Category: Real Life

Necromancers and Missions

I took a little break from gaming yesterday to play around with some more art pieces, learning (yet another) new program that I’m trying to get the hang of. I’m not that great at it yet, it’s a lot more complicated then the previous one I was using, but the images also come out a lot nicer too (as shown above). I want to do an image with my rendition of my EQ necromancer – she’s Drakkin though and I’d like to add the scales / tattoos that cover her body (in red). There’s no post work on the image above, so it still needs a lot of work, but I decided to scrap it and start over again from scratch. 

I did play for a brief bit last night, Ultann is still in the process of moving, so it was just Ninga and I. We decided to do some more Depths of Darkhollow missions, working on getting more of my spells (and a few other pretties in the process). We did one that involved slaying a lot of mushroom men, annoying ones that liked to path funny. 

I also had two glowing runes to turn in (level 70 spells) as well as two greater runes on Kameeko – she finally obtained her level 69 mez and can take care of creatures up to level 73. The previous one only worked up to level 70, so this is a good thing for me. She earned three more aa, and I unlocked yet another tradeskill to 300 instead of 200. Not sur which it will be yet, as I haven’t crafted in quite some time and the guides on leveling on EQ traders are quite out dated. 

The mission runs were fun and relatively painless, since we had to rely on my one mercenary healing us we just did the easy versions. Normally it would be no problem at all to do the hard missions, but alas my mercenary is not the most reliable of healers even on the best of days. 

As we head into March I’m getting more and more excited about the 10th anniversary of EQ. I think it will be great to see old players return to check out the events (there’s no doubt in my mind that a few will at least), and maybe even drag a few new players out that way as well. We’ll just have to see!

As always, happy gaming no matter where you happen to find yourself, see you in Norrath!

Completely Made My Day

Whether I have 1 reader, or 100 readers, I write because I enjoy it. Emails like this totally make my day and I wanted to share. Thank you so much for writing this Tillarus. I appreciate it more then you could ever possibly know.

The Simple Things are Often the Sweetest

I saw the sweetest thing last night in EQ and I had to mention it here of course. In both EQ and EQ2 you’re able to edit a small box of text on your description window. People use these for numerous things, favorite song lyrics, a list of their accomplishments and other random goodies, whatever really happens to cross your mind. When you examine someone these boxes of text are on display for all the world to see. 

So it was that I happened to be standing in the guild lobby last night, and I spotted a character with a very interesting looking shield. Naturally I wanted to see what shield it was, so I examined them. 

I wish I had of taken a screen shot. It was just that sweet. 

In their description was a letter from a husband, written to his wife on his wife’s character. He must have logged her in with the hopes that she would see the message. It was written just before he left for Iraq, or so the brief message said. It was a note about how much he loved his darling wife, and went along the lines of “Hey baby, I love you so much you’re incredible, I’ll see you when I get back from Iraq” – short, and sweet. 

The message moved me so much. I almost teared up, reading some strangers description. I don’t even know who they were and they zoned before I could get their name or send them a tell about the message to ask if it was new or how long ago he had left or if he had returned safely. I probably won’t ever know now, unless by some weird fluke they happen to read this site which would be really weird. The emotional connections we all make as human beings within these video games we play astounds me every single day. It reminds me of the great people I have met, the close friends, and everyone I love. Anyone else have amazing stories like this? I’d love to hear them.

Trip to San Diego – Part III

I’m still processing the trip down to San Diego, mostly because I haven’t had the time (yet) to sit down and just reflect on it. As soon as I landed back home  (pretty much) I was thust head first into writing 6 articles (that are due tomorrow) and I also came down with a horrible cold that’s left me sounding like a frog and sneezing every 10 minutes with a cough. I know I’ll be feeling back to my normal self in no time, but you’ll have to forgive the lack of posts on my site in the mean time. 

Picture is a member of the EverQuest team, showing off his sponge bob pillow. I actually took this particular picture for my Mom who is an avid fan. There’s another picture with a project that he was working on, but I’m saving that for Beckett (I know, what a tease). 

So what exactly did I do for my day in San Diego? It was pretty amazing and surreal for me on a very personal level. I was up at 3am on Tuesday the 3rd of February. Headed to the Ottawa International Airport where I flew from Ottawa at 6am to Detroit. Switched plains in Detroit to Minneapolis and then flew from Minneapolis to San Diego. I landed at around 1pm, grabbed a taxi to my suite which was pretty close to the SOE studio, and waited for a room. By the time I got settled all I wanted to do was let everyone know I was safe and sound, and sleep. So the night ended early for me at 8:30pm PST. Remember, this trip also takes place after two very stressful weeks of getting my passport organized, and was very short notice for me. I still had a blast.

The next day at 9:30am I was met in the lobby by Katie, who is the public relations person for SOE and who I get to annoy on a regular basis. We drove to the SOE studio which is fairly close to where I was staying. The day was absolutely amazing, bright sunshine and no snow. I ogled all of the palm trees that I’ve never seen before. The landscape is completely different from what I’m used to. I’ve seen hills and mountains before when I lived in Germany, but Ottawa is fairly flat and our houses sit on flat streets, not up the sides of hills one under another. I was feeling pretty nervous, but calmed down as the day went on.

I had a brief tour of the SOE buildings, I’d looked at older pictures trying to get a feel for the layout and recognize where I was. My first round of meetings was with the EQ1 team, some absolutely amazing people. I spoke with Alan Couvering, Adam Bell, and Ed Hardin. The passion they demonstrated for their game was just mind boggling. It’s not something I’ll soon forget. Anyone who has read my Beckett articles before knows that I don’t exactly write from an investigative journalism point of view, but I write as a gamer first and try to keep that theme throughout everything I write. Having the opportunity to talk to these people who created the games I love in such a setting was fantastic. 

Afterwards I spoke with the EQ2 team – Bruce Ferguson, Joy Parks, Noel Walling, Tim Heydelaar, Bill Yeats, and Joshua Kriegshauser. Again they displayed the same amount of passion that the EQ1 team had for their game, and the comradery displayed was fantastic. I also spoke with Rich Waters, who is the creative director for the EQ Franchise, and then it was time for lunch.

Lunch was amazing. The community team consisting of Brenlo, Kiara, and Ashlanne (who you may recognize on forums and from Podcasts) were great. We went to a surf shack type place called ‘Hodads’ (I believe that’s the name at least) which was plastered on the inside with old license plates. The atmosphere was very laid back and easy going and the fact that I was eating lunch in San Diego in the sunshine and not home in Ottawa in the freezing temperatures with four feet of snow on the ground did not go unnoticed. We took a little walk down to the beach (not far away) and even had a little time to stop by a comic book store that was along the way back to the van. They were easy to talk to, joked around a lot, and I felt completely at ease. Once lunch was done it was time to get back to work and Lydia joined in the conversation. 

Once it was noticed that I also play Vanguard (and love the game despite the rocky launch and issues that still persist) I was granted an opportunity to talk to the VG team, something I had not planned for. This was probably one of the most fantastic parts of the trip, because it was just so odd for me. If you had of asked me a year ago if I thought I’d be talking (in person) to Silius (Salim Grant, lead designer) I’d have laughed so hard milk would have shot out my nose even if I wasn’t drinking milk. I remember seeing the NPC version of his character in game outside the crafting area in the high elf place. I remember seeing him on Seradon on the craft channel, and I even own (or rather, my bloodmage owns) the craft bag named after him. You can flag me as a fan and I’m perfectly ok with it. I didn’t just speak with him though, I also got to talk to Christian Akesson (VGThor, Lead artist), and Thom Terrazas (Phathom, producer). VG is one of those diamond in the rough games (for me at least) and to watch other people who actually worked on the game talk about it to me was just so inspiring. I can not even put it into words. 

By the end of the day I was exhausted (again) and Katie brought me back to my suite where I crashed for the night at 8:30. I would be flying out at 10:30am, and wanted to be at the airport early so I could go through security and all the rest. 

At 7am I headed back to the airport, where I flew from San Diego to LA (short flight), and then from LA to Detroit, and finally from Detroit back home. It was 11pm EST by the time I finally got home, back to the wind and snow and negative temperatures. 

Another huge thank you to the people from SOE for flying me out and granting me the opportunity, as well as Beckett MOG since I was there to do work for them. My friends were absolutely amazing (and continue to be) and supportive while I ranted about all of the stress I was feeling and my excitement as I went through this whole process. It’s been an incredible rush. 

Now that I’m home and settled, I have three more pieces to write for Beckett and then I can get back to what brought me here in the first place – gaming! See you in Norrath.

Home Sweet Home

After three very long flights, I am safe and sound back home. I had a wonderful time visiting the SOE headquarters in San Diego, and met some amazing people. It was a trip that I won’t soon forget, and no doubt I’ll be talking about it for some time to come. I’m unfortunately also bogged down by a lot of work that I’ve got to get done for some upcoming deadlines, which means of  that my play time is even more restricted. My apologies to those who read this site for my comments about in-game stuff, hang in there, and by this time next week I should be back to my regular scheduled program and writing about my experiences in game. I know EQ2 went through a few changes but that the fighter change has been held off for a little bit. Aside from that, I’ve been playing some DDO, and I STILL plan on getting more LoTRO time in once these deadlines have all passed. 

Thank you to everyone who sent me the warm wishes for the flights, and who followed along on twitter, I really appreciate it. Looking forward to getting back into Norrath later today!