EQ2 – Page 6 – A Pixel Nomad

Goodbye, My EverQuest 2 Friend

I have a habit of always wishing people happy birthday on whatever social media they happen to use (that I also use). Facebook, G+, twitter, you name it, I’m there obnoxiously wishing you a happy birthday, year after year. Even if we don’t know each other that well. It’s just something I always do.

So like every other year I wished my friend Jean a happy birthday.

Then his daughter contacted me to tell me that he had lost his battle with depression back in March, and was no longer with us. His wife posted the same message, just weeks earlier.

I had no idea.

I felt.. well, I don’t even know how to describe what I felt. I felt ashamed that I hadn’t kept in touch better. That I didn’t know that he had died. That I had posted a chipper happy birthday message to his facebook wall for friends and family to see and probably stir up some memories. I removed my message right away, ashamed.

Instead I posted one expressing my condolences, and telling Jean and his family that I won’t ever forget our talks in EQ2.

Yep, another gamer. Just like all of us.

I “met” Jean in EQ2 years ago. I don’t even know how long it has been now. He was instigating arguments on the public channels of Antonia Bayle. Arguments that I didn’t agree with. It was something against the US military, in a time where that was (I suppose it always is) a pretty volatile statement to make. Needless to say, the entire server ganged up on him to try to ‘take him down’ due to his harsh statements.

I felt like it wasn’t fair to gang up on a person just because of their opinion, whether or not you personally agreed with that opinion. I didn’t like that a mass of players were verbally attacking one single person due to the tone of their comments (whether he deserved it or not). So I started sending him tells. I had never spoken to him before that but something told me I should reach out, so I did.

We were never really ‘close’ per say, but I knew he was battling depression and that he had been for years. I knew about his family, and we became friends on facebook. I thought I’d share one of our last conversations. His part is in italics.

You were there for me when I was in dire need of some human contact and I know I’m not easy to deal with, lotsa obstacles: low self-esteem, anti-social, etc. I know it’s awkward to even talk to me. anyway, just in case I never said it, thank you for being there when I needed it. For you I’m sure it seems like a sordid memory. I know it was a weird time for me.
You’re more then welcome. I’m always there for anyone I consider a friend or who needs it. I try, at least.
like I said, a saint

Our final conversation was about some anime, back in January 2015, followed by (you guessed it) the typical birthday wishes. I think about how many people out there are suffering in silence with depression and I constantly wonder “what can I do?” it seems like an impossible task to take on.

You never know what someone’s personal situation is like, so please, be kind to one another out there. You just don’t know what it will turn into one day.

I’ll miss you, Jean.

Ding! 97 Defiler…

Yesterday the chronoportal event started in EverQuest 2, and being such a fan of nostalgia I decided to log in and take part. I still have Station Access for a few more months even though I’ve wandered away from the game, so I claimed my 500 daybreak cash first. I had a bunch of Ancient Coins saved up from previous events, so I headed to Commonlands to the merchant there and picked up the new items. There was a title I hadn’t obtained yet (no idea when that came out) along with three paintings. I put them into my Norrathian Museum, and then noticed that my defiler was almost level 97, about 20% away.

One of the easiest ways to level used to be from turning in collection quests, but experience from that has slowly been nerfed over time. Not a big deal, but I miss the massive amount we used to gain. Now each collection rewards about 1-2%. No matter, I hadn’t done any of the latest collections. I filtered collections through the broker and set to work buying up the least expensive ones I could find (basically anything between 50g and 100p). It wasn’t long before I had an inventory full of items to turn in. I noticed there were actually achievements for completing the collections this time around, though they were not worth any points. Rewards varied from gear to housing items and of course more shinies.

I had some spare collection items stored on my character so I put those up on the broker and then added the housing items to my museum. I was going to get started working on some old quests (in specific heritage quests I’ve had for years now) but alas it was time for dinner and I had to log out. I like wandering back into EverQuest 2 every now and again, it’s familiar and it’s easy for me to pick up where I’ve left off because of how familiar it is. It may not be the one game that I’ve dedicated myself to like I have in the past, but there will always be a spot for it in my games folder.

The Road to Level 100

Originally I had planned on playing my defiler, Stargrace, on the Antonia Bayle server. Of course I never follow plans and instead I played the illusionist, Seduit, that I have over on Maj’Dul. She was level 95 and I hadn’t even set foot into Altar of Malice (let alone the latest expansion) so I began with that. Questing was slow. Really slow. I can understand why people prefer to group elsewhere. Over the course of the weekend I did manage to level to 97, so that’s nice but I’m not sure if I have the patience to continue on with that method. I’ve been debating grinding out the levels in another zone (skyshrine comes to mind, though I understand that place is typically still packed) or maybe just going through older content. Thankfully there are options.

I also reached 98 provisioner by completing the Altar of Malice quest chain. I was contemplating grinding writs to reach 100 but decided against it because I don’t have a lot of spare resources right now. Doing the daily and weekly crafting quests should bump me to 100 before long.

Last but not least I started this character down the harvesting quest chain from the Isle of Mara. I’ve collected food items from the starter zones, antonica, and now I’m headed to Nektulos Forest and Thundering Steppes. It’s quite relaxing to be able to sit back and harvest, though I am eager to get it completed. I’ve been going through the giant list of tradeskill quests I want to get completed, it’s really amazing to see how many there are in the game when you’re looking at them in list format.

I don’t know anyone on Maj’Dul these days, but I continue to listen in on channels and I am enjoying the current population. Long term I hope to hit 100, continue to work on gear and spells, and maybe even be able to participate in a raid or two if I can find a guild that accepts alliances. I’m in a guild on my own and I don’t want to leave it because it compliments my play style, but I do like to participate in raids and other events. We’ll just have to see.

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

The 3+1 Guild

The year was 2008. The server was Kithicor. I transferred there on a whim and I met some of the most amazing people I’ve ever known. Unfortunately the rest of the server was not kind. In 2009 we made the decision to transfer to Antonia Bayle and we packed up our homes and most of the guild hall, leaving one character behind to keep it safe for us. We set up a memorial for others to visit for as long as they could. On top of each tomb was a player written book describing our adventures and what we had done on the server as an incredibly small team.

Today I went returned to check in for the first time since we left. I didn’t even remember that we left the memorial. I’m still friends with everyone from the 3+1 guild. I’m the only one who still plays EQ2, but that’s OK because we have ties that run deeper than the game even if it is the game that brought us together.

I owe a lot in my life to video games. Everything from friends I have made to jobs I have held. I can honestly say that without EverQuest 2 I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I think that’s pretty amazing.

When in Doubt – Craft!

I had done it. I had made the decision to return to Norrath – not a huge commitment because my account has station access until July to begin with, I just hadn’t been actively playing. I don’t mind, it’s just a way for me to show my support to developers but I’m glad I made the decision to try to actually make use of it instead of subscribing to yet another game (that I would lose interest in after a few months, as I always do). My adventure level main is only 96, and there’s two expansions worth of stuff I am behind on. ~~For some reason the level cap on guilds is 115 when the level cap on characters is 100.~~. Edit: I have no idea what the cap is for guilds if there even is any. I saw guilds at 120+ last night… Odd.

No matter how confused I am when I return to a game, one thing that rarely ever changes is crafting. It’s an old friend that I can start questing with right away, and returning to EQ2 was no different. I promptly got a a message in game about where to go and what to do and who needed my help. Perfect. I was already level 100, having completed the Altar of Malice craft chain during my last brief visit, so I was able to dive into the latest expansion right away. Before long I was running through the halls of Maldura and flying through Thalumbra (over and over again) playing games of talk to X npc then talk to Y npc then craft X item and deliver it to XY npc. Sure, it’s not exciting, but the lore and story at each npc is quite entertaining, and I did get a really nice piece of gear. Two, in fact. One crafter piece and one adventure piece that I can’t wear yet. I’m calling that motivation.

Once I completed the main chain I decided to work on the weekly tasks which you can snag all at once if you want, or space them out. Learning my way around the areas was frustrating. There’s always that one quest icon that you just can’t seem to reach, and of course I died to a few things. Guards before I managed to get faction, a cliff I thought was passable, etc.

Now that those are done, it’s time to settle down and do a bit of leveling. My goal (har) is to be 97 by the time this post goes live on December 4th at 6am. Right now I’m 83% into level 96, so I’m pretty confident that I can do that. I know a lot of people like to just grind out experience in Skyshrine or another contested dungeon zone, but I imagine I will quest my way as far as I can so that I can get gear upgrades and hopefully progress some story lines.

It’s nice to be back, comfortable. I’m not quite “there” yet and I won’t feel like I am until I’m at least level 100 and know my way around things again, but it’s not completely out of my realm of possibility at least. I also took advantage of the free server transfers and moved two characters. I put an illusionist over on Maj’dul, and a ranger wandered over to Halls of Fate. If it turns out I don’t enjoy Antonia Bayle, or I want a break from things for a bit, or I want to visit friends, well, I have options. Options are always good.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.