Player of the Week: Bonzz Real Name: Bonzz :) (Hey, this is /role not /RL, right?) Allakhazam Name: GOMN Character Name: Bonzz Character Race: Half Elf Character Class: Paladin Deity: Mithaniel Marr Server: Bertoxxulous Guild: Keepers of the Glade Guild Website: http://www.keepersoftheglade.com Guild Rank: Officer Length of Time in Guild: About 2 months now. I came from Goldenhearts (2 years plus), having left them because attrition had really decimated the ranks. Real World Location: GA Career / Employment Industry: Holy Defender for Mithaniel Marr the Truthbringer! Hobbies: EQ of course! Bonzz's Paladin Website: http://www.geocities.com/comixetc/bonzz.htm Besides EverQuest, what other MMORPGs have you played? Everything else is a copy-cat variant of EQ, why start over at ground zero? EQ is the type of game you live virtually. (Short answer, none!) How did you find out about EverQuest, and when did you begin playing? Funny thing. I actually bought the game when it first came out, as a fan of solo computer RPG. When I got home and found it required not only that I buy the boxed game, but pay a monthly fee to play it, I took it back and demanded a refund. I was furious! LOL! About two years later, a co-worker convinced me to try it, and here I still am! Shows how much I knew back then! :) Do you know anyone in real life who plays EverQuest? Most people I know in RL that played EQ, have ceased to play. How did you come up with your main character's name? Bonzz was intended to be Bones, from an old high school nickname and the fact that Pallies like killing undead (skeletons = made of bones). However, EQ wouldn't let me use Bones so I tried variant spellings and finally got Bonzz, which most folks pronounce "Bahnz" (as in Bon-Bons)... rather than "Bones" as intended. What factors affected your choice of race / class for your main character? Class was no question for me. It was just a good fit on first sight. Half Elf boiled down to the look of the toon and and its sight ability (zones are not too dark). About how often do you play EverQuest, and how long is a typical playing session for you? At last three days a week and usually 4+ hours a session. How do you spend your time in game? Depends on what I can get help with or help others with. I generally hate XP for the sake of XP. I like "XP with a purpose," meaning quests, tasks, flagging, keying.... What other class/race combinations have you levelled past 35? I rarely play alts, as it takes time away from making Bonzz all he can be. :) I have a 60 Monk, but my daughter leveled that toon up. I do have other toons, but rarely play them. Other than the Monk, the others are all under level 35. Approximately how much of the EverQuest world have you experienced? Bonzz has pretty much adventured into every zone except Deathknell, Silyssar, Solteris and a maybe a few special instanced zones. What is your favourite expansion? GoD. I very much liked how tasks/quests tied in with Progression, not to mention the addition of Abysmal Sea (tradeskiller heaven). I also really liked DoDH, because of the decent task rewards and progressive tasks series. I may have said PoP, but they ruined everything (meaning there is no longer a valid reason to do ANY of the content) with the alt-access via merit (aka freebie) access. I'm a fan of overcoming proper progression and that challenge adds to the fun and satisfaction. Saying you are Time flagged is a trophy. Being keyed for Time just means you got a hand out (nothing to be really proud of). I compare it to the Lord of the Rings epic... they go through all these trials, tribulations and adventures to toss the ring into the pit. Remove the trials/tribulations/adventures and they just go straight on over, toss the ring and then go home. Not much of a story/adventure or epic in that, is there? I also didn't like the fact that when I went back to get myself the Aerin'Dar key (which is an actual key, not a progression point), it wouldn't award it to me. Sony's response to my petition was basically, "You have progressed beyond this point," and refused to award me the key, despite having done the quest. I also didn't like the set-up on the PoK books. Not only did they ruin the TL/Port business for Druids and Wizards, but they put the books in ill-considered locations (duplication) and mislabled many of them to boot (example, the Paineel and Erudin portals both take you to Toxx, where there are the spires, where Wizards or Druid... maybe both?... can all ready port you to...). What is your least favourite expansion? Well, depsite my bashing of PoP above, it would have to be Legacy of Ykesha. There simply isn't much to that expansion, really (no progression or "high-end" zone...). What is your favourite zone? Good one. This would depend on Level, as it defenitely changed as I progressed in levels, AA and gear. I thought ToFS was fun without being overly difficult. Griegs is good for leveling progressive gear. Abysmal Sea for Tradeskilling. Gloomingdeep for the first 10-plus levels, is quite fun. With accessibility and difficulty considered, you can't beat Time or Anguish for raids. Grouping has a lot of good options, to include instanced zones, but currently I would have to go with the Fortress (many tasks/quests, good XP and not overly difficult). What is your least favourite zone? Easy. The Arena. There is nothing there (not even an NPC) and the rare GM events there are normally not worth the effort (reward wise) and/or are not run well either. Other zones I don't much care for are... Befallen (it was good fun in the old days when the Dark Elves were there). North and West Karana (huge and not much there). Plane of Knowledge, but only because of the lag factor and it takes a bit to zone in. What is your favourite NPC? Hmm. Based just on his name, I'd have to say Fyking Baer in PoV. Be very careful how you prounounce his name, ROFL! What is your least favourite NPC? I have noticed that even level 1 Skeletons will aggro me despite my being Level 80. Other MOB's types don't often do this, and it can be annoying. I hated the Lava Duct crawlers in Solusek. I still hate the Chromodracs in Skyfire (the dispells). And even if it isn't technically a MOB, nothing is more annoying than those Vet AA Jesters! Currently however, it has to be Witherans. They are a PITA, path terribly and can aggro from an unlimited distance (even vertically), it seems. What is your favourite raid encounter (if different from NPC)? Lets see, it would have to be one that was reasonably difficult, challenging, rewarding (more than 1 loot) and yet, not unreasonably difficult (re: it doesn't require perfect execution and perfect raid make up) So... lets see.... the Rallos Zek event in Tactics, I suppose. What is your least favourite raid encounter (if different from NPC)? The ones that are unreasonably hard and/or require perfect execution or raid make up. So, with what I have done so far, I have to say Sendaii. If the war between Firiona Vie and Lanys T`Vyl erupted again, which side would you take? FV of course. Describe your most memorable moment or proudest accomplishment in game. There have been many things I accomplished in older EQ times that were pretty proud accomplishements back then. However, I would have to say it's either being a GM Tradeskiller (300 all) or the fact that I have done the BiC Aug, the Tacvi Books & the Assistant Researcher quests (they are rare feats, but having done all three...). I also feel that I have had an indirect impact on game play for many players (helped people) and in bettering EQ (positive game modifications), by way of my web site, postings on Alla, EQ Traders (and the like)... plus some contact with GM's (re: Fan Faire...). I have seen many of my suggestions appear in some form in the game and I have had countless players recognize me for my internet presence. My attitude has always been, XP with a purpose and help yourself by helping others... and that all plays into the above. What is the largest amount of platinum you have ever had at one time, and how did you go about accumulating it? 2 Million Plat. It came from a combination lucky winning rolls on certain rare items, vendor diving and then selling those items in Bazzar. My fortunes have since dwindled back to about 500K, having spent the money on items to make some cultural gear and some Bazu Augs. :( What are some things you would change or implement in order to improve EverQuest? I would make a change so that XP is "significantly" modified with a full group, if they are all in the same zone. This would make it very desireable for multi-boxers or "cliques" to actually fill out their groups with folks who are LFG. This should go a long way to counter the growing trend of people not being able to find groups. Work on ways to reduce lag. Introduce a "master" task that will combine progressive rewards into a single ever-evolving ubah reward item for doing and completing proper progressions. This will give purpose back to progressive content that was essentially eliminated by granting open-access to everyone. This item would be something like the "Adventurer's Medal of Honor" and would go into a new "Medal" slot on your toon. Sure -- this will eventually make for one truly ubah item, but so what? Every expansion brings ever greater AC/HP items and this would simply be right on par with them, imo. Add a 3rd & 4th ring and Earring Slot. Expand the number of toons allowed, to allow for one of each class type. Exapand bank space again, to accomodote the plethora of task rewards items you must hang on to in order to complete the final reward (Jonas, Oculus, Cursed faycite, Blessed Faycite, Were-Orc Circum, etc.). Expand the number of active tasks to about 35, to better accomodate all those progressive tasks, items tasks, faction tasks and so forth. This will allow players to actually complete them easier, rather than having to dump them partially completed in order to do and complete other tasks when the opportunity arises (based on when and where they can get groups/raids). Add a faction list to EQ Players so you can see what level (indiff, dubious...) your faction is with the whatever faction, when you need to. Add "discovered" items to the Bio page of EQ Players, so people can see not only what flags/keys you have, but any items you were the first to discover on your server or server-wide. Add tasks/quests/tradeskill-recipes that would allow players to add additional aug slots (you decide type or type decided by item used) to existing items. What types of spells, skills, disciplines, and/or alternate abilities would you like to see added to your class? Oh! Opened the door for me! Here goes...... Paladins were meant to be half Warrior, half Cleric and the opposite of an SK, but in reality they are more cleric than warrior, with little resemblence to an SK... getting some low-level cleric spells, zero Warrior discs and no SK advantages (AC, HP, FD, AoE...). It is time Paladins got the 93% or 96% rez of a Necro or Cleric. It is time Paladins got an AoE of some type (stun, AoE group heal, AoE to undead), as all of their "counterparts" have an AoE of one type or another. Other than a pure caster, Paladins should have the best Undead spells (Clerics get a better DD to Undead than Paladins). The Unicorn Horse "upgrade" was not an upgrade (the Unicorn is not faster or otherwise of any benefit)... give us a Pegasus, as it will come with auto-Levitation, while web are mounted! :) We have no snare, long lasting stun (if it stuns at all), mez or similar. So how about a root that actually lands and holds for longer than 10 seconds in reality? Or a stun that actually stuns and holds for the duration it claims? Fix the LoH AA bug (accidentally hit the target and it will go off on dead targets and NPC's). Or give us a Self-only LoH (non-targeted). If you were responsible for organizing and running a GM event, what would it be and how would it play out? GM events could be fun if they were run better, run more often, or granted better rewards. The worst events of all are the ones where they want you to make a Level 1 toon of some type. With many players, like myself, this would mean having to delete a toon to participate! Outrageous! The only one they currently do that can be fun just "because," is the PvP (last toon standing) type events. I like the trivia events, but you really can't compete on those with those fast typing, lag free players. These trivia events would work better if they did them Jeopardy style and in the Arena (other zones are too laggy or full of non-participants). Say, make them a Jeopardy type event where multiple GMs take 5 players at a time and ask them questions (private channel) one at a time. First player to 5 (or wins by 2) moves on from that group and so on, until they crown a champ. As for rewards... it would be nice if the Player could actually ASK for a reward of their own choosing, rather than be given the crap GMs normally hand out... so long as it does not include epics, epic drops, exp, flags, keys or other quested, crafted or such special items. They may also limit it to items that are not from the most recent three expansions, but would include items that don't drop anymore. For example, I would ask for stack of Can O'whoopass! :) There are also "scripted' or "activated" events in several zones we don't see anymore. Remember those original Halloween events in Commons and Karana and other places? Where the zone respawned with all-diff undead type MOB's complete with special named? Lastly, GM events would be better with limited participation in a special GM Instanced Zone(s). Tese zones could be 100% unique, or they could simply be an instanced version of an existing zone. Example, you would have the static "Commonlands" and the instanced zone, "Commonlands: Adventure." This will remove hodge-podge joining/leaving and/or interference from non-participant players and so on. It would also allow pre-scripted NPC's etc. to be used, reducing the need for GM's having to deal one-on-one with so many players. If you had to start over from scratch, what race/class combination would you choose? I would stick with a Half Elf Paladin, but would give major consideration to a Gnome Paladin, just for the Tinkering ability. How do you describe EverQuest to your coworkers or computer-illiterate friends? I don't even try! What is next for you in the world of EverQuest? I want to max AA's, break 25k HP raid-buffed (2K to go!), get into Deathknell (2 events to go) and Solteris (a few missions to go), properly! ** Pick the winner in a battle between... Grobb vs Ak'Anon - Gnomes, they would out smart them. Saryrn the Mistress of Pain vs Terris Thule the Dream Scorcher - Terris, her DoTs can be nasty. Giants of Velious vs Akhevans of Luclin - Giants, they would just step on them. Muramites of Discord vs the Drachnids of Darkhollow - Drachnids, as they have varied classes. Tradeskilling vs Questing - Tradeskilling, but only because of the difficulty in getting help with quests. Instance Zones vs Static Zones - Tough one. Instances remove KS'ing and some lag issues, but static zones allow you actually camp named and such... so, static I think. Monster Missions vs Project M (PvP as Monsters) - MM, but I am not really a fan of either, just much less a fan of PvP, as there is no benefit to it. Soloing vs Pick-Up Groups - Is there a 3rd choice? I'd have to go with a PU group, because solo as a Paladin just isn't beneficial or expedient or safe (slow DPS, no slow, no snare, etc....) Guild Raiding vs Grouping With Friends - I like both, but I think friends wins out. GM (real people) Events vs Scripted (computerized) Events - Scripted. GM events are not well run and aren't worth the trouble (the rewards they hand out are pitiful and the participation fees are non-sensical). Arena Royal Rumble vs 1-on-1 Duel - I'm not a fan of PvP at all, but the occasional 1-on-1 to test my ability vs. another class might sometimes be interesting (re: can I beat a Necro and his pet?). Faydwer vs Odus - Faydwer, a lot more zones. Kunark vs Velious - Kunark Planes of Power vs Gates of Discord - GoD, hands down. Depths of Darkhollow vs Omens of War - DoDH, hands down. Bard vs Enchanter - Bard, if a good one. Monk vs Rogue - Monk. The rogue is best DPS from behind and the Monk wont let this happen. Paladin vs Warrior - Easy. Paladin. It might be a long fight, but the Paladin would win out because of stunning, dispelling and healing ability. Allakhazam vs Illia - Alla to look up the basics and then Illa to read up on the MOB's involved :) |
