Seeq of The Rathe: July 2005

Can 454,000 Norrathians be wrong?

From SirBruce's terrific MMOGCHART.COM, regarding the subscription levels of Massively Multiplayer Online Games:

"EverQuest (Accuracy Rating: A)
EQ’s figures pretty much speak for themselves. At one point their growth seemed nearly unstoppable, but the trend began to slow, and after peaking at about 460,000 subscribers, it now appears EQ is shrinking. Indeed, the latest press releases from SOE are quoting only “over 430,000” and in their announcement of EQ’s 5th anniversary the claim only “over 420,000”. The latest two data points on the graph come not from press releases, but from inside sources, and they show a somewhat different picture than what was indicated before – EQ reached some 550,000 subscribers in September 2004, and as of June 2005 stands at 454,000. It is important to note that the more recent data points represent not just total monthly subscribers, but also subscribers with active accounts on free time, eligible accounts on game time cards, etc. It is possible that the earlier figures from the SOE press releases were deliberately conservative, and/or did not count such accounts, thus accounting for the discrepancy. "

Adam vs. The Death Star

Pictured left: Adam Joffe, CTO of Sony Online Entertainment, in SOE's Data Center AKA The Death Star. He's facing off against 1 row of the 1500 servers which host EQL, EQ2, EQOA, Planetside and SWG.

I don't know the name of the EQ2 character on the right, but he looks like he's being stonewalled on a petition...or maybe he's about to gate.

Read the full IEEE SPECTRUM Online article.

Of pwnt and pwnage.

A mixed bag last night. We tore through Grummus in almost exactly 60 minutes with a 52-person raid, average level 64. I'd like to think that's very respectable.

Then we reorganized and took a swing at Manaetic Behemoth with 40-odd folks again averaging 64. Maybe we shouldn't-a oughta done that. 90 minutes later we were picking up the corpses and logging for the evening.

MB is quite a bit tougher than many of the later progression mobs. I think the problem with MB is that every last toon has something important to contribute to the raid, and a slacker or two is a sure recipie for getting dead quick.

I Heart Jesters

Say it with me 3 times.
Jesters are NOT bad.
Jesters are NOT bad.
Jesters are NOT bad.

Viola! Fiery Avenger!

After literally years of collecting rare items, and a couple of hours work generating good faction through camping a tedious hand-in cycle in Odus, I am now The Rathe's newest owner of the Paladin Epic 0.5 - the Fiery Avenger!!

A great many thanks are due to the members of GW, especially Mekanaras, Gretha, Grokus, Khetan and Runesane, and to my friend Gbab of Precision Strike. NO WAY could I have done it without your help.

This leaves me with 2 steps to complete in the Paladin Epic 1.0 quest:

The Keeper of The Tombs in The Hole must be killed for his loot, and I must travel to The Plane of Fear for the final hand-in. I'll post news of my further adventures here.

Make Haste, Lay Waste

An all-Grave Wisdom raid took down Xanamech Mizfarthen (aka Robozilla) in the Plane of Innovation last night. It was a very easy kill, which is what you'd expect from a guild with our firepower. But it punctuates just how strong we've grown since the last time we met Xanamech, when he spent most of the evening wiping the floor of his arena with our bodies.

One of the drops was a Woven Shim Choker, with 41% worn haste. I've been wearing a 34% item for years, so this is a respectable upgrade. I dumped a load of DKP into the bid and won the drop. It's a neck-slot piece which replaced my Honorary Amulet which I won in a roll on a recent Aerin`Dar raid...

So, I gave up some HP, AC and other stats for 7% more worn haste. But now I can toss my 34% worn-haste Spiked Seahorse Hide Belt in favor of something tradeable which can help make up for the lost AC. And, the sky's the limit if I try to hunt down something no-drop!