Weekend Update, Monday, Jan. 23rd, 2012 EditionFollow

I enjoyed plane of earth. A nice rogue smoked some mobs, picked up like 7 glyph words.

I was able to give away 2 65 SK spells to a 64 1.0 SK fun times!

Have a great week!

Nothing on EQ this weekend - or last week for that matter; having fun doing quest chains in WoW. The NPC conversations are a hoot over there.



All I want to do is see the EC tunnel one more time. I think my TLP druid is level 4, or 5 - I need to check in on her. I may try a run for it to the Kaladim docks minus SoW & invis and with some stealthy avoidance *maybe* get that far so I can get to Freeport.

I don't care if it's empty...just if it's still there. What expac was it totally done away with?

After thinking about it, if you have an old CD version of the game (PoP or ealier), and can find the EQ Zone Explorer program somewhere online, you can install the CD in a different directory than your normal EQ, never run the patcher for it, and use the EQ Zone Explorer program to explore the old versions of zones without any mobs or NPCs, but at least you get the feel for it.

Yther Ore.

My guess is it would be too much work to make sure the original was updated to work with the current graphic engine. It's been 6 years since the revamp, and the original zone files haven't been updated since then.

EQ Zone Explorer (EQZE) is a program someone wrote to explore zones safely using the original Tutorial engine, just substituting other game zones for the tutorial zone. I thought it was a pretty ingenious idea and is how learned how to navigate a few zones. I was thinking of Kedge Keep, but I used a 3D render of the zone at a 45 degree angle to figure that one out. EQ Atlas is great, but that map was hard to read if you hadn't been there, since it's so vertical. (Note: I didn't do that stuff much, but certain maze-like zones I would; especially dangerous ones like KK).

Something to note about EQZE is that you can't explore all zones, as your starting location is always the same and some zone files don't support that location (you're in a void space). I think EC is those that works. Another thing to note is all moveable objects aren't there, i.e. mobs, npcs, doors, chests, etc. But, that actually makes it better since locked doors you don't have to worry about.

Anyways, I liked it back in the day, as I was very busy back then and didn't have much time to play except in spurts for a month or two, as I was full time employed, as well as self-employed on the side and in a band. Thus, I could take a few minutes and explore some places to get familiar with them before taking a long journey there. Boat time used to be shower time on weekend grinds. :D

I could ramble on about the old days. I can't hardly believe I used to play such a difficult game with so little time, but it was awesome. I was hooked from the first time I saw it live at a friends house, who had been asking me all kinds of D&D like questions, so I stopped by to check it out and he was in CB zone in killing orcs. I miss the old orc models. And when I'd dream about them they looked really smooth but otherwise just like the models.

Ok, I'll quit rambling about the old world.

Yther Ore.



Edited, Jan 25th 2012 6:52pm by Yther

What a brilliant idea for a program. Thank you for recommending that, Yther! Maze-like zones (along with dungeons) are my nemesis and especially those with many levels. When I was leveling my Pally in the undead section of Splitpaw I could *find* the entrance but in the many, many days I played there, I could not find the exit out. I used invis to undead to be able to use the in game map to try and find my way out without having to stop every few seconds to kill a mob. I resorted to the EQ Atlas map when using the in game map didn't help. I never did find the way out of that place and would just let myself be killed so I would end up back in PoK to get out!! Even sending in my higher level toon was the same exercise in frustration. I am soooo going to use this program to find that darn entrance.



Ramble away. I'm at the point that I like to reminisce about the "old days" in EQ more than play it now. Everything was so new and fascinating. Maybe we should start a "Remember When" thread. I'll start - Remember when everyone had to skill up in Sense Heading? The tip for that back in the day was to make a macro, assigning the right turn key (right arrow key) to it so every time one turned right it activated Sense Heading. (I still use that for easy foraging.)

Oh, and rambling is my preferred mode of conversation, although I call it speaking in Stream of Consciousness a la James Joyce.

In EQ2 in the Freeport Gnome village (does it even exist since the revamp?), there was Gnome that complained about the Ratonga (rats) running is his yard, so maybe they wanted them to look grouchy?

Alot of the stuff in EQ2 was nice for immersion, like the NPCs really speaking to you in actual actor voices. Although, like so many things in MMORPGs, some of it gets repetative like the merchants always saying something about finding a pencil or quill or whatever they wrote with and their journals. I usually remember the exact wording, but I guess I'm not in an EQ2 mode atm.

The deal with Splitpaw as with many zones, is you need to use Height Filter enabled and set it for descent values (20 or 40 are generally good, depending on the height change between levels). Also, I'm not sure if the Splitpaw map that comes with the mapfiend pack includes the height info on the lines. Alot of old world maps don't, and is why I've redone some of them. I've only posted the Droga one which is included in the map pack now. I need to finish Agnar's Lair of BoT to get it uploaded. I have The Hole done as well, but haven't uploaded it. I think I was waiting to finish getting the rest of important NPCs marked on that one, and debating on whether or not to combine it to layers like how mapfiend likes (1 lines, 2 NPCs, 3 grid). Currently it's all 3 layers have lines and NPCs to make it easier to view, just by clicking layers off, instead of using height filter.

Yther Ore.

That was what I enjoyed the most about EQ2, for the short time I played it. For some reason I just couldn't get into it. Now I might enjoy it more, but can't add another game to my repertoire atm.

The interaction with the NPCs is also one of the things I'm really enjoying in WoW. The trolls speak in a Jamaican accent, worgens British, I think, etc. The other thing that is fascinating in that game is having NPCs as part of my "team" to fight xyz boss mob. It's a bit like mercs with a twist.

I know this is about WoW, but I just have to include it for the humor quotient. A quest I've been doing today involves going "undercover" in an orc outpost. I was instructed to go to the tailor in the camp prior to beginning the quest so he could make a disguise for me. This is what he came up with:



That totally cracked me up. It was apparently errrrr "good enough to fool the orc leader to whom I reported. I always new orcs weren't noted for their intelligence.



Note: The armor is not part of the "disguise" - only the mask. I just noticed the similarity in my armor to the orc's, but it just happens that is the current armor I am wearing. Thus far I've been wearing the armor that is given as part of my reward for quests and update older equipment as I do more quests.

Thank you for the tips re: map levels. I've played around with them but I don't think I ever thought to try that in areas with multiple levels.