For a long time, I was convinced that getting to 50 and going out to RvR was the only acceptable path.
Lately, though, I’ve been re-considering this. It started with everyone on the boards signing up to play on Palomides as Hibbies. It really made a bit of a difference to me to not only have a bunch of people that I know playing, but people that were similar level to me. I’ve played forever with Blackspire, but most of my time there is spent being discouraged that I am not nor ever will be level 50. They have alts that are rapidly lapping me. Sure, they try and help me, but let’s face it: trying to help me powerlevel is a recipe for frustration. You’re better off trying to teach me to eat healthy or something.
So the idea of starting out new with a group of friends, all of us newbs, kinda piqued my interest. Sure, none of us would have anything decent, but we’d all be together. Which is good, because nothing helps misery like spreading it around.
The first challenge is leveling to fifth so that I can actually choose a class. I’ve picked Valewalker, because I’ve never played a melee before, and a VW is a hybrid class, so that should be a nice introduction to melee’ing. What I’m worried about is the styles – I can’t even manage to quick-cast a spell when faced with a fight, so having to remember how styles work has me scared. They need a realm ability called “Big Honkin’ Chain” that basically fires off your chains for you. The whole idea of “Do X after Y is successful” makes my head hurt. My idea of a chain is “Start eating Ben & Jerry’s when getting the lid open is successful.” THAT I can handle.
Pessum, my theurg, is the perfect character for me, because I just turn on PBT, /stick to someone, and I’m fulfilling my party duties. But playing a VW, sheesh – I actually have to attack things! That’s SOOO unfair! I can’t go to the bathroom, go get a drink – I can’t even get up for a quick pint! Instead, I have to pay close attention to what’s going on in the game! Man, is THAT annoying… what do you folks that are tanks do to keep from having to actually play the game? Isn’t there a ‘win’ button somewhere hidden?
We had fun forming up this new mob. Of course, there were some scary moments. When I first signed on, I found out everyone had created a character named “MUSTKILLKWIP” or “DEATHTOKWIP” or even “REPLACEALLOFTHEBENANDJERRYSWITHNONFATYOGURT.” Then they all proceeded to send me scary tells. Downright frightening. Of course, I got them all back – simply joining the hunting party killed three of them right off the bat. And then there was the fun of trying to find a couple more people so that we could actually form a guild…
It’s really weird being (somewhat) able to tank, though. I’m so used to dieing quickly that after a mob lands it’s first couple of spells on me, I’m already reaching for the release button, only to realize I’m still at half-health. Kooky. And I’m used to hanging to the back of the group, but I’m not supposed to do that now. Of course, being a coward, that’s a bit harder of a habit to overcome. Now sooner does combat start then I’m running behind the Keens, trying to hide.
That’s the good thing about looking like a tree. Easy disguise in the woods. You might have to deal with getting peed on by wolfs and drunken dwarves, but that’s about the same thing that always happened to Pessum after he got killed anyway, so it’s about fair.
Comments are closed.
