The Angry Raider

Something amazing happened last night. I witnessed an instant transformation, a transition from young and weak to mature and powerful; it was as if suddenly I was imbued with power and tradition, and I was seemingly unstoppable.

Grabthar dinged 80.

This is my first level 80 character in EverQuest II. It’s been quite a journey. Even though I’ve been playing EQ2 for less time overall than World of Warcraft, I feel more emotionally invested in my EQ2 characters. It’s so much easier to get attached to them. It’s as if they live their own lives when I’m logged off.

This is, of course, mostly to SOE’s credit. The game itself completely supports as little or as much immersion as you want. If you just want to hunt monsters and upgrade your gear, have at it. If you want to have a home, and stuff to put in it, you can do that without killing anything. And everything in between.

Beyond what SOE provides for us in the game, there’s the community that has built up around it. EverQuest II simply has one of the most dynamic and involved communities I’ve personally seen in an MMO. Sure, public chat has its fair share of discussions about politics, and other games. It’s when you group with others that the game really seems to take on an identity wholly different from World of Warcraft.

I’m not even sure how to explain it, and I don’t really know the source of it, as I’m still learning, even after four and a half years of owning the game. All I can say is that last night, I tanked Sebilis for the first time, at level 79, and the people in my group (three from the guild and two not) were so patient and helpful as I effectively learned how to tank in EQ2. Our templar was in Sebilis for the last update for his epic, and even he was patient. We were all in voice chat—another big difference from WoW, where I never even used its voice chat—and they offered tips, advice, and criticism as we moved through it.

I dinged 80 around midway through. It got pretty late, and things started to get sloppy here and there, so we called it with the intention to finish it tonight. I recalled to the guild hall and the guild master made me five pieces of T1 with my void shards as well as a belt, so already I have substantially better gear for tanking Sebilis tonight.

I can’t wait to see what happens next!