A Rough Start for EQ Ragefire

My first experience with the new Ragefire Progression server was that it was down. I had left work a bit later than I wanted to, and when I got home the server was Locked already. Apparently people were on and playing, but nobody else could get on. This went on for about 45 minutes before I eventually learned that they had left /betabuff on, and level 50 characters with full gear were being made(and currently played while others were locked out.)

People were using said characters to buff their ‘real’ characters(because obviously they knew they were doing wrong and the 50s would get wiped) – but for those unfamiliar with the low level EQ game, this short span of time with that level of buffing will cause an immediate 10-20 level gap between players who got in that door and players who didn’t.

I’m not competing for first to 50, and I’m probably not going to fight much for contested content, but it does annoy me that Type A exploiters(lets not pretend they’re anything else) are going to be the ones first to 50 and establishing the cost of goods on the server by controlling all the high level spawns and gear drops.

Daybreak posted about how they left betabuff in, how they removed the L50 characters, and how the 50s supposedly didn’t interact meaningfully with other characters and ‘it’s fine, it’s fine.’ Even though the 15 plat that L50s start with probably got traded immediately, and even though even an hour of buffs creates a huge imbalance. The low level of EverQuest understanding over there was a bit surprising to me, but I suppose they’ll get it together eventually.

The best was yet to come, however… the servers came back up and I logged in to create Vomm, my Dark Elf Wizard. Since I had elected to play in First Person mode only and not use the map/compass, it was a trial to get out of Neriak since I didn’t really know it, but I was able to follow the stream of newbie dark elves out.

After struggling against dozens of people trying to get some of the few level 1 monsters(yellow cons were beating me badly, I only had enough mana for ~2 nukes) the news surfaced that more L50s were being generated, and the server was going down in 1 minute.

That’s right, after the entire previous episode was caused by /betabuff being left in, they took some inadequate emergency cleanup actions, then proceeded to forget to remove /betabuff again. As someone who does a lot of release management, I feel like they totally winged this launch and had no plan.

Here’s hoping it gets a little bit better. I only ended up with 2 screenshots of when I was in somehow, here’s the second.

Vanguard disappears into memory

Vanguard closed today. This is my last screenshot, taken on 2013-02-23 at 23:20:19 EST. I was working on a quest series involving Unicorns that culminated in a Unicorn mount at the end. The mount wasn’t statistically as good as mounts you could buy for small amounts of money in the game’s Station Cash store, but in my mind I never quite let go of Roleplaying in games like this. When I play by myself the effect is compounded, so there I was trying to help the Unicorns.

I know that I could have logged in for Vanguard’s last day and maybe seen some of the things I used to know, but it wouldn’t have been the same. The most important thing about Vanguard for me is that it’s going away. That the game remained open gave me this permanent feeling like I should play it again, and try to recapture some of that feeling I missed. That was not going to happen of course, because the game has been fundamentally different for a long time now compared to how it was back then.

There was the gang harvesting, the crafters chat channel on my server(I think the server was Gulgrethor before any merges), the strange personalities all coming together for a game that, in our minds, gave us a freedom to do things that we were unable to do in previous worlds. Climb atop a mountain and see for a huge distance with your jacked up clip plane(your frame rate would suck though), find a Travertine node and call for help and have a team of 6 from the crafters channel to help you within a few minutes in their ridiculous harvester uniforms, pick out your housing plots next to your friends, work feverishly on building or buying your house/boat/etc materials.

I didn’t craft because I wanted to have a tool to help me level better, I crafted because participating in the world and the crafting ecosystem was awesome. I discovered server and world firsts making jewelry and had an ongoing market presence in the auction house. Diplomacy felt the same way to me, although I didn’t personally go that route very far. Adventuring felt like I was writing my own story, even though some of the quests themselves were pretty generic.

For all of the game’s problems which led me to never get particularly far in it(my highest is that 35 cleric there), Vanguard captured a piece of my idealism regarding online gaming in a way that only the EverQuest line and perhaps Anarchy Online have. This idea that I was fairly free to do what I want, even if it was an illusion, was really powerful. Normally a game’s funnel inevitably ends in a min/max build(AC), PvP advancement(DAOC), endless missions/faction grinding(AO), a crushing grind to keep affording housing that really has no point except as a money sink(virtually every game with housing), or whatever else developers did to ‘keep you engaged’(keep you paying.) Although I never got to the ‘endgame’ level-wise, in my mind I feel like if I had seen every piece of the world I would still have a feeling like I could find something new just visiting places and being there in the world.

I think this is something my friends don’t understand about why I can do things in games over and over and it doesn’t bother me. If I am engaged with my character and the game world, the 32nd time I’m running a dungeon is perfectly different from the previous 31 times in much the same way that I still manage to get out of bed in the morning in real life even though every day is pretty much the same as the day before. This is my character’s life, and I am living it in the context of how their world operates.

One sad element of Vanguard’s removal is that it is probably the only game that got player boats remotely right(in a game not centered around boats, anyway.) It had lag and control issues and you couldn’t actually haul cargo or anything like that, but goddamn, it was great to bust out my blue Kojani sloop(named ‘The Missing Eye’ for a story I had crafted up in my mind) and sail up the river rather than running up the shore. I had harvested most of the wood and cut it into boards for that boat myself(I was a stone crafter so there was some crossover), and an orc crafter named Swampfist did the woodworking-specific stuff and final construction.

To Dareak(who made my stylized plate my cleric is probably still wearing as he rides into oblivion), and, goddamn, all the other awesome people who I missed and lost track of because the only way I knew them was in Vanguard, thanks for everything. I wish I could have done better, but the circumstances at the time(mostly bugs and progression frustration) broke it apart. I consider early Vanguard to be the kind of situation I want to experience again, where I feel like I am part of something, and there is a persistent community of people around me who share common goals and attitudes. In retrospect, it’s probably the best MMO experience I ever had, although AO and EQ might have been equivalent.

I still have the system requirements sticker for Vanguard on my monitor at work, as I have since January 2007 when I received the game box, with its ridiculous(at the time) recommended system specs. Naturally my computer met the specs because I am a gaming nerd, but fairly few did. It always struck me as a little funny that they were worried about being able to get shelf space with such high requirements, and I think they had to nerf things to lower them at one point. When the game came out I had to run it at 1152x864 on my 1600x1200 native monitor because my system just couldn’t handle it(and 1024x768 was just a bit too crowded UI-wise.) I also had to run in full-screen mode because Windowed would half your frame rate. I guess it’s pretty weird to look back on chunky performance issues with a bit of fondness, but I think the reason I made all those compromises is because I had such a strong feeling about getting in there and engaging with the game, which is definitely something I miss having.

I’ve kind of rambled all over the place here in no particular order, so I’ll just cap it off with: Farewell, Vanguard – you did well, but at least now I can stop being haunted by your memory.

Denc Wormington: A return to the depths of Befallen

Befallen has long been a gathering ground for evil, which also means it’s been a gathering ground for adventurers. I wonder what it was initially, on first glance a crypt seems apparent given the undead, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a coffin hereabouts.

 

You can’t get far in Befallen without opening a few locked doors, which usually means getting the key. Fortunately for me, I have no need for such things.

 

 

 

Every nook and corner of this place features either a necromancer or one of their undead servants. The fighting stays to a minimum and the sneaking to a maximum, as for those of us who can’t snap our fingers and appear back at a city, prospects of escape are dismal.

 

Curiously, the zombies in Befallen seem to have fared worse than those out in the world at large.

 

 

 

Strangely plain clothes for a necromancer here. I guess having phantasmal skulls perpetually falling away from your hands makes up for that sort of thing, though. Perhaps I shall leave him a note saying I enjoyed my visit, no time to say hello for now.

 

The residents remain polite and friendly when I do introduce myself however, this fine woman provided me with keys to go deeper when I found to my shame that my lockpicking was too rusty to continue.

 

 

Well, how about that. I’m guessing the Burning Dead won’t invite me back soon, and I might even be off their Frostfell card list, but all things considered the trip was worth taking. For now I long to be back out in the sun or at least the stars.

-Denc Wormington, ex-rogue

Denc Wormington: Raid at dawn, and the Oasis of Marr

Retracing my footsteps is hard when so much happened all jumbled together in a short period of time. I’ve decided to stage a raid on the Dervish camps in North Ro, but I’m not yet ready to cross Dorn B’Dynn and his foreign masters.

But there are other camps, and their occupants are well pleased to join me for a relaxing morning by the sea.

We discuss the finer points of weapon maintenance, and practice disarming.

 

 

 

They tire easily, however, so I let them have a much-needed rest.

 

 

 

Talking to the locals about the Oasis of Marr is confusing. The vendor-woman I approached earlier referred to it as ‘in South Ro’, which is strange to be, because South Ro was further south than the Oasis itself. Feeling invigorated by my morning with the Dervishes, I retrieved a second dagger for my use from their belongings and headed down towards Oasis to see things for myself.

Ahh, how refreshing. Although the locals refer to it as South Ro now, the Oasis still seems about as I remember it. Perhaps these things change in the years I have been away.

Starting from the bottom, I find caiman to be an adequate challenge.

Diving into the water to search for more, I swim around for a time before coming to a strange conclusion: There are no crocodiles in the water any longer. Suddenly I wonder if the water has gone poisonous, and immediately exit back to land.

 

I don’t recall exactly what the issue has been between the gypsies and I, but they have never liked me. Perhaps they’ve caught my furtive glances at their wagons full of belongings.. still, it’s quite inconvenient to have to find other vendors sometimes.

 

 

They’ve really built up the beach houses by the dock, and it appears as though they’ve got permanent occupants now as well. How far we’ve come!

 

 

 

The tower at the center of the oasis remains a dreary reminder of evil, with its spectre guardians menacing any who come near. Deathfist orcs patrol in the distance. With this image in mind I guess things have not come so far after all. The sand giants seem to have primarily holed up in the hills, so that’s something.

 

But I came here to train myself fighting the indigenous reptiles, not ponder creatures I cannot defeat. Perhaps someday I will return.

 

 

 

Until then I bid thee farewell, Desert of Ro.

 

-Denc Wormington, ex-rogue

Denc Wormington: The Commonlands await

The tunnel is quite refined now, perhaps from the footfalls of all who have come before. Trekking back into the Commonlands, this time to hunt, my mind goes back to the time with Uncle B, operating out of Freeport. I had to run errands to the bank for him, because the Knights of Truth were, in his words, ‘a bunch of racists.’



One way to cure them of their negative perception was, of course, murder. ‘Murder makes the world go ‘round,’ as Uncle B used to say. In this case we would murder Deathfist Orcs.

Under cover of darkness, I crept up to their camp, and loosed an arrow at one of their sentries.

 

 



Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite as planned. Rather than charging off into the darkness to face the threat, he actually alerted the rest of the camp. When did they give orcs brains? Could The Rathe’s curse be lifting?

I made a break for it, regardless.

 

 



After losing the orcs, I ended up near this tower. I recall it being much smaller, and less filled with skulls and circling bats. The same old undead stand guard, with the same old lack of apparent owner for the tower itself.

 

 

 



While seeking a less-well-patrolled orc camp, I came across this young lady. I had remembered the Dervish Cutthroats as being aggressive, but now that I think of it maybe that was only after Uncle B had sicked his spirit wolf on them a few dozen times. I had forgotten that they as a people had a camp here in the Commonlands, but now that I see them it tugs at the edges of my memory..

 



 

Right then. Sorry about that, miss, but it is the way of things. True to form, she had a Cutthroat Insignia ring, dandy.

 

 

 



Back to the business at hand, which is orcs. I managed to break one of the camps finally, and received some enlightening combat practice at the hands of the clumsy orcs.

 

 

 



Through the night and into day, I waged war upon the orcs. Unlike Uncle B, I’ve got nothing to prove to the Knights of Truth or anyone else right now, so no need to make this into an ongoing thing.

 

 

 



In the morning light I found remembrance that bear hunting is grand sport, and their hides can be used at times to make backpacks, of which I have need.

 

 

 

One last thing I found was a Broken Claw Bandit camp. I don’t remember it, but bandits tend to come and go. They didn’t seem to care about my presence, so I guess I’ll leave them to it..



..for killing them could only be construed as a favor.

-Denc Wormington, ex-rogue

Denc Wormington, Once, upon the Desert of Ro..

North Ro seems to have been hit with some kind of tidal wave, changing it all from relative flatness to rolling hills. At least the fire beetles here look normal, unlike those I saw in Misty Thicket.



One byproduct of the change is that the greenery extends much further south now. I suppose that’s a good thing, but with these rolling hills everywhere it can be hard to tell exactly where you are.

 

 

 



‘The platform’ is what I remember this place as. Given few other landmarks in this desert, hunters would gather here to rest, fighting giant scarabs, spiders, and undead nearby.

 

 

 



The undead seem a bit more terrifying than I recall. More than once I got a bit too close to the undead ruins, and had to make a break for the East Commonlands tunnel.

 

 

 





After resting until morning, I found Vamenn nearby in the desert. I still carry this lantern around, but I really like day much more than night in places like this. Probably wouldn’t have seen him in the dark.

 

 

 



Vamenn possesses an uncommon brutality for Magicians, or Erudites for that matter. This wanderer started yelling about mirages before the savage beatings began. He won’t be seeing any more mirages, but he did deliver to us some water flasks, always nice in the desert.

 

 

Events rapidly descended into chaos as a rapid slaughter of everything that moved in the platform area picked up momentum. But that’s just fine.. that’s about how I remember it.

Too bad about the hour we spent infected with Rabies, though.

 

-Denc Wormington, ex-rogue

Denc Wormington, the road to Freeport part 2

Now that I’m here, looking up the old cliff road into Highpass, I’m not sure I feel like it. It’s not the gnolls really, or the orcs, or any of that. I just don’t want to get lost in the damn pass. Plus all that climbing.. maybe I’ll take the Gorge route.



It’s not a real welcoming place, that’s for sure. On a later trip, we killed Muddites here, and Minotaurs. Today I am only looking for passage.

Fortunately, keeping my head low is a skill of mine.

 

 

 



Clan Runnyeye is still around. I wonder if they still make that crazy hallucination powder.. Uncle B told me to breathe some in because it would make me invisible.. it didn’t, but he had a good laugh anyway. I guess that’s not the sort of thing that makes it into the official history you tell later when all is said and done.

 

 



I crept through all quiet-like, but it didn’t really seem necessary. The goblins weren’t paying a whole lot of attention, just running back and forth doing not much at all. Maybe they do still snort that stuff.

 

 

 



Have I really been gone so long? Misty Thicket seems totally different. Still goblins, wasps, beetles and all that, but the ground, the trees, and especially the damn Wall? Looks like the Halflings got serious. Not serious enough to take off those silly masks, though.

 

At this point, Uncle B disappeared and told me I’d need to make it through Rivervale on my own. Qeynos may have accepted him, but the midgets wouldn’t. I got a free pass, being Human. Curious, that, seeing as I emptied a few pockets on my way through.



Kithicor Forest, at night. Not really the place to be. Unfortunately, I have places to go. A zombie commander chased me halfway to the Commonlands, shouting after me to ‘join him.’ Sorry Ace, no time for tea tonight.

 

 

 



I wonder what’s going on? Does it get worse as I go further East? The Commonlands look nothing like I remember, and it’s too much to call senility. Still, anchoring my sense of reality are some of the usual unsavory types, like Kizdean Gix. It’s good(for me) that I never had some paladin-style chip on my shoulder to piss guys like this off.

 



Whatever’s happening sure built up the entrance to Befallen. Maybe that means the bad guys are winning?

Well, I poke my head in anyway and fight a few skeletons. One has a parrying dagger.. well, maybe I can use that to get some of my strength back in my off-hand. Plague rats remind me that this isn’t a place I want to get deep into right now, so back to the Commonlands.



I found a city where Freeport was. This makes me paranoid as hell, but there are people in it, and I guess they’re not trying to kill me. Whatever did happen, they’ve really stepped up patrols in the city, big swarms of guards everywhere. The Knights of Truth and Freeport Militia still seem to be holding on, despite the whole goddamned city being transmogrified underneath them.

 



Well here’s something. The slums still look and feel like slums. Small comforts. Time to brush off some old contacts and replenish my supply of Short Beers before heading south.

 

-Denc Wormington, ex-rogue

Denc Wormington, the road to Freeport

All those years ago, West Karana was often so foggy that you could barely see ten feet ahead of you. Not the best situation when there might be a giant or bandits wandering around. Today it was clear and sunny, a good sign for my trip, or at least a convenient one.



I didn’t want to press my luck, so I headed south to the water’s edge. Easier to follow the water than the poorly-maintained West Karana roads if things get murky.

 

 

 

 



Many creatures call the Karanas home, but I had forgotten how large the spiders could be. I was itching for a fight I guess, so I laid into this giant, twice the size of me. I was feeling good after Blackburrow, figured I was fast enough to avoid his strikes and keep him from pinning me down.

I was right, but after I got warmed up, it started running away. The sport of the moment was gone, so I just let it go.



I came across a bandit camp, but there were too many of them for me to do much about. They didn’t seem to notice me, maybe figured I wasn’t worth the bother. I suppose if I looked at me nowadays I wouldn’t think I was either.

Still, I tried to pick this guy’s pocket as I left their camp. Didn’t wait to see if he noticed.



There’s been a lot of battles out on these plains. I don’t recognize the banner, but I do recognize zombies, skeletons, and ghouls when I see them. I’ll take a pass, today.

 

 

 



Finally I see my halfway mark, as far as the Karanas at least. The old spires.. I heard tell once they were tied into some teleportation network.. I wonder if they ever got it working?

I bet if they ever did, the League of Antonican bards would get it shut down because it encroached on their mail service. That’d be just like politicians.

 



I had planned on swinging down through South Karana to make a stop at Split Paw, the other Gnoll stronghold.. but I got a tip that it got overrun some years back by undead gnolls, and then after that, elementals. Poor bastards.

In all the fog, I had never really noticed how many settlements there are out here in the Karanas. I suppose maybe they weren’t all there before, but either way I had imagined this place as a few isolated farmers and bandits, and then a whole lot of emptiness besides. I don’t mind being wrong.



I suppose it’s not very surprising that this bridge is still here as I remember it. I don’t know how, or I guess who, got those giant chains up there like that, but it seemed to me at the time that it was holding the whole continent together. In the shadow of this bridge seems as good a place as any for a camp.

 

-Denc Wormington, ex-rogue