Real life first name: Bryan
Main Character name: Amanensia
Server: Maelin Starpyre
Guild: Caer Cadarn
Where in the real life world do you live? (city & state or equivalent only please!) Glasgow, Scotland, UK
How long have you played EQ?? Since October 28 2002
What other MMOs have you played? EVE Online, WoW
What type of work do you do? Consultant actuary
How long is your typical gaming session when playing EQ? About five hours on raid nights; an hour or two at other times
What does a typical EQ day consist of for you? I log on about 30-40 minutes before raid time to set the guild MOTD and do any other admin type things that are needed. I'll try to be at the raid muster point by 15 minutes before raid time, and I or another officer will start the raid and make appropriate groups for whatever we're fighting that day. At or soon after the standard raid time we'll assess our targets in light of the force we have that day and may call a change. Myself and another officer tend to split the actual raid leading between us about 50:50; when I'm leading I tend to concentrate on that alone, but if another officer is leading I'll help try to deal with most of the non raid-related issues that might arise during the evening such as talking to applicants, resolving disputes, answering general questions and so on. When we kill a boss mob one officer will take tells on each piece of loot dropped, and the officers as a whole will award the loot and enter it in our database. At the start and end of the evening we'll take attendance and enter that into our database also. Once raids are over I'll try to ensure the next day's target is announced before people log off, and deal with a few more administrative things like handing out guildbank items to people who need them, and also try to reflect on the day to see what lessons we have learned for next time. If it's a weekend, I might then help out with someone's Epic kill, or do some backflagging missions for new applicants, or spend a little time tradeskilling. If it's during the working week I'll tend to go to bed straight after raids.
What was the race and class of your very first character? Amanensia is the very first character I ever created. She is a Half Elven Paladin.
What got you into gaming and what sort of games do you like the most? I first heard of EQ about a week before I started playing when I saw a story on a news website about some online game that apparently had an economy roughly the same size as that of Bulgaria. That sounded amzing, so I read the story, followed a few links, and found myself buying a game I'd never heard of before. My life hasn't been my own ever since!
What other hobbies or activities do you take part in, other then playing EverQuest? My main other hobbies are travelling ( sometimes EQ related - I'll be heading to Atlanta for the Fan Faire in April and was at the last one in Las Vegas too) and wine – I'm a self confessed wine-aholic with currently well over a thousand bottles. Oh and of course having fun with my girlfriend who also happens to be a guildmate!
What is your highest level in EQ? 70
What race and class is your main character? Half Elven Paladin.
What do you like the most about the class you have chosen for your main character? I enjoy the versatility of the class. We aren't the best at anything, but we can fit many different roles when we need to, and sometimes save the day in an unexpected manner.
Does your main character worship a deity? Yes – Mythaniel Marr.
How did you choose your main character's name? Semi-random; a feminine sounding name which I thought worked quite well. Aman, I believe, was also the name of the land to which the Elves of Middle-Earth sailed from the Grey Havens when they reached the end of their time amongst mortals.
Which classes in EQ have you NOT played? Too many to list! My only real alt character is a Necromancer – I have never really played any of the other classes.
What is your favorite expansion? Planes of Power, for the tremendous storyline and huge series of progression raids, leading on to one definite final goal.
What is your favorite zone? Tough one. Three zones stick out from my early days levelling up Amanensia – Unrest, Mistmoore and Lower Guk. Anyone who grew up levelling in those zones, untwinked, in proper groups, would definitely know how to play their class at the end of it. I think Mistmoore probably just wins out of the three. In terms of raiding my favourite zone tends to be whichever one we are learning encounters and wiping in time after time at the moment – so right now that'd be Demiplane of Blood.
What is your favorite npc? Terris Thule. She is gorgeous.
Which expansion do you like the least? Probably Ykesha. While it had some useful administrative content (such as maps) I don't think I've ever been to an Ykesha zone in order to actually deliberately kill anything.
Which zone do you like the least? Rivervale. Anywhere with so many Halflings has to be a silly place.
Which npc do you like the least? Ambassador Dvinn, in Crushbone. I cannot count the number of times she destoryed my poor group when we were very young. I go back now and again even now to get revenge one more time…
What is the most platinum you have ever spent on purchasing a single item for one of your characters? I've never really bought anything particularly expensive, as ever since I've had enough platinum to afford anything like that all my gear has come from raids. However, if it counts, I have spent many hundreds of thousands of platinum on tradeskills items and am currently 120 points away from the magic 2100 – ie 300 in all seven.
Do you have an item you no longer use but keep around for nostalgic reasons? If so what is it and why do you keep it? I still have the weapon I won from our first ever successful Rathe Council raid – an Earthspined Staff. Winning that raid for the first time to get entry into Plane of Time was a real watershed for us – we'd tried and tried and tried again so many times.
What do you like best about EverQuest? The sheer scale of the game – both in terms of the size of the world and the number of quests and monsters and so on in it, and in terms of the size of the community, without which it'd be just another silly computer game.
What do you get out of playing EverQuest? The most important thing is fun! A large part of that comes from the sense of achievement and group satisfaction when a raid of fifty or so people work their way through and successfully defeat a new encounter for the first time. Whether that encounter is Derakor the Vindicator in Kael Drakkal or Mayong Mistmoore in Demiplane of Blood, successfully harnessing a large number of people to do something which is genuinely difficult, given the characters taking part, is a real rush.
Describe your best experience from playing EverQuest? I think my best experience was when a little over a year ago I transferred servers to join my new guild, Caer Cadarn. I was really nervous and I'd left behind a lot of good friends on my original server, Xev, and my previous guild in particular, Old Continent (now on Druzzil Ro). Within a few minutes of first appearing on Maelin Starpyre I had tells from nearly 40 different characters, all welcoming me and wishing me well. Those people have now gone on to become my good friends, and I'm very grateful to them for the warm welcome they sent me when they'd never even heard of me.
Do you run or work for an EverQuest Fan Site? (if so provide the web address too!) No! But I participate in many.
