November 28, 2008
So last time I wrote, I was fresh off an exhilarating week of TSO exploring and dungeon crawling. I particularly loved Miragul’s Menagery: Scion of Ice, and couldn’t wait to go back.
So I did! The next night, I grabbed a bunch of guildies and charged into the instance. A second guild group was also made, including a couple of people from the previous night’s group.
45 minutes later, and about 5 group wipes on the very first named, I was left scratching my head. The night before, the named was so easy, that I didn’t even notice a couple of tricks that the crystal named does. I was having one of those Southwestern moments (want to get away?), when I hear in officer chat that the other group is going through the exact same thing - death after death after death.
The only glaring difference between our failing groups and the successful one from the night before was that we both were missing a mezzer. And based on what I learned about the fight, I really think that was the difference. A guild group went back later on, with mezzer, and cruised through, helping to back up that theory.
So I finished the night wondering why one, single class should have that much of a role on whether a group crawl is easy or not. I had the same feeling after a rough going in Befallen’s Cavern of the Afflicted. Our single target dps was great based on our group makeup, but this dungeon was so AE based, at least early on, that we had to leave because we could not keep up with respawn. No warlock? Buckle up!
Don’t get me wrong though - I love challenge, and I can’t really call this an official complaint until I see much more of the TSO content. In fact, I feel like this expansion is possibly one of the best, and most interesting, expansions I’ve ever played.What strikes me so far about this expansion is that it’s not at all like the standard expansion faire. Prior to launch, it was tabbed an “LDON style” expansion, with replayable missions. But the missions from TSO are about as different from LDON as fish and bicycles. The vanilla of LDON is non-existant in TSO, and I really don’t feel they cater to the casual crowd. You almost need a raid mindset to tackle these encounters (at least for now, I’m sure in a year there will be enough spoilers out there that have discovered numerous ways to gimp stuff). And that’s the second thing that struck me - this is an expansion that is tailored to EQ2’s longtime playerbase, which seems to be very guild centric and raid heavy. On the Guk server, it seems like the vast majority of high level players carry the tag of a well-recognized guild, and of those, most are grouping up and raiding high end content. This expansion is perfect for those players. Of course, there is still high level content for the solo/small group crowd, in the form of Kunark-style quest timelines in the Moors of Ykesha (which is a huger than huge overland zone), and many of the TSO missions scale down to go as far as level 50, but the meat of the expansion is clearly the group content.
Lastly, there should be trumpets sounding and a waaaagh-like battle cheer for EQ2’s group-oriented tradeskilling. I’m not aware of any other game that has content designed for tradeskillers to group up and combine their efforts to succeed in crafting instances. While I’m not a tradeskiller, I think this is a really amazing concept, and one that’s long overdue to the tradeskilling MMO community. It’s quiet innovation that deserves a lot of attention.
Posted by jayernh under Archive | Comments (3)
November 20, 2008
Right now, The Shadow Odyssey is the MMO shot in the arm that I badly needed.
First off, I’m noticing that I’m taking a lot of screenshots again! Dungeons that I’ve seen so far are full of eye-candy. And my short amount of time in the Moors was pretty scenic as well.
Second, dungeons are freakin fun! When I heard that the expansion would have LDON style missions, I was more than a little perturbed. I never liked the instances in LDON, for several reasons, but one of them was that they were vanilla hack and slash easy, and pretty grindingly boring. Go in, kill 3859312 mobs in 20 minutes, wash, rinse and repeat.
The TSO dungeons seem to each have puzzles to solve in order to defeat a boss or successfully complete the dungeon objectives. I like puzzles, as long as they aren’t overdone (Splitpaw barrels and boxes. Stack stack stack!) or insanely unintuitive (Hi, Myst). So far, the puzzles seem well done. Figuring out the zone engaged me, but it didn’t disrupt the flow of the dungeon crawl itself. And on a fun side note, some clickies are actually items that you can place in your house. Yes, you can steal furniture from the dungeon! Loot and pillage!
We did Miraguls Phylactery - Scion of Ice, last night, and I found myself really exploring every nook of the dungeon. It even got me interested in the storyline of the zone, which I always find hard to do, despite my best intentions.
We also did Obelisk of Ahkzul last night, and I am now totally hooked on the boss fight in there. At the risk of sounding spoilerish, the fight is somewhat similar to Vanguard’s boss fight in Temple of Xennumet, where you have to don power suits and fly around the room to accomplish certain things. The Obelisk boss fight requires one or two people to “roam the outfield,” so to speak, and float over a flaming pit, trying to intercept fireballs. It took some getting used to, but what a blast!
One thing that’s easily overlooked, but most important, about these dungeons, is that many of them scale, some as low as 50. They work just like the EQ2 guild raids did - the instance scales to the level of the highest person in the group. So people can mentor down to a lower level friend and still be able to complete the dungeon. It’s also nice for those times when you want to do a dungeon, but need a milder version of the zone. So if you have a group of 3 level 80s and 3 level 75’s, for instance, you can all mentor to the 75, zone in, and then unmentor, and the zone will be scaled to level 75. The loot drops, of course, also scale to level, so stuff wouldn’t be quite as good, but being able to have that flexibility in dungeon content is fantastic.
The void shards that you can get from the dungeons are slow going. In many cases each person in the group will walk away with one shard, and maybe two if you have good eyes and can find a place to loot another. You can get an additional two if you complete the special daily mission from the mysterious erudite on the Moors docks. It will take lots of dungeon runs to stock up enough shards to buy gear, and some are already complaining about that. But I have no complaints. I’m extremely excited about the fact that TSO is full of fun, interesting, and most importantly, scalable group dungeons.
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November 18, 2008
I just spent about a half hour in the new EQ2 expansion, and I already can’t wait to log back in tonight. What struck me the most in my brief time there was the attention to detail.
Above: Pixie on a string - a new 5 year veteran reward.
Cool moment # 1 - finally entering the castle in North Qeynos! Yes, the Queen’s chambers is a smaller version of a Tier 2 guild hall (I maintain that our decorating > Antonia’s /nod), but I’ve wanted to go in that castle for 5 years now, so it was a very pleasant surprise to be able to kick off my expansion adventures that way.
I visited Antonia, tried very hard to read her dialogue, but was defeated once again by my twitchy mouse finger. Luckily, Shay gave me the bullet points - something about a mysterious balloon ship, and a foreboding threat to all Norrathians. Apparently Antonia even tried to contact Lucan, since they both share a common threat, but he didn’t respond. So we’re sent out to investigate, although I wished there was a clicky option to tell Antonia to just go log out and roll up an evil toon if she was really interested in talking to Lucan.
Cool moment # 2 - The airship! I’m a sucker for vertical depth in a game, which is why I love Vanguard so much. It seems that there is a lot of that in this new expansion. Taller cliffs, longer waterfalls, and sweeping vistas. And the airship itself gave me a chuckle. I love the WWII bomber-style artwork on the side. 6 kills!
Cool moment # 3 - Again, thanks to Shay, I met up with some quest givers at the first hub. So I’m mindlessly hailing, clicking, and accepting quests, when all of a sudden she tells me in the most innocent of voices to “just run over to this cannon….”
Yep, hurled across the chasm in a wooden barrel. Luckily there’s a net on the other side.
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October 30, 2008
Back when I was playing EQ, there was a woman who proudly described her guild as the kind that kills for the “wootah feeling,” as if this somehow made her playstyle more noble than others who might kill for, oh, I don’t know, the loot?!
Don’t get me wrong, as I’ve said before, I love MMOs because I enjoy the whole “team” thing and being a part of individual progress, which makes the guild improve as a whole. Weird, I know. Loot, to me, isn’t a status thing, or a representation of self worth, as much as it’s a means to the end - guild progress.
Above: New Tunaria in EQ2. Gorgeous zone, zero players.
Syncaine wrote a good piece lately about how Warhammer would be a better game if there were less content, since that would prevent the population from spreading out so much that RvR suffers. But he also criticizes the casual player, saying that they have a “sheep mentality,” not sophisticated enough to “get” the game. In comparison, he says that beta players stuck more to the “vision” of the game, and (apparently) because of their knowledge and expertise, they played the game the way it was intended and didn’t grind scenarios like the current live population does.
The beta observation is interesting, because it brings up a good question about the value of the beta testing process. But I’m not sure we can conclude that beta players played the game the “right way” because they are more sophisticated (and “right” is debatable but that’s a whole other blog entry). They most likely played that way because A) they took their beta job seriously and tried to test the content as thoroughly as possible or B) they didn’t grind scenarios because it “didn’t count,” meaning that since there would be a server wipe at the end, they didn’t worry so much about racing to the level cap and gearing up. I’m also going to assume there were some beta buff opportunities, so some beta players probably got to skip the level grind entirely, meaning scenario grinding wouldn’t have been an issue.
I’d be willing to wager that a lot of beta players are queuing up right behind the “sheep casuals” right now. Any time that you have a game with a structured level path, and you have a reward based game with the best rewards at the end of the line, people are going to take the path of least resistance to get there. Killing for the wootah feeling is fun like once, maybe. But as soon as that rush is over, and you look around and realize that in the time it took you to attain it, everyone else got 10 levels, 3 supahsweet pieces of gear, and can now kick your butt 10 times over (or they’re a friend of yours and now can’t group with you because you’re too far behind), that wootah feeling evaporates pretty quickly.
At the risk of using a tired analogy, it’s like the mouse in the maze. On one side of the maze is a glowing rainbow flower that twirls, spits glitter, and sings the best of Mylie Cyrus 24/7. On the other side is a plain, yellow, hunk of cheese. The mouse might bump into that flower and pause a second, having his “wootah” moment and wondering why the heck the flower sings Mylie Cyrus, but then he’s gonna go back to studying the path and grinding his way to the cheese.
So that’s why everyone right now is grinding scenarios in Warhammer. It’s why people would form lists in lower guk and wait for hours to get a chance at one of the camps in EQ, even though there were tons of other good dungeons around. It’s why no one groups to get to the level cap in WoW. Heck, I think there are tons of wootah moments in Vanguard, but no one stuck around to find out. And in a few weeks, as Tipa pointed out recently, it might be why the bulk of the EQ2 population will run the same 2 or 3 replayable dungeons in the Shadow Odyssey expansion, despite the fact that there will be about 15 to choose from.
That’s not the players fault. Give us some cheese that is shaped like a glowing rainbow flower that spits glitter and sings Mylie Cyrus, and maybe we’ll stop our rut-like tendencies.
Posted by jayernh under Archive | Comments (5)
October 3, 2008
I invited four new people into Revelry and Honor this past week. All three seem very laid back, eager to be part of things, and fun to play with. Thanks to things like writs and heritage quests in EQ2, they can all contribute towards leveling the guild, which brings nice perks to all members. But they are level 32, 21,21, and 15, so it will likely be months before they are directly able to group with the bulk of the guild on a regular basis. Sure, there is mentoring in EQ2, and many members in our guild also love to play alts, but those things fall far short from making the linear, railroad track of a leveling system acceptable.
Above: Killing sarnaks in Chardok.
I’ve said before that I think Warhammer made some nice inroads to making grouping easier. Public quests removed many of the typical hurdles - group limits, people being on different quest steps, the need for a balanced group that revolved around the holy trinity, etc. But they still didn’t address the biggest one, which is levels.
So now that Warhammer has been out for a few weeks, we’re already starting to see threads from people complaining about the low level areas and scenarios being deserted. Warhammer Alliance, Ten Ton Hammer, Gamespot, and The Greenskin, to name just a few, all contained threads discussing the topic. The queue system just compounds the problem, because it will prevent new players from being evenly distributed across the servers. Slow levelers are already finding things a bit sparse. It seems that PvP servers are arguably worse when it comes to the level chasm, since high levels get turned into chickens when they enter lower level areas. So on the odd chance that a low level player actually crosses paths with a higher level, it’ll be no different than running through Farmer McFarmer’s Farm and scurrying through the NPC livestock. While that is an unbelieveable thrill for my 4 year old daughter, it’s not so much for the average gamer.
Above: No, I don’t look like a mushroom, why would you say that?
WoW and EQ2 both have repeatedly streamlined the leveling process, and the path from 1 to the level cap is now much faster than it used to be. EQ2 is about to speed things up even more with their next Game Update, and WoW created a leveling superhighway with their recent Recruit-A-Friend promotion. The message is that leveling isn’t a journey anymore, at least for these games. It’s a barrier that keeps new players and slow levelers from interacting with the bulk of the population. It’s a good move to speed things up, but ultimately it’s a band-aid solution for the real problem.
What strikes me is that tons of time and resources go into creating and polishing all this lower level content, and it’s pushing daisies after only a week or two. I mentioned this on a recent Shut Up We’re Talking, but if I logged into Age of Conan today, I’ve already missed the opportunity to see robust populations in the lower level areas. Apparently, the same is now true for Warhammer.
It’s not glitzy or flashy, but the most innovative game feature is the ability for people to play together and both make progress, regardless of how much ass-time they’ve clocked on the old exp meter. Please, Tunare, make it happen!
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September 22, 2008
I’m sorta torn on this topic, because the research nerd in me loves to let my fingers do the walking and get instant answers to pretty much any MMO question I have. But there is definitely something to be said about the “good old days” of Everquest, when fansites, wikis, databases, and, yes, even bloggers, were few and far between. Sometimes it really is best to leave something to the imagination.
“Back in the day,” I remember people arguing about what the spell harmony did - some insisted it was a mana buff, and would cast it on other players, while some, correctly, said it was a threat reducer (although it was still up for debate on whether the spell should go on the player or on the mob).
I also remember being half dazed from doing our second guildie camp of Zordak in a row, (my 16 day proof of insanity) taking an afk, and feeling the blood drain from my head when someone told me that I screwed up the timer because I was sitting on the Zordak spawn point. Practically every night in /ooc, as adventurers settled in to their nightly camp claims, the neverending debate about the Anti-camp code would always find a way to surface.
There were lots of mysteries in Everquest - some true and some still unresolved. Don’t kill bixies or you’ll spawn griffons; don’t fall in the lava or you’ll die and have no corpse to loot; Lake Rathe is home to the Krakken, a giant underwater beast; the Tower of Frozen Shadow has a secret 8th floor; don’t organize monk protests outside Freeport or you’ll face the wrath of a 100 foot gnome named Smedley….
………
For better or worse, Everquest had a lot more of “the human element” in it than current MMO titles. On the downside, players survived the upheaval from such scandals as pie tin exploits, and tumpy tonic turn in abuse. But we also had the thrilling metagame called vendor diving, where you could explore the recently sold items on any particular vendor’s inventory and, possibly, find a real steal or two. Some poor sap’s careless sale was another man’s phat platz.
The content of Everquest was also more varied than the crisp decorum of level tiers and linear progression that so many MMOs sport today. Some zones were definitely better experience than others, but we didn’t have the benefit of a numerical exp tally with every kill, so patchtime often brought on careful exploration to see what the new best hunting spots were. Market prices were also unpredictable due to changes in drop rates - or the discontinuation of an item altogether. Rubicite armor was valuable to begin with, but skyrocketed once it stopped dropping. (and while it was a quest item, I still /mourn the end of the BFG). The fluctuating drop rates made the market a lot more interesting, because that certain worthless trash drop could suddenly become an overnight diamond.
Over the summer, Everquest 2 has had a lengthy in game event about the invasion of the void, and the murder of the Priestess in the North Qeynos temple. I’ve participated in each part of the live event quests that launch with every game update, and while I’m impressed with the unique rewards and storyline, I found myself thinking, “why did they have to tell us about it in the patch notes?” They have kept it vague enough that the mystery is still up in the air, but it would have been cool to log in one day this summer and, out of the blue, run into one of the black void clouds, with no warning or explanation. We wouldn’t know what these clouds were all about, and we wouldn’t know why the creatures nearby were suddenly afflicted with some sort of tempest-illness. There would be lots of in-game discussions about the back story, and eventually players would track down and share the locations of the quest NPCs. These in game chats about the quests would not only do a better job of getting the word out to the playerbase about the live event, but would also help to build *ta-da!* Community! I’m sure there is a very good reason why so much is revealed in patch notes these days, but I still think it would be cool if we were kept in the dark a bit more.
Warhammer suffers from this a little…..ok, a lot. By the time the game was launched, so much was written, screenshotted, podcasted, and video’d about it, there is little left to solve. Heck, a bunch of revelations came straight from the official site, in the form of regular journals, videos, and site guides. It’s almost like George Lucas blurting out that Darth is Luke’s father. Or Orson Welles announcing that Rosebud is the sled. The bright side is that the game is PvP heavy, so no one can predict exactly what’s going to happen (larger side will win).
Developers are, in a way, playing the role of MMO gods. Why not imitate the ancient gods of Greek and Roman mythology, and keep us on our toes a little more? More giant Smedley gnomes, less talk.
Posted by jayernh under Archive, Gaming Commentary | Comments (6)
September 20, 2008
It’s not like we didn’t see this coming. Right now, in this little slice of the blogosphere, the launch of Warhammer Online has turned blogger against blogger, with the Warhammer enthusiasts facing off against, well, anyone who isn’t a Warhammer enthusiast. It’s the blogosphere version of RvR, only there are no squigs and no living cities. (Plenty of Waaagh though).
I remember a long discussion that my “Shut Up We’re Talking” Common Sense co-host Darren started about whether bloggers are press. Lately, the answer seems to be a resounding NO. The main job of the “press,” is dissemination of information. Yes, bloggers can help generate interest in a game, but journalistic credibility evaporates when the focus becomes “them.” And while it’s true that commentary can fall under the definition of “press,” there is a fine line between insightful analysis and slightly longer versions of mundane forum replies.
The recent interview of Erling Ellingsen by Daedren of MMOCrunch is one example of that blurring line between journalism and ownzj00 forum flaming. What should have been a newsworthy and timely interview of AoC’s Product Manager instead turned into a piece largely about Daedren. His original review of Age of Conan was important, because whether one agrees with it or not, it presented a thorough recap all things wrong with the game. But he did himself a disservice when he forgot that it was the review, and not him, that readers found newsworthy. As soon as he inserted himself into the equation, credibility was lost, and the result was a Jerry Springer-esque feel to the interview, rather than a professional tone that might have helped to push forward the discussion of AoC’s troubles.
There was also a certain weirdness to the whole revelation of Tobold getting a lifetime subscription to Warhammer Online. Tobold is definitely an established blogger, with a prolific entry count, and a plump readership. But when he made the announcement that he accepted a lifetime subscription, it made for a very awkward moment. What’s the point of A) taking a subscription that he probably won’t use much at all and B) making it newsworthy by devoting an entire blog entry to it. With the title, “Full Disclosure on my Relationship with Mythic,” it’s little surprise that Tobold, the Blogger, was the focus of the debate. Right on cue, the blogosphere abided, and Toboldgate was born.
And in the past few days, we’ve become witness to a tag team blog-off about Warhammer Online that included references to Kool-Aid, Communist Russia, and the Bible. I don’t necessarily endorse the beehive-prodding strategy of Tipa (although her recent entries are hilarious and have become the only sparkling gem that’s emerged from this showdown), and I also disagree with going so far as to start a crusade against Warhammer fans. But at the same time, it’s slightly ridiculous that the same people over and over are making it personal, and rejecting any thoughtful criticism about this particular game.
Tipa wrote an entry a while back that still rings in my head from time to time. She threw down the gauntlet, and challenged the blogosphere to roll up their sleeves, dive into a game, stick with it for a year, and write about it. Not write about press releases, developer videos, and breathless anticipation of future titles, but about what exactly we are doing nightly when we log in to the game of our choice. That’s something that I used to do regularly, and something that I have had trouble doing of late. I agree with her that we don’t see enough of that, and it’s too bad, because that’s when blogger personalities are a welcome part of the writing process, and, if done well, really improve the quality of the storytelling. Tipa, Stargrace, and Van Hemlock are just three bloggers who do it well, and make me wish I could get back into that groove again.
Over in my guild, I’ve made it our philosophy that if someone has visions of their toon’s name, lit up with flashing bulbs that become so bright they explode into flames because the name is so powerful, they probably should look elsewhere for a home. I think the same should go for blogging. I’ve never had any aspirations of this blog becoming anything newsworthy, and I also don’t consider myself press. But to those that might, it’s worth noting that it’s the games, and what happens in those games, that’s newsworthy.
Posted by jayernh under Archive, Gaming Commentary | Comments (7)
September 11, 2008
A couple of years ago, I took part in a blogging tribute to the victims of 9/11. It became something that I wanted to continue to do, even though the site has scaled back its yearly events. This year, my tribute is to Asia Cottom.
Asia was an 11 year old, just starting Middle School in Washington D.C. Just like any other kid, she loved Barbie, Tweety, and double dutch. But Asia was not typical, by any standards. She loved to read, and loved science, math, and computers, with the hope to become a pediatrician when she grew up. She had attended computer camp prior to starting Middle School, and looked forward to sharing her experience with her fellow students. She also loved her faith, and at her church, she served as an usher, a member of the dance group, and a singer in the church choir. On her own, she loved to study the Bible and wrote her own commentary to some of the more challenging passages.
On September 11, 2001, Asia Cottom boarded Flight 77, along with two of her classmates and three of her teachers. She and her classmates had been selected to fly from D.C. to the Channel Islands in Santa Barbara, to take part in National Geographic’s Sustainable Seas Expedition. The purpose was to study marine life, but there would be plenty of fun as well - kayaking, beach trips, and even the chance to swim with dolphins. This was a unique opportunity, and she was so excited about the trip that she spent time in advance, doing research on her computer. She couldn’t wait to learn, but she also couldn’t wait to get into the water. This was going to be an amazing experience.
35 minutes into the flight, Muslim terrorists hijacked the plane, and steered it into the Pentagon, killing all 64 passengers, crew, and another 125 victims in the building.
Her last project at school was to list her role models and best friends. For her heroes, she listed her parents. She listed her brother as one of her best friends. And on her list of great singers, she listed her mother. For Asia, family was at the top of her list.
On the evening of 9/11, Asia’s mother told her daughter’s teacher, “Mrs. Jones, my baby got her wings today.” The teacher replied, “We have to live right so we can get our wings when it is our time.”
In remembrance of Asia Cottom, age 11, of Washington D.C..
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August 15, 2008
I was out and about earlier today, checking out the latest live event quest that came with Game Update 47, when suddenly I saw a very snappy looking Qeynosian strut by on his equally decked out horse. His name was Commander Vincent Angellicor, and he sauntered from the South Qeynos Gates to the Lighthouse, where he proceeded to check in with Karn Rockhopper, and Brieanna Soph, who are heading up the construction of a fortress offshore.
Commander Angellicor checks in with both of them to see how things are going with the construction of the “fortress.” He explains that the Queen is preoccupied with the threats from Kunark, and, more urgently, with the threats from the energy storms.
Karn Rockhopper does admit that there were cracks in the foundation, which led to them using more stone than they had planned. Brieanna Soph says she has adjusted her plans a bit to account for the increased need for stone, but Commander Angellicor tells her not to adjust so much that they don’t create a fortress that is strong enough. She also reports that there is a mysterious stranger that has been watching the progress of construction. He disappears before anyone can get close enough, but he is wearing a Freethinker’s Amulet.
_______
Now, that “fortress” being discussed is referring to the upcoming launch of guild halls. So what can we speculate about its launch?
Here are a few of my thoughts. Some are probably a wish more than a prediction.
First, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that guild halls will require a guild to be at a certain level (I’m hoping it’s 60!), and also have a certain enormous amount of status. But based on Master Rockhopper’s comments, it looks like guilds will need to contribute some raw materials as well - namely, stone.
The urgency of the construction is very curious. The fortress has to be strong, but it needs to be completed quickly, due to threats from the void incursions. It sounds like these fortresses are meant to be protection in the event that Qeynos itself comes under attack.
Which leads me to my next hope - that Qeynos (and Freeport) are destroyed by the invasion of the Void. This would satisfy two hopes of mine, because I want guild halls to really have a purpose, and I want to see the Void invasion really feel like an invasion. With all the PvP and RvR that’s being injected into our MMO veins, wouldn’t it be refreshing for us PvE carebears to face a little shake up of the status quo? A little sense of danger can go a long way.
How cool would it be if the general population needed to use guild halls as the base of operations for their daily endeavors, like crafting, mending, banking, and brokering…
I don’t know anything about the League of the Freethinkers, so I’m curious as to why they are distant observers of the constuction site. Apparently, if you go to one of the nearby islands near the guild hall, you can occasionally spot this Freethinker spy on a nearby hill. He uses a magic potion to disappear in a cloud of smoke, though, so you won’t have much of an opportunity to engage in pleasantries.
Posted by jayernh under Archive, Everquest II | Comments (5)
August 14, 2008
I was putting together the “Fall Goals” for the guild today, and it gave me a nice opportunity to step back and look at the big picture for a moment.
Above: RnH on our first trip to Shard of Hate.
We started up as a guild back in January, about 8 months ago. In that time, we have successfully raided almost all content up to T8. We also worked together to complete several heritage quests and some of the larger questlines, like the class hat quest. Several members have dinged level 80 in adventuring, or tradeskilling (or both!), and many of those have completed their fabled adventuring epics and tradeskill epics. Our guild has reached level 60 now, and this past week, we ventured into our first Tier 8 raid zone - Shard of Hate, to try our luck on scooping up loot from the trash and to play around with Demetrius Crane.
Above: Ah, memories. Guild pose on the pyramid in the “Spirits of the Lost” raid zone, after taking down Venekor.
The part that I think is the coolest, though, is that we did it on a very laid back, casual playstyle. We only raid two nights a week, and raiding isn’t mandatory. Any guild events we do run from 8:30 EST to 11 EST, and I think we’ve gone over that 11 PM time only once. Our motto is, “Focused progress, but not at the expense of a good night’s sleep.” For me, it sunk in last week that we actually have been able to do exactly that.
Above: Celebration after taking down Harla Dar in Temple of Scale.
Funny thing is, that moment has come and gone. I’m always uneasy about the direction of the guild, and I’d love to know if that’s a common feeling among guild leaders, or if it’s just me. I find that leading a guild can be a lot harder than other leadership positions, like coaching or teaching, primarily because it’s impossible to know whether everyone in the guild is “on board,” with your philosophy. When you’re facing a team or a class, you can instantly tell how your words are being received. That’s impossible with a guild, because of the distance between you and everyone else. That can make things very frustrating at times, but it also makes guild accomplishments that much more enjoyable.
Above: RnH taking on Cthulu, one of the Guild Raids. This was one of our first raids, “back in the day.” (about 4 months ago).
We’re definitely not a uber guild, but we’re also not trying to be one. Given our limited playtimes and flaky schedules, I think we’re doing pretty darned good.
Above: The RnH carpet brigade, back in March, taking on Rahotep for the Scepter Heritage Quest.
…and now I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop…..
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