Posted December 31, 1969 by Jody Ingram

Just like Earth, Norrath is full of unexpected events. As soon as Veeken entered the world, I was thrown into what EQ gamers call a ?GM event?. The orcs of Clan Crushbone decide to launch another attack to try to burn down Kelethin. Me on the other hand, I just started my character ? I?m level one. Instead of trying to be brave like a lot of other newbies did, I took off running. Crossing bridge after bridge in Kelethin just wasn?t enough to escape these mighty orcs. Being noble of nothing in my life, I decided to jump? I then died. Now that EverQuest has taken on the new lower level rules, the game is just a lot easier.

About a year ago, Sony must have been fed up with petitions from newbies, so they implemented a new rule to the game. If you?re level ten and below, once you die, you will respawn with all of your stuff. The other rule does not really apply to me, but if you?re level 11 or below, you will not lose experience when you are slaughtered. That COULD apply to me, but being level one and having not fought anything, it generally never works.

After respawning back at the orc lift, I decided to go kill a few bees to try to strike a level. For some reason, the bees must have been mating a lot, because they just seemed to be everywhere. At certain points of just fighting one, about three would come up to me ? I would have to run to the guards. After finally ?dinging? to level two, I decided to keep fighting those things along with a few weak snakes. During this time, a low level group invited me to join, but I declined. I didn?t really want to share experience at such low a level, when I really needed it all for myself. Making my way towards Felwithe, a generally safer place for low-level characters, I leveled once again. It was now time to try my first orc.

I?m no fool, I know that there are literally thousands of orcs in Greater Faydark, but did I take that into account when I pounced on a lonely Orc Pawn? Hell no. The first thing I did when I jumped on him was slash at him. Just watching orc blood spill all over the place makes me laugh evilly. After a few seconds of bashing and slashing at the Orc Pawn, I was victorious! What did I do next? I hunted another. Remembering that I am level three, I decided to go put some points into my skills and grab that lovely Kick maneuver. After wasting another orc, I decided to take a trip to the guild. By the time I made it up there, a large team of level 50+ characters had taken out all of the orcs in the town, so I was pretty much safe. After arriving at my guild, I decided to put a good number of points into one-hand slashing and kicking. After using up all of my points, I left with a small on my face.

Just as I was taking the lift down, a fellow enchanter decides to cast Clarity on me. Usually I would be happy, but in this situation, I really did not need it. Clarity is a great spell though ? as it makes your mana come back twice as fast if not more. The thing is, I?m a level three ranger who has not even begun to use spells or mana yet. Soon after walking off and using the /laugh command, I ran into a high-level druid who casted S.o.W., and Skin like Steel on me. I was a happy ranger. Running off into the woods and killing me a few more orcs, I leveled once more. I didn?t really know what to do next ? I have so many options of how to level ? but I?m going to have to decide pretty soon where I want to spend my lower level life at. It?s time for Veekan to camp for the night.



EQ Dictionary For This Episode:

S.o.W. = Spirit of Wolf ? A Spell that make you run REALLY fast.

Skin like Steel ? A skin buff that increases whoever casted upon?s HP (Hit Points) and makes them generally last longer in a battle.

Clarity ? As I mentioned in this Editorial, a spell, once casted on, makes your mana (magic power meter) grow back a lot faster than usual. Great for casters!

Ding ? To level up. Example: Veekan dinged to level 4 = Veeken leveled to 4. The word dinged is derived from the noise that the game makes when you level.