I feel a similar sentiment towards ye Roop. The brighter the flame, the
shorter the fire, I suppose.
Faras
E'ci
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robin Wise 3 [mailto:eurmali@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 1:20 PM
> To: eqbards@onelist.com
> Cc: eurmali@...
> Subject: Re: [eqbards] Digest Number 263
>
>
> From: "Robin Wise 3" <eurmali@...>
>
> >There is no death in EverQuest, except psychologically. And
> I'm dying, I
> >think. I have loved this list like no other board've known
> in some years.
> >It is highly intellectual, why I bother you with this damned
> heavy luggage.
>
> I have to agree, of the lists I've been on, this is one of
> the best. We
> generally get few mindless rants and many insighful opinions
> compared to the
> ratios on, say, the brewing list. I personally think it's
> because of the
> kind of person that likes to play bards, but I have a slight bias. = )
>
> >* It runs deep, I think. There is no wandering. Everyone stays put.
>
> Roop, you yourself helped me to start really traveling long
> distances, and I
> am quite grateful you took me on my first trip to Halas
> (bashing vengeful
> skellies, getting lost in EverFrost - hmmm sounds like a good
> song title).
> I don't know about everyone else, but in the last three days
> I have traveled
> from Kelethin to Halas to Qeynos (one night), from Qeynos to
> Halas back to
> Kelethin (another night), and from Kelethin to Freeport (last
> night). Every
> night I also made stops in Mistmoore a few times (hoping
> against hope for
> someone to sell me the dang drum). Now, this is definitely
> travel on a
> global scale. I do it often - heck, I have saved up enough
> Stormbreaker
> frequent passenger miles to qualify for the Kunark cruise
> First Class.
> Everyone does not stay put - many do. But then, many people
> do stupid
> things IRL too, and I feel no compulsion to follow them there either.
>
> >Camping is a problem, everyone says, and we have all these solutions
> >suggested and implemented. But, mmmm, none will work!
> Camping is central
> >to EverQuest! Everyone camps! Everywhere! Been to Unrest?
> How else do
> >you survive there but "camp the wall?" These people aren't
> camping for
> >items, but just to play. Folks camp every dungeon, every
> outdoor zone.
> >I've been to West Karanas and watched folks pulling lions to
> the wall. And
> >it's the same everywhere else. Was suggested by a friend,
> since I so
> >loathed camping, to play the south Karanas. I am currently
> "camped" there
> >now, because that's all anyone does in such an outdoor zone as well!
>
> I don't like camping either. I do almost all my hunting in
> outdoor zones,
> and I run around looking for good game. This may become
> harder and harder
> at higher levels, but for now I rarely find it difficult to
> track down
> something around my level to hunt... I have spent a lot of
> time killing
> kodiaks in the Commonlands, hunting beetles in the Karanas,
> etc. This is
> not camping - I literally run until I find something to kill.
> Yes, if I am
> in a dangerous zone like North Karana (wayyyy to many grifs
> wandering around
> to hang out in the middle) I do pull monsters away from the
> action to a
> place of relative safety, such as Xanuusus' little grove to
> the North. But
> that's just a basic survival tactic.
>
> You don't like camping? Avoid dungeons unless you have a
> good group. Most
> groups do camp spawn points because it pays off. I find this to be
> typically boring, just like you do. Yes, the best loot is
> found by camping.
> So I make money by hunting and by performing and by doing
> people favors
> and I buy the loot I am unwilling to camp. I have even had
> fun a few times
> camping, but this is entirely dependant on the group. People
> who like to
> screw around, have some fun, make humorous emotes... they can
> really liven
> up a boring few minutes of waiting. I try to be such a
> person when I can,
> and seek out the company of others who actually want to roleplay.
>
> A small digression - warriors can stop to heal and casters
> can stop to med
> without camping. Just because you stop to rest for a few
> minutes does not
> mean you are compelled to stay there until something attacks you.
>
> >:My solution: No natural regeration of wounds, for anyone.
> This is not
> >how wounds work, afterall. A warrior is wounded, make no natural
> >regeneration but increase effect of bandages. They want
> healing, find a
> >freaking cleric.
>
> You said you wanted less down-time? Removing healing would
> cripple everyone
> except clerics, druids, shamans, and of course us bards.
> Now, while I am in
> favor of grouping, how would a level 1 character ever survive
> if he could
> not heal at all? Every healer in the world would be
> CONSTANTLY bombarded
> with people begging for heals, and in fact the healer
> classes, now very
> overpowered, would see a huge influx. Hell, I think
> personally we'd see a
> LOT more bards. But the point is, this is not at all feasible.
>
> >No regeneration of mana either. I know there's no
> real-world counter-part,
> >which others would point out THIS IS A GAME anyway in the
> last argument,
> >but we're talking logic. Mana, where does it come from?
> The physics of
> >mana? Where is this pure energy coming from? Apparently
> Norrath does have
> >gravity, and follows Einstein, so we must assume Energy
> cannot be just
> >created out of thin air. It needs a source.... The soul I
> always assumed,
> >but that can only supply so much.
>
> Exactly why there is a set mana regeneration rate... casters
> don't just get
> all their mana at once. Their soul, or spirit, recharges at
> a rate based on
> their requisite characteristics. If a wizard is more
> intelligent, he has
> greater mental capacity to hold the energy he manipulates...
> becuase he
> understands and uses this energy intellectually. A cleric
> needs wisdom,
> becuase his link to the energy flow of the world is through
> the depth of his
> understanding of how his god manifests in the world.
>
> >Enough with everyone sitting on their duffs. Burn mana in a
> battle, run
> >and hope you're not chased to find a private spot to channel
> spirit spell
> >to regain all your lost mana. I want the game to require
> people to be on
> >THE MOVE and not encourage them to sit around like they're lazy.
>
> Rather than requiring you move, I'd like the game to reward
> you more if you
> do. A difference in approach... I noticed last night that
> quests now give
> appreciable experience. Heck, at level 15 I think I saw a rise from
> delivering the mail, and I got about 1/4 bubble for killing
> the Nybright
> sisters and bringing their necklaces to their besotted
> father. So Verant is
> taking some small steps to encourage people to do quests,
> which pretty much
> always involve moving around.
>
> >* AI lacking. In a massively multiplayer game it should be better,
> >especially one that is so Player vs. Environment based.
> This is AI that
> >was seen in Doom, if that. The wonder of AI that some folks
> are impressed
> >by how it acts, when it's actions are not that complex.
> MUST be improved.
> >When I fight this AI, it makes me bored.
>
> OK, the AI is far from perfect, and it has numerous bugs.
> Still, I remember
> recently facing a camp of orcs and being impressed that the
> oracles sit in
> place and buff up all the cents, that when you attack one
> they will all mob
> you, that they figure out who is the greatest threat and
> typically all
> attack it at once... that is what they're doing, I hope. I
> like to believe
> that monsters attack bards preferentially because we are the
> greatest threat
> to them... No, they are not as smart as players... well,
> most players. = )
>
> >* Tradeskills are lacking. I have a feeling, given a year,
> this may work
> >out.
>
> Absolutely. I regret the fact that Verant does not give much
> support to
> trade skills, and that brewing has been so difficult of late.
> I am sure
> that has hit you as hard as it has me... nerfing Ol'Tujim's,
> then releasing
> a lot of new recipes onyl to find we can't make many of them... it's
> frustrating. I recently took up baking for kicks, and have
> found it to be
> pretty fun. I don't try to make a profit off trades anymore,
> I just do it
> for the roleplaying...
>
> >* Death. There is no death. I want to die. I cannot die.
> Who were the
> >generation before this, the immortal generation? Totally
> ignored by the
> >story of the game.
>
> I have never played any computer game (that I recall) where death was
> "real". You either get resurrected with some penalty, or you
> have a certain
> number of "lives" per game, after which you start over with
> another set of
> "lives". Granted how many times we die in EQ, I am very glad
> death is not
> permanent... otherwise no one would ever make 10th level. = )
>
> >It is like a moment locked in time, it never changes. No
> matter what
> >anyone does, the NPCs will always be locked in that moment,
> regardless what
> >level the real folk have gotten to. The "plot" is
> unchanging. Join a
> >massively online rolplaying game with an ongoing plot!
> There is no ongoing
> >plot. Everything is the same. It always has been, always
> will. McQuaid
> >wants people to appreciate where items come from plotwise,
> when they buy
> >them or find them. Yet I'm afraid those subtlties are lost
> when it's
> >always that same NPC in that same place, and they never change.
>
> I would like to see some sort of plot evolution too... but
> the point was
> well made elsewhere. How would any new player ever keep up
> with massive
> changes? Now, maybe some day Antonius Bayle will be
> assassinated, and
> Qeynos will fall under the sway of his evil brother... but
> even something
> like this would massively screw with newbies in that zone. I
> don't honestly
> know, algorythmically, how to solve the problem of having an
> evolving plot
> that does not cause all new characters to be at a HUGE disadvantage.
>
> >* Fix the damned NPC parser. Using Scott Adams Parser in
> 1999!!!! Infocom
> >got it better in 1985!!!
>
> OK, the parser is not very sophisticated, granted. I'd like
> to see this
> improve as well.
>
> >* To really encourage roleplaying and a community allow
> people access to an
> >in-game print press. Where they can make their own
> newspapers or books.
> >Allow people to own a deck of cards so they can play kings court and
> >gamble. Make a Roulette Wheel when a PC spins it everyone
> can watch the
> >text as it clicks along.
>
> Well, there is one option along these lines... the message
> board in Qeynos.
> I'd like to see these in every city in Norrath... some of the
> personals are
> really funny... Mael trol luking for inky pet fur barshin and
> luvvin...
>
> I'd love to see the cards too... though I hear there are
> cards in game, I
> don't think we can play. After all, in the Bristlebane
> section of the
> manual don't they warn you against playing King's Court with
> a worshipper of
> the god of tricks?
>
> >NAMELY
> >
> >GIVE folks options besides combat!!! I ask this, because
> the way combat
> >works in EverQuest bores the living crap out of me. If it
> weren't for the
> >way groups worked, "heroes" sitting around in some safe corner while
> >squires hauled the monsters one at a time for them.... BAH!
>
> The options besides combat are few, but meaningful. There
> are quests... I
> know there are a finite number, and many don't seem that
> rewarding. I use
> quests as a means of accomplishing one of my personal goals:
> I want to make
> all the NPCs in the cities I frequent love me. I want to
> have everyone I
> deal with look on me warmly. So I go off and run small
> quests and feel like
> I am progressing towards a huge and nigh-impossible goal.
>
> There is exploration... Norrath is pretty big, and given
> enough time and
> dedication I am sure you can see everything... but given the
> rare spawns and
> the fact that many things move around, the same zone is not
> the same each
> time you visit it. I want to see the Lake Rathe monster! I
> want to see the
> named sea serpent in Dagnor's Cauldron! I want to give Cazic Thule a
> wedgie! Well, ok, maybe not soon, but someday...
>
> Most importantly, there are other PCs. Most of the really
> good times I have
> had in EQ have been in player interactions. Last night a
> good friend of
> mine named Murtik sent me a /tell to say a friend of his was
> on a scavenger
> hunt and wanted some edible goo. He was willing to pay well
> (15pp for 3 of
> them!!!) so I ran back to Freeport with my friend and master
> baker Bayrn.
> We brought the goo and gave it to Guta, and also threw in
> some cookies and a
> Blackburrow stout, on the house. We eneded up sitting around
> the bank for
> about a half hour, just talking and drinking and screwing
> around. I can't
> even say it wasn't profitable (beyond the very genrous money
> for the goo)...
> the kindly Guta appreciated my roleplaying and my generosity
> (hey, he gave
> me a lot of money for something made out of fire beetle eyes
> and rat ears, I
> was in a good mood) so he gave me some bronze armor. He was
> happy, I was
> happy, and it had nothing to do with killing things or camping.
>
> Roop, you were an inspiration to me when I was a young lad in
> Kelethin. You
> gave me my first drink of Elven Wine (now I have maxed out my alcohol
> tolerance every level since). You took me on my first trip
> from Freeport to
> Halas. You answered some of my newbie questions about bards.
> I am truly
> sorry to hear you are not enjoying the game anymore. I think
> you can find
> other things to do in Norrath that you will enjoy more, and
> sincerely hope
> that some of the suggestions I gave above will be helpful.
> If not, I for
> one will miss you.
>
> May your voice always be sweet,
>
> Aloro (E'ci)
>
>
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