{"id":439,"date":"2009-03-13T03:30:30","date_gmt":"2009-03-13T03:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gamemasters.com\/?p=439"},"modified":"2019-04-07T03:37:27","modified_gmt":"2019-04-07T03:37:27","slug":"return-to-norrath-day-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gamemasters.com\/?p=439","title":{"rendered":"Return to Norrath Day 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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March 13th, 2009.  Day 2.<\/p>\n

After 3 days they (Sony)  finally restored my character because the previous server I was on (Stormhammer) no longer existed.  I called them and at first they were wanting to charge me $50.00 a character to transfer.  I argued that there was no way I was going to pay 200 bucks (I had 4 characters I wanted back) to play a game that I left several years ago.  I further went on to argue that it was not my fault their business was so poorly run that they had to shut down the server I was on, and furthermore that if they did charge me, I\u2019d simply cancel the account and move on again.<\/p>\n

I told the guy, Eric was who I spoke with, that I was excited to return, but after shelling out $40.00 to play, there was no way in hell I was going to spend another dime.<\/p>\n

He forwarded everything to a GM and 2 hours later all of my characters were restored.  To that end I must applaude Sony for doing the right thing.<\/p>\n

Okay, so here I am in the world again.  Seems I\u2019ve got some items to claim.  Among them is a book that can teleport me to the Plane of Knowledge.  Evidently tjis area is new, I can teleport here then teleport anywhere else.  That\u2019s pretty cool.<\/p>\n

Okay, so I start off running after a pig-wark or bulwark, or something like that.  Looked like an anteater on really tall legs..  I cannot kill it so I run.  Of course I create a train behind me because I cannot find a town.  I inadvertantly press the \u2018M\u2019 key and bring up a map.  Ah!  Nice!  I see the town!<\/p>\n

I decide to head towards it, I can remember from long ago that the guards would kill whatever was after you.<\/p>\n

They failed to move from their posts so I had to keep running until I zoned.  Ahh Zones.  Yes, this game makes you wait as you cross from one zone to another.<\/p>\n

Okay, so now I\u2019m in a town.  I\u2019ve got 143 Platinum on me, and no clue what I need to buy.  I keep finding merchants that want to sell me plans to blacksmith or sew.  I don\u2019t give a crap about any of that, I want weapons!  I want armor!<\/p>\n

I find none.<\/p>\n

I then find a swimming pool.  Jump in, I soon find that I cannot get out!<\/p>\n

Holy crap, I remember this bug now.  So many areas in the game that if you were too small, you were stuck.<\/p>\n

I tried my book, \u201cyou cannot cast while swimming!\u201d<\/p>\n

Crap.<\/p>\n

I tried the looking up and jumping technique.  No luck.<\/p>\n

Looks like I\u2019d have to drown just so I could rez.  I went online to see what other solutions there may be.<\/p>\n

I found nothing.<\/p>\n

20 minutes goes by, I\u2019m just wasting time at this point, trying everything I can to get out of this stupid water.<\/p>\n

Then I remember about the book.  I teleport to the Planes of Knowledge, find a portal to Freeport, head over to the commonlands, head north into a valley (going through 2 more zones), and come fact to face with a zombie! (This is an edit several years after I wrote this – how the hell did I use my book if it didn’t work while swimming 20 minutes prior???)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I swing!  He casts a spell (zombies can cast spells???) and does 201 damage to me.  Hold up, what??  Zombies can cast some badass spells???  Next thing I know the zombie has 5 skeleton pets and some kind of dinosaur on me.<\/p>\n

I die.<\/p>\n

I resurrect, but lose some experience while doing so.<\/p>\n

All in all, I\u2019m not happy with my first official day of returning to Everquest and playing.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll give it a little more time tho.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

March 13th, 2009.  Day 2, Part 2.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After some rest I decided to give it another go.  Most of the locations I used to haunt are returning to memory.  The Nexus, Queynos, Freeport, yeah, I remember most of em now.  I decided to find the bank, I could not remember what all I had in there.<\/p>\n

Lo and behold!  I have over 2,000 Platinum!  Is that good?  I don\u2019t recall what stuff really costs here anymore.  I left all of it in the bank and went to the Planes of Knowledge again.  This time I had a necklace with a tooth on it.  I found a gargoyle and gave it to him, he asked me to join his cause.<\/p>\n

What the hell.  I did.<\/p>\n

I was then transformed into a winged Gargoyle!  This was new to me, and was certainly not in the game way back when!  I traveled the land, killing little gray critters and scooping up the trash they had.  I then went back to my original form and took off to Queynos.  I found some skeletons waaay west of the city (at least I think it was west).  I killed them and traveled though a cave.  Found myself getting very bored, for even attacking gray monsters seemed to take over 2 minutes (and I was hitting them with two weapons at the same time for about 30 to 70 damage each swing!). <\/p>\n

I then found that I was looking at how crap-tacular the graphics were.  Yeah, I know the game is super old, but seriously?  You\u2019d think they would have vamped up the graphics a little.  Hell there were parts where I could see forever and there were no trees, no monsters, no buildings, just the sky and flat land.<\/p>\n

No wonder I went to World of Warcraft way back then.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the thought process I had when I sat down to log out for the evening.<\/p>\n

30 seconds.<\/p>\n

What did I accomplish?  Nothing really, just went from one place to another.<\/em><\/p>\n

25 seconds.<\/p>\n

Did you do anything fun?  Well, I turned into a gargoyle for a bit, that was kindav neat.  But not neat enough to hold my attention for too long.<\/em><\/p>\n

20 seconds.<\/p>\n

And you didn\u2019t like the graphics?  No, but I kindav knew that going back into it, besides, not all games are great solely because of their graphics, I also like the storylines.<\/em><\/p>\n

15 seconds.<\/p>\n

Do you like the storyline in EverQuest?  Beats me, I honestly didn\u2019t read half the dialogue, I just smacked the keywords when hailing an NPC.  I guess I would have to say no then.<\/em><\/p>\n

10 seconds.<\/p>\n

You gonna keep on playin?  Yeah, for a little longer, not tonight, but later.<\/em><\/p>\n

5 seconds.<\/p>\n

At least you are giving it a try.  Well, at least in this second part of today I did not die\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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