Real Name: Tim
Character Name: Dotlbe
Character Race: Gnome
Character Class: Cleric
Deity: Bertoxxulous, but I killed him once or twice...
Server: Povar
Guild: Aude Sapere
Guild Rank: Leader
Guild Website: http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=15391
Length of Time in Guild: Two years
Real World Location: Michigan, U.S.
Career / Employment Industry / Current Level of School: Career in Academia, School? Graduated years ago (whew!)
Hobbies: EQ; Sports: hockey, softball; Music
Family? Yes
Allakhazam Name: Dothammer

Besides EverQuest, what other MMORPGs have you played?
EQ2, watched my nephew playing WoW.

How did you find out about EverQuest, and when did you begin playing?
An on-line poker buddy, three years ago. He also told me about Allakhazam, damn him...:)

Do you know anyone in real life who plays EverQuest?
Well sure, aren't all the PCs real? Seriously though, I have never seen any in the flesh so who knows? Most of my RL peer group is not into computer games.

How did you come up with your main character's name?
There is a storied past to Dot and all his/her/its alts. Xdot was my on-line poker name so it was natural that Dot became part of many of my characters when I learned what DoTs are in EQ.

What factors affected your choice of race / class for your main character?
I wanted to create something a bit different, I had several characters on 7th hammer and when Aude Sapere started, we all started a bunch of characters from scratch, so I chose an evil gnome cleric. I really like Woodelves and Iksar too, so I have a few of those in the stable as well.

About how often do you play EverQuest, and how long is a typical playing session for you?
Take the average person's TV watching habit and transpose it to EQ. (Then add 25%) I also have a trader that can go 24/7.

How do you spend your time in game?
Depends. I raid with Ring of Steel on Saturdays. We have guild outings once a week or so, the rest is tradeskills and some solo xp/loot/tradeskill farming.

What other class/race combinations have you levelled past 35?
Well the joke is I have just about one of everything. I have two accounts but I seldom 2-box since on my machine it is a bit laggy. Since the latest expansions it is nigh-on impossible to even log two instances of EQ on my machine, unless EVERYTHING else is closed (like a web-broser open to Allakhazam hehe).

Gnome Cleric is 65
Wood Elf Druid 66
Dark Elf Enchanter 63
Iksar Monk 59
Half Elf Rogue 51
High Elf Paladin 50
Iksar Beastlord 46
Ogre Shaman 45
Gnome Shadowknight 40

Approximately what percentage of the EverQuest world have you experienced?
Pretty much all of the Old World, most of Kunark except Veeshan's , most of Velious, most of Luclin, Cleric is up to Plane of Fire in PoP, all of Ykesha, all of LDoN of course, not much of GoD, a smattering of OoW, first part of tier one DoN, practically none of DoDH outside of Slipgears quest and just now touching on PoR.

What is your favourite expansion?
Probably Kunark at the moment. With new gear from later expansions, the content while not trivial, can be dealt with much easier than at the time it was released.

What is your least favourite expansion?
While I have not done a whole lot in the expansions past GoD, of those I like the DoN content the most. Many of those zones are too tough to solo and the mobs too annoyingly tough even for groups.

What is your favourite zone?
Depends on the class and level, group or solo. My favorite zone is one where you have a solid 6 person group killing stuff you shouldn't be able to, with decent loot. Tower of Sol Ro comes to mind. But for a 50s group nothing like Old Sebilis.

What is your favourite NPC?
Don't think I have one. If I had to pick one probably Emperor Ganak (the guy who gives you the key to Old Sebilis). He is so cool, doesn't matter what race you are or deity you have, he basically says go kill a couple nasty frogs for me and I will give you a way to kill even more nasty frogs (with better loot). Then he is sure to warn you about them. I have several pics of my characters posing with him...

What is your favourite raid encounter (if different from NPC)?
I liked Innoruuk (Nadox version) becuase he dropped decent loot and we could two-group him with level 50-65s and it is NOT easy.

If the war between Firiona Vie and Lanys T`Vyl erupted again, which side would you take?
Both, just like last time. My evils did the evil stuff, my goodies did the good side. Between the two, they cleaned up.

Describe your most memorable moment or proudest accomplishment in game.
All time favorite encounter was vs. Velketor the Sorcerer. We had just done the New Years' thing in the Great Divide and decided to pop in and see if the old man was around. He was. Mind you, not many people try this guy any more since he is out of the way and has crappy loot by today's standards. In the final encounter, tank and cleric had gone down and our ranger put up a good stand but went down as well. Necro was FD and his pet was dead. A couple less % HP and he would not have been feigning. The only ones left were the Necro, me playing a Druid and a Mage. Velks is almost dead but still robust and dishing damage even at 3%HP. Mage's pet was tanking. Our only hope was to keep the pet alive. I was close to oom, mage was oom. Surprisingly I was not summoned for sitting to regain what mana I could. My last drop of mana healed the pet for 4K and it was able to out-last the dungeon boss. I was OOM, 20% HP, pet less than 20%, mage was oom and not much hp as well. Necro rezzed the cleric, cleric rezzed the rest and it was back-slaps all around.

Proudest accomplishment was obtaining the Blessed Coldain Prayer Shawl, kudos to my guild who were stellar in the shawl walk.

What is the largest amount of platinum you have ever had at one time, and how did you go about accumulating it?
60K, mostly from selling tradeskill items and forages. Some PoP spells sell for a good amount of plat too. I probably could have accumulated a lot more but with so many mouths to feed...why I have 50K wrapped up in mounts alone. Absolutely crucial is being able to log a trader 24/7 or whenever you are not playing. I do play the market casually, if I see something selling way undervalue I will invest some plat and try to turn a profit. I managed to buy some spells and other items at considerable savings for my characters by watching the market, so add that to the ledger.

What are some things you would change or implement in order to improve EverQuest?
Allow '/who all group' and have it override Anonymous. If they wanted to encourage pick-up groups, this is one feature that would be nice to have.

If you were GM for a day, what would you do?
Probably go see zones I had never been able to get to before. I am pretty sure I could come up with a better contest than Halfling cliff diving though.

Have you ever attended a Fan Faire or another gaming event? If yes, what was it and how was the experience? If no, would you like to?
If yes, what was it and how was the experience? If no, would you like to? Nope. Don't think I would bother unless it was held in my home town or nearby.

If you had to start over from scratch, what race/class combination would you choose?
Race or class would have to forage. So any Iksar or Woodelf or a Druid/Ranger. Might try a Woodelf Rogue.

How do you describe EverQuest to your coworkers or computer-illiterate friends?
I don't think I know anyone who is totally computer illiterate. Most do not play or even have the slightest idea about MMORPGs though. I don't describe EQ if I can help it. Although on one excursion through the building (at work) looking for someone for some information, I was telling a co-worker: Steve is on vacation, apparently his spawn time is two weeks. Let's see if Suzie is up. Suzie was up but did not have the information and sent us to Bob. Bob was out but you could leave e-mail for him, the quest would have to be finished later...The coworker found this all quite amusing as I was likening our travails in EQ terms. My nephew plays WoW so anytime the family gets together we have a discussion about mobs and aggro and the rest of clan gives us puzzled looks.

What is next for you in the world of EverQuest?
I would like to get Fire + EP3 and hopefully Time for my top 3 characters. My rogue is also close to 300 in Make Poison so I would like to do that, make some uber augs. I will also continue helping guildies with their toons.

** Pick the winner in a battle between...

Mayor Gubbin vs King Ak'Anon - I think the mayor would lose because he would challenge the King to a drinking contest, but I doubt the King (a machine) would ever be affected, even though the Mayor would consume a hearty amount.
Tradeskilling vs Questing - A dead heat for some of my toons.
Monster Missions vs Project M (PvP as Monsters) - Don't PvP, I like the MMs if not done to excess, although that was how I leveled my chanter from 57-61.
Soloing vs Pick-Up Groups - Nothing beats a 6-person balanced group doing level-appropriate or just above level appropriate content. Pickup groups usually suck but sometimes you can get lucky. I will occasionally pop LFG and take my chances, but I have enough alts that can solo and not miss a beat.
Guild Raiding vs Grouping With Friends - Seeing as how we have a small guild, most likely the grouping with friends is a guild group.
GM (real people) Events vs Scripted (computerized) Events - If they had a GM (or GMs) on his toes with some sort of script (non-computerized) who could improvise, that would rock. I have seen a couple of events like this. We have totally dropped whatever mundane xp grind or other to participate. The large-scale event FV vs. L was fun too, but some of it was way too confusing or manic (guilds farming uber loot) to really endear you to it. I missed a lot of it too since it was so broad.
Faydwer vs Odus - Faydwer, my first ever character was born there.
Kunark vs Velious - Kunark, especially with an Iksar. Faction issues are a bit clearer too, although neither place is as bad as Luclin.
Planes of Power vs Gates of Discord - Planes, have not done too much GoD.
Monk vs Rogue - Most likey Monk since straight up a Rogue would not have much chance to backstab.
Allakhazam vs Illia - I would say Illia, since that's where all the Beasts are...Alla has (oops better not say...)