Ramblings of a depraved gaming madman or pure genius? You decide.

Vanguard Player Profile - Rikoo

Character Name: Rikoo Rakoo

Race: Raki
 
Class: Ranger

Adventure level: 30. (And staying 30, on purpose.)

Diplomacy level: 3

Crafting level: One of my characters is like level 19 crafting.

Harvesting level My total is like 390? I forget off hand.

Guild: None, and will not join one. Nothing against guilds. Immersion Rules, that's all.

Server: XETH baby!

*(optional) Tell us a bit about yourself (the RL person):

I am a 34 year old kid that refuses to grow up. I have a wife and 4 wonderful fur kids. I play drums and do art. I have traveled with my old band all over the US, and will do more touring soon. I am a big dork, but I am also a black belt in Karate.

Given Vanguards huge variety of races and classes, tell us how you picked your particular character & class and why:

The Raki are cute, but not in a "WoW Gnome" type way. I liked their racial ability of a bonus to run speed. I picked a Ranger because I like to solo and I like ranged combat. But, I learned later that (my favorite description) ranger ins Vanguard are Aragorn rangers, NOT Legloas Rangers.

What is it that drew you to Vanguard and how long have you been playing?

What drew me to it? It was cheap, as in 20 bucks. I had it on my Station Access so I figured I would stop reading about how the game had such a horrible start and would just give it a try. I'm glad I did!!

What sphere to you enjoy the most in Vanguard? (adventure, diplomacy, crafting)

Exploring and trading, if those were spheres. Other than that, adventuring.

Vanguard leaves a lot of room for different play styles, very thing from soloers to raiders, what is your preferred play style and why?

Oh boy, long story here. I play "Immersion Project" style, which is a rule set I made for myself that puts certain, more realistic boundaries on my character. For example, if he dies, he's dead. Period. I might even go so far as to delete the character.  Also, I only use certain forms of "normal speed' travel. It has been so much fun it drives me CRAZY. lol

What do you enjoy most about your class?

His survivability. he can live on his own in the woods forever. He can forage his own food, his own arrows, and can get away from a pinch anytime. He's just an everyman that kicks ass.

What would you change about your class if you could?

Hmm, I'm not sure. I love him the way he is. I am glad he is not a typical "hunter" class. I guess I would give him a ranged auto attack, but that's so minor.

What advice would you give to anyone interested in trying your class?

Play them till at least 15 before you decide. Also, always always shoot from stealth!

Of the places / areas you have visited in Vanguard what are your favorite?

Hmm, I love the docks at New Taragnor. They just seem to bustle, and they FEEL like a giant cities docks. Beautiful, too, especially at sunset.

Are there any particular favorite adventure sessions or quest you would like to share? 

I have the most fun of my life every time I log in, seriously. The way I play has brought out the most of this game.
 Oh wait..there was this one quest I did to help out some lil ghost, and the lil ghost told me to sneak into this giants lil hut and to steal something out of the giants lil (huge) chest. I snuck up in Stealth and slipped down a hill only to find the giant standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I could hear him breathing, and he stood there forever, with lil question marks floating over his head. (The mobs do this when they might be sensing you are near.) I was literally so scared my hair on my arms stood up. It was brilliant!

Do you own a house? If so, where is it and what type is it? What do you enjoy about it and what would you change about housing if you could?

Housing is AWESOME. I own one on Conner's Retreat, with my own private beach! There isn't much I would change about the housing, but I would add some things like more seating, more mini-games, etc. Oh, and windows that actually open and close. I'm a girl like that.

Do you own a Ship? If so what kind is it? What do you use it for?

It is a beautiful green Caravel, given to me from a friend of my characters family. Seriously. I got a letter from this person and they gave me this whole back story of about my father and a debt they were re-paying, in the form of a boat. I was sooooo excited. I use it every day for my shipping route. I only travel by boat, foot, or horse.

What sort of mount do you own?

My brown horsey. His name is Royal. I have always used the same dark grey horse, but just upgraded his "class." I am going after my Shadow Hound, but honestly it doesn't fit my character to have one and isn't that much more of a mount. So I am staying with Royal.

What would you most like to see added or changed in Vanguard? 

The largest ships in the game are due for release soon. They are about 4 times the size of my ship but have a cabin that you can decorate!! I would love to see them along with actual boat storage.

Beau

Vanguard Player Profile - Balakor Halasin

Vanguard Player Profile
 
Character Name - Balakor Halasin

Race - Thestra Human
Class - Ranger
Adventure level -14
Diplomacy level - 6
Crafting level - 8
Harvesting level - Lumberjacking 126/ Qarrying 111/ Harvesting 171
Guild - Nasty Habits
Server - Halgar
 
*(optional) Tell us a bit about yourself (the RL person)
Active duty Air Force NCO currently stationed in Germany. I've been playing MMO's for about 8 years starting as a Planetside beta tester and my first full up MMO, Earth and Beyond.  Since then I've played EQ2, SWG, EVE, Horizon beta tester, Lineage 2 beta tester, City of Heroes, LOTRO, DDO, Saga of Ryzom, Matrix Online, WOW, EQ, DAOC, Guild Wars....basically darn near everything.  
 
Given Vanguards huge variety of races and classes, tell us how you picked your particular character & class and why. 
Class was really not a difficult choice. I have always enjoyed the Ranger profession in all MMO's, exploring the world and spending days in the field hunting, so naturally I picked Ranger right away. Race, however, was a different matter. Originally I started with a Wood Elf, figuring Wood Elf and Ranger just went hand in hand. I was enjoying his progression when my wife decided to give Vanguard a shot and went straight for the human class. After many attempts of trying to coax her into the Wood Elf race, I surrendered and moved to a human Ranger. I'm enjoying it, but every now and then will sneak back to play the Wood Elf for a bit.
 
What is it that drew you to Vanguard and how long have you been playing?
I've only been playing Vanguard a few months. Several things drew me in though. First, just the sheer size of the world. I have never seen a world this big before. In SWG, I used to love running on foot all over Tatooine, hunting creatures in the hills and dunes for weeks before returning to the cities to sell my goods. Vanguards land masses puts SWG planets to shame. I have had a blast trying to explore every nook and cranny of the world so far. 
 
The second thing that drew me in was the amount of professions and different skills each player can work on. Tired of Adventuring for the day/ Switch to crafting or harvesting or go find some NPC's and work on your diplomacy skills. There is always something to do.
 
The third thing that I love is that this game helps you a bit, but doesn't hold your hand. You have to really pay attention to the quests and ensure your gear and teams are prepared for the adventures. Running in hacking and slashing doesn't cut it.
 
What sphere to you enjoy the most in Vanguard? (adventure, diplomacy, crafting)

Right now I'm really enjoying the Adventuring side of the house. It lets me get out into the world and explore. Diplomacy is fun as well and reminds me of a different version of Legends of Norrath (except its free ! :) ).
 
Vanguard leaves a lot of room for different play styles, very thing from soloers to raiders, what is your preferred play style and why?
 
Soloer definitely. I enjoy getting out into the wilderness and just look for those odd sites or landmarks. Also it helps with questing and hunting when I get into groups in areas I have explored. if they don't have a clue where to go I have usually been there and can guide them right to it. I try and bring folks out on my treks, but they tend to miss cities after awhile.
 
What do you enjoy most about your class?

The freedom to explore a vast world and survive on my own, as well as help in a group. I can pull individual enemies to the group from a longer range, root them down for the tank or hide and sneak up behind them for a surprise attack.
 
What would you change about your class if you could?

Not real sure yet, I'm still to new to the game and low level to really have an idea of what he may need changed.

What advice would you give to anyone interested in trying your class?
 
Patience, it takes some time to get used to playing Rangers, or any character in Vanguard. If you are used to the quick paced leveling of other MMO's it may get a bit frustrating. Take your time, learn to evaluate your targets and from what I've experienced, you are great vs. 1-2 targets. Anymore then you need to run, and there is no shame in that.

Of the places / areas you have visited in Vanguard what are your favorite?
 
Themwars Shield. Nothing really special about it, its just a cool looking place and a good jumping pint to more rugged areas.

Are there any particular favorite adventure sessions or quest you would like to share?
 
No real favorites so far, i'm still rather new to Vanguard. however one particular session that made me like Vanguard even more was my first trip down to the RiftSeeker cave. We had a quest to enter the cave and enter a portal for a series of quests. well, we get down to the portal entrance, but have no clue how to get in. We walk through it....nothing happens. We jump, stand in it, etc...nothing. We reread our quest and it mentions nothing of how to enter. As we are talking to each other a non aggro NPC walks right to the front of the portal, looks at our groups, shrugs and says a strange saying.
 
Pop, he disappears.
 
Suddenly the lights clicks on and we all say the same words. Pop, we are in the dungeon.
 
4 days and many, many deaths and alot of swearing later we finish the quests and head out.
 
And that was just a level 10 cave.

Do you own a house? If so, where is it and what type is it? What do you enjoy about it and what would you change about housing if you could?
 
No, not yet. But I am trying to level my crafting up so I can support the creation of our guild house.

Do you own a Ship? If so what kind is it? What do you use it for?
 
No, no ship...yet

What sort of mount do you own?
 
A sooty brown horse right now. Its hard to believe that I already can buy and use a mount at this low of a level. Its great.  I'm working towards getting my city faction pet as well, but that may take a bit. Oh, and you can rent flying mounts for 25 copper, how great is that. You also have total control over the flying mount. Direction, how high/low they are and actually having to "launch" them into the air to get them flying. Its a blast!

What would you most like to see added or changed in Vanguard?
 
Better Guild Management tools. SOE, if  you are reading this, take the EQ2 guild management tools/functions and plant them in Vanguard. It desperately needs them.

Vanguard Player Profile

Vanguard Player Profile

Character Name: Bolli  (Alt)  why my alt? Because I just started playing him again and he is on my mind.
Class: Paladin  
Adventure level: 15
Diplomacy level: 8
Crafting level: 5
Harvesting level: Mining -107 Lumberjack-101

Guild - None  

Server - Halgar

Tell us a bit about yourself (the RL person)

I am known as Torak here, I have been playing MMO's since 2001 starting with Asheron's Call. I have tried many MMO's and played several for a very long time. DAoC for about a year, AC for about a year, Lineage 2 for over a year, WoW for about 8 months and innumerable others for much less time.

I work for the Dept of Defense, married and have 3 kids. I just turned 40 (see my other blog) I have more hobbies then time. Work keeps me busy traveling around, I am currently in Germany but have to go to several other places. I have been living outside of the U.S. for 7 years now.

Given Vanguards huge variety of races and classes, tell us how you picked your particular character & class and why.

Well generally speaking when I go into a new fantasy MMO I usually end up starting with a Dorf. However they usually end up an alt. I don't know why, it just sort of works out that way. I guess I relate to the Dorf up front. I never played a Paladin in any MMO so I figured it was time to give one a try. I really like Bolli and have really dived into the lore of the race and current situation through Diplomacy. I also enjoyed the Orc and High Elf areas. I have dabbled in many of VGs classes and all of them are pretty unique and don't all fit into a neat cookie cutter role like many games. When they do, they are usually much more versital then their generic counterparts in other games. Bards are another very cool class, I can't wait to get some time and dig into that one!

What is it that drew you to Vanguard and how long have you been playing?

Me and VG go wayyyy back. I first started watching it back in 2004. I got into the closed beta about 8 months before it launched and boy was I really disappointed. In fact I didn't even bother with launch because I knew what was coming.  (I was labeled a Vanguard hater by several posters here on this site, which was fine because the game was a rotten apple in those days)

I retried the game once I heard that it had stabilized. I love huge open worlds, I love freedom of play, I like to explore even though my Bartles test says I'm a killer / achiever. I love the huge variety of races and classes in this game. Its on the scale of Lineage 2 or DAoC in terms of class diversity. One reason I really disliked WoW and LotR was the extreamly limited class selection and generic roles both of those games have.

What sphere to you enjoy the most in Vanguard? (adventure, diplomacy, crafting)

Well, the adventuring feels pretty standard to me so nothing exceptional there. Lots of general questing but many of the quest are very entertaining. (who trust the URT?) What I really like is the diversity of things to do. If I get tired of grinding out mobs I can get in there and do some Diplomacy or try a bit of crafting. I admit though that I really really do not enjoy crafting in most games. My opinion however, is thatif a game is going to include it, they need to do with depth and Vanguard delivers there.

Vanguard leaves a lot of room for different play styles, very thing from soloers to raiders, what is your preferred play style and why?

I have a fairly even split between solo and small grouping. My wife also plays VG and we generally stick together and do a lot of the small group quest. I was in a guild with my main but it apparently broke up some time back. I get into small PUGs every now and then. I find the community in VG is pretty easy to get along with and overall, pretty mature. I don't have to worry about a lot of the shanangins that you put up with in  games like WoW or GW.

What do you enjoy most about your class?

VG Paladins rock. I like almost every aspect of what I can do. Some buffs, some casting, heals, DoT's and strikes both cast and melee. Overall he kills a bit slower then my Ranger but he is far more durable.

What would you change about your class if you could?

I am very interested in what they have in store with the Patheon and choosing of gods the devs have mentioned.

But all in all I wish there where more class specific questing / items and such.

What advice would you give to anyone interested in trying your class?

Play a Dorf, we need love and only have one city left. We are a dieing race and need your help!

Of the places / areas you have visited in Vanguard what are your favorite?

With this toon, not to much. I really like the dorf homeland but you are in and out of it to quick. Something I did "find", in the dorfy capitol there is an entire portion of caverns that look unused and have mobs wondering around in it. I started to explore but something chased me out.

Are there any particular favorite adventure sessions or quest you would like to share?

Not so much with this toon. He is young and his adventures are just beginning. Three Rivers is a bit dry and standard.

Oh, oh wait...this isn't from this toon but this quest is one of the strangest / funniest I have ever run across. Basically it has to do with a botched attempt to cure some villagers and you having to destroy the evidence (the villagers) by luring them to a mill, killing them, picking up their parts and throwing them into the mill to grind them up...

Do you own a house? If so, where is it and what type is it? What do you enjoy about it and what would you change about housing if you could?

Nope

Do you own a Ship? If so what kind is it? What do you use it for?

Nope

What sort of mount do you own?

A brown pony. I really like how the horses are a bit different for the races. My Rangers horse looks like a big draft horse and my Human has a standard looking horse.

What would you most like to see added or changed in Vanguard?

Oh where to start? This game is an blank canvas right now. I would love to see some sea adventures that involve the boats and islands and sea monsters. I am also hoping that they finally get the character customization squared away and we get our sexy back, and I also would like to see a way to customized our class somehow. I am also sad that any PvP in the style I like is pretty much absent from the game. I listened to the most recent podcast (thanks beauturkey) and was really interested and encouraged by a lot of what silius (the head dev) had to say about the future of Vanguard.

What the game could really use is a free trial.

VG looks to have an exciting future ahead of it, check it out!

Well yours truly hit the big four zero last week and an amazing thing happened....I didn't wake up and need a cane or walker and in fact everything was pretty much the same.

Seriously though, I was kind of down in the dumps briefly but I have faced my mortality several times and to be honest, it doesn't faze me to much anymore.

I look back on the last 40 years and ....well I can hardly remember what I had for lunch yesterday so it wasn't much of a reflection lol.

Just kidding, I am greatful for my time here and am looking forward to whatever life brings next.

I was a lost and confused kid many moons ago, I joined the army, served my country in war, went back to school afterwards, worked in the insurance industry for a number of years then went to work for the Dept of Defense and moved to Germany. I have been floating around the globe for the last 7 years while we contend with this or that conflict. I have spent less then 4 weeks in my home country in that time and sometimes I think I have been away to long...sometimes.

I still hit the gym 3 times a week, about 190lbs and not much fat. I actually got a fishing license here in Germany and am currently learning how to use a recurve bow. (I'm an expert with so many firearms, everything from 9mm to 120mm MBT main guns, I figured I would try sometime more difficult lol)

I have been married for 15 years and really could not have asked for a more ideal relationship. I have 3 wonderful kids.

In my travels I have met so many great people, I am blessed and see the hope and promise that someday this insanity will all end. I've been to the pyramids, I've traveled through the Red Sea, Been to the Rock of Gibraltar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain most European countries except for England, been to the top of the Alps, drank tea with Bedouins in their tents in the deep desert, worked with multi-national task forces, patrolled the Fulda Gap back in the day, went to the wall when it came down, saw the fall of the Soviet Empire, owned a business, I work everyday with so many great people from all over my home country and from many other countries as well.

I have seen true pain, despair, hopelessness and hate / true joy, happiness, strength and love. I've almost met my maker a few times and have sent a few to meet their maker. I've been chopped open once, watched a 125mm round almost hit me, had open heart surgery....hmmm....I think thats it. Oh, I have a hellva lot more grey hair then I did 10 years ago.

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! It's been an amazing journey so far.

If I can say one thing as advice it would be "live with passion"!

It my blog and I'll cry if I want, cry if I want to.........sure just what everyone wants to read more bashing on a particular MMO. I generally don't like to do this but I'm in a mood today....

Ok, so I have this new EQII expansion that my wife gave me mainly because she hates me or something, thats the only reason I can think of because she KNOWS I don't like SOE games. I sat down this afternoon bored because the kids are sick (what else is new?) which effectively destroys our weekend giving me lots of time to troll around and moan about  the good old days of our gaming, much to my wifes dismay.

So I log in. Now I only tried that Fae thing in a trial when it released so I don't remember to much other then the fact it didn't leave to much of an impression on me.

So I make a Wood Elf after deleteing like half of our old toons because I didn't do the station pass which gave me like a hundred extra character slots I guess, until I get to the manageable level of 5 or 6. I go to the fae land and I swear its like a Winnie the Pooh simulator. First I gotta go kill some snakes because they are eating all the fairy flowers or some nonsense, the NPC sounds like Christopher Robbins mother, which I promptly begin looking around for. After that challenging task which got me to level 3 just because I stood there and shot the snakes for a few minutes, I gotta go look for some grobins, goblins or whatever, who are apparently pissing in the lake and making everyone generally unhappy. After dispatching them, a little girl with the voiceover of an adult trying to sound like a little girl ask me to kill buzzy bees for her. At this point I'm looking for Pooh and Tigger to bounce up and ask me to help collect some honey because Pooh's tummy is rumbly. Alas, Pooh must have been playing WoW today because I didn't see him or Tigger, I can only assume they were on a raid somewhere in Horde territory because thats how I envision Pooh, playing an Orc doing that Vanilla Ice dance, but I digress. After I get the buzzies for her she ask me to fix her frickin coat for her. Now I'm a parent of three. Like I need to play "daddy can you help me..." in my video games as well.
Anyway, the mom goes on about how the little girl lost her favorite dolly after some pirates took all their belongings and left them on the island and I'm like "look lady you are damn lucky they didn't rape your  sorry arse and kill the lot of you" and that ended my trip to happy fairy land.

Off I go to the new dragon guys...yeah they are evil. Evil is good, evil in an MMO should be better...or so I am hoping. (no I never got to play City of Villains, my wife played it like a year so does that count?) The first NPC is standing there with a blank look on his face so I'm like "whats up?" He goes on about some poachers trying to hunt the same crabs we want. Grrr...now we are talking, our food, right? We need to muscle these guys out. So I turn around and there are like 90 of these winged birdguy poachers standing no more then 3 steps away, looking at me. Flightless apparently. I thinking to myself, "what the hell, the NPC is just standing there all day watching them kll and eat our crabs?! Lazy bastage". man they should put me in charge, I would get this entire area in order in no time flat.

So the whole group of winged but flightless birdguys watches passively while I dispatch 4 of their bretheren with not so much as a wink. They never batted an eye. I am now assuming the reason they no longer fly is because they must have forgotten they can. Then Mr. Dragon dude NPC, satisfied with my thinning of the poachers from 90 to 86, informs me of some other, to stupid to fly, winged miners stealing our rocks. Geez, the nerve. So take care of that problem and at that point, not feeling particularly "evil" I figure, well if all we have to worry about in our kingdom is bird people who don't have enough sense to either run or fly away from me or at least help each other, they don't need my help...Thank you and good night.

Have you ever played Gothic 3 or Oblivion? Why is it in some RPG's, the stories and task are actually interesting / fun / and dare I say challenging and in MMORPG's, the content in EQII seems better suited to an episode of "Bob the Builder" or "Tellatubbies"? On top of it, can you say "linear do my quest or don't play" type game design???
WTF is that? I played Gothic 3 today and its like 10 times the MMO of any MMO except without the players, which is a bummer because I coulda used the help when the orc patrol from the Army that just sacked our little kingdom, saw me and castrated my ass and when they did, the f*ckers took my weapons from my damn body! WTF is that? The damn NPC's griefed and looted my arse. I could hear them laughing while they took my sh*t saying how I "won't be needing this anymore". bastages I'm telling you.

I want my damn sword back. Frickin Orcs. Not only do I need to go find the damn patrol again but I need to kill the dude who took it to get it back IF I can even find him. (or else reload and since I suck at remembering to save)

Anyway, I think EQII has seen its last of me...at least until they raise the challenge level a tad more or at least get some writers aside from Winnie the Pooh extras. Not even my kids where amused with it. They are off playing "Club Pengin". You ever play it? You should take a look, lets just say it puts most MMO's to shame not to mention its a blast to play. Its a flash based MMO targeted at kids.

I really hope that turns around one day because I would really enjoy an MMO with some sort of content written for a adult and not a deranged 6 year old trapped in an adults body.

So I have an Orc to go find now.... and no, I have no will to pursue EQII any longer, it had its chance 2 or 3 years ago when it launched and I struggled a guy up to 30 or so doing his stupid class quest and then they did away with all that letting everyone "just pick" their class at creation because that was "more fun" and lord forbid you get to feel any sort of accomplishment in an SOE game.

Like I said, its my blog and I'll cry if I want to :) If you read this far its to late to say just don't read it if you don't like my opinion.   /wink

Anyway, good gaming and enjoy it. We are lucky that we have such trivial things to bitch about.

I am weak.

I gave up Lineage 2 about a year ago after getting burned out on the skull melting, will crushing grind. I shut it off for the last time and uninstalled it and said enough is enough. 

Then the wandering began. I never was an MMO drifter until then, I always stuck with my MMO, I started with AC way back in the day and played about a year, I moved to DAoC and played that about a year, from there I went to WoW and played a bit less then a year. From then on I was in L2 (about a year or more) Inbetween I had several "quickies" with many other MMO's none of which were really any good. (SWG, EQII, all the usual suspects)

So like an outcast, I left Aden and went in search of the mythical "superior" modern MMO. What I found was a wasteland of uncompelling and dull MMO's, most of which either were severly broken, dead or dying. I went back to DAoC only to find the game had died in my absence.  I was sad. After a while I got fed up and dropped MMO's. I went on a frenzy of shooters and single player games. I played, and became addicted to "BF2 - Point of Existance".

I wandered around in those games but eventually got the itch to take a look at another MMO. So after many months I turned on my Station account. (Sept?) Again I was greeted by the empty servers of  many dying MMO's (its as if only a few voices cried out all at once...do you want to buy gold?) I slapped myself for turning on an SOE game...I had sucker written all over my face. So I washed it off and actually purchased a copy of Vanguard (like an idiot) off of ebay. I loaded it up and it was aweful. (I'm not going to talk about this here) So now what? My wife had pretty much given up on LotR so playing that was out of the question. I had a level 20 dwarf or something but it was about as interesting as cutting the grass.

In the meantime, I had this NCSoft timecard in my wallet. I had totally forgetten about it until I accidentally handed it to the gate guard at work (which he was not amused with, MP's are like that) And the wheels started turning. I resisted but as I said, I am weak. I was tormented. Aden was calling now.

So last night I loaded up WoW. Yes, I was going to attempt to resist. I figured I am dying for an MMO but everything is pretty much a waste of time but WoW is still thriving. Its "fun", I have high level toons, I have plenty of ingame cash, why not? It finished patching. I looked at my wallet to get the credit card out and pulled out both the CC and the time card and placed them on the desk. Oh the pain. Did I really want to play WoW? I really liked my Dwarf, he had a rifle after all and whats more fun then angry dwarves with guns? What was more fun?

I opened up my play NC account and logged in. (I had reloaded the game when I remembered about the timecard) Now in the course of the year I got myself a huge widescreen monitor and a 512mb graphic card. Now let me tell you Lineage is stunning. (L2 is actually made with the same base graphic engine as Vanguard by the way "unreal 2) I looked at my gallery of toons and said to myself "you magnificent bastards, I've missed you" (ok, so its a bit dramatic) If my Dwarf could talk, he would have said "its about f&*king time". I logged in to take a look at my situation and found I wasn't in as bad financial shape as I remembered. All my toons were fully outfitted and ready to go....where to start?

There was the music, the captivating music, the city was jammed with player shops, how I hate and dispise player shops....and all the selling spam going on...it was glorious lol...it was "alive". Everything I was looking for was right here all along.

Within a few minutes I got a tell....one of my old guildies was on. (I had been booted from the guild in my long absense) we talked a few minutes, he gave me the low down on what was happening since I left. The guild had dissolved, wars had happened, much drama, old friends were now enemies, comrades were now hunted. New alliances had formed, new allies had been made...what I found was that I was one of the only ones that had left. This made me sad again. 

Then I got another tell "so you are back you prick" LoL, yes old enemies STILL remembered me. I replied "Lol, yes...so watch your back, I missed you to" I actually got a smile back and I'm sure thats the last time he will ever say anything nice to me. 

I met up with my old friends and we grouped, I talked about a new toon...I want a damage dealer this time. We got on vent and chatted, its been a long time. B(name edit) was glad to hear from me, she put on some tunes and the group got to the grind.

It was good to get home.  I am greatful that my friends will have me back and honored my enemies still remember me. This is what makes a great "living" world, the people both friends and enemies, without them an MMORPG is nothing.

I was weak not because I went back to Aden but because I was lured away in the first place.

I hope that a player named "angleofaden" is still out there. I'm back.

(this rant was written mainly for me, I don't care what you think of L2 as a game, my point is sometime maybe we are looking to hard for something we might already have...did you leave your home also?)

I'm not going to talk about what should be in MMO's, instead I am looking at some of the current "rat traps" we have out there.

I have seen this comment a few times on differnt post concerning a fe