No matter where you go......there you are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Saturday, November 5, 2005 --  Telegareth It has been a while since my last update, and lots has been going on that needs to be addressed. I'll start off with the latest expansion Depths of Darkhollow. I really enjoy this expansion, more than the rest. It is a departure from the same old game in that you don't sit in one place and kill the same 10 mobs over and over again to gain your power (you can if you really want to however) but the options available for progression are many and varied. The biggest change isn't just the monster missions or the progression tasks that can be done whenever you want to, and it isn't the ability to become a monster npc to fight alongside your friends, and it isn't even the many rewards for performing various tasks in the new expansion. The biggest change is that the game is moving towards providing you with more action and less inaction. EverQuest isn't just about grinding mobs till raid time anymore. Loot isn't just for those lucky enough to get the named spawn at their camp, and it's not just for those who spend their time raiding the big mobs. I'm excited to see that the fun that I find in raiding is starting to trickle down to the single group level and it is looking like the competition of other MMOs has had a very good effect on our game. So, what has the Evil Empire been doing since the new expansion has released? Killing things and taking their stuff, what else? We've been progressing through the new expansion getting everyone thier keys and flags and kills to hit the Demiplane of Blood with force. We've also gotten a few new trinkets from our various kills, unfortunately I've only got the three loots below, but that's a fair sampling from the progression raids at least Now the Evil Empire is in the Demiplane of Blood, with more screenshots of dead mobs and loot to be seen soon. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Quotes and Notes......... Have you ever wondered if that Paladin who is so nice might be after something a little different than the normal guy? I don't really want explanations for those..... Our own Lightup was having a bad night... Geronima offers relationship advice.. Cymerala offers tatoo advice... Here is something you probably didn't know about poop... And Sappy gives the the low down on Ninjas... _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tele's Top Five: 1. Graphics and Animations - We still need new ones. Yes, I've heard that it would take approximately 8 man-years to create all new ones. How about outsourcing this to India too? 2. Customer Service - We need server GM's back. The current customer solution is a poster child for laziness. 3. What's the problem with /taskadd at times? It's really un-fun to have to get a new task because that lvl 70 character you wanted to add to your task will throw off the level difference from the other 50 lvl 70 characters in it. Fix please! 4. The new spell research is annoying and totally un-fun. I mean, 5 sub-combines to even clean a piece of parchment is obnoxious. Whoever thought this would be cool probably still builds model airplanes.... 5. For the love of whatever deity you worship make the target box on corpses larger. Yes, your mobs look neato, all 5 9 of them, but when they are dead, and I go to loot the body, I'm sick and tired of having to run around so i can click on the soles of feet or on the crotch to be able to get anything off the bod. Do all mobs hide their cash and goodies in their crotches? Killing a mob is less stressful than finding the correct spot on a corpse to click to get the loot. Something is amiss here and needs to be fixed. Got anything you would like to share for the Top Five list? email Telegareth or go visit our boards and post something for me and I'll keep it for the next update list. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Huge thanks to the awesome people at Bizfu.... Depths of Darkhollow? Who comes up with these names? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sunday, July 24, 2005 --  Telegareth I've been receiving many complaints over the past month, wondering where the update is. Well, to be honest, there are two things that kept me from just scribbling something down just to get an update out. First of all, I've been rather busy with work, picking up some additional duties that I didn't particularly want, but I'm a team player, so I put in some extra time to help out. So I really haven't had the time to really put the effort that updating this site really deserves lately. Now that that minor crisis has passed, I will try to update on a more frequent and regular basis for those of you who still come to stare at our page, hoping for a special mystery update from Tigole or Tork. Unfortunately, you are stuck with me and my wandering mind. So, what was the second reason for not having an update? This bastard was still alive. Through many bumps and bruises, some trendy drama over clicks, intelligence, television, music, Adult ADD, and general malaise which strikes the Evil Empire every now and again, the R&D Department of Evil Empire, Inc. kept us pushing harder until all we had left was our level of execution. The plan was there, we only had to implement it. Through sheer determination, soothing of bruised egos, patching up some wounded pride, we were able to bring about the demise of one of the ugliest mobs I have ever encountered in EverQuest. I thought Cazic Thule's pile of poop look was ugly, or the evil clown head of Innoruuk, but no, they come up with something that looks like an amalgamation of every ugly mob you've ever seen. So, without further ado, I present you with the fallen Overlord. I'm quite proud of the way The Evil Empire had come back from the brink of extinction to once again claim the top seat on the Nameless server. After spending most of December and January rebuilding and limited to farming RCoD, WoS, RSS, and MPG trials, we continually pushed till we were not just back into Anguish, but once again killing the big stuff first on server. One thing that I've learned over the past 9 months is that the names may change on our roster, but the determination to be the best will never be removed from those who wear our guildtag. So now it's time to rev up the John Deere and farm till the next expansion is released, when we can move forward with more stable ground beneath our feet. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ But this past month hasn't gone without some comedy as well.... That last quote was shortly followed by my locating one avid /shout reader I bet he is regretting rolling up a male character right about now. Some more mischannels.... _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tele's Top Five: 1. Graphics and Animations - We still need new ones. Yes, I've heard that it would take approximately 8 man-years to create all new ones, but if you spend a little bit of money, you can shrink the actual development time down significantly. Money is not an excuse after you raise the monthly fee. 2. Customer Service - I might be the only one seriously turned off by the new /petition system, and I can see where it would cut down on wasted time, however due to the number of servers being shrunk by half, I think it's time to bring back server GM's. Those guys were respected for the most part, and generally made good decisions. The best part was that they were a part of the community, the guys you have now are just names, they aren't real people. 3. Itemization needs a Beta test - I know how much effort Zajeer puts into the itemization, and can only imagine how stressful it is, and I know he's trying his best to create items that characters would want, but seriously, A quick one week review of items with effects or focuses by a small review team could alleviate some of the issues of doubling focus effects or redundancies found with the end-game mobs. 4. Buying in-game stuff for real-life cash is still stupid. Profiteering from it is still worse. 5. For the love of whatever deity you worship make the target box on corpses larger. Yes, your mobs look neato, all 5 of them, but when they are dead, and I go to loot the body, I'm sick and tired of having to run around so i can click on the soles of feet or on the crotch to be able to get anything off the bod. Do all mobs hide their cash and goodies in their crotches? Killing a mob is less stressful than finding the correct spot on a corpse to click to get the loot. Something is amiss here and needs to be fixed. Got anything you would like to share for the Top Five list? email Telegareth or go visit our boards and post something for me and I'll keep it for the next update list. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Huge thanks to the awesome people at Bizfu.... If a picture paints a thousand words.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Monday, May 30, 2005 --  Telegareth We have pictures! That picture shows something we've been playing with since Prathun posted that the fix was live. That is what happens after a little experimentation by the R&D department of Evil Empire, Inc. We didn't have a full raid, were a bit dubious about our chances, but decided to go ahead and do it anyway. Was a great way to start the Holiday weekend. What was our secret? What special powers did the R&D department come up with for this win? Fight fire with fire. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ So, what else have we been up to lately? Well, our hardworking gnomes are working up something special for Overlord Mata Muram, but in the meantime, we've been running the through Anguish and DoN collecting lewts. A sampling is below: But, i'm still not used to taking screenshots every hour, or even every day, so lots of junk was missed. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In other news, the folks over at Sony Online Entertainment are going to be hosting another "summit" days before the official Fan Faire to most likely discuss the most important aspect of the game we enjoy so much: Class Balancing. Of all the issues that the developers have to deal with on a daily basis, class balancing is probably the most difficult, and the most important. You can create new events, fiddle with loot, but nothing impacts everyone that plays the game more than how their chosen class interacts with both the other player characters and the game world itself. While I can sit here on my ivory pedestal and bemoan the fact that itemization is a bit screwy, and Gravity Flux hasn't been changed back to actually throw mobs in the air, i can at least look forward to hopefully some significant steps forward in the whole class balance issue. The major problem as I see it is that we as the player base do not know what the developers think each class should be, where it should fit, and what it should be able to accomplish. While each class has it's members that always seem to come up with some idea which would imbue that class with super-hero like powers, i'd just like to know what the people that be think. Is that too much to ask? I'm not liking the one-way street aspect of information exchange. Tele's Top Five: 1. Armor Graphics - We need new ones. Why my wizard without the weapon and shield looks the same as she did when she dinged 60 in Old Sebilis is beyond me. The last new armor graphics were introduced in Velius. I think it's time for some new looks. Take a bit of that increased monthly fee and hire some artists, already. 2. Character Animations - I'm not talking the /shrug, /nudge, /smile, /applaud crap that just eats up video memory, i'm talking about my warrior weilding a 2 handed blunt weapon poking a mob. I'm talking about hitting something with the off-hand weapon that looks like you are hitting a bass drum with a mallet. I'm talking about the kick animation looking more like that of a dog about to water a tree than someone getting a size 6 in the jimmies. This is why EverQuest will be a first-person view game, it simply looks like crap from 3rd person. 3. I need the vendor in the guildhall to sell gems, you know reagents and things we use as a guild during raids. Does anyone still use Iron Rations and Water Flasks? 4. Buying in-game stuff for real-life cash is stupid. Profiteering from it is worse. 5. For the love of whatever deity you worship make the target box on corpses larger. Yes, your mobs look neato, all 5 of them, but when they are dead, and I go to loot the body, I'm sick and tired of having to run around so i can click on the soles of feet or on the crotch to be able to get anything off the bod. Do all mobs hide their cash and goodies in their crotches? Killing a mob is less stressful than finding the correct spot on a corpse to click to get the loot. Something is amiss here and needs to be fixed. Got anything you would like to share for the Top Five list? email Telegareth or go visit our boards and post something for me and I'll keep it for the next update list. Never fear, R&D is on the job!