat. =)
Grind, grind, grind. It's very slow going, and I make the observation that
this is 59 all over again. That's not really fair, since 59 took a week of
serious grinding for me and 66 is going much faster than that. But we do
seem to be only getting about 10% an hour, which means ten hours per level,
which means many more long hours until I finally hit 70. I guess that's all
right, although I long for the relatively quick and painless experience
getting an AA.
Grind, grind, grind. People come and go. We get several nameds and
everyone gets an augment. For a while I'm leading the guild in XP, although
a wizard logs in, grabs a bunch of people, goes deep into Water, and starts
leveling at an alarming rate.
Grind, grind, grind. I have 9 AA saved up and decided to spend six on
Advanced Healing Mastery and Resplendent Cure. Sanctuary is a level 70 AA,
and I figure AA will be easier to come by when I hit 70, so I may as well
spend the AA on stuff that's useful now. Already I crit Complete Heals for
18300, a new record. I also play with the new title selection, and I don't
think much of my choices. I eventually chose Lord Monual. It makes
precious little difference since I keep the titles turned off anyway.
Grind, grind, grind. At about 73% into 66, the group breaks up - we've been
at it for seven hours. I still want to grind some more. The group in
Water - most of which have dinged 67 by now - is losing their cleric so they
invite me. Navigating in Water has never been my strong point, but I do
make it to GtW where the monk meets me and guides me the rest of the way.
A new grind, and a much faster-paced one. The mobs here give less XP then
the mobs in KT, but we're killing them much more quickly. It's faster than
K'T although not necessarily quick, but it feels like no time at all before
I hit 67. Hooray!
We continue for a while, then the wizard gets bored and wants to try
grinding in OoW for a while. Some of our other guildies have already gotten
some spell drops from there. So he gates us to PoK where we find the Priest
of Discord. I get to see the coolest spell effect ever - a circle of light
appears in front of me like a mirror, and through it I see forming the hills
of the zone I'm being sent to. Then I get gated there. Neat. Much kudos
to the EQ team for that effect.
The shaman can't gate; she never did actually finish downloading OoW. So
she logs off and sends a message via EQIM that it will be an hour before she
can get back in. The wizard goes LD. The monk somehow gets an expedition -
even he's not sure how he did it - and we follow the compass to a nearby
cave. In the instanced zone we see a bunch of dark-blue mobs that give
relatively poor XP. We have no idea what the purpose of the expedition is -
there are no nameds up as far as we can see.
The SK with us has to reboot. The wizard reconnects and immediately goes LD
again. We're losing momentum and eventually we decide to disband. It's 1am
and although I had planned to grind for an hour or so more, I decide to call
it a day and try again tomorrow. Two levels in one day is not a bad
accomplishment.
I'm at work now and am feeling the itch to get back home and begin grinding
again, something I haven't felt in a long time. There's a bunch of new
stuff waiting for me in EQ - new spells, new encounters, new epic - and I'm
just dying to try it all. But first I want to get to 70 as quickly as
possible. So I'll do what I can to get that as quickly as possible. For
the next couple of days - grind, grind, grind. But that's okay, I'm
enjoying the anticipation. =)
--
-Richard
Monual Lifegiver
Archon of Rodcet Nife
Silent Tempest
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This page is Copyright by Skaarak; Everquest (TM) is property of Sony Online Entertainment
All stories and art work are Copyright@ by the origial owner/writer.
Most, if not all stories, were taken from newsgroup alt.games.everquest (AGE), I recommend that anyone who gets a chance to read it should!