Ten Character Questions

Czarnal over at The Homonculus did this a little while ago but I enjoyed reading it so much that I decided I wanted to do it too. So here we go then!

1. What is your current main character’s name (or names, if you play multiple games)? Explain how you chose the name.

Main name right now is Borgio or a variation thereof (Borgeo). The name is actually based in Warhammer. Borgio the Besieger! Anyway back in the day of my first MMO, Ultima Online, there was a roleplaying guild on Europa called the Guardsmen Militia based out of Yew. When I went to join my and I was stuck for an RP friendly name my mate says to “Pick something out of Warhamer or something” so I did, and its stuck since then.

2. What was the name of your very first character in an MMO? Explain how you chose that name.

  Topcat.  In fact ive been Topcat since I was about 7 years old.  Occasionally my old Topcat tag will come out to play but that mostly in FPS games now,  MMOs with all their copyright checks don’t bode well for old TC.  The name came from when I was in school and I used to do gymnastics (laugh all you want I was good) the piece of music I used to perform to was the theme from Topcat.  The rest is history.

3. Have you kept a specific name through various games, or do you tend to change your naming habits based on the individual game?

As said above ive been Topcat for years but the current name following me around is Borgio. Topcat in UO
Borgio in UO
Top-Cat in SWG
Borgio in EQ
Borgio in EQ2
Borgeo in EQ2
Topcat in CoH
Topcat in guildwars
Borgio in DAoC
Borgeo in DAoC (This is where the EO developed from)
Borgio in WoW
Borgeo in WoW
Borgio in LOTRO
Borgio in Vanguard
As for changing naming habits, yes as I said above with the changes to copyright.

4. Do you ever reserve names, planning to use them for characters that you might play later? If so, what are they and why do you hold on them?

Actually yes starting with WAR. Mrs B was in BETA but I didn’t get in till much later, since I was known to GOA through my chars on DAoC I had to pick a name that was nothing to do with me at all, and so Kharek was born. Hes my current “alt” but he was a placeholder chosen for a while before I decided to use him. The reason I hold onto the name? Well it’s a nice throwback to the beta when people actually sat up and looked at what I could do as a chosen and actually say “oh shit it’s a chosen” as was reported on the boards after another night of carnage (pocket healer natch)

5. Of the three common archetypes in MMOs — tank, healer, DPS — which is your current main character?

Tanks, and I hate them, I really do.. honest……

6. What archetype was your very first character in an MMO? Why did you choose it?

Well my first MMO was UO and there weren’t archtypes per sé just skills. I suppose my first job was a bowyer, I used to lumberjack trees all day and turn them into bows to sell for some cash. Eventually I became a mage, a warrior and then a tamer.

7. Are you usually attracted to one archetype over another, or do you play them equally? Why?

I almost always play the tanking class, and I kick myself everytime I do, Its not that I dislike tanking, but im still stuck in the mindset of wanting to see the big numbers. Im sure ill grow out of it soon and be a better tank than I am now (and im not shit)

8. What is your favorite feature from an MMO you no longer play?

Proper keep sieges from DAoC, honestly if that game still had 5k players on it at peak time with my old alliance id still be there. Nothing could beat actually having a USE as a tank in that game, manning siege engines, thwomping squishies with my polearm, good times!

9. Is there an MMO that you would play if it was free? Which and why?

 Generally I wouldn’t have a problem paying for any game I enjoy but im sure if LOTRO was free id play that some more, theres lots I want to do in it but cant justify having open 6 game accounts at once.

10. How do you measure the success of a character in an MMO (total kills, titles accumulated, wealth, rare items collected, level reached, etc.)?

 Personally I like infamy! How well known you are, im pretty much a nobody in the grand scheme of things in most games but ive had my share of fame (and infamy) if people remember you as a good player then you are doing well. I wont bother tagging anyone to answer this, I had enough fun doing it myself.

Weekend Update!

Hey guys well there wasn’t loads of gaming this weekend as I was busy with other stuff which ill tell you about anyway (Its fun to bore people)

 

Friday night my brother in law came round and brought Mario Kart for the Wii with him.  I had played this once and MK on the SNES was one of my favourite games of all time, well its different but still fun, Mrs B, her brother and I did 3 player Battle Games most of the night which was awesome fun.

We also plugged in the Gamecube pads and smashed out some levels from Gauntlet.  Many people didn’t like Gauntlet on the gamecube as it wasn’t very diverse past hammer A to kill things, but sometimes that is just what you want to do, so we had giggles with that.

 

Saturday was mostly spent out of the house.  We went shopping for more gardening supplies and took the kids to the park and let them play in the fountain near the shopping centre.  Afterwards we went over to my mum and dads to see them and ended up staying for a BBQ.  By the time we got home it was time for the kids bedtime.
The gaming we did that night was on EQ2 im sure, and we did a PR raid with two groups.  Now this instance isn’t hard for the Harpers at all however we took along some people from other guilds who were friends.  Now harpers aren’t like everyone else, we tended to just develop our own tactics for mobs whereas a lot of guilds will read the tactic and go with it.
This lead the first problem when on Doomcoil as we do it differently to a lot of people.  End result was a port to the entrance and Doomcoil locked in his room.
This of course means that we had to deal with the next fight with both the group and eventually Doomcoil.
Well we wiped and wiped and wiped and were about to call it when some more in guild came online, we filled out another group and downed them both.  This just left Imzok which was done with no fuss.  I went on the Pally which means I need just one more update to get my Mythical, Tariza the widow mistress.  I also had a shock when I looked at my Pallys gear.  Now back when I was going to make my Pally my main I started to gear him and he quickly got stats as good as my Zerk, however I changed back and now the Zerk is geared WAY over him.  The shock was inspecting my Pallys tank gear to see some treasured crap!  Oh god, Void shards are the way to go for him I think!

 

Sunday was spend chilling out and gardening, I dug out a semi circle of turf for us to plant in before we realised we needed a skip to get rid of all the waste we were producing, crap!
Gaming was all on Warhammer.  I decided I wanted some more wards and the only way to get them is RvR so I gritted my teeth and sat in the warband for a few hours, ive now got 79 officer medallions.  Seeing as I need over 200 for the chest, I think, and over 100 for shoulders im getting there.
Why am I bothered about wards?  Well the alliance is starting to run LV events and I want in!

 

I will probably play Warhammer tonight depending on what Mrs B wants to do.

 

Rock on

I Will Be Your Tank!

I made a pact with myself last night…..

With Mrs B out for most of the evening I sat down in order to start some gaming, but what to play?  I think I actually logged straight into EQ2 and didn’t even look back.
First on the agenda was some action on my little Assassin, well he got level 53 before I stopped with him (He started on 48), he really is a lot of fun now im getting used to chaining the stealth attacks.  Solo is bad since you can only really take single mobs and get a max of two stealth attacks off before your single stun is down.  Grouping is much better since you have enough abilities to get into and out of stealth reliably.

 

However what is this pact I speak of?  Well to be honest im a skittish tank in EQ2, if I haven’t tanked a zone before I wont go to it… see the catch 22 there?  Well what I mean is I want to do it with my steady guild group before I do it with randoms since my guild group is a lot more forgiving.  Im not a crap tank, I hold aggro, grab adds and turn mobs as needed but the intricacies of the zone which people EXPECT others to know I may not.

The pact I have now made is: If I have time to spare I will answer the first call for an instance group that needs a tank.
What did this lead me to tank last night then??? CoA……….. HAHAHAHA!  Honestly I tanked CoA, the zone I have tanked about 100-200 times.  Well the run was uneventful but it felt good to flex my tanking muscles again.
Group was: Zerk, Assassin, Brigand, Defiler, Fury, Illusionist (I think)  I cant honestly remember which caster we had, all I know is I had Assassin aggro transfer and that was it.  However the assassin wasn’t geared at all… it looks like a scrub char that hit 80 and has never got geared up.

The Brigand on the other hand was full VP and new raid instance loot… SHIT!  I find it hard enough keeping aggro off of Brigs anyway.

It went well though, utilising everything I had I mostly held aggro, occasionally losing it when the assassin went to sleep but was all good.

After we were done in there I went to help a guildy level, he was level 79 and needed 20% or so to level, so myself, out guilds main brig (on his Shadowknight) and Mrs B (who had come home at this point) hit Shard of Fear for him.  Nothing dropped…. Bah!  The other guild group in there got the choker but we were unlucky.

After that I did CoA AGAIN!  This time swapping to the Pally since I was locked on the zerk and again fuck all dropped.  I was then kinda tired and went to bed.

So the new pact leads me to tank CoA twice…… yay?

Veeshans Peak: My First Foray!

Ive been a member of the Harpers of Norrath for a while now but always in a non-raider role, this is something that doesn’t sit well with me but im used to it, it still narks that im sat on the sidelines and sometimes the raid leader will go in with spaces free but still not take me.
Anyway our MT, who happens to play the same class as me, (go figure why I cant get in the raid ) decided to do a “fun run” of Veeshans Peak and kept whispering me in the weeks preceeding to find out my availability (We have been friends since before I joined Harpers)  well last Saturday was THE day, time to hit Veeshans Peak for my first time!

Now im no VP noob, ive watched Mrs B run it numerous times on her Warden while I sat there and brooded, but it was my first time in there on my Zerk (and Pala, more on that later) so felt relieved once we started.

Well it went smooth as you like, I was never called upon to tank although I did end up picking up Nexona once when the MT dropped, having your grps healer sat next to you in the room helps when you can turn and say “Maevs dead, im tanking!”  Still lead to a wipe though hehe.

My rewards?  Boots and Shoulders from the old VP set as well as my Fabled Altar.  Not too bad and for someone like me with no hope of much better gear after the T2 Void then its great.

I even got most of the Trakanon access quest done, now why most do you say?  Well I subbed in my Paladin on Hoskar and got his Mythical update!!!  Now all I need is PR and one other raid and his Mythical is mine! YAY!

I keep asking myself why I keep bothering with my tanks since I wont get the chance to raid on them, but its just the class I love in EQ2.  You see groups always shouting out the need for tanks but any guilds never need any more, its barking!

I have however rolled an Assassin and a Defiler who are both nearing level 50.  Defiler was rolled to raid in a guild who offered me a spot but I don’t think im really getting on with it, it’s a good enough class but the soloability is throught the floor, I rely on a mentor to get me through content.
The assassin is fun as hell though, loving him and his damage, I didn’t use to like the stealth gameplay being more of a straight up fighter sort of guy but the more I practice the better I get at comboing his attacks.

Also on the EQ2 front Mrs B has been making a serious effort of levelling her Wizard.  She wanted a dps toon as “My warden kills so slow” so wizard it was, now granted the bonus exp weekends are the best thing since sliced bread but I have been mentoring her with my Zerk and she is now 71!  Its so great to see her having a blast (Literally) with her Wiz.  As soon as she catches up with my Inquisitor (73) I think ill be levelling with her.

On other gaming fronts I have been having a little dabble in Warhammer now and again, I was trying to level my marauder but soon stopped and played the chosen some more, nothing really to report here, im interested in seeing how the Str changes will affect my character when they come in.

I also finally got my XBOX 360 back from my mate who borrowed it when I went to Afghanistan. The best thing on there is definitely Castle Crashers, Mrs B and I have been having some retro fun with this, its great to just blow off some steam with it.  Im the Blue Knight and up to level 9, Mrs B is the Red Knight and is level 5.  Watching animals shit themselves as you walk past makes me laugh.

That’s about it really, Everquest will remain the main focus and getting Mrs B up to 80 then I think it will most likely be shard run city.  Warhammer will remain a backup game, but right now its not got a lot to keep me in, the keep sieges just aren’t as good as DAoC!

Day 40 Update: My Gaming Future?!

(TMG in Afghan post to follow later on!)

 

Having been forced away from gaming due to my Op Tour it gives me a lot of time to surf the internet and make decisions on my gaming future so I figured it would be a good time to write down where I think im going in the next year with gaming.

 

World of Warcraft

With Wrath being out maybe a week before I came out I had a small time to play and even did the Nexus once.  Im still semi interested in WoW and will most likely take my Warrior to 80 and perhaps my DK but recently its not been the game which is really keeping my interest.  At least by the time I go home the expansion will have been out for a while and things will have settled in regards talents, raiding and instances.  I do not know if I will be playing WoW as much as I was though.

 

Everquest 2

Im yet to try TSO but ill take a peek at it when I come home for some R&R in January but at the moment it seems that this will be my “raiding” game.  I can only really focus on raiding in one game at a time anyway so might as well make it EQ2.  Ill have to step back and take a look at what I want to do with myself in EQ2 regards raiding but a decision will be made in March.

 

LOTRO

Moria has come out and although LOTRO does have a special place in my heart, I really cant see myself spending much time in Middle Earth, the game isn’t bad, it just doesn’t hold my attention as much as it should.  It doesn’t matter that everytime I actually do play LOTRO I say how great it is, I still end up stopping.

 

Warhammer Online

I left this one to last as its my current game that im getting into.  Yes I played it way too much during beta including powering two characters to level cap in order to test T4, come release I was burnt out, big time, I couldn’t find the drive to play the game due to it being the same as before.

However I think this break will do good for me, once I get back I think that WAR will be my “Main Game”  This means the majority of my time will be spent here with raiding done in EQ2.  My goals are to try out the Blackguard and if they suit my style of play then get one to 40.  My Chosen is my next choice.

 

Well there we have it, a fast MMO roundup, decisions made are to play WAR and EQ2.  Ill have to see if I can rope Mrs B into dropping EQ2 a bit for WAR, I doubt it

TMG in Afghanistan: Day 28

A video is coming I promise!  Its having “issues” uploading.  In this one I talk about “Station Cash” for EQ and EQ2!

 

And here it is!!

An update!

Wow, it always happens with me, I get into a week or two of daily updates and then work and gaming get in the way of my blogging!  Where to start.  Well the major piece of news is that I am going to Afghanistan next week, in fact at this time next week ill be in the air!
What does this mean for the twentysomething gamer?  Well for starters as long as I can get my laptop to find a network out there then the posts will continue.  Im aiming to do video blogs if I can be bothered to give an update on mainly the war and my life while out there.  Some gaming will definitly get done though!  I started again with Diablo 1 and 2 last night and am also going to install Fallout 2 since its a great game to while away some time with.  Also on my gaming agenda is EQ1, but only as long as I can find a network which will allow me to connect for extended periods, im not sure if they charge by the hour out there in which case ill need to restrict my usage!

On the EQ2 front I got hold of the Mythical Dragons Temper!  Many thanks to my guild “The Harpers of Norrath” for taking me along to get hold of it, its a great going away present!

So what am I going to miss then?  Well mainly the launches of new expansion packs for games, Wrath of the Lich King is released tomorrow (I think) and also The Shadow Odyssee (However you spell it)  Im not so concerned about Wrath since ive not touched WoW for a while and dont intend to really, its just not the game I want to play.  TSO is the biggest kick in the pants for me, I wont be back for 4 months and by that time my guild will probably be plodding through the content and wont want to “babysit” me through all the stuff they have already done.  Mind you I DO have some very good friends who will help me out so thats all good.

Not sure if ill get to blog again before I go so ill say catch you later now!  Rock on!!

The Importance of reading quests……

What a fool I am!

Harpers went on their usual weekly VP clear last night which was good and since they had time left over they went to get some guys their mythical updates from Thuuga.  Now my only experience with this zone was back when I tried to tank it and got smashed on the initial trash.  Well this was totally different.
I managed to blag a spot so I could get my Zerk Mythical Update (more on this later) and went along, after initial hiccups of jumping off the wrong bit of waterfall I was in and doing my thing.  Managed to parse quite well which was my biggest fear. Then it was time for the widow mistress herself, in the old days im sure I would sit there and listen to tactics all day long on how to do the fight.
Well harpers tactics consisted of assist Seg and dps.  Well soon she was dead, I won some dps gloves but could not for the life of me see where I got my update from.

EQ2i just states that you need to kill the three mobs, then go to the forge etc.  So what was wrong? I dont have to do it in order do I?  That would mean Leviathan first!! NO WAY!
Allakhazam had the answers eq2i didnt…. you need to pick the quest up from Izzal Din first……. BALLS!!!!!! BALLLS BALLLLLLLLLLLLLLS!

So yeah I kinda need Thuuga again… as well as Leviathan and VP.  Maybe ill get my Mythical some time next year once im home again… who knows.

An Update

Wow I always seem to leave it a good long while between posts when there is a lot going on so heres a life update and game update!

Life: deploying in less than a months time to Afghanistan, feeling crappy about it not looking forward to going at all. But its my job so what am I gonna do?

Warhammer Online: I really cant find the time to log in to this, im level21 and TMM are level 11 last time I checked.  Id love to give it more time but im having much more fun with…..

Everquest 2: What a joy it is to still be playing this game! I now have a baby inquisitor since I wanted to heal after playing Mrs B’s Warden so made me an Inqy, hes level 43 atm!  Zerk got to go raid SoH and PR etc and got some tanking upgrades, much happier!  Zerk is back as my main again since its what I want to play.
My main aims are to play this guy and my Inq if needed.  Im planning on taking a laptop to Afghan with me and I hope I can run EQ2 on it, if not then ill do a lot of life updates while im there.

Ill be back soon, and in one piece!!  I swear!

Bonus Exp Weekend

Well another bonus exp weekend has come and gone on EQ2, but this one was a little different.  We were granted 100% bonus exp for the whole weekend!  So what did I do with it then?  Well to be honest I pretty much wasted the whole thing.
I got my Brigand from 38-43 but could have done more if I had just focussed on him but I was too busy getting my Paladin updates for his epic and also running instances for gear.
I had Ganaks Torque drop for the first time, even my zerk doesnt have it so that was a nice bonus.  I also got a few tanking upgrades which again was nice.

Not got much else to say this morning due to having to work on and off at the weekend due to a few reasons but Mrs B went to VP and finished getting flagged for Trak.

Soon will be my time!!