On the most recent episode of a View from the Top Karen and I discussed making your own fun in MMORPGs. The gist of that conversation was to simply identify what you enjoy the most and do it. It doesn’t matter if you’re not playing in a traditional way! Obviously this can be a tricky thing to do sometimes and you do have to accept limitations. I wanted to elaborate on my points in the show by discussing what Iniquity has been doing in EverQuest II to make our own fun. I hope the explanation will inspire others to do the same and find a new enjoyment in their MMORPG of choice.
When we returned to EQ2 we really didn’t know what we wanted to do. We (Iniquity) are all retired hardcore raiders. Killing large, multi-group mobs is in our blood. We always want to do that but we didn’t really want to leave Iniquity and try to find a guild that would take ten or so of us. It was our decision to just play and see how things worked out. In the Shadow Odyssey we did decently well. We progressed through Ward of Elements and had a ton of fun. It was geared for two groups without four group gear and it kept us busy. Then Sentinel’s Fate released.
Sentinel’s Fate did not feature an entry level two group raid zone. We banged our heads against the Vigilant a few times before getting discouraged. It was at that point we decided to just give the four group raids a try and see what happened. I’m glad we did! It quickly became obvious that with some skilled play, perseverance and positivity we could beat some of these raid mobs even in our legendary gear. Our raiding spirit was renewed.
At first we could barely kill anything. We started in Perah’Celsis’ Abominable Laboratory and could consistently drop Ernax Heridion. From there we moved into the Lair of the Dragon Queen and set Wyvernlord Tuluun to farm status. Then we got stuck. We just didn’t have the healers or bodies to really move forward. For a few weeks we just farmed our two mobs and picked up gear. When Icy Keep released we were thrilled and immediately added the first three mobs there to our rotation.
The interesting thing about the group I play with is that this minimal progress did not discourage anyone. We just kept plugging away at the raids until we caught a break. One of our members returned out of the blue. He happened to be a healer. By just adding him we immediately dropped the raptor in labs. It wasn’t long after that we thought we’d “just try” Wyrmlord Zaos (Tox) and Lieutenant Buldoral (Palace of Roehn Theer). We defeated them both on the first pull in the same night. A little bit of gear and a single skilled player gave us a lot more power.
We’re now sitting at this point, farming five mobs and occasionally Icy Keep to upgrade our small band. Most nights we have ten players. On some we get as many as twelve. Everyone has a great time and nobody complaints that we’re not progressing at a faster pace. We are trying to find a few more people but the real trick is in getting a good match. We like our team, we’re all friends, and we want to keep it that way. We’ve found a way to make our own fun and that is enough for us.
Hopefully you can find something similar to do. Identify what you enjoy and go out there and take it. Keep your pace relaxed and focus on the positives of the experience. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, worry about what you want to do. Forget the server firsts, the gear scores and all of the things MMORPG society tells you matter. Have fun and if you’re ever in EQ2 look us up. We probably enjoy ourselves more than most raid guilds and could stand to make some new friends!
All characters are © 2007 - 2010