Reynic Entertains the Masses

October 21, 2004

First off, I’d like to thank Radjan for this opportunity to write, vent, holler, and generally make a spectacle of myself in front of our adoring public. Second off, I’d like you all to know that I speak for me and me alone. Third, these columns will most likely have no rhyme or reason, no general direction, and like most of our lives, no real defined beginning or end. There will be some philosophy, some ranting, some joy, some dismay, but hopefully all at least mildly entertaining. Cause that’s what I’m here for – to entertain the masses.

Let me start out with a bit of philosophy. There’s times in everyone’s lives where they can look back at certain events, point to them and say this was a direct cause of that. You can trace many events in life back to a single point. Right now I feel like I’m at that point, both in and out of game. We have several new games available to us, and sooner or later we’ll need to make a decision on which one to play. And I know that I can trace back a lot of things in my life right now to January 27, 2001. A lot of times we may take for granted our positions in life – our finances, our home, our family, our friends – and we may forget that without the love of those around us, we wouldn’t have any of it. I know right now I’m where I am because of January 27, 2001. I have belonged to four guilds in my EQ career, all of them having their ups and downs, all of them teaching me things about EQ and life in general, but nothing that I learned in the combined membership of those guilds taught me as much as I learned January 27, 2001.

You see, January 27, 2001 was when Strumm and Radjan got married in-game. And I remember being in Everfrost that night, and I remember crying in front of my computer when Radjan dropped her last name. I remember that night as the night when EQ truly left my computer screen and dug itself in my heart. Until then, I was still a roleplayer, and while my guild may have known I was roleplaying a female while obviously being a male outside of game, I never went out of my way to make it known. Until then, the game was about beating goblins, collecting bronze armor, making a few friends along the way but nothing too deep and lasting. Until then, I was Reynic. After that, I was me. I started caring about the person behind the screen. I wanted to get to know these people who I grouped with night in and night out. I wanted to know what they cared about, what they thought about, what they dreamt about, not just what they could blow up, what they could heal for, what they could backstab for.

With a one-two punch of new games coming our way, it will be time for us to make some really tough decisions. Some of us will leave Norrath, never to be seen again. Some of us will be transplanted to Norrath in a different age. Some of us will stay and try to hold down the fort. All of us will be forever linked by the time – some of us 5 years – we have spent together in this grand social experiment they call EverQuest. You can never feel guilty about going with your heart, and if your heart isn’t in EQ anymore, it’s probably time to move on. But always remember those people whose lives you’ve touched while playing this grand social experiment. I really don’t care what anyone says at this point – this isn’t just a game. This, to me, is a life lesson.

And for me, it all points back to January 27, 2001.

Obligatory Weekly Rant

Amazingly, I don’t have a lot of bitch about right now. This is more of a placeholder than anything else for when something really fires me up. About the only thing that’s got me upset right now is the complete lack of love for the LDoN raids. Now I understand that there are things available in Omens of War that can blow away LDoN stuff. I also understand that there are Velious-era mobs that drop things that could be useful. Well amazingly, there are still some people out there that actually give a rip about their faction in certain places and won’t mindlessly kill whatever’s placed in front of them just for the chance at some neat little trinket.

But anyway, onto LDoN – you make an entire expansion with instanced content after instanced zone. The two big-hitters coming out soon are packed with instanced content. You have an ENTIRE EXPANSION of instanced content, and yet you leave the LDoN raid – a potential boon for the medium-size guild – to rot away at the Wayfarer’s camps. You know, sometimes there’s more to this game than lewts. Sometimes people just want to spend time together. It’s not about how many people we *need* to defeat an encounter, it’s about how many we *want* at an event. Do I care if we can beat the Servitor with 3 people? No. I’ll take 20 people against him if 20 people are online and willing to go. You have the potential to provide a guild like mine – who can field, on its best night 3 groups – instanced content that would also assist them in their current gear endeavors. Face it, many members of my guild gear up through LDoN points, myself included. Give us a raid where we can earn drops, earn points, but can do it as a collective, not as fractured single groups scattered all over.

Sports Segment and Predictions

It’s the day after the Boston Red Sox completed the biggest comeback arguably in sports history, beating the Yankees four games to three after being down 3-0. No team has ever come back to even force a Game 7 after being down 3-0, much less win the series. Unfortunately, I am constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m waiting for whoever wins the National League to come into Fenway and carry out the curse for one more year. I hope the Red Sox win. I don’t wish long droughts on any sports team except those from Denver. But how’s this for drama – let’s say Houston wins tonight and faces Boston. And let’s say Roger Clemens pitches in Game 3. And let’s say the series goes to 7 games. Game 7 – Clemens vs Schilling – Fenway Park – Halloween night. Drama?

Lions will probably lose to the Giants. They can’t go 3-0 on the road this year…can they?
Michigan marches into Purdue and beats them 31-27, then it’s a side-by-side race with Wisconsin for the Big Ten title.
Patriots streak ends this week, Jets win 28-24.
Astros beat Cardinals in Game 7 – Red Sox over Astros in 6 – thousands of Bostonians die overnight having finally “lived long enough to see the Red Sox win the big one.”

Until next week, take care and happy hunting.

Editors Note: I'll bet Reynic didn't know I kept this all these years. Enjoy.