From 1785470415973407688 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: fb739,10897e9e982b81a4,start X-Google-Attributes: gidfb739,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-11-04 10:05:17 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!fu-berlin.de!pln-w!spln!dex!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!enews4 From: "Richard Lawson" Newsgroups: alt.games.everquest Subject: Monual's Anticlimatic Day Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 11:37:06 -0600 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 167 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: p-380.newsdawg.com X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 Xref: archiver1.google.com alt.games.everquest:5771 My guild, Silent Tempest, is just about ready for Time. We took down the Rathe on our third serious try, quite unexpectedly. No one thought we'd actually win, and it was quite a surprise when we actually pulled it off. Just to prove that it wasn't a fluke, we tried again the next time Rathe was up and killed them again. Like, wow. I'd always thought that Rathe would be the roadblock to time, but that title currently belongs to Coirnav. We were very close to figuring him out - and then SOE changed the event. We had to start over from square one on developing a strategy. After we killed Rathe, our server's resident uber-guild suddenly got very interested in Coirnav. During all our previous Coirnav attempts they had shown no interest in him at all, and then suddenly started racing us to every spawn after the Rathe. It's interesting how their leadership works... they send our officers private tells, jeering at them, admitting that they're going after Coirnav to keep us out of Time. To their membership, they say they're killing Coirnav for the loots and to get their new recruits flagged. It's an interesting study in hypocrisy. Last week when Coirnav was up, my guild started gathering in Water. The uber-guild didn't have enough people online to take down Coirnav, but they had enough online to take down the trigger. So they pulled the trigger, killed it, then TL'd out of the zone. Theoretically this only added a four-hour delay for us because they didn't kill any of the mini's. But during those four hours, Drinal crashed. That somehow bugged the spawn timer - the trigger did not repop after four hours. The uber-guild, in a fit of pique, had bugged the spawn for four days. Quite typical of their behavior. After that incident, I talked with a former guildmate of mine who is now in the uber-guild. It's interesting to see things from the other side - their view is that we were "rushing" them because we were forming up, that we should have respected them for having people in the zone first, and that killing the trigger was simply what we deserved for doing the same thing to them back in Ssra (we killed Blood for its loot, thus delaying the Emp spawn for four hours during a race with the uber-guild). I'm trying to state that as objectively as possible, but to my eyes it seems ludicrous - how that can possibly justify their behavior is beyond me. Still, maybe I'm unable to separate myself from my guild's perspective and their actions do, in fact, seem justified. Later that week we get into Water within minutes of the trigger spawning, with the uber-guild totally unprepared. We run the event, we use our new strategy, deal with the adds, get Coirnav down to 60% with his hitpoints going down fast - and get TL'd out of the zone. Event timer ran out. Still, it's very encouraging: we have a valid strategy and we simply need to execute it a little better. Coirnav is within our grasp. Last night, Coirnav was due again. Again, both guilds begin to gather in Water. The uber-guild insists they're just there for loot and for something to do since Time isn't spawned. Of course, Fire is fully spawned, so that seems a weak excuse. Again, the jeering tells to our officers commence. Nasty things are being said in /ooc - and to be fair, some of my guildmates are contributing too. Still, it's sad to see how some of our former guildmates, who we liked and seemed like nice people but then dumped us to join the uber-guild, start bashing us loudly. One in particular, a chanter I'd always liked, starts up a stream of abuse at our guildleader. It's like people *have* to act like jerks in order to fit in with the uber-guild. We're winning the race but losing the war. We have 60 people in the zone to their 48. However, we have zero wizards and zero chanters - it's still very early in the evening. On Drinal there's an alliance of people called NightRaid. Late in the evening they get together and raid some of the PoP mobs. It started small, with Grummus, Behemoth, etc. People from all sorts of guilds tagged along, including my guild and the uber-guild. It was a nice, cooperative effort that allowed people in non-high-end guilds to get a chance to see some of the high-end content. NR, as it's known, has been getting more and more ambitious. They killed Bertox, Mithaniel Marr, and Saryn. Finally they took a stab at Rallos Zek the Warlord. After a couple weeks of trying, and with the help of people from my guild and the uber-guild, they finally took down RZtW, granting Elemental access to a lot of folks. It was a good moment, and most everyone in my guild was pleased by their success. Until last night. The uber-guild, seeing that they're losing the race to us, start calling in people who got flagged via NR. People from other guilds start getting together with the uber-guild, drawn in by promises to get a flag and a chance at loot. My guild explodes in frustration - that seems like an inappropriate use of the NightRaid. We contributed to its success as much as the uber-guild, yet the uber-guild is trying to use NR to keep us out of Time. I'm about the only one who sees it as a kind of victory - the uber-guild has just admitted they can't beat us in a race by themselves. There is quite a bit of drama going about, and I have to admit, this is the most excited I've been about EverQuest in a long, long time. This is real heart-racing stuff. There are now 150 people in the zone. They start buffing. We start buffing, although we wonder what can be done without wizards and chanters. With the situation about to explode, a GM-Admin comes into the zone. I'm not sure who petitioned, them or us, but I'm glad to see him. He starts talking with our guildleader and the uber-guild guildleader. Our officers have been trying to work out a deal with the uber-guild, only to get jeered at in response, but this GM-sponsored mediation forces the uber-guild to actually talk about compromises. Something will get worked out now, I'm certain. It takes a surprisingly long time for a deal to be worked out, with 150 people swimming in place waiting for an outcome. In the end, the agreement is made: the uber-guild will get this Coirnav spawn, my guild will get the next two. Some people in my guild log in anger and frustration, but most see it as a good thing - we won't get molested for two consecutive attempts, giving us plenty of time to set up and prepare. And we feel good that two attempts will be enough to take down Coirnav. I'm among those who are glad that a deal got worked out, but it is still disappointing to have the raid moved to Fire. We take down all the mobs, it's easy for us now despite the fact that I go link-dead during Reparm. Perhaps the most amusing moment is when a wizard somehow gets charmed during our charm chicken clearing. He begins nuking me. And I mean, nuking me *hard*. I take about 10K of damage from him before the charm wears off. Fortunately I was in a group with two other clerics and they kept him from killing me. He sends me a tell afterwards asking if his nukes were actually landing and I tell him that they were, and doing good damage. This is why tanks should be the only ones charmed; they can attack me all day long and I simply ignore them. Charmed wizards are dangerous. We get a bunch of loot, some of which is becoming difficult to give away. Alts are now getting elemental gear. We are quite ready for Time. After we clear Time, we look around for other targets. The uber-guild killed Coirnav, so they no longer can use the excuse that they need to get recruits flagged. The uber-guild is now in Earth killing some rings. We cleared Water and EarthB last night, and it's too late to start the Rathe encounter. The officers finally decide to take the rest of the night off. We'll to the Rathe tomorrow. I try to get a Guk LDoN group together. I still need Bulwark of Vie, and I've had a lot of difficulty getting Guk groups together - people hate Guk for some reason. Personally, I like Guk. During a late-night Cursed cycle we did for fun a couple of weeks ago, I got a Hammer of the Sun. So now I have a mana-free DoT I can land on undead along with all of my other DoTs and undead nukes. I like undead. =) I eventually get six people together - but no tank. We decide to do a normal and have the monk tank, with the mage providing an earth pet to assist. It goes pretty well, although when we get to the named - it's an assassinate mission - the monk gets aggro from half the room and feign-deaths. We still get two mobs who aggro on us, and the monk can't stand up yet, so yours truly wades in and plays tank for a bit. I do pathetic damage but at least keep aggro off the chanter. We finish the mission, and I try to get another one going but it's too late, can't find six people. So I log, still quite a bit aways from BoV. /sigh Tonight, we'll do Rathe. I'm still hoping for the BP. =) And later this week, we'll do Coirnav without any outside interference and bring him down. Time is coming. -- -Richard Monual Lifegiver Archon of Rodcet Nife Silent Tempest Marrtuk Cavalier of Mithaniel Marr Drinal server