Why, dangit?

[Eumerin]

Get a friend to host the raid for you, and then default the scale to yourself.



Tallendor is DoA these days. There was recently a long thread over at PoN talking about how the Fiery Avenger is next to impossible for the average paladin to get these days post 52 due to the fact that the Kunark dragons tend to be dead about 15 minutes after spawning. And the reason Tallendor is easier than Gore has nothing to do with dispels. Its because Gore's AE is a slow (which cripples your melee capability) and she also Complete Heals herself (just like Vox).

Nortlav is probably your best bet, if you can get a Hole capable group together. The other option (roundly applauded recently at PoN, although we're fairly confident that the devs will never do it as they've indicated they no longer care about the epics) is to bug the devs until they implement some sort of system to allow you to spawn the dragons much as some classes do with some of their mobs (and you with Trak, for that matter).

[Nhin Impious]

My goal wasn't to be uber, or to be the best, just to have fun. .... Fast forward to today. 5 expansions later for the start, an extra 15 levels, and tons of items/content. Here I am, 3 years later, with nothing really to show for it.

Yeah, and you coulda sat on AOL in a chatroom for those three years and not had anything at all. At least you have a character you've put in some time on.

I've been playing since November of '01...not as long as you, but I suspect I may be about where you are in a year and a half. My main right now is a 44 cleric. She may not be even PLANAR until November. She will NEVER, EVER, EVER have her epic. She may, if circumstances and the Gods (and RNG) smile upon her, get her grandmaster's baking trophy. Maybe. Three failures so far. But you know what? I don't care. I bought POP knowing that it would be months to a year before I'd ever see more than simply Plane of Knowledge, and I bought it willingly. I've enjoyed every single level so far (well, ok, a few were a bit more painful than others) and I'm not playing "to win."

Perhaps instead of looking at your long-term goals, you could look at your short-term goals instead?

Eyith, killer of things that go "Screee!"

[Arakni Spellweaver]

Hey Silound,

I know exactly how you feel. Well, maybe not exactly... but darn close to it.

I've been playing for 2 years. Yes, I have my JC trophy and have a few other tradeskills to 200. But I'm not planar yet... and some of my best friends in the game are 65. Heck, it took me so long to get this far that all the RL friends that I started playing the game so I could play with THEM have long since lost interest and cancelled their accounts.

I was, in a word, bitter. I lashed out against my fellow officers and guildmates. I lashed out against my husband, one of the few people to still play the game out of our circle of friends. I declared myself done, done, done with Arakni - so sick of playing two years of catch-up, with the new expansion and level 75 coming up so soon - well, more catch-up for me if I want to play with my online friends at all, and not merely chat with them.

And you're right, your server has crap for an economy. One of the few RL friends who plays the game still plays on Prexus. I thought I would escape to Prexus and start over. Boy was I wrong. Heady kiolas for 5g each. Celestial essences for 1.7p each... and no one buying at these prices. Depressing as hell to try and make any money. The Prexian economy sent me fleeing back to Povar in a hurry. But I still play.

So what changed? Husband agreed to play with me more. Guildmates agreed to let me join in groups of my level, and not just use me for guilding alts and answering tradeskill questions. I realized that I had, in fact, reached every goal I set for Arakni - she has a last name (a big deal before Paludal), a horse, maxed int, maxed JC, a tradeskill trophy. She has 200 in several other skills. And I play a wicked mean enchanter. And finally, husband recognized that after TWO YEARS of continuous play, I had the right to be completely burned out on her, and say "I want a break. I need to play an alt". So now the focus isn't on getting this or that. It's on playing one of my characters with my husband's characters, on grouping with friends and exploring new zones. I started a beastlord who isn't tripped out and isn't even the "best" race to be a beastlord. But the iksar lizard dog pets are freaking cool so I'm just playing her to enjoy something new (and be amused as all heck at the lizard dog).

I'm not sure how you can get that happy feeling back. Maybe you should try a new server. Maybe an alt. Maybe go to your guildmates, if you're in a guild, and say, look - I'm ready to quit. Can you help me make this fun again? Can you give me some ideas on what you do when you're burned out? If they say bugger off get a new guild.

If you'd like to try a new server, send me a PM. I have several low level alts now that wouldn't mind company. Maybe just getting away from all the angst that you have balled up in your bard is what you need. You don't have to quit playing him - but maybe a month vacation from all the anger, bitterness, angst and unhappiness is what you need. It's what I needed... so I can only speak from personal experience.

Rambling now... must stop rambling...

[byelka]

Yep sounds like you need a break =)

But I do have to agree with some of the post going on a normal dragon raid with 30+ peeps and expecting to win the roll on a white dragon scale. Well after the 5th time I imagine I would have moved on and bought it. Of course speaking as one who has killed naggy/vox in a solo group ~5-8 times a piece. With only 5 of us there to share the loot I never won a white dragon scale =). Although if I had needed it they would have given it to me.

So, for me at least, I think its a better idea to farm the PP to buy a rare item off of a rare mob. I just recently purchased an idol of the underking for 30KP rather then spend 100KP worth of my time and effort farming it.

But again it just sounds like you need a break.

Also sounds like you need to learn how to farm some PP at lvl 44 my cleric could make at least 500PP an hour just farming spider silks in EK and selling em in the bazaar.

[Kytelae]

Breaks are always good when you need them.

You didn't mention whether you had a guild in the game, do you? Or even a group of friends who you enjoy playing with and who can help you? I think that the game overall goes much better, and goals are easier to obtain, with a good guild or group of friends. Especially once you hit the high end game, guilds make impossible things possible again. If you don't have such a group or guild, you might want to look for one.

[Silound]

Yup have/had one. I fixed my issue with thegame by stopping casual play. All I get on for now is when someone asks me to be on for soemthing like a raid/event/help with something.

Sil

[Kytelae]

I'm glad you found a way to make it better!

[Shaman Arriana]

There's no shame in taking a break. I've just recently ended a 4 month hiatus (doing little more than logging in once a week to check the bazaar for anything I might want), and am having fun working on my 1950 goal.

It isn't the first lengthy break I've taken, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Sometimes you just get burned out and need to step away.

Also, I find it is best to take as relaxed an attitude as you possibly can to events in the game. Pretty much every time I've tried to pin all my hopes on something, it has come apart badly. I've learned that goals in EQ, like the teeming hordes of whiney buff beggars and scam artists, are best dealt with in as low-key a manner as possible.

[Reflan]

That's the way life is in general. Some things you simply MUST push as hard as humanly possible at, like, say, fleeing a burning building. Especially if you're the one who set the fire.

Most other things are best in cycles. Trimming the highs and the lows off the cycles often helps keep your head clear and keep everything more fun. Working too hard at something can kill the fun and even ruin your health, and there are no guarantees that being a maniac is going to work anyway. And stepping away from things can make them seem somehow so much sweeter when you finally get back to them, and let you remember what you enjoyed about everything else while you were away.

Hmmm..absence makes the heart grow fonder, familiarity breeds contempt...yadda yadda

[Arakni Spellweaver]

I remembered the other thing I wanted to post in response to your first post.

Don't think of it as wasted time. It was time that you probably would have otherwise spent watching tv/movies, reading light novels, or staring at your navel. The time that you spend in "downtime mode" is necessary to replenish the energy you need to do everything else you do in your life.

The problem comes in when what you do for relaxation just becomes work...

Anyways just don't think that everything in life has to have a purpose, a higher goal, something that lives on beyond you... otherwise you'll just get completely burned out altogether on everything.

Anyways good luck and glad that you have found a way to make it work for you.