Happy New Ye.....er, wait...

It was called to my attention last night, that I haven't posted, not only in a while, but since last year.

In my last, (and notably lame) post, I forwarded a number of not-excuses for my absence. Near the end, I mentioned that I was playing Black Ops. And GT5 was bitchin', as anticipated...

And, of course, I've resubscribed to EQ. I can't tell you how much time I've wasted in that game....and, I haven't gotten noticeably better.

Now, I'm going to do something I've never done here: I'm going to totally geek out on EQ, and tell you the story of my latest character, Krafty. If you don't want to read about that, then I suggest you leave now....

Or scroll down for a quick and dirty.

Real stuff tomorrow, I promise.

Upon fair Firiona Vie, where we lay our scene, rolplaying is the accepted norm....

I got into all this because it was roleplaying. I mean, I still remember the name of my first AD&D character. I've played on this server before, and had a great time. I was, unfortunately, alone, as all my rl friends weren't playing at the time. I ran off to FV, and started a necromancer....go figure. I made level 66, and was drawn back off the server.

Now, I find myself in roughly the same position. Add to that the fact that they added character slots (at first only one then later three now 8), and a 50% experience bonus. That, coupled with Hot Zones (exp bonus zones every 5 lvls) and mercenaries that you can now hire (warrior healer dps), the ground was ripe for invasion.

Krafty, as you will come to find out, is a Halfling. A Halfling rogue, in fact. He started out in Rivervale, as most of his race do, and plied his trade in the Thicket. Outfit in the merest of gear by local standards, and wielding a highly questionable weapon, he wrought havoc.

Around level 5 or 6, he sought out the services of a Cleric. High Elf. A bit out of character to hire one of the tall races, but he came highly recommended, and seemed to be trustworthy.

Out into the world they went, Krafty raining death from a thousand wounds, Devlas keeping him alive. As his abilities grew, he pushed further into the forest. Soon, much sooner than he should have been able to, he ran to the goblin camps. Most of the creatures in the forest ignored him, but not the goblins. Two of them guarded a campfire, and death was in their eyes.

Giving a nod to the cleric, he threw a knife at one of them. This, of course, brought him running. Predictably, his friend followed him. It was at this point that Krafty began to have thoughts about mortality. Either one of these green freaks was capable of ending him, and yet here he stood, going toe to toe with them, relying on a tallie to save him.

A thousand horrible ends ran through his mind, but happily, the healer did his job. Flushed with success, Krafty ran on, seeking others of their race to play with. He found camp after camp of them. By sneaking about, using cover, and just generally being sly, he was able to clear all of them. Things were looking good.

That was when he stumbled upon a camp of orcs. Goblins are bigger than Halflings, sure, but not as stout. Orcs, on the other hand, tower over them, and weigh roughly 3 times as much.

Knowing it was a bad idea, he threw another knife.

This time, only one came to play, and that's probably a good thing. Devlas was hard-pressed to keep up, and by the time the orc took to his heels in flight he was nearly out of mana.

After a short rest, they were able to continue. Krafty couldn't believe how fast he was growing in power. When he was about 20, one of his Guildmasters suggested that he look into poison.

Travelling to the city of Crescent Reach, he took instrucion in the finer points of pharmacology. He also learned where he could buy poisons...

After applying these new toxins to his blades, he was nigh unstoppable. He conquered Hot Zone after Hot Zone, rising so quickly as to doubt his sanity. Skills, weapons, armor. All of nearly legendary strength came to him, and not a small amount of platinum.

He fights still, but has paused in his meteoric rise in power to work upon his skills. He's a baker, a tailor, a smith, a brewer, a potter, and will soon be learning the rudiments of fletching.

Ok, so there. Quick and dirty for those that don't want to read all that. I started a rogue, and got him to level 21 in 12 hours and 24 minutes. By comparison, my rogue on my first server is level 16 with 96 hours played.....

Yeah, leveling is soooooooo fast. Though, that's not all that it's about for me. I also like 'typin wit an accent, and talkin' fer all the werld as iffen I actually was a roguish type, makin me way in t' werld.'

Oh, and the poisons I mention in the story (dont you wish youd read it now), yeah, the one I'm using at my current level (63 btw with like 50 hours played) go off randomly in combat, and do 2700+ (5400 if it crits) to the mob I'm fighting, and they scale every 5 levels.

So, anyway, that's one thing I've been doing instead of posting. In fact, I think I'm going to play a bit more right now.

Again, real stuff tomorrow, I promise.

Buenos con queso,

T.