[This is the third and final installment on my online gaming interest. I realize it's been a long series but I have thought about it for some time and wanted to share this part of my life with everyone since it is my favorite pastime. Hopefully, you will enjoy the telling of the tale. Someone commented recently that my blog is too serious and could use some lightheartedness. Hopefully, this will be just that.]
Hail and well met. My name is Donfaer (see my picture to the left) and I am a guardian of the 70th level. To put things in perspective, that was the highest rank achievable until just recently. The world I come from is called Norrath and racially I am half-elven. If you have any jokes you'd like to tell me about half-breeds I'll laugh with you right up to the moment you become a new scabbard for my sword and we both stop laughing. I trust you get the point?
Now, where was I… Oh yes, Norrath. Mine is a world filled with wonder, adventure, and danger. Here there be elves and dwarves, trolls and ogres, gnomes and halflings, and many other sentient races. Norrath is also a magical world where the physical laws can be molded and shaped by the will of the caster through his knowledge of the arcane. Someone once told me of a sage from your world named Tolkien. Well, if you are familiar with his writings then you should have a fair picture of the world of Norrath. Ours is a land where the battle between good and evil is constantly waged and a few good and courageous souls rise up to stand in the gap.
Through the power of the amazing mystical device you call a kompewter, some of the us in my world are able to become avatars of the people from yours and allow them to experience our realm. In fact, I am the avatar of one named Greg from your world. He has told me that he is a master of the mystical kompewter and has regaled me with tales of his exploits using said device. Most of the time his explanations make as much sense to me as a Gigglegibber Goblin. Furthermore, I think maybe he embellishes things a bit. Perhaps someday we'll find a way to enter your world and see things truly for ourselves.
I digress so let's get back to the subject at hand. Avatars… I still remember the first time I found myself an avatar of Greg. Oh yes, it was quite a mess indeed. The poor sod hardly knew which end of the sword was which. He very nearly got me killed quite a few times. And a few other times he even managed to accomplish the deed. Fortunately, in Norrath death is a little less permanent than I understand it is in your world and our good cleric was able to resuscitate me after the rest of the group rallied together and took down our the foe. Yes indeed, those clerics sure come in handy at times. I suppose you probably need a bit of an explanation here though. You see, when you go off on adventure here in Norrath you want to make sure you are part of a group of people that have complimentary skills. As a guardian, I am a member of the warrior class. My job is to make sure that the opponents we challenge keep their attention on me because I am exceedingly strong and well trained in hand-to-hand combat. I can wear the heaviest of armor and learn the skills necessary to guard those who accompany me and keep them from harm. However, I know nothing about healing magics and couldn't call a fireball out of the ether to light a campfire, let alone send one hurtling at a foe. We refer to those folks squishies and they affectionately call us tanks. Some classes deal out major damage through magics or offensive combat while others can mesmerize foes with illusions or bring other creatures in to battle. There's a bit of rivalry between us all at times but I think that both sides understand that we couldn't work well without each other. I understand there was another sage from your world called the Apostle Paul who talked about people being different parts of the body and such. It's an intriguing concept and it serves as an adequate analogy methinks.
Greg told me during our first encounter that he usually had one of the wizard or healer classes as an avatar in his prior experiences. It still boggles my mind to know that he had a cleric avatar from 500 years in my past in the world of Norrath. I understand that you refer to these two time periods as Everquest 1 and Everquest 2. You certainly are peculiar people. Anyway, it seems that Greg wanted to get out of his comfort zone and take charge more. So he decided to select an avatar from the warrior class and assume a leadership role. Since tanks are the ones who coordinate the flow of battle it is generally they who serve as the group leader. Well, Greg came to the right place when he selected me. I can definitely say that he has learned quite a bit about leadership as a guardian.
There's nothing quite as satisfying as being what we call a "raid tank" during a large offensive. Having 20+ people count on you to keep the opponent focused solely on yourself is quite a rush. During every moment you are aware that if you lose control it's likely all over. For every second that you don't maintain control your friends will drop like snowflakes in a fireball and if you don't get it back quickly it ends in what we call a wipe and it's time to bring out the clerics. Of course when a wipe occurs the blame does not always fall on the guardian. Everyone has a part to play and it is imperative that they play it right. Some of the other classes can dish out quite a bit of damage, you see, and that can really get the attention of a foe. We guardians do our best to poke here and jab there with both weapons and insults but if a wizard or a swashbuckler decides to let loose a bit too dramatically, even the best guardian is going to lose control of the situation. It's also imperative that the healers continually flood us with protective wards and healing magics during combat. Just the other day a whole group wiped because the healer's user decided to go make something called "microwave popcorn". Now I don't have a clue what that is but let me just say that when your tank is standing toe-to-toe with a fire breathing dragon and the damage ward doesn't get refreshed it's a rather illuminating experience.
I suppose that for some of you this sounds a bit whacky. In fact, Greg confided in me that he was a little hesitant to even share this part of his life for concern of what some of you might think or judgments you might make. Believe me, some of the things that I have heard about your world sound equally strange. For example, I just don't get the fascination you all have with games involving putting small spheres of various shapes and sizes into small goals of various shapes and sizes. I don't think Greg really understands it either since he has trouble explaining it to me. Apparently, it is considered quite honorable to be something called an armchair athlete in your world but the thing you call virtual reality is disparaged and looked down upon by a large portion of your society. And yet I hear that many of you sit and watch small boxes filled with avatars of other people pretending to be someone else for your amusement and that this too is socially acceptable recreation. How strange. Anyway, Greg thought that you might find it more interesting and insightful to hear things from my perspective.
One thing we both understand is that Greg needs to be careful about how much time he spends here in Norrath. Although this world is very real to me I can see how his spending time here could prevent him from being a brave warrior fighting darkness in his own world. Oddly enough, he tells me that sometimes my world can serve as a battleground for good in his world. Now that makes my head spin so I'm not going to go any farther down that road. Besides, he indicated that he has already explained all of that to you.
I'd like to chat more but Greg says his break time is over and he needs to work more on the kompewter. And, I must confess, I find your world rather tedious and there are goblins to fight and treasure to loot here in Norrath, so let me bring this all to a close with some final comments. In the past, there have been times when Greg has spent a bit too much time running around in Norrath and caused his relationships in your world to suffer. Even though there are some wonderful people here, Greg realizes that there are much more important things to do and people for him to fellowship with in the "real" world, most notably his lovely wife [By the way, I've met her and she is one beautiful lady] . Now, that being said, it is also true that Greg finds great recreation, fellowship and value in Everquest. The crux of the issue then is one of balance. Greg is committed to finding that balance and would appreciate your help in that regard. And, of course, you are also welcome to have a rousing good time with Greg and myself here in Norrath. It would be an honor to meet some of you in person someday should there be an adventurous spirit hiding inside of you. The land of Kunark, lost since the cataclysm, has been rediscovered here in Norrath and there is much to explore and learn. So until we meet: Excelsior!
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