Archived from groups: alt.games.everquest (More info?)
It is with anticipation that I leave work last night and rush home - the
details I've seen leaked about the new expansion sound intriguing. I get
home at my usual 7:30ish and immediately begin the patch process.
It goes very smoothly and quickly. Too quickly. I pre-ordered the
expansion by clicking "Yes" on one of those annoying pop-ups when logging in
a few weeks ago, but I hadn't seen my computer downloading any files in the
meantime. I remember when Gates of Discord came out; the patch seemed to go
similarly quickly, but when I logged in, I couldn't actually enter any of
the new zones. I click on "Advanced Options" and find out that the Descent
to Darkhollow box isn't checked. I check it, click on "Complete File
Check", and suddenly that patcher informs me it will take two hours to
download the necessary files.
Drat. I never thought I'd see a day where DSL seems slow. I content myself
by watching Deep Space Nine DVD's I had rented with NetFlix.
Two hours later I log on. I quickly say Hello to the guild, then try to
track what's happened. First off, my UI seems slightly wrong. I have a
custom UI, but not overly so. I've experimented with various custom UI's
over the years, but they never seem quite right to me, plus you always face
the problem of what to do when the author of a custom UI abandons the game
and stops updating. A customer UI that was heavily pushed by its author on
the EQClerics forum was one such example. My requirements are few. For the
most part I stick with the default UI with just a couple of bits and pieces
I've picked up from others. A horizontal bar that combines my bags, primary
and secondary hand holdings, and hoktkeys. A horizontal spell bar with the
complete name of the spell - I had to manually edit it to accommodate the
ninth spell gem when I couldn't find a replacement or update to it on
EQinterface. A buff window that also has the complete spell name. A
self-target with my health and mana on it, as well as XP, AAXP, and
Leadership XP. And that's it. Fortunately, none of the UI changes in the
new expansion affect any of that, and all I have to do is reposition a few
things. I also see the new "EQ" button and stick it in the upper right-hand
corner for now.
Now, what to do. I see that I have something I can claim for pre-ordering
the expansion. I do so, and a runed fang appears in my inventory. I ask
the guild what I'm supposed to do with it, and I'm told there's a gargoyle
in PoK that I turn it in to. So I zone out of the guild hall. After
zoning, I get a message that I have unclaimed Veterans Rewards, which is odd
because I claimed those for Monual ages ago. I ask if anyone else is
getting those. It's a bug, I'm told.
I find the gargoyle - not hard to find as he's surrounded by lots of
characters. I hail him and he smiles, revealing a missing fang. I give him
my fang and get a bunch of text from him - and nothing else. I frown, then
hail him again, and suddenly I'm asked if I want to assume a new form.
Happily I do so, and I find that I've been turned into a Runed Gargoyle - a
berserker Runed Gargoyle, no less. I spend a fun few minutes allocating his
AAXP, then I create a new bank of hotkeys for his abilities. When I'm done,
I've lost everything in my inventory except for some food, water, and
healing clovers, and I'm a gargoyle with wings and everything.
I ask where's a place that a zerker can solo. Plane of Fire I'm told. So I
head towards the PoT stone. Wait, says the person who answered, he meant a
well-geared zerker, not a 5K-hitpoint-having no-gear zerker. Plus you need
levitation to get to the good soloing spots. I have levitation, I respond,
it's right here in my abilities. Try it, is the response. I click on the
levitation hotkey, and it informs me I can't levitate because I have no
mana. Argh. How exactly is a zerker supposed to *get* mana?
Meanwhile, some of my guildies are trying an expedition and ask if anyone
else wants in. I pipe up that I'd be happy to join. So I get an expedition
and group invite. I look around the UI, trying to figure out how to get out
of Runed Gargoyle mode. Finding nothing, I ask the guild. I'm told I need
to go back to the gargoyle and say "Remove". So off I trudge. My Runed
Gargoyle form doesn't have Run 5. I'd forgotten how slow default run speed
is. It seems to take me ages to get back to the gargoyle.
I say "Remove" and my human self returns, complete with his inventory. Now
I run (boy that feels good) towards the Neriak stone and zone in.
I find myself in a completely new-looking Nek Forest. It had actually been
changed a while ago, but I'd never gotten around to exploring it. Looks
very different, very much an EQ2 sort of feeling. I call up the map and try
to figure out how to get to my guildies. They're having problems of their
own trying to get to the expedition and don't have a lot of time to devote
to my questions. I find a way to zone into something called Corathus Creep.
Am I in the right place, I ask the group. Yes, they reply. Where do I go
from here? To the SW corner.
I immediately take off, which is a mistake. I forgot an elementary
precaution: invis. Suddenly I'm getting attacked by a humanoid-looking
thing and a basilisk. Fortunately they don't hit hard, so I just cast
Supernal Elixir on myself and ignore them. I run around, trying to find the
SW corner, feeling completely lost. I've played EQ for so long, and have
become so familiar with all the zones, that it's psychologically
uncomfortable to be in a place I don't recognize and don't immediately know
how to navigate. I haven't felt this way since Luclin came out. It's a
great feeling, actually; EQ is new again.
I find *a* SW corner, but it's just two walls coming together. After
querying my group further (and continuing to refresh my heal-over-time
spell), I'm told I need to swim to the new zone. Since I'm not in any
water, I deduce I'm in the wrong place. I run around a bit more, and find
some water (I don't swim because I still have Dead Man Floating from raids
the previous night) and run towards the SW.
To my relief, a familiar blue line appears in my compass after I zone.
Quickly I get out my Vex Thal mask and invis myself. Then I run around this
zone, which is filled with half-man, half-spider creatures. I find the
bridge leading to the zone, well above the water. From reading the
struggles my group had gone through, I know I need to climb the wall to get
to it. After a short exploration, I find a way to get up to the bridge, and
zone in.
Finally, I'm there. This group consists of me, another cleric, a druid, a
shaman, a ranger, and a paladin. Not an ideal group composition but not
bad, either. At least we won't be hurting for heals. Crowd control will be
a problem, as we discover when three mobs come swarming on our first few
tentative steps into the zone. We beat them off, impressing the paladin
who's not a guildie.
We continue tentatively exploring the zone. We have to go underwater for
one part, and we often can't avoid pulling at least two mobs, but it goes
okay. We have no idea what we're supposed to do - a chest in an underwater
section yields up an item we have no idea what we're supposed to do with.
We reach a part where we see a demon-looking creature called the Guardian of
the Pit, surrounded by four zombies. We're discussing tactics for pulling
it when, with no warning whatsoever, I get disconnected. I sign back in, to
find myself in Everfrost of all places. I ask in guild, and two of my
groupmates are in LFay and one is in North Ro. The instances are bugged,
another one of my guildies says. They'll crash and send you outside the
last LDoN adventure you did. Ah.
It's pretty late, and we don't feel like trying again - who knows if the
instance will crash again. I gate back to the guild lobby and spend a few
minutes handing out free buffs and rezzes before logging. My goodbye to the
guild is, "See you tomorrow after the emergency patch." They laugh. We're
all experienced EQ-ers, we know what to expect.
So, in one night I assumed a bugged new form, got lost in three zones, and
crashed an instance. All in all, a successful night with the new expansion.
=)
--
-Richard
Monual Lifegiver
Prelate of Rodcet Nife
Triton
Povar server
It is with anticipation that I leave work last night and rush home - the
details I've seen leaked about the new expansion sound intriguing. I get
home at my usual 7:30ish and immediately begin the patch process.
It goes very smoothly and quickly. Too quickly. I pre-ordered the
expansion by clicking "Yes" on one of those annoying pop-ups when logging in
a few weeks ago, but I hadn't seen my computer downloading any files in the
meantime. I remember when Gates of Discord came out; the patch seemed to go
similarly quickly, but when I logged in, I couldn't actually enter any of
the new zones. I click on "Advanced Options" and find out that the Descent
to Darkhollow box isn't checked. I check it, click on "Complete File
Check", and suddenly that patcher informs me it will take two hours to
download the necessary files.
Drat. I never thought I'd see a day where DSL seems slow. I content myself
by watching Deep Space Nine DVD's I had rented with NetFlix.
Two hours later I log on. I quickly say Hello to the guild, then try to
track what's happened. First off, my UI seems slightly wrong. I have a
custom UI, but not overly so. I've experimented with various custom UI's
over the years, but they never seem quite right to me, plus you always face
the problem of what to do when the author of a custom UI abandons the game
and stops updating. A customer UI that was heavily pushed by its author on
the EQClerics forum was one such example. My requirements are few. For the
most part I stick with the default UI with just a couple of bits and pieces
I've picked up from others. A horizontal bar that combines my bags, primary
and secondary hand holdings, and hoktkeys. A horizontal spell bar with the
complete name of the spell - I had to manually edit it to accommodate the
ninth spell gem when I couldn't find a replacement or update to it on
EQinterface. A buff window that also has the complete spell name. A
self-target with my health and mana on it, as well as XP, AAXP, and
Leadership XP. And that's it. Fortunately, none of the UI changes in the
new expansion affect any of that, and all I have to do is reposition a few
things. I also see the new "EQ" button and stick it in the upper right-hand
corner for now.
Now, what to do. I see that I have something I can claim for pre-ordering
the expansion. I do so, and a runed fang appears in my inventory. I ask
the guild what I'm supposed to do with it, and I'm told there's a gargoyle
in PoK that I turn it in to. So I zone out of the guild hall. After
zoning, I get a message that I have unclaimed Veterans Rewards, which is odd
because I claimed those for Monual ages ago. I ask if anyone else is
getting those. It's a bug, I'm told.
I find the gargoyle - not hard to find as he's surrounded by lots of
characters. I hail him and he smiles, revealing a missing fang. I give him
my fang and get a bunch of text from him - and nothing else. I frown, then
hail him again, and suddenly I'm asked if I want to assume a new form.
Happily I do so, and I find that I've been turned into a Runed Gargoyle - a
berserker Runed Gargoyle, no less. I spend a fun few minutes allocating his
AAXP, then I create a new bank of hotkeys for his abilities. When I'm done,
I've lost everything in my inventory except for some food, water, and
healing clovers, and I'm a gargoyle with wings and everything.
I ask where's a place that a zerker can solo. Plane of Fire I'm told. So I
head towards the PoT stone. Wait, says the person who answered, he meant a
well-geared zerker, not a 5K-hitpoint-having no-gear zerker. Plus you need
levitation to get to the good soloing spots. I have levitation, I respond,
it's right here in my abilities. Try it, is the response. I click on the
levitation hotkey, and it informs me I can't levitate because I have no
mana. Argh. How exactly is a zerker supposed to *get* mana?
Meanwhile, some of my guildies are trying an expedition and ask if anyone
else wants in. I pipe up that I'd be happy to join. So I get an expedition
and group invite. I look around the UI, trying to figure out how to get out
of Runed Gargoyle mode. Finding nothing, I ask the guild. I'm told I need
to go back to the gargoyle and say "Remove". So off I trudge. My Runed
Gargoyle form doesn't have Run 5. I'd forgotten how slow default run speed
is. It seems to take me ages to get back to the gargoyle.
I say "Remove" and my human self returns, complete with his inventory. Now
I run (boy that feels good) towards the Neriak stone and zone in.
I find myself in a completely new-looking Nek Forest. It had actually been
changed a while ago, but I'd never gotten around to exploring it. Looks
very different, very much an EQ2 sort of feeling. I call up the map and try
to figure out how to get to my guildies. They're having problems of their
own trying to get to the expedition and don't have a lot of time to devote
to my questions. I find a way to zone into something called Corathus Creep.
Am I in the right place, I ask the group. Yes, they reply. Where do I go
from here? To the SW corner.
I immediately take off, which is a mistake. I forgot an elementary
precaution: invis. Suddenly I'm getting attacked by a humanoid-looking
thing and a basilisk. Fortunately they don't hit hard, so I just cast
Supernal Elixir on myself and ignore them. I run around, trying to find the
SW corner, feeling completely lost. I've played EQ for so long, and have
become so familiar with all the zones, that it's psychologically
uncomfortable to be in a place I don't recognize and don't immediately know
how to navigate. I haven't felt this way since Luclin came out. It's a
great feeling, actually; EQ is new again.
I find *a* SW corner, but it's just two walls coming together. After
querying my group further (and continuing to refresh my heal-over-time
spell), I'm told I need to swim to the new zone. Since I'm not in any
water, I deduce I'm in the wrong place. I run around a bit more, and find
some water (I don't swim because I still have Dead Man Floating from raids
the previous night) and run towards the SW.
To my relief, a familiar blue line appears in my compass after I zone.
Quickly I get out my Vex Thal mask and invis myself. Then I run around this
zone, which is filled with half-man, half-spider creatures. I find the
bridge leading to the zone, well above the water. From reading the
struggles my group had gone through, I know I need to climb the wall to get
to it. After a short exploration, I find a way to get up to the bridge, and
zone in.
Finally, I'm there. This group consists of me, another cleric, a druid, a
shaman, a ranger, and a paladin. Not an ideal group composition but not
bad, either. At least we won't be hurting for heals. Crowd control will be
a problem, as we discover when three mobs come swarming on our first few
tentative steps into the zone. We beat them off, impressing the paladin
who's not a guildie.
We continue tentatively exploring the zone. We have to go underwater for
one part, and we often can't avoid pulling at least two mobs, but it goes
okay. We have no idea what we're supposed to do - a chest in an underwater
section yields up an item we have no idea what we're supposed to do with.
We reach a part where we see a demon-looking creature called the Guardian of
the Pit, surrounded by four zombies. We're discussing tactics for pulling
it when, with no warning whatsoever, I get disconnected. I sign back in, to
find myself in Everfrost of all places. I ask in guild, and two of my
groupmates are in LFay and one is in North Ro. The instances are bugged,
another one of my guildies says. They'll crash and send you outside the
last LDoN adventure you did. Ah.
It's pretty late, and we don't feel like trying again - who knows if the
instance will crash again. I gate back to the guild lobby and spend a few
minutes handing out free buffs and rezzes before logging. My goodbye to the
guild is, "See you tomorrow after the emergency patch." They laugh. We're
all experienced EQ-ers, we know what to expect.
So, in one night I assumed a bugged new form, got lost in three zones, and
crashed an instance. All in all, a successful night with the new expansion.
=)
--
-Richard
Monual Lifegiver
Prelate of Rodcet Nife
Triton
Povar server
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