*Gasp* A thread that you'll soon wish never existed! Inc Block of Text, Look out!
Hello everyone! Before you ask, this particular introduction was *technically* made for the WoW forums back in the day. However, since I decided to join so I could say, "I was with him
before he hit big", I thought this could apply too. And yes, I did spend a bit of effort fixing up the introduction from back then, so don't complain
too much. Anyway, excuse the verbosity, I'm just weird like that. If you're weird like that too, feel free to read!
Background (people who don't want to get bored for about 5 pages skip here!)
The beginnings; EQ1Well, I was first introduced to the MMORPG world as a young kid of 10, in 1997, with Everquest. I had always looked onto Everquest like the way into the future. With a crappy dial-up modem, and little more then an 800 mghz computer, a gforce 3 video card (which I had to beg to get for christmas), I first booted up my human paladin [Holystratus] in Qeynos. I was instantly hooked. It took me over a week to hit level 10, because I was so intrigued with the reality of the game. It was, for lack of a better word, a magical experience. Everybody had that experience, the novelty of a whole new world opening up to you; alas, to feel that feeling again-- I would give my soul for that feeling. The wonder of talking to NPCs, the intrigue of the story, the clunky UI (you all remember that UI, like looking through a mailbox), the joy of taking down your first large snake. Even the agonizing fear of falling into the BlackBurrow Pit, afraid that I would never see my precious corpse, until a friendly level 30 (with bronze equipment, the twink!) offered to go down there and drag it out for me. I miss that community. I miss that time. that time was nothing short of enchanting.
Well, luclin came out, and a year later I started getting bored with my level 47 paladin. My friends online said that I should take a break, and I agreed. Of course they didn't realise that break would be two years. I turned onto other things; middle school started, and I started focusing on social life. Finally, walking through Wal Mart, I spied something called "Everquest Platinum". I pick it up, thinking back to the good days, and how that game was some of the best times I had experienced. Then I looked at the back; 8 expansions were contained in it! What happened to the 3 expansions that I was used to? Well, for the small price of 30 dollars, I picked it up, and this time started a (female) necromancer named [Taelrie]. Now I realised why everybody called necromancers overpowered. I rocketed through the 60 levels available in less then 3 months (yes, three months was rocketing), largely thanks to the newbie zones in luclin, and later the impressive soloing ability of necromancers. I was disappointed with the content added; At this time, GoD was starting to come out, and these 8 expansions were little better then scars of velious alone. I could tell that the quality of the game was degrading, but since I hadn't yet experienced the content from before, I barely gave it any thought. This was around 2000, the millenium, the Y2K bug. I also started getting really into the game. soon I was on the top of the line; I was making more money then people dreamed of, and on my gnome enchanter I started giving firework shows in the plane of knowledge. I was throwing cash left right and center, and I had a money making guide for
Veksar, and a separate guide for
twinking pets both of which were stickied, and both of which I was extremely proud of.
However, I was at the top of the solo game. I loved soloing. I enjoyed grouping, hated raiding. Yet I knew this was the top of where I was going to get as solo, and I had barely experienced a quarter of the game. The rest required raiding. lots of raiding. Then, Gates of Discord comes out. I go in there, and instantly I disliked it. There were bugs everywhere, not only in content but in the very surrounding. you could
feel the developers getting lazy. this was the 9th expansion, they weren't getting any better. then, nary half a year of that came out, there was omens of war. Everywhere people were crying out in protest, the bugs in GoD were completely ignored. The developers were no longer selling expansions on content, they were selling expansions on cheaply designed features and better equipment. the game had hit an all time low. and like a rat abandoning a burning warehouse (bad analogy I agree, but nevertheless...), I jumped ship.
Everquest II (wrote a review on it a while back, hereEverquest 2 came out shortly after I finished EQ1, and like the ignorant fool that I am, I joined the game as soon as I got my Radeon 9800 pro. Everquest 2 was definitely a step up from where Everquest was headed; the community was relatively small (200,000, compared to WoW's release of almost 2 million), and WoW mostly leeched the younger community. However Everquest 2 was made the same way everquest was being made; it was hinged on features. They completely ignored the content, and focused on the features. Talking voices, graphics, "Complex Tradeskill System" (also known as the
Longest Timesink Ever Made), graphics again, and "interactive" community.
Everquest 2 also showed the emergence of what I feared. Graphics were taking a toll on content. The graphics were unbelievable. My radeon screamed in fear when I turned the graphics on high, before adjusting it. Because of this, the world was
tiny. think about a 5th the size of WoW. if that. Each zone was about the same size of WoW's zones, and there was only 10 major zones. only 10! Not only that, every major zone they added from that point costed 5 dollars! I took it, even bought the extra zones, because the housing system was unbelievable. that was the only reason I stayed as long as I did. I spent maybe 4 hours a day furnishing our guild's house (used over 180 lights in the end). People's computers crashed on entering the house thanks to all the lighting effects. I was as proud as a rich man buying a mercedes. Finally though, the expansion came out, and I couldn't take it. the expansion was horrible. it was GoD all over again. I had seen patches that did more then that expansion did to EQ2. That was when I decided to move to World of Warcraft.
World Of Warcraft: Don't worry, the present is coming up now!When I started World of Warcraft, I was torn inbetween playing
Dota Allstars in warcraft 3, and World Of Warcraft. At the time, I was playing with the elite of the TDA team (the clan who created dota allstars). unfortunately, noone can have over 30,000 people doting over you without getting an inflated ego, and everybody I played with had high-strung feelings that could shatter at a word. It was a veritable sit-com, except when people get pissed off at you, they stay pissed off at you. It was more stressful playing with that team then anything I had ever dealed with. Well, ignorant as I was, I joined the dota team on WoW on the Moonrunner server (name was [Predation], Night Elf Hunter). Unfortunately, their egos followed them into that genre. They weren't getting doted upon in that game anymore, and were "testy" at best, downright assholes at worst. Finally I was fed up with it, cut all ties altogether and moved to Spirestone.
Since then, I have more or less been playing leapfrog on the servers. Any time I get close to 60, I usually get burnt out and started over. I have probably left behind at
least 5k gold, probably more, and no you can't have it. Right now I am having fun AoE leveling a draenei mage (third mage I've gotten past 50), a night elf druid (second past 50), and a Draenei paladin (first one!). Hopefully I'll even make it to 70 this time.
I also bought Vanguard for a short while. I even paid a month subscription for it, and played it for a whopping 12 or so hours before uninstalling it. It wasn't a particularly bad game, it's just that I have already played it. I played it the entire time I have played Everquest. Vanguard is more like Everquest then EQ2 is like Everquest. While I loved Everquest, there have been vast improvements to the gameplay. I don't want to go through an aggrandized leveling treadmill again.
Well that was fun, what happened to that introduction you were talking about?So, after over a decade of being hooked in MMORPGs, here I am, entering
CU Boulder this fall. Y2k happened with minimal casualties, George Bush took office and the apocalypse didn't happen (yet), nazis didn't take over the world. In my mind, that means that things are going pretty well. I can't say much of myself, yes even after all that. I try to make the best of life, sometimes that seems a bit difficult given all of the (for lack of a better word) idiots out there, yet nevertheless I make do. There is not much more I can say about myself; I can't make opinions of myself, as they are inevitably colored by my views; that is your job to do
. Thankyou for reading this (or not reading this, its a pretty long read). I am not the most amiable of people, but nevertheless I hope I can get along on these forums with you guys; talk to you soon!
i also draw my own web comic and RP lots in my free time.
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