f13.net

Some play on weekends, others only maybe.

What's a good night for everyone, and a good time? For me, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursdays at 9pm EST are great. Other times I'm hit or miss on login times and at all.

Would love to get something semi consistent though. Helps with planning. Weekends are rough for me without some notice for example.

If we have a regular group night, I'll happily join in.  I'll even go so far as to roll whatever class is needed.  Lately I've been playing with a friend on Butcherblock but will happily play a couple of nights on Steamfont if there's a regular group.

Tuesday and Wednesday I'm usually on from 5:30pm to 8pm. I usually try to get on for an hour or so before bed, around 11pm to 12am or so. Some weekend mornings, possibly more Sunday action now that football is over.

I'd say probably no more than 15 hrs/wk, and I'm really trying to jam in a lot of playtime because I've been enjoying EQ2 for the most part...but rl takes precedence, I'll never be on more than that unless we plan something ahead of time :)

All times in almighty Eastern!

I'm sure we'll be around plenty this weekend, so whenever.  I have to be vague, like Sky, I don't, as a general rule, turn down RL stuff to play.  So I'll agree to be there Saturday night, unless we decide to go out to dinner and drinks or something.  I can say that, knowing full well that we're homebodies who will be sitting around all weekend with nothing better to do.

Saturday night, 9pm EST we start getting together, and depending on what we have to work with depend on where we will go.  Say roll out for some smashing fun around 10pm EST.

Assuming the server is not FUBAR.

Coolness for the weekend. I won't be there (Godson's birthday and traveling), so have fun!

Cheddar, there any way to post a guild message folks can see when/as they log in asking for feedback?

Yes there is.  I like you, so welcome to guild officer status.  Well, soon as I can log in.  Feel free to set the MOTD to whatever is appropriate.

Unlimited cosmic power!

Itty bitty living space

Dude, you are supposed to wait until I give you the rank to get a Napoleon Complex!  Sheesh, fucking nooblets.

lol. Actually, I just watched Aladdin with my level 3.5 kid tonight, so that's what immediately popped to mind :)

ALADDIN!  Genius.  Thanks for the idea (goes off to get the movie to watch with his kids this weekend).

Beauty and the Beast is beginning to get worn out.  The other day at work I even used a quote from it in a casual conversation. 

Are you using one of Strazos's old avatards, Cheddar?  Or am I hallucinating again?  (http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/hippy.gif)

Those are two of my personal favs. Dated a girl in my 20s who liked Disney movies, and I sorta got into them. Which was good, seeing as I'd need them a decade later :) I sorta like all of them from that time, basically when Eisner first took over: everything from Rescuers Down Under to Lion King. Thereafter pervaded some sameness, or maybe that was because we broke up or something.

I saw both Beauty and Lion King on Broadway. Insane (read: typical Disney) production values. Beauty was a fairly straightforward iteration with some extra songs (and a really excellent transformation at the end). But Lion King really went a lot more cultural with very African-themed stylng and treatments. Both soundtracks are worth it alone if you get into that sorta thing.

It's a testament to those flicks and plays that they can scale so well for adults and kids. A lot of nuance is, of course, lost of my preschooler. But there's jokes and colors and fun looking and sounding characters with a mostly light-hearted story (except that whole Mufassa getting stampeded thing... though even that's not as bad as Bambi's mother getting shot!). In Aladdin, she likes the carpet ;)

Err, yea, I'm sure that's more than ya needed to know :)

That always bothered me about my old EQ guild. We'd set up adventures, like "Meet outside Chardok at 9pm". People would dick around buffing or making town runs for the next hour or two, maybe start playing by 11pm. My old buddy the eqholic and I always showed up sharply at 9pm and were totally annoyed by the time we started having 'fun' hours later.

Pet peeve. Another reason I don't group much, I dislike wasting time, mine or other's. Especially if I have two hours to play and an hour is wasted. Makes me an angry elf.

I hear that Sky.  I hate waiting around for folks too.

How about 9:00 for 9:15 kick off?  If you're late, you'll know where we are.  If you know you'll be late, you know where we'll be, so you can make preparations ahead of time.  It's not like we're pulling together 4 groups we have to have to do content.  Even a group of 2 can get started on the stuff we're doing.

While it starts to get more into "real guild" territory, it worked for my EQ/WoW guild because, for the most part, we're all folks who don't hold real life off for long. Time crunched with lives, families, even grandkids. So we would push everyone else to be on ball. It only takes a critical mass of people serious about sticking to a clock to get others to keep up really.

In WoW, we started our raids at 9:00pm EST sharp. People met at the raid entrance at 8:45pm EST sharp. The Raid setup took a few minutes, but meanwhile conjuring happened, and after groups established, buffing. A few growing pains in the first few weeks, but after that, the benefit to being ontime and moving was so obvious to everyone, even the laziest made it work for them.

Dinking around instance entrances is what compels me to solo too :) Standing around without a clear goal sucks.

You guys are so strict.

She wasn't too enthused about Saturday night spent playing EQ2, we usually relax and watch movies and the SNL trainwreck. I'll probably make it this weekend if we're still going to do it, but it wouldn't make a great regular night for me.

She told me to mention Tuesday and Wednesday again :P

Monday through Thursday is ideal for me, but you mentioned logging off about an hour before I log on (at 9pm EST). Do you mean you can play later into the night?

Thats why I gave the hour lapse.  EVERY time we get together someone is late (usually me) and others want to join but did not know we were doing something, so then we have to wait/show them how to get there/etc.   I think the real issue here is that you are playing an elf.

Yeah. Tuesday and Wednesday she works until 8:30, I log off around 8 and get supper going. Those are two nights I can just call her and let her know I'd be gaming later and she'd go home instead of coming over to my place. And she's amenable to that, unlike the look I got when I mentioned Saturday night :P

Even another weeknight would probably be ok if I know in advance so we can plan around it. We're still trying to find a good space for my gaming hobby, she's trying to be understanding. She loves GTA:SA and BF2, but that's about it so far.
Then I'd show up an hour "late" to be just on time. I despise wasting time waiting for people to get their shit together.
Erudite, actually ;)

I don't want to come across as a l33t powergamer, but like Sky, I'd end up timing my travel time more against when I thought we'd actually get going than to try and be there on time if we had so much of a lapse.

Having a set start time isn't impossible if we can identify what works for everyone. We're all pretty fluid and have lives, but I gotta imagine we can pick at least one night each week to start and have everyone actually be there. The benefits of knowing on, say, Monday that a set group is going to be adventuring on Wednesday is invaluable for those who do want to experience both Solo and Group content. I'm sure many of us would rather group in the guild than with Random_Ninjalooter_01 if given the opportunity.

I wouldn't want to have too much lapse time though because I feel like the more people stand around waiting, the less likely they'll be interested next time.

How about Wednesdays at 9pm EST?

Any chance for a roster if we set a time?  (or at least a list of people mildly interested in joining)  I can get a toon caught up due to my lack of a life beyond work.  If I know what classes you guys play, I can have something complimentary ready to go.

I will do my best to commit to this, but to be honest 6pm PST is right around when I'm getting home from the office.  I certainly don't expect East Coasters to get together any later than that, but I hate being the "late everytime" guy.

Blah this is how DKP starts.  Anyhow, Darniaq you are now a uber officer or something.  Feel free to do as you will!!

I wish it weren't true, but the "formalization" of playtime is always the first harbinger of doom for me.

No doom will come if I can help it.

Unfortunately, casual play and EQ2 don't seem to mix too well since a lot of the content is based around full and reasonably balanced groups.  It's a decent game but it doesn't really play to Bat Country's strengths.

I do not want to change anything if people like what's here! Heck, who am I anyway?! I've been on Steamfont/Oasis, what, a week?

Nah, not my gig to break what's already fixed.

Problem is, Cheddar and the rest I was within in Blackburrow this week spoiled me. That group and my partnering with Mi_Tes spoiled me! My life, like all of our's, is too crazy for consistency unless planned for. At all other times I've been soloing, mostly because I could (nice change from beta), but partly because I've been on at odd times. We have a few folks who are often on together but others, not so much.

Certainly don't need to change it if people are cool with it. And at least as far as I can tell, "casual" seems to actually work in EQ2 like it does in WoW. The leveling speed is slower, but man, my character has more abilities and unique choices applied to it at 15 than my WoW Mage had at 40 (and it looks like I'll surpass what I could do at 60 by the time my 'lock here hits 20). I love what I'm seeing!

I am absolutely not looking to raid, and certainly want to avoid formalized DKP nonsense. That's why I quit EQ1 and WoW. Raiding is fine and all, but I find it boring, and with little point beyond getting better gear with which to raid more effectively. Great if ya like that stuff, but I'd rather progressively adventure.

I will be on as often as I can but will target Wednesday at 10pm EST for a consistent group start if anyone's interested. No pressure here at all. I'm just going to hold that time for when I want to start going through the {Heroic} stuff in my quest log :)

The reason I say that casual doesn't seem to work as well in EQ2 is that there doesn't seem to be a lot you an do with two or three man groups.  There's stuff you can solo, stuff you need a full group for, and then stuff you need mulitple groups for.  Since there isn't a huge amount of Bat Country members on at any given time, it can be hard to get a full and balanced group together.  Also since you can mentor down but can't sidekick people up, you're stuck with the lower end content, and there's only so many times one can take going through BB.

OK this is my intent. It worked for me in EQ1 now im trying in EQ2. On our server Ive a 19 necro (in Guild) 23 monk and 24 templar. The idea being i can be what the group needs.

I disagree in all regards with this statement.  We have had many successful "raids" time and again, and in my eyes this is whats making EQ2 shine.  Otherwise I would be in EVE.

ONE important thing everyone seems to neglect.  RAIDING is not doing x instance over and over again for y shiny.

Raiding is getting a group together and doing a raid.  Nothing more.  We do this well and I think Darniaq is completely on point and everyone will benefit with some sort of loose schedule.

To clarify what I said.... I love grouping with friends, I love scheduled get togethers and achieving goals as a group, but one that becomes the focus, eventually I'll look at having to run home and login to get there on time as a *burden*, and being the lazy jackass that I am, contempt forms.  Like I said, I wish I weren't like that, but I've been fairly consistent over the years.  It's why I'm not playing WoW with my MMOG pals of 7 years, once it feels like a job, I'm out.

I think I can handle one night a week, so count me in.

Absolutely. hehe, I actually DID have a job, in SWG, running my energy business as a cartel with others, employees, sub-contractors, and contracts. Never again. I loved it and all, but it's way more immersive than I have the time and will to be anymore.

I think I understand where Velorath is coming from now. But I think Mentoring really does help too. Sure we don't want higher levels always having to nurse lowbies like me all the time :) It was fun that run through Blackburrow though as we figured out the best way to bring everyone together. We had me at 12 and someone at 28 and everyone mentored down to someone at 17 so we could get into BB. That's outright impossible in most other games except CoH, which is incomparable in other ways anyway.

I also was a bit confused when people started talking about "raiding". My view of raiding is exactly what Cheddar says he didn't mean (repeatedly hitting a zone for an X% drop). That's the stuff I don't want to bother with, because to me, it's work. Important for some, but I don't care enough. What he's talking though about is the good kind, where many different quests can lead to the same place at different times.

So I like that some can give the one-night thing a shot. We can move the day, the time, whatever works for the people who want it. :)

No one said anything about about raiding for any particular shiny.  In fact the only person I've ever heard talking about raiding anything for loot in EQ2 has been you a couple of the times you've gotten BB raids together where you mentioned having gotten a lot of good drops previously.  I do like to be accomplishing something on a raid though whether it's experiencing content I haven't seen before, completing quests that can't be done solo, or helping guildies complete important quests.  I'd also rather run a raid over and over again for a particular shiny rather than run it over and over again for no reason other than it's the only one we can do.

I think maybe you're reading something into what I said that wasn't something I intended though.  I think most of the fun in raiding comes from just grouping with the guildies.  As I said, I just think EQ2 puts more of an emphasis on needing a full and balanced group to do a lot of the content than most other MMO's, which to me makes it less casual since you can't just throw a group together.  I just think that heroic encounters in this game are balanced towards full groups with a good mix of healer/tank/dps fairly close in level.  If you don't have that you might as well do solo stuff because there's little content geared towards 2-5 person groups that maybe don't have an efficient mix of classes and levels.  Also a lot of quests, especially the ones that give guild status like the dwarven boots quest require a lot of killing place holders and waiting around for uncertain amounts of time for nameds to spawn.  That's not a casual thing.  Given enough attempts at that guild raid zone we tried, and maybe given the ability for guildies to swap in and out alts as needed, we probably could have done something.  One failure though was all we were allowed due to the 1 week cockblock timer though.  Not casual.

My point is that the casualness of the guild limits the activities we can participate in because it's not often we can get the kind of groups together that SOE intended for their content.  So far, the guild raids I've seen have almost all been BB, FG that one time, the failed attempt at the guild raid zone, and I'm struggling to remember anything else.  That doesn't make EQ2 shine to me, it makes me think they poorly planned out a lot of the content assuming players could just whip up a good group whenever they feel like it, which just caused me to skip a lot of the heroic content while leveling up.

Anyhow, I'll be taking a month long break from EQ2 to try out CoV since they seem to be adding some stuff I'd like to try.  Maybe when I come back most of you guys will be in the 30's and doing the upper 20's raid content.

I loved our SWG guild.  It was great fun while it lasted. 

I swore after SB, however, that I'd never turn a game into a job again.  I think it hit some of us (Haemish, Righ, Cevik, etc) at approximately the same time that when you HAVE to log in or you'll not only disappoint people, but actually adversely affect their game, it stops being fun. I don't want my entertainment time to be stressy.  I don't ever want to be in that position again.  I like the way we all play very casually and wander in and out as we please.  That's not to say we shouldn't have get togethers at set times, just that everything doesn't depend on just a few people and there's no guilt when someone can't be there.

That is exactly what caused me the most stress in earlier games (only a bit in SWG, more so in EQ1). I like hanging out with people. I don't like being a linchpin though. I can't anymore anyway, but I am glad I came to not liking it before my life changed to prevent it :)

I had that problem in DAOC in the first and only guild I was ever an officer in.  It's hard to make sure everyone in a guild is benefitting from it and it's understandable that if someone isn't getting anything out of being in the guild than what's the point of them being in it?  Focus too much on the lower level players and the high level people feel held back.  Focus too much on the high level players and it widens the gap between them and the lower levels.

I think CoH kinda got things right as far as sidekicking and just being able to throw a group together goes.  It's main drawback (other than the grind) is a lack of actual goals for guilds to work towards (but then I haven't played in a while so I don't know of HQ's add anything in that regard).

You guys crack me up.  There's a big difference between being considerate to other people and turning a game into a job.  Noone is making nor expecting anyone to participate that doesn't wish to.  If you don't want to be part of a regular group, don't.  It's really that simple.

This post is for people that wish to have a regular group.  Setting a time for it merely shows respect for the time and enjoyment of others.  Don't want to set a time?  Don't commit to anything.  See how easy that is?

I think we're just going into guild related anecdotes right now rather than actually expecting the game to turn into a job.

I realize that... it still strikes me as funny.  I think about all of the things I do with other people and we always set a time.  Basketball, softball, tennis, poker, bridge, skiing, golf.... we always set a time.  It's just a way to coordinate people interested in the same activity.  When I don't want to be restricted by a schedule, I either don't do it or I find a situation (like pickup basketball) where I don't have to limit myself to a schedule. 

It's ok if I find the knee-jerk reactions funny.  Humor is one of the main reasons I frequent these boards.

Hey!  Stop being amused!  Entertainment is a deadly serious business!  People in Korea DIE playing games, you know!

Gamers!  Dead!!  In Korea!!!

Hehe, it is funny, but it's also good discourse to have. It's also sort of inevitable. The larger the group, the greater potential span of opinions :)

People want to make sure the fun  they're already having continues, as they should, seeing as they were here and having fun already for awhile before I stumbled back into EQ2 :)

I had issues logging in, then had issues with video ram going bonkers.  Only thing I could do to fix the issue was minimize every 30 seconds or so.  Everything worked beautifully earlier, but since there was some update tonight, I am having issues.  This issue is perplexing but since no one was saying anything in guild chat I assume everyone is having issues.  If anyone fixes the issue let me know please.



edit.  It seems turning off my illusion form helps fix the issue with video in game.  Very odd.

No issues with me last night. Played about 90 minutes after updating to Catalyst 6.2 (from I think 5.1). Just did mostly quest turn-ins and bazaar stuff. I didn't think I'd be in at all :)

A buddy of mine that I played EQ1 with asked me about the raiding. What is the dealio with it? Is it large uber 40 man raid stuff, or isn't there a bunch of smaller-group raid style instances? 6-man or 10-man type of stuff?

Also, I stab in the face the first person that suggest DKP.

My group is on Unrest server.  Always looking for decent folks to group or raid.  Look for Fivo, or anyone with the Shibboleth tag if you're around Unrest, please.

This will all end in tears.

There's a bunch of different stuff available. From Heroic type zones which would need a group of 6. Group x 2 Epics (12 people) and finally Group x 4 Epics (24 people). 24 is currently the max.

I've currently been doing 2 instances in RunnyEye that can be done with 4-6 people and result in a master or legendary chest about 75% of the time. Each one has a 17 hour lockout so can only be done once per day. Total time to do both of them is about an hour from the point your group is together and moving.

There are also a TON of level 50ish raid instances that can take up to 24 people (recommended at level 50) that will only take 30 minutes or so to complete. Some of these also become single groupable at level 60 (Angler) and most have a 100% chance of dropping a master or legendary.

There's also the entire splitpaw expansion which is made up of instances. 3 are solo, 3-4 are single group, 1 2xgroup, and 1 4xgroup. These will scale to the average level of the group so are doable whenever you want.

Just to clarify, lest there be confusion (and I know UD_Delt was answering Haemish's friend's question):

I am not looking to "raid" in the traditional sense of the word. I am not of a level to overly care about equipment anyway, but I also just don't get much into raiding anyway.

I am looking to complete quests that require groups on a semi-regular basis with others who'd like to have a consistent date with which to look forward, or from which to avoid :) This could mean some higher levels mentoring down to lower ones, people all happening to be groupable levels, or someone tagging along. It'll change every week. The goal here is to hit group-required quests when they're relevant to do so, not 10 levels later when you can solo them ;)

That other Raiding stuff may want another thread, just to keep things clear  :-D

I was mainly curious. I'm not too into raiding myself, but 24-man isn't obscene. It's just probably going to be impossible with this group.

What night did we decide? I didn't read the whole thread.  :evil:

We're starting out light. So far, for those who stated specific interest here (not that others aren't interested...), 10pm EST on Wednesday. It could last an hour. We could come to fisticuffs in minutes  :-D If others are along great! At this point, I think Sky's Caviglia is at 27 and Saunced's Sauncy at 24. I think me at 18 (maybe 19 by then) puts us all in groupable level. But that's the other thread I just started. Mentoring is an option, but I'd like to prevent this becoming one of those weekly things where everyone helps out the newbie. It really wants to be more of a benefit for everyone.

Just as an aside, for me personally, the number of people on the raid isn't an issue much. I've never lead one though beyond leading a single Class/ability channel, so I've only seen the histrionics on the periphery :) What is an issue is the motivation. I'm all for getting better equipment and therefore customizing my ability set. But going through the same content night after night, stuff I could walk in my sleep after only a week or so, that isn't a game anymore. It's a slot machine. And I know how slot machines work.

I have no problem leading up to 24-man raids personally, so long as no one acts like a lewtwhoring cockmonkey and listens to what I say. Raid leading gets frustrating when people don't listen. With actual raid tools built into the game, I can see it being much easier than the old days.

But first I have to reach a level that matters. I only hit 12 last night.

I'm 27th, but my Guardian (who needs guilding, I guess, heh) is 15th. I'll play either. I don't mind mentoring down for BB if needed, Cav still has a few of the quests lingering there. I've got a gaggle for Stormhold.

On raiding: as long as people are cool and having fun. I have zero tolerance for lewt whores because of the sheer amount of times I was fucked over in EQ. I mean...I was wearing a lvl 25 robe at lvl 53, at lvl 54 I got the Advisor's Robe from Mistmoor (late 20s?), and even that I had to argue with the tank who wanted it for his fucking alt. I'd hope we are all mature enough to have the basics like main characters get priority over alts and whatnot.

Also. I have little tolerance for drama. I play games for fun, not for drama. People start putting on their little drama show, I go play guitar. That was so much more effective when I was a necro in EQ and would just go feign until people shut the hell up.

So yeah, tomorrow night. Just wish we weren't starting so late, a couple hours once a week would be a nice thing to look forward to, since this game puts so much emphasis on grouping and I've not grouped with Cav since the Isle. I was thinking that the other night playing Haruspex (my guardian) in the Caves. Group invited me, and I was going to join...but they sent the invite while I was fighting two seperate encounters, so I just declined it to finish the fight. By the time I was done and went upstairs they were gone, and I was limited to entrance trash because I couldn't clear the groups to progress further.

Really my main gripe about the game remains, the chained mobs and the ^^^ and epic/heroic garbage cockblocking solo players. Back of the bus, bitches.

Count me in!  I have had a fun time questing with you guys.

I will be joining as well.  Darniaq, would it be possible to keep this up every week and make you the POC?  I will most likely be posting the updated roster tonight along with some guild notes.   :hello_kitty:

Ok so it's Sky, Sauced, Haemish, Mi_Tes, Cheddar, and myself for tomorrow night at 10pm EST. That about right?

What's the max group size? Is it five or six? If five, we'll split into two groups based on level ranges. I'd say let's make Blackburrow one goal. If Haemish hasn't gotten to some of those quests yet (can't remember when I got them), he can still collect those items to learn the Gnoll language, those turn ins for Status Points, and get gobs of XP as well. Mi_Tes I think was the one that mentioned she got 3 levels in one period of adventuring with Cheddar et al.

I'll start a new thread :)

Bug thing to note.  Not eve3ryone who posts here is the only people to show up.  Err there may be more.  Alos we have raid options.... NP I will help with that.  Key is you go ahead and make the plans!

They will come.