Just Stuff

Sorry about the long time between posts. Things just got a bit out of hand.

So on with what I have to say.

Thank you SOE for giving us an easy to use in-game chat program. I love how it works! The Demo at Fan Faire had one of the people from the Vivox company call into chat from his cell phone. I am really looking forward to all this program has to offer. Keep up the innovation!!

DCUO -I plan on playing even though this is not the type of game I am used to. A friend of mine was running the Demo at Fan Faire and he finally convinced me to give it a try. I was dropped into the game as a level 50 hero and the villians wiped the pavement with me! It did get me excited enough about the game to want to give it a go from level 1 and see just how the learning curve is for people like me! Pop on over here to check it out.

The Agency - My brother (not a gamer by any stretch) attended FF with me. We both did the live event for The Agency. We had a lot of fun hunting down the clues. This peaked my brothers' interest in the game. Mine was peaked last FF. They did not have a playable demo so it is hard to say how the game is progressing. I can not wait to see it. Oh, we did win prizes for the live event. I got one of the famous Secret Agent T-shirts, a very nice Agency Martini Glass, and a poster.

Free Realms - I know this is going to be marketed as a family/kid game but to be honest I can not wait to play. I plan on using this during the down times of my regular MMO's. There will be parental controls to keep adults from interacting with young children, if the adult is not on the child's friends list. I know kids are way smarter then we give them credit for and I can see some getting around the "phrases" that are allowed to be used to talk to someone not on the friends list. To be honest, I have not tried any of the other "kid" games out there. So I really do not know how the safety of the young ones that are playing is being addressed.
That aside, it really does look like a very fun and cute game. I look forward to seeing it in action.

Warhammer - The people that know me well know I do not like pvp game play. Until now!! I really like Warhammer so far. I have 2 characters to level 10. One Destruction and one Order. The one thing I really liked when I first logged in, is that I felt like I was part of a conflict. There are explosions and battles going on all around me. I have really gotten into the Public Quests and the Scenarios. I have not tried the real RVR yet but I am sure within a few days my merry little band of 3 friends will be off into RVR land.
I do like the open group system. Makes it much easier to accomplish something as a solo player to be able to invite myself to a group in a PQ area. I wish they would make the war party window available in the scenarios. If they do I am not sure how to get at it. Oh, being a solo player, I really like that I do not have to get into the RVR stuff if I do not want to. I would rather do it with my group for the fun factor and being able to log in and work on some stuff solo keeps me interested until my friends can log in and join me for mayhem.
There are bugs, I do not like the way bags are parceled out for inventory. There are way too many seeds as loot. I hate having to keep running somewhere to sell my full bags. I am terribly laggy. I wish they would make the font for the patch notes bigger than something an ant would read. I can not find a way to increase the font. I can not find a way to make the patcher window bigger. Some of the Public Quest areas are off the beaten path. They send you to the PQ area with quests to complete but if there are not a handful of players in the area, doing the PQ is impossible. I wish they would change that somehow.
I hope the fun I am having now continues up the levels.

Spore - Wow, this game is very addicting. I am now in space! Creating the look and feel of my characters and my world keeps me logging in. The only thing that is missing is being able to play with or against my friends! Then this would be perfect. I can see me and my regular game buddies taking over the universe!. If you have not tried this game, give it a go!

*hugs*
Gethani

Star Trek the Experience ....

....closes its doors today. I am very lucky that I got to spend several days there in August. I definitely felt mixed emotions. In the years I have been going to Vegas, Quark's was the place I went were I got to walk in a world I could only see on TV or in the movies. Even though there were tons of tourists there, I still got to pretend that I was actually part of the Star Trek world. Not to mention the great times I had there alone and with other Trekkies and gaming friends.

I tried to get the recipes for the Warp Core Breach and the Borg Sphere to no avail. If anyone happens to see these floating around the internet after today, let me know.

To all from the Star Trek Experience.... Live long and prosper!

Geth

Vegas!!!

I love Vegas. There is just so much to do here. I arrived on Saturday and got to see a lot of people in their Star Trek attire. This is as closest I have been to a Star Trek Convention. I debated on buying a ticket but I decided that I was just as happy sitting in Quark's watching all the other people. Luxx went and happily let me have some of the pictures that he took.

I did find out something I did not know. My favorite Klingon at Quark's is also... So at least I can keep up with his future escapades. I always found Cdr. Churoq engaging and look forward to following his career!

More and more people started arriving for Fan Faire and I ran into several last night in the SpaceQuest bar near Quark's. Brasse, Kendricke and Winter are here. Several others are too, but I do not know their ingame names off hand. I met a Trekkie on The Star Trek Backstage Tour the other night and invited her to join us. She is not a gamer, never heard of MMO's but she fit right in the group and everyone was very nice to her. That, to me, is gamers at their best!!! Who knows we just might have converted someone to the cause!

This afternoon registration starts along with other festivities! I really can not wait to see all the people that I have not seen in a year!

*hugs*
Geth

38 Watch

I am not sure how I stumbled upon 38 Watch but I am glad that I did. It is a Fan Site about the new (relatively speaking) 38 Studios.

The site is a work in progress. I like the set up and I like the the way it looks. Grish, the administrator, seems to be very personable and involved. If you are looking for a place to keep up on 38 news check this site out. Ladies out there. let's show the men just what a presence we actually have in gaming and go sign up!!

*hugs*
Geth

DC Universe Online not just for PVP'ers

Somehow I got it in my head the DC Universe Online was going to be a good hero vs evil villian PVP fight fest. I was a comic book reader, you know, way back when they were published on stone tablets. So I was a bit disappointed that DCUO was not going to be my kind of game. PVP is really not my thing. I was happily surprised when I saw this. It was taped at Comic Con this past weekend.

I am mostly a solo and small group player, with the once weekly raid thrown in to spice up the game play. I can not wait to make my own super hero. Gaming Grannie, the kind, motherly, compassionate hero that throws empty game boxes at the villian? Or uses a chocolate pudding ray gun? Ok maybe that is a little silly but I am still looking forward to checking out this game.

If you haven't already pop over to MySpace to check things out.

*hugs*
Geth

Back to EQII

I have been playing more EQII recently. Don't faint ...I got my tradeskill level up to 64!! For me that is a record. I have gotten 2 levels in one day!! Just one more level and I can finally finish my last heritage quest, "A Thorn of Old". Yes I know that I can easily ask someone to make the weapon for me but I really like to do things on my own.

I even worked on some of the tradeskill quests. I would like to see more of these. They were fun to do. My goal is to get to level 80 and do the tradeskill epic. May take me another year but I will get there!! The extra-experience weekends have added just the extra push I needed to head back to the stove. I just wish they would say how much extra experience I am getting. I also wish that I could see how much experience I earn with each food creation and how much more experience I have to go to level. For all I know I could be getting .000000001% extra experience.

I like WoW for experience information. It tells me how much experience I get for each mob or quest. I even have an experience bar addon that figures out how many more kills I need to get the next level. It shows me how much experience I have and how much more I need. I know EQII gives the % but 10% of what? Not sure why experience has to be such a secret.

I also finally got the "Overthere" Hammer. Taken me this long to get all the quests done. Thanks to Bruinen, Xxable and Winkins I was able to get the quests done. I find it very hard to solo mobs in RoK. I thought I played my class pretty well. I have recently been given some advice on Achievement lines to consider.

Oh more and more people are trickling back into EQ2. Some are actually new to the game. Yesterday we invite 3 more people to the guild and 2 old players logged back in. The old players are going through a bit of the "Damn I can't remember how to play". We are doing our best to help them =). Josgar is a one man advertising team for EQII. Someone should name something after him, maybe Josgar's Felwithe Dream? Since he dreams of living in Felwith one day! That young man is one of the most positive EQII players I have ever met. The only thing he ever complains about is not being able to live in Felwithe! Oh and not going to Fan Faire this year. I know I will miss him!! Josgar thanks for all the hard work you do!!

*hugs*
Geth

Gwydhar will be at Fan Faire

Back in Atlanta in 2006 a friend of mine was a vendor at Fan Faire. She goes by the name of Gwydhar and she does amazing character renderings. This is the one she did of my little ratonga. To be honest I like the way Gethani looks in this picture better that she actually looked in the game at the time!! I asked her to send me some information so I could try and get it out to fellow attendees. Her work is really great and I can not think of a better way to save a memory of Everquest or Everquest II.

Artist Gwydhar Bratton Returning to Fan Faire!

Original Custom Renderings of YOUR Everquest or Everquest II Character

Some of you may remember her from the 2006 Fan Faire in Atlanta, sitting at her table quietly turning out custom character renderings. Nothing like a work of original art to bring your character to life!

Gwydhar will be returning this year to the Fan Faire in Las Vegas for a repeat performance! If you didn’t have a chance to turn your character into a work of art now is your opportunity. Gwydhar will be doing live, custom character renderings again this year, black and white for $30 and color for $40. Just bring a screen shot of your character and we’ll do the rest!

If money’s tight (isn’t it always?) we’re offering discounts!

Order before August 12 and we’ll take $10 off the top.

OR

Order your rendering at Fan Faire and let us ship it to you afterwards and get $5 off and FREE shipping (and you won’t have to cart it home in your luggage!)

To order or for more information email gwydhar@gwydhar.com

For Examples of Gwydhar’s work visit http://www.gwydhar.com

See you at Fan Faire.

*hugs*

Geth

My Journey to Dungeons and Dragons

In 1974 a little known company, Tactical Studies Rules, Inc., released Dungeons and Dragons. I was 18. At the time, I would have no reason to have heard of this company or its game. I was already working full-time not the least bit interested in games.

Several years later, I was in the United States Navy, stationed in Long Beach, California and I walked into a store and noticed an area with Dungeon and Dragon books in it. By this time I was avid fantasy book reader. So this definitely caught my eye. I was 25. I looked through the books and found out it was a fantasy game, played with pen, paper and imagination. I thought this would be so much fun. Bringing the books I read to life. I tried to get people to play but they mostly thought I was crazy, that DnD was either a kids game or some form of devil worship. No one I knew played. I never did go back to that store and pick up the books.

Eventually I just started getting the books or box sets just to look through them, hoping that eventually I would find people that played. Wishful thinking on my part.

I got married, had kids. They grew up. My son got me into computer/console games. Then Everquest was released and to me this was an answer to a prayer! I can play something akin to DnD online!!! Not the same, did not much need to use my imagination others used theirs to create a fun world with monsters, quests, elves, orcs, ranger, clerics and other people from all over the world!! I gave up my hope to play the pen and paper game and just enjoyed where I was.

Fast forward to 2008, I am now 52 years old and I am still playing computer/video games. I also go to a Buddhist Temple on Wednesday nights. (Be patient this all ties in!) During our break times it is fun to chat with the other attendees. There is this guy Jim. I was never really sure how to take him but we talked off and on. Not sure how we got onto the subject but he mentioned he played Dungeons and Dragons and a group was just starting a new 4th edition game. I told him my story and how exciting it must be to actually play. My son has played off and on. (He is now playing Shadow Run). Friends I knew on-line played but I did not live close enough to play.

When I saw Jim again 2 weeks later, he invited me to play!!!! OMG!! Even at 52 I was very excited about actually playing a game I have dreamed of playing for over 30 years!! They have a group of 10 people playing. Get this, 5 guys and 5 gals!! I was thrilled!!

Yesterday was the first time I played. I was a little nervous. I really do not role-play in MMO's. I was worried that I would not fit in. I only knew one person there. I took the role of an Elf Cleric (the half elf ranger was spoken for). Off we went. They actually started the game a week before. They other players had the history of their characters already set. So I had some catching up to do.

We are all playing teenagers ranging from 12-18. We are setting out on our first adventure. I can not recall all the classes or races, but we have 2 guys playing brothers. One is a Human Wizard, age 16; the other is a Half Elf Ranger, 14. The ranger is definitely the more mature of the 2. The wizard was so excited about being able to blow stuff up (what wizard isn't?) that he hardly thinks before he acts and gets the group into a world of trouble! Watching this southern guy hollering and waving his arms around cracks me up! From now on every wizard I imagine is going to have a nice southern drawl!.

Is 10 players too much? Yesterday we had 8 playing. It was hard to find anything to do in the downtime between battles. I mean after all only so many people can search a desk. During much of the gameplay I just watched, trying to learn what dice to roll, what spell to use. These people have been playing DnD a while, even though 4th edition is new to them. I have insinuated my personality into the game. I let the wizard bleed a bit before I healed him. We also do not zap bears anymore, we scare them first. It is going to be fun to see how this group of players and their characters progress. I did feel at ease and I am sure as my role-playing skills develop I will have way more fun.

If you have never played before give the game a try. I am glad I never gave up on this dream. I hope there is a dream out there that you have not given up on and you may end up fulfilling it tomorrow!!


*hugs*
Geth

The Star Trek Experience is Closing

I was grouped in WoW last night, when one of the party members mentioned that Quarks is closing in September. I was saddened to here this, as I have spent several fun filled days and nights at Quarks. I know this is going to sound silly but going to Quarks is one of the reasons I go to Vegas in the first place. I am not much of a gambler (read not at all) so I look for other things to occupy my time and give Las Vegas my money.

I have been watching Star Trek since the original series first aired. I has a school girl crush on Mr. Spock. I truly wished I could travel with them to "Seek out new worlds". At Quarks and The Star Trek Experience, I get the chance not to mention it is the only place I can find Romulan Ale.

I hope the owner of the Experience does something with the idea at one of its many theme parks. I am going to Vegas in August and I plan on spending way to much time at Quarks. Taking a tun of pictures for a nice Quarks scrapbook! If you happen to be in Vegas between August 9-18th stop by Quarks, I will be the one that has blue in her hair!

*hugs*
Gethani

11 Dimensions and Gaming

Interesting topic, isn't it? On my path to a more profound look at my existence (I am so far outside the box that I can not even see the boundaries anymore), I was lead to Rev. Angela Peregoff and Science of Mind. During one of our class sessions I mentioned that I play MMO's (ok when don't I mention I play MMO's). After a brief explanation of what exactly an MMO was, our instructor said playing games of this type is one way of opening ourselves up to the way of thinking where anything is possible! In our games we can be different races, different sexes, and have different functions. We can play more than one character at a time, we can fly, we can run faster than wolves, we can become animals, we can heal the sick and we can raise the dead.

In Everquest II, I have an ability called Featherfall that allows me to float down from the highest levels, as if skydiving without a parachute. This is one of my favorite things to do in game. Almost as if the experience is tugging on a soul memory buried so deep it took a game to awaken it. All my life, I have felt like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. In my game I feel most at home. Don't get me wrong, I have a full life that I enjoy and life path that is amazing to travel, but I have always known there was more.

We live in a three dimensional existence. Or do we? I have recently found out that scientists believe that there can be as many as 11 dimensions. What if the flashes of creativity that we get are glimpses of an existence in another dimension? What if multiboxing characters in a game is a tug on a string to remember that we are living more than one existence at a time? I have come to believe that gamers are drawn to games because we are multidimensional beings and games tug at memories buried in our 3 dimensional way of thinking. I feel that game designers have a mandate to create games that help awaken our long buried soul memories. I know many game designers and a lot of them are just as far outside the box as I am, even if they do not realize it. They are driven to create games that push our way of thinking to the limits.

Just my opinion
Gethani


For more information just google dimensional shift, Noetic Science, A. R. E.

The Art of Saying A Lot While Saying Nothing At All

A couple of weeks back, someone pointed me in the direction of a 2 part article at TenTonHammer, they interviewed Jason Roberts, and Steve Danuser, from 38 Studios. In case you are not familiar with 38 Studios (I found it amazing that some people I play games with never heard of 38 until I told them), it was founded by Curt Schilling (pitcher-Boston Red Sox and avid gamer), R. A Salvatore (fantasy author) and Todd McFarlane (comic book creator).

Up until recently, the design team has not said very much about what they are doing. The most we really know is it will be a fantasy game. They are keeping information closely guarded until they are ready to release it. I think it is a good thing. Creating something like this takes several years and I personally, do not want to be tired of it before I can even play it. I know others that are just dying to get the least little clue as to what the game is going to be about! They won't find that clue in this article. Never the less the interview is a good read. For people that do not have any idea what it takes to get something like this off the ground, Jason and Steve give little tidbits of the design process. They also discuss PVP, PVE and questing.

I know some of the people that work at 38. I know their philosophies on games. I have faith that the game that eventually comes out is going to be a good one.

EQ II Living Legacy Celebration and Unofficial Party!

Rewards Await Your Return! Experience the Living Legacy Events Now!

Living Legacy is a celebration in honor of the millions of past, present and future EverQuest^®II players. Norrath will be home to an eventful summer dedicated to the heritage and progression of the EverQuest II world. Numerous rewards await the legends that return to the fight and live the EverQuest II legacy.

Come back for FREE or join now and enjoy the celebration!

• Free Game Play Time

  All inactive subscribers (in good standing) and trial EQII accounts can play at no cost until July 31, 2008.

• Free Rise of Kunark All-In-One Pack

  Access the latest content; keep a complimentary digital copy of this compilation version of the game when you convert to a monthly subscription plan for EQII.

• New Recruitment Trial Program

  Future EQII legends that are invited will receive various rewards for their participation.

• Recruitment Rewards

  Earn up to twenty (20) months of free game play added at the end of your current subscription by recruiting friends who become EverQuest II subscribers.

As part of this Celebration Grimwell will surprise players by visiting their servers (he did the Unrest party on his own time, this party is unofficial), you can't miss him he is about so high, with a feather over his head. He has a little quest he is giving out and then he invites players to the Community Lounge, somewhere off of Poet's Palace. The zone is only accessible by summoning!

At the door is Scheherazade, The Door Keeper. She will port you out if you choose to leave. In the middle of the main room is the Wishing Pool, one player at a time can toss in a fishing line in and see what gets pulled out.

The door on the right side of the main room leads into a bed room where one can find Shakhnazarian Keeper of Secrets!! I wonder if he could be bribed. There are magic lamps through out the zone. Rub on one and see what happens!! The pillows on the beds can be clicked on and used for pillow fights! I like this much better than the Frostfell snowball fights. Needless to say I stocked up!! Unfortunately, the pillows are no-zone.

Across the hall from the bedroom there is a nice bar. Click away to find out what it in store!! I want Hal to take care of the libations in my North Freeport home!

I don't want to give it all away. There are other things to find and enjoy. So if you see a lonely Halfling with a feather over his head standing around in a main city near you, Hail him and see what happens!

Thank you Dominio for taking the time to create this fun little adventure. I am all for having the pillows incorporated into the game,by the way! The pillow fight was lots of fun!! Hmm, I wonder if the fighters can hit Master P with pillows!!

The Agency

A friend recently sent me this link, interview. It is an interview with Hal Milton, Lead Designer, SOE Seattle, The Agency, done by MassiveHQ. I ventured into The Agency at last years' SOE Fan Faire. To be honest, I really have not actively searched for information about The Agency, since I am not sure this is going to be my kind of game. I read the interview and found that I would definitely like to try it out.

One thing I found interesting is Aliases. Say I get a mission to infect the main computer with a virus in the opposing agency's local headquarters. The headquarters is located in an area behind the favorite nightclub of the rich and famous. To get myself from the front door to the area I need to be, I have to get through the nightclub without drawing attention to myself. So I wear my alias attire, in this case a dress, high heels, purse, blackberry, chihuahua (these are from my imagination for descriptive purposes only) etc, carrying identification as Silver Fox debutante. As I work my way through the night club, mingling here, flirting there I arrive at a safe spot where I can switch into my agent attire and complete my mission. I know I am not doing this justice but the concept really fascinates me!

Normally, I play healers in MMO's and I was not disappointed to find that there is a Field Medic specialty!! So everyone else can fight it out while I do what I normally like to do!

The article goes into way more detail then I have here. Please take the time to read it. I will do my best to post more information on The Agency as I stumble across it in my Alias as an MMO Gamer!

Interesting!!! They finally lost the "of"!!

Word Mark	EVERQUEST II THE SHADOW ODYSSEY
Goods and Services	IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: COMPUTER GAME SOFTWARE AND VIDEO GAME SOFTWARE
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code	(4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Serial Number	77451534
Filing Date	April 18, 2008
Current Filing Basis	1B
Original Filing Basis	1B
Owner	(APPLICANT) Sony Online Entertainment LLC LTD LIAB CO DELAWARE 10202 W. Washington Blvd. Culver City CALIFORNIA 90232
Attorney of Record	Lynn S. Fruchter
Type of Mark	TRADEMARK
Register	PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator	LIVE

Go me!!

What is Odyssey and Why Does it Have a Shadow?

Word Mark EVERQUEST II THE SHADOW OF ODYSSEY

Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: COMPUTER GAME SOFTWARE AND VIDEO GAME SOFTWARE

Standard Characters Claimed

Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK

Serial Number 77451534

Filing Date April 18, 2008

Current Filing Basis 1B

Original Filing Basis 1B

Owner (APPLICANT) Sony Online Entertainment LLC LTD LIAB CO DELAWARE 10202 W. Washington Blvd. Culver City CALIFORNIA 90232

Attorney of Record Lynn S. Fruchter

Type of Mark TRADEMARK

Register PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

Some one sent me an instant message today telling me the Trademark Watchers caught the new expansion name for Everquest II. He then went on to send me the name "The Shadow Odyssey". In the few seconds I had to take that in, I decided I liked that name, it was different and evoked a bit of mystery. Then he sent me a new message saying "Wait." The Shadow of Odyssey. I felt deflated. My mind started racing down new roads with the name "The Shadow Odyssey", and then hit a brick wall with "The Shadow of Odyssey". What a difference a 2 letter word makes.

So now I want to know "What is Odyssey?" and "Why does it have a Shadow?" and "Why can't they get rid of the word "of"?

To me, a shadow is not a full representation of the original. So saying a shadow of odyssey is like saying it is not a full odyssey. Considering this is an expansion and not an adventure pack or a content update, the name just does not make sense to me. If Odyssey was something from the EQ past like, Kunark or Faydwer etc, it could be a viable name but for the life of me I can not remember a zone or expansion in EQ named Oydssey.

Of course, in speculating that the "of" is an error and the real title is The Shadow Odyssey, that opens up some room for exploring some thoughts. Odyssey being a long series of journeys about The Shadow government? Species? Movement? Realm? God? Weapon?

To be honest I have not kept up on the lore much, but this calls for investigation. So I am going to start looking into the lore that is popping up. And I hope you do to!

Congratulations Travis McGeathy!

38 Studios' Design Team Expands
- Travis McGeathy Joins Steve Danuser and Jason Roberts -

Maynard, MA, April 22, 2008 – Continuing to attract top industry talent, 38 Studios (www.38studios.com), a pioneering entertainment company dedicated to delivering a broad spectrum of entertainment products, today announced the expansion of its industry-renowned design team with the appointment of Travis McGeathy as systems design lead. Travis hails from Sony Online Entertainment and joins his former SOE co-workers at 38 Studios, Jason Roberts and Steve Danuser, who have been laying the groundwork in IP and game development in year one at the studio.

"38 Studios already boasts some heavy-hitting, pop-culture names with R. A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane," said Brett Close, CEO and President of 38 Studios. "In addition to these visionaries, 38 Studios is extremely proud of the well-known and highly respected designers, artists, and engineers we've attracted. Having Travis, Jason, and Steve as the nucleus of our design team adds further credibility within the industry, strengthening our commitment to deploying a first-rate MMOG, and ensuring fans that we have the skill and experience to deliver an Online Entertainment Experience like no other."

As systems design lead, McGeathy, known as "Rashere" in the online gaming community, will oversee the team responsible for creating the innovative gameplay mechanics that will bring to life the MMOG codenamed "Copernicus." At SOE, he held the position of lead designer on EverQuest and was responsible for the overall creative direction of the product and management of its design team.

Danuser, also known as "Moorgard" in the online world, joined 38 Studios in 2006 as the director of community development and lead content designer. He is establishing the foundation of 38 Studios' community while directing creative development of the company's upcoming MMOG. At SOE, he was the original community manager for EverQuest II, founding and maintaining one of the strongest and most vibrant communities in the MMOG space. He later moved into the role of designer and contributed to expansion packs and live updates, including the popular Echoes of Faydwer.

Design director Jason Roberts oversees the creative and technical operations of the 38 Studios design department, ensuring that both gameplay systems and creative content meld into a cohesive and entertaining experience. Prior to joining 38 Studios in 2007, he was lead designer of EverQuest II, providing guidance to the development process of three expansions and three adventure packs, including Desert of Flames, Kingdom of Sky and Echoes of Faydwer.

About 38 Studios
38 Studios, a media and entertainment company founded in 2006 by Curt Schilling, is in pre-production on an original fantasy IP driven by the creative and artistic visions of pop-culture icons R. A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane. Entertainment products will include a massively immersive Online Entertainment Experience (TM) that transcends the traditional MMOG genre, novels, comics, toys, movies, TV, and more. For more information, visit http://www.38studios.com.

38 is really pulling in some talented people. I really can not wait to see what they have in store for us! Congratulation Travis! Would you do me a favor and /bonk Moorgard for me!

Another Good-bye and new additions

I logged onto my raiding forums the other day and there is was, another good-bye. Lately, I find that when I log in to the game, the forums, check my mail, there is another good-bye. One would think after all the years I have been online, I would be used to the comings and goings of those I meet. I confess, I am not. I get all comfortable with the people that I know on-line. Just as if I knew them in real life. Just as if they were part of my family.


A lot of things changed in the last couple of years. Partly because I know more people on line then I ever have before and partly because life is becoming more fluid. Some of those I have said good-bye to in the past have floated away like a balloon a child let go of, never to be seen again. Some I still touch base with from time to time. Just today I got an instant message from someone I met about 8 years ago telling me he is getting married in June. He was just a teenager when I met him. Some I see once a year at Fan Faire, we say hello, spend a weekend having fun and then say good-bye till next year. Some are taking a gaming break till the next "best game" is released. Me? I am still plugging along playing a game I like a lot.

To all of them I say "May you always have fair winds and following seas."

Now for the new additions. I popped into the Stratics Dev Chat Friday night. Most was the same old stuff. You know the "When are you fixing x,y,z class, tradeskill, zone, spell, etc" At the end is when the fun stuff came out. Saavedra is working on a return to a popular dungeon. Epic weapons are going to be tweaked. For people killing the Avatars, new cloaks are going to drop.
Weaponsmiths and woodworkers are going to get some love. The four primary cures, arcane, noxious, trauma and elemental are going to be combined into one spell. Coercers are going to see some improvements to their class in GU45. And my favorite bit of information of the night BUILT IN VOICE CHAT!!. I have been asking of this for a long time now. I have grown accustomed to using a chat program for raids and even some groups, the drawback is not everyone uses the same program. This will make is much easier, in my opinion.

Also Fan Faire was announced. I look forward to spending a lot of time at Quark's. I will be going for the week, if you happen to get there early let me know!

Thank you, Ralyssand

I raid with an alliance of people in EverQuest II. We raid Sunday nights from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. edt and Wednesday nights from 8:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m edt. We only do the raid zones and we do not go after contested mobs. Our latest target has been the Temple of Kor-sha. We have progressed to the Overlord without success.

Just about 2 weeks ago, the player that ran our raids decided it was time to leave the game. He sited real life issues and a general boredom of the game itself. I was very sorry to see him go. He was awesome at leading the raids. He will be missed.

I was more of a hard core raider in EverQuest. I just did not want to do that again, but I do like to raid. My guild is a very casual guild. People come and go as real life dictates, so there was very little opportunity to pull a raid together. So when I was told about the EverQuest II Alliance Operatives raid group, I could not wait to check it out.

I really did like the experience for 2 reasons. One of the reasons was our raid leader, Ralyssand. His manner of leading raids was totally opposite anything I had seen before. There was no yelling, cursing, belittling etc. If a mistake was made, it was not "Who the #$@% did that?" it was "What happened there and how do we fix it so it does not happen again?" He rarely lost his cool or raised his voice. The second reason was the people in the group. They are a great bunch of people and a lot of fun to play with.

We are going to keep on raiding from what I can see. A few people have stepped up to lead raids. Will it be the same? Probably not, but different is not a bad thing.

Raly, you will be missed! *hugs*

Just my opinion,
Gethani

Thank you, Unrest!!

I was originally going to write about the difficulty I had in getting help with my epic quest. The quest started out with 3 solo steps and then followed with a step in Chelsith. For a long while that was my roadblock. I do have to admit part of that roadblock was of my own doing. I was a bit burnt out and my play time was usually only on my raid days. Since I only raid 2 nights a week, that made getting a group for Chelsith more on the wishful thinking side.

Then some of the people that I raid with offered to help out and off to Chelsith I went. Working on my epic invigorated my desire to log in just to get the epic done. I played more hours the last few days then I played the last few months. I finished Defender of the Faith on March 1st. I finished The Saga of Yasva V'Alear on March 9th. All in all, it went a lot faster than I thought it was going to go.

I have to thank members of the EQ2 Alliance Operatives on Unrest for their help and support. I wanted to name the people that helped but to be honest I am sure I would leave someone out and I really do not want to slight anyone. You know who you are!! I can not thank you enough! They were pretty marvelous about helping me, I know without them I would not have even attempted the epic. The Operatives raid group is made up of many different people in many different guilds. So we have to schedule in personal time, guild time, group time and raid time. We do get a lot done and I am really happy to be raiding with such a nice group of people!

One of the steps originally gave me heartburn. I was instructed to kill 75 inconsequential individuals. By this time I knew who these inconsequential individuals were and where they could be found. The problem I faced was finding a group that wanted to actually hunt in
Sebilis and stay to kill 75 reet slaves. I ended up doing this with several different groups of people over a 2 day period. Some friends, some strangers. This ended up being my favorite step. I met several really nice people! I can honestly say it has been a long while since I put up my LFG tag and actively advertised for a group to do anything. I forgot how much fun it could be. There are drawbacks of course. Like the person that wiped the entire group going after a shiny, but mostly it was a lot of fun! I was very surprised that people in the group were willing to stay for the long haul. Let's face it 75 reets is a lot. Camping anything can be long and boring but these people stayed. Thank you all again and again and again.

If you play on Unrest and need help, feel free to look for Gethani. If I am available I would love to help out!!

*hugs*
Gethani

Happy Birthday Me!!

I am 52 years young today!! Guess what my wonderful kids got me for my birthday! Rockband!!! I know it is not the normal present one would expect children to get their 52 year young mom, but I am far from a normal mom!

I have been having a blast with it! I played for a while with my daughter, then did a lot on the solo option. I am touring in Los Angeles now!! To be honest, I really was not sure how much I was going to like it or how coordinated I was going to be doing it, but so far I am just loving it. I am playing on easy until I get the hang of it.

My son pointed out the it is called Rockband when I wondered out loud if they were going to add other music genres to the mix. I think it would be fun to be able to pick songs out of a large selection of artists and genres. Some of the old 50's and 60's music would be nice. Even though I would not usually listen to the songs that I can choose from I am finding the game fun and challenging. I look forward to going solo with the drums, I am on guitar now!

I also look forward to being able to play with my son over XBOX Live. That should be interesting considering he has had the game a lot longer then me.

Back to Los Angeles now!!

Gethani

My YMCA

I know most of you must be thinking what my YMCA has to do with games. My Y has a room they called the Interactive zone. In this room they have CYBEX Trazer, Kilowatt, Sportswall Station, Cateye GameBike, a Wii, and Xbox and a Playstation 2.

A room made for gamers that want to exercise!!. Unfortunately, at my YMCA, Taylor Bend, the room is only open when school is out. Even though in the brochures and on the web site the description says "YMCA members can enjoy an exhilarating, full-body workout while playing video games! More than just computers that make you sweat, the Interactive Zone offers something for everyone, from simulated interaction training for athletes, to keeping youth and teens active and excited about fitness, to mental and physical coordination exercises for older adults and rehabilitation patients."

To be fair, this is my second membership at this Y and during the first one, I got them to open the room 3 days a week for a few hours in the morning so us adults could have some fun too!! Unfortunately, I was pretty much the only one in there, but I had a blast. They have Dance, Dance Revolution. That was the main reason I wanted to get in that room. I never tried it before but had seen my son and his friends do it. I thought it would be a blast and much better than walking nowhere on a treadmill. And it was!! I also enjoyed the Sportwall, it is 2 walls that have 2 rows of lights that flash off and on and you have to hit your color with your hand, a ball or even a pool noodle! It really was a lot of fun and a vigorous workout. I had to stop going to the Y because of transportation issues, I was not happy but there was nothing I could do at the time. Those issues have worked themselves out so back I went, but no I-zone. How sad for me.

Since the last time i was at the Y they have added a lot of things, including the Wii. The CYBEX machines are new also and I would really like to give them a whirl. I am again going to lobby to get the room open for us old folk, I just wish more people my age would want to come in and play with me!!

Check out your Y's and see if they have an I-zone. Exercising has never been so much fun!!
Just my opinion,
Gethani

Long Lost Friends

I am trying to track down long lost friends. I have been trying to find Christopher Rush an illustrator that designed cards for Magic the Gathering. He has just dropped of the face of the earth. If anyone has any idea where he went or how I can get in touch with him please let me know.

I am also trying to find members of the guilds HoSS, Phoenix and VVV from Everquest 1 and DoAC. I get these bouts of nostalgia and feel the need to connect with people that I used to play with. Just want to find out what they are doing and what they are playing.

*hugs*
Gethani

Level 80 -- Now what?

I just reached level 80 on my main character in Everquest II. To be honest, I really took my time doing it too. The first weekend the expansion was out, my computer room was all torn apart, so I did not play. I took a few days of here and there for family reasons. I also took a little over a week off when I went to visit my son. I cut my playing time down each day compared to how I have played in the past. So I was not making a mad dash to level 80, yet here I am.

So.......what do I do now? OK, I still have to finish my achievement point leveling, but I only need 10 more points. I figure I will have those in a week or less. I can also work on the quests that I did not finish before I hit level 80, but there really is not much of an incentive for me to do that. The priest quest rewards are, IMO, screwed up and now I am not getting experience for the quests. So why bother.

I can catch up on my tradeskill levels. Most people that know me know I would rather give birth than tradeskill. I find it boring (sorry Domino, I think you have done a great job of sprucing up tradeskilling.), it is just not my cup of tea. Maybe if experience moved faster or the process itself moved a bit faster, I would not equate it to watching paint dry. I want to finish a couple of Heritage Quests that I need a higher level of tradeskilling, so this might just motivate me back into the cellar. Even this will not take me more than 3-4 weeks.

I can make an alt and actually play it up to level 80. I just find I am very attached to my main character and I really miss not being able to play her. So my question is why put out an expansion and increase the level cap if people could get to 80 within days of the expansion coming out? I miss the days of taking a very long time to level. I am sure I am in the minority in the day of "everything has to be NOW" but I still wish my adventuring levels took a lot longer to earn so I feel like I am actually doing something till the next expansion is released.

Just my opinion
Gethani