There are a handful of games that I usually always return to. World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Guild Wars II, and Final Fantasy XIV – just to name a few. In 2016 or so, I stopped playing both EverQuest II and EverQuest, feeling that I had gotten all that I could from those games, and that I had changed too much as a gamer to properly enjoy them the way I had in the past (ie: lack of time). I continued to view the games with rose coloured glasses, and I would pop in but become immediately frustrated at xyz thing, and I never really ‘played’ again.
For the past few weeks I’ve been bouncing around games trying to figure out what I want to do. I was just not feeling WoW, FFXIV is fantastic but again I was restless. Part of that is simply due to my nomadic gamer inclinations – and part was something more. I have some of my fondest gaming memories from EverQuest, and while I know you can never go back, and those memories are best left undisturbed – I couldn’t help it. I found myself logging in.
Not only did I find myself logging in on my main account, but I also logged in on my second account and started multiboxing. Then, I added my husbands account. Along with mercenary, we have what is technically a full group. I know a group of people is far better, but I still believe everyone should play how they enjoy if it’s possible.
Anyway, I started out creating new characters on the FV server, thinking it might be fun and it does have a large player base. The inflation of that server, however, was enormous and it turned me off immediately. Then I had a thought.
I learned about the ‘auto grant aa’ feature that premium accounts can access. This is basically a ‘catch up’ mechanic where the game will grant you a number of AA that would have unlocked at your level previously. This feature I believe ends at level 110 (the current cap is 115). I decided to test it out. My level 100 enchanter had 3,000 aa that I had worked meticulously at obtaining. Turning on the auto grant feature boosted me to another 16,000.
I did the same with my husband’s shadowknight that I was now playing (also level 100), and a 97 bard on my second account. The shadowknight is easily over 20,000 aa now. This mechanic is gold and allows people returning to the game to feel that they are not going to instantly die in one hit.
I decided to test things out. I created a group with the shadowknight, enchanter, and a 97 bard from my second account. Grabbed two melee DPS mercenary and a healer mercenary. Then I headed to PoK to figure out the ‘heroic adventure’ feature that had been added some time ago. I picked one up, and I was actually able to complete the thing! I’m sure it’s slower than what people are running it as these days, but I was slowly figuring things out. I would pull a group of three dark blue / white con mobs, AOE mesmerize them, break one with the shadowknight, and DPS it down. No one died. The mercenary cleric was able to keep up. I felt on-par for my tier and while it took some adjusting and getting used to – it was glorious. It was what I was missing in gaming and I know that it’s directly related to the fact that Blizzard recently banned many of the multibox platforms that I used to use with my team of 5 there.
Whether you’re against multiboxing or not, it is how I enjoy playing. I typically just play for me, I’m not looking to ruin markets or mess things up for other people. I managed to ding my 100 shadowknight and enchanter to 101, earning about 20% of their level in the process through the heroic adventure. Hopefully my next runs go even faster, I had an absolute blast, and I can’t wait to continue to get back into things.