A little history..

I have been playing MMOs for the last 10 years. First up was Everquest and at the time as a tabletop role-player this game was like mana from heaven. Being able to actually carry out tasks and play my toon in a virtual world seemed so much better than having to describe to the GM what you were doing. I quit Everquest shortly after the Velious expansion release for various reasons, but mainly because my friends had also fallen by the wayside. So a couple of years gap, where I tired DAoC, AC, and WoW but none of those seemed to tickle my fancy like EQ had.

So along comes EQ2 and in late 2004 I really didn’t realise what I was getting myself into! When I played EQ, I played conservatively. I would only spend a certain amount of my spare time on the game. But with EQ2, what started off as a light indulgence became a full on hobby that saps most of my spare time. Having children changed that quite a bit, but even so any spare time when the kids had been put to bed is dedicated to EQ2.

So that’s where I’m at. A player of EQ2 since launch, recovering alt-a-holic and trying to concentrate on just two (ok maybe three) toons from my four accounts. My main is an 80 Dirge, my secondary toons are an 80 Bruiser and 80 Coercer, all on the Antonia Bayle server. But at the moment I am trying to concentrate 80 % of my online time to my Dirge. Especially since TSO, it seems so much easier progressing mainly one toon instead of 7 level 80s. For some reason the TSO expansion with all the shard nonsense seems to make it more difficult to keep several level 80s at top tier. So, it’s Adurj Le’Bard all the way!

My time online at the moment is mainly spent getting to know the members of the guild I have recently joined on Antonia Bayle server, ‘Clan Werre’. Everyone there seems very nice and as of yet I have encountered no unpleasantness at all, which can only be a good sign. I recently moved guilds, having previously been a leader for two years of the huge guild Acolytes of Valor. It was a tough decision to leave there. I had and still have so many excellent friends from AoV and I knew when I left I would have less time to play with friends that I have been playing online with for some time. But it was a necessary move. Unfortunately I hit a wall where I was starting to have the unthinkable happen. I was getting bored with game content. It’s happened a few times before but then another expansion comes out and all is hunky dory. However, this next expansion isn’t until Feb 2010 and I just knew if I didn’t find any other interest in the game I would be quitting. Hence the move. I decided to try something fresh away from the strain of co-leading a large guild and decided I would try to get back into a bit of role-playing.

I had heard some good things about Clan Werre and knew that they have a fair few active role-players and most importantly, they are predominately a Euro time guild. So I took the plunge and left to try and regain an interest in the game. Things didn’t quite seem to turn out how I had planned. Once the move had gone ahead and I was settling in it became apparent that although there are roleplayers in CW, they are not as active as I had first thought. However, one part of the guild was very active and that was the raid party. Now raiding is something I have done before. Having been in a raid guild in tier 7 I hadn’t raided seriously since that time. Seeing as I was looking to renew my interest in EQ2, I decided to try my hand at raiding again in the absence of a lot of role-play. What a great decision! I am having so much fun being part of a raid force again. I had forgotten how it feels to be part of a force working as a team to achieve some truly difficult goals. I must say, I am totally enjoying myself.

My one regret is not having enough time though to spend as much of it with my old guild mates and my good friend and previous co-leader Sjlverwolf, as I would like to. I have to console myself though that I still get to occasionally chat with him and my other old friends in game. Obviously it is nowhere near as much as I used to though. Part of the problem is that in having a family, my time online is limited, so when I log in (especially on my Dirge or Coercer) I am usually swamped with messages to group or indeed, I have logged in specifically to raid. So my time to be free online to spend with me old mates is virtually nonexistent. It is a huge shame. But I have to remind myself that if I had not made the change, I probably wouldn’t be playing EQ2 at all now and I would have most likely quit. I plan on making an effort to stay in touch with my friends. I’m usually pretty slack at that kind of thing, but it’s about time I stopped being lazy and made the effort.

So, that’s where I am at with Everquest2. New guild, one main toon and full time raider again. It’s all a bit of a departure from my normal play style, but I’m having fun and can’t wait to join 23 of my fellow guildies to spank some tough content.

Be Well.