<html>
<br>
Yikes . . . sounds like this game is one big chore to some people. Do you
guys do anything fun?<br>
<dl>
<dd>-Musil<br>
<br>
</dl>At 06:52 PM 5/18/99 , you wrote:>From: "Tony Butler"
<tbutler@...><br>
><br>
>>This is one of many complaints made by high level bards . . .
saying that<br>
>>they are not finding groups, and are not accepted at high
levels.<br>
>><br>
>>Pardon my audacity, but this complaint seems a little but
premature, and to<br>
>>us "lower" level people, seems kind of silly. I play EQ
a LOT, and I'm not<br>
>>bad at it either. Since release my character has made it to Level
18. If<br>
>>you are in the low 30's as you say, then you must play EQ
obsessively, for<br>
>>that level seems so far away to many of us we are not even
thinking about<br>
>it.<br>
><br>
><br>
>Aye, you are right.´┐¢ I happened into a group of power-gamers when I
was lvl<br>
>4 (several were friends of mine from P4) and I've been playing
"catch up"<br>
>every since.´┐¢ In order to try to stay with (or anywhere near) the
levels of<br>
>those I used to game with heavily, I must play EQ almost every waking
moment<br>
>that I am not at work.´┐¢ But they are the only people I know in the
game.<br>
>*shrug*<br>
><br>
>OTOH however, it doesn't take all that much effort to get to high
levels<br>
>quickly IF you know where things are, which mobs to hunt at which
level, and<br>
>are in a group with good players and learn to augment their style of
play.<br>
>This last point is really the telling one for bards, although it
is<br>
>important to everyone.´┐¢ When I join a group I always am cautious at
first.<br>
>I watch how they react in melee.´┐¢ How does the healer do his thing?
Is he a<br>
>melee-oriented healer, or is he a stand back and heal person?´┐¢ Is it
a<br>
>fetch-and-retrieve group or a wander aimlessly group?<br>
>If it's a fetch group, does the fetch wait until current melee is
over<br>
>before going for next fetch or does he go when existing mob is down
to 20%?<br>
>How effective are the casters?´┐¢ Do they dump their mana in rapid
fire<br>
>succession or do they hold back and go for killing nuke? What is the
mob<br>
>we're hunting, and what other mobs might turn up?<br>
><br>
>After I determine all of that, THEN I make my final song selection,
memming<br>
>different songs if necessary.´┐¢ Do this, and you will be one of the
best<br>
>bards on your server.´┐¢ Insist on sticking with your personal favorite
song,<br>
>and you'll have dead group members.´┐¢ I recall one bard who used to
ALWAYS<br>
>use charm song.´┐¢ Unfortunately, he'd do /assist first, so the entire
group<br>
>would have to retarget.<br>
><br>
>Getting back to leveling speed, you can level quickly, all you need
is one<br>
>person in your regular group who knows where to go for max eeps.´┐¢ One
of my<br>
>former groupmembers quit his 30th lvl cleric and started over.´┐¢ In 3
days he<br>
>was lvl 12.´┐¢ He made a level a day for next 3 days.´┐¢ Do I recommend
playing<br>
>that way?´┐¢ No way.´┐¢ While I enjoy being within spitting distance of
the top<br>
>bard on my server, I wish I'd done differently now.´┐¢ I've missed out
on a<br>
>lot of fun in the chase for levels.´┐¢ =(<br>
><br>
>>So relax and wait a bit for us normal people to catch up to you.
Soon level<br>
>>30 players will be just as common as level 20 players, and I'm
sure you'll<br>
>>have more luck. It seems to me that you should be happy, not sad,
about<br>
>>your incredible sucess with the game. And to us down here in the
mere<br>
>>teens, the complaint seems amusing.<br>
><br>
><br>
>When you get to a certain level, and you're on the leading edge of
"the<br>
>pack", you have to stay in front or get trampled.´┐¢ When I first
started<br>
>doing Thule, we had our choice of what we wanted to do.´┐¢ Almost no
one was<br>
>there.´┐¢ 10-15 players in the zone at most.´┐¢ Now, 50-70 players in the
zone<br>
>is common, and everyone is fighting over the prime hunting areas.´┐¢
That's<br>
>why I want to stay on the front edge.... I don't like having to
compete with<br>
>so many people for a decent chance for a few eeps.<br>
><br>
>>I have never heard of groups where spots are "reserved"
or "permanent" or<br>
>>"temporary". Again, I think this is something unique to
high level<br>
>>powergamers. It sounds amazingly rude to me. To be
"offered" spots as if<br>
>>they were job offers . . . wow, I feel for you, that ridiculous.
It sounds<br>
>>like high school all over again.<br>
><br>
><br>
>You're quite right.´┐¢ But on the other hand, imagine being at a level
where<br>
>anything you can solo gives you no experience.´┐¢ You MUST group to
do<br>
>anything.´┐¢ Now imagine sitting in a dungeon area for hours, waiting
for a<br>
>chance to get in a group.´┐¢ I once sat for 2 hours waiting for a
"guy who's<br>
>about to leave" to actually leave.´┐¢ (turned out he did leave,
spot given to<br>
>someone else, another quit, spot filled, and I got the 3d opening)´┐¢ A
friend<br>
>of mine who got fed up with EQ once sat for 6 hours after being told
he had<br>
>the "next opening".<br>
><br>
>You get to know which group leaders are the best.´┐¢ Which are
most<br>
>successful? Which have best survival rate? Which is least likely to
dump<br>
>trains on people nearby?´┐¢ Which leader knows how to control a spawn?
Which<br>
>people know which items are on what mobs?´┐¢ And you try to get in
those<br>
>groups.´┐¢ When you're in "the pack" (i.e., where most
players are at<br>
>level-wise), you may have 50-100 group leaders who are good to be
with.<br>
>When you're on the front edge of the pack, you have 3-4 good leaders
and<br>
>competition is keen to get into their groups, because you know it
would be<br>
>VERY worth your while.<br>
><br>
>Linako.<br>
><br>
><br>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
>Give back to your community through "Grow to Give."<br>
><a href="http://www.onelist.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.ONElist.com</a><br>
>See homepage for details.<br>
>
<BR>
</html>