Unless something happens big in the next two days this will be a very short column. If you remember back a few months I told you about a surgery I had that only got partway done. Well this week I got the other part completed.
I was laid up for a few days and did not feel so hot the rest. This is the first day I have felt well since I was cut on.
This one was a 100% better than the last. For one I was asleep through most of it. Instead of 3 hours it was only 15 minutes. They even warmed up the blankets. I admit I loved being pampered for this one after the crude other one.
After getting that out of the way we had a touch of a shock. My wife Rosa has diabetes. Just how bad it is we will not know for sure until other testing but I don't expect anything more than a change in diet and exercise. We will see.
How to go on a Quest.
Running a quest is a lot of work. Even the best of them can fail if the people going don't understand their part. I have written a few times on how people can make a quest succeed while on it. I have not said how the pre-work adds as much or more to the quest.
If it is an impromptu quest it is hard to have everything ready. There is no excuse for a planned quest to have any problems. There are just a few simple things people need to do in order to help the leaders out.
Have your materials ready. With the material being down to tapers and scarabs there is no excuse for running out of comps during a quest. Nevertheless I seldom go on a quest were someone is not begging for tapers. Take more than you'll need and be stocked up well before the quest starts.
Know what you are facing. While there is some thrill in going on a quest with no idea what you're facing most people are just lazy. Go to Maggies site and see what the quest involves.
If you use Nerful Buffus set up a template for the quest. If not get your spell bar set up to have what you need. That will make buffs go faster. There is always someone on a quest that wants to buff for things they'll never face. This slows everyone down. If you cannot buff in five minutes there is something wrong. Most quest leaders will let you go for six but far to often we are waiting for over ten minutes while they go through the entire buff bar.
Be ready to go on time. I always try to be at the meeting point half an hour before it starts. For some reason I'm generally waiting half an hour after it should start for people to arrive. This is not fair to the other questers and may cost some the ability to go on it.
Be ready with someone to watch your back. If you cannot find someone that will stay with you before you go try to find a buddy at the start. This way if one of you lags out or dies the other one can inform the leader to stop the group or recover your body.
Exchange permissions so you can recover for each other. Don't expect to give permission later, if you die lagging out you might have to kiss the body goodbye. It might take you several minutes get back and the party will be a long ways off. I have seen people lag out and not get back for hours. Only with pre-permission can the body get recovered. Don't forget to re-permit after each hour.
Don't lose track of your buddy. Stay with them at all times. This is hard in a big group. I find it best to agree on a spot in the crowd to keep meeting up at, such as the left or right edge of the group.
After each battle find your buddy and stick with them. If they lag out or die be ready to inform the leader to stop the group and help you defend.
A good quest group will have a sweeper but that is not always the case. The sweeper needs to know as much about the quest as the person in front. They have to have the ability to about solo the place as well as know each nook and cranny. That person is not always available so the buddy system will keep people alive.
There is something I have forgotten to say about when on a quest. The leader should try and enforce this but it is so simple that they sometimes forget. This is syncing of buffing.
Far too often people start buffing when they think they should, not when the leader plans it. This can lead to stops in bad places or deaths. There is no reason to start buffing until the leader says to. A good leader will have safe stops along the way for rebuffing. If you are on a VI timer tell the leader that. They may assume you have more time than the really do.
If you find your self out of sync then try to get back into it. Even if you have 30 minutes left on a buff re-buff when they do. This will prevent you from having to stop the party halfway to the next point so you can re-buff. Comps are cheaper that DI's.
A good leader will have everyone buffing with enough time to rebuff before the old buffs fall. The reason for this is unexpected attacks. If you wait for buffs to just about drop before rebuffing some could be vulnerable to big hits.
If you want to go on a well-run quest try to get into one of RD's quests. Many hate how he does it because of his strict rules. There is reason to his madness and any good leader would do well to study how he runs a group.
Bobo
I had done this quest with Fist de Yuma Jr and really don't need it for anyone else. When I saw that RD was going to run the quest this Saturday I figured I would take Fist de Mage on it. If anyone would be needed there for body recovery and such it would be him.
Another reason to get the spell is my new BM just hit 40. This means he will be taking the 40+ route to the island and would be picking up that tie. Tusker Island recall would free Mage to get a tie elsewhere.
The meeting spot was the outpost on Tusker Island. I got there early and found Bleu Sky waiting. A bunch more Elders showed up. Several people asked me if they could go and I referred them to RD.
We ended up with a whole lot of people. Several fellows were set up. I was asked by RD to get into a leader fellow. As I had a vassal who could not get into my fellow so this seemed ideal. Of course I was wrong as the only reason my vassals wanted into that fellow was because I was in it.
The run to the hut was fairly nasty. I was in dead-stop lag for much of it. When we got there we had a hell of a battle clearing it. I was not worried about xp, never do on quests, so I just imperiled everything. Given that my 411 Life was resisted more than not everyone was having trouble landing. By my concentrating on just Imperil the melees had a much easier time.
RD asked me to take the people on short buffs to the waterfall. We had some people who felt they had to buff early. I was asked to have them wait there and not buff until we were all together.
This run was even nastier for me, mostly because I was leading it. The leader gets all the attention. Followers can run with the monsters, mostly untouched. I healed up at the portal and tried to help clear it for the ones following. I quickly found that only banning for bludgeoning was a mistake. The sharks were eating me alive and I was in trouble.
I was fortunate to even escape the circle of monsters. I was even more in luck that my escape was in the direction of the portal. I hit the portal but did not get in. Lag was keeping me from using the portal. As I was at 21 hit points at this time and was sure I was dead. Finally the portal worked and I was in.
I held up everyone until RD got there. He had Fal take the lead and Aldreon V play sweep. With this many people we had little trouble. Most monsters died before I could get the Vuln to land.
We had one death in a little ways in. UA Goddess died when she lagged out. We stayed there until she was back and could give us permission.
Fal did a good job of leading us and there was little backtracking. Only backtrack I can remember was when some of the group headed off the wrong way. Fal was red so there was little excuse for them not seeing he was in a different hallway.
There are a lot of dungeons to go into with this quest. Each is a maze that had me lost. I'm told it is a straightforward run so there must be a trick. I'll have to look that up as I want to try doing the quest with Fist and a small handful of people.
We got to the end and decided to have two parties go for the kill. RD split us with even numbers (levels) going on one and odd the other. He then split the 126lv people between the groups with me and Bleu Sky going into the first one. This turned out to be very fortitudes for us.
I had my group set for a defensive attack. This means setting up a shield wall in one corner. As I ported in I got a yield to land. I then ran to the corner. The wall never set but we were doing ok. Even with Yield and a 400 war I was being resisted more than not. It must have been bad luck as a much lower Og mage (379 war vs. my 400) got the kill.
I showed Sky where to turn in the paw and we both have the recall spell now. It took over two hours. I'm not sure if it can be done that much faster. We only had two small delays and the battles were short and sweet.
I never saw the other group and found out later that they had a problem. That problem is outlined in the next section.
I'm finding that Mage needs a lot more xp than any of my others players. Even with 400 War, 416 Creature and 411 Life I'm being resisted more than not. Those numbers are not all at the same time. Mostly I'm making due with 393 War, 416 Creature and 411 Life. War cost 106 million a point so to move it I'll need a lot of hunting.
Another point of view
This is RD's view of the quest
This quest went very well in some ways and very badly in others. It was my first attempt at not just leading this quest, but at doing this quest.
We invited the houses of Elder, Mars Hill, Nyneve, and some of the smaller groups that joined us. Turnout was too large to estimate; someone suggested it was close to 80.
Prep
Getting to the outpost - where we were departing. Some were late and some had already started buffing, so we weren't on the same cycle to begin with. About 10 minutes later we departed for the Kleeoh. The run was very rough and very laggy.
Before departing, I recruited Aldreon V and Fist de Mage into a fellow to help coordinate and asked Falodrin to help with directions as he has done this quest before and knows the way well.
The Cottage
We made our way to the cottage and cleared the cottage area and made a line. Next time we do this quest, we may send an advance group to clear the cottage area.
The line moved pretty quickly and there were no deaths on the run over. A good thing because overland recovery in that area is a bear.
The Waterfall Run
Because of the disparate buff cycles and the amount of time it took to get through the line to the verbose Kleeoh, some folks were short on buffs. We did get to the waterfall A-OK (still no deaths).
The entrance to the waterfall is clear, so we were able to buff there.
The Dungeons
The tuskers and their friends were no match for the freight train of pain our combined forces delivered upon them. While several people did log out (and logged back in), only one person died due to lagging out and was recovered.
We made our way through each of the four dungeons with great speed thanks to the leadership of Falodrin and Aldreon V sweeping for stranglers.
Due to delays, we had to buff at the beginning of the last dungeon.
Bobo
Things started to break down a bit here. Some people went to Bobo and spoke to him immediately, wanting to get the fighting underway while there buffs were still fresh. I hung back a bit to get a screenshot with Bobo, figuring we would go ahead and rebuff in the anti-room to see the Champ, Mowan Udan.
It probably wasn't necessary, but better to spend 6-8 minutes buffing in a 2-3 hour quest and have no deaths than risk a long spawn wait or someone not doing any damage among a group or a lag out, people on lvl 6s or something - at this point not known to anyone for certain - taking a small risk.
Any case, some folks went ahead to the anti-room and I soon joined them, neglecting the fact that some people were still waiting at Bobo. But they did catch up with us.
The Fight
In order to enhance people's ability to get damage and to double the number of killers, we split along odd-evens. We had the 126s pair off among the group - with Blue, Fist, and Aldreon going with one and myself and Falodrin going with the other. Fist's group went first and got in and out in two minutes. Our group entered as they exited and got their prizes.
My group used the break between the spawns to make a formation in the corner - a wall of melees with mages behind.
The monkey spawned and didn't last long. At only 6000 hit points, there wasn't much of a fight. Unfortunately, right before the spawn, the server crashed and we all lost connection. We all got back in time to take down the monkey - except for Lor of Mars Hill, which lead to the start of our problems.
Because she didn't log back in time, some of us decided not to go through the portal and wait for the next spawn so that she could do some damage and get the reward. The problem was that there is no regular spawn of that damn dirty ape. So not only was Lor not getting to do any damage to anything, the whole group that stayed with her didn't get a portal to the prize wagon.
I tried to make the run through all the dungeons with Falodrin through all the dungeons but we both died. Fal put together a group that probably succeeded, and I'm intent on getting my prizes within a short time with another group.
Lessons Learned
1) Send an advance group to clear the cottage area.
2) "Strength in Numbers" is no joke - we only had one real death - due to lag - thanks to the army we had with us.
3) Sweep sweeps the whole trip so folks don't get left behind.
4) The monkey isn't on a regular spawn - he gets triggered somehow - maybe he will spawn x times per y time period that someone has spoken to Bobo. Or maybe he spawns automatically after people pass through the portal no sooner than another group has passed through. This is due for more investigation.
Reality Dysfunction
Return to Valley of Death
I was headed to the Valley of Death with the intent to fight Bile's. I heard they drop the better key and they are not very hard for me to fight. I would fight a few other things if they were in my way but I was hunting Biles.
As I started the run from the Obsidian plains portal I got a hail from two guys. They were fans of the column and wanted to say "Hi". They asked of I would show them where the Valley of Death was. Of course I was happy to oblige. I stopped to kill a few Plat/Pyreal golems and they recruited me into their fellow.
One was a 126 swordsman and the other a low 60's mage. I wish I had taken down their names as this is a pair of good ones. The swordsman is smart and we clicked well. The mage learned quickly that he was above his pay grade and fell into support mode.
You might think that a mid level mage there would be worthless. This was far from true. Having someone feeling me heals kept me fighting rather than healing. It gave me the confidence to wade in where I might have had to draw. Many mages who find themselves in this position will leave. Support is not as fun as being the king blaster, "O worship me I'm a mage" that many mages want.
A shot time into our battles William the Bat showed up. Now we had a very good group. We picked up another mage on the way. We headed into one of the passes in search for prey.
We found a center valley with hordes of monsters in it. We mostly had it to ourselves. A few people would pass through but they quickly ran away.
Slowly people started to leave. It ended up being William the Bat and me for over an hour. William and I need to work together more as we had sync problems. It even got funny in one battle.
We were fighting two bandies. I did a Yield on one but William attacked the other. I quickly switched and tossed Yield on that one. Meanwhile William seeing me Yield the other had switched to it. I switched back to Imperil and William switched as well. We did this stupid dance a few more times.
I think William must have been rolling with laughter at his keyboard. We could not have done it worse if we tried.
We had one very strange battle. While fighting three Bandies they all fixated on me. To make matters worse they all attacked with magic. I was totally defensive. I would heal and heal as they kept blasting. Ever so often I would have enough health to toss a de-buff so William could kill one. William commented that I must have done something to really piss them off. I contribute my survival to spec'ing mana conversion.
With being able to exceed the 50 point spec limit next month I was thinking of moving it back to trained. At least in the Valley of Death I find that a 355 mana conversion is a lifesaver.
It was dinnertime and I was about to leave. We got into a battle and my timer started to go off. William was in battle with three monsters so I could not abandon him. I got two of them de-buffed and started to feed him heals.
I watched all my buffs fall as we battled. I kept my mouse key hovering over Sanctuary recall, my fastest escape spell. If anything attacked me I has less than a second to vacate the premises.
Fortunately nothing attacked me. It seems that once some monsters target you it takes a crowbar to get them off. It worked to our advantage in this case. I had time to add a few offensive buffs and add a few blasts to the battle.
As a last note I did kill a few Biles and got a key.
Mana conversion buff
Leave it to Turbine to make it harder for me. The only time I need a mana conversion buff is in the Valley of Death. The only time I cannot use a mana conversion buff spell is when in the Valley of Death.
Even with 416 Creature I have to spend a few attempts to get the Yield on. Even after a Yield my 411 Life is not a sure thing to land. My 395 War is resisted a lot and about useless without a Yield.
All these skill numbers are with a Focus stone. The skills are slightly lower with the Drum and far lower with a normal wand. The word we have from Turbine is only wands/staffs/orbs with a mana conversion bonus on them will be affected by the mana conversion buff spell. This means tossing it on a Focus stone does nothing.
I can see a possible tech problem that makes it this way. I hope that the programmers find a way around it. Right now I'm better off than most because I have spec'ed mana conversion. If I want to unspec mana conversion my skills will have to get far higher. At 106 million a point for War and around 50 million a point for Creature and Life this is a bit of a problem.
Temptation resisted
One of the problems with a column and a touch of fame is the temptation to abuse it. A normal conflict becomes an excuse to flame someone in the column.
Being someone with a rather volatile temper I get into more conflicts that I should. Most of the time I'm in the right and the person I'm angry at is a total ass but not always. I've been wrong and had to apologue a few times.
When I started this column I did not understand how bad using the column as a weapon was. Slowly I moved away from flaming people. The first step was to stop using names. While this let me vent it still did not reflect well on me or the game. You may have noted that there was very few of that type of stuff in the column last year.
One of the things that woke me up was another columnists and author that I admire greatly. He was fed up with EQ and was thinking of moving to AC.
Unfortunately he got into a server/town/group that had their noses in the air at any new person that showed up. This give him a bad taste for the people of AC. EQ is very group orientated. In that you have to group to play, subbing people is not only impolite it is suicidal.
The second thing was he read one of my columns. I had a rant about some guy and that reinforced his perception of AC being filled with bad actors. After that I have tried to stay away from flaming in the column at all.
Still the temptation is hard to resist at times. I had a little section written after a guy jumped a hunt I was on. This forced me to log off and wait until he left. I think what really irked me was I get respect from 100+ players while this 49lv thought he was God. While it was something that really pissed me I decided that it did not belong in the column and deleted it.
That is one of the advantages of letting something sit for a day or two before I post it.
A big surprise
I was in Hastings the other day. Being out in the sticks and really not needing to go into town much, shopping to just shop is not something I do much. Mostly I go when Rosa goes and end up at Barns and Nobles while she is at Mervyns.
I headed over to the software section just to look for a bit. Mostly I wanted to see their PS/2 and Xbox titles. I'm hoping that Rosa will let me buy one next month on my birthday. (53 on the 15 of March for those keeping track.)
I'm sure I'm getting the Xbox but shelf space is a biggy. So far PS/2 and Xbox have equal shelf space in the places I have looked.
After seeing the extremely poor marketing that AC1 got I was afraid that Xbox would suffer the same way.
AC1 got the same "Not invented here" attitude from marketing that Foxpro got. As a long time Foxpro programmer I was very disappointed with the marketing it got after MS acquired it.
While walking around I got a big shock. Hundreds of boxes of AC2 were on the shelf! I've been lucky do find even one copy of AC1 in stores over the years so seeing that many boxes was a shock.
Now if MS had put that kind of push into AC1 we would be looking at twice the servers we currently have. I hope it is not the Foxpro/Access problem that the database groups had. As far as MS marketing was concerned Access was the way to go and the superior Foxpro was not even on the radar.
I would like to see some new blood in AC. Perhaps MS marketing will discover AC1 and give it and equal push with AC2. Right and Ed McMan is going to knock on my door tomorrow.
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