The first time we played EQ - way back when - I think I got frustrated for a couple of different reasons. The first reason being that I hated camping. I mean I *really* hated it. I like to run around and track things down and kill them and then run around some more and find another thing and kill that thing and then run around some more and find something else. With Camping, you wait for stuff to spawn. Which, to me, just isn't fun.

The good part is that the <Arbiters> - and thank the gods for each and every one of them - have basically negated the need to camp, since they have outfitted us with very fine items, so that we don't have to waste time waiting for them to spawn (which, in case I hadn't previously said so, just isn't fun for me ;-)). The other good part is that it looks like Verant has improved the game & the zones to where it will be possible to play in outside zones, and if not at least run around and kill things out in the open, run around the perimeter of a zone and pull and kill to the wall… which, while not ideal, is more than sufficient.

The other thing that I think frustrated me was that, basically, I just had Rori. We did the same thing every night. We had one strategy, cause that's all there was, and we used that strategy... over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and... well, you get my point. It got boring, after a while.

Davian's problem is a little different. Davian is concerned that I will quit. He’s concerned because (even though Venture will argue this till *I* am blue in the face), Verant has centered their game around Grouping. Can’t survive without a group. Especially once you hit the mid twenties. So Davian is concerned that right when we hit the mid twenties, I won’t want to play these characters any more, and I will quit, which will leave him partnerless.

It happened last time. I got frustrated with Rori and camping and “gaining” (crooks fingers twice) backwards experience and doing the same damn thing every day and trying to find just one spot that wasn’t camped where it was so crowded that people would run between my ass and my camera which takes away my fixed point and makes me want to hurl (did I mention I tend to get 3D Sickness? Although it really is much better now)… and I quit.

I quit shortly after Dundee and Shae quit. So there Davian was, a lone level 33 Paladin, trying to group with people who a) weren’t morons, b) didn’t already have a regular group, and c) played at the same rate as he played, so that they wouldn’t out-level each other, at which point he would be at Number A again. It was so frustrating to him that he quit shortly after I did, even though he didn’t really want to. He would have stayed if he could have found a good group – or even a new partner.

Anyway, this time, he wants to group with Other People. He wants us to get a little bigger, so we can find a group of people, and group with them, so that we can get the exps bonus and get even bigger and group with *other* people, so that he will have lots of friends. That way, when I quit, he won’t be alone.

It's a fair concern. I'm starting school in March (hopefully), which will take up 2 nights a week. Davian will want to play more than I will be able to play with him. So even if he played sometimes with me and sometimes with others, the others will outlevel him at a pace where he won’t be able to play his other character with his regular other-character-group.

But I kind of don’t want to quit. Truly, my plan is to play this game until six months after Star Wars comes out, and then go play that (because, frankly, I think that Raph is much smarter than Brad is, and I think Star Wars will be a much better game, despite it being, you know, *Star Wars*). I don’t mean that I want to play Everquest 24/7/365. I’d like to play play three or so hours a day, 3-4 days/week, for the next 18 months to 2 years. I would like to try being a Casual Player, which is something I haven’t done before, because of peer pressure. This time, I want to Just Say No to peer pressure, and *just play.*

The other part of the equation is that I like Davian. He is pretty much my best friend. A lot of times, I play these games just to be with Davian. We could be playing Cribbage or UO or EQ or Yahtzee or Scrabble (all of which we have done). It doesn’t really matter the forum – Davian just makes a good partner (or opponent, as the case may be). We’ve been friends for about five years now, which is a long time. We’ve jumped from game to game to game together. Whenever one of us goes somewhere, the other isn’t far behind.

We have a good partnership. It just *works.* We’re like that old married couple who has breakfast and one hands the other the newspaper section while the other is handing over the syrup. He knows what I’m thinking (most of the time), and I know what he’s thinking (most of the time). He doesn’t get too irritated with me when I forget to attack the mob in front of me, or when I Heal the mob instead of Kick it (Heal is 5 and Kick is 4), or when I get lost in Qeynos (again) and he has to come find me and take me to somewhere that I recognize. I don’t get irritated with him when he says, five minutes later, “Hun, I lost you” and I have to stop tracking the choice yellow mob, track him, and hope the yellow mob is still on tracking once I find him again.

I like Other People too, don’t get me wrong. I’ve known Venture and Qualm and Cristos and Sylverlokk and Magnus for a long time too, and I like being with them. I met Hiwei and Manjuk in Everquest the last time, and would group with them at a moment’s notice. Trovus – we grouped with him a couple of days ago and even though I hadn’t previously met him, it was *wonderful.* He fit right into our little group like an egg in a carton.

On the other hand, new people are kind of scary to me. Ever since UO, I have insulated myself with a few people who I know and like, and other than that, there’s nobody else. I think mostly I’m scared that the New Person will not fit into our group dynamic, and I will not want to be with them. Then I will have to tell them to leave, or leave myself, and I really, really, really don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. That’s the worst. There was a bard last time who just wouldn’t shut off “the freaking lightshow” (see Dejanews for the thread – subject “OK, the WORST class”) and we had to boot her out of the group. I felt really badly.

Other times, it’s not the fear of grouping with ‘bad’ group members. I just want to relax and forget about my workday and kill stuff with Davian. Davian and I alone – just us. I don’t have to be “On” with him, which is a huge relief to me. I can just be me. I don’t have to worry about being pushed and pulled in five different directions - one for each group member. I just have to make sure that two people are having a good time, which is much easier than making sure that six are.

The classes that Davian is interested in playing are Cleric, Rogue, and Warrior. He has a bit of an interest in being a Druid. I have a Druid already, and like her a lot, so I will want her to partner with one of Davian’s guys later. I’d be willing to be a Shaman, a Ranger, a Cleric, and perhaps a Warrior.

I was thinking that we could have a whole bunch of different partnerships, and have options, and play whatever partners we wanted to play at the time (“I kind of feel like playing my Rogue today” / “Okay, I’ll get out my Shaman” --- “Holy cow there’s a named mob in the teensy area!” / “Okay quick let’s get Rori and Dearic and get the phat lewt!”). I think that would help keep things interesting for me, and make me want to stick with it for two years, as is my plan.

Davian hates being a newbie. I don’t blame him – newbiedom isn’t very fun. But characters start getting fun around level 10-12, and then we’d be out of newbiedom, and it’d be okay again (well, except for the not-having-partnerships thing). But he looks at getting all these guys up to level 10-12, and sees that it’ll take about a week for each one, and he says: “You want me to wait *five weeks* to start playing??” and gets irritated with me. “Well, no. I mean yes. I mean – I don’t know.”

We’re also finding that a partnership without SoW kind of sucks. I mean, it really sucks. We’re in East Karana, and I die bound in Qeynos. Things get a little too tough and I can’t run the gnolls to the guards fast enough, and all of a sudden it’s a twenty minute trek back to the hunting spot. When you’re trying to be a Casual Player, that’s quite a chunk of time. That a spell that is *so important* is only had by a small percentage of the population is bad design. It’s *really* bad design. Maybe when they fix the bind points for non-casters, SoW won’t be quite as important.

So anywho, not sure what’s going on with us, yet. We’ll keep on with the status quo (Davan the cleric & Jaini the ranger) for a while yet, till we figure out what to do. But every time we talk about it, we end up arguing. So we may end up keeping the status quo till we’re Level Sixty, and we’ll *still* argue on and off about what to do with our variety-of-things thing.

I’ll let you know how it goes.


Rori Faiyr.