The assumption that you are your equipment is, imho, a
false one. I could care less whether another player
has better equipment than I do (I'm gonna try to get
the best I can myself). You are what you do. I've
seen lvl 7 dwarves in full bronze with an
executioner's axe running around orc hill kill
stealing. No one except another KewLDooD will respect
that player and when he gets to the level that he must
group to succeed, he's toast. He won't have learned
the lessons he needs to to compete.

If you (figuratively) expect me to respect you because
of your equipment, forget about it. If you expect me
to respect you because you are good in a fight,
because you are helpful to players at a lower level
than you, or because you RP a bard well, rest assured
I will.

Just my untwinked 2cp,

Tomerrilin,
Bard of the 14th Song
Mith Marr

May your days be filled with light,
and your nights with song

--- JasonF <JasonF@...> wrote:

> I've been playing my bard "Crier" for just under 38
> days of 'played' time
> and I just hit level 36. That's definitely *not*
> fast leveling, but I've
> seen a lot slower. Before my bard I played a monk
> up to 23rd and an
> Enchanter up to 13th while learning EQ and realizing
> that the best class in
> the game was bard.. but I digress.
>
> Last night I saw a level 9 bard in full Lambent,
> dual Ykeshas, Flowing Black
> Silk Sash, Mistmoore Drums, the works; he was decked
> out like a level 50
> that hadn't been to the Planes. About four days ago
> I saw a level 15 in
> full Lambent, and I assume he had MM Drums and other
> goodies as well.
>
> I've got to say that this was *profoundly*
> discouraging to me. I've been
> working my ass off for the pieces of Lambent armor
> that I have and I *still*
> lack the boots and helm. So here I sit, dejected on
> the sands of Oasis,
> being *less* complete than a guy that started his
> bard last weekend. Not
> only that, he literally *laughed* at me for having
> 38 'played' days and not
> being level 50.
>
> When there ceases to be any way for players'
> characters to differentiate
> themselves from one another other based upon level
> (i.e. time and effort
> expended), what is the point of continuing? I want,
> when people look at me,
> for them to know that I braved death and died many
> times to achieve the
> armor that I'm wearing. I don't want people to
> assume that I bought it from
> a farming high level Wizard or Mage or twinked
> myself with it. I am now
> "just another bard in Lambent". If the armor was NO
> DROP it would be a
> different story. The bard that I saw in Oasis would
> have been in steel
> probably and I would have something tangible and
> visual over him based upon
> my efforts. Everyone that saw me would then *know*
> that I had earned the
> pieces for myself. They would know that I had
> pulled Gypsy Musicians from
> Mistmoore Castle for a lute, and that I had pulled
> Gargoyles in Lower Guk
> for a Basalt Carapace. The Lambent armor's not
> being NO DROP has reduced my
> efforts to inconsequential and unnoteworthy.
>
> I am seriously wondering what it is I'm doing
> playing a game that makes me
> feel this way.
>
> Crier Sharpsong
>
>
>
>

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