Confessions of an EverQuest Phase .5 Beta Tester

[mixxit]

From EQX!

I entered the EverQuest world when I received my beta CD on July 1st, about half way into phase .5. I have since been "In Game" roughly 62 hours per week. Let me assure you that I work a full-time (well over that really) job. I've gladly given this game a good portion of my time, and lately was thinking of a way to become further involved. It occurred to me that a perspective on EverQuest was missing from the public forum, that of the beta tester. I thought I would write up my feelings thus far and send them to Brad McQuaid for public distribution if he saw fit. I'll tell you now that there will be no new information released within these writings, just my opinion as a long time follower and message board contributor. Of course, don't bother scrolling to the end to find out who I am, I'm certainly not allowed to fill you in on that.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

After receiving my CD and setting up my account, I quickly made my way to the character creation screen. I decided that my first test character was going to be a Wizard. I've always leaned towards magic in role-playing games, mostly due to its mystery and difficulty. I was also concerned about balance issues surround magic from my time on the message boards. I decided I would start my beta testing endeavor within the walls of Erudin, the acclaimed city of the High Men.

When I first entered the game, it was night. It was DARK. I could barely make out the figure of the merchant standing but a few paces in front of me. Finally, I thought, a game that takes night seriously. I found myself almost immediately wishing I'd chosen an elven avatar, but I would make do. I panned the surroundings and saw some light posts next to a building. The sign showed it to be the great library of Erudin.

I spent the next several minutes figuring out the ins and outs of the user interface. The camera views are really something to behold. I also took this time to inscribe and memorize my first spell, Shock of Frost. Of course, you knew that if you have read up on the data from the E3 convention.

One of the first things I decided to test was the camera views. There has been some concern on the boards that some of the camera views would give unfair or unrealistic advantage in the world. Let me assure you this is not so. I chose one of the overhead camera views and made my way into the library of Erudin. I found that the camera automatically moved to place it with the walls of the Library. It would not extend past the ceiling, which I found to be a very nice feature. Switching to first person, I made my way up the stairs of the great library to the second floor. At the top of the steps, there was an area where you could overlook the bottom floor, with a waist high guardrail to keep the "younger" players from hurting themselves.

Being a bit of a scofflaw myself, I thought I'd see how well this new (and might I say very dashing) character might take a little fall to the first floor. I launched myself over this railing and almost heard the crack as my body his the ground. I laid there for a moment, unconscious, blood leaking from my broken frame, hoping that somehow, somewhere, someone would come rescue me. I met my death in that library, from a fall of a virtual 10 feet.

When I again found myself alive, the precise nature of which I cannot divulge, I made my way back to my broken corpse to gather my goods. I explored the city of Erudin for about an hour before deciding to go to the city of Qeynos, as that's where the majority of the other 15 people or so were. I should note at this point that only half of the city of Erudin was up at this point, it is much larger now.

I exited the library to find that the sun was rising. I wish I could find words to express how beautiful that sight was, after the night that was so dark. Bright colors filled the sky as the sun peaked over the horizon. Colors began to filter into the textures mapped over the buildings and began to show more and more detail. I just had to sit there for a moment as that light broke the shroud of darkness. It was unbelievable. Truly spectacular.

The city of Erudin is certainly a wonder to behold. Everything I saw amazed me, I haven't seen anything like it, in an online game nor any other. I managed to find the docks without too much of a problem, and waited for the ferry I had heard so much about, and shortly found myself on-board the large ship.

After a reasonable ride of the ship, with a short stop on an uncharted island, I arrived in Qeynos. Qeynos is very much unlike Erudin. It is obviously an older, more rustic city with many more people. As I stepped off the ship onto the wooden dock, I received a message within my text display, "Aradune tells you, 'You're in our world now.'" I replied, "And very happy to be here I must say." Aradune and I spoke for about fifteen minutes. I admit I probably wasn't much of a participant in the discussions, since I was still in awe from the graphics.

The conversation came to an abrupt halt as Aradune announced that he had to go investigate a bug someone had reported. I bid him adieu and went to explore the City of Qeynos, that took over 2 hours.

FIRST ADVENTURE

After finally locating the front gates of Qeynos, I received another "tell" from someone named Aramith. Hmmm, "Aramith". Perhaps another incarnation of Aradune Mithara? I think so. He asked if I was "coming with them" this evening. I had no idea where "we" might be going, nonetheless I jumped at the chance. As it turned out, their group was not in need of a Wizard (and certainly not a newbie Wizard) and he suggested that I create a rogue.

It was then that Taedar was born. A dwarven rogue of somewhat dubious nature. After the birth of my rogue, Aramith transferred me to an area known as the commonlands. As it turned out, we would be exploring a dungeon by the name of Befallen. As I appeared, and the graphics filled in around me, I was greeted with the message, "You are now level 13". Whoa, lets rock and role! They explained to me that the dungeon we were visiting was definitely not a newbie dungeon, and I was elevated to a level that would hopefully help me survive and contribute to the group. They provided me with the equipment that someone of this level would probably be able to achieve with hard work, a full set of leather armor.

It turns out that we were still a good distance away from the dungeon, and we had to run for a bit. There were six people in our group that night, all of levels 13-15. We entered the dungeon with a vengeance, intent on making the Befallen pay for their misdeeds.

The fights were fast and fierce. Violent spells flung from Ozymandius' fingertips, while Lagniappe and Gunthar hung back to heal and care for the injured warriors. Aramith, Tudor, and I rushed in in a poorly organized flanking maneuver and surrounded the Undead as the entered the main foyer. Aramith, the strongest of our group, met the creatures while Tudor protected our spell casters and I moved in behind for the deadly backstab. We were victorious in the short run but quickly found ourselves surrounded by fast moving skeletons, zombies, and mummies. We all died that night, some of us several times, the Befallen had won. We took our broken bodies home, and called it a night.

The adventure, overall, was beyond intense. It was very easy to get lost in the moment and develop a blood lust. Sounds that are not in the game were easily imagined as members of our party screamed with pain at the swords, axes, and fists tearing into their bodies. We spent close to 4 hours there that night, and I'm now told that we probably explored less than 25 percent of the dungeon. As we made idle chatter while filling out our bug reports for the evening, something became obvious to me. These people I was with began in the beta some three weeks before me, and they still showed all the excitement of a newbie.

A NOTE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

I have seen many game companies striving toward a graphical work of art often overlook the basic AI of the opponents. This has not been the case in EverQuest. This game has the most advanced AI I've seen. Bar none. Even the little intricacies that make the game more believable were taken into account. As I am battling one creature (say a large bat for this purpose), I've seen a giant rat come up to me, stop, and watch the fight as if sizing me up. You really get the feeling that these things are looking you in the eye, and trying to decide if you are dinner, or something to be feared.

Some attack without warning, others circle in from behind. Still others will act like they are going to go right past you, and suddenly turn around and lay into you with swords, fists, or teeth. The AI definitely appears to be modeled on creature intelligence, some just fight smarter than others. The smart ones will even retreat from a fight and go get help. I have no doubt that the AI programmer is somewhat of a sadist. A sadist with a sense of humor.

You'll know that sense of humor when you see a hill giant way off in front of you in the distance, and 2 minutes later find that it has made a wide circle to sneak up on you from behind.

Add to this some truly impressive tracking and following code, and SPEED. These creatures are FAST. There just isn't any outrunning some, you better hope you have the strength or the speed to get away quickly, and they will follow you for a great distance. I have seen one gnoll retreat from a fight, go get helpers, and return on two different tangents to surround the intruders. I've seen groups split up, half appearing to have lost interest in the fight, only to turn and rush in.

I've really got to put my hats off to this AI programmer, I think he could give the ReaperBot guy pointers.

WORLD SIZE

There has been much to-do on the boards on the concept of zones and world size. Let me begin by saying that Norrath is, well, HUGE. After well over 180 hours of testing, even considering on many occasions I was transported to a given zone by a GM for testing purposes, I've visited at most 18 zones aside from the cities. Of those 18 zones, I know ONE like the back of my hand, many I've only visited once because I haven't been able to find them again, and the rest I frequently get lost in. A straight RUN from the docks of Qeynos to the docks of Freeport would take over three hours in my estimation. That is only if you can avoid being attacked and killed along the way. You see, I have to estimate, because I've never survived the entire trip, even as a 13th level rogue. I have, however, run from Freeport to the middle of the continent, died, only to return from Qeynos to retrieve my corpse. Perhaps I should find someone to travel with, eh? And keep in mind, the main continent is longer than it is wide.

The zones themselves are huge. There is one where I'm sure you could put several hundred evenly spaced people in it and have them not be able to see each other.

ON GOING

I've now had the opportunity to play several different races and classes. I've focused on everything from graphic anomalies, to utility, power, and balance issues. I haven't yet found a race or class that I would call "useless" or "lacking" and I've played many of them. I played one character, starting at level 1, for an entire weekend, and ended up not being able to afford a set of leather when Monday morning came around. Just to give you an idea, a weekends play consists of about 32 hours of play. This is a far cry from other games of the genre where one could afford a set of plate in but a couple of hours. If I had to estimate the amount of time it would take to acquire a set of plate armor, I would have to put that estimate at around 1000 hours of hard play, perhaps more. This is of course assuming that you never die and lose your body that contains your trade in material as you are building up from cloth, to leather, to ring, to chain, and then to plate. And I still have no idea where the much talked about set of dragonscale armor fits in.

To summarize, EverQuest is a project that is beyond comprehension in its quality and complexity. It shows far more engrossing qualities than any other game I've seen. I really can't wait to get a the rest of the beta testers in so I can witness the shouts across the land talking about how wonderful the game is. And to think, they have a LOT more to add.

Article by An EverQuest Beta Tester, Phase .5

[Ed: Mr. McQuaid sent this to us, and I just wanted to thank him for it.]

[mixxit]

When gods walked the land

If Taedar can tell his tale, then I should do no less [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

As the first citizen of Norrath, my path has been filled with wonder and excitement, peril and terror, passion and pain. I have walked every step of the lands, standing upon the very edge of reality and watch it unraveled before me as new lands emerge. And each new land, each new beast, each new experience fills my heart anew.

When first I was borne into Norrath, I walked with the steps of a dwarf named MacGregor, and I walked alone. The gods flitted about on their errands, creating and destroying as they saw fit, while I muddled my stout way through the world. Death found me quickly and often, as I rather foolhardily attempted even the most obviously dangerous of tasks, pursuing the stability of my new reality. Once I had determined the extent of my capabilities, I proceeded into the world to find it's limits.

In the beginning, the edge of the world was quite near and walking too close to it was treacherous, so I spent most of my time getting killed by the local fauna in varying ways, again seeking "holes" in my reality. Most of the holes I found, much to my chagrin, had teeth around them as I was eaten, attacking creatures FAR beyond my capabilities. The days of MacGregor were filled with much mayhem.

Then, one sunny afternoon, an Avatar approached...Aradune Mithara. "Make a wizard and walk with me" he spoke. Thus was born Ozymandius the Traveler. Given the places that I would see, Aradune saw to it that I was properly attired and skilled, then led me to the edge of reality, and beyond. As each new realm appeared, I would standing at the edge of it, anxious to step upon it's soil. The world was mine to explore, and explore it I did, with the passion of a child given a new puzzle to solve.

As I traveled the world, gaining wisdom with each step, others came to me seeking my advice. I would Guide them along their paths, help them when they were lost, and they would keep me company for awhile. But in the end, only Aradune could keep up. He would arrive to invite me to a new place, only to find me already there, wandering about in rapt fascination. From the tallest Giant-filled peaks to the deepest goblin infested depths, my feet led me of their own accord, never resting in their search for new places to tread.

Gods would summon me to do their bidding, asking of me advice or having us inflict atrocities upon each other in the name of testing. Many was the "What if...?" question that lead to the death of one or both of us. Aramith, another Avatar of Aradune Mithara, would invite me to travel into the vilest dungeons with him, seeking out treasure and adventure. He would gleefully throw himself into the most violent of places while I stood back to assist, then I would shake my head, collect his belongings, and make my way out carefully to await his return. I love him like a brother, but the Aramith Avatar has not the common sense that Quellious gave the stones.

As time passed, more and more people appeared. Slowly at first, trickling in while the Gods worked to ensure the world would not unravel. Then quicker they came, when their caution seemed unfounded. As these initiates arrived, they also sought my wisdom, and thankfully it was given, for in all my travels and all my exploring, the loneliness began to take its toll. Many allies arose from these new ranks, including the young and impetuous Taedar, the often dead. I must publicly acknowledge Taedar in his ability to die gruesomely, as it does surpass mine own and that of any other person I've the pleasure of meeting, including Aramith himself.

Others arrived, including my brothers of old. With the arrival of my brothers, the circle was complete. A new world with old friends to explore it with.

In all this, I have never faulted in my mission...to make the world the best possible place for those that follow. May you soon walk the lands that only my feet have tread.

Yours,
Ozymandius the Traveler, of The First Order

Tale by Anonymous Beta Tester

[Brund the Decrepit]

Fantastic read!
Thanks for posting this.

[mixxit]

Interview - Ozymandius
Many of you may know Ozymandius from his beta stories published here in EverQuest Express, others may know him from being in-game. He has been working with 989 studios almost from the beginning of the EQ beta project, and he's here today to answer some questions about himself.

Oghma:

Hello Ozymandius!

Ozymandius:

smiles...Hello Oghma

Oghma:

Tell us a little about your RPG experience before EQ.

Ozymandius:

As for my RPG experience...I started with Paper and pencil RPGs with Armchair General's Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry, Greyhawk, and Dieties Demigods and Heroes… what would become the "white boxed set" in 1976. I've played a myriad of paper and pencil games, pretty much all of them that came out in the 70's and 80's. When computer games were available, I dove into them...Wizardry, Bards Tale, the Infocom text games, etc. I've played most of them as well, enjoying some, not others. My MUD/MUSH experience began about 5 years ago, but until they went at least semi-graphical, they did not hold my interest much. I played Neverwinter, Darksun Online, a smattering of Meridian, and Beta Tested Empyria. I was in both phases of UO's Beta, and played the release as both Counselor and player for 6 months or so.

Ozymandius:

ponders...I think that about covers it... at least at a high level... I'm too old to go into more detail.

Oghma:

chuckles. That's quite a lot of detail, really. Your experience is pretty comprehensive. What is/was your favorite RPG character?

Ozymandius:

Hmm...online or paper and pencil?

Oghma:

Let's say what was your favorite character concept...

Ozymandius:

chuckles... asking a person with over 2 decades of play time his "favorite"

Ozymandius:

OK, I've got two one of them is the enigmatic, elven archer/ranger type... wilderness tracker, hunting evil monsters, etc. The other is the Paladin of Wisdom archetype... not charging off all over the place, understanding that evil is required, but must be . I alternate between them and the 3000+ other types rambling about in my head I find that I create them on the fly in response to the other characters in my party.

Oghma:

I find that I always have a couple of "types" I return to between whatever intriguing one catches my fancy How did you come to be a part of the EverQuest project?

Ozymandius:

frowns....Well, I would love to say I was hand picked from 40,000 people because of my amazingly stellar qualifications

Oghma:

The buffest of the buffed applications, as it were : )

Ozymandius:

…but that would be untrue. In truth, I was posting on the Vault and a few other places, after being one of the other 40,000 folks that put in their application on the very first day (a common claim, I've heard. I must have said something that caught his eye, because someone at 989 noted my post, looked up my application, and called me… In other words, I was lucky.

Ozymandius:

Granted, had my application not been sufficient, I'm sure I would not have been called, but it was a coincidence of events that brought me here

Oghma:

Well, it does reinforce the general feeling, though, that those who posted well on the boards had a chance to get noticed.

Ozymandius:

nods...it's the only logical way they could have done it, IMHO

Ozymandius:

It is not possible to go through 40,000 apps, so they were looking for intelligent, articulate people that at least expressed themselves in a manner that they viewed consistent with their design.

Oghma:

Describe what you would call a perfect game session, as if you logged in to EQ, played, and logged out. What would you have done in that time that gave you satisfaction?

Ozymandius:

chuckles... party non-stop with my boyos, wreaking havok among the evils, dying once or twice, and raking in tons o'loot

Ozymandius:

I'm a party player and tend to create "concept parties"...like my brothers and I and our "pack o'dwarves"

Oghma:

What is the origin of your name, "Ozymandius"?

Ozymandius:

Where the name comes from, or how I ended up with it?

Oghma:

Both.

Ozymandius:

The name itself is from Percy Bysshe Shelley, in his poem Ozymandias, King of Kings.

Ozymandius:

However, how I came up with it was completely off of the top of my head when slapping together a character in a hurry for a test that Aradune and I were running.

Ozymandius:

I misspelled it to not be TOO much of a hack.

Oghma:

What do you do for a living?

Ozymandius:

Well, my official title is Technology Messiah, but that's only because we are not assigned titles and we get to pick them.

Ozymandius:

I work for a large, northwestern semi-conductor manufacturer as a Senior Project Implementation Manager.

Ozymandius:

In other words, I do paperwork, design stuff, then get to put my money where my mouth is by running the implementation of it on a world-wide scale.

Oghma:

I'd prefer Technology Messiah, too.

Ozymandius:

nods.... I liked it, but they did not let me put it on my cards.

Ozymandius:

It's on my name plate, though.

Oghma:

My staff still won't call me My Lord and Master... it's a tough slog.

Ozymandius:

Oh, mine will not either, which is good

Ozymandius:

If they did, I'd be expecting an "et tu Brute" moment any day now

Oghma:

hehe

Oghma:

You have occasionally commented to me about your family? What's your family like?

Ozymandius:

My family is marvelous.

Ozymandius:

My wife is also an avid RPG'r, and has been for a bit longer than she's known me. She also plays on the computer, though not as much.

Ozymandius:

I have 3 children, 2 boys aged 9 and 6, and a little girl aged 4.

Oghma:

How do they feel about your commitment to EQ? It sounds like they would be supportive.

Ozymandius:

chuckles...well, my wife and oldest son help me test it and the younger ones stand around and cheer, the youngest one booing when one of us gets killed.

Oghma:

hehe

Ozymandius:

She is particularly not fond of the big fat men with the funny hats.

Oghma:

On a geek scale of 1 to 10, one being Mel Gibson, and 10 being Razor, where would you put yourself?

Ozymandius:

frowns... I have 8 systems in my house, 4 servers, 4 desktops.

Ozymandius:

I work all day on computers, come home and play on them.

Ozymandius:

BUT, I do not wear a pocket protector.

Ozymandius:

However, I have, at any time, 2 pagers, a Palm Pilot, and a Cell phone.

Oghma:

Ouchie, Maybe your title should be Technology Magnet [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Ozymandius:

Well, an EMP pulse would likely kill me, yes.

Ozymandius:

Can the scale go a bit higher than Razor?

Oghma:

Up til now, I didn't think so...

Ozymandius:

But I'm devilishly charming, and my actual job is to do presentations, not program.

Ozymandius:

So I'm going to say I'm an 8.

Oghma:

What do you think you'll remember most about this time in your life one year from now?

Ozymandius:

smiles...easily answered...there was this time in UO...

Ozymandius:

chuckles

Ozymandius:

I think my lifetime's supply of luck was all spent on my being able to join the EQ Beta and have as large a part in it that I do.

Ozymandius:

And, assuming all things work out for the best, one year from now, I'll still be doing it.

Oghma:

What's your favorite drink, the one you have after a long day of dealing with players? :

Ozymandius:

Hot Chocolate with Baileys.

Ozymandius:

Sorry, I'm a foofoo drinker...none of the hard stuff.

Oghma:

Not MacAllen 25?

Ozymandius:

winces...in truth, that stuff pretty much takes most of the tissues from my digestive tract with it.

Oghma:

I'm a beer and scotch person myself, though not at the same time.

Ozymandius:

I LOVE the smell, but I've never had the stomach/constitution for it.

Oghma:

Is there anything you'd like to say to our readers before you go?

Ozymandius:

ponders...

Ozymandius:

About all I can say is....be patient. Be patient when you are not in EQ yet, and more so when you arrive.

Ozymandius:

The game is magnificent, but it's not done yet.

Ozymandius:

And we've still got a ways to go.

Oghma:

Ok that's it then.
Interview by Oghma

[mixxit]

Before Bind

EXPRESSion
Brad has stated that you CAN change your homepoint... but it will be very difficult. This is one thing I think EQ needs to really address. I mean if you die. You'll probably lose all eq, all gold and some exp. This is VERY harsh, because in almost all Mud's I have played, regular dying is part of the game... to be transported 10.000 virtual miles away from your body would make even the most dedicated player thinking about quitting... it would be VERY frustrating. Getting gold... buying back chainmail that took you months to get, it's almost like restarting all over again...

Maybe there's could be a option to pray to your god for your eq or corpse... and each time it would decrease your favor to him/her...

From what I know EQ has been fairly silent on this, only saying that "you won't want to do it often"... maybe they can set up "respawn points" across the map like in Asherons Call...

Just my thoughts...

Limbo

Ok. I would like to tackle this question because… well… because I have died and lost my corpse before, and have died and found my corpse. The starting points are not a bad thing. Being bound to a certain point doesn't limit your travel as long as you are careful. Also, once you achieve a certain level as a pure caster you can bind yourself to other areas. If you aren't a caster, you better hope you make good friends with one, or have some money to pay one to bind you to a new city.

Retrieval of corpses for the most part isn't too difficult. Well, let me rephrase that. As long as you didn't die in a middle of an orc warrior camp, or ruins filled with undead you can usually retrieve your corpse without hassle. It helps to die by a landmark. If by chance you don't, you can usually let a shout asking if anyone has seen your rotting body lying around anywhere. You will usually get some help from others. If by chance you did die in a hotspot, you will need to petition the help of others to fend off the angry monsters so you can get your belongings. Most people are usually willing to help you in this effort.

Sure, I have died and had to travel QUITE awhile to get back to my dead self. I think it's fun though. Nothing better than running unequipped through a field of very angry and hungry creatures. In some cases though, if you have a caster friend who is bound to the same city as you, he can gather your belongings and gate back to town. This proves to be very helpful at times.

Death is something no one wants to experience, but everyone will from time to time. Death sends you back to your homepoint, which is usually your starting city unless you have been bound elsewhere. Your body remains lying where you fell, and remains there for quite some time. The hardest part about death is loss of experience. This may sound crazy, but getting the experience back is fun. You get to kill things even more and plus you get the added bonus of making more money that level than you usually would. Well, I tried to make death sound good… still sucks though.

If by chance you lose your corpse. All of your belongings are gone. Recovery isn't too hard. It is even easier if you have friends to help you out. A good way to avoid losing EVERYTHING is to make sure to make frequent bank trips. Drop that money in the bank. Keep a spare sword and a few pieces of armor, with some food and water. This will give you a chance to start recovering quicker than if you were to lose everything. It isn't too hard to get re-equipped, unless of course you just lost all of the magic items you had been searching for for weeks. Then, it kinda hurts.

Death as a caster isn't all too harsh. You maintain all of your spells in your spellbook. This gives them a slight advantage over the warrior who has died and lost everything. Mages can pick easy targets and spell them to death and recover quicker than a warrior type. Just my opinion.

Overall loss of corpse and starting points doesn't really affect game play that much. I have traveled all of Norrath and have not had a problem retrieving my corpses, unless I died from my own stupidity (or that wretched B word.) I don't see many people complaining about starting points, or death in this game. It is a great system and works wonderfully. It is easy to adapt too, and as long as you have some friends, you will never lose your corpse.

EXPRESSion by Elaanilus

[Senadin]

Pretty awesome, thanks for sharing!

[mixxit]

Beta acceptable names


ISSUE # 58

January 23rd - January 29th


Editorial - Absor
I'm not usually one to complain about 989 Studios, now RedEye Interactive. I suppose that I'm considered a suck up by many. I'm pretty confident in my ability to see the truth, and so I'm not worried about misperceptions about me. For the most part I have understood why and how RedEye has handled things in regards to EverQuest, and have agreed with most of their decisions. And that may make me sound like a brown nosed little punk.

Oh well.

But I'm getting a creepy feeling lately. Someone posted a list of recently accepted guilds on the newsgroups. This raised a bit of concern, primarily because one of the guilds was called Covetous Crew. At first I just shrugged and said, who cares that this might be a group of less than popular folks from UO? The name itself doesn't bother me much. It's a reasonable, though not great and innovative, name for a guild. And certainly I don't expect anyone at RedEye to look at what the guild may or may not have done in UO when deciding if it is acceptable for Norrath. So I had no problem with their decision to accept Covetous Crew as a guild. Assuming that they had a good charter and they were convincing in their letter asking to become a guild, I'm fine with it.

But that requires that I make an assumption. Taken on it's own, I can live with that. But there was another name on that list that struck me as odd. Now keep in mind that this was a list of nine guilds that were recently approved for creation during the beta. Nine… For me one questionable in nine is fair. But two?

Mystic Order of the Brotherhood. If this guild name had appeared in a Lil' Archy I would have thought it was a perfect mockery of a guild name. I guess the sarcasm was lost on someone at RedEye. It was pointed out to me that I knew these guys, the ones that formed this guild. I could tell because of the initials. They created the guild name in order to preserve their three-letter acronym. Despite advice from a couple of smart folks, they chose to submit their guild as Mystic Order of the Brotherhood.

Up until today this would have just been another stupid player choice, and another guild for me to mock. But today it's different. Someone at RedEye looked at that name and said, "Sure, looks good to me." That's like having a child and calling it Billy Bob Jim. Let's ignore the whole concept of last names and give our son three first names.

Once I started to question this, I had to go back and look at my other assumption, that Covetous Crew submitted a good guild charter. Did MOB submit a good charter? Or is RedEye Interactive following a pattern that I've seen before. I remember reading that they would be insisting that all characters had names that fit the fantasy genre. I was happy about this. It was one of the things that made me think there really was a role-playing commitment from these guys. But, as often happens with grand promises, this one might not be kept. Does anyone remember when we were promised that Tanarus would be kept fresh and frequently updated, even after release? I certainly do. But as of the 15th of this month, I am no longer a Tanarus player. I finally gave up.

In a fit of disillusionment, I logged on to the server last night to perform a test. I wanted to see just how many characters there were with names that I thought were inappropriate for a high fantasy game. High fantasy was Brad's term, and it is important, being a bit different then just fantasy. High fantasy is stuff like Tolkien, LeGuin, Kay… where a name like Shadow would not really fit in. Where a name like Soul Render would never appear. Such names might work just fine in your local D&D game. They could appear in a fantasy novel. But they are not high fantasy names. Now I am enough of a realist to know that these names will probably be acceptable. I know enough to know that Brad will define high fantasy differently then I will. Heck, Brad refuses to accept that a good and reasonable definition of role-playing exists…

Fortunately and unfortunately, due to the 3.5 download and all the confusion with it, there were only just over 200 people on the server when I did this. I was fortunate that there were not more players on. With only 200+ players I still had to jot down about 54 names. That's about 25% of the population. While having the full 1,500 on line would have made a better test, I would have had writer's cramp long before I was done making my list.

What's on this list? Well, I wrote down every name that I would have questioned if I was the name filter. I freely admit that I would have passed a lot of them. Let me break this down. I have three categories for the names on my list. Unacceptable: names I would never accept. Bad: names that I would probably have declined, but would allow that someone else could accept it. And Poor: names that I would have accepted, but regretted it. Here's what I found:

Unacceptable: 22
Examples: Tupac (5th level), Whiteshadow (6th level), Foobar (2nd level), Sirgrief (anon), Barbwirez (corpse), Phread (12th level), Asian (14th level), Pulsar (17th level)

Bad: 10
Examples: Worloch (anon), Planeswalker (corpse), Booster (2nd level), Shameless (12th level), Nolag (16th level)

Poor: 22
Examples: Italicus (1st level), Snotbubble (2nd level), Snax (7th level), Wolfrider (9th level), Zappy (20th level)

Comments: To me the Unacceptable ones don't need explaining. The Bad ones for the most part were names that were words (like Shameless) that don't fit my definition of High Fantasy. Note that Strider was a Tolkien fake name or nick name, not the character's actual name. I included Worloch because, to me, it's only a bit better then spelling the word properly (Warlock), and spelled properly I would have put it in the Unacceptable category. Poor to me is the use of two word descriptive names, like Wolfrider. While fair fantasy names, they are not high fantasy names. Snotbubble might go into the acceptable category on a good day. It's a funny name for an Ogre, and while not High Fantasy, it would pass me if I was a name filter.

What really bothered me were the ones over 5th level or so. I mean, hell, how could a character named Pulsar get to 17th level unnoticed? How the heck does Nolag get to 16th without someone talking to him…

Way back when, a friend of mine in the beta had his name forcibly changed. His was a name recognizable from a popular novel. One day he logged in and one letter in his name had been changed. If his name had been Frodo (and it was not), then it would have been changed to Frodu. In fact, at that time several such names were changed. This encouraged me. While I don't think it's a reasonable or feasible idea to try to eliminate all the names that ever existed in popular literature, it was a step in the right direction, and it kept me sated on the matter for quite some time. I would much rather they err on the extreme side in this matter. Even if they found Absor to be too much like the word absorb, and therefore refused it, I would be much happier then if they continue to allow names like Metallicus (10th level).

Now, I will accept that this is beta, and so things are still in the testing stages. But it's also a heck of a lot easier to control things now and set a trend. The trend I see is not one that I like. The promise of at least a desire for a role-playing game seems to be fading. I sorta feel like Jules in Pulp Fiction. I wanna call Brad and tell him what I want to make me happy. Send the Wolf, Brad. Do something decisive and convince me again that this is not the way you want it. I know, I know, it's a beta and things are still in the works. But this is a policy issue, not a mechanics issue or a bug to be fixed. And while it might seem like I'm nitpicking, this is an important issue.

Let's assume that RedEye really does want to foster role-playing in EverQuest. There are a few things that can be done. The first is to show the players that you actually want it enough to do something about it. Enforce your high fantasy rule, for guilds as well as the characters. Take the time to talk to the players that run events, especially those that look suspiciously like Quake deathmatches. And DO NOT wait until final to do this. Start it now. Hell, you started a while ago. Keep it up. You will lose players, paying customers, if you tell them that they need to follow your rules. But you will lose customers if you don't. I hope to hear that you are going to take the high road that you started out on.

Addendum:

After writing this editorial, I sent it off to the folks at EQX. I knew it was a bit alarmist, so I wanted to see what they thought. Well, perhaps it's too strong. Certainly there aren't enough GMs to go around changing all the names, and their time is better spent working on the beta. And certainly some folks will think that some names that I hate are just fine. But I see this like the guide system. If there isn't something functional and useful in place before release, I find it hard to believe that it will be put in after release...

And I want to encourage all of you to read Nepenthia's article on naming characters.

Editorial by Absor

Please enjoy this issue of EQX!

[mixxit]

'Powergaming' begins to occur in Phase4 Beta

Powergaming. Considered by some to be a dirty word, the bane of all true RolePlayers. The dedicated Powergamer is, stereotypically, one who only desires to "beat" the game, to get all the cool toys and money and make level 50 before anyone else.

In a dynamic world like Norrath, is this even possible? It would be a labor of years to make a level 50 character in each class, never mind all the various combinations you can have. With Quests being added and tweaked constantly, new zones added as well, with new mobs, new loot, new secret passageways and NPC's… the task becomes almost incomprehensible.

Still, in my eyes, some level of powergaming is (and beat me about the head with thee's and thou's if you will) necessary. Yes, necessary. Let's say, for argument's sake, that you and your friends all buy EQ, all have your RP identities picked out, with detailed histories, and all the relationships mapped. You are going to go in there and immerse yourselves completely. So you go in, and, oh no! Your Human Paladin must start in Freeport, your Erudite in Erudin, and your Woodelf couple is in Greater Faydark. Oh, well, you think, and all of you set out upon the arduous journey to a central newbie zone. Only, the Erudite gets eaten by a Griffin on the way. The Woodies make it, but one dies to an orc pawn once there, and is back on Faydwer, bereft of all possessions, not to mention his beloved, who is in Freeport, being charged 1 sil 5 cop for each flask of water.

Alright. You concede the point, and all agree to level up to five in your respective zones, then meet for some real RP later. And suddenly, these dedicated people are running silently around, killing everything in sight, and muttering about how orc pawns give the best money, but they can't figure out if spiderlings are better for exp…

*sigh*

Another pressure to level is when you meet some people that you get along with, adventure with them a couple times, really like one another, arrange to meet again… and then you don't play for a while, you come back, and they are two levels ahead of you. You can still group, but you aren't getting anywhere very fast, and you feel a tad left behind. So what do you do? Good friends are hard to find. One of my best friends in Phase Three was a serious powergamer named Bearheart. Heya Bear! (not that he's likely to read EQX… too many stories, not enough hard facts... hehe) I really enjoyed his company, but he leveled like a rocket, and I was left behind. I'd see him now and then, in Qeynos hills, auctioning off all the crazy gear he'd picked up here and there, most of which I had never heard of, and it made me want to level up and see the things he'd seen.

The thing about Norrath is, it is a computer game. And there are no points for being witty or in character, or anything else except surviving fights. The cool areas are just too bloody dangerous for lowers levels, and for me, exploring is a HUGE part of what I love about EQ. With my Druid, in Beta, I did concentrate on leveling, until I hit 14. With bind affinity, and Spirit of Wolf, I became a far-traveler. I used to arrive in a city, sit down in a central area, and emote about rubbing my feet, and the dust of the road, etc. Sometimes I got nothing, but once… once in Rivervale, I happened upon a bunch of great people, around about level four or five, who RPed with me for an hour. They bought me drinks, we swapped tall tales… it was fantastic. In my experience, RolePlaying in Norrath is best when it just happens. But I was there because I had done some hard time in Blackburrow, dodging trains and doing battle with the Giant Snakes. Those fangs are great for auctioning…

Of course, my viewpoint is colored by the fact that I was a Beta tester, and there was some pressure there to level, because you knew that there was a time limit on your character. I had a lil bio on my Druid, explaining that her zest for life was a result of a dread disease known as "retail" that left her with but a month to live… We will see how I react when the only pressure is to keep up with my friends, and my own ambition to level and see new things.

See you all in Norrath!

Article by Aklar

[mixxit]

Rumours about Kunark before it came out

There are suddenly lots of things going on in the EverQuest community. Much of it controversial, but then isn't it always? The new proposed expansion pack. The new proposed 'race war' server. The reduction of the experience loss for death. I'm sure there are many more, the majority of which revolve around the old "my character class sucks!" and "your character class is too powerful!" crap, which I tend to ignore anyway. And since I like to keep this short, I'm going to ignore them now too.

But I wanted to spew out a few thoughts about the other three topics.

The new expansion pack sounds great. The new lizardman race sounds great. And I can't wait to see the new continent. What is that? We shouldn't have to pay to get the new continent? They promised us five and only gave us three? Well, the folks that have been following this game on the net were told three, not five. But the early boxes (I hear that it's been changed on the new ones) said that there were "...five enormous continents," for us to explore. Some people feel that they were lied to, that Verant is trying to rip them off by promising five and giving us three. But to me that's obviously not true. For months before release Verant was telling us that there would be three greatly enlarged continents, not five. Somebody, whoever was responsible for the creation of that box, screwed up. There's no way it was done on purpose. I can't even figure out how it is that some folks think that lying to the customer is something that a service industry can afford to do. The number five of the box was a mistake, a stupid mistake and nothing more. How about this, Verant... put the following on the box for the expansion: This expansion pack includes a new race, dozens of new enemies, new quests, and much new adventure! We are also throwing in, free of charge, a new continent! Maybe that will make all things well with the lawsuit crazy folks out there. Heck, not even Jag and Bunboy are calling for someone to sue Verant...

But the new pack will also be raising the level limit to 75. Now I think I understand this move, but I'm not sure that I like it. I understand it as a corporate decision to keep the powergamers playing. Some folks have already reached the 50 level limit (a possible topic of a long rant on its own), and Verant wants them to keep paying to play. So raising the limit makes sense. It really won't affect the rest of us much, to my 7th level bard a 50th level rogue is just as dangerous as a 75th level rogue. But as a player it worries me a bit. I have nothing against powergamers. Many of my close friends are powergamers. But isn't in their nature to 'win' a game and then move on? As a roleplayer I would be much happier if Verant would let them win, let them finish and move on. Let the game settle in and allow the roleplayers to take over. Thin out the powergamers by letting them move on to Quake 3. After all, I'm still hoping that EverQuest really is, as it says on the box, a roleplaying game.

The race war server. Now there's an interesting idea. Create a server where Trolls are all +pvp with all High Elves, where all Teir'dal are able to sneak up and kill any Dwarf. It's not a bad idea. And it's certainly a step in the right direction. Add faction hits for killing PCs and you might have something good here. But there's an idea I like better (well, actually there are several ideas that I like better, but I'm only going to talk about the one that's closest to the race war server). I'd rather see the division made along lines of religion. The difference would be subtle, but very important. Ally the gods into groups that make sense, make four of them if that's what you want. Let's base conflict on the ethos of the character, not his birthplace. If I make up a Human ShadowKnight, it would be reasonable that I would be +pvp with paladins of any race. Most of this would still fall along racial lines. Most gods that a race can choose would be aligned with each other. But maybe Innoruuk and Bristlebane aren't aligned. That might mean that the thieves and priests of the Tier'dal don't get along so well... hey, that makes sense!

I understand that the basic idea behind this new server is to allow a broader range of pvp activity while leaving homelands fairly safe. And that's a noble idea. But wouldn't it be far more interesting if you use the gods to align characters, and if you felt the need, put a limit so that no characters under 5th are pvp. The race war thing will not stop a determined Ogre from slaughtering all the Human newbies he can find. And heaven forbid that anyone should start a Half-Elf in Qeynos, he'd be open season to any Human in the city... With the religion idea everyone is a bit open, and no race (like poor half-breeds) will be isolated.

Picture the same scene on both proposed servers. A band of Teir'dal run into a band of Humans. After much threatening and bellowing, they get angry and decide to kill each other. On the race war server, they all fight until it's over. But on the, um, god war server the Human ShadowKnight can't attack his brothers in War. He can kill the inkie warriors and wizards, but he and his fellow knights of Hate and followers of Innoruuk cannot harm each other unless they declare a formal duel. And that makes sense, lots of sense.

This idea might also make for some interesting side effects. What if priests could actually convert people? Want to switch sides? Then you need to find a cleric to the god you wish to worship. That cleric will have to perform a quest (one that would require a high level cleric) for you in order to get one use of a scroll that contains the power to convince the god to accept you. And he takes a tremendous faction hit, from your old god and his as well. And of course you would become hated by all followers of your old god and not be too trusted by those of the god you now follow...

But the thing that has me the most interested is the reduction of the death penalty. Please, please read Onnie's article, it really hits on the emotion of this change. It's really a tremendous loss to the game. I've been playing solo a lot lately, before the patch. I find that other people tend to get me killed (I tend to try to save people from their own mistakes). So I travel alone with most of my characters. I hated getting killed. It wasn't too devastating (I wanted an even larger penalty for death), but it was enough to make me wary. But since the patch, you know what I do now? I sit my warrior in BlackBurrow, at the top near the exit to the Hills. He just sits there until someone decides to let a scrawny Gnoll get away. I hunt the Gnoll down and kill it. I wait until trains come rolling up from the underground, and I intercept them. I play the street cleaner. And he's only 8th level, meaning that I get killed a lot doing this. But it costs me little. And since I'm not a caster I don't have to relearn my spells (a huge pain), I just run back, get my stuff, and set to watching again. I rarely get experience for any kills, as I'm usually just finishing them off for those that are too lazy or too stupid to do so themselves. But my character has been gaining experience this way anyhow...

Sorry, but I really hate this decision. I hated it when they made it so that low level characters don't lose any experience for death. Hell, they gain food for dying! I know that the idea was to convince people to stop playing it safe. It was designed to pull people off the zone borders and into the depths of the dangerous zones. But it won't work. Those that are not willing to risk the experience loss in the heart of a dangerous zone will not be willing to lose their equipment either. Those people are going to stay on the zone borders and earn their 'zone warrior' merit badges many times over. Those that are braving the scary places are going to do it anyway. You may have pushed a small few off the zone edges, but not many. And you're stealing the heart of the game from the rest of us. You're stealing the thrill of a good fight, the accomplishment of a risk well rewarded. Hell, leveling is easy, so you're even stealing the value of being a good powergamer.

Well, it's time to put this issue up, so I'm done with this editorial. But I'm not done with these issues.

Editorial by Absor

Please enjoy this issue of EQX!

[mixxit]

Rumours about a /roleplay command coming

Sigh…

A role-playing switch? Alright, I'm baffled. I thought all servers were role-playing servers? I thought that we all role-played differently, and a definition of role-playing didn't exist? And now we will have the ability to flip a switch and proudly announce to the world that we are role-playing, and role-playing correctly, in case you hadn't noticed. While I'm all in favor of adding role-playing tools, this role-playing switch is no such thing.

I hear some gasps. How could Absor not like this idea? It's a way of telling the role-players from the non-role-players! It's great! No, it's not. It's divisive and insulting. The insulting part is that Verant tells us that role-playing can't be defined (which was insulting enough to me), and then tells us that by flipping a switch we will all suddenly be role-playing, where those that don't flip the switch are not. I understand the concept, that role-players using this switch will be better able to tell who is and who is not role-playing. That, too, is insulting. I have no problem whatsoever determining who is role-playing. If they are doing something distinctly out of character ("Yo, dude, where r all the kewl treasures"), they are not role-playing. Otherwise, they ARE role-playing. How hard is that, and how stupid do I have to be to not be able to figure that out without someone wearing a big fat dunce cap to educate me?

Flip the switch and the game actually sends you a message: You are now role-playing.

I was reading the interview with Brian Hook done by Voodoo Extreme about his coming to Verant. In one response he says some very nice things about how he wants to make EverQuest MORE of a role-playing game; more guides, less players per server, less camping, less hack and slash. All things that would please the hell out of me. Then, a few paragraphs later, he tells us that he thinks that people catering to the on-line RPG market don't do enough to give these games a broader customer base, and that they are therefore not reaching enough people. Alright, sure, but HOW do you reach more people without 'dumbing down' the game? "Training missions, on-line help, chat servers, good documentation, and strategy guides all go towards making the early levels less painful." All good in theory (with many reservations about strategy guides). And more power to him if he can push Verant more in that direction (accessible role-playing game). I think they've been heading away from that ideal, pulled relentlessly downward by the crowd of people that want nothing more than a special little world all their own, one with rules that are starting to stifle role-playing. Many of us that used to enjoy EverQuest a lot more then we do now are starting to lose interest.

The recent reduction in experience loss is, I guess, an appeal to those that want a savable, easy leveling game. This isn't just powergamers (after all, a lot of powergamers want to be challenged), it's just the lazy ones. The ones that want 'stuff' without working for it, without risk. The folks that have never been able to invest any of themselves into their character. The folks that only see a loss of experience as a reduction in some numbers. Not the folks that tear their hearts out during a close fight. Not those that feel adrenaline rush through their limbs when they think that they might die in this dark hole of a place they call Paw. Reducing the cost for death is another step in the wrong direction, following the tug down the easy path, the one that leads away from the EverQuest we were promised.

But many so-called role-players are doing the pulling too, sucking the rest of us with them. This whole thing about a role-playing switch is to appease them. Most folks are probably thinking, 'so what, let them have their toy, it won't affect you'. That's why I used the word divisive before, because it does affect me. I suspect it will affect me a lot.

It is divisive in the same way that the PK switch is divisive. It clearly divides us all into two groups and encourages us to pick one. I think that is the definition of divisive. Look around next time your in game and see how many +pvp people you run into. If you do, stop and think about how you really do think of him as one of them and not as a fellow citizen of Norrath. It's true. Deep in all of us we feel a twinge, a sense of 'hey, he's not one of us' when we see a red name. Sure, most of us immediately get over it, but that does not deny it's effect.

Picture yourself in, oh, BlackBurrow. You see that perhaps one person in three has flipped their switch to indicate that they wish to role-play (in this previously labeled role-playing game. Now I suppose they'd better change the box and call it a strategy/role-playing game to avoid lawsuits). You find yourself inundated with /shouts about the most recent NBA playoff game. People standing near you are discussing the affects of overclocking on the performance of their PC. You move away from the /sayers without muttering a word, since wandering away alleviates your problem. But the /shouting continues. So you /tell the most frequent out of character shouter and ask him to please at least use the /ooc channel, since that's what it's for. He responds (over /shout of course) that his switch is not on 'role-play' so he can say whatever the hell he wants. After all, this is the new generation of EverQuest, the strategy/role-playing game.

Verant once told us that a role-playing server was not needed, since all servers were role-playing servers.

If this switch is implemented, then I want Brad to dig up that copy of a proposal for an "Intense Server" that a good friend of mine sent him and put it on the top of the to do list. Add a line in the proposal someplace that says that the role-playing switch will be disabled, and have it up and running as soon as possible. Because now not only can we define role-playing, but NONE of the servers are designed for role-playing. I'll be sending the "Intense" server proposal to Brad and John myself, just to make sure they have it, the same day that this role-playing switch hits all the servers.


I wrote that several hours ago. On my way home from work I was talking about this situation with my carpool partner and fellow role-player (though he does not play EverQuest). During the discussion he mentioned a word that stuck with me all the way home, and finally brought into focus what exactly it was that has me so on edge about the trend I've been seeing from Verant lately.

The word was pasteurized. Now I've known this guy a while, and I know that he has a tremendous talent for murdering the language, any language. And I'm clever enough to understand him, though only through years of practice. He meant homogenized: to blend (diverse elements) into a uniform mixture. And, in his usual confused way, he hit the nail right on the head.

I'll demonstrate, as usual, with an analogy. Consider role-playing as a thick, somewhat bitter, and expensive beer. Some people that have tried it really love it. It's their drink of choice. Some people have tried it and hated it. Some folks tried it and really didn't much care one way or the other. Those that really like it want everyone to try it. Those that hate it shake their heads and tell all their friends that the people that like it are all insane, and don't try it, it sucks. And many, many people have never tasted it at all, either because they believe the tales of those that hate it, or it's too expensive (too much time investment), or it's just not interesting to them, since water is tasty, free, and actually cures a thirst. Or maybe they've never even heard of it. And this is how it's been for thousands of years, since the invention of Chain Mail (the game, named after the armor).

And as I read the interview with Mr. Hook I got a sinking feeling. At the time I couldn't tell why. Now I can. Mr. Hook (and Brad, and John as well in their own way, conscious of it or not) wants to water down our beer. With all the best intentions, he wants everyone to try this great beer. He is very aware that there are a lot of people drinking plain old water. He, like me, feels a bit sorry for them. So he wants to convince them to try it out. So he figures that, since everyone drinks water, let's add some water to the beer, maybe that will make it more attractive (think of the loss of experience on death as a few ounces of water). And some people tried it, some of them even liked it. And Verant was pleased. I'm not saying that they were pleased for the money, but for the fact that new people now love this great beer. A few of them may even have moved on the real stuff and joined the rest of us. And so, they want to add more water. More water just might hook more people.

But you know what, add enough water and your no longer even drinking beer. At some point you have to look up from your labor and your good intentions and realize that you're just serving water. And instead of pulling people toward the fine beer that you love, you are weaning them off of it. You're destroying the thing you love in your fervor to let everyone know how wonderful it is. And that's a shame.

Some people just won't like the beer. And as much as I would like to convince the world of its great flavor, I'm aware that some people will never like beer. Some folks don't even drink alcohol. And that's really the way it should be. I'd hate to have to retreat to the real stuff and find myself no longer drinking in the pubs of Norrath.

Editorial by Absor

Please enjoy this issue of EQX!