Tuesday, December 7, 2010

It's all getting a little bit like work.

Raiding was fun last night. We had an old raider join back with us on his Monk, so I switched to Adurj to assist with support. It was quite fun. It’s been an absolute age since I have played Adurj in anger. I even had to re-sub the account he is on. It took a bit of time to get back in to things and it looks like I’m going to have to look at his AA tree as Virtuous Concerto seems all the rage these days. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a funny little ability. Basically you stack up all ye buffs on the Dirge, let them DPS for 10 seconds like crazy and their VC records it. Or is it RO, Rhythmic Overture..I forget. Anyhow, one of those records the DPS then when you cast its sister skill (RO or VC, as I say I forget which way round they go), then during the toughy named fight the Dirge releases the RO or VC after announcing it and the rest of the raid get the benefit of the results of the totted up DPS from when the Dirge recorded it. Makes sense? I’m still finding my way round this seeing as it’s been a while since I played Adurj.

Kinda of a quirky idea, kinda fun, but on our raid forums a discussion has started about this very subject where an extremely experienced Dirge who raids with one of the top end raid guilds is offering some great advice. It’s all very helpful stuff from a lovely fella (thanks Aik!). But, after a page of posts and discussions I really must say I’m starting to feel like I’m back in a maths lesson. I hated Maths. Took ‘A’ level Mathematics and dropped out in the first month, with my tutor agreeing as I walked back out of his office as he was saying, “Yeah, it’s probably for the best eh?”. It links with a discussion I had in a previous post concerning third party software and how it can end up detracting from the game and that it is a personal choice if you opt into it or not. Personally when things start looking too much like work and less like a game, I start to get disinterested. I already have an intense yet good job with long hours. I don’t want to come home and start researching the exact time to use a skill or heading deep in to the maths of the Advanced Combat Tracker. I just want to play the game and enjoy it. Yeah I’ll use ACT to see which of my skills are doing the most DPS to ensure I utilise those correctly but I don’t really want to dig any deeper than that.

This brings us on to the question that has been asked recently within our raid force and actually prompted perhaps the leaving of some of our members. What sort of raid force are we? I would say we are casual interested in progression at our own rate. Now don’t get me wrong, I am fully aware that to get places in SF raiding, especially past easy mode and in to hard mode, you all need to be on top of your game and at the very least be trying when you raid, which our raid force does. But going that bit further in to the exact science of the stuff, well that’s just a little too far for me. Yeah, I’ll be playing with VC/RO when I play my Dirge but until I get the hang of it, it’s gonna be hit and miss for me I guess. I certainly don’t have the time or energy to research it that in depth. Maybe that means I am not worthy of my spot on the raid force, if all other Dirges are putting the effort in and I am not it will soon show up I would have thought.

Maybe that’s why I prefer the off tank role. It’s an easier role that doesn’t require as much time commitment. I became ok at playing a Bruiser because I play one a lot, not because I researched everything to do with it and gaining and keeping aggro, although a challenge against such relatively high dps in our raid force is actually not that difficult a task. Well, I don’t have to do homework to perform the role, put it that way.

On to other news, I have been playing Udrath quite a bit with my Bros Warden Merecraft, Jahfs Inquisitor, and at times Brynnethe, (Bro’s wife) and Livvy one of Emaralds alts. We have been systematically heading around picking up HQs and levelling that way, pretty much because those are some of the most fun questlines. We completed the Zek ones ending in DFC as previously mentioned and the other night we hit and cleared the Missing Mask HQ in Nektropos Castle, which is still to this day one of my favourite zones in the game. If only the house given for free in the seven year reward was based on that place instead of Castle Mistmoore’s interior. Mere and I have to finish Haddens Earring by heading in to the Ruins of Varsoon and then that’s another HQ completed. I know it’s lower level stuff, but the company makes the game and I have been having such a blast playing with this tight knit group of my friends. Many thanks to you all for the laughs and good times!

Be well.

2 comments:

  1. Really enjoyed the Nek castle run with you guys :) I agree, it remains one of the best zones in the game.

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  2. Nek was almost as much of a blast as the company!!

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