Like many EverQuest players, I play the game often…ok, near constantly. My main character, Nenelar Valandur (E’ci) is only my only serious character; the others have simply been amusements created while Nenelar was stuck in a bad spot after a server crash or unable to find a decent place to hunt. I’ve played the game for almost a year – 55 days of real-life time. So now what?
While I was leveling Nenelar I could play for an hour or 20. There were reasons to do both. As Nenelar is a magician, I was able to solo or group as time allowed. Having a wife (who doesn’t play the game, but takes an interest because I enjoy it) and full-time job, weeknights were short excursions into the world of Norrath. The weekends allowed me to spend more consecutive hours online. I enjoyed playing, as my reward was obvious, measured in beautiful golden pixels that told me I was gaining ground. If I played for an hour, I might not get as many pixels as if I played for 10, but I got something. That has changed.
I hunted for experience, doing little to “camp” for items. I simply didn’t have the time. In an hour to four (a typical night) I could gain experience rapidly (well., ok...not always rapidly, or even positively). In that short amount of time, I would rarely if ever see the opportunity to get a nice item. I continued leveling, secure in the knowledge that one-day Nenelar would be powerful enough to go get the things that he needed. The one exception was a camp for the Flowing Black Robe. I spent 20 hours on Memorial Day weekend 1999 praying to Marr that Najena would appear only to slay elemental after elemental. I got the robe…and then promptly quit playing the game for the majority of the summer. I was burned out.
I came back to EQ to find the majority of my online friends gone. A few were high levels…but even they at this point have moved onto other amusements. As a 25th level character, I figured I had quite a lot of fun left from EQ, after all, I had 25 levels to go and all those items to collect.
It took me 6 months to complete the last 25 levels. Most mornings my wife would ask, “Did you make another level?” Usually I’d say something like, “Yes, tell all of your friends that your husband is now a level 30 High Elf Magician!”
I’ve been level 50 now for only a couple of weeks. But already, the game has changed drastically. Hunting for experience no longer makes sense. Until the expansion, Nenelar will not gain experience. But then, I knew this would happen and so turned to the items I had neglected to collect previously to provide me with the same hours of enjoyment that leveling had. Now my wife asks, “What did you get in the game last night?” I reply, “Nothing actually.” This week she asked me, “Is it fun still?” I didn’t have a good answer.
Why? Well, when I get online during the week, I cannot do much of anything. I’m only be able to be online for a couple of hours. I do not need experience. In that short of time I cannot participate in a raid or go to the planes, so I’m left to wander Norrath offering what help I can – which isn’t much given my class. I can and do help my friends level their characters, but for the most part weeknights are typically fruitless. The items I need (and I have nothing fancy now…all of my items are 20 levels old) are long camping sessions.
Ah, but the weekends. “Being willing to sacrifice sleep to play should surely net me something,” I thought. The past two weekends, I’ve tried to put that into action. I chose two items of value to me: Journeyman Boots and the Shining Metallic Robe and set out to get them.
One weekend I camped the Ancient Cyclops spawn for 24 straight hours. In that time, he appeared once, after 7 hours. It wasn’t my turn to loot. I waited 17 more hours and never saw him again in that time. Powerful as Nenelar is, soloing the Cyclops placeholder for most of that time, I left exhausted and empty-handed.
The next weekend I camped the Arch Ghoul Magi for 20 straight hours. In that time the Magi appeared 8 times, dropping the Shining Metallic Robe twice. I was number 6 on the original loot order. Two ahead of me got their robes while the others gave up early. I camped at the top of the order for 12 hours only seeing the Magi only twice. On both occasions he had only silversilk leggings…not the robe.
So now for two weeks the game has taken much of my time, but offered little in return. The loot in the Plane of Hate drops less than the two camps mentioned above…and Nenelar would be even less likely to obtain them, with “regulars” now setting the rules on who goes to the planes and who loots what, when. Besides, I can only participate in weekend raids when I have more time. I started a druid. It was fun for a bit, but not enough to hold my interest. I don’t want a second character…I want to go get Nenelar the things I’ve dreamed of getting through 50 levels and a year of my life!
And so I ask the designers of the game, “Now what?” Is that it? People like me who typically have only a few consecutive hours of time in which to play will be entertained only to level 50, not beyond it? Don’t get me wrong; I don’t begrudge the players who can play for more time than me anything. They earned what they got, putting the time into the camping to get the items they have. That hasn’t diminished my enjoyment of EverQuest. That said, back to the question, “Now what?” Given that the program is paid entertainment…was it designed to entertain people like me only while leveling? Will I always be a high level character in second rate equipment? Has Verant seriously considered people like me? Am I in theminority…too small to be of concern? Will I ever have an answer to my wife’s question – is it fun?”
It would really help people like me if there were more Temple of Solusek Ro-style quests. I have completed the magician quests because I could obtain the pieces over time and turn them in to complete the quest. Why not make the Journeyman Boots quest more along these lines? Why not offer an alternative quest that requires many steps, each of which can be completed in a couple of hours of play? Why not put a tailor somewhere in the game that makes Shining Metallic Robes? Of course, the tailor wouldn’t just sell the robes, but rather sends players on quests and will award the robe to only players of sufficient level? It would make the game fun for me again. “Hey honey…tonight I got the Froglok Brasso I needed to complete the Shining Metallic Robe quest!” “That’s nice, dear.” That’d make the game fun again.
Nenelar Valandur
nenelar@hotmail.com